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cabensonsgirly · 2 months ago

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I'm Gonna Pack My Things and Leave You Behind. (18+)

Content: Angst, mentions of ptsd, happy ending dw, mentions of smut, religion

Word Count: 7944

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He hadn’t fled, not really. He had said his goodbyes, sealed with a tender, lingering kiss to her forehead and a silent I love you. That was enough, wasn’t it? Why stay when all that would happen is their hearts would ache, the cracks splitting into canyons that could never be filled? His heart was not a vase nor a piece of porcelain that could be repaired with kintsugi. He had seen what happens when Band-Aids cover wounds that haven’t been treated; they fester, the infection spreads, and soon everything is sick, and the only cure is radical treatment. He wasn’t going to make the same mistakes he’d seen so many times before. So, he left.

When he closes his eyes, he still remembers how soft and warm her skin felt under his lips. But of course, with remembering such tenderness, he too remembers the way her eyes glistened with tears, the way her hand reached out for him in a silent plea for him to stay- to change his mind, to try just one more time. Why couldn’t he stay? He had seen her grow so much, blossom into such an incredible leader and advocate, a privilege he was so lucky to obtain. But he too had changed, although as he kneels at the altar of his new local church, his rosary clasped tightly in his hands, he wonders if he had turned into some kind of invasive moth, not the butterfly he so desperately tried to be. A moth and a butterfly could never work. A saint and a sinner could never work. Everyone knows what would happen, the saint would pay for the sinner’s deviance and then too fall from grace. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice as payment for sinners, he did not want his love to suffer the same way.

He presses the beads to his lips before standing up, bowing his head once more then turning to leave the place he often sought refuge when his apartment felt too much like prison. He returns his beads to his coat pocket, his thumb running over them as he walks the pavement back home. His heart aches at that. He calls it home when talking to his mami, but it isn’t really home, is it? His heart does not feel content there. The walls, although adorned with tasteful pieces of art, shelves full of books he’s collected and awards and knick-knacks he’d kept after his abuela passed, felt lifeless. The plants, although thriving, seemed plastic, like he’d gone to the dollar store and picked out the cheapest ones he could instead of what he actually did, which was spending months researching which ones would improve the air quality of his apartment. No matter how long he spends there, it would never feel like home.

He hangs his coat up on the hook in the hallway, smoothing it out with his hands before stepping out of his shoes then heading through to the lounge where he goes to the liquor cabinet and pours himself a scotch. It wasn’t his favorite brand; he couldn’t bring himself to drink that anymore as it reminded him too much of her. Even now when he thinks about it, he can picture them sitting next to one another on the couch with her feet in his lap with a drink in one hand, his other resting gently on her leg as his thumb brushes softly against it. The way the alcohol always tasted sweeter when close to her, her laugh filling him with a warmth that nothing else could replicate, not even his mami’s tamales could hit the spot but he wouldn’t dare say such a thing to her face. He sucks back a mouthful of liquor, closing his eyes as he wills the tears to stay in his tear-ducts and not spill onto his cheeks to travel the same path they had many times before. He didn’t want them to find home in his beard because he knew he couldn’t find it in himself to wash away the reminder as each tear contained his love for this woman, a memory of how things used to be, how things could have been had he chosen to do something different. He runs his hand over his beard, smoothing down the bristles that stick out- he only trims when it becomes unmanageable, and even then, he has to force himself not to think about what he was getting rid of. The last hairs falling into his sink that his love had touched, it was too painful to think of.

He refills his glass, returning the stopper to his decanter before taking his glass with him to the lounge. His stomach rumbles as he sits on the couch, another sound he has grown to ignore most of the time. He reaches for the remote and turns his tv on, flicking through the channels until she appears, doing what she does best- advocating. Her voice is powerful, he can feel the hairs on his arms stand to attention, and he even leans forward so he can hear her better. A small smile tugs at his lips, “Look at you soar,” he whispers, the corners of his eyes creasing with adoration, “Look at you fly.”

He rests his hand against his heart, feeling a warmth spread through him as he sees her again. Love never really goes away. No distance has changed that, nor time. He picks his glass up and drinks the liquor, and of course- of course it tastes sweeter, he can pick up on the undertones, the subtle vanilla notes, the sweetness of toffee on the tip of his tongue, and fig coming through, all erasing the usual burn as it works its way down his throat. His eye catches a glimmer when a camera flashes so he pauses the news and gets up, moving closer to the screen so he can get a better look. The air gets sucked from his lungs, the glass nearly falling from his fingertips when he sees it, the necklace sitting on her chest front and center. It had been months, why hadn’t she taken it off? Why didn’t she take it off? His grip on the glass tightens, his hand shaking through sheer force. He clenches his jaw, hating how tears fall freely onto his tan cheeks, running their way through the paths they’d carved previous times, “Why didn’t you take it off?” He almost pleads. “Why couldn’t you make this easier?”

That wasn’t fair of him to say, and he regrets it as soon as the words leave his lips, his features dropping as he shakes his head, “Why didn’t I stay,” he adds, going back to the couch where he resumes the news, it quickly catches up to where she was now answering questions posited by the reporters. He watches her skillfully answer questions and deflect others that were borderline inappropriate, the muscle in her jaw tensing briefly- a sign she was trying hard to remain calm and not give a well-deserved tongue lashing to the journalist. Then a question comes truly from left field, “Are you still close with disgraced former ADA Rafael Barba?” His love falters, a flicker of pain washes over her face, her lips turning down slightly. She sucks in a breath, blinking rapidly as to force the tears to remain in her now glistening eyes as she ends the press conference, thanking them for their time as she heads off stage.

He reaches for his cellphone, unlocking it and going to his contacts before pausing, his thumb hovering over her number. It wasn’t his place anymore. It wasn’t his place to check in with her, to make sure she’s doing okay. He sits back, brings his glass to his lips as he finishes his drink, his eyes still lingering on her profile picture. He should have deleted her number when he moved because he often found himself late at night, laying in bed just staring at the picture of her, wishing she was there with him in his arms.

He sighs and turns the screen off, getting up before he makes his way through the apartment to his bedroom where he’ll bury himself under his thick sheets in an attempt to escape the reality he had made for himself. At least in the darkness he wasn’t at risk of reaching out to her, instead, he was trapped with pictures of her seared into his eyelids, haunting him. To be loved by her, though, wasn’t to be haunted. To be loved by her was to know how free Ikarus felt flying so high, so close to the sun. To know what beauty Michelangelo felt as he painted the ceiling on the Sistine Chapel, how close to heaven he was in that moment. He removes his clothes, leaving them discarded near the laundry basket before climbing into bed, pulling the covers over his head. Now he knows that flying too high, too close to the sun only means your wings will fail and you will fall.

He turns his phone on under the covers, checking her Instagram as he did on long nights. She was only posting pictures of meals she had eaten, flowers she found beautiful, and silly poses with friends. She seemed happy in those photos, a smile was on her face as she laughs, but he knew better. Of course he did. He knew that when she truly smiles, she gets crinkles on her nose, and the creases on the corners of her eyes become more pronounced. He had spent so much of his time tracing her features softly with his fingers, following the curve of her smile lines, the dip of her cupid’s bow, the scar she has on her upper lip after an accident as a child, all such subtle things that most people would overlook. Like her exes had overlooked in favor of just treating her like a piece of meat who was only as good as her tits and ass. Even thinking about her like that made his skin crawl because she was- is so much more than that. Yet whenever he would stop by her office and catch her explaining the case, he would notice the way her male colleagues would only stare at her breasts, excluding Odafin. It always infuriated him because how dare they do that? How dare they treat her that way when she has worked so hard to become Captain? He knew they’d say, “Oh I can’t help it, you know how us men are.” Because he knew he was nothing like that, so he was vehemently against being lumped in with the rest of the group. He would rather take the claims he was a little twink than puff his chest out and go “Yeah! I love staring at my boss’s tits!”

He takes a breath to calm his rising anger before resuming scrolling through her Instagram. He comes across a photo of the view from a yacht with a candle-lit dinner, a vase on the table with flowers. He remembers that night, and if he closes his eyes, he could still feel the weight of the box containing the necklace in his pocket against his thigh. He had called his friend the week before to see if he could use his yacht, and after a few back-and-forth things where he was mainly bribing his friend with a particularly expensive bottle of wine, his friend agreed to let him use the yacht for the weekend. He had gone into planning overdrive after that, any spare moment he was going to markets to order the finest produce so he could pick it up Friday evening after work on his way to get her. He hadn’t felt so nervous since sitting his Bar exam, and even then, he didn’t feel like throwing up. He had called his mom on the drive in hopes she would help calm his nerves, and she did. “If you’re this nervous, Rafi, it means you are worried about doing a good job. You will make her night, I’m sure. You know how much she likes these gestures. Take a deep breath, and try to enjoy yourself, okay?”

And of course, like the good boy he is, he did what his mom said. He thanked her before hanging up just as he pulled out front of her apartment. He parked the car then raced around to the other side to open the door for her, “You look beautiful,” he complimented and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. He shut the door after making sure her clothes wouldn’t get caught in the door before getting in the driver’s side after putting her bag in the back.

The drive was long as the boat was docked in the Hamptons, but neither of them minded. Rafael had held her hand the whole time, both of them just listening to music that played on the radio. A comfortable silence with the occasional, “Oh look at the sunset,” from her. He would always reply with, “It really is beautiful,” but his eyes were only looking at her. The cotton candy sky made her skin glow, dancing across her tan cheeks, catching in the golden streaks in her brown eyes making it look like God himself had carefully weaved in only the finest of gold threads. “Dios mio,” he muttered, a smile on his face as he looked back at the road. His heart had been pounding in his chest, a sensation that one could only describe as having made him feel giddy.

When they had finally made it onto the boat, he had poured her a glass of wine, “You sit and relax, okay? Leave the cooking to me. Put your feet up, admire the view, relax.” He had stroked her cheek affectionately, sealed it with a kiss before he pulled back and tied an apron around his waist. His mami had made sure he knew how to cook because she wasn’t about to let him treat a woman as just a kitchen-maid. As he cooked, he would make sure she would get a taste of the dishes too, along with providing her a little charcuterie board to nibble on while she waited. He loved cooking for people, and he loved cooking for her even more, especially because she appreciated food just as much as he did. She would tell him if he needed to add a little more salt or a touch more acidity, and he would agree. He felt incredibly in tune with her, every suggestion they would say it almost at the same time resulting in the two of them laughing. Rafael would add, “Does that mean you owe me a soda when we get back?” To which she would reply, “I’ll get you the finest bottle of Jarritos, Rafi.”

He had served their dinner on the deck, pulled her seat out for her before he pushed her back in. He sat opposite her, clinked his wine glass with hers, “To a wonderful evening in a beautiful place with beautiful company.” He smiled and sipped his wine before returning the glass to the table. He struggled to take his eyes off her as they ate, the setting sun danced across the surface of the still water and kissed her skin was just such a glorious sight to him. If he knew how to take better photographs on his phone, he would, he would gladly have filled his phone storage with pictures of her in beautiful lighting, and even more candid moments. Now, that wasn’t to say he didn’t have any photos of her at all, but certainly not the amount he wanted. He didn’t want to take a photo of her and have it fail to capture how he sees her. He longed for the ability to paint her like art gods of old, to see the texture of her soft skin like Van Gogh and his swirls, to see the Holy beauty and power that radiates off her like the artwork that adorns so many churches. He saw it every time he looked at the stained glass in his church, while the sun made the images glow brilliantly, there was still a softness to the art- conveying such tenderness, the way Mother Mary cradled her son’s face just reminded him of how compassionate she is with victims.

While they did enjoy their meal, and she had loved the necklace he gifted her, there was a heaviness that weighed on the two of them. Neither had spoken much about the case, about whether it was wrong or right to want to end the life of a baby who would never know true freedom, never have the ability to play or exist without pain. He could see it in her eyes, the conflict, the pain, and she could see it in his. He had laid some blankets and pillows on the deck so they could lay there and watch the stars twinkle in the sky above, she cuddled in as close to him as she could without climbing into his ribs. He idly drew patterns on her side, “I don’t know if I can continue to do this case, mi amour,” he started, taking a steadying breath so his voice didn’t crack like he knew it would, like it always did when it involved a child, a baby. “I can’t prosecute someone who- who is going through so much pain, so much turmoil. It doesn’t seem fair. We- we are supposed to do real crimes, assaults, rapes, murders. Not this. Not parents fighting over whether to continue watching their little baby suffer or let it pass.”

She had looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed slightly before she returned her gaze to the sky, “It isn’t our decision to make, Rafi. The baby is not a pet, we can’t just put it to sleep when it is suffering. No matter how tough things may be, it is our job, our duty to persevere and ensure justice is served.” She took a breath, “If they had known when she was still pregnant, if the tests had been available, there would have been options they could have taken. But to do so now is- Tantamount to murder, no matter how-“ She shook her head, “It’s- It’s not our decision to make. It is a burden to the parents, an unfair one, one that hurts everyone but hurts them the most. All we can do is make sure they have the support they need no matter the outcome of the trial. I know that whatever you choose to do will be the right decision.”

Rafael looked at her with tears in his eyes, “Mi amour,” he whispered, “Will you still love me if I made the wrong one?” She cupped his cheek softly, her thumb had brushed lightly across the swell of it as she reassured him that she would. They had shared a soft kiss, while she wiped away the tears that fell onto his cheeks. They returned their gaze to the stars above, she told him which constellations were which, sometimes making them up just to see if he would catch on, but of course, when he is so in love, he never felt the need to correct or interject because why would he? Why would he when any sound that fell from her lips was like music to his hears? When any word or string of sentences felt as though Shakespeare himself was speaking to him, or Sylvia Plath or Dickenson. To be loved and to be so thoroughly in love was such a privilege to him. At church he would confess how much he loved her, how it felt almost sinful to be this in love, only to be told by the priest on the other side that a love as pure and deep as his was so far from sin that the angels in Heaven could even hear his words. That they too would play their harps and sing songs about this mortal love.

“I hope,” she said, “That this feeling, this- grief, this darkness does not become too much for you.” Truth be told, it hadn’t become too much for him, but for both of them. The grief that came with the decision he made sent shockwaves through them both that no amount of prayer and penance could fix.

That first night apart, the emptiness in the bed beside him was palpable, it felt as though there was an anchor weighing that side down just to accentuate the fact that he was alone and it was his own doing. He would rest his hand where she had laid and if he held his breath, he could almost trick himself into feeling her hand gently wrap around his and press a soft kiss to his knuckles. He could still hear her voice, in the evenings there was always a slight roughness to it that made him shiver, and she would talk about where they would go on holiday when they were forced to take leave. Italy, Paris, Cuba, Mexico, but it did not matter truly, as long as they had each other that is all that mattered. They would talk about how they hope that one day, there wouldn’t be such a hard battle for victims to be believed, and sometimes they would just talk about the stupid reality programs that were plaguing the tv. Everything she said or did was holy to him. And although it was blasphemous to say such a thing, he would gladly worship at the alter of her, saying prayers between her golden thighs as though she were a God herself.

He always thought he had left to protect her, to save her from further anguish, but perhaps he was too caught up in his own heartache to realize that she had also done it to protect him. She had always done that. Looked out for others when she should have been focusing on herself too. And maybe… Maybe things had just become too much even for her.

That’s what he thought until he saw the pictures of her, but he could tell things weren’t right. He knew that when she was truly happy, the captions to the photos would reflect that, whether it be a flood of emojis or a quote that resonated with her, but now it was nothing like that. Just simple, “Fun with friends,” and maybe she was having fun, but he knew that wasn’t true. Her true joy was unbridled, outshining the sun itself, making grey clouds go away on stormy days. Her love- No, Olivia’s love was something that was uncontained, addictive, pure, Holy. Even on the last night they had spent together, they had assured one another that they would do everything they can to support each other no matter what. It was laying there on the deck of the yacht that he realised now was their way of saying goodbye to one another despite the kiss he would press to her skin the next day.

Now here he was, curled up under the covers like a dejected dog that had been told no to a treat. The alcohol made his head hurt, and on an empty stomach, he knew that any sudden movement would surely make his head spin. While church did fill him with a sense of belonging and community that he had missed since moving, it still did not fill the void he now had within him. He still returned to a lifeless apartment, he couldn’t bring himself to adopt a rescue animal in fear he would make it depressed with his moping, or worse, it would get critically ill and he could not bear to make that decision again. Every time he returned home, he actually prayed for Olivia to be there waiting for him. To see her suitcase by his bedroom door, her shoes tucked in next to his by the front door, and her coat hanging up beside his. He couldn’t stop thinking about her even though every time it hurt him so deeply, filled him with a grief he can’t help but compare to when Holy Mary was grieving the loss of her beloved son.

Olivia. Olivia. Always Olivia. The brunette whose laugh revitalized him, whose eyes he would gladly drown in, whose tongue skillfully empowered everyone around her, or soothed the worries and fears one might have. Olivia, who even on her worst days, was still the most wonderful person to be around. Olivia whose lips felt so soft against his own. Olivia whom he loved.

He wipes his eyes, his cheek feeling cold due to the tears that had cooled on his sheets before startling when his doorbell goes off. He knew it wouldn’t be his mami because she always called him when she was coming over. He pulls himself out of bed, begrudgingly putting at least some pants and a shirt on before going to answer the door. He scratches his beard as he looks through the peephole, feeling what color he had on his cheeks fade instantly. He blinks a few times, his mind going blank as he forgets how to open a door. The bell rings again, the woman worrying her lip between her teeth before she starts to turn to leave. Rafael fumbles with the locks on his door before pulling it open, one word leaving his lips, “Olivia?” What was she doing here? He did send her a text months ago about his new address, but she had never replied. Why would she? Why would she come when that is how they had left things there on the streets of New York City? “Olivia- What- What are you doing here?”

The brunette turns to look at him, almost surprised he answered the door; she looks so tired, her eyes sunken in the way they used to when she was particularly troubled by a case, barely holding on to the life-raft she had crafted herself- a flicker of a smile spreads across her face, a ghost of how she used to be, “I- It’s the anniversary of when you passed the Bar exam,” she says softly, “I couldn’t miss it. I could never miss it.” But she had. She did. But he couldn’t blame her for that, it was a mutual break-up, they were both at fault for missing important events.

“Olivia…” Rafael wanted to push her away because how could they go through all that pain just for her to come back? Without saying anything? How could he let her in when he had hurt her just as much as she had him? His eyes dart to her neck, she was still wearing the necklace, but it was tarnished, like she had never taken it off, not even to shower or polish it. He rubs his bear again, the sharp bristles scratching against the soft skin of his palm as he debates what to do. But at the end of the day, it was Olivia, his Olivia, so, he steps to the side to let her in, closing and locking the door behind her, “I-“

“I know I missed a lot of things,” Olivia says after a while of thick silence, the space between the two of them felt endless but realistically they were only a foot apart. They both made a mistake, they both screwed up by walking away from one another when really they needed that support that the relationship provided. “I’m sorry I didn’t fight more- I’m sorry I didn’t fight more for you, for us. I thought it would have saved us both some grief. I thought- I thought we were both going to drown, and I didn’t want you to sink with me. I didn’t realize in doing that, I’d cast you away.” She looks down at the bag containing a gift for him, a Band-Aid to loosely stick over the wounds she had caused him, but once again, like she had so many times before, she saw something and thought of him. Oh God, God how she thought of Rafael, every moment of every day was filled with thoughts of him. Every time she went to church to pray, he was the first name to leave her lips as she asked for God to watch over those she loved.

When she lay awake at night she thought of him, when she turned on her side to stare at the wall, she would watch the way the lights from the city would glide through the sheer curtains and skate across the wall and remember how it looked as it kissed his skin, catching the silver hairs that adorned him. She couldn’t bare it any longer. “I got you this- I saw it and thought of you,” Olivia says quietly, handing Rafael the bag, “I know- I know it’s late, but- Happy Bar Anniversary.”

Rafael takes the bag, it felt remarkably heavy, weighed down by the time the two had spent apart, the aching in his chest that was left in her absence, the loneliness that had settled in his bones and often anchored him down to his bed for days on end. He goes over to the couch and sits down, Olivia sitting a distance away as he removes the crepe paper from the bag before taking out the small box at the bottom. Inside the box was a pair of cufflinks, the Scales of Justice in platinum, he had always wanted a pair like this but often felt like it was too arrogant for him to get. He carefully removes them from the box and examines them, he loved it, he knew he would because he always loved anything Olivia had given him, “They’re perfect,” Rafael says quietly, “Really nice, Olivia. Thank you.” He returns them to the box, not wanting to try them on right now. He closes the box then just stares at it, it felt weighty in his hands. The room was quiet, all he could hear was the steady breathing coming from himself and Olivia.

“I’m sorry- I’m sorry for everything, Rafael. I thought- I thought if I agreed to the break-up, that things would be easier. That I would be happy. I- I tried dating, there were some nice men, but you know- You know how they get when they find out what I do,” she smiles a bit, “Always wanting to know too much about work, about cases, some even- They always got so mad when I ended things. So angry. Said of course a stuck-up bitch like me would do that and wrongly persecute men because that’s all we’re good for. They’d push drinks on me, get pissed I’d turn them down because heaven forbid I want to avoid becoming like my mother. And all I could think whenever I came home was what it would have been like if it had been you on those dates. Those dates gave me flashbacks- triggered my PTSD and made me wonder if the medication even helps because I always feel like clawing my skin off to try and get out of it. That maybe we should have gone to therapy together and talked about what happened, but I was so scared that it would just make things worse. I know that makes me a coward and a fool, but I couldn’t bare the thought of losing you for good. Now I know that isn’t fair for me to say, but it’s the truth, and you deserve the truth after so long of nothing.” Olivia takes a breath, blinking back tears, “All I’m reminded of is all that could have been. That I could have continued winning cases because of you. That I could have been with you. I could have been truly happy, but now- now all I know is grief and heartache, surrounded by sharks that love to see me panic and scared. This darkness that seems to want to suck me in, and the only light that comes through those cracks are when I think of you.”

“Olivia,” Rafael puts the gift to the side, tentatively reaching out to hold his hand in hers, and oh its embarrassing how his heart soars upon feeling her hand in his own once more, “When I think of you, I think of warmth and hope. Nothing about you is dark. You are the sun on the first day of spring, radiant and a beacon. Those men- I’m sorry they did that to you, and I’m sorry it gave you flashbacks. But the meds- Do you feel like they’re helping? You’re still here, you’re still you, so they must be doing something, right?”

“Oh Rafael, you’re so sweet,” Olivia whispers, gently squeezing his hand, and there- there it is, that spark, that little ball of hope coming back to life in the very depths of her soul, the little ball trying to bloom into a beautiful flower that was him. “You’ve always been so sweet to me. You say you’re not romantic, yet you are, you always know what to say to me.” Olivia bites her lip, and he could tell she had been doing it more often due to the scarring on them, “Sometimes- Sometimes I think I’m getting better, and everything feels manageable, but then- then it all comes crashing down around me. There I am in the corner of my room clutching my pistol to my chest as I will the person banging at the front door to go away. It just- Feels like a battle I’ll never win, and the pills, the therapy, are just covering a wound that will keep festering.”

