#this is the closest thing i have to a plot for this au ngl and its entirely a one-off

[kijosakka]

i have so many hypotheticals for dramaturgy u dont even KNOW (i am going to sit here and go through them though)

so this is all coming up because i was considering a tiny detail about the initial cast relations on island (then turning into this whole. mess.) and wanted to do a little thing where i explore hypotheticals to this au that aren't necessarily 'canon' to it,,

CAST RELATIONS: in my rehash post of island and covering the casts' reactions to noah acting Like That, i say the feeling of uncanny detachedness was immediate. but it could also? not be?

maybe he just comes off as shy at first, or especially standoffish -- perhaps the sense of detachedness is a mounting realization that 'oh this guy is kindof Weird As Hell' instead of an immediate bad sense,, this effectively would not change the cast relations or dynamics at this point, but it would provide more exposition opportunities for cast members to try striking up anything at all with him and getting shut down immediately as opposed to (unintentional) ostracization from the beginning.

^ and also, conflict exploration. not during island, but during his shift in WT, there could be the issue of noah knowing these people already tried and he shut them down each and every time, so what reason do they have to give him yet another chance? (is it worth the emotional risks and potential hurt and no gains, etc etc)

PHOBIA FACTOR: as it is, 'canon' to the AU noah gets eliminated during dodgebrawl (which is necessary for his general character), but phobia factor is a lovely little 'consequences of forgetting about the cameras' if on a much smaller scale.

now,, im ngl this sounded a lot more fun than it is actually going to be. because the simple answer is just that noah lies. put in this position -- if his onscreen character is forced to have depth, then it will be fake for his own peace of mind.

^ the only thing that would potentially happen is that it would, in a way, isolate him from his castmates further, simply because his reaction,,, Isn't. the fear among the cast as they face their greatest fears is shared -- except for noah. because its not genuine. his reaction comes off as flat (and even then the response that he is showing is further, repeated theme, uncanny valley. to have never seen this guy fearful performing some facsimile of it? Weird.)

SIERRA / WT PAN-OUT: ok,, sierras role here is very closely connected to the other idea mentioned here -- a wt hypothetical season play-out,, thing. while not 'canon' to the au for the simple fact that noah has Little to No development in this and thats the point, im spilling all my 'what-ifs' and might as well include this one.

theres actually,, a shocking number of moving parts to this. to summarize: tyler is eliminated in noahs place in london (mostly to keep numbers even), and thus takes his place witnessing the Kiss.

^ im not sure why tyler would be eliminated honestly. havent thought that through. however i do have something mapped out (kinda) for the trajectory of the love triangle,, being that noah doesnt do Anything. it boils over eventually, obviously, since duncan and gwen both know that he knows, im thinking around picnic at hanging dork? (elimination-wise, between london and picnic [*greece & area 51] cody is eliminated, sierra is Struggling but i do need her here for future plot purposes)

[*greece; noah volunteers before duncan in the scavenger hunt and along the way kiiinda talks with gwen?? just a little, just kinda nudging her in a direction away from any Dramatic, Exploitable behaviors]

^ so noah says nothing, right? he doesnt want to get involved in this Plotline, but he can get duncan to spill. so he does that -- talks to others, sometimes points over at him, and through the two challenges and the time between ends up freaking duncan out enough that he confronts noah post-picnic (theyre just outside the plane getting uhhh idk drinks. its Hot.) while the cameras arent rolling. the cast is around though.

duncan spills it all by himself, noah has a little moment of 'i didnt tell anyone, but you just did' -- courtney is pissed, but duncan is downright furious and gets all in noahs face, to which he responds much like he did at the very beginning of island: he doesnt.

he says something to the effect of 'if youre looking for a reaction, im the wrong person to look for it in' (or he doesnt say anything -- this is a work in progress) and Leaves. i also do like the mental image of noah spilling whatever drink he has down duncans shirt to force him away in a manner that doesnt make noah reveal any (perceived sense of) vulnerability via stepping back himself.

not much else on that -- just that post-challenge i also like the idea of noah being physically close to owen after. idk to what ends,, owen just wants to Comfort (< see also, noah can have a little breakdown in the showers or smth. a tiny one. its been far too long having to keep this all up and being close and not even properly involved in some of the drama of the show is making him crack whether he shows it or not)

^ and (im ngl i do imagine gwen being eliminated here? again, semantics r lost on me in favor of the Numbers) now,, sweden comes: duncan definitely believes anything with noah is nuked, so sucks up to owen and alejandro both in similar ways. basically like how canon went, etc etc noah is back to fading into the background.

however post-sweden offers up duncan&noah interactions. say duncan has had time to cool off and now wants to know why noah didnt say anything; noah deflects, bc of course he does, but does talk duncan into a kindof realization of just how much the show itself impacted his relationship with courtney -- not at the moment, but later it would serve to duncan to characterize noah a little better (and by a little i mean a lot); being, he's keenly aware of the cameras and the audience.

niagra brawls,, everything most goes, save the pairing are changed a bit: heather and alejandro, owen and blaineley, duncan and sierra, and courtney and noah. < courtney and noah win immunity (note: courtney definitely carries him across). post-challenge, noah point-blank tells courtney that hes sorry and that he shouldve come to her immediately.

^ courtney,, appreciates the genuine apology. she asks him why he didnt -- noah is, for once, honest, saying it was mostly a selfish reason and he didnt want the fallout. (smth smth he can truly hold sympathy abt the situation, knowing just how badly the presence of cameras can Fuck Things Up)

now. i swear ill circle around to sierra eventually but i need to talk about blaineley really quickly. so dramaturgy right?? noah is In The Business. i had it in the very original post of this (rb, covering cast dynamics) that noah did not like blainely. i renege. bffs. absolute shit-talkers together.

^ the point of that is that noah talks her out of the alliance with chef. im not actually sure what that does bc i still intend for blaineley to be eliminated post-china (aswell as courtney probably idk?? could be switched with duncan) but maybe she also has smth to say about how detached noah acts?? (see also the little scene concept thing of chris pointing out just how unnerving it was seeing noah act so lifeless)

also: noah wins. the china challenge. master of keeping a Flat Face. (note: he definitely does vomit immediately after. sick for Hours)

the semantics kinda fizzle out from here, but in essence noah floats his way to the final three à la cody style (does not want to be there also) and on the way kinda bonds with sierra? < that brings up another little correction ill rb onto another post at some point; sierra, while initially holding the intrigue as opposed to dislike of noahs detachedness, does in fact grow to find it unnerving. seeing him through a screen? really fun! being around him? ...not so much.

^ sierra, through noahs Magical Advice Powers That He Has In This Pan-Out For Some Reason, does earn herself advice from him about her obsessiveness or whatever. havent thought about it too much and actually propped sierra up as me having way more to say about her than i actually do,, but they do bond. they get a little bonding.

also: plane explosion. theres a little scene here that lives in my head wherein heather, frazzled from the explosion and having voted against alejandro, kinda blows up at noah? lashing out at him etc etc,, noah, par for the course, doesnt react -- mostly. he does just get up and leave, and both heather and alejandro get to hear one tiny little intake of breath that sounds vaguely like he might be crying. but he is Gone. (he breaks down around the interns instead, and fully resolves to himself that this is the final three and he was definitely making third place)

anyway beyond that i think it would be funny if the tiebreaker was actually heather and alejandro and noah some how finagles his way out of being tied up to be the first person to hit the water. thus taking himself out of the game and promising a 'dramatic finale between rivals' like hes very aware chris was gunning for.

^ this is,, tbh idk how 'canon' any of this will be?? if ill keep this as a loose outline and just change noahs character and dynamics,, idk idk. its getting late i cant really think and my god this is so so so much longer than i intended.

[littlelcvestory]

thank you @wesperbrekkered for tagging me even though im so inactive on like all my fandom accounts 😭😭😭

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

i have 13 :)

2. What is your AO3 word count?

29,858 words 😭 thats kinda crazy for me ngl

3. What fandoms do you write for? 

my main is six of crows! my ao3 still has my fics from when i wrote solangelo tho lmao

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

sparks fly (whenever you smile) with 268 (wesper)

we were in screaming color with 244 (solangelo)

Doctor Death (god this fic is so old i hate it 😭) with 236 (solangelo)

i wanna teach you how forever feels with 221 (wesper)

time can't stop me quite like you did with 205 (i wrote this for a school assignment, it's from the book they both die at the end)

i strongly dislike this list mainly because of solangelo being on there and how long ago i wrote those fics because theyre really bad now 😭 perhaps leave more kudos on my wesper fics :)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? 

YES it makes me so happy that people enjoyed what i wrote. i'd like to say it's author fuel but i have not touched any of my fics since august but they ARE author serotonin

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

it's either time can't stop me quite like you did (because he literally d!es) but none of my SoC fics have angsty endings, because none of them have endings. haha

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

uhh i'd say it would be i wanna teach you how forever feels purely because it's a cute domestic post-ck wesper

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i dont think im widespread enough to have haters on my fics tbh 😭

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? 

nope, i am literally 16 !! although i have written a few very intimate passages but theres also taught you the way you call me baby which is the closest i'll ever get for now

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

my wesper romeo and juliet au like fire and powder that i havent touched since august! this was like my most big brain idea ever but i'm torn between discarding it and starting from scratch or continuing as it is right now

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

i dont think so, and i hope not !

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

no :)

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

also no

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? 

wesper. next!

15. What’s a WIP you’d like to finish but doubt you ever will?

THE ROMEO AND JULIET AU I AM CRYING i need to continue it as soon as possible oh lord

16. What are your writing strengths?

not sure tbh! i do find writing dialogue easy but it also leads to my downfall sometimes which i'll explain in the next question

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

inner monologues, because they jump around too much and i eventually stray from the original thought. or anything thats not closely tied to a character ... i'm really strong with character driver things but if you hand me a plot, i'm gonna struggle (which may be why the r&j au is failing LMAO) and how i said with dialogue, it ends up being dry and makes the scene move a little too fast. i'm really bad at slowing down scenes 😭

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? 

never done it before hehe

19. First fandom you wrote for?

percy jackson, i think

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

my romeo and juliet au because its the most ambitious thing i ever tried to accomplish. i really want to get back to it because i'm still so intrigued by the idea of it and i was shocked i wrote 10k for the first chapter but it felt like it was being squeezed out of me... i'll do my best to get back to writing i've had insane weiters block (no thanks to school 🙄)

thanks for tagging me rae :) i'm tagging @artsypretzel @jazzythursday and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it :)

[novaviis]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by dear @victorianpining

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

52.

2. What's your total A03 word count?

921,539.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly DC/Young Justice, but also Inuyasha and Hetalia

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Bridge

Fireworks in July

The Floor is Lava

The Bird and the Worm

you lost the starlight in your eyes

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! Granted I don't always, but when I get a comment asking a question, or one that particularily touches me, I usually respond. But even when I don't, I read and reread every single one.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'd say as a whole, I'm not interested in angst without pay off. I'll absolutely drag my stories through the angstiest plotlines imaginable, and I'll do it gleefully, but there is nearly always some sort of pay off in an ultimate happy ending. That said, if we're looking at fics as individual stories (particularily in the case of Watercolour as a whole series), I'd say the angstiest might be Arctic or Au Revoir

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

If I'm measuring the happy ending in terms of the angst it took to get to it, definitely Light Me A Lantern.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I think the closest I've gotten is misunderstandings? Particularily when it comes to how I write Dick Grayson's lineage in Watercolour. I've had misunderstandings where people thought I was erasing his Romani identity and making him Romanian instead, when I write him as both - there is a lot of Romani history and a huge population in Romania, and I decided to play into that. Sometimes it gets lost in translation so to speak.

9. Do you write smut?

When I feel like it!

10. Do you write crossovers?

I used to, not really so much anymore.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of! Ngl I'd be pretty upset.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! The incredible @minakok translated Light Me A Lantern into Spanish (Enciéndeme un farolillo) and @eldescensoseduce has been chipping away at translating the beast that is Watercolour into Spanish as well. The first two chapters of Un Giorno Per Noi has been translated into Chinese as well!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've had beta readers and been a beta reader and had an absolute blast with both - but in terms of actually sitting down, plotting out and writing something together with someone? Not yet. Although the closest thing has probably been the roleplay I've been writing with a friend over discord. That beast has AUs of AUs.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Don't do this to me.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't want to say I doubt I ever will because I really really want to, but... I have to say Der Unsterbliche Preis.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I would say dialogue and writing actions sequences. They're both things that I've struggled with in the past and worked very hard to figure out how to do properly.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I think I still struggle with pacing at times. I don't want to rush into the action and the exciting stuff so sometimes I draw it out more than I really need to and the pacing gets away from me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

All for it! If I'm using a language I'm not familair with, I'll translate it back and forth a few times trying to make sure I have the nuances as close as I can get to accurate, and I always include translations in the notes. However, if it's a long scene of dialogue, I will just write in that the characters have switched languages, just to make thinks flow better. I don't want to have to scroll up and down the page constantly when I'm reading.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh god. It was either Digimon or Pirates of the Carribean. Eons ago.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

This is painful. I definitely have my top fics, the ones I'm most proud of, but Un Giorno Per Noi is a fic that I have reread every christmas since I finished it, so by a percentage of a margin, I'll say that one. Close behind are Light Me A Lantern and Terminal Velocity.

