#these shots come from the Run it music video that came out earlier today

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

They are gonna need to stop with these two, I swear. It's going to end up hurting me more than than awe due to it at this point.

Also, is that a FRIENDSHIP BRACLET?!? DUDE IF SHADOW HAD ONE BECAUSE MARIA MADE HIM ONE-....

[wavernot4love]

hello wanted 2 talk about a bunch of fun things from Thursday first show of War All The Time tour 2nite at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo (this will include setlist spoilers)

(starting with a random little video of title track, the rest of it is in the keep reading thingy)

- TURNPIKE DIVIDES FOR THE LAST SONG??? they let her see the light of day!!! i am probably the only person who has heard her at 2/3 of the thursday sets they have seen /lh

- geoff took the piss out of victory records for not paying bands while talking about how i'll be you & jbny are mirrors of each other then played them back to back (also described jbny as their heaviest song.... correct!!!)

- crowd was GREAT. great pits, surfing vibes, actually hell, vibes were just great all around.

- make sure you get there early so you can catch both many eyes & rival schools (steve (thursday) actually played for rival schools today which was cool). i thoroughly enjoyed both sets, and tonight honestly made me a fan of many eyes as a project. i wasn't sure what to expect receptionwise from a buffalo crowd [insert every time i die lore] but everyone showed up for keith (buckley, former singer of etid)/them. i also thought he/they did great, and he seemed genuinely humbled. also saw him around after the show, bro was loading out merch so i didn't wanna bother him, but yeah, dude seemed chill. really enjoyed the songs as well, i'll be spinning them and staying tuned for future releases for sure.

- between that set, everyone just feeling like a true community all night, & a cameo from a local scene legend (if you know hardcore, the singer of terror/buried alive was watching sidestage all show, keith shouted him out hahaha), let's just say i felt like how i'd imagine patriotic americans feel when they hear the national anthem, but the western new yorker edition.

- between rupture and rapture & division st. were probably my favorite non big singles. so great to hear watt in full dude and the crowd was very engaged the whole time

- one thing that really sucks is geoff explained as they came out that pretty much all their instruments randomly got stolen right before they left for tour, so they were a little panicky and stuff but basically, nothing was gonna stop them from having a good time in buffalo (paraphrased). apparently when they were sorting out the tour routing a while back someone told them they should start in toronto but they were like, nah dude, we want to start in buffalo. back to my western ny patriotism analogy, i see. anyways, now that's what i call resilience. they put on a great performamce with such great energy, you can tell this is a band that truly loves doing this whole thing. support the guys extra hard this run.

- as the opening bit of understanding started i looked back at the carnage going on in the giant pit that was open at the moment and had to just. smile at That being a moment people were crowdkilling each other to /lh

- i brought my (digital) point & shoot and shot from the crowd! very stoked on those as i was quite close all show, will update with those once i edit em! will probably also be posting a review kinda thing on my site/ziney thing once i get that back up and published

- one final thing that haunts me is the wonder of what geoff was talking about here in this instagram story post from earlier. i even stuck around after the show (which ended around 10:30) in case... i don't know, thursday were to fly out of some sort of confetti cannon at 11 pm sharp, i have no idea, dude. someday i will ask geoff about Minds Blown - 11.00pm

anyway, every time i've seen thursday this past year of having the joy of really knowing their music (i'd heard of them of course just through being in the scene for years, but had just never listened then) thursdayband has come 2 mean more and more to me and i truly hope they never stop playing together as long as it makes them happy <3

[idkthisisjustforfanfic]

story page | talk to me/join the tag list | the playlist

wc: 5.2K

PART 20

“So exciting, really, congratulations!”

“Thank you so much,” you smoothed out your skirt, adjusted on the sofa across from James Corden. “I really did not think I was going to win. I was telling everyone all night, there was no way! I didn’t believe it.”

“You didn’t believe it?” He asked, the audience chuckled.

“No! I mean--I’m very proud of my album and the music I put out but there were so many amazing nominees, I just--I don’t know, I thought my night was over.”

“You must have gone out though, afterwards, right?”

“Yes,” you nodded. “Yeah--we went to a party that my publishing company hosted, actually.”

“You and your date, Jason Sudeikis,” James smiled. 

You laughed when the audience clapped at his name. “That’s the one, yeah.”

“Talk about a surprising couple--I don’t think any of us saw that coming and now it’s something that makes so much sense, people adore the two of you.”

The audience cheered, you laughed and admitted: “I don’t think we saw it coming either, I did not expect it at all. Wouldn’t change it though, he’s amazing.”

“You were in London with him this spring, right? You’ve been out there?”

“I have, yeah, we’ve been living out there while he films the third season of Ted Lasso--”

Another eruption of excitement from the crowd. 

“What an amazing show,” James said seriously. “Do they all know they’ve struck gold?”

“They do,” you nodded, “I think, in a super humble way. And mostly because I tell them all the time--it’s so good.”

James nodded, a mischievous smile on his face. “You actually brought Jason here with you, today, right? He’s backstage?”

“He is,” you confessed, a hint of suspicion on your features when he laughed. “He’s back there somewhere.”

“Well we had a fun idea--can we bring Jason out? We talked to him earlier!”

The crowd stood and applauded, you laughed when James stood and Jason walked out from behind the same curtain you’d hid behind only ten minutes earlier. He waved at the crowd, his outfit more casual than yours when he came to sit beside you on the couch. 

He slung an arm around your shoulder after he hugged James, pressed a kiss to the side of your head when you looked up at him. 

“I’m nervous,” you said, a glance between him and James.

“Nervous?” James asked, the audience laughed. “Why would you be nervous?”

“Something about the two of you conspiring behind my back--”

“Conspiring?” Jason asked, cutting you off. “That feels like an aggressive word to use!”

“No, we--we actually did conspire,” James admitted, a boisterous laugh when the audience joined in. 

“Yeah,” Jason nodded. “We did, one-hundred percent.”

“We decided it would be fun to bring Jason out and play a game--are you up for that?”

As if there was a way to get out of it now. “I will give anything a shot, I guess” you shrugged, legs still crossed on the sofa. 

“Okay,” James stood, “so come over here, we’ve got two seats for you. We had the help of both of your wonderful assistants to help with this, alright? This is a game we’re calling Who Knows Who?”

“Oh boy,” Jason followed over, took his seat on a stool as you climbed up and did the same. “Really creative name,” he teased James.

“Yeah--we’re running out of creativity here,” he rolled his eyes.

You took the seat beside Jason and let out a breath--how bad could it be?

“We figured: who knows you both better than your assistants?” James explained, a smile in your direction before he turned back to the camera. “So we asked them to give answers to questions about the two of you, and you’re each competing against the other’s assistant.”

“Oh god,” you laughed. “You’re not gonna beat Mia!”

“No,” Jason shook his head seriously. “I probably won’t.”

“We have these for you--here you go,” James handed you both paddles, green, true on one side, red, false on the other. “We do have videos, so Y/N, you’re up first. Are you ready?”

“No,” you mimicked Jason from a second ago, a laugh up at James. “But I will do my best.”

“Good, alright--first up: Jason was born in 1975.”

“Yes--true!” you flipped the paddle around to have the green side showing, the audience applauded when Jason nodded. 

On the screen behind you a video of Cara appeared--webcam quality as she read the same question from the screen. “Uh, yes--yeah, I think so--sounds right to me,” she pushed her glasses up on her nose and a bell dinged in the studio, correct!

“That feels like an easy start,” he commented.

“They increase in difficulty as we go,” James laughed. “Don’t worry. Next one: Jason has been in over 30 movies.”

“Oh huh,” you thought out loud for a second. You stole a look over at Jason.

“Don’t look at me like I’m gonna tell you,” he laughed, the audience followed suit. 

“I’m not! That feels like a lot though,” you looked back to James. 

He nodded, watching you with intrigue, “It does feel like a lot…”

“I’m saying false.”

“Alright, let’s see what Cara said,” James motioned back to the screen. 

“I think that’s true,” she talked to herself with a nod. “I know he’s done over ten since I started working with him, so--I’m gonna go with true for that one.”

You let out a groan, Jason laughed when James laughed at the buzzer noise, wrong! 

“Okay, alright, Cara, two, Y/N, one--let’s see: Jason’s go-to starbucks order is a caramel latte.”

You held up the paddle, “that’s true, I’m pretty sure. I know he likes them.”

The video played again, Cara nodded with confidence. “As the person who gets that for him a lot, yes, 100% true.” She cheered for herself in the pre-tape when the answer was revealed on her laptop. 

“Alright,” James smiled. “Last one for you, Jason never leaves the house without his a deck of cards.”

“True,” you nodded quickly, “I’ve been a victim of far too many mediocre magic tricks.”

“They’re not mediocre,” Jason defended. “They’re just bad, terrible, really.”

The audience laughed at the banter between the two of you, James smiled when he flipped to a new card of questions. “Jason--she got three of four right, that’s pretty good.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Seventy-five percent, that’s not bad.”

“Do you think you can beat it?”

“Uh,” he laughed. “I don’t know--we’ll have to see.” He turned to you and reached his hand for yours. “Don’t break up with me if I suck.”

“No promises,” you smiled, just to make the audience laugh. 

“Alright, alright--first one: Y/N grew up in New Jersey.”

“Uh, yep,” he flipped his paddle to the green side. “True. I’ve seen it.”

“You’ve seen New Jersey?” James teased.

“I have,” Jason nodded, “and her parents' house.”

“Alright,” James turned to the screen. This time, Mia read the question off of her laptop, you recognized her living room and smiled at the sight of your assistant/friend. 

“She did,” Mia nodded in the pre-tape. “Northern Jersey, she would correct you on that, but yes. True!”

You nodded at Mia’s words--North Jersey, to be exact! The audience clapped when Jason pumped his fist in victory. 

“Don’t get too confident,” James warned. “They get harder, remember? Next up: Y/N grew up with a pet dog.”

“Ooh,” Jason thought on it for a second, watched you with narrowed eyes as the audience waited for his answer. A few people shouted yes, some called out no! 

James turned and laughed, “no one helped Y/N when she struggled!”

“Yeah that’s unfair, guys!” You looked out to crowd, squinted through the stage lights. 

“Alright, alright--my vote is false, I don’t think you did. I feel like I would have heard about it.”

“Alright,” James nodded. “Let’s see what Mia has to say.”

Mia smiled and read the question. “Yes--I’m pretty sure his name was Hank, but it’s definitely true.”

“Hank?” Jason turned to you. “Why haven’t I heard about him?”

“My parents had him before I was born,” you defended with a giggle. “He died, like, before I started kindergarten!”

“Well rest in peace Hank--”

“You’ve gotta stay on this, Jason, or you could lose! Next one: Y/N has won how many Grammys?”

Jason smiled at you quickly, a subtle acknowledgement of your recent--and under the influence--addition. “Eight in total, I believe.”

The crowd cheered at that, Mia confirmed it was right and then James read the final one.

“Alright, Jason--last chance here. You’ll either tie or lose, so--Y/N’s pre-show ritual includes calling her mom.”

Jason let out a quick laugh, “I mean--I haven’t necessarily seen that yet, but I feel good about saying that’s true,” he nodded, adjusting his paddle to match. 

The video rolled of Mia, she laughed like Jason and nodded. “True--yeah, she calls her mom right before she goes on stage. She gets kind of annoyed if her mom doesn’t answer, too.”

The audience cheered again and James turned to you. “Really? You get annoyed? Do you call her over and over?”

“No--but it’s like, she knows where I am, she knows when I have a show.”

“She’s got a life,” Jason reminded you.

“She does,” you laughed. 

“And you both tied!” James smiled, “which is good because I feel like if one of you won it might have gotten messy.”

“Absolutely,” Jason nodded. “Punches thrown, for sure.”

James took you out to commercial break, the lights above the cameras cut off and Jason turned to you when Justine showed up to refresh your lipstick. 

“I knew about Hank.”

“You did?” You asked, lips parted as Justine swiped another layer on. 

“Your dad mentioned him once--but I figured letting you win was the nice thing to do.”

Justine laughed at that and you rolled your eyes. “We tied, I didn’t win.”

He leaned in and kissed you on the forehead before he fell into step with James. “Every relationship needs compromise, baby.”

__

Mid-April brought you back to London for another few nights. Production ramped up as the weather got nicer, meaning Jason spent more late nights on set. A week after the Grammys, Mia sat cross legged on the floor and helped you pack. 

“Everything’s finalized for Monday morning,” she said, a glass of wine in her hand as she looked over your upcoming itinerary. “We’ll have to leave here around seven.”

“Right,” you nodded, glancing over the dress you’d pulled for Otis’ birthday party. Was it too much? Too young? Should you even go?

“And our flight will land early in New York--you’ve got rehearsals that afternoon.” 

“Mhm,” you acknowledged. You’d been prepping for this, packing everything up, heading back to New York and the apartment you’d called home--the one that was a whole thirty minutes from Jason. 

Mia glanced up at you now with a pity smile, your one word answers tipped her off. “You guys are going to be fine.”

A sigh when you brought your eyes over to her. “I know--I know we will be.”

“It’s normal to feel anxious though--you’ve been living with him for the past four months.”

“Yeah--”

“He’ll be out for opening night,” she reminded. 

“Is this not birthday party appropriate?” You held the dress up against your frame, looked down at the floral pattern and then waited for Mia’s reply.

“Wait--are you being weird because you guys aren’t gonna live together back in New York or are you nervous about this weekend?”

Otis had been begging for a sleepover--movies and pizza and cupcakes, that’s what he’d said a few weeks ago at dinner when Jason asked how he wanted to celebrate. The thought drifted out of your mind with the trip to the West Coast and as you got busier with ironing out the wrinkles in the last few weeks of tour prep. 

But then Jason came home a few nights ago and reminded you: Otis’ party this weekend, Olivia said we can come by for a bit. 

“Both,” you finally answered Mia’s question. “But mostly the party.”

“Well,” she downed the last of her wine. “Unfortunately I am not the person to ask about appropriate kid’s birthday party attire.” 

You looked over at the clock on your nightstand and did the math on your fingers. You pulled out your phone and opened up FaceTime, only three rings before she answered. 

“What a lovely surprise,” Blake smiled into the phone when she came into view. 

“I am in need of wardrobe assistance,” you informed, “I’m with Mia.”

“My favorite,” Blake said. 

“Wardrobe assistance or me?” Mia called from the floor. 

“Both!” Blake smiled. 

You let out a laugh at their friendship but flipped the camera around. “Okay--so Otis is having a birthday party and Jason and I are going for a little bit--it’s at Olivia’s. Is this dress too much?”

“Yes,” Blake nodded, her forehead creased when she pushed her face closer to the camera to inspect the outfit in question. “How old is he, like, eight?”

You nodded. 

“Yeah--you need like, jeans and a sweater or something. You might get paintballed or some shit so don’t wear anything that fancy.”

“See?” You looked at Mia. “I knew it.”

Blake rolled her eyes at you playfully. “So Olivia’s hosting?”

“She is--five boys and a sleepover. Daisy’s gonna stay with us for the night so that’s good.”

“You sound like such a mom,” Blake teased. 

“I do not--”

“You do,” Mia agreed. “In a good way.”

“Alright, well--don’t say that to Olivia,” you made a face.

“Right, you know--since I talk to her so much,” Blake joked. 

Once upon a time, back before you knew Jason and long before Jason and Olivia went their separate ways, Blake had dinner with Olivia a few times, never really liked her all that much, she told you one night over a glass of wine. 

Jason and Ryan had been friends forever--so it made sense that once in a while Blake and Olivia would cross paths and mingle like the successful industry people they were. 

But her loyalty was with you as evidenced by the way her nose scrunched at the mention of her name. 

“If you and Jason are in this for the long haul then Olivia should be happy you’re so good with the kids,” Mia reminded from her spot on the floor. She folded a sweatshirt and tucked it into a suitcase before she looked up at you. 

“I know,” you shrugged absentmindedly. “But I’m not their mom and I don’t want to step on any toes.”

“Does she know that you guys are--you know--” Blake wiggled her eyebrows in excitement. 

“I have no clue,” you answered honestly. “And I have no idea when it might happen, I mean, I’m leaving soon and I have the tour and he’s still busy filming. It might just not be the right time right now.”

Blake nodded, lips set in a thin line as Mia smiled. 

“What?” You asked Blake, “what do you know?”

“Nothing,” she smiled. “I know absolutely nothing.”

“I can’t even see your face and I can tell you’re lying,” Mia laughed. 

Blake rolled her eyes. “Guys talk, Y/N.”

“So Jason told Ryan something,” Mia translated.

“You have to tell me!” You said quickly, moving to sit on the bed as you bounced in anticipation. “Wait--no, don’t. I don’t know. Is it good? Will I want to know?”

“I think you have packing to do,” Blake said with a sweet smile. “Love youuuuu, bye!”

Blake was right, which became obvious when you walked into Olivia’s house with a wrapped present in hand. You dodged three kids in the first thirty seconds, caught a lamp that someone almost knocked off a console table, and then followed Jason through the house and found Daisy watching her brother with arms crossed over her chest. 

“Hey Dais--” Jason greeted, she turned and smiled at the sound of his voice. “Where’s mom?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Hopefully getting me earplugs.”

You laughed at her attitude, went to stand next to her when Jason disappeared into the house to find her. 

“That bad already?”

Daisy sighed. “Boys are loud.”

“Well, then you’ll be happy to know I had Mia pick up strawberry ice cream for us tonight.”

She looked up at you with a toothy grin. “And sprinkles?!”

“And sprinkles,” you nodded. “And I’m pretty sure your dad is gonna let us have Mac n’ Cheese, too.”

“Thank god,” she said. 

You sat with her for a while on the grass, watched as the boys hooted and hollered like they were the only ones in Olivia’s posh neighborhood. Jason returned and Olivia came to say hi, she brought Daisy a juicebox but then retreated inside to order the pizzas.

Eventually, the excited shrieking of 8-year-old boys had you seeking shelter in the kitchen, a reprieve from the backyard soccer game that Jason was more than happy to referee. 

“Oh,” you turned the corner to find Olivia doing the same, nose in her phone before she looked up to see you. “Hi--sorry, didn’t know you were in here.”

She smiled awkwardly, a laugh escaped her lips when she shrugged. “I find it’s most tolerable if you find a hiding spot.”

You nodded, guilty as charged, but rounded the island to reach for a juicebox on her counter as you tried to come up with small talk. 

“Here,” she said, reaching for a glass and the already open wine bottle behind her. “This is how I make it through.” She took out the stopper and poured some. “Everytime you come in here, take a swig or two and after a few, the screaming feels more tolerable.”

You laughed, smiled when she got her own and clinked it against yours. 

“Congrats on the Grammy wins, by the way--must be exciting!”

“Thank you, yeah,” you smiled. “It was a busy trip but a lot of fun.”

“And Jason said the tour starts in a few weeks?”

“Mid-May, yeah.”

Quiet for a second when you sipped more wine. Apparently she was better at small talk than you were.

“He also said you guys have talked about getting married--or engaged, whichever.” She shrugged quickly and offered an awkward smile.

But your heart was in your throat, you swallowed and nodded, glancing up at her quickly before looking back to the ruby red in your glass. Lie? Run? What on god’s green earth were you supposed to say to that?

“Oh--yeah, I don’t know when, we just said at some point--”

She smiled, almost like she knew you were nervous and felt bad for the way your heart was pounding in your chest. “That’s really good news--I just--I guess I wanted to say that the kids will be really excited, and you know, it’ll be nice to have you be part of the family officially.”

Your breath caught in your throat, a smile when you looked back up at her. 

“And, you know,” she shrugged, “it’ll be nice to have someone to drink wine with at all the birthday parties.”

__

May in New York was always busy. The trees bloomed and your birthday always brought celebration to Manhattan, friends and family coming in for dinners and parties and this year, the tour. After two weeks apart for final rehearsals across the pond and last minute meetings, your birthday came and so did Jason and the kids.

I’m finally not dating a twenty-something, he joked all day, a family brunch at your parents house before a rented out rooftop somewhere in Tribeca. 

Maddy and Ada and Evie were there, the Hadid sisters and Hailey Bieber. You drank champagne and after the sun sank beneath the skyline, one of them finally had the guts to ask.

“So--big birthday weekend,” Evie smiled. “Think you’ll get a sparkly, diamond-shaped gift at any point?”

“I don’t know,” you laughed, downplaying the excitement that sprouted roots in your chest. “Whenever it happens is fine, and I’m just trying to focus on the opening show.”

“Three days, right?”

A nod before you sipped more champagne. “And a shit ton of stuff to do in the meantime.”

The stage was going up at Madison Square Garden tomorrow, two nights before to allow a final run through in full wardrobe. Saturday night would bring friends and fans and other big names to the performance and somehow, you couldn’t tell if the tour or an impending proposal felt more nerve wracking. 

“I bet he does it before the show,” Maddy chimed in. 

Blake was there too, a smile on her lips as she watched the rest of your friends take guesses.

“You’re uncomfortably quiet,” Ada let her elbow bump into Blake’s. 

“I plead the fifth,” she smiled, leaning her head on your shoulder. 

“Wait--speaking of me getting engaged,” you held up a hand, scanned the roof to make sure Jason was nowhere nearby. 

He was on the other side, stood with Ryan and Nolan as he took another drink from the bartender. 

“Olivia knows--she brought it up at Otis’ birthday party a few weeks ago.”

Blake looked surprised. “She knows, like, when he’s gonna do it?”

“No, no,” you shook your head. “She knows it’s happening. He mentioned it to her I guess and she said she was excited for us.”

“Wow,” Evie said. “Do you believe her?”

You thought on it for a second, glanced back over to Jason as he nodded along to whatever Ryan was saying. You thought back to the moment (was it a moment?) you shared with her in the kitchen. For the first time since you’d known her, it felt like the two of you were on the same team. 

You didn’t need to be her best friend, didn’t even need to spend any time together outside of recitals or school events--but if you were going to do this, if you were going to be part of this family, it felt nice to know she could tolerate it. 

“I do.”

There was a cake after sunset, thirty whole candles on top that took two tries to blow out. The streets of New York glittered below and Blake found you looking out over the city as the party thinned out. She linked her arm in yours and stared out into the night. 

“Between you and me,” she eyed you quickly. “I think thirty will be your best year yet.”

__

You always woke up on the opening day of a tour with an inhuman level of energy. You bounced out of bed to hit the ground running before it was even 7am, coffee, a bagel on the go, a radio interview or two, venue by lunchtime. 

On tours past you’d ended at Madison Square Garden, the homecoming shows were loud and exciting and it felt like the perfect place to cap off months of travel and triumph. It was Chris’ idea, this time, to open here and start the tour with the level of excitement that usually signaled the end of an era. 

Which is why the green room was buzzing with friends and family the entire day, more and more people stopping by to say hello and wish you luck before you had to head to hair and make up. 

Daisy sat on the couch decked out in your merch: a t-shirt, a hat, a special lanyard with her backstage pass. She munched on goldfish that Mia had secured for her, bounced on the cushions like this was sure to be the best night of her entire life. 

She wanted to bring a friend, which Jason was hesitant about at first, until he’d decided bringing their nanny was the fix. I’ll be too excited, too busy to wrangle not one, but two five year olds. 

Now, he sat next to her and watched as she shoved another handful of orange crackers in her mouth. “You’re that excited, huh?”

“I am!” she smiled when you clicked your phone shut. “Are you excited, Y/N?”

“I am!” you nodded, “but I’m nervous too.”

Mia briefed Chris on something behind you, your mom was with Nolan near the snacks and your dad (with Murphy, of course) was on a walk somewhere in the venue halls. Andrew and Lena were disappointed that their two babysitters (you and Nolan) were both already booked for tonight, but they found someone else and would be here by dinner time. 

“You’re nervous?!” Daisy asked with wide eyes.

“Only a little,” you shrugged. “I just want it to be a good weekend.”

“It will be,” she said confidently, Mia handed you a sheet of paper, day of timeline.

Jason let his eyebrows rise in curiosity. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

She lowered her voice to a loud whisper, looked between you and Jason before she smiled mischievously. “You said you have a very important question for Y/N this weekend!”

Nolan and your mom had just come closer, both of their mouths fell open in shock when Jason sputtered. 