Rafael rubs circles lightly on the back of her hand, running his thumb lightly over her knuckles, “You’re still here, Olivia- You’re still here, so you’re still winning your fight. I know it’s hard, believe me I do. I don’t know how many times I have been to church and prayed and confessed and done penance in hopes it eases the turmoil inside me, but it helps even if it is just for the night. You can get through this.” He smiles a bit, an idea forming in his mind, “I think I’ve got some ice-cream in my freezer, how about we make some banana splits like we used to? Come on-“ He gets up and heads through to the kitchen where he starts rummaging through his freezer for the Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream. He still brought a pint of her favourite flavor because he hoped that one day they would see each other again. He lost count of how many evenings the two of them had made banana splits, saying it was a healthy meal because of the banana even though it was drenched in chocolate syrup and caramel.

“Oh- I don’t-“ Olivia lets out a quiet, nervous giggle as she follows him to the kitchen so she could help. She tried doing this with a friend who stayed the night and they weren’t interested in it, saying it was too unhealthy for them instead of just enjoying it as a treat. “You’ll mush the banana if you keep that up, honey,” the term of endearment slips from her tongue before she could stop herself, but neither of them cared, it felt like things were like they used to be and that is what they both needed right now. She shows him how to cut the banana in the peel before handing him the other so he could do it himself, “We have done this so many times, and every time you would still squish the banana.”

Rafael didn’t have the heart to tell her that he did know how to do it, he just loved whenever she would do it because that meant she was closer to him, close enough for him to smell the faint perfume on her skin, the shampoo in her hair, and the laundry detergent on her clothes, “Silly me,” he chuckles softly, cutting the banana correctly this time. When he’s done, he places it in the bowl, a smile on his face, “Perfect.” And in that moment, the way the evening sun shone through the windows and flooded the space with a heavenly glow made her skin look like gold, and he remembered that was how he had always looked at her- like she was crafted from natures finest gold, and that the sun glimmered in the sky just for him. His Olivia always looks so beautiful, even on the days where she struggled to get up with her mused hair, and slight smile, she still made butterflies come to life in his stomach.

“What?” Olivia asks, doubt returning to her eyes, “What is it? Do I have something on my face?” She brings her hands up to cover herself, but Rafael stops her, gently holding her hands in his, “Seriously, Rafi, what is it? Please- I-“

“Olivia,” he says softly, “There’s nothing on your face. There’s nothing wrong. Just in this lighting- the sun makes your skin look like God himself carved you out of Earth’s finest gold, and it’s so beautiful. You are so beautiful. You always have been.” He brings a hand up to tenderly stroke her cheek, his thumb brushing against it lightly, “They never once said that, did they?”

Olivia dips her head, still leaning against his hand but avoiding eye-contact, she couldn’t, “No- Well- Not as nicely as you did. Just whenever they wanted something. I never believed them when they said it because of the look in their eyes, just this real sleezy look- Like those men we would put in prison.” She worries her lip between her teeth once more, it had been so long since she had felt beautiful and not like a piece of meat, and while she always had with Rafael, she still couldn’t help but doubt it this time because what if he didn’t mean it? What if he was just saying it to make her feel better?

“That was my favorite thing to do, doing that with you. It was always so satisfying seeing them get mad,” he chuckles softly. “Remember when we made one cry because he turned down the plea deal and got sentenced to life? That was great,” Rafael gently tilts her head up, looking into her water-color eyes. “You know, even though you’re likely doubting what I have said, I assure you that I would never lie to you about anything, Liv, never. You know my mami would know, and God would be the one to tell her, then I’d never hear the end of it. So, when I say you’re beautiful and that you always have been, just know that I mean every word of it.”

“I know- I know that deep down, I do, I promise I do, but it’s still hard when the only people who have said that to me lately were just saying it after staring at my breasts. It’s like how you struggle to think you’re a good lawyer- I still remember when you lost a case… You spent so long going through the evidence and your notes as though it would somehow change the decision the jury made, that you’d find some smoking gun and the bullets and be able to bring it to them and tell them they were wrong. I told you- I tried telling you that you are good at what you do, and that I know you did your best, you snapped at me with tears in your eyes because how could I think you were good when the jury had let him off his charge?” Olivia traces his features lightly with her finger, “You hid away in your office as you willed yourself to somehow be better, to will the outcome to change. You refused to eat anything, even when your mom came with tamales. You spent so long in there, and all I could do was ensure you drank, make sure the windows were open, so you’d get some fresh air, and ate at least one tamal.”

It took days before he came out of the hovel he had built, sure he went to the bathroom, but that was it. He didn’t speak a word. The night he came out, she had left the curtains open so he could see the city lights and watch the sunset kiss the sides of the buildings and flood the streets. She had come in with some horchata and fresh churros, and she saw him in all his glory. Olivia had put the food and drink down on the table by the windows before sitting down near him, her fingers idly drawing patterns on his arm, “Hey,” is all she had said with that silly little smile on her face. She knew he would be famished but knew he wouldn’t be interested in eating tamales, so churros and horchata was the safest option that he rarely turned down. Rafael had reached for one of the churros, his hand shaking slightly from the lack of food, and slowly made his way through them, dipping them in the rich chocolate sauce.

“How can you still look at me that way?” He had asked her, “With stars in your eyes, like I’m a good person. I don’t understand how you can do that.”

“Because you are. I will always look at you that way, nothing will change that. That court case won’t change that either,” Olivia replied, sipping her own drink she had brought. “I know you see yourself differently, just like how I don’t see myself the way you do, but please let me tell you what I think of when my eyes land on you, Rafi. I find myself thinking of statues that people carved as offerings to their gods, the stained glass murals that are in the churches we love, and even then, they still wouldn’t capture you. I see caramel skin that chefs couldn’t even make after years of practice, emerald eyes like beautiful lakes left untouched by man because you- Oh you are a rarity, a limited-edition print that stars could only dream of collecting, and you- you are all mine. Your hair is kissed by the stars with flecks of silver scattered throughout that so many look to in the skies above in hopes of finding some guidance. Then your smile, how it makes me feel like the only woman in the world, dazzling me like when we see the gorgeous paintings on the church ceiling. The fire you have in the court room is enough to keep me warm for days after. Never have I met a more passionate, handsome man than you. No matter the outcome, I know, and so do the victims, that you have done everything you can to win. A loss does not detract from that because all it does is show you did all you could.”

Rafael couldn’t breathe, staring at Olivia in shock and surprise that after all these years, she still remembered what she had said to him word for word, and how she managed to seem so serious despite the mess they were making while in the kitchen. Rafael, himself, had remembered that poem too, word for word, and tried reciting it to himself on the days where not even church could lift his spirits, but it never moved him the way it did when she said it. “You remembered,” he said after a while of silence, a small smile tugging at his lips, “You remembered it word for word. God, and does it still fill me with butterflies too.”

Olivia laughs lightly, her true laugh when she was happy, the one that came from deep within her stomach and bubbled out of her throat like the tune of a songbird, “Of course I did. I remember everything when it comes to you: How one of your favorite foods is your abuela’s tamales but you say your mom’s so you don’t get a clip round the ear, how you like peace lilies and begonias, how when you’re craving something you like really greasy tacos from the taco-truck under the bridge near the Bronx, although sometimes you just want a taco bowl from Chipotle and vow I don’t tell anyone you committed such a sin. I remember how you always wanted to adopt a rescue dog from the shelter, how you absolutely hate driving and would rather catch public transport.”

Rafael’s cheeks flush a deep red and his smile grows, “Oh Liv,” he whispers, feeling that little red thread pulling the two of them together once more, just like it had when they first met, although back then he didn’t believe in such a thing, “It’s always been you, hasn’t it?”

“And it has always been you, Rafi. Always.” Olivia cups his cheeks and leans in, their breath intermingling in the small gap between the two of them, she smelled off coffee and peppermint gum she always chewed when anxious.

“Liv,” he whispers, wanting nothing more than to feel her soft lips upon his own once again, “Are you sure?”

“I always am when it involves you,” she replies before kissing him softly, and in that moment, magic felt real again- the spark that travels from her lips to his then through his body, electrifying every single nerve ending in his body. It was cliché, but cliches are only that way because they are true. His hands return to her cheeks, tilting his head slightly so that their lips could fit together better, two puzzle-pieces after being separated for so long still fitting together as though they had just joined- perfection.

Olivia is the first to pull back, her cheeks rosy, "You still using the lip scrub and beard oil? It’s really like kissing a marshmallow and being tickled by candy-floss, your lips and beard are so soft.” She giggles and steals another kiss before putting a dab of chocolate syrup on his nose, her eyes twinkling once more, “Now we match.”

“I do, you know me, Liv, skin-care and beard-care are important.” Rafael chuckles and bites his lip, gently pulling the brunette closer, “Now we match. I think- I think you just gave me a reason to look forward to things again, Liv. Tell me, please, will you stay?”

“I don’t- I didn’t bring any clothes- I only have my bag,” she admits, looking at his hands holding hers, “I don’t want to leave NYC, Rafi-“

“That’s okay, Liv. I just- For tonight at least. You can wear one of my shirts tomorrow, and I-“ His cheeks color, “Have a few of your things you left in my old apartment. Then- If you want, we can- I can come visit you, we can take turns until we feel ready to move in again. We’ll be okay, Liv. You and I- Will make it work, we always will.”

Olivia looks at him, “We will be, won’t we? I- Would like that, a lot, Rafi. Thank you.” She leans in and presses a soft kiss to his cheek.

“We’ll figure it out tomorrow, okay? Tomorrow I’ll show you around the place, I know it like the back of my hand, oh and the church- Dios mio, it’s beautiful. Oh Liv, I have so much to tell you.”

“And now, Rafi, we have all the time in the world. I’m not going to walk away from us again. Not this time. Not again. I promise.”

“I promise you too, Liv.”

#Barson #Olivia Benson x Rafael Barba #Rafael Barba x Olivia Benson #Olivia Benson #Rafael Barba #Law and Order svu

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qipsir · 7 months ago

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Bill 702 was passed in America. Here's what it means

This is what you're gonna do:

You're gonna go to the app store and you're gonna download Cwtch. It's an end to end encryption app that was developed by Tor Browser, aka the Onion Browser

On your computer, you're gonna download Firefox and you're gonna get all the security stuff you can. I recommend Ghostery and Privacy Badger as well as Facebook Container. You're gonna get a cookie auto-deleter and you're going to go to Google Takeout, download all your data, delete ALL of your files and documents, and find somewhere else to put them. A USB drive if they're memories, LibreOffice or a platform like Reedsy if it's creative works that you are actively working on and/or will need to share.

You're going to use DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, or Oceanhero. I know there are other alternatives search engines, but these three are the best I've found. Bonus that the latter two use searches to fund planting trees and cleaning the ocean respectfully(?).

You're gonna get sliding covers for your phone AND computer cameras, or at least find a way to cover them that's easily removable for video calls.

You're gonna switch from Gmail to Proton Mail, and Proton has a free VPN too. You're gonna get both of those. You're gonna get Tor Browser browser too because you can never be too careful (it has a built in VPN).

You're gonna get MP3 players and download your music from Spotify and YouTube - which also means you can technically separate art from artist because on MP3, you can listen as many times as you want without financially supporting them.

You're not gonna pay for Netflix or Hulu or Disney+ or anything like that anymore. I'm not saying you should use these but there are websites out there like SFlix that have so many movies and shows FOR FREE and you "TOTALLY SHOULDNT USE THEM WITH A VPN BECAUSE PIRACY IS WrOnG". How dare you steal from exploitative, multi million dollar businesses that don't care about their workers smh..

If you are in support of Palestine, you are going to download the app No Thanks!. It has a regularly updated list of all companies that support Israel and evidence/articles to back it up.

If you get a chance, go watch The Great Hack. It's a fantastic documentary that lets you see inside the world of psychological manipulation through the world of advertisement and influence.

Stay safe out there. Please. Every moment that you are alive and thriving is another moment they are losing.

#fuck the government #fuck america #anticapitalist #bill 702 #internet safety #privacy #government #senate #dont give up #keep fighting #we are winning

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mamamittens · 7 months ago

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The Ticket to Success (+18)

This work was commissioned by @raptures-finest, as usual it was a pleasure working with you!

OC (Andy) X Koala

Warnings: Masturbation, horny thoughts, hot tub sex, unprotected sex, and implied oral.

Word count: 7,080

Andy huffed, shuffling through the wad of mail he’d struggled for five minutes to remove from his mailbox. How the hell the mailman managed to stuff this many envelopes into the tiny box, he wasn’t sure, but it was a little amazing to behold. Well, it would be more enchanting if it didn’t result in him cussing out the thick stack of junk mail and weighing the benefits of tearing it out with his teeth for the feral satisfaction it would bring.

Luckily for the post office, Andy had enough restraint to not do that.

Barely.

So now he was aggressively sorting through it at his coffee table, wondering how a day could manage to pile up this many colorful envelopes, flyers, and brochures of everything from car dealerships, grocery store sales—oh, that’s a damn good deal for a turkey, but what the hell would he even do with a whole turkey?!—churches, window estimates, phone companies, actual bills be needed to keep, and thoughtful offers to take out loans he couldn’t afford to pay back.

It's so exhausting being popular, it seems. At the very least, more popular than he’d been for the past few months.

Andy would never describe his social life as hot and popping or any other vaguely cringe phrase, but it had been particularly dry and depressing since he got dumped a while back.

Over text.

Andy handled it with dignity, of course…

And a few gallon jugs of ice cream with reruns of canned laughter sitcoms to soothe his soul as well as his wounded ego. But that was besides the point and no one’s business but his internet history and the mysteriously thriving succulent he doesn’t recall buying, potting, or even watering even once. It also keeps moving but unless it starts talking to him, he’s going to ignore the vaguely spooky nature of his potted plant.

Hell, if it starts paying rent he’ll give it its own room too.

Still, in the midst of many creative scams, deals, and bizarre attempts to claim his Sundays, there was a rather plain envelope with a smiley face logo. Cheerfully calling him a winner. Andy wasn’t so depressed that’s all it would take to get him to take out a fifty thousand dollar loan though…

Andy leaned forward suddenly, squinting at the return address.

It sounded familiar.

And not like it was his bank kind of familiar.

Happy Holiday Getaway Giveaway.

A little generic, maybe that’s what got his attention?

Andy huffed, hand moving to smack the envelope onto the junk pile and then yelped when he instead slapped the innocent succulent he did not recall putting on his coffee table. The cute, chubby leaves barely moving an inch, still thriving with pretty pink buds.

“Sorry!”

Seriously, when the hell did he get this plant?!

Andy thought hard, narrowing his eyes at the strange thing in it’s clay pot painted like a takeout container.

It was weird enough that he just might have got it himself but… when?

Couldn’t have been after he got dumped—the only needless purchases he’d made were video games and sweets after that disastrous text.

Before it then?

He doesn’t remember why he would have—he’s not a plant guy and Cashmere certainly wasn’t either… ah!

Andy nearly jumped, remembering suddenly why the name was familiar.

It was a sweepstakes! He’d entered a sweepstakes hoping for a nice vacation with his then-girlfriend!

Then she dumped him two days later…

Andy ripped open the envelope and looked over the contents.

Shockingly… he’d won.

All inclusive trip to an exotic resort. A new one at that, so the amount of other guests were low—maybe this was a sly way to test the facilities? The pictures were stunning but vaguely liminal if he was being honest.

Sleek, modern white walls with pristine pools surrounded by a golden beach. Paradise perfectly packaged for the wealthy consumer who didn’t mind the vaguely canned feeling of the architecture. It would probably look a little less fake with more people but the few pictures he had only had a few runway models lounging around. Distantly, Andy worried that this was a trafficking scheme of some kind.

But no, he’d looked up the resort when he first applied for the sweepstakes.

It’s very real. And very new.

In fact, the paperwork he got warned of conditions. Mainly a required set of activities he’d need to partake in. Interviews of his and his guest’s experience.

Looks like he was being offered the once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a guinea pig for an expensive resort. Well, him and one other person.

“Shit…” Andy muttered, looking around his frankly messy apartment.

Who the hell would go with him on vacation for a week?

Andy had his phone out, scrolling through his contacts nervously.

Have to be single—don’t want the drama or some misunderstanding otherwise…

That knocked out several people.

Definitely not calling family, that sounds like hell on earth.

There goes several more… his contacts are pretty sparce now that he thought about it.

If this ends up being shit, I don’t want to hear about it at work…

Aaaand there goes a majority of his contacts.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Andy scowled.

“Okay, who’s crazy enough to beta-test a bougie resort or knock out teeth if it’s a trafficking scheme…” Andy’s finger scrolled directly to one person.

Koala.

Well… yeah.

Koala would definitely agree to go.

Nervous, Andy shot her a text, wincing when he realized their last conversation was nearly a month ago about splitting the cost of takeout. But it was too late now, his shot was well and truly out there.

Three dots bounced at the bottom of his screen for several moments.

‘u tryin to get ur organs harvested or smt?!’

Three, mocking dots bounced again.

‘fuck it we ball’

Andy blinked, shocked he barely had to justify himself.

“…fuck it, we ball.” Andy echoed distantly, realizing with growing horror that he’d just agreed to a week-long resort stay with Koala.

…What would he even wear?

What would Koala wear?!

Andy shot up, running to his closet to try and find decent clothes to wear.

Depending on how suspicious Koala was, she was either packing bikinis or brass knuckles—Andy nearly smacked himself.

It was Koala.

She was packing both.

Short of any brass knuckles himself, Andy settled for at least two pairs of khakis and worked from there. Worst case scenario, Koala just makes fun of his fashion choices. As long as he packed sunscreen, that should be the most embarrassment he has to worry about.

Shockingly, that was not the most embarrassment he needed to worry about.

Andy had, in his confusion, forgotten a key feature of this trip beyond trying out a new facility he’d otherwise never get to step foot in.

This was designed as a couple’s retreat.

So, there he was, standing side by side with his dear friend Koala as they stared at the only bed they had available.

Red silk sheets littered with rose petals and chocolates. Clean white candles lit in their own holders on the bedside tables as mood lighting while the afternoon sun stained the ocean view with lovely pinks and purple hues. The only good news was that the bed was in a normal shape, but he hadn’t seen the bathroom yet so he wasn’t going to assume he was in the clear for anymore overt honeymoon-vibes.

“Ah…” Andy found himself failing to say anything witty for the occasion. A joke, perhaps, to cut the tension. But really, what was there to say here?

“Ah.” Koala agreed with an amused grin. “Well, at least the room is nice!” Andy nodded woodenly, looking out at the spacious accommodation.

Much like the rest of the resort, it was rather sparsely decorated. Bare, in fact, except for a few modern art pieces that looked like they were made with a max budget of twelve buck but ended up costing twelve hundred at minimum. White walls, warm recessed lighting, hardwood floors, and off-beige colored furnishings for the most part. There was the occasional pop of saturated color, like the red bedding and what appeared to be teal accents in the bathroom, but for the most part the resort seemed to be trying to convince him that they’d died. And not honorably, either.

Like, really boringly died at the end of a long nine-to-five with no real attachments to anything but the vague concept of a full night’s rest. No personality to speak of beyond what could be agreed on in a tense but ultimately meaningless boardroom meeting of old, out of touch CEOs.

Nice, but like it would really suck to live here.

The view was nothing to sneeze at, though. Panoramic windows overlooking a private balcony of just a small slice of the ocean just off the kitchen. A little cozy hot tub merrily bubbling away. Not that Andy could imagine cooking anything in the kitchen, it looked painfully staged. Like he’d open the fridge to find an open glass pitcher of milk and sample sized glass bottles of syrup for coffee. Maybe craft coffee beans and dragon fruit in the cupboards if whoever staged it remembered that people generally tended to eat things but damned if they could remember how that worked.

Sterile and just a little out of touch seemed like a good description of the place, actually. Even if it was bigger than his apartment.

Andy eyed the beige couch and wondered if he’d smell like a department store after sleeping on it. It looked too small to fit him though, and he wasn’t a particularly large guy to start with.

“Well, at least it’s not a trafficking scheme.” Koala finally sighed, setting down her bag and removing her cap. Soft red hair puffing out now that it was free. “I feel too gross to sit anywhere though.” She huffed and Andy definitely agreed with her.

“Well, we’re free for the rest of the night to settle in. You can try out the shower first. We’ve got to show up for breakfast and…” Andy fished in his pocket for the activity list. Clicking his tongue as he squinted over the frilly calligraphy. “After that, snorkeling? Snorkeling at eleven for two hours and then lunch. Free until dinner at seven.” He eventually summarized. Koala looked at him with intrigue.

“What else do we have to do?” She asked, popping open her suitcase to sort through the contents.

“Looks like the day after tomorrow we have a short nature hike after breakfast and a spa treatment after lunch until dinner. Next day is a cooking class to make our own dinner. Yoga early the next day. The last two days are our own outside of meal times. Then we leave before noon.” Andy mused, glancing over the list.

Really, he’d have liked to choose his own activities, but considering the whole damn thing was free, he had no real complaints on the matter. Nothing seemed too outlandish at least.

“Sounds like a pretty decent plan. Kinda wish the meal times were more flexible but I guess the whole thing’s free so…” Koala shrugged while unknowingly agreeing with him. Plucking out some clothes from her suitcase and going to the open doorway to a clean, white tile bathroom with teal decorations. Andy smiled, deciding to go onto the balcony and check out the view while he waited for Koala to finish taking a shower.

Frankly, it was breathtaking. The distant crash of the waves below. Faint conversations of staff and probably a few other guests testing out the facilities. Sea salt heavy in the air as a cool breeze swept by. Andy could easily get lost in this sort of view…

If only he could forget how there’s literally only one bed.

And the couch in the main area was not big enough for him to sleep comfortably after a moment of contemplation unless he suddenly gained the ability to sleep like a lego on it’s side. And even then, he’s pretty sure his ass would be hanging off the edge.

It was unclear if it was meant for just looks or really skinny rich people.

Who knows, maybe there’s a secret couch-upgrade where they swap it for an identical fixture with three extra inches of cushion… probably costs an extra grand per inch though, knowing his luck.

And now he was trying not to think of the very obvious issue he’d need to solve for the week by imagining couch-related-upcharges.

Thing was, if it was anyone else, he might get away with sleeping on the floor.

But Koala would toss his ass into the sunset if he even tried to imply she needed separation to ‘protect her modesty’ or whatever. So… no. Koala would not stand for him to sleep on the floor and she’d laugh herself hoarse if he tried to squeeze onto the barely functional couch when he’s the reason she got to be here. And to hell would she sleep on the faux leather couch when there’s a perfectly good bed. Really, she wouldn’t see any issue with sharing the bed once they tossed out the rose petals. They’re friends. It’ll be just like a sleep over!

Because it kind of is.

And they are friends.

But Andy’s issue was more… personal.

He sucked in a sharp breath, gripping the sturdy railing suddenly as he finally allowed himself to admit the truth.

Koala was really pretty and Andy was a horrible cuddle bug.

Anything breathing in his vicinity ended up in his arms shortly after he passed out. Pets. People. Once, a particularly almost certainly haunted doll.

Side note of his own thoughts, Andy frowned at the realization that a succulent might not be the first or only vaguely haunted object following him in his own home…

And he’s getting distracted again! He needed to think of a solution before Koala finished up or he’d be stuck flailing in front of her trying to hedge around how handsy he got in his sleep!

It was mortifying. All the more mortifying by how lovely Koala was. Even if she scared him a little, but, never let it be said that his response to fear was rational. And he’d always thought Koala was lovely just as much as he knew she was out of his league. Embarrassingly so, actually.

It’s a whole thing is what Andy was trying to get at.

And Andy, the mad genius and utter fool he was, invited her to a beta-test couple’s retreat for an entire week.

