#the value goes up if they’re not removed

[jupiterpnk]

NFTs are out, we’re holding on to and collecting porn bot accounts like Pokémon cards

[lessbienlesbian]

mizu x fem!reader nsfw a-z relationship headcanons

i’m sorry this took so long for me to write, but i hope y’all enjoy!

a = aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

after both you and mizu have reached your peak, she is honestly quite clingy, although she would never admit this to anyone else. she would hold you protectively and press gentle kisses to your forehead and hairline, all while whispering about how well you did and asking if she can get you anything.

b = body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

mizu loves her hands. she loves what they look like, how they feel, and most importantly what she can do with them. she is proud of the calluses that cover them and she is proud of the skill and nimbleness with which she can use her sword and make you come undone. her favorite part of your body is your eyes, more specifically the fact that she can look into them and see so clearly that your intentions and love for her are genuine.

c = cum (anything to do with cum)

mizu loves to eat you out. she genuinely thinks that you taste so good, and will bury her face in your pussy until your juices are dripping down her chin as she looks up at you with that stupid adorable cocky smirk. sometimes she will even hold a glistening finger up to the light for you to see.

“look at this baby, is this all for me?”

“god, you smell so good. stay still sweetheart, let me taste you.”

d = dirty secret (pretty self explanatory)

honestly, mizu’s dirty secret is just how horny and absolutely whipped she is for you. she’s got it so bad and she would do absolutely anything for you. i know that’s not really dirty per say, but she’s pretty open about most other things.

e = experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

mizu is not very experienced at all. her only partner before you was mikio, and the sex she had with him was pleasing to her but not particularly outstanding. it also didn’t involve much action or movement on her part, so she would have a lot to learn when first being intimate with you. however, mizu is a very quick and eager learner. it is almost frustrating how naturally good she is at knowing how to touch you in just the right way.

f = favorite position 

mizu is a fan of any position where she gets to be as close to you as possible. she really values the closeness and physical intimacy that goes along with having sex. bonus points if she can easily hide her face because she gets hella shy. 

g = goofy (are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

mizu can actually be pretty lighthearted in the moment. i wouldn’t go as far as calling her humorous, but the playful and teasing side to her personality is definitely present. she also enjoys a playful “fight” for dominance at times, she just can’t help it with her competitive nature. 

h = hair (how well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

mizu has very dark brown pubic hair that matches the hair on her head. she has a full bush and doesn’t do anything along the lines of hair removal.

i = intimacy (how romantic are they in the moment)

oh dear god mizu is so romantic. she’ll hold your hand while you fuck her, make eye contact for as long as she can, and whisper sweet nothings and intimate confessions into your ear. like by day mizu is slicing people up on the hunt to kill her potential father, and by night she’s blushing and trying to hide her face while you gently kiss her cute little pink nose. like damn, get you a girl that can do both.

j = jack off (masturbation headcanon)

it is my personal opinion that mizu does not masturbate outside of a brief period of self discovery as an adolescent and then maybe after getting together with you if the two of you are separated for a lengthy period for whatever reason.

k = kink (one or more of their kinks)

i am a firm believer that mizu is very into praise, both when it comes to you and her. she LOVES to be told that she’s doing a good job and that she’s pretty because let’s face it, this girl does not hear that kinda shit very often (or at all). god she’s just so cute, shyly hiding her face in your shoulder so you can’t see how much she is blushing, biting her lip to silence the small whimpers she’s letting out, tentatively reaching over to interlace her fingers with yours. and those shy little “shut ups” mumbled in your ear are just the icing on the cake.

l = location (favorite places to do the deed)

mizu doesn’t really have a preferred location. as long as the two of you are safe and not in the view of other people, she’s good to go. 

m = motivation (what turns them on)

she gets very turned on when/if the two of you spar together. the combination of competition, physical closeness, and playfulness just does it for her.

n = no (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

i’ll just list some off. blood, bondage (her receiving), intense degradation, exhibitionism, cnc, threesomes, intense humiliation, and breeding kink (i’ll explain this one at the end of this section). basically, she is pretty opposed to anything that makes her feel unsafe or like she doesn’t have control over what’s happening to her. that is not to say that she would be unwilling to submit if she really trusted you, she just greatly fears being taken advantage of. okay now to explain the breeding kink. i know this may be an unpopular opinion and while i do think our girl has MAD strap game, i do not think she would be into the idea of breeding. at her core, mizu feels resentment towards those who conceived her because of her hatred for and the stigma towards being mixed race. it is because of this that i believe that anything suggesting the idea of creating more people like her (even if it couldn’t actually happen) would be a major mood killer.

o = oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

mizu can be a bit sloppy when she eats you out, but she definitely prefers to give. her lack of experience combined with her tendency to just get fully pussy drunk leads to her eagerly lapping up your cum for as long as you’ll let her.

“mizu please” you groan with your hands tangled in her hair. “my clit, i need you on my clit”

p = pace

the pace at which you have sex with mizu really depends on how much time you have on your hands. she prefers to take her time with you, spending as long as possible worshipping every inch of your body. if mizu is feeling frustrated or stressed, her pace becomes more frantic and desperate as she seeks her and your release.

q = quickie (their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

if necessary, mizu will have a quickie with you, but she much prefers proper sex. realistically though, quickies are often all that there is time/proper security for, so she makes the best of the circumstances.

r = risk (are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

honestly, after everything that she has been through, mizu is not a risk taker when it comes to her sex life. she would be pretty vanilla when it comes to physical safety.

s = stamina (how many rounds can they go for, how long do they last?)

when mizu is on top she can go for a very long time. she takes pride in how good she can make you feel; teasing you, edging you, and making you cum over and over until you’re a quivering mess beneath her. however, she is a different story entirely. despite her incredible physical strength and stamina, mizu is so incredibly sensitive and it does not take very much stimulation or very long for her to cum.

t = toy (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

mizu does not own any toys when you first meet her, as pleasure was not necessarily a priority. however, if you suggest it to her, she would DEFINITELY be open to using a harigata (dildo/strap on) and maybe even a tagaigata (double sided dildo). wearing a strap would boost her confidence an insane amount, and she’d take great pride in how well she can fuck you.

u = unfair (how much they like to tease)

mizu loves to tease you but is not a fan of being teased. she relishes in the way that you squirm beneath her and beg for more as that cocky little grin spreads over her smug face. but when it comes to her pleasure, as much as she is embarrassed to admit it, mizu is quite desperate and impatient.

v = volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make)

as evidenced by that one scene with mikio, mizu is actually pretty loud. her voice is high, feminine, and desperate. when she is trying her best to be quiet, she will express her pleasure through whimpers, gasps, and soft whispers. when volume is not a concern, the room will be flooded with loud moans and cries.

w = wild card (a random headcanon)

i think that mizu has incredibly sensitive nipples and if she let you touch them for long enough, she could cum from nipple stimulation alone. the first time this happens she is absolutely mortified, but you reassure her that it is perfectly alright.

“w-wait, y/n!” mizu whimpers, her back arching in desperation. her slender body writhes under your unrelenting touch, small gasps leaving her lips as you tug on her aching nipples.

x = x-ray

mizu is slender, toned, and lean. she is incredibly muscular and slim because of the intensity with which she trains and she is about 5’6 or 5’7. she has firm a-cup breasts with average sized pink nipples, but they are typically hidden under the fabric she uses to bind her chest. her pussy is an innie, and unless her legs are fully spread, you can only see her outer lips. when she opens herself up to you, her small clit is hidden beneath its dusky pink hood. her glistening hole is tight and small, and much to her chagrin, clenches and flutters desperately at even the slightest bit of stimulation. the poor girl is just so sensitive and needy.

y = yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

as much as she hates to admit it, mizu has a very high sex drive. she gets turned on super easily, especially when it comes to anything involving you. you could literally brush your fingertips against her hip and she would become a flustered mess.

z = ZZZ (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

mizu can fall asleep pretty quickly, but she prefers to stay awake until you are asleep. if you catch onto this habit and decide to question her about it, she will deny it. watching over you to make sure that your sleep is restful and you are under her protection for as long as possible doesn’t exactly fit her image in the beginning. then, by the time you’ve gotten to see her softer side, she will deny it more for your sake. she doesn’t want you to know how much she worries about you for fear of teasing, being a smothering presence, and being admonished for sacrificing her own basic needs to make sure that yours are met. as much as mizu fronts as a combative, snarky, and abrasive person, she is also deathly afraid of conflict and abandonment with/from those she truly loves and cares about. that is to say, she wouldn’t want to get into an argument with you about how she needs to take care of herself better. she prefers to close her eyes and just listen to your breathing as it slowly evens out, leaving you unaware of her ploy. unbeknownst to her, you are aware of this “secret” scheme, and you let her get away with it. after all, it’s just another way that she tells you that she loves you, without expecting anything in return.

[etaleah]

I’ve been thinking a lot about Shadow’s characterizations in the Project: Shadow fan film, SA2, Archie, Heroes, ‘06, Prime, and Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and why they’re all considered among the best. And I’ve been thinking about his characterizations in IDW and Boom, how they’re considered among the worst, and how much they clash with the other portrayals. I think I’ve hit upon the number one quality that Shadow needs to have to be written well.

Loyalty.

I’ll explain below the cut.

The best Shadow is one who is loyal to someone or something. Maybe he’s not always loyal to the right someone or something, but he is loyal nonetheless. It’s a core part of his character. He is ride or die to the very end for whatever friend or cause he cares about. Shadow is always ready to kill or be killed for whatever or whoever matters to him most; it’s what sets him apart from the others. The others have limits on their loyalty. Sonic will help you out, but he’s not gonna kill a man for you. Shadow will. He doesn’t have that limit. If you are Shadow’s friend and you need him to kill for you, he will do it. Period.

Here’s a recap of Shadow’s loyalty:

In SA2 and the fan film, it’s to Maria, and to a lesser extent, Gerald.

In Heroes and ‘06, it’s to Team Dark.

In Archie, it’s to Team Dark, Hope Kintobor, and Commander Tower. Sometimes it’s even to his own values like when he goes against Rouge to help Blaze in Treasure Team Tango.

In Sonic X, it’s to Maria and later Molly. Maybe even to the universe, given that he’s ready to kill Cosmo to save it.

In Prime, it’s to Green Hill. And later on, Shadow is also loyal to Sonic despite the latter driving him crazy.

In Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, it’s to Amy.

And in his own game, Shadow can be loyal to Maria, Sonic and friends, Eggman (up to a point), Black Doom, or even Earth itself. Not all of those folks are worth his loyalty, but the fact is that Shadow still cares about fighting by their side. That key element of his personality remains.

And that’s what’s missing in Boom and IDW. Because in those, he isn’t loyal to anything. He isn’t ride or die for anyone. At least, not that we can tell. When you remove Shadow’s faithfulness to those he loves, you remove a lot of what makes him who he is and all that’s left is an edgy aesthetic that soon wears out its welcome because there isn’t anything to supplement it. And this is made worse by the fact that they’re never allowed to bring up or expand his backstory, so they can’t ever talk about why he’s like this.

I guess you could make the argument that Shadow is loyal to the world in IDW since he helps save it a few times, but he’s so mean and heartless to everyone in the world that it feels less like he’s fighting to protect other people and more like he’s just trying to save his own house so he still has a place to live. I mean, if he won’t help Rouge when she’s been kidnapped by Starline and he won’t help Omega when the latter has been smashed to bits and he won’t help the Chao get out of their cage and he actually has to be talked into saving a village from an avalanche and he seems to really dislike/be annoyed by everyone he comes into contact with…what exactly is he saving the Earth for?? It can’t be for the people living in it. He hates them. He doesn’t care if they need his help. So the only conclusion I can draw is that he’s just doing it to save his own skin. The only person Shadow shows even the slightest bit of loyalty to is himself.

And that makes him unrecognizable from the Shadow we know and love.

His loyalty is his greatest virtue, even when it’s misguided. Let him keep it.

[s0lar-ch3ri]

LOOK AT MY FREAK WEEK FIC BOY (CANNIBALISM) (INVOLVES MENTIONS OF GUTS, BLOOD, AND OTHER SHIT LIKE THAT) ("a mouth to bite with; wouldnt your corpse just look so nice?")

It’s bad. Very bad. Vyncent halfway is understanding the words here. He’s found little to nothing to eat, and most has been purged only minutes after consumption. His throat is clawing its way out. It needs something it can process. Something like home. Something that he can survive and live with, because the gods know even their place in the terrain was due long ago.

His eyes, hurting from just how different the light here was, lock onto someone. A random passerby. His head hurts. His stomach hurts. His teeth are itching for something. They’re just right there. He didn’t know them. It’d cause him no harm. It’d be fine.

He remembers this feeling too well. It’s not his first time. Vyncent remembers many a time the hunger would hit him, never just was this needed for survival. He knew what skin could taste like. He’s wrapped his tongue around things that were just too humanoid for comfort. He knows how blood is meant to taste. It felt wrong on those rare occasions he indulged, washing his mouth from the tastes. It was never wrong, it wasn’t right, it was just more food. Just more food.

He wiped his watering mouth.

He was not the worst at stealth. He however was not aware how loud he could be, his ears feeling filled with water. They turned around just as Vyncent wrapped his fingers around them. They were a bit shorter than him, a struggle at it too. Rounded ears that barely jut out from the face, and shrunken eyes with rounder pupils. They were smaller then what he knew them to be, he figured it was a fear response. He normally had a half mask as to block out the strange air, but he dragged it down, accidentally catching a lick of his carnivorous teeth, sharpened and ready for this moment, hungry.

In the small area between the tall and strangely constructed figures, the dark surrounded them, one where he felt most comfortable, the light shining at him better with the setting sun. It felt earlier than what he was used to, but everything here is not what he’s used to. The person struggles in his arms. He finds it may be best to start with a blade. Might have protection or be poisonous.

He bites in.

It is not the flesh he knows. The taste difference is minimal, but there. The path to the bone feels less blocked. The meat inside is less thick. Feels like the arm is thinner. Of course, his path starts at the shoulders, sinking in his jaws. The fabric is minimal bother for him, he tears through easily as he pulls back, flesh coming with. As he spits out the fabric, he sees the blood spurt out like a fountain. He wipes his mouth, he knows he’s not done yet.

They do what Vyncent can only assume is yelling. As they try to flee, he grips their arm, flipping them over his head and onto the floor. He hears the faintest crack as their legs hit stone. Tears stream their face, looking behind Vyncent at the world there he never understood. Holding this arm and on a knee, he bites into the wrist, hitting bone quickly. He manages to almost tear off the hand, yanking off the little bits left attached. They’re stuck in fear as they watch him use his teeth to hold onto bone and remove them out, eating what’s left. He feels weak pushes and loud screams as he goes for the motherload. Wielding his dagger, he plunges it into the chest and cuts up, getting the full thing. He rips the cut wide open with his hands. He pulls out guts that seem different than regular ones and rips off flesh bits from the opened wound. He can taste the blood. It had a more distinct metallic taste. It wasn’t too horrid. The meat held good value in its texture for sure. He couldn’t help but to dig in, he was hungry, and you don’t waste good food.

As they scream, its words that bounce off his ears, cries that are left to unknowing ears. One may say it felt wrong, the way his teeth could so easily pierce the flesh as he tore out chunks and pieces. Maybe a bit of a shiver went down his back as he looked in eyes that lost shine, chewing down scraps of skin to satiate something. It couldn’t have been any rewarding, as he heard drowned what he could figure were concerns through ringing ears, loud sounds behind that he thinks were attached to the strange metal beasts. He had to go. It felt strange to hold someone once more, even if they felt slightly off and were not breathing anymore. He knew he couldn’t just leave it here. He’d get hungry again.

He’d need to carve a way to survive again.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

I don't have any headcanons to drop but instead a question.

What do you think Killer is even experimenting on or for? For what purpose? I need ideas 😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈

I just need to an excuse to draw Killer in a lab coat so bad

Probably things to do with Determination, strange souls, and of course; codes. He will probably try to find a way to see if any other monster can naturally develop levels of Determination by placing them in scenarios that directly mirror his experiences; aka he will probably torture them psychologically.

He could try to convince them to do something that goes against their beliefs and self concept. If someone deeply values loyalty, he will experiment with what it takes to make them do something to betray whoever or whatever they’re loyal to, or the other way around.

If someone values kindness, he will tempt them into doing or saying unkind things—or anything that makes them believe others are being unkind to them to provoke paranoia. (Drug use? To induce hallucinations and then make them believe certain things are true?)