I'm tagging @hanmajoerin @flashhwing and whoever would like to do it because I'm a cop out ✌️

[andiwriteordie]

You should write the Merlin Byler au, I say, bc I'm a little shit like that 😘😘😘 . Imagine it, really, bc this means that, what, Nancy is Morgana? Will as Merlin, who literally never told anyone about his magic bc they all died (Lancelot doesn't count bc he died just like. Later. I have so many feelings about Lancelot ngl). Also Mike as Arthur, a pompous and arrogant prince who hates his dad but loves him but also hates him. He isn't sure how he feels about magic except that he's been told his entire life that it sucks. Also he gets insanely jealous that everyone likes his manservant more than him low-key. That's what he's jealous about, obviously, not the fact that he's in love with his servant pfft. He's a little silly smh

Then again, AUs don't have to be one-to-one, just like. Them in the universe... 🤔

Also also. I have Never watched Merlin (in full, I watched the first few eps) but I know. Everything that happened and read too many fics bout it??? Lancelot and Merlin friendship that Arthur is insanely jealous of is so funny to me wow

Man. Now I wanna read fics for Merlin again (the fic writers that kinda dragged me into the fandom deleted all of her fics rip)

OH I SEE THE VISION. I SEE THE VISION TOY!!!! UGH THAT WOULD BE SO FUN???

also i just am realizing. this would probably make el gwen because of the arthur/gwen relationship. and like i'm kinda giggling at the image of like... mike's closest friend having magic and also his girlfriend having magic. except will and el don't know the other one has magic either. magical threat comes up? and sometimes it gets dealt with, which is nice! will gets a break when el deals with it, and vice versa for el. they don't ever really question it, bless their hearts. mike definitely doesn't question it.

i feel like if i ever did do a merlin/byler kind of au, it wouldn't exactly be one to one because merlin is so niche, but just like... the concept and setting of merlin where magic is illegal and stuff, and will has to hide it from mike who's the prince, etc. etc. just all the goodness and angst that comes with the show but then adapted to fit the stranger things canon.

also hear me out: morgana!el because she gets manipulated by henry and/or brenner and truly believes what she's doing is right, but then through meeting like will and the others, she gets redeemed and helps save the day in the end? but also like. willel getting to fight with their magic before that happens would be so so so fun.

ok literally this is making me want to return to reading and writing merlin fics!!!! it's just so good!!!

(also yeah i watched part of merlin when i was like 12... and i was on tumblr when it ended and all that so i knew the plot and stuff... and then i just like fully watched it this past year, so i'm in my merlin renaissance this year lol)

[eaglefairy]

Hey, I was reading through your Bio and it said to ask you about your aus, so what fun and/or wild aus do you have?

Oh, this is going to be a long one. Strap in!

First I have to talk about dream! (yes it's spelled with the exclamation mark, it's a lyric thing), I really have to. It's...well, it started as a minor canon divergence au where I could play around with my thoughts about Meyneth and Alvis, but now it's so much more. At this point it's pretty much a full canon retelling where I take two steps to the left and cannonball into self-indulgence. The doc is almost 40k words and I've barely started writing this thing into real scenes and not deranged rambling. If I tried to explain every aspect of canon I've hit with the self-indulgence laser we'd be here all day, so for just a taste: I rewrote the trinity processor lore so that nothing is actually changed mechanics-wise but it makes more sense to me because I don't know what a Conduit is and I don't care. Sharla and Fiora have actual arcs with 50% more character development. Mikhail gets the Tyrea redemption arc and works with Nia post-canon (and I gave him wings, because why not). I'm living so fully in my own version of post-canon that I barely read fics outside the canon time period anymore. It's absolutely fantastic, 10/10, maybe one day I'll actually write the thing.

On the purely xenoblade 1 side of things, my roommate and I came up with an au a while ago we've been calling Seven Solos. It's basically a series of bad end aus where through a series of diabolus ex machinas, we isolate each member of the party in their own fic to be the sole main character of xc1 and watch as they crash and burn in the attempt to fight the Mechon/Zanza (if they even get that far). This is full-on bad end-MCD-hurt no comfort territory, we were just like "how can we make this as miserable as possible for all characters involved?" Most of them start out with killing most (if not all but one) of the main party members. Out of all of them I think Melia's is the one that comes the closest to actual victory? But it's tempered by the fact that the reason Zanza can't awaken is that the Bionis is now completely drained of ether, so...

On the purely 2 side, there's the xc2/zelda fusion au (that I actually have a written fic for! Imagine that!) that I've been playing around with for a while. It's really just transplanting the characters from 2 into the setting of botw/totk and sending them through the plot, but it actually works surprisingly well. I've been having a lot of fun trying to keep the major plot points for each character from 2 and slide those into place in the new setting and story. I'm tentatively trying to write a continuation of that now, but I keep getting bogged down in Pyra's introspection about her guilt and fears, so we'll see.

And this isn't actually a xenoblade au but it is on the rotation of things that come into my brain at various intervals so: pokémon au of ace attorney. It's mostly just character stuff about what pokémon which character would have (and in the process it's picked up a lot of daemon au flavoring), but there is one plot-heavy bit I love and that's Athena getting tossed into the role of protagonist for the story of pokémon violet. I was playing the game and had the passing thought that Athena and Nemona would probably get along really well, then I got to Alfornada and it sealed the deal. Ngl this one might never see the light of day on ao3 because I'd want to write other character pieces first and I have a lot less drive to write those, but never say never!

[rinamars]

hello 🐰 how are you doing. i have many Qs…. feel free to answer however many you please/none/split into multiple.

do you see yourself in any of the SNK characters, and if so, which, and why?

what do you think erwin’s motivations would be in a world outside of the walls, where titans didn’t exist, and eldians aren’t kept on paradis? he’s a character whose motivations are so closely bounded with the plot that sometimes i find it difficult to extricate him from it… so i’m curious to know your perspective!

what kind of desserts do you like? i always like knowing people’s dessert preferences….

how do you choose your fic titles!

book/poetry recs?

do you make moodboards?

hello dear 🥺 i'm always super happy to be FLOODED with questions so don't you ever apologize!!! i encourage this behaviour actually!!

first of all, i don't know if i actually see myself in any of the aot characters?? probably the closest thing to identifying myself in a character would be marco. i've always had this deep attachment to marco. i wish i could give you a proper explanation shdjdjrj

as for the erwin thing, i think you could probably already figure it out, but i like to think that in a world without titans erwin would be soft and goofy. he'd never lose that childlike wonder in him. he'd be a family man and follow his father's footsteps in becoming a teacher. i feel like this is the kind of man he'd be had That Thing never happened to him when he was a child. i love to see him like this in modern au's!!! he deserves all of the good things in this world. i could talk about it a lot more and in a more precise way maybe

favourite desserts: i'm more of a savoury kind of person, but i love any kind of sweets that have cocoa/chocolate!! i especially like the chocolate+raspberry combo. i once had this chocolate cupcake that was really soft but also kind of fudgy and then i bit into it and it was filled with raspberry jam... ngl i had a tiny orgasm in the middle of the street 😵‍💫 i also really like cheesecake and tiramisu!!

about the fic titles, it's usually a matter of a particular song really fiting into the theme of the chapters in a way, and usually when it happens there's always this one lyric that feels like it was written for that moment, and boom, we have a title!! all of the songs were pretty much already there before i even wrote the story... it's like they did the writing, and i just obeyed

and omg when people ask me for book recs suddely i forget every book i've ever read shhddhd i have been going through a major reading slump for the past year, so i'm not really equipped to do that yet, but i'm kind of getting back into it which means that if you ask again in a bit i will be able to tell you about the things i'be been reading <3

last but not least: moodboards!! if you mean stbn related moodboards, i haven't made any yet, but i HAVE been thinking about it!! let me know if you'd like to see something like that, or if you have requests for something specific (like, a moodboard for a specific chapter or something like that hehe)

thank you for chatting with me 🥺🥰

[joannaofarkham]

reposted "this time" up to chapter 3 :') ngl re-reading some of the parts made me realize why i've written this in the first place and this is practically the closest thing pinas hs au would be but in a college setup lol. i'll try to go back to this one day. i just have to rewrite some plot-points for chapt 4 onwards.

so uh....they're back :)

just click this link. not everything is back tho, idk yet if i want to repost everything.

[huge-enthusiast]

MIRACULOUS FIC RECOMENDATIONS!! (Part 2)

You can find part 1 here.

The first one was really popular! So I decided to make a second part.

The rules are the same:

All of the fics will be rated Teen and up audiences or lower. Also if I don’t put the author’s tumblr is because they didn’t put it in the fic or/and I couldn’t find it.

The only thing that changes is that I would be putting the pairing in the description of the fic.

Without further ado...

Written in the Stars by Boogum (@botherkupo here on tumblr!)

Pairing: Marichat and Adrienette.

He was the god of destruction. She was a princess whose kingdom had been prophesied to fall. To save her people, she became his wife. To save him, she would have to do the impossible. The castle has secrets, the gods are watching, and time is running out.

Chapters: 37/37

TW for mild violence.

Arrange marriage, God AU. While I'm making this list, I still haven't finished the fic, but I had to recommend it because is THAT good. The way I gasped out loud while reading some of the plot twists. The worldbuilding is so good, and even if you aren't into AUs that deviate a lot from cannon like me, I 100% reccomend it.

Need a Lift? again by Boogum.

Pairing: DJWifi

Getting stranded on a foreign planet sucked. Luckily for Nino, his rival was willing to give him a lift home. Unluckily for Nino, she was beautiful and funny and he might just be in love with her.

Chapters: 1/1

Space Bounty Hunter AU! Really sweet and funny. If you are into flustered!Nino then this fic is for you.

hey, you by peachcitt (@peachcitt here on tumblr!)

Pairing: Adrienette

“Have you ever had a dream about someone that changes the way you think of them?”

or Adrien has a dream about Marinette.

Chapters: 1/1

Okay so, peachcitt is one of my favorite ml writers. Everything that they write is sooo good y'all, and i'm already a sucker for adrienette, so I cannot recommend this fic (or any of theirs) enough.

double dare again by peachcitt (I told ya!)

Pairing: Ladrien (with lots of sided ladynoir)

“Don’t ever do that again,” Marinette says, maybe a little too emphatically, and Adrien looks at her, his expression quiet. His cheeks, Marinette notices, are a little red.

“But I wanted to save you,” he says.

or Ladybug and Adrien can't seem to stop running into each other. (whether that is on accident or on purpose is nobody's business but their own, of course).

Chapters: 30/30

This was a ladrien june fic! Every chapter corresponds to the day's prompts but it also continues a story. If that doesn't make you want to read it then I don't know what it will. I fear fanfic writers, they're insane.

(not) so much by therentyoupay (@therentyoupayfanfiction here on tumblr!)

Pairing: Marichat and adrienette

(The claws are sharp, but the host of Destruction—for all of his loudmouth chaos and lack of reserve—is paradoxically careful.)

Chapters: 1/1

In which Chat Noir pays a visit not long after Marinette has made a pretty difficult decision, and they accidentally make a routine.

Prompt: Marinette gives Chat a hickey. Adrien has a suspiciously similar looking hickey the next day at school...

Gotta be honest with y'all, I did not expect this fic to be as good as it is. The adrienette has everything a stablished!Marichat should have. Marinette conflicted with her feelings? Check. Adrien being a hot mess bc That's My Girlfriend But She Doesn't Know That? Check. Them being absolute idiots? Check. It's good!

Doctor, Doctor, Give Me The News (Your Lips Is The Only Cure I Could Use) by BreG21.

Pairing: Adrienette

Rainwater sloshed up from the pools they had made on the sidewalk and coated his jean pants with every step he took. He couldn't bring himself to care.

He sniffed away some of the water that dribbled down his matted head. "Yeah?"

He paused as if to consider his words while Adrien stared down at him, so lost. "You weren't wrong when you thought you knew. A part of you wanted it to be her, but it was too perfect, you let the illusion fool you because how would you get that lucky. But trust me, Adrien. You weren't wrong."

He wasn't wrong? What was he not wrong about?

You weren't wrong. You want it to be her.

And it finally clicked as a small gasp wisped past his lips. He wasn't wrong.

In which, Plagg falls ill, and with Fu gone and Ladybug being the guardian now, has to go find her civilian self-even with the knowledge that she might not like that-is shocked to realize that even with having the kwami that was supposed to embodied the very being of bad luck, Adrien could conclude the very opposite of what he had thought for so long.

He was so very lucky.