“Daisy--you don’t--we haven’t--”

Mia took Daisy’s hand, her eyes wide with excitement when she smiled at you over her shoulder. “Daisy--let’s go see the stage!”

She smiled and hopped into action, bouncing down the concrete hallway when a moment of awkwardness flooded in the room. Your mom shot you a glance before she went to chat with Chris. Nolan announced to the entire room, Jessica should be here soon--I’ll go find her.

Jason rolled his eyes. “I don’t--sorry--I shouldn’t have told her--”

“This weekend?”

“Well they’re both here and we’re gonna be apart for a while, so I figured it might be a good time, but I don’t--I can change it, it should be a surprise.”

“I do!” 

He eyed you for a second. “Wrong reply,” he laughed.

“Just do it now! I don’t care!”

“You are ruining your own proposal,” he laughed, poking you in the ribs. “You have a show to put on.”

“You have a ring to put on me,” you wiggled your brows at him. 

“Get out of here,” he smiled. “Now I have to think of all new shit to say to you later when I actually do it.”

“You expect me to get on stage and perform a whole show knowing that I’m getting engaged soon?!”

“You won’t be getting engaged soon if you don’t get the heck to hair and make up,” he reprimanded, a smirk set on his mouth when you leaned up to kiss him. 

He gave you a slap on the ass when no one was looking, you were off to find Justine and to pull on the first of three outfits. Before you knew it, you rose up to the stage as the beat kicked in. Sixteen songs--almost two hours and so much smiling your cheeks were already sore. The adrenaline of the crowd was just as contagious as it always had been, and by the time you wiped your eyeliner off that night, you were ready to do it again.

“Starting in New York was a good call,” you said at the sink in the master bath. “Sleeping here will be better than a hotel or bus tonight. I’m always the most sore after the first show.”

“You should get massages like a football player,” he laughed, slipped his watch off and placed it on the counter, a wiggle of his eyebrows when he added: “I’d be happy to assist, though I’m not professionally trained.”

You laughed but rolled your eyes, already in sweatpants. You’d changed back at the venue, nothing worse than a jumpsuit and heeled-boots in the car home. 

But now there was a knock at the door, Jason walked to open it and revealed Otis on the other side. He’d watched from the VIP section with the rest of them, his friend Patrick seemed more excited about the segways they rode around The Garden than your show, but you didn’t take it personally.

“There’s no way I’m falling asleep after tonight--” he walked into the bedroom, a sigh from between his lips as he climbed up and onto the bed. 

Jason shot you a look through the doorway. Was he really coming in here, to sit with both of you atop the king-sized mattress that now felt like an ours instead of a his?

“No? Gave up after a whole ten minutes?”

“Ten minutes in kid time is like an hour in grown up time,” Otis said, duh. Footsteps in the hallway, you almost bumped into Daisy once you drained the sink. 

“You too?” Jason turned to see her, a blanket draped over her shoulder and a stuffed animal in hand.

“I heard talking,” she said. “Didn’t wanna miss it.”

You both laughed at that, you walked and went to adjust your pillows, climbing under the covers when Daisy hopped up next to Otis at the foot of the bed. 

“Well,” he put his hands on his hips and looked at them. “We’ve already had a really late night and it is way past everyone’s bedtime.”

Otis leaned over to Daisy and said quietly: “Maybe he wants us to leave so he can propose.”

“Guys!” He laughed at that, a shake of his head when you smiled up at him. 

“If he proposes I will be sure to come wake you up,” you nodded at Daisy with a smile. “Promise.”

“I think you should do it with us in the room so we can see,” Otis looked up at him and shrugged innocently. 

“Thank you for the input,” Jason nodded. 

“It would be kind of cute if they were here,” you said softly, he whipped his head in your direction, eyebrows raised when you shrugged. “You know--a family affair.”

You meant it, but after knowing for almost five hours now that it was going to happen soon, the anxiety bubbled in you and probably wouldn’t stop until it was on your finger. 

He shook his head at all three of you, walked over to his nightstand and tugged open the drawer. He pulled out a tiny box, flipped it over in his hand a few times before he looked up at you. 

Daisy and Otis were still--maybe surprised that he’d decided to put his money where his mouth was. Your lips parted when he sat down on the edge of the bed. Daisy crawled over to sit beside you, watching when he opened it. 

“Y/N--” he looked up at you. “My children should be asleep and I wish we were too, but since we’re all here, and since they love you almost as much as I do, I was wondering if you would want to, you know, make this thing official?”

“Those aren’t the right words!” Daisy said quickly, upset by his veering off script. “You have to say will you marry me!”

He laughed, looked back to you. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes! She will!” Daisy bounced on the mattress and screeched in excitement. 

Jason’s eyes went wide, “whoa, whoa, whoa--take it down a notch there partner--”

“He was asking Y/N,” Otis made a face at Daisy when she stuck her tongue out at her older brother.

“Guys--focus,” Jason waved the box in mid-air, all three of you looked back to the ring that was tucked inside.

You smiled at him, felt emotion well in your eyes when he pulled it out and reached to slip it on your finger. A quick nod, a sniffle that turned into a laugh when Daisy and Otis high-fived. 

“What she said.” 

story page | talk to me/join the tag list | the playlist

AN: Well, y'all, that's a wrap--FOR NOW! I wanted to find a way to tie a bow on this story and wrap things up nicely, but in a way that still allows for us all to revisit these two in the future. I've loved writing this story so much (honestly it might be the most fun writing I've ever had), and that's because of YOU. So many people got excited about this story with me and came along on the journey of exploring my writing skills for someone other than you know who. Seriously though, who knew that one anon having a dream about Jason at the right time as me developing a crush would result in a 20 chapter fic with a 100k+ wc???? lmao. ANYWAY. I hope you all stay tuned for blurbs and snippets and things to come, (tour, the met gala sounds fun, the eventual season 3 premiere of the show...I've already got lots of fun ideas cooking for blurbs) bc I don't know if I'll ever get enough of these two 🥲 also yes before anyone asks I will probably keep writing jason fic!

tag list: @golden-hoax @fineelineee @baueoud @westcoastrry @missing-you-like-war @trulymadlykiki @caplikeme @tiredbuthappy @whymyparentscheckmyphone @tedlassostan @tegan8314 @yourgoldengirls @loganrwebb @rubberduckingaro @flannelplanet @15christyxoxo @stankface @outofthecradlex @moonlightspencie @ljej95

[thatshithurted8]

Could’ve Been

Summary: In which Jeff deals with the repercussions of not acting on his feelings towards reader. 

Word Count: 3.7k

Warnings: angst, drinking and swear words.

You couldn’t help yourself, but to giggle while you made dinner for Jeff, Jonah and yourself. The sound of your laugh causes Jeff to look up from his barbers station and over to you, a smile appearing on his face at the sound of it. 

“What’s so funny?” 

“Just thinking about yours and Jonah’s bits.” You state. Jeff just finished filming a barbershop episode with Bryce Hall, but by now the crew and Bryce were long gone. 

Jeff smiles to himself as he puts his multiple hair clippers away. Even though you told Jeff and Jonah from the beginning you didn’t want to be in any of the episodes you always found yourself being in them anyway. Whether that be you doing the boys hair for an episode to having your witty remarks and contagious laugh be heard in every video. 

Little did you know though, there was a reason why you were such a consistent guest on the show. This reason being the developing feelings both Jeff and Jonah harbored for you. Despite both boys openly flirting with you in seemingly every episode you were in you still remained oblivious to their feelings. However, as time went on unbeknownst to either Jeff or Jonah you started to reciprocate feelings for Jeff. You loved Jonah, but he was more like a brother to you than anything. 

 As more episodes of you appearing in were published to YouTube it was clear to not only the fans, but to Jeff as well what was happening. Fans constantly pointed out that it was obvious there was a love triangle going on whether it be a bit or not. They concluded this from all of the clips of both boys openly flirting with you along with all of the longing stares they gave you. It made Jeff giddy to know you most likely felt the same way about him the way he felt about you, but he never acted on it. He couldn’t do that to Jonah especially with how obvious it was the boy was in love with you. 

“What’re ya making?” Jeff asks walking into the kitchen and peering over your shoulder after finally cleaning up his station. Jonah looks up from his phone from his spot at the kitchen’s island and he can feel his stomach drop at the proximity of you two. He watches as you pick up the spoon you were using to stir and allowed Jeff to taste the homemade tomato sauce for the spaghetti you were making. 

“Tastes like what my ma makes, maybe even better, but don’t let her know I said that.” Jeff compliments causing heat to rush to your face and ears as he smiles at your reaction. This seemingly wholesome interaction between you two gets cut short by Jonah coughing and standing up. 

“I’m not feeling spaghetti tonight I’m gonna eat out instead.” He says pushing his chair in underneath the island before walking out of his apartment without saying another word. 

You look over at Jeff confused, but he just looks down at the ground not knowing what to say while slowly moving away from you. Jeff knew why Jonah was upset. After all Jonah has told him many times he likes you and Jeff did go a little over board with the flirting with you in today’s episode. 

“That was weird. What was that about?” You ask Jeff as he sits down at the island and pulls his phone out to text Jonah. Jonah loved your cooking and never missed an opportunity to have some. 

Jeff shrugs his shoulders and puts his phone away. “He’s been stressed lately, I don’t know why.” He lies. “We should move up to my apartment he’s gonna probably want to be alone when he gets back.” 

“Poor Jonah, I hope he can relax.” You pout while you turn off the stove to bring the food you were cooking up to Jeff’s. The brunette helps you, but can’t help but to feel guilty at your obliviousness. Jeff loved flirting with you after all his feelings for you were strong, but he felt bad for his best friend. It was obvious you didn’t reciprocate Jonah’s feelings let alone were you aware of them. 

The two of you carefully maneuver up to Jeff’s apartment with kitchen towels underneath the hot pots so neither of you would burn yourselves. As you get back into the groove of cooking again Jeff turns his stereo on, the Beatles echoing throughout the apartment. 

Ever since Jonah seemingly stormed off earlier Jeff has been acting kind of stand offish which you couldn’t help but to notice. However, as each Beatles track played he started to return back to his playful self and your laughs of encouragement egged him on to continue singing along horribly to the music. 

After an intense performance of Jeff playing the air guitar and singing to Helter Skelter Come Together came on, making you squeal. That was your go to song for karaoke night. Jeff smiles at you as you grab a ladle and start to sing into it as if it was a microphone. 

“He got hair down to his knees. He got to be a joker, he just do what he please.” You horribly sing out while slowly moving your hips back and forth while slowly making your way down to your knees in front of Jeff. 

You continue your performance while Jeff tries his hardest to not let his mind wander due to the position you were in. 

“One thing I can tell you, you just got to be free.” You sing getting up fast while shaking your head back and forth to the beat of the song. As you fully immerse yourself into your performance Jeff laughs at you with loving eyes, but he is interrupted from watching when his phone buzzes in his pocket. 

It was a text from Jonah. “You know my feelings towards Y/N the least you can do is not flirt with her around me.” 

Suddenly a wave of guilt washes over Jeff. The moment Jeff met you he could feel the spark between you two and just as he was about to tell Jonah how he was feeling about you he beat Jeff to it and started gushing about you the next time Jonah saw Jeff. This resulted in Jeff never opening up to his best friend to let him know he had feelings for you as well. 

“What’s wrong?” You furrow your eyebrows while watching Jeff sit down at his dinning table with an upset facial expression. 

Jeff quickly sends out an “I’m sorry” text to Jonah before putting his phone away and nervously running his fingers through his hair. “Nothin.” 

Furrowing your eyebrows even more you put down the ladle and make your way over to Jeff, wrapping your arms around his broad shoulders from behind. “Seriously what’s up?” 

“Nothin Y/N.” Jeff says standing up abruptly and gently pushing you off of him, causing your heart to drop. 

“Yea okay.” You sassily say back while returning to the stove to cook, the playful mood ruined. There was now an unwanted awkward tension in the air that both you and Jeff felt, but neither of you knew what to say. 

Finally Jeff speaks up, not really wanting to say what he was about to, but he felt like he owed it to Jonah to. “Y/N I think you should give Jonah a shot.” 

You slowly turn around from the stove to look at Jeff with a confused expression etched onto your face. “What?”

“You guys have so much in common and click well. You guys could be a solid couple.” 

Your heart sank initially thinking Jeff didn’t reciprocate your feelings, but the way he was looking everywhere, but you while saying this had you thinking otherwise. “Where is this coming from?” You ask starting to connect the dots and stepping closer to Jeff who doesn’t move away this time. 

He remains silent. 

“Jeff? Does Jonah have feelings for me?” 

Jeff simply nods his head yes as if it was hurting him to say that. He didn’t want you to find out this way. After all, it should be up to Jonah to tell you when he’s ready, but from what Jeff just said he had no choice to tell you.

You let out a sigh. This was not how things were supposed to happen. “I feel bad, but I don’t feel the same for him.” You say inching closer to Jeff. His heartbreaks for Jonah, but he can’t help but selfishly feel hopeful that he may get a chance with you. 

“Do you know who I do have feelings for?” You ask placing your hand on Jeff’s chest while a spike of confidence flows through you. Jeff’s breath catches in his throat when you get closer to him, but he instinctively melts into your touch. 

“Who Y/N?” He stutters out, nervous that you were going to say Todd or some shit. Jeff wasn’t typically a nervous person, but when it came to you and his strong feelings for you he was. 

You roll your eyes at his obliviousness. “You for fuck’s sake. I thought it was obvious.” 

A blush and smile washes over Jeff’s face as he looks down at you, but his smile quickly disappears when he remembers Jonah. Seeing his reaction makes you release an annoyed sigh. Although you were oblivious to Jonah’s feelings and sometimes got in your head about Jeff there was no denying he felt the same for you. You just knew he did. 

“We can’t do this to Jonah.” 

Rolling your eyes you move away from Jeff. The confidence that you had was now annoyance. From the moment you became friends with the two boys you learned that Jonah had a track record of seemingly liking every girl Jeff liked as well. Ultimately causing Jeff to step back so Jonah could have a shot. Yes, Jeff’s being a good friend, but you were sick and tired seeing Jeff’s happiness be put on the line for a guy who wouldn’t do the same for him. 

“I know you feel what I feel. I’ve felt it the moment we met two years ago. For the love of everything good stop denying your feelings and finally own up to them for once! You have let Jonah stop you from being happy for so long now. Advocate for yourself Jeff, be selfish for once in your life cause I know you want this as much as I do!” 

Jeff looks at you with wide eyes. He was happy that you finally confessed your feelings for him, but he didn’t see this outburst coming even though he knows every word you said was true. 

“I can’t Jonah’s my best friend.”

You internally groan, getting even more agitated that Jeff wasn’t seeing what you were seeing. “I understand that, he’s my friend too, but given the opportunity he would push you to the side if that meant he had a shot. I’m not asking you to drop him. I’m asking you to allow yourself to be happy for once.” You say rolling your eyes before turning back to the food cooking on the stove that you seemingly abandoned. 

The tension in the air was now thicker than before and Jeff felt awkward in his own apartment. A few minutes go by and he finally speaks up. “Y/N look at me.” 

You look over at him with an unimpressed expression, but you notice how close he’s gotten to you. Jeff grabs your hand and starts to gently rub his thumb across the back of it. “You’re right. I do have feelings for you.” He says inching closer to you, causing your heart rate to speed up. 

“Then act like it.” You say looking up into his beautiful brown eyes. 

Without hesitating Jeff pulls you to his chest by your hand before smashing his lips against yours and caressing your cheek with his free hand. Automatically you kiss back, placing your hand on the nape of his neck while deepening the kiss. 

You were the first to pull away, but you rest your forehead against his. “Wow.” That was probably the best kiss you’ve ever had. 

Jeff’s cheeks were flushed red and you knew he felt the butterflies from the kiss as well. You two stare into each others eyes seemingly relishing in the moment before guilt begins to wash over Jeff’s face as he realizes what he just did. 

“What?” You ask backing away concerned.

He sighs and scratches at his beard. “I want this as much as you do, but I can’t for Jonah’s sake.” 

You close your eyes and let out a deep breathe at his words, trying your best to control your emotions. He just said the last thing you wanted to hear. Without saying another word you walk by the brunette and to the front door where you put on your shoes and grab your purse. 

“Where are you goin?” 

“I’m sorry Jeff, but I can’t be friends with you especially after that kiss. My feelings are just going to keep growing and there’s no point in torturing myself by being around you when I can’t be yours.” You simply state, hurt evident in your voice before opening the door and leaving Jeff’s apartment without another word. 

As the door shuts the smoke alarm goes off signaling the food you were cooking was burning, which only made Jeff’s heartbroken mood worse.  

- 

“Oh my god Y/N is here! I haven’t seen her in so long!” Zane yells to Jeff over the music before rushing over to you who just arrived to Todd’s birthday party. Ever since that night 8 months ago in Jeff’s apartment you started to distance yourself from Jeff and Jonah along with the Vlog Squad since they were always with either boy. However, you weren’t going to miss Todd’s birthday for the world. After all he was one of your closest friends. 

The moment Jeff’s eyes fall onto your frame while you greet the first few people you know his heart rate began to increase. You looked good. Hell even better than you did 8 months ago if that was possible. 

You made your rounds through the party, saying hi and having conversations with your friends that you haven’t seen in almost a year while the music filled the large house. Although, it was Todd’s birthday you were hesitant to come. After all you knew Jonah was going to be there and more importantly Jeff as well. But today wasn’t about you it was about Todd. With that being said you decided to swallow your pride and show up for one of your best friends. 

However, you tried your best to avoid Jonah and Jeff for the night. Which was working out fine until you ran into Jonah. You guys hugged and caught up and to your surprise Jonah introduces his girlfriend, Francesca to you. Of course you were happy for him, he deserved to be happy, but the two started dating two months after that night at Jeff’s. That meant if you stayed around you and Jeff could’ve been a couple. Yet, you couldn’t help, but to feel hurt. Surely Jeff would’ve jumped on the opportunity to make you his now that Jonah was off the market, but you haven’t heard from the Staten Island stud since a week after what happened. Clearly Jeff’s feelings towards you weren’t as strong as you thought.

As the night continues Jeff builds up enough confidence to approach you. So that’s what he did. Feeling a tap on your shoulder you turn around from your conversation with Todd and are shocked to see Jeff standing in front of you. 

“Oh my gosh Jeff! It’s been so long!” You exclaim before pulling the brunette in for a hug, fighting off the awkward tension. This was seemingly a friendly hug, but as you were in his embrace all of the feelings you thought you didn’t feel anymore came rushing back. Jeff felt the same from the moment he saw you walk in. And the familiar but nostalgic smell of your perfume only amplified it.

“How’ve you been?” He asks pulling away, but laughing at your reaction. You didn’t realize how much you missed his laugh until now.

“I’ve been pretty busy with school, but still good. What about you?” Jeff was happy to hear that you were still in school. After months of Jeff convincing you to chase your dreams you finally applied to a university to become a physiotherapist and got in, putting your influencer career on the back burner. He was proud of you for not giving into your fears of having a late start in your degree and quitting.

“I’ve been good as well. The guys and I have been pumping out barbershop episodes basically every week now.” By now Todd was now gone, talking to his other guests.

Although, both of you were telling the truth of what has been up lately neither of you delved into the fact your minds would always wander back to each other. Especially late at night when neither of you could fall asleep.

“How are ya liking school?” Jeff asks stepping a bit closer for you to hear him due to the loud music.Just as you were about to answer his question you feel arms wrap around your waist and a kiss being placed on your cheek. 

Justin. Not your boyfriend, but not your friend either.

“Hey baby sorry that I’m late.”

As Jeff watched the guy that looks a bit like him display affection to you a pang of jealously and hurt hits him. Clearly your feelings for him weren’t as strong as Jeff thought they were.

You mumble a “hi” back to Justin and discreetly push him off of you. Suddenly you were all too aware of who you were standing in front of with your rebound by your side.

“Who’s this?” Justin asks pointing at Jeff then looking at you.

“Justin this is Jeff, a friend I haven’t seen in a while.” Another pang of hurt hits Jeff at being friendzoned. “And Jeff this is Justin.”

Jeff swallows the lump in his throat and cuts directly to the chase. “So are you guys a couple?”

You almost choke on your drink at Jeff’s boldness, but Justin answers his question before you could cough out a reply. “Nah, not yet man. Y/N wants to take things slow. Something about not wanting to get her hopes up if things turn sour.” Justin laughs. 

Jeff looks at you knowing exactly why you want to take things slow with this guy. You didn’t want to be let down the way you did with Jeff. It was obvious you were still hurt and Jeff’s suspicions of that were proven by your avoidance from his analytical gaze. 

An awkward silence falls upon you guys, but Justin doesn’t seem to acknowledge it as he was vibing out to the music. You and Jeff exchange awkward looks while you anxiously bite on the rim of your solo cup. 

Just as you were to speak up to bid goodbye to Jeff and get away from the tension Erin comes running up to you. “Y/N it’s our song!” She yells, clearly intoxicated. Before you could protest what was about to happen she drags you over to an open spot in the crowded house to dance to Britney Spears, Toxic. Ultimately leaving Justin and Jeff alone. 

As you danced to one of your favourite songs you were grateful that Erin pulled you away because your mind was starting to drift away from Jeff and the way his presence made you feel. The next thing you know the song was over, but you continued to dance with Erin to five other songs while Zane supplied shots for you two. 

While each song passed you were oblivious to Jeff’s eyes on you. Justin was talking his ear off about the mixtape he was working on and quite frankly Jeff couldn’t give less of a shit. Every time Justin asked him a question Jeff would simply respond with vague answers, trying his best to suppress his emotions. 

Seeing you after all of these months apart it made Jeff realize just how much he missed you. There was no denying he missed you from the moment you walked out of his apartment, but ever since then he tried his best to distract himself with creating. And it was working, but that was until now. 

You continued to let loose occasionally glancing over to Jeff’s direction without realizing what you were doing. It wasn’t until you felt arms wrap around your waist that your dance moves come to a stop. You quickly turn around and smile while stumbling into Justin’s arms. 

“Hey baby.” You say while wrapping your arms around Justin’s neck while continuing to sway to the music, the alcohol you drank flooding throughout your blood.

“I’m going to get a drink do you want anything?” 

You simply nod your head as Mariah walks over to catch up with you and Justin walks away to find the kitchen. Your conversation with Mariah was going great until you felt someone place their hands on the small of your back. 

“Excuse me.” 

You turn to look and see the person was Jeff walking past you. He makes eye contact with you and you could’ve sworn time stopped in that moment, making you automatically sober up. His eyes were full of longing as well as hurt. Jeff doesn’t stop to talk to you. Instead he keeps on moving through the crowd of people to leave, your eyes yearning after him.

Your focus on the brunette is ultimately broken when Justin hands you a beer. You shake your head and turn back to your conversation with Mariah and introduce Justin to her. As you do this you miss Jeff turning to look back at you one last time, his heart breaking even more as he watches you grasp onto Justin’s arm while laughing loudly. 

As he walks out of the party Jeff’s mind wanders to what you two could’ve been ultimately hurting himself more at the thought. 

tags: @jeffywittek2020

[streetlight11]

Daycare

Summary: He sends his daughter to a daycare centre during the day when he's busy working. He loves his daughter so much but is unable to give her full attention. However, the little girl understands. Just so happens, the little girl has grown really fond of one of her daycare teachers and she loves to tell her father about her. What happens when he meets his daughter's daycare teacher one day out of pure curiosity only to fall for her later?

Theme: Family, stranger(?) to lovers

Genre: Fluff

Pairing: IdolParent!Taehyung x DaycareTeacher!Reader

Word count: 4.4k

A/n: Hi, hello. I just get so soft when I see my favourite kpop boys interact with kids and I know Taehyung loves kids so I thought of writing this. Let me know if there’s any mistakes! Other than that, enjoy reading! :)

“Okay guys, you can take a break. We’ll resume in 15 minutes.” Their choreographer said as the 7 boys let out tired groans and sighs before collapsing to the ground. Taehyung took a few heavy breaths before making his way to the bags where he took his phone out to make a video call. 

A few seconds later, a familiar high pitched voice ringed through his phone speaker as the little girl stepped in front of the front camera where her grandma was holding up the phone.

“Dada!”

