#they’re both summertime themed

[orphetoon]

does anybody wanna see sketches of my oc evie

[sterekfests]

Welcome to our Summer round of Sterek Fests! Sterek Summer Fest will run from May 28th - August 5th in celebration of Summer, whether you’re getting out for school at the end of the school year and have two months to travel, or love the heat and spending it locally with your pack, enjoying a staycation. There’s a little something for everyone!

Check out our Rules and FAQs. 

We also have a Discord you can join that has events running such as @sterekbingo and @sterekweekly.

How to Participate:

Participating in Sterek Summer Fest is easy and stress-free! This is a no-commitment fest where you can participate as little or as much as you want. Participate in one week and none of the others if you so fancy, or participate in all of them!

We have an AO3 Collection for you to post all of your creations in! 

This fest is open to both Fic and Art, so create to your heart's content!

How to post:

You can post your creations to any website that you want, as long as they are viewable to the public, whether that’s Tumblr, LiveJournal, DreamWidth, or our AO3 Collection.

@sterekfests so we see your creations to reblog them.

Use the tags #sterekfestssummer2023, and #sterekfests for generic tags.

For weekly tags: #sterekfestsbreak, #sterekfestscoastal, #sterekfestsstay, #sterekfestscamp, #sterekfeststent, #sterekfestslake, #sterekfestsroad, #sterekfestseuro, #sterekfestsisland, #sterekfestsBTS

Late Posting:

Late posting is always welcomed! The collection will stay open for late submissions.

If you have any questions, feel free to send us an ask!

- Liam (@sterekbros) & Dori (@evanesdust) 

Keep reading to see all the awesome theme weeks ahead!

May 28-June 3: School is out for the summer!  

School is out for the summer! It's time to relax, have fun, and enjoy the warm weather. Are Stiles and Derek looking forward to swimming, surfing, visiting friends, or just taking some time off? No matter what they do, it’s sure to be a summer to remember. 

June 4-10: Coastal Celebration

What better way to celebrate the summer than hitting the beach? Are Stiles and Derek watching the sunset in Santorini, Greece? Swimming in the clear waters of Hawaii? Maybe they’re taking a pack trip or sailing around the world together for the summer. Take us on their coastal celebration!

June 11-17: Staycation

It’s summertime in Beacon Hills! From the bowling alley to the indoor ice rink, there are a lot of fun places to hang out and explore. Will Stiles and Derek dance the night away at one of the local clubs? Or maybe they spend their time walking through the preserve, taking in all nature has to give. Who knows! It’s up to you to decide how Stiles and Derek spend their staycation.

June 18-24: Camping Anywhere

Stiles and Derek are going on a camping trip! Are they going to a National Park? Hiding out in the preserve in a den? Sleeping in the Jeep because the rain flooded them out of their undisclosed campsite? Maybe they’re taking a pack trip during the full moon to run under the moonlight together, hunting deer while Stiles and Derek renew their mating bond. Only you can tell us where their camping adventure will take us! 

June 25-July 1: Tented Elegance

It’s that time of the year when fabulous parties happen in large, elegant tents! Maybe Stiles and Derek are having a summer wedding on their property at the rebuilt Hale house, renewing their vows; or they’re having a pack get-together escaping the heat in style. Wherever they decide to spend their time, it’s under a large, elegant tent! Take us on their adventure this summer!

July 2-8: Luxe Lakeside

It’s time to hit the lake! Lydia Martin is known to throw the best parties at her lakehouse! But this one is going to last all summer. Is it pack party time? Or are Derek and Stiles alone at the lakehouse after everyone left the party? Maybe Stiles borrowed the key from Lydia and there is no party, so the mated couple is getting away and spending time alone. Or they’re taking a trip out of town to visit a lakehouse in a beautiful secluded place that is owned by Derek’s family. Only your imagination can tell us! 

July 9-15: Road Trip to Anywhere

Pack your bags for a road trip to anywhere! Stiles and Derek are getting the heck out of Beacon Hills this summer. Pick a destination, whether by Camaro or Jeep and show us their journey! Are they going to a state or national park? Visiting the hot springs in Yellowstone? Hitting all the cheesy roadside attractions with no destination in mind? Only you can show us! 

July 16-22: Backpacking Europe

Grab your backpack and your passports! Stiles and Derek are trekking across Europe this summer! Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Greece… there are so many beautiful places the boys can visit this summer! Take us on your fantasy trip, or give us some insight if you live or have visited European destinations! 

July 23-29: Island Getaway 

Stiles and Derek are heading to an island getaway! It sounds like a great time to visit Cancun for the first time. Jamaica, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Cuba, Honduras, the British Virgin Islands, Bora Bora, Fiji, Greece, Italy… There are so many places to visit, laying on a beach, catching some sun! What are Derek and Stiles doing on their island getaway? Are they on their honeymoon? Taking a pack trip? Take us away to their island getaway!

July 30-August 5: Back to School

Summer is over and it’s time to head back to school! Are Stiles and Derek the same age and in high school together? Are they attending the same university? Maybe they’re pledging the same fraternity or they’re freshman roommates away for the first time at school. Maybe they met at summer camp and have to leave since summer is over and find out they don't live that far from each other. After all, it’s a small world! Take us back to school with Stiles and Derek!

@thebigbangblogproject @teenwolffandomevents @sterekevents

[roachazoa]

A real acrylic painting of this lives on my wall now! Yippee!

The theme for today was “Summertime…” and for some reason, that translated into “Summer Festival” for me. The both of them are now attending a matsuri. Nothing says summer like fireworks, I think. And street food.

Tried to go for a new stylistic approach. It’s a combination of acrylic paint and digital touching up.

It’s a hypothetical, and Im not entirely sure how it’d pan out but I think it’d be cute. They’d love trying out the food. Not only that, Daph would absolutely lose most of the festival games. Daphne would blow too much money trying to win them as well. Mari would slightly tease her about it. They’re both silly creatures. They spent a lot trying to win a nice prize for Sunny. And they’d all watch the fireworks together!

…. In hindsight, I wish I’d made up THAT scenario before I finished this painting. It was admittedly a bit rushed. …Oh well.

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Any opera recs for a musical theater nerd who keeps wanting to check opera out and hasn’t gotten around to it yet?

ooh!!! as a lover of both opera and musical theater, YES!!!

so here are some basics:

-any operetta or light opera basically ever. some of the best: gilbert and sullivan. johann strauss’ die fledermaus (the bat). franz lehar’s die lustige witwe (the merry widow). any jacques offenbach operetta, ESPECIALLY orphée aux enfers (orpheus in the underworld, aka the one with the famous can-can) or la vie parisienne (the parisian life). leonard bernstein’s genre-defying candide.

-speaking of which, there are a LOT of good, reasonably short american operas out there. george gershwin’s porgy and bess (the source of MANY standards, most notably “summertime”) premiered on broadway, actually. so did gian carlo menotti’s the saint of bleecker street. others i’d recommend: menotti’s the medium, carlisle floyd’s susannah, kurt weill’s street scene. all of these are pretty intense/tragic though. my fave in a lighter vein is bernstein’s trouble in tahiti, which i saw live once and it was DELISH.

-giacomo puccini and his contemporaries are a GOLD mine for musical-loving opera newbies. they’re reasonably short operas, they’re INTENSE, they’ve got amazing scores. so:

puccini’s la bohème: yeah, rent is based on it. however: VERY MUCH NOT THE SAME. (bohème is better imo.)

puccini’s tosca: you want an intense night at the opera? this one has EVERYTHING. it’s a straight up thriller. basically everyone dies. the music is glorious.

i’m not a huge fan of puccini’s madama butterfly but miss saigon is based on it, so there’s that i guess.

puccini’s il trittico: three short (1 hour) operas with three wildly different moods: il tabarro (the cloak) is a thriller, suor angelica is about a nun Going Through Some Shit and is DEVASTATING, gianni schicchi is a side-busting comedy and also has that iconic aria “o mio babbino caro”.

pietro mascagni’s cavalleria rusticana (rustic chivalry) and ruggero leoncavallo’s pagliacci (clowns) are a frequent double bill. they’re both INTENSE short operas about infidelity and passion and revenge and murder. and they both have tunes you will recognize.

-other recommendations:

-wolfgang amadeus mozart’s die zauberflöte (the magic flute), which has lots of spoken dialogue and hit tunes. MAJOR caveat however: you’re better off picking a production that plays much more fast and loose with the dialogue and lyrics because the original is uh���HUGELY racist and sexist! look up the pacific opera project’s nintendo-themed production on youtube.

-gioachino rossini’s il barbiere di siviglia (the barber of seville). hilarious as shit. so many shenanigans. can be a little long for a newbie but yeah. plus: TUNES.

-gaetano donizetti’s l’elisir d’amore (the elixir of love), don pasquale, la fille du régiment (the daughter of the regiment), and lucia di lammermoor. the first three are hilarious comedies, the last one is a tragedy of bloody murder with an ICONIC mad scene for the soprano.

-giuseppe verdi’s rigoletto and la traviata. both pretty short (~2 hours or so). both have iconic tunes and great stories. the latter is more or less the basis of both pretty woman and moulin rouge.

-georges bizet’s carmen. SO MANY HIT TUNES YOU WILL RECOGNIZE. also the basis of carmen jones.

-maurice ravel’s l’heure espagnole (the spanish hour). it’s a short opera about a woman who juggles three lovers by hiding two of them inside clocks in her husband’s clock shop. it’s risqué and funny and fun and does not get done enough.

-if you like WEIRD german stuff: richard strauss’ salome (which i love, but it’s disturbing as fuck) and elektra (which i don’t love but respect people who do) and alban berg’s wozzeck (SUPER weird and disturbing) are all in the 1.5-2 hour range and have been known to make unexpected fans of newbies. but do not attempt these unless you’re willing to experience a total mindfuck.

i hope that helps some! fellow operablr members pls feel free to add anything i may have overlooked 💗

[lacenvs3000w24]

nature's sounds & music's roots

I was equal parts apprehensive & elated for this week’s topic — I, like many of us, adore music, and credit it as an irreplaceable source of calm and comfort in my life.

I’m also, of course, part of that big crowd of nature lovers, similarly grateful for the peace that can be tapped into when in the great outdoors.

Thing is, though, the threads that tie these two loves of mine together have been historically frail. Beyond listening to music during a road trip while over-dramatically watching the scenery zip past, or singing along to campfire songs, I don’t know that I’ve consciously linked music and nature together very much during my life.

It feels like, in my life, if they’re found together, then one of the two is taking the back seat.

I’m at a music festival, which happens to be outside, under sunshine and blue skies.

I’m at the cottage, laying in the green grass, and someone happens to be playing a summertime Spotify playlist.

Thinking about it now though, this lack of awareness that I’ve maintained about the link between nature and music is, for lack of a better word, kind of bonkers.

And that’s because music is all over nature, and nature is spread throughout music. The wind rustling the leaves, the waves crashing, our own footsteps in the snow and dry grass and leaves, and, of course, there’s a reason that birders distinguish bird calls and songs. Nature’s music is a subjective, interpreted, spectrum ��� just as human music is.

some photos by me that (with a touch of imagination) you can *almost* hear

Upon reading the title of this unit, my mind was immediately brought to country music (it’s okay, you can chuckle — I used to be one of those people who’d say “I like pretty much every genre of music, eXcEpT cOuNtRy,” but I think I finally understand and appreciate it’s place🤠).

In this way, I thought the mention in the content for this unit about John Denver was perfect - he’s the epitome of country (and more generally, folk) music’s connection with nature, through the themes of slow, simple days among the fields and trees and sun and streams (see: Mother Nature’s Son, Cool an’ Green an’ Shady, and the Season Suites).

I think the generalization of country music to folk music is notable, here. Virtually every human culture has some vague form of “folk” music, and they often have really interesting similarities, both musically and thematically. These more traditional, cultural forms of music are inherently influenced by nature because they have their ancient roots in times where us humans naturally spent more time outside, relied upon nature for our well-being.

A short clip included in this unit’s content touched on Ocean Mercier’s ideas on the integration of indigenous knowledge into western science (World Economic Forum, 2014).

Ocean talks about how “we have always been scientists” but that our genre of science differs from that of our ancestors. Part of her message is that the values associated with ‘older science’ could prove useful in the aim to reach sustainable science and practices in the modern world.

I think there’s a super interesting link between music’s folk, nature-influenced roots, and old wisdom being unified with modern ideas — appreciating the role of the old in the new, finding the nature in the music.

Shire music makes me feel like I'm sitting in the sunshine, beside a little stream, lazing in the grassy meadows. (Mr. John Denver appears as an honourable mention). Vivaldi's The Four Seasons is all over the place in the best way.

Thank you for tuning in for this one! Wish I had more space to discuss some more of my favourite music with you guys, so if anyone is down to chat about it don't be shy!! As a little prompt, include your three current favourite songs, and for each song, use some nature terms to describe its vibe (could be weather phenomena, colours, seasons, elements, etc.) 💟

References

World Economic Forum. (2014, March 21). Ideas @Davos | Ocean Mercier | Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/SoQS_7yjStE?si=S_-0GeY_AORmlQKX

[seravphs]

aaaaaAAAAA I woke up to this and my face is hurting from smiling so hard !!!!

first off, I’d like to say that I could’ve kept going with the tags but I didn’t wanna create a monolith of words lol I actually wanted to mention how CS and the continuation/standalone reminded me of the manga/anime called summertime rendering (not with the themes - your series is infinitely much happier haha) but the relationship bonding and saturated colors came across exactly the same through your writing!

summer breaks are a treasure; I hope you get to cherish them as well as your studies for the near future ❇️

the shokohime relationship is so pervasive throughout the background, I truly cherish how you write them both circling each other (in a different but no less important way than the others)

if/when you continue the CS universe may you @ me please? I’d love to gush in the tags once again haha (and will continue to do so for your other fics! I have a backlog of authors to go thru!! so humbled for them all really)

Ooo going on my TBR! The cover looks so cute but the synopsis sounds dark lmao

TwT thank you friend 🤍 I hope summer is good to you as well! I’ve been eating a lot of watermelon now that it’s warm out.

omg it is? I’m so happy! Especially with the anime coming out I hope we get tons of Shokohime content, they’re so cute together.

