#those long flowing takes of mesmerising ups and downs in mood

[ennaih]

Not Every Film I Watch In 2024

20. The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek (1943) -- fifty-billionth rewatch

[thewreckkelly]

Brendan Behan, Nurses & Invalids 

In the course of discourse last Wednesday - it being here on the temperate southern coast of Espanola – the sun held court in a clear sky, the mood was light, the topics tidy and tame allowing high quality / low cost coffee, cervezas and vino to flow  unabated until the tolling metaphorical bell of COVID curfew sounded.

The party was within the legal limit of six and composed in the comfort of those who have an affinity for such a gathering along with an obligation to participate in argument, debate and shared laughter.

An enquiry was forwarded concerning long playing records or albums or CD’s or downloads – depending on one’s vintage and use of expression – which had made a personal impact beyond the moment, or even the era, and continued to colour thinking to the extent of influence ...... in simpler terms; ‘what are your top five albums of all time girls and boys?’

Despite generally having serious objections, (unvoiced on this particular occasion), to limiting all or any artistic expressions I have heard and felt throughout my life to a list of favourites – not possible ... no .... definitely not possible – I accepted the premise of this parlour game and became a good listener as those around me were rapidly definitive in choice only to, equally rapidly – as they heard the selections of others – realise such a table was not as easy to compile as an order of drinks for the table we were being hosted at.

Brendan Behan once said that people come in two baskets; ‘Nurses & Invalids’, and that was never more apparent when listening to the voices and changing choices my fellow ‘pop pickers’ were visibly consumed by. I don’t know why I suddenly thought of this quote, but I do know this, it took me on a journey.

-o- 

Back when I was bordering on adolescent awareness, a friend of the family – a very accomplished fiddle player by the name of Tom Potts – came up to our house one Sunday evening to be recorded by my Dad.

It was a time in Ireland when traditional music was neither popular nor profitable and my old Man, (fancying himself as the Dublin George Martin looking for the next big thing), had cobbled together, in the front room, a recording set-up of an old Philips reel to reel, a solid state Sony amp, homemade speaker cabinets with highly magnetic cones attracted to feedback and a couple of battered mic’s he’d procured from a friend at the Olympia Theatre; ‘they’ll be grand Mattie, just a bit on the temperamental side, as you’d expect, given their age an all’.

With wires everywhere and pillows from every bedroom strategically placed to ‘baffle’, (whatever that meant), the whole thing became an exercise in endurance and excessive use of the vernacular – if we thought the annual ritual of putting lights on the Christmas tree was a trial, (in me Da’s frustration and bad temper), then we were in for a shocking reality that night.

Anyway .....

When the deed was done, the whole family was summoned to sit around the good table and take in a playback performance of the evening’s artistic industry. The tunes, to the best of my memory were ‘The Coolin’, ‘The Blackbird’ and ‘Saddle the Pony’.

Having just recently discovered David Bowie and The Velvet Underground I found the whole experience excruciating but, in the manner of beaten down social etiquette, made the appropriate gestures and noises of acclaim like the rest of the sheep comprising that limited audience.

As Tom was leaving, flushed and fulfilled in the role of recorded artist, he interrupted the farewells and asked for a minute while he got something out of his car. Returning he handed an LP to my Dad with the sentiment;

‘This is the sort of rubbish we’re up against Mattie, have a listen if you can bear it’ 

The album was not new – I later learned it was fifteen years or so old – and my Dad for no apparent reason did not feel inclined to share anything about it once he’d glanced at the title and artist, instead of which he tucked it under his arm and disappeared back to his ‘recording’ studio.

I asked my Mam later and she cautiously explained; ‘Daddy was going to listen to it first to make sure it was all right’.  

Curiosity being immediately piqued I countered with the obvious; ‘Why?’ 

‘Because the man who is on the record is someone your Daddy doesn’t trust to be heard by children’ 

As a 14/15 year old I didn’t consider myself a child and of course I was immediately on a mission.

-o- 

So here I was, being a touch mesmerised by my Spanish cafe society, congregated on a terrace of a small cafe on the border of Fuengirola, each and every soul enunciating well remembered classic albums with over-zealous eulogy and gentle critique in unequal measure – while all the while my head was back in the good room of the house I grew up in, remembering seizing the first opportunity to be alone into the evening to listen surreptitiously on BOSE headphones to the recordings of a man my Dad doubted as an artist and influencer.

And amid all the noise of luminaries from Mozart to The Beatles - along with everyone else, that deserve listing, being thrown in for good measure and reason – I was honestly lost to the surrounding conversation as I replayed in my distracted mind what I could remember from back then of - what is essentially - a drunken ramble in the unique voice of a Dublin, (and Dubliner), on the cusp of being changed and lost for better or worse.

-o- 

The record was produced in 1959 by a fella with the grand name of; Arthur Luce Klein and recorded by a less exotically titled engineer; Peter Hunt. The artist is Brendan Behan and there are, in total, fourteen songs, (or bits of songs anyway),  performed a-capella with a peppering of satirical and self absorbed comedic explanation and bar-room philosophy included for God only knows why - not the hint of a played instrument throughout.

-o- 

I made no mention of such a pleasurable guilty choice to my fellow reflectors as they collectively selected the great and good formally recorded released music has to offer – it just wasn’t the time nor the place.

However, I made it my mission, (again), to find this displaced memory online

And so it was I found myself, (once again), sitting alone later that evening in shades of long time past, listening and reflecting and never once wondering why something so acquired works as a Top Number Something for me – and sure isn’t that the precise point of these things?

[lu-undy]

(This is my second time requesting after you opened your askbox, but you wouldn't know that :)) Lu and Medic play a violin and piano duet together (or Demo plays the piano and Lu sings) and Mundy kinda has a bruh moment wherein he realizes he loves Lucien

Hey there! Glad to see you come back :D !! Here it is, Spy sings like a God, hope you enjoy!

"So, what did you prepare for tonight, fancypants?" 

"Scout, ask me one more time and what you will need to prepare for tonight is your will." 

"Alright, alright…" Scout sighed. "You party pooper…" He mumbled to himself.

Sniper smothered his chuckle. Around the dinner table, the mercenaries were enjoying their dinner, their dessert to be more precise.

"Pardon?" Spy asked menacingly in his native tongue. 

"N-nothing…" Scout hid behind his yogurt, scared. 

"So, tonight is Spy's turn, right?" Engie asked, to brighten things up.

"Oui. I asked Demo for some help."

"You yelled at me for the entire week, mate. Please, Engie, never let him rehearse his stuff with me, send anyone else but me!" Demo took a swig of his beloved scrumpy. 

"I only pushed you to give your best for our performance tonight." Spy simply answered and he saw Sniper roll his eyes with a smile. 

"Alrighty then, if we're finished with dinner, you guys go and get ready, we'll come in about half an hour."

"Very well. Demoman, I will not wait for you." 

[Très bien.]

"Someone please save me from him…" Demo exaggerated his plea.

"C'mon, mate, how hard can it be?" Sniper said to comfort him. 

"Well, very hard! Next time, you go and work with him!" 

Sniper blushed as Demo and Spy left the room. 

It was a habit now. Every couple of nights, one mercenary would prepare something to entertain his colleagues. It could be a movie, a game of whatever to play or watch all together, anything. They had put that in place in order to spend less dull evenings in that harsh winter. Being the only building for miles around in the blizzard meant that they were stuck for the entire winter there. 

Pyro and Scout finished washing the dishes while people slowly gathered in the training room. It had been turned into a second living room with seats and a TV screen, if one could forget the boxing ring and other sports accessories and installations. 

"Right, I think we're all here. Sniper, the lights, please?" 

Sniper nodded and flipped the switch before taking a seat at the back of course, given how tall he was. The main light turned off and Pyro switched on a spotlight. 

Silence fell for a moment and then, footsteps. Spy appeared, better dressed than usual, which Sniper thought was barely even possible. He was wearing a black tuxedo and black and white polished leather shoes. His eyes shone beautifully under the spotlight. 

Suddenly, a few piano notes. A second light switched on and showed Demo on the piano behind Spy. The latter propped himself up to sit on the piano and grabbed the nearby microphone to start singing as the piano carried his voice. 

{To the reader: the song is "Windmills of your mind" as sung by Noel Harrison}

"Round, like a circle in a spiral,

Like a wheel within a wheel,

Never ending or beginning

On an ever-spinning reel."

Sniper's eyes snapped wide. Spy was speaking more than he was singing and it was so pleasant to hear… His accent helped to make it more true somehow, more mellow.

The notes on the piano accompanied the Frenchman's voice beautifully, coming and going again, in an endless and cyclic arpeggio…

Spy was saying the words like he would declaim a poem, his voice ever so slightly flowing on the notes, the syllables stressed as they should be, the rhythm impeccably followed. His brow would furrow at times, and relax at others, and if at first he started with open eyes, by now, his eyes were shut and he was drinking the meaning of the words he was saying as if it was the air he needed to breathe.

Suddenly he elegantly dropped down from the piano and stood proud in front of his audience. He held the microphone a bit further from his lips and opened his arms, revealing a vest that Sniper had never seen him wear before. Black with satin cashmere motifs that glimmered under the spotlight...

"Keys that jingle in your pocket,

Words that jangle in your head."

Spy's voice was slightly more powerful, it was only a small difference in volume, but Sniper felt his ribcage and his knees tremble. He shook his head to shoo those feelings away and took a deep breath.

"Why did summer go so quickly?

Was it something that you said?

Lovers walk along the shore 

And leave their footprints in the sand. 

Is the sound of distant drumming

Just the fingers of your hand?

Pictures hanging in a hallway,

And the fragment of a song,

Half remembered names and faces,

But to whom do they belong?"

Spy opened his eyes and Sniper's snapped wide open. His long, dark eyelashes seemed different, were they wet? His light blue, almost grey irises were glistening…

"When I knew that it was over,

I was suddenly aware

That the autumn leaves were turning

To the color 

Of his hair."

Spy's keen eyes never left Sniper's half mesmerised and three quarters thrilled ones. The poor Aussie felt as if he was the only person in the audience to a concert that suddenly became very private. His heart was pumping fast, unlike Spy's rhythm which slowed down. He was back to whispering, a gloved hand on his heart, and said, much more slowly this time:

"The autumn leaves were turning 

To the colour

Of his hair."

Demo concluded with a few bars on the piano and then came to a halt. Spy nodded to him and new chords rolled in the air. The rhythm was a samba's, much more lively and light-hearted. Spy snapped his fingers in rhythm.

{To the reader: the song is "So Nice" I recommend the version by Sangah Noona}

"Someone to hold me tight,

That would be very nice,

Someone to love me right,

That would be very nice.

Someone to understand 

Each little dream in me,

Someone to take my hand,

To be a team with me.

So nice,

Life would be so nice, 

If one day I find

Someone who would take my hand and samba through life with me." 

Soldier started rocking left and right on his seat, dragging Engie with him. Medic joined them and Spy, seeing that his rhythmic song was dragging everyone in a good mood, started smiling. Not only did his lips purse up but his eyes were expressing genuine delight somehow. 

Sniper was smiling too, a dreamy grin as he rested his chin on his hand and his elbow on his armrest, slowly melting on his chair. 

"What the hell…." He mumbled to himself as he straightened his back on his chair and tried to resume a more normal posture.

The music accelerated as Medic dragged Heavy to swinging on his chair too. 

"Someone to cling to me

stay with me right or wrong,"

The Aussie couldn't believe it. Spy was dancing. The man with a sense of humor as big as a green pea was dancing. And God those hips! He was swinging them almost seductively and Sniper's heart skipped a beat… How come the Frenchman was so flexible with his hips?! 

Sniper opened the first button of his polo shirt as a sweat started breaking on his brow.

"Someone to sing to me

Some little samba song!

Someone to take my heart and give his heart to me,

Someone who's ready to give love a start with me!"

Spy winked at Sniper who blushed and looked left and right to see if it was for someone else.

"Oh yes, 

That would be so nice."

Sniper now breathed heavily, the room was hot, way too hot.

"Should it be you and me?

I could see it would be nice!"

He removed his hat and carded his hair, feeling some fresh air flow through it to cool down his scalp. Sniper was blushing way beyond his ears. He looked down for a second, as Demo improvised on the piano and when he raised his head up again, Spy had disappeared from the improvised stage. The rest of the mercenaries had stood up and were dancing to Demo playing. 

Sniper was panting. The image of Spy, his piercing eyes riveted on him, dancing slowly, swinging his hips was carved on his eyes as if it was marble. And that wink...

He shook his head again as he started to realise why he was sweating like that, why he had enjoyed every second of Spy staring at him even though he would never admit so...

A whistle caught his attention. 

Sniper turned his head. It had come from the door. He barely saw a silhouette slip away. Without thinking, he stood up and followed it. He pushed the door and exited the training room. The sound of the music and dancing was deafened by the closed door now and Sniper focused on knowing where that shadow went. 

The corridor was very dark. He reached for a switch but didn't flip it. Something told him that it was better that way. 

The whistle again. 

Sniper went to find its source but as he came to find it, he heard the base's main door shut. He went there and exited himself. 

The night was pitch dark and the wind was howling. Sniper looked around him and saw nothing. But he heard the slam of a metallic door that he instantly recognised. Whoever he was following, they had entered his van. Sniper followed suit and found himself inside in no time. 

It was pitch dark inside but there was a tiny orange glimmering light and the smell of a menthol cigarette soon found his nose.

"I see you enjoyed the show." The voice with the French accent said. 

The orange light came from the end of Spy's cigarette. 

"Yeah, well, it was pretty good."

"Good enough for you to follow a shadow all the way here…"

"Yeah, it was decent."

"...without this." Spy finished his sentence and Sniper felt something land on his head. His pupils shrank as he realised he had forgotten his very hat.

"Y-yeah well… I had to make sure it was one of us and not… an intruder or something."

Spy spotted the bad lie as he would an elephant in a porcelain shop.

"How would anyone come to the base through this blizzard? Even the Mann Co. supplies have stopped coming. The roads are blocked, airdrop is impossible. No intruders can come here, by no means."

"Y-you never know." Sniper answered. 

"Non, but you did." 

"What?" 

"You knew it was me you were following. You didn't know where I was going and why I kept whistling at you for you to follow me, but you did and here we are: in that ridiculous dwelling of yours that you dare call a home."

"Oi, my van's the perfect place." 

"For what?"

Sniper felt Spy get closer to him. They were face to face in the dark and Sniper saw Spy's eyes reflect the faint lights coming from the base.

"You tell me." Spy answered with a smirk that Sniper heard somehow. 

"What d'you want?" Sniper asked. 

"An honest answer." 

"What's your question?"

"Why do you think I chose those songs to sing to you?" 

Sniper felt hot as he was put on the spot. 

"What d'you mean?" 

"I sang for you, that, you have noticed. But why those songs in particular? What was their message?"

Sniper sighed. He moved to sit on his worn out couch. 

"I-I don't know, okay? And that's a lot of questions. J-just go and leave me here." 

Spy sat next to him. 

"Let me ask you something else then, how did you find my suit tonight?" 

Sniper's eyes snapped wide when he felt Spy's hand on his forearm. It soothed him as much as it made him anxious. 

"Elegant, beautiful, classy." 

"Thank you." Spy said with a smile. "I did try to make an effort."

"Y-yeah, I noticed." 

"Did you notice my mask?" 

"N-no, I mean… It's the same one as usual." 

"Not exactly." Spy answered. "Switch on the light, you will see it better."

Sniper stood up and flipped the switch. When he turned again to face the Frenchman, he choked on his saliva and coughed multiple times. He put a hand on his eyes and another on his chest to ease his cough while Spy chuckled. 

"Mon pauvre ami… I half apologise for this."

[My poor friend]

"Oh, Lord, Spook…" Sniper said between two fits of cough as he still hid his eyes behind his hand.

Spy giggled. 

"You did have your mask back there, right? I didn't just imagine it?"

"I did have it. I removed it as I entered your van. You may look if you want." 

"B-but, isn't that against your rules or something?"

"My rules?" Spy repeated, amused. 

"Yeah, I don't know, whatever rules or codes or whatever you Spooks have."

Spy chuckled. 

"There are no such things, Sniper. If I hide my face, it is because I would rather people not see me and recognise me. It is better that way." 

"Then why show me your face?" Sniper asked his hand still hiding his eyes to not see his friend.

"Because I am still a free man and I do what I want."

"And you want to show me your face?" 

"Why not?" 

"Spook, I swear… You're a whole new level of complicated."

Spy put his hand on Sniper's and pulled it away, slowly. Sniper couldn't help but stare. It seemed as though he was discovering a whole new person. It wasn't Spy, it was… well, someone else. 

"Do I have something on my face for you to stare like this?" Spy teased.

"Well," Sniper felt himself sweating again, "I'd say you're missin' something on your face, but eh, who am I to say?"

Spy chuckled. 

"Would you rather I put the mask back?" He cheekily asked. 

"No - I mean, if you're more comfy with it, put it on but…"

"But?" Spy pushed his luck. 

Sniper was staring at his hair. It was mostly black but there was a front grey tuft and the temples too betrayed Spy's age.

"But I-I don't know… Thanks, I guess." 

"For what?" Spy asked. 

"For feeling like you can show me your face. I guess that means you think you can trust me - oh."

Spy had taken Sniper's hand off his face but he wasn't letting go of it. Non, instead he laced his fingers through it. 

"And now?" Spy asked. 

"And now what?" 

"Now, do you know why I chose to sing these songs for you?" 

Sniper blushed. 

"I-I don't know… I'm not sure. Can't you just say it? It'd be a lot easier for the both of us!"

"For you, oui, for me however, it would be quite difficult." 

Sniper rolled his eyes. 

"How hard can it be?" He asked. 

"Almost as hard as what I'm about to do is foolish…" Spy closed the gap between the two of them and pushed his lips against Sniper's. 

Sniper froze. His muscles froze, his blood froze, his heart stopped sharp, like a watch stops at the time of death, Sniper's body burst alive all at once. His hands flew forward to hold Spy closer, his eyes rolled and closed, and his eyebrows slowly rose and relaxed. Spy's naked hands slid up to Sniper's cheeks and he stayed there, hanging from Sniper's lips with his own.

Eventually, they broke the kiss. 

"Woah… Spook, I didn't know you, uh…"

Spy raised his light blue, almost grey eyes to Sniper.

"Did you even realise that you held those feelings for me too?" 

"M-maybe." 

"Sniper…?" 

"Right, yeah, I realised it when you sang today. I-I just felt weird and I knew…"

Spy smiled sweetly, as he brushed Sniper's cheek with his long and slim fingers. 

"I'm glad you feel the same." Spy said. 

"As if you were surprised… You look gorgeous with that suit on and now, without the mask, you're just…" Sniper's eyes darted to every detail of Spy's face. 

He bit his lip and suddenly pulled Spy's head to him again. He kissed Spy with such force and passion that Spy lost his legs. Thank God he was sitting down and Sniper was holding him, or he would have flowed down to the floor like a liquid. 

[goldenmusicmoments]

Shawn Mendes - Wonder (Album Review):

Intro - The album starts with a piano opening on this short intro that sets the scene and mood for the rest of the album. There are a few lyrics here that Shawn sings as he introduces us to this new chapter. Near the closing the production picks up and heads into chaos providing an interesting transition to the next track.

Wonder - This title track served as the lead single to the album and it really allowed the build of anticipation for the album. Giving a taster of the growth in the music Shawn was about to release, allowing everyone to see that he intended on delivering something more refined and artistic. The opening to the track has a vibe that seems to be inspired by the type of production and sounds heard on Kanye West’s album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’. The track starts on a chaotic note, but immediately finds calmness just as the vocal kicks in. The pulsating baseline compliments the vocal delivery of the lyrics in the verses. The build in the chorus is smooth till it reaches its peak in which that chaos at the start re-emerges. The lyrics are beautiful as they not only have you wondering those things alongside him, however they also speak to many of our questions when it comes to insecurities or sense of self. The bridge really encapsulates you in which you seem to get lost in. The final chorus hits you giving you this feeling of standing in the sea when the waves are raging. The sense of urgency behind his wonder is really heightened by his vocal in the final chorus. Then the track comes to an abrupt end.

Higher - Here there is an immediate start to the track in which the vocal begins as soon as the track starts. It also changes the tone and mood from the previous tracks, Shawn gives a more fun, sensual and upbeat energy to us here. Not only through the production, but also the vocal delivery which gives off some Justin Timberlake vibes. Instrumentation wise it flows from the previous, although not used in the same way. He sings about getting higher, however that being in the since that the person who he’s with seems to elevate everything when she is around. There is a very short outro and then its over. You are left wanting more once you’ve got into the groove and then the track comes to an end sooner than you’d hope.

24 Hours - This track has a very vintage feel highlighted through the production and it heightens the albums cinematic vibe. Here things are taken down a notch and there is a calmness that flows throughout the song. The production is more minimal and the prominent part to it is the two piano keys that are played spaced out from start to finish. There is an intimate feel to it particularly through his vocals and the lyrical content. He sings about his love, the strength and extent of it. He is certain that she is all he wants and that he’d do anything for it to be. There is choir that comes in on the final chorus which elevates the songs feel. Then the track ends on the play of a few piano notes which were heard at the start of the track, which provide the track with a full circle moment.

Teach Me How To Love - You are immediately drawn into this groove inspired track. This is a song that will get you moving your body to its beat and vocal delivery of the lyrics. He sings about wanting the person of interest to teach him how to love them. However you might be a little thrown off, as you may have gone into the track thinking of something else about what he may have wanted to learn about when it comes to loving someone.  The chorus is an instant singalong type. You get completely lost in its funky groove. It hooks itself in your mind with its catchy nature.  Although he may seem to feel a little under studied on how to love, his delivery of the lyrics exude confidence.

Call My Friends - This songs starts on a very sombre note, here he sings about his relationship with his friends. He sings about how his career has altered his life which then in turn has impacted his connection with his friends. He is in one place whilst they are in another. His friendships aren’t strained, but he wishes he could be more close to be able to experience life a little more with his friends, however touring and all that being in the industry brings with it has limited those interactions. Him saying he should call his friends, is him wanting to put in an effort to keep that connection in whatever way he can given his circumstances. A beautiful moment on the album that really makes you not want to take the things we often take for granted, for granted. The track follows a common formula in terms of the calm verse and then the hard hitting chorus that you are totally encapsulated by. His vocal give this sense of reflection and showcases his vocal growth.

Dream - This track starts with a dreamy opening. The song is about his longing for his lover and that when they are apart his way of feeling closer to her is dreaming of her. The moment where he sings ‘I just need to breathe’ after which the track halts and then starts back with him taking a breath is a great detail in the tracks creation. Another moment on the album where you get lost in its vibe. His vocals are stunning on this track and seem effortless. The production brings the feelings of the lyrics alive in such a magical way. 

Song For No One - This guitar led track provides the album with its most stripped back and intimate moment. However you are taken by surprise when the climatic moment of the track hits, due to the pick up in its production. The bridge gives you this feeling of vastness, he seems to be getting something off his chest here but it isn’t clear as to what. Lyrically he sings about writing this song for no one, he is unsure as to why he did so. Although he maybe claiming that this song is for no one, we definitely know that it is for someone. It seems to have this longing for someone, as it focus on a moment spent alone.