Chapters: 1/1

I screamed so hard while reading this fic. It's just one of those who gets the characters right. Do you like a good reveal? Go read this now.

Operation Mega Sleepover by InTheWild (@smellerbeee here on tumblr!)

Pairing: Adrienette

When Alya and Nino drop out of their long awaited mega-sleepover at the last minute, it leaves Marinette and Adrien alone together for the night. An Adrinette one-shot with lots of fluff and sleepover shenanigans.

Chapters: 1/1

I just,,, I love adrienette fluff so much,,, I love them,,,

You, Me & A Little Bit Of The Future by joonapeach.

Pairing: this is a fortunate case of all lovesquare shenanigans™

Marinette expects some disaster on her first outing alone with Adrien.

She just doesn't expect that disaster to be her future self passing off a baby for her to take care of with Adrien.

(Alternatively... two idiots obliviously in love cooing over their daughter while acting like they have no idea whose kid this is.)

Chapters: 1/1

I think the description says anything that it needs to be said. It's really sweet and funny and I love how they just change their minds so quickly and get emo for literally nothing. Peak shakesperean dumbasery.

The entire Marry That Girl series by Miraculous_Max (Maximilian_Alexander).

Pairing: Adrienette

Let’s say Marinette has a special sketchbook. This sketchbook is filled with drawings of their future house, of Adrien as an adult in multiple occupational settings, of Marinette and Adrien’s wedding, and most importantly, their future children.

Let's say Adrien found this sketchbook.

Works: 8 (All are 1/1 chapters)

Just realized how this list exposes me as number 1 adrienette sucker... oh well. I love how Adrien doesn't feel weirded out by the intensity of Marinette's crush. He likes it! He's as weird and romantic as her! That's one of the reasons I love the lovesquare so much and it makes me happy to see that everyone is in the same boat with me.

Strenght by 11JJ11.

Pairing: Adrienette

Marinette knew she was much stronger than she looked thanks to being a hero. So when her class had an arm wrestling contest she knew that she could beat all of them with ease, but she wasn't expecting anyone else to come close.

Chapters: 1/1

Good ol' accidental reveal feat. the entire class shenanigans. I, once again, screamed for an adrienette fic. Who could've thought.

Super Fan by Taliax.

Pairing: Ladrien

It was a good thing Alya was holding the phone and not her, because it would have slipped from her fingers and shattered. How had she not noticed? She had been there, and somehow she’d missed her crush looking at her like she was an angel sent from heaven.

Forget the perfume ad. This picture was going to be her new desktop.

(In which Marinette realizes that she and Adrien might both be obsessive fans.)

Chapters: 1/1

Canon divergent from after Gorizilla. They're so dumb. That's my opinion on this fic.

How to Kiss Your Crush in Five Minutes or Less also by Taliax.

Pairing: Ladrien

He just needed to know if Ladybug needed Chat Noir. He didn't expect to learn just how much she wanted Adrien.

This would be the best five minutes of his life, if he didn't expect her to forget it.

Chapters: 1/1

CW for making out.

Set during Desperada. I promise there's a happy ending. Also Luka is there for some reason, felt really bad for him.

Laying Down the Rules: The Gabriel Agreste Clauses by LadyKae

Gen

Adrien leaves the manor on a dark and stormy night and seeks sanctuary at the only place he feels safe: The Home of the Dupain-Cheng Family. When Sabine learns why her dear boy is fleeing to her home in the middle of the night, she makes a personal visit to one Gabriel Agreste.

There's more rules in play, but not for Adrien and Marinette.

Chapters: 1/1

This is just Sabine going to beat the fuck out of Gabriel and it's really satifying ngl

4am. by hannieks

Pairing: post-reveal lovesquare

In which Adrien has the cat tendency to wake up their owners at stupid o'clock, and Marinette just wants to sleep. Cuteness ensues.

Chapters: 1/1

Really short but really sweet. If you like Adrien acting like a cat then you would like this.

Can I Date You(r Character)? by midnightstarlightwrites (@midnightstarlightwrites here on tumblr!)

Pairing: Adrienette

Adrien turned to her, something unreadable in his gaze. “Are you ok with this?” he asked.

And what a loaded question that was. Was she ok with it? Was she ok with the one guy she couldn’t seem to get over in real life kissing her in a game of Dungeons and Dragons? When she put it like that, it seemed a bit silly to get so worked up.

It was just a game...right?

She was ok with it, right?

“Sure,” she lied. “I’m ok with it.”

When Adrien's character falls in love with Marinette's, they decided to date in-game. What could go wrong?

Chapters: 7/?

THIS ONE IS SO CUTE. You want to scream??? Read this.

two idiots and a hamster by Boogum (again) and carpisuns (@carpisuns here on tumblr)

Pairing: Adrienette

How do you hide your superhero identity from your roommate? (spoiler alert: badly)

Chapters: 5/?

Once @anna-scribbles described this fic as "is literally the closest i’ve ever seen a fic come to matching the energy of canon", and I couldn't have described it better.

And that's all for now! Next time I will probably make an only DJWifi list since I've been treating them so dirty lol.

[altruistic-meme]

AFTG fic recs

Hi all! I just wanted to share some of my all-time favorite fanfics for aftg, for no real reason other than I want more people to read them and send their love to the authors :) 

Under a readmore because it got. A little long. But please enjoy!

WIPs

Dangerous Habits by LovelyLittleGrim ( @lovelylittlegrim )

Andrew has run into problems while on undercover jobs before. None of those problems were anything like the troublesome runaway that is one Nathaniel Wesninski

Aka: the fic where Andrew is undercover as a hitman for hire and Neil is the guy who hires him. Things get complicated from there.

Undercover Andrew? BAMF Neil? Hitman AU?? Absolutely. I’m in love. The story is just *chef kisses*

Chapters: 8/9

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, past rape/non-con, Drake Spear (who is his own warning), Butcher Neil, 

--

Negotiations by elesary ( @elesary )

This is what Andrew Minyard knows: his brother is dead, killed by a petty Raven prince who has never learned to keep his hands off of Andrew's things. His brother's daughters are his responsibility, a job that is made infinitely harder when their shitty grandparents want custody. Nathaniel Wesninski is a liar, but he might be the only way to avenge Aaron and protect his nieces. All Andrew has to do is watch Nathaniels - Neil's- back as he carves out his own life and identity from everyone who thinks they own him.

Andrew has always been good at upholding his end of the bargain, has he finally found someone willing to uphold theirs?

This fic has got me fucked up, honestly. I’m emotional over it. It’s fantastic.

Chapters: 11/?

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, attempted sexual assault, Butcher Neil,

--

the upper hand by plantelty ( @plantelty  )

Shortly after losing his mother, Neil arrives in the small town of Palmetto, South Carolina, alone in the world and with an impossible plan to carry through.

At the age of eighteen, Andrew ends up helping a boy stage his own death.

-

Just two fucked up boys learning to trust each other during the course of a summer, but also: multiple references to songs, twinyard angst (Nicky tries his best), The Plotting of Neil Josten's Gruesome Demise, and shit hitting the fan in a variety of ugly ways!

The cliffhanger has got me on the edge of my seat, but it is 100% worth the read and the wait for the last chapter!! 

Chapters: 10/11

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Canon typical violence, 

--

The Butcher’s House by Fire_Bear ( @fire-bear )

Andrew thought something was odd with the house the Foxes had to move into after their Athletes' House had been burnt down. He just wasn't prepared for what was actually wrong with it.

For this was a house full of monsters.

Ghost story! Ghost story! Ghost story! I literally think about this fic every other day, it’s fantastic. 

Chapters: 6/?

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Warnings: character death (major or minor is unclear), injuries, 

--

Promise of an Unbroken Boy by elesary ( @elesary​ )

Neil is caught by the police with Mary's burning body and is sent to juvie in Oakland where he is assigned to share a cell with one Andrew Doe, who promises him Exy, if only Neil will tell him all of his secrets. With no access to tinted contacts and hair dye, he agrees, it's only a matter of time until he's killed after all. What does he have to lose?

But Andrew's found someone who knows what a promise means, and he'll be damned if he lets that go without a fight.

Ngl this is definitely in my very top favorites -- I LOVE the idea of Neil and Andrew meeting pre-series, and this fic just BLEW my expectations for that plotline out of the waters

Chapters: 14/?

