#the gondola ride was still really awkward

[trans-estinien]

as someone whos not a big graha fan and doesnt ship with him ill be real that gondola ride was real awkward

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers LUNATIC PARADE ;; Subaru Route ー Chapter 1

Yui: ( I have to retrieve my heart no matter what…! )

ー The scene starts in the area surrounding Bernstein Castle

Subaru: Oi, stay focused. 

Yui: Ah...Sorry, Subaru-kun. I got a little worried...

Subaru: Che...The problem’s not gonna fix itself by sittin’ ‘round, right? We just have to go look for it.

Yui: Right...I guess heading towards the city area is our best bet for now?

But how can we get there? Do you know the way?

Subaru: Well...I’d be lyin’ if I said I didn’t but...It’s pretty far away from here.

Yui: I see. It might take a while then.

Subaru: ...

...Come here for a sec.

Yui: Eh? ...Kyah!?

ー Subaru pulls her close

*Rustle*

Subaru: ...There we go.

Yui: W-Wait, Subaru-kun!? What has gotten into you!?

( He picked me up!? )

Subaru: Whatcha mean? ...We’re gonna fly there.

Yui: Eeh!?

Subaru: ...If we take the slow route and walk, your heart may not last, right?

Yui: Ah...

( I see...This is his way of showing concern... )

But, still, I’m a little scared of flying there...

Subaru: I’m gonna bite your tongue if you keep complaining! Now shush and let me carry youーー!

ー He leaps into the air

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the city area

Yui: ( Thanks to Subaru-kun, we reached the city in the blink of an eye... )

Things are more lively here than I expected.

Subaru: Yeah...There’s way too many people, it’s pissin’ me off...

Yui: ( Subaru-kun may say that but...The Demon World’s Parade seems kind of fun. )

( But, I’m sure I would have been able to enjoy it much more...If only we didn’t have other objectives already. )

Subaru: ...

Yui: ( ...No, there’s no helping it. Right now, we have to search for my heart. )

What should we do now?

Subaru: That’s not even a question! We’re gonna storm that darn castle and give Count what’s-his-face a good beatin’!

Yui: Eh!? Violence isn’t the answer...!

Subaru: You think I give a damn!? That guy had the nerve to steal somethin’ so important to you!

He should be happy he gets away with just a few punches!

Anyway, let’s head to the castle. We can talk ‘bout that later.

ー The scene shifts to the front gate of Bernstein Castle

Yui: Wah...What a large castle...

( Is this...Bernstein castle...? )

( The gates are closed shut, so I doubt it’ll be easy to get inside... )

*Thud*

Subaru: Che...We can’t get in like this...

This castle...It has an anti-Vampire barrier surrounding it...

Yui: A-A barrier...!?

Subaru: Shit! Fuck him and his petty tricks!

...Ugh!

*THUD THUD*

Yui: Wait, Subaru-kun...!? 

Subaru: If we can’t get in normally...We just gotta force our way inside...! I’m gonna break through this shit!

*THUD*

Yui: You can’t do that!

Subaru: Some nasty bastard stealin’ other people’s shit deserves no better...There!

*Crumble* 

Yui: ( Ah...The wall...! )

Subaru: Heh...Look at that. It’s more fragile than I thought. I might actually be able to kick a hole through. Hehe...

Yui: ( He’s completely set on destroying it...! What should I do...!? )

???: ーー Hold it.

Yui: Eh...?

( That startled me...Someone appeared out of nowhere... )

Subaru: Aah? Who the fuck are you?

Butler: ...My sincere apologies for the belated greeting. I am one of the butlers employed here. 

Yui: ( Here? ...So he works for Count Walter...? )

Subaru: And what does his butler want from us? We’re here to see the Count himself.

Butler: Yes, of course. I am aware.

ーー My master is waiting for you two inside. This way, please.

Subaru: Hah?

ー The gates open

Yui: ( Eh? ...They’ll let us in so easily...? )

Subaru: Wait, it might be a trap of some sorts...

He went as far as to put up a barrier ‘round his castle. I can’t imagine he’d meet us without a catch. 

Butler: It is most definitely not a trap.

My master said that he would rather not have the outer walls destroyed any further.

Yui: Ah...

( We can’t deny that one... )

Butler: ...Well then, please enter.

Subaru: ...

Che...Oh well, let’s go.

Oi, we don’t know what’s waitin’ inside...So don’t you dare leave my side, okay?

Yui: Y-Yeah...

ー The two of them enter the castle

Butler: Please make yourself comfortable here for a bit.

Subaru: ...Hmph.

Yui: ( I almost feel a little relieved (1) after we came here expecting the worst... )

Perhaps we don’t need to be so alert...? 

Let’s just sit down for now. 

Subaru: Che...

*Thud*

Yui: ( Waah...The outside looked splendid as well, but the interior is just as luxurious... )

Subaru: Oi, don’t look ‘round too much.

Yui: Ah...Sorry. I couldn’t help myself...

Subaru: Geez...

Butler: I have prepared a cup of tea as well. 

*Cling*

Yui: T-Thank you very much! Let me have a taーー

Subaru: Don’t drink it!

*SHATTER*

Yui: Ah...

( Seems like Subaru-kun is still alarmed after all... )

???: ...Well, well...Now that’s a guard dog if I’ve ever seen one..

Subaru: ーー Who’s there!?

Yui: ( Where is his voice coming from...? )

Count Walter: My name is Walter. It is a pleasure to meet you, Sakamaki Subaru and...the young lady over there.

Well, that being said...It might not be the first time the two of us meet...

Yui: ( Eh...? )

Subaru: Spare me the formalities! Show yourself already!

Count Walter: ーー I refuse.

Subaru: ...Excuse me!?

Count Walter: I am not as foolish as to carelessly extend my hand towards a ferocious watchdog who seems ready to lash at me any second.

However, let me praise you for your cautious behavior.

Subaru: What did you expect!?

Yui: ( Subaru-kun... )

Subaru: Give back her heart already!!

Count Walter: Sorry to disappoint, but I cannot do that.

Subaru: Aah? And why not!?

Count Walter: I have yet to come to a conclusion.

Yui: A conclusion...?

Count Walter: Yes, exactly. Young lady, whether or not you are a fit candidate for this unique heart ーー

I do not know yet. As long as I am not convinced, I simply cannot hand this back to you.

Subaru: Haah!? What kind of bullshit is that!?

For one...That’s not somethin’ you get to decide, is it!?

*CRASH*

Yui: Ah!

( The vase...He broke it...!? )

Count Walter: ...! That vase...!

Subaru: Ah? What ‘bout it?

Count Walter: Cut it out! Every piece of decoration in this castle is highly valuableーー

Subaru: Heeh, thanks for the information. In that case, I’ll make sure to make quick work of all of it.

...Take this!

*Thud*

*CRASH*

*Shatter*

Count Walter: Aah!

Subaru:  I don’t mind stoppin’ if you return her heart.

*CRASH*

Yui: Subaru-kun, you’re going too far!

( Count Walter has been left completely speechless... )

Subaru: ...What?

Yui: Eh?

Subaru: ...Why would you say that...When I’m doin’ this all for you...?

Che...

*SHATTER*

Subaru: There! What do you have to say now, huh!?

Yui: ( I doubt staying here will do the situation any good... )

Um...Subaru-kun? Why not calm down for now and then we can come back and try again later? 

Subaru: Aah? No need.

Also, you really think I’m gonna back down after we made it this far!?

Yui: But, look! Count Walter has gone quiet as well...

I doubt he’s willing to continue this conversation with us any further.

So...Please? Let’s go back for now? We have to find a place to stay for the night as well.

ー She pulls him away by his arm.

*Rustle*

Subaru: Ah, oi! Yui!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the gondola docks

Yui: ( I somehow dragged Subaru-kun this far but... )

Subaru: ...

Yui: ( He seems to be in a bad mood... )

Seems like we can at least take the gondola to return to the city. Shall we be on our way then?

Subaru: ...

Gondolier A: A ride for two?

Yui: Yes please.

Gondolier A: Off we go!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to Rubien Canal

Yui: ( ...He’s been facing away this whole time...I want to tell him something though. )

Subaru-kun, you seeーー 

Subaru: ...What?

Yui: Um...Well.

I was happy you were trying to get my heart back.

Subaru: ...

Yui: But did you ever consider what might happen if the Count resorted to doing the same thing you did back there...?

Subaru: ...Haah!?

What I did...?

...

...Ah.

...You think that maybe he’ll destroy your heart as well...?

Yui: Y-Yeah...I think that’s a possibility.

Subaru: ...

...My bad.

I completely lost my temper...so I didn’t think that far ahead...

Sorry...

Yui: ( I made him sad...What should I do? )

Selection

→ Talk to him (☾)

Yui: S-Still...You did it with my wellbeing in mind, right?

Subaru: Yeah...Well...Obviously.

Yui: In that case...I’m very happy with that sentiment!

Subaru: ...

→ Don’t do anything 

Yui: ( However...It all started because my heart got stolen. )

( If he takes my words the wrong way (2), it might only makes things more awkward... )

Subaru: ...

Yui: ( Ah...I think I just made him even more sad...I should have said something. )

Yui: ( Hm...Isn’t there a better way to cheer him up...? )

( ...Right. )

Subaru-kun, I’m sorry but...Nn!

*Smooch*

Subaru: Wha...!? W-What are you doin’...!? 

Yui: ( Uu...It’s kind of embarrassing to take initiative to kiss his cheek but... )

...I know you did all of that for me so...I guess that was my way to...thank you...?

Subaru: ...Che...Fuck, don’t be doin’ that embarrassin’ shit...

For one...I only did it ‘cause I was pissed off...Not for your sake or anythin’...

Yui: Fufu...

( I’m glad. Seems like he calmed down a little. )

Well then...Shall we go apologize first and foremost? 

Subaru: ...Che, guess I have no other choice...

ー The scene shifts to the front gate of Bernstein castle

Yui: ( I’m sure the Count is very upset. )

( I hope he’ll forgive us... )

( However, if he doesn’t... )

Subaru: ...Oi.

Yui: ...Hm? What’s wrong, Subaru-kun?

Subaru: Wait one sec.

ー He walks away

Yui: ( There he goes...I wonder what has gotten into him...? )

*TIMESKIP*

ー Subaru returns

Yui: ( Ah...He’s back. )

Where did you go?

Subaru: ...Here, for you.

Yui: Eh...? A flower? Where did you get this...?

Subaru: They were handin’ them out over there, so I just went and got one.

So...Wipe that frown off your face already, okay?

Yui: Ah...

( Could it be...Did he grow worried because he realized I was feeling anxious...? )

Thank you, Subaru-kun.

Subaru: Hm...

*Rustle*

Yui: ( Ah...He grabbed my hand... )

( If we can show that our feelings are sincere, I’m sure the Count will be able to forgive us, right...? )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to cafe Tarte Tatin

Yui: ( ーー Or so I thought... )

Subaru: Fuck, why!?

*Thud*

*Cling*

Yui: ( I can actually relate to Subaru-kun right now... )

Monologue

ーー Afterwards,

we  headed towards Bernstein castle,

for the second time...

However, no matter how many times we called out,

not even the butler showed up,

let alone Count Walter himself.

So with no other options at hand,

we entered a nearby cafe,

where Subaru-kun simply raged on.

Subaru: What’s that guy’s plan...!?

Yui: Hm...I guess we might have no other choice but to compensate for the broken goods....

Subaru: Sounds easy enough but...I don’t remember every single thing I destroyed.

Yui: R-Right...

( There was barely anything left of the stuff in the living room after all... )

But, I believe you dealt the most damage to the vases, the sculptures and...also some paintings, I think?

Subaru: I’m...impressed you remember all of that...

Yui: ( I was watching in panic after all... )

I did say we should compensate for them, but I’m pretty sure those were either unique art pieces. 

Or they’re extremely expensive so...What do we do now?

( Besides, I know near nothing about art... )

Subaru: ...

...The Old Man has this collection, you know.

Yui: Eh?

Subaru: Just like Count Walter, he enjoys going ‘round collectin’ all types of weird artworks.

Yui: Really?

Subaru: Yeah. There’s this shady Vampire who goes ‘round sellin’ art to the likes of them.

If I remember correctly...That guy should live in this city...

Yui: Eh? Then if we go see him...!

Subaru: ...Guess it’s worth talkin’ to him at least.

Yui: For sure! He might be the one who sold the Count some of the art pieces in his castle!

( Thank god, we somewhat settled on where to go from here...! )

Um...Then shall we go see him tomorrow?

Subaru: Yeah...I’m beat after everythin’ that went down today...

We should find a place to stay sooner rather than later and rest up. Tomorrow’s lookin’ to be another busy day after all.

ー The scene shifts to the lobby of Mondstein Hotel

Yui: Subaru-kun’s sure taking a while...

( He hasn’t returned since he left for the reception... )

Subaru: ...

Yui: Ah, Subaru-kun! Were you able to get us a room...?

( His behavior is a little off. Maybe they were fully booked...? )

Subaru: What do you think!? (3) There’s barely any rooms left ‘cause of the Parade...

Yui: Eh...?

Subaru: ...They’ve only got one room left.

Yui: Ah...Phew. I was worried about what we’d do in case they were fully booked...

We got lucky there’s one left!

Subaru: Why are you actin’ like it’s no big deal!? Do you know what that implies!? There’s only ONE room!

Yui: Eh? Y-Yeah...Is there a problem with that...?

Subaru: ...Ugh...

Do I have to spell it out for you...!? A man and a woman sharing the same room is obviously asking for trouble.

Yui: ...! ...Now that you mention it...

B-But...Isn’t it still better than not having anywhere to spend the night at all...?

( Besides, sleeping outside in the Demon World would be pretty dangerous, no? )

Subaru: ...Fuck, don’t you have any sense of danger at all...?

Yui: Eh? Did you say something just now?

Subaru: Shut up! I didn’t say anythin’!

Che...You can take the room. I’ll just find somewhere else to sleep.

Yui: Y-You can’t do that...! If you don’t get a proper night’s rest, it might affect you tomorrow...

Anyway, we were lucky to snatch the last room so let’s just take it?

Ah....But if you dislike the idea of sharing a room with me that much...I suppose I can consider it...

Subaru: I-I never said I dislike the thought of it, did I...!?

...

Fuck...Don’t blame me if somethin’ happens...

ー The scene shifts to the hotel room

Yui: ( We made it to our room at least, but... )

*Rustle rustle*

Subaru-kun...What have you been doing this whole time...?

Subaru: Can’t you tell? I’m drawing a line in the middle of the bed.

Yui: ( Where did he even pull that divider from...? )

Subaru: Listen up. Starting from here to the other edge is your side.

So don’t you dare cross this line. 

Yui: S-Sure...Fine by me...

( Uu...Now that I think about it, having to share a room with Subaru-kun does make me a little nervous... )

( The nerves are only just getting to me... )

ー They can hear noises coming from the outside

Yui: Hm? What could this sound be?

( Guess I’ll step out on the balcony. )

ー The scene shifts to the balcony

Yui: Waah...!

( There’s a drum and fife band performing over by the gondolas we boarded earlier! )

( I should go inform Subaru-kun as well! )

Hey, Subaru-kun, why don’t you join mーー

*WOOSH*

Yui: ( ...What? What’s this uncomfortable feeling inside my chest...? )

( Ah...I’m dizzy... )

Subaru: Oi, Yui! Everythin’ okay!?

ー She nearly collapses

*Thud*

Yui: Ah...Subaru-kun...

Subaru: What’s wrong? You gave me a scare when you suddenly lost your balance just now...

Yui: Sorry...My heart just acted weird for a second...

Thank you for supporting me.

Subaru: ...

...If that guy does somethin’ to your heart ‘cause I went on a rampage...

I don’t know what I’d do...

Yui: It only lasted for a few seconds and now everything seems completely fine again so...I’m sure it’s fine.

Subaru: ...Ugh...

This is the part where you get mad at me, no!? Why won’t you blame me!?

Yui: Well...

Judging from what we learnt about him today, the Count strikes me as the type of person who can appreciate a treasure when he sees one so...

I don’t believe he would thoughtlessly destroy something of value, don’t you think...?

So, no need to worry that muーー

*Rustle*

Yui: ( Wah...He wrapped his arms around me...! )

Subaru: ...Haah...You really are too kind and optimistic...

Yui: A-Am I...?

Subaru: Yeah. But...I don’t exactly...dislike that side of you.

*Rustle*

Yui: ...

...Thank you...

( Uu...How embarrassing... )

Ah! S-Subaru-kun! Look! They’re going to play again!

Subaru: ...Che...Who gives a damn ‘bout that shit? Focus on me right now.

For one...Don’t be gettin’ distracted by other stuff when I’m right here in front of you...

Yui: Fufu...Sorry...

Subaru: Che...I’m sure you’ll have another chance to watch the performance in the future, no?

But...Well, if you insist...I guess we can watch together.

Yui: ...Yeah!

( It’s a little embarrassing while he’s still holding me in his arms but... )

( Still, I’m happy we get to enjoy it together like this. )

These kinds of performances are kind of exciting, don’t you think?

( I know now’s not the time for that but... )

Subaru: ...

Yui: Ah...Sorry. I bet you’re not in the mood right now...

Subaru: No...It’s fine.

Yui: Eh...?

Subaru: ...I’ll fix this whole ordeal somehow...

So you just keep that dumb smile on your face, ‘kay?

Yui: D-Dumb...? How mean!

Yeah...But...Thanks.

( How strange...Subaru-kun shouldn’t have a body temperature but...For some reason, he feels warm. )

( He’s right here with me. )

( That alone is very reassuringーー )

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー 

Translation notes

(1) 拍子抜け can mean either ‘to feel disappointed/demotivated’ or ‘to feel relieved’ depending on the context. In this case, I chose ‘relieved’ because them being let inside the castle should be considered a good thing.

(2) フォローする obviously comes from the English ‘follow’ and is used whenever someone backs you up or tries to say something supportive/encouraging to improve the mood. In this case, Yui is worried about her words of support being taken the wrong way, so she decides to stay quiet.

← RETURN TO PROLOGUE

→ PROCEED WITH MAIN STORY [CHAPTER 2]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #1 [W/ AYATO]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #2 [W/ LAITO]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #3 [W/ YUMA]

→ SUB-SCENARIO #4 [W/ AZUSA]

[bonjovian]

Never Let Me Go: Chapter Sixteen

Quick little author's note: I am so proud of how far this story has come. I was so nervous about how it would go considering people I used to talk to put a damper on my inspiration for this fic, but I now know that there are a few people who read this still and it means the world to me. But that's beside the point. This chapter introduces the oc x canon I have been hinting at for the last couple of chapters :)

But thank you to those who have been reading this

Masterlist

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Seventeen

Word Count: 1,641

Tag List: @ocfairygodmother @oddballunicorn

Gaia adventures away from the group, set on taking in the new sights of Altissia, but soon encounters someone unexpected. What is she to do?

I wandered through some of the streets of Altissia, keeping in mind the goal of finding Maagho, but also just taking in all the sites I could find. I grabbed my journal from my pocket, excitedly writing down everything that interested me. After a moment I stopped to look around. I caught a glimpse of someone familiar passing by. That coat, I thought, that's right, Ravus and Ardyn are both here, too. He looked over at me for a moment before approaching me. I tensed up, suddenly nervous.

"Have we met before?" Ravus asked, looking me over. "You seem familiar."

I just nodded slightly, trying to find the words. "Yes, sir. That imperial base in Duscae. I was with Noctis and the others."

"I suspected you were one of the Crownsguard," He responded with a slight smile. "We haven't been formally introduced. I am High Commander Ravus Nox Fleuret."

"Gaia Machina. No fancy title," I laughed softly. He nodded.

"Is this your first visit to Altissia?"

"Yes, sir. We're all just checking out the area right now. We're supposed to be looking for a specific place, but I admit I got caught up in just exploring."

"Would you like for me to show you around?"

I nodded. "That would be nice, sir."

He chuckled softly. "You needn't be formal with me. I'm not your superior. Perhaps while I am showing you around, we may come across what you're looking for?"

I nodded slightly, letting him take the lead. "This place is Imperial territory, correct?" I asked.

"Indeed, though they still maintain their own government. The empire is far more generous with Accordo than they are for other territories."

"I see," I mumbled. "I hope that Niflheim doesn't think I'm one of their troops."

"If someone thinks that, I will clarify that you are just another tourist," He turned to look back at me with a small smile.

"Thank you, sir- I mean Ravus."

We continued walking for a moment in awkward silence. I couldn't help but notice some passersby stopping to whisper. "Pay them no mind," Ravus said calmly. "They aren't talking about you. Rather, it appears I have quite a fanbase I wasn't aware of."

I laughed softly. "I mean, it isn't every day you see the High Commander just strolling around Altissia," I joked.

He stopped just ahead of me, at one of the numerous gondola stations nearby. "As you are aware by now, the city uses gondolas as transportation. I understand if you do not feel comfortable riding with me, but there is someplace I would like to show you."

"You don't make me uncomfortable," I rubbed the back of my neck. "I just find this whole thing very new to me."

He chuckled softly, motioning for me to go ahead of him. "Ladies first."

I blushed slightly as I carefully sat down on the gondola. "I still really don't like boat rides," I laughed.

"Do you get seasick?" Ravus asked, sitting across from me.

"Yeah, but it's nothing major. Suppose that's how everyone is the first time they ride a boat. But what was it you wanted to show me?"

"Just a few areas you might find fascinating. I know a lot of tourists are flocking to a spot."

"Alright," I smiled. "Thank you for doing this, by the way." Soon the ride was over and we reached our stop.

"Come, right this way," Ravus motioned for me to follow him again. We must have been in a plaza area.

"Look at all these fancy buildings," I mumbled in awe.

"The Claustra estate is over that way. I assume Noctis may have business there soon," Ravus responded.

I kept looking around, the various food stalls littering the street catching my eye next. "Wait, they have ice cream here?" I asked. "I've never had it."

Ravus turned to look at me, clearly confused. "You've never had ice cream?" He asked. I shook my head. "Would you like to try it?"

"Yeah, how much gil is it?" I asked, rummaging through my jacket pockets.

"Don't worry about it. I'll pay."

"Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't offer if I wasn't sure," he responded, walking over to the stall and motioning for me to come over. I quickly made my order, just something simple. I tried it hesitantly as Ravus paid for it.

"So this is what Prompto meant by an ice cream headache," I laughed quietly, putting a hand against my forehead. Ravus looked over at me and chuckled softly, shaking his head.

"You can't eat it too fast," he warned, motioning for me to follow him.

"You aren't getting yourself any ice cream?"

"Not this time," he responded. I ran to catch up with him. We reached a more crowded area and I made sure to keep close to him. It wasn't a matter of being afraid to lose him in the crowd, but more a matter of not liking crowds. He stopped after a moment. "Here. I figured you would find this something of note."

I realized why there was a crowd. We were right where Lunafreya's wedding dress was displayed. I smiled slightly, looking up at Ravus. "I should let the others know where this is! I'm sure Noctis would be happy to see this!" I whispered excitedly. I noticed he seemed more upset than anything else. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he muttered, walking away. "Shall I see you back to the Leville? I am sure your friends are waiting for you." I nodded slightly.

"Thank you, Ravus," I said after a moment, walking next to him. "You're worried about Lunafreya, aren't you?"

"Is it that obvious?" He asked. "Her duty as Oracle is strenuous, as you probably heard."

I nodded slightly. "Yeah, I heard about that. I hope whatever she does to awaken the gods doesn't hurt her."

"It drains her," He responded.

"I can't imagine how it feels. For both of you," I sighed. "I don't really have much for a family myself. Just my mother, and the guys, if they count."

"I would say they do. It's obvious your time with them has created quite the bond. It seems unbroken even after... that event."

I nodded. "For the most part."

***

The rest of the way to the Leville was quiet. It felt a bit awkward, to be honest.

"Thank you for showing me around," I smiled slightly. "Suppose I'd better get back to the others now. I had fun!"

"I enjoyed it as well," he responded before clearing his throat, seeming a little flustered.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just haven't met anyone like you. I'm aware of the age gap, but if it's alright with you, I would like to continue seeing you."

I felt my face turn a bright red. I stammered, unable to find the words. "Romantically?" I finally asked. He simply nodded slightly. "Yeah, I don't see why not," I responded. Why did I say it like that? "I mean- I would love to. I'm just at a loss for words right now."

He nodded and kissed me for a short moment, causing me to freeze up yet again. "I'm glad. You should probably return to Noctis and the others now, I am sure at this point they are quite worried," he advised with a smile. I nodded and ran into the Leville, where the others were waiting.

"So, Gaia," Prompto began, walking over to me. "See anything interesting?"

"I saw where Lunafreya's wedding dress was being displayed if that's something to note," I smiled.

Prompto nodded slightly. "Anything else? Your face looks pretty red."

I shook my head. "No," I lied. "It was just that."

He grabbed his camera and went through it, looking for something. He stopped at a picture. It was of me and Ravus. If my face could turn even redder, it would have. "What's this?"

"I can explain," I stammered. Noctis laughed.

"Hey, he didn't attack you from what I saw," Prompto laughed. "He must really like you."

Gladio walked off to the hotel room without a word, though his silence spoke volumes.

"It's a long story. Hard to explain, but I just bumped into him and," I began.

"It was a date, wasn't it," Noctis chuckled.

The thought of that never crossed my mind until then. "Shit, I guess it was," I admitted. "But now I gotta ask why you were following me, Prompto!"

"I just wanted to make sure nothing happened to you!" Prompto laughed, ducking slightly when I glared at him. Well now they know, I scolded myself.

"So long as he doesn't try anything suspicious, I suppose we can allow it," Ignis said, turning to Noctis.

Noctis nodded. "Maybe you can get some information from him that we can use."

"I'm not going to be a spy," I interjected. "Politics weren't brought up at all, so that clearly isn't the reason behind this!"

"If he does anything to you, let us know," Prompto crossed his arms, trying to look serious.

"Look at you being a good older brother," Noctis laughed, patting Prompto on the back. 

"While you were doing that, I found where Maagho is," Ignis responded. "We'll be heading there tomorrow." 

"You had an eventful day, Gaia," Noctis teased, putting an arm around my shoulder. 

"Technically we all did," I crossed my arms. "It was a really long boat ride and you guys kept teasing me the whole time." 

"Well, it paid off, didn't it?" Prompto laughed. "And weren't you just talking about how you wish you could have someone to call your own?" 

"And it's the other Nox Fleuret," Ignis chuckled. 

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "Enough guys," I laughed. "I'm going to our room, I am absolutely exhausted." 

With that, I made my way to our hotel room and practically collapsed onto one of the chairs. I got lucky, I thought, I really did go on a date with Ravus Nox Fleuret himself... 

[fandom-necromancer]

Getting lost together

This was prompted by a lovely anon! I hope you enjoy, this one is fluffy XD

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

‘Nines, that was the last bag, come on! We’re going to be late!’ Gavin closed the trunk of his car and looked over to where Nines was standing right between the house and the car. ‘Tina will look after the cats alright, she loves the little beasts, don’t worry’, he tried to comfort him, opening the car door and leaning against it. ‘We’ll come back, and they are at least a kilo heavier’, he joked. Nines straightened his back, but avoided his eyes as he walked towards the car. ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’, the Detective asked softly. ‘I thought you looked forward to this.’ ‘I do!’, Nines quickly replied. ‘It’s just my first time leaving Detroit. I… I’m not sure what awaits me.’ ‘That’s what travelling is about’, Gavin explained and stepped past the door to take his hand. ‘Don’t worry. You will love it.’ ‘I hope so’, he mumbled far too insecure for a war machine and entered the car.

Gavin sat down too, leaning over to press a kiss to Nines’ cheek and start the engine afterwards. ‘Come on. Let’s go on a road trip!’ He handed Nines a case full of music CDs and gestured him to choose one. ‘Passenger decides the music’, he explained and started pulling out of their driveway. The android frowned at the disks, contemplating whether he should tell Gavin he could always just connect to the car and play whatever song he wanted. But he guessed this was part of the experience, so he pulled out one of them without researching band names or titles written on it. ‘Excellent choice’, Gavin cheered as the first heavy guitar riffs came up. Nines couldn’t really say something to that as he had no idea what else he could have picked, but seeing Gavin grin and drum his fingers on the steering wheel he found he didn’t really care if it made his human happy.

They drove through the streets and Nines traced their route with his GPS. He got increasingly worried as they made it onto the highway and finally left Detroit. ‘All good, love?’, Gavin asked, seeing the red flashing LED. ‘Yes, just… I lost connection to an android network.’ ‘That means?’, the man asked concerned. ‘My scans won’t be as effective anymore as I can only detect what I see. I can’t supplement it with information from the internet or databanks.’ ‘Should we turn around?’ Nines thought about it. It was their first vacation since the revolution as work had kept them busy with anti-android crimes, retaliations and the rising Red-Ice trades. He had looked forwards to it and still did. He would spend time with his human somewhere neither of them had been before, just the two of them. What about that wasn’t exciting? ‘No. It’s just weird loosing a function you never paid much attention to.’ ‘I can imagine’, Gavin hummed, unsure what to say. ‘I guess that at least makes us equal?’, Nines contemplated. ‘Neither of us knows Providence. It’s a new place for you and I have no way of acquiring more information than you could.’ ‘Heh, a full-on human experience, then?’ ‘You could say so.’

They drove down the road and the longer they were on their way, the less worried Nines became. If anything, partially loosing his scanning abilities made it even more interesting. He simply couldn’t know some things and others passed too fast to get even a little bit of information. ‘How do you live like this?’, Nines couldn’t help but ask as he could see buildings to his right that might have belonged to a town called Sweaburg, but could as well be something entirely else. ‘How do you live, seeing things and having no idea what something is?’ Gavin laughed. ‘Learning to ignore what isn’t important, I guess? I mean, do I have to know everything to survive. And it can make it all the more interesting if you do find out someday. You can always learn something new, even if you lived your whole life in just one city.’ Nines frowned and tried to understand. ‘I mean, isn’t it boring knowing everything? What about curiosity and the joy of discovery?’ The android had to nod to that. ‘That’s why I like our work this much. And I’m starting to like this new perspective, too.’

He found himself smiling as he watched the world pass by, details appearing and disappearing before his programs could even try to gather information. He had become a passive onlooker and it was a weirdly relaxing experience when at the same time his eyes darted from one fixing point to the next trying to take in everything at once. Gavin found he had a difficult time concentrating on the road when Nines sat in the passenger seat almost pressing his nose to the glass like a school child on their first but ride. Sometimes he wished he could take photos like the android could, just to remember this sight forever.

They had to stop for gas soon and Nines took over for the rest of the ten-hour ride. Gavin, understandably exhausted, had tried to stay awake, but when they were an hour away from their destination, he was peacefully sleeping leaned against the door. Only as Nines left the highway and had to stop at a red light, the man woke up again. ‘Oh, we’re already there?’, he asked and sat up. ‘Sorry, I’m just really tired.’ ‘Our hotel is just down the road. Then you can sleep properly.’ ‘Nah, I planned to go take a look at the city first!’ ‘Gavin, I doubt we will get anything else done. And it’s supposed to be a vacation.’ ‘Okay, I’ll take a short nap then and afterwards we go for a walk in the evening, but that’s the only compromise I’m willing to accept.’ Nines sighed. ‘Fine.’

They checked in to their hotel and went to their room to stow away their luggage. Gavin’s nap ended up being longer than expected and with an amused huff, Nines slipped under the blanket too to join his human in this unknown place.

-

Maybe it had been the night spent in stasis, but when Nines rose to see Gavin in the light of the rising sun in this foreign room, he could barely contain the happiness that he felt. No deadline, no case that had to be solved, no clear mission to follow. Just himself and Gavin in a city neither of them knew; time reset to a new schedule counting down the days of their vacation. It was almost… liberating.

He snuggled closer to Gavin and wallowed in his warmth. The human grinned and turned around, still sleepy but slowly waking up. ‘Morning, Nines.’ ‘Morning darling.’ Gavin buried his head in his shoulder. ‘Jeez, Nines, if you keep this up I’ll never leave the bed.’ ‘We can do that if you want’, the android murmured, kissing the top of his head. ‘Nah. Let’s get ready for breakfast and then go see the city. I have something special planned for tonight and you can’t research it! It will truly be a surprise.’ ‘I can still do normal research via the internet, Gavin. Just slower.’ ‘Don’t you dare’, Gavin laughed, pointing his finger at his nose, before standing up and getting ready for the day.