I’m so touched you want to be tagged TwT of course I will! I’m really grateful you would want to read a sequel and my other fics. No pressure to respond to anything I write but if you do leave tags I hope we can have another lovely conversation 💙

[pollenallergie]

18+ only!!

do not interact if you’re under 18 years old!

some random best friend!Eddie headcanons bc I feel like it:

Eddie has several pairs of holiday-themed socks and he wears them year round. You can frequently catch him sporting Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer socks, regardless of the season. <3

When Eddie was like 8 or 9, he went through a phase where he only wanted spaghetti-o’s for dinner every night, so your mom started calling him “Eddie Spaghetti.” <3

Little kids love Eddie. He doesn’t know why, but they sort of gravitate toward him. That said, he certainly doesn’t mind; he thinks it’s adorable. He’s just naturally very good with kids. <3

You two have matching tattoos. His says “billy” and yours says “silly,” in reference to an inside joke from when you were little. <3

You and Eddie always manage to get sick at the same time. Always. Wayne and your mom used to take turns staying home to take care of you two when you were little, but now you two little sicklings just take care of each other. <3

After every single holiday meal, you both sneak off to your bedroom to sleep off the impending food coma in your bed. It’s a tradition you’ve had since you were ten. <3

Eddie is your grandma’s favorite grandchild, even though he’s not technically her grandchild. <3

The first time you smoked weed, you got so high that Eddie called you “space cadet” the whole night. He now calls you that every time you get high. <3

Whenever Eddie goes to the gas station to pick up a new pack of cigarettes, he’ll grab your favorite candy for you. <3

You’re insecure about your laugh (not your cute little giggle, but your genuine, unrestrained laugh), but it’s one of Eddie’s favorite things about you. <3

You and Eddie have a rule about getting each other christmas and birthday presents since you both grew up with little money. The rule is that you can only make things for each other. For the most part, you both adhere to this rule completely. However, you’ve both been known to break it every once and a while in favor of getting something extra special for each other. For example, you had splurged on Metallica tickets for Eddie’s 18th birthday. Likewise, he’d spent entirely too much money on a special edition gift set of your favorite book series last christmas. <3

You and Eddie used to put on plays for your mom and Uncle Wayne when you were kids. Honestly, you’d continued to do so for far longer than either of you would like to admit. <3

Eddie’s so close with your family that he even bickers with your siblings like they’re his own. <3

Eddie takes your dog to the park at least once a week for quality “bro time,” as he likes to call it. <3

He also helped name your dog when you’d first gotten him. He’d named him Philby after the Rory Gallagher song, only to later learn that the title for that song came from the name of a British spy who’d worked as a double agent for the Soviets. oopsies. <3

Wayne takes you, Eddie, and your family camping near the Indiana Dunes every single summer, and has done so since you were ten. <3

When Eddie was a kid, he had a black cat named Samwise. Unfortunately, Samwise passed away when Eddie was thirteen. You’d both cried about it for weeks. </3

You and Eddie both hate the public pool, Eddie because he’s the town pariah, and you because people always look at you weirdly when you wear a swimsuit and it makes you feel insecure. So, in the summertime, you’ll often sneak Eddie into your dad’s backyard after he leaves for work in the morning, that way you two can spend the whole day swimming without being subjected to ridicule from the other Hawkins residents. <3

Wayne has a copy of every single one of your school pictures much like your mom has a copy of every single one of Eddie’s. <3

Eddie learned how to make pot brownies after you’d expressed an interest in trying them. <3

Unbeknownst to you, Eddie’s written multiple songs for you. <3

He gets your mom a mother’s day present every year. He also gets Wayne a father’s day present every year. <3

Your mom packed lunches for the both of you until she finally cut you off freshman year, hoping to urge you both to become more independent. <3

Your dad paid for you to go to summer camp in the summer between sixth and seventh grade, and, while you were gone, you’d made a total of six sets of matching friendship bracelets for you and Eddie. Only one of them survived to adulthood, and he still wears it to this day. <3

For his birthday one year, you’d made him a scrapbook filled with pictures of the both of you. Unbeknownst to you, he’d continued to add pictures to it until it was completely full. <3

Eddie cries every single time he watches Bambi. <3

Eddie also cries when he watches Old Yeller. <3

Eddie took you to see The Color Purple when it was released in theaters. He cried during that movie as well. <3

Eddie won a story-writing contest in the sixth grade and, again, in the seventh grade. <3

Eddie only lies about the most inconsequential and random shit. Like he’ll tell some extremely thorough, elaborate lie about the etymology of a word just for shits and giggles. He’s a very convincing liar too, which makes it even funnier when you’re in on the joke. <3

Eddie doesn’t believe that he’s a good writer, just that he’s a good bullshitter. You assure him that he’s far too good at both of those things. <3

Eddie prefers to start his Sunday mornings with a good, ole fashioned wake n bake followed by an unreasonable amount of chocolate chip pancakes. <3

In the wintertime, he walks around the trailer cocooned in the fuzzy blanket that your mom got him for christmas one year. It’s adorable. <3

Eddie has surprisingly steady hands which you frequently take advantage of by asking him to paint your nails. <3

He hugs you very frequently because he just likes hugging you, okay? Don’t make it weird! (his words, not mine). And, believe me, this man gives the best hugs. <3

Eddie talks in his sleep, but his words are usually so slurred and garbled that you can’t understand them. <3

Eddie and Wayne also collect beer coozies, in addition to their collection of hats and mugs. Seriously, they have an inordinate amount of beer coozies. And they just whip them out, unprompted, all the time. Are you drinking a soda? Well, hey, they’ve got a coozie for ya! Hell, they’ll even use them on glasses of water. <3

Wayne’s a big NASCAR fan and he even took you and Eddie to the Indy 500 once. You were both bored out of your minds the entire time, but grateful nonetheless. <3

You guys even stayed in the train-car hotel for that trip which, as eight-year-olds, you both found insanely cool. <3

Wayne frequently goes to your mom for parenting advice. <3

Wayne also played matchmaker for your mom and her boyfriend, Hank, one of his coworkers from the plant. They’ve been together for two years now. <3

She’d repaid the favor by setting him up with the receptionist from her office, Marie. They’ve been together for almost a year now. <3

Wayne and your mom have been trying to play matchmaker between you and Eddie for years now, but you’re both too damn oblivious. <3

Eddie tried to teach you how to ride a bike when you were eleven, but you fell once and never attempted again. So, before he’d gotten his license, he’d either let you stand on the back of his bike and hold onto him or he’d let you sit on the handlebars. <3

Eddie wants to get a motorcycle one day just because he thinks you’d look hot perched on the back of one. <3

Eddie’s first car, before the van, was your mom’s old station wagon. <3

You and Eddie both talk a lot, so you have a bad habit of interrupting each other, but, it’s hard to get mad about that given how much you both like listening to each other talk. <3

You two used to argue a lot as kids, mostly because you’re both stubborn, but now you hardly ever butt heads. You’re both still incredibly stubborn, but are now more willing to compromise, at least with each other. <3

You’ve never missed one of Corroded Coffin’s shows. <3

Eddie loves naps, can’t get enough of ‘em. <3

Eddie’s superpower is his ability to sleep anywhere. Once, when there was a tornado during school, he’d fallen asleep on the tile floor of the hallway of Hawkin’s Middle while in that protective, crouched position that you’d all been forced to sit in. It was honestly impressive. <3

You have asthma, so Eddie’s developed a habit of keeping one of your spare rescue inhalers on him at all times. The one he’s got for you is technically expired, but he figures it’s better than nothing. <3

Eddie loves it when you play with his hair. He even lets you brush it for him. <3

Eddie guilt trips you into giving him back rubs by faking a sore back and complaining about how awful his mattress is. Truthfully, Eddie quite likes his bed, it’s much better than the one he’d slept in when he lived with his dad, but he’s willing to throw ole reliable under the bus if it means getting a free back rub. He’s been using that trick since he was nine. Of course, his intentions are purely wholesome in nature; he really just loves your back rubs. <3

He’ll frequently return the favor by giving you shoulder and neck rubs because he knows that you carry a lot of tension there. <3

Eddie has a framed picture of you two together on his dresser. <3

[bobohu4eva]

Pink Lace - Final (M)

Characters: Baekhyun x Reader (feat. EXO members)

Genre: College AU, stripper AU, fluff, smut, slow burn

Summary: Baekhyun, a philosophy professor with mysterious wealth, got himself completely fucked over a girl who can’t let him into her life.

Word count: 3.1k

Warnings: sex work, mentions of sexual assault, adult themes/situations, smut

Tag list: @smolbeanmika @leave-me-in-the-summertime @totallynerdstuff @bbhmystar @nana-banana @kimyhappy @thegreatandi @geniusloey @deligxt @baekswifey @bbhyun506 @lovebuginlove @bellamendoza @baekyeonoreo @bobohumyonlyboo @wooya1224 @strawbaeri-s @xiuweetbbh

Masterlist

When you woke up it was still dark. You looked over at the clock, which read 4:42am. Of course you would wake up in the middle of the night, you fell asleep around 7 already after your activities with Baekhyun, who still had an arm slung around you. You tried to fall back asleep, but it felt too warm and you had already slept for a while. Oh well. 

You attempted to remove Baekhyun's arm from your waist gently without waking him, but as soon as you were lifting the limb off of yourself he was groaning, and instead wrapped another arm around you, pulling your back flush to his chest. You were learning he could be very stubborn. 

“Baekhyun,” you whispered, “It’s too hot.” 

He sleepily mumbled something incoherent and kept his arms locked around you, at which point you knew you’d have to take matters into your own hands, so you pinched his arm. 

“Ow! What was that for?” He whined as he withdrew his arms, massaging the spot you had dug your fingers into. 

“You’re smothering me, you’re too warm.” 

Quickly Baekhyun jumped out of bed and walked across the room to flip a switch and you felt the fan above you kick on. He jumped right back into bed, and wrapped his arms back around you. 

You rolled your eyes at him but eventually cuddled back up to him as well. “You’re se needy.” 

“Hmm you like it though.” His voice was rough and low in your ear, and he turned you around to face him. 

With only a bit of moonlight peeking through the curtains it was difficult to make out his face, but eventually your eyes adjusted enough to see him looking back at you. You could see a lazy smile on his lips and his eyes looked heavy, he looked cute like this. 

“Can’t sleep? I was surprised you fell asleep so early.” 

“You wore me out.” You pouted in defense.

He grinned, of course he knew why you’d passes out so fast, but it was still amusing to him to tease you about it. “I know baby, I was tired too.” 

You turned back around to get comfortable again, and felt Baekhyun’s hands snake around your body until they were crossed over your chest, one boob in each hand. 

“Um, Baekhyun?” 

“What?” He mumbled softly in your ear. “They’re soft and warm and perfectly hand-sized. Feels nice.” 

You let out a sigh but didn’t move his hands away, to which he let out a pleased hum. Though you’d found it strange at first you slowly grew to like the feeling. It felt more comforting than sexual, and combined with the slow rise and fall of his chest against your back you were slowly drifting off again.

A few hours later Baekhyun was the one waking you up, as rays of sunlight started to peek through the blinds.

“Good morning sunshine.” You opened your eyes to see his face hovering above your own looking down at you expectantly. 

Much to his disappointment you groaned and turned around to bury your head back in the pillow. 

“Come on y/n we’ve been in bed for 12 hours, time to get up.” 

Before you could object he was scooping your naked self up from the mattress and placing you back down at the edge of the bed with him. 

“You’re so mean.” You whined as you rubbed your eyes and looked around. Baekhyun disappeared into his closet, returning with a pair of sweatpants on and one of his white button downs for you to wear, tossing it onto the bed next to you. 

He watched as you put it on and stood up. It fit you more like a dress, hitting you mid-thigh. Baekhyun could barely contain his excitement seeing you in his clothes, and immediately had to come shower your face with kisses as he told you how pretty you looked. You couldn’t help but admire the bare skin of his toned torso as well. 

Eventually the two of you made your way into his kitchen for something to eat and you finally got to take a good look at the rest of his home, and the more you looked around, the more you fell in love with the place. Although it wasn’t a particularly large space, it was filled with beautiful things that made it feel grown up and expensive. His walls were covered in unique art and all of his furniture went together perfectly. It was a massive step up from the bare one bedroom apartments with a mattress on the floor you usually got when going out with guys your age. 

You looked through Baekhyun’s pantry and offered to make pancakes for the both of you, to which he gladly agreed. 

You’d expected him to just sit and wait while you prepared the food but he insisted on staying in the kitchen and ‘helping’, which really just meant making excuses to touch you any time he could. 

It was when he grabbed your ass mid pancake-flip, causing you to nearly launch the slab of dough across the kitchen, that you turned around and placed a playful slap on his shoulder. “You really are acting like a horny teenager!”

Instead of arguing he simply wrapped his arms around your waist as you kept cooking, head resting atop of yours. “Mmmh only for you babe.” 

It went on like that until the pancakes were done, only occasionally he would slip a hand up under your (his) shirt to squeeze a boob as well.

Baekhyun couldn’t help himself, now that he’d had you and he knew he could touch you all he wanted he couldn’t keep his hands off you. Your soft skin beneath his palms just felt so good, he couldn’t get enough. 

“Baekhyun, you have to let go of me so we can eat.” You teased as he held on to you even as you grabbed both plates to bring them to the dining room. He let out a sound of displeasure but took his hands off of you and took his plate of food. 

Despite your teasing, you were growing more and more fond of this Baekhyun. His messy hair, the lazy look on his face, how cuddly he was acting, it felt so sweet and relaxed and comfortable with him like this. You couldn’t help thinking this was something you could get used to.

“This place is really nice.” You commented as you started to cut into your pile of pancakes. 

“You like it? You’re welcome here anytime.” 

You smiled at the idea of staying there more often, not only was it a beautiful home but being able to spend time with him like this felt too good to pass up. 

“Sorry for making you miss work by the way, Mia told me you wouldn’t mind.” 

“Yeah it’s alright, I’m still doing ok right now anyway and I can just go back next weekend.” 

You noticed his face shift to something different and he swallowed, no longer smiling. He was worried you would say something like that. “Do you remember what I asked you at the club the weekend before the semester started?” He was looking down at the table now. He looked scared. 

“What do you mean?” 

He was scared. The idea of you going back to work bothered him, a lot, he couldn’t deny it, but he knew you wouldn’t take kindly to him telling you not to go. What had happened two weeks earlier was still fresh in his mind and the thought of you being around men like that again made him feel sick. He felt like he had to at least bring it up. 

“I don’t want this to sound rushed, but I really like you a lot, and I, um... You don’t have to go back. If you don’t want to, that is, I can take care of things.”

“Baekhyun...” 

“I really meant it when I said I could take care of you, if that’s what you want, I just can’t stand the though of something bad happening to you there again.” His voice got smaller and smaller as he spoke, until it was barely a whisper. 

You paused for a while to think before speaking again. “Do you not want me to go back?” 

You had been wondering if this was coming, but you didn’t expect it so soon, and as much as you did like Baekhyun, becoming completely dependent on him still scared you. 

Your eyes met from across the table and you could see how anxious he was as he slowly shook his head in response. “We don’t need to go there to see each other anymore, and the idea of you being alone there isn’t something I like to think about. I know I can’t tell you what to do, but please, if you do, be careful.” 

“So, what exactly are you thinking then?” 

“You could stop working and I could help financially whenever you want, and you would be my girlfriend.” 

Admittedly you did feel your heart flutter at the word girlfriend but you were still bothered by his offer to keep giving you money. 

“Wouldn’t you basically be my sugar daddy then?” 

His face turned into a deep frown. “I’m not just paying you to have sex with me, you know you mean more to me than that.” The look of genuine hurt on his face quickly had you regretting your words. You felt like you had just kicked a puppy. In the back of your mind though, you still didn’t want him to give you money, even if he expected nothing in return. 

“I know, I’m sorry, I just don’t want to take more of your money. I don’t want you to feel like you have to pay to be with me.”

He took both of your hands from across the table and held them in his own, his eyes looking into yours intently. “The whole reason I don’t mind spending spending money on you is because I know you don’t expect me to. I know you’re not here for that, which makes me want to spoil you even more.”

“I’m just scared that if something happens and you decide you don’t want me anymore I won’t be able to repay you.” The words came out of you in what was hardly even a whisper. You knew the words would hurt him, that he wouldn’t like hearing your doubts after having just had such a magical time together. It felt like you were about to ruin everything if you weren’t careful with your words, but you had to be honest about your concerns. 