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, Underage, attempted rape/non-con, canon-typical violence, 

~~~~~~~~~

Complete

The Nameless Monster by kanekicure ( @kanekicure )

Nathaniel Wesninski wants nothing more than to see his father dead and buried. But when his father promises him the title of The Butcher, Nathaniel quickly realizes that his destiny of following in his father's footsteps is closer than ever before.

So of course, when he gets forced to go undercover for the Baltimore police, he starts seeing what living could truly be.

-

Andrew Minyard is a newly recruited police officer for the worst precinct in Baltimore, who is dedicated on hunting down the notorious Butcher and his unnamed underling. But when Neil Josten is thrown into his midst as his civilian consultant; he starts to realize some things don't quite appear as they seem.

I love the story telling -- the secret identities, the plotting, everything.

Chapters: 14/14

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, Butcher Neil, implied/referenced rape/non-con, implied/referenced child abuse, implied/referenced slef-harm (I believe there is a scene that is somewhat detailed on this subject), some characters also get drugged at one point, 

-- 

that’s just something people say by nanatsuyu ( @theoctopusnods )

Neil makes the mistake of stealing the wrong car. Andrew makes the mistake of offering a ride to a liar. They both make the mistake of turning the whole affair into a road trip ‘home.’

Gonna be honest; the summary does not give a big idea as to what is in store and i am SO GLAD I gave this one a try so i’m telling you that you will be too

Chapters: 24/24

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Warnings: implied/referenced child abuse, panic attacks (somewhat grahic descriptions of)

--

The Story After You by kanekicure ( @kanekicure )

Andrew Minyard does not understand how Riko Moriyama landed Neil Wesninski.

How the snot-nosed, small dick, rich brat, second son of the Moriyama family who also just so happened to own the largest EXY gear and merchandiser company in the world “RAVEN” - had landed smart mouthed, quick witted, stupidly blue eyed Wesninski, was beyond him. Well, unless Wesninski was a gold digger, but Andrew doubted it.

-

Or; how Andrew Minyard says he doesn't get into messy situations, until he meets Neil and suddenly he is in the most messiest possible situation ever imagined in his life - oh and also, he might be becoming a homewrecker.

Ok I am behind bc I haven’t read the final chapter of this but!! I love the story, it’s very emotional and moving, and I love the characterization in it.

Chapters: 10/10

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Abusive Riko/Neil, abusive relationship, implied/referenced rape/non-con, implied/reference child abuse, implied/referenced self-harm, graphic depictions of violence, some descriptions of injuries/scarring, 

-- 

This Complicated Life by 5a5b5p5 ( @andrewsbutterflyknife )

“This is exactly why I don’t want you and Andrew to meet,” Aaron says grumpily. “You two would get along far too well.”

Neil grins. “I just like pissing you off,” he says, “It’s not my fault your brother does such a good job at it.”

—

Neil doesn’t expect much from his Sophomore year of college, but when he becomes a waiter at the Palmetto Bistro, his life gets a whole lot more interesting. As it turns out, maintaining friendships new and old as well as navigating an interesting relationship with the head chef of the restaurant—who just so happens to be his best friend’s twin brother—is a lot more complicated than he’d thought it would be.

A much more light-hearted fic than most of the others! Includes a secret relationship, and also chef Andrew >>

Chapters: 10/10

Rating: Mature

Warnings: 

--

When I Fade, Keep Me in Your Memory by demesh 

Neil Josten has a secret: he can flicker out of existence.

He can vanish with the turn of a thought; click his fingers, and suddenly he’s not there anymore. Invisible and untouchable, he becomes a living ghost.

Having promised his mother never to let his ability go, Neil teeters the line between faded and real, a person and an echo. He can’t risk getting hurt.

But then, one day, someone sees him when they shouldn’t be able to.

 A (flower-shop) AU about how a faded and lonely Neil finds it in him to become someone real.

Another fic that I need to catch up on ;; but anyway it’s amazing and I love Neil’s ability in it, it’s so well explained and well-written about

Chapters: 12/12

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Warnings: mentions of past abuse, panic attacks

--

12 Ways to Woo a Minyard by NikNak22 ( @knickknacksandallthat )

Neil is a math nerd who, by a stroke of dumb luck, falls into a group of friends that are the closest thing to family he’s ever had. So, when he tells them about his new mysterious crush, he shouldn’t be surprised how immediately they come up with a plan to help win them over. One they insist that if Neil follows it, he’ll have them falling for him in no time. But things don’t always go to plan – or do they?

Nicky wants to set him up with someone else. Matt and Jeremy are confused but supportive. Allison and Seth offer lewd suggestions, while Dan does her best to keep everyone in line. Jean and Renee know something, Aaron doesn’t really care, and Kevin just wants Neil to join the lacrosse team.

But one thing’s for certain – whether Neil’s successful or not, everyone’s got money riding on this.

The romance-trope-filled fanfic of my dreams. Sometimes you just need a fic of pure joy -- this is that fic. 

Chapters: 14/14

Rating: Mature

Warnings: 

--

finders keepers by moonix ( @annawrites ​ )

Andrew meets Nathaniel through a scavenger hunt app. As their team takes part in a hunt that sends each of them to creepy, abandoned places alone to solve clues and gain points, Andrew and Nathaniel begin a little treasure hunt of their own. The anonymity of getting to know each other in small increments, never meeting face-to-face, allows them a level of intimacy neither are used to. Meanwhile Renee’s friend Neil is acting weird whenever Andrew shows up…

This was one of the first fics I read for aftg!! And BOY what a great start!! All of the little pieces and parts that work together, and just the scavenger hunt itself is fantastic! (I also REALLY wanna know if there is an app like this out there because I would be down to do that)

Chapters: 8/8

Rating: Mature

Warnings: (these all come from the author:) “mentions of historical abuse in a mental asylum, mentions of suicide, mentions of murder and kidnapping, morbid facts, creepy abandoned places including a haunted house at a theme park with disturbing rooms, special appearance of a creepy clown doll, fatphobia and some introspection on body image/complicated relationship with food, mention of self harm scars”

-----

Scared to Live (But I’m Scared to Die) by Major_816 ( @major816 )

Neil Josten goes to the Nest for Andrew, but he stays for a lot more.

~

"I'm sorry Coach," he muttered.

"For what kid?" Wymack shifted. "You've got to give me something to work with here."

Wymack watched the thin traces of sorrow as paper exchanged hands and he was looking down at a contract with the Edgar Allan Raven's.

"I signed them Coach, I'm sorry."

~

The one where Neil doesn't come back from Winter Break.

It is VERY dark, and is one of very few fics that I have actually been almost unable to read one of the scenes, so DEFINITELY pay attention to the warnings -- both these, and the ones provided for each individual chapter. I did go through the fic to collect as many warnings as I could find in the chapter warnings, but be sure to take care of yourself.

Chapters: 36/36

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: rape/non-con elements, implied/referenced rape/non-con, discussions of rape/non-con, canon-typical violence, graphic descritions, physical abuse, panic attacks, descriptions of injuries (often graphic), psychological warfare, dissociating, psychological torture, physical torture, use of knives, alcoholism/alcohol abuse, pain-induced delirium, rape/non-con, emotional self-separation, suicidal ideation/thoughts of suicide, emotional distress (which sums up the whole fic and also me while reading it), handcuffs/chains used as restraints, referenced/implied abuse towards animals, vomitting, begging, excessive use of painkillers, drowning, waterboarding, physical restraint, mutilation of an animal, mild hallucinations, non-con drugging, sleep deprivation, starvation, humiliation, the Butcher, 

Also one of the first fics I read and 100% my absolute favorite fic!!! Which is adfjhsd a little worrying, considering, but it is what it is. Anyway. This fic absolutely wrecked me, and while it is technically complete, there is a sequel in the works! So! But I am so so excited for the sequel, and I am working on rereading this. It’s amazing. 1000/10.

[peaterookie]

I FORGOT ABOUT THE POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEON AU NOOO OMG OK.I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THESE

IMPULSIVE MASTERPOST TIME!! ABOUT ALL MY AUS

Merman Lupin 🐟

obviously we've talked much about merman lupin, my favorite child. if you havent caught up on them please check out these two!! posts!!

Swap AU 🔄

its like underswap but with lupin that's crazy. here's a minipost about it. i might rework some shit but here's a basic rundown of who's swapping roles with who

Lupin 🔄 Goe

Jigen 🔄 Fujiko

Zenigata 🔄 Melon ig??

there's genuinely not a sixth recurring character to use sorry..

Demon Angel AU 😇😈

these emojis are funny

this one is just kinda. there. im not interested in making it a thing i just kinda like making cool designs. funnily enough, the demon lupin is my pfp all this time, that's kinda how it started. then i naturally got goemon tied up in this as per usual and made him an angle

here's their designs i literally changed nothing for lupin ong

goemon imo is fire though. the rundown of this story is that goemon is tasked to fucking kill lupin!!! but he keeps failing because hes stupid and lupins just like haha ur funny woww then silly things ensue. jigens also there and hes also a demon but he can turn into like a hellhound. yeah i just made this up on the fly haha

ok so the other lupin fallen angel au is genuinely shitty so let's not even talk about it lets skip to the omori one!!!

OMORI AU 🪻🌌

I DONT. KNOW WHY I MADE THIS.HELP BUT NGL ITS PRETTY COOL

SPOILERS FOR OMORI GAME IF YOU WOULD LIKE NO SPOILERS PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO THE NEXT AU OK HERE WE GO

ok!! so i remember i made a drawing for this but it really wasnt the concept i was truly going for yknow?

the idea is this:

omori/sunny - jigen 🌷

kel - lupin 🌵

hero - zenigata 🌹

aubrey - melon 🪻

basil - goemon 🌻

mari - fujiko 🪷 (ik this isnt the flower but its the closest to lily ok)

so yeah this story jigen is the one that kills fujiko (my friend and i made a joke that jigen did it on purpose cuz yknow. we love to joke that jigen hates fujiko) it kinda works like typical omor so you can just imagine the rest. yeah i wasnt that creative with this .

you can even imagine it as a super unserious story and goemons the only sane human that's traumatized by all of this. the poor guy he cant catch a break in any universe HELP if anyone wants to steal this idea? go wild baby

SPOILER ENDS

Cookie Run AU 🍪

this shall be saved for a future post. just know that i am COOKING (haha get it? post here

Undertale AU ❤️

woooaoaaooa sorry

this was a joke au tbh did you really think i assigned everyone a charac-yes

yes i did. sorry worm

SPOILERS FOR UNDE- no i don't care. its undertale

frisk - jigen im sorry for giving you the blank slate i genuinely didnt know where to put you

flowey/asriel - lupin jr. (i wanted to give him some feeling of relevance

toriel - fujiko for obvious reasons

asgore - lupin yeah he murders children. typical day man

sans - melon cop giving you a bad time

papyrus - zenigata

undyne - goemon. goemoncore

alphys - kyosuke mamo ong

mettaton - pycal. yeah.

chara - that girl lupin jr was with i forgot her name....

uh i guess gaster can be gnome mamo thatd be funny

PMD Sky AU ☁️ ⚙️

i genuinely almost forgot about this

i remember fixating a bit on the pmd universe during december 2022 and so i made this drawing to accompany lupin month (which i failed miserably at

let me summarize the plot for this decade old game

*inhales*

you wake up in the pokemon world and realize you have turned into a pokemon! meaning you were human before!? ur pokemon partner finds you on the beach, traumadumps on you, then you get assaulted, and your partner forces you to join a guild with them because they have social anxiety. then time travel gets involved and this grovyle dude starts stealing time gears and people think hes trying to stop time!! but no!! he's trying to prevent it!! and then this dusknoir guy who you thought was a good guy stops being good and is working under dialga who wants to stop time !! and then you, your partner, and grovyle gets sent to the future and everything's shit so you find shiny celebi to go back to the present and stop the world from paralyzing!!!! also you find out that when you were a human you were friends with grovyle and when you and grovyle went back to the present you lost ur memory and turned into a pokemon (cuz time stuff)

*exhales* whew.

ok yeah, so to put this in a lupin context, lupin(zorua) and jigen(murkrow) are the protag and partner, who joined the guild purely cuz jigen had nothing going on in his life and lupin convinces him that the cool rock he found could lead to cool stuff if they join the wigglytuff guild and stuff

(uhm i havent really figured out who would be wigglytuff sooo yeah hes there as a placeholder)

when the Shit Goes Down, they meet fujiko(vulpix) who is the grovyle of this au and they think she's the bad one due to zenigata's (who stays as dusknoir) manipulation.

and goemon is the shiny celebi, if you dont know celebi has a crush on grovyle and grovyle's also shipped a lot with dusknoir so its kinda like a cute goemon x fujiko x zeni couple hehe

if we wanna go in depth with my pkmon choices, i picked zorua for lupin because it is a pokemon capable of disguising as anything. jigen is a murkrow because of the hat and their tendency to follow. fujiko is a vulpix because it feels right for her to be a red fox. also ninetales just didn't feel right. goemon and zeni kept the og pokemon because i felt that it fits. also celebi's the only other pokemon aside from dialga that can time travel, so there wasn't much of an option to begin with.

...that was a lot! but i just remember another au. the LAST au hopefully trust

Kirby AU ⭐

woaw!!

there's no extra info or kirby lore needed to understand this au. they still steal shit, they're just kirby characters now!

in the drawing i have right here, lupin is a waddle dee because of their monkey-like appearance. but I've changed him to a key dee after that drawing because they unlock doors and are much more monkey-like than original waddle dees.

jigen is a waddle doo. there's no deep reason for this, he just really fits as a doo.

goemon is the same species as meta knight. they're both swordsmen so i decided to go with that. i tried keeping the knights notif for his design but with a more japanese feel, still partially hiding his face, and giving him gloves and shoes. i imagine before he became friends with lupin his body would look much more similar to the knight characters.

oh my god ok im gojng to sleep now

to date me you have to defeat my 7 evil lupin aus

[cixthotshit]

A Cup of Rose Americano

Pairing: Bae Jinyoung x Original Female Character|Reader

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Poor Girl/Rich Boy, Coffee Shop/Gangster AU (IDEK how I got here, just go with it)

Summary: There's more than meets the eye with every person, including Bae Jinyoung, the world's finest barista at Personal Barista Cafe