Monster (Ft. Justin Bieber) -  There were rumours floating about these two collaborating on a track on the album, however I was still to an extent surprised that they actually did. I was a little hesitant, and wasn’t completely excited by Bieber’s placement on the album. The song has this reflective feel to it, lyrically its about how people build those in the spotlight up only to then tear them down. How they are attacked for their doings no matter what it is, and held accountable to a degree where it seems unfair. We all make mistakes and we should give others the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and grow to be better. However instead people seem too quick to try and ‘cancel’ a celebrity rather than give them a chance to change for the better. It also plays to the way those under the spotlight are often seen as something other than human, whereas putting all that aside they are just like the rest of us. The track has a moody feel to it, with a dark under tone and the production is slick complimenting the lyrics and vocals really well. Even though Justin’s verse in terms of lyrics lacks any sense of genuineness, as time and time again we’ve seen him do the same stuff and then claim he is sorry (all of which to this point has become very exhausted and judging by the performance of his latest single ‘Lonely’ the general public to an extent have as well). So although I don’t feel empathetic to what he sings about, the opening vocal to his verse is rather laid back, however just before the chorus hits the build in his vocals depict a sense of urgency to get the listeners to understand his struggle. It does seem like a cry for help, or for understanding. The concept is rather intriguing, however looking through Justin’s history his feature in a way takes away from the authenticity of the lyrics.

305 - This breezy track has a 80s/90s feel to it, it is about him not wanting to lose the person he is in love with. He fears that maybe the person could end up feeling differently. The layered vocals during the opening of the track and during the chorus seem to be coated by the production, whereas for the verses the vocals are placed more at the front. The track has a funky groove to it, making you feel like you are at a dance. You feel like clicking your fingers or clapping along to the track. The bridge features vocals masked behind the production, making you pay closer attention in order to pick up on the lyrics.

Always Been You - This track starts off with a very cinematic opening. Then once the vocal on the verse begins the production dies down. The pre-chorus build where he starts off with ‘You’re the only one’ sounds very similar to that in the track ‘Wonder’. Then what seems to be a prominent style on some of the tracks, the chorus is where the track has its grand moment. Here he sings about the person of interest having always been the one. Normally a chorus with just a repetition of the tracks title and that being spaced out would make a track seem like its lacking, here it does the opposite and works really well in depicting what he is trying to put forward. You get lost in the grandness of the chorus and bridge.

Piece Of You - This JT inspired track is pulled of effortlessly by Shawn, this funky moment on the album revolves around the girl being someone who everyone is drawn to. Here he sings about how his insecurities come to life in regards to his relationship, when he sees all the attention she gets from everyone when they are with others. The vocals go from being laid back in the verses to more energetic in the chorus. A well produced track that gets you vibing to its mesmerising nature.

Look Up At The Stars - This reflective track provides the album with the such a full circle moment. The intro introduced us to this wonderland and now we seem to be in that place. He seems to finally reach the place he was hoping for, he’s dreamt of being with her for a moment now and they are together now. His vocal delivery showcases his emotions really well, making you the listener get a sense of how he must feel at this point. The dynamic between the feel of the verses and chorus on this track in particular stands out. The verses feeling a little more on the emotional side, then the chorus has a more more upbeat feel.

Can’t Imagine -  Now we get to the closing moment on the album with this rather stripped back guitar driven track. Both in terms of production on the track and vocals. Here he sings about not being able to imagine a world without his lover. He sees it being very lonely and dull with her. A simple end that closes on a point of where he is at right now. 

A solid effort from Shawn Mendes, that seems to be thematic and cohesive. His main focus on the album lyrically is his relationship with Camila and his feelings for her. It is personal and is very true to his journey, his life and who he is as both a person and artist. Some of the tracks do a feel a little to short though. I still do feel that Shawn has a lot more to offer as an artist and I look forward to his next album.

[readerstories]

Those pretty lips - Tommy Shelby x male!reader

Inspired by @peakynsfw‘s blurb about Tommy that you can find here. If you see any typos, please tell me. (AO3)

Warnings: smut, swearing, also slight internalized homophobia (it’s the 1920′s mah dudes)

Wordcount: 3846

Thomas Shelby is one hell of a man. Just being in the same room as him can be breathtaking. He exudes a feeling of power, not in a big brash way, but in a quiet ever present way that could make many a woman or man feel lightheaded. 

It could make any person weak at the knees or sending their mind somewhere completely different and indecent. You belong in the latter category. You’ve put up too many barriers for our own protection for that to let it slip through.

So instead you settle for just looking at him when you think you can get away with it the few times you see him. You doubt he even knows really who you are. He likely knows that you are a friend of Micheal, Finn,and Isaiah, and a Peaky Blinder, but not much more than that. He has barely even given you a glance the times you have met, a contrast to all the times you have watched him. 

Most of the time when you see him, he’s not at the place to meet a specific person or you, like now, when you are watching him talk with some of the other Peaky Blinders that are more veteran. You are standing at the bar in The Garrison while he is at one of the many tables. You do not look at him a lot, every look you take carefully calculated as to not be noticed. You make it look like you are simply watching the room, and not him specifically. 

For once you are alone, both Finn and Isaiah have gone off to find themselves company for the night, while Michael is at home with his new girl. You are content with just standing at the bar, sipping your whiskey, stealing looks when you can. You occasionally talk to Harry, and turn away any woman that approaches you. 

If your friends were here they would have teased you relentlessly, while you would have mumbled into your glass that you simply wasn’t in the mood for the night. You rarely were for women, although some had shared your bed, some even more than one night. You just preferred men, although they were even rarer to find in your bed. Not for a lack of want, but more for safety. 

You sigh, taking a sip of your drink and glancing over at Tommy. You catch him licking his lips and grinning, probably in the middle of telling something about the business or a story to the men around him. You stare for maybe a second or two longer than you normally would be before you are able to take your eyes off his lips.

When you look back again, he is not at the table anymore. The other men are starting to scatter, so you gather he must have been done with whatever he was doing and left. You sigh. You wanted too see him more, but that will have to be for another time.

“You going to keep staring at me all night?” You heart nearly stops in your chest when you hear his voice as he joins your lonely silhouette at the bar. A simple show of power for anyone watching, but also an invitation when accompanied by the barely there curl of lips that only you can see.

“Is there going to be a problem if I do?” You don’t know where the bravery you felt that made that line fall from your lips came from, but you welcome it. Tommy hums, fishing out a cigarette and lighting it. He takes a drag and exhales, looking at you the whole time.

“Only if you keep that glass in your hand. Keep picturing something else that we both would look much better in those hands and even better with those pretty lips of yours.” If you had been drinking your drink, you would have chocked on it. Instead, you keep playing cool, pretending your heart isn’t threatening to beat out of your chest any second.

“So that is what is going through the infamous Mr. Shelby’s head. Interesting.” You definitely are going to blame that line on your liquid courage if anyone ever asks. You hope no one ever does. 

Tommy just quirks an eyebrow and keeps smoking. You take a sip of your drink in the silence, keeping eye contact with his heavenly blue eyes. It’s the longest you have ever interacted with him, so to say that this situation is unusual is an understatement. 

Tommy takes another drag form his cigarette and lets the smoke flow calmly into the air between you.

“You are going to finish your drink, go outside, wait for me, then we will go to where ever you live, and I’ll show you what is on my mind.” It’s said which such calm, like he was just talking about the weather, not him fulfilling one of your biggest daydreams of having him in your bed.

“Alright then Mr. Shelby, until then.” You take your drink and tip it towards him in a goodbye gesture before downing the rest of it and putting it back at the bar. A drop of whiskey escapes your mouth, you are quick to lick it away. 

You catch Tommy’s eyes following the motion of your tongue, and you are back to pretending your heart isn’t trying to escape your chest. You put your cap on from your pocket and walk out. When outside the pub, you light up a cigarette of your own.

You are nearly finished with your second cigarette when Tommy comes outside. He says nothing, but gives you a look that is clearly meant as a order to start walking. You stomp out your cigarette on the wall of the pub after a last inhale. 

You start walking, Tommy joining you. You keep the tempo low, as to not give away how eager you are. Tommy is smoking another cigarette, saying nothing. You too keep quiet. 

You think about lighting another cigarette to have something to do with your hands, but decide against it. You are not as heavy of a smoker like Tommy, so it would have done you no good. Instead you bury your hands in your pocket, one hand fiddling with the key to your front door.

When you finally make it your house, Tommy is on his second cigarette of the walk. While you unlock the door, he takes a final drag before stomping it out. You go inside, and he follows close behind.

“You live alone?” You nod at Tommy’s question while taking of your coat and hanging it up at the coat rack in the corner.

“Yes. My Father died in the war, mom long before that. So I’m alone in this house.” 

“My condolences.” You shrug while throw your cap on the coat rack as well, smiling when it swings back and forth with the motion.

“Well, long time ago, doesn’t matter now.”

“No, it doesn’t. What matters that we are alone.” Before you can think much about what those words mean, arms are going around your waist from behind and a pair of lips are going up your neck. You can’t help the moan that escapes from you, so happy for those lips finally on you. 

Your own arms grip Tommy’s, not knowing what else to do except to cling to them like your are afraid he will disappear if you don’t. He pushes you against the wall, grinding against your ass, letting you feel the hardening cock in his pants. You moan again.

“Where’s your bedroom?” You don’t answer him at once, to busy reveling in hos gravely voice so close to your ear. He nips said ear when you don’t answer him.

“Unless you want to doit right here?” He breathes, still grinding into you. You inhale sharply, trying to gather yourself enough to answer.

“No, not.... Up the stairs and second door to the right.” With that the pressure of Tommy against your back and ass is gone. You turn around to catch a glimpse of him. At some point he had managed to get his coat off without you noticing, yet his cap is still on. It cast alluring shadows over his face in the faint light that comes from the lamps outside. You can’t see his eyes, but his grin is mesmerising. 

“Lead the way then.” You start to walk up the stairs, when you can’t hear the steps of him following you look over your shoulder at him. He is just watching you.

 Deciding that some of your liquid courage is back, you slide your jacket off, draping it over the banister. You keep walking up the stairs slowly, starting unbuttoning your vest next, all while keeping eye contact as good as you can with Tommy still having his cap on. 

It’s hard to coordinate everything without falling on your face on the stairs, but it has the desired effect. Tommy takes his cap off, hangs it on the coat rack before starting to follow you up the stairs. 

By the time you have made it to the top your vest is in your hands, and Tommy has caught up to you. He pushes you forwards without saying a word. You throw your vest somewhere on the floor. 

You push the door to your room open, leading the way, Tommy right behind you. As soon as the door closes behind him, he is on you again, cock still hard against your ass. 

Another moan gets out of your mouth when you can feel his teeth right above your still buttoned up shirt collar.

“I think this should all go.” You feel his hand slip down towards the edge of your pants, your breath hitch. You start fumbling with your tie as Tommy untucks your shirt. 

When both those tasks are dealt with, you start unbuttoning your shirt. Tommy’s hands stay just above the edge of your pants, rubbing slightly at the newly exposed skin. 

You try not to let your breath go out too shaky, but by the breezy chuckle you hear slip out of Tommy’s mouth, you know you have failed. You unbutton the shirt all the way, and Tommy lets go off you so you can take it off completely. 

He doesn’t let you turn around, he’s back as soon as your shirt hits the floor. You can feel the rough fabric of his vest, and the cold chain of his pocket watch pressed against your back. 

His lips on your neck, then moving down to your shoulder. You moan loudly when he finds a good spot somewhere inbetween and you can feel his smile when he bites down on it hard.

 Your hands hover in the air for a moment, unsure of where to go, before you reach back and place them on Tommy’s hips. You drag him towards you, making him grind into you. This time it’s he who moans, and you can’t help but grin.

“Tommy, come on, let me turn around.”

“And why would I do that?” Is voice is gravely, barely above a murmur.

“Because, ahh, I feel that I’m at a disadvantage here, and I want more clothes off.”

“Is that what you want ey’?” You nod, keeping down a moan when he kisses behind your ear.

“I don’t know, I quite like this position.” As he says that, his hand slips under the waistband of your pants. You gasp slightly, stilling his hands just inches from your crotch and where you want them.

“Come on, you should be undressed too.” You know he could break your hold on his hands any second, but he does nothing, just letting his hands rest under your pants, making you feel like you are burning up from his touch.

“Okay then.” He pulls his hands away, and you can finally turn around. He’s standing there, hands in his pocket and with a smirk on his devilishly handsome face. When Tommy makes no move to undress, you gather what he wants you to do. 

He wants you to undress him, the cheeky fucker. You are more than happy to oblige. You step closer to him, pushing yourself as far as you can into his personal space as you can without actually touching his body to yours. 

You place your hands on his shoulders, letting them glide around his torso as freely as you wish. He watches you, saying nothing. You start to unbutton his vest, his jacket is still on, but since he doesn’t seem like he is going to take his hands out of his pockets, you leave it. 

As soon as the vest is done, you go for his tie. It soon joins your shirt on the floor. You start on the buttons of his shirt as you realise you haven’t done much to him yet. 

So, as soon as his neck becomes visible, you start kissing it. You don’t dare biting or sucking, not wanting to test his limits with you leaving a mark behind. 

But your try to make him make some sort of noise none the less. Your are successful when you lick a long stripe up his collarbone when you are nearly done unbuttoning his shirt. 

The noise he makes spurs you on, so as soon as the shirt is unbuttoned, your hands go on his hips, pulling him forward. You push your hard cock against his, peppering kisses and licks against his collarbone as you grind together. 

He finally takes his hands out of his pockets, putting them on your hips. He drags you towards him, letting you two find a rhythm together. You don’t stand there for long before he is pushing you away. 

“Bed.” He says before you can even open your mouth. He shrugs his top layers of, you ignore the dull thump you can hear from his clothes. You walk back towards the bed, watching him the whole time. 

It’s not a long way, but you feel like it drags on with the intensity of his gaze. When the back of your knees his the bed frame, you let yourself fall back on your elbows, sliding your shoes off in the process. 

Tommy soon follows, and before you can even process what is happening, he has dragged all of you into the middle of the bed, and is straddling your hips. He rolls his hips and you moan. 

This is something you have dreamt of so many times that admitting the number would have been shameful. Tommy on top of you is a dream come true. And then he is kissing you. 

For a split second you are frozen, too dumbstruck to kiss him back. But before it goes too long, you are kissing him back. One of his hands is in your hair, the other on your hip. 

You own hands are on his hips, dragging him down onto you, you yourself grinding up into him. You moan into the kiss and he does too. It’s perhaps the most wonderful sound you have ever heard. 

Before long it seems that grinding is no longer enough for Tommy, so he stills his hips while his hand on your hip finds it way to the button on your pants. You barely have time to react before your pants are undone and his hand is on your cock. The moan you let out is a lot louder than any that came earlier in the night.

“Like that do ya?” Tommy sounds so smug and you love it.

“Yes, of course, there’s a hand around my cock that isn’t my own, of course I fucking like it.” Tommy hums, dragging his hand up and down a few times, making you let out another moan. He starts kissing and biting your neck together with his strokes around your cock.

You summon whatever is left of your senses to move your own hands. They were still resting on Tommy’s hips, now they’re sliding down towards the buttons of his pants. 

You palm his cock with one hand as you unbutton his pants and he moans into your neck. Soon you have his cock in your hand. It feels wonderful, and big in your hand. You start to stroke his cock with the same rhythm as him. 

Another moan escapes his mouth, a sound you will remember forever. You wrap your legs around his ass and pull him closer, causing your hands and cocks to bump together. You moan in unison. 

At that you make a decision that you want to hear more noises from just his mouth. But vocalizing those thoughts are hard when Tommy’s hand is still on your cock and he’s kissing and biting his way down your collarbone. 

“Tommy?” He doesn’t answer, you push at his shoulder. 

“Come on, get off me, I want to suck your cock and I cant do it from here.” You can feel him grin against your neck.

“Not shy are you?”

“I didn’t get you into my bed by being fucking shy now did I?”

“No you did not.” He rolls of you, tucking his hands behind his head as he settles. You get up and straddle him. You lean forward, stealing a kiss since you didn’t get enough earlier. 

He kisses back slowly, almost lazily, seemingly happy to let you do whatever you want. You salivate at the thought. The most feared man in Birmingham and the man of many a sexual dream of yours (and others) in your bed, willing to let you do whatever you want to him. 

You try not to think too much about it, so you break the kiss to move down to Tommy’s neck. You kiss your way down to his chest, stopping yourself from leaving marks as you go. When you make it down to his chest, you take one nipple in your mouth, the other in your hand. 

Tommy moans. After a while you switch. You can feel Tommy’s cock twitch and leak against your stomach where you are almost laying down on him. You can guess he is impatient when you feel one of his hands slip into your hair and tugging you slightly downwards. 

You grin against his chest, giving it a last kiss before making your way down. You kiss down his stomach, dragging his pants and underwear further down as you go. Tommy lifts his hips so you can slip them off completely. 

You throw them on the floor somewhere, finally settling between his legs. You give him a quick kiss on his hips, and then you start kissing along his shaft. Tommy lets out moan and his hand finds its way back in your hair. 

You start sucking gently on the tip, barely letting it slip past your lips. You slowly take more and more of him in. 

You make sure to suck harder at random times, making Tommy let out more moans at the change in the feeling of your lips around his cock. You are honestly enjoying his sounds and the feeling of his cock in your mouth. You take ahold of his legs, pushing them further apart while you go down deeper. Both of his hands almost flies into your hair.

“Fuck!” He’s panting, and you look up, making eye contact with his cock almost down you throat. Another suck, another moan spills from his lips. You let him out of your mouth completely.

“Like that do ya’?” You say, mirroring his words from earlier.

“Of course I do, now get your lips back on my cock.” You grin, more than happy to oblige him. You lick up his shaft, then taking it back in your mouth. You suck hard, making Tommy gasp and his hips lifts off the bed. You grin as good as you can with his cock in your mouth and continue sucking.

It’s not long before you can feel and hear that Tommy is close to coming. His breath is shorter, he’s bucking up into your mouth, mumbling something. He tries to pull you off his cock, but you are having none off it, staying right where you are. 

You intend to save every bit of this time, including the feeling of his sperm going down your throat. So instead of stopping, you just keep sucking, fondling his balls as well. 

Just minutes later, Tommy spills down your throat. You drink down every last drop, sucking until he has to push you of since he’s too sensitive. You lick sit up, licking your lips.

“Fuckin’ hell.” Tommy sits up too, dragging you down for a bruising kiss. He then somehow flips you over so you are under him, hand going straight for your still hard cock. 

You break the kiss to moan, so he dives down to your chest as take one of your nipples in his mouth. The pace of his strokes as brutal, and before long, you are spilling yourself into his hand with a cry of his name. 

While you catch your breath, Tommy sits up, and with an almost awe, you watch him lick your sperm of his hand with a devilish look on his face. When he’s done, he flops down next to you. 

He reaches over to the night stand where you have another case of cigarettes.

“May I?”

“Yes, go ahead.” You answer, still slightly out of breath. He takes on and offers you one. You take it, letting him light if for you after he has done his own. You smoke in silence, you then notice you still have your goddamn pants still on. You take them of as well as you can without getting up or putting out your cigarette. Tommy chuckles next to you.

“Elegant.”

“Always.” You stretch, letting the cigarette hang in the corner of your mouth. Tommy says nothing, neither do you, letting the silence settle in between you.

----------------

You wake from your light slumber by the creaking of the stairs, unfamiliar footsteps making their way down unknown floorboards. You get up from your bed and stand at your window as you hear the door open and close below you. 

Outside your door stands Tommy, illuminated mostly by the moonlight and for a brief moment his own lighter. He walks away slowly, not rushing at all. 

You wonder if he cares that he might be seen leaving a lonely mans house at this hour of the night, or if he just counts on none one really giving a shit. 

Usually the men’s houses he leaves at this time of night ends up dead though. But Tommy Shelby can do what he wants and no one can say anything about it. 

You watch him until he disappears around the corner of your street in a cloud of cigarette smoke, then you draw the curtains and go back to bed. 

You will try in the morning not too think too much about the night that happened, but it will be impossible with how wonderfully sore your body is feeling.

[dont-rainonme]

thor made you wet

[loki x reader]

[summary] - amidst the stress and problems of the modern world, you find yourself enjoying a small thoughtful moment with your lover. (set after endgame)

[warnings] - swearing?? + tiny pinch of angst

[a/n] - in this story no one dies in endgame!! natasha, tony and steve are all here, along with all the other avengers, because it’s what they deserve!! also this was based off an experience i had, except i have no boyfriend and i just ran in the rain by myself. i had so much fun writing this and i hope you enjoy reading it! <3

“tony stark is going to be the death of me.”

grumbling, loki trailed behind you, as he neatened his pile of papers. you sighed, which was enough to tell him you agreed with him, as you ran your fingers messily though your hair. you could almost feel the built-up stress peel off with every stroke.

it had been a long day at the compound; after the recent events of the battle against thanos and his army, the entire team had been overloaded with paperwork from the government concerning the damages inflicted, the sudden reappearance of those who were snapped, and actual details of what happened.

tony was probably the most agitated - he was the face of the avengers after all. with all the news coverage of him and the team, along with what had happened with thanos, all this paperwork stressed him out and it stressed the entire team out, including you and loki. it was currently half two in the morning, and you were honestly him glad you could finally go home with loki.

you sighed for what was probably the thousandth time today, pushing open each door, as you lethargically progressed down the compound’s corridor. you turned your head around to face loki as you spoke, pushing open the last door that lead outside.

“should we get a take-out? i don’t know if i can be asked to-“

loki yanked you back by your collar, his other hand dropping everything in it and protectively holding you close to his body.

“that was close,” he casually said, heaving slightly.

startled, you looked at what loki was staring at through the doorframe. rain angrily lashed down onto the land, puddles pooling and merging together, as they created a thin sheen of water across the floor.

“ohhh... shit. that’s a lot of rain.”

that was an understatement. the dark, clouds above gave a ruptured growl, and you could feel the powerful rumbles vibrate throughout your body.

“i have an umbrella we can share. i’ll just get it out..”

loki crouched down and slid his bag off, rummaging inside. mesmerised by the rain, you kept your eyes fixed on the view as you spoke:

“thor’s probably the reason this is happening, you know.”

loki heaved a sigh.

“typical. that oaf was always expressive with his feelings. if i had to guess he’s probably in a bad mood right now.”

“you don’t say.”

as if to confirm your suspicions, the sky flashed a sheet of white, the thunder rumbling angrily. you smiled, outstretching a hand to feel the cool droplets hit your skin. after being stuck in an office for the entire day, it was a refreshing sensation. your smile morphed into a smirk; you had a very reckless idea.

loki exhaled as he stood up, opening the umbrella.

“there. now...“

you turned to face him slowly, making sure that he could understand your intention just by your look.

“fuck it.”

and then you ran.

