#they haven’t been crazy and I recognize I don’t live in Australia or places where the spiders are as big as fucking cars

[rosicheeks]

🙃

[rocketink]

LOST AND FOUND

In which you lose your stuff all the time but your first-floor neighbour somehow always has it for you. Or, in a soulmate world, your soulmate finds everything you loses and reverse.

pairing: minghao x gender neutral reader

genre: fluff, crack + neighbor & soulmate! Au 

wc: 2.2k+

warnings: none I think (this type of soulamte thingy is kinda crazy tho). Btw this is my first au so I’m sorry fpr any mistakes!! + English is not my first language so apologies :)

notes: I migh turn this into a series since I’ve thought about some details here and there as I wrote this au?? What do you think?? 

The situation inside your apartment has turned unbearable, and you know should have moved with Joshua when you had the chance. He wasn't the closest of your friends, but you're sure it would have been more comfortable with him rather than third-wheeling your roommates.

Now, you don't hate Mingyu and your best friend, you just think they are disgustingly cute. You feel very happy since you've seen them pining after each other for a while now (all the furtive glances they sent to each other when they thought nobody was looking was like being inside a rom-com movie and it was hilarious at first. It eventually became too much to handle). You've never seen two more oblivious people inside a room, it was exasperating. Things began to turn serious when they discovered they were each other's soulmates and they've been seriously dating ever since.

It's great, really, but why do you have to see each of their displays of affection? Or, should we say, why doesn't the time to find your soulmate finally get to you?

Because you know, deep down inside you, that the problem is not that they have a soulmate. The problem is that you don't find it.

"Good morning, love." Mingyu greets your friend with his deep morning voice, and gives them a kiss on their temple. "Good morning, Y/n." He gives you a tiny hug and you growl.

"It's too early for being cute don't you think?" You ask joking-not-so-joking.

"Feeling grumpy at eight in the morning? Woah, breaking your own record." You laugh at what your friend says and they laugh too. You don't mind being like this, just why does it have to get so awkward sometimes?

"Guys another disgrace has happened." You announce solemnly. "I have lost my jacket"

"Again?" Mingyu judges.

"But didn't you wash it yesterday? It must be hanged with the rest of the clothes."

"I checked when I woke up because it's cold and it wasn't there."

"It was pretty windy last night, maybe it fell?" Your friend suggests and they grin. "Maybe Minghao will bring it back to you later?"

Ah, here we have the other reason why you want to move to a lost town somewhere in Australia: Xu Minghao, your first-floor neighbor, the one that has an apartment to envy because of his small, well-decorated courtyard. You don't envy that, though, because your clothesline is right on top of his courtyard, and sometimes he has to bring you all the clothing items that fall into his yard. You don't know how all that ends up there, you've tried everything: from securing your clothes with more pins to tying it to the clothesline. But none of that ever works, and he always goes all up to the third floor -where you live- to give it back to you with a smile and a 'see you soon'. How does he know it's your clothes? You made sure to tell him the first time this happened.

Just like your friend predicted, that afternoon Xu Minghao knocked at your door.

"Hello." He greets with a friendly smile and your heart melts.

He's too adorable to handle.

"Hi, Minghao. Don't bother I think I know why you're here." You joke at your own clumsiness and he laughs with you too.

"You must have been cold without it." He seems worried and you shake your head.

"Don't worry, two layers of blankets made up for it."

He puts his hands into his pockets and smiles shyly and you feel your heart bursting off. When he leaves, you notice your jacket smells like him.

Ah, how you wished Minghao was your soulmate.

Things get more complicated when the finals approach. You can barely stand even after drinking your daily coffee and you spend day after day coming and going from home to the library. You are so focused and stressed that you barely pay attention to anything else, and you've lost from pens to your entire case. All of them safely brought back home by Minghao. You do not know how or when you threw your case through the window for it to end up at Minghao's yard, but he always brings some hot chocolate and a small talk with him, so you do not complain.

After all, you don't even remember how you wake up every morning by the end of the day. You end up thinking you need to control yourself a little more during finals.

One day it gets out of hand. You've probably had the worst of the days. You woke up late because you didn't hear the alarm clock, your roommates being all lovey-dovey already got you on your nerves, your exam was harder than you expected and you had a bad feeling about your answers. Then, when you finally got home, late and tired, your keys were nowhere to be found. You could feel your eyes getting watery and you knocked at the door. Nobody answers, your friend and Mingyu are celebrating their anniversary and you don't want to bother them even if all you want is a hot shower and watching a romantic without friends to cuddle. You immediately think of Minghao, would it be too much if you asked him to spend some time with you? You answer to yourself that yes, it would be too much, there's no need to bother anyone else. So what do you do now?

"Y/n?" Somebody asks behind you.

"Minghao?" And there you have it, just the one you were thinking of.

"Hi, uhm, are you okay?" You want to cry to that question, but you manage to hold back your tears.

"I'm fine I just- I must have lost my keys because I can't find them and there's no one home and I just want to sleep." You explain briefly.

"Are these your keys?" He holds something in his left hand that looks like your keyring -a framed pink paper with your name on it and a little olaf your sister once bought you-

"How did you find it?"

"I didn't, it appeared in my yard". He is as confused as you are.

"But... I remember I put it inside the pocket of my bag." You explain. "When I arrived it was opened so I just supposed they fell out. And there's no way they fell into your yard because they are always inside my bag, I never threw them... Why would anyone throw a keyring through my window? I-" You try to explain without taking a breath so that Minghao doesn't think you're a weirdo, but now you can't fight back your tears and Minghao looks worried.

"It's okay Y/n, don't worry, I understand. Well, I don't, but I know you didn't do it. Hold on let's get inside I'll make you some hot chocolate and we can watch a movie, okay?"

You nod without thinking, just wanting to be lulled into some peace. He makes you some hot choco as promised and makes some small talk while choosing a movie to watch.

"So where are your roommates?" He asks.

"Celebrating their anniversary."

"Wait, are they dating?"

"Didn't you know?"

"No? I'm so shocked what the hell." You laugh at his astonished face. "But are they...?"

"Soulmates? Yes, they are."

"Woah, lucky."

"I know right." You don't want this topic to surface but you can't help but ask. "Have you met your soulmate?"

"I haven't." After a few seconds, he adds, "have you?"

"No, not a single clue of who they are. I don't have a timer or a tattoo, or see them in my dreams... I'm getting tired of waiting. Overall watching the two lovebirds every day of my life."

"It is the same thing for me. I'd love to meet them or just to know how they are. I know I'm young and all that but I'm just very curious and almost all my friends have met them while I still don’t know how to find them. I feel left out."

You nod, relating to that feeling.

"By the way, if it gets tiring, why don't you just move out?"

"I don't know where to move to be honest. I don't know if I want to go through the 'look for a new apartment' process again, it's too tiring. Besides, I still have fun with them, they're not to blame for my loneliness."

Minghao laughs and looks away.

"Just so you know, I'm moving out next month. I found another apartment for a better price and I'm going to leave the one I have now. If it gets too unbearable, you can just take my place." And you are too focused on yourself to notice the sad look on his face.

Because Minghao and your little encounters made your whole living in a student's apartment life better, and you don't want him to go away. But you are just a neighbor in Minghao's life, so who are you to tell him that?

Minghao moves the following month just as promised, and you can't remove the moping face you wear.

"Why are you so sad Y/n? I've seen the new neighbor, he is as hot as Minghao." Your friend winks and you roll your eyes.

"I don't care. If he doesn't pick up my stuff then I don't want him."

"I've heard he is all the time arguing with their other roommate. Maybe they leave sooner than expected and Minghao comes back!"

"Don't be mean, Gyu!" You nag and he shrugs.

Somebody's knocking at the door distracts you from your conversation and both of your friends turn to look at you.

"Why do I always have to get the door? There's no Minghao now, I don't want it."

"Maybe is your new blue prince"

"Shut up, Mingyu."

But when you open the door to a frowning Minghao, your heart backflips.

"What are you doing here Hao? Is everything okay?"

"I am a little concerned." He shows you a small necklace you recognize immediately. "What was this doing in my house?"

"I lost it last week at university! I didn't know where it went." You try to answer.

"To my room?"

"Look, I also don't know what was my necklace doing in your house in which I've never stepped a foot in because is like five kilometers away ... Oh my god Hao did you walk here?"

"I took the bus." He looks down and then right at you. "The last time I saw you you were wearing it. I've been thinking for a week how did this get there since I haven't seen you in a month, I never took it and I know for sure you are not a stalker who would leave their necklace inside my room when nobody’s looking."

"Have you reached any conclusion?"

"Absolutely none. Then I talked to Jun and he said some of the romantic trash he usually thinks of, but this made me think."

"What did he say?" You don't know what direction this conversation is taking.

"He's a soulmate expert you know? He told me that maybe it’s because destiny wants us to meet again and I thought that couldn't be because oh god, what have I done to deserve you? Then I decided to make a little experiment and I'm really nervous because if this doesn't work out I might have lost the most important thing to me. Do you mind checking your room?"

You feel everything inside you revolving because of every single one of his words, but still, you do as he requests. You check your room, ignoring the question marks over your roommate's heads, and find nothing different. Except for a new notebook on top of your nightstand you hadn't noticed. It's a sketchbook, and all of the drawings on the inside are signed with Minghao's name.

"Is this yours?" He sighs in relief when he recognizes the sketchbook.

"This is a part of my life, you know?"

"Then how did you lose this?"

"I told June to leave it somewhere I didn't know so that I couldn't even look for it. I wasn't sure if it was going to work."

"I can't believe the universe does works like this."

"Me neither, but I'm glad it did."

"So, you said this friend of yours is an expert in soulmates?" You don't want to ask it directly, but you want to know if he's implying that you two are soulmates.

"Yes, I used the s word." You both laugh.

"Does this mean that you and I... You know."

"Jun told me this type of soulmate is rare, but it has happened under easier circumstances. All I know is that I keep finding you every time and I don't know if I ever want to stop finding you."

"OH COME ON JUST KISS ALREADY." You hear Mingyu shouting from the kitchen. "Babe, now I know how Y/n felt with us."

You want to laugh at Mingyu and tell him 'Ha, suffer you loser', but Minghao has other plans.

When he kisses you everything just seems simple and suddenly everything is fine, and you don't want to stop doing it. It's warm, it feels as if you had lost and found the most important thing in your life.

"Hold on then why did I never find anything yours?"

"Y/n, you break the kiss just to ask this?" You blush and he sighs. "I'm a very organized person, unlike others, so I barely lose things, happy now?"

"No. Does this mean that if I get lost in a crowd would you magically find me? You know, since I got lost."

"I don't know Y/n, and I don't want to find out. Now come here, I want to cuddle."

"Oh, yes. Finally."

[elles-writing]

When The Worlds Collide - VI

Kili x reader

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for not posting my own works in like two weeks or so. It was rough for my mental health and school was kicking my ass and I was not in a mood for doing many things, so now I hope you will like this long chapter!! It’s not really about the main plot, just some fluffy moments to enjoy. Also, it was my birthday 23rd September and it’s finally autumn!! I also don’t really know when am I going to draw, because like I said, I was not doing mentally well, but I think I could give it a shot in a next few days, because I’m on my autumn break, finally! I’ve been finishing a cake w my mom in past hour or so and I created a moon on it and waves in Gogh’s paintings style, I’ll show you a photo of it in next part.

gif not mine

gif not mine

gif not mine (inspo for the bun and cooking scene)

Also, I’m not sure in which year in modern world this shall be oriented, but songs I’ve been thinking of (aka you playing these to them):

Spanish: Volar – Alvaro Soler, also We Don’t Speak Americano

French: Amour Plastique – VIDEOCLUB, La Vie En Rose – Edith Piaf

Korean: Sweat, Blood & Tears – BTS (because I don’t know almost any Japanese songs, but I like this one and some other songs in Korean)

Vegetable pie – quiche (I’ve had a pumpkin one in a cafe and it was real good)

Warnings: fluff

tags: @moony-artnstuff​ @whenputtingpentopaper​

One of the fun things while having this group around was that they would constantly look around some rooms in your house and tell you how pretty it was, even if you haven't been tidying and cleaning it in two weeks at least. They also loved to explore your library and spended countless hours by reading the books. You've decided to introduce them to human culture. Only the basic things, really.

"So, here, the race of Men has developed into a different coultures and languages all over the world. Can you guess, for example, how many languages is here?" Kili didn't even thought about his answer.

