#who also happens to be a serial killer oops

[sorryimananti-romantic]

HAHA YES WELCOME BABES HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR STAY GJFHKDG

not you roasting joong and praising his leadership in one breath fdkghdffkjg

ALSO STUFF YOU FOR POINTING OUT THE SHEEPS i always make that mistake and always catch it and regret it later AHAHAHA

yes dom hongjoong taking it out on the reader in the form of some spicy stuff DID I NOT TELL YOU OOPS (surprise bbygorl)

yes hehe exploiting ppl is like the first thing you must do as an aspiring politician in this era (like how come nothing else ever works) but yes it's really not a yumi fic without some political seasoning hehe

LOOK MY THESIS WAS BORING ASF STAY AT HOME SCENE but a girl can dream right dkfjghjkdf

fr hwa can breathe and i'd be a goner so i don't blame the reader for simping like that AND YES AHAHAHA THE LICKING HIS THUMB TO WIPE YOUR WHATEVER UGH I GOT THAT PICTURE IN MY HEAD. I DIED. I WRITE. :D

yes hehehe the last line thing i got that inspo from love next door they did that with their episode names (pls watch love next door)

RIGHT LIKE HOW THE STARS ALIGNED TO MEET THE JEONG YUNHO ON A BLIND DATE I'M SAT I'M READY I DO NOW KISS THE BRIDE

yes omg i basically wrote you (keep dreaming)

omg but real i do that sometimes too with the scale and hand measuring how can i not man his hand is so big ugh i cannot

YES this is basically guerrilla 2.0 bc i literally could not be bothered to come up with anything else i'm so sorry but also it's really really fun to write him as a sunshine serial killer and YES THOSE QUOTES he's literally the sun how could i not :'))

omg thank you for appreciating yeo's moodboard :D it really is fitting right? i can imagine him in a medical setting perfectly, preferable in a darker medical setting like this one

omg thank you for appreciating the characterisation too maybe i'll make this a separate fic one day LOL but yes we stan a man who still cares, even when he's uh killing ppl (FOR THE GREATER GOOD)

i said it before i say it again, there cannot be a yeo fic without chicken mention. if that happens with my fic, that's not me. that's an impostor.

LOL NOT YOU WAITING FOR ANOTHER PLOT TWIST WHEN THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SHORT CUTE LITTLE SCENARIO have i traumatised you

RAHHHHHH YES DADDY SAN ANY DAY AND LMAOO doing what ;) what do you think ;) (he sleeps, ofc)

YES SAN A GREEN FLAG AS A RED FLAG SO BASICALLY A... BROWN FLAG?

the woo cameos are very unintentional but he's so side character coded LOL

YES AHHAHAHA EXECUTIONER WHO THIS IS JUST THE CHOI SAN WE KNOW AND YES YOU LIKE HOW I THINK RIGHT HE REALLY IS A GREEN FLAG

hmm you're craving royal mingi fics? time to write my royal beauty and the beast au break who we don't get breaks in this household loren has wished for a royal au and her wish is my command-

AHAHAHAHA this may be the first time she gets called song's girl but you bet that's all she's gonna be called from now

LMAO YES WOOYO BEING THE SAME PIECE OF SHIT I MAKE HIM EVERY TIME AHAHAHAHA HE'S SUCH A LOVEABLE BRAT

i almost made him a pyromaniac and made reader a firefighter but i guess i can do that some other day 😔✌️

LOL AHAHAHAHA idk what's with me and writing woo e2l smutty fics it just hits every time hehehehe

MONSTER OF CAPITALISM SHOULD HAVE BEEN HIS TITLE FR AND YES ITS CEO X CEO RIVALS AU

bruh when i tell you i thought i wrote turns tables and went to double check AFTER writing the correct phrase clown energy fr

YES OMG idk what it's about jongho but he's so daddy coded and when he says terms like darling or sweetheart you bet it's gonna hit 100x harder

you really are colourblind to red babes idk AHAHAHAHAHA but yes if it's jongho *gets down on my knees* yessir

THANK YOU SO MUCH BABES NGL it was scary to write this without you validating every trope and every plot LMAO and i was worrying if this felt half-assed but it turned out okay :') BUT YES. BREAK. MUCH NEEDED MUCH DESERVED BREAK I'M FREEE

thank you so much for your support babes <33

Ateez as Villains

disclaimer: read at your own risk. do not interact if not comfortable with any tropes. reminder that this is a work of fiction and must be treated so. 

warnings: absolutely no morals here, 18+ mdni, illegal acts (abduction, murder, physical abuse, stalking, trafficking, financial crimes, dirty politics, corruption), suggestive/nsfw scenes, explicit language (swearing, insults), death, violence, blood & injuries, weapons, smoking, drugs, alcohol

a/n: couldn't have done this without @eightmakesonebraincell's and @chronicvagabonds' validation lmao also tribute to tite kubo for coming up with the juiciest dialogues, some of which i quoted here

Hongjoong

The Manipulator

hongjoong always knew he had leadership skills

from being the team leader whenever he played games as a young child, to growing up and eventually influencing people

he was often told that he has a certain way of pulling people’s attention and leave something stirring inside them with his words

so it is no surprise that hongjoong is where he is today. a renowned businessman, philanthropist and… politician

hongjoong adjusts the sleeves of his shirt and glances at you from the mirror

you are standing behind him, holding his coat for him. he wears it with a proud smile and holds his chin high

“tonight is very important. for me. for this country.” 

he goes on about how there will be people from all over the country

people who are the foundation of this nation. people who care about the future of this world 

and if you weren’t so blinded by the adoration you have for this man you would have called him delusional

but the fact is that you are deluded by him. hongjoong has the ability to cast a spell with his words

he feeds his supporters the lie of a better world in the near future, and they bow to him

hongjoong smiles devilishly at the thought of what entails the events of tonight

he can picture it clearly- the cheers and desperate screams of his followers as he steps on the podium

the cries of these people, as helpless as sheeps in a herd, waiting for an upright politician to save this nation 

he can feel the thrill just imagining what it will be like tonight when he addresses the nation as the new face of his political party

to a common person, he would just be another man with a good heart striving for a better change

but the common person is weak, and for them… he is their salvation

they will hear his words tonight- words he has carefully crafted himself. the cues will register in their minds, and they will end up seeking him to announce their undying support and loyalty, to shower in his glory

you straighten hongjoong’s coat and smooth over his shirt, your hands unsteady with anticipation

“aren’t you happy to be right next to me when i conquer the stage tonight?” he whispers, lifting your chin up

you meet his eyes and he can see his answer there

you hope he doesn’t see the conflict in your eyes. the conflict is to be concealed in your heart, in the deepest, untouchable corner of it

you are blessed, they tell you, to be the politician’s favoured

and you are- you truly are. hongjoong loves you. he adores you

in fact… he’s almost obsessed with you

and why wouldn’t he be? you were the one who led him here

you were the one who held his hand and showed him the right path- his partner, and now his secretary

oh, how you sometimes wish you could turn back the hands of the clock and go back to when hongjoong was hopeless and thought that the world was a wretched place beyond saving

that is when you told him that the only way to run this world was to join hands with the elites of this nation- or to become one

it must be the fates that led him to where he is today

after all, isn’t he a king without a crown? a ruler without a throne?

he is a born leader and a strategist. he has always been good with his words

it’s how he earned the favour and graces of the elites and the politicians and made a place for himself- not under them, but beside them

but to stand beside those people, you have to be a little… corrupt. and morally ambiguous

the world is not run by saints, after all

“sweetheart?” he calls when he sees you are distracted

you don’t miss the warning tone in his voice. tonight, you have to be on your toes

you have to seek out willing supporters and show them that they mean the world to hongjoong and his political party

but more importantly… you need to target other politicians, find their weaknesses and if lucky, have some join hands with you

“i’m here,” you tell him and he nods firmly, pressing a kiss to your temple

“i will see you tonight,” he promises, and you know what he means

he always gets such a thrill out of playing the leader

he gets so much energy, and he has to take it out one way or another

and what better way to take it out in the form of lovemaking?

you feel warmth course through your body as he trails his finger down the middle of your chest purposely

he almost smiles maniacally as he leaves first, giving you a moment to gather your wits

you pour yourself a glass of drink- you can’t possibly do this sober

you join hongjoong as he gives his first speech- a very normal talk about how this nation is on the verge of collapse

corruption, crime, inhumanity, dirty politics? you name it

you admire his resilience, really. whatever he is talking about comes straight from his heart, and he has been talking about these issues for a long time now

you also admire his pompousness and the audacity to talk about dirty politics, when he is the face of dirty politics

you join the audience when they clap for him, your heart full of pride

there is a break where he meets with the high-profile people and asks them to consider joining hands with him

‘to make a better world for the future generations’. such inspiring words from such a young political leader

except hongjoong’s trick is that he always, always has something over them

he has a team dedicated specifically for this task- to dig dirt on his political targets so he can wield them like the blade of a guillotine over their heads

despite his evil means to climb the top, somehow, his image and reputation remains far too clean

and that is because he knows to take these actions behind the scenes, away from any eyes

a true politician, he’s been dubbed

it is about midnight when the hall almost empties, leaving only the members of your party and some new faces- people who are willing to hear him out and decide if they want to join his party

you wish you could tell them that it is a trap- hongjoong will promise that their efforts and support will lead them to something great

‘the greater good’, he always says, except these people do not know what they are getting into

they are merely sacrificial lambs, the stepping stones that will lead hongjoong closer to his utopia

they will, for the sake of loyalty, put a blindfold over their eyes. they will hold him in high reverence as he becomes their lord, their saviour

he will feed them copper pellets and claim that this is the best that they can get while he himself sits on a throne made of gold

and when they empty every last drop of whatever they have to offer- their blood, sweat and tears

hongjoong will discard them without remorse. that is who he is- a master manipulator

when you are done wrapping up the event in the deep, dark hours of the night, hongjoong finds you in your bedroom

his chest is heaving with energy that is threatening to combust from within him

he outstretches his hand and you saunter over to him

his hands are dominating when he holds you, though his kiss is soft and unrushed

until that too becomes scalding hot

he is quick to lead you to the couch where you sit on his lap, finding him painfully hard

he groans loudly and starts to unbuckle his pants, and you instantly know what he wants- you always know what he wants

he easily slides his hard length inside your warmth and groans heavily in relief, resting his head back and just letting you both stay still

you only move to rest your head against his shoulder. he can have you like this for as long as he wants

“we have a lot of new supporters tonight,” he begins, chuckling deeply, “the polls seem to be in our favour too.”

his dark curls caress your face as you snuggle against him

“we also managed to score deals with many influential politicians and businessmen tonight,” he tells you and you look at him with pride as he names them

“soon,” he begins, trailing his hands under your dress and squeezing your thighs, “soon… we will have our people in every sector- in business, healthcare, industrial, courts… we will be controlling the nation- we… we are the leaders of this nation.”

his cock twitches inside you as he finishes that sentence and you bite your lips in thought

“what are you thinking, love?” he asks, caressing your face

“i just sometimes wonder,” you begin- can you admit your bare thoughts to him?

he squeezes your thigh as a sign to go ahead

“i wonder how we got here, joong,” you admit, “you know that we are exploiting people-”

“for the greater good-”

“for the greater good, yes,” you finish, nodding and he furrows his brows in concentration

“these people are just like us. we were once slaves of this society, but now we are the leaders. and they are our slaves. but…”

“they will offer us what they have,” hongjoong replies softly, “and we will make the best out of it. isn’t that right?”

you nod. there is no more space for any more questioning

you have never like the darkness in his eyes when you question his- your- methods

all he knows is that he is right

he knows what he is doing is wrong in essence, but it is about the bigger picture- he is doing this for his nation

and you cannot expect to run a nation claiming to be a saint

the nation is run by wolves, and to make space there, you must be some sort of a predator. that is who he has become

his grip on your thighs tighten and he starts to grind your body on him

between the sounds of pleasure is the groan of pain as he spanks your thighs and remind you of your place

“all you have to do is follow me,” he breathes into your ear, trailing his lips across your cheek. “all you have to do is stay with me. together…” he thrusts hard inside you. “together, we will rule the world one day, you and i.”

you nod and he swallows your moans as he kisses you, thrusting with all his might until you both come crashing down

he takes you to the shower and you both quickly clean up and get in bed

as you watch his figure relax and succumb to sleep, you confess to him

“you are a great politician, hongjoong,” you tell him and the corners of his lips curl in a smile. “i’m just afraid of going too far with you. every day, we learn that we can get worse than we are, yet…”

“yet, it has become my addiction and my duty,” he whispers, hand finding your bare arm and caressing it. “don’t you want to rule the world?”

“you will rule the world. i will be treading on your shadow, following you closely and sharpening my teeth… but afraid.”

“afraid of what?”

“of you,” you breathe and he opens one eye

“you won’t leave me, will you?” he asks innocently, yet it is there- the warning in his tone

you are responsible for who he is today. you are an accomplice

every person he ruins to get closer to the top, you are equally responsible for it

“of course not,” you tell him, “i can’t leave you.”

hongjoong notices your choice of words

you can not leave him- you do not have a choice

he holds you close and kisses you like he means it that night

it would be such a shame if he would have to throw you away after all of this, right? 

it would truly be such a shame if you are just like the others in the end- weak and helpless

since you know exactly what is going on inside hongjoong’s head, you tell him you love him like you really mean it and you let him hold you close

it may be a trap, but you don’t mind being trapped if this is where you end up every night- in his arms

your lord, your saviour

The Manipulator and the Manipulated

Seonghwa

Jekyll

park seonghwa is a man who is adored wherever he goes

be it at work- at a prestigious university as a neuroscience professor, dr. park, or at social gatherings, formal or informal

he is a man born with the best manners, the most caring and generous heart

you’ve seen him around the department as a masters student and attended a few of his classes 

but you never got to interact with him personally until it’s time to choose a thesis supervisor and you learn that you have a chance with him

it’s purely because he’s amazing at what he does 

your subfield matches with his specialty so it will be better if he’s your supervisor (and it’s only a bonus that the man is painfully hot so you’ll never be bored)

your professor recommends you to seonghwa and he goes over your synopsis which leaves him intrigued because coincidentally, he’s researching in molecular neuroscience as well

he gladly takes you on because he believes you both will be helping each other along the way

plus, he recognises your name- you’ve always had a different air about you (and he remembers you from somewhere else too)

he’s looking forward to working with you, that’s all

so when you arrive on your first day as his supervisee and research assistant

you catch him in his natural habitat- unaware of his surroundings, humming a tune to himself and swiping his hair hurriedly to the side with the hand that’s holding a clear solution of some sort while struggling not to drop his notes on the table that has a few microscope slides 

basically, moments away from a disaster

he spots you and grunts as if asking for help and you immediately drop your bag to rush towards him, only now noticing that somehow, he’s holding his glasses by his teeth

you first take those out of his mouth and he groans in relief. “can you please help me wear my glasses? those cultures are moments away from expiring.”

“oh goodness,” you mutter and you lock eyes with him as you put on his glasses for him

and your intrusive thoughts take over because you simply cannot take how his hair is poking his eyes so you gently brush his hair out of his eyes

for a moment, time is frozen for all sorts of reasons

before seonghwa takes a deep breath and you blink, immediately getting out of his way and holding his notes for him

the notes apparently hold the readings on how much solution he needs to pour so you read it for him and consequently save him from a disaster

as soon as he is done freezing the cultures, he holds the edge of the table to save himself from slumping in relief

and you share a laugh, the ice breaking just like that

he tells you that the student assigned for taking care of the cultures had an emergency and he had to rush from another department

and he thanks you for helping him

you both move to his office to go over your thesis and he helps you create a timeline

you wrap up the meeting with a clear direction of what’s next and with a schedule of shifts where you will be assisting him

it doesn’t take long to get used to being a part of his team of five calm students with a little streak of crazy

and you suppose dr. park has an eye for people like that because you fit right in

you are all very dedicated so he seems to be at ease when you are working, though he does monitor you more closely since you’re new

you start to spend more time in the lab simply because you like how it feels there

it is like a little cocoon where you can tune out the rest of the world and work on your thesis without distractions (plus, it helps how people from your team pop in once in a while to throw some suggestions at you)

you like how it is there- neat and clean

the sound of metal against metal, glass against glass. the smell of the cleaning agent which calms you since it is something familiar now

and then there’s dr. park himself, gentle and composed, yet at times clumsy and rough which results in the room cackling with laughter

however, there’s a side to him that you only see when you’re alone with him

you’re not sure if he’s like that with everyone- he must be, right?

does he pay as much attention to everyone else as you?

perhaps, you’re delusional. that must be it

seonghwa knows you must think that, because he has not been very obvious but he has not been subtle either

it’s just that he remembers you from that time. he remembers seeing your face in his friend wooyoung’s data

wooyoung, who is an expert at singling out people like them

people like seonghwa who have a little streak of crazy in them, yet manage to be a part of the society almost seamlessly

wooyoung’s company does a good job at managing these people because they ultimately help the black market grow

seonghwa is half convinced wooyoung’s company is just a faction of the government but of course he can’t confirm that

all he knows is that he cannot act out too much and get caught

in return, he knows when someone like him is in his radar

here you are, glasses perched on the tip of your nose as you examine different slides under the microscope, muttering to yourself about the readings as your scribble them

he can’t help but notice how you always wear that one specific shade of deep red on your lips or how your hair falls in the most irresistible way in front of your face

he’s never looked at a student this way- ever- but you’re not just a student now, are you?

so when he makes his move, approaching you from behind as silently as he can

he’s not disappointed when you turn- he didn’t make a sound, yet you knew

you’re not even surprised, and that excites seonghwa to no end

“ah, dr. park,” you go casually, as if him sneaking behind you was normal behaviour. “can you approve of these hypotheses?”

seonghwa hums and stands awfully close to you, your sides brushing against each other

he purposely crowds in your personal space as he leans in to confirm the readings of the specimens on the table

“everything’s perfect,” he announces, meeting your eyes

you’re still sitting so you have to look up at him and lord. what a sight he is even from this angle. you could totally get used to it-

“what are you looking at, sweetheart?” seonghwa smirks knowingly 

you have to physically struggle to maintain your composure because you are pretty sure you were gawking

“nothing, just zoned out,” you say, which isn’t a lie but not the whole truth either

he knows though. he knows the effect he has on you because he hasn’t been subtle

from the casual touches to the unnecessary (but not undeserved) praise

from the prolonged eye contact to the suggestive smirks

there is something electric between the two of you, an undeniable tension

and while you’re not one who sticks to the rules, you can’t help but wonder just why is dr. park playing with you?

“you sure you’re okay?” seonghwa leans in and searches your eyes for any signs of lies

upon finding none but gaining satisfaction from the way your lips part in surprise, he draws back 

you try your best not to make things awkward for the rest of the time you’re with him

and in the following days, his advances only start becoming stronger in nature

you like the attention he gives you. you like how he always puts his hands on your shoulders and gives them a little squeeze whenever he finds you sitting

you like the way his warm breath caresses your cheek when you’re both sitting side by side inspecting a specimen

you enjoy the sound of his gentle voice as he instructs you

it’s almost as if he knows. it’s almost as if he’s asking for it

does he not know that once you become obsessed with something, you’ll try- no, you will possess it at all costs?

so one night when you’re both working at late hours, busy with wrapping up one section of your thesis

you can’t take it when seonghwa scolds you teasingly for being clumsy 

“you’ve got pen on your chin,” he says and before you can take care of it, he himself scoots closer-

too close for it to be professional anymore because at this point, he can probably count the freckles on your face too-

and begins to rub at your the skin near your lips gently

he frowns when it doesn’t come off, and then he has the audacity to lick his thumb and rub your skin again

“dr. park,” you mutter, about to remind him how you are supposed to be a teacher and student

you’re not friends (despite the very friendly relationship you have developed with him)

seonghwa only hums and you can’t help but notice how he stifles a smirk as he moves his thumb to your lower lip and swipes it, all the while maintaining eye contact

you raise a brow in challenge, silently questioning why he’s still holding your chin

he leans in as if to kiss you and you stop breathing

except he tilts his head to whisper in your ear

“would you like to attend the next soul society meeting with me, love?”

to say that you freeze is an understatement

you don’t move when his lips caress your cheeks as he stays in that position

you don’t move when he purposely trails his lips along your cheek as he draws back

“what’s your classification?” you manage to ask, your voice barely a whisper

the way seonghwa smirks is something you’ll never forget

“jekyll,” he says. “nice to meet you, hyde.”

there’s a moment of silence where all you can do is stare at the man in front of you

a moment of pure static

as soon as you take off your mask and your lips curl in a smirk, it happens

you don’t know who took the first step but you’re both kissing each other

it’s rushed, passionate and desperate, the air filling with your grins and giggles and you’re only glad you’re not in the lab right now because the way seonghwa clears the table with a swipe of his hand, making the notes fall on the ground

only to lift you up and seat you there so he can kiss you better? being in the lab would have done some damage alright

between kisses, you learn how seonghwa recognised you

you ask him if he lured you here somehow, but he tells you it’s just luck that you’re here as his student right now. you don’t quite believe him though

but you let it be- if he’s jekyll, that means he’s got the brains to scheme

he tells you that he’s glad to have found his hyde because he would prefer someone else to do his dirty work for him

you agree- it’s been far too long since you’ve had an adventure, and you’ve heard about the notorious jekyll in the soul society too. you just never connected the dots

he takes you to his private lab (not before feasting on you and fucking you on that very table)

for the next few weeks, you familiarise yourself with his actual research

mind altering chemicals and drugs, anything to do with control

very illegal stuff, but the soul society funds him with whatever he needs

he can’t believe he found you- you’re perfect for him

seonghwa believes he has morals and he can be a good person

so you make the perfect partner because you can be the bad person in his stead

you’re his alter ego, the voice in his head that he never lets come out

you’re the person who not only matches his freak but helps bring it into manifestation. you are now his face

while he advances in molecular neuroscience in the world, you advance, on his behalf, in the underworld

there’s no blood on your hands- you both only produce drugs. you’re not responsible for what is done with them

you do sometimes assist in the practical work, which seonghwa avoids, because after all, he has a reputation to maintain as dr. park

no one suspects a thing. you’re just supervisor and supervisee who share a similar obsession with research

nothing to worry about

Jekyll and Hyde

Yunho

The Hunter

when you finally got to a blind date that your friend begged you to go to, you didn’t expect to meet a man who would actually catch your eye

there is something about this man, jeong yunho, that instantly pulls you in as if you really are tied by a thread 

for starters, he is incredibly handsome and has a soft vibe to him that exudes warmth

his voice has a soothing quality and his mannerisms are as gentle as his gaze. his laugh is pure and he makes quite a good company

he just makes you feel comfortable and safe right away, which is kind of surprising

so when yunho tells you about himself, confirming that he is indeed a corporate lawyer at a well-known firm, you are simply in awe

you thought your friend was bluffing when she told you that she is trying to set you up with a ‘beauty with brains’

she was not lying, is all you can think now

you’re a simple school teacher, you tell yunho with a laugh

however, the man’s eyes are practically twinkling as he hears your stories about school 

you’re only telling him because he insisted, and now he can’t stop appreciating your profession, saying that it’s admirable how you are able to connect with children and educate them

the conversation steers to your likes and dislikes, your preferences, and what you’re looking for in a partner

surprisingly, the two of you have a lot in common

you both have a special place in your heart for food. you both love travelling. and there are some things he does not need to say out loud 

like how he’s a caring person- always making sure you’re comfortable and your bowl is full, draping his coat over your shoulders when you leave the restaurant and scour the streets for something sweet

the hand that he offers you is not suggestive and you like that (you also like how tall he is and how his hand engulfs yours almost entirely)

just two people who talk about anything and everything- that’s who you become by the end of the night

as you settle in bed later, you’re still smiling about how his eyes twinkled when he learned that you too have a thing for gaming too

you have good feelings about this person so far but there’s a feeling scratching at your heart that has you restless

it is the way his eyes darkened almost dangerously, only momentarily, when you insisted that you could get home on your own

he was a gentleman, no doubt about it, insisting that you could never be too sure these days especially with the news being so horrible lately, the crime rate spiking up dramatically in the past few months

you just did not like the idea of having a stranger accompany you all the way to your home, even if it was this gentleman- this was only your first meeting

so he made you promise to call him and let him know when you get home 

and here you are. you dated him for a few months before you both decided to move in together into an apartment that suited your needs

he’s perfect in every way- attentive, responsive, caring, funny, and he gives you space when you need it

which matters the most because you value your personal space a lot

he understands the importance of personal space very well and even though you share a room, you both let each other be 

you let him be when he’s gaming, and he lets you be when you’re staring at the ceiling or reading

more often though, he’ll have you sit on his lap as he games

since he’s so much bigger than you, you’ll curl on top of him to read or scroll and he’ll be focused on his game, liking your presence

it doesn’t always lead to something but when it does, it’s always fun

he has you smitten- his kisses still make you feel like it’s your first time sharing a kiss (and he’s damn good at it)

his touch lingers on your skin throughout the day and you cannot wait to be back in his arms again

it is just another night when you decide to walk and take the longer route back home because apparently yunho was going to be late and you did not want to be home alone

it gets quieter as you navigate through the streets and alleys

and when you take a turn and notice a familiar figure, you stop in your tracks

is that… not yunho? the back and the height looks pretty much the same

the man is watching a woman at the end of the street who is using her phone as if waiting for someone

the woman catches the man watching her and grows wary- you can tell even from the distance

you can tell that she is very much pretending to be on call when she starts moving

despite every cell in your body urging you to ignore this and go back home, you start to follow the man when he starts to follow the woman

you are careful to maintain a distance, cursing yourself internally for being a curious little shit who seeks thrill like there’s no tomorrow

but the woman takes a left, and the man takes a right, leaving you standing in the middle of the street, taking a few deep breaths

nothing happened, you think. you turn and start to trace your path back

and just a minute later, there’s an unmistakable sound of a woman’s scream filling the air

every hair on your body rises as your heart drops and eyes widen

you’re frozen in one spot with no idea what to do next- should you go check on the woman? see if it was the same person? 

not once do you think of calling the police though

you walk back home, lost in your thoughts with the image of the man’s familiar figure branded in your mind especially since you are pretty damn sure that those were little sunflowers embroidered on the hem of the hoodie

sunflowers that you embroidered on yunho’s hoodie

when you open the door to your apartment, though, you hear the sound of the TV and yunho is sitting very casually on the couch

“ah, you’re home,” he grins and waves, just like he usually does

he’s not wearing the hoodie anymore

“i thought you were gonna be late?” you ask

“you’re late,” he counters. “why did it take you so long to get home?”