Word count: 4.7k

Rating/Warnings: Mature / Explicit Sexual Content: Porn With Some Plot, Kissing, Mirror Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Creampie

Author’s Note: I wanted to write a fluffy Coffee Shop AU but NGL something else has been preoccupying my mind and the world building to this fic kind of went off the rails and transformed into a completely different story. Enjoy this smut, readers! I really want to explore this world a lot more but IDK if I can commit to anything beyond this RN. So please, please enjoy this! Sorry in advance for mistakes! I don't always catch everything when I proofread.

I always appreciate some feedback on my writings!

"Really, it'll be a...new coffee experience," Hyeon assured Sandy. She handed Sandy a green card. It felt like an expensive platinum credit card, the card made of metal, feeling heavy and cold in her hand. "All you have to do is fill out a survey after you get your free coffee. Once you make it inside, hand the card over to your barista."

"Aren't you supposed to find actual volunteers?" Sandy asked, looking at the shiny card. The only thing on the card was the name of the new test cafe, PB Cafe.

“Trust me,” Hyeon said with a grin. “You’ve never had coffee like this. This is free, too. You’re going to say no to free coffee? And I swear, this is really me saying it, their coffee is really good.”

“Fine, thanks for the free coffee.”

“Enjoy!” Hyeon turned her back to Sandy, most likely scanning for potential test subjects for her new marketing event. Being her best friend, Sandy was always her first test subject. She didn’t know if Hyeon’s bosses approved of her taking advantage of all the free stuff she was receiving.

Sandy walked over to a shop that was setup at the southwest corner of a 3 story building. The walls were white and the windows were covered by white curtains. “PB Cafe” was written in black on the front door, though there were no door handles. Standing in front of the door, Sandy noticed a black square pad beside the right side of the door. She pressed the green card to the black pad and jumped slightly as the glass door slid open. A short piano tune played, sounding old but familiar, reminding her of old Hollywood movies from the mid-20th Century.

Tentatively, she stepped in. Walking past the white curtains, she found herself inside a small room. At the back end of the room was a small bar with one wooden chair in front of it. It only took her 4 steps to reach the chair, so she pulled it out and sat down. The wall behind the bar slid down to the floor and a broad shouldered man walked out from what looked like a bright white light before the wall slid back up behind him.

Too shocked to react, Sandy set the green card down onto the smooth marble countertop. Her eyes couldn’t leave the face of her barista. He was very handsome and his small grin softened his masculine exterior. Wordlessly, he took the green card and placed it in the front left pocket of his black apron.

“Welcome to Personal Barista Cafe,” he said in a soft, sultry voice. “My name is Bae Jinyoung, your Personal Barista today. How shall I address you?”

“Uh, just call me Sandy, I don’t like formalities much.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Sandy. If you don’t like formalities feel free to call me BaeJin or BaeBae.” She gave a soft chuckle and threw her hand over her mouth, feeling her cheeks warm up. Such a sultry man telling her to call him something as cute as BaeBae tickled her. “Is this your first drink with PB Cafe?”

“Yes,” she replied. “I don’t know anything about this cafe, except that you have good coffee.”

“A Personal Barista will make you a personalized drink,” he explained, pulling out a menu form. “Whatever you order, I will make it in front of you. If you want to know how I prepare your drink, please let me know and I will explain as I go. If you want small talk instead, I enjoy a small conversation as I prepare you a drink. If you want silence, for any reason, please don’t feel pressured to speak if you don’t want to.”

“Can I get an Americano?” she asked, after glancing at the long list of coffee drinks. The menu was simple and elegant, the writings were in cursive but the paper was black and the ink white. She liked the seemingly simple attention to detail. “How long have you been a barista, BaeJin?”

“Almost a year,” he replied. He poured fresh ground coffee into a metal contraption with a long neck. She pressed her lips together as her eyes were fixed on his skilled, large hands. He was using a device to compact the coffee grounds.

“Do you enjoy being a barista?”

“I do. It allows me to be creative. My regular job is stressful.”

He put the coffee grounds into the machine and pressed a few buttons. She watched him place a small white espresso mug under the spout of the machine. He grabbed a large white mug of coffee, and looked at her with a soft grin.

“This is your side hustle?” she asked. PB Cafe seemed like it paid well.

“Most people have more than one job these days,” he replied.

“That’s true,” she replied. “I have a day job and a night job.”

“What are your jobs?”

“I’m interning at a law firm, helping a paralegal out. I’m hoping to get my private investigator’s license soon.”

“You want to be a private investigator?” he asked.

“I want to be a lawyer,” she answered, “but having a private investigator’s license helps me pick up skills. Research is the true gift of being a good lawyer.”

“Research. You must be very smart and hard working.”

“You are sweet,” she said, resting an elbow onto the counter, leaning forward. “I wish my smarts and hard work were enough to give me success. I’m lacking in luck lately.” His eyes drifted away from the espresso machine and looked into her eyes. She felt her cheeks turn hot, realizing she had overshared. It’d been a sad thought, too. “I feel very lucky right now.”

“Sandy, I don’t mean to make assumptions about people but if I were to guess you are someone with expensive tastes,” he said. He pulled out two small brown glass bottles from a drawer. “But, you settle for less.”

“I..” she breathed out.

She should have been insulted, but her barista BaeJin was right. Sandy had always been envious of people who could afford designer things or had the means to go on extravagant vacations, but all of that had always been a dream. The closest she got was free shit from Hyeon. A drink from PB Cafe was likely three times that of a drink from Starbucks, and Sandy could only afford Starbucks for special occasions.

“Why are you saying this?”

“I want to make you a drink in which you will appreciate,” he replied, pulling out a single stemmed pink rose from under the counter, and handed it to her. She felt her cheeks flush with heat as she accepted it. “Refined, seemingly ostentatious, but simple and hopefully, delicious.”

He poured hot water from a glass kettle into the mug. She felt her cheeks turn hot again as he reached over and plucked a single petal from the rose she held. He tilted a single drop of liquid from one of the brown bottles onto the petal.

“Rose water,” he said to her as he locked eyes with her for a second. He placed the rose petal into the mug, letting it float in the hot water. He poured the espresso into the mug of water, and took a spoon to scoop out the wilted petal, tossing it away before handing the drink to her.

She gave it a sip, and shut her eyes, a smile on her lips. Using a flower as aromatic as a rose was difficult to pull off in cuisine. Oftentimes the rose aroma was too overpowering, reminding one’s nose of perfume instead of food. Baejin’s Rose Americano, though, was the perfect balance of a good cup of coffee elevated with some elegance, refined by the subtlest hint of a rose’s sweet scent. The warm breath she exhaled after a hot sip of Americano filled her senses with flowery comfort.

“This is the most...beautiful cup of coffee I’ve ever tasted,” she replied, setting the mug down when she was half finished. “It tastes...beautiful.”

He gave a small chuckle, his eyes crinkling as he smiled. She bit her bottom lip, trying not to smile any wider than she already was. He was incredibly cute, grinning in reaction to her compliment. How could a man exude the amount of sensuality like BaeJin yet be so cute that she wanted to squish him like a marshmallow?

“You like it?” he asked.

“I do,” she replied. “I didn’t know a cup of Americano could be improved. Thank you for this cup of coffee. You’re a gifted barista.”

“Thank you. I would love to make you another drink.”

“I’ll try to come back one day,” she said earnestly.

She sipped her drink and glanced at her phone. Thanking her talented, handsome (and cute) barista BaeJin one last time, Sandy finished her drink and sprinted out of the odd, surreal cafe. She had to get ready for work. Smelling the pink rose in her hand, Sandy smiled to herself. Who knew her barista would be the first man to give her a rose?

--

“Diamond! Malibu was accidentally double booked,” Danielle called out into the dressing room. “Can you give a lap dance in the Blue Champagne Room before going home?”

“Wait,” Sandy said, holding the gold hoop earring she’d just taken off her left earlobe, “I’m not going to chase Malibu for the flat fee. The last time I covered for her, not only did her John not tip me but I had to chase her for 4 days before she gave me the cash.”

“I have a hard time chasing her down, too,” Danielle said with a heavy sigh, handing her purple vape pen to Sandy to hold. She dug into her pink and purple Bedazzled fanny pack, and fished out a few bills. She handed a bag of clothing to Sandy. “Let me know if this John is handsy or out of line. He’s a new customer. You have five minutes, babe. Fix your makeup.”

Handing the vape pen back to her boss, Sandy put the cash into her purse before shutting and locking the drawer to her vanity. She put her earring back on and retouched her eye makeup and lipstick. Her locks of hair looked good as she combed her fingers through her hair, looking into the mirror before getting up to change.

Sandy hadn’t exactly planned on becoming a stripper, but during her freshman year in college, she took a class on feminist studies, specifically on sex work. What started out as a learning experience in respecting sex work, and educating herself on the legal struggles of sex workers’ rights, Sandy soon found herself stripping as a means of extra income. She herself was in need of money, and recognized her beauty was valued enough that she could make capital from it.

Having walked out on her dysfunctional family as soon as she turned 18, Sandy had been hustling on her own for years. She was still working towards a career in law, but in the meantime, she was balancing between her day job as an unpaid intern at a shitty law firm and her night job as a stripper at a club called Blue Paradise. Giving lap dances were only nice when she received good tips, but they didn’t happen often enough. All she wanted was a good tip.

Pulling out the outfit Danielle handed to her, she took off her clothes and put on her new outfit. She wore a neon pink G-string bikini bottom with her matching lace bra under a black pencil skirt and a white costume button up office dress shirt. She put on a loose blue tie around her neck, and put on a pair of thick black framed glasses, matching it with her black leather knee high boots. Apparently, this new customer had a librarian kink.

Walking down the hall, toward the other side of the back of the club, she entered the room with the blue door at the end of the hall. The Champagne Rooms, where customers received their private lap dances, were color coded. The Blue Room was where the clients with specific kinks went.

Opening the door, Sandy pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, and looked up to see her John seated on the black couch. The dim lighting of the room cast a shadow over his body, making it hard for her to make out his face. She blinked, and closed her mouth, realizing that her customer was her barista from PB Cafe, BaeJin. It had been days since she had her cup of Rose Americano.

He was wearing a loosely worn grey sweater with black denim jeans. She didn’t think it was possible but he looked more handsome than she last remembered. Perhaps, with her body so close to his, knowing that he was there for devious reasons, her face flushed and her nipples hardened as heat rushed through her body from head to toe.

“BaeJin!” she said, forgetting her sexy librarian character.

“Don’t move,” he said, looking alarmed. She stood completely still, one hand on the door handle. “You’re a stripper, Sandy?”

“You...you remember me?” He nodded. “Stripping is helping me pay for my law degree.” She licked her lips and tilted her head, pushing her chest forward slightly. “I can give you what you want.”

“I can’t do this,” he replied, crossing his left leg over his right. His eyes left her, and diverted to the ground. Her ego was bruised. Not only did she need the money, but her vanity made her feel upset that he didn’t want a lap dance from her. “I should go.”

“I have to try to keep you here,” she said shyly, pressing her back against the door. “If I don’t, that means I’m not good at my job.”

“How long should we be in here for you to be considered good at your job?” he asked, his eyes returning to meet her gaze.

“You don’t want a lap dance? Am I not cute? My tits too small?”

He gave a chuckle, and looked away when his eyes moved to her chest as she talked.

“You’re very cute,” he replied, “but that’s the problem. As a barista, I don’t date customers. Since you didn’t actually pay for your drink, I thought it’d be OK to ask you out if I ever saw you again. But if I pay for this lap dance, I wouldn’t want to ask you out. It’s not fair for me to proposition you while you’re working.”

“You’ve been thinking hard about me?” Her cheeks felt hot and goosebumps formed on her arms. “Would you accept my invitation if I asked you out after this? I’m actually supposed to be off work by now, but this is my last job tonight. If I don’t give you a lap dance, we didn’t cross any lines, right?”

He nodded, and she gave a nervous chuckle.

“You said that being a barista was your side hustle,” she said, noticing the expensive watch and ring on his left hand. Sex workers had to know street codes to keep themselves safe, and watches and rings were how gang members communicated their loyalties and rankings. “What’s your main job? You said it’s stressful.”

His right hand wrapped around his platinum watch, the case of the watch encrusted with diamonds. The C9 Gang was a wealthy gang with origins in Tokyo, Japan, platinum was their calling card. BaeJin’s gold band emerald ring sat on his middle finger, indicating he was a made man of high rank. Sandy was impressed; BaeJin had acclimated to a high status in a gang at a young age.

“How long have you been working here, Sandy?” he asked in response.

“Diamond,” she answered, her grip remaining firm on the door. “My stage name is Diamond.”

“Sandy...Diamond,” he said with a grin. He stood, and she took a deep inhale of breath as he took a step forward and pressed his body against hers, his left arm wrapping around her waist as his hand gripped onto her wrist. Her hold on the door handle loosened. “You are the diamond in the rough in Blue Paradise. You still want to invite me out on a date?”

She took a gulp of breath, staring deeply into his dark brown eyes. He licked his lips and her eyes drifted to his mouth. Giving the most gentle nod of her head, she said, “Yes.”

“I drive a blue Ferrari F60 America,” he said as the tip of his nose touched hers.

“I don’t know anything about cars,” she replied, shutting her eyes. His breath was warm, making it hard for her to breathe. He chuckled and she felt his head rest onto her shoulder.

She opened her eyes when she felt a hand touch her chin.

