#woman who has read a lot of foreigner series lately going This Is Giving Me Strong Foreigner Vibes

[gravything]

watching Shōgun, so far my favorite conversation is when Buntaro shows up being a full pain in the ass and now also scary because he knows now he can be, and Lady Fuji says a bunch of righteously bitchy stuff and half of it lands and half of it goes fully WHOOSH past him, wow she is so brave

runner up is obviously every time John says something fucked up and Mariko smoothly translates it into something more apposite but with some of the meaning lost

[shirbertshitposts]

10 Shirbert Moments from Anne of Green Gables series I think about a lot

In honor of Valentines Day I thought I would post a list of some of my favorite Anne and Gilbert moments. It was hard to narrow it to just ten as I have been going through all nine books and trying to queue posts about all their iconic moments through the series; However I decided to pick the ones that I remember even when I haven’t read the books in a while. I didn’t have the heart to rank them properly so they’re just listed in chronological order.

1. His future must be worthy of its goddess

In the twilight Anne sauntered down to the Dryad’s Bubble and saw Gilbert Blythe coming down through the dusky Haunted Wood. She had a sudden realization that Gilbert was a schoolboy no longer. And how manly he looked—the tall, frank-faced fellow, with the clear, straightforward eyes and the broad shoulders. Anne thought Gilbert was a very handsome lad, even though he didn’t look at all like her ideal man. She and Diana had long ago decided what kind of a man they admired and their tastes seemed exactly similar. He must be very tall and distinguished looking, with melancholy, inscrutable eyes, and a melting, sympathetic voice. There was nothing either melancholy or inscrutable in Gilbert’s physiognomy, but of course that didn’t matter in friendship!

Gilbert stretched himself out on the ferns beside the Bubble and looked approvingly at Anne. If Gilbert had been asked to describe his ideal woman the description would have answered point for point to Anne, even to those seven tiny freckles whose obnoxious presence still continued to vex her soul. Gilbert was as yet little more than a boy; but a boy has his dreams as have others, and in Gilbert’s future there was always a girl with big, limpid gray eyes, and a face as fine and delicate as a flower. He had made up his mind, also, that his future must be worthy of its goddess. Even in quiet Avonlea there were temptations to be met and faced. White Sands youth were a rather “fast” set, and Gilbert was popular wherever he went. But he meant to keep himself worthy of Anne’s friendship and perhaps some distant day her love; and he watched over word and thought and deed as jealously as if her clear eyes were to pass in judgment on it. She held over him the unconscious influence that every girl, whose ideals are high and pure, wields over her friends; an influence which would endure as long as she was faithful to those ideals and which she would as certainly lose if she were ever false to them. In Gilbert’s eyes Anne’s greatest charm was the fact that she never stooped to the petty practices of so many of the Avonlea girls—the small jealousies, the little deceits and rivalries, the palpable bids for favor. Anne held herself apart from all this, not consciously or of design, but simply because anything of the sort was utterly foreign to her transparent, impulsive nature, crystal clear in its motives and aspirations.

-- Chapter XIX, Anne of Avonlea

2. For the first time her eyes faltered under Gilbert’s gaze

“What are you thinking of, Anne?” asked Gilbert, coming down the walk. He had left his horse and buggy out at the road.

“Of Miss Lavendar and Mr. Irving,” answered Anne dreamily. “Isn’t it beautiful to think how everything has turned out . . . how they have come together again after all the years of separation and misunderstanding?”

“Yes, it’s beautiful,” said Gilbert, looking steadily down into Anne’s uplifted face, “but wouldn’t it have been more beautiful still, Anne, if there had been NO separation or misunderstanding . . . if they had come hand in hand all the way through life, with no memories behind them but those which belonged to each other?”

For a moment Anne’s heart fluttered queerly and for the first time her eyes faltered under Gilbert’s gaze and a rosy flush stained the paleness of her face. It was as if a veil that had hung before her inner consciousness had been lifted, giving to her view a revelation of unsuspected feelings and realities. Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music, perhaps . . . perhaps . . . love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.

Then the veil dropped again; but the Anne who walked up the dark lane was not quite the same Anne who had driven gaily down it the evening before. The page of girlhood had been turned, as by an unseen finger, and the page of womanhood was before her with all its charm and mystery, its pain and gladness.

Gilbert wisely said nothing more; but in his silence he read the history of the next four years in the light of Anne’s remembered blush. Four years of earnest, happy work . . . and then the guerdon of a useful knowledge gained and a sweet heart won.

-- Chapter XXX, Anne of Avonlea

3. I just want YOU

“I have a dream,” he said slowly. “I persist in dreaming it, although it has often seemed to me that it could never come true. I dream of a home with a hearth-fire in it, a cat and dog, the footsteps of friends—and YOU!”

Anne wanted to speak but she could find no words. Happiness was breaking over her like a wave. It almost frightened her.

“I asked you a question over two years ago, Anne. If I ask it again today will you give me a different answer?”

Still Anne could not speak. But she lifted her eyes, shining with all the love-rapture of countless generations, and looked into his for a moment. He wanted no other answer.

They lingered in the old garden until twilight, sweet as dusk in Eden must have been, crept over it. There was so much to talk over and recall—things said and done and heard and thought and felt and misunderstood.

“I thought you loved Christine Stuart,” Anne told him, as reproachfully as if she had not given him every reason to suppose that she loved Roy Gardner.

Gilbert laughed boyishly.

“Christine was engaged to somebody in her home town. I knew it and she knew I knew it. When her brother graduated he told me his sister was coming to Kingsport the next winter to take music, and asked me if I would look after her a bit, as she knew no one and would be very lonely. So I did. And then I liked Christine for her own sake. She is one of the nicest girls I’ve ever known. I knew college gossip credited us with being in love with each other. I didn’t care. Nothing mattered much to me for a time there, after you told me you could never love me, Anne. There was nobody else—there never could be anybody else for me but you. I’ve loved you ever since that day you broke your slate over my head in school.”

“I don’t see how you could keep on loving me when I was such a little fool,” said Anne.

“Well, I tried to stop,” said Gilbert frankly, “not because I thought you what you call yourself, but because I felt sure there was no chance for me after Gardner came on the scene. But I couldn’t—and I can’t tell you, either, what it’s meant to me these two years to believe you were going to marry him, and be told every week by some busybody that your engagement was on the point of being announced. I believed it until one blessed day when I was sitting up after the fever. I got a letter from Phil Gordon—Phil Blake, rather—in which she told me there was really nothing between you and Roy, and advised me to ‘try again.’ Well, the doctor was amazed at my rapid recovery after that.”

Anne laughed—then shivered.

“I can never forget the night I thought you were dying, Gilbert. Oh, I knew—I KNEW then—and I thought it was too late.”

“But it wasn’t, sweetheart. Oh, Anne, this makes up for everything, doesn’t it? Let’s resolve to keep this day sacred to perfect beauty all our lives for the gift it has given us.”

“It’s the birthday of our happiness,” said Anne softly. “I’ve always loved this old garden of Hester Gray’s, and now it will be dearer than ever.”

“But I’ll have to ask you to wait a long time, Anne,” said Gilbert sadly. “It will be three years before I’ll finish my medical course. And even then there will be no diamond sunbursts and marble halls.”

Anne laughed.

“I don’t want sunbursts and marble halls. I just want YOU. You see I’m quite as shameless as Phil about it. Sunbursts and marble halls may be all very well, but there is more ‘scope for imagination’ without them. And as for the waiting, that doesn’t matter. We’ll just be happy, waiting and working for each other—and dreaming. Oh, dreams will be very sweet now.”

Gilbert drew her close to him and kissed her. Then they walked home together in the dusk, crowned king and queen in the bridal realm of love, along winding paths fringed with the sweetest flowers that ever bloomed, and over haunted meadows where winds of hope and memory blew.

-- Chapter XLI, Anne of the Island

4. Gilbert, I'm afraid I'm scandalously in love with you.

"Gilbert darling, don't let's ever be afraid of things. It's such dreadful slavery. Let's be daring and adventurous and expectant. Let's dance to meet life and all it can bring to us, even if it brings scads of trouble and typhoid and twins!"

Today has been a day dropped out of June into April. The snow is all gone and the fawn meadows and golden hills just sing of spring. I know I heard Pan piping in the little green hollow in my maple bush and my Storm King was bannered with the airiest of purple hazes. We've had a great deal of rain lately and I've loved sitting in my tower in the still, wet hours of the spring twilights. But tonight is a gusty, hurrying night . . . even the clouds racing over the sky are in a hurry and the moonlight that gushes out between them is in a hurry to flood the world.

"Suppose, Gilbert, we were walking hand in hand down one of the long roads in Avonlea tonight!"

Gilbert, I'm afraid I'm scandalously in love with you. You don't think it's irreverent, do you? But then, you're not a minister."

-- Chapter 9, Anne of Windy Poplars

5. Suitable Places

"(Are you sure you kiss me in suitable places, Gilbert? I'm afraid Mrs. Gibson would think the nape of the neck, for instance, most unsuitable.)”

-- Chapter 12, Anne of Windy Poplars

6. He narrowly escaped bursting with pride

"Anne, this is Captain Boyd. Captain Boyd, my wife."

It was the first time Gilbert had said "my wife" to anybody but Anne, and he narrowly escaped bursting with the pride of it. The old captain held out a sinewy hand to Anne; they smiled at each other and were friends from that moment. Kindred spirit flashed recognition to kindred spirit.

-- Chapter 6, Anne’s House of Dreams

7. Queen of my heart and life and home

"Gilbert, would you like my hair better if it were like Leslie's?" she asked wistfully.

"I wouldn't have your hair any color but just what it is for the world," said Gilbert, with one or two convincing accompaniments.

You wouldn't be ANNE if you had golden hair—or hair of any color but"—

"Red," said Anne, with gloomy satisfaction.

"Yes, red—to give warmth to that milk-white skin and those shining gray-green eyes of yours. Golden hair wouldn't suit you at all Queen Anne—MY Queen Anne—queen of my heart and life and home."

"Then you may admire Leslie's all you like," said Anne magnanimously.”

-Chapter 12, Anne’s House of Dreams

8.  Annest of Annes

But the best of all was when Gilbert came to her, as she stood at her window, watching a fog creeping in from the sea, over the moonlit dunes and the harbour, right into the long narrow valley upon which Ingleside looked down and in which nestled the village of Glen St. Mary.

"To come back at the end of a hard day and find you! Are you happy, Annest of Annes?"

"Happy!" Anne bent to sniff a vaseful of apple blossoms Jem had set on her dressing-table. She felt surrounded and encompassed by love. "Gilbert dear, it's been lovely to be Anne of Green Gables again for a week, but it's a hundred times lovelier to come back and be Anne of Ingleside."

-- Chapter 3, Anne of Ingleside

9. I couldn’t live without you

Anne felt like a released bird . . . she was flying again. Gilbert's arms were around her . . . his eyes were looking into hers in the moonlight.

"You do love me, Gilbert? I'm not just a habit with you? You haven't said you loved me for so long."

"My dear, dear love! I didn't think you needed words to know that. I couldn't live without you. Always you give me strength. There's a verse somewhere in the Bible that is meant for you . . . 'She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.'"

Life which had seemed so grey and foolish a few moments before was golden and rose and splendidly rainbowed again. The diamond pendant slipped to the floor, unheeded for the moment. It was beautiful . . . but there were so many things lovelier . . . confidence and peace and delightful work . . . laughter and kindness . . . that old safe feeling of a sure love.

"Oh, if we could keep this moment for ever, Gilbert!"

"We're going to have some moments. It's time we had a second honeymoon. Anne, there's going to be a big medical congress in London next February. We're going to it . . . and after it we'll see a bit of the Old World. There's a holiday coming to us. We'll be nothing but lovers again . . . it will be just like being married over again. You haven't been like yourself for a long time. ("So he had noticed.") You're tired and overworked . . . you need a change. ("You too, dearest. I've been so horribly blind.") I'm not going to have it cast up to me that doctors' wives never get a pill. We'll come back rested and fresh, with our sense of humour completely restored. Well, try your pendant on and let's get to bed. I'm half dead for sleep . . . haven't had a decent night's sleep for weeks, what with twins and worry over Mrs. Garrow."

--Chapter 41, Anne of Ingleside

10. Old love light

DR. BLYTHE:- “The old, old love light that was kindled so many years ago in Avonlea ... and burns yet, Anne ... at least for me.” 

ANNE:- “And for me, too. And will burn forever, Gilbert.” 

-- Page 189, The Blythes Are Quoted

Feel free to respond to this post with any of your favorite shirbert moments that I missed!

[arvinsescape]

The Princess and the Guard.

A/N: Chapter two is here, this Chapter is a bit of a filler and more will happen in the next Chapter. I hope you all enjoy! I will accept feedback and constructive criticism. 

This series is not historically accurate and is not intended to be so please bare that in mind when you are reading, I am no real expert on how royalty works (even if I am from England).

This series will contain misogynistic language and views, violence, death and nsfw content. I will always put the relevant warnings into each chapter!

Teaser, Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter Three, Chapter four

Warnings: None.

W/C: 2.4K (The chapters are set to get longer starting next week.)

Chapter two:

“You look like you had a good evening your highness.” Annie said as you made your way into your bedroom, your interaction with Tom still had your heart hammering in your chest.

“It did not turn out as badly as I had anticipated.” You answered and Annie smiled as she got to work unpinning your hair, taking the butterfly grip out first and placing it carefully into your jewellery box.

“Did you meet someone?” She asked, almost excitedly.

“No, no one my mother would be happy with.” You almost sighed. “Anyway, tell me, what will you be doing with your day off?” You asked changing the subject, Annie got a day off a week to be able to do as she pleased.

“I was hoping to go to the market and then visit my mother’s grave.” She said and you smiled sadly at her, she was so close to her mother, it saddened you that she lost her so young. “Then I was hoping to attend the bar that most of the staff do.” She said and it piqued your interest.

“Most of the staff? Who else goes?” You asked.

“Well Tuwaine and Sam go often.” She said and you smirked, it was no secret that Annie was attracted to Tuwaine. A blush often creeping up her neck and onto her cheeks when she spoke to him. Sam and Tuwaine were the lead chef’s in the kitchen. “Harry attends when he can.” She said and you smiled.

Harry and Sam where twins and Tom’s younger brother’s. Harry was in charge of training the royal guard to protect the crown and due to this he didn’t often get time off. They had an even younger brother Patrick who was training to be a stable hand, he loved the horses and taking care of them. Tom’s father worked as the groundskeeper, you’d had many conversations with him whilst walking through the grounds. Tom’s mother made most of the dresses you and your mother wore.

It was strange to you, your parents had employed Tom’s for years and you wondered if they would possibly be happy about you and Tom but you knew that was a long shot. Although your mother loved Tom’s family, she was still proper and everything had to be done in a certain way to her.

“Thomas goes.” Annie broke you from your thoughts, you tried to hide the smile that threatened to spread across your face at the mention of Tom’s name. “He’s gets a lot of female attention.” She laughed and your stomach warped with disappointment.

“He does?” You asked.

“Well of course. Not to step out of line but he is a very attractive man. Women are all over him when he comes. He doesn’t often entertain them though.” She laughed.

“He does not?” You asked and she smiled shyly.

“He seems to have a very specific type. I’ve only seen him leave with three women this year and they all have a lot in common.”

“They do?”

“I’m sorry, I am saying too much. It’s not my place, Thomas probably would not appreciate my gossiping.”

“I will not tell him.” You smiled in reassurance and she returned it. She encouraged you to stand as she started working on unlacing your dress.

“Please forget I said anything, I wouldn’t want to start any vicious rumours.” She said and you decided to drop it, she’d asked, so you would. It would be wrong to push her because at some point she wouldn’t be able to deny your request and that was an abuse of your power that you didn’t like.

“How long has it been since you lost your mother?” You asked her, you knew it was the anniversary of her death tomorrow, she’d asked you politely and almost shyly for the second day off this week and of course you had given it to her.

“Ten years.” She said as she slipped your nightgown over your head before moving your ballgown to be cleaned. You moved to your jewellery box and looked through it to find the pearl necklace you’d received a few years ago from a suitor when he’d asked for your hand. You clutched it in your hand as you moved towards Annie and took her hand in yours.

You placed the pearl necklace into her palm and she gasped slightly as she looked at what you had given her.

“I want you to take this and I want you to sell it, it will get you a good price. Buy something nice for your mother’s grave and for yourself.” You smiled and you watched as tears pooled in her eyes.

“Princess, I cannot accept this.” She said as she tried to give it back to you.

“You can. I insist. I would rather this necklace went towards something nice and to a nice person rather than collect dust in that box.” You smiled.

“Thank you, your highness.” She said as she wiped at her eyes and you pulled her into a hug.

“I hope you have a lovely day off tomorrow and get to do what you wanted to do. I will miss you, Jane is lovely but she is not you.” You laughed.

“Thank you. I shall see you when I return.”

**

You didn’t mind Jane, she was a very good maid but she was nowhere near as shy as Annie is. She’s very open about what she wants and isn’t too afraid to give certain opinions. You’d had a pretty uneventful day, the palace had been quiet due to most of the staff being off for the day and your parents had been visiting a Lord not too far away, which meant most of the guard was also gone. Jane was currently unpinning your hair and she was staring at the butterfly grip.

“I always wanted to be a princess.” She said as she put the grip into your jewellery box, not as carefully as Annie would and you had to bite your tongue in order to not shout at her. “I would love to marry a man who could make me rich.” She added and you almost rolled your eyes.

“Life as a rich woman is not as glamourous as one might assume.” You said.

“It has to be better than how it is for us though. You have your pick of the men.” She said and you raised your brows. “Sorry, that was inappropriate.”

“I may have my pick of many men but not many of them are nice.”

“But they have so much money. Not to be too inappropriate but that must be a good thing.” She said and you sighed.

“That is inappropriate. I would not like to be married to a man who I cannot stand.”

“What about that Duke? I’ve heard he has taken quite a liking to you.” She asked.

“I do not know him so well so I would not like to pass judgement.” You said as she began to brush your hair.

“I always wanted to marry your brother, he would have made me a princess and your sister.” You did raise your brows at that. “Sorry that was out of line.”

**

Once Jane was finished, you were quick to dismiss her, you did not enjoy her company at all the way you enjoyed Annie’s. You decided to head to the library in search of a romance novel you’d read so many times you’d lost count, after having found it you made your way back towards your room. A pair of voices however, stopped you in your tracks, you knew it was rude to eavesdrop but one of the voices had caught your attention.

“Jane.” You heard Tom’s voice, almost in warning.

“I don’t understand.” You heard Jane huff. “I thought you liked me.” She snapped.

“I’m not sure what gave you that impression.” You heard Tom answer, almost bored.

“We kissed last week.” Jane stated matter of factly and you swear your heart stopped at her words, you knew you shouldn’t have been bothered about it but you couldn’t help it.

“No, I believe you kissed me and I rejected you. I’m sorry Jane but I don’t like you that way.” You heard Tom say and it was like the words forced your heart to start beating again.

“Well I’m sorry that I don’t look like her.” You heard Jane snap. “You need to get a grip Tom, she’ll never like you back.” Your ears perked at that, he liked someone?

“I think you should go.” You heard Tom warn again.

“Unless you get some sudden cash injection and title change you’ll never be able to have her. Don’t make yourself miserable over a woman you can only wish has feelings for you, or even remembers your name.” Jane snapped again and you heard her footsteps as she rushed away from the conversation. Your heart was beating in your chest, your grip on the book was tight. He liked someone? Someone of a higher status?

You spent a few moments collecting yourself before you made your way around the corner and down the corridor, hoping Tom would have moved by now, he hadn’t. You realised that your appearance was less than appropriate, hair down, nightgown on, no shoes on at all. What would he think?

“Princess.” You heard his voice and you almost smiled.

“Tom.” You greeted and he smiled at you.

“Out for a late night walk?”

“No. Well yes. I wanted a book from the library.” You stumbled over your words, it felt foreign to you, you’d never struggled with what to say.

“I don’t think the Princess should be walking alone around the palace.” He almost scalded.

“Really? Who is going to tell me off? You?” You teased and he laughed.

“No. However, I would like to be a gentleman and escort you back to your room.” He said and you blushed.

“What would people think if they saw you escorting me to my bedroom?” You laughed and he smiled.

“They would probably assume I am doing my job.”

“You are Harrison’s guard, not mine.” You reminded him and he smiled.

“Correct, I am. However, Harrison does not need my services tonight and you may. Like I said, I would like to be a gentleman.” He smiled again and your heart fluttered.

“Alright then.” You said as you fell into step next to him, he looked down and smiled.

“You have no shoes on.” He pointed out and you laughed.

“I do not.”

“It looks cute.” He added and you both blushed. “Sorry, I should not have said that.”

“It’s alright, I cannot really get angry at a compliment.” You reassured.

“Please be careful where you step, I would not like you to hurt your feet.” He said nervously and you laughed.

“Tom, I thought we were passed the proper talk.”

“You still speak proper.” He teased and you breathed out a laugh.

“I apologise, I’m not really used to speaking to people that don’t expect it of me.” You said and instantly regretted the words. That sounded awful. “Wait, no. Sorry I didn’t mean-“

“I know what you meant.” He reassured and you relaxed.

“So Tom,” you pried. “Tell me. Do you have a special girl?”

“Something like that.” He answered.

“What is that supposed to mean?” You laughed. “You either do or you don’t.”

“Well I am in love with a woman, yes. But I doubt she sees me in such a way.” He answered.

“I’m sure she would.” You reassured. You were almost back to your room and you found yourself disappointed.

“Even if she did, it would be frowned upon. She is much too good for me.”

“That can’t be true. Tom, you are a lovely man. No one is too good for anyone.” You said.

“That isn’t true, this woman is special, she’s too good for everyone.” He said and you found yourself wanting to know who this woman was immediately.

“Who is it?” You asked as you stood outside your bedroom door.

“If I told you that Princess it would land me in a whole lot of trouble.” He said, there was no one around and you found yourself grateful.

“You can trust me.” You said and he smiled sadly.

“Even if I did tell her, it would change nothing. I’m in love with a woman I cannot have. Even if she did love me back, it would never be allowed. She would never be allowed to marry a guard.” He said and your heart burst in your chest, he was talking about you, that much was obvious and it filled you with a feeling you’d never had before, you couldn’t describe it.

“What if she didn’t care? What if the men she was supposed to marry didn’t interest her.” You said and he smiled.

“It wouldn’t matter, she can do better than me.” He said, you were close and if anyone were around they would deem it inappropriate but you couldn’t find it in you to care.

“What if she didn’t think so.” You said, your faces had somehow gotten closer during the exchange. Your heart beating in your chest.

“Oh Princess, you really are perfect.” He whispered, it almost sounded like he was talking to himself. You found yourself holding your breath in anticipation as he leant even closer to you, your eyes closing. You waited to feel his lips on yours but you never did. Instead you felt his lips on your cheek, the spot he’d kissed was burning as he removed them.

It took you a moment to open your eyes, composing yourself, but once your eyes had opened you were met with nothing, you watched as he made his way down the corridor, around the corner and out of sight. You were left with your heart almost beating out of your chest and the biggest smile on your face you’d ever had.

**

Taglist: @allthisfortommy , @bi-lmg , @bigassnocash , @thoughtfulfireangelpersona , @aidinniram 

If you would like to be added to the taglist, please let me know!! 💕

[charmedbaek]

loyal - bbh - part 1

index | part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 |... (ongoing)

summary: a year ago, you landed your dream job and made your move to the city. not knowing anyone, you moved into the spare room of coworker’s beautiful apartment, and quickly became close friends. her loyal social circle quickly adopted you as one of their own, giving you some of the best friends you’ve ever known. you have it all. there’s only one problem: Byun Baekhyun. not only your friend via your roommate, but her longtime crush. completely off-limits to you, as she’s made it very clear. but when love interferes with the life you worked so hard to build, who do you stay loyal to?

genre: smut, angst, fluff, MATURE/NSFW lmao

warnings: explicit sexual content, swearing, alcohol use

words: 10.3k (she’s long i’m not sorry)

author’s note(s): she’s finally here!! i’m so excited for you guys to finally read this, i’ve been going CRAZY ever since i posted the preview and got so much positive support, so thank you all!! feedback is much appreciated so please let me know what you think. and be sure to let me know if you’d like to be added to the tag list for part 2. i’m planning on making the series somewhere around 10 parts so i hope you all are excited for shit to go down :)

tag list: @baek-byunies @baekhugme @falsemagic @fullsuninbloom @gyuniiverse @jummyjammy @kylomeyon @lightmochi @littleflowercrown13 @making-me-blush @marks-aurora @myexolib @smile2sushii4me​@stormymoonlight @yixing-jaebeom 

“This is just pathetic.”

You looked up from browsing Twitter on your phone to see your roommate, Minji, staring at you disapprovingly from your doorway.

“What?” You asked innocently, setting your phone down beside your pillow and sitting up inside the fort of pillows you had created on your bed.

Minji sighed, entering the room and sitting at the edge of the bed next to you. “It’s Friday night. Are you really just going to lay here doing...” She waved her hand, gesturing towards your comfortable attire of an oversized hoodie and gym shorts. “...this? Again?”

You looked at her and scoffed. “What do you mean this? I’m fine. I’m comfortable.” You said, reaching over her lap to grab the bag of pretzels that seemed to live on your nightstand these days. Minji snatched the bag before you could get to it, tossing it to the floor with a groan. “I’d say you’re a little too comfortable,” She said, poking your bare thigh. “How long has it been since you came out with us? A month? Two? I don’t even know. The rest of the guys keep asking me where you’ve been, and I have to tell them you fell asleep on the couch after one glass of wine after work.”

“Shut up!” You exclaimed, grabbing one of your many pillows and smacking her with it playfully. She wasn’t wrong though. You’d had your job as an assistant editor for just over a year now, and it was draining. The assistant part of the title didn’t mean you were just grabbing coffee for the bosses, but rather doing all of the work that the senior editors at the magazine didn’t feel like doing. It was a lot of stress, and lately you hadn’t felt like doing much on the weekends besides sleeping until noon and taking a midday nap. 

And it was true, you hadn’t seen much of your friends recently. Well, technically they were Minji’s friends, but after a year you were finally comfortable referring to them as yours. You missed them a lot. But you felt too tired to be any fun.

You fell back against the pillows. “I’m just relaxing. I had a tough week.”

Minji raised her eyebrows at you. “Need a stress reliever?” She asked suggestively.

“Minji, before you even-”

“Come on!” She whined. “Just fuck him! Please! I know for a fact he likes you.”

The he in question was Minji’s friend Jongin. Yes, he was your friend too. Although it was evident to you, and everyone else, that he’d like to be more than that. His gentleman-like behavior towards you was a bit over the top, never letting you open your own door or pay for your own drink. The way he gently placed his hand on the small of your back while letting you walk in front of him was cordial, but it didn’t make you feel butterflies. The way he placed his hand on your knee, and never any higher, when you sat beside him was affectionate, but it didn’t get you... well, wet.

Sure, he was sexy. And kind. And tall. And honestly, drop-dead gorgeous. But that was the thing. He was too perfect. In the year you’d known him, you found it difficult to find a single area he was deficient in. It was unnerving. You just couldn’t bring yourself to want him like that.

Were you leading him on? You didn’t think so. But you were never one to pass on a free drink.

It would be a lie, however to say you’d never had a one-off fantasy about Jongin. After all, he was incredibly hot. You almost hoped he would just try his luck and kiss you one of these days, but his courteous demeanor would never allow him to be so bold with a woman. 

And though nothing close to fucking had ever happened between you two, the rest of your friend group seemed to assume you were meant to be together.

The group consisted of five before you came along. They had all known each other since high school, so it seemed like fate when you arrived, making an even group of three guys and three girls. They had laughed about how they were finally like Friends the TV show, all paired off into even male-female pairings.

The most solid couple was Chanyeol and his girlfriend Soonja. They had been high school sweethearts, and were very affectionate towards each other. Like, very affectionate. Always all over each other, even after ten years of being together. It was kind of gross at first. But you got used to it.

Next, was Jongin. He occasionally brought a random, boring girl to your hangouts, but things never lasted. And everyone seemed to have it in their minds that the two of you would make the perfect couple. In their minds, you were already together, making another seemingly perfect dyad to fit in with them.

Lastly, there was your roommate Minji. You had met at your job and quickly became close with one another. She was the one to indoctrinate you into the group, and for that you were eternally grateful. You had moved to the city alone with nothing besides your belongings for your job, and she had taken you under her wing.

Her pairing was the most interesting. Though she was technically single, there was-

“Baekhyun!”

Yeah, Baekhyun.

“Baekhyun!” Minji shouted again. “Come in here!”

You heard Baekhyun sigh from where he sat on the couch in your living room, slowly making his way to where Minji and you sat in your bedroom.

“What do you want?” He asked, peeking his head through the entrance.

Minji stood with a huff, walking to the door to grab Baekhyun’s wrist and pull him into the room. “Tell Y/N that she should just fuck Jongin. We all know it’s gonna happen eventually.” She said.

“Oh no,” Baekhyun said with a chuckle, shaking his head. “I’m not getting involved in this.”

“Please!” Minji exclaimed. “She said she’s stressed from work. I told her fucking him will get her mind off of it.”

“How? By dry humping on his bed? Him feeling her boobs over the bra?” Baekhyun made himself laugh. “How about when he asks ‘Is that okay?’ before doing literally anything?” Baekhyun was laughing hard now, wiping a tear from his eyes. “No, I don’t think that’ll solve anything.”

You laughed with him at the thought. Jongin was overly polite. Any sex fantasy you’d ever had about him was always ruined by thoughts similar to those Baekhyun had described.

Minji was not as impressed. “You’re no help!” She shouted at him, shoving him back outside the room and slamming the door.  She returned to your bedside with a sigh. “Please just consider getting laid, Y/N.”

“Hm...” You thought out loud, tapping a finger on your chin. “Baekhyun’s pretty funny. Maybe I’ll just sleep with him.”

“Ha!” Minji squawked as she slapped you on the arm. Hard. “You wouldn’t dare.” She said with a glare, only half joking.

And that was the final pairing. Minji and Baekhyun. No, they were not together. They never had been. Minji had had a crush on him since college, when she said he “got sexy”. They were close friends, and she was pretty much in love with him.

Whatever you wanted to call their relationship, Minji was overly protective of it. The very first time you had hung out with the group, she pulled you aside to explain to you that no, they were not dating yet, but he was hers. She joked that she would kill you if you touched him.

And if she hadn’t warned you, you might have tried. Baekhyun was extremely sexy. When you met him, his hair was the white-blonde that you loved the most on him. You were intoxicated by your first thoughts of him, that his plump lips would be incredible to kiss. That his long, slender fingers would feel amazing inside of you...

But it wasn’t just that. He had a bright smile that always lit up any room, and a fun, chaotic energy that could always make you laugh. You were smitten by him. Plus, the two of you had always had a great time together. You’d pretty much hit it off right away as friends, constantly texting about work, complaining about how annoying Chanyeol and Soonja were. 

