#the first top left image is best if you see the actual clip in the movie cause if you watch him go into the smile it's like-

[microwavetoaster-selfships]

I like that he smiles like he's constantly got something up his sleeve. Devious looking smile.

I want to say something but I don't know how to properly word how much love is in it so I'm just not gonna worry about it but. He's so silly. Imagine being next to the Queen of England and letting yourself smile like that. Like you're gonna get yourself in trouble, good sir.

So tragic when he appears while I'm watching the movie my breathing slows and I can feel my pupils dilate and I my eyelids get heavier and I feel like a bug in a rug with a rock on it. Like a happy little beatle under a boulder and you lift up the rock and you're like. How are the bug under the rock and not smooshesd???

[kaiowut99]

A Special Announcement~ | Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V Tag Force Special Re-Translation Project!

I've been itching to get around to posting about this for a few months now, but wanted to wait until I'd worked on enough for it, but also had the idea to create an announcement trailer to go with it for added good measure--after recording and editing clips for a couple weeks and leveling the audio last night, heremst we are! (For some clips, I forgot to turn off the PPSSPP emulator's DevMenu option so that shows up in the top-left, buuut I didn't feel like re-recording those, lmao.)

Details worth reading below the cut here, but tl;dr work has been in progress for over a year in between things, work will continue to be in progress for a while, and the release will happen when everything's ready, but stay tuned, fun's getting started etc etc~

So, I'm sure most of us are familiar with the as-yet-unlocalized-by-Konami TFSP, the seventh and last entry in the Tag Force series on the PSP that came out early in ARC-V's run (featuring the first five series which was a cool first), as well as the current translations out there originally worked on by the guys at XenoTranslations (omarrrio and ScrewTheRules/ClickClaxer01 at GBATemp handling the card and story/etc translations, respectively) and how there are... some issues with what's out there. Everything from the DM story mode being loaded with YGOTAS references (no shade to YGOTAS and much respect to LK/Martin for his ongoing work on it still making me laugh sometimes, ofc) to the off-the-cuff edginess of 2014-2015-era internet culture and the problematic (in some cases, derogatory) language that permeated it--though to its credit, some parts do have some level of translation attempted, but taken as a whole, it can definitely turn people off from giving the game a try and seeing what it brings to the table (which is still a good amount despite the corners Konami cut here/there compared to prior TF games).

I actually did attempt a translation of my own back in 2015 (if you've been following me for a long time, you might remember it lol), tackling the GX story text starting with Judai's heart events, but eventually put it on the backburner as I focused more on my GX subbing work and beginning to finalize everything (which I'm still doing). Sometime in 2022, a friend over on NeoArkCradle (the "anonymous YGO fan" in the opening screen) was poring over the story text and patching it up the best he could to remove the references and inaccuracies with more coherent work, and after a while of seeing what he was working with in the Discord, I was a bit blown away by just how inaccurate much of it was--so alongside him, and using the better tools available since then (including some really awesome work from both nzxth2 [who did a proper re-translation of 5D's TF6 not too long ago and was kind enough to release his tools for it] and our coding helper Xan1242 who we eventually reached out to for some help), I decided to *cracks knuckles* get involved and help give everything a more accurate and professional translation, much like I do with my GX subs, working directly off the Japanese text and files. I've been taking cracks at everything in between the GX episodes I've been finalizing going back to at least last January (and I'd used my little hiatus after finalizing GX Season 2's subs to really get at some other stuff throughout the game), starting with re-translating DM's story text but also properly translating other aspects of the game, from the character names (using the original Japanese names, including those of the TF-exclusive characters, partly since Konami made a whole mess of them in English TF1-5), in-duel dialogue, pack descriptions, and more to images with Japanese text (such as localizing the in-duel cut-in onomatopoeia as you see in the video above, or other little images throughout) using some Photoshop skills I've picked up. And it's been a joint effort, as said NAC friend and I have been bouncing off how we'd like to see this go between us to stay on the same page and all, while also checking with other translators there for second/third opinions as needed.

Our plan is to release two versions of a translation--one which uses the OCG [translated] card names in Story Mode, in-duel, and other text but not in the game's card system (mainly to deal with story-relevant notes like Osiris vs Slifer with the Gods or things like not-Utopia Hope being symbolic between Yuma and Astral, akin to how I do my GX subs), and one which uses the TCG card names in everything (like how the official subs go about it). While we're mostly working with the Japanese game files due to how the Xeno team went about decoding everything, we'll be using the card-system-related files from the fixed ISO provided by FLSGaming which fixed some issues that had been present there. And Xan has helped us with a plugin that will be used to apply our translations to the system files that were hard to edit otherwise (things like the character and recipe names, as well as the pack names pulled from for the Card Description screen), but more on how that'll work once this is ready for release, lol. At some point, I'd like to also look at HDifying textures and things, but that's definitely a bonus-level thing for after the main work here is done.

SO.

Currently, Story-Mode-wise, I've gone through everything up to Yusei's events--so Dark Yugi/Kaiba/Jounouchi/Ishizu/Mai in DM, Judai/Manjoume/Asuka/Misawa/Ryou in GX, and Yusei in 5D's have been fully retranslated, though I took initial cracks at Yuma and Yuya's events to get content for this video lol (I've also been intentionally holding off on as much ZEXAL as I can until I've properly watched the whole show so I have context). I haven't tackled overworld text yet, though (like pre-duel or the tournament-related text, which is all in the same file as all the story text). I've also been handling the in-duel dialogue as I go through the character stories, so also just up to Yusei, though I did take initial cracks at Aki's, Yuma and Shark's, and Yuya and Yuzu's for the video.

Other things tackled that were sprinkled into the video, along with some other notes:

Pack names and descriptions have been retranslated, though the descriptions may see minor edits closer to release for a little variety between worlds given the different characters at the shop. Character recipe names were also retranslated, with Yugipedia's translations for them used as an occasional second opinion, though ones based on pack names had to be abbreviated in spots.

Menu text, from the Options to Help screens and stuff in between, has been retranslated, as have in-duel text strings (so, you'll see a full "Activate Effect" instead of "Activate" or "Switch to Attack/Defense Position" instead of "Switch to ATK/DEF Position", etc--also fixed the "BATTELE PHASE" graphic typo, and NAC friend created a new translation for the "Turn Change" graphic for accuracy since ENG TF1-5 made that into "Next Player's Turn").

Database stuff, such as the Sound Test, Tutorials, Duel Missions, etc., have been retranslated closer to the Japanese text; originally I retranslated the Tutorial text via hex editor, with compromises done on quite a bit of it due to the space limits, but as Xan recently updated a text extractor tool of theirs to more cleanly pull out and reinsert that text, I've been going through and fleshing out those translations more (on my commutes to/from work mostly, to be productive lol).

As mentioned, I've been localizing/translating Japanese-text images throughout the game as I come across them, like with the in-duel onomatopoeia that come up during cut-ins or images in the shop/duel/etc screens using Japanese text, to make sure the game is fully translated.

The series logos, used during the title sequence and in the Series Select screens, were updated with translated fan edits shared on Deviantart (which we'll credit in the final release) for DM and GX, while the 5D's-ARC-V logos were edited to enlarge the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" text on them that was pretty hard to see originally.

The game's original opening sequence starts on an anti-piracy message before going into the Konami logo and then a "From Yu-Gi-Oh!..." screen before the opening animation for each series logo--the original team decided to use the first image to vent their frustration at Konami for not localizing this game, and while that's valid (to some extent), we thought we'd use the opportunity to dedicate this project to Kazuki Takahashi for inspiring our love for YGO and the place it's had in our hearts for all these years.

We'll be updating the names of cards that had TCG releases after the original patch was worked on/updated by FLSG to those corresponding names.

Xan has been working on many UI fixes for us to apply with this, among them 3-line dialogue box text as is used in the ENG TF1-5 games--once implemented for TFSP, I'll be going over everything to make full use of that extra space where needed, so things might not look as they do in the video by then.

Character bios will be worked on after I've done the story stuff, though I've taken initial cracks at it for Yuma and Yuya's bios for the video, along with translating the location/affiliation names ("Domino High School," "Satellite," etc).

Currently no release date is planned, as I'm working on this between my GX-finalizing work and actual IRL work, though we'll see how later this year looks as more work gets done--but as noted in the video, all things being equal, it will be released when everything is ready. I'll try to post regular updates or rambles now that this announcement's been made, lol, but do try not to constantly check in on a release date. 🙏🏽

All that said, I think that covers just about everything I wanted to put out there with this, lol. It's been fun to work on this so far and getting to see what I've re-translated in-game is definitely neat; looking forward to us being able to release everything when ready.

Stay tuned for more; the fun's just getting started!

[sonkitty]

The Pocket Trick Touch #3 - Double - Between Door Frames and Papers

(For reference: Tied Hands | Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection Part 2 | The Pocket Trick - Basics )

General

This new version of this post is designed to go with The Sideburns Scheme posts. You can still find the older version of a main post here: The Pocket Trick - Double.

...

Sometimes images are brightened as I see fit.

This touch has some notable differences compared to the others.

For starters, two pants pockets are being used instead of just the right pants pocket. That's why my play decided this one is the Double.

Additionally, Crowley's actual thumbs are what go into each pocket. The fingers stay on the outside.

Furthermore, it is happening at the same time in the same place as the Single in The Bigger Thresholds Trick.

That means the Threshold Tricks overlap here and require extra care in how that overlap is managed.

Crowley touches a door and stays touching that door after it is closed for the duration of the scene where the touch itself is happening.

There's a ball invitation also happening during the scene. The next touch in The Pocket Trick is also during a ball invitation though it's not touching an actual door and doesn't last anywhere near as long.

...

Pocket Frames

With two pockets in use, Crowley has two Pocket Frames. They are Door Frames and Papers.

It's like the door frames are an inner Pocket Frame, and the papers are an outer Pocket Frame.

The paper is actually framing Crowley along the bottom instead of just to his sides.

...

Touch Point

Finding the Touch Point is difficult for a number of reasons. One such reason is that this scene is so long compared to the others in The Pocket Trick.

The best time to look for the Touch Point is when Aziraphale spreads his arms, visually placing his left arm over Crowley's right hand. That's a sign to start paying attention and look for the Touch Point during that cut.

My guess for the Touch Point changed while drafting this post.

Before, it was mainly based on the alignment Aziraphale has with the shiny metal part of the drum behind him, near his shoulder.

Another edge of the drum, as part of the drum cymbal, is near his neck.

I'm changing it now based on where the edge of Aziraphale's clipboard meets the edge of his right coat sleeve while still visibly showing a little hole, so a pocket, as part of its clip. That clip is against the edge of the sleeve on Aziraphale's coat.

...

The Hinges

With two pockets and a touch to an actual door in use, the hinges happen before the actual hands touch the pocket. Also, there are two.

The first hinge touch happens with the jacket visually folded onto itself, creating an edge. This one is shown from the front. It's more that the CMC thumb joint makes sure it is seen and then understood to be touching that jacket edge when it happens due to how the hand obscures that CMC thumb joint.

The second hinge touch happens with the left thumb CMC joint lined up behind where the left side of the jacket meets the bottom of the jacket, making it a corner.

...

Pocket Chain

The best Pocket Chain reference is in a cut with no dialogue. It is after Aziraphale says, "Indeed I am," and before Crowley says, "Can I watch?"

The top of Crowley's head is touching the Blue of the coffee shop with two cars visually behind him.

One of the cars is his own that was one of the cars in the previous touch. The other is a car passing by, so it ends up with Crowley visually between two cars as Crowley turns around.

If the Pocket Chain is necessary to allow something to happen, then this one is allowing Crowley to initiate his hinge touches before thumbs of his actual hands are shown or implied going into pockets.

...

Overhead Light

The Overhead Light for Crowley's actual head can be found to his left and above his ear as a light used by the outdoor restaurant.

There's an additional light further into the restaurant and a little lower that is potential Overhead Light for Crowley's Belt Head.

Starting from when Aziraphale touches the doorknob to the music shop, there are three lights above a drum set by the window from within the music shop. Sometimes these lights have their reflections in that window pane though not all three fully at once. For the cuts where they are visible, they are, for the most part, above Aziraphale's right ear and to his right.

While these lights might serve a purpose of Overhead Lights for this scene, I don't know much beyond that because of a few other things that happen.

During the cut in which Crowley closes the door to the music shop, Mr. Arnold gets a light above his head and to his left though his left ear is not actually visible during that cut.

Meanwhile Crowley does not get a light, as in a light with a light bulb or the sun, to his left.

Instead, Crowley gets a prominent brass instrument to his left that stretches tall with shiny parts reflecting light off it that are above and to the left of Crowley's ear. This instrument is an earthly object with a reflective surface. It is to the camera's right.

Here's something that's a stretch in my theorizing, but I have it, and if there's any place to admit it, this post is such a place.

In The Door Trick, I am left with the impression it is really significant that the sun is acting as Crowley's Overhead Light. It's the strongest source of light on Earth without technically being on Earth.

The sun rises in the east. On a map, the east is to my right. This instrument that's taking up all this space in this scene is a representation of the east on the map that is the video frames the camera is viewing. It is considered an acceptable, or even required, alternative to the other Overhead Lights because Crowley is touching a door and on the side of the door that is indoors where this reflective object is.

The Single of The Pocket Trick has a similar situation.

As for why any of it even matters is beyond me, but still, that's where my line of thinking goes. By that, I mean, a lot of the mechanics of these types of things are actually supposed to lead to clues about the mechanics at work in The Door Trick and The Door Catch. I don't see how this thing matters beyond it's an earthly object, and the sun is not an earthly object with both ending up on the "east" side of the screen.

Aziraphale has a drum cymbal with a reflective surface that's above and to the right of his ear, that is probably acting as his Overhead Light too. He is Crowley's assistant during this touch.

There's probably some better wording to be found, but in essence, Aziraphale and Crowley are instrumental to each other here.

...

Findable Rainbows

With two pockets in use, there are two rainbows to find. In order to see them both on screen, it's actually during a cut when Crowley himself is not on screen.

For one of them, most of the colors are on a piece of paper. Reminder that paper is one of the Pocket Frames here, by the way. There is no purple on this paper. Instead, the purple is found visually over some gray box.

While I did check this purple with an eye dropper tool into my graphics editing program to see that it's still purple enough, this purple might look more magenta at first glance. Thanks to the gray box, it can be shaded to the desired purple, if necessary.

The other rainbow is found on the tie and suspenders Mr. Arnold is wearing.

....

Rainbow Connection

The Rainbow Connection starts on Blue.

An amusing thing the game does to mess with a player is that there are two other rainbows on connectors to find the Purple for the Rainbow Connection. This time it's a double purple. One is for the rainbow going down; the other is for the rainbow to start going back up.

My latest best guess for when the Rainbow Connection switches from Blue to Purple is when Aziraphale opens the door. Before he opened the door, there was some red or orange light reflected onto the window pane. This reflected light changed position when the camera changed and then shifted with Aziraphale's movement.

When this reflected light into the pocket watch appears, Crowley's right leg is visually pocketed between Aziraphale's legs. Aziraphale's right shoe is partly visible. This frame where this switch happens would then have a purple understood to be on screen somewhere in the blurred rainbow on Mr. Arnold, passing until the double Purple is found with the connectors.

This touch either has a switch from Purple #1 to Purple #2, then a switch from Purple #2 to Blue or it has a two-part switch from Purple to Blue. Since the Single has a potential double Red later but seems to get only one switch, I am hoping that means this touch has a two-part switch. The touch is for two pockets after all.

For an "over-the-rainbow" touch, I think the intent is that the watch is handling it over the nearby frames on the door with the jacket.

Because of the standing over-the-rainbow touch, I think, Crowley's supposed to be still in the cuts where his hands are shown with his actual thumbs in the pockets. These cuts would be applicable for after he put the thumbs there.

Stillness is relevant to the next touch, Triple Part 3, and to The Door Trick, where there are also over-the-rainbow touches visible from the front, allowing for multiple parts or switches.

The switch from Purple to Blue is, I believe, based on Aziraphale's head-turning. As he does these turns, a human is reflected into the drum cymbal behind him with each turn. The reflections themselves would theoretically be Rainbow Connection Reflections flipping the imaginary mirror of the Tied Hands, timed accordingly with the two parts of the switch leading from Purple to Blue.

...

Ball Invitation

This touch takes place during a ball invitation, so the Tied Hands are busy with their thumbs touching each other. The Belt Head is busy with an imaginary nibble at the vest, or however you want to get your imagination to have it do a self-mouth-touch. The vest is possibly busy with a self-clothing touch over a belt loop.

...

The Other Apparel

Jacket: The jacket receives two vertex touches for two pockets to be used. With the help of the watch, it helps maintain an "over-the-rainbow" touch for the Rainbow Connection switches. It has two little sleeve pockets on the left arm during this touch.

Shirt: The right shirt sleeve is partly out, probably to assist something though I'm not sure for what in particular.

Watch: The watch is, I think, managing the over-the-rainbow touch for the Rainbow Connection.

Pants: Crowley keeps his legs in a panel area that he first touched with three fingers. Due to the lighting, it's really hard to tell if the legs manage to keep themselves inside that frame. I had to check three different devices, and only one of them sufficiently lit the scene to show the borders I was looking for. At a certain point, the legs were shown as within the borders. The upper leg area, generally where the digits are, and his hips are just plain too wide anyway, he's bound to be outside the panel. However, somewhere below that, I do believe that the legs are supposed to be in the panel and otherwise supposed to be good enough thanks to the lighting making the area darker.

Shoes: Crowley's shoes are not visible during this touch. That's typical for the rest of the touches in The Pocket Trick. However, during the cut with the first hinge touch, many humans on the screen are showing their shoes as a general clue about the eventual special Ground Zero cut for The Door Catch. Aziraphale actually does partially show one of his shoes on entry to the music shop when the Rainbow Connection switches from Blue to Purple.

...

Actual Hands

Left hand: With Crowley's left hand, the left thumb, with its MCP thumb joint, is visibly touching the edge of the jacket from the start. As the left thumb goes in, the index finger actually obscures it temporarily in the process. The index finger is the one that touched the door panel, the area specifically regarded by this story as a threshold part of the door. Once the thumb is partly visible again, the CMC thumb joint is touching the edge of the jacket. Otherwise, the fingers are placing themselves on the front of the pocket, which is its threshold. The thumb, index finger, and pinky finger were more extended than the middle and ring fingers going on. That's something else I would love to know what the logic is. My current best guess is that helps distinguish which fingers made a touch for The Bigger Thresholds Trick and which ones made a touch for The Pocket Trick.

Right hand: For the right hand, the right thumb is hidden as it goes into the right pants pocket. The right hand fingers are placing themselves on the front of the pocket though the pinky tip is not as clear as the others due to the lighting and position. That is probably intentional and excludes that tip from counting as part of the touch. That ends up with 7 digits total on the thresholds instead of 8.

....

Human Assistance

There is a human who is temporarily pocketed between Aziraphale and Crowley when the Rainbow Connection is, I think, stalled for its switch from Blue to Purple. She could be assisting with that stall and/or assisting Crowley with his first hinge touch. Of note, she wears both blue and orange. Orange is the opposite color to blue on a color wheel.

Mr. Arnold is the main human present during the touch, and he looks to be specifically boxed out of the Pocket Frames Crowley is using, with Aziraphale's assistance to make such a thing happen. I wish I knew why, besides the nature of two pockets being used with the thumbs in, instead of how the other touches are done. Still, I've at least noticed.

Two humans assist with getting possible Rainbow Connection Reflections.

...

Sequential

Before this touch truly starts, in my own best estimates of play, Crowley is shown exiting his car. His right hand touches the door with the open window, and that hand has a reflection. Soon after, a lapel edge strikes Crowley's jacket to ensure a key moment of retying is done.

Crowley walks toward Aziraphale and asks, "Are you actually going through with this?"

With this action, both CMC thumb joints align near Crowley's jacket with the left one being considerably blurry. The right one is blurry too, just not as blurry.

Soon after, with further movement, Crowley's watch reaches a point of clarity.