“You don’t honestly think I would ever ask you to pay me back...” The way his expression tuned sadder and more desperate with every word you spoke killed your appetite and had your heart feeling like it was stuck in your throat. He squeezed your hands to make you look back up at him before continuing. “I haven’t felt the way I feel about you in a very long time, I didn’t think it was possible for me to be this into someone at all anymore. Please believe me when I say I’m not going to disappear. Even if I lose my job because of this, I’ll stay by your side until you decide you don’t want me in your life anymore. I haven’t wanted anything this badly in years, y/n, please I, I-.”

He cut himself off before he could get it out. As much as he wanted to say it, he knew now wasn’t the right time. 

The way he was staring back at you, still tightly gripping your hands was enough to make you feel like you were about to cry from pure guilt. Seeing him look at you like this was heartbreaking. The idea of being his was everything you could ever ask for, to get to be with him the way you had been the last 16 hours and to get to enjoy his company and his touches whenever you wanted. It felt like a dream. You did want it, to be with him like this, and although it scared you to put so much trust in him so quickly, it was impossible for you to look him in the eyes and deny it to him when you knew he was being truthful. 

“Okay.” It came out so quietly you first thought he didn’t hear you, but his face told you that he did. “I won’t go back.”

His face lit up immediately and he grinned back at you widely. “I promise you won’t regret it. I’ll do everything I can to make you the happiest girl alive.” 

“But Baekhyun-” You paused when you saw his smile quickly fade. “Only what I need. I don’t want you to give me anything more, or I’ll feel guilty.” 

“What about gifts? If I see something I think you would like could I give it to you as a present?” 

You rolled your eyes, “I guess, as long it’s nothing too crazy.”

Both of you paused, and he swallowed. “Can I ask why you’re having such a hard time trusting me? You know I’ve never lied to you.”

It was true. You really had no reason not to trust him with how open and honest he was. Never once did any of his words or actions towards you feel disingenuous.  

You sighed. It wasn’t something you liked to think back on. “The last time I had a real boyfriend was over a year ago. He seemed so charming and kind and perfect. I let him in too quickly and was head over heels in love when about 6 months in I found out he’d been going to parties and sleeping with other people the entire time.” 

“And the two of you were exclusive?” You could only nod. It felt shameful. The fact that you’d been so easily strung along by the man when he was obviously just a charming fuckboy at the end of the day. “What an asshole.” 

You shrugged. “It is what it is I guess.” 

“He was an idiot to not see what I see in you. Any man should be thrilled to have someone as wonderful and as beautiful as you. He’s missing out.” Heat spread through your cheeks and a smile forced its way onto your lips despite you trying to fight it. “I can’t say I’m upset it didn’t work out, because now I get to have you here, but you also just deserve so much better than that. I promise you you’re the only one that I want. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

Eventually you let the warmth of his sweet words win you over and you stopped holding back your grin. “I know.” 

The smile returned to his face and he stood up and rounded the dining room table to pull you up as well, and into a kiss. This was the sweetest, most romantic one yet, as he cupped your face and let his lips melt into yours. 

“So... does this mean you’re my boyfriend now? You asked as you pulled away and rested your forehead against his. 

“If you want me to be, then yes.” 

You quickly nodded and before you knew it you were being swept off your feet as he picked you up bridal style and carried you to the couch in the living room. He laid you down and found his place back on top of you, kissing every inch of your face as you giggled and gently pushed at his chest. 

He leaned back to look down at you in his shirt, hair disheveled, with a pink tint to your cheeks. “I can’t believe after all this time, you’re really mine now.” 

With a surge of blind confidence you sat up and positioned yourself on his lap, straddling him. You looked into his surprised eyes before cupping his face and bringing it to yours, as if to confirm his statement. 

“All yours.” You whispered after placing a soft kiss to his lips. 

He shuddered beneath you and you felt his arms wrap around you and pull your chest flush to his. “I’ve dreamt of you saying those words to me so many times, you have no idea.” 

You were becoming more and more aware of your lack of underwear as Baekhyun shifted you over his lap again, and this time you felt his hardness against you with the only thing separating you being the fabric of his sweats. 

You inhaled sharply at the sudden feeling, before teasing him, “Is emotional intimacy turning you on?” 

“Everything turns me on when it’s you.” He smiled back at you lazily before bringing his hands up to the collar of your (his) shirt and beginning to unbutton it. “As much as I love my clothes on you I think you look even more beautiful wearing nothing at all.” 

He was really, truly, obsessed with your body. In the best kind of way. You were like a piece of precious art to him. The pink tint that moved across your chest, the curves, the softness, the way your skin felt beneath his hands was just perfect. He needed to feel and to memorize every inch of you. 

“Can I fuck you, princess?” 

“Since you asked so nicely.” You giggled, making fun of his words from the night prior. 

He returned a dopey, blissed-out smile and his hands kept working on the buttons until he was taking it off of you completely, once again leaving you naked. His eyes scanned your body as one hand slowly made its way from your neck, down to your breasts, along the side of your waist and then finally between your legs.

“You make fun of me for being hard when you’re this wet?”

You let out a small yelp as two of his slender fingers entered you, curling against just the right spot that would have you losing your mind. 

“Thought you said you wanted to fuck me.” You taunted impatiently, slipping a hand down to pull him out of his sweats.  

As you wrapped you hand around him you felt his breath get stuck in his throat and the movement of his fingers inside you came to a halt before they left you completely. 

“If you want it so bad then go ahead.” 

He was right, there was nothing stopping you, so you lined him up with your entrance and sank down until he was fully inside you, hitting even deeper than before. His head hit the back of the couch and you couldn’t help but admire his parted lips and the slight knit in his eyebrows at the feel of you wrapped around him. 

“So tight and wet, so perfect, like you were made for me.” 

He soon had his hands on your ass and guided your motions, rolling your body against his. With every push of your hips against his own you let out small whimpers which grew louder and louder as he started to pick up the pace, bouncing you on top of him as he thrusted up into you.  

When he leaned forward to take a nipple between his lips you knew you were done for, and seconds later you were shuddering around him as the tension in your body was released causing you to cry out his name, and you were grateful that he lived alone. 

His movements didn’t stop even once your high wore off, and you found yourself grasping onto him tighter than before as oversensitivity took over. It felt like too much but you could tell by the way he was shaking beneath you and the movement of his hips was becoming inconsistent that he was close. 

Just before he stilled inside you he brought his lips to yours for a messy, heated kiss before releasing inside of you as he groaned into your mouth. His hands were gripping your hips so tightly, holding you so firmly against his that you knew it would bruise, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to care when you felt this good.

Once both of you stopped shaking and your breathing evened out you rested your head on Baekhyun’s shoulder and let your hands rest on the smooth, warm skin of his bare chest. His hands moved from your ass up to wrap around your back, holding you against him. You felt him softening inside you but you couldn’t bring yourself to get up, feeling too weak and warm and cozy on his lap to want to move at all. 

“You feel like heaven. We should stay like this all day.” He hummed blissfully into your neck. 

You chucked at his words but didn’t move either. “Baekhyun?” 

“Yes darling?”

“Do you love me?” 

The words left your mouth before you could think about it too hard. You just felt it. It felt the love in his words and actions towards you. You needed to know. 

He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

You sat up to look him in the eyes. “You love me?”

“I love you, y/n. Do you love me?” 

“I’m learning to very quickly.”

“I’ve been told I’m a very good teacher.” He grinned. 

When you brought your lips back down to his you felt it. The feeling bubbling deep inside of you. It wasn’t quite there yet, but you knew you would get there soon. It was only a matter of time until you were just as head over heels for him as he was for you. You were falling fast. 

As the two of you spent the rest of the day wrapped around, pressed against, and cuddled up to one another, you knew that this was exactly where you were supposed to be. 

He was your person, and you were his, and you couldn’t wait to take on so much more together for years to come. 

~The End~

Epilogue

A/N: AHHH it’s over, I finished my first ever fic. I really never thought more than like 10 people would read it so I’m seriously so grateful for all the positive feedback, it’s so much more than I ever expected. I can’t wait to start the next one! 

[solarwonux]

Cherry || Vernon

vernon x f!reader: soulmate!au

w.c: 4k

warnings: angst, heartbreak, suggestive themes but very minimal 

note: this is one of the works I’m most proud of, so I really hope you guys like it or love it as much as I do. Let me know your thoughts, yes this is a repost and I reposted it for good reason, hehehe.

p.s: read the sequel: sunflower hehe

masterlist || sunflower

The sun was shining down, peeking through the delicate petals of the cherry blossom trees as the two of you strolled hand in hand underneath them. “Why do we do this every year?” Vernon asked a soft smile decorating his face as a gentle breeze blew effortlessly causing the pink and white flowers to fall from their perspective branches into your hair. 

“It’s tradition.”  You said ruffling your hair, trying to get the un welcomed flowers to fall out. Vernon shakes his head reaching over and slowly untangles the dainty petals from your unruly hair. A soft giggle falling out of your cherry painted lips before you stood up on your toes to kiss him. 

He smiles against them, moving his hand from the top of your head down to your cheek, his thumb caressing it gently. A colorful burst of emotions spiraling in the pits of your stomachs, a comforting warmth embracing the two of you. He pulls away, a small whine falling out of lips while he chuckles resting his forehead against yours. Locking his eyes with yours. He searched them admiring the way they looked against the pink and white of the Sakura trees. And he decided that this was why he always came with you to see the cherry blossom trees once they were in full bloom. The feeling he would get in his body as he watched you gaze up at them with so much adoration and care was indescribable and something, he would never trade for anything in the world. 

But now as he was looking down into your glimmering eyes, he panicked because felt it. The sinking feeling in his stomach. The same one he had been ignoring for the past month as the bright colors around him started to fade, turning into pale versions of themselves. He knew what it meant, but he also knew that he loved you like the way the moon loves the stars. So, he kept ignoring it, pushing it aside, burying it underneath all the precious memories he kept of you. Because accepting the fact that one day he’d fall out of love with you was something he never wanted to face. 

He sighed, closing his eyes tightly. He had somehow convinced himself that this was all in his head. And that the second he would open his eyes again the color he had grown to love would come back into his world. But of course, the universe had its way of working and right now it was working against him because when had opened his eyes, the color around him continued to fade. 

“Are you okay?” You said wrapping your arms around your boyfriend’s waist. Lately you noticed he had been acting differently. Listening to sad songs, spacing out and confusing colors with one another, but the two of you were going through a rough period in life. Money was starting to become tight and both of your jobs weren’t enough to pay for the overwhelming amount of bills, fights between the two of you had started to happen more frequently as well. But you just assumed that this would pass because as long as the two of you were together, you’d be able to take over the world someday. 

“Mhm, I was just thinking of songs I could add to my new mixtape for you.” He winked playfully. A giggle escaping your throat. Vernon’s smile falling as the feeling of joy he would get whenever he heard your laugh was nowhere to be found.

“It’s been five years and you’re still making me mixtapes.” You smiled widely. Another cool breeze blowing, rattling the trees around you causing the petals to fall again, making you look like an ethereal angel. And if Vernon wasn’t so panicked or scared, he would’ve let himself indulge in this moment wholeheartedly. But he was terrified. 

“It’s tradition.” He spoke, placing a soft kiss against your temple, grabbing your hand and intertwining his fingers with yours. “And I love you.” 

“I love you more.” You smiled reaching up into his hair and grabbing the single pink petal that had found its way into it. You held your thumb out to him where the petal had stuck. “Make a wish.” You whispered watching as his face contorted into something you couldn’t decipher. 

Every year the two of you made a wish together underneath the falling flowers and every year he had thought it was childish, but he never once complained. Now he wondered if what he was going through was punishment for being so selfish back then. He sighed lowly before placing his thumb against yours and closing his eyes as tightly as he had closed them before. The two of you mumbling underneath your breaths, unknowingly wishing for dreams that had started to become unattainable as the days passed by.

When he opened his eyes again the disgusting feeling returned but decided to push it aside again as he smiled and hugged you tightly. The air leaves your lungs along with a gentle laugh. He frowned noticing that the color he had once associated with your laugh disappeared. “Let’s go home, it’s wine night.” You pulled away from him, tapping his nose with your index finger. “You promised you’d watch The Bachelor with me.” You smirked before pecking his lips and pulling your hand from his. The feeling of emptiness increased as he watched you walk away awed by the trees around you. Leaving him behind to deal with the fact that maybe in a few seconds, minutes, hours, days or months; his home wouldn’t be with you anymore. 

The heat was unbearable making the clothes stick onto your bodies. The two of you were sitting out in the balcony of your apartment because although it was hot outside, for some reason it was hotter inside. Your bare legs were resting on top of Vernon’s clothed ones, his dress shirt opened, revealing his glistening chest. 

“How was work?” You whispered, wrapping your cherry red lips around the straw of the lemonade you had made in a desperate attempt to cool down. 

“The air broke again, at this point I think they’re doing it on purpose just to go home early.” He chuckled looking over at you, the brightness of your lips making his heart palpitate out of time. 

Ever since that day at the park, the colors had faded almost to a black and white, except for the bright red of your lips. He wondered why you still wore it, especially during the summertime where you usually opted for soft pink colors. And on days where the two of you stayed home doing nothing, but he never voiced his curiosity. Mainly because it was the only color about you that hadn’t practically faded to nothing and the color that he had started to associate with hope. 

“How was your day off…did you miss me?” He smirked his hands mindlessly massaging your calves, kneading out the tension. 

“Awful, I had to move the couch all by myself…my body hurts.” You pouted sitting and wrapping your arms around his neck and resting your head against his shoulder. 

“I told you to wait for me before rearranging the living room.” He said turning his face and placing a small kiss into your hair. “But you’re impatient and stubborn, which is why I don’t feel bad about your pain.” He said wrapping his arm around your shoulders and bringing you closer to him, wishing the touch of your skin still gave him the same effect as it did before. But as of recently he hadn’t been able to feel anything, and he hated it. 

In fact, he had started to hate a lot of things ever since that day at the park. He hated coming home to face you, seeing a smile reach your eyes when he couldn’t offer you one anymore. He hated lying through his teeth, telling you he loved you when he honestly wasn’t sure anymore. He hated listening to you talk about work and how Janice—your co-worker had started cheating on her husband with Mark—the IT guy. He hated feeling your lips against his and your hands on his skin. Because it all meant that you still loved him. That your world wasn’t fading like his was. That the universe had no other soulmate for you but him. It hurt him because he was so sure that he loved you and that you were the only one for him, but as the days passed by, he was reminded more and more that you weren’t. And he hated himself and the universe for punishing you in such a cruel way. 

He was angry and frustrated trying to convince himself that whatever he was going through was just a phase. But he was starting to run out of energy and that’s what scared him the most. 

Vernon wanted to fight with you over stupid things again, like leaving the empty milk cartoon inside the fridge. He wanted to feel happiness whenever he woke up next to you with the sheets of your body, one of your legs caging him in and your mouth open as small snores fell out of them. He wanted to see you walk down the aisle in the prettiest white dress as he cried his eyes out like a child. He wanted to see you carry his children and complain about the weird cravings he was preparing himself for you to have. He wanted to move into a house with a big lawn and a backyard so he could run around it with his kids, while you sat back, your loud laughter erupting around them. He wanted to grow old with you, retire in a quiet town with a golden retriever. 

But he knew his wish was getting farther as the days passed by and he hated it.

