#when you understand Why something happens/is but you also know you owe it to yourself not to excuse it/that you deserved better regardless

[writingdevil]

hullo hullo hullo but would you mind writing something related to paranoid x cheated?

(also I know I proposed a trade last time. if you have anything specific you wanna request from me feel free to drop it in my asks/DMs hehe)

(Hi Nevvy! I know you're taking a break at the moment, but I still hope you enjoy this if you see it, and I'm flattered that you wanted to do a trade with me, so hopefully this will be good for you! Enjoy, and take care of yourself!)

"Ow!"

"Hold still."

"It's kinda hard when-ow!"

Paranoid sighed in annoyance, watching as Cheated, his stupid partner, winced in pain as Paranoid wiped his arms clean of blood and grime.

Paranoid didn't let go of the arm that he was cleaning, full of bruises and cuts that Paranoid had no idea how one person could get so quickly.

He squeezed Cheated's arm tight, not being particularly gentle as he cleaned the other's arm. He should be, he knew that. But Paranoid was pissed off at him and he wanted Cheated to know that.

Cheated winced and hissed, but otherwise made no other complaints, and made a pointed effort to avoid Paranoid's glare.

Paranoid wanted to scold him. He should be scolding him. But he held his tongue for now, because once he started, he knew he wouldn't be able to stop, and he'd like to at least make sure that Cheated was cleaned and bandaged up before that happened.

He finished cleaning one arm, throwing the wet rag down onto the table with a huff, and Cheated flinched at the movement, eying Paranoid as if he was some wild animal.

As Paranoid went to step back and get some bandages, Cheated gently grabbed his arm and went, "Hey, you're not really mad, are you?"

That was when Paranoid couldn't hold back anymore.

"No, of course not," Paranoid spat out, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he glared at Cheated. "Why would I be mad at my sweet, caring, reckless partner, who refuses to understand when to give up and walk away?"

Cheated opened his mouth to argue, but Paranoid bet him to it, grabbing his other arm and started to roughly clean his cuts with the rag, making Cheated hiss in pain.

"Why would I need to be concerned when my moron of a partner decides that picking a fight with Stubborn was a good idea, especially when he refuses to stop fighting until he gets thrown into a patch of thorns?"

Cheated grunted in low pain, but still waved a hand about in the air as he snapped, "He kept calling me scrawny! He said that I'd fall flat on my face if I tried to fight someone! I wanted to prove him wrong."

"Does it look like you proved him wrong?" Paranoid asked, lifting Cheated's arm up for him to see. Cheated's anger shrank under the sight of his cuts, but then Paranoid exclaimed, "Because all I see is my stupid partner getting himself hurt in the most dumb ways possible, and then I'm the one that has to stop the bleeding!"

Paranoid finished his rant with a sharp sigh, twisting around before Cheated could say anything, marching off to retrieve the bandages.

Paranoid hated seeing the people he loved hurt. It always felt like someone was stabbing him in the heart. But when someone got hurt over silly reasons? His blood would boil- because why? Why would you put yourself in a situation like that, when there was absolutely no need to? Paranoid couldn't wrap his head around it.

When it came to Cheated, he somehow managed to make Paranoid feel both furious and worried.

He came back with the bandages, making a pointed effort to not look at Cheated's face, keeping his focus purely on his torn arms.

"Hey," Cheated softly said, but Paranoid ignored him, beginning to swiftly wrap up Cheated's arm, the movements assured and familiar to him at this point.

He finished one arm in a matter of seconds, silently moving to the other arm, when Cheated repeated, "Hey," in a more firm tone, which Paranoid didn't even bat an eye at.

He bandaged up the other arm even quicker, dropping it into Cheated's lap unceremoniously.

Paranoid knew that there were cuts on Cheated's face that needed to be cleaned, but the thought of staring at Cheated's infuriatingly handsome face up close wasn't something he was thrilled to do, his hand hovering over the wet rag nervously.

But Cheated was still hurt, and it was up to Paranoid to patch him up.

"Hey!" Cheated grabbed Paranoid's wrist, tugging his arm up until Paranoid had to look at him.

Paranoid obliged with a sigh, looking up into Cheated's worried eyes tiredly. Cheated held Paranoid hand close to his chest, and Paranoid was struggling not to focus on how warm and safe Cheated's eyes were, or how all of the annoyance on Cheated's face melted away when Paranoid finally looked at him.

"Look, I am really sorry for worrying you," Cheated said, and Paranoid believed him when he said it, but he still countered with, "But it won't stop you from being a fool in the future, will it?"

Cheated flinched at his words, averting his gaze as he argued, "I'm not being a fool, I'm proving a point."

"Cheated, love, what made you think that you could beat Stubborn?"

"It wasn't about beating Stubborn! It was about proving that I was strong!"

"Why, though?" Paranoid implored, now being the one to try and catch the other's attention. "Why did you try so hard to prove that?"

"To show that I could protect you, damn it!" Cheated snapped in frustration, glaring at Paranoid before he froze, realising what he said.

Paranoid stared at him in shock-before he gently cupped Cheated's face and brought him into a deep kiss.

Cheated sighed and instantly melted into the kiss, probably glad that they had stopped quarrelling for a moment.

Cheated's arms wrapped around Paranoid's middle, bringing him closer against Cheated's chest, and Paranoid rubbed his thumb softly over a cut on his partner's cheek.

Any and all frustrations that Paranoid had in that moment drifted away as he kissed Cheated, his entire body relaxing all at once as he sighed into the kiss, leaning further into Cheated's warmth.

When they pulled away for air, Paranoid didn't move more than a few inches from Cheated's lips, resting their foreheads together.

"You don't need to prove yourself to me," Paranoid whispered, and he heard Cheated's breath hitch. "I always feel safe when I'm with you."

"Even with my bad luck?" Cheated teased, and Paranoid chuckled, his hands already bringing Cheated into another kiss as he said, "Yes, even with your atrocious luck, I still love you."

[sapsolais]

'

[mirrorcatcreditcard]

Take I haven't seen in the fandom yet:

Luka doesn't want to be freed.

"Now, MirrorCatCreditcard," you may say, "that's nonsense. Any human would want freedom from that system."

If you're thinking I'm gonna convince you that Luka doesn't know he wants freedom yet, you're wrong. I'm here to talk about indoctrination/conditioning, grooming/emotional manipulation, my own experience with those topics, and how all of the above connects with Luka as a character. If a deep dive like this is too much for you, please tap out for your own sake.

Luka's life was planned before he even existed. There has never ever been an alternative option. There is no life for Luka as anything but what Herperu chose. Everything in his life has been planned to have him be the perfect pet human idol. That is what he must be.

Fandom, I don't think most of you actually understand this and have dissected what this means (shout-out to the Luka stans who are getting there/have guessed similar things). These words we know have alternatives and are not set in stone are Luka's "gravity makes rain fall to the earth" and "water makes things wet." They are facts so deeply ingrained within him that even if shown the contrary he remarks that the person showing them is just disillusioned.

Take his commentary on Mizi and Hyun-A in the art book. He looks down on Mizi for not being able to control any of her emotions. How does he talk about Hyun-A? He has her at 70% affection yet shows a patronizing attitude—she's the one in denial at reality.

Now, how did we get here? How is a human so "delusional" and set in the control?

He's been conditioned.

Some of you don't know what I mean by this from experience and/or research, and count yourself fortunate that you don't. I pray you never experience such things firsthand. Don't worry about ignorance. Familiar or not, I will explain.

When you are surrounded by only one truth and reality, that is the way you interpret life. If a parent tells a child "the moon goes to sleep during the day," until the child learns otherwise, that's what they believe. Now take that child-like belief and add some toxic environments to the mix. With time, any other kid would learn that the earth rotates from their peers or adults around them. But if the creatures around them all say and believe the same thing "the moon goes to sleep during the day," then that is what the child continues to believe. Years of that same thing being the only truth make that false knowledge into a fact in the person's head, and everything that supports that fact is taken as truth or on the right path to truth.

"This is kinda silly though," you guys are no doubt murmuring, "All of this is a hypothetical. Give us something that makes sense or that someone could actually see happen in our society."

I'll give you my own experience then. My parents taught me that God is real. My parents taught me that I will be damned I do not follow the commandments of the scriptures. I didn't need to worry though. As long as I was obedient to the God who loved me and wanted what was best, I would be saved despite being born an awful sinful human. I was homeschooled, only interacted with people of similar beliefs, and taught that people too different from me in ideology or with radical beliefs against my own were trying to harm me and my family. I believed the people who raised me because why would people who love me lie to me? My task was simple. I needed to obey God and love everyone, especially them. Love meant giving up my entire being and living only as servant and sacrifice. After all, being selfless to the utmost was the greatest form of love.

Let's go back to Luka. His guardian, Herperu, when questioned about any surprises while training Luka, stated not only that he was the one who endured the "tough moments" but also that "(Luka) owes his success to me, and naturally, he should be grateful." This sentiment is echoed by Luka in his interview (shown on Patreon). My god, it's giving parents with disabled kids who brag on social media about how much trouble their kid is and how much they do for them. Sickening. This shows exactly what environment Luka has lived in though.

When you are manipulated into having something as your reality, everything else is fiction and delusion.

Let's review what exactly is Luka's reality.

Heperu is the one suffering if Luka has any difficulties being obedient.

Gratitude is what Herperu is owed because he goes through so much trouble to make Luka a star.

Love/care is shown by owning another's autonomy.

Emotions and bodily reactions exist, sure, but someone should be able to control them; and if they can't, someone should control those reactions for them.

Segyein are superior and the good ones for dealing with humans. Humans must be disciplined and shaped to how an segyein wants it to act to be considered deserving of this goodness.

(Luka)'s perfection is defined by his guardian.

Luka's life is directly connected to being the perfect performer. His guardian praises his abilities with the statement that no other pet human will ever be as perfect as him yet leaves an underlying threat saying that it will be no good if a pet is not trained properly. This has probably been mentally (if not physically) beaten into Luka's mind: his greatness doesn't stop him from being able to be disposed of. The human instinct to want to live has been explained to him as Heperu's wish for him to live and that has been further distorted as a duty to live for the stage he has been placed on.

Luka believes fully that there is a debt in play here. In his interview, he mentions repaying love. He thinks the relationship between fan and idol is completely normal, encouraged, and healthy. Performance is the most important thing. Being where he is is a privilege.

There's a chain here:

Heperu indoctrinated Luka into believing what he says is all true.

The guardian manipulated him easily to do what he wanted with his body and mind.

The years have been spent constantly conditioning Luka to be the god who encapsulated fantasies for the audience.

He is continually being groomed to exist for the entertainment and enjoyment of segyein.

Circle back to my first point of this post. Luka does not want to be freed. He doesn't know what freedom actually is. He sees freedom as either foolish denials of reality (and doesn't consider that actual freedom) or as controlling the song and stage when he performs (something he learned from Hyuna). He cannot want something he cannot understand. He cannot want freedom in the sense the fandom keeps speaking about.

It's funny. From the moment Luka was revealed to be hated by the fandom, I wanted to know why. Instead of digging and finding horrific deeds, I instead found a character who portrayed my own traumas and experiences. I instantly attached and delved deeply into learning about this thirty year old singer. Why does he express himself in a certain way? Where do we first see mention of him? Who does he have emotions towards? How was he trained? What makes Luka himself? I have past essays/replies to other's theories if you're interested, but in this one I got personal and didn't sugarcoat the facts. If the fandom can't handle deep thought, we shouldn't be discussing this incredibly profound and depth-filled web series.

As always, thank you for your time, and I hope my thoughts allowed you to open your mind to new things. Mostly, I hope you enjoyed them 🫶

[w2sology]

Kids fic/dilf Harry plsss

big little boss, harry lewis.

summary: harry just can't seem to say no when it comes to his little girl, especially when she's taken his pestering and temper.

warnings: mentions of baby teething, not proofread!

notes: had to pull out the prompt list for this one 😭 anyways babygirl finally has a name thanks to the beautiful anon who recommended it :))

darcy had recently began teething and it was an absolute mare. you and harry were up later than usual trying to get her to sleep or soothing her pain, and nothing seemed to be working. one of the few things that did work was letting her lay skin to skin on harry's chest until she fell asleep.

however a problem with that was that darcy was a biter. as in anything remotely near her mouth would feel the consequences of her not-yet-there teeth.

harry was taking the brunt of it, his skin littered in little marks from when he'd hold her close to him and she'd just grab at whatever was closest to her. and in response, harry would yelp or cuss, hoping she was still in that phase where she didn't yet understand words enough to repeat them back.

with you on the other hand, darcy was much more gentle. she'd only give you a nibble here and there if your fingers were close to her mouth, somehow being able to sense that the look you were giving her wasn't one of approval.

also, unlike harry you actually utilised the teething toys that were gifted to you two at your baby shower, so darcy was pretty much preoccupied with chewing on something else other than you.

today was a pretty regular day for your small family; harry wasn't filming with the boys and you were still on maternity leave with no plans for the day. deciding to use it as a means to go for a big shop later on, you and harry made a start early on in the day.

"did you make her bottle or should i?" harry mumbled as his arms wrapped around your body, tucked in comfortably right behind you as you made yourself a cup of tea.

"that's alright, love, i already did it," smiling at this soft kisses he left along your neck and on your cheek. "is she up yet?"

harry nodded, telling you that darcy was having a bit of tummy time in the sitting room. and as you looked over, you couldn't help but laugh at the makeshift fort harry had made our of pillows to make sure nothing happened to darcy.

he allowed you to finish your tea, opting to get darcy dressed for the day.

"how the fuck does this go on?" harry mumbled to himself, fiddling with the button on darcy's blouse. he really didn't know why kids clothes had to be almost as complicated as adult clothes.

darcy babbled on to herself as harry slid on her socks, making random noises as harry entertained her too, pretending they were having a conversation of their own.

as he picked her up off of the bed, harry looked through his wardrobe in search of his own outfit for the day.

darcy's head lay on her dad's shoulder poking around at his skin before she stopped briefly.

next thing harry knew, her sharp gums were sinking into his bare shoulder.

"ow─── darc!" he groaned, mismatching her smile and refusal to release his shoulder.

maybe that was harry's fault for not wearing a shirt.

"i told you to wear a shirt around her," you couldn't hold in your laugh as you walked in, taking your daughter from her father's arms and wiping over the baby pink mark that she left on him.

"i didn't know she was gonna fucking bite me at every chance," harry huffed, kissing your lips before leaving to get changed himself.

"you," you said, tickling darcy's tummy and hearing her bright laugh. "need to stop biting your daddy."

it turns out you and harry didn't actually pick a place to shop at. usually you'd go to tesco, sometimes asda or costco. but since you didn't plan which of them to go to, harry ended up driving to tesco.

ever since you gave birth, he'd been offering to drive you around a lot more, slotting away from his preferred role of passenger princess. and you weren't complaining, not one bit.

so as you opened up the makeshift shopping list on your notes, harry sat darcy in the kids's seat of the trolley and began to push her.

shopping with harry usually consisted of him grabbing random things and claiming they were needed, whereas you were more organised and actually took note of what you did and didn't have at home.

now with a little one, it was like harry's role had been multiplied by two. whenever she could reach out for something, darcy would make a show of clinging onto it with her little hands until you and harry had no choice but to take it with you to the till.

as you picked out two boxes of cereal, harry was entertaining darcy, who seemed nothing short of unamused. she watched as her dad poked and prodded gently at her, waiting for a smile to decorate her face.

"what's gotten into you, hm?" he frowned, stroking her cheek with his finger, momentarily forgetting his daughter was teething.

"darc, you've gotta stop biting me," harry whimpered, pulling his finger away from her grip. he looked over at you with a frown, cradling his finger but you were to immersed in the food shoo to realise.

you continued to scroll through the aisles, harry and darcy following right behind you. every now and then you'd turn to harry, holding up and item and he'd either nod yes or shake his head no.

it went on like that for a few moments until darcy grew a little agitated with sitting still for too long. just harry's luck, you guys were near the baby aisle, so he took darcy down there in hopes of finding something to distract her for a little bit.

a small teething toy caught his eye, and actually made him let out a sigh of relief, as if darcy would be able to take it out on the toy now and not on him.

"here you go," he smiled, letting her hold on to it. he wasn't sure if you two would end up buying it or not, so he kept it in its packaging, hoping she'd find some entertainment in just looking at it.

and that she did; she was quiet for the rest of the shop aside from the occasional babble and giggle she let out.

now at the till, harry helped you unload the shopping, and it was then that you noticed the nee toy darcy had. "really, harry?" you held in a laugh.

"what?"

"she's got like ten of those already, and some are in her bag," you gestured to darcy's baby essential bag that you brought with you.

harry glanced down at the bag, then back at you, shrugging as he continued to unload the shopping. "one more won't hurt."

harry was such a girl dad, he couldn't ever bring himself to say no to her. quite like he was with you sometimes.

you rolled your eyes, attempting to take the toy away from darcy to place on the till with the rest of the stuff. "darcy, babe, i'm just going to pay for it," you laughed at her super strong grip, and the frown that replaced her smile, similar to how harry looked when he was moping about.

she shook her head, trying to hide the the toy close to her chest. she looked over at harry with those huge eyes of hers, expecting him to intervene.

and that he did. he let you unpack the small amount of items still in the trolley as he picked darcy out of it, kissing all over her face to distract her from the fact that the toy was no longer in her hands, but instead on the conveyor belt.

but darcy didn't seem to notice. instead, both her small hands were on either side of harry's face, squishing and poking as she smiled and babbled to him.

you didn't know how he did it, it was as if he was just meant to understand her better than you. you didn't mind though, it meant that harry was the one who got the end of darcy's little tantrums instead of you.

when it came to pay for the items, harry reached over and tapped his phone on the card machine, ignoring the glare you were giving him as you collected the receipt.

"you thought you almost got away with it," he laughed, knowing that no matter what, he'd always pay if you were with him.

he helped you but the bags back in the trolley, darcy safely in his hold as you walked back to the car.

when she was buckled in, harry handed her the toy that she surely forgot all about, kissing her forehead. "now you can stop biting me," he smiled, going back to the driver's side.

you smiled at your daughter through the mirror, matching that smile to harry's when he put his seatbelt on.

"why're you looking all soppy, then?"

