#they don't know him like I do they didn't have the random encounters five nights musical on loop in middle school

[constellation-sapphic]

Every post that's like "omg the guy singing this sounds just like markiplier 😍😍" annoys me bc I have yet to hear one that actually does

[rottenpumpkin13]

I imagine that AGSZ would get into a Hangover type of situation with Cloud missing in the Wall Market and had to retrace their steps.

The Wall Market Hangover Debacle

• After a night of partying in Wall Market, Sephiroth wakes up in Zack's apartment, of all places. He has a pounding headache, his mouth tastes like pizza, his hair is a mess, he's missing a shirt (concerning when he remembers putting one on), and everything is just wrong.

• And then he notices the baby chocobo in his lap.

• Sephiroth is instantly placated and cares for nothing else.

*Angeal wakes up beside him, equally as confused and bedraggled*

Angeal: Why are you in my bed?

Sephiroth: We're on the floor.

*Angeal notices the random phone numbers and "call me"s written all over his arms*

Angeal Oh my god. Are we in Zack's apartment!? What happened last night? I can't remember anything!

Sephiroth: Are you aware that you're covered in lipstick marks and that your breath smells of kerosene?

Angeal: Are you aware that you have a baby chocobo?

Sephiroth: Extremely aware, actually. The moment I encountered an orphaned infant, my protective instincts kicked in, just like how many mammals are biologically wired to care for vulnerable young.

Angeal: It's too early for this.

Sephiroth: It's 16:00.

Angeal: WHAT?

*He gets up quickly. Sephiroth follows him (with the baby chocobo) and they run over to the kitchen. Zack is laying spread-eagle on his kitchen floor, snoring*

Angeal: ZACK!

*Zack wakes up screaming*

*The baby chocobo kwehs, unsatisfied*

Sephiroth, holding the chocobo close: Your screaming is upsetting the child.

Zack: What happened last night? My head is pounding, I can't remember anything, and—is that a baby chocobo?

Angeal: I can't find my phone! Zack, go get yours and check your camera roll, call history, everything. There's a good chance we got robbed!

Sephiroth: Why do you believe we got robbed?

Angeal: Because this place is a mess! Paint splatters on the walls? A pile of energy drink cans? Glitter everywhere??

Zack: Actually, it was like this before we left last night.

Zack:

Zack: I'm trying out art therapy and collecting energy drink cans for recycling :)

Angeal: PHONE.

Zack: On It!

*Zack stumbles into his room to grab his phone*

• Sephiroth is tending to the baby chocobo, fussing over it as a mother would.

• Angeal is watching Sephiroth tend to the baby chocobo, wondering whether or not he's dreaming.

*Zack stumbles out of his bedroom*

Zack: THERE'S A GIRL IN MY ROOM!

Angeal: What did you do!?

Zack: Nothing! I don't even know her!

• All three of them run into Zack's room and sure enough, there's a girl in a pretty, red dress and long red hair sleeping in his bed.

Zack: She's beautiful, but I fear she'll think lowly of me now that she's woken up in my bed.

Angeal:

Zack: I didn't even make her breakfast. Should I make her breakfast?

Angeal: That's GENESIS.

*Upon hearing his name being yelled, Genesis wakes up*

Genesis: Why am I in the puppy's room?

Zack: Dude, why are you wearing a dress!?

Genesis: What? *he looks down* Oh. OH? Who's the scoundrel who did this to me? Which one of you dolts thought it would be funny to dress me like a doll?

Angeal: It wasn't us. We all woke up out there and I can't remember anything.

Sephiroth: And I woke up with this adorable infant chocobo, carrying all the joy of life in its heart, and it brings me a sense of peace I never knew I needed.

Genesis: Where's Cloud?

*There's deafening silence as they all realize Cloud isn't there*

Genesis: We forgot Cloud in Wall Market!?

Angeal: Shit! Sephiroth, put that chocobo down and call Cloud!

Sephiroth: Notice how I’m cradling the chocobo with one arm while using the other to reach into my pocket and pull out my phone—an action that reflects the care of a devoted parent.

Zack: Man, nice!

*They high five*

Angeal: WHAT PLANET ARE YOU TWO ON!? CALL HIM!

• They try to call Cloud several times but he isn't picking up, which means that there's only one way to go about this: They need to retrace their steps back in Wall Market to find him.

Genesis, while everyone else is getting dressed: I’m still in disbelief that someone snuck up on me while I slept and dressed me in this. The shade of red isn’t even close to what I usually wear, and I would never style my hair pin straight like this—I prefer it curled! Plus, this push-up bra is incredibly uncomfortable.

Sephiroth: Then go get changed.

Genesis: No.

Sephiroth:

Angeal: Okay, I'm ready. Grab your stuff and let's go.

*Sephiroth walks towards the door with the baby chocobo*

Angeal: Seph! Leave the chocobo!

*Sephiroth puts the baby chocobo down but it immediately follows him and jumps back into his arms*

Sephiroth: It’s settled, then. I am now the chocobo’s guardian. From this moment forward, I embrace the role of parent to this delightful creature. I shall nurture it, guide it, and cherish it as if it were my own.

Genesis: I think that if you talk to Lazard you can get paternity leave.

Sephiroth: I already checked, and it appears only maternity leave is possible.

Genesis: I'll help you fake a pregnancy.

Sephiroth: You're a good friend.

Zack: Guys? Guys?? Angeal is having a panic attack!

• Once they reach Wall Market, they go to Madam M first because the last thing Zack remembers is getting a massage before he blacked out.

• It turns out that there's a reason why.

*Zack walks through the door and Madam M throws a shoe and starts screaming at him in Wutaian*

Zack: !?

Angeal: Excuse us, Madam M? We're looking for our friend? Cloud Strife? Have you seen him.

*Madam M is still throwing items at Zack and screaming in Wutaian*

Zack: !!!??

Angeal: He's 5'7, spiky blond hair....

*Madam M is still screaming in Wutaian but now she's doing impolite hand gestures*

Sephiroth: She's calling you a, quote, cheapskate hillbilly with ugly hands.

Zack: Rude.

*Madam M is still screaming*

Sephiroth: And now she's cursing your bloodline both past and future.

Zack: ....

*More screaming*

Sephiroth: And now she said something that if I were to repeat, I would have to empty my life's earnings into Angeal's swear jar.

*Screaming*

Sephiroth: She said that you came in here last night, asked for the finest massage, and then tried to pay with a friendly hug.

Zack: Oh yeahh! I remember now. I was trying to see how far positivity stretched.

Genesis: So you robbed an establishment.

Zack: Hey, the hug was enough for the hot dog stand guy! It was enough for the dude selling counterfeit Sephiroth plushies!

Mandam M: I haven't seen your friend. You weren't with him yesterday. Try Andrea. The loudmouthed one in red was very instant last night that your little group go to the Honeybee Inn next.

*They all turn to Genesis*

Genesis: Oh please. What are you all implying by those judgemental looks? That I dragged us to the Honeybee Inn for a night of sin that resulted in Cloud's disappearance??

• At the Honeybee Inn.

*Andrea runs up to Genesis and embraces him as soon as they walk through the door*

Andrea: My darling! I thought the day would never come when you’d grace us with your presence again! You are the very essence of radiance in this establishment! Never has there been a soul more attuned to the fluidity of gender, the artistry of theatrical performances, and the tantalizing allure of rebellion!

*Everyone looks at Genesis, long and hard*

Genesis: I've never seen this man in my life.

Andrea: I see you're still in the fabulous outfit I gifted you last night.

Genesis:

Angeal: Really, Genesis? Honestly, I’m relieved I don’t remember a thing, because I can’t even begin to imagine the shame I’d feel knowing what you did here.

Andrea: Ah, Angeal. You came to pick up your wallet and Shinra ID, I presume?

*He hands them to him*

Angeal: Oh, wow. That's dangerous. I can't believe I'd lose track of these.

Andrea: Yes, well, when you started stripping you threw your pants into the crowd and the wallet went with it.

Genesis: HAAA!

Angeal, irritated: Where's Cloud?

Andrea: Your friend was never here. You were only a group of four when you were sat at one of the tables, and I do believe Commander Rhapsodos mentioned that you were coming from Sam's Delivery Service.

Zack: The chocobos!! That makes so much sense! Come on guys!

• At Chocobo Sam's

Zack: Excuse us, sir! We're looking for our friend, Cloud. Andrea said that we were here last night, but we can't remember anything.

Sam: Yeah, you were here to rent a chocobo to ride around the market on. But you came here as a group of four. There ain't no Cloud here.

Everyone: WHAT?

Sam: Yeah, but from the way you returned Goldie, all covered in glitter and trinkets, I take it you took her for quite the ride around Wall Market.

Angeal: Goldie??

*Chocobo Sam points at one of the chocobos and suddenly everything makes sense*

Zack: Ohhh, that's right! We never came here with Cloud! It was a chocobo all along!

Genesis: I cannot believe we were fooled by our faulty memory.

Angeal: Yeah, I guess in all the confusion, everything got mixed up, and we ended up thinking the chocobo was Cloud.

Zack: An honest mistake.

Sephiroth: Which he would kill you for if he knew. Excuse me, sir, but I have a question. Would this adorable creature happen to be Goldie's child?

Chocobo Sam: No, son. We ain't got no baby chocobos here. That one there belongs to you.

Sephiroth: I see. It seems this chocobo has become my responsibility, and I wouldn’t dream of parting with it. It’s more than just a creature in my care—it’s my child now, and I’ll protect and nurture it as such.

*The chocobo leaps from his arms and runs to play with the other chocobos, leaving him behind*

Sephiroth:

*Sephiroth drops to his knees*

Sephiroth: BETRAYAL. DISLOYALTY. ABANDONMENT—

*They grab Sephiroth and haul him off kicking and screaming*

Zack: We'll get you a puppy!

Sephiroth: I DON'T DESIRE A PUPPY.

Zack: SLANDER. DEFAMATION. INSULTING—

*Chocobo Sam watches them walk away and disappear around the corner*

Chocobo Sam: This day cannot get any weirder.

*The spell wears off and the baby chocobo turns back into Cloud*

Cloud: SONS OF BITCHES.

Chocobo Sam:

[musings-ofthe-unamused]

As Fate Would Have It (BNHA)

Pairings: Dabi x Reader

Word Count: 1.1k

A/N: I do kinda wanna make this a series. I think it would be neato

The club was busy. You sat at the end of the bar, swirling the glass in your hands. You watched the pink liquid form a tiny little whirlpool before sloshing around. The bass of the music seemed to shake the whole bar, the flashing lights giving you a headache. You had no idea why people wanted to party on a Thursday night, yet here they were. It must have been nice to get so drunk that you had no worries, no thoughts. Only alcohol and having fun. Of course, everyone would face the consequences the next morning.

It was only 12 am, but you had already been hit on by three guys tonight. One was too drunk to even register what he was doing. That encounter lasted five seconds. The second one tried immediately grinding on you when you walked in the club. You had pushed him away in disgust, his girlfriend coming to fetch him. The last one just kept talking and talking…You had to politely tell him you weren't interested before he left. 

Now you were about to get hit on for a fourth time. He was sitting two seats away from you. His hair was black and spiked up with gel. He had piercings on his ears, eyebrow, and two on his lips, while his arms were covered by two large sleeves. The clothes he wore were simple; just a black shirt and some jeans. But the most interesting part of him was a dark purplish burn covering the lower left side of his face. You gave the man a sideways glance, emitting a smile from him. 

"You come here often?" He asked, getting up and sliding into the seat next to yours.

You snort, rolling your eyes. "Is that the best opening line you could come up with?"

"I"m Dabi. What's your name?"

"Why do you want to know?

He laughed, the sound low and gravelly as if he smoked a lot. It wasn't often you went to clubs, and it was even less often that you told random strangers your name. But he was making you curious for just one conversation. So you tell him your name. 

"But I have other nicknames."

"And what are those?"

"We haven't gotten there yet."

He flashed you a grin, leaning back. "Then how about I give you a nickname of my own?"

"What would that be?"

“Hmmm….we’ll have to see.” He gave you a wink. "We haven't gotten there yet. 

“Alright then, Dabi. What do you do?”

“I’m curious to know what you do. You don’t often see a person with an aversion to alcohol in a club.”

“So you’re deflecting?”

“Deflecting?”

“Yeah. It’s either a diversion from a part of your life you want to remain hidden. Something that you can’t control, even though you want to. Something that you’re not proud of. Or it’s because you’re so confident in your flirting skills that you believe it’s unnecessary to learn more about each other. It’ll end in a one night stand, after all."

Dabi raised an eyebrow. "I'm flattered that you think I sleep with people that often."

"Am I wrong?" 

"No." He leaned forward. "Do you want to be the next one night stand?"

"And get an STD? No, thank you." You crinkled your nose. 

"I don't have-" Dabi paused and then sighed. "You got a mouth on you. Is it because of that?"

He nodded his head toward your drink. You shrug and take a sip, the taste sending a shiver down your spine. Your face looked as if you just had something sour and your tongue stuck out. Dabi let out a loud laugh. You set your glass down. Dabi then took it, downing the whole thing in one gulp.

"Fruity."

"Gross."

He slid the glass back over to you. "You don't like alcohol? That was a pretty cute reaction."

"Nah," I shake my head. "It's not really my thing."

"Then why'd you drink it?"

"Because I wanted to try what's popular, and that's what he gave me."

Dabi looked over at the bartender. His eyes narrowed for just a second, as if recognizing him. You studied him while he was distracted. Like every other fuckboy, his flirting game was mediocre at best. The conversation was interesting, thankfully. He didn't seem to want to reveal anything about himself, but neither did you. It made it all the more fun to talk to him.

The night went on as the two of you conversed. Most of it was meaningless conversation, avoiding any topics that might reveal too much about each other. The only things you had found out about him was that he smoked, he enjoyed listening to music, and he lived with an acquaintance (he was adamant on not calling him a friend). In return, you revealed that you also enjoyed listening to music, you love the rain, and you hate clubs.

"Really?" Dabi leaned forward, his elbow resting against the bar. "Then why are you here?"

You hummed slightly. "First, I didn't know it would be so busy for a Thursday. Second, I like to feel like a normal young adult that goes out clubbing."

" That doesn't make you sound like a normal young adult." He snorted, rolling his eyes.

"And sleeping around does?"

"Again with the bite, little flame. Don't get too feisty." He gave you a wink and a smile.

"Is that my new nickname?"

"Sure is. What do you think?"

"No comment."

Dabi's smile grew wider. "Hey, are you doing anything else for the rest of the night?"

You narrowed your eyes. "Why?"

"Don't look so defensive! I just wanna know if you want to get out of here."

"Nope," You lifted your empty glass. "Gonna hang out here for a bit."

"Then, can I get your number?"

"That's a no as well."

"Oh really?" Dabi laughed, lowering his gaze to stare at you through his eyelashes. "Then how can I see you again?"