“just decided to take a walk,” you smile, ruffling his hair and planting a kiss on the top of his head before going to your room 

you grab your clothes and move towards the bathroom to take a shower, and it is then that yunho’s eyes widen

“ah, babe?” he calls, his voice uncharacteristically high

when you don’t answer, he rushes towards the bathroom and finds you standing in the doorway

your eyes are fixed on the sink which is a pale shade of pink with handprints on it

yunho curses himself internally- he rushed to hide his hoodie as soon as he got home, jumped in the shower, spotted the bloody sink from when he first washed his hands and decided to make it look like he had been home for a while before cleaning the sink

only he fucking forgot

it doesn’t look as bad- it’s not a bloody red, for starters

“ah, i forgot to clean that up,” yunho awkwardly laughs, proceeding to move inside and open the tap, taking a sponge and cleaning the edges of the sink

yeah. it does not look that bad

“i accidentally spilled that red ink you have in the room- i don’t know why i got curious and messed with it.”

that’s not the colour of your ink, though, and you know it never leaves stains like these

“don’t worry about it,” you tell him, but your eyes are wider than usual. yunho notices that

he lets you shower in peace, all the while thinking if you suspect something

truth be told, he saw you when you were following him back there which is why he took another turn to mislead you

he also knows you are far too observant for your own good

he can’t lie- one of the reasons he fell for you is because of that. you are just like him

though you are free of sin unlike him, your mind is a mess

you notice too much that is not meant to be noticed. you sometimes say things that even he has not thought about. you question if human morals are an actual thing or a made up construct

is it from reading too much fiction? he thinks not

when you come out of the shower, something possesses you to move to the balcony

and that’s another thing yunho likes about you (which also scares him a little at times)

it is your intuition- which leads you to inspect the little corner where you pile up useless stuff. you can see the sleeve of his hoodie there

you pick it up and find it wet in certain spots

on its black base, you can’t tell what it is, but the sunflowers are stained a suspicious red colour, and it’s definitely not your ink 

you look towards your right where yunho is standing, vigilant

there is a moment of silence before you lower the hoodie 

“it really was you,” you say, unwavering

your heart is not speeding because you’re scared- it is speeding because you are right

yunho is still, contemplating how to deal with this

did he think he could hide his secret from you forever? no. was he prepared in case he gets caught? no

he just never imagined it would unfold like this

and now… will he have to hurt you if you threaten to expose him? he can’t bear to hurt a hair on your head

you bring out all the good in him. he does not know how you do that, but you make him believe that he can love with all of his heart too, just like any other person

you make him feel whole, and it would be such a shame if things fall apart now

to his surprise, you drop the hoodie back and walk towards him until there’s little distance between the two of you

you hold both of his hands in yours and look at him earnestly

“are you going to tell me what you have been up to?”

yunho is surprised at how calm your voice is and how accepting your eyes are

he sighs deeply before steering you to the couch in the living room

and then he bares his heart to you

he is a monster. that is it. he hurts people and it satisfies this ugly part of him

he does not always want to, he justifies, but sometimes, he just can’t help it

and the only reason he gets away with it is because he is not stupid and carefully chooses his victims- people who are miserable. people who have no one around them

“well then… i’m lucky to have one person in my life, right?”

yunho’s eyes widens at your response

you fulfil the criteria of being his victim- you have no one 

you have no one but him- how did that happen?

he thinks back to your first date and he can’t help but feel overwhelmed

he buries his face in the crook of your neck, his head about to explode 

why are you not running away from him? why are you caressing his head and holding him close?

you don’t tell him everything right away. you only ask him to trust you

so he trusts you and waits for you

he learns little bits about you- you, who do not care who yunho is, as long as he is transparent with you

you, who has a twisted sense of morality. you, who might be as bad as yunho, even worse

though, your hands are clean, you tell him sarcastically, it’s just your head that is a mess

and it’s a blessing that you two are together and can be honest about this too, right? how lucky you are to have each other

“you, without sin, are like the sun,” he tells you one night as he kisses the top of your head and holds you close

“you, even with sin, are like the sun,” you respond.

The Hunter and His Guide

Yeosang

The Mad Scientist

there is something about the innocent features of his face, the gentleness in his mannerism, the absolute ethereal aura about him

that contrasts strikingly with the pitch black (or maybe, just two shades lighter) of his soul

the man only knows how to scheme and how to take the best possible route towards his goals

the goals are all related to science

sure, he is contributing to the scientific area, doing researches no one else would do

doctor kang yeosang- a scientist and philosopher, held in high reverence in the medical field, contributing with numerous researches centering the human body

nobody needs to know exactly how he gets such extensive, solid results to support his theories

he comes off as a soft-spoken man, someone who possesses a kind heart

he is willing to overwork himself in order to make life easier for others

he is much appreciated by his peers

they don’t need to know that behind his neat and professional setup is a dark, cold space that holds his real workspace

the endless corridors lined with shelves upon shelves of jars 

jars containing the human body parts within them

from the brain to the spleen, from the heart to the liver

each jar meticulously lined in an organisation such that only yeosang could close his eyes and know where to pick what he needs

each organ in the jar has a story of the human that it once was- the story that yeosang himself scribes and tucks in the safe (and in a corner of his heart)

taking it out only to read and reminiscence, or to make another addition

such as the one that he is about to make now, sauntering with an almost skipping manner, highlighting his delight in the events about to unfold

his pristine white lab coat flows behind him, a symbol of everything that he would not be doing tonight, which only adds to the irony of it all

he finds you mirroring his expressions, eyes wide with anticipation and lips curled in a stifled smile

and he can’t help but smile wider, the sound of his footsteps echoing loudly as he speeds towards you so that he can finally hold you after the long day he had, tired of playing it cool in front of everyone

you are snaking your arms around his neck immediately as he bends down to capture your lips in a fierce kiss, earning a surprised but pleased yelp from you

you let him have his moment, kissing him back with equal passion until he draws away and rests his forehead against your shoulder

“long day, huh?” you press your lips against his temple. “how did the presentation go?”

the presentation being at a conference of the national medical association where yeosang was the chief guest, awarded for his valuable insights to the medical world

“i sometimes wonder if i’m the only one wearing a mask,” yeosang confesses.

you know what he means

there surely must be others just like him

you can’t expect to make medical advancements while sticking to the stupid laws and regulations they have carved for you

the medical associations do not allow anyone freedom 

“it’s tiring to pretend my research was simply a result of my team’s hard work,” yeosang continue, “they didn’t do batshit. i wish i could credit you instead.”

“but you can’t,” you caress his dark locks. “that would certainly raise suspicion since i’m… underqualified.”

well, that’s arguable 

you may not be as good as yeosang at what you do but considering that you come from a non-medical background, yeosang would say that you are pretty close

in fact, overqualified

“i don’t think there’s anyone more qualified than you,” yeosang lifts his head to look up at you, eyes scanning your face. “you’re an expert of the human body.”

you are an expert, that is true

you did what you had to do to survive as a young girl who lost her way

you were meant to be a test subject yourself but you created your own path and proved that you were good with your hands- almost artistic

and that you could open up humans as long as you had a good knife

your skills were a bit rusty when yeosang found you in the black market

but he was thoroughly impressed and made an offer. it was an offer that you couldn’t resist 

you would no longer be bound to be a slave for the rest of your life

you would be his equal. an accomplice 

“but you are the mad scientist. i’m just your unofficial assistant,” you pat his cheek in answer

it’s a wonder that you’re here now, in his arms

a muffled sound interrupts your little moment

you both steer towards the big room and yeosang looks around for a moment to take in the glory of his workplace

the crisp white walls and clean tiles smelling of antiseptic, marred with red stains of blood that is dripping from the man’s limbs

the man who is currently tied to a stretcher in the middle of the room

the instruments and tools that he would be using tonight to open his test subject up are glinting with silver, ready to be used

he has chosen the perfect target- a relatively healthy, middle-aged homeless man

really, no one would care if he went missing

in fact, you were doing him a favour by putting an end to his miserable life, right?

surely, he did not wish to live without a home and the means to survive

though here he was, sedated but struggling nonetheless, as if finally having found the will to live

“ah, he created a mess,” yeosang begins, clicking his tongue in disappointment as he inspects the bruises around the man’s wrists. “i’m sorry you had to wait so long, hmm?”

it’s almost eerie, how yeosang’s voice drips with pity

but that’s what you like about him

he thinks of the greater good. he is doing all of this for the greater good

there is no personal desire to kill random human beings, no

he simply needs test subjects to study the human body, so there can be advancements in the medical world

he just can’t believe that the world does not have a cure or even a prevention for most of the diseases in this age

he has taken it upon himself to contribute to the medical world so people do not have to suffer anymore

he complains about this a lot 

if people had guts, they would have done this ages ago

sometimes, he refers to the awful medical experiments done by humankind- especially on women

he is different from them, he claims

he cares about their pain- that is why he makes sure to make his subjects’ death quick and painless before he starts to conduct his experiments

it’s just too bad that he doesn’t have much time after the person passes to study certain functions of a living human

(so sometimes, he makes exceptions and asks god for forgiveness. easy peasy)

you watch yeosang with a sort of wonder and a little something that resembles fear as he caresses the man’s head in farewell

he asks the man to say his last words, to choose them carefully, to take his time and to make peace with the fact that there is no way out

the sedatives seem to have made the man somewhat placid

the test subject stops resisting to lock eyes with the doctor 

he says something about the regrets he’s had in his life and how he just wants his misery and pain to end now

yeosang’s brows are furrowed in concentration as he listens to each and every word, nodding along as if he aims to fulfil every desire this man possesses 

his hand is gently caressing the man’s head

when the man is done, yeosang tells him that his contribution to medical research won’t be forgotten

he looks at you to find you already staring at him with an unreadable expression

he signals you to get the job done and you inject the medicine meant to stop the man’s heart

you watch the man take his last breath, his face contorting in pain as his heart ceases to function

yeosang has already moved on from the little moment he had, putting on medical gloves and snapping them against his skin rather dramatically

“let’s get to work, shall we?”

you smile in response, following his instructions

soon, you are testing the functioning of the man’s abdominal organs with various equipment and drugs that yeosang has bought from the black market 

you have to work quickly before necrosis begins and hinders you

yeosang is very careful with his methods. his hands are steady as if he has done this a thousand times already 

and though he comes off as clumsy in the public eye, he is anything but here

his eyes are focused, darting between the electrodes placed on the man’s liver to the readings on the screen

it goes on like this for a while, yet another failed experiment as the liver fails to respond as desired to the electric shock and necrosis takes over

it doesn’t disappoint any of you though

yeosang has a strong vision and no amount of failed experiments is going to stop him 

plus, there’s always something you learn even from failure

you begin to clean up when you notice a broken nail lying on the stretcher

you pick it up with tweezers and inspect it- it must have broken when the man was struggling to break free

yeosang catches you looking at the discoloured nail with curiosity and he hums in question

“hair and fingernails are beautiful ornaments.” you ask, “so why do they seem so baleful when they are removed? 

yeosang stands beside you, pondering

“the answer is simple. they are previews of what is to come. of death.”

you look at him to find his eyes twinkling with the knowing glint of someone who’s seen it all

after you both finish recording the data of tonight’s session, yeosang is back to being the cute and clumsy person that you absolutely adore

the man is craving chicken after today’s hard work so you fulfil his wish and take him to his favourite place

you both sit across each other, drinking beer and savouring the juicy meat while talking about casual stuff- just an assistant and her boss

just two friends who met by chance and felt an instant pull towards each other

just two lovers, fated to be together and find solace in each other’s company

as if the stars have aligned for you yet again, a familiar face walks in and sits on the table next to you

you meet yeosang’s eyes and you both stifle a smile

it’s one of the potential test subjects you’ve had in your file, due for observation

and what better observation than to sit next to them in a casual setting and eavesdrop naturally?

yeosang raises his beer glass in toast and you share a knowing smile, raising your own glass in toast 

just two partners in crime. that’s who you are

The Mad Scientist and his Accomplice

San

Executioner

choi san works hard during the day

he goes to the school and makes sure his students are in top shape

as their p.e. teacher and coach, he has every student’s physical status on his fingertips

he knows their strengths and their weaknesses. he also knows their desires

so if a student is not a good runner but wants to run better, he would never tell them to give up, he would personally coach them and make sure they know that their body is not the limit

they can be a good runner, a good player, a good swimmer- anything

as long as they are steadfast, they can conquer the world

so choi san is loved and respected by the students, known to be a very caring teacher

but choi san works harder at night. no one needs to know that

certainly not his colleagues who always go about how hardworking a teacher he is

when he is free from the school, he goes to his home and changes before driving to his friend’s place- a warehouse where a few of you hang out

someone programmes, another composes, another works out

just an innocent hideout that you’re all using even in your early thirties

except that you also huddle around to read the new request you receive on your app

“i am a twenty-one year old female. two years ago, the man who dated my older sister killed her, but due to lack of evidence, he did not receive the jail time he deserves. he claims that he is innocent, but ever since he got out, he’s been bothering me because he had to serve his short sentence anyway. he is threatening to kill my family and then me if i go to the cops. i am scared to leave the house because he is stalking me and i can always see him wherever i go. please help me. i won’t go to the cops anyway- they didn’t do anything then, and they will not do anything now.”

san is contemplating if he should accept this request

you look at wooyoung who is immediately weighing the pros and the cons

you look back at san who is still deep in thought and you gently rest your hand on his thigh, bringing him out of his head

“i’ll take it,” he mutters. “accept the request, y/n.”

you nod and go back to the computer to accept the request

you have a phone call conversation with the client where you set up a meeting

it’s you and wooyoung who go to meet with the respective parties. san works in the shadows

the next night, san finds you deep in thought outside, leaning against the worn out wall of the warehouse

he joins you, hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans

“i know what you’re thinking,” san begins, glancing at you. “you’ve been awfully quiet since the meeting.”

you shrug in defeat. “i know i can’t change your mind.”

“it’s not going to be the same,” san refers back to the one time you all took a request from a 19 year old girl who was being bullied by her seniors

it got to a dangerous point and had you been a little late, you might have lost the girl

san lost his temper that time, though

and while he couldn’t physically harm the kids who were bullying the girl, he had them locked in a room for one night while he educated them

and funnily enough, san was scarier that night

scarier than every other time he actually wields a weapon

you asked him that night if there were any just people left in this world full of evil

“all people are evil. to believe that you are just, you must believe that someone else is more evil than you”

was his response. safe to say, the girl was living her best life now, but you saw a new side of san that night

a side you had never seen all your life, and that was saying something since you were childhood friends

“we won’t let it get to that point,” san assured, outstretching your hand and you pouted before taking it

he caressed your knuckles, his voice assertive. “i will take care of it. properly. i always do.”

“do you think i only worry about things going wrong?” you finally say out loud, the words that you want to say to him every time he goes out in the field 

san, despite himself, breaks into a smile that would seem so out of character to anyone who has not known him for long

“you can’t smile your way out of this,” you sulk further, snatching your hand away and folding your arms

“baby,” san begins, trying to take your hand again but you’re not having any of it

“i’m worried you’ll get hurt. i’m worried about the pain you’re willing to go through so you can lessen the pain of others.”

san stops teasing then, mimicking your position as he leans against the wall next to you

there is a thick silence surrounding you and you wonder what wooyoung is doing inside- is he napping?

“it’s something i have to do. something only i can do. you know that, right?”

“i know,” you say, almost a whisper. “and that’s what makes this more frustrating.”

because it was originally your idea

on a summer night when you were all about to graduate, a tragedy happened in your town

a man went on a spree, killing and wounding multiple women and children for weeks

you, who knew one of the victims personally, were shocked by the act and disgusted at how lazy the police were being

it turned out that the assailant was a high-profile businessman and the police were trying to cover the case up as per the orders of their superiors

the three of you were hanging out in the warehouse, each burdened by their own train of thoughts, until you finally said it out loud

“what if we were some sort of a private service where we help the victims? especially when the police can’t?”

it was wooyoung who agreed first, and san who disagreed

it took him some convincing to finally agree, and you set rules

you were not going to kill anyone- only maim

if it’s a serial killer, you maim their hands so they can never hold a weapon again

if it’s a bully, you maim their mouth so they think before they speak

the three of you are a team, but san is the executioner

wooyoung is his eyes and feet, and you are the brains

so it is ironic how worried you are about san now, when you gave him this role

“i know that i can get hurt,” san begins, taking a deep breath. “but there is no pain as long as i keep my eyes on the balance scale.”

this time, when he outstretches his hand, you take it. he plants a sweet kiss on your knuckles

“don’t worry about me, hmm?” he tugs you closer so you can rest your head against his firm chest as he embraces you. “i can’t focus when you’re so worried.”

“i can’t help it,” you tell him. “you’ll just have to get used to it.”

san lifts your face with his thumb below your chin, his brows furrowed with concentration and worry as he looks at you

his eyes are sharp as he scans you so you smile

immediately, his body relaxes and the corners of his lips curl in a smile as he pecks your lips- once, twice

and it is about to turn into a deeper kiss when wooyoung claps loudly to get your attention

“alright, lovebirds. get inside. we have a heads-up.”

you scowl at wooyoung who smirks in response but you both immediately join the youngest inside

your client has texted to let you know that she’s about to go out so you can stalk her stalker

you and wooyoung take your equipment to the van and san prepares himself 

he’ll be observing tonight, but he is prepared in case the stalker catches on

just like that, you observe the stalker for a few days, assuring your client that she is safe

you plan a trap to lure the stalker to an abandoned area where san will have a little chat with the stalker 

and when the day comes, all your client has to do is threaten to call the cops on him

he comes after her and that is when san knocks him out with a punch

the stalker finds himself tied to a chair in an empty room when he opens his eyes

there is the stale smell of something resembling death in the room, and that makes the man resist 

from the darkness, san emerges, clad in all black, his face covered with a mask

and his favourite weapon, the dagger, in his hand

you and wooyoung are watching from the camera embedded on his coat

you can see the glint of the dagger as he twists it dramatically in his hand

san circles around the man once as if to gauge the room 

even through the camera, you can tell how thick the air must be feeling

san meets eyes with the man and removes the tape over his mouth, wincing when the man screams his lungs out in hopes that help would come

there is no help, not for miles

“who are you?” the stalker spits on the ground near san’s feet 

san only shuts his eyes in mild annoyance. he is not easily riled up

“you have been found guilty of the crime of stalking. tell me… what should be your sentence?”

the man pales, fresh beads of sweat trickling down his forehead 

“it will be better if you admit to your wrongdoings and give me a fair number. you don’t want to leave it in my hands.”

“what do you mean sentence?” the stalker starts struggling fiercely, almost falling off the chair. “i have already served!”

san grins under the mask, closing in like a cat and stomping on his foot, making the man let out a guttural groan of pain

he leans in to whisper in his ear

“but… that was for murder. and unfortunately, i am not charging you for murder tonight. otherwise… you would not have walked out alive.”

the man gulps loudly, meeting eyes with who has to be the person he has heard so much about in prison

most of the people in prison feared this man- the judge, they called him

the man was the judge, jury and executioner for criminals, feared more than the cops or actual prosecutors

“surely… you’re not him, are you?”

you wince at the fear in the stalker’s voice and meet wooyoung’s eyes

san never confirms if he is that. he simply finishes the job right there

the stalker’s screams are heard for quite a distance, even outside your earpieces

you shut your eyes momentarily and when you open, you can see the blood oozing out of the man’s left leg

san is wiping the dagger with the man’s own jacket as he tells him that he will never be able to stalk people again

the man screams and screams, waiting for something more, but nothing else comes

san’s job is done

he tosses a broken piece of glass near the chair for the man to free himself if he wishes to

when san comes back to the van, the air is sombre, just like after every finished request

wooyoung pats his shoulder in acknowledgement and mutters a joke in an attempt to lighten the mood, which works

“they still call you the judge, huh?” wooyoung teases as he drives

“judge, jury, executioner. how scary, choi san.”

san raises a brow at your comment- he can tell what you’re referring to

you’re referring to the first time when he came back covered in blood

and the first time he realised that no matter what he did, you would never be scared of him

and that you and wooyoung would always have his back and guide him

“i think i’m only the executioner. you both are the judge and jury.”

“makes sense,” wooyoung agrees. “but the world does not need to know that.”