“Yet you love me and my impatient and stubborn ass.” You giggled planting a kiss against his cheek, the residue of your red lipstick left behind as a gentle reminder. He took a deep breath returning from whatever daydream he had been inside of. He turned towards you, his best fake smile etched on his face. “And I will never stop.” He said before connecting his lips with yours, the sparks erupting inside of you just like they had done the first time, unbeknownst to you that Vernon had stopped feeling them long ago. 

The leaves had changed color. At least that’s what you had told him when you came home one day boosting about how pretty the scenery had been while you were walking home. And he wished he would have joined in on your excitement especially because fall was his favorite season. The season he had first laid eyes on you five years ago on a Monday morning. Where he rushed inside the bakery by the University campus for a quick breakfast before class. He had bumped into you, crushing the chocolate croissant you had in your hand against your chest, urgent apologies escaping his mouth as he tried to help you clean up your shirt. Stopping once he noticed he could see the color of it—a pale yellow. He raised his head, his eyes locking with yours as you stared at him speechless, holding the remainder of your croissant in your delicate hand.

“Fuck me.” You breathed out, your eyes getting wide as you realized what you had said. “Not like that, I didn’t mean it like that…I’m just—wow this is wild.” You blushed putting your hand against your cheek as you looked around taking in your surroundings. 

“Shit.” He cursed hearing his phone buzz uncontrollably in his pocket signaling he was going to be late for class, he could care less. He wasn’t sure why he had done it, but he hugged you tightly, the colors hitting him like a wave, and he couldn’t be happier. You stiffened in his arms before relaxing and hugging you tightly, a comforting sigh falling out of your lips. “I-I found you.” 

He shook his head trying to push back that memory, Nostalgia clouding his judgement just like it did whenever the memories of you flooded back to the surface. He tightened his hold around your waist cuddling you into his side even further. It was Sunday and the two of you had decided to stay in after a stressful week at work. You were mindlessly drawing inside of your notebook, your bottom lip stuck between your teeth as you concentrated. Vernon had always scolded you on that habit, claiming your lips were too beautiful to be put through that unnecessary stress. Now he didn’t have the energy to tell you anything about it. 

You sighed feeling his thumb graze the skin of your hip, his lips finding your neck as he searched for anything that could make him feel. You smiled putting down your pencil and sat up, turning your head a small pout on his lips as he tried pulling you closer to him. “You’ve been so touchy lately.” You grinned placing your hands against his chest. 

“Are you complaining?” He smirked moving your hair away from your neck and finding your sweet spot. A soft sigh coming from your lips. 

“I’m not…” You paused moving your head away as he let out a whine. “It’s just not you.” You whispered looking down at your closed notebook, running your index finger against the spine. 

“What do you mean, I love touching you.” He spoke removing his hands from your body, untangling himself from you. “Do you not want me touching you anymore?”  His heart breaking slowly as words flew out of his mouth before he could process them. 

“No…I love you touching me, it’s just you’ve never been this overly affectionate before.” You shrugged, opening your notebook again and grabbing your pencil as Vernon let out a frustrated sigh and stood up from the couch. 

“I can’t show my love to you anymore without you getting suspicious.” He scoffed, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. You slammed your notebook shut throwing it aside before standing up to face him. Anger that you had been pushing aside for months coursing through your veins.

“Do you?” You spat out, closing your hands into fists at your sides. Vernon gives you a confused look making you roll your eyes. “Do you love me?” You spoke feeling smaller than usual as you fought back tears, Vernon’s heart stopping. 

“O-Of course I do, why wouldn’t I love you anymore.” He ran a hand through his hair, his words coming out of his mouth at lightning speed as he tried to process everything. He should’ve prepared himself for this moment instead of walking on eggshells around you, worrying about making the wrong move. And for the most part he had succeeded but he knew that one day you would catch on and he guessed that day was today.

“The other day when I asked you to hand me a yellow marker you stared at them for longer than usual before handing me the blue one. You usually gloat about the leaves around this time of the year and this year you seemed to care less and finally you’ve been dressing in just black and white clothes and when you don’t nothing matches. So Hansol I’m going to ask you again and I need you to answer me honestly.” You grabbed his hands holding them up to your chest as he stared at you wide eyed. “Do you still love me?” You choked out. A single tear falling from your eye and Vernon swore he heard your heart cracking along with his. 

He closed his eyes, counting to five before opening them. The color of your bright red lights staring back at him. The same color he had started to hate because he understood why that had been the only part of you that hadn’t faded. He took a deep breathing wiping your fallen tears with his thumbs wishing he could still see the color of your eyes burning holes inside his. 

“Yes, I do still love you.” He said pressing his lips against your forehead. Your heart breaking because although that was the answer you needed. It wasn’t the answer you wanted because it was a lie. 

He knew you hadn’t believed him as he heard your sobs, but he held you closely hating himself even more now that you knew the truth. 

The first snowfall of the year had fallen, while the two of you were having dinner on the rooftop of your apartment building. The first snowflake landing on top of Vernon’s nose, the first smile you had given him ever since that Sunday afternoon. You laughed at his confused face as it rang in his ear like a sweet melody that had slowly started to go out of tune, but he didn’t care. You laughed, you smiled, and it made his heart swell knowing it was directed towards him. 

You had put your noodles down, your eyes glowing as you watched your surroundings turn into a pale white, the bitter cold hitting your bones, but you didn’t care because it still meant you could feel something. You turned to face Vernon as he watched you with calm eyes, hating the way his gaze made you feel. You looked down wrapping your arms around yourself welcoming the numbness that accompanied the cold.

“Let’s go to the bakery.” Vernon spoke standing up and gathering the trash on the table. You looked up opening your mouth before closing it again looking for words to say. But you had ran out of them long ago and it frustrated you. So, you nodded agreeing with him, because despite everything that was going on between the two of you. The traditions that two of you had built still mattered. 

“You’re paying for the hot chocolate this time.” You said nudging your side against his as the two of you walked down the street hand in hand. His touch had started to feel foreign to you and you wondered if he felt it too. 

“I always do.” He chuckled, shaking his head, bringing your hand up and resting it against his heated lips trying to warm you up. You tried everything not to pull away because days were getting harder than before knowing that one day the universe will finally give him the person he was meant to be with. But you were selfish just like Vernon was and just like every other human being on this planet was, so you pretend. You let him treat you the same way he had always treated you. You let him touch you the same way he always touched you and in return you’d do the same, opting to deal with your heartache when the day the two of you would have to exchange your goodbyes came. 

“Wait outside.” He said as the two of you stopped in front of the infamous bakery you had first met five years ago. 

“Deal.” You nodded taking a seat on the bench the owners of the bakery kept outside. A small kitten poking out from behind the legs making you smile widely. Vernon watched you, admiring the way you carefully picked up the kitten and placed it on your lap. Your heart was too big for your body sometimes which is why this whole situation was worse. He nodded once before walking inside.

Vernon took his place in line looking around, wishing he could remember the colors of everything he once had grown to love, trying to decide whether the glass display where all the sweets were laid out was still the same one as before. He racked his brain for a while before deciding that it wasn’t, adding it to the list of items that had changed ever since his life started falling apart. 

“Next.” He heard the cashier yell. Vernon took a step forward looking up at the menu displayed behind the bar as his hands searched for his wallet in the pocket of his jeans. 

“Two peppermint hot choco—shit.” He said as his eyes finally landed on the cashier in front of him. His heart stopping, his breath catching itself at the base of his throat as the feeling he had once felt with you rush through his veins. 

His world that was now completely black and white, the world that had you in it. The one he had gotten accustomed to the last year slowly started changing. The colors return to their rightful places, starting with the cherry stain of her lips, fully understanding why he suddenly stopped seeing the color adorn your perfect lips days ago. 

His chest tightened as her eyes widened and he knew she had seen it too. The fear that he had kept locked away in a wooden box, spilled out as his hands started to shake. He ran a hand through his hair tugging at the roots before closing his eyes shut. Scrunching them tightly hoping he’d see black and white once he opened them again. 

A fool he was because the second he opened them the colors came rushing in faster than before. The color around her felt foreign to him because it wasn’t the colors he had grown to love when he was with you, and that broke him. 

“S-Sorry.” He mumbled before rushing out of the bakery, bumping into passengers along the way, whispering his apologies. He pushed the door open, the annoying chime ringing his ear as his eardrum threatened to burst. His gaze landing on you and he swore he could physically feel his heart shatter into millions of pieces. Pieces he would no longer want to put together if it meant a life without you.

You paid him no mind as you beamed petting the head of the small kitten, humming the same song you would sing to him whenever he had trouble sleeping. He approached you slowly, the bitter snow crunching underneath his feet. His shaking hands down by his side as he stood in front of you. His bright shoes coming into your line of sight. 

“Wow, that was fa—.” You stopped mid-sentence the second you finally raised your head to look at him. Tears falling down his face, making his cold cheeks even colder. He fell in front of you. His clothed knees scraping against the frozen payment. 

“I-I don’t want this.” He sobbed, his arms tightening around your legs as he buried his face in your thighs, making the kitten meow in protest and jumping off. “I w-want to keep loving you.” He hiccupped. 

You rested your hand on top of his head, letting your fingers tangle themselves into his dark locks. As you blinked back tears trying to come up with any comforting words to say as the two of you faced the moment you had been avoiding ever since that spring day at the park. The same moment that had kept you up at night as he soundlessly slept next to you. The reason why wore the atrocious red lipstick, even if it was out of character and clashed with your outfit. But you kept wearing it knowing it was the only color Vernon had been able to see, your heart breaking each time he unconsciously smiles whenever he saw it. 

You knew this moment would come; you knew it would hit the two of you like a dozen bricks. The tightness in your chest getting worse as he held you, his sobs mixing with the sound of the chime from the bakery door. 

“Is everything okay?” A soft voice spoke making your head turn, Vernon’s nails into your calves. You silently watched as everything around her faded at a rapid pace. Your breathing getting faster before the sob that you had been holding in finally fell out of your lips. 

The last color you had seen before everything turned black and white, was the shade of her cherry red lipstick. 

[lunarblazes]

i made a desertduo playlist and then decided to be a nerd and write explanations for all the songs! like a nerd!

playlist link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ZGylutQpyTbgX7MY7Lrzz?si=t8_kBwBHSYG5kxTvZoIrTQ&dl_branch=1

QUICK DISCLAIMER: i am aware that a lot of these songs may have or imply romantic connotation! i would really really like it if these were not read as though those romantic connotations carry over to scar and grian. even if we’re just talking about the third life characters, i would prefer not to ship them or imply romance between them on this post. thank you so much and keep reading if you’d like to see the playlist analysis!

and now that that’s out of the way, PLAYLIST TIME!

•

passerine- the oh hellos

“you were the song that i’d always sing/you were the light that the fire would bring/but i can’t shake this feeling that i/was only pushing the spear into your side again”

this song really just... firstly, it’s one of my favorite songs, and the line i chose there pushes home the sort of terrified devotion i think the desert has. plus there’s a fun line about the cold wind blowing in from the north in the ending bits that i think very much fits their conflict with the red army, and a lot of legally obligated flight imagery that i need to have in every possible song because i’m a fuckin nerd.

•

no children- the mountain goats

“i hope that our few remaining friends/give up on trying to save us/i hope we come up with a failsafe plot to piss off the dumb few that forgave us”

i will admit that no children isn’t a perfect fit, but the general vibe of sort of defiant pessimism and betrayal fits very well with them! it’s very triumphant in its death, and i think that is very desertcore, because what’s more triumphantly dead than being the last duo left alive?

•

skulls- bastille

“when all of our friends are dead and just a memory/it’s always been just you and me/for all to see”

okay like this entire song is SO MUCH DESERT VIBES? LIKE SO MUCH. if i were to ever make an animatic for them i’d do it with this song. “a match is our only light, it’s day of the dead i’m indiana jones, yeah,” “i hope you can make me laugh six feet under when we’re bored of each other,” “i don’t want to rest in peace, i’d rather be the ghost that annoys you,” IT JUST KEEPS GOING. i think this song would work well with any third life duo, honestly, but these two in PARTICULAR just because of how it ended with them literally ‘buried’ next to each other, and again, the chaotic death vibes.

•

freaking out- mystery skulls

“i just keep out of my tongue/til all you want is done/and you just wanna leave me, oh yeah”

this song is a very third life grian song to me in particular! it could be my bias because of my little headcanon of grian burning on his red life, but seriously, this song is very reminiscent of the back and forth of loyalty that grian has with scar. the above line is sort of representative of the betrayal on red, and of course grian’s life debt.

•

night running- shin sakiura

(this song is in japanese! these lyrics are the rough english translation i found on google.) “someday we will stand at this place once again/for sure we will stand up again and again/we will watch it will the end/i want you to live freely”

this song is actually the ending theme for the anime bna, which i adore, and i just added it on a whim before looking at the translated lyrics. but um. holy hell the lyrics hurt me because they’re about running in search of someone, running for no reason, looking for something, and it just really hit, because the desert never really had a goal! they didn’t expect to survive, they were trying to survive, but what was their longterm goals? nothing. so that sort of endless search felt fitting for this. plus the song is a parallel for the two estranged best friends of the show so! perfect.

•

summer nights- siames

“it’s summertime/singing al green in your car/heading to a party/and the night air feels alive”

okay again, i will admit this song is mainly on here because i absolutely love it, but i also do think it fits well. it’s also about healing/estranged friendships, with a very distinct feeling of nostalgia for a happier time. maybe for a time when this was all a game, when there was no blood or betrayals on their hands. little canon divergent, but it’s fun for me, so into the playlist it goes!

allies or enemies- the crane wives

“are we allies or enemies/this will be the death of me, this will be the death of me/all’s fair in love and war but i can’t fight with you anymore”

. i just. points to that lyric. it literally led to both of their deaths. are they allies or enemies? it also fits with scar still wanting grian to be his friend even after he’s no longer indebted with the line “what happens now? do we have another go, do we bow out?” another very good animatic song that i’ve considered heavily. i listen to this playlist a lot

•

burn him down- kitsch club

“you must destroy, oh you must destroy, beyond all recognition/you gotta burn him down, you gotta burn him down, beyond all recognition”

this song just has a lot of fire and arson and high energy vibes. my little war criminals look at them go

•

rose- the oh hellos

“what's true is like a sickle/it'll cut you to the middle/your rose is without a thorn/but no, my mouth don't taste of metal/from the pot here to the kettle/i think we got a lot we gotta learn”

this one is like the exact opposite vibe of burn him down. the oh hellos are so poetic and this song just... feels like the healing potions after a battle. many of the metaphors here fit, i think

•

lone digger- caravan palace

“hey, brother, what you thinking/that good ol' sound is ringing/they don't know what they're missing/(they call it lonely diggin')”

okay this song is straight up just a dance song. i added it because i like it and also for some reason it feels ominous to me? i’ve got no idea why, it’s seriously just a club song, but it’s a banger and it’s in this playlist because i said so

•

feed the machine- poor man’s poison (suggested by my friend argonaughtkeene!)

“somethin’s goin” on, just look around/fear is on the rise, and there’s blood all over the ground/let’s all just blindfold the poor, we all know what’s in store/ we got ‘em now, just break ‘em down a little bit more”

this song is a VIBE for both desertduo members. there’s parts for both of them. it’s ruthless, gritty, very maniacal, perfect. listen to it and you’ll immediately understand why i added it.