You shrugged. "I don't know."

"Don't you want to see me again?"

"I'd rather let fate decide."

"I see," Dabi stood, sticking his hand out. "Then I hope fate makes me lucky. See you later, little flame."

You shook his hand. "Bye bye, Dabi."

As Dabi left the club, you turned your attention back to your glass. A hand reached over and pulled it away from you. You looked up to see the bartender giving you a look full of disdain. You knew what was coming. It's the same look you got after you interacted with anyone in the club for more than five minutes. With a roll of your eyes, you leaned forward.

"Don't give me that look, Hawks."

The blond man shrugged, pouring your drink down a drain. "Should've told him you owned the place."

"No. Because then he'd come here looking for me."

"He does look like the type. I've seen him here several times. Caused a fight once or twice."

"See?" You grinned, resting your chin on your hand. "Dodged a bullet."

Hawks laughed, throwing his rag over his shoulder. "Yeah, unless fate says otherwise."

"I doubt it."

[koumeowkami]

🪐 no celestial ; kanallen

— chapter five

"Kanata was a poor little angel that heaven couldn't help. He'd always been a tough one, not trusting anyone but his little brother Nayuta, the only person that ever made him feel love. Growing up by themselves, he did everything in his power to protect his sick brother, things that dirtied his holy hands. "It's for a good cause though", he thought. But it wasn't enough, and Nayuta died soon after.

Kanata's soul was completely spent. He became unable to feel love, and adding to his dirty dealings that soon were found out, he got cast out of heaven. Fallen on Earth with his wings blackened, he felt so lost and empty he thought he could've just died.

But a random encounter with a very annoying, persistent, stupid redhead human boy would've made him discover love again."

3099 words

genre: supernatural, hurt/comfort, angst

warnings: none

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The faint morning light was passing through the curtains, hitting Kanata's face slightly. He was still sleeping, reveling in that weird warmth that was spreading in his cold body. His mind went immediately back to all the nights spent with Nayuta, but now things were different, right?

Suddenly, an imaginary alarm sounded in Kanata's head, warning him that something was definitely wrong. He slowly, cautiously opened his eyes...

...and then screamed.

"What the fuck are you doing in the bed?! "

The redhead fell out of the bed, landing on his unused sleeping bag and then looked up at a flushed Kanata like a deer in headlights. Kanata thought he looked ridiculously pathetic, but only for a split second. He was too angry to focus on that.

"What's up with you, screaming like that?! I was literally next to you..." the boy said, still half asleep.

"Well, that's the thing! You shouldn't have been next to me, you dumbass!" Kanata argued, massaging his temples. "Who do you think you are, deciding stuff on your own?!"

Seriously, what was wrong with him. He just wanted to be left alone and yet this guy couldn't seem to learn what personal space was. No matter how strong the barrier, he just kept trespassing it as he liked.

"Hey! I had a reason to take your hand" Suzaku stood up, "You were tossing and turning in your sleep. I wanted to help you and it worked!" he looked at Kanata, smiling proudly.

Kanata stopped his hissy fit and looked down. How did he not realize he slept, after so long he couldn't even remember the last time? He remembered nightmares tormenting him last night as always, and then... light shone on his heart, clearing the way. That was probably the very first time he had a good night's sleep after his brother's death.

"You shouldn't have..." he said softly, his head still lowered. "I don't... deserve it..."

He saw the redhead getting closer, his expression worried. "Kanata... are you okay-"

"Good morning, everyone!" Pink Hair chimed in cheerfully, interrupting that very awkward moment. Kanata felt almost relieved. He wasn't ready to tell him anything yet; they were strangers, there was no need for Suzaku to know his past. He kept repeating that in his mind.

"Heard you guys screaming and all, are you alright?" they looked at Kanata first, then the other boy, frowning slightly.

The redhead cleared his throat, "Sure! Don't worry about it" he smiled, "Actually can we go have breakfast? I'm starving and I bet Kanata is also hungry!"

Kanata's stomach growled to confirm his statement and he finally decided to get up, trying to look at Suzaku the least he could. His hand was still burning hot.

"So, did you sleep well?" Mushroom-Head said, sipping on his bitter coffee, "I suppose you did, since you had the energy to make so much noise this early in the morning."

"Erm... I slept well!" Suzaku ignored that comment. "The sleeping bag wasn't really comfortable, though" he lied, letting out an awkward laugh.

"Wait, why didn't you sleep on the sofa?" Pink Hair questioned, confused. That was actually a real good question, considering Kanata wanted to sleep alone, after all. He buried his face in the bowl in front of him and listened silently.

"Well... I didn't want to leave him alone..." the redhead scratched the back of his head, "It was his first night here, anything could've happened."

"...Fucking hell " Kanata muttered, his grip on the chopsticks getting stronger. Something did happen, but the bastard had to stay out of it. It didn't matter how good he felt during that night, he was guilty for enjoying that odd feeling in his heart. He wasn't supposed to feel happy, not when he made that promise. Why couldn't that guy just mind his own business? It made his blood boil, so much he ended up blushing furiously. Thankfully no one noticed.

"You're such an idiot." Mushroom-Head sighed.

Kanata couldn't agree more with him, at least for once.

"Hear me out, guys" Pink Hair started, after everyone had finished their breakfast, "How about we go shopping today? It's been some time since the last time I went..." they pouted, "Also, Kanata needs something to wear! He can't be borrowing Allen's stuff forever, can he?"

While Kanata didn't exactly like the idea to go out and get stuck in the crowd of the city, he agreed. He couldn't stand having that boy's scent on himself any longer, it was making his head spin.

"Then I suppose it's decided!" the redhead said, "But can we stop for a bit at the record shop, too? I wanna show it to Kanata..." he looked at his friends with pleading eyes.

Was this trip to the record shop that important? It's not like Kanata had ever cared about music; he never got a chance to enjoy it, being an hobby of the elites.

"Yes, we can" Mushroom-Head finally spoke, "Although remember that stopping by doesn't mean «staying there the whole day», got it?"

"...Yessir" the boy sighed, grumbling like a kid.

And trying to ignore him was becoming more and more a hard task.

Downtown. As Kanata had figured, that was exactly the last place he wanted to be at that moment. It was noisy, crowded and it had shops that clearly only rich people could enter; he just felt so out of place there. For someone like him, who didn't even want to be perceived, that was straight-up torture.

"I'm tellin' you already, I'm not gonna get anythin' from here" he had been looking around for quite a bit, "This stuff looks classy as hell. I would never wear somethin' like that."

"Oh, really? Who would've imagined that. You usually look so composed and elegant" Mushroom-Head said sarcastically. Honestly, why couldn't he ever shut the fuck up? The redhead surely had weird friends.

"I don't need designer clothes or anythin' of that sort." Kanata ignored him, "I just need somethin' comfortable. And I don't want y'all to spend a lot for me, no matter how filthy rich you are" he added, looking away. That was just how he was: he wanted the least help as possible, even more from the very kind of people who had put him down before. That was surely out of pity and he didn't like it one bit. Maybe he could've found a part-time job or whatever, so he could grow a little independent. But wait, why was he even thinking about it now? He swore not to put any efforts in living any longer and now he was stuck in this situation... something went wrong in the process but Kanata couldn't really pinpoint what, at least not yet.

His train of thoughts got interrupted when he saw a thrift shop at the end of the street. His eyes sparkled for a second, then started rushing towards it, not waiting for the others yelling him to slow down. Reaching the entrance, he looked at the shop window in awe: he had never seen that kind of clothing before in his world, but he wanted to give it a shot.

"A thrift shop? Oh well, looks like the perfect place for him" Mushroom-Head reached him along with the others. "Shut up, Hajun. The boy's got some taste" Pink Hair added, "Maybe he liked Allen's clothes a bit too much~"

"N-No way! I don't like anythin' about him!" Kanata turned around immediately, blushing angrily, "I just wanted... something comfortable... yeah" he said, his voice getting smaller by the second. He just had the time to notice Suzaku blushing a bit as well when Pink Hair went "Yeah yeah, sure" and pushed him inside the shop.

He wandered around for a bit, then saw a nice set of jacket and pants in a flowery pattern. Both of the items were in a purple-blueish color, just like his eyes; he always felt like those colors belonged to him and his brother. That's when he also noticed the snakes on the jacket. Snakes again, huh.

"I want this one."

"You look fabulous!~" Pink Hair clapped their hands in agreement as soon as he stepped out of the changing room: he had paired that set with a black tank top and white high socks. He didn't know why, but he really did feel comfortable in them. His chest got warm again remembering when he used to play dress up with Nayuta back in those dimly lit alleys, using a bunch of clothes that people had thrown away in the trash. He didn't care about those dull white vests but they looked like the prettiest treasure ever in Nayuta's hands.

"I don't understand fashion much, but those colors suit you a lot!" the redhead interrupted his thoughts again, "By the way, why do you like snakes so much?"

"Hah? "

"I mean... I noticed your earring" the boy pointed at Kanata's ear, "It's in the shape of a snake. And there are snakes all over that jacket as well..."

Kanata pondered that same question to himself again. He had always liked snakes for some reason, despite it being a sin in Heaven. Angels had banished snakes long before the twins were even born; those few people associated with the reptile were easily outcast and deemed as demonic. Well, Kanata was aware of all that but still... he was simply drawn to it: he couldn't escape from its spell and now that he had fallen, he liked it even more. It was the expression of his blessing, his curse and everything in between.

"Dunno" he simply replied, "I just feel close to 'em" he added, and immediately turned away, not giving the other boy any time to ask more questions. He wouldn't have understood anyways.

After buying a few other clothes, they were back on the streets again. The sunset was near when they approached the records shop: it was dusty, old and cramped, looking more like a small warehouse than an actual shop.

"Kanata, do you like Hip-hop?" the redhead turned to him excited hoping for a positive response, but the boy had no fucking idea what Hip-hop was. He only knew classical music, that was all that was ever played in Heaven: music to relax the mind and help concentrate. To be honest, he only found it annoying.

"The hell is that?"

That was enough to make the other look like his entire world collapsed. It's not like he cared much about the redhead's feelings, but was music really that important to him?

"You... you don't know what Hip-hop is?" he started, "Like, you've never heard of the legendary duo Buraikan, who sold out albums and shows all over the world? The group that changed Japan's music industry forever, that brought a completely new style, that-"

"No, I don't! I ain't got a clue who these guys are!" Kanata stopped him. He felt like he could've kept going forever if he didn't.

"Ugh... sorry Kanata, Allen gets always so excited over Hip-hop" Pink Hair apologized for the boy, who was still staring at Kanata in disbelief. "He's a real nerd."

"There's nothing we can do when he goes off on the tangent.... truly annoying" Mushroom-Head added.

"Yeah... I noticed" he sighed, "So? What's the deal with this hipu hopu thing or whatever?"

Suzaku suddenly came out of his trance and looked at him with stars in his eyes.

He immediately regretted asking that.

Kanata spent the next hour trying to understand the redhead blabbering stuff about Hip-hop. He kept showing him random records while explaining him how he started producing songs by himself and later founded a Hip-hop group with his roommates, proudly stating that they're gradually becoming popular in the city, winning stage battles and such. Kanata never asked to know all that and definitely didn't care, but he wasn't able to shut that boy up. To be honest, he didn't even try to do that to begin with: Suzaku seemed so invested that he almost felt bad stopping him; apparently it was something really important to him that helped him free himself from the shackles of his parents. Kanata still found him incredibly annoying, but he had to respect that. For a moment he envied the redhead for his burning vitality, since he had nothing in his cold hands anymore. He kept having so many mixed feelings that day and it was driving him insane.

He had spent so much time listening to the boy, he didn't even realize it was closing time. The shopkeeper almost had to threw them out because Suzaku just didn't want to leave, determined to explain everything to Kanata in full detail. When they exited the shop, he promised they would've continued later in his room: "I'm gonna show you how to produce songs" he smiled at him, "I bet you're gonna love it once you see the real thing!"

"Oh my God Allen, give him a break" Pink Hair gave Kanata an apologetic smile. "He's going to get a headache if you keep going like that" Mushroom-Head added, "Oh well, fine by me. For once you're not sticking to us."

The redhead laughed nervously. He looked like he felt a bit sorry for being so loud about music, but the next thing he said threw Kanata off guard.

"I couldn't help it. He had that sparkle in his eyes I just couldn't ignore" the guy turned to him, "I feel like he's the right guy for this!"

A sparkle in his eyes? That was impossible. Nothing could ever stir his broken, dead heart awake again, there was simply no way he could be genuinely interested in something. He kept convincing himself that, but that boy's words were just stuck in his head and he wasn't able to get them out. He just sighed and hurried home, going far ahead the others. He couldn't bear to look at the redhead, again.

Tired after spending a whole day wandering around, Kanata's body hit the mattress, awaiting him for some relax. He couldn't even close his eyes when the other boy busted in their room, making a ton of noise trying to set that weird machine on his desk up.

"C'mon, Kanata! It's time to produce!"

He suddenly remembered what they had to do and the mere thought of it made him exhausted already. He dragged himself to the desk and sat in front of a glowing screen.

"What's this thing?" he pointed at all those devices connected by colored wires. Heaven didn't have this sort of futuristic thing, being a very traditional place: he was confused about how all that could serve them as a musical instrument.

"Oh this? It's a computer, of course" the other replied, as a matter of fact. "I downloaded a very valid program to make music a long time ago. It was a bit expensive but totally worth it!" he said, then started pressing keys and dragging stuff on the screen, while explaining the whole process with weird technical words. Kanata didn't understand any of it, but he followed every move carefully despite being tired: he looked almost entranced, not taking his eyes off of the boy for even a second. It felt slightly embarrassing, but Kanata didn't really care at that moment, since Suzaku wasn't even sparing him a glance.

"... Aaaand this is it!" the redhead moved away from the desk a little as soon as he finished, smiling wide. "Now it's your turn to try and make something" he turned to Kanata, who looked pensive, "Oh don't worry, I won't judge! It's your first time, after all" he specified in a hurry, knowing how easily irritated the other boy could get.

"Move." Kanata said simply, putting his hands on the keyboard. He was a fast learner, mimicking what Suzaku had done before but at the same time adding something new, something different that came from deep inside of him. His hands were moving by themselves, just pouring his all in whatever he was doing, letting his feelings flow freely in that music as the guy had taught him. What he was experiencing in that moment made him unusually excited as he felt a small smile approach his doll-like face.

He was fully concentrated but still saw from the corner of his eyes the redhead looking at him intently. The room was in an unusual silence though, not a single comment yet. Just the pressing of keys. As soon as Kanata was done with it, he just let the music play. His music. His heart. Something that he couldn't express with words yet. He composed himself again, his usual frown back on his face.

"Kanata..." the boy started, struggling to find the words. "I knew it! I knew you were the right guy!" he suddenly raised his voice, startling the angel a bit, "How can you even do this!? This is insane! Your Hip-hop is so cool!"