"Well, you have one common language, so I guess just one, maybe two or three," He said with proud confident smile, changing in his typical cheeky grin as he winked at you. You chuckled and shook your head. Balin looked up from his book.

"There must be more. What about five, or ten?" You looked over others.

"Any other answer? C'mon, try out some number." You felt like a teacher in a class of many different students.

"Thirty languages, that could be," said Legolas calmly.

"Well, this is much bigger world, but it can't be that much. I guess twenty." Bard was thinking aloud.

"So, how is it, lass?" Fili asked and you couldn't help to cover a smile that was forming on your face.

"Well, actually, it's much more than that," you said. You've heard Gandalf to chuckle.

"It's over six thousand languages." Kili's eyes widened and his jaw fell down, Fili did pretty similar face. Most of them looked at you as if you'd told them you personally know Smaug and he's your best friend. And that dragons are the biggest cuddly softies.

"Bold of you to assume that whole population in this world speaks one language or a few dozens of them," you jokily murmed to yourself. Of course, elvish ears have picked that up. Thranduil looked at you with his icy glare.

„How does they sound, then?“ You pulled out your phone and opened YouTube.

„Well, this is a language called Spanish,“ You‘ve played one song in Spanish and all of them were listening to it, deeply in thought. You’ve noticed some dwarves trying to catch the lyrics, and when the song ended, you looked over them.

„This was Spanish, it’s one of the most largely-spoken languages all over the world. It can be slightely different, it depends on where you go. Then, there is another language, and it’s called French. It’s also called the ‚language of love‘, because it sounds softly and even as some sort of charm or magic.“ You looked to the elves.

„I think you may like it, it sounds a bit as an elvish in a way,“ You shrugged your shoulders, not wanting to offend them. They looked more interested in what you were about to play to them.

„This song is in French, but it’s a sad song. It’s also quite old, but I think it’s quite a good example, because it’s well-known, so,“ you left the sentence unfinished and played La Vie En Rose by Edith Piaf, then one more modern song in French so they’d get the idea. When it ended, you’ve spoken again.

„Well, then there are much different languages. This one is Korean,“ you said and played a song, around fourty seconds.

„What were they saying? It’s all so different!“ You’ve heard Fili and smirked.

„You haven’t heard Russian, Fili.“ Kili sat closer to you, just as a puppy needy for attention.

„They are all so different!“ He threw his hands into air. You smiled.

„Oh yeah, they are. But it’s better to know at least two languages, to get higher chances of getting a job. The more languages you know, the more likely will people want you to work for them.“ Bard piped up.

„How can you learn them? Some of them sound way too difficult to learn, that Korean for example, how would you learned that?“ You looked over to your library.

„Oh well, you can go to some classes and learn the language here, or you can learn them by yourself. There are many textbooks you can use for learning grammar, and you can use books in your target language to help you to learn the vocabulary. Or you can watch movies in that language, listen to a songs, read articles instead of books, text or call with somebody who speaks that language...there are plenty of ways to do so, there is probably even more of them. Also, depends on the language and the person. Some people learn easier when they’ll learn the basic grammar first, someone needs to learn the pronounciation first, and so on.“ You finished talking and they were staring at you, surprised.

„How many languages do you know, if I may ask?“ Balin looked curiously down at you, sitting with crossed legs on the floor with Kili sitting next to you. You’ve thought about his question.

„Well, I’m fluent in two languages, and I’m learning another one. It’s a great way to relieve stress and it’s really fun thing to do, even though sometimes you have to learn to write completely different letters.“ You showed them Koren, Japanese and Russian letters, and they couldn’t believe their eyes.

A few minutes later

Fili sat down to the other side, so you were seated between them and they could look on your phone and into your book about Korea and Japan.

„How can you write that? How can you read that? It’s impossible! It all sounds the same!“ Kili and Fili cried out when Google Translate pronounciation have proved them wrong after another attempt of reading the languages.

„Every language has it’s own rhytm and you have to really listen to it, so you will recognize the words. If you don’t know the languages, it does sound close. Maybe we could try out some French and Spanish, what do you think?“ You said after seeing the elves being annoyed that they could not pronounce it, but not complaining as the dwarf brothers.

But oh boy, French and Spanish, that was another challenge. Even if not that big, but still.

„How do you do that with your mouth?!“ Kili asked you, looking as unhappy, flustrated puppy whom you took it’s ball and refused to give it back (or throw it).

„There are some rules for something called grammar and pronounciation, which you are purposely ignoring and then you complain you don’t understand how to do it!“ You said and rolled your eyes.

„You always tell me it’s wrong!“

„Because it is! You are pronouncing it wrong! It’s leviOUsa, not levioSAAA-!“ You stopped and then you started laughing. Kili furrowed his eyebrows.

„What, what are you laughing about? What is so funny? Y/N? Y/N, are you okay?!“ Kili looked at you, lying on your back on the floor, tears from laugh sparkling in your eyes.

„I sound-I sound just like a Hermione! It’s not LevioSAA-“ You started laughing again and they all looked at you worried.

„Shall we be concerned?“ Fili asked and you shook your head.

„No, no, it’s okay, I just-“ You looked at Kili and tried to not to laugh again.

„I’m okay, it’s okay.“ You breathed in and out, slowly, closing your eyes. You didn’t noticed how most of them looked at each other. As if they’d ended up with some crazy person.

You spoken.

„Okay, I think that was enough of languages for today. I know you have Khuzdul, Elvish and common language in Middle-Earth, but here is much more. Human culture in here has been developing for thounsands of years on many different places, so that’s why.“ You said and got up to your laptop to find some pictures of a certain places. They all came closer.

„Well, this is Rome, in Italy. Then, we have Paris, in France, now some Scandinavian countries. This is Stockholm, Sweden. Then, there is London, Great Britain. Now, this is Los Angeles and New York, that’s both in United States. This is in Japan and this is in Australia.“ You showed them well-known places all over the world and especially Europe, since you assumed it was the closest to Middle-Earth style of living.

After a while, you’ve decided to make some dinner. It wasn’t too much left, and you knew you’d have to go shopping soon, but you didn’t wanted to stress yourself about leaving some fictional characters alone in your house for an hour. No. You prepared a recipe and ingredients and started making dough and left them in living room with another pile of books. They especially loved classics, because they had similar language to what they were using, but they liked even more modern books. You didn’t even counted the time you were thanking yourself for collecting books and being a bookworm. And being a „public library“, as you and your friend would say.

Meanwhile, Kili looked up from his book to Fili, whom was reading one book series and seemed to like it, but now his brows was furrowed as if trying to solve some problem that came up. He quietly closed it and noticed you weren’t here with them, so he‘ve decided to find you and maybe talk with you about the book he was currently reading.

The first place, where he’ve decided to take a look to, was kitchen. He stood in the doorway, more to the side so you wouldn’t noticed him right away, but you seemed to be deeply in thought and mentally far away.

You were making a dough, with your hair up in a messy bun, your apron had quite a lot of flour on it, some flour ended up on your face and especially on your cheeks and up to elbows your hands were covered in it, even in your hair was a flour, but you didn’t seemed to mind it here. Next to you, there was a bowl of some cutted vegetables and a smaller bowl of cheese and a few eggs, some spices and herbs.

He didn’t noticed when you‘ve looked up as his memory flew back to his mother back in their old home in Middle-Earth in the kitchen cooking and his and Fili’s failed attempts they called cooking. They were much better at cooking from mud and twiggs than from real food. He imagined his mother and you in that kitchen and that you’d both tell him to get out from the kitchen and he’d sneak in afterwards to steal some piece of pie or cookies or sweet pasteries to prepare for you and him a picnic under the stars...

„Are you going to stand here and stare at me while I’m cooking?“ You placed your hands on your hips and a smile was dancing across your face. Kili’s head snapped and his cheeks blushed.

„I, uh, I wanted to talk with you about this book, I think it’s a good one.“ You came back to your dough and started working on it, again.

„Well, what books is it?“ You looked at the book he was holding.

"Oh, so The Picture of Dorian Gray. How do you like it so far?“ Kili looked at the book in his hands as if it could answer instead of him. He didn’t wanted to embarrass himself in front of you.

„Well, I...uh...it’s-it’s interesting and-“ You softly chuckled and his head snapped up.

„You can sit by the table rather than to stand in the doorway, Kee. Or you can help me out.“ You clapped your hands and big cloud of flour appeared in the air. A cheeky grin found a way to his face.

„Oh, so you would risk cooking with me, miss Y/N?“ You grinned back at him.

„Well, maybe. And still, you can sit down and talk about the book, I’ll listen to you.“ You said and a soft chuckle escaped your lips when you’ve seen how eager he was to sit near you, somebody whom was ready to listen to him.

„Tell me what you honestly think of that book, Kili. I won’t get offended or anything.“ You smiled at him and you’ve seen his eyes to shine as he spoke and when you were talking about all the characters and the storyline from different points of view, but that didn’t lasted long, because...food.

„What are you cooking?“ Kili asked curiously as he’ve checked the dough you were doing, the vegetables, spices and herbs.

„I’m baking a pie with vegetables and cheese, Kee.“ He scrunched his face and furrowed eyebrows.

„Why would you bake it with vegetables? Pies are sweet, aren’t they?“ He looked up at you with his questioning soft brown eyes and you’ve melted once again. You sighed and started explaining.

„Well, they are, but this type of pie is made with vegetables and cheese and eggs. It tastes good, I promise. It’s something like a pizza, but...well, it’s just a bit different, but good too!“ You said and he nodded, remembering that you baked a pizza a few days ago. Then he was standing next to you, looking sleepishly down at it.

„Put your hair out of the way, Kili, or they will end up in it. And that would not be good.“ You said, pulled out a hair-tie from the pocket of your apron, and created a messy bun out of his hair. You’ve realized that touching someone’s hair is (well, at least in the movies and books) intimate for dwarves, so you felt your face to heat up in embarrassement. You realized that it was probably true when Kili was suddenly stiff and his ears became red.

„Oh, I didn’t realized, I’m sorry-“ He cutted you off.

„It’s okay,“ You noticed he was sleepishly looking at you, but there was a twinkle in his eyes telling you he was not mad at you. (As if he could be possibly actually mad at somebody, you thought.) You shyly looked away.

„I, uh, wanna help me out?“ You looked down at floor, suddenly too embarrassed to look at him, so you didn’t noticed how his eyes widened in surprise.

„Y-you would let me to cook?!“ His voice came out as high-pitched and you glanced at him. His eyes were set on you, he was clearly surprised and excited.

„I will keep an eye on you, but yes, at some point I will.“ You said a bit hesitantely. He looked a bit concerned, but excitement overtook him. You handed him an apron. Yours was dark blue with little stars on it, this one was creamy with brown fabric around the edges. You helped him to put it on and stepped a bit away, hands on your hips and slightely narrowed eyes.

„Yeah, that’s good. But we need to do something with your bangs,“ You said and pulled out a few hair clips and bobby pins in more sizes from pocket of your apron. You went through them and then slightely nodded, chose a few of them and the rest gave back. You looked up to Kili.

„This will help to hold all of your hair out of your face,“ you said and he took them and suspiciously glanced at them. You sighed and rolled playfully your eyes. You took one of your pocket, took a strand of hair that escaped to your bun and inhaled.

„That’s how to do it. It’s not like it will bite you.“ You said, clasped the strand to it’s place, placing your hands on your hips and rising your eyebrow. He grinned and winked at you.

„Okay, let’s get the pie done!“ You quickly said, trying to cover your rising blush.

You broke the eggs into the bowl with vegetables and let Kili to put the herbs into it, but you added spices and heavy cream into it.

„Now, mix it-carefully, so it won’t end up on the floor and stay in the bowl-and then carefully pour it onto the dough,“ you motioned to the prepared dough on pie dish. Kili, when he calmed down (which almost didn’t happened, he seemed to be excited somebody trusted him enough to let him to kitchen to do something else than just eat, drink or sneak in for food), was a quick learner. You placed the pie to oven and let it to bake. You leaned against the counter and with a huff you wiped off your forehead.

„I think it’s time to get cleaned up,“ you sighed, your eyes falling shut. Kili nodded, but it seemed something on your face cought his attention. He came closer, he was close enough for you to see his soft gaze filled with concern and his brows slightely scrunched, him being concentrated.

„You have...a bit of flour left here...“ he said and his thumb runned across your cheek. You slighely flinched on that sudden contact. Your eyes met his and you’ve seen in his gaze he was thinking about something. His touch was sending shivers down your spine. You slightely opened your mouth, but closed it again, not wanting to ruin the moment. His eyes had a sparks in them, but he looked more nervous than cheeky and confident this time.