“Hi my flower! How are you? Have you eaten?”

“Yes dada! Grandma made chicken soup today!” Just then, the rest of the boys came rushing to Taehyung’s side as they were all taking turns to say hello to the little girl.

“Ahh! Lily ahhh! Hello!” The boys said while the little girl giggled excitedly before waving to the camera.

“Omg so cute.” Namjoon commented, only for him and Hoseok to wriggle at how cute Lily was being.

Lily was Taehyung’s daughter. Yes, he and his ex-girlfriend was still young at the time when she accidentally conceived the little girl. However, Taehyung’s ex left the baby for Taehyung’s care, completely abandoning them. Taehyung of course didn’t have the heart to throw the baby away so he ended up taking care of her.

He got the help of his family to look after the kid while he was preparing to debut. At the time, nobody knew about this except for his family. It was after he debuted that his members and his CEO and soon after, the company staff members along with his manager found out about the child.

However, Taehyung wasn’t kicked out from the team. In fact, he was given the chance to continue his career but that would mean less time to spend with his daughter. Taehyung wanted to work hard and be successful in the future for himself and his family, that includes his daughter.

Hence, the reason why he stayed with the team.

It has been 9 years since her birth and now that Bangtan was doing quite well, Taehyung was able to support his family and his daughter.

“Dada! Dada!” She called, making the boys squeal at her cuteness.

“Yes my flower?”

“I’m going back to school tomorrow! I can’t wait to meet Miss Pretty!”

“Do you really call her that?”

“Yes!”

“And she’s fine with it?”

“Miss Pretty is very nice! She’s not like the other teachers.” Taehyung laughed, staring at his daughter with such loving eyes. But soon, his happy little time had to come to an end since practice was about to resume.

“Sweetheart, Dada has to go now okay? Say bye to your uncles.”

“Bye bye uncles! Bye bye Dada!”

“Bye Lily!” The boys said in unison before Taehyung blew her a kiss and she did the same. After he hung up the call, Yoongi spoke up.

“Who’s Miss Pretty?”

Taehyung just shrugged his shoulders indicating he doesn’t know.

“I only know she’s one of the daycare centre teachers where I send Lily to everyday but I’ve never met her before.”

“Lily seemed to really like this ‘Miss Pretty’ a lot.” Namjoon commented.

“She likes everyone.” Taehyung said before going back to the middle of the room.

“No she doesn’t. She told you she doesn’t like some of our female staff members, remember?” Namjoon said, causing the rest of them to laugh.

“Maybe because they didn’t really know how to handle her.”

“Hyung, she told me Shiyeon and Jaemi noona scared her.” Jungkook said, causing Taehyung to sigh.

“I guess it doesn’t matter.” Taehyung confessed.

A few days passed by, as usual, Taehyung couldn’t pick Lily up from school due to his late working hours so his manager went to pick her up at 630 in the evening. It was 10 minutes past 6 and some of the kids had gone home with their parents.

Lily was just sitting in one of the small tables, playing with a board game alone when (Y/N), one of the daycare centre teachers, who was also ‘Miss Pretty’ as what Lily likes to call her, came up to the little girl only to join her at her seat.

“Hi Lily.” (Y/N) said with a soft smile on her face.

“Hello Miss Pretty!” Lily said as she got out of her seat and went to wrap her arms around (Y/N)’s hips. (Y/N) giggled. Hugging the little girl back before they went to take a seat. They chatted for the next few minutes while they waited for her guardian to arrive.

“Lily, can I ask you something?”

“Mhm!”

“The man who picks you up everyday, is that your uncle?”

“Nope! He’s my Dada’s manager. Dada is a singer!”

“Oh? Really? Who is he?”

“He is in a group!”

(Y/N) stared at the little girl in awe as the girl began to hum to a song that she recognized. She knew it all too well. It was Run.

“You mean, Bangtan?”

“Yes! Hehe. Do you know my uncles and Dada?”

(Y/N) didn’t want the girl to be afraid or feel like she was going to expose her to the fans that she was a child to one of the members so she shook her head. Just then, the little girl told her to turn on a song by BTS on youtube because she wanted to show (Y/N) who her dad was. (Y/N) did just that, only to click on the most recent comeback they had a few months back with the song title ‘Black Swan’.

The video played but Lily never stopped it, just enjoying the music together with (Y/N) but then she suddenly clicked pause when one of the members got a close up shot and she immediately smiled while eagerly pointing to the screen.

“Dada! That’s him!”

With that, (Y/N) took a good look, only to realize that it was Taehyung. Who happens to also be her favourite member. (Y/N) wasn’t disappointed that he has a child. Instead, she was happy that he never gave up and continued to persevere for his daughter.

“This is your dad?”

“Yeap! He is awesome isn’t he?” The little girl giggled.

“Yeah. He is.” (Y/N) replied with a smile when a familiar voice calls out to Lily from the class door.

“Uncle Sejinie!” Lily said as the man smiled to both (Y/N) and Lily.

(Y/N) returned the gesture, walking Lily to him. Once they were at the door, Lily went ahead to put on her shoe when the man said to the little girl.

“Lily ah, your father wants me to bring you to the company building. He wants to see you.” With that, she began to jump up and down excitedly while holding onto (Y/N)’s hands. The man glanced at their locked hands and frowned.

“But your teacher won’t be coming with us.”

Lily pouted sadly only to ask why, her voice laced with sadness. (Y/N) looked at the man and he was visibly feeling bad but she completely understood why.

“Lily, sweetheart, listen to me okay? I have no special connections with your dad so I can’t go in there. But you’ll still see me here everyday? Right?” (Y/N) tried to talk some sense into the little girl as Lily began to tear.

“B-But, I want you to meet Dada…”

“Next time okay sweetie?” (Y/N) said, only for Lily to nod. She gave (Y/N) a warm hug before waving goodbye to her.

The two of them soon left the centre while (Y/N) quickly packed her things and went to tidy the class a little before heading home. After she locked the centre, she slowly walked towards her car. She got in and soon drove off. But her mind drifted back to earlier.

“Is Taehyung a single dad then? Where is Lily’s mother? I feel so bad that she grew up without a mother figure…” These questions floated in her head as she drove back to her apartment.

But this didn’t make her look down on him. He was still human and humans make mistakes. No doubt, even though she found him to be the most charming and cutest member of Bangtan, she just couldn’t help but wonder just how adorable he would be with his daughter. She would probably melt if she saw how he is with Lily. 

That same evening, Taehyung’s manager and Lily soon arrived at the Bighit building as his manager led her up to the 9th floor of the building.

He showed her which room they were in, only for her to run while the man held her bag for her. Lily reached for the door handle with a little jump. She pulled the door handle down and soon pushed the door open. The guys were just scattered around the room, practicing for the upcoming comeback in a few months.

“Dada!” Lily’s voice echoed in the room. She ran to Taehyung in a heartbeat. His face immediately lit up upon seeing his daughter, easily scooping her off the ground.

“My flower! Omg you’re here!” Taehyung said as he kissed her on her soft cheeks and also on her tiny lips, making the girl giggle.

The rest of them began to huddle around the parent and child as they took turns to greet the little girl. They ended up being distracted by her for a while but she listened to her father when he told her to wait quietly at the couch until he ended practice and she did exactly that.

She even fell asleep with Taehyung’s phone in her small hands while waiting for him. Taehyung took her to his dorm as she slept over there for the night since it was a weekend the next day and the guys were having two days off.

During the weekend, Lily couldn’t stop talking about (Y/N) even though she still calls her ‘Miss Pretty’ when talking to her dad about her.

Taehyung has been hearing all these nice stories of this teacher of Lily so he figured, maybe it was time to meet the person who has been taking very good care of his daughter when he’s busy working everyday and night. It was a Wednesday evening and Lily was just talking to (Y/N) at one of the tables as usual while waiting for her guardian to pick her up.

Just when she was about to tickle Lily for stealing her markers, a deep raspy voice spoke up from the entrance. A sense of familiarity to the voice lingers in her ear for a little too long.

(Y/N) glanced over to the door, only to see a young man standing there with a white mask over his nose and mouth but his eyes were too familiar for her not to recognize.

“Lily ah, Dada’s here.”

That’s when Taehyung finally locks eyes with (Y/N), only then he realizes how true his daughter described her to be. She was a lot cuter than he imagined with the genuine smile on her face as she joked around with his daughter.

With that being said, Lily gasped, running straight to Taehyung. (Y/N) watched as he scooped the little girl up swiftly, nuzzling his face in her small neck. (Y/N) giggled softly at the cute interaction between a father and a daughter. Once she was standing in front of the idol, she suddenly felt nervous and shy, in which he seemed to notice.

“Hi, you must be Lily’s dad. You can call me (Y/N), I’m Lily’s class teacher.” (Y/N) said, holding her hand out. Only for him to smile behind the mask. Taehyung took her hand in his and shook it gently before he introduced himself.

“Hi (Y/N), I’m Taehyung. Thanks for taking such good care of my little flower.” He said, only for him to feel a slight electric shock when their skins made contact for a little too long. They both pulled away sharply but then apologized. Just then, Lily spoke up.

“Yay! Does that mean Miss Pretty can see Dada more now?”

With that, (Y/N) choked on her own saliva while Taehyung’s eyes grew wide in shock.

“Lily…”

“Oh Dada, come on! I like Miss Pretty. Don’t you?” Her question came to them by surprise when he locked eyes with (Y/N) for a while but then a small smile appeared on his lips.

“I do, baby. Now enough of chatting. Let’s go. We wouldn’t want to hold Miss Pretty back from her rest now do we?” Taehyung said while Lily shook her head. However, (Y/N) was flustered when he used the nickname Lily gave her instead of her name. Taehyung flashed her a shy smile as he soon asked if she had a ride home. When she told him she drove there, he nodded.

“Alright then. Drive safely. Thank you again for everything you’ve done for Lily.”

“It’s my pleasure, Taehyung. Goodnight, and I’ll see you tomorrow pretty flower.” (Y/N) said. Tapping Lily’s nose, making the girl giggle. Only for the little girl to bury her face in Taehyung’s neck.

The next day, (Y/N) didn’t expect to see Taehyung again in the evening as he took his time to fetch Lily from the daycare centre although he was in the middle of practice. Slowly, this became a routine for him to come pick Lily up from school. At first his member’s were confused as to why he was suddenly eager to fetch his daughter almost everyday. But after a while, they knew exactly why. 

Taehyung wanted to see (Y/N).

This went on for a few weeks with the both of them already exchanged numbers and he would sometimes video call her during lunch just so he could talk to Lily, and maybe (Y/N) too. The members have spoken to (Y/N) a few times before and some of them have even met her in person. All of them seemed to like her as a person.

However, it was Taehyung’s birthday today and the boys had to work. Taehyung apologized to (Y/N) through text saying that he probably couldn’t come and fetch Lily due to his busy schedule but she told him it was fine.

Little did he know, the boys had planned something to surprise the single father.

(Y/N) and Lily went to go get a small cake for Taehyung before heading to the company building. Once they managed to get in with the help of their manager, he brought them to the level where they were at.

(Y/N) prepared the cake and candles as she hid outside the practice room door while Lily hid on the opposite side of (Y/N). She texted Yoongi to get Taehyung out of the room and soon, when the door opened with a clueless Taehyung stepping out to leave, Lily and (Y/N) came out front to surprise him. The poor male jumped back in shock as he clutched to his chest.

Everyone began to sing for him the happy birthday song as they gathered around the door. A smile crept onto his face but he was still confused to see them there.

“Happy Birthday Dada!” Lily said after they finished singing for him while Taehyung glanced back and forth between the adult and the kid.

“Happy Birthday Taehyung.” (Y/N) wished as she held the cake in front of him.

“Make a wish.” She said, only for Taehyung to listen.

He closed his eyes and soon made a wish in his head before blowing the candles out. Everyone cheered before re-entering the room to celebrate briefly. They were all having bite after bite of the cake, only for Jungkook to whisper to Hoseok quietly while (Y/N) was talking to Seokjin and Yoongi.

“Wah hyung, she’s really pretty. She’d make such a cute couple with V hyung.”

“I agree. Plus, she’s already won Lily’s heart. It makes her one step closer to being Lily’s mother figure.” Hoseok said, seeing her giggle at Seokjin’s comment about her having to be stuck with Taehyung of all people. Their break time was about to end when (Y/N) spoke up, catching the attention of everyone else.

“I’m really thankful I got to be here and celebrate your birthday. Who would’ve thought I would be sitting here with a famous artist group huh?” They laughed at her words, telling her that they were happy she could feel even the slightest bit comfortable being with them as a normal person and not as an idol with a fan.

Just then, she took this chance to continue.

“Even so, I shouldn’t be here for too long. I don’t want people to get the wrong information.” This caused the boys to look at her in shock while some frowned.

“What do you mean? You’re leaving already?” Taehyung asks suddenly from beside her as she locks eyes with him. She found it hard to answer him so he continued.

“Stay… please.” His words were soft and almost as if he meant every bit of it without any hesitance in it.

“But-”

“I know you’re worried about our fans and the media, but I promise you’ll be safe.” His words brought so much comfort to her but for some reason, she was still afraid. So for the first time, Taehyung reached down to place a hand on top of her own that was resting in her lap while he gently caressed it with his thumb.

“Please stay (Y/N).” The room fell silent, the boys glancing back and forth between the two expectantly.

She didn’t feel right to reject him with how gentle he was being so she decided to give in.

“Okay…” 

With that being said, the members smiled in victory as they soon cleaned up the place before going back to practice. As promised, (Y/N) stayed longer while the boys practiced their upcoming song. (Y/N) was just sitting with Lily at the couch, entertaining the little girl by watching a cartoon with her. Halfway through the cartoon, Lily began to yawn as (Y/N) turned to her in concern.

“Are you sleepy?” She asked, her voice slightly louder so she could hear past the music playing in the room.

Lily nodded as she turned to (Y/N) with her arms out. It was out instinct that (Y/N) immediately got up and rested her hands on Lily’s underarms before lifting her up. She puts Lily on her waist as the little girl wraps her arms around (Y/N)’s shoulders. Lily pressed her cheek on top of (Y/N)’s shoulder with (Y/N) supporting the girl by resting her arms under the girl’s thighs.

The boys were still focused on dancing when Taehyung noticed (Y/N) carrying Lily through the reflection.

She was swaying from side to side, gently patting Lily’s back to lull her to sleep. Since it was pretty noisy in the room, (Y/N) decided to bring Lily outside so that the little girl could sleep in peace. All the while, Taehyung watched as (Y/N) carried Lily out of the room quietly without interrupting the boys.

A few of the members noticed this too but they weren’t as focused as Taehyung. Almost an hour later, they decided to call it a day as they began to take a short rest while packing their stuff.

“They’re not back yet?” Taehyung asked when he realized (Y/N) and Lily weren’t in the room. The boys shook their heads, only for Taehyung to leave the practice room in search of his two precious gems. Only to find (Y/N) standing at the very end of the hallway, softly humming to a song.

Taehyung lightly jogged towards her as she turned around upon hearing his footsteps.

“We’re done with practice. Did you drive here?” He asked.

“Mhm.” The room fell silent for a bit before he spoke up.

“I really mean what I said earlier.” She looked at him in slight confusion before he explained himself.

“You don’t have to worry about anyone. I promise you’ll be safe. I’ll keep you safe.”

With that, she smiled as she reached up to cup his face, making him lean into her touch. 

Both of them have yet to confess their honest feelings for each other but it was pretty obvious that they liked each other. However, because of his profession, it would be slightly hard for him to actually be open about being in a relationship with someone even though he wants to be in one with her.

But that didn’t stop them from being honest and true to one another while nobody else was looking. With that, Taehyung gently wraps his fingers around her wrist as he caresses her hand softly before he speaks up.

“I know this is a little much to ask, but is it okay if you let Lily stay at your place tonight, I have a busy schedule all day tomorrow and I can't put her at the daycare since it’s a weekend. My parents are out of town at the moment too.”

“Yeah sure. No problem Taehyung.” She said with a genuine smile.

“Thank you so much (Y/N). I’ll come pick her up after my schedule is over.”

“No worries Taehyung. Just give me a call before you come okay?”

“Okay.” With that, the 9 of them soon left the building as she took Lily with her. 

A few weeks passed and both (Y/N) and Taehyung have been showing more and more intimacy but without any PDA. Whenever the boys were at their dorm, they would often ask when Taehyung would ask her out or make it official but it seems like he has too many things on his mind. But they didn’t rush him into things so that was good. Today however, was a little different.

(Y/N) got a text from Hoseok asking her to come to the company building saying that Taehyung injured himself during the practice and nobody was around to take care of Lily. With that being said, she quickly rushed over to the company. Once she arrived, she went to find the room. 

The minute she pushed the door open, she was met with a very cute setting where there was a foldable table with a laptop, a picnic basket on top of the pretty blanket covers. She got confused as she stared at it for a second, only for someone to cover her eyes from behind. She gasped as she jumped back, crashing into a firm chest.

“What are yo-”

“Shh, it’s just me.” Taehyung’s voice resonated in her ear as she couldn’t help but giggle.

He guided her inside not before closing the door and lock it. After they were inside, she turned to him and faked a hurt expression.

“Hoseok told me you got injured. Why would you guys lie about that? I was so worried for you!” She said as he chuckled, finding her super adorable. Taehyung took her hand and led her to the layout where the picnic blanket was laid. They soon took a seat before he then spoke up.

“I know this isn’t a perfect first date, but I knew you’d feel uncomfortable if we were out in public because you know, with all the public eye and media…” With that, she looked at him. A tint of pink crept onto her cheeks.

“A d-date?”

“Oh, yeah, forgot to properly ask you out. Unless you don’t want this to be a date, I’m totally fine with it! You don’t have to-”

“It’s okay… I- I want this to be a date.” She confessed, making him smile as they soon continued with their indoor picnic date. Where they watched a movie in the dark while they cuddled on the blanket. Halfway through, she was feeling slightly cold since she only wore a crop top and jeans. Taehyung gave her his jacket but she was still cold so he offered to keep her warm.

She got flustered at first but then she decided to just go with it due to coldness.

Hence the reason why she was now snuggled in between his legs, her back resting against his chest while he had his arms around her body.

She slowly got distracted by him drawing lazy patterns onto her waist. Her head was just below his chin so if she tilted her head up to look at him, their faces wouldn’t be too far from each other. Just then, she gently rests her cold hands on top of his forearms, making him look down. That’s when she decided to be brave and look up.

Taehyung stared at her with a gentle smile on his face, glancing down to his lips. Her heart was beating so fast against her chest, she could almost feel as though he could hear it. Taehyung slowly leaned down, testing the waters to see if she would pull away.

When she didn’t move, that’s when he finally pressed his soft lips on hers. She closed her eyes in bliss as she reached up to cup his face. Taehyung pulled away with a soft sound before kissing her again. He was getting drunk in her lips when she turned her body slightly so that she wasn’t lying in an awkward position. Taehyung kissed her passionately before pulling away for the second time.

They left their faces so close to each other to let their lips graze against one another.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else to be the mother figure of my daughter.” Taehyung whispered as he locked eyes with her again. She smiled as she sneaked a kiss before she spoke up.

“I love that girl with all my heart, and you too.” Taehyung chuckled shyly as he kissed her again, the movie long forgotten by now.

[yn-x-animeboy]

Jungkook x y/n (as a famous artist) Pt.3

sinopsis: You are a popular artist in America, pretty famous, loved and well-known by the general public (actually you were one of the top 10 artists in the world but you are pretty humble and naïve to realize your popularity), one day during one of your fan meets you talk about how much you love BTS, and not only how you wish to meet them and work with them but how Jungkook is one of your celebrity crushes. During the meet you fangirled with other ARMYs in the crowd; video clips of you fangirling and talking about BTS at your meet where posted and reposted all over social media. This obviously broke the internet because you were not only a famous singer but you also were always accepted and loved by ARMY and this made a lot of people happy. Suddenly it felt like everyone wanted you to meet the seven handsome and talented idols and collaborate, but you could only wish, you believed they didn't even know who you were...or so you thought

pairing: reader x Jungkook

genre: fluff, romance, for entertainment purposes

BTS x Fem Reader

Parts: 1 here & 2 here

---

Part: 3 - The Jimmy Fallon Show

A couple of months have passed since your fan meet episode went viral and since BTS saw the video too. A lot has happened since then tbh, you kept working hard, you just put out your 5th studio album which is doing amazing in the charts, it reached no.1 for album of the year and 3 of your songs stand in the first places amongst other artists on the top 100 songs as well. BTS have also been working on music and projects, not a lot of time for you all. 

Even though it has been a long time since your ‘fan meet’ episode was aired  the media still brings up your episode highlights where you talk about BTS, it is not another really, it doesn't seem to affect you. Neither you or BTS have openly spoken about this to the general public, to them, it seemed like a cute exchange between you and your fans where they got ‘close and personal’. The only difference now is that your fans and ARMYs now have a ship name for you and Jungkook, and they still wish their ship could sail someday….

Thanks to the success your album has had in the short time it was published, you have been invited to multiple talk-shows to promote your new music and to basically catch up with the media. As an artist the whole publicity thing is important for your team and company. Even though it can be hard to ‘do press’ as a celebrity, you enjoy it and always do your best for your supporters. Your fans and everyone who became a fan of your infamous episode would troll around twitter writing things like ‘will BTS be on this show appearing with y/n?’ ‘AYe y/n watch out, they are going to surprise you with BTS’; but you didn't really have time to see them, only your team was aware. Your days working + rehearsing + promoting don't really give you time to scoop around your social media.

Today on your schedule: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Tonight you will be performing and having an interview for the show. You love this show so much, you have been invited before,  and you really feel comfortable on set in the company of Jimmy and his team/staff, they are always super nice and welcoming. You haven’t been there for an interview in a while and you are excited. (Even though it went viral, and it was your fantasy, the whole “I WISH I COULD MEET BTS AT A TONIGHT SHOW” was not really on your mind today, probablly because of how hectic your day was. You woke up super early and took a flight on your jet to New York, then you went to rehearsal to rehearse the song you’ll be performing tonight, went to the hotel and took a shower, went to two important business meetings for your record company, barely had time to eat, then went and had hair and makeup done for an afternoon interview for a radio show and finally some rest before you went to the Jimmy Fallon studio)

The Tonight Show starts at 10:00pm but you have to get there earlier to greet Jimmy and the staff, to quickly rehearse your performance, to go over details about the show, get ready, etc. You arrive on set at around 6:00pm in sweatpants, a baggy Ariana Grande merch T-shirt, sneakers and fresh hair from your second shower today. You walk through the door next to your personal bodyguard Lee and Manager Sam, followed by your stylist Meg behind you, you look around to see if you could recognize any familiar faces, The camera crew were setting up their high budget equipment, staff members cleaning, running around and preparing for tonight's live interview. Jimmy comes out from behind a door with casual clothes and messy hair, nothing like his sleek professional look on TV. Smiling he greets you and your team; he takes a step forward and hugs you tightly “Hi y/n it’s so nice to see you, it has been a while we have missed you, ever since your interview was scheduled for this week the staff has been excited to see you again, including me, you are one of our favorite guests to have over i swear” you look at him sweetly with hands on your chest from his hind words (the reason why they loved you so much was because you were different from other celebrities on the show, you were always super polite and nice to the staff and took time out of your schedule to greet everyone and introduce yourself, even though you were one of the biggest stars in the world you humble personality attracted many). “Omg stop Jimmy you are so sweet, I love your show so much it’s always an honor, thanks again for inviting meI wanna say hi to the staff, can I?” You said; Jimmy has been like a mentor to you when it comes to interviews and press, he was one of the first people to believe in you and interview you when you debuted. “Yes of course you go ahead, I’ll talk with your manager while you do so to catch up.” (They were good friends too)

While Jimmy and Sam catch up, and your stylist and bodyguard follow an assistant to put your stuff in the dressing room; you walk around introducing yourself to the staff; you visit the camera crew, the audio booth, the lighting crew, the producers, the PD, the meeting room, even the cafeteria. This helped you also to loosen up and feel more comfortable and confident for the show. After the greeting you quickly rehearsed with your talented backup dancers for the performance to get used to the ‘stage’ and the spacing.