It wasn’t uncommon for the two of you to hang out alone, either. You both loved art, and he’d taken you to a few gallery openings that he organized for his job. You often dragged him to the theatre to see foreign films that would bore the rest of your friends to sleep. Whenever you wanted opinions on your projects for work, Baekhyun would meet you at your favorite coffee shop to help. Out of any of your friends, even Minji, he was the one who was always there for you.

But whatever your outings with Baekhyun were, they were not dates. 

No, that would never be allowed.

It had been a year since Minji’s initial warning, which you had respected completely despite your attraction. From her description at the time, you had assumed they’d get together at some point, but it hadn’t happened. And you were pretty sure it wasn’t going to, so you didn’t feel bad hanging out with him.

That was, until a few weeks ago when Minji made you make a promise to her. She begged you to give her more alone time with Baekhyun. She asked you to stay in your room whenever he came over, worried that you might be scaring him from making a move on her. She asked you to stop spending so much time with him alone, because it was distracting him from the time she thought he owed her.

Sure, your feelings were hurt. But Minji was the reason you had these incredible friends and this beautiful apartment, so you didn’t argue. You were loyal to her. Even if you were sure she was imagining her entire relationship with Baekhyun.

But your perception of their relationship and your initial feelings towards Baekhyun didn’t matter. She was his. That was that.

You smiled through your teeth at Minji. “I would never. You know that.”

“I know,” She smiled back, patting you on the shoulder. “But I am being serious. You’ll feel better if you have sex.”

You sighed. “I don’t know. I’m not in the mood for being disappointed.”

“Trust me, I get it.” Minji giggled. “At least come out with us tonight? Please?” Minji pleaded, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout.

You let out a final sigh as you gave in. “Fine. Sure. Okay.”

“Awesome!” Minji cheered. “I’ll pick something out for you to wear. Be ready to go in thirty.”

You exited your room wearing the dress Minji had picked for you, heels in hand as you shut the door behind you. With a huff, you sat yourself down on the couch next to Baekhyun to strap the shoes on. 

He looked up at you from his phone and stared. “What are you wearing?” He asked as he set his phone down on the coffee table.

“What are you, my dad?” You scoffed, looking up at him from your shoes.

Baekhyun chuckled. “No, no, I’m serious. Is that, like... lingerie?” He asked carefully, eyeing your figure while clearly trying not to stare too long at any one spot.

“The dress?” You asked, looking down at Minji’s selection. It was a black slip dress, short and decently low-cut, trimmed with lace. “It’s just a dress,” You shrugged. “Though I’m sure it’s some part of Minji’s plan for me to go home with someone.”

Baekhyun laughed again, turning his attention toward his phone. “Well, it just might work.”

“Yeah, I’m sure Jongin will love it.” You mumbled as you finished buckling the strap on your heel.

Before you could lament on that inevitable situation any longer, Minji burst through her bedroom door. “I’m here, I’m here. Let’s go.”

“I got us an Uber,” Baekhyun said as he stood from the couch. He turned to offer you a hand, which you accepted as you stood up on your wobbly heels. Minji was right, it had been a while since you’d been out, and your feet weren’t used to this abuse.

“You alright? Drunk already?” Baekhyun asked with a raised eyebrow as you stumbled a bit.

You squeezed the hand he had offered as you caught your balance. “Not yet, hopefully soon.” You laughed, not looking forward to the way your feet would feel at the end of the night.

“Come on, Baek.” Minji chirped as she grabbed him by the arm, pulling him towards the door and his hand out of your grip. She opened the door, leading him out and into the hallway of your apartment building. 

They continued down the hallway, her hand still latched onto his forearm. You sighed as you followed them through the doorway, fishing in your purse for your keys. Stopping to turn your key in the lock, you watched the pair turn the corner towards the elevators, catching a glimpse of Baekhyun looking back at you. You sighed. It wasn’t completely unlike Minji to disregard your existence when she was with Baekhyun. It was understandable, given her situation, but it was still annoying.

You rushed to catch the elevator with them, wincing as your heels pinched your toes with every step. You slipped in just before the doors closed, catching your breath as you clutched the railing. Minji and Baekhyun barely seemed to notice your struggle, as she was still clinging onto him and had begun explaining her latest business card design in lengthy detail.

You reached the ground floor and exited outside, finding your Uber on the crowded city street. Graciously, you got into the front passenger seat, allowing Minji and Baekhyun to be together in the back. You figured this was probably one of the times she would want you to give them space, to do whatever the fuck it was she thought they did.

You and the driver rode in silence, while Minji continued to chime about design and color theory to a quiet Baekhyun. In the rearview mirror, you watched her leaning on his shoulder and running a finger through his dark, wavy hair.

You glowered into the mirror as you stared at her fingers twirling his locks. It made your blood boil. You shifted in your seat to see a different angle from the mirror, only to lock eyes with Baekhyun.

You quickly looked away, embarrassed, choosing to stare out of the window for the duration of your ride.

When you arrived at the bar, you quickly exited the vehicle and rushed towards the building, not waiting for your friends in the car. You pushed open the front doors and looked for your friends. Quickly, you spotted Chanyeol towering over Soonja in the corner booth with his arm around her. You huffed as you sat, muttering a quick hello and sliding in next to Chanyeol.

He eyed you as he took a sip of his drink. "Did you come by yourself?” He asked as he set his glass down.

“No, Minji and Baekhyun should be walking in.” You answered under your breath, staring aimlessly at the crowd of twenty-somethings mingling loudly around you.

Soonja looked at you with concern. “What’s wrong?” She asked, reaching over Chanyeol to rest a hand on your shoulder. You shrugged in response, but she pressed. “Seriously, Y/N, what is it?”

You sighed. “They’re just being annoying. Minji can’t keep her hands off of Baekhyun, and they ignored me the whole way here, and it’s just...” You trailed off.

“Does that bother you?” Chanyeol asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

You snapped to look at him. “No. I just don’t like being treated like I’m invisible.”

Before Chanyeol could ask any more questions, Jongin walked over from the bar, a drink in each hand. With a smile, he set one down in front you and slid into the booth beside you. “Gin and tonic with two limes, right?”

You gave him a small smile. “Yeah, thanks.”

He smiled brighter. “No problem.” As he put his arm around your shoulders, Minji and Baekhyun finally made their way over. Minji looked at you as she sat. “Why’d you run ahead?” She asked, clearly a little annoyed.

You raised your glass from the table. “Thirsty.” You said dryly, bringing your drink to your mouth and taking a large sip. You could tell you were going to need a few more gin and tonics to make it through the evening.

From that point, things proceeded as your nights out normally did. Soonja found her way onto Chanyeol’s lap, her lips close to his ear. The two didn’t pay much attention to anyone else, as per usual. Baekhyun made a few trips to the bar to order a drink, Minji following him each time. You chuckled each time Baekhyun returned to the booth with one drink, leaving Minji alone up there to buy her own. You chatted politely with Jongin about work, not paying much attention since you were busy watching Minji make a fool of herself.

A while passed as a few more drinks passed your lips, and you found your eyelids getting heavier and heavier as you leaned further and further into Jongin’s side. He was warm, but then again so were you from the amount of alcohol you had consumed.

“Want another?” Jongin asked, already getting up to go back to the bar.

You laughed a little. “Jongin, you know I can buy my own drinks, right? I have a job. It’s all I talk about, actually.”

He shrugged, not too concerned with your response. “Yeah, I know. I’m just trying to...”

“I know, I know, trying to be nice.” You rolled your eyes and gave him another small smile. “Let me get my own for once, please.”

Leaning forward to hop over Jongin and out of the booth, you noticed Baekhyun at the bar alone waiting for a bartender. Minji was nowhere in sight, and you took the opportunity to join him. She wasn’t there to stop you, and what harm could it do to just chat with him?

Shoving aside the drunken college students to his right, you rested your elbows on the bar and looked up at Baekhyun. “Hey, Baek.”

He turned to face you, flashing you his signature bright smile. God, you loved his smile. Especially when you were drunk. “Hey, what’s up?”

Your smile grew as you stared at him, leaning further onto the bar. “Drunk. Getting drunk.” You slurred, peering up at him through your eyelashes.

“Oh, yeah?” He laughed, putting a hand on your shoulder to keep you from completely falling flat onto the sticky wooden surface. “What are you drinking?”

“Please don’t,” You whined. “I just gave Jongin a speech about how I can buy my own drinks.”

Baekhyun shrugged and let out another laugh. “Suit yourself.” He said as the bartender delivered his drink. He grabbed it and took a sip of the dark liquid, tilting his head back to reveal his neck as he drank. You stared a bit longer than necessary. 

His neck was just so... pretty. You suddenly found yourself wondering what it would be like to leave a mark on it.

But before you could fantasize any further, he brought his drink down and turned away, heading back for the bar. You sank further onto your elbows and let out a long sigh, ordering another gin and tonic. Somehow, you felt like Minji could sense your dirty thoughts about Baekhyun. You felt guilty. You respected her wishes, but sometimes you just couldn’t help thinking about him, especially when he looked like... that. His white t-shirt and oversized denim jacket hanging effortlessly over his lean frame. The way his recently-dyed dark hair fell over his forehead in soft waves. It was a lot for your drunk self to take in.

Vowing to stop your thoughts before Minji read your mind, you suddenly felt a hand on the center of your back, just where the lace of your dress met your skin. You turned, ready to tell Jongin once again that you were capable of paying for one drink, but you were met by Baekhyun’s wide brown eyes. 

“Can I ask you something?” He asked, scanning your face with a bit of concern.

He seemed nervous, and it put you on edge. “Yeah, of course.” You replied a bit shakily.

Baekhyun suddenly leaned in close to you, his lips nearly touching your ears. You knew it was just so you could hear him over the noisy bar-goers and blaring music, but him being this close to you made your heart race.

“Do you... like me?” He asked softly before leaning back to search your face for an answer.

You gulped, feeling like you’d been caught, like he’d heard your thoughts about him moments ago.

He shook his head before you could answer, letting out a weak laugh. “No, I mean, like... we’re friends, right? You think I’m a good friend?”

You sighed a little in relief, taking a sip of your drink that had just been delivered. “Of course, Baekhyun, yeah. You’ve been a great friend.”

“Okay good.” He smiled. “Because I just felt like... I don’t know. Like you were avoiding me or something. When you ran out of the car. I feel like I never get to see you anymore.” He finished, his smile fading a bit as he finished his explanation. “I miss hanging out with you.”

You bit your lip, not wanting to reveal the promise you had made to Minji, or the fact that her being all over him had irked you earlier. “Baek, I swear I’m not avoiding you. It’s just, you know... Minji-”

“Hey!”

As if your words summoned her, Minji poked her head between you and Baekhyun, ending your conversation as she grabbed his bicep. “Can we dance Baekhyun? You promised me we’d dance.”

It wasn’t much of a question, as she was already pulling him away from the bar. Baekhyun gave you a sad smile as he was dragged away, and you sighed for about the thousandth time that evening. You watched Minji turn so her back was pressed against him, grinding a bit sloppily onto him. Baekhyun seemed apathetic, more focused on taking another sip of his drink than on Minji’s hands on him. 

You lifted your drink once more, downing it before slamming it back onto the wood, having seen enough. You walked past your booth, ignoring Jongin’s expectant stare, and headed towards the bathrooms in a dark corner towards the back of the bar. Pushing past a few younger couples making out next to the door, you entered and leaned heavily on a sink.

You looked up to inspect yourself in the mirror. You could tell you were drunk by the way you swayed back and forth as you tried to focus. Your hair was a bit disheveled from resting your head on Jongin’s shoulder all night. Not being bothered to fix it, you wiped at the small amount of mascara that had rubbed off under your eyes.

Maybe Minji was right, you thought to yourself. Maybe you should just give in and fuck Jongin. You knew he’d agree if you went back out there and asked him to come home with you, especially given your sexy, unkempt state. Even if it wasn’t the best fuck of your life, it would probably help distract you from your outlawed thoughts about Baekhyun. You decided to consider that option after one more drink.

Giving your messed up hair one more quick tousle, you turned to go back to the booth. But when you opened the door, you were met by Baekhyun’s intense stare.

“Baek-”

Before you could finish the word, Baekhyun was grabbing your wrist and pulling you towards a nearby empty corner.

“What the fuck are you doing?” You whispered harshly, wriggling the hand still in his grip. “That hurts.”

Baekhyun quickly let go and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. “I’m sorry,” he said as he shook his head, looking up from his feet to meet your gaze. “I just wanted you to finish what you were saying before. About Minji.”

“Baekhyun...” You rolled your eyes. “Don’t make me say it.”

“Say what?” He asked, though from the look on his face he appeared to know what was coming.

You peered over his shoulder to look for any of your friends watching, but the entire booth was blocked from your view by another wall. You spoke once you were sure they couldn’t see you. “Minji likes you. A lot. Sometimes I think it’s better if I just stay out of her way.”

“You think that?” He raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer. “Or she thinks that?”

“I...” You pulled your bottom lip into your mouth, considering your words carefully. “Sometimes it’s easier to just do what she wants, right? I mean, you do it too. She can be kind of controlling, especially when it comes to you.”

Baekhyun scoffed, taking a step back and removing his hands from his pockets. “You think I do whatever Minji wants?” He asked bitterly.

“Not everything, but I mean-”

Baekhyun’s lips were pressed against yours before you could finish your sentence. The kiss was forceful, his eyes closing as he took your cheek into his hand. 

Your mind was racing. You knew you were kissing him back, feeling your own lips moving gently against his, but it didn’t feel real. You were floating, the alcohol in your veins simultaneously lifting you off the ground and pulling you towards the floor.

He pulled back slightly, his hand still resting on your face. You were both breathing deeply, clearly out of breath from the moment. His lips were nearly still on yours when he asked, “Do you think she would have wanted me to do that?”

“No.” You laughed breathlessly into his mouth, looking up to meet his eyes.

He was looking at you intensely, his brown eyes sparkling in the neon bar lights. “Because I wanted to. And I’ve wanted to for a long time.” He said as he rubbed his thumb against the apple of your cheek. “What about you? Did you want to?”

“Yes.” You said softly, not being capable of much more than one word answers at the moment.

Baekhyun smiled. “Good. Then let’s do what we want.”

And with that, his lips were back on yours, just as intense as the first time. And this time, you were sure you were kissing back, and with just as much force as he was. 

Feeling Baekhyun’s tongue press against your lips, you parted your mouth to grant him access inside. The kiss deepened, and you felt your arms reach up to rest on his shoulders, your hands threading themselves through his soft hair, your nails dragging lightly against his scalp. The action earned a moan from Baekhyun, and he used his entire body to press you against the wall, his hands pressing flat against it on either side of your head. You whimpered, feeling his hips grinding into yours.

Kissing Baekhyun was just as intoxicating as you had imagined it would be, his lips just as soft as in the dreams you hoped Minji never found out about. He was taking you without asking for permission, because he knew you wanted him, too. And you didn’t need anyone else’s permission.

Except, maybe you did.

“Wait!” You broke the kiss to exclaim. You pulled back sharply, smacking your skull against the exposed brick. “Ow.” You reached up to rub the back of your head.

“You okay?” Baekhyun chuckled, replacing your hand with his as a rubbed slow circles on your minor injury. The feeling sent chills straight through you.

“Baekhyun...” You trailed off softly. “You know we can’t. It’s not right.”

“Says who? Minji?” Baekhyun questioned.

“Well, yeah.” You answered.

Suddenly, Baekhyun pulled his hand away from your head and took a step back, exhaling deeply. “God, I am so sick of her controlling everything I do. She thinks she owns me.” He said, beginning to raise his voice. “Everywhere I go she needs to know. Anyone I hang out with she needs to check out. Do you know how hard it is to meet girls, let alone have sex when I have Minji up my ass like that?”

You sighed. “She just really likes you, Baek. She’s being overprotective.”

“Yeah, and it’s ruining my life.” Baekhyun put his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to kiss you, Y/N?”

You shook your head. You honestly had no idea he wanted to kiss you outside of your dreams.

Baekhyun laughed dryly. “A long time. Basically since we met. But Minji made it seem-”

“Seem like what?” You interrupted.

He opened his eyes to look at you again, sighing. “She made it seem like you didn’t want me around lately. Said you’d rather hang out alone in your room than come talk to me. I even tried to tell her one time that I thought you were hot, and she completely shut me down, saying you’d never be interested in me, saying that Jongin would kill me if I tried anything with you.”

You stared up at him, bewildered. “She said all that?” You asked softly, voice laced with disbelief. Baekhyun nodded.

“No, none of that is true,” You clenched your fists, the anger running through your veins boiling. “She told me the first time I met you to stay away from you, because you were hers. And I wanted to respect that.”

You took a deep breath and continued. “But you and I are friends, too. And I like spending time with you. But lately, she asked me to give you guys time alone, which I tried to do.” You felt tears stinging in your eyes at Minji’s betrayal. “It makes sense, I mean, to try to keep me out of the way after you told her that.”

You waited for a long pause before you started again. “Look, I like you. Like, really like you. And I always have. But Minji-”

Baekhyun didn’t let you finish, returning his plump lips to yours to sweep them up in another kiss. This one was softer, more gentle, and he moved his lips across your cheek and against your ear. “I don’t want to talk about her anymore.” He whispered, lips brushing against your skin. “She doesn’t matter. We can just focus on us now. Okay?”

“Yes,” You breathed out softly. “I want to.”

Baekhyun smiled against you. “Good. Because I’ve been waiting for a long time to do this.”

He kissed his way downwards from your ear as you lifted your arms to wrap around his back. Gripping onto the denim of his jacket, you let out a small moan as he pressed his teeth into the delicate skin just below your jaw. And again, when he bit into the soft skin at the base of your neck.

Tilting your head forward to rest in the crook of his neck, you used your leverage on his back to pull his hips to meet yours once again. This time, it was you who grinded up into him, feeling the prominent bulge against you growing through the fabric.

“Shit,” Baekhyun whispered into your neck. “How are you so hot?”

You giggled, continuing the action as Baekhyun’s hands drifted downwards, exploring your curves through the silk of your black dress. They finally reached the bottom, and he rubbed his thumbs where the lace trim met the skin of your thigh. You sighed deeply at the repetitive action, as Baekhyun pulled his head away from your neck. He slipped his hand underneath the lace and lifted, looking to your face for a reaction.

All you could do was lean your head back against the bricks, anticipating the pleasure that was coming.

And Baekhyun didn’t disappoint. He slowly dragged his fingers from the spot on your thigh to where your lace underwear rested on your hip bone. Sneaking his fingers under the fabric, he pulled it back and released, letting it snap back against your skin. You moaned at the sensation. “You like that?” Baekhyun hummed into your ear. You nodded, feeling the wetness at your core getting more intense. “Kinda kinky,” He hummed to you again. 

You giggled softly. “Trust me, that’s just the beginning.” You whispered back.

Baekhyun’s eyebrows raised, his eyes wide as he looked back at you. “I’ll remember that for later.” He said darkly, turning his attention back to his fingers. He traced the bottom lining of the fabric, slowly going from your hip right to your center. You hummed at the feeling of his fingers so close to your most sensitive area, as he drew small circles with his fingertips over the fabric.

“You want me to touch you?” He asked, voice dripping with his sinful intentions.

You nodded as you hummed again, bucking your hips slightly into his touch.

“Then I want you to say it.”

Your eyes widened as his words sent another wave of arousal straight to your core.

You took a shaky breath. “I want you to touch me, Baekhyun.”

You’d barely finished the last syllable of his name when he slipped his fingers underneath the fabric, pushing it to the side. He cupped your entire heat in his palm, the hard flat of his hand pushing against your clit. “Already so wet,” He whispered before placing a soft kiss on your cheek. You groaned, pressing into his hand to increase the pressure.

He slowly curled and uncurled his fingers, running them softly back and forth over your wet, sensitive skin. You gasped when you felt the tip of his middle finger nudge against your folds.

“Baekhyun.” You sighed, reaching down to grab his forearm. 

He looked up at you with concern. “Everything okay?”

You nodded. “More than. But we probably shouldn’t do this here.” You looked around, noticing the thinning crowd of the bar that left you more exposed than when you began.

“Okay,” He said, removing his hand from under your dress. “Let’s go, then.”

“Wait, wait!” You whispered, grabbing his elbow as he turned to go. “We can’t leave together. Because of... you know. Her.” 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Fine, you’re right. I’ll leave first. I’ll wait for you at the end of the block on the right.”

You nodded, and he gave you a soft kiss on the tip of your nose before turning to return to the booth of your friends.

Standing at the edge of the wall, you listened in when he said he was taking off.

“But Baek,” You heard Minji pout. “You came here with me, you can’t just leave without me.”

You heard Baekhyun sigh. “I’m going to my home. You’re going to your home. It’s fine.” Minji didn’t complain again after his short response to her, but you could feel her fuming through the wall.

Baekhyun said his goodbyes to Jongin, Chanyeol, and Soonja, and you heard his footsteps lead out the door.

You waited for a few minutes behind the wall, not wanting to make it too obvious that Baekhyun had just had his tongue down your throat only moments before. And he certainly had. And you had certainly kissed him back. And more.

Holy shit. 

The one man you were supposed to keep your hands off of, and you couldn’t resist. You didn’t even try to resist. Maybe it was the liquor, but you had completely melted under his touch. 

You could still feel his fingers on you, and suddenly you needed more. Every late-night sex dream you had compartmentalized and tried to forget for Minji’s sake came flooding back to you, and you wanted him. Bad.

Quickly coming up with an alibi, you turned the corner and faced your friends once again. “Hey, I think I’m gonna head out.” You turned to face Minji directly. “You know Chaeyoung, from work? She just messaged me and said she had a big fight with her boyfriend, and asked if I would come over.” You lied through your teeth.

“Oh, okay.” Minji answered softly, apparently still a bit bruised from Baekhyun’s words. “I’ll see you in the morning then, yeah?”

You nodded. “Yeah. Goodnight guys!”

Jongin stood. “Let me walk you out, Y/N.”

“No!” You shouted, a bit more forcefully, and suspiciously, than you meant. You bit your lip, lowering your voice back to a reasonable volume. “No, no, I’m fine. Thank you though.”

Before he could protest, you grabbed your purse from the table and rushed out the door and into the cold evening air.

As he said he would be, Baekhyun waited for you at the corner, hands shoved in his pockets, his breath visible in the air. When he spotted you approaching, he was grinning from ear to ear. Wordlessly, you began walking together step by step around the corner. Neither of you needed to speak to know you were heading for Baekhyun’s high rise apartment building. It was only a few blocks away, quick enough to walk. And there was no chance in hell you’d risk taking him back to yours and Minji’s place.

The cold air was sobering you on the walk, but it didn’t change your mind about what you were on your way to do. If anything, you felt more sure of yourself, taking long, purposeful strides to keep up with Baekhyun.

You only stopped once on your way, when you passed your favorite corner coffee shop. They were closed, but you stared inside at the counter and chairs flipped upside down. “I miss this place.” You stated. You hadn’t been in a few months when you came with Baekhyun, since before Minji’s request was made. 

The darkness in the shop allowed you to see your reflection peering in, and Baekhyun’s figure next to you. You looked from his face back to yours in the reflection, and it dawned on you that this was really happening. You were here, with him, and only him. He caught your eye in the reflection and smiled. “Tomorrow?” He suggested. You nodded, and quickly went on your way to finish the walk.

Not long after, you made it to the building, Baekhyun buzzing you in through the main entrance with his key. The two of you politely walked past the nighttime security guard, giving him a small nod and continuing towards the elevators.

Once the elevator doors closed behind you, you picked up where you had left off.

Pressing your back against the wall, Baekhyun enveloped your lips in another powerful kiss, biting into your lower lip and pulling away slightly. Now that he knew you liked a little pain, there was no way he was going to be easy on you. Though you winced a bit at the feeling, you rested your hands on his shoulders and pulled him back against you, slipping your tongue inside his mouth.

You didn’t let go of each other when the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Hands and lips on one another, you moved out and into the hallway, making your way towards Baekhyun’s door. He took one hand off your waist to fumble in his pocket for his keys, never breaking contact on your mouth. Eyes closed in bliss and one hand still on you, he slipped the key in the lock and turned, opening the door to bring the two of you inside.

Finally.

The door was slammed shut behind you, and you found yourself once again with your back against the hard surface. What was in front of you was nearly just as hard, Baekhyun’s erection back with a vengeance and pressing against you as he moved hip lips to your neck and began sucking.

Everything about this moment felt amazing, apart from your feet. As you predicted, these heels were killer, and you wanted nothing more than to get them off. “Ow,” You whispered mindlessly as you struggled to kick the shoes off.

Baekhyun pulled back to look at you. “What?” He asked, eyes wide.

You laughed. “It’s my feet, these shoes. They’re killing me.”

Baekhyun grinned. “I’ll take care of it.”

Suddenly, his hands were gripping the underside of your ass, lifting you up off the ground as he returned his lips onto yours. He pressed his chest against yours, pushing you harder against the door for leverage as he removed your shoes one hand at a time, throwing them aimlessly into the living room behind him.

“Thanks,” You laughed breathily onto his lips, wrapping both of your legs around his back and pulling him closer.

Once both of his hands were again focused on holding you up, he moved you from against the door and carried you past the kitchen, down the hallway towards his bedroom. He closed the door once you were in the room, before gently letting you down to sit at the bottom edge of his bed.

You looked up at him from where you sat, watching him shrug his jacket off and toss it aside. Next off was his shirt, revealing his lean body as he lifted it. You licked your lips at the sight, taking his actions as your cue to remove what little clothing you had on as well.

But just as you start to lift the fabric of your dress, Baekhyun’s hands were on yours, stopping you. “No. Leave it on, please?” He asked, his puppy dog eyes begging you.

“Why?” You looked up at him quizzically.

Baekhyun responded with a shit-eating grin. “I told you it was gonna get you laid, didn’t I?”

You snorted, recalling what he’d said to you before you went out for the evening. “I guess you were right.”

Removing your hands from the fabric of your dress, you placed them on Baekhyun’s backside and pulled him closer to you. Standing in front of you, his toned stomach was at your eye level, and your eyes lowered as your hands flew to his belt to undo it. It was quickly off and tossed to the side with the rest of his items, your hands already working to undo the button of his jeans.

Baekhyun chuckled. “You seem pretty eager, huh?”

“I guess I wanted this just as bad as you do.” You retorted, glancing up at him with a smirk.

Returning your attention to what was in front of you, you shoved his jeans and boxers down below his hips in one go. As they fell to the floor and he stepped out of them and kicked them behind him, you couldn’t help but stare as his dick slapped against his stomach. Given his smaller, lean frame, you were shocked at how thick he was, and the thought of him stretching you out made your mouth water.

You must have stared a bit too long, because Baekhyun let out a playful, impatient sigh.

“Are you gonna do something, or wha-Oh,”

Before he could finish the word, your hand was wrapped around his base, lips around his tip. Your tongue danced over his slit, tasting the salty precum that had already seeped out. “Oh, wow,” Baekhyun groaned softly, his fingers wandering through the hair on the back of your head.

Finding work for your free hand, you gently cupped his balls, gently dragging your fingertips back and forth along the underside. Baekhyun cursed under his breath, his head rolling backwards and eyes pressed shut.

Pleased with your work, you started moving your head to take more of him into your mouth, one hand still wrapping firmly around his base. You bobbed back and forth, humming occasionally as you did so, reveling each time Baekhyun softly repeated your name.

“You’re pretty good at this, huh,” He said breathlessly, head still tilted back in bliss. You hummed again at the praise, taking his balls in your hand once again as you gave him a squeeze.

He groaned loudly at the action, hips bucking forward harshly as his cock plunged further into your mouth and slammed into the back of your throat. It took you by surprise, coughing around him as you pushed him away by his thighs and leaned back.

“Oh god, shit, I’m sorry,” Baekhyun apologized profusely, hands moving from your hair to hold your face. You laughed, still out of breath as you looked up at him. “It’s okay,” You answered, wiping the spit off your chin as you quickly brought him past your lips once again. His hands returned to the back of your head, gently caressing the nape of your neck.

You knew he wouldn’t try to push you to go further, but you wanted to feel the sensation once again. You wanted to choke around him.

Placing your palms flat on his ass, you slowly pushed him further and further, getting ready for the gag reflex that you knew was coming.

“Are you sure you want to...” He started, but cut himself off with a sinful moan as your throat started to constrict around his tip.

You held him there for a moment longer, as long as you could take it, before pulling your head back slowly until only your lips remained on the swollen pink head. Taking a deep breath through your nose, you began to repeat the sequence, slowly bringing him inside further and further until he completely blocked your airway. “Fuck,” He moaned again as you held him there.

Once more, you pulled back slowly, but this time he slipped out of your mouth as he gently pulled your head back.

“Was it good?” You asked breathlessly, your chest heaving from your effort.

“Yeah, it was good,” Baekhyun also breathed heavily. “More than good, actually. I was about to cum down your throat.”

You laughed as you wiped your mouth with the back of your hand. “We wouldn’t want that, now would we?” You asked playfully.

“Absolutely not,” He growled, his sultry, low voice reminding you just how wet and desperate for his touch you were.

As if reading your mind, he raced to lower himself onto you on the bed, kissing you deeply as he moved you both further up towards the headboard. The kiss was sloppy and needy, and you moaned into his lips and you fisted his hair with one hand.

Breaking from your lips, Baekhyun pushed himself up over you. Gently, he rested his hands on your thighs and pulled your legs apart from one another. He settled himself on his knees between them, which prevented you from closing your legs. You smiled softly as his eyes hungrily raked over every inch of your body, licking his lips hungrily. “You’re so perfect.” He murmured, bringing his eyes back to meet your gaze. 

“Stop.” You blushed and looked away, embarrassed by the compliment. Quickly, Baekhyun’s hand was on your chin, turn you back to peer up at him.

“No, I mean it.” He said forcefully, his eyes wide. Your small smile grew into a bigger one. He smiled in return. “And I want to see your pretty face when you cum.”

Leaving you with his lustful comment, he returned his attention to the bottom edge of your slip. Pushing it upwards over your hips, he revealed the black lace fabric you had covering you underneath. “You know, I think black suits you best, like the dress.” Baekhyun smirked, his hands ghosting over your wetness through the fabric, “Too bad we have to take them off.” He said, slipping his fingers underneath and pulling the underwear down and off your legs.

He leaned back down so his pretty face was only inches from yours. His hand rested on your stomach just above your most sensitive area, drawing slow circles. “Now, remind me again what it was you wanted me to do earlier?” He asked, feigning ignorance.

You rolled your eyes, anxious for him to give you what you needed. “Baekhyun, just touch me.”

“Like this?” He asked, bring his palm to rest flat over your folds, the heel of his hand putting an immense amount of pressure on your clit just as he did at the bar. He rubbed his fingertips over your skin gently, picking up the wetness that had been building since he first kissed you.

You moaned softly at the feeling of him rubbing you like that, bucking your hips upwards to increase the pressure. But as you did so, Baekhyun’s free hand came down forcefully onto your hip, pressing it into the mattress so you couldn’t lift yourself off it again.