Soon after, with further movement, Crowley's right index finger is briefly extended to "make a point."

So, the Tied Hands are retied.

Up next is the Pocket Chain reference with the cars. That's when I think this touch officially starts.

Then Crowley has his first hinge touch with the jacket edges in the cut where he says, "Can I watch?" The dialogue is a clue that the watch has a particular job in this touch. My current best guess is that it manages and maintains an "over-the-rainbow" touch during this overall touch for the Double in The Pocket Trick.

Additionally, the switch from Blue to Purple is stalled due to how a human wearing blue is visually pocketed, and a car with red rear lights has those lights blocked out by being obscured, first through Aziraphale during the cut, then through Crowley by the end of the cut.

In the next cut, Crowley visually has some plants pocketed. That's probably a general clue about green and plant significance for The Door Trick and The Door Catch in episode 6.

This cut gives Crowley one Overhead Light for his actual head and potentially an extra one for his Belt Head.

Crowley gets his second hinge touch with his left CMC thumb joint.

He and Aziraphale make a pocket over Aziraphale's own jacket pocket in the process too.

Since this touch happens at the same time and place as the Single of The Bigger Thresholds Trick, it's probably worth mentioning this cut shows the opening to that bigger threshold.

Crowley is off-screen for one full cut when Aziraphale passes by the window and stops in front of the door. When Aziraphale pauses by the window, his reflection can be found in the drum cymbal that will be used for the incoming Rainbow Connection Reflections.

Up next is the cut where Aziraphale opens the door with Crowley visually behind him. This cut has a frame that is my newest guess for the Rainbow Connection finally switching from Blue to Purple.

Then there is another cut with Crowley being a little blurry behind Aziraphale and cast in shadow.

Mr. Arnold briefly gets his own cut to look at the two of them entering the music shop. This part is the first time the two purples can be found on the connectors.

The next cut is Crowley closing the door. Crowley's touch with the left hand on the frames of the door is, I think, handling both The Pocket Trick and The Bigger Thresholds Trick. Mr. Arnold gets a potential left-side Overhead Light.

There is another solo cut for Mr. Arnold before Crowley's thumbs go into the pockets.

Then there is the cut with the actual thumbs going into the pockets. Both go in, but only the left thumb is visible at the start of the process. The right thumb is hidden. Then the left thumb itself is obscured by the left index finger as it goes in. Additionally, the left thumb, left index finger, and pinky are extended whereas the middle and ring fingers are not.

The two little sleeve pockets form as those thumbs go in; then those sleeve pockets stay as existing when the pocket touch itself is visible. These pockets exist between the left arm jacket sleeve and the torso of the jacket.

This scene is extensive for a touch in The Pocket Trick because it is mixed with both The Bigger Thresholds Trick and Mr. Arnold's ball invitation.

The next cut for displaying the pocket touch happens after Mr. Arnold has folded his arms and in the line where Aziraphale says, "harpsichord."

More cuts and dialogue happen, some of which is actually for the Single in The Bigger Thresholds Trick.

When a human starts to pass by in red, that's when it's time to go on alert for the Double here within The Pocket Trick again.

This humans' reflection is in the drum cymbal behind Aziraphale. That's a possible Rainbow Connection Reflection. Aziraphale turns his head, revealing a more of a paper with Red and Blue on it. That turn is the first of two parts for the switch from Purple to Blue, or Purple #1 to Purple #2.

The next cut still doesn't show the actual pocket touch yet, but it does show the passing human pass by behind Crowley, with his red hidden.

The next cut shows the actual pocket touch and includes the Touch Point.

More cuts and dialogue happen, this time with relevance to the ball invitation.

Eventually, Aziraphale turns his head again, showing that paper with more red and blue again, making that switch from Purple back up to Blue. As he does, another human passes by the drum cymbal and has her reflection in it. That's another possible Rainbow Connection Reflection. She is probably the same human holding a light blue bag in the last touch. Her shirt is a light blue as well.

One last cut of the double-pocket touch is on screen when Aziraphale says, "If you are at the meeting this evening, with perhaps a quartet of musicians?"

...

The Tied Hands are probably retied in the next scene as Crowley expresses his shock that Aziraphale gave away a book.

Then...something more is happening or this is just how the Tied Hands stay tied because Crowley has to cross the threshold that is the edge of the sidewalk while that crossing is on camera.

Below is a log of what that entails, for reference.

Crowley has his right index finger extended. His left index finger is probably also extended, but it's blurred. The left hand brushes up against Crowley's jacket. At the same time, the back of Crowley's right shoe is blurry but also visible.

While the watch is visible, the face of the watch is not as clear as what usually happens during retying.

Crowley rushes to pass Aziraphale, placing himself on the "wrong" side.

Then the tie strands swing such that the strand closest to Crowley's left hits his lapel, but it's not a clasp. It's actually an upper part of the strand below the knot.

The strands swing to Crowley's right, and there is an implied strike that could be happening on a lapel edge that the camera cannot see.

After that, the tassel, or thumb, or the right-most strand shifts up enough to be seen.

The tie strands spread apart with the left-most one then indeed having a clasp touching a lapel edge. However, it's only the upper part of the clasp that's visible.

Then this strand swings to Crowley's right, showing a little of that clasp yet again with another implied or very-difficult-to-confirm strike on a lapel edge.

The tie strands spread yet again...and then cross just before Aziraphale and Crowley would finish crossing the street. The camera cuts away and does not confirm that their shoes reached the next sidewalk.

[autisticgirliesbracket]

What makes Dendy from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes the autistic girlie ever of all time? Here's what the people have to say:

Dendy-related asks/reblogs: x This post will be updated after each round!

Image ID in alt text and under the readmore.

[Image ID. White slide with a screenshot of Dendy in the top left corner. She is surrounded by text boxes which read,

"literally just look up a photo of her and youll understand. buuuut lets see uhh. she shows special interests in technology and these things in the show called pow cards. she has trouble understanding others emotions. her expressions are so. yknow. :|. when she shows up the show literally has this running gag where it plays a YAYYYY stock sfx in the bg. its literally the autism creature yippie. also shes just really cool and deserves to win everything ever. thank you for your time. watch ok ko."

"She's the little tech dork trope but I actually like how she pulls it off! She's constantly impressing K.O. and K.O. even calls her 'A science wizard' once! One of her nicknames that's canon is literally just 'Science baby' and I think that's so cute for her- She even says that she taught herself coding because it's a way to express herself, and I love that so much for her! Anyways I think she's more autistic coded than canonically Autistic but I love her anyways and think she'd fit right in!"

"Idk I just think she's cute and some other people like her, I hope she does well in this bracket"

"Shy, intelligent, and very good at hacking. Takes idioms literally and can act insensitively, but is sweet and has good intentions. Special interests are technology and trading cards. Often accompanied by the sound of kids cheering (not ASD related i just think its neat)."

"Okay, so: Dendy from OK KO is portrayed from the very beginning of the show as a young girl (around KO's age, since he's somewhere around 6-9) who is very logical and structured in her way of seeing the world, but struggles with social cues and expectations that aren't clearly laid out. She has a keen special interest in POW Cards (in-universe trading cards, basically), and this is how she first meets and connects with the protagonist KO. What I adore about this show is that it highlights what lots of people consider to be her being autistic, in a positive light. She has character arcs and self improvement like all of the characters do, she's not perfect, but her way of thinking and being is not demonized in any capacity, even if some characters occasionally don't 'get' her perspective, that's shown the same way as when /she/ doesn't get /their/ perspective. It's not canon that she's autistic, but there's a lot in this show that is coded without being stated explicitly, and because the show is very heavy handed (it is a kid's cartoon!) you get a lot of the positive messages you might expect like "celebrate differences" and whatnot without ever explicitly saying that she's autistic. However I think that it was very much intended! There are probably way better infodumps on Dendy being autistic than this one, haha, but I love her so much!"

"OUGHHH I CANT EVEN WORDS!!!! ANY DENDY CLIP SHOWS IT, SHES THE WORLDS BEST KAPPA UFHFHDBSB"

"Look at her. Silly kappa. I love her. She loves computers. She doesn’t understand emotions. She loves her friend K.O. She wants to be a hero. She’s so good. My sweet baby"

"she has a special interest (coding/robot stuff), she has trouble with empathy, she doesn't pick up on social cues, and more stuff I can't completely put into words cause I'm really bad at that :,)"

"I resonated very deeply with this awkward little kappa but aside from that I got the vibes from her monotone and formal speaking pattern and the way she struggled with understanding social cues or sarcasm. She's also extremely literal and logical to a fault sometimes (like myself) and she's got special intesests in tech and pow cards. She does struggle with understanding how her actions may effect others sometimes but she means well and does try to show that she cares once she does understand. I also see her backpack ("hack-pack") as a comfort item for her as she tends to take it with her everywhere and doesn't allow others to touch it, including her best friend, K.O."

"She's shown to behave in a way where she doesn't show her emotions that much, but when someone brings up her special interests she becomes a gremlin (In this case, POW Cards), she stims on screen, she's shown to be hyperfixated on technology and that's where she's able to infodump and such, im not sure how to explain this very well but yeah, as someone who is autistic themselves, i feel dendy is a great autistic girl!!" End ID.]

[letsrilakkusu-blog]

My favorite Going Seventeen episodes

In honor of the return of GoSe, my favorite past episodes!

2019 ep 5 Caratland Behind - Solely for DK and Jeonghan's recording of BRING IT. Jeonghan's lil "tu~rn left" was so cute but I was totally blown away by DK's angry rap. So much 'tude, possibly fiercer than the original. :0

2019 ep 17-18 Karaoke Escape Room - The moment Hoshi is dramatically drawing out the last lyrics to some random old song that they don't know and the 100 points shows up on screen and everyone absolutely loses their shit. Also, the members being relatable AF because they can't do math.

2020 ep 5-6 Past Life Destiny - Where do I even start? DK full on grinding the floor and getting up close and personal with the camera during his intro dance. JiHan's chaotic reenactment of a scene from "I'm Sorry I Love You" where Shua throws himself out of the car (not scripted). All the SeokSoon drama. As a bonus, Seungkwan sang DBSK's Hug while DK was choosing his partner and I squealed!

2020 ep 9 Insomnia Zero - Birth of Wonwoo's iconic ~tasty~ and when I learned that Woozi has no chill.

2020 ep 21-22 Kartrider - "Booster! Booster! Booster! YAH! BOOSTER!" - Hoshi failing to get a booster, 2020

2020 ep 23-24 Seventeen's Got Talent - Seventeen is so good at adlib humor, they just take the concept and go hard. Too many amazing characters! My favorites were diva judge Boo, sloth rapper Hoshi, musical actor Jun, angry ballad singer DK, robot Shua, and of course "Jun" aka mischievous Minghao.

2020 ep 25-26 The8 and the Shadows - Minghao wanted to be the leader for a day and the GoSe team gave him what he wanted... kinda lol. Favorite moments include the impromptu "We Will Rock You", DK's sogo dance, Jeonghan casually throwing water at Shua, and Shua getting everyone to imitate the voodoo doll he threw on the floor multiple times.

2020 ep 33 Mousebusters - Not so much for the actual Mousebusters part but the orange and grape games they did after. Seventeen takes games EXTREMELY SERIOUSLY.

2020 ep 40-41 Don't Lie II - Hoshi absolutely slayed this season of Don't Lie and he knows it. There's something so satisfying about seeing his chaotic thought process pan out to actually be correct.

2020 ep 44-45 TTT - I enjoy all of the TTTs but the focus on "hyperrealism" made this one even better because it seemed like the members were simultaneously more and less aware of the cameras and making content for the show. It had all of our favorite SVT pastimes - eating and drinking, badly played sports, games they've played a thousand times, and overly-enthusiastic karaoke.

2020 ep 46 Going Magazine - Minghao styled Hoshi sooooo well for the shoot, holy crap. Praise the denim crop top. And Mingyu was carrying this whole project so hard, this is when I first started to appreciate how hardworking and talented he is in other artistic ventures outside of just performing.

2021 ep 11 Ad Genius - Honestly too many meme-worthy moments to count, but my top are: Shua putting Shin Ramen in his hair, Jeonghan putting gochujang on his eyebrows, and Coups proposing to Dino with all kinds of products while Hoshi sings 2AM's "This Song" in the background.

2021 ep 24 Tribal Games - The Whispering in Silence game is probably my most rewatched Seventeen clip ever. Hoshi "epik"-ly screwing everything up makes me laugh every time.

2022 ep 37 How to Eat Rice - We must pay our respects to two members who threw away their idol image for this episode: 1) DK, the hungry rice monster, and 2) Shua, who poured a bucket of ice water over himself to prove that ramen tastes the best when you're cold. Double respects to Shua because he didn't even win after all of that lol.

2022 ep 50 GOING Radio Show - Dino going "look at my fit!" while Vernon is fighting for his life keeping his laughter in is one of the first clips I ever saw of Seventeen and it's still hilarious. The whole corner with Jeonghan and Dino learning English from Shua and Vernon was peak comedy.

Anyway, the two episodes that have been released so far have been really enjoyable! Lots of pun humor, member banter, and a surprise twist! I'm looking forward to Wednesdays now~

[big-waifu]

BOOK: #1

DATE: Multiple (2001-2008(?))

THOUGHTS: Chibis! They're the best aren't they!?

It is difficult to go through all of this all at the same time. It is worth noting this is a feature that will be happening once in awhile in which I revisit pages I did later on and add a new drawing to show off my new style. This was maybe a flex by my younger self at my even younger self but also just a way to see how far I've come.

Since this is kind of a smorgasbord, I will try to clip certain parts to discuss:

Section 1 is what I call "the first attempt." My best guess for the inspiration to draw chibis was the "Welcome to Loddoss Island!" shorts at the end of episodes of the Record of Loddoss War TV series.

At any rate, I was eager to try the seemingly easier to work with chibi style (though it appears here I call them SD's for "Super-Deformed." I wonder if we leaned away from that phrasing for a reason...) Here are my precious OC's being cute and, of course, holding hands and fighting over each other. Note the top left corner which has Pylon drowning in women. It was 2001 and the harem anime was in full swing over in the USA. Not sorry.

Section 2 was done maybe a few days later. More of the same business going on here. This is probably the first place a lot of these characters were actually ever drawn into a sketchbook rather than just made from a hasty Megaman sprite edit from my imagination. I promise I'll try to give more background on these characters as they become the subject of drawings. The top image of the space police woman shooting at what appears to be Pylon set up on a target for some kind of trickshooting goes extremely hard and I am 100% here for it.

Section 3 is a compilation of things I call "the comments section." Years later I would return to this page and channel the sheer cringe bloodlust I was feeling looking at these pictures I drew as an 11 Year old and attempt to show off my new style using phrases like "I am so much cooler than you guys" and "No I own" (It was 2005. It was cool to say things "owned." Once again: not sorry.)

As you may or may not notice, there are a few of these that are cat and dog people. This is foreshadowing.

[peachycheol]

| lost in translation |

➸ summary: jeonghan asks you to translate some of his fans’ comments, but you hadn’t expected them to be so... dirty.  ➸ genre: pwp  ➸ pairing: idol!jeonghan x english-speaking friend!reader ➸ warning: dirty talk, oral sex (m. and fem. receiving), face fucking, deep throating, cum swallowing <333, **the italicized comments are in english**  ➸ w.c: 2.6k

➸ author’s note: hi i’m alive!! i’m so sorry to have kept you all waiting for so long, but i kinda just lost my mojo for a little bit 😔  but worry not- i have experienced a reawakening and i am now more of a whore than ever so hopefully i can get back to posting more. i have a lot i have planned out, but i wanted to get a quick fic out to y’all as a BIG THANK YOU bc i reached so many milestones while i was gone 🥺 🥰 💕  i love you guys and i’m really glad ppl are reading my fics haha

this fic is based on the infamous jeonghan gym video, y’all know the one (thank you to @haechanblr​ for reminding me of it and helping me with this fic i love u so much!!). i was actually in the middle of writing this when hoshi decided to post his own gym video and PHEW. JEEZ. I’M STILL RECOVERING. anyway, i hope you guys enjoy this one bc i really enjoyed writing it 💖 🍑 

[ foreversvt ] commented: I AM ON MY KNEES  [ yoon1004 ] commented: is it jeonghan’s birthday or is it mine [ happy bday angel! ] commented: YOON JEONGHAN ???? [ twinkluvr69 ] commented: grrr wanna slurp those noodle arms like spaghetti 

You continue scrolling through the comments left underneath the video, trying to keep your face composed as you come across more and more explicit reactions from fans all over the world. Seokmin had uploaded the video to Weverse as an innocent birthday prank for Jeonghan, but he probably had not anticipated just how horny their fans could get over a seemingly harmless video of Jeonghan doing some leg presses. To be fair to the fans though, you yourself had watched the clip several times and you would be lying if you didn’t say you were… affected. 

“Well? What are they saying?” Jeonghan leans over to watch you scroll, and you are acutely aware of the warmth of his arm pressing against yours. The two of you are sitting on the floor of  your living room with your backs resting against your couch, hanging out after a small birthday dinner with some of his other friends. As one of Jeonghan’s english-speaking friends, he had asked you to help him translate some of his birthday wishes before his day ended, though you’re not sure how to tell him that his fans are not exactly sending in wholesome professions of love. 

Instead, you decide to try giving him some tamer versions in the hopes of satisfying him before you get to anything too blunt. “This user says you have noodle arms, but I think they like it so it’s okay.” 

“Hey! I’ve been trying my best to get thicker, but not all of us can be born beefed up like Seungcheol.” 

���You asked me what they said!” you laugh. “Most of these are just birthday messages anyway-- I’m sure you don’t need me to translate ‘Happy birthday, I love you!’ a thousand times.” 

“Yeah, obviously I understand the more common phrases, but there’s so many that I don’t understand today for some reason!” Jeonghan huffs, then points to a comment that you had purposefully hid under your thumb. “Like okay, what’s that one say?” 

[ seungcheolswife ] commented: wow the way this video made my pussy clench,,,, 

“Uh,” you start, already feeling your ears go warm. Should you just lie? It’s not like he would be able to tell, right? You and Jeonghan are close, but not so close that you can just say these things to him. Especially when this comment may be hitting a little too close to home for you. Even now, you remember the bolt of arousal that shot to your pussy the moment you  heard Jeonghan’s first grunt of effort. You bite your lip. No, Jeonghan really didn’t need to know about that. “I-it says something like ‘you made their heart flutter’.”

“Wait.” Jeonghan takes a moment to scan your face before his eyes narrow at you suspiciously. You give him your best innocent smile, but you already know he’s caught you. You had always been a shitty liar. “What does it really say? Is it bad?”

You sigh. Of course he hadn’t bought it. “No, it’s not bad. I just don’t know if you want to hear stuff like this…” 

“Well now I have to know. Tell me exactly what it says.” 

“E-exactly?” You meet Jeonghan’s stern gaze and you know that there’s no convincing him otherwise. What Jeonghan wants, Jeonghan gets. “I-it says that the video made their p-pussy clench.”

After several beats of silence, you look over to Jeonghan to see he is completely unaffected by the comment. Or maybe he is. His eyes glint mischievously in the light when he responds.  “I said exactly, baby. Try again.” 

Your whole body feels hot under his smug, expectant gaze; you should be surprised by the sudden pet name, but it only makes your mind fuzzy with the beginnings of arousal. You swallow thickly, unable to disobey him. “T-this video made m-my pussy clench.” 

“So naughty… Just this short clip has your cute little pussy all needy,” Jeonghan clicks his tongue, but a knowing grin spreads on his lips. His words have you shifting in your seat in an attempt to relieve the dull ache setting in between your legs, though you don’t dare let it on. It’s clear Jeonghan is playing a game with you, and although you know you’re going to lose, you’ll be damned if you let him win so easily. “Let’s read some more, hm? Translate this one for me.”