“I drive a blue car,” he said, his eyes drifting down her face to her lips. His thumb ran across her bottom lip gently, sending heat deep into her groin. Her stomach ached at the touch. “It’ll be the most expensive looking car you’ll see when you walk outside.” He looked directly into her eyes again. “I’m a dangerous man, Sandy...Diamond. I have to ask you one more time, do you want to keep talking to me?”

She chewed on the inside of her left cheek nervously, and furrowed her eyebrows. Given how close she was to getting the paid job as a paralegal at Johnston’s &Partners, Sandy was one step closer to her dreams of becoming a lawyer. Would it be ethical to date a gangster?

“Will you take me home or will we be going to your place?” she answered. Life was too short not to take risks.

--

Upon his request, she left work wearing her costume. BaeJin’s description of having the most expensive looking car was accurate. The navy blue car shone brighter than any other car, and the curves of the body created an elegant design to the car. He’d opened the passenger door for her. She realized her skirt barely covered her ass as the cold leather from the seat hit the back of her thighs.

He drove them up a curvy hill to get to his expensive mansion, placed behind a small forest. It sat atop of a mountainous hill, overlooking the bright lights of the city far below. BaeJin was a man of very high rank by the looks of his home. It was large and designed with multiple floor to ceiling windows. Sandy took a soft gulp of air as her mouth felt dry.

“Your home is beautiful,” she said when he led her into his home, the hallway lined with expensively framed paintings. The jade vase that held 3 white lilies beside the coat hanger looked like it was worth more than everything she owned, including the small amount of cash she had in her bank account.

BaeJin’s home aesthetic was minimalist, though each room had a piece of furniture that popped out, like the jade vase in the front entrance. In his bedroom, he had a rose gold encrusted full length mirror sitting at the foot of his bed. It was shameless, but did not surprise her. Their eyes locked as BaeJin sat down at the foot of the bed. Their fingers intertwined when she reached her left hand out to his outstretched right hand.

“I spent a week trying not to think about you,” he said, pulling her easily onto his lap. His free hand wrapped around her waist. “The closest thing to you was trying to get a stripper to dress up like a sexy librarian.”

“Aren’t you lucky?” she said, squeezing his hand. “You went to Blue Paradise wanting a fantasy. Instead, you left with your fantasy.”

His hand released hers and she felt his hand between her legs, sliding up against her slit. Shutting her eyes she gave a soft moan, surprised at his swift movement.

“You deserve the best in life,” he said into her ear before grazing his teeth gently against her neck. “Don’t ever settle for less.”

He kissed her, his lips warm and firm. His tongue parted her lips and she gave a soft hum. She pushed his tongue out of her mouth, appreciating the taste of floral green tea from him. Her fingers tangled into his hair, pulling him closer to her. He tasted better than the beautiful cup of Rose Americano.

With a clouded head, she helped him pull his sweater off as he aggressively pulled her top off of her, the cheap buttons popping loudly as they flew into the air. Her skirt failed to exist when he ripped the zipper and tore the fabric apart with his bare hands.

“Are you going to rip me apart?” she asked breathlessly when his fingers found their way under her bra, fondling her erect nipple. She gave a soft moan and he grinned as he pinched her sensitive bud.

“I’ll be as hard or soft as you want,” he assured her. The pad of his thumb grazed against her nipple. Her back shivered as a sharp heat rode up her back.

“I like a bit of both,” she said, her cheeks hot. It felt like a dream to have BaeJin telling her he would do as she wanted. “You ruined my skirt.”

“The cheap costume skirt?” he asked, his hand returning to rubbing her slit. “You don’t have to settle, remember?” She shut her eyes, her hand grabbing his arm as two of his fingers pressed against her clit. “I like you best without clothes anyway.” The heat intensified as his fingers moved down lower, moistening her panties with the slick heat coming out of her pussy. Her back shook again as his fingers moved up against her slit, and then back down. “Your voice is lovely.”

She moaned as she rested her head against his chest, his fingers continually creating more heat between her legs. One finger slipped under her panties, pulling the fabric away from her wet cunt. The back of his knuckle pressed against the engorged bud of her clit, and she mewled as he rubbed up and down against her.

“BaeBae,” she could only speak with a shaky breath, “BaeBae, I’m going to come.”

Her hips thrust haphazardly against his knuckle as a small flash of heat washed over her, goosebumps forming up the back of her neck. Her orgasm disappeared as soon as it came and she breathed through her mouth. Her pussy felt wet as her slick heat dripped out of her.

“I was just playing with you,” he said with an amused smile, his eyes locked onto the mess between her legs, including his wet fingers. He spread her juices onto her folds, and moved the pads of his index and middle fingers to draw small circles onto her clit. She mewled, shutting her eyes, as her hips rutted against the motions of his fingers. “But with you this wet, I can fuck you right now.”

“BaeBae,” she breathed out, opening her eyes.

Her eyebrows were furrowed as she looked at him. Wordlessly, she stood as their hands began removing each other’s clothes off. His expensive jewelry remained on as he pulled her back to his front, making her stand between his legs. His hand went between her legs and he massaged the inside of her thigh. She hummed a soft moan, enjoying the way his hand relaxed her muscles.

Both of his hands wrapped around her waist, and his lips kissed her neck. He requested she trust him, and one hand reached down to her right knee and had her stretch her leg out to rest over his. As his other hand went to her left knee, she understood what he was doing. He wanted a full view of her pussy so she sat on his lap with her legs hooked over his.

“Ready to put this to use?” he asked, his hands kneading her hips. His reflection from the mirror was staring at her. She saw the cheeks of her flushed face turn a bright red, and she tilted her head down to look away from the mirror. The blood coursing through her chest up to her head clouded her vision. “Look at us.”

His right hand cupped her face, and she felt his wrist press up against the front of her neck. The pulse from his wrist beat rapidly against the pulse on her neck, and she struggled to breathe as her eyes locked onto his from the reflection in the mirror. Hot blood rushed to her groin and her hips jerked forward, out of her control. His left arm wrapped around her waist had her firmly in his hold, so all she could do was wiggle in his lap. Feeling the muscles of his thighs flex under her made her buttocks tighten, her body anticipating his cock.

“If you let me take you raw,” he said softly against her ear, his eyes locked with hers through the reflection of the mirror, “that’ll make you mine.”

His hold on her face was gone as his hand grabbed his cock. He rubbed his hard cock against her slit. She bit her bottom lip as his heat caused more juices to pool out of her cunt. It made her nerves shake, itching her skin in unbearable heat. He blinked, and his eyebrows furrowed as she opened her mouth to breathe loudly.

“I’m yours,” she said clearly. He groaned as he pushed the tip of his cock into her entrance. “Give me everything, BaeJin.” Pleasure blinded her vision as she saw nothing but white and gold flecks of stars. She gave a loud gulp when she felt his hand grip onto her chin again, his wrist pressing against her throat. Her grip on his arms tightened as she held onto him for leverage. His cock pushed in deeper, and the walls of her pussy trembled as heat filled her body in overwhelming waves. “I’m yours.”

His lips were on her neck and when her vision cleared all her eyes could focus was on the way his cock was fucking her pussy. He started with shallow pushes, the rhythm steady as she bounced on his lap. She came and she gave a gentle mewl, blurting out his name as her walls squeezed his cock. A gentle chuckle escaped her lips as she saw him shut his eyes tight.

“You’re so easy to please,” he said as he pushed in deep. She gave a loud groan as he pulled out roughly before pushing in fast, going in balls deep. He started a steady, deep rhythm and she cried as she was filled with undiluted pleasure.

“You fuck so good,” she moaned, her hand reaching back to grab his hair. He sucked on her neck, leaving a red mark before he kissed her shoulder. “BaeJin, fuck me. I’m gonna - I’m - I’m gonna come.”

His grip around her waist tightened as he pushed faster into her, and they bent forward together as he came into her in deep pushes. Her fingers dug into his skin as she shut her eyes, taking in the sensation of his hot seed filling up her insides.

“Come,” he panted out heavily as she felt him withdraw from her. She whimpered as she felt his middle finger push into her come-filled cunt. His thumb rubbed up against her clit, making her nerves dance in hot waves. She cried out a soft orgasm as she came again. She breathed heavily as she rested against his body.

“We barely know each other,” she said after a while. She didn’t know how long they sat together, staring at their reflection before she finally spoke.

“We have the rest of our lives to get to know each other,” he said, running a hand up and down her thigh, sending heat up and down her back. “You are mine now.”

He pulled her off his lap, and they laid in bed together. A shiver went down her back as he kissed her shoulder. They were facing each other, her left leg locked between his muscular thighs.

Giving a laugh, she watched him grab her wrist. He kissed the inside of her wrist before kissing the inside of her elbow. She shut her eyes as she felt his lips on her shoulder. Every kiss sent a vibrating heat under her skin. His mouth sucked on her neck and she grabbed onto the back of his hair as his teeth grazed against her skin. The muscles in her stomach tightened. The world ceased to exist as BaeJin’s embrace consumed her.

[spxcemuses]

@vampiric-bite​​ asked: ⚡️

[ send me a ⚡️and I'll fill out for you/your muse ] | Always Accepting

my first impression of your muse: younger me thought that Reistr was cool, ngl! He still is! First impression of Sulvur was that he’s an edgelord, but I love that he’s changed a bit over time. my first impression of you: was kinda hesitant to approach you on deviantArt years ago but I’m honestly surprised to find you on here too!  my favorite thing about your muse: I like Reistr’s politeness and how angry Sulvur gets... I also like the dynamic of them together (although it’s not the healthiest) my favorite thing about you: I like that you’re one of my closest friends on here and that you’re approachable! I also admire your AUs and character concepts! would i ever consider shipping our muses: depends on the muse, really, and if there’s chemistry/decent interactions between them! not sure if i’ll ship w/sulvur tho as much. a plot I’d like to see between our muses: I think one of my muses seeing that Reistr/Sulvur are vampires and well, transform only to have them be shocked sounds pretty cool! Like one of my human muses coming to that realization and being surprised! Or something fluffy between our muses to where they just spend time together while doing an activity... an AU I think would be interesting for our muses: I don’t know what AU I’d have for my muse, but I am interested in your silverwing(?)/bat AU/verse of Reistr/Sulvur :0

[roqueamadi]

Planning for a LotR Regency AU (Boromir/OFC)

I'm not going to tag this because it's going to make me look completely insane, but I thought @scyllas-revenge and @trenko-heart you guys might be interested... I have spent way too much time on this (ngl it was fun though xD )

The challenge: How to convert the LotR characters into Jane Austen-style regency characters? I've watched the entire Ellie Dashwood YouTube series to try to ensure I correctly understand how titles and lineages work. Here were my problems and the ways I've decided to tackle them as I plan this fic - some of this may change once I actually start writing, but this is my thought process!

Problem 1: In the regency, people (ie peers/gentry) didn't refer to others by their first names. I had to choose between either: ignoring this historical fact and letting my characters use other characters' first names; making their 'known names' into their titles (eg Lord Boromir is the 'Duke of Boromir'); or, assigning them surnames and having characters refer to each other by names unfamiliar to readers.

I decided to go with the last option which is more historically accurate, principally because if I tried the second option, I would still run into trouble with siblings and parent-children relationships (Faramir is the brother of the Duke of Boromir?? No) - therefore, I'll need to accept that it might be hard for readers to follow who is who in this fic, at first. Eg (as explained below) most other characters will call Boromir 'Lord Ithilien', 'the Lord of Ithilien' or 'Coloniel Hurin'. And to be honest, now that I've stared at this for a few hours I'm actually starting to not mind it that much. I also think it feels more 'Jane Austen-y' for characters to have lots of confusing titles :p However, I think I'll at least let my protagonist 'think of people' by their first names in the narrative, which will assist with clarity.

Problem 2: Most of the characters don't have last names.

Problem 1 leads to this. My answer: I made them up. I tried to pick names from their lineage or alternative names that sounded right. For Denethor's line, I picked 'Hurin'; Aragorn's = 'Telcontar'; Elrond's = 'Peredhel'; Theoden's = 'Eorl' and Eomer+Eowyn's = 'Steelsheen'. I also gave Sauron a first name ('Mairon') and picked a random surname for my protag Cin ('Eradan').

Problem 3: It's extremely unlikely a Steward would be ruling in place of a King.

The more likely scenario (as seen in the regency period itself) is that a Prince Regent rules in place of a King because of illness, absence or minority. I decided to go with the latter - so my idea is that Aragorn's parents died when he was not yet of age and so a Prince Regent took over. This would most likely be his closest living relative - so I decided to make Denethor related to him (I've ended up making Denethor Aragorn's first cousin once removed - any closer and Aragorn would share a surname with Boromir and Faramir, which I didn't want).

Problem 4: Leading on from problem 3... I don't want Boromir to be too closely related to my protag Cin (for obvious reasons!)

I was originally going to make her Aragorn's younger sister, but that would make her and Boromir second cousins. That's a bit too close! So I made her Aragorn's first cousin on his mother's side - so Cin and Boromir are both cousins to Aragorn but have no blood connection to each other. Whew!

Problem 5: I wanted to somehow convert the main conflict of Sauron versus the West into the 'Jane Austen' realm - ie the 'battles' occur mostly during conversations.

I decided to include a plot point like this: Denethor has done something to disgrace himself and get kicked out of the role of Prince Regent (this feeds into Boromir's feelings of inadequacy regarding his line). The next closest relative steps into the role - Sauron! Oh no! This will be the main world conflict of the fic and is the prompt for Aragorn, who is now of age, to return and take up his role, and save his people from the ravages of this unqualified leader. I squeezed Sauron into the family tree as Aragorn's first cousin twice removed.

Problem 6: But, I still want some battles, if not 'on screen' then at least referenced.