Judge, Jury and Executioner

Mingi

The Overseer

“the future, pitch black, upside down”

mingi dips his brush into the onyx ink, finishing writing the words on the big canvas

the canvas that is a splash of colours- red for the blood on his hands. white for the innocence he lost too soon. blue for all those nights he spent trapped with only the moon as his friend

and finally, black for the future. the future is the only uncertainty in his life

despite being a leader of a notorious gang, he can never be certain about his future. there are always people after his life

he cannot trust anyone- not one soul-

“sir,” a voice interrupts and he knows who it is instantly

even if he did not hear your voice, he knows you are the only person who would dare interrupt him in the middle of his private time-

“tea, sir. you’ve been cooped up in here for too long,” you say, placing the mug on the table

-for something as meagre as tea

mingi spares a glance in your direction, noticing how you are still dressed in your usual all-black fit

which means you have not gone to sleep yet, even though it’s well past midnight

“and what are you doing up so late?” he asks as he picks up the cup and sips it, finding it exactly to his liking. a flavour only you can nail

“watching you paint,” you confess without hesitation

because in this place, in this room, between the two of you, there may be truths hidden, but there are no secrets

mingi is amused to hear that though he does his best to hide it

“and what do you think of the painting?” he asks, allowing you to take a closer look

you smile at his permission to inspect his art and you inch closer to the painting, now standing beside your boss

you read the words on it in a whisper and cock your head in thought

“isn’t this too dark, even for you?” you question 

mingi shakes his head in amusement and looks down. only you could have made this observation, having been at his side for a solid seven years now

where others would say that his paintings were too ‘colourful’ considering the kind of person he is, you still find them too dark and void of life

you’d know better, because you know mingi inside out

he first found you when he was a street thug in the process of becoming something big

all he had was his raw strength, a strategic brain, a few rusty weapons and some loyal friends

he went on to fight gang after gang, always emerging victorious and merging the losing team with a good deal- it’s how he earned respect around and gained a reputation

every other gang knew not to stand against him unless they wanted to risk losing everything they had

when he first opened his office in the darkest part of the town, he found you purely by chance

you were nearing the end of your teens- a rebellious little girl who cut ties from her family and ran away from home

at that time, you had multiple part-time jobs trying to make ends meet, hoping to find a place to live

and one fateful night, you found yourself in front of a building to deliver chicken, peering up at the light coming from the 4th floor- this must be it 

although… you weren’t sure if the loud sounds coming from the floor were just men having a good time or if something had gone really, really wrong

men will be men, you thought, wanting to get the delivery done with so you could move on

only when you reached the 4th floor, you spotted men lying on the ground and clutching their limbs, blood all around

while every sane part of your brain screamed at you to pretend you saw nothing and go back, you recalled how when you received the order, they promised a big tip to the rider

you could not miss that, could you? you had to find a place to live, and you needed every penny

so you started with the men who seemed to be unconscious. you took any cash they had, being careful to hide your face in the hoodie

you moved to the office, hearing a crashing sound and flinching

you made quick work of grabbing more cash from the thugs- they had to be thugs

they all had guns, for fuck’s sake

you went into one of the neater rooms and placed the bags of fried chicken there

and you froze when a burly man made his way inside, wiping blood from the edge of his mouth

“ah… you must be song’s girl, eh?” he snickered, scanning you up and down

“i- i’m delivering chicken,” you pointed at the table. “i’ll be on my way then-”

“not so quick,” his gaze darkened 

instinctively, you grabbed the nearest object, which so happened to be a mug and chucked it at the man, successfully hitting his head

he clutched his head in pain and you made a dash outside, bumping into another man

the tall man seemed mostly unscathed save for a bruise on his cheek

he held your wrists to steady you and his eyes darted in the man’s direction who was clutching his head no more

“oi, song!” the burly man called. “teach your girl some manners, will you?”

the man called song pushed you to the side and a gunfight ensued

you took shelter behind a shelf, observing how the taller man successfully shot his every target

when he thought he was done- and was out of bullets, he looked in your direction and tsked loudly

you were about to come out of the shadows when you noticed one of the supposedly unconscious men take aim of song’s head

your eyes widened and almost instinctively, you grabbed a heavy metal object from the shelf and rushed to the man who was targeting your saviour

to say that mingi was surprised to see a young girl save him from his enemy by nearly crushing the man’s skull?

he knew you were something special right away

you both stared at each other for a long time before he told you to go back to his office, lock the door and not come out until he comes back

he was done sooner than you thought, and while his men cleaned his mess, he found you in his room, sitting rather calmly

“so you’re the delivery girl,” he narrowed his eyes

“i hope the chicken is still warm,” you responded. “if you can just pay me so i can leave-”

“why did you do that earlier?” he asked, voice low and rough that sent shivers up your spine

“i don’t know,” you answered truthfully

mingi paid you more than extra that night and told you to come next time they place an order 

the next time would turn out to be the last time you would ever work a part-time job

mingi offered you a place in his gang, and you took it

you are still not sure what your position in this gang is though- they smuggle drugs but keep you away from the work, so what are you doing here?

personal assistant? chef? manager? all of these? 

sometimes, you are accompanying wooyoung in the field- the gang now has an official base and a few legal businesses

sometimes, you stay in the kitchen with seonghwa and wooyoung to cook

other times, you sit with yunho and hongjoong to plan and offer your opinion on their strategic takes

you aren’t sure if you are qualified for that- you probably aren’t

somehow, though, the gang members respect you for whoever you are

you are the light in their dark life, they joke. you are someone’s friend now, sibling to some, secretkeeper for others

but you still aren’t sure what you are to mingi

whenever you ask him why he took you in, mingi always responds with something different

“you were clever grabbing all that money from our enemies”

“you saved me- though i must say i could have handled it”

“you looked like a lost cat”

“you didn’t report us”- excuses, all of them

truth be told, mingi has no idea what you are to him either

he has a certain fondness for you that he has for no one else. of course, it didn’t happen instantly

he took you in because he realised you had a strategic mind and he could really use that

he insisted the office needed a ‘feminine touch’ even though it came in the form of a cranky teen who wouldn’t stop asking questions

but somehow, the two of you formed an unbreakable bond

he finds solace just being with you in one room, even in complete silence

he loves to hear you talk, even though you mostly question his morals

because he is not a good person, you found out

song mingi is not conventionally good. he is a man of principles, but he does not have the best morals

despite all that, you learned a lot from him. the world is a harsh place, and only he can protect you 

he learned a lot from you too. the world is a harsh place, and only you are his safe space

when at times things get stressful, he comes to seek you. he finds you in the shared residence and sits with you

if he is feeling down, you will have him lay his head in your lap. you will caress his head and let him be

if he wants to talk, he will. otherwise, he will watch you for a long time until he falls asleep, unguarded

when he gets tired, he will seek your arms. all he has to do is show up and you will know what to do

you will drop whatever you are doing and spread your arms

it is his home at this point. that’s how things are like

are you in a relationship? you don’t know

all you know is that song mingi is the most important person in your life

it doesn’t matter if he lives life the way he does

it doesn’t affect you anymore- the blood on his hands or the chaos in his mind

it doesn’t bother you because you know his heart, and that is all that matters

so standing in his private space right next to him, inspecting his painting with a critical eye, you tell him that the painting is not him

he tells you to pick a colour and you reach out for a box, making him chuckle

“really?” he asks

“the future may seem black, but…” you begin. “it doesn’t feel so dark when i’m with you.”

mingi takes a deep breath at your words. you always get him like this, and he is not sure if he can restrain himself anymore

your heart aches when you see him curl his fists, a sign that he is holding back some words or an action

“tell me what you’re thinking,” you request, though it registers like a command in the gang leader’s brain

“i’m thinking that i never should have given you this life.”

you shake your head at that- how many times has he voiced out that he wished you had lived a better, normal life, away from the clutches of the underworld?

“no, you’re thinking something else too,” you comment

“i’m thinking that i want you to stay here, with me, forever,” he responds

you nod in approval. “i’m right here. i’m not going anywhere.”

“you could get hurt,” mingi says, taking a step closer and closing the gap between your bodies

“i am a big girl now, mingi,” you laugh, wrapping your arms around his waist and hearing his erratic heartbeat

his arms are still by his sides for a moment before he embraces you

“i’m old now, in fact. how much longer will you keep me waiting?”

mingi grows stiff at your question. so you know

of course you do

mingi cups your face and locks eyes with you

“i won’t break,” you promise

“i know,” he smiles, pecking your forehead. “i’m afraid you will break me.”

your lips curl in a smile and he rests his forehead against yours

“are you sure about your choice?”

“yes,” you breathe. “i want you. i’m yours.”

mingi draws back

“i meant your choice of colour,” he tilts his head in the direction of the painting and the box of paint you picked for him

“of course you did,” you laugh at his attempt to distract you

mingi leans in to close the distance between your lips

it is soft and unrushed. you both have waited for the right moment, the right time for years and everything feels absolutely right at this moment 

you go first, asking him to join you in your bedroom and he agrees

he assesses the canvas once again

as a finishing touch, he sprays a final splash of yellow- the colour you picked for him

yellow for hope, for all the light in his dark world

The Overseer and his Shelter

Wooyoung

The Maniac

it has always been a cat and mouse game with you and wooyoung

you chase after each other, running in circles with no start or end

it’s almost as if you both have sworn to keep your eyes glued on each other, watching every move, anticipating what is next

someone’s lips curls up in a failed attempt to restrain a smile- a smile that drips with mischief and mockery

someone else’s eyes glint with threat and promise that this is not over, their fists curled in anger

you chase after each other like cat and mouse

only…you’re not sure who is the cat and who is the mouse

sometimes, it is you chasing after wooyoung

jung wooyoung, the son of one of the richest businessmen in town

a privileged piece of shit who is not right in the mind

a crazy bastard who has made it his life’s mission to not only drive you to the edge of the cliff but to push you and laugh in victory as you fall

he takes advantage of you being a criminal investigator 

some people jest that they can’t tell if wooyoung means to ruin your career or lead you to your promotion

with the amount of times wooyoung has gotten himself in trouble (and gotten away with it) he keeps your desk full of cases that you spend most nights investigating

while he keeps your hands full, what frustrates you to no end is that he almost always gets away with his crimes only because of his social standing and his connections

he gets away with petty crimes. he gets away with bloody fights that could very well have him spend one night in the station, cuffed 

he gets away with major crimes such as money laundering and tax evasion

no matter how much you try to investigate, you cannot

there are the warnings of your superiors who threaten to fire you because this is not your worry

and even if you do start to investigate, wooyoung’s team is quick to wipe any evidence of said crimes

you’re pretty sure that at this point, he might be hiding a body somewhere in his house

you wouldn’t be surprised. man once set his enemy’s mansion on fire

to make things worse, he got away with it- even when he was the only one grinning and playing with a lighter on his way out 

while the others scrambled like mice, he sauntered in style

he gets away with anything

you reputation at the station is already in shambles because of it

they call you his shadow at this point, considering how you are always following him

the truth is, you just want to wipe the shitty grin off his face for once

you want him to suffer defeat when you finally put him behind bars

you want him to chase after you like you chase after him

you might come off as delusional, but you’re half convinced that whatever wooyoung does is on purpose at this point- to get your attention

it wasn’t always like this, you and wooyoung

it started with a simple fight that broke out at a party where all the high-profile people were

someone was stupid enough to call the police- but you were more stupid because you went ahead and handcuffed wooyoung

you told him that you couldn’t waste this opportunity because you were investigating another case related to his father’s company anyway

and he? he laughed out loud like a maniac

you soon learned why, going home with the sound of your superiors scolding you still ringing in your ears

here you are, a few years and a lot of chasing each other later

except… you get something out of the chasing now

all he has to do is corner you. all he has to do is rile you up as he tells you why you lost this game yet again

with his burning gaze and honey voice, he pins you to the spot

with his fingers tracing the curves of your face, he tells you how much he loves you chasing after him 

as if he’s all that you ever think about. he might be right

“don’t you think we’re meant for each other?” wooyoung questions almost innocently, licking his lips subconsciously as he trails his finger down the curve of your neck until he reaches the first button of your shirt

“don’t think too highly of yourself, wooyoung,” you respond, your chest rising and falling in controlled breaths

you can not let him know the effect he has on you

however, wooyoung doesn’t need any sort of confirmation

you can try to keep your gaze steel all you want. you can attempt to sound sure and fake indifference, but the fact is that wooyoung knows

all he has to do is take another step forward and fill the gap between you two

his warm breath caresses your face and you gulp despite yourself

he watches you intently and squeezes your neck just a bit, causing you to part your lips for air and then he brushes the tip of his nose against yours

his other hand is slowly but surely unbuckling the belt of your pants and taking it off

you can only thank god in an ashamed relief that you’re in a private space- the space being one of the empty rooms in a random building on a random street because you had been tailing wooyoung

(at least the door is locked)

wooyoung brushes his lips against yours as your pants fall on the ground and pool on your feet

the sound that makes has heat rushing to your face- this should not be happening

you are a fucking detective and wooyoung is your target

but you can’t complain when his fingertips dance along your hip bones

all he has to do is swipe his fingers up your panties

upon finding them soaked (as usual), he smirks and you smack his chest

he catches your fist in his hand, though

“all for me?” he asks

in a matter of seconds, your lips are upon each other, tongues in each other’s mouth as you wrap your legs around him

he picks you up effortlessly and places you on a very dusty table

he gets rid of his clothes all the while kissing you expertly, aiming to please you, dominate you

he sucks on your lips, your neck, anywhere he can get his mouth on

and when he finally takes off all your garments, he has more places he can get his mouth on

“admit it, detective,” he breathes against your clit. “you’re obsessed with me.”

“get to work before i cuff you and fuck your brains out, wooyoung.”

wooyoung’s laugh echoes in the room as he recalls that night- a night he is sure he can never forget

“does that mean i get to experience that again if i stop now?”

you are moments away from your high- how dare he ask if he can stop?

he gets the hint and gets to work, and he makes sure he does a good job, licking and sucking at your clit until you’re screaming

for bonus points, he dives his cock inside right after and stays still as he starts to kiss you eagerly

this time, you’re the one who loses to him and lets him take control

you let him thrust into you. you let him praise you and humiliate you to no end

truth be told, you’re addicted to him. there is no going back from here

wooyoung knows how to use his tongue and he whispers sweet nothings

he is also surprisingly good at aftercare, even though you don’t accept it from him

well, you try not to, but he is insistent

he takes you home and he invites himself in

you go to the shower and he goes to your room to admire the effort you put into bringing him down

loads of files and a board full of his ‘accomplishments’ staring back at him- nothing he doesn’t know

“you think your daddy will help you if i start to investigate the slush fund you have?”

“which one?” is his response, and he grins widely as you gape at him

he can practically see the gears in your head turning and he adores that

it is a cat and mouse game after all. he must give you something so you keep coming after him

(and you must give him something so he keeps finding you too)

while you’re still processing what he just implied, your phone rings

you flinch when you pick it up, getting an earful from your team leader once again, because where were you?

you were supposed to tail wooyoung to confirm that he is meeting up with a notorious gang member who does his dirty work

the case you’re team is on these days is targeting the gang, and yet again… wooyoung is involved

so what the hell were you doing, your superior asks

“jung wooyoung did not meet up with the gang leader,” you say into the phone, your eyes fixed on wooyoung 

wooyoung has a shit-eating grin plastered on his face

“and how do you know that? i thought you lost the tail-”

“yes, i did lose the tail,” you bite your lips in thought- you can’t tell your team leader that wooyoung has a strong alibi this time-

but wooyoung goes ahead and snatches your phone from you

“detective lee,” wooyoung greets and you mutter a string of curses under your breath

you watch wooyoung charm his way through the matter

telling the detective that he was in a tight spot because of the gang they are investigating

and how it is a shame that a ‘civilised’ person such as himself is being linked to thugs

he tells him that he almost got attacked but you saved him, and you hid him in an abandoned building, being wise enough not to blow your cover 

you can’t tell how he does it, but by the end of the call, your team leader is fully convinced that you did a good job today and he even praises you when you take the phone back

when you end the call, you glare at wooyoung

“what?” he shrugs. “i needed an alibi.”

“is that why you took me to the building to fuck me? because you needed an alibi?”

wooyoung watches you with mild curiosity

“did you think it meant something else?” he asks

it would have hurt if he really meant it, but that’s the thing

you both know he doesn’t mean what he says, especially about whatever is going on between you two

he has risked his position and even his life far too many times just to get you alone and fuck you

so you only smile and shake your head in response before telling him to fuck off and get out of your sight

(and he does. not before a second round)

when he leaves, you watch his car disappear from the window before going to the board and updating everything you got out of him tonight

everything about his business and his crimes. everything to make your case on him stronger

it’s truly a wonder how much you can get out of fucking someone right and you’re positive you can see the end of this case now

though… you’re not sure if you will ever take this to court. but that’s something you’ll worry about later

for now, you will follow him like a cat follows a mouse

and he will chase after you like a cat chases after a mouse

The Maniac and his Shadow

Jongho

The Tyrant

it is always a little too cold in the building for your liking

the building that is choi enterprises, located at the heart of the city, standing tall with numerous floors, laden in luxury

it is a workplace and home to some of the people in this city and a symbol of something untouchable to the others

as you enter the building, accompanied by your secretaries and a guard, you instantly feel the temperature drop despite the warm tones of the interior

the employees that greet you may have smiles on their faces but it’s all an act. you can tell, because you know what a genuine smile looks like

choi enterprises somehow always manages to keep the most calculating people to themselves. it might be why the company has flourished so much in such a short period of time

“to the private elevators, miss,” a man says and you recognise him as one of the ceo’s personal staff

you follow him and tug your jacket closer, wishing you had worn it instead of draping it over your shoulders

you catch your reflection on the golden glossy door of the elevator and straighten, lifting your chin up

you will not be pushed into submission, you repeat for the umpteenth time

however, things are not in your favour this time

in this never ending game of business rivalry, you and choi jongho have never seen eye to eye. you always stand in opposition, defensive or offensive

sometimes, you manage to outsmart him while making a new business deal or scoring a new project. other times, he is a few steps ahead and wins the game

except when you lose, somehow, the loss is much greater and a bit personal

your company always suffers more when you lose, which is why this little meeting you are going to have with jongho is no less than a negotiation- a war, if you must

sometimes, you wonder if jongho has a personal grudge against you. these meaningless battles start to seem like an excuse to see you

if not, then why is jongho looking like he just won the lottery at the sight of you?

“as beautiful as ever,” he says, scanning your figure slowly

you don’t move an inch, pretending those words don’t affect you

the secretaries move to another room, leaving you and jongho alone

jongho gets up from his chair and moves to the middle of the room, motioning you to take a seat

you watch as he pours a drink for you, his muscles flexing through the coat he’s wearing 

you take the drink- you need something to calm your nerves

“i suppose the odds are not in your favour, considering you found your way back here”

an allusion to the time he said that you were meant to find your way back here again and again, that you were just a lost kitten and he was your master, controlling you

at that time, you thought he meant to spite you, but time after time, he proved himself right

you always find your way here, always as the opposition. this time, though… you won’t bend

“if the odds are in your favour,” you begin experimentally, downing the drink in one gulp and then pouring one for jongho. “would you like me to join hands with you?”

now this is new- jongho’s eyes slightly widen at your remark

“ah… how the tables have turned,” jongho started to chuckle lowly

you let him be for a moment, scoffing internally

jongho had earned the right title over the years since he stepped up as ceo of his father’s company

a monster of capitalism

known to be the owner of many questionable businesses, borderline illegal, evading taxes and having slush funds unashamedly, heavily involved in money laundering- the list goes on and on

a true financial villain- a true monster, yet… being able to get away with everything, unscathed. that’s who jongho is

he has bribed every soul who would dare go against him. and those who do not take the bribe? he makes sure they kneel

and you… you’re pretty close to being his next target- he did say you would look pretty on your knees for him

“is business not going well?” he asks, faking innocence. he knows

you are a rival company- seo enterprises. everything that jongho’s company is, but… more legal

your forefathers were once partners, and they created their independent companies without a hint of rivalry

they were the definition of true brothers (and partners in crime)

the difference between the values of your company came when you and jongho stepped up as ceo

you had made it your life’s mission for your company to earn a good reputation and moral image, while jongho seemed to have made it his life’s mission to simply conquer the world, no matter what or who the stepping stone is

“business is well,” you narrow your eyes at him. “it’s about the land in ilsan.”

jongho doesn’t seem surprised to hear that. it is always like this- he knows what moves you will make

“ah, the one where we are about to construct a gallery?” jongho asks

“we?” you repeat. “that land is a shared property. why have you not consulted us before going ahead and signing the documents? how could you begin this project without us-”

“the other option is selling it to the government because of the redevelopment project,” jongho leans forward, “and you know how much i despise the government getting their grubby hands on what’s mine”

you know he is right, and he knows that you are not here to argue about why he started this project without telling you

jongho relaxes back, considering all his options before deciding to strike. “you’re worried about your involvement in that project, is that right?”

“well,” you mirror his position, “i would like to keep my reputation clean unlike yours.”

he chuckles at that, proud of his deeds. “yeah, well, that’s going to be hard, sweetheart. that gallery is going to be an optimum location for storing money.”

you know what he means. the gallery is going to display priceless pieces of arts. those pieces are but a means of illegal transactions for the elites

you swallow your anger, taking a deep breath. “i’d like to have my shares back, then. before construction starts.”

“uh…” jongho gets up, fixing his clothes. “you’re going to have to convince me for that.”

“please,” you scoff, but he only shakes his head, ignoring that because he knows this ‘please’ was wholly sarcastic

“try harder,” he smiles mockingly before turning his back to you and moving to the window, putting his hands in the pockets of his pants and staring down at the city

a tyrant- that’s who he is

he expects to get the maximum output out of anything he set his eyes on, no matter the cost- money or lives

you join him by the window, pointing at a few spots. “that’s where people held protests against your company last week,” you tell him. “apparently, you have been exploiting labourers too.”

“that’s what they think,” he spits. “i gave them more than they deserve. they just never learn to accept. they never get pleased.”

you look at jongho- he sounds like he is saying the truth. he has the art of sounding like a victim at times, thus justifying his actions

“doesn’t all that venom in your heart make you dizzy?”

jongho glances at you, his lips threatening to curl into a smile at your words

“doesn’t it get tiring, pretending to be moral?” jongho asks, trying to read your guarded eyes 

“there’s no pretending. i never claimed that i was full of morals, mr. choi,” you sigh. “i just wish for my business to have a legal foundation.”

“and it will, you don’t have to worry,” he responds, curling a section of your hair that had been resting on your shoulder in his fingers

you don’t flinch at his touch. you’ve known him since the beginning, and nothing he does fazes you anymore- except when he leans closer experimentally, locking eyes with you and trying to read you

“you will get your shares, but you will have to convince me,” he says, voice barely above a whisper

it is a challenge. it is always a challenge with choi jongho

“why are you so obsessed with me?” you laugh this time, swatting his hand away

he joins, and everything almost seems normal for a moment- just two friends with too many inside jokes, except… it only lasts for a moment

“how can i convince you?” you ask, sombre

“you know what i want from you, y/n,” he replies in a similar tone

he wants a true partnership, except his idea of a partnership is where you bend to his will (and so is yours)

“don’t turn this into a legal battle, jongho,” you warn, “i would hate to summon you to court.”

“don’t turn this into a petty rivalry,” he counters, “you will benefit from this project. you reputation won’t be harmed.”

“i don’t want my name next to yours,” you tell him in all honesty and you think you see hurt flash in his eyes

“that is not possible,” jongho declares. “our companies are not mentioned without each other. we are fated like that, you and i.”

that is true. no one dares to touch the two of you, so you two have always been alone

there is no one you both can trust. there is no one next to you 

except the two of you are always together, wherever you go, be it business parties, political dinners, or high-profile events

you can only trust each other, because despite knowing everything about each other’s business, despite being at war with each other

you are always honest with each other- honest about your intentions and purpose

there is no one next to you because you two are always together, leaving no space for someone else

do you hate that? not really. does he hate that? he’s not sure

“you can buy my shares from me,” you start, “or you can shift them elsewhere. i can handle whatever loss comes with that.”

“or… you can let it be and use the revenue for something ‘moral’,” he taunts and silence envelopes the room

“no matter how much you try to maintain a clean image,” he starts, gentler this time, “you cannot undo the damage your forefathers have done to your company, y/n. seo enterprises will always be known as the company that exploited the weak to get to the top.”

you don’t wince at that, though your heart aches to hear that

“just like your company. except you are continuing in their footsteps,” you say

jongho nods, watching how your shoulders are curling inwards

“you are not weak, y/n, stand straight,” he almost scolds, taking you by surprise 

you find yourself straightening at his words, confused to see how conflicted he looks

“you are the strongest person i know,” he tells you, and he means it. “i just don’t get why you are atoning for their sins.”

“i don’t know either,” you smile in defeat. “i just am.”

“well, if you ever get tired,” he gently places his hands over your shoulders, “i am here for you. you can lean on me.”

you lock eyes with him, scanning his face. his smile seems genuine

the way he kisses your forehead makes your heart melt

when he embraces you, you lean on him physically

and you almost give in, except…

“i can lean on you, huh?” you say, soaking in the warmth of his body, taking as much as you can before you continue 

“so you can end my career, merge our companies and crown yourself king?”

you look up at him, finding him smirking

just like you thought

“not a chance, choi jongho.”

“how can you see right through me every time, y/n?” he laughs loudly as you smack his chest and move towards the sofa to grab your purse

“i’m the only person who knows who you are,” you tell him. “you can own the world, but you will never own me.”

his eyes glint almost dangerously

“challenge accepted,” he says

you mockingly wave goodbye before exiting the room

choi jongho never changes, and neither do you

but somehow… it gets more addicting and electrifying to be with him, to compete with him and to stand with him

even though he is a tyrant, and you are everything that he is not

The Tyrant and His Defiant Ally

[az-roser]

“We all have our vices, dear.”

It seems I’ll never escape from Human Alastor… he’s truly got my brain held captive. (not that I mind LOL)

[bananadramaaa]

Before I start screaming about your Alastor design and end up on their broken radio again (oops, my bad)

Do you have more headcanons on his siblings and/or on his father? Because your the first that I've seen with the sibling headcanon and I want to know more of what's going on in your head. :D

In my head there's chaos :D

As I wrote earlier, Alastor grew up surrounded by sisters (it makes more sense to me for his character). There was one more child who died at an early age, so the family may have been larger.

As the majority in the fandom, I headcanon that one of the biggest threats was the father, who's basically just a loser who thinks everyone owes him something (and most likely one of those who blames his wife for the fact that they had mostly girls, their son's "soft" nature was also the wife's fault and that she turned their children against him).

I headcanon that the kids were pretty close in their childhood times. But after their mother's death (it happened when they were young adults; the youngest sister was already a teenager), each went their own way. The eldest daughter(Adelice) tried to make a career in acting. She was a part-time jazz singer at a bar, but was killed by a suitor she turned down. The second sister (Leonore) took the youngest (Bertilda) with her after their mother's death; much later they were both married and found out about Alastor's death through newspapers with headlines screaming, "The serial killer who terrorized the town for years has been shot dead".

[lokidjarin-7567]

Kinktober Day 7: Secret Relationship

Spencer Reid x you

Contents: fem!reader x Spencer Reid (Criminal Minds), oral sex fem receiving, flashbacks, ooey gooey feelings

W/C: 3.2k

Ok so I’m behind again, oops, but I’m proud of this one! Again, not the kinkiest but I got carried away with the fluff and I also got into a cipher-related rabbit hole so I hope you enjoy regardless :))

PS: This is also a love letter to pre-boyband hair season 5 Spencer, AKA my favourite hair era, as depicted below

Kinktober Masterlist | General Masterlist | AO3

“Do you want to grab some coffee?” A voice whispered beside you, a touch too close to be just colleagues. You smiled uncontrollably, heart rate picking up as his hand brushed across your back.

“Sounds good.”

That’s how you found yourself pressed against the door of the copy room, Spencer’s lips on yours, his hand up your skirt.

“We’ve got time, baby…” He practically whined between kisses, bucking his hips into yours.

“Spence! We have…“ you checked you watch absentmindedly, “5 minutes until briefing.” He grinned.

“I take that as a challenge…”

His head started to dip, moving to kneel down, but you grabbed his hair with a fake gasp of disbelief, pulling him back up to his usual height, looming over you.

“Oh honey, I don’t doubt you could, but I’m not sure these walls are soundproof.” Your fingers moved to his cheek, and he sighed into your lips, his hands returning to your waist and squeezing.

“But you left so early this morning, I didn't have time to start your day right…” You were grinning ear to ear, noses bumping into each other clumsily, and you whimpered into his mouth as his teeth grazed your bottom lip.