[ daddy_hannie ] commented: omg i bet jeonghan makes the hottest sounds when he’s fucking 

The comment he scrolls to nearly makes you whimper. It’s embarrassing how clearly you can recall the sound of each of his low groans coming through the screen, how sexy he sounded. Images of Jeonghan on top of you, his eyebrows furrowed as he grits out desperate groans of pleasure, leave you in a daze while your panties quickly dampen with your arousal. 

“Go on.” Jeonghan’s firm tone only makes you squirm more, and this time he takes note of the way your breathing has gone shallow and how your eyes are already hazy. 

“I bet Jeonghan makes the hottest sounds when he’s fucking,” you say softly. 

Jeonghan chuckles, his breath tickling against your neck. “Now you’re just making me blush, sweetheart. I bet you’d make some pretty noises when I’m fucking into you too,” he muses casually. You finally let out a soft whine, tired of holding your breath as he moves to tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear. 

“J-jeonghan…” 

“Hm, I think we should read a couple more,” the boy says, ignoring you and scrolling through more of the comments. You pout - your wetness has already soaked through your panties, your cunt just aching for his attention, but of course Jeonghan isn’t done teasing you. 

You’re wondering how long it will take for him to finally push your back to the floor and fuck you senseless when you spot a comment that might help you get you what you want quicker. ”I want to read this one,” you tell him, already rubbing your thighs together in anticipation. 

[ ~hanniehae!~ ] commented: god i KNOW your dick is big like PLEASE I WANNA SUCK UR DICK SO BAD

He raises an amused eyebrow at you, and you wait for him to stop you, biting back a smile when he doesn’t. You make sure to look him in the eyes when you say it, his own dark eyes telling you that he’s impatient for you too, and you nearly let it out in a whine from how much you mean it. “Please Jeonghan… I want to suck your dick so bad.” 

For a sliver of a  moment, Jeonghan goes rigid. Then, his smug smile returns as he brings up a thumb to tug on your bottom lip. “Mmm, such a pretty mouth saying such filthy words,” he sighs, shaking his head. “If you wanted to put it to good use, all you had to do was ask, baby.” 

Jeonghan chuckles at how eagerly you follow him as he moves to sit on the couch behind you, keeping his hold on your chin so that you keep your eyes on his. He has you kneel between his legs and you don’t waste any time in reaching for the button and zipper on his jeans. 

The man helps you tug his pants and boxers down to his ankles, and your mouth waters at the sight of his hard cock springing back against his stomach. Of course it’s pretty just like the rest of him. “You’ve been teasing me all this time, but you’re already this hard?” you whisper tauntingly as you lean forward to ghost your lips over the base of his shaft. 

Jeonghan’s shaky exhale does not go unnoticed by you, but his response comes out smooth as ever. “Could you blame me? You just looked so cute getting all worked up from saying all those dirty things about me. I bet your little panties are soaked through by now-- guh!” He lets out a surprised groan when you suddenly flatten your tongue against him, letting it drag slowly up to his tip. 

“You talk too much.” You look up at him with a smile before you wrap your lips around his leaking tip, savoring the taste of him on your tongue. Teasingly, you swirl your tongue against his slit until you feel his hand thread through your hair, as though he’s begging you for more. You decide to be nice, lowering your mouth further down his cock, letting him feel the slide of your wet tongue on his sensitive skin. 

A soft sigh leaves his lips at the sensation, pleasantly carding his fingers through your hair as you take as much of him as you can. “That’s it. Good girl.”

His praise has you clenching around nothing, and you whine as you steadily begin to bob your head along his hard cock, reveling in how he would let out small whimpers whenever you would lightly suckle on it. 

Just as he gets used to the feeling of your mouth on him, you suddenly take him as deep as you can into your mouth, hollowing your cheeks tightly around his cock. “Oh, f-fuck!” Jeonghan lets out a strangled moan, his hips lifting from the couch to fuck further into your mouth. 

You feel the tip of his cock hit the back of your throat, but it only spurs you on even more as you swallow around him, causing him to throw his head back in ecstasy. At this point, a dull ache starts setting in your jaw and drool begins to messily slip from the corners of your mouth as you return to sucking him at a more steady pace, and you feel your pussy throb from how dirty it all felt. Though you and Jeonghan did flirt occasionally, he had always felt off-limits to you-- he’s an idol and you’re just one of his normal-person friends. But here you are with his cock in your mouth, all thanks to the horny thoughts of his fans no less. 

To their credit, they were right. Jeonghan does make the hottest sounds while fucking. He lets out another throaty groan from above you and, unexpectedly, he pulls you off his cock. His pupils are blown wide with desire, his chest heaving slightly as he looks at the state you’re in with your swollen lips and the drool on your chin. “Can I fuck your mouth?” he asks breathlessly. 

“Yes please,” you reply, voice already a little hoarse from your efforts. You shift back on your knees to make room for Jeonghan when he stands, opening your mouth obediently when he moves to slide his cock back onto your tongue. Jeonghan tightens his grip on your hair, keeping you still as he starts to fuck into your mouth with quick, shallow thrusts. “Mmh!”

“Fuck, your mouth feels so fucking good, baby,” Jeonghan sighs appreciatively. You bring your hands up to grip at the backs of his thighs to keep yourself steady when his thrusts become a little more erratic, causing you to gag around him as his cock continues to hit the back of your throat. Still, all your focus remains on hearing more of Jeonghan’s pleasured groans, on seeing his face scrunch up in absolute bliss, so you keep your mouth open wide despite the tears that prick at your eyes. When Jeonghan looks down at you taking his cock, eyes glazed over and fucked out, he curses loudly. “Shit-- can I come in your mouth?” 

Unable to speak with your mouth stuffed full, you cutely give him a thumbs up. Jeonghan would have laughed if he wasn’t so close to cumming. With several more thrusts, he cries out a strained warning before his hot release fills your mouth. He rides out his orgasm, twitching in your hold as his pleasure bleeds into oversensitivity. Once he’s pulled out, you make sure to stick your tongue out so he can see how his cum coats your tongue right before you swallow it all down; all he can do is smile thinking about how he really should have fucked you sooner. 

“So good for me,” Jeonghan says to you softly, helping you up to your feet so that he can pull you into a heated kiss full of tongue and whimpers. You desperately grip onto Jeoghan’s shirt, pressing your body against him in search for some sort of relief for the arousal that is pumping through you and straight to your neglected pussy. He can’t help but smile against your lips. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll take care of you now.” 

You let him lead you to sit on the couch-- this time you are the one sitting on the edge of the cushions with Jeonghan’s head between your legs. He slides a hand over your clothed core, humming when he finds that you really have soaked straight through your panties. Just as you begin to squirm underneath his teasing fingers, he strips you of both your leggings and underwear in one swift movement, leaving you bare before him. 

The sight of him pushing your legs apart is enough to leave you in a daze. Your breath catches when you feel cool air brushing against your inner thighs, slick with your wetness, then it all comes out in a whine when you feel Jeonghan’s velvet tongue swipes at the spot for a taste. “O-oh!” a cry slips from your lips once his tongue finally slides through your folds. “Mmh!” 

“Does it feel good?” Jeonghan whispers, not bothering to wait for a proper answer because your broken moans tell him to keep going. He spreads your lips open with his fingers, eating you out slowly and deliberately as though he is savoring his favorite meal.

The room is filled with your soft whimpers and the lewd sounds of Jeonghan’s mouth working against your pussy and it only tightens the pressure in your stomach, causing your toes to curl. “P-please-- please let me cum,” you rasp out, and your eyes roll to the back, your hand clutching tightly at the back of Jeonghan’s head, at the feeling of his tongue flattening against your clit. “Ngh! Y-yes!” 

He skillfully flicks his tongue on your bud, shaking his head back and forth until his chin is absolutely covered in your juices. When your hips begin to move of their own accord, he lets you ride his face as you please, his cock twitching at how desperate you are for him. “S-so good,” you sob, only able to mutter unintelligible nonsense in your delirium. Then, he wraps his mouth around your clit, and you’re left squealing as your legs begin to shake from how obscenely good it feels. “Shit, I-- I’m--!” 

You come undone with a loud cry of Jeonghan’s name, your body going rigid from how hard your orgasm hits you. Jeonghan takes it all, his eyes closed as he works you through your release, only letting up when you slump away from him.

The both of you finally look at each other properly in the aftermath, chests heaving and hair wild. Suddenly you’re both erupting in giggles at the realization of what you two had just done. “What are you looking at?” Jeonghan asks, eyes bright as he smiles handsomely up at you. 

You reach down to swipe your thumb against his chin, which is still shining with your cum, barely able to contain your giggles. “Who’s got the dirty mouth now?”

[yukidragon]

Our Life Snippet - Lazy Morning Intimacy

So, who’s ready for an extra long serving of shameless fluff from the first draft of my fan novelization of Our Life: Beginnings & Always? My philosophy in writing this is if I can add some more fluffy cuddly moments, I absolutely will, and the Step 3 moment Reflection offers one such opportunity right at the very start before, well, those of you who have played this moment know what happens later.

Spoilers for those who have not played the Step 3 DLC! If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read any further! If you don’t mind spoilery stuff, well, don’t let me stop you, but I highly, highly encourage you to play through the game before reading any of this.

As always, thanks go to @gb-patch for their wonderful game and their lovely feedback for my work, as well as everyone who likes, reblogs, and comments on these clips I’m posting here. You are all awesome.  💖

...

It wasn’t often that Jamie had the chance to enjoy breakfast at the Holden house. Ever since their parents decreed that they were ‘too old’ for sleepovers, she and Cove didn’t have many opportunities to enjoy that particular meal together, which made today a rare treat. It wasn’t especially fancy fare, but it was lovely to be able to spend time with her boyfriend almost as soon as she woke up. She was glad she impulsively asked if he wanted to have breakfast with her when they exchanged their usual good morning texts.

After a pleasant meal filled with light conversation and tasty food, Cove invited Jamie to retreat to his room to relax and let the lazy morning linger before any big activities began. That was, if they didn’t just decide to take it easy for the rest of the day. Neither of them had any plans in particular, with no prior commitments with friends, family, or work to distract them from just spending the day together. It wasn’t officially a date day, per say, or at least neither of them called it that yet. So far, they just decided to do whatever came to mind while enjoying each other’s company.

Of course, the first thing that came to Jamie’s mind was to cuddle with her boyfriend. When Cove sat down onto the bed, she didn’t hesitate to take a seat beside him, leaning into him. He hummed happily in approval and looped an arm around her to pull her in even closer.

A mischievous smile tugged at her lips as a new thought came to mind, and Jamie leaned in even closer. Cove raised an eyebrow at expression, only to yelp when she unexpectedly pushed her weight into him and tipped him back onto the bed. She fell along with him, giggling as they tumbled onto the mattress

Cove let out a chuckle of his own once he recovered from his surprise. “When I said we could relax, I didn’t mean going back to bed,” he said with a wry smile. Even still, he allowed her to nudge him gently back to the headboard so that they could both lounge comfortably on the bed properly with their heads resting on the pillows side by side. 

Jamie flashed Cove a satisfied grin before she snuggled up against his side, nuzzling her cheek against his as she basked in his gentle warmth. “You also said to make myself comfortable,” she teased, her eyes sparkling playfully as she rested her arm across his chest. “I’m very comfortable like this.”

Cove felt his heartbeat quicken, and he smiled back fondly at Jamie, nuzzling her cheek in return. “Me too,” he said softly.

Though maybe he was a little too comfortable.

Cove couldn’t help but be aware of the fact that they were both lying in his bed together. A prickling of nerves rose up that he quickly did his best to tamp down to not ruin the intimate moment they were sharing. It was fine, no big deal, he told himself. They were both fully dressed, on top of the sheets, and it was broad daylight. They cuddled plenty of times like this before on sofas and the ground. Heck, this was nothing compared to when they shared a bed when they were younger.

The flickering of nervousness didn’t escape Jamie’s notice. She softened her expression and reached up to gently run her fingers through her shy boyfriend’s hair. She had intended to steal a kiss or two and see where that would take them, but she decided that could wait until later. Just enjoying this moment with Cove was enough for her.

The touch was soothing, and Cove slowly started to relax as he leaned into Jamie. The anxious air that had threatened to pull him out of the moment gradually dissipated as her comforting warmth slowly settled in. Soon, he felt at ease enough to slip his arm back around her, which she happily used as her new pillow. He couldn’t help but smile at seeing the content expression on his partner’s face as she smiled softly back at him.

A comfortable silence washed over the pair as they simply enjoyed the quiet moment of intimacy. At some point, Jamie went from stroking Cove’s hair to toying with it. His ponytail limited her in how much she could card her fingers through his hair, but there were plenty of long locks to ripple between her fingers.

It wasn’t the first time Jamie got the impulse to play with her boyfriend’s hair. Even before he was officially - or even unofficially - her boyfriend, she couldn’t help but want to run her fingers through those pretty pale green strands. When they were younger, Cove would jokingly try to avoid her hands, but always ‘failed’ to escape in the end, allowing her to have her way. Sometimes she teased him back by pretending to give up, and he would always pout adorably, which she would immediately chase away with a satisfying ruffle of his hair.

Occasionally, Jamie would go beyond playing to actual styling. She was no professional, but it was fun to wind her boyfriend’s hair into a braid or two sometimes. Cove never minded, even if the braids rarely lasted that long after she was finished making them. It also didn’t escape her notice that he would sometimes shiver or let out an adorable pleasured little mumble when she raked her fingers along his scalp. It was an enjoyable experience for both of them, and sometimes she suspected that was one of the reasons why he let his hair grow as long as he did.

Jamie had no such grand designs now. Today she simply basked in the freedom to enjoy the feeling of his soft hair sliding between her fingers as she listened to the happy noises her partner occasionally let slip.

Although much more at ease, Cove couldn’t help the small traces of nervous energy that left him with the need to do something with his hands. He ran his thumb across her shoulder with the hand that was limited by Jamie resting on the upper part of his arm. With his freer hand, he decided to return the favor she paid to him and ran his fingers through her long deep blue hair, starting with stroking back her bangs before sliding his hand down along the entire length of her hair until he reached the ends at her hips. The feeling was soft and silky, and she sighed softly at the attention.

On impulse, Cove poked one of the small buns on top of his girlfriend’s head. Space buns were her preferred hairstyle of choice nowadays, and there was something satisfying about poking them that he couldn’t quite explain. Maybe it was the feel of them, or the way the bunched up hair bounced when poked that did it, but most likely it was because of the amused looks Jamie gave him whenever he did. She wore one such expression now, and he couldn’t help but chuckle a bit before giving her bun another playful poke.

Entertained, Jamie let Cove have her way with her buns, poking and prodding them as he pleased. The potential for innuendo wasn’t lost on her, but she let it go unsaid. As fun as it would be to make him flustered by suggesting that he might enjoy playing with a different set of buns she had even more, she didn’t want to interrupt the light, playful moment.

Jamie would just save that little bit of wordplay for later, preferably when the mood was good enough that Cove might take her up on the invitation.

Despite the steamy thoughts that skirted through her mind, Jamie did her best to focus on enjoying the lazy moment between them. It was lovely to just share such casual intimacy with Cove.

Jamie wasn’t alone in trying to ignore her more hormonal urges. As much as Cove enjoyed playing with her hair, focusing on touching her as he did made it impossible for him to stop thinking about the fact that they were both lying on his bed together. He was keenly aware of the gentle warmth of her body pressed against him, how soft and inviting her pink lips looked as she smiled at him.

Eventually, Cove realized he needed something else to occupy his hands if he didn’t want to risk disrupting the peaceful moment. Shifting about a bit, he fished his cell phone out of his pocket. Although Jamie raised an eyebrow at that and at being displaced from her cozy spot when he moved around, she held no objections as he turned his phone on and busied himself with it. Instead, she simply readjusted her position to get comfortable once he was settled again.

Sifting through missed texts and emails, Cove soon managed to distract himself from the urges that ruffled his nerves and relaxed back into the moment. He spotted a number of texts he missed from his dad, and for a moment he wondered if everything was okay until he realized Cliff just sent him a bunch of images last night.

A warm smile graced his face as Cove slowly scrolled his way through the photographs, nostalgia washing over him. Each photo brought him back to the moment it was taken, allowing him to lose himself in the priceless memories he shared with his friends, family, and especially the special person he held so comfortably close at that very moment.

Some photos brought back sweet memories, others a little more on the bitter side of sweet, and then there were the funnier ones. One such silly photo seized Cove’s attention, and he couldn’t help the burst of laughter that escaped him.

The sound immediately snapped Jamie out of her relaxed stupor and brought her back to the present. She raised an eyebrow at Cove, but he failed to notice her questioning look, too preoccupied by whatever was on his phone’s screen.

“What’s so funny?” Jamie asked as she propped herself up on her arm to get a better look at his face and catch a glimpse of the phone’s screen.

Cove finally turned to look at Jamie, his eyes crinkled with mirth and a smirk playing on his lips. “Dad scanned some old photos,” he chuckled. “You know…”

Now that Jamie was no longer using his arm as a pillow, Cove was free to use it to draw a rectangle in the air. “Printed out ones,” he explained, “back from when I was little.” He waved his phone a bit with his other hand. “He texted it all to me last night, I guess. I’ve been checking them out.”

Jamie sat up completely, her dark blue eyes flying open wide. “You were looking at your kiddie photos and didn’t tell me?!” she gasped, almost scandalized at missing out on something so priceless.

Cove barely resisted the urge to chuckle, offering Jamie a bent smile as his eyes narrowed playfully. “I was gonna show you.” His gaze then slid away to his phone as his expression turned a little more hesitant. “I just wanted to look at it first to make sure there was nothing super embarrassing. You never know with my dad.”

His mouth pulled into a grimace as Cove could easily imagine all sorts of horrors his dad might have captured on film to unintentionally humiliate him until the end of time. “I mean… what if there’s a photo of me getting potty trained or something?”

Although Jamie empathized with his worries, she couldn’t help but giggle at the fraught expression Cove wore. “Yeah, that sounds like something your dad would do.”

Cove could only respond by clearing his throat nervously, his eyes skirting away from Jamie as he sat up as well. While he hadn’t come across any particularly humiliating photo of himself, he couldn’t quite shake the fear of what his dad’s well-meaning actions might have left for him to deal with this time.

Jamie offered her boyfriend a sympathetic smile before adding a slight bent to it. “Hey, how about this - if you let me look at your embarrassing baby photos, I’ll show you just as many of mine. My moms have plenty of them.”

The offer was tempting. Cove couldn’t help but wonder what sort of photos Jamie had in mind, but the price was just too steep. He merely chuckled awkwardly and shook his head as he pointedly kept his phone tilted away from her. She huffed and puffed out her cheeks in a mock pout at him for holding out on her, which elicited a genuine bout of laughter from him.

Once Cove got his mirth under control, he smiled at Jamie. “Anyway, before we forget, I was laughing ‘cause I came across a Halloween one from when I was eight. The year I was a zombie, remember?”

Jamie dropped her faux pout and nodded, her eyes lighting up eagerly. Cove shook his head at her excitement, a wry grin gracing his face as he finally offered the phone to her.

As Cove watched Jamie eagerly turn to his phone, he couldn’t help but shake his head again, this time at his kid self. “I never even liked zombies!” he said, a little baffled that he ever was so enthusiastic for such a costume. “All I wanted was to show off my new scar. And I needed to be something scary. I couldn’t be a normal person who had a scar, according to my eight-year-old mind.”

The photo displayed on the screen showed Cove from ten years in the past, and a pleasant wave of nostalgia washed over Jamie as she saw him the way he looked when they first met, minus the pink cast and plus a fair amount of makeup and fake blood. Little Cove posed for the camera with his fingers hooked like claws, his mouth open as though letting out what was probably supposed to be a fierce roar. She could easily remember the noises he made that night as he pretended to be a zombie on the hunt for brains. His hair looked even more wild and disheveled than it did after the most energetic day of play, going well with the tattered and ‘blood’ stained button up shirt he wore. His face was painted in gray down to his neck, marred with an array of fake scars that couldn’t compare to the real one on his arm.

Cove looked from Jamie to the phone and chuckled softly at the face his younger self pulled for the camera. “I was a little dork.”