There he went again. He looked like he had just found some valuable gem, yelling some weird stuff like This is it! This is the real Hip-hop! like a madman.

"Oh my God, I get it!" Kanata spat exasperated, "Stop fuckin' yellin' for a damn second!" he finally locked eyes with the redhead. The other just giggled like a kid, pointing his finger at him, "Don't act all cool, now! I saw that, y'know."

"What?"

"You smiled while making this song! I can perceive every single one of your feelings only in this short bit of music. You must've enjoyed it a lot!"

"You're truly so fuckin' annoyin'..." Kanata turned away, getting up from his seat, "I'm goin' to bed, I'm tired."

"You're right! It's gotten pretty late" Suzaku got up as well, tidying the music machines up and getting his red sleeping bag ready again, "I'm not gonna bother you tonight, I promise!"

"You better not" the angel said quietly, his voice muffled by the sheets covering him. Silence fell once again, but he knew something was going to trouble his sleep tonight despite not feeling uneasy like usual: his heart was beating so loud he thought it would explode in seconds, like a ticking bomb. He couldn't stop thinking about whatever happened with Suzaku before, focusing again and again on how he felt during that moment. It was a weird feeling his heart couldn't bear, being too rusty at this point to work properly. Was that redhead really able to make those old gears in his chest work again? He kept wondering, before eventually falling asleep.

[helenarlett-rex]

You know... I kind of miss being a librarian. Not so much the actual work itself, and certainly not the people I ended up working for... But I kind of miss the pure insanity you encounter from day to day as a librarian. Any time I needed new material for a Miss Smalls story, all I ever had to do was go to work for a couple of days, and chances were I'd have all the inspiration I needed. Now that I work at a gaming store, I don't really have that. Even working for the second biggest chain of gaming stores in the country (Game X Change... We are second only to Game Stop) I still don't get quite the same level of crazy I did at the public library. It's like, sure, I could tell you about people calling in and asking if we sell random shit a game store would have no reason to sell, like katanas, or police scanners... Or tell you about the crack head family that comes in to sell Pokemon cards and how the dad won't stop swinging the baby around and throwing it up into the air until the baby finally gets so sick it vomits all over my store... Or the bitch area manager who keeps coming in and rearranges everything in the store to the point where no one who actually works there knows where anything is because that is the only thing she can do because she's too blazed out of her mind 24/7 to actually do anything useful but she still needs a reason to go from store to store and do stuff so she can collect a pay check and as the mistress of company's CEO it's not like anyone is going to fire her... I could talk about how that same bitch was dating one of the store managers while sleeping with the CEO behind his back and then dumped him and chose the CEO over him when he found out, despite the fact that the CEO is already married and was sleeping with her behind his own wife's back, and when the manager quit because he refused to work for either of them anymore they were the ones to host his going away party as if they thought that was somehow okay... Or I could talk about how the company is owned by a rich frat boy who has never had to work a day in his life, married a literal Saudi Arabian oil princess, and knows absolutely nothing about the things his stores sell, to the point where the very concept of model kits had to be explained to him and he still didn't get it... I could complain about how every time the Warhammer group shows up to play Warhammer at the tables in the back of the store they leave the bathrooms looking like we were housing a group of circus elephants in there... But that just all seems so mundane compared to the stuff I saw at the library. No more stories about how we had to yell at a man to get out of our tree only to later catch him living in our utility room and find out he was an armed robber who had been going around town in a circle robbing the same three pizza places over and over... No more stories about the insane woman who would steal pork chops out of the Walmart dumpsters because her psychic told her pork cleanses the soul (the older the pork the better) or the extremely racist cook book she was writing... I miss people like Tree Boy and Pork Chop Lady... I miss the weird guy who would come in every night and just sit in a chair and stare at people in silence for five hours... Or the guy with the Crying Elvis t-shirt who was always trying to take pictures of our feet when we weren't looking... Or the guy who wore shorts and sandals under a trench coat and ball cap, never spoke a word to anyone, and only rented children's movies... How many people can say they've had a professional sword sallower threaten to never swallow swords in their building again because he saw an LGBT book on the shelf? How often have you ever found porn hidden in your ceiling? How often have you seen a video on Facebook of a man getting caught without his pants on while he sat in the parking lot of a public park watching children playing on the playground and said, "Oh shit, that's Mr. Gee..." I mean, I could probably do with less pedophiles... And less cannibals... But I still miss that kind of insanity.

[1016anon]

Title: Random Vampire AU Author: 1016anon Fandom: Bridgerton Pairing: Anthony Bridgerton/Kathani Sharma Summary: Isolation

A/N -- Happy New Year. I'm trying to get back into the groove of things. (Also, a reminder that I don't have an outline for this, I'm just writing as it comes.)

-12-

Anthony never asked her why she had changed her mind, that she was suddenly willing to be turned when four hundred years ago, she had been adamantly against it. Her decision was a gift unlooked for and he was too happy to examine it closely. He had been prepared with arguments-- both verbal and nonverbal, to convince her. Besides, whether he liked her underlying reason didn't change the ultimate outcome: they would spend the rest of their unnatural lives together.

The reason why Kathani gave in was simple: no matter what she did, Anthony would turn her. She remembered the days at Aubrey Hall when they'd first married and bonded, the dread which seized her every so often that this-- this would be the day he began turning her; today would be the last day she'd see the sun; tonight would be the last night she had as a human and she wasn't ready, she wasn't prepared to say goodbye to the world she knew to be subsumed entirely by him.

Anthony had proved, over the five years at Aubrey Hall, that he knew time was his greatest ally. He could convince her of anything, he could make her accept anything because as much as he told her he was totally in her power-- that love had put him at her mercy-- that was not true. If Kathani did not have the child to think of, she would have given into anything he wanted because he was her world-- literally. The choices he offered were not a choice.

Now that she had the advantage of four hundred years of separation, she realized how deeply he'd planted his hooks into her. It was not only the way he'd shaped her body to respond to him; it was the way she forgot she'd ever had a life before him. She could not contemplate a life after him. Every time he left to find some ingredient or other for the spell, she fell into a restlessness, then an anxiety, then a despair he would never come back.

When he did come back to her, she nearly wept with relief. She clung to him in the following days. He enjoyed taking her-- she loved it when he took her-- after he returned from those sojourns. It felt like she was reasserting her hold on him when in truth, she was simply desperate. Anthony would not have had to do anything but threaten to leave her alone at that estate, in that empty house which echoed with his presence, and she would have willingly given him anything-- including her humanity.

Hindsight showed: Kathani had not realized how dependent she had been on him as the years progressed. That woman of four hundred years past had come to a point where she could not imagine being happy without him. She slowly forgot everything of the world beyond Aubrey Hall-- she knew it was there, but it was vague, distant memory clouded over with time. The second year at Aubrey Hall, after that first year when they'd explored their bond, she'd at least had thoughts of leaving; she'd craved speaking to a person other than Anthony.

By the end of the third year, she could not imagine setting foot outside the grounds. She felt safe and sheltered-- the world from before was an utterly foreign place.

It had come to a point where-- on the very, very rare occasions she encountered strangers at the estate, she shied away, hesitant and uncertain. Kathani, before he'd isolated her for five years, had never shied away from anything. She was vibrant, made friends easily, had a sharp wit and a sharper sense of humor.

Somehow he'd stripped her of her ability to speak to anyone other than him. Kathani's only companion was the sun.

Now: she would rather know-- she would rather have a say in the time and place, the manner in which he turned her. She would rather stay surrounded by others so she would not lose herself in two ways: as a vampire, and as a person. If Anthony had turned her in their first life, he would have filled her entire being with himself until she didn't know who she was without him.

Kathani came to realize, through the dreams and her understanding of him, how powerful isolation was. She did not want to be so completely dependent on him again. Her mind had played tricks on her; the loneliness which crushed her in the beginning faded as she because used to having Anthony as her only source of companionship. She had not even made a decision to allow it to happen; it all occurred without her notice. Thus, she was not certain there was anything she could do to prevent it, if he decided to separate her from everyone a second time.

The passage of time and complete isolation had made him her mirror. As much as Kathani loved him-- if what they had could be called love-- the thought of becoming that creature who was burned at stake was unbearable.

Anthony was already someone whose presence was larger than life. She saw it in the way gentlemen of the ton admired him-- no matter how much they might also hate him-- and in the way the ladies all fawned after him while he took no notice. More deadly than power was his patience. He was willing and able to wait, if that's what it took to win her over.

Kathani had nightmares, which she was certain were memories, of times when she'd panicked when someone other than him touched her. A few occasions when she sought him out because she was out of her mind with terror-- she thought she heard a stranger's voice in their house. Becoming pregnant had saved her from complete obliteration in personality.

It was clear he had some idea of what the isolation did to her; it was clear he did not mind its effect on her at all.

What he saw was the tip of the iceberg. Kathani had spent hours at the border of their estate, telling herself to cross the border-- that there was nothing keeping her from leaving because she missed her parents so much, then being seized with fear when she was a mere six feet outside the official boundaries of Aubrey Hall. She had been careful-- she had done her best not to show how much she needed him.

Kathani intended to keep it that way. Otherwise she was certain he would imprison her as he had then, all too delighted to cultivate that dependence once more.

She loved him; she had no doubt he loved her. But his love was not a human thing and it never would be. That was what she had not understood four hundred years ago, holding out hope that Anthony would love her as a human did, when he was only ever this undead, blood-drinking monster.

It was Kathani's choice to fall in love with that monster.

Even if it had not been her choice to have the memories break through, to marry, to fall into this thing which felt like love, this was the circumstance she was faced with now. Fighting it was like trying to keep the rain from falling; whether she lied to herself or not, she was going to get drenched without an umbrella.

--

They had a ritual, after he came back to Aubrey Hall from parts near or far for some obscure ingredient she needed for her spell. He found it was necessary when the first few times he returned, she fell into his arms sobbing, incoherent with despair, telling him she thought she'd never see him again, that she was certain he'd abandoned her despite the fact he had never contemplated leaving her. It was then that Anthony had a glimpse of how powerfully the isolation affected her.

He did not quite understand it, but he did not have to understand it to use it to his advantage.

If he had been human, perhaps it would have moved him to concern for her well-being, made him consider relocating them to a place closer to other humans so she could at least have company, if not friends. However, he was not human and the idea that she depended on him not only for sustenance but all companionship lit a fierce delight: another way to tie her to him. Another way for him to convince her to abandon the sun.

Anthony didn't know if this was true of all vampires or just him and Simon, but until Simon had met Daphne, they had never felt the need to join a coven. Anthony and Simon had once been gregarious men, popular and always surrounded by other people. After they were turned, the need for companionship faded. They were indifferent to the ties which bound human societies together. His bond with Simon had more to do with the fact they were blood-brothers than anything else.

Perhaps the detachment was necessary-- things like a human conscience and feelings of loyalty to others tended to get in the way of basic things, like feeding. Rather essential for continued existence as the undead.

All of this was to say that Anthony had not really considered the effects of keeping Kathani away from any and all human companionship. He had been a vampire for millennia-- one forgot these sorts of things after a few decades, let alone one hundred years, or thousands.

But to return to Aubrey Hall greeted with a furious, then sobbing Kathani in his arms was a revelation. She needed him so much-- she needed him to tell her she was real, that he was real, that she was alive-- she was so skin hungry for him that she did not even mind when he told her to strip in front of the window. Anthony was always loathe to leave her, but he always looked forward to returning home, knowing she was waiting for him, clinging to his promise that he would always return to her.

Kathani had never been particularly shy in bed, but she was absolutely uninhibited on those occasions he returned. She allowed him to do things to her which made her blush later and refused to repeat, only to acquiesce the next time.

Such as now, when he had her on her back, holding herself open for him as he fed a string of glass beads into her cunt, each one larger than the next. She whimpered when he pressed down on her lower abdomen.

"How does it feel, darling?"

"Full, Anthony. So full. I can't--"

"You're going to keep them in through dinner."

"I can't," she shook her head. "It's too much, I can't."

"Two more to go."

She sobbed.

"I had these made especially for you," he leaned down to kiss her. "I knew you'd like them."

Her eyes fluttered closed as he slowly pushed the second-to-last bead up into her. Anthony watched her opening part, folds wet and swollen around the bead, then close as it slowly sunk into her, swallowed by her cunt.

"Anthony!" she pleaded as she felt everything move inside her.

"You're so beautiful like this, amata. Just one more and you'll have taken them all. Just one more, you can fit one more in your lovely quim."

Her arms were trembling when she let go and tried to close her legs. But the effort was half hearted. Anthony tsked and continued to push the last bead up into her as she whimpered. For a moment, he kept it at its widest point, tracing her crease stretched around the unforgiving glass. He stared down, mesmerized by the sight, knowing there were more beads inside her, rubbing against her walls as she helplessly clenched down, pulling them deeper inside her and making them slide against each other.

"Breathe," he soothed, still refusing to push the last bead all the way. He could imagine her muscles fluttering and was waiting for her body to pull the last bead into her tight, wet warmth on its own accord.

"Anthony, I--" she reached down to try and push it in or pull it out-- she didn't know, but he grabbed her wrists and refused to allow her to move.

"It's all right, amata. I know how much you need it. You can come when you've taken all of them."

That was all the permission she needed as the bead slowly disappeared, folds closing agonizingly slowly-- almost not closing completely at all at the end. But Anthony pressed somewhere on her abdomen and everything shifted-- Kathani screamed when she came and the last bead finally popped into her cunt.

Kathani kept her eyes closed as her orgasm crested down slowly; she heard Anthony groan and felt his seed paint her breasts, nipples, chest before he lay down beside her, petting her cunt tenderly, possessively. She felt him leave her side for a moment, then a clean cloth wiped her down; Anthony settled next to her again, pulling her to him, her back to his front.

She inhaled sharply when he placed his hands on that spot on her abdomen again, but exhaled when he didn't press down. Kathani fell asleep with the feeling of his soft cock nestled against her and it was that casual demonstration of ownership that made her relax, more than anything.

When she woke and got up from bed, she gasped to feel the beads shift inside her again. Anthony laughed at her fondly, walking to her and playing with the string, tugging gently to tease. But then he stopped, kissed her hungrily, then decided he would help her dress for dinner-- possibly because he wanted to watch her squirm as she stepped into her petticoats, gasped when he tied her girdle.

Dinner was torture but also exactly what she needed-- a reminder that he had returned and had not abandoned her. The beads occasionally shifted but they were also somehow grounding. She was real, he was real; she had to be real to feel herself occasionally clench around them. He had to be real to have had the beads made specially for her, to use them on her upon his return.

"Come here, amata," he told her.