If there was anything more horrifying than a bible in the nightstand, Andy was saving Koala the trouble and flinging himself into the setting sun.

“You better have brought pajamas because I am not cuddling up to your naked butt.” Koala piped up suddenly from right behind Andy, startling him badly enough to yelp. Face red from embarrassment and the thought of such an intimate embrace. Loose shorts barely mid thigh and a matching red spaghetti strap, crop top her pajama of choice for the night.

Andy quickly looked away from her soft shoulders exposed to the setting sun and, even more enchanting and dangerous, the gentle curve of her inner thighs. Her skin flushed and silky. Lean muscle packed neatly away under plush curves. Enough to fool most men, but not Andy. No, Andy knew better.

Even if he’d probably handle the sight of her so casually dressed better if he didn’t know how easily she’d break his spine. Alas, it was too late for him on many fronts.

“C-Course I did!” Andy sputtered quickly. “I-I’d never—” Koala snickered, rubbing a towel over her wet hair. Eyes bright with amusement as she smiled. His heart fluttering at her expression that he could almost imagine as enamored.

Andy cleared his throat quickly.

“Anyway! I thought I’d take the couch—s-so it’s not a concern!” Andy tried to deflect but Koala arched her bow at him. Pretty pink lips twisting into a scowl.

“Andy. I’m not convinced I could fit on that couch laying down. Any smaller and it would be an artsy end table.” Koala pointed out dryly, shaking her head. “Just take a shower, Andy. And don’t you even think of trying the couch.” She huffed, storming off. Wet hair bouncing over her shoulders, flicking water behind her.

Well… that was that, he supposed.

What a shame.

Dead of mortification on his first night on an all-expenses paid vacation. What a waste.

Andy swiped up a change of clothes and his little toiletry bag before Koala could do something horribly embarrassing like rifle through his bag and pick out his underwear. He didn’t pack any of his goofy boxers but he just knew that somehow Koala would reach in and pull out something gaudy. Like heart boxers or middle-school style dicks. Badly edited cat pics or maybe repeated ‘live, laugh, love’ patterned boxers.

He didn’t know how, he just knew she would.

Andy barely glanced at the bed to see Koala tucked in on one side, petal free, and scrolling on her phone in boredom. She looked so cute and domestic waiting for him to join her.

It took effort to rip his thoughts away from such dangerous trails, choosing instead to puzzle out the fancy shower. How Koala managed without cursing up a storm, he wasn’t sure.

Or maybe he just didn’t hear her?

Still, he managed somehow and quickly ducked under the spray. Letting hot water trail down his spine, cool teal tiles pressing into his forehead as he braced himself. Fingers clenching as he imagined the bare plush of his palms being something else. A different kind of heat building in his blood just as quickly as shame did. His cock throbbing with neglect as he tried to think of something else.

Anything but how soft her thighs would be in his hands.

How sweet she’d sound as he kissed up them.

She’d break him in half for the audacity—and if it happened after he got a chance to try his luck, he’d likely thank her.

Andy sucked in a sharp breath, his calloused palm wrapped around his cock. Water squeezed against his stiff length. He clenched his fist, thumb rubbing over the tip. Slipping in precum as his knees threatened to buckle.

Andy justified his indecency with the knowledge that if he didn’t take care of it now, he’d be likely wind up with it burning a hole through his pants. It certainly wasn’t going away on it’s own, no matter how cold he made the water—it was going to be a very long week if he didn’t find a way to manage this issue.

Andy gasped and panted into the hot, moist air as he stroked himself. Electricity shooting up his spine with every motion. Mind running wild as he pleasured himself for the first time in months. Unreasonably turned on from recycled fantasies with his ex being fashioned into something more compelling. Koala’s face where Cashmere’s once was—had originally been before he shamed himself for thinking of his friend that way while he had a girlfriend.

And now here he was, almost choking on steam as he went faster. His palm slapping the base of his cock just loud enough for his ears to burn. His eyes squeezed shut as he swallowed a moan. Imagining Koala gently crying out his name.

“—Andy?”

He gasped, nearly slipping as he came. Spilling onto the wall and his fist in thick spurts.

Nearly choking, still trembling with the aftershocks, Andy responded.

“U-Uh, yeah, K-Koala?” Andy said, trying to sound casual as his hand stroked his cock, riding the waves of his orgasm. It didn’t escape his notice how he throbbed when she spoke up. A particularly heavy spurt of cum splashing the wet tile as his whole body flushed with heat.

“Want me to set an alarm an hour before breakfast?” she asked politely. A fresh wash of shame falling over him.

Koala was such a good friend and here he was!

A fucking degenerate jacking off to her!

At least his libido cooled down considerably but at what cost?

“Yeah. Thanks, Koala.”

“No problem!”

Andy pulled his hand away, face burning as the water washed away the only evidence of his shame.

Hopefully, that would be the end of it.

That would not be the end of it, unfortunately.

Andy woke just before sunrise with a whine. His nose tickling with the soft scent of peaches and honey. Soft breath blowing across his chest. His cock arching against the fabric of his sleep pants to nestle into a soft, warm crease.

Koala was curled up in his arms, hands clenched into his shirt.

And his cock was practically trying to slip into her shorts.

Mortified, Andy tried to slip away. To maybe turn around or escape to the bathroom. But Koala whined, low and sweet. Her body shifting in a roll, grinding against his thigh trapped between her legs. He couldn’t help the hiss that escaped him, his whole body freezing as he tried to will his erection away.

Andy did not fall back asleep easily. But he only tried to slip away once more, triggering a more petulant and aggressive shuffle. He then realized that if he kept going, Koala would wake up to something a lot more embarrassing than his hard on pressing into her thigh. Uneasy, he fell back asleep hoping it would go away on it’s own.

He could only assume it did, seeing as he woke up to a cheery alarm instead of Koala’s hands on his throat, throttling him for his indecency. Andy groaned and buried his face into the pillow when the image of her straddling him did little to tamper down his pre-existing problem.

“Wake up, goober! It’s time to get dressed!” Koala chirped from somewhere nearby. Andy sighed, face still buried in his pillow.

At least she sounded happy… he could handle a week of mortifying self-control if it meant she had fun.

“Alright, alright. I’m up!” Andy huffed, smiling as he rolled out of bed.

And promptly wanted to roll back into it when he saw Koala.

“How do I look?”

Practically glowing with excitement, the cutest expression of mischief on her face. Cut off shorts barely mid thigh and a soft pink, short sleeved button up tied under her breasts, exposing her stomach and the cups of a yellow floral swim suit tied around the back of her neck. Large sunglasses perched on her head as the morning sun peaked in through the gauzy curtains. Flip flops clapping against the tile as she finished rubbing in sunscreen over her arms. A faint sheen across her cheeks hinting she’d already applied it there as well.

“You look good! Uh, new swim suit, right?” Andy asked, certain he’d never seen that one before.

“Yep! Got it just for the trip! And a matching swim suit for you too!” Koala grinned, tipping her head towards the dresser with aforementioned swim trunk.

A couple’s set?

Shit… Andy wanted to kiss her, she looked so cute and happy. And she’d so thoughtfully gotten him something nice to swim in rather than his ratty old pair of swim shorts he’d gotten years ago. As abrasive as Koala could be, there was no denying that she could be incredibly thoughtful while treating it as an afterthought. It’s one of the many things Andy loved about Koala.

Confident, passionate, endlessly thoughtful in her own way, and stunning even when she was pissed as hell. The list was really endless and Andy would die a happy man if he ever got to properly thank her for being even a fraction of the wonderful woman she was.

Not that she really needed his thanks, honestly.

She was also a little impatient, which Andy was reminded of as her expression began to twist into something approaching frustrated.

“Oh! Uhm, thanks, Koala! It’ll be nice to match when we go snorkeling!”

Andy picked up the shorts and raced to the bathroom, not wanting to see her good mood spoiled because he got lost in his head. This trip was a stroke of luck and he’d be a terrible friend if he wasted it waxing poetic about how great she was.

The resort was as nice and vaguely minimalist-industrial-backroom-hell that had been advertised. Everything looked so clean and hauntingly off-white. Decorated only with lush greenery and pieces of modern art he could only fathom as interesting to look at and not much else. The staff were also very nice with clean, pressed uniforms designed for the warm, breezy weather. They at least looked like real, comfortable, not-quite-minimum-wage people. Andy would have lost his mind if they all looked like supermodels.

“Ah, pardon me ma’am, do you know where they’re serving breakfast?” Andy asked a passing maid in pastel yellow, noting the name tag pinned to her chest. The woman, maybe around forty with a deep tan and laugh lines, chuckled.

“Yes, I do. Follow me!” Mariah cheerfully declared, turning on her heel sharply.

“Oh! Directions are fine if you’re busy, Miss Mariah!” Andy called out, but the woman barely paused as she laughed over her shoulder.

“It’s no problem, sir! We barely have any guests for this trial run so my hands are empty of meaningful work.” Mariah called out. “And no ‘miss’! That goes for either of you kids!” Koala laughed.

“Alright, ma’am!” She responded with a sharp grin as Mariah glared back.

“Sorry, miss—I mean ma’am—I mean Mariah!” Andy sputtered, faltering under what was definitely a well-worn motherly glare. Koala slapped his arm with a bark of laughter as Mariah joined in.

“This is the dining hall where every meal is served. I don’t know when you have cooking lessons but there’s a special area just to the left where Javier, my cousin, will teach you. If you have any questions, just let me know! You two have fun—oh! And if you wish to be, well, undisturbed, there’s a tag to hang on the door handle! Just don’t forget to remove it when you leave your room!” Mariah chuckled with a wink, leaving Andy sputtering again as Koala blushed.

“T-Thank you, Mariah!” Andy tried to speak, as the woman in question left them to their meal with a laugh.

Their breakfast was served buffet style. The table clearly not stocked to capacity, likely to cut down on waste, but still more than enough for a good meal. Andy served himself pancakes with fresh fruit, getting little samples of the ones he’d never seen before and would likely never have the chance to eat again. Koala’s own plate similarly stacked with immaculate, golden brown pancakes.

They ate in companionable silence, Koala occasionally stealing some of Andy’s fruit to try, which he offered only mild protest to.

The food was delicious and Andy realized it was the nicest meal he’d had in months. A little regretful that he’d be back to depression takeout when the week was up. Still, he’d enjoy the moment while it lasted.

They had over an hour before snorkeling, so they spent that wandering around the resort. Looking at the vaguely off putting architecture and areas that clearly would be expanded on at a later date. Koala’s arm wrapped around his as they meandered towards the beach where their lesson would take place, waving to the staff they passed by with amused expressions.

Their snorkeling teacher was a man built from a mountain, Andy was sure. Tan and broad with thick arms of hidden muscle. Salt and pepper hair tied in a bun and a stubby beard barely hiding his grin. He looked at them like they were the funniest thing he’d seen all day.

“Aha! Our lucky guests, a pleasure to see you two! First and foremost, I am Victor! I will be your guide and teacher for our little excursion!” He bellowed, a faint accent twisting his words pleasantly. “You have your sunscreen, yes? Apply more while I inform you of the safety rules!”

Andy and Koala did so while Victor followed his very informative script of what they were allowed to do, what they weren’t allowed to do, and how to respect the environment as they observed.

“Perhaps, if you impress me, you will be allowed to help hunt down lionfish! They’re unfortunately invasive in these waters and many locals fish them for fun. They’re also dangerous, so don’t touch them if you see them! Remain calm, don’t touch anything spiky, and you should be fine. Don’t disturb any coral, our gift shop has plenty of ethically harvested samples if you wish to have a keepsake.” Victor laughed, though he still sounded quite serious. “Above all else, just have fun! Our waters are beautiful and deserve to be appreciated as they are!”

And Victor was right about that.

They were stunning.

Miles of clear, clean water teeming with sea life. Colorful and curious fish swimming by them as Victor showed them around. They did see the invasive fish Victor mentioned and steered clear as instructed. Andy wasn’t sure he’d take Victor up on his offer of hunting trips, but it seemed like an interesting experience at least.

Andy would never forget how beautiful Koala looked though.

Twisting to watch a passing school of iridescent fish so close they grazed her with their fins. Her hair a halo around her stunned face. Bikini strings nipped by particularly curious fish mistaking them for worms perhaps. Sunlight streaming through the water in wide ribbons around them. Sharks idly swimming beneath them as they patrolled the seafloor peacefully.

Andy kind of thought he’d died for a moment, forgetting his own hands cupped to let small fish explore the unexpected space.

As ever present his desire was, Andy frequently lost himself in how beautiful Koala was. In and out of the water.

Curious and sweaty, surrounded by foliage and flowers as they hiked. Showing off a blooming flower bigger than her face with a wide grin.

Utterly relaxed and nearly asleep as she sighed, back popping under the attentive hands of her masseuse. His groan partly from sheer relief as his entire spine was reset and the hazy, distant smile Koala gave him.

Scowling as she carefully tried to debone a fish for their meal. Javier laughing as he barely looked at his own, watching them both struggle. He at least looked over their attempts to make sure it was safe, only needing to pluck a few from either of them with a proud smile.

Nearly halfway through their vacation and Andy was convinced he’d fallen in love with Koala all over again. The two of them relaxing in the hot tub as the sun dipped down over the horizon.

“Man, this is the best.” Koala sighed, partly leaning over the edge to take a cube of cheese from a sample tray that had been delivered to their room in leu of dinner—some sort of malfunction taking the kitchen out of commission. A promise of grilled fish a while later as an apology they gratefully accepted. Andy swore he could smell it down below on the beach, perhaps lionfish Victor caught he mused.

“I know, right? Even a kitchen disaster turns into a win. If this happened back home, I’d either be standing outside while the fire department hosed down my building or bedridden with food poisoning.” Andy laughed, slipping under the hot water until it lapped at his chin. Koala looked at him over her shoulder, skin already a few shades darker with faint white lines where her bikini had been resting consistently.

Now much more practiced, Andy managed to ignore the hot impulse to run his hand over her spine just to feel her breath under his palm.

Koala smiled and sank into the water, partly floating to his side and accidentally sitting on his thigh.

Before he could apologize for taking up so much space, she grinned and slipped fully onto his lap, leaning against his bare chest.

Andy froze, uncertain hands stuck just before he could grab her soft waist to move or—or maybe steady her?

“Best seat in the house, huh?” Koala winked, teasing him. Andy chuckled nervously. The trip had clearly been too peaceful if she was teasing him like this.

“A-Ah, c-can’t beat the view, clearly!” Andy stammered before flushing, looking out at the sunset to emphasize his meaning. Not wanting Koala to move because she thought he was being a creep—though the sight of her leaning against him was stunning. Warm, sun-kissed skin on full display, water dripping down between her breasts and under her swimsuit.

Koala sighed, her slender hand wrapping around his wrist as she brought his hand to her stomach. Andy nearly jumping out of the water as she looked up at him, pressing his hand higher until his thumb grazed under her covered breast. Her dark eyes searching his as his heart thundered against his chest.

“What if I could make the view better?” Koala asked softly, her expression almost hopeful.

“You’re already here.” Andy breathed, her eyes shocked at his declaration.

Andy was pretty shocked at his audacity too.

Rather than be offended or any variation of pissed, Koala smiled, quite pleased as she pushed his hand higher. Allowing him to press his palm over her breast entirely.

“I-I—are you—Koala, are you—do you want m-me to--?” Andy could barely breathe, his words cut off as she leaned up and pressed her soft lips to his chin. His hand reflexively squeezing, drawing out a soft moan.

“I’ve been waiting for you to touch me for ages.” Koala whispered against his skin.

It was like a dam burst open in his chest. All heat and thrill as it felt like his wildest dreams came true in an instant.

She wanted him?

She wanted him?!

“How much do you want me to touch you?” Andy asked softly, voice hoarse as he fought the urge to moan when she pressed her ass into his lap further.

“Completely. Anywhere you want to, Andy.” Koala swore, voice like silk in his ears.

“Anything you want, lovely.” Andy sighed, settling his hand on her thigh like he’d dreamed shamefully on that first night. Kneading and brushing between them while his other hand toyed with her breast. Teasing the cup of her swimsuit down until her breast spilled free. His eyes fixed on her face as she blushed, lips falling open in a clear invitation he didn’t deny.

Her lips were soft against his, her moan tickling against his skin as he brushed his thumb over her nipple. Teasing it into a stiff peak while he stroked her thigh. Dizzy from how soft she was everywhere. A groan rattling his lungs as her tongue slipped between his teeth. Andy didn’t know when he closed his eyes, but they fluttered open instantly at her bold motion. Desperate to see her expression as he curled in closer to her to return the favor.

She looked almost frail in his arms. Like she was dissolving under his tongue, sweet, delicate flavors driving him deeper.

He wanted to see her break down under his hands. Watch as the strongest woman he knew utterly fell apart for him. Soft breaths keening between her lips as his hand between her thighs slipped to her trembling belly. Teasing lower slowly, pressing under elastic as she whined, breast heaving in his palm.

“Is this what you want, lovely?” Andy asked, panting against her lips as he flicked his tongue over the trembling swell. His fingertips shyly slipped under her bikini bottom.

“Andy, don’t you dare stop now!” Koala hissed, the usually threatening tone weak under his apologetic kiss.

“I don’t mean to tease you, baby. I just want to hear you say you want me. Love you too much to take what you won’t give.” Andy swore, her eyes wide as his fingers slipped over her clit and between her folds.

“S-Strong words for someone who’s been pussyfooting around me all week!” Koala moaned. “M-Man up and do something about it already--!” she bit out but the sting was drowned in how wet she was.

Arousal thick and oozing under his hand as he teased her folds.

“You’re so generous for me, lovely. Feel how much you’re already giving me?” Andy breathed, pinching her breast and grinding his thumb over her clit. His fingers dipping into the hot source of her arousal. “What a beautiful view…” Andy pulled away to admire her expression as he parted her walls slowly.

Eyes wide with beads of tears, face flush with red, parted lips. Looking up at him like he hung the stars, crying out as he found a sensitive spot in her soft walls. Squeezing his hand between her thighs as her back arched against him.

“A-Andy~!” she whined sweetly.

“You’re so fucking lovely~” Andy slipped his tongue back against hers, quieting her cries as he worked her open on his fingers. Rubbing the spots that made her whine and squirm. Groaning as she sweetly pressed her ass against his throbbing cock when she came in his hand. Quivering around his fingers with a moan that shook his bones.

And then she ripped away from him. Andy’s heart dropping and ice filling his veins as he panicked.

But instead of cursing him out and slapping him, Koala throw off her bikini top and slipped off her bottoms. Eyes burning with hunger as she stabbing his chest with her finger.

“Take it off!” She barked, free hand clenching the waistband of his swim shorts. But she didn’t wait for him to do more than lift his hips before yanking them down. “Who the hell said you could be this fucking hot?! O-ooooh A-Ah—ndy~!” Koala straddled him and let the tip of his cock slip into her folds. Sinking down onto him as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her face into his hair. Lips pressed against his ear and allowing him to hear every moan.

Andy gripped her waist, whining as her tight cunt took him in deep. His hands slipping to grab her ass, clenching the soft fat just above her thighs and yanking her up.

“K-Koala, y-you’re so tight mmmhgh~!” Andy managed to spit out before slamming her onto his cock, her yelp ringing in his ear. “I-Is this okay? T-Tell me this is okay—I-I n-need t-toooo~ Fuck~!” Andy’s tongue felt thick between his teeth as he jerked her on his lap. Barely refraining from slamming her against the side to drive into her like he wanted so desperately he could taste it.

“Stop! Holding! Back!” Koala bit out, nipping his ear as her nails raked across his back. “I’m riding you till you cry, Andy. For being such a cute dumbass! S-Shit, only man I know who’d ask if it’s okay when I literally sit on your dick!” Koala growled, slamming her ass onto his thigh at a hard pace. Bouncing on his cock as he watched in awe—the most beautiful woman he knew throwing back her head with a moan.

Andy would rather gut himself than stop her, so he silenced his embarrassing lips with the soft swell of her breasts. Palms hot on her ass, kneading as she kept going. Moaning with pleasure as he flicked his tongue over her nipples. Her pussy clenching onto his cock relentlessly. Water splashing around them furiously as his muscles tightened. Spasming as he started to cum.

Unwilling to do it alone, Andy reached down and ground his thumb over her clit. The both of them crying out as she slammed down, thighs trembling as she came suddenly. Clenching and pulling his own orgasm to the surface.

“I-I just—Koala, I don’t want to fuck this up. Love you so much, I can’t afford to fuck up with you.” Andy pleaded against her breast as they heaved for air.

Her hands carded through his wet hair tenderly. Voice faint between pants.

“Oh, Andy.” Koala sighed, sucking in a deep breath. “I love you so much too… so take the hint and fuck me, you goober.” She laughed, voice a little rough with emotion.

“How do you want it?” Andy pulled back to kiss up her neck, enjoying the little trembles as she quivered on his cock. Moaning with want.

“I’m more interest in how you want it, Andy.” Koala teased his hair before pulling it sharply. “How about you start with whatever had your cock grinding on me from night one?”

Andy inhaled sharply before a giddy smile overtook him.

“Do you want me to surprise you?” Andy asked after a moment of thought.

Koala had practically been begging for him to take the lead the entire time she’d been riding his cock.

“Absolutely.” Koala purred, yelping as Andy launched out of the hot tub with her in his arms. A complaint of her lips as he tossed her onto the bed that died as he gripped her wet thighs in his palms. Lifting them up high.

“Ah. Wait.” Andy abruptly dropped her and left to find the tag Mariah had mentioned before. Koala cursing him out instantly.

“You shit! Get back here—you can’t just pull that shit and bail!” she whined. Carefully, not wanting to flash anyone, Andy slipped the tag onto the outside of the handle and locked the door. Eagerly sauntering back to the bedroom. “Is this a game?! Tease me all week until I can’t take it anymore?!” Koala demanded, sitting up with her pretty legs partly splayed out, dripping onto the bed.

“Sorry, lovely.” Andy grinned sheepishly with a helpless shrug. “Didn’t want any interruptions when I finally get my hands on those pretty thighs.”

Andy slipped back onto the bed, grabbing under her knees and lifting her up again. Koala’s face shocked and a thrilled smile growing on her lips. Her arms collapsing under her when he started a trail of wet kisses down her thighs.

“A-Ahh~! I-I guess I can forgive you!” She laughed, moaning as he nipped her. “Oooooh! An-dy~!”

Andy chuckled against her cute, dripping pussy.

“But I haven’t apologized properly yet, lovely~ let me make it all up to you!” Andy licked between her folds and moaned. “So sweet inside and out!”

“Andy!”

#one piece #one piece smut #koala one piece #koala X OC #modern au

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bumblebeeappletree · 4 months ago

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youtube

Jerry has lots of dollar-stretching ideas for saving money in the garden.

1. Free plants:

Saving seed can be a life-changing experience. You can easily save lots of seed, giving you lots of opportunity to experiment without fear of failure, as well as the option of giving some away. Store in airtight containers such as old jars; save silica gel to go with the seeds to keep the seeds dry in storage.

To collect seed, use old panty hose to slip over the ends of plants with pods that explode - as some pea plants and brassicas.

You can also propagate by cuttings. Jerry prunes plants at a good time to take cuttings - usually after they’ve finished flowering. Jerry also uses recycled pots and potting mix, making it even cheaper.

2. Free fuel:

Animal manure is great and often freely available - Jerry managed to source some camel and buffalo dung when a circus recently came to town!

Always compost manure first, to remove any weed seed or residual chemicals they may be carrying.