After leaving the hotel, they walked through the streets without any real plan in mind. Nines followed Gavin, who seemed to take random turns and stopped at random places. Watching the people around them and the different sorts of buildings, Nines was quickly feeling weirdly at home. In the afternoon they stopped at a park near the river and Gavin got himself something to eat at the many food carts around. They sat down at a bench right at the riverfront and enjoyed the sunny day. ‘This is perfect’, Nines couldn’t help but voice the content he felt at watching the water lazily pass by, a few ducks swimming on it. A few joggers passed them, faces without names for the first time in Nines’ short life. ‘Got over that lack of information?’, Gavin asked, mouth still half full of the hot dog. ‘I’m actually considering shutting off that program completely when not on the job’, he shrugged. ‘You were right it is more interesting to not know and wonder. If I really need to know something, I can always switch it on again.’ ‘Nice. Good to know it’s not too bad for you.’ Nines looked down on Gavin and put his arm around him. ‘It’s never around you.’ ‘Aw you damn romantic android. I would hate you if I didn’t love you.’ ‘Sure.’ Nines looked out over the river and cocked his head. ‘Gavin, what did you wanted to show me?’ ‘In the evening, love. Has to be dark for it. Patience.’

At least time passed quickly with the human around to guide him around town. As the sun set, they returned to a different part of the river. Nines frowned, as he saw several people blocking his view on the water. ‘Gavin, what-‘ ‘Shh, come on, follow me. I looked this up beforehand, there should be a good spot over here.’ Gavin took his hand and pushed through the crowd, not even thinking of apologising. Pulling Nines right to the front, the android was indeed blown-away. In all his preconstructions, he hadn’t expected this: Several bonfires were lit on the water and lit up the walls in soft orange and hot white yellow. Music played and the masses stood and watched as people tended to the fires and gondolas passed through the flames. ‘Gavin, what is this?’, he asked in surprise. ‘They call it Waterfire. A festival that began as art is now celebrated annually. ‘Thought it would be something fun to be part of. Do you like it?’ Nines couldn’t pull his eyes away from the reflections on the water, the thousands of people at the shore and the flickering fires cracking on the surface of the water. The smell of burning wood filled the air and managed to overpower the different smells from the food stands. ‘Gavin, I… I never experienced something similar. Can we… Does this stretch the whole river? Can we see all of it? Can we ride one of the gondolas? I… For how long did they celebrate this? Why-‘ Gavin’s loving smile made him stop, feeling awkward for asking so many questions and letting his excitement overwhelm him. But Gavin only rose to his toes and pulled Nines head down into a kiss. ‘For you? Everything.’

[btsslowburnfic]

BTS Meeting your pets (Hyung line)

Happy Fluffy Friday! I wanted to do all members (and will) but my job had other plans for me today and this evening. Ask box is open ^_^ Enjoy 

BTS reacts: Meeting your Pet(s) Hyung line

Jin:  You and Jin had been dating for almost a year when you asked him to come over to your house since you still lived with your parents. You had been pretty lowkey with them about what your boyfriend did for a living because you didn’t want them to make a big deal about it and you had been putting it off as well because your mom freaked out when she saw a picture of how handsome he was and started shouting about how beautiful her grandchildren were going to be. Yeah. So you hadn’t exactly been in a hurry to bring Jin over.But he had asked and so now the two of you were walking into your parent’s apartment complex.

“Stop being so nervous Jagiya, I’m sure everything will go great,” he gently rubbed your back.

“I have already warned you. My mom is crazy. My dad is fine. And Pete is a loud pervert.”

“Excuse me?” He raised his eyebrows at you.

You took a deep breath. “You’ll see.” 

Jin was suddenly the nervous one. The two of you entered your parent’s house. “Mom, Dad, we’re here!” you yell as you enter the family foyer. 

“Hello!!!” you hear your mom yell as she comes over to greet the two of you. “Oh my goodness, you are even more handsome in person!” She says as she fawns over Jin.

His face turns red, “Oh thank you. Here, we brought you these,” he hands over a box of cookies the two of you had made earlier.

“Thank you so much, come on in.” Your mother takes the baked goods and leads the way into the living room.

“Where’s dad?” you ask as you see him coming out of their bedroom.

Your dad gives you an awkward thumbs up, “you must be SeokJin.” your dad bows.

“Just Jin is fine,” he shakes his hand.

“Thank you for taking such good care of my daughter.”

“Of course. Of course. Thank you for having me over.” 

“KISS THOSE LIPS” a loud voice peels through the air. Your eyes go wide as you stare at your dad.

“BRING PETEY OUT” 

The four of you awkwardly stand in silence for a moment and then Jin starts to awkwardly laugh, resulting in a mocking laugh sound coming from the bedroom. “KEKEKEKEKEKE”

“Daaaaaadddddd…..” you moan.

It’s your dad’s turn to blush. “I apologize. Petey is our parrot. I moved his cage this afternoon but you know. He’s just loud.” your dad runs his hand through his hair and gestures apologetically.

“LET PETEY PLAY. YEAH. BRING THOSE LIPS”

“I uh…” Your dad tries again to apologize for the parrot.

At this point you and Jin are cackling with laughter and your poor Dad is heading back to the bedroom to see the bird.

Your mom rolls her eyes. “He and his work friends used to think it was funny to teach him to say all sorts of things. Of course that was decades go before we had [y/n] here. These parrots do live a long time. I apologize.” She sighs and goes to the kitchen.

“Is this why you didn’t want me to come over?” Jin dries his eyes, crying from laughter.

“Yessss…” you admit. 

“I think talking birds are really interesting. Bring that bird out here. I’ll show him these lips.” he jokes as he kisses your forehead. 

Suga/Yoongi: “No. No pets.” Yoongi puts his foot down. Or at least tries to. It’s very hard with you snuggling the adorable fluffy kittens that have been dumped behind your apartment. You and your husband had just returned from walking to the convenience store when you heard the tiniest mewing from the dumpsters. Of course you just had to investigate.

“But these babies don’t have a home. They are literally homeless living in the streets.” you say, feeling the tears well up in our eyes. “If we don’t take them they could die.”

“It’s a busy street, I’m sure someone else will come along and take them,” he tries to get you to quickly move along but now you are holding the little gray and white one.  

“It IS a busy street. They could get hit by a car. Please? I won’t be able to sleep knowing that they’re out here. Please?” you pout, while holding the little kitten to your chest. 

“Aish. We’re never home, we can’t take care of pets,” he refuses to pick up the little black kitten pawing at his shoe laces.

“You’re never home!” you counter, “ I’m home all the time. I work from home, remember? And my sister or parents can watch them when we both travel. Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaassssseeeee.”

Yoongi walks over and strokes your face. “Is this really that big of a deal to you?”

 “ Yes. Please. Just for tonight and then we can take them to a shelter or something tomorrow.” You wrangle the other kitten and look at him, pleading.

“Aish. Fine. Fine. But tomorrow, straight to the shelter.” he sighs as he starts to walk towards the apartment building.

“Hey!” you yell as  one of the kittens tries to get out of your grip. Yoongi walks over and takes it, the little black one and snuggles it to his chest.

“Hey. Don’t be so rude to her. She’s the reason you’re getting off the streets, yeah?” He pets the kitten’s head.

You lock the kittens in the bathroom with some water while the two of you go to buy a litter box and some cat food and you are amazed at the amount of time and thought that he is putting into buying these purchases for your 12 hour pets. When you meet back up at the checkout counter he has toys, a bed, and treats in the cart in addition to the food and litter you came here to buy. You eye him suspiciously. 

“What?” he says, noticing your stare.

“It uh, just seems like a lot for two little babies who we will be abandoning tomorrow is all.”

“Uh-huh,” he cocks his head to the side and flicks his tongue. “Well, I had a little talk with Belbes on the way up to the apartment and we decided on a trial run.”

“Belbes? You named one of them?” You say incredulously as you wait in line to pay.

“Yes, he’s the black one. You can name the other one.” he turns around and you just smile and shake your head.

---------- 2 years later Yoongi still liked to tease that Belbes and Gongdan were on a trial run whenever they would knock over water glasses or scratch on the doorframes, but the four of you all knew they weren’t going anywhere. 

JHope/Hobi: It wasn’t your fault that Hobi hadn’t asked you about pets on the first or second or twentieth date. Or that the two of you didn’t discuss things that each of you were afraid of until today. He had wanted to go to the Gondola ride up the mountain and you had refused. You were terrified of heights. You were fine with hiking up the mountain and back down. In fact you would rather walk the 8 kilometers than every set foot in one of those cable cars. But you felt bad because he had planned this date. “I just hate heights. I know statistically it’s safe and that driving is much more dangerous but it just scares me.” you say, hugging yourself with your arms and feeling awful for ruining things. 

“No baby it’s fine, I didn’t know.” he wraps his arms around you, hugging you close to his body “I wouldn’t make you do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. Let me change shoes and we can walk up the mountain instead. “Ok?” You nod our head as the two of you walk back to the car. “I totally understand. I hate snakes. Am terrified of them and they brought one out for the show and I had to sit there. It was awful and I wanted to cry but I didn’t because we were filming. But I went home and scrubbed my body and threw those clothes away.” 

His story is meant to be comforting, but it is not at all to you because now all you can envision is him breaking up with you because you have a pet snake. You feel like there is ice in your veins and you stand there for a minute trying to think of how to proceed. 

“Wow. that’s awful that they did that.” you respond.

“Yeah, I think they thought I was a little afraid so it would be funny but it wasn’t. Oh well. Now I never have to see or touch a snake again so it’s all good.” he smiles at you as he stands up from changing shoes. “What’s wrong?”

You blink a few times. “Uhhh…”

“I told you, don’t worry about the Gondola. I’m just happy to spend time with you, ok?” he takes your hand and walks the two of you over to the trail.

You spend the whole hike agonizing about what to do. You’ve had your snake for 3 years. You can’t just abandon him. Maybe the two of you can just never go to your apartment. But then snake would be lonely. Maybe he could go live with your brother? His kids might like a snake. No. They might hurt the snake. You sigh. 

“[Y/N]? I feel like you’re somewhere else. If you don’t want to be here we can go do something else,” he says looking at you concerned.

“No. It’s not that. I would feel this way right now no matter where I am. I uh...I guess I have something to tell you. And if you want to break up with me because of it, then I understand completely. I really do.” you breath out, twilling the tears to not fall.

“Oh god. What? What happened?” he says, his mind immediately going to the worst. You cheated on him, you were tired of him always being away on work, you didn’t love him anymore. He felt like the air was leaving his lungs and he sat down on a rock.

You are trying to not cry as you prepare to get dumped and work on forming the words, “I..have...a….pet….snake.” you sob.

To your shock and slight annoyance he starts laughing.  “Why are you laughing at me?!” you cry, wiping snot on your shirt like a little kid.

“I thought you were breaking up with me.” he smiles at you and stands up.

“Well I can’t get rid of my pet so I’m pretty sure you’re going to break up with me.” your body shakes with each sob. “Go on. Get it over with.” 

He takes your hands in his, “It’s 1 snake? Right? And it lives in a terrarium right?”

You nod your head.”And Noodle is a good snake. He can’t even bite. He just wants to hang out on his rock in the sunshine.”

“His name is Noodle?” Hobi asks, trying to get you to stop crying.

“Yessss” you are still crying.

“Well how about I go and meet Noodle right now. Will that make you feel better? As long as he stays in the cage when I’m there it will be ok.”

“Are you sure?” you ask, your eyes starting to dry.

“Yes, I love you more than I’m afraid of a small snake.”

You smile, “What about more than a big snake?” you tease.

“Don’t push your luck,” he kisses you.

Rm/Namjoon: It was an overcast day in Seoul and Namjoon had decided to come read at the park. It was mostly not busy since it was the middle of the day and he found his favorite bench, under a tree. Things were going quite nice and normal until he suddenly felt something hit his book. He lowered the book from his field of vision and found himself facing a large yellow dog, holding a Neon green Frisbee. “Oh. Hey there is this yours?” he asks the dog, taking the Frisbee from its mouth. He then notices the dog is dragging a leash behind him. “Huh. I feel like you’re not supposed to be here.” He marks the page and closes the book, sticking it in his satchel. “Let’s see,” he grabs the dog’s lead and searches the collar for a tag. “Halabeoji. Grandpa??? Who names their dog that?” he sees a number on the back of the collar. [Y/N] [Y##] he texts the number.

[NJ]: Hello. I found your dog. I’m at a bench south of the hill in the park.

He pets the dog while he stares at his phone and waits.

[Y/N]: Oh thank you thank you I will be right there!!!!

He doesn’t have to wait long as he hears a voice frantically yelling out “HALABEOJI!?! Where are you!?!?” 

“Hey!” he yells and waves.

“Oh thank God” you mutter, ”Thank You!!!!”  you yell as you jog over to your dog and to the man holding your pet’s leash. “Thank you so much. I am so sorry. He’s never done this before. Some kids threw a frisbee and he lost his mind.” You are now standing in front of Namjoon who is still holding the leash.

“It’s no trouble. He just got here.” he hands the leash over to you and you crouch down next to your dog’s face, “You are so bad. Such a naughty dog. It’s a good thing I love you” You say these words with the sweetest voice ever while rubbing your dog’s ears.  You stand up. 

“Thank you so much for grabbing him, I don’t know what I would have done if he wasn’t on the other side of this hill. We usually don’t come to this park.”

“Yeah, the kids hang out on that side of the hill because it’s where the playground and basketball courts are. This is the good side of the park. It’s nice and quiet over here.” he smiles as he sits back down on the bench.

“Good to know.” you reply as Halabeoji walks up and nudges Namjoon’s legs asking for pets. “Sorry,” you start to call him back towards you.

“No it’s fine. I love dogs. My dog lives with my parents because I travel too much but I do really like them.” he pets your dog who has now progressed into asking for belly rubs. He moves fast.

“Oh cool. What kind of dog do you have?” You walk over and have a seat on the bench next to him.

He takes out his phone and shows a picture of his white fluffy dog. 

“So cute! So fluffy!!!!!” You squeal.

“Yeah he’s pretty awesome.” Namjoon smiles. 

You look at your watch. “Ughhh. I have to go, we just came here on my lunch break and have a zoom meeting in half an hour. You totally saved my day. Thanks so much!” You stand up and wrap the leash around your hand.  

“It’s no trouble.” he responds. He pauses for a few seconds and then adds “Ummm...I’ll be here again tomorrow if you want to tell me why your dog is named grandpa.” he flashes his trademark dimples at you.

You laugh, “Ok, it’s a deal. I’ll see you tomorrow.” you smile and start walking back to your home office; did your dog just get you a date? 

[thorne93]

History Repeats (Part 11)

Prompt: Life’s hard, right? Well throw in a not so great job, a broken heart, and chasing a pipe dream in LA. But could someone come along to make all the bad shit disappear? Or is he just another heartbreak waiting around the bend?

Warnings: language, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, angst/heartbreak, adult themes (??)

Word Count: 1818

Note: Aesthetic made by @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo because she’s absolutely amazing Beta’d by @like-a-bag-of-potatoes and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo . Brainstorming from @carryonmyswansong​

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

“Hayden,” you said jovially as he covered your eyes, “where are we going?” you demanded playfully.

“Just a few more steps, please,” he requested, just behind you. 

A week had passed since Hayden had asked you out, trying to find a day that your schedules lined up. Now he’d had you blindfolded since you left the house, and when you got out of the car, he had you walking, covering your eyes with his hands now.

You thought you could hear water, you could hear people chatting, you could hear birds, you could hear...something hitting something, like wood on wood. 

You had no idea where you were. Your best guess was a pier. Maybe he was taking you fishing. 

“Okay, open,” Hayden quietly said and you slowly opened your eyes, the sunlight stinging at first as you looked around. You were at some sort of dock, with several gondolas.

“What is this?” you asked, looking at your surroundings with question. 

“Come on,” he said with a shy smile as he gestured for you to follow him, holding out his hand. “It’s a gondola ride,” he informed. “I thought instead of the typical dinner date, since we eat dinner all the time together, this might be a little more...fun.”

“I’ve never been on a boat before,” you softly murmured.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” he noted. “I’ll be there, not that that’s much comfort,” he teased. 

You scrunched your nose at him as he pulled you along to the rental booth, stating he had a reservation. After confirming all the details, they got your boat setup, a gondolier joining you. 

“After this, I thought we could grab lunch at a really small out of the way place I have in mind, if that’s okay with you?” he asked, seeming a little nervous.

Grinning at him, you nodded. “Of course, whatever you want.”

The two of you drifted for a little bit before the inevitable conversation started. You had started with talking about a couple of things you’d seen in the news, giving your opinion on it. Hayden agreed mostly with your views, offering questions or comments here and there. After a while, the conversation had steered from new to embarrassing moments that you’d had. You had recounted a time of being hotel manager that you’d walked in on a couple in a rather...explicit scene. 

“Oh my God,” Hayden said while laughing heartily. “You didn’t. Didn’t you knock?”

“I did! I thought I heard them say ‘Come in’ but I was mistaken. They had said, ‘Come on’...” you said, your cheeks blazing as you covered your face with your hands, laughing from the tale. 

“Not sure if that’s as bad as me walking in on Natalie during dress change for Star Wars,” he commented.

Your face went into shock as your mouth formed an O. “Oh no. Oh god. How did that happen?! You’re not serious. You’re messing with me,” you accused. 

He shook his head as he bit his bottom lip, chuckling. “Nope, not joking. It was, uh, it was...we were getting changed for one of the scenes. I thought I’d stop by to ask her her opinion on one of our next scenes. Her door was cracked open so I thought it was okay -- because she typically cracked the door when she was reading lines. I walked in and she was only halfway dressed.”

“Oh no!” you said, laughing. “Was she mad?”

Hayden shook his head. “No. She actually thought it was funny. I didn’t see anything but her back, but it still made it awkward for me for a while. She said that she thought she’d shut her door. The two of us eventually had a good laugh about it, but I thought I was a deadman when i opened that door.”

“Oh, aw,” you cooed sympathetically with a laugh. 

The two of you continued your sweet, blissful ride, swapping humiliating stories, reminiscing about hilarious childhood memories. The ride was so fun and light, the two of you laughing as you continued talking, learning about one another, and for you, falling more in love with him. Hayden truly was so sweet, level headed, down to earth, and yet, he had so many reasons that he could be totally full of himself. 

A few times, he asked you to elaborate or explain more about yourself, seemingly enthralled in your boring, mediocre life. The ride came to an end after a while, the two of you thanking your gondolier as you climbed out. He drove you over to a quaint cafe that was actually situated back in an alley. You had to go between two buildings, past a gorgeous courtyard, and then into the actual cafe. The two of you ordered and went back out to the courtyard and sat in the shade, continuing your conversation, learning all about each other.

The two of you touched a little on your personal lives. He told you about his parents, his sisters, diving into their relationship, and you loved and admired how highly he spoke of them. He was proud and impressed by all their accomplishments and it was wonderful to see that in a man. A huge turn off for you was someone who didn’t like their family. You offered up some about yourself as well, going into your childhood, your home life. 

At first, you weren’t sure that dating would be different from being friends, but quickly, you realized it was. Questions went from “What do you want for dinner?” to “What was your favorite meal growing up?” It felt backwards, to live together, to get used to each other domestically, and then start dating and learning about each other. But in one way, it got the worst part of the relationship out of the way. You weren’t learning about him in his everyday life, the two of you were trying to learn about each other, treading the waters to see if you had chemistry, anything to bond you two. 

Sure, as friends, as roommates, it was a pretty good time, but you’d seen before where friendships work, but the romance didn’t. In this case, you were praying that wasn’t true. And thus far, it proved not to be a problem. The two of you not finding anything you would consider a red flag or a deal breaker.

All too soon, the date was over and the two of you went back home to go back to living life as you had. You had some errands to run, as did Hayden, in different areas all over the city so you went your separate ways, the entire time mulling over the date, feeling giddy, excited and hopeful for the whole thing.

----------------------------------

A few days after your date, you were working your normal shift. Getting lost in paperwork, you were standing at the check in counter, the lobby completely empty, and you began to sing without thinking. Seeing as it was rather late, and you didn’t expect anyone to come around, you were humming a few bars of your own song when a man approached the counter, but you didn’t hear him. 

Not paying much attention, you continued singing when the man finally cleared his throat.

“Excuse me,” he softly said, making you jump.

You looked up and apologized, seeing a heavy set, middle-aged man leaning with one arm on the counter. 

“Oh, sir, I’m so sorry,” you apologized quickly, getting red-faced. 

“Not a problem. You have a good set of pipes on you,” he said, and you thanked him. “Typically, I don’t do this, but your voice...I’d like to work with you.” He pulled out his wallet and handed you a business card. “I’m Trey Corzon.”

“Trey Corzon?” you asked, fangirling and starstruck. Trey was one of the biggest names in music right now. The hottest names were popping up, and his name was all over them as the producer. 

“I’m a music producer. I was wondering if you’d like to give me a call sometime? Maybe we can work out some time in a booth. If you’d like,” he offered.

“I would love to,” you nearly shrieked.

“Do you have any demos?”

“Uh, yes, actually! I’ve got one with four tracks. Give me just a second and I’ll go get them,” you said just before you ran off to your office, grabbed the demo you kept on hand and raced back to him. “They’re a little rough, but I really think in the right hands, it could be something pretty special.” 

He took it from you and smiled. “Thanks. I’ll give it a listen. What’s your name?”

“I’m Y/F/N,” you said slowly, to make sure he heard all of it and remembered it as he shook your hand. “It’s an honor to meet you.” 

“Likewise, I’m sure,” he kindly said. “Well, hey, I gotta get running. Need to meet one of my artists at a release party. I’m gonna give this a listen in the next few days. Give me a ring, and we’ll set up something.”

“I will,” you promised, about to burst. 

“Thanks, have a good night.” 

The two of you waved as you waited until he was fully gone to do a small happy dance. You pulled out your phone and texted Hayden, telling him you had some great news.

--------------

Your shift finally ended and you nearly raced out of the hotel, throwing yourself into your car to speed home. As soon as you got in, Hayden’s face lit up.

“So what’s this great news?” he asked as he got up from the couch.

“I got discovered!” you nearly shouted, excitement in your face, voice, and body as you nearly jumped with glee. 

“You did? That’s fantastic!” he said as he ran over to you, sweeping you into his arms and spinning you around. When he sat you down, he cupped your face, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and brought his lips to yours, fervently. A congratulatory kiss. 

The kiss was swift, sweet, and punctuated with heat. When he let you go, you were breathless.

“Wow. I should get discovered more often,” you noted with bliss, your eyes still closed as he still cupped your face. He kissed your forehead and offered you to sit on the couch while he reheated leftovers for you. You told him all about it, how big of a deal it was, how excited you were. 

He seemed genuinely thrilled for you, unlike Jason, who constantly told you it was a pipe dream. The two of you talked for a little while longer, you getting entirely giddy about the idea of being a singer. Eventually, the two of you needed to go to bed though, so you bid each other a goodnight and parted ways, but for the first time in a while, you felt good about the future.

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

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[honeymoonjin]

**this work is still mine, i’ve changed my url from ksjinandtonicfics to honeymoonjin

A/N: part of the Open for Business Collab as part of BSC’s Summer & Smut project. Check out the playlist that accompanies this fic here.

Escaping to Venice for a break from your strenuous job was meant to be simple. Go there, decompress for two weeks, and return feeling invigorated. But the soulful gondolier you meet on the docks in Saint Mark’s Square has you wanting to never leave at all. 22.7k words.

Warnings for sexually explicit content: an overindulgent amount of foreplay, oral (f receiving), fingering, body worship, unprotected sex, premature ejaculation, multiple orgasms (m and f receiving), impregnation kink, praise kink, dirty talk, two diff smut scenes.

---

Maybe it was his stillness in the chaos of the crowd that caught your eye. The way the bustling tourists and peddlers seemed to part like magic to allow you to observe him uninterrupted from the other side of the plaza. He stood there, calmly sitting on one of the posts at the inner side of the dock, reading an old paperback.

He was young; couldn't have been more than 25, yet he wore the oddest outfit you had ever seen on a man his age. Deep navy pants, ballooning slightly around his thighs and coming in snugly around his knees and calves. A baggy, squarish striped shirt tucked into those pants, and a black beret. You were pretty sure gondoliers were meant to wear those flat hats with the ribbons that you had seen the rest donning, but you couldn't deny that it gave his face a golden glow, framing the light brown hair and heavyset brows below it. Odder still were his glasses; rounded lenses with spindly silver frames, and a thin cord tied to the outer edges and connecting around the back of his neck. You had seen them before on librarians and elderly people, but never on a young adult like himself.

Picking your way through the crowds, you keep him in sight, observing the way he'd occasionally look up from his novel to check on his ornately carved gondola, as if he was expecting customers to just hop right on in. As you drew nearer, you can see a sign at his feet, propped up and displaying prices and rules, written down three columns: Italian, English, and what you recognised vaguely to be Korean. You let out a breath of relief. He did speak English, then.

You finally come to a stop directly in front of him, shifting your weight awkwardly, tipping your head to try and catch his attention subtly, but he seems entranced in the novel.

You can see through his splayed fingers that the ragged, yellowed book that has him oblivious to the world around him is Heidi. You could laugh at the thought of a man in Venice getting deeply absorbed in the world of a little girl in Switzerland, but instead it endears you to watch him for a moment, eyebrows twitching slightly in surprise every now and again, an unconscious smile playing at his lips.

You glance around the square once more, feeling a little silly, and perhaps even rude for just standing here and staring at him. Clearing your throat and waving your hand at him a little, you manage to peak his attention. "Hi, excuse me, do you speak English? I'm looking for a gondola ride."

His shoulders jump a little at the sudden voice, and he slips a delicate pointer finger between the pages he's on to mark his spot as he straightens up. You withhold a gasp when his eyes meet yours and his face is fully turned to you. Part of you almost wishes you never approached him, as you know you're bound to make a fool of yourself in his presence. His eyes are the smoothest, deepest brown you think you've ever seen, magnified behind those lenses, and while the majority of his face is finely sculpted and symmetrical, his eyelids are uneven; the quirk only serves to make him more attractive. There's a mole right under one eye, and another in the middle of his opposite cheek. Those small details take your breath away; he looks so stunningly perfect, that you're glad you spoke before really looking at him; you wouldn’t have gotten the courage otherwise.

He gives you an easy smile, his eyes narrowing happily. He's pleased you came up to him, and the thought warms you inside. "Of course. First time in Venice?"

You nod shyly. "That obvious?"

His lip twitches up. "You're wearing business casual in a city where the main forms of transport are boats and walking. I would go so far as to suggest it's your first day."

You laugh nervously, glancing down at the blouse-and-pencil skirt combo you had donned this morning. "These are really the only types of clothes I own. Anyway, uh, the sign says 100 euros, right? How long's the ride?"

He finally puts down the book; slipping in an embroidered handkerchief from his back pocket as a bookmark and chucking it into the main compartment of the boat. "Depends on how big the waves get," he replies easily, tipping his head as he looks over you.

You splutter. "The waves? Oh, I don't want to get on if it's-"

"Relax, uptown girl, I'm just playing with you. It's an hour round trip. Most gondoliers only take forty-five minutes, but I like to be more thorough, get you a real good feel for the city. And it's actually 80 euros."

"Oh." You blink down to the placard by his feet, then up to him. "The sign says 100."

His grin is different to last time, less boxy and open, more sly. He pats you on the shoulder teasingly. "Take the discount, sweetheart. In you get."

It takes you an embarrassingly long time to get on board. With legs wobbling more than a new-born deer, you gratefully accept his hand and shoulder to lean on for support so that you can step off the dock and into the carpeted bay.

Although narrow, there's a surprising amount of room; you look around as the man behind you starts to unmoor the gondola from the dock. The bench you're sitting on now is lushly upholstered, and even has silk cushions with intricate designs like something off a Persian rug. It faces you to the front of the boat, away from the man. In front of you are two square stools that are bolted down at the bottom. "I didn't catch your name," you call out, twisting around, feeling surprisingly stable amongst the rocking of the vessel.

He's standing on a platform on the left back, and you have to crane your neck up to see his face as he smiles calmly down at you. "You never thought to ask before getting into a stranger's boat. Oh, my." Your hands fly out to grip the sides of the gondola as he kicks off from the dock with a hard shove of his foot, and the boat begins to heavily cut through the still water. "My name is Taehyung. To whom do I owe the pleasure?"

You give him your name with a friendly smile, then turn back around to face the front, watching as the golden angel figurehead appears to navigate the cloudy teal waters. You'd be quite content to sit here in amiable silence, letting the taxing strains of the job you'd taken a break from slip away from you, but it seems Taehyung is not.

"So, what brings you to Venice?"

A part of you dies inside. You hate small talk. "Vacation, of course."

He hums, unsatisfied with your curt response. "Well, I was thirteen when I came here," he reveals, and you're secretly glad you're facing away from him as you pull a face of annoyance. "A woodworker took me in to his home and taught me how to live like a real Venetian. I fell in love with this place; the history, the culture, the way of life. I'm still friends with his son, who's since inherited the family business. Strangely enough, they were Korean too, which, I suppose, was why the old man took pity on me like he did. It's a small world, after all. I owe him everything."

Your eyes are wide with awkward tension once he finishes. What the fuck were you supposed to say to that? "Oh, wow," you state lamely. It feels wrong to let those words fizzle into an unsympathetic silence. "Could you tell me about Venice, then? I think the gondoliers are meant to give proper guided tours, right? Like, what's this bridge here?"

You point ahead at the impressive structure, though it's not like he would miss it. It bridges the gap of the whole Grand Canal, white stone that arched gracefully below, and housed a pathway on top that was filled with tourists.

"The Rialto," he clarifies simply. With a slight laugh, his voice becomes playful again. "Are you not impressed with my tour so far? Am I not living up to your expectations?"

You frown and swivel back around to face him. "I didn't mean that," you protest hastily, "I just thought this would be more Venetian history and less... autobiographical."

His tongue darts out to wet his lips, and your eyes are caught by the flash of pink, swallowing hard. "My apologies," he replies flatly, though you can tell he's not seriously annoyed, "I'll be sure to save my emotional tale of adolescence for the therapist."

You let out a surprised laugh, and he cocks an eyebrow at you, hands resting easily on the oar that he uses to steer the gondola slightly rightwards around a gradual bend in the canal. The strangely combative energy dissolves away, and you let the tension in your shoulders ease.

Once you settle back in against the pillows, he does as requested and gives you a very informative narration for the remainder of your tour. Important dates in history, facts about the culture, even small tidbits of advice here and there when you'd pass a cafe he deemed 'exceptional' or a restaurant with 'marvellous' cannelloni.

In fact, by the time he docks you back at the main square, you're reluctant to get out, handing over the cash gratefully. "Thank you," you gush once your feet land back on solid ground, "I had an amazing time." You loiter, not wishing to leave this experience behind just yet. Or maybe it was him that you didn't want to leave. "So, what are you going to do now? It's getting late."

He eyes you curiously, like he's searching for something, then shrugs. "More of the same," he answers breezily. "Every day I come here in the early afternoon and park up. I'll bring a book or something to do, and hang around in case somebody wants a ride." He breaks off to laugh at himself, tugging at the hair that peeks out the back of his beret. "Honestly, you're the first person who's approached me in weeks. Normally I just wait around until everyone else has left for the night and go home for a late dinner."

Your knit your eyebrows. "That's really sad," you state genuinely, "I thought a job like this would drum up a lot of business."

"Ah, I'm sure it does for some people," he allows, eying up the few gondoliers that still remain in the square, roaming the cobblestoned courtyard, holding up sandwich boards and loudly announcing their bargains for the day. You're glad you didn't choose them. They seem boisterous and tacky compared to the gentleman in front of you. Taehyung sighs. "I've never been a good advertiser, I suppose. The right people will come to me." He winks at you jauntily, but his face quickly falls again. "Ah well, it was nice to meet you. Enjoy the rest of your trip, now? Like I said, don't forget to use the Vaporetto if you're wanting to explore the city more. It's far cheaper than the water taxis."

"Thank you," you repeat. For a moment, you stay standing in front of him as he stares at you in bemusement, but you can come up with nothing else to say to him, so you turn around and walk away.

--

You hadn't slept well. In an effort to enjoy the fruits of your hard-earned wealth, you had eaten at an extremely expensive restaurant - a seafood platter and then some gelato on the walk home to cleanse your palate. You promised yourself that tomorrow, you'd explore some more of the city.