You couldn’t help but looked quickly on his lips and back to his eyes. It was only you two now, as if the whole world disappeared. You were holding your breath, nervous what was about to happen.

„I-,“ Kili whispered and you felt his breath on your lips. He was looking deep into your e/c eyes, thinking about how beautiful they were and how close he was. He could kiss you, your lips were just a few inches away, and he’d lie if he said he have never, at least once thought about how it would felt like to kiss you, at least once, since he met you.

„Kili, where are you?!“ You both flinched, quickly parted and looked away. You’ve heard Kili groaning as his older brother appeared in the doorway.

„You need to read this series Kee-wait-“ he slightely frowned, looking at his brother more properly.

„You were...cooking?“ You nervously smiled.

„Uhm, yeah, I was making a dinner and, uhm, Kili was helping me out,“ You said.

„Kili, you can go clean up, I will clean here a bit,“ You didn’t gave him a place for an answer when you pushed him to go to Fili. When a door fell after them, you sat down on the floor and thought about that moment you almost kissed. And then Fili came in, you thought and groaned. He was definetely keeping an eye on his brother.

[thelioncourts]

title: the mannequin gallery fandom: captive prince pairing: damen/laurent rating: (eventually) mature words: 5428 for chapter two (2/?); 10116 all together

story summary: If things would have gone the way they were supposed to, Damen and Laurent would have never met. But things didn’t go the way they were supposed to, not at all, and their meeting ended up being the equivalent of skydiving with a malfunctioning parachute. Damen tried not to complain. After all, he was now living his dream; he was travelling with his best friend without having to make sure their “I"s were dotted and their "T"s crossed. And, sure, Laurent was difficult to work with, to work for, but he was also great to look at and they made it work well as long as they were anywhere but in Paris. But when Laurent’s past begins to cause present-day problems, Damen finds out those difficulties Laurent constantly displays were a bit more warranted than he could have ever imagined. And Laurent? Laurent finds out the truth – and finds out how to smile.

“You can practically smell the croissants already,” Damen said as they adjusted their carry-ons over their shoulders and entered terminal 2D of the Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The flight from Berlin to Paris had been two hours long, just long enough for Damen to feel the slightest ache in his legs, and the stretch of walking them to the baggage claim felt refreshing. While Damen talked and chattered, Nik was quiet next to him. His eyes were taking in the bright red of the carpet, the arched glass ceiling, and the hundreds of people surrounding them, some so close they all kept bumping shoulders. None of them lost their stride. Damen wondered if the red of the carpet reminded Nik of the pictures he had been showing Damen on the plane, pictures of past Etoile fashion shows. Red seemed to be one of their favorite colors.

Despite his silence about all this during their stopover in Berlin, Nik had clearly been doing his research in preparation for Paris. Once they had settled into their seats on the plane and the pilot had announced they could unfasten their seatbelts, Nik had pulled out his laptop and said with an edge of excitement, “Do you want to see some of my favorite photos from Etoile’s past shows?”

It turns out, there was a whole lot more to fashion than Damen had ever given any attention to. His head told him ‘Duh, Damen, of course there’s a lot to fashion,’ but it was as though the complete confirmation of that hadn’t hit him until he saw the pictures. Nik seemed to have come to the same realization just days earlier. It had been the main reason for his endless list of saved photos, some cropped and zoomed in to give attention to the embroidered sleeves, the silk waves of scarves, and the jackets all strewn with jewels that glittered differently in angles of light.

“I’m not used to having to pay attention to clothes,” Nik had said before closing the laptop and stuffing it back in its bag. “You barely own a shirt.”

Now, the closer they got to the baggage claim, the looser Damen’s muscles felt and the more that a new excitement settled in instead. It had been a long time since they had gone somewhere unknown to them. He voiced as much.

[Continue on AO3]

“I’m excited about it too,” Nik agreed. His eyes were taking in different things now, scanning the multitude of signs as they wandered and wandered down a seemingly-endless airport with no baggage claim in sight. “Though, to be honest, I don’t know how we’ve never been to Paris.”

“We’ve barely been to France while we’ve travelled,” Damen pointed out. “We’ve only ever been to Nice and I’m pretty sure we went there because we had been in western Italy all the week before.”

“Why haven’t we been here before now?” Nik asked. Without even a break in step, he turned and started another direction with one finger pointing at a welcome and needed ‘Baggage Claim →’ sign above a different area to their right.

Damen didn’t break his step either while he said, “Not sure. I think France has always been not far enough away from home and too close all at once. We couldn’t just take a long weekend here like we could with places close to Greece but it also didn’t seem worth it to plan a long trip here when we could plan a long trip over to the United States to go hiking by the Grand Canyon or to fly down to Australia and hold koalas, you know?”

There were too many people waiting at the baggage claim already, but this was familiar territory after years of travel. Patiently, Damen and Nik waited for their too many bags. Damen’s hands were in his pockets and he was rocking on his heels while listing off a few things he wanted to do while they were here.

“Surprisingly,” he started, “I haven’t planned all that much.”

“Really?” Nik asked, one eyebrow raised skeptically.

“Really. I figured it’d probably be best to wait until you find out your schedule. Can’t be making the boss-man angry,” Damen said. Nik rolled his eyes.

Right when Nik was about to come back with a retort, Damen felt a finger poke at his shoulder and turned around to a group of teens, each one with hearts in their eyes.

It wasn’t that uncommon for Damen to get recognized in public settings anymore. Hitting two million followers on Instagram would do that for a person. Luckily for all those that recognized him, he was an easy-going guy, hence him posing with the kids for the video they were filming on their phones. It was a quick thing; the five of them stood around Damen, his height dwarfing them by comparison, and they all – Damen included – smiled wide, all their pearly whites on display while they waved at the camera and the girl holding the phone moved her thumb up and down on the screen, zooming the camera in and out. After another minutes of giggles from the teens, they disappeared, no doubt to immediately go edit the footage, and Damen rejoined Nik to wait for sight of their bags.

“Oh, is the king done mingling with the commoners at last?” Nik mocked.

“Man, I think I’m getting too old for this social media thing,” Damen said, laughing a little. “They’re making a TikTok, or whatever. I thought that was only people dancing? Am I missing something?”

“You know we’ve never been good at keeping up with the trends,” Nik said. “And for guys who rely on social media for their way of living, it’s not the smartest thing we’ve done. Or not done.”

Their bags finally rolled out from behind the curtain of the carousel and Damen stepped forward to heft each bag over toward Nik. They both had two bags on the carousel. Nik had one for his clothes and whatnot while the other held an array of camera equipment. Damen’s, meanwhile, were filled with clothes, products from advertisers, and half of one suitcase was full of workout gear and tubs of preworkout and protein that Damen couldn’t go without. Luckily, a few years ago, they had invested in nice luggage sets that stacked together like puzzle pieces in order to make moving them easier. They also had USB ports in them so they could keep their phones charged at all times.

It was another maze to get to the exit. They got lost once, Damen got stopped by two boys who were also filming a TikTok, and Nik bought an overpriced water for their drive into town all before they finally found the main doors. The doors were thronged with people, with loved ones waiting for family and business moguls waiting for their called cars, and Damen and Nik were talking over the cacophony, so it was a miracle Damen saw what he saw.

“Nik?” Damen asked, pointing over to where a bunch of men in suits were standing, eyes scanning the crowds. In that crowd stood a guy with a sign that read Etoile in fancy script and had Nik’s name underneath.

The man was inconspicuous in appearance, his suit nice but not standout-in-the-crowd-nice. His hair was cropped and a standard shade of brown, he was short and a bit stocky, and the sunglasses on his face only drew attention to his unsmiling mouth. He looked completely average.

Nik turned to Damen and said, “They never said they were sending a car.”

They both approached the man, Nik the slightest bit more hesitant than Damen, and shouldered their way through the crowd until they could stand in front of him. Behind the sunglasses, they could see his eyes jump from Nik to Damen then back to Damen before he asked in accented English, “Are you Nik?”

“I am,” Nik said after a beat.

“My name is Jord. Etoile has sent for me to escort you to our head office before then taking you to your hotel. I have been informed that you may be tired from your journey and may wish to go directly to your hotel instead. That can be done as well.”

“I’m going to Etoile already?” Nik asked.

“The owner likes to make connections with his possible hires as soon as possible,” Jord said, moving to fold the sign up. Damen stopped him with a hand out and the man eyed him cautiously still behind dark glasses.

“Can I keep that?”

The man kept a cautious eye on Damen even as he handed the sign to him and Damen, feeling Nik’s gaze, said, “We have to document this, Nik.”

“Well, we’ve only just come from Berlin, so it wasn’t a long journey. I’d be glad to go right over,” Nik said in response to Jord, bringing the conversation back around. “Is that okay with you, Damen?”

“Absolutely.”

“Wonderful,” Jord said, sounding like it was anything but that. “Follow me, please.”

The car was just outside the main doors, surrounded by dark taxi cars, a few buses, and several drivers from phone apps. The car, however, wasn’t so much a car. It was a sleek black Rolls Royce instead, the true standout in a crowd like this. Damen raised both eyebrows appreciatively at it before sliding into the seat through the open back passenger door. Nik followed, a quieter kind of awe on his face, and Jord closed the door behind them before they heard and felt the luggage being loaded into the trunk.

“This is crazy, Nik,” Damen said. The interior of the car was all a soft black leather and there was plenty of room for the both of them to stretch their legs out, something that was no small feat for two men several inches over six feet tall.

“They sent a car,” Nik said. His right hand couldn’t stop touching the seat underneath him.

“And not some shitty car. They sent the nicest car we’ve ever sat in that wasn’t at an Italian car show,” Damen said.

Jord was getting in the driver’s seat now, sunglasses still firmly in place, and he adjusted the rearview mirror before asking, “Is there anything I can get the two of you before we leave?”

“I’m not exactly dressed for the occasion,” Nik said after a beat. The fact seemed to have just dawned on him, perhaps when he took in how his black joggers looked next to the car’s interior, and Damen was in no better shape with a pair of slide-on shoes and a baggy neon orange sweatshirt.

“It won’t be a problem,” Jord said and he started the car, the engine purring as it came to life. “As long as you know what you’re doing with a camera, it won’t matter what you look or dress like.”

The drive from the Charles de Gaulle Airport to the heart of Paris was a hair over thirty minutes. It was just long enough for Damen and Nik to sit on the edge of the too-nice seats in the car and take in the sights. At first, it started like most drives near or in a big city: surrounded by a bunch of cars and monotonous buildings. But the closer they got, the more that ‘real’ feeling started to sink in. When they set sight on the first Parisian landmark, a statue that was too far away to read the plaque, Damen smacked Nik with the back of his hand and said, “Welcome to your new home for the next month.”

Sights started to get more and more recognizable. When they turned onto Rue de Rivoli, the Seine came into view. It was wider than it looked in pictures and it was impossible to decide if it was worth it to spend more time looking at the blue of the water or the beautiful French architecture all around them.

“We definitely have to plan something there,” Nik said, a sort of awe in his voice as he pointed to the Louvre. The pyramid was just visible enough to see the sunlight bounce from its glass.

“You’ll have plenty of opportunity,” Jord said. The car turned left down Rue de l’Amiral de Coligny. “Etoile’s building is just next to the museum, right outside the Tuileries Garden.”

“Wait, we’re almost there?”

Jord only hummed, the sound just loud enough to reach Damen and Nik’s ears, and then they were on Quai Franςois Mitterand and the Seine was practically at their fingertips. They were both leaning forward in their seats again, taking in the boats touring the river, the people sitting on the river’s edge, and the buildings across the river all framed by the sun. They felt the car ease to a stop.

The Tuileries Gardens were bright green. The flowers weren’t yet in bloom, the weather was too cold for that, but it was still beautiful in its contrast against the uniform color of all the surrounding Parisian buildings. But more eye catching than the gardens was the Etoile headquarters directly to the car’s right. The building went with everything else in Paris, its color a neutral cream, its design recognizably Haussmanian. It stood out though with its added ornamentation, the building busy even if lacking in colors. And right above the door was a sign in script writing, the letters enormous and undeniable: Etoile.

“Well,” Damen started, and he pulled his eyes away from the building to look at Nik expectantly.

“Well,” Nik repeated.