Jerry also recycles any dead cane toads he finds as roadkill, by burying them under his fruit trees.

Mulch is essential in any garden - Jerry uses several types - but it can be expensive. Check with your local council to see if wood chippings from pruned street trees are available, or make your own leaf mold from raked up leaves; simply pile up the leaves, keep them moist, and wait for them to decompose.

The result is low in nutrients and high in carbon so it’s perfect as a surface mulch or for growing ferns and palms.

Potting mix - Jerry makes his own, using equal parts of garden soil, horticultural sand and old potting mix.

3. Upcycling:

Repurpose material that would otherwise end up in landfill, such as polystyrene foam boxes, which are great for growing plants as they are lightweight and they insulate the plants’ roots from heat and cold.

Other uses include as part of a worm farm or as a self-watering container.

Jerry grows strawberries in these boxes – the extra height helps keep the fruit from pests on the ground.

He also uses them to store pots with cuttings in as it keeps the plants at an even temperature, plus it’s easy to cover the boxes to create a mini greenhouse or shadehouse if needed. For shade he uses old net curtains found at op shops.

4. Trading:

Some plants give you more than you’d ever need, especially citrus. Jerry makes loads of different marmalade, which he trades for eggs or avocadoes that he doesn’t have.

5. Buy once, cry once:

By this Jerry means pay more for quality equipment that will last. Cheap equipment is often not meant to be serviced or repaired, but good-quality items will be designed to take replacement parts and are worth fixing. Jerry still uses his grandfather’s hand mower and mattock, and has other equipment that is many decades old.

Filmed on Quandamooka, Turrbal & Yuggera Country in Brisbane, Qld

#gardening australia #solarpunk #australia #gardening #garden #gardening tips #free plants #seed saving #compost #composting #propagate #plant propagation #plant cuttings #recycle #upcycle #mulch #Youtube

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desertdollranch · 1 year ago

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Carina (right) invited her friend Jane over to see her new aquarium and her three pet fish! She loves animals, and over the years has learned to care for many small pets, including frogs, geckos, hermit crabs, and a tortoise. But this is her first time raising fish.

She has been wanting an aquarium for a long time. While she did extensive research about the proper care of fish, I used the time to brainstorm and come up with a way to make a realistic tank.

The tank itself is a clear plastic container from a Calico Critters baby play set. I mixed some glitter with a scoop of sand, and put it on the bottom. Then I filled the tank with hair gel. The fish are spoiler shad fishing lures, which cost me under $2 for a packet of 3. The gel is thick enough that the fish don't rise or sink, and has real bubbles in it. To finish it off, I added some faux leaves for the aquarium plants, which I got at the dollar store.

See this post to read about Carina's other small pets!

#carina tan #jane #doll crafts #doll pets

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thedarkwitchesblog · 1 year ago

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Broom closet witches✨🫥

If u have to hide your craft or keep it on you at all time here are some tips✨✨

Mini birthday candles

Draw sigils/signs on rocks/stones

Use old mint containers or boxes

Drawings or printed pics

Spices/herbs from ur spice cabinet

Dried flowers/plants

Hide under mattess/in To to bag

Shoes/ in folded socks

Tape to the underside of objects: dressers, walls, bed, chairs.

Or even outside in water proof hiding spots - if it found no one can prove it yours.

Tea lights

Using clear nail polish to preserve writing on rocks and wood prices.

Cheap mini jars at dollar store that will fit in small things and tea light fake or real Dollar store is witches best friend.

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sege-h · 10 months ago

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Thoughts on the State of Play reveal

Under a readmore just in case

1- I know I said I'd keep the Son*dow tag blocked for a bit after Prime ended but I think I'll keep it blocked till the end of the year now lmao

2- I know the rumor has been going around since yesterday but I took it with a grain of salt since it's. Yknow. A rumor. But even when I let myself think 'what if its real tho' this is SO FAR FROM WHAT I EXPECTED. A!!! I thought at most we'd get is a remaster that'd also make Shadow playable! As soon as I saw the new level I was like WAIT WHAT. WAIT WHAT!!?!? and it just kept going from there!!!

I'm so happy we'll be getting a HD biolizard fight! He'll no longer be contained to the 3DS! Also from what little we saw Shadow will get to have some dynamic posing in the boss fights, like Super Sonic did in Frontiers. Good! I loved those!

3- Ian Flynn has #KnowingSmile'd the announcement and I'm hoping this means he got to write for whatever new content there is.

And speaking of Frontiers! I'm hoping that this ends up being Shadow's 'Frontiers' moment. In that his writing and character get what Amy's, Tails', and Knuckles' did in Frontiers.

4-I had the stream off to the side in another tab since I wasn't interested in most of what was shown. And then I heard the first few notes of the Generations music and i immediately switched tabs and I just!!! Feel like I did in 2011 except my computer/internet is way better, and you tube is shittier!

5- I'm excited for this for such Me reasons. For those new here- I live in a country that had no Sonic stuff for...well, never, really. Not until about 2022. The second movie did what I'd hoped the first movie would do (but then the pandemic happened) and brought over Sonic stuff here. For the first time in my life I went to a toy store here and it had Sonic stuff. I got to buy physical Sonic comics for the first time. For the first time in my life I can go to a video game store and actually see Sonic games there. It's been wild

That being said, 2011 had Nothing. Sonic Generations came out. And I didn't want to pirate it because a friend of mine had worked on it. I was determined to find it. And I only saw it irl one time- for the Playstation. A console I've never had. It was pretty upsetting! I remember posting about it here even....I've been on tumblr too long SHDGSHDHS

Later I'd find that there was a 3DS version. I have that! So I looked for that version of it alongside the PC one

So, for almost a decade, I looked, to no avail. And for this whole time I refused to look at any playthroughs! Any knowledge I had on whats in the game came from the trailers we saw

And then in 2019 my best friend helped me buy the 3DS version. I had 9 dollars on my 3DS and whenever the game went on sale it'd be on for 10 dollars. So he gave me a dollar and helped me get it SHDGSHDH

So I finally experienced Generations! It was surprise after surprise in that one, because I knew it was different but I didn't know how. I didn't expect a Rush level in it, or for the Biolizard to be in there!

And then in late 2020 when I got my new computer and could finally get steam, another close friend got me Generations for the PC! I'd somehow managed to dodge spoilers on it all those years so all I knew about it was: Theres Green Hill, Chemical Plant, City Escape, and a Silver boss fight.

I got to play modern City Escape for myself- which is the level that inspired the current iteration of my main OC, Storm. It was a joy

All this rambling to say...it's wild to think that once this remaster comes out, I'll be able to get it day 1, at least I hope I will. Still-it won't take me almost a decade to get to it

And if there's a physical release? I'll be able to go to a store here- HERE, not in one of our neighboring countries, not from somewhere else, but in a store here. Right across the street. And I'll finally have a physical copy of Generations. That was my final goal with the game-- I love it, I have two versions of it! And the plan was always that even though I'd gotten to play them now, if I ever ran into a physical copy of the game, I'd buy it. And now I'll really get to do it

6- Bonus thought of me being silly: Wowow my OC was shown at the State of Play--

#Personal #Sonic spoilers #Generations #Sege rambles

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thexblushingxwitch · 2 years ago

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Hello everyone! I know it’s been a long time since I’ve personally made a post. Things were crazy for me in a mental health sense. BUT! I do have an Ostara post for you!

I am a “closeted witch”. Luckily we live in 2023, and everyone is fascinated with crystals and the “witch aesthetic”. As a pro, I can easily decorate without seeming like I practice when I actually do, a win-win situation!

A lot has to do with how I used to celebrate Easter with my parents, I collaborated pastel and bright colors with earth elements. It took me years to collect these items, so don’t feel pressure to want to purchase things! For me it’s all about the change of the seasons and with my spiritual growth.

I started by cleansing my altar surface with Florida water and not shown is applying protection sigils before I start building my altar. I didn’t have time to make an Ostara ritual oil unfortunately; but I do have an Ostara bath in mind that I’ll probably share in the near future!

Here are the crystals I’ve used for Ostara;

- Amethyst: enhances spiritual connection, relieves insomnia, and helps with mental clarity and memory.

-Citrine: Attracts prosperity, abundance and wealth, helps cultivate confidence and personal power.

-Fluorite : Helps transform negative energy into positive energy.

-Opal : Helps with emotional balance and stabilization, also a protective stone like an “invisibility cloak “

-Flower Agate : In connection to the heart, this crystal will help with your inner peace, empathy, and joy.

-Selenite : Acts as an active space cleanser, I personally always have this on my altar to proactively cleanse my altar space. Depending how I’m feeling I will generally leave it or let it stay on my altar , because it does cleanse good and bad energy. Sometimes I get the feeling of “the void”, and need to place it away from my altar to rebuild and stabilize my intentions for my altar… if that makes sense 😅

-Blue Agate : This crystal helps dispelling fear, and gives me an emotional facelift. Basically keeping my emotional being in check.

-Jade : My jade is a dark green shade. This one in particular helps with centering and grounding myself.

-Clear Quartz : An amplifier crystal, it helps with meditation and psychic abilities.

-Amber : Acts as a sun crystal for me. It releases bright and soothing energy when I need it most.

-Aquamarine : Benefits with this crystal helps with gaining insight and wisdom.

Labradorite- : Relieves anxiety, stress, bringing out the best of yourself.

A lot of these crystals I’ve chosen for this season had to do with the elements. Water, air, fire , earth.

I got the glass bunny trinket container from Target a year back, and the fake flowers are from Dollar Tree ( thank goodness for that store or I’d never be able to change my altar for the seasons ever😭).

I’ve made a money and abundance cup to “plant” my goals and manifestations for Spring. In the black sachet I’ve included :

-Rosemary

-Cinnamon

-Basil leaf

-Anise Star

To learn more click the link below; it’s very informational and can jump start you into celebrating the wheel of the year!

#ostara #spring #crystals #pagan altar #Ostara altar #witchblr #witch altar

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infplease-love-me · 2 years ago

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Y'all I'm begging you to learn how to grow what you can at home. Look into cheap hydroponics set ups or get dollar store pots and container garden if you don't have a big yard. Get dollar store seeds or save scraps from when you cook. Lettuce, onions/green onions, garlic, and potatoes regrow pretty easily. Carrots tops can be regrown to get seeds to plant and I've known people who have had luck growing from seeds in their fruits. I know there are people who garden in their apartment, otherwise if you have one in your area and can afford it join a community garden, there are probably plenty of people who would be willing to teach you what they know.

Some resources for accessable gardening:

Everyone deserves fresh produce

made some affirmations for my fellow grocery shoppers out there

#I get passionate about gardening 😅

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00towns · 2 months ago

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plant matter, part 2: an end of season update

read part 1 here!

Veggie garden

I’m sad to report some mixed results here. This Japanese summer was absolutely brutal, both on me and the plants I was desperately trying to keep alive. The heat was beginning to demand that I water the garden up to twice a day, an unfortunate side effect of growing in containers. This became tedious quickly, and I was more than often reviving my wilted tomatoes and peppers from the brink of drought induced death. I got several fantastic harvests of cherry tomatoes, which I either brought to work to share with coworkers or made into a delicious sauce with garlic. I got one really good harvest of yellow peppers, which I brought to a riverside barbecue to share with friends. In late summer, my veggies were struck by two pests: an infestation of scale, and an uncomfortably nosy neighbor who seemed to view my small garden as an opening to talk to me. I could have fought the scale, but my travel picking up in August and September meant that I was also frequently away, and I decided to let the scale win. I was rid of both pests at once!

Houseplants

This hobby has gotten out of hand. I discovered this summer that you can buy plant cuttings on Mercari, and it went downhill from there. My collection of plants has almost doubled, none of which I will be able to bring home with me when I return to the US next year. Some highlights include a monstera albo I’m growing from a leafless node cutting, a variegated syngonium which arrived in my mailbox in a plastic bottle, and a Teruno Collection Shangri-la pothos, which goes for upwards of fifty dollars on Etsy. In this year’s graveyard are a string of pearls, a string of hearts, and a peperomia, all of which were victim to the shitty potting soil at my local grocery store.

My deliciosa lived outside the whole summer and had a blast. She’s almost doubled in size. I don’t know if it’ll fit back indoors, although I was forced to trial this theory during Shanshan when the winds were really starting to pick up. She needs to start paying rent.

Spider lily

Not much survives the heat of the summer in terms of flowers, but when the temperature breaks so do the hearts of spider lilies, which bloom in spiky red and white fireworks. They dot the banks of the river behind school, growing like weeds at the base of trees and in thickets of weeds. A sign of the waning summer, they’ll last for as long as the cicadas, until the forests eventually fall silent and brown for the winter.

Peaches, grapes, chestnuts

I became addicted to spending Y1000 almost every other day on incredible fat peaches from the farm stand and grocery store. They’re so delicate that even picking them up damages the flesh underneath, and some I saw this year were so large they required two hands. The early season ones were white but still soft and absurdly sweet just like yellow peaches, and the later season ones have been mostly yellow with a more earthy taste. These peaches were blended into nice cream, baked into peach cobblers, and eaten with two hands over the sink like an animal. I’ll miss stonefruit season dearly.

Shockingly even more expensive are bundles of shine muscat grapes with thick, bitter skin. Usually bought as a gift, I choose the cheapest ones and pop a few in my mouth before I even make it home. Grapes will be a feature over the next months in daifuku and jelly desserts. My neighbor’s grape trellis has been fruiting since July, but now the size of the bunches look like they’ll break the thin stems they hang from. I’ll be a little bird, waiting for them to fall.

Lastly and my favorite are chestnuts. In the morning, they sit fallen on the side of the street; by the time I walk home they’re pecked apart and the flesh inside consumed by hungry creatures. I enjoy them roasted from street stands, baked into desserts, soft and crumbly in bread.

Thank you, growing season! See you next year!

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jakesimfromstatefarm · 2 months ago

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the matchmatic 3000 | jake sim

✰ summary: simp, i mean, sim jaeyun is a hopeless romantic. a cursed hopeless romantic, he would say, doomed to exist as just your friend, nothing more. but when his genius (read: nerdy) best friend creates a highly accurate matchmaking app for the university, jake is ready to bribe, beg, and possibly sell his soul to make sure he gets paired with you. plan a? hack the system. plan b? there is no plan b. to jake, being delulu is the solulu, and he's all in.

✰ pairing: jake sim x y/n [ft. bestfriends!jay & heeseung]

✰ genre: fluff, comedy | college!au, matchmaking!au, friendstolovers!au, pining, pining, pining heh

✰ contains: honestly, just crack. i had too much fun with the humor in this one i think, whoops! lots of awkward tension, slow burn, pining, more pining, cute kithes (~￣³￣)~, reader is oblivious beyond saving, but no actual warnings other than maybe one or two cuss words i think!

✰ wc: ...19k (i swear this wasn't intentional...once again, i had too much fun)

✰ a/n: it's finally done! i'm nervvy because i haven't posted a fic in almost three years now,,,but i randomly got inspo one day after seeing a tiktok about a matchmaking questionnare and now here we are! i loved writing these characters, it was so much fun,,,but i also don't know how to feel abt the whole thing so i hope people enjoy this !! :’)) ૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა ♡

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・

Simply put, Jake Sim is a simp. His name should honestly be legally changed from Sim Jae-yun to Simp Jae-yun at this point.

Jake doesn’t fall often, but when he does, he hits the ground with the force of a malfunctioning rocket ship. Once in the third grade, a girl gave him a Hello Kitty bandage after he face-planted off the playground swings. Cute, right? Well, Jake was so smitten, he spent the next week sliding his prized dino chicken nuggets across the lunch table like they were some ancient currency to win her over.

Did it work? Sort of. Did she eat all his nuggets without ever looking back? Absolutely.

But this? With you? This is different.

Jake would give up more than just his room-temp mystery-meat pterodactyls for you. He thinks he’d willingly cat-sit twelve cats—despite his strong dislike for cats. He thinks he’d voluntarily train for the national triathlon—despite always getting winded walking up the two flights of stairs to get to his apartment. He’d probably let you have the last Supreme pizza slice, which for Jake, is basically like offering you his soul on a silver platter.

Forget falling—Jake didn’t just trip, no. He plummeted into a cartoon-style pit, the kind covered with leaves spread over the top like some dollar-store disguise. He’s still down there, metaphorically flailing around like a maniac while you’re chilling up above, completely unaware that you Tom & Jerry-ed his heart.

In hindsight, Jake hopelessly pining for you was about as inevitable as a rom-com misunderstanding. The second his childhood best friend Grace—aka your college best friend and roommate—introduced you guys during freshman year orientation, Jake was hit with the biggest, dumbest case of whiplash known to mankind.

You were so confident, so outgoing, so unapologetically you. You were like sunshine, and Jake was just there, squinting and hoping he wouldn't spontaneously combust into a thousand ashes from simply staring at you.

But, as with all classic tropes (and pining fanfics), Jake knows that mixing friend groups and love interests is a recipe for disaster. And not just any disaster—a culinary trainwreck. Worse than whatever recipe the dining hall uses to make their sad excuse for tacos. Like, is it beef? Is it tofu? Who knows, and honestly, I don't think anyone wants to know.

Anyways, that brings us to today: a couple years later, with Jake still mooning over his friend. His feelings remain the best-kept secret in the history of best-kept secrets—well, if secrets were meant to be as obvious as a neon sign in a blackout.

In fact, Jake’s attempts at subtlety are about as smooth as a drunk giraffe on roller skates. Whenever you walk into the room, it’s like someone hits the ‘shutdown’ button on his brain. One second, he’s cracking jokes and holding conversations just fine, the next? Boom. Total system failure. You can almost hear the Windows XP error sound the moment you catch him off guard with a smile.

It’s not that Jake can’t talk to you—he’s your friend, after all. But the second he catches your sweet laugh or smile and his feelings come rolling in and the butterflies come out? Well, that’s when words start slipping through his fingers like sand, and his once confident banter turns into a cautious game of verbal Jenga.

His brilliant solution?

Simple: stick to safe topics and keep it light. Foolproof, right? Well, if your idea of foolproof includes missed opportunities and enough internal cringe to fuel a thousand regret-filled 3am thoughts.

Luckily for him, you’ve gone all these years mistaking his massive, raging, hormonal crush on you as part of his ‘friendly, sweet, soft-spoken boy’ personality. And Jake? He’ll take that over an awkward-confession-which-may-lead-to-a-crash-and-burn-outcome any day.

Honestly, who wouldn’t? Jake thinks as he glances at you from across the lunch table, currently laughing at one of Jay’s terrible puns. Yep, being friends with you is totally fine… totally fine… totally fine.

Jake’s totally fine.

Jake is totally not one more bad-Jay-pun away from writing tragic love haikus in his Notes app and forming a backstory about his unrequited feelings.

As if right on cue, Jay cracks a banana-physics joke (because, obviously, Jay is an expert in theoretical physics despite never having taken a class), and while everyone else is laughing, Jake’s over here, contemplating the meaning of life:

Her laugh echoes bright, I’m lost, no GPS found, Help, I’m still simping.

Jake stares down at his phone, horrified. Did he seriously just… haiku his feelings? Help. Is this what rock-bottom looks like?

"Alright listen up you peasants," Heeseung clears his throat dramatically as he suddenly approaches the group's lunch table located outside on campus grounds, interrupting Jake's poetic inner melodrama. "Your savior has arrived."

“This better be good, Hee. The last time you said that, you tried to convince us that you could drink five Red Bulls, pull an all-nighter, and still pass that chem exam,” you smirk questionably.

Heeseung points at you. “And I did pass.”

“You got a 61%,” Grace says, not even looking up from her phone.

“That’s still passing!” Heeseung declares, full of confidence. “Anyway, this time is different. I’ve been working on something life-changing.”

Jake shoots a glance in your direction before quickly looking away. He wants to say something witty, something that could make you laugh, but his brain is like, nah bro, not today. Instead, he nervously fidgets with the sleeve of his hoodie. Since when was there a hole there?

“Life-changing?” Jay leans back in his chair, arms crossed, wearing his usual smirk. “What, are you finally going to start that YouTube channel where you rank ramen brands?”

Heeseung rolls his eyes as he takes a seat, “First of all, that channel is coming. But no, this is better. Way better. I’ve created…”

He pauses for dramatic effect, looking at everyone and drumming his fingers against the table,“…a matchmaking algorithm.”

You burst out laughing, breaking the silence of the table, “What? Like a dating app?”

“Is this about to be Tinder, but, like, nerdy?” Grace raises an eyebrow, intrigued but skeptical.

“Not quite. It’s a scientific, algorithm-based matching system, designed to pair people based on compatibility and mutual interests. And, lucky for you all, I’m testing it out on campus,” Heeseung grins, completely unbothered.

Jake’s heart skips a beat. Matchmaking? His mind first immediately goes to you. And then, downright panic. What if this robot thing pairs you with someone else? Oh god, what if it pairs you with, like, Jay, and he has to watch you guys flirt non-stop while he sits in the corner like a sad, dying houseplant? (mental note: water your houseplants when you get back to your dorm, jake!)

“Didn’t you also say it was ‘scientific’ when you ate an entire pack of Mentos and then drank Coke?” Grace’s brows furrow at the boy.

Heeseung scoffs at her dramatically. “That was for science. This is for love.”

You lean forward into the table, clearly interested.

“So you’re saying this app will scientifically find me a soulmate?” Your eyes light up and Jake’s heart skips a second beat as they happen to make eye contact with him as you say that. Please let that soulmate be me. Please. “What’s the catch? You’re not the type to just… help people find 'love' for free.”

Heeseung shrugs, pretending to be modest, “Not true! I’m doing this purely out of the goodness of my heart.”

Jay coughs, "Cap.”

“Okay, fine,” Heeseung admits, “it’s for a coding competition. The winner gets a year’s worth of free ramen from that noodle place near the dorms.”

Grace’s jaw drops. “You mean Noodle Nirvana? The one with the spicy miso?”

“Precisely, the one with the spicy miso," Heeseung nods proudly.

You let out a giggle, “So you’re telling me, you’ve created a love machine just so you can hoard ramen?”

“Correction,” Heeseung says, raising a finger, “I’ve created a highly advanced matchmaking algorithm to bring people together and also hoard ramen.”

“Good enough” you shrug, raising your iced coffee in a mock toast to your nerdy friend. “Sign me up.”

Oh no. Jake's heart skips a third beat (someone get him an ambulance please). Oh god, you're most definitely going to get matched up with someone else. And if that happens, bye-bye to the 12 black cats he’s already mentally prepared to care for. Bye-bye triathlon training.

But on the other hand...this could be Jake's golden opportunity—that is if somehow the universe decides to play nice and matches you with him. This could be his chance, his moment, his... immediate descent into chaos.

"Can your app match me with that cute barista that works at the campus boba shop every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 12pm to 5pm?" Jay's eyes sparkle with curiosity and excitement.

Heeseung gives Jay a look that says he’s one step away from calling campus security. "First of all, that’s borderline stalker territory. Second, no. It doesn’t work that way."

"So..there's no way you can influence the results at all? It's purely the robot’s doing?" you cock your head at Heeseung.

"Again, it's an algorithm! Not a robot," he then shrugs, "and I’m above bribery. Unless, of course, you’ve got a worthy offer."

"ooOoOh, corruption? Me likey," Jay’s eyebrows shoot up in mischief, "I'm in. Where do I sign up?"

“Already done, my friends. Check your emails," Heeseung pulls out his phone and points at it.