“I know, I know, I’ll make it up to you later, I promise…” You kissed him one last time with finality, pushing off the door and smoothing your skirt, but he was slightly less keen to leave, pressing himself against your hip as he helped straighten your hair and lip gloss. “I should probably leave first. You clearly need a minute.” He huffed behind you, but you had already slipped out of the room, heading into the bullpen as if nothing had happened.

You’d had a crush on him for a long time before anything happened. You joined the team a couple of years ago as a linguistics and code-breaking expert - something that was surprisingly helpful in the cases the BAU took on. You’d harboured years of butterflies, coy glances, occasional hand grazes… and you thought you’d done a pretty good job at hiding it. You’d known it was unrequited - he never so much as looked in your direction unless he was asking your opinion on something he was working on. It was starting to get to you. Your feelings had slowly been growing, swelling in your chest as you watched from afar, to the point where you had considered transferring departments. And then it all changed.

It was a case in California; a serial killer who was carving encrypted messages into his victims posthumously, only you had no idea what cipher he had used. You and Spencer had been working tirelessly for days to crack it while the rest of the team were searching for physical evidence, and it was a distraction you were grateful for. Even though you were working alone with him in close quarters, it was one of the few times you could briefly forget about your feelings, too consumed with your work to allow yourself to think about him.

It was night 3 of sleeping at the station. JJ had predicted it was going to happen, moving your go bags from the hotel to the precinct on the first day, and you and Spencer had been taking turns napping on the small couch whenever you physically couldn't keep your eyes open. You were sleep deprived and strung out, but you were close. You could feel it. You knew it wasn’t a shift cipher or some kind of alternate alphabet converted back and forth - you had exhausted every possibility of that days ago. You had been testing more complex ciphers, Garcia running everything imaginable through software to attempt to decipher it, but with no luck.

“What haven’t we tried?” Spencer muttered, pacing the room after a last ditch attempt at some kind of converted polybius square. Garcia was on speaker, confirming that she had tried every option available to her twice over.

“I mean, at this point, it could only be some kind of complex Vigenère cipher that somehow hasn’t been deciphered through Garcia’s software, or…” You didn’t even want to say the other option aloud - just the thought that three days work would’ve been completely wasted sent a shiver through your body.

“Or it’s a one-time pad.” Spencer said what you were too scared to, collapsing on the sofa with a sigh.

“A one-time pad? Is that the…”

“Unbreakable cipher. Yeah.” He confirmed.

“Unless…” A thought struck you, and you stood to the whiteboard you had set up in the room, scribbling down the ciphertext from the first body and converting it to numbers. “We need to think about this from the unsub’s point of view. He wouldn’t use a true OTP because if he truly wanted to hide this code, he wouldn’t carve it on his victims. But, the key might not be random.”

“Yeah, but then it would’ve been picked up on Garcia’s systems…”

“Not if each body had a different key….” You had written and converted the next two bodies’ codes while you were speaking, and you stood back briefly, showing Spencer what you had written. “We’ve been collating the messages and running them as a whole, but…do you see a pattern?” He paused, eyes scanning over the board frantically, and then he calmed visibly, a wave of realisation hitting his features. You smiled as he saw what you did, standing quickly and grabbing another pen to scrawl the keys beneath each.

“The Bible.” He whispered. “A Vigenère is hardest to break if the key is as long as the plaintext. Seven letters. Six letters. Nine letters. Genesis. Exodus. Leviticus.”

“It might work.” He nodded, brow furrowed in thought as he stared at the lettering.

“Let’s try it.” He wrote the corresponding letters as you did the sums, converting them back to the alphabet and - to your shock and relief - it was making sense.

P. L. E. A. S. E. H. …

E. L. P. M. E. I. …

C. A. N. T. S. T. O. P. J. …

“Garcia, can you read the last body please? The one we don’t have photos for yet…”

“No need.” Spencer muttered, writing it down without glancing up. You forgot how immaculate his memory was sometimes.

“Thank you.” It was seven letters. Perfect. You wrote numbers, he converted, you did the sum and muttered the letters aloud…

A. M. E. S. T. O. L.

“James. James ‘tol’? Is that a name, or the start of one?” Garcia asked over the speaker, but Spencer wasn’t listening, muttering to himself as he moved to the files quickly, flipping through them.

“No, I…” You answered for him, “I think Spence is onto something Pen…”

“Get Hotch on the line.” He barked, finding what he was looking for and bringing it to you.

“Hotch here…” A tired voice rung out in the small room just as you realised what Spencer was showing you, a gasp escaping your lips.

“It was David.” He breathed immediately, his words tumbling out at a breakneck speed. “The message on the bodies said something about James followed by T-O-L, and that reminded me of your interview…”

“David kept referring to a colleague throughout the interview, a James, that ordered him around a lot…”

“If he kills again, I bet the phrase would be completed. James told me to, maybe?” You mused, and Spencer nodded.

“Garcia, have you got his file.”

“Yes, I’m opening it now and… oh my god.”

“What is it?”

“He had a brother called James. Hung himself when David was 11.”

“And all of his victims died from strangulation.” The pieces had fallen perfectly into place.

“Address?”

The unsub’s home had been closer to the hotel, so Hotch and the rest of the team went to his listed address, leaving you and Spencer to wait nervously in the precinct. You were pacing frantically, knotting your hands as the sound of your heavy boots echoed throughout the room. Spencer cooed your name calmly, and you turned to him, blushing lightly. He was sitting on the edge of the sofa, leant forwards with his arms on his knees looking up at you with… a look you’d never seen before. Concern mixed with something else, something foreign to you. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, replaced with a kind smile.

“Just sit for a minute. Try and relax.” You nodded weakly, perching on the edge and trying to still your racing heart, leg bouncing and hands still twisting in each other with nervous energy.

“Sorry, I… I know we’ve done our bit now but I hate not being there when the team are apprehending him…”

“I know what you mean,” he muttered. You sat in silence for a few minutes, mind racing with what might be happening. What if he was armed? What if he’d decided to shoot his way out? They could all be dead right now, and you would have no idea….

Spencer’s phone rang. He stood, answering it quickly. It was Emily, and you heard him mutter a few affirmatives, smile playing across his features.

“Did they…” You asked as soon as he hung up, and he nodded.

“Yep, it went perfectly. He’s in custody, and they’re on their way back now.” The relief you felt was palpable, a sigh falling from you as he sat back down on the sofa next to you, sinking into it and resting his head back, mirroring your position.

You hadn’t realised your leg was still bouncing until his hand fell to it. Your breath caught in your throat as he squeezed lightly, stilling you effortlessly. He was so warm, slender fingers fanned out across the space just above your knee, and it took a moment for you to compose yourself. You turned your head, and he was already gazing at you, the mysterious expression from earlier back, his dark eyes meeting yours with warmth.

“You were incredible today…” He muttered, hand still resting on his leg, and you couldn’t help but blush. He was the most intelligent person you knew, and likely would ever know, and even without your feelings being involved, a complement from him was about the highest praise a person could get in your line of work.

“Thank you, but I couldn’t have done it without you…”

“Bullshit.” He whispered, and you laughed.

“Ok, maybe I could’ve, but it would’ve taken me twice as long.” He chuckled then, eyes scanning over your face with an intensity you only saw when he was trying to analyse something. It felt as though his eyes were boring into your skin, and you had to look away, heart near beating out of your chest. His hand shifted slightly on your leg, and oh sweet Jesus you just remembered it was still there. It had a strange affect on you - like when you put a harness on a cat and they suddenly couldn’t walk. You were frozen solid, trying to breath and staring at the ceiling.

Then his hand touched your chin. It was light, delicate, just guiding your eyes back to his and it wasn’t until that moment you finally realised what that look had been, the one you couldn’t identify. It was a reflection of what you had been feeling for months. The longing, the restraint, the need that swirled up inside you every time you stole a glance at him, and now, seeing those same emotions in his soft eyes, it was sobering. He wanted you too.

He moved first, gently pulling your lips to his and kissing you, light as a feather. It was tentative and sweet, so unsure and your body took a second to process that the thing you had been imagining for years was actually happening. And then you smiled, hands moving to the base of his neck, fingers twisting into his gorgeous hair and you pulled him back to you, lips clashing in a kiss full of years of pent up desire and desperation. You felt his body relax under your touch as the kiss deepened, his hands wandering to trail your waist and hips, before tangling in your hair and holding tight, pulling you closer. You had twisted until you were practically on his lap, hands falling to his shirt and bunching it up as his tongue finally hit yours, every bone in your body turning to jelly as you tasted him. It was magnetic, everything you had wanted for a long time finally coming to fruition and you couldn’t even break away for a second of air, so lost in him that breathing was no longer important.

And then the Precinct door banged open, and you jumped away as though you had been electrocuted. You laughed, cursing quietly as you tried to smooth your hair, tousled from his hands, while he just smiled, gazing at you.

“Spencer!” You whisper-shouted at him, still grinning uncontrollably, and he finally moved, straightening his shirt and placing his jacket over his lap. You giggled like a school girl, standing and moving to the whiteboard to try and convey a more believable working situation, and to put some distance between you and him, not sure how well you’d be able to hide your smile if he was so close to you.

You still jumped when Rossi opened the door to the room, although, you were more surprised when he didn’t speak. You turned to him, confused, and he pointed at Spencer. When you followed his eye line, you realised he was pretending to sleep, head slouched to one side and mouth slightly parted. He looked beautiful.

It had been six months, and you were stronger than ever. You honestly weren't sure how you were still keeping it a secret. You had had years of practice when you were just pining after him, sure, but it was a hell of a lot harder to not give anything away when every time you looked at him, you got flashbacks to the night before. Even if the team somehow did suss out a vibe, no one said anything, which was something you were grateful for. Spence was a lot better than you at masking his feelings, so anyone who noticed something probably assumed you just had a crush on him. Which was true enough.

You had managed to avoid looking at him the entire briefing, which was honestly a miracle, but your mind was ever so slightly distracted by your rendezvous in the copy room. As JJ spoke, you heard something about male victims, and she might have mentioned Tennessee, but all you could think about was that travel meant your date night plans were cancelled. And you were always cautious in hotels - too close to your other colleagues. It was hit or miss; sometimes, the fear of it was fun, the idea that someone could knock and catch you in the act, but if you had adjoining rooms with any of your teammates… well, them hearing you scream his name might just be a bit awkward. So, naturally, all you could think about now was finishing what you started earlier. You wanted this meeting to be over, to get him somewhere private and to let him completely wreck you before the long plane ride, to get this idea out of your head so you could focus on the case at hand. And then, at last, came the magic words…

“Wheels up in 20.”

The team dispersed quickly, and you caught Spencer’s sleeve just before he left the room.

“My car?” You muttered, earning a grin.

“Change your mind, baby?”

“Shut up.” You smiled. “I’ll meet you down there…”

“What’re you doing?” You practically whimpered, as he opened the passenger door instead of joining you in the backseat. He chuckled.

“Just making space.” You were about to ask what for, when he deftly moved the seat forwards, before getting in the back. Oh. You grinned as he pressed his lips to yours with hunger, backing you into the corner and you let yourself be dwarfed by him. His fingers trailed your collarbone, to your waist, and gripping onto your thigh with urgency. You whined as his lips left yours, earning another soft laugh. He managed to fit his tall frame mostly in the footwell, pushing your skirt up to your hips as you bit your lip, admiring him. He was so beautiful, the way his hair fell over his face, his earnest eyes, almost pleading in the way he looked up at you, his long fingers that so deftly moved your panties to one side.

“Can you…” he muttered gesturing to his hair, and you giggled, hand running through the front locks and holding them away from his face. Your leg draped over his back as his head dipped, tongue going straight to your folds, lips circling your core and kissing your sensitive bud with a hum of contentment. Your body relaxed into him, moan escaping your lips. He’d always been enthusiastic about eating you out, and you’d never complained about it. He was good. Really good. And today was no different.

He was lapping you up, relishing every taste and you were getting closer to your orgasm with every circle around your clit, cunt clenching around nothing.

“Spence…” you managed to gasp out, writhing in the seat, “fingers…” He didn’t hesitate for a second, one of the hands firmly holding your thighs apart trailed down to your centre, two fingers slipping into your soaking core. Your groan was filthy as he found that spot that made your toes curl with such perfect precision it was blinding.

“Oh god Spencer…” you choked out between moans and pants… “baby I’m so close…” Your hands tightened in his hair, pulling him closer, and he groaned into you, sending a wave of pleasure through you that sent you over the edge into that searing hot pleasure you were so used to receiving from him. He held onto you as you rode it out, his tongue still circling you until you were finished, finally stopping when you started to whine and squirm from overstimulation.

“Fucking hell, Spence.” You muttered, as he gently returned your panties and carefully let your skirt fall back around you. You watched in awe as he quickly licked his fingers clean, but it was mostly pointless, as his lips and chin were covered in your slick. You giggled.

“You might have to rinse your face before you join the team.” He grinned, pressing his lips to yours with force, and you could taste yourself on his tongue, making you hum into him.

“Now you will too.”

After a quick clean-up in the parking lot toilets, you both joined the rest of the team, entrances tactically staggered. For once, you couldn’t help but look at him, stealing glances as much as possible, watching as his hands scanned pages as he read and all you could think about is what those hands were doing to you just minutes earlier.

When you started looking into the case, you would be focussed, fully invested, but… you just wanted to stay in this headspace a moment longer. A happy one. A scary one still, for sure, but a fun kind of scary. A hopeful kind of scary. It was peaceful. And peaceful moments were rare in your line of work. His eyes caught yours, sending you a soft smile, and you knew you were in for the long haul, no matter how many people you had to lie or, or how much time you had to hide it for. It was all worth it for the moments of peace with him.

Taglist 🩵 - @emma-e-a

[jeffthekillerzblog]

a major plot point or like the entire thing about my au is just the creeps moving on and having their own character arcs throughout the years and finally heal from their past trauma

(rest is me rambling about my au...u don't have to read if u don't wanna its pretty long)

Jeff's arc is big on him finding his brother and coming to terms with what really happened. jeff is so incredibly stubborn and a big (very) egotistical. he finds it hard to open up and after what happened he feels that there's no point opening up anyway bc he's literally a famous asshole serial killer who's messed up SO many people's lives. another big thing about his arc is just owning up to his actions and apologizing to the people he's hurt. for example, nina. he led her on, treated her terribly for no reason, and was overall just an asshole. after they get into an argument he'll eventually apologize bc like he didn't HATE nina, he's was and prob still is in a terrible mindset and copes in such unhealthy ways. IDK OK I'm rambling but my point is he does eventually apologize to nina not because he needs her or like wants to use her again. he apologizes because he genuinely misses her and BOOM they become besties again after jeff properly apologizes and ya. BUT basically jeff's arc is him finally finding liu after all these years and yeah he apologizes to all the people he hurt (or the IMPORTANT ones) like nina, liu, and EVENTUALLY... jane. but that's WAY into the future (besides nina) he's way too full of himself to apologize now.

Nina's arc is her getting over JEFF. her love for Jeff began when she met him. she already admired him, but he turned into a full on crush. he did lead her on, and it hurt her a lot. shed spent tons of nights alone when jeff was supposed to be sleeping next to her, and she just felt so lonely, especially since jeff was so neglectful. She talks to clockwork about it and they help her realize her self worth and comforts her (she's terrible at it). Nina starts hanging out with Nat and toby more often, and it makes her feel SO much better about herself. Eventually she does get fed up of jeffs bs and they get into an argument and nina decides to leave. she kicks him out of her apartment and she doesn't let him come back. (she does....when he apologizes.....) She eventually learns to love herself and realize she doesn't need a stinky man's validation. Theres also a bit of her coming to terms with her own trauma, but I haven't fully fleshed that part out yet.

BEN's arc is probably my favorite. he's lost all his memories of his past life, and now after he accidentally found out he's NOT just a computer AI program, he decides to take it on himself to find out who his family was, how his life was, and how he died. I wont say as much bc I want to keep it a surprise, but in summary it fucks him up LMAO

ok that's it. OBVIOUSLY the rest of the creeps are healing as well BUT I have not fleshed out their stories yet...oops. so its just three for now. Except MUCH more stuff about the trio bc I love them with my all.. if u have any questions feel free to ask :3

[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.

[javierpena-inatacvest]

Chapter 3: I Wanna Be With You Everywhere

Summary: Javi drives you home after a backyard barbecue. You invite him up so your time together doesn't have to end, but lucky for you, your night is just beginning.

Warnings: IT'S HAPPENING! Smut (18+), protected P in V sex, oral (f and m receiving), vaginal fingering, praise, multiple orgasms, dirty talk, kissing, language, mentions of food, Javi being the biggest, sweetest, softie (bc he is head over heels for you) but also GODDAMN (this man knows how to make you feel GOOD and wants to do it over and over)

Word Count: 8.1K (oops, sorry)

A/N: These two have no self control LOL. This chapter was very fun to write. Killing myself slowly with how cute these two lovebirds are because they are both the biggest assholes and the biggest softies.

Series Masterlist Next Chapter Previous Chapter

“You ready?” 

Javi sat himself down in the driver’s seat and turned his gaze towards you.  

“I think so, I didn’t find anything in the truck that indicated any sort of serial killer tendencies, so I’m feeling a little more confident I’ll live to see another day after you take me home.” 

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Javi placed the keys in the ignition and started up the truck. The radio softly played in the background as you very thoroughly explained the directions on your 3 minute drive back to your apartment. As you reached the end of Maria’s street, you began pointing, “Okay, so you’re gonna take a left at the stop sign, and then-“ 

“Cariño,” Javi replied, gripping the wrist of your pointed finger and pulling it back down into your lap. “I promise I didn’t forget your very detailed directions from 30 seconds ago. Left at the stop sign, turn right on 3rd Street and then another right just past the car wash.” His hand shifted to interlace his fingers with yours and gave your hand a slight squeeze, as if to reassure you that he really did remember. Although you sat quietly for the next two minutes, feeling a little embarrassed by excessive need for control, Javi’s hand never left yours. 

Finally, you pulled into the parking lot of your apartment as Javi turned to look at you. “See? Promise I told you I’d get you back.” You hand unlocked with his to undo your seatbelt and give him a playful shove, causing both of you to smile. 

“Do you wanna come up?” 

The words had come out of your mouth before your brain even had time to think about it. Shit, shit, shit. Was that way too eager? 

“Sorry, I just meant-“ 

“Yeah, I’d love to, if uh, if that’s okay.” You looked at each other with looks of relief. “Plus it would make me feel better knowing that you made it into your apartment okay. Don’t want you falling asleep in the stairwell because your leg gave out on you.” 

“If I do, it’s coming back on you. You’re the one who cleared me to walk, remember?” 

Javi opened up the driver’s side door, hopped out, and made his way around the truck. You did the same, opening the passenger side, but before you could get yourself out of the car, Javi was standing in front of you, holding out his hand to help you down. 

“You know I can-“ 

“I know you can get out of the car yourself. I also know you can get up the stairs by yourself. Believe me, you have proven that if there’s anything that you want to do, I’m sure you’d figure out a way to do it. It won’t kill you to let someone help you, Osita. Please?” He motioned back down to his extended hand. 

You knew he was right. You hated to admit it, but he was. Growing up, you had spent your childhood proving to your brothers you were tough enough to fit in. In school, you were determined to get good grades and get into a good college. Your whole career was centered around giving every piece of yourself to help teach your students without giving a second thought to yourself. Hell, you wasted 3 years of your life with Paul trying to prove to yourself that you were worthy of being loved by someone who couldn’t have given a shit about you. You were the helper. The doer. The fixer. Never once had you considered the fact that there would be someone who would do the same for you. 

“Okay. Thank you.” You replied sheepishly, barley raising your voice above a whisper. Your hand extended to meet his as he gently guided you out of the truck. You started walking towards the apartment stairs, Javi trailing closely behind you. 

“I’ve started to pick up on some Spanish since being here, and I’m trying my best to learn more. I’ve heard hermosa and cariño, but I’ve never heard Osita before. What does that one mean, big pain in my ass?” You turned back to look at Javi, giving him a mischievous look as he started to smirk. 

“Osita means little bear. Someone who’s sweet, funny, maybe a little bit stubborn-“ 

Half way up your next step, you stopped to turn the entirety of your body around to face Javi in shock. “Are you serious?” 

“Would you have rather me called you a pain in my ass?” He responded laughing, even though there was a slight tinge of panic in his face, thinking you were upset with the nickname.

“No it’s just, I, really? It really means little bear?” You stared at him in disbelief. 

“Uh, yeah?” Javi now looked even more confused. 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. My family’s nickname for me as long as I can remember has been bear cub. Growing up, my favorite animal was bears because I was obsessed with the Chicago Cubs, and my parents agreed that the obsession matched what they lovingly deemed my tenacious personality.” 

“I’ve got you read like a book, Osita.” Javi rested his hands on his hips, tilted his head and winked at you. 

“Oh shut up.” You scoffed and rolled your eyes as you turned your back to Javi to continue walking up the stairs to your apartment. “You haven’t even read the first chapter.” 

“Well, then I can’t wait to read the rest of it.” 

Knowing Javi was behind you, only able to see your backside, you bit down on your lip and let a grin spread wide enough across your face to make your cheeks hurt. 

Finally reaching your door, you shuffled through your bag to pull out your keys and unlock your door, revealing the interior of your apartment. You set your keys and bag down in the dish that sat on the table at the entrance of your doorway. Javi followed, letting the door shut behind him, watching as you neatly set away your belongings. 

“Welcome!” You said, giving a Vanna White like gesture to the inside of your home. I’m really sorry, I really have to go to the bathroom, but make yourself at home and I can give you a tour in just a second. There’s beer in the fridge if you want any!” You made your way through your living room and down the hallway, peeking your head out around the corner. “Don’t get lost in here.” 

Javi looked around as he heard the bathroom door click shut behind you. Waking through the dining area of the kitchen near the door, he was surprised how warm and homey your apartment felt, despite having only been there a few months. He wandered into the living room, resting his hands against the back of your couch, covered in pillows and neatly folded blankets. In front of the couch was a TV, sitting on top of a stand filled with various CD’s and VHS tapes organized in color order. On the top shelf was your music collection, Javi noting your extensive collection of CD’s from Queen and The Beatles. Underneath, your movie collection was stashed, containing both an entire Indiana Jones and Star Wars box set, along with what looked to be like a few animated movies and several other classics. 

A picture of you and your family at the beach sat on top of a bookshelf next to the TV. Javi picked it up to get a closer look, taking a little extra time to stare at how good you looked in the yellow bikini top you had on. He roamed closer to the hallway at the end of the living room, peeking down to see another doorway that he assumed was the bedroom. The bathroom door was still closed, and with a burst of confidence and curiosity, Javi quickly snuck down the hallway to try and take a peek before you came back out. 

Your bed faced the doorway, covered in a light yellow comforter and cream colored sheets. Hidden among the pillows was a very worn and tattered stuffed bear, flopped over due to its lack of stuffing. Taking a few more steps through the doorway, Javi noticed a dresser across the room with a mirror on top to the right of the bed, scattered with a few more photos and accessories, all carefully organized. Across from that was a closet left wide open, with an uncharacteristic pile of clothes sitting at the bottom of it. 

“Find what you were looking for?” 

Javi just about jumped out of his skin as he turned around to see you with your arms crossed, standing in the doorway. 

“Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me.” 

“Ya know, for a former DEA agent, you are not very sneaky.”

“No sorry, I wasn’t trying to… shit, I’m sorry I-”

“Javi, it’s okay.” You could tell he was clearly flustered. “I really don’t care at all, I trust you. Really it’s okay. I didn’t mean to scare you like that. You sure you don’t need the bathroom next because I’m pretty sure you were about to shit your pants.” You sat down on the edge of your bed, laughing to yourself as you watched Javi regain his composure. With each breath he took to calm himself, the air in your bedroom grew thicker with tension. His eyes looked you up and down, tongue darting out between his lips. 

“Well, the only thing I did find that surprised me was the pile of clothes on the floor, considering everything else in your apartment looks like it’s set up to be a model home.” He began to move closer, his gaze fixed on you.  

Your eyes mirrored his, soaking up every detail of the broad handsome body in front of you. “Well I was trying to pick out something to wear today, and I ended up going through more than a few outfit changes” 

He was now standing in front of you, his deep brown eyes piercing yours. “Yeah? And why’s that?” 

“Because I, um, I-”

“Why, hermosa?” 

“I’d been thinking about you all week. I wanted to look good when I saw you today.” 

You stood up from the edge of the bed, your bodies now inches away from each other. 

“Osita, fuck, you looked gorgeous today. I couldn’t take my eyes off you from the moment I saw you.” 

His big hands slowly slid down the length of your body. 

“You would have looked amazing in anything you wore…” 

His hands stopped at your hips, reaching around your frame to grab under the curve of your ass, leaning his body into yours, placing a kiss on your neck. He left a few more on the way up towards your ear. 

“… but I bet you’ll look even better when you have nothing on.” 

Your arms wrapped around his neck, as he swiftly lifted you up, causing you to wrap your legs around the small of his back. This kiss was different from the one you had shared just hours before. Your mouths met one another’s in an intense passion, crashing together as you ran your hands through the curls of Javi’s hair, pulling him closer into you. You let out a moan, just long enough for Javi’s tongue to enter between your lips. Walking towards the bed, Javi laid you down and began planting a trail of wet kisses down your body. He reached your breasts, pulling the fabric of your dress down to expose them, noting you weren’t wearing a bra as they freed from your dress. “Jesus, no bra? Fucking gorgeous tits.” He hissed. His kisses then continued, stopping at your nipples, sucking and flicking each one with his tongue, making a “pop” sound after each time his mouth left your tits. 