Jord had already gotten out and rounded the car to open the door before Nik even thought about unclenching his fist still holding onto his carry on. With a deep breath, Nik got out and smoothed down his shirt.

“You’re going to be fine in there, Nik,” Damen said reassuringly. He was still sitting in the car, one arm over the seat where Nik had just been, and he was flashing his biggest smile. “Can’t wait to hear about it when you get out.”

“Actually,” Jord interrupted whilst still holding the door wide open, “it’s been requested that you join.”

“Me?”

“Potential hires are looked through thoroughly for both professional and personal purposes,” Jord explained. “As you are in most of the photographs that were sent in for review, it was decided that you would be an important person to meet as well. Of course, if you’re opposed, you can wait in the lobby.”

“What do you think, Nik? This is your thing.”

“I’d like you there,” Nik said. “If you’ve been asked for personally, I don’t have any reason not to have you there.”

“And I’m your best friend in the whole world so you want me there for support,” Damen said, filling in the obvious gaps in Nik’s reasoning.

Jord led the way inside.

Though the outside was the same cream color as the other buildings around, probably due to a city restriction, the inside was like entering an entirely different universe. The floors were marble, a real marble that made everything from voices to footsteps echo, and right at the center, just in front of the desk where two beautiful secretaries sat on their phones whilst typing at a maddening pace on their computers, was a gold inlay, its design immaculate swirls and crossed lines. It was a labyrinth of busyness and it wasn’t calmed down or contrasted by an unbusy surrounding. No, instead the walls – which were white, yes, but – were brimming, overflowing, with solid gold decoration that covered every inch. Each arcaded window had a foot of gold surrounding its edges, the designs cherubs and flowers and muses like the palaces of old. There were a dozen gold gilded statues around the room that matched the gold gilded paneling taking up most of the walls’ space. None of it, however, compared to the chandelier hanging from the center, the piece looking like the one out of The Phantom of the Opera.

Damen and Nik shared a look that said everything. Jord was walking forward without hesitation and they followed as close behind as they could, trying not to get too distracted by their surroundings. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of walking, they reached the elevators which also, to no surprise now, were decorated all in gold.

“Take the elevator to the top floor. Someone will greet you and escort you to the owner’s office,” Jord said. He went to turn, his sunglasses reflecting all the gold in the room back in Damen and Nik’s face, when Nik asked, “What about our bags?”

“I will be taking your bags to your hotel,” Jord said. “And yes, your hotel has been arranged and paid for already. Once you are done, I will be here to pick you up and bring you there.”

Damen and Nik shared another look before Damen said, “Thank you very much, Jord. You’ve been a great help to us.”

Jord seemed hesitant to do anything for a moment and even more hesitant to say anything, so after an awkward pause he nodded curtly and turned the way they had come.

The elevator had a mirrored ceiling inside and it glittered the gold inlay of the floor back up. Nik hit the button that was above all the others, the one to take them to the top floor, and then Damen and Nik both sighed in unison.

“Are you feeling claustrophobic?” Damen asked. “I’m feeling claustrophobic.”

“I knew they used a lot of designs on their clothing,” Nik started, “but I didn’t think that would transfer to the building as well.”

“You ready for this?”

“Not much I could do right now if I wasn’t,” Nik said.

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“I’ll be fine.”

They reached the top floor soon enough and this floor wasn’t much different from the main one. In other words, it was busy and overwhelming. There was a desk directly in front of the elevator doors, a smaller desk than the one on the main floor, but it sat empty. The mirrored panelling of the desk showed just how much Damen and Nik’s sweatpants went against everything Etoile stood for. To the right was a narrow hallway and to the left was another and, for a minute, Damen and Nik looked back and forth between the two, looking for a sign. It felt like the airport all over again.

It was just when they had decided to go to the right that a child came around the corner.

‘Child’ was the best word for him for he didn’t look a day over twelve, even if he was dressed like a little adult. He had a mess of artfully wavy brown hair and a stunning pair of blue eyes that matched the sapphires around the necklace on his throat. There was a shimmer to his eyelids, a golden glitter that went well with the actual gold glitter covering the jacket so big he appeared to be swimming in it. He was a beautiful child and he would have been more beautiful if his face didn’t have such a distasteful expression on it.

The child had stopped when he saw Damen and Nik and once they had taken him in and he them, the child scoffed and said in a voice clearer than a bell, “Les bêtes envahissent la ville, je vois,” before continuing to walk in a way that said this was definitely not worth his time.

Damen couldn’t help but laugh, the sound drawing both Nik and the child’s attention to him. “Les bêtes sont là pour voir le propriétaire de l'Etoile. Savez-vous où nous pourrions le trouver?”

The child’s face grew pale, if only for just a moment, before he recomposed himself. “This way,” he said with agitation, not pausing to ensure they were following him before he went down the left hallway. At the end of the hallway was a huge door, one that screamed of importance.

Damen and Nik expected the child to knock on the grand door that was clearly the entrance to the main office, but the child went in without a care.

“You have visitors,” the child said.

They couldn’t see the man, but they could see the top of his head. He was in a tall chair, large enough to be a throne, and the back of it was facing them as he typed away at the computer. If he had heard the child, he didn’t pay him any mind, but the child didn’t seem to be bothered. Instead, he stepped up to the desk, plucked a red lollipop from a gold gilded bowl, and left without another word or a spared glance in Damen and Nik’s direction.

“Assieds-toi.” The man’s voice was deep, a rumble in the delicacy of the room, and Nik turned to Damen for guidance. Damen, silently, pointed at the two chairs in front of the desk and they both sat down, listening to the clicking of the keys on the keyboard and the tapping of Nik’s toe on the ground.

Damen decided to give all his attention to the ticking clock on the wall. It was both to keep the time and to also try to figure out just how a clock could have so many things going on with it: an opal face, gold numbers, jewel encrusted hands, and Damen didn’t even know where to begin with the outside of it. Still, it was how he knew exactly three minutes and twelve seconds could feel like an eternity. Luckily, that was when the man turned around in his seat and smiled at them openly.

He didn’t look like what Damen thought a fashion designer and modeling agency owner would look like but, then again, Damen supposed he had never given much thought to what a fashion designer and modeling agency owner would look like in the first place.

The man was large; he had a broad chest and shoulders to match and Damen guessed that if he were to stand, he would be close to Damen’s own height. His hair was dark and neat and his beard full, if sprinkled with just enough gray to make him look dignified. His suit was dark and made him look regal, someone who would draw the eye and demand respect.

When he stood, it confirmed what Damen had thought about the man’s height, but it was hard to give that much mind when his smile went up to his blue eyes. “Bonjour bonjour. Bienvenue à Paris.” He must have seen something on Damen and Nik’s faces, especially Nik’s face, because he quickly came back with, “L'anglais serait-il un meilleur terrain d'entente pour nous? J'ai peur de ne pas parler grec.”

“English would be great, thank you,” Damen said, smiling at the smallest expression of relief on Nik’s face.

“Of course,” the man said agreeably and then he leaned forward, hand out. “And you must be our talented photographer, Nik.” The two of them shook hands.

“I am. Nik, that is. Thank you for having me. Us. It’s an honor just to be here.”

“We here at Etoile are honored to have you.” The man turned to Damen. “And you must be Damen.”

“Yes, sir,” Damen said, shaking the man’s hand. His grip was strong, his fingers rough. “Paris has been wonderful to us already and we’ve only been here an hour.”

Everything was all polite smiles as they each sat back down and adjusted into the chairs. The man had his fingers clasped together on the deeply rich colored desk and his eyes fell to Nik. “Do you prefer to go by Nik or is there something else you’d like to be called?”

“Nik is fine. It’s less of a mouthful than Nikandros.”

“Indeed, it is.” The man laughed just a bit. “So, Nik, I have to say that all of us here at Etoile, myself especially, were incredibly impressed with your portfolio.”

“Thank you,” Nik said genuinely. Damen could already see Nik’s shoulders dropping their tension, even if just a little.

“We normally receive applications from fashion photographers, people who live in the business of finding the perfect shots to display clothing made of every kind of fabric, clothing cut into every kind of style. It isn’t often we look over action shots of people surfing,” he said, motioning over to Damen, “or pictures of the stars over a desert. It was a nice change of pace. This brings me to two questions I have for you, Nik. The first is simply to sate my own curiosity: what drove you to want to photograph Paris Fashion Week? The second question, if you wouldn’t mind, is the question of how you came into the opportunity to photograph all around the world? It’s astonishing, especially for a photographer so young.”

“Well,” Nik said after a deep breath, “to answer your first question, I can say that fashion shows were never a thought, not until I started to meet other photographers as we travelled over the years. There was a photographer, from France actually, that we befriended while in Norway a few years back and last year he was given the opportunity to shoot for Silversio and he said he learned so much. I’ve been expanding my photography more and more as the years have gone on and I thought that this would be another great way to expand my art.”

“That’s quite a drive you have.”

“I owe a lot of it to Damen,” Nik continued, moving onto the second question. “When we were children, we made a pact to spend our gap year travelling the world together. We wanted to climb mountains and see every ocean. The older we got, the more I wanted to skip gap year all together and go straight into working for my family. But Damen convinced me of the worth held in our planned gap year and I realized one year wouldn’t cause me any harm and I would have hated myself for not giving it a chance. But our one year got ahead of us in terms of our social media. We started all of our accounts as a way to document the year. We never guessed it would turn into what it did and what it has.”

“I think congratulations are very deserved for all that you’ve accomplished. I’m assuming this means you’re a self-taught photographer as well?”

“Yes.”

The man hummed, the sound not unpleasant, just thoughtful, and after a pause as though to collect his thoughts, he turned his attention to Damen. “And I believe a congratulations should be given to you as well. Nik here has quite a talent with a camera, but from what I have seen, your charisma is remarkable. It explains much of your success, I would think.”

“Damen could rally himself an army if he wanted to,” Nik said.

“Charisma is everything in this world,” the man said. “You need it to survive.”

Damen smiled the smile he gave in pictures. The man smiled back and clasped his hands together again.

“I don’t want to keep you two any longer than necessary, I’m sure you would like to rest, and I have a few more meetings to attend before my day is over. The reason I asked for you to come meet me as soon as you arrived was to explain how the first part of this is going to go.” He plucked a folder from a small and neat pile on his desk and handed it over to Nik. Even the folders here looked expensive, Etoile’s fancy script all over the front. “In two days’ time we will begin our first photoshoot. I’ve learned over the years of building and perfecting Etoile that the best shows were shot by photographers who had a relationship with the models. This photoshoot will give you the opportunity to begin building those relationships. The clothing line you will be shooting is our new “Gold Label” line. It’s much different than anything we’ll be premiering at fashion week.” Inside the folder was an itinerary and an array of photographs of the most important pieces in this specific line of clothing. “The photoshoot is scheduled for three days. This is to ensure that each of the photographers have plenty of time to shoot with the group and to work with the individual models. There will be five photographers there, but only three of you will be going to fashion week.” He turned to Nik and smiled that same open smile. “Nothing like a little friendly competition.”

“And that’s all we’ll be doing before the actual show?”

“Yes. I will then be giving you the rest of the week to put together your shots from the photoshoot in order to present them to me. From there, a decision will be made on which photographers will be staying with us. Then you’ll have a week before the show to further prepare for the big event. Are there any questions about that?”

“I don’t believe so, no.”

“Well then, I believe we are settled here.” He stood up from his desk promptly, a physical end to the quick meeting, and Damen and Nik stood to follow him to the door. “Inside the folder are phone numbers for Jord whom you’ve already met and a few of my other men. If you need anything, do not hesitate to call them during your time here in Paris.”

“Thank you,” Nik said, shaking his hand once more, “for the opportunity and your generosity.”

“Yes, thank you,” Damen repeated.

“Of course, gentlemen. I’m looking forward to what this week will bring.”

They passed the child again as they were leaving. The lollipop was down to almost nothing on the stick and he watched them near predatorily, a finger twirling the gem attached to the zipper of his jacket.

“Bonne soirée,” Damen said with a wave.

The child flipped them off, his painted nail glittering.

Once they were downstairs, it was a quick journey to the hotel they had been put up in. The hotel was located in an old palace just across the river. Sadly, they were one building behind a river front view, but neither could care, not when the view itself was another bustling Parisian apartment complex that radiated life and sophistication, its inhabitants clearly upper class.