"nothing," you rolled your eyes, smile still on your face. "just happy, is all."

[andy-wm]

How to speak without words

a simple guide, by Jikook

This post is all about context, so for context 31 March is Trans Day of Visibility.

Its a day be your authetic and true self and to show the world that trans people exist.

I'm also going to use it as an opportunity to talk about something that comes up over and over, especially with Jimin & JK.

How do we share our story if we can't speak directly?

In the spaces around Jimin & Junkgook, there's a lot of discussion about the messages they are or aren't sending.

For some people these messages aren't significant enough to validate or even to make them wonder. They don't see the broader context or the cumulative effect of the many small moments. Its easy to dismiss it all as isolated incidents.

But for those of us who are seeing the whole picture, nothing is lost or ignored or dismissed.

We understand how these small moments fit together to create a complex story because we see the wider context. They are individual threads in the tapestry of their lives.

When JK goes live on Weverse on White Day wearing a white shirt and not much else and has a drink with ARMY, and we know Jimin is not around, we get what's happening. When Jimin posts a photo of the two of them wearing white on White Day, he doesnt need to say anything else.

When JK sends a thirst trap birthday message for Jimin and ends it with a clunky 'happy birthday bro', we know why.

When he uses the sign language for love on a stage in front of the whole world and directs it at Jimin, we see what hes doing.

When Jungkook presents himself as the vampiric stereotype - lusting for the forbidden - in his photo folio and Jimin parallels this with his own mythic themes and darkly sensual imagery in the same project, we can't misunderstand the symbolism.

When Jimin says "hurry up and be me soon", when he presents feminine for one concept and masculine for the next, when he stands on the Miss Dior red carpet in a cape and full face of make-up but with his bloodied knuckles on full display, we can't pretend we don't see it.

When Jimin & Jungkook wear matching outfits, even even when they're not together...

When they publicly conform to couple stereotypes - off stage and outside of BTS...

We know. We see it all as a single woven story and we know.

And like any truly committed couple, they're there for each other in good times and bad. They celebrate their successes, comfort each other, and stick together when times get tough.

And no, they've never verbally confirmed or denied. The context of their lives makes any such declaration incredibly difficult, if not impossible. Regardless, they owe no explanation. But being so visible would be confirmation enough for almost any other couple to be acknowledged.

They tell us over and over who they are.

Showing so undeniably that they are always there for each other is more than enough, honestly. If you can accept all the things you cannot see, how can you look at these two and not see love?

💜💛

That's essentially what the Trans Day of Visibility is about.

Showing that you exist.

Being seen and believed.

You don't needs to make a speech or an announcement. You can if you want to of course. You can go to a rally if you want to be with the trans community, and in the current political climate that might be safer if you want to be seen.

Maybe you just want to drop a hint ... iykyk

But you don't have to be seen at all if you choose not to...

Shout out to all the trans, gender diverse, gender questioning, and gender non-conforming humans in the world and all our allies and supporters too.

On this year's Trans Day of Visibility, I understand more than ever why people might prefer to remain invisible. It's dangerous out there.

Nevertheless, celebrate yourself today and every day. Being authentic and living your life as your genuine self in a way that makes you happy is your right.

If you aren't there yet, take your time, be brave where you can but be safe, and know that you are amazing.

Trans right are human rights.

And in case it's needed, here's a message for the haters: You will never win. We've always been here and we will always be here. Just like every other human, we belong here too 🏳️‍⚧️

[hyunjinsjeans]

He knows (Chan ver.)

Lee Know ver. | Changbin ver. | Hyunjin ver.

Masterlist

Synopsis: Chan is your husband and he knows you want to start a family, but how does he know? And what happens when he tells you he knows? This. This is what happens.

Type: Fluff 🧸, SFW 👍

Warnings: Mentions of pregnancy

Word count: 1140

AN: this is my first piece of writing for anything K-pop-related on this site, please be kind! No proofreading, sorry!

You are married to this man. He defines himself by his job. He lived for it though, after working so hard to get to where he is he also enjoys it so much. So you can’t complain. But he does have one more thing he wants on his instagram bio. So far he is producer, singer, rapper and dancer. As of a year ago he is also husband. He knows the time is right. He knows you don’t want to pressure him but whenever you’re together he can sense the unspoken words flying around in the air between the two of you.

Oh yes, Chan knows. He knows how to read people, and you are top of the list of his favorite ones. He will read you like a book. He will understand even the things you don’t say, he will know the second you are ready. He will, however, wait for the right moment. Sometime when he knows he will have the energy, the free time and the emotional availability to do it.

He owes you his full attention if you are doing this together.

And once he seizes the opportunity he is going in for the kill. He proposes it in a serious tone. If it asn’t just the two of you, it would seem you were having a “family meeting”. He is straightforward about it.

“We should have a kid, Y/N. I think it’s time, I’m ready and you’re ready.”

And the words get caught in your throat because what the hell? You were incredibly ready. He knew this, you knew this. Your friends probably knew this.

From the way you cooed at any and every child under 5 whenever you spotted one, how little kids gravitated toward you at the park or at the movies and you always had a kind smile to offer them along with the helping hand finding their parents, to the way you seemed to constantly be handed strangers' babies at the grocery store or at airport lines.

It was no news. You always loved kids and after getting married and moving to your own home, you made it a point to have a guest room and an empty room. Chan had noticed. Why leave a room completely empty? “Just in case we need it someday” you had shrugged when he asked. But it was painfully obvious a few months into the move that you visited that room and stared at the empty walls with bright shiny eyes, with a smile that tugged at the corners of your lips in a way so subtle it was almost imperceptible, you always left the room with a sigh and a bowed head as if ashamed to have the plans you had for that room. Chan had witnessed it enough times to have you figured out. It brought a warmth to his heart, seeing how eager you were about the subject and yet you kept quiet because you didn't want to put any pressure on him, thinking he already had a lot to deal with as the leader of a very successful group.

So of course, the second he said those words you couldn’t help yourself. “Oh I was waiting for you to be ready!”

Chan lets out a joyful laugh, his eyes become tiny as his cheeks grow puffy with the glee in his reaction.

“I know!” He exhales, “but you didn’t say anything and I’m tired of it. When you want something -anything, please just tell me!” His expression softened "I'll always have time to listen to you, and there's nothing you can ask of me that I wouldn't give you."

He is leaning on the kitchen table while you’re sitting opposite him. You push yourself back on your chair and look at him with a side smile on your face, the rice cooker making its beeping sound to signal dinner is ready.

“How am I supposed to drop that one on you?!” You laugh as well, it’s clear you are not really arguing “Am I supposed to say “hey Chan, I want a baby” or what?”

“Well… yeah.” He scratches at his neck, “that’s okay, it’s a good way to start talking about it.”

You huff and look away, but ultimately you are pretty happy he brought it up. He knows this as well; there is no hiding your enthusiasm, you're practically buzzing.

“I do want to have a baby, Chan” you lean forward on the table, your elbows on the hard surface while you hide your smile behind your hands.

Chan sighs, stilling his laughter as he pulls the chair back to take a seat and stare at you. He poses his arms and hands the same as yours, mirroring your actions.

“I want that too”, he mumbles, shy but true.

“Can we have that?” You wonder, your eyes falling on his hands, soft yet strong.

Chan has held you many times, and supported you through different times. You know he can be a perfect constant to hold on to, but you wonder if his career can take this. If he can be there for you for this. Because if you are honest, your biggest fear is that he will put too much pressure on himself if he tries to be a leader and a good partner to a pregnant wife at the same time. You have always known him to be the kind of guy to step up without anyone asking him to. You have learned from him to be the same, to grow stronger for Chan to have someone to support him as well...but this time you have to be realistic, how much can you share the weight of things once you are also worried about the safety of a baby? How much stress can you take from him while getting ready to have a kid.

He drops his hands on the table, you have moved your gaze from his eyes to his hands to the table. You are doubtful, you are pulling away from him as you speak.

“We can.” He assures you, reaching out to pull your hands in his. “We can do this.”

Chan brings you back with his words, his tone is honest and bright. His eyes are full of joy and excitement.

You feel the warmth of his skin on your skin and look up with hope, your trust in him is so complete you nod, you don’t even think about it as you reply. You would die for your husband. You would take all the pain, all the responsibility, and hardships for him. And so would he for you. This is why doubting what you two can accomplish together is ridiculous, you shake your head from all those doubts and squeeze his hands between your own.

“Let’s do this.” You whisper.

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Likes, Reblogs and Comments are welcome! Thank you for reading!

[alisonwritesimagines]

Please Don't Be In Love With Someone Else ~LA!Shanks x Reader x LA!Mihawk Imagine~

Summary: You keep waiting for Shanks. But someone new comes along and suddenly, you're not so lonely.

Author’s Note: You read the title correctly. I'm evilly laughing right now as you read this in pain. Also, this is technically a rewrite of the angst ending cause the one I wrote and in my drafts is more fluff than angst.

Angst Ending to I Was Enchanted to Meet You

Reader’s Pronouns: She/Her

Warnings: angst, fluff, but angst to all you Shanks lovers

Side Note: This is a secondary blog. If you comment a question down below, I will not answer since this is not the main blog. Please send the question to my inbox if you want a response back!

Do not repost this anywhere!

It had been years since you last saw Shanks. And it's been a year since you last saw Luffy. Ever since he was old enough to sail off in the world to find the One Piece to become King of the Pirates, you had been by yourself since. Of course you did a lot for your small village to keep you occupied but you still missed your boys.

You were tending to your garden as it was time for you to harvest before it became spoiled and over grown. That was until you heard someone say something behind you.

“You don’t seem like someone who can harm a fly."

You turned around to see the warlord Dracule Mihawk standing before you. You stood up straight to seemed less intimidated.

“I can hurt a fly. Don’t think I’m good at harming anyone else,” you tell him as you crossed your arms.

“I see.”

“I know who you are so what do you want?” You asked.

“I was sent to kill you but in all honesty, I don’t think I can kill you. You’re too beautiful to be killed,” he tells you.

“Who sent you to kill me?” You asked, now worried. You’ve stayed in the island since you were born. Not only that, you stayed even when Luffy left.

“Not to worry now. I don't have any intentions to kill you," he tells you.

"Then what are you still doing here?"

"I'm curious to see why someone would send me to go after you."

"Feel free to stay. Just to tell you, it's going to be quite boring," you tell him.

Mihawk stayed around the next day to watch over you. He didn't understand why Vice Admiral Garp would want a warlord like him to kill a sweet little thing like yourself. You did nothing of the sort that would be considered dangerous or even pirate bounty level dangerous.

"Ow!" You yelled as you accidently burnt yourself with the pan.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Mihawk asked you as he rushed inside your home.

"Just burned myself," you tell him.

Mihawk quickly grabbed your bucket of water before gently putting your finger in the cool liquid.

"Thanks," you tell him.

"Of course."

"I made extras if you'd like. I got used to cooking for two," you tell him.

"Was it for you and your past lover?" Mihawk asked you.

"Not really surprisingly. I used to take care of a little boy who used to live with me who had a bottomless stomach. He wanted to become a pirate so he set sail a year ago," you tell him.

"I see."

"So, dinner?"

"Why not."

—

Mihawk stayed for a couple more weeks before he needed to back out to sea. You stood on the deck as you watched Mihawk get ready to leave.

"So I guess this is farewell?" You asked him.

"For now. I will be back in a month at most," he tells you.

"To finish me off and claim your berry?" You asked.

"No. To come see you again," Mihawk said before sailing off. You shook your head at him before walking back to your home.

You assumed Mihawk was lying or joking when he said he was coming back to see you. But to your surprise, you opened your door to see him standing before you.

"Brought you some new seeds for you to grow in your garden," Mihawk tells you.

"I'm guessing you're staying for dinner?" You asked with a small smile.

"If you'd have me," Mihawk said. You nodded before letting him inside your house.

-

As much as you didn't want to admit, you fell for Mihawk. Even though part of you hoped for Shanks to come back, you appreciated the fact that no matter how long Mihawk was gone for or even if he was wounded badly, he came back to you. Even though Shanks would come back to you, he hasn't for years.

"Will you be mine?" Mihawk asked you one night. After a midnight stroll, you both headed back to your home. Mihawk stopped you from walking inside by holding your hand.

"What?" You asked in shock.

"Be mine. I've fallen for you Y/n. And I swear to you, I would never let anything happen to you," Mihawk tells you.

"Alright. I'll be yours," you tell him. Mihawk gave you a small smile before pulling you towards him.

"May I kiss you?" Mihawk asked you.

"Yes."

Mihawk cupped your cheek with his hand before leaning in to kiss you.

-

Shanks rushed over to your home after being away for so many years. He was excited to tell you his adventures and was looking forward to seeing you once again. He knocked on your door, his heart pounding in excitement.

Instead of seeing you, he saw someone else open the door. His smile faltered as he stared at the stranger in front of him.

"May I help you?" The stranger asked him.

"My apologies. I was hoping to find Y/n L/n? The woman who lived here?" Shanks asked.

"Oh. I'm sorry. She's been gone for quite sometime. She left the village I want to say two years ago? Her and her husband moved to another island."

"Her husband?"

"Yes. I'm surprised she married a warlord but he had been kind to the village whenever he was here," the stranger pointed out.

"Do you happened to know her husband's name?"

"I believe it was Dracule Mihawk."

—

Shanks made it to Mihawk's castle where he knew you would be at. After demanding to see you, Mihawk came out to talk to him.

"You should know my wife is resting," Mihawk tells him.

"You took her from me," Shanks angrily tell him.

"I didn't take her from anyone. When I met her, she was alone," Mihawk informs him.

"She never told you about me?" Shanks asked.

"No she has. I just never told her that I knew you."

"Please. Let me see her!" Shanks asked.

"Let me see if she's well enough to move," Mihawk said.

"Is she sick?" Shanks asked.

"Not entirely."

Shanks waited anxiously for you to come down. His eyes widen when he saw Mihawk helping you down. Your stomach was large but he knew that it was because you were pregnant. And what's worse was that it wasn't Shanks's child you were carrying. It was Mihawk's child.

"Shanks?" You asked in shock.

"Hi, Y/n."

-

You sat in the garden with Shanks alone so you two could talk. Shanks stared at you, admiring your beauty once more. While you thought you were alone, Shanks knew that Mihawk was watching nearby.

“Are you happy my love?” Shanks asked you as he held your hand.

“I am. Hawk Eye makes me happy,” you tell him with a small smile.

“I’m happy that you’re happy.”

“I did wait for you Shanks. I really did. But I feared that if I waited any longer, I’d be too old for you,” you tell him with a frown.

“You could never be too old for me. You could have white hair and many wrinkles and I’d still think you’re the most beautiful woman in the world,” Shanks tells you. You smiled at him before tearing up.

“I loved you Shanks. And I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you longer."

“Don’t apologize my love. I’m sorry I didn’t come back to you sooner,” Shanks said. You nodded before taking off your makeshift necklace that held the ring Shanks gave to you. You handed it over to Shanks before kissing his cheek.

“I hope life treats you well and I hope you find a woman who will love you endlessly as much as I did,” you tell him.

“And if Hawk Eyes dares to lay a hand on you, come find me. I’ll protect you.”

“I know you will."

"So this is goodbye then huh?" Shanks asked you.

"If you find Luffy, tell him I miss him and love him dearly. And that, he's more than welcome to visit me or find me whenever he wants," you tell him. After all, Luffy was yours and Shanks's unofficial son and you two were his unofficial parents.

"Goodbye, Shanks,” you tell him before giving him a kiss on the cheek once more.

“Goodbye, my love.”

—

You sat on the couch in your lounge room waiting for your son to arrive with his new fiancée. Twenty five years had gone by and you had lived your life. Dracule sat next to you as you both waited for your son to come home. Now that your husband has retired from being a pirate, he had spent his time with you while your children explored the world.

“I wonder what she’ll be like,” you tell your husband.

“I trust his judgement. After all, I chose well didn’t I?” Dracule joked.

“You most certainly did,” you smiled.

“Mom! Dad! I’m home!” You heard your son say.

“Over here!” You called from where you were.

You smiled at your son the moment he walked in but your eyes widen from the sight of the woman next to him. Not only did she have the exact same hair as Shanks, but she also had the same eyes as him. It was no doubt that she was Shanks's daughter.

“Mother. Father. This is my fiancée, May,” your son said proudly. You smiled at the woman before getting up from your chair to greet her.

“It’s nice to meet you, May,” you tell her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Mrs. Mihawk.”

“Please call me Y/n,” you tell her as you shook her hand. You noticed her necklace with a ring on it. It looked exactly like the one Shanks gave to you from years before.

“I like your necklace,” you say.

“Oh thank you. My father gave it to me. Said it was his prize possession,” she tells you. You felt your heart break a little from what she said.

“Will we be able to meet your parents soon?” You asked.

“Unfortunately no. My mother passed away from childbirth and my father passed away not too long ago,” she tells you. You frown from hearing that.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright. I’m really glad to have met your son,” May tells you. You smiled at her before giving her a hug.

“Well, I know my son will treat you well. And if he doesn’t, you tell me,” you tell her. May smiled at you before looking at your son.

At the end of the night, you stood outside on your balcony as you stared up at the stars.

Maybe this was the universe telling you that in another life, you and Shanks end up together. But you did wish he didn’t have to be gone so soon. You wished that he would’ve came back to you sooner and maybe you two could've had the future you two wanted together.

[raya-hunter01]

Not My Sister's Keeper Pt. 5

Roman X OC(Kara)

Jey Uso X OC (Tia)

Rating: 18+

Warning: Smut; sex, fluff, couple arguing, Jealousy, infidelity, pregnancy

Roamn’s wife recently left medical school and returned home to save her marriage. Upon her return, she finds out things are not what they seem. Her sister is pregnant by her best friend Jey Uso, who is also Roman’s cousin, and her husband is acting suspicious.

What happens when a conversation overhead on a baby monitor blows her world apart?

A Month Later

Roman’s House

“Mama, you saw it for yourself, she slept with Jey,” I said trying to escape her wrath.

“Son, your actions caused that chain reaction, and Tia living here isn’t helping your case to get your wife back either,” my mom said washing the dishes as I fed Logan her bottle.

“Mama, Logan needs her.”

“Logan needs her like I need an enema. She doesn’t even want that baby; she barely interacts with her. How could you let this happen?” she asked as I wished the earth to open up and swallow me whole.