His hand on your pussy remained stationary as you whined, desperate for him to move. “Baekhyun, please,” You begged pitifully. But instead of moving his hand, he just stared at your face with a smirk as your eyebrows scrunched together in frustration.

Eager to mimic his words from earlier, you breathlessly spit out, “Are you gonna do something, or wha-”

And just as you had before, he cut you off before you could finish the word, plunging two fingers past your folds and into your core, a loud gasp escaping your lips at the sensation of him deep inside of you. Not even your fantasies of his long, perfect fingers inside of you could prepare you for how far inside you they reached.

You let out another whiny moan as he began to slowly pump his fingers in and out of you, his face still close to yours as he breathed in the sinful sounds you were making. “You can be as loud as you want, baby,” He sighed into you. “It’s just us, remember?”

As those words came out of his mouth, he curled his fingers upwards inside of you, hitting the spot that made you moan out his name.

He pumped in and out a few more times, increasing his speed. “Come on, I know you can do better.” He taunted, curling his fingers once again with more force. The feeling had you seeing stars, eye rolling back as you nearly screamed his name.

“That’s better.” Baekhyun sighed.

His hand that had been pushing your hip down was suddenly on your clit, rubbing fast circles as he other hand increased speed inside of you. 

“Shit, Baekhyun, oh my god,” You moaned, feeling every muscle in your body tensing in sequence as the pleasure built. You knew you wouldn’t last long with both of his hands working against you like this, and you screwed your eyes shut in anticipation of your climax.

Just before you tipped over the edge, Baekhyun removed both hands from you with a smile. You whined at the loss of contact, your orgasm ruined as your walls clenched around nothing. “Why’d you do that?” You asked breathlessly.

Baekhyun was clearly pleased by your reaction, his eyes glinting with amusement. “Because I waited for you. Now you have to wait for me.”

“I used my mouth. That’s harder work.” You pouted.

You were quickly shut up by Baekhyun’s fingers pressed against your lips, the ones that had just been inside of you. You parted your lips to allow them in. He slipped them inside, and gave you a smirk. “Next time, I’ll use my mouth, and I bet I can get you to scream even louder.” You sucked on his fingers, tasting the sweetness of your own arousal, and you felt your stomach flutter at the mention of a next time.

Baekhyun must have also felt the excitement his words caused, quickly bringing his lips back to yours to taste you on them. “Mmm...” He hummed against you. “I bet it’ll be even better when my mouth is on you for real.”

"Stop making promises and just fuck me, already.”

Baekhyun grinned at your words, just as eager to do what you both came here to do. Reaching over you, he opened the drawer of his bedside table, pulling out a condom. He ripped it open before tossing the wrapper somewhere on the floor, then sat back on his heels to roll it on himself. You watched as he did so, practically salivating at the thought of him finally inside of you.

Once it was on, he leaned forward again, one hand holding him up beside your head, and the other lining up his dick with your entrance. He looked down at you, his smile never fading, and stared into your eyes. 

“Ready?” He asked softly, gently rubbing his tip between your wet folds. You shuddered at the teasing sensation and nodded. “Yeah, ready.”

With that, Baekhyun began pressing into you slowly. You each let out a mutual groan as your walls pulled him in deeper, and your fingers latched onto his back for dear life. He slowly pushed himself inside of you further, inch by inch. “God, you feel so fucking good,” He growled, using all of his strength to not start pounding into you immediately.

Just as you had imagined, his girth was stretching you intensely, causing a dull ache as he slowly gave you more and more to take. He let out a sharp breath when he felt himself bottom out. The feeling of his tip press against your cervix forced a cry from your lips, which Baekhyun swallowed as he kissed you deeply.

“Hurts?” He asked with concern, lifting his lips from yours to search for any amount of pain in your eyes. “A little,” You admitted, still pressing your fingertips deep into the skin of his back. “Just give me a minute. It’s been a while.” You laughed breathlessly,

“Whatever you need.” Baekhyun obliged, holding himself stationary above as the sweat pooled all over him, the dark hair sticking to his forehead becoming damp above you. You could tell he was struggling not to move by the way he turned away from your gaze. The sight of him falling apart above you made your discomfort dissipate and turn to pleasure, your walls squeezing around Baekhyun.

“Please, I have to move.” Baekhyun sighed, the feeling of you clenching sending him to the edge. You nodded, and he slowly pulled out before easing back into you, creating a slow and steady pace with his hips. You groaned at the delicious feeling of him moving inside of you, filling you completely with every slow thrust. You found his eyes, giving him a reassuring squeeze on his bicep. “You don’t have to be gentle with me, you know.”

"Oh, thank god.” He let out a sigh of relief. “I can’t take it this slow.”

And with your words guiding him, Baekhyun increased his pace, earning small groans from you each time he filled you to the hilt. You bounced on the bed with each rock of his hips into you, opting to grab the headboard above you with both hands so as to not slow him down. “Don’t stop, Baek,” You moaned up at him. “Feels so good.”

He groaned at your words, squeezing his eyes shut to focus on his movements. You watched his face contort in concentration, thoroughly enjoying the look on his face as he fell apart above you, whispering your name each time he thrusted in. “Does it feel good?” You questioned him teasingly.

Eyes still shut, Baekhyun let out a breathy laugh at your words. “Yeah, feels amazing,” He answered between grunts as he continued thrusting.

“Then fuck me harder.” You egged him on breathlessly. “I know you can.”

Baekhyun’s eyes shot open at your challenge, catching the impish look you threw at him. “Harder? No problem.” 

And he met your challenge with determination. Carefully, he pulled himself nearly all the way out, before slamming himself back down onto you as hard as he could. The blow caused you to let out your loudest moan yet, and before you could recover he was crashing into you again. And again. And again. Each time, you screamed louder than before, causing the smirk on his face to grow. “How’s that?” He asked sarcastically. “Hard enough?”

You let out laugh between gasping breaths, trying to regain some amount of composure in your current situation. “Yeah, good,” You managed to pant out. “Not gonna be able to walk tomorrow.”

“That’s the goal,” Baekhyun muttered back. Suddenly, his long fingers were wrapped around your neck, as he pulled you to lay sideways. Not letting go, he quickly repositioned himself so that he lay behind you, and began thrusting up into you once more.

You moaned louder and louder with each thrust, the new angle allowing him to hit the spot that had you screaming his name just minutes before. You felt yourself starting to slip away, your vision going hazy as every muscle in your body began to tighten, the pit of your stomach dropping. You clenched around him as he groaned, the tightness pushing him closer and closer to his own edge.

Baekhyun could sense you were nearly there, bringing his free hand down to where you were connected to rub fast circles into your clit. You knew you were a goner, and syllables leaving your lips incoherent. You pressed your hand on top of Baekhyun’s that was still around your neck, encouraging him to squeeze harder. He groaned as he followed your instructions, tightening his grip on your airway. “Cum for me.” He whispered delicately into your ear. “It’s just us, remember? I’m here.”

His words pushed you over the edge, and you struggled to gasp for air as Baekhyun brought you to your climax, both hands on you and dick buried deep inside you. The wave of pleasure that washed through your whole body was so intense, your vision completely blacking out as you shuddered and shook in Baekhyun’s grasp, repeating his name over and over, “Baekhyun, Baekhyun...”.

He continued holding you and rubbing your over-sensitized area as you came down, your walls clenching spastically around him. Releasing his grip from your throat, he continued thrusting fast and hard into you from behind. “Gonna cum,” He muttered out between fast breaths, the feeling of you spasming sending him over the edge. His hips sputtered and a string of curses fell from his lips, mixing with your name as he came undone in your ear and released into the condom. 

He slowed and pressed himself deep inside of you as both of your breathing subsided, still coming down from both of your highs. You turned your head to look back at Baekhyun, his cheeks flushed and drenched hair framing the blissful look in his eyes. He was absolutely beautiful. He caught your eye, noticing you staring, before kissing you deeply, his hand coming up to rest on your cheek.

You pulled back slightly, smiling. “Didn’t you say you wanted to see my pretty face when I came?”

Baekhyun laughed, rubbing his thumb on your rosy cheek. “Next time, yeah?”

You nodded, not able to control your smile.

He slipped out of you and stood from the bed, looking around the floor to locate his boxers. As he pulled them on, you adjusted your dress that had remained on but migrated up to your chest. You sat up on the bed, bringing your knees into your chest and admiring Baekhyun’s figure. 

Turning back to look at you, he grinned. “I’m gonna get some water. Need anything?” He asked.

“Water would be great.” You replied as he turned to exit the room. Hearing the faucet run in the kitchen, you decided to rid yourself of your sweaty garment, opting for Baekhyun’s discarded t-shirt on the floor. Slipping it on, you smelled the remnants of his cologne, heaving a deep sigh and smiling involuntarily. The shirt didn’t completely cover your ass, but it would do. 

You slipped into the bathroom to inspect your appearance in the mirror. You hair, which was already somewhat of a mess to begin with, was even bigger now, and your makeup a bit more smudged. But you looked free. You felt happy.

Baekhyun appeared in the mirror beside you, glass of water in hand for you. You accepted it with a quick thank you, gulping it down.

“So you like being choked, huh?”

Coincidentally, you nearly choked on your water when Baekhyun blurted it out.

Catching yourself, you gasped for air and tried to recover.

“I mean, first you want to choke on my dick, then you want me to choke you out?”

“Baekhyun!” You gasped, slapping him on the arm.

“I know you said you were into some kinky stuff, but damn...” Baekhyun chuckled the shit-eating grin returning to his face.

You rolled your eyes. “Like you didn’t like it.” You teased back.

Baekhyun shook his head. “Never said I didn’t. Looks good, by the way.” He paused to look you up and down, his shirt draped over your body. He scratched the back of his neck. “I assume, you’re, uh, gonna spend the night?”

You blushed a bit at the question, shifting on your feet uncomfortably. “I mean, yeah, if that’s okay. If I went home now, Minji would-”

“It’s totally fine, don’t worry.” Baekhyun reassured you, gently placing a kiss on your forehead. “You wanna borrow some shorts or something? If I wake up in the middle of the night with your bare ass against me, I can’t promise I’ll behave...”

You laughed, the comfort of being with Baekhyun returning. He graciously offered you a pair of gym shorts, which you accepted.

As you set your glass of water on the bedside table, you felt drowsiness from your activities and night of drinking overtake you. Slipping between the sheets, your eyelids felt heavy.

Baekhyun flipped the light switch before joining you in bed, snaking an arm around your waist and pulling you close. 

“Goodnight.” Baekhyun whispered, intertwining his legs with yours.

You smiled, eyes closing. “Goodnight.”

Before you lost consciousness, one last thought passed through your mind-

“It’s just us, remember?”

You hoped it was true.

[billyspotato]

Stopping You [Part 2] - Michael Gray

Words: 3.261 words

Type: Angst

Warnings: Swearing. Probable misspelling. Some big hatred towards the characters Michael and Gina. There will be scenes of the show in here, but also some made up (this applies to all parts of this future story). No race of the reader is mentioned (therefore, anyone can read this as themselves). Female Reader. (Season 5 Spoilers)

In this particular chapter: Mentions of domestic abuse/violence. Mentions of blood and slight self harm. Mentions of fire arms. 

[Series Masterlist]

A/N: Gif’s not mine :)

You drink the last drop of orange juice from your cup when Polly walks in the kitchen.

“Are you meeting us at the Garrison?” She asks you, and you turn around to wash your cup in the sink.

“Yeah” You answer before turning around, “But I’m most likely to be late” You announce, gaining a glare from Polly.

“Y/N” Polly says with a scolding tone.

“It’s not on purpose, I swear”

You dry your hands on the kitchen cloth and walk over to Polly, kissing her on the cheek.

“I have to deal with something first, but let’s be honest here” You start making Polly look at you in the eyes, “It’s not like he doesn’t deserve it”

Polly scoffs while rolling your eyes at you and you smile at her annoyance. She smacks your arm slightly and tries to bite in her smile.

Why do you always make her laugh when she’s not supposed to?

“I’ll see you at the Garrison” You announce while she walks behind the kitchen counter, probably to find something to eat, “Love ya”

You walk out of the kitchen as the words sound off your mouth and Polly answers back, and you’re quick to grab your keys and jacket, before walking out of the big house.

Your heels click in the pavement and you slide your arms into the expensive jacket, before getting in your car and starting it.

(…)

A rather bumpy ride later, you turn off the engine and walk out of the car, staring at the old but homey-looking house. You walk slowly through the rocky and uneven ground and try to get closer to the front door as fast as you could with heels.

As you do, you knock on the wood of the door and adjust your jacket around your waist, hiding better the gun in your waist.

The door opens in a matter of seconds and the lady you talked to yesterday, stares at you.

“Good morning” You say with a small smile.

“Good morning miss” The lady answer with a shaky voice, making you tense up.

“Did anyone come by your house yesterday?” You question and the lady quickly nods, “And what did they say?”

As the scared lady was about to open her mouth and talk, a man, rather larger than you, appears behind her with a child on his hip. The child looked just like the woman in front of you, and he was around 5 years old.

“How can we help you?” The man asks and the lady jumps slightly, not expecting to hear his voice.

“I’m here to talk to your wife” You say with a fake smile, “Sir” You add while looking at him up and down.

“I’m sure she doesn’t know you” He answers back ready to close the door on your face, but you stop it with your healed foot as soon as he does it.

“Oh, she does. But I’m sure a conversation with you will just be as great”

You invite yourself in with that and the couple looks at you in shock.

You look around the hallway and admire the family pictures hanging on the walls and also placed on top of various types of furniture.

“Why don’t we take the children to their bedrooms?” You ask when noticing two more boys peeking out from an open door at the end of the hallway.

You take your eyes out of the children to look at the man, who doesn’t move.

“What? You don’t want to do it?” You ask and you can tell that angered the man in front you further.

“You don’t give orders in my house” He says, and you smirk.

“Sure” You say while moving your jacket back around your waist, showing him your pistol.

The man’s eyes widen, and you continue to smirk at him as he is quick to give his child to his wife. The woman, without hesitating takes the child from his arms and puts him on the ground, ready to walk away from you with him.

“I’ll go talk to you in a second” You tell her, and she nods before looking back at the ground and walking off to safety.

The man stares at you as you two wait for the bedroom door to close and as it does, you look up at the man.

“A man came here to speak to you yesterday, am I right?” You say, picking up a framed picture of the three boys.

“Yes, he said he was a Peaky” The man says while crossing his arms.

“Guess we have that in common” You add just to let a little more of your venom flow in his system, “What did you discuss about?”

“Something about me hitting my wife” He says, scoffing at his words.

“Is that funny to you?” You ask, making the man lose his smile, “Reality must be hilarious, but I just keep on not catching its joke”

The man opens his mouth to speak but you interrupt him.

“I’m here to give you a warning” You say while playing with your jacket sleeves, “Regarding the abuse-”

“There’s no abu-”

“Didn’t ask” You say, looking up, “Like I was saying” You continue, leaning back on the small wardrobe beside you. “This is warning. I’ve seen and heard enough to believe what has been happening between you and your wife. I’ll be having men checking on her on a daily basis-”

“Your men can’t trespass-”

“Interrupt me one more fucking time” You say with a low tone and clenched teeth.

The man was about to open his mouth and you take the gun off your waist, clicking the safety off.

“If there’s anything broken in this house, new bruises on her, or even a shout towards her while I’m away” You start, “I’ll be making a new visit, and it won’t be this pretty” You say with a fake smile.

The man stays silent and you’re quick to notice him reach something behind him, you aim at his head.

“Try to reach further and I’ll put a bullet through your fucking head” You warn, and his arm continues to move.

“You’re a-”

You fire at the ceiling above his head and he jumps and shakes at the loud noise. He looks up to notice the hole in the wood, and when he looks back at you, you continue to look at him with your head slightly tilted to the side with a smirk.

“This is going to be fun” You whisper as your smirk grows into a smile as shivers run through the man’s back.

(…)

You slide your arms back in the expensive jacket and walk out of the car. You’re late, as expected.

The man took his warning seriously and you also offered to pay for the damage done to the ceiling when checking for new bruises on the man’s wife, who kept on constantly thanking you.

You put your gun back in your waist, since it was previously thrown to your passenger seat by you a few minutes back, and reality starts to sink into your mind. You’re going to see him.

You put your hair back and walk to the Garrison’s doors, already expecting the worse. As you swing them open, all of their heads turn to you.

“Excuse my absence” You say while looking at Tommy, who gives you a small nod.

Your heels sound on the old wooden flooring and you walk over to Polly.

“How did it go?” She whispers to you, grabbing your hand; she was notified by Tommy about what you were doing when she got here.

“Normal” You say before giving her hand a squeeze, “It always takes a bullet to make them listen” You whisper, and she smiles at your words.

Michael’s blue eyes are focused on you as you smile at his mother. You look different. Your walk screams confidence and your sweet expression is now gone, replaced by the resting bitch face this whole family seems to own.

You walk around to stand next to Tommy and you look over at Michael, not saying a word, hoping that your expression reads as much frustration as you feel.

You can’t help but admire how much he’s changed. He looks older. More stressed. Richer too. But that might be because of his beige suit. Which funny enough, matches the fur in blondie’s jacket.

Your heart is starting to speed up as Michael’s eyes continue focused on you and old memories start to come in slowly.

He’s here. The person you prayed to call you back for that whole time is finally here.

“Y/N” Michael starts before clearing his throat. His name even sounds and feels foreign to his lips, “I would like to introduce you to my future wife” He says before looking at Gina, “Gina”

His eyes go back to you as if he is expecting a reaction, and so do Tommy’s, Arthur’s and Polly’s. But the only thing they all got was a short nod and a look of disinterest.

“Y/N, sweetheart” Polly starts, “Before we start. Why don’t you put your gun behind the counter, like everyone else?”

You look at her in confusion and then look back at the grown men beside you. Oh, they did it too.

You pull the pistol from your holster and put it next to Arthur’s, which seemed to be with no bullets left. What in the hell- Oh wait, they’re in the ground... For some reason.

Arthur hides his smirk regarding Michael, which is still expecting a reaction from you. You turn back around and take a seat in one of the highchairs.

“Sit down Michael” Tommy says, standing beside you, to the man that seems to not be able to take his eyes off you.

“I betrayed you” Michael starts, looking at his cousin, but not following his order, “But only in my heart. There was a time,” he continues, and Polly takes a seat in one of the tables. “In America. There was a lot of money in that bank…”

As Michael continues his speech to Tommy, your mind drifts off. You start taking a good look at Gina, which is looking at Tommy as if she saw a ghost. She is the opposite of you. Or at least, the old you. You never had perfect styled hair; it was beautiful as it moved wildly in the wind. You didn’t wear expensive clothing, whatever looked good with your skin color was enough. And her expression, the constant glare, the puckered lips, her chin up. Everything was different. There is no visible softness in Gina, she looked hard as a rock.

Bad thing you’re tougher.

“I told you to sit down, Michael” Tommy says, making you take your eyes off Gina. “Now tell me, what happened on that ship in Belfast harbor”

As Michael starts to explain the witness story and how the certain whiskey men became Scotch men who said Tom’s name. You heard every word in silence, not reacting until you heard the group’s name, Billy boys.

You take a deep breath as Arthur starts to explain to Michael who they really are, and that reaction took interest in Gina. Her eyes went over to you as she leaned back on the pole. You surely were a Peaky, but she’s uncertain about you being a Shelby.

“But you did no deal, Michael?” Polly asks, “You didn’t even know who they were?”

“I was too busy looking forward to giving you the good news” Michael answers, “The reason Gina and I got engaged on the ship was because we think she’s pregnant”

Your jaw clenches as Michael grabs Gina’s hand and you look over at Polly.

“You will probably be a grandmother” Michael announces to his mother.

Polly looks over to you quickly and you shake your head slightly as if you didn’t want to listen to any more of what was going on.

Your heart as finally calmed down, maybe it was over the shock of his words. Your ears are ringing, and the sound became muffled as Tommy started to talk.

“Okay, Michael. I believe you. Welcome home. Congratulations” Tommy says with the most monotone voice of all time, making you force yourself back to normal, “Just remember…” He continues as Michael lowers his gaze as if he was taking in the congratulations, “Your possible unborn child has witnessed what you said. And will be born according to-”

Michael jumps out of his chair while shouting “You fuck” to his cousin and you and Arthur are quick to defend him. You stood up and took a step forward as Arthur held his cousin back.

“Where the fuck are you going, hm? Are you mad, hmm?”

Michael glares at Tommy as if the words keep on replaying on his head and Gina continues to stare at you. You stared at Michael as if you’re bored at his outraged, or even as if he was overreacting.

When in reality, you couldn’t care less about what Tommy was about to say, your mind in too occupied.

“You are free to fucking leave, Michael” Arthur reminds his cousin.

“Fucking bastard” Michael curses.

“But you are not really free, Michael, are you?” Tommy says, with his relaxed tone, “You lost this company a lot of money. I told you to sell… But you held on. And now I want you to pay me back what you owe me. There is work you can do, there are risks you can take. We were close before. Now I want you closer still”

You bite your smirk as you know that the words were branded into Michael’s skull, annoying him further. He was boiling with anger and you just had to love the sight.

Gina sighs when noticing your amusement and leans forward to take a step closer to Michael.

“Michael, honey” She says with her whispery voice and Michael looks away from Tommy acting like her voice had calmed him. He stared back at you for a second. “Look at your cousin”

The couple looks at Tommy, who continued to seem unfazed with all of her and Michael’s words.

“He’s in trouble, uh?” Gina continues, “He needs you”

There is a silence between all of us as she takes a look at her fiancé.

You lean back on the bar as she continues to make Michael look at Tommy.

“Come on, baby, let’s go” Gina says, her hands letting go of his shoulder to grab his hand and pull him away from the commotion and the glares.

Gina’s thick heels sound on the floor loudly and you notice that you’re biting the inside of your cheek. You open your mouth slightly and the metallic taste, comes to your tongue.

The door opens as they step out and Polly continues to glare at Tommy, while walking around the table and grabbing her things.

You two are in different sides of this argument but there’s no hard feelings between you two, and the both of you know it. You just disagree right now. Nothing will change tonight’s plans for your late-night-wine-drinking conversation.

She walks out as well, and you pull your gun from behind the counter before putting it back on your holster.

“Grab three cups, love” Tommy tells you and walk around the bar to grab three clean cups which were next to the sink.

You walk back and put them down at the table, where Arthur turns a chair around for you to sit. You thank him while taking the seat and Tommy serves everyone a even amount of whiskey.

“Mad dog Jimmy. Coming south” Arthur says, remembering the important things of this conversation before the big argument had happened.

You sip your drink and lean back on the chair as it burns the bloody wound of your right cheek. You let it sit there, in your mouth, coming to terms of it.

There is way more pain to come. Might as well start to practice loving it.

(…)

On that same day, Michael sat with Gina at the dinner table of the hotel. Both of them silently eating their meals as today’s meeting replayed of both of their minds.

“Who was that girl?” Gina asks while eating a small bit of green beans.

“Who are we talking about exactly?” Michael asks while smiling at his fiancé, who didn’t smile back.

“The girl at the meeting. Who was she?” She says, now grabbing her tall glass to sip into the expensive wine.

“Her name is Y/N. A poor girl, when I met her” Michael says, looking down at his plate.

“Friends with the Shelby’s?” She asks, interested in getting more information, leaning back into her chair.

“More like having parents who have been loyal to the Shelby’s” Michael corrects her.

“Who are they?”

“Her parents?” Michael asks before sipping his drink slowly, it’s getting too hot in this room.

Gina nods.

“Nobodies” He admits while shrugging making his fiancé smile, “It’s true, they never had money; used to sell fruit at a local shop. And now- From what I know of, no one knows where they are”

“She’s a peaky blinder now?”

“From the looks of it”

Gina takes another sip of her wine.

“You seemed surprised when you saw her”

“Last time I saw her, she was nowhere close to being one”

“Why? Too soft?” Gina says as if she was saying something ridiculous, sharing a laugh.

“Yeah, actually. She was this sweet and loving girl when I left” He adds and then looks back at the ground as if memories attacked him as the words left his mouth.

Gina caught it.

“What was she to you?” She asks, putting down her now empty glass back on the table, but Michael doesn’t respond. “Michael?” He looks back up at her, “What was she to you?”

Michael shrugs while smoothly cleaning to sweat on his forehead.

“We were just friends”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Gina” Michael says before scoffing and taking another sip of his freezing cold whiskey.

There is a silence between the two as your face showed up in Gina’s mind.

“She didn’t seem to like me” Gina says before grabbing her fork and knife once more.

“Yeah, I know” Michael says, deep in thought.

As Gina’s attention changed back to her meal, Michael’s stayed on the ground and in today’s events. You were surely different. Attitude was the most prominent change. You radiate confidence and power instead of love and admiration. You don’t look at him the same. It’s almost as if you truly despised him but at the same time didn’t care for his existence. And that, in some way, hurt him.

He never expected you to welcome him with open arms. He did what he did, and he doesn’t regret it. Not yet at least. What he did had to be done. Maybe this is just a big excuse, but he couldn’t concentrate when you were constantly worrying about him. You even made him worry about himself.

He loved you. Just like you loved him. He also doesn’t hate you now, while you… well, that can be discussed.

But the intriguing part of all of this is that even after this whole time of not talking, you still find a way to interest him, still make his gaze stick to you, make his heart speed up and make his mind occupied with old memories. And all of that when he’s standing right next to his soon-to-be-wife.

He is fucked.

- - - - -

Taglist: @ohhersheybars​ @woodland-mist​ @onlythechicagoway​ @soleil-dor​ @finn-shelbys-bulldog​ @oh-theres-a-woman​ @peakyxtommy​ @ms-reader​ @beautycinders​ @lovemissyhoneybee​ @graceedwards​ @jadesbabylon​ @marvelismylifffe​

If you want to be a part of this tag list comment on this post, or dm me.

🌸✨Sorry, but I’m not writing in this account anymore. Go check out my new one @twinklelilstarkey ✨🌸

[wkemeup]

To Be Happy

inbox request: “is there ever a time where y/n sort of gets overwhelmed with how much her life has changed ?? but in a good way ??” by anonymous ❤️ pairing: bucky x reader chapter word count: 1.5k warnings: none ❤️ 🌹series masterlist 🌹

“Wait, wait! You promised to tell us more about Hydra if we all did the reading this week!” one of the criminal justice majors enrolled in your 20th Century Literature course raised his arm desperately, moments before the end of class.

“I suppose I did,” you nodded, laughing as several other students, even the ones appropriately in the correct course for their major, nodded along eagerly. You took off your glasses and set them on the table. The whole classroom sank back into their seats as if watching a movie.

You didn’t give them much, just enough to keep them interested for more and willing to do the assigned readings. If it encouraged participation, you didn’t mind sharing what you’d learned about Hydra over the years. The kids were fascinated and it earned you a reputation around campus enough to have your classes filled within seconds of registration.

Today, you told them about the secret back room in the Lernaean. It had been a long time since you’d even thought about the club Brock had used to launder money for Hydra, but the kids seemed enthralled at the idea of a hidden door behind the bar.

As you dismissed the class for the day, gathering your things and ready to head home after three lectures and five hours of open office hours, you found a student waiting for you by the door. She held her books tight to her chest, nervously smiling at you as you caught her attention.

“Hi.”

“Hi, Daisy,” you chuckled, throwing your bag over your shoulder. “What can I do for you?”

“Oh.” She seemed surprised by your question, as if she were expecting she wouldn’t get that far. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I was wondering if I could schedule office hours with you? I was hoping you could help me with a paper I’m writing on—"

“It’s a little early to work on the final, Daisy,” you suggested with a smile, gesturing for her to follow you as you made your way out of the lecture hall, “but I appreciate your enthusiasm.”

“Actually, it’s for my women’s studies class,” Daisy blurted out, causing you to pause. You narrowed your eyes on her, waiting for her to continue. She clearly her throat. “Professor Hill asked us to pick a woman in history we admire and write about how they persevered when the whole world was against them.”

“Oh, Daisy,” you started, a little stunned, “I don’t know if I would be an appropriate choice for—”

“My dad was killed by Hydra when I was little,” Daisy explained quietly. “What you did, teaming up with the feds and taking down Hydra from the inside after all they did to you… It’s amazing. I know the CJ guys in this class are all caught up on the Hydra of it all, but I’d really like to be able to learn more about you and what it was like on the inside, why you decided to fight, and how you did it. I already ran it by Professor Hill and she was on board as long as it was okay with you.”

You watched Daisy for a minute, surprised by the confidence growing in her stance as she spoke. This was important to her and there were few people you’d be willing to share those kinds of stories with, but as she glanced up hopefully, you couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s okay with me,” you said, and Daisy nearly jumped off the ground. “You can add your name to the list outside my office for the time you’d like, okay?”

“Yes! Yes, of course! Thank you!” Daisy was already halfway down the hall, waving enthusiastically as she sprinted towards your office. You laughed to yourself as you watched her disappear amongst the crowd of students.

***

“You’ll never guess what happened at work today,” you said as you closed the apartment door behind you, quickly overcome by a wave of cumin and chili powder. 

Taco night. 

Chopped tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and tortillas lined the table with tiny bowls filled with toppings and spices. At the edge, a chemistry textbook. You paused, narrowing your eyes.

Peter emerged from the bathroom, grinning wide as he spotted you at the front door. “You’re home!”

“I didn’t know you were going to be here,” you laughed, rushing in to give him a hug.

“Aunt May’s working late tonight and Bucky said ‘tacos’ so I was on the first train over.”

“Obviously.”

“Give me ten minutes and we’re good to go!” Bucky called from the kitchen. He was dressed in an old pair of jeans ripped at the knees and a t-shirt that had gone through the wash a few too many times. It was faded and stretched at the neck, but he was comfortable and grinning wildly as he wafted the steam of the ground beef from the pan.

“I’ll move my stuff!” Peter cheered, lunging for the textbook and tossing it into his bag.

“Are you done studying?” you questioned to which Peter scrunched his nose at you.

“You sound like Aunt May.”

“That wasn’t an answer.”

“It’s taco night, Y/n!”

“Yeah, Y/n, it’s taco night,” Bucky chimed in, smirking as Peter nodded along.

“If Aunt May calls over here wondering why I let you off the hook on studying for this exam, I’m blaming the two of you,” you conceded, sinking down into the chair and Bucky placed a margarita on front of you.

“Whatever you say, sweetheart.”

***

“Wait, that’s so cool,” Peter said, mouth half full of his four taco. “This girl’s writing an essay on you?”

“I guess so,” you shrugged, trying to play it off but the truth was you were far more excited than you let on. You hadn’t had a chance to tell your side of the story outside of the connections you made with the women down at Hope Haven and despite the fact that the only reader would likely be your good friend Maria Hill, it meant something to you.

“That’s amazing,” Bucky nodded, reaching for your hand under the table and giving it a light squeeze.

“Definitely better than that punk at my school who wouldn’t keep his mouth shut,” Peter grumbled, angrily biting into another taco as the hard shell cracked to pieces on his plate. “At least he learned his lesson.”

“Watch yourself, Peter,” you warned. “You don’t need to be defending my honor to a high school senior, okay?”