“wait (y/n)-“

you screamed with exhilaration, legs moving mechanically, as you ran as fast you could. your hands instinctively flew above your head to shield yourself from the pelts of rain, but you knew that was useless. your clothes were immediately soaked as if you were in the middle of the flow of a river, not in a rain shower. behind you, you could hear loki yelling, before his voice was overpowered by the violent pattering of the rain.

it hauled down so thickly you could hardly see through the blanket of water. amidst the dripping darkness, two bright lights shone out suddenly, followed by a small ‘click!’. it was the car. this only encouraged you to run even faster, skidding across the slippery surface, as you jerked the car door open. you lunged into your seat, slamming the door, as loki followed just after you.

you both sat there, recovering from your sudden surge of adrenaline, as your chest heaved. it only took one look between you two to break that silence, before you both burst into a fit of laughter.

“you... are insane,” loki breathed out, his long, jet curls plastered to his face.

“that was amazing. i’ve never felt so alive.”

“we’re soaking wet.”

you grinned.

“i know. can we do it again?”

“you are an absolute child,” loki sniffed, “you could’ve gotten a cold.”

he sounded like an irritated mother. you shuffled in your seat to turn to him, smirking.

“you’re concerned about me catching a cold when i’ve been to space and fought against robots, aliens and the universe’s possibly largest threat?”

“yes.”

you blinked, mouth hanging open slightly. it was such a quick and simple answer that you were surprised.

“i love you,” you whispered, eyes wide with adoration for the god sitting in front of you. loki turned to face you, wearing an expression of equal surprise.

“that was random.”

“sooo.. you don’t want me to love you?”

“no! no! it’s just that... i’ve missed this.”

you raised an eyebrow.

“elaborate.”

“i’ve been missing the times where it was just us two and the world around us didn’t matter for that moment. with all that’s been happening, and what had happened, we never really got to have those small, personal moments again. everything just got in the way. and just hearing you say that you love me made me realise that. it was almost like i remembered that we were together. not like i forgot we were! but it just made me realise how much we’ve been through and how much i love you.”

too dumbstruck by his profound response, you sat in a brief minute of silence. the only thing you could really hear was the lashing of the rain against the car windows.

“i’m sorry if that was weird,” loki mumbled, slumping in his seat as he stared blankly at his shoes.

“loki-“

he continued, voice wavering, “everything just came out in such a mess and it probably just sounded so stupid-“

“loki.”

you said it more firmly this time. he shot his head up, surprised to see you with hands pressed against each other in front of your mouth, eyes gleaming with heartfelt tears.

loki creased his brow. did he upset you?

“are you alri-“

he didn’t even get to finish his sentence. you threw yourself into him, not caring at all about your drenched clothing, as you straddled him, as your arms and legs hugged tightly around him. he gave a started ‘oof!’ the air being knocked out his lungs from your sudden hug.

“i am very much alright. this entire thing makes me very happy.”

you inhaled him deeply, the faint scent of fresh dew, coffee and leather lulling you into an incredibly comfortable slumber.

“(y/n).”

you didn’t respond, but smiled into his chest. you were far too content to be bothered to move. you felt the familiar tug of sleep pulling on your eyelids.

“darling.”

deep down, loki loved this just as much as you did. so he sighed, giving in and slowly ran his fingers down your scalp and through your hair. he stared out the windshield, the rain slowly calming down to a therapeutic background noise, as his head rested on yours. your bodies intertwined perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle.

“don’t stop.”

loki looked down. you stared up at him with such large, bright eyes. he hadn’t even realised he had stopped playing with your hair, after being lured into his own sleep.

“so you’re awake.”

“i was on the verge of sleeping.”

“same thing,” he breathed out, as he shifted in his seat. rubbing your eyes, you clumsily rolled back into your seat next to his.

“i love how there’s the marks from i hugged you,” you giggled, indicating the you-shaped damp marks on his clothes.

“to be fair, you were soaking. my brother got you wet,” loki stopped himself before he could continue. his eyes widened in horror at what he said, whilst you erupted into laughter, “nO! not like that! (y/n) you know what i mean!”

“for someone with the reputation of having a clever tongue,” you said between laughs, “that was probably the most childish thing i’ve heard you say. im treasuring this moment forever.”

loki groaned, sliding his hands down his face, before slumping down on the wheel.

“my dignity,” he whined.

“what about it?”

“it’s gone.”

“you are incredibly dramatic.”

he gave another small whine again, this time banging his head repeatedly on the wheel. it was nice to see loki so... normalised? domesticated? seeing him so open and more expressive about his feelings made you happy.

“cheer up,” you said, edging him on, “look up. it’s not raining anymore.”

loki lifted his head. you were right. the raining had ceased, the water now dripping lazily down the smooth surface of the windows.

“and?”

smirking, you knew what you were going to say.

“it means thor won’t get me wet again.”

“you know what-“

you kissed him before he could say anything else.

and as your lips connected, as you felt that spark you always felt, everything felt right.

this was right.

[h-styles-babes]

EIGHT

The rest of the week passed much in the same fashion. The crew all woke up in the morning and went about their business. Sia took to waking up around seven and heading out onto the lush yard to do some yoga. She had been in a class while she was in LA, and she found she quite liked it, and she didn’t want to let it get away from her just because she was away from her instructor. She used a YouTube video as a guide and spent a good hour every morning stretching and doing poses that helped to clear her mind.

She’d been trying her best to avoid Harry aside from when they were in the studio or their nightly hangouts with the crew. They’d been making incredible progress when it came to the production, even though they were only a few days in, and Sia didn’t want to fuck that up by getting too intense with Harry. He looked like he was ready to say something to her every time they were around each other, but he never let it come out of his mouth, of which she was grateful. She still didn’t know how take Mitch’s comment from the few nights before, and she didn’t want to put any of her effort into trying to understand it. She’d established with herself long ago that Harry Styles wasn’t part of her life anymore. She’d keep it professional, but she had no plans of being his friend again. He’d hurt her too much.

It was approaching the weekend, and the crew had all agreed to leave their weekends open in order to cool off and relax from their intense weekly schedule. Sia wanted to go into town some more and maybe get together with Nadia to go to a bar or something. She hadn’t been into town since she’d gotten those smoothies for herself and Alex, and she was itching to go on an adventure and discover the island more. She was hoping she could also perhaps talk Mitch into accompanying her, since she particularly liked his company.

Over the last few days, Mitch and her had formed a relationship that she liked. They talked to each other about seemingly meaningless things, but it was really the foundations of who they were. She learned that Mitch, for all his time working at a pizza place, didn’t actually really like pizza—which she found crazy, because it was pizza, for Christ’s sake, but she didn’t begrudge him for it. And she had told Mitch that when she was five, she fallen off her bike and broken her brand new adult tooth in half, and she’d gone years fighting to get a crown put on it, which she had only just achieved when she was twenty. He’d laughed at her dramatic retelling, and she’d scowled playfully at him. They’d also enjoyed spans of silence together, just lounging side by side, on their phones or watching a film on Netflix, and just enjoying each other’s company. They really had formed the perfect companionship, and she was really proud of it.

So, on Friday during their recording session, where Harry was taking a slight break to readjust some lyrics to better fit the music they’d come up with the day before, Sia asked the crew if they wanted to go to a bar that night to celebrate the end of their first week. Everyone readily agreed, even Harry, who seemed pretty absorbed in is notebook, fixing the flow of some of the lyrics. Sia was in too good of a mood to be upset by his acceptance, and resolved within herself to enjoy herself despite his presence.

On the island, it was still pretty warm after the sun went down, so Sia settled on a lacy crop top paired with jeans and a pair of her favorite cream platform heels. She felt sexy while also pretty casual, since they were planning to just hit up a local bar. She assumed there’d be a healthy amount of tourists in the bar, since it was in a main part of the island, but she hoped it was mainly locals so they could have a fun night without Harry getting stopped and asked for pictures every few minutes. However much she wasn’t particularly fond of him, she still felt bad when he couldn’t have a normal existence because of what his name meant to much of the world. Being a celebrity was never easy, and she definitely sympathised with that.

Harry and Sia stepped out of their rooms at the same time, pausing when they realised how close they were to each other in the hall. Harry’s breath caught in his chest when he saw what she was wearing, caught off guard by her beauty. Not that he didn’t always think Sia was beautiful, but he hadn’t seen her dressed like this in a long time. She’d dress like this when they went to clubs together in the past, or attended get togethers at Grimmy’s place. He was mesmerised for a moment by the jewelry that still dangled from her bellybutton and the little tattoo of the music notes from her favourite Beatles song—that he’d been with her when she got—etched along the curve of her ribs under the lace of her top. He could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra, and he quickly flicked his eyes away, not wanting her to think that he was staring. He knew he wasn’t anywhere close to being in her good graces, and he didn’t want to upset her anymore by making her think he was checking her out. Which, admittedly, he was, but she didn’t need to know that.

“You look nice,” he went with, feeling like the compliment was a good way to keep her from getting upset with him. Girls liked innocent compliments, right?

Sia got a startled look on her face before looking down at her self. She tucked her red-painted, plump bottom lip between her teeth, making Harry have to stifle a groan, before looking back up at him, seemingly a bit bashful. “Thanks. You do, too.” And she was telling the truth. He was wearing a sheer button up shirt, the first few buttons undone to expose the tattoos across his chest and the top of his butterfly. She’d always liked when he’d wear his shirts like that, because she liked the look of all his tan skin. Now she was a little bitter that he still looked so good, but she couldn’t begrudge him the fact that he looked good. She’d be lying through her teeth if she told him otherwise.

“Thanks,” he said, offering a soft smile. “Figured I’d upgrade from the hole-y t-shirts and dad shirts I’ve been wearin’ around the house.”

“Well, yeh’ve done that,” she nodded, suddenly realising how strange this little interaction was. The only words she’d exchanged with him since their breakup had been full of malice, and now they were actually being civil out of the watchful eye of all their crew. It was a tad odd, so she cleared her throat and hugged her bag close to her chest, hiding her skin that she suddenly noticed was very exposed to him. “Shall we?”

Harry waved a hand to her. “After you.”

Everyone else in the house was already ready when Harry and Sia joined them in the living room.

“Ready?” Ben asked, smiling at them both.

“Let’s go,” Sia agreed. She stood by Mitch and waited for him to stand and join her. “I need a few drinks and some dancing.”

“I don’t dance,” Mitch told her, already refusing to be her partner for the night.

She pouted at him. “But yeh drink, right?”

“That I do.”

She smiled. “Good, that’s all I need yeh for. I’ll dance with some bloke I find at the bar once I’m too drunk to be picky about what he looks like.”

Ben snorted. “Sound idea, Anastasia.”

“What?” she balked. “Men do it all the time. Why can’t I?”

“Never said yeh couldn’t,” Ben shrugged, smirking at her. His eyes flicked to Harry, who’s nostrils were flaring ever so slightly as he pretended to be too distracted by his phone to pay attention to the conversation around him. Ben knew better, though, and he could see the bit of rage that was brewing with the talk of Sia finding some random to spend her night with. Ben realised the hypocrisy, but he also sympathised with Harry. It was a bit complicated being stuck in the middle of his two good friends.

“Wouldn’t sleep with anyone anyway,” Sia shrugged, banishing the mens’ concerns. “Just wanna have a bit of fun while we’re out. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.”

Mitch snickered at the word ‘knickers’ because it was so absurdly British, but otherwise, no one made a comment.

“Shall we?” Harry finally suggested, pocketing his phone, and clapping his hands to gather everyone.

They had a car to drive them into town, fitting them all into the car instead of taking a few of the separate smaller cars. Harry and Ben situated themselves into the back, allowing Mitch, one of the other sound techs, and Sia in the middle row, and Alex in the passenger seat up front with the hired driver. The car drive was relatively short, and Sia talked with Mitch the whole time, asking him about his go-to drink when he went out. She wasn’t surprised to learn that he typically stuck to beer, but was willing to have a mixed drink when he felt like mixing it up, or even shots if he was really feeling it. However, she couldn’t really see a situation where Mitch would ever really be ‘feeling it.’ She didn’t comment, though.

The bar was exactly as Sia had hoped it would be. There were some tourists that were lingering about, but for the most part it was locals who looked like this was their typical Friday night hang out. There were some people hanging out at the bar, talking with the bartenders, and the music was loud enough to dance to and enjoy, but not too loud that it hindered conversation. Sia couldn’t help but smile at the perfect atmosphere and let out the tiniest content sigh.

“I see a table,” Alex alerted, making a beeline for the empty booth that looked like it would fit all of them if they added a seat to the end of the table.

“I’ve got the first round,” Ben announced. “Shots first, then beer.” There was no suggestion or question if everyone was okay with it—it was just how the night was going to go, and no one seemed to be averse to it. Even Mitch offered a shrug to it, and Sia realised this was most likely Mitch when he was ‘feeling it.’

Somehow, upon all the sliding into the booth, Sia ended up next to Mitch—which was how she wanted it—but directly across from Harry, which wasn’t the most ideal situation. She was going to make the most of it, though, and completely enjoy herself. She was there to have a good time, after all.

Ben showed back up with the drinks before she could settle into a sour mood, which she was thankful for. The whole table downed the shots of tequila as a group after a quick cheers. While some of the others around her grimaced at the flavour of the drink and desperately sucked on their limes to mask it, Sia genuinely loved tequila. She wasn’t quite sure where the love came from, but she figured it was Harry’s influence over her formative years, because it was definitely his drink of choice when he was wanting something stronger than beer.

Sure enough, Harry took the shot like a champ, and he even shot Sia a little grin when he realised they were the only ones at the table that didn’t have a problem getting it down. Sia couldn’t help but let out a little giggle, thanking him for the years of practice in her own way. They’d been drinking way before it was legal for them to do so in the UK, and somehow tequila was always on hand. They’d started with the cheap stuff, but their tastes had been refined over the years when Harry started to be able to afford more high quality brands.

Everything went well as the crew sipped at their beers and chatted, trying to stay away from the topic of the production when they were trying to enjoy their time off. Mitch and Sia laughed together over Ben’s horrible jokes and puns, Harry snickering silently to himself as well. He knew he’d gotten his awful jokes from somewhere.

At some point, Ben received a call from his wife, that he stepped aside to take, and Alex and Johnny, the additional sound tech, went up to the bar to hang out with the bar tenders and talk to some of the locals. That left Sia, Harry, and Mitch together at the table. Harry and Mitch were chatting, sounding like they’d already forged a solid friendship. Sia had seen them interact in the studio, and they had this sort of effortless connection that she was slightly jealous of, but she realised her friendship with Mitch was just as amazing. She set aside her irrational jealousy and spotted that a pool table opened up just as she looked over.

“Up for a game of pool?” Sia asked to no one in particular, but she was secretly hoping Mitch would take her up on it before Harry did. However, she had no such luck.

“I’m awful at pool,” Mitch admitted, shaking his head in embarrassment. “I think I’ve made a ball into a pocket all of once in my life.”

Sia decided to leave that innuendo alone, and instead huffed.

“I’ll play with you,” Harry offered, already scooting himself out of the booth. Mitch slid out in order to let Sia out, and he followed them to the table, sitting himself on the bar stool beside it.

Harry took the time to set up the balls in the rack, and Sia was polite enough to chalk the ends of both cues, handing one to Harry when he was ready.

“Ladies first,” Harry offered, kindly.

Sia broke, and she landed a striped ball into the corner pocket. She sunk two more before Harry was able to get a turn.

“You’re really good,” Mitch commented as they both watched Harry decide where to aim. The solids were not really in convenient places, so he was having a bit of trouble deciding on just one.

“Harry and I used to play a lot when the lads were on tour.”

Mitch raised his brows as Sia realised the mistake she had made. While she’d alluded to Mitch before that she and Harry knew each other, she’d never made it so obvious that they were actually close.

“She used to be shit, and then she somehow got better than me,” Harry grumbled just before he took his shot, not even bothered about sharing personal information about one another. Sia wondered briefly whether he had told Mitch about their relationship, but the way Mitch seemed confused by everything that came out of their mouths told her that they hadn’t talked about it at all.

“A girl can only listen to the same setlist so many nights in a row before gettin’ bored,” Sia reasoned. “Some nights I’d go to pubs to pass the time and just drink beer and play pool. Made a lot of money.”

“So yeh hustled people while I performed every night?” Harry snickered, pumping his fist when one of his balls sunk into a pocket. He set himself up for another shot.

“Not every night,” Sia disagreed. “But it was a fun pastime, yes.”

“I’m so confused,” Mitch huffed under his breath, shaking his head in amusement. This was such a strange switch from the way Harry and Sia behaved normally. They’d usually be civil with each other, but maintain a distance, only speaking when absolutely necessary. Most of the time he could feel the tension between the two of them, but everyone seemed to ignore it in order to keep the peace. Tonight, though, there was a weird sort of camaraderie between them that was more at ease and seemed more natural for them.

“Welcome to the last year of my life, mate,” Sia huffed, taking a sip of her beer.

Harry scratched as he took his next shot, put off by her comment that was very obviously about him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Means my life got turned on itself for absolutely no reason, and I’ve been trying to make heads and tails of it for the last year.”

“That’s not fair,” Harry told her with a pointed glare. She had to know he never wanted to hurt her. She was the most important thing in his life then; he’d never do something so malicious.

“Isn’t it, though? I’m not sayin’ anything that isn’t true.”

Mitch was sensing an increased hostility, and it was making him uncomfortable. He didn’t know whether to walk away and leave them to bicker, or to stick around to make sure they didn’t hurt each other.

“We both agreed. We both knew it was a good idea.”

“No, you thought it was a good idea, and I went along with it because I cared about yeh. My mistake.”

With that, Sia dropped her cue stick on the table and walked away, grabbing her purse from their booth before storming out.

~*~*~*~

There was a knock on Sia’s door the next morning. She’d been awake for a few hours, having made herself a cup of coffee and found something to eat for breakfast before retreating back to her room. There was no recording slated for that day, so she had no plans of facing anybody after her little storm off the night before. She’d set herself up on her laptop and was halfway through an episode of Extreme Couponing, so she didn’t really want to have an interruption, but she figured it was rude if she didn’t see what they wanted.

“Come in,” she called, pausing her show.

“Hey.” Mitch peeked his head in, offering her a timid smile. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” she responded with a bit of a whine. She knew she owed Mitch an explanation, she was just hoping it could’ve waited.

“How are you feeling?”

“Bit like a brat, if I’m honest. Think I owe yeh an apology.”

Mitch shook his head. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You don’t owe me anything.”

“Come in here, Mitchell. Lemme tell yeh a story.”

[immortalcockroach]

21 + 15 + 8!

asdfghjkl rose thank you for asking ♥️ this ended up coming out incredibly long, so i apologize in advance!

8) where do you take your inspiration from?

surprising! mostly from visual media, actually. graphics, art, moodboards, films, tv series, that kind of stuff. occasionally, music, and even more rarely, written media (fics, books, poems, similar). that’s for when i’m starting to get ideas. when i already have something written or ideas developed a bit more, then i have a moodboard on pinterest and a playlist on spotify, or i watch something that has the same mood/theme as the thing i’m writing.

15) if you write oc’s, how do you decide on their names?

i don’t usually write oc’s for fics, but i do them for my original stuff. the names depend on the characters’ background and location, but they all have a name that either sounds specific to their character or who they’re supposed to be, or the meaning is very connected. 

in other cases, most of the time, i just go ‘woah this sounds cool’ or sometimes i build a whole character because of their name and subsequently the whole story.

21  tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? what is it about them that you admire?

i love this question!! let me give my favourite fic writers a shoutout, even though i’m probably missing some too!! it’s really long but honestly these people worked hard and they really deserve it

@grumpybell‘s ideas are absolutely brilliant. i’m a huge fan. the stories themselves, the plots would be enough for me to have a whole paragraph about, but for me, the characters are where it’s at. well-developed, very true to the canon but also to the universe the fic is set in, but also very well-rounded and overall realistic. the fics just flow really nice, honestly, and i could read them for eternity. 

fic shoutout: oh darling, here’s hoping god i remember reading this red riding hood au and just... falling in love. i did. i fell in love with bellamy as the wolf and clarke’s desperation to save him, and the new take on the fairy tale, it was just absolute perfection. i keep coming to it every once in a while, honestly. it’s just magic.

@asroarke is one of those people who are just integrated into a fandom’s fanfiction. imagining t100 fanfiction with asroarke is like... imagining the sky without the stars. i think those fics were the first ones i read when i joined the fandom, and i remember one of the things i thought was how easy it was to read. everything flowed as if there was no effort needed, as if the words have always been there, just plucked and placed on a blank document. and the consistency, honestly, damn. these fics are better than probably more than half of published stuff i’ve read. 

fic shoutout: drag me down. look there’s a pattern here and it’s the mythical/legends/fairy tale aus. i present you with a retelling of little mermaid in the most beautiful, soul-wrenching way. i waited every single chapter for when i came out. i read it as soon as i saw it came out, even if i was in the middle of grabbing coffee with a friend. honestly everything by asroarke is absolutely fantastic. 

@blvke-bellamy okay look. when i saw may is just 15 i nearly fell off my chair. i’d kill to have that talent at 15. i would. look, i keep saying look, because i’m shook. but honestly, may’s characterization is brilliant. she took my faves from the 100 and managed to insert them into a different universe, and they feel so much like the original characters and not at all. the dynamics between them are so raw and so pure and so believable i cried at one particular scene in her fic. or it might be two scenes. and look, this is impressive on its own, and then knowing she’s just 15...god.

fic shoutout: step into the sun is a bellarke tangled au and honestly. i’m a slut for tangled. it’s so damn good. and this fic?? inspired by tangled?? absolutely brilliant. marvelous. 11/10. brought my fish to life. and honestly murphy is my favourite in the fic, literally one of my favourite portrayals of him in every fic i’ve ever read. i binged this. i lost sleep over this. no ragrets.

@pawprinterfanfic (i’m biased but. in top 3 fic writers ever. and i’ve been in a lot of popular fandoms.) paw manages to take a universe and make it hers. paw manages to create a universe out of nothing and make it feel more realistic than my own life. and honestly, i am reading her hunger games au right now and it’s amazing, but the best part is that i’m also reading the harry potter au which is even better and although both are masterpieces, i can see the improvement. the development of the characters, the amount of effort in planning and mapping things out, it’s marvellous. her fics just speak to me on a different level, it feels as if i’m experiencing them myself rather than reading them, and what i’m mostly in awe of is how immersed i am in those fics, especially the newer ones. i feel like it’s a rare skill to have.

fic shoutout: starry eyes and galaxy minds (we’ll be dancing on the clouds at night) which is a spider-man au, and honestly, i cried. it’s beautiful. it’s a masterpiece. but so is literally every single one of paw’s stories, so it was a really difficult choice. the harry potter one? j k rowling wishes she wrote it.

skai_heda (i don’t know their tumblr please someone help me find it). where do i begin. honestly. when i started reading the fic i put below, i was mesmerised by the writing style. it was partly in second pov which i’d usually refuse to read, but this writing style is something that belongs to gods. the characterization is amazing, it manages to fix some of the stuff in canon without actually changing it. everything just comes together naturally, and i always feel so satisfied when reading their fics. plus, the writing style again, especially in the fic below, is flawless. some people can create magic with their words, and i’m convinced i’ve just found one.

fic shoutout: everything that comes after deserves so much!! more!! attention!!! i remember reading the first two chapters and just being like...wooow. i was starstruck. i left a long ass comment. it’s so unique and so beautiful. it’s the only fic on this list written in the canon universe, and it’s one of my favourites i’ve ever read about the canon universe. it hurts. it makes you cry, and ache, and understand, and smack your head because you just want people to be happy. if i could pocket the way this fic made me feel, i would always keep it with me. (a little frustration, but a whole lotta love.)

give me a number and i’ll answer questions about writing fanfiction

just in case you’d like to see the same questions answered for non-fanfiction/non-fanfiction influence, see below!