Jamie eyed Cove at such self-depreciation before poking him on the nose. “You were a little cutie,” she insisted. “And now you’re a big cutie.”

Cove blinked at the playful action before blushing at the compliment. He had no words to reply to it except for a quiet, flustered chuckle as he rubbed his nose.

Jamie grinned at that reaction before turning back to the photo. As much as she enjoyed how adorable Cove looked while pretending to be a fierce monster, it was impossible to ignore the scar displayed so predominantly on his arm at that time. Her smile softened at the edges at the sight of such a large, jagged line of fresh skin that was such a deep and angry shade of red. The scar was a pale memory in the present, but back then it looked so painful, and at the time she found it hard not to worry about him and his comfort after his cast came off.

Still, Jamie refused to let that put a damper on the story and focused instead on just how much fun little Cove was having posing for the camera and remembering the way they played around with their costumes that night. She could vividly recall how she pretended to run away from him when he playfully growled that he wanted to eat her brains, and the memory made her smile grow stronger.

“Dad really wanted to be useful, as usual,” Cove said, bringing Jamie’s attention back to him in the present. Though he noticed the flicker of sadness that crossed her face and realized the reason for it, he was glad to see her perk up again just as quickly. “He came up with the idea of being an undead person. It was pretty good, huh?”

Jamie chuckled softly and nodded. “You had the best Halloween costume that year, hands down,” she said playfully. “I remember you getting lots of extra candy when adults realized the scar was real.” Her smile widened as she remembered just how jealous Lizzie had been at how much candy Cove got that year, especially since he only offered to share some of that extra candy with Jamie. “It must have been your greatest Halloween haul ever.”

Cove couldn’t help but chuckle as well as he thought back to that legendary candy haul as well. It took him a month to finish it all even with Jamie’s help.

Still, the topic of his scar brought his gaze back to the picture. Cove couldn’t help but compare the way it looked in the photo to its current appearance on his left arm. “I can’t believe how much larger my scar used to be,” he said quietly.

Jamie watched as Cove turned his focus to his arm with a soft smile on his face. He traced his fingers along the jagged line of pale flesh that remained with him even ten years on. It was an action that she had seen him do countless times, but it felt more significant in that moment.

A soft sigh escaped Cove, but his eyes and tone were playful. “Look at how tiny it is now.” He gave Jamie a look with big, pathetic eyes. “How am I gonna pretend to be tough without a big scar?”

It was a struggle for Jamie not to laugh at the expression Cove wore. “You better not do anything stupid to get a new scar,” she joked with a faux disapproving frown as she wagged a finger at him. “No matter how much you like them!”

Cove grinned back at Jamie. “I won’t.”

“Good,” Jamie said with a satisfied nod. “You’ve already got the coolest scar, no matter how small it gets.”

Cove felt his cheeks grow warm and his smile turned bashful. “Thanks.” He ducked his head away from Jamie, pleased with their joking exchange. Once again, his eyes drifted down to his scar as he continued to trace it.

“I really do like having this,” he admitted in a soft, shy voice. “Even if it is kind of little these days.”

Jamie’s expression softened as well, feeling as though Cove was sharing a big secret with her. She couldn’t help but feel happy to hear that he liked his scar despite whatever pain it must have caused him to get it. It was always wonderful whenever he opened up to her like this.

Cove glanced up at Jamie, a gentle smile gracing his lips. “I like yours, too.”

The unexpected compliment caught Jamie off guard, and heat rose in her cheeks, turning them pink. She couldn’t help but smile as she felt her chest flutter with butterflies. He never failed to think of her as well, especially since he knew that she was self-conscious of her own scars.

Unthinkingly, Jamie brought her hand up to her upper arm and traced some of the countless jagged little white lines that marred her pale skin. There were matching scars in the same place on her other arm, as well as her thighs and her chest. Unlike Cove, these scars were not the result of an accident, but her skin not being able to keep up with her sudden growth during puberty.

Back during her early teenage years when the stretch marks were fresh and an angry purplish-red, Jamie always kept them hidden. Puberty had been rough on her, dealing a blow to her self-esteem as well as her body, and being covered in so many scars left her feeling ugly even though she never once thought of Cove’s scar like that.

It took time for Jamie to accept her scars, and she knew that Cove was a big part of why. Seeing the way he took such quiet pride in his scar always made her question how she thought of hers. More than that, he always made her feel beautiful, and he was always the first to remind her  whenever she needed it. That was why she was no longer afraid to wear clothes that exposed her scars like she did now.

Jamie scooted in closer to Cove as she smiled adoringly at him, placing her hand on top of his. “Thank you, Cove.”

Cove turned back to face Jamie fully. He finally let go of his scar so that he could take her hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. He felt at peace with his scar and was happy to see the same reflected on her face as well. Their scars held such meaning to them despite coming from unhappy sources.

Jamie squeezed his hand back as she drifted even closer. “Could I touch your scar?”

Cove blinked, taken aback by the request. Usually, Jamie wasn’t shy about touching him without asking first, particularly someplace as innocent as his arm. Still, he quickly realized why she might hesitate to do that now and smiled gently at her as he nodded easily. “Yeah, that’s okay.”

Jamie gave Cove’s hand one more squeeze before letting go of it. Lightly, she pressed her fingertips against the edges of his scar. With great care, she slowly ran her thumb along the entire length of it, following the jagged angles the old wound took. The pale flesh was rough when compared to the rest of his skin, which was soft, but with goosebumps rising quickly along his arm as she stroked his scar.

The touch, so delicate and gentle, left Cove feeling a bit lightheaded. Jamie’s touch always felt wonderful and often left him feeling butterflies, but somehow the feel of her paying such careful attention to his scar was particularly powerful. A choked breath escaped him and a wobbly smile played across his face as he lost himself in the feeling.

The dizzied smile Cove wore along with the light pink of his cheeks drew Jamie in with the urge to do more. She locked eyes with him, staring deep into his aquamarine eyes as she took a hold of his arm and raised it up towards her.

A quiet gasp escaped Cove when she realized what Jamie had in mind. He couldn’t look away from her dark blue eyes as she stared so intently into him even as she placed a soft kiss on the old wound that marked him. The feeling of her lips, warm and soft, pressed so tenderly against that particular place sent shivers up his spine, and he let out a tiny squeak.

Jamie smiled against Cove’s skin as she appreciated his adorable reaction, as well as the way he looked at her with overwhelming adoration. She kissed him again and again, tracing the entire length of his scar with her lips like she did with her fingers before.

It was impossible for Cove to stay still when Jamie was showing him such affection. He reached up with his free hand to touch her arm. With his thumb, he brushed aside the edge of her open sleeve, giving him better access to the countless little white lines marking her pale skin. The texture was interesting, feeling so similar yet so different from his own scar. Because of their size and number, he found his fingers constantly alternating between soft skin and rougher tissue. It was difficult to trace any one scar from start to finish like she did for him, so instead he sought out to touch every single one.

The touch was electric, and Jamie could feel her heartbeat speed up as Cove caressed her so lovingly. “Cove…”

Cove shivered again as Jamie murmured his name against his skin, setting off sparks that made his body burn pleasantly. It urged him to lean forward, his eyes gleaming with the fire she set ablaze inside him.

Jamie raised her head and instinctively matched his movement, drawing nearer to Cove as her eyes drifted closed. She felt his lips gently meet hers, and she melted into the tender kiss. She held a little more firmly onto his arm as she fell deeper into him, feeling like she might drown in the depths of her feelings for him.

Cove all too quickly lost himself in the moment and in Jamie. It felt so wonderful, so right to be her like this, to touch and kiss her. He loved her so much that it was almost overwhelming, but knowing that she loved him as well kept him grounded.

Eventually they finally drifted apart, breathless and dazed from the kiss, their faces flushed with heat. When Jamie opened her eyes, she saw Cove gazing back at her with his mesmerizing ocean blue eyes. The look he gave her was spellbinding, filled with so much love and adoration that made her heart hammer hard against her ribcage. It told her without words that the feelings he had for her were just as immense as hers were for him.

Cove leaned in again, this time resting his forehead gently against Jamie’s. With heavy lidded eyes, he simply enjoyed gazing deeply into her blue eyes that always reminded him of the night sky. No matter how many times he saw them, they always captivated him. He could lose himself in those beautiful eyes of hers.

The feeling of his warm breath tickling her skin made Jamie shiver a little, especially the way it brushed against her lips like the ghost of a kiss. With their heads touching, his hand on her arm and hers on his, she felt entirely entwined with Cove. It felt so right.

Time ceased to have any meaning in that moment as they gazed deeply into their partner’s eyes and drank in the closeness and warmth they shared. Seconds or minutes might have passed, but neither of them cared as they lost themselves in each other.

[xoluvx]

hoax; t.holland

» pairing: tom holland x actress!reader » song: hoax » word count: 1.4K

"They're going to ask questions about the relationship-" your publicist reminded you as you stood to the side of the stage. This was the first talk show you were doing in a while. "-remember you don't have to answer any of them." She finished looking at you directly with a reassuring look.

Nodding you, adjusted top trying to compose yourself.

Waving at the live audience, you smiled brightly. The best fake smile you could muster as you approached the host who was standing up. His hand reached towards you as you shook it politely before taking a seat.

You'd been in the clear for the first few minutes until the dreaded question came up. "So is it true?" You caught the end of the question, the beginning was a blur, but you knew exactly what he was talking about.

'Remember you don't have to answer any of them.' Your publicist's words rang in your head and you smiled awkwardly intertwining your fingers in your lap.

"I'm taking this time to really focus on my career and that's what really matters to me right now" you feigned a cheerful smile, something you'd picked up being in the business. You weren't lying, you were only exaggerating the truth.

Actually, the truth was that you were miserable. Life without him was miserable. Without your best friend. Without the person, you'd confided in and thought was your future.

It didn't help that you couldn't grief in peace. It felt like the world was looking at you with a microscope and you couldn't leave your house without the questions. The noise and fuzz over the break-up. You didn't have time to process it all.

"I think we should keep things professional," you whispered as Tom held you close. One arm around the small of your waist, one hand on your cheek. Both your arms were curled on your chest, holding the collar of his shirt.

Things had moved quickly. His lips were on yours before you could think or breath and soon your arms were curled around each other pulling each other closer.

But the small voice in the back of your head told you to stop. You couldn't do this again. You couldn't go down that road again. Not with Tom. You didn't want to ruin things with him. Not like your previous relationship. Who, shocker, had also been with a co-star and did not end well.

Tom knew that.

Yet his lips felt so right on yours and neither of you wanted whatever it was you were doing to end.

"I want to be with you," Tom whispered back brushing your cheek with his thumb before planting a soft kiss on your lips. His lips lingered on yours slowly peeling away to breathe. His forehead pressed against yours.

"I don't want things to end badly," you sighed shutting your eyes. You felt Tom shaking his head.

"They won't."

That'd been a lie. A big fat lie that you relived every day.

Exhaling, you slumped your shoulders. You were home safe. No other questions were asked apart from the one you answered, not really answering it. You made it clear you weren't there to talk about it. But it was the only thing you thought about on the ride home.

It was the only thing you could think about now as you wiped your makeup off. The reflection in the mirror was tired and weak. Emotionally drained. You could feel your throat tightening as you ran a damp cotton pad under your eyes, remembering the time you were so tired he carefully tried wiping your eyelids.

Splashing your face with water, you swallowed the knot in your throat. Shutting off the lights, you dragged your feet towards your bed crawling into it burying yourself under the covers. Your body relaxed as you laid your head on your pillow.

Somehow you could still smell him on your pillows. Maybe you were going crazy, but you got a whiff of his cologne and you felt the knot in your throat coming back. This time the tears were quick and before you could stop yourself, they were running down your face and onto the pillow.

"I trusted you, Tom." You breathed rapidly trying to stop yourself from hyperventilating. You could feel your throat closing, your chest compressing, you felt dizzy.

"I'm sorry," Tom rushed behind you trying to reach out to you, but you shrugged him off. You were in his hotel room, but the distance between the two of you felt infinite.

Your head was fogged with the images of Tom with another woman.

"It wasn't like that," He continued talking, but you couldn't understand him. His words had no meaning.

"Stop," you breathed, your heart pounding and the tears hot on your cheeks. You leaned against the wall trying to gather yourself. "How could you do this to me? You knew what I went through, you knew why I was scared of this-" you were out of breath your voice was getting louder as you spoke.

Tom seemed to grow smaller as you towered over him.

He knew this would tear you apart.

"It was nothing. She's a friend," Tom exclaimed, but you were way too heated. Friends didn't stand so close to each other. Friends didn't hold hands like that.

"How could you do this to me? To us?" You huffed shaking your head. The tears were still there, but you were now on fire. You were burning inside with anger and pain.

"Sweetheart, please-" Tom begged trying to get a hold of you. You brushed him off shaking your head.

"I can't do this, Tom. Everyone has seen those photos," you shook your head biting your lip as the tears continued to form and fall. You wrapped your hands around yourself. "You did the same thing he did," you shook your head.

"I thought you were different," you sobbed turning on your heel and towards the door. It closed with a soft thud as you left.

Swallowing the memory, you grabbed your phone. You were curious to see if the interview was circulating. You were sure it was. People had been in your business since your first relationship and they'd been so invested in the one with Tom.

The one you hoped would be different.

Through blurred vision, you saw people were reposting the part of your interview where you talked about it. Everyone was quick to jump to conclusions. But what caught your eye was not all the reposts and the added commentary. It was him.

A screenshot of something he'd posted on his stories. Something that seemed to be a direct reply to your interview clip. Someone had posted it and though you hated that people were so invested in your love life, you were glad they reposted it because there was no way you were looking at his stories these days.

It was a quote. A quote about loss and forgiveness and you don't know if he was directly talking about you, but it sure felt like it.

You felt your heart fall to the pit of your stomach and suddenly your hands felt clammy as you held your phone.

Inhaling deep, you turned it off. You had to sleep.

But as you placed the phone on your nightstand, the screen turned on illuminating your dark room.

Shakily, you brought the phone back under your covers shielding it as if there were others who could just look over your shoulder and see your phone. You huddled under your covers seeing the notification. The three letters and the spiderweb emoji flashed on your screen.

You opened the message. The thread of messages, the grey bubbles took up your screen. The unanswered messages all pleading to talk. Had you been childish to not answer his messages? Maybe. But he'd hurt you in a way you weren't expecting.

Can we talk please

The text read. You weren't going to answer. You refused. You were about to turn it off when the phone started vibrating in your hand. He was calling.

You let it ring once. Twice. Three times, until you inhaled deeply swiping your phone bringing the phone up to your ear.

"Don't hang up please," Tom's voice made your heart flutter and you froze. "Please let me talk to you," he begged. His voice was low, but there was a hint of gratitude that you'd picked up the phone.

"Okay...talk."

He talked. You listened. It wasn't going to be easy, but you also couldn't let go of Tom. You hadn't been able to in the weeks that you were separated.

He was it for you, so you listened.

folklore masterlist

[misschifuyu]

howdy 🥰 i reaaally like your writing style and the way you depict characters 🤌

can i request styling Baji, Chifuyu and Mitsuya's hair pleaase ? 🥺

thank you! i hope you have a GREAT day!! 💖

- hello there babes ! thank you so much omgg, really ♡ and I hope you’re having a wonderful day yourself, here’s your request bby !!

Baji, Chifuyu and Mitsuya getting their hair styled by their s/o

genre: fluff

warnings: none

Baji

as said in the shower headcanons, I believe that baji takes pretty good care of his hair. it's very soft to the touch, and the slight wave to his locks always made him look as if he spent hours styling it

realistically - and this you would find out after he spent a night over at yours - his hair will go that way with a simple brush through, nothing more, nothing less

you hadn't believed it at first, but upon watching him do so a few times, you came to the conclusion that he was gifted with perfect hair by the gods themselves

it would be a weekend that you'd ask him if you could play with his hair, seeing as he didn't have any plans until the evening

he'd comply happily, and patiently sit down in front of your bathroom mirror, waiting for you to start on whatever ideas you had stored away in that head of yours

of course, you'd start off with his signature ponytail

you had to hold back a gawk as the hair was easily collected into your hands, allowing you to slip the hair band on with ease

where had this guy even got his hair routine from ?

all this did was boost your excitement to see what other styles you could get his hair into

baji had to take a few silent seconds when you pulled his hair into two pigtails, right at the top of his head

you thought he looked splendid, but he, on the other hand, was about to regret letting you near his locks. nevertheless, he let you continue, slipping the hair out of the tight style

next were two braids. at first, you didn't think much of it: he'd look like a cute school girl, and you'd for sure had to try and sneak a picture of that if he let you

but, as you tied the second one with the little band and flipped them forwards, you could almost see the hairs on the back of his neck stand up

"I look like that haitani bastard, y/n, what the hell!"

after realising what you had done, you couldn't hold back a few laughs as he fumbled around, trying to undo the neatly folded pieces of hair

he wasn't best pleased, but was impressed by how - if a certain someone didn't sport them all the time - he'd actually pull them off

last, but certainly not least, you wanted to try a little something out with his hair that you had seen a few other guys with long-ish hair wander around with

parting the locks just above his ear, you pulled the top layer up into a bun, tying it loosely with the hair band

you made sure not to make it so tight that it would make him look almost bald on the top of his head by giving it a little volume

at this last style - the notorious man bun - baji sent a look to the mirror that made you confirm that he quite liked it

turning his head around to the sides, he looked at the bun you had pull together just a little below the top of his head

"you know...this one ain't too bad"

clasping your hands together in joy, you told him that it was a pretty easy style to do, and it would mean he could keep his hair out of his face without having to do a full-on ponytail

giving you a face of approval, he happily left your little hairdresser session, not even bothering to ask if you were actually done

you didn't mind though. in fact, you were looking forward to see what the others thought of your grand creation on your boyfriend's hair

Chifuyu

funnily enough, chifuyu does actually try and keep his hair in a good shape. he's tried silk pillowcases, deep conditioners and even treatments that he'd frequently steal from your place

he'd always bring the bottles back, though, so not to worry

it was the reason why he was happy to let you play with his hair one morning that he hadn't much else to do

he stole your hair products, so he guessed it was only fair to give his hair up for a quick experiment from your behalf

like baji, you'd sit chifuyu in his bathroom, just in case something went horribly wrong and you needed to wash out his hair in the shower

knowing you were only working with a top - although considerably thick - layer of his hair, you had taken out your smallest hairbands

you had frequently seen him with his hair pulled up by his bangs, as he'd usually pull it up into that style whenever he came over to your place

he deemed it much more comfortable than having hair on your face when trying to relax

instead, you jumped right into parting his hair into two sections, forming a straight line down the middle of his head

he looked a little strange with a prominent split like that, making him look like something out of the olden times, so you quickly went in with the bands to try and make his concerned stare go away

granted, it did, but only to be replaced by widened eyes as he stared at the two, small buns you had managed to tie up at the sides of his head

"i..."