•

sweet tooth- scott helman

“i hold hands with cosmic entities/i’ll take this two-ride if i please/i got this sweet tooth baby, yeah i got this sweet tooth baby/i exploit my opportunities/some broken hearts, some cavities”

sweet tooth is super upbeat and bright with these strangely dark lyrics? like i’m pretty sure it’s about addiction. in any case, i thought the “i hold hands with cosmic entities” very funnily fitting for both of the desert boys. it’s a banger!

•

necromancin’ dancin’- bear ghost

“when i’m necromancin’, everyone’s dancin’/nobody can stop me, i dare you to try/the dead are infused with insatiable groove and they’re coming for you, there’s nowhere to hide”

necromancin’ dancin’ just. bastard vibes. there’s not much more to say it’s just huge villain song vibes. i adore it.

•

crazy = genius- panic! at the disco

“if crazy equals genius/then i’m a fucking arsonist/i’m a rocket scientist/if crazy equals genius/you can set yourself on fire/but you’re never gonna burn, burn, burn”

i. yeah. y. yeah. more bastard vibes. also shoutout to an artist i saw (i think it was strifesolution?) who made a desertduo piece to this song because i have not stopped thinking about it ever

•

sweet bod- lemon demon

“i’m diggin’ up your coffin/and pouring out the contents/your sexy, sweet solution/is ripe for distribution”

you know how i said freaking out was a grian song? this one is a scar song. it’s my favorite lemon demon song and also it has the total macabre capitalism vibe that third life scar NAILED. more bastard vibes good for him <3

•

drunk- the living tombstone

“feel so much better than usual/i feel indisputable, oh/but now i’m feeling so beautiful/don’t wake me up from this spell i’m under, if i’m still breathing/i know that i will be ugly when i feel like myself again, oh/but right now i’m feelin’ so beautiful”

the descent of this song, starting off with a polite gathering and ending with a gasping drunk in the parking lot gazing at the stars that he can barely see? yes. yeah. mhm. i used a line from this song for a fic, actually, it fit so well.

•

oh no!- marina

“one track mind, one track heart/if i fail, i’ll fall apart/maybe it is all a test/cos i feel like i’m the worst so i always act like i’m the best”

bubbly pop track about false confidence, the ruthlessness of the pop industry, and the influence of the media? you know why this is here. it vibes. it rocks.

•

do it all the time- i don’t know how but they found me

“we’re taking over the world/a little victimless crime/and when i’m taking your innocence/i’ll be corrupting your mind/no need to cry i’m only doing everything i want to do because i do it all the time”

EVEN MORE BASTARD VIBES! SOMEHOW THERE IS MORE! this playlist is half villain songs and half heart-wrenching ballads and that’s the real desert experience i think.

•

the phoenix- fall out boy

“i’m gonna change you/like a remix/then i’ll raise you/like the phoenix”

BATTLE SONG BATTLE SONG! i’ll be honest i partially chose this song because i am a huge sucker for phoenix grian imagery in particular, but it’s also just a very good war song for them. villain song no 18372948 except this one originally had a hero vibe and now it’s changed specifically for them?? wild. their power

•

the other side- the greatest showman

“right here, right now/i’ll put the offer out/i don’t wanna chase you down, i know you see it/you run with me/and i can cut you free/out of the treachery/and all you keep in”

scar and grian’s desert monopoly conversation went exactly like this canonically because i said so fuck you <3

•

icicles- the scary jokes (suggested by my friend demizorua!)

“icicles don’t soften when they die/so why should i, why should i?/oh, icicles don’t soften when they die/they sharpen into sabers and they stab you in the eye”

this song actually has specific parts for both grian and scar! my cool epic friend mx demizorua pointed both of them out to me and i adored it so much. it’s a very spiteful song, just like the desert boys. also it feels vaguely murderous. perfect

•

problems- mother mother (suggested by my friend demizorua!)

“i’m a loser, a disgrace/you’re a beauty, a luminary, in my face”

literally this entire song fits them. particularly their relationship with the flower husbands, to me, honestly— the whole “when we meet at the pearly gates/you’ll get the green light/and i’ll get the boot in the face” reminds me a lot of them hdksjdks

•

tongues and teeth- the crane wives

“i know that you mean so well/but i am not a vessel for your good intent/i will only break your pretty things/i will only wring you dry of everything”

h. yeah. this song is literally gaslight gatekeep girlboss and i attribute it to the desert for that reason alone. songs to commit murder to!

•

you’re nobody til somebody wants you dead- saint motel

“you’re nobody til somebody wants you dead/and the list, it grows, and grows, and grows/it grows, and grows, and grows/and grows, and grows, and grows/until it’s everyone you’ve ever known”

this one is very self-explanatory. enemies pogchamp

•

curses- the crane wives

“there’s a fire in my brain and i’m burning, love/oh my, oh my/keep running to the sink, but the well is dry/oh my, oh my/every word i say is kindling/but the smoke clears when you’re around”

okay again! this one has two very specific parts for both of them. grian’s the first verse, which is above, and scar’s the second verse!! i really do like my fire imagery for these two don’t i? well, i blame them for having a fuck ton of tnt on them at all times and literally burning their enemy’s banners as a final act of defiance.

[letstrywritingmaybe]

Just a random thought, since I love song fics… I wonder if I could somehow make a fic using my Spotify wrapped playlist as inspiration hmm… I’m gonna think out loud under the cut

Crash my car… so a meet ugly if it’s an AU (I love these!) but also lyrics could make it canon verse

Roses, need I say more, this is so CoAi vibes already. Lyrics probs more canon?

Bang, um… yeah okay probs canon divergence from the looks of things

Way less sad, labyrinth, know it all, lost, talk too much, maroon (oooo, as if I want already dreaming of a midnights album fic), close to you, 1 last cigarette, bummerland (cause we’re only going up from here. Okay this is like all my fics though), anti-hero, miss you a little, see through, blind, snow on the beach (okay but I did use a lyric already for the December fic…), American money (ngl always wanted to use this song as inspo cause of my bias of mirroring my golden otp), daphne blue (I don’t wanna talk about it! And I think we both know why! Wish it wasn’t automatic, the way I want you every time. Ugh this song man), loneliness for love (this song has always low key reminded me of my fav), karma (cause karma is her boyfriend!?!), songs I can’t listen too (my bias of superposition being their song), isabelle (hm… eh), love somebody (this one!!!), lavender haze (again the midnights album fic really should just be a thing), I like that, hate you + love you (ah yes the low key toxic vibe of it all. Why am I like this), SAD (clap your hands) (honestly probs more of a kaishi vibe but not very shippy really, but we’ll roll with it), you’re on your own kid, 2/14 (can’t fall in love tonight, well guess what pal! It’s happening!), 3 o’clock things (insomnia my old friend but also this ship doesn’t sleep I swear), choke (basically just die, which is such a mood), bejeweled (best believe my queen is still bejeweled and she can still make the whole place shimmer. And when they ask if she has a man? She can still say she doesn’t remember~ seriously this album fic when. Does someone else wanna be in charge of this cause I’m super intrigued by how people write using the same source but it always turns out different and I love that!), never a good time (the demise of the canon ship, there’s literally no good way for them to break up. They’re way too toxic and while obviously they shouldn’t work out, it’s annoying that I even have to figure a way to make amicable. I literally don’t even bother anymore. I hate canon), palm reader (got your crystals in your pocket like a drug dealer, bars. Love this line always), all my favorite songs (see the neon trees song cause that is the tie in), mastermind (most CoAi song off the album hands down), less than I do (I hope you feel blue, less than I do… did I really write a fic if I don’t make him suffer?), ghost story (see previous note), wave of you, question…?, Greek tragedy (she hits like ecstasy~), I think I like you (geezus Christ you think buddy!!! Literally I wanna scream every time cause why the fuck is he like this!!! HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW YOURE IN LOVE WITH MY QUEEN!!! I say as if he isn’t canonly dense as fuck when it comes to romance, it’s literally why I can’t deal with him sometimes and will only write him when he fucking is aware! As a hopeless romantic, it kills me to see him be so dumb about this kinda stuff), electric love, sweet nothing (okay I honestly see this more as kaishi but it’s cause I’m soft for them but also imagining it as CoAi is very cute too), strawberry sunscreen (she tastes like sunscreen and summertime, actually lots of feels about this… like you know when a summer fling is going to end cause it can’t last and you know it but you still keep going for it even. Living in the moment and falling more and being so happy and just disregarding the fallout that’s to come. Again just my feelings with this ship, the song does not give this vibe at all), run (need I say more, this is a theme for this ship), baby blue shades (hm… again I’m thinking more of symbolism but the song is not at all the way I’m making it out to be in my head)

midnight rain (ugh okay my fav song off the album but in regards to the ship there’s so much about this song man. And I never think of him, except on midnights like this. My whole heart. I guess sometimes we all get just what we wanted. I guess sometimes we all get some kind of haunted. Listen I’m a firm firm believe that they would absolutely be each other’s the one that got away and that just pains me so much), can you handle my love??, I ain’t worried, world’s smallest violin, vigilante shit, girl(you’re gonna take me back to a time when I loved and I mean it), animal(so look me in the eyes, am I someone else?)

you are the traffic (I actually have a fic with this as the title and it is not a great one. Not as messy as devour, but not great either. A terrible toxic relationship that should definitely end, but because it’s me… yeah…)

Dear reader, automatic (god I love the way you talk the way you feel baby), higher, blu (fall into your blue, what the hell is love if you’re in complete control, fighting it is hopeless, sinking in your ocean just like you designed me to do), would’ve could’ve should’ve (the regrets aspect but also John Mayer is a piece of shit, not fic related of course but I never liked him), Thelma + Louise, coming home, boys (got hungover from your words, in New York it’s the worst, all these nights are a blur), the Great War, superposition, cemetery (def not a shippy song but we’ll roll with the title), low key (see I only lie when I love you summary), Paris, I want it all (he’s the selfish one but he’s not wrong when it’s for her), love me like a friend (fwb fic when), song about you (see me always being on the song fic train), high Infidelity, stay next to me

Cringe (honestly could go one of two ways for me. Either more fuel for no canon ship or desperation for my ship. Again I write this all the time), still not dead (honestly the theme of the series if we’re just looking at the title here), bigger than the whole sky, wish you were sober, the other side of paradise (of all glass animal songs it was this one??? I wish you could see the naked truth… I guess), sunshine, glitch, choker (self-sabotage is a sweet romance)

tangerine (okay here’s another one, hm… honestly more of a failed ship song but perhaps a dramatic thing of this is what will happen to me if I miss out on keeping you), dancing in the kitchen

state of grace (okay I never liked the idea of writing a red album fic cause it is the ultimate breakup album and in my world my ship always works out. So really this is more for the canon ship, which I low key have put a lot of thought into and may just write it one day… but I don’t really wanna cause I do not care about the canon ship. But I literally have it all mapped out in my head. All 30 songs. But anyways this is the worthwhile fight I guess would be his stance for my queen if I’m making it for my ship)

My play (basically the perfect scenario, but we all know nothing ever goes to plan in the real world), lean on me, someday, red (see note about this being a canon ship break up album and my ship is absolutely not a red ship cause to me those do not last. I say as I have a red otp), drivers license (okay this does not apply to them at all, but we can roll with it in the way that we’re tying in the crash my car song. Am I bringing back the idea of an AU?), 18

Get away (okay I can’t. This has always been a kaishi song to me and I kinda still really wanna write this fic for them one day… but I guess we can roll with this as just the title, cause the lyrics are definitely more geared towards kaishi for me)

Message in a bottle (again we don’t need to go over this again, so title it is), record player (title), strawberries & cigarettes (basic but so what), find someone, run (but this one is for the one in Run To Change The End Game. I still need to finish that and perhaps add the joker and the queen, but for this purpose we’ll continue the theme of running away or not), new religion, everybody talks (in which as per usual in my fics, everyone ships them), (skipping this one cause it’s not my song but one of my brothers that made the list)

Treacherous (okay I know I said no red songs cause breakup album but… this to me has (still is) always been the most CoAi song Tay ever wrote so… yeah)

In conclusion, this would literally be every fic I’ve ever written so yeah. Totally doable

[sterekfests]

Welcome to our Summer round of Sterek Fests! Sterek Summer Fest will run from May 28th - August 5th in celebration of Summer, whether you’re getting out for school at the end of the school year and have two months to travel, or love the heat and spending it locally with your pack, enjoying a staycation. There’s a little something for everyone!

Check out our Rules and FAQs. 

We also have a Discord you can join that has events running such as @sterekbingo and @sterekweekly.

How to Participate:

Participating in Sterek Summer Fest is easy and stress-free! This is a no-commitment fest where you can participate as little or as much as you want. Participate in one week and none of the others if you so fancy, or participate in all of them!

We have an AO3 Collection for you to post all of your creations in! 

This fest is open to both Fic and Art, so create to your heart's content!

How to post:

You can post your creations to any website that you want, as long as they are viewable to the public, whether that’s Tumblr, LiveJournal, DreamWidth, or our AO3 Collection.

@sterekfests so we see your creations to reblog them.

Use the tags #sterekfestssummer2023, and #sterekfests for generic tags.

For weekly tags: #sterekfestsbreak, #sterekfestscoastal, #sterekfestsstay, #sterekfestscamp, #sterekfeststent, #sterekfestslake, #sterekfestsroad, #sterekfestseuro, #sterekfestsisland, #sterekfestsBTS

Late Posting:

Late posting is always welcomed! The collection will stay open for late submissions.

If you have any questions, feel free to send us an ask!

- Liam (@sterekbros) & Dori (@evanesdust) 

Keep reading to see all the awesome theme weeks ahead!

May 28-June 3: School is out for the summer!  

School is out for the summer! It's time to relax, have fun, and enjoy the warm weather. Are Stiles and Derek looking forward to swimming, surfing, visiting friends, or just taking some time off? No matter what they do, it’s sure to be a summer to remember. 

June 4-10: Coastal Celebration

What better way to celebrate the summer than hitting the beach? Are Stiles and Derek watching the sunset in Santorini, Greece? Swimming in the clear waters of Hawaii? Maybe they’re taking a pack trip or sailing around the world together for the summer. Take us on their coastal celebration!

June 11-17: Staycation

It’s summertime in Beacon Hills! From the bowling alley to the indoor ice rink, there are a lot of fun places to hang out and explore. Will Stiles and Derek dance the night away at one of the local clubs? Or maybe they spend their time walking through the preserve, taking in all nature has to give. Who knows! It’s up to you to decide how Stiles and Derek spend their staycation.

June 18-24: Camping Anywhere

Stiles and Derek are going on a camping trip! Are they going to a National Park? Hiding out in the preserve in a den? Sleeping in the Jeep because the rain flooded them out of their undisclosed campsite? Maybe they’re taking a pack trip during the full moon to run under the moonlight together, hunting deer while Stiles and Derek renew their mating bond. Only you can tell us where their camping adventure will take us! 

June 25-July 1: Tented Elegance

It’s that time of the year when fabulous parties happen in large, elegant tents! Maybe Stiles and Derek are having a summer wedding on their property at the rebuilt Hale house, renewing their vows; or they’re having a pack get-together escaping the heat in style. Wherever they decide to spend their time, it’s under a large, elegant tent! Take us on their adventure this summer!

July 2-8: Luxe Lakeside

It’s time to hit the lake! Lydia Martin is known to throw the best parties at her lake house! But this one is going to last all summer. Is it pack party time? Or are Derek and Stiles alone at the lake house after everyone left the party? Maybe Stiles borrowed the key from Lydia and there is no party, so the mated couple is getting away and spending time alone. Or they’re taking a trip out of town to visit a lake house in a beautiful secluded place that is owned by Derek’s family. Only your imagination can tell us! 