A lot of this is curiosity, and fulfillment of sadism and power. But a lot of it may be reenactment to either make sense of what happened to him, or to see if it can be replicated, or simply to prove that there’s truly nothing he could’ve done to change anything—like. If even weaker lesser things like the test subjects fell for what he fell for, then it’s proof he was weak before and therefore couldn’t have done anything, but he’s stronger now because he wouldn’t fall for such easy cheap tricks.

The next most obvious may be messing around with fusion, soul fusion. Taking and mixing and matching, seeing what could or couldn’t result from it. And if it’s possible to force a fusion.

Uh. When it comes things like humans, he will definitely try to understand their anatomy—and he will also probably experiment with pain and death. How much can a human or monster body and soul take before death? He might carefully time and measure these things. He will probably come up with various creative methods and ways to kill—what is the easiest, the fastest, the slowest, the most painful.

He will probably take advantage of his Reset, Load and Save here too. Will they be able to recognize that they have died before? Will they feel deju vu? Will they just think they’ve been drugged or gone insane? Will they not notice at all?

He will likely test a lot of these things on himself as well. How much can this body and soul take before it collapses. He might be fascinated to realize that his tolerance for death and pain far exceeds most normal people, and if this remains true while he experiments on other versions of himself as well, perhaps this would only fuel his sense of superiority.

He may mock and criticize victims for crying and being dramatic—either because he’s being an asshole, or because he’s genuinely so far removed from these concepts that it doesn’t get why they’re all screaming and blubbering. They aren’t dead yet, and they’ll be fine by the next Reset.

Or alternatively, he may be curious and fascinated by their reactions—and deliberately do and say things to gain reactions and responses. If he’s experimenting on someone he’s found himself kinda sort liking, such as Color for example, perhaps he’d do the traditionally comforting actions—petting their head, kissing their forehead, gently rubbing or patting limbs while dissecting, praising them, telling them how pretty and beautiful they are bloody/crying/tied down/being good for him/etc, perhaps promising itll be over soon and they’ll feel better soon.

I think it’d be cool if he somehow finds a way to dissect a soul like it’s a heart.

And those are all the ideas I have right now. Im not a scientist person, so everyone feel free to chime in!

{ @toffeebrew }

[amuseoffyre]

Sometimes I think about the fact that Spanish Jackie is one of the smartest characters in OFMD. People know to fear her and respect her. Even Izzy Hands, who only shows respect to a handful of people, shows respect to her. She doesn’t have to intimidate people anymore. She’s made sure her reputation does that for her.

She also makes sure that people come to her. She plays on peoples’ emotions to get what she wants, like with Jim’s ego and pride that they got away with killing Alfeo. She placed that low bounty and kept hold of Jim’s knife and all she had to do was sit and wait for vengeance to unroll for her. Even took her time making Jim squirm with that whole “I loves me a thief” moment.

But then you have a moment when someone comes at her directly using one of her husbands - a perceived valuable hostage and a weakness - and she straight-up removes him from the equation. She lures Jim into close quarters using exactly the same trick that got Jim last time: playing up against Jim’s overconfidence and cockiness about how good they are. And when she realises she’s lost the upper-hand in that fight, she changes footing again.

Jim goes from close to killing her to having drinks and a laugh and Jackie, with all of zero effort redirects their focus. And I absolutely believe Jackie was married to more than two of the Siete Gallos and no reason to hand them all over if she can just BS Jim into believing they’re dead. She just got rid of the one who was a liability and was stupid enough to get himself taken hostage.

Like Ed, Jackie knows the value of a fuckery. She will use violence and fear and intimidation, but she also knows when to play it cool, to change tack and redirect her enemies, to keep herself alive.

[seat-safety-switch]

Everyone knows me at the dump. I don’t mean this in a bragging sort of way. In fact, I hate this fact. The reason why everyone knows me at the dump is that Mr. Jones, the dump operator, has posted the CCTV footage and blurry cell-phone camera pictures of my face on the break room wall. Even the youngest probie at the dump will look at me, every morning, while they wait for the coffee machine to dispense their mandatory cup of black joy.

You can probably guess why this has happened to me. I love junk, and the dump has a lot of that junk. To me, it is offensive that the dump hoards that junk. They keep it from me, using excuses like “sanitation” and “safety,” but safety is my middle name. If they would just give me a chance, then I would be the best they’ve ever seen. I’d even remove and sort the little lithium-ion vape batteries that haven’t exploded yet, out of gratitude.

Of course, we both know why I’m digging through trash at the dump. I don’t want old Betamax VCRs, or mouldy cardboard boxes heralding products from a bygone era. Well, I do, but I don’t want them more than I want a two-stroke dirt bike, and I’ve seen tons of those over the years get callously tossed into the debris pile by the great unwashed. They’re always getting thrown out for little reasons, like “carb jet plugged,” or “caught on fire,” or “couldn’t get anyone to buy it on Craigslist for septuple the market value so I threw it away out of spite.” I could save these bikes, and to be not allowed to save them is literal torture.

Just like anyone else would in my shoes, I started wearing elaborate disguises to the dump. Sometimes I could loot one, and throw it into the back of my car, and be gone before the dump operators (there weren’t even security guards yet, back then) could catch up to me. I had enough disguises – and enough cars – that I could pull this off for a little while. Then, used cars got really expensive, and the folks in my neighbourhood started using security fasteners to hold on their license plates. I started to escape by tighter and tighter scrapes, until one fateful day.

That bastard Jones figured me out. He came from Chicago, of all places, a city which I’m pretty sure doesn’t even have a dump. And he knew my kind. He set a trap: an agonizingly pristine, 1989 Yamaha XT225. Sure, it was a four-stroke, but it was still love at first sight. It was planted right on top of one of the big piles of disposable diapers, visible even from the highway. Even knowing it was a trap, I made plans for months to grab it.

The joke’s on him, though. I’ve started my own private dump, and I’ve paid the government to start outsourcing dump operations to me. We’re an extremely efficient operation, much more affordable for the taxpayer than the wasteful public dump. How so, you ask? Well, we are much more selective with what waste we accept, and we wrote one helluva contract, which had a bunch of big words that confused the gin-addled politicos that signed it out of desperation to meet their “lower taxes” pledge.

Here’s how it works. We charge the city hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, and we get first pick of any internal combustion engines that are in the back of the garbage trucks. Everything else goes down the road to the regular dump. We’re making a fortune. If we keep putting out numbers like this, I’m sure there will soon be layoffs over at Jones’ shithole. Hell, maybe I’ll even hire him to manage security around these parts. Can’t have anyone walking off with my good trash.

[sorikkung]

what goes on in neverland. ⇝ ch. 7: fighting, flighting, and so many feelings

word count: 16k

pairings: transmasc!reader x Everyone, everyone x everyone (skz, tbz and atz, check masterlist for more details)

genre: e2l, f2l, smut, fluff and lots of assorted shenanigans. hijinks, if you will

au: battle of the bands!au but make it gay and horny

warnings: extremely dubiously consensual voyeurism, humiliation kink, very brief hyung/oppa kink, feminisation kink, breeding kink but probably not in the way that you think.

a/n: just a reminder that these characters aren't meant to be super great people. they're a little fucked on purpose. also, not proofread at all, not even once, just needed it done. full a/n at the end. glad to be back! c:

tags: @honeybyunnies @syunderful @absentcaryatid @mingirn (lmk if you want to be added/removed!)

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“Do it again.”

This is starting to feel a little like déjà vu.

“I did it perfectly that time, what are you talking about—”

“Just do it again!” Eric snaps, pressing play on the music and not giving you much of a choice. As you go through the complex part of the routine he had given you, he barks orders to your other bandmates getting distracted behind you. “You guys should be practicing too! You have all of night time and every other day to make out, can you not focus on practice now that it matters more than ever?”

The air inside feels stuffy with all the sweat and exertion, but god forbid this man gives anyone a break. How his own body managed to keep up with the strain he’s putting it and all of yours through is far beyond your comprehension. You contemplate if he’d be able to keep going after you throw a large rock at him.

“Eric,” Kevin whines, leaning on his knees to catch his breath and wiping the sweat from his brow as Eric tries to pull the two boyfriends off each other. “Can’t you take it a little easy on us? Not all of us are used to dancing for hours and hours on end, or even dancing at all. At least let us have breaks when you’re focusing on someone else. Which you’re not even doing! Look, he just did it again!”

You ponder the type of rock you should throw at him. Maybe pelting him with tiny pebbles would be even more of an annoyance. Maybe you should stick to a big one and go straight for the bruises on his legs that still linger from how hard he went and continues to go on the pole.

Eric whips around to look at you in your ending pose, and twirls his finger at you in a motion to repeat. “Do it again, I didn’t see it.”

Or, maybe you’ll just find the heaviest rock you can find and drop it on his head. Hopefully the worst it’ll do is a mild concussion.

“Yeah, cause you’re too busy being a dick to everyone!” you quip at him, eyes flaring. “Eric, we gave you this position because we wanted to show you we’re still taking the competition seriously and that we still value your opinion and trust in your leadership, not for you to walk all over us and push us too hard because you’re still salty that we fucked the guys making you insecure! Get over yourself! If you want to take this stage sooo seriously, maybe take into consideration the physical state of your team! We’re all about to collapse!”

“For someone who trusts in my leadership, you sure aren’t following it all that well,” he grumbles in response, rewinding the track. “One more time, just you. Or do they not train you hard enough at the Prism?”

You roll your eyes at the fucking audacity, because that is not even remotely the same and he knows it. “No, because they’re more concerned about our sex appeal than our pole technique, Wooyoung and I train ourselves to have fun — you should try it sometime!”

He doesn’t grace that with a response, turning the song on again, and you decide to cooperate only to throw all your remaining energy into the routine, making it as extra as you can muster — facial expressions, powerful moves, dramatically thrusting your whole body into it like it was the actual stage, so there’d be absolutely no way Eric could nitpick on you any more.

Or so you thought.

“You overdid it.”

“Get fucked, Eric!”

You straight up scream in his face, pushed far past your limit and sick of his shit. You have been trying so hard for him. All for him. You made sure he was okay with it before even signing up for the competition, you trained him in pole and choreographed him a role routine and night at your job just so he could impress them, you fucked his ex with him just so he could prove a point, you got thrown over a table for it and continued defending his honour and all you get in repayment is him being a total asswipe because he can’t handle what you do with your spare time.

“Are you fucking serious right now—“

“Alright, enough!” Sunwoo bellows, loud enough to make poor San flinch, stepping between you and grabbing each of you by the collar. “Either make out and make up, or fuck off till you calm down. I’ve just about had it with all the arguing and bossing around. We’re all taking a break and I am not taking no for an answer!”

Sunwoo is the type to get fired up just as easily as Eric is, if not more, so you all know how to handle him when he gets set off; but there’s something different this time. His tone cements the decision as final, and Eric must feel it too because he finally stops arguing and storms off.

The rest of you watch him leave, and as soon as he’s out the door, you all slump in relief to the floor. It’s done. Day one of Eric’s Nightmare Bootcamp is finally done.

“Fucking finally,” Sunwoo mutters, lying still for a moment before being the first to get up and start collecting his things. “My entire body aches. Apparently this place has hot springs? I think I’ll go check them out.”

“I’m way too hot and sweaty for that,” you sigh as the others start getting up to join him, “Lowkey tempted to take an ice bath instead. Or go chill in the lake, or something.”

“I’ll join you,” San pipes up, hanging the sweaty towel he was using to wipe his face around the back of his neck. “The lake sounds great right now.”

Sunwoo shrugs. “Suit yourself.”

It was Eric’ idea to put the camp in boot camp, bringing up his extended family's holiday house in the woods that only ever gets used twice a year. It’s a ridiculous waste of money and housing as far as any of you are concerned, but  at least Eric was smart enough to mould himself a spare key before he went no-contact with them. Granted, he then immediately lost said key while moving apartments, but as soon as you brought up the idea of a boot camp he turned the whole damn apartment upside down searching for it, only to realise it had been hot-glued to his battle jacket this whole time as a decoration along with other spare keys you had gathered for diy purposes.

The place is nice, awfully scenic – not quite mountainous, but hilly enough for the cliff the lodge is on to make for a gorgeous view overlooking the lake, estuary and ocean — secluded, and cosy. Now that Eric actually has a key to the place, next time you come here you hope it’s on calmer terms, with more time to check out all the hike trails and rock pools by the beach, but for today, aimlessly floating in a lake to sooth your sore muscles sounds perfectly ideal.

San’s bare ass is a pretty welcome sight, too.

“A cheeky skinny dip, huh?” you muse aloud, “Have fun getting whatever bacteria this lake has to offer, I’m keeping my jocks on.”

“Oh please, like that’d help that much.”

“It literally would though, that’s a whole additional barrier!”

“It’s still gonna soak through though, so if it’s in the water, you’re fucked.”

“Is that why you want me naked so bad? So I can be fucked?” you tease, wading into the water with him – still slightly warm from the daylight, but no doubt quickly cooling with the setting of the sun in the horizon.

San shrugs cheekily, submerged up to his shoulders in the murky depths, ducking under the water to drench himself entirely then dramatically flip his hair back upon breaching the surface. “Maybe.”

“Horny bastard,” you huff, splashing him in the face and making him cough and splutter, only for him to splash you back twice as hard. “Pffuah— stop, stop! I’ll stop, I’m too tired for a splash fight.”

“Okay, okay,” San hums, relenting his assault to come up behind you and wrap his arms around you instead. You sigh and lean into his gentle embrace. “I was joking, anyway. I’m way too tired and sore to be doing any fucking right now.”

So are you. The more you think about it, the less the thought of getting it on seemed appealing, the ache in your muscles dragging you down like lead. The cold water was nice, though, and the reprieve of San’s warm body amongst it even nicer, so you just stay there for a whole, tucked under his chin and listening to the steady beating of his heart.

It’s exactly what you needed after such a long day. Probably what San needed too, if the way he sighs in relief into your hair is any indicator, then presses a kiss atop your head. “This is kinda romantic, isn’t it?”

“Romantic?” His tone is playful, but the conversation you had with Sunwoo still lingers on your mind. You find yourself at a loss for words. “What about it?”

San leans down to rest his chin on your shoulder and press a kiss there, invoking a shiver. It has little to do with the temperature. “The scenery, for one. This lake is beautiful. The sunset. Holding you like this. Is it not nice?”

You blink twice, trying to process what this man is saying to you. Does he mean romantic as in nice? An interesting choice of wording, that’s for sure – but maybe you’re overthinking it. You’re probably overthinking it. You’re definitely overthinking it. Had Sunwoo not said anything, you probably wouldn’t have thought twice about him saying that. Saying it so seriously, even. Though the initial question did sound like a bit of a joke, so he’s probably joking. Or something.

“No?”

You snap out of your thoughts to reply to him. “No, it is nice— it’s really nice. Just what I needed after all of... y’know.”

“After all of Eric’s bullshit?” he suggests helpfully, and you don’t need to see his little cat-like grin to know it’s there.

“You said it, not me.”

He laughs, placing his hands on your shoulders and twisting you around to face him. You don’t know how he manages to smile so blindingly after the hell he has been through today, especially as one of the few band members who had no background dancing, but he gave it his all. You admire that about him, how he’s so hard-working and so soft-hearted but in a way that he needs to be tough to be; the fact that he always remains soft under the pressure of the world trying to harden him, is toughness in its own right. A fuzzy feeling sprouts in your chest, such deep fondness, and it’s enough to ease a bit of the lingering tension. He leans in for a kiss, not quite a quick peck but nothing deeper; just a kiss for the sake of a kiss, one that lingers, then he pulls you back into his arms and pushes your face into his neck.

San’s always been like this, so it really shouldn’t be as flustering as it is. After all, he’s the reason your band started being as touchy with each other as they are now – from kissing the homies goodnight. He’s just overly affectionate like that. Has his heart always beat this fast when you did, though?

Has yours?

You wonder if he can hear it.

You think about how easy it would be to tell him you love him right now. The words could just roll off your tongue; I love you. Things wouldn’t have to change. San would probably just be happy to hear it, say it back, and kiss you breathless. Yet, something about that thought makes your words get caught in your throat. It would be so simple. Too simple, even, because what would he mean, when he says it back? What would you mean?

“Do you want us to be more than friends?”