"you look like peke j now!"

at your comment, he whipped his head around to look at you, stood behind him as you marvelled at the creation

it seemed that the black cat had heard his name being called out, appearing at the bathroom door in an instant

the two exchanged looks with each other, silently, for a good minute or so

"do i, peke?"

you had to admit that chifuyu was very close with his cat, so much so you were pretty sure they actually had conversations through brainwaves, because the small animal gave a quick meow as an answer

when you eventually got him back in front of the mirror, you started racking your brains on what else you could do with the bundle of bleached, blonde hair

an idea came up, but you weren't too sure how it would play out on his head

nevertheless, you took a risk and started parting his hair in different sections

even chifuyu was curious to see what you were doing. all he could tell was that you seemed to be having a little struggle with it

and the result wasn't much better

having attempted to tie his hair into a short braid, you ended up noticing that not all his hair strands were the same length, ending up in what looked to be more like a bundle of messy hair, single strands sticking up in all directions

"what's...that supposed to be, y/n?"

after struggling to give a straight explanation, the two of you burst out into a fit of laughter

surely enough, the style had gone a little off track, but you couldn't deny how amusing your boyfriend looked with it on top of his head

Mitsuya

now, mitsuya doesn't really have much hair on his head

this is mainly due to the fact that he used to have his sides shaved, much like draken, so it would take him a little tweaking here and there to be able to get an even haircut all around

he doesn't really mind, though. it's a simple hairstyle, and he really had enough work with his sisters' hair that he didn't need another head to style every morning

this wouldn't stop you from running your hands through it, though, and wondering what you could do with it. surely there could be at least a little style to do with it

after a good ten minutes of thinking, you jolted up from your previous position, laying on his chest as the two of you had been watching the tv

with only a minimal explanation, you dragged him to your bathroom, sitting him down on a stool before the mirror

through the reflective surface, mitsuya could see you fumbling around in the drawers just behind him, just before whipping out a box, a triumphant smile on your face

when you placed the mysterious container on the sink, he automatically knew where you were going with this, and he was curious to see how you'd do it

you know those small, colourful butterfly clips that are all the rage now?

well, you had a whole bunch of them, and you were determined to make his hair look like whole colony of little butterflies

the first bunch that you clipped on were pretty randomly placed, but as his hair started to get filled up, you brought out whatever artistic side you had in you to try and turn it into art

mitsuya watched you try and place the last few left, looking around his own head to see where the next one could be placed

"look, you can put one here"

he has a very good eye when it comes to styling pretty much anything, so, of course, he'd lend a hand when you were finishing up with your creation

gleefully, you followed his instructions, and after fifteen minutes of decorating his grey hair, you finally smiled at him through the mirror

"what do you think?"

squinting his eyes as though evaluating your work, he quickly followed with a convinced nod

"im sure to become toman's image if I start wearing these all the time, that's for sure"

you giggled at his comment, and asked if it was okay to take a picture of him to be able to show his sisters later on. he happily complied, and he actually seemed quite content with what you had done with his hair

he had never imagined to wear so many clips at once

but, be aware...as soon as they're off, he's going to want to do either the same or maybe even more to your hair

you managed to keep him sat for one more style, though; one that you were sure would give you enough time to escape before he actually fixed it up

combing his hair back, you spread a considerable amount of gel on his hair, making it stick down to his hair. unsurprisingly, mitsuya gave you questionable looks as you flattened his poor hair down

the result was a very slick looking boyfriend, and you couldn't help but jokingly telling him he should wear it like that all the time

however, he was not about to go around looking like he had just come out of grease

[edie-baby]

baby girls - chapter two | lando norris

Chapter Two: Perhaps

summary: What's the best way to tell the guy you like that you have a kid? Well, lying about it and making him think you're cheating isn't the best tactic, Mila's about to find that out the hard way.

word count: 1650

warnings: swearing, absentee father (the asshole ex has evolved)

last chapter

Dreaming of a perfect man while on a perfect vacation in the perfect scenery was, well, perfect. Until the dream ended, and Mila was forced back into reality by the wails of her daughter coming from the next room, the heartbreaking sound kicked Mila’s motherly instincts into high gear, her sleep-addled brain coming into a laser sharp focus within a split second.

“Hey baby girl, what’s going on?” Mila spoke, scooping Mahri into her arms with practiced ease. Mahri’s sobs quieted almost instantaneously, her tears still tracking down her face with a vengeance. Mila tried wiping the tears away, but they were replaced just as quickly.

“It’s okay, just breathe bubs. Whatever’s making you upset, we can fix. It’s all good.” Mila whispered, bouncing Mahri around the room as it had calmed her down when she was just a baby.

“I want Daddy.” Mahri cried, and Mila could have collapsed at the weight of the words the toddler had said. There was a large hole in both of their lives in the exact shape and size of Mahri’s father. Once high school sweethearts, now sworn enemies.

As much as Mila tried to block out all thoughts and feelings related to Mahri’s dad, she couldn’t blame the kid for missing a man Mila herself found missing sometimes. Matyas was Mila’s first love, her boyfriend since 8th grade, and her best friend since kindergarten. They had grown up side by side, acknowledging they had crushes on each other in their second year of high school, and having a baby together by the second last.

Matyas and Mila, contrary to most’s predictions, had stayed together through her pregnancy, and even for a while after Mahri was born. Matyas would bring all of Mila’s schoolwork home and help her work through assessments while she was pregnant, and once Mahri was born, they alternated taking days off school to babysit when members of their family couldn’t.

But something Mila had never admitted to others was that Matyas was an asshole, only kicking into higher gear once they had both finished school. Mila had an acceptance letter for university and a part time job lined up, whilst Matyas hadn’t even bothered looking, preferring to use the excuse of ‘I have a child’ to stop him from venturing into the adult world. Despite this, cooking, cleaning, and looking after the baby was Mila’s job, obviously because she was the woman, the mother.

When Mila finally decided to end her toxic relationship with her lifelong best friend, she was villainized for it. Her parents and friends blamed her for tearing her own family apart, whilst her older siblings were more than supportive, having accidentally witnessed Matyas’ less than desirable traits. Up until about six months ago, Matyas would visit regularly, taking Mahri for her swimming classes, and playing with her at the park, occasionally taking her for the day to save Mila some money on daycare.

However, much like any tale of a teenager, Matyas was single and lonely, and a barrier to being in a relationship was the fact that he had become a father at seventeen. It wasn’t exactly a big check mark next to his name, so when he had told Mila he needed to move on, find someone special, she didn’t anticipate that meant moving on from his daughter. Six months with no contact was the longest Mahri had ever gone without seeing her father, and it was the longest Mila had ever gone without seeing him. Mila didn’t have the heart to tell Mahri, who looked at Matyas as though he hung the stars, that her father wanted nothing to do with her anymore. Yet as the days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months, Mahri’s cries for her dad became all the more heartbreaking.

“I know, baby girl. But he’s on holiday, remember? He’s having lots of fun in Limbo.” Mila lied, continuing to rock her daughter in her arms, heart feeling heavy as stone at the blatant lies she was forced to tell her daughter just because her ex-boyfriend was a coward.

“I want a new daddy.” Mahri whispered, giving up on keeping her head up, preferring to let it fall heavily onto her mum’s shoulder. Mila couldn’t help but chuckle silently, the unfiltered, mumbled by age, words that her daughter came out with sometimes were what kept Mila going. With a few more bounces, Mila was sure her daughter had fallen back into a deep slumber and moved to lay her back in the small bed, covered with pillows, blankets and stuffed animals.

Mahri’s words echoed in Mila’s head, and as she reached for her phone to send yet another unanswered text to Matyas, Lando’s face appeared on her screen, an incoming FaceTime call that was as daunting as it was exciting. Mila looked over her shoulder, listening for any movement from Mahri before she answered the call, setting her phone against the toaster on the kitchen counter as she began brewing some coffee. It was nearing five in the morning, and knowing she would be usually waking up in an hour and a half meant it was going to be a caffeine fueled day.

“Hey baby boy.” Mila spoke a moment after the call had connected, looking down at the phone to see Lando’s tired face, snuggled up in bed with a small smile on his face. His smile only growing when he heard the fond nickname fall from Mila’s lips.

“Hi love. Why are you making coffee? It’s so late.” Lando mumbled, squinting to get a better look at what Mila was doing in front of him. His eyes devoured her figure, a large tshirt covering the tops of her thighs, and from what he could see, or lack thereof, she wasn’t wearing pants.

“Actually, it’s early. It’s a bit past five at the moment.” Mila replied, giggling at the way Lando seemed entranced by the view of her bare skin, smiling fondly when he snapped out of the trance at the sound of her joy.

“What the fuck are you doing up so early?” Lando almost shrieked, the volume of it causing Mila to startle forward, pressing incessantly at the buttons on her phone to lower the sound, checking over her shoulder paranoid that the gorgeous Brit had woken her barely sleeping baby.

“Oh, sorry. Do you have someone over?” Lando mumbled, looking crestfallen as he recognised the anxious look on Mila’s face. He couldn’t have been so naive to think that a woman as gorgeous as her wouldn’t have company on a Friday night - Saturday morning for her - and it had been about four days since they had spoken, he should have known.

“Uh, kind of. But no, but yes. Fuck.” Mila cursed, trying to find the right way to tell Lando that, yes, indeed she was worried he had woken someone up, but no, it wasn’t the kind of someone he was thinking of. She watched as Lando gulped, his mind spiralling with images of Mila with someone else, and although he had seen it in Austria, it hurt to know that their week together hadn’t meant as much to her as it did him.

“That’s alright. I’ll, um, let you get back to that, I guess. I’m sorry I called.” Lando muttered, moving to end the call when Mila panicked, the thought of hurting the man she was falling in love with had overridden her fears of him freaking out over the fact that she came with a lot more baggage than initially thought.

“I’ll call you later, baby boy, I promise. I want to talk to you, now just isn’t really a good time. I’m sorry.” Mila’s voice was trembling, she could see Lando’s want to get out of the conversation and never speak to her again, and it was the very last thing she wanted.

“It’s fine, you have your own life. We’ll talk soon. Bye.” Lando finished, his voice curt and clipped, but Mila could very clearly see the hurt hidden beneath the thin veil. She felt a piece of her heart break at the sight, knowing she was not only lying to him, but also causing him pain whilst she did so made her question whether it was really worth it hiding the little ball of energy in the next room.

Before Mila could reply, the call cut out, and she was left staring at the photo of herself, Victoria, and the twitch quartet on her lockscreen, something she had changed to remind herself of the amazing week she spent with some new lifelong friends.

Mila unlocked her phone, desperate to get away from the look she and Lando gave each other, preferring to admire her home screen, a photo from hers and Mahri’s most recent adventure to the park, Mahri laughing her ass off at Mila, who was very scaredly looking at the flock of geese running toward them while she took the photo.

Of course she had to give birth to a sadist, and if she was honest, she’d take that over the obvious masochistic trait she had been born with. The conversation with Lando replayed in her mind a million times, part of her wondering why she couldn’t just own the fuck up and tell him she had a kid. It wasn’t like she was telling him she wanted kids with him, or that he already had a kid, fuck if he didn’t want to, she probably wouldn’t introduce him to Mahri for years.

Yes, Mahri was her number one priority, but she couldn’t live her entire life for her child. She was nineteen, a gorgeous woman, and she deserved to be loved. Perhaps she could live her life with her child, and perhaps with someone else too.

But after today? She wasn’t sure she’d get the chance to even try.

[curly-bangtan]

Heatwave Anniversary Drabble: i miss u like ... a lot (M)

[Heatwave // Godless // Heatwave Drabbles] <- read first! but this drabble can be read alone

Pairing: Taehyung x reader

Summary: One night until Taehyung is back from his boys’ trip but you miss him too much.

Genre: fluff, smut, kinda crack?, boyfriend/established relationship au

Warnings: unprotected sex (oc on contraception so don’t u do it), teasing over the phone, riding and grinding, just kinda vanilla i-missed-u-so-much sex, a particular selca

Word count: 5k

A/N: It was Heatwave’s one year anniversay on the 17th so I decided to write a quick(?) drabble for this. I fully intended on posting this on time, but wanted to change up some stuff so only managed to finish this now. Happy birthday to my first fic and forver my baby!

MOSTLY UNEDITED

.

The absolute one thing you hate most about your boyfriend being away from you is your boyfriend being away from you.

You have never been the clingy needy type, that is more his role in this relationship, nor are you really one to show affection. In fact, you would hate for that false image to be perceived of you because all that sappy shit makes you want to throw up your dinner. But one thing you’ve learnt since Taehyung had gone away on a week-long boys’ trip down by the coast is how cold the house feels in his absence, despite being in the middle of a sizzling summer.

Everything is so eerily quiet without his random outbursts into song and fits of laughter. Having spent 3 years living together, you have gotten so used to his constant presence that you had even caught yourself several times calling out for him only to remember that he isn’t here. Waking up without his arm draped around your waist, slided up your top at some point during the night, impacts you more than you’d like to admit.

Are you glad that he’s having a great time with his friends by the beach, relaxing all day and drinking all night? Of course. Are you having a great time all by yourself over here in the absence of your boyfriend? Certainly not.

Though, of course, this isn’t something you would confess to out loud, especially to him. He doesn’t need to know how often the thought: ugh fuck, I miss Tete is crossing your mind, lest you want him to rub his smugness in your face.

It isn’t just that. Your relationship hasn’t been without its tests in the course of its years and things have only finally stabilised. It’s not that you don’t trust Taehyung to be with his ladish friends for seven days, shirtless dusk till dawn, intoxicated to the point where he calls you thinking that you’re the pizza delivery guy but…

A hammered Taehyung at a beach full of girls who are no doubt thirsting over him leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You trust him to be loyal to his core, but you don’t trust anyone else to keep their hands from copping a feel. No matter how you look at it, you would just so much rather he be at home with you right now.

You have endured this for six days. Six full days without Taehyung. Six full days with no sex, no tummy kisses, no clammy hand holding even though you’re only to get groceries. Just one more night and this torture will fucking be over, praise the lord. But you also don’t know how much more you can hold back that I miss you text because you’re combusting from the need to see him again.

It’s almost 4am. Your sleep schedule is fucked and it’s really his fault.

The bright screen of your phone offers the only luminescence at this hour. Your messages from him in the past week have not been shy of your daily dose of Taehyung - clips of the beach (always mischievously caption with something along the lines of “thinking of Mykonos ;D” where you went on your first holiday together), selfies that you dwell way too long staring at because you miss that face buried in your neck, drunk videos of the antics him and the boys get up to that you’ll definitely chastise him for when he comes back yet can’t help but laugh at. You find yourself scrolling through them every single night.

Your personal favourite: a pouty selfie he sent you after he dropped his ice cream, the picture you always go back to and the one you’re staring at right now. His hair is frizzy from the sea, lips jutted out childishly and cheeks puffy. Your chest constricts, fuck...

Just one more night, you remind yourself. And then he’s back and all yours again.

Then suddenly, the phone in your hand vibrates, short and abrupt. The bar slides down from the top of your screen reading New Message from Tete. Surprised, you scramble to open it, maybe a bit too desperately for you to be proud of.

04:11

Tete: bby

You blink at those three letters, lips pressed together because your heart is cinching.

Tete: ur prob aslep rn but

Tete: i missu

Tete: <334

The typos indicate that he is wasted, and you take a guess that he has just returned from their last night out of the holiday. The corners of your lips turn up knowing that he is thinking of you right now.

You: no im awake

Your fingers are itching to reply with i miss u too, and it takes all your willpower and stubbornness to stay true to your steadfast self. There is just something so unpleasantly moist about these kinds of texts, something that makes you cringe and gag when you read them. You refuse to be one of those people. A heart is all that you allow yourself to reply.

You: <3

You: r u drunk?

Tete: drunk in love

Tete: yes

A giggle escapes you at his god awful cheesiness - drunk, sober alike. Insufferable. But probably Taehyung’s most endearing quality.

You: did u have fun!!

Tete: yeah

Tete: but i miss u

Tete: more than i had fun

God, you feel like a teenager again, suddenly overcome with this gushing urge to roll over and scream into your pillow. You’re glad he’s merely texting this to you right now because if he had said this to you face to face, your skin would most definitely stain scarlet from neck to hairline, scalding to the touch. Even months into officially being his girlfriend, these curveballs of overwhelming affection throw you off guard.

Again, the compulsion to tell him you miss him too yanks at your heartstrings. You truly don’t understand why it’s so hard for you to say how you feel, let yourself be soft and vulnerable. You know it’s one of your flaws so it’s something that you’re working on, but you can’t say you’ve made much progress.

But just as you decide that maybe you should take the plunge, suck it up and just text him those three words, he sends you a picture.

Tete:

No, not just a picture. A selfie, of him in bed, shirtless under the covers. “Oh, fuck…”

Hand clasped over your mouth to prevent any sound from involuntarily escaping, it takes a moment for your breath to return to you and for you to stop gawking. At this hour… Really? Is he seriously doing this to you right now?

His sleepy eyes. His messy curls. And his fucking nose mole.

The undoing of your existence.

Tete: this boy misses u :]

You: bruh

You: bruhhhhhhh

You: taehyung

Tete: oui my lady :))

You: 👁👄👁

You: can u not do this to my heart

You: y did u send me this </333

You: what was the reason

Tete: coz i miss u

Tete: do u like it

Tete: :D

‘Do u like it’... Actually, you have tears in your eyes, albeit mostly due to staring at a screen for too long so late at night, but it’s certainly contributed by this selfie. You tell yourself you’re acting out because it’s been six days since you last saw him. Perhaps Taehyung Withdrawal Symptoms is the explanation behind why you want to print and frame this picture because that is definitely not a normal reaction to a picture. But this is a masterpiece.

You: taehyung my soul left my body

You: like i could weep

You: u look so soft and fluffy

You: :’(

Tete: lollll

Tete: simp

This boy has some nerve?! Simp! He called you a simp?! Laughing like a maniac, you can’t even pretend to be mad at him, not after this picture he sent anyway. So you guess you are a simp. This selfie is your kryptonite.

Tete: jkjkkkkk

You: hahahaha

You: y r u doing this to me

You: its 4am

You: u can’t send me this rn

You: i won’t be able to sleep

Tete: o yeah how come ur still up?

Tete: go to sleepppp

You: can’t sleep

Tete: aw no whyyy

Because you miss him that’s why.

You miss Kim Taehyung. You miss Tete. You miss your boyfriend, your best friend, your other half. You miss his touch, his smile, his wide eyes when he’s confused. You miss his morning snuggles and late night kisses. You miss the way he hugs you from behind as you prepare your meals. You miss the wandering hands that he can’t help when you’re out in public. You miss playing PUBG together until the sun comes out then both sleeping past noon. You miss taking baths together where bubbles would get into your mouth as your kisses get heated.

You just miss him.

It’s only been six days and you’re in this state. What has he done to you?

Fingers hovering over the keyboard, you let out a great sigh and deflate. No other reason offers itself for you to be awake at this hour; he knows you cherish sleep above anything. Teeth digging into your lip, you inhale long and hard, then exhale the gust of your cowardice. It’s not that deep, stupid. Fuck it.

You: coz

You: i miss u

You: like … a lot

You: 🙄

It’s final - you guess you’ve become a mushy wet sap. Truly it is embarrassing how big of a step this is for you; but the sense of pride and accomplishment feels oddly validating. Baby steps. The eye-rolling emoji right after is subconscious because you could only betray the core of your character that much. Forgo it and taehyung might not believe that it’s you.

Tete: omg

Tete: :D

Tete: rrly?

You: *blank kissy emoji*

Tete: wow

Tete: u actually don’t know how hard i’m smiling rn

You: simp

Tete: ofc that’s my middle name

Tete: i miss u a lot too

Tete: like a lotttttt

Tete: i’ll show u how much when i’m back

Ah… Of course, the Taehyung specialty - smothering you with his affection. You freeze at the thought of his wildfire kisses and head between your thighs. Nothing screams of how much you’ve missed each other more than a good dicking down, climax after climax until you’re both panting messes of sweat and entangled limbs. The anticipation makes you squirm under the sheets, legs pressing together.

You: pls do

You: i need u

It’s uncertain what spirit has possessed you at this ungodly hour for these words to come out of you. There’s an instant flash of ickiness, but you let the self-cringing simmer and dissipate into the realisation that this is okay, this is normal. Taehyung’s your boyfriend, couples text like this. You need to grow some.

Tete: fuck baby

Tete: i’m so not used to u texting like this, it's driving me crazy

You: crazy how *cat smirk*

If you weren’t smiling before, you’re definitely grinning like an idiot now. His reaction is predictable, yet oddly still, an incredible wave of satisfaction hits you. And because you want to savour this moment, maybe give him a taste of his own medicine, you send him a picture of yourself.

Camisole strap slid off your shoulder, hair splayed out, bottom lip deep red from biting down on it too much. Just to return the favour.

Tete: y/n

Tete: call me now

-Incoming call from Tete-

Laughing to yourself, you wait a good few seconds before picking up to prolong his torture. “Yes, Taehyung?” You put your thumb between your teeth to suppress the laughter.