They were on the fifth floor and their room was spacious and decorated much more simplistically than anything Etoile could dream up. It was appreciated after the blinding display of wealth and ornamentation. The cream-colored walls matched the exterior of all the iconic Haussman buildings and the arched window and doorways gave it the elegance so expected from something in this part of Paris. The gaudiest thing were the curtains and Damen and Nik were quick to pull those back and secure them. After all, they blocked the best part of the room, the terrace overlooking the street.

They spent the next two hours taking turns showering the plane off of them, unpacking all their things, ordering room service, and chatting away about the things they couldn’t say earlier.

“What was with the kid?” Nik asked as he folded another shirt and put it in a drawer.

“I don’t know,” Damen said. “Maybe he’s one of the models.”

“He’s a little young to be a model,” Nik said.

“He was dressed like one.”

“He looked twelve.”

“Well the kid doesn’t matter. What matters is that the meeting went really well. He seems to like you,” Damen said.

“I’m not sure,” Nik said.

Damen rolled his eyes. “Don’t start with that.”

“I didn’t start anything.”

“What also matters,” Damen interrupted, “is that I could very much get used to this.”

He was standing at the open entrance of the terrace. The terrace itself was just large enough to fit a small table and two chairs, perfect for early morning coffee or relaxing at night. At the other building, the one just across, were other terraces full of people doing just that as the sun slowly began to fall over the city. On the streets were people all bundled as the nighttime temperatures began to settle in. Best of all, on the terrace table was a bottle of wine, a nice deep red, with Etoile’s script signature and a note from the owner himself bidding them, yet again, a welcome to Paris.

“I bet you could,” Nik said. He was already grabbing the available bottle opener. “I’m the one doing all the work.”

[wanderingclark]

What’s Up Doc || Hannah and Clark

Who: Clark Meeks and Hannah Santos ( @doveporthannah ) When: Thursday, January 9, 2020 Where: Lucky’s Chinese Restaurant What: Clark agrees to go to therapy...kind of...with conditions.

Clark

Clark couldn’t believe that they agreed to get food with Hannah instead of just hooking up with her like the plan was originally. As they pulled in and climbed out of their car they ran a hand through their hair as they walked in. Seeing the smaller woman at a nearby table, they headed over and slid into the booth across from her. “I have no idea why I agreed to this but I’ll happily take a free meal” they said honestly.

Hannah

This was unconventional for sure, but Hannah couldn't shake the vibe that Clark needed something more from her than a booty call, but she didn't want to push them away completely by telling them to schedule something with the office, so neutral ground over Chinese was where she landed. As Clark walked in, she smiled. "I'm happy to buy you a meal. It's very nice to meet you officially, Clark!" She held out her hand with an easy smile.

Clark

Clark raised an eyebrow but shook the girls hand. “It’s nice to meet you as well” they said as they eventually dropped the girls hand. “And I want you to know that I’m gonna get laid tonight whether it’s with you or someone else” they said as the picked up a nearby menu and began glancing over it.

Hannah

Nodding slowly, Hannah sat back. A lot of her younger clients did the same thing, tried to deflect by impressing upon her that they couldn't be changed. "That's fine, it's not my job to judge your sexual past, present or future." She said, her voice falling into her calm, even therapist voice. "Anything you say to me remains completely confidential, unless you give me any indication that you are a danger to yourself or to others, and there is nothing you can say that would make me judge you."

Clark

Clark rolled their eyes. “Do I have to sign my life away now? Pay you a bunch of money for dinner?” Clark said as they raised an eyebrow at the girl in front of them. “I’m not hurting myself or anyone. Unless that’s what they’re into” they said as they wiggled their eyebrows

Hannah

"No. No charge, if you came to my office you'd have to pay, but just consider this... two people talking. I'm not here to judge you, Clark, and I'll repeat that as many times as it takes for you to believe it." The server approached, Hannah recognized him from around town, a high school kid. She ordered a perrier and the sesame chicken, which she could eat every day, and paused, glancing at Clark. "Will you split an order of crab puffs with me?"

Clark

Clark rolled their eyes. Everyone judged them. They live in their car, voluntarily. They’re non-binary, which most people didn’t even know and those who did didn’t get it. They worked in the auto shop and every new person who saw them doubted their abilities. Their parents questioned what they were doing in life, friends questioned...everything. They were used to being judged so this was gonna be no different. Smiling at the server they ordered a coke, figuring the doc wouldn’t wouldn’t pay for the beer they really wanted before ordering beef lo mein and handing the guy their menu before turning back to Hannah. “So, doc, what do you wanna talk about?”

Hannah

Hannah smiled again, shaking her head. “Well, first of all, not a doctor. I can’t prescribe you anything and I can’t officially diagnose you with anything, though I can give a general analysis based on your behaviors and what you tell me. Usually I start off by telling my clients a bit about myself.” She paused, her eyes grazing over Clark. “I’m 26, born and raised in Los Angeles, I moved to Doveport 8 years ago for school, I’ve been licensed for two years and I love to cook.” She smiled. “What about you?”

Clark

Clark hummed as she spoke. Their fingers tapped on the table as Hannah spoke.  “Man, LA is a wild place. I’ve visited a few times. Great party scene out there” they commented offhandedly. “What else do you wanna know. I already told you I live in my car and spent the past 5 years on the road” they said, not really want to open up about anything in their past currently.

Hannah

Nodding, Hannah made mental notes, normally she'd have a notepad, but figured it would probably scare Clark off. "What are your interests? Hobbies? Are you a full time student?" She asked, the first session was just about getting to know each other, she didn't expect Clark to dive into their childhood traumas and aversion to feelings right off the bat. Sometimes that took years.

Clark

Clark shrugged. “Interests? Hobbies? Well, I enjoy sex” they said with a smirk before shrugging. “I dunno dude. I like working with my hands. I work at the auto shop and I enjoy working on cars. I just working with my hands. I think i’m gonna get a tiny home kit and build it myself” they mentioned. “Technically I’m a full time student, yeah. 12 units. But classes just started and we haven’t hit the drop deadline yet” the explained.

Hannah

"Do you find it compulsive to always bring the subject matter back to sex, or is it a defensive choice?" She asked, her voice even, that same calming tone she used with all her clients. "Working with your hands is often a coping mechanism for ADHD, which is certainly one of the healthier ways to cope. And if you're able to create a life, a home, a career, around it then that's amazing! Do you think you will drop any classes?"

Clark

Clark couldn’t help but chuckle at her question. “You asked me what my interests are. I’m just trying to not lie to ya” they said, smiling at the server as they brought by their drinks. “And it’s something I’m good at. Might as well bring it up” they explained. Rolling their eyes again, they leaned back against the booth, pulling their hands into their lap subconsciously. “But I don’t have ADHD so I don’t have to worry about that. It’s just something I enjoy doing” they said defensively, their walls definitely coming up quickly. “I wanna fucken drop my math class but i’m gonna have to take it to graduate so might as well take it now” they said annoyed.

Hannah

Possible sex addiction, Hannah noted mentally, nodding as Clark spoke. She could sense them growing defensive and decided to let the analysis drop for now. "Right, you mentioned having dyscalculia before, so I'm sure math isn't fun for you, to be honest, I always hated math myself! That's why I didn't go into physical medicine." She laughed, lifting her bottle of perrier and taking a sip. "You are taking advantage of resources the have to allow you, I assume. Is it the only math class you have to take?"

Clark

Clark shook their head. “Yeah Peyton is gonna be my test proctor now. I hate all the stupid things I have to do for math. It’s not like I’m majoring in math or anything. Just theatre” they mentioned casually. Shaking their head again they sighed. “No this is the math class I need to take to get into the first of two required math classes. I’ll have to take a total of 3 eventually and I just don’t know if a degree is worth it” they said.

Hannah

Hannah smiled. "My Peyton? That's amazing! She's my best friend, and she's.. probably the most patient person in the world, so I am glad to hear you are in good hands." Finally their food arrived and Hannah thanked the server before reaching for a crab puff, which had been set in the center of the table. "What made you want to get a degree in the first place?"

Clark

Clark shrugged. “I dunno. How many Peytons live in Doveport” they asked as they threw a crab puff in their mouth. Taking a bite of their low mein, they shrugged before falling into their bad habit of talking with a full mouth. “I’m here might as well do something. It was either that or just be come a drugie and I figured my parents didn’t want that”

Hannah

Now they were getting somewhere. "Oh I see, I thought you'd come back to Doveport specifically for school, but I guess that's not the case. What brought you back?" She asked, cutting into her chicken and taking a bite.

Clark

“Traveling alone is boring” they said matter of factly. “I wanna go travel in Europe and Australia and all that jazz but it’s not fun alone. Need a new travel partner” they explained like they had many a time before

Hannah

"So you came to Doveport to find a new travel companion and then decided to get a degree instead?" There were definite plot holes here, but Hannah knew better than to push. She took another bite of her chicken and smiled, it was one of the best things on the menu.

Clark

“I grew up in Doveport. Came back to regroup. Didn’t wanna hit the road again with another partner and decided what the hell might as well do something” they said, sticking with their story and very expertly staying away from Deni.

Hannah

Hannah nodded again. Clark was pretty well rehearsed, she had to give them that. “I see.” She decided to move on for the time being. “So, what made you actually meet up with me tonight? Not too many people who come off so anti-analysis would be willing to undergo it, even if it does mean a free meal.”

Clark

“I very rarely turn down a free meal. Very rarely. I was already planning to meet up anyway. I’m a fairly lazy person. If I already have plans, even if they change slightly i’ll still follow through, unless something more important comes up” they said through another mouth full of food. “Besides, thought it could be interesting to see what kind of crazy analysis you come up with”

Hannah

“So you just wanted to see me, huh?” Hannah smiled. In another lifetime, Hannah probably would have slept with Clark, they were attractive, and certainly sure of themselves, but there was something broken about them too, something Hannah couldn’t ignore. “Well, it doesn’t really work like that, therapy doesn’t happen in a vacuum.” She took another bite. “Anything you want to ask me?” The teens she saw loved this part, turning the tables on her.

Clark

Clark smirked. “What can I say. The nip slip was enticing” they said honestly. Clark raised an eyebrow at the girls words. “That means nothing to me” they said with a shrug. Raising an eyebrow, they leaned back. “Not yet. Though i’m totally taking that question and throwing it in my back pocket for later.”

Hannah

Hannah nodded, she could be embarrassed, but she wasn’t, she was fairly confident Clark wouldn’t try to use the picture to end her career or anything. “It means it doesn’t happened separately from the rest of your life, you can’t sit here with me once, get an analysis and be done, it takes time and work outside of our meetings, normally I would assign you homework, for instance. I won’t this time.” She assured Clark quickly. “And that’s fine, I tend to ask it toward the end of every session. I ask 3 questions, actually, at the end of each session, that was number one.” She smiled.

Clark

Clark couldn’t help but roll their eyes again before digging back into their food. “I don’t have money to become one of your patients. Nor do I have time. I go to school, I work, I fuck. I also have homework and sometimes I sleep. No time for appointments. Sorry doc” they said.  Sitting back, they raised an eyebrow. “What’s question 2 and 3?”

Hannah

Shrugging, Hannah looked down at her plate, selecting the perfect bite of chicken. "They're clients, and again, not a doctor." She looked up again, meeting Clark's eyes. "Look, you don't need to commit to anything you don't want to, but if you wanted to keep meeting up like this and talking, I'd be more than willing to do it on your time, and just like this, casual, over a meal. Just two people talking." She took her bite, chewing and swallowing before she answered. "Question two is, if you could say anything you wanted to me, without worrying about me judging you or having an emotion reaction, what would you say?"

Clark

Clark leaned back “Don’t you need a phd or something to be a therapist?” Clark asked, genuinely curious. Picking at their food while they narrowed their eyes at the girl, the hummed. “I can’t afford you” Clark repeated. “And I’m fine. I don’t need help or whatever” they said. “I’ve muscled through life so far and I’m just fine” they said defensively. Smirking at the girl, they leaned forward. “I’m still planning on getting into your pants tonight” they said honestly.

Hannah

"No, you need a PhD to be a psychiatrist or psychologist, therapy requires a master's degree and a license, though I have considered going back for my doctorate, to be able to do testing." Hannah explained. "To be clear, if you chose to continue meeting me, I wouldn't charge you, it would be... just meeting up like this. I'll even pay for the meal every other time." She laughed, scooping up another bite with a bit of rice, she always saved the rice til the end. She smiled at Clark's comment. "You won't be, but I appreciate you being so candid with me."