15) if you write oc’s, how do you decide on their names?

specific example of mentioned above - a wip about teenagers who come from a rich side of town and a poor side. there’s posh names, like cedric, declan, byron and gregory, for people who are supposed to represent the posh, stuck-up class; hadley, tessa, abigail, kate for privileged people who are the ‘good guys’; and luca, oliver, han, freddie, who are from the poor side. it’s very classist so it was very important that the names represent the characters. usually, i go for the “vibe” of the name over the meaning, to be honest. 

21  tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? what is it about them that you admire?

i love this question!!

fiction: maggie stiefvater, because her raven cycle series genuinely feels like magic when i read it. the characters are brilliant. erin morgenstern, who wrote the night circus, because that novel also feels like magic. donna tart’s the secret history feels as if you’re reading a secret and the storytelling sort of reminds me of f. scott fitzgerald’s the great gatsby in a way i can’t really describe. she creates a beautiful, magnificent atmosphere and you know what the characters are doing is wrong, but you completely understand them and it makes me, as a reader, question my own moral standards. madeline miller’s the song of achilles is a beautifully written masterpiece that made me fall in love with mythology, legends and history all over again. the way she develops the characters and retells the story i’ve heard a million times is so poetic and beautiful it just resonates with me on a different level. and finally, leigh bardugo with her six of crows series that again, makes me question my morals, but shows the friendship and loyalty between people in a beautiful way. it also shows a romance that i think is one of best written i’ve read, up there for me romances from the novels/series i’ve already mentioned.

there’s a pattern - storytelling and character-building that feels almost otherworldly, very focused on emotions and character development. basically, stories that you feel like as if they were made into films without proper, detailed development, wouldn’t translate well enough to bring the world to the screen. and romances incredibly well-developed over time, that go beyond just being romances and actually show a beautiful connection.

special mention of these directors, as they have a huge influence on my writing: christopher nolan, john krasinski, quentin tarantino, m night shyamalan, steven knight, guillermo del toro, alfred hitchcock, for their storytelling and character building. also, some of these are for the suspense that seems to come naturally. i know most of these are very popular directors, but they’re popular for a reason. i could literally write an essay on each of these people, honestly. my writing is very inspired by motion pictures, i most often look up to how these directors approached some things that i have in my writing, especially themes. (this could literally be a whole essay on its own)

[artificialqueens]

The Ballerina and the B-girl (Branjie)

a/n: hey there kids this is my first fic on here. Hope you enjoy! A new chapter will be out as soon as I can write it if you guys want a continuation

Vanessa Mateo, simply “Vanjie” to her friends, was never one to be on time for anything. She was usually that girl rolling up 20 minutes late, coffee in hand and complaining about the earliness of the time, no matter how late in the day. However here she was at the small studio attached to her gym, 15 whole minutes early for her breakdance team rehearsal. Now you may assume Vanjie had simply gotten the time wrong, or God forbid actually been early for practice by her own good will. It was in fact, neither of those reasons. Vanjie had come early specifically so she could watch her…her being the blonde haired, bitchy faced ballet dancer who had the time slot directly before the team.

The way that the blonde ballet dancer’s body moved fascinated Vanessa. The pure technical accuracy and precise movements were mesmerising. Vanjie tried her hardest not to stare, sure didn’t help that she also looked sexy as hell in her sports bra and tiny shorts. The way her strong leg muscles flexed. Her toned yet graceful arms. Her washboard abs, tendons forming a mouth watering V that disappeared below the waistband of her little shorts, prompting all kinds of fantasies that Vanessa probably shouldn’t be having about a stranger at the studio. She chuckled to herself under her breath, feeling like peeping Tom Tease standing in the doorway shamelessly admiring the other girl.

Vanjie had first caught a glimpse of her when she had been given a lift to the studio with her teammate Silky, hence had been on time to see the blonde leaving. Immediately taking an interest, Vanjie had been on time every week since but this was the first time she had been early and experienced the full on ballet fantasy that hot blonde was giving. Fuck, Vanessa could feel that she was definitely getting a situation down south and that just spiked her interest more.

“Who are you kidding girl?” she berated herself mentally with a duck of her head, “This girl is so far outta your league that you’d need a fucking spaceship”. Vanjie looked back up, and was unexpectedly greeted with bitchy blonde’s blue green eyes staring into hers. The girl tilted her head to the side and opened her mouth slightly in a confused yet still incredibly bitchy expression, and oh Gay God did it do things to Vanessa.

“Ehhh, hi” Vanjie managed to stammer out, trying to gain her composure to act as cool as possible. Blonde raised a single perfect brow and Vanjie realised that she looked like a bit of a creeper.

“I’m sorry for intruding and that, I’m just early for my breakdance practice and I just couldn’t not watch, damn you’re good at that thing where you’re up on ya toes n stuff” she tried again to seem cool, and more importantly not creepy.

Blondie rolled her eyes playfully, however the bitchy demeanour remained as she replied in a distinctly Canadian accent, “I know that I am, there’s a lot of mirrors in here”, before turning on her heel and sashaying over to where her bag was. ‘Fuck’ Vanjie thought, ‘Hot, bitchy and with an accent’ Blondie sat down and began to untie the ribbons on her pointe shoes, so Vanjie took this as her opportunity to try to continue the conversation before her friends arrived.

“Well you sure as hell put on a good show, how long you been doing that?” She asked, trying to walk over and place her bag on a chair as casually as possible. Blondie looked over to her with surprise that she was still wanting to talk, and Vanjie could have sworn she saw the ballerina’s eyes do a quick elevator scan of her body. Vanjie smirked, she knew she looked good as hell in her crop top and sweatpants, she’d even been bothered to brush her dark hair and put small braids into one side.

“A while”, blondie returned her smirk “why, you interested?”

Vanessa almost choked on her own tongue, before realising she had meant interested in ballet. “Nah girl, not the tea for me. Y’all too graceful and precise and shit, I like to go with the flow and get down”, she immediately regretted her words, worried the ballerina would get offended. She was relieved to hear the blonde let out a chuckle at her words.

“I see” the blonde stated, standing up with some gym shoes now on her feet. She took a couple of graceful strides towards Vanessa, and the small Latino girl felt her heart in her throat. “Although it sounds like you have some incorrect presumptions about ballet dancers, I for one am very into getting down”.

Vanjie couldn’t help the physical reaction that overcame her at the innuendo of those words, she let out a small splutter that seemed to greatly please the blonde. ‘Damnit Vanessa you useless lesbian’ she berated herself.

Bitchy blonde held out her hand to Vanjie, coming across as even more sexy and confident, “Brooklyn” Took Vanjie a couple of seconds to compute what was happening, after which she gasped Brooklyn’s hand and spluttered out “Vanjie…no shit Vanessa, my name’s Vanessa but my friends call me Vanjie”. She felt herself starting to ramble, thankfully stopping herself there but glad to see amusement and interest dance in Brooklyn’s eyes. The blonde withdrew her hand and shamelessly looked her up and down with a devilish smirk. Vanjie felt like a gazelle Under a predator’s gaze, and her instinct was practically confirmed that this bitchy blonde was just the kind of dominant top that a big ole bottom like Vanjie loved to fuck with. Loved to get fucked by, to be technical about the matter. Just as it looked as though Brooklyn might say something else, loud voices shattered the mood with the arrival of her teammates. Brooklyn let out a sigh, not taking her eyes off Vanjie.

“Well Vanessa, I assume these are the friends you’ve been waiting for”, she moved to stride past Vanjie with her bag, stopping right next to her and whispering in her ear, “See you next week I guess”

A shiver ran down Vanjie’s spine and into her centre as she watched Brooklyn’s perfect ass stride it’s way out the door as though she was walking a runway.

“Vanjie girl? You finally talk to that blonde bitch you been drooling over the past few weeks?” Silky questioned, taking Vanjie outta her Brooklyn induced haze.

“Her name’s Brooklyn” Vanjie mused, Silky chucking and shaking her head.

“Brooklyn the blonde ballet bitch, gotta love some good alliteration! Girl, you see the way she was looking at you like you were a snack she wanted to eat up?” Silky shouted.

“Girl, she can come get these cookies any day” Vanjie replied with a laugh. She began to stretch to warm up, her mind on how flexible Brooklyn was and how that might come in handy during certain activities. God she felt so thirsty, but hell Brooklyn was her type down to her fucking perfect eyebrows. Vanjie couldn’t wait to be early again for practice next week, that was for damn sure.

Tags: #branjie #brooke x Vanessa #lesbian au #opposites attract

[fontainebleau22]

Oooh could you do a directors commentary for A Scent of Lavender? I'd love to hear one for the scene that starts with ‘I’ll need to pass on this hand,’ and the scene right after from '‘I’ll need to pass on this hand,’ up until 'No harm, then'. And also to hear any background info on how you chose the idea, and what kind of research you might have done for it!

Thank you so much for the ask, and sorry it took me a while to get around to it! I really enjoyed thinking about this, though it’s pretty long.

‘I’ll need to pass on this hand,’ says Goodnight,pushing back his chair.

I agonised alot about the change of tense between the Goody/Billy story (present) and Tess’sstory (past), but there was just no other way to do it that I could find. And,as I said elsewhere, if it’s good enough for Dickens in Bleak House then it’s good enough for me.

MacClaren scowls. ‘Not thinking of quitting on us?’Goodnight’s luck’s been good, or his companions’ attention poor, and he’sclaimed a steady run of pots, but he’s sharp enough to realise that MacClarenhas thrown in several likely hands, encouraging a less wary player to thinkhimself better than he was: he’ll expect to recoup his losses and more as theliquor flows and the evening progresses.

There’s a lotof Deadwood behind this fic, and whileMacClaren is just an extra, for the scene as a whole I had in mind some of thepermanent poker players who figure as extras in Deadwood.

Goodnight holds up his hands placatingly. ‘A call tothe outhouse: I’m not done yet.’

He takes his time out back, then once the game hasre-engaged MacClaren’s attention, he slips back to the bar to find Billy. Thisis one of the many advantages of a partner he’d found; too often before when hewas gambling the drink and the company would go to his head, and what he wonwhile the evening was young he’d lose or drink away later on. Now he can quietlypass a handful of notes and coins to Billy, always clear-minded and precise nomatter how much he’s drunk, and know that they’ll wake up in profit. To hissurprise, though, Billy’s abandoned his station at the bar and is sitting at atable with one of the girls, apparently in lively conversation.

At first he’s simply taken aback: this is the firsttime in the months they’ve spent together that he’s seen his new partner showany interest in female company. But it’s human nature, after all, and Billy’s aman; maybe he’s been holding back since they partnered up. On the heels ofsurprise follows a wave of self-reproach. They’ve always shared a room; theysettled into that early without debate to save money and trouble both, butmaybe Billy’s felt it to be more of a constraint than he liked to consider.

This isprobably my unspoken headcanon that Goody is actually a pretty selfish person,or at least a person who finds little interest in anyone else around him, apartfrom Billy, and at this stage in their partnership his bubble of self-obsessionis just starting to expand to enclose Billy in it.

Their partnership has been lucrative, and they’vemoved from wariness to something he’d like to call friendship: he enjoysBilly’s companionship and he hopes that’s reciprocated. If it raises feelingsin him that he thought were long dead, if he’d like to offer more, much more,mesmerised from that first meeting by his fine-boned face, his dark eyes, thestrength and lightning-fast reflexes he wears so lightly, well, Goodnight keepsthat locked away inside.

OK, here’s why Iwas annoyed with the comments I got about Goody being too passive and subordinateto Billy in his emotions in this fic. There is a power imbalance between them, of coursethere is – Goody is white, educated, respected and if not wealthy himself,comes from a wealthy background, while Billy is poor, a member of a despisedminority, without family in the US and owning only what he stands up in. Ofcourse Goody is going to be incredibly tentative in expressing his feelings,even if he thinks they might be reciprocated: as I read it, he has to let Billy come to him rather than theother way around.

But he’s welcomed their growing intimacy, two againsta hostile world, without thought, and now, it seems, here’s proof he was wrong.

The girl’s not exactly sitting in Billy’s lap:they’re just talking, a respectable distance apart, but even so he doesn’t feelhe wants to interrupt. Looking at her, Goodnight thinks he recognises the girlwho spoke to him earlier, and he wonders, why this one? She’s pretty, as far ashe’s any judge, doll-like, her fair hair curled into ringlets; none of thegirls here are overdressed, but though her clothes are plain – a red skirt andstriped camisole, stockings and boots – there’s something neater about her thanthe others he can see in their rumpled blouses and torn lace. No jewellery,none of them has that, but she’s tied a dark velvet ribbon round her throatthat emphasises her pale colouring.

Gosh, with OCsyou have to describe what they look like! It was actually quite interesting todescribe Billy and Goody as Tess sees them as well, with how wealthy they lookto the fore because that’s her professional concern.

She’s as good as Billy could find in a place likethis, and she’s obviously working to please him, leaning closer with her eyeson his face. May be that’s all it is – a woman who’ll take him seriously. Shesays something that makes Billy laugh, his smile flashing bright, andGoodnight’s honest enough to admit that the tightening in his chest isjealousy; but that’s his problem, and his alone.

‘Your friend there seems to have taken a shine toTessie.’

Goodnight wheels, alert to the mocking edge to thecomment, and finds himself confronting a long-haired man propped idly againstthe bar. At first sight he’s smartly-dressed, exuding self-confidence, but acloser look reveals that his pin-striped suit is shiny in places, the seamsfraying, and the collar greasy.

It’s AlSwearengen from Deadwood! If I’mbeing honest, it pretty much is, though Adams isn’t as ruthless as Swearengen.The suit’s the same, though.

He tips his head back and gives Goodnight aconsidering look. ‘Other pimps might take exception to a Chinaman making freewith their women, but me – live and let live, that’s what I say, right, Amos?’

There is alittle subplot in Deadwood aboutChinese prostitutes being imported for the Chinese community, and I wanted tomake the point that it’s significant Billy is being accepted at this point,even if grudgingly.

The burly barkeep grunts in response: from his mannerhis employer’s used to being agreed with.

And look, there’s Dan Dority behind the bar!

‘Wouldn’t exactly be making free, though, would he?’observes Goodnight, ‘I’m sure your associates would see to that,’ and isrewarded by a splutter as the man chokes on his whiskey.

‘Fair point,’ concedes the man, ‘and money’s whatmakes this nation of ours great, who’s to care whose hands it passes through.’He sticks out a hand. ‘Silas Adams, proprietor. I understand I’m making theacquaintance of the famous Goodnight Robicheaux.’

‘Pleasure’s mine,’ says Goodnight as Adams attemptsto crush his knuckles.

Adams signals for drinks for both of them. ‘On thehouse.’ He raises his glass. ‘Don’t get so many of note passing through here.’

Another ticfrom Deadwood – Al is always pouringpeople free drinks to put them into his debt.

From the corner of his eye Goodnight can seeMacClaren’s glare, but there’s little he can do if the boss is in the mood totalk. ‘Impressive place for a small town,’ he observes: it is striking, thedécor and the games and the girls in what appears to be a glorified tradingpost.

Adams taps the side of his nose. ‘Entertainment’s thebusiness to be in.’ He looks around himself, to see that his underlings arepaying attention: here’s a man who enjoys the sound of his own voice. ‘Honestday’s toil is good for the character, they say. But two things that never goout of fashion are drink and pussy, and the man who sells those won’t ever beshort of custom.’

He relaxes against the bar as he elaborates. ‘When Istarted out here all I had was a shack with a tarp for a roof, and me to sweepthe floor and pour the drinks and run the whores; but I was the only bar intown, and the miners, they came pushing and shoving to get in through the door.So I got a bigger joint, and I sold so much liquor that the company sent up themirror for free.’ He nods at the fancy glass behind the bar. ‘And when moregirls came along, I took them under my care and pretty soon I was the biggestowner in town.’ He strokes his moustache, preening: big fish in a small pond,thinks Goodnight.

OK, Adams getsto spread himself here, but the point I was trying to make is that it genuinelyis an impressive achievement: Adams is boastful, but he has put in the hardwork to make his saloon a success. It’s too simple to say that he’s just anexploitative owner – he is exploitative, but a lot of what he says about beingthe only person who’ll employ a woman down on her luck is actually true, and helooks after the girls well as long as they’re useful to him.

‘Took them under my care’ is also deliberate - it’s an unpleasant thought, but what would happen to someone like Jilly, who’s mentally chllenged, at that period if she didn’t have an employer to take her on, even if he exploits her? (It’s another echo of Swearengen in a way, as he keeps the physically-disabled Jewel on in his saloon, though as a maid of all work and for rather more selfless reasons.) Adams isn’t a nice guy, but he’s neither as brutal as the miners nor as purity-obsessed as the respectable townsfolk.

‘Can a man enquire as to the nature of your businesshere? You and your – associate?’ Adam’s manner is still satirical, butGoodnight senses there’s not much between taking Billy’s money and throwing himout into the street. Or trying to. He smiles: he’ll do this a thousandtimes if it’ll lift a fraction of the burden Billy carries.

‘Entertainment’s our business too,’ he says, and seesAdams stiffen: not a man who likes competition. ‘We’ll stage a few contests, ifthere’s the interest: shooting, fighting. Always men who like to test theirskills.’

Adams narrows his eyes, nodding thoughtfully. ‘Handyin a fight, is he?’ He puts up his fists in a boxer’s stance and feints a fewpunches. ‘My fighting days are long past, but Amos here might be able to giveyour pard a run for his money.’

Goodnight doubts it, in a fair fight: weight’s noadvantage against Billy. But he gets the impression that a fair fight’s notwhat this Adams is interested in.

‘In a fairfight, which Dan and I try to avoid…’ There really is a lot of Deadwood in this scene!

Still, he shrugs. ‘He can try and welcome. We’ll setup tomorrow. Town this size, I expect there’ll be some takers.’

‘And that’s all your business here?’ Adams is lookingat him keenly. ‘Clean out the sapheads and move on?’ What’s he afraid of?

Someone with abetter name than him muscling in on his hard-won business, and once again, youcan’t really blame him.

‘Earn a little, spend a little,’ says Goodnight, ‘wedon’t aim to settle.’

That seems to satisfy him. ‘Long as you do yourspending here at the day’s end, we’ll have no argument.’ He puts his glass downand nods at Amos for another.

‘On me,’ says Goodnight. Won’t do to be in thisman’s debt.

–

It’s a while before he can extricate himself fromAdams’ company, and by the time he does Billy’s gone upstairs; Goodnight startsto head after him, but as he puts his foot on the first step the thoughtfreezes him. Did he take the girl up there with him? He scans the room asunobtrusively as he can, and no, there she is, leaning on the shoulder of a fatman in a high collar. He knows he shouldn’t feel relieved, thumping up thestair and along to their room, but he does.

In their room Billy’s already stowed their gearneatly, razor and soap laid out next to the basin, Goodnight’s bag on the bedby the door; he’s claimed the bed nearer the wall for himself. He’s sittingcross-legged, attending to his knives, running the sharpening stone carefullydown a blade; there’s a plate on the floor next to his feet, empty but forcrumbs, and another on the chest with a hunk of bread and cheese.

I wrote thisscene first just with the conversation between them, and later revised it withall the little touches to show how they look out for each other: at this stage intheir relationship they’re still working out how it benefits them both, in waysunexpected as well as expected, and I wanted to show that as well as theawkwardness.

It’s an easy familiarity that does as much to groundGoodnight as the conversation and backup; too often in the past the oppressivesilence of a grubby anonymous room has driven him downstairs again to drinkuntil he no longer cared, but now he’s warmed by Billy’s wordless forethought.

He hangs his coat on the bedpost and empties thepockets, piling the coins and notes on the bedcover. ‘Come out ahead?’ asksBilly.

‘War stories helped,’ admits Goodnight. ‘Don’t thinkthey were all for my quitting, but the boss here got talking to me at the barso they couldn’t complain.’

‘That Adams?’ asks Billy over the regular stroke ofthe stone; he’ll need them sharp tomorrow, but Goodnight knows by now that hefinds the nightly ritual soothing, honing and polishing, turning each blade inhis hands then laying it down in a neat line: it brings calm to his face andeases the stiffness from his posture.

‘Likes the sound of his own voice.’ He pretends toignore Billy’s glance of amusement. ‘Wanted to sound me out a bit, wonderingwhy we’re here. Think he’s anxious about protecting his turf.’

‘King of a dunghill,’ says Billy dismissively.

This one mademe think of Firefly, when River says ‘Sadlittle king of a sad little hill’ to Badger.

Goodnight stacks the money on the chest next to thebasin and rolls up his sleeves to wash. ‘Seems to have it pretty much sewn uphere, only saloon in town and a couple of heavies to keep it that way.’

‘Wonder if that’s his only business: girl I wastalking to said there’ve been attacks on the road out: couple of times wealthytypes passed through and found themselves looking down a gun a few days later.’

Al Swearengenagain, with his road agents. Really there’s nothing of my own in this fic!

‘Worth knowing.’ Goodnight shucks his vest and bootsand stretches out his legs on the bed, plate in hand: the noise of the saloonbelow is still loud, but he’s had enough of spinning tales and playing up tohis reputation. Drunk enough too.

As he settles to eat Goodnight says carefully, ‘I sawyou talking with her: if you want – I mean, up here, I can make myself scarcefor a while.’

‘No need,’ says Billy shortly; he doesn’t look upfrom his polishing.

‘No trouble for me to take off,’ insists Goodnight.It’s the first time Billy’s given any indication of an interest: if they’re tobe a partnership, best get it all out into the open. ‘Or if you’d prefer we canget two rooms, money’s not tight just now.’ Perhaps he’s shy about it: it’s notas though the subject’s ever come up, and maybe that’s his own fault – he’d lethimself assume that Billy found the same satisfaction in their company as hedoes. But he’s sensitive enough to see that if Billy’s race is enough to causetrouble in a bar then the question of women is bound to be a thorny one. So ifthis one’s willing, maybe in private, it’s not his business to stand in theway. ‘Man has his wants.’

I’m quite proudof this exchange, Goody being delicate with lots of half-sentences.

Billy stands up and picks up his belt to slot theknives one by one into their sheaths. He’s not looking at Goodnight. ‘I don’twant.’