San’s skin feels even hotter to touch, or maybe that’s just you. He quirks a brow at you when you pull away from him, lips drawn into a slight pout, and it makes you feel like eating sandpaper, so you pull him back in and bury your face in his broad chest once more. You have always been weak for San’s pout, even if you’re the one making him do it on purpose because it’s just so cute. You know Wooyoung does it for the same reason, he’s said so, and you never miss the way his eyes crinkle with glee when it works. For Wooyoung, bothering his loved ones is his life’s greatest joy, and there’s nothing quite like the glow of a man in his element. You can picture him smiling at San like that right now, calling him a baby and calling you whipped.

“Do you want to date us? Be romantic with us, tell us those three words you’ve been too scared to say for too long, take us on dates that are explicitly dates, call us yours? Is that what you want?”

You kiss him, and nothing more, over and over again, until you finally stop thinking. He picks you up for your legs to wrap around his waist, weight supported by the water around you. He doesn’t ask questions nor complain, only pulling you in closer, and when you feel him harden against you, there’s no pressure to address it.

When that only makes each kiss feel even more intimate somehow, it starts to dawn on the edges of your mind that you may be well and truly fucked.

After three days of more torture, you have just about reached your limit. You thought Eric would have calmed down after the initial fight, but it seemed to instead just put him on edge the whole time – you and the others quickly realise he is not about to pull that stick out of his ass until you get that win against Stray Kids, and if the next round is still in another three days, then to hell with all of you in the meantime.

Usually, you would just fuck it out. Shockingly, having an outlet for all the pent-up frustration does wonders for trying to sort out problems, but you can tell it’s different this time; even if Eric did let you sleep with him, you aren’t entirely sure he would calm down completely. Still, selfishly enough, you could do with it for the release on your end, as your other physical outlet being dance is no longer cathartic when it’s the cause of half your frustration.

At this point you would have just grabbed one of the other members after practice, but morale is at an all-time low and everyone just seems tired. Eric has always been the energizer of the group, and you realise just how much you all relied on him now that he’s no longer filling that role. Even Wooyoung and Sunwoo’s attempts at joking around and lightening the mood have been falling a little flat, and you can see the toll it’s taking on them too. Tension lingers in the air even when you are not fighting, and as nice as the view of the Sohn’s lakeview lodge is, all you’ve wanted to do since you’ve arrived is get out.

The reception isn’t the best out in the woods, so you find yourself climbing one of the tall, sturdy trees by the lodge to see who you can call. Not necessarily for a booty call, maybe sort of a booty call, but more importantly just someone to talk to who isn’t your band; though you quickly realise how few people you actually talk to outside of your band. Most are friends or acquaintances from within the industry, and the last thing you need right now is to spread gossip about your own band to the event organisers, or worse, your competitors – but as you scroll through your messages, something about the latter sticks out to you.

You call Lino.

The idea is not your best one, you have to admit, but you’re definitely intrigued to find out what kind of metaphorical ditch you will wind up waking up in by doing this. Your last interactions with Lino made it very clear the way he operates – it’s a trade-off. He is not beyond gossiping about his own team, so if you pry well enough, you can get something juicy – the caveat being, he remembers everything you say as well, and will use it against you. Which only makes this idea even worse the more you think about it, since it would not take much for him to smell blood in the water and something like a fight among your band would be far too easy to prey on, but you already pressed call.

You are not exactly known for your good life decisions.

“Hello?”

The voice that picks up is already a lot warmer and richer than Lino’s light and airy voice, which raises every alarm all at once, but it’s definitely not a recognisable enough voice to match a face to. One of the other lost kids, that much you can tell, but that’s it.

“He…llo? This isn’t Lino.”

A laugh filters through the receiver. “No, it’s not. I stole his phone and he still hasn’t noticed yet.”

Whoever this is, you like him already, you decide. That’s the kind of mischief you can get behind.

“Wow. And who might this be? Another stray kid?”

A tongue click. “That’s right. Makes me wonder why my beloved hyung is getting a call from the enemy.”

The reference to you as an enemy has you not knowing how to feel about it. The same term has left your lips about them on more than one occasion, but perhaps part of you has always been aware of how one-sided your feud with them really is, though, you suppose with your tendency to meddle and pick fights, that’s been quickly fixing itself. You can acknowledge you have been creating drama, but to hell with it, you think. You’ve meant every damn word you’ve said this whole time.

“Heh. Well that’s for me to know and you to wonder, hmm? What makes you think I’d tell you? I don’t even know who you are.”

You hear the ping of him turning his camera on, and pull your phone back from your ear to see a familiar enough face staring back at you. Now the fact that you didn’t recognise him from his voice alone is almost embarrassing – that rich baritone carries their songs, and you’ve done enough internet stalking all of them to know the rest by face now.

“Ah. You’re Seungmin, right?” You switch on your own camera and fix your hair in a way you hope seems nonchalant, but you know it’s a poor attempt to hide the absolute wreck you must look like right now, covered in sweat and hair sticking out in every which direction. “I don’t think we’ve ever actually talked.”

“No, you’ve been a bit too busy digging into my bandmates– are you in a fucking tree?”

You instinctively glance behind you, as if not expecting a tree to be there, when you are, in fact, quite literally, sitting in a tree. The movement is so fast you wobble a bit on the branch you perched on, but it holds steady, and you regain your balance quick enough.

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’m in a tree. Long story.”

“I got time.” Seungmin’s expression remains unreadable as he pulls the strings of his hoodie and flops backward onto presumably his bed, possibly Lino’s or god knows who else’s, and gets comfortable. “Why you in a tree?”

“Why do you care? I called Lino, not you.”

He rolls his eyes, then flicks the phone camera loud enough to make an audible thwack as if he just flicked your forehead. “No shit you called Lino, this is his phone. But I’m bored, a little nosy, and a shockingly good listener, so I’ve been told, so indulge me a little. If you’re not going to tell me why you called Lino, at least tell me why you’re in a tree, I’m curious now.”

“You’re more interested as to why I’m in a tree than to why I called Lino?”

“Mmm, maybe equally as interested. I just figure you wouldn’t tell me why you called Lino even if I did pry, but I’m gonna just assume it’s a booty call.”

You snort. He’s a little more right than you want him to be, but you don’t know if you want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that yet.

“Well, the short version is that the reception out here is dogshit, so I climbed a tree.” You flip the camera and show him how high up you are, and nearly drop the damn thing however many feet below to a tragic death among the pinecones.

“Woah, nice view!” You flip the camera back around to your face to grin a little smugly. “Surely you don’t live out there in the woods, do you?”

“Ah, no, just out here for, uh… boot camp. Decided we needed to start taking practice more seriously since we have some actual competition this year, so we took the week off work and fucked off to one of the guys’ holiday homes.” You deliberately leave out the part where it’s kind of sort of technically trespassing, despite how curious you are to hear his reaction to it. “Hence. Tree.”

Seungmin nods along, cutely playing with the hoodie drawstrings and pulling them up past his chin with the hand not holding his phone. You’d think he was on FaceTime with someone a lot closer than a near stranger, but you suppose his cute charms just come naturally to him. “Damn, respect. We’ve more or less been doing the same this whole time, but more of us are unemployed than not, so, at least we don’t need to worry too much about taking time off work. Well, in Innie and I’s cases it’s taking time off classes, but, he barely shows up to classes anymore anyway.”

“Y’all studying?” Now that you think about it, you don’t know much about the group’s personal lives beyond Felix and Chan – Felix, obviously from knowing him through Eric since he was still doing his tattoo apprenticeship, and Chan’s digital presence informed you he did music full-time, selling the beats he doesn’t use himself. You remember their friend Jisung being a DJ at parties, and saw him doing music online as well, Changbin too but with less of a presence – but none of them were big enough to explain the ridiculous budget Stray Kids stages have been having. Either the few employed members are raking in dough, or someone comes from money, and you bet your meagre savings on the latter.

“Yeah, I’m studying music, vocals mostly. Also composing, music industry, music history, photography and videography, and Japanese as an elective ‘cause it’s fun.”

“Jesus,” you exhale, “That’s… a lot.”

He chuckles, pulling his hoodie back down to hide his face less. Even in its entirety, you can’t read any of it. “Yeah, it’s good fun.”

You expect him to elaborate on that more, but he doesn’t, making you crinkle your nose. “What about the others? You all students or?”

Seungmin shakes his head. “Nah, just me and Innie, he’s also studying music performance. The rachas – our production line, that is, Chan, Changbin, and Hannie – they all do music pretty much full-time, except Changbin who is also a part-timer at a gym. Personal trainer. Lino’s a viral sensation on YouTube for making cat videos, it’s shockingly enough to pay rent. I’m sure you already know what Lix does, and Hyunjin, well, apparently you know about that too.”

You snicker. “Funnily enough, we found out that one completely on accident.”

“You’d have had to,” Seungmin says slowly with a knowing grin, “We make sure to keep those profiles completely separate.”

Whatever other sentences your mind tried to come up with quickly fizzle out as you process his choice of wording.

“We?”

He laughs, light and melodic, and his face shines with such cutesy innocence you are shocked to hear him allude to engaging in creating such content. “Yeah, we. How do you think he sets up the camera and everything while tied up like that?”

Your eyebrows shoot up at the realisation that Seungmin was the rigger from the one stream you caught, and remembering how intricate the ropework was, you find a sudden deep respect for him blooming as a craftsman.

“Wait, you’re his rigger?”

“I’m his boyfriend, but yeah, his rigger too. So, sorry if I piss you off at the competition and you can’t suck my dick about it, it’s a real tragedy.”

He practically just handed you a formal invitation to think about his dick, so you rip it out of his hands with a sly smirk. “Aw, why not? That’s never stopped Mingi or Wooyoung. You could tie me up all pretty, too.”

Not that it’s a particularly good idea to let a practical stranger tie you up in a full-body rope harness, but you don’t expect him to actually get to that point, more so just teasing the idea. While you definitely expected some sort of reaction, the quirk of his brow and beat of silence is certainly more than you bargained for.

“Y’know, I’m starting to wonder if at this point you just want the whole band as notches on your belt.”

Were you anyone else, that might have even stung, but you shrug it off in earnest.

“Maybe I do. But truthfully, it’s like, ninety-percent more to do with the fact that each and every one of you are smoking hot. Like, I may be cocky and hypersexual, but even I have standards, and you all more than exceed them, so sue me for shooting my shot.”

His eyes widen slightly at that, and you wonder if he doesn’t get told how good looking he is that often. Granted, his face is a lot softer and sweeter compared to the more visually striking faces of his bandmates, but he’s still incredibly handsome by every means of the word. The likelihood of your assumption quickly decreases when he follows it up.

“I can respect that. I am quite a catch, aren’t I?”

You snort, not prepared for his response. “Yeah, I’d say so. So, if you and your prettyboy boyfriend are ever looking to spice things up, feel free to call. On or off camera.”

“Damn, you’re bold.” He chuckles again in what seems to be mild disbelief, to which, he really should have known better, but you suppose you can let it slide on the account that he’s never interacted with you personally until now. “I’ve haven’t had that conversation with him yet, but don’t get your hopes up. He’s quite the possessive type.”

The dopey smile and fond tilt of his head when he says that tells you that he doesn’t really mind that one bit.

“Aw, shame. I was already thinking about all the fun we could get up to together!”

It’s not as sarcastic as you make it sound with your sing-song tone; having already wanted to give Hyunjin hell since that first stream, and almost but not quite regrettably, more after, the thought of teaming up with someone as seemingly sly as Seungmin, to do a number on him was beyond appealing, but you suppose you can’t always win them all. It’s only then what a relevant thought hits you.

“Wait, but what about him and San?”

“Ah.” He at least doesn’t seem surprised to hear about it, so you’re glad you at least didn’t just throw San under the bus with that one. “Hence the yet on the conversation. I don’t know. We were all arguing, tensions were high, he and San grabbed each other by the shirt, he looked at me before he kissed San and right after, too. It felt like he was asking for permission, so I just… I don’t know. It’s not something I’d really thought much about till then, but I was curious. I can’t say it felt right, but I kind of just wanted to watch and see what happened anyway? I probably should have said something to stop them, but I just shrugged and nodded at him, let him decide if he wants to do that. Think I was angrier about it than I thought I was, but with everything going on I couldn’t really isolate that feeling yet. So I just kept arguing.”

At the mention of all the arguing, you’re coldly reminded that the very man you are talking to, probably said some really nasty things about you and the people you care most about, but you shove that aside for now. As aggressive as you tend to be, the long week prior just has you tired of arguing with just about fucking everyone, and you don’t know if you like that that says about you.

As if the situation between the bands couldn’t get any messier, yet more relationships get tangled in the web of drama. You always wonder why people cling so hard to the concept of monogamy when another alternative presents itself, but you suppose it’s easier to avoid the work it takes to communicate with people that much when you can just expect someone to avoid making you feel bad by default. At least this time you aren’t the one at the centre of it, but either way you can’t take all the blame when it takes two to tango in the first place.

“Oh jeez, that’s messy. And you haven’t talked about it at all? It’s been days, dude, why not?”

“Why do you care?” he huffs with a laugh, dryly throwing your own words back at you.

“I’m bored, nosy, and a shockingly good listener,” you retort right back at him. “Indulge me a little, sticking my nose into other people’s drama is a great distraction from my own. Plus, an outsider’s perspective might even be useful, who knows?”

Seungmin’s lips flatten into a line, staring up at the ceiling past the camera and debating it internally before rolling onto his side with a sigh. He looks so cozy, wrapped up in his hoodie and now snuggled up to a big fluffy pillow he rests on, his other hand propping up his phone to give you the perspective of two close friends talking at a sleepover, and not rival strangers, just one of which sitting atop a random ass tree.

“I feel like I’ll regret this, but, well, suppose you’re the only one I can talk to who doesn’t know either of us well enough to be biased, so… sure. Though there’s not much to be biased about actually. I don’t think. Basically he just… I thought he was gonna talk about it afterward, but instead he just ended up getting noticeably more possessive… like, needs to be clinging to me at all times, glaring at everyone else who tries, referring to me as his boyfriend more than usual. I’m not sure what’s up with that, since he’s the one who slept with San, but we’ve been too busy and stressed with practice to really have a chance to talk about it yet.”

“Ah.” You nod along, figuring that they must be taking the competition just as serious as your band is to come up with such show-stopping stages, so you relate to the stress that would probably make it a bad time to have such a conversation. “That’s rough. How do you feel about it all, though?”

Seungmin has to stop and think about it for a moment, shoving his face deeper into his fluffy pillow and looking down at the sheets instead of his phone screen. “I… I think I’m more upset that he’s acting so strangely about it than the fact that he did it in the first place. Makes it look like he feels guilty about doing it and is tryna be extra possessive to make up for it, or something, which… means he must’ve felt like he was doing something wrong when he did it. I don’t think it’s technically cheating, because he did pause to check in with me and he wasn’t trying to hide anything, but… we probably should’ve actually talked about it first.”

“Yeah, you can say that part again,” you huff. “Shockingly, sitting down and talking about your issues tends to solve them. Most of the time.”

He seems to be able to read through your tight-lipped expression, looking back up at the camera again.

“Something tells me the drama you’re distracting yourself from with mine, wasn’t solved that easily.”

“Yeah, well.” You pause, trying to think of how much you would be willing to share with the other team, considering you have no idea if Seungmin is the type to run his mouth or not. “It… yeah. Not that easy this time, unfortunately. Our plan B – or, plan A, sometimes, honestly – is usually to just. Fuck out all our emotions then talk about it calmly. But this time the hurt person decided to revoke that, well, technically he said he wouldn’t bottom for us anymore so maybe that still is on the table, but it just feels different. I don’t think he wants to go about it like that this time, and our other attempt didn’t work either and just made us even more tired and wired and I’m reaching my limit with these guys. Probably would do me some good to take a drive back into town, but I’m not sure what I’d do there. Work a shift at the Prism, maybe try go home with a stranger? I dunno. I’m not as keen on hooking up with strangers anymore, they don’t always like the same things I like and usually aren’t as down to sit down and talk about it beforehand so its just mid. But my other physical outlet has always been dancing, which, is all I’ve been doing lately and half of why I’m so frustrated.”

He nods along much like you did, humming at certain points to indicate his attention. “Right. So you just want an outlet for all that frustration, huh?”

“Basically. Or maybe just a break. Who knows.”

“I like boxing as an outlet,” he suggests helpfully, “Helps to print out the face of whoever you’re pissed at on a punching bag.”