“Mama, I stopped it, I knew I was wrong.”

“But, it took six times sleepin’ with this girl for you to realize that, and then you lied to me. Roman, I didn’t raise you this way,” my mother scolded as I sighed taking my tongue lashing from her.

“Mama, I was gon’ tell you, I just didn’t know how,” I said as she sat down beside me.

“You start by telling the truth….I said some mean things to Kara going off how you were acting. Like when was you going to tell me that you had a child with Kara’s sister.”

“I…I was going to fix it all. I wanted her to be Logan’s stepmom.. I was going to make it right, then I saw red. She let him have her mama, my wife did that,” I said still in shock that Kara took it that far and slept with Jey.

“Roman, you can’t take a child away from her mother and give it to another woman, thinking it will fix the issue. Kara is hurt…Her husband and sister betrayed her, that’s a hard pill to swallow.”

“But look at what she did, like really out of all people it just had to be him. Why would she do that?” I asked, truly wanting to know why.

“To make sure she hurt you deeper than you hurt her, and it worked. Tore you up so bad you ordered a new bus. Got you walkin’ round here like you on life support,” my mom said, my jaw twitched just thinking about them together.

“Then you got that girl sleepin’ here, trying to get her hooks in you.”

“Mama, I ain’t-”

“I don’t care, if you want to try to work on your marriage, Tia gotta go. Her being here is showing Kara you didn’t take your marriage seriously and its disrespectful.”

“Mama, she has nobody-”

“That’s a lie, she got a mama, and a daddy. Tia’s mother was going stay with her for a month to help out with the baby. Rebecca told me, but Tia turned her down. I’m telling you Roman, get her outta here before something bad happens, son”.

“Mama, I tried to talk to Kara, but she’s been ignoring me. She just sits in mediation staring a hole through me,”  I said trying to get her to understand.

“Try harder, tell her what happened so there is no more secrets and hopefully ya’ll can get back on track. Whatever the outcome you owe her, and you know you do.”

“Mama, her sleepin’ wit Jey hurt me bad.” I said pleading my case as she threw her hands up in the air as I frowned at her. Kinda pissed she ain’t more on my side…I am her son.

“Roman, you’re not thinking about what you’ve done to Kara. I swear you are just like your daddy, can dish it out but can’t take it. Go to mediation today and be truthful with her,” she said leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Over the last month Tia being here has been hell. She won’t help with Logan, it’s almost like it’s no bond between them and that is insane to me.

 It’s been all me and mama, so I know I’m in this alone.

Hearing her come downstairs I rolled my eyes. “Morning my logan,” she said kissing logan on the forehead as Logan begins to fuss.

“Roman, I’m glad you’re still here. I thought you had left for the show, she said extra giddy. She really was trying to push something that was never going to be. My mom was right, she needed to go.

“Uh, no I got to go sign for the new bus and I got mediation today,” I said as Tia shot me a look.

“Oh, you’re still trying to beat that dead horse,” she said smartly rolling her eyes as I stood up walking towards her. “Um, what are you doing Roman?” Tia asked worriedly as I placed Logan in her arms. “Letting you bond with your daughter, because she has two parents and not just one,” I said leaving a fussing Logan with her.

“Roman, take her to your mom!” Tia cried as I kept walking, ignoring her.... I had bigger fish to fry.

“Make sure you’re gone by 1:00, my mama is taking Logan to your parents and you to get groceries for your house. I need you gone; Kara is stopping by to get some of her things!” I yelled as I heard her mutter under her breath.

Going upstairs I ran into mom. “Why didn’t you bring the baby to me? I ain’t gon’ listen to Logan cry all day because you left her with the devil,” she said as I snickered.

“Mama, she’s gotta try to bond with her,” I said giving her a hug before I went to get dressed.

----------

Bently Law and Associates

Kara’s POV

“I know you, nor her better be there when I get there,” I whispered as Roman nodded.

“My mom is dropping Logan off at your parents. Ma, can vouch for me,” he said pointing at my mother as she nodded.

“Yeah, Roman called last night and asked us to keep Logan," my mom said as I sighed, not really caring.

“Then my mom is going to take Tia grocery shopping for some things for her house because she’s about to be going home. After this, I gotta go finalize the deal on my new bus.”

“I don’t care where Tia goes, as long as she ain’t there when I’m there,” I said irritated.

 All he had to say was she wasn’t going to be there; I didn’t need an update on his baby mama drama.

 “Nobody will be there sweetheart, I promise,” Roman said as I cringed at his use of his pet name for me.

“Please…Don’t do that,” I said as he threw his hands up and sat back in his seat.

Sitting there in silence, my brain finally caught up to the little information he revealed. He got a new bus…. Smirking I felt a sense of satisfaction knowing he couldn’t shake the image of Jey and I on the other bus.

You could feel the tension as we went to sat with our lawyers. Ten years of marriage, was coming down to being in this office on the 15th floor, sitting around this huge table negotiating assets.

Deven, a mutual friend of ours, who’s also a judge, sat at the end of the table serving as a mediator for us.

“Alright, let’s get started. I wished we were here under different circumstances, but I digress. Mr. Towns what is your client Mrs. Reigns asking for?” Deven asked as I leaned back in my chair trying to relax.

“My client doesn’t want any of her husband’s assets, she only wants a clean break,” my lawyer said as I saw Roman twitching his seat.

“Kara is you crazy? After all he’s done..The devil is a damn lie, she want it all!” my mom said as I tuned her out.

I was too focused on Roman, who had leaned over and was whispering something in his lawyer’s ear.

“Well, my client would like to try therapy before we go this route. It will look good to a judge that you guys tried and could push this along quicker in the end.”

“I want this over,” I said as Roman cleared his throat.

“I want to try to save our marriage,” Roman said as I shook my head.

“I would rather swallow nails and dance barefoot across hot coals,” I said as my mother slapped me on the arm.

“Girl, hush this about getting what you deserve. He owes this to you,” She hissed as I sighed, sitting back and allowing Roman’s lawyer to continue.

“My client wants to also pay for his wife’s medical school expenses.”

“What!” I exclaimed sitting up in my seat looking at my mom who shushed me. “Here him out baby,” she whispered as I took a deep breath.

Bitch, now you want me to go back to medical school, now you want to support my dreams.

 “Like I was saying, we’ve come up with a total of 500,000 that she needs to complete her last two years of education.”

“That’s way too much?” I interrupted as his lawyer looked down at his sheet of paper reading his notes as Roman cracked a small smile.

“Always worried about me spending too much money instead of just letting me take care of you,” he muttered as I shot him a look.

“Kara, look at me.” Deven said as I turned, giving him my full attention feeling Roman’s eyes still on me.

“I talked to Roman and the price he came up with will help you with things you need such as your books, a Condo to stay in, and any necessities you may need.”

“Deven, it’s too much,” I whispered, totally thrown for a loop everything.

“Roman wants you to focus on school and not have to worry about taking up a job. He knew you were going to come in here and wouldn’t want anything from him, but he knows you deserve everything.” Deven said as fought back tears.

“Let him at least do that much, and hear him out,” Deven pleaded as I turned back to Roman and his lawyer, wanting to hear the rest of his offer as Roman sighed in relief before turning to his lawyer.

“Let her know what else we talked about Ryan?” Roman whispered pointing to his notepad as his lawyer looked over, shocked at whatever Roman had written on his paper.

“Are you sure Mr. Reigns? I said we could renegotiate that and bring it to the table later,” His lawyer whispered as Roman shook his head.

“She deserves it and I want her to have it regardless of if we work this out or not,” he whispered as I frowned at him.

“Uh, my client would also like to add an additional three million per year for Mrs. Reigns to do with as she pleases and upon graduation Mr. Reigns will donate ten million towards his wife’s own practice,” his lawyer said as I tried to process what he was offering…

“Jesus, Roman,” my mother said as Roman’s eyes never left mine.

Why was he doing this? Why now?

“My client has also cleared the balance owed from when his wife left school and violated the terms of her scholarship. All her debts are clear, so she can re-apply for school anytime she likes.”

“Why are you doing this? Like why now?” I whispered as Roman leaned his elbows on the table.

“Because I love you, and I miss my wife. I’m trying to make it right, Kara,” Roman said as I felt the room closing in on me.

“Now you want to support my dreams…. Now you want to do right! Now you want to make it right!” I shouted, the look of remorse on his face making it hard for me to breathe.

“I think emotions are high and we should take a break and resume next week. That will give Kara some time to think about things,” Deven said as my mother rolled her eyes.

“Ain’t shit to think about….She gon’ take everything he offering…He owes her that much, all she sacrifices she made for him,” my mom said as I wiped my tears.

“Kara, please take it…Even if you don’t take me back. I want you to have this regardless.” Roman pleaded.

“I need some air,” I whispered storming out of the room.

“Kara! Come back!” I heard him yell hot on my heels.

Picking up pace, I slip inside the elevator, pushing the buttons fast as I could as Roman sprinted towards me, sliding in the elevator  just before the doors closed.

“Kara-”

“Why are you doing this? You can't buy me, I'm not for sale."

“Baby, just listen,” he pleaded pulling me in his arms, cradling the back of my neck, holding me close as I finally exploded.

“NO! NO! Let me go!” I screamed, managing to turn my body away from him, but I couldn't escape his powerful embrace.

“Baby, I’m sorry,” Roman pleaded refusing to let me go, wrapping one arm around my waist and the other around my chest.

 His grip never loosened as he lowered us to the floor determined to not let me go as I fought against him.

“Damn you!...... You broke us! You broke ME!..... I LET YOU BREAK ME!!” I cried as he held me tighter.

“Baby, please forgive me,” he whispered, his silent tears falling on my cheek as he buried his head against mine.

He had officially broken me…And now that he had me broken, he wanted to give me all I ever had asked for from him.

“Roman, just let me go,” I whimpered as he released me, allowing me to slide to the opposite side of the elevator, creating some much-needed distance.

“I’m sorry, I just love so much,” he whispered as the elevator jolted to a stop as I looked around in confusion as the lights flickered, then dimed……

No…Not now…We can’t be stuck in here.

“This isn’t happening,” I muttered as Roman rushed to pick up the emergency phone.

“Hello! Hello……Yes, my wife and I are stuck?” he said as I tried to regulate my breathing.

“An hour!” He said I hit the wall in frustration. This day just keeps on getting worse.

An hour in here….. With Roman..Shoot me now.

“Thank you, thirty minutes sounds better than an hour,” he said hanging up and sitting down under the phone as I took off my jacket trying to get comfortable.

“Kara, I-”

“Please don’t talk to me, you’re taking up all the air,” I said checking my phone frowning at the fact I had no service.

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I swear I was going to tell you that night. If you could Just let me explain,” he said as I looked at him.

“Ok, I’ll play along, since you seem like you wanna confess your sins. How did it start?” I asked putting my phone in my pocket, giving him my undivided attention.

Roman seemed shocked at my question, this was not how he wanted the conversation to go.

Roman’s POV

Damn, she didn’t waste any time asking. I knew I had to tell her all of it but I dreaded it.…

“Well, I’m waiting, you wanted to explain,” Kara said as I sighed.

“The first time was on the bus. She had asked for a ride saying her friends had left her. Later that night after you and I talked on the phone, I went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night and there she was layin’ in bed with me….Naked.”

“Then what?” Kara whispered as I contemplated my next words, but I knew I had to tell the truth.

 “She climbed on top of me, I asked her to leave but it was almost eerie how she looked like you in the moonlight, so I didn’t stop it,” I said as Kara covered her face with her hands, her leg anxiously tapping against the floor.

I hated to tell her, but I knew I had to tell her all of it.

“When we were having sex, I slipped up and called her your name,” I said as Kara’s head jerked in my direction looking at me in disgust and horror, but she didn’t say anything.

“She told me she didn’t mind pretending to be you for me and I called her by your name as we had sex. Like four out of the six times we slept together I did, the other times, no words were exchanged,” I said feeling the bile rise in my throat, for the first time truly realized how sick it all was.

Kara looked at me with a sad smile. “Tia always has to prove a point that she can take away the things that I love, and I guess you were no exception…..God, I think I’m going to be sick,” Kara whispered, as I dropped my head in shame.

“Kara, If I could take it back I would but I can’t. Just please say we can try-”

“Well as a last-minute replacement for me how did she do?” Kara asked interrupting me, as I groaned.

“Don’t do that, you know nobody can ever compare to you,” I said as Kara chuckled, shaking her head.

“Did you even try to use protection?” she whispered as I felt somewhat offended, she would think I would put her life in danger.

The first time we didn’t but every time after that we did. I got tested before me and you even slept together again. I was clean, and I swear it was only that one time unprotected.”

“That’s all it takes is one time Roman, and now you have a child with her.  You still never answered my question…. How was she?” Kara whispered as I felt like I wanted to vomit.

“Kara don’t do this?”

 “No, you already did this when you slept with her and KEPT sleeping with her. So how was she?”

“Like I said, she wasn’t you and since we are on that subject, I guess I could ask you the same about Jey,” I said as the elevator started back up with a soft hum but was moving slowly.

Standing up Kara grabbed her jacket ignoring me, but I blocked her path standing in front of the doors. She wasn’t leaving here until she told me why she picked Jey.

“Move Roman.. I ain't got time for this," Kara whispered trying to avoid looking at me.

“Why Jey, Kara? It could have been anybody, but you chose him. You let him have you, why Kara,” I said unafraid and not ashamed of the tremble in my voice.

I was hurt that she let him have her, that’s all I see every time I pull into our fucking driveway.

“Just tell me,” I whispered making her look at me, her once loving eyes now void of feeling towards me.

I really did break her…I caused this change in her.

Suddenly, I felt like I couldn’t breathe as I remembered something she told me once when we were dating.

"Can you please move?"

“I have to love and trust someone to share my body with them, I don’t just jump into bed with anybody.” I whispered as she seemed shocked that I remembered but recovered quickly continuing to stare a hole through me.

“I guess there’s your answer as to why I chose, him,” she whispered as we stood in silence waiting for the elevator doors to open.

This couldn’t be it….It just couldn’t….We can come back from this…Jey is a non-issue, I’m her husband…

-----

Gulf Shore, AL

Jey’s POV

“Man, gon’ call Kara, and tell her you missed her and want her to come over,” Trin said as I shot her a look.

“I ain’t trying to smother her, I know she has mediation this morning. It takes a lot out of her,” I said as Trin smiled at me.

“That’s an even better reason to call her and let her know you’re thinking about her, Jimmy said as I  found myself blushin’.

I really had been thinking about Kara nonstop since we left a few weeks ago. The facetime calls and texting was and all cool but I wanted to hold her in my arms.

“You never told us what happened when ya’ll went to Roman’s that night either,” Trin said as I put my glasses on acting like I didn’t hear her.

“Oh, it’s like that huh…Fine, I’ll get the info from Kara,” she said as I chuckled.

“I think they fucked,” Jimmy said as I punched him in the shoulder. “Don’t talk about Kara like that,” I said as he gave Trin a knowing look as she smiled.

“Yep…They had sex, and it was good too. She got ya brother even more sprung than before,” Trin said as I pulled out my phone to call Kara, not even bothering to argue because it was true.

I was sprung and I wasn’t ashamed to admit it…

------

Roman’s House

Kara’s POV

I finally calmed down enough to make my way out to the house, and it seems like Roman kept his word...Nobody was here.

 As I got out the car my phone rang, smiling I accepted Jey’s facetime request.

“Where you been all my life,” Jey said as soon as I answered making me blush as I heard Trin and Jimmy awing in the background.

“Well, I always been here, and I’m currently at the house of horrors.” I said as Jey frowned.

“Your where?” Jey asked as I sighed. “I’m at the house picking up the last of my thing I wanted to get and granny’s bracelet.”

“Is he there?” Jey asked as I chuckled. “No, he’s not, he had some business to take care of. We did mediation this morning and it was a mess, but I’ll tell you about it later,” I said as Jey studied my face.

“I don’t like that look, it means when you tell me I’mma wanna beat his ass again,” Jey said as I gave him a small smile.

“What time ya’ll gettin' in today?" I asked as he smiled.

“We should be back in town in about an hour, we makin’ good time, tell the fam, hey,” Jey said turning the camera around to Jimmy and Trin as they laughed.

“Hey fam!” I said happy to see their faces, I really missed them all.

“Hey, Booky! I’mma need you to put this man outta his misery when this is all over with Roman and your ass crazy sister. He’s crazy about you,” Trin said as I blushed.

“Man, stop tellin’ all my business, Kara already knows what time it is,” Jey said as I laughed.

 “I miss you guys and I can’t wait to see ya’ll.”

“You be careful, get what you need, and get out. Dinner on us tonight,” Jimmy said as I smiled.

“I got ya’ll it’s gon’ take ten minutes tops. If I haven’t called, ya’ll back, call me,” I said putting their minds at ease.

“A’ight ten minutes,” Jey said as I smiled hanging up putting my phone in my back pocket.

After that night we never spoke about what happened. Jey was a man of his word; we carried on like our usual selves and for that I was grateful.

Running upstairs, I went into the bedroom and grabbed some of the clothes I wanted to keep, putting them in the box Roman had left on the bed for me.

I felt my anger slowly building as I looked around the room.. Had Tia been in here? Had she slept in our bed?  Roman’s confession on how things went down with Tia really had thrown me for a loop.

“Why couldn’t you say, no?” I muttered as I heard footsteps coming upstairs.

Ugh…

“Roman you said you wouldn’t be here,” I said agitated, opening the door and taking a step back in shock seeing Tia standing there in the sundress I wore the day Roman proposed to me.

“Oh, I didn’t know you would be here Kara. I was just trying to put together a little surprise for-” she started but stopped talking, seeing the look on my face…She realized she had taken it too far.

“You got on my dress!” I hissed as she tried to run but I caught her arm, slanging her in the room, and throwing her up against the wall before climbing on top of her.

“You bitch” I yelled punching her in the face as she screamed in pain.

“Get off! Kara!” Tia screamed as I repeatedly banged her head against the floor.

“I’mma kill you.”

“You ok up there Kara?!” I heard Janice yell as I kicked Tia in the stomach, before running to lock the door.

Nobody was breakin’ this up..She had it coming.