One of the sweet staff members you just met offered to show you to your dressing room where Lee, Sam and Meg were waiting for you. You entered the spacious dressing room and sat at a small couch next to Lee (he was your bodyguard but sometimes even acted like a father/guardian to you, you were thankful you had a close connection with your team) You treated them all, including your dancers, to a mini banquet of food from the cafeteria and chatted about nothing before you had to start getting ready. Sam started getting constant phone calls, as your manager he was constantly busy on the phone, he ignored a couple of them but the caller seemed insistant, Sam saw the caller ID and shot up and ran outside to answer. “Ey no phones on the table mister” you teased as he was halfway out the door, he flipped you off and you back at him and proceeded to finish your snack; “Who would be so insistent, the company handles the calls when Sam has something to to with y/n… this interview has been scheduled for a month now…” Meg, your stylist commented, but you just just shrugged her shoulders as you swallowed the last bite of your sandwich, not really thinking too much about it. You stood up to brush your teeth after finishing eating. (what you failed to notice was Lee making a face to Meg basically telling her to ‘shut up’.... they knew something you didn’t but you didn’t see said interaction at all)

After 20-30 mins Sam came back as if nothing happened, you were now sitting in front of the large vanity mirror and Meg staring at your hair behind you. “Is everything okay Sammy?” You asked, thinking the call could be from a family member or an emergency, judging on the time it took. “No, yes- um it was just a catch up call, apparently the company did not answer their call in my place so they called me directly ignoring the fact that I was here with you.” he spoke. “Ah yeah, well that's good, well we finished our food and cleaned up so the girls (referring to the 2 backup dancers) and I could start getting ready but I left you and Lee some cookies and coffee on the table” you said pointing to the small coffee table in front of the couch that was previously filled with food, Lee, a 6’5 tall man sitting in a tiny couch with a cookie on his right hand and coffee on his left making space for Sam to sit next to him. cute. 

You finish getting ready, hair done simple and comfortable for your interview and later performance, light natural makeup letting your natural beauty show off and fancy yet comfortable outfit that allows you to sit and dance comfortably. You felt really pretty and powerful. It was 9:30, only 30 mins before The Tonight Show started. before The live audience was allowed inside the studio you went over your dance quickly to make sure your outfit was safe to dance in, to make sure the music was the right one and to let the camera crew plan out their shots for the dance and interview segments. Once again you bought your head towards the staff and wished them good luck and a good show, you introduced yourself to the live band that accomplies Jimmy for the show as well and went backstage again for the final touch ups and waited for your turn to come out.

----

“.... and now here is your host...Jimmy Fallon'' he was introduced as the audience clapped for him and he walked across the set to his desk. “Hi, everyone, and welcome to THE TONIGHT SHOW!!!” The crowd cheered again for Jimmy. “Normally we have multiple guests on this show and from 10:00 pm to 12:00am we talk to multiple guests but today is a little different, today we have a very very special guest who will be with us. the. full. show!!!” The audience was comforted by a lot of your fans since it was announced you would be the guest tonight they prepared, and as soon as they heard this immediately stood up and cheered knowing it was you he was talking about. “She is one of my favorite artists, she is the sweetest, most talented artist today. Everyone welcome…. y/n'' The crowd went crazy as you came out from behind the curtain. Seeing everyone you bowed down to the audience and waved your hands, then you took Jimmy's hand to help you up the steps to the couch next to his talk show desk and sat down again bowing your head and mouthing ‘thank you’ to the still cheering audience.

“Wow the people love you y/n'' Jimmy said. “Hahaha no, stop, Thank you all, I love you so much I don't deserve you all.” you said blushing a little from the overwhelming support. The interview started normally, Jimmy introduced you properly to the camera and audience, you spoke about yourself and answered the general questions (‘What have you been doing these days?’ ‘Tell us about your album’.... blah blah)

After a couple of questions you did a fun activity with Jimmy where you created a funny sketch similar to the ones on SNL, you followed the lines on the promter and it came out to be a really funny and light activity to interlude the show. Then after a small break you went back to your seats and continued the Q&A.

“It's crazy, y/n’s latest album is the number one album in the country and she also holds the first, second and third spots for the billboard top 100 hits. You even broke a record for this, to being the youngest and first woman to ever achieve this.” Jimmy said as you smiled and looked at the cheering crowd. “Its crazy, I never thought one day I could even hold a place in the top 100, and now I actually hold 3 places plus another 1st place for album of the country, Thank you all so much for supporting me, this would've happened if it wasn't for all of the people who supported my music, Thank you for giving my music a chance.”

“So actually the next billboard award show is tomorrow, and y/n, we heard you are going to be performing.. is that so?” Jimmy smoothly transitioned form question to question, topic from topic. “Yeah I was blessed to not only be nominated for an award but to also be invited to perform for the ceremony, I am so excited, It is an honor, it not my first time performing at the billboard’s but I have so much fun every time, hopefully the audience will like my performance and the other guest performers of the night, I can’t wait.

“What are you performing tomorrow y/n?”, “Shhh it’s a surprise Jimmy, I can give you a little spoiler, I am performing one of my new album’s songs, it is one of my favorite songs on it” You smoothly avoided actually answering what song you would be performing tomorrow. “Mhm okay how about you tell me in secret during the commercial break I have to know…” Jimmy insisted “Sure Jimmy I’ll tell you”. “Okay so guys let's go to a short commercial break, but don’t leave cause when we are back y/n will be performing live, don't you miss it!” Jimmy said and waved with you as the producer called for the commercial break. 

After the commercial break you got to perform one of your hit songs next to your back up dancers, you let yourself go to the music and enjoyed the performance; you really got lost in the music and dancing every time you had an audience, you loved this so much. After your performance you received a standing ovation form the people present on set, Jimmy went over from his seat to you, he congratulated and complimented you. He then guided you to your seat and gave you some water; he made some ads/sponsorship bits while you grabbed some air and while Meg retouched your hair and makeup while the cameras weren’t on you.

Jimmy then came back after another small break to proceed with the interview: “So y/n I actually wanted to talk to you about something really big” you made a face at Jimmy’s word choices (you had somewhat of a dirty mind) “Hahahaha, Don't make that face y/n, it's not what you think… God.. what a dirty mind you have; I meant I wanted to talk to you about something that recently happened and I’m sure everyone wants to have an update on'' Jimmy made himself clear. “Hahahaha oh, okay sure, tell me” 

“A couple of months ago you went viral on social media after you talked about BTS on one of your episodes, and your fans and ARMYs went crazy, not gonna lie even I got excited” As soon as you heard Jimmy say “BTS'' your face dropped making the audience giggle at your reaction, you started to get anxious. “Hah-, um yeah that happened, I didn't expect for it to become such a big thing tbh Jimmy” you said.

“So in the episode you got asked by one of your fans something about how you would want to meet them or something and you mentioned how you would like to meet then on a talk show… like this one” Jimmy said with a smug expression taking over his face. You quickly spoke before he could say something else “Omg Jimmy stop, I swear if I look behind this couch and BTS is hiding behind it I will have a heart attack, please don't play with me, I’m not ready, stop that''

 The crowd and Jimmy laughed at your cute panic. “Don’t worry y/n, no, I swear they are not there” Jimmy treasured. “IDK MAN, I’m gonna look behind the couch….” you dared; “Go ahead y/n” Jimmy fired back; this made you more nervous, you made a ‘I’m tough’ face at Jimmy and moved your body sideways, “If there is someone behind here I will run Jimmy, I. WILL. RUN. I don’t know where or how far but I will run out..” Jimmy and the audience laughed again and stopped as you looked behind the couch….. and…… there behind the couch…… there was…….. nothing. You started laughing as you went back to your original sitting position, the audience looking curiously at you. “Hahahaha ahhhh there is nothing there” whipping some laughing tears off the inner corner of your eyes you looked at Jimmy who was too laughing at you. “I told you y/n! ahahahah”

Jimmy looked at the camera and directed to the audience “For the people who don’t know what we are talking about and/or haven't seen y/n’s latest episode we have some clips for you” You looked at Jimmy and at the crew wanting to refuse due to your embarrassment, you felt exposed. The video played on the screen, the screen was split so that while the episode clips showed on screen your reaction could also be seen at the same time. Only a small trailer was played, which made you confused, you thought they would play the clips where you deeply talk about BTS…

The video stopped and the audience clapped, “Well that's just a small trailer of the full episode if anyone would like to go over and watch it it was pretty fun… I really enjoy ‘y/n’s camera roll’ episodes, I highly recommend” you smiled and appreciated the free proportion but you went anxious again as Jimmy spoke, “But y/n I actually have a small surprise for you, actually BTS saw your episode and reacted to it on camera…” You went stiff…. he said what???? BTS saw your video? they learned who your where?.... wait. THEY SAW THE VIDEO????? THEY SAW YOU FANGIRLING OVER THEM AND THIRSTING OVER JK AND HERD YOUR STUPID FANTASY????

 “OMG Jimmy no…. AHHH no….” You said as realization dawned on you and you covered your face with your hands.

“oh y/n yes… and we have the video of their reaction here, for the first time ever, an exclusive for the Tonight Show…. watch the screen y/n'' The screen was again split to show your reaction + the video. You lifted your face from your hands and held on to Jimmy’s hand on the desk, bracing yourself for further embarrassment and probable rejection. The video played: 

(BTS reacting to your episode. {the bullet points are your ‘present day’ reactions to BTS reacting to you})

The video started . “Oi, it’s y/n'' Jin immediately said as soon as your face appeared on their screen, “Is this a new episode?” Jimin asked out loud, “Wait what day is it? they normally go up on Friday, did we miss it?” Taehyung spoke.

“OMG no way, they know who I am, omg I’m crying Jimmy” You actually started tearing up and Jimmy squished your hands tighter as he read the subtitles added (you understood Korean).

“Hello everyone welcome to another episode of…. f** I don't even know what we call these videos, jajajaja” “Wait what?... jajajajaja omg guys thank you, I'm so sorry, yeah you heard them, welcome back to y/n’s camera roll, I can’t believe I forgot that, anyway today’s episode is a little different……” the boys chuckle at your genuine personality “hahaha gwiyeoun” (haha cute) Suga added, J-Hope agreeing with him as he gave Suga a piece of the food he was having. Kookie was currently watching the screen not even blinking, he hadn’t taken a bite out of his noodles or a sip out of his banana milk, Jimin noticed and pointed at him looking back at the guys with a silent laugh.

You kept crying and making faces reacting to them every time they spoke

“Hi, y/n, can I ask you another question?” “I saw that you liked an instagram post about BTS a while back uploaded by a fan account and I also saw that you actually follow their personal twitter account. ALSO in your behind the scenes video for your music video shoot you can be seen in the background dancing the Boy with luv choreo. So I wanted to ask if you were an ARMY and if you know them personally? and like should we be expecting a collaboration soon?”

“No way….Omg what she says she hates us” Jimin said. “Imagine if she said she hates us, is this why you guys are making us watch this?” Suga looked  at the staff.

“OMG I could never, NO omg how could I hate them” you commented wiping away your tears and back to squeezing Jimmy’s stretched hand on the desk

 “Can we keep watching hyungs…” Jungkook said looking around at the others, a bit desperate to find out what you said next. “Oi, wouldn't you want to know guki…” Jin teased him, wiggling his eyebrows and slapping the back of his head playfully. Before Jungkook could fight back RM reached over them and pressed play, preventing a ‘playful’ fight between the youngest and oldest member to take place.

You froze at the interaction between Jungkook and Jin… but kept watching not wanting to overthink it.

“OMG hahaha I love you so much, what an amazing question, Okay so first off no I don’t know them personally and sadly no plans of collaboration are on sight. Oh wow I have never been asked if I liked BTS before, I’m excited hahaha. Yeah I am an ARMY, I love them so much I am one of their biggest fans, and they are also one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to work ethic and professionalism, listening to them or watching them gives me motivation to keep doing what I love, which is this. anyway I am rambling I should stop; you guys can say y/n stop whenever I start rambling okay? hahaha''

RM stood up with hands on his head; Jin and J-Hope held on to each other with their mouths wide open looking at the screen; V was still sitting in the same spot, frozen, as if he was paused in time along with the now paused screen; Suga stood up with his hands on his mouth bouncing his knees lightly; Jimin reached to RM behind him and stretched his arms out with a ‘Did you hear that?’ expression; Jungkook leaned over the table and pulled the screen closer, he was smiling from ear to ear letting out a small “wow” under his breath, then he replayed your answer to listen to it one more time, rereading the subtitles under the video making sure he did not miss any words.

You chuckled at their individual reactions and resumed your crying at their reactions because you couldn’t believe they knew you and could be so cute towards a video of you

 “y/n Okay so, who is your favorite member?” “Well first off, I don't have a favorite member. I really mean it when I say this. I love them all equally and I love them all as a group. I don’t prefer one over the other or like one better.  I really do support them equally. I mean there is nothing wrong with having a bias, as long as you also respect the other members, hope that all made sense lol” Everyone seemed moved by your support towards them and nodded.

Again the boys reacted, they were so surprised they paused again and walked back and forth making sounds of excitement

Jimmy smiled proudly at you and helped you wipe a tear with a tissue 

“Y/n so you don’t have a favorite, but do you have a crush on any of them?, like if you could date one of them right now, which one do you pick?” A fan asked. “okay...well...Like I said just to be clear I don't have favorites amongst the group members, but I do have a type…. I consider one of them to be my celebrity crush”......“So in that case, if I had to pick someone that I would date in real life...i would say…. Jungkook” 

You put your forehead on Jimmy’s desk, you felt embarrassed, you knew what was coming, the audience was also reacting along and they got super excited at this part. You were scared over what BTS would think/say about this.

The. Guys. Went. Nuts. Jungkook immediately stood up and lifted his hands up in the air as if he had won an award, he paused the video and started smiling like crazy; 

A staff member spoke to Jungkook on the video : “How do you feel Jungkook?” He lifted his face from his hands and ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes were glossy and his smile wide. “I-I don't know what to say, I can’t believe it,” he said as he sat down looking  at the pause screen, looking at your still image. His hyungs patted him on the back; Jimin turned his head to the staff as he was rubbing JK’s back with one hand, “You know Jungook has had the biggest crush on y/n for so long now” Jimin told the staff. 

you completely froze, you started shaking, Jimmy was looking at you happily, the audience was going crazy, even the crew was invested in the k-drama worthy content. You went numb, you kept looking at the screen frozen.

Jungkook looked up and spoke to the staff: “Yeah I remember listening to her debut song for the longest time without really thinking about who the artist was. When her first studio album broke records I decided to look her up, I watched a video of her talking about the album and her experience as a new artist and I think ever since then I have had a crush on her; she is my ideal type”

Everyone was going crazy in the Tonight Show studio. EVEN Jimmy let go of you and stood up pacing around his desk, no one was expecting this. You came out of your trance as Jimmy shook you and you wiped more tears clouding your vision.

“Why is she your ideal type?” a staff member in the back asked JK. “Ha. um. well  I think my ideal type of girl is someone who is funny and has a bright and cool personality; someone who as soon as they step into a room they immediately light it up; someone who is goofy and isn't afraid to become a joke or mess up; A confident person; someone who isn't too girly or too boyish; someone who likes to learn new  things and from who I can learn new things too; someone who is younger than me; Someone who loves dancing and singing a lot, etc. And y/n is kinda all that and more tbh; 

You felt like you were dreaming… Totally forgetting you were on live television. The butterflies in your stomach felt more like birds. your heart pounding out of your chest and body glued to your seat.

The video of you time skipped again to the ‘fantasy’ answer’: “Okay so, my literal fantasy is to one day meet them at a talk show, you know how hosts like to surprise their guests with something/someone they like?, I believe Ellen has done it multiple times where she surprised a guest with their idol or celebrity crush, you know?” The group nodded, invested in your fake scenario “Well i would be invited to like the Jimmy Fallon Show, where he would just randomly surprise me with BTS. Then I would be given the opportunity to introduce myself and tell them how much I love and support them. I would also be able to show them my korean speaking skills, I learned Korean and Spanish back in school and I have never been able to actually use either them, lol, anyway...well after that we would all become really good friends, and we would collaborate and put out one or multiple songs for you guys. I mean that's basically it, I wish I could meet them, and become their friend and write songs with them, even produce songs with Suga or RM if I could'' 

you cringed at the sound of your voice, you were so embarrassed. The audience, crew and Jimmy found this and your reaction to be so adorable.

“What???? does she speak korean?” / “OMG Jungkook is she speaks korean marry her” / “OMG I wanna meet her now”  / “That's so cute” / “She is so cool” 

oMg, even after the video stopped you kept crying and sobbing, it almost felt like you had made it in life, you curled into a ball, you didn't care if you were live or not.

(end of video, camera was back to you and Jimmy only)

“y/n this is amazing, this was my first time watching the video too, how do you feel, hahahaha stop crying this is good y/n” He rubbed your hand and passed you a new tissue from his desk. You cleaned yourself up and accepted a new water bottle from a crew assistant.

“I- I’m at a loss for words Jimmy, I cannot even process it; I love them so much hahaha” You sniffed and looked at Jimmy innocently. “By the way I am so sorry for crying like this, ew I’m a mess right now, I so sorry for anyone watching” 

“No no, you are good, your fans love you and love to see the real you; right guys?” Jimmy said looking at the crowd and once again they all cheered for you, this made you happy and you smiled again. “Thank You all so much, thank you to anyone involved in the making of this reaction video and this segment of the show AND FOR WHOEVER ADDED THE SUBTITLES FOR THE STUDIO hahaha, I am so happy, I want to keep crying but I will compose myself for now and once I go home cry some more hahaha” 

“Y/N so obviously you are an ARMY, would you mind playing a small game with me?...” You nodded at Jimmy. “Okay so after the break we will be back  with y/n, and she will prove how big of an ARMY she actually is…”

Another commercial break was called, Meg again came over and cleaned you up, she fixed your hair and makeup and then made you change into some sneakers (you performed in heels), fresh sweatpants and a shirt that compliment your figure. Your manager told you that for the next segment you needed comfy clothes. You had so much in your mind right now you didn’t even question it.

“Okayyy and we are back everybody, so right now as you can see y/n has changed into a more sporty outfit, right y/n?” you looked at him and at the camera and answered back. “Yeah, i’m in my natural form now” you said as you modeled your comfy wear

“So today I will put your BTS knowledge to the test, I will play a snippet of a BTS song, to your right you have two buttons ‘dance button’ or ‘sing’ button; you can either dance to the part being played when you hit the dance button or keep singing the song if your hit the ‘sing’ button.” Jimmy challenged you as he explained the next activity, to the left of you a small table with both buttons and a mic was set up, you accepted and started the challenge; the game went like this; Dynamite, dance; Mic Drop, dance; No more dream, dance; Daechwita, sing/rap; the crowd was super hyped and Jimmy was loving your energy and the way you executed the songs perfectly, suddenly you recognized Euphoria being played, you clicked the sing button and you started to complete the lyrics as the music was switched to ‘karaoke mode’… you started to sing and suddenly you heard a voice behind you singing with you, and you couldn’t even turn around to prove yourself you were not mistaken, you knew that voice too well, the live audience was losing it, the crew looked excited, you went numb, you looked back and it seemed like a joke, a complete dream…..

The seven guys were coming out from behind the curtain, being led by Jungkook, he was singing the bridge of the song, mic in hand and just looking at you. Your knees gave out and you curled on your knees as you cried on your knees, ‘there is no way’, you could even begin to process what was going on, The boys were a little shy and stayed behind you as Jimmy lifted you from the floor and made you look at them.....

----

PART 4 > HERE

AHhhh I love this part hahahhaha

Hope you liked it. PArt 4 is up; please give me a lil <3 if you liked this. :) Xx

[ncssian]

A Favor: Part Nine

Nessian Modern AU

Masterlist

a/n: reading canon eris discourse literally makes me dizzy but in this fic he's pretty chill

***

“Any plans for Thanksgiving?” Emerie asks as they stroll between the shelves of the library.

Nesta runs her finger down the spine of a textbook on corporate law. “Not really,” she murmurs distantly.

She’s been doing her best not to think of the upcoming holidays, in fact. Cassian is going to Velaris for Thanksgiving, and of course Feyre invited Nesta as well, but…

She’s always ignored her sister’s holiday invites, but this year is different. Cassian, a recent constant in her life, will be gone, enjoying himself for the first time in months without her presence. And Nesta will be at the cabin alone, because of course she can’t celebrate Thanksgiving with Feyre’s found family. Being friends with Cassian hasn’t changed that.

“Well,” Emerie is saying, “a bunch of us can’t go home for the holidays for one reason or another, so we’re hosting a small Friendsgiving at my apartment. You’re invited.”

Nesta glances at her, surprised. “Who’s going to be there?”

“The same guys from drinks night: Eris, Justinian, Isaac. Maybe a plus one or two if we’re lucky.” She elbows Nesta. “Maybe a girl for me to take home.”

“I thought the party was at your home already?”

“You know what I mean. Anyway, are you coming?”

Nesta purses her lips. “But you said it was a Friendsgiving. Those guys aren’t my friends.”

Emerie looks at her like she's insane. “Uh, why not?”

“Because,” Nesta states, “we’ve only had one real interaction all semester.”

Emerie scoffs. “You talk to them all the time in class, Nesta.”

“Yes. Out of necessity.”

Emerie raises a high brow. “That’s how you view spending time with us? A ‘necessity’?”

She’s upset, and Nesta doesn’t know what she said wrong. “That’s not what I meant,” she tries to say.

“Then what did you mean?”

“I just…” Nesta shrugs. “I thought it took more to make friends than a single night out.” Those are the rules, right?

Emerie narrows her dark eyes at her. “I’m sorry we’re not up to standard, then. But for your information, those guys liked you. I’m sure they considered you a friend.” She turns to leave, but Nesta is so stunned she can’t even try to stop her. The click of Emerie’s heels resonate long after she’s gone.

“Hey,” Cassian comes up to her later that day. “About Thanksgiving—”

Nesta drops her dinner plate onto the island with a clatter. “What is it with everybody and Thanksgiving?” Her voice is unnecessarily loud.

Cassian blinks. “Well, it’s only a few days away—”

“I know,” she says. “I’m fine staying home alone. We never celebrated Thanksgiving growing up, you know? It’s really not a big deal.”

“Will you let me finish, Nesta?”

Nesta presses her lips together.

Cassian takes a breath. “I think you should— I would really love it if you came to Velaris with me this weekend.”

There’s a silence as he waits for her to answer.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she says after a moment.

Before he can press the subject, she blurts, “I already have plans.”

“You do?” Nesta can’t tell if he sounds disappointed or surprised.

She straightens her back, lying through her teeth, “Yes. Some friends from school are getting together for a Friendsgiving, and I’m going.” She almost bites her tongue on the word friends. She doesn’t even know what that means anymore.

“That’s amazing,” Cassian says, though he still looks a little taken aback. “I’m glad.” He looks down at the marble counter then, trying to smile. “Sucks for me, though.”

Nesta huffs a laugh. “Please, like you won’t be having fun with your friends whether I’m there or not.”

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, but why go for half the fun when I could go for double?”

“That’s not how math works,” she snipes.

Cassian grabs a fork so he can sit down across from Nesta. “Don’t you ever bring up correct math in this house again.” He points his silverware at her threateningly.

From there, they can devolve into their usual dinner habit of bantering that leads to more serious conversation. Cassian has recently been on a French movie binge, Nesta learns, and even though she despises the French, she listens closely to his analysis of each film and offers her own thoughts back. She even promises to rewatch one or two of his favorites at a later time. The giddiness he gives in return makes her almost wish she had accepted his invitation earlier, if only so she could keep making him happy.

God. What is he doing to her?

Later that night, Nesta pulls out her phone and opens up her messages with Emerie. She doesn’t want to have rejected Cassian just to end up staying home alone all weekend. She types out five different messages and erases them before settling on an apathetic, Is the invite for Thursday still on?

Emerie takes her time to reply, likely to punish Nesta. After some minutes, she finally texts, Yes.

It’s all she can expect from Emerie, and it’s all she needs to see.

Nesta: I’ll be there.

***

“Cassian!” Feyre swings open the door with an overjoyed smile, ready to greet him.