“Yeah, well, there’s a lot more kids talking about how cool you are anyway,” Peter shrugged casually. “MJ is probably your biggest supporter and most kids at the school are afraid of her so… no more fist fights for me.”

“Well good,” you laughed. “I like MJ.”

“Me, too,” Peter replied dreamily, a little caught up in his head to notice the hearts consuming his eyes. You glanced over at Bucky, laughing quietly amongst yourselves.

It was strange, you realized, this foreign feeling in your stomach. It came up every once in a while in moments like these; where Bucky sat comfortably at the seat to your left, his hand holding yours under the table, Peter sitting across from you going on and on about what colleges he was thinking about applying to.

It was a comfortable feeling, a safe feeling, one you didn’t question whether it would be ripped out from under you or break apart at the seams. Something so simple, so domestic, that most people wouldn’t think twice about, but as you watched Peter and Bucky make their way into the kitchen to clean up, laughing amongst themselves as Bucky swatted Peter on the arm with a dishrag, it didn’t feel so simple. It felt extraordinary.

After all you’d been through, to survive the reign of Hydra, to escape the control of a man who was hellbent on keeping you under his thumb, to come out the other side to a man who loved you beyond what you thought capable, to a classroom full of eager students, to a family you never thought you’d have.

“You alright, honey?” Bucky called from the kitchen, his face softening as he noticed the way you were watching them.

You nodded, brushing away the tears under your eyes and offering him a smile that felt near contagious. “I’m perfect, Buck. Just really happy is all.”

Bucky smiled at that, extending up into his cheeks and wrinkling by his eyes. “Good. Stay that way forever, okay?”

You couldn’t help but laugh, nodding along as Peter came up behind Bucky’s shoulder and muffled out a ‘yeah!’ between bites of shredded cheese. Cheddar scampered along the floor to sniff at the few pieces of cheese that had slipped from between Peter’s fingers, before he turned his head away in favor of the food bowl sitting in the corner of the kitchen.

Surrounded by your boys. Perfectly content. Safe. and Loved. 

[deja-you]

foreign affairs | part three | d.c.

m. de lafayette x reader

summary: In 2020, Representative Y/n L/n is up for reelection. Lafayette, Y/n’s former best friend and current French socialite and playboy, decides this is the time to walk back into her life.

word count: 5.3k

author’s note: this is the last chapter of this series! it’s been so much fun writing this for you guys, hope you’ve enjoyed it. fair warning, this chapter/ending is pretty melancholic. 

trailer | previous

Although his grandmother had wanted him to be, Lafayette wasn’t Catholic.

Like any other Parisian, he might attend a special Christmas or Easter service, but he wouldn’t call himself a Catholic. His grandmother had always wanted him to be more devout in his faith. Since his father had died when he was young and his mother was a young woman just starting off her political career, his grandmother raised him for the most part. 

She was an organist and would play for different churches every weekend, never finding a church she liked well enough to stay very long. His grandmother had even taught Lafayette to play a few songs. At one point, she had bought Lafayette a crucifix on a chain to keep with him. 

It wasn’t one of those cool, sleek chains you would see people wearing proudly. It was a silver chain with dark beads on it, something you might see an old lady wearing. A silver chain with a tiny Jesus on a tiny cross. He had lost it almost immediately. 

Lafayette had always had a habit of misplacing items. In high school, he had conveniently lost his homework on multiple occasions. He was always losing just one half of a pair of socks. Could you imagine how stupid he looked walking around with one black sock and one white sock on? He couldn’t even remember how many times he had woken up hungover with no idea of where his wallet or keys were. 

The point is, Lafayette was a grown man who was used to losing things. Yet, no matter how many items he lost, he still wasn’t prepared to lose Y/n.

And yes, he knew it was all his fault. Everything seemed to be his fault these days. Lafayette wasn’t even denying that he had made another huge mistake. What kind of idiot sleeps with the secretary of the girl he was in love with? Seriously, why did I write such an idiot?

It had been eight years since Paris. After all this time, Lafayette was just as proficient at destroying his relationship with Y/n as he had been when they were younger. You would think that he would learn from his mistakes, or Y/n would have been able to forgive him, but no. Maybe they were young and stupid then, but they were still very much young and very much stupid. 

Lafayette had made a stupid decision. If it hadn’t been clear to him the night before, it was blatantly apparent to him the next morning while Sybil was getting dressed.

“Last night was a mistake.” He cringed at his words as soon as he said them. Last time he had woken up next to a girl and told her it was a mistake, it didn’t go so well. 

“Not in a bad way, I mean,” Lafayette quickly amended. “I am sorry, was that rude to say?”

Sybil gave him a look that he couldn’t quite read. “No, it’s alright. I agree with you.”

“You do?”

“Yes,” she nodded, “it was unprofessional, and by the looks of it, it didn’t help you get whoever she is off your mind.”

Lafayette rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, looking at the bed or the floor or the window or at anyone but her. “You are right. I just... Anyway, this can’t happen again.”

“No, never. It was a bad idea to begin with,” Sybil muttered.

There was a silence that fell between them, neither of them knowing what to say until Lafayette awkwardly said, “I’ll see you around, then.”

“Right, right. Are you going to Congresswoman L/n’s election night party?” It was more of a way to fill the silence than actual curiosity.

At the reminder of Y/n, Lafayette had to stop him self from outwardly groaning, but he couldn’t help but grimace. If things with her hadn’t been messed up before, they definitely would be now. 

“I should attend that, shouldn’t I? I’m just not sure Y/n will want me there.”

“You are a major donor,” Sybil pointed out. “It would make sense. If you and the Congresswoman don’t get along, why do you come around the office so often and make contributions?”

He didn’t even know how to respond to that, and his silence was telling. Suddenly everything clicked for Sybil. The frequent visits to Congresswoman L/n’s office. The disappointment on his face when she had told him Y/n specifically didn’t want to talk to him. The woman Sybil had asked him about last night. The way he called her by her first name.

“Oh no. The woman you’re in love with is Congresswoman L/n, isn’t it?” Sybil pieced it together. 

Lafayette’s mouth hung open silently, his eyes told her she was correct.

“I never would have kissed you if I had known. I never would have done a lot of things with you if I had known. My boss? Please tell me I’m wrong about this.”

“You’re not.”

She groaned. “And it was so obvious, wasn’t it?”

“It’s obvious?”

“Of course! How did I not realize until now? I don’t want to get in the middle of anything, I just didn’t know.” 

“You’re not getting in the middle of anything.” Lafayette shook his head. “I ruined any chance I had with Y/n long before last night. I really think she wants me out of her life this time. I should get on the next plane back to France, shouldn’t I?”

“Are you asking me, your one night stand, for advice?” Sybil said. “Not going to lie, this is a first for me. You’re going to miss the election night party if you leave.”

“Does it matter if I go to this event? Y/n doesn’t want to be with me, showing up to a party isn’t going to change that.”

“Look,” Sybil said firmly, “if you really love her, does it really matter if she wants to be with you or not? If you love her, you should want what’s best for her and her career, even if that means she still doesn’t want to be with you.”

He bit his cheek and thought her words over. “I get that, it’s just...”

“It’s your decision. Regardless of whatever happened between the two of you, she could use your support at the election party. Think about it, okay?”

John Adams was going to win the race, he had been ahead in the polls for weeks now. Thomas Jefferson had run an admirable campaign, well, as admirable as a campaign could be that outwardly trashed congress members in the media. Y/n never took his insults personally, even though she knew Jefferson wanted her to. 

Tonight she wasn’t going to let thoughts of Jefferson get her down, even though the news anchors on the television would continuously bring him up. Tonight was going to be a big win for the Democratic party. Jefferson was trailing Adams in electoral votes, and there were only a few states left to be accounted for. 

Y/n has spent most of the night talking with voters and showing off some of her bartending skills at the venue they had rented out for the election party. She was having a lively conversation with a single-mom when Lafayette walked in the door. Suddenly, it was like she had tunnel vision. Everyone else was dark and blurry, but everything about Lafayette seemed to be vibrant and in focus. 

Since the last time she had seen him, Y/n had been doing her best not to waste her time thinking about him. Not that it was an easy task to do, Lafayette had a way of being memorable. Still, Y/n had bigger things to focus on than an old flame. 

Now election night had finally rolled around. No politician was bothering Y/n because they were too focused on the presidential election or their own reelections. And at this time at night, the polls in Y/n’s district had closed. There was no more campaigning she could do at this moment, so she had nothing to distract her from her former best friend who was staring at her from the other side of the room. 

Saying a brief apology to the woman she was talking to, Y/n began weaving her way through the crowd until she was standing a foot a way from Lafayette. Her red lips formed a cordial smile, and to any onlooker, it looked like a kind greeting between two acquaintances. 

“I didn’t think you would show up,” Y/n said cooly.

He bit the inside of his cheek and tilted his head to the said ever so slightly. “I almost didn’t. I know things have been awkward between us lately, but I wanted to show my support for your success. No matter what happens between us, I’m always going to have your back Y/n.”

Her mouth parted slightly, a little surprised and touched by his response. When she didn’t respond, Lafayette quickly added on, “but I can always leave if you don’t want me here.”

“No, no.” She closed her mouth and shook her head. “No, stay. I want you to stay.”

A small smile began making its way across Lafayette’s features. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Nathan had appeared at Y/n’s shoulder.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Nathan said, adjusting his glasses. “Good to see you could make it, Monsieur de Lafayette. You think I could borrow the Congresswoman for a moment?” He turned to face Y/n. “They’re about to call your election.”

“Of course, I’ll see you around, Lafayette.” She gave him another smile before Nathan ushered her to the front of the room where a local newscaster was announcing the results for her district.  

The room went quiet and the volume on the tv was turned up. The anchor smiled at the camera and announced, “...and it looks like Representative Y/n L/n has won her reelection campaign by a large margin. Horatio Gates trailed the congresswoman by...”

Y/n wouldn’t know how much she had beaten Horatio Gates by until the next moment. Everything after the anchor announced she had won reelection went unheard. An upbeat victory song had begun playing somewhere in the room, yelling and cheering warmed Y/n from her toes up to her head. Her mouth hung open for the longest time, and before she knew it, she was pulling the nearest person, Nathan, into a tight hug. 

At some point, reporters had swarmed the venue and Y/n began giving out answers to all the questions they threw at her. There were a lot of congratulations and thank yous going around, and Y/n nearly lost herself in all the wonderful chaos. There was more wonderful chaos when John Adams was announced the next president of the United States later that evening, but Y/n hadn’t even been given enough time to soak in her own victory. 

Don't follow men out to the street at 3 a.m.

The election party officially ended at midnight, but that didn't stop people from staying for a few more hours. At 3 a.m. there were maybe five people left at the party. Now that most people were gone Lafayette decided he would approach Y/n one last time.

“Hey, I just wanted to make sure I congratulated you on your win again before I head back to France,” he said.

Y/n blinked. “You’re going home?”

“Early tomorrow morning.”

Y/n’s mouth hung open slightly, but she didn't say anything. Lafayette gave her a thin smile, a polite nod, and then headed out the door.

He had already exited the venue when Y/n processed what had happened. Not heeding my earlier warning, she followed Lafayette out onto the street at 3:00 a.m.

“So that's it, then, is it?” She called after him. “That’s the end?”

He turned around and raised an eyebrow. “The end of what?”

“The end of us. You're just going to leave?”

“Us? What do you want me to say, Y/n? That I regret what I did? That I'm sorry? Because I've already tried that.” He sounded exhausted. “You are just tormenting me now. Do you know how much this is hurting me?”

“You?” Y/n couldn't believe he was acting like the victim. “This is all on you. I can't count how many times you’ve hurt me

“What, you think I don't know that I messed up? You think I don’t regret the decisions I made every day?” Lafayette ran a hand through his hair. “Chèrie, I've used every kind of soap I have, and I still don't feel clean.”

The raw honesty in his words struck both of him deeply. A heavy silence settled between them. Eventually Lafayette reached into his pocket and pulled out two items. He desperately thrusted the objects into her open palm.

“I've been holding on to those for years. I don't want to keep them any longer.”

Y/n looked at the items he had given her. One was an old, worn ticket from a concert. The other item was a necklace. The one she had worn on their one shared night together. Y/n thought she had lost it and never expected to see it again.

“I dated lots of women when I was younger,” he admitted. “It never ended well. I've never been good at being sincere. Every relationship I've been in I ruined. You want to know why we never dated? Because I loved you. To the moon and back.”

“To the moon and back?” She repeated.

He nodded. “I loved you since I've known you. I couldn't let you be another girl I ruin things with. I guess everyone knew we were in love with each other except for us. Even Molly figured it out. That's why we broke up.

“Why didn't we ever tell each other?”

“We were just kids,” he suggested. “We spent all our time watching lovers in rom-coms tell each other what we were too afraid to tell ourselves.”

Y/n stared at the items she held in her hand. She let the ticket and the necklace fall from her hand onto the dark street below.

“This doesn't change anything.” She shook her head. “You walk in dreams. Dreams of what once was, what could have been, and what never will be. You hold onto the tangible things a ticket stub from our first concert, the necklace I lost years ago. You hold onto these objects because they make your dreams feel a little more real. Something you can touch or see, but in the end? It's all in your head.”

“What are you saying, Y/n?”

“Lafayette, I don’t doubt for a second that you loved me. Maybe you still love me. It’s just not enough to make up for all the ways we’ve hurt each other. I’m tired of being hurt, okay?” Y/n tugged at the sleeves of her coat, trying to find the words to tell him what needed to be said. “I’m finally happy and successful. I’m changing the world.”

“I knew you would. I always knew you would.”

In the next few months, Y/n would replay that evening again and again in her mind until it would drive her to the brink of madness.  “Out of sight, out of mind” was a proverb Y/n wouldn’t understand until four months after the election night, when the words Lafayette had spoken to her on the street seemed like an eternity ago. When a year passed, that night seemed almost like a figment of her imagination now. 

Besides, Y/n didn’t have a lot of time to think about events that had conspired over a year ago now. She had legislation to pass and funding to allocate. There was never a slow day in D.C. 

“Y/n, you saw what Fox News said about you this morning?” Nathan asked, setting down a cup of coffee.

More focused on the steaming cup of coffee that had been set down in front of her than anything Nathan had said, she gave him a noncommittal shrug. “I don’t know. Was it anything new?”

Nathan considered for a moment before shaking his head. “No, not really. They were just informing the public that you’re a radical leftist who wants to abolish ICE and free healthcare for all.”

Y/n scoffed. “They figured out I wan’t to keep families together and take care of the health of millions of American citizens? Oh no.”

“You’re not bothered by any of this?”

“Well, they’re not wrong? By all definitions, I am a radical leftist.” She shrugged and pulled the warm cup of coffee closer to her. “Besides, anyone who’s watching Fox News already has a biased opinion toward me. We’ve got bigger things to worry about, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Nathan agreed. “For one thing, France announced its support for your foreign aid bill. If your bill gets passed, they pledged to match whatever amount we’re spending on foreign aid.”

This seemed to wake Y/n up in a way that her coffee just couldn’t. “Really? That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”

“I’m glad you think so. I’ve lined an interview up for you and a French diplomat in an hour downtown. You ready to go?” 

Y/n sat up straight in her chair. “You really sprung this on me! Nathan, I haven’t had anytime to prep.”

He rolled his eyes and handed her a thick binder. “It’ll just be a few questions, mostly just to show the public a picture of you and a French official side by side. You can handle any questions, you wrote the damn bill. Besides, we can prep in the car.”

Y/n figured she had no points left to argue, likely Nathan’s intention. Begrudgingly, she followed Nathan out to the front of the building and they got into the backseat of the car. They began going back and forth, Nathan asking her questions on the foreign aid bill, and Y/n responding with well articulated answers.

“See? I told you you had nothing to worry about,” Nathan said in the elevator, finally closing the binder.

Y/n rolled her eyes. “That’s because I’m just magnificent and well-spoken.”

“Yes, yes you are. You’re going to kill this interview.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. They began walking over to a small hair and makeup set up, and Y/n froze when she saw who was already on set laughing with the interviewer. She turned on her heel and jabbed a finger into Nathan’s chest.

“You didn’t tell me Lafayette was the French diplomat!” She hissed.

Nathan’s mouth fell open in mock surprise. “Did I forget to mention that to you? How silly of me.”

“Nathan, I swear to God. I wouldn’t have agreed to this if I had known Lafayette would be here!”

“Then it’s a good thing I didn’t tell you, huh?”

Y/n scowled at him. “I haven’t spoken to him in over a year, and last time we spoke, well...”

“I know you’re not on the best terms. Maybe this will help bury the hatchet.” Nathan suggested.

“Nathan, we need to can--”

“Oh dear, it seems I’m getting a call. I should really take this. I’ll see you back at the office, Y/n.” He motioned to his phone that was clearly not ringing and retreated back to the elevator. 

After quietly cursing Nathan under her breath, Y/n resigned to her fate and allowed for some intern to touch up her hair and makeup. When they were done, she was ushered onto set in a seat next to Lafayette and across from their interviewer, J.P. Martin. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Congresswoman L/n.” J.P. Martin said with a disarming grin. “I’m glad you could make it to this interview on such short notice.”

She forced a smile, “thank you for letting me discuss my foreign aid bill.”

Y/n could feel Lafayette’s lingering gaze on her skin, but she refused to take her eyes off the interviewer in front of her. J.P. Martin said something else flattering that Y/n didn’t take to heart, then someone on the crew began to count down, then they were rolling. 

“Today I’m joined with Representative Y/n L/n and Ambassador Lafayette to discuss L/n’s foreign aid bill,” J.P. looked straight into the camera with a wide grin. “Before we get into the details of all that, it’s my understanding that Representative L/n and Ambassador Lafayette have a history. Is this true?”

She froze in her chair. How had this interviewer find out what happened between her and Lafayette? Would this be a scandal she found in the newspaper the next morning? In all the time she had taken with Nathan to prep for this interview, she was already caught off guard by the first question.

“Yes, this is very true. Y/n and I go way back. We met when she was studying abroad in Paris and quickly became close friends,” Lafayette said. Y/n finally glanced over at him, and he gave her a reassuring smile. 

“Well how about that?” J.P. directed his next question at Y/n. “Was it intimidating being friends with President de La Rivière’s son?”

Y/n was feeling more relaxed now after the initial shock. “At first, yes. Of course it was. I’m pretty sure I tripped over my feet the first time I met President de La Rivière.”

“You didn’t!” J.P. said with an amused gasp.

Lafayette chuckled and nodded. “She did. I remember my mother asking me afterwards why I was friends with that awkward American.”

“Oh, I can imagine,” J.P. was positively beaming. 

“I think my mother understands now that Y/n is the youngest woman serving in the United States Congress,” Lafayette was subtlety pointing out Y/n’s accomplishments. “And speaking as her son and an official ambassador from France, I can confidently say President de La Rivière was impressed with Y/n’s foreign aid bill.”

“So impressed that the French government has promised to match the amount the U.S. is spending if the bill gets passed.” J.P. turned to face Y/n, his expression turning more serious. “Tell me, Congresswoman, why do we need to increase the amount of money we spend on foreign aid? We’re already spending 39.2 billion on foreign aid.”

Y/n smiled when he asked this. Really smiled. These were the kind of questions she had prepared to answer, and she knew she had Lafayette to thank for the topic change. “J.P., most Americans think 10% of government spending should be spent on foreign aid.”

“Yes, that seems reasonable,” J.P. nodded.

“39.2 billion might seem like a big number,” Y/n continued, “but that’s less than one percent of our federal budget.”

“Is that true?”

The rest of the interview went fairly well. Y/n had intelligent answers to each question J.P. asked, and Lafayette was there to assure J.P. that France was in full support of Y/n’s bill. Before she knew it, J.P. was saying they were out of time and thanking both her and Lafayette for coming to the interview. 

The crew began to disperse quickly once the interview had commenced. Now that the interview was over, the realization that Lafayette was standing beside her begun to sink in. She loved the idea of walking off the set and never seeing him again, but unfortunately, they were both headed in the direction of the singular elevator.

“I assume you’re going to the lobby as well?” Lafayette asked, pressing the down button on the elevator.

Y/n nodded. “I am.”

The elevator opened and Lafayette gestured for her to step in first before following behind her. They stood in silence for a moment. Y/n hated how slow this elevator was moving, a fact that she hadn’t noticed on the ride up. 

Finally, Y/n caved and she spoke to fill the silence. “I didn’t know you were back in the United States.”

He gave her a sideways look, doing his best to hide a smile. “I’m the French Ambassador to the United States now, Y/n. Did you really not know that?”

She clicked her head and shrugged. “I might’ve read it somewhere, I guess I just forgot. I’m a busy person.”

“Oh, I know.”

Y/n turned to face Lafayette and considered him for a moment. “I suppose you’re a busy person as well, now. How’d you get this gig, nepotism?”

Lafayette laughed and leaned against the wall of the elevator. “Believe it or not, I’m extremely qualified. I’ve served as a representative for France in the EU for a couple years, worked in the state department, long with other places.”

The elevator finally opened up to the lobby, but now Y/n wasn’t ready to end their conversation. “Huh. I guess I forgot that you’re actually a pretty intelligent person under all those layers.”

“Layers of what?” He asked with an amused grin.

“Layers of stupidity.” Y/n shrugged.

Lafayette chuckled and held the door open for her. “I guess that’s fair.”

“It’s more than fair,” Y/n sighed. She looked back at him over her shoulder. “So what is it that ambassadors actually do? I’ve always been curious.”

“A lot of ceremonial gifts and handshakes,” Lafayette admitted. “But very important handshakes. I met with President Adams last week, and I’m headed to meet with Washington at Mount Vernon now.”

“Sounds luxurious. Maybe I should’ve considered becoming an ambassador if it meant I get to spend time with President Washington.”

He paused. “Well, meeting with Washington is more for personal reasons than anything to do with being an ambassador.”

“Oh yeah?” Y/n raised an eyebrow. “I forgot you were best friends with every prominent American.”

“You’re not wrong,” he grinned. “Can’t help it that everyone loves me. Democrats and Republicans. I’m planning to have dinner with Jefferson next month. And I used to be best friends with the illustrious Representative Y/n L/n.”

His words were teasing, but he noticed when Y/n tensed when he said “used to be.” She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again. Shifting from foot to foot awkwardly, Lafayette cleared his throat and asked, “What’s next for you?”

She considered him for a moment before responding earnestly. “The Oval Office, eventually.”

“Really?”

“Are you surprised?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Not really. I always knew you were destined for great things, Y/n.”

“Did you, now?”

“Yes, in fact,” Lafayette reached into his pocket and took out a checkbook and a pen. “Let me be one of the first investors to your presidential campaign.”

He handed her the check he had just written. Y/n stared at the check she had been handed, still not entirely processing the extra zero written on the dotted line.

“Is this a joke?”

“No, it takes a lot of money to run for president.”

“I know that, but why would you…” She trailed off, then narrowed her eyes as a thought occurred to her. “This is just you trying to win me over by spending absurd amounts of time and money on things you don’t actually care about. I’ve seen this before.”

“You’ve seen what?”

“This exact scene.” Looking around seemed to solidify Y/n’s conception. They were standing on a sidewalk. Maybe Y/n and been young and naïve in the past, but now she knew how to recognize patterns. She recognized this one. How many times before had the pair of them ended up on a sidewalk together? And how had it ended for Y/n each time?

She counted five times now. The first was the day she had met him. It was Paris, and he had a completely disarming smile that made Y/n trust him immediately. 

The next time it was late, both of them were drunk, and they were laughing in the dark while they waited for a cab to drive by. 

The third time was in New York, ice cream cones in both of their hands and heartbreak on the agenda. That night she had remembered especially well. 

The fourth had been about a year ago now, and although she had tried to forget it, it had been burned into the back of her mind like a scar that would never heal. 

This would be the fifth time, and this time she knew better.

Each sidewalk rendezvous went the same way. Every time. And worse yet, they always ended the same.

“What is this scene?” Lafayette asked, genuinely confused.

“It starts innocent enough, doesn’t it? Just two friends on a sidewalk. But this is how it goes,” she laid out the scene for him. “You’ll reach into your pocket and pull out a cigarette. I’ll tell you how unhealthy it is, but you’ll smoke anyway. We’ll smile and laugh, until it gets to the point where we don’t want to be friends anymore. Then you’ll lean in and kiss me, or, at least, I’ll be wishing you’d kiss me.

Not such a bad scene, is it? Except every time it ends the same. You’ll wake up in someone else’s bed and break my heart. I’m just so tired of letting you do this to me! I’ve finally figured you out, and it’s not going to happen again. You’re my best friend, Lafayette, but I can’t keep letting you hurt me.”

When she had finished her rant, a quietness settled between the two of them. Lafayette watched her carefully, waiting to see if she had anything else to say, but it seemed that she had gotten everything off her chest now.

“That’s not what’s going to happen this time,” he finally said.

She looked into his eyes to figure out if she really believed him. Did she really want to believe him? “No? How can you be sure?”

“There are a few things in your “Lafayette breaks Y/n’s heart” equation that have changed. First of all, I stopped smoking a while ago,” he informed her.

Y/n was beyond surprised. For as long as she had known him, he had always been a smoker. It was part of his personality and was synonymous with his name. If there were two things that she was sure she could count on, it would be Lafayette smoking cigarettes and breaking her heart. Had he really quit?

“Second,” Lafayette continued on, “I’m not going to kiss you.”

“You’re not?” She almost sounded disappointed.

“Not this time. We learned our lesson, didn’t we?” He sighed, adjusted his jacket, and let his eyes fall to the cement at his feet. “You’ve ruined me. I’m never going to be able to love anyone the way I love you. And God, I love you so much.”

His heart felt heavy, like it was sinking further and further into his chest and he didn’t know if he would be able to find it again. There was a moment of silence to mourn something that had been lost. “You know I love you. You know that, right?”

Another certain truth. “Of course I do.”

“Good. I couldn’t live with myself if you didn’t know. I love you, and I can’t tell you how much I hate that that isn’t enough.”

She smiled. The kind of smile you give when you know that something lovely is coming to an end. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but smile.

His voice was tender when he spoke again. “No one ever told me that being in love would hurt this much. Am I a sadist for wanting to love you more?”

“No, darling, you’re just a romantic. That’s the worst we could be.”

Lafayette nodded because he couldn’t find it inside himself to smile. His town car showed up to take him to the airport at that moment. He bit the inside of his cheek, considering the different things he had enough time to say. Lafayette shook his head when he came to the decision that there was nothing left to say. He had already made it to the car and opened the door when he changed his mind.

“You know,” Y/n addressed Lafayette once more. “This might be crazy, but no matter what happened between us, I always thought it would be you and I in the end.”

Lafayette paused and pulled away from the car. He hesitated before making his way to Y/n. He gently held her chin between two fingers, looking her deep in her eyes as if he was searching for her soul.

“To the moon and back, remember?” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then parted from her and got in the waiting car.

Not everyone gets the fairytale ending you see in movies. But they loved. Really loved. And that was enough.

Real love isn’t like the movies. No, it’s painful and warm and terribly strong. Mostly it’s good.

[syilcawrites]

yearning

Series: Fire Emblem Three Houses Type: One shot Main pairing: Dimileth (Dimitri & F!Byleth) Rated: T Genre: hurt/comfort, pre-ts Summary: An AU based on what happens after Jeralt's death (F!Byleth/Dimitri). Hope you enjoy!

“But the moment she walks out into the brisk cold air, the uncomfortable sensation seeps back into her veins, crawling up her chest. She’s surrounded by so many, yet…

She tilts her head up ever so slightly to see that no one is in front of her.”

A/N: Thanks for taking the time to read! This is my first FE3H fic, so I apologize if anyone is OOC. Just a self-indulgent variation of what happens after Jeralt's death! I'm weak for Dimileth ;-; 

(PS. i like to hc that the hug is parallel to when byleth hugs dimitri post ts after he holds her hand bc they would hug!!!)

You can also read this on ao3!

Yearning is a foreign concept, a concept that Byleth cannot grasp. It escapes through the crevices between her fingers like sand, dripping down into the darkness, disappearing.

She knew what it was when she saw it, years ago when it was just the two of them—just Byleth and Jeralt, Jeralt and Byleth. Trudging through mud and sludge during monsoon rains, through the dry, scorching hot desert heat, through the blissful warm dawn that peaked behind the vast mountains, they met all sorts of people.

When they stopped by a small village in the middle of winter, there was a woman who stood outside the door to her house, wrapped in a woolen shawl, staring out into the white abyss.

Her blue eyes were glassy, far away. Her lips pressed into a tight line as she hugged the shawl around her frail arms. She was so still, Byleth wasn’t sure if she was human or a statue. She couldn’t tear her eyes from her.

“What are you looking at, Byleth?” Jeralt asked, looking up briefly from his bowl of hot soup.

“That woman…” Byleth trailed off, pointing out the window. “What is she doing with her face?”

“What is she doing with her face?” Jeralt echoed back with confusion, leaning out toward the window now too. She heard him mutter a disapproval under his breath as he returned back to his seat. “She yearns for something to return.”

“Yearn?”

He paused for a moment, as he grasped to find an explanation that was as simple as it could be. “A desire, a want. Sometimes, it feels like a need.” Jeralt sighed, patting the seat next to him. “Come on and eat, Byleth. You’ll get winters’ chills from staying too close to the window.”

Byleth didn’t tear her gaze from the woman until Jeralt placed a hand on top of her head and turned it forward so that she was facing her warm bowl of soup. She had the urge to run out into the snow to give it to that woman.

And now years later, Byleth understands, as she holds Jeralt’s increasingly cold body in her arms.

At first, all she can do is let her tears drip onto his ashen face, as it mixes with the light drizzle of the rain.

Then came the emptiness that crept its way into her chest as his blood continued to spill onto the fabric of her clothes, soaking in his death.

“Professor?”

Byleth blinks, and instead of seeing Jeralt’s cold, decaying body in her arms, her student’s homework assignments are tucked snuggly in them.

“Yes, Dimitri?” Byleth hears herself say as she levels her eyes at his neck, finding herself unable to raise them.

“I… Are you… Have you eaten?” Dimitri fumbles with his words, his arms reach out toward her but retreat back just as fast.

“Maybe later.” Byleth steps to the side to walk past him, hugging the papers to her chest.

Rhea had told her to take the rest of the week off yesterday, but—

Byleth winces at the pressure building up in her head as she hurries back to her room. Several hushed whispers follow her trail, as if they’re chasing her, and the moment she shuts the door behind her the tears don’t hesitate to dribble down her cheeks. She clamps a hand over her mouth as sounds escape through her trembling lips, a sensation unfamiliar to the point where fear is etched into her heart.

“Rest if you must, child. Do not fight against what you are feeling.” Sothis’ soft voice soothes her increasingly jumbled thoughts.

Byleth wipes the back of her hand against her damp cheeks as she sets the papers down on her desk. Promptly after, she draws herself under her covers, staring out the window, as she watches the sky turn from blue to orange, then finally to darkness. The time lapse soothes her. She finds that focusing on the drifting clouds distracts her thoughts. Every once in a while though, steps shuffled to a stop at her door, but no one ever knocks.