But the moment you tucked yourself into the plush silk sheeted bed of the five star hotel you were staying at, your thoughts fell, almost unconsciously, to Taehyung

The gondolier that apparently hadn't had any customers in weeks before you chose to follow your curious streak. You tried to imagine what his living situation must look like if he wasn't earning any money from his job. Certainly he wouldn't have been able to afford the luxuries you had been indulging in.

But then again, that was what you got when you didn't work hard. He had said it himself; he didn't like drumming up business. Your whole career was built on that determination, that drive, something that seemed to be completely missing in him. Oh well. That was his problem to deal with, not yours.

To your credit, you had attempted to venture further out from the main square, wandering around the streets in search for something to do to get your mind off him. But the stupidest things would make your brain revert back to him.

An old bookstore. You wondered if this was where he had purchased his copy of Heidi. A man in a striped shirt taking a photo in front of a fountain. You recalled the way Taehyung's was perfectly tailored to show off his neck and some of his collarbones. Even when you took the Vaporetto, the main source of public transport on the water, you couldn't help but think of how much smoother it was to glide along the canals in Taehyung's gondola.

You had meant to take the water bus all the way to the far end of the main island, but you found yourself disembarking at Saint Mark's Square. Your eyes sought out Taehyung at the docks, and an inexplicable warm burst of relief settled in your chest when you found him, leaning against that same post, nose in the book.

You took two steps towards the dock, then paused, sending a few disgruntled tourists knocking into you and walking away muttering. He had farewelled you, you remember. Wished you well for the rest of the trip and even suggested you took the water bus instead. He probably didn't want you to go to him again. You would hate to prevent other potential customers for using his services, besides.

The smart thing would have been to give up, grab some lunch and carry on with your day. Instead, you found yourself holed up in a bougie cafe, the Florian or something, not that you had paid much attention. Barely glancing at the menu, you pointed out a cold beverage and a scallops dish, then scouted out a good table.

From here, you could just make him out through the crowd. With the same black beret and glasses, and a somewhat similar striped top, the only real difference was that his navy pants had been replaced by bright red. Streaks of the crimson shade would peek out at you from between tourists, and your heart would give a little jump every time his face came into view as well.

A small smile played at your face unknowingly when you watched him come to the end of the book, presumably the same one as last time, and sigh, tossing it into the gondola morosely, before taking off his glasses and letting them hang from the cord around his neck.

You couldn't explain what kept you here, topping up your overpriced Italian soda, even as the waitress insistently offered you the bill. You were curious, that much you knew. Curious about whether he'd get any customers or not.

The moment he gets another customer, you vow, I'm going. As the hours passed, you really couldn't say if you wanted him to get a customer or not. It displeased you to see him there so bored, with nothing left to do but wait now that his book had been finished, and you were a little worried about his financial situation.

As other gondoliers came and went, some of the more charming ones forming lines by their concession stands, you saw Taehyung stare hopelessly into the crowd, eyes following all the couples and families that walked right past him. His eyes had drooped on the edges. His chin tucked down to his chest.

You stood up abruptly, the chair legs scraping against the outdoor tiling. The waitress nearest you jumps at the noise, but quickly rushes over and hands you the black leather folder with your bill inside. You're too distracted to care, but the total makes you falter for a moment, handing over the cash with a hurried motion so that you can slip out of the shade and into the full blare of the sun.

Now that you were pushing your way through the thronging crowd, you had to force yourself not to break into a jog. Why can't I just leave enough alone? you questioned. Why do I care so much?

"Taehyung," you shout as you approach him, drinking in his reaction. He starts, breaking from his trance-like state of boredom, and his eyes slide around the crowd until they land on you. A boxy grin lights up his face, eyebrows lifted in surprise. When you come to a stop right in front of him, you feel breathless. "Taehyung," you repeat, "I don't suppose you have enough time to squeeze me in for another go?"

He scoffs good-naturedly. "Always time for you, uptown girl."

You can't stop the beam that stretches across your face now that you're back in his presence. He's addictive; a voice like honey and eyes sweeter than sugar. You feel a little dizzy. "My name is Y/n, you know." Your eyes widen. "Oh god, I did tell you my name last time, right?”

"You sure did," he chuckles, "but I like uptown girl more. Suits you."

You bite your lip awkwardly as his eyes roam over you in bemusement. This morning, you had swapped out your trusty black heels for some flats, but you had still donned a skirt-and-blouse combo. Having only work-appropriate clothes in your suitcase, you were left with no other option. Perhaps a more constructive use of your morning would've been to go shopping, you think. "Is it just the same tour? Or do you have, I don't know, different ones?"

He blinks at you, looks down at the gondola, then back at you again. "Honestly," he admits, "no. You're the first one who's ever come back for a second time. Most people are one and done, you know?"

"Oh." You shrug awkwardly, feeling a little stupid. "I guess just the same tour is fine, then. It's okay."

His eyes flicker up to the clouds without focus as he ponders something, humming unconsciously. "How about this? I need to stop by the squero to get that stool fixed," he points at the stool on the right half of the gondola, which you notice is on an angle, with a couple of bolts missing at the bottom, "so, how about I give you a real taste of Venice? Not just the touristy shit."

Something about the thought that you were venturing somewhere a little more... private excites you. "The squero?" you inquire, not familiar with the term.

His smile widens at your interest, and your heart jumps when some clouds part, and the sun streams down on him. He's too attractive to be in this job, you think. He's radiant. Unaware of the turn your thoughts have taken, he simply sighs blissfully and tips his head up to receive the warm rays, eyes closing. "The squero," he repeats, voice huskier than before, "it's just a district where us gondoliers go for repairs. In fact," his eyes crack open and his head snaps back down to capture your gaze suddenly, "I do believe I told you about the workshop yesterday. It's where I grew up. I hope you were listening."

You laugh reflexively at his teasing grin. "Thanks to your unorthodox methods, I think I remember that part of the ride more than the actual tour."

"Unorthodox methods," he muses, nodding slowly, "that's a new one. Hop on in, then, uptown girl, let's go for a joyride."

--

The workshop you dock at seems much like Taehyung himself; homely, humble, and impossibly endearing. Strangely enough, it comes as somewhat of a contrast to the rest of Venice, as the design of the building’s façade is closer to what you’d see on a mountain chalet. Instead of the white stone and tan roof combination that is seen throughout the rest of the city, this shop, and some others along the backstreet canal you were in, had dark, rough wood exteriors like a log cabin, and several small balconies with heavy forest green curtains and flowerboxes. The bottom level is the workshop; the entire front is a sliding door that has been pushed all the way open, and it seems the upper levels might be residential, for the workers to live in.

“So, this is where you grew up? Seems nice.” You don’t mean to sound ingenuine, but it comes out flat, so you rush to explain yourself. “It looks really…warm and welcoming. It’s different.”

His voice comes above you, distracted as he navigates the gondola to park right in front of the storefront. “Different? Isn’t the whole point of a nostalgic childhood home to be warm and welcoming? It’s where your family is, after all.”

“Eh,” you shrug non-committedly, “mine was more of a…museum exhibit on houses, or a movie set or something. Flat, cold. Nostalgia isn’t really a concept I’m all that familiar with. Or family, for that matter.”

Taehyung rests the oar on its forcola and steps down into the bay where you’re sitting, taking a seat across from you in the unbroken stool. He lets his gaze hang heavy over you, deep brown eyes fixed to yours. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he states with a serious emphasis, “for me, family is everything. I can’t imagine life without my loved ones.” You’re a little taken aback by his earnest delivery, more so when he rests a hand on your knee, the contact burning hot through the thin material of your pantyhose.

“Uh, it’s okay,” you reply breathlessly, “I keep busy.”

His mouth droops at the edges at that comment, but he picks it up to give you a reassuring smile and squeeze your knee. “Come on. I was gonna drop you off at the café down the road while I sorted this out, but how about you come inside with me, yeah? I’ll introduce you to some full-blooded Venetians.”

Those ‘full-blooded Venetians’ turn out to be two young men, vaguely Taehyung’s and your age, arguing loudly across the workshop floor in an endearing mix of Korean, English and Italian as the two of you enter, drowning out the light jingle of an overhead bell when you first step over the threshold.

“We have a visitor,” Taehyung loudly proclaims in English, and you grin at the way his commanding voice carries across the room, shutting the two men up.

The one hunched over a bench covered in wood shavings looks up from the chair leg he’s carving. His pillowed lips are tensed in a pout and he gestures angrily with a metal file at the other, a younger boy who’s standing at the far end with an oily rag tucked into some old jeans, carrying a pile of gleaming tools. As if in an effort to include you, the older man shifts seamlessly into complete English himself. “This kid seriously just asked me why we don’t just put the tools in a dishwasher to save him polishing them! Please tell me your guest is here about the job opening!”

You feel terribly small around these new people, and instinctively you find yourself shuffling closer to Taehyung, feet sliding silently across the worn stone floor. Taehyung reaches over to pat you on the back, then leaves pressure there as he walks you forward further in. “A customer,” he explains, “so please play nice.”

The boy, having been left out of the conversation for too long, dumps the tools noisily in a white bucket, making the three of you cringe at the clanging, then rushes over, skidding to a stop in front of you. “Jungkook,” he introduces himself as, “it’s an honour to have such a beautiful lady in my shop.”

“Your shop?” the elder asks incredulously, slamming the stick of wood on his work bench and standing up, brushing tight curls of wood off his faded blue tee. “Do you pay rent and electricity? The moment someone applies for your position, you’re out! I’m Jin, by the way,” he mentions off-hand to you, before Jungkook lets out an offended cry.

“So what, you’re just gonna throw me by the wayside as soon as you find someone else?”

“Oh boy,” Taehyung murmurs, grimacing and shrugging at you apologetically.

Jungkook’s not finished. “What about all the hours I’ve spent here, hyung? I worked my way up from the bottom!”

“You’re still at the bottom, idiot.” Jin pinches the bridge of his nose. “You never listen to me, Jungkook, and you’re not good at your job. That’s the base line of it.”

The younger’s mouth falls open. He opens and closes it a few times, before shaking his head in disbelief. “I’m not good at my job? What about that figurehead I carved for that customer, hm? What about that?”

“You’re meant to carve mermaids, or angels, or something like that, Jungkook! Not one of your anime girls!”

There’s a vein sticking out on Jungkook’s neck and you’re a little concerned it’s going to burst with the way he’s clenching his jaw. “Hatsune Miku is an angel, Jin! How could you even say that?”

“Guys,” Taehyung slips in tiredly, “I said play nice. Y/n here is new to Venice. I don’t want to scare her away because you crackheads can’t act normal for two seconds.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jin notes pleasantly, as if he hadn’t been deeply entrenched in a catfight moments before, “you said she was a customer. What are you looking to buy, then?”

As amusing as the fight was, you now wish Taehyung had just let you wait at a random café. It’s a little arresting having the full attention of three extremely handsome young men on you. “Oh, not a customer of you guys. I went on Taehyung’s gondola tour yesterday.”

Jungkook gasps. “Uptown girl!”

Your eyes widen and you snap your head around to look up at Taehyung, whose golden cheeks are warm with a blush. He laughs awkwardly, and in the back of your mind you hope he speaks for a while so that you can keep watching him at this close proximity. It’s a different feeling from when you’re sitting down in the gondola and he’s up steering. Taehyung tugs at the hair at the nape of his neck. “I may have…mentioned you,” he admits sheepishly, “but it’s just because you were my first customer in a while. I was excited.”

“He sure was excited,” Jungkook manages to get out before Jin whacks him on the back of the head. “Ow! Hey! Anyway, it’s nice to get to meet you. You guys going on a date now or what?” Another hit has Jungkook lashing out at Jin with an angry frown, but the elder just widens his eyes meaningfully at him.

You splutter. “N-No, I just wanted another ride, that’s all.” Jungkook cackles, and this time even Jin can’t defend your honour. “God, I’m sorry, that was poor phrasing. Pun not intended.”

"Anyway," Taehyung continues, "I'm really here because one of my stools is coming loose, I need you to check out the bolts and tighten them up. Would you mind making sure that the wood underneath hasn't scratched too?"

Jungkook frowns. "This isn't about you, hyung. Keep your head in the game." He turns to you as Jin huffs and double-checks the tool belt hanging low on his hips, before heading out the front of the shop. Now without the presence of his boss, Jungkook shifts his weight to one side and gives you a once-over. "Y/n, right? What are your intentions with my brother?"

Your mind goes blank as you stare at the young man. "A...gondola ride? Around the canals? As his service offers?"

Jungkook purses his lips and narrows his eyes, staying silent for a moment, before the tension dissipates and he gives you a wide grin. "Excellent! Now, here are the basics: Taehyung enjoys photography, pasta, and long walks on the beach. He's an excellent swimmer and he knows how to play the saxophone although I accidentally dropped his in the canal once and he can't afford to buy another one, so he's probably a little rusty. He's good with money, but can be a little forgetful, he believes in love at first sight and wants three kids: a boy and two girls. Hyung, did I miss anything?"

You're pretty sure your mouth is hanging open, but you can't think to close it. Taehyung's eyebrows are raised in exasperation and surprise. "Kookie, no wonder you don't have a girlfriend. That's too far."

"Yeah, because I'm too busy advertising you! You're a hard sell, buddy, you know that?" Jungkook sends him a quick thumbs up before scampering away, thumping his way up a set of stairs at the far end of the room.

Taehyung sighs and collapses down at the workbench Jin was previously at, lazily pushing some wood shavings into a little pile with a finger. "Man, I'm sorry about him. He can get a little overexcited sometimes. Don't take anything he said seriously."

You already feel more comfortable now that it's just the two of you in the room, even though you can hear distant videogame gunshots from upstairs and Jin singing to himself as he worked on the gondola outside. With a sly grin, you ask, "oh, so you don't know how to play the saxophone? I knew it, I pinned you as more of a kazoo type anyway."

He chuckles, relieved that you're not too weirded out by the confronting conversation. "No, he was telling the truth about that. I studied in my spare time for almost six years while I had that old saxophone. It was second hand, and I would always imagine myself standing on a great big stage, like Carnegie Hall or something, giving this old instrument a new life." He scoffs good-naturedly at his own words, and stares down at his hands. "Sorry, in case you haven't noticed I'm a bit of a sop. Hopeless romantic, if you want to phrase it nicer."

Your eyes linger on the delicate arch of his neck, the veins in the backs of his hands, the mole on his cheek, the strong brows. Your voice is so soft it barely reaches him. "There's nothing hopeless about you."

He looks up in mild surprise, eyebrows raised and mouth slightly open. You lick your lip subconsciously, feeling as usual the way your heart raced when his eyes were on you. You think you catch them flickering down to watch the movement, but at this distance you can't be sure. You wish you were standing closer. "Y/n," he utters softly, and you realize with a bolt of excitement up your spine that it's the first time he's directly addressed you by name, "how long are you staying in Venice?" His eyes are glimmering, even in the relatively dim light of the workshop, hopeful smile playing at his lips.

Oh. You wish you had a better answer to give him than the truth. You’ve only met him twice, but you already hate the thought of leaving him and returning to your normal life. "Two weeks," you reply a little louder than needed, wanting to disperse a little of that weird electricity in the air. "Well, only eleven more days now."

He nods slowly, face falling. His gaze is directed towards you, but distant, like he's seeing right through you. You don't like it. "Well, then, if you ever have nothing to do one day, you know where I'll be."

You give him a grateful smile, then gasp, shoving your hand in your purse. "Wait, that reminds me, here's your eighty euros for the ri-"

"Keep it," he mumbles with a slightly pained smile. "I can't take money from you for coming with me while I do my own errands. I didn't realize it would take this long, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," you protest reflexively, uneasy at the way his disposition had suddenly become so gloomy. The singing outside has stopped, and a quick glance shows Jin packing up his tools and disembarking the gondola. "I had fun today, Taehyung. Thank you." You bite your tongue, holding back the words you were about to foolishly say. Besides, you need the money more than I do.

He nods, then blinks out of his haze when the bell jingles to signify Jin's arrival. "What's the damage?" Taehyung asks, his voice perfectly chipper and a world removed from the sullen tone you had just received. Still, something in his expression remains sad, and you can't help but feel guilty, wondering if you had some part to play in his strange behaviour.

The way Jin's eyebrows narrow tells you he's picked up on Taehyung's glum mood, but he doesn't bring it up. "Don't worry about it, Tae. You know we won't charge you."

He hums gratefully, then stands up, rolling his shoulders. "Thanks, hyung. I appreciate it. Anyway, I need to go drop Y/n off back at Saint Mark's, so I probably won't come back here before I go home."

Over Taehyung's shoulder, Jin frowns at you meaningfully, eyes soft with concern for his friend. You wave a dismissive hand. "Oh, that's okay, you don't have to do that. I was actually going to suggest I could walk back. You know, use the chance to explore a little more of Venice."

"Ah, good idea," Jin says loudly, giving you a grateful smile. "Taehyung, why don't you stay for dinner?"

The young man fixes you an unsure glance, so you just give him a quick wave, and turn around to leave. He doesn't protest.

--

Your third day sees you pounding the pavement, determined to spend your time thinking about something other than Taehyung's strange attitude the other day. You fully plan on going back to Saint Mark's Square at some point, to give him his eighty euros if nothing else, but for now you get the Vaporetto to drop you off at one far end of the city, aimlessly wandering through streets to find your way back.

It's a nice way to spend your morning, and the fresh air is a welcome change from the stuffy, perfumed rooms of the hotel you were staying at. In fact, last night you had found the hotel more suffocating than ever; like those perfectly wallpapered walls were gradually getting closer and closer together when you weren't looking.

For the first time since stepping foot in Venice, you had even entered some of the stores you passed. Picking up some souvenirs to put on your work desk when you returned, a pair of overpriced yet insanely comfortable kitten heels, and some romance books you had found in a bargain bin in this tiny bookstore down a dark alley, you were feeling happy with your purchases, but more than ready to make your way back to your hotel room and ease the strain of the bag handles pulling heavily at your forearms. With the help of Google Maps, you managed to find a street you recognised, one that led directly on to your hotel.

Putting your phone away, you simply let yourself enjoy all of your senses being overwhelmed by this new place. Although you were walking along a stone road, you could smell the salt of the canal that ran parallel to it, behind the buildings on your left side. Upon your initial arrival, you had turned your nose up at it, quite literally. It wasn't the fresh and clean salt smell of the sea, but was tainted with inner city living, the litter from passers-by and the petrol from boat engines. It had felt like an illusion broken, but now you were beginning to get used to it, to appreciate the story that brackish water told.

As you strolled, your reflection in the gleaming glass panes of the storefronts strolled with you, and you found yourself turning your head every so often to get a glance at it. Was it the romance in the air, or did this version of you look a little taller? A little brighter, a little less run-down? No more than two and a half days here, and you were already dreading your inevitable return to the monotonous trudge of your working life.

A sudden, metallic glare cuts right into your retinas and you squint, pausing in the street. The shop you stand across is unbelievably old, more so that its worn companions beside it. Paint flakes away from the wooden sign, so that the cursive Venetian Antiques can barely be deciphered. The main window, presumably the cream of the crop to draw in customers, is mostly filled with vases of delicately blown glass and figurines carved with rich dark woods, but right in the middle, on a purple velvet cushion corded with gold, lies a saxophone, slightly beaten in on one side but polished to gleaming perfection, sporting a small paper tag tied around one of the keys. Jumping out of the way of a small boy running recklessly down the street without shoes, you take the hint to stop standing in the middle of the path, and walk right up to the glass. Now that you're near enough, you can rise up on the tips of your toes to catch a glimpse at the price, scrawled with an extremely curlicued dollar sign. $850. You just about stumble straight into the glass when you read it. Holy fucking shit! No wonder he couldn't afford a new one at that cost, and this one was second-hand too.

A jingle of a bell catches your attention, and you pull your gaze to the side, where an old man pokes his head out, tugging unconsciously at the end of his greying beard. "In che posso servirLa?"

Your eyes widen as you blink at him. “Sorry, I don’t…”

He smiles good-naturedly, ruddy cheeks lifting to crinkle the corner of his eyes. "I asked," he translates in a thick Italian accent, "how I could help you. Do you need help?"

"Oh." You smile gratefully then look back at the saxophone. You should just walk away. It's stupid... "Is this price negotiable?"

"The saxophone?" He grins. "Of course, I am Italian. Come inside, signorina."

The antiques store is musty as all others are, but instead of feeling cramped and stuffed with useless unwanted items, something about it seems magical, romantic. As the old man reaches into the display case to pull out the instrument, you wander around the main bay of the store, looking over the offerings. A tall bookcase closer to the back of the shop, just beside the counter, holds rows and rows of worn paperbacks, some with rubber bands just to hold them in one piece. You wonder if this was where Taehyung brought Heidi. You wonder why all your thoughts lead back to Taehyung these days.

The voice approaching you from behind knocks you out of your musings. "A beautiful instrument, the saxophone. How long have you played?"

"Oh, I," you bite your lip as he walks around and rests it gently on the countertop. Why were you even looking at it? "I wanted to maybe buy it as a gift for a... a friend."

"A friend?" he repeats, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly. "For just a friend, this is six hundred euros, but for a lover... four-fifty. We are in Venice, after all."

You splutter and flush, but he takes no notice other than to grin salaciously at you. "I don't have that much cash on me," you admit.

He scoffs heartily and bends down to rummage below the counter, returning with a small wireless machine. "Then it is so good for you that we live in the 21st Century and not the Dark Ages, hm? €450?"

I can still back out, the rational voice in the back of your mind screams. This is stupid, and it would blow your entire Christmas bonus from last year that you had taken such care to save. But you found yourself handing over your credit card nonetheless, feeling your heart race as he went into a back room to fetch the case and accompanying materials.

Your arm muscles scream every step back to your hotel, but for some reason even that doesn't stop you from smiling giddily the whole way.

--

"You're back, uptown girl!"

The fact that he noticed you before you got the chance to call out to him, as well as the use of your nickname again, has your spirits peaking immediately. You beam like a child on their birthday and nod. "Here," you state quickly, thrusting your clenched fist out to him, several paper notes sticking out, "the eighty euros for the trip yesterday."

He raises a brow at you, working his jaw, before sighing in bemused exasperation and gratefully accepting the cash. "I forgot to tell you something yesterday..."

You blink up at him. "What?"

"I have a lucrative buy-two-get-one-free deal going."

You could laugh at the deadpan expression on his face, but instead you just smile widely. "Oh, really? I thought you never got repeat customers?"

He shoots you a warning look, wry smile tugging at his lips. "Hence why I forgot to tell you earlier. Come on in, then, let's go!"

You have to appreciate his enthusiasm, and you can't pretend like you're not thrilled at the fact that he clearly wants you around. This time, when you hop into the gondola, you sit on the newly repaired stool instead of the upholstered couch. This way, you can face him head-on. Once he stands in position and glances down at you, he laughs quietly and shakes his head.

"You're meant to be enjoying the view," he advises, waving a hand out in front of him.

You don't waver. "I am."

Taking a ride while facing the wrong way is dangerous enough in a train or campervan. Here, on the gently bobbing water, it's hellish. Of course, you don't let him know that, though you're sure he's noticed the death grip you have on the curved wood sides of the boat. Taehyung himself glides as smoothly as ever, parting the water with a steady hand on the oar, occasionally stretching a leg out to kick off a wall that approaches too closely, but now that you can no longer see what's ahead, every slight judder or turn has your stomach sloshing more so than the canal water itself.

It's worth it, though, to be able to gaze upon his profile as the slowly setting sun lights it up in a rich bronze glow, sharp jaw casting shadows on the column of his neck. You can almost forget the way your heart bobs in your chest to match the gondola when you let yourself drown in Taehyung. "You know," you point out casually about fifteen minutes into your ride, "I've gone past some other gondolas who have been singing. Can't you sing for me?"

He huffs out his nose with an incredulous smile. "The man that raised me once told me, ‘never fall in love with a woman, son. They're never satisfied.’"

"I can be satisfied," you think softly, and it's not until he looks down at you sharply in surprise that you realise you spoke aloud. "I'm sure you have a beautiful voice."

His eyes waver at the clarification, the smile faltering. "The singing," he muses, "yes, I suppose I do. Alright, then."

You're glad that you chose to suffer the motion sickness of the gliding gondola, because nothing could be better than those next forty-odd minutes. He has the voice of an angel to match that face of his, and you find yourself totally speechless. The first song is quiet, like he's unsure; more of a whisper than a melody. His eyes keep darting to you and away, but your reassurance once he's finished that it was truly magical has his confidence growing. The songs aren't all the same either; he mixes traditional Italian love songs with hauntingly beautiful Korean ballads; powerful opera with a sweet lullaby he remembered his mother singing to him as a baby.

When he pulls up back at that familiar dock, you don't want to acknowledge it. Don't want to leave at all. You stay motionless, sat on the stool as you stare up at him in wonder.

He looks back from mooring the boat, one foot up on the dock in a crouch, the other still on the boat, holding them close together. Your eyes are firmly fixed to his upper arms, the way the muscles strain under the light grey cotton of his striped shirt. It's clearly a staple of his, among the black beret and ballooned pants. He notices you staring and gives the rope an extra firm tug with a cheeky grin on his face. "Come on now, pretty girl. Show's over; it's getting late. You want a hand up?"

With a satisfied smile, you stretch out your hand and place it in his palm. He steps up, both feet on the dock, and practically lifts you out with the one arm. Stumbling a little with the voracity of the motion, you're forced to press your hands against his chest to avoid barrelling into him, and the touch sends a shock running up your spine.

Taehyung's eyes meet yours, then lift to stare at your hair. Mouth parting in surprise, he lifts up a hand. You instinctively duck, then straighten up and let him run his fingers through your hair. You're completely bewildered, until he pulls his hand back down and shows you the dried-up, dead petal that was caught between the strands.

"I wonder how that got there," he muses, eyes lighting up with mischief as a smile overtakes his face, "I should probably check to make sure there aren't any more." And with that suggestion, he promptly lifts both hands up to slip his fingers under your hair, calloused pads running along your scalp, and slowly dragging them out again, your hair tugging slightly on the occasional knot or snag. He does this once on top, second underneath by the nape of your neck, and then one last time starting from just above your ears, only this time he pauses when his hands are buried deep in your hair.

Your eyes are wide and your breath is shallow. "Taehyung," you whisper, though you don't know why. His name just slips out of you like a reflex, or a prayer.

His deep brown eyes are searching intently over your face, stopping when you dip your tongue out to wet your rapidly drying lips. Almost unconsciously, you're tipping your chin up, eyelids fluttering lower and lower.

The moment his grip on you tightens slightly and his brow lowers in determination, your eyes fall shut, and you lick your lips quickly once more, waiting for his kiss. But after a moment, nothing comes.

Just when you go to open your eyes again, internally dying of embarrassment at somehow misreading the situation, you feel the slightest of pressure right in the middle of your left cheek.

Not so much as breathing, you stand perfectly still, mouth parted as his lips leave you and plant an equally soft kiss on your right cheek. After that, a shorter pause than earlier before you feel him kiss your forehead, just below the hairline, and the tip of your nose immediately afterwards.

Almost shaking in his hold, you wait in anticipation for a kiss on your lips, but then his hands are slipping out of your hair, and your eyes are opening back in confusion, and his cheeks are a fiery pink as he fails to meet your gaze.

As he takes a deep breath to centre himself, you find yourself in a haze, wondering if he would've kissed you properly had you brought that saxophone with you. But then the fog clears, and you're berating yourself at the thought of buying his affections like that.

Taehyung blinks and swallows hard, clearing his voice before he speaks, although he can't hide how husky it's become. "I- We- I'm sorry, I... I have to go."

You watch in stunned silence, four different parts of your face tingling wildly, as he abandons his gondola, and you, and rushes frantically forward, disappearing amongst the crowd.

--

You wonder if he was waiting for you today. Perhaps you're just a coward, but you don't think you could've faced him after yesterday. Instead, you've spent the day holed up in your room, moping around in a white hotel robe, doing absolutely nothing but reliving that moment with Taehyung over and over again in your head. At the current moment, the sun is setting over Venice, and you're sitting cross-legged on the bed, staring at that worn leather case on the glass desk.

It's in the same place as where you gently placed it yesterday. Looking over it now, you feel stupid. Naive. Almost five hundred euros spent on a man who was practically a stranger to you. How could you have been that impulsive with your own hard-earned cash? If you really felt like helping out the poor gondolier, there were better things you could've done with that money.

Still, your stomach twists when you think of walking back up to that antiques store to try and get the sweet Italian gentleman to buy it back from you. A gift for a lover. You scoff bitterly.

The room starts to get dark, so you heave yourself off of the tall mattress to go turn the light on. The switch is above the desk, however, and you find yourself hovering, staring down at that case with an indecipherable myriad of feelings swirling inside you. You might as well take a proper look...

Your hands float hesitantly over the silver clips for a moment before you take a deep breath and pop them open, flipping the lid over to reveal the gleaming instrument inside. It's gorgeous, gleaming, yet when you look closer you can see those tell-tale signs of wear. A thin scratch across the surface of one key, a small dent near the bottom of the open bell. The mouthpiece is slightly chipped. These things don't occur to you as flaws, however, but as quiet hints to this saxophone's history. Those differences make it all the more beautiful. As your fingers dance lightly down the body, you envision a young man on a stage in front of a large audience, all enraptured in his performance. The beautiful music that emerges breathes new life into the instrument, allows it to tell its colourful history. For what feels like the millionth time in only three days, you think of Taehyung.

Was he out there now? Waiting for you, getting discouraged as the sun sunk below the horizon, leaving insufficient light to read by? Or had he given up on you, stormed home angrily? Perhaps he was relieved you didn't show up. Perhaps he was showing another customer around Venice as you loitered here in your room. The more you think, you can't decide which outcome would be worse. Frowning, you retract your hand hastily from the cool metal of the saxophone. You feel strangely like you shouldn't be touching it. It's his.

You sigh as your instincts scream at you. Now that you're on your feet, they want to lead you out the door. It's okay that it's late; you know the way to Saint Mark's Square well. "Really?" you mutter to yourself. "He's probably not even there.... fuck."

Realistically, the moment your mind painted the idea that he might have expected you, the decision was already made. You shuck your robe impatiently and slip into a tank top and leggings, stepping into your flats before rushing out of the room.

The summer evening air is warm with the slightest shift of a breeze, and your eyes strain in the low light of the alleyways, a blue-black pooling of shadows on the cobblestone proving difficult to navigate, but you barely take notice. It's not until you're taking the last turn that leads out into the open square that you realise how stupid this is, though your heart has never thudded so hard in your chest. Your veins are electric with anticipation, holding back from breaking into a run.

There are a few food stalls and concession stands lit up with strings of white and yellow fairy lights, although they sit empty and locked up, and the reflection of the waxing moon gleams and pulsates in the shallow ripples of the Grand Canal. The slight improvement in visibility helps you locate the smaller dock a few metres down from the main one, the one Taehyung frequents, and your breath catches in your throat, heart sinking.

It's empty.

Of course he isn't there. It was a stupid idea, and you shouldn't have come. Still, you find yourself hopelessly walking closer, unable to stop until you reach the post he normally ties the gondola too, sitting down on it glumly. You let your eyes fall,  staring blankly into the glossy water as it laps at the side of the dock. There are small bubbles on the surface of the water, and it doesn't seem like those ripples are going to settle anytime soon. You frown. Wait a minute…

"Y/n?"

Your head snaps up in the direction of the voice, mouth falling open. Further ahead, the opposite direction from where he had taken you on those three tours, Taehyung's standing in his gondola, waving an arm to you. Your heart soars, and before you know it you're running, skipping over uneven stone as fast as you can to reach him. You keep your head up; something deep inside you wants to keep his face in your line of vision for fear of him disappearing again.

When you skid to a stop on the ground across from him with a relieved smile, you're panting slightly, and though you can barely make out his face in the dark of the night, you can tell he's been crying judging by the way the tracks down his cheeks are luminous in the light of the moon. "Taehyung?"

He reaches a foot out to rest on the edge of the square, the level difference meaning he has to bend at the knee, and holds the gondola still. "Where were you?" he asks bitterly, before sighing and shaking his head slowly. "No, don't answer that, it's none of my business. It's not like you have any reason to come back after yesterday." He sniffs, folds his arms over his knee and plants his chin on top. "...why are you here? Why now?"

You don't like standing so high over him, so you sink down to sit cross-legged on the cool stone. "You were waiting for me?"