July 9-15: Road Trip to Anywhere

Pack your bags for a road trip to anywhere! Stiles and Derek are getting the heck out of Beacon Hills this summer. Pick a destination, whether by Camaro or Jeep and show us their journey! Are they going to a state or national park? Visiting the hot springs in Yellowstone? Hitting all the cheesy roadside attractions with no destination in mind? Only you can show us! 

July 16-22: Backpacking Europe

Grab your backpack and your passports! Stiles and Derek are trekking across Europe this summer! Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Greece… there are so many beautiful places the boys can visit this summer! Take us on your fantasy trip, or give us some insight if you live or have visited European destinations! 

July 23-29: Island Getaway 

Stiles and Derek are heading to an island getaway! It sounds like a great time to visit Cancun for the first time. Jamaica, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Cuba, Honduras, the British Virgin Islands, Bora Bora, Fiji, Greece, Italy… There are so many places to visit, laying on a beach, catching some sun! What are Derek and Stiles doing on their island getaway? Are they on their honeymoon? Taking a pack trip? Take us away to their island getaway!

July 30-August 5: Back to School

Summer is over and it’s time to head back to school! Are Stiles and Derek the same age and in high school together? Are they attending the same university? Maybe they’re pledging the same fraternity or they are freshman roommates away for the first time at school. Maybe they met at summer camp and have to leave since summer is over and find out they don't live that far from each other. After all, it’s a small world! Take us back to school with Stiles and Derek!

[the-necessary-unnecessary]

A list of all the films, series and web series that have been recommended as hidden must sees during isolation and beyond. 

Note: I have divided them into films with happy endings or not, series that haven’t finished so the exact ending is unknown I have put an asterisk (*) next to

Note 2: the descriptions are a mixture of my own and of the reviews I was sent by anons

She gets the girl

A Date For Mad Mary, 2016 (needs a date for a wedding, more about her complicated reconnecting with friends after prison but romance is cute)

Almost Adults, 2016 (centers around the broader themes of growing up and friendship but one of them is a giant gay. There is a happy ending for both the gay one and the straight one, gotta give the straights some food because they so rarely get fed)

Anne+, 2018* (Dutch webseries with fresh and new vibes with a great mid-twenties actress about mid-twenties gay lives. Everyone in it is LGBTQ+ yet nothing about it is LGBTQ+, it’s all just treated as natural and normal)

Bound, 1996 (you can't beat the lesbian noir classic which should one day be inducted into the lesbian hall of fame)

But I’m A Cheerleader, 1999 (camp and a lot of fun despite the very serious themes, starring Natasha Lyonne- one of the gayest straights out there)

Carmilla, 2014-16 (webseries based on the groundbreaking 19th century book. Some great chemistry and a lot of breaking of the fourth wall)

Carol, 2015 (Cate Blanchett movie based on the book The Price of Salt which caused issue when it was realised in 1952 because it gave its lovers a open ended happy ending)

Couple-Ish, 2015-16 (cute Canadian web series, bit on the nose but important gay, bi and enby rep)

Desert Hearts, 1985 (the looks, the emotions, the gorgeousness of them both, the chemistry, oh god it was so good. Vivian Bell deserves all the orgasms)

Elisa Y Marcela, 2019 (A Spanish film based on the true story of two women who got married with one of them pretending to be a man in 1901. A tearjerker but ultimately their love is stronger than the adversaries they face)

Entre Nous, 1983 (a French 1983 film which has Jews & Nazi's but doesn't end in complete horror. There are straights who think it’s a friendship but we know better)

Fingersmith, 2005 (BBC drama based on a book by Sarah Waters)

Fried Green Tomatoes, 1991 (based on a more obvious book, they’re sold as best friends but if you know you know)

Fucking Åmål, 1998 (one of the first films aimed at teenagers about two girls falling in love and getting together.)

Getrieben, 2018 (they're ex's and share a dog and then maybe they're not so ex anymore)

I Can't Think Straight, 2008 (cute romantic comedy adapted from a novel about a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian descent preparing for a wedding before events take a gay turn)

If These Walls Could Talk 2, 2000 (some happy and some sad endings in this film which portrays three generations of lesbian storylines from the same house)

Imagine Me and You, 2004 (not my fav but a classic and has Queen Cersei playing a wlw)

Kyss Mig, 2011 (heart eyes, a lovely film, does have maybe a bit too much man in it but he's gone when we get to the nitty gritty)

Our Love Story, 2016 (Korean, subtle nuanced relationship story)

Rosebud, 1996 (a channel 4 short with Julie Graham and questionable fashion choices. Who needs words when you can have such tantalising and vivid visuals? Teeny bit of man but it's fitting in the particular setting and its very fleeting, although admittedly nude)

Saving Face, 2004 (romantic comedy which had less of an impact that Imagine Me and You due to lesser known actors and probably partly to do with race- the main characters are Chinese-American. But it's a gorgeous movie that has a lot more than just rom com elements. The Half Of It is by the same director.

Sjukt Oklar, 2018* (very Swedish, very lesbian, very very funny)

Supervoksen, 2006 (Danish teenage coming of age type thing)

The Carmilla Movie, 2017 (based on the webseries but still accessible to those that haven’t watched it. Quite sweet and the actresses seem very comfortable with each other. Plus there is a great sex scene in it where the muscles on one of the girl’s back are especially sexy)

The World Unseen, 2007 (period film during South Africa's apartheid era with great chemistry)

The Handmaiden, 2016 (extremely nsfw but its got some incredibly powerful meaning to it especially the final sex scene with the bells. It's also incredibly shot and the sex scenes were done very sensitively on set with only women around and the director even in another room.)

Thelma, 2017 (a supernatural thriller about a girl starting college who suddenly starts getting seizures but they don’t know why and she has a female love interest)

Tipping The Velvet, 2002 (BBC series, also has a Victorian era strap on in it and Keeley Hawes, what's not to love?)

When Night is Falling, 1995 (An uptight and conservative woman, working as a literacy professor, finds herself attracted to a free-spirited, liberal woman who works at a local carnival. It’s got quite a lot of a boyfriend in it so its not for everyone.)

Yes or No, 2010 (literally a ‘and they were roommates’ movie as well as an enemies to lovers plot)

Zwischen Sommer Und Herbst, 2018 (coming of age elements, does have a man involved especially at the beginning, who happened to be the brother of one of the girls, but overall it was okay, no lesbians die and it doesn't end in abject misery)

She doesn’t get the girl but neither does the trope

Aimée and Jaguar, 1999 (based on a true story. Beautiful but painful, it’s a Jew falling for a German housewife in Nazi Germany, hence its sad as hell ending)

Bloomington, 2010 (coming of age, teacher student thing which walks that line relatively well without being too icky)

Freeheld, 2015 (an extremely powerful and important story to tell)

Gia, 1998 (Angelina Jolie gets it on with Elizabeth Mitchell in a moving film about model and lesbian Gia Carangi)

Kontrola, 2019* (a masterpiece of a mini web series with a great soundtrack, aesthetic and storyline. Season 2 may present a better future for them)

Mädchen in Uniform, 1931 (German cult classic almost entirely produced by women. Sexual awakening/teenage coming out of her shell stuff, there is also a 1958 redo which is okay. She doesn’t get the girl but it’s still a positive portrayal of sexuality where the object of desire isn't disgusted or weirded out by it)

My Summer of Love, 2004 (At first glance a coming of age movie, but has a lot of phycological elements too. Emily Blunt with a girl, not happy but no lesbians die)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2019 (spell-bounding french film with amazing rawness and visuals. One of my best cinematographic experiences ever)

Reaching for the Moon, 2017 (the love story of the poet Elizabeth Bishop and the architect Soares in the 60s)

Snapshots, 2018 (sad ending but great chemistry with no closed mouthed straight girl kisses)

Summertime, 2015 (French lesbian movie- dare I say more? Sad but no deaths)

The Hunger, 1983 (a gothic cult classic, vampires, its got David Bowie, Susan Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve in it)

The Miseducation of Cameron Post, 2018 (she doesn’t get the girl because there is no girl, but she does begin to find and accept herself. Based on a highly recommendable book by the same name)

Viola di Mare, 2009 (depressing as hell but beautiful to look and the couple have some good chemistry)

[solariaswitch]

Hello could u so the style thing for flora pretty please?💚

I think Flora’s style would be pretty much as it is portrayed in the show - cute, comfortable and bright. The one change I want to make is that I think she should wear clothes that allow for a bit more movement since I imagine that she would need it for gardening.

The color scheme would be bright and pastel-themed, with earthy tones. Light wash jeans and bright tops, longer and flowy skirts with blouses, and very little jewlery (I imagine she would have a thin gold necklace and maybe matching earrings). Somewhere in the intersection of soft girl and bohemian. Additionaly, I always imagined she is quite crafty, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she crochets or knits a lot of her own clothing. I can absolutely see her wearing those cute crochet blouses in the summertime and/or to the beach. Dresses is also a thing she regularly wears, especially longer and flowy ones. I’d headcanon her style as leaning towards cottagecore, now that I think about it. She doesn’t pay much attention to what shoes she is wearing, she wears both boots and sneakers. As long as they’re clean and ergonomic, she’s fine with them.

One thing that I absolutely think she would prioritize would be to wear all natural materials and I think she would mostly buy organic fabrics or second hand clothing. She cares a lot about the planet and she would probably have ethical concerns with the fashion industry. She’d want to wear her clothes for as long as possible and probably patches, mends and DIY’s old, outdated items.

She doesn’t go very hard on the makeup at all, because she wants to avoid being wasteful and she is naturally very pretty (I mean.. We all know she is stunning). If she decides to wear makeup, which is honestly mostly on special occasions, she wears mascara and some blush. But while she goes light on makeup, she does have a skincare routine that is like a sacred ritual to her. It is minimal, but she does it every single night even if she is tired, and she wears sunscreen every day because it’s good for the skin. For hair I think she mostly keeps it down and flowy and sweet scented, but sometimes she puts it in a singular braid if she needs it out of her face. I also imagine her hair to be darker than depicted in the show, more a chestnut shade of dark brown rather than the caramel color we get in the animation.

[hazzabeeforlou]

Fine Line Masterpost:

A breakdown, musically and lyrically 

In Fine Line, ‘raw honesty’ doesn’t really mean delving into the details of who Harry Styles is sleeping with, but rather it’s a glimpse into the world of a 25-year-old who is both deeply in love and who fucks up a lot; he’s given to sugary supplications, is plagued by jealousy, pouts at consequences, and struggles with understanding an inner self that keeps prodding him towards exploration of his identity.  

The album is constructed to be consumed by various factions of the fandom. There’s no getting away from the surface dedication of HS2 as an ode to a blonde supermodel with a delicious French accent whose new boyfriend’s father owns a gallery, a girl who has golden hair and blue eyes. I won’t be arguing that away, because it’s intentional, it’s meant to be the surface layer. 

The mantle is not the crust, though. Taken individually, each song can be seen as speaking to the queer experience in varied and complex ways, and I’ve seen some truly beautiful explorations of this angle. Especially with TPWK and FL, the anthemic solidarity with queer experience is astounding and gorgeous. I think it’s no accident that this broad take holds true as we zoom in and look at the complex details; Harry has written songs that speak both to this meaning and also hold incredibly personal and intimate significance between him and a partner (in this post we’ll call them Subject). 

I will be focusing on the album as a cohesive narrative in the context of it’s chronological, linear progression. Fine Line details an incredibly personal struggle; it’s a love letter, an at times embarrassing, self-loathing reflection on a love gone wrong, a love struggling, an emerging self, and a hope redeemed. 

Please feel free to ask questions if any of the technical stuff is confusing, but please also remember that these are my opinions, coupled with my analysis as a professional musician (meaning, hopefully I’m remembering those torturous years of theory dictation correctly!) 

Side A 

All four songs share an off-kilter-ness, a restless, unsettled, frantic feeling, as if Harry is balancing, undecided between throwing himself at the feet of the one he loves or pulling away. This is no illusion; the tonic base is missing from each song save WS (but even here the tonic is sabotaged in our ear, as we’ll discuss). We’re on a journey to side B; we start with a hope that sweet memories and lust can salvage love, and we end with Harry going his own way.

Golden: There are only two chords in this song, DM and CM7, the V and IV7 of the implied tonic, G Major. We never get to tonic though. We never touch that home base. The songs “da da da’s” give it a happier, peppier illusion than the text reveals. 

Harry is already broken, already reflecting and hopeless as the song begins. His intended listener, Subject - the sun, the golden one - waits for him in the sky, and is all he’s ever known. Subject has always browned his skin just right, but now, Harry reflects, perhaps has been too bright for him. (Is some aspect of Harry buried in the brilliance of Subject’s light?) This golden Subject is scared, though, scared Harry is so open. Harry doesn’t want to be alone, but he also needs to peel back edges of himself previously unexplored. Stepping into and away from light is a major theme for Harry, and this opening song sets that precedent. Subject is scared because “hearts get broken,” but Harry’s heart is already broken, so perhaps this refers not to interpersonal heartbreak, but situational. Harry recognizes he’s “out of his head...” BUT, he counters, “Loving you’s the antidote!” He naively gushes out poetry while Subject remains unconvinced. We establish an impasse. 

Watermelon Sugar: The Dm - Cm - Am6 - GM chord progression is an odd one; my best guess is that the song is in D minor, so the progression is: 

i, VII, v, IV

 That’s not typical in a minor key. Usually the leading tone note (in this case a C) is raised (so C#) making the five chord Major (V) not minor (v) and the seven chord diminished (viio) not Major (VII). also the Major IV ignores the B flat in the key signature of D minor and instead uses B natural. So all this to say that the tonic base STILL doesn’t feel like a tonic home, because the normalcy around the key signature is erased. Everything still feels unsettled, unresolved. 

Much has been made of the oral sex interpretation, so, ya. This is a song about remembering the best of times, a prayer to Subject, a plea for summertime and bellies and strawberries, and a feeling Harry is desperate to get back. 

Adore You: The three chords in this song, Cm - BbM - AbM, imply an E flat Major key, so vi, V, IV, respectively. The tonic, Eb (I), is (once again) never used, and instead vi, V, IV circle without ever coming to rest. 

Subject, “Honey,” creates a rainbow paradise. This is another love letter to Subject, let me adore you, I’ll walk through fire for you, you don’t have to say anything just listen to me, you don’t have to say you love me too, just please, please... you’ve been on my mind. Let me adore you like it’s the only thing I’ll ever do. By this wording, Harry admits that adoring Subject is not the only thing he ever does, yet he wishes Subject to remember, or imagine, this false reality. 

Lights Up: We’re in C Major here, with the chords Am - GM - FM, creating the same exact chord progression as Adore You, vi, V, IV. We (yet again!) never reach the tonic of C Major. It’s a constant tease of resolution, but there’s no solid home base. We’re suspended in limbo. 

Subject is “sorry, btw.” What does that mean, Harry asks? Sorry we’re here in this place, that this is happing? This song is Harry’s declaration: he’s not staying, he’s not coming back down. It would be sweet if things stayed the same, but no, I’m stepping into the light. “All the lights couldn’t put out the dark”... even all the golden sun of Subject couldn’t heal the void in Harry’s soul?  Harry asks subject, do you know who you are? implying that he’s determined to answer this for himself. I’m reminded of the crab in Moana, singing “Shiny.” There’s a certain bravado here, a reckless glittery happiness, a flaunting, an exuberance in discovery. 