“Ooh, that sounds good,” you hum, already thinking of which photo of Eric you should print out. You aren’t sure if Seungmin is extending an invitation or not, but either way it’s a good suggestion. You decide to throw out a line, just in case, and see what he does. “Doesn’t punching something over and over get kinda boring, though? Suppose that’s what you get a sparring partner for though.”

“Does fucking someone over and over get boring?” He asks cheekily, and you certainly were not ready for that response, so you splutter.

“Does- no, of course it doesn’t get boring. Not when your partners are hot and good at what they’re doing and – lets just say, we spice things up enough to keep things exciting.”

“Like what, jacking off to Hyunjin’s streams?”

“I guess, yeah. Among more exciting things. You’re not the only rigger around, y’know.”

Seungmin smiles and runs a hand through his hair, exposing his forehead more, which frames his features a lot differently; you start to get a glimpse of what you think Hyunjin sees before his streams in the was he grins so deviously at you. “Are you trying to one-up me?”

“In what, being a kinky freak?” you snort, not really seeing how even this is meant to be a competition, even if it did, admittedly, kind of feel like it. Just talking to any of the Stray Kids at all seems to draw out your competitive streak. “I mean, I reckon I’d have a fair run at topping it, but I’m not gonna pretend I’m the kinkiest degenerate in town. That’s Wooyoung for sure.”

He laughs and it’s shockingly melodic, which is a little unfair to all the people who laugh like they’re dying. “Really? Now that’s be interesting, who has the more questionable Pornhub search history, Wooyoung or Hannie…”

“Wow, way to rat out your own,” you chuckle, and you find yourself really enjoying your interactions with this Seungmin guy. He seems pretty alright so far. “Found him stumbling out of my apartment last week when I got home after the last round. Sunwoo sure did a number on him.”

“Yup, and he hasn’t shut up about it since,” Seungmin drawls with what seems like a rather fond eyeroll. “I think he saw God that night. Changbin is pissed about it. Thinks he’s stooping too low, or something. I wonder what he’ll think about you and Chan?”

Static sounds play in your brain until you can catch up with him. “He doesn’t know about me and Chan? You know about me and Chan?”

“Uh, yeah, genius, you were both at each other’s throats last we saw you and then you were both gone. Not rocket science. Chan isn’t blabbing, if that’s what you’re worried about. Though I kind of wish he would. How was it? I hear he’s a real romantic, but I have my bets on him being quite the tease.”

“You spend this much time thinking about what your homies are like in bed?”

The no-hesitation response sends Seungmin’s eyebrows shooting upward for a split-second, and a slightly twisted sense of satisfaction fills you at being the one to have a gotcha moment with that one, rather than being on the other end. You don’t like the realisation that more than one person has tried to call you out for that. You try not to think about it.

“Just… curious, I guess. It just comes up in conversation sometimes! It’s not that weird. You can tell me. I’m sure I can nag it out of him later, anyway.”

“Last time I shared anything juicy with a stray kid, he used it against me,” you hum, sounding less hurt and more amused at whatever he’s playing at. “Surely I get something just as interesting in return, as a guarantee, of sorts?”

Seungmin thinks about it, stroking his chin through a comically big sweater paw. “Not sure what kind of dirt I could give you. My boyfriend’s cock and hole is on the internet for everyone to see, you can gage a pretty good guess of what we get up to behind the screen based on what he does on the screen. I don’t really have much to hide.”

“Dirt on the others, then? You mentioned Han’s search history…”

“Ah, our Jisungie,” Seungmin coos, a smile taking over his face again at the mention of his bandmate. “Suppose I could throw him under the bus a little more. I think he’d like it if I did, honestly. Humiliation kink n’all that. Not that he’d admit it. But he doesn’t have to, it’s written all over him and the guys he likes. Hell, the girls too. If you teased him about it, it’d probably make his dick hard.”

“Really now? Oh, now that is so enticing… how bad is he gonna kill you for that one?”

“Really bad,” Seungmin chortles, muffling his laugh behind his sweater paw. “He gets worked up pretty easily, but cools down just as quick, only to fire up again as soon as you prod him. We used to fight a lot, when the band first got together, but I think we’re past that now. Since meeting you guys, though, it’s like his diss track era all over again… it’s been fun how angry he’s gotten over it all, and now he’s just angry at how good Sunwoo was in bed. It’s so cute. Seeing him get all competitive is also cute. He gets flustered easily, but then he’s surprisingly witty. Cocky, too. Haven’t seen that side of him offstage since he was still beefing with Hyunjin.”

He clearly has no idea how much material he is giving you to work with, probably thinking the humiliation kink was the meat of the information, but you absolutely soak up the details on how this man reacts to things. You won’t be caught off guard, not by him or anyone else on that team, and you are increasingly confident that the next round will absolutely rip them a new one.

“Is that so… alright, I’ll bite. Chan… is a lot crueller than he seems. But I can see how he’d be the romantic type in any other situation… I think I bring out his mean side, though. It’s pretty fun,” you muse, to avoid saying it’s pretty hot instead. “He’s very… patient. Frustratingly so. Not as much of a pushover as I thought he’d be.”

“You’re being awfully vague on purpose,” Seungmin points out blankly, “so I’m going to assume it was hot as fuck and he fucked you so good you’re ashamed to admit it.”

You really don’t like how fucking perceptive he is, you decide.

“Well, I’d definitely go with him another round.” You try to sound nonchalant as you shrug and act unbothered, because if your assumptions are right, he will go running to Chan as soon as you hang up the phone. “Next time though, it’ll be at my place on my terms. We’ll see how long he lasts.”

You hear the filtered sound of the door opening, and Seungmin stiffens, but grins. “I’ve heard all I need to hear. Lino just got home though, so I gotta dip– DM me if you wanna spar sometime. I think it’ll be fun to punch you.”

“Hey!”

He hangs up, and you’re left sitting in a tree with more questions than you have answers for. Your body aches as you make your way down the tree to head back for dinner, then practice, then sleep, then even more practice, and you wonder if you’ll have time to drive back into the city to try boxing somewhere in between. Probably not.

You get the feeling this won’t be the last of your interactions with Seungmin regardless.

Arms wrap around your waist from behind, suddenly finding yourself pressed back against someone’s firm chest. You look down at his hands, listen for the scuffles of the others’ feet on the dance floor of the practice room and voices talking, then chuck out a guess without turning to look at the mirror.

“Sunwoo?”

“Gotcha.” He pulls you back, out of the room into the sunlight and the refreshingly cool breeze of the woods. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I haven’t been avoiding you. We literally live together!”

“Yeah, that makes it really fucking easy to tell when someone’s avoiding you.”

Have you been avoiding him? It definitely has not been a conscious attempt to do so, but you suppose the urge to avoid his intense gaze has probably resulted in you avoiding him somewhat altogether. You aren’t sure what to tell him.

“I haven’t been trying to avoid you,” you mumble, slumping back into his embrace so he has to practically hold your entire body weight, leaning back on the outside wall of the rec room. “But I guess I’ve been doing it unintentionally. I’m sorry. I’ll stop now.”

“It’s okay,” Sunwoo hums, resting his chin on your head. “You gonna tell me why, or nah?”

“I think you know why,” you mutter, glad for how he holds you from behind so you can stare out at the scenery around you rather than have to meet his eye.

“Humour me.”

“I don’t think I will, Sunwoo,” you sigh, exhausted from this game of cat and mouse you’ve been playing. “There’s just. A lot going on, right now. I’m tired. Stressed and tired.”

He accepts your subject change gracefully, hugging you tighter and humming in agreement. “I could tell. We all are, but you seem to be taking this all the worst after Eric.”

You snort. “Really? So why aren’t you comforting Eric about it, then?”

“You saw how he is. I don’t think he wants comfort from any of us except Kevin until we bring home another win.”

“I really thought this would help him,” you confess, voice small. It makes you ache a little. “It seemed like the perfect idea. Give him a sense of control and respect and trust in us again, focus on our art, kick some ass. I just didn’t expect him to kick ours.”

He chuckles, and you feel it rumble in his chest against your back. Grounding. “Yeah, me neither. That’s why I’m leaving that one to Kevin and coming to you instead.”

“Well, thanks.” You twist around in his arms to give him an appreciative peck to the lips, then immediately twist back around towards the scenery at how just seeing his face up that close again made your heartbeat faster. His presence feels so much more intense since that conversation, which is likely why you ended up being so avoidant.

“Turn around and look at me.”

“Huh?” You do, withholding the urge to visibly gulp at the way he smirks down at you and cups your cheek.

“You’re really cute when you’re too flustered to look me in the eye. Have you been having feeeelings about me?” he teases, his thumb brushing over your bottom lip and fizzling out the last coherent thought you had in your brain.

“It’s– It’s a feeling alright,” you stammer, trying so hard not to shy away from his gaze. “One of them, for sure.”

“Mm, I wonder which one,” he presses further, leaning in to dust kisses along your jawline, stopping at your neck just to breathe over it. “But you don’t even know that for yourself yet, do you?”

You shiver, clutching tightly at his hips. “I– I don’t know. Everything has been so insane lately and I don’t wanna add to all that at such a stressful time for everyone, y’know?”

He pulls back with a sympathetic smile and strokes your hair. “This is the most stressed I’ve seen you in a while. Been waiting for you to ask me or the others to help you do something about it, but you haven’t. Why?”

Perceptive as ever, Sunwoo sees right through you like fucking glass. To a point where it would be almost humiliating if it weren’t exactly what you needed a lot of the time. “Because everyone is tired and sore and needing to be in tip-top shape if we’re gonna endure any more of Eric’s boot camp hell. This is the kind of frustration I’d take out on Wooyoung that’d have him sitting on a bag of frozen peas and calling out of work for the night.”

“Ooh,” Sunwoo chuckles with a smirk, “that frustrated, huh? Well, I don’t enjoy pain that much, but I can fuck the frustration out of you if you want—”

“Tempting as that sounds,” you muse aloud with a click of your tongue, “I don’t wanna put your body through any more stress than Eric already is. You’re not a dancer, you must be sore all over.”

“I am,” Sunwoo confesses, “But I don’t need to exert myself. C’mon, you needa de-stess.”

“Sunwoo…” A smile is already tugging at your lips however, and you both know you don’t have it in you to deny him.

“C’mon.” He has a cheeky grin as he waddles you down the hill with him back towards the lodge, ushering you to his room. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

He’s confident. He always is, never failing to lure you in and get you where he wants. If that happens to be his bed, then in his bed you will be, trapped in his embrace on the edge of the bed, right in front of a full-length mirror. Sunwoo is a bit vain like that, or perhaps just voyeuristic. Probably just voyeuristic, if the way he left the bedroom door wide open is any indicator, but such isn’t uncommon when it’s only the band around. This time, at least, the lodge seems empty.

Sunwoo takes his time kissing along your neck and trailing his hands along your body, under your clothes, and you sigh and lean back against him, letting your eyes flutter shut and focus on the feeling of his plush lips and calloused guitarist’s fingers. There’s no rush. You know he could do this all day, and it has you relaxing into it so much you jolt and gasp when he bites down on your neck just as hard as you like it. The dark chuckle he lets out at your whine is telling; he has you right where he wants you, playing your body like a fiddle.

He turns your head towards him and pulls you into a heated kiss, slow yet eager, savouring every brush of lips and taste of tongue. He kisses you like he has all the time in the world and he wants to spend all of it just feeling you against him, your lips on his lips and your skin under his palms and his hardness against your back when he pulls you closer.

A hand slips down your pants but not past your underwear, simply cupping you there, idly teasing as he proceeds to kiss you, and you find yourself subtly shifting your hips up into his touch for more pressure. You know if you tried to egg him on any further he’d pull away immediately, so your keep your hands firmly planted on his thighs encasing yours, giving them an encouraging squeeze.

“Want more, baby?” he breathes into your ear, the air making you shiver.

“Please.” You don’t have the energy for his teasing, or any of the usual back and forth. You’ve had enough of that lately, and at least with Sunwoo, you don’t feel too embarrassed to beg. “Just touch me.”

“Your wish is my command, prince.”

His hand finally slips into your underwear and touches you where you need him most, gathering your wetness on his fingers and slowly circling your clit. Too slow. It does it’s intended purpose of riling you up, but you don’t need to be even more riled up right now, you need to let off steam—

“Relax,” he murmurs when your hips buck up more into him. “Just focus on feeling all of it, okay? You’re gonna tire yourself out quickly if you’re that eager.” He doesn’t give you a chance to respond, slipping a finger into you and replacing its spot on your clit with his thumb.

“Sunwoo, please,” you beg again, and you see him smirk down at himself in the mirror. That little shit. He’s enjoying your desperation a little too much for someone who claims he just wants you to relax. “I need more.”

“Well, shit,” Sunwoo hisses, slipping a second finger in and finally quickening the pace and pressure of his fingers, your body singing under his onslaught. “When you ask that prettily, how am I supposed to deny you, mm?”

Your head falls onto his shoulder, just in perfect range for him to start sucking on it again, no doubt on his way to leave a very visible mark behind. “Y-You don’t,” you manage to gasp out, and he smirks against your skin.

“Don’t get too used to it, prince. You might find me feeling a lot more cruel another day.”

You want to groan out, I know, but his fingers working their magic don’t let you, and you honestly welcome the way it makes your mind go blank, watching him through the mirror looking so focused and so into making you feel good, completely ignoring himself. Your eyes flutter shut just as you are interrupted by his phone ringing.

“Motherfucker—”

“Shhh.”

He doesn’t remove his hand from between your legs as he uses his other one to grab his phone from his pocket and answer it, lazily drawing circles on you with his thumb while grinning at you in the mirror. You know you’re trapped now, because you can’t quite recognise the muffled voice on the other line, and if it’s someone important, possibly even related to the band, you can’t risk ruining it for him by making a sound.

“Oh? No, I’m not busy,” he lies smugly, making direct eye contact with you while he says it and slipping in another finger. “Why, I didn’t expect you to call so soon. Missing me already?”

Your eyebrows raise at that comment, noticing the flirty lilt in his voice and trying to figure out who the fuck he would be talking to like that. It doesn’t sound like any of your bandmates, giving he wasn’t expecting the call, unless it was maybe Eric? You mouth him the question, but he pointedly ignores you and resumes curling his fingers in you so deliciously you have to bite your lip to stay quiet.

“That’s so pathetic it’s cute,” he giggles, and now you’re even more curious. There’s no way it would be Eric, not in the mood he’s been in, you think he would punch something if anyone tried to call him pathetic right now. “Oh, you poor little thing. I’m out of town right now, so you’re stuck there on your own.” He clicks his tongue at the other person’s reply. “I meant I wasn’t too busy to hear how you’re touching yourself for me and the things you’re thinking about me in explicit detail, so do go on.”

You widen your eyes again, pulse thrumming with the excitement of how dirty it all is, and with Sunwoo’s movements quickening you only hope that whoever’s on the other end of the line can’t hear your breathing quicken with it. Or maybe you hope they do.

He suddenly stops as the other person keeps talking, and next thing you know he’s propping his phone up between his face and shoulder and pulling at your pants. When you start to shimmy them off, he reaches for his own, pulling them down just enough to let his cock spring free, already dribbling precum.

“What am I doing? What do you think I’m doing, cutie? I’m taking my cock out. You sound so fucking delicious for me, baby.”

You don’t need to be told what to do, shifting back to meet him and hovering over his length, earning a hiss from him as he leans back and lets you rub the tip against your entrance. “Yeah? You gonna take me?” he pants into the phone, meeting your eye in the mirror as he says it. You sink down on him all at once and the moan he lets out is a guttural one. “Fuck, good boy.”

You hear a whine on the other end and it’s so tempting to just snatch the phone out of his hand and put it on speaker, let you in on the action too, but it doesn’t take long for him to practically read your mind and do it himself.

“Oh? You want to show me? Let me see your cute little cock then, princess.”

“Fuck,” the voice on the other end whimpers, broken and airy, and it becomes a video call request that he accepts with only audio on his end first. You aren’t sure who you were expecting to see, but when the screen comes up with the same man who you met stumbling out of your apartment last week, leaning back on the bed with cock in hand, ass plugged with a pretty pink gem, and a thin sheen of sweat sticking a few strands of his long, silky hair to his face.

“Mmm, so pretty for me, Jisung-ah,” he coos, voice shaky from how you slowly move up and down on him – or try to, but he stops you with his free hand and gives you a stern look you know is because he wanted you not to do any of the work. “You like showing off for me?”