Now that you're sitting, his face is on level with yours, and he's close enough that you can see the watery glimmer in his eyes and the way his hair sticks out oddly at the bottom, like he's been playing with it too much. "Well-" he falters, "technically I would've been out here anyway. This is my job, you know.”

You can sense his irritation, even as he tries to keep a neutral tone. “I didn’t know whether I should come,” you admit, “I thought you might not want me to.”

His head tilts to the side, eyes soft and voice softer. “Why wouldn’t I want you?”

Your breath catches at the underlying message in his words, and although the night is practically tropical, a smattering of goose bumps rise on your upper arms. “I… You ran away. I thought you must’ve, I don’t know…” Your tongue feels useless in your mouth as you struggle to explain yourself. “I figured you changed your mind, or didn’t like me. Never mind, it was stupid, I should probably go-”

As you go to stand up again a hand flies up and latches onto your wrist, halting you in a hunched-over position. You stare down at him in shock as his own eyes widen, like he’s surprised at his actions. “Y/n,” he says emphatically, “please, get in the gondola. I’ll explain everything, I promise. I just- Don’t go. Please.”

You pause for a moment then nod slowly, silent as his hand slides down your wrist to hold your hand instead, fingers linking.

“Can you get in by yourself?” Your repeated ventures on his gondola have gotten you somewhat used to the rocking of the boat as you get on, but it’s so dark that you can barely see where to put your feet, so you shake your head. As warm as it is, you don’t fancy an illegal dip in the canal.

He smiles broadly at your hesitance and gets up out of the gondola, reaching down to hold it still, before turning to you and snaking a strong arm around the small of your waist. You squeak in surprise as he promptly lifts you and dumps you into the boat, water sloshing around the sides, threatening to spill in.

“Taehyung!” you chastise, but before long he’s hopping on himself, creating much less of a disturbance in the water, and kicking off away from the edge to start rowing. You sit back against the stool so you can keep watching him, though you can’t make out the slightest detail in his face, and rub at your arms, willing away the raised bumps. Although you can’t see where he’s headed, you know it’s the opposite way from the tours you had been on before. “Where are we going?”

He looks down at you, and the levity in his voice hints at a smile. “It’s the end of the day and there are no more tourists wanting a ride. We’re going home.”

For someone who’s done nothing all day, you feel drained and tired, and so after a minute or two of silence, you gingerly slip off the stool and lie down on the floor in the middle of the boat, just enough room between the two stools for your shoulders to be brushing the gold corded strim on their bases. Taehyung makes an amused chuckle in the back of his throat when you lie down, but doesn’t comment.

Above you, the sky is an open expanse of blue-black, fringed with the tops of buildings on either side. A cottony string of cloud slides peacefully over the moon, a fat crescent high above you. Back home, there’s too much light pollution to make out more than a few bright stars, and they’re all spread out, lightyears away from each other. You used to look up at that sky and relate to those stars, burning bright but shining alone. Here in Venice, you can make out little clusters, tiny communities of glowing pinpricks. Just below the moon, two stars are side-by-side, one white, one glowing a little more yellow. The night sky is much nicer here, you decide.

“We’re here,” a husky voice calls out, and you sit up hastily, vision going fuzzy for a moment with the abrupt motion. It’s lighter here, where you’re stopped; the canal is so narrow that the single lamp sconce above a doorway is enough to light up the surrounding area.

As Taehyung docks the gondola, tying it to a conveniently located hook embedded in the brick beside the front door, you take a look around from the low vantage point you have. It looks like the canal equivalent of a driveway, old exposed brick on either side, with a blue-green line all the way down where the water level normally sat. His house sat right on the edge of the water, there being no standing room at all. It was a dead-end, so you figured this must consist as private property; honestly, you had totally zoned out watching the stars while he was going home, and you had no idea how far away from your hotel you were. “...am I staying here tonight?” you ask curiously.

“If you want to,” he replies without looking back at you, but you can see the defensive hunch of his shoulders as he reaches up to unlock the door, which is painted a deep green, and his voice is gentle. He’s still unsure.

“Of course I want to,” you reply, “I was just wondering… I don’t have any pyjamas with me, that’s all.”

The tension in his shoulders eases as he turns the key, and the glow of the lamp behind him frames his mussed-up hair in a halo. Your eyes widen as you finally notice that he’s no longer wearing the black beret he’d donned every other time you’ve seen him. A quick glance down around you shows it lying abandoned in the floor of the boat. You quirk a smile at the image of him tugging it off dramatically to cause his hair to be so messy, but it drops when you remember you’re the reason he would’ve been distressed enough to do that.

Taehyung, unaware of your mental turmoil, opens the door inwards and turns back to extend a hand to you. With one strong tug, you’re up out of the gondola and stumbling into the house, feet re-adjusting to solid ground.

His house is still warm from the evening sun that’s now far beyond the horizon, and when Taehyung flicks a light on in the small entryway, it floods the first floor with a soft yellow glow. The walls are wallpapered with a peeling sunflower pattern and the floor is a worn grey carpet, but already you can see the touches that make this home uniquely Taehyung’s; all along the walls hang framed pictures of him at varying ages with Jungkook and Jin, a coatrack in the corner to the left of the doorway holds a heavy beige overcoat as well as several berets in different shades in the same style as the one he incidentally had left outside in the bed of the gondola, and somewhere upstairs you can hear the muffled sound of French bohemian opera.

Taehyung takes notice of this as he shuts the door behind him. “Ah, I must’ve left that on again this morning,” he mutters under his breath, struggling to lock the door behind him with one hand.

It’s then that you notice he hasn’t let go of you, your fingers still tightly interwoven. You give him a little squeeze to remind him in case he wants to let go, but instead you see a flush rise on his cheeks and a shy smile play at his mouth as he squeezes back.

“Come on,” he announces softly, tugging at your hand slightly to get you moving, “I’ll make you a drink. Do you drink jasmine tea? It’s my favourite.”

You smother a smile at his comment, simply nodding happily and following him through a doorway to the right into a small kitchen. Of course he drank jasmine tea. You wouldn’t be surprised if he also meditated twice a day and sang to the birds every morning.

His kitchen is tiny; a low roof overhangs what consists of no more than the bare necessities: he has a refrigerator, a stove, a metal sink and some cupboards in the far corner, and a small round table with a single chair across from it on the other side of the room.

Your palm goes cold as he abruptly lets go of your hand, springing forward to grab the back of the chair and pull it out from the edge of the table, staring at you expectantly. “Please sit down,” he invites, and you accept gratefully, scooting the chair across the tiles to tuck yourself back in. “I’ll just put the kettle on. Sorry about the mess, I’m sure it’s not as fancy as you’re used to.”

You shake your head in mute protest, enjoying looking over the small quirks and details you can find around the place. As he opens an overhead cabinet for some mugs, you notice he has only three of them, as well as four plates, two bowls and five glasses. It’s clear that he’s been living alone for a while.

As your eyes skim over the room, the kettle quietly bubbling away, you ask curiously, “so how did you get this place? You grew up with Jin and his dad, didn’t you? Why not stay there with them?”

He places a bag of tea in each mug and turns around, holding a finger up at you before darting out of the room. You wait in bewilderment until he returns with a small piano stool, placing it on the other side of the table and perching on the edge. “Sorry, what was your question?”

You furrow your brows. “You have a piano?”

He tips his head to the side, eyes narrowing slightly in confusion. “Huh? Oh! You mean the stool. No, I picked this up at the second-hand store. Cheaper than a regular dining chair, can you believe it? I keep it in the cupboard in case I have a guest.”

You nod slowly, lip quirking. “My question was why you live here instead of still at the workshop in the squero.”

His eyes brighten and dart up and to the right as he thinks back in his memory. “Ah, that’s right. Same reason as anyone else, really. I grew up, wanted to feel independent. This house used to belong to an old friend of Jin’s, and so I got it for a good price when he moved away from the city. I know it’s not much, but...” An unconscious smile plays at his lips as he looks over the room. “It’s mine,” he finishes softly. Once he stops speaking, there’s a comfortable silence for a moment or two before the kettle boils, and he gets up to go pour the drinks.

“I like it,” you say once he returns with two steaming mugs. He tilts his head to the side. “The house,” you clarify, “I really like it. It’s very...you.”

He blushes, though maybe it’s from the hot steam wafting over his face as he breathes in the herbal scent. “Does that mean you like me?” he asks, avoiding eye contact.

You fiddle with the handle of your mug, suddenly feeling self-conscious and shy, like a schoolgirl with a crush. “Yeah. It does. I like you a lot, Taehyung.”

He inhales the aromatic steam of the tea deeply, a couple of breaths like he’s steeling himself, before he places it down timidly. His eyes dart up to yours, dancing over your face, your lips, before he looks back down again, taking one more deep breath.

You watch him, half-amused and half-spellbound at the way his uncertainty is spelled out on his face. Tea forgotten, you flick your tongue out to wet your lips, mouth dry all of a sudden, and silently wait in anticipation as his eyes glaze over as he internally wars with himself.

Finally, he looks up at you again, and you’re lost in those deep brown eyes. “Y/n,” he says in a husky tone, quieter than perhaps he was aiming for, “can I... I want to try something.”

You swallow thickly, nodding. “Okay.”

He blinks like a deer in headlights. “Okay, just- just stay there.”

You barely manage to suppress a smile at his comment, but you can feel your heartbeat thrumming in your ear and thumping in your chest in anticipation, eyes wide as he slides the stool noisily across the tiles, scooting around the table one juddering motion at a time, until his knees are bumping yours.

A hand hovers in the air in front of your face as Taehyung bites his lip. “Are you sure?”

The breath you’ve been unconsciously holding in this whole time comes rushing out. “Please just kiss me,” you beg in a whisper, eyes desperately gazing deep into his.

When his hand finally reaches your face, brushing lightly against the skin of your cheek, his fingers tremble. You lean into his touch, feeling the contact sear your skin, and he furrows his brows in focus as he slips his hand into your hair, cupping the back of your head.

Taehyung stares down at your lips again, nods once to himself, and moves forward, using his other hand on your knee to steady himself. Automatically, your eyes flutter shut and your lips part, waiting to receive that which you’ve been longing for. When soft, pillowy lips finally press themselves against yours, you shudder under him, eyes squeezing shut even more to fully drown yourself in sensation.

The kiss is slow, languid, but rich with passion, and you feel your upper half leaning forward instinctively to be closer to him. The hand in your hair curls up slightly, fingers tugging at the roots, and you whimper into his mouth.

As he moves against you, Taehyung tips his head to the side to deepen the kiss, and you feel his tongue dip out of his mouth to press at the seam of your lips. You drop your jaw slightly to let him in, and once you feel his teeth graze your bottom lip, tugging slightly before letting it pop back, you whimper again, breathing his name into the millimetres of air between you.

He makes a little grunt, deep in his throat, and then he’s pulling away from you. Your eyes crack open in a daze, just in time to see a string of saliva that connects the two of you break and land against his chin. Taehyung sucks his swollen bottom lip into his mouth, pupils blown wide.

It’s only once you try to speak that you realise just how heavily you’re panting. “Taehyung, I...”

He retracts his hand from your hair, brushing his thumb against your cheekbone fondly as he does so, and stands up in front of you. “Do you want to come upstairs?” he asks simply.

Your response comes immediately. “Yes.”

The two of you make your way to his room in a hushed silence, each creak of the old wooden stairs at the back of the building heightening your anticipation like a tangible cloud billowing in your stomach. The melodic opera from earlier, the one that you had completely tuned out until now, crescendos as you approach.

The landing has only two doors, both swung open to reveal a bathroom and a bedroom. Taehyung takes the second option and you follow him in, hovering hesitantly in the doorway.

You take a look around as he tidies up quickly, amused at the curious blend of items strewn all over. The music, which he turns down to fade out, comes from a bulky plastic stereo that sits on the floor. In fact, he has very minimal furniture in his room at all, giving it a chaotic feel that complements what it contains.

The walls are covered with posters and photos, a sea of famous composers, paintings, pages of music pinned to the wall beside his double bed. He has a short bookcase tucked between the bed and the wall, and on it is a tiny desk lamp, and a framed black-and-white photo of a beautiful young woman holding a small infant, the glass gleaming in the light from the ceiling bulb. Beside it, stacked up from the floor, is a haphazard pile of all the old books that don’t fit inside the bookcase itself.

You smile softly, moving around Taehyung as he rushes around in a crouch, picking up abandoned pieces of clothing and shoving them inside a laundry hamper by the door. You make your way across the room to look outside the window. It’s a relatively large circle, gilded on the edges, but it’s so dark outside that you’re forced to press your nose against the glass and frame your eyes with your cupped hands to see outside.

As your breath fogs up the glass below, you can make out a small cobblestone street out the back of Taehyung’s house. Most of it is residential, but one place a little ways down looks like a restaurant, with two or three tables out on the street. You squint, grateful for the small streetlamps down there, as you make out a couple sharing a meal of something, guiding spoonfuls into each other’s mouths. Instead of sitting across from each other, they sit side-by-side, the smaller body leaning into the larger one.

You jump when a fluttering pressure lands on your bare shoulder. You pull yourself away from the window, leaving smudge marks from your fingers and nose behind, and turn your head back to face Taehyung. A smile slides across your face automatically at the way he straightens up and looks down at you with eyes full of wonder. It makes you forget about everything outside this room, outside you and him. “I want you,” you confess without thinking.

His breath hitches and his brows lift just slightly, like he can’t believe it. His eyes trail over your face for a moment, searching. When he finds whatever he was looking for in the openness of your face, his eyebrows lift and he beams. “Come to bed.”

You follow him, but at the last minute he swivels out of the way and slips an arm around your back, laying you down on the duvet gently. Your skin feels alight, even the texture of the cotton on your elbows as you scoot up to rest your head in the middle of the pillows feels electric.

He smiles to himself with a blush, gesturing for you to lift your head up, and you do so, observing him as he hastily shuffles the pillows aside so that you can lie back on one properly, instead of the gap between them. Your head falls back, far more comfortable, and you lift your hands up, making grabby motions at him.

The gorgeous man laughs softly, but obeys your unspoken command by lifting a leg up and over you, balancing himself on his knees and leaning down, brushing some stray strands of hair off your face before tenderly pressing a kiss on your lips, his forearm on the pillow beside you propping him up.

Your eyes slip shut naturally, and you allow yourself to be overtaken by the feeling of his lips on yours, his fingers playing with the ends of your hair, and the heat of his body hovering over you. When his free hand comes up to hold on to your chin lightly, thumb pressing down to lower your jaw, you clutch at his shirt, balling the fabric by his shoulders, needing an anchor. You let him take control, his sensual yet insistent tongue playing against yours as you gasp out and hook a leg up and around his waist, trying to bring him closer.

He acquiesces with a grin that you feel against your lips, and once his body is pressed flush against you, you let out a soft moan, letting go of his shirt to grasp his face instead, head lifting off the pillow to drown in him even more.

His deft fingers curl around your wrist, squeezing slightly, pulling it away before swapping to do the same with your other wrist. You pout, blinking up at him with eyes sleepy with lust when he pulls away from your lips with an audible pop.

His pupils are dilated, and his breath is coming in shallow pants. “Do you want me to turn the light off?”

You shake your head quickly. “I want to see you.”

A relieved sigh. “Good, me too. You’re so beautiful.”

Your cheeks go pink, breath catching in your throat when he comes down again, but this time his kisses land on the warm skin over your cheekbones, the left then the right. With your eyes squeezed shut and lips parted in wonder, you feel him on the top of your forehead, then on your nose, in an intimate recreation of that day on the docks. “Taehyung,” you breathe, lost in him.

When he pulls back, leaving four spots on your face burning, your eyes struggle to blink open again. He looks slightly pained, a calloused thumb rubbing lightly over your swollen lips. “You have no idea, do you?” he questions, eyes focused on the way your lips spring back when he lets them go. “How crazy I am about you?” When he sighs, you feel it warm your skin, that’s how close he holds himself. “Yesterday was a busy day. Three different tour groups came in, all wanting gondola rides. There were even a few Koreans among them. I got asked for a trip countless times. I could’ve made a fortune.”

Your brows furrow, seeing where he’s going with this. “Taehyung,” you repeat morosely, unsure what else you could say.

“I turned them all down,” he admits flatly, a hint of self-deprecation in his voice, “because I couldn’t stand the thought of you coming down and me not being there.” His fingers leave your lips, resting against your cheek instead. His eyes dart up to meet yours finally, and you note with surprise that they’re glassy. “And then you never came.”

“I’m so sorry. I- I was stupid. But I’m here now.”

The tears fade as fast as they arrived, and you’re glad he didn’t start crying, but his eyes still droop in sorrow. “Are you? I’m so scared that I’ll wake up tomorrow and this will have all been a dream.” He leans down again, burying his face against the sensitive skin of your neck. You gasp as he kisses and suckles at your pulse point. “You feel like a dream,” he murmurs against you, and the vibrations of his voice lights up your nerve endings, electricity shooting up your spine.

“I’m real,” you assure him, “can’t you feel how fast my heart is racing for you right now?”

His breath escapes him in a shudder, but he doesn’t reply, instead sitting up slightly. You watch him as he reaches for one of your hands, and brings it up to his face, pressing a delicate kiss on each fingertip. Methodically, with his eyes closed dreamily, he makes his way up the delicate skin of your inner arm, leaving behind red patches and streaks of moisture. Every gentle flick of the tip of his tongue, every scrape of his teeth, has a fire gradually building between your legs, and you squeeze your thighs together, whimpering impatiently by the time he reaches your shoulder.

He chuckles against your skin, gazing sultrily up at you through dark eyelashes. “Be patient, angel, I want to take my time with you.”

Your chest heaves and you bite your lip as he sits up, lets your arm fall gently to the bed, only to pick up your other hand and begin again. It feels like an eternity of sensation, a slow pilgrimage from your fingertips to your collarbone, and when you manage to control your quickening breaths, you can both hear and feel him mumbling against your skin as he laves at the crook of your neck.

You head tips to the side to give him more room, the ball of your foot digging into his behind more firmly as you shift your pelvis under him, desperate for friction. “Taehyung, please,” you beg, “I need you.”

He places one final kiss to the area he was paying attention to, rubbing it with his thumb to observe the wash of colour blooming on your skin with a smile. “I want you too,” he assures you, “I’ve been thinking about this all the time since the moment I saw you.”

Your eyes plead with him. “Then take me. I’m yours.” Your hands grasp at the hem of your tank top, crossing over with the intent of whipping it off urgently, but Taehyung shushes you, stopping your undressing, holding your wrists firmly above your head with one hand as he bent down and played with the edge of the fabric with his other.

You swallow hard and arch your back into his touch as the sensitive skin of your stomach is brushed by the backs of his knuckles. You rub your thighs together again. “Come on,” you whine hopelessly, turning your face to bury it against the soft flesh of your upper arm, fingers curling in the air to try and reach his hand where he’s holding you down. “Haven’t you teased me enough?”

He lets out a deep exhale and lies flat against your lower half, rubbing his nose against your hipbone, feeling you trembling under him. “I’m not teasing,” he defends emphatically, licking at the skin, pinching it just slightly between his teeth. “I’m worshipping every inch of you like you deserve.” A warm palm slides under the fabric and runs up to stretch out across the top of your stomach, holding you flat against the bed. “God, you’re perfect.”

Your cheeks are hot against the skin of your arm, and you sigh in resignation, torn between thriving off the praise, and wanting, needing, more. You lift up your head to look down at him, and feel yourself dampen even more. “Fuck, Taehyung.” Your shirt is tented where his hand spans almost your entire front, rucked up slightly to reveal the soft skin of your stomach, where he lays sloppy yet intentional kisses upwards, eyes lidded and heavy with lust as they stare up at you. You bite your lip and push at the hand keeping your wrists locked together, wanting nothing more than to reach down and card your fingers through his ruffled brown hair, but he just grins at your effort, not budging at all.

He pushes your top up further and further on his languid journey upwards, until it’s bunched up over the top of your breasts, exposing your bra.

It’s just a plain cotton one with minimal padding, the kind you wore on lazy days, but the way he’s staring down at your chest in wonder stops you from feeling self-conscious. With your hands still tucked above your head, you wordlessly arch your chest up at him, trying to make contact with the hand that hovers just above you. When the fabric brushes his fingertips, he sighs out heavily and follows you down, resting his palm gently across one of your mounds.

Nervously, his eyes dart up to you and then back down, and you grin when you work out what’s giving him pause. “Don’t know how to open it with one hand, do you?” you tease. “If only my hands were free, I could take it off for you.”

He sits back further, pressure increasing on your upper legs, the arm above your head stretching out straight. “I’m gonna let go of your wrists now,” he announces in a raspy voice, “keep them above your head, okay? Be a good girl.”

When he does let go of them to grab onto the pile of tank top around the top of your breasts, you’re too shocked to move, letting him tug the top over your head and limp arms, before tossing it away into the corner of the room.

Before his hands tuck behind your back to find the bra clasp, he lets his eyes and hands roam your torso freely, the warmth of his palms on your skin making your fingers curl into fists with the restraint not to touch him.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, you lift up at the spine to grant him access to your back. He fiddles with it for a few moments gently, before hunkering down, eyes scrunched closed in concentration, but even his jerkier movements don’t free the hooks from their clasps behind you. Eventually, he huffs and opens his eyes again, looking down at you with a sheepish smile that you can’t help but return. “Would you mind taking your bra off for me? It’s, uh… it’s been a while.”

You nod but gesture for him to scoot up a bit as if you need more room, but once he does you quickly slip your legs out from between his knees and sit up, throwing a leg over his lap and pushing his chest back.

Although he could no doubt overpower you, he lets you have your way, lying back against the sheets, hair splayed out around him like a halo. The bed is just long enough that his head doesn’t fall off the far end, but you twist around to grab a pillow for him first, grinning cheekily as you repeat his earlier actions, letting him lie more comfortably. At his curious gaze, you pout at him playfully. “I can be chivalrous too, you know.”

“I’m sure.” Once you’re straddling him, Taehyung’s hands find your hips, still clad in leggings that you wish were off already, but you don’t want to give up your momentary position of power, so you reach behind you and deftly unsnap the bra, letting it fall slowly down your arms before flinging it away.

Taehyung’s eyes dilate even more, locked onto your nipples which are already standing at full attention from the excitement of his earlier ministrations. “So perfect,” he mutters to himself before a hand slides up your side and cups your breast, forefinger dancing lightly over your nipple as he splays out over it.

You gasp at the sudden sensation and curl inwards, chest coming down closer to him. “Please, more,” you plead breathlessly.

He hums in amusement, flicking the bud teasingly as you shudder, hands clutching at his shirt. “Does it feel good? God, look at you, so responsive, so sensitive for me.”

You bite your lip and rock your pelvis against him, feeling his hardness beneath you. You don’t know how he has the restraint to spend so much time cherishing your body when he’s clearly ready to take you, and at this point you honestly couldn’t say if you wished he would hurry up or take his time.

A choked cry is pulled from your throat as he kneads that breast, and, while you’re distracted, tightly pinches the other nipple with his other hand, immediately letting go and soothing the delicate flesh with his thumb.

You’re sure at this point you must be soaking through your leggings, and you grind again, but are halted by Taehyung tutting at you. “Stop that,” he warns, “if I cum now you won’t get to feel me in that pretty pussy of yours.”

A jolt pierces through you at his filthy words, but you can’t help from grinning slyly down at him. “You wouldn’t know if my pussy is pretty or not, you haven’t even seen it yet.”

He rolls both nipples under his thumbs and forefingers simultaneously, and you keen over into the contact, barely holding yourself up on his chest. “Patience,” he reminds you simply, humour lacing his tone as he watches you fall apart on top of him. “Now c’mere.” With a sudden single movement, he sits up and wraps his arms around your back, holding you flush against him to keep you steady. You’re now sat on his lap, legs wide over his crotch as he sits in the middle of the bed.

His arms stretch out just enough so that you lean back slightly in his secure hold, and before you can process it, a wet heat closes around on your left nipple. You cry out and go lax against him, falling back over his arm as you desperately grab at his broad shoulders for support.

Unlike the way he manhandled you into position, the way he worships your nipple with his mouth is sensual and dedicated, sparing no effort as he laps his tongue over it. You let your eyes fall closed and try to steady your breathing, losing your mind. You can feel every suck, flick and nibble like the sensations have been magnified, and although he scolded you for it before, you can’t help but wriggle your hips, longing for some friction between your legs.

He lets go of your left nipple with a wet pop, groans breathily, and moves promptly over to envelop your right one, triggering another throaty cry from you. Distantly, you realize you’ve been chanting his name under your breath between whimpers, a hot coil in your stomach tightening as you tremble beneath him.

A particularly harsh tug of your stiff peak between his teeth has you locking up, arms flying around his neck to hold yourself tight against him as a sudden orgasm takes a hold. Your toes curl up and you rock yourself over his crotch to heighten the feeling, moaning nonsensically as he continues to stimulate the nerve endings in your nipple, switching back to the left as you come down from your high and shy away from the overwhelming sensation.

Once he breaks away and sits upright, he looks at you in awe, lips slick and swollen. “Did you just cum from that?”

You pant, a lazy dopamine-induced smile spreading across your face. “Yeah,” you make out through shallow breaths, “you were taking too long to fuck me so I thought I should just go ahead myself.”

“Is that so?” he questions, a teasing smile playing at his lips. “I suppose now that you’ve got what you wanted, you won’t be so impatient anymore. Lie back.”

You lick your lips and do as he asked, the arms behind you lowering you slowly until you return to the soft sheets, looking up at him. Secretly, you’re glad he suggests the change of position, as your legs feel wobbly with the surprising intensity of your orgasm. “Taehyung…”

“Mm?”

Your hands fiddle with his shirt. “Let me see you.”

Suddenly, a blush is rising on his cheeks again, but he sits back and reaches a hand behind him, tugging the shirt off by the neck quickly and without ceremony.

You feel your mouth watering at the sight of him. Unsurprisingly, his arms and shoulders are corded muscle, streamlined from using the oar in the water, but what you aren’t expecting is the contrast of a buff chest and soft stomach. With the way he’s holding his arms over it, it makes him self-conscious, but it just makes him that much cuter to you. “You’re gorgeous, Taehyung,” you tell him genuinely, reaching out to run a hand over his pecs, then sliding down to brush your knuckles against his tummy as you fiddle with his waistband. “Every part of you.”

His eyes grow warm and he leans back in for another soft kiss, claiming your mouth quickly yet deeply, a kiss that speaks of comfort and urgency. He looks over you as your eyes flutter and struggle to focus on him. After waiting for you to recover again, he rubs your jawline with his thumb. “Are you still sure about this? If it’s too soon, we can-”

“Please, Taehyung,” you beg, “no more foreplay, I need you now.”

His eyebrows furrow. “Can’t I…?” You suck in a breath when his hand slips between your legs, pressing up through the two layers of fabric that separate him from your heat.

His tongue darts out to wet his lips, but you shake your head. “Next time. Please.”

That does it. His cheeks go pink and his eyes crinkle at your words, before he’s standing up to shuck his pants off and kick them away, hopping back on the bed to reach for yours.

You lift your hips off the bed to help him pull your leggings down with your panties, sucking in a breath as his hands pass over the curve of your ass and down your legs, his sense of need finally helping him pick up the pace.

Your legs fall open and your mouth goes dry with anticipation watching his dick shift in his underwear, straining at the fabric with a darker wet patch amongst the light grey. If you weren’t so desperate to feel him inside you, you’d be on your knees already.

Once you finally get the fabric off your ankles and away from you, you’re ready for Taehyung to lie over you again, but instead he grabs one of your ankles and tosses it over the side of the bed, spreading you wide open before his head ducks down and he licks a rough swipe up through your folds, collecting your wetness on his tongue. You cry out and jerk in surprise, but he’s already leaning back, pushing his tongue around his mouth like he’s savouring your taste, eyes closed blissfully.

“Next time,” he repeats dreamily to himself, before he reaches down to the waistband of his underwear, slipping it down slowly. Your breath catches in anticipation when you see the dark tuft of hair, before sucking in a quiet gasp when the underwear comes fully down, letting his erection jump out, bobbing in the air. Fuck. He’s huge.

Your leg is still haphazardly hanging off the edge of the bed, and you have no time to react before his hand is coming down between your legs to rub his flat palm against you, slicking it up before he begins pumping himself, sighing in relief at the friction.

That brief contact you had gotten against your clit when he was rubbing against you has you desperate for more, and you whisper his name in a plea for more. Taehyung looks down at you, biting his lip as he jerks off. “Condom?” he asks, and you pause for a second before shaking your head. “I’m clean, and I hope you are too, but if we don’t use one you could get knocked up, Y/n.” You stay silent, simply widening your legs in front of him. He swears lowly and gets up, getting on top of you, propping himself up by a forearm so that he’s close enough to kiss you.

His breath warms the skin of your face as he looks down and focus on lining himself up with his other hand. You bite your lip and let out a moan when you feel his head slipping between your folds and pressing against your entrance. He checks in with you one last time before the pressure increases, and then your head is tipping back weakly as the blunt head of his cock stretches your opening.

“God, you’re soaked,” he muses, “n’ so warm for me.”

With no preparation, it’s on the verge of being too big a stretch, and your eyes squeeze shut, focusing on relaxing around the intrusion. “Fuck, Taehyung…”

“Too much?” he checks, going still, though his upper arms tremble as he holds himself above you.

You shake your head. “Just go slow.”

Taehyung nods and begins to move again, stopping every inch or so to let you adjust. The feeling of him splitting you open is divine, and by the time you feel his hips flush against you, you’re panting underneath him.

He pauses there, bending down to plant light kisses all over your face until you can’t help but giggle at the ticklish touches. He stops with one last kiss on your lips, murmuring against them quietly. “How are you doing? Okay?”

With a hand pressing down on your lower abdomen, you rock your pelvis experimentally and give out a strangled moan when you feel him shift inside you. “So full,” you admit, slowly accommodating to the feeling, already wanting more.

Taehyung takes your lips once more before raising himself up a little higher for better leverage and control. He tries to pull out slowly, eyebrows furrowed tightly and mouth open as he feels you clenching around him. “Y/n,” he chants, “you fit perfectly around me, feels so good.” With that, he begins to thrust into you, a slow drag back and forth since you’re currently too tight for anything faster.

“Oh god,” you breathe quietly. Taehyung’s head falls down onto his shoulder and you can feel how hot his cheeks are. He mumbles something but you can’t make it out. “What did you say?”

“Louder,” he admits reluctantly, nose nuzzling the crook of your shoulder. “I want you to be louder. I want to hear you.”

You sigh and wrap your arms around him, holding him close. “Then make me.”

He groans at your words, but you feel the muscles in his back tense up as he starts to fuck into you with more vigour, drawing out a garbled moan with every stroke as he presses up against your g-spot.

Although he asked for you to be louder, he himself is surprisingly noisy for a guy. You can hear through his grunts and pants the effort he’s expending, and underneath it all is a low whine that comes out every time you clench involuntarily around him. You’re dripping so much that you can hear the wet smacks fill the small room, and that trio of sounds is all that is heard as you feel yourself approaching that edge again.

“Nng, Taehyung, right there, oh please, more, I need more,” your mouth goes without you even being aware of the words tumbling out, and although you try to keep your eyes open to watch his face change as he’s overcome with pleasure, a particularly hard thrust has your eyes rolling back in your head. “Fu-uck.”

“Good?” he asks, and you nod with as much energy as you have left, crying out when you feel a rough thumb massaging your clit. “Can you come for me, angel?”

“Y- So close, oh god,” your hips start canting up to meet his every thrust, making him swear under his breath.

“Me too,” he confesses, “I’m gonna need to pull out soon.”

“Come inside,” you plead immediately, “come inside me.”

“Fuck,” he groans, and you swear the force of his thrusts increase, “you want me to fill you up, hm?”

You whine hopelessly, taken aback by how he gets filthier the closer to orgasm he gets. “Please, Taehyung.”

“Look at you,” he pants, carding a hand fondly through your sweaty hair, chuckling breathlessly when you nuzzle into it, “so desperate for me. Shit, I’m almost there.”

He stops speaking to put all his effort into fucking you, maintaining the punishing rhythm on your clit, and suddenly you’re convulsing under him, propelled without warning into an even stronger orgasm than before.

Taehyung growls and his thrusts falter, off-beat but with as much force as he can muster, and soon enough he’s falling over the edge too, chest collapsing on top of you.

You smile blissfully. “That was amazing.” After a moment you get no reply, and you laugh quietly. “Taehyung?”