Kathani, at any other time, would not have bothered to acknowledge his words. But after his absence of two weeks, she eagerly went to him, settling herself in his lap the way he always liked it, wiggling to feel his hardness on her. She sighed in satisfaction when he began feeding her bits of dessert-- some kind of fruit tart-- but she relished licking the flaky crust from his fingers and kissing him to have his tongue taste the sweet, fruit filling from her mouth.

And throughout it all, Anthony ground up into her, watching intently and drinking in those little sounds she made.

When they finally retired to the bedroom, he made quick work of her clothes and his and wasted no time pulling the string which had tormented her all of dinner.

Anthony, being who he was, could not simply pull the beads out of her. He had to pull the first one slowly as Kathani gasped, discovering that she had tightened around them and her body was unwilling to let it go. He pulled the first-- the largest-- bead out almost halfway, but it was quickly sucked back into her body and she moaned to feel him work it out of her, only to have swallowed up again.

"Look at you," he said, voice hoarse. "Your cunt won't give up the present I've stuffed in you. You need me that much."

"I missed you," she sobbed. "I missed you so much. I always miss you when you're gone."

"I missed you too, amata. I cannot stand being away from you-- I think of you every moment of every day, every second of every night. I think of you like this, laid out for me to take anything I want."

He finally pulled hard enough that the bead popped out; Kathani felt her cunt throb as wetness gushed out of her-- her arousal trapped behind the bead. It dripped down her and she gasped to feel it.

Her entrance didn't close immediately after the bead was pulled out-- Anthony's breath hitched and his fingers pulling at her glistening folds. He hooked his fingers and stared as though he could see her tender insides.

The thought made her whimper, helpless as he explored inside her.

"You're so loose," he said, awed, then pushed the bead back in.

She sobbed when it went in with no resistance. She wanted to come so badly but he hadn't given his permission. Kathani was conditioned now to wait for him; she couldn't imagine any other way.

Anthony pulled the bead loose and pushed it back in a few times; with each pull, the other beads inside her shifted, pressing against her sensitive spots.

By the time she felt the second bead against her entrance, it slid out easily. She thought he was going to continue the slow process, but instead he pushed it back in.

Kathani had no time to react, no idea what was going on, only that Anthony told her to come now, amata and he yanked all the beads out of her with one pull.

She screamed as she came, then felt him swiftly push inside her and set a fast pace, telling her

"God you're so loose, amata, so wet and warm. I just slid in, you couldn't have resisted if you wanted to, not after having those beads inside you after all that time. You're perfect, your body is perfect, you're such a sweet hole for me to fuck, you'll always belong to me"

And he was right, Kathani couldn't offer any resistance to his taking her; he was making her light up even though he only occasionally grazed against the spots inside her and it wasn't enough, even after she'd already come it wasn't enough. Kathani was sobbing, reaching for the second orgasm, the one which was always deeper and left her feeling fuller, when he kept his cock inside her, crooning that she needed to hold all his seed inside her if she ever wanted it to take.

Kathani held his gaze as he continued to use her, chasing after his pleasure and ignoring hers. She was exhausted after he'd played with her for so long but her body was still straining to come a second time. Anthony came and she felt him fill her, felt it slippery and warm inside her and tears gathered in her eyes, knowing he wouldn't let her come again tonight.

But she didn't protest. He'd returned to her and had now left evidence-- his come inside her-- that she was his.

Kathani hadn't understood what had happened and why the first time she'd had that reaction; she'd done her best not to succumb to it the second time he'd left. Trying to avoid it only made it worse. After a year of such reactions to his going away, she'd had to accept it; she had no choice and more than that, no energy to fight what felt inevitable.

When he'd brought home a device and used it on her, she had been ecstatic. To know he had thought of her, and that he had looked forward to reuniting with her as much as she had him.

They made her blush. However, the days after he returned, she allowed him to use all of them on her-- sometimes even a few at the same time. And she never admitted it to him, but when he was away, she used them on herself, pretending he was there.

The isolation was so difficult to bear-- torture in its own right. He did not seem to understand that it was torture, an enormous pressure point on her mind; he never seemed to be affected by their separation, no matter what he said, and that was what made her afraid. It was only when she was completely bound in mental chains that she saw how each link had been forged.

It made it that much more important that she never said please.

--

"I want to bond next week," Kathani declared.

Anthony blinked, surprised.

"Unless there is a particular date we need to bond?" she asked.

"No. I simply hadn't anticipated your wanting to set a date."

"I would rather not have a repeat of last time, where you caught me unawares."

"I did not--"

"It has been a recurring theme in our relationship, Anthony. You always catch me unawares and when I come back to myself, I find my life has completely changed."

"I suppose that's true," he conceded.

"Well, then, my Lord?" she narrowed her eyes. "Why are you smiling."

"Am I not allowed to smile when my flame is demanding to be bound?" he couldn't help but show a hint of teeth. "Impatient, to be bound?"

"Stop looking at me like that. It never bodes well."

"For you or for me?"

"Anthony," she smacked his hands away. "Be serious. Is there anything I need to do to prepare?"

"Hmm," he pretended to think it over. "No."

"How long do you think it will take?"

"None of this is a precise science, amata. Even if it were, this is your second life."

"Then we should return to London. Don't think I haven't noticed there has been no mail."

"Are you on a schedule I should be made aware of?"

"I want to see Edwina and make sure she's all right. I was never supposed to get married this season-- I was supposed to guide her."

"I'm certain Daphne and Lady Danbury have it well in hand."

"How do you know this?"

"I don't. Only that Daphne is fond of your sister, as is Lady Danbury. If nothing else, Lady Danbury will be extremely attentive since she wants to ask a favor of me."

"Lady Danbury or not, you will have the rest of time to spend with me--"

"We only get to honeymoon once."

"But Edwina will not."

"It has not even been a month since we married."

"Anthony."

"Amata."

"Please?"

She said it on purpose, because she had never said it before and she knew he was addicted to the word from her lips. Anthony knew said it on purpose, knew that she knew that he knew, given her proud smirk.

It didn't change the fact it worked.

"Two weeks after the bond, we will return."

"Two weeks? Why?"

"To ensure there are no side effects."

"There were no side effects last time."

"Still a necessary precaution."

"What aren't you telling me?"

"You'll also need to rest to replenish your blood."

"Stop avoiding the question, Anthony."

"Some pairs develop certain abilities. They're uncommon, but not unheard of."

"Such as?"

"Feeling echoes of the other's pain, getting impressions of each other's thoughts. Odd things like tasting what the other tastes."

Kathani blushed.

Anthony noticed, honing in on her reaction.

"Do you like the thought of that, amata? Being able to taste yourself?"

"I imagine it's very inconvenient," she said primly. "I would have to taste the blood you drink. And don't think you've distracted me."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Then we are agreed."

"We are indeed."

"I am going to hold you to your word."

"I would expect nothing less."

"You're plotting something-- you have that look about you."

"Only the materials I'll need for our bonding."

"It is more than that. Out with it, Anthony."

"I promise you, on my honor--"

"You have no honor"

"On my honor, I am not plotting anything," he grinned.

Kathani most definitely was not convinced.

"I hope we do have a power-- I hope I will be able to tell when you are lying."

"As long as I get to see you blush every time you overhear my thoughts when I look at you," he finally managed to catch her unawares and keep her in his arms. "It is quite fetching, that shade of pink in your cheeks."

"Enjoy it while you can, my Lord. You shall never see it again once I am one of your kind."

"All the more reason," he picked her up and began walking to the gazebo, "to extend our honeymoon."

Normally she would have protested him undressing her in the gardens, in the bold light of day and in full view of Aubrey Hall, but she had always wanted to do this four hundred years ago, when he could not stand in the sun.

He knew, and she knew he knew, and perhaps she did not need a bond to know what he was thinking. He might be impulsive and conniving, but he had always been an open book to her, even if that had not always been the blessing it ought.

[kas-eddie-munson]

Eddie was gonna kill that kid.

Steve seemed unbothered, stuck in this awkward encounter while Eddie tried to figure out where exactly Will fucked off to. This place was set up like a maze.

"So, not a fan of contemporary art, huh?"

Well. If Eddie was good at one thing it was digging himself into a hole. Might as well double down.

"Can't say that I am."

Steve nodded, took a sip of his drink, motioned with his other hand like he just *expected* Eddie to follow him, because this asshole's probably never heard the word no in his life.

Eddie followed him, but *only* out of curiousity and not any lingering embarressment.

They moved through an unlabeled door, to a quiet area full of cubicles and art supplies of all sorts laying around. Half finished paintings, bags of fabrics and beads, woodworking tools. Steve waved at an older woman in one cubicle full of pencil illustrations as they made their way to the back of the large room.

They stopped outside a cubicle of paintings, and Steve motioned to one of them.

"What do you think of that?"

Eddie scoffed. It was a big canvas on an eisel, pencil lines dividing it up like a grid.

"Dude. Is this supposed to be impressive? I could do this in five minutes."

Steve set his drink down on a table behind them.

"That's Will's."

Eddie's stomach dropped and he looked over the rest of the little area, noticing that the other canvases were full of dragons, knights, princes and princesses.

"It isn't far along yet. He was just working on it this morning. I didn't exactly time him but I'm sure it took longer than five minutes. Maybe thirty, forty five. Do you see the sketch?"

Eddie squinted, and sure enough it was, in fact, not just a grid. There were very light markings, barely visible. He couldn't tell what was happening, but Steve stepped in front of him and snatcheed a piece of paper off a stack of boxes. He handed it to Eddie.

"That's his main refrence there. I think his brother takes them for him."

It's a color photograph on printer paper, from a nearby park, thin lines cutting it up into a grid. He looked up at the gridded canvas and back again. He's thought he could make out a which shape was gonna become a tree.

"You know, some scientists did a study once. They had people look at abstract art made by a professional and a kid, and didn't tell them which was which. Anyway, as much as people say that abstract art looks random, all participants rated the stuff by professionals as better. There are a lot of intentional desisons that happen. People usually just don't look long enough to notice."

Steve motioned behind them and Eddie turned. The workspace was similar to Will's. Steve opened a desk drawer and pulled out a notebook, flipping it open to a page with a grid on it.

"Art doesn't have to be making stuff look real. It can do all sorts of things, tell a story, make you feel something. But at it's core, what I do, what Will does? I mean, we took some of the same classes together when Margret was running workshops last year. Color, composition, that stuff is all the same no matter what you're doing."

Eddie frowned. He flipped the page a few times and found a striking illustration of a dog.

"See! This! Why don't you do this? I, did you do this??"

Steve sighed.

"Yeah, I'm working on a birthday present for my mom.

"As to why I don't 'do that,'" Steve said making air quotes as he talked, "it gets repetive, I guess."

Eddie still didn't get it, but he and Steve talked for a while, eventually talking about unrelated topics.

Eddie may or may not have found and followed his socials after he went home that night.

Saw a post about kids of rich parents being able to pursue art cuz they don’t have to worry about money and it got me thinking…

Steve is an abstract artist he’s not like world renowned, but his work is in galleries and shared by niche art blogs.

Eddie who fucking hates abstract art shit talking him to Will not knowing that Will, despite being a more traditional artist, personally knows Steve and love his art. And Steve is so supportive of him being an artist, too.

So instead of saying anything Will invites him to gallery where one of his pieces will be displayed at, and personally introduces Eddie to Steve like,

“This is Steve, he’s the artist that you said is probably actually three toddlers in a trench coat. :) have fun.” Then goes off on his own to browse through the other art works because he’s actually such a little shit.

[myckicade]

Follow-up thoughts...

Other Things I Hated/Strongly Disliked:

I wasn't a fan of Angel having to go through MORE TORTURE. Now, he has to live with having struck the first blow. It kills me, too, to know that he always felt like such an outsider in his own family, only to be left as the last one standing. (He's never going to know he has a nephew, I'm sure). He was a punk-ass little bitch for much of the series, but he certainly got the short stick when it came to this final season.

I really woke up with the feeling of a bad break-up with no explanation. Like the cuntbag ran out on me. There are so many loose ends. Plot holes. Gaping inconsistencies. I don't know what the hell I've experienced. I didn't need the perfect ending, or a happy one. I just needed a conclusion that made sense. Hell, I just wanted the last few seasons to make sense! (Please note, I followed the plot, just fine, but it was some of the worst writing I think I have ever encountered).

Minus Emily's survival (and victory), I had what I wanted - even with Bishop back at the head of the table - right up until the fucking ATF showed up. BAH. A few tweaks, and I could have lived with this finale, even with everyone and his brother dead. As it was, I felt like I was watching a hit in a bad mafia movie, scene after scene after scene. ><.

P.S. I'm not saying I'm upset because I didn't get exactly what I wanted. I'm upset for how it all went down. I could have even handled Taza getting taken out, because that would have made SENSE. (Like, two seasons ago, but y'know).

And, did they actually tell Terry what happened to Jess? Or, did they get what they wanted, and whack him? I feel like I looked away for a hot minute, and missed something. (I think I was in the kitchen, getting ice cream, and treats for my dogs).

Wasn't cool with the five-minute throwaway bit with the other bar girl, either. All to kill off Downer.

While I'm glad that EZ got outed, if only for sake of karma, why didn't Katie go to Bishop in the first place? I can't imagine why she would have needed to wait to get in good with Potter to do that? I'm sure there's some logical reason, but I'm not seeing it. And, even though she packaged it as a message from Creeper, how did Bishop not question it? Ask for more proof? Seems to me, they really nabbed the shortcut on that sucker.

Finally, the more I think about it, the more I realize just how hard they leaned into the Julius Caesar shit, last night. Potter offering up their version of the Ides of March warning. Instead of March 15th, 'tonight' was the date. If it had been woven a bit more clearly into the rest of the series - minus the evident ruler-to-tyrant part - I wouldn't feel so icky about it now.

Other Things I Loved:

Motörhead made my night. That was so nice.

Angel blacking out his ink. He won't go back, not that there's much to go back to. He said it, he did it, and he was dedicated to it. It's perfect.

Hank was walking without the cane, right? That wasn't my imagination? It was nice to see, while it lasted!

During one of the commercials, they played an ad for Blue Beetle. I saw Raoul Trujillo on the screen for a split second, and that was A-Okay by me!

We had a lot of ads for new flicks last night, huh? I don't watch much for live television, so maybe it was just me.

Bonus Random Thought:

Maybe offing everyone was a giant 'Fuck You' to those of us who complained, and the lack of viewership that got them cancelled. Heh. Heh.

[samadiw]

Knickers - Part 05 - We need to talk 🤐

.

D : "You smell good."

Hermione jumps

H : "Shit, you scared me, Malfoy."

Draco smirks and leans in closer.

D : "Didn't you ask me to meet you here?"

Hermione nods nervously.

H : "I did...."

She eyes him in his all black ensemble.

Merlin, he looked sexy as fuck.

H : "Umm, why aren't you in uniform?

Draco smiles fondly.

D : "My mother asked to see me, she misses me."

Hermione's heart melted.

H : "Oh, is she okay?"