Not until late into that night did a knock interrupt the silence in her room.

“Professor! It’s me, Annette…” Her voice trailed off at the end, quietly.

Byleth, stiff from staying in one position for hours, creakily raises herself from the bed, her joints pop from the stillness of her body. She can feel the flesh of her own self, but it feels like nothing in that moment.

Minutes must have passed, Byleth assumes, before she opens the door. It’s long enough to the point where Byleth wouldn’t have been surprised if Annette left, but she stands there, putting on her brightest smile.

“Mercedes and I have a gift for you!” Annette wrestles with the gigantic woolen blanket tangled up in her arms. “We were supposed to give this to you at the start of winter, but it became a lot bigger than we anticipated!” She smiles cheekily as she shuffles it into Byleth’s arms. “We noticed that your blankets are pretty thin…”

“Oh, thank you…” Byleth’s voice comes out raspy. She hugs it closer to her body, eating up the warmth. “…Do you have more?”

Annette’s hesitant eyes lit up.

The next morning, she wakes up extra early to prepare herself, to let the tears dribble down her cheek effortlessly as her face remains slack. The same unfamiliar emotion from the day before, when she came back from the classroom. One that was too hard to control, and so she decides it would be best to try to get rid of it before teaching class. Only two days have passed since his death, yet it feels like a lifetime without him.

It’s a simple plan to get her emotions in check, a plan that takes her three hours to overcome, and not even successfully at that. Redness rims the outlines of her eyes, apparent on her pale skin.

As she walks into the classroom, with her cheeks slightly flushed red from her constant rubbing, she feels the gaze of each and every student’s eyes on her. A heavy silence settles in the room as she sets down her paperwork.

The chattering and murmuring ceases as Byleth looks up toward her students. Her eyes are trained ahead of her as she feels their stares boring into her skin. She’s careful not to look directly at anyone. She has an inkling that nothing good would come out of it.

After what feels like grueling hours, a break from lessons is gifted upon her, and most of them shuffle out as quietly as they can. As they did so, the tenseness in her chest begins to rise once more at the realization of everyone leaving.

But one student lingers by the door with his fingers tapping the frame. The longer he stands there, the tighter her shoulders stiffen. The grip on her pencil becomes deathly as he takes a step back into the classroom, but the aching feeling in her chest pauses in growth.

“Professor?” His voice sounds careful, delicate.

It does nothing but anger her—the messy, tangled knots that had hung themselves inside her begin to tighten.

“Yes, Dimitri?” She says in a voice so strained that she notices he shudders slightly at the sharpness in her voice, but it doesn’t stop him from taking another step forward.

Whatever he’s about to say never comes forward, as his hesitance informs Byleth that he’s rethinking his initial thoughts.

“Will you look at me?”

She stops scribbling. She had stopped paying attention to what she was even writing the minute class ended. She sneaks a glance down at the paper. Sprawled on one of the student’s assignments is his name.

Jeralt.

Scribbled aimlessly, ripping through the thin material easily. She decimated someone’s assignment. And she could tell Dimitri had noticed it the moment she began writing once class ended.

Useless. All of this power stored within me and I was, am, still unable to do a simple thing.

She takes a moment to compose her thoughts, carefully placing them in areas where no one can seek them out, and averts her gaze from the paper to Dimitri.

Unlike Byleth, Dimitri is willing to display his emotions on his face—the way his lips form a thin line of concern, eyebrows scrunched up in worry, eyes…

His blue eyes, bright and brilliant, looking at her as if she is lost.

Byleth’s face grows warm from shame and she immediately glances back down at the torn paper. How can she, a mentor, a teacher, make a student feel the need to look at her with such worry? Was it pity?

Pity only reminds her of the newfound weakness that’s bloomed inside of her.

Just like the blood that bloomed on Jeralt’s waist, vibrant and displayed for all to see.

Could everyone see right through her? Fear pierces through her at the mere thought of being so naked.

“Perhaps another time, Dimitri.” Byleth closes her eyes as she stands up, forcing herself to let go of the pencil that’s choking from her deathly tight grip. “I have somewhere to attend, and I don’t want to be late—“ She swiftly gathers the assignments into her arms, keeping her eyes leveled just at his neck, like yesterday, to avoid his gaze.

As she passes by him, eager to get out, she’s stilled by the grip on her arm, his grip. Soft enough to break out of, if she wants to.

“Oh—! I apologize.” He immediately lets go, flustered. “I just—Professor, if you need to talk, I... we are here for you.”

“I’m fine, but thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She doesn’t hesitate to leave, and never once turns back to look at him.

But the moment she walks out into the brisk cold air, the uncomfortable sensation seeps back into her veins, crawling up her chest. She’s surrounded by so many, yet…

She tilts her head up ever so slightly to see that no one is in front of her.

Later in the evening, Rhea deeply reprimands Byleth after learning that she had taught class during the past two days, demanding that she rest. But Byleth doesn’t need rest—she doesn’t want—

She doesn’t want to be alone.

But she can’t tell Rhea that. The words get stuck in her throat, so she simply nods and walks away.

The memory of the pale lady standing in the snow resurfaces to the forefront of her mind, reminding her of the little warmth she harbored within herself.

Byleth scoops up the two woolen blankets that Annette had given her and buries herself within them, relaxing herself into the warmth. Even when she begins to sweat, even when the air becomes uncomfortably suffocating, Byleth does not move.

Loneliness creeps up behind her during the darkest hours of night, when the Monestary is silent and sleepy. She watches the last light flicker off, leaving the buildings, the grandness of it, hollow.

She wants to hold on to that last flickering light, she doesn’t want it to go out. But every night it did, and it sunk her deeper into the fog.

She doesn’t come out during the daytime, ever since Rhea advised her to rest. She doesn’t answer the door when someone knocks, unless it’s Annette bringing her more woolen blankets. On most days it’s Dimitri at her door. He begins by knocking courtesly, announcing his arrival, and asks politely if they can speak. But as time progresses, he stops such polite gestures, and at this point, almost begs her to speak to him, to them, to anyone.

But Byleth stays under the comfort of her woolen blankets, only coming out to eat when the peak hours of the day have been long gone, or to walk to Jeralt’s grave so she can lean against it, to stare at the stars above them.

At some point, she can tell who is who by the way their footsteps echo outside her door. Dimitri’s is distinct, although the softest. Her door creaks whenever he approaches, as if he’s leaning against it. The thought of someone on the other side helps her head bob above the wave of darkness.

“Do you truly wish to stay in your room any longer than this, child? I’m sure your students are awaiting your return.”

Sothis’ voice rings in her head, the only other reminder that Byleth is still here, present in time.

“I am no good to my students right now.” Byleth merely whispers into her pillow. Useless.

The unknown yearning grows deeper and uglier inside of her, conflicting with the rational thoughts that usually keep her mind neat and tidy. She desperately wants to be with others, to drink in their affection as if she is a starved beast, but another part of her doesn’t want a brush of someones skin on her own.

Her wants and needs become muddled in the yearning, and the nights grow ever colder.

By the middle of the third week, she crawls out of her cave of a room later than usual. It’s deathly quiet as Byleth treks her way to Jeralt’s grave.

She settles on the damp grass, placing another flower on it.

She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Nothing but emptiness escapes it. She grits her teeth as she clenches her fists. “I have nothing to say,” she manages to whisper out, staring hard at his name, engraved carefully on the stone. “All I wish for is your return. Nothing but emptiness and anger remains in me, and I’m afraid.” She’s afraid of becoming the ashen demon that follows her footsteps, it echoes throughout the Monestary, reminding her of who she is. It reminds her that no matter how much she tries tacking herself into this place, acting as if she can wriggle her way into an environment filled with such love and affection, she will never be able to understand such abstract emotions.

She makes her way to the other side of the gravestone, behind it, to lean against it.

The crunch of leaves behind her jolts her up from the depths of her mind. She flits her head around, her hand unconsciously hovers over the dagger attached to her hips.

An alarmed Dimitri stands not too far off from her with something in his arms--

One of Annette’s woolen blankets.

It almost drops as he awkwardly tries to adjust it so that it’s not threatening to hit the damp grass.

“I—“ He mutters something to himself as he fumbles with the blanket. “I was just about to give this to you, as I’ve heard you’ve been quite cold in your room recently. I also noticed that your room was slightly ajar… so I assumed… a-anyway! This is a gift from Annette, I heard you accept these whole heartedly.” He holds out the blanket toward her stiffly, covering his face.

“Did you think I’d open the door since you had one?” Byleth responds back, staring at the bundle in his arms. Her fists relax slightly as her attention focuses on Dimitri.

As he draws the blankets back to his chest, his face grows ten shades of red hotter than the last.

He flusters and stumbles over his words as he tries to come up with some believable excuse, but as he settles his gaze on Byleth’s blank, stoic expression, he lets out a sigh, his shoulders sagging.

“Actually, yes. Since she told me that you open the door whenever she’s there. Although she did say that you do close it immediately after accepting the blanket.” He tilts his head, offering a reluctant laugh. The simplicity of the act, for some reason, warms her. His laugh is something she hasn’t heard in a while.

Byleth casts her gaze to the ground. A silence ensues between them. “I do apologize for my actions the past couple of days.” She says slowly, unable to reach his eyes again. “Thank you for always stopping by. I’ve noticed you tend to sit by the door a couple hours every day.”

His face grows another shade deeper.

“You noticed?”

“The door creaks whenever you lean against it.”

He mutters another string of words that she can’t make out.

Byleth raises her view from his lips to his eyes, and they lock on immediately. “Would you like to sit with me?” He went out of his way to find her, this is the least she could offer.

For once, a small smile rests on her rather chapped lips.

His eyes brighten.

“Of course!” He smiles ever so slightly, draping the blanket in front of Byleth, who stiffens in surprise at his gesture.

“It’s a bit cold tonight, I wouldn’t want our dear professor catching a cold.” He plops down next to her, arms loosely around his knees.

She had forgotten that she’s still in her night wear when she went out. How unsightly…

But Dimitri is no better, since he’s also in his nightly attire as well. Byleth frowns at the thought of him getting sick due to her negligent attitude toward her students, and raises up an arm, holding the blanket open. “We wouldn’t want you catching a cold either.”

He blinks blankly, as if he’s unable to process what she’s offering. Byleth scoots closer to him and drapes the woolen blanket over the both of them.

“This seems a bit… snug?” Dimitri laughs, almost robotically as he stares at the ground. He does not meet her gaze as she stares at the side of his face.

“Even better. Now the heat will be more concentrated.” Byleth nods in approval as she leans against the back of the gravestone. They sit there in silence.

After a while, Dimitri relaxes his shoulders. “I’m sorry there was nothing I could do.” He says, his voice soft.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. It’s mine.” Byleth takes no hesitation in taking the blame.

“Professor, of course not—“

“I had the ability to save him.” Byleth’s voice quivers as she recounts the memory, staring at the starry sky above them. “I feel…” She pauses, closing her eyes. “Unlike myself recently. I find it hard to process… a variety of unfamiliar emotions that I am experiencing.” Even saying that makes Byleth feel strange and alien, talking about… her emotions. More so the lack of understanding them. She always had Jeralt to turn to for these types of issues, but now… she is alone.

“Of course I’ll help you—all of us will always try our best to help you out, Professor. You must believe that.” Any sense of nervousness that is in him is replaced with concern. “You have helped and saved us countless times, and no matter what the issue is, if possible, I hope I can offer the some consultation, even if it is small.”

Byleth, for the first time in weeks, truly gazes into Dimitri’s eyes—pure and blue like clearwater. “Thank you for your sincerity, Dimitri. As always, you’re empathy is boundless.” She can’t help but smile at him, but his expression confuses her. Yet another gaze unfamiliar to her, another emotion that she cannot pinpoint.

He simply stares at her with an expression that makes her feel relaxed and sleepy, as if time itself has paused, and she returns his wholly attention.

“Why do you look at me like that?” Byleth whispers, her eyes searching his face for answers. Pure curiosity is written into her own. Dimitri blinks, as if he’s snapped out of his trance, finally aware of the way he was staring at her.

“It must be late, that’s why I was so careless…” he mutters to himself quickly, rubbing an eye with the back of his fingers. He sneaks a glance over at Byleth, who is still staring at him with innocent curiosity. Redness creeps up his neck as he averts his gaze. “Despite how I may seem, I’m not very good at expressing my emotions either.” He clears his throat, straightening his back.

“Then maybe we can both learn from one another.” Byleth concludes, exhaling. She returns her gaze up at the endless starbound view above them, watching her breath flutter into the cold, night air. “I’m in your debt, since you are keeping me company so late at night.” Again, she closes her eyes, letting herself feel the coldness wash over her exposed skin.

“Think nothing of it, I’m simply happy that you are getting fresh air.” He says, leaning over her. She notices the shift in heat as he comes closer, and the shifting of the blanket on her end. His fingers graze against her bare thigh, a touch so slight, but it is enough to make her realize what she needs.

She immediately opens her eyes to see him pulling away, his face flushed and his own eyes wide as he realizes that she’s staring at him. Before he can pull away completely, she wraps her arms around his neck, drawing him against her. The blanket slips from her shoulders as she presses her head into the crook of his neck, soaking in the warmth that he provides.

He immediately stiffens upon contact, with one arm up in the air, and the other placed against the gravestone to avoid falling completely on top of her out of surprise. His left leg is fit snuggly between her own, the other bent up. Along with the blanket, they were a tangled mess of limbs and cloth.

But Byleth doesn’t care, for she appeased the yearning that ached in her chest since Jeralt’s death—to feel the warmth of another human being in her arms, to not have the last thing she had held in them that of someone who is long gone from this world.

Dimitri does not move a muscle—he is sure that if he did, he would ruin whatever it is that she discovered. But something warm and wet touches his neck. With the sniffles accompanied by it, he wraps his arms around her, melting into her embrace as her body trembles. The sound of her sobs are quiet against his skin.

[mrsparknamjoon]

02. family matters | reliability • kth

previous | index | next

pairing: taehyung x reader word count: 2.155 genre: drama, light angst rating: pg-13 warnings: none au: ceo/office trope: enemies to friends to lovers tags: ceo!taehyung, office!au, best friend!yoongi, unresolved emotional tension, mutual pining, slow burn crosspost: ao3

summary: let’s go back a few years to see how tae and Y/N’s relationship started and also get a glimpse into the kim family

A/N: it was important for me to start the series with a flasback so that the reader would be familiar with the kim family dynamics and the tension with Y/N right off the bat

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

10 years before

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“There has to be someone else” I said, staring at the Seoul skyline in front of me as I pondered all the possibilities with hands in my pockets. I'm taking over the family business and the only thing that scares me is making a mistake when hiring people. Well, my dad scares me, and getting a complaint call from him questioning how I managed to ruin Vante Enterprises in less than 6 months of his long-awaited retirement is not in my plans.

“Why?” asked the woman sitting on the large and comfortable couch behind me. Her thin face and dark hair complemented her porcelain skin very well and she was, at all times, the most beautiful person in any room.

“She’s inadequate” I replied, making her roll her eyes.

“Nonsense, Tae Hyung. Y/N graduated at the top of her class, in front of you much less, and did an MBA abroad” the woman said nonchalantly while taking a sip of her tea.

“I meant in regards to the company's culture” I sat down next to her, leaning sideways on the back of the couch and resting my head on my hand.

“Oh right” she set the cup down on the coffee table, “I forgot that you Kims only hire who you can control”

“Mom!”

“Honey, this is your opportunity to differentiate yourself from your father” she continued, “Having someone you know in a position like this is important in the long run”

At least in one thing my mom and I could agree on: I would, without a doubt, run the company in a new way. I had already started by choosing people who were suitable for the positions and not because I knew them or my family had some kind of connection with theirs. If, by chance, these two factors intersected, great, otherwise, the best resume wins.

“Known is not the same as reliable” I observed.

Still not satisfied with my answer, my mom got philosophical. “Trust comes with time” she started in a tone as if she wanted to pass for a spiritual being of great wisdom, but I knew she was just trying to be a good mom despite not knowing the exact details of what the family business required.

“I still have six more resumes appointed by someone I know” I leaned over to the coffee table and picked up the papers. “Two of them are former classmates too. How about that?” I waved them back and forth.

“If I remember correctly, neither of them made you stutter for the first time in an academic debate” my mom made a pose like she was thinking, crossing her arms and bringing one hand to her chin. How dramatic... and a liar. I didn't stutter.

“Yup, I think it's time for you to go” I exhaled, slapping my hands on my thighs and standing up. “Thank you very much for coming and giving your input on a subject I did not ask for” I continued in an amusing tone, but low-key serious, taking her by the hand and guiding her towards the door.

“Tae Hyung, you know that Y/N is the right choice” she moved the bag handle over her shoulder. “Be smart” and caressed my face.

“Okay” I sighed, “I love you” and kissed her forehead.

“I love you too” she smirked and left.

I went back to the couch and grabbed the resumes intending to read them one more time to be absolutely sure that I had not missed any relevant information. Very conveniently the first one was Y/N’s.

“She did it on purpose” I thought out loud when I realized my mom had deliberately put it there so I couldn't ignore it. 

Very well then, I started reading Y/N’s resume with legitimate attention, trying to ignore the name and photo at the top. I needed to be objective and impartial, a lot was at stake, but to be completely honest, at first, it was difficult because she has some striking physical features, which most men would find attractive but that was not my case. And even if it was, her personality overshadowed everything else to the point of making me lose any interest. After my common sense settled in, I continued reading, paying close attention to her previous work experiences.

“Hmm, this is interesting” I mumbled to myself.

Unlike the other candidates, Y/N had interned at one of the largest financial institutions in the country during college - something I had no idea, by the way, but not that we were friends back then, of course, because why would she tell me something like that? I really had no way of knowing - and I'm looking for people with experience in acquisitions. Convenient coincidence, I like it.

Moving on, I analyzed two letters of recommendation along with her resume and I must agree that on paper she is the right person. Damn it, I hate it when my mom is right! Still, the matter of company culture is real and I think that a person like her wouldn’t do well here. She is opinionated, impulsive, and hates being told ‘no’. At the same time, she was praised for the exact opposite in the letters, and that made me curious. An interview wouldn't hurt, would it?

I got up, went over to my desk, and pressed the button that put me in direct contact with the secretary.

“Yes, Mr. Kim?” Eun Ae answered promptly.

“I need to schedule some interviews next week” I said while fiddling through the resumes and selecting three, “I’ll email you the information”

“Yes, sir”

“Ah, Mrs. Gwa?” I almost forgot. It was better to hide my identity, otherwise, they’ll try sucking up to me thinking it would affect my final decision. And by 'they' I mean two of the three people because Y/N most likely wouldn't even accept the invitation if she knew that I was in charge of the company. “When contacting the candidates, I ask you not to divulge that I'll be the one conducting the interview”

“Okay” she wrote down and I could hear the sound of her keyboard. “Anything else?”

“No, that's all. Thank you”

Between today and the day of the interview, I had to prepare myself for the different reactions I might receive. My position as CEO has not yet been announced in the media and only shareholders know that a new person will take over at the end of the year. They suspect it will be my older brother, or rather, they expect it to be him but to the general dismay it will be me.

Ye Jun is a lawyer and has been involved in the family business since he started reading. However, two years ago in the middle of Christmas dinner, he had a breakdown when my uncles pressured him about some specific problem happening inside the company and he totally lost his composure (with a little help from alcohol, of course). He made a scene screaming that he didn't want that life anymore or even see any of those people again. Then he went on about how much he hated their meetings and the way everyone was fake in front of my father and in private would even criticize the color of the tie he wore. From the corner of the living room, I watched the whole thing go down without a hint of shock on my face because I always knew that moment would come. Ye Jun wasn’t born to be a leader.

The next day, he and my father were locked in the office for almost three hours. When the heavy wooden doors finally opened, dad left looking tired and announced without looking me in the eye, “Now it's up to you, Tae Hyung.” Confused by that statement, I went in and saw Ye Jun with his head between his hands, sitting in the armchair by the window.

“What the hell did you say to him?” I pointed my thumb back at the door.

“That I’m not doing it” Ye Jun replied, lifting his head and interlacing his hands. His posture seemed relaxed as if he were finally comfortable, although there was an uncertainty in his eyes that made me wonder if he was having second thoughts about the decision.

“Do what?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

Ye Jun looked at me and smiled.

“Give in to the pressure, complying with expectations, sacrificing my profession, not being myself”

He paused, standing up and holding me by the shoulders.

“I also told him that the best person for the position is you” Ye Jun's voice was full of affection, “It has to be you, Tae” he patted me on the side and I looked at him stunned.

“Dad will never put me ahead of Vante, Jun” I blurted as soon as I managed to assimilate what my brother had just said.

“Didn't you hear what he said to you as soon as he left?” Ye Jun looked confused for a second “Now it's up to you. You are the next CEO” he said in a firm tone.

I suddenly got embarrassed because it felt like I had just stolen my brother's job. “It doesn't make sense, we have opposite views on how to run a business” I looked away and stared at the floor.

“True, you do, but lately he started to realize that the world is changing and that Vante could be much better off if it started to adapt” Ye Jun stated by squeezing my shoulders and bringing me back to reality. “Of course, there is still a certain traditionalism in our field, but every now and then dad finds himself negotiating with foreign companies where the mindset is what sets them apart and he feels conflicted. Do you continue as you are and please national companies or do you adapt and gain visibility abroad? He wants Vante to remain as the leader in the segment but he is stuck in his own beliefs and he knows it”

After this conversation with my brother, things changed and I started to accept more confidently the responsibility that was placed upon me. However, regardless of how I felt, the criticism would come in full force. Many powerful people will question my father's decision and I wouldn’t be surprised if boycotts took place in the first year.

It was with all these possibilities in mind that my first act as CEO was to completely renew the staff, starting with the most strategic positions and closest to me. One of them was the operations manager, who would act as my right hand, valuing Vante's financial success and setting in motion the vision, strategic plan, and goals I set.

In theory, Y/N was perfect for it, but I wouldn't make it easier just because we knew each other. She was very smart and I was sure that the moment she walked through that door and came face to face with me, her demeanor would change and we would start playing a game of chess.

******

I dedicated the entire day Wednesday for the interviews and the first two had gone very well, exactly as I had planned and prepared — what a relief! It was almost 4:30 pm, Y/N’s appointment was the last one and I was extremely curious about her reaction, I don't know why. Maybe I wanted to prove something to her, like ‘Ha, look who’s running things now’ or ‘I bet you never thought you would see me sitting here'.

Y/N was always better at everything and I couldn't stand it. I had an obligation to excel at something. She was not perfect as everyone liked to think and, frankly, to worship. But, even if it bothered me to admit, we had things in common and she was qualified.

“Yes?” I said coming out of my reverie when the phone rang.

“Ms. Y/LN is here, Mr. Kim” Eun Ae announced.

“Let her in”

I heard a light knock on the door, followed by its closing and a few clicks of high heels on the floor coming towards me. I looked up and Y/N was dressed in a black midi-length v-neck dress with a stand-up collar that made her look formal but not old. Matter of fact, if I was actually paying attention I could even say that this specific fabric was made for her body type and hugged her in all the right places, but I wasn’t.

“Hello, Y/N” I said getting up from my chair, “Long time no see!” I smiled and took off my glasses, placing them in front of me next to the tablet I had been holding moments before.

Y/N shook her head holding a laugh as she bit her lip and stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world: “You’re so predictable. I’m amused”

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 ❤ 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝗸! 𝗶 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ revised version: 09.25.2021

[heyyyharry]

Chapter 1: The Princess

(from the ‘The Conman and the Maid’ series)

…in which a trip to the South changes a princess’s life forever. 

Word count: 5.4k

AU: princess!y/n, prisoner!harry, conartist!harry.

Series description: Y/N is a princess and Harry is a prisoner in her castle. With his help, she escapes from her arranged marriage and her father’s rotten kingdom in search of a happy ending, if there is one.

.

.

.

PROLOGUE

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a beautiful princess fell in love with a charming prince. It was love at first sight, and the prince risked everything and fought the evil to rescue the damsel in distress. After the victory, they ruled the kingdom in harmony and lived happily ever after...

But that was not the story you're about to read.

In this faraway land, the bad guys didn't always cloak themselves in black nor were they easy to spot. They lived among the good ones. Princes weren't always charming. But the princess didn't need a prince.