He nods profusely, fucking his fist and scrambling down to reach for the plug to fuck it into his hole too. “Love it, love your eyes on me, fuck, wanna see you too, please, I bet you look so hot right now hyung…”

As far as you know, the two of them are the same age, and you suppose that’s why the honourific brings such a smug look to Sunwoo’s face. “’Hyung’? Not wanting to be my pretty little princess anymore, hmm?”

Jisung whines again even more needily, the lighting in his room is dim through the closed curtains but just enough evening sunlight peeks through to reflect off the wetness oozing from his tip as he lazily strokes it. “A-Ah, c’mon, please…”

“Please what?”

He shifts around on the bed a bit with his eyes squeezed shut, pulling an arm over his face to hide in his elbow while he mumbles, “Please, oppa.”

“That’s a good little girl,” Sunwoo rasps lowly, the praise making Jisung’s ministrations quicker, and you have to bite your hand to muffle a laugh at the sheer humiliation of it all, and just how easy it was. How perfectly pathetic. “Want me to put on a show for you?”

You know the real question he’s asking and to whom; do you want him to see us like this? You nod at him through the mirror and tap the camera icon for him, pointing the camera ahead so you he could see you both.

“Good thing you caught me at such a good time, then. You have such a good show to enjoy.”

Jisung freezes up, eye blowing wide at where his phone is propped up on something in front of him, and for a second you think he’s going to dive for it to hang up but instead he throws his head back so hard against the headboard you think it would have hurt, gasping and whimpering as he comes all over his fist, hips thrashing wildly and thick ropes of white painting his slutty little muscle tee, even from where it’s pulled up over his abs.

“What the– what the– what the fuck, Sunwoo!” he whines, still frantically jerking his cock and twitching violently at the overstim, burying his cute little face in his arm again, too embarrassed to face you himself but not too embarrassed to cum to it. Or maybe it was the embarrassment that made him cum in the first place. “You– you said you weren’t busy–“

“I never said I was alone, baby. Besides, we weren’t busy. Were we, prince? Just hangin’ out, right?”

“No, not busy. Just relaxing.” You flash a smarmy grin right back at him, grinding down on his cock with an over-exaggerated sigh, throwing your head back onto his shoulder again and spreading your legs to make sure Jisung was getting a nice view. After all, he deserves a treat for the humiliation the two of you just put him through.

“You– You’re a dick,” Jisung pants out, slowly pulling his arm away to pull his boxers back on. “Can’t believe you made me say that in front of him–“

“You love my dick,” Sunwoo sassed him back, passing you the phone so he could grab your hips and take over, pulling you up and thrusting up into you slowly. “Needa split you open on it again. Maybe they can watch. Don’t worry, they didn’t hear our whole conversation, only the video call – I’m sure he’d love to see it for himself instead, though.”

You moan, rubbing yourself as Sunwoo bounces you up and down and trying to keep the camera steady, “Oh, fuck I sure would. Would you be my good little girl, too?”

“You’re both so mean,” he complains again, and you find yourself quite liking the little pout on his face when he does it. He can’t seem to tear his eyes away, however, reaching forward to grab his phone from whatever it was propped up on his bed to get a better look. “Fuck… you look so hot like that though…”

Showing off a little more, you pull yourself off Sunwoo so Jisung could see his cock in all it’s glory, thick and veiny and oh-so-picturesque, and simply rub your pussy against it, both gasping when your clit and his head collide.

“Fuck, hold on,” Sunwoo mutters, reaching down to his luggage on the floor and rummaging for a bit before pulling out a sleek bullet vibe and turning it on, pressing it to your dick and slipping back inside. You both groan, as Sunwoo angles the vibe so he could feel its vibrations against his shaft too, and starts fucking into you with reckless abandon. “Shit, baby, so good–“

“Hah– thought you said you wouldn’t exert yourself– woah, slow down, I can’t keep the camera steady,” you huff, Sunwoo reluctantly obliging and taking the phone away to prop it up on the dresser and change it to the front facing camera towards the bed, pulling you back down with him and bending you over.

“Fuck that,” he growls, all his patience from before melted away with every rough snap of his hips, “I’m gonna fuck all that stress outta you, I’m gonna fuck you into this mattress even if it fucking kills me tomorrow.”

You are reduces to cries instead of words as he does exactly that – frankly you have no idea where all this energy comes from after a long day of dancing, but you figure he won’t have his usual stamina this time – craning your head over your should to peek at his phone on the dresser, where Jisung watches with his lip pulled between his teeth and an obvious shaking from below the screen.

“Let us see,” you gasp out, eyes rolling back into your head as Sunwoo angles his hips just right and makes you see stars, but you force yourself to focus on the screen just enough to see him lift his phone higher and reveal him stroking his cock again, still covered in cum, cutely small in his hand.

“Y-You guys are so fucking hot it’s unfair,” he sighs, body twitching hard enough to shake the camera with every other movement. “Can’t believe you fuck raw too. Do you cum inside? Can I see it? Please, wanna see him dripping, fuck, wish that was me.”

“Yeah? Wish this was you, huh?” Sunwoo pulls you up on your knees with a firm yank on your hair, pulling a moan from you, and you don’t have much of a choice but to let him use you as he wants as he fills you up so fucking good. “Want me to cum in your ass and knock you up, huh? Want me to breed your cute little hole? Ooh, he clenched around me at that, I didn’t know you liked that one, prince.”

You whine a little in embarrassment, but mostly hold it together. “Y-Yeah well, it’s a new one,” you mutter, grasping for anything to ground you as Sunwoo keeps you propped up, but as soon as he lets you back down to lean on the mattress again, the vibe is back between your legs and you whimper.

“Cuuute, see, you’re not the only one who has embarrassing kinks, Jisung, looks like both of you wanna be all knocked up, hm? Want me to put a baby in you, baby?”

“No,” you rasp, ignoring the way his words send a wave of heat down south anyway. “Wanna put a baby in him.” You point towards the camera, and Jisung whines so erotically you think he would do just as well on cam as Hyunjin or San would.

“That’s so fucking hot fuck– please, please, please, breed me, knock me up, both of you, fuck…” He’s fucking the a dildo in his ass now, so frantically it keeps slipping out, “Need you both inside me, fuck, get me pregnant…”

The two of you chuckle at how far gone he is, willing to say all these embarrassing things so openly to the same people he spent so long arguing with the other week, that bitter resentment warped into something else entirely and were you not getting your brains fucked out you would want to ask Sunwoo how the fuck he did it, but he seems intent on not giving you the chance to form a proper sentence.

“Fuck– yes– shit I think I’m gonna–“ your breathing quickens, your core tightens, and one strangled groan from Sunwoo behind you and another few perfectly angled snaps of his hips sends you falling over the edge, the high pulsing through you like electricity.

“That’s it baby, thaaat’s it, fuck you’re so pretty when you cum for me,” Sunwoo mutters, bending over you and tilting your head to steal a kiss as he follows you over, moaning against your lips as he paints your walls white.

Jisung is still panting and fucking himself with his toy while the two of you catch your breath, and the sheer agony on his face is so fucking delightful you find yourself wanting to be so much meaner to him if given the chance.

“No, no, please,” he begs, “don’t stop yet, ahh, I’m close, please.”

He sure seems to love the show, so it’s a good thing you and Sunwoo both love to perform.

“Babe, move with me, lemme get the camera–“

You and Sunwoo both awkwardly shuffle to the edge of the bed where Sunwoo can reach his phone again, taking it off the dresser and flipping the camera back to the front so he can give your little voyeur on the phone a close-up view of where your bodies meet.

“Oh, fuck–“

“Don’t look away for even a second, baby. You don’t wanna miss a second of this.”

Sunwoo slowly pulls himself out, shiny and wet and covered in you, and when you clench down around nothing, he has a perfect shot of his cum dripping from your hole. The sounds Jisung is making on the other end of the line are beyond gone, fucked out and on the brink, and when Sunwoo collects his dripping cum on his fingers and pushes them back inside you, you hear his voice crack.

“Fuck–! Cum- Cumming- fuck…!”

“That’s a good girl.” He puts the phone back in front of you so you both can enjoy the sight of Jisung spilling another load all over his chest, not even touching his cock as he simply milks his prostate with the toy inside him. Sunwoo is even mean enough to take screenshots, and you grin at him, “Send those to me.”

It takes him a long moment to recover from the intensity of his orgasm, chest heaving, covered in sweat and his own mess, but the most dazed smile takes over his features as he covers half his face in disbelief.

“Fuck,” he exhales, picking the camera back up to hover above his face, “You guys are the hottest fucking… most insufferably horrible people I’ve ever met.”

“Yeah?” You raise a brow at him playfully, “Sounds like you like it, though.”

“Yeah, well,” he rolls his eyes, “Unfortunately for me that’s kinda my type. Dick hard one moment, wanting to punch you through a wall the next.”

“Don’t worry, I think Changbin already did the latter part for you!” Sunwoo chips in helpfully, so you elbow him in the shoulder. “See you on the battlefield next time, cutie.”

Jisung snorts, and you see him slipping out of his dick-drunk trance. “Is it really a battle or is it a slaughter?” He catches his tongue between cheekily at that, and you feel heat flare up of a familiarly ambiguous kind.

“We’ll make it a slaughter by the time we’re done with you,” you vow, and Sunwoo has to put a hand on your shoulder to remind you to save it and not get too heated. “You aren’t ready for what we have in store for the next round.”

“More provoking lyrics and slutty outfits? I think I can take it. Yes, innuendo intended, I could and would take you both – now I gotta get cleaned up, so. See ya later.”

It takes a second for you to recover from the whiplash of him bouncing between cocky and confident, and needy and pathetic, back and forth between only a few sentences, but you are quickly starting to understand what Seungmin meant about him. You exchange glances with Sunwoo and shrug.

“Still stressed out?”

“His switch-up at the end wasn’t that good for my stress levels, but I think I’m mostly alright,” you laugh, and Sunwoo laughs with you, then raises a suggestive brow.

“Sit on my face about it?”

“God, you’re the best. I’m gonna suck your soul out your dick about it.”

Eric looks up and all he can see is Felix looking down at him.

He wants to punch a fucking hole in the wall, shatter glass, snap something in half. He does not delude himself into thinking he is not an angry kind of person; he is, and he knows it. Still, lately he finds his nerves have been grated even more than usual, and he’d be a fool to not know why – it’s Felix. Of course it’s Felix. He just didn’t think it’d get him like this.

They broke up on good terms. That’s what he keeps drilling into his own head, over and over like he would forget otherwise. It was a mutual agreement; they weren’t working out. Eric wanted to see Felix a lot more than Felix could see him, and Felix didn’t want Eric to feel like he was constantly being put on the backburner, so they broke up. Figured that it just was the right person, wrong time.

Right person, wrong time.

He keeps telling himself that, over and over, as he goes through the choreography again, and again, and again, long after the rest of the band got sick of his shit and left him in the makeshift studio. He wants to punch the mirror hard enough to shatter it.

Right person, wrong time.

He regrets how much he held onto the possibility that maybe, just maybe, he could wait for him. Maybe there could be a right time, if he was patient. Like a fucking fool, he hoped that it wouldn’t be the last time he held him, kissed him, or touched him again. And it wasn’t – so why does it feel like it only made it worse? Felix was exactly like he remembered, only with more tattoos and piercings, dark hair, a sharper jawline, broader shoulders, and a bit more attitude. But he was still Felix, he was still his Felix, still the Felix who crumbles for someone with lots of confidence, who can’t lie, still the Felix who pokes his tongue in his cheek when he’s riled up, his Felix who’s breath hitches when someone leans in close, who gulps when he’s nervous, who’s voice jumps up in pitch when he gets filled up-

“Missed me that much?”

He keeps playing that night over and over. The song plays again, he twists and turns and jumps and hits, but all he can see is Felix and you all over him. He missed him. He missed him so fucking badly, when he really did think he had moved on. He has you now, he has the band, and that was more than enough for him – he even stopped dating because whatever it is you guys have going on was always just so much better. Hell, even if Felix came crawling back to him on his hands and knees to apologise and asked to get back together again, Eric doesn’t even think he would say yes. Not if it meant giving up what you guys have.

He still fucking misses him.

The choreography is intense. He pops, locks, perfects his body line, practices his flip, lands on one knee just a bit too wobbly for comfort; but while the music still plays, the energetic and intense trap beat Kevin made just for him, he doesn’t get back up. He falls forward, hands on the polished wooden floors, and cringes as it comes back wet – it’s only then when he realises he’s crying. He’s crying onto the floor of his dance studio while his kick-ass battle song plays and he just feels so fucking pathetic, because why is he even crying over this? Why is he crying over someone who was never truly his? Why is he even crying over someone who didn’t even really wrong him?

Not until now, at least. Not in their relationship. Unless the reason he was so busy back then was because he was making another dance crew with his other friends and he decided he would rather give up Force and Eric along with it, like Eric suspects, when if he wanted to sing and rap that badly he knows Eric would have let him join the runaways. He’d even fit with their namesake too, having ditched his family home in the middle of the night as soon as he turned eighteen; he knew Eric would have loved to have him here.

But of course, he was too busy. Not too busy for Stray Kids, just too busy for Force, and too busy for him. As they always were. As everyone always fucking is. History has a habit of repeating itself until you learn your lesson but he just does not understand the lesson needing to be learnt – what does he need to do to make them stay? What does he need to do to be someone’s first priority, to not be constantly brushed aside? What does he need to do to be worthy of the kind of intense devotion he gives everyone he cares about? Eric supposes that was always his weakness; loving more than he was ever loved back. Everyone would love him, but not nearly as much as he loved them, when push came to shove. Everyone except you and the band.

What he just doesn’t get, is why you guys just can’t get that. You seemed to understand enough that coming to participate in a band contest as a glorified dance crew – a dance crew, like the one he left – with his cool new friends when he knew how important the competition was to you guys, was a cold fucking move at worst and a nonsensical one at best. They insulted you, punched you in the fucking face, insulted your work, and you just go and suck their dicks about it? Go and suck Felix’s dick about it? You know what he means to him. You know he isn’t over him. But it seems like just about fucking everybody is willing to bend over backwards for the golden boy and his pretty freckles and award-winning smile that Eric fell for so long ago.

“Fuck. Fucking fuck!”

Eric knows exactly why you like him so much. He knows because he still fucking likes him. He knows because when he smirks at you like that, and he still wants to kiss him too. He still remembers how soft his lips are, and that they taste like caramel because he’s always drinking those sickeningly sweet excuses for coffees that might as well be milkshakes. But he just can’t do it. He can’t just kiss him like they’re still in love when he is coming and taking over everything that was ever fucking important to him. Everything he still cares about. Dance, music, you, his friends. But it doesn’t include him anymore, it never was fucking about him. Not anymore, it’s never about him anymore. Even now, at his family’s holiday house, leading his supposed dance boot camp, the rest of you are in the lodge playing board games without him because you said you needed a break and he’s been pushing you too hard.

If he can keep going, why can’t you? Why is he the only one taking this seriously? What happened to trusting him? You said you let him lead this week so he can see that you trust and value his input, but you guys just aren’t listening.

More than anything, he just wants to go home. He’s tired, mentally and physically, and he just wants things to go back to the way things were before the battle. Home, not the apartment, but in a cuddle puddle with the six of you when none of you are mad at each other, staring at the ceiling while the starry sky projector you bought lights up the room with colour.

But he knows better than to think you will agree to back out now. Hell, as much as he wants to, he wouldn’t let you, either; the controversy has put both you and your rival band in the spotlight like never before, and if you all want to achieve your dreams of being able to do music as a career and tour the world, you need this. He needs this. He’ll be damned if his shady ex-boyfriend gets in the way of that.

No more distractions, he decides, getting up and wiping away his tears. One more time, from the top.

“Eric?”

When he looks toward the doorway and sees the solemn expression Kevin gives him, holding a plate of freshly cooked food in hand, he feels whatever wall he just built up come crumbling down instantly. “Kevin…”

Kevin must be able to tell that he was just crying, because he sets down tonight’s meal on the pool table pushed aside to make room, and sweeps Eric into a crushing hug, which, for Kevin, isn’t the most common of gestures. Eric hugs him back and buries his face in his neck, not wanting to look at him. Not wanting to say anything. Not even wanting to hear anything. Kevin speaks anyway.

“We’re all really worried about you, y’know?”

“Not really,” Eric sniffles, and he hates how pathetic it sounds. “No one’s listening to me.”