“Everybody always tryin’ to save you….You never face the consequences of your actions,” I hissed as she stumbled to her feet.

Before she could even see it coming, I ran at her, grabbing her by the and hair slamming her face against the wall.

“Kara calm down!" She cried as I backhanded her as she fell against me.

“Calm down my ass, I’m sicka you! Get off me bitch! I screamed, throwing her into the dresser as she tumbled across it hitting the floor hard. Her moans of pain bringing me satisfaction.

“What is going on in there, Kara?!” Janice yelled as I trembled with anger as Tia spit blood outta her mouth, crawling toward the wall trying to pull herself up.

“ Janice, I’mma kill her, that’s what’s going on!” I screamed charging towards Tia, spearing her against the wall as we fell to the floor in a heap.

My phone sliding across the floor in the process

“It ain’t worth it Kara, come on out baby,” Janice pleaded as I fought to catch my breath but I couldn’t reign in my anger. She has taken everything from me.

“I won,” Tia gasped with a smile as I snapped pulling her up by her neck dragging her to the wall mirror in the corner.

“Look! Look at us! Bitch, what have you won! The only reason you even had him in the first place is because you look somewhat look little like me the dark hoe,” I hissed as she tried to pry my hands out of her hair.

“Ain’t nobody tryin to be you! He wanted me because he knows I’m better than you!” Tia screaming as I chuckled letting her go.

“But ain’t you tryin’ to be me, Tia?…..Let’s see….You wearin’ my clothes!...You were fucking my husband and had a baby from him but you ain’t trying to be me.. Bitch, please, just own dat shit,” I scoffed.

“He wanted me Kara…He couldn’t resist me,” Tia smiled as I shook my head. This bitch was loony tunes.

“Oh! He wanted you, huh…Wasn’t he fucking you and calling you by my NAME!  Something you didn’t mind him doing by the way, right? As long as you fucked up my life!” I yelled as she jumped back in shock at my knowledge of what happened during her intimate moments with Roman.

“H- H- He told you?” she stammered as I smirked at her uneasiness.

“Yea, he told me all of it, and who does some sick shit like that? I asked. The tension building as we stared a hole through each other.

“Oh…nothing to say now.. Well, I’ll tell you who does that…A desperate bitch who loves to throw her rank ass pussy at anything that moves!”  I screamed as she tried to swing but missed, the momentum causing us to fall against the mirror, causing it to shatter around us.  

Luckily neither one of us landed on the glass but hit the ground hard.

“Damn it,” I muttered rubbing my head as I heard my phone ringing looking around in a panic, I groaned in frustration as it stopped.

I knew it was Jey calling to check on me.

“Miss an important call,” Tia teased trying to sit up as my phone started ringing again.

“J- Jey,” I whispered trying to crawl to my phone as I felt a Tia jump on my back as we tussled to get to my phone.

“What you mean don’t call the cops! You better get her quick then Roman; they are killing each other in there!” Janice said as she continued to bang on the door.

“Just as I reached the phone, Tia bit my hand and elbowed me in the stomach before grabbing and answering it.

“Jey! Jey, she’s gone crazy! Help me!” Tia cried as I pulled her back down to the ground hitting her with a right hook before slamming her head against the floor again.

“Tia! Where is Kara!” I heard Jey yell as I ripped my phone out of her hands.

“Kara! Kara! What’s gon’ on!” I heard Jey yelling in a panic as I put the phone to my ear.

“Jey….I’mma call you back…I got some shit to handle.” I panted

“Ka-” Jey started but I ended the call before he could finish, seeing Tia trying to run for the door.

“Where you goin’?” I asked, charging toward the door pushing her against it.

“Help! Somebody Help me! Your crazy!” Tia yelled as I turned her around to face me.

“What did you expect after all you’ve done! You’ve made me this way!”

I screamed punching her in the face as she fell in a heap at my feet, leaning down I jacked her up by the hair, tossing her again into the wall

“Bitch you ain’t nobody!” I Screamed gripping her hair as she tried to back away, I began punching her,  on top of her head, only stopping to change course landing a few punches to her face as she screamed trying to cover her face with her hands.

 I got a couple more shots before I felt myself being lifted up in the air. “Let me go! let me go!” I screamed, fighting against whoever had pulled me away.

“Kara, that’s enough baby,” Roman’s voice boomed throughout the room as I stilled in his arms, panting in disbelief at how out of control I was.

“Roman,” I whispered somewhat coming out of my tunnel vision.

“Yes…..It’s me baby, I got you,” he whispered holding me tight as I tried to gather myself as Tia got up of the floor wiping her nose.

“You’re really comforting her! She’s crazy and just attacked the mother of your child for no reason Roman,” Tia moaned, as I winced feeling the pain shoot through my knuckles as I looked down seeing the scrapes and patches of raw skin.

“Nah, I ain’t crazy..You just kept pushin’ your luck, like you always do and nobody was here to save yo’ ass…Let me go Roman!” I hissed as Roman released me, finally taking in Tia’s appearance.

“Why you got on Kara’s engagement dress?” Roman asked, his powerful voice overtaking the room as Tia said nothing.

She was too busy trying to check her face in the only mirror left standing in the room, on top of the dresser.

“Don’t worry, It’s an improvement bitch!” I screamed as Roman sighed gently pulling me to him, trying to check me over.

“Stop, I’m fine,” I said stepping away from him. “You got some cuts, Kara” he said worriedly as I shrugged him off again.

“I said I’m good, but you betta get that bitch outta here before I kill her,” I said pointing at Tia as she smirked, Janice shaking her head in the corner at the scene playing out before her.

“I won…I …ruined…Your …Life and I loved every minute of it…I hate you,” she seethed as I chuckled.

“You hate me….. You hate me!  Bitch, I’ve hated yo’ ass since the womb!” I yelled, knowing it would cut her deep because she would always tell me how she would rub Mama’s stomach and talk to me when Mama was pregnant with me.

“You wanna know why I’ve always made a point to fuck up your life?” She asked I tried to get around Roman.

“Because I wished you had never been born!” She screamed. "Move Roman!" I yelled as he refused, turning to look at Tia

“Shut up, Tia!” Roman shouted as she kept talking.

“It’s true, and she should know.”

“Well, Mama shoulda’ just swallowed when it came to you. Your whole fuckin’ existence has just been you being a living, breathing, pile of disappointment and cum! You gutta slut, I hate you!” I screamed as she seemed hurt by my words.

“Timeout!..... Roman take Kara downstairs for her to calm down…They hittin' below the belt now, ya’ll still sisters,” Janice said as I shrugged Roman off.

“I can go on my own accord. I don’t need him,” I said walking out of the room as Roman’s mom followed me.

“I’ll help you get cleaned up,” she said as I looked at her unsure of what her motive was. I was still pissed by her lil outburst and shots she was throwing a couple of weeks ago.

She betta not start talkin’ out her neck or she can get this work too. I’m tired of the bullshit…And everybody…

Roman’s POV

“I told you not to be here!” I yelled as Tia continued to clean herself up.

“She has to get used to seeing us a family, Roman.”

“Uh, no she doesn’t because that isn’t going to happen. We share Logan together and that’s all. I can’t believe you really came back here after I asked you not too…Just trying to hurt Kara,” I said as she rolled her eyes.

“That wasn’t my in-”

“Tia! You up here wearin’ the dress Kara wore when I proposed to her!…You knew what would happen when she saw you in it."

“She always takes shit so personal,” she said wincing as she touched her jaw.

“It is personal, and you had no right! Look, just get outta my house.” I said just over the day. I feel like the more I try the worse everything gets.

“How am I going to get home?” Tia cried as I walked around for the first time looking at the disaster area, that was once my bedroom with Kara.

“The same way you snuck back here after my mom dropped you off at your house…Hell, walk for all I care and leave Logan at your moms, I’ll pick her up later,” I said leaving no room for argument.

“You can’t just dismiss me like I’m nothing Roman,” she whispered as I turned to look at her.

“My lawyers will be in touch, now get out.”  I said as she sighed limping out of the room.

“This is a fuckin’ mess.”

------

Jey’s POV

“Man, where we at? This ain’t the way!” I yelled as Jimmy sped up.

“We almost there, I took a shortcut,” he said as Trin tried to call Kara back.

“Come on Kara, pick up the phone,” Trin pleaded as I felt myself losing it.

“I just need to get there man,” I sighed as Trin rubbed my shoulder. “Kara can take care of herself,” she said as I sighed.

 “I know that…I just know Kara, she gon’ hurt dat girl.” I said honestly scared about what we were about to walk into.

“Tia been pushin’ and she finally got what she asked for. It’s been coming, and it was no way to avoid it,” Trin said as I took a deep breath.

I was so on edge as we hit the exit to Roman’s house, I probably could have run faster than Jimmy was driving.

Pulling up, we didn’t see the cops or anything but saw Tia coming out with a duffle bag slung over her shoulder.

She avoided our gaze and starting to walk up the road with a slight limp.

“Damn she limpin’ and did you see her face…Man, Kara ate her ass up,” Jimmy said as Trin snickered. “Told you Kara could handle it,” she whispered as I slammed the car door, rushing inside.

As soon as I got to the foyer, I heard Kara’s voice coming from the kitchen.

“Aye, gon’ in there, we’ll look around,” Jimmy said as I went towards the kitchen.

“Roman did tell her not to be here sweetie. I dropped her off and everything,” my aunt said as I hung back giving them space to talk.

 I was just thankful Kara was ok, and I could lay eyes on her.

I watched my aunt clean up Kara’s knuckles as she hissed at the pain. She had a small cut on her lip and a couple scratches on her arms.

“Tell me how you feeling sweetie?  You can’t keep holding this in.” My aunt said as a strangled sob escaped Kara’s lips.

“Do you know how long we tried to have a baby, and that WHORE just gave him our dream without even trying.” Kara cried as my aunt reached over and gave her a hug.

“I know it baby,” my aunt whispered rubbing Kara’s back.

“Wh- What am I supposed to do with that?.…This is all wrong, it’s not fair,” Kara sobbed, my heart breaking for her.

Pulling away, my aunt took Kara’s hands in hers. “I’ll tell you what you do…..Leave him, Kara……Leave this town and allow yourself to heal,” My aunt said as I looked at her in shock.  

She actually told Kara to leave Roman and start her life over.

“How do I do that?” Kara asked as my aunt smiled at her.

“Take it one day at a time,” she whispered as Kara nodded wiping her tears.

“You right, I need to leave…..Cause’ if I don’t leave, somebody gon’ get hurt,” Kara whispered, as I felt a chill run down my spine at the coldness of her voice.

“I know it, baby… I can feel it coming, and I don’t want that,” my aunt said as Kara nodded in agreement as they sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until my aunt cleared her throat.

“So, do you have any places in mind?” she asked as Kara cracked a smile.

“I guess it’s time to give Boston another try,” she whispered with determination as I smiled.

I knew what that meant...She was finally going to put herself first and go back to medical school.

And she didn’t know it yet, well, maybe she did but I’m going to be with her every step of the way.

There was no way I was losing her now…

When the divorce is final and Kara’s ready….She will become Mrs. Fatu….

Why do I say that?...... Because you can’t run from destiny and Kara was my destiny.

Taglist:

@reci24 @southerngirl41 @vebner37 @jeyusos-girl

@melaninsugababy @romanreignkisser @bebesobrielo

@arination99 @2-muchsauce @bakugoumarianawrites

@empressdede @alyyaanna @christinabae @anonandwannakeepitthatway @venusesworld @jeyusosgirl  @theninthwonder @mya2real  @justazzi @whatdoeseverybodywant @reignsboy19 wooahmiri alichesmi pytbgeezy @ superpietom  @harmshake

@truefant4sy @yana3sworld amandairene88 unapologeticqueen94 empressdede xbriexx

tshepisho thatgirlest98 zdotspinalot mainthingdoja jimingotthajams rose-bliss mrswolffs-blog maeb99 jstarr86 sayyestoheav3nn digidestned  heathetherlamont30 trashbin-nie rebelrel0987

kriissy4gov brokenglassslippers headoftheetable

pittieprincess22 mindairy jaded-human mainthingdoja

[redrose10]

Cafe cafe owner Yoongi x Female Reader

Summary: With only a few dollars left to your name you weren’t sure how you were going to survive. Thankfully, Suga’s Cat Cafe came to the rescue offering you a job when you needed it most. Not only did it pay decently it also came with perks like unlimited free coffee and a cute, but grumpy cafe owner named Yoongi. At first you believed it was him that saved you at your worst, but as time went on you started to wonder…who rescued who?

Warnings: Mentions of depression, suicide and self harm, going to therapy and taking meds, anxiety, lots of angst, bullying, injury, getting drunk, talking about consent and being taken advantage of in a sexual way, tiny hint of smut

Word count: 3,904

Part 1 here

It’s taken waaayyyy longer than I planned, but here is part 2 finally. I hope you like it and thank you for the patience! Tag list: @captainchrisstan

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

It had been almost a month since the incident at the cafe. Thankfully (or maybe not) Yoongi had been keeping a low profile since then. You had only seen him once and it was just for a brief moment while he had to sign some tax documents or something. His eyes briefly met yours before he quickly scurried away out of sight once again.

“You know you can go talk to him.”, Jimin said one day coming up to you and nearly making you jump up out of your own skin.

“About what?”, you gasped clutching at your chest.

“I don’t know… the weather, the game, or…whatever happened between you two that night.”, he replied.

“He didn’t tell you?”

He shook his head, “Not fully. He said something about being the biggest idiot and screwing everything up. I have my ideas about what happened, but I’m not one to pry.”

You gave him some major side eye because you were sure pry was his middle name. He continued with a laugh, “I just know that since you started working here I’ve seen a different Yoongi. One that I haven’t seen in years. I’m not going to push you or anything or tell you how to live your life, but I’m just going to say that I hope you don’t give up on him…not yet anyways.”

Before you could question him any more he was already running upfront and out of sight.

Later that evening after your shift was over and everyone else had gone home you stood outside the door of Yoongi’s apartment trying to will yourself to knock on the door. All evening Jimin’s words stuck with you and you thought just maybe he was on to something.

“It’s okay. Just knock. He is just your boss…that you have a major crush on maybe even love. No big deal.”, you mumbled to yourself. “Don’t look at me like that.”, you grumbled to Suga who was curiously watching you from a few feet down the hall.

Your hand was raised just as the door swung open slamming against you knocking you back a little.

“Ow”, you groaned feeling an instant bump form on your forehead.

“Jeeze fuck why do you keep creeping around like this? Are you okay Y/N?”, Yoongi spat coming over closer to inspect the damage.

“I’m okay I’m okay.”, you reassured him.

“Is there something you need?”, he asked gently pressing on the tender spot.

“No I uh…I just wanted to talk.”, you whispered, “About what happened after Jungkook’s show.”

“Y/N, there is nothing to talk about. I apologize for my actions that night. I had too much to drink and was out of line. It was very unprofessional of me and it will not happen again. Going forward we are strictly on a business only relationship.”, he sternly replied.

“No!”, you exclaimed startling him some more, “I mean um I just thought we could talk about it. It wasn’t…it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It was just you know we were both drinking and I didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings or regrets or something like that.”

“Y/N…I would understand if you no longer wanted to work here. You can give Jimin your resignation. I sincerely apologize for my actions. It won’t happen again.”, he said with a curt nod before closing the door and heading back up to his apartment.

That did not go at all like you had planned so you accepted defeat giving Suga a light pat on the head before walking to the front door.

“Hey Jimin.”, you sighed one morning many weeks later. Things between you and Yoongi had gotten even more awkward after you tried confronting him leading you to ask Jimin for help and he agreed to meet you at a cafe near your apartment.

“Morning Y/N!”, he smiled.

You had no idea how someone could be so happy at all hours of the day.

“Sooooo you and Yoongi make up yet?”, he questioned.

You scoffed, “No not exactly. Things are actually worse now.”

He chuckled, “Yeah Yoongi can be a handful sometimes.”

“Yeah that’s kind of why I wanted to meet up with you. I was wondering if you could tell me more about him. Like you know his past and stuff. Maybe…I don’t know maybe it’ll help me better understand him and then I can…I don’t know figure out where to go from there.”

Jimin looked at you with soft eyes, “Most people run away and stop trying to get to know him so I’m glad you’re putting in so much effort Y/N.” He looked like he might cry which made you want to cry too.

“Well get to explaining then.”, you laughed trying to lighten up the mood.

“I mean there’s not a whole lot to tell. Yoongi was a shy quiet kid. I first met him when we were in grade school.”

Your mouth dropped open, “Wait! You’ve known him that long?!”

Jimin laughed, “Yeah. He was shy, quiet, kept to himself, but kind and sweet. I took him under my wing and showed him my ways.”

“I thought he was older than you?”

“Shhh Y/N, that’s not important to the story. He was a good kid. Did well in school. Loved music and basketball, not much has changed obviously. I think it was his senior year of high school when everything kind of went down hill.”

“What happened?”, you questioned in awe like you were being told the most interesting story ever.

“Yoongi had always had this bully. This kid gave him a hard time for years. One day, when I wasn’t at school, he took things too far and him and Yoongi got into a fight near one of the staircases at school. Yoongi ended up getting pushed and fell down the stairs. He busted his shoulder pretty badly. Three days later was the big championship basketball game where a ton of college scouts were going to be. Yoongi was expected to be a top prospect, but because of his shoulder he flopped. He tried his best, but it was the worst game of his life and he lost any chance of a scholarship.”

“Wow that uh that’s terrible.”

Jimin took a sip of his coffee, “Yeah and that was just the beginning.”

“It gets worse?!”, you gasped.

He nodded, “Yeah…so Yoongi did end up getting into college on his own. Originally he was majoring in medicine. He wanted to become a pediatrician or something. But then he met someone…her name was Mia. Yoongi never had a girlfriend before. He’d never even been on a date so when this girl started showing interest in him he lost it. She was his everything and he did everything he could to please her. Which included switching majors from medicine to music production. She had this whole thing about wanting to date an idol or something.”, he shook his head, “So of course Yoongi did it. And of course his parents were very VERY upset about that to the point they pretty much disowned him. To this day they still barely speak to each other which has always been hard on him. So a couple years pass and things are okay. Yoongi ended up proposing to Mia and she said yes. Yoongi graduates and gets a job at a small independent record label. He was genuinely happy and I was happy for him.”