He laughs and steps in for a hug, going so far as to lift her feet off the floor. Because damn him, even with his conflicted feelings towards Feyre lately, he’s missed her. He’s missed all of his friends, even though he’s found something precious while he was away from them.

He’s ushered into the penthouse, which Feyre and Rhys insist on calling an “apartment”, as if that softens the blow of their extravagant wealth. Cassian and everybody else goes along with it, however, because the rich have committed worse crimes. At least that’s what Nesta says.

“Rhys is out getting last minute beer from the gas station,” Feyre says as she takes his overnight bag. “And you’re the first to arrive, which means I have you all to myself.” She whirls on him with a predatory gleam in her eye. “Tell me everything about the last two months with you and Nesta, ASAP.”

Cassian’s heart starts racing at the unexpected interrogation, but he laughs it off and shrugs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re just roommates.”

“Well, I know that.” Feyre rolls her eyes. “But what is it like? How is it going? Is she okay? Are you okay?”

Before he can answer a single question, Feyre goes on. “I haven’t heard from either of you in eons, it feels like. Is Nesta still picky about her foods touching? Does she get upset when you play music too loud? Does she—”

“Jesus, Feyre,” Cassian interrupts loudly. “Not everything in my life is about your sister. Give it a rest.” He takes his duffel bag back from her.

“I’m just curious!” she says indignantly, but Cassian is already heading up the winding stairs to his guest room, going as fast as he can without outright running.

“I need to get washed up!” he announces before Feyre can make him stop and come back for more questioning.

In the safety of his bedroom, he releases a breath.

If Cassian thought keeping Nesta’s health issues from Feyre was difficult, he couldn’t have predicted how painful it would be to hide his feelings for Nesta. Still, he doesn’t dare expose what he can’t yet define, especially not to his nosy-ass friends. Some things just aren’t matters for gossip.

***

Nesta hesitantly enters Emerie’s small studio apartment to a party in full swing; “full swing” being Justinian and Isaac playing video games on the couch while Emerie is in the kitchen area attempting to make drinks. Nesta stops near the kitchenette and crosses her arms, surveying the scene. “Something about this doesn’t look right,” she says aloud. Emerie doing the hard work while the men play? Antithetical to her very nature.

“I know,” is all Emerie says without looking up from whatever hellish concoction she’s whipping up. “But I’m the host, so this is my role.”

“Hey, Nesta,” the guys speak up together, not taking their eyes off the TV. Isaac is the first to break his concentration from the game, glancing at Nesta and doing a double take. “Woah, you look good today.” Is he blushing?

Emerie finally looks up at that, eyeing Nesta’s modest black dress. “A little funeral-chic, but still hot as ever, babe.” Right after, she makes a face at the term babe. “Nope, I tried it and I hate it.”

Nesta hates it just as much, but goes over to help Emerie with what she now realizes are oddly colored Jello shots. She picks up a little plastic cup with dark jelly in it and wiggles it around. “What color is this supposed to be?”

“Brown.” Emerie blows a piece of escaped hair out of her face. “They were supposed to be Thanksgiving themed.”

Nesta surveys the shots arranged in various fall colors. Definitely an interesting choice for a twenty-four year old law student, but what did Nesta know about parties?

“Where’s Eris?” she asks casually as she helps arrange more cups. Her argument with Emerie is far from forgotten, but the two women are too alike for their own good. They’ll ignore the lingering tension until it dissipates, and that will be the end of that.

Before Emerie can answer Nesta’s question, a loud bang comes from the entryway as the already open door hits the wall. Eris Vanserra sweeps inside in his designer coat and sophisticated boots, followed by a new, striking face. “It’s fucking freezing,” he announces, just as the new guy quietly shuts the door behind them.

“You’re late,” Emerie says in her usual flat tone.

“I had to pick up my twerp brother.” Eris tilts his head toward the redhead behind him.

“I didn’t ask to come,” the new guy, Eris’s brother, chimes in.

Nesta is perked up now, angling to get a better look at him. Same hair color, same eyes, different skin tone from Eris. He looks like the relaxed, unpretentious version of his brother. Someone pauses the video game.

“I’m Lucien,” he awkwardly raises a hand.

Justinian looks at everybody else. “I’m confused— does this mean we can finally replace Eris’s punk ass?”

The thought of an unexpected guest first makes Nesta clench up, especially when she’s seated right next to the damn guy at the dining table. New people means everything about the regular social routine will be changed up, and she isn’t at all prepared for it.

It takes maybe fifteen minutes for her to realize that Lucien is nothing to worry about— much quicker than she’s ever warmed up to a stranger before.

He has the affected quiet confidence of someone who would rather be anywhere else but here. No one knows that mask better than Nesta.

Against all odds, she’s the first to initiate a conversation.

“Why are you here?” she says bluntly.

No hello, no how are you. Fuck, this is why she doesn’t talk to people.

Lucien looks surprised at the sudden acknowledgment, but answers, “My plans got cancelled at the last minute.” His mouth tightens as he looks toward his brother. “So Eris dragged me here instead.”

“You don’t like your brother?”

Lucien narrows his eyes at her, defensive. “Is this an interrogation or something?”

Embarrassment heats Nesta’s face, but she hides it under her usual cold stare. “Never mind.”

She turns back to her food, refocusing on an anecdote Isaac is giving about a girl he met the other week. A moment later, Lucien says lowly, “I can’t stand my brother.”

She laughs a little too loudly at that, and everyone looks at her.

Isaac grins. “See, Nesta thinks it’s a funny story.”

Nesta frowns. “No, I don’t. You told it last week and no one laughed.”

His face falls. Eris laughs out loud at him, and Emerie tosses wadded up napkins at both men. “You’re both deeply uninteresting. Let’s talk about me.”

She launches into a heated discussion about how she plans to defeat “that bitch Brian” for the internship at Velaris’s biggest law firm next summer, with Eris interjecting that she wouldn’t survive a day in the big city. Nesta turns back to Lucien. “I understand how you feel.”

“You hate Eris too?”

“No, but I have sisters.” Eris is nice, if a pretentious asshole at times, but she empathizes with Lucien either way.

He raises a brow. “And you’re here for Thanksgiving instead of with them?”

For the first time all night, Nesta remembers that Cassian is having fun in a spacious penthouse with Feyre and Elain and the others, likely eating much nicer food than store-bought turkey and Jello shots, and she almost deflates. Almost. Because as much as she enjoys this— spending time with people that belong to her, not Feyre or anybody else— there’s a hollow space in the room that Cassian usually fills. She doesn’t know how she can miss someone and be this thoroughly content at the same time, but she tries not to ponder on her feelings.

She shrugs at Lucien’s question. “We’re all here instead of with our families.”

What would have been a thirty-minute meal on Nesta’s own stretches into a long night of full bellies and fuller conversation. Justinian demands a toast in honor of Friendsgiving, and Emerie tells him not to pull that cringy shit, but everyone ends up raising their small Jello shots to clink against each other.

Thanksgiving might be Nesta’s favorite holiday.

***

Cassian doesn’t know what this feeling is: the itching, nervy sense of impatience that plagues him the longer dinner drags on. All he knows is that tonight Mor’s laughter is just a little too loud, and Amren’s quips are just a little too sharp, and Rhys’s stories aren’t very interesting for once.

Nothing about his friends have changed, but somehow, Cassian feels different. Empty. He can’t stop thinking about what Nesta is doing right now.

He checks his phone under the table for the sixth time in three minutes, for what, he doesn’t know. Maybe she’s in trouble and needs his help. Maybe she’s having a bad night and wants to talk to him. Maybe she’s just bored and thinking about him.

None of this is true, evidently, because his phone remains dead silent.

“Cassian.” It’s Elain’s gentle voice that draws him out of his head. “What’s it like having a roommate for once? I know you and Nesta love being alone.”

He nearly jumps out of his skin. “Alone? No we don’t. Why would we love being alone together?”

Elain looks at him like he’s grown a new head. “I didn’t mean alone together. It’s just that you’ve always spent your time boarded up in that mountain cabin on your own, and before Nesta moved in, she wouldn’t leave her apartment even to see me.”

“I never thought of it that way,” Feyre butts in. She whirls to Cassian with her hands under her chin. “All this time I was wondering what you and Nesta living together would be like, and I didn’t even consider you guys avoiding each other.”

Cassian scoffs a laugh but doesn’t know how to respond. He just wants Feyre and Elain to stop poking at this raw, fresh thing in his life before his nerves get worse, so he turns to Amren and brings up the thing he knows will shut everyone down: work. “How much longer is Rhys gonna have you playing double agent at Adriatic?” She’s been acting as brand ambassador to the West Coast-based conglomerate for the past five months, playing nice while gathering information on Night Court Inc.’s biggest competitor.

Groans resound around the table, but Amren’s eyes brighten frightfully. “If he keeps me there any longer, I might end up staying for good.”

Rhysand smiles thinly. “Amren has a crush on their new CFO. If she keeps going on about Varian’s pretty face I might pull her out of Adriatic by the end of the year.”

Just as Cassian is about to convince himself to care, his phone vibrates in his hand. Everything tunes out as he sees Nesta’s name on the screen, attached to a new text. He clicks into it.

A picture of Nesta and her friends around a dinner table pops up, smiling and laughing. His heart catches in his throat at the image.

“What did we say about phones during dinner, Cassian?” Rhysand interrupts just then.

Cassian stands up quickly, stammering, “Uh, I just need to answer this call— it’s important.” Azriel is staring up at him like he’s lost his mind, but Cassian doesn’t notice or care as he rushes out of the room with his phone in a death grip, overcome.

Alone in a hallway bathroom, he lets himself look at the picture again, hungrily absorbing every detail he couldn’t catch the first time around: her face is flushed and her hair is down, wilder than usual. Her smile is so rarely genuine that it kills him a little just to see it; he doesn’t know whether to be relieved or pained that she’s having such a good time, that she isn’t missing him like he’s missing her. A sharp-faced girl that Cassian assumes is Emerie is holding the camera, likely having stolen Nesta’s phone to demand a picture, and the two women are surrounded by guys he doesn’t recognize. Except—

The face beside Nesta’s catches Cassian’s attention, and he clicks to zoom in. “Is that Lucien Vanserra?” he mutters.

Elain’s ex gets to hang out with Nesta while he doesn’t? This is fucked.

He doesn’t have a reason for his actions as he shoves his phone into his pocket and exits the bathroom. He just knows he needs to get out of here, away from this place that’s so far from Nesta’s heart.

His keys and coat hang near the front door, and he can hear Feyre’s voice from the dining room. “Cassian? Where are you—”

The door slams behind him before she can finish.

***

Being the only one who refused to get drunk off Jello shots, Eris offers to drive Nesta home for the night.

While Lucien is passed out in the backseat without a care in the world, Nesta is so awake she can feel her nerves buzzing. She knows as soon as she leaves this car, the bittersweet loneliness that comes after a party will set in, but for now…

What a night. She sighs and lets her head fall back against the seat, a small smile gracing her lips.

“Damn,” Eris lets out a low whistle as he pulls up to the mountain cabin. “This is your place?”

She lifts her head, realizing she’s home. “Ah. It’s only a temporary living situation,” she explains. “It’s my— friend’s place.”

“Friend or sugar daddy?” Eris smirks.

Nesta scowls, grabbing her stuff and pushing open the door to leave. It’s not Eris’s fault she’s unable to take a joke about Cassian, but that doesn’t change the sensitivity of the topic.

“Hey, wait—” he calls after her.

She pauses to look back at him. He hesitates, then says, “Good night.”

“Take care of your brother,” she directs. Stepping out of his fancy car, she shuts the door and raises a hand in goodbye, watching him pull away from the cabin.

Alone in the driveway, Nesta stands under the moonlight for a long moment, letting the chill seep into her bones. She’s dawdling.

She pauses again at the front door, her hand on the doorknob. The dreaded loneliness is already coming over her, crawling over her skin and making a home in the cage of her ribs.

A whole weekend without Cassian.

Maybe she should have asked Emerie if she could stay over for the night, but a part of her knows it would have been futile. Emerie can’t replace Cassian’s constant presence, no matter how much Nesta likes her.

It’s only three days. She steels herself and unlocks the door, prepared to be greeted by darkness and hollow silence.

The first thing she notices when she steps inside is the sound of crackling, followed by a warm glow from the living area. The lights are all off, but the fireplace is ablaze.

Nesta’s brows furrow, confused, but then she sees on the couch— “Cassian?”

***

a/n: i know justinian and isaac are names for side characters that sjm has used before but in this case they're completely different ocs.

taglist: @ladywitchling @sjm-things @thewayshedreamed @drielecarla @sensitiveillyrian @superspiritfestival @aliveahaahahafuck @cupcakey00 @sayosdreams @rainbowcheetah512 @claralady @thebluemartini @nessiantho @missing-merlin @duskandstarlight @lucy617 @sleeping-and-books @everything-that-i-love @cassianscool @awesomelena555 @julemmaes @wickedqueenoffantasy @poisonous-bloom @observationanxioustheorist @gisellefigue08 @courtofjurdan @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter @wolfiixxx @cass-nes @seashade @royaltykxx @illyrianundercover @queenestarcheron @monstrousloves-explodinggalaxies @humanexile @that-golden-lyre @agentsofsheilds @mercy-is-alive @cassiansbigwingspan @laylaameer01 @verypaleninja

[crowdedimagines]

watermelon sugar - harry styles

i’m sure that a lot of people are writing about this or something similar since the music video just came out, but i hope this is new and everyone enjoys:) (Also sorry if I used your names as some of the models, I made them up as I went lol)

“Are you sure about this?” I ask while adjusting the strap of my swimsuit over my shoulder. I catch his eyes in the reflection from the mirror in front of me. I’ve only been sitting in the chair for a few minutes, the makeup is very minimal for the shoot.

“Absolutely.” Harry takes a step forward and hugs me from behind. “They don’t know we’re dating yet, and then once we decide we’re ready it’ll be a fun little easter egg for them to discover”

“Only, if you’re one hundred percent sure. I don’t want us getting out there before you want it to.”

“Of course, love.” He leans forward to press a kiss to my temple, “I think it’s only right to have the muse for the music in the video.”

Harry gets called to set shortly after that and I go hang out with the other girls for the shoot while they get everything ready and Harry films the first scene by himself. It couldn’t have been planned for a better day, the weather is perfect.

“Hey, Y/n.” The girls greet as I walk over.

“Hi!” I smile, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet almost all of them already. We had a few test shots together to get over with before today. All of them have been beyond kind and more than happy to keep Harry and I’s relationship a secret. Sometimes I think they’re more in love with our relationship than I am, which is saying something.

It wasn’t hard for them to figure out between the whispering and the glances exchanged. Plus Harry can be a very affectionate person, and he doesn’t want to hide our relationship from anyone, but the press.

“How’s it going?” Angela asks, everyone looks over the options from craft services.

“It’s alright, I’m excited. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“I find that hard to believe!” Heather chimes in, “You could easily be a model. I could totally refer you to my agency.”

“Well, let’s just see how today goes.” I laugh.

I never saw myself as a model, I know that I’m attractive, but never saw myself to that level of desirable. Harry has helped my confidence in so many ways. He can find beauty in almost anything.

“Who here needs sunnies?” One of the assistants on set asks as she lugs a basket with a variety of them.

All of us move forward to look at the options, attempting to match them with our outfits. They all have funky shapes and a colorful tint.

“How about these?” I ask, throwing on a purple pair. I pose a few times making everyone laugh.

“No way.” Jen pulls them off with a giggle, “Blue is totally your color for the day. It matches.”

I take the shades she hands me and my view takes on a blue haze.

“They’re not too big for my face?”

“I think they look great.” A  familiar voice calls over my shoulder.

“You think?” I bite my bottom lip, hiding a smile. “I’m not quite sure I’m sold. I feel very blue.”

“I like them.” He pulls them off my face and puts them on himself. He checks his reflection and smiles, a sure sign that he probably wants to steal them.

“I think they look better on you.” I peck his lips, “You have a big head.”

“Hey!” He pouts, wrapping his arms around my waist as his head drops to my shoulder. I laugh and wrap my arms back around his shoulders, rubbing up and down his back.

“It’s a compliment! I need to find a new pair to wear though seeing as you’ve taken mine.” I turn as best as I can with Harry still weighing me down, not relenting his grip.

“One pair left.” Andy hands me the last pair and I thank her. She hands me a red pair that I tuck on the top of my head just in time for us to start filming.

“C’mon love, I know you can do better than that. I’ve seen ya do it better.” He teases, a proud smirk hiding behind the camera.

“Yeah, usually it doesn’t involve a whole crew staring at me.” I give him a dirty look.

Of course faking an orgasm on camera in front of a whole crew would be something easy to him.

“Do we have any tequila on set?” I tease.

“Y/n, it’s not even noon.” Harry reminds with a laugh.

“Says you.” I roll my eyes.

It takes some time and letting lose a little to get shots that look good. It got easier each shot we did. We got several takes that the director and Harry approved of.

If you had told me a year ago that I would be faking an orgasm in a swimsuit on a beach with a watermelon between my legs, I would’ve called you crazy.

“You did it, love.” He tackles me down in the sand. He knew that this was the part that I was least excited for.

“Hey, you got sand all over my watermelon.” I look at the slice that he’s successfully knocked onto the beach.”

“Oh is it now?” He raises his brows, a wide smirk gracing his face.

“Shut up!” I push him off.

“You set yourself up for that one!” He calls after, still laughing.

The other girls film some takes and I’m relieved to have some of the pressure gone. It settles me a little that some of the other girls struggle too, trying not to laugh.

We move on to the next scene which is a group scene. We’re all laid out on the beach, Harry central to everyone. He kept trying to pull me in closer, but I fought to stay by some of the other girls.

“This is just supposed to hint at our relationship, Styles.” I pull my ankle from his grip.

“But, I want to be next to you.” He pouts.

“Aww.” Heather sighs, giving me puppy dog eyes.

“If you feel so bad, you can kiss him for this.” I tell her with a laugh, laying back down on my beach towel.

“Ya don’t even want to kiss yer own boyfriend?” He huffs. He scoots a little closer and reaches an arm out. I expect him to run a hand through my hair, but I’m surprised when he pulls my sunglasses off my face.

“Would you stop stealing my sunglasses?” I yell trying to reach for my pair back. He pulls me close to his side, locking his arms around my waist.

“You just make them look so cute.” He grins.

“Ass.” I mutter as I wiggle from his grip.

“Excuse me, miss, what was that?” He laughs pulling me in closer.

“Get off me.” I can’t fight off the laughter anymore.

We start filming and it takes a lot of shots to get a good mix of everything. Harry being fed fruit, Harry admiring all us girls, and just a lot of overall touching. Touching is a common thread in this video. Heather and Nadra end up being the girls to kiss him on the cheek, but I give in when Harry wants to lay on my chest and be the one to feed him. I’m sure we got a lot of bloopers from it because there were many takes that one of us would breakout laughing.

We move to the next location where we are all supposed to take a group picture, eat more watermelon, and fall into a big group of touching again.

Harry’s fingers are intertwined with mine while my limbs are tangled with someone I’ve only met twice. We lay around for a while, for a full day on set with filming it’s kind of relaxing. We move on to the next bit right after, everything between scenes moving quickly. We’re attempting to film it all in one day so avoid lighting issues between days.

“You better lookout, you keep making music videos with orgys and you’ll get a reputation.” I tease, whispering over his shoulder.

“You’re so in for it when we get home.” He shakes his head while still smiling at the camera.  

“Can’t wait.” I smile.

The other girls laugh, of course they heard our conversation we’re all standing or sitting close together for the picture and filming everything. I hover over Harry’s shoulder, liking my spot in the back.

“Alright, so we’ve done all the shots for this spot, we’ve just got one left. We saved it for last because it’s when everyone is eating, Everyone try to get Harry to eat your piece.” The director instructs before calling action.

I share a piece with a girl named Adaline before moving in on Harry, I hold out my piece for him, while I lean in closer to him and bite down lightly on his earlobe. I catch his eyes half close for a second and smirk.

Before he knows it, I move on to be with the other girls and the director yells cut.

“You are something else today, baby.” He shakes his head, still seemingly a little dazed.

“C’mon, babe, we only have one more spot to film.”

I reach out my hand for him to follow as we go down to the beach again. The sun is setting now, casting a completely different light from earlier today. Our director informs us that this is just going to be placed between other shots. More montages of us with Harry, running around on the beach.

“Christ, the water is freezing.” Anna takes a step back out of the water's reach. We’re filming in Malibu, but it’s still technically winter so the water isn’t exactly comfortable.

“Yeah, that’s why we’re running.” Harry laughs, “We barely need to get our ankles wet.”

It doesn’t take long to get enough takes, these scenes are supposed to seem carefree, so they aren’t really planned out.

“Alright, I think we’ve got it all.” The director announces and we all let out a cheer. I give the girls all hugs and find Harry thanking them.

“Hey.” I smile, I kick up a small amount of water on his leg to grab his attention. He turns and there’s already mischelf in his smile.

“Don’t you dare.” I hold out a hand to stop him. I recognize that evil look in his eyes. I take off in a sprint, but his long legs don’t take long to catch up. He reaches around and hooks me into his chest. Before I know it, my feet are off the ground and Harry and I are going in. The water was cold before, but now that I’m enveloped in it, it’s freezing.

Harry and I both come up sputtering for air.

“You ass.” I fight and wrestle with him trying to pull him under again. We’re both laughing while fighting for the upperhand.

“Alright, lets go.” He pulls me up with him. I pull him down one more time, this time for a long kiss. HIs lips are warm and familiar. We walk up the shore a little bit, finding the crew again.

“Thank you for today.” His arm wraps around my shoulder. We both found towels to fight off the teeth chattering.

“Of course, I had so much fun.” I grin. “Plus, I think I’ve made some new friends.”

“That’s lovely. Now let’s get you home.” He pats my bum and scoops up my legs and takes off running.

~

We filmed the video months ago, and today is the day it’s finally released. It’s been done for a while now, but Harry thought with quarantine and everything it might be a nice pick me up for everyone.

“Ready?” Harry asks as he pulls up the video on the TV.

“Yes! It’s been killing me not seeing it.”

Harry has been in the know of everything, giving his input and changing parts that he wants to. I have been in the dark to it all, seeing the video at the same time as the world. As soon as the music starts and the screen starts to play it a smile grows on my face.

“Oh my god, it’s Angela, and Heather, and Nadra, and Adeline!” I name each girl as they come across the screen. “I miss them.”

I have to fight the urge to cringe when it’s me on the screen. It’s beautifully done, a masterpiece, but I don’t want to think about my parents seeing this.

“Alright, we get it love, you’re friends with em all now.” He teases.

“Shut up!” I slap his chest, “You kind bond with someone when you film a clothed orgy with them.”

Harry’s cheeks turn pink while he fights a smirk.

The video continues and it’s a reminder of what an amazing day it was. It’s cool to see the way it was edited. The way all of us girls were blended together, and small touches were magnified. Everything just feels so sexy. I feel Harry poke at my sides any time that it’s the two of us on the screen, which I have to say might be a tad bit more than other girls. I know for sure that the other girls didn’t get an intense slow motion zoom in if they ever nibbled on his ear. Now it���s my turn to blush.

“Baby, you’ve smashed this.” I comment as the video comes to an end.

“You too.” He presses a kiss to my lips.

“I also have a little surprise.” He reaches for his phone from the coffee table.

“And what would that be?” I prompt, turning to face him on the couch, my legs finding home on his lap.

“This.” He hands me his phone and it’s another video from the day. It’s all of the shots that they filmed on the retro camera for film. It’s a lot of behind the scenes, stuff I never even knew that they were filming for.

Harry giving me hugs while I was in hair and makeup.

Harry and I trading off sunglasses, Twice.

Harry and I’s conversation from when we were taking the group photos.

Harry throwing me in the water and us playfully fighting through shivers.

Harry and I walking away on the beach, as he scoops me up and takes off running.

It was all captured, and I was none the wiser.

“What is this?” I smile, handing him his phone back.

“The video I’m posting...tonight. To confirm our relationship, because I don’t want to hide you anymore. I want everyone to know you’re mine, Especially after that video.” He smirks.

“I love you.” I sigh, pressing my lips to his a few times.

“I love you too.”

“Play it again.” I lay my head back on his shoulder.