Goodnight swallows down the awkwardness: he’sdetermined not to let this spoil the friendship they’ve built. ‘Money’s there,no problem if you need a little extra to buy her something pretty.’

Billy turns to face him, face set and hard to read.‘I don’t, OK?’ Goodnight can’t fathom why he’s being so hostile. ‘You don’t, doyou? She was making up to you first and you didn’t take her up on it.’

‘Ain’t what I’m looking for,’ says Goodnight, andit’s a phrase he’s practised over the years. He puts down his plate. Plenty ofreasons a man might avoid prostitutes: morality, fear of disease, faith to apartner lost … turning down an advance in a saloon isn’t cause for suspicion.‘But no reason I should put my notions onto you.’

And here’s thedifference between them that’s going to come out later – Goody sees the girlsjust as ‘prostitutes’, women he’s not interested in, whereas Billy sees Tess asan individual. Goody is going to grow into this attitude as he gets to knowthem, but right now his attitude is very top-down; Billy’s is bottom-up, seeingthe girls as people just like himself.

Billy sits down on the bed again facing him. ‘I don’twant to bring her up here. I wouldn’t do that to anyone, make them do it formoney, or because their boss tells them to.’ His fierce expression forbidsquestioning. ‘We were just talking: it’s what she’s supposed to do. About whatwe do, a bit, and about how it is for them here.’

The girls? Goodnight can’t say he’s ever given itmuch thought – girls in a saloon are just part of the setting, young, old, somepretty and some not, all friendly and all available, all to be politelydeflected and check your pockets afterward.

I did wonderabout this, because it seems unlikely to a modern eye – did he really never thinkabout the women? But Goody, as I said, isn’t for me very interested in peopleoutside himself, and most men of that period, insofar as they thought aboutprostitutes at all, either despised them or pitied them. And really what I wantedto do was interrogate our own attitudes as consumers of Westerns – who thinksabout the women in the saloon? The ones in M7 don’t even have names, they’re justwindow dressing for the genre, and we never think about them as individuals:the woman massaging Faraday’s shoulders in the opening scene, the woman in theboots at Volcano Springs, the woman in the coach who Faraday winks at – who werethey? What were their lives like?

‘No harm, then,’ he says, fetching out his notebook;Billy lights a cigarette and stretches out at full length with a satisfiedsigh, and companionable silence fills the room, shouts and music coming faintlyfrom below.

 I really enjoyed the chance to think about this, so thanks again!

[kairi-chan]

“What's a nice girl like you doing in a dirty mind like mine?” BO RU SA RA

Title: Talking to Strangers

Rating: T

Genre: Fluff, perhaps some sensual stuff, and my usual dirty humor  

A/N: @ameerahzafar1313 I spoil you too much. I hope you have fun reading this, though! 

He had his eye on her the moment she walked into the bar–alone. She wore a red halter dress, heels, and long hair flowed freely down her back. She made a bee line towards the bar, and took a seat. She exchanged a few words with the bartender, and it didn’t take long for a guy to approach her. 

Boruto sat a few feet away, close enough to have an unobstructed view of her pretty face, yet too far to hear her voice. Her drink arrived, and it looked like the guy was trying to use it to prolong their conversation. After a few minutes, another guy came buy, bringing her a drink. Guy Number One did not look pleased. 

Boruto watched them for a few more minutes as he finished his bottle of beer, and ordered another. Guy Number One and Guy Number Two looked like they were having a field day trying to impress the girl–she looked mildly irritated, yet she seemed too kind to flatly turn them away. 

Looks like she could a knight in shining armor, Boruto thought. He chugged his beer for courage, got up, and walked towards the three.

“No, thank you. I don’t want another,” she declined, and took a shot. 

“Oh come on!” Guy Number One prodded on. “Just one more.” 

“If we can drink five shots faster than you, you’ll have to tell us at least your name,” Guy Number Two challenged. 

Boruto wanted to laugh at these two fools. They had been flirting with her for thirty minutes, and they couldn’t even get her to spill her name. “Excuse me.” He cleared his throat, and all three heads turned to face him. He directed his gaze towards the girl. “I don’t think you should be here.” The girl raised her brow. “In fact,” Boruto smirked and continued, “I would really like to know, what’s a nice girl like you doing in a dirty mind like mine?” 

Guy Number One and Guy Number Two gaped at the blond. The girl’s brows shot up, and slowly, a smirk graced her lips. She placed her elbow on the bar, and rested her cheek on her hand. 

“That’s funny,” she laughed, and looked right into his eyes. 

Her voice sounded so velvety, her laugh rang like a bell, and it sent shivers down Boruto’s spine. Before he could say anything else, she continued, “your eyes are so blue. They’ve already told me everything about you. Everything except your name.” 

Guy Number One and Two’s jaws dropped to the floor. Boruto’s heart skipped a beat. She was hot and witty. All the gods in the sky seemed to have favored him tonight, as she had chosen to flirt with him instead. He was not going to let his chance go to waste. 

He flashed her a bright grin, and gave her a small bow. “Uzumaki Boruto. Please to meet you…” 

“Uchiha Sarada.” 

Guy Number One and Two fainted, and Boruto’s ego inflated all the way to the Ozone layer. In less than five minutes, he was able to strike her fancy. 

“Well, Sarada, I think it’s better if we take our conversation elsewhere. Care to join me in the balcony?” 

She smiled and slid out of her chair. “I thought you would never ask.” She leaned in a bit closer and whispered, “you’ve been staring at me all night, after all.” Sarada turned around and headed towards the balcony as Boruto took a few seconds to recover. He was really starting to like this chick. 

The pair sat down next to each other at the bar located out in the balcony. The view of the Konoha City at night was mesmerising, but the view’s twinkling lights did not entice Boruto nearly as much as Sarada’s smile. She was smart, and so charming. Her grace was effortless, as well as her puns. They talked on for hours, talking about the most trivial things such as their favorite coffee, and delving in deeper until they spoke about their goals in life and most importantly–their current relationship status. 

“Do you have a boyfriend?” He asked. 

Sarada smirked. “As a matter of fact, I do. We’ve been together for four years.” 

Now, it was Boruto’s turn to smirk. “Tell me about him.” 

“He’s an idiot,” she deadpanned. Boruto was about to say something but she laughed and continued, “but he’s my idiot.” 

The blond’s eye twitched. “He probably wouldn’t know if that was an insult or not.” 

She hummed, and grinned. “Yeah, but he’s got the bluest eyes I have ever seen, got the dirtiest mind, and hey,” she shrugged, “I’m a nice girl.” 

Boruto gaped. “Why did you have to ruin it like that? I wanted to see if I could take you home tonight! Why did you break character?” he crossed his tightly across his chest and pouted. 

Her laugh filled the air, and it lifted his sour mood in an instant. “I’m sorry, Boruto. I couldn’t help it, you started fishing!” 

He scoffed. “Well, what else was I supposed to say? Hey, even if you got a boyfriend, and I have a girlfriend, let’s see if we’re both willing to cheat on them with a totally hot stranger I just met?” Boruto made wild hang gestures. Perhaps their little roleplaying game was getting a little out of hand, and his insecurity was getting the best of him, opening doubt in his mind. “I’m up for playing games with you, Sarada, but you can’t hurt me like that, ya know?” 

She tipped her head to the side and said, “oh dear, it looks like my boyfriend’s here, and wants to take me home.” 

Boruto grabbed on to her waist and pulled her close to him. “Damn right, I do. I should punish you for flirting with a stranger all night.” 

“An attractive stranger who had dirty intentions with me from the very moment I stepped in here.” She smirked. “He’s no better.” 

The blond rolled his eyes, and he leaned down closer to her face. She smelled like alcohol and strawberries. “I can make good with those dirty intentions.” 

Sarada’s eyes hooded, she wrapped her arms around his neck and challenged, “show me.” 

“As much as your flirting and seduction turns me on to no end, I’m genuinely confused if you’re still treating me like a stranger or not,” Boruto laughed nervously. 

Sarada blinked, threw her head back, and laughed. Boruto only held he closer to his body, and buried his face in the crook of her neck, trying to hide his embarrassment. Perhaps he wasn’t as good at playing games as he thought he was. Sarada always managed to turn him into a blushing and confused mess. He felt her warm hand touch his cheek, and he straightened up to look at her face. The tenderness in her eyes and the softness of her touch reassured him that she was now truly looking at him as her lover. 

“You’re such an idiot,” she whispered. 

“But I’m your idiot?” Boruto finished, with a goofy smile.

She smirked, brushed her lips on his for a wonderful, head spinning moment, before pulling back and confirming, ”always.”

A/N: I hope this made sense, and that it wasn’t too confusing. They were basically roleplaying, pretending to be strangers meeting for the first time. 

Let me know what you think of this one, please? I love hearing your feedback! :)

You can read more of my stories in my master post, or visit my FFnet. 

[harleyquilt]

How about a hc/ficlet about Touken’s honeymoon. After everything has settled down they finally take their honeymoon. Where do they go? What do they do? Give me your fluff!

Ah, I keep telling you that you could do this prompt better than me, but I couldn’t reject you so cruelly, so here you go…nothing special….just saying…

—

Touka adjusted her hair, brushing her fingers through her now long locks and sighed, smiling at her reflection. It was the first day of the honeymoon, Touka prepared for her and Kaneki’s first evening together with her low cut, dark purple silk gown and high heeled sandals. She admired the scar of the bite mark beneath the strap of her dress, clear for everyone to see. She put on her gold chain necklace on, where the ring Kaneki had bought her on her birthday hung against her chest.

There was some pride that came with showing off her marriage to everyone to see, making it clear that she was his just as much as he was hers. This honeymoon was proof of that, their love as strong as it was since the day they finally became one. Now they finally got the chance to be alone together. It even made Touka somewhat nervous, the whole situation suddenly intimate yet romantic - after everything they’ve been through, she didn’t expect that a moment like this could come and it gave her butterflies in her stomach.

“Touka-chan?” Kaneki knocked on the door. He left momentarily to get the last few things ready for the evening whilst she got ready. “You ready?”

She opened the door with a flurry of excitement, hoping to impress Kaneki with her appearance. When Kaneki took her in, his jaw hung agape slightly with his eyes lit up. She held back her giggles as he continued to look astounded by her, his reactions nothing less than ridiculously adorable and he stepped into the room with his hands placed onto her hips, his awed expression changing into a blushed smile.

“You look so beautiful.” She rested her hands on his shoulders, eyes locked onto each other as she felt her own blush rise. “You always look so beautiful.”

“Shut up.” Touka laughed, hiding her face in his chest, catching a slight hint of his cologne. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

He was in a white suit, a black shirt beneath and there was a tulip in his lapel, the extra flair making her chuckle a little. She looked up and noticed his hair was brushed back, the slicked back hair giving him a more sexy look that made it hard for her to hold back.

“You should do your hair like this more often.” She murmured, kissing the corner of his lips that grew into a smile and he moved his hands around to wrap around her waist.

“You think?” He planted a small peck on the top of her head and pulled back to lace his fingers through hers. “Come let’s go.” He squeezed her hand and took her out the room, his eyes never leaving her once until he bumped into the doorway, Kaneki tripping with Touka mockingly shaking her head with shame.

“A-Ah, everything is set up.”

They left the expensive hotel Tsukiyama had bought reservation for on one of the Canary islands, Kaneki leading Touka towards the nearby beach. Touka looked up to the evening sky which painted with beautiful colours of peach and oranges, the sun beginning to set. The setting was remarkably romantic, the mood perfect for the night together.

All the while, whilst she stared up to the mesmerising sky, Kaneki took in the sheer beauty of his wife, her presence alone giving all the comfort he needed to take away any worry or concern. It filled him with glee to wake up by her side every morning, to feel her in his arms late at night and to just simply watch her as he remembered that they were still alive - alive and together.

He leaned over and kissed her cheek, moving his hand to go around her waist before he lifted her off the ground, Touka squealing with the abruptness of him as he carried her bridal style down along the rest of the way.

“You’re so corny.” Touka giggled, nuzzling her nose against his. “But if you drop me, I’m kicking your ass back to Tokyo.”

“Could you atleast promise me one thing?” He paused and Touka’s smile fell, thinking he was being serious. “If you fall, will it only be for me-” She pinched his cheek, frowning at his awful joke. “Ow, that hurts.”

“You’re bad jokes are more painful.” She flicked his forehead playfully and stuck her tongue out, but he only grinned, adoring her teasing ways. “You wound me, Touka-chan.” He said, lowering his voice. “But I don’t mind as long as it’s you.” “Idiot.” He beamed at her with bright eyes, making Touka more flustered than she was already.

A few minutes later, they ended up on the sandy beach where a pool bed was. The thin white drapes flowed with the gentle breeze whilst a waiter placed a silver tray onto the soft, linen sheets. Kaneki placed Touka down onto the bed, taking a seat besides her as he grabbed the two glass flutes from the tray. Reaching over the end of the bed, he took some ice cooled blood wine that Tsukiyama also graciously gifted to them as a personal gift.

“Can you even open it?” Touka leaned back with a raised brow and an amused smirk. “You may just end up hurting yourself in the process.”

“Always so cheeky.” He twisted the cork and pulled it out, spilling some wine on the ground clumsily. “Ah, well, it could be worse.” Touka couldn’t help but laugh at the sorry sight, leaning over to give him a quick kiss before she took the bottle away from him, preventing anymore damage.

Once the wine was poured into the flutes, they both lay down on the bed with Touka resting her head against Kaneki’s chest, listening to his slow heartbeat and his hand rested on the small of her back. They just simply sat there, watching the sunset peacefully as they both savoured the pleasant moment together. To think there was a time where times like this seemed impossible…but it only made the moment more special, Touka eternally grateful that she atleast got this chance, this chance to have such romantic moments with the man she loved.

“I wish it could always be like this.” Kaneki breathed, his gaze moving to focus back on her. “Just to sit here quietly with you on my side. I couldn’t ask for a better moment than this.” She moved her hand to caress his cheek, Kaneki leaning into her touch before he turned his head to brush his lips against the palm of her hand. “As long as you’re here, my life will always be perfect.”

“Always a romantic.” She placed her hand down to his chest, pushing him down onto the bed as she moved on top of him. “You’re too good to me.” Her fingertips brushed over his parted lips, his eyes crinkled with a smile forming on his face. “Always too good.”

Leaning down, her face was inches away from his, his hands moved down to the curve of her hips and he bit his lip at the apprehension. Even now, it seemed unreal - with his hands on her perfect figure, his eyes staring at her hypnotic eyes and their bodies pressed against each other. However, what he couldn’t wrap his head around was the fact that this beautiful woman before him was actually his wife. His wife. He wasn’t exactly sure what he did to deserve such a gift, but he couldn’t help but be giddy with the fact that she was his and that he was hers. Together.

“I love you.” Kaneki whispered, his eyes now half lidded and his lips close against her ear, trailing kisses down the side of her jaw. “I love you so much.”

She cupped his face and pulled back slightly, the pad of her thumb brushing against his bottom lip as she parted them. With a bright smile, she leaned down and gave a featherlight kiss, teasing Kaneki by pulling back every time he tried to deepen the kiss.

Playfully annoyed, he flipped her around until he leaned over her and before she could protest, he pressed his lips against hers, parting her lips with his tongue before he wrapped it around hers. She gave a small noise of surprise and her hands moved to take off his blazer, sliding them beneath his shirt. He shuddered at the feeling of her fingers against his skin, her touch always sparking something within him and he moved his kisses to her shoulder, slowly pulling down the straps of her dress whilst he pressed his lips against her bite mark.

“You will always be mine.” Kaneki said against her skin, kissing the beautiful scar all over with an overwhelming pride. “Yes, Ken.” She leaned up a little, moving his face to look back at her. “I’ll always be yours. I’m never leaving you.” She could see his eyes become teary at her words, eyes filled with so much awe. “I love you, Ken Kaneki.”

His heart always seemed to stop when he heard those words, the thought itself so surreal that he almost didn’t believe any of this was real. And yet, here she was, never hesitating to tell him what he needed. She truly was a blessing.

“Now, Touka-chan, my beautiful wife.” Kaneki beamed, continuing to pull down the straps. “You’ve been teasing me with this dress since I first saw it. I think it’s only fair if I took it off now.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Touka said as she started to undo his buttons. “I could tell it was making you frustrated - the amount of times you looked at my cleavage is almost concerning.” He pouted, but she pulled down the bodice to reveal her exposed chest, leaving Kaneki lewdly gawking at her breasts. “But it’s getting kind of cold now, I hope you can keep me warm.”

He gave her a sly smile and moved his lips to her collarbone, moving them down slowly. However, he paused and looked back up and brushed her hair back.

“I’m so lucky to have you.” He was filled with so much love - so much for her. How could a man be so sweet for one girl like her?

“E-Enough with the corny shit.” Touka stuttered. “Get back to work, idiot. I said I was getting cold.” He only chuckled in response.

“Rodger, my queen.”

[thearcaneescape]

Chapter 5

He had never been inside this bar before, but it seemed cozy and calm, unlike the booming bass of the gay bars nearby.

“Good evening, ladies, gentlemen and all those in between or outside the norm. My name is Sugar, and as always, I am thrilled to have you here at my establishment. The cabaret will begin shortly, and I hope you all have a lovely time.” A tall, black-haired drag queen winked at the crowd, the glittering gold and silver flapper dress waving gently against her calves as she walked offstage.

“Welcome to The Arcane Escape. My name is Jeanie and I will guide you to either the bar or a table.” This queen was extraordinarily beautiful, but much taller than Yoongi was, so her beauty was also just a tad intimidating.

“A table is fine.” He rasped out, throat a bit raw from the fight he’d had at work today. That and the pack of fags he’d had as well.

“Alright, follow me.”

The bar looked empty, with just a few people sitting at the tables and watching the show. A petite queen, no taller than Yoongi, wearing a sparkling black mini dress, tight across her curves and short enough to almost ride up and show her perky ass. It was an obvious Betty Boop tribute, and she played it quite well, coquettish and sweet, even with the darker mentions of heartbreak and despair woven into the lyrics, with a lilting high-pitched voice that even through song boasted a strong Irish accent.

“Cute.” He mumbled, watching the show with interest.

“Good evening, my name is Joon and I will be your server this evening.”

A deep, resonant voice made Yoongi look up, eyebrows raising slightly. The server’s nametag had a small addendum in washable marker (they/them), and they had an amiable, dimpled smile on their face.

“Yeah, I’ll just ‘ave a whiskey. Been a long fuckin’ day.” Yoongi cleared his throat, regretting the string of choices that lead to his sore throat.

“Alright. I’ll bring you a glass of water as well.” Joon walked away, and at that moment another queen walked onstage, wearing all-black lace, the flowing robe-like gown becoming see-through in the stage lights, showing the darker undergarments. Her hair was long and black, and her makeup was dark and sensuous, dark fringe hiding her brows. Her jewelry was minimal, but heavy, two big earrings, one saying “hated”, the other “loved”.

“Hello, lovelies. My name is Victoria Nike, and today I am glad to have been graced by our very own Joon. They have given me permission to sing their new song.” She winked at the minimal audience, but clearly most if not all of the people here were regulars except Yoongi. When she started singing, the whole room hushed, awe permeating the room as Victoria’s soulful voice reached everyone’s heart. Yoongi would bet his left lung that not everyone in the room understood what she was singing, as it was all in Korean, but he did. Oh, he did.

“Holy fuck.” He whispered, mouth hanging open as he watched. The beat reverberated in his chest, and it felt like Victoria’s voice was seeping into his skin. He was lost to the music and it seemed like time had stopped for a moment before the song ended and the lights dimmed. With a small lurch forwards he realised that not only had Victoria stopped singing, but his whiskey and water were already in front of him.

“You wrote that?” He blurted out as Joon started leaving, making the taller turn around and smile, wider this time.

“Yeah, I was a music student. I write and compose a lot for the guys here. Sometimes they come to me with their own ideas and I help them flesh it out.” They gestured towards Yoongi. “You work in music?”

“I studied music composition, and I’ve written some things myself, but I’ve never asked people to sing them.” Yoongi chewed on his lower lip, excitement bubbling under his skin. “I work at a cafe and a charity shop. I couldn’t make a career out of it.”

Joon gave him a sympathetic shrug, looking back towards the stage. “Same here, but if I can help the people here, then it’s good enough for me.” A jazzy beat started up again, this time more high-energy, but still sensuous and smooth.

“Please welcome the newest addition to our family. You lovelies might’ve seen her around, but it’s about time that she joined us onstage. Here is our very own Jolie Hopper.”

The lights snapped to brightness again, and a new queen was sitting onstage, her back to the crowd, bright red hair curled against the nape of her tanned neck, black top hat tilted on her head. She was straddling the chair, legs splayed incredibly wide, making the black trench coat/robe slip off of her legs, giving a glimpse at the silky black stockings and garters. The song paused for a moment and she turned her head, giving the audience a glimpse of her profile. Her profile was immaculate, a swooping nose and pouty red lips, high cheekbones and perfectly-arched eyebrows. She opened her mouth, and the song started up again.

“Is it something you can feel?

Or is it something that makes you feel?”

Her voice was rough, but still well-balanced and musical, giving the spoken-word a sense of musicality.

“Love is such a hypocritical thing,

You can fall out of it when you least desire,

But keep in your heart when broken by a liar.

Even then, we are love’s plaything.”

She stood, whipping the chair around and dragging it behind her, grabbing the brim of her hat and pulling it off, shaking the curls on her head. She threw it to someone offstage, and sat back down on the chair, straddling it once more, now facing the audience.

“Love is rife with disappointment,

But even so, lovers should be truly admired,

For fighting through the arguments required,

And escaping with very little resentment.”

She stood up once more, opening the front of the trench coat, showing off a black corset, red and black lace panties and bra, the black stockings and garter that were teased before, muscular legs complimented by the delicate nylon.

“Falling in love is a frightening notion,

Enough to make one wish it away

For fear of being lead astray,

Through pure and unwavering devotion.”

With nimble and delicate-looking fingers, she ran a hand over her chest, slowly and carefully removing the trench coat to walk around unbothered by the heavy garment. She winked at the crowd, making a blush rise on Yoongi’s pale cheeks, her hands picking at the front of the corset.

“But in my eyes, I see this fickle thing’s appeal,

Even through the pain it’s made me feel.”

The corset fell from her hands, revealing a toned stomach, and with the ending chords of the song, an arm raised over her head, she sat back down heavily on the chair, lights cutting out abruptly. The meagre crowd clapped so loudly that you’d think the place was packed, and even Yoongi was clapping, mesmerised. The lights turned on again, and Jolie curtsied, a sunshine-bright, heart-shaped smile on her face, lighting up her previously-serious face. She waved energetically towards the crowd as she walked offstage, a momentary wave of cheers sounding from backstage before the door closed behind her. Yoongi’s whiskey was mostly untouched, and he couldn’t bring himself to drink. He didn’t want to forget about this experience.

-

“You did so good, Hobi!” Jimin’s squeal was deafening, and Hoseok laughed, blushing red.

“Thank you! I was so fucking nervous.” He giggled when Jimin punched him gently on the arm, doing a small happy dance.