“I love you, Y/n,” he pants into your shoulder, sighing happily.

You freeze, even as your pussy still contracts with aftershocks from your orgasm. Your head turns quickly to look down at him, but you see him, face peaceful, eyes closed, already falling asleep.

His head rises and falls with your breathing as it slowly evens out, but even as he slumbers, you lie on your back with a sticky mess slowly drying between your legs, wide awake.

--

It’s not even six in the morning when the sun rises and pierces you right in the eyes, but it doesn’t wake you up. You never slept.

The whole night, as you stayed completely still while Taehyung nuzzled your shoulder in his sleep and cuddled into you, your mind was tossing and turning.

You wanted to leave, a fight or flight instinct had kicked in the second he said those three words, but somehow amongst your own personal dilemma, you couldn't bear to upset him. So here you were, neck cramping slightly, wincing at the glare of the sun through that circular window, wishing you were anywhere else.

Maybe he wouldn't remember it, you figured. You could always play ignorant, like you had never even heard, but if you did that you'd never know if he meant it or was just saying it in the heat of the moment. Surely he didn't love you already; you'd only met him four days ago.

But at the end of the day, it wasn't really what he said that was the main problem.

It was the fact that you were... beginning to feel the same. And yet you had a flight out of here in ten days, and started work the following Monday.

At some point in the night, you had started to cry silently, thinking of your life back home. It was nothing like this world here. You had an expensive, tiny apartment in a high-end area, although you spent more time in your office than you did at home, working the hours away until the dull throb behind your eyes became too much to handle.

Until you had come here, it felt like you were simply putting in the elbow grease you had to to survive. But now the thought of working in that environment felt suffocating and meaningless.

You had to leave, but you didn't want to go. Four days here, and you already had more reasons to stay than you did to return.

A throaty hum breaks you out of your thoughts, and you feel Taehyung's grip tighten on you, before it goes lax again. You hold your breath.

"You stayed," he remarks in a gravelly voice, full of wonder, and your heart breaks all over again.

"Taehyung, I- I have to go."

He straightens up suddenly, pulling the blankets back with him, and you wince at the cold air on your naked body. "Why? Do you need to get back to your hotel?" His face falls, and he cards a hand through his hair to settle the bedhead nest it was in. "I was going to make you some breakfast. Can't you stay for a little while?"

You look down, body missing his warmth already by the way goosebumps spring up on your arms and thighs. "It's... It's not about that. I can't do this, Taehyung. I'm sorry."

"Do this?" You bite your lip hard, needing the pain as recompense for the way his eyes run over you morosely. Taehyung runs a hand over his face, pinching his brow. "I don't understand what you mean. If you didn't want to, you should've told me before we..." He breaks off and sighs heavily.

You glance around the room, looking for your clothes that are strewn across the hardwood floor, trying to ignore the defeated slump of his shoulders in your peripheral. "I'm sorry, Taehyung. I had fun, but I don't think-"

"Fun?" he asks incredulously, and you snap your head back to him in shock at his sudden volume. "This was all a bit of fun for you?"

You shake your head. "That's not what I-"

"Forget it," he interrupts bitterly. "Maybe in the city you're used to one night stands and meaningless sex, but you should've known that for me it means a lot more. It meant a lot more."

Your lip trembles, but you remain silent.

He sighs again, resigned. "I think you should leave." Without looking at you, he stands up, collects his clothes, and hovers at the doorway, head turned aside. "Don't bother locking the door on your way out. It's not like a poor man like me has anything worth stealing anyway."

You're left sitting on the bed, feeling, for the first time since you arrived here in Venice, truly alone.

--

Days pass. He must've found a different spot to dock up. Perhaps he's stopped coming at all. You know this because several times a day, often more times than you can count on one hand, you find yourself back at Saint Mark's Square, wandering around the edge of the canal, looking for him.

You spend a week filled with regret, moping around the streets and canals of Venice in a melancholic haze. Getting in a Vaporetto and staying on until the end of the line only to get one to come all the way back becomes a ritual. You crave being able to zone out and take a break from reality, even if it doesn't last as long as you wish.

For the most part, you avoid your hotel room. You feel sick breathing in the scent of expensive perfumed flowers, hate seeing that battered saxophone case still resting smugly on the desktop.

Foolishly, after a day or two, you miss him so badly that you start to seek out the workshop he took you to, in the hopes that he might be there. However, when you had gone on that gondola ride, you were so moony-eyed over him that you had completely failed to pay attention to where you were going at all, and now you had to hopelessly roam the streets, trying to recognise a doorway, a cafe, anything that would point you in the right direction.

By day four, you begin to get desperate. You'd had enough time to yourself to think things through. You knew you had royally screwed up that conversation with Taehyung. You wished more than anything that you could go back and do it over, but instead you had to focus on the future.

It was becoming more and more apparent, as your heels got blisters and your thighs rubbed themselves raw, that Taehyung wasn't just a crush or a fling. He was right. That night you shared had meant something. At the time, you were scared. You still were. But Taehyung's confession had scared you so much then because you couldn't bear the thought of growing closer to him, of falling for him like he's falling for you and then getting on a plane and leaving him behind.

Now, you were scared because you knew what you had to do.

It began with calling your landlord back home, and your boss at work. You would have to go back home for at least a month to fill out your required resignation notice, and probably a bit more time beyond that to get your finances and belongings in order, but the more details you sorted, the more a blooming flicker of hope lit up inside you.

You even went into an internet cafe on the south side of town, logging into a computer and researching everything; real estate in Venice, visas, attaining residency. Perhaps it was a big change, maybe even one you weren't really thinking through, but every day without seeing Taehyung felt like weight crushing your chest, and you knew that it was too late for you.

You were in love with him.

Still, as your days here drew to a close, and you felt like you had explored all of Venice with no luck, you didn't know what to do. You stop outside a busy main street, sighing in defeat. You had seen this street a million times before. With the limitations of the canals, there were some places you couldn't go without a private water vehicle, and so it seemed you were just wandering in cir-

"Ow, shit, sorry!"

You stumble as a hard force knocks you over, barely getting your feet under you to remain standing. "Ah, it's o.... Jungkook?"

"Do I know you?" He's breathing a little heavily, like he's been running, and he's holding two brown paper bags to his chest. His pout of confusion opens to a little 'o' when his eyes light up. "Uptown girl! I remember you. How are you...oh, not good, right? I heard what happened."

This is your chance. You don't have time for small talk. "Jungkook, I need to speak to him."

He purses his lips to the side, shifting the heavy groceries in his grip. "I don't know... I don't think he wants to see you."

"I know he might be a bit hurt at the moment, but I-"

"No, you don't understand." Jungkook crinkles his brow. "I don't think he wants to see you ever again."

Your heart crumbles in your chest. With wide eyes, you blink at the young boy pleadingly. "I need to explain some things to him. I didn't have time to tell him before, but I... I need him to know. Please, Jungkook."

But the boy just shakes his head mournfully, ducking it to avoid your imploring gaze. "Jin-hyung would never forgive me. I can't betray Taehyung's trust like that. Well... It was nice to see you, for what it's worth. Have a good day."

He pushes past you again, and without thinking, you whirl around and grab onto his shirt sleeve. "Jungkook! Please, if I can't see him, at least pass on a message for me. Tell him I fly back home in two days. If he's willing to forgive me, or even just to speak with me, it needs to be before then. I'll wait at the docks every night until I have to go. And tell him I-" I love him. "...that's all. Just tell him that. Please."

Jungkook shrugs out of your grip, wriggles his shoulder to try and break up the wrinkles in the fabric your fingers created, and nods at you once, before turning tail and scurrying away.

You watch as he reaches the docks towards the end of the main street, and passes the bags down into a gondola, one that looked larger than Taehyung's. In the bed is a man with broad shoulders, one you recognise as the other workshop carpenter, who puts them at his feet. As Jungkook gets in, he speaks solemnly with the elder and points back down the street to where you are.

You swallow hard as Jin looks up at you and narrows his eyebrows. His gaze stays heavy on you until you look down, turning to leave.

--

He doesn't come Wednesday night. He doesn't come Thursday night.

You stay there each time until almost three in the morning, until your eyes feel so heavy that you can't guarantee you won't fall asleep on the dock. Both nights, your only company is that saxophone case. You bring it, hoping it might act as an apology gift, but instead it serves more as a pillow to prop your head on when you sit cross-legged on the damp wood, watching the natural lull of the water lap at the algae on the posts hour after hour.

Friday morning you pack up your belongings from your hotel room and finalise your plans. If he doesn't show, which you are beginning to believe he won't, you'll go and never come back. Maybe you'll still change jobs, who knows, but you know that you can't bear to be here if it's not by his side.

On your way back out to the docks, the hotelier calls you over in the lobby. She's concerned for you; through her broken English, she questions why you come in so late. You don't have a good reason. She produces a printout of a weather report, trying to explain what some of the terms mean in English, but you can't understand her, and in the end you make an excuse and leave.

Since it's your last day, you want to be sure you won't miss him, and so instead of returning to that small, abandoned dock just after dinner, you order some street food and eat lunch there, just you and the saxophone case.

There aren't many tourists around today. It's balmy out, more humid than normal and perhaps the heavy blanket of clouds above have scared some of them away. You enjoy the quiet, however; you've grown accustomed to the bubble you live in while here, feeling a million miles away from anyone else in the world.

You first notice the rain when you see spots of grey on your white blouse. It doesn't bother you then, although it's not ideal considering this shirt is dry clean only.

By four in the afternoon, it's dark enough to be evening with how thick and low the stormy clouds hang, and you're the only one in Saint Mark's Square. You frown, regret not trying to communicate better with the hotelier, and curl yourself around the black instrument case.

The rain sets in not too long after.

Hot blasts of bucketing rain pellet you, slapping against the old wood dock and stone courtyard noisily, foaming at the once-placid water of the canal. Your hair is sopping wet, you fear that water might be slipping through the cracks of the case, and you're soaked to the skin, but still, you remain.

Thanking your lucky stars it's not windy or cold, you duck your head down and squeeze your eyes shut, legs and arms wrapped around the case to try and protect it with your body. You're so focussed on keeping yourself steady, that you don't notice the water level rising until it starts pooling up around you.

You lift your head up, rainwater pelting down your face and stinging your eyes, and watch in wonder as the canal overflows. Soon enough, you're submerged to the top of your waist, and the water is beginning to spread over the main square.

The water from the canal is cooler, and you begin to shiver. Looking down at the black case, you know there's no way the water hasn't seeped in through the hinges and flooded the instrument, and, after almost eight hours of sitting at the docks, you begin to sob.

It starts out as a frustrated cry, annoyed that your money had essentially gone down the drain, potentially ruining the instrument for all you knew about saxophones. The rain flooded the tears away before you could feel it track down your face, but once the dam broke, you found yourself heaving, weeping noisily and hopelessly, for everything that had gone downhill in the past week or so. For how stupid you had been. For letting yourself fall in love only to lose him.

Although you could barely make out its muted glow from behind a cloud, you could tell when the sun went down by the way the square is plunged into a gloomy darkness. As the canal overspills onto the square, you feel yourself lift off the dock, the water pulling you along, and you know it's time to move further inland.

You stand up with wobbly legs, doing your best to keep a grip on the slippery handle of the case, and hold onto the posts for support as you slosh through the water. Your clothes are heavy and waterlogged, and you wouldn't be surprised if you woke up tomorrow morning with a cold in the middle of summer. "Fuck!" you scream angrily into the stormy heavens, feeling a desperate rage take over. "Give me a chance, Taehyung! Where are you?!"

"What are you doing, Y/n?"

You let out a strangled cry and whirl around. "Taehyung?" He struggles to row against the tide, face tensed up with effort, but you've never been so relieved to see anyone in your life. "You came!"

You splash your way back recklessly to the end of the dock to meet him, and he finally reaches out and latches onto the end post with all his strength, holding the gondola still in the chaos of the storm. He's equally soaked through, and he pushes his dripping hair out of his face as he looks up at you. "Get in," he yells over the crashing of the rain.

Your lip trembles, and you feel the tears spring to your eyes again. "Taehyung, I'm so sorry."

"Get in," he insists, "unless you want to catch your death out here."

Your entry into the gondola isn't nearly as graceful as your others, but the moment you collapse onto the waterlogged sofa, he pushes off from the dock with a grunt and begins the hard trudge back the way he came. You only barely recognise the way back to his house, unable to see much through the thick sheets of pouring rain, but he seems to navigate the way just fine, rowing in staunch silence.

You hold the saxophone case to your chest the whole way back, and when he finally reaches home and moors the gondola, he looks down at you with a frown, before opening his front door, getting in, and shutting it loudly behind him.

You sniffle, shivering slightly, unsure if you're meant to follow, but with the way the boat is filling up with rainwater, there's not really any other option. You stand up shakily, open the door and bundle yourself inside, collapsing on the cold tile of the entryway and kicking the door shut behind you, panting.

The saxophone case clatters to the ground noisily, and he kicks at it lightly. "What's this?" he asks in a gruff voice, ignoring the way water pools at his feet as it drips off of him.

You wipe your face with the back of your hand, though it doesn't do much. "A saxophone," you say through shallow breaths, "for you."

He furrows his brows. "You went out and bought me a saxophone right before you were due to leave the city? Were you that convinced I was going to show up?"

You sigh, bones heavy, feeling the exhaustion of the past few days hit you. "No," you admit. "I bought it after that day in the workshop. When you said you used to play but couldn't afford a new saxophone."

He sighs, turns and makes his way upstairs as he replies. You scramble to your feet and follow him up the stairs. "So you thought I wanted a sugar daddy, huh? Poor old Taehyung." He scoffs bitterly, though his shoulders hang low in hurt. "It'll be ruined now, anyway."

The two of you reach his room, and you avert your eyes awkwardly as he peels off his wet shirt and pants. He leaves to go to the bathroom, and you raise your voice to be heard over the crashing of rain on the roof. "I'm so sorry, Taehyung. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Well, you did," he states plainly, returning with two towels. He throws one at your chest, and begins to dry off his hair with the other. "I wasn't going to come down, you know. In the end, I was just worried that you'd be stupid enough to stay out there during a flood. Guess I was right."

You duck your head, following his lead by stripping out of your wet clothes, leaving on a soaked bra and underwear and wrapping yourself in the bath towel. "Please just let me explain myself," you plead emphatically, "I'm here now. Surely you can give me that much."

He casts his eyes to the ceiling, and you think you catch a glimmer of tears pooling in them. "Fine, go ahead."

You let out a relieved breath you didn't realise you were holding. "Thank you. Listen, that morning... I was scared. I've never been in love before, and here I am, falling for a man who lives in a completely different country. I couldn't help but think how much worse it would be if we spent this past week together, only for me to leave anyway. I thought that it would be better to protect ourselves from that heartbreak. But I was wrong. I knew it the moment you left, but it was too late."

He sits down on the edge of his bed with a tired sigh. "Jungkook said you fly out tomorrow." His voice is flat with resignation, but not as glum as before. "Why are you saying all this if you're still leaving?"

"...because I love you, Taehyung," you admit quietly, and he glances up at you in shock. "And I've realised that I don't want to go back to my old life for good. I... I've made some calls. I have to go back to sort some things out, but... I could come back here. I could move here." You take the chance to step forward, approaching him slowly until you're standing directly in front of him. "I want to. But only if you're with me. If you really can't forgive me, I'll leave and never come back. Just don't think for a second that I don't love you like you love me. I've never felt this way about anyone before."

Taehyung swallows hard, still not looking at you.

You feel your heart sink. "Please say something."

He breathes out slowly, shoulders dropping. "You mean it?" he asks lowly. "You'll come back?"

"Of course I will," you rush out, dropping to your knees so that you can look him in the eyes. Even as his face is pained, his eyes are bright with hope. "I promise you, Kim Taehyung. If I could, I would never leave in the first place. And don't worry, I've looked into renting a place here when I arrive, so you don't have to-"

"No," he croaks out suddenly, "stay. Stay with me." You lift your hand up to cup his cheek, and he turns his face, kissing your palm. "How long will you be gone for?"

"A month and a half, maybe two."

His hand comes up to clutch at yours, holding it against his cheek. When he blinks balefully down at you, a tear spills over and spatters on his bare knee. "I don't want you to leave me again. I know it's selfish, but..."

You knit your brows in sympathy, sitting up to press a kiss on his lips gently, watching the way his eyes flutter shut. "We still have tonight."

He exhales with a shudder and nods. He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, and when he opens them again, he’s looking down at you with a vulnerability in his eyes you haven’t seen before. Sensing there are no more words that need to be said, he bends down and joins your lips together again.

You feel your breath hitch at the sudden intensity in his kiss. Last time was all shy and gentle, but now it seems like Taehyung’s fired by raw need. It’s no less meaningful, however; you can still feel how his hands shake slightly as they pull at your upper arms, trying to get you to sit up.

You follow his guidance, lifting yourself off the ground, still joined at the mouth, and he stands with you, fingertips running lightly all over your still-damp skin, attacking your senses.

You pull back briefly, take a couple of shallow breaths, and blink dazedly at him. “I’m getting cold, Taehyung, can we…” You tip your head towards the bed behind him, shivering slightly in your wet underwear and bra.

He agrees with a hum as he reclaims your lips, and all of a sudden you’re yelping into his mouth as he’s using those corded arms of his to lift you up onto him. Instinctively, your arms and legs wrap around him, and he turns around and kicks the covers back with a foot before letting you down onto the bed.

You bounce slightly on the mattress, wincing at the way your slips of fabric immediately make damp patches on the fabric. You pout up at him and he grins down at you, reaching down a finger to playfully snap the fabric of your waistband on your skin. “Should we take these off?” he asks in teasing voice, and you nod quickly, taken aback by his change in demeanour.

“Please, Taehyung,” you beg as you unclip your bra, lifting your hips to help him slide your panties off and away, “I need you.”

Your legs fall open naturally when he runs a flat palm up the inside of your leg, finishing at the top of your thigh. His eyes are darkened with lust, and he bites his lip at the sight of you. “And you’ll get me,” he promises, “but now it’s time for me to cash in.”

You frown, but you realize what he means when he falls to his knees, grabbing your ankles and tugging you down so that your ass is right on the edge of the bed. “Tae,” you gasp, but your hand is already in his hair, fingers brushing his scalp and running through the damp strands.

He leans into your touch, lids lowering in bliss, then snaps himself out of it and looks back down at you. His intense gaze at your most private part would have you shying away from embarrassment were it not for the look of absolute wonder and desire in his eyes. “Every part of you is so perfect,” he praises lowly, and your breath hitches when he brings up a single finger to run down the middle of you, parting your folds.

You feel a sea of goose bumps all over your skin, and you find yourself whispering pleas to him for more. A pleasured sigh is taken from you when he obliges by using two fingers to part your folds, exposing him to you, and he blows a thin stream of cool air over your clit.

Your head falls back against the mattress when you hear him chuckle quietly. “So sensitive,” he murmurs, “are you always this wet when you haven’t even been touched yet?”

Oh God. There’s something so erotic about the hopeless romantic speaking so dirtily to you. “Only because it’s you, Taehyung.”

“Oh?” Your legs jump, tightening against the edge of the bed when he bends down to slurp noisily at you, sucking up some of your slick. Your mouth drops open when he wipes his face clean against the sensitive skin of your thigh. “So this pussy’s all for me?”

“Y-yeah,” you moan, breaths choppy and uneven as he continues to tease you, running a finger lazily up and down, never brushing against your clit or dipping into your hole deeper than a fingertip. “Tae, please, more.”

You shudder and breathe out shakily when he finally lets a finger sink down into you, only stopping when he can go no further. He hums contentedly at your reaction. “Well, I can’t say no when you have such polite manners. Here,” he uses his free hand to cup the back of your leg and hitch it over his shoulder, tugging a little bit so that you’re even closer to his waiting mouth. “Now let me hear you moan for me.”

And with that, he descends on you. Gone are the light touches and teasing brushes. Now, it feels like he’s devouring you, and you’re in heaven.

His tongue is merciless as it sucks, flicks and swipes at your clit, and within moments he’s upgrading from one finger, to two, and soon enough you feel that addictive stretch as three of his calloused fingers thrust into you with the singular intention of ripping an orgasm from your sensitive flesh.

You no longer feel cold; instead, your nerves are on fire, and the feeling only increases as he lets go of your leg to reach up and palm roughly at your breast, rolling the nipple deftly between two fingers.

You shake hopelessly beneath him, fingers curling up to tug and push at his hair, pressing him deeper into you. It’s not until you begin to move against him, chasing more friction, that you feel a strange slight vibration.

You gather the strength needed to lift your head up and look down at him, and almost fall over the edge from the sight alone. Taehyung’s eyes are shut, but you can see the way his lids dance as he rolls them back and his brows knit. You quieten down a bit and can hear him moaning gruffly as he sucks at you, the entire bottom half of his face and the tip of his nose glossy with your wetness.

The thing that finally pitches you over the edge, however, as he crooks his fingers up inside you just right, is the way you can see him rutting up against the side of the bed, back muscles flexing as he desperately seeks out some friction.

Your body curls in on itself with the force of your orgasm, and you arch your back up, grinding against his face to prolong your pleasure. You’re pretty sure you hear him growl against you when you dig your ankles in as your legs tighten over his shoulders, but soon that sound is drowned out by your cries.

He doesn’t stop until you try and wriggle away from his mouth, pushing his head away, and when he pulls back, your legs slip limply from his shoulders and dangle over the side of the bed. You close your eyes for a moment and throw your arm over, catching your breath to the sound of rain hitting the roof. Once you finally feel yourself become coherent again, you sit up tiredly, humming in satisfaction, only to freeze the moment you look at Taehyung.

He’s stripping away his underwear, but before he gets the chance to you see a spreading shiny patch on the already-wet fabric, and your suspicions are confirmed when you look back up to his cock, which has a white sheen to it.

“Did you cum from eating me out?” you ask incredulously. “I thought… I thought you wanted to fuck me.”

Taehyung, still slow and smiley with the dopamine released from his orgasm, laughs breathily. “Of course I’m still going to fuck you. That pussy’s begging for my cock, isn’t it. Look at her.” He presses at your still-sensitive clit, and your legs clamp shut around his hand. He licks his lips, slips his hand back out, and brings his finger to his mouth, sucking on it thoughtfully. “Lie down, angel.”

You shuffle up and turn yourself so that your feet are under the covers and your head rests comfortably on the pillow.

Taehyung looks over you with curious eyes, tugging absentmindedly at his cock, pumping himself a few times to test his sensitivity. Your mouth waters at the fact that he’s already ready to go again, and he’s still as hard as ever. He sighs once, tugs the duvet back so it slips off the bottom of the bed, and pats the side of your hip. “On your stomach,” he commands softly.

Even after such a powerful orgasm, you find yourself growing wetter, excitement rising within you as you obediently roll over, shuffling down a little so that your head rests on your crossed forearms, blinking up at him innocently.

His eyes flutter and his mouth parts as his eyes run over you. You feel the bed dip as he gets on, one knee on either side of yours, and palms at the flesh of your ass. You let yourself relax, eyes closing naturally as he squeezes them, parting the cheeks to see what lies between.

Once his finger dips down, you bring your legs up slightly and part them, so that your ass is presented in the air for him nicely, but he tuts at you and uses a firm hand on the small of your back to push you back down flat. “I want you to feel all of me,” he explains, still massaging the tender flesh of your cheeks. His hand slides between you and the bed to press at your lower stomach. “Right here.”

You arch, yearning for more of his touch. “Taehyung, please, need you inside me already.”

Instead of replying, he just shifts himself, and uses the back of a hand to push your legs apart a little more, still keeping you flat against the mattress. When you feel him lining up against your entrance, you hold your breath in anticipation, only releasing it in a moaned sigh when he begins pressing into you.

The fit isn’t as tough to take as the first time, since he’s fingered you first, but the unique angle has your mouth falling open. You’ve never felt anyone this deep, and it seems like he’s bigger than ever as he just keeps going in further, splitting you apart.

Once he bottoms out, you moan brokenly as he leans forward, pressing a soft kiss on the back of your shoulder. “Does it feel good? Hm?”

You swallow, and although your mouth feels dry, you’ve drooled onto your arm. “So full, Tae, I can’t.”

“Shh, angel, it’s okay, you can take it. We’ll go slow, yeah?” You cry out, feeling yourself trembling as he pulls out and thrusts in again, a fraction quicker and smoother than last time. He checks in again, and you nod jerkily. “That’s my good girl.”

Unlike last time, every single thrust is measured and hits deeper than you’ve ever felt before. You feel incapable of closing your mouth, and moans and drool alike fall out without you even being aware of it. It feels so good, almost more than you can believe, and by the way Taehyung grunts as he holds back, you can tell it feels good for him too.

“Fuck, so good for me,” he praises, “all for me.”

“Just for you, Tae,” you repeat back to him in a breathy whine, “god, I’m close already, how-? Oh, fuck.”

He begins to add a swivel of his hips every time he bottoms out, and when it causes your clit to rub against the rough cotton of his sheets, the added friction has your eyes rolling in the back of your head, coming undone from the pleasure. He pants and moans in your ear, just as loud as you are. “Fuck, you gonna let me cum in you again? Keep it in you the whole plane ride back so you’re reminded that no one back in your country can fuck you this good?”

You whimper helplessly at his words. “Tae, yes, fuck! Come in me, I want it!”

He begins to speed up as he gets close, and every thrust has a garbled moan tumbling out of your mouth, static jolts of pleasure pitching you towards an orgasm that feels like it’ll be more powerful than your first.

You feel a wetness on your neck, and realise it’s him sucking a hickey onto your skin, nipping and lapping at the sensitive flesh once he’s done. “Gonna fuck my baby into you,” he promises in a husky voice, “make you mine forever. You want that? Come back to me with your stomach swollen with my baby?”

Though you should be freaking out like last time he confessed in bed, the thought sends a violent shudder through you and you tip your head to give him more access to your throat, grinding as much as you can against him and the mattress, surrounded by pleasure on both sides. “Ah, I’m gonna cum, Tae, fuck!”

“Cum for me, angel,” he commands, and the two of you cry out simultaneously, going out of your minds as he wraps an arm around your stomach and holds you steady as he fucks into you with the last of his energy. You feel him spill inside you, so much that it trickles out of you even as he stays buried to the hilt inside you.

When he collapses, he tips the two of you onto your sides and wraps a leg around you, spooning you tenderly. You let your head rest against the pillow and try and catch your breath. Taehyung recovers first, and he whispers into the dark. “Please come back to me.”

Though he can’t see it, you close your eyes and smile blissfully. “Always.”

[poetic-emptiness-fanfic]

Swim School

Hande tries to teach Lachlan to swim.

Yay, it’s finished! This idea haunted in my head for so long I had to write it before I start to really work on my giveaway prizes (I’m so sorry for making you wait!). This is my first fic featuring an OC of other person, so I’m pretty nervous. Thank you, @leila-of-ravens, of allowing me to use Lachlan - I hope I managed to do him justice and that you like it!

Characters: Hande Kuura, Lachlan Lonan & Leila Lonan (mentioned - Lachlan and Leila belong to @leila-of-ravens)

Content warning: mention of (almost) drowning

Words: ~2 360

”I still can't believe the navy didn't teach you how to swim... That's so stupid...” Hande snaps to herself when Lachlan enters the water cautiously. ”Well, they thought it would be more important to learn how to lick officers' boots than to swim,” the man chuckles, trying to look confident. There's no fooling Hande, though: she can see he's a little nervous and is feeling uncomfortable. Lachlan can feel Hande's eyes piercing through him, as if she could read his mind. ”Is something wrong?” the magician asks tentatively. Lachlan tries to keep his bravado when he answers, ”Wrong? Why would anything be wrong?” Hande just narrows her eyes which makes Lachlan's shoulders shrink. He sighs, deciding it's better to give her at least partial truth, ”I don't understand why you're seeing all this trouble... We haven't known each other that long and you're trying to teach a grown-up man how to swim.”

Hande raises her eyebrows, feeling a little uncertain, ”It isn't any trouble, Lachlan. I may not remember most of my past, but I've learnt from my parents, that especially in Hjalle swimming is an important life skill and taught to everyone. Besides, the first time we met you almost died, remember?”

Yes, the first meeting of Lachlan and Hande had been peculiar, to say the least. Both of them happened to be on a gondola ride in Vesuvia at the same time. Everything went well, until the gondolier of the boat, where Hande was in, became distracted and the gondola crashed with the one where Lachlan was in. Both of the gondoliers lost their balance and the boats keeled over. Hande managed to rise to the surface quickly, and was about to swim to the shore when she noticed that the passenger of other gondola was in trouble. His hands were trashing around, head bobbing above and below the waterline – the man was drowning. Hande immediately swam to the man, helped him to keep his head above the surface and swam with him to the shore. After the man had puked all the water out and recovered from the shock, Hande was surprised to learn that the man was the brother of her friend, Leila. Hande escorted Lachlan to Leila's tea shop, was invited in with many thanks and became acquainted with the youngest of Lonan brothers.

Lachlan is shifting his weight, still nearer to the shore than to Hande. He's known Hande for only a few weeks, and he doesn't like the idea of opening up to her. ”This is going to be a lot of work, you know? I'm not a patient man... And I'm probably too old for this,” he remarks with a lopsided smirk on his face. Hande sighs, but then smiles back to Lachlan, ”I wouldn't have offered to teach you if I thought I can't handle it. I know it will be a long process and I'm prepared for it. And nonsense, you're never too old to learn something.” Hande realises the man is stalling right now, and can't help but wonder if he finds it uncomfortable to be in her presence. Trying her best to brush her creeping insecurities away, she decides not to push Lachlan, but let him do things in his own time. After a tense moment, the man finally breaks the silence, ”Why? Why are you so keen to help me? You've only known me for a little time.” Hande lowers her gaze, staring at the water. She keeps fiddling her swimsuit, thinking what she should say.

The silence starts to feel a little awkward, which makes Lachlan feel uneasy and impatient. He's wondering if he should leave, when Hande finally answers, her voice not louder than a whisper, ”I have seen someone die in an accident that could have been avoided... I don't want that to happen again, if I can help it.” The way the magician gave her answer, so ruefully, makes Lachlan curious. Still, he decides it'll be better not to pry. Instead, he finally approaches Hande, tentatively placing his hand on her shoulder. Lachlan can feel Hande tense a little, but then she relaxes, turning to face the man. She gives him a bashful smile, patting the hand on her shoulder, ”Well, it's no use to scowl about it, let's begin our lesson!” she chirps, sounding almost too cheerful.

Lachlan doesn't want to make his sister's friend to feel any more uncomfortable, so he tries to lighten the mood, ”Well, boss, what are we going to do? Making me wave my hands in the air like a fool?” Hande can't help but snort at his question. Feeling a little better, she shakes her head while answering. ”No, that would be way too advanced for you,” Hande snaps with mischief in her voice, ”Firstly I'm going to teach you how to float.” Lachlan's jaw drops a little in surprise. ”To float? Are you kidding me? How is that supposed to help me?” The woman barks a laughter and almost falls into the water, but manages to maintain her balance. ”Sorry, I just couldn't help it... Oh, my sweet summer child, floating is essential thing to learn if you really want to be able to swim. Firstly, you're going to float while swimming. Secondly, being able to float might save your life if you get a cramp in the middle of a lake, for example. Do you have any other questions? And really, feel free to ask anytime if you feel like it,” Hande explains with a bright smile on her face.

The man shakes his head, answering Hande's smile with a smirk. She might seem shy at first, but he has to admit she has some nerve, implying that Lachlan would be naive. Maybe this is going to be fun, after all – Hande clearly is a humorous one. ”Okay, consider me convinced – let's begin,” he declares. Hande claps her hands together before she starts explaining, ”So, the most important thing is relaxation. In order to float, you need to be relaxed. Like this.” Hande leans back, letting her lower body rise to the surface. She glances at Lachlan who is watching her attentively, ”If you feel like it, you can spread your arms horizontally and your legs apart from each other – like a starfish,” Hande instructs while showing Lachlan how to do that. Then she stands up again, wiping her wet hair from her cheeks, and gestures Lachlan to come in front of her.