“Just for you, sugar.” Harry grins.

this was cute, hope you enjoyed:)

[flclarchives]

Amusing Himself to Death, an Akadot.com interview with Kazuya Tsurumaki (director of FLCL and assistant director of Evangelion) from around December 2001. In the article, Tsurumaki explains a few things about Evangelion, his mentality behind FLCL as a whole, and the meaning of the name ‘FLCL’.

Full article text is under the cut, or read the article in its original form [here].

Kazuya Tsurumaki was a relatively little-known animator when Hideki Anno selected him to work as the assistant director on Neon Genesis Evangelion. For the TV series, which became a smash hit in Japan and one of the touchstones of the current surge of interest in anime in the US, Tsuramaki served as the main storyboard artist as well as assistant director, and when Studio Gainax began production on a trio of Evangelion films Tsurumaki got his first directorial assignment.

As he tells the story, Anno came to him after Eva and announced that he was out of ideas and that it was up to Tsurumaki to dream up the next project because, "you are next." Tsurumaki let his imagination run wild, but by the time he had written a script, Anno - despite his declaration that he had no stories left to tell - was already several steps ahead of Tsurumaki and in pre-production for his next series, Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo, leaving Tsurumaki a chance to have complete and unsupervised creative control of his own series FLCL.

FLCL, referred to as "Fooly Cooly" (or "Furikuri" by its American fans), is unlike any anime series to come before it. Wild, maniacally fast-paced physical comedy; exaggerated, exuberant animation alternately pushing towards surrealist- as when mecha exuviate from a bump on young Naota's head - and deconstructionist - as when the animation literally stops and the story is told by a camera bouncing across a page of black and white manga art panels; and obsessively, often irrelevantly, referential to obscure Tokyo-pop bands and anime insider trivia; FLCL was hyperkinetic and disorienting, yet mesmerizing, almost transgressive, and undeniably original. It inspired enthusiastic admiration for Tsurumaki as a creator, even amongst the perhaps 90% of the series' fans who were absolutely baffled by much of it. One is tempted to refer to it as announcing the arrival of full blown post-modernism in animation, or perhaps as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable of the anime industry.

When Tsurumaki visited Baltimore to speak to American fans at the recent Otokon Convention, predictably, many of the questions were along the lines of, "Hi, I really loved FLCL [or Evangelion], but could you please explain this part of it to me?"

Tsurumaki answered all questions genially with a self-deprecating and often mischievous sense of humor. For example:

Why does Haruko hit Naota over the head with her guitar?

Kazuya Tsurumaki: Naota is trying to be a normal adult and she belts him to make him rethink his decision.

Why does Evangelion end violently, and somewhat unhappily?

KT: People are accustomed to sweet, contrived, happy endings. We wanted to broaden the genre, and show people an ugly, unhappy ending.

Why is the character of Shinji portrayed as he is?

KT: Shinji was modeled on director Hideki Anno. Shinji was summoned by his father to ride a robot, Anno was summoned by Gainax to direct an animation. Working on Nadia [Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water, one of Anno and Tsurumaki's earlier projects] he wondered if he still wanted to work like this. He thought that working on Eva could help him to change.

Is there any particular reason why so many Gainax series feature very anxious, unhappy young male protagonists with no parents?

KT: Yes, the directors at Gainax are all basically weak, insecure, bitter, young men. So are many anime fans. Many Japanese families, including my own, have workaholic fathers whose kids never get to see them. That may influence the shows I create.

Could you explain the mecha bursting from Naota's head in FLCL?

KT: I use a giant robot being created from the brain to represent FLCL coming from my brain. The robot ravages the town around him, and the more intensely I worked on FLCL the more I destroyed the peaceful atmosphere of Gainax.

Why doesn't FLCL follow one story?

KT: In the third episode Ninamori was almost a main character, a kid who, like Naota, has to act like an adult.  After episode three her problem was solved so we wrote her out.  She has many fans in Japan and we got plenty of letters about that decision.  For FLCL I wanted to portray the entire history of Gainax, and each episode has symbols of what happened behind the scenes on each of Gainax's shows.   Episode one has many elements of Karekano; episode two, a lot of Evangelion references, etc.

Where does the title FLCL come from?

KT: I got the idea from a CD in a music magazine with the title Fooly-Cooly.  I like the idea of titles that are shortened long English words. Pokémon for "Pocket-Monsters" for instance, and an old J-pop band called Brilliant Green that was known as "Brilly-Grilly."

Is there any reason why the extra scenes added to Eva for the video release were cut in the first place?  Did you think the story would mean something different with them intact?

KT: The scenes that were added to Eva for its video release aren't that important.  We added them as an apology for taking so long to get the video out.  Maybe they'll help people understand things, because the episodes were done under tough deadlines the first time around.

Can you explain the symbolism of the cross in Evangelion?

KT: There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us.   Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious.  None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians.  There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols of Christianity look cool.  If we had known the show would get distributed in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice.

After the panel, Mr. Tsurumaki sat down to speak with Akadot.

Do you enjoy confusing people?

KT: I have a twisted sense of humor.  I'm an Omanu Jacku, a contrarian.  [Writer's note- Omanu Jacku is a folk character a bit like Puck, a mischief maker]

What do you see differently now that you're working as a director rather than only as a visual artist?

KT: As an animator I have only the art; as a director story is really big.  I still feel as an animator and I often have trouble putting the needs of the story first.

Did you intend from the start for FLCL to be as bizarre as it wound up?

KT: From the very start I wanted a different flavor.  To achieve this I had to re-train the animators to be as stylized as I wanted them to be because I wasn't drawing it.  I knew that not everyone would get it.  I deliberately selected very obscure J-pop culture and anime sub-culture jokes and references.  Because Eva was so somber I always intended to make FLCL outrageous and wacky.

Why the choice to break out of conventional animation and use manga pages? Was it at all a response to how many anime are using computers to achieve smoother and more realistic visuals?  Were you trying to go the opposite direction?

KT: I like manga, not only to read, but the visuals.  The pen drawings, the frame breakdowns and layouts . . . This is the first time I have used digital animation, and those bouncing manga shots wouldn't have been possible with cel animation.   Personally I'm not interested at all in using computers for realistic animation.  I'm impressed by it sometimes, but I'm interested in using computers to do what was once impossible, not to do smoother versions of what has already been done.  I want to be less realistic.

Has using digital animation techniques changed the way you work, or the way you feel about your work when you see it?  Does it still feel like it's yours if a computer did much of it?

KT: Before I got into digital animation I saw other shows that were using it and I felt that there was no feeling, it was empty.   As an animator, there's a sense of release when you draw a cel.  There's something there.  Working on FLCL, though, I learned that computers can do more, and, most of all, that they allow room for trial and error and revising, more freedom to experiment.  That is why I now feel that cel art cannot win against computers.  For actual animation everything is still drawn on paper.  That work hasn't changed.  It's the other stuff, the touchups, and coloring.  If we didn't use paper, maybe the feeling would change.

Earlier today you said that you were trying to broaden the genre by giving Eva a sad ending.  Does the sameness of much of today's anime bore you?

KT: First of all we didn't use a sad ending to annoy fans.  When they're upset, that really bothers us.  Personally, I think a happy ending is fine, but not if it is achieved too easily.  That's no good.

For all the fans that are confused at all, if you had to define in one sentence what FLCL is about, what would you say?

KT: FLCL is the story of boy meets girl.  For me it is also about how it's ok to feel stupid.  With Evangelion there was this feeling that you had better be smart to understand it, or even just to work on it. With FLCL I want to say that it's okay to feel stupid.

Even though it may be strange to us, do you have in your head a logic behind it?  Are you trying to portray a story that follows the logic of dreams, or is it supposed to make sense symbolically?

KT: I'd like you to think of FLCL as imagination being made physical and tangible, just as it is for me when I take whatever is in my head and draw it.

So what are you working on next?

KT: Right now Gainax has told me that they'll support anything I choose to create, but I'm having trouble coming up with any ideas.

Why is that?

KT: Releasing titles for market, I know I have to make something to please fans, but I'm not a mature enough person to accept that fact.  If I'm not amusing myself I can't do it.  I feel bad that fans have to put up with such behavior from me.  I apologize. 

[the-story-of-how-we-died]

I wrote a quick drabble maybe a week ago, planning on writing some more, eventually. I ain't feeling it, so might as well post it. It ends pretty abruptly, but who knows, maybe one day Ill finish it /shrug.

In the Park

(Under the cut)

Marcy jumped as her phone buzzed twice against her chest, temporarily quieting her blaring music. She let out a sight as she missed the double jump - again - and fell into the same pit of spikes that had claimed her the last three times. 

    So close yet so fricking far, she grumbled to herself as she threw the console to her side. Onto a pillow, of course. Couldn’t risk breaking it. I’m gonna finish that level one way or another. 

    She grabbed her phone. On the screen was a message from Sasha. She quickly typed in her pin - 0286 (The date her favorite game ever was released.)

    Hey, my mom’s gonna be home soon and Anne’s at tennis. Lets hang ;P.

    It didn’t take a genius to read inbetween the lines. It wasn’t a question as much as a begging. 

Sure. I haven’t been out of bed all day anyhow. Wanna meet up at the park on fifth? We can meet up with Anne after ahe done with practice

Marcy didn’t blame Sasha for wanting to avoid her mother. Marcy only met the women once or twice, and she... left something to be desired, to say the least. She wasn’t a bad woman, at least, marcy hadn't spent enough time with her to form that judgement, but she certainly wasn’t cut out to be a mother.

Sure! meet ya there, marbles :3

Marcy groaned as she threw herself out of bed, quickly putting on a pair of pants and her jacket. She stuffed her Creatures & Caverns core rulebook and monster manual, Switch, and portable charger in her bag before grabbing her favourite bobby pin and sticking it in her hair. She carefully made her way through the piles of books and papers on her floor before opening her door.

“Hey, mā, Sash wanted to hang out a bit before her mom gets home, that OK?” Marcy yelled down the hall.

“Just be home before dinner! Oh, and bring xiăo làjiāo a snack, OK?” Her mother said back, quite a bit quieter than Marcy.

“Hăo, māmā! Be back in a bit!” Marcy yelled as she ran down the stairs, grabbing a banana and a soda from the fridge before running out the door - nearly slipping on nothing,

Marcy plugged her headphones into her phone, starting a playlist as she began walking down the street. The late summer sun was setting behind the cityscape, casting the sky in deep reds and purples, a few lavender clouds clinging to the edges of the horizon. She walked in beat with her music, down her road. She was still thinking about that video game level, going over it again and again in her head. She barely noticed the houses passing by as she walked further and further. She and Sash - and Anne when she didn’t have practice - often hung out in the park, for as long as Marcy could remember. It was actually where she had first met Sasha, way back in kindergarten. She stood up to two middle schoolers who kicked her and Anne off the swings, which Marcy always thought was weird. What kind of middle schoolers would bully kindergartens? They were barely 6 at the time. That’d be like a 24 year old bullying a 12 year old. She paused. Well, on the internet, anything’s possible. It’s like a 24 year old bullying a twelve year old in real life.

Marcy stopped at the crosswalk, pressing the button. She watched as the little red hand across the street wave at her, and she couldn't help but smile and wave back. That jump had to be frame perfect though, it just had to be. There was no other way you could make it. She knew that you were supposed to fall there, to prevent you from going that direction until you got an upgrade. She also knew that it was possible, she’s seen other people do it. It just was hard. Super, super, super hard.

The waving hand turned to the green man as she began to walk across the road, making sure to wave at each of the driver’s she passed by. Everyone made the jump look so easy, it was infuriating to her. She turned onto the final stretch of road, the sign of the park in view. She stood up straight, trying to see where Sasha was, when she caught the signature denim jacket over by the tennis courts.

She doesn’t know what came over her at that moment, but whatever it was, it caused her to grab the bars of the fence and heave herself up. She braced her foot against the bars and thrusted her body upwards, grabbing the top of the fence. She struggled for a moment, barely managing to throw one leg over the top. It was luckily a flat top, because she probably wouldn't have had the strength to keep herself from touching it. With another heave, she threw her other leg over the top, so she was sitting on it. She quickly took off her backpack and gently threw it to the ground. Well, as gently as one could throw something to the ground. She grinned to herself, as she, in one final moment of hubris, decided to jump off the top of the fence instead of climbing back down. If only they were looking at ol’ klutzy Marcy now! Anne wou-

“Mar-Mar! What are you doing?” A familiar voice drifted across the park, causing Marcy to second guess herself at the last second, and with a yelp and a tumble, Marcy fell off the fence, twirling in the air before landing with a sudden and rough thump! Pain wracked through her body as she felt something in her shoulder go Pop! and a burning sensation shot down her arm. Her breath was knocked right out of her lungs. Through her somewhat dampened hearing, she heard a barrage of foot falls as two familiar heads popped into her view.

“Marcy! Are you okay?!” Anne nearly shouted, kneeling down at her side.

“What were you doing up there, Marbles?” Sasha said as she reached into her back, fishing out a case with a red “+” on it.

Marcy chuckled, somewhat ironically and then winced from the pain. “Wha- What makes you think I know? All I know was I was gonna land till one of you two called me out on how stupid that was.” She grinned as she looked up at her friends, only getting two concerned looks back. “Aw, come on you two. This isn’t the most stupid thing I’ve done, not by a long shot! Remember the rope-”

“Oh, Jesus, Marce! Don’t bring up the rope! Your arm-” Sasha mimicked gagging as she took out a toilette from the case and started wiping at some of Marcy’s cuts. Marcy grimicade at the burning of the alcohol on the fresh wounds.

“Practice already over, Anna-banana?”

“Yeah, Coach took a tennis ball straight to her good eye - at no fault of her own - so she let us all go earlier.”

“Yeah, it was wicked,” Sasha laughed. “That thing was going at least mach 4”

Anne rolled her eyes but grinned nonetheless.

“Well, by your grinning, I’ll take it she was okay,” Marcy smiled. “. wants me back before dinner, by the way.” She groaned as Sasha and Anne pulled her to her feet. The three of them began to walk over to the table Sasha was sitting at prior, Anne and Marcy sitting on one side, Sasha on the other.

“Oh, Sash! Have you eaten today? Māmā wanted me to bring you a snack. You know how she is." Marcy said, digging the banana and soda out of her bag.

Ye, that's all. Lost all motivation to finish it, so

Idk, I haven't gone through and revised it, either, so don't judge too harshly lol

[raspberryjamus]

Realization

Summary: Nino realizes his not-so-platonic feelings for Adrien, and talks about it with Marinette and Alya.

Characters: Nino Lahiffe, Alya Césaire, Adrien Agreste, Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Ships: Adrinino, background Alyanette

AO3

This was a prompt from @mlwritersguild​.

Adrien meant everything to Nino. Sure he had other friends, like Alya and Marinette, and they both meant a lot to him, but there was something special about Adrien. When Adrien was around, the worst pain was but a subtle blow. Adrien was like a sunbeam shining on Nino whenever he was there. 

It’d been a week since they’d seen each other, and Nino had been hopelessly missing him. There was a big photoshoot he had to go on, somewhere up north in Germany. Today was the day he returned, and you could see it in Nino’s step as he skipped his way to school.

Outside the building, he glanced around for the blond teenager. He spotted his nanny driving away, and figured he must be inside. He sprinted up the stairs, a smile already plastered on his face.

He stumbled into the classroom and spotted Adrien’s bouncing blond hair as he laughed with Marinette and Alya.

“Adrien!!” said Nino, sliding into their shared seat and outstretching his arms.

“Nino!” responded Adrien, with equal energy. He returned Nino’s embrace and the two held each other for a moment. Nino’s stomach fluttered and he grinned.

“I missed you!” said the hat-wearing student, sitting back onto his heel.

“So did I,” said Adrien with a smile.

“Adrien! Tell Nino about what happened!”

Nino questioningly cocked his head.

“I met this model Marinette really likes.” Said Adrien.

“Oh my God, Adrien. 

 That’s like, Marinette’s idol!”

“She’s not my idol, I’d just really like her to model my clothes.”

Nino grinned, not really knowing who that was. Alya and Marinette continued to talk excitedly. The teenager turned back to Adrien, who was watching the two girls humorously.

“You know, I’d think you’d be more into this stuff seeing as you’re a model,” said Nino, now pulling his knees to his chest.

Adrien turned. “Meh. I do the modeling ‘cause of my dad, and I’ll pay attention for Marinette, but it doesn’t really interest me.” 

Before Nino could respond, the teacher began calling attention and the group face forward for school.

***

It was later that day, and Nino fiddled with his headphone cord, staring at the paper before him. He was sitting on the carpet floor of his living room, listening to music as he worked through his math homework. Adrien sat a few feet away on the couch, working on the same assignment.

“Hey Adrien, what did you get for 32?” Nino asked, taking his headphones off.

“Uuuuh, 43.5.”

“Really? ‘Cause I got 8

”

Adrien’s eyes furrowed. “You’re usually better at this than me, show me what you did.”

Nino nodded, beckoning for his friend to join him on the carpet. Adrien leaned in, looking at Nino’s paper. The blond teenager rested his weight partially on his friend, and Nino felt the warmth of his skin against his.

“Um-“ Nino choked. His face felt warm, and he fiddled with his cord more aggressively now. “Well I-“ He led his friend through the steps carefully, trying to ignore their close proximity.

Adrien nodded, standing and returning to the couch. Nino gave his friend a thumbs up and returned to his music. He stared at the paper, but he couldn’t focus. He kept stealing glances at the model on his couch, uncomfortably aware of his beating heart.

The rest of the evening continued mostly smoothly before Adrien’s nanny came to pick him up. When Nino went to bed that evening, he found himself thinking about their moment earlier, and how flustered he’d been. Normally the brown-haired teenager was fine with physical affection, more than fine as his friends could tell you. He was comfortable, hugging and leaning on his friends daily. And yet, Adrien had done so little as to lean into him a little and he’d freaked out.

He found himself rubbing that arm that Adrien had leaned into as he fell asleep.

***

The three teenagers strolled peacefully down the street, enjoying their hot pastries. It was just Alya, Marinette, and Nino today, although that wasn’t unusual considering Adrien’s strict father.

“It’s just- I think Chat Noir is better than Ladybug,” said Marinette, exasperated.

“How- How can you say that? I run the Ladyblog???”

“Nino back me up.”

Nino hadn’t been listening. The events of Friday has still been sticking in his mind, the simple act of Adrien leaning into him for a math problem— a math problem! Wait what did Marinette want?

“Nino, say Ladybug is better.” Said Alya.

“Um, Ladybug is—“ 

“No!” Marinette put her hand over Nino’s mouth, “She’s tricking you.”

“Uh—What were y’all talking about?” asked the hat-wearing teenager, once Marinette took her hand back.

“What’s going on Nino? You’re all out of it,” asked Marinette.

“And we were arguing about if Ladybug or Chat Noir is—“

“Alya! Not now.”

Alya responded by rolling her eyes.

“Well,” Nino started, immediately regretting opening his mouth. “Um. It’s nothing.”

“Well it’s obviously 

,” said Marinette, before taking a bite of her chocolatine. 

“No really—“

“No boy, now I’m curious,” said Alya.

“Well I’ve just been super awkward about like… Physical affection all of the sudden.”

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked, balling up the tissue from her pastry.

“Well the other day when I hugged Adrien, and then later he leaned into me to look at a math question and—I just felt really awkward.”

“Understandable, there are times when I don’t really want to touch anyone,” said Marinette.

“Same, you just have to tell people you’re not up for physical affection,” said Alya.

Marinette nodded in agreement. “I didn’t make you uncomfortable earlier, did I?”

Nino shook his head. “No, that was fine.”

“And I hugged you when we met up, was that uncomfortable?” asked Alya.

“Um… No. Now that I think about it, it’s only been with Adrien.”

Alya giggled. Marinette shot a stern look. “Did he do anything to upset you?” asked Marinette.

“No! I really missed him, too!”

“So like—what 

 of awkward was it?” Alya said, leaning in.

“I don’t know? My face got all hot and I got butterflies, and I felt like I was choking—You aren’t suggesting it was like-“ Nino gulped, “Romantic.” He squeaked.

“AHA! You do have a crush on Adrien,” Alya said, to which she received a jab in the side from Marinette. 

Nino’s face was on fire now, and his hand drifted to his headphones, which he fiddled with as he thought. 

“Come on, let’s get inside to talk about this,” said Marinette, gesturing to her house, which they were coming up on. The others nodded, and the three made their way to Marinette’s room.

***

“I CAN’T have a crush on him. He’s like… my friend!” The flustered teenager was on the bed, making wide movements with his arms as he ranted. “I mean that’s crazy! Insane! No one would say that!”

“But you did,” said Alya, gesturing with her soda can. 

“Alya, don’t be mean,” Marinette smiled sympathetically at Nino. “It’s not fun having a crush on your best friend.”

Nino groaned and laid back on the bed. “Don’t you have shit to do Alya?” said Nino as he checked his phone.

“I can stay a little longer,” She said, also pulling her phone out to check the time. “Oh—I guess I can’t! I will help you with your crisis later.” She patted Marinette’s head as she stood, “See y’all later!” 

After Alya left, Nino sat up. “Wanna play video games and forget about our horrible love lives?”

“Please.”

***

The two played Minecraft for the next few hours, talking about pretty much anything than the topic at hand. 

“Are you staying overnight?” asked Marinette after they’d been building appropriately long.

“Yeah.” 

“Alright I’ll let my parents know.” She stretched, standing to go downstairs. “It’s probably almost time for dinner.”

Nino also stood, and the two went downstairs. Marinette’s parents were sitting in the living room, with the news on. The black haired teenager went to talk to them, and Nino found himself leaning against the wall. There hadn’t really been any resolution earlier, and the question was still in his mind: 

It had seemed ridiculous at the time, but as Adrien was thinking about it now it wasn’t completely impossible. I mean when he first met Adrien, he thought he was cute. And he’d been having pretty different feelings about him for a while. He hadn’t really noticed when it was happening, but it’d been a few weeks that hanging out with him was 

 somehow. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to text his sister.

“You let your parents know you’re staying?” asked Sabine, standing up and walking over to Nino.

“Uh yeah, I’m texting my sister right now.”

“Alright good,” said Marinette’s mom with a smile, “We’re having dinner soon, so be sure to go wash up!”

The family had dinner, and it was barely a moment before the two teenagers disappeared upstairs with a plate of cookies. Nino’s bed was a sleeping bag set up on Marinette’s floor, which he took a seat on, Marinette sitting on her bed.

“Have you thought about Adrien at all?” asked Marinette.

Nino groaned, “Yes. And I’m totally dumb. I definitely have a crush on him.” 

Marinette giggled. “Sucks for you.”

“Yeah like you have it any better.”

“Say one more word, Lahiffe.” Marinette leaned forward, eyebrows furrowed. After a moment of tension the two erupted into laughter.

“Okay I won’t tease you about your crush on Aly-” He stopped, seeing her glare.

“Okay but seriously what are you gonna do about it? You should tell him, you guys are so close, you’ll be fine afterwards.”

Nino shifted. “But-- What if he doesn’t want to talk to me anymore.”

Marinette leaned forward. “Take it from me, I’ve had a best friend completely and totally in love with me, eventually he got over it and we’re still the best of friends.”

“Who’s that?”

“Not telling you,” said Marinette with a grin.

Nino shrugged. “But, it’s awkward man. I don’t want him to be weirded out or something.”

“Nino, he won’t be.” Marinette’s voice turned soft and she gave a sympathetic smile. “You guys are too close for something like this to mess up your relationship.”

Nino’s hands drifted to his headphone cord, and he fiddled with it.

“But it’s okay Nino, you’re still figuring this out. There’s no pressure to tell him right away.” Marinette leaned over, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“Thanks for the advice Marinette, maybe you could take some of it yourself.”

“I--” The black-haired teenager gave her friend a playful slap on the face. Nino responded with a giggle.

The conversation drifted after that, but Nino’s mind was still thinking about it. That night when they went to sleep, the scenarios in which he confessed were playing out in his mind. Eventually he reminded himself not to get ahead of himself and think about his actual feelings towards Adrien, then he fell asleep and forgot all about it.