The throbbing between your legs was intensifying, causing breathy moans to escape from your mouth. Javi was sitting on his knees at the edge of the bed, his hands and kisses trailing down your stomach, coming closer and closer to your entrance. 

“Javi,” you moaned. “Please touch me.” 

Javi paused his trail of kisses and looked up with a devilish grin. “Patience, Osita.” He slowly pushed up the hem of your dress, his hands grazing your thighs. Hooking his fingers around the edges of your drenched panties, he pulled them down, leaving them hanging around your ankles. 

“Hermosa, fuck, you’re so wet for me.” You could feel the throb of your pussy as your wetness pooled around your heat. 

“You want me to touch you, baby?” You nodded rapidly, letting out nothing but a whine at how badly you needed him to ease the ache between your legs. 

“Words, Hermosa.” 

“Please, Javi, please touch me.” 

His fingers teased around your entrance, gathering the slick and bringing it up to circle around your clit. He circled slowly, watching you gasp  as his fingers traced through your folds. Finally, he sunk one digit inside you, making you whine as you threw your head back in pleasure. 

“Such a pretty fucking pussy.” Javi mewled as he began to pump his finger in and out as his thumb traced around your clit. Slowly, he slipped in a second finger causing you to grasp at fist fulls of your bed sheets. His fingers felt so deep inside you, deliciously curved to hit that spot inside you that made you squirm in delight. You could feel the pleasure building in you. With the pressure on your clit and the rhythm he had pumping in you, you could feel yourself tightening around his fingers. Your moans of his name became louder, a trail of “fuck, Javi” trailed from your lips as he hit the perfect spot inside of you. 

“You’re so fucking wet, do you feel how wet you are for me?” Javi’s voice rasped. 

“Yes, Javi,” you whimpered. “Fuck, you feel so good.” You could feel the pressure beginning to build in you, causing you to clench down harder around Javi’s fingers, edging closer and closer towards your release.

“I know you’re close, Osita. It’s okay, you can let go. Come for me, baby.” 

That sent you over the edge. You felt yourself gush around Javi’s fingers, screaming his name as your cunt throbbed in delight. You breathed heavily, panting as you came down from your high, Javi’s finger’s still slowly pulsing inside of you as you rode out your orgasm. 

“Did so good for me, Osita. Been thinking about this all day. Wanted to make you feel good.” You whined as Javi’s fingers left you, making his way back up to engulf your moans as he kissed you. You could feel the bulge of his hard cock in his jeans rub against you as he pulled your mouth closer to his. 

Javier Peña had arguably just given you the best orgasam of your life, yet you craved more. The feeling of him hard, pressed against you had you reeling. After what he had done to you with just his hands, you had no doubt this man could make you feel things you had never felt before. Except there was one problem. 

“Javi?” 

“Yes, Osita?” 

“I… fuck-”

“Osita, are you okay? Did I do something wrong?” Javi had immediately pulled away from you, sensing the change in your demeanor. 

“No! Oh my god, no Javi! You just made me come harder than I ever have in my entire life. It’s just that… Oh my god this is so stupid.” You buried your face in both your hands to try and hide your embarrassment. 

Javi pulled your hands off your face, brushed a piece of hair out of your face and slid his hand down to cup the side of your face. “Whatever you have to tell me isn’t stupid. Please, tell me. It’s okay.” 

You took a deep breath. “I like you, Javi. Like, a lot. I know we haven’t known each other for that long, but you are the most handsome man I have ever met and you’re sweet and caring and I really like spending time with you.” You paused. Javi looked at you, curious as to how what you were saying was stupid. He nodded at you, knowing you had more to say. “I just, ugh, I just, I really want to see you again and spend more time with you, and believe me, I REALLY want to have sex with you, I just don’t want you to think I’m a terrible person for wanting to fuck before we’ve even gone on like, a date. I haven’t had sex in a long time and I don’t know, I promise I’m not normally this type of person and I-“ 

Before you could finish, Javi’s mouth was back on yours, swallowing the rest of your sentence with a tender kiss. You had only spent a few hours together, yet it had felt like you had known each other for years. He had watched you laugh and smile and she listened intently to what he had to say. You radiated a genuine warmth and compassion, patience and understanding as Javi opened up a brief glimpse about his past. You were the first person who had looked at him and hadn’t seen the broken, tired man he had written himself off to be. Now here you were, trying to apologize for seeming like you may not be enough for him? You were something special, and Javier Peña knew at that moment he would spend as long as he needed to try to prove that to you. 

“That’s it?” Javi asked you laughing. 

“What do you mean, that’s it?” It was now your turn to look confused, surprised at how nonchalant Javier was about what you had just said.

“That’s what you were so worried about telling me?” You nodded your head and looked away. Javi grasped under your chin to pull your gaze back to meet his. “Osita, I meant what I said earlier when I told you that this was the best day I’ve had in a really long time. You’re gorgeous and smart and funny as hell. I would be an absolute idiot to say I didn’t want to see you again.” 

“Really?” 

“Yes, really. Believe me, I want to fuck you so bad too, and I definitely don’t think any less of you because of it. It’s been a while for me too, and if you don’t want to do anything else right now, I totally understand. I’ll wait until you’re ready, Osita.” 

You could feel your heart bursting out of your chest. You were so relieved you could cry. This man was really too good to be true. Grabbing Javi’s face, you rolled yourself on top of him and kissed him with intensity. You could feel both of your smiles as your mouths met. Javi ran his fingers through your hair as you pulled up to look at him. 

“You promise?” 

“I promise, Osita.” 

“Okay, good, because I’m pretty sure if I go any longer without having your dick inside me, I will spontaneously combust.” 

You both laughed as Javi rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You’re fucking ridiculous, Osita.” 

“I’m being serious. No man has ever made me come that hard and you expect me to go about my day not wondering what else you have to offer?” 

Javi sat up, pulling you into his lap so that you were straddling him as his hands wrapped around your hips. “Never, huh?” His voice now at a low whisper, sending shivers down your spine. You could feel the heat between your legs as you gently pushed yourself harder into Javi’s lap. 

“Scout’s honor.” You winked as you ran your fingers through the dark curls of his hair, bringing your breasts closer to his face. He moved his hands from your hips to knead the soft mounds, sucking each one before moving his mouth down to lick at your pebbled nipples. 

You could feel how hard his dick was straining against the zipper of his jeans. Your hands began to roam down his chest, unbuttoning his shirt, exposing the soft, tanned skin underneath. Once the buttons were undone, he shed the shirt behind him on the bed, then prompting you to lift up your arms and take off your dress, leaving you completely naked sitting in his lap. 

“Fuck, hermosa. You’re so fucking beautiful.” He said, almost half whispering to himself. He ran his hands up and down your body, reaching down between your legs to draw lazy circles around your clit. 

Flinging you off his lap and throwing you back down onto the bed, he kneeled at the edge, face to face with your dripping heat. Propped up on your elbows, you watched as he dove in like a man starved. He wrapped his arms under your thighs as he licked a long strip, making you gasp. He slowly worked his way around your folds, sucking and pressing into in a way that had you bucking your hips into his face. Seeing how worked up you were, Javi slowly slipped a finger inside, easing some of the emptiness you were so desperate to have filled. You moaned his name as he worked around your sensitive nub, licking and sucking like his life depended on it. Again, you found yourself on the brink of pleasure, feeling it build in your stomach as Javi continued to work you up. You ran your hands through his hair, pulling gently on his curls as you reached your breaking point, moans filling the walls of your room.

“You taste so fucking good, hermosa.” Javi looking up at you grinning, his mustache covered in your slick. “Anyone ever made you come like that before? Taken care of you like that?” 

Still blissed out and panting, you shook your head. This man was a menace. 

“You still want me to fuck you, Osita?” 

“Please, Javi. Please, holy shit I want you so bad.” 

“Needy girl. I’ll take care of you baby, don’t worry.” 

Standing up and looking over you, Javi undid his belt, the clanging of the buckle slowly followed by the dropping of his pants, leaving him in his underwear. You sat up to palm his boxer briefs, his bulge hard and heavy in your hands. Kissing his stomach, you hooked your fingers underneath the waistband and shimmied them down off his hips. 

Oh, fuck. 

What revealed itself was Javi’s dick, bobbing after being freed, hard and leaking with precum from its tip. After feeling him rub against you and cupping him from outside his underwear you had a suspicion he was bigger than normal, and boy, were you right. Holy shit, his dick was big and it was gorgeous. The thought of it filling you made your pussy throb. 

You reached over to your nightstand and opened the drawer to pull out the box of condoms pushed in the back corner. Javi took them from you, opening the wrapper with his teeth and tossing it off to the floor on the side of the bed. He rolled the condom down his length before lining up with your entrance. He leaned down into you as he ran his cock through your wet folds. 

“You ready for me, cariño?” 

You nodded and both of you gasped as you felt the sweet stretch of Javi inside you. Javi had already made you come twice- any wetter and you might as well have been a faucet. Even then, the feeling of him pushing his length into you filled you up in a way you couldn’t have even imagined. After slowly making his way all the way in, you whimpered as you felt him bottom out. 

“Javi, holy fuck.” 

“I know baby, I know. Such a good girl, Osita. Taking me so fucking well.” 

He began to slowly increase his pace, letting you adjust to his size. Your jaw was slack as he continued to thrust into you, filling you up in a way you had never felt before. You moaned breathlessly as Javi brought his hand up to your mouth, bringing his thumb in between your lips and swirling your tongue around it. He took out his thumb and brought it down to your clit, circling it as he continued to pound into you. At this point, the sounds coming from you were absolutely obscene as pleasure radiated through your body. 

“Doing so good for me, baby. Fuck, you’re so tight and wet.” He grabbed behind your knees and pushed them up towards your chest. The new angle hit in a sweet spot that made you whimper his name as his hands dug into your hips. 

“You feel so good, Javi. Oh my god. Fuck.” 

You looked up at him, sweat glistening on his forehead, making his dark curls stick to him. His grunts were accompanied by a devilish grin, loving how you were coming unraveled for him. You could feel the pressure building in your belly once again, expletives falling from your mouth. Javi leaned down into you, biting at your neck and whispering in your ear. 

“I’m not gonna last much longer, Hermosa. You feel too fucking good. Need you to come again. Think you can be a good girl and soak my dick when you come?” His filthy words were simultaneously accompanied by his thrusts hitting deeper into you and his thumb rubbing faster against your clit. You nodded and moaned, completely at a loss for words with how good you felt. You were so close to the edge, his cock stretching you out in a way that had you seeing stars as he hit that sweet spot in you over and over again. Your legs shifted to wrap around his back, wanting to pull him as close into you as possible. “That’s it. Give me one more, baby. Come for me.” 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, Javi, I’m gonna-” 

You snapped, your orgasm flooding your body as you screamed his name. Pleasure waved through you as you could feel yourself gushing down around his cock. You felt like your soul had left your body as you rode your high, breathless and blissed out. 

Javi’s thrusts became faster and sloppier, knowing you had reached your end, now chasing his own. After only a few more pumps, he pushed deep into you one last time, and came with a loud moan, spilling into the condom. He slumped into you as you both breathed heavily, needing to catch your breath before either of you spoke. He slowly pulled himself out, causing you to shutter at the loss inside of you. He took off the condom and threw it in the trash next to your nightstand before crawling back up in bed to kiss you, your breathing still shaky and heavy. You laid your head on his tanned chest and looked up at his sweet, brown eyes staring back at you. 

“What the fuck…” you laughed to yourself, euphoria running through your veins from the magic you had just experienced. 

“You okay, Osita?” 

“Javi, I am more than okay. I don’t think I have ever been more okay. My only complaint is that I’m about to look like Bambi when I try to get up because I’m not sure if my legs are gonna work.” 

Javi chuckled to himself as he ran his fingers through your hair. “Well I appreciate the compliment, cariño. If I wasn’t such an old fuckin’ man, I’d be ready for round 2 right now, just gimme a few.” 

You shot up, now propped up on your elbows. You cocked your head slightly. “I’m sorry, did you just say round 2? Are you trying to tell me that there’s more of this that’s about to happen?” 

Javi stared back at you smirking, but a little bit confused. “Is that okay with you?” 

You dramatically flopped back down onto your back, giggling and covering your face. “Is that okay with me? Is the sky blue? Is the grass green? You’re joking, right?”

“Not unless you want me to be, Osita."  

“Well, I am not mad about it one bit.” You scooted over to him, now laying your naked body on top of his, cupping his face and kissing him. He ran his hands along your back, reaching down to grab a handful of your ass, kneading the soft flesh in his palms. Suddenly, you felt a gurgle underneath you, realizing that Javi’s stomach was grumbling. You pulled away from your kiss, laughing. 

“Sorry…” Javi mumbled.

“Are you hungry?” 

“No it’s fine, just ignore it.” 

His stomach rumbled again, this time louder than the first. You sat up, trying to contain your giggles. “Javi, you can tell me if you’re hungry.” 

“Okay, maybe I am a little hungry.” 

“Good, because I am too. Something was a little too distracting to keep me from eating at Maria’s.” You leaned in to kiss him once more, then nibbled at his ear to whisper “The distraction was well worth not eating.”

Your words sent shivers down your spine, as he let out a low grunt. “Osita, fuck, you sure we have to eat?” His stomach grumbled again. 

“Your stomach says otherwise. Don’t worry, I’ll make it worth the wait” you winked, and shuffled yourself out of your bed. You reached down besides your bed, where all of your clothes had fallen off during your… activities. You shuffled your panties back on and reached down for one more item. “Can I put this on?” You said, holding up his unbuttoned shirt. 

Javi nodded, the primal part of his brain igniting as he watched you slip on his shirt, leaving it completely unbuttoned. The image of you in nothing but his clothing left him speechless, his brain short circuiting. You. In his shirt. The thought of you walking around your apartment wearing his clothes had him half hard already. He wanted nothing more than to rip it right off you and pull you back into bed, but you were right, he really did need to eat. 

He shuffled out of bed to join you, only putting back on his underwear and following you into the kitchen. You began shuffling through your fridge and your pantry, muttering under your breath, embarrassed by the lack of food you had.

“Okay, I don’t have a ton of choices. I’m really sorry, tomorrow is normally my grocery shopping day and with it being the last 2 weeks of school, there’s been a lot more take out than I’d like to admit. So let’s see…” you opened up the pantry and fridge again, pulling out items you deemed acceptable enough. 

“I have…. Pasta, peanut butter and jelly, cereal, 3 eggs, an apple that probably needed to get thrown out a week ago and Mac and Cheese. I promise I don’t always eat like an 8 year old. I actually am a decent cook, next time you’re here I promise I’ll have better food” 

Javi leaned his hip against the kitchen counter, smiling at the thought of “next time.” 

“I couldn’t tell you the last time I had Mac and Cheese. Honestly, sounds delicious.” 

“Alright, one box of my finest Mac and Cheese coming right up!” 

You reached down into a cabinet to pull out a pot and fill it up with water and set it on the stove. As you turned around to set it down on the burner, you felt Javi’s chest press up against your back and his hands snake around your front. He leaned over and rested his chin on your shoulder after placing a quick kiss there first. “Do you need any help?” 

“Yeah this stuff is REALLY hard to make. It’s gonna be HOURS before we eat because of all the prep time.” Still gripping you around your front, Javi playfully shook you, knowing there was really nothing he could do. 

“Just wanted to offer. I feel bad not helping.” 

You twisted your body around so that it was now facing him, feeling tiny drowning in his broadness. You snuck your hands around his waist to match his. 

“It’s Mac and Cheese, no big deal at all. I’m sorry I don’t have better food. I’d love to actually cook for you sometime, to prove I’m more than just an out of the box Kraft Mac and cheese kind of girl.” 

“I’d love that. Sure there’s nothing I can help with?”

“Hmmmm actually, I’ll give you the most important job. Do you want to pick out music? There’s a bunch of CD’s under the TV. We don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I like having it on in the background.” 

“Absolutely, Osita.” He pulled you in to kiss the top of your head before making his way over to your music collection. He scanned through the disks, pulling out a few he thought looked good. Towards the end of the line were a few burned CD’s in mismatched cases. The first one he pulled out had a good collection of songs, but read “David’s Mix” at the top. Wasn’t your ex’s name Paul? Who was David? 

“David’s got good taste in music.” Javi tried to state as neutrally as possible. 

“Oh yes that’s a good one!” You shouted from across the kitchen. “Don’t worry, David’s one of my brothers.” You responded, knowing Javi was probably curious as to who had given you the CD. 

Javi plopped the CD into the player and turned up the volume before making his way back to the kitchen. “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac began playing as you finished dumping the noodles into the boiling water on the stove. “Very good choice. Queen is my favorite band of all time, but Fleetwood Mac is a very close 2nd.” 

“One of my favorites too. This song might be my favorite one by them.” 

The intro picked up its tempo as you picked up the spoon you were using to sing the first verse, holding it up as your microphone in between stirs. 

“Ohhhhh woahhhhhhh, I wanna be with you everywhere!” 

You continued to sing and stir, dancing and playfully nudging into Javi with your hip as the song continued. He smiled and bit down on his lip, enamored by the sight in front of him. The simple domesticity of the moment had his stomach swirling with a feeling he wasn’t sure he had ever felt before. You, in his clothes, cooking together, playing music and laughing with one another. He racked his brain trying to think of a moment that had ever come close to this one he was experiencing right now, but there was none. Javi had written off ever finding something like this- it was everything he had ever wanted, and felt like he never deserved. 

“Hey, you okay?” 

Javi was completely lost in his train of thought as you reeled him back down to earth. 

“I’m great, Hermosa. You’re cute when you dance like that.” 

You hadn’t realized you were still swaying and nodding your head to the beat of the song as Javi was talking to you, becoming a little embarrassed. There was something about Javi that had made you let your guard down so quickly. Everything felt so easy with him, so natural. You had never felt this comfortable around anyone, let alone someone you had known less for a week. Just finish this damn mac and cheese, and don’t get too ahead of yourself, you thought, trying to reign yourself back in. 

“It’s a great song, what can I say? You have good taste, Javier Peña. Speaking of good taste…” You held up the pot full of mac and cheese, now completed. “Food is ready!” 

While you really liked your apartment, its one downside was its kitchen cabinets. You weren’t the tallest, and everything seemed to be about a foot too high for you. With limited space, your bowls ended up having to go in a higher up shelf, meaning every time you wanted one, you either got a chair from your kitchen table, or just climbed up the counter to grab them. Too stubborn and unwilling to ask for help, you started to scoot your way up to the kitchen counter to get what you needed. 

“I uh, don’t want to be rude, but can I ask what the hell you’re doing?” Javi said, barely containing his laughter of watching you scale your cabinets like a little kid. 

“Well I’m not very tall and we need bowls, and they’re all the way up there. Unless I decide to magically grow another few inches, this is the easiest way to get them.” 

With ease, Javi stepped behind you, reached over your head and grabbed the bowls. You sat with your legs dangling off the counter, arms crossed as he set the bowls down and looked back at you. “Okay, we get it. You're tall and handsome and get bowls from the top shelf. Sorry we aren’t all perfect like you.” You rolled your eyes sarcastically. 

“All you have to do is ask, Osita. As entertaining as it was watching you try to get up there, I don’t need you getting hurt again on my watch.” 

You found yourselves in the same position as you were not long ago in Maria’s bathroom. He leaned in, hands planted on the counter around your hips, standing between your legs hanging down. 

“Wouldn’t be the worst thing. You did a very good job healing me.” Gesturing down to your leg. “Besides, you’re the hottest doctor I’ve ever had. It all really would work out in my favor.” 

Javi leaned in to kiss your neck, peppering kisses down your body as his hands ran up and down your thighs. Suddenly, you found him crouched between your legs, one of his hands palming the outside of your panties, once again drenched. 

“Javi…” you breathed heavily, trying to stay focused. “I’m pretty sure my neighbors can hear your stomach, you need to eat.” There was no way you were really going to try and stop him from whatever he had planned, but it was worth a shot. 

“You’re right, Hermosa, I am starving.” His teeth grabbed the top of your underwear and dragged them down your thighs, leaving you exposed, slick dripping down you. “Just gonna have to eat a little extra first.” 

Without an attempt to protest, Javi’s head was between your thighs, your legs resting over his shoulders. Taking long, broad strokes of his flat tongue against your clit make your hips buck toward his face. Flicking his tongue against your sensitive bundle of nerves, you let out low breathy moans, followed by his name. 

“Fuck, Javi. Fuck, it feels so good.”  You reached down to grab his hair, giving yourself something else besides the edge of the counter to grip on to. His tongue danced across your heat, making you squirm in pleasure. Two callused fingers plunged into you, curled and stroking the spot that intensified your moans. With his fingers curved in just the right way, and his tongue sucking over your clit, it didn’t take long for you to once again find yourself reaching your peak. Your body pulsated with your orgasm, while Javi slowed down his pace as you came down from your high. Once you finally came back down to earth, you watched as Javi took the two fingers that were just inside you to his mouth, licking your release off of them. 

“Taste so fucking sweet, Hermosa.” 

“Jesus, Javi. You’re gonna kill me. Holy shit.” Your breathy laughter escaping you as Javi smiled back up at you, his mustache glistening with your slick. He grabbed you by the hips and slid you off the counter top. Kissing up your thigh, he pulled your panties back into place. He grabbed a handful of your ass and pulled you in to kiss you, his mouth still tasting like the sweet and salty combination of you. 

“You ready to eat?” 

Javi’s stomach didn’t lie. That man was hungry. You had filled his bowl first and brought it to him at your kitchen table. By the time you had filled up your bowl and went to go sit down, you were pretty sure his entire bowl was already empty. After he quickly finished seconds, (which was pretty much the rest of the pot) you had found yourselves talking, not even realizing how much time had gone by. The Mac and Cheese had brought you back to memories of your childhoods, sharing sweet and embarrassing stories of your lives long before yours had crossed paths. After playfully arguing that this truly did happen, you both had only gotten up to go back to your room to find your 1st grade school picture, proving to Javi you did in fact, draw a mustache on yourself with Sharpie to win a bet with your brothers. 

“Told you. My mom was definitely not happy about this one. Although I will say, my mustache almost looks as good as yours.” You both snickered at the ridiculous image of you with a wide, toothy grin and haphazard sharpie smeared across your upper lip. 

“Well, besides the mustache, you were a pretty cute kid.” Javi swallowed. In a flash, his brain had flashed forward. The strange feeling crept over him once again. A life with you. Together. Kids who looked like spitting images of you, running through your home. Was that something you wanted? Holy shit, was that something he wanted? Trying to do anything to shake the uneasiness and unable to form anything close to words, Javi leaned in, cupping both sides of your face for a long, tender kiss. You leaned into him, pushing his back on to the bed, his head resting against your pillows, as you rolled across his lap, straddling him. 

“My sexy, sharpie mustache really turned you on, huh?” 

Javi, still reeling with the feeling swirling inside of him, didn’t even pick up on your joke. “You’re so beautiful. So fucking sexy. Everything about you.” The thoughts in his brain now exiting his mouth just above a whisper. 

You bit down on your tongue still in your mouth to try and contain your grin. You weren’t sure if Javi had meant for you to hear his whispers, but it didn’t matter. Without saying another word, you leaned down into him, kissing you way down his chest, grinding into the bulge you could feel growing in his boxers. Your hand palmed the outside of the fabric before tugging at his waistband, freeing his already painfully hard cock. “You gonna finally let me take care of you?” you began kissing around his thighs, causing Javi to let out a raspy moan. Your kisses ventured closer and closer, until you had reached his dick, licking your way up its length and wrapping your lips around the tip. 

“Fuckkk, Hermosa.” 

You released your mouth to lick down your palm, wrapping your fingers around the base of Javi’s length to satisfy what you knew you weren’t going to be able to fit in your mouth. Leaning back down, you worked your mouth around his girth, hollowing your cheeks, taking him further and further down your throat. Your head bobbed up and down, with Javi’s hand holding a fist full of your hair, guiding your head gently as you filled your mouth full of him. You could feel tears running down your cheeks as his cock hit the back of your throat. Your pace began to intensify, Javi’s grunts and expletives coming only turning you on more. All of a sudden, you felt Javi’s grasp gently pull you up, your mouth leaving him. 

“Is everything okay? Sorry, was it not good?” Your voice still raspy from him being down your throat. 

“No, fuck, it’s fucking amazing. I just don’t want to come yet, I want to be inside you. Can I?” 

Frantically nodding, Javi reached back into your nightstand to pull out the condom box, ripping it, and rolling it down over his throbbing dick. Still straddling over his thighs, you worked your way up, sliding yourself down over his cock, slowly taking him inch by inch. With him being so big, it should have been a problem taking him without him opening you up first, but you were already so turned on from sucking his dick that you slid down his length with ease. He noticed it too. 

“Fuck baby, already so wet for me. Sucking my dick really turn you on that much?” 

“Yes, Javi.” Now slowly bouncing yourself up and down over his lap. “Your dick tastes so good. I want to taste all of you. Have you cum down my throat.” 