She needed a sword.

~~~

The snow fell weightlessly downward from the pure white sky, like colourless confetti in a wintry ballroom. It alighted on Y/N's face as softly as her mother's kisses, but it was cold, very cold. Her tiny gloveless hands were numb as she tightened her fingers around the grip of the wooden sword, trying to keep balance on her two awkward legs. Her mother had told her time and time again never to go outside without her gloves. But the little princess would rather lose her fingers than lose her weapon during a fight.

Her brother Egon stood a few feet away with his sword in his hand, mirroring her fighting stance, ready to attack. Egon was ten and she was eight. He was strong and fast, and their father — the King, was very proud of Egon's sword skills. Y/N knew there was no way she could beat him. She couldn't do that indoors let alone outside while she was freezing like this. Still, she didn't want to give up, so she hoped she would last longer this time.

"On guard!" Egon shouted and charged straight at her like a swift arrow. She managed to swing her sword and shielded her head from his wooden blade, but he continued hitting and she could only defend herself while stumbling backwards. One hit in the stomach and she was sent to the snow-covered ground.

"This is why a girl should not hold a weapon," Egon said with a smirk as the tip of his sword was just an inch away from the tip of her nose. "You can't fight, little sister. You only get yourself hurt."

Y/N propped herself up on her elbows and watched her brother lower his weapon and turn away, content with his victory.

"Can I try again when we get back?" she asked.

Egon looked over his shoulder, a corner of his mouth quirked up when he saw Y/N struggling to get up as her feet were sinking into the snow.

"Sure, dear sister," he said. "Then I can beat you up again and mother can't say anything about it."

Watching Egon race back to the castle, Y/N heaved a sigh and came to pick up her sword. The cold that had seemed mild at first was now almost unbearable so she must return home before she began to freeze, or worse, her father realized she had left her chamber.

.

.

.

"Y/N! You are late!"

"I'm so sorry, mother. I was—"

"Fighting again?" King Willem raised his voice and the distinct chattering of his men faded to silence. All they could hear now was the desperate howling of the wind through the portcullis. Everyone was looking at the little princess, for whom they had been waiting in the awful cold.

Y/N fidgeted with the fur on her white coat, her eyes were glued to her feet. She was too afraid to look up into her father's eyes.

"Please forgive me. It won't happen again," she pleaded, despite believing she'd done nothing wrong.

If she hadn't had to take a bath, change into a dress and wait until the maids finished braiding her hair, she wouldn't have shown up late. But she knew every word she said now would only get her into more trouble. It was better if she stayed quiet, like a lady should.

Meanwhile, Egon was sitting in his carriage with a mischievous smirk on his face. She knew it was him who had told their father where she'd been. Of course, he must have purposely forgotten to mention that he'd been with her the whole time. But even if she'd told the truth, her father would rather believe she was lying than punish his perfect son.

"Get the horses ready."

Willem turned away and the crowd of guards and servants scattered at his command.

The cold that was spreading across Y/N's skin was nothing compared to the look her father had given her as he headed to his carriage. If it hadn't been for her mother's sympathetic smile, she would probably have burst into tears.

Queen Meira kneeled down in front of Y/N and held her tiny face between her palms. The gloves felt so warm against the princess' cold flushed cheeks, which put a smile back on her face.

"Remember what I said, darling?"

"A princess should always be punctual." Y/N sighed, nodding her head. "I know, mother. It won't happen again."

Despite knowing she would break that promise one way or another, Meira still let Y/N get away with it and stood up, squeezing her daughter's gloveless hand.

"Come, my dear. Let's not give your father more reasons to be angry."

.

.

.

Every year, King Willem and his court would travel to the kingdom of Theros in the South to attend the annual summer festival. Edgar Connell was Queen Meira's younger brother and also the king of Theros. It was he who had taught Y/N how to fight with a sword and he was probably the only one who loved her more than Egon. In fact, her uncle Edgar didn't even like Egon, and that was another reason for Y/N to love visiting him. Egon couldn't lay a finger on her during their stay in their uncle's castle. Besides, the South was so much better than the North.

In the South, Y/N could stand under the sun and feel the warmth of those brilliant rays of light. She could also dance on a cushion of green while watching the strands of grass move in the breeze as easily as her hair.

Here in Isolde, it snowed all year round. Winter, spring, summer, fall, no matter what season it was, it was always snowing. Y/N guessed as you lived too long in the cold, your hearts would begin to freeze until it reached a point where you could feel nothing at all. That was why most of the people in this kingdom were so dull and sad.

Thanks to the Gods, she was blessed with a warm heart like her mother, a true Southerner.

Queen Meira had grown up in Theros, and it was only until she was married to Willem that she moved to Isolde. She had always said Y/N was more like her, while Egon was a Northern man like their father. That, and being a boy, had made life so much easier for Egon. He could go anywhere with his sword and fight anyone he wanted. But of course, Y/N didn't want to be like him and hurt innocent people for no reason. She just thought it was unfair that he was praised for violence while she couldn't even be seen anywhere near a toy weapon.

There was this one time her father caught her fighting imaginary enemies with a stick, so he broke the stick and locked her up in her chamber for two days. If her mother hadn't convinced him to change his mind, who knew how much longer she would've been punished? Nevertheless, Y/N didn't think she was wrong. It wasn't her fault that her father had never shown affection for her. He probably wouldn't have treated Egon the same way if Egon hadn't been a boy.

Y/N had overheard some servants in the castle call him a heartless monster who only loved the crown on his head and himself. And even though she understood why they had said something so cruel about her father, she knew for a fact that it wasn't true.

The one thing King Willem loved the most wasn't the crown or even himself. It was the woman who had been by his side ever since they were children.

"It was love at first sight," the queen had told Y/N. "He was everything I'd ever wanted. He was kind and patient and prudent. But to put on that crown, he had to leave so many things behind, one of which was that young boy I fell in love with. I love him very much, and yet, sometimes, I still miss the person he used to be. That's the price one has to pay to wear the crown, Y/N."

It was a lot for an eight-year-old to take in and Y/N supposed she would get it when she was older. Even if she didn't, it wouldn't matter. It was Egon who would be on the throne one day, not her.

.

.

.

It took about a month to travel from Isolde to Theros because the king and his court had made a few stops here and there before arriving in the South. Willem hated delays. But for every annual trip to Theros, he allowed one more stop by the Vidarr river right outside the castle. That was where he had met Meira for the first time.

It had been fate. They were supposed to meet in the castle, but Prince Willem had decided to explore the foreign land alone on that beautiful summer afternoon, and Princess Meira had decided to go to the river and pick some flowers for her mother's birthday. Their love story was almost perfect.

Y/N knew one day she would marry a prince as well, so hopefully, it would be someone who was just as madly in love with her as her father was with her mother. And of course, she would make sure that her husband stayed kind even after becoming king, the one thing her mother had failed to do.

Hopping off the carriage, Y/N turned a blind eye to the judging look her lady-in-waiting was giving her, and stretched her limbs like she'd normally do before a fight. Then, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was the smell they didn't have back home. The smell of flowers, of fresh dewy grass, of mud, of freedom, of summer. Real summer. So while her parents were lost in their own romantic world and reliving the good old days, Y/N snuck away from her lady-in-waiting and followed Egon into the forest. The children raced along the riverbank until they found a large tree and were far enough to be the only two there.

The water was green this season, darker in the shadows and more pale in the light, but still green. Y/N got down on her knees and flicked it with her hand to watch droplets scattering over the surface like rain, another thing that didn't exist in the North, just like snow in the South.

Just like her mother, Y/N loved the rain. It rained a lot in the summer in Theros so she got to see it every year. Meanwhile, many people in her father's kingdom had lived their entire life not knowing what rain was. And Y/N felt very lucky to be born with such a great privilege, which she always had to remind herself every time her brother made her feel miserable.

"What are you doing?" Y/N asked when she saw Egon stripping off his shoes and stepping into the river. "You cannot swim, brother. Neither can I. I won't be able to save you if you fall into the deep end."

"Does this look deep to you?" asked the young prince as he spread his arms, his knees hadn't even gone beneath the surface. "Join me, little sister."

Y/N shook her head without a second thought. "We should probably get back."

"Get back?" Egon snorted. "Go ahead. You're such a girl."

Those four words were all it took for Y/N to kick off her shoes and stand barefoot on the sun-warmed grass like a "girl" she should be. Maybe this wasn't a bad idea after all, she thought before holding up her dress and taking careful steps into the river. Once the water was flowing around her limbs and drinking away her body heat, she thought she could just stand there all day long.

But then, the princess felt something soft and mushy around her ankle. She tried to brush it off with her other foot but—Was it...moving?!

A loud scream tore through her tiny body as it collided with the surface and sank deep into the dark green water. Her arms and legs kicked out desperately as she tried to swim up but she couldn't. The water swirled around her, trapping her. Her head was throbbing and her lungs felt like they'd been set on fire. Where was Egon? Why hadn't he pulled her up? Those were the only questions she could ask herself before she felt a hand clasped around her wrist, dragging her upward to the daylight above.

It took a moment for her vision to clear, and a shadow towered over her, blocking the blinding southern sun.

"Can you hear me?" the stranger asked, his voice echoing in her head. And when she felt the warmth and softness of the grass beneath her body, she realized she was still alive and jolted right up, her forehead bumped into the other person's, both gasped in pain.

It was a boy. A kid, just like her.

"There, there," he said while rubbing her back as she coughed uncontrollably and spat out the water she'd involuntarily drunk. "Why did you go swimming when you couldn't swim?"

The little princess wiped her mouth and shot the boy a spiteful glare. "I didn't. I fell into the water. There was a snake!"

She expected him to be scared or at least shocked, but he only laughed and said, "there's no snake in this river. Maybe it was a fish."

Embarrassed, Y/N decided to ignore him as she pushed herself up and looked around, trying to recall which path would take her back to her family.

"Well, a 'thank you' would be nice?" said the boy as he jumped to his feet and wrung excess water out of the dirty old shirt he was wearing.

Y/N almost told him to get lost and stop wasting her time, but after taking a whole second to eye him up, she mumbled, "thank you."

She wasn't a monster. She felt very bad for how miserable he looked because of her, but she supposed she didn't look any better. She was drenched, her dress was stained, and her hair was once again an unruly mess. She didn't look like a princess anymore. She looked like...him.

With a smile, the green-eyed boy brushed his wet brown curls out of his face and extended a hand for her to shake. She only stared at it, and then at his face.

"Not a handshake person then?" he joked, yet she only responded with a shrug.

Normally people would bow when they met her or at least kiss her hand. This boy didn't know she was the princess so she couldn't blame him, but it didn't mean she wasn't slightly offended.

"What's your name, peasant boy?"

"Peasant boy? I just saved your life!" The boy chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm not telling you my name. You sound like that crazy lady in my village."

His comment made her roll her eyes. "How old are you then?"

"Ten. I don't know what you could do with that information but—"

"So you're the same age as my brother Egon," she said, giving him a once-over.

This boy was taller than her so she had expected him to be older. What surprised her was how he was nothing like her brother at all. He talked differently and behaved differently, and he had just saved her life when her brother had left her to drown. So it was true then. Not every boy was the same.

"I'm eight," she finally told him. "And you are very strange."

"Me? Strange?" He pointed a finger to himself, looking quite amused and surprised. "Have you heard everything that came out of your mouth?"

The princess gave a slight shrug and ducked past him to follow the path she had recognized.

"Leave me alone. My family won't be so happy to see you."

"Why? I saved you, didn't I?"

"Yes, now it'd be nice if you saved my time by leaving me alone."

"That was uncalled for," said the boy, but he kept on walking with her anyway. "And I'm not following you. I'm playing hide and seek with my best friend."

"Hide and seek?" Y/N stopped immediately. The look on her face as she turned around made the boy cackle.

"What? You've never played hide and seek before?"

She had, with the maids, who were all older than her and always let her win. Egon had never played and would never play this game with her, for he believed it was made for the girls. So, no. The princess had never played hide and seek, not properly at least.

"Of course I have! All the time!" she lied and waved him off. "Now leave me alone and get back to your friend. He must be worried."

"She. Her name is Kenny. She's pretty like you, but much nicer."

"Your friend is a girl?"

"Well, she looks like one," he said, trying not to laugh, but his snarky remark went right over her head.

"Is she your betrothed?"

"What is a betrothed?"

"Someone you'll marry when you're older."

"I don't know." The boy shrugged, pursing his lips. "Maybe. If we both want to."

"If you want to?"

"Why should you marry someone you don't want to marry? It doesn't make sense."

Y/N didn't know that. She had always thought everyone was betrothed to someone when they were small and eventually fell in love with this person their parents had picked out for them. So it didn't work this way then. Interesting...

"Crow! Where are you?!"

The voice from the distance made both kids turn their heads.

"Oh, that's Kenny! I have to go!"

"Crow?" Y/N smirked. "Your name is Crow?"

"No."

With that one-word answer, the boy ran away without a goodbye, shouting, "I'm coming, Kenny!" and then, he was gone.

Y/N thought she was insane for even considering asking to come along. He might have been slightly annoying, but she really wanted to play hide and seek like a normal child for once. But then the thought of her angry father reminded her that she must get back immediately; otherwise, there would be severe consequences.

"Oh, hello there."

Y/N gasped, completely blanched at the stranger she'd bumped into. It was a woman, young and beautiful like her mother, with piercing grey eyes and icy silver hair. Her face was white, corpse-like white, and her lips were as dark as the color of her cloak. As she flashed a smile, her gold front tooth turned Y/N to stone. The princess took a step back when the smile on the woman's face slowly disappeared.

"Are you lost, Your Majesty?"

"Wait, how do you—"

Y/N didn't get to finish her question when a loud piercing scream tore through the serenity of the forest. The strange lady now stepped aside to make way for her.

"You should get back before it's too late," she said, smiling again.

Frightened and confused, Y/N started running. She sprinted as fast as she could, following the scream which she had recognised. It only got louder as she got closer, and by the time she'd made it back to her family, it was already too late.

She knew there would be consequences, but this was even worse than she'd imagined. Her legs gave in as she watched the whip crack down on the maiden's back. The princess' lady-in-waiting was screaming and begging the king to spare her life, but King Willem just kept on whipping until her light blue dress was stained with fresh blood.

"Y/N!"

The whipping stopped.

The whole scene sank into silence as Meira dropped down to her knees and pulled her daughter close. Willem finally dropped the leather whip in his hand, catching his breath and told the guards to take the maid out of his sight. She was unresponsive when two men dragged her away.

"Is she...is she dead, mother?" Y/N asked, tears were streaming down her face and she was shaking in her mother's arms.

"No, she just...she just fainted..." said the queen, yet she sounded just as afraid.

"Where have you been?"

"Willem—"

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

"I-I fell into the river, father!" Y/N cried out while clinging onto her mother in fear of being dragged away just like the maid. "Egon was there! He left me there to drown!"

"She's lying!" Egon pushed past the guards and rushed to the front. "I was looking for her but I couldn't find her so I came back to tell you, father!"

Willem put a hand up to silence the boy and glowered at Y/N, who was sobbing into her mother's chest.

"The princess will stay in her chamber for the rest of our stay. No one is allowed to speak to her except for the maid who brings her food."

"Father, no!"

"Willem, please..."

"And you." He turned to the queen and his voice started to break. "If you say one more word to defend her, you'll be locked up as well."

When he stormed off, Y/N looked up at the queen. That was the first time she'd seen her mother cry.

.

.

.

"Crow! Why are you wet?!"

Now, where could Harry begin?

He could tell his friend that he'd just saved a girl from drowning in the river, or he could make something up and save himself from hearing Kenny's same old lesson. But when the little girl gave him that worrying look with her big shiny eyes, he couldn't help it. He panicked. And whenever he panicked, he tend to mess up what he actually wanted to say.

"I met a girl."

"A girl?" Kenny arched both eyebrows in shock. "In the forest?"

"Yes. She was lost. I helped her get back to her family."

"That doesn't explain why you're wet though."

"Right..." The boy chuckled as he combed his fingers through his hair which had dried from staying out too long in the sun. "She...she splashed water on me."

"She splashed water on you?" Kenny gasped, her eyes only grew bigger. Harry knew he was going nowhere with this lie and he should back out while he still could.

"Just forget about her. She's gone now." He gave his hand a wave before reaching for hers to pull her along, but she didn't move. She shot him an angry look instead.

"Promise me you won't scare me like that again," she said, frowning.

Harry was left with no choice but to give her a nod and pull her into a tight hug. "Never again, I swear."

Everyone in their village knew about what had happened to Kenny's father last year. One day he was wandering to that same river and he never made it back. They found his body washed up on the bank a few days later. There had been many different rumours about how he'd died, but nobody actually knew what had happened. And since that day, Kenny had never come near a river or a lake again.

"Come on, let's get back to help your mum!" Harry said cheerfully with an arm around her shoulder. He felt like a weight was lifted from his chest when she plastered a smile on her face.

"You're only eager to help so you can attend the king's festival dinner tomorrow night!"

"Well, that's not...wrong," he said and they both laughed. "One day, Kenny, I'll become a lord, and the king will invite me to his festival dinner every year. I won't have to help in his kitchen to be able to attend."

"Will you take me with you?"

"To the king's dinner?"

"Yes!"

"Anything for you, my lady." With a smile, he took her hand and gave it a kiss.

He knew if he'd told anyone else about his dream, they would've laughed and made fun of him. But Kenny was different. She believed in him, and she always made his unrealistic dreams feel a little more achievable.

Ever since Harry could remember, he had fantasised about living the life of a prince even though he'd never even set foot near the portcullis before. That forest was the closest he'd ever been to the castle. As he climbed to the top of the tallest tree, he could see almost everything on the outside.

The walls stood mute as grey stones rose from the ground, defying entrance and protecting what had been entrusted to their care. Someday, he swore he would stand where knights stood and see what kings and dukes saw. Someday he would look through the window on one of those highest towers and the rest of the world — this forest, this river, would be so tiny.

But today, his place was in the kitchen.

His family was poor but Kenny's was not, relatively. Her mother worked in a kitchen of the castle which was quite a big deal for someone from their village. The Rowleys didn't like him very much. In fact, Patricia Rowley had bigger plans for her youngest daughter than being friends with a poor boy like him. Harry's father was a blacksmith, his mother was always ill, so his sister had to take care of most of the housework. He had no future at all. The Rowleys would never want him to be Kenny's—

What was that word the crazy girl had told him again?

Right, betrothed.

They would never want him to be her betrothed. But did he want that? What about her? Did she want that?

A smack on the head made Harry jump out of his daydream. He looked up and saw Patricia frowning at him. "You are here to work! Go out there and help Kennedy!"

Frightened, the boy hurriedly picked up the tray and carried the food out of the kitchen, to the tables at the back of the dining hall. They didn't let servants go anywhere near the royal family or their royal guests, but to see them from a distance was also a dream come true for him.

"That's the king of Isolde," Kenny told him as they hid behind the curtain at the very back to enjoy some fruits they had stolen from a drunk gentleman.

"Why is that seat empty?" Harry asked, pointing to the chair next to the Northern king.

"The princess couldn't make it. I heard that she was sick."

"Maybe it's too hot for her here," Harry joked, making Kenny laugh. He loved it when he made her laugh, even if it was unintentional.

"Maybe," she said with a nod. "The queen is very beautiful."

"Indeed. Do you think she's beautiful as well?"

"The princess?"

"Yes. I've never seen a princess before. I think she should be the most beautiful girl in her kingdom."

"What would you do if you could talk to her?"

"Oh, I would ask her to dance!"

Kenny didn't comment on Harry's answer, but as she stormed out, he realised it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"Kenny, wait—"

Chasing after the girl, Harry accidentally bumped into a stranger at the entrance. His heart almost flew out of his chest when the beautiful woman flashed him a shiny smile and headed straight toward the king's table. Just like everyone else in the room, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

While all the guests were wearing the most colourful clothes, she was dressed all in black. Her skin was so pale it didn't look any warmer in the candlelight and her footsteps were so light it seemed as if she was floating. She looked like a ghost. A beautiful one.

Then, something else caught Harry's attention. He spotted a gold hairpin under the royal guests' table which he supposed someone had dropped, and nobody else had seen it because he was the shortest person in the room. The first thing that came to his mind was how pretty it would look on Kenny's hair. He had to get it for her, no matter the cost.

As King Edgar rose from his chair to welcome the mysterious lady to his castle, everyone was too busy paying attention to her to notice the little servant crawling under the tables.

"This is Madam Maggie," Edgar said. "She's a prophet, the most powerful one in the land."

"So she's a witch?"

"You can say that," Maggie smiled, unbothered by Willem's cynical remark.

"She communicates with the gods, and she can foresee the future," Edgar said, turning to the king from the North. "Willem, my brother. Would you like to see?"

"How?"

"I can read your palm and tell you about the future of your kingdom, my lord," Maggie said and there was already chattering in the background.

Willem was probably the least superstitious man in the room, so he just laughed it off and told her, "how about you read my son's palm to see what a great king he will be?"

Excited, the prince gave Maggie his left hand.

"The left hand represents your inborn fate while the right hand represents your destiny affected by different decisions and outcomes," said the prophet. "People's fates are governed by God while fortune is created by themselves. So which would you prefer, my lord?"

"Tell me about his destiny," Willem said after a moment of thinking.

"All right, my lord." Maggie gave a nod and stepped closer to take the prince's hand. The whole table fell to silence as she observed the palm closely and ran her fingertips across its lines. "You have two beautiful children. May I ask where the princess is?"

Edgar cracked a smile when he saw the looks of shock on his sister's and Willem's face and others'.

"The princess doesn't feel well so she cannot join us tonight," the queen said. And look on Maggie's face made her tremble.

"Is that so?" said the prophet as she turned to Egon. "If this boy becomes king, and he will—"

Egon sat up straight and fixed the crowd on his head as his father and mother smiled proudly at him.

"—your entire dynasty will go down in flames."

"Nonsense!" Willem roared as Egon withdrew his hand immediately. The whisperings of the other guests got louder as fear was etched on Willem's face, but Maggie still looked as serene as when she first arrived.

"This woman is mad! Guards!"

"Willem!" the queen cried out, but Edgar had already put up his hand to stop the guards before they could get to Maggie.

He turned to Willem with a stern look on his face. "Remember that Madam Maggie is my guest and so are you. A guest cannot request another guest to leave."

Willem was just about to reply when Maggie suddenly spoke, "the little princess, however."

"What about her?" asked Queen Meira.

"Princess Y/N is your only hope."

Maggie's short answer sent the whole table into chaos. While the other guests were discussing what the answer meant, the Northern family was frozen in their seats.

"Have a lovely evening, my lords and lady."

Bobbing a curtsy, Maggie turned away, and suddenly a tiny human jumped out of nowhere and dashed out of the nearest exit before anyone could figure out who it was. When they turned back, baffled and fearful, the lady in black had disappeared without a trace.

.

.

.

"Kenny! Guess what just happened in there!" Harry called out as he ran across the courtyard to where his best friend was sitting on the doorsteps.

She didn't look so thrilled when she asked, "is it about the princess?"

"Yes, it's—"

"Do you like her?"

Surprised by the question, Harry took a step back when Kenny got up and closed the distance between them.

"I haven't even seen her face!" he said, making her frown.

"You don't have to see her face to like her. Everyone knows she's beautiful!"

"She's a girl I don't know, Kenny."

"What about the girl in the forest? The one you do know." Kenny crossed her arms, her nose stuck up.

"She probably returned to her family already, and I won't ever see her again," Harry said and blew out his cheeks. "What is this all about, Kenny?"

The girl fidgeted with the hem of her dress for a moment before she could finally close her eyes and blurt out, "I like you."

"I like you, too," he said innocently.

She stared at him with wide eyes and mouth agape for a moment, but then realised he didn't get it so she waved him off and turned away. "You know what? Forget it."

"Wait, I got you something!" Quickly, he grabbed her by the arm and put the golden hairpin into her hand.

Kenny's eyes popped out when she realised she was holding actual gold.

"Did you steal it?!" she exclaimed, making him laugh.

"No, someone dropped it. Do you like it?"

"We must give it back, Crow!"

"We don't know who it belongs to," he reasons, giving a half-shrug. "Even if we did and returned it, they would probably think we stole it. I mean, look at us! Look at me!"

The way he humorously overreacted put a smile on the girl's face.

"Right," she agreed and pinned the hairpin on her hair. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Harry mumbled as his dimples popped up.

The children stared at each other for a long moment, and Harry believed his heart had never beaten so hard and fast. Before he could stop himself, the question just slipped right out, "do you want to be my betrothed?"

"What is a betrothed?" Kenny squinted her eyes and gave him the same look he'd given the crazy girl at the river.

"Someone...someone you'll marry when you're older."

"Oh...okay, then..." Kenny sucked in a breath, trying not to smile so wide. "Of course, Crow. I'll be your betrothed."

[fieryanmitsu]

Since I saw that you like ikemen series as well I was wondering 👉🏻👈🏻 who do you think from the ikemen series would get along with each other? Like Sirius and Tsumugi tending to a garden together :3

Hi there Nonnie~ Oh man, that’s not something I’ve ever thought about, but now that you mention it… My mind is now on overdrive, HAHA! I was just going to throw around some thoughts off the top of my head, but before I knew it… it kinda blew up into a super long and full blown headcanon about what would happen if Mankai Company got transported to Cradle?!?!

I’m sorry, you were just asking me such a general question about the Ikemen series in general, but I ended up going on a huge IkeRev ramble. Anyway, here’s my long and convoluted headcanon of who I think would get along with each other between the main cast of A3! and Ikemen Revolution!

This got so out of hand and is ridiculously long, haha. Feel free to just skim for the bolded headings, which state who I think would be paired well together. But if you want, you can read the rest of my nonsense! Hope you enjoy this train wreck, haha!

MANKAI COMPANY IN CRADLE! (an A3! x Ikemen Revolution crossover headcanon)

CHARACTERS: All Troupes from A3! (plus Izumi) and all suitors from Ikemen Revolution (plus Alice)

My fanfic masterpost: Here

Prologue

On the night of the full moon, (another) mysterious door opens up at Mankai Company. Matsukawa discovers the room first. When he finds out that the door opens into a into a giant gaping hole, he freaks out and calls Izumi over to examine it.

When Izumi goes to check it out, all of the actors get curious as well and follow. However, when Izumi leans over to try and look down into the hole, Matsukawa accidentally knocks her into the hole and she falls in.

Masumi and Sakyo are the first to try and jump in after her, but they end up struggling with each other to see who should go first. Omi and Tsuzuru try to break them up, but all four of them end up falling in during the scuffle.

As he falls, Tsuzuru reflexively reaches out and grabs the closest thing to him, which happens to be a quaking Tenma, and the Summer Troupe leader gets dragged down with him.

The rest of the Autumn Troupe don’t hesitate to jump in after their oldest members to try and help them out.

Itaru and Sakuya are concerned, but much more cautious about whether they should just blindly jump down the hole. Itaru thinks they should call the fire department instead.

Citron says that they have to find a way to save their friends, but that, in such a drastic situation, it would be better to “jump first and think later.” Itaru says: “I think you mean to say ‘look before you leap’.” Citron’s response is: “No no no! I mean exactly what I said.” And then Citron, without any remorse, shoves both Itaru and Sakuya into the hole and dives right in behind them.

Misumi thinks they’re playing a game after seeing Citron dive right in. Thinking that there might be triangles in the hole, he shakes Hisoka awake (since Hisoka is good at jumping, so he should come with him). Hisoka miraculously wakes up long enough to be dragged into the hole with Misumi (and still has no idea what’s going on even as he falls).

Homare tries to save Hisoka, but ends up tumbling in after him.

Muku and Tsumugi are in a panic as they see their fellow troupe members falling into the hole. They’re beside themselves with what to do and somehow settle on: “We need to go after them!” They scrunch up their eyes and leap before they can think better of it.

Tasuku and Yuki yell to stop them, but it’s too late. They can’t believe what’s happening – has everyone lost the last of their brain cells?!

Azuma laughs at the absurdity of the situation, and claps both Tasuku and Yuki on the shoulder. He smiles at them serenely and just says: “Well, this kind of thing doesn’t happen every day, we may as well join the fun, right?”

“NO, THAT’S A TERRIBLE IDEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”

Kazunari is the last one left, but only because he’s been filming it all on his smartphone so that he can upload it to his Instablam later. He gives the camera a victory sign before he steps off backwards into the hole and screams as he falls (but that red light keeps blinking away).

Matsukawa faints from the shock.

The whole Mankai Company arrives safe and sound in Cradle, somehow, but they happen to crash land into a joint Red and Black Army tea party being held at the Civic Centre to celebrate the recent peace treaty.

It is absolute chaos considering a group of 21 people suddenly fell from the sky, but with Blanc’s help they sort out the situation.

Blanc informs them that there’s some kind of bizarre once-in-a-hundred-years astrological phenomenon that has made the boundaries between Cradle and the Land of Reason even more unstable than usual, and that’s how the portal between the worlds had opened so suddenly. Luckily, according to his almanac, the portal will open again at midnight (rather than one month later) and the Mankai Company actors and director will be able to get back safely at that time.

Until then, the Red and Black Army decide to graciously host their guests for the day until the portal opens.

[THE REST UNDER THE CUT]

Alice and Izumi

It might be because they’re both “main characters”, but Alice and Izumi get along right away. Alice is the first to strike up a conversation since it’s been a while since she’s met another young woman close to her age.

Izumi feels more relieved after talking with Alice and learning that she is also from the Land of Reason.

The two young women end up finding out that they have a lot in common – especially when it came to their appetite. When Alice finds out that Izumi loves curry, she offers to take her to one of the local curry restaurants in Central Quarter (which serves a curry quite similar to the ones in London).

Izumi is full speed ahead and they’re gone before the Mankai boys can even notice she’s missing.

Ray and Sakuya

Sakuya and Ray hit it off right away. Sakuya tells Ray all about Mankai Company and how they are actors. Ray’s love of reading and books extends to plays as well and the two start chatting about the different plays that each world has.

Ray offers to show Sakuya some of the plays in his library collection and the two end up going back to the Black Army headquarters.

Sakuya happens to have their latest script in his pocket (since he had just been reading it before the whole incident happened) and lets Ray read it. Ray is captivated by Tsuzuru’s script and devours it.

In Ray’s room, Sakuya meets Belle and is instantly in love. He adores cats and has the time of his life reading through plays and exchanging thoughts with Ray as Belle purrs away in his lap.

Fenrir, Kazunari and Taichi

Fenrir’s friendly demeanor immediately catches Kazunari’s attention and the two mesh instantly. Kazunari is excited about everything, and Fenrir is completely raring to show off his amazing home to the newcomers.

Taichi feels a bit overwhelmed by everything that’s happening around him and doesn’t quite know where to turn first. Fenrir, used to looking out for the newest recruits, catches on to this instantly and puts a hand on Taichi’s shoulder and introduces himself. He immediately asks if he wants to come along with him and Kazu to check out the town.

The youngest Autumn Troupe member instantly brightens at this thought and agrees enthusiastically. For some reason, Taichi reminds Fenrir of Shu Shu, and Fenrir takes an immediate liking to the younger boy.

The three of them set out on the town and Fenrir takes them to his favourite haunts all around Central Quarter. While out in town, they even find an interesting toy that’s similar to a yo-yo and Taichi shows off his skills. Fenrir turns it into a competition. Kazunari becomes an impromptu emcee and narrates the entire competition to the amusement of nearby citizens.

Kazunari also shows Fenrir his phone and shows him how to take selfies. Fenrir doesn’t quite understand the technology behind it, but seeing his image show up immediately on the screen amuses him to no end and the three of them end up snapping photos all around the Central Quarter.

Seth and Yuki

Seth immediately takes notice of Yuki because of his cute looks and fashionable outfit. The 10 of Spades compliments Yuki, but Yuki isn’t impressed – of course he’s cute, that was a given.

Yuki only gives Seth the time of day when Seth adds: “You put even girls to shame!” It wasn’t often that someone picked up that he was a boy right away.

Seeing Yuki open up, Seth immediately invites Yuki to go shopping with him. Seth hasn’t had the urge to dress someone up this badly since Alice came into their lives and he just knows that Yuki would look absolutely adorable in Cradle’s latest fashion.

Intrigued by the notion of seeing this foreign country’s clothes, Yuki agrees to go with him. They spend the entire day going from store to store admiring and trying on different outfits.

Seth ends up buying Yuki a huge bag of cute outfits and fabrics for him to take home as a gift (paid out of Sirius’ wallet – but he didn’t know that yet).

Luka, Muku and Omi

Muku is too shy and intimidated to talk to anyone, so he just hangs out along the sidelines. But, the poor boy hadn’t eaten lunch yet when the incident happened and soon his stomach grumbles so loudly that Luka, also standing quietly nearby, hears it.

Never one to leave someone hungry, Luka grabs a plate of some of the dainties leftover from the tea party and offers it to Muku.