”Now, let's try that together. Do you trust me?” Hande asks a little playfully. Lachlan chuckles and splashes some water in her direction, ”Well, you didn't hesitate coming to my aid during the gondola accident – just don't get any ideas, I won't admit it publicly, but it was very embarrassing for me.” Hande's lips turn into a smirk. ”I take it as a yes,” she says softly, ”Okay, so: you will lay on your back while I hold your back with my hands. When you're relaxed I will let you go to see if you can float. Don't worry: I will be near you, so I can catch you if it doesn't work out. How does that sound to you?” For Lachlan that doesn't sound too hard, so he nods in agreement. Hande places her arms above the waterline, her elbows attached to her sides. ”Whenever you're ready,” she tells her companion, and Lachlan tentatively starts to lean back. ”Don't worry, I won't let you sink,” Hande assures after noticing his hesitation. To lighten the mood she adds, ”If I let you sink, we couldn't float down here together,” her eyes glinting with mischief.

Because Lachlan wasn't prepared for Hande's latest remark, he bursts into laughter, almost tripping over. ”Is that supposed to make me feel safe?” he chuckles, ”You're not doing very good job, if that was your intention.” Hande joins in Lachlan's laughter, but still keeps her posture. ”Hah, quit whining, you'll be fine! There aren't any sewers nearby – at least not any I'm aware of,” she snickers. Seeing her opportunity, Hande cunningly pushes the back of Lachlan's ankle with her foot, causing him fall back first into her arms. ”You tricked me!” Lachlan yelps a little shocked by the turn of events. Hande just laughs, still holding Lachlan's back, ”If I hadn't done that, we would just stand here for the whole day. And you were supposed to be the impatient one.” Well, Hande really has a point, Lachlan couldn't deny that – he finally is lying, supported by Hande's hands. ”Now that the hardest part is over, you only need to relax,” Hande states encouragingly. That shouldn't be too hard, right?

More like ”easier said than done”. Every time Hande lets go of Lachlan when he's relaxed, he panics – despite of the fact Hande warns him before she removes her hands from his back. This causes Lachlan to become extremely frustrated and willing to just give up. Unfortunately for him, Hande is resilient and patient, so she doesn't let Lachlan to back down. ”No one is born a master. You should know that, since you're very gifted at many things,” Hande comforts, ”If this isn't going to work today, we just pick another day and try again. You may not feel like it, but you're doing really good: letting me teach you is big of a deal, and I'm honored you trust me enough to do this.” After a little hesitation, she pats Lachlan friendly on his shoulder. ”What do you say: should we give it another go, hmm?” Hande asks with warmth in her voice. Lachlan feels pretty uneasy: the kindness Hande is showing, although he's clearly not a very good student – it feels so overwhelming.

Hande keeps observing Lachlan and notices his inconvenience. She isn't sure how to make Lachlan feel better, but she isn't going to give up. ”Lachlan... It really is okay. I hope I haven't made you feel uncomfortable with my behavior or anything... I just really want to help you, it's not any trouble for me. After my resurrection, it took me almost two years to learn how to be a human again. I couldn't speak, walk or eat myself, and my friend had to babysit me, an adult woman! Why I'm saying this is because... I know learning takes time, and I don't mind it at all. I've known you only for a couple of weeks, but I can tell you're really a good man. Leila is my friend, and I hope you'll be my friend, too. Please, give yourself a chance – you deserve it.” Lachlan stares at Hande, unable to speak. He hadn't known the circumstances of Hande's resurrection, and although she told only little about it, it feels painful. The man isn't sure why Hande is being so nice to him, but her words sounded sincere. Lachlan doesn't want to cause any more trouble to her, so he nods and smiles, ”You won: let's give it a go one more time.”

Hande gives Lachlan a bright smile and gestures him to lay back again. This time she wants to make sure the man gets relaxed and stays that way when she lets go of him. Musing for a moment, she glances at the sky and see some clouds floating above them. It gives her an idea. ”Look, that cloud looks like an osprey! Isn't your familiar on of them?” the woman asks quietly, trying not to startle Lachlan. The man tries to look at the direction Hande is looking at, and after seeing the cloud in question, snorts, ”Hah, it really looks like Emer! Well spotted! And that one looks like violin.” Hande's smile widens, ”What a coincidence, I play violin!” ”Really? You must show me someday!” Lachlan exclaims excitedly. ”Well, for that you'd need to have level 50 friendship with me – I hate performing,” Hande chuckles, fighting not to tremble. ”Is that a challenge? I'm happy to accept,” Lachlan barks trying to keep still as well.

They continue like this for a moment, spotting clouds and joking with each other. Hande can feel Lachlan relaxing more and more, but this time she decides not to tell her companion when she takes her hands from his back. The duo keeps chatting, until Hande can't hide her excitement any longer. ”Lachlan,” she says, ”Don't freak out, but you've been floating by yourself a couple of minutes right now.” After Hande has said that, Lachlan finally notices how her hands aren't holding his back anymore. He's done it, he really is floating. Letting out a triumphant shriek, he spread his limbs and laughs, ”And now I'm a starfish! Hah, you really did it! You really managed to teach me something!” Then Lachlan stands up, seeing Hande is laughing as well. ”That was wonderful, Lachlan, great job – I'm so proud of you!” she exclaims and pats him on his bicep. She's glowing with happiness and pride – it's so infectious Lachlan starts to feel those things, as well. ”Can I hug you?” he asks in the moment of joy. Hande stops for a moment, taken aback by the question – she still isn't that used to endearments even from her family. After her brain starts to function again, she gives Lachlan a small smile, ”Maybe this once.”

Lachlan doesn't wait but takes Hande into his arms. The woman tenses for a moment, but then melts into a hug, giving one for Lachlan, too. It actually feels quite nice – Lachlan is a good hugger. Eventually Hande lets go, looking a little shy. ”Well, how was it? Do you let me teach you again?”

she asks unsurely. ”Are you kidding me?” Lachlan laughs, ”You are probably the best teacher I've ever had! Maybe I can learn how to swim, after all.” He places his arm on Hande's shoulder and walk back to the shore with her. Hande is mumbling something under her breath, probably about how her teaching skills aren't that great, but Lachlan won't hear any of it. ”And now, Hande, I'll buy you a drink, if you allow it.” Hande glances at Lachlan, giving him a smirk, ”All right, fair enough.”

[teamchamtravels]

DAY 79-81, OCT 19-21, VENICE, ITALY 🇮🇹

Day 79/Oct 19:

Today we had a very relaxing morning. Sometimes it’s just great to not have a lot planned! Sam got some work done and Chels went for a run. Then chels made breakfast and we had mimosas with Prosecco and pineapple juice!

In the afternoon we decided to go checkout the Jewish Quarter in the North side of Venice. It was super cool to walk through all the streets. We heard music, saw locals going about their business, and enjoyed the beautiful architecture and feeling of the city. 

Our walking tour had recommended a good place to go for Cicchetti - Enoteca a Volta, so we stopped on the way back and got a few glasses of wine and some Venetian bites. It was close to Sunset at this point so we stopped by the docks on the grand canal to watch it set. We needed a few more groceries, so we stocked up and headed back to the place for a pasta and salad dinner. A nice relaxed sightseeing day in the books!

Day 80/Oct 20:

Today, Chels wasn’t feeling too great because of her cramps so we used it as another R&R day. We mostly planned, worked, and relaxed this day.

Day 81/Oct 21:

Our last full day in Venice! Chels was still not feeling so great so we had a relaxed morning, and went for a short walk around Dorsoduro. It was a foggy day, but we had nice views of the Giudecca canal, and we got coffee & tea by the water. 

Then, it was time to head back to the Airbnb for a bit, and Chels went for her last Venetian run, but Sam made her take it easy. Sam did some crypto while Chels was running. 

For lunch, we were craving our pizza place (Birraria la Corte) again! We each got different pizzas that were just as good this time around! Same cocktails though! Gelato on the way back at the same place (Grom) too :). 

On our last night we decided to have one last hurrah, and did the most touristy thing someone can do in Venice, a Gondola ride! We found a nice Gondolier near the Accademia bridge and enjoyed a very relaxing ride through the small canals, which finished on the grand canal near the bridge where we started. 

It’s a bit awkward but whenever tourists see people in gondolas, they feel the need to take tons of photos. As we passed underneath a bridge, a random lady was taking a photo of us, and Chels shouted out to her “Hey, airdrop it to me!”. Hilariously, she did! So that’s how we got a great photo of us in a Gondola!

We really enjoyed our time in Venice. It was a fantastic opportunity to sightsee, relax, and was a great finale to our time in Italy. We truly loved it here.

[dlwritings]

His Plan | Peter Parker

masterlist found here

pairing - Peter x reader word count - 3,514 warnings - I guess FFH spoilers lowkey A/N - 

summary - You’re far too shy to tell Peter how you feel about him. You always have been. He’s shy about it too, but decides to bite the bullet and confess a couple things to you on the school trip to Europe. His plan doesn’t, however, account for you feeling the same.

To say you didn’t exactly like high school was a bit of an understatement.

Under the dictionary definition of loner, it said: see (Y/N) (Y/L/N).

For most of middle school, you were unbothered by it, but then your freshman, sophomore, and junior years passed, and you were over it. At that point, you were so close to the end, everyone already had their friends. If you tried to squeeze into a group, you’d just be intruding.

Not that there were many groups you wanted to be a part of anyway. There was only one. It wasn’t exactly a group, per say, just a few people you observed from afar who seemed like cool people to hang out with.

Okay, maybe cool was pushing it.

To the rest of the school, kids like Michelle Jones, Peter Parker, Ned Leeds, and Betty Brant weren’t exactly cool. To you, though, they were exactly the kind of people you could see yourself spending time with. They didn’t all exactly hang out together. Obviously Peter and Ned were inseparable, but MJ and Betty were like background characters to their friendship’s main storyline. You would’ve done anything to be cast as an additional role.

The thing was, you didn’t know how to make friends. You hadn’t done it since elementary school, and you figured people were a lot harder to befriend now. You couldn’t exactly share a box of crayons and become immediate best friends in science class like you could in kindergarten.

When the school announced a small class trip to Europe, you were really eager to go. Even if you spent the whole time alone, who wouldn’t want to spend two weeks in Europe? And maybe, just maybe, you’d finally get the courage to talk to some people.

On the plane ride, your seat was right behind Peter and Ned. You felt like your stomach was filled with butterflies. Sure, you wanted to be friends with Ned and Peter, but sometimes (all the time) you wanted to be a little bit more than friends with Peter. You had gone to school with him since elementary school, and had been crushing on him just as long. Sometimes you would stare at him from across the room and look away the minute he looked back. Even if he smiled in your direction, you cursed yourself for getting caught. He probably thought you were the weird loner girl, just like everyone else did. No one wants the weird loner kid staring at them. Sitting behind them was perfect because you could stare at Peter without him ever realizing it. Not that the back of his head was particularly infatuating, but you were going to take what you could get.

About halfway through the eight hour plane ride, you felt your eyes start to close. You leaned your head against the window and folded your arms across your chest, trying to get comfortable. Just as you felt yourself start to dose off, the person next to you -a classmate whose name you didn’t actually know- stood up, startling you back to alert consciousness. Switching seats with her was Peter. “Hey,” he said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. Was he talking to you? “Uh, is it okay if I sit next to you? The, uh, the lady in front of me and Ned’s got really strong perfume. It’s giving me a headache.” You assumed the girl next to you had already agreed to this deal, so you just nodded. Inside though, your stomach was turning. Shit. How could you stare at him now? He’d notice you for sure. And how were you supposed to sleep? All of your senses were on overdrive. Every breath he took rang in your ears. The fact that his knee was only a few inches away from yours made your skin burn. You could smell his cologne (Deodorant? Laundry detergent?) every time you breathed. Yeah. There was no way you could sleep.

You were both quiet for what felt like hours, but you were sure it had only been a few minutes. “Hey, do you maybe want to watch a movie?” he asked. “I, I got this headphone splitter. Unless, sorry, unless you wanted to sleep.”

“I’ll, I’ll watch a movie,” you said. Peter’s face lit up and he fumbled to plug his headphone splitter into all the places it needed to go. Watching him made you bite your lip to hide your smile. Why was he so cute? More importantly, why was he talking to you? When he finally got it all connected, you started scrolling through the movies.You were both torn between Monsters Inc, one of the Harry Potter’s, or the most “recent” It movie. You were both kind of grateful that no movies came out during The Blip (With half of the world’s directors, producers, actors, and what not dusted, who was going to make a movie?), because it meant you didn’t miss much in the cinematic world. You were never a fan of scary movies, but Peter seemed kind of excited about watching It. All he had to do was give you a look -Was it possible for a person to be part puppy?- and you caved.

It didn’t take you long to regret it. You jumped at every scary part and had to cover your mouth multiple times to stop from screaming. There was one part where Pennywise started to climb out of the projector screen, and you ended up reaching out and grabbing Peter’s arm, closing your eyes and turning your head away. You felt Peter tense up, so you immediately let go. “Sorry,” you said, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear. You took your earbuds out and let out a shaky breath. “I, maybe this is just a little too spooky for me. I think I’m going to get some rest.”

“No!” Peter said. “Uh, we can watch another movie? It’s no big deal. I’m not that into this anyway.”

“It’s okay,” you said. “I’m feeling pretty tired. I want to make sure I’m awake when we get to Venice. You finish it up. Tell me if it’s any good.”

To avoid any further awkward interaction, you closed your eyes and leaned your head on the window again, mentally running through all the things you had done wrong.

When you got to Venice, you were all given your rooms and some free time to explore. Mr. Harrington wanted you all to meet at a restaurant at 6:00 for dinner, which gave you four hours. You, as had been your plan, wandered off alone. It had been your dream for ages to go to Italy, and there you were. You brought your camera -an old film one that had once belonged to your mom- and felt like the ultimate tourist, but you loved it. You knew some people liked to blend in with the locals when travelling, but you didn’t mind standing out.

All you really wanted to do was walk the streets. You didn’t want to go to a museum or pay for a gondola ride. You just wanted to spend a few hours staring at the beauty of Venice. It was so different from Queens, and you already knew the few days you would spend there wouldn’t be enough. You were only about a block away from the hotel you were all staying at when you heard someone call your name. You turned and saw Peter jogging over to you. Your cheeks instantly felt warm. You stopped walking and let him catch up to you. “Where’re you headed?” he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

You shrugged. “Just gonna walk around a bit.”

“Do, would you, do you maybe want some company?” he asked. You bit your lip and nodded.

“Yeah. That’d be nice.”

Peter smiled. “Ah, uh, cool. Cool. Okay. Let’s go.”

The two of you started to walk towards the center of town. At first, you were both quiet. You couldn’t think of what to say to him. You didn’t even know Peter knew who you were. Now it felt like he was around every corner on this trip, and it had only just started. How were you supposed to talk to this person you had spent (basically) your entire life pining after?

“This is my first time out of the states,” you said. You didn’t know why. It was just the first thing you thought of, and you had to fill the weird silence. “Have you ever?”

“I went to Germany, uh, before The Blip,” Peter said. “Mr. Stark, it was a trip he took me on.”

Of course. Of course the first thing you say brings up a memory of Tony. Nice going (Y/N). Just the person he wanted to talk about. “I’m sorry,” you said, shaking your head. “I didn’t mean-”

“It’s okay,” Peter said. “It was a fun trip. I, uh, I met a lot of really cool people.” You knew you should’ve ended the conversation there, but you and your stupid big mouth had to keep talking.

“Do you miss him a lot?” you asked. “Like, how close were you guys?” Peter cleared his throat and stared ahead of him. You turned to look and swore you saw tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” you said, shaking your head. “That was dumb. Of course you don’t want to talk about him. I’m-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” he said, assuring you again. “We were really close after, uh, after Germany. I just wish I, I got to spend more time with him after The Blip, you know? It was like I was back, and then he was gone. It didn’t really feel fair.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “But I learned a lot from him. He was cool. So, yeah, I miss him a lot.” You wanted to ask more questions, but you already felt like you were intruding. If you wanted to get Peter to fall in love with you (Was that the goal?), this probably wasn’t the way to do it.

Peter moved on from that conversation really well. Sure, he was a little awkward, but you two ended up talking a lot. You talked about favorite movies, plans for after high school, family, and hobbies. You found yourself falling more and more in love with him with every step. A few times your hands brushed together, but you both jumped away at the contact.

When it was time for dinner, you and Peter didn’t want to rejoin everyone. Still, you knew Mr. Harrington would go crazy if you didn’t go back to the class. They’d think it was Washington DC all over again, like when Peter first disappeared. Why had Peter disappeared?

“Hey Pete?” you asked as you got nearer to the restaurant. He looked at you, a small smirk on his face. You realized that you had just given him a nickname, or used one that wasn’t reserved for you. “Sorry, uh, Peter,” you said with an awkward laugh.

“No, no, you can call me Pete,” he said. “It’s just, not a lot of people do.” You were both quiet. You had a moment where you wondered if Mr. Stark called him that. Something in his eyes told you he did. “Anyway, what were you going to say?”

“In DC,” you said, “when you all went on the decathlon trip, everyone said you disappeared when they were in the monument.”

“Yeah, I, uh,” he stuttered, “uh, I just kind of, I wandered around. Kind of like now. Like we’re wandering around.”

“And then Spider-Man showed up,” you said, “and you didn’t see him?”

“No,” Peter said. “But, you know, I talk to him all the time. With Mr. Stark and everything.”

“Did you talk to Mr. Stark about it?” you asked. “Did he know Spider-Man was gonna be there?”

“Yeah, he was really impressed,” Peter said. “Said it was a good thing he acted so quickly.”

You tried to get a good read on Peter’s face without it seeming too obvious that you were staring. You didn’t know him that well, but he seemed like a terrible liar. There was definitely something he wasn’t telling you, but you just didn’t know what it was. You also figured it wasn’t your place to force anything out of him. After all, this was pretty much the first time you had spoken to him. Hadn’t you already pried enough?

Dinner flew by, as did the rest of the evening. You spent most of it glued to Peter’s side, which meant you were glued to Ned, MJ, and Betty too. How had that happened? You hadn’t even been on the trip for 24 hours and you were already spending time with the people you had been wanting to since you were 14. And you were pretty sure they were having fun.

When dinner ended, you all headed back to the hotel. Mr. Harrington wanted to make sure you all had enough energy for the day ahead of you, so he wanted everyone to get a lot of sleep. You said goodnight to everyone and headed off to your room. You couldn’t fight the smile on your face as you changed into your pajamas. What a day you had. You shot your parents a quit text telling them how much fun you were having and decided to head out to the balcony. You couldn’t stop staring at the beauty of Venice. You brought your camera out, snapping pictures of anything your lens could see.

There was a knock at your door, so you set your camera down and jogged over to the door. You assumed it was Mr. Harrington checking in, but you opened it and found Peter. “Oh, hey,” you said, furrowing your eyebrows. You were suddenly feeling self-conscious in your pajama shorts and tank top. Peter was wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt, and his cheeks seemed a little pink.

“Hey,” he said. “I was just, uh, it’s, I was wondering if, you maybe wanted to watch a movie. Since, you know, we didn’t finish the one on the plane.” You suddenly realized he had his backpack on, because he took it off and dug through his bag. He pulled out a few movies, dropping some of them accidentally. He let out a mumbled curse word and picked them up, then showed them to you. He brought some Pixar movies, his Star Wars box set, and a couple random comedies like 21 Jump Street and Neighbors. You grinned and stepped aside, letting him into the room. Before you shut the door, you looked down the hall to make sure Mr. Harrington wasn’t there. You didn’t think guys and girls were allowed in the same room past the curfew he had established for the night: 9:00. It was 9:15. You shut the door before anyone could walk by.

Peter was awkward, needless to say. He kept scratching the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at you. You didn’t know what to do. You finally plopped on the bed and smiled at Peter. “What do you want to watch?” you asked. “You’ve got a lot of choices.”

Peter laid all the DVDs out on your bed, letting you see the full array. “You pick,” Peter said. “I picked last time. Unsuccessfully.” You giggled and glanced over the titles, finally settling on Cars.

“This is one of my favorite Pixar movies,” you said. “A lot of people don’t like it, but I do.”

“It’s good,” Peter agreed. “Totally underrated.”

Peter popped the DVD in the TV (Both of you said a mental thanks that it had a DVD player built into it.) and joined you on the bed. You kept a good amount of space between the two of you, both of you really tense and unsure.

Your mind was reeling with the why. Why was Peter there? Why was he hanging out with you so much on the trip? Why was his hand inching closer to yours? Why did he smell so good?

Peter was thinking about the how. How should he tell you he liked you? How was he supposed to get this girl he’s been liking for his whole life to fall for him? How could he hold your hand without being weird? How did you look so cute all the time?

You both decided to speak your minds at the same time.

“(Y/N) I-”

“Can I-”

You both stopped and looked at each other awkwardly. You reached for the remote and paused the movie. “You can go,” you said.

“No, no, you go,” Peter said. “What were you going to ask me?”

“I just wanted to know, if, um,” you said, “maybe, uh, I guess, like-” What were you trying to ask him? Why are you talking to me? Do you have a crush on me? Are you aware of how deeply I love you? “You go first. I lost my train of thought.”

“Um,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, “I just, I’ve been wanting to tell you this for a long time, but I’ve never known how. And I see that it’s really, it’s probably weird. You’re probably going to think I’m really weird. It’s just, okay, so I should just say it, right? Instead of stammering like an idiot. I should just say it.”

“Peter-”

“I really like you, (Y/N),” he said. “Like, I’ve liked you for a really long time. And I know it’s weird because, because you don’t even talk to me, and I’m sure you didn’t even know I existed until this trip, but-”

“Didn’t know you existed?” you repeated with raised eyebrows. “I didn't think you knew I existed. Peter, I’ve had a crush on you since, like, kindergarten.”

“W-Wait, are you, are you being serious?” Peter stuttered.

“Yes I’m being serious,” you said, laughing and shoving his arm slightly.

“Oh,” Peter said plainly. “Cool.”

“Cool?”

“I don’t know how to respond to this!” he said. “I didn’t think we were going to get this far. I didn’t have a plan for if you liked me back.”

“A plan?” you said, raising an eyebrow. Peter’s cheeks turned pink right away.

“Uh, yeah,” he said. “I had this, this really big plan of how I was going to tell you I liked you and then, and I was, oh-” He cut himself off by digging through his backpack again. “I, I got you this. It’s okay if you totally hate it, I just thought-” He cut himself off with a sigh and handed you a small bag. In it was a necklace with an odd, small charm on the end. You looked closer and discovered it was-

“A spider?” you said. You looked up at Peter to see his cheeks were even more red than they had been earlier.

“That’s the other thing I wanted to tell you,” he said. “I’m, uh, well, I’m-”

“Oh!” you said, understanding washing over you. “You’re Spider-Man!”

“Shh, shh,” Peter said, waving his hands for you to lower your voice. You giggled and bit your lip, spinning the necklace in your fingers. You handed it to Peter and gathered your hair over one of your shoulders.

“You think you could put it on?” you asked him. He swallowed and nodded, then watched you turn your back to him. If Peter was a little more bold, he’d probably start kissing the skin of your neck like he had always wanted to. But he wasn’t, so he just used his shaking hands to clasp the necklace around your neck. Peter let out a small sigh as you turned and revealed the spider charm resting on your chest. “Thanks, Pete,” you said, letting your fingers fiddle with the charm. Peter just nodded, speechless by how well everything was going. This was definitely not part of the plan. But he didn’t mind.

“So,” he said, finally clearing his throat and finding his voice again, “should we watch the movie now?”

“Or, we could maybe not watch the movie?” you suggested.

“Oh do you want to watch a different-” Peter cut himself off in embarrassment as he realized what you meant. “Oh. Oh yeah. Yeah that, that could-”

You just laughed and grabbed his hand, pulling him with you onto the bed. He fell with an oof at your side as you pressed play on the movie. Feeling a little more confident than you had a few minutes prior, you cuddled up to Peter’s side, resting your head on his shoulder and your hand on his stomach. Peter put his arm around you, hoping you couldn’t feel how fast his heart was racing.

You could, but you didn’t mind because yours was too.

“So, so we are watching the movie?” Peter asked with furrowed eyebrows. You just laughed and rubbed your thumb along his stomach.

“You don’t need to have a plan for everything, Peter. Let’s just see where the night takes us.”

—– —– —– —– —–

TAGLIST

@bangtan-serendipity | @planetdemon | @the-singing-clown406 | @tomshufflepuff

[tellthestoryofmybrokendreams]

Rollercoaster

Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender

Pairing: Zuko/Katara

Status: Complete

Words: 1,927

AO3 Link 

Previous Next 

Desc: Katara has her ups and downs. Sometimes they’re bumps in the road, and sometimes they’re a ride on an Omashu mail cart. Zuko learns more about her everyday as she surprises him and they grow together. But these surprises are the things he loves about her.

(Or, a story of Katara being everything Zuko could ever want or need, and an examination of just how exactly they got together.)

A/N: Hello again my loves! This is second in my new series based on my love of Zutara, my love of Bleachers, and the ways they intertwine. I explain better in the first fic, but these are in track order, not chronological order, and the whole set contains two continuities.

Now, let's get on with Zuko drinking his loving Katara juice lmao. Enjoy!

If someone were to ask Zuko to list Katara’s flaws, he supposes he could. She has a temper, she holds grudges, and she tends to make impulse decisions without realizing the consequences. She cares almost too much, especially about the people she loves, to the point where he thinks if any of Team Avatar had to die to defeat the Fire Lord she might let Ozai and Azula win. Though, really, the same could be said of him.

And it’s not like he particularly cared about or looked for her “flaws” anyway, he’s just heard Toph and Sokka complain about her. Or maybe he got annoyed once or twice at her attempts to help everyone they come across, despite the weight it puts on her shoulders.

Everyone has a flaw or two, everyone has a negative aspect to their personality. He would know, he’s got a top twenty list for himself. And he spent his childhood surrounded by people dominated by their flaws.

That doesn’t mean she’s not incredible, though. He thinks often about their own “life changing field trip”, and how powerful she was, how that trip changed how he saw her and made everything make sense. Before they left, he knew she’d had lessons with a waterbending master, and that she was teaching Aang. But whenever he imagined her, thought of their last fight, he hadn’t even imagined her full power. She’d been good, but he’d thought it surely was just because of the full moon. To see her reach inside someone and take control of the water inside them? That was the moment he recognized that she was a true master, probably one of the best water benders in the world.

That trip overall had been a lot for the two of them, the tension was thick and she went out of her way to avoid touching him. Their last meaningful interaction was weighing on them both.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the team, Katara had come to his room for a second time after he returned from Boiling Rock. She wanted to know exactly what had happened, and her brother refused to tell her. She’d perched herself on his window sill as he sighed, sat on his bed, and thought back to try to give her every detail. Spirits knew he’d want to know everything if she’d brought his mother back to him.

He hadn’t noticed at the time, but as he recounted their daring escape, tears had slowly filled her eyes. She’d curled herself into a ball slowly as she took in the information. And when she heard him describe their final fight with Azula and Ty Lee on top of the gondola, and coming so close to dying, she stood suddenly. He finished explaining how he knew if Azula was there, she’d have a war balloon before looking up, noticing her sudden movement and startling.

She took a tentative step closer to him, then hesitated, “What would you have done? If Mai hadn’t saved you I mean.”

He shrugged, “Well, I’d grab Sokka, Suki, and your father, and try to do that move Azula did. Shoot fire and use it to propel me as I jump. If I couldn’t make it, I’d throw them up, either to the rim of the volcano or so they could grab the other line and climb it.”

She considered for a moment, nodding, before freezing and narrowing her eyes slightly, “If you did that, you’d die.”

“I’d die if I didn’t do it-”

“No, the gondolas are probably built to float.”

“Well either way, it was more important for them to survive. You and Aang need Sokka, Sokka would never forgive himself if Suki died, and I refuse to let the two of you lose your second parent. Aang progressed quickly with firebending, he could have gone on and taught himself decently without me. It would be an honor to die and save some of the most important people in this fight.”

Katara almost seemed to tremble as her mouth fell open. She took a small step, then another, before practically sprinting towards him and throwing her arms around him. Shocked, he almost didn’t return the embrace. After a second she pulled away, still leaving her hands on his shoulders despite the slightly awkward distance between them, and he stared at her in confusion.

She looked conflicted, unsure of herself, as she looked him in the eye before whispering, “Th-thank you Zuko. That was good of you,” she paused, before returning to her normal tone when addressing him, “But I...I still don’t trust you. This doesn’t change that.”

He deflated a little, “I kno-”

And she suddenly shot up on her tiptoes, and pressed her lips to his. This time, it was almost instinctive. He kissed her back fiercely and went to wrap his arms around her waist.

Before he could, she was out of his reach, a look of shock and horror on her face that morphed into anger as she quickly bent the water from the glass by his bed to fall over his head. She turned on her heel and stormed out, muttering under her breath. Her words were rapid and blended together, and his head was spinning, so even his above average hearing couldn’t make sense of it.

They hadn’t discussed it, not even on their expedition, but he knows it’s the reason she was so hostile between then and when they faced Yon Rha. At the time, he was completely bewildered. He was certain she’d kissed him, but then she was so angry and disgusted, like he’d forced himself. He knew he hadn’t, and she probably would have done more than released water over his head if he had, anyway.

And then she was yelling at him about her mother when he tried to talk to her about how she was acting, and he figured out what she was thinking. Really, it was just what she’d said beneath Ba Sing Se. The Fire Nation took her mother, and when she thought of the Fire Nation she pictured him. Throw in her bizarre fury over their even more bizarre...incident, and of course she was cold and angry with him.

He knew he had to make it up to her, make everything up to her, and he figured getting closure for her mother was exactly what she needed. Whatever closure meant to her.

Their adventure to get said closure was...eventful. She proved herself a force to be reckoned with, and he silently thanked the Spirits that he’d switched sides when he did. He was certain she’d now be able to stop his heart with a flick of her wrist if she wanted to.

And when they climbed back on Appa’s back, she’d immediately curled up in a ball in the saddle. He pulled a blanket from his pack and gently laid it over her, before taking the reins and steering Appa toward Ember Island. All this time discussing her past had made him think of his own, and a safe haven it held.

“I know somewhere we can stay for now,” he called back to her, “And I’m gonna take us there and drop you off before I go get the others.”

He thought he saw her nod.

But when they touched down at his family beach house, and he explained what it was and led her to a bedroom to rest, the rain outside became a heavy storm with far too much lightning for Appa to fly safely. So he stayed the night in the house with her, waiting for the rain to let up. He’d given Katara his mother’s room, but as he stood upstairs in the hallway he knew his childhood bedroom was not where he should stay.

He made his way to his father’s old room at the end of the hall and stepped inside. This room had the most dust, despite their servants usually cleaning before a trip, since Ozai hadn’t come to the house with his family for years even before they stopped going altogether. Zuko shook out the bedding before climbing in and falling asleep quickly as his exhaustion hit him.

These circumstances usually led to dreamless sleep, but he was still chased through his subconscious by long, dark hair and beautiful blue eyes, just as he had been every night since his return from Boiling Rock. If he was truly honest with himself, she’d haunted him since he first laid eyes on her at the South Pole.

The next day, the rain was still pounding down outside. He lit a fire and they sat down together in front of it, drinking tea that had probably gone bad. They were silent, until he asked how she was doing and she sighed and turned to face him.

“I’m ok. I feel better than I have in a while. I don’t know if it was weakness or strength that I didn’t kill him, but I don’t think he deserved it anyway. He is a cowardly, empty man, and death would be too kind. I embarrassed him by beating him so easily, and by finding him too pitiful to bother killing. He will suffer with his crimes for the rest of his life, be imprisoned once we win, and die a slow death in his old age, hopefully from a painful disease. I think I did the right thing.”

He smiled, “If you feel it was right, then it was.”

She stared at him all morning, and he pretended not to notice. When he finally was able to leave and get the rest of the crew, she looked at him unabashedly, smiled, and said goodbye.

When the whole Team Avatar came back and saw that she wasn’t in the house, he and Aang went out to look for her on Appa. Finding his favorite waterbender sitting on the dock and swishing the ocean with her feet, he stood back and allowed Aang to talk with her. He wasn’t really listening, it was a private conversation, and probably a repeat of their own exchange. He did tune in when he noticed her stand up angrily.

“I didn’t forgive him. I’ll never forgive him,” she told Aang, hard and direct and letting him know he was wrong this time. But then she softened and turned to him with a smile, “But I am ready to forgive you.”

She walked toward him, and he stayed still, waiting for her next move. And she launched herself at him and threw her arms around him. He felt his inner fire expand as another drive cemented itself in his soul, “Be everything Katara needed him to be.”