Jake’s phone buzzes at that moment, and when he opens it, the email is sitting at the top of his inbox. He’s never been more nervous to open an email in his life. Well, except maybe his college acceptance letter. Or his professor’s recent feedback on his History of Modern Warfare essay.

You tap your screen and start reading the email out loud:

Subject: [IMPORTANT SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENT] Hello there awesome students & fellow single-tons, Have you ever looked around campus and thought, ‘Wow, everyone here is either taken, weird, or impossible to talk to?’ Well, I’m here to save you from the trenches of singleness with...*drumroll please* THE MATCHMATIC 3000 — the university's very own matchmaking algorithm! How does it work you ask? Simple. 1. Download the app from the link in this email (no, it's not a scam or a virus, I promise). 2. Enter your name and student ID (for verification purposes only – no catfishing allowed!) 3. Answer a bunch of super fun questions that might make you question your life choices but will definitely help MatchMatic 3000 find your perfect match! Once you’re done, the app will work its algorithmic magic to pair you with someone who’s probably just as confused about life as you are but is at least willing to share similar pizza toppings with you. The results will be sent out after a few days of algorithmic wizardry! Why am I doing this, you ask? Because who doesn’t love a good matchmaking fiasco? It’s like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks, except instead of pasta, it’s your love life. And hey, if it doesn’t work out, at least you’ll have some hilarious stories to tell your future therapist! (Please don't bill me for your therapy bill. I'm broke.) It’s scientifically programmed, which means it’s flawless. Trust me, I’m very smart. Sign up now, and may your love life finally flourish. If it doesn’t, well, you can’t say I didn’t try. Questions will be released tomorrow, so sign up today before you catch a serious case of FOMO when all the cool kids start using the app ;) Sincerely, your friendly Campus Cupid, Lee Heeseung <3 *Disclaimer: The university, nor I, takes no responsibility for any romantic entanglements, awkward encounters, or sudden realizations that you might be better off single. Please use the MatchMatic 3000 responsibly.*

You look up, trying to hold in your laughter, “Heeseung, what the hell is this?”

Everyone around the table bursts into muffled giggles as they take in the sight of a 240fps gif of Heeseung’s head superimposed onto a sparkly cupid’s body, dramatically shooting an arrow into the abyss of their screens.

"It's called marketing, Y/N. You wouldn't understand,” Heeseung says unbothered.

“You really called yourself campus cupid,” Grace manages to get out, laughing so hard she’s practically wheezing.

“I said what I said,” Heeseung replies, puffing out his chest like a self-proclaimed genius. “And it’s true. I am your cupid. My algorithm is perfect. You guys are just haters. Just wait until I go viral and become rich and famous. Jake, you support me, right?"

Jake, who hasn’t uttered a peep in maybe a century, suddenly finds himself put on the spot. Oh no, I’ve been radio silent. They probably think I’m plotting my grand escape or something.

You turn towards Jake, waiting for his response and with a smile on your face, which is enough to send him into a decade long coma he thinks.

“Uh... yeah, for sure. Whatever it takes for that ramen, right?” he blurts out, awkwardly throwing in a finger gun for good measure.

Nailed it.

"Jakey here is too sweet to disagree with you, Hee, “ you look up at him, flashing him a soft, teasing smile.

And that’s it. Jake’s soul exits stage left.

He nearly chokes on his own saliva at the casual way you let the pet name roll off your tongue. It’s as if you’ve just handed him a ticket to a new dimension where 'Jakey' is a thing and he’s suddenly the happiest (and only) person on the planet.

Jakey, you called him Jakey. His mind takes an ad-break as he tries to recover. Is this…flirting? Is this how normal people flirt? Or are you just trying to send him into cardiac arrest for fun?

Either way, Jake’s officially malfunctioning. He deduces you’re just being your typical, outgoing self—completely oblivious to the heart palpitations your simple actions send to Jake’s heart. How can someone be so effortlessly charming yet unaware of the chaotic consequences?

“Y-Yeah, totally, sorry man,” he croaks out, praying to all higher powers above that this brief interaction is over. Heeseung's love machine may be flawless, but Jake? He’s barely functional.

Jake stares at the floor, trying to process this entire ordeal, as the rest of the table returns to their everyday conversation. This is happening. This is real. He needs to find a way to get matched with you, or else he can kiss Salt and Pepper (two of the twelve cats he’s already mentally named and is now emotionally invested in) goodbye. He glances over at you, who’s already—bless your curiosity—downloading the app.

Jake gulps. He’s doomed.

Today's the day. Jake’s internal doomsday.

Also known as, MatchMatic-3000-launches-it's-questions-day.

To the group's surprise, Heeseung’s love machine has gone viral across campus—it’s been the buzz of the school since his mass email blast 24 hours ago.

“Alright gang, let’s see if this app is as magical as Heeseung’s ego claims!” you declare, your eyes sparkling with excitement as you join everyone at the usual lunch table outside.

Jake, sitting beside you, is staring at his phone like it holds the secrets of the universe.

“I’m just hoping it matches me with someone who understands the sacred bond between a man and his video game console,” he mutters, sneakily glancing at your screen to see if you’re answering questions about your favorite video games. Because obviously, that’s the secret to his heart.

You’re too engrossed in the questions on your phone to notice his subtle mission.

“Even better,” you say without looking up, “I hope it matches me with someone who’ll actually play video games with me.”

Then, you look up and throw him a quick wink. Casual. Effortless. But to Jake? It’s like being a victim of a hit and run to the heart.

He’s definitely as red as his Asian Flush after two shots of soju. Maybe three.

Jay suddenly chimes in, “What if the app pairs us with people who have weird hobbies? Like, what if I get matched with someone who collects miniature spoons or lives in a house made entirely of cheese?”

Grace snickers at the overly dramatic boy. “Jay, I think you’d thrive in a cheese house. You’ve already mastered the art of cheesy puns.”

Jake, still staring at his phone, suddenly gets an epiphany, “Wait, do you think it can match you with someone who’s just as obsessed with obscure internet memes as I am?”

You let out a giggle towards his direction, amused by his question, which makes Jake realize that he said that out loud. Well, if he made you laugh, that's a win in his book.

Heeseung, noticing Jake’s moment of glory, nods.

“Oh, definitely. You might end up with someone who can appreciate a well-timed ‘Doge’ meme or has a shrine dedicated to Rickrolling."

“These questions are so random! A black cat or a golden retriever? What does that even mean?” you exclaim suddenly, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Excuse me, it’s all about the science of psychology, Y/N—” Heeseung stabs his fork into his pasta with an almost theatrical flair, “—the algorithm needs to understand your deepest preferences. It’s not about cats or dogs; it’s about what your choices say about your soul.”

Jay, munching on his questionable-looking dining hall taco, grins. “So, basically, the app’s trying to figure out if we’re more ‘moody cat person’ or ‘happy-go-lucky dog lover.’ Got it.”

Jake’s thumb hovers nervously over his screen as he reaches the same question himself. His eyes dart back to your screen but can’t seem to make out what you’ve selected. You’re biting your lip in concentration, and Jake’s brain glitches for a second because, wow, how can someone look so cute answering stupid personality questions?

Heeseung notices Jake’s expression from across the table and leans back in his chair with a knowing smirk. “Jake, you look like you’re solving world hunger over there. What’s the deal? Just pick whatever, man.”

“I’m—I’m just being thorough, okay? This app’s gonna decide my entire love life. No pressure or anything,” Jake shifts uncomfortably, his face heating up.

Jay snorts, stuffing yet another taco in his mouth, "Jake’s acting like the app’s about to determine the rest of his life. Just chill, man. You’ll get paired with someone. Even if it’s someone who only eats purple foods or, I don’t know, makes miniatures of their exes.”

"Y/N's definitely getting paired with someone awesome," Grace teases, nudging you playfully from your other side. "Someone tall, athletic, probably knows how to cook gourmet meals."

Jake internally winces at the description. Tall? He's definitely 6 feet...on a good day...with the right shoes. Athletic? Jake plays soccer! Well..played. In, like, middle school. Gourmet meals? He considers dino nuggets a gourmet meal so...he's practically a Michelin-star chef.

You laugh at Grace's comment, shaking your head, "Honestly, I'm just hoping for someone who doesn't ghost me after three texts. Low bar, I know."

Jake swallows besides you. Three texts. Got it. Don't ghost her, even if you do forget what words are in her presence.

Suddenly, you look up from your phone and turn to lock eyes with Jake. "What did you put Jake? Black cat or golden retriever?"

Jake freezes. Oh no, is this a test? This is definitely a test. He panics for a split second while his brain scrambles for the lobe that contains actual, cohesive, vocabulary.

"Uh, golden retriever. Definitely," he blurts out, voice higher than usual. "Golden retrievers are...loyal. And fun. Kinda like...you?" The last part slips out before he can stop himself.

The table goes silent. Jay chokes on his suspicious taco. Grace's eyebrows shoot up in amusement. Heeseung stares at Jake like he's watching the most entertaining drama unfold right in front of him.

You blink at Jake, then follow it with a soft giggle. "You're comparing me to a dog now?"

Jake goes bright red, stammering as he's viciously shaking his head, "No—I mean—not like that! I just meant—"

But you're still laughing next to him, he can feel your shoulders happily shaking against his, and while he's completely mortified, he can't help but feel the tiniest flicker of hope. At least you're laughing with him, not at him. Right? Right?

"Did anyone consider the fact that we might get matched up with one another?" Jay changes the topic as he wipes the remaining taco shell crumbs off his mouth.

Jake notices the look of pure horror plastered on both you and Grace's faces.

"Ew," you pretend to gag, while Grace laughs next to you. "Hard pass. You've got the same level of commitment as a first grader has with finishing their homework, and Heeseung’s definitely gonna end up marrying a computer. Plankton and Karen style. I think I'd rather date a Roomba. And you know I hate Roombas."

Jake can't help the smile tugging at his lips. He knows you're joking, but hearing you rule out the other two makes him feel just a little better. But then...wait.

You didn't say anything about Jake. What if you’ve already ruled Jake out, too? Not even a contender against Jay and Heeseung? The panic sets in as he thinks oh god, maybe she sees me like an actual Roomba—just following her around, waiting for crumbs of affection.

Heeseung feigns hurt by dramatically clutching his heart. "Oh no. I'm so heartbroken," he deadpans.

"I'd date you, Hee, don't worry," Jay winks, and without missing a beat, Heeseung blows him an exaggerated air kiss. "Thanks, babe."

Jake, still lost in his thoughts, wonders if he’s been friend-zoned so hard he’s transcended into actual appliance territory, right next to the Roombas.

Everyone's laughing over Heeseung and Jay's antics, while Jake here is spiraling into a full-on existential crisis over accepting his fate as the Roomba of your heart.

Is this my life now? I'm a...self-cleaning vacuum?

Jake comes to a realization the next morning: he can’t just settle for being the human equivalent of a non-sentient vacuum in your life. He needs to take action—and he needs to do it fast. Especially before the algorithm matches you with some 6-foot-tall, athletic, five-star chef who probably wakes up with flawless skin and has a perfectly curated Spotify playlist.

Jake’s brain scrambles for ideas, as he stares hopelessly at the blank essay document on his laptop titled: "History of Modern Warfare (with revisions)" His essay can wait. World War II may have been a big deal, but this? This is you. Only the most important thing to walk this earth (in Jake's eyes, at least).

What would a normal human being do? Grow a pair, march right up to you, and say something charming (probably, Jake wouldn't know). But Jake? Jake knows there’s a higher chance of him learning to speak fluent French in the next 24 hours than actually telling you how he feels.

Because that would require practice—in front of a mirror, at least five times a day, for three days straight. And by then, the matches will already be out, and you'll be swept off your feet by some handsome demigod in human form.

Jake sighs as he tries to type at least one sentence of his essay, hoping it will distract him from his lingering thoughts of you. Your smile, your laughter, your wink, your voice saying ‘Jakey’...

“The Battle of Normandy marked a significant turning point…”

Jake frowns. Turning point. Oh, great. That’s exactly what Jake’s waiting for—a turning point with you. Except his 'battle plan' is to let Heeseung’s love algorithm do the work for him. Yeah, sure. Because nothing says romantic courage like leaving your fate up to a glorified love machine.

Jake groans at the screen. He tries to type more, but his brain is already spiraling into worst-case scenarios. What if you get matched with someone who can bench-press a refrigerator? Or worse—someone who actually knows how to emotionally open up to you?

Frustrated, Jake slams his laptop shut, earning dirty glares from the students studying quietly around him in the library. His essay is long forgotten at this point. Who cares about The Battle of Normandy when his entire (nonexistent) love life is crumbling right in front of him?

He pulls at his hair in sheer desperation, searching for answers, any answers, to this disaster. Think, Jake, think!

Wait.

That's it.

Answers. He needs answers! Not the kind that would magically fix his social dysfunction around you. No, not those—that’s way beyond saving.

But your answers. The ones you put into The Matchmatic 3000. If Jake could somehow get a hold of those, he could match his responses to yours perfectly. Then BAM! Instant match. One foot in the door. Then maybe, just maybe, you'd stop seeing him as some automated dust-sucker.

A smile forms across Jake's face. Pure genius (self-proclaimed, of course).

Yes, this is the solution to all his problems. Well, except for the crippling anxiety and social awkwardness part. But one thing at a time, right?

Now he just needs your answers.

And possibly a therapist.

“Jake! What's wrong?" Grace appears at Jake's table tucked away in the back of the library, her hair frazzled and disheveled from her sprint across campus as a result of Jake's ‘SOS’ text.

Jake is sitting at the table, hands folded, looking perfectly intact, totally not at all in an ‘SOS’ situation, and has a small smile on his face as he looks up at his best friend.

“I figured it out!”

"You better tell me you just figured out time travel or the cure for world hunger, because I just full-on sprinted across campus thinking you got your laptop stolen or, heaven forbid, you got your hand trapped in the printer again,” Grace's eyes narrow as she takes a seat across from him.

"I told you not to mention that again! It was an honest mistake," Jake's eyes widen, afraid people around them heard about Jake's embarrassingly tragic battle with the library’s printer. "But no, it's even better than that. It's kinda...off the books though."

Grace blinks back at him. "How off the books? Like...'help me hide the body' off the books, or 'expose the secret recipe to the dining hall's mysterious tacos' off the books?”

Jake glances around to make sure no one's eavesdropping, then lowers his voice, "More like...'help me get Y/N's answers to the Matchmatic 3000' off the books?"

There's a beat of silence as Grace struggles to process the absurdity of what she just heard.

“Wait, hold up. You want me to help you cheat the dating app?”

Jake nods fervently, if not a little desperately.

"It's not cheating! Call it...strategic alignment. I need to make sure I match with her. That's the only way I could ever get a chance, and you're the only one who can help me!"

Grace leans in from across the table, clearly in disbelief, yet amused, "So let me get this straight...you want me to somehow get her answers, so you can change yours to match hers, in hopes that Hee's magical AI or whatever pairs you two together?"

Jake attempts to give her his best 'please help me' puppy eyes, but it's clear he's more of a lost kitten right now.

"And you're asking me to get my hands dirty...why exactly?" She smirks at the fidgety Jake, finding his over-the-top desperation for you both amusing and oddly endearing.

"Uh..because you're my best friend, duh. And also, you're the closest to her—if Jay and Hee found out, they'd never let me live it down! And Jay would probably make a TikTok about it just to watch me die from embarrassment," Jake rambles, hoping he can convince the seemingly unimpressed girl in front of him.

“Uh-huh," Grace raises an eyebrow. "And what’s in it for me? Sure, I'm your best friend, but I'm also her friend and ever-so-loyal roommate. You're asking for a lot here, bud."

Jake looks flustered for a moment, as if he hadn’t really thought about that part.

“Uh, well, I could—um—maybe buy you coffee for a week? Or, I don’t know, do your physics thesis project you've been avoiding."

Grace pretends to consider his offer for a second, but the second he mentions the ‘physics thesis project’, her decision is instantly made.

"Fine," she sighs, leaning back in her chair. "But just so you know, if this goes sideways, I was never here."

Jake smiles like he just won the lottery. Salt & Pepper, here I come!

"But also…," Grace begins, looking right at Jake, making him squirm. Not in a cute Y/N-noticed-me type of squirm, but the oh-no-I'm-about-to-get-lectured kind. "Take my advice, Jake. Stop being a wuss."

Jake's grin falters at his friend's sudden, but painfully true, words.

Grace leans in, her voice serious, "I mean, you can't just hide behind an app and hope for the best. If you really want a shot with Y/N, you need to actually, I don’t know, tell her your feelings? She's not some untouchable goddess who's going to smite you for shooting their shot."

Jake winces. "But what if she's not interested? What if I make it weird? What if—"

"Jake," Grace's voice cuts through his spiraling thoughts. "You won't know unless you try! And you're a great guy, but how would Y/N know that if you don't open yourself up more? Seriously, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Uh. Spontaneous combustion? If I look her in the eyes for longer than 5 seconds, I just might implode. Or, you know, cease to exist," Jake deadpans, his hands gesturing wildly to emphasize his impending doom.

Grace snorts at her poor, poor friend, clearly amused by his romantic spiral. "Okay, first, no one's ever died from eye contact, buddy. Second, I'm not saying you should storm out there and go ask for her hand in marriage or anything—please, don't do that. I'm just saying, just at least try talking to her more maybe.” Baby steps, Grace thinks, baby steps.

Jake blinks. She's right. Of course she's right. He can’t let some algorithm control his entire love life, no matter how advanced or magical Heeseung claims it is.

Grace, seeing Jake's gears slowly turning, throws him a lifeline: “Alright, fine. If it makes you feel better, she may or may not have called you cute once. Better?"

Jake freezes. His eyes widen like a deer caught in headlights. Cute? You called him cute? All the oxygen leaves his lungs, and he’s pretty sure he’s about to pass out right here in the library.

"Wait, what?"

"Don’t get too excited," Grace smirks, clearly enjoying watching Jake short-circuit. "She said it in passing. Once."

Jake, now on the verge of a mental breakdown, blurts out, "Like, ‘aw-that-puppy-is-cute’ cute? Or like, ‘he’s-so-cute-I-wanna-kiss-him’ cute? I need specifics, Grace!"

Grace’s grin widens, watching her friend spiral into oblivion. "Jake, you’re overthinking it again. Relax. Just take the win."

"Grace, please, I'm begging you. On a scale from 'puppy' to 'kiss', where do I stand?!" Jake's eyes are practically bugging out of his head at this point.

Grace rolls her eyes, but her teasing smile doesn't falter. "If you keep freaking out like this, you’re gonna drop down to 'awkward goldfish' cute real quick."

"I’m doomed,” Jake groans, burying his face in his hands.

Grace pats his back with mock sympathy. "Yep. But at least she'll think you're cute while doing it."

Jake peeks at her through his fingers. “You think she meant 'kiss' cute?”

"Finish your plan first, lover boy. Then we’ll talk."

Jake can’t help the ridiculous smile growing on his face.

Kiss cute, he decides. It has to be.

You think if you have to read one more sentence about human anatomy, you might actually cry. You sigh as you close your textbook and push it aside to reside with the unnecessary amount of highlighters scattered on the café table between you and Grace.

"I hate this. I hate the circulatory system. Why do I even need to know what the ‘superior vena cava’ is," you groan as you take a sip of what's left of your watered down iced matcha.

Grace hums in front of you as her eyes continually scan the textbook, desperate to absorb just enough information to survive tomorrow's anatomy quiz.

"Because it keeps you alive, Y/N. Duh," Grace jokes as her eyes stay peeled to her textbook.

"Screw that," you scoff. "I don't need the circulatory system to keep me alive. I just need caffeine and BTS's entire discography pumped through my veins to live."

Grace finally glances up, giving you an amused side-eye at your usual dramatic flair, before she remembers she has an important mission at hand:

Operation Jake & Y/N.

Grace slams her textbook closed with a dramatic thud to show she's finished studying (she's not).

"Sooo...speaking of circulatory systems and...hearts and...stuff—did you ever finish filling out the questions for Hee's love app thingy?"

You, oblivious to the sudden change in topic, shrug as you fish your straw around your plastic cup, hoping to find more drops of watery matcha to savor.

"Yeah, I finished it the other day. It took me forever though. Like, why does it need to know if I'd rather have a personal trainer who can only teach me interpretive dance versus a personal chef who can only cook cereal? I swear Hee was on some drugs or something while creating those questions."

"Not drugs, probably an unhealthy amount of caffeine and ramen though," Grace snorts, still trying to play it cool.

"Caffeine is a drug, doofus," you say pointedly, right before you get a smack in the forehead by Grace's crumbled up straw wrapper.

"Whatever," Grace laughs. "Hey I'm curious—what did you put for your answers? Wanna compare? See how similar we are?" Grace's leg is bouncing under the table, trying to keep up the ‘smooth’ façade, hoping you won't find her sudden interest weird.

"Sure, why not?" you nonchalantly agree, not thinking twice about the random request.

Grace blinks in surprise. That was...way easier than expected. She was ready to prepare some elaborate excuse, like ‘I need your answers to match you up with my desperate best friend who's head over heels for you!’

Oh wait. That part is real. You get the gist.

"Unless...," you pause suddenly. Uh oh. "Unless you're going to sell my answers to some mad scientist and they try to make an evil clone of me to take over the world and end up framing me and I'll have to clear my name in a dramatic world-televised court trial."

Grace blinks, before rolling her eyes, as her nervous heartbeat returns to a normal rate.

“You're so goddamn weird sometimes.”

You beam at your friend, clearly amused at yourself, as you scroll through your answers and send screenshots to Grace without a second thought. "Sent! Oh, and send me yours—I wanna know what you put for 'Stuck in a room with Shrek for 24 hours' versus 'Fight 100 duck-sized horses.'"

“Oh, vibe with Shrek, 100%,” Grace answers without skipping a beat, earning an agreeing high five from you.

Grace is ecstatic. This was so much easier than she thought. Not only does this mean her desperate best friend will finally get his shot with you (which also means she won’t have to hear his dramatic overthinking questions about whether you sharing a sandwich with him was a cosmic sign or just a sandwich), but it also guarantees her a week of free coffee and an A+ in physics for this semester.

She quickly types out a quick message to Jake as you're still distracted by your now near empty matcha cup:

Grace [1:26PM]: "mission accomplished. prepare for epic matchmaking success and a lifetime supply of guilt-free caffeine. for me, ofc"

Grace leans back in satisfaction, practically tasting the sweet (and caffeinated) taste of victory. She's done her end of Mission Impossible, and now it's up to Jake to do...well, whatever Jake does in these situations.

Her phone buzzes with a reply from Jake:

Jake [1:28PM]: THANK YOU!!! also...not a lifetime supply...just a week. don't get it twisted"

"Look, all I'm saying is," you declare, leaning back on the couch, "if all five of us pitch in, we could most definitely rob a bank."

What had started as a group study session two hours ago in your and Grace's apartment has, as usual, turned into your friend group's typical day of hanging out: wildly imagining scenarios so far removed from reality that there’s absolutely no chance you’d end up in them—but entertaining the idea anyway, because what else are you going to do when you're supposed to be studying?

Grace snickers from beside you, "Yeah, and with your stealth skills, we'd get caught in about three business seconds. You literally screamed when I dropped that piece of paper yesterday."

"It startled me! Gravity's such a scary concept, okay?" You huff, arms crossed. Jake, sitting on your other side, fights back the slight grin growing on his face as he watches you scrunch your face in that way he secretly finds unfairly cute, even if it is over your fear of inanimate objects. So weirdly adorable.