“Fuck.” Against the silence of the night, the low rasp of his voice permeating into you from the speaker of your phone sends tingles up your toes. You’ve fucking missed his voice more than you thought. “Y/N… You can’t do this to me.”

“I told you, I miss you. Like… a lot.” The saccharine tone in your reply is foreign to your own ears, but you like the sound of it and the deep rumble it elicits from your boyfriend.

“How much?” Taehyung eggs you on. His words are barely slurred, so you gather that he has sobered up at least for the most part by now. Yet there is still a slowness to it that suggests

“Hmm, like… I touched myself every night at the thought of you a lot.”

A sharp inhale. Then silence. But you know better so you give him a moment to gather himself.

“You shouldn’t be putting that image in my head.” Exasperation is evident in his voice, desperate and yearning. You can imagine him now, one hand on his phone, the other sliding over his pants that are getting a bit too tight for comfort. Your breath hitches.

“Then you shouldn’t have sent me that picture, Taehyung…”

“You said it was soft and fluffy. What you sent me back was not soft and fluffy.”

“Just because it’s soft doesn’t mean it doesn’t turn me on. You do things to me… okay?” Heat trapped beneath the skin of your cheeks, your grip on the phone against your ear slackening as your thighs rub together.

“Fuck, I’m getting hard, baby…” Nothing gets him going more than the knowledge that he turns you on, it’s his weakness but somewhat his strength.

“That’s… unfortunate. Are you going to do something about it?”

His gulp is audible even over the phone. “Uh…” A sigh. “Um. Maybe. Thoughts are being thought.”

“What kind of thoughts? Thoughts about me touching myself and moaning your name? Thoughts about how much I wish my fingers were your cock thrusting so deep into me that I feel it in my guts? Or are you thinking about what you’ll do to me when you’re back tomorrow? Fucking my mouth until I’m crying or filling me up with your cum first?” Your hips buckle at the filth leaving your mouth. This is more like you; you haven’t abandoned your nature after all.

“Oh, fuckkkk.” His moan resonates into your skull, not quite as if he’s here with you but good enough to fill your desire. “Y/N… I need you so badly.” Breath ragged, you hear movement of his sheets in the background as he adjusts into a more comfortable position.

“Are you stroking your cock right now?” A warm slick oozes out of your own entrance. There’s something about Taehyung masturbating to you that elevates you to a different kind of high.

“What do you think, baby?” As you listen closely, you hear the slow rhythm of his pumping, and your fingers ache to pleasure yourself. ‘The things I’ll fucking do to you when I’m back.”

“Mmm, but it’s late, Taehyung, why don’t we go to sleep.”

“Wait, what?” The stroking stops instantly and surprise in his voice releases a smug satisfaction into your veins. The equivalent of pouring a bucket of ice water over his head right now. Teasing is an old undying habit, what can you say? “You wanna end the call now?”

“Yeah, we should sleep, babe.” Grin unsuppressed, you turn over onto your side, probably a bit too pleased with yourself at your success. Taehyung is an easy victim always.

“What the fuckkk?” Your boyfriend groans. “You’re seriously going to tease me this hard then leave me high and dry?” When you offer no more response than a sly chuckle, he add, “You’re so evil.”

“Save it for tomorrow, Taehyung. Think about it, we’re one sleep away from seeing each other again.”

“Fuck, I know. But you just got me so fucking horny, bruhhh. I thought we were gonna have phone sex.” You are still laughing at his whining, basking in the victory you’re holding over him.

“Taehyung, save it for the real sex.” The idea of phone sex crossed your mind several times to be honest, but you really want to collect every single drop of desire and longing and unleash it tomorrow. Raw and pent up. Nothing to dampen the fire.

A sigh of defeat down the line. “You’re going to be the death of me, you know?” You know. “How am I supposed to sleep now though? I’m so rock hard that it hurts.”

“You can figure that out yourself, big guy.” Your cheeks ache from smiling for too long; they often do during calls with him. “One sleep away, okay?”

“Ugh, fine, you demon. I can’t believe you sometimes.” He lets out another sigh. Your heart skips at the anticipation of how he will punish you for this. “Good night, I miss you.”

“Good night, I miss you more.” There’s a sudden change of tone with these words. Because you truly mean it. Sex and physical intimacy aside, you really just missed his voice, his banter.

You fall asleep almost immediately.

.

You don’t think you’ve heard a sweeter sound than the keys rattling at the door the next day. Practically leaping off the couch where you had been awaiting him in your Taeyhyung-less boredom, you run to the door.

As it swings open, heat courses to your chest when your eyes land on his, so full of comfort. Your boyfriend is home. Handsome as ever, much more tanned than your memory of him and much more attractive. White t-shirt and loose black shorts, a mundane outfit that only he could make look exceptional.

And as much as you want to sprint up and throw yourself onto him, your feet stay planted on the floor.

“Hey.” You barely breathe out.

Stay calm and composed, you tell yourself. It was only one week without him, it’s not like he’s returning from war.

But Taehyung doesn’t even reply, because in two long strides he is standing before you, bags tossed to the side, a sign of their insignificance in the presence of you. His arms find their home circled around you, face buried in your hair before you can utter another word. You don’t hesitate to return his embrace, holding his waist as you let yourself fall into his chest. He smells like what summer should, the ocean, sweat and young love; his familiar musk greeting you as if he never left.

Your lips meet his, strong and full of intent. He’s so unexpectedly soft when he kisses back, a timeless romantic dance like he is saviour your taste on his tongue.

With your weight leaning on him, he slowly topples back, stepping hastily until your bodies land on the couch. You fit your legs on either side of him as you burrow your nose in his neck and breathe him in, memorise him. In nothing but a large shirt, your bare thighs are exposed for his roaming.

When you pull away and face each other, you are struck by his beauty. His skin is sun-kissed and glowing, hair an effortlessly beautiful mess, the slightest hint of a stubble peeking through below his nose. Your heart belongs to him forever, you know it without a doubt.

“You smell so good. I missed you so much, baby.” And his voice… That deep baritone honey that you have taken for granted all this time - music to your ears.

“Imissedyoutoo…” You mumble, shy under his undivided attention and mercilessly unbroken eye contact.

With your chests pressed together, his chuckle rumbles into you. “What was that?”

“I missed you too… I guess.” Face flaming, you can’t bring yourself to meet his eye at your admittance, fingers twirling around his curls to preoccupy yourself.

But he cups your chin and turns your face to him, forehead pressing up to yours until your noses are touching, breaths mixing. “That’s not what you said last night.” Taehyung smirks, hands sliding down to your waist, the material of your shirt bunching up in his hands. “Do I need to remind you?”

“No…” You find yourself unable to keep your eyes open, your core pulsing mercilessly as you grind onto him. “How are you already hard, Taehyung…” And though you mean to scold him, it comes out breathless.

Lips hovering, he traces the edge of your jaw, tingling the sensitive little hairs on its way to your ear. When he reaches the shell of your ear, warm breath infiltrating so relentlessly into you, you almost lose yourself right there on his lap. “Don’t you know how much I love you?” He whispers.

“Show me.” Is all you make out.

His hands are already beneath your shirt before you even notice, palms kneading into your breasts as he takes your nipples between his two fingers and rolls. As he kisses you again, the same tenderness exchanges between your lips. It’s a different kind of desperation to be so slow and gentle, one that means so much more than sex, one that’s telling of how much you truly missed each other. Your hips roll with a mind of their own over him. One hand of his comes down to your ass, guiding the waves of your rocking. And each time his stiff clothed member digs into your clit, you whimper into his mouth.

Carefully, Taehyung rolls you over onto your back, sucking your bottom lip to keep the seal from breaking. He pulls away when he’s on top of you, and a string of glistening saliva bridges between your mouths. “Foreplay or no? Tell me what you want?” Compliant as ever.

“I need you to fill me up right now. Anything else can wait.” You watch the devotion ignite in his eyes. His fingers are in a hurry as they pull your panties off, knees spreading your legs open as he kneels between your gaping entrance. He tugs his shirt off from the collar, such smoothness in his action that your insides coil up. His newly-bronzed rich skin revealed, you can’t help but reach up and run your hands down from chest to navel, revelling in his blemishless ridges.

A low sound reverberates from the back of Taehyung’s throat as your touch travels down to unbutton his shorts. They fall loose. His hard throbbing members springs free, a glistening bead oozing from his slit. “You didn’t wear boxers?”

When you glance up, you notice his sheepish grin. He presses his mouth onto yours, still smiling, guiding you back onto your back. “I just couldn’t wait.” Taehyung whispers. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, especially since last night… Ah, fuck.” Another deep groan erupts from him as you reach down and slather that bead of precum all over his tip. His head falls onto your neck, writhing under your merciless stroking.

His tip brushing against your clit, your toes curls at the teasing of your weakness, hips jolting up involuntarily and perhaps a bit too violently. You’re so embarrassingly sensitive after this many days without Taehyung, and he notices from your breathless reaction. Smirking, he takes his shaft in his hand and runs his stiff head over your clit mercilessly. And as you roll your head back helplessly, he nibbles onto your exposed neck, faint stubble grazing your skin.

“Quit the teasing…” You whine, unable to withstand the build up of twisting pressure begging to be fulfilled between your legs. “Just put-”

Taehyung pushes himself into you so abruptly that you yelp. And there it is, that mind-melting stretch of your walls that you’ve so much missed. “Fuck, Taehyung…” Your entire core feels ablaze, so numbing that your nails dig into the leather of the couch before they find grip on his arms.

“Like that, baby?” His voice his strained, as if he’s struggling not to lose his mind as well.

Nodding because you can’t make out a word as he slowly pulls out, you grab his face and pull him up to meet your lips. You whimper into him mouth when he rams into you again, hitting your walls in full force, no mercy. His kiss doesn’t lose its sincerity despite the juxtaposition of his vigorous thrusts, though you can’t say that he is quite as gentle with as before. You pinch his bottom lip between your teeth, sucking on it as your fingers get lost in his hair.

After seven days of deprevation of his cock, your cunt is leaking with the fluid of your arousal, aiding in the ease of each plunge. You feel the stiffness of his ridges pulling you open as he slides in and out of you. “Fuck…” He pants, mouth hovering over yours.

“Let me get on top.” Taehyung’s eyes flash at your suggestion, instantly rolling onto his back. He slips out during the switch of position and the wetness of your cunt is assailed by a sudden rush of cool air.

You swing your leg over and mount him, watching him watch you pump his dick, your own liquid slathered over him sticky in your hand. Letting his member fall against his abdomen, you grind over him between your folds, hands splayed out over his chest. The friction created each time your clit would slide over the thin pinch of skin where his tip unfolded into his shaft has Taehyung a groaning mess.

He looks remarkable under you.

You push his sweat-dampened curls out of his forehead, eyes half closed in euphoria, half watching you roll your cunt so lewdly over his length. You know you could make him cum like this if you continue. But you want him to cum inside you first, you want to feel that thick hot spurt of his desire shoot again and again into you until his cock is twitching.

So slowly, lubricated by your wetness, you sink inch by inch down until the skin of your ass meets his thighs. This angle fuck with your mind; you think you feel him at your cervix. Then your hips start to do what they know best, pounding over him with a rhythm that you’re proud of.

Taehyung grabs hold of your waist, your breasts, fury in his eyes as he watches you ride him with such determination. “I love you so much.” He heaves between heavy breaths.

“I love you, I missed you more than you could imagine.” You huff, thumb running over his red swollen lips.

“I love when you admit it.” He sits up and takes the swell of your breast in his mouth, making his way to your nipples where his tongue relentlessly flickers over.

Your thighs are starting to burn, core aching because his cock is thrusting up into you so deep that you feel it in your guts. The signs are appearing - your vision is going hazy, walls squeezing tightly around him, tangle upon tangles knoting in your stomach. His are too - his head is slumped against your chest, arms crossed behind your back as he holds you close to him, whole body starting to tense as he begins to curse.

Pace quickening, you don’t let the tire of your muscles stop you from your chase. The slap of your skins ringing in your ears, you keep riding, cunt swallowing his cock whole each bounce. Taehyung breaks first. “Fuck!” He calls out into your neck. His cum squirts into you, pulse after pulse, your boyfriend’s hips jolting each thrust.

“I’m so close, babe, keep going for me.” You plead, knowing how sensitive he is right after his climax. He nods wordlessly, face still buried in you hair. The lubrication of his cum abolishes any resistance, letting you slide over him easier than sitting down. And not five thrusts later, your own coil snaps. You through your head back at the wave of pleasure that drowns you, your entire core on fire as your moans echo through the room. It takes maybe twenty seconds for your walls to stop throbbing and for the orgasm to slowly die down.

Taehyung is already growing limp inside you after his orgasm. “Thank you.” You whisper against his forehead while you dismount. His cum flows out of your slit and down the insides of your thighs, but he refuses to let go of you.

When he looks up, you are struck by an overwhelming sensationf of adoration. His long dark curls fall slightly over his eyes, in disarray but just the way you like it. His eyes are so full of genuine love and gratitude of having you that you can’t help but capture him with your lips. “No, thank you.” He mumbles against you, falling back onto the couch with you in his embrace.

After a long kiss of after-sex affection, you pull away before it leads to a second round. “I want you to know that I really missed you a lot. I can’t even call you a big baby anymore because I stared at all the pictures you sent me every night till the sun came out.”

Taehyung’s boyish smile melts your heart. You’ve missed him way too much. His smile, his goofy comments, his tender kisses. “My heart… is squeezing…” If his smile doesn’t tell how smitten he is, his eyes definitely do. “I missed you so much too. All the boys made fun of me for being such a wettie ‘coz I couldn’t shut up about you.” The thought is so endearing that you can’t help but hide your face.

“So how was your trip? Plenty of hot girls drooling after you?” Trick question of course, you know that for a fact already.

“Haha, it was good, fun. Bet you couldn’t sleep ‘coz you were trembling from jealousy.” Scoffing you land a smack on his chest. “But nah, no hot girls. Nowadays there’s only one hot girl in my eyes.”

Your own lips spread like a cheshire cat. “Shut up, cutie.”

“Rachel McAdams.”

“Let go of me. Don’t even touch me.”

.

A/N: Moral of the story, never sit on their couch if you’re a guest at the Heatwave house.

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24/08/20

© Copyright 2020

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[dingyuxi]

COMPREHENSIVE GIFFING TUTORIAL (vapoursynth + ps cc 2018) + some tips and tricks on color correction, blending and subtitles

You guys asked for it, so here we are! This is by no means the gold standard to giffing. Rather, this is simply my process and my own preferences. Take it as you will. Additionally since I use a mac some of my controls/panels may look different than what you would see for windows users.

DOWNLOADING YOUR SOURCE

This step is extremely important to the quality of your gifset. If you want high-quality gifs I would recommend giffing sources in 1080p whenever possible (especially if you’re going for larger dimensions). You may get away with 720p for smaller gifs. For kdramas, your go-to source would be dr*maday or torrents. (you can search my faq tag if you’d like to know specifics on finding and downloading torrents).

IMPORTING + PROCESSING YOUR FILES WITH VAPOURSYNTH (VS)

Please note that this tutorial does not cover basic installation and set-up of vs. If you would like to know how to download and set-up vapoursynth (it works for both mac and pc) along with some of it’s basics you can find more information at: https://hackmd.io/@nibreon/vapoursynth-book/%2F%40nibreon%2Fvapoursynth-book

Once you’ve identified what portion of your video you’d like to gif, simply drag your video file into VS. Specify the start time and duration of the clip you’d like to import. Typically you’ll be aiming for ~3-8 second clip depending on how big your gifs will be. I am very lazy when it comes to importing. The less of it I have to do, the better. Therefore, I often import clips that are 10-15 seconds long, sometimes even up to 20 seconds. I wouldn’t recommend going over 15 seconds most of the time though, because this will usually bring you over the 500 frames photoshop allows you to import at once. (when I do go over, I will sometimes import the processed VS file into PS in segments). You can also choose to import the VS output as segments if you want all your gifs on separate canvases. (I'll go into more detail on this later)

Once you’ve imported the clip into VS your screen should roughly look like this once the resizer pops up:

In the top left is where you will be applying your cropping, sharpening and denoising filters. Cropping: Keep in mind the Tumblr dimensions: 540px for full-width gifs and 268px for half size gifs, 177/178/177px for 3 gifs across. The height is completely up to your own preference. Usually I work in 540x300px. Once you edit those parameters you can drag/resize your video file to fit your new canvas. Sharpening + Denoising: You can choose to skip this if you would rather sharpen in ps. I personally do all my cropping, denoising and sharpening in vs. I use finesharp and KNML for sharpening and denoising respectively. Once you select those two filters from their drop down menus, be sure the select the checkbox as well. You should now notice 2 additional lines of code in the top right box. The line that reads: video = core.knlm.KNLMeansCL(video, 0, 6, 4, 1.2, channels="YUV") is where you will adjust your denoising parameters. You will only be adjusting those 4 numbers. I usually use: 0, 1, 0, 1.2. Now find the line that reads: video = hnw.FineSharp(video, sstr=0.22). These are your sharpening parameters. once again we’re only adjusting the number at the end. I typically use somewhere between 0.33-0.55. Depending on the quality of your source and preferences these parameters may change. 

Here is a breakdown of the KNML parameters (source: @/nibreon HackMD):

Once you have finalized your parameters, copy all the code in that top right box and paste it into your vapoursynth editor. Note: you can ‘inactivate’ certain lines of code by adding the # symbol at the start the line. That line of code will then be greyed-out. This is what your code should now look like (the highlighted section is the part I just copy and pasted):

If you would like to preview your filters and see if you need to make any adjustments, simply navigate to the top bar and select script > preview. If you like what you see, great! If not, you can adjust the parameters directly in the editor until you see a result you’re happy with. Once you’re happy you can move onto the final step in vs: processing. 

Processing: Once again, navigate to the top bar and select script > encode video. Another window should pop up. Make sure you set ‘header’ to ‘Y4M’ then click ‘start’. Patiently wait for that to finish processing. The longer your clip is and the more filters you add, the longer it will take. 

IMPORTING YOUR CLIP INTO PHOTOSHOP (PS)

Now you’re done with the vapoursynth section! Not too hard, right? I use the timeline method when I gif. To import your video file into ps navigate to file > import > video frames to layers. Here you can use the sliders to further specify what range you would like to import. Make sure the ‘make frame animation’ box is checked. To optimize smoothness of your gif, avoid checking the ‘limit to every _ frames’ box. Hit ‘OK’ and wait for the frames to import. Depending on the size of your clip, ps may notify you that you are importing a large file and it may take a long time to process, simply say ‘ok’ to this. UNLESS you get a message saying it will limit to 500 frames. This means your clips contained more than 500 frames and you should select a smaller section to avoid cutting out any critical parts. (Note: you can always go back and repeat this process to select a smaller range of frames from the same video clip until you’ve imported all the frames you need).

Timing: You can adjust the timing of your gifs before converting to timeline. Select all the frames (Navigate to the icon with the 4 bars at the bottom right of you screen. Select “select all frames”). Click the drop down next to the timing of any of the frames. Select ‘other’ and input a your preferred timing. I personally use ‘0.04′ but I've seen people use anywhere from 0.4-0.8ms. Also as a note: when you convert your gif to timeline it has a tendency to mess up your timing so even if you input 0.04 or 0.05 it won’t actually be that timing later. If you want the true frame rate you can set your timing right before saving. You can also adjust timing at the end. (see export/saving gif section for more info)

Now the next part can be tedious and for that reason I’ve created numerous actions to speed up this process. But for the sake of this tutorial I will walk you through the steps. At the bottom of your screen is your timeline. As you can see, it defaults to frames, but we want to convert this into a smart object so that all your coloring/edits are made to all of the layers. To do this: 1) Navigate to the icon with the 4 bars at the bottom right of you screen. Select “select all frames” 2) Now select all your layers in your layer panel. On mac you can use cmd + option + A as a shortcut. 3) Back to the icon with the 4 bars, select “convert to video timeline” 4) Right click on all layers (which should still all be selected) and find “convert to smart object”

(Aside: Actions) actions are SUPER helpful to streamlining your giffing process. you can find actions people have made available on resource blogs like itsphotoshop OR you can choose to make your own custom actions. To do this, all you need to do is locate your action panel. Then from the controls at the bottom of the panel select the one that looks like a sheet of paper to “create a new action” Once you’ve named it and hit ‘ok’ the record icon should now be red. PS will now basically ‘record’ whatever you do. To stop recording hit the square icon. Now whenever you want ps to execute the same set of steps you just did, you can locate the action you just made and ‘play’ it by selecting the triangle icon. I highly recommend making an action for the steps I just outlined above to convert your gif into a smart object timeline. It will make your process much faster and more painless. 