D : "Yes, she's doing quite well, thank you."

Draco trails Hermione's bottom lip with his thumb.

D : "Its been hours since we kissed."

Hermione leans into his touch, her lips part and she whispers.

H : "Yes, I think it's time you refresh my memory, Malfoy."

Their lips touch and Draco deepens the embrace oblivious to their surroundings.

The sound of books falling to the ground interrupts them, they break apart and turn to the source.

A frightened 1st year stares at them.

Draco narrows his eyes menacingly.

D : "Move along, repeat what you saw to no one."

The terrified boy nods vigorously

Hermione rolls her eyes.

H : "Must you scare them."

Draco puts his hands in his pockets and raises a brow.

D : "Must we hide?"

Hermione looks at the blonde intently.

H : "I thought we agreed to keep our encounters secret."

Draco grins mischievously.

D : "Yeah, it does add to the fun, doesn't it?"

He closes the gap between them and traps her with his body.

D : "Meeting up randomly and snogging in forbidden places."

His fingers travel up her thigh and disappear under her skirt.

Hermione gasps but let's Draco do as he pleases.

Draco drawls seductively.

D : "Makes you feel dirty and adventurous, doesn't it?"

He presses flush against her.

D : "You get off thinking about me, Granger?"

Almost every night, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

Hermione rolls her eyes.

H : "Oh please, I have better things to do than masturbate every single night.

His long practiced fingers push aside the cotton underwear that covers her sex and strokes her inner folds.

Hermione whimpers and throws her head back in pleasure.

Draco grins in satisfaction

D : "Plenty wet now."

Laughter from the next aisle brings Hermione crashing back to her senses, she steps away from Draco and warns.

H : "Stop, there's alot of people around."

Draco chuckles.

D : "Why did you want to meet in the library, Granger? Is there a fantasy you've suppressed and want to bring to life?

Hermione averts her gaze and blushes.

H : "I, umm, have something to discuss with you."

Draco eyes the nervous Gryffindor.

D : "Go on, I'm listening."

Hermione's cheeks redden further and she stares at her feet.

H : "So, umm, Valentine's day is coming up and...."

Draco brings his hand up and interrupts.

D : "I'm going to stop you right there, I don't believe in fucking Valentine's day."

D : "It's a money making bloody ridiculous day."

Hermione's face falls in disappointment but she hides it well.

H : "Oh, I see, then this conversation is quite pointless."

Draco frowns.

D : "Granger, finish what you started to say."

Hermione grabs a large book and holds it tightly to her chest, she averts her eyes again and mumbles.

H : "Umm, no...I have to go."

Draco watches in confusion as Hermione hurries away from him.

Over the next few days Hermione ignored Draco and his advances.

She gave him various bullshit excuses.

What he did however see was Michael Corner (The sodding Head boy and shite Quidditch player.) Chatting up the witch he had been secretly snogging.

In frustration Draco walks towards The Great Hall and sees a bunch of people crowding around a bright red poster.

He walks upto Blaise and Theo

D : "What's going on?"

Theo grins excitedly.

T : "Valentine's day party."

Draco frowns and leers

D : "You can't be fucking serious."

Theo rolls his eyes and retorts sarcastically.

T : "Yes, yes, we are well aware of your crazy feelings about the day."

He smacks his forehead.

T : "Fuck, I've got to ask Luna."

Blaise nods in agreement.

B : "Good idea, mate, I'm going to ask Patil before some other fucker does."

Theo raises a brow and quips.

T : "Will you be joining the festivities with your mystery witch or are you going to drown your quacker ideologies in a bottle of firewhiskey?"

Draco sneers.

D : "First of all, theres no bloody mystery woman and second, well, yeah...maybe I'll ask someone."

It dawns on him.

Fuck, was this what Granger wanted to talk to him about before he rudely interrupted her?

Malfoy, you fucking donkey.

He had to find her

Draco looked around wildly, Granger was nowhere in sight.

D : "I have to go."

Theo asks suspiciously.

T : "Where?"

Draco glares sternly.

D : "None of your bloody business."

Theo chokes back a sob mockingly.

T : "It's like we dont know you anymore."

Draco rolls his eyes

D : "Stop acting like a possessive girlfriend, Theo."

Theo pouts and sticks his tongue out.

T : "You used to tell me everything."

Blaise rolls his eyes

B : "Stop your moaning."

Draco turns to sprint down the corridor to find Hermione but bumps into Corner instead.

D : "Watch where you're going, you insufferable git."

M : "Mind your attitude, Malfoy."

Hermione steps out from behind Michael and bends to pick the books she dropped.

M : "Are you okay, Hermione?"

Her eyes dart from the poster to Draco

H : "Yes, I'm fine."

Draco rounds on Hermione and asks desperately.

D : "Granger, can I speak to you?"

He throws a look of disgust at Michael and demands.

D : "In private."

Hermione puts her books in her bag and shakes her head.

H : "Sorry, I'll be late for class, let's catch up later."

Did she just disregard him like he was some unworthy piece of shit?

Hermione disappears into the Hall and Michael high fives Terry Boot.

Boot asks at once.

TB : "Did you ask Granger to the party?"

Michael frowns and shakes his head.

M : "I didnt get the chance, she's always got something going on."

M : "What I wouldn't give to tap that."

Draco heard word for word, he balls his hands into fists and controlls his raging temper.

Terry laughs.

TB : "You better get a move on then."

Michael nods enthusiastically.

M : "Yeah, I'm going to do it now and get it over with."

Draco almost drops his books and bag.

What the fuck?

What was this weird feeling of icy cold doom he felt in the pit of his stomach?

It slowly turned to blinding rage and he tried to tame it.

What he wanted to do was grab Corner by his robes and beat the mediocre wizard into a bloody mess.

Draco doubles over and fights the bile that rises.

Blaise eyes his best friend in concern.

B : "Er, you okay, mate?"

Theo frowns.

T : "Fuck, is he going to be sick?"

Blaise quips.

B : "Chill, hes feeling several emotions at once."

Theo raises a brow in question

T : "What?"

Blaise starts to count.

B : "1, 2, 3...."

It hits Draco like a ton of bricks.

He fucking liked Granger...alot.

Hook ups and random kissing aside, he wanted more.

Shite...

Draco straightens with renewed purpose.

D : "I need to go."

Blaise smirks and nods.

B : "Yeah, you do that, mate."

Draco rushes into The Great Hall

Theo stares after Draco's distraught figure.

T : "What the fuck is going on?"

Blaise lazily points to the Hall.

B : "Let's go watch, shall we?"

Michael reaches the Gryffindor table first and taps Hermione on the shoulder.

Everything happens so fast.

Draco runs at breakneck speed and tackles the unsuspecting Ravenclaw, they go crashing to the ground.

Everyone around them gets to their feet and stares at the struggling men on the floor.

Theo takes a step forward but Blaise holds him back.

B : "Let Draco handle this."

Michael groans and rubs his bruised side.

M : "What the fuck is wrong with you, Malfoy?"

Hermione crosses her arms over her chest and asks impatiently.

H : "What the bloody hell are you doing?"

Both men get to their feet and try to adjust their tangled school robes.

Michael opens his mouth to speak, but Draco waves his wand effortlessly and places a silencio charm over the Head boy

Corner glares sternly and makes obscene hand gestures.

Draco clears his throat quickly and blurts out.

D : "Granger, will you go with me to this stupid Valentine's thing?"

Hermione blushes and grins triumphantly.

H : "People are staring at you."

D : "Fucking let them, I don't care, go with me?"

H : "I'll think about it."

Michael grins smugly.

Draco is indignant.

D : "Really? Are you fucking serious?"

Hermione steps closer and kisses Draco lightly on the lips.

H : "Of course, I'll go with you."

Theres pin drop silence, the entire body of students and teachers were staring at them with their mouths hanging open and eyes wide, except Slughorn.

He continued to eat his breakfast.

PS : "Minvera, my dear, I believe, you owe me hundred Galleons, did I not tell you the unlikely duo were a couple of sorts?"

McGonagall stares at Draco and Hermione in shock.

PM : "You did indeed, I just never believed it."

Draco smiles fondly.

D : "Marvellous, see you in potions, Granger."

Michael stares at the scene before him dumbfounded.

Draco mutters the counter spell.

D : "Oh sorry, Corner."

Draco slides in next to Theo at the Slytherin table.

His housemates gossip around him.

Theo continues to stare at his best friend and asks in disbelief.

T : "Granger?"

Its Blaise who answers.

B : "Yes, Granger, you need to learn to be more observant, Nott."

T : "Hermione Granger?"

Draco bites into a piece of buttered toast and grins.

D : "She's brilliant, mate."

The second Hermione sits down, Ron expresses his rather colourful feelings.

R : "Malfoy??"

Ginny snorts into her pumpkin juice.

G : "You are incredibly thick, Ron."

Harry laughs.

Ha : "I knew you were doing something, but I didn't think it was Malfoy."

Hermione blushes.

H : "No, umm, we haven't."

Ron looks at them in disgust.

R : "She kissed the snake."

Hermione smirks smugly

H : "I've been kissing him for weeks."

Ron looks like he's about to vomit.

R : "That's disgusting, you know that's Malfoy, right?"

Hermione rolls her eyes exasperatedly.

H : "Yes, I know, now drop it."

She looks around and scolds

H : "And that goes for the lot of you."

Ron bites into a sausage savagely.

R : "The world is going bloody bonkers."

[introvertedweirdo20]

Dark Intentions

Summary: At a club with friends, Lexi encounters a man that can't stop sharing at her, unaware of his intentions.

On a Friday night, an hour into being at the club with her friends to blow some steam from a dreadful week and yet she was bored here. Everyone was half wasted already, dancing to the music, laughing at absolutely anything, and grinding against men that they liked. Lexi, however, were siting at the bar, sipping on her drink and wondering why she even came to begin with, this was not her kind of thing to do on a Friday.

Lexi preferred to be on the couch watching a series or reading a book. Not having some random guy slurring and spitting on her every five seconds while complaining about what's wrong with people.

She liked peace and quiet, being able to do what she wants comfortably without having some guy bothering her and trying to buy her a drink.

| An hour earlier |

"Come on Lexi, you stay at home all the time and never come party with us! Just this once? Please??" Her friend, Megan whined into the phone trying to convince her to come with and party.

Lexi groaned and sighed before agreeing to go to the club just this once, a decision she was going to soon regret.

She picked out a simple black dress that was just above her thighs, putting on warm black thigh high socks to keep warm and accompanying it with simple black and white sneakers. To make sure she would stay warm enough, she took a black crop hoodie and covered her arms as well as the floral tattoo that spread throughout her arm to her shoulder.

| Time Skip |

Lexi was on her third glass before she started to feel the buzz. Looking around to see where her friends went before her eyes landed on a man, he looked to be about five years older than her.

He was staring right at her, sending shivers throughout her body as she tried to look away but she couldn't, it was almost like she was in a trance.

"Well hello there beautiful, I noticed you were staring at me and was wondering why?" He said in an surprisingly low tone, loud enough for her to hear. She was flustered and started to shy away from him, but that only made him shake his head and sigh softly before motioning behind him and two men approached them. They were a few inches shorter than him but still towered over her, causing her to be frightened as she didn't know what was going on right now.

The man spoke again, in a lower tone than before almost came out as a growl causing her to whimper softly.

"I don't like it when you're quiet Lexi, it makes me think you're plotting something. Are you plotting something, hm? Or are you going to answer my question like a good little girl?"

[tinyboxxtink]

"Black Magic" *Part 12*

Ayyyyy I fixed it!

For those who missed it, I wrote this chapter also on my phone because apparently I'm addicted to this story I can't focus on my real life even when I'm out.

Also sorry this is short but it was written in a Target parking lot on my phone. And also-- I just wanna put off "THE" part. 😂😬😘

Part 11

Part 13

Tag list

@madamsnape921

@lolliepopsicle

@chasingeverybreakingwave

@milkshqke

@wanniiieeee

@word-scribbless

@gibbs274

@sassyada

@aprildecker-blog

@bookishfanfic

@stars-in-the-skies-world

@stars-trash-18

@omgsuperstarg

-----

Rafael shook his head, still reeling from your encounter. You had no idea what the hell you were talking about, he loved Olivia. He was sure of it. But the last thing you said nagged at him. Even if you had been some kind of crazy mind reading witch, that didn’t stop him from telling Liv about his father.

He had never told her, and if he was really honest with himself, he had no intention of telling her any time soon, maybe ever.

Why didn’t he want to tell her?

-----

Rafael decided to show you, he went straight to Liv's bridal room and knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

"Liv it's me."

"Rafa we can't see each other before the ceremony! It's bad luck!" She called through the door.

"Well it's more bad luck if we start this marriage with secrets." He replied.

Olivia's eyes widened: was he...was he going to tell her his middle name? All on his own? She KNEW you were full of shit

"O-okay just tell me through the door." Her eyes lit up with hope.

"No, I need to be looking at you or I might lose my nerve"

That was good enough for her! She swung the door open.

Rafael stared at her in awe, she had never looked so beautiful in all the years he knew her. He knew you were full of shit, he loved her completely.

"Liv I haven't been honest with you. My middle name isn't Antonio."

"It's not…?" Her eyes began to well up. It was happening. It was really happening.

"No, it's…." He paused and gazed at her. She was beautiful, she was perfect.... But there was no...safety.

"It's Ronaldo," he lied. "I just wanted you to have the right name on the marriage license"

"God damn it Rafael are you fucking kidding me? She yelled.

"What are you talking about?" Rafael was taken aback.

"Why can't you just tell me your real middle name? Why is that so hard for you?!" She yelled again..

"I'm sorry, you know that I'm lying? You know my real middle name?"

"What.. ? Yes...maybe, I don't know," she stammered.

"How do you know my middle name?" He asked.

" I, um...did...did you finish the flask I gave you?" She asked softly.

"....Excuse me?" Rafael asked suspiciously. He turned and walked back to his room. Olivia followed behind him quickly.

"You mean this flask that you supposedly gave me for our wedding day?" He asked, holding up a silver flask with his initials on it.

"You mean this nice loving gift, a token of your love on the most important day of our lives? You're asking me if I 'finished this'?"

"I.. well…" she stuttered.

"And what exactly is this Olivia?" He turned and headed to the bathroom of the groom suite.

"No Rafael, don't!!!" Olivia chase after him frantically.

Rafael opened the flask and poured its contests into the sink. To his horror and disbelief, a dark purple liquid poured out of it; as if it was purple and blue mixed together.

"Holy shit…" Rafael muttered.

"Oh my God!" he just stared in shock as the liquid dissipated down the drain. Olivia could only stand frozen in shock and couldn't speak.

"Oh my God, that girl was right wasn't she?" He stared at her.

"What girl? Was there a girl here?" Olivia quickly turned defensive. "Rafa you shouldn't listen to random ass people--"

"Oh no, fuck that Liv!" He screamed. Throwing the flask across the bathroom.