Heeseung, sitting cross-legged on the floor from across the couch, raises an eyebrow, “Y/N, do you even know how banks work?”

“She’s got the spirit. I’d give her a solid 7/10 for enthusiasm. Execution, though? Negative two,” Jay says as crosses his arms with a grin from beside Heeseung.

You grab and throw a couch pillow at him, which he dodges with ease, sticking out his tongue. Jake instinctively shifts closer to you, to your oblivion, like he’s ready to shield you from any incoming retaliation missiles.

“What, and you’d be the brains of the operation? Mr. ‘I forgot my own phone password for two days?’” You fire back.

Jay shrugs, unfazed, “Hey, no need to bring up the past. We all make mistakes.”

“Yeah,” Jake finally chimes in, hoping you will notice how smooth he sounds, “but not all of us text our own phone ‘Why won’t you let me in?’ while the password is literally ‘1234.’”

Everyone laughs, except Jay, who gasps and points dramatically at Jake, “Betrayal. How dare you?”

“It’s public knowledge, bro. You told everyone,” Jake raises his hands in defense, but his eyes keep flickering back to you, wondering if your sweet laughter is because of him this time. And call him delusional, but he really thinks it is. You throw your head back from laughing so hard, at some point your hand graces Jake’s knee next to yours to stabilize yourself.

It’s no secret—well, at least not to Grace—that Jake’s newfound confidence around you is all thanks to that one tiny lifeline Grace threw him: you called him cute once. Just once. And now, Jake’s running with it, holding on for dear life, and convincing himself that maybe, just maybe, you think about him the same way he thinks about you. Maybe.

“I told you all in confidence! That was a moment of weakness!” Jay crosses his arms, looking like a child who just got scolded at. “I trusted you people.”

Grace, grabbing a handful of popcorn from the coffee table, pouts at Jay, “And that, my friend, was your first mistake.”

“Et tu, Grace?” Jay gasps, clutching his chest like he’s been personally victimized by the betrayal of his closest friends. Well…he was.

Heeseung, shaking his head, cuts in, “Okay, but if we’re robbing a bank, I’m in charge. I’m the only one here with any common sense.”

You frown, “What do you mean? I have common sense! I brushed my teeth today and everything!”

Jake watches you with a soft smile, finding even your exaggerated outrage so weirdly adorable.

Grace bursts out laughing, “Y/N, sweetie, that’s basic hygiene, not common sense. But good job. We’re all proud of you.”

Jake, clearly riding his boost of confidence from earning that one (1) laugh from you, decides to add in and nods, looking completely serious, “Honestly, I think we should celebrate that. Maybe get you a gold sticker or something.”

“You guys are bullies,” you mutter, sinking into the couch, but you're laughing too. Jake tries to hide how melted he feels when you laugh like that—all bright and simply, you.

“It's nothing personal, Y/N,” Heeseung adds, smirking, "but you can't easily get startled by inanimate objects and claim you have common sense."

Jay snickers, pointing at you, “Remember that time you thought the vacuum was attacking you?”

You shoot him a glare, debating on throwing yet another couch pillow at him, “It moved on its own, okay? That’s suspicious.”

"The Roomba was doing its job. You nearly declared war on the thing," Grace, mouth full of popcorn, can't defend you on this one.

Jake, on the other hand, feels compelled to defend you, even if he knows it’s ridiculous. You know, since he could relate to the whole impending-mental-doom-by-a-Roomba thing, "The Roomba was being weird that day.”

Jay side-eyes Jake, “Oh, so now you’re on Team Roomba Conspiracy? That’s rich.”

That is rich, considering Jake nearly signed up for therapy just days ago after having an existential crisis about being recruited to join your arch-nemesis—Roombas. Now here he was, ready to go to battle for your anti-automated-dust-sucker stance.

Jake shrugs, refusing to make eye contact with anyone, suddenly hyper-aware of your attention on him, “I just think we shouldn’t dismiss Y/N’s concerns so quickly.”

You turn to him with the softest smile he's seen in the history of smiles—one that fully knocks the breath right out of him.

“Aw thank you, Jake! Someone around here finally gets it,” you momentarily rest your head on his shoulder for two fleeting seconds—short enough to show your appreciation but long enough to utterly dismantle the boy’s composure.

He’s frozen. Brain empty, no thoughts…except for the scent of your shampoo rushing his senses. He’s not sure if he’s about to pass out or propose.

“Simp,” Jay mutters under his breath, just loud enough for Jake to hear. Jake shoots him a warning look, making Jay’s smirk grow wider.

Grace, still giggling at the memory of you running away from a Roomba, then turns to Heeseung with a curious grin, "Speaking of concerns, how's the app going? When are we gonna find out who's paired with who?"

Heeseung immediately groans, frustratingly running a hand through his hair, "It's...going, alright. Some people are weird, man. I don't even know how to process some of these answers."

"Really? How so?" You perk up at this, interested.

Heeseung sighs as he pulls his phone out of his pocket, "Okay, look at this—someone put 'ramen' as an answer for what they're looking for in a partner."

Jay snorts, "Sounds like something you’d put, honestly. You should match yourself up with them!"

"And this person," Heeseung continues, scrolling and displaying his phone to the rest of the group, "just answered 'vibes' to every single question. Every. One. What does that even mean?!"

Everyone shrugs around the coffee table in confusion as the exasperated boy dramatically tosses his phone to the side like it personally offended him.

"Anyways. I should be done tonight, so hopefully the matches get released tomorrow," he reveals, to everyone's excitement.

"Ohmygosh, tomorrow?" Grace claps her hands lightly. "I can't wait, I hope I get paired with someone who, like, is secretly Spiderman or something. You know, someone with substance."

"I'm nervous, what if I get a total weirdo?" You mutter, eyes widening at the thought.

Jake thinks to himself: as long as he gets paired with you, he doesn't mind being a total weirdo. He'll be your total weirdo. He'll dye his hair neon rainbow, start collecting Russian nesting dolls, and live in a treehouse if that's what it takes.

"Y/N," Jay speaks up, cocking his head out from the bag of potato chips he's currently annihilating, "if anything, you're gonna be the weird one in whatever relationship you end up in."

You instinctively reach for another pillow to throw at him, but Jake is faster, shielding his arms around you, "Okay, okay, let's be nice. I'm sure Y/N will end up with someone perfectly normal, and anyone who ends up with Y/N will not find her weird at all."

That's because Jake better be the one that ends up with you. And he definitely doesn't think you're weird. Well maybe a little. In an endearing way.

And hopefully, in your eyes, he's normal. Or not—it's all the same to him, as long as he's the one by your side.

All the steps are set in stone. Now, he just needs the algorithm to do its thing and simply match you two together—which is bound to happen, given Jake is practically a Y/N 2.0 after copying all your answers. If this doesn't work, then the universe is officially out to get him.

Yes. Everything will happen according to plan.

It has to.

Nothing goes according to plan.

Jake's eyes dart in panic between Grace's look of confusion and your phone screen, currently displaying to the rest of the lunch table your so-called soulmate's name, which, surprise surprise—it's not Jake.

Instead, it reads:

Match: Park Sunghoon

You shrug as you glance up from your phone, completely unaware of the Tom and Jerry hole Jake is crawling back down right now, "I think he's that new transfer student. I've seen him around in my psychology class, he's kinda cute!"

Jake's heart sinks deeper than he thought was humanly possible. Cute? Like 'puppy' cute or 'kiss' cute? Oh god, his worst nightmare is coming true. He's about to be banished back to the sad category of 'automated vacuums' in your heart, left to raise 12 kittens on his own.

Jay frowns, crossing his arm, "No fair, I haven't gotten my match yet, and Y/N gets the cute new kid? This is rigged."

Heeseung smirks, leaning back in his chair like some algorithm god, "Patience, child. The results are rolling out throughout the entire day. I added that feature for the 'element of surprise.'"

Grace, meanwhile, subtly leans towards Jake while everyone else rambles over your match, "Looks like the universe hates you."

"I can't believe it didn't work. It doesn't make any sense, it has to be broken or something,” Jake says, visibly upset, trying his very best to not dig himself a grave right then and there in the middle of the university's quad.

Grace shrugs, feeling confusion on behalf of her best friend as well, "At least you can say you tried. Maybe the universe is trying to hint at you to actually talk to her and get into a relationship the normal, organic way."

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbles. But Jake is too perplexed to listen to Grace's—very, very, valid—logic right now.

Jake's thoughts spiral faster than a malfunctioning Roomba trapped in a corner, repeatedly slamming into the same wall with no hope of escape. Honestly, Jake wishes there was a wall around him right now to repeatedly slam his head into. Maybe that way the delulu in him—the one that convinced him he could hack his way into your heart—can finally escape his brain.

His brain is short-circuiting in panic, bouncing between the reality of his failure and the absolute tragedy that Sunghoon—the cute transfer student (you probably think he's kiss-cute too) is about to waltz in and steal his entire future. Jake can already picture Sunghoon effortlessly holding all twelve hypothetical kittens, while Jake is left alone with nothing but his shattered dreams.

Before Jake can imagine another over dramatic scenario in his head of you and Sunghoon that would make him physically rip out his own heart and stomp all over it, Grace's phone suddenly pings.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Everyone turns to look at her, as Grace glances up from her phone, the look of pure horror on her face.

Grace slowly turns her phone around for everyone to see, and there, in bold letters, sits:

Match: Park Jongseong

A beat of silence (or as Grace would call it, moment of silence for the fallen. The fallen being Grace), then...

“HA!” Jay cackles, pointing at her. “Sucks to be you.”

"Oh, you think this is funny, Park?" Grace glares at him, and at everyone else for giggling at the absurd match. "I would literally rather match with my chemistry TA who wears socks with sandals."

Heeseung perks up, clearly overly amused at the match drama ensuing around the table, "Wait, that chem TA's not that bad lowkey..."

Grace throws him a look, "Hee, this isn't about Steve the TA! This is about my life being ruined in real time!"

Jake tunes in and scoffs, so shocked at his friend's statement, he forgot the setting they're all in, "Your life being ruined? What about mine?"

Jake quickly silences himself after he realizes what he just said..and in front of you.

"What about your life getting ruined, Jake? Did you get your match yet?" You look up at him from across the table, curious who could possibly have Jake in such shambles (Ironic, isn't it?).

"Err—no, not yet. What I mean is..uhh," Jake stammers, his remaining brain cells (which isn't many at this point) trying to muster up the best lie they could to cover himself. "My life would totally be ruined if Grace and Jay end up together because...uhh..because I'd totally have to third-wheel them all the time!"

Yes, that's good Jake. Good job, good job.

You seem to be convinced enough by the excuse, your eyes suddenly widening in fear.

"Oh god, you're so right! This means Jay's gonna be over at our apartment all the time now. He'll probably never leave,” you visibly shudder.

Grace gestures wildly at the entire table in disbelief, "You guys! What in the world makes you think Jay and I are going to end up together just because some love algorithm thinks we're good for each other? No offense, Hee."

Jay, on the other hand, reclines back in his chair, looking entirely too smug for someone who just got called out as a last-choice match, "Hey, the algorithm knows what's up. Maybe this is fate, Grace. This could be fun." He points between the two of them, as if sealing a deal.

"Fun?! Wrestling a bear made entirely of thorns sounds more fun," Grace physically recoils, like she just touched something soggy in the sink's drain, her expression sending the whole table into laughter.

"Honestly, I see it. Can't fight the science," you speak up, throwing a knowing look at Grace before Jay gives you an appreciative high-five from across the table.

Grace snaps her head towards you and gasps, "Traitor! How dare you—you better sleep with your door locked tonight or I swear—"

"ALL I'm saying is—" you raise your hands in defense, interjecting before Grace can vow to eliminate you and your future lineage from the face of this planet, "—I think it’s kind of sweet you matched with someone you actually know, you know? I mean, I wish I got paired with a close friend. I’ve always believed in the friend-to-significant-other pipeline."

Friend to significant other? Jake's internal monologue screeches to a halt. Y/N, I'm right here! I could be the one, not Sunghoon! That could be us!

Then, as if you could read his thoughts, your gaze meets Jake’s for just a beat too long, lingering in that space where words usually get lost. Jake swears your expression softens for half a second before you casually shift your focus back on Grace. His brain is officially overheating. Was that a hint? Was it?

Oh my god. She’s totally hinting at me.

Or—no, wait. Maybe he's reading into it again. Maybe he's so deep into this 'delulu' life that now every sentence feels like it's tailor-made just for him.

Yeah, that has to be it. Definitely the latter, right? Right.

Heeseung perks up from his seat, pointing at Grace, "See? She's right. Trust the science. And the friendship! But mostly the science. Science doesn’t mess up, man. It must've sensed some... undercurrents between you and Jay."

Grace looks like she’s about to leap across the table and strangle Heeseung with his own hoodie strings, but Jay interrupts with a wide grin.

"Yeah, undercurrents, Gracey-poo. We’re destined."

You lose it, breaking into uncontrollable laughter as Grace pretends to dry heave at the sound of the pet name.

"And just like that," she says, dramatically standing up from her seat, "I think that’s my cue to leave. If I hear Jay call me ‘Gracey-poo’ again, I’m going to bleach my ears."

The entire table is still laughing while Grace makes her swift escape to her next class. You finally manage to catch your breath, turning to Jake with a small smile (which also casually happens to send his brain into overdrive. No big deal, really).

"I'm excited to see who you get paired with, Jake! I bet she's amazing."

Jake feels his heart sink a little, but he forces a casual smile. No one is as amazing as you though (cheesy, but painfully true).

Trying to cover his disappointment, Jake shrugs, "I don’t know... I’m not really that into this whole matchmaking thing anyway." He leans back, feigning nonchalance. "I don’t think I’ll actually do anything with whoever I get matched with."

Jake can’t tell if the small breath you let out is in relief or if, once again, he’s feeding his delusional part of his brain that’s been working overtime.

But before he can overthink it, you raise an eyebrow, teasing him, "What? You’re not even curious? What if it’s someone perfect for you?"

Jake laughs awkwardly, desperately trying to keep his cool. It would be perfect if it was you. But instead, he blurts out, "Yeah, maybe they’ll match me with my future laundry partner. Who knows?" Laundry? Really, Jake?

"That would be a miracle," Heeseung looks up from his phone, gesturing towards Jake, "this guy never does his laundry."

Jake shoots him a sharp look, "Not true! I just need...some motivation.."

"Motivation from your future girlfriend?" Jay chimes in, raising an eyebrow. "That's gotta be a new low, dude."

You nudge Jake's arm from across the table, grinning, "Hey, maybe the algorithm’s just that good. It knows you need a laundry-loving girlfriend in your life."

Jake snorts, playing along, but his thoughts are a mess. Laundry-loving girlfriend? Nah, Jake needs you as his girlfriend—no question about it.

As you turn your attention back to your phone, the smile fades from Jake’s face, just for a second. His eyes linger on you longer than he means to, before he leans his head on his hand, pretending to care about whatever random TikTok Heeseung is showing him right now.

But the video’s a blur. All Jake can focus on is how wrong everything feels. This isn’t how it was supposed to go. You were supposed to be his match. You are his match. He knows it.

Forget laundry-doing-girlfriends or algorithm-approved pairings. If the app really knew what Jake needed, it would’ve led him straight to you.

And honestly, Jake’s pretty sure he’s smarter than the sleep-deprived, ramen-fueled algorithm Heeseung cooked up. So yeah, screw the love machine.

If the app won’t do it for him, then it’s time he takes matters into his own hands.

(About time.)

“Please please please pleeeeease!” Jake’s trailing behind Heeseung throughout their shared living room like a toddler whose candy got snatched, but way more desperate.

Yeah, uh, this is Jake's idea of taking matters into his own hands.

This is officially the billionth time Heeseung’s heard this in the past 24 hours. At least this time Jake managed to wait until Heeseung was out of the shower and fully clothed before launching into his regularly programmed meltdown. Progress, right?

“Jake! You do realize what you’re asking me, right? You sound insane.” Heeseung's patience is thinner than the cup ramen noodles he’s survived on for the past week. He takes a seat on their couch, before pointedly looking at his desperate roommate. “You’re being ridiculously dramatic.”

Jake scoffs, like the mature adult he is. “YOUR FACE is being ridiculously dramatic.” Yup. Like the mature adult he is.

Heeseung came out to the living room in hopes of being able to catch up on the latest episode of The Bachelor, but to no avail, as the younger boy was waiting to catch him all day (not that Heeseung was actively avoiding Jake or anything, no definitely not). But instead of screaming at the TV in frustration at the bachelor's terrible decisions, here he was, staring at Jake, silently contemplating how many years in prison throwing him off their apartment's balcony would cost him.

Three? Maybe four? Would it be worth it? Possibly.

“All you gotta do,” Jake begins to launch his TED Talk, “is send out a mass email to all your participants and be like, ‘Oh noooo, the AI or robot or magical unicorn or whatever messed up!’ Then you just re-release the answers, but this time, pair me with Y/N, bada-bing bada-boom. Easy peasy.”

Heeseung stares blankly. Honestly, prison doesn’t sound that bad.

“First off, it’s not a robot. It’s an algorithm,” Heeseung says for the seventy-millionth time, contemplating launching his side career as a 'broken record'. “Second, if people found out it ‘messed up,’ my reputation would be in shambles. Can you imagine all the couples who met their match, only to find out it was a giant, steaming load of—”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Jake waves him off, deploying his best attempt (key word: attempt) at puppy-dog eyes. “But what about my soulmate?”

Heeseung groans and rubs his temples, “Jake, if she’s really your soulmate, maybe try telling her how you feel like a normal human being instead of begging me to rewrite reality?”

Jake pauses, then, in true Jake fashion, says: “Yeah, but like...nah.”

Heeseung looks at Jake, who is now staring at him with the intensity of someone waiting for a miracle, “You really don’t see how unhinged this sounds, do you?”

Jake blinks.

“I mean, yeah, but, like, what if it works? I’m just saying, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Wayne Gretzky said that.”

Heeseung rolls his eyes so hard he’s pretty sure he saw his past life flash by, “Did Wayne Gretzky also say, ‘Be a total weirdo and bother your friend to break all ethical codes and rig an algorithm because you’re too chicken to tell a girl you like her?’”

Jake shrugs. “He might’ve. We don’t know his whole catalog of wisdom.”

“I’m begging you—just talk to her. Or, I dunno, send her a meme on Instagram or something. Do anything other than harass me. Please.”

Jake's face scrunches up like Heeseung just suggested he swim with sharks. “A meme? Really? Do I look like some kind of loser who communicates through memes? I’ll have you know I’m a very mature adu—”

SMACK!

A flying sock lands squarely on Jake’s head. He blinks, confused, as Jay strolls in from his room and plops next to Heeseung, looking way too pleased with himself, “Dude, you’re begging like a guy who just got ghosted by an ATM. Have some dignity.”

“You’re not helping,” Jake glares, throwing the sock back at Jay.

Jay, with the wisdom only a seasoned disaster like him can possess, shrugs, “Honestly, Heeseung, just rerun the thing. I’m pretty sure the universe would implode if this dude doesn’t get matched with Y/N. And frankly, I don’t want to deal with that level of cosmic drama.”

“Jay, not you too,” Heeseung pinches the bridge of his nose as he realizes he needs to find a new spot to watch his show from now on.

Jay raises his hands in mock surrender, “Hey, man, I’m just looking out for you. If Jake doesn’t get his way, he’ll never shut up. You’re one day away from him showing up at your room's door with a PowerPoint presentation. Think of your sanity. Plus, we all live together which means I have to see the presentation too. Think of my sanity.”

“PowerPoint, huh? I could probably whip something up. Maybe add some pie charts and bar graphs,” Jake, clearly inspired, mutters to himself.

Heeseung stares at the ceiling, wondering if this is his villain origin story (it most definitely is). “There’s absolutely no way I’m risking the integrity of my algorithm just because you can’t grow a backbone.”

Jake’s face falls, but Jay’s wheels are already turning on behalf of his friend, Mr. Simp, “Hold up, hold up. Hee, think about it. There’s gotta be something you want. I mean, everyone’s got a price, right?”

Heeseung raises an eyebrow, still annoyed, yet intrigued. What? A good deal is a good deal.

“And what exactly do you think I want, Jay?”

Jay flashes a grin that screams mischief.

“We know you’ve been grinding on this algorithm for weeks, man. Barely sleeping. Barely eating,” Jay narrows his eyes in dramatic fashion, as though he’s about to uncover a deep secret. “You’re like two ramen packets away from full-on malnutrition. Sad really.”

“Yeah, bro. We care about you. You need... balance. Maybe a reward for all your hard work?” Jake suddenly adds, nodding vigorously, picking up on Jay's scheming.

Heeseung stares at them blankly, “Are you bribing me with...food?”

“Not just any food,” Jake adds, gesturing dramatically. “Free food. Unlimited food from anywhere, for a month. On me. You’ll never have to eat those mystery meat tacos from the dining hall ever again.”

Jay interjects, pointing at Jake, "Hey, I'll have you know, those tacos are actually quite good! You just have to deal with the initial frequent toilet trips when you first try them..."

Heeseung’s resolve flickers for a moment. His stomach growls at the mere thought of having actual, edible food (for free!) that isn’t microwavable...or whatever they put in those tacos.

Jake, sensing weakness, presses on, “AND… AND! I’ll do all your laundry. One month. No questions asked. I’ll even iron your shirts.”

Jay, impressed by Jake's bargaining methods, nods his head along as if to convince the skeptical Heeseung, hoping to save himself from also having to hear Jake's consistent whining around the apartment any longer.

Heeseung narrows his eyes. “I don’t iron my shirts.”

“I’ll iron them anyway. Luxury service.”

A pause. Heeseung’s brain is doing some serious mental gymnastics. On one hand, his precious algorithm. On the other… food that didn’t come from a vending machine and clean clothes that weren’t dug out of his laundry basket which is somewhere in the abyss that is his closet right now.

Jay nudges him, whispering like he's the devil on Heeseung's left shoulder, “Think about it, man. What’s more important? Some random algorithm, or free pizza from that one place around the corner every day?”

“I swear, if this comes back to bite me..,” Heeseung sighs, rubbing his temples but already thinking about the mouth-watering cheesy goodness he could be having every day.

“So, you’ll do it?!” Jake’s eyes suddenly light up with hope, reflecting the picture-perfect image of a golden retriever right now.

“Fine,” Heeseung glares at him, feeling the last of his integrity slip away. “But if anyone asks, you never heard this from me. And I expect my meals hot and my laundry folded.”

Jake gleams and practically starts bouncing off their living room's walls. “Yes! Yes! You won’t regret this! I mean, you probably will, but thank you!”

Heeseung shakes his head, regretting every life choice that led to this moment. Jay claps him on the back. “See? Was that so hard? Now you can live like a king for a whole month. I’d call that a win.”

“A king with a crumbling empire,” Heeseung sighs.

“Y/N, here I come!” Jake’s already halfway out their apartment's front door, with no destination in sight—just overjoyed with excitement that he feels he could run ten laps around campus right now (plot twist: he doesn't—he ends up running down the stairs just to get winded and comes right back up to the apartment).

As Jake sprints off, Heeseung groans, “I’ve made a terrible mistake, haven’t I?”

"Nah," Jay shrugs, already opening his phone. "Probably.”

Heeseung realizes he, indeed, made a terrible mistake when he looks up from his phone at lunch the next day and sees a particular you, storming up to the table.