COLORING

Now the fun part! I focus on emphasizing the colors already present in the video source or getting rid of some less-than desirable overtones when I color. It gives the gif a natural look, but makes everything pop a little more. We will be working with selective color, curves, levels, and brightness/contrast mostly. This is the original gif I will be using to demonstrate coloring:

Curves: I always start with curves. The first curve layer I use to set a desirable black point. To do this, locate the top dropper icon from the curves panel and select the darkest point of your image. This will set that section to “true black” Feel free to play around with this until you find a desirable outcome. Now add another curves layer. This one we will be using to adjust the brightness/contrast. First, I always start off with ‘auto’ and see where that takes me. If you like the outcome, great! If you don’t play around with the different curve points until you get an outcome you like. 

Selective Color: This adjustment layer will be your best friend. For me, I will typically work with reds, yellows, and black. If the source has a lot of blue/cyan I will use those too. Basically look at your source and determine which base colors you’d like to emphasize/alter. For blacks I usually up the black by +1-5 depending on the source. For reds, it also depends on the source. But I will typically either decrease cyan (to make red stand out more) or increase cyan (to make the red not look so overexposed). You want to be careful here. Overexposing the red can make your skin tones look like red tomatoes! And for my content base, where most of the actors are of asian descent, we should be emphasizing the yellows and NOT the reds (see aside on color correction + skin tones for more info). After altering the reds to my liking, I do the same process for the yellows. To bring back natural skin tones and color, you will likely want to darken the yellows, expose them a bit more and maybe even  up the yellow slider. A common rule of thumb: if you want to make any of the colors less exposed, increase the cyan. If you want to increase exposure on any of the colors, decrease the cyan. If you want a color to appear more strongly or prominently, increase the black. The magentas and yellows I use more to adjust hues. You can add multiple selective color layers to further emphasize your changes. 

Levels: Now we will work on the lighting some more. This creates more contrast and depth to your gif, often making them look ‘crisper’ To emphasize the bright parts, move the right-hand slider to the left. The emphasize the dark parts, move the left-hand slider to the right. You may also choose to move the middle slider to adjust more neutral lighting. Do so until you find a setting to your liking. 

Miscellaneous: Depending on your gif you may need to play with other adjustment layers. Some other ones I often use are the brightness/contrast and exposure to adjust lighting and add more dimension to the gif. For additional color correction I use color balance and to a lesser extent hue/saturation and vibrance. 

(Aside: Color correction + skin tones): We are anti-whitewashing and anti-redwashing when it comes to asian media. Like I mentioned earlier, natural asian skin tones have yellow undertones, not red/pink. Therefore when you’re bringing in color you should be mindful of this delicate balance. Adding more red does NOT equal un-whiteashing. Be VERY careful how you balance the yellows with selective color/hues/color balance.

^^ Here is an example of what I mean by overexposing the reds. Poor seungho is looking as sunburnt as a cherry tomato. Note: if your original source is already overexposed with red, fix it! You can do this by applying the same basic principles I explained earlier. Try upping the cyan on the reds in selective color, or shifting the color balance to favor cyan over red with the color balance adjustment layer. You may also choose to favor the yellow over blue.

^^ Now this is straight-up whitewashing. This is what happens when you are not careful with your correction of yellow. I’m not saying you can’t touch the yellow slider or get rid of some yellow form the overall image (because sometimes it is very much needed), but you should be very mindful how your corrections can affect skin tones. If you decide to decrease saturation of yellows, or decrease yellow in the selective color section of the reds, do so with caution. If your reds are looking too pink, add some yellow in the red selective color, up the yellow and black of the yellow selective color.

^^ If you hit that happy medium, you can emphasize the natural skin tones without overexposure. Here the underlying tones are very much still in the yellow range. 

(Aside: Blending): I will very briefly talk about how to blend two gifs together. First make sure you’ve imported both your gifs into ps and converted them into the timeline format. On one of the gifs, right click the gif layer in the layer panel > duplicate layer > select the canvas of the gif you’d like to blend the gif with. On the canvas you just copied your second gif to, you can now drag the two layers around the on the canvas to get your desired positioning. On the top gif apply a layer mask. This can be found in your layers panel at the bottom, and is indicated by the white rectangle with the circle. Next, make sure you select the mask in the layer panel (it will show up as a white rectangle on the layer you applied the mask). Grab your paintbrush tool and make sure your color is set to black. Now you can effectively ‘erase’ the part of the top gif you don’t want to show anymore. I recommend setting your brush hardness to 0% to get a smoother transition. You can also play with the opacity settings. If you want to add back in a part you erased, just switch to a white paintbrush and you will be able to undo what you had just ‘erased’ with the black. When you merge the gifs, they will play the same number of frames. This means your blended gif length is limited by the gif with the fewer number of frames. You can move around your timeline layer and shorten the included portion by dragging either end of the timeline layer in until you get both gifs to play the parts you want.

CAPTIONS/SUBTITLES

I often get asked about my subtitle font/styling settings. Personally I find the best fonts for subtitles are calibri and arial. I use calibri with the following settings: 12-14px, bold italic plus faux bold, 1px black stroke (optional: drop shadow set to ‘multiply’ at around 85% opacity), and tracking (VA) set to 75. If you would like your subtitles to fade-in or fade-out you can apply the ‘fade effect’. Locate the b/w square icon in your timeline panel. Select fade and drag it onto your text layer in your timeline. You can then right click on the wedge shape to adjust your fade duration. I usually use 0.35s. If you drag and drop the effect towards the beginning of your text you can get the fade-in effect. To get the fade-out, simply drag and drop your fade towards the end of your text layer.

SAVING/EXPORTING YOUR GIF

We’ve reached the final stretch! If you need to adjust your frame rate timing: you will need to revert your timeline to frames. To do this: 1) Navigate to the icon of 4 bars at the right of your timeline panel. Select convert frames > flatten frames into clips. 2) Navigate to the icon of 4 bars at the right of your timeline panel. Select convert frames > convert to frame animation > when promoted hit ’ok’. If at this point you see more than one frame in your timeline panel, delete the frames until only one is left. In the example below I would delete the first frame by hitting the trash icon from the timeline panel.

If there is only one frame, leave it as is. 3) Navigate to the icon of 4 bars at the right of your timeline panel. Select ‘make frames from layers’ You will most likely need to delete the first frame in your timeline panel (it won’t have your coloring). Sometimes ps adds in some ‘blank’ frames as well, delete those too. Now you can adjust your timing. 

Once your timing is set: When you’re saving your gif, just keep in mind it must be under 10mb. Navigate to file > export > save for web. When it comes to your save settings I typically use either selective diffusion or adaptive diffusion. I also also occasionally use adaptive pattern (I find this is best for dark scenes without a lot of contrast). Set colors to 256, quality to bicubic and looping options to forever. If you want to preview your gif, hit the preview button in the bottom left. Otherwise, go ahead a hit ‘save’ and you’re DONE!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Feel free to check out my ‘ps things’ tag for more photoshop stuff/mini tutorials. Additionally @/nibreon and the hackmd site I linked previously are your best resources for vs questions. If you would like to see my giffing process in motion feel free to check out this video. It’s sped up but you can slow down the playback. Additionally be sure to check out resource blogs like itsphotoshop for more helpful tutorials and resources.

If you reached the end of this beast, kudos to you! I hope this helps and never be afraid to reach out with any questions.

[gr-ogu]

Hello! As requested, here is a tutorial on how I make my gifs. I would like to preface this by saying there are many ways to make gifs, and there’s no right or wrong answer imo. This is just how I personally go about doing so!

I will be using PS CC 2017, but as long as you have the video timeline option, it shouldn’t matter too much; on any version of PS, you should be able to adapt anything I mention here! You will also need some kind of screen recording software. I’ll talk a little more about that under the cut.

To start, you need the source material you will be making the gifs from! I get mine from snahp(.)it (avoiding links so tumblr hopefully doesn’t banish this from the tags lmao) and I always opt for either 1080p or 2160p. Not all laptops will support 2160p as it’s 4K, but either works great! You just want your gifs to be the best quality possible.

Next is where the screen recording comes in. I don’t use the screencapping method to make my gifs (where you use a program to cap a clip and then load those caps into a stack in PS). This isn’t for any particular reason… it’s just how my friends, (who very kindly taught me to gif), had always done it, so it’s now how I do it too. Personally, I find the quality to be just as good as the screencapping method, and have never noticed a difference between the two.

As I have a PC, I use the software built into it for screen-recording. If you go here: theverge(.)com/2020/4/21/21222533/record-screen-pc-windows-laptop-xbox-game-bar-how-to – you can see how to use the XBOX screenrecorder to record from files you have d*wnloaded. This also works on some streaming sites, but I think it depends on what browser you use. Personally, I recommend Firefox, as that seems to bypass a lot of the blocking and ads that occur when trying to do this sort of thing.

For MAC users, I have been told handbrake works well, as it converts MKV files to MP4, which can then be used to make gifs. You only need to convert part of the file to MP4 depending on how much you want to gif, and this also bypasses the screenrecording stage, as you can edit MP4 clips on Quicktime. I am told you can split them into smaller clips by going to edit > trim and it saves the new clip!

I have also used anyvideoconverter for small clips, but I can’t say what it does to the quality of your video, or how big of a file it lets you put in! With the XBOX screenrecorder, it doesn’t matter what type of video files you get, as the recording will save to MP4 anyway.

LOADING YOUR FRAMES

Now, go ahead and record whatever clips you want to gif. Make sure you have the video timeline open, by going to window > timeline. Then, go to file > import > video frames to layers.

Next, select and open your clip from where it has saved (with the XBOX recorder, it saves in video > captures). You should see a little window pop up, where you can move the sliders back and forth to clip your recording to whichever part(s) you specifically want to gif. I recommend trying not to load a lot of frames into photoshop at once, but I would be a hypocrite to say that, since I do it a lot lmao. Just be patient if you do!

Once you have chosen the length, click okay. Never, EVER, I repeat NEVER click the button that says “limit to every __ frames”. This really ruins the flow and quality of your gif—it’s better to have shorter, but smoother gifs, I promise. And with tumblr’s new 10 MB limit, it shouldn’t be a problem anyway!

Then, your frames should open up. What we want to do is make them into a smart object, so we can edit all the layers at the same time. To do this, click the small button in the left-hand corner. ALWAYS click this first. If you don’t, it will only convert the first frame to a smart object and the gif won’t work.

Give it a second to sort itself out, then, on the right-hand side, select all your frames at once using the shift key.

Then, go to filter > convert for smart filters. This might take a minute. Don’t click anything else in case PS gets angry lmao, just leave it for a second and it’ll do its thing. The more frames you have, the longer it takes! Now we have our gif, but it needs to be cropped, sharpened and coloured!

CROPPING

You want to start by selecting the rectangular marquee tool on the left-hand side, then drag it across by clicking and highlighting the area you would like to crop your gif to, like so:

What I tend to do is select everything inside the black lines you sometimes get around your gif (this depends on what file you d*wnload), and also the tiniest bit inside the sides. This is because I’ve found if you crop it right up to the edge, you get a tiny bit of transparency on the sides of your gifs, which I’d rather avoid.

Once you have your desired selection, go to image > crop. Now, the dimensions for tumblr are 540px width, so all your gifs have to be that width. However, the length is up to you. I really like big gifs, so sometimes I even make a full square, or even longer. It’s entirely up to you, and what kind of set you want to make.

For the purposes of this gif, I will stick to what I usually go for, 540px by 350 px. This will mean you’ll have to crop some width off, but that’s okay, since Marisa isn’t central anyway. The cropping is always trial and error for me, as sometimes people move out of the frame within in the gif. The best thing to do is just try it, and then move the slider in the timeline window at the bottom to see if the person stays inside the gif, and if not, adjust accordingly.

Next, go to image > image size:

In this box, if I put the width as 540, the gif is a smaller height than I want, as it keeps to the dimensions of the gif when you load it into PS. That’s okay, just put the height you want instead, and we’ll crop off the excess.

Then click OK. Using the rectangular marquee tool again, we need to remove the excess width. Part of the reason I like this version of PS is that it tells you the width of your selection as you do it, but you can always use the ruler as a guide, and check the size of your image by going to image > image size again.

Again, use image > crop, and your gif should now be the correct size!

You can also use the crop tool in the timeline window to crop the length of your gif:

However, I tend to wait until later on to do this (which will be explained further down!)

SHARPENING

Next you want to go to filter > sharpen > smart sharpen.

These are my settings. However, 0.4px is very sharp, too much so, but that’s easily fixed.

Go to filter > blur > Gaussian blur and then set it to 1.0.

Now on the right-hand side, we need to reduce the blur, so double click the little adjustment button, and change the opacity of the blur. I usually go for 20-30%!

Then click OK, and that’s your sharpening done!

COLOURING

I picked this scene on purpose as it’s dark, so good for showing how to colour a gif. I have a base psd which consists of some very basic adjustments, but it mostly exists so I don’t forget what adjustment layers I like to use. I adjust them every time I make a gif, essentially colouring each gif from scratch.

In this case, the psd actually makes it darker. So, what I will do is turn each layer off, and adjust as I go. A lot of people say using lots of adjustment layers ruins the quality of your gif… I have never found this to be true, as long as you are gentle with them. If you whack the brightness right up to the top, it’s going to ruin your gif no matter if you use 1 adjustment layer or 100. I would just say use your common sense, and adjust a little at a time!

I start with a simple black to white gradient map set to soft light, because I think it helps you see depth once you add some brightness to it. I usually do this on about 10%, or more if needed. It’s probably unnecessary, I just like how it looks!

Then, I move onto using curves and levels. This is where things can diverge depending on who you’re colouring. If this person is white, it doesn’t matter too much. If they’re not white, you don’t want to white wash them. My best advice is to play around with it. By adding vibrance and other (usually the red) selective colour settings later, you can ensure you don’t change the person’s skin tone from what it originally was. You can also use layer masks at varying opacities (various shades of grey), on your curves and levels, to remove some brightening so that you’re not changing anyone’s skin colour. Just brighten slowly and check in with yourself honestly about how your gif looks.

Some people don’t like using levels, or curves. It’s completely up to you. I tend to use both because levels are good for bringing depth, even if not brightening (though I like to use them for that as well). 

One thing you can do is use the white point of the gif to make PS adjust the curves itself, however I like to drag the sliders myself and see what it looks like. Just make sure it’s not too bright, as we will be using further layers to brighten more, after.

Next is levels. The slider on the left controls the black point, the one in the middle controls the midtones, and the one on the right controls the white points. The black brings depth, the midtones adjust the overall brightness, and the white points produce stronger highlights. Again, you’ll get a feel for how this works as you practice. Just don’t use the white point excessively, especially if your characters are not white.

Then I add vibrance (+20!), because we’ve removed a lot of it when lightening the gif. Next is exposure, which I find brings out the highlight and shadow areas more effectively:

Then colour balance! This helps with scenes that might be a certain colour, i.e. too blue, too green, too red, etc. Moving the sliders in the opposite direction of the colour your gif is will counteract it. The best thing to do when accounting for different colours, is to make a new layer every time you change colour, so that you don’t get confused. I always add a new layer for colour balance and selective colour if I want to change more than one thing. So one for red, one for yellow, one for pink, etc. 

A layer of brightness just to make the gif pop, and because the scene is extra dark, I added a very gentle extra curves layer:

SAVING YOUR GIF

Time to save the gif. You can go ahead and file > export > save for web (legacy) now, but then you’ll have to reopen the gif to reset the frame rate from 0.07, to 0.05. Instead of doing that, I use a modified action. The original was made by the very talented @elenafisher! So I do not take credit for that at all. You can find the original here: elenafisher(.)tumblr(.)com/post/190817437374/gif-sharpening-action-2-preview-download and in my resources tag. Please reblog it if you’re going to use this!

To use an action, first make sure you have actions turned on in window > actions. To load in your action, go to the little lines circled, and then load the action from your downloads:

Obviously if you don’t want to sharpen your gifs yourself, you can use the action as it is, and it will give you a beautiful glowing effect. If you’d just like to use it to flatten your gif into frames like I do, make sure to take out all the items I have highlighted:

Until it looks like this!

Make sure you have the layer under the file name highlighted, and then click the play button at the bottom! (If you get a screen saying select all frames cannot be found, don’t worry, just click continue!) You can delete the layer that does that if you want, I just keep it in case I realise I’ve forgotten to do something, because you can click cancel and edit your gif before you flatten it. Of course you can undo the steps to get back to the smart object version of your gif, it just takes longer!

And now your gif is in frames and set to 0.05 already, so you don’t have to change the speed! All you need to do now before saving is change the gif cycle to “forever” in the bottom left-hand corner:

Then to save the gif go to file > export > save for web (legacy). Sometimes, the gif is bigger than the tumblr 10MB limit. You’ll be able to see this in the bottom left-hand corner of the gif save settings. If this is the case, I like to preview the gif, to see whether it would be best to cut frames off of the beginning or the end, or both. When you’ve decided, you can select the frames at the bottom, and in the right-hand side panel, and delete them both using the little bins/trash icons.

I keep checking and deleting frames until I get the gif under 10 MB! Just don’t delete frames from the middle, as then you’ll have the same issue as if you selected “every other frame” when making the gif: it won’t flow!

Lastly, these are my save settings:

So that’s it! That’s how I make all my gifs. Blending I do when the gifs are in the grouped, smart filter stage, whereas text I add on during the framing section above! Really hope this is helpful, please feel free to ask any questions you may have! 💖

[freckled-words]

Modern Day Cleric - It's Raining Gods?! Part Two

Guys, lemme just say it is hard to try and take an existing script and work your own tweaks into it. I'm not entirely satisfied with how I ended this chapter, but it seemed the best way to transition into the first Thor movie. Let me know your thoughts!

Reminder that this not edited.

LOOK AT THIS AMAZING COVER ART @thepastelpeach did for me!

Prologue HERE

It's Raining Gods?! Part One

Just as Loki had warned, he was quiet for the next two weeks. He was still in the immediate universe at least, as she was still able to use her magic. The amulet had just become a little less warm, and entirely devoid of the glow at the center.

When he came back “online”, she was greeted with, ‘Oh good, you’re still alive.’

She was in the camper, thankfully alone, and was halfway through pulling her shirt over her head. It was 1am in the morning, and she was exhausted, “Yes, I am alive. Thanks for checking in and letting me know you were too.”

Darcy had been a bit anxious after the 5th day. She’d never gone such a long time without Loki dropping a quip, or even just chuckling when she had a clumsy moment (she’s kissed the ground a couple times, after missing her step exiting out of the camper.)

Anxiety liked to animorph itself into the beast known as Sarcasm when Darcy couldn’t catch it in time.

Thankfully Loki was well versed in Darcy’s many languages.

‘I apologize. I did not think my machinations would take as long as they would. Unlike you, my charming mortal, other species in the realms require more encouragement...Though I do love to see you worry yourself over me.’

As Loki spoke, she finished getting changed into her pajamas. “Don’t flatter yourself. I was more worried about you leaving me stranded here all on my own for too long. I’m working for scientists that don’t remember to eat, remember?” They both knew that was a lie, and that she actually missed him.

‘Ah yes, how have your dependents been? Regale me with your thrilling ventures in mortal science.’