Kevin tuts and pulls back slightly to frown at him, but Eric doesn’t look up. He can’t bear to meet his eyes. “Eric, we’re not listening because you’re being unreasonable. The week’s deadline doesn’t suddenly give our bodies any more endurance than they already have. We’re not all built like you!”

“I’m sick of fighting, Kev,” Eric sighs, and Kevin runs a hand through his hair soothingly.

“Then don’t fight. How about we go eat and head to bed early? It’s been a long day.”

Eric wants to argue again, despite just saying he is sick of arguing. He does not want to be coddled like an angry toddler throwing a tantrum, but that’s exactly how he feels; unheard, begrudgingly comforted just so he can calm down and go back to normal. He thinks he wants things to go back to normal more than the rest of you combined. Normal, back when it didn’t feel like all his bandmates were looking so far down at him like everyone else.

He bites his tongue and redirects it.

“How about I eat you instead? To de-stress, of course.”

Please let me have this, Eric pleads silently, hidden poorly behind a weak smirk. He grabs Kevin’s hips and starts tugging him towards the couch pushed up to the side of the room. Let me have you, let me feel you.

Kevin sees his request for what it is; a plea for intimacy, more than sex. A plea for trust, connection.

He sees it for what it is, and with a small sigh, grabs his face and connects their lips.

By the time you and Sunwoo finish cleaning up and re-gaining the feeling in your legs, a bonfire is crackling outside, while Wooyoung and Mingi are manning a fragrant barbecue. Eric being there is a welcome sight – just the fact that he is no longer cooping himself up inside the practice room or his room is already promising, but him being around the rest of the band willingly is even better. You turn to smile at Sunwoo and he’s already smiling back at you – he’s probably thinking the same thing.

“Well look who finally–“ You are cut off by Sunwoo stepping past you and shoving you roughly in the side to sit down next to Eric on a log and clap a hand on his shoulder.

“Glad to see you back, bro.”

Eric smiles.

You can’t even complain at the shove as it was completely called for; Sunwoo is right, what Eric needs now is probably not your usual attitude and instead more gentle appreciation, so you follow his lead and sit on his other side, giving him a peck on the cheek.

“Sorry. Missed you.”

He doesn’t seem to need the clarification on what you meant, giving that you have been seeing each other most of every day the whole week, but he returns your peck with a quiet thanks and goes back to staring into the dancing flames.

You have half the mind to leave him alone, since he clearly does not feel like talking, but you figured that if he really wanted to be left alone, he would be in his room or the makeshift studio again, so his decision to be here around you all was deliberate. So you stay next to him, pressed shoulder to shoulder just to give him that grounding point of contact – you’re there. You’re with him, next to him. If he wants to speak, he can, but if he doesn’t, you’ll still be there anyway.

He leans his head on your shoulder, and you feel your heart soar. He’s leaning on you. Both figuratively and literally, he’s leaning on you, he’s allowing himself to be soft with you even if he might still be mad at you. You wrap an arm around his shoulders and press another kiss to the top of his head, to let him know you heard him, even if he didn’t say anything. You hear him.

Sunwoo gets up to grab his food when Wooyoung calls that dinner’s ready, but Eric doesn’t move, and you won’t either until he does, but you give his shoulder a little squeeze.

“You gonna eat anything?”

“Not hungry.”

“Eric…”

“I’ll eat later, I promise,” he insists, taking your free hand in his and playing with it gently, intertwining your fingers. “Just… not right now.”

“Okay,” you say slowly, not wanting to find any more reasons to disagree with him for now. “What do you want to do right now, then?”

He has to think about it, still playing with your hands as he does, and it’s cute how it seems to soothe him somewhat. “I want… to talk this out, or whatever. I’m tired of being angry. I just. Don’t really know how to start.”

You look over his shoulder to gesture to the others to come in, and you all find yourselves seated on the log by the bonfire or the dirt in front of it, not wanting to be any further from Eric than necessary. “Start wherever you feel like, baby. We’re listening.”

He sighs, then tries to gather the words to start, then sighs again even louder. He lets go of your hand to drop his head into his own.

“I don’t know. I’m just, I’m tired, I’m upset, I miss Felix, I don’t want to miss Felix, I’m angry at him for doing this to me, I’m angry that you’re taking such an interest in him, I’m scared of being replaced, and I feel so fucking inferior about everything I ever had any confidence in and I just want it all to stop.”

“Okay, that’s a good start,” you encourage him, stroking his back rhythmically while he let it all out. “I had a feeling it was something along those lines.”

“It’s alright to be scared and angry,” Mingi pipes up helpfully, leaning over to give Eric a reassuring head pat.

“Felix did do you pretty dirty,” Wooyoung adds, to which the others nod.

Eric sighs again, running his hands through his hair. “I’m scared,” he repeats. “I’m scared we’ll lose. And I don’t know how I’ll handle that if we do. Because that’d be… feels almost fucking symbolic, in a way, of him just. Ruining everything I worked towards. That’s why I keep drilling you guys and being even more of a perfectionist than usual and – god, they’re fucking perfect. They’re incredible performers. I still don’t think their act should be allowed as a band but they’re so fucking good at what they do I can’t help but think we can’t really compete.”

“But we can!” San chimes in, shifting closer to make sure Eric is looking at him. “Prior to this week I didn’t even know how to dance beyond a few TikTok challenges, now I’m doing choreography you made for a dance crew! Half of you guys are practically professionals, and this might be one of the best songs Kevin’s produced yet, and the lyrics–“

“Have some more faith in us,” you interrupt, a little too enthusiastic, “we’re fucking good at what we do, too. We won last year for a reason, remember? This stage is absolutely gonna blow their socks off.”

“It’s not you guys I’m really worried about,” Eric admits quietly, still refusing to look any of you in the eye. He doesn’t need to. You already see his real feelings written all over him.

“You’re worried you might fuck up the whole thing.”

His silence is the only confirmation you need.

“Oh, Eric.” You pull him in for a tighter hug, which everyone else joins in until you are all awkwardly hunched over on the log and almost fall over, making you all giggle. “You’re not going to fuck up anything, okay? You’re going to be the star of the show.”

“I don’t know… I don’t think my choreography can match theirs. I’m mostly trained in hip-hop, but Hyunjin adds a contemporary twist to theirs, and Lino has such insane body control and–“

“And you have a swagger onstage that they could only dream of,” Kevin finishes, leaning over to put a finger to Eric’s lips, and he finally looks up from the ground to meet him. “Do you really think band judges are going to be looking for mixtures of dance genres and technical precision? They’re here for the music and they’re here for the spectacle. I’m pretty sure the reason why Stray Kids are getting as far as they are, is more to do with their production quality, live vocals, and stage presence. Are you really gonna doubt us on those fronts? This isn’t a dance tournament.”

Eric doesn’t have a response for that, playing with his own hands as he processes it all, so you take one into your own so he could go back to fidgeting with yours if he so desired.

“You’re right, I can’t doubt your guys’ songs and vocals like that. That wouldn’t be fair. Suppose it also wasn’t fair how hard I pushed your bodies, too.”

“Or your own,” Wooyoung reminds him, getting up to grab a now-cool plate of food to bring back to him and plop it in his lap. “You don’t need to be so hard on yourself, either. Whether or not we win the next round, which I have in good confidence that we will, we are still incredible fucking performers. Stray cats can’t take that from us. It’s not like we can really lose – everyone else in the competition has been an absolute non-event, dude. No one’s talking about them. We’re basically guaranteed second place at the very least, and that’s still a win.”

Eric pokes at the meat on his plate with his fork, trying to muster up the appetite. “I don’t want to be second place to anyone. Not anymore.”

You realise what he really means by that, and he doesn’t mean the competition at all. It was never about the battle, it was about the war – the ongoing war raging in his head of his own self-worth and the way his past threatens it. How he can never be certain that he won’t have to fight for his right to exist, his right to be loved – and you get it. You really do. So deeply, even, that you have bonded over it in the past, and that is exactly how you know that he will stick by you till the bitter end, and you just wish he could feel the same. You sigh and massage the back of his neck.

“Eric, sweetheart, you could never be replaced. Not by Felix, not by the homeless children, not by anyone. We wouldn’t be here right now if you could!”

He seems to only shrink in size as he curls up and munches on his food. “Why are you so obsessed with Felix, then?”

He turns to you.

“Obsessed? With Felix?” It strikes you as a little odd. “What do you mean obsessed with him? He hurt you, Eric. I can’t forgive him for that. You know how ride or die I am for the people I care about and the six of you are at the absolute top of that list. I’m fucking around with him because I want him to feel as small and pathetic as he’s made you feel, and I want it to fucking haunt him how he can’t help but think of it when it’s just him and his right hand. I want to drive him insane until he realises he fumbled the best thing to ever happen to him.”

“And Chan? You seem awfully interested in him too. And how interested he is in Felix.”

You are not sure whether to feel hurt or understanding at Eric’s accusations. You know he’s insecure and you know he needs your reassurance, but you don’t like the way he’s painting you in this whole situation. “Chan has a weak spot for Felix and it’s so easy to prey on. Why wouldn’t I? He’s the core of their group. He calls the shots and it seems like to some degree, everyone relies on him. You destabilise him, you destabilise all of them. Besides, we just have beef from leader to leader, creative to creative. I know we got invested in this whole rivalry for your sake at first, Eric, but it’s gotten pretty personal now. That doesn’t mean we’re moving past you now. It means we’re all taking them on together.”

“You make the battle of the bands sound like some huge psyop mission,” Kevin snorts, finishing off his plate. “We should just not worry about them and focus on making our performance the best we can be. I’m sure Chan and Felix and all of them will leave us alone if we just leave them be.”

“No way!”

You, Eric, Wooyoung, and Sunwoo, all pipe up at the same time, looking at Kevin incredulously.

“I don’t want to leave them alone, I want them to wish they could be us so bad,” Wooyoung huffs, crossing his arms. “C’mon, even you enjoyed putting Jupiter in their places last year. It’s fun to stick it to some bitches who deserve it!”

Kevin goes quiet, then waves his arm dismissively. “Yeah alright, whatever. Have your fun with it then, I guess.”

“Maybe I need to be having more fun with it,” Eric chuckles, poking at his dinner some more. “I mean, tag teaming him at the Prism was pretty fun. I guess I just got… really into my own head about it.”

“Attaboy,” you cheer, giving him an encouraging slap on the back, “that’s the spirit! Obviously you don’t have to fuck around with them if you don’t want to. But y’know. You can always annoy them more.”

“I think I’d rather fuck you in front of them and have them watch,” Eric throws out casually, making your eyebrows shoot up and your still aching core throb. “That’d be pretty hot. Wonder if they’d agree to it, though.”

You shrug. “I dunno Eric, we can be pretty damn convincing, I think. Maybe we should invite them to our dressing room next round. Or something. We’ll work it out. But before we get to any more plotting and scheming… how do you feel? Are you like… okay? Or at least better?”

“Better,” he nods, and you feel reassured in that he didn’t have to stop to think about it. “I don’t know. I know I was projecting my own insecurities onto you guys. And I know I was pushing you guys too far. I just needed to feel… like I held any weight here. Like I was still important to you guys.”

“Of course you’re still important to us,” Mingi breathes out, visibly saddened at the thought that Eric even had to doubt it. “I’m sorry you couldn’t feel it enough.”

“I do now, at least.” He cracks a small smile, and exchanges a knowing look with Kevin that makes you think Sunwoo was onto something when he said he’d let the keyboardist handle him. “I know that was the point of this entire trip. And I’m sorry all I used it for was to try and find ways to prove that you guys didn’t care as much as I did. I’ll stop projecting. At least, I’ll try.”

“That’s all we can ask for, Eric,” San reminds him, getting up to give him another hug. Sunwoo has to stabilise his plate so it doesn’t get shoved off his lap. “You can tell us if you’re feeling bad or insecure about things, y’know? Just please don’t get angry with us. You know we can talk things out calmly and you’re scary when you yell.”

Eric laughs at the audible pout in San’s voice without needing to see it over his shoulder. He pats him on the back affectionately. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll try not to. I’m sorry again. We can take tomorrow off, I think. Enjoy the holiday house while we’re here, spend the day by the lake, maybe. It’ll be fun.”

“Sounds like exactly what we all need!” Kevin agrees, clapping his hands together. “I unironically think that our practice will be even better if we don’t practice for a day. Let our bodies catch up with it all.”

“For sure,” Wooyoung agrees, “it’s always like that. In the meantime, I think we should all take turns schlobbing your knob for being such a great dance teacher.”

That makes everyone burst out laughing, but Wooyoung simply doubles down. “What? I mean it! I’ll give you the sloppiest toppy bro, the Gluck Gluck Triple Twist–“

“I get it, I get it,” Eric howls, trying to recover from the sudden humorous outburst. “God, that gave me whiplash. Yeah, sure, if you’re offering, I won’t say no.”

“It’s whatever you want, Eric,” you tell him, leaning on his shoulder this time, “after all, this is still meant to be your trip.”

The smallest but most genuine of smiles pulls at the corners of his lips, and he presses them to your crown appreciatively. “Thanks. All of you. You guys… mean a lot to me.”

Sunwoo notices the tears glistening on his cheeks before you do, and instantly leans in to kiss them off, and before you know it, everyone is swarming him to try and express their own forms of affection to a point that’s downright comical in it’s impracticality, knocking him off the log in your onslaught of touch and kisses.

“Ahaha, alright, alright! I get it, you guys too– ahahaha, fuckin hell, you guys are too much.”

Once again you hear what he really says, and it’s loud and clear;

I love you all so much.

a/n: i feel like the apologies for the wait get more and more ironic the longer i go between updates, but i really am sorry! 2023 was a year of all time for me and i was just speedrunning life events but it's okay i think im normal now. ish. im writing again at least! i slaved over this chapter for MONTHS because i kept changing it and hating parts of it no matter what i did so i just sat down and finished it and decided i would not proofread or reread at all and just go with whatever i come up with so i can finally get this chapter DONE or else it might have just sat in my wips rotting for another year. so apologies if you notice the dip in quality, but hopefully you wont LMFAOOoo

anyway the questionnaire is still open and even more relevant than ever so any responses are so so so appreciated and help me write future chapters! feel free to fill it out more than once if you have already a while back. LMFAO. anyway. enjoy! happy new year! jskdgfkskdh

[ma1dmer]

League of Legends - Renata NSFW

try not to say mommy challenge

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex): she'll pull out a cigar or a glass of wine and run sharp claws through your hair, humming about what a good pup you were for her, if you need anything she'll order her assistant to bring you anything and everything you want.

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s): it's definitely her powerful arm, she'll use her claws to press your mouth open or yank your head around where she most needs it. on you its the plusher parts of your body, stomach, arms, thighs, anything where she can dig her nails in and leave a mark or two.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person): she hates getting dirty but she definitely loves getting you dirty, she'll scruff you and push your face to any place you've 'dirtied up' so you can clean it with your tongue, even if its the floor.