And from then on, she was always by his side and he was always by hers. They were Yin and Yang, and they made each other better. Even before they told their friends, they knew they were each other’s one and only. She led him into battle and adventure alike, and he loved every bit of her. She was fun and incredible, his favorite person in the world. She continues to surprise him as she did on that first trip together, and they run free together with no plans to ever stop. Stuffy Fire Nation politics couldn’t even begin to hope to contain them. Each of her flaws only makes her more beautiful, another aspect of the woman he loves. He never knew what would come next with her, but he knew and trusted every bit of this girl with every bit of him.

[silenceofthecookies]

B’s day at Sabaody

This was my gift for @ask-wbp-b​ for the Valentines gift exchange, posted with her permission 💖

B stretched as she woke up, only stopping after hearing that satisfying crack coming from her shoulders. She sat up and looked fondly at her right thigh, admiring the tattoo she had gotten only a few days ago. She took the cream Marco had given her from her nightstand and spread some of it over the tattoo. It itched like hell, but she knew better than to scratch at it. Slapping the tattoo lightly a few times after she had finished applying the cream, B was satisfied with the result and got up from her bed. She got dressed, put on her glasses and tied up her hair before leaving her cabin for breakfast.

At the breakfast table she was greeted by Ace, Marco and Thatch. Ace excitedly signalled for B to come sit with them. She nodded and sat down with them, wondering if the kid was just a bit more energetic than usual this morning, or if that was her imagination.

“Morning B!” Ace greeted with his mouth full. “Morning all.” B said as she made brief eye contact with the other two men at the table as well. They both wished her a good morning as well, though not nearly as loudly as Ace. “What’s got you so excited, Ace?” she asked. “We’re docking at Sabaody today, right?! There’s so much fun stuff to do there! Haruta told me that-“ “Yes, Ace. We’re docking at Sabaody, but we’re also gonna have to say for a few days until they finish coating the ship, so you’d better not get in trouble.” Marco interrupted, a somewhat disapproving expression visible on his face. “Don’t worry Marco, I won’t get in trouble!” “That’s what you say every time, Ace! There’s going to be Celestial Dragons there! And lots of marines! This is serious!” Marco exclaimed, followed by a sigh. He rubbed his temples, already feeling the headache that was bound to come somewhere today. Thatch and B laughed at the sight. Breakfast was accompanied by a combination of Ace recounting all the fun stuff Haruta told him he could do at Sabaody, and Marco and Thatch trying to warn Ace to not get into trouble. B was a little worried about the situation, knowing that Celestial Dragons walked around here frequently, but she wasn’t too worried. Nothing major would happen here, otherwise she’d know of it. The real danger was still many years away. Ace only just joined them, and Thatch hadn’t found any devil fruit yet.

“B? Hey B? Earth to B!” “Huh? What?” She looked over to Marco, who was smiling at her. “Welcome back, B. I asked how your tattoo was healing.” “Oh, it’s coming along great!” “Have you been using that cream I gave you?” “I have, used it this morning just after waking up.” “Are there scabs on there yet?” “Yes, they’ve started forming on the lines.” “Don’t scratch them, you-“ “Fushichou chan! I know, you’ve given me the rundown of tattoo care three times already, it’s fine! I’m covering it from the sun, I’m using the cream regularly, I’m not scratching at it. I’m not gonna go against your advice, I want it to heal nicely.” “You’re right, sorry. Force of habit.” “That’s alright, but next time no doctoring at the table.” “Are they seriously flirting at breakfast already?” Ace silently asked Thatch. “Shhhh they’re ‘just friends’” Thatch laughed. “What are you two whispering about?” Marco asked, squinting his eyes. “Ace just asked me about the food on Sabaody!” Thatch quickly covered. He sounded pretty convincing as well.

Marco didn’t really buy it, but he dropped the topic there, preferring to keep the rest of breakfast as peaceful as possible.

After breakfast, everyone got to their chores. Most people were cleaning up, as was traditional before going to fishman island. Once under water most people would be staring at the ocean and all life in it, since it was a rare opportunity, meaning they would not be paying any attention to their chores. There were always people on watch on all sides, mostly commanders, to make sure no sea monsters would attack the bubble.

Once she finished up cleaning the things she was assigned to, B packed a small bag with things she’d need the coming days. Nobody was allowed on the ship as it was getting coated. With how big the crew was, everyone would just be in the way of the coaters and slow down the process. There was also the risk of people accidently messing up the coating or distracting the coater. After double-checking if she had all the essentials, B left her cabin and headed towards the gangplank.

Several people were already leaving the ship. B arrived just in time to see Ace run away from the ship, Marco following closely behind. The sight made her smile. Things had changed ever since Ace had joined them, and even though she knew full well what the future held for him, seeing the young man never failed to brighten her mood.

B paid close attention to her surroundings as she walked around on Sabaody, dead set on avoiding any Celestial Dragons, marines, or any other people who could disturb the peace of the coming few days. Everyone from the Whitebeard pirates tried to lay low during the days the ship got coated, especially those with high bounties. Once the marines knew they were there, protecting the ship until the coating was done would be a real mess.

This didn’t stop her from having some fun though. There were a ton of good food stalls scattered all over the island. There was also the amusement park, which B always loved to visit. She had mentioned her love for it, especially the Ferris wheel, to Marco a few days ago, and he had suggested going for a ride together. B had been looking forward to it, but she didn’t expect for it to happen today anymore with Marco babysitting Ace. There was no rush though. They would be here for a few days, and nothing was stopping B from going for a ride on her own.

For now though, she settled on stretching her legs and getting used to the feeling of land under her feet again, even if it wasn’t actually land but tree roots. As she was walking, she picked her brain on her knowledge about this archipelago. She knew that in the future for sure, someone would be living on one of the groves, someone she hadn’t seen in a long time. But would he be living here already now? No matter how much she picked her memory, she couldn’t remember. Her feet, however, had already made up their mind and were headed towards Grove 13.

Soon enough, she found herself in front of familiar building. It seemed to be in a slightly better shape than B remembered. She somehow found herself being nervous as she walked up to the bar. There was no guarantee Rayleigh would even be there. It would be nice to catch up with him for sure, but explaining the situation to Shakky if he wasn’t there would be awkward. Before she could even make up her mind, the door to the bar opened and a figure left the building. A very familiar figure.

Rayleigh.

B felt her cheeks heat up immediately. He still looked as good as she remembered. As Rayleigh approached her, a smile appeared on his face.

“B, is that you? It’s been so long! How have you been?” “I’ve been good, thanks. How have you been?” B asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. “I’m great, Sabaody is a great place to stay. There’s good things, there’s enough places to gamble, there’s a lot of interesting people coming through…” “Sounds like you’re having a great time.” “I am. You’re welcome to join me, you know.” “Thanks, but no thanks. You know my place is with the Whitebeard pirates.” “So you’ve told me before, too bad.”

The two of them chatted a little while longer as B tried her very best to not turn into a flustered mess. Rayleigh noticed but didn’t mention it. B was the same as always, though she had learned to control her emotions a little better over the years.

“Say, B, how about we go for a drink together? For old times sake?” Rayleigh asked with a grin. Before B could even answer, a familiar voice called out to her from behind her. As she turned around, she noticed Marco approaching her. “There you are B! Have you seen Ace?” Marco asked. He looked over to see Rayleigh standing next to you, and nodded at him as a greeting. “I haven’t. Did you lose him?” B asked. “Kind of. That boy is as slippery as a snail. Thatch is also looking for him, if we leave him to his own devices there will be trouble, I can feel it.” “There probably will be… want me to help you look for him?” “That’d be great.” “Alright.” B nodded at Marco and then turned back to Rayleigh. “I’ve got to go. It was nice to see you again, maybe I’ll see you again in the coming days.” “I sure hope so. Be safe out there, B.” Rayleigh smiled and pulled her into a hug. B happily returned the gesture, maybe a little too happily, “You too. Bye, Rayleigh!”

B walked away from the bar with Marco, back towards the more touristic parts of the archipelago. The walk back was filled in silence, though it was a little different from the usual silence. It was less comfortable than usual.

“Marco, is something wrong?” “No, nothing is wrong. How about we get on the Ferris wheel? We might be able to spot Ace from up there.” “If you want a bird’s view you could fly around?” “Yes, of course, blue phoenixes flying around the archipelago doesn’t draw any attention at all.” “You’re right, let’s go then.”

The two of them walked towards the amusement park and got in line for the Ferris wheel. It took a little while of waiting, but luckily nothing too long. B noticed Marco glancing over at her a few times, but every time she caught him looking, he just smiled and looked away again. Something was definitely off.

Once they got into the gondola they both took one side of the wheel, looking out over the archipelago. It didn’t take long for B to spot Ace. He was being dragged away from the amusement park by Thatch. Ace’s arms were full of different kinds of food, and his cheeks were puffed out as he continued stuffing food into his mouth. The sight made B laugh, and she quickly called Marco over to come see. It was a huge relief to see that Ace was safe. B and Marco sat down next to each other on the bench after that, deciding to enjoy the rest of the ride.

“Hey, B?” “What?” “What were you and Rayleigh talking about?” “Oh you know, just watching up a little. He actually asked me to go grab a drink with him as you arrived. Why?” “No reason, just curious.” “Fushichou chan, are you jealous?” B grinned at the realisation. “Nah, why would I be?” Marco answered casually, and if B didn’t know any better, she would have believed that her guess was wrong. “Aww, that’s cute. No need to be though. Rayleigh asked me to stay on the archipelago but I turned him down.”

Marco let out a sigh of relief. He knew how B got around Rayleigh, and he did feel a little threatened by his presence when it came to B. Knowing she turned him down when he directly asked her that greatly eased his mind. What B didn’t know is that his fear wasn’t just about her leaving the crew again. It was also about losing her to him, even if he hadn’t made his feelings known to her yet.

“That’s a relief.” “Aww, is that why you were acting weird? Were you worried I’d be staying?” “Yes, I sure was. You left our crew once before you know, I wouldn’t want you to do that again.” Marco half lied.

B smiled and turned towards him. She cupped one of his cheeks with her hand, pulling it a little closer to her own face to place a kiss on the other cheek. The gesture surprised Marco, but he couldn’t say he disliked it. Not at all. A smile started spreading on his face as B let go of his face. In a sudden boost of confidence he put his arms around her shoulders and pulled B against him as he leaned back against the bench again.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence one again, however, with this cleared up, all tension was gone. When the gondola started descending, he felt a little disappointed, knowing he’d have to let go and get up soon.

“Hey, B?” “What’s up?” “Let’s go for another gondola ride tomorrow.” “Are you asking me on a date, fushichou chan?” “What if I am?” The words left his mouth with an amount of confidence that surprised even Marco himself. “I’d say yes.”

[smokingtomas]

Koi no Yokan

Before you read this,  put on Kodaline’s All I Want while reading. Enjoy!

--------

pt. I [Hokkaido, first year]

It had been a while since Takumi felt close to someone.

Obviously, there was Isami-- they shared a womb, for Heaven’s sake. And then there was their childhood friend, Bianca, whom Takumi acknowledged the butterflies was for, but even then he knew she only had eyes for his twin brother.

But this-- this was different for him of how innocent and natural it started.

Soma was his rival, she was his rival’s friend. And she had been standing next to him ever since, watching the redhead from the distance. At least that was the initial thoughts until she’d planted a seed somewhere within him.

“Oh no, I don’t have enough money for this…” She frowned. “Let’s leave, Takumi-kun. I’m sorry it took so long.”

It was one of their days off during Regiment de Cuisine. The others were resting in their respective rooms, and both of them decided to take a little walk. She had asked him if he wanted to stop by the little scarf stall on the sidewalk, and he agreed to keep her company.

“Why, Tadokoro-san? It would be too cold if you decided to walk around without it.” He reminded her, “And it’s a pretty scarf.”

“I-I know, but… I don’t have all my money with me, so--”

“Then I’ll get this scarf for you.”

“O-Oh no, I can’t let you do that for me.” She waved both her hands.

“Would… you rather wear my scarf?”

“E-Eh?! T-Then you would be cold!”

Takumi smiled-- she had always been so selfless, “Then allow me. Consider it as a gift.”

He wasn’t bluffing when he said it was a pretty scarf-- a mustard yellow knitted warmth with a touch of glitter, and he didn’t hesitate to put it around her neck after he made the purchase.

It only dawned on him when their eyes meet. He saw a tint of blush on her cheek and it must’ve been his doing. Retracting his hands haphazardly was reflective.

“Oh, u-um… it does match your eyes, Tadokoro-san.”

"I-It does?" She asked.

"Si," The Italian nodded, "It glows even more right now."

His remark was followed by a sheepish smile, which then swoop in the shopkeeper who made a rather embarrassing assumption that they were somewhat of an item-- they both agreed it was awkward.

The ironic part was that the rest of their evening felt natural. Maybe it was the melon pan they shared after that hearty bowl of curry ramen-- the fact that it tasted sweeter to Takumi because Megumi had bitten into it before him, and this went on until the last crumb.

Could be the fortunate blizzard that suddenly happened when they take a stroll along the glimmering street. The cold wind could almost fly Megumi away that she needed to tuck her arm firmly in his.

Or it could be what felt the strangest the most to him-- when they decided to stop on an alleyway and she found his gloveless, freezing hands, she willingly cup his hands to blew a warm breeze on it.

"Is it better now?"

"Y-Yes," He stammered, "It really is."

When the blizzard was over, they walked back to their hotel hand-in-hand.

He knew her intention was to thaw his hand, but to Takumi, it was as if the seed she planted grew a few inches.

He walked her back to her room. She didn't forget to thank him for the scarf, and he expressed his gratitude towards her thoughtfulness at her door.

"Wait, Tadokoro-san." Takumi stopped her from entering her chamber.

"Yes?"

He looked into her once again. Golden eyes, braided hair that fell gracefully just below her shoulders, lips slightly pale from the cold, but the rosy color on her cheek stayed intact.

To him, she was beautiful.

"There's something I would like to say to you," He said. "But I'm gonna wait."

He tried to gauge the pause in her side, but before he could, she stuttered.

"E-Eh? Why? D-Did I do something wrong? Did I make you uncomfortable b-because I had to h-h-hold your hand?!"

"N-No, no. It's nothing like that!" He waved his hands.

"O-Oh, okay," She breathe a sigh of relief, "Then what is it, Takumi-kun?"

"I can't say it. Not yet."

"Why is that?"

"Because it’s complicated."

She blinked once, and then twice. But then she slowly, reluctantly nodded.

He fetched her a little smile, took another step closer to her before reaching for her hand.

He thought he heard her gasp slightly, but when he pressed his lips against her gloved hands, she didn't pull it away from him.

"Goodnight, Megumi-san."

As Takumi walked away from her room, he decided to look back. He was glad that she was still standing there.

//

pt. II [Tokyo, second year]

There were many moments where Takumi would love to pick things up where they left off that night in Hokkaido, but between their studies and Elite Ten businesses, he just wouldn't risk it for something immature.

That was the lie he told himself. If he was being truthful, it was because he knew her heart had been somewhere else.

//

pt. III [Venice, 2.5 years after graduation]

As faith would have it, they ran into each other in Venice, a couple of years after they had graduated.

Megumi had just told him she’d been through a terrible break-up with Soma. Not that she was still mourning over the lost relationship, but the solo trip she was taking was her process of self-healing.

Takumi listened over a cup of espresso, nodding along at how she was sadder to had lost her best friend rather than a boyfriend. He then told her he was in town with his Belgian girlfriend.

“Is she coming over soon?” 

He shook his head at her question, “You know how up-and-coming actresses are. She’s been on set before I even woke up.”

“I-I don’t, actually.” She smiled apologetically, “Maybe you do since you’re a big celebrity chef.”

He scratched his head at that, “W-Well, I don’t mean it like that. I’m still the Takumi you’ve gotten to know in Totsuki.”

“Maybe you should come over there to surprise her, Takumi-kun.” She suggested.

“It’s not necessary, Tadokoro-san. I will see her tonight for dinner.” Takumi broke off a piece of his cookie, “If you don’t have any plans for the day, I would be happy to show you around. I know my way around since I've been here before.”

“Would it really be okay?”

“Of course,” He beamed, “Why wouldn’t it be?”

/

“Is that so? Alright. No, it’s completely fine. Yes, I actually ran into an old friend from Totsuki. Okay. Have fun on set tonight, okay? Bye.”

“Is that your girlfriend?” Megumi asked after he hung up the phone.

“Yes, she uh, had to cancel tonight.”

“O-Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, Tadokoro-san.” His tone was reassuring, “So if you don’t mind, and since I will be free tonight, let’s have dinner at that ristorante you’re interested in.”

/

Takumi ended up spending most of his time in Venice with Megumi. Whenever he woke up and found the other side of the bed absent, he texted Megumi and asked if she wanted to go sightseeing. To his bliss, she never have said no.

To Megumi, having Takumi around a lot of times wasn’t something she planned, but even it surprised herself that she enjoyed his company. He’d taken her to best eating spots in town, explained a lot of building histories, even easily switched stories about their careers while they laughed about old high school habits.

But what surprised her even more was that absent, empty feeling whenever Takumi told her he’d be having lunch with his girlfriend, and how she had that sinking gut feeling that he must have missed his lady so much.

Takumi never told anyone that during that lunch, when his girlfriend was endlessly mumbling about her days on set, he’d zone out wondering what Megumi was doing.

/

That night when Megumi told him it was her last night in Venice, they decided to meet at Rialto Bridge.

“It’s so beautiful up here, Takumi-kun.” She said. “Thank you for always keeping me company on this trip.”

“Don’t mention it, Tadokoro-san. It is I who should thank you.” Takumi put his camera down after he captured the ever so majestic Grand Canal, “And I uh, apologize if I’ve been stealing all your free time.”

“O-Oh, not at all. You… actually saved me. From being alone.” She admitted, “When I decided to go to Venice alone to clear my mind, there is a… scary feeling that my thoughts of what happened recently would eat me alive, but thanks to you, it didn’t happen.”

Takumi smiled at her, “I don’t feel alone too.”

She returned the gesture with a beam, and he thought he feels his heart skipped a beat.

The lights might glimmer so gracefully along the banks of the Grand Canal, and what reflected on the water was even more idyllic with the gentle breeze of Venice night as dusk broke into a starry night.

That did not even compare to what stood next to him, glancing down at her long, blue hair as her slim fingers were tangled into it.

“Tadokoro-san.”

“Yes?”

Like each memory he’d made with her, he didn’t want to forget-- he wanted to treasure it. The seed she had planted many years ago was slowly blooming, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it.

“May I take your picture?”

/

It only felt natural to take her on a gondola ride just after she asked about it. 

They’d been holding hands since Rialto Bridge. Not because one of them was cold or another one could be flown by the wind across town. This time, it was only them as two adults, savoring the moment within the gentle stream of water carrying their boat.

“Tadokoro-san,” He called her name, making her raised her head from his shoulder, “Do you remember a few years ago… when we were in Hokkaido for Regiment de Cuisine?”

“Yes, of course I do. You bought me a beautiful scarf.”

“Do you remember what I said at the door of your room that day?”

Looking down at their joint fingers, she answered, “Um… I think you said something about… wanting to say something, but you um, decided to wait. But I couldn’t remember it well since w-what you did after that made me nervous…”

At that, Takumi scratched his head, “O-Oh, w-well sorry about that. I didn’t know what--”

“Oh no, it’s alright, Takumi-kun. Isshiki-senpai later told me that it was an Italian thing, so…”

Sure, it was. “Oh, right, right. Yes, I did it because… Italian thing, yeah.”

Megumi nodded slowly, and then she blinked once before settling her gaze on him.

“Takumi-kun,” She said, “What did you want to say to me back then?”

Now, he knew she was not stupid. He knew she realized that it wasn’t really what an Italian would do to a friend.

“What I thought I felt that day.” He remarked shortly.

“Do you… still want to wait?”

“It’s a possibility,” He breathe closer, “What if instead I just… show you?”

She froze, “Um… how?”

“I’m not sure, Tadokoro-san.” He took the tip of her hair into his fingers. “What do you have in mind?”

Megumi gulped.

But in Takumi’s mind, the rippling sound of the canal in the warm evening air was the perfect serenade. The moment where he brought her hand close to his mouth once again and felt her smooth skin against his lips almost as if it was beyond his control. At that, her lips slightly part when he caressed her cheek, and gasped when he kisses the other.

And when the Bridge of Sighs was in sight, his lips walked a slow trail closer to her lips and paused on the edge to gauge her reaction. She had closed her eyes and he took it as a green light.

His lips met hers and everything made sense-- the curvy lines were aligned, the missing puzzle piece was found, and his questions were immediately answered. He knew this time why she felt warm on that winter night, and how natural it all was when he kissed her hand.

And now, years after that passed, she kissed him back in the place he’d never thought she’d even touch. One flick of her lips was all it took for his hand to travel to her blue hair and deepen the bliss.

It was the perfect kiss… well, almost.

“T-Takumi-kun, I-- we can’t do this…”

When she pulled herself back with a push of his chin, Takumi’s heart dropped-- he knew she’d say that, and he knew the reason why.

“Soma and I just split up, a-and you still have someone else right now, so I- I don’t think this is the right time.”

Yes, he knew she’d say that. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have-- I’m sorry.”

The rest of the gondola ride was filled with silence. Sitting a few inches apart and looking away were their only option since there wasn't much space to begin with. Takumi helped Megumi to get off the gondola with a pull of his hand, but then that was it.

He put his hand in his pocket and she used both of hers to hold her purse en route to her hotel. It wasn’t a cold night, but it was somewhat chilly now that a distance existed. He didn’t feel like talking, but then he caught her glancing at him with the corner of his eye.

Suddenly, his tracks were stopped.

“Takumi-kun, I-I’m so sorry…” She pleaded.

“I don’t think you need to apologize, Tadokoro-san.” He shrugged, “No means no, I get it.”

“You’re clearly not okay about it, and that makes me worried.”

Takumi huffed at her remark-- couldn’t she see it all? “And how am I supposed to be okay when I thought the girl I’ve been wanting since the first year of high school is finally wanting me back, only to be left with an impression that I’ve been reading your signals wrong?”

At this moment, he saw her golden eyes were glistening. It took all his strength to keep standing tall and watch her lips tremble, when all he’d been wanting to do was to make her pain go away.

“Have I been wrong?” This time, Takumi was the one pleading.

“I-- I don’t know…I-- I am sorry…”

A single tear rolled down her cheek, and he couldn’t watch her this time. Instead, he let out a sigh.

“Listen, I shouldn’t have said this, but you need to make up your mind somehow. I know what I want since that night in the scarf stall, and that is the selfless girl that was standing next to me. And if she couldn’t see that, I really can’t make her.”

At his confession, Megumi put her head down. He swore he could see another tears streamed down her cheek. This time though, Takumi lifted her chin and thumbed away her sadness.

“And frankly if one day you realize it wasn’t me, please don’t bother reaching out to me. I’ll always be certain that you are made for me, and it would kill me to see you with somebody else. I know that because it’s something I’ve gone through.” His voice was crooked, but still managed to point out to the corner, “Your hotel’s over there. Goodnight, Tadokoro-san.” 

If this was their freshman year in Hokkaido, it would be different. He would look back and smiled when he saw her still gazing at him.

But this time, all Takumi did was walking still. Afraid if he looked back, the last image of Megumi he’d see is pain.

/

Later that night when the clock struck 3, Megumi was burying her tears under the pillow. Unsure of her own feelings that longed for him, but scared that she might hurt him.

At the same time, Takumi was confessing everything to his girlfriend, that eventually ended their relationship.

//

pt. IV [Sendai, the following month]

Megumi had tried to fight her feelings.

She knew even then Takumi was too good to be true-- someone who was kind, gentle, and so handsome that suddenly appeared before her eyes after a broken heart couldn't be real. 

To her, love couldn't always be that perfect. Takumi was just there at her vulnerable moments, and if she was to let him into her life, he would be hurt when he found out her feeling turned out to be unreal.

She kept trying to find cracks and imperfections on what seemed to be a perfect foundation. Soul-searching that were done by meditation and evening prayers at the temple was to figure out if her heart really wanted him.

But what she knew ever since he left him in Venice was this: she couldn’t stop thinking about Takumi.

She had been on the lookout for signs-- signs that’d tell her it was him. That she should fly out to wherever he was in the world. But when it showed, her mind had a way to play tricks on her, telling her that these were just coincidences:

The mezzaluna she saw in the kitchen supplies store

A melon pan stall she spotted on the way home from the bookstore

The scarf he bought her-- she found it in her old closet after years

Came a moment when after a month of only seeing him by watching his Instagram activities, a gasp escaped when she found out Takumi’s in town for filming. She waited for days if he’d reach out to her first, before he announced on the platform that it was his last day in Sendai.

And then it clicked: she needed to stop overthinking.

That day, she had never left her packed Ryokan so soon, and had never pedaled her bike so fast in her life. Thanks to his current Story, she knew exactly which mochi place he was filming at. 

Using her very last strength, she ignored the way her heart rushed because of her movement, or how a few drops of sweat had seeped into her turtleneck even though it was a cold day in autumn.

She had arrived just in time. Takumi was there-- so handsomely sporting a matching khaki trench coat and turtleneck with a lighter colored pants along with crews that surrounded him. They were recording him explaining a mochi’s characteristics with such charisma, and it didn’t look like he was going to notice her presence from a distance.

But he did.

Their eyes finally met, and she saw Takumi blinked a few times before he raised up slowly from where he was sitting.

“Oi, Takumi! What are you doing? We’re still rolling and--!”

“Can you guys please wait for just one moment?” He nonchalantly remark his yelling crew with a point of an index finger.

She had no idea how’d her face looked like when she saw him walking fast to where she stood, but she knew she’d miss him. So with that, she crashed her bike to the ground and started mimicking his movements.

Meeting in the middle were two previously aching souls. Breathless smiles were exchanged. Megumi touched her beating heart, and it was happy when she saw that sparkles in his ocean blue eyes.

“Tadokoro-san, you--”

She got on her tiptoes and sealed him with a kiss. A kiss so long-awaited that she swore she could stay like that for eternity. Only pressing each other’s lips without any rush, just calmness and solitude. It was simple, like all these supposed to be from the beginning.

When his hands travelled up her back, she realized love didn’t have to be so complicated. She wondered why she wasted so many years being drawn to a tangled yarn when a perfectly straight ribbon existed. The road that led her to him might be exhausting, but to her, he was worth it.

“Hello.” Takumi said as they pulled away.

“Hello to you too.” Megumi greeted, nurturing the space they shared. “So u-um… what were you going to tell me back then?”

“I'll let you know once I'm done filming, that if you decided to stick around this time.”

Megumi giggled, "Where else would I go, Takumi-kun?"

-o-

A/N: This fic is specially dedicated to my dearest friend @taku-megu (hi, I’m your secret santa ashfsfskgjslhs how exciting). I’m so happy to complete this work and to finally finish a fic that’s centered around takumegu with a happy end. I really really hope you like this story and I hope you’re having a wonderful time.

Special thanks to @shokugeki-secretsanta for hosting this event and giving me the chance and excuse to write something again for everyone!

So yeah, to the rest of you guys who are reading this, I hope you enjoyed this other piece of Akai Ito as much as I did writing it and have a very Merry Christmas to all of you!!

-MA

[marigoldvance]

Getting Together - Kíli

PART THREE

it’s finally fair time, the first day of three. 

the sun is high and hot when you and your friends finally flash your wristbands and walk past the security guard who tells you to say hi to your folks for him. you mention that they should already be inside, tucked away in the cool cocoon the A/C provides in the handicraft building. your mother made one too many quilts this season but she’s proud and so are you.

you enjoy watching the hitches from the grandstand, eating too much greasy fair food and wandering through the barns where farmers show off their livestock. you prefer the horse barns down the other side of the fairgrounds but your best friend really really wanted to see Ranger Farms’ newest farmhand again. it’s not stalking, she insists, it’s appreciation. you remind her she hates Angus cattle. she reminds you that you hate sawdust but it doesn’t seem matter when you’re willing to put yourself in a cloud of it just to hear a lame pickup line someone snarks over the new island in your mother’s kitchen. 

you deny everything.

it’s been a handful of hours already and still no word from Kíli though you suspect, if he still spends his time with the boys he used to in high school, he’ll be tailgating til dusk before making his way into the fairgrounds. 

as the sun sets behind the trees, your friends drag you to the Ferris Wheel, determined to get in line before mobs of teenagers finally battle-ram the gates and takeover the rides and carny games. same as every year, swarming in when the families with strollers and rambunctious kids under twelve start filing out. 

it’s your turn. you climb into the gondola behind your friends and take a seat in the corner on the right. briefly, you wonder what Kíli is up to, if he’d had too many beers to remember to text you (you roll your eyes) or if he’s charging through the line for the Pirate Ship like he’d said he wanted to. 

and that’s when you hear it. 

you blink and turn to face the gondola now swinging just a little below you. hoot-hollers burst from within it again and it sways more than it normally would under the stress of carefree country boys, a few too many beers too deep. 

wait for me! you hear, clear as day, and toss your head back because you absolutely can’t contain the laughter the bubbles up when you recognize the voice. don’t go anywhere! you owe me cotton candy!

she doesn’t owe you a thing, Durin! one of your friends calls down on your behalf but her tone is playful. she knows, they all do, about the back-n-forth that’s been happening over power tools and gutted cabinetry. 

the Ferris Wheel does its final turn then slowly comes to a stop, your gondola stilled by the hand of an awkward, lackluster teenage boy who clearly wants to be doing anything else. he helps you step off and directs you to the exit when you hear, stop! in the name of love!

you almost trip, your concentration shot to shit as you choke on a fit of giggles. your friends raise eyebrows. you ignore them. 

at last, Kíli stomps right up behind you, arms going around your waist like he’s been thinking about it all day, and he squeezes you against him, planting a dry kiss on your cheek and dipping you to the side. he straightens you both and cradles you firmly, humming contentedly while nuzzling behind your ear. after a moment, as though finally cluing in that you’re not alone, he blinks up and sees your friends huddled just past the exit gate.

sheepishly, he lifts a hand to your friends and acknowledges his as they go by. 

c’mon, he says in your ear, low and simmering, let’s go have some fun.

and with that, he takes you by the hand, watching you carefully as if uncertain that you’d except, nibbling his lip and ducking his head. when you smile he beams super nova and then leads you away from the crowds, around to one of the quieter paths on the outskirts of the grounds.

butterflies soar.

🌱

PART ONE

PART TWO

[conchabae]

Greta Thunberg and Friday’s 4 Future

"I don't care about being popular. I care about climate justice."

This statement by Greta Thunberg is very powerful. Every generation has had youth that to some extent like the idea of and strive for success, fame and power, but these aspirations have been warped and are all too important amongst our younger generations today. This is directly linked to the nature of internet culture and social media which profits and promotes extreme beauty ideals, materialistic possessions and expressions of grandeur alongside a fixation on followers, likes and the analytics of online “popularity”. Yet, we still have cultural norms that view the youngest in society as the progressives, those who are responsible for shifting and building a better tomorrow. Many Western teens today spend their free-time on beauty tutorials, fashion and other forms of entertainment. There’s beauty in that Greta Thunberg, a well-off Swedish white girl, who could turn a blind eye to injustices in the world, fights to unlearn and speak up against climate injustice. In addition, she fights to spread awareness and put pressure on global governments to make needed systemic change. Greta claims she doesn't care about being popular, because she clearly does not do this for being liked and famous, she knows that fighting for climate justice and sustainability is not popular or “trendy”, she does it because it is what she cares about, and because it is right.

It is because of her honesty and dedication, that she has moved and awaken millions of other western people. Ironically, she has become an iconic and famous figure for defending the environment. It is admirable that even with a platform which has received millions of followers, praise from celebrities, as well as invites from famous politicians, she has never given up her principles to become more likable and her message stays the same, even when it is uncomfortable to those who know they do not do enough for the earth.

I did not live in NYC last year, but there was a climate strike in Foley Square in 2019 as well as strikes all across the world. I was inspired by Greta’s movement and participated in the school strike for climate in Stockholm. It was amazing to see so many people of all different backgrounds and ages participating in the city’s center to hear climate activists and my friends and I boycotted school to support the Friday’s 4 Future campaign.

The long term dedication and commitment movements like Friday’s 4 Future and Black Lives Matter have shown for years now, have woken me up to my complacency to my reality, when it does not align with the world I want to live in. I was 13 years old when the Black Lives Matter hashtag and conversation started. I was 18 when Greta Thunberg started striking for the climate. I realize now that it is not only the people we see highlighted in the news who can make important change, it is all of us. Greta Thunberg’s book No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference, really was a wakeup call on how climate change, which is inevitable with our current ways, is a crisis and an urgent issue that can only be resolved by facing it head on.