This is straight from Sharpe, but my idea is that there is a war going on and many peers' sons have commissions in the Army. Boromir is a Colonel (the highest rank you could purchase), Faramir is a Major (because there's no way in hell Denethor would fork out for a higher rank than that), Theodred was also a Major before he died, Eomer and Legolas are both Captains. And they all go off to fight together, mainly so that Boromir can get injured and give us the opportunity for some h/c xD

Problem 7: So, what happened to Aragorn (and Cin) after his parents died, then? How come Sauron is able to step in and take over?

Sticking reasonably closely to the canon storyline, I decided to make it that Elrond (ALSO a distant relation of Aragorn - second cousin once removed, making Arwen Aragorn's third cousin, which is far enough removed to be okay, I think) stepped in to take care of Aragorn. My idea is that his parents were killed in the same 'accident' as Cin's, so Elrond takes both in as wards. He hides them from society in order to protect them both.

Problem 8: If Aragorn is the Prince, Denethor must be a sufficiently senior peer in order to hold the Prince Regent position (for a time, at least) - even though in Jane Austen most characters are not this senior in rank.

I mean, there's Lady Catherine de Bourgh and a few other mentions of Knights and Earls, etc. But I'm okay with adding peerage titles into this fic because it's fun and I think it fits - the various families must be sufficiently senior otherwise it's not realistic that they're all hanging out together. So I've made Denethor a Duke, which is the most senior rank in the peerage without being actually royal (I went with 'Duke of Osgiliath'). Dukes normally have secondary titles which they lend to their son and heir, so for Boromir I picked 'Earl of Ithilien' (as I mentioned above). I made Elrond a Marquess, and his heir Elladan a Baron, and I made Theoden a Viscount. So all those characters get to be referred to by weird titles!

So, this is becoming a crazy long post, but here's the result of my work:

I think this is going to be too small to see in one image, so I've broken it down. Here is the key and a helpful 'cousin chart', because this gets complex:

And here are the segments.

Here is the line of kings, including Aragorn and Cin (my protag) plus Sauron:

Here is Denethor's line, with our main love interest:

Here is Elrond's line - things are getting a bit awkward for anyone who really deeply knows the canon family trees, but I'm saying that Dior was the younger brother of Argonui (who was Aragorn's great grandfather):

And finally, here is Theoden's line, separate from the rest at the start of the fic, but obviously they ultimately join up in two places (Eowyn = Faramir and later Eomer = Lothiriel:

So that's it. Let me know what you think guys, I had fun thinking through all this. Now I just need to actually write it :p

[katierosefun]

okay y’all i re-listened to the entirety of evermore at like 2 am and went to bed at 3 am so this isn’t really coherent but here we are, qeued up to go,,,so here are my thoughts w/ evermore + tcw because y’all k n o w 

1. willow -- strong anidala vibes. taylor swift herself said something about how this song is all about the complexities of desire and. yeah. it shows. // “wherever you stray, i follow” and “i know my train could take you home” and “the more that you say the less i know” and “wherever you stray i follow” and “that’s my man ;)” 

2. champagne problems -- strong sad obitine vibes, which @kckenobi screamed about to me last night and i wholeheartedly agree. big vibes of having to leave a relationship because you have to and also...just sad. might have made me cry and my heart feel empty. def. something on repeat. // “your heart was glass, i dropped it” and “your hometown skeptics called it champagne problems” and “you had a speech, you’re speechless” and “how evergreen our group of friends, don’t think we’ll say that word again” and “one for the money, two for the show, i never was ready, so i watched you go” 

3. gold rush -- okay big anakin or obi-wan vibes. both? both. this is kinda a stretch but. just the feeling of watching these big heroic figures walk around and quietly wonder about huh. who are they anyways. // “everybody wonders what it would be like to love you” and “i don’t like slow motion, double vision in rose blush” and “my mind turns your life into folklore” 

4. ‘tis the damn season -- big anakin and ahsoka vibes, esp. during season 7 help. all about going back to your hometown and kinda wanting to reunite with someone but also knowing that is a bad idea. yes i am sad. // “and it always leads to you and my hometown” and “i won’t ask you to wake if you don’t ask me to stay” and “and wonder about the only soul who can tell which smiles i’m faking” and “we could call it even, even though i’m leaving” yeah i’m not okay either 

5. tolerate it -- big sad anakin and obi-wan vibes, and i’ll explain. idk. vibes of just. anakin mayhaps thinking that obi-wan doesn’t care/love him to the same extent anakin thinks he himself does. help. don’t talk to me about this this is my new exile and it shows because i’ve been listening to this on repeat. // “i wake and watch you breathing with your eyes closed” and “you’re so much older and wiser” and “i wait by the door like i’m just a kid, use my best colors for your portrait” and “tell me i got it wrong somehow” and “i know my love should be celebrated, but you tolerate it” and “always taking up too much space or time”, and @kckenobi pointed out that the bridge onwards is from obi-wan’s perspective after rots help “leave us in ruins, take this dagger in me and removed it” and “gained the weight of you and lose it, believe me i could do it” no i’m not okay

6. no body, no crime -- ngl this is a tricky one. this probably belongs in some convoluted au in which padme and ahsoka snap and murder palpatine or something which. you know. i’m kinda down for that. // “i’ve cleaned up enough houses to cover up a scene” that’s all you need to know *aggressive side-eye*

7. happiness -- big, big, big disaster lineage vibes. anakin and obi-wan, anakin and ahsoka, whichever. big sad. all about having really bittersweet memories. “i hurt you, you hurt me, but we had good memories”. // “haunted by the look in my eyes that would have loved you for a lifetime” and “tell me when your winning smile began to look like a smirk?” and “when did all our lessons start to look like weapons pointed at my deepest hurt?” and “there’ll be happiness after me, but there was happiness because of me” and “i can’t make it go away by making you a villain” and “in our history, across our great divide, there is a great sunrise” gives me so much hope??? mayhaps our tcw trio could....could reunite and have a happy ending please 

8. dorothea -- this is also kinda a reach, but i see this is like the other side of anakin and ahsoka vibes in ‘tis the damn season. kind of seen from the perspective of someone who’s seeing someone come back to the hometown and ‘oh huh she’s different’ but like. still cares about you, you know? which is very anakin and ahsoka vibes season 7. // “it’s never too late to come back to my side” and “you know, you’ll always know me” and “but are you still the same soul i met under the bleachers?” 

9. coney island -- honestly about anyone with anakin. :( it’s just. really sad. destroying something delicate vibes. // “did i shatter you?” and “sorry for not making you my centerfold” and “disappointments, close your eyes” and “but you were too polite to leave me” 

10. ivy -- more anidala vibes, tbh? again, stuff about illicit affairs kinda. cheerful but lyrics are not, actually. idk the metaphorical thing that both anakin and padme are already married to are the order and the senate, obvs. // “i’d live and die for moments that we stole on begged and borrowed time” and “it’s a war, it’s the goddamn fight of my life, and you started it” and “i can’t stop you putting roots in my dreamland” 

11. cowboy like me -- obitine and/or anidala vibes, i know. never thought i would talk about cowboys to them,,,but the vibes. // “you had some tricks up your sleeves” and “takes one to know one” and “we could be the way forward and i know i’ll pay for it” and “and the skeletons in both our closets plotted hard to fuck this up” 

12. long story short -- big obi-wan vibes, also big ahsoka vibes. // “pushed off the precipice, clung to the nearest lips” and “long story short, it was the wrong guy” and “no more tug of war, now i just know there’s more” and “past me, i wanna tell you not to get lost in these petty things” and “your nemeses will defeat themselves before you get the chance to swing” and “i fell from the pedestal” and the transition from “long story short, it was a bad time” to “long story short, i survived” 

13. marjorie -- big obi-wan and anakin vibes. i think this song is actually about taylor’s grandmother but right now all i could think of bittersweet anakin and obi-wan help // “if i didn’t know better, i’d think you were still around” and “what died didn’t stay dead” and “you’re alive, you’re alive in my head” and “i should’ve asked you questions” 

14. closure -- big anakin vibes w/ lineage fam. just. angry ex vibes. of someone who just doesn’t want anything to do with you anymore. asdfsdfs this is ironic but like. yeah. that was the closest i could think of. mayhaps a stretch but there’s some connecting lyrics. // “don’t treat me like a situation that needs to be handled” and “i’m fine with my spite and my tears” and “i know i’m just a wrinkle in your new life” and “guilty, guilty reaching across the sea that you put between you and me” (this is gonna hit hard if kenobi series speculation is correct and we get obi-wan trying to bring anakin back for one last time)

15. evermore -- honestly gives me obi-wan vibes. // “i replay my footsteps on each stepping stone, trying to find the one where i went wrong” and “this pain would be for evermore” and “can’t remember what i used to fight for” and “i thought of you in the cracks of light, i dreamed of you” but then it transitions from “this pain would be for evermore” to “this pain wouldn’t be for evermore” and ladies and gentlemen, we call that growth and hope!!!

[arsonistblue]

BLUE YOU HAVE OCS???? Please tell me everything about them

AAAAAA YES I DO!!!!! I’m writing a book (technically a series) and they’re all my children

It’ll all be under the cut bc this might get long (It did) since I’ve don a fuckton of world and character building, plotting, and meticulously planning the books, and I have a feeling people will want me to shut up but it’s my blog and I get to rant about my book if I want to kjlsdfkjlsdf

(I kinda have to explain some of the worldbuilding to explain the characters)

Most of them are from a different dimension similar to the “human” dimension, called the Middle. They’re also like humans themselves, but they each have a “difference,” which is what they call their power, for lack of a better word. It’s called a difference because, even if two people have the same ability, say, they could both control water, it would still be different for each of them. They’d’ all have a calling, for lack of a better word. And their styles have to be self taught.

There are 6 people, 2 sets of triplets, who are called the Crest. The Crest were an experiment to try and create a solution to help fix a corrupted world that seemed utopian. Sector 13, a rebel organization trying to fix said corrupted world, decided to tweak the genetics of six embryos to make them more powerful. Their idea of this was for these six to have two “differences” rather than the standard one (the thing is, though, they didn’t know just how powerful the six would be). 

Two sets of parents (The Quills and the Clearlys) volunteered to carry the children and raise them. However, word of the Crest got out, and in turn sparked a massive war. 

Okay, onto the characters!!! (picrew link)

This is Alex Clearly. She’s the main character, and a member of the Crest.

She was raised in an orphanage in the human dimension. She was born in the Middle, but due to being born in the midst of a giant war about her existence, her parents wanted to keep her (as well as the rest of the Crest) hidden away. So they (The Quills and the Clearlys) hopped from safe house to safe house while still in the Middle. However, they were found by a different organization who wanted the Crest dead (or worse), and a bomb was set to their safe house. The Clearly parents thought they were the only ones to survive, but then they found Alex (keep in mind, she’s a baby at this point) and decide “fuck this, she’s going somewhere objectively safer.”

So, they took her to the human dimension to be raised in an orphanage with one of Mrs. Clearly’s old friends (read: bitter ex-friends who don’t necessarily hate each other to death but don’t vibe any more) who was hiding out there. They would’ve set her up at a foster home but they were like, about to die from sepsis so they decided “this’ll work ig.” They did their best ok 

This orphanage, unfortunately, is run by a horrible old woman who (for reasons explained in the book) absolutely despises Alex. So Alex is kind of an outcast in this orphanage because of that. The only adult who actually likes her is Gwendolyn, aka Mrs. Clearly’s old friend. She also has a best friend, Eli. 

Now, given that Alex is part of the Crest, she has 2 powers. One appeared at birth, which was telepathy, which meant she could read others’ minds and emotions. But, because the universe hated her, she couldn’t block them, so she constantly has waves of other people’s thoughts and emotions hurtling at her (this is also me projecting as an empath jklsdflkjds hyperempathy is a bitch)

I’m currently debating whether to spoil what her other power is because you find out a few chapters into the first book 

Yknow what fuck it, she’s a hydrolic. She can control water and it’s awesome

I don’t want to spoil any more of her backstory, so now I’ll give some attributes!

Me, talking about Alex: So there’s this she/they

She’s been Through Some Shit (tm) but she’s a survivor, and taught herself self-defense, how to steal without getting caught (for when she really needed food/supplies), etc

She’s also a badass and tough as nails

However do not let her badassery fool you, she is in fact a Fucking Nerd

Trust issues are rampant

Definitely Not Straight (see the undercut [important note, the undercut does not exist until book 2])

V sarcastic

If you give her dumplings she will love you forever

Definitely said ACAB after the cops took away her Big Burly Guy Friends for Robin Hood antics (read: stealing from the rich and giving to the poor)

said Big Burly Guy Friends were Big Burly Guys, taught self defense classes in their garage. She (at the time, a skinny 7 year old) showed up and asked them to teach her to fight, and at first they laughed, but she learned self defense and every saturday she showed up and they gave her a juice box and some crackers

10000% has adhd

During book 1, she’s 13-14

In just a normal high school AU, she would be a closeted memelord

But would unironically say poggers

She hates rules

A lot

She goes out of her way to break the especially stupid ones

Stubborn as all hell

She’s also super protective and if you hurt someone she loves, you fear for your life

Long story short, she’s a badass nerd with adhd who could kill a man with ease

I love her so much it’s not even funny ok?? she’s my child

Next!

This is Eli Marcus. He was Alex’s best (only) friend at the orphanage. He’s also from the human dimension. 

Eli was at the orphanage since he was five. He was always friends with Alex, and tried to help her with her headaches, though Alex never told him she was a telepath. 

He’s a loyal friend, and always tries to cheer people up

He has a bad habit of forgetting to take off his binder at night, much to Alex’s annoyance