The thought sent shivers down his spine. “Dirty fuckin’ girl. Soon, Osita. First I wanna have you come all over me. You look so pretty when you ride it.” 

You rolled your hips back and forth, his cock filling you even deeper than it did before. Each thrust rubbed against the sweet spot inside you that felt so good. You threw your head back as you rested your hands against his pecs, whining in pleasure. With each movement, your clit brushed against his hair at his base. Javi noticing, he reached down to rub your already sensitive nub, sending shockwaves of pleasure through you. 

“Fuck, Javi, you fill me up so good. It feels so good inside me.” 

Your thrusts intensified, Javi’s dick punching into the spot that made you see stars. He began to rub your clit faster, realizing you were close. 

“Come for me, baby. I fucking know your close. Can feel how tight you are around me.” 

You felt yourself clench as every inch of him filled you. It wasn’t long until you reached your peak, gushing around him and screaming out his name, your pussy throbbing. While you still sat on top of him, he began to thrust up in to you, filling you even deeper. Only a few more strokes and he was close behind you. His low grunts were followed by a panting moan as his release pulsed into the condom. Breathless, you pulled yourself off of him, collapsing on to the bed as he rolled over to dispose of the condom. The smell of sex and sweat filled your room, your bedsheets tangled between you as you laid your head against the sheen of his chest. 

“Okay, I will drop the alleged serial killer or secret family allegations that I put on you not that long ago. I am convinced you are a wizard because your dick is magic”  

Javi snorted as he ran his hand through his hair before wrapping it over your shoulder. “I don’t know where the hell you come up with these things, Osita.” 

“It’s true! Like I said, I think you’re trying to kill me, and my gravestone is about to read “death by Javier Peña’s dick.” Guess it’s not a terrible way to go.” 

You both laughed again, as Javi rubbed his thumb back and forth over your shoulder. Silence filled the room in the most comfortable way, your bodies perfectly nestled into one another. You laid for a few more minutes before Javi noticed the alarm clock on your nightstand 

12:46 AM

He didn’t want to leave, but didn’t want to assume that you wanted him to stay. Reluctantly, he spoke. “Shit, I didn’t realize it was this late. Sorry, I can go if you want-” 

“No. Stay.” You didn’t mean for your words to come out like such a demand, but the thought of him leaving flooded your body with sadness. “I mean, um, you’re more than welcome to stay. I want you to stay.” 

“Okay.” 

Relieved at the lack of convincing, you nestled your head closer to his chest, pulling the sheets over your naked bodies. You felt so comfortable and at peace being wrapped up in his embrace. His hand migrated its way through the tangled ends of your hair. Content, you felt the weight of your eyelids grow heavy, promising yourself you would only close them for a minute, not wanting to miss out on any time with Javi. It wasn’t long until you were fast asleep, your bodies intertwined as one. 

“Today was really one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. Thank you, Osita.” 

No response. He repeated it once more, thinking maybe you didn’t hear him. Again, no response. He lifted his head up to your lids closed tight and your mouth half open as you let out a gentle snore. It had only been minutes and you were out cold. He laughed quietly to himself as he kissed the top of your head. “Dulces sueños, Osita.” (Sweet dreams, little bear). He laid his head into yours, closing his eyes and smiling. That night was the best night’s sleep Javier Peña had in years. 

[hellosweetart]

Oh! Regarding that one scenario you came up with for the serial killer Francis being Francis' reaction to Nacha's killing, I have an idea on a continuation to that ending:

After hiding the corpse into her car trunk, Nacha, now overwhelmed with guilt and fear, called Francis and confessed everything to him. Francis, even if he just got home from a shift and it was quite late outside, would waste no time coming over with some tools too.

Francis would then do what he does best: manipulate the crime scene so that the murder looked like a doppelganger's work and changed to a clean outfit with no blood. He then proceed to dispose of his bloody uniforms and his weapon, and then took Nacha back into the car, and drove both of them back home.

For anyone else witnessing what Francis had done, they would definitely feel that Francis was a... questionable figure, like why did it feel like disposing body and framing doppelganger for murder were old news to Francis, and why did he look so... unfazed during his work? Normally, Nacha would also have noticed all this and feel alarmed, but with her mental distress, all she could felt and think of were guilt and fear and even gratitude for Francis as he covered for her.

But there was one more person aside from Nacha and Francis who knew about the disastrous night (minus the dead guy): Ana. Ana was staying way pass her bed time reading whatever she liked when she heard the door open. She swiftly turned off the only source of light in the room being the the dim lamp on the bedside table and pretend to be asleep (Since her door was closed, no matter how quick was Francis, he would not have caught the light being switched off). However, upon hearing sobs from her mother, Ana decided to sneak as close as possible to the door.

On Francis and Nacha's side, the milkman decided to sit Nacha down onto the couch to comfort her. Ana, still hiding behind the door, knew all about what happened after her mother's shift. At first, Ana sympathized with her mom and felt the bastard somewhat deserved his fate for his harrasment and gross comment regarding a child. But then, while still sobbing and emotionally uncomposed, Nacha asked:

"W-what if the police saw through the crime scene and knew it all? What if they know I was the murderer?"

To which Francis just replied with a small laugh:

"Don't worry, dear. They'll never know. The corpse was torn to shreds with some parts missing. It looked too much like a doppelganger's work. I think my work is flawless in this one. We even got rid of all the evidence!"

Nacha was still too out of it to realize how wrong some of the thing Francis said, but Ana did. She questioned: why did he sound rather... proud of his work, and not shaken at all? Why did he sound like that was not his first time?

At that time, the authorities just decided to blame the murder onto the doppels to avoid any other unneccessary work for them. However, there was still a popular conspiracy theory going around that there was a human murderer among those kills. While Ana was not one to subscribe to these theory, and sometimes she even saw them as ridiculous statements, after hearing her father words, she feared for the worst.

Ana returned to bed way too late at night when her mother's sobbing ceased, but she was unable to sleep.

On another note, even if Nacha was composed enough to see that Francis looked like a professional in the disposing corpse field and decided to confront him about that, he already knew her to-be biggest secret that she would take to her grave: she killed a man. This means that he can use this information to his advantage and blackmail her as he please and may even have her help him in his future murders as an accomplice. Nacha would have no choice but to agree to his terms, as if she hadn't, high chances thay she would have gone to jail, meaning that Francis would be in charge of Ana, leaving Nacha worried to no end.

(oops this got too long)

This is what I would have imagined

I love it when anon send me this type of asks. I love reading long ones lol

[hils79]

Hils Watches Lovely Runner - Ep 8

I knew he dug up the time capsule before they got rid of the tree!

Look at him rehearsing how to look chill. I love him

OH SHIIIIII! The serial killer is out of jail! Wait, how is he out of jail? And why is no one keeping tabs on him to make sure he doesn't go after Im Sol again?

Sometimes I forget that Korea is a very conservative country until a woman freaks out at the prospect of being alone in a hotel with a man. Can't possibly have sex when we're not married or even dating!

LMAO she gave this whole big speech that she has nothing against people who have casual sex but she has more traditional values and he let say all that and was like 'we're just going to the bar to have a drink'. I love them they are both so ridiculous.

So much for those conservative values 😂

I mean how bad can a gift from a gaming company be?

HAHA! I mean it could definitely be worse than a carboard cutout sexy video game girl

NOOOO! Don't hide it in your bed! Hide it under the bed! Or in the closet! Dude! This is not going to end well for you I can see it coming.

He thought it was funny when she was very insistent that she didn't want to have sex with him. Now he thinks she wants to and he's scandalised. Shoe's on the other foot now :D

Sunjae. Sunjae, that magazine you are pretending to casually read is upside down. Sunjae...

I'm not an idol who has to watch their weight so I'll just eat in front of you

Now he thinks she has legit prophetic dreams because when they were at school she told him she had a dream he got hurt and couldn't swim anymore, which then happened.

How did she manage to spill this much ramen all over her sweater and jeans. The bowl was pretty much empty when they showed it a couple of minutes ago

She is a tiny girl and you are a very tall man. I think it will definitely be too big

Not sure why he let her change in his bedroom after they made a big fuss about how it wasn't appropriate for her to be in a man's bedroom earlier. But also, LMAO, the time capsule he denied going to get because he was trying to be cool is right there on the table.

I AM WHEEZING! Dude, why did you use your entire duvet to cover the time capsule? Like what was the plan after that? Anyway, now his secret video game girl fetish has been exposed. They are both such disasters I love them so much.

I am such a sucker for 'accidentally falling on top of each other'. Even more if they accidentally fall into a kiss. It's so stupid but I never get tired of seeing it.

Oops. Busted.

Ah, so that's why she stopped seeing him. I totally get it she went through something incredibly traumatic. It's just sad that the person she loves and who loves her reminds her of that time.

Come on you need to tell him that you went too. You just arrived a bit late and missed him.

YAY!

YAY!

I legit keep forgetting about this dude

This is very random but it's nice to see someone working in a well lit office. So many kdramas have people working with just a tiny little desk lamp to see by and all the main lights are off for no reason

I'm assuming the sasaeng that Im Sol got mistaken for is going to become plot relevant at some point. God, is she going to try and kill Im Sol? Like she doesn't have enough problems with a serial killer already after her

Wait, am I supposed to know who this is? Im Sol looked really shocked when she saw her face

Why have you taken her out for dinner instead of calling the cops? Is it just because of how young she is?

OH SHIT!!

OMG was he after Sunjae this whole time?

[ask-spooky-manor]

Common Fear Headcanons

What common fear/phobia each manor resident has and why

(Leaving it under a Read More cause it got long oops)

Trigger Warning: There are hints to child abuse in Sally’s and Tim’s parts so read with caution

Toby: The Dark

- Toby has a really bad anxiety disorder that only worsens if he’s left in the dark. Not being able to see anything leads to his mind coming up with more and more horrid scenarios that leave him at best: extremely on edge and at worst: having a full blown panic attack.

Tim: Spiders (and some bugs)

- Not every foster home was kind to Tim. A lot of then were outright cruel. One of them would lock Tim in a dark basement for hours on end where he constantly felt spiders crawl on his skin. Even when he was let out, he could still feel the phantom touch of the spiders. It lead to him developing a really bad case of arachnophobia as the sight of a spider takes him back to a time where he felt so hopeless.

Brian: Heights

- Brian is considered to be very fearless, but the idea of being somewhere high up will have him frozen in place. He fell once, technically died, and he fears of it happening again without being given a third chance at life.

Jeff: Heights

- This one is less personal and more having the general fear of falling to his death. He also deals with that phenomenon where once you’re high up, you have the urge to throw yourself off. It really unnerves him.

Ben: The Ocean

- …okay well sometimes the obvious choice is the best one! Drowning is said to be one of the worst and most painful ways to die. With Ben having been killed that way, they’re not exactly ready to jump into a pool anytime soon. Ghosts are mostly numbed to a lot of sensations but even then, Ben never wants to experience drowning ever again.

EJ: Forests

- The fear is completely ironic, but Jack has lived alone in the woods, freshly blind, for enough years to realize that a lot of freaky shit happens there. From ghosts haunting an area to creatures lurking behind the trees to even inhuman acts happening where no one in society can judge. It spooked Jack to the point where he dislikes having to go into the woods to hunt. Again, it’s ironic when he himself is a man eating demon, but you gotta remember that he still has his humanity unlike most forest creatures (and serial killers).

Natalie: Tight Spaces

- She has a classic case of claustrophobia. Generally speaking the feeling of being trapped makes her slowly lose her shit the longer she’s stuck there. It’s even worse if she can’t move her body. It subconsciously reminds her of the time she was made to stay in a poorly funded mental hospital against her will.

Jane: Mirrors

- It’s also an ironic kind of fear. On one hand, Jane very much adores looking at herself in the mirror. She’s gorgeous, she knows she’s gorgeous, she likes being able to see how gorgeous she is. On the other hand if she stares at it for too long, she starts to dissociate, see shadows lurk behind her, swear the person looking back isn’t her. She hates walking by them more than anything, fearing she’ll catch a monster following her if she glances over to the mirror.

Nina: Being Alone

- She is the kind of person who needs to be with someone else at all times. Being left alone will lead to her thoughts racing faster than it should. Her paranoia worsens, and she starts to feel like she’s losing her mind. The anxious thoughts and scenarios she has scares her to no end.

Sally: People

- After what happened to her, Sally unfortunately is someone who was forced to realize that there are terrible people out there. People who want to hurt others for no good reason. She may seem fine living in a manor with a bunch of people now, but truth is that it took a loooong time for her to get used to it. Each time a new person is brought in, Sally needs to take a good while to see whether or not they’d ever hurt her. Luckily no one in the manor ever would, and if they did they’d be swiftly dealt with.

Slender: The Outside

- Slender is borderline agoraphobic. He can’t really leave the dimension he created because if he did, his Curse of Misfortune would take affect. Anyone he’s near is doomed to face great misfortune to a life ruining degree. For this reason, Slender has grown a fear of leaving the manor knowing simply being out there will lead to people getting hurt. It makes him nauseous to step out there even if the portal to the real world opens up in some secluded place.

[sanjisboyfie]

๑ keep safe : see you later, vivi! (20)

one piece x male reader

if he's a serial killer,

then what's the worst thing that can happen to a girl,

who's already hurt?

i’m already hurt.

if he’s as bad as they say,

then i guess i’m cursed.

looking into his eyes, i think he’s already hurt.

he’s already hurt. ​​​

『 prev 』

[name] was flying. that was the last thing he remembered, as well as the bright sky above his head. but when he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a dark ceiling.

then he began hearing the snores around him.

he blinked slowly, wondering where he was. but when he looked to the corner of his eyes and saw luffy’s tuft of black hair, he didn’t think twice in closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

he smiled to himself, reminding himself to apologize to vivi when he woke up. after all, he didn’t get to kill the warlord like he had promised her. instead he left that to luffy.

vivi had herself sitting in between [name] and luffy the whole time they were sleeping. the others had gotten up the next day. and after the treatment chopper and vivi had done for them, they were feeling much better.

it took [name] two days to wake up with enough energy. the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was chopper.

“ah, what a cute mascot we have!” [name] smiled, sleep still in his system.

at the sound of his voice, chopper whipped his head around to look at him and jumped on him immediately.

“[name]!!! you’re awake!” the doctor cried, suffocating [name] with his plush body completely covering [name]’s face. “i was so worried!!” just as [name] was going to comfort the worried chopper, the doctor’s personality did a complete switch. and instead of being worried, he was angry at [name], “there was a bullet lodged right in your stomach, asshole, why didn’t you say anything! you were running around with an open wound, you could've died of blood loss!

“not to mention — if pell hadn't caught you do you realize you'd be dead?! falling from such a height!! not to mention that you weren't completely immune to the explosion either! you're lucky you have no scorch marks!!”

“what's another scar on my body, anyway?” [name] pouted, crossing his arms and looking down at his bandages in interest, “oops, i think i opened the stitches by accident…” the blood was beginning to leak to the surface which made him hum in confirmation, “yep, i surely did!”

“the scars aren't the point! and bastard!!! i’ll kill you for re-opening your wounds!” chopper said, charging at [name] with more wraps of white bandages, “just stay still and listen to doctor's orders!”

“ah, tony-kun, i think we should ease up on the yelling…[name], might not be completely-”

“vivi!!” [name] shouted, outstretching his hands to grab her wrist. chopper jumped aside, huffing with his entire chest in annoyance at [name] who was ignoring his screams.

the rough pull to her wrist made her stumble forward and into [name]’s bandaged, and bleeding, chest.

“sorry, vivi,” he apologized immediately, holding her tight as his chin rested on top of her head, “i wasn’t able to take care of crocodile like i promised. do you think any lowly of me because of that?”

there was silence and soon the only sound in the room was vivi’s whimpers and cries. [name] said nothing and kept smiling at the girl in his arms, squeezing her tight to comfort her.

“[name], thank you,” she cried, lifting her head to show her teary eyes and trembling expression, “if it weren’t for you, pell and this entire country would have been done for!! thank you so much!!”

[name] laughed at her gratitude, the sound of his laughter only sending her into a deeper crying state. chopper sighed, shaking his head at [name]’s manners before leaving the room to grab vivi a glass of water.

“so pell is alright?” [name] asked, scooting backwards on the bed so he could rest his back against the frame. it also made more space for vivi to sit. but instead, she stood up and took ahold of one of the bandage wrappings chopper left behind.

“he’s alright, he’s quite angry with you though, last i checked,” she chuckled, flinching when she felt [name]’s hands wipe the tears away from her cheek.

“and you’re okay?” he asked her gently, holding her face in his palm, “there anything else i need to do to make sure your job as princess is easier?”

vivi shook her head.

the strawhat crew were never going to be forgotten, she’d assure that.

he chuckled at her actions, lightly tapping her cheek with his palm before letting his arm fall.

”i never met any princess before, vivi, but no matter who i meet i doubt they’ll be a better person than you,” he complimented sincerely, resting his hand on top of hers, “your courage is honorable. you’ve saved this country just as much as luffy has,”

she bit her lip, scolding herself for wanting to cry again. [name] noticed it too, laughing to himself, “but you sure are a professional at worrying! c’mon, princess, the people can’t have a leader as emotionally driven as you!!” he teased, obviously joking.

she rolled her eyes, unwrapping the sullied bandages off of his chest. she frowned seeing the scar from where he was shot. it was on his lower abdomen and currently seeping with blood. she disinfected the area quickly, [name] not even flinching at the alcohol being put to his wound, and then wrapped it once more. the entire time she worked she tried to ignore [name]’s e/c eyes watching her.

then she lifted her hand to flick him on the forehead. seeing as she couldn't "harm" any other part of his body without the risk of worsening his injuries.

his injuries…it seemed that it was the only thing she could see. she didn't lift her head once to look into his eyes.

when he noticed a pained look on her face, he moved his fingers to be underneath her chin and made her look at him.

“what’s wrong, vivi?”

she shook her head, lip quivering as she denied to speak her thoughts. [name] didn’t push for answers, instead holding her once more and rubbing up and down her back to comfort her.

“i just think…you’d make a great knight, [name],” she broke the silence, burying her head into his chest. [name] didn’t reply, only looking down at her in confusion. “you've been protecting me since we've met and you've protected this country. despite my attitude to you in the beginning, you've been nothing but kind. thank you so much,”

the two laid there in silence and [name] thought vivi had possibly fallen asleep. but when he moved to lift her up and put her in the bed beside him, so she could be most comfortable, she had stopped him.

”let’s just rest,” she breathed out, falling limp in his arms.

and he wasn’t going to deny her of sleep, so he moved her to be next to him and pulled the blanket over them. he fell back asleep rather easily, his breathing evening out in a matter of minutes.

when chopper came back into the room, he sighed at the two. as a doctor, he was really worried for [name]’s health. but as his friend, he was even more scared. [name]’s condition when pell flew  him to them, they really thought he was done for.

his body was bleeding from almost every crevice and chopper knew blood transfusions were out of the question for [name]. how [name] sufficed such tremendous and dangerous wounds and survived was a mystery. perhaps it had to do with his blood, but genuinely, chopper had no idea. there could be numerous theories he could come up with, but the only real answer would be from [name] himself. 

or...[name] could have a case of recovering freakishly quickly for no apparent reason, something both zoro and luffy both had as well. 

either way, it was something that intrigued and confused chopper at the same time. but if [name] was going to start getting into life threatening situations then it’d be a real cause for concern instead.

he shook his head multiple times, ridding himself of those depressive thoughts and simply climbed up to the foot of the bed. he was planning on just monitoring [name]’s condition, but he soon felt himself getting sleepy too.

then all the bodies laying on the bed were sleeping, luffy resting in the bed next to them.

after another night of recovery, luffy finally woke up. this called for celebration from everyone. a feast was to be had later that night. the moment [name] saw that luffy was up and healthy, he went over to his bedside and immediately smothered him.

luffy grinned, “[name]!! i haven’t seen you in so long,”

“yeah, yeah,” [name] said, nuzzling his face into luffy’s shoulder, “but y’know…i’m angry at you,”

“angry?! why? what’d i do?!” luffy asked with a pout and a whine in his voice.

“you didn’t let me land a single hit on crocodile, you asshole!” [name] shouted before biting into luffy’s rubbery shoulder.

a yowl was released immediately at the action, “hey, hey, hey!!! that hurts, knock it off, bastard!” [name]’s teeth were still digging into the flesh. he pulled his head back, making the skin of luffy’s shoulder stretch. “that hurts a lot! stop it!!”

[name] only grunted in response, not letting his jaw relax.

the rest of the crew watched with deadpan expressions as [name] attached himself onto luffy like a backpack as their captain ran around the room, begging for mercy.

“[name]! quit it!” luffy shouted in frustration, grabbing and slapping [name]’s face in annoyance, “it’s not my fault you couldn’t take care of him yourself! bleh!!” luffy’s tongue stuck out in a taunting manner at [name], which the man didn’t appreciate at all.

“i’ll kill you luffy!” [name] rung his hands around luffy’s neck, shaking him back and forth as he cut off the rubber man’s air supply.

”both of you, enough!!” chopper said, turning into his large form and wrangling [name] off of luffy, holding the two apart as if they were two cats fighting and clawing at each other. the two still tried attacking each other, kicking and punching the air, with sharp teeth barred at each other.

the rest of the crew only sweat dropped at their behavior, internally sighing in relief to see that neither of them had changed after their life-threatening injuries.

the room stayed as chaotic as it could be with an energetic luffy and [name] practically bouncing off of the walls. and it stayed like that until they were called down for their celebration feast.

the crew looked at each other in fear the moment they stepped into the room, hearing the hungry stomachs of luffy and [name] bubbling in anticipation. after seconds of sitting down, the food was presented to them.

[name] and luffy were the main ones who were eating as if their lives depended on it. the captain would use his devil fruit to his advantage, continuously stretching and stealing food off of other people’s plates then shoving it into his mouth before they’d be able to fight back.

[name] on the other hand was consuming things the moment they were set down on the table, not giving the others a single chance to take a piece. sometimes he’d haphazardly throw meat onto one of their plates, but that’d be because he’d take the rest of the food off of the dish and swallow it whole.

“we’ve got a lot, so-” vivi was cut off when [name] shoved noodles into her mouth and grinned as he ate from the same dish.

“ish sho good, ife neba hat noodwes like fis!!” he said, as if anybody could understand what he was saying. he swallowed his noodles, eyes glowing with stars, “wait! wait! wait! let me try your alabasta coffee! it’s gotta be good, huh?! get me coffee, please!” he shouted at no one in particular.

after a couple of minutes of waiting, a freshly brewed cup of hot, black coffee was placed in front of him. he ate a handful more dishes, to give it some time to cool off, before chugging it all down in one go.

tears filled his eyes as he cried for a refill, “it’s all so yummy!”

soon, the entire dining room was filled with laughter. the guards around them couldn’t hold back cackling at their rambunctious behavior and the strawhats themselves were laughing as chopper and usopp both got onto the table and started dancing.

it took a while for them to finish eating, mainly because of luffy and [name], but when they were done eating the most lavish meal of their lives — they were escorted to the bathing house.

[name] had a small towel wrapped around his waist, taking in a deep breath of the relaxing scent that was all around them. then his grin turned devilish as he grabbed ahold of luffy and usopp by their necks.

“hey, hey! no running, we’re gonna crash!” usopp shouted, slapping at [name]’s arm that was practically choking him. luffy didn’t complain though, clapping his hands and cheering as [name] ran.

“let’s go for a swim!!” [name] shouted, throwing the two of them forward and into a deep pool of water that was coming from the grand fountain. when he saw luffy and usopp crash in, he threw off his waist towel and followed soon after. he created a huge splash that soaked almost everyone near them.

“idiot! act more mature!” sanji shouted from the sidelines, his face now drenched with water, “also you guys are disgusting! this is a bath, not a pool!”

“sanji, come on, join us,” [name] said, resting his cheek on his palm. he was propped up against the marble wall that encased the pool of water they were in, a smirk on his lips. “or should i come over there and make you?”

sanji’s eye twitched at the invite, “don’t use that tone with me, shit for brai-”

he couldn’t finish his sentence as [name] was already jumping out of the water and running over to him. sanji’s eye locked in on [name]’s and he visibly cringed as he realized he couldn’t run. and in seconds, he was thrown into the pool of water that usopp and luffy were swimming in.

“zoro!!” [name] shouted, running to his next victim.

“hey, you can’t! i’m washing chopper, so-”

“zoro and chopper!!” [name] corrected, not stopping in his pursuit of collecting the two. he ran over with impeccable speed, throwing the duo in with the rest of the crew. chopper sputtered out water as he reached the surface and zoro simply leaned on his elbows, his hands planted on the bottom of the bath, and spat out a fountain of water from his mouth, a disgruntled look on his face.

[name] grinned, properly joining all of them and grabbing ahold of some of the shampoo and conditioner, “who’s going first?” he invited, showing his lathered hands.

”me! me! me!” luffy shouted, splashing his way over to [name] and sitting in front of him, presenting his hair to be washed.

[name] grinned, leaning down and pressing a chaste kiss on luffy’s cheek before going to wash his hair. luffy giggled at the action, closing his eyes in bliss.

he made sure to massage his scalp, to relax him further. and it worked seeing as luffy completely folded into [name]’s torso in a matter of seconds. after washing out the shampoo and conditioner from luffy’s head, [name] worked on scrubbing his back.

he’d prod and poke at luffy’s flesh every now and then to tickle him, making the captain whine and then laugh.