[hlupdate]

The relationship between A-list muse and lauded designer is nothing new. But few have been as serendipitous that of Harry Styles and Alessandro Michele: the pop star’s solo career coincided neatly with the designer hitting his stride as the game-changing creative director of Gucci. Theirs is a mutually beneficial partnership that has elevated the former to new echelons of style, while the latter has become something of an icon to an unexpected fandom.

Unlike the large-scale productions of recent show seasons, Michele first presented his vision for Gucci with a quietly confident collection on 19 January 2015 — reportedly pulled together in just five turbo-charged days. The collection had all the signifiers of the retro-inspired aesthetic that has since become Michele’s beat, introducing the fur-lined loafers, pussy-bow blouses and florals that still form the backbone of his work today. A 20-year-old Harry, meanwhile, was still a long-haired One Direction member set to embark on the band’s biggest ever — and as it turned out last— tour. Just as One Direction’s days were winding down, Michele was picking up speed. Gucci reported a five per cent rise in sales in the last three months of 2015, amounting to 1.1 billion Euro in the final quarter.

Stylist Harry Lambert, who had been working with Harry for a few years by then, decided it was time for the boy-bander to try something new. A floral suit – that floral suit – from Michele’s spring/summer 2016 collection would be just the ’fit for the American Music Awards in November 2015, they decided.

Looking back it was a “very bold move,” Lambert admits. Styles was the first to take one of Michele’s full menswear looks from the Gucci catwalk and wear it on the red carpet. “It was very exciting to see everyone’s responses, but also how great he looked in it,’’ Lambert told Miss Vogueof what he still views as a turning point in his client’s fashion journey. This winning suit encouraged Styles and Lambert to pull more Gucci, and Harry gave his final performance as a member of One Direction wearing a suit in the retro petal print that defined Michele’s early collections.

In fact, Gucci was just about the only thing that the 1D alum carried over to his solo career. Even his shoulder-length curls were shorn. The music videos that accompanied Styles’s eponymous number one album, released in April 2017, all incorporated Gucci, as did his appearances on the promo trail. A navy tailored coat floats through the sky in the video for “Sign Of The Times”, and he wears floral tailoring in the clip for “Kiwi”. When the time came for Harry to take his record on the road, he wore countless bespoke Gucci suits on stage. Most were floral brocade with flared trousers, and paired with pussy-bow shirting.

By June 2018, the relationship had been formalised. Styles was revealed – in a series of photos taken by Glen Luchford in the suitably English setting of a chip shop – as the face of Gucci’s tailoring campaign. Two more campaigns followed, in which Styles models the most exuberant of Michele’s creations without ever sacrificing his schoolboy cheekiness, not even with a lamb slung around his shoulders. The campaigns, two by Luchford, a third by Harmony Karine, helped to usher in a new dawn in menswear advertising.

A year later Harry was unveiled as part of a diverse line-up in the campaign for Gucci’s Mèmoire D’une Odeur — the near century-old house’s first gender-neutral scent. Yes, he was the main event, but Styles shared the spotlight with other creatives in what became an unavoidable campaign, covering buildings, beauty counters, column inches and iPhone wallpapers across the globe. Styles has since quipped that he wears it to bed,making a bottle a necessary purchase for even half-dedicated Harry fans.

That Harry’s work with Gucci has proved so popular with his dedicated fanbase is a key component in the success of their collaborations. Though — and again, this is likely owing to Harry’s own allegiances — his followers do tend to have a keen interest in fashion compared to other fandoms, it’s down to their idol that Harries know the artistic director by his first name alone. “It is really exciting for us fans to see another facet of Harry as a creative individual, and his Gucci partnership cultivates that and gives us an even more in-depth perspective of who he is,” Nadhila, a 26-year-old fan in Indonesia told Miss Vogue.

Nadhila, who has been a part of the team behind the Twitter account @HSNewsUpdate since 2011, believes that the fluid nature of Michele’s vision has contributed to the interest in Harry’s Gucci looks. “There are no boundaries on what he might come up with, so fans are always excited to see what look [Harry] might step out in next,” she says. Styles’s efforts to be a fan-focused, ethical pop star – his motto is “treat people with kindness” – are relevant, too. “He has inspired us to be bold, unique and unafraid to experiment when it comes to fashion,” she adds. “He has shown us that there is no such thing as too feminine or too masculine, we can be both and we can be ourselves.”

Another of Harry’s biggest fan accounts, @TheHarryNews, is run by four women in their mid-twenties: Annie, Océane, Lena and Rachel. “You can really see the confidence he’s gotten from working with Gucci,” they share collectively over email. “[He’s] taking more risks and letting more of himself show… In a lot of ways we’ve seen Harry really come into his own. I think that really resonates with people, especially his fans, who get tiny pieces of [who he really is] through fashion.”

Two fans who have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of this fashion partnership are the transatlantic duo behind @HSFashionArchive. Since April 2016, London-based Lu and Washington DC-based Alex have documented every look worn by Harry in meticulous detail, all to act as “a resource for fans”. Its posts lets his followers know how they might go about procuring these items, but also sheds light on key house codes – thus enabling fans to quickly identify which of Harry’s looks are Gucci, and which aren’t. “We have noticed that fans buy the Gucci pieces that Harry has worn,” 29-year-old Alex explained. “Though some pieces are pricey, we’ve seen people buy the loafers, boots, and bags that Harry has sported over the years. Lots of our followers bought the £34 Gucci lipsticks he wore in Beauty Papers.”

The pair believes that the relationship works because Gucci is able to offer Harry such a broad spectrum of looks to choose from. “Gucci’s looks range from wearable to outrageous, so Harry’s continued partnership with Gucci guarantees both attainable style and flashy moments. There’s nothing like seeing him in a wild new outfit that we couldn’t have anticipated.” And though one might assume the scene-stealing suits are most popular with fans, according to Nadhila, they like his low-key looks best, given that “they show a more casual and intimate look into who he is as a ‘normal’ person”.

Of course, there is a notable exception: the 2019 Met Gala. For the opening evening of the “Camp: Notes On Fashion” exhibition Michele and Harry acted as co-hosts, and arrived on the pink carpet together. “After such a colourful tour wardrobe it was nice to do something a little unexpected,” Lambert told Miss Vogue of the black blouse Styles wore. “[It was about] taking traditionally feminine elements like the frills, heeled boots, sheer fabric and the pearl earring, but then rephrasing them as masculine pieces set against the high-waisted tailored trousers and his tattoos. Camp, but still Harry.” Lambert explained at the time: “We met up earlier this year to share mood boards with the Gucci team. We had pages of printed references all on the table from Alessandro, myself and Harry, then we edited them down.” Today, the @HSFashionArchive duo agree the night “was a massive deal amongst fans”.

There was the now pearl earring-wearing fashion darling of the music world, standing alongside the closest thing to a rockstar the fashion industry has at present. “I love dressing up and he loves dressing up,” Michele told The Face in 2019. “The moment I met him, I immediately understood there was something strong around him. I realised he was much more than a young singer. He was a young man, dressed in a thoughtful way, with uncombed hair and a beautiful voice. I thought he gathered within himself the feminine and the masculine.”

Since the Met, the relationship has continued to go from strength to strength. Styles wore a custom look on the cover of his second record, Fine Line, shot by Tim Walker, and Michele and Styles collaborated on a T-shirt to coincide with it, with a percentage of the sales going to the Global Fund For Women. Gucci’s high-waisted trousers, cropped blazers and dazzling shirting now takes up even more space in Styles’s wardrobe, and bring as much attention to the star as his sophomore record’s commercial and critical success.

Sightings of Styles in Gucci have become a source of comfort for fans in a turbulent 2020. From his Mary-Janes at the Brits to his oversized turquoise blazer and crochet gloves in the “Golden” video, by way of outré sunglasses and floral sunglasses in the clip for “Watermelon Sugar”, Harry’s recent sartorial choices have managed to be pleasingly familiar, while simultaneously keeping his followers on their toes.

A bit like the chicken and the egg conundrum, the question remains: is Harry very Gucci, or is Gucci very Harry? The verdict is out. But without each other, both might be missing a little something.

[prorevenge]

Better check your facts, because people KNOW people.

Had to post this one...it isn't petty, it isn't regular, and it ruined a guys journalistic career.

The internet has evolved quite a lot over the years. Some people may remember usenet groups, I know I do, used to have a lot of fun reading them. Kind of similar in a way to today's reddit in a way...no matter what the subject was, someone would have a usenet newsgroup for it. But unlike todays reddit, it was strictly text. You could download images, but they would take forever to download, and could often be across several different messages...just one of the messages missing, and you wouldn't get the image. Things then improved, download speeds slowly got faster, and then there was IRC that came about. IRC saw the same thing...there was chatroom for anything and everything...and if there wasn't, you could clearly create it. If you were to try to watch a video over the internet back then, it could take you a couple of hours to download a music video...you get the idea. This is important for the context of the story.

I was a writer on a couple of wrestling newsletters during the mid to late 90's. We only published our newsletters online...you could have it emailed to you, or go to a website to read it (think we hosted on geocities or tripod). Both wrestling newsletters were independent of each other, and I used different nicknames on each. One was more a review and preview newsletter, where we would post reviews of the most recent shows/events, talk about current feuds, and talk about what we may think will happen in the next big event.

The other newsletter, was a news and rumours newsletter, with a few fun puzzles/competitions thrown in to keep things interesting. At the time, you had a few big name wrestling news and rumours websites, and a handful of small ones...I was a writer on one of the small ones. Sometimes we would get news and rumours from the big name websites, giving them credit where appropriate. Sometimes, we would hear things from people in the business...everyone had their sources of information. And sometimes we would make an educated guess on possible scenarios, based on current trends in the industry. It did get a bit cut-throat at times, with some newsletters claiming that they broke the news first, when it had already been published in other newsletters first. And you would even have some newsletters devote all of their time trying to rubbish the other newsletters for publishing false and misleading information. It was rumours...we did not always get it right.

Through a couple of readers of my first wrestling newsletter, I learned of a huge surprise in the works for one organisation, which could potentially lead to something happening at a big event coming up. I won't mention the surprise, but it involved a person from another sport. No other wrestling newsletter had reported it, so I included it as a rumour on the second wrestling newsletter. I was instantly rubbished by one of the major wrestling newsletters at the time, publishing a clearly nonsense rumour that would never happen...only for that very same newsletter to publish the exact same rumour two or three days later, and claim to be the first ones to publish it. This sort of stuff happened all the time, it did not bother me at all.

Anyway, I happened to have a few wrestlers who actually read my first newsletter...no big names as such, but a couple of lesser known wrestlers in the big organisations. I knew who they were, but refused to reveal their identities back then, and refuse to reveal them now. One of them let me know of an unknown fact from a major match a couple of years earlier (it was to do with an injury that happened during a part of the match). This fact had never been published anywhere else at the time. I mentioned that I wrote for another wrestling newsletter, that dealt with news and rumours, and asked if I could repeat the information. The wrestler said sure, but not to credit him. So I go ahead and publish the rumour.

Straight away I had another of the smaller wrestling newsletters say that it was nonsense. They said that it was impossible for the match to have continued, had the injury happened. They then started a smear campaign on the second newsletter, I was getting spam emails constantly, virus attempts originating from the competition, the competition even went so far as claiming that they had the full story of my wife of 10 years working as a hooker (don't ask, they were trying to find anything to smear me with). There was more sinister and disgusting stuff, but I won't write it here. Why it got so personal, I do not know, but the funny thing was that at the time, I was a 22 year old single university student, and if I had a wife of 10 years who was working as a hooker, I would have had to marry her when I was 12. But his smear campaign was working, our readership dropped by nearly 50%. It was time to get some revenge, although I had no idea just how far the revenge would end up reaching.

Firstly, I approached one of the bigger wrestling newsletters. They would often run ads at the bottom or rear of their newsletters, for "affiliated" newsletters. I organised a new affiliation with them, removing an affiliation they had with the competition. Small potatoes. I started promoting the second newsletter heavily on usenet, in some of the wrestling groups...which ultimately led to an increase in our email subscription base, greater than what it was before his smear campaign. This negated any effect that his smear campaign had...but I was hungry for more. I wanted to shove it where the sun don't shine, so I contacted those wrestlers who read my first newsletter. I explained the situation to them, and they were happy to help out. It took a couple of weeks, but eventually I was able to post a link to a 15 second video (hosted on a geocities webpage, as well as on a wrestling usenet group), where the wrestler at the centre of the injury rumour not only confirmed it, but gave a shoutout to my second newsletter. While it validated me and my information, it still didn't shut the other guy up.

Finally, a break. While the guy used an alias for his newsletter, he did actually mention his name a couple of times, and where in the US he attended university. Using this information, I was able to get a friend in the US to do some searching for me (attended that very same university), and discovered that the guy had actually completed a journalism degree several years earlier. Further research indicated that he was now working as a reporter for a regional newspaper in the US. His wrestling newsletter must just be a hobby. So I decided to send all of the information I had, his smear campaign etc, to the newspaper office. I don't know what, if anything, it would do...but it was worth a shot. About a month later, I got an email back from the newspaper, thanking me for the information. They discovered that he was using the newspaper's system to run the wrestling newsletter, which was against their policy, so they fired him. And because the newspaper was part of a chain of regional newspapers across the US, he was going to struggle to find another journalism job. The newsletter got shut down as well, because without the newspaper's system to run it, the guy had no way of continuing with the newsletter.

Side note...I ended up finishing with my newsletters not long after anyway. The first newsletter, as I was just a writer for it, I finished up with it when the owner of the newsletter decided to close it down (he didn't have the time to devote to it due to work commitments). The second one, I started off as just a writer/contributor, then took over their competitions, then eventually took over the whole newsletter (original owner didn't want to do it anymore). But in the end, I was finishing up at university, I had to move on with my career, so I closed it down.

(source) story by (/u/ZeroPenguinParty)

[asian-hero]

“I’ll do it even if it kills me.”, "What are you doing here? It’s too dangerous!” with Todoroki from BNHA? We stan angst 🙏

A/N: I wrote this while listening to Animal Crossing lofi music (also, more pro hero!au because I can)

Also, because I just finished watching ATLA recently, the reader has a water bending quirk (also because I can)

“I’ll do it even if it kills me.” + “What are you doing here? It’s too dangerous!” from this prompt list

Summary: Being a pro hero was never going to be an easy task. You knew it, your family knew it, Shouto knew it, but, nevertheless, the two of you had progressed in your heroic careers. However, when Shouto ends up in a fight that starts to look grim, you come in swinging, even if it’s at the cost of your own well being

Words, 2,213

Today started off as any regular day. You woke up around six in the morning, the usual time that you’d get up and ready for the day, after all, it’d be sad if you, a teacher at a school for heroes, was late for class. Though you supposed that you could be just like your old teacher and roll into class in your sleepwear, but that felt both inappropriate and out of character for you. So, here you were, up at six in the morning, both hating your life and wanting to go back to bed for another ten hours.

By the time you’d finished forcing yourself to get ready and start up breakfast, it was already half past seven. Your lovely fiancée had stumbled into the kitchen, moving to sit by the counter, mumbling something about how it was “too early” for you to be out of bed. You had hummed in reply, gently telling him that, unfortunately, it was a school day, which meant that you had no choice but to get up early. With the two of you bantering back and forth, albeit a little sleepily, breakfast had finished cooking and was completely wiped off of both of your plates. Glancing down at your watch, you noted the time: eight o’ clock. Pressing a kiss to Shouto’s forehead, you smiled down at him, promising him you’d be back home soon.

After that, your day seemed to be running fairly smoothly. You had made it to U.A. and into your classroom with twenty minutes to spare, which gave you enough time to go through the run down of how you’d be spending your day with your students. Once class had started, you felt that someone must have been looking out for you, as your normally loud and rambunctious class actually paid attention to you today, and you felt that they were actually immersed in the lecture. You were so distracted by actually being able to teach in peace that you nearly made them late for their next class. It was a nice change of pace from your normal teaching life, as you found yourself remembering why you offered to teach at the school in the first place. 

Of course, your great day couldn’t last forever.

After your rather boring and lengthy mathematics lecture, you were finally out of your stuffy classroom and out on the training grounds, both observing and participating in your class’ sparring matches. While you were in the middle of a match, you could hear loud footsteps rushing over to you. Glaring at the entrance, you were mentally preparing yourself to “politely” tell whoever was making such an entrance to leave before you kicked them out yourself. However, once you saw a frantic looking Momo, your emotions had turned from ones of annoyance to fear. You motioned for your class to continue their matches before walking to a secluded area to get a bit of privacy.

“Hey, what’s going on?” You asked, not quite sure why the woman barged into your classroom like that. 

“Have you checked the news?” 

You gave her a flat look. “Momo, I’ve been at U.A. all day, of course I haven’t—“

“There’s a villain attack nearby Shouto’s agency,” She paused, taking in a deep breath, “I just came back from my patrol. It doesn’t look good,”

To emphasize her statement, she quickly pulled out her phone, pulling up a livestream of what was currently happening. 

It looked like absolute hell.

Half of Shouto’s agency was on the ground, pieces of debris trapping some bystanders. What was left of the building was either hanging by a thread or on fire. As some pro heroes were busying freeing the individuals trapped under the rubble, you saw your fiancée struggling to keep the villain contained. If you looked closely, you could tell that there was frostbite beginning to form on his right side, and his left was becoming redder, both signs that he’d been overusing his quirk. It also wasn’t good for your poor heart to see the gashes and bruises that were littering his body.

Before you could even stop yourself, you began running towards the entrance of the school, wanting to get to Shouto as soon as possible. 

Looking behind your shoulder, you called out for Momo, “Let Nezu know what’s happening, I’ll deal with the consequences later!”

You didn’t wait for a reply, as you were too wrapped up in your own thoughts. While yes, you knew that Shouto was a capable hero, with one of the strongest quirks out there, that didn’t mean that you wouldn’t worry about him. Seeing the video of him struggling against the villain didn’t help your worry either. 

As you were rushing to the scene, you found yourself spiraling. What if you were too late? What if Shouto wasn’t able to stop the villain, and they got away? Or worse, what if Shouto was killed? 

Pushing those thoughts away, you focused on getting there as quickly as possible. Luckily for you, U.A. wasn’t that far from his agency, so by the time you got there, not much had changed from what Momo showed you, though, there were a few more villains than what the video had led you to believe. You noticed Shouto begin to stumble, and before you could even call out his name, he fell to his knees. 

Just before you were about to rush over to him, there was a glint of something in the corner of your eye. Whipping your head to the side, you saw a few knives flying through the air, heading directly towards the exhausted hero. As they flew through the air, it was as if everything was in slow motion. Looking around frantically, you nearly let out a sigh of relief once you saw one of the fire hydrants nearby had been broken, a geyser of water shooting out of it. Using your quirk, you bended the water to cover Shouto, almost like a make-shift shield. 

Both the main villain and Shouto looked towards you, one with a look of anger, and the other with astonishment and fear.

“What are you doing here? It’s too dangerous!” 

You ignored his shouts, focusing all of your attention on dodging and deflecting more weapons, as the villain had now set their sights on you. Inching your way closer, you put yourself in front of Shouto, intercepting any attacks. As you kept up your shield with one hand, your free hand had warped the shape of your leftover water into sharp points. Freezing them, you shot your hand out, your now icy daggers flying through the air. 

Unfortunately for you, the villain had seemed to dodge all of them, and pelted you with an even bigger attack, one that made you shake a bit, and your shield to falter for a moment. They seemed to notice, as you felt your shield begin to wobble, so close to failing you. There were a few times when parts of your shield began to fall, with some water splashing back to the ground, but it wasn’t long before you patched the holes up, paying extra attention to those weak points. As much as you wanted to give up and release the water, you knew that you couldn’t afford to. You weren’t just thinking about Shouto, who was currently attempting to get back up and fight. No, you were also thinking about the few bystanders and other pro heroes who were using your shield as well, trying to stay safe from the dozens of attacks being hurled their way.

As you felt yourself begin to crumble, you couldn’t help but curse at the fact that you had sparred with your students earlier in the day. 

Gritting your teeth, you tried to stop the noises of discomfort from falling out of your mouth. After a few more seconds, however, it seemed that you couldn’t stop them from coming out. From behind you, you could feel Shouto’s eyes on you.

“You need to get out of here,” He spoke, trying once again to stand, “You can’t keep everyone safe, you’re reaching your limit!”

You refused to move, even going so far as to doubling your efforts by expanding how far your shield covered. The sweat that had built up on your forehead began to drip, with some of it dripping into your eyes. 

Nonetheless, you stood tall. 

As you coughed, you felt blood splatter onto your arms, and you saw some on the floor beneath you. You could feel your bones aching and creaking within your body, screaming at you to stop. 

Still, you refused to move.

Shouto tried once again to reason with you, telling you that there was no need to keep up such a large shield, as everyone had evacuated. As you quickly analyzed your surroundings, you saw that every civilian had left, and the rest of the pro heroes were taking down the rest of the villains. Looking back at your partner, you gave him one last smile before releasing the water. Before Shouto or the villain could react, you spoke:

“Forgive me,” 

With that, you used the water from the fire hydrant to life Shouto off of the ground and away from the fight. As he tried to protest, you used what was remaining from the water source to wrap it around your arms, creating extended limbs that were almost tentacle-like. The villain looked at you and laughed, an eyebrow raised at your actions.

“You think you can take me down? All by yourself?” They taunted, trying to get a reaction out of you.

“I’ll do it even if it kills me.”

You jumped into action, using your long tendrils to wrap around the destroyed buildings. Using the leverage you had, you flicked your hand, more ice daggers shooting out towards the villain. Like before, they dodged them perfectly, and sent more knives flying. You weren’t able to get up a wall in time, and instead your forearm had taken two of them while the last one lodged itself into your right shoulder. The force of the attack had caused you to knock back into the building, causing some of the rubble to come crashing down onto the back of your head. Groaning, you released the edge that you were holding onto, nearly falling to your death before gripping onto another ledge. Looking at your surroundings, you tried to quickly come up with a plan.

After a few more seconds of thinking, and a few more gashes in your arms and stomach, you finally had a plan. Taking in a deep breath, you conjured up as many ice daggers as you could, sending them down onto the villain. As they continued to dodge your seemingly endless attack, you used all that was left of your power and tilted the fire hydrant geyser towards the villain, blasting them in the back and sending them flying straight into a building, knocking them unconscious. 

As you finally let out a breath of relief, your water tentacle had dissipated, leaving you to begin your descent. While your body was flying through the air, you could feel yourself grow more tired, wanting to just close your eyes and sleep until the next morning. Your head was starting to throb, and your limbs were aching from all of the wounds you’d acquired.

Before you could even reach the ground, you found yourself lying against something warm and soft. As you relished in the warmth of whatever you fell on, you could faintly hear shouting, sirens and a quiet, yet broken voice beside you, begging you to stay awake. Whatever you were laying on was rumbling, and you couldn’t help but feel soothed by it, almost as if you’d done this before. Closing your eyes, you allowed yourself to be lulled to sleep by the pleasant rumbling, not bothering to listen to the screams in the background.

By the time you woke up, you found yourself staring up at a white ceiling, a quiet beeping noise being the only sound in the room. Lifting yourself up, you winced, your hand immediately going up to the back of your head. As you continued to take in your surroundings, the sound of a door opening caught your attention.

A man with red and white hair walked in, attempting to balance a tray of food and a couple of water bottles. As the two of you made eye contact, the man seemed to light up, a relieved smile brightening up his features. Rushing towards you, he set down the tray and bottles on the table beside you, and took both of your hands in his. You furrowed your eyebrows, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“(Y/N), you’re awake,” He started, his eyes dancing all around your body, leaving you feeling exposed, “How are you feeling?”

You ripped your hands away from his, curling in on yourself. Scooting further away from the man, you took note of the confused and hurt expression on his face. Something about that face made you feel guilty, but you didn’t know what. 

It did, however, compel you to speak:

“Who—” You cleared your throat, hating the way your voice shook.

“Who are you?”

[mostly-marvel-musings]

A Mere Mortal - Chapter Four

A/N: This story is based on the prompt : Vampires cannot enter a house without your permission, but what if your landlord’s a vampire? It’s his house, he’s just letting you live there. Part of the Landlord Vampire Fic Frenzy hosted by the amazing @just-the-hiddles​ . Feedback’s appreciated as always! :))

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Vampire! Bucky Barnes x Vampire! Loki x Human! Reader

Word count: 2298

Warnings: 18+ stuff. Kissing and make out scenes. Foul language.