Side B 

Tonics are all over the place. Harry is certainly certain about heartbreak. No ambiguity here. 

Cherry: GM - Em - CM, or  I, vi, IV. We’re in G Major and we know it. Repetitive “cou-cos’s” pepper the track like hanging fruit (let’s imagine from cherry trees). 

The song is a simple one, simple in its jealousy. Harry has let Subject go, and now Subject is at their best... and Harry hates it. He doesn't want his former pet term of endearment used on another, even though he has no claim on Subject’s actions anymore. Harry keeps finding bits of Subject in how he dresses. They’re not talking lately, and Harry perhaps is most upset that this separation isn’t going how he planned... Subject is at their best without him. 

The gallery line is inserted as a bridge, a unique line of music rather separate from the rest, an intentional narrative. But what’s most fascinating is the end of the song. The previous repetitive chord progression changes. Now we have 

GM - AM7 (an added C#) - Am7 (4/2 inversion) - GM

or I, II7, ii7, I

The “cou-cou” lands during the AM7 (the II7) and it lands EXACTLY on the note of B, extending the 7th chord to a ninth chord, before, on its second syllable, dropping to the A and holding there (a kind of suspension) while the chord progression resolves to the Am7 (ii7), making the A a chord tone. This is deliberate. Unless the whole piece was harmonically built around Camille’s random use of a B to A in a voicemail (also randomly in the perfect key for Harry’s voice) this was purposely recorded for aesthetic effect. I for one really love it, I could listen to breathy french girls mutter about beaches endlessly...

Falling: A straightforward progression. In the key of E Major,

 EM - C#m - BM - AM or I, vi, V, IV

With Falling, the only ballade on the album, we see Harry shift from jealousy to self destructive behavior. I don’t believe the ‘wandering hands’ line is about cheating (he and Subject were already apart) but rather, Harry seeking to wound Subject by turning to others. Communication is back open, because Subject says they care, they miss him too, but now Harry’s gone and fucked it all up. What have I become? What if Subject never needs me again? I can’t unpack the baggage they left. I just want Subject AROUND! Harry isn’t even begging for a romantic connection, he’s simply begging for Subject’s presence. He was so sure he could discover himself in LU, and now he keeps asking, what am I now? Who has he become on his own? He’s falling, and there’s no one to catch him. 

To Be So Lonely: This song waffles between two keys, just as Harry waffles between defending himself to Subject and finally, finally admitting (in just one small line) that he is, in fact, sorry. The song seems to start out in C Major, with CM and Am chords (I, iv) but then at the chorus the Am chord elides from a iv to a i, revealing the key is really A minor. The chorus goes on to be:

Am - GM - Em - FM 

or i, VII (lowered leading tone in minor), v (lowered leading tone in minor), VI

A fluttering mandolin mimics a fluttering heartbeat, and a folk music lilt gives the song a certain feel of heartbreak. 

Harry asks for Subject to not blame the drunk caller, likely himself. Harry was away. He missed Subject. He was just a little boy when he fell, and presumably Subject caught him that time. Subject is trying to be friends, they mean well, perhaps have taken pity on him, but Harry cannot stand to be called baby now, not when that name doesn’t mean what it used to, not when it’s a hollow word. Harry’s ‘home’ is suddenly a lonely place, but Subject has his reasons for how he’s acted, presumably good ones, and finally Harry gives his mea culpa, “this is it, so I’m sorry.” 

Interestingly, only after admitting that he’s made mistakes too, that he’s not perfect, that he shares the blame, does Harry confront and open himself to the realization contained in the next song, the heart of the album and the crux of what Harry’s been dancing around up until this point. 

She: In E minor, both verse and chorus use the same progression:

Em - DM - CM - Am - (Bm, a quick lead-in to) - Em 

 or i, II, VI, iv, v (no raised leading tone), i 

This Bowie-esc sounding song is the first to have characters. In addition to the Subject (perennially addressed as ‘You’) there is The Man and She. I would argue The Man and She are both Harry, a duality. The man drops his kids off at school, the man is thinking of You, like all of us do (everyone thinks of their SO perhaps). The Man goes through mundane daily tasks, but is he faking it? Does he really know what to do? He’s playing pretend, so pretend. 

Now Harry introduces She. (When speaking of She, Harry sings in a high falsetto.) She lives in daydreams, she is the first one he sees, and Harry doesn’t know who She is. A Woman just in his head, who sleeps in his (a jump up to the falsetto for just this one word in the verse) bed while he plays pretend. Much has been said about the gender/fluidity discovery in this song, and by better than me. It’s clear what Harry is saying, it’s clear what he’s going through and wrestling with. He’s thinking of Subject, but also haunted by She, in his head, in his mind’s eye, in his daydreams. She is a part of Harry, and Harry wants to know who She is. 

Side C

Uncomplicated tonics! All Major! A shift into happiness perhaps? 

Sunflower: F Major. BbM - FM - CM, or IV, I, V.  The bridge is fancy:

iii, IV, V, vi, I, V vi, V (vi?) V 

Some trippie hippie song from the 60s! Two lines of thought are apparent from the get go; Harry says he wants to get to know Subject, but then says “before I got to know you.” It’s as if this is a new beginning, like he and Subject are starting over. Much is made of the ‘seed’ thing, a metaphor for new life and rebirth, “plant new seeds in the melody.” Harry is trying hard not to talk to Subject, to not seem eager, not act a fool. He was just tongue tied, then he’s still tongue tied, implying he’s done this whole dance before. He implores Subject to hold their sweet memories: domestic times, kitchens, kids. In Golden, Subject was the sun. Now Subject is a sunflower, hung up high in the gallery, out of the shade, in the light a sunflower needs to thrive, into the light, step into the light. Little gasps from Harry interject throughout; is he surfacing from water (LU music video?), is he breathing between kisses, is he suddenly gifted new life like Gandalf atop Isengard? The end of the piece devolves into calls of unbridled, nonsensical joy, like birds song, like mating calls amongst brilliant plumage. 

Canyon Moon: D Major. DM - GM - AM - DM (I, IV, V, I)

 Bridge DM - (Em transit?) - AM - DM (I, (ii), V, I) 

Chorus DM - AM - DM - GM (I, V6, I6, IV) 

Perhaps the most straightforward tonic bound song of the album. Harry is missing Subject, but it’s a happy nostalgia now, a hopeful one, a “two weeks and I’ll be home.” Home is no longer a lonely place, like in TBSL. The world is happy waiting (there’s no rush? No need to have everything figured out?). “Doors yellow, broken, blue.” You can’t bribe the door on the way to the sky a sky where Harry’s Golden sun awaits him, and now the sky door is broken, busted through, that blue door to a blue sky that never looked so blue. 

We get another glimpse of She here; Subject remains You, Harry remains Harry, but there’s also a She who plays old hippies’ love songs and pretends to know the words; perhaps this is another Camille reference for narrative purposes, but I lean more towards this being another reference to She as Harry, exploring odd new music he’s never heard, trying not to be so pretentious about it but failing. (He’s such an Aquarius.) Most charmingly of all, the single whistler becomes two by the end of the song. 

Treat People With Kindness: F Major. This is the most interesting piece in terms of text painting. 

We start with CM6 - FM, then FM6/4 - BbM, then back to CM6 - FM, then we hold on the Am chord, and then repeat the whole thing. So analyzed in F Major this would be V6, I, I6/4, IV, V6, I, iii. 

But. By using the I6 to IV, Harry plays with the idea of a V of IV, where you take the IV chord of the key and pretend it has its own dominant (V) and use the V of IV not as the I chord normally is used, but as a Leading Tone chord to IV. 

ALL THAT TO SAY. He’s illustrating the lyrics. During “Maybe we can find a place” the chords are playing with dual resolutions. Where is the actual tonic? Is it F Major or B Flat Major? It’s ambiguous! We don’t know! We haven’t found our place yet! 

But then! The bridge. “And if we’re here long enough” and look where we land, on a CM chord, then BbM, then FM, a solid V, IV, I progression. And THEN (bless this boy) on the word belong we get the same A minor chord (the iii) but we get a 7th added to the chord, a G, and Harry holds this G in the melody (plant new seeds in the melody), a note that VERY MUCH DOES NOT BELONG because in no universe does a iii chord in Major have a 7th added! And Harry not only ADDS but draws attention to this note, this note that doesn’t belong!!! Then this iii7 chord resolves to C Major (V), making the G note a chord tone, making it BELONG, making it fit perfectly. 

GOD. Weep with me. 

This is Over the Rainbow. This is Hair, this is Age of Aquarius. Somewhere there’s a place we can belong and feel good and people will celebrate and rejoice in us, someday a new age will dawn. 

Harry is plunging into the deep end, dreaming, caught up in his good feelings and his euphoria in being “given second chances.” He’s tentative about admitting reckless hope to Subject; instead he says, “Maybe we can find a place to feel good?” Harry says he doesn’t need all the answers. He said in LU “do you know who you are” then in Falling “What am I now?” then in She “I don't know who she is” and now he’s at peace. He feels good in his skin, and he will keep on dancing. 

Most personally, I think the sudden somber turn of the line “If our friends all pass away” is in reference to grief. He’s speaking to Subject, but also to himself. It will be okay, okay, okay. Harry can’t control his life, he doesn’t have everything figured out, but he’s come to accept that. 

Side D

Fine Line: D Major. We come full circle, returning to the use of only three chords like at the start of the album. This time, though, Harry resolves to tonic in a repetitive pattern used for both the verses and chorus: 

Bm, GM7, DM6/4, or vi, IV7, I

FL is the summation of the album, the thesis statement, the conclusion of the journey. Harry has endured tests of patience, and accepted that there are things he’ll never know. He’s trying to shake off trepidation (of plunging in the deep end? Of hoping?). He says “My hand’s at risk, I fold.” The poker analogy is an interesting one; Subject (presumably) has gotten past Harry’s poker face, has sussed out his fronts and acts and strategies, and Harry is left bare and exposed, vulnerable before them. He’s been brought to this point, but willingly he folds. He laments that “spreading you open is the only way of knowing you.” We should open up before it’s all too much. Harry is done fighting. He’s also done sleeping in the dirt. For the first time he’s not sugar-coating his words, avoiding their problems via sex and pretense and flowery language. He’s matured enough to admit, “Man, I hate you sometimes.”

Again we have the reappearance of She. Harry says to Subject, “We’ll get the drinks in, so I’ll get to thinking of her.” This She is something between them, within them now, another facet of his and Subject’s relationship. Harry is going to spend time thinking of Her. She, I believe, is a part of him. 

A fine line is a balancing act, a tightrope, a suspension between extremes. But Harry calls out into the echo of the music, “We’ll be alright.” A declaration, a hope, a promise. Brass, strings, and a building crescendo, a cacophony of movie-credit-worthy emotion, sweeps us towards closure. Ethereal voices fade out, moving from dominant to tonic, but then a solitary piano plinks on a V chord, twice, hanging in the air, a question, an invitation, a hope. 

[bobohu4eva]

Pink Lace - Chapter 7 (M)

Characters: Baekhyun x Reader (feat. EXO members)

Genre: College AU, stripper AU, fluff, smut, slow burn

Summary: Baekhyun, a philosophy professor with mysterious wealth, got himself completely fucked over a girl who can’t let him into her life.

Word count: 4.4k

Warnings: sex work, mentions of sexual assault, adult themes/situations, smut (nothing too wild this time)

Tag list: @smolbeanmika @leave-me-in-the-summertime @totallynerdstuff @bbhmystar @nana-banana @kimyhappy @thegreatandi @geniusloey @deligxt @baekswifey @bbhyun506 @lovebuginlove @bellamendoza @baekyeonoreo @bobohumyonlyboo @wooya1224 @strawbaeri-s

Masterlist

Friday went by in a blur. You finally wrote your essay, which was sent to Baekhyun after you got home from class. Class. It had been hard. Really hard. The material was challenging too, but you were more focused on how sexy Baekhyun looked in his nice professor clothes. How had you gotten this lucky? You laughed like an idiot when he saw you and innocently pulled down the hem of his shirt with one eyebrow raised at you, making fun of the marks he had so graciously placed on your neck. Lucas had seemed to notice the marks as well, since he seemed weirdly focused on his work and didn’t speak to you at all, a nice change from his usual nagging about why you wouldn’t text him back.

You couldn’t stop thinking about work the next day. Baekhyun would be there again of course, and this would be the first time for you to see him there after admitting your feelings. It gave you whiplash how quickly your opinion of him had changed in such a short time, but you had no regrets. If the last two weeks had taught you anything, it was to not second guess yourself. You were ready to get in there and give the man the lap dance of his damn life, and hopefully more. Oh how you looked forward to it.

Saturday morning, you got down to business. Of course you always tried to look a little extra nice when he’d been there in the past, but today was the real deal. You needed to be fully exfoliated, face-masked, and beautiful. There was no such thing as over preparing. Not today. You even used one of those bath bombs with glitter in it so your whole body would shimmer under the club lights. 

You made a point of it to wear the same outfit you’d worn the first night he’d met you; a baby pink lace bodysuit with generous cutouts, a thong, and sparkly white heels. 

You left ample time to make sure your hair and makeup would be perfect as well. For the hair you’d opted to keep it down and add a little bit of curl, as for makeup, you wanted to positively sparkle. For the first time since you’d started working as a dancer, you tasked Mia with doing your makeup since she was more skilled at it than you. 

“So you want a lot of glitter and glowy-ness, right?” She asked as she dabbed foundation on your cheeks.

“Just make me look like the goddess I am.” You said, closing your eyes and smiling at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue beating your face. 

“Got it boss.” 

After what felt like forever, she finally turned you around to look in the mirror. Your jaw dropped. She’d done your makeup before for stuff like prom when you guys were younger, but she had really outdone herself this time. 

Your skin looked like it was glowing from within, with flecks of holographic glitter sparkling every color of the rainbow across your cheeks. Your eyeliner was perfect, and she’d even overlined your lips a bit and added some highlight onto them to make them look extra kissable. It wasn’t too much, just the perfect amount to spice up your features and make you feel like a million bucks.

“Holy shit Mia I love you. I look hot.” 

“You’re really gonna give him a hard time tonight.” She winked at you, and you decided you wanted to give him a bit of a preview, tease the man a little. 

You and Baekhyun had been texting each other pretty consistently for the last couple days already. You slipped into your designated outfit for the night and took a few pictures to send him, only showing little parts of you at a time. You selected your two favorites, and hit send. 

You: (5:46pm) I can’t wait to see you later ;)

Baekhyun: (5:52pm) Holy fuck. You know what that outfit does to me. 

You grinned down at your phone at his reaction, heart fluttering and butterflies flying about in your belly. This feeling was so disgustingly sweet, but you loved every second of it. 

After changing back into your regular clothes, you packed your outfit and got ready to leave after having dinner with Mia. 

The club opened at 7pm sharp, and you were there right on time. You went back into the dressing room to change into your carefully selected lingerie and shoes, adding a spray of your favorite perfume as a final touch before getting back out onto the floor to start your night. 

“Holy shit Candy.” You heard your manager say as you signed in for the night. “special occasion?” 

Tonight, not even his comments could dampen your mood. “You could say that.” You replied cheerfully before sitting down at the bar where you usually waited until Baekhyun arrived. 