You smiled at seeing the way Jimin was smiling thinking about his friend being happy, but then his features turned into a frown. He continued, “Mia grew upset with the fact that Yoongi wasn’t a big name producer. He wasn’t working with famous idols and other artists. Wasn’t being invited to award shows or major events. He wasn’t important enough. Wasn’t rich enough. He wasn’t good enough for her. So she found someone that was. She broke up with Yoongi the night before their wedding. He was beyond devastated.”

You were crushed as if you had been there too, “Oh my god that’s awful. No wonder he’s the way that he is.”

Jimin nodded in agreement, “Yeah he pretty much just shut down after that. He stopped talking to any of his friends, even me. I’d call him every day, but he never answered. He rarely left his apartment. He didn’t trust anyone. He got really really depressed. Then one day…”, he sighed before taking a moment to collect his thoughts, “One day I got a call from his brother. Yoongi was in the hospital. His brother had found him unresponsive in the bathtub. They weren’t sure if he was going to make it or not.”, Jimin sniffled followed by a few sniffles of your own before he continued, “Thankfully though he pulled through. He spent some time in a mental health facility then moved to seeing a psychiatrist and taking medication. Those things helped with the depression aspect, but he still struggled. He didn’t really go out much. He had a few relationships, but they always ended badly. They never wanted to be patient with him. They never gave Yoongi a chance. One day he decided he wanted to open up a cat cafe and use it as a way to help cats find loving homes. He doesn’t love for other living beings to feel lonely or unwanted so he really focuses on that. And then you got hired and here we are!”

You sipped on your tea while trying to process everything you just heard. You had no idea that he had been through so much and you had struggled with your own mental health before so you knew how difficult that could be.

Jimin reached for your hand and gave it a little squeeze, “Y/N, I’m not trying to dump all of this on you or make you feel guilty or anything, but ever since you started working at the cafe I noticed a different…a new Yoongi. He smiles more, he laughs more, he’s more talkative and open. I mean you got him to go to Jungkook’s show. I made $15 from Namjoon off of a bet because of you.”, he laughed.

“So…so what do I do Jimin? I…just…I think it’s all ruined.”

He quickly shook his head, “It’s not Y/N. Please give it another chance. Just talk to him.”

“Jimin I already tri-“, you said, but he cut you off, “Try again. Please. One more time. I can see so much life being brought back to Yoongi when you’re around. Talk to him one more time. Be gentle, but firm. He’ll listen.”

“Alright.”, you sighed, “I’ll talk to him.”

It was a week later when you finally had the chance to talk to Yoongi again. The cafe had closed early for an employee appreciation outing. Of course Yoongi was “busy” and couldn’t attend, but handed Jimin his credit card to pay for all of the activities and dinner for the group before he headed back up to his apartment. Jimin so kindly came up with a story about how you were going to have to miss out on the evening, but that you will be there in spirit giving you the opportunity to speak with Yoongi since no one else would be in the building.

You grabbed dinner from Yoongi’s favorite noodle spot a few blocks over and walked it back to the cafe. This time you were firm and confident when you knocked on his apartment door. You did slightly falter a little when he first opened it, but you regained your composure after noticing the surprise on his face when he saw you.

“I brought Jajangmyeon!”, you exclaimed with a smile while holding up the bag.

“Aren’t you supposed to be out with the rest of the team?”, he questioned.

“Nope, according to Jimin I ate a moldy bagel this morning and am unable to attend so my evening is free now.”

“Y/N, I don-“ he started, but you stopped him, “The foods getting cold. Should we go up and eat at your place?”

He silently nodded while stepping aside to let you up. His home reminded you a lot like him. It was soft and comfy and cozy. He had a candle burning that smelled like cinnamon and vanilla and somehow that just suited him. He offered you a drink which you happily accepted and the two of you began in to eat in silence at the table. When the meals were finished you cleaned up and walked over to the couch, “So should we watch a movie or maybe the basketball game? It’s like a championship right?”

“Y/N, why are you doing this?”, he mumbled taking a seat next to you.

“Doing what?”

“You know what. Skipping the outing. Bringing food here. Acting like nothing happened. I think maybe you should just go.”

Jimin’s words of gentle, but firm replayed in your head and you stood up and brushed yourself off. Slowly you started walking towards the door, “If you truly don’t want me here I’ll leave. I won’t force you to accept my company. I just…I just want you to know that I really do like Yoongi. I like you a lot and I never meant for that night after the show to seem like I didn’t. It just wasn’t the best time for that. I want to get to know you more. I want to spend time l with you and do whatever makes you happy. I just hope that one say you can accept that.” When he didn’t respond you continued to the door, but just before you were able to grab the handle he grabbed your other hand into his. Silently he pulled you back to the couch to sit down.

His hand was still tightly griping yours and you were entirely sure if he even realized it. He seemed deep in thought. After what felt like an eternity he began to speak, “I’m terrified Y/N. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like this about someone and I’m terrified I’m going to wake up one morning and it will all be gone. You don’t know what you’ve done to me.”

“I’m sorry.”, you whispered, but he shook his head. He went on, “I mean what you’ve done to me in the best way. I don’t know if I can even put it into words.”

You squeezed his hand a little more, “Please try Yoongi. Do the best that you can. Help me to understand you.”

He cleared his throat, “You just uh I don’t know. It was like from the moment I first met you I felt something. Kind of like a burning want I guess… a want to know you more, a want to spend time with you and make you smile and laugh. I wanted you to joke around with me like you do Jimin and draw me funny pictures like you do for Taehyung. I wanted you to come to me when you needed something or when you were sad. I wanted so much with you.”

He ran a shaky hand through his hair. He seemed to really be struggling, “That um that night we first met. You know when you came back into the cafe after closing.”, he said now scratching the back of his neck nervously, “I um…that folder of papers that I was carrying…that was…those papers were things like a will and all of the important documents for the cafe and instructions on what to do with my apartment and with Suga.”

You bit your lip to hide the gasp you wanted to release. You had an idea of where he was going with his story and you could feel your stomach twisting. You gripped his hand even harder nearly leaving a bruise.

He cleared his throat once more, “I um yeah I had planned to take my life that night. I was leaving everything in an easy to find place for Jimin. I had my mind made and was set on it. And then…and then I ran into you and you rescued me. You didn’t let my grumpiness get to you. You smiled and you talked about music. I saw the way Suga acted towards you.”, he shook his head and chuckled, “I always thought that love at first sight was such Hollywood bullshit…that is until it happened to me. I still had bad thoughts from time to time, but you made me want to get better. I wanted to be here for you…to be with you. And then I went and messed it all by kissing you.”

Sniffling you wiped away the tears that had collected on your cheeks, “Th-thank you for telling me all of that. But you didn’t mess anything up Yoongi. Not even in the slightest so please don’t think that. I want you. I want you here with me. I want to be with you too.”

You released the death grip you still had on his hand and scooted a little closer to him. Gently you brushed the stray hair out of his eyes.

“Kiss me Yoongi.”, you said barely loud enough to hear.

“Y/N we don’t hav-“

“Please Yoongi. I want it and I know you do too.”

He didn’t have to be told again so he leaned in kissing you firmly yet softly in a way that no one else has ever done before.

After pulling away to check for any negative reaction and when you didn’t get one you went back in for another kiss after seeing nothing but a gummy smile.

Those kisses lead into roaming hands which quickly moved into you straddling his lap. His hands firmly planted on your hips.

When you reached for the hem of his shirt to lift it up he froze. You could feel his body tense up making you swiftly pull back.

“I…I’m sorry. I should’ve checked with you first. I was moving too quickly. We don’t have to go any further if you don’t want to.”, you said quickly trying to get off his lap, but he held you in place.

Resting his forehead against yours he sighed, “No I…I want to. I really do. It’s just um…it’s just I’m afraid you’ll get scared.”

“Scared of what?”, you questioned.

He looked at you with wide eyes, tears threatening to fall, “Of me. You’ll be scared of me. Of my past. Of what that could mean for the future. Just like the others.”

Frantically you shook your head, “I could never be scared of you Yoongi. I promise.”

He melted into your touch a little more. “Okay.”, he nodded before standing up and carrying you with him. You squealed both in surprise and excitement as he brought you to his bedroom and softly laid you on the bed.

The two of you returned to your earlier actions as your kisses became more intense and your touches more intimate. Once again you reached for the hem of his shirt. He tensed but didn’t stop you and allowed you to remove the garment and toss it to the floor beside the bed.

You took in the sight of him with his soft tummy and pale skin that was marked with faint scars. Most appeared to be many years old except for a few that seemed to be more recent. You took him in feeling anger and sadness of your own for all of the hurt that he must’ve gone through to gain those scars.

“I…I know it’s hard to look at.”, he said already reaching for his shirt on the floor so he could cover up. You stopped him pulling him in for a kiss instead, “You’re not scary Yoongi. You’re beautiful to me. Everything about you is ethereal. And each one of these scars.”, you said as you kissed over the markings, “Is a reminder that things got tough, but you pulled through. You’re still here. And there are so many people including myself that are thankful for that. And we are here for you. You don’t have to hurt like this any more.”

That seemed to set something off in him. His lips crashed into yours and he helped you out of your clothing before pushing you back up against the head board.

After what seemed like hours and hours of pure bliss Yoongi dropped down onto the bed next to you before he curled into your side resting his head on your shoulder. His arms lazily wrapped around your waist. You could feel the heat from his breath against your neck while you carded your fingers through his damp hair.

“W-was that okay?”, he questioned nervously, “It’s been a while since I’ve done that.”, he added with a small laugh.

“Everything was perfect.”, you whispered trying to reassure him, “You’re perfect Yoongi…in every way.”

The compliment only embarrassed him further causing him to bury his face into your skin even more as a way to try and soothe himself. “Please don’t say things like that Y/N.”, he mumbled into your skin, “Please don’t say sweet loving things that you don’t mean. I don’t know if my heart can handle any more hurt.”

It was then that you realized he was crying.

“Hey.”, you softly said using your finger to tilt his chin up to look at you, “I mean it. I really do Yoongi. You’re perfect to me.“

He shook his head, “I’m the farthest thing from that. I’ll end up hurting you one day. You’ll leave like everyone else…because of me. I just know it. So please don’t think I’m perfect. It’ll make it less painful for you when I inevitably ruin everything like I always do.”

You let him cry for a while. You knew he needed it. But when it sounded like his sniffles were subsiding and his breathing was leveling out and turning into soft snores you pulled his hand up to your lips giving it a kiss and interlocking your fingers tightly with his, “I love you so much Min Yoongi and no matter how hard you try to chase me away…I’ll always fight to be here with you. We’ll fight to be here together.”

He nuzzled into you and placed one last goodnight kiss to your neck, “I love you too Y/N.”

After that you laid awake staring at the ceiling thinking about the days events. You couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought that Yoongi thinks you were the one that rescued him. The one who stopped him that night and gave him something to live for. You were content with letting him think that though. He had no idea that he also saved you. He gave you a job which helped keep a roof over your head and food on your plate. You met new friends and found a love you didn’t know you could feel. You hadn’t realized it until now, but Yoongi coming into your life gave you a purpose. He also gave you a want. A want to move on and start over and a want to intertwine his life with yours. Without him and his little cat cafe you weren’t sure where you would’ve ended up.

And then when Suga jumped up on the bed filling the room with loud purrs as you scratched the top of his head you slowly drifted in and out of sleep while pondering the question of who rescued who?

[junipers-archive]

hey idk how your requests for fics/oneshots work but i thought of this idea! could you do a reader who gets injured a lot(bruises, scratches, burns) and doesnt seem to notice why shes in pain and spencer is always super worried, or points them out and asks if their ok and they are just genuinely like "huh??" like no clue they were actually hurt. i love protective spence. (this is totally self indulgent i spent 3 hours reading in the sun and didnt realize i was burnt until someone noticed ngl)

"Ow!" Suprisingly its not you who screeches, but Spencer who has been watching you like a hawk the entire case.

He had just witnessed you trying to retrace the steps of the serial killer you were tracking and cut yourself on the nearby wire fencing. Walking over to you, you notice his expression, eyebrows scrunched and mouth downturned.

"How does that not hurt?! It hurts me just to look at it!"

You're about to ask what he's talking about but you notice his pointed stare and follow his gaze to the slash down your upper right forearm. Its bleeding, which you would've realized if you hadn't been busy staring at him.

He looks over to hotch and gets a nod of understanding. And you realize you've done it again.

"oh. oops." Its all you can say, all you can come up with because it doesn't hurt, and also he's standing really close to you, too close, you can smell his cologne, which is clean but sweet and perfect and-

"How-how does this even happen to you?" He snaps you out of your daze, now guiding you to the car, popping the trunk to get the med kit out. He supposedly started it 'for the safety of the team members should something happen'.

Though everyone knows the only team member who needed it was you. You're 99% sure the only reason Hotch agreed to the carry on was because he was tired of having to ask for band aids at every police station you had to cooporate with.

Once you take a seat in the trunk he begins cleaning you up, which to your embarrassment, happens almost every case. But it was hardly ever your fault, your body just rarely experienced the sensation of pain.

Even when it meant you walked around with paper cuts on your fingers all day and only noticed the blood while doing paperwork.

"Sorry..." You mumble, lips twisting into a grimace at your childishness, you can't even take care of yourself, your coworker has to keep an eye on you. "You should be focused on the case, not worried about if I'll break my arm and not feel it.."

You cringe at his slight smile, expecting to be made fun of. "I-Its fine, Y/n I like taking care of you."

Rolling your eyes at his sweetness you tilt your head, "You really like having to keep your eyes on me 24/7, making sure I haven't gone and cut off a finger or fell and broken a bone, you want to keep your eyes on me?"

"Yes, I quite like it actually." And he's grinning Spencer Reid is grinning up at you like he's won the lottery, like looking after you is some prize he's won.

"What-Whatdoyoumean-" you begin quickly but he interrupts you,

"All done!" And he's walking away, he's really just walking away like he just didn't do what he just did.

"Spence! Spencer you come back here right now!" And now you have everyone looking at you like a lunatic. But by god you will find out exactly what he meant.

[footygirl114]

Celos (Alexia Putellas X Reader)

Hi, bet no one saw part 3 coming so soon! But well here it is, this slow burn build up is quite fun for me 😂😂

Links to Part 1 and Part 2

Your phone ringing the following afternoon interrupted your pacing of your living room. You had snuck out of Alexia’s apartment just as the sun was rising, it was easy considering hat you had slept on the couch not wanting to leave her alone, but also not wanting to cross any lines. You had left a note on the counter with a simple message of thank you, see you on Monday.

The panic set in as soon as you got into the elevator and once you made it to your apartment you immediately changed and went on a long run, and then hit the gym. You tried to tire yourself out and when you go got back to your apartment mid morning, you decided to deep clean your apartment. When that was completed, you had resorted to pacing your apartment. 

The working out and cleaning was able silence your thoughts, but as soon as you stopped the thoughts came back. You couldn’t stop thinking about Alexia. You were thinking about what could have happened to her, why you couldn’t protect her, and most of all how you were going to face her again without wanting to be close to her. You had to get the thoughts under control so you could work tomorrow and put back on the professional face to keep Alexia safe. 

When the phone rang, it startled you but also shook you out of the deep spiral you were in. Looking at the caller ID you immediately straightened up and answered the phone with a “Hi Michelle.” 

“Y/N, what the hell happened last night? I saw the news reports today and have been waiting for your call to update me.” Michelle immediately started in on you, her tone of voice made you aware that she was pissed off at you. 

You took a deep breathe and said “Michelle, I am sorry, I just needed the morning to decompress after last night.” 

The sigh she realises down the line makes you think she understands it but when she says “Y/N, you owe me more than that” you know she sees right through you. 

“Michelle, I did something stupid” You tell her, as you move to sit on the couch behind you. 

“Y/N” she says softly. 

Placing the phone on speaker and on the table in front of you run your hands through your hair and tell her what happened finishing with “I let her out of my sight Michelle, I let my guard down and I couldn’t protect her and she got hurt.” 

“She got hurt?” she asks you. 

“Well technically, she wasn’t the one who got hurt” you tell her, using the reminder to press your fingers around your sore face. 

“Y/N” she says with a slight warning in her voice.

You shrug as you say “I took a punch when I stepped in and neutralised the two attackers.” 

“Wait you didn’t say there was two?!” she asks you. 

You chuckle and reply “It wasn’t hard Michelle, they weren’t trained, the one just got a lucky punch before I could avoid it.” 

“I hope you can hear me rolling my eyes at you.”

You chuckle and say “I can.” 

“Can we circle back to how you think you didn’t protect her?” she asks softly. 

Leaning back against the back of the couch you cover your eyes and say “Michelle, did you miss the part where she was being harassed by two guys?” 

“No I didn’t, but you told me she wasn’t the one who got hurt. What I am hearing is that you protected her, you took the brunt of the anger and violence and she remained safe with not a hair on her head out of place.” Michelle firmly says. 

“But it shouldn’t have happened, I should have protected her.” You say again. 

“Did you check the surroundings of the room?” 

“Yes”

“Was there security guards on the doors?” 

“yes”

“Have you ever followed a client into the bathroom under these circumstances?” 

“no”

“Exactly Y/N. You did everything right and you protected her exactly like you were trained to do. Now as your boss I am proud of you, and I am glad you work for me. But as your friend, want to tell me whats really going on?” she asks you. 

Groaning you stand up and start to pace again as you say “Michelle, I almost crossed a line with her. I have never let myself get this close to a client before and I am trying to draw the line but I cant Michelle. There is something about her that I am just drawn to.” 

“Y/N, sit down I can hear you pacing.” 

Immediately you sit down and place your head in your hands on your knees as you start “I’m sorry-“

“No, shut up Y/N. It’s my turn to talk and you will listen to me.” She says sternly. 

When you do not respond she takes it as silence and continues “You are the best employee I have, and I know that you are the most professional person out there. I know you have a past and you have seen some horrible things, and you have done some things you regret. But the one thing that I know is that you will do whatever it takes to protect your clients no matter what. Thats why I know you will do whatever it takes to keep her safe.” 

“Thank you Michelle.” you tell her softly. 

“Now that the boss of me is out of the way, I am just going to say, Y/N whatever happens, do not shy away from anything. Do not hide from your feelings and just embrace it for once, It’s time to finally do something for you.” 