Once you reach the table, you thrust your phone into his face, the ‘rematch’ email, that Heeseung had sent out only a few minutes ago, on display:

Subject [SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENT] : MatchMatic 3000 Oopsie Alert Hello there, awesome students & fellow singletons, Sooo...this is awkward. Despite weeks of blood, sweat, and ramen going into the creation of the Matchmatic 3000, it appears that a tiny part of the code had a full-on meltdown 🤖💔 As a result, some of the matches you received earlier this week were... well... not exactly what the love gods (or the code) intended. But hey, don’t panic! Not everyone’s match was wrong, just a small handful (I swear, please don’t come for me!). I truly apologize for the mix-up, and I’m already back at my desk (and caffeine-mixed-with-ramen-fueled) fixing it. The correct matches will be sent out ASAP—right after I double, triple, and quadruple check that this algorithm doesn’t throw another tantrum. Thanks for your patience, and please don’t hunt me down! 🙏 I promise I’ll do better next time... or, at the very least, make sure the matches don’t require emergency therapy sessions. Your (struggling) Campus Cupid, Lee Heeseung, Creator of the Slightly Dysfunctional Love Algorithm™ 💘

”What happened to ‘Oh, the science is never wrong! I’m very smart, trust me, I’m King Romantic Algorithm!’” You mock in your best Heeseung impression, earning amused looks from everyone around the table—well, everyone except Heeseung.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Heeseung groans, holding up his hands defensively. Heeseung still can’t believe he’s apologizing for absolutely no reason, except for the looming fact that his hopelessly-in-love-with-you roommate is making him. “I swear, it must’ve been all the sleep deprivation. Maybe the algorithm glitched somewhere between my tenth cup of ramen and a power nap.”

Heeseung shoots a knowing side glance towards Jake without anyone noticing, and Jake looks anywhere but at the older boy, avoiding eye contact at all costs.

Jay raises an eyebrow as he chews on his sandwich, “Honestly, I’m not mad about it. I was still holding out hope for that cute boba barista.”

“Excuse me?” Grace smacks Jay’s arm without hesitation from beside him. “What’s wrong with being matched with me?”

Jay blinks at her in disbelief.

“You literally said you’d rather wrestle a bear made of thorns than go out with me.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t want to go out with me,” Grace mutters, crossing her arms as Jay chuckles and nudges her back.

“I don’t have time for your boba barista fantasies, Jay,” you grumble, feeling clearly annoyed over the rematch debacle.

Jake, sitting across from you, has been…well characteristically quiet, probably because he’s still trying to figure out how to comfort you without feeling a pang of guilt for being the reason you’re frustrated. But he gives it a shot anyway, turning to you with a cautious, almost-too-casual smile.

“Are you really that upset over the rematch, Y/N?” His voice gentle, almost laced with concern, you would think.

You glance up at him, instantly feeling less annoyed…for some reason. Jake’s always had this weird ability to calm you down without even trying. Maybe it was just his soft and steady demeanor that made you feel the need to match his. You take a deep breath, smoothing out the sharp edges of your mood before you speak.

“It’s not that I was desperate to be with Sunghoon,” you start, your voice softer now. “I don’t know…I guess it was just kinda exciting and meeting someone new is always fun, you know? I think I’ve just been wanting something new or different in my life.”

You trail off, and when you meet Jake's eyes again, you catch the way he's nodding along, completely absorbed in what you're saying. His attentiveness is cute, it makes something flutter in your chest—an unfamiliar warmth. You, a little curious, let the feeling linger, before quickly brushing it aside.

But Jake? He feels that warmth too, though for him, it’s coupled with a twinge of jealousy. He's bothered. The thought of you seeking something ‘new’ with someone else twists in his chest, but he hides it with a smile, determined not to let you see how much it bothers him.

“Well,” Jake begins, voice light but with a subtle undertone of something more you pick up on and you wonder what it is. “Maybe it’s a good thing. The rematch, I mean. It’s like a second chance. Everything happens for a reason, right? Maybe Sunghoon’s secretly a serial heartbreaker…or into collecting voodoo dolls or something.”

You laugh, his humor breaking through any of your remaining frustration, and you raise an eyebrow at him.

“You sound awfully optimistic about this,” you tease, trying to figure out if there’s something more to his words. Was there? Probably not, you deduce. Definitely not.

Jake’s heart stutters, wondering if he's been caught red-handed. He fights the urge to panic and instead flashes you a cheesy grin and that somehow makes your stomach flip, though you can't exactly figure out why.

“Just saying, it could be a blessing in disguise,” he shrugs, his tone playful but sincere. “Maybe this time, it’ll match you with someone who’s right in front of you.”

Your breath catches as you take in his words quite literally. He’s just speaking metaphorically, right? But when your eyes meet again, there’s something in the way he looks at you—something that makes your heart skip a beat.

For a moment, you don't know why, but you feel vulnerable in front of Jake. Jake, of all people. He’s always been sweet, always been there, but right now, the way he’s looking at you feels different. Maybe it's the way he's talking to you like you two are the only people at the table, like everything you're saying is heard and understood, and you feel seen amidst all the chaos. Like he’s seeing you in a way you’ve never quite noticed before. And it sends warmth radiating through you, mixing with the confusion already swirling in your chest.

You blink and shake your head, you're overthinking. Jake is just being Jake—kind, supportive, and always ready to listen. That's just who he is. That's all.

So why can you still feel his lingering gaze on you even as the conversation moves on? And why does it make you feel...something? Shy? Nervous? Excited? Maybe all of the above.

Grace suddenly claps her hands together, breaking you out of your confusion, “Well, I think this whole rematch thing is the universe giving me a shot at a real love story,” she announces dramatically.

“Right, because nothing says ‘romance’ like a computer’s ruling,” Jay rolls his eyes.

Grace glares at him, “Maybe it’ll match me with someone who’s not emotionally unavailable for once.”

You laugh at your friends' banter, but your thoughts are still stuck on Jake's words, and all you can think about is the possibility of getting paired with Jake. You feel a fluttering sensation at that thought, and as if you were afraid he could read your mind, you try to sneak a glance at him, only to catch him looking at you at the exact same moment. His eyes quickly dart away, making the interaction short enough to avoid any awkwardness but still long enough for you to catch the same gentle, almost longing expression, on his soft features.

Your heart skips.

Feeling exposed, you clear your throat, trying to break the silent tension you’re sure only you’re feeling.

“Anyway,” you say, forcing a smile, “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m sure it’ll all work out in the end.”

Your friends all nod and murmur in agreement at your statement, but your heart lingers on Jake. You can't help but glance back at him, your mind refusing to shake this unfamiliar feeling of...something—maybe the slightest flicker of hope—that you match with him.

And maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't mind that at all.

And for Jake, well, there’s only one version of ‘everything working out at the end,’ and it's simple, really—it's you. And for him, that’s the only ending that matters.

Maybe Jake bit off a little more than he could chew this time.

Sure, we’ve established that Jake’s inner simp—Jake Simp—is willing to do just about anything to end up with you. Training for a triathlon? Done. Cat-sitting twelve cats? He’d do it, no questions asked. So, naturally, promising Grace a week’s worth of iced coffee deliveries, finishing her physics poster, funding Heeseung’s meals and doing all his laundry for a month didn’t seem that bad in comparison.

That was, until now—when he's speed-walking across campus, juggling an iced matcha latte (with two pumps of chai, because of course), a dry-cleaning bag with freshly ironed clothes, and a trifold poster board tucked precariously under his armpit, praying the drink doesn’t melt before he gets it to Grace.

Jake hastily rounds the corner by the library, barely keeping his balance when—

Smack.

Jake runs straight into someone, thankfully only sacrificing a few drops of the matcha as he stumbles, trying to keep everything from falling out of his grasp.

"Woah! Easy," an oddly familiar voice says, and when Jake looks up, he's met with your adorably amused expression. Of course it's you.

“Y/N!” Jake nearly chokes on his words, trying to steady himself. “I—uh, didn’t see you there.”

You laugh softly, your eyes flicking over everything in Jake's hold.

"Is that a...physics project? I thought you took that class last year."

Jake stalls, trying to recollect himself and somehow explain why he's running around campus with a trifold poster, (at this point, half-melted) iced matcha, and someone's else's dry cleaning, all over trying to end up with you. Because, yeah, there's really no way to explain that. But then...wait.

"I did take it last year," he says, eyebrows raised. "You remember that?"

Now you're the one seemingly flustered, as if you're the one that just ran into their crush, sweating beads over running a million of chores.

You think your face is as red as a beet right now, well, at least it feels like it.

"Uh—yeah, I guess I did," you give a sheepish smile, nervously tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear, and Jake thinks he's about to faint from lightheadedness right then and there.

"Plus, you were always talking about how the professor went on tangents about wormholes...but you would secretly enjoy them because you always swore you could survive getting sucked through one, remember?"

Jake’s heart skips at the way you're ever so casually recalling these details that even he didn't remember. He doesn't know which one takes the leaderboard, you calling him ‘Jakey’, or this.

"Wow," he breathes, unable to hide the smile spreading across his face. "I didn't think you’d notice all that. I thought I was just rambling half the time and the group would nod along to just be nice."

You shrug, looking up at the boy in front of you while trying to play it off casually, even though your heart feels like it's about to break free from your ribcage.

"Well, I guess I’ve just always remembered the stuff you talked about. It’s...kind of hard not to when you go on about it with that excited look on your face,” you quickly clamp your mouth and your eyes widen as you realize what you just said out loud. Yup, there goes your heart—broken out of your ribcage, running wild and free.

Jake blinks, mentally putting this interaction at the top of the leaderboard, for sure.

"Wait, seriously?" Jake's eyes widen as he asks with his voice softer now, as if he's not entirely sure he heard you right. He shifts the matcha latte in his hand, trying to ignore the way his heart just did a little flip at your words.

You're mentally kicking yourself for blurting that out loud, what is going on with you? You swallow hard, feeling trapped in the moment.

"I mean...yeah," you admit, your voice even quieter now, feeling the gaze of his eyes on you, as you fiddle with the strap of your bag.

"You get really into the stuff you care about, and it's kind of cute. In, like, a wholesome way," you quickly add, feeling even more heat suddenly rush to your face, "it's just...you know...cute."

You trail off as you realize you said cute twice but Jake's smile just widens even more at that, and suddenly the mountain of things he's carrying feels a teensy bit lighter.

"So you think it's cute, huh?"

Jake feels a newfound confidence, noticing how you're not your typical outspoken self, in fact, you almost look nervous around him. This is his delusion speaking right? Have you always been paying attention to him this way and he's been too blindsided to see it? Regardless, for whatever reason—delusion or not—in this moment, Jake feels a little more out of his comfort zone in front of you.

"I didn't say that! I said wholesome!" Your eyes dart up to meet his as you protest, but the flustered look on your face betrays you and Jake thinks he could definitely soar to the moon right now.

Jake, still smiling, shifts his weight, and without thinking, takes a small step closer.

"You totally did," his eyes peer teasingly at you and he doesn't know how he's still breathing, let alone talking, with you looking up at him, like that. "Guess I’ll have to keep talking about stuff I care about, then."

You try to muster something witty back, but the way he’s looking at you—and the way he’s talking to you—is making it so incredibly hard to focus on anything but the fluttering in your chest.

"Yeah I guess you do," you smile back at him, noticing the lack of space between you two all of the sudden. You've never seen this side of Jake, and you can't help but enjoy it...the banter, the flirty glances, the way he makes you feel—

You clear your throat, snapping yourself back into reality, "So..what is with the project poster and…dry-cleaning?" Your eyes go back to everything he's juggling to avoid further eye contact, grateful for the distraction to give you a chance to catch your breath and regain your composure.

"Oh, this? You know, just doing my daily round of favors for Grace, Heeseung, and the rest of the world apparently," Jake chuckles, more so to himself, at how ridiculous of a situation he really did get himself in.

You smile, your heart warming at the thought. Jake's always been this way—kind, thoughtful, always helping the people he cares about. Well…in reality, he technically is doing this for someone he cares about…you.

"Damn, guess I should ask for the same treatment then, huh?" You tilt your head, lips quirking into a grin, eyes lit up.

Typically, that look on your face would have Jake in absolute shambles and he'd probably want to curl up into a turtle shell for life. But whatever cosmic forces that orchestrated this recent shift between you two had given him a much-needed confidence boost.

"I mean, I'd totally do that for you, if that's what you're asking," he leans in with another playful smirk on his face, "anytime."

Your breath catches, the butterflies in your stomach fighting to escape.

"Oh? Even if it means running across campus with an iced latte in one hand and my dirty laundry in the other?"

“For you? Yeah. No problem.”

For a second, you don’t respond, just watching him with a curious, unreadable expression that always drives him crazy. Now, Jake feels like he might actually pass out from how intensely you’re looking at him.

Finally, you smile. “I'll hold you to that, Jakey.”

Jake freezes. It's like you know exactly what that name does to him.

You giggle, clearly amused at the way he stumbles over a reaction and quickly add, "Anyway, I'll leave you to it! Grace is gonna kill you for bringing over a watered-down matcha. But I'll see you later tonight for movie night, right?"

Jake suddenly remembers the long-awaited (it was planned one day ago) movie night the group set for tonight, and he gets excited at the idea of seeing you again in just a few hours.

"Definitely, I'll save you a seat?"

"Mmm," you nod as you start walking away slowly, still facing him, basking in the way he's watching you. "See you later, Jakey!"

You finally turn and stroll away, thankful your back is to him now so he can't see how your smile is growing wider than you thought was possible.

On the other hand, Jake blinks, eyes on you as you walk away, still trying to process what just happened. Confidence or not, you always have the last word. But that doesn’t matter.

One thing is for sure—Jake Simp is in full throttle, and he’d happily run across campus a hundred times, coffee and laundry in hand, if it means hearing you say his name like that again.

Not that Jake’s been counting down the hours until movie night or anything—no, definitely not—but it’s been approximately five hours since he ran into you, and—if he’s being honest—about four and a half of those hours were spent thinking about how he’ll be seeing you again. The other 30 minutes? Well, they were spent explaining to Grace why her matcha was delivered watered down, which was a scolding he’d rather forget about.

Needless to say, he's even more excited than usual to see you tonight, for no particular reason. But after your last interaction, Jake feels closer to you than ever before. There’s a tiny flicker of hope, but he keeps reminding himself not to get ahead of himself. After all, he’s only recently mastered the art of saying more than one sentence to you without hyperventilating. Baby steps.

Jake’s eyes scan the coffee table of the living room, mentally checking off all the important snacks (important as in your favorite ones, of course).

"What vibe are we going for tonight?" Heeseung calls out from the couch, as he flips through the Netflix homepage on their TV. "Horror or coming-of-age rom-com?"

Jake grimaces, "Please, no horror. I’m still having nightmares from the last movie night." He shudders at the memory.

"Dude," Jay strolls into the room, chuckling, "Coraline is a kids movie!"

"A scary kids movie! That thing should be rated at least PG-13!" Jake protests, while still scanning the room to ensure everything’s perfectly set up. Snacks, check. Drinks, check. Your favorite blanket neatly folded on the seat he’s reserved for you? Check.

As if right on cue, a knock sounds at the door, and Jay casually starts, "I got it!"—but because Jake's Spidey senses (aka Y/N-senses) are sure it's you at the door, he's already sprinting and launches to the door, parkour style, slightly nudging Jay out the way and making it to the door before him—all in a second's time.

"It’s okay! I got it!" Jake blurts, a bit too breathlessly, leaving Jay with a mixed look of disbelief that quickly morphs into amused pity.

"Oookayyy," Jay drawls, turning to Heeseung with a knowing look, clearly entertained by their roommate. "He’s officially lost it."

Jake takes a breath and quickly runs a hand through his hair in an attempt to not look disheveled, before pulling open the door.

"Y/N. Hi."

"Jake. Hi," you smile up at him, dressed in what you would call your "comfy movie night outfit"—but what Jake would call Met Gala worthy. He's pretty sure you could wear a paper bag and it'd be Met Gala worthy.

For a split second, Jake’s brain malfunctions as he stalls at the door. The moment he’s been daydreaming about in his head for the last five hours is happening, but now that it’s here, he has zero idea what to do. Think, Jake, think!

"Congrats, you’re the first one here!" he blurts, mentally face-palming as soon as the words leave his mouth.

You giggle as you step inside, "Well, that would make sense, since you guys live here, and Grace is always late to everything. But thanks, Jakey, I’ll take it."

You turn to grin at the boy once more, and he's officially a goner. RIP.

"Oh—right," Jake stifles a sheepish grin as he rubs the back of his neck, shooting Jay and Heeseung a death glare as they're both silently roasting him with their eyes.

"Hi boys," you greet the others as you step into the living room, eyes immediately going to the table lined with snacks. "Wow, you guys really went all out!"

"Hiii Y/N," Heeseung and Jay say in perfect unison. You give them a raised brow, but shrug it off, too used to their weird behavior to question it.

"Sooo, which seat is mine?" You excitedly turn back to Jake, scanning the available spots.

"That one! Best seat in the house, guaranteed,” Jake practically beams, heart pitter-pattering as he's pointing to the cushion right next to his favorite spot.

"Oh really? What makes it the best?" you ask, plopping down and curling up instantly into the cushion, which makes Jake wonder how much more his heart can truly take before it spontaneously implodes on itself.

“It comes with your favorite blanket and easy access to the snacks. All your favorites, by the way," Jake slides into the seat beside you, keeping his voice cool.

He’s very proud of himself for that one. After all, he did scour three different stores near campus for watermelon Sour Patch and strawberry Pocky.

Jay butts in, grinning like the devil himself, "And the fact that you’re sitting next to Jake makes it extra special, right, Jakey?"

"Oh? Is that so?" You tilt your head, feigning innocence, although you've always known that the middle seat cushion has always been Jake's sacred seat on movie nights.

"He’s...joking. I can sit anywhere! I just, uh... think this seat happens to have the best angle of the TV." Jake’s heart is definitely about to combust.

Smooth, Jake. Real smooth.

You smile and place a hand on Jake’s knee, patting it lightly, "I trust you, Jake. I’m already enjoying this seat more than you know."

Jake swallows thickly, his body going rigid under your warm hand briefly against his skin. He thinks if he tries to say anything else, it'll come out sounding like a goose giving birth to fifty eggs.

From Jake’s other side, Heeseung chimes in, obliviously saving his hopeless roommate, "So, Y/N—horror or rom-com tonight?"

"Horror!" you gasp excitedly, eyes widening immediately, "I need those jump scares to make me feel something, you know?"

Jay breaks out in a coughing fit, nearly choking on his sudden laughter, while Jake shoots him yet another death glare.

“Y/N, I completely agree with you! Any objections anyone?” Jay announces almost animatedly, leaving you slightly confused but, once again, unfazed by your friend’s weirdness.

"Nope, none from me. Jake?" Heeseung raises a brow, also trying not to laugh himself.

Jake looks at you, seeing how excited you are, and yep—he’s screwed. More nightmares for him, it seems.

"Nope! I’m...totally down for horror."

You lightly clap your hands in excitement, making Jake realize that, yeah, the nightmares are probably worth it if it means seeing you this happy.