After sitting for a little while you were called up on stage, so you walked across the room, making sure to sway your hips on the way, and walked up the stairs to the platform with the pole. 

You walked slowly around the pole a couple times, getting into the feel of the music. Luckily the dj was on your side tonight, and was playing something slow and sensual enough for you to really get down to. You started to do your usual thing, a couple little spins on the pole, a bend over and shake of the ass here and there, before slowly laying down for some floor work. There were already a decent amount of people in the club, and a few had come up to the stage now to tip you. For maximum tips, you spent a little while in front of each of them either playing with your boobs in front of their face or turning around and shaking your ass as they threw money at you. 

The way your club worked was you did one song with your outfit on, and the second song topless. When you heard your fist song coming to an end you stood back up, turning around to face your back to the room as you took it off, to make for a more dramatic reveal. You slowly peeled the thin fabric of the bodysuit off, stepping out of it leaving you in only your thong and shoes. 

When you turned back around, Baekhyun’s eyes met yours from across the room. He must’ve walked in as you were facing the wall. 

Immediately you grinned, and he looked just as thrilled to see you as well, sitting down at the empty table closest to the stage. He never tipped on stage, you assumed because he was shy about standing up there in front of everyone. Not that you minded, since he always paid you generously anyway. But tonight you didn’t even care about his money. 

It seemed he’d put some extra effort into his look for tonight as well. 90% of the time when he would come in he was in sweats, but not today. His black jeans hugged his thighs in a way that made your mouth water, and the fitted white shirt he wore showed off the broadness of his shoulders wonderfully. His black hair was styled out of his face and his glasses were hanging off the neckline of his shirt, further defining the swells of his chest. 

Oh how you had missed this. Seeing him here, absolutely enamored with you. 

You snapped yourself out of your thoughts and got back to dancing, this time paying special attention to his side of the room. You made sure to send little smirks his way as you did your thing. Once you’d made your way back onto the floor of the stage, you laid on your back on the edge closest to him, arching your back and running your hands up and down your bare body suggestively as you locked eyes. 

He looked like he was about to faint. 

Eventually the song came to an end. You gathered all the cash that had been thrown at you and got your outfit back on before walking off stage and directly onto Baekhyun’s waiting lap. 

“If you’re trying to kill me, it’s working.” You giggled at his words, blushing. 

“Thank you, I know this is your favorite outfit on me, right?” You asked, gesturing down to your lacy pink bodysuit. 

“Of course.” He was smiling so widely, you thought this might be the happiest you’d ever seen him before. “You look so good tonight, you always look good of course, but holy shit. You’re really so beautiful.” 

Your face turned an even deeper shade of red, the way he was looking at you would’ve made any girl swoon. Oh how beautiful he was as well. 

“You’re literally sparkling.” He observed, looking down at the skin of your thigh and all the little silver flecks that were reflecting the spotlights as they moved around the room. “I’m gonna be covered in glitter when I get home aren’t I?”

You laughed, “Yeah, sorry.”

“Oh the things I do for you.” 

“I missed this, the two of us hanging out together here, like this.” You whispered in his ear. 

You could feel just how warm Baekhyun was. His cheeks were the cutest shade of pink. 

He cleared his throat before speaking. “Are you gonna be mad if I take you upstairs before ordering us drinks? I don’t think I can wait tonight.” He swallowed. 

“No, I think that’s a great idea.” 

“Then I need you to get off my lap babe.” You happily obliged. 

As you made your way across the room towards the stairs together, your heart rate began to increase. Never in your life had you been this nervous to give someone a dance. Or maybe nervous wasn’t the right word. Anxious. You were anxious, not nervous. You weren’t scared, you just wanted to do your best to make him enjoy himself.

 The both of you knew it wouldn’t be a normal lap dance today. You wouldn’t just dance for a few songs and then sit and talk like usual. There was no way either of you would have the self control to keep it at that. 

When you finally got into the room Baekhyun handed you the usual stack of cash, and you started pulling down the straps of your bodysuit when he stopped you.

“I, um, can you keep it on actually? Nothing against your boobs, they’re great, but I just really like this on you.” He said as he sat down and put his glasses on. 

You laughed, but put the straps back in place. “Whatever you want.” 

Usually, you’d set a timer for an hour. Tonight you didn’t bother. 

You got right to it, sitting yourself in between his spread legs and leaning back against his chest. You rolled your body over his to the music, before turning your head to once again whisper in his ear. “I’ve been looking forward to this all day.”

“I’ve been looking forward to this all week.” 

You turned your body to face him, both hands running up and down his chest. You could feel how fast his heart was beating beneath your palm. 

“Can I touch you?” He asked. 

After considering it for a moment, you leaned in towards his ear again. 

“You can do whatever you want.” Your bottom lip grazed his earlobe as you said it, and you saw him shiver. 

Not a second later you felt his hands start to explore your lace covered torso.

“God, this is a criminal piece of clothing. Why is it so soft.” His hand eventually found it’s way to your neck, where he moved your hair out of the way to admire the marks he’d placed upon it. “So beautiful.” He murmured as he traced his fingers across the trail of bruises he’d left you with. 

You stood back up straight in front of him, turned around, and bent over, running your hands across your whole backside and down your thighs. For the first time, his hands made contact with the bare skin of your ass. 

“Let me know if I’m making you uncomfortable at all.” 

You turned to face him again, planting a knee on either side of his left thigh. “I told you. Whatever. You. Want.” You paused between each word, just to make it a little more dramatic. He swallowed. 

It was true. If he decided he wanted to fuck you right then and there, you weren’t going to stop him. 

“Really? Anything?”

“Anything.” You repeated. 

He was still staring into your eyes, looking slightly concerned, but he found no reason in them to not believe you. You truly wanted him to do whatever he felt like doing with you.

“Come here then.” He grabbed you by the waist firmly and lifted you off his thigh, instead placing you atop his lap completely, one knee now on either side of his body. 

You’d never sat with a customer like this. Of course you’d sit on their laps facing away from them all the time, but this felt so much more intimate. You felt the hardness beneath his pants against you, close, too close, to where you wanted him the most. You put your hands back onto his chest and just stared back at him with wide eyes.

“And I can touch you anywhere?” 

“Anywhere you want.” You confirmed. 

He looked down from your eyes to your chest. One of his hands crept up from your waist, over your ribcage, until he let it rest over the fabric supporting your chest. He ran a thumb over your nipple where it was hiding beneath the lace, causing you to inhale sharply. 

Immediately his eyes shot back up to yours, still worried that he was somehow making you uncomfortable, but the look on your face quickly washed his worries away. He felt your heart beating beneath his palm the same way you’d felt his earlier as well. 

“Are you s-sure you want me to keep it on?” You asked shakily. 

Instead of answering he slipped a finger beneath each of the straps and dragged them down your shoulders until your chest was once again bare. He hadn’t been lying when he said he wanted you to keep it on, but taking it off himself seemed like an even better option now. He bit his lip as he watched the fabric give way, exposing you to him. He stayed silent for a second before finally speaking. 

“So, so, perfect.” 

You were sure he noticed your whole body flush red at his statement. 

His hands were soon back on your ribcage, pulling the bodysuit further down your torso until your entire upper body was naked. Your cheeks were starting to go numb from the excitement and your heart was beating so hard you were sure he could hear it too. 

The entire time he undressed you, your eyes were fixed on his pink lips. Oh how they were tempting you. You didn’t remember ever being this turned on in your life. Once he’d had a minute to stare at your chest you quickly took the item off the rest of the way before returning to your previous position straddling his lap. 

His hands were warm on your waist as he pulled you closer towards him, until your chests touched. His face was close enough to yours that you could feel his breath on your cheeks. You both just stared for a moment, until something in you snapped and you closed the distance, bringing your lips to his. 

You swore there was something about the taste of his lips that was like a drug to you. The second you touched your mouth to his, your whole body felt electrified. Was this that fireworks bullshit people always talked about?

He returned the kiss the passion, but you could tell unlike in his office, he was now taking his time. Your lips moved against each other slowly as you let your fingers run through his hair. It wasn’t rushed, he let his lips move at a relaxed pace as he started to explore your mouth with his own. You felt his tongue ask for entrance and parted your lips, allowing you to taste each other. 

You felt one of his hands start to move upwards from your waist, to your ribcage, until it found the soft flesh of your chest, squeezing slightly, causing you to let out a soft moan. 

“I’ve fantasized about this so many times.” He broke away from the kiss just enough to get the words out. “You have no idea.” 

You shivered at his words, feeling how they made the knot in your stomach tighten in excitement. When he moved his hand to your other breast and flicked a sensitive nipple with his thumb, you moaned out his name shamelessly.  

“Fuck, you sound so hot”

His kisses moved from your lips, down your jaw, and to the side of your neck. He placed a gentle kiss beneath your ear giving you chills, before pressing his lips softly to each of the purple marks, making his way all the way down to your collarbone. The whole time his hands continued kneading your chest, making you nearly lose your mind. 

You had been touched before, but not like this. You realized that the handful of boys you had allowed to touch you in the past hadn’t known what they were doing at all, Baekhyun did. His expert hands worshipped your bare skin expertly as he continued placing soft kisses down your neck, this time without any sucking or biting that would leave marks. He was enjoying you slowly, softly, but you were impatient and wanted more. 

“Baekhyun, please” you whined. 

“Please what?” 

“Touch me.”

“I am touching you.” 

You let out another annoyed whine, wanting, needing, something more to relieve the unbearable tension that was building between your legs. After another few seconds of waiting to see if he’d finally do anything more without any luck, you took matters into your own hands. You started to roll your hips against him, feeling the hardness in his pants through the thin fabric of your thong. 

His hands flew down to your hips, gripping them firmly in an attempt to stop your movements, but you continued anyway. After several more rolls of your hips over his hard length, he gave in.

“God, y/n.” He breathed out, voice shaking slightly. “Shit.” 

He began to grow needier as well, eventually using his hands on your hips to guide you, rather than stop you, as you continued grinding against him. 

Your lips crashed into each other once more, this time with more desperation. He sucked, bit, and licked at your lips, as you did with his. He kept one hand on your hip, sliding down to grope your ass as the other made its way back up towards your chest. The hand on your ass squeezed and pushed you forwards to the beat of the music, pushing you firmly against the tent in his pants. 

You still wanted more. You wanted him to touch you everywhere, and you wanted to feel him. In a feeble attempt to try to convince him to give you what you wanted you snaked a hand between your bodies, running it down his chest and then his stomach until you got to the top of his jeans. You let your hand inch down just a little bit further, until you could palm him through his jeans. 

This time you let your kisses travel to his neck, before whispering in his ear “Please, I need more.” You could hear the neediness in your voice, but you were way too turned on to feel any shame. “Baekhyun, please.” 

He already felt like he was about to burst just with the way you rolled your hips against him. It took every ounce of self restraint in his body not to just yank his pants down, rip off your underwear and shove himself inside you. Feeling your hand over his cock, hearing you literally begging him for more, was too much. 

“If you don’t stop I’m gonna come.” He said, sinking his fingers into your thigh hard enough to bruise, bringing your ministrations to a halt.

You leaned back slightly to look at him and saw his eyes closed, brows furrowed with a pained expression on his face. He was really having to hold himself back. You let out a disappointed sound that was somewhere between a whine and a moan. 

“That’s okay though.” You honestly wouldn’t have minded, it happened fairly often anyway when you gave lap dances, nothing you weren’t used to. “Please?” You continued to beg, resuming the movement of your hips as well. 

A muffled “Oh my god” was all he could get out before his hands were back on you.

He still wouldn’t touch you the way you wanted him to, leaving you more and more wound up and desperate as you whined in his ear with every roll of your hips. His eyes were still closed and his head was tipped back against the couch, giving you access to the smooth skin of his neck. You left kisses all over the soft skin as you kept up the motion of your hips, and you knew he was about to crumble. 

You weren’t doing much better yourself. His hands found their way back to your chest, kneading and pinching the sensitive skin perfectly, reducing you to a quivering mess above him. The tension in the pit of your stomach kept building, and you knew you were close as well. 

Not a minute later you felt your release crash over your body as you shook against him, letting out a sound of pure euphoria. He seemed to notice, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you in for another searing kiss. You kept moving against him and soon felt him go rigid as well. When he came he held you against his body so tightly, kissed you so hard you forgot your own name for a second. All that mattered in that moment was how good the both of you felt, panting and shaking as you slowly recovered from your highs. As your breathing gradually slowed down, you rested your head on his shoulder, closing your eyes in bliss. 

To your disappointment he pushed you back by your shoulder, pulling you out of your dream-like state. 

He was shaking his head, “I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-”

Instead of listening to him try to apologize for nothing, you shut him up by cupping his face and pulling him into a kiss. “Thank you.” 

You smiled at him brightly and he returned it ten fold. You swore that smile was like sunshine even on the darkest day. You let your head rest on his shoulder once again, and he rubbed soothing circles onto the bare skin of your back. 

“I was gonna apologize because I really wanted to save this for after I took you on a real date.” 

You leaned back up to look at him once again, giggling at his words. “If anything you should be apologizing for not fucking me for real. But does that mean you’re asking me on a date?” 

“No! I mean... not yet. I want to do it right. Ask you out properly. But you make it so fucking difficult, you know how hard I have to hold myself back? You’re one hell of a temptation to resist.” 

You only rolled your eyes at him, “You’re the one choosing to hold back, if it were up to me you would’ve bent me over your desk Wednesday night already.” 

He chuckled, “I know the way we met is... different, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be swept off your feet. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I treated this like nothing more than some heat of the moment fling. I want more than that, I hope you do too.” He said, looking up at you with hopeful eyes.  

“Yeah, I do.” You blushed, looking down to avoid his gaze. Here he was, once again making you flustered with how honest and open he was about his feelings towards you. 

The way he smiled back at you, and the admiration you saw in his eyes told you everything you needed to know. You brought your lips to his, and this time, you weren’t fueled by lust. The two of you just enjoyed the feeling of the others lips, basking in the softness and intimacy of it. 

Eventually he pulled away, and cleared his throat “I hate to ruin the moment, but I kind of wanna get home and shower. I told you to stop if you didn’t want me to but you kept going so...” 

You pouted, but he was right. You’d brought this on yourself. “Okay” you sighed. 

After getting off Baekhyun’s lap you got your bodysuit back on, but before you could exit the room together, he grabbed your wrist. 

“Come here.” He pulled you towards him, placing his hands around your waist, and you let your arms rest on his shoulders. He looked at you again with those same eyes from earlier, but this time he held your gaze much longer, and with much more intensity. Something felt different this time when he looked at you, like he was trying to tell you something just with his eyes. He brought a hand up to your face, stroking your cheek with his thumb. “You’re so pretty.” 

You felt yourself go pink, and smiled as he pulled you in for one last kiss, this one even sweeter than the last. 

Eventually both of you went back downstairs, you disappeared into the dressing room to get ready to leave, and Baekhyun went straight to his car. 

On your way home you kept thinking about the way he’d looked at you before you both left. It had somehow felt different, more intimate. His gaze had held so much emotion, you wished you could look inside his head at what he’d been thinking. You had been kind of surprised when all he said was that you were pretty, something he’d told you a million times before, so why was it so different this time? Why did it feel like it meant so much more? 

The last kiss as well felt too sweet, far too romantic for the time and the place. He was always completely open with his feelings, and of course you knew he liked you, but you couldn’t help but feel like there were some unspoken words in the way he’d looked at you just then. 

Maybe, just maybe, it could be love. 

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