The pink-haired boy is flustered at first, but his hunger overrides his embarrassment. As soon as he takes the first bite of a scone, he’s amazed at the taste. It was just as good as Omi’s – maybe even better!

In fact, Omi happened to be within eyesight, and Muku immediately calls him over and has him try some as well.

Omi is very impressed and wonders if he could somehow talk to the chef who made this, because he’d love to exchange recipes and ideas.

At this point, Luka is blushing because the two actors have turned their attention to him for a response. He quietly admits that he was the one who had baked for the tea party that day.

Before he knows it, he’s somehow taken Omi and Muku back to the Black Army’s headquarters and they spend the rest of the day exchanging recipes and cooking a gigantic dinner feast (with Muku as their cute assistant) for everyone to eat.

Sirius, Tsumugi and Sakyo

Sirius ends up talking to Sakyo after seeing Sakyo yelling at Banri and Juza to stop fighting. He offers his condolences to Sakyo and says that he sympathizes with him – he’s got his own crew of rowdy children to look after, too.

They end up venting to each other about all the trouble they have to deal with and find kindred spirits in each other. Of course, they also end up bragging about their “kids” too, but they would never admit that.

Nearby, Tsumugi is automatically attracted to the flowers in the Civic Centre gardens and can’t help admiring them. He is practically falling into the bushes, he’s so excited.

From where he’s standing with Sakyo, Sirius sees this and asks Tsumugi if he’s interested in the flowers. Tsumugi replies enthusiastically that he is and Sirius, happy to see someone so interested in gardening, offers to show both him and Sakyo around the gardens more.

Sirius ends up taking them around to his family’s flower shop as well once they finish their tour of the Civic Centre garden. Tsumugi is asking him questions at a mile a minute while Sirius’ siblings pester Sakyo with questions about the Land of Reason.

Eventually they return to the Black Army headquarters and all pitch in to help Luka and Omi finish making dinner and set the tables.

Jonah and Juza

Juza doesn’t really understand too much of what’s going on, but he’s immediately attracted to all of the leftover desserts from the tea party. When he thinks no one is looking, he sneaks a plate and shoves the dessert into his mouth. The sweets are one of the best he’s ever had and he can’t stop eating them.

Jonah spots him sneaking the desserts and confronts him when he realizes that all of the leftovers are gone. He’s furious because he had wanted to eat some, too.

Juza blanches when he turns around and comes face to face with Jonah. He knows that this man is important, and ends up looking at the ground and apologizing for eating all of the desserts, but that he couldn’t help it because the best desserts were the best he’s ever had.

Jonah had meant to scold him, but the second he hears Juza’s compliments about Luka’s baking, he immediately goes into a tirade: “Of course they are the best desserts, my dearest Luka made them after all.”

Jonah determines that Juza is clearly someone who has good taste and it really would be a waste to let him go home without trying more of Cradle’s sweet delicacies. Also, Jonah still hasn’t satisfied his sweet tooth.

He orders Juza to follow him and ends up taking him around to all of his favourite dessert shops in the Central Quarter. The Queen of Hearts is quite pleased with his company, since Juza listens quietly to everything he says and always nods in agreement. He supposes that he could adopt him as another little brother for the day and buys him many boxes of desserts to bring home as a souvenir.

Kyle and Azuma

When the formalities end, Kyle immediately yells out that he wants to go for a drink. He tries to ask Blanc and Oliver to go with him to Oasis, but they’re both occupied with talking to the newcomers and he’s ignored.

Kyle is about to resign himself to drinking alone when a soft voice interrupts him and asks: “Did you say you were looking for a drinking companion?”

Kyle isn’t picky and is ecstatic to find a new friend to drink with. He immediately leads Azuma to Dum’s bar and grabs them seats at his usual table. Kyle orders his beer and Azuma starts off with a bottle of red wine.

The wine in Cradle tastes completely different from the wine he’s had before, and Azuma soon orders glass after glass of different wines. Kyle’s just happy to have such an enthusiastic drinking buddy and offers to pay for it all (since Azuma didn’t have any money he could pay with anyway).

It doesn’t take long for Kyle to get completely sloshed, but Azuma finds him to be a very cute drunk. The actor enjoys listening to Kyle’s drunken rambling since it made for boisterous and cheerful company.

At one point in the evening, Azuma is surprised to see that Banri is suddenly the one serving him his wine, but the Autumn Troupe leader just shrugs and saunters off to serve another table.

It was hours later when Fenrir, Kazunari and Taichi stumble upon them and they all head back to the Black Army’s headquarters together. Kyle has to be carried on Fenrir’s back the entire way.

Edgar and Itaru

Even though his phone has no signal, Itaru wasn’t bothered for once, because being transported to another world was the epitome of every nerd’s highest fantasy. He can’t help himself from examining everything around him – you never know if there’s a hidden item somewhere, after all.

Edgar finds Itaru’s behaviour to be curious and keeps an eye on the other man who is scrutinizing everything in detail. Eventually, he sneaks up behind him and asks: “Are you looking for something?”

Itaru jumps, but quickly covers up his surprise and gives Edgar one of his classic disarming smiles and just says that he’s fascinated because they’re in a different world.

Edgar is impressed by Itaru’s composure. He’s a bit suspicious of him, because he was obviously hiding something beneath a very well-made mask, but decides that this makes him very interesting. Since he was bored, he decides that chatting with Itaru will be quite fun.

Edgar soon finds out that Itaru is hungry and takes him over to the food table, but they find that there’s nothing left (which is odd, since he remembered there being a lot of leftovers). He catches Itaru sigh and mutter under his breath: “Man, even a bag of chips right now would be good.” Hearing a familiar word, Edgar asks: “Chips? Do you mean fish and chips?” Itaru looks at him with wide eyes and says: “Huh? Fish and chips? I guess we must be in an AU England.”

Edgar has no idea what half of those words mean, but the two soon find out that they both share a love of junk food and the Jack of Hearts takes Itaru to sample various junk food around the Central Quarter.

Itaru also greatly enjoys just walking around the town and admiring every aspect. Edgar often catches him muttering incomprehensible words under his breath, but shrugs it away.

Eventually they return to the Red Army’s base and run into Zero and Masumi. It’s at this point that they discover something else they have in common: they both enjoy mercilessly teasing their colleagues.

Lancelot and Citron

Citron immediately picks up on Lancelot’s regal aura and can’t help but scrutinize him silently. He wonders what kind of king he is, especially with such a stoic face.

Lancelot awkwardly tries to ignore the strange man staring a hole into his head and eventually turns to look at Citron and asks him if he can help him with anything.

Citron is surprised because he didn’t expect the other man to talk to him. Caught off guard, Citron spins an elaborate story about how, in his country, calling out to another person in public is a rude greeting and, instead, one must communicate your intentions through headwaves by staring at the other person until they sense your presence.

Lancelot, gullible as he is, immediately believes Citron and apologizes for not understanding his culture and asks if Citron can tell him more. Citron doesn’t miss the curious glimmer in the other man’s eyes and, soon has Lancelot hanging onto his every (unbelievable) word – though Lancelot sometimes has problems understanding exactly what he’s saying.

At one point Citron speaks about how he has a pet leopard, to which Lancelot replies: “Ah, I understand. I have a pet lion.”

Citron is immediately captivated and instantly demands to meet Shine. Lancelot ends up taking him back to the Red Army’s base and they spend the next few hours playing with Shine.

Zero and Masumi

After losing sight of Izumi, Masumi loses interest in everything and ends up being dragged along with Citron back to the Red Army base.

Zero follows his King and returns with them as well. Once they get back, Zero resumes his afternoon training drills with his soldiers.

Masumi, with nothing else to do, ends up taking a seat in the garden and watches Zero’s training. As he watches, he realizes that Zero’s stances and fighting look really good and he tries to memorize his movements in the hopes that he can use it to improve his stage fighting skills. After all, if he gets even better, then Izumi will give him more compliments and maybe she’ll even reward him with a date.

As soon as Zero dismisses his men, Masumi goes up to him and demands that he train him too.

Zero is surprised at the sudden request, but seeing Masumi’s determined face, he decides to go along with it.

The two of them spend the next several hours training with practice swords and Zero is impressed with how quickly Masumi picks up on his instruction. He thinks that Masumi is a bit odd, but very earnest and can appreciate how much effort he is putting in.

Though he hadn’t intended to, Masumi ends up enjoying himself more than he expects. Zero is a patient teacher and he finds the exercise invigorating.

The fun ends, though, when Edgar and Itaru return and start messing with them. Edgar remarks that they could be twins considering the identical scathing expressions on their faces.

Blanc and Tsuzuru

Somehow or another, the Red and Black Army officers had all trickled out of the Civic Centre along with several Mankai Company members.

Tsuzuru, Tenma, Misumi, Tasuku and Homare realize that they are the only Mankai Company members left behind. Even their director was gone.

Blanc notices that they are unsure of what to do and graciously invites them over to his home for a rest and some tea.

With no other option left to them, the remaining Mankai Company members follow Blanc and Oliver back to their home.

As they walk through the Central Quarter, Blanc informs them that he is the record keeper of Cradle. This immediately catches Tsuzuru’s attention. Once he realizes that this means that Blanc observes and records the events of all that happens, he immediately starts bombarding the white-haired man with questions about his writing techniques.

When they get to Blanc’s home, Tsuzuru ends up spending his day poring over Blanc’s records, devouring ideas and writing styles. Blanc happily answers his questions as he pours the scriptwriter tea and cuts him carrot cake.

Blanc and Tsuzuru are too distracted to realize that, on the way to Blanc’s home, they had actually somehow lost every other member of their party except for Oliver and Tasuku.

Oliver and Tasuku

While walking back to Blanc and Oliver’s house, Tasuku can’t help but scrutinize the technology and machinery around them. He immediately picks up that there is no electricity and that the lamps are not powered with the usual means he’s seen in the Land of Reason.

He unconsciously remarks on this out loud and Oliver is impressed, as he hadn’t expected any of them to notice this. Seeing Tasuku’s curiosity, Oliver explains to him how Cradle’s technology primarily runs on magic crystals.

Tasuku’s love of machines immediately takes over and he and Oliver are soon deep in discussion as the taller man asks question after question.

Oliver finds Tasuku to be forthcoming and intelligent, which was a pleasant change from his usual air-headed company. When they arrive at Blanc and Oliver’s home, Oliver takes Tasuku to his workshop and shows him the various gadgets he’s been working on.

Tasuku is absorbed right away and even helps Oliver with some of his repairs, picking up quickly on the unfamiliar technology.

It’s not until the sun begins to set that he realizes he hasn’t even bothered to eat or drink. It’s also at this point that Tasuku realizes that it’s been much too quiet and that this is because they are missing many (noisy) members of their party.

Dean and Homare

Homare follows the others as they head to Blanc’s house, but as they walk through the Central Quarter, he becomes quite taken by his surroundings. Everything is so different and beautiful, and suddenly he is hit by inspiration.

He stops walking and recites a poem, quickly jotting it down in a notebook before he forgets his genius. However, when he looks up, everyone is gone and he’s alone.

Not one to let the situation get him down, he follows his instincts and wanders about the Central Quarter until he finds a bookstore. He walks in and is captivated by all of the new books that he has never seen before.

At one point he reaches out for a poetry book and bumps into someone who was reaching for the same book and comes face to face with Dean.

The professor had been looking for new books for his lesson planning. He hadn’t expected someone else to be in this bookstore, which was off the beaten path.

Dean strikes up a conversation with Homare out of curiosity.  What he thought would be passing casual conversation turns into an hours-long poetry seminar courtesy of Homare.

Dean somehow can’t find the willpower to get away – Homare’s poetry was bizarre and morbidly fascinating.

Eventually he finds out that Homare is lost and leads him to Blanc’s house, where they arrive just in time to see the others preparing to come out to look for them.

Loki and Misumi

As soon as they had exited the Civic Centre, Misumi was immediately distracted by all the things – after all, there must be tons of new triangles to find in this new place. Before anyone can stop him (and Banri tries), he shoots off into the crowds and leaves everyone in his dust.

It isn’t long before he catches his first triangle: “Gotcha, triangle kitty~”

It turns out that the triangles were the ones attached to the top of Loki’s hood.

Loki is alarmed that someone has managed to sneak up on him as he was playing with his cat friends. Intrigued by this stranger, he asks Misumi where he’s from and Misumi explains, while playing with the cats around them, that he and his friends fell out of a giant hole in the sky.

Before Loki can ask any more questions, Misumi declares that he’s going to go hunt for triangles and that the Triangle Kitty should come too, because he’s sure that he’d be great at it.

Loki doesn’t understand what a triangle hunt is supposed to be, but decides that since his cat friends trusted Misumi, then he can’t be that bad of a person. Not to mention, he was bored anyway since Alice was occupied with that stupid boring tea party and Misumi looked like he could be a great source of entertainment.

They end up running around all of Central Quarter and eventually end up in the Forbidden Forest. There they run into Harr, along with someone else that Harr had bumped into, and they all head back to Blanc’s house together.

Dum and Banri

Banri tries to chase after Misumi when the other boy suddenly broke off from the group. However, he soon loses him and finds that he has also lost the main group.

Grumbling to himself about his bad luck, Banri accidentally wanders into a back alley and gets cornered by a couple of thugs who try to rob him.

Banri wants to beat them up, but notices that they’re carrying knives. Instead, he tosses a nearby flowerpot at them before he books it down the alley.

They cause quite a ruckus as they dash through the side streets, and Banri quickly ducks into an open doorway and hopes that he can hide until he’s sure he’s lost the thugs.

Turns out he had dashed through the back door of a kitchen and comes face to face with Dum, who is not amused by some street rat running onto his turf.

He’s about to kick Banri out, but Banri begs to let him stay for a bit since he’s trying to lose the thugs (he can hear them yelling outside). Dum reluctantly lets him stay, but tells him he needs to work for it.

At first, he tells Banri to peel some potatoes, but Banri negotiates with him to let him help out at the front of the house instead (since peeling potatoes was boring).

Dum finds Banri’s sassy attitude to be amusing – and also picks up quite quickly that he’s from the Land of Reason. He gives Banri a chance and the actor soon charms all of the customers into buying extra food and drinks. At the end of the night he just gives Dum a cocky “I told you so” grin.

When Fenrir and company arrive to tell them about the dinner feast plans, Banri tells Dum that he should come along as thanks for helping him out. Since it was a weeknight anyway, Dum decides to take him up on the offer – this boy was proving to be very amusing and it wasn’t every day that he was presented with such an interesting opportunity.

Harr and Tenma

Tenma panics when Misumi, Banri and Homare get separated from them. But, the streets are crowded and he realizes it’s no use to try and find them when he didn’t know where he was going. Instead, he focuses his attention on following Blanc, Oliver, Tsuzuru and Tasuku.

However, as they pass through a busy market, the crown jostles him away from the others and he soon loses them in the crowd.

He tries to remain calm as he makes his way through the street and even asks for directions to find Blanc’s house – the old ladies at the stalls were especially nice about helping him.

However, even though he’s sure he followed their directions properly, he soon finds himself walking through a forest and it’s dark and eerie and – did he just hear something?!

Tenma screams when he feels someone clap a hand on his shoulder. He spins around and sees a strange face with a mask and, thinking he is seeing some kind of ghost or monster, he runs away deeper into the forest. He bursts into a clearing, but trips and ends up falling straight into the lake.

Harr had been taking a walk through the woods when he had seen the young man, looking clearly lost. Seeing him fall into the lake, he quickly runs over and pulls him out of the water.

Tenma is shaking like a rain-soaked kitten, so Harr leads Tenma back to his home to dry him off.

At first, Tenma is too scared to say anything and only manages to start talking when Harr offers him a lollipop. Tenma scoffs that he isn’t a child, but he takes the lollipop anyway and puts it in his mouth.

Harr smiles – he’s reminded of how Loki was when they first met. It seems he’s good at picking up stray cats.

Eventually, Harr figures out the situation and offers to lead Tenma back to Blanc’s house. Tenma clings to the back of Harr’s coat the entire way, looking around furtively and jumping at every shadow.

On their way, they run into Loki and Misumi. They arrive at Blanc’s just in time to see the record keeper receiving a message from a Black Army messenger.

Mousse and Hisoka

Taking advantage of the hubbub, Mousse sneaks off to sleep under a tree in the garden (making sure that Jonah didn’t spot him).

With no marshmallows in sight, Hisoka felt his eyes beginning to close. Before he completely lost consciousness, he saw a figure sprawled out under a tree. He thinks that this must mean that it was a designated napping spot – why else would there be someone sleeping there?

Thankful for this discovery, Hisoka stumbles his way over over to Mousse and curls up on the soft gross. The tree provides the perfect amount of shade and the flowers there smelled just as nice as whatever Azuma used to scent his room. It didn’t take long for Hisoka to drift off.

He doesn’t wake up until Homare and Tasuku (along with the white-haired bunny man) come to find him.

The man next to him also wakes up at that time. He non-chalantly turns towards Hisoka and says: “This is a great spot for a nap, isn’t it?” Hisoka responds with a nod.

Epilogue

Ray had sent messengers to the Red Army and Blanc to inform them that they had prepared a feast at the Black Army’s headquarters for their guests, so everyone eventually trickles into the Black Army’s base by the time dinner starts. 

Some unexpected guests also pop by, but no one particularly minded.

Everyone enjoys the feast prepared by Omi and Luka. Even those who had been eating beforehand found their appetites returning at the sight and smell of the delicious food in front of them.

After the meal, everyone says their goodbyes to the new friends they made. Even though their time together had been short, everyone would treasure the memories of their experiences that day.

Blanc, Alice and the two Kings lead the Mankai Company back to the Civic Centre’s rooftop garden. As predicted by Blanc, there was indeed a giant hole in the ground.

Bidding their farewells one last time, the Mankai Company jumped through the hole, and after what felt like minutes of falling, they finally saw a blinding light rushing up to meet them.

Moments later, they all tumbled out onto soft green grass in a giant pile-up.

After an exciting and unbelievable day, they were finally back home. 

FIN

To anyone who stuck around through this entire thing, thank you for reading, haha! I hope you enjoyed this random bit of nonsense! I still have three routes to play, so hopefully I didn’t mess up anyone’s personalities (especially with the new characters as I don’t have much knowledge of them yet)!

I think that there could be a lot of other character combinations that would get along with each other, but I wanted to make sure that each main character from A3! and IkeRev were featured, so these were the combinations that I ended up with without having to compromise too much!

Thanks for dropping such a fun topic into my inbox, Anon!! Hope to see you around again!

-Anmitsu

[that-banana-headed-bovine]

Knight Rider 2000

WARNING

This post contains spoilers for Knight Rider 2000, the 1991 film which attempts to expand on the canonical universe of Knight Rider (1982-1986).  Key word, attempts.  I know that this film came out almost 30 years ago at this point, but I also know that this fandom grows a little bit every day, and there will ALWAYS be people who haven’t seen every episode (myself included), let alone every movie!  I happened to catch it on Charge! for Hoff's birthday (yes I'm hella late posting this LOL) with my good friend @trust-doesnt-oxidize​, and boy let me tell you, it was… Something.

From here on out, I’m not holding back from sharing my impression of the film based on specific details from it, so if you want a spoiler-free viewing, go watch it and come back!!  Or… don’t, it’s kind of awful.  I can only think of one thing in canon that it may spoil, and even that appears in early Season 2 and is fairly minor, so if you are curious about it, I HIGHLY recommend watching it BEFORE reading this.  The scenes with the most impact are touching because they come as a surprise, so even if you know the general plot of the film, I would recommend watching it first.

Also this is really rambley because I have a lot of emotions about this series and, by extension, this movie.  I really don’t blame you if you click away here, but if you DO read it all the way through, I would love to hear anything you would like to add, agree or disagree!

OKAY!  Knight Rider 2000 is a movie that exists!  And I hate it!

The film sets up an interesting argument between two groups of people whose names I don’t remember because they were boring (except for Devon, I know his name at this point).  In this interpretation of the “future,” gun control has been implemented to,,, some extent, I can’t entirely tell if there have been some policies implemented across the country or if it is all localized in this one city that even the Wikipedia page for this movie doesn’t bother to mention.  And no, this city is NOT in California for once!  Usually I would be happy to see a change of setting, but considering that everything in this film felt so foreign to the Knight Rider that we know, it would have been nice to at least have a familiar setting.  Anyway, gun control stuff.  The debate between whether these gun control policies are ethical or not is very interesting.  Innocent people are dying because the wrong people have guns and the police are rendered useless when they themselves don’t have access to weapons.  This argument happens to support my perspective on the issue, so I appreciated how it took a look at that side WITHOUT it sounding like we are crazy murderer people, but I digress.  It makes sense that the ban happened in the first place, because much like how the main conflict in Pixar’s latest film Incredibles 2 revolves around society’s over-reliance on superheroes, I could see Knight Rider’s society becoming dependent on technology to save them.  It can be easy to seem like the most advanced tech in that society is present only in KITT and KIFT, and to SOME extent that is true.  However, Shawn does say that it is relatively common in this society for people to have memory chips in their brain.  That counts for something.  And the police DO have a defense mechanism according to the Wikipedia page for this movie, it’s just nonlethal.

So as you can see, I am very interested in the conflict this world sets up.  I sure hope they expand on these conflicting ideologies throughout the film, giving us a clearer idea of why the bans were set in place AND giving us insight into what exactly has caused some revolt against it.  That subject is seemingly timeless, and with how decently the introduction tackled it, I have some confidence that this film could pull it off in a tasteful way.  Wouldn’t that be amazing?   It’s some of the most serious subject matter Knight Rider has ever tackled.  It’s so interesting!

Yeah they pretty much abandon that plot in place of a very, very bad copy of the original show’s “Hearts of Stone” (season 1, episode 14).  Illegal guns exist and are bad, but we don’t really know why.  I may know a little better if I had been listening closer, but I was trying to not get so bored that I missed Kitt’s parts!

At some point during this sequence, we are introduced to Shawn, a happy police officer who is happy to have a family on a happy birthday.  And then she gets shot!  Due to head force trauma rendering her unconscious, she’s sent to the hospital.  She goes in for a risky operation that miraculously saves her life against all odds.

Then, Michael wakes up with Garthe Knight’s face and hears a great story about how one man CAN make a difference!… I mean what?  

Jokes aside, it’s kind of amazing how much this very Michael-esque sequence comes across very differently.  It’s almost the perfect example of why I don’t like this movie.  The surgery is weirdly realistic for a Knight Rider entity.  There’s blood and screens and surgeons and a sterile white room for operations.  Michael woke up in a Medieval castle with one doctor and two random people he’d never met at his side.  Shawn’s situation clearly makes more sense, but is it half as fun and whimsical?  No, no it’s not.  This whole film comes across as depressing to me, and it’s only worsened by what’s to come.  Apparently, she had KITT’s CPU/Microprocessor/something sciencey implanted into her brain.  That’s especially strange since all that I saw was a yellow liquid being injected directly into her skull!  That’s a lovely image, and definitely gave me the idea that there was a full computer chip going in there???  (It may have actually been explained more clearly, and I just looked away because eek weirdly bloody operation scene)  This caused her personality to do a full 180.  So, Shawn is going to be fun, snarky, and full of personality like KITT is because they share memories now!  Right?  Right???

I think they tried to do that, but it came across flat.  So flat.  She speaks in a purposefully monotone, robotic voice and delivers downright mean comments that leave Michael and KITT scratching their heads.  She seems to lack basic empathy until her own memories start flooding back, and at that point, the emotions she show seem so foreign to the character we see that it’s not remotely believable.  You want me to believe that this robotic woman with -10 personality points started nearly crying after one string of memories, albeit a very traumatic one, entered her mind?  This would have been believable if she was entirely changed afterwards, coming across as far more human, but that was only the case sometimes.  It also would have been believable if the film had the same energy that the original Knight Rider show does, where suspending one’s disbelief is necessary to make it past the opening credits.  However, this movie tries to be so grounded that the kind of dramatic beats that would work in the original seem forced here.

Shawn is not the only character who I take issue with, though.  Let’s start with the most potentially problematic change from the usual canon in the entire film: KITT’s personality.  I have very mixed feelings on how he is portrayed.  If you’ve seen as much as a spattering of quotes from this movie, you probably could sense that KITT was… off.  When KITT first comes on screen, he slams Michael with a wave of insults, and none of them come off as their normal joking around.  However, I don’t necessarily have a problem with that because he has the proper motivation to be very, very upset.  He is sitting on a desk as a heap of loosely connected parts that have just enough power to make the signature red scanner whir and make an oddly terrifying red light eyeball thing (Hal???) move.  The first thing he hears is Devon nonchalantly saying something along the lines of, “I’m afraid he was recycled” to explain why KITT has been deactivated for OVER A DECADE and is not currently in anything that moves (my Charge! stream thing lagged at this point but @trust-doesnt-oxidize​ has since told me that Devon DID appear upset about KITT's being sold, but KITT likely wouldn't have heard that and what Devon said seemed to be moreso directed at HOW the chip was sold and not the fact that it was sold in the first place).  KITT is justifiably mad, and if they had kept KITT’s actions in character while his emotions said otherwise, I would have no problem with it at all.

However, once KITT’s CPU is somehow implanted into Michael’s Chevrolet, KITT does not act in character.  Shawn drives, not Michael, so it stands to reason that he would not necessarily listen to her.  She stole his CPU, his life for over a decade.  KITT does tend to listen to human companions, regardless of whether he is programmed to or not, but I can see where this would be an exception.  However, Michael soon intercedes and essentially tells him to cut it out.  Based on everything that the original Knight Rider told us, KITT no longer has a choice of whether to listen or not.  Michael is ultimately the one who calls the shots because of KITT’s very programming.  And yet, in this scene, KITT doesn’t listen to Michael and apparently gets so angry that he downright stops functioning.  Because that happens all the time in the original series!

And if you’re wondering where I got the conclusion that KITT frustrated his circuits to the point where they could no longer work, he said that.  KITT.  Admitted to having feelings.  In fact, he did not just admit to being angry in the moment.  He told Michael that, while it may seem like he is an emotionless robot, he does have a “feelings chip.”  A FEELINGS CHIP-

I am for recognizing KITT’s obvious emotions as much as the next guy.  I think they are often overlooked when discussing his character.  While I don’t think that real artificial intelligence will ever reach the level of human consciousness, the entire energy of Knight Rider comes from playing with this concept by portraying an AI character who clearly emotes interacting with a human who doesn’t seem to know that.  But the thing that makes this show feel so sincere is that neither character plays too heavily into that trope.  While not always knowing how much KITT feels and by extension hurting those feelings alarmingly often, Michael recognizes it enough to work in concert with KITT, apologize for his more major flubs, and consider KITT a friend.  And KITT subverts the trope by never recognizing that he has feelings to begin with.  He will say that he cannot feel sadness but, in the next breath, say that something upset him.  He will say he cannot hold a grudge only to immediately rattle off a string of insults directed at the person he clearly has a grudge on.  The show is magic in how these two characters display a subtle chemistry that always has room to grow because both characters are slowly coming to see each other for who they truly are and supporting one another along the way.  From what I can tell, the original show never fully concludes that arc, and it may even start regressing after Season 1.  However, we can feasibly see how Michael could slowly come to understand that KITT really does feel things just as much as he does.  And we can imagine the relief KITT would feel knowing that Michael was never bothered by that possibility.

So, you can see where I have a big problem with KITT spelling it out so plainly.  The audience gets full confirmation about what has been displayed to us through nuanced hints throughout the series, which sounds a lot more satisfying than it really ends up being in this film.  But worse than an underwhelming conclusion to a thrilling story, Michael knows it plain as day.  There is very little buildup to KITT admitting this.  He barely even sounds moved.  Instead, in this movie, the “feelings chip” is a fact of life that does not need to be covered up in the slightest.  Michael himself doesn’t really… react.  He just kind of nods along, as if he’s saying, “Huh, makes sense, alright.”  After everything these two have been through, if there really was such a simple explanation for why KITT is the way he is… why arguments went south, why the mere mention of a Chevrolet was enough to get a seemingly jealous response, why inconsequential things like music taste and gambling were subjects of debate, why KITT had always acted so exaggeratedly dismissive when topics of emotional significance struck a chord, why every little sarcastic banter had a hint of happiness until it didn’t… don’t you think Michael would do something?  Whether that something would be a gentle, “I always knew that, pal”; a shocked, “Why didn’tchya tell me sooner?!”; or even a sarcastic, disbelieving, “Yeah, right” is up to interpretation.  But there would be something.

And yet, even that concept is flawed.  We learn a lot from KARR’s inclusion in the original series, and what I take away from it boils down to a simple sentiment.  FLAG never meant for their AIs to be human.  I do realize that directly contradicts what Devon says within this film, but I see that as another way for the film to steer the plot in this direction, not as a tie in to the original.  When Wilton says that one man CAN make a difference, he means that.  He isn’t considering that KITT is just as much a person as Michael.  He’s not seeing that, at the end of the day, teamwork is what makes the show work, even if Michael is the glue that holds it together.  So, I think that to say that there is a “feelings chip” is to disregard the entire point of the original, that in this world life finds a way of inserting itself and that KITT’s (and KARR’s for that matter) humanity is an anomaly, not the rule.  At the end of the day, KITT’s humanity can’t be explained away with science.  And really, I don’t think it should be explained away at all.  The show has had an amazing trend of showing us how KITT feels, in all its unorthodox glory, alongside private moments that had me sobbing like a baby.  The movie should just be like a longer, more complex episode of Knight Rider… Although I cannot pinpoint exactly how it should be done in the context of this film, I know there are ways that Michael could have been shown that KITT feels rather than being told.

One last complaint, albeit a more minor one, is the idea that he has to listen to what Shawn says over Michael's authority.  I have spent a decent amount of time thinking about this one point, which has caused a lot of the delay in posting this.  There's multiple reasons why this flies right in the face of what is canon in the original series.  Perhaps the most obvious of these problems is the fact that, in the original pilot episode, it's made very clear that KITT can't assume control of the Knight 2000 without Michael's express permission unless Michael is unconcious.  Devon makes it quite clear in this episode that KITT is programmed specifically to listen to Michael, not just anyone who happens to be piloting the vehicle at the time.  In case there was any doubt about this, KITT ejects two people who are attempting to steal him later in the episode (well, ok, later in the two-parter, I don't know if it was the same episode or not).  The show isn't SUPER strict about this in future episodes, but it does at least acknowledge Michael's authority in a few pivotal moments throughout Season 1 (I can't comment on episodes that I haven't seen yet, but I suspect that this pattern continues).  Of all the rules set up throughout the series, it actually seems to be the most loyal to this one.  One moment that stands out to me is in Trust Doesn't Rust when KITT attempts to stop Michael from causing a head-on collision with KARR, but Michael then overrides him and the climax unfolds.  If one of the most iconic moments in the series is caused by this one bit of programming, to throw it out in the film is to disrespect the basis of the original series.

Speaking of KARR, he provides yet another reason niglecting this detail is such a big problem.  From what we can tell, KARR isn't programmed to one specific driver (at least, not anymore[?]), and so he can override anyone in the pilot's seat.  This is something they seem to highlight in TDR as well, although not so plainly as the previous point.  KARR ends up ditching Tony to gain speed and get an upper hand in the chase with Michael and KITT (although a scene they deleted would have made this a mUCH MORE SENSIBLE ACTION THAT R E A L L Y ISN'T A BETRAYAL but y'know what this post isn't about that) whereas KITT has to listen to Michael even to his own detriment.  If this one feature is indeed one of the major things that separates KITT from KARR, the idea that Shawn can override all of that cheapens the original conflict between KITT and KARR.

...Well okay, let's be real, KARR was never that compelling as an antagonist to begin with because he's a LOYAL SWEETIEPIE-- I'll stop.

And finally, we have the biggest, most bizarre reason that this is a problem:

If Shawn can override Michael's authority, that means KITT can override Michael's authority.

Why?  This would be the first time (outside of episodes where some sort of reprogramming or mind control was involved) in the series that KITT had not only listened to another human instead of Michael, but also listened to that person OVER Michael.  The only difference I can see between Shawn and quite literally anyone else in the show's history is that Shawn has KITT's chip implant thing.  If that's the reason her opinion has more credence than Michael's, then wouldn't that mean KITT's own opinion has that authority?  If that is the case, literally every example I've gone through in the last couple of paragraphs is not just challenged but rather negated entirely.