“Mate, you were fucking amazing. I’m so glad the whole mood of the bar tonight was dark and sensuous, because you encompassed it so well!” Taehyung had removed his dress, the black lace beauty delicately placed on his mannequin.

“Me? What about you? Mate, Joon’s song was fucking made for your voice, did you see how amazed people were?” Hoseok sputtered slightly, waving his hands about. “You were definitely the star of the show tonight.”

Taehyung blushed and he smiled shyly, but proudly, tucking his fingers under the edge of his wig to take it off. Both him and Jimin had dyed their hair black, recently, and it looked amazing on them.

“We had a new patron come in tonight. Dressed in all black.” Jin piped up from his corner of the room, having cleaned his face in record time. “He was about your height, Minnie.”

“Aww, cute! I hope he comes back again, it’s nice having new customers for once.” Jimin swiped a makeup removal wipe across his eyes, glitter and black eyeshadow transfering onto the white. “Speaking of new customers, I really wanna go to this 24-hour café that opened near here. It looks kinda cute.”

“Yeah, you told me about it. We can go now if you’re not too tired.” Tae mumbled from his own station, wiping his face helter-skelter, so unlike Jimin and Jin.

“Sounds fun! I’m up for some food and a drink.” Hoseok said, stretching his arms over his head, joints cracking obnoxiously.

“Cool! Are you coming with us Jin?” Jimin turned to look at the eldest, who shook his head, a small smile on his face.

“Ah, Jungkook invited me and Joon to dinner. Says he’s paying an everything, so can’t pass up that opportunity.” Jin chuckled, picking up his bag. “I will see you all tomorrow, then.” He waved goodbye with a dramatic hand kiss, making all three of the remaining laugh, except Hoseok could feel the nerves in his belly.

He hoped everything would go well tonight. God knows what would happen if it didn’t.

[sevendreamsofme-blog]

Dreamcatcher / Sua

Requested by anon

Characters: SuaxReader

Words: 4507

Here I go with another request. I really hope you will like it anon, I did several drafts because I got different ideas from your request. Tell me what you think. Also, I’m not one to write xReader this is my first attempt, so I apologise in advance. Everyone enjoy this and feel free to share your opinion

She was born this way. With this ability to go in people’s mind. She considered this a gift. That power had limits, only at night could Sua use it, and to sleeping people. In her own mind she considered herself a dreammaker. A girl here to make your mind lighter and joyful. As so no nightmares reached them.

Most nights she used her gift. To do so she had to be asleep too.

After a day at work, Sua was chilling on her couch with the tv on. Her eyes were more focused on the outside world. The night was settling. A deep shade of blue taking over. It was both eerie and beautiful. In those mesmerising moments, the calling was more intense than usual. A comforting warmth spreading over her body. Eyes closed she visualised herself floating surrounded by a colourful aura. It was decided.

Grabbing her plate from the coffee table she walked into her kitchen. She was living by herself, therefore there was not much to clean up after. Checking her front door was locked, Sua entered her bedroom. The curtains were open, the moon lighting up the place. Such a good atmosphere.

Sua changed into comfy clothes. Shorts and a t-shirt. Nothing more, that was pointless. Leaning in to turn on her nightstand lamp, a rubber band caught her attention. She grabbed it to tight up her shoulder length, brown hair into a messy bun. A bottle of water was already set, for when she would wake up.

Comfortably lying down on her bed, Sua happily hummed. With time it was easy to let herself go into this other world. After closing her eyes, she was welcomed into a vast space full of huge drawers piling up against the walls. In her burgundy flowing dress, she walked to her assigned section. On her way she crossed path with knowing faces, and by a nod she acknowledged them. This place was so fascinating. No amount of time could ever take that away.

Once in front of her personal drawers. She checked it was hers, only by moving her hand making a white shield appear. One step and she was inside. Even with years of coming here, nothing was ever safe. Darkness. Real darkness was always lurking around.

For a minute she observed each written names. Sua didn’t know them all. Some were there for a long time. Others only once before disappearing to be replaced. Flicking her right hand up, a flight of stairs appeared. Going up she stopped around the middle. Her hair were waving her face because of the slight breeze. The higher you went the windier it was. Gazing each names, she looked for a specific one. She moved the stairs to her left to reach it. In a beautiful handwriting was your name written. But moreso it was glowing, meaning you were asleep. Softly Sua’s hand grazed over it. Sighing she wondered if she should open it.

Unable to resist Sua open your drawer. White smoke escaped enveloping her in its embrace. It smelt like caramel. The sweetest aroma.

When the smoke was gone, Sua was surrounded by several scenes playing in front of her. They were all moving fast. It was always how it happened first. Whoever she was into, started by replaying their day. In that manner she had an idea about what to make of their dreams. Slowly the images faded away to start to mix themselves with desire, wistful wish. And Sua was there to create from this. But tonight she didn’t have to. She kept watching.

She was in your mind. She chose you, once again.

In a blink of an eye the setting changed. Smiling from ear to ear, Sua was blissfully happy. In a quick pace she walked to up to your silhouette. Each step brought her closer and closer. From a far away silhouette, you formed into a beautiful woman waiting for her. Sua felt it before you did. That tugging in your hearts. But when you did, your turned around, your hair floating down and your eyes twinkling.

“You’re here.” You whispered. It was always a shock for you to see Sua. “You’re here.” You said again before chuckling and moving toward her.

You collided into a tight hug. Sua’s arms wrapped around your waist. You did the same, moving your hands up and down her back.

“Caramel.” You heard her mumbled against your chest. Sua was slightly shorter than you, the perfect height.

“I wonder what you’d smell to me.” You pondered, not moving away from her yet. “You just feel like fresh air.” Sua chuckled looking up at you.

Arm in arm, you both walked around. The place was a reflection of your mind. A park. Something simple and where you used to go as a child. But not anymore. Choosing a path, you stayed silent. Sua wondered what was on your mind.

“Why did you come tonight?” You asked. Sua was close to you but you looked at the scenery instead of her. “It’s been a while.”

“I know.” Sua softly gripped your wrist, feeling what should be your beating heart in the real world. “You called for me.” She was right, at least your unconscious did.

“Did I?” This time you glanced at her, and she mesmerised you so much that you didn’t hear her answer. All you saw was her beauty. How her hair was more reddish than brown. You wondered if she dyed her hair. But also her huge smile that reflected the joy in her brown eyes. If you didn’t know better, you would think she was an angel.

“I can’t stay long.” This time you heard loud and clear. Gulping you nodded. “You’re my favourite dream.” Sua smiled then tugged your hand.

The time to walk back was what was left together. And it was heartbreaking. How short a dream was considering the amount of sleep you had every night. Why couldn’t you have eight hours straight with her? Defeated you tried to impregnate your mind of her, photograph her forever. She felt your eyes on you. She smirked but let you do it in peace. Every gestures was your own. But that didn’t stop her from feeling your heartbeat. The flush on your cheeks. The knots in your stomach. She told you once how she was connected to you, more than with anyone else. You were the only one calling for her, acknowledging her presence.

A blessing and a curse.

“I don’t want you to go.” You stopped her before the end of the path. “Tell me. Or let me tell you. Please.” You entwined both of your hands together, squeezing them lightly. “Please.”

“I’m breaking so many rules. I wish I could.” Sadly she smiled. Standing up on her tiptoes she grazed your cheek with her lips. A simple kiss. “Keep dreaming of me, okay? If you never forget me, I’ll always be here.”

As sweet as her whispery voice she evaporated. Your dream was over.

Sua blinked and there she was back on her stairs. Going down, the place was full of people. It was closing soon, and no one wanted to be trapped here. A gong resonated startling her. Quickly she flicked her hand down to close her shield behind her. Walking faster she reached the huge doors that were slowly closing. The moment she went through her eyes opened.

The sun was rising. Sua stayed still until she felt a tears rolling down her face, and with the back of her hand she wiped it. Turning around she grabbed her bottle of water. Her body was empty, exhausted. Most of the time she woke up sweating. Especially after visiting your dreams. These ones took a lot of her, but that never stopped her. For a whole minute she thought of you. Your voice. Your eyes. Everything. Until it was time to go on with her day. Gulping the last drop of water, she got up and threw it out in the bin.

Sua was a choreographer. Tiredness. Exhaustion. It wasn’t new to her. It required a lot of energy and time. Once in awhile she didn’t sleep. Too busy trying to come up with new dance moves.

Exactly like tonight. Some trainees were staying behind too, glancing at her. She had checked the time and she knew it was already dark outside. But there was no way she was going home. Even less to sleep. Flashes from last night started to plague her mind a few hours ago. For as long as she could she pushed them aside until it was all she could see. Her reflection in the mirror changed from her loose shirt with a sport bra and shorts, to a beautiful woman in a burgundy dress her hair down her shoulders.

“You okay?” Someone asked her. It took her by surprised. “You’ve been staring at yourself for a whole minute.” Sua looked at who interrupted her and sat down on the floor.

“Just tired.” She exhaled leaning on her elbows. “You came to practice Jiu, uh?”

“Yep.” Sua watched her stretch. “How’s your class going?” Jiu questioned.

“Not in the mood for new beginners today.” She sighed under Jiu’s giggling. “What?”

“You always have one of those days. Tomorrow will be better and you’ll be the first one to have fun with them.” She dared Sua to object then smiled. “Whatever you are dealing with you can forget about it for now. Come.” Jiu waved her hand. Sua obeyed and stood up.

Together they practiced a dance routine they knew by heart. Everyone else in the room watched them, struck by their moves. Four minutes of letting their bodies take over. When the song ended Sua jumped into Jiu’s arms screaming.

“Better?” Minji giggled.

“Yeah. Yeah!”

Sua was feeling good for now. She practiced a few more dances with Jiu and other trainees, who joined in instead of watching. Until she was really exhausted. By the time she arrived home it was past midnight. She cooked herself some ramen and ate on her couch observing the city outside.

That night Sua fell asleep quickly, no time to think about using her power. All she needed was sleep and let her body rest. She still had a quick thought about going, but doing it two days in row was something she decided not to do. No matter how much she loved visited dreams, and yours more particularly, there was always a risk.

For the rest of her week Sua was overwhelmed by work. And when she wasn’t there, she was chilling on her couch ready to sleep, or hanging out with Jiu.

On Sunday. After walking in town doing some shopping. Sua decided it was time to go back. Every inch of her, inside and out, was aching to be immersed. Tying her hair in a high ponytail she took a deep breath and laid down on her bed. Eyes closed she thought of you. Of your smile. Of your eyes. Feeling so close in her heart but yet so far.

When her eyes opened back she was once more in this other world. The place was busy, lots of people walking to their assigned drawers or leaving. For a minute she assessed herself. Her hair were down and wavy. The only change from last week was her dress. A deep, dark purple. She liked it. Smiling she walked to her drawers. Looking left and right, Sua raised her hand to lift the shield stepping inside. Asserting the names she was looking for yours. But as she was standing there, she felt no tugging. Raising her right hand to her heart she thought of you deeply, still no tugging. Her brows furrowed. That never happened before. Even the night she couldn’t meet you, there was always a tiny spark hiding somewhere.

That wasn’t possible to her. Shaking her head Sua tried again, concentrating even more. Nothing.

Her heart was empty.

Lifting up her left hand, stairs appeared. Barefoot she climbed them, always a hand on her heart. Every name was scanned carefully. Reaching the top she gasped. Your name. It was there. Barely.

“No. No.” She whispered. She traced the fading letters. “Think of me. Please. Please.” Yet your name was still disappearing.

In a brusque movement Sua opened your drawers. As expected no white smoke enveloped her. Falling on her knees she thought about what was happening. The top was a place she rarely went to. It meant the people there didn’t need her anymore, they weren’t a priority. Or they died.

The strong wind was slapping her face but she couldn’t care less. Hiding her head on her lap she stayed still.

She thought of the first time she saw you.

The first time you acknowledged her presence.

The first time you hugged her.

The first time she kissed your cheek.

These memories were cherished. They were written in her journal. You were the only one she dared showing herself to. And now you were gone.

“What did you do?” Of course you couldn’t reply. There had to be a reasonable explanation.

Rising up, she turned around to sat on the stairs, her feet anxiously shaking. She knew she had break the rules by talking to you. But it had been a while since it happened. It made no sense for it to be now.

“What did I do?” Sua was starting to blame herself. For a week she hadn’t visited. She promised she would be there if you’d call for her. “I’m sorry.” She sniffed.

Step by step she got down the stairs. The whole way down she had to have a strong hold on the bannister to not trip. Flicking her hand down, the stairs vanished. A last glance at the drawers and she opened the shield to leave.

Tonight she had no desire to visit anyone’s dream. No one needed her. No one called for her.

Gathering up her dress Sua ran. Away from her shattered hope. Hope she never realised was that huge. The doors were so close, yet it felt like a long way to reach them. She had barely stepped them that her eyes opened.

Sua woke up gasping for air. Her hand over her heart, which was beating so fast it could pump out of her chest. Fixing her ceiling, illuminated by the moon, she tried to calm herself down. Slowly her breathing evened. Glancing at her window she was not surprised it was still dark outside. There had been no reason to stay.

Massaging her chest Sua got out of her bed to her desk. Her notebook was open with no date. She wondered if her entry to the world had been taken into account, even if she had not step into anyone’s dreams. With a heavy thump she took a seat on her chair and laid her head down the desk. Her left hand untangled her hair and she played with it. They were a little bit shorter here. Less silky. Less perfect. Because everything was perfect out there. In your dreams.

She missed you.

Tugging it behind her ear, she turned the pages of her notebook and looked for the first entry. Since she couldn’t get to you, she was looking for you somewhere else.

“Where are you?” She whispered. Each words she was reading were hurtful. In a way of making her nostalgic. Sad. Straightening herself she kept reading. Until the sun rose up.

When she was done tears were rolling down her face, wetting the last written page. For a minute she was still. Frozen.

Then a screeching scream echoed in her bedroom. Her tiny body slid down the floor from her chair. And she kept screaming. The memories. The aching. The realisation.

Sua was only realising now what that tugging in her heart was. Reading all those moments spent with you, light up a new perspective. Always focusing on separating her two worlds she blinded herself to her own heart. To what she was feeling for you. Only now the pain intensified.

“It can’t be. How?” She knew there was no logical answer. And she sighed defeated because it could never be anyway. You and her.

Harshly Sua wiped her tears with the back of her hand. Her notebook was next and she slammed it close. That still wasn’t enough. Looking for her phone she saw it was barely five in the morning. It didn’t stop her from changing her clothes, grabbing her stuffs and close the door of her apartment behind her.

The wind slapped her face and she welcomed it. The town was half asleep. She walked around the neighborhood, passing by a few open convenience stores. For almost an hour she strolled around with no goal, only a glimmer of hope to clear her mind. At some point she stopped on a bridge looking over the river. It looked so calm and resting. Until the wind peaked up and the water flowed dangerously. Just like her. One second she was overwhelmed by the memory of your arms around her, of your caramel scent. And the next she hated herself for showing her true nature to you, consciously knowing it was a dead end. This walk didn’t give her any answers.

On her way back Sua stopped by a coffee shop. A nice caramel coffee was needed to comfort her a little bit. Her beverage in hand she was ready to leave the place when a young couple entered at the same time. Stumbling upon her feet, her eyes locked onto them. Sua felt herself falling down a dark hole.

Is that what it was? To be in love.

What felt like an hour, in reality was only a few seconds. Passing them by she envied them. At this moment she realised she had to take her fate into her own hands. Sipping her hot coffee Sua thought over of the little knowledge she had of her magical word. An answer was somewhere. She just had to dig it up. For you.

No plan was formed. But the only thing she knew was to keep going back to the dreamworld. For a week Sua let herself back there. Every night disappearing to look for you. Still finding your name up the shelf, half faded. But she kept coming, trying to not be beaten down by the fact you were obviously not calling for her. As long as your name was written, nothing was lost.

After a while she realised her dress was not changing colour. Always a deep purple. She wondered if it meant something. Never did she pay attention to this.

Another week passed by. Yet you were still not there. And every night she drained herself off her energy.

Of course she was still determined but there was so much she could so from her side. Sua wondered if she what she read about all your encounter was right. Or did she transferred her own feelings. But she believed she was right, she knew you.

Another night ready to go into the other world. Sua crossed her fingers on her bed then closed her eyes.

Standing in front of the colossal door Sua analyzed her dress. Still a deep purple. Then she guessed she won’t see you. Anyway she still did her routine just like every other night. The stairs appeared. Barely walking up that she saw the glow. This golden light illuminating your name. Not missing a beat Sua reached for your drawer. Once it was open the familiar smoke embraced her.

A smile on her face Sua was exciting to witness your day. The moment she saw your face her ache softly weighted down. It played so fast for her to catch everything. When it was done the setting changed. Only you could choose and it was the park once again. You really cherished this place.

Stepping barefoot on the path Sua looked for you. When your silhouette appeared a few feet away, her feet bolted up running toward. She struggled with her flowing dress but she was so happy to have you back. Five seconds later your bodies entangled around each other. Sua was laughing.

“You’re here.” She whispered against your chest before moving away. “I can’t believe it.” Her voice was louder than usual, result of her excitement. She kept giggling.

You hugged her back. Enveloping her tiny frame full of joy. She was a breath of fresh air. Three weeks was a long time without seeing each other in your dreams. When she moved back, her eyes looked up at you. Her all face lit up. Eyes wide open twinkling. Her smile showing off her teeth. What a sight.

“What?” She asked seeing you bite your bottom lip. “Aren’t you happy?”

“Of course I am!” You answered quickly.

“But?” Sua raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t call for me.” Her whole demeanor changed. She was on the defensive. “Why?” She took a step back.

“I- I needed time to think.” You looked down feeling her burning stare.

“How? How did you stay away from your dreams?” Glancing at her you were taken aback by that question. Her stare was turning dark with a blank face. You realised she was pulling her walls up.

“Sleeping pills.” Sua nodded. Her eyes averted for a second. “I- Sua.” She looked back at you. A barely softer glare this time. “This may sound dumb, but- Okay look.”

You unbuttoned your shirt, leaving you with only a beige t-shirt. Braving yourself you raised your right arm, showing the inside of your bicep. Uncertainty was making you tremble. Still you dared to look at Sua. Her reaction will be the answers to all your hidden questions.

Sua watched every one of your movements, totally lost. When your skin was free of clothes, she gasped raising her hands to her mouth.

“It’s beautiful.” Step by step she walked closer to you. Her right hand touched your skin, tracing the dark lines. “Is that me?” You nodded. Staring too at the tattoo you did. Sua’s silhouette was inked into your skin. Her flawless frame, floating around in her dress.

Her fingers trailed down to your hand, squeezing it hard.

“You didn’t have to leave for this.” Sua shook her head. “I told you I was real.”

“I know. But you don’t know how it is to wake up and feel like it was a dream. No matter how much you told me you were real. You created my dreams. It didn’t make that much sense.” Sua listened carefully to your words. This was a new side of you. “And this tugging.” Still gripping your hand she touched your chest above your heart. “Do you- Did you ever feel it?” There was hesitation in your voice.

“The last time we saw each other, it took me a week to come back. You weren’t there, and when I woke up my heart was aching.” Her eyes locked with yours. “For you.” Your own heart started to beat faster. “I never realised what this tugging meant until you were gone.”

“I’m sorry.” You took her in your arms. “It was just so hard to know what was real or not. And then I decided that even if you were a dream I’d still have a piece of you. My beautiful dream.” Her hands on your shoulders she tiptoed to kiss your cheek. Her lips were so soft and sweet. Her chuckling reached your ears, blessing them with purity.

“You are my dream.” The sound of her voice was so light and happy it warm you. You couldn’t believe what she was telling you. Never did you thought it could be a possibility. Yet there you were. Sua in your arms smiling like never before. A tint of blush on her cheeks.

In a sync movement you moved your heads towards each other. Her eyes closed, but not yours. This was something to always remember. You reached for her neck.

She screamed.

Sua’s body lurched back.

“Your dress.”

“Your hand.”

You both spoke up at the same time. Looking down your left hand was glowing a red halo.

Sua saw her dress. The deep purple was turning black. Then a menacing red was taking over. From the bottom it moved up. But even moreso, flames were created burning it down. So much it grazed Sua’s skin. Her screams were louder and louder. The flames were growing fast.

Immediately you moved forward to try to help her in any way possible.

“No!” Sua hurled seeing you coming to her. “Don’t” yet you didn’t listen and kept going. “Stop!” This time her right hand flicked up creating a shield stopping you from coming closer.

“Sua. Get that shield down!” You were hitting it, no matter how useless it was. “What is happening? Sua!” Even your yelling was not loud enough to cover her painful screams.

“I told you!” She could barely speak between her screams. “No one can ever know.” She fell on her knees, the flames burning her hands. “Never come back. I’m sorry.”

Your fists were still smashing against her invisible shield. There was nothing you could do for her. She was being destroyed in front of your eyes. You knew it was your fault. You made her a reality to your own real world. Your worlds collided.

“I’m sorry.” You whispered holding up your tears.

For a long time you thought she was an illusion. That your feelings for her were dreams. But they never disappeared in your daily life. A soft aching when you felt the early morning fresh air. Your reminder that you loved her.

“Sua!” She weakly raised her head. “Come to me, please.” Her stare was blank. But her teary eyes said otherwise. “Come to me, please!” You repeated yourself strongly. This time she nodded.

Sua let her body fall down in the middle of the path. The front of her dress had burnt down, leaving her legs bare. Something dark was holding her down, forcing her to submit. To let down her guard. Her screams had died down for a minute, until a screeching pain reached her head. Her body arched. Then her hands reached for her neck, she couldn’t breathe anymore. A second later she gasped for air, coughing a lot. And she felt it.

A choker on her neck.

Sua was defeated.

Lifting her hand up and down she put the shield down. A second later she felt your hands cupping her face. Your touch burnt your hands and she whined in agony. Tears were running down your face onto her cheeks, so you moved your hands away. It was now or never. Not wasting time you kissed her. A beautiful pain. Both of you endured. Burning for each other was worth it.

Sua tasted like vanilla. The perfect mix.

“It’s not over.” You said against her lips. Then you leaned near her ear whispering.

Another scream.

[justbeingbrookee]

I JUST WANT TO DO IT PT.10

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9]  [Part 11]

Can also read on AO3

Word count: 8,844

—————

[ONE YEAR LATER]

If you think about the vast and ever reaching universe one would not believe that there is a small planet called Earth. Inside Earth there are several continents and inside those there are hundreds of countries and within those there is a small town with a beautiful crystal blue lake.

In that lake swims a girl, the girl swims to the vast emptiness of the lake until she tires and then swim’s back slower just enjoying the feel of the cool cold water hitting her skin and the warm radiant sun on her face.

She dives in suddenly and lets the water consumes her whole. Once it wet’s her hair the water begins to block her nose and slowly sip into her mouth but she’s doesn’t go up for air instead she swims deeper, the pressure of the water increasing.