“alright, you’re all done! who’s next?” [name] invited once more. luffy shot up from his spot in front of [name] and took a position standing behind him. when [name] looked at him in confusion, the ravenette only grinned as he too now had shampoo lathered in his hands.

“i’ll wash your hair, [name]!” luffy proudly declared, making [name] smile in thanks. usopp took a seat in front of [name] and soon a train of washing hair had started. the sniper didn’t hide how vocal he was about the pleasant sensation of [name]’s hands washing his head, making [name] laugh.

“damn, [name]! you’re really good!!” usopp said with a look on his face that screamed pure relaxation, “we gotta take more baths together, i think i’d sleep like a baby every night if i got this treatment on merry,” he drawled on, his eyes shut as if he were about to go to sleep.

[name] worked his hair through usopp’s curls for a little while longer, moving onto conditioning, before announcing that the man was done and clean. usopp shouted his thanks, a pure smile on his face. [name] brought water up to his hair to wash out the product, sighing in delight at the relaxing temperature of the water. 

after luffy and usopp were finished, [name] went over to zoro and roughly took ahold of the short green hair.

“i’m plenty capable of washing myself, no thanks!” zoro rejected, going to move from [name] and to somewhere more secluded, but [name]’s hands firmly planted themselves on his shoulders.

“nope, not taking that as an answer,” [name] grinned, already working his hands through zoro’s short hair, “come on, i’ll give you a massage too,”

zoro groaned, his bottom lip jutting out as his eyes squinted in annoyance. first he was annoyed that [name] insisted on washing him, but now he was annoyed at how good it felt. [name]’s fingers gently washed his hair and massaged his scalp. and then when it finally came to washing down his back, his touch turned firm and completely relaxed his strained muscles.

not to mention, the warm water around them almost made him knock out into a deep sleep right then and there. [name] had his tongue pocking out in concentration, digging his fingers into a particular knot in zoro’s back.

he was humming to himself without realizing it and that’s when zoro really thought he’d fall asleep by accident. the low hum of [name]’s voice, the strong hands massaging his back, and the warm body heat that they were radiating off of each other.

the only reason why he didn’t knock out right then and there was because there was a sudden loud crash coming from behind the two. both him and [name] looked over and saw that half of them were laying down flat on their face. sanji even had a stream of blood coming from his nose.

[name] sighed, putting two and two together, reminding himself to lecture them later for peaking in on the girls. he was too busy scrubbing into zoro’s back that he couldn’t be bothered with it right now.

when the perverts of the bath house finally collected themselves, [name] was sitting in front of zoro and the swordsman was roughly washing him now.

“gentle, zoro, how many times have i told you i’m a sensitive man?!” [name] scolded, slapping zoro’s arm with his towel.

“shut up, i’m not even scrubbing that hard!” zoro shouted in return, but he did let up a very little bit. his eyes scanned over [name]’s muscular back, taking in the sight of [name]’s tattoo. the man in front of him had a very objectively nice figure. his shoulders were wide and his waist was slim. the tattoo on his back only seemed to pronounce these two features. 

zoro coughed at the sight, averting his eyes and quietly telling [name] he was done. [name] sighed in thanks, turning around and leaning on the marble walling of the bath. the two were now facing each other, [name] with a pleasant smile on his lips whilst zoro did anything but look at the said grinning man.

“thank you,” were the king’s words to break the silence. everyone looked at him, eyes widening just a tad when they saw him begin bowing his head down at them, “thank you for saving this country,”

“hey, hey, is it okay…for a king to do such a thing…?” zoro asked slowly, looking at the king who was still bowing down to them.

“this is a serious incident, king cobra! a king should never bow their head to anybody,” igaram said, the blonde looking worried at the king’s actions.

“igaram, authority is something you wear over your clothes. but we’re in the bath, there isn’t such a thing as a naked king,” [name] chuckled at the metaphor, looking at the king in interest. “i’d like to thank you from the bottom of my heart, as a father and as a resident of this land. thank you very much, i really appreciate it.”

luffy laughed his trademark laugh, eyes turning into crescent moons as his pearly whites were on display. the rest of the bath was turned peaceful, a drastic difference from when they first entered.

[name] was mellowed out, having a towel rest on top of his eyes and forehead to cool himself off. he almost fell asleep if it weren't for luffy bouncing over and jumping onto his chest.

“let’s go, [name]! we've been in here for too long! we gotta get dressed snd go now!” he said cheerfully, hugging himself deep into [name]’s torso. [name], used to the man’s close contact, nodded his head in understanding and stood the both of them up.

he had his hands resting underneath luffy’s thighs, carrying him as if he were a baby. the captain at least had some decency to put a towel on over his waist. shamelessly, though, he grinning like a kid who just won candy.  it was obvious luffy had no problem latching onto [name]’s figure and using him as a personal transport.

trusting that the grip luffy had around his waist and neck would be enough to keep him upright, [name] removed his hands from luffy's thighs to tie his own towel around his waist. they met up with the others in the changing room. [name] put on a black set of robes that were set out for them.

luffy got dressed in his own attire as well, but jumped right back onto [name]’s back once they were both wearing clothing. they returned back to the grand room where they were settled down for a conversation on when to leave. luffy rested his chin on top of [name]’s head, legs around his torso to prop himself up to that height. 

“we should be ready to leave by tonight,” nami said first, looking around the room for reactions. [name] agreed, for the most part everyone else did too.

“alright, let’s leave after we eat some more delicious food!” luffy said, completely missing the point. [name] slapped his cheek harshly, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

”no, we leave tonight, right now,” usopp shouted.

“yeah, if we have no other reason to be here, it’s best to leave as soon as possible,” zoro chimed in.

[name] carefully watched vivi’s expression, frowning when he saw her lip quivering as if she were about to start crying. just as he was about to say something to her, a royal guard entered the room and was carrying a den-den mushi for them.

“someone named bon-chan wants to speak with you,” he said to the straw hats, hesitance in his voice.

“who the hell is bon-chan?” the crew echoed in confusion, not recalling anybody with a name like that.

“but he insists he’s your friend, so…” the guard continued, holding the transponder snail out to them.

sanji was the one who got up, picking up the receiving end and immediately an irritating voice filled the room, “hello? hi there!”

and then their line of the transponder snail was immediately slammed down to hang up. the ones who had interacted with the caller all cringed in distaste. it only started ringing again the moment the call ended, earning angry glares from sanji and [name].

luffy stretched and took the snail, picking it up and speaking in a defiant tone, “huh, it’s you! what do you want from us?!”

[name] looking at the snail that mimicked the caller’s expression, grimacing as he could imagine the man spinning around in his pretty ballerina costume as he spoke into the den-den mushi.

“oh? that voice! it must be straw hat-chan! you really surprised me, y’know? you’re so strong!” the voice complimented, making [name]’s look of disgust only deepen.

“what do you want from us, mr. 2?” [name] asked in a deathly serious tone, glaring at the snail.

“no! no! don’t call me mr. 2, yeow!” the voice cried out, panic evident in his voice, “if this signal is caught by the navy, we’ll be in trouble!”

“what do you want from us.” [name] repeated, more stern this time to get to the point.

“oh, i took your ship!”

“that’s not funny!!” zoro, nami, and chopper cried out in unison.

“you bastard! this isn’t a joking matter! tell us where you are right now!” usopp said, pointing a finger at the snail in anger. like the other three, his teeth were barred and sharp as well.

“on your ship!”

“don’t fuck around right now, bon-chan,” [name] spoke in a taunting tone, “we both know what i’ll do to you if you lay a hand on merry!”

“no, no! it’s not like that, geez!” bon clay cried out, “we’re friends, right? i’m waiting for you guys at the upper reaches of the sandora river! but you have to hurry, i don’t know how long i can be here for before the navy finds it!!”

[name] grit his teeth, hanging up the snail and looking at the rest of the crew.

“now, what?”

they all looked conflicted, eyebrows furrowed in thought. they all decided that it’d be better if they left right away, not wanting to leave merry in the care of a past enemy as well as the fact the navy could find it at any second.

the crew began moving, [name] equipping himself with his sword and making sure that the cloth around his wrist was securely tightened.

”everyone…” vivi lowered her head as they all stared at her, waiting for her to continue, “what…should i do?” she softly asked, tone wavering.

a silence passed over all of them before nami spoke up, “listen well, vivi. we’ll give you 12 hours. once we take our ship back at the sandora river, we’ll draw the ship near the eastern harbor just once at exactly noon tomorrow. we probably won’t be able to anchor. if you want to continue traveling with us, that moment is the only chance to come aboard. if that happens, we’ll welcome you…though you’ll become a pirate!”

vivi blinked several times at the invitation, nodding her head in understanding.

“since you’re the princess of a country, this is the best we can do to invite you,” sanji sighed, looking somewhat troubled in having to leave behind vivi.

“come, vivi! definitely come! let’s go right now!”

[name] smacked his hand on luffy’s head, apologetically smiling at vivi. usopp began dragging luffy away and [name] was left to be the last one to scale out of the window.

he walked over to vivi, grinning down at her as he ruffled her blue locks, “this isn’t goodbye, even if you don’t end up coming. i’ll make sure to see you in the future, vivi! all of us!”

she nodded her head, pushing herself forward and crashing into [name]’s chest. the grip she had on his waist was tight, as if she didn’t want to let go. but after a gentle tap on her shoulders from [name], she released him from her hug.

“this was from pell,” she breathed out, handing him a crumpled up letter with his name neatly written on the front. he grinned, recognizing the lettering — thinking back to his impromtu lesson he received from the princess herself on the going merry. it seems even the guards got proper education on higher learning, “i assume it’s his thanks all written out. he was really bashful when he handed it to me,”

“then i’ll read it on merry,” [name] grinned, “vivi, you’re an amazing princess — you’ll make an even stronger queen one day!”

and then he was gone, just like that. he jumped form the window, using the rope to touch ground with the rest of his crew. and vivi was standing there, a blush on her cheeks at his sudden compliment.

but like [name] said, she'd trust they'd see each other again. whenever that time was.

the journey to the ship wasn’t super long, but it left them enough time to think. nami looked particularly forlorn, causing worry for the other crewmates. but when they realized she only looked like that because of beri, they all threw their worries out the window.

[name] had to physically stop himself from beating bon clay to a pulp when they reached merry, choosing to silently walk around the ballerina as they carried all their goods onto the ship.

the ship sailed on once everything was brought on board, bon clay still lingering on their deck. he seemed to bat his eyes whenever [name] walked by, but the man he was trying to woo would only shove his face away with his hand and a grimace.

by the time the sun came up on their journey, they were surrounded entirely by the marines.

[name] grit his teeth in annoyance, holding onto the railing as iron bars were lodged into merry’s wood. he concentrated on one of the ships that was targetting them, waving his hand in the air and causing it to capsize with a humongous wave.

��yes! [name]! keep doing that, whatever that is! keep it up!”

“it takes a lot of energy! i won’t be able to do it for all of them!” [name] bit back then beginning to breathe heavily. he noticed that they were beginning to get surrounded by 8 navy ships now.

“well, do as much as you can anyway! we can’t keep taking hits like that!” nami said, worry etched onto her features.

thankfully, usopp was able to land a cannonball into one of the ships. that bought them more time, but they weren’t going to move from their place. this is where they needed to be. vivi was going to meet them there.

thinking of the princess coming to the harbor and not seeing their ship, it made him infuriated. these marines had to ruin everything!

he turned around, waving his hand once more and causing two more of the ships to crash down.

bon clay began to beg for them to leave, but all of them refused. once luffy mentioned they were waiting for their friend, it seemed to woo the man in acting as a decoy for them.

and as bon clay got the formation to break apart, the strawhats were able to successfully move deeper into the harbor and closer to shore. and the only thing they could do was wait.

vivi’s voice began to ring in the air, making [name]’s face brighten up. he ran to the railing, to search for her at the shore. but gradually, the smile on his face began falling as he saw that she was nowhere to be seen.

she was giving a speech, but not for them. she wasn’t at the shore, which means her choice was obvious.

it did sting a little bit, [name] giving a bitter sweet smile to the country. he wished vivi could have joined them. she felt too close as a crewmate to be anything else, too. a selfish part of him wanted her to choose them over her country, but he knew that that was unreasonable.

“let’s go, luffy,” [name] said softly, patting the strawhat of his captain, “she’s made her choice,”

“but-”

“no, we have to accept it and sail onward,” [name] said, shaking his head at luffy, who was pouting in sadness.

just as [name] was going to turn his back on the shore, sighing in defeat, he heard her call out, “everyone!!”

he turned around in an instant and grinned ear to ear, waving at her. the others began rejoicing, perhaps too soon. since the next words that left her lips made all of them still, “i came to say goodbye,”

“huh? what did she say?” luffy said, the wide grin on his face turning into a flat line.

“i can’t…go with you! thank you so much for everything! i’d like to go on more adventures, but there’s no ignoring that i love this country! so i can’t go!! i…i…i will remain here! but if we ever meet again some day, will you call me your friend again?!”

[name] chuckled at her crying expression, looking at the rest of the crew with a sad smile.

“you’ll forever be our-”

nami and [name] acted in sync, slapping luffy’s mouth shut and onto the deck with grim expressions.

“you can’t! the navy has noticed vivi! if they see us making contact with her, they’ll assume the worst!”

“she’ll become a criminal!” nami added in, tears glistening in her eyes, “let’s part without saying anything!”

[name] pursed his lips, a grin of mischief on his face. he quickly ran to the back of the ship, a smile on his face that he hoped the princess could see. silently, he turned his back to her. he untied the black cloth around his left wrist and stuck it up in the air.

the straw hats joined him by his side, all showing their marks of friendship with pride. despite the cannons that were being shot at them, the rocking of their ship, and the chaos around them — they all stayed still and showed off the black ‘x’ on their left arm.

“set sail!!!”

BONUS : pell’s letter to [name]

[name],

as i am writing this, you are currently in an unconscious state and have been in one since yesterday. it is troubling to think that someone like yourself has been the one protecting princess vivi recently. to think that someone who makes such reckless decision was keeping her safe…it’s most certainly unsettling.

but she’s told me about you — your adventures together and how much you have sacrified for her, plus this instance in which you saved this country and my life, as well as every civilian’s life. i’ve learned from her debt to you, one that she has said she can never repay properly. and i do agree with her.

i could never repay you or properly put into words how thankful i am to you and your captain for keeping princess vivi safe and saving this country from the evil clutches of crocodile. to us, the strawhat pirates will never be forgotten.

the reason why i could not face you in person and instead opted to write you this letter is because of the utter shame i feel in making you be the one to hold the burden of saving the country on your shoulders. if i were more competent, then we would have both been able to save everyone, but instead i proved to still have a ways to go before i can be the perfect guardian for princess vivi and this country.

the princess had told me that my shames and worries were silly, then further reinforced that idea by saying that you were a rather laid back individual who would care for nothing of this sort. but, i can’t push aside my shames at this moment, but i also cannot stay silent in your actions and not show my genuine gratitude.

from one guardian to another, i thank you very humbly in everything you have done — but especially everything you have done for the princess. her smile reaches her eyes now and her shoulders are no longer slouched in stress and in worry of saving her country. but besides that point, i think you alone have saved her as well. saved her from walking down a dark path of loneliness and abandonment.

thank you for not giving up on princess vivi and pushing her forward in returning back home.

take this letter as a means of holding me accountable in the future. if we ever cross paths again, which i think the princess would like very much, then please utilize me as a proper guardian this time and trust in my abilities to prove myself to you. you have done me a great fortune i could never think of properly repaying, but allow me to at least try and hold a candle to the bright flame you have ignited when you saved this country.

yours,

pell.

additionally — i am glad i was at least the one to bring you the joy of flying. hopefully, when we meet in the future, we can go on the same flight together once again.

-

[  .ᐟ ] alabasta arc ends 🥹gonna miss vivi fr i need the straw hats and vivi to reunite in the manga ughhh like rnnnn + i finally caught up w the manga guys!!! i know everything thats going onnn (i had to reread from wci-present) concerningly enouhh i think it took a week?? definitely more than three days...i think

-

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taglist (lmk if u want to be tagged ! <3 :

@skullr0se , @strawberrii-tea, @triangulartriangles, @anotherlovefool, @haratatsu , @sinmp, @3v37773, @taru-nami, @disc0dild0s, @boredwithlifeatthispoint, @kaulitzer, @notplutos, @cheetosins

[oneknightstand-if]

FAQ

(That I just made up because there's no time for questions yet)

600,000+ words for the first chapter?!?

(Damn, Tumblr insists on blowing up even small gifs into full size, huh)

I know, I know... that's not going to be sustainable unless we're aiming for the first 6 million word release in history. I'll be streamlining things more from this point onwards.

Is this a standalone or the first book of a series?

It's a series. The first book One Knight Stand will keep going until we finally complete that Lesser Circle of Seven (or die trying) but the apocalypse won't be over yet.

What is with all these wikipedia links in the game?

So I was going to have tooltips that popped up and explained things such as 'greaves' and whatnot like Twine games do… but oops, Choicescript doesn't have that capability. The closest I could do is include a link to a website that explained it.

I decided that wikipedia had the best chance of still being available years from now and have handy explanations to most things I was referencing (so I wouldn't have to chase after broken links when sites go down forevermore).

And then I just started running amok and linking to anything that the player might not know offhand. If you already understand the reference or have no further interest in it, please feel free to just ignore them.

How can I see the code for the game?

You can view the game code on my site the same way you do on Dashingdon just add /scenes to the end of the URL.

Do I need to know anything about King Arthur, Camelot, or random arthurian lore to play this game?

No, you don't need to know anything about it.

You can spend the whole game going "Who is Arthur? What's a Camels-a-lot? What am I even doing here?" as a legit strategy. (You can even play that way if you actually do know stuff about arthuriana.)

If you choose to be an in-game lore expert, it just means your MC is as likely to give an explanation as one of the other characters. However, anything important that the player needs to know will come up in the game itself.

You can also ask the other characters for info dumps on Camelot... and boy, will some of them give you (completely skippable) lore dumps all right.

Hey, this stuff that Merlin's saying about Camelot doesn't jive with what I know!

Maybe that's the difference between what canonically happened in One Knight Stand's backstory. Or maybe Merlin is just gaslighting you.

What's going on with Merlin's pronouns?

If Merlin's pronouns don't fit with the gender that you've chosen for them within the MC's speech or internal narrative, then that's a coding error (please report it).

If another character (say a little girl who's convinced that Merlin is Elsa) is using different pronouns for Merlin than what's expected, then that's simply how that other character is currently perceiving Merlin.

But what pronouns does Merlin prefer?

Merlin doesn't care what human pronouns you use for them. Out-of-universe I'll be using they/them for simplicity's sake (same reason I'll be using 'incubus' instead of typing incubus/succubus the entire time).

What's up with all of Merlin's kaomoji in their text messages and e-mails?

They're a fifth-century mage who's been sealed away for 1500 years... they're *trying*.

 m(✿￣ｰ￣)m plz understand

Why are there so many Merlin questions in this FAQ?

I don't know, it just ended up that way. Probably because they show up in Chapter 1 and have a rather... complex... situation that needs warnings attached to it.

(✿≖ᴗ≖ )ゞ "Naturally, I'm simply the most intriguing member of this party."

Are all RO's available to all MC's?

Your MC won't be blocked from a romance due to gender or sexuality. At most you'll get a passing mention if you're not the gender that the RO usually dates.

There are certain *other* mitigating factors, however... for example not all RO's are going to be kosher with the Serial Killer MC (especially if said MC won't knock off with all the killings).

Also there is one modern day RO that is incompatible with a certain Camelot MC background.

Is there a lock-in point for romances?

No, there will be several points where you can initiate and break-off relationships with the various RO's (and know that the RO's can take take those on and off-ramps just the same as the MC).

You can also romance another character after breaking up with your current RO... but that's going to get tougher and tougher the more you do that.

Can we start a romance in Book 1?

Romances will proceed at a different pace depending on who your MC is romancing (and also on your MC themselves). For example Adrian will be friendzoning you through most of Book 1 for... reasons. Meanwhile, potential sex scene with Merlin in Chapter 3 if you're feeling particularly horny.

Do I need to romance someone to take part in their personal subplot?

No, you just need to be "close" to someone, either platonically, romantically, or otherwise to take part in their subplot. You'll also need to actually be physically present (which will not always be possible for everyone at the same time).

Is there any poly?

In the series, yes, but not in the first book One Knight Stand, as forming the triad will require developing a certain level of trust and loyalty between all three members. And right now everyone is too busy side-eying each other in suspicion at this point.

Thus, since the poly options won't appear until Book 2, saying who is involved would be a *spoiler* since it indicates who'll actually still be available for romance later in the series.

In general, there are three triads that will be available... one is male/male/MC, one is female/female/MC, and one is male/female/MC. Note that there is some overlap in the characters potentially involved in various triads since only a couple of the ROs are interested in this sort of thing.

What about options for flings and friends with benefits--

*points to Merlin*

So... Merlin the incubus as an RO. Can they be romanced monogamously? Can they be romanced asexually?

You can indeed romance Merlin and have them be emotionally monogamous to you as the partner they will always return to while everyone else is a (literal) snack.

But they can't be physically monogamous with the MC. They need to eat and being Merlin's sole food source would literally kill the MC in two weeks or less.

In fact, romanced Merlin is even more likely to seek out other food sources just to make certain that the MC is safe with them and that they won't get too hungry and accidentally eat your soul.

Merlin's nature as an incubus means their sexuality is highly integral to them, and while they will reflect back what their partner wants/needs from them, they are not naturally romantic. Basically if you're not having sex with them, then a high affinity MC is defaulting back to platonic friends.

These are things that are definitely going to be brought up in-game if you try to initiate a long-term romance with Merlin.

Will any other RO have problems with an asexual romance?

Nope, sex can be entirely avoided with all the other RO's, just choose the snuggle options instead of the sex options.

How explicit are we talking here regarding sex scenes?

You'll have the choice between fade to black and something rather more explicit but not full-blown porn. If anything rated higher than that gets included as a DLC option (not part of the base game) will depend upon how much (if any) interest there is in that sort of thing.

Can I romance the saboteur?

You can certainly *think* you are! (Note: This is not recommended for your MC's longevity)

Can I romance the 404 Error?

You can certainly *try*. (You actually have a better chance here than with the actual saboteur.)

Can I romance the dude in the elevator, that random paramedic, or some stranger walking down the street?

( ⓪ ᴗ ⓪ )

So there's only one traitor, right?

There may actually potentially be more than one depending on the MC's actions. But there's always that one particular saboteur present despite whatever else the MC may do.

Will the gender of my past Camelot reincarnation be the same as the one I've chosen in game?

No, there's no connection between your MC's current and past gender (or really their current and past *anything* since they're basically an entirely different person now).

There are four different backgrounds available for the Camelot reincarnation, 2 male and 2 female, so if you end up with a past incarnation you don't like at the end of the game, you can replay for one more suitable to your tastes.

How is the MC's past Camelot Incarnation determined?

Mostly through your choices during the Camelot flashback sequences. Mostly.

Who are the potential past incarnations of the MC?

That's for you to find out! (No really, this is one of the major subplots of the game).

What is with all these grayed-out options?

Options will be grayed out if they conflict with a previous choice the player made if you haven't fulfilled the prerequisites for unlocking them.

An example would be the "I'm lying about my amnesia" option not being selectable if you didn't chose to have amnesia in the first place. (The exception right now is the fencing & book club choices... I just haven't written those routes yet).

If nearly *all* the options have been grayed out, then usually that's triggered by your fear or vice kicking in or because your MC is literally possessed (Congratulations!). You may want to work on that.

I'm here for the story and not for the trauma… what background choices are least likely to spectacularly blow up in my face later?

In that case, I'd suggest the Lab Technician job, the Imposter secret, Abandoned or Abused as your childhood, Lust as your vice if you're not planning to pursue a long-term relationship with a RO (Sloth if you are), either Heights, Snakes, Spiders, or Closed Spaces as your phobia, avoiding Luck as your talent & avoiding the Internet as your addiction, and finally having Adrian as your close friend.

Not saying that you can't make other choices during the game that'll set you on the path to Hard Mode, but these background choices have the mildest potential repercussions.

I want the full spectacular clusterf*ck experience here! What background should I choose?

The Wrath (Vice), Accident (Childhood), and Serial Killer (Secret) combo is always f̴u̸n̷. The "Lying about my amnesia" secret is also it's own brand of mindtrip as well.

Also, some other options include starting off as a Security Guard as your career, with Fear Itself as your phobia (blood or death are also 'good' options), Luck as your talent, the Internet as your addiction, and of course Adrian as your stalker because obviously we don't need any good relationships to fall back on when playing Among Us.

What is going on with the "lying about your amnesia" option?

What indeed.

If you don't like meta fourth wall breaks or otherwise heavily self insert, you might not want to choose that as your secret.

My MC's skin is pretty dark, is that demonic-bruise thing actually going to be seeable?

Since the bruise being perceivable is an important plot point, then no matter how dark your MC's skin is, that bruise is darker still even if has to become the abiding abyss of a black hole to do so. (I even described it as a black hole in some routes to cover my posterior.)