Tags: @buckybarnesplumwhore​ @ladyacrasia​ @tcc-gizmachine​ @alexakeyloveloki​

Taglists open! Send me an ask if you wish to be tagged in future chapters.

...

It had been a while since you woke up before the alarm went off. Given the fact that you were up late writing and editing some initial drafts, this morning you felt surprisingly fresh.

Might as well go for a run.

Pulling out your trainers, a blue fleece jacket and a beanie that you found in your luggage you stepped out.

The weather was nippy, perfect for a jog through the little forest trail. Plugging your headphones you put on a ‘workout mix’ and started a slow jog following a narrow path that winded through the woods.

When the cabin came into view you leaned against a tree to catch your breath. Huffing, you pulled the earplugs out and looked around.

Faint whimpering sounds reached your ears from behind another tree to your right. You stepped around and a scared looking pup, not older than three weeks came into view. He was visibly shivering in the cold and you couldn’t help but pick him up.

“Where’s your mama little one?” you murmured looking around for any signs of an adult dog, but found none. “You hungry?” already walking inside with him tucked in your arms.  

Thankfully you had leftover steamed veggies in your fridge from last night which would have to suffice for now.

You mashed the carrots and broccoli and offered it to the puppy along with some water which he accepted with grateful wags of his tiny tail.

Letting him out in the harsh weather would be cruel, might as well find a box and some sheets to keep him warm.

The aroma of freshly made coffee still lingered in the air, after you took a quick shower and breakfast when your phone rang. It was a Face Time video from Sam.

“Sammie! How are you?”

“You seem awfully chipper (Y/N). I’m good. How’re things in creepy town?”

You rolled your eyes but laughed, you had missed him.

“For one stop calling it creepy town. Second, things couldn’t be better. I went for a run in the woods earlier today and came home with a puppy!”

“You did what?”

“Yeah well he looked so fragile and cold, I couldn’t leave him out there. Plus look how cute he is!” You said flipping the camera around so that Sam could see the pup who was now curled up into a ball on the rug, sleeping peacefully.

“Cute. Hey did you meet your landlord Mr. Bones was it?”

“It’s Barnes Sam, yes we met. Bucky is such a nice guy. Ah. A perfect gentleman. Like you wouldn’t believe.” you gushed excitedly. You recalled the meeting and he listened patiently, sneaking in a few teasing remarks in between. 

“I smell a crush (Y/N/N)”

“Oh stop, I’ve only met him twice, we had drinks the other day. Nothing happened” you spoke with a tad bit of disappointment. Something almost happened.

“So what? You can make a move. Guys dig that.” Sam insisted.

“I moved here to write my novel Sam. I can’t just randomly hook up with my landlord.”

You can do both, pun intended. Your horny alter ego spoke up.

You cut the call after filling him in on most of the details. You didn’t mention that weird sex dream with Loki, in fact didn’t mention the man at all. You hadn’t figured what to make of it, it was completely out of the blue.

Something you didn’t want to dwell on too much.

...

Mid-morning was spent trying get the pup to not pee next to the kitchen cabinet and to find a name for the little guy.

After a few tries he wagged his tiny tail when you said Bear, quite fitting, he was brown and shaggy.

You had lunch at the grill, when Bear had finally slept in his box and you were sure he wouldn’t get too lonely in your absence. You purchased kibbles, a leash and a few other things from Fred’s on your way home.

…

Bucky’s POV

I’ve been staring at this page for the longest time, reading the same sentence over and over again.

I managed to get my hands on (Y/N)’s latest book online and got it shipped here. An anthology of short stories, the title was enough to intrigue me, Mere Mortals.

She had a flair for writing thrillers, no wonder this was a best-seller.

This particular story caught my attention about a vampire falling madly in love with a human. A beautifully written tragedy with a line that struck me the most,

“Loving the monsters never ends well for the human.”

The book made me wonder how she might react if she finds out who I really am. Would she run away or be brave enough like one of her characters and stick around. Probably best to leave that topic for later.

Your book is fantastic (Y/N). You weren’t kidding when you said you love the supernatural. :P

How’s the new one coming along?

I didn’t want to seem too pushy but I couldn’t help myself. Something about her made it hard for me to stay away.

You read my book! I’m glad you found my obsession amusing. As far as the new one goes, I’ve been at it for days with very little progress. Starting to freak out. :(

The promptness of her reply made me smile. I quickly texted back and invited her over for dinner later today.

With that I walked inside to get a refill of my dinner for the night from the fridge.

…

Bear sat looking up at you with his head tilted to one side, as you explained you’d be leaving him alone for a few hours to go meet Bucky.

“And please don’t destroy the house, we’re here on lease. I’ll be back soon.” You placed a kiss on his nose and stood up to leave.

The walk to Bucky’s house was spent adjusting your hair every few minutes and making sure your breath was minty fresh. As trees cleared a huge cottage came into view which you could only guess was his ancestral home.

It looked surprisingly modern though with a few overgrown weeds around and English ivy covering most of the exterior walls. Stopping outside the front door, you checked your appearance one last time on your phone camera and knocked.

“Come on in, it’s open.” Bucky’s voice came through from a distance. You pushed the door open and stepped in the dimly lit house.

The wallpaper covered foyer reminded you of an old museum. Reaching the living room, you looked around to find most of the tables topped with antiques and artifacts. Old paintings that definitely belonged to the 18th century decorated the walls. All in all, the house looked like it belonged to someone who was stinking rich.

“Sorry for not opening the door, I almost lit my kitchen on fire.”

You turned around to see Bucky dressed in a button down tucked neatly in dark denims and the sleeves folded up to the elbow, hair in disarray but still freaking gorgeous walk in the living room. You looked around the room and said, “I didn’t know you lived in a museum.”

“Oh it’s our family home, almost been the same since my great grandfather built it. I’ll give you a tour later.”

“You’re rich.”

“No my parents were rich.” He chuckled.

“That is a typical rich person reply right there.” You shot back as you followed him into the kitchen.

The kitchen was bigger than your first apartment, very rustic looking with modern appliances to add contrast. The smell of Bolognese wafting through the closed pot on the stove made your stomach grumble.

“Hope you like Italian.” He gave you a smile and opened the lid to show off his work proudly.

“Is there anyone who doesn’t? It’s my favorite.” You walked closer and inhaled deeply before sighing rather dramatically.

“Come on. Let’s eat.”

You ate at the breakfast bar, though there was a dining room. Of course it was a twelve seat formal one complete with a fancy chandelier and everything.

“Are you like a prince or something hiding your true identity from me?” you asked eyeing him with mock suspicion.

He laughed, “I could be a mafia for all you know.” You got the latter part right, (Y/N)

“Nah don’t get that vibe from you.”

“Well my family owned a few properties around here including the cabin you’re living in, and the library, and now I look after it. My great grandfather was a part of the town council and everything, it’s boring.”

“Interesting would be the word I would use. Though a tiny part of me was hoping you’d say mafia and prove me wrong.”

You kept the conversation going through rest of the dinner and he seemed eager to know about your past as well. After a tour of the house, he offered you a nightcap as you settled on a plush couch in the living area. Comfortable silence that fell between you was broken as you heard soft music coming from an antique looking vinyl player.

“Care to dance?”

You couldn’t help but giggle as you took his outstretched hand and stood from your spot.

“See this is the kinda stuff that happens either in romantic movies or the beginnings of a serial killer movie.” You slid your arms around his neck as both of you gently swayed to the music.

The things you were feeling at that moment definitely were something you had only read about in those classic romantic novels you used to love so much in your growing years.

“Let’s just say it’s the former for now okay?” Bucky kept his arms around your waist and looked at your lips. You wasted no time in replying as you pulled him in for a kiss.

Lips brushed against each other softly at first, delicate like butterfly wings, he could feel the warmth of your skin and taste the wine you’d had earlier. 

Soon you lost yourself in the moment as instincts took over and your fingers weaved through his hair. One hand moved to the back of your head and the other stayed on your back as he pulled you even closer and the innocent kiss turned fervent.

The need to pull away for air became necessary as you broke the kiss and pressed your foreheads together, grinning ear to ear.

“The cooking, the wine and dance. You’re very old school in your ways Mr. Barnes.”

“I sure love it when you call me that doll.” 

With that he pressed his lips to yours once more and ravaged your mouth. Backing you up against a wall, his hands dropped down to your hips and he pressed himself closer to you, making his hard-on evident. A moan escaped you as he moved his mouth from your lips down to your neck where he found your sweet spot with ease.

All he could think about was the feel of your flushed skin, your heady scent and the smell of blood flowing through your carotid. He pressed his nose at the spot where your shoulder and neck met and inhaled deeply. This made your eyes flutter open.

“What’re you doing?” your voice came out weak as you tugged on his hair lightly, not understanding his actions but not really wanting him to move away.

“Stopping myself from going too far. I find you irresistible (Y/N).” he said slowly kissing his way back to your lips, eyes still closed.

“And you intrigue me. You’ll definitely end up as my protagonist if I ever write a romance novel.” you decided to lighten the sexually charged atmosphere with your dull sense of humor. You weren’t one of those who’d sleep with someone on their first date. Deciding it was time to leave you gently nudged him and he stepped away to give you space.

He walked you back to your home as always and stopped at the porch steps.

“Probably wise to not invite you in just now, Bear must’ve pooped in several places.”

“Bear?”

“Shit! I forgot to ask. I found a puppy this morning and decided to take him in. I hope its okay with you.” You silently prayed he wasn’t one of those ‘no pets allowed’ guy, considering his own house was so prim and proper, there wasn’t a stray fly around.  

“Who doesn’t like dogs?”

Vampires. Vampires don’t gel well with dogs.

But he couldn’t say no to you. You were probably safer with one in the house.

You stood on your tippy toes to give him a goodbye kiss which lasted a few seconds that had you reconsider going in alone.

…

Loki peered through from the shadows as you kissed Bucky outside your cabin. Fists clenched, eyes seeing red he stormed away through the woods searching for an outlet, a prey.

Rage turned into blood thirst, he spotted the lady who worked at the grill walking through the empty town square. Perfect.

Her wrist watch read 12:30, as Jenny made her way home after her shift ended at the grill. The area was deserted, illuminated only by the street lamps. She heard twigs snapping behind her and turned to locate the source of the noise.

There was no one.

Slightly alarmed, she turned back to see a tall dark figure standing right in front of her. Her initial shock wore off as she recognized the man. It was Loki.

“Mr. Laufeyson! You scared me.”

Loki stalked closer with eyes dark and an unreadable look on his face.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just out for a bite.”

He grabbed Jenny before she could run and sunk his fangs in her neck.

Her piercing scream echoed into the night, soon coming to a stop like her pulse.

…

[kerikaaria]

If I Never Met You: Chapter 33

(??? X Reader) Idol!AU, Manager!Reader

Genre: (PG13) Angst, fluff

WC: 2.9k

Warnings: Serious injury (NOT life-threatening)

Series Masterlist

Chapter 32 | Chapter 33 | Chapter 34

A/N - Thank you to the lovely @ditttiii​ for giving this a beta read for me and helping to make this chapter better! I love you!

You sat a distance behind the filming crew observing the music video being shot, Jimin snuggling close to you. You woke up way too early today in order to fit in as much filming as possible and the first scene filmed was Jimin’s, which involved a bathtub and a lot of water. Hence why he was stuck to your side, still looking for warmth even after drying off and changing into fresh clothes.

This video was by far the most ambitious one yet in the boys’ careers. The story beginning in this video and with this album had started being created almost a year ago now, and had been worked on and tweaked for the longest time until it was finally settled into what will be presented this comeback. Hardly any of you even had the story straight though – it was very interesting and really well-planned out, but also rather confusing and convoluted. It’ll be interesting to see what the fans come up with when they realize there’s a plotline to be uncovered.

“How many more days of filming do we have left?” Jimin asked, his voice muffled from where his face was tucked into your arm.

“I don’t know for sure, it depends on how well things go,” you said. “But since the majority of the outdoor scenes are done, I think it’s safe to say we’re getting close to the end.”

“I hope they don’t need me to do any more shots in that bathtub.” Jimin shivered. “It’s taking me forever to warm up.”

“It’d be quicker if you go into the dressing room where it’s warmer,” you suggested. A space heater had been turned on in the room earlier to help the boys whose scenes were less than comfortable to endure.

“Yeah, but then I wouldn’t have someone to cuddle with so that’s boring,” Jimin whined.

You smiled, letting Jimin stay where he was. Everyone here didn’t even bat an eye at Jimin being cuddly with you—it really wasn’t an unusual occurrence. Just as long as everyone stayed focused and did their work, that’s what mattered. And for you, all you needed to do for now was sit by and watch the filming take place. Rather boring on your part, really. You only needed to make sure things were going smoothly.

Yoongi’s scene finished, and he was immediately being wrapped in a blanket as he walked away from the set. In contrast to Jimin, Yoongi’s scenes involved being surrounded by fire in a burning hotel room. Being surrounded by intense heat, no matter how uncomfortable, meant that as soon as the heat was gone the drastic temperature change would make him feel incredibly cold – hence the blanket.

He walked past you and Jimin, looking like he was heading toward the dressing room.

“Hyung,” Jimin called out, “why don’t you come here? Noona is really warm to snuggle with!”

Yoongi barely glanced your way, shivering underneath the fabric wrapped around him. “No thanks, the dressing room is warmer.”

“Let me know if you need anything, Yoongi,” you yelled before he was out of earshot. He lifted his hand, hidden underneath the blanket, but it was enough of a gesture for you to know that he had heard you.

The next scene the crew was preparing to film was Taehyung’s. His scene was one of the more mature ones – most of it wouldn’t make it into the first cut of the music video being released next month. But there were plans to have a second version released with more clips to show the story which would include the bloody ones from Tae’s scene, making the video rated for adult viewers only.

In the scene, there would be two other actors portraying Taehyung’s father and sister. It was pretty intense, including a small fight scene with his character’s abusive father. Tae was a bit nervous about it, but if any of the boys could pull off this scene, it would be him. You knew he’d do well.

You wanted to watch the scene from a bit closer, much to Jimin’s displeasure, so he finally went back to the dressing room to finish warming up while you stood nearby as the crew prepped to film the next scene.

They began filming the opening of the scene where Taehyung walked through the hallway and saw his father hitting his sister through the open doorway. He grabbed one of the bottles on the nearby table and rushed in to defend his sister. 

They shot the scene a few more times to make sure to get the best take, along with a few other ones to set up the scene better. After that, the camera filmed from inside the room to get a good angle of Taehyung ‘hitting’ his father on the head with the bottle after rushing into the room.

The next portion to be filmed was of the father fighting back a bit by pushing Taehyung away, before Tae rushed back at him. Everyone got ready to begin filming the scene, which was for sure going to take quite a few takes.

During the second take, the actor ended up pushing Taehyung into the standing shelving unit against the wall. Since it was all acting, he wasn’t pushed hard and he immediately assured everyone that he wasn’t hurt while the actor apologized. You approached them, double checking with Tae to make sure that he really was okay and he smiled, assuring you that he was in fact, perfectly fine.

You backed away, giving everyone room to start filming again. His reassurances did ease your mind a little, but you still watched closely as they continued. You relaxed after a few more takes went by fine, and the director announced that the next take would be the last one before moving onto the next part of the scene.

The take began, Tae mimed the action of hitting the actor over the head with the bottle. Once he recovered, the actor pushed Tae back. He ended up knocking Taehyung into the shelves again, harder than the first time.

It all happened so quickly. All you knew was that the furniture was obviously wobbling from the impact, it looked dangerously close to falling over, and Taehyung was still standing right in front of it. You didn’t even think before you pushed past the filming crew to reach for Taehyung, pulling him away from the object as quickly as you could.

In your haste, you hadn’t accounted for yourself and before you knew it the heavy furniture was making contact with your shins, forcing you to the floor. The sound that left  your mouth when you felt the force of the impact was one you didn’t recognize as your own.

Your mind was reeling, still working on catching up on everything that occurred within the span of just a few seconds. It was only when the adrenaline from the situation began to wear off that you were able to feel the pain radiating from your legs. You kept your mouth closed to at least try and muffle the scream that you couldn’t hold back.

“Help me get this off of her!” you heard someone yell. Yourmind was too muddled by the pain and shock to recognize who it was. 

“And where the fuck is the medic?!”

Taehyung couldn’t do anything as the events continued to unfold in front of him. One second he was acting, the next he was being roughly pulled away. Before he could even turn around to see what was going on he heard cracking sounds, and then came the godawful scream. That horrendous sound that he had never ever imagined he would hear come out of your mouth.

When he finally turned around and assessed the situation - seeing you on the floor and the shelving fallen over, having landed on your legs – Taehyung was frozen. You, his manager and friend, were hurt because of him. Because he didn’t pay attention, you jumped in and protected him. It shouldn’t be you that was hurt, it should be him.

He heard voices around him, but they sounded distant. It wasn’t until he felt someone pushing past him that he was knocked back into reality. It was Yoongi who, in his rush to reach your side, had bumped into Taehyung’s shoulder.

“Help me get this off of her!” Yoongi yelled as he stared at Taehyung, holding onto one side of the dresser. 

Taehyung quickly jumped into action at his hyung’s words, gripping the opposite side. 

“And where the fuck is the medic?!”

“Lift on three?” Tae asked, and Yoongi nodded. They counted in unison, using as much strength as they could to lift the heavy wood, placing it back where it belonged against the wall. Once it was safely back in place, both of them frantically kneeled on the floor on either side of you.

“Noona?” Yoongi asked gently. You seemed to be in a lot of pain, which wasn’t a surprise if the sound from earlier was any indication to how injured you were. “Noona, can you hear me?” he asked again when you didn’t reply. Taehyung slowly reached down, brushing some of your disheveled hair out of your face.

“Y-yes, I ca-an hear y-you,” you managed to say. Taehyung decided he really didn’t like hearing how pained your voice was.

Before they could say or do anything else, the medic rushed over carrying a medical bag and asked both of them to move so he could assess your injuries.

Taehyung felt like he was running on autopilot when Yoongi directed him away from the scene toward the other members.  He felt familiar comforting hands and hugs and barely registered mumbled words of concern. The whole time, he couldn’t pull his eyes away from where you lay on the floor. 

There has to be something I can do. I was the one who was supposed to get hurt, not her.

“Taehyung,” a voice called. 

“Yah! Taehyung-ah!” it called a second time, just loud enough to pull him out of his own head. He turned to the source of the voice to see his leader looking serious. “Don’t talk like that. It’s not your fault, okay? No one was meant to get hurt in the first place, so don’t you dare go saying you should be. Got it?”

He was confused for a moment before he realized he must have spoken his thoughts out loud. “But, hyung-”

“No,” Namjoon said. He didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t need to. The look on his face said it all.

“She’s going to be okay, right?” Jimin asked shakily.

“I doubt it was anything life-threatening,” Yoongi said. “So technically, yes.”

“How bad do you think it is?” Jungkook’s voice was hardly audible.

“It’s definitely not good,” Taehyung managed to say. “I heard… I heard cracking sounds. More than one.”

“I’m not surprised,” Namjoon said. “I mean, furniture like that can be heavy in the first place, and add the fact that it was small surface areas that made contact, combined with the force of gravity and-”

“Namjoon!” Seokjin interrupted him. “You’re nervous rambling, and none of your smart brain knowledge is helping anyone feel any better. Please, just stop.”

Ashamed, Joon lowered his head. “Sorry, hyung.”

“It’s okay,” Jin comforted him, squeezing his shoulder. “I know you’re worried, just like all of us.”

“I’m going to call Sejin hyung,” Hoseok said before walking away. He tried to hide the fact that he was starting to tear up, but they all knew him too well to not notice.

In a blur that Taehyung could hardly remember, an ambulance came to take you to the hospital, Sejin came to the filming studio and the on-site medic informed him that both of your legs were broken, filming was called off for the next few days, and Sejin got all seven of the members packed up to go to the hospital. It was a unanimous decision that they couldn’t just go home after something like that, they wanted to be as close to their manager, their friend as possible

You were groggy and dizzy. As you felt yourself waking up, you tried opening your eyes but your eyelids felt really heavy. After a few moments, you managed to crack my eyes open just a little before they fell shut again. Trying a few more times, you eventually managed to get them to stay open, while your mind finished returning from wherever it had ventured off to under the effects of the anesthesia.

All you knew was that you did not like the feeling of waking up after being put under with that stuff. You hoped you would never need to do that again. As you fully woke up, you started to feel sore. You had an IV connected to your arm, which was no doubt delivering pain medication to your system, otherwise you were sure you’d be in a lot more pain. Despite the drugs, you still remembered what had happened.

You were taken to the hospital after the medic confirmed your legs were broken (something you could have told him yourself if you were capable of producing a coherent sentence at the time) and the x-rays showed that, of course, both fractures were displaced. The doctor decided it was best to do surgery to get the bones set into place properly so they could heal. Looking down at your legs, you felt relieved to see that they were able to forego any external fixtures, so at least you wouldn’t have to deal with that.

Now that you could lift my head enough to look around, you realized you weren’t alone in the room. To your right a mop of dark hair lay on your bed, a strong hand gripping onto yours loosely while its owner slept. Despite his face being turned away from you, you knew all your boys well enough to instantly recognize the figure as Taehyung.

You watched as his back slowly rose and fell with his steady breathing. Knowing him, he was probably blaming himself. You’d have to be sure to give him a good lecture about that once he was awake.

Just a few minutes later the door to the room slowly creaked open as a few of the boys wearing their masks walked in. “Oh, you’re awake,” Yoongi said quietly, trying not to disturb Taehyung.

You nodded. “Yeah.” Your voice came out hoarse. You cleared my throat a bit, hoping that would help. “I woke up just a few minutes ago.” That was a little better.

“How are you feeling?” Jin asked, coming to stand at my left side.

“Alright, I guess,” you said while Jin brushed your hair back. “I feel really sore, but I have a feeling whatever is in this IV is keeping most of the pain at bay.”

You felt Taehyung stir for a moment before he suddenly jolted awake. “Hello, sleepyhead,” you said with a light chuckle.

“Noona!” Tae stood up so quickly, you almost didn’t even see him move. “Noona, you’re awake.” His lip quivered. “I’m so sor-”

“Nope,” you interrupted him. “Don’t you dare do that. I know you’re blaming yourself, but stop it.” He looked taken aback by your interruption but didn’t say anything as you continued. “I made my own decision to jump in the middle and ended up getting hurt. I should have paid more attention to how close I was to it, so it’s not your fault.” You took in a breath, squeezing Tae’s hand with both of yours. “I’m just glad that you’re okay.”

Tae wrapped you in as much of a hug as he could with the awkward angle of you lying down and him standing next to the bed, quietly crying into your shoulder. “But I still wish you weren’t hurt.”

“It’s okay,” you assured him, stroking his hair. “I just need to heal, I’m going to be okay.”

Yoongi approached the bed, giving you a small smile. “He was really shocked,” he said. “He’s been acting almost like a zombie this whole time. I think he needs some more time to fully register it all.”

You nodded in understanding. “Is it just you three here?”

“No, everyone’s here,” Seokjin said. “We’ve been rotating in shifts. Except Taehyung, he’s been here the whole time. I can let them all know that you’re awake if you want,” he suggested.

“Yes, please,” you said. “I’m sure they’d be happy to see me conscious.” Jin nodded in agreement before leaving the room.

Yoongi moved closer now that he could, and before you realized what he was doing he placed a soft kiss on your forehead. You felt my face heat up at the gesture. You had gotten chaste kisses from some of the others, but Yoongi was never one to show his affection in that way, so it was a complete shock to you.

“We’re glad you’re okay,” he said softly. You felt Taehyung nod against your shoulder in agreement. “We’ll be with you every step of the way while you heal, noona. I promise.” He took your hand and squeezed it.

You squeezed back, smiling at your friend and leaning my head against Tae’s. You didn’t respond, but you didn’t need to. Words weren’t enough to portray what each of you wanted to say, but that was okay because you all understood each other perfectly without them anyway.

Series Masterlist

Chapter 32 | Chapter 33 | Chapter 34

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