“I will try Michelle, thank you.” 

“I have to go, but next time send me a text at least when you take a punch.” she chuckles. 

Chuckling back you say “Of course I can do that.” 

You finish off the conversation and when you hang up you feel a bit lighter but also a bit more confused. You know you need to take a step back and keep things professional but you also want to make sure that you try to do what Michelle said. 

**

On Monday morning you are waiting out front of the building leaning on the SUV waiting to take Alexia to training. When she walks out you have a second to admire her, the sun hitting the blonde in her hair in the right light, as she looks down at her phone. When she looks up and meets your eyes you are glad you have sunglasses on. She smiles brightly at you and you have to pinch your palm to remind yourself of the line. 

“Buen Dia Ms. Putellas” you tell her with a nod and you move to open the back door for her. 

“Hola Y/N” she says and moves towards you, she places her hand on yours on the door and she says quietly to you “I missed you.” 

You nod and have to look away as you say “we should go Ms. Putellas.”

She looks at you for a moment and silently climbs into the backseat. You close the door behind you and walk around the back of the car taking a deep breath to calm your mind and remind yourself to keep this professional. When you get into the car she’s looking out the window you are glad you cant see the hurt in her eyes. 

The rest of the week goes much the same why, you keep your professional persona on and are able to not respond to any of her flirting. Luckily she didn’t have anything going on this week and with a midweek game there was little time to spend with her since you were driving her to and from the field. 

On Saturday there was a lunch time game, which meant you were waiting for Alexia outside leaning on the car early Saturday morning. When the departure time came and went and she hadn’t come out to the car yet, you got worried. As you walk back in the lobby and move to get into her private elevator, you keep thinking about what could have happen for her to be late. 

Chewing your lip your mind goes to worst case scenario and you know have your self convinced she went out last night without you and has been kidnapped. When the doors open you immediately move off them and ask loudly “Alexia, are you here?” 

As you move into her apartment and down the hallway you are met with the sight of a half naked Alexia with her track suit pants on, but only a sports bra on top, she has a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth and her hair is a mess. She waves at you and moves to the bathroom to spit the toothpaste out and she yells out “I am so sorry my alarm didn’t go off.” 

You move closer and lean on the door way to her bedroom where the place is a mess, there is clothes everywhere and with a raised eyebrow you ask her “did Hurricane Alexia hit last night?” 

She chuckles and moves past you to her dresser to grab a hairbrush as she says “I cant find my warm up top” and she moves back by you to the bathroom to brush her hair. 

Chuckling you move into her room asking “the blue and red one?” 

“Yes” she says from the bathroom without looking your way. 

You move slightly and pick up her bed spread off the floor and pull out the shirt she’s looking for, you hang it on your finger and turn to her asking “this the one you’re looking for?” 

She turns and walks out of the bathroom with a smile and says “si, you’re a life saver.” 

She moves towards you and you move the shirt behind your back and say “I quite enjoy the view without the shirt on.” 

“Y/N come on, we’re going to be late” she says as she moves closer to you with a smile. 

You shake your head and say “We have some time, you are always ridiculously early Ale.” 

She moves even closer and stands right in front of you and asks “I guess I could just warm up in the sports bra” 

“No, thats not acceptable for the queen of football” you smirk at her and move one hand from behind your back to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

She reaches a hand out to place one on your hip as she says “It would make for a good show” she places her other hand on your shoulder. She uses the momentum to pull you closer and she presses a kiss to your cheek and moves to your ear whispering “or I could put on this warm up shirt” as she pulls back with the shirt and pulls it over her head before you can realise she was distracting you. 

You stand there staring at her in disbelief as she moves and packs the rest of her stuff. Shaking your head you chuckle and say “you cheater.” 

“All is fair in love and war Y/N” she says and leaves the room chuckling. 

You shake your head following her out the door, you watch her gather her stuff and then head to the elevator. You follow her down as she has a firm smirk on her face the whole way. When you get outside you open her door and watch her in the car. 

You get into the front seat and before you can put your sunglasses on you meet her eyes in the rearview mirror and say “for the record, I prefer you without the shirt on” and you finish with a wink and then place your sunglasses on. 

She chuckles in the back and says “I will keep that in mind.”

A few hours later you had watched her score 2 goals in Barca’s 5-0 win, and you were now stood in the back of the media availability post game. She was sitting upfront beside the coach fielding questions from the media. There is one media person who has taken an extra dirty approach to asking Alexia questions. You keep an eye on her and when the time is up you move closer to Alexia to ensure she gets out safely. 

Before you can reach her the flirty media person beats you to her. You stay back, moving to stand behind Alexia, knowing not to interrupt, but you have to watch as the very good looking media person places her hand on Alexia’s forearm with a flirty smile. You watch as the media girls eyes light up and track down Alexia’s face, locking on her lips. 

You take a step closer and can see her hand rubbing circles on Alexia’s forearm. Your blood is starting to boil but when you hear Alexia laugh back it hurts more than you thought it would. 

Moving closer you look around and see the room is clearing out and Alexia’s coach is calling her over. As she moves away from the media girl she says “I will see you at the restaurant tonight at 7 then?”

The media girl smiles and says “It’s date.” 

Alexia moves towards her coach and doesn’t notice you behind her as those two words have broken your heart in two. You stand there watching as the media girl watches Alexia’s exit from the room. You continue standing there as the room clears out and all you can do is keep pinching your palm to prevent yourself from doing something stupid like punching the media girl. 

When you shake your self out of it you move to get the car and when Alexia comes out she’s talking on the phone in Catalan. You open the door for her and then continue to stay silent as you hope in the front seat you drive her home. She remains on the phone the whole time, and you park outside your building, she moves to open the door but you haven’t gotten out yet. 

She pauses her conversation and looks at you with a raised eyebrow “you getting out?” 

Shaking your head you tell her “I need to get gas.” 

She nods and says “okay I will be going out at 630.” 

You nod. 

“You okay Y/N?” she asks. 

You still haven’t looked at her but you shift the car into park and you say “I will be ready to drive you to your date, but first I need to get gas, and you should finish your phone call.” 

She takes the hint and closes the door, standing on the sidewalk she watches you drive away. You watch her in the rearview mirror and can’t help but wish it was this morning when you were winking at her in the mirror. 

[hannie-dul-set]

HOME FOR THE BITCHLESS [6].

SYNOPSIS. wherein your friend offers a room for you to crash in while your dorm is being renovated, but fails to mention that your new housemates don’t know how to talk to women (oh, and they also have an ongoing bet about you, too).

PAIRINGS. choi soobin, choi beomgyu, lee heeseung, park jongseong, sim jaeyun, park sunghoon x female! reader. GENRE. housemates! au, rom-com, sitcom, reverse harem time baby. WARNINGS. almost drowning, a nauseating amount of stupidity, swearing, sex jokes, bribery, the boys are shirtless for most of the chapter. WORD COUNT. 5.2k.

TAGLIST. @cerealdreamwriter @tyongff-ff @dinonuguaegi @certifiedmoa @blueberrgyuu0 @primantha @blu3bell4 @nunugget @hoshi-is-ult-bbg @captivq @tocupid @seosalad @ddazed-lhs @gyuszie @mifuyuyo @error-cant-function @twocupsofsuga @flowerbe0m @dangerousconnoisseurbanana @laviesm @keikeu @elavin @chaemmie @rikisly @satsuri3su @gyugyubin @junhuicosmo @skzenhalove @luvkpopp @yansbolobao @emer-syn @eggomi @drunkinjake @soobiverse @deobitifull @haechanspudu @yawnzzn27 @7myoi @toothfa-1-ry @imsiriuslyreal @maimoirs @whippedforbeomgyu

NOTE. this is my favorite chapter so far i think i peaked here. the ppt scene was inspired by anthpo, my professors' tendency to use the socratic method to instill trauma in their students, and hoshi from seventeen's tiger agenda. also, most of this was written before i found out odi has passed 😔 fly high little guy.

MASTERLIST | NEXT >

CHAPTER 6 — the obligatory pool episode.

THERE’S A HEATWAVE IN TOWN. When you wake up, it feels like you got transported into Satan’s rectum. It’s sweaty and disgusting under your covers, and kicking them off does nothing to appease the hellish humidity inside your room. But when you roll over to grab the remote for the air conditioning, blindly press on the button, nothing happens.

You try again.

It’s not working.

You jolt up from your bed, hair a mess, and armpits too sweaty for comfort. A power outage. Of course, there’d be no power on the hottest day of the year.

“Fucking shit, I’m so hot,” you announce as you make your arrival downstairs. It’s only Sunghoon and Jay in the living room. They turn away from their game of jenga upon your arrival.

“Yeah, you’re super hot,” says Jay. “I mean, damn global warming sure sucks, huh?”

The wooden tower collapses. You stifle out a grunt of agreement. “Apparently some feeders in the neighborhood broke down,” Sunghoon informs you. “They’re still fixing it. The generator also wasn’t working when Heeseung hyung went down the basement to turn it on. I think we need to get that fixed too.”

Well, shit. That’s not good news. You give Sunghoon a pat on the head for speaking thirty-six words to you today before walking over to the kitchen. Last time you checked, there was a stash of popsicles in there. You’re pretty sure they haven’t been completely water-fied by the blackout yet.

For some reason, upon nearing the kitchen island, the fridge door is hanging open. You understand why when you step on something— er, someone— on the way towards your frozen delight. “Ow!” Beomgyu hisses from the floor. There’s remnants of cold wind filtering out from the refrigerator. Beomgyu has claimed it as his territory, and he’s glaring up at you from his spot. “Watch where you’re going.”

“‘Scuse me.”

You walk over him, hiking one leg across his torso before infringing upon his fridge monopoly to grab a half-melted melon bar. This isn’t exactly how Beomgyu imagined how it’d be like to be in between your legs. “I’m not sure if you’re dense or if you just don’t give a fuck,” he says, propping himself up by the elbows as you dig through a plastic bag.

“I really just don’t don’t give a fuck.” You snap a bite out of the pale green popsicle. “Want one?”

“Give.”

“Go get one yourself.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m sure you’d love to.” You close the fridge door shut and make sure to kick his side with your foot when you cross over him again. He lets out a cry of pain. You turn back, satisfied with your cold exploits, but there is no wall separating the living room and the kitchen, so Sunghoon and Jay were witnesses to that entire conversation. “Do you also want a bite?” you ask. Their ears burn a couple degrees brighter before declining.

Was that an intentional insinuation? Yes. Do you enjoy destroying their composure on purpose? Also yes. It’s a new hobby you picked up since staying here, and it’s definitely one you’ll miss once your dorms get fixed and you’d have to move out. Jay and Jake are both particularly difficult to get through, but sometimes you can manage to fluster the former, just like now. Jake has been impossible so far. You’ll get him one day. He can’t be left unscathed.

This may seem terrible, and sometimes you do get a teensy bit conscientious when one of them starts crying or becomes temporarily incapacitated— until you remember they have this whole secret bet going on that definitely involves you, so you should be allowed to fuck around this much, right?

“Hey! Why don’t we have a pool party?”

The genius idea comes from Jake. You immediately run up back to your room upon hearing the suggestion to change into a bathing suit, pausing right before your door because you don’t want anyone waving the PD&J at your face for indecent attire again. So you throw on a beach kimono for the safety of your wallet. They emptied the jar out yesterday to buy some meat for a barbecue party that’s supposed to be scheduled this weekend, but looks like you’re gonna be having that sweet, sweet pork belly tonight right by the chlorine scent of the pool. 

You hurry downstairs, so fucking ready to be submerged in cool, refreshing water. But when you get to the courtyard— all the boys already loitering in and around the pool— you realize something. 

Something a little dangerous.

“You’re finally here!”

Oh no. They’re hot.

“We’re playing chicken fight, come jo—”

A rather scantily clad Sunghoon pushes an equally scantily clad Jake off Soobin’s unclothed shoulders and into the splash of the water. They are all bare-skinned, glistening wet, and although it’s not a bad sight to behold at all, it’s a discovery that you wish had remained undiscovered until you finally leave this damned house.

Listen. It’s not like you’ve never seen any of them shirtless or almost naked before. Jay was literally in his highlighter underwear when you first met him. But you were never put in a situation where you’re able to look at them closely because all those times have been meshed with something stupid.

It’s very easy to overlook their general attractiveness when they all act like third-graders, bitchless losers, scandalized Victorian men, or all of the above at the same time, in the same sequence. It’s really easy to forget that.

But Heeseung has his soaked tank top sticking to his skin and Beomgyu is pushing his wet hair back with a wide grin. Your housemates might actually be a tad bit more attractive than your prolonged, initial impression of them. This can cause a little internal trouble.

“Why aren’t you getting in the water?”

Soobin is the one that’s asking, having already left the water fight in the middle and is now looking up at you, chest deep near the pool’s edge. You look down. You’re not sure if he’s looking directly at you because you’re a little focused on his toned arms resting above the ledge, but if he is, then good on him for keeping up with his eye-contact practice hours.

“Hey,” you call out, crouching down and hugging your knees. “Do you work out?”

Silence. Pink scatters across Soobin’s cheeks. He coughs out an unintelligible response and disappears back under the water, quietly swimming away. Yes. This is how it should be.

Feeling a lot more at ease after confirming you still have the upper hand, you finally dip your legs into the pool and stretch out your back with a satisfied groan. Fuck, this is perfect. You’re honestly unsure how you’re supposed to transition back into life at the dorms when this house has a perfectly refreshing pool at your disposal. You don’t remember what life was like before this. You’d live here for the rest of your life if you could. But you have enough pride in your system to prevent you from extending your verbal contract with Jake. Two months. It’s a few days past the halfway point now. All you could do is enjoy this life of comfort as much as you can.

Until it gets ripped away from you in the form of Jake yanking your ankle and dragging you under the water with a horrifying splash. 

Before you know it, you’re gasping for air and grabbing the nearest thing your arms could reach out for so you don’t fucking drown— but when you finally manage to rise back to the surface, a loud inhale of air into your lungs, the person you managed to hold onto just happens to be Heeseung.

Heeseung, who’s looking down at you with wide, alarmed eyes while you’re wrapped around his waist. Heeseung, who shoves you back into the water out of panic and shock and whatever the fuck his problem is.

Jake rushes to pull you back up. Heeseung is dead to you.

“I’m sorry.”

He failed to kill you so he’s now down on his knees, timid palms on his lap, and head lowered in guilt.

“I am very sorry,” Heeseung repeats. “I am deeply reflecting on my actions.”

You’re sitting on the half log shaped chairs on the courtyard, still wet, arms and legs both crossed in petulance as Sunghoon quietly dries your hair with a towel from behind (no, you didn’t scare him into doing this). 

“Stand up.” He flinches at the tone of your voice. “Go get yourself dried up so we can finally start the barbecue.”

He’s awfully obedient. You watch as his slumped figure trudges back into the house. “Was that too much?” The back of your head hits Sunghoon’s bare stomach when you try to look at him. He’s holding your head in his hands with the damp towel in between.

“You’re always a little much,” he mumbles.

“Is that a bad or good thing?”

Sunghoon ponders for a moment, staring at your upside down face. “More is always better than less?”

You smile, snatching the towel from his hands and jumping off from your seat. “Good answer.” Two gentle pats of praise on his cheek set his skin on fire. Speaking of fire, you can already smell the scent of smoke and deliciously cooking meat wafting in the air, so you run over to Jay who’s on grilling duty, hoping to get an early bite.

“Can you pass me a plate?” he asks, flipping the cut up pieces of meat on the barbecue grill. “Thanks.”

“Gimme one.” You open your mouth, chasing after the slice of pork belly on his tongs until he brings it closer to your mouth for you to bite. “Holy shit,” you muffle out, hot air escaping from your lips.

“Good?” he asks.

“Very good.” You swallow the piece. “One more?”

He lets you snack on a bunch of well-done beef before they could reach the plate and at some point he mentions, as you’re tearing open a few packs of ramyeon to cook, that you look a lot like the curled up pieces of shrimp he’s currently grilling. You narrow your eyes at him, hand dangerously hovering above boiling water with a square of raw noodles. “Are you trying to say I look charred and have a terrible posture?”

“No.” Jay raises a piece of shrimp in the air, showing it off to you. “Doesn’t it look cute?”

Now that you’re looking at it a little closer, it does look kind of cute. Huh. “Would you eat me if I was a grilled shrimp?”

Jay thinks about it. He keeps thinking until you start smelling something burning. “I’d keep you safe in my pantry,” he finally answers. 

“So you’ll just let me spoil over and die?”

His expression drops. “Fuck.” The shrimp is unsalvageable. “I guess I’d have to eat you.”

The rest of dinner goes on as you expect. Jay and Beomgyu take turns over the grill until Jake thought he’d be naturally gifted over the fire and ended up making charcoal with the last pack of galbi (“It’s fine!” he said. “I’ll take care of it!”) and today’s heatwave suddenly becomes a whole lot hotter with the rising flame on the fucking grill right when Soobin brings out the marshmallows for dessert. It gets quickly defused by a fire-hydrant bearing Heeseung. Now your charcoal galbi has toxic frosting on them. This is the sign to move on to the next part of the program.

The set of log-themed chairs on the courtyard has a bonfire set-up at the center. Of course this unreasonably nice house has that. It’s already getting dark, ink seeping into the orange tintent sky. Jake decides to redeem himself after watching Heeseung fail to set up the chunks of wood for the nth time. “You don’t know how to start a fire? Dude, that’s so lame.” 

“You burnt all our remaining meat with those fire starting skills of yours,” Heeseung huffs, stepping aside for the self-proclaimed camping expert.

“You still ate them.” You’re pretty sure that isn’t healthy.

“Because you would’ve felt sad if I didn’t.”

“You’re both equally lame,” Beomgyu chides, plopping down beside you with a bag of chips that you unceremoniously dig your hand into. “You two haven’t even had your solo chapters yet.”

A flame erupts on the bonfire. Both of them turn to look at Beomgyu. “What?”

“What are we arguing about?” Jay joins in, looking a little too excited for the squabble.

“About the fact that I’m cooler than both Heeseung and Jake.”

Heeseung’s expression falls flat. “You dropped out to become a streamer.”

“Leave of absence! I took a leave of absence and I’m coming back next year!”