My MC is intrigued by this agenda of demonic conquest & people-eating and would like to subscribe to their newsletter. Can I join the other side?

Well... there's certainly some Dead Ends where you can do that!

Screw all these people and this forced quest! My MC wants to leave the group and this plot behind.

You can certainly do that. You'll die (since your MC is currently on the top of several different 'Kill on sight' lists), but you can do it.

At some point the MC will be strong enough that they can split from the group and frolic off into their own nonstandard ending adventures in the apocalyptic world while everyone else deals with the whole apocalypse plot thing. But you're nowhere near that point yet.

So the MC can die prematurely here, huh.

Yep, this game is horror-adjacent and you're being given a hundred save slots for a reason. I'll be inputting checkpoints as well once we come to that part. Hopefully Choice of Games will start allowing normal save points in the near future.

Also, please note that all the Dead Ends include clues towards the truth of what's going on here that may otherwise not be knowable, so they're not complete wastes of time. Also, they all give Achievements.

What is a Cloudcuckoolander etc?

Please see this post for all your cloudcuckoolander needs.

What is going on with the Changeling MC?

Please see this post for all your changeling needs.

OMG, what the hell is this monstrosity that is Merlin's Guide to Arthurian Lore?

We're playing Among Us/Werewolf/Mafia/etc here. You aren't getting any word-of-god lore directly from me. That'd be too easy.

All info about the One Knight Stand world will be filtered through the natural biases (and lies) of the characters involved in the game. Hence, Merlin's Guide to Arthurian Lore.

Feel free to read or ignore, as you like. (Also feel free to text Merlin back and tell them exactly what you think of that doorstop.)

So Why 'Among Us' in the description?

Obviously, it can't be officially marketed like that, but I thought that would be the most popularly recognized description for this type of situation.

I also considered using the OG Mafia or Werewolf instead, but I thought that might've confused people into thinking that there are actual gangsters and werewolves present in the game.

About those werewolves...

No comment.

Are there any guides available?

Here's a link to various guides & info posts available on the Choice of Games thread.

Escaping the Monster Under the Bed

Getting Excalibur Shards

Gaining/Avoiding Corruption

Gaining/Avoiding Fear

Gaining Magic Points | Ver. 2

Gaining Charisma Points

Mini Guide to Gaining Will Points

Full Guide to Gaining Will Points

Gaining Cloudcuckoolander Points

Potential Past Incarnations

Saving & Getting Pippa Killed | Version 2

Saving Zain

Potential Camelot Incarnations

Camelot Family Trees

Quick Guide to Sparring with Lancelot

My save slots keep getting stuck in the Status Menu! (or any of the submenus associated with it such as Messages/Inventory/etc)

Unfortunately, that's a common problem with Dashingdon games or any games that use the smPlugin.js save system (like One Knight Stand). You can't save the game directly after checking the stats menu (or any of the submenus associated with the stats menu such as Messages, Inventory, menu). If you do, that save will be permanently stuck in the stats menu for good.

So you either have to...

Save the game before checking the stats menu

After checking the stats menu move the game forward by at least one screen before saving. That means picking an option, hitting the 'Next' button or whatever is currently available in that particular game.

I keep getting an error in the game.

Before reporting any errors, please clear your browser's cache (just the cache, not the cookies, localStorage, or any other browser data) and refresh the page.

Then, if you're loading an old save slot, check the Status Menu to make certain that your stats haven't been reset back to default (which can be caused by the data in the save slot corruption). If the Status Menu variables have reset back to their original values, you'll have to load another Save or restart from the beginning of the game).

If you're still getting an error message after trying these steps, please feel free to send in a bug report.

When will the Book Club Route be done?

When it's done. There's no set date at this point and considering the time investment (3-4 months for 150,000-175,000 words) and how burnt out I currently am with Chapter 1, it won't be anytime soon.

I will also no longer be responding to any update requests regarding the book club.

What the hell is going on with Gawain in Merlin's Guide to Arthurian Lore?

So, while I was plotting out One Knight Stand and deciding which version of Arthurian lore would be taken as the "truth" of the OKS world, I looked at Gawain and his five million wives and lovers (because if you were going to create a female OC back then, high probability she's shacking up with Gawain) and then I decided, yes, I'm going to make all of them canon.

The yandere. The other yandere. The one who dosed him with aphrodisiacs. That one who died of heartbreak because he couldn't figure out how to get back to her castle. The cursed baba yaga.

Merlin's cursed ex-lover. [insert Merlin screeching in the background about not having done any such thing] The fairy daughter of Morgana... and that other fairy... and this fairy too.

All of them.

Good luck, Gawain.

[az-roser]

“Be careful who you give your heart to, my dear.”

OH HELLO…. It’s been a minute since I’ve posted.

And even longer since I’ve fed the children with some Human Alastor 🖤🔪

View/Follow Me on Twitter!

[breserker]

i've been thinking hard on why the post-Team Silent SH games just feel like they don't fucking work at all and I genuinely believe it's because they gravely misinterpret what the multiple endings are supposed to do.

With the exception of the total joke endings which you must go out of your way for sometimes in convoluted ways, the alternate Silent Hill endings do not fundamentally change the story. Harry still finds out what happened to his daughter, James still goes through the same journey as does everyone around him, Heather still kills God as a final boss, Henry still confronts Walter after finding out what he intended to do to apartment 302. The endings just change the outcome, the epilogue, the "what happens next" question.

Meanwhile, because in writing this sh4 fic I realized I had never finished Origins, i look up what's the deal with Travis and...he could either be a totally normal guy OR A FUCKING SERIAL KILLER, and while there are things you do in the game to get one or the other there's like. no way that just doesn't fundamentally change the story being told. And since the games were developed with some semblance of a canon throughline in mind, one ending becomes infinitely clunkier than the other and in its worst cases (Downpour, for example) spits in the player's face for wanting to engage with a complete, coherent story. (Murph totally killed his son! Oops no he totally didn't. Well it doesn't matter because other people think he did. but wait, if you did this one thing, then yeah nevermind it was all true/false all along)

I think this paired with the immensely dionysian approach to writing human beings (while I'm usually an advocate for the dionysian, the post Team-Silent games do not do this well and I mean it derogatorily) makes for what feels like an edgelord experience that thrives on what's the most shocking/wild pulls we can have a player do instead of telling an actual story.

And I think this really messy approach to storytelling by mixing it up with the freedom of video games is why so much of the games just didn't resonate with people on the deeper level that the Team Silent games had. I really wanted to like Murphy but I can't tell you a damn thing about him in confidence because depending on what you do he becomes just a totally different person; he could either be a mourning dad who cut his own losses to imprison himself to avenge his son and the rest of his life be damned, or he could be his son's fucking murderer and it was all a convoluted ploy to incriminate someone else for his son's murder. Who's Murphy Pendleton, then?? His anger in one scene can be totally unchanged from run to run but the contextual interpretation varies so greatly that his anger could come off as a hurt father who lost his son to like. Sinister killer.

The fact that a lot of these games came out during the rise of mystery box style storytelling in the west isn't lost on me either. It's just such a shame because so many of these games have...fine frameworks? Some of them fuck them up more than others (Alex as a veteran being a total lie was..............A Choice) and I didn't include Shattered Memories because while that also bungles its own narratives over and over like Downpour, at least it said that on the tin and was kind of openly experimental in that regard.

PostScript: I know I wanted to bring up Travis's backstory as an example of weird dionysian human beings, and contrast that to Walter's weird ass backstory, and trying to figure out why one succeeds at its grotesque weirdness where the other feels like that Edgelord approach of ohhhh yeah you're just. Puttin' anything on the wall to get a reaction. But I can't figure out where to fit it in here and I think the multiple ending fuckup is a less subjective issue.

[slayerzach]

Hey there! Do you believe the Mikaelson's deserved their "happy ending." This ask is a bit sporadic btw.

I mean, what does that mean for their victims? What does justice look like in the vampire diaries universe. Literally all the suoernaturals were serial killers or knew serial killers.

Camille and Elijah had this anger searing within them. You could see it in Elijah's annoying sassy speaches. Camille understood Klaus, a serial killer. That's awful. And we see how she became after a vampire. I'm not saying this show is awfully written, i'm just saying their characters are interesting because their awful.

Unpopular oppinion but Elijah's type was ass. He found the worst of the worst with an attitude beyond his and called it a day.

I also heavily hated how they treated Marcel, Elijah and Hayley get to go to peace for that too. You said something that stuck to me and still does- you said the problem with the Mikaelson's is that "they don't try not to hurt eachother" which I could literally see in real life too. They were awful to each other yet got together in the after life. I mean jackson and Hayley too were toxic. Is the after life some parallel to the real world. I mean if their isn't any hell, how the heck does malivore work.

I could argue all supernaturals are bad and they kinda all went to "hell" together- Were-wolfs kill, just not at the caliber of Vampires. But their still a pack of serial killers camping with each other. Marcel did a good job of keeping control of the mass murder, he ruled the city with a keen eye to allow feeding and less death. Witches use blood to fule their magic too and are also awful.

I mean, do you think that the supernaturals killing each other would be better for the community of new orleans?

Just a bunch of questions, sorry !

About time I finally got to this after almost a month. My apologies!

So, I don't really know how controversial this take is, but I don't feel they did enough to deserve a fully happy ending, but I do believe they deserve some credit for trying to change for the better at certain points. However, I feel there was so little redemption done that all I can think is where they were GOING to go. We don't really know. I feel a lot of the redemption happened in the last season of TO, and then they all died, so how much of a happy ending do they really deserve? Or do they deserve it based on who they were going to become? Or WERE they gonna become even better people? I DON'T KNOW!! That's the problem, nobody knows where their direction was going. That's why I personally think if they knew the actors for these characters didn't want to stick around long, they shouldn't have even started huge character arcs for characters that didn't want to continue on into Legacies.

You make a great point with the whole "hell" questioning, I mean where did they really go? That's some lazy writing if I've ever seen it. That's a pretty huge story detail to just go "oops sorry didn't write that in hehe".

If they are in the afterlife together, I hope they're all arguing just like they did in life. I think that's the biggest punishment and hell they can ever have;being stuck together forever.

As for your last question, I do think it's possible that it could be beneficial depending on who died and such. I mean, there probably are some supernaturals who don't want to fight or anything, but the bad ones, I mean sure? Honestly that's a tough question.

Thanks for the questions, this was really interesting and thought provoking!

[bibliophileiz]

2023 in Books, Part 2

(posting a day late, oops)

This was a pretty great literary year for me. Even the books at the end of this list I enjoyed reading. I left out an anthology I read for class (Peach Pit is ... interesting) and a book of poetry written by someone I know, just because I don't know anything about poetry and don't want my personal feelings about the poet (she's great) to muddle it even further. I also already posted a separate list ranking the six children's/YA books I read. That still leaves thirty-one books to rank, though.

As usual, this is based entirely on personal preference/enjoyment and not necessarily on quality of writing or story. I reserve the right to change my mind about this ranking as soon as I post it because I am fickle like that. (Although I don't think I'm going to change my mind about my number 1 choice.) Here ya go.

31. The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling Dates Read: Dec. 12-13 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: A witch accidentally curses her ex-boyfriend, and by extension her small magical Georgia town. She and her ex have to lift the curse without falling in love (which of course they do anyway). One-sentence review: (directly from my GR review) Cute and witchy, just the thing to get you through finals week.

30. Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld Dates Read: April 28-May 7 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: A musician and comedy writer seem to hit it off when the musician guest stars on the comedy writer’s late-night show, only for the writer to blow it by assuming the musician is a shallow womanizer. A few years later, they rekindle their connection during pandemic lockdowns. One-sentence review: I liked the characters, but as usual Sittenfeld is more interested in commenting on whatever she saw on Twitter while she was writing this then she was on, like, writing a dramatic plot.

29. The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray Dates Read: Aug. 19-27 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: All of Jane Austen’s beloved couples (except the Tilneys), plus the Darcys’ son and the Tilneys’ daughter, attend a house party at the Knightleys’ where Mr. Wickham turns up and is immediately murdered. One-sentence review: This is what P.D. James’ Death Comes to Pemberley SHOULD have been.

28. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus Dates Read: May 24-27 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: It’s the 1960s, and chemist Elizabeth Zott was kicked out of her Ph.D. program for reporting her supervisor for rape, and then loses her job after she becomes pregnant outside wedlock, and ends up starting her own STEM cooking show and some other stuff happens, look, I know you already read the reviews of this one. One-sentence review: It was fine, I just thought it was overrated.

27. The Paris Deception by Bryn Turnbull Dates Read: Aug. 23-Sept. 7 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: Two women immersed in the French art world in the 1930s and ‘40s defy their German occupiers by hiding, documenting, and sometimes copying “degenerate” art to keep it from the hands of high-ranking Nazi officials and sympathizers, or to keep it from being destroyed. One-sentence review:  The main characters were great and I really like the focus on protecting art and culture from extermination, but the constant time jumps drove me nuts.

26. Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid Dates Read: April 3-5 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: Less than two weeks into her marriage, a young woman is widowed and only meets her mother-in-law at the hospital. The two strangers find a way to navigate their grief together. One-sentence review: While the grief could be gut-wrenching due to Reid’s fantastic writing, the characters were nothing spectacular.

25. Hell’s Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, America’s First Serial Killer Family by Susan Jonusas Dates Read: Jan. 29-31 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: The Benders were a creepy family in late 19th Century Kansas who murdered people who stayed at their boarding house and then disappeared before they could be arrested. One-sentence review: I’m not super into true crime—it has to be historical for me to even start it--but I did like the look at life in the Midwest.

24. Galatea by Madeline Miller Dates Read: Jan. 6 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: Madeline Miller retells the Pygmalion myth in a way that doesn’t suck. One-sentence review: Miller smartly skips the gender misery by making this a short story and then delivers an extremely satisfying ending.

23. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite Dates Read: July 26 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: Korede and Ayoola are sisters who fall for the same man. Ayoola is hot and a serial killer, and Korede is getting pretty tired of covering for her. One-sentence review: Despite (or perhaps because) all the characters are awful, this book STAYS with you, and I feel like it would be a blast to talk about in a drunken book club. Note: I listened to the audiobook and want to give narrator Adepero Oduye a shout out.

22. The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec Dates Read: July 24-Aug. 17 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: Three friends in Medieval Scandinavia find themselves in the middle of a Game of Thrones-esque rivalry for the crown and a deadly battle between supernatural forces. One-sentence review: Good story and I liked the characters, but it moved too slowly sometimes.

21. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan Dates Read: May 7-10 GoodReads Rating: Four stars (I was feeling more generous about Grace marrying Hugh than I am right now) Summary: A sewing circle in a small English village in the 1940s decide to pool their talents and resources to help English brides wear the perfect white gown to their weddings, clothing rations be damned. One-sentence review: Ryan excels at writing about women and civilians in wartime, and I would have ranked this so much higher if it hadn’t ended with the best character marrying the worst one.

20. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Dates Read: Jan. 31-Feb. 8 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: Aging actress Evelyn Hugo (who is not Elizabeth Taylor, by which I mean she absolutely is Elizabeth Taylor) invites a young journalist to write her life story. One-sentence review: The plot was engaging and thought-provoking, but I never could decide how I felt about Evelyn.

19. A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher Dates Read: Oct. 28-Nov. 1 GoodReads Rating: Three stars Summary: An archaeologist visits her mother at the family home in North Carolina only to find that her grandmother’s ghost is haunting it. But how do you banish a ghost once you learn it’s keeping something far worse at bay? One-sentence review: Of all the haunted house books I read this year, this one was the worst, and yet it was still great.

19. To Swoon and to Spar by Martha Waters (That’s right, I ranked a trashy Regency romance above both Romantic Comedy AND Lessons in Chemistry) Dates Read: May 17-24 GoodReads Rating: Four stars (Objectively, this was too many, but I also don’t care.) Summary: When Viscount Penvale’s uncle promises to sell him back the family estate for a steal if Penvale marries his uncle’s ward Jane, Penvale reluctantly agrees. He and Jane make an agreement to leave each other alone, but Penvale didn’t expect to fall in love with her. Nor did he expect his family house to be haunted. One-sentence review: The Regency Vows series just keeps getting better, honestly.

17. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson Dates Read: Aug. 31-Oct. 13 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: Humor writer Bill Bryson and his on-again-off-again friend Katz decide to hike the Appalachian Trail, and Bryson tells you all about its history and natural resources along the way. There are moose, but no (confirmed) bears. One-sentence review: This book got me really into nature and hiking again.

16. The Shining by Stephen King Dates Read: Dec. 1-4 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: I know you know what this book’s about. One-sentence review: Super tense, riveting look into the mind of a toxic, self-absorbed abuser who doesn’t need to be anywhere near blizzards, haunted houses, or children.

15. Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid Dates Read: July 12-23 GoodReads Rating: Five stars (Objectively, this book probably deserves that. Subjectively, I like Regency romances and journalists better than sports stars.) Summary: A retired tennis star full of rage and ambition makes a comeback to keep a younger player from breaking her record. One-sentence review: An absorbing, balanced take on the pressures women athletes face, plus a heart-warming father-daughter story, with some romance and female friendships to round it out.

14. Swamp Story by Dave Barry Dates Read: Dec. 30 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: There is actually too much going on to summarize this book, but suffice to say it involves a desperate single mom, her shirtless fame-hounding ex-boyfriend, a failed journalist with a drinking problem, and a lot of people in the Florida Everglades looking for a cryptid OR Confederate gold OR pythons. One-sentence review: Dave Barry writes about Florida like it’s a drunk, eccentric relative who everyone hangs around at the family reunion even though he smells bad, because he has the best stories.

13. Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas Dates Read: Oct. 15-28 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: During the Mexican-American War, a Wuthering Heights-esque couple learn their homeland is being stalked by vampires. One-sentence review: You root for the couple, you root for the Mexicans, you even root for the vampires once or twice, but you never root for the Texas Rangers. Note: The couple is Wuthering Heights-esque in the sense that he is poor, she is rich, they were childhood sweethearts, and then they were separated—not in the toxic incest way.

12. A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall Dates Read: July 12-23 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: A trans woman believed to be dead at the Battle of Waterloo reinvents herself and returns home to England, only to find that her best friend has been consumed by grief over her death. As she helps him heal—and he slowly falls for her—she battles with whether to tell him who she really is. One-sentence review: I'm a sucker for love stories in which the couple are torn asunder, believe they will never see each other again, and then are reunited unexpectedly. Note: This actually would have ranked a lot higher if all the main couple’s angst wasn’t basically resolved in the first half. The second half is fine but not as good.

11. The Lover by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Dates Read: Dec. 26 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: A young woman must choose between two potential “lovers” who come from the woods in this dark fairy tale novella. One-sentence review: Finally, a good werewolf book.

10. The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World by Shelley Puhak Dates Read: April 4-14 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: Puhak writes about the feud between rival Merovingian queens Fredegund and Brunhild in sixth century western Europe. One-sentence review: It’s like Game of Thrones, but real, shorter, and with more women and less sexual assault.

9. Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell Dates Read: Dec. 14-25 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: Vowell writes Lafayette’s biography, focusing on his and the larger French role in the American Revolution, all while musing on our country’s inability to agree on anything. One-sentence review: Vowell’s irreverent essay style is just the tone needed to tackle the oft-romanticized American Revolution.

8. The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas Dates Read: July 23-26 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: In the aftermath of the Mexican War for Independence, a young bride moves to her landed husband’s country estate, only to find that the house is super haunted and her new in-laws super racist. One-sentence review: Your standard haunted house story, except the ghost is colonialism.

7. Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune Dates Read: Oct. 29-31 GoodReads Rating: Five stars (was probably generous, but the ending had just made me cry, so) Summary: When workaholic Wallace dies, his spirit is sent to a teashop for transition to the afterlife. But after a few weeks of hanging around teashop owner and “ferryman” Hugo, his reaper, and the ghosts of Hugo’s dog and grandfather, Wallace realizes he doesn’t want to leave what he’s coming to think of as his family. One-sentence review: A lovely mixture of funny and sad, this book is a nuanced look at death and found family.

6. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Dates Read: Nov. 1-6 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: A debutante from Mexico City visits her cousin’s haunted house in the countryside where she’s pulled into a mystery surrounding her cousin’s eugenics-obsessed in-laws. One-sentence review: Noemi is a fantastic character, and the plot is engrossing, which is good because you will hate all the other characters.

5. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer Dates Read: Aug. 9-29 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: In 1996, Outside magazine sent Jon Krakauer to cover the burgeoning commercialization of Mount Everest. When Krakauer climbed the mountain himself, he and his team got caught in a freak snowstorm that resulted in what was then the worst disaster in the history of the mountain. One-sentence review: Apart from being a really tense and riveting account of a brutal natural disaster in an already brutal environment, Krakauer’s account of the 1996 storm on Everest raises questions about who should be on the world’s highest mountain and whether money and fame have blinded guides and climbers to the risks of tackling the summit.

4. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty Dates Read: Nov. 20-30 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: Amina al-Sirafi, a retired smuggler and single mom on the Arabian peninsula, has to get her old band crew back together for the promise of more money than they’ve ever dreamed of when wealthy grandmother hires Amina to rescue her kidnapped granddaughter. But things go awry when the crew learns the girl is with an evil crusader with plans to unleash dark magic and monsters on the world. Inspired by the rich mythology, religions, and history of the Middle East, East Africa, and the Indian Ocean. One-sentence review:  I have not had so much fun reading a fantasy novel since I was a kid reading Harry Potter and I can’t wait for the sequel.

3. Lone Women by Victor LaValle Dates Read: Oct. 5-12 GoodReads Rating: Four stars Summary: In the early 1900s, a woman burns her parents’ mangled bodies in their California farmhouse and flees to Montana with a secret locked in a heavy trunk. One-sentence review: Frankenstein meets Calamity Jane in this horror Western about race and female friendships.

2. We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian Dates Read: Oct. 28-Nov. 9 GoodReads Rating: Five stars Summary: Two men reporting for a progressive newspaper in 1950s New York fall in love. One-sentence review: I mean, it’s journalists in love in the 1950s, and one of them is investigating police corruption and the other covered a Civil Rights meeting in DC, so of course I loved this book.

1. The Correspondents: Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II by Judith Mackrell Dates Read: Nov. 27-Dec. 26 (during finals and holidays with family—I don’t think I could have finished the book if it wasn’t so good) GoodReads Rating: Five stars Summary: Mackrell covers the WWII careers of six journalists—a correspondent in Berlin who ingratiated herself in the Nazi Party to tell America about Hitler’s plans for world domination; a photojournalist for Vogue who took pictures from the Blitz to Dachau; a young American whose coverage of both sides of the Spanish Civil War catapulted her to journalistic stardom; Martha Gellhorn whose fury at her husband (you’ve heard of him) compelled her to illegally stow away on board a hospital ship and cover the invasion of Normandy from Omaha Beach while helping wounded soldiers; a rogue freelancer who broke the story of the invasion of Poland and whose thrill-chasing career took her from there to Greece to North Africa and beyond; and Helen Kirkpatrick, who covered the liberation of Paris while Hemingway was getting plastered at the Ritz.

Review: There is too much to say about this book. Mackrell did an incredible job. These journalists’ triumphs and tragedies play out alongside the triumphs and tragedies of the world’s biggest conflict. Each woman had different motivations and goals, from thrill-seeking to career-making, from spite to idealism to simply a love of journalism and dogged search for the truth. While Sigrid Schultz’s Chicago editor applauded Hitler’s control of Germany, Sigrid warned his readers of Hitler’s ambition. When the world turned a blind eye to Hitler’s military build-up and annexation of half of Europe, Virginia Cowles and Helen Kirkpatrick wrote furiously against Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement. And while the rest of the world celebrated the end of the war in Europe, Lee Miller swept through Dachau taking pictures and refusing to ignore the human cost of fascism and war.

All of this was at great personal risk. The Nazis tapped Sigrid’s phone and searched her house until she was finally forced to flee to America in the early 1940s (where her editor promptly benched her for three and a half years). Virginia dodged bombs in Madrid, and Helen dodged bullets in Paris. And Lee Miller defiantly washed off the stink of Dachau in Hitler’s own bath, which was immortalized in a photo her equally defiant boyfriend took in the days after the Fuhrer’s death. Mackrell’s prose also gets into the nitty gritty of correspondent life, how the reporters all camped out in hotels and spent their days chasing stories and their nights drinking whiskey. She discusses the friendships and rivalries—Marth and Virginia became great friends in Spain and eventually wrote a play together satirizing the misogyny they faced during the war. And while the stars are the six I mentioned above, cameos include Mary Welch (Hemingway’s wife after Martha), Dorothy Thompson, Vogue editor Audrey Withers, and “Maggie the indestructible” who convinced an American commander to let her go on a bombing mission over North Africa, paving the way for other women correspondents on the front line after the US entered the war. Plus there are appearances from Picasso, both Randolph and Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, David Lloyd George, the Duke of Windsor after he abdicated, Hemingway of course, and half the Nazi high command. Mackrell uses the women’s own words to describe the bombing of Madrid, the mass evacuation from Paris, the refugee crises in Eastern Europe, and the Night of Long Knives in Germany. Every moment is riveting as Mackrell and the women she writes about pull you into Europe of the 1940s.