As you reach over for a snack, Jay mouths the word "SIMP" at Jake. Jake responds with an eye roll, but yeah, Jay’s not wrong.

~~~

The movie is only 20 minutes in when you frown looking at the coffee table, “How is it possible we’re out of snacks already?”

“I blame Grace for showing up late. I got hungry, okay?” Jay says, pointing at her. Grace responds by smacking the back of his head. “Ouch.”

Heeseung pauses the movie. “Vending machine run, anyone?”

“Jake and Y/N, go! Perfect candidates,” Jay suggests without skipping a beat, rubbing the back of his head from the provoked attack.

You raise an eyebrow at Jake, feeling your heart race a little faster. You're trying to play it cool but the thought of having a moment alone with him sends a buzz through you. It's the kind of opportunity you didn't realize you were hoping for—wait, were you? You have no idea. But what you do know is that being around Jake has felt different lately, in a good way. There's something about his presence that makes you want to be near him more and more. It's confusing, whatever this is, but all you can admit to yourself right now is, feelings or not, you want this time with him.

Jake opens his mouth to respond, but doesn’t manage to get anything out before you quickly grab his hand and pull him toward the door.

“Okay! Be back in a few!” you call back to the group, trying to sound casual.

Inside, you’re freaking out just a little. Or a lot. Definitely a lot. The feeling of his hand in yours is warm, almost comforting, but there’s...something that you swear is there. It just feels right.

Jake follows behind you down the hall, and you can feel the warmth of his hand lingering even as you let go. You sneak a glance at him, and for some reason, he just seems... different. You've always found Jake cute. That's not news. But this—this is different, this isn't your typical ‘oh he's cute’ feeling...but you can't pinpoint what it is either. You shake the thought off.

"Soo…" you start, looking up at him from the corner of your eye. Your heart pounds a little louder, and you hope he can’t hear it over the sound of your sneakers hitting the hallway tiles. He’s just so cute standing there, slightly awkward, but making it work. How can someone look this adorable just existing?

“Sorry for dragging you out like that. I hope you don't mind,” you finally say as you both step into the elevator. You try to sound casual, but the slight bubble in your throat betrays you.

“Oh—no, not at all. I totally wanted to...go with you...” Jake says, and then he quickly adds, “I mean, you're practically saving me from all the jump scares.”

You laugh softly after a beat of silence, raising an eyebrow as the elevator doors open. “I thought you said you didn’t mind horror movies?”

“Well,” Jake hesitates, but then says quietly, “how could I say no when you were that excited to watch one?”

You blink, feeling your breath catch for a second. Did he just—? You look up at him, searching his expression, but all you see is that sweet smile of his, and your mind goes a little fuzzy, trying to piece together what that meant.

You roll the thought around for a second before giving him a playful nudge.

“Wow, who knew Jake Sim was such a people pleaser?” You’re teasing, but there’s an unfamiliar giddiness in your chest when he simply grins at you in response.

As you step into the vending machine room, a soft hum fills the space. You glance at Jake again—he's studying the snack options with a small, focused frown, and you can’t help but smile. Why is everything he does so...frustratedly cute?

Eventually, he sighs, giving up on his snack mission, and leans casually against the machine. Meanwhile, you're slightly bent down, continuing to mentally analyze the shelves, but you're hyper-aware of the fact that his eyes are definitely on you. And because you can feel the heat from his gaze, you swear you're turning ten shades redder by the second.

“Are you gonna help me pick out snacks, or are you just gonna keep staring at me like that?” you ask, trying to sound casual, even though your brain's in overdrive. Your eyes stay glued to the snack shelves, anything to avoid the tension of locking eyes with him right now.

“Hmmm,” you can hear the teasing smirk in his voice, and it sends a spark through you. “Nah, you can handle the snacks. I’m perfectly okay where I am.”

You roll your eyes playfully, but your pulse quickens. Punching in the numbers for a random snack, you slide a dollar into the machine, stalling a little before you finally stand up and look up at him. “Oh, are you?”

You don’t expect him to be this close when you're fully standing up. The space between you shrinks, and suddenly, you can almost feel his breath on your skin. Your pulse thumps loudly in your ears as you try your best to swallow the lump in your throat.

“Still perfectly okay?” The words come out softer than you intended, almost a whisper. You’re holding his gaze now, neither of you wanting to break it. You swear you could probably hear a pin drop if it wasn't for your loud heartbeat right now.

Jake swallows, and for a split second, you see him hesitate. His eyes flicker down to your lips, and that simple, unintentional move makes your breath hitch. You could lean in right now—close the gap between you—and you wonder if he’s thinking the same thing. Maybe you're hoping he's thinking the same thing.

But then Jake chuckles, breaking the silence with his soft laugh that makes your stomach flip for maybe the hundredth time tonight.

“I, uh… yeah, I’m still okay,” he says, though his voice exposes just how not okay he actually is. You see the faintest blush creeping up his neck, and it’s endearing—so much so that you almost forget you were nervous too.

You swear you can sense him shuffle just a little bit closer and you're subconsciously wanting to lean into the feeling...

Plop!

The sound of the bag of chips landing at the bottom of the machine breaks whatever moment you thought was forming between you two.

You blink. Jake blinks.

For a split second, the two of you just stare at each other, wide-eyed, before Jake is the first to snap out of it. His hand quickly goes to rake through his hair, his eyes darting anywhere but yours, and the flush on his cheeks is unmistakable. It almost matches the heat you feel creeping up your own face.

You can’t tell if you’re more relieved or disappointed that the moment broke so abruptly. You can't tell anything at this point, if you're being honest.

“Uh—um,” you clear your throat, reaching for the snack like it’s the most important thing in the world. “I hope you like sour cream and onion chips!”

You hold up the bag with a nervous laugh, trying to shake off the tension in the air. Jake just gives you this soft, searching smile, like he's trying to figure out what just happened—or maybe he's wondering if you felt it too.

The way his eyes are so gentle, so open, makes your stomach flutter, and because you think you might actually crumble if he keeps looking at you like that for a second longer, you break eye contact to immediately turn back to the vending machine, hoping the heat in your face isn’t as obvious as it feels.

“What other snacks do you think they’d like?” you hum, trying to sound casual, but inside you’re mentally screaming at yourself for not just going for it earlier. Great going, Y/N.

From the corner of your eye, you catch Jake letting out a small exhale before he chuckles softly.

“Honestly, as long as it has sugar, I think everyone will be happy,” he says, and you instantly feel yourself relax, his lightheartedness simmering the tension a bit.

"Hmmm... sour cream and onion and sugar. Got it," you punch in a few more random numbers into the machine, feeding it your remaining cash. "Looks like we’ve hit all the major food groups for today. Nutritionists everywhere will be so proud."

The air between you both feels a lot lighter now, but there’s still a lingering warmth under your skin—a little too flustered to fully shake it off. You wonder if Jake is feeling the same, but if he is, he seems to be handling it way better than you are. Of course he would be. Cool, calm, collected Jake. (Also ironic, isn't it?)

"Honestly, we should just unplug the machine and rob the whole thing," Jake playfully adds as you grab the last snack from the bottom slot. "You already know Jay’s gonna inhale all of these the second we walk back in."

"You’re so right. I say next time, Operation 'Y/N and Jake versus the vending machine' needs to happen,” you laugh, feeling a little more like yourself again.

"Oh, so what I'm hearing is there’s gonna be a next time?" Jake raises an eyebrow as the two of you start heading back to the elevator. "Count me in."

You instinctively roll your eyes at how annoyingly smooth he was being, but you can't help the giddy smile growing on your face as a result of his words. As you two stand side by side to each other in the elevator, there's a new quiet that's settled and it's...nice. It's not awkward, just...heavier than before. As if there's a shared secret between you—something you both know but aren't ready to speak aloud just yet. But it's there—just for the two of you to mutually share in comfortable silence.

Before you reach the apartment, you feel a light tug on your sleeve, and you stop. Looking up, you see Jake holding onto the corner of your sleeve, his expression...soft. Like, too soft. And for a moment, you swear time just stops. If he was on a mission to officially kill you, he can officially say mission accomplished.

"Y/N, I—" he hesitates, his voice quieter again, like he's about to say something serious, and your heart picks up speed again. But then he stops himself, his grip loosening.

You blink up at him, wanting him to continue so bad, but also unsure if you're ready of what might come next.

"Mmm?" you hum, almost afraid to say anything louder.

Jake bites the inside of his cheek, looking like he’s at war with himself. He finally lets go of your sleeve and gives you a small smile.

"Sorry, it’s...nothing. Just... you look really nice tonight."

The sudden, sincere comment catches you off guard, and you feel that familiar warmth rush to your face once again.

"Oh," you manage to squeak out, because apparently, that's all you're capable of in the moment as your heart is spiraling. "Thanks, Jakey."

You smile and look down at where his hand just was on your sleeve, and you almost want to reach out and grab his hand again, just to see if it'll feel as warm as it did earlier. Why do you want to reach out so bad?

Jake's eyes flicker to yours, and for a split second, you swear there's a flicker of something in his eyes—something vulnerable—but then, just as quickly, his gaze shifts to the apartment door behind you, and he clears his throat.

"Yeah," he says almost breathlessly. "Sorry, we should...probably go in. They probably think we got lost or something at this point."

You finally let out a breath and snap yourself back in reality from staring at him.

"Right, yeah. Wouldn’t want them sending a search party," you joke, though your brain’s still fuzzy from the million thoughts and feelings swirling around.

As Jake unlocks the door, you can’t help but wonder if whatever just happened between you two was all in your head. But it can’t be, right? That feeling had to be real... Right?

You step inside, and your friends’ commentary barely registers. It’s all background noise compared to the whirlpool of emotions screaming inside you. You sit back down on the couch, and so does Jake, in his seat next to yours.

And while the movie plays for the rest of the night, you can't seem to focus on anything but the memory of everything that's happened tonight. That and the feeling of Jake’s arm resting right up against yours.

You’re doomed.

Jake has never been more confused in his entire life, like, ever. The past few days for him have been more confusing than that one semester he took Postmodern Interpretations of the Emoji Language and actually had to write a ten-page paper on the laughing emoji (don't judge, he had to fulfill his last two elective credits somehow).

Life has been an absolute whirlwind for Jake—mainly due to the fact that his emotions have been spinning out of control. And to top it off, today’s the long-awaited rematch day.

Normally, Jake would be a complete wreck by now, bouncing his leg under the table or fidgeting with his phone, but today? Today, he's nervous in a completely different way. The kind of nerves you get when you already know what's about to happen… but after everything that’s gone down lately, he thinks there’s something more between the two of you. And it has nothing to do with Heeseung’s so-called love algorithm.

At least, he hopes there’s something between you two. Unless—oh god—he’s been totally delusional this whole time, and you’ve just been nice, and Jake’s fully lost it. Perfect, that’s exactly what he needs right now, on top of everything else. But the scariest part? In just a few moments, when the app refreshes and pairs you two together, Jake's going to have to face whatever's been simmering between you both—whether he's ready for it or not.

And as if Heeseung could read his trembling thoughts, he breaks the silence at the lunch table, "Are you guys ready?"

Grace and Jay's heads are nodding so fast for Heeseung to just push the 'send' button already, Jake thinks they look like bobbleheads. But when he glances over at you, you don't seem nearly as eager. Which is...weird. Considering how only a couple days ago, you were fired up about the rematch. But now? You look almost...conflicted?

Jake's eyes linger on you for a second longer, taking in the way you're biting your lip, clearly deep in your thoughts. He can't help but find the sight of you zoned out like that so ridiculously adorable.

"Y/N?" He nudges you gently. "You good?"

"Huh?" You blink, snapping out of your daydream. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, Just...thinking, I guess."

"You'll be fine, Y/N!" Grace chimes in, ever the optimist. "I bet you're gonna love whoever your match is!"

Well, gee, Jake really, really, hopes so. If not, the last few days will have been a very confusing rollercoaster of emotional whiplash.

"Right," Jake agrees, trying to act normal, though his voice sounds a little too tight. "Everything's going to be fine." Please, please let everything be fine.

Jake can tell you're hesitant about something—you open your mouth like you want to say something, but then just as quickly, you press your lips closed again. If Jake didn't think you were the most precious being in the world, you could say you look like a fish out of water right now.

"Hypothetically speaking," you slowly speak up, eyes flicking up to your friends. "What would you do if...let's say you started catching feelings for someone...but then the app might pair you with someone else?" You pause, swallowing hard.

"Hypothetically…of course.”

Grace raises an eyebrow. Heeseung freezes mid-bite. And Jake? Well, let's just say his heart is already running a mile into the marathon. Hypothetical? Feelings? That has to be about him, right? What were the chances?

Jay lets out a snort. "Lucky for you, in a hypothetical situation, you do absolutely nothing. Cause it's...you know, hypothetical."

"Yeah, you're right. Forget I said anything." You wave your hand, brushing it off, but Jake notices a blush growing across your face. "Okay, Hee! Let's get this over with."

Jake's mind is spinning. What could you have possibly meant by that? That had to be about him...right? Because that is all he's ever wanted, all he's been pining for. But at the same time...it's too good to be true, so Jake refuses to believe it. He can't get his hopes up—not yet.

"Okayyyy," Heeseung's still lifting an eyebrow at your odd behavior before he clears his throat, “everyone ready?”

Jay and Grace drum the table in anticipation, and Jake? Jake's pretty sure he's going to throw up.

Heeseung taps his screen, and the table collectively holds its breath. Then, all at once, everyone’s phones light up.

Grace and Jay scramble to grab their phones first and Jake thinks he's actually developing an incurable case of heart failure.

“WHAT?” Grace shrieks before she whips around to Jay with wide eyes. “I got you, AGAIN!”

Jay, unbothered, raises his hands defensively, “What can I say? It’s science, Gracey-poo.”

"Sure. Science," Grace rolls her eyes so hard it's a wonder they don't get stuck. "Like how you scientifically forgot how to text me back after last night's study sesh?"

Before Grace can verbally throttle Jay, Jake's entire focus narrows in on you, and how your phone is still face down on the table. You haven't even touched it.

The suspense is killing him, especially knowing his name is going to be on your screen. And if it's not? Well, then the end. End of fanfic. Cue the end credits.

You, on the other hand, are staring intently at the Grace v. Jay debacle, as if focusing hard enough on other people's life issues will prevent the existential crisis you're about to have. Honestly, your phone could've exploded into a million pieces next to you and you'd still be pretending to care more about anything else.

Because honestly? You couldn't care less about whoever Heeseung's magical powers paired you with—you're more focused on whatever's been going on between you and Jake. Or at least, you hope, there’s something happening between you and Jake. Unless, oh god, he's just being nice, and you've fully lost it. Please, please don't tell me I've lost it.

"Y/N! Jake! Who did you guys get?" Grace turns towards the two of you, breaking the both of you out of your respective spirals.

"Right, yeah. Um—okay. Let's see,” you let out a shaky laugh as your hands fidget in your lap before they finally reach for your phone, as Jake does the same next to you.

You take a breath, click on the daunting email notification on your screen, and finally look down.

You blink down at your phone. You squeeze your eyes to make sure they’re not deceiving you.

Match: Sim Jae-yun

Your brain is absolutely jumbled beyond saving, you seem to have forgotten how to breathe, and your stomach feels like it was just turned inside out. You don’t know what’s happening, is this what dying feels like?

You blink once. Twice. And maybe a third time just to make extra, extra sure.

Suddenly, the whole room seems to slow down, like you're watching a replay of your life recently at 0.5 speed. All the moments between you and Jake flash by: the vending machine run, the shared glances, the oddly adorable way he got flustered over you calling him 'Jakey.' But you don't have time to fully process everything because the fact is:

You’ve just been matched with Jake. Jake.

You finally look up, heart racing, and try to see if Jake's opened his notification yet, but his face is still too normal at whatever he's looking at on his phone. Or, more accurately, he's pretending to be normal, because the tips of his ears are a little too red for someone who's ‘chill’ (he's most definitely not chill, right now).

"So, uh..." Jake's voice finally comes out quiet, his gaze slowly meeting yours, and it makes you feel like you two are the only ones at this table. Scratch that, in this world. "Did you open yours?"

"Yeah,” you nod, trying to act nonchalant, “I did.”

Jake lets out a soft chuckle, the faintest smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Same here."

The way he says it—soft, like he’s addressing the shared secret between the two of you—makes the air feel warmer. Or maybe it’s just you overheating. Get it together, Y/N.

Grace, across the table, catches the tension happening in front of her, her eyes darting back and forth like she's watching a slow motion scene of a k-drama unfold in real time. Then—

“Oh my god,” she gasps loudly, before violently clapping a hand over her mouth.

Her eyes fill with excitement and just as quickly, she jumps up, grabbing both Jay and Heeseung by the back of their shirts and yanking them to their feet.

“We’re getting boba! Be right back!”

Heeseung’s brows scrunch. “Wait, what? I don’t even wan—“

“Too bad! We’re going.”

And just like that, you’re left alone with Jake next to you—and his flaming red ears that could probably power a small country.

“So…” Jake clears his throat, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he finally turns to look at you.

“So..,” you softly say, your fingers tapping nervously on the edge of the table, hoping he'll say something, anything.

"So," Jake repeats for the third time, followed by an awkward chuckle. “Uh...what do we...do now?”

You blink.

“Do now?”

Jake’s eyes dart to yours, and for a second, you think he’s about to up and bolt from the table.

“I mean, like, uh...we’re…well, I don’t know, is there something to do now..? Or not do? That’s okay too! I have no idea. I’m just—wow. Sorry.”

You smile endearingly at him before breaking out into laughter as your heart does a little Olympics routine. How were you this oblivious before?

“Jake,” you say between laughs, catching your breath as you instantly feel eased by him. "It's okay. I've been thinking...I—"

You mentally high-five yourself and give yourself a pep talk for what you're about to say. Please, for the love of all things holy, don't let me be wrong about this.

"I can't stop thinking about you," you say, voice quiet, but steady. "It's like you've taken over my brain, Jake, and it's driving me crazy. And I don't know—I don't know if it's just me or if everything I've been sensing between us is real, but I think my brain might explode if I didn't tell you. Plus, I was terrified the Matchmatic would pair you with someone else and I had lost my chance."

You finally feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off your shoulders, but when you look at Jake? He's gone. Eyes wide, looking like a malfunctioning robot. His mouth opens and closes, and you're 110% sure he's about to glitch out of existence right in front of you.

"Wow."

You blink. Wow? That's it? Is this a good wow or a wow-she's-crazy wow? Naturally, you think it’s the latter, so you mentally prepare yourself to fake your death and move to Norway.

But before you're about to flee the scene and start your new life as a mountain goat herder, Jake's eyes lock on yours, filled with the softest, most fond expression you've ever seen.

"Y/N, I like you. A lot. And I have for, like...forever, I think." His voice is quiet, but his shoulders are more relaxed the more he looks at you. "I didn't think you'd feel the same way. You know, because we're friends and all."

Your smile grows impossibly wide as you nudge his shoulder playfully with yours.

"Well, surprise surprise, you're wrong."

Jake chuckles, now fully facing you, his face flushed from wearing his heart on his sleeve. But for you? He thinks he’s about to stand on this lunch table and scream his feelings into a megaphone.

"So...maybe we could try out this 'more-than-friends' thing?" you suggest, finding it hard to form a coherent sentence without sounding like a fifth grader. But Jake? Jake thinks seeing you stumbling your words over talking to him, for once, is the cutest sight ever. "I mean, unless you don't want—"

"Oh, I definitely want to!" Jake practically launches himself forward, his smile so big you wish you could keep a mental image of it forever.

You laugh, suddenly feeling lighter. "Okay, then. Let's do it."

"Here's to doing it!" Jake echoes, his voice warm and soft as he moves closer to you, finding it hard to resist just simply being in your close presence. Then, his eyes widen and he clears his throat, "I mean, not like do it, do it—wait, but not saying that I wouldn't—oh god—"

Your giggles are uncontrollable once again as you watch Jake's face turn into the deepest shade of red you've ever seen. Without even thinking, you reach for his hand, seeking stability, as if he's a magnet drawing you in and you can't resist the pull of his warmth.

You finally take a breath, calming yourself down as Jake's eyes flicker down to your intertwined fingers, and his smile softens into something that makes your heart so full.

For a moment, neither of you say anything, just letting the weight of everything finally settle, your hand resting under his in between you two. Then, Jake's thumb brushes softly over your knuckles, and he looks up at you with that newfound confidence that somehow makes him even more irresistible.

“So…now what?” Jake's corners of his mouth twitch into a smile as he subconsciously leans in closer than before, and this time, you know there's no way you're backing out.

A playful smile tugs at your lips as your eyes flicker between his soft brown eyes and his mouth.

“Well, I mean…you still owe me from the vending machine.”

Jake freezes. He blinks in confusion, and you're pretty sure you can hear the whirrr of his brain rebooting right in front of you.

“Oh, you mean for the snacks? How much do I owe you? I can Venmo you, or, uh, buy you more snacks?” he stammers, completely caught off guard by your random comment, especially when he thought this was the moment. But, you know...priorities, I guess?

Now you freeze, blinking at him before you let out a giggle that surprises even you. Seriously? You reach out and gently cup his adorably confused face.

"Jake, you lovable dork," you say, shaking your head, unable to stop the giggles bubbling up. "Not what I meant."

Jake doesn't even get the chance to respond (and honestly, he doesn't know if he could even form words right now, not with you so close, holding his face so gently). Before either of you even know it, you lean up and close the gap, your lips softly pressing against his.

Jake freezes for a heartbeat. Or maybe two. He's unsure if he's even still breathing (is oxygen even necessary at a time like this?). But then, instinctively, his hands find their way to your waist, and he's gently pulling you closer on the table bench, as if he's afraid to let you slip away. He's pretty sure the world hit pause, and all that existed was the softness of your touch, the sweet warmth of your lips, and the faint vanilla scent of your shampoo that's doing a great job at scrambling his brain right now.

He tries to stay cool—he really does—but his lips curve into a smile against yours, and he can't help but think, well, this is it. This is peak life. I've peaked. This? This just knocked anything else right off the leaderboard of his best life moments.

It’s short. It’s sweet. It’s everything you didn’t know you needed and everything Jake’s been dreaming about.

He's savoring every little moment, every little movement guided by you, feeling like he's on cloud infinity, before you pull away, a soft pink blush growing on your entire face.

You lean your head back slightly to look at him, the warmth of the moment still lingering between you. Jake’s eyes are wide, his cheeks flushed, but there’s a soft, almost dazed smile playing on his lips, like he’s still processing.

"W-wow," he stammers, his voice barely above a whisper as he's trying to process if he's actually alive or in a sugar-induced dream.

"Yeah," you breathe out, smiling as you gently run your thumb across his cheek, enjoying the way his face heats up even more under your touch.

"So...," you say playfully after a beat of silence, leaning in so close that you're sure you’d be kissing him all over again if it wasn’t for your self-control, "do I still get my snacks?"

Jake laughs, officially breaking the heavy tension. He drops his head on your shoulder, completely and utterly overwhelmed by the pure sensation of you, but in the best way possible.

"You can have all the snacks you want," he mumbles into your shoulder, his voice muffled but filled with so much affection that you think you might actually burst with joy. "Take my whole bank account while you're at it. Take whatever you want."

You can't help but laugh as you wrap your arms around his neck, tugging him even closer to you.

"You're ridiculous, Sim Jae-yun."

"I know," he admits, voice still muffled into your shoulder. "But I'm your ridiculous, algorithm-proven match, right?"

Jake feels your laughter from under him. "Mmmhmm, Jakey. 100% mine. Algorithm or not."

You feel his smile grow against your shoulder as your arms squeeze him tighter. The perfect moment settles and you think you could die happy right now. For the first time in days, everything feels right.

But then, Jake pulls back just slightly, still under your hold, his eyebrows furrowing like he's about to say something very important.

"Wait—" he raises his eyebrows at you.

"—does this mean you never saw me as a Roomba?"

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・

epilogue:

“If your next words are that you’re Spider-Man,” you say, your head nestled in Jake’s lap as you absentmindedly watch the TV, “then congratulations, you’re officially the world’s coolest boyfriend ever.”

Jake lets out a soft laugh, his fingers gently playing with the ends of your hair. It’s movie night—a rare, private one this time, much to your friends' annoyance. No horror films tonight (thank god, because Jake still hasn’t fully recovered from the last one), but honestly, the movie has long been forgotten. The moment Jake blurted out that he had something ‘dire’ to tell you, all plotlines flew out the window.

You told him, unless it's about a sudden worldwide ramen shortage or that he's secretly a bug-themed superhero, then it could definitely wait until after the movie.

But Jake had shook his head, claiming no, it’s like…life-changing important.

Which is why you’re here now, his lap a perfect pillow, waiting for him to speak. He looks down at you, and you finally catch the serious gleam in his eyes. Oh wait, he’s actually being serious.

“No, unfortunately, I don’t have Spidey senses,” he laughs nervously, gently nudging you up until you’re sitting face to face on the couch. “I do think I’ve developed Y/N senses, though.”

“Oh? What are your Y/N senses telling you now?” you raise an eyebrow, smirking.

“Um… that you hopefully won’t be mad at me?” Jake’s voice wavers slightly, hands fiddling with yours, and your playful smile fades just a little, confusion and worry taking over your face.

“Oh. Okay. What’s up?” You straighten up, fully turning toward him, sitting crisscrossed.

Jake hesitates, looking down at your intertwined fingers, and takes a deep breath.

“Well, remember the Matchmatic thingy from a few months ago?”

“Mmhm,” you hum, studying his expression.

“So… um…I may or may not have done something…to make sure you got matched with me,” Jake’s eyes immediately squeeze shut, bracing for impact, like he’s expecting an explosion, or worse, your wrath.

There’s a beat of silence. And then—

You burst into laughter. Full-on, head-thrown-back, shoulders-shaking laughter. You drop your head back into Jake’s lap, your cackles muffled by his hoodie, while Jake sits frozen, staring at you like you’ve grown two heads.

“I—uh… I’m confused?” He stares down at you, unsure if you’re about to pull a full-on Joker moment.

“Jakey,” you coo, your laughter softening into giggles as you sit back up and cradle his cheeks. “You are so adorable. You really thought I didn’t know?”

Jake blinks.

“Wait, what?”

“I knew.” You grin, watching as his brain seems to stall for a second.

“…You knew?”

You nod, leaning back on your hands.

“Yeah, I knew. I mean, I kind of just put two and two together after we started dating. And Hee? He's a genius, no way he messed up the first way around,” you roll your eyes playfully.

“But the thing is, Jake… the algorithm didn’t make me like you. I already did.” You reach forward and tap his forehead lightly, preciously smiling at how utterly stunned he looks.

“You—wait, what?” Jake’s mind is catching up at the speed of 3G internet.

“Yeah,” you laugh again, softer this time.

He’s still staring at you, wide-eyed, like you just casually told him you're moving to the moon tomorrow. Honestly, he looks like his entire world just got flipped upside down, but in the best way possible, of course.

“So…you’re not mad?”

"Nope."

"And you still wanna be with me?"

"Yup."

"And you're not just saying that because I buy you all the snacks you want?"

"Nope."

"Oh thank god," Jake exhales dramatically, hand flying to his chest like he barely survived a life-threatening situation. He looks at you with the softest, dopiest smile that makes you feel like you're staring at a puppy in a rom-com. "Because you are, hands down, the most perfect person for me. Like, ever."

"You are so cute, Jakey," you scrunch your nose at him before leaning up to plant a quick kiss on his blushing cheek, which only makes his ears turn an even deeper shade of red.

But before you can pull away, he's already frowning playfully.

"Wait, wait—one more question."

"Mhm?"

"Cute as in 'kiss' cute or 'puppy' cute?"

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・

the end! i hope you guys liked it ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

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tagged: @climbingmandevillas @byeoltual @junhuiste-ficrec

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