Clark

Clark nodded along with the girl. “Okay, listen. I’ll make you a deal” they said, straightening up in their seat. “I’ll have dinner with you once a week and I’ll get tested for ADHD but I expect to get into your pants eventually and I will only get tested if you’re the one doing it” they said, fully expecting the girl to not agree at all

Hannah

Hannah laughed lightly, she liked that Clark was willing to negotiate. "Well, I can't do the testing without my PhD, so if you're willing to wait four years to get it done, then I guess that can be arranged, but what I can do is refer you to someone in my office as a pro-bono case and sit in on the testing as... sort of a consultant, so you'd have a familiar face there." She offered. "And as far as getting in my pants, I have very strict rules against sleeping with clients, but if you still want me after 2 years after you're discharged from my care, that can be something we put on the back burner."

Clark

Clark narrowed their eyes. “What if i don’t agree to any of this? Will I get into your pants then?” they asked, knowing that the answer wasn’t actually going to change their mind.

Hannah

"Probably not at this point, no." Hannah answered honestly. The server came by with the check and two fortune cookies, assuring them they could take their time. Hannah reached for her credit card and put it in the plastic tray, taking the cookie closest to her. "But think of it this way, what do you have to lose? You get a free meal every other week, someone you can just vent to or talk to or just sit across from if you don't feel like talking, who is legally not allowed to talk about it with anyone else." She smiled. "Unless you're a danger to yourself or others." She disclaimed again. "Plus, you get to see me every week!"

Clark

Clark groaned at her answer and reached out to take a sip of their drink. They needed as much help as they could get but they weren’t willing to admit that. Yet, the girl across from her was willing to pay for Clark to come and talk to her. Setting their drink down, they crossed their arms. “Fine. I’ll agree to all of this but I still expect sex at the end of it all” they said defensively.

Hannah

Hannah nodded. "Alright, if, two years after we're done, you still want to have sex with me, we'll have sex. But the condition is, you can't use it as a change of subject every time we meet. You can talk about your sex life in general, but not about the potential of having sex with me, deal?" She held out her hand so they could shake on it.

Clark

Clark chewed the inside of their lip. “As long as I can bring it up on occasion to remind you it’s still happening, then deal” they said, reaching out their own hand but not grasping the others in case she didn’t agree to their terms

Hannah

"Fine." Hannah said with a sigh, knowing the ends would justify the means anyway. She inched her hand a little closer. "Don't leave me hangin!" She smiled.

Clark

Clark thought about it for one more moment. They could back out right now and not agree. “I can quit any time right? Just say I’m done that’s that?” they asked as they inched their hand closer.

Hannah

Hannah nodded. "Yep, there's no binding contract, you can even change your mind from this week to next, but sex is off the table if you don't make it through at least 5 sessions." She added, before Clark got any bright ideas.

Clark

Clark bit the inside of their cheek again before reaching out and grabbing the girls hand. “Fine” they said as they shook. “But no one knows. I’m expecting you to keep this fully confidential. I don’t need your therapy dinner crap to ruin my reputation” they said, their walls all the way up. “And I still expect my third question.”

Hannah

"100% confidential, you have my word. By HIPPA regulations, I'm technically not allowed to say I even know you, so as far as anyone else in town is concerned, we're just friends. Are you taking any science this semester? You could tell people I'm helping you study for that." She offered. "Ah, an excellent segue!" She said, pulling her hand back and reaching for her phone to open the calendar. "Question 3: when do I get to see you again?" She looked up, still smiling.

Clark

“Not this semester. World History, math, intro to theatre and spanish 101. Though we’ll see how long I last” they said with a shrug. “But I can tell people we’re friends that’s fine. I may even tell people I’ve slept with ya just for kicks” they said with a wink. Rolling their eyes again, they pulled out their own phone and looked. “Tuesdays and Thursday’s are the best days for me to have dinner. So choose a day and we’ll make it a reoccurring thing”

Hannah

With a smile, Hannah nodded. "Friends it is, then." She leafed quickly through her calendar, next week she'd be back at work officially, but she tended to keep appointments early on Thursdays, she loved working 4 days a week. "Let's make it Thursdays." She tapped Clark's name in and made it a weekly event. "Does 7 work for you? Any food requests for next week?" She asked, looking up.

Clark

Clark made a note in her note pad she may never even see again about dinners with Hannah on Thursday’s before glancing up. “Works for me. And since I’m paying next week I’m getting beer” they warned her fully. “7 is fine. We can go to Joes or whatever” they said with a shrug before the turned back to their food to finish up the last few bites

Hannah

Nodding again, Hannah put her phone away. She wasn't entirely sure Joe's actually had beer, but that was neither here nor there at this point. "Sounds great." She smiled, and cracked over her fortune cookie, reading the slip of paper aloud. "You will be successful in many venture. Awesome!" She laughed, looking at Clark. "How was your Lo Mein?"

Clark

Clark semi tossed their phone on the table before cracking open their fortune. “ A dubious friend may be an enemy in camouflage ” they read before busting up laughing. “That’s funny” they said before looking down at their empty plate. “It was horrible. Disgusting. I should send it back” they joked in a dead pan voice.

Hannah

Hannah rolled her eyes, Clark was so much like the teens she saw, but she cared for each and every one of her clients, and Clark was no exception. The server came to take Hannah's card and she sat back and smiled. "I think this is going to be really good, really give us a chance to know each other." She nodded, her fingertips playing with her Perrier bottle.

Clark

Clark shrugged. “I mean maybe. Guess we’ll see how much you can get out of me” they said honestly. “I still thing I’m fine. I don’t need therapy or whatever” they said, their hands wrapping and unwrapping a straw wrapper around their fingers

Hannah

"Everyone could use someone to talk to, Clark, that doesn't make you weak or broken, it makes you human. And last I checked, that's not a crime." Hannah said, reaching out and putting a hand over Clark's. She hoped at the very least, she had made a new friend.

Clark

Clark shrugged but didn’t pull away. “I just hope you’re not gonna get you’re hopes up at like fixing me or whatever. I don’t need to be fixed. I’m not broken. That’s all” they said before pulling their hand away. “Alright, good talk, Doc. Guess i’ll see ya next week the “ they said as they grabbed their phone and began to slide out of the booth.

Hannah

Hannah hummed. She knew Clark needed to say what they needed to say, it was more for her benefit than hers, so she just let them say it. "See you next week." She smiled and waved as Clark left, then gathered her things and headed out of Lucky's and straight into the small side door one over, up the stairs to visit a friend.

[geekygoddesss]

“You’re so silly, I love you”

Requested by @teenageguitarist  

Based on one of my favorite scenes from my favorite show, Friends.

Everyone knew that Mondays were boring as fuck, it was no secret, they came after everyone’s praised weekend and somehow this day always seemed like the longest day ever. But not today. It was indeed Monday, but not only that, it was the day my boyfriend and his band were releasing their last album and that deserved a celebration.

It obviously had to happen at Ashton’s place, with happened to be right beside ours and it was a little bigger than our place, plus, out of everyone in the band, he was the one that was more excited for this new record, he poured his heart out on this, throwing out a party almost felt like a necessity.

It was fun. We drank, we danced, we laughed. Just like a good party should be, so naturally, after a good few hours of a full house of people drinking and messing around, people started leaving, it was the start of the week and a lot of them have things to do the next day, it’s totally fine, we only got left with the same old group of friends, the ones that would be around no matter what and the ones we could always count on for a good laugh. It felt like home to have them here.

We were currently sitting on Ashton’s living room, I was comfortably leaning on Calum’s embrace, while everyone else was sitting around in a circle, the lights were low around us and there was music in the background playing so softly. I was holding back a laugh from seeing our friend Mitchy prank calling some guy who worked with him, telling him something about winning a new X box or something like that. Lame joke, but I found it really funny.

He ended up hanging up the call after five minutes of keeping it up, we moved on our little truth or dare game, something kind of childish to do, but always really fun.

“Okay, so (Y/n), truth or dare?” Mitchy points at me since it was his turn to pick someone.

“Truth” I answer lazily, I was starting to grow a little tired, since it was already almost 3 in the morning and I barely slept before. I was not totally in the mood for dares.

“Boring” someone calls out to me, I don’t even see who it was.

“Hey” Calum says frowning a little and rubbing on my arm.

Mitchy seems to really think about it, there are not many things that you can ask in truth or dare, let’s be real, in this dumb games if you weren’t creative enough you would end up asking the same old questions everyone always asked. That is exactly what he didn’t do “Tell us about something you did years ago and you haven’t told anyone about” he says in a daring tone. I was really not expecting that.

“Woah, that’s very specific” I hear Michael say from the other side of the room.

“Yeah, where’s that coming from?” I ask him with a frown, it was such a weird question.

“She chose truth, I literally can’t think of anything else to ask” he excused himself.

“You don’t have to answer”  Calum whispers in my ear before kissing my head.

I think about it for a second, yes I technically don’t have to answer such a thing if I don’t want to and take a dare instead, but there’s something I need to say, maybe this is the time now that he brought this up. Nothing too harmful I guess, it’s just something that happened, I’ve been keeping this for myself for a while, we were all friends here, there’s no harm in saying it now.

“No, it’s fine” I smile up to Calum and move a little, sitting straight by his side “Well, Okay” I sigh, really thinking on what I was about to say, but there was no turning back now “Do you remember that time when we were in Australia and I was just starting to work with you?” I ask him.

“Yeah?” He nods with a confused look “Before we were dating?” He asks me.

“Yes”  I nod. My hands were shaking a little.

I give a deep sigh and close my eyes. I start talking.

I remember that day clearly because it was fucking scary. I was 18, maybe 19 at that time, the truth is I don’t remember but I was young.

I was just starting my job as a general assistant for the band’s team, I would help anyone with what they needed, no matter what it was. It was my second, maybe third week working on this and to be honest, I was having such a blast, I loved my job.

I remember to be helping the merch guy to load up the little stores around the venues. There tons of boxes around and we needed to put every single one of them in place before show time, I was not the only helping on this. My boss, Mark came up to me that day, catching me just walking through the doors that lead backstage and just getting to the store closer to the stage.

“(Y/n), are you busy right now?” He asked me with a friendly smile when he saw me.

“Em, no, not really” I lie, putting the box down on the store counter, If I could do something better than carrying boxes I would take that chance, I wasn’t in total shape and I hated carrying heavy things “I was just helping Gary with all these” I say pointing at the heavy box beside me.

“Okay cool” he nods and gives a step closer “I need you to do something for me” he says and pulls a phone from his pocket  “See this?”   “Yep” I nod.

“It’s Ella’s phone” he explained, I knew Ella, she was the one that always helped with all the photography stuff, she’s nice “She has some footage in there, recordings, everything, even those edited tour diary videos” he explains “Just put it all of it on your laptop, save it, and send it to me” he Instructs me, handing me the phone quickly and stepping back to do whatever he had to do “Uh, also make sure to find the clue images to post on twitter and program it to be posted in an hour or so” he adds up, walking away.

“You got it” I say loud enough so he could hear me.

“Thanks, Kiddo” “Anytime!” I call back, walking to a whole different way than I was before.

I remember how quickly I got to the green room, which was the room right beside the catering. I grabbed my laptop and turn it on, taking my USB cable to plug the phone into the computer. It was such a weird moment, there was exactly what Mark said there was, footage, videos of the guys, pictures, but right beside one of the clues pictures I had to post on twitter, there’s was a really low-quality video showing on screen, it looked like a screen recording from the camera of another phone or this phone.

Out of pure curiosity, I click on the video, it’s my computer, after all, no one would find out. It started as a weird video (indeed a screen recording) of a boy that not only didn’t showed his face but showing off his body from the neck down. It was such a short video, around 10 seconds, but it was clear, the boy in the video took the hem of his pants and pulled it down, showing off his boner in a very clear picture before the image went back to an app main menu.

“Oh, what the hell?” I sighed with a big frown. what the actual hell?. I play the video one more time, trying to take a guess on who was the person in it, but it doesn’t take me long to find out, because I recognized that big tattoo on his arm, that big bird in black ink was really ringing a bell, that boy was Calum “Oh my god” I almost wanted to exclaim my cheeks getting redder and redder “Bitch” I groan, playing the video one more time, there was a laugh at the end. Ella’s laugh, what a fucking bitch. She recorded Calum’s dick. Bitch.

I try to take my mind off what I just saw as I do the exact thing that my boss told me to do, I sent him the videos, post things he told me to, but somehow I found myself looking at that video again, who the hell would do something like this and save it up along with videos of the band that was to be public, Obviously someone who’s brain was as big as a peanut or smaller than ant. I don’t know what I should but I was definitely going to delete that video.