The most frustrating thing about this scene is that it simply didn't have to happen.  Michael could have gone along with KITT's plan, showing him (and us) that he does trust his former partner even after all these years.  Shawn could have convinced Michael to go along with it using her... feelings chip.  Blegh.  Or we could have had a stubborn Michael force this scene to be delayed, likely improving the pacing overall.  Maybe we could have even seen a frustrated and emotionally exhausted Shawn wait until Michael is not in the car and then plead KITT to give her the truth, no matter what Michael says.  We have seen KITT control his actions without Michael's input plenty of times, and we could have seen some more of his humanity show through if he could relate to Shawn's struggles... after all, he too has missing memories because she has his chip.  They're both going through a bit of an identity crisis.  I'm sure that he could find some workaround in his programming to help her if Michael wasn't there insisting that he does not take this course of action.

But even after all of that fussing over what has been done wrong with KITT, I can’t deny that he is the heart and soul of this film.  There was only one scene in this film that brought me near tears.  I got more of an emotional impact from this one clip than I have from a lot of movies that are undeniably much better.  Michael’s old-fashioned Chevrolet does not hold up in the year 2000, and it is clear that the usual car chase sequence won’t work as police vehicles quickly creep up on them.  I was personally very curious what they would do here.  I figured that KITT would find some way to outsmart the drivers of the police cars, maybe by ending up on an elevated mountain road that trips up the other drivers and causes them to waste time turning around and hopping on that same path.  Or, maybe, KITT would access a road that’s too narrow for the relatively bulky police cars.  However, it quickly becomes clear that this city is made up of wide roads on the ground.  As KITT veers off the road and tells Michael to trust him, the I found myself having to trust him.  This isn’t the way Knight Rider chases usually go, and with all these odds stacked against him, the only thing we can do is hold our breath.  The way this scene is staged to send us into this just as blind as Michael is, frankly, genius.  Water slowly creeps into the frame as a feeling of dread builds at the thought of what KITT might do.

Surely, we are led to think, he will knock into some boxes and turn right back around.  Right?  We’re reminded of the fact that this is not the Knight 2000, that there is no chance of this car floating.  That if KITT does what he really seems to be doing, there’s no chance… but he wouldn’t, would he?  This is the only action sequence in the film that had me at the edge of my seat, staring wide eyed at the screen.  And then, the turn that you want so badly to come doesn’t, and you have to wonder what’s about to happen.  What was KITT thinking?  Won’t Michael and Shawn drown?  And, most prominently in my mind, won’t KITT drown?

For a moment, this scene plays us into believing that, because magic FLAG science that is pretty par for the course, everything is fine.  KITT explains that they have an airtight cab and over 20 minutes of oxygen.  Everyone lets out a collective breath of relief.  We see it in Michael and Shawn, and I know I felt myself relax.

And then there’s a flicker in the screen, and that pit in the bottom of my stomach came right back.  Michael is confused, and KITT explains what we should have realized was inevitable.  This is KITT sacrificing himself.  He even goes as far as to let Shawn know that she can use any of his computer chips that she may need.  This comes off as strange at first, but it goes to show that KITT is, at his core, the same kind soul we always knew.  He acts angry because he feels betrayed, but given the choice, he will chose another person’s life over his own, always.  Even the microprocessor that he is most frustrated over, the thing that seems to drive a wedge between him and Shawn, is just how he is expressing his hurt.  Now, thinking it is the end, he offers it up freely, and Shawn doesn’t seem to know how to respond.  KITT is calm as he says his final goodbyes.  And this is the first place in the film that we get to hear the amazingly nuanced  voice acting that William Daniels is so great at.  KITT sounds collected and at peace with what is to come, but there are also subtle hints that he is at least a bit nervous, a bit sad.  “I know.  I guess this is goodbye.”  He doesn’t want to leave his friends, but he knows that he has to for them to be safe.  Even if the pacing of the film seems to actively try to undermine this moment, it stands out to me as an amazing scene, even if the reaction from Michael is underwhelming at best and the reaction from Shawn is… as much as can be expected from Shawn, but that’s not saying much.  As far as KITT knows in that moment, these are his last words: “Michael, take care of yourself.”  Down to the last moment, Michael is everything to him.

IjustwannamakeitclearquicklythatIthinktheirrelationshipisentirelyplatonicokthankyou

And I felt sad, big time sad.  The movie up until that point was unbelievably boring to me, and this wasn’t a turning point where the movie suddenly became great.  It was a moment so darn good that I almost don’t think the movie deserved for it to have as big of an impact as it did.  But that shows just how powerful this universe is, how wonderfully honest these characters are.  Even after being butchered practically beyond recognition, one scene in-character can still bring you to tears because you have connected with them so deeply throughout the TV series.

AND THEN DEVON DIED IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS :D

I don’t like Devon.

Devon was actually more tolerable in this movie than normal, and I can see where people who don’t hate him could be sad that he died  I just,,, he has hurt or talked down to KITT and KARR so many times that I actually could not sympathize.  What’s even more frustrating about that is that Devon’s death is the one that Michael got all sad over when KITT sacrificed his life for him and Devon got kidnapped randomly but okay go off movie you can’t ruin that scene for me.  I knew going in that Devon died, but I was expecting them to spend a lot more time setting it up and making it as dramatic as possible.  Nope, he just got a shot to the old air tanks I guess?  My view of it is nothing more than that it’s a thing that happened.

OH AND DEVON DID PULL ONE HEINOUS ACT.  He said that KIFT was better than KITT in every way other than that KITT has humanity.  SINCE WHEN HAS DEVON GIVEN ONE SINGULAR HOOT ABOUT THE AI’S BEING ALIVE???  TELL KARR THAT???  HECK, TELL DEACTIVATED KITT THAT YOU WERE JUST FINE SELLING OFF AT AUCTION THAT?!?!  Also also, KIFT DOES NOT C O M P A R E TO KITT.  We are coming back to KIFT in a moment, don’t you worry.  For now, I just.  Low blow, Devon, low blow.

Michael was fine too, he played a weirdly small part and that felt off but everything he said seemed pretty in character.  The most out of character parts were when he said nothing at all.  OH AND WHERE HE WAS REPLACING BONNIE but that’s besides the point, no Bonnie OR April… no Bonnie OR April… I’m fine…

…

It feels like this movie wants you to forget that Michael exists because Shawn is here she’s more interesting, right?  Right???

She’s really not.

So back to KIFT.  My favorite part of KIFT is that pronouncing KIFT in your head sounds funny.  It’s like “gift” but if the gift were actually an underwhelming villain of sorts that is overtaken in a garage, parked, by Michael either removing his microprocessor entirely or moving it to a Chevrolet.

I was surprised how not bad KIFT looked.  I had seen stills from the movie that looked really uninteresting compared to the regular designs, and while I still agree to some extent, it was a lot more epic than I would have thought.  Something about how the paint shines on it is captivating.  I was genuinely happy when KITT was moved to the snazzy red vehicle, although a big part of that could have been how disgusting mint green looks with red.  Seriously, including the red scanner on that bizarre seafoamy-bluey car (and yes, I do think it is a very pretty car by itself) was like when people say movies were “inspired” but in the opposite direction.  And the scanner looked weirdly small?  Was it just me?

Am I the only one who feels w e i r d just looking at this??

I think this is the most normal thing to be categorized as being in uncanny valley but there we go, I did it.  It’s not right.

Anyway, as neat as KIFT looks, it is no comparison to the classic Knight 2000 or even Season 3 KARR.  Red can be striking, but not when the classic scanner is also red.  No contrast!

KIFT is absurdly easy to forget, and I don’t think that the car’s design has anything to do with it.  KITT spends most of the movie piloting that car, and while it is not what we are used to, it doesn’t come across as super lame to me, either…or at least, not because of the design.  The biggest problem with KIFT is, I think, simply his voice.  His voice feels so out of place in the movie, and it’s so strange to me considering that Daniels’ voice is integrated just fine.  The recording sounds too crisp, too clean.  KITT’s voice always has a great deal of character, a very Earthy-sounding voice for an AI character.  I actually think that this incongruity is purposeful, and it’s a very clever concept.  We are supposed to recognize that KIFT isn’t human like KITT is.  KIFT sounds out of place in the real world among real people; he’s too neat around the edges.  It’s especially obvious when KITT and KIFT talk to each other.  This is also mirrored by how KITT occupies a well-loved Chevrolet that has little imperfections that make it feel real whereas KIFT is in this red… whatever it is that feels like it comes out of a sci-fi film.  This effect would have really worked if we had enough time with KIFT to understand his personality–or, more aptly, his lack of personality.  What makes this not work is the fact that we spend practically no time with KIFT.  We don’t get to hear what he feels he is programmed to do, we don’t get to hear him deliver the sort of lifeless lines that Shawn did that made her so unlikable, and we don’t even get to hear his voice more than 4-5 times.  Every time comes as a shock, taking us out of the moment of the film.  We could have gotten used to his crisp sound if he had spoken more, and we may have seen the actual plot significance of it.  Instead, it pulls you right out of the movie.

Oh yeah, and the only line(s?) that KIFT delivers to KITT are full-on taunting… that’s not very lifeless of you KIFT.

Alright, just one last thing to really hammer home a point from earlier and conclude this whole thing.  You know what I was saying about this movie lacking the whimsical nature of the TV show?  Well, the final chase puts the icing on this oddly sullen crab cake.

Yes, crab cake. 

Because the pinchy crab that is Shawn makes it quite painful to get this particular cake and icing doesn’t even belong on it anyway.

KITT is racing down the street in this bright red car that I just explained is thematically wrong for him to be driving tbh but whatever, he’s racing in it and comes up to a barricade of randomly stacked up cars.

Oh Yeah, we all know what is coming.

The music swells.  Michael looks at the upcoming barricade with furrowed eyebrows and quietly asks KITT what the heck they’re going to do now.

OH YEAH, we definitely know what is coming.

And at last, for the first time in the film…

KITT veers off to the right and they drive on water.  “It’s really sink or swim with you, isn’t it?” Michael asks, pretending that’s funny as if I am not still emotionally raw from that scene that happened an hour ago.

Apparently, KIFT had that one obscure feature from “Return to Cadiz,” the Season 2 episode where April forces KITT to follow KARR into the ocean on the hopes that waterproof wheels might work maybe, directly ignoring his many attempts to get out of it.  Yay.  I love references to That Episode.  That Episode which baited me with an opening that looked like KARR could have been discovered underwater only to show me that not only was there no KARR, but KITT was going to be bullied into repeating what his brother did when he died.  Wholesome.  Lovely.  Fantastic.  And how did KITT know for sure that would work?  KITT clearly still has some technical hiccups in his own CPU from Michael tampering with it, that was an awful lot of confidence to place in a maybe.

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY…

THIS MOVIE DID NOT HAVE A TURBO BOOST

A TURBO BOOST

I cannot believe that a movie based around Knight Rider did not have a turbo boost (or for that matter, the THEMESONG???).  Like I am honestly still surprised by it.  Almost every episode of the original show had at least one turbo boost, and there is a reason.  The idea of a talking car jumping in midair, sometimes with Michael “WOO!”-ing like a girl, is so fantastically fun that nobody even tries to question how impossible it is.  I think we all know how impossible it is, and that doesn’t matter, it is yet another thing that embodies the heart of this show.

And… not even one.

…

So yeah, that just happened.  I think this is technically a small novel.  Wow.

  I know that I'm still missing a lot... I have a lot of thoughts about this movie, and if you for some reason want more please ask!  I would also love to hear your thoughts on this!  Do you agree with my analysis?  Do you disagree entirely?  Did you notice something that I failed to mention entirely?  Pleasepleaseplease send ideas, I would love to hear them!  Also know that, no matter how much I was disappointed by the movie itself, I am fully open to hearing your ideas about how to improve or expand upon it.  I truly believe that this film introduced some great concepts, and I would absolutely adore seeing them reworked in a way that's more true to the original.  Thank you for reading! :D

[missaudreyhorney]

(Almost) Every Idea Ever

Although I rarely ever finish writing a fic, that never stops me from getting new ideas for them. Terrible, horrible, dumpster fire ideas. Okay, some of them are wholesome on occasion, but mostly it’s just filth. I've excluded a couple of things because either they were just too awful to mention or I’m currently working on them and I want it to be a surprise.

The first story I started to write this year was original fiction but with the main male character heavily inspired by Jim Hopper. It was about a recently married young woman having an affair with her father-in-law. This really set a precedent for the rest of my ideas and should indicate to you the level of depravity on this list.

Hopper x Reader:

Hurts So Good series - In 1982, Reader is Mayor Kline’s daughter and has a crush on Chief Hopper. She decides to pursue him and things don’t go quite as planned but they still end up having steamy, rough sex. A secret affair begins between the two of them but it eventually leads to heartbreak. Heavy emphasis on Dom/sub and pain kink. - Initial pursuit, fingering in the car, sex (60%) - Phone sex the following day (70%) - Rough sex, bordering on consensual nonconsent (partially written) - Introduction to Daddy kink (notes) - Body worship (notes) - Bruise kink (notes) - Facesitting (50%) - hurt/comfort throatfucking, an argument, angst/fluff (75%) - Orgasm denial/control (70%) - Possible gunplay? (Unwritten) - Disciplinary spanking (notes)

Dress You Up series - In 1985, Hopper meets plus-size!Reader at JCPenney when he comes in to pick out a shirt for his date. After Joyce stands him up, he decides to come back and ask Reader out instead. Probably the cutest idea I’ve ever had for smut. Inspired by flamehairedwritings and flames-bring-a-ton-of-ash. - 1st meeting, 2nd meeting, date, sex (50%) - 2nd date, a continuation of My First Drabble (partially written) - Meeting El and she’s standoffish (notes)

Domestic Smut - Reader and husband!Hopper are at the cabin alone together one weekend. After breakfast, she tries to wash the dishes but the sink is broken, the water squirting everywhere. A water fight turns into a tickle fight which turns into kitchen table sex. (50%)

Hopper blindfolding Reader during sex at the cabin (Notes)

Hopper blindfolding Reader during a blowjob in his office at the police station (Minimal notes)

Hopper rubbing a popsicle on Reader’s body then licking it off (Minimal notes)

Hopper coming over to Reader’s house, unannounced, late at night, in the rain, for a quick rough fuck. Inspired by one of the pictures from the Playboy shoot. (Partially written)

Licking Hopper’s hand and arm veins to get his attention while he reads the Sunday newspaper. (Unwritten)

Sucking Hopper’s cock while he smokes a cigar on the porch and either ignores you or looks at you with disdain. Inspired by a compilation video of David smoking a cigar on Instagram Live. (Unwritten)

Consensual nonconsent fantasy where Hopper touches Reader and tells her to say no to him while he’s making her cum. Rough, forceful sex immediately follows. (Partially written)

Bootlicker - anti-cop Reader has a secret fetish for cops and Hopper is more than happy to oblige them and keep quiet about it. (Notes)

Working out my own personal issues via smut, bigender-questioning AFAB Reader puts on Hopper’s uniform shirt and hat. Much to their delight, he says they look like a boy. He also says “If you’re going to dress like a boy, I’m going to fuck you like one.” Basically just incredible anal sex while Hopper calls Reader a good boy. Extremely niche subject but the fantasy of this is so affirming to me, I can’t not think about it. (Notes)

Hopper x Reader requests

A sequel to Little Magnum where the dog is a few years older. There is maybe also a cat? (Unwritten)

Fire & Ice - Reader is playing in the snow when it’s getting dark outside. Hopper tells them to come in but they don’t listen. Reader falls and hurts their ankle then Hopper gets angry at their disobedience. Not because he’s a jerk, but because he can’t imagine his life without Reader and doesn’t want to lose them. Angsty hurt/comfort. (~70%)

Replacement idea since Fire & Ice was much too angsty - Reader gets stung by a bee and Hopper freaks out. Reader is fine but he babies them nonetheless, because again, his greatest fear is losing them. Very cute and silly. (unwritten)

Freezeframe - Reader bought Hopper a Polaroid camera for his birthday and he hasn’t used it months later. Taking matters into her own hands, she uses the camera for some naughty selfies. Once Hopper finds the pictures, he decides to assume the role of photographer and gets some very intimate shots of Reader. (80-85%)

Morning Wood - Reader lets themself into the cabin early one Summer morning and sees Hopper in bed, fully nude, just a sheet covering the part they want to see most. Hop wakes up, invites Reader into bed with him, and a blowjob ensues. Very detailed description of his body. (Notes)

Hopper gets injured and needs Reader to patch him up. She gets pissed though for him being in yet another dangerous situation where he yet again gets hurt. Reader reprimanding him leads to confessions of feelings which leads to sex. (Unwritten)

Reader has been feeling ignored by Hopper lately and decides to make him jealous to get his attention. She flirts with another man at a bar while Hopper watches and seethes with rage. He punishes her by dragging her into the parking lot then spanking over the tailgate of his Chevy Blazer. Rough sex and more spanking goes down back at the cabin. Based on my jealous!Hopper headcanon post. (Partially written)

Principal Hopper  - One of the worst ideas I’ve ever had, which is saying A LOT. High school principal Hopper catches one of his 18-year-old female students spying on him between classes and confronts her about it. Sexual tension bubbles up until neither of them can control themselves. Based on a fantasy told to me by a friend who I will not name. (Notes)

Hopper x Reader AUs

Messing Around With Jim series - A continuation of The Big Game, Afterschool Special, and Third Time’s A Charm. Modern!Hopper and Reader having all kinds of sex. - Fingering, gentle sex, tender orgasm control (50%) - Period sex, vibrator (Notes) - First blowjob, a continuation of A Sampling (partially written) - Hop eating Reader’s pussy for his birthday (minimal notes) - Fingering in the car, truck bed sex (notes) - Another blowjob, rough sex over the hood of a car (partially written) - Pussy eating at the park (notes) - Hop not understanding FaceTime, fluff, smut (unwritten) - Roleplaying how they met, sex at Reader’s parents house (notes) - July 4th fingering, rough sex, surprises (notes) - Remote control vibrator (partially written) - More pussy eating, this time in Hop’s cutting edge shirt (partially written) - Yet another blowjob, this time in a movie theater (unwritten) - Jealousy resulting in overstimulation/”forced” orgasms (notes) - 4 part miniseries about butt plugs/anal sex (notes) - Confronting her parents, angst (55-60%) - Learning about Sara, ANGST! (notes)

Vacation series - modem!Hopper and Reader go on vacation together. That’s it, that’s the plot. Idea from David’s Croatian vacation pics and conversations with Tayler. All just notes at this point. - Christening the hotel bed - Bratty Reader getting semi-publicly punished - Hopper taking care of drunk!Reader, humor, fluff - Double date

carpenter!Hopper - Reader is recently divorced and hires Hop to make repairs on her house before she sells it. Graphic detail of him doing manly things like sawing and hammering. Porn with plot. Inspired by another friend, she knows who she is. (Notes in the form of a 500-word summary)

Detective Hopper - various bits and pieces of ideas inspired by David being digitally handcuffed to Darren Criss and Michael Stuhlbarg in Vanity Fair, plus a few pictures in 2016. (Unwritten)

Captain Hopper - a collaboration with @pkg4mumtown. She said she was thinking about fire captain!Hopper rescuing her from a burning building and I told her my pre-existing firefighter idea of being saved and then wanting to thank him in a variety of ways. Things snowballed from there and I decided we need to write it. Mostly just notes so far. - Initial meeting, first date, sex - Second date, making dinner together, sex

Hopper x Joyce:

There is a list of my Jopper ideas (Various degrees of notes)

Teenage Joyce and Hopper meeting in high school and their relationship that follows. Maybe a oneshot? Maybe a series? (Notes)

Hopper x Billy: (Over 18-years-old and no longer in high school!)

1940/50’s AU - Hopper meets expat Billy at a cigar club while on vacation in Havana. A familiar face, so to speak, in a foreign land. Hop pays Billy to take him back to his apartment and “keep him company”. Maybe two chapters? Inspired by a photo of Dacre Montgomery in GQ Germany. (Partially written.)

Hopper catches Billy “renting his time” at a truck stop outside of town and threatens to arrest him, but Billy bribes him with sex. (Unwritten.) I’m sorry but there’s just something about the idea of rent boy Billy that I absolutely love.

Hopper + Billy + Reader - completely implausible threeway (Unwritten)

David Harbour RPF:

AU where instead of being an actor, he’s a drama teacher at a high school in New York City and the kids from Stranger Things are his students. Pure fluff. (Please write this for me!)

Giving him a blow job before an important event. TWO different versions. Inspired by numerous photos of David wearing a robe. (Minimal notes)

Riding his thigh and everything that entails. Inspired by a picture of David from GQ Mexico. (Minimal notes)

touch-starved!David hires a sexworker during the pandemic because he’s lonely quarantining by himself. No sex. He literally just wants a hug and someone to be affectionate with him. Unconventional fluff. (Unwritten)

Other DKH-related shenanigans:

Let’s Ride sequel - Reader goes on a second date with Deacon from SoulCycle, they go out for sashimi and end up at his place. He has a cat that he inherited from a neighbor. Reader teaches him how to put her in a chokehold. (Unwritten)

Alexei Shostakov smut - some type of Bond Girl situation where Reader has to seduce him. Just an excuse for me to lovingly describe his large tattooed body in vivid detail. (Unwritten)

The Stranger - Reader has an ongoing affair with a mysterious man whose name is never mentioned. They meet at high society functions and hook up in fancy hotels. One night, he finds out that she’s married and punishes her for her dishonesty. Inspired by a photo of David looking annoyed in a tuxedo. (Notes)

Daddy Dom/little girl roleplay fantasy. Sweet, smutty, and slightly taboo. (Notes)

Daddy’s Little...Helper - Me, as submissive!Reader, watching Daddy jack off right in front of my face after he comes home from work. Based on a conversation with an Instagram friend and a picture of David in the play “Cal In Camo” where he’s holding a beer bottle between his legs. (65%)

Stranger Things x Twin Peaks crossover - Chief Jim Hopper comes to Twin Peaks to help Special Agent Dale Cooper solve some type of paranormal mystery. Perhaps a parallel between The Black Lodge and The Upside Down? I think this would work really really well, but I can’t write it myself. (Please write this for me!)

In conclusion: Yes, I know I need to have my head examined. Yes, I know I spend too much time thinking about Jim Hopper. Let me know if you LIKE these ideas. Please do not let me know if you hate these ideas.

Tagging: @manawhaat @strangest-hour @007swhore @kingphillipblake @david-harbour-arg @misshawkins1993 @oxforddrama 

[furkanandiceng]

FURKAN ANDIÇ, INSTYLE MAGAZINE (NOVEMBER 2017) INTERVIEW TRANSLATION 

We found a sporty, gentlemanlike and very easygoing person standing in front of us when we met in Life Park for shooting. We not only breathed in the fresh air amidst his favorite nature but also had a long pleasant chat with Furkan all day long.

How was Meryem different from the other scripts you read?

I chose it because it was a script full of secrets, different and challenging conflicts for each and every character and a story that embodied many new stories.

What do you like about acting the most?

I think it’s good for a person’s soul, it cleanses and improves it. I feel very free when I act. I see it as a profession that can help me keep improving myself.

What is its hardest side?

Its tempo.

What helps you stay motivated as an actor?

The desire to act.

What is success for you?

The satisfaction I get from the final product.

What made you the proudest among your experiences and achievements in your career?

We ran a social responsibility project for destitute children. Its success made me the proudest in my career.

When did you decide to be an actor?

I decided while working as an animator/entertainer in holiday resorts during the summer holidays. I njoyed it so much it was priceless. So I started to develop an interest in acting.

When was the first time you said “This is it. I am an actor now”?

It’s too soon to say that. If I am going to compare myself with the actors I watch, I still have a long way ahead. It’s a long journey and I think the trademark of this job is that this journey never ends.

What are your expectations, dreams about acting?

In the short-term, I would like to get better in acting and then improve my English and receive acting courses abroad. In the medium term, I would like to shoot my own film. The idea of being involved in more than one area, like directing and producing, makes me excited.

Where do you want see yourself five years later?

In the rush of shooting my own film.

Have you ever worked in other jobs besides acting?

I worked as an entertainer, and as a host in fair stands.

Do you remember your first day on sets?

Yes, it was a TV commercial. I was one of the basketball players and had no lines.

Damat Takımı is your first film, what kind of excitement is it?

It’s really a fun excitement. Being excited for a film feels different (laughs).

Can you talk about the film and your character?

We watch a close group of friends from high school, facing the fact that they are now grown-ups when one of them decides to get married. These guys get into an adventure and go back to their high school years before the wedding. It’s comedy film after all and we show their friendship bond in a fun way.

Can you share a memory from the making of the film?

There is a scene where I stand in the street with only my underwear on. When we started filming that scene, I hadn’t paid attention to the extra actors at first. I knew the whole crew. When the scene was over, I noticed an old couple giving me a half-surprised, half-ashamed look. I was very embarrassed at first. In the second take, I figured they were extra actors (laughs).

How much does sports take place in your life?

Sports is one of my priorities. A priority important enough to especially make time for it.

Do you like being in nature?

I love it. I believe that nature is a space of freedom where a person can be himself.

What kind of activities do you like?

I usually like hanging out with my friends. I believe that that energy feeds me. A dinner we have or a play we go to together… I usually do activities that make me feel fresh and doing them with my friends is much more enjoyable. And when I am by myself, I usually watch a movie or paint.

You said you don’t have a girlfriend now, so what do you expect from a relationship?

Having fun together, loyalty and sincerity.

Your first date: What do you do to impress a woman? Where do you take her?

I take her to a place where I can reflect my character, a place that would give an idea about me and where she can know me better. I make sure she has lots of fun and laughs. I try to understand whether we can get along while having fun.

What are the most important characteristics in human relations for you?

Every person is unique. I try to focus on getting to know the other person in every relationship, because every relationship gives me new ideas. I am a person who likes listening and learning. But in general, honesty and good intentions might be the basis of that relationship.

What do you like doing in your free time?

Except for sports, I can say I like watching movies. These days I started painting. I try to learn it whenever I have the time.

What do you like the most about İstanbul?

I like its history of experiences. It has a unique spirit and everybody has high energy.

You have traveled to very beautiful places, Furkan. Can you talk about your Bali trip?

I haven’t had much time to go on holidays lately. In these rare times, I usually try to travel to tropical countries. Bali is a very beautiful island. Its beaches, nature and Hindu world are one of a kind.

How long did you stay?

For about two weeks.

What places did you see?

We went down to Denpasar. We visited Canggu, Seminyak, Ubud and Uluwatu and saw mystical temples, national parks, monkey jungles, an active volcano and wonderful beaches.

Where do you plan to take your next trip to?

South America.

What phone apps do you use the most?

Whatsapp and Instagram, I think.

Do you play any games to kill time?

I love playing PlayStation games, usually football games.

What is the last song you listened to before this interview?

The song called The Finishing by Stavroz.

Can you describe an ideal Friday evening?

I have a movie list. I choose and watch one of them. I don’t have to go outside.

Do you like going to the movies?

Yes. I wouldn’t trade the enjoyment of a movie theater for the world.

Do you watch TV series?

Yes, the foreign TV series in general.

The new season of which TV series are you looking forward to?

Game of Thrones, House of Cards and The Vikings.

Who are your favorite Hollywood actors?

Sean Penn, Robert de Niro and Marlon Brando.

A film that you watched as a kid and had a deep impact on you?

Life is Beautiful.

In which film did you cry a lot recently?

I Am Sam. 

[curious-minx]

Denis Leary is making an animated vignette series based on Dogs Playing Poker and 10 Other Pieces of Kitsch Art That Should Be Turned Into TV

KITSCH auction house tremors and stampedes.

Dennis Leary basically discovered sex, drugs and rock n’ roll with his 2015 two season FX series Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. Leary’s always been one of those guys that can’t be beaten down  in spite of how dopey and cynical his edgy working class personal brand is. He’s got an entire deal set up with Fox, the flailing broadcasting company has placed all of their chips on a Denis with only one lousy  “N” in his name. I can’t even with this fake Irish Bostonian droid. Relish in the delicate thought process of Leary and leftover former Daily Show producer, Jim Margolis,  bringing up a Pinterest screen grab of the Dogs Playing Poker by Grand Master of Kitsch Cassius Marcellus Coolidge and money signs popping out of both of their heads. Here is a dramatic retelling of this thought process:

“Yo, get this Big D,” salivates the recently fired from Netflix Jim Margolis to Leary over a Zoom, “Fox got this Bento Box Animation Studio sitting around doing nothing but churning out animated interstitials for the Masked Singer, Paradise PD, The Prince, The Blues Brothers animated series, animated Harold And Kumar, Housebroken, The Great North, and ugh..um..Hoops..”

“I fuckin love Hoops, Jimmy! Why aren’t we pitching this on Netflix again?”

“Because Dogs Playing Poker is going to work so much better as pregame filler for live Sporting Events...on Fox.”

“Oh yeah. All of those rotten good for nothing grease monkey and lunch pail people will probably be giving each other Budweiser flavored Covid at the local saloon with these damn dog pictures hanging up. It’s like when old drunks would stay out late and watch the Flinstones at the bar, did you know that actual human male adults would sit in a town like Boston and waste away in a bar watching Flintsones. Can you believe that Johny?”

“My name is Jimmy, err Jim, but yeah Denis we’ll send you the scripts over. Any idea who we should cast?”

“Get me the hot blonde from Inspector Gadget 2, God dammit I miss Louie..are we sure we can’t get Louie back on air?”

“Afraid after Patton Oswalt dognapped his role from him in Secret Life of Pets, Louie CK has been banned from ever appearing as a talking dog again.”

“So bogus. Bobby Kelly will have to do.” Denis gets a text. “Dammit, Adam is getting all thirsty for this juicy  delicious bone. Gotta throw a  big bone to my dog Ferrera. Who else?”

“Ok. I’ll get one of those sad Daily Show losers. Um picking one at random, Roy Wood Jr. They’ll pretty much jump into anything, because John Oliver was in Love Guru they start thinking they can fail their way up.”

“I said no politics at the table! Paws off the table! This is going to be so fucking lit!”

////

Kitsch Art deserves so much more. George Lucas, retired American filmmaker, robber baron of childhoods and all around  mensch has been heavily invested in the kitsch art of Norman Rockwell. There are a bounty of stories to tell. Too many of them are far too white and basic, but there are rich narratives to be found in his out of date even for his own time romanticism of The Old Masters. Hopelessly out of date could have been a failing of Rockwell, but his politics grew progressive as his career went on and fought against the system. Cassius Marcellus Coolidge is the man that operated the first bank in Antwerp, New York  had the astronaut-like grace to wonder, “what if dogs played poker like people played poker?” A painting that dates back to 1894 used as means to sell cigars. What strikes me most about this painting is that they aren’t wearing clothes, but I bet when you try to imagine the painting you imagine these dogs fully decked out in some sort of work coat. There is a further anthropromized version of the ad called “His Station and Four Aces” that depicts a glimpse at a look at an entire canine furry society. His ideas of putting an animal in clothes remains to this day one of the most novel and surefire commercially friendly means of artistic expression. The original cynical man laughing all the way to the bank, his own bank that he founded to boot.

Seen above: An example of a Comic Foreground that also demonstrates the failings of having too few people in your party to properly partake in the comic foreground experience. 

“Cash” Cassius wasn’t the first man to imagine a domestic pet in people clothes, but he’s probably one of the few to do so with such commercial finesse. The man also at one point filed the patent on the “Comic Foregrounds,” which is the technical name of one of those carnival boards with holes to stick your head in. In post Covid times how many more heads will be salivating and rushing towards those holes to pop their heads in to create a lasting memory, if only for a second. So when I start learning more about this remarkable weirdo Cassius Coolidge, a man according to his official website dogsplayingpoker.com’s Biography: “Trying to chase mischievous boys from an abandoned house, he fell from a window and hurt his knee, leaving him injured for the rest of his life.”

Flash forward back to 2021 and Denis Leary and his career a man with a wikipedia with fun entries about all the accusations of plagiarism and hate speech against autism I start to worry about the legacy of more Kitsch art falling into the hands of other greedy and desperate TV executives. That being said if you are a greedy TV executive who happens to be a maniac that likes reading rando’s tumblr pages do I have a list for you!

TOP TEN PIECES OF KITSCH ART THAT SHOULD BE TURNED INTO SOME KIND OF SOMETHING

“We Are Having a Heavenly Time” Columbian Bike Monkey and Parakeet by, once again, Cassius Coolidge

Coolidge’s anthropomorphic foresight strikes again! This time he effortlessly establishes a captivating duo that could be easily voiced by an endless combination of celebrity voice actors. PAUL RUDD as “Monkey” and ISSA RAE as “Parakeet” present “We Are Having a Heavenly Time” present a travel show. You could basically use whatever leftover footage you have lying around from the many Conan O’Brien segments and plug Monkey and Parakeet and their trusty bicycle anywhere for an irreverent glimpse into the foreign World around us.

2. “Clown and The Girl” by Haddon Sundblom  

Now I know what you’re thinking, that title is miserable! I agree, but with a little  reverse engineering you get The Girl and Clown, which could be a whole new addition to the Girl on a Train, Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, Girl with a Dangly Earpiece, the Girl-Verse! The girl appears to be quite fearless of this clown, which is good because we need someone to be brave for when the clown takes off his mask.

Sundblom is also the original artist for the Coke a cola Santa Claus and how is it that we have gone this many rotations around the sun without a single Coke a cola Santa Claus special is the real reason why Christmas will always be the saddest time of year.

3. “Clean Your Fornasetti” based around the artistic Plate collection of Pierro Fornasetti 

Muk bangs, videos of people eating are a huge cyber traffic boom. People love watching people eat. Why not add the element of surprise by what kind of playful Fornasetti chanteuse is hiding underneath this plate full of gruel? Fornasetti is an artist with over 11,000 items created in his name and over 500 of them are based around a variety of expressions of a single woman. Clean Your Fornasetti is a deep and poetic rumination of the romance between the act of someone cleaning their plate and the reveal that the plate contained a visual feast all its own.

4. “Mickey’s Kinkade Playhouse” by the one and only Thomas Kinkade

The Kinkade Studios features over 63 “narrative panoramas” featuring Disney characters, but largely Mickey and Minnie, simply vibing. It’s time we stop pretending that small children like Mickey Mouse and market him for wistful older audiences that want to radiate in a nice long warm bath of color and sound. I am not sure I am even pitching an actual series but more of a Narrative Panoply. One thing that is missing from Disney Plus, and streaming services in general, is a severe lack of programming frills and flourishing. The iconic Adult Swim bumps are something completely lost to the dustbins of programming