‘Mommy, I love you’ she hears a child’s voice and her eyes open wide under the water. It stings! And it’s hard to breathe but she doesn’t stop, she thrashes to the left and to the right searching for where the voice came from but then she spots a white glowing light ahead of her.

‘Mommy, I want you to live’ the child speaks through the water. The woman tries to swim towards the light but she can’t move, her body isn’t listening to her. She tries again and again but nothing happens. Instead she watches the child that just called her mommy slowly float away.

‘Be happy and live Mommy’ you hear softly before the light disappears. You finally relax your body and float up to the surface of the water. And are instantly hit by the rays of the blazing sunlight. You close your eyes and crane your neck backwards, letting your wet hair back into the water and a single tear roll out past your cheek and into the water.

The final tear you will shed. It’s time to move on now, it’s time to live.

…………………

You sit under the cool shade of your favourite tree and feel the tree bark beneath your hands and look out towards the mesmerising view of the lake in front of you. At the corner of your eye you spot Yoongi junior and little JJ playing on the swing. You smile and take out your diary and a pen from your backpack.

Dear Diary,

I rarely take you out this far or even from under my bed but since I’m feeling a bit brave today and my sister isn’t here I thought I might as well. What do I even want to say, I’m happy for the first time in a long time… truly happy.

You put the pen down and think back at everything that has transpired in the past year and it’s been more so a journey of discovering yourself and healing than anything else. You pick your pen back up and just write the first thing that comes into your mind.

I remember the morning after like it was yesterday, I had woken up sore everywhere and in pain but my first thoughts was the realisation that I had lost my baby and the second was I was alone on the bed. I had struggled to lift myself up on the bed and then I had reached over on the bedside table for my phone but instead my hand landed on a piece of paper.

It was a drawing of a woman who very much resembled me, she stood there confidently with her head held high and a bright smile on her face, that woman was happy. Glee even as she held her right hand gently on her protruding belly. I remember crying when I saw that drawing for the first time, I don’t know if I was crying because of the hand; fate had dealt me or because Jimin had drawn it.

A few hours later my sister and Yoongi had appeared on my door step excited as ever and ready to take care of me and the baby. But after I told them the news, their mood changed, I don’t really remember much that occurred after, for me everything was a blur and my memory is still foggy. All I remember thinking as I packed was that I needed to get as far away from this place and city as quickly as I can.

And I did just that, sooner than expected I was laid in my old room on my old bed with the covers over my head. Actually, thinking about it I didn’t cry that much when I came back home but I didn’t exactly act normal. I didn’t move or do anything for what felt like an eternity. I was just a mindless zombie who laid in bed either sleeping or just staring at the wall.

Of course my sister would come into my room and leave a plate of food every day and sometimes I would take a few bites and other times I wouldn’t.

This carried on for weeks, when I think back to that time of my life I know a part of me had given up. I felt as if I had nothing at all and that this was it for me.

But then one day something changed, I will never forget this day because it was the day I began to breathe again.

It had started off normally, Yoongi Junior and J screaming and shouting during the day like children do and then my sister coming in to give me some food. But then as it was getting dark the house had become silent, there was no screaming, no cartoons blasting from the television or laughing from my sister on the phone as she gossips about the titillating tale of the baker and the butchers wife.

It was so quiet that if someone had dropped a pin in another room, it would have been heard. Then the door had swung open and a loud sound had erupted after as it had banged on the wall.

That was scary.

The sudden noise had shaken me so much that I had lifted my head up and turned to look at the direction of the noise.

“Oh, so you’re up, take a shower, change and meet me outside,” Yoongi had said with a serious tone before shaking his head and walking away.

At that time the only thoughts that had occurred to me was, is he finally going to kick me out? Have they had enough of me already…what am I going to do if they kick me out, I can’t possibly go back to that apartment.

Without much strength I had forced myself out of the bed and into the shower, I had changed into a fresh new pair of clothes that my sister had laid out and I had found myself outside feeling the breeze for the first time in what felt like a long time.

“Over here,” Yoongi shouted. And I had turned my head and found him seated with a lit up cigar in his hand and a glass in another. I remember looking at the brown and round cigar between his fingers and watching him take a puff. I had never puffed from a cigar until that day.

“Your sister and the kids have gone for a play date, take a sit.”

I had done as he had instructed. Still afraid that he might still want to kick me out.

“Have you ever had a cigar before?” Yoongi had asked putting his cigar down and taking another one from the box, removing the plastic cover and cutting the end with so much coolness before lighting it up and passing it to me.

“Don’t inhale just puff it a few times,” he had said as he handed me the cigar. I had smoked a cigarette once before in high school just to try it out and see what all the fuss was about. I remember coughing a lot and then getting paranoid the following days because I thought that I would get addicted. Of course, that didn’t happen because I never touched that stuff again.

I place the cigar between my lips and take a puff, I taste some flavours in my mouth, walnuts, toast…it feels new and different. I take a few more puffs before the sweet flavours start to excite the taste buds in my mouth.

“Good isn’t it,” Yoongi says puffing on his. “These are Cuban cigars, their 40 years old.”

I had coughed at the mention of how old they were.

“40 years, I don’t even want to know how much they cost.”

“Yeah, you don’t want to know,” Yoongi had softly laughed to himself.

“Oh I almost forgot,” Yoongi had reached down and placed on the table a bottle of whiskey and had poured out a little bit into two glasses on the table. I had watched him pouring the whiskey and at the time all I craved was to go back into my bed and sleep but for some reason the flavours of the cigars kept me at bay.

So I had drank the whiskey, it had burnt my throat like nothing I had ever drank before.

“Smoke the cigar, mixed together with the whiskey it tastes so much better,” Yoongi had advised.

And to my surprise he was right, the strong bitter taste mixed in with the sweet flavours of the cigar left me feeling pleasantly light and relaxed. I had not a single worry on my mind, I felt elated.

“I feel free, Yoongi,” my eyes had shrunk and little giggles had escaped me for no reason at all.

“Good,” he responded.

I had carried on smoking some more in between taking a sip of whiskey here and there. For the first time my mind felt clear.

“My father taught me how to smoke, he said whenever you’re stressed son and you feel like the world is about to eat you up smoke a cigar and drink some whiskey and I guarantee you, you will be fine after.”

“Your father was a wise man,” I said.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“Are any strip clubs hiring?” I had joked, I can’t even remember where that had come from but surprisingly it had made Yoongi laugh. His laugh was different from Jimin’s. Yoongi has a shy sort of laugh where his shoulders move up and down and after a few seconds he tries to cover his little laugh with his hand.

After he had stopped laughing, I had remembered trying to answer his question as honestly as I possibly could.

“Seriously, I don’t know…and that’s so new to me, I have always known where the next thing or step in my life was going to be and now I am just here clueless as ever.”

“Sometimes not knowing is the best thing, like you said yourself you’re free, you can travel the world if you want to, there’s nothing stopping you,” he took a puff.

“What does your heart desire? What would you like to do that would make you truly happy?” Yoongi had asked those two questions. At the time, I didn’t fully realise the impact his words would have on me so I responded with this.

“I don’t know….I’m just going to go with the flow.” I took another bitter sip and looked up at the dark starlight sky and began to speak.

“Do you know what I felt like, I felt as if I was on a water fall and the water was gushing down quickly and forcefully. I always felt as if I was trying to climb up the waterfall, always going against the current. Exhausting myself, studying until I was sick….working overtime all the time…not having self-restraint when dating,” I had looked at Yoongi when I had said the last sentence. His face didn’t change instead he listened, nodding along and so I carried on with the analogy.  

“So I clawed my way up the waterfall inch by inch through the tough pressure of the water I climbed step by step deluding myself into thinking this was how everyone lived. That this was what was normal but it wasn’t until the force was so strong and everything from every direction in my life had rejected me that I came crushing down. I couldn’t fight it anymore, I couldn’t hold on to anything. I just had to accept my fate and pray that after I hit the river bank and submerge from under the water that I will be able to breathe again and you know what Yoongi, because of you and my sister I am finally able to breathe again.”

When I had said those words, I had meant it. I wasn’t going to force myself and struggle to climb a waterfall anymore, I was going to go with flow. Float on the river banks enjoying the sun, listening to the birds in the morning and just seeing where life will take me.

You had put your pen down again, remembering that night still gave you chills.

“Aunty, Yoongi Junior isn’t sharing,” little JJ came to you crying about a toy. You had given him a sweet and his face had instantly transformed as he grinned widely.

With that he had gone back to playing and you had picked up your pen again, not willing to stop writing just yet.

Where was I, yes after that night everything changed or more accurately I had changed. It was a small change, mostly could be compared to the story of the Pandora’s Box and the only thing remaining inside the box being Hope.

I started by just eating more and funny enough Yoongi gave me this diary the following morning. He had quietly knocked on the door and handed me this blue covered book. I had looked inside it to find blank pages.

“What’s this for?” I had asked confused.

“It seems you like to talk a lot just like your sister but unlike her it’s not very easy to say some stuff so I thought maybe you would feel more comfortable writing it down in a diary or a notepad, I don’t know what they call it these days.”

“I think a diary is still applicable,” I replied touched by his gesture.

“Good good,” he had nodded and was about to turn. “Yoongi,” I had shouted for him to stop.

“Thank you, for the diary and for yesterday.”

He didn’t turn around but he gave me a wave and left the room. That day I had written out all the feelings that I had felt I couldn’t say with my mouth and during the time that I was letting it out I felt at ease and each day onwards I wrote in that diary.

I also began to get out of my room more often, I would play with Yoongi junior and J who I started to call little JJ. I would clean the house, cook breakfast for everyone almost every morning and even help with the gardening.

Then I started to explore the little town of mine. It was surreal at first, going to the places I used to hang out at when I was younger, everything was smaller, less extravagant but somehow sentimental and special as if they had more value because of the memories they held.

Oh, oh I just remembered something very signification….I mentioned before that there was a titillating story about the baker who was having an affair with the butchers wife. Well the tea is at the break of dawn whilst the butcher snored his wife packaged a little suitcase and ran off with the baker. Even as I write this I am still having flashbacks of the way the women and men of this town gossiped the next morning.

Well that little story is significant because as I was returning from buying some food for the little ones the butcher had stopped me on my tracks.

“Are you __, the accountant?” I had been confused as to who he was until he introduced himself as the butcher he didn’t look too bad, he actually looked quite good for his age. I’m not going to lie I did give in and wonder for a second why she had ran away.

Okay, I am getting side tracked, he ended up asking or should say begging me to help him out with his taxes. It turns out his wife had handled all the financial side of the business and with her gone he was lost.

“Why me, there are a few local accounting firms here?” I had suggested still taken aback at his sudden offer.

“Have you been to any of them, half won’t even take any local businesses because they have been bought out by bigger firms and the other half charge an arm and a leg for even the basic stuff.”

I didn’t believe him at first, some of these firms had been around for decades so I told him I would think about it and pop over to his shop the following day with an answer. I remember going home that very day and researching the local accounting firms, out of the 13 firms in the town only 3 were still independent, the rest had been bought by the top 10 firms.

And of those three their prices were equivalent to daylight robbery. I tried to look at the firms on a 10 mile radius and it looked even worse. I had even widened my search to 25 miles search radius and then there were a lot of firms but for the smaller ones that I managed to find the prices were still too high.

So the next morning I had returned to the butcher and had informed him that I would help him out. We came to an agreement of a reasonable price and I helped him file for his taxes, I then looked at his business accounts and also his personal bank transactions as he wanted to find out exactly how much his wife had taken with her. Let’s just say it was a lot and she had been planning this for quite some time.

The funny thing is even though to the outside world it looked like I was helping the butcher out in actuality it was the other way round. I had missed crunching the numbers, trying to make the balance sheet’s balance, figuring out how he could increase his profits and cut his costs. It gave me a rush like nothing else in my life and it felt amazing to be doing it again.

The thing is soon word had gotten out that I was helping the butcher with his accounts and at a cheap price some were saying. So I started getting approached here and there by many local businesses around the town. It became so much for one person to handle.

“It’s too much sis,” I had said to her one night.

“Do you enjoy it, accounting I mean?”

“I love it, I had always thought I will just do it for money so that I can get out of this town but having the freedom to make my own decision, having that knowledge and helping people directly it feels good.”

“Then why don’t you start your own firm, hire a few people, be your own boss and see where it takes you,” she had responded.

“The irony of the town that I had tried to run away from being the very place that would give me a second chance is something,” I laughed.

“Maybe you had to run away to the city, if you had stayed here and had worked at one of these local firms you would have just felt it was fine to charge extortionate prices.”

“Hmm, maybe you’re right.”

It didn’t take much convincing and soon I was in the process of finalising the paperwork of my new firm. I had hired two accounting graduates who were pretty hilarious and had rented a little office space in the middle of town. I had used my savings but it was worth it. There was something exciting about owning my own place, it was more hectic and literally a kind of let’s go with the flow type of atmosphere but I enjoyed it.

Business was busier as ever as many local businesses preferred my firm in contrast to the competitors due to the reasonable prices, fairness, quickness in getting the job done and honesty.

As the word spread more business came our way and I had to hire 5 new qualified accountants and move to a bigger location.

But of course there were a few people that were not too happy about what I was doing, I was essentially taking business away from them, they tried to lower their prices but the way they operated where they took twice as long to do simple tasks left many business owners very sceptical of their business ethics.

Our competitors even tried to tarnish my reputation by paying the local newspaper to publish a negative article about my firm.

“Have you guys seen this?”

“Those fucking shits, I know it was Coppersmith & sons. The editor and chief is the brother in law of one of the partners there plus they charge the most” my sister had said placing the newspaper on the table.

“What can I do, what if people believe these lies,” I had asked worried.

“Fire back, there’s a local news website that reaches a bigger audience in the town than that old outdated newspaper,” Yoongi had chimed in.

He was right and I had contacted the local news website and the following morning I had a one to one interview with one of their journalists. I had told my story and the article had received over 10,000 views in a day, it also received many retweets overnight.

So many that by the next morning our house phone was ringing nonstop from local news outlets. I did a few interviews that resulted in increased business not only from small businesses but medium sized businesses and in a few weeks I had to hire more qualified accountants and assistants.

We were busier that before and I was giddy like a school girl but the best part hasn’t come yet. A few months after the article was published I received a phone call from a person stating they were from the board of an accounting body basically the people that make all the rules and regulations when it comes to accounting.

They flew me to the capital and I stayed at the Hilton hotel and then in front of many professionals I told them what I had discovered, the unjust practices that were occurring amongst local firms. To be honest I was a nervous wreck but I knew that if I did well here it would change the lives of many people.

After a few weeks I was invited back but this time I had been awarded an award of excellence. The award is given to only a select few in the accounting industry and I remember that day as if it was yesterday, my sister had cried, even Yoongi had gotten emotional when I had given my speech.

I remember before going to sleep that night pinching myself, I couldn’t believe any of this was happening, sometimes I felt as if I would wake up and realise this was all a dream.

But the pinch hurt and I realised that this was all in fact real.

You put your pen down and close the diary satisfied with what you have written. The sun is coming down now and you can already imagine your sister starting to worry.

“Yoongi Junior and JJ come over it’s time to go back home,” you shout over their direction. Of course they don’t listen the first time and it takes you bribing them with your iPad for them to start moving. You fasten both their seat belts and give them your iPad to play with. You go into the driver’s seat and turn the engine on. You’re still getting used to driving but you are glad that you finally bit the bullet and decided to learn. It feels great to be able to drive anywhere you want now.

When you finally get home Yoongi and your sister are in the living room waiting. Your cute little nephews quickly rush towards the television.

“You only have 10 minutes there before bath time,” your sister shouts.

“Someone called for you,” Yoongi speaks.

“Who?” you answer half listening whilst putting the dirty towels in the washing machine.

“He said his name was Hoseok?” You freeze. You never thought you would ever hear that name again let alone having the person try to contact you.

“What did he want?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask, he said to call him back on this number,” Yoongi moves a piece of paper in front of you.

“Did you finish everything up with that company?” your sister asks looking worried.

“I did, I terminated our contract legally last year, and they shouldn’t be any real reason for them to call me.”

“Well will never know unless you call him back, he might just want to congratulate you,” Yoongi says.

“hm, I doubt it but okay,” you mumble taking your phone out and dialling the number on the paper. It rings a few times before someone answers.

“Hello __,” Hoseok answers.

“Hello Hoseok, how have you been?” you ask just out of politeness, you make small talk and pleasantries before Hoseok finally brings up the real reason why he called you.

“How rude of me, congratulations on the award and helping with the accounting board, you are the talk in the industry, have other firms tried to contact you yet?”

“Contact me for…” you leave the question hanging.

“To hire, to recruit you,” he says slowly with an air of caution in his voice and you feel like laughing. Is this the same guy who fired me only a year ago?

“I have my own firm now, I don’t need anyone to hire me.”

“Oh, yes, sorry I had forgotten in that case we were wondering if you would like to come back…for a few days so that we can catch up and see what business we might have together in the future. Will even pay for your travel and accommodation at any hotel of your choosing.”

“Okay, that sounds good but I won’t be needing any accommodation” you answer confidently.

“Brilliant, I will have my assistant send over the details and will arrange something, thank you __ thank you,” when he says that the desperation seeps out of his voice strongly. You end the call and carry on doing the laundry.

You can feel two pairs of eyes bore into you. But you don’t say anything, you’re processing what just happened and what your next steps will be.

You press the ON button on the washing machine and then sit down.

“What did he want and what did you agree to?” Your sister asks.

But you’re still trying to process your next steps, since owning the firm and going through many huddles in life you have learnt not to act on impulse but to think, to play a game of chess where you not only have to think about the current move but the next moves after.

“I’m going back to the city,” you begin to speak.

“__ don’t! Those people treated you like shit,” your sister speaks anger rising up.

“Listen, sis, I have not forgotten about everything they did to me including the blacklisting, they think I’m going there to have a meeting with them, probably to sign a contract were I get a nice bonus, car and maybe become a partner but in return I give them my firm,”

“Do you think they will be that crude?” Yoongi asks, surprisingly interested.

“Yes, I worked there for a long time, I know how those people operate but the only reason I am going back is A) I am curious to see what offer they are going to make before I shove it up their ass. And B) I’m going to destroy their precious blacklist,” you say this with such venom that you even scare yourself.

“Why do I feel so proud right now,” Yoongi gives you a nod and a small smile.

Your sister doesn’t say anything though and in the back of your mind it bothers you. So when she comes into your room with the freshly ironed towels you ask if you can talk.

“Are you worried about my plan?” You ask.

She slowly closes the door and comes to sit down on your bed.

“I’m proud of you too, your making changes and standing up for yourself and many others…You have grown so much in the past year that I can’t stop smiling at this beautiful strong independent woman you have become,” she finishes and grabs both your hands and tries to hold back the tears.

“But….i’m concerned that if you go there especially to that apartment he might still be there,” she looks up and you see a single tear drop down her cheek.

“I don’t want you to get hurt again,” and you hug her tightly. Trying to comfort her. You move away and wipe her tear away.

“And people think you’re the tough one between us,” you say grinning. She sniffs a few times and you hold her right hand tightly and sigh.

“I don’t know what to say….his in my past, they both are and I don’t think about anything from that time anymore…I’m just….over it.”

“But will you be when his in front of you instead of miles away?” She questions.

“Like you said, I’m a strong independent women, I’m too busy building an empire to worry about dating. Trust me, I will be fine,” you squeeze her chubby cheeks and she makes a face before pulling away from you.

“You better be or else I’m coming to that apartment of your’s and dragging you back here.”

----

You decide to leave for the city in a week and you make preparations at the office with the manager so that everything is taken care of and your family even throws you a leaving party. Just laughing and enjoying each other’s company makes leaving even though it’s for a short while even harder so you try and soak in every second together.

The following morning arrives quicker than you expected and soon you are half way through the journey in your car back home. The white mini cooper drives so beautifully. You open the window and feel the wind blowing on your face whilst Not Today blasts through the speakers.

You arrive in no time, turn the keys into your apartment.

“I’m home,” you shout in the empty apartment.

Before you even sit down you roll your sleeves up and begin to clean the whole entire house with the cleaning supplies provided by your sister. She is smart. You spend many hours cleaning as the sun goes down but you carry on cleaning until you start to feel hungry and opt to eat the leftover food you had packed. You finish unpacking the rest of your stuff and snuggle tiredly into your new blankets and fall asleep peacefully.

---------

“Ahh, Ji Chang-work,” you moan moving your fingers to the side, panting as your head falls back and you feel the aftermath of the orgasm. It feels so good to finally be able to get a release.

You quickly hop into the shower and get dressed in a white bodysuit matched with a side draped denim skirt. You place your hair in a tight simple high bun and put on some white cute small heeled sandals.

The plan is to get some food because there is nothing in the apartment but as you are walking through the shopping mall you spot Ann Summers and a mischievous thought occurs. ‘I’m not a virgin anymore, so buying a new toy might be a good investment…’

You stand outside the store for a few minutes contemplating if you should buy a toy or not….the very horny side of you wins.

And you shyly enter the store; pick the first toy you see and red full of embarrassment you go to the checkout and pay for your toy with cash. Paranoid now that everyone knows what is in your bag you rush back to the car park and place the toy under your seat before you return and do some food shopping.

After an hour or so you return back home, exhausted and hungry you place all your shopping bags on the kitchen floor and almost collapse on the kitchen counter.

“Shit!” you remember that the dildo is still under the seat in the car. You quickly rush down the stairs and to your car. When you have the plastic bag in your hands you close the car door and hurriedly without looking at your surroundings walk back to the building.

But as you walk you bump your foot on the speed bump and trip over it. The thing is you would have gotten your balance back quickly if it wasn’t for the special package you had in your hands.

Because of that special package you protectively huddled both your hands around it thus resulting in you losing your balance so much so that you were toppling over to the ground.

You squeeze your eyes tightly, ready to feel the pain from the impact…… but after a few seconds you feel nothing…no pain from anything breaking. Confused you slowly open one eye and turn your head slightly and spot a guy in a white long sleeve shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans holding you upright and with a cheeky smile on his face. You open the other eye and focus on his face and immediately start to cough.

It’s a nervous shocked kind of cough….your eyes bulge out and you step away from his reach. His hair is still brown but it looks healthier, shinier more luscious than you remember.

Jimin looks good, you think to yourself. Not in a I want him type of way but more like I’m happy his doing well.

“Thank you again Jimin,” you smile and face him.

“You really are a klutz aren’t you,” he mocks with a bright face.

“Really Jimin, I’m starting to think you jinx me somehow, I swear this only happens when you’re near me,” you shamelessly try to defend yourself.

“Ha, ME…I saw everything and you would have been fine if you weren’t trying to protect whatever is in that bag,” he quickly moves closer and tries to grab your bag.

Shocked and in a panic you try to turn away but his arms are already wrapped around you. “Jimin jimin it’s,” you try but fail to find the words. One of his hands grabs the end of the bag and another grabs on your waist to move you closer. You try to think of a way to get him off you then you remember that Jimin is ticklish so with a free hand you quickly tickle the side of Jimin’s waist and he flinches away from you.