I click on the video image on the screen and click again, showing all of the options that I could do to this footage, I was just about to delete it, but I hear my name being called once and then again, I look up and click the option without looking to then immediately shut my computer down.

“(Y/n)?” I hear a voice call me again and enter the room. Speaking of the devil. “Yeah?” I say with a very fake smile “Oh hi, Calum” I say putting my computer aside. He smiles back to me “Hey, I thought I heard you here” he says walking into the room towards the mini bar “What are you up to?” I hesitate a little to answer “I’m just here” I shrug “hanging out” “Oh” he nods talking out a water bottle and opening it up  “Listen, I still have like an hour or two before I have to go on stage, I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, join me and go for coffee or something?” he says smiling and taking a sip of his water, he already looked ready to go for stage and he was now asking me out.

Isn’t he dating, Ella? “What?” I say for myself, but I snap out of my temporary trance before he thought I was crazy or something  “I mean, Yeah, I would love to” I smile at him, my blushed, that’s embarrassing. “Nice” he says with a very wide smile “should we go then?” he says pointing to the door. “Yeah, yeah, I Just- I need a second, I’m finishing something, I’ll be done in a minute” I say, almost sounding rushed and I was not lying, I still had to send Mark a couple of videos. “Okay”  he nods “I’ll wait for you outside then” “Okay” I nod back, to then wait for him to leave the room.

I wait to open my laptop until I hear the door shutting, I am very quick, I open my computer and go to my previous job, sending in what needed to be sent in, but I notice something weird, the moment I go to my twitter profile sitting right beside my mail is literally blowing up, not in a bad way, I guess, I have like a thousand followers, I was not popular. I scroll down and see what’s happening.

I hit send, not delete. Fuck.  I’m stupid. “Shit, shit, shit” I curse under my breath, my hands are shaking so bad that I barely knew what I was doing  “No, don’t do this to me” I say going to my profile and immediately deleting that video. about 20 people have already liked this. then realisation came “I’m gonna lose my job” “(Y/n)?” I hear calum call me out and I just close my laptop.

“Coming”  I call out and get up my sit, taking the phone with me and leaving my computer away “I’m ready, let’s go”

So, that was the day he first asked me out, along with the day I almost ruin his career. This is fucked up.

“You posted my nudes?” He said in a not very happy tone. I don’t blame him if it was me I would be mad too. “It was you?” I hear Luke ask in surprise. “I’m so sorry, okay?” I panic, getting up my seat “I didn’t mean to do that before I could delete it some people already had the video” I explain, but I could tell this was not getting any better “it was an accident” “People kept making fun of me for months” Calum says getting up his seat too and almost trying to control himself from yelling “The management team went hammed on me because of it, you know that, I was so dead nervous thinking you would think badly of me for that shit” He groaning “And I didn’t” I exclaim, almost like if that was the good side of the story “listen, Calum I’m so sorry” “Why didn’t you tell me this?” He shakes his head, he’s disappointed at me. I shrugged and look down “Because of I kind of ignored it” I mumble “I didn’t want you to freak out” “Well, I am freaking out now!” he exclaims at me and I flinch, I wasn’t scared, just surprised that he suddenly raised his voice, I didn’t like when he did that “I am so sorry baby” I say looking up at him and trying to hug him but he walks back, getting away from my hold. “Well a ‘sorry’ doesn’t cut it, I can’t believe you did that” he says shaking his head even more “Fuck this, I’m sorry, I’m gonna go” He says and with that, he just turns around to leave. “Calum” I walk towards me but he almost marches straight to the door. “Don’t follow me”  he groans, to then walk out of his best friend’s house. I stand on my feet, not giving a single step towards him, he’s really mad at me and that was never good. So I decide to not push it for a little while and wait for him to cool down a least a little. I just hope he doesn’t break up with me over this. I really hope he didn’t. “Shit, (Y/n) I feel so bad, I’m sorry” Mitch’s says, clearly apologizing for doing that question in first place. “It’s okay” I say giving him a sad smile “I guess this had to be told someday, anyways” I shrug “I think I should go now” I say walking starting to walk out but before I could give a full step, Crystal, Michael’s girlfriend, grab my arm. “Do you want me to keep you company for a while?” She kindly offers. “No, thanks, Crys” I say with a shrug “I guess I’ll try to talk to him” I say and she nods at my answer “thanks for having us, Ashton” I wave my hand at me. “Anytime, good luck” he says with a kind smile. Good luck. That’s the best thing someone could tell me right now, cause I was fucking nervous.   Walking home isn’t really a long way and I can tell Calum literally ran home because I don’t run into him on my way back. I left just a minute before he did, I should have at least see him enter the house, which I didn’t, however, the lights were on, he was clearly in there. I unlock the door with my keys and close the door behind me, I don’t even have to take a guess of where he Is because he always goes to the same place when he’s upset. The music studio. I walk to the door of his studio upstairs. It’s quiet inside, so I guess he’s just digesting what just happened, makes sense. I know twice and I hear his groan at the other side of the door. “Open up” I say softly. “Go away” “Calum, really, open up” I say grabbing the door knocker but the door is completely locked “I’m sorry okay?  That happened years ago, let it go” I say as if that was going to make him be less mad at me. “How can I just let it go?” He exclaims and I flinch, he’s raising his voice again “You could have ruined my reputation” “I know,I’m sorry” I mumble and knock again “Just open up, talk to me” I beg but he ignores me. I ran out of words to say and I feel like I have no other way to Ale him happy again. But oh wait, there is one way, one really stupid and strange way of making him happy again. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I clear my voice for a second and prepare my voice for what I’m going to do. “(Y/n) says she’s sorry and she shouldn’t have done that”  I say I’m a very high and awkward voice I only did when I was joking around with him “it was a big mistake and she won’t ever ever do that again” I hear him groan and little and walk to the door, opening it up and looking awkwardly at me “What are you doing?”  He asks “She feels really bad for not telling you” I keep talking in that voice, I could see somehow it was making all of this a bit better. “Are you really imitating Tommy pickles to make me feel better?” He asks crossing his arms over his chest. “Well” I shrug, keeping my voice high pitched “a baby’s gotta do what a baby’s gotta do” He tries to keep his face still but I can see his smile starting to crack and breaking up into a full-on laugh, it felt like music to my ears, just beautiful. “Did I do it?” I say in my normal voice with a big smile on my face. “Oh my god” he says in between laughs, looking at me like I was the greatest thing that ever made him laugh “you’re so silly, I love you” he says and I (literally) freeze. “What?” I ask, my face can’t help but smile. That was the best thing he has ever said. In all of these years we’ve been dating he’s never told me such a thing, it had nothing to do with me, it was just him, he wanted to be sure that he would say those three words to the right person and believed that saying it marked a very important phase in the relationship. I respected that, and hearing him say it to me felt special. “Nothing” he says, starting to freak out “I said you’re silly and then I just stopped talking” My hands are covering my face and then my mouth, I point at his chest and make him give a step back, his eyes were wide in surprise, he was totally weird out by this “You said you love me, I can’t believe this” “No, I didn’t” he denies “Yes, you did” “No, I didn’t” “You love me!” I exclaim in emotion, while he keeps freaking out. “No, I don’t” he freaks out  “Stop it, Stop it, Stop it” he says running his hand through his hair and giving a step back. “You Stop it!” I laugh, my eyes were filling up with tears. “Oh my god, you love me” “Okay well, yeah! I do” he says in realizations to then look at me “Are you crying?” He says softly, walking to me. “I’m so happy” I cry, feeling him pull me into a hug “you finally said it” “I did” he said running my back softly “I’m sorry I freaked out” he apologizes “I’m sorry about the video” I said back, looking up at him. “It’s fine I guess” he shrugs  “it happened a long time ago” “But I’m truly sorry about it” I apologize once again, crying into his chest. “I know” he says softly to then caress my hair “stop crying” he chuckles, caressing my head really softly. “I can’t” I laugh a little, I really couldn’t stop crying  “Calum?” “Yeah” he mumbles in response. “I love you, too” I say and look up at him with my already red eyes. “I know” he says, kissing my forehead “I know” We stay quiet for a good while, embracing each other and feeling the warmth of the moment, it was definitely a weird night, but thankfully, it turned out better than what it could have been. All I needed to know here was that we now know how much we love each other, and that was more than enough. Well, that’s really all I need.

[dippedanddripped]

How we buy sneakers is changing, but brick-and-mortar stores are still crucial industry pillars. Not only do they bring together the community, nurture the culture, and act as an authoritative mediating force between brands and consumers, but they are also a gateway into sneaker culture and a stepping stone for many that go on to work in the industry.

Like most areas of the sneaker world, decision-making roles in retail remain largely the domain of men. In fact, of all the sneaker stores in the world — from boutiques to chain stores — less than 10 are run by women. Sadly, this isn't that surprising. Opening a store is a huge investment for anyone, but additional challenges faced by those that don't fit the stereotypical industry mold make it harder and understandably less appealing.

Susan Boyle opened cult New York store Rime (RIP) in 2007, and as one of the first women to run an independent sneaker boutique, she knows better than most the difficulties faced. “I wasn't taken seriously for a long time," she explains. "I do feel that I faced a lot of challenges in the sneaker business because of my gender, and looking back now, 14 years later, the fact that I was even acknowledged in the industry and that I was able to do collaborations and break some barriers is pretty amazing, because no one really wanted a woman there in the first place."

Similarly, Kickslove owner Lisa Barlow was forced to close the London-based store in 2018. "My biggest challenge was access to the product that the other independent sneakerhead stores were getting. It was really disappointing not to have been supported by the big brands — all sneaker stores' business relies upon carrying the best products from the leading brands," shares Barlow. "Brands can make the most impact not just by writing women's strategies, but actually executing it with a special focus on the entire female demographic and with inclusivity in mind. Then, follow through with them locally through access to product, local marketing, or bringing awareness to a retailer through events that will help elevate them in a crowded and mainly male space. A lot of brands are pushing a purposeful agenda now, and nothing is more purposeful and powerful than helping young female entrepreneurs find their space in the industry." Barlow now runs Kicksloved, an online platform for sustainable and preloved sneakers.

To keep pushing towards parity and opening up sneaker culture to a wider and more diverse customer base, seeing that same diversification reflected in retail ownership is essential. Despite the difficulties, we're thankfully heading in that direction and there are now more women-owned stores than ever. We spoke to those blazing the trail around the world about retail’s role in creating an inclusive community and what they’re doing to amplify the voices of those overlooked in the sneaker industry.

Venita Cooper – Silhouette

Address: 10 N. Greenwood Ave, Suite C, Tulsa, OK 74133, USA (map) Website: silhouettetulsa.com Instagram: @silhouettetulsa

What sets Silhouette apart from other sneaker stores?

We try to support and elevate the community, the city. Our store is a love letter to this place. We carry local Black-owned apparel brands, feature local artists amplifying locally-relevant messages, partner with local vendors, host events that our community might find value in. We had a voter registration campaign, launched kids' streetwear designed by students at a local elementary school, paid rent for families at the end of the year, etc.

Silhouette is located on Tulsa’s Black Wall Street on the same spot as a shoe store that burned down during the 1921 Race Massacre. Why was it important for you to reclaim this location?

While Black-owned businesses exist all over the city now, no longer restricted by legal segregation, Black Wall Street is still an important symbol of entrepreneurial success for the Black community. I greatly value the opportunity to carry on that legacy of success with a business concept that I think would have existed if the community was allowed to evolve without racism and violence. Sneaker culture has its roots in Black culture.

What would you like to see brands do to better champion women and especially Black women?

Listen to women! And make cool stuff for them! Invest in them; use your incredible marketing tools to amplify their role in the culture. If you're putting money into communities, put that money toward issues that affect women and specifically Black women.

Abby Albino & Shelby Weaver – Makeway

Address: Stackt Market, 28 Bathurst St Unit 2-101, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (map) Website: shopmakeway.co Instagram: @makeway.co

What is Makeway doing to amplify women’s voices in the sneaker industry?

Makeway is and always will be a space for our community. Although it is owned by two women, we are not here to decide what women need. We are here to connect with our community and then provide products, programming, resources, a space, and brand connections based on their needs. Makeway doesn’t belong to us; it belongs to our community, and that will be the foundation for everything we do.

How can sneaker stores help raise the voices of those who have been historically disadvantaged in the industry?