"What the hell was that?!" He gestured to the sink, now empty of the contents of the flask. "What the hell did you do to me?!

"Nothing!" She stuck to her denial. "It's just the color of the special liquor that I bought you. It's some kind of wine," She tried to think of a lie on the spot, but she wasn't great at it.

"Oh that is a load of shit!" Rafael scoffed while throwing up his hands. "I can't believe this...I can't believe some random ass girl knew more about me than you. She's right isn't she?"

"Rafa come on--" She started to speak, but Rafael wasn't hearing it.

"Oh no fuck that, fuck 'Rafa'. We're past Rafa, don't call me that!" Rafael screamed. "That girl was right, wasn't she? You made me forget her. I'm actually in love with her, aren't I?"

"No! You were never in love with her! That shit was fake. It was as fake as this!" She slapped her hand over her face after saying the last part inadvertently.

"Oh my God...This whole thing is fake. You manipulated my mind. You made me think that I was in love with you!" Rafael felt sick to his stomach.

"You are in love with me!" Olivia screamed. "You just needed to realize it," she added softly.

"And you wanted me to drink more so what? You could make me forget this ever happened so that I would marry you willingly? Like your little robot?" Rafael paced the room angrily.

"No I love you Rafael! That's why I did this! I did this for us!" She was crying now.

"That's BULLSHIT!" Rafael yelled.

"You didn't do this for me, you did this for you. You don't love me at all! If you really loved me, then you would want me to be happy no matter who that was with! I'm not your fucking Ken doll Liv! I'm not some guy you can just manipulate and tote around like some lap dog, doing whatever you say. That's not what love is!"

"Rafael come on, just look--- just, just drink this," she pulled out another vial from her bra. "Just drink it and you'll forget about this, and then we can be happy!"

"Are you not hearing me at all Olivia? Rafael asked her in actual disgust.

"You're still just trying to stick to your delusion? Don't come near me with that. In fact don't come near me at all. I can't. I can't even look at you right now," He started to storm out of the room but Olivia chased after him.

"Where are you going!?!"

"To get back what you stole from me!" Rafael yelled back, running out of the church.

----

You stood there in front of the penguins with Maria and Chloe just staring at them. It had gotten dark now. The tank was lit up, brightening the cave with its neon blue water. They looked so happy, just swimming and carefree, not a care in the world.

"Look at you guys," You sighed. "So happy, so innocent. You wouldn't lie to each other, you wouldn't manipulate each other, you just love each other unconditionally," You started to tear up.

"Oh honey…" Chloe came and put an arm around you.

"He's not coming, is he?" You looked at her with tears now dripping down your face.

She looked down at her watch; it had been about an hour since you had shown up there. That was about 20 minutes from the church. So it had been a while for Rafael to change his mind.

"I mean... I don't want to be Debbie Downer or anything but--" She have you a pity look.

"30 more minutes?" You pleaded with puppy dog eyes.

"Alright…." She looked at Maria who just shrugged sadly. Then she linked an arm in yours, laying her head on shoulder. "As long as you need."

------

Rafael was in an Uber, heading towards Central Park. He couldn't decide how he felt at the moment. He was enraged with Olivia for fucking with his emotions, his brain, his heart. How long has it gone on for?

Now that it had been a while since his last "dose", he was starting to realize he couldn't remember yesterday, or any of the past week, and it scared the shit out of him.

How could she do this? How could she just take memories from him like taking cookies out of a cookie jar? And with absolutely NO remorse? She was STILL trying to control him even when he was confronting her! Did she ever really love him? Were they ever really friends? It was like losing a lover and his best friend in one fell swoop.

And then there was you. Maybe you really had been Liv-- his lover and best friend. But she had taken that too, he had no memory of you whatsoever.

Even now he struggled to even remember your name. He was pretty sure you had said it in his dressing room, but all the shit he had in his system still left him all foggy. He did remember you knew his middle name, his Broadway dream.

You knew about Eduardo, how could he have told you about Eduardo? How important were you to him? How could he just forget that? He wanted that back, that safe feeling you were going on about. You were absolutely on the money about him never feeling safe once his Abuela had moved in with him and his mother. His mother's house never felt safe, even after Eduardo left.

His Mami was wonderful, but he never felt like he could ever fully be himself with her, because she wouldn't accept him. Which is why he never felt comfortable sharing himself completely, ever.

He wanted that safe feeling so badly….he wanted his feelings back so badly. Even if they were someone he supposedly didn't know.

"Uh….hey man are you ok? The Uber driver's question made him realize he was crying. The driver was awkwardly glancing back at him.

"Ahem...yeah no I'm fine. Can we uh...can we go any faster?"

"Hey man I can't control New York traffic," he gestured towards the stand still grid of cars.

He was still 5 blocks away. He wasn't entirely sure just how in love with him you were, though you were pretty damn hysterical at the church.

Would you wait all night? Have you already left?

"You know what, I think I can walk faster than this," Rafael told the driver as he got out on the curb and began running towards the park.

"....Don't forget to rate me five stars!!!" The driver called after him.

----

You glanced down at your phone, it had been 45 minutes since you had asked Chloe for 30. Maria was asleep on a bench, Chloe was falling asleep on your shoulder.

He wasn't coming. Olivia had won. You had to accept it.

You put your phone down and walked up to the glass of the penguin tank. They were all sleeping, except for one. They all were wearing these adorable harnesses that had their name on them, hers read "Penny".

Penny was sitting on a rock above the water, just staring at the "shore" of their enclosure.

You wondered if there was any explanation for that-- you googled "PENNY PENGUIN CENTRAL PARK ZOO". An article immediately came up. You scanned it, reading a particular sentence.

"....Penny's mate was killed in an accident at the zoo six months ago. Penguins are notoriously monogamous, so it's likely she won't ever take another mate. She just spends her night and days looking towards the place the Zookeeper's took Leonard from the enclosure."

Your heart broke, tears came to your eyes for the millionth time that day as you pressed a hand to the glass.

"I'm right there with you Penny, I know how you feel babe…" You sniffled as if the penguin could understand you. But she still continued to stare, waiting for her love to come back.

You wiped tears away and walked away from the tank over to Chloe and Maria, shaking her awake.

"Let's go," you sniffled.

"You sure honey?" She asked you as Maria stirred awake.

"Yeah…. it's over," you sniffled again, all out of water in your body.

She let you lean on her as you walked back up the stairs to the park.

You were so downtrodden, you didn't notice you had left your phone sitting in the enclosure.

[your-daily-biaswrecking]

Serva me, Servabo te

save me and I will save you

pairing: photographer!Taehyung x f.reader

genre: angst, smut, slight enemies to lovers

word count: 7.3k  |  reading time: 40 min

chapter summary: flash backs clear the mystery of their first encounter, they fight over it, and then things get a bit heavier

warnings: there’s finally some sexy stuff going on yall, alcohol usage, metions of cheating, some dirty talk ig, some not very fluffy smut, almost angry fucking, dubious I’d say, fingering f.receiving, oral f.receiving, kinda dom!Tae, name calling kink? idk

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Chapter 5: Irresistible urges of the past

3 years, 2 months, and 14 days ago at 7:35 pm

The party was Yoonji's idea but you never complained. Well, okay, you complained a little bit. But that was only when you heard the approximate number of guests that had been invited so far and argued your small, shared apartment would probably collapse from the total weight in it. You offered to move the function over to the bar down the street, but apparently, that's not a house-warming party.

"How on earth are so many people coming, anyway? We have, like, five friends at most. And that is including the lunch lady."

Yoonji gave you those puppy eyes. "Well, actually, Jimin just made an Instagram story to get the word out, not thinking many would wanna come," she mumbled under her breath, almost like she was trying to avoid giving you the explanation. "But it turns out ever since that video he did, lots and lots of people wanna be his friend now."

You exhaled hard, making a pathetic sound. "You gave the guy you've only been seeing for a couple of weeks permission to invite people to our party?"

She pouted at you. "I thought you liked him. Plus, he offered to do this for us. We barely know people here, Amy, this party is going to be the best to see new faces."

You chewed your lip as you were setting the drinks on the table in a nice order and contemplated your roommate's words. "What do you need new people for?" you whined. "You already have a best friend and a hot boyfriend."

Yoonji bumped her shoulder on your arm playfully. "But you don't. Who knows, maybe you'll like one of Jimin's friends."

You rolled your eyes at her, but that didn't cover up the smile that had started to form. "Doubt it," you objected. "Models are not exactly my type."

You heard Yoonji laugh from the kitchen. "Jimin's not a model!" she shouted back. Then peeked her head around the doorway to raise an eyebrow at you. "I mean, you're not entirely wrong."

People that you had never even seen before started showing up at your place, and without fail, they all asked where Jimin and Taehyung were. Rude, you thought. That was not their party; something that could easily be deduced by how they weren't even there yet. Also, when had Jimin become so popular all of a sudden? And who the fuck was Taehyung?

At about an hour after the place was already packed and your roommate's boyfriend had finally made an appearance, Yoonji just so happened that she was constantly MIA, and the task of welcoming the people that kept and kept on coming, fell entirely on your shoulders. A task that briefly seemed not so bad when you opened the door and a brown-haired, pretty boy stood in front of you. You guessed models were indeed invited to that party, the only explanation you could come up with for why the most handsome man you had ever led your eyes upon was looking at you and smiling.

"Is this Yoonji's and... Amy's party?" he asked and you were taken aback by his deep, raspy voice that countered his charming face.

"Yes," you said, letting him in. "And are you on the bride's or the groom's side?" You hated the joke the moment it left your lips, a moment too late to take it back. Five full seconds spent with a cute boy and you were already acting weird.

But the boy laughed, and the sound quite literally lifted your spirits. "I am with Jimin if that's what you're asking."

"Of course you are. Jacket?" You offered your hands up for him.

"Oh, right, where can I leave this?" he asked as he slid the piece of garment off his shoulders. You opened the door right behind you, a door that normally led to a small storage space, but you had turned into a temporary closet with all the jackets and purses you had shoved in there. The boy leaned next to you as he tried to find somewhere to leave his outerwear without just dropping it on the pile on the floor.

"Let me," you offered, taking a random jacket that hung from the ironing board, abandoning it on the ground, and replacing it with the pretty boy's one. That's pretty privilege for you.

He chuckled. "Whose was that? Is that okay?"

"Who cares, it's my house."

"Oh," he exclaimed, watching you more closely as you closed the door again and turned to him with your lips awkwardly pressed into a thin line. You pinned your body on the wall, waiting for him to move or say something. "You're Amy?" You nodded, and the boy burst out a big smirk. "Well, well, well..." he rasped. "I'm gonna kick Jimin's ass so hard. He didn't tell me Yoonji had such a cute roommate."

The way your entire face felt like it had caught on fire in a split second almost scared you. It definitely made your eyes widen and your head go into a defense mode; you had never flustered before, of course your brain would think it was under attack. And of course you would reply with something stupid again, like snorting and saying: "Right. And you are?"

"Kim Taehyung, freshly graduated and aspiring big photographer," he proudly introduced himself. It all suddenly seemed to click and you barely held yourself from gasping right in his face. He extended a hand to you, and you took it, ready to shake it. Instead, he surprised you by bringing it to his lips and planting a soft kiss right between your knuckles. "Enchanté," he whispered with his dark eyes piercing yours.

The stupid fire all over your face got worse. So worse all you could do was quickly pull away and scoff at him, but also laugh. "That was too much!"

"Sorry," he chuckled and gave you a big, boxy grin. "I was trying to make you swoon."

You couldn't help but mimic his energy. "Does that ever work on anyone?" Well, what a liar you are. It had literally turned your stomach into a knot.

And Taehyung, almost as if he knew that, smirked at you. "You'd be surprised."

Okay, so you may have overreacted a tiny bit when you took off running away from Taehyung. There could possibly have been other ways to go about it, like gently pushing him off and telling him this was a mistake, trying to talk, or even staying silent. Your head was spinning so hard as you stumbled down that path wishing you don't get lost in the foggy state your mind had dipped in due to the haste. And it had almost cleared, you had almost stopped to think about this rationally and wait for the photographer so that you could walk home together, but the longer you thought about it more clearly, the faster you ran. You didn't even know if it was fear or shame that was powering your flight, but it had to be one of those.

The further you stayed locked in your room, the later emotion became more and more prominent. You saw Taehyung emerge from the trees sometime later and get in the house, you heard him on the downstairs floor, you saw the lights turn on and off... He was everywhere, and you were hiding away, terrified and ashamed. How could you ever meet his eyes again? But most importantly, how would you face yourself in the mirror? You knew that was the worst part of the whole situation; you let your own self down.

3 years, 2 months, and 14 days ago at 1:23 am

You returned on the corner that Taehyung and you had been occupying all night long with a drink in your hands, swaying around and trying to survive the mob of drunk college students that were doing what you were sure they thought was dancing in the middle of the living room. Some of the drink spilled on the way and you're not sure if it was because of all the bumping on people or the way you had started seeing everything double and losing your balance pretty easily.

"What the hell happened to my chair?" you whined as you found the photographer sitting there alone when you had specifically asked him to save you the seat.

He shrugged. "I couldn't defend it, sorry." Then he spread his legs wide and pat his thigh, looking up at you with a smirk. "Just sit here."

You didn't think twice; sat down on his offered position, swinging your legs to the side to completely lie on his lap and an arm around his neck for balance. Your face was inches away from his, so much so you could smell the alcohol in his breath, his hands instantly on your waist and hips to pull you close. But it felt so comfortable. Since the moment you met, you hadn't left each other's side, and you hadn't stopped touching. Touching as in holding hands while talking or pushing him while laughing, playing with your clothes or stroking each other's hair. It seemed like there was always an excuse, or, better yet, constantly a need to touch.

"Ugh!" he gagged when he took one sip of the drink you had brought right to his lips. "What is this shit?"

You giggled. "Tequila."

"Is it just tequila?"

You kept giggling. "Actually, we ran out of soft drinks so I mixed it with water."

His mouth dropped open and he started laughing, too. "Of course! Why wouldn't you!" His hands around your body squeezed you tighter and you had to squirm around, still a need to get even closer.

"It's not that bad," you proclaimed, then took a sip from the same straw and had your entire face scrunch up. "See?"

Taehyung had gotten serious, staring at you intensely, as he slowly brought the straw right on his tongue yet again. He took a generous gulp, then offered the drink to you, his eyes fixed on your lips and the way they wrapped around right where his had just been. His stare gave you goosebumps, and you pressed yourself even closer, your hip flushed right against his lower abdomen.

"You know I don't drink," he said in a whisper. He didn't need to speak louder, you were right there. "I'm only doing this for you."

"Well," you mumbled as your fingers ran through the back of his hair. "That makes two of us doing something we don't usually do tonight." And you meant it. You never did this; whatever this was. Sitting on a cute boy's lap that you had only met a couple of hours ago, ready to devour him with the first chance you got. And boy, would you devour him.