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs): she has definitely thought of using you as a sort of ,product tester for some of her more, risque products. opening your mouth and sliding a pill across your tongue and down your throat, until she feels it close up around her fingers, or pushing a vial of some liquid past your lips, guiding your head back so she can watch you swallow readily. would you let her do that to you, do you trust her that much? she is a woman that values loyalty after all, what better way to show her your undying loyalty.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?): she won't tell you how much experience she has of course, but her confidence and knowledge answers for her.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual): anything with you on your knees where she can be above you in a position of power. she especially loves having you tied up kissing her shoes or grinding against her leg.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc): she can definitely joke around ,but it's usually jokes to make herself chuckle rather than expect you to laugh. it’d be cruel to expect you to laugh especially when you are gagged.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.): she gets the best of the best on hair removal but always leaves out a small patch for aesthetic purposes.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…): definitely not the romantic kind , sex for her is strictly about getting and giving pleasure, she'll call you endearing names, but in a more teasing lilt, princess, pup, kitten, darling as she wipes tears off of your eyes from how hard she is choking you.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon): she has you for that, but wouldn't mind having you masturbate for her, show her what you do when you think of her when she is away.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks): pet play, bondage, exhibitionism etc

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do): she'll buy out an entire restaurant for a night purely to fuck you there ,she'll have the best food, the best wine, the best staff ,let you enjoy some of the finest things high class living in Zaun offers and then fuck you on the table. she also absolutely loves bringing you to her office, and if you are comfortable, wants to show you off to some of her business partners, have you sit prettily next to her during a meeting as she stares them down, eyes dark as her hand scratches behind your ear, her most prized possession.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going): using the stuff she gets for you, wether its her company’s stuff, or the gifts she sends your way, she wants to see you carry her name around.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs): share! you are her property and if she could brand you with her name to show everyone she absolutely would. put a big, property of renata glasc enterprises on your back for everyone to see.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc): loves receiving, will sit back and grind against your mouth getting frustrated when you pull back for air or click her tongue while muttering 'bad dog' if you fail to please her.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.): she is definitely more on the rough side, but the speed depends on how much time she can afford that day.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.): not really fond of them because she hates the possibility of being interrupted, if you two are interrupted whoever has interrupted you is getting fired or shot and then her mood sours for the entire day.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.): she loves when you bring ideas to her for you two to try out, she'll praise you and then do her research, so she has everything prepared for the proper experience. she personally knows what she likes and doesn’t like, but she is fine with helping you try out new things.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…): she'll stick to a round or two but will drag them out long enough to make you beg her to stop.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?): she makes everything you'll ask of her, every plug, every vibrator, every collar has her name and signature on it.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease): she is horrible, she'll pat her lap and have you grind on her thigh or the heel of her shoe while ignoring you for hours before she finally relents and helps you, but if she is feeling particularly cruel she sends you off to wait for her to finish work.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make): she is not quiet, she grunts and groans letting you know exactly how much she is enjoying her time with you.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice): she definitely likes to be called daddy //this is the one point i am not elaborating on.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words):

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?): she is an absolute master of her body and needs , probably schedules when she'll wreck you.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards): business never ends for the chem baroness so she won't sleep right away, however she is more than willing to have you asleep next to her while finishing her work //especially in a dog bed, with your head on her lap-

[yrotic11]

A redditor asked:

VIRGO VENUS

Virgo Venus/6th house Venus too(as it’s also considered a place of detriment for Venus) , it’s an endearing placement to have in our real world in my opinion. When healthy, these people stand on their boundaries, they recognize more than most, the world is a dirty place when it comes to the love hemisphere but if they’re not careful can turn into them being picky and micromanaging , they do it out of love but they may not be able to see how suffocating it may feel to the receiving end of the party.

Because of their painful understanding of the world we live in they are not wooed by mere romantic sweet words of nothingness. These people want to see action be put in. Promises being valued, respected and held* up to. It’s an earth sign energy after all that also rules the day to day life.

They value CONSISTENCY. and they can get real groggy with you if they witness you not making an earnest effort because often this Venus takes on the role of giving and caring not just spiritually but physically. These type of virgoean Venus’ practice what they preach so the things they require in their relationship they so gladly will do for you no questions asked. Taking on the burdens of everyday life for you so your existence on earth for the days you are with them feels just a little sweeter. It’s on the axis of Pisces/12th house so there’s bound to be some self sacrificing element here.

The less mature ones might be stingy in their love sharing because of fear of being taken advantage of as this is often a reoccurring theme for this placement. Virgoean type of self sacrificing is far more unstabling tho, as it’s completely in the realms of the mundane.

Because of their style of sacrifice and then the harsh reality of the world around us, they’re forced to create boundaries for themselves which makes their standards high and often their rosters small because no one seems to quite live up to their wants and needs.

This can cause them to turn to superficiality because they’re human and still yearn for affection ,,and it hurts. they can see that others view them as too needy so to cope with this they may in-fact start doing the opposite instead of looking for internal character development in a partner , they focus entirely on physical appearance.

I see it more with men having their Venus in Virgo ,though. And they’re miserable yet, can seem to be honest enough with themselves to acknowledge what the real problem is😭some of the men might have strange obsessions with purity and might even perpetuate purity culture ideation unless Lilith is there or something which can either make it completely worse or pipe it down a good bit.

When/if they become completely tired of their back and forth with sacrifice they may just give up and just give the love they crave to themselves and allow it to overflow first from themselves, and let it overflow to you or whoever is receiving them.

OR they can be a miserable piece a pooh, making others miserable and traumatized in the process. However, eventually some may even completely reject the idea of dating or getting married to protect their peace this is often the more healed party, they don’t wanna participate/continue in perpetuations of manipulation that comes with the dating scene so they just remove themselves and watch from a distance. In the flesh they’re often a blessing gone sourly unrecognized. they want to work to accomplish your needs, they yearn for that in return; they don’t get it. Sad love story, very misunderstood set of people.

Also in relationships the people receiving the Virgo/6h Venus might not even be able to see their love language style/or even care to learn this Venus’s love style because the love they give does not include/ or care for the games and the dance of love interlock manipulation. Their love is a simple and a scornfully real type of love. So intertwined with the normalities of the mundane that..it goes unnoticed. That’s my own personal perspective what I’ve seen and witnessed.

[injaws]

simone kessell, fifty-two, she/her   ⟡   —   is that CIRCE NGATA-LANDRY i just saw walking around kilmer’s cove? i heard they’re a RESIDENT who’s been here for THIRTY YEARS. it slipped my mind, since they just tend to hang out at DELPHI'S DELIGHT. at face value, they’re said to be WARM and LEVEL-HEADED, but i don’t know… some people have said they can be quite SNEAKY and SECRETIVE. just don’t get on their bad side, i guess! don’t tell them i told you this, but i’ve heard they DO NOT believe in all the ghost stories around town. who knows what the future holds for them! 

BASICS:

full name: circe arielle ngata-landry nickname(s): none referencing her actual name, though “ari” was common as a child  age: fifty-two  gender: cis woman pronouns: she/her  sexuality: pansexual & panromantic date & place of birth: april 23rd in miami, florida  occupation: owner & false oracle at delphi's delight spirituality shop  faceclaim:  simone kessell notable characteristics: long, dark tendrils of hair flowing down to her lower back, typically kept down or in a long braid; features weathered by years of laughter & smiling; kind eyes, a simmering fire beneath the surface; a knowing smile that has you questioning if maybe she is a psychic, though you don't know what she knows traits: warm, level-headed, sneaky, secretive, lonely, wistful, quick-witted, adaptable similar to: joni thrombey, gillian owens, donna sheridan, jean grey, mary jane watson, senshi (dungeon meshi)  aesthetics: incense smoke filling a room; lavender crushed up under a pestle; prayer rice for any type of manifestation; tall candles, wax melting down the sides; long, billowing skirts & billowing shawls to match; coffee at 10 pm, tea at 8 am 

BULLET POINTS — TW FOR EMOTIONAL NEGLECT, INFERTILITY, & SPOUSAL DEATH

– circe doesn't think of her life before raymond, and by extension, before kilmer. it exists in a fog she's too far removed from to find a path back to – with that being said, circe had a fairly normal childhood (or so she'd tell you). emotionally neglectful parents who soothed wounds with gifts, & her nanny as her best friend. dinner was eaten alone, at a very long table designed for twelve and housing one. made for a family. – she's generally aimless, but circe is smart, she knows what she has to do; she goes to college for a business degree so she can maybe make something of herself. she meets raymond landry, delightfully charming nd quirky in a way that endears her greatly. – they have a whirlwind romance their senior year of college, & circe receives a ring at the same time she receives her diploma. – the affection she'd so greatly craved is given to her tenfold, and not just from raymond himself, but his family. family, it seems, is essential to the landrys; it makes circe uncomfortable at first, until the child begging to be loved rears her ugly head once again. – raymond asks her to move back to kilmer with him and she doesn't hesitate in saying yes. while kooky, the landry's fill the very long table, and circe's life is full of happiness, laughter, & a healthy dose of odd. – she starts her own shop soon after; though having little interest in what most business actually entails, circe misses her nanny, veronica. vero, a beautiful woman with gray hair and eyes as dark as coal, taught circe about the occult; about crystals, about cleansing, about the spiritual. circe finds immense comfort in this, and she decides to surround herself with it forever (and share it with the world, if all goes well) – she doesn't even offer readings or fortunes at first, in her defense. she intends to stick to what she does believe in, but money was tight and demand was low. she has to really think … she's parked right next to an oddities museum, so, hey, why not make the most of it? – circe begins offering her oracle services to unassuming tourists, of which kilmer has more than enough of throughout the year. she can put on a persona to keep her store, to keep vero. plus … ah, she'd be lying if she said it wasn't fun. – throughout this all, circe and raymond are trying for a family. circe can think of very little she'd love more than one of her own, a child she could ensure was loved and knew they were loved. – years pass and circe worries; she's twenty six when the doctor tells her she can't conceive naturally, and her and raymond are looking into adoption agencies that afternoon, an effort to pivot from the grief wracked throughout them – luckily, they find the light of their life, a baby as sweet as a little peach. for many, many years, circe gets her happy family, and the little girl inside of her remains content. – raymond dies and circe feels she may follow him on behalf of her own broken heart soon after. their child, though now an adult, and the rest of the landry's remain the sole reason she is here today. several months had her practically bedridden, staring out the window for hours at a time. one could say she was little more than a spirit, unable to pass on from the life she'd had before. this was also when she decided to move back into the landry household, the support system she'd built there much needed. – now a days, she's better. she has her family. circe feels like her life may slowly be starting to piece itself together again, and that's really all she can ask for.

HEADCANONS:

– it is important to note that circe is in fact scamming tourists. her fortunes are fake, she does not know what is going to happen in your life, and frankly, she thinks that if you still believe her even after filling out a pre-meeting interview, you deserve to be scammed out of your money anyway. - it's widely known among anyone who has been to kilmer for longer than a weekend vacation that the fortunes are fake. again -- if you fall for it, it's your business! – that being said, she truly does enjoy the spiritual, the occult, and all things related. scamming was purely a way to draw more traffic to the store, though she does think it's kind of funny. – circe doesn't believe in the ghost stories around kilmer; the jury is still out on whether she believes in ghosts themselves or not ( she does, in some way. she thinks that energy cannot be destroyed, and so there must be some purpose we have after death. however, she's a scammer, and so she tends to be pessimistic about the intentions of these “ghost stories” anyway – loves trash tv. avid real housewives watcher – fiercely protective of her loved ones, does not play about those she holds dear to her heart. mama bear instincts on 100 – some old habits die hard; her love language is gift giving, & she has the tendency to shower those she loves in gifts (where is the money coming from? well, she's an heiress to something! but she left that life behind after all) - hates cooking in an almost laughable way. spends way too much on takeout – kind of an ipad baby. OBSESSED with the sims app she has on her phone. someone take it away from her????

WANTED CONNECTIONS

– guh. check back l8r

[mirisss]

No Reason to Worry

Pairing: None idol!Yoon Jeonghan x afab! reader

Wordcount ≈ 1.5k

Warnings: jealousy, sexual innuendo, minors dni, a guy who can’t take a no, 

Summary: Yoon Jeonghan knows he is a good-looking guy and that his girlfriend is in love with him, but even he can end up feeling jealous

Please reblog!

Jeonghan’s POV

(Y/n) and I were getting ready to go to Seungcheol’s birthday party. I was just about done and was now sitting on the bed waiting for (Y/n), I was excited to celebrate my best friend’s birthday but at the same time, I didn’t have too much energy and would have preferred to just stay in and watch a movie while cuddling had it been any other day. “Hannie, did I leave my earring on the counter in there? I can only find one here,” “Uh, I don’t know but I’ll check,” I walked over to the counter and as expected, (Y/n)’s earring lay there right where she had put it before going into the bathroom. I picked it up and walked into the bathroom, as I walked in and laid my eyes on (Y/n) I gulped. “Holy shit, babe, honey, love, you look amazing! When did you buy this dress? And how come you’re wearing it for Seungcheol?” “Jeonghan!” She turned to me with a playful glare and also gave me a playful weak push on my chest as we both laughed. “I meant what I said though, you look so good, oh, and also, I found your earring, here,” “Thanks, honey, you don’t look too bad yourself. Wearing your shirt so open for Seungcheol, or maybe for Shua?” “Of course, I have it so unbuttoned for Joshua, and Seungcheol, I have to remind them that I’m incredibly hot,” “Ahh, yes, of course,” We both burst out into laughter. I loved this about our relationship, we have been dating for a long time and we’re never awkward with each other, we always have a lot of fun and act like we’re best friends most of the time. We have many inside jokes, it’s amazing. “The taxi will be here any minute, you almost done?” “Yeah, the earring was the last piece of the puzzle so I’m ready,” “You sure?” “What? Why? Have I forgotten something?” “Yeah, your lipstick is a little messy,” “Huh?!? No it isn’t?” (Y/n) quickly turned to look in the mirror before she looked quizzically at me, as she turned back to me I quickly moved closer and kissed her. As I pulled away I gave her a wink. “It is now,” “Yoon Jeonghan! You damn devil,” “You love me and my devilishness,” “I do, I really do. Huh, who knew you would look better in my lipstick than me?” I just chuckled before taking a makeup wipe and wiping my lips to remove the lipstick. 

Soon we found ourselves outside the venue where Seungcheol was having his party, the music was blasting so high we heard it from 3 blocks away, the venue was overflowing with people, the stank of alcohol mixed with sweat was very potent in the air, and lights were blinking every color you could imagine. “Let’s go!” (Y/n) was very excited, we haven’t seen the boys in quite a while, having been too busy with our jobs and everything. We walked in and tried to find some of our friends, which took a while because Seungcheol invited every person on Earth or something like that. After around 30 minutes we managed to find Seungcheol, Hoshi, Joshua, Dino, Jun, and Minghao. “Happy birthday CHEOL!” “Thank you, (Y/n)! Yoo girl you’re looking so good, damn that dress is fire!” “Thanks, Cheollie, though I should really thank Minghao, he was the one who said I should buy it when we were out shopping a few months ago,” “I got an eye for fashion, what can I say, I’m a fashion god,” Now, most people would probably think I would get jealous because Seungcheol complimented my girlfriend and Minghao went shopping with her, but here’s the thing, I’m not, I know (Y/n) is looking super good right now, and she often goes shopping with Hao because she values his advice when it comes to fashion, they’re like siblings though. I have no reason to worry, also I trust her, I know she loves me and I love her. We stayed there chatting for a while before (Y/n) said she was gonna go and try to find some of her girlfriends to say hi. 

About an hour and a half later I decide to try and find (Y/n) again to see if she’s eaten anything yet or if she wants to hit the buffet with me. It took a while but eventually, I found (Y/n) sitting on a bench talking with some guy, which usually doesn’t bother me but this dude was sitting very close to her and he was flirting like crazy. (Y/n) didn’t seem to notice though as she was talking about a trip she and I went on last year. “Hey, you’re really pretty, wanna get out of here and do something fun?” “What? Uh, no” “Why not? I’m hot and really good in bed, I can promise you that you would be satisfied,” I heard (Y/n) let out a sigh before she answered him. “Mmm, really? You can guarantee it?” I couldn’t believe it, was she considering it? It didn’t seem like her. “Of course, I can already guess what you like,” “Really?” (Y/n) crept a little closer to the guy, almost like she was about to kiss him. “Then, you know exactly what I want right now?” The guy leaned closer too, staring at her lips. “Yeah I do,” He seemed very confident. (Y/n) put one hand on his cheek before smirking. “Then, how come you’re still here? Leave me alone, I said no, accept it and fuck off,” She harshly turned his head right before he could kiss her and I couldn’t help but start laughing at his face, his expression. “Hannie!” (Y/n) got up and ran over to me the second she saw me. “Hey baby, I’ve been looking for you, wanna hit the buffet with me?” “I’d love to,” For good measure, and to settle the jealousy that had sprouted at the thought of (Y/n) flirting with the guy, I gave her a passionate kiss. As we parted from the kiss the guy was looking like he was seconds away from crying. “Come on, do you think they have pineapple at the buffet? I’ve been craving it like crazy lately,” “I don’t know, let’s go check,” 

After we had gotten some food, and a lot of pineapple slices, (Y/n) and I found a spot to sit down at. “Jeonghan, were you jealous or worried when you found me talking to that douchebag?” “Well, to be honest, I was jealous when it seemed like you were into him but as I got closer I heard you telling him about our trip last year but that feeling just wasn’t leaving,” “You know I only have eyes for you. I love you. Only you. He approached me and it seemed fine when he only wanted to know where I got this bracelet, you know the one you bought me during the trip, so I told him but I don’t think he listened or heard me say that it was an anniversary present from my boyfriend.” “I know. I love you too, only you. Seems like he was more interested in your lips and curves rather than the bracelet,” “Yeah, I realize that now. I’m just glad he actually left us alone after I rejected him the second time,” She gave me a peck on the cheek as we began talking about something else. 