 Photos from the Stockholm strike taken by: Lotta Fernvall / AFTONBLADET

These are a selection of a few photos taken at the global Climate Strike in 2019, but these are all taken in front of the Swedish parliament, where the movement began. It is surreal how people in the thousands came to join her on this historical global strike in her home country and all over the world, when she started striking all by herself at this exact spot. Greta Thunberg has been the catalyst for heightened awareness and care about climate justice.

I think many people, including Greta Thunberg herself in the trailer for her Hulu documentary, attribute her hyper focus on the reality and danger of climate change to her having Asperger’s syndrome. While a common symptom of Asperger’s syndrome is to have an “obsessive” interest in a particular subject, I do think we should not dismiss her drive, passion and heart in climate justice just to her condition. Greta’s ability to push against her discomfort with social networking, to perform speeches in front of millions, and exchange awkward pleasantries with powerful public figures to access their platform, shows huge amounts of bravery and heart. It is a character strength that she has tunnel vision on the science of climate change and carbon emissions, and this helps her continue to educate herself on the topic. This is something that many of us locals do not show interest in, especially since most of the information is clouded in complicated and exclusionary scientific language, often in lengthy journals.

She does not just care about the environment for the knowledge, she wants to save the world, and save future generation’s right to fulfilling and happy lives. I have so much respect for her and trust in her intentions, and as Greta has said herself, she does not struggle with Asperger’s, she has it. Her journey to activism and contributions to the world should not be pigeon holed or minimized by her condition.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced us all to experience a different state than our regular normal, has made it more clear than ever, that many of our customs and way of life are not sustainable. As the prevalence of police brutality and other systems of oppression are harder to ignore, I think we all are becoming more aware of daily injustices. In the first months of quarantine in Europe, reports were showing photographic evidence that wildlife and ecosystems were improving and thriving because of the reduced human activity that used to scare away wildlife and pollute ecosystems. The visual that is etched into my mind are the rivers in Venice, Italy. Because of the mandatory quarantine, no boats or gondolas were in use, and the rivers all over the water city cleared to a vibrant blue. It took me back to a trip there when I was 12, and how the waters were so green and muddy we joked that falling in would be a health risk. It was somewhat bittersweet to see this imagery, as it was beauty that was rare to see, and that it is rare because of us!

Photos taken of clear water in Italy, taken by @ikaveri on Twitter. 

In this same pandemic, we have also seen the red and orange skies of LA, filled with clouds and rainfalls of ash. This was heartbreaking for the world to witness, as we learned it was the cause of not some dreamy sunset or blood sun, but because of the massive forest wild fires that have devastated families and communities by burning down homes and making the air unbreathable in some places.

Photo credit: Brittany Hosea-Small / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP VIA Getty Images

There is no quick fix for the climate and like all social issues, we need to be committed and address it from various angles. We need to vote in political representatives that acknowledge climate change as fact, which unfortunately is the first crucial step we must take unlike other democracies with the same quality of education and science. We need to then protest and put as much pressure as possible on local, state and national politics to enact policies that lead to reduced emissions. We must reduce the amount of influence and investments fossil fuel corporations receive from taxpayers, and invest federally into sustainable alternatives. Unfortunately, most Americans do not even realize how much their lifestyle destroys their land but also the global climate temperature. We need to create a social shift in attitudes around consumption in all forms and this starts with widespread education, so perhaps media and specifically social media is the strongest and quickest way to do this.

“If a few girls can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school for a few weeks, imagine what we could do together if we wanted to.”

I think this quote by Greta emphasizes the power of the people being unified and organized. When we are organized is when we are truly unstoppable and cannot be ignored by the appointed leaders that be. We outnumber them all. We need to organize and stay focused to make real and much needed change.

“Adults keep saying - We owe it to the young people to give them hope - but I don’t want your hope.

I don’t want you to be hopeful.

I want you to panic.”

- Greta Thunberg in her Our House is On Fire speech.

I think the discussion around Greta Thunberg and her activism is interesting and there are three camps with different receptions of her in online discourse. I think the first camp were responsible for her becoming a household name globally. People who felt overwhelmed about climate change, had made some attempts at doing their part, like only riding public transport and going vegan. The first camp mainly consists of the younger generations that were somewhat aware but overwhelmed with the amount of structural issues that contribute to climate change. They were the force that joined Greta at her strikes in Stockholm outside Swedish parliament, and the ones who organized strikes in their own home countries. The second camp, were those like me, who found out about her a bit later when a strong media buzz was already present and notably by media that did not intend to further her purpose and emphasize the importance of climate justice, but just used her for novelty, headlines and clickbait instead. Many marginalized people questioned some of Greta’s viral rhetoric that often spoke of her being “stolen of her childhood and dreams'' as we saw a European, well-off white girl, who was being invited to speak to the most influential politicians, embraced by Hollywood A-listers and was also being honored at protests around the globe for her strikes. What could she possibly know about struggle? We respected her passion for climate change, but convinced ourselves that she needs to scold politicians and those who actually hold power for change, so we carried on with our lives and continued to live in comfortable denial. The third camp consisted of active climate change deniers, and conservatives who weaponized her Asperger's and the fact that she was a young woman (can’t forget to add ageism and misogyny to edgy memes eh?) and aimed to assassinate her character and validity in the form of “jokes” and memes. The third camp often brought up her privilege not only as a critique, but as a means to silence her and the topic altogether. Many influential right-wing politicians, including Donald Trump, partook in this to distance their followers from having any interest in her, or climate justice.

“Greta Thunberg is the spark but we are the wildfire.” - Naomi Klein

As I mentioned earlier, Greta Thunberg’s book has taken away my criticisms of her global status. She has brilliant values, an in-depth scientific understanding of the subject she advocates for, and her emphasis on climate equity, which many white activists fail to acknowledge as an important factor, all made me a supporter of Greta. I do not care about the trolls and those who have tried to ridicule and minimize the honor in her life mission. She is probably one of the most inspiring individuals and change makers of my time. Her book and speeches have amazing rhetoric that unprogrammed a lot of my own learned helplessness about the environment. It also reminded me of my individual responsibility as well as my government's responsibility to stop global warming from happening and create a sustainable world. We need to put in the work, we only have so much time left before it is too late, whether we like that fact or not. Her stance that climate change is black and white is so effective and true: “either we reduce global emissions by 50%, or we do not.” It really is that simple. We need to activate so we can enact the needed solutions to meet that goal. Reading Thunberg’s book has inspired me to take more action and make more sustainable choices and unlearn a lot of U.S. consumerism culture. I have educated myself more throughout quarantine by learning about zero waste methods and the environmental benefits of veganism. However, while personal accountability is great, it is a form of privilege to be able to buy more sustainably, especially when the current market place mainly offers unsustainable products as the most affordable. We must also learn how to politically fight for actual policies and political change that force systemic and societal change .

“We have a new wave of contention in society that’s being led by women. … And the youth climate movement is leading this generational shift."

- Dana Fisher

In late 2019, The Washington Post conducted a poll that found that 46% of teen girls said the climate was “extremely important”, while only 23 % of teen boys said so. Furthermore, more than twice as many black and Hispanic teens participated in school strikes on climate change than their white peers, and girls were more likely to participate than boys. This data is one of several including Dana Fisher’s, a sociologist and researcher at the University of Maryland, who found similar ratios when studying the populations of activists and participants in the Washington, DC 2019 climate strike.

I think the ratio of who shows up for the environment points to social roles at large. The likelihood of caring about climate change can do with one’s privilege and ability to empathize with abstract or foreign problems that one may not be negatively affected with (right now). While we all hold some form of privilege, all women have experienced some form of sexism and misogyny, and therefore are more likely to be able to empathize with marginalized groups they do not belong to, and advocate for social movements that address injustices they may not themselves experience.

There is a correlation between those most marginalized in society, being the most active in social reform and revolution. Because when one is in the lowest or lower social casts of society, and has the least social freedoms and privileges, one has nothing to lose and everything to gain from change. This is why we can see in many social justice movements across the US, that black queer people and specifically black trans women, have consistently been at the forefront for important social progress.

When it comes to climate change, there is a certain amount of empathy required, especially when you live in a western country, or part of the world where you have an excess of resources at your disposal and you are comfortable with the status quo. That is something we all need to address and with that comes a checking of ego. Is my temporary happiness more important than other people’s well-being and lives? Am I contributing to the exploitation of people and the destruction of the planet? My planet?

I do not often see men on a large scale extending this type of self-reflection and empathy for social problems, either in small social settings or in positions of power. This is similar to how many men do not reflect on how it feels to be catcalled or sexually harassed as a woman. This is not because men are predisposed to be heartless rather, I believe this is a cause of social conditioning. Women are more conditioned to be team players, to listen and exercise great empathy at all times, otherwise she is socially scorned. Men are not expected to show these traits to the same extent, and often can rely on this lack of social standard and their own privilege to ignore social issues all together. We need to unlearn that issues women care about are insular to “women’s issues”, for they are societal problems, and we need to encourage and expect young boys and men to be equally accountable for a better world.

It is so inspiring to see so many young teens following Greta’s initiative, like Alexandria Villaseñor, who after experiencing an asthma attack during a wildfire in California, not only took the time to educate herself on the dangers of this phenomenon, but also organized Friday’s 4 Future strikes in NYC with the US Climate Strike group. Since then, she has also spoken at countless international conventions about climate change, and alongside Thunberg and 15 other youth activists, filed a legal complaint against UN nations who had not upheld their Paris agreement climate goals. This is so badass and I did not even know about this until today. In fact, there are countless teens all over the world, many of whom aren’t of legal voting age, who are suing local / federal governments and organizations for environmental malpractice and for jeopardizing their futures! 

As they should! Let’s all keep fighting for a better and sustainable future.

Students and youth striking in Seoul, South Korea. Photo credit: Chung Sung-Jun / GETTY IMAGES

Young people striking in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo credit: Jeff J Mitchell / GETTY IMAGES

Youth striking in Hong Kong. Photo credit: Kim Cheung / AP PHOTO

[kyouxa]

Diabolik lovers Lunatic Parade: Shu Sakamaki (Chapter 3)

Can I get a massage too?(๑•́ω•̀)  Honestly, if anyone still has someone they want me to translate from Lunatic Parade in the future please type an anon ask and I will definitely see it! **Disclaimer: だるい = Darui (I wrote 『bothersome』 instead of it’s actual meaning “dull or sluggish” because I felt like it sounded more like Shu so please don’t yeet at me, thanks)

Monologue

"Healing Rigel-sama who lost his love and closed his heart''

The mission of preparing a party for him began.

I want to make a place where he can remember the good memories of himself and his wife.

I want to do whatever I can do to make exactly that happen—

Place: Hotel Mondstein — Guest room

Yui: (First of all, we somehow have to find the perfect venue)

Shu-san.

Where do you think would be a good place for Rigel-sama to remember his time with his wife?

Shu: Oh... what about the gondola station?

Yui: The gondola station... really... ?

Shu: If the information from the familiar are correct, then Rigel and his wife met each other there.

It seems that it had happened during the parade.

If you want to bring him to a place of good memories, I think this would good timing.

Yui: That’s right... ! I will talk to the owner right away. Please wait here!

Shu: ...Hey, wait a moment.

*Shu comes closer*

Shu: Are you really going alone?

Yui: Oh, umm... I don‘t want Shu-san to move for me because I know it’s bothersome for you...

Shu: Oh, I might change my mind. It‘s bothersome.

But... I‘ll go.

Yui: Is that okay for you?

Shu: Yes. Let’s go before I change my mind again.

Place: Demon world — Gondola landing

Yui: (The Illumination is reflected on the surface of the water and it sparkles... how beautiful)

If they really met in such a place, it will surely be a good memory for him.

Shu: — It would be bad if he’d remember something he didn’t want to.

You were the one who was scared of me at the beginning as well.

Yui: T-That was... Yes, that’s actually right...

But all of those things turned out to be good memories for me now.

Shu: Well... that’s fine for me... haha

— Now

If you want this as the party venue, you should talk the Gondolier in the back for permission.

Yui: Yes, understood!

(Okay, let‘s go and ask him)

Place: Demon world — Rubin canal

Gondolier B: Welcome! Are the two people of you goin‘ on a ride?

Yui: Oh... um...

I'm sorry we don’t, in fact, we came here because there was something we wanted to ask you.

Gondolier B: Ask me... ?

Yui: Yup.

Actually, we are planing on throwing a party...

And I would like to borrow this place as the venue for it.

Gondolier B: Heh!? You want to throw a party here!?

Yui: Yes. It really needs to be this certain place.

Gondolier B: Even if you say that. There are many customers durin‘ the parade and it’s my time to earn money.

Yup, that is the point, that’s why I can’t reply easily to you.

Yui: Th-That‘s right...

(No matter how much I beg it probably still will be unreasonable, right?)

(But there is no better place for us to hold the party for Rigel-sama than here...)

Gondolier B: It’s bad, but I’m busy today. Come early tomorr-

Shu: ....*yawns*

Gondolier B: ..... ! Y-You are... Karlheinz-sama's...

Whaat! You should have said it way earlier.

Okay, you can hold the party on the gondola and do anything. I’ll excuse my bad and awkward behavior.

That’s why... you should tell your father from me.

Shu: Well, if I feel like it.

Yui: (... W-Wow... it was really as I expected)

Place: Demon world — Gondola landing

Shu: Haa... I was able to secure this place.

Now, what’s next?

Yui: Umm...

The next thing should be necessary as well which contains food and drinks.

I'm mainly wondering if I can ask someone from the hotel ...

But I‘d like to arrange a special dish that he maybe ate with his wife in the past.

Shu: There certainly were informations from the familiar that they both liked sweet things.

Yui: Yes. I really liked the store "Garette de Loire" in the human world...

Why aren’t we going to a sweetshop in the Demon world that makes the same?

Shu: ... I don’t mind it, so let’s go.

Yui: (Fufu, I’m glad that you’re coming with me properly while saying something like that)

Place: Demon world — Zafia confectionery store

Vampire woman A: Wow, it looks delicious! As expected from the Makai-no saffir candy store!

Vampire woman B: It’s really hard to move to a different flavor from one day to another day. I honestly want to eat them all ...

Vampire man C: If this is what we all are thinking about, I‘ll pick everything from the left side today.

Yui: (Wow... it‘s very crowded... just moving around is already difficult...)

Shu: .....

You were the one wanting to come here. I am... sleeping over there.

*Shu leaves*

Yui: (Nn... he is just hiding himself in the eat-in corner...)

(I know that it surely is painful to get through this crowd)

(But I‘d like to talk to the shop staff as soon as possible...)

???: There! Look at this, look at this! The cake will be passing through!

Vampire woman A: Ah, the Manager! This smell... oh it’s really unbearable!

Yui: (That’s the store manager! Alright, let’s try talking a little... !)

Oh, uhm! I‘m sorry!

Confectionery restaurant manager: Hmm? What’s the matter? I'm currently really in a hurry, come back later!

Yui: Please wait, just a little! I have some sweets that I want to order on the last day of the parade ...

Confectionery restaurant manager: Order on the last day? That’s impossible! I'm particularly busy now and now you ask me to borrow my hand!

Ahh I’m super busy! Busy! I‘m drowning in work already!

Yui: (Such...)

I-If thats so...

Please let me help you! I-I will do my best!

Confectionery restaurant manager: That’s impossible! That’s indeed impossible.

*More costumers come in*

Confectionery restaurant manager: You! If you ask for help, please do so!

It’s okay even if I think about the previous case!

Yui: Huh? Y-Yes! Understood!

(I‘ll try my best to help out!)

Vampire woman D: From this cake, I‘d like to have three more slices.

Yui: Y-Yes!

Vampire woman E: Hold on! I was lined up first! First of all, give me four of these!

Yui: (That‘s hard! I‘m already busy now... !)

Shu: .....

*yawns* ...

Yui: (Oh... Shu-san seems to have woken up)

Shu: ... Just what are you doing?

Yui: As you can see, I’m helping out in this store.

Vampire woman A: The clerk there! Stop talking!

Yui: Aye!

(Agh!? The tableware got broken!)

Shu: Need help? With this?

Yui: (Uhh... I first of all I need to clean that up!)

Shu: Oh my... you really need help ...

Yui: (Hm, where did Shu-san go... ?)

Vampire woman A: Uhh, I'd like to have one pie with a modest sweetness if possible ...

Which one is better ...

Shu: ... How about this one here? The sugar is modest and the sweetness of the fruits stands out.

Vampire woman A: Oh, so you know about it.

Yui: (Wow...)

Vampire woman A: Yeah okay... I'll get this one which was recommended.

Shu: Thanks

Well... that’s how it should be.

Yui: That was amazing Shu-san! The customer was also overjoyed!

Shu: I would say, I‘ll do this never agai—

*More costumers arrive*

Vampire woman B: I heard that there is a shop assistants here who is familiar with cakes?

Vampire woman C: Could I maybe have a recommendation as well~?

Vampire woman B: Perhaps are you the managers brother!?

Vampire woman E: It‘s officially decided!

Yui: (Uhh... they really like it)

Shu: .....

To go back to sleep... I can just dream about it.

Yui: (Fufu...)

*time passed*

Confectionery restaurant manager: Yeehaw! Thank you very much for today! You two were great help!

I really need to show my appreciation...

Let me hear the story of the candy that you wanted me to make.

Yui: I-Is that okay?

Confectionery restaurant manager: Sure!

Whether it's the last day of the parade or not, as the store manager, I'll promise to do it!

Yui: (I did it!)

Confectionery restaurant manager: So? What kind of candy is it?

Yui: Uhh—

*time passed*

Confectionery restaurant manager: Then I will think of something special to make it for you.

Look forward to see it on the last day of the parade.

Yui: Thank you!

Place: Demon world — Glimmer Main Street

Yui: We did it thanks to you Shu-san. Thank you very much.

Shu: It was only because of my hard work... Haa...

— So? What’s the next thing? The preparations are not over yet, right?

Yui: Um, what about the gondola decoration?

I really want to decorate it nicely for him.

Shu: Then ... I think the "Reine • de • Azi" store is good.

Yui: "Reine • de • Azi"... ?

Shu: You will understand once we go there. Follow me.

Yui: (..... ?)

Place: Demon world — Reine • de • Aji store

Yui: (Wow! There are lots of beautiful ornaments ...!)

(I cant even decide what to pick)

What kind of decoration do you think would look good?

Shu: There’s no matter what you pick. There is no particular commitment anyway.

But, rather than the decoration I’d like to—

Yui: (Oh... there’s an old antique violin laying there)

*Shu plays some tones*

Shu: I think music would be more important for the party.

Yui: That may be true

Oh ... I know we got a lot to do, but what about Shu-san playing something?

Shu: No. It‘s bothersome.

Yui: (Ah, I thought that he would say that ...)

... But I really want to hear Shu-san’s violin skills after a long time.

Shu: .....

Yui: Is that a no?

Shu: Haa... maybe just a little

.....

*Shu starts playing*

Yui: (Those really are beautiful tones...)

*someone comes closer*

Shu: ...Who?

???: .....

Shu: Aji, is that you?

Yui: (So you mean, this is Aji?)

Reine • de • Aji: ...What is the eldest son of the Sakamaki family doing in such a place?

Shu: There is no need to explain myself. It doesn’t matter to you anyways.

Reine • de • Aji: Hmph... if you don’t want to answer, I don’t want to sell anything either.

Yui: (T-That‘s bad... !)

Aji-sama! Actually, we will throw a party for a certain person...

That’s why we came here to buy some decorations for that time.

Reine • de • Aji: ...I see...

Well, I’ll believe that this is really the exact reason why you two came to my store.

Because there is an abundant product lineup...

There is something really special I have.

Here, this is it.

Yui: A rocket pendant... ?

Reine • de • Aji: It’s not just a pendant

If you put a picture of someone in this, the person wearing the pendant will become a special substitute which makes them become that person.

Yui: T-That’s amazing!

(Now... that means we just have to put a picture of Rigel-sama's wife in there)

Reine • de • Aji: Well, this was just to show you. I’ll clean up, clean up now.

Yui: Ah! Please wait! Could you please lend me the pendant?

Reine • de • Aji: You want me to lend this?

Even if you say that...

Yui: Could you please lend it to me... ?

Reine • de • Aji: .....

Then there is one condition.

Instead of lending this pendant, you should bring Reine de Aji something more enjoyable than this.

Yui: ... Aji-sama... ?

Reine • de • Aji: If you can‘t think about something. Then what are you going to do?

Yui: P-Please let me do it! I will really do my best!

Place: Glimmer street — Eisen alley

Yui: (I have may have responded too vigorously... )

How do you think Aji-sama would be pleased?

Shu: .....

Yui: Shu-san?

Shu: Well... thinking about it, is that pendant necessary in the first place?

Yui: (I know you don’t feel like it‘s necessary. But...)

I‘m pretty sure Rigel-sama would be highly pleased by it.

Shu: .....

... Well, I understand it if you say it like that.

Anyway, we should go and ask some passengers in the city about what Aji could possibly like.

Yui: Y-Yes... !

Place: Demon world — Glimmer Main Street

Vampire man A: Hmm... to be suddenly asked something like that

Yui: Anything is fine. Any trivial thing...

Vampire man A: .....

Yui: .....

Vampire man A: I‘m sorry, but I don‘t know. You should ask others.

Yui: ... okay... thank you

Vampire man A: See you

Shu: *yawns* ... This was our 10th time already... what will you do? Have you given up?

Yui: ... No, I did not. I think we just need to change the place. I‘m sure it‘s that...

(I‘ll do my best without worrying about anything!)

Place: Glimmer Main Street — Front wagons

Yui: (There is even more traffic than before now. Someone in here must know something)

(Okay... ! Let‘s ask that person at first)

Excuse me... ! I‘d like to ask you a little question...

Vampire man B: ... Oh. What do you want?

Yui: Do you know Aji-sama‘s store on the other side of the street?

Vampire man B: Yes, I know it.

Yui: Actually, we want to please her... do you know any good treasure she‘d want?

Vampire man B: .....

... hmm...

Yui: (Maybe this time... !)

Vampire man B: I‘m sorry, but I don‘t think I can help you.

Yui: ... Oh, uhm, is that so...

Vampire man B: .....

The only thing that I know is... that she grows plants as her hobby

Yui: ... growing... plants?

Vampire man B: Yeah.... well then, i‘m sorry to rush off but I have a meeting

Yui: T-Thank you very much!

(Plants, huh...)

That’s it Shu-san. What about giving a special plant to Aji-sama?

Shu: ... I got no idea. I don‘t know if she really would be pleased or not either.

Yui: But, now we can at least rely on this kind of information we got...

Are there any shops around here that sell exotic plants?

Shu: Well, there are some.

Yui: (Okay... ! let‘s go then!)

Place: Demon World — Horticultual Shop

Yui: That place is...

(There are a lot of plants that I haven‘t even seen before!)

... Wow...

Shu: Not really. There are just pretty common plants for the demon world. I don’t think Aji would be pleased by any of them.

In other words... did I really just waste my time on walking here?

Yui: I-I‘m sorry...

(Hmm... we‘re in trouble. We once again need to start from the beginning)

???: ... Hmm? Welcome, dear customers.

Soun store owner: If you‘re looking for something don‘t hesitate to ask me, I‘m the owner of this store. 

Yui: Thank you very much. 

Soun store owner: Because it is only a boasting that you probably don‘t know anything about the flowers in the demon world. 

Yui: ... That‘s right...

Which kind of flower would you give someone from the Demon world to please them with?

Soun store owner: All different kinds could make each person happy.

But... if you surely want to please everyone, the "ARE" flower would be the best.

Yui: "ARE"?

Soun store owner: Exactly. "ARE" is only blooming on the mountains. 

Yui: It blooms only on the mountains... which part of the mountains is it?

Soun store owner: Don’t tell me... are you going to look for it?

Yui: If anyone would be pleased to get this kind of flower, I‘d like to go there if possible. 

Soun store owner: I see

But I think it’s a shame, because it is quite difficult to get.

... Well, you will see for yourself once you get there. I‘ll show you the way on the map then...

Yui: (What does he mean?)

Place: Mine site — Entrance

Yui: (Um... i‘m surely we‘re close... next is the left...)

Place: Mine site — Underground lake

Shu: Hey... haven‘t we arrived yet?

Yui: Please wait. I think we‘re close to be there...

According to the map, there should be a cave around here.

Shu: Cave?

Isn‘t it this one?

Yui: Ah... !

Shu: Oh my. You were so focused on the map you couldn‘t even see what was around us. 

Well, that is why it is not so hard to get lost while walking with no directions.

Let‘s go there quickly.

Yui: Y-Yes!

Place: Mine site — Selenite Crystal Cave

Yui: (Wow... somehow everything is sparkling...)

What is this... ?

Shu: It is a selenite. It seems that the cave was made out of it.

Yui: ... I see...

Shu: Hey, watch where you walk. Let’s go and search for the flower.

Yui: I agree

(In particularly, the store owner didn’t tell me anything about the flower)

(He just said that it would be in a spot where you couldn’t easily discover it...)

... Uhh...

..... ?

(I don‘t get it... where could it be?)

Shu: ... Oh. Hey, that’s probably it. I saw something glowing at the back. 

Yui: Let‘s go 

Monologue

It was a mysterious flower that we found on the other side.

It is in full bloom all around, giving off a warm light like a firefly that shines in the darkness. It’s so beautiful that I can‘t even believe it. 

I reached out for the petals. However—

Place: Mine site — Selenite Crystal Cave

Yui: (Beautiful...)

Shu: This one seems to be a ghost flower.

Yui: Ghost flower?

Shu: Yes. It is a ghost-like flower that cannot be touched.

Yui: (That means it would disappear if I touch it) 

(But... it really is beautiful. If you look at it, you really feel like as if it could make everyone happy)

(Including Aji-sama...)

... Now, Shu-san. Can you somehow carry this to Aji-san?

Shu: ... Haa...

You don‘t seem to give up, why don‘t you try it yourself?

Yui: (Uhh, this is... would it be okay for me to have it for awhile... ?)

(I will definitely try to think of something to get it out of here... !)

*time passed*

Yui: Ahh... another failure...

(No matter how gently I touch it, I can't change it‘s position to pick it up)

(I wonder if it is impossible ...)

Shu: *yawns*...

Yui: (Shu-san seems to be listening to music and yet he also seems bored ...)

(But ... I‘ll try it just one more time)

(It disappears if I touch it, so I should be careful ...)

(Then, why don't you scoop the whole soil instead?)

(Once again... okay... !)

.... ! Look at it Shu-san! The flower is still remaining without disappearing!

Shu: Seems like it.

Yui: Now we can take it back to Aji-sama ...!  Oh, that is good!

Shu: .....

No, it wouldn’t remain that long.

Lay it down and wait a moment.

Yui: ..... ?

*time passed*

Yui: (How long should I wait? It’s already been over 5 minutes later)

Shu-san this is really—

*flower begins to disappear*

Yui: Kya!

Shu: …I knew it.

The gardener would have done the same if the whole soil was solved.

Yui: Th-That might be right...

(But like this we won‘t return to Aji-sama’s shop in 5min)

After all it is impossible...

Shu: ...No, that is not the case.

Yui: Eh... ?

Shu: I will ask you again... Do you really want to borrow that pendant?

Yui: I uhh... of course I want!

Shu: Then I will help. 

— Hey, take the ghost flower from the soil again.

Yui: Y-Yes

(What exactly is he planing? Anyway, I will believe in Shu-san ...)

I did it.

Shu: Okay. And then...

Yui: (What will you do by picking up a stone ...?)

Shu: How about this— !

*bats flying around*

Yui: Kya!? There are bats!?

(I was surprised by the sounds the stone made! That's where the bats hide—)

*Shu hugged Yui*

Yui: Shu-san!? Just what are you... !?

Shu: If you give these guys 5 minutes, they will immediately bring us to the store.

Yui: I see—

— Wait, they what!?

Shu: Wake me up once we arrived.

.....

Yui: (Shu-san really is like that...)

(O-Okay. If nothing happens, we really can make it just in time)

Monologue

I made up my mind and decided to be quietly transported by the bats.

A quick glance over the ground showed that the parade continued.

If the Earl just didn’t stole my heart, I would go there with Shu-san as well... Such thoughts went beyond my mind.

I shook my head, cut off my thoughts and continued to pray that the ghost flower in my hands would not disappear.

Place: Demon world — Reine • de • Aji store

Yui: (I managed to arrive before the ghost flower disappeared!)

Shu-san! Please wake up! We arrived at the store!!

Shu: Nn... *yawns*...

We got here too fast. I want to sleep a little more... 

Yui: Aji-sama might be able—

Reine • de • Aji: What is that fuss all about!?

Yui: Oh, Aji-sama!

Reine • de • Aji: It‘s you ...!  Are you feeling like breaking my store in the anger of me not lending the pendant to you!?

Yui: N-No, that’s not it!

Please look at this! We wanted Aji-sama to be happy ...

Reine • de • Aji: Th-This is... it is a ghost flower... 

It is a special phantom flower that I‘ve heard a lot about, but I’ve never seen one before...

Yui: (Oh, it disappeared...)

Reine • de • Aji: .....

Yui: (What should I do? Even if the bats helped us out I still couldn’t make it...)

(And now... it just disappeared...)

Reine • de • Aji: This just now was not a vision. I really saw a real ghost flower. I am …

It's completely fine, because I was able to see such a kind of flower in my store.

Did you really bother yourself to bring this to me?

Yui: I wanted you to be pleased ... but I'm sorry I could only show it to you a little...

Reine • de • Aji: It’s fine. I enjoyed it enough.

Besides, the flowers are beautiful because they die.

— Thank you. I am very pleased with this.

Yui: (T-Thats good! We did it...)

Reine • de • Aji: About the earlier story...

I‘ll surely lend you the pendant.

Yui: T-Thank you!

(I got it!)

Reine • de • Aji: There... the Sakamki one.

Shu: ...*yawns*

Reine • de • Aji: I honestly thought you guys would actually quickly give up on it.  

But, you somehow managed to make me happy. Especially this young girl.

... This child really shows a lot of joy and happiness.

You really chose a nice partner. As expected from the eldest son of the Sakamaki family.

Shu: Thank you.

Yui: (Did his personality... just change? He may be a little shy after all)

Place: Hotel Mondstein — Guest room

Yui: (If you put a photo in this pendant and wear it, you can become that person)

(It's really strange when you think about it again.)

Anyway ... It looks like the party is fully organized now.

Shu: Yes

But ... you forgot one important thing.

Yui: What is it... ?

(What could he mean with "important"?)

We have a place, cake, and a surprise ...  maybe…

Shu: .....

Yui: Maybe... ?

Shu: Haa... 

Yui: Oh, uhm... would you mind telling me what I forgot to prepare?

Shu: Oh my...

*Shu comes closer*

— My effort

Yui: Yes?

Shu: Reward me.

Who do you think has prepared everything so far?

Yui: (From the beginning with the Gondola, it was impossible to proceed with everything without Shu-san's help)

Shu-san. Thank you very much for today.

I'm sorry for saying this so late.

Shu: Words are not enough.

If I don’t accept, then ... what else would you do?

Why don’t you ask me for something special once in a while?

Yui: Uhh...

(... what I can do ...)

Choices 

1) — Massage Shu-san♡♡♡

2) — Write a letter of thanks

— Massage Shu-san♡

Yui: ... Oh, yes!

What about... giving you a massage?

Shu: Massage...

Yui: (Uh, I’m sure he feels exhausted)

Shu-san, you really worked hard today and that’s when a massage would be good.

Shu: Haha ... It might be good occasionally.  Would you really like to do it then?

Yui: Y-Yes...

Shu: ...Hey. I honestly wouldn’t call this a massage. Try it with more passion.

Yui: Understood.

Shu: ... Hmm...

— Write a letter of appreciation

Yui: Then ...  what about writing a letter of appreciation?

Like this I could show my appreciation in clear words...

Shu: .....

Yui: (Oh, he doesn’t look amazed)

Shu: Haa ... I'll just take what you said.

Yui: Yes...

(I wonder if it would have been much better to give him a massage ...)

(Let's do it next time)

end Choices 

Yui: (In any case ... It was good that the party proceeded safely)

(Oh ... but ...)

(Shu-san, he didn’t really like the idea of the pendant)

(I wonder what’s the reason behind it?)