"We haven't done anything yet," Taehyung noted, his hand dipping between your legs to pinch your thing.

"Yet," you murmured, pressing even closer to him, feeling his erection grow against your hip.

Your eyes alone could communicate. And all they conveyed was the urgency to get out of there. The need to be alone. Your entire body burned with that need, or maybe it was the alcohol. With no words spoken, you both got up, holding hands not to get lost in the crowd, and searched in the apartment for an empty room. The bathroom was locked, the kitchen busy, one bedroom filled with boys playing video games and the other with smokers. Taehyung pulled you towards the exit; he wasn't about to let the moment escape him. He would get you in his car or even back to his place if he had to, just to get his hands properly on you.

But you didn't have time for that. You needed him right away. So you opened up that makeshift closet and shoved him inside. Space was limited and your bodies were naturally pressed together. The moment the door closed behind you, you realized how dark it was; the light switch being outside, forgotten. You felt his hands ran up your body, trying to blindly find your face with haste like he was being chased.

His lips found yours. And you indeed devoured each other. He had you pinned against the door and his fingers through your hair as he kissed you like a starved man. You know how first kisses almost always suck? How it takes a while to find the right rhythm, to lean into it just enough to match the other's technic? That was nothing like that. It was the best kiss you had ever had, it was so perfect and so right. The way his lips moved over your own and his tongue stroked you, it was like you had done this a million times already, or simply like you were made for each other.

Nothing could stop you now. Not even your common sense that would advise you against fucking just anyone in that tiny space, when everyone was still outside. But common sense had left you long ago. Your body was being controlled by an innate, animalistic hunger. And you moaned his name as you straddled his waist and let him suck hickeys into your neck. And you thought about how this is the best thing that had happened to you as you started taking off his belt.

You heard it again; a thump in the room. This time it was certainly not just in your head. You looked around -let's be honest- scared out of your mind because the last thing you needed right now was for something to be hidden in there with you.

"Tae?" you asked in a low voice, just in case he was playing a stupid prank on you. But you were met with silence.

Until it happened again, a louder tap, and this time you determined it was coming from the window. Slowly, while keeping your body as far away as you could, you got closer. You stared at the glass, trying to figure out why it was making that sound. Then you saw it; a small pebble clashing on the pane and disappearing just as fast. You opened it immediately and leaned outside.

"What the hell?" you shouted when you noticed the shadow-covered man standing in the garden under your room. "What are you doing down there?"

Taehyung tossed away the stones he had in his palms, straining his neck to look up at you. "I wanted to talk to you."

"And you thought -instead of just coming to my room- it'd be easier to walk downstairs, get outside and throw rocks at my window?"

"I thought you wouldn't let me in if I just knocked on your door," he explained.

You groaned. He wasn't wrong; you would have probably continued to hide away and avoid him. But he didn't have to be so dramatic about it. Well, not that you are one to talk. "Ugh, just- get your ass in here," you shouted back.

"You're gonna talk to me?"

"Yes."

"Promise?"

You groaned again. "Yes!"

You saw Taehyung run inside as if he was afraid you would change your mind in the meantime. Perhaps you would. You really didn't want to talk to him. What would you even say? You had no excuse to give him, or no excuse you wanted him to know, anyway. All you wanted was to pretend he wasn't even there until morning came; then you could drive back home and go back to pretending you didn't even know each other.

"He is crazy," you mumbled to yourself as you decided you couldn't evade this anymore. "No, that man is certified insane!" you kept on complaining to no one as you opened your door and dashed away.

You ran into him in the middle of the staircase. Stood there, just a step away from him, with your arms folded over your chest, keeping your eyes anywhere but on him.

"So?" you spat.

"I wanted to talk to you," he said in a whisper, a tone that sounded like he was guilty of something.

"Yes, I got that. You can talk now."

He looked down at your feet. "Here?"

You scoffed and moved past him, jogging down the stairs and taking a turn towards the kitchen. The boy followed you diligently. When you reached the room, you immediately grabbed a glass and filled it with water, chugging it down in one go and going for a second turn. You really wished this was something stronger, looking around to see if you could spot a bottle of some kind of liquor. You would need it if you were to have the conversation you thought you would.

"I have a confession to make," Taehyung announced after he decided the silence was enough.

You froze, the glass of water still against your lips, and you looked at him from the corner of your eyes. "Oh, please," you groaned but still couldn't move. "No more confessions from you."

He sighed, walking until he got right in front of you so that he could look you in the eyes for this. "I remember your party."

See, this is exactly what you feared the most. This...This conversation was what was making this place truly haunted for you.

"What?" you weakly breathed.

"Your... welcoming party? With Yoonji?" he continued. As if you didn't know what party he was talking about. "I remember everything about it."

"But-"

"I wasn't that drunk."

The glass hit the counter with such force, for a second you thought you had broken it in your grip. But it had just provided a loud noise as you gaped at the boy in front of you. What were you supposed to say, now? Where to start?

"You didn't even remember meeting me!" you called out.

"Yeah I- I lied."

The worst part wasn't that he was pretending he didn't know who you were. No, that was low-key genius and you would have done the exact same thing if you were quick enough to think of it when you found yourself in that sitting room, across the person you least wanted to see. The worst part was that you had believed it. You felt like such an idiot. You had believed it and thought it meant you could have a clean start.

3 years, 2 months, and 14 days ago at 1:44 am

You didn't want to stop, but you still did, when Taehyung's phone went off. When he pulled away, gasping for air and apologizing. You thought you were having a moment there, you know, a moment where no matter who was calling, it wasn't important enough to pick up. But he apparently didn't see it that way. He took one look at his screen and asked you to be quiet.

Maybe your eyes accidentally caught the pet name on his contact for a split second, or maybe it was the girly voice that came muffled from the speaker, but your head started spinning without warning. And the space was suddenly too small, and it was choking you. You found the knob before he realized what you were doing, and with your body weight on the door, you were launched outside; into the light that burned your eyes. A girl was standing on the other side of the hallway, looking at you with judgement in her eyes and her phone in her hands, then immediately averting her pretentious gaze. A hand tried to hold onto your shirt to keep you back, but you escaped.

You stumbled through the place, not sure where you were trying to go or who you were trying to find, solely trying to keep yourself up and not barf on the new carpet. You wanted to get away, but where could you go? You lived there. You heard Yoonji's laugh before you even saw her, sighing in relief when you spotted her in the kitchen and letting your body fall on hers.

"Baby, baby, everything alright?" your roommate called for you, but you just held onto her without a word. She tried to bear your weight as best as she could, holding onto the counter so that you wouldn't both plummet onto the floor.

Another hand rubbed your back. "Did you drink a little too much, Ames?" It was Jimin's sweet voice. You whined into your friend's neck before you pulled back to look at her boyfriend.

"Jimin, is Kim Taehyung your friend?" you asked him.

He frowned, a little confused as to how the conversation got there. "Ye- yeah. He's my best friend. You met him, right?"

"Yeah," Yoonji responded for you. "I saw them talking earlier."

You took a deep breath; everything seemed to be against you at that moment, even the air itself, and you were trying so hard to not crumble. "Does he have a girlfriend?" you dared ask, even though you thought you might vomit if you heard the answer.

"Who? Tae?" Yoonji mumbled. You nodded, and she gave you a smirk right away. "Ohh... Why do you ask, baby? You interested?"

You rolled your eyes as both of them started teasing you. "No," you tried to tell them.

"Why, was he flirting with you?"

"How does he get every girl like that?"

"No, guys-"

"I don't blame her. He's so hot."

"Hey! I'm right here!"

"Just answer the damn question!" you yelled at them, and they finally stopped. Jimin looked at you with the same frown again.

"He does," he said and everything that was spinning in the room stopped abruptly. "Sorry, love. I promise you'll be the first to know when they break up."

Everything was foggy, and you felt numb. So numb, there was absolutely no thought in your head. You barely noticed the couple turn their heads to the door, barely realized who it was they were looking at.

"No, thanks," you whispered to Jimin then and pulled Yoonji away. "Bathroom," you simply stated and she carefully took you there, avoiding successfully the boy that was the topic of your conversation. For the first time of the many, many more that followed. All those times you stayed clear of gatherings you knew he would be at. All those times you changed your way, left a coffee shop, stayed silently in a corner in places there was nowhere else to go. You never told Yoonji exactly why you didn't want to be in the same room with him again, but she was very supportive no matter what.

You weren't sure why, either. Whether it was your hurt ego, your high standards for the people surrounding you, or the shame you felt every time you met his eyes, you couldn't tell. One thing you knew for sure was how you vowed to never fall for that again. Not from Taehyung, and not from anyone else. No more hooking up with random fuck boys at parties. No more associating yourself with people you don't even value enough. Kim Taehyung was an asshole, and you didn't care what he did or who he did it with, but you would rather be caught dead than be caught with him ever again.

Yet there you were. With him.

You cleared your throat. "And you're telling me this now because...?"

The photographer frowned, mostly at himself, clenching his jaw and looking at the ground. "Well, because you kissed me and ran away as if your life depended on it. Thought it might have something to do with that."

"Right." You bit the inside of your cheek, nodding slightly as you tried to think of what to say. Truly, what could you say? There have been so many things torturing your mind, but you didn't know which of those would be worth saying aloud. "Okay," you simply mumbled. "Are we done then?"

You tried walking past him but he held you back. "Wait, wait, hold on. You promised we would talk."

You just looked at him with your eyes wide. "You said you had a confession to make. You made it. There’s nothing more to say about that."

"Yes, there is."

"Like what?"

Taehyung snorted, finally letting you go. "Like what your problem with me is!"

You released a bitter laugh. "I thought you said you remember everything about that night."

He licked his lips and ran a hand through his hair. "It's been three years-"

"And you stay lying to me." He looked at you intensely but you didn't back down. You might not have wanted to have this conversation, but now that it was happening, you wouldn't cower one bit.

"Look," he started, taking a step closer. "What I did was wrong. Both to you and to my girlfriend. I understand, it was very shitty and I don't have any excuses. I'm not here to give you any excuses."

"Yeah, 'cause there is no excuse for such a thing," you bit back.

Taehyung sighed at your attitude, somewhat losing his patience, but continued. "Right," he mumbled through his teeth. "I told her what I did and we broke up. Actually, she forgave me and wanted to stay with me but I insisted on breaking up because I didn't want her to be in a relationship where I made such a mistake, I wanted her to find someone better."

You shrugged, folding your arms over your chest yet again and tapping your foot on the floor. "Alright. Good for her. What do you want, a cookie?"

"No-"

"You really did less than the minimum, there, buddy. I don't know what you want from me right now."

"I- nothing!"

"Then why are you telling me this?"

He paused, opening and closing his mouth again, clearly not knowing how to reply. Maybe he expected a different reaction, or maybe he was nervous and it all translated into a type of irritation, but he was starting to look angry. "Because!" he said in a louder tone. "Because you keep treating me like that, you're acting like I'm this huge asshole, and I get it- first impressions are hard to change, but I'm not! I'm not that asshole you've made me out to be and quite frankly it's starting to get pretty annoying."

You chuckled. What else were you supposed to do? You couldn't believe what you were hearing. "Excuse me, but I have the right to believe anything I want about you. If I have a certain idea of who you are and it's not affecting you in any way, then what's the problem?" You saw Taehyung roll his eyes and turn away, his hands on his hips as he shook his head and sighed. "If I think what you did is bad enough for me to never change my mind about you, then that's my opinion."

He was mumbling his words out, not being able to form a sentence long enough for it to make sense. "But that's- you-" He kept grunting and shaking his head at you until he finally spoke up. "Three years!" he announced. "It's been three years, Amy, and you're still punishing me for this. Alright, it's your opinion to determine the gravity of it, but don't tell me it doesn't affect me. Not when you've been avoiding me for three years."

"I haven't-" you tried to lie.

But he knew better than that. "Yes, you have. Every time I wanted to come along with my friends, something always came up and you'd bail. You didn't even show up at Jimin's birthday for crying aloud! Because you knew I'd be there. And I wanted to talk to you, apologize to you. I liked you and wanted to make this right and you never gave me the chance." He took a deep breath after having given his monologue in a haste, almost like he was scared his words would bail, too, if he wasn't quick enough. "And then you're wondering why I pretended I didn't remember you?" You blinked at him when you realized he was waiting for an answer. You had none to give him. "What was I supposed to do, huh? What could I have done that wouldn't have resulted in you getting back in that car and driving away?"

You stayed silent, looking at him through your lashes, then averting your gaze again. You sniffed your nose a couple of times as you were trying to get your thoughts straight. Kicked the floor once or twice as you felt your body squirm under his stare; he wouldn't relieve you from the scrutiny. "I..." you finally mumbled. "I'm not interested in reconciling with you." You gulped but noticed his stance and expression didn't change at all. Like he expected those words. "I'm sorry if that's what you wanted to do, and that I prevented you from even trying. But I won't change my mind about this."

He licked his lips, looking at you with a serious frown, then simply said: "Why?"

Why was he even asking? Was it not obvious? "Look, I simply don't like people who do things like these. I don't want them as boyfriends, or friends, or anything. Nothing personal."

"But that's what I'm trying to say!" he insisted. "I'm not like that." He came close, so close his face was hovering above yours merely inches away, staring into your eyes with a sort of urgency. An urgency for you to understand him. "I'm not normally like that. That night... I don't know. That night was an exception. I really don't want to give you cliché excuses, but I thought you knew. I thought you felt it, too. I'm not crazy, right? There was something there that you felt, too?"

You gulped again, looking him up and down with fire all over your face. Because you knew instantly what he meant. But it had to take a few moments for it to actually sink in. That it wasn't just you. And that he, too, was unable to keep his hands from you that night. It certainly didn't justify his actions or lessen your disdain for him. But at least it felt a tiny bit good to know that you weren't just a naive little girl who had fallen for the pretty boy's trick, just like dozens of others.

"That still doesn't explain..." you started saying, keeping your opinion openly still the same, yet not denying his words.

"I know it doesn't!" he was quick to say. His eyes traveled all over your face, the tone of his voice having calmed a bit. "It was very douchy of me and I don't expect to be forgiven for it. Which is why I didn't stay with that girl." You jumped slightly when you felt his hands land on your arms. But you didn't pull away. "But I don't understand why you have to be so harsh on me. It's been three years, and this is still obviously bothering you. You haven't let it go even a little bit."

You looked away, taking a step back, but he quickly made up for it. "It doesn't bother me," you said, tongue in cheek.

"Well, it clearly does," he insisted. "When you are cold to me one moment, kissing me the next, and then running away like I hurt you."

"You did hurt me."

The words left your mouth before you could stop them. Before you even knew what you were saying yourself. He hurt you. You had never admitted that before. Always blaming your anger and aversion to him on your morals or whatever. Yet that was the true reason you didn’t want to see him, and you didn’t want to talk to him, and definitely not kiss him again.