“Wanna go home? It’s like 3 am,” “Yeah, let’s go home,” We called a taxi and went home after having spent the last hour dancing and talking with our closest friends. When we got home I couldn’t help but remember how it felt to be jealous, it was probably my first time feeling like that, it was not fun. But I know something that would help make me feel better and that is fun. “Hey (Y/n),” “Huh? OH!” She turned to me and I pulled her close kissing her passionately, she returned the kiss with just as much passion. “You look amazing in the dress but right now I’d prefer you without it,” I gave her a wink after I had whispered that by her ear and began pulling the dress off of her body. “Yoon Jeonghan, you handsome devil,” Though I doubt she was complaining as she unbuttoned my shirt. Let’s just say that we definitely solved the jealousy.

[corellianhounds]

“You have done the highest honor of the Creed: Saving a foundling.”

I take umbrage with this statement in the larger context of the show this season because Mando still has yet to have what I think is a pretty significant conversation with the Armorer concerning why he removed his helmet in the first place since that ⬆️ was precisely why he did it

This season has largely brushed past one of Din’s biggest internal conflicts by never showing the audience how he feels as an exiled member beyond him asking how he can atone, not discussing with the Armorer why the transgression was done or in what context— which they apparently didn’t have to address because hey, look, the kid’s back with him again, oh also we’re not going to talk about that despite the Armorer telling him to take the kid back to his own kind in season 1— making it barely an inconvenience to ‘redeem’ himself in the end anyway, and by overshadowing his ritual redemption by knocking him out when he goes into the waters and having him sink to the bottom, having to be saved by Bo-Katan (when we still don’t know why she saved him at all), AND by having his return to the covert and Armorer be overshadowed by Bo-Katan’s out of place induction into the covert.

If they want to credit Bo-Katan with ‘saving’ the Mando kid because she headed up the hunting party even though Din was the one to actually grab the kid in the end, fine, whatever, but it is also the most overt way to again show that everything of value that Din has done this season has still been pushed to the side in favor of showcasing Bo-Katan

Unless they’re leading up to Din having some ego issue regarding Bo-Katan’s popularity and place within the covert because of how much he’s being shoved aside (which is entirely out of character for him), I’m not sure why they aren’t making him and his character more of the focus of the season. We’re not getting anything from him regarding his feelings or direction in terms of the bigger picture, which is why all of the episodes feel like filler— They’re achieving plot points like a checklist instead of showing us how Din feels about anything by not tying the emotional stakes to the physical ones. There’s no tension or narrative weight to any of these actions. His dialogue regarding the Creed, his redemption, and teaching and bonding with the kid (his character’s two main focuses) has been factual and exposition-y without feeling like his story is being told.

[kaminocasey]

25 Days of Life Day: Day 6 - Making fudge with Tech

Here’s the recipe I used!

Summary: Tech can’t make fudge BUT he can teach you about Life Day while you make fudge.

Warnings: None. Wholesome fluffy cooking with Tech.

The smell of burnt fudge travels through your apartment and you open all the windows, letting the cool air in and try to waft it back out. You try not to be too reactive, not wanting to hurt Tech’s feelings about the fudge. He’d been working so hard on it and you were just proud of him for trying.

“I don’t understand.” Tech complains, looking at his holopad which is propped up on your toaster. “I followed every single instruction.”

You chuckle, walking over to him, wrapping your arms around his torso, resting your cheek on his back, smiling to yourself. He was still cute when he was frustrated.

“Darling, I’m trying to focus.” He smiles softly as he removes your arms and you move away, hopping up on your kitchen island.

“Well, maybe you’re focusing too hard on it.” You suggest, swiping your finger in the bowl with leftover chocolate.

“Perhaps…” Tech sighs, removing his goggles so he can rub his eyes, clearly having been looking at that holopad for way too long.

“Let me help.” You hop back down to scoot him out of the way, gently backing him up to the stool at the counter.

He takes a seat while you clean up Tech’s mess and then gather up more ingredients out of your pantry and fridge, rearranging them so you have more organization. Tech was not an organized person… or perhaps he had messy organization skills… You’ve seen his workstation. He knows where exactly everything is and goes whereas when you look at it, you have to resist the urge to organize it for him.

“Talk to me about something.” You smile at him as you turn the stove burner back on to heat up the saucepan.

“What would you like for me to talk about?” He asks, resting his chin in his hand.

“Tell me about anything.” You start to pour the evaporated milk, sugar, and marshmallows into the saucepan.

“Do you want me to tell you about the history of Life Day?” He offers.

“I’d love that.” You encourage him, stirring the ingredients in the pan until they’re brought to a boil.

Honestly, it didn’t matter what Tech talked about. Whatever he talked about, you found interesting and you loved hearing him teach you about new things. You were constantly learning new things because of him. And you know how much he loves teaching you new things.

“Well, did you know that the history of Life Day originates from the Wookies of Kashyyyk?” He asks you as you pull out a separate bowl to put the chocolate chips, butter, and vanilla in.

You return to the saucepan, stirring again.

“Life Day is a tradition for Wookies to celebrate their values of harmony, joy, and family. They have a tree called the Tree of Life on Kashyyyk that symbolizes the first seed and spark of life on their planet.” He continues.

“I had no idea.” You smile. “The trees of Kashyyyk are so beautiful.”

“They are.” He agrees then continues. “You could probably guess that with the fall of the Empire, the celebration of Life Day became a tradition for all beings throughout the galaxy. Life Day is celebrated to remind us of the importance of compassion and the togetherness of family.”

There’s a knock on the door right then and you grin at Tech. “Speaking of family. Looks like ours is here.”

“Indeed.” He gets up to go answer the door.

You hear him answer the door and then all of a sudden a gaggle of “Ew, Tech.” and “What is that awful smell?”

“I burned the first batch. But she’s fixing it.” Tech tells them.

“That’s a relief.” Echo’s voice says before joining you in the kitchen. “Ah, this one smells better.”

You laugh and swat him. “Tech tried his best. Cut him some slack.”

Tech joins you in the kitchen again, leaning against the counter by you so he’s not in your way. You smile up at him as you take the saucepan and pour the hot mixture on top of the ingredients in the bowl. You offer him the electric mixture and he takes it, mixing the ingredients all together.

“This looks and smells a lot better. Thank you, darling.” He kisses you on the head as he mixes until it looks smooth enough to dump into the fudge pan.

You stick the pan into the refrigerator and join Tech by the counter, wrapping your arms around his waist. He smiles softly down at you as he wraps his arms around you.

“Do you wanna hear about the history of-” He starts.

“No, she doesn’t, Tech. She’s just too polite to say so.” Crosshair pops in the door to grab a cookie you’d made earlier and teases Tech. “Stop boring the poor woman.”

Grabbing a handful of marshmallows and throwing them at Crosshair to shut him up, you tell him to get out then turn back to your partner. “Ignore him. I’d love nothing more than to hear about the history of whatever it was you were about to say.”

“This is why I love you.” He kisses you softly with a chuckle.

There was nothing that Tech could tell you that you would find boring. You just hope he knows that. So as you wait for the fudge to settle, he tells you about the history of fudge, which you don’t find boring at all, it just makes you hungry.

TAGS: @grievouus @brynhildrmimi @madameminor @dumfanting @rain-on-kamino @misogirl828 @rexandechosandwich @corona-one @tecker @ladykatakuri @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @twistedstitcher27 @zoeykallus @maulslittlemeowmeow @littlemousedroid @arctrooper69 @rexxdjarin @agenteliix @idlenesses

[natlacentral]

Netflix’s Diversity Program Turned This Director Into a Top Showrunner in Just 4 Years

Jabbar Raisani had hit a wall. He had done second unit directing on “Game of Thrones,” he was a seasoned visual effects artist and two-time Emmy winner for “Thrones,” and he even directed his first indie feature. But he couldn’t get that next job and make the jump to what he really wanted to be: an episodic TV director. 

“I was really looking for any avenues that I could to help to expand my network and to increase my opportunities and chances of actually booking an episode,” Raisani told IndieWire. “I was getting lots of meetings, but not a lot of opportunities.”

So as a South Asian filmmaker from San Antonio, Raisani turned to some of the many diversity incubator programs set up across Hollywood to set himself apart from the many white dude directors flooding the space. He had participated with programs led by NBC, Sony, what was then Viacom, and the Directors Guild of America. But he “still was running into the same barrier.”

“I had a really good reel, I had a lot of heavy visual effects experience, but I didn’t have an episode under my belt,” he said. “If you can’t check that box as you’re going down the list of things you’ve done, it makes your opportunities of getting a full episode of directing much, much more difficult.” 

It wasn’t until he signed up for Netflix‘s inaugural Series Director Development Program that something changed. He got his first directing gig on “Lost in Space,” and he did VFX work on the latest season of “Stranger Things.” Now just four years removed from being selected in that program’s first cohort, he’s not just a working director but was last month named the co-showrunner on one of Netflix’s flagship new series, “The Last Airbender.”

There’s no shortage of DEI initiatives around town, the ones studios love to brag about in flashy press releases to show they’re making a difference in the industry, even if the numbers still say otherwise. But Raisani’s journey is a rare success story, and he has reached a higher level in the industry in a shorter time than even some of the other directors in his same cohort. 

“He always looked at ways to bring out the best from the other people he was working with,” said former DGA president Paris Barclay, who was Raisani’s instructor for the Netflix diversity program. “You saw he was open, and one of the things we really tried to teach in the Netflix class is directing isn’t just about calling the shots and having a megaphone and being the director. It’s about engaging other creative people to help you tell the story. He was a master of that already in a very calm, very unassuming way. You just want to work with him.”

But even if Raisani had all the attributes, he had heard from a top producer why he still wasn’t reaching that next level.

“She said, look, here’s the way this goes: You have a great meeting with me and I love you in the room and I believe in you,” Raisani explained. “But if I send your resume up to the person that’s up above me, and they see you’ve never directed an episode of television, you will be taken out of consideration. What you’re running into is you’re getting to here and having a great meeting. But up there, it’s just about checking a box.” 

Raisani left that meeting knowing he had to change — and it wasn’t the only meeting he took like it. He realized his path wouldn’t be a straight line, and he had to remain flexible. He knew being in the Netflix program alone wouldn’t get him a job, but the real value of the program was it got him to a point where he couldn’t be ignored any longer. 

“It started taking the the reasons to say no away,” Raisani said. “It’s less about getting a yes and it’s more about taking away people’s opportunity to say no. And once you can get enough of the no’s out of the way, then you end up with a yes. But that meeting where you hit a home run, everybody loves you, and you come away with an episode, I never had that experience.”

Raisani’s other incubator experiences were valuable in their own way, but the Netflix program hit different. Barclay assigned exercises that went beyond providing a forum for a few guest speakers. Raisani said he had to write “extensive shot breakdowns,” taking an existing script Barclay had already shot and lay out an entire plan for how he would shoot it. Raisani said it amounted to doing a full day of prep on top of having a full time job. The other incubators didn’t come close to Barclay’s 10-week crash course in terms of homework. 

Barclay also used the other students in the cohort as sounding boards for the students, asking them to critique each others’ work. And he lectured about things not generally taught in film school such as the hierarchy of TV directing or even the spiritual side of the craft. Barclay also brought in speakers like Ava DuVernay, Charlie Hunnam, and Barry Jenkins to talk about their craft, and in Hunnam’s case, the nuances of working with actors for young directors who had never really done it before. 

Raisani isn’t the only one from his graduating class to find some success in Hollywood, some not even at Netflix. Juanesta “Winnie” Holmes has directed episodes of “Family Reunion” and “The Upshaws,” and Gonzalo Amat has directed “Fire Country,” “Chicago Med,” and Law & Order: Organized Crime” for network TV. Barclay says it’s in Netflix’s interest to develop people who can move between different genres and styles, even if they wind up directing elsewhere. 

But Raisani is something of a unicorn. His brother, Rashad Raisani, is an EP on “9-1-1: Lone Star,” and on “The Last Airbender” he’s part of a fully AAPI directing team. Barclay early on in the program told Netflix Raisani was “one of the ones I would hire,” touting his accessible leadership style and ability to express ideas you want to embrace. 

“I can’t exactly bottle that skill, but if I could, I would make a lot of money,” Barclay said of Raisani.

Raisani and Barclay both believe however that if he’s not going to be a one-off anomaly of the DEI push, studios need to do more with their programs. Raisani’s idea is to guarantee an episode of television within two years of completing an incubator and let them check that box, something Barclay says other programs are slowly adopting. If the studio isn’t 100 percent confident in that person to let them film an episode of TV, they shouldn’t be in the program to begin with. 

“You’re going to see people that make that transition versus people that end up stuck in this void of, ‘I’ve done a lot of programs but I never got an opportunity to direct an episode,'” Raisani said. “I certainly got got stuck in that void.”

“It needs to go beyond that,” Barclay added, saying it can’t just be something a studio is obligated to do. “I think it needs to also accept people that you’re willing to stand behind and have a commitment for. If that show gets canceled, you still have the commitment and Netflix will keep looking out for you and keep finding opportunities for you.”

[sailorsplatoon]

v8 au staring a horribly love-sick/potentially yandere 8 that is jealous 4 fell in love with acht?

This is an amazing idea and I love this!!!

Let’s go with she/her pronouns for Eight in this au. Because there’s still a hint of Agent 32. (My various Eight oc’s pronouns are going to get so confusing lol.)

As Four is regaining their memories while climbing the Spire of Order, Eight is watching Acht slowly fall in love with them, which is when her jealousy begins. She tries to hide it for now, being torn apart inside as she sees the entire romance between Acht and Four unfold. She blames everyone, Acht for being the one Four fell in love with, and Pearl and Marina for encouraging it.

After they all leave the Memverse, Eight begins to plan how she can get rid of Acht so that she can have Four. Eventually, she finds that if Acht is in the Memverse, she can trap them in there by hacking into their headset. Problem is, Eight doesn’t know how to hack. You know who does know how to hack? Marina. 

Eight knows Marina would never agree to sabotaging a headset, so she has to trick her. She convinces Marina that a headset which traps someone in the Memverse may be useful when curing sanitized octos if they put up a big fight. Marina is hesitant, but she trusts Eight and does it anyway. Eight takes the hacked headset and swaps it out with Acht’s

Eventually, Four and Acht decide to meet up in the Memverse for a date night. But when they leave, Acht can’t. Eight loads in, filling Acht in on all she’s done in a villain monologue type thing. She threatens Acht, but leaves without doing anything. The rest of her plan takes place in the real world.

Eight then convinces Four, Marina, and Pearl that Smollusk has taken over the Memverse again, to the point that it’s not safe to go in it. She also says that Acht is stuck in there, and that she thinks it could be harmful to Acht’s mind if they forcefully try to remove the headset. Because of how much trust she’s built up with all of them, they believe her easily. 

Marina is unable to find signs of Smollusk interfering with the Memverse again in the code, but Eight says she swears she saw it, and also reminds Marina that the first time Smollusk took over, she didn’t notice anything either. This is enough to convince her. 

Four is heartbroken, working endlessly to find a way to free Acht. While they do this, Eight pretends to be there for them, as if in hopes of comforting them. In reality, this is a ploy to get them to grow closer to each other. Eight cherishes this time with Four, valuing every moment.

Acht is trapped in the Memverse entirely alone. Or at least, so they think. They aren’t strong enough to climb the tower all the way up to Smollusk and get help from it, but they can ride the elevator back down to the bottom, which is where Cipher comes in. I never really post about it, but I absolutely love Cipher, I want to include it in something! 

Acht tells it about everything that happened, and all that Eight told them. While Cipher doesn’t have the ability to help Acht leave, it can send items to the lobby terminal. This doesn’t seem like something that would be helpful, until Acht realizes they can use it to send a message to Four. 

Acht writes a letter to Four on the back of one of Cipher’s locker decorations and has it sent to Four’s lobby terminal. It takes Four a while to find it, since they’re grieving Acht and don’t want to battle, but eventually they do. Acht writes about everything Eight told them, and Four reads all of it. They are furious with Eight and immediately tell Pearl and Marina. Off the Hook then goes to try and talk to Eight about it while Four goes into the Memverse to save Acht (knowing now that it’s not dangerous at all). 

Thank you for the ask!!! That’s all the ideas I have for the au for now, it still needs an ending, but I like it so far!