The unfortunate part is those who have been historically disadvantaged in the industry are also mostly responsible for the mainstream popularity of sneaker culture. For example, Black culture is synonymous with sneaker culture, yet a huge portion of the people benefiting financially from the industry are white. And what about the launch of the Go Fly Ease — we’ve seen many consumers living with disabilities unable to purchase shoes that were literally made for them. Or women who can’t get their hands on female collabs or exclusives that were made for them because they’re being bought up by male resellers. Sneaker stores — us included — need to recognize and acknowledge these inequities and be a part of the solution, not the problem.

How can women-owned sneaker stores influence brands to better serve the women's community?

Brands have already identified women as a key priority for their businesses and that puts us at an advantage. They're looking to us to help them understand the consumer more and by being transparent with our needs, wants, and expectations, we can influence how they serve us. For example, instead of buying what they believe to be a key style or product for women, we challenge them and explain why we believe something will or will not work. We also know women are not just one size/style fits all, so we are requesting access to more than just women's products. We want access to it all.

Saskia van Hofwegen – Maha

Address: Vijzelstraat 129, 1017 HJ Amsterdam, Netherlands (map) Website: maha-amsterdam.com Instagram: @maha_amsterdam

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned while running a women’s sneaker store?

That it’s an ever-evolving market, where on the one hand you’ve got your own vision and on the other, there’s the consumer. The challenge is to always listen to your customers while staying true to your vision and be as authentic as possible.

Have you noticed any changes in the buying habits of women since you opened?

Yes, 100 percent. The women’s market has grown immensely since we opened our doors. There are so many new and different consumers buying sneakers and using sneakers as their main footwear type. When we started, girls lining up for shoes was considered crazy and only a handful of troopers knew the concept. Now there are multiple girls lining up almost on a weekly basis, as the girls now know that they have to be on time if they really want it.

How are expanded size runs impacting your store and its customers?

We don't have to shop at the kid's section anymore and we don't only have “pink it and shrink it” versions of the shoes we want. By focusing on product and having the biggest offering in these styles and sizes, our store and website have grown from a small city local supplier to be able to cater to female sneakerheads all over the world.

Murata Prajumas – Sole Finess

Address: 358a Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne, Victoria 3066, Australia (map) Website: solefiness.com Instagram: @solefiness

Australia is far removed from the sneaker and streetwear scenes of Europe and North America. How have you cultivated the local sneaker community?

Australian women’s love for sneakers and streetwear has been around just as long as anywhere else. Unfortunately, we haven’t had access to the same products as Europe and America, which has definitely set us back. Being the first women’s sneaker store here has come with its own challenges, but the support has been positive, which really reinforces the need for a strong women’s sneaker presence.

Do you think the emergence of dedicated women's sneaker stores has resulted in brands taking the women’s sneaker industry more seriously?

Absolutely, and it’s about time. Over the years, I’ve noticed a much wider selection of products offered to us and more accessibility to unisex sizing, which has always been one of the biggest barriers for a lot of women. It has come a long way and I only see things getting better for us.

What do you think the future holds for women in the sneaker industry?

I would hope for more creative control when designing sneakers for women and marketing sneakers to women. Historically, it has been a male-dominated space, but women need to be recognized for what they have already achieved and, given the opportunity, I think they will make an even greater impact going forward.

Lauren Amos – Wish

Address: 447 Moreland Avenue Atlanta, GA 30307, USA (map) Website: wishatl.com Instagram: @wishatl

What does Wish bring to the local sneaker community?

Wish ATL is the premier streetwear shop in Atlanta. Our customers travel far and wide to shop with us because we bring a level of authenticity to the community. Our clients include celebrities — entertainers, actors, athletes — but the majority of our clients are young, African-American men and women who live in Atlanta. Wish is known as a place where you can find the best product of local and international brands. We offer local talent an opportunity to use our platform to have their voices heard. We continually bring events, dialogue, ideas, and experiences to our local community. Wish is part of a dynamic and eclectic creative community called Little 5 Points, where people of all backgrounds converge.

How does Wish raise the voices of women in the industry?

We connect with other women in the industry as often as we can. As the founder, I have been privileged to mentor several young women. They have gone on to do great things in fashion and entertainment. We have hosted events focused on women, most recently the launch of Jordan women’s apparel. Wish has featured several women artists in our gallery space. We also support female-run institutions like Spelman College Museum of Fine Art who focus on female artists of the African diaspora. Being female-owned and run, it’s our natural desire to see the next generation of women step up and conquer.

How can women-owned sneaker stores influence brands to better serve the female community?

We must serve our customers well. We carry clothing, sneakers, and accessories for women and listen to what they want. We listen to their stories and use our voices/her voice when speaking to the brands we carry. We know the importance and necessity of her mark on this community. And being in Atlanta, we are overwhelmed by all of the amazing female talent surrounding us. We will continue to work with a diverse group of women designers and influencers ensuring our voice as women grows stronger.

Rio Holland & Bethany Haggarty – pam pam

Address: 129 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 7DG, UK (map) Website: pampamlondon.com Instagram: @pampamlondon

What made you decide to open a store and how difficult was it to establish yourselves?

There wasn't a place for women to shop a curated selection of sneakers alongside clothing and lifestyle in the UK. Since opening, we have found a real increase in what is available for women, particularly in sneakers. We actually came along just at the right time. Women’s sneakers were a major focus for all the major brands — they just didn't have a women's-specific door to place their top-tier product.

What improvements have you noticed for women sneakerheads since you opened your store?

It really has come a long way since our very first season in the spring of 2015. The major brands have been making it their mission to increase their women's business and we are definitely seeing the fruits of their labor. There is still a way to go as far as what colorways are available and releases just for women, but it's been so positive seeing the growth. To note: unisex product is also on the rise, which is excellent, too.

How do you think female representation and involvement in the sneaker industry will evolve over the coming years?

As brands continue to release bigger ranges for women, we hope to see more women-specific marketing campaigns and collaborations. One thing to remember is that sometimes the sneaker world can be drowned out by all the hype releases. There are plenty of women wearing sneakers, but if it's not hype, it sometimes feels like it goes unseen or doesn't count. So the more the brands shout about women's products, the more we'll all notice the strong female representation in the sneaker industry.

Stine L. Pedersen – Naked

Address: Klosterstraede 10, 1157 Copenhagen, Denmark (map); Store Torv 7, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark (map); Pilestræde 46, 1112 Copenhagen, Denmark (map) Website: nakedcph.com Instagram: @nakedcph

How do you keep your social media presence fresh when you’re catering to so many different types of women?

We tend to use pastel colors to invert the stereotype but keep our Instagram looking uniform. The aim is to steer clear of the super-dark, overly contrasted imagery that’s typically seen on male-focused accounts. We also have a franchise called "Friday Fit," where we reshare our customers’ posts.

You’ve expanded to three locations. Have you noticed any differences or similarities between customers in different areas?

The two stores in Copenhagen tend to get a more diverse array of visitors, mainly because they're situated in the city center. Teenage girls are probably our most loyal store customers across all three locations, so we’ve tried to create an ambiance that suits them, from the oversized mirrors to the floors coated in signature naked pink.

[m0nane]

Should You Attempt Exposed Skin Care? Is It Worth the Rate?

Exposed Skin Care Australia - Quality Product or a WASTE OF MONEY? Now, most of us have reviewed much of the Exposed skin care testimonials. Actually, they became part of the reason why I decided to purchase as well as attempt the product line-- well, that and also the fact that I experience a fairly significant acne trouble. It started in my initial few years of secondary school as well as has pestered me for many years. I dislike taking images, conference men is a nerve wrecking experience and also makeup simply does not do enough. So like the majority of you, I have actually tried a lot of the acne products around. Most recently I tried the Exposed skin care line. And also currently I understand what the majority of you are asking yourself: specifically just what Exposed skin care is like as well as whether or not it lives up to its cases of being just one of the most effective acne products out there today. The Item For those of you who aren't acquainted with Exposed skin care, it's a line that has actually been around for a little over a year. It includes 9 of what they declare are the very best acne products, period. In fact, Exposed guarantees to clear your skin in 30 days as part of their one-year money-back guarantee. The difficulty is, we have actually all heard these promises from "best acne items" before. As well as frequently those items don't function very well. Or, they work for a while and then stop. These incorrect assurances actually drink your belief in acne products as a whole. However that's not exactly what I found with Exposed. Actually, most of the positive Revealed evaluations hold true. I tried the Ultimate 90-day skin-care package. I've currently been using Subjected for more than 90 days, people talk about exactly how clear my skin is now and I have actually currently gotten my second 9-piece set. It truly is one of the most effective acne products on the marketplace. As well as now I'm below to add to the other skin treatment testimonials and also provide you the skinny on just how the product functions. Not every Exposed skin care set has all 9 pieces. There's a 60-day 5 piece package and a 60-day 6 item kit. Plus you have the option to just acquire the products one by one if you're still skittish regarding entering feet first. So I'll offer you a quick run-down of my experience with the products in my kit and you could make your choice from there. The Facial Cleanser and also The Microderm Scrub In the morning as well as evening, I washed my face with the facial cleanser. It is created to take every one of the dust, oil and also microorganisms off of your face. But also for me, it did far more than that: it well balanced my skin out. Several acne-fighting face cleansers dried my skin out. First, my completely dry skin would be glossy making my acne look redder and much more obvious compared to previously. After that my skin would overproduce oil and break out much more compared to in the past. Yet the face cleanser returned my skin's moisture degrees to where they are intended to be. After a week or two of using the item, my skin was soft and also supple. The redness and also inflammation subsided. Even if you do not buy the rest of the line, I very suggest this face clean. I do not assume I'll never utilize one more face wash again. The Subjected line also has a Microderm Scrub. I had not been really a follower of this. I've never ever believed scrubs were the very best acne products. They irritate my face, especially my existing pimples. Some of the Exposed skin care evaluations I read gone crazy concerning this product however I disagree. If you use this at all, I would certainly wait until the various other Exposed items clear up your face. Otherwise you might locate the scrub uneasy. The Derm-X Fabric This is most likely among the very best acne items in the line. It's a harsh cloth that acts like a scrubbing face laundry but gentler. And it really lifts black and white avoid of your skin as you scrub. It's such a terrific exfoliation device that my sis stole my first one and also I had to purchase a 2nd. The Cleaning Tonic and the Acne Therapy Product These 2 products are designed to be utilized with each other and also they are where the real acne therapy begins. The cleaning tonic goes on initially, right after you wash. While the face cleanser softens and stabilizes your skin, the Clearing up Tonic eliminates the excess oil and dead skin cells that clog your pores as well as make you break out. The very best part regarding the cleaning tonic is that you can really feel it working right after you place it on your face. It's a great, fresh sensation that I waiting to every early morning. Next the Acne Therapy Lotion takes place. It's a benzoyl peroxide solution that is designed to eliminate the acne-causing microorganisms on your face. I didn't check out this in the various other item evaluations but to be truthful, the Acne Treatment Lotion prickles simply a little. If you've ever used any kind of benzoyl peroxide item on your skin-- also from some of the very best acne products available only at dermatologist workplaces-- then you recognize that that's just a part of the experience. But unlike various other lotions, the Exposed Acne Treatment Product contains a mix of various other ingredients that soothe your skin. So you won't obtain any one of the irritation or tightness that you locate with other products such as this. The Clear Pore Product I like to call this things my ace in the hole. Is it simply me or does a lot of acne strike overnight? For as long I feared that very first early morning search in the mirror. It was constantly right before college or prior to a date that evening. As well as discovering a brand-new acne or that red, puffy skin that means a large one is coming later can make the remainder of the day actually awful. If you've ever had that take place to you, you have actually got to get the clear pore lotion. You merely rub it in before you go to bed during the night. Then, while you're resting, it combats the microorganisms as well as oil that brings about morning acnes. I have not had an unpleasant early morning surprise since I began utilizing it. As well as this is another terrific product that you can actually just purchase by itself to make use of with your various other regimen. The Dampness Complex If you're going to utilize the Exposed skin care line, you actually require the Dampness Complicated. When utilized with each other, the items in this line do dry your skin out. It's kind of a drawback. Yet honestly, I haven't used an item that does not completely dry you skin out a minimum of a little. If you feel dry as well as limited or you seem like your skin might flake, simply placed on the dampness facility. It won't make your skin oily as well as it will certainly protect against the irritation that might cause soreness and outbreaks. And also if you use it frequently, it really helps to completely balance out the moisture level in your skin.