Taehyung paused, taking a deep breath. He leaned nearer as he looked down at your lips as whispered. “I know,” he said in a sweet voice as if to reassure you. “I know.” That meant you weren’t crazy. “But why is it still hurting you now?” You tensed up at his question. “Why do you care -about me- so much that this is, to this day, an open wound?”

You scoffed. But you couldn't say anything. You tried pushing him away, and for a moment he let you, but then he was right in front of you again. Even closer, perhaps. “What are you…?” you murmured, looking quite lost. Especially with the close proximity that was driving your mind into a frenzy.

“Do you still like me?” he asked, straightforward.

“No!” you called immediately. But he didn’t seem convinced, raising an eyebrow at you. "I’m not still hurt. I just… I told you. I simply don't want anything to do with someone like you. So it's fine when you keep your distance, but it's not fine when you kiss me. I said I don't want- ."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't want a boyfriend nor a friend like me," he interrupted you to finish your sentence. "Not that I ever offered to be either of those."

Your cheeks flushed and you looked away immediately so as not to get caught. "I- I didn't say I wanted you to."

Taehyung chuckled. The sound almost scared you more than when he was shouting earlier. Because you knew a casual, flirty Taehyung was always more dangerous. "You know, you kissed me!" he reminded you.

Your mouth dropped in a dramatic way. "You seduced me into kissing you!" you complained.

And the boy laughed even harder. "Seduced? Is that your way of saying you couldn't resist me?"

You tried to fight back at his remarks that clearly only served the role of firing you up -whether that was with anger or something else, you weren't sure. And then he had the audacity to wonder why you still didn't like him? But your voice cracked, as you backed until your body hit the kitchen counter and your hands held the edge tight. "Is not!" you managed to get out.

Taehyung’s arms trapped you in that counter, his hands holding onto it on either side of your body until you were caged between them, as he leaned even closer, standing one breath away and staring at you with a smirk on his lips. It was clear then, he wasn’t trying to talk anymore.

“C’mon,” he rasped, a voice so low that it vibrated in frequencies hard to hear. “I know you can’t resist me. You couldn’t do it three years ago and you can’t do it now.”

Your palms hit his chest, trying to push him away from you as you breathed heavily, hearing your own heartbeat in your head and feeling your control slipping through your fingers. But you still couldn’t form any words. Your brain had shut down when it came to that. Just spinning around as Taehyung kept getting closer. What the hell was he trying to do?

"I'm just saying… There is no one here to judge you for it. No one will know you went against your morals," he purred, a hand leaving your side briefly to swipe your hair off your shoulder and caress your neck in the process. The contact made your palms clench into fists, his shirt pooling under your grip. And there were two ways you could go about this; either push or pull him.

“Tae…”

“Go on then,” he said in a teasing tone. “Show me how much you hate me, princess. How you despise me and everything I stand for. Resist me.”

You did hate him. And you hated being proven wrong. So, those two together should result in you pushing him away and going to your room. Right? You should resist that man, it couldn’t be so hard, anyway. So tell me why the way he was looking at you made your knees buck? Why his words filled your stomach with butterflies, his scent numbed your brain like a hallucinogen? Why you couldn’t resist him.

Tell me why you pulled him in by the shirt.

He didn’t hesitate to wrap his lips around yours. Didn’t waste any time to hold you by the waist and press his body on yours. This was the third chance he was given for this and he was about to make it work. And he seemed to have been waiting for it. He already knew what to do, how to hold you, how to kiss you in order to make you moan in his mouth. It was the party scene all over again; as in, you were devouring each other in a sort of urgency, bumping your lips together like you were drunk and had just found the person you were feeling the craziest chemistry with, grinding on each other as if you were trying to merge together.

And maybe he was right; you could never resist him.

Your fingers dipped into his soft locks and he moaned your name. He snaked his arms under your thighs to push you up, letting you sit at the edge of the counter. He immediately filled in the gap between your legs, hands rubbing up and down your back, while you started kissing down his neck, making sure to mark him as if he was yours. He hissed and growled every time you bit him, riding your shirt up to get a feel of your skin underneath. Then finding your hands, intertwining your fingers together, and pushing them past your body, almost like he was trying to confine them away from him. And you hated not being able to touch him, hated how he pushed your body back to have you almost lay on the counter completely, and you couldn’t move. Because you wanted more.

And maybe he was right; no one would ever know about this. So perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to do this. This mistake. Taehyung.

“Princess, if you plan on regretting this and running away again, you better tell me now,” he rasped while kissing your collarbone. “I might not stop later.”

He was giving you an out. And normally you would have taken it. But at that moment the only thing busying your mind was that implied promise of what was to come.

“You better not,” you mumbled, more to yourself, but heard him chuckle when he heard it, too.

His hands clenched harder around yours before he released you in favor of grabbing your ass and your thighs. He squeezed you close, pulling you until your crotch was rubbing against his clear erection under his pants, and all you could do was whimper. Still kissing his neck, that sweet spot under his ear, biting his lob, and hearing him grunt at the way you were making him feel. Your hands, free now, could run up his toned arms and enjoy his body like you wanted to for a while.

He pulled his head slightly back to look into your eyes. His seemed so unfocused, so dark, like he had gotten high from you. “You want me to make you feel good?” he asked with a smirk. You weren’t sure if he was asking for permission or just building the anticipation.

“Can you?” No, you weren’t making a plea. You were questioning his skills. And he picked it up from your tone immediately.

“Can I?” he snorted, his eyes turning to the ceiling before he let his fingers slowly and very slightly brush your naked belly, moving further down. Your entire body squirmed with the rhythm of his fingertips. “You shiver every time I touch you. So, yeah, I think I can do anything I want to you.”

You immediately punched his chest, pushing him away. “God, I hate you.”

But his smug smirk wouldn’t back down. And he wouldn’t let go of you. “We have already established that,” he murmured, as he lowered his head down- and farther down- until it was right in front of the fly of your pants. And your stomach was sucked in the entire time, your whole body, actually, as if you were trying to take up less space. As if you were trying to pull away from him, even though at the same time you could feel your lower half burning from want, and your lips were already missing his.

But then he looked up at you too, as he was bent down there in front of your crotch, to stare into your eyes through his lashes with a hotshot grin and his tongue between his teeth; and you forgot how to breathe. And then he unbuttoned you with his mouth, biting the zipper and pulling it down slow enough for you to feel every vibration on your body, without ever breaking eye contact; and you thought your soul left your body.

He was back at his normal height, pushing your pants down while licking his lips and examining your face. “Alright, princess,” he spoke in a low tone. “I will give you my best, on one condition.” The pants were completely off and he was working on your unimpressive underwear next. “Every time I do make you feel good, you have to say my name.”

He had gotten you all naked from your waist down, yet he still hadn’t even glanced there; kept his eyes stubbornly on yours. But when you tried to press your legs together, feeling shy and exposed, he was holding them tight. “That’s your condition?” you wondered, not seeming too hard to do. You were probably going to do it anyway.

He leaned down, keeping his lips close enough to rub on yours when he spoke. “Yes. Every time. I want you to keep reminding yourself who it is that is making you feel this way.” When he kissed you, it worked almost as a distraction to how one hand crept in between your thighs and pressed around your folds, yet avoiding the place you needed him to touch.

His lips moved at the same rhythm as his fingers, his tongue slipping in your mouth right as he finally moved them closer, getting them all dirty with your wetness. Index and middle finger rubbing up and down, brushing against your clit and over your opening but never giving into either. You hummed in frustration as you bit down on his bottom lip, your hips trying to move forward, trying to get more.

“What did I tell you?” he whispered, increasing his pressure on your clit just for a moment, a moment long enough to make you gasp with your mouth open over his.

“Tae…” you breathed.

“Say it,” he insisted.

“Taehyung,” you moaned, closing your eyes as he started moving his fingers in circles over the sensitive bud like a reward.

“You’re so wet, already,” he observed, something quite obvious from the sounds the simple movement was creating. “Is that all for me?” He pulled his head back to watch your reaction better, smiling when he saw you nodding. “Good girl,” he purred, rewarding you yet again with sliding one finger easily inside.

"Oh,” you moaned, your body immediately arching towards his. You still needed more. The better it all felt, the more you wanted from him.

The photographer inhaled sharply through his teeth, stilling his actions. “Amy, what did we say?”

“Taehyung,” you immediately obeyed. And you didn’t need to be told twice. “Taehyung,” you moaned, again and again, as he worked his magic into you. As he kissed you in that way no one had ever been able to replicate. “Taehyung,” as he pushed a second finger in to stretch you out. “Taehyung,” as he found your g-spot and massaged it softly as if he was working with something fragile. “Taehyung, Taehyung,” as he made you come, once, twice, thrice. With his fingers inside you, on your clit, his mouth french-kissing your pussy, his tongue dipping in and out as he lapped at your juices.

All while you had to make yourself think of who exactly was fucking you like that. Who was making your legs shake, your head spin, your sight and hearing unclear. Whose hair you were pulling, whose teeth you had marks of on your thighs, whose name you were screaming.

Kim Taehyung.

Next Chapter

[bondsmagii]

okay Miceál, I present to you a family case. We (me, my da, my ma and my dad's ma) are pretty sure my late grandma's (mom's mom) house is haunted as shit. First because I always had the heebie-jeebies when I slept over there. One time I got so fucking scared that she gave me a random Saint figure and told me a prayer. I am not Christian, at the time I didn't even believe in g-d, but when it hit 5 am and I couldn't sleep and the Thing, the dread, kept getting closer, boy did I pray. I fell asleep murmuring it, and to this day I have no idea what the prayer was. I just know it kept me safe.

Second installment: my grandma dies. Normal enough, people die. My other grandma comes over, we don't have money for a hotel or space for her in our house, so she stays at my late grandma's house. Candles start being lit every night, despite my grandma not lighting them. The housekeeper also didn't, they just put them there. Keys keep missing. We know the Buddhist place with some of her ashes also has this problem. My grandma was shitting her pants basically but it was fine.

Third and oldest: my ma, back when she lived with my grandma, once was walking down a corridor and saw an actual fucking full apparition ghost. And she didn't give many details but she could see the woman's face, looking right at her, from my grandma's bedroom. My ma says she was paralyzed for a while, stuck with the ghost. Eventually she blinked and it was gone.

Basically. What the fuck. The house also has an attic and I swear to g-d that shit is haunted. No fucking way.

that house definitely has ghosts, confirmed. luckily they seem to be rather unthreatening, though? I mean there’s your man at the beginning who was creeping up on you in bed but like. ghosts do that sometimes. you know how it is.

full apparitions are kickass, though. I’ve been seeing ghosts ever since I can remember, and genuinely I can count on one hand the times I’ve seen a full body apparition, perfectly defined. usually it’s hazy or wispy and just a section of a person (the face or a hand or something); other times it’s nothing more than mist. full apparitions are kind of what I live for in terms of paranormal encounters, because they’re so undeniable. the last one I saw was years ago, probably five or six years ago now? it was in a house in London, one of those ones that have been around since the late 1800s-early 1900s or whatever. I was coming down the stairs and in the hallway below, I saw the clear form of a man in Victorian-era clothing walk out of the wall, across the hall, and through the opposite wall. just normal pace, like he was walking around his own house through doorways that were no longer there. I saw him so clearly and just stood on the stairs for a moment totally nerding out.

love that shit, man. good luck with your ghosts though and yeah maybe don’t go in the attic.

[night-waker]

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Longest Tag: 135 characters

#imagine they use the og for a flashback where shadow finds maria dancing around and loudly singing along before she gets him to join in

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

How has it already been 10 years??

24 notes - Posted November 18, 2022

#4

Do you like Destroy All Humans? Do you want to interact with other Destroy All Humans fans? If so...

Join my Destroy All Humans discord server!

We have:

- Multiple channels for fandom related things! Fanart, fanfics, AUs, etc.

- Many off-topic channels

- Color and pronoun roles

- LGBTQ+ friendly!

- Equally as friendly members!

And more! :D Feel free to reblog, even if you don't want to join, to spread the word!

24 notes - Posted June 5, 2022

#3

ATTENTION EPIC MICKEY FANS

I've made my own Epic Mickey server!

I've seen a few people asking about one, and the ones I'm in are all dead, so I've decided to make a new one! If you want to:

- Meet and discuss the games with other EM fans

- Share fanart, fanfic, aus, headcanons, etc.

- Talk about any non-EM thing you're currently into in the designated channels

Then join today! :D

38 notes - Posted June 13, 2022

#2

(NOTE: I'm reposting this bc the original didn't show up in the tags due to Tumblr being Tumblr)

Okay, but what if SB had included more interactions between the animatronics? Like, imagine you overhearing them discussing how to catch Gregory, or - if there are multiple in one area - every now and then you hear them go, "Have you found him yet?" "Not yet, but he's gotta be here!" You could even take it a step further and have them check in with Vanessa sometimes (ala that one cut line where she asks them all to report in). If you're inside Freddy and walk past one of them, there's a chance they'll say hi and stuff. Imagine these random encounter events you can stumble across, where you see two of them just talking and being buds. Overall, I think it would help flesh the Glamrocks, and their relationships/dynamics with each other, out a bit more.

Then on the flip side... there's the POTENTIAL FOR ANGST AND DRAMA! Imagine seeing and/or hearing their upset/horrified reactions to their friends being taken out one by one, and having their parts stolen.

Okay, now take all that angst and drama... AND APPLY IT TO THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH FREDDY AND HOW IT WOULD CHANGE AS THE GAME GOES ON!! At first they assume he's also helping them hunt down Gregory, but as the game goes on, they begin to grow suspicious... At one point you overhear them going back and forth abt whether Freddy is hiding something, with at least one of them (maybe Chica? Idk) trying to defend him.

The doubt and suspicion towards Freddy continues to grow until one of them confronts him directly (Monty perhaps? Again idk??) They tell Freddy they know he's helping Gregory somehow, and demands he tell them where he's hiding him. Freddy of course denies all of this, but it's clear the other isn't convinced, and maybe even feeling a little betrayed and angry he's seemingly choosing some random kid over his own friends (bonus points if Gregory was hiding in Freddy's stomach during this). While Freddy doesn't like having to lie to his friends, he knows there's something wrong with them, and refuses to let them hurt Gregory.

Afterward, there would be a lot more tension between Freddy and the band, since by now they're almost certain he's helping Gregory, but they don't have any solid proof. It's only when Gregory starts taking them out, and upgrading Freddy with their parts, that they finally turn against him and become openly hostile. Idk how that would work gameplay wise, buuuut yea. Anyway, my point is having more chances see the Glamrocks being friends, how the virus would affect that, and all the drama that could bring, would've been nice.

42 notes - Posted January 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Happy Sonic 2 day

4,132 notes - Posted April 8, 2022

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