Sunghoon and Soobin are both just ignoring the mess, roasting their skewered marshmallows on the bonfire and you aspire to be that level of unbothered. “Let’s consult a professional’s opinion,” Jay suggests, and all their eyes immediately fall on you. “Who do you think is the coolest?” Apparently that professional is you.

“This is like asking which dwarf is the tallest midget,” you wrinkle your nose. “But alright. Why don’t we settle this like real men?”

“Arm wrestling?” Sunghoon jumps in.

“Cooking contest?” Heeseung pitches.

“Do you want us to beat the shit out of each other right now?” Jake’s eyes fly wide open, alarmed. “I don’t think that’s a healthy way of settling arguments.”

“The fuck? No,” you spit out. “Thirty minutes. Prepare a powerpoint presentation explaining why you’re the coolest loser. Convince me. Ten slides max. Good luck.”

Something about almost naked men scattered around your home premises, aggressively typing on their keyboards with so much concentration and determination is so funny. You’re enjoying the raw bag of marshmallows by yourself beside the fire, watching as Heeseung starts panicking when you yell out “Five minutes left!” and starts typing even more aggressively. It’s pretty entertaining. Why haven’t you done this before?

At some point Jake brings out a projector and a projector screen to the courtyard. Seems like the power is back on, and your classroom of death has been set in place.

“Okay. Who wants to go first?”

You’ve produced a clipboard while they were working very hard on the PPTs earlier, legs crossed, fire crackling in front of you, and you click the butt of your pen in intermittent seconds as you scroll your eyes from left to right across the six boys standing in front of you. Heeseung looks confident. Jay and Beomgyu, too. There’s sweat dripping down Sunghoon’s forehead and Jake is furiously flipping through his notepad like he’s cramming for a final exam. But the poor, unfortunate soul that just had to look away from your gaze is none other than—

“Choi Soobin.” He flinches, nearly letting go of the laptop he has clutched against his chest. “Give it a go. The rest of you sit down.”

He looks rattled. “I’m not— I’m not really good at presentations,” Soobin chokes out, and the rest disappear from his side.

You let your chin rest on your knuckles, leaning forward. “Are you forfeiting? Is this a forfeit I’m hearing?” He doesn’t respond. You sigh. “Choi Soobin, are you settling with a D? A tiny, miniscule, measly D?” Beomgyu lets out a snort. You shoot him a sharp stare. “The other Choi, please shut the fuck up unless you want me docking points from you. Choi number one, please start your presentation.

Beomgyu straightens in his seat and Soobin hesitantly clears his throat, turning towards the blank, white projector screen as he holds the clicker with a visibly shaky hand. “Good— good evening,” he starts. “My name is Choi Soobin, and today I was tasked to explain why I am the coolest housemate out of the six. The answer is I am not. I’m not very cool. But—”

When he clicks to the next slide, your clipboard clatters on the ground.

“But I do have a hedgehog, and that’s kinda cool?”

“Holy shit,” you exhale a breathy squeak, the picture of the rodent’s cute little snout occupying half of the large screen. Soobin cycles through a bunch of photos of his hedgehog and the various screams of delight you’re eliciting after each photo makes him smile a little bit more. “Look at that little guy! Oh my god. What’s his name? Where is he? Can I meet him? Please let me meet him, Soobin I am begging you, I will get on my knees for you.”

“His name is Odi and he’s currently living at my parents’ house,” he explains. “I’ll invite you sometime.”

“That’s cheating! This isn’t part of the guidelines!” Jake interrupts, pointing an accusatory finger at the photo of Soobin holding Odi in his hands. Your coos are unceasing.

Heeseung nods along. “Professor, I believe this is completely unrelated to our topic at hand.”

Soobin looks visibly offended. You straighten your expression and click your tongue. “Ahem,” you start. “As much as I believe that Odi is the darn cutest little shit to ever exist and I will die for him given the chance, Heeseung is right. Mr. Choi, I’m afraid I’d have to give you a C.”

He presses the clicker. The slide is back to the video of Odi running down a slide.

“Okay. B minus.”

Now it’s the one where he’s laying stomach-up on the floor.

“Fuck. God dammit. B plus and that’s it. Soobin, sit down. Heeseung, you’re up next.”

Soobin seems satisfied with the grade, dimples popping out with a smile as he takes Heeseung’s seat in the audience when the latter readies himself for his turn. He stifles out a cough-laugh, one corner of his mouth crookedly twitching upward, confidently sauntering up to the front with his iPad, and it’s mildly unsettling because he’s usually Nervous Boy #2. But it’s almost cheating how pretty his teeth are when he’s smiling. 

And apparently he’s aware of that fact. Because after projecting his title slide (LEE HEESEUNG 101: the anatomy of a Cool Guy™), the next thing that appears is actually a photo of his very charming smile, coupled with Chip Skylark’s “My Shiny Teeth and Me” as the background music for his scientifically-grounded explanation. The next slide is a zoom in of his eyes next to a photo of Bambi. He has a venn diagram. This is actually pretty compelling.

Heeseung is a good speaker. He’s really good. The rest of his presentation goes smoothly, finishing it up with a list of references in APA format. Jake and Jay give him a round of applause.  “If you have any questions, I’ll be more than happy to answer them,” he smiles.

“That was a fantastic presentation, Mr. Lee. I particularly liked the part when you demonstrated your ability to make very impressive, but also very alarming sounds with your fingers.” You flip through your very blank clipboard, nodding and throwing out hums at the times you deem appropriate. “I’d give you an A plus, but...I have one question for you.”

He nods. “Yes?”

“Heeseung, can you hug me?”

It evidently catches him off-guard, just as you predicted— persona of confidence crashing down like a waterfall as he stutters out, “Wh—what?”

You clear your throat. “Only cool people are able to hug me. I need to confirm that you’re cool.”

“I can hug you!” Jake declares right next to you.

You blindly reach out your arm to give him a head pat. “See. Jake says he can hug me so he must be pretty cool. Heeseung, you can do the same, can’t you?

There it is. He’s back to being nervous and you feel like your job here is done. “O–of course,” he stifles out, following it with a strained laugh of weak incredulity. “Why wouldn’t I be able to hug you?”

“Then prove it.” You stretch out your arms, ready to squeeze and be squeezed. “Give me a big ‘ol squeeze, pretty boy.”

You stay like that for ten seconds as Heeseung remains glued to his spot in front, eyes shaking and nipping at the dead skin on his lips. You let your arms fall back to your sides. “Okay. C minus. Next.” His expression quickly transforms into offense.

“I feel like this grading system is a scam.”

“No hug, no opinion. Sit your ass down,” you click your tongue, smacking him with the clipboard when he weakly trudges back and squeezes next to Beomgyu on the crowded seat to your left with the box of snacks occupying most of the fake log, even though there’s clearly enough space next to you because Jay already started walking to the front even without your instruction.

Jay does not give an introduction, only a rough clear of his throat and he opens his presentation with just a slide occupied with his face. Slide two is another picture of his face, only slightly zoomed out. The next one has the hashtag JWU. Then there’s a full body mirror selfie.

The rest of the presentation proceeds in the same manner— a wordless slideshow of what is possibly his Instagram feed and before you know it, it’s already over. “Okay,” you exhale, pressing your palms together in front of your lips. “I understand that you are indeed a very handsome individual, Mr. Park, but what does that have to do with the assigned topic?”

“The question is why I am the coolest one here,” he says. “I’m cool because I’m Jay Park.”

It falls quiet.

You finally break the silence.

“Shit, that’s a pretty compelling argument.”

“This is bullshit!” Sunghoon argues. “He didn’t even say anything! There was no discussion! He should be disqualified.”

Jay remains unfazed. He defends with irrefutable wisdom, “Sometimes pictures speak louder than words.”

“Damn.” You let your clipboard fall to your lap. “I’m giving you an A.”

“Fuck yeah.”

Your decision elicits outrage from some of your students. “How is he getting a higher grade than me?!” one of them raises.

“He’s getting a higher grade because he doesn’t think I have cooties, Heeseung.” 

Heeseung throws his arms in the air in defeated frustration as Jay takes his snug seat right next to you again, a victorious smile gracing his face. You run your eyes through your scratch paper once more, pen tapping at the edge of the board. “Beomgyu, do you want to go next?” you ask, which is a mistake on your part because he starts acting just as obnoxious as Heeseung, which— if anything— just triggers your desire to make him crumble to his knees.

He even pulls out a lecture stick, testing it out by snapping it at full length on his palm. Is the fucker trying to go after your role as professor? Where the fuck did his glasses suddenly come from?

“Alright,” Beomgyu begins, the first slide displaying the words Why Choi Beomgyu is the coolest Housemate. “First thing’s first, does anyone in the audience know what my name is?”

“Oh, me!” Jake raises his hand. “Choi Beomgyu!”

“Correct!” The next slide appears when he hits the screen with the stick, revealing his name in a large, bold font with large spaces in between each syllable. “Choi. Beom. Gyu. Choi Beomgyu. Now, I’d like to direct your attention to this specific syllable right here—” he draws a circle around ‘Beom,’ “—what does Beom mean?”

“Offense,” Sunghoon answers. Beomgyu’s face scrunches up.

“What? Fuck, no. Another meaning— oh! Yes, Soobin hyung?”

“Tiger?”

His eyes brighten. “Exactly!” 

The next slide is a photo of a tiger on a field of green grass, grooming its fur as Beomgyu passionately rattles on with fun facts about the animal. You have no idea where this is going. “Tigers are some of the most amazing creatures on the planet, they are the largest members of the cat family and are renowned for their power and strength. As the largest member of the cat family, Tigers are strong, powerful and one of nature's most feared predators—”

“Did you get that from a website?” Jay interrupts.

Beomgyu dismisses him. “Yes, I did, but that’s not the point. The point is—”

Next slide. A hit from his lecture stick. It’s more text. Beom = Tiger. Beom = Choi Beomgyu’s cute nickname. Tiger = Beomgyu. 

“We have discussed that tigers are the coolest animals in the world. My name has tiger in it. Therefore I am the coolest person here. End of presentation. Thank you.”

He drops the stick to the ground and is about to walk away with Jake’s applause, but your penetrating stare stops him right before he reaches the crackling bonfire. You scribble on the clipboard before letting it settle face-down on your lap. You look up at him. “Beomgyu, are you a furry?”

Beomgyu freezes. He lets your question settle in his system before voicing out a very loud, very crunchy, “What the fuck?”

“Is this your way of telling us that you’re a furry?” 

“No! What are you talking about?” he hisses. “I’m just saying that since tigers are cool, that means I’m also cool and—”

“So, you’re identifying with a tiger?” you cut him off.

He presses his lips together, cautious. “Yes…”

“Because you have the word tiger in your name?”

“Yes.”

“And because they’re cool?”

“Yes. We’ve established that alr—”

“Okay, so you’re a furry?”

“Ye— no!” he yells out. “I’m not a fucking furry!”

“Understood. You’re a furry in denial.” You write something down on the clipboard. Beomgyu’s shoulders slacken in defeat. “I’m giving you a B plus. Take a seat, Tigerboy.” Though he grumbles in distaste, he listens to you anyway, trudging deflatedly back to his seat next to the equally grumbly Heeseung.

There are two people left to be victimized. Jake looks excited, so you don’t want to indulge his positive emotions. “Sunghoon,” you call out with a pleasant smile. He squeezes his eyes shut and mutters something under his breath before forcing himself up the log without you having to tell him. “Good boy. Go set up your thing.”

Unlike the rest, Sunghoon doesn’t have a laptop or phone or flash drive with him when he awkwardly takes the presenter spot in front. He’s standing on the balls of his feet, arms tucked behind his back and lips tightly pressed together nervously. “Mr Park,” you pull down your clipboard. “You’re free to project your slides.”

“Well,” he coughs out. “The thing is.”

“Yes?”

He exhales loudly. “I don’t have any slides.” You raise a brow. “I don’t know how to use powerpoint.”

You look at him. “I see.”

“I don’t know how to use this projector, either.”

You pause.

“Okay. I understand.” He breathes out a sigh of relief. “Alright, next present—”

“Wait!” Sunghoon stops you. “I can still give my presentation, I don’t need any dumb slides! I’m just as cool, if not cooler than the rest of them, so you can’t just skip over me.”

“Mr. Park,” you start. “Unfortunately, one of the criteria for this presentation is the quality and organization of your slides. I do not see any slides being presented, Mr. Park. You may present next time once you’re fully prepared.”

“What about Jay?” he tries to reason. “He just showed you a preview of his camera roll!”

The man in question has his mouth hanging open, pausing in the middle of stuffing a nicely toasted marshmallow into his mouth. You let out a sigh. “He had philosophy, Mr. Park. Philosophy,” you explain. “Do you have philosophy? Are you confident that you can convince me with your words alone? Without the help of cute animals and pictures of your pretty face?”

At the mention of his face, his knitted brows of frustration quickly melt into faint pink hues dusting his cheeks. You sniffle a little, rubbing a finger under your nose as you flip through the next page of the clipboard that’s resting on your lap. “Meet me in my office after class,” you tell him. Sunghoon grunts and stomps back to his seat in defeat.

“This sucks balls.”

“You have quite a few options to pick and choose from here,” you hum. “Jake, you’re the last one up. Please tell me you have a presentation prepared.”

“I do, and it’s gonna blow your mind,” he grins.

“Looking forward to it.” You watch blankly as Jake runs up to the front to connect his laptop to the projector, an excited bounce in his every movement and you start wondering how you can shatter this one’s hopes and dreams.

He asks if he can start. You give him a nod. At the click of a button, something boomerangs into the blank screen with 2007 Windows graphics and animation. The atrocious mismatch of fonts say Jake Sim is the coolest one here and here’s why.

“Reason number one—” Jake starts his presentation, turning over to the next slide and your vision is attacked with more outdated graphics, more jarring transitions and animations. “—I’m super funny. Allow me to demonstrate.” He begins by clearing his throat. “What did the Italian chef get sent to jail for?”

“What?” you go along.

“Too much assault.”

An assault is also a very proper descriptor for his PPT aesthetic. An assault to your eyes. It’s like watching a car crash that you can’t look away from even if you try. Reason number two is that he has a great smile (he does). Reason number three is because he has a dog (he also does). Reason number four doesn’t exist because he miscounted and skipped over to Reason number five.

“And lastly, Reason number ten—”

He takes something out of his pockets. It’s a couple dozen bills being thrown into the air.

“I have a lot of money.”

The rest of the boys are quiet. Jake grows quiet too, chest rising and falling after that very enthusiastic presentation and his wide grin slowly melts into that muddled with nervousness and unease because you aren’t saying anything yet— just looking at him with stern eyes and a sharp gaze. “W-well?” he rasps. “How did I do…?”

“How much?” you ask. He cocks his head in confusion. “How much money do you have?”

“Oh.” Jake blinks, now understanding. “I don’t know but it’s a lot.”

Your eyes sparkle, posture straightening. “Will you give me some of that money?” The unease has left Jake and has now transferred to the other five boys around you. Oh boy. Oh no, their eyes all seem to be saying.

“Sure, why not.”

You clap your hands together. “Jake wins. Class dismissed. Good night.”

It doesn’t take long for chaos to break out.

Heeseung and Jay are demanding for a recount (there is nothing to count except the sweet, sweet cash you’ll be receiving) and Beomgyu accuses you of being a slave to capitalism (that should’ve been evident from how you tried to scam money out of them with nudity and a jar on your first week here). Soobin starts clearing up the projector set-up and Sunghoon is on his knees begging for another chance to do his presentation as you watch the digits on your phone screen bump up in real-time when Jake wires you a decent chunk from his bank account.

Another successful day at the residence. This heatwave is better than you thought.

HOME FOR THE BITCHLESS. © hannie-dul-set, 2023.

[slackerlifewhere]

In defense of Ron Molan

Since I already wrote a post about Deruth, I'm going to make one for Ron as well because I'm absolutely confused why some readers hate him too.

Fair warning once again, if you haven't read or finished the first volume of TCF, please be prepared for SPOILERS. Thanks!

So...this is going to be a long post too. Be prepared lmao

Isekai and Abandonment

Like with Deruth, the most common thing some readers hate about Ron, is how he abandoned OG Cale and didn't seem to notice a difference when Cale and Kim Rok Soo got swapped.

Like I mentioned in my post about Deruth, please put yourself in their shoes before criticizing or hating them. Imagine this.

You noticed that a friend or family of yours, someone who you know for how many years, suddenly changed. The changes aren't obvious. There are some parts of their personality that are still them and some that have changed. What would you first think?

Transmigration? Long lost twin? Clone? Possession? No. The first thing you'll probably think is they have a problem that they can't tell you or maybe they just want to change. You'll be confused but you won't think too much about it. It happened but what are you gonna do about it? Ask them? And if they don't tell you why, would you push for it? Maybe you'll continue to watch and see if you'll find something incriminating but it won't ever answer your questions unless the other person talks.

So is Ron at fault for not noticing this after serving OG Cale since he was a baby (and changed his diapers lmao)?

Yes and no.

He should've asked Cale, former KRS, more about the topic. He should've pushed because he's an assassin. It's his job to know more. But he didn't push because there is some truth to Cale's first impression of Ron.

He cares for OG Cale but it's not enough for him to leave behind his thirst for revenge and completing his goals. And in all honesty, I find it logical for him to leave OG Cale to join Choi Han in TBoaH.

He lost his whole family to Arm, with only Beacrox as his reminder of what he lost. He was accepted as a butler for the Henituse family but that doesn't mean he forgot his past as an assassin. He'll always be an assassin and he'll leave behind whatever attachments he has depending on how useful that attachment is.

He only stayed in TCF because OG Cale was replaced with Kim Rok Soo. He was intrigued but not enough to completely leave his mission. It only changed when Cale got angry when he lost his arm and helped him gain a new one. He now owes Cale a debt.

Before, he owes the Henituse family a debt because they gave him a place where he and his son can hide in. He repaid that by being their butler and possible protector from other assassins or danger (tbh I dunno if they know he's an assassin). Still, his mind is focused on any opportunity to find and kill the organization that ruined his life. So it was easy for him to leave when he first noticed the connection Choi Han has with Arm.