Darcy crawled into the top bunk of the built in beds, and settled herself in, “Sad to say, things have not changed much. We did take a break and go to the city not that long ago. We went to some dive bar, got drunk, and I almost made out with this one guy. But then he got really gross about it, so I led him out back and charmed him into stripping naked and going for a jog. I kept the news article for my scrapbook.”

Her ‘scrapbook’ was currently the left side wall next to her pillow. She’d cut out the small article describing the “Jovial Naked Jogger”, marked it with a snake in the corner, and taped it to the wall.

She’d done the same with other news clippings in her college dorm. Her roommates and bed buddies had asked why she collected such weird stories, and she’d reply, “Cause they’re a spot of weird in a picture of ordinary.”

When she had to move out of the dorm, she’d finally moved them all to an actual scrapbook, which was currently hidden away at a friend’s place. (Said same friend had signed a legal contract, stating that any damage to the scrapbook would result in a punishment.)

The snake amulet warmed against her skin, ‘Well done. You must be getting stronger if you’re able to enchant a person while intoxicated.’

“To be fair, he was a 100 times more drunk than me, but I’ll take the win.” She burrowed down deeper under her comforter and closed her eyes.

“Glad you’re back.” She murmured as sleep began to take hold.

A familiar image of a lean man, clad in green, black and gold leather armor came to her mind. The upper half of his face remained in shadows, an annoyance that has persisted over all these years.

His smile was weary, even as he genuinely replied, ‘I missed you as well my little cleric.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Darcy was going to blame Loki and his mood amulet for her inability to keep Jane from wrestling the steering wheel from her grip.

It’s hard to concentrate on fighting your crazy boss, when your amulet suddenly turns blistering cold and frostbites your skin. Darcy’s eyes were watering as she tried swatting away Jane’s hands with one hand, and using her other to yank her amulet out from under her shirt.

The emerald’s glow was erratic, and Darcy could see frost on the edge of the golden scales.

She couldn’t really give this freak instance with the amulet her immediate attention, as Jane drove their SUV straight towards the rainbow tornado.

The tornado abruptly retracted into the sky, leaving a massive dust cloud that the headlights couldn’t cut through.

An outline of a man came into view, and Darcy slammed her foot onto the brake as Jane wrenched on the steering wheel.

The SUV swung round, and still collided with the man.

“Oh my gods...I’m just...I’m gonna go make sure we didn’t just KILL a man!” Darcy hurried out of the SUV and over to the unmoving figure on the ground.

She heard the other doors open and close as Erik and Jane followed after...Or rather, Erik came over to help, and Jane hurried over to a section of ground that looked like it had been burned.

Darcy left Jane to that as she used her meager first aid training to assess the damage.

“He’s breathing, but he’s got a nasty bump here. Erik, can you get the first aid kit?” She took out her keychain flashlight and shone it on a bleeding cut on his forehead,

Once Erik went hurrying off to the SUV, Darcy whispered, “Easy there buddy, I’ll give you a quick fix.” From where her fingers touched the dude’s skin, a flash of golden green light flickered between them.

Their tornado victim groaned, which Darcy took as a good sign.

Then his eyes shot open, and he sat up swinging with a roar.

Darcy danced back out of reach, her hands reflexively went to her hip where she would have had her daggers sheathed, but they weren't. They were hidden in her suitcase back in the camper, since she didn’t think she’d need them in the middle of the freaking desert!

“Leave me witch!” He bellowed, staggering another step towards her.

Darcy was offended, (no true offense to Wiccans), she took pride in her god given title thank you very much, “That’s rude! I’m not a witch, I’m a-” She cut herself off as Erik approached, giving the swinging mountain of a man a wide berth.

“Hammer!” He groaned, swaying on his feet. Darcy guessed her healing charm didn’t quite mend the concussion he’d gotten from kissing the SUV.

Erik reached Darcy’s side, and placed himself in front of her protectively. Her heart warmed a little, she didn’t think Erik liked her all that much. Although she was fairly certain she was the most capable of their group if it came down to a fist fight.

“Look at these patterns! We need to get samples and pictures.” Jane’s excited voice carried over to them, and Darcy just wanted to chuck Jane down the nearest canyon. How she didn’t notice the immediate threat was astounding.

Erik tensed as the shirtless, muscle rippling, disoriented man swivelled in Jane’s direction, “You will…cease…and…”

Darcy couldn’t be certain, but the guy’s speech pattern sounded familiar. If she had to place it, she’d say it reminded her of a certain Trickster god’s.

Looking past Erik and to where Jane crouched, she gave the giant burnt patch of ground her attention.

It was a perfect pattern in a style that she almost wanted to call Celtic. Or perhaps…Norse?

The man was getting his bearings, and was making a beeline for Jane, who had finally noticed her danger. She’d gotten to her feet and was inching back and around the burnt markings (leave it to Jane to value the burn mark and its data when in danger.)

Not sure what else to do (aside from throwing magic at him and outing herself) Darcy blurted, “Leave her be!” She said it in rough Elvish, or Alfish as Loki had jokingly called it. As it was the language of the people that dwelled in Alfheim.

The man immediately stopped, while Erik and Jane looked at her as if she’d just spoken in Pig Latin. Which, to them, she basically had.

He turned towards her, she could see him blinking and trying to focus, “Midgardians do not speak the tongue of Alfheim.”

Well if she’d needed confirmation on where this guy was from, she’d certainly just gotten it.

She hadn’t practiced her Elvish in a long time, so it took her a minute to remember the right words and pronunciation, “They do when they are under the guidance and protection of a god. I answer to the one named Loki.”

Whatever the big guy might have said in response was lost, as his eyes rolled up and he teetered over unconscious.

Seems her healing charm wore off.

Which was really unfortunate, as this left all of them with an unconscious man in the middle of the desert. This was going to be a fun trip to the hospital.

[thran-duils]

Doll Me Up (P.3)

Title: Doll Me Up (Part Three) Summary: Fem!Reader x Dark Mob!Tony Stark. On good days, you and Tony were a power couple. You, a perfect trophy wife with your hands in local charities to promote a wholesome image. Tony, business man but sullied with organized crime. He indulged in his illegal gambling, extortion, and political corruption. And he indulged in his escort business. Hell, that is where he had found you. You were a brat, and he loved a challenge. Words: 2,963 Warnings: Unhealthy relationships, smut, daddy kink, dom/sub, manipulation, death, violence, possessive behavior

Part Two || Part Four || Masterpost (mobile) || Fanfic masterpost

Tony had left Y/N back at home after leaving the beach. He made sure she was settled back at his mansion, after he had had his face settled between her thighs that is. That was a surefire way to get her to relax and he cherished the taste of her on his tongue, inhaling the scent of her. It had done the trick well enough, and he had encouraged her to take a warm bath. She was confused at where he had to go at the hour, but he had assured her it would not take long, and he would be back before she knew it. She was rattled, he could tell, about the whole ordeal at the boardwalk. But she was acting tough, and he had to admire her resiliency. It was going to make her a good wife and hopefully mother in the future.

The tunnel he was walking down was dank and had an off smell about it. What he had ordered could not happen on his property, so this was the next best bet. It was secluded, in a seedy part of the city. Cops were around but they were preoccupied with things above ground.

He was met outside the room by Happy who had arrived before him. “It’s all ready, boss.”

“Good,” Tony clipped. “I’m assuming we have a dumpsite already?”

“That’s taken care of.”

Tony patted Happy’s cheek. “I can always count on you.”

He strode past him into the room, the smile falling from his face at the sight. The two men his guards had caught were chained up to the wall. The guys had already been beaten by his men, their faces dripping blood, deep bruises along their abdomens. But they had been kept conscious according to Tony’s instructions. He wanted to deliver the final blows himself personally. Anyone who tried to dare lay hands on Y/N, whisk her away from him… he had bloodthirst on his mind.

“Remember me?” Tony asked sarcastically, taking off his jacket, tossing it towards one of his men who caught it before it could fall to the ground.

The men were blabbering, eyes swollen, lips swollen. They just wanted it to end. Tony snickered at the thought. He had an array of tools at his disposal to make sure this would last longer and draw the pain out for them.

At the end of it, when their hearts had finally stopped, he looked all the look of a serial killer. His t-shirt was blotted with blood, a wicked smile at seeing the work he had done on them, still hearing their pained screams. His fists were bloody. He never touched people like this but since it was for her…

She would no doubt notice and fawn over it. Win-win situation for him.

<><><>

Y/N swam over to Tony at the edge of the pool where he was reclining in a chair. He was watching her closely, thinking of how she had almost been taken from him a week ago and the thought made his stomach twist. He needed to protect her always, keep her safe for not only herself but him.

She pulled herself up enough out to rest on her elbows, her feet kicking below the water. He liked the suit she had chosen; it flattered her. Not that much did not flatter her. He would be hard pressed to find anything that would make her unattractive to him.

She pouted, “Are you sure you’re not going to come in?”

Tony stuck out his bottom lip, mocking her. “No, baby.”

“But why not?”

“Because I like watching you.”

Her smile was all flavors of seductive, “I thought you liked touching me.”

“Cheeky,” Tony chuckled, and she shrugged, looking proud of herself. He brought his vodka to his lips, taking a long swig.

“I was thinking…” she said catching his attention again. “We could have some fun. If you came to sit on the side of the pool…”

Tony chuckled again at her insinuation, his mind picturing her perfect lips around the head of his dick. “Are you insatiable?” She began removing her top and he held out his hand, laughing. “Y/N, darling. Rhodey should be here any moment.” She pouted again, hesitating. “As much as I would love that… those goods are for me, hmm?”

“Always,” she returned, straightening herself back out. She whined, “But why are you always having to work?”

“It’s not always. Don’t be overdramatic, kitten.”

“I can’t help it,” she grumbled.

Tony pushed his sunglasses down, peering at her over the top of them. “I’ll make it up to you. I bought a new toy.” She brightened at that and he grinned in response. “It’s sure to keep things fresh. Plus… I do owe you a night out, don’t I? Let’s make a date out of it.”

“Saddle Peak Lodge?” Tony’s brow furrowed and she shrugged. “I got bored, and I was looking at food places around here.”

“Sure. Whatever you want,” Tony said sincerely, taking another drink.

A song came on and she immediately smiled mischievously at him. “Oh, look, it’s our song.”

“Our song?” Tony asked, his lips upturned in a smirk.

She nodded.

He doesn't mind I have a Las Vegas past He doesn't mind I have a L.A. crass way about me He loves me, with every beat of his cocaine heart

“I’m even swimming and you’re watching,” she said, biting her bottom lip before pushing away from the side. She drug her eyes away from him before diving back underneath the water. Tony’s eyes followed her through the water, listening to the lyrics of the song she had deemed theirs. He would chase her all over town, that was for sure.

<><><>

On Tony’s laptop, Y/N’s location of her phone popped up. He saw it was in The Flats and his teeth gritted as he realized where she was.

“That’s Liam’s place,” Tony said out loud, in disbelief.

Liam had been her friend first, even though he was Tony’s employee. Liam was one of the guards at the escort service. And he was one of the highest paid of Tony’s employees there. He was good at what he did and also helped Tony dole out physical prowess on special assignments that needed it. But he had an admittedly soft spot for the girls in the service, Y/N especially when she was still working there. He had seen it himself, Liam making sure she was comfortable and giving her attention. It had made him jealous at first but when he realized Y/N had no interest in him, he had brushed it off. She was oblivious to his adoration, something Tony had actually found amusing when he realized it.

The fact she had decided to hole up with him and that Liam had actually agreed to it… Tony felt a huge flame of betrayal. He had treated Liam well, had he not? Why this backstabbing when it was clear as day Y/N was doing something wrong?

Happy asked from the front seat, “What did you say?”

Tony snapped, closing his laptop roughly, “She’s at Liam’s. That… fucking prick. Anything to try to get close to Y/N.” Tony chewed on his bottom lip and grabbed his phone again, his temper flared. He texted furiously. “Looks like someone is going to get a promotion tonight. And I’m losing one of my best because he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.”

<><><>

Nine months ago…

Tony strolled in from the balcony, adjusting his sleeves. He had gone out for some air, leaving Y/N inside with the other Avengers. He spotted her sitting on one of the couches, Steve nearby. Steve was amused by whatever Y/N had said, his smile wide and her quickly explaining something. He made his way back over, coming to her side just as she finished.

“Cap,” Tony greeted him.

“Tony,” Steve returned, still laughing lightly.

Y/N was all smiles still. “You didn’t tell me Steve was so funny.”

“I didn’t know I had to. Rogers is usually the stick in the mud,” Tony quipped.

“She’s merely amused at my complete inept at cultural references,” Steve said, smiling warmly again in her direction.

“It’s actually quite embarrassing for him.” Y/N quipped, much to Steve’s amusement. “But we can forgive him. Just like we forgive you for your sarcastic jokes, Tony.” Y/N perked up and said, “You guys don’t have drinks. Let me fix that.”

She walked off and Steve leveled Tony with a look. Tony cocked his head, “What? You’re looking at me all self-righteously.”

“Is she…?”

Tony did not have to work hard at figuring out what Steve was trying to get at. He snorted at Steve’s prude response to her and being unable to outright ask if she was a prostitute. “Was,” Tony corrected. “Actually, worked for my service. She’s shaped up quite nicely, I would dare to say.”

Steve nodded in agreement, “She plays the part well. Charming. Polite.”

“What gave it away, pray tell?”

Steve snorted and said, “Honestly? She’s too pretty for you to be your wife.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You shouldn’t.”

The two of them were sharing a laugh as Y/N walked back up.

“Plus, the service,” Steve said under his breath, seeing she was carrying two glasses for them specifically and none for herself.

“Quite the whole package,” Tony said in a normal volume and she looked at him expectantly as she held out the glasses to them. Tony merely leaned forward giving her a peck on her forehead. His arm snaked around her waist and brought her to his side. “She’s so well behaved.”

“Because that’s the only thing that matters,” Y/N replied teasingly, tapping him on the nose, earning a wide grin in response from him and a kiss.

<><><>

One leg hooked over your opposite knee, you settled back further on the couch cushions. Liam had fallen asleep further down the couch to a movie and you were speaking quietly on the phone to Xavier. “Yeah, I made it home. I just don’t understand—”

You yelped at the sound of the front door being kicked in down the hall. You scrambled, dropping the phone as Liam jumped up, half asleep still. He was looking around wildly and even in his confusion, threw himself in front of you, blocking you from direct line of the hall. You looked over your shoulder frightened, taking in the tall wall of windows.

When the first man walked from the hallway into the wide room, you relaxed, immediately recognizing him. Then reality hit you again and you realized the only reason he would be here. He was one of Tony’s and you knew what was at the end of this, your heart pounding with each one that walked in. The next three you recognized too.

Lastly, Tony came striding in and you exhaled shakily, releasing the breath you did not know you had even been holding in anticipation of him. You had not been on this side of his anger before and the mere sight of him was threatening. In his tailored jacket and slacks, his gleaming watch… he was everything the mob boss you knew put fear into other people’s hearts. He was here on business, not pleasure. His body was completely tense, his eyes focused in on Liam and you standing in the middle of the living room. You swallowed sharply, your resolve wavering under his ferocious gaze, cursing yourself internally for making him so mad.

No one was moving and time seemed suspended. The thing that drew you back to reality was Xavier was still trying to talk to you on the phone on the floor. You swept down to pick it up.

“I’ll call you back. It’s fine. Love you,” you told him quickly, before hanging up and tossing your phone beside you on the ledge. Tony’s jaw set at the last phrase uttered and you had said it without even thinking. It was not abnormal to say it to Xavier but now was definitely not the time. You informed him stiffly, “It’s my gay friend. You know. The one you think I slept with in Seattle? Who is not interested in pussy at all?” Tony was not saying anything, just glaring daggers through you, which further set you on edge. His men were standing at attention and your gaze swept over them before landing on him again. Maybe if you just went without a fight now, it would be okay. You rolled your eyes, trying to keep up the façade that you had not pressed him past his patience and everything was just going to pan out. “God, FINE. I’m coming! You didn’t have to be so dramatic.”

Tony held up a hand, stalling your movement, throwing you off balance. Your feet settled back on the ground, coming to a stop by Liam’s shoulder, waiting for his next movement. His gaze flicked to Liam, who was looking extremely uncomfortable.

“Who called who?” he asked in an eerily calm voice.

“W-what?” Liam stammered.

“Who. Called. Who?”

Liam shot you a look, nervous at being under Tony’s scrutinizing and threatening shadow. You gave him a slight nod and Tony noticed, his jaw clenching at the interaction. At the solidarity. You had a sinking feeling that was a huge misstep.

“She called me.”

“She called you,” Tony said slowly, eyes boring into you now.

There was jealously swimming in his eyes that you had called someone else – another man – instead of him. That had been your intention hadn’t it? To make him jealous. But now that it was coming to fruition, all you felt was dread. He tore his eyes away from you to look back at Liam.

“So, your first instinct wasn’t to, I don’t know, call me?” Tony asked. “Ask me if you should go picking my little, darling wife up from the airport?” Tony took a few steps closer, all swagger in his step. “That didn’t cross your mind, Liam?”

Liam admitted, nervousness apparent, “No, sir. I knew you were fighting.”

“You knew we were fighting.” Tony’s tone was condescending.

“Yes.”

“And what? You were just going to pick her up from the airport, bring her here. And then what?”

“She asked to stay the night. And she said she was going to leave in the morning. Early. 6am I think is the time she told me. So she could go back home to you.”

Tony threw you a taunting look, “Hmm, back to me. Seems like that’s what she’s been avoiding actually.” You opened your mouth, but he cocked his head, the playfulness from seconds ago again. You closed it. Tony directed at Liam, “Who employs you?”

“You, sir.”

“So, you would think it would behoove you to fall back on that relationship rather than catering to the wife. I mean, she’s not the one your indebted to, is she?”

“Tony, I—” you tried to cut in.

“Shut…” Tony said, his eyes not leaving Liam, his finger held up to you stiffly. “Your fucking mouth, Y/N. I’m not talking to you.”

“How many friends of yours have I killed?” Tony deadpanned at Liam. You did not like where this was going.

“Um, zero. I think,” Liam said, sweat visible on his forehead.

Tony narrowed his eyes slightly and looked back at one of his men. “Is that right? I haven’t killed any of the men at the service?” His eyes swept over his personal guards and they all shook their head. Tony’s eyes snapped back to Liam and he looked thoughtful. “Huh. That’s surprising. But…” he closed the space between the two of them and you had to admire that although Liam looked nervous, he did not back away. “Then again, none of them betrayed me like this.”

Before Liam could react, Tony’s arm lashed out and his hand closed in around his neck. Liam winced at Tony’s fingers digging into his windpipe, squeezing tightly. Tony yanked Liam close and hissed into his ear, “I know how you feel about her. I’ve seen it. And the fact you thought you could get her here… get a foot in—”

“That wasn’t it!” Liam interrupted nervously.

“You’re a terrible liar. And I’m sick of people lying to me,” Tony snarled, letting go of Liam roughly, causing him to lose his balance. Tony backed off from Liam and snapped in your direction. “Grab your shit, Y/N.” You faltered, apprehension freezing you to the spot. He suddenly shouted, “Now!”

That got you to jump to action.

As you grabbed your phone and your small bags, you heard movement behind you and whipped around in alarm. You screamed when the first hit was laid across Liam’s face. Tony had stepped back and his men had come forward.

Tony had a vice like grip on your arm, yanking you sideways back towards the hall.

“Tony!” you pleaded panicked, trying to look over your shoulder as he dragged you away at where Liam was surrounded by the four men, punch after punch laying into his face and body.

He stopped, jolting you. He forcibly turned you, so you could look back at the scene in the living room, pointing at it. “This is your fault,” he spat at you. He wrenched you to him, his breath hot on your face. His eyes were wild as he told you, “Next time, think about what you’re doing when you go around trying to piss me off. Because anyone that sees Liam’s face after this is going to do that thinking for you. No one is going to want to help you when you’re being a little brat!” His fingers dug in and you winced. “And your punishment hasn’t even started yet, kitten.”

~~~

Forever tags: @coconutqueen21

Fic tags: @kvzctam, @farihafangirls