“Hey, not fair,” he giggles succumbing to your touch and moving a little bit further away from you.

“What you’re doing now isn’t fair,” you tease, tickling him once more before he finally gets a hold of your hand and you are left there standing in the middle of the car park with your hand under Jimin’s and his body pressed against yours. You feel his hand gently go down your back before it abruptly halts midway.

You slowly turn to face him and you are caught in the trap of his devious eyes. You can hear him breathing deeply and you blink a few times trying to break free from his intense stare. But his mesmerising eyes draw you in and for a few seconds you are lost in them.

“I better be going now, it was nice seeing you again,” you finally break free from his stare and stumble your way past him towards the stairs. You shake your head in denial and accept that his eyes are just so mesmerising that anyone would get lost in them.

As soon as you reach your room you place the toy under the bed in a small box within a bigger box and then collapse on the bed relieved that somehow you managed to escape Jimin without him finding the contents inside the box.

It’s feels weird though thinking about Jimin again or just even seeing him again. Except for the little incident with his intense eyes it’s like nothing has happened, I don’t get that electrical charge I used to get when he touched me and I just don’t feel anything anymore. I guess time does heal the heart.

You take a nap and then wake up feeling fresh before opening your laptop to do further research in preparation for the meeting with Hoseok in 5 days.

-----------------

[Two days later]

It is 9am and you are in the supermarket buying some milk and as you turn a corner into the next aisle you spot Jimin with a basket in his hand.

You smile at him when your eyes meet and he gives you a nod but you decide against walking over to him instead you just wave before turning to the next aisle and picking up a carton of milk.

You meet Jimin a couple more times in the next few days, most of the times you’re running late for a meeting so the only words you guys have exchanged since then are hi and bye but maybe this is a good thing, you really don’t have time for anything else right now. Especially now that you have just had a meeting with the chief executive of a global fashion company and their looking to change accounting firms. Which has opened up a new and unexpected opportunity of expanding with a second office in the city.

Even a day before you are scheduled to have a meeting with Hoseok you have a second meeting with the boards of directors of the fashion company where you discuss the long term goals if you were to finalise everything and get into business with them. You are so deliriously happy that you decide to call up an old friend from work and go out and eat afterwards.

She tells you everything that’s been going on at the company, she informs you that Judy was only suspended for a few weeks before she returned. And how the company has been in a couple of legal troubles since the new CEO took over and they have already lost a few big blue chip companies to rival firms.

After talking to your friend everything suddenly starts to make more sense as to why Hoseok was so desperate to get you to come back to them, they need some good publicity and having you come back will do just that.

Oh, tomorrow needs to come quicker….

When you finally make it home at 7pm you walk towards the apartment building and as you are reaching inside of your bag to get the keys a lady opens the door for you on her way out. You slide in and start making your way up the stairs.

You reach inside your bag as you climb up the stairs looking for the house keys but they are not in their usual place so you search in the bag pockets and there’s nothing. You check your jacket but come up empty. You begin to panic now, you can’t be locked out of your apartment.

In a haste you tip over your bag and all its contents spill out onto the floor. You rummage through and shake your empty bag once more but there’s nothing there.

You try to think about where you could have possibly left the keys, I had them when I left the house…in the car and then I remember emptying some of my stuff at the meeting when I was looking for the memory stick.

“Ahh, the meeting,” you sigh. You check your phone for the time and then google the closing time of the office just in case and it says it’s closed. Of course, it’s past 7 now. You contemplate risking it to try your luck at the building maybe you will be lucky and they will be security there who can help you but if that fails you will be locked out even from this building.

Then a thought occurs, the only real possible option….You shake your head in denial and check your bag once more maybe it tore and there’s a hole somewhere.

They were no holes and with your head facing the floor you knock on Jimin’s door lightly half hoping that he will answer and the other half hoping he won’t.

After a few seconds you hear the door handle turn, then the door flies open.

Your eyes land straight on Jimin’s bare chest, his very defined pecks down to his chiselled six pack followed by the V shape leading down to his…..jeans.

You shake your head and start coughing.

“The fuck Jimin!” you shout trying to look at anywhere else but his tempting nipples. So your eyes land on his face but his smirking so hard that you almost smack him.

“Oh, my bad, I was just…erm…cle…I mean cooking…,” he says reaching for the shirt on the floor.

You give him a funny look and stop to analyse the situation for a minute. You can’t smell anything at all and even if he was cooking why would he be cooking without a shirt, or even open the door without one surely he would have seen the person through the peephole.

You gasp when you realise what this little shit just did. You can’t lie it is pretty hilarious.

“You weren’t cooking were you Jimin? You saw me on the peephole and took your shirt off,” you shake your head and laugh astonished.

“I swear on my scout’s honour,” he puts two fingers up together and a big grin appears.

His still shirtless by the way.

“Where you ever in the boys scouts?”

“Well…,” he starts caught in a lie.

“I can’t with you Jimin, honestly, please put your shirt on,” you laugh at his silliness. You watch him place a black t-shirt back on his body and a little part of you DEEP down inside cries.

“Thank you,” you almost roll your eyes but then you remember you are here to ask him for a favour.

“So something happened today,” you begin to speak very fast and with a lot of hand gestures. Jimin just crosses his arms against his chest listening.

“I lost my keys but I think I know where they are its just I can’t get them today and I was wondering, you can say no…if I can spend the night here. I can sleep on the floor and I will stay out of your way I just don’t have any other options,” you finish rumbling and place your hand over your nose with your eyes closed.

“All I’m hearing is you confirming how much you can’t survive without me,” Jimin mocks.

The fucking cheek, you open your eyes and try to give him a serious face but he playfully sticks his tongue out and the corners of your lips twist up.

“Is that a yes,” you finally say.

“Of course, come in and you don’t have to sleep on the floor,” he lets you in and you enter his apartment for the first time in a year.

It looks the same except for a few new pieces of furniture here and there.

“You want a drink?” Jimin asks going to the kitchen.

“Yeah sure, what do you have?”

“Two beers?”

“hm, sure why not,” you decide to have one beer just to ease your nerves….not caused by Jimin you try to lie to yourself.

“It might help me to sleep easier since I have a meeting tomorrow morning,” you speak accepting the bottle and then he signals for you to come outside to the balcony.

“Ah, lucky, I don’t have a balcony,” you say stepping outside and feeling the breeze on your face and looking at the night skylight.

“I practically didn’t as well because it was filled with junk until some months after you left….I needed something to distract me,” he sighs sitting down on the chair next to you.

You copy him and then say “you did well, the view from here is beautiful,”

“Thank you, I like coming out here at this time because the velvet sky is filled with stars that twinkle,” he says taking a sip.

“The night sky here is different from back home….the stars don’t move,” you point up at the moving satellite.

“Yeah, you’re right I don’t even know how many of those little dots up there are actual stars. It feels nice to talk to someone out here for once,” his fingers weave through the parting of his hair.  

“You never brought anyone or any girlfriends here….” Shit, why did I say that, you instantly want to take it back but you know it’s too late.

“I…erm…I guess I never got over you to bring anyone here.”

Ahh, you melt a little bit at that. Who? How? What do you even say to that, shit!

“Umm, Cheers,” you awkwardly say moving your bottle near his and hearing the clink sound when the two bottles meet.

“How about you, did you do anything at the countryside,” Jimin asks. You subtly notice that he wanted to ask another question similar to the one you just asked but his stopping himself.

“First of all, it’s not the countryside but a quaint little town,” you sass.

“I like this sassy new you,” he turns to look at you with a smirk. Why is he like this?

“But why,” you scoff at him.

“To answer your question I smoked a cigar for the first time actually with my brother in law and I liked it,” you purse your lips and take a sip of the drink.

“Ohh, check you out and here I was worried that you would be getting lost and falling over everything without me around,”

You smack him at the back of his head and he shouts “Oi!” Then you try to put him in a headlock but you’re not fast enough and his got both your arms in his and you’re inches away from his mesmerising eyes again. He moves his head down seductively and looks up at you with his sensual eyes. You stop breathing. You haven’t been affected this strongly by anyone like this in a long time and you are not about to get sucked in.

So you do the only rationale thing a grown woman can do in this situation and you fake a yawn.

“I think I’m going to go to sleep now,” you wriggle out of his hands.

At first you try to convince Jimin that you will sleep on the couch but he is having none of it instead he convinces you to sleep on the same bed.

“It’s a king size bed __, you sleep on your side and I will sleep on my side and even if your pinky toe crosses over to my side all hell will break loose,” you laugh at his silliness and agree. He gives you a new unused toothbrush and a white t-shirt of his to sleep in.

After brushing your teeth and washing your face you get under the covers and call for sleep to come to you before Jimin joins you in the bed.

Surprisingly it works, soon after you start to yawn for real and you feel yourself falling into a deep sleep. Even when you hear a sound from the side of the bed your brain doesn’t register it as anything significant and you slowly fall deeper into sleep.

Zzz

You toss and turn on the bed and you don’t know how long it’s been since you closed your eyes but you wake up facing the direction towards Jimin but he has his body turned away from you.

You can see a shadow of his frame because of the small light coming from the crack in the curtain. You move closer to him without thinking what this action meant. You just want to be closer to him, just this much you think you can handle it without losing your mind.

Unexpectedly, Jimin turns around.

You freeze and quickly shut your eyes. You hold your breath and pretend to be asleep.

Jimin hesitates for a millisecond, he knows he shouldn’t….he knows his being greedy but everything in his heart is telling him to move closer. Slowly inch by inch his face moves nearer to yours.

You feel the tip of his nose gently caress your nose. You’re confused and excited at the time. What is happening here? Why am I letting this happen?  You feel his feathery hand lightly press onto your hip and his nose nuzzle on your cheek.

You squeeze your eyes tighter as you attempt to reject the fact that you had missed the softness of his touch. As his fingers leave electric sensations with every caress they make against your skin you feel his button nose moving up and closer….

Closer until his upper lip grazes your lip and you almost whimper. His soft lips slowly meet yours and you feel the familiar and plumpness of their shape.

He gently kisses you again in the dark and you clench your stomach in an attempt to fight the urge…..you try with all your will but then he presses his wet plush lips onto yours and you lose it.

The second you receive his lips, the second you meet them and taste the sweetness of his mouth you succumb to him and wet his lips. You kiss under the moonlight sky enjoying each other’s taste, wrapping your hands around each other in an effort of becoming one.  The kiss deepens and you find your rhythm and soak in every last sensation coming from his lips and his hands. You reach a heighten moment where his biting your bottom lip and your tongue slips into his mouth. You pant heavily as he sucks your tongue in and he lets out an innocent little sensual moan when you roll your tongue around his. You feel the passion like you have never felt before, as if being away from him has made you crave him even more.

Gradually, you both calm down then you place your hands on his chest before kissing him softly one last time. You try to move back but his strong hands are still wrapped around you.

“Jimin, do you think you can ever trust me again?” you say in a small voice. The question escapes your lips like word vomit. A part of you wanted to just fall asleep and pretend as if the kiss never happened. But another part want’s to fight for him, wants to believe that you have changed and that the love you have for each other can weather all the storms.

And that’s why you asked that question because you wanted to fight for what you had, even if there is a possibility that he will reject you.

“Only if you promise me one thing,” he replies back just as quietly, you are both nervous and scared now.

“What is it?”

He sits up with his hands and you copy him. He places his tender hand on your right cheek and softly caresses it with his thumb.

“Forgive yourself ___, I miss you,” the corners of his mouth lift up. “I forgive you and I want us to work on building the trust up again, if you still want me?”

You stare at this unreal man not fully believing his words, what have you done to deserve such an amazing kind of person. You remember one of Yoongi’s questions then ‘what does your heart desire?’ and everything suddenly becomes clear.

“Ah, it’s so dramatic, okay, let’s start over just me and you,” you jump up and give him a quick kiss before hugging him tightly.

“A fresh start,” you say easing into the embrace.

“Fresh start,” Jimin whispers into your ear.

You don’t know what the future holds for you or if you’re making the biggest mistake in your life but for now you’re beyond grateful that he has forgiven you and that you are able to get a second chance. So, you’re just going to go with flow and see where life takes you.

------

Ending Comment - Yay, their finally back together. Thank you again for reading the story this far. I don't even know how to say this but they are only two more chapters left in the story. *A little spoiler is the title of the next chapter will be 'Fifty shades of Jimin ;)                 [FINAL CHAPTER]

[xbluexflowerx]

I know it was a while ago but can you do a part two of cat!Ai? Maybe Sousuke meeting him? Rin getting a little jealous of their new found friendship? Thanks ヾ(=^・ｪ・^)

Part 1

…

“Ai, please.I know it’s not ideal but I need you to do me a favour.” Rin practicallybegged.

Currently,Ai was watching him through narrowed eyes, his tail swaying dangerously behindhim.

“I don’t seewhy I need to.” Ai growled, his ears pressed flat against his head. “I’ve metpeople before.”

And it wastrue, Makoto would often come over unannounced and had caught Ai napping onRin’s sofa. Despite Rin’s panic the other man had just laughed and revealed thetruth about his Haru. Which had left Rin eyeing up every cat he saw withsuspicion for weeks, how many were like Ai and Haru?

“I know, butSousuke’s different.” He tried to explain but the low rumbling meow he got in responsetold him it was the wrong thing to say.

“I get it.”He snapped, hackles raised. “God forbid he finds out you’ve got more than justa cat.”

“It’s just…Sousuke wouldn’t get it.” He shrugged. His best friend saw the world as blackand white, didn’t accept anything outside the norm.

“It’s fine.”He sighed. “If I were you, I’d be embarrassed of me too.”

“That’s nottrue.” He denied.

“Whatever,enjoy your special night with Sousuke.” He pouted.

Withinseconds Ai had disappeared into the shirt he’d borrowed and tiny silver tabbyslipped out the sleeve.

“Come on Ai,don’t be like this.” Rin moaned, reaching out for his cat who hissed and battedhis hand away.

Rin pulledback in shock, Ai never hissed at him. No matter how many disagreements theyhad, or how many times Rin had trodden on his tail he never hissed. Thissituation with Sousuke had obviously upset him more than he’d let on.

With histail held high, Ai slipped out onto the balcony and scaled the wall into hisneighbour’s garden. Where he scratched at the door and cried loudly.

“Ah, helloAi-chan.” Makoto greeted as he opened the door. Ai trilled happily in responseand followed the man inside.

Rin crossedhis arms and flopped down on his sofa, angrily muttering to himself. He wasn’tsure why he was so upset, Ai was only his pet after all. So why did he feel soupset that they’d had their first argument? It wasn’t as if it mattered.

…

Despite Sousuke’sloud voice, the blaring TV and the flowing drinks, Rin still felt depressed. Aistill hadn’t come back and Haru had come over and left a little present on hisbalcony, his own way of saying he didn’t approve. Wait until Makoto found out,then he’d be in trouble.

“What’seating you?” Sousuke asked, barely tearing his eyes off the TV.

“Nothing.”He shrugged, because what else could be say? I fought with my cat and now he’srun away from home? That wouldn’t sound insane at all.

“You sure?You’ve been quiet all evening.” He rose an eyebrow.

“Just beenone of those days.” He replied, hoping Sousuke would leave it at that.

But beforetheir conversation a soft meow lit up the room, Ai had come home.

“Hey buddy.”Rin said hesitantly.

But he gotcompletely blanked by the cat, Ai walked straight past him and jumped ontoSousuke’s lap.

“Erm, hi.”Sousuke said awkwardly to the cat staring up at him.

Ai meowedhappily in response and began nudging at his hand, hoping to encourage somepets.

“I don’tthink so.” He laughed, effortlessly picking him up off his lap and placing himon the sofa between he and Rin.

Not one tobe told what to do, Ai jumped back on Sousuke’s lap, walking in a small circlebefore settling down on his thigh. He growled when he was grabbed again, thistime by Rin, and placed on a sofa cushion.

“LeaveSousuke alone.” He said firmly, Ai flicking his tail back and forth once beforeturning back to his original target.

He placedhis front paws on Sousuke’s leg, pushing himself up onto his back legs andtilting his head to one side – a look Rin knew was particularly irresistible inboth his forms. He cried softly, as if asking permission. And Rin could seeSousuke’s resistance was weakening.

“That’senough.” Rin snapped, picking Ai up and putting him on the carpet. He knew Aihated being manhandled, why people thought because he was small they had theright to move him was beyond him. But he was just being too stubborn today sohe needed to be put in his place.

Ai batted andnibbled on Rin’s fingers as he was moved, an action that was usually doneplayfully seemed like he was trying to make it hurt today.

“Cut itout.” Rin shouted, nudging Ai away with his foot.

“Seems likethe sour mood is shared in this house.” Sousuke joked.

“Yeah.” Henodded, choosing not to mention it was due to the fact they had argued thatboth he and the cat were irritable.

Rin watchedas Ai jumped up onto the table, his bottom wiggling as he eyed up his nextdestination.

“Don’t eventhink about it.” Rin warned but of course Ai ignored him. Throwing himselfthrough the air until he landed on the back of the sofa, his small paws onSousuke’s shoulder, his cheeks rubbing against the mans as he purred loudly.

“Don’t worryabout it.” Sousuke chuckled, giving in and reaching up to pet Ai behind theears. “He’s not doing any harm.”

Taking thisas his cue, Ai slowly walked down Sousuke’s chest and settled into his lap,still purring loudly and giving Rin a side eye. He wasn’t sure what Ai wastrying to prove but he hoped he would do it quickly so he could stop giving himthe cold shoulder.

…

A couple ofhours and a few beers later, Rin was getting fed up of watching Ai all overSousuke. He was never usually like this with new people, in fact he was usuallyquite shy. But he’d spent all evening on Sousuke’s lap, playfully licking himand that purr? God Rin had never heard it so loud.

Rin knew itwas all for affect but what? All it had resulted in was a very jealous Rin.

“He’s prettycute, isn’t he?” Sousuke smiled, eyes glazed over, slightly due to alcohol butalso because he’d found his new love.

“Yeah.” Hegrumbled, grabbing a hand full of nuts and shoving them in his mouth.

“I likehim.” He laughed, holding Ai up. “I may take him home.”

Then Rinbroke, watching Ai stick his tongue out and kiss Sousuke on the nose was justtoo much for him.

“Right, I’vehad enough!” Rin shouted, grabbing Ai and standing up, the small cat yelping insurprise.

“Rin, calmdown.” Sousuke held his hand up in surrender. “What’s wrong?”

“This cat,this is what’s wrong.” He exclaimed, holding the small bundle out to him. “He’sbeen ignoring me all day and then comes in here and acts as if you’re his newfavourite.”

“He’s just acat.” He shook his head. “He’s not smart enough to manipulate you like that.”

“Oh, but heis.” He laughed ruefully. “He’s been spending too much time with Haru from nextdoor.”

“Right,you’re starting to sound a little crazy.” Sousuke frowned.

“I know,believe me I’ve felt it before. But this cat, he’s taken over my life. He’s allI can think about at work, I just miss him all day. I’m getting obsessed withhim, which is ridiculous because I’m not even sure how old he is. Dear god Ihope he’s legal.” He rambled.

“Rin, you’vehad too much to drink. Put the cat down and get some sleep.” He encouraged.

“Ai, justshow him.” Rin sighed. “I’m not embarrassed of you, I never have been. I justwanted to protect you.”

Aieffortlessly jumped out of Rin’s hands and trotted towards the bedroom, notonce glancing back at the men he had left behind.

“Well, Ithink I’m going now.” Sousuke said, standing up.

“Wait, he’llbe back.” Rin assured him. “He just didn’t want you to see him naked.”

“Right.” Henodded, awkwardly biting his lip. He seemed to be eyeing up the door as ifplanning to make a quick getaway.

As if oncue, Ai waltzed back into the room with one of Rin’s oversized hoodies andlittle else, his tail nervously wrapped around his middle. Sousuke almostjumped in fright at the sight of him, eyes immediately drawn to the ears on hishead.

“Where didhe come from?” He frowned, reaching out to touch as if he didn’t quite believehe was real.

“I told you,he just found me one day.” Rin shrugged, trying to ignore how loudly Ai purredwhen Sousuke tickled behind his ears.

“And this iswho was sat in my lap all night?” He asked, still in disbelief.

“Yes, I hopeyou didn’t mind.” Ai pouted slightly.

“Not at all.”Sousuke swallowed.

“It’s niceto meet you Sousuke.” He grinned.

“Likewise.”He sighed. “I can see why you rush home every night now.”

“Yeah.” Rinnodded, pulling Ai back to his side when Sousuke’s had started to burrow intoAi’s hair.

Ai grumbledslightly at the lack of pets, but he was far too innocent and never able tounderstand when a touch bordered on something deeper. Rin knew this fact alltoo well.

“You can’ttell anyone about him.” Rin warned, scratching the back of Ai’s neck whoquickly leant into the touch.

“Yeah, no.Of course.” Sousuke nodded, still a little mesmerised by the cat.

“Well, it’sbeen a long night.” Rin hinted, not liking the way Sousuke had barely taken hiseyes off the boy since he’d walked in the room.

“Oh, right.”He coughed awkwardly. “I’ll head out.” He pointed towards the door but made noeffort to move.

“Bye.” Heprompted.

“Bye.” Hereturned, finally heading out.

“Bye-byeSousuke!” Ai waved. “I hope to see you again soon.”

“Likewise,kitten.” He winked before letting himself out the flat.

Rin groanedand dropped down on the sofa, dramatically throwing his arm over his eyes. Itwouldn’t be the first time he’d lost someone to Sousuke. Rin was very good atthe playful flirting but once they saw Sousuke they quickly lost interest, andhe hoped his cat would not be the same.

“He seemednice.” Ai commented, lying across Rin’s prone body so they were practicallyface to face.

“Uh huh.”Rin groaned.

“Are youstill mad at me?” He whined, and if Rin looked he didn’t doubt he’d be pouting.“I didn’t mean to ruin your alone time.”

“What do youmean?” He asked, lifting his arm.

“WellSousuke is your mate, right? And I took all of his attention away from you. Iknow it was silly of me but I wanted you all to myself.” He admitted,affectionately butting Rin’s chin with his head.

“Sousuke isnot my mate!” He furiously denied.

“But youalways talk about him, and you call him your partner. Isn’t that what humanscall their mates?” Ai questioned, tilting his head to one side in confusion.

“Sometimes,I guess. But it has lots of meanings.” He explained. “In this case it justmeans we work together, nothing more.”

“Really?” Heasked, his tail swaying excitedly behind his back.

“Yeah, he’snot my mate. In fact, I don’t have a mate, yet.” He blushed.

“Good.” Aigrinned, pushing himself forward so his lips hovered above Rin’s. “I don’t liketo share.”

Before Rincould respond Ai had pressed their lips together, his purr rumbling through himand sending sparks down Rin’s spine. He pulled away with a smile, tenderly lickinghis nose before settling down onto Rin’s chest.

They laylike that for a while, Ai purring loudly as Rin gently stroked his ears. Tooscared to move or say anything in case it broke this moment. But on the inside,he secretly hoped the kiss meant more than friendship and it would be the firstof many.

…