Saying he abandoned Cale because he doesn't care is not completely wrong but it's also not completely right. He has layers. (Like Shrek and his onion lmao)

Lemon tea and Scary butlers

Another reason why some readers don't like Ron is, funnily enough, because of the lemon tea that he keeps giving Cale. And because he scares Cale.

Lemon tea? Seriously?

Some say Cale hates it and Ron keeps giving the drink. They say it shows that he doesn't care about his master and that he disrespects him. And yet, here I am just finding this absolutely hilarious.

Personally, I don't like tea so I understand why Cale doesn't like lemon tea. But I just see this interaction with Ron as a comedic relief and them bonding in their weird way. Sure, it gets repetitive, but after looking up what benefits a person gets from drinking lemon tea and knowing all the mess Cale gets into 24/7, it's pretty tame that lemon tea is the only thing he gives to Cale. These two are so emotionally stunted but that doesn't mean Cale will stay quiet if he truly doesn't like the tea Ron keeps giving him.

He's the master and Ron is the butler. Ron and Beacrox are both loyal to him. He can order Ron to stop giving him lemon tea anytime he wants. He talked down stupid nobles and priests for worse things they did and didn't do (because of Mary). I don't believe he can't tell Ron that he's being disrespectful to Cale as his butler.

If your reason is Cale is too scared of Ron to tell him to stop, then I think you don't understand their dynamic.

Cale finds everyone, not just Ron, scary. He finds the kids scary. He finds Choi Han scary. He finds the Whale Tribe scary. They're OP and can kill him before he can blink. And yet he's very close to all of them.

Ron scares him because Ron is an assassin and is very good at his job. And honestly? A normal person would be scared of Ron. But the difference is, Cale is not normal and he can also kill anyone if he wants to (are his ancient powers and skills he gained as KRS decoration to you guys?). Him being "scared" is him being respectful of Ron's abilities. He acknowledges Ron's strength but also finds the way he smiles when he can kill someone, "scary" (understandable).

So no, the whole lemon tea thing and him being scared of Ron that he can't tell him to stop giving the stupid tea doesn't make sense as a reason for hating or disliking Ron.

Oh, and last thing.

Ron actually gave Cale a sweet tea once early in the novel. I think it was before the war and Cale was stressed with a lot of things, including maintaining the shield around the territory. So...yeah, he shows concern for Cale in his own twisted way.

Again, layers.

___

That's my opinion about the matter. In short, Ron is a human being who can be selfish and dangerous. He's a person who has emotions despite being an assassin. He has his own goals. It's not that hard to understand him.

[stargazedwinchester]

Too Soon? | Sam

Summary: Charlie teams you both up with the Winchester brothers for a case. After a very long road trip toward a hunt, someone's caught feelings for you.

Word count: 1,113

Let me know if you want a part 2!

♱⁺. ⋆˙✧⋆✧˙⋆⊹.♱

Charlie's excited grin means two things; there's a new World of Warcraft DLC, or she really wants you to do something with her. You huff, loosening your grip from her hands. "Char, I honestly really don't want to. I love you, I do, but..."

"Why, Y/N? It'll be so fun. Sam and Dean are so fun and so cool, you'll really like them. Even if it's a shitty boring hunt, at least you'll have me." She bounces up and down on the spot. "Please? Pretty please?" She begs, her ruby hair shining from the daylight coming through the window behind her. She looks at you in your eyes, pleading for you to once just say 'yes'.

You had been childhood best friends with Charlie ever since you both were bullied at school for playing video games during lunch breaks and recess. Both of you were the very few girls who would actually spend time around nerdy guys and weren't put off by them. Not that anyone gave them a chance, though.

"Okay, fine. I'll go with you. Just this once, though, you owe me." You give in, a smile creeping onto your face. What's the worst that could happen?

After Charlie's parents passed in a horrible accident when she was 14, she had been adopted by your father as both families were extremely close, good friends. It was almost like a dream come true for both of you at the time, being able to actually have a sister who's also your best friend? That's the best thing to ever happen to a child.

♱⁺. ⋆˙✧⋆✧˙⋆⊹.♱

You exit Charlie's beetle to a place that doesn't remotely resemble a home. "We're here?" You ask, squinting your eyes from the mid-summer sun blaring into your pupils. "Yep. They said to meet here." She says, checking her phone for any text messages. While glancing over at Charlie's phone, you notice two huge men walking toward you. "They're here!" She announces whilst the shorter man opens up his arms for her.

"Charlie!" He laughs gleefully, and she gives him a massive hug. You stand there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. "Hey, I'm Y/N." You greet the taller one, he runs his hand through his hair, before shaking yours. "Hi Y'N. I'm Sam. Nice to meet you." You look up at him flashing him a quick smile. "I assume the other guy is Dean?" You question, and Charlie pulls your arm towards her. "Y/N! This is Dean, he's my favourite. No offence, Sam." She chuckles, and Sam grunts. "None taken." He says. "Hi, Dean. Nice to meet you." You hold out your hand for him to shake it, and he takes it. "Nice to meet you. We've heard lots about you." He shows you a warm smile, his eyes a lovely shade of green that you haven't seen before.

"The gangs back together!" Charlie exclaims, you furrow your brows. "Back together? I've never met these guys in my life."

"You get what I mean."

♱⁺. ⋆˙✧⋆✧˙⋆⊹.♱

After lots of arguing about who gets shotgun, Charlie sits in the front with Dean, and you're sat in the back with Sam. Charlie passes you snacks every so often so you don't feel left out.

"So, YN," Sam starts, taking his gaze off of the trees speeding past the car. "How long have you known Charlie?" He asks, his hazel eyes meeting yours. "My whole life. She's my sister." You trail your sentence, not understanding why Sam would ask this. Dean chuckles. "Sammy, you didn't know that?" He and Charlie start laughing before she reaches over the seat to face you both. "I never told him this. Sorry, Sam." She pops another snack in her mouth, and Sam rolls his eyes. "Perks of being the least favourite, I guess. I'm out of the loop, guys." He throws his hands up in the air, a grin on his face. "It's okay. I'll tell you everything you need to know." You turn yourself round to face him, starting with the story of how you met her, where you grew up and everything that happened with Charlies' parents and your own.

The sun is setting pretty quick, the clouds turning salmon and the sky a denim shade. Dean smoothly parked the Impala outside of a small '70s diner, you all climb out and walk inside to find a free table. Luckily, the place seems busy so you assume it's got good food. You're starving at this point so to be honest, you'd eat anything at this point. You sit opposite Sam, but next to Charlie who's already looking at a menu. Scanning the table, there are only two menus. Dean and Charlie are so lost in their own world that they wouldn't even think about sharing a menu. You snatch the menu out of Charlie's hand and usher her to share with Dean while yourself and Sam work something out between you both.

You stretch your legs out and accidentally hit something long in front of you, assuming it's the table leg, you stretch out further. "That's my leg." Sam says, catching your eyes, then quickly looking away. "Sorry," you mumbled, seeing him act so awkward was somewhat charming to you, how his good looks could so easily get him so many women, yet he seems so reserved and polite. There really aren't that many men in the world like this, at all.

His golden eyes meet yours again, but you're already staring back at him. Your eyes widened in surprise, you didn't even think that he'd look at you again. "What?" He huffs, a smirk appearing. Oh, he knows he's hot. A dimple forms and suddenly, you're really attracted. "Me? Nothing. I was daydreaming." You lie.

The waitress comes over and takes everyones orders, and Dean turns around to allow you both to order. He notices how flushed your cheeks are and Sam's sly grin, and he puts two and two together. He nudges Charlie, and they both glance at you, then Sam, then back at each other with a huge smile on each of their faces. "Look at you two love birds," Dean starts, and you roll your eyes. "Please, don't start." You can't stop a simper from taking shape on your face, Charlie slaps your arm. "You two would be so cute together!" She scoffs, you've never seen her this happy about something before, it's almost scary.

"No, it's far too soon to say anything like that, Char!" You hide your face in embarrassment. "Am I not allowed to make friends?" You say, hoping Sam would have something to add.

"Is it too soon?" Sam says, grinning from ear to ear.

[shanksbaby]

Kuzan x Reader - Betrayal

You are also part of SWORD like Koby, Tashigi, Helmeppo and Hibari, tired of overlooking the crimes of some pirates because they suited the World Government. And so you too are part of the expedition to rescue the pink-haired boy from the clutches of Teach and his crew.

When Garp asked you to join the expedition, you knew it would be an arduous mission given the power of the new Emperor and you were ready for anything-or at least you thought you were ready for anything.

You were not ready, in fact, to see among the ranks of Blackbeard's pirates your old mentor, the one you always loved but never confessed your love to, the one for whom you shed tears…Kuzan, or better known as Aokiji

You're next to Garp and Koby when it happens, when you watch Hibari being frozen at his hands…You can hardly believe it when you see him, you notice some changes right away: he's grown some stubble and has become thinner, even his style has changed (leaning more toward dark). Normally you would be taken by his new look, gushing over…but now all you can do is think about who you're actually looking at.

The old Kuzan, the Kuzan of two years ago, would never freeze a marine, and then there's a different aura around him-he seems more determined, he's not the lazy ass you've come to love.

Your thoughts are interrupted by the ex-Marine's voice, even your voice seems harder -- his hard voice. He speaks to you as if he were talking to enemies…it is the same voice he reserved for pirates when he was still an admiral " You fools…What do you think you have done?"

You are motionless, no words come out of your mouth, the only one who speaks is Koby who begs Kuzan to thaw Hibari but the former admiral argues that he cannot let Koby escape when Teach is not there. Whereupon Garp's voice takes over, who orders the blonde to thaw out and return to the Navy.

"You haven't changed, you always say whatever comes to mind" Kuzan replies calmly before planting his feet on the ground, freezing the earth at his feet which causes a strong cold wind "I can't let any of that happen, Garp-san!" the former admiral shouts.

your heart stops in your throat, now it's even more obvious: Kuzan is ready to fight you…but you…you, the person who still loves him, aren't…You are still pathetically still, you can't move a muscle, not even when Garp yells at you to stay back. You can't understand how you got to all this..

"I really like how straightforward you are…so that's why I decided to live the way I want" he finishes his speech.

shortly after Garp and he start fighting, if they had told you there 2 years ago , but even a year ago, you would have laughed at the idea: Kuzan always maintained that he owed him, there was an almost father son bond between them. And now you can't help but stare at Kuzan attacking his former mentor, saying out loud things you never thought you would hear coming from his mouth.

And the worst thing is that on the one hand you still hope that Kuzan comes out unharmed, you worry about him, and you can't help but feel pathetic about these emotions. When Garp hits him with a Blue Hole, plunging him into the earth, your x-body moves on its own, moving faster than your thoughts, and Koby's cries asking where you are going fall on deaf ears.

And that's when you find yourself near the hole created by the vice admiral's very powerful blow, you kneel down trying to catch a glimpse of something, and hoping your comrades don't hear you you start calling him "Kuzan- san? Can you hear me?"

you see something miraculously move, but it looks like a slow movement, like it's dragging…. It's clear that your former mentor, the person you loved and cherished is still alive.

"Please come back to us" come back to me, you actually meant to say….But Kuzan does not respond, he is motionless, in fact you can make out the figure on the ground, looking at you…However, you cannot observe the details, you have no way to observe his reaction.

"I don't know why you joined Teach, but…do you really want to join such a despicable man? Where is your justice? The justice you taught me," you shout to him, but your shouts are interrupted by the sight of Kuzan, who jumped out of the hole with dirty clothes and broken glasses.

pt 2?

[hoodedboy79]

Of Rain and Confession/Jacob Frye

Jacob's actually present in this one 💀

-(Male Prostitute Reader)-

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Jacob Frye was a strange man.

A strange man indeed, a man that wanted so much from you yet so little, a man that wanted you close yet at arms distance all at the same time.

This 'push and pull' type relationship you two shared was exhausting. It was clear to both of you that neither one knew exactly what they wanted from the other but you both chose to ignore it in favour of the fleeting moments of closeness you could share with the other.

Jacob's eyes would linger, but only for a second, as if afraid of what might happen if he allowed himself to feel too much. And you...you tried to convince yourself it was just another transaction, another job, but the way his presence unsettled you went far beyond any payment. It was the silence between words, the tension in the air, that made you wonder—just for a moment—if there was something more, or if you were simply fooling yourself.

Sometimes Jacob would stay a while after he finished, laying down behind you, wrapping his arm firmly around your waist and keeping you close, head tucked into your nape, like a lovers embrace. Yet other times he would be snatching his discarded clothes off the floor and tugging them on before you even had a chance to fully realise it was over, and then he was out the door, leaving nothing but a few extra shillings behind on the dresser for you before getting lost in the crowd of patrons that littered the place.

It was almost an unspoken truce that existed between you. It was easier to avoid the questions that hovered in the air, the ones that neither of you were brave enough to ask. Why did he keep coming back? Why did you let him? What was this thing that tangled you together in a way that felt both intoxicating and unbearable?

Jacob's inconsistency frustrated you, but it also fascinated you. He carried himself with the confidence of someone who knew exactly what they wanted, yet every interaction with him told a different story. When he was near, there was a tension beneath the surface, a struggle he could never fully hide. And when he left, there was something in his eyes—guilt, perhaps, or fear, or something else entirely—that lingered long after the door closed behind him.

It was in those rare moments when he stayed, his breathing steady and warm against your skin, that you thought you understood him. He was a man at war with himself, torn between desire and denial. He wanted this—wanted you—but couldn't bring himself to accept what that meant. Not for a man like him, someone who wore his identity like armor, who moved through the world as though it owed him nothing and yet took what he wanted with reckless abandon.

But then he was gone again, and the reality that you didn't know him, didn't understand him—at least not fully— hit like a ton of bricks.

And then you were off with the next customer.

One night, after another of his abrupt departures, you found yourself staring at the coins he'd left behind. It wasn't the money that bothered you, any shame you might've once felt faded years ago—it was what it represented. A transaction, a barrier, a refusal to let this be anything more than what it appeared to be, a customer paying for your service.

But you knew better. You saw it in the way he lingered when he thought you weren't looking, in the way his hands trembled sometimes when he touched you, as though he couldn't quite believe he was allowed this closeness.

He wasn't the first man to question himself, wasn't the first to feel the crushing weight of shame but still allow his pockets to be emptied into your hand, wasn't the first to try and run— both from himself and the establishment— but with Jacob Frye you felt the need to give more than just some shallow reassurance but you weren't sure if he'd ever let you.

Jacob wasn't the first but he also wasn't like the others who came to you in a haze of desperation, seeking solace in your touch only to retreat into the shadows when the act was done, acting as if you'd poisoned them. There was something different about him, something raw and unformed, as if he were constantly wrestling with a truth he couldn't—or wouldn't—name.

It wasn't pity that made you feel this way; you'd long since hardened yourself against such emotions. No, what you felt for Jacob was something far more complex, an ache that wasn't entirely your own. You saw parts of yourself in his struggle, fragments of a person trying to both claw their way out of and retreat back into the shell society had forced them into.

And yet, every time you thought he might crack, that the armor he wore might finally give way, he pulled back. It was maddening, and it left you questioning why you cared so much in the first place.

A part of you always argued that you shouldn't care, it wasn't your job to care, that you should treat him just as any other customer, but you never do.

The next time he came to you, it was pouring rain outside. He looked different—soaked to the bone, hair plastered to his forehead, eyes dark and wild. He didn't speak at first, just stood in the doorway like a man unsure of whether he'd made a mistake coming here. A doubt he always had when coming here.

"Jacob," you said softly, stepping aside to let him in. He hesitated, then crossed the threshold, shaking off the rain as though he could shake off whatever was tormenting him.

He didn't reach for you right away, as he usually did. Instead, he paced the small room, his boots leaving wet footprints on the worn floorboards. "I don't know what I'm doing here," he muttered, almost to himself.

"You say that every time," you replied, leaning against the bedframe. "Yet you always end up here." Always end up in bed, always end up regretting what had happened but still seeking solace in your arms.

Jacob stopped pacing, his shoulders hunched, his voice breaking when he finally spoke again. "I don't want to end up here. But I do. I don't know why..." He trailed off, his words dissipating into the silence between you.

You watched him, wondering how many layers of himself he had buried beneath that cocky exterior. Wondering if he'd ever allow himself to be honest with you.

"You never have to explain," you said, your voice low but firm. "But you're here because you want something—something I can't give you, not fully, not the way you need. And you know that."

Jacob stayed silent for a long time, his gaze fixed on the floor, as if the weight of your words had struck him harder than any blow. He shifted uneasily, his hands fidgeting at his sides, and for a moment, the bravado he wore so effortlessly was completely gone.

In a moment of frustration, clearly with himself, Jacob snatched the hat that seemed to be almost always perched upon his head, his fingers repeatedly drumming against the brim as his other hand was pulled through his locks, gripping tightly—as if the feeling would ground him.

"You think...you think there's something more than this?" he asked, his voice strained with a vulnerability he usually kept hidden or had never felt before.

You didn't have an answer right away, because you weren't sure either. All you knew was that every moment spent with him felt like a tangled mess of emotions, but underneath it all, there was something real—something worth exploring, even if it was terrifying for both of you and almost undoubtedly would lead you both to ruin.

"Maybe," you said quietly. "But you have to let yourself feel it. I can’t do that for you."

Jacob's jaw clenched even tighter as he processed your words, and for a moment, he looked like he might turn and walk away, again. But he didn't. Instead, he took a step closer to you, closer than he'd ever allowed himself before, as if he was finally willing to confront whatever it was he’d been trying to run from.

The rain continued to fall outside, the sound like a soft drumbeat against the windows. It was a cold night, but there was warmth between you, a warmth that neither of you had fully acknowledged until now.

You didn't say anything else, not needing to. You both knew this was far from over, that there were still so many barriers to break down, so many fears to face.

But for the first time, the distance between you didn’t feel quite as insurmountable.

He was still a man struggling with himself, and you were still a man who had no guarantees—but there was something to hold onto, something that was just beginning to form, like the spark of a fire that might yet catch.

And for the first time in a long while, the uncertainty that usually clouded over you both—felt miniscule in comparison to the relief of being able to let go, ignore society's expectations and judgment even if only for a small, secretive moment—this was a step forward, however small, but a step nonetheless.

=========

Was originally going to give this a bad ending but decided not to at the last second and came up with this instead.

Hope this was decent!