He loves to play the drums. There’s constantly a song stuck in his head, and he taps his fingers on tables or chairs or whatever to try to get them out

It works, then it’s replaced by another song

He probably has adhd too

He has tried to dye his own hair. It did Not work

Alex kept reminding him that he had dark hair but he was just “I am looking Away, I do not see it” so it only dyed his scalp red

So far we haven’t seen very much of him, he’s in the first few chapters of book 1. I’m planning on putting him in book 2 or 3 though!

This is Jazzi LeCiel, one of Alex’s best friends. 

Jazzi lives in The Middle, and she’s the same age as Alex. She’s a stratic, meaning she can control the air (like an airbender), but like most people, she didn’t discover it until she was around middle school age. Her backstory isn’t as developed since she’s not the main character, and the story is told from Alex’s perspective. 

She’s a disaster bisexual

She would unironically cuff her jeans

Loves causing chaos 

She’s pretty trusting up front but if you break her trust it takes awhile to get it back

Farily petite

Also a badass like Alex, but she’s also a dork jlsfljdfk

I love her so much it’s not even funny 

She’s one of the classic short-but-deadly people. By this I mean she could easily kill a man with her eyes closed and one hand behind her back, and probably would if he pissed her off enough

Very strong sense of community

She’s independent but knows when to rely on her friends and family, something she’s trying to teach Alex (since she always had to be independent)

She’s extremely creative and thinks outside the box, hell, she probably doesn’t even know where the box is

Next!

This is Torrent Rush. He’s another of Alex’s friends in the Middle.

Torrent is about the same age as Alex and Jazzi, maybe a few months older. He’s also a visidem, meaning he can turn himself (and, if he focuses, other people) invisible. (Also that’s not really what his hair looks like, but it was the closest I could find)

Daddy issuuuuuuues

His dad’s a piece of shit

He’s got an older brother, and thus is very competitive

He’s generally very caring and outspoken, also very kind even if you’re a total stranger

Though he has trouble keeping his emotions under control, and when he gets angry or upset enough, he tends to lash out

Someone get this boy some therapy

His favorite color is purple

Idk why I added that, it’s not relevant at all lkjfdskljdfs

He tries to be smooth and he kind of is ngl, but like not as smooth as he could be

He kinda has White Boy energy but he tries to not be like that, you know? Like he was raised with toxic masculinity but he’s trying to outgrow it

tl;dr he needs therapy and a nap

This is Ezra Quill, another of Alex’s friends and a member of the Crest. 

He’s lived in the Middle all his life as well, and is both a pyre (controlling fire) and a hypnolic (basically he can control other people’s minds and therefore bodies as well). He’s lived at a Sector 13 base for awhile, too. 

Imagine sunshine given human form. You have Ezra

Seriously he’s a cinnamon roll

I love him so much

He has on multiple occasions had fucking butterflies land on his nose. This is not an exaggeration. It happens multiple times

He’s a fucking NERD and will hyperfixate on anything 

He specifically loves baking 

Cracks a lot of jokes but he’s generally very sincere

Also he’s a tol bean???? child what are you doing up there

He’s quite fond of mango lassi and payasam

He plays with his fire a lot, purely to have fun. He loves lighting his hand on fire to scare people (Loretta, mostly) 

He fidgets

a lot

He always has to be moving, whether it’s tapping his fingers or doing that fuckin wave squiggle motion with his arms (he’s also really good at it)

He also hums to himself, but it always ends up with him making random sounds and making Alex think there’s a cryptid toddler in the other room

He loves big sweaters, not just because of how cozy they are, but also because he can slap people (read: Alex) with the long, flappy sleeves 

Next is Loretta, Alex’s adoptive mother and all-around wonderful woman.

Loretta is a master hydrolic, and teaches at the academy. She’s probably a repressed lesbian too lkjsdflkjdfs

She was a part of Sector 13 from the beginning of their work on creating the Crest, and when she met Alex, she almost cried because of the strong young woman Alex was becoming. 

Loretta will see a child (read: anyone younger than her), say “is anyone gonna adopt that thing” and then not wait for an answer

She had to physically stop herself from making Alex sign the adoption papers she keeps in her pocket at all times the first time they met

If you hurt somebody she loves, run

Faster

She has some dark spots in her past, in her present, too, but she’s working to illuminate them 

Also she’s in love with her best-friend-turned-enemy but she doesn’t know it

She is a fierce fighter when she wants to be. Nobody expects it, either. They see her and think she’s more laid-back, some daresay delicate, but she’s anything but. She’s taken down a full grown man while wearing heels

She’s basically adopted Torrent, Ezra and Jazzi too

She adopted Alex, but she also saw Torrent and Ezra and Jazzi and decided they were hers too

“How many children do you have?” “Biologically, legally, or emotionally?” 

I love her sm 

[mybiasisexo]

Trust

Genre: Angst | Highschool!au

Pairing: Kyungsoo x OC

Length: 1.8k

Warning: Unfinished | OC

Summary: Kyungsoo keeps to himself, but that all might change when the most popular girl in school, who just so happens to be his neighbor, decides to set her sights on him.

Author’s Note: This is an idea I came up with waaaay back in like 2015 I think. I wrote all this and then forgot about it. Idk if I’ll ever get back to it or not. The plot, ngl, was wild, like fucking crazy haha. But it fit Kyungsoo a lot I think.

MASTERLIST

credit

She was doing it again.

As hard as I tried to ignore her, I couldn’t help but know.

She was staring at me.

Park Sooyoung, the most popular girl in school, was staring at me, Do Kyungsoo, the most invisible person in my class.

Most guys would be flattered by the gesture, but I just wished she would stop. I sink lower into my chair and hold my textbook over my face, hiding it from her view.

I could still feel her stare.

The bell rang, and I was instantly out of my seat. I slung my backpack over a shoulder and spared a glance at the bold girl. Our eyes locked briefly and I cringed internally, pretending it never happened and practically ran out of the school.

When I got to the front, I sighed and leaned against the brick of the building, waiting for my brother to pull up. I was just scrolling down my blog when a burst of sound pulled my attention. I lifted my head and spotted Sooyoung saying her farewells to her minions and heading over to a shiny red mustang, an older man was in the driver’s seat, his shades blocking his face.

Figures. Sooyoung was notorious for her hookups. It was no surprise to me she would try to get an older man—and a rich one at that.

I lifted an eyebrow as I watched the man rev the engine, a cocky grin on his lips. Sooyoung laughed ecstatically and hooted as her friends squealed and they peeled off.

A loud honk straight ahead of me caused me to jump and I felt my face redden as I saw my brother waiting for me. He gestured for me to hurry and I jerkily fumbled to the passenger seat.

The car ride was silent. I’m ashamed to have had Sooyoung catch my attention, no matter how brief. She was not worth my time in the slightest and I was unimpressed with her in every way possible.

“Did you see that mustang in the lot?” My brother, Seungsoo, asked me. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

“Yeah,” I said quietly with a slight nod.

“It was nice. The person who owns it must have money to blow.”

“He must,” I agreed, whipping my phone back out and opening the app to my blog.

I could see my brother glancing at my phone and me quickly, “back on your blog?”

“Yeah,” I repeated myself, my attention not really on my sibling.

“That’s…cool…”

I repressed another sigh. My brother didn’t understand me, and I didn’t really care enough to try to let him. He pitied me somewhat, making himself believe my isolation was not of my own doing. He wished I had more friends.

He cared, I had to give him that. He was a good older brother to have.

He drove up the driveway and parked the car, leaving it idling. He spun to me as I realized our location and began to gather my stuff.

“I have to work tonight, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Tell the parents for me?”

“Will do.”

Seungsoo saluted me off and sped away from our house. My eyes flickered to the pale blue two story building beside my own off white home and sighed again, dragging my bag behind me like a dead dog.

The first thing I noticed once I entered my home was the smell. My mother was in the kitchen, humming to herself. I stood near the entrance, just watching her for a minute. Her back was turned to me and she didn’t notice me once she turned around to the sink, washing her hands briefly.

After I realized she wasn’t going to notice me anytime soon, I slowly climbed the stairs.

I saw my father’s office door was cracked open, so I poked my head inside, knocking gently against the soft wood.

My father was glaring at his computer screen before I caught his attention.

“Kyungsoo,” he greeted with a nod. I bowed and once I straightened, cleared my throat.

“Just letting you know I’m home,” I mumbled, letting my eyes take in the lighting of the room. It was too bright.

My father nodded quickly and returned to his computer.

“I…uh,” I gulped and cleared my throat again. It kept trying to close on me. “Seungsoo hyung has a late shift tonight at the restaurant. He told me to tell you, so…”

I peeked at my father through my lashes as he made a disapproving noise from the back of his throat, “that’s unfortunate. Your mother was looking forward to seeing him… When is your next shift?”

“Tomorrow at five,” I informed quickly.

“Thanks for letting me know.”

“You’re welcome,” I bowed nearly ninety degrees and quickly departed from his presence, my job done.

I retired to my bedroom, throwing my bag into the corner and myself on top my bed.

My fingers started pulling at strands of my hair without my permission and I bit my lip hard enough to keep my scream from escaping.

I strongly disliked my parents.

~*~

The incessant ringing of my alarm interrupted my dreamless sleep. I groaned and blindly reached for the device, finally hitting the snooze button. I rolled around so that I was lying on my back and blinked blankly at my ceiling.

It was cold.

A lot colder than it was yesterday, and I was both overjoyed and highly annoyed.

I loved autumn. It was my favorite holiday, but I dreaded the winter, and you couldn’t have one without the other it seemed.

My alarm went off again and I rolled back on my stomach just so I could bury my head into my pillow and scream.

By lunchtime, I had yawned around seventy times since my alarm first went off. I got plenty of sleep, but I was exhausted.

Hongbin, who was sitting directly in front of me watched as I blinked and struggled with keeping my eyes open.

“You okay?” He asked.

I focused on his voice and nodded, “yeah. Just tired.”

“It’s probably the weather,” Sanghyuk, who was sitting beside me, rationalized on my behalf.

“Yeah, it’s really cold today, isn’t it?” Hakyeon agreed, shivering for emphasis.

“I like it!” Another guy at my table, Jaehwan—although he preferred to be called Ken for some odd reason—yelled. He threw his beanie on the table and the guy sitting on the other side of me, Wonsik, snatched it up, putting it on top his close shaven head.

These were the closest things to friends I had—although the term ‘acquaintances’ didn’t even really cover what we were. We really only ate lunch together, and sat beside one another in any classes we shared. There was another guy, Taekwoon, who hung out with us occasionally, but he hated areas that were too crowded and chose to eat his lunch alone in his car.

I had no reason to judge him on that.

“I like the cold,” I countered, staring at my rice.

“Isn’t it the best?” Ken urged, excited I was talking.

“I like when it’s chilly, the chilly autumn breeze. You can feel it in your bones, but the sun is still there to reassure you warmth still exists.”

Wonsik grinned, “I like that. Sanghyuk, give me a beat!”

The youngest of us started beat boxing terribly and Woonsik immediately started rapping about the weather. Ken began singing exactly what I had just said, word from word, during Wonsik’s verse.

I shook my head and allowed myself to grin at them.

Hongbin lightly kicked my shin, and when I looked up at him, he grinned knowingly, lifting his eyebrows up to let me know he understood.

That was why I still ate lunch with this odd group.

The rest of school passed by in a blur.

My locker closed with a bang and Sooyoung was on the other side, eyes wide and centered on me.

I jumped as I saw her, my heart racing as I noticed her. “Hi,” she nearly whispered, a knowing grin gracing her lips.

I glanced around the hall even though, at such a close proximity, there was no denying who she was looking and talking to.

“Hi?” I swung my backpack over a shoulder and spun around, heading out to the front of the campus to get picked up.

“So… are we going to talk about the other day?”

I cringed. So she didn’t forget. That explained the stares.

“What about the other day?” I played off. I didn’t want to talk about it. It was a lapse of judgment, my darkest moment of seduction.

“Well… I thought you had fun and… well, I did too. I was wondering if we could do it again sometime, maybe….”

Her sentence carried as I spun around to glare at her. I wasn’t the tallest person, and she wasn’t the shortest, her head stopped at my nose and it was hard being intimidating at this angle. I felt like a Chihuahua.

“Nothing happened that day, Sooyoung, and even if something did it was unintentional, an accident. One I’m not willing to repeat. Understand?”

Her eyes fluttered when I said her name and she seemed to drift off afterwards, not comprehending anything after.

I gazed at her apprehensively in silence waiting for her reply, but when she remained silent I lifted an eyebrow, “Sooyoung?”

“Yes?” She asked immediately, blinking quickly in an attempt to seem focused.

I sighed and decided I was done with the conversation.

“Kyungsoo!” She called after me and I tried to ignore the weird twist in my stomach hearing my name come out of her mouth. Images of our day together came to the surface without my consent.

I was going to throw up.

My hand was wrapped so tightly around the strap of my backpack I was sure my knuckles were white, I also had a feeling Seungsoo was already waiting for me. That being said, I slowed down enough to let Sooyoung know I was listening to give her time to catch up.

She did and fell instep with me, “you can say whatever you want, Kyungsoo, but I know what happened wasn’t something you could forget, let alone regret.”

“You don’t know me very well,” I informed her with a frown.

She shrugged, “and you don’t know me very well either, or you would know I’m not one for giving up on a conquest.”

“Me? A conquest?”

She laughed darkly and my stomach twisted again. She took ahold of the strap of my bag that dangled behind me and yanked it hard enough for me to fall back a bit. She used my second of falling to redirect my momentum so that I caught myself pressed closely against her. Her lips grazed my ear and her breath stung, “you underestimate yourself, Kyungsoo. Just tell me you’re flattered and you’ll see me tomorrow.”

She pushed me away just as quickly and I barely regained my balance as she strutted ahead of me. Her skirt rolled up so that her ass nearly poked out. I gulped as I watched her walk away, confused and, to be honest, terrified of the girl.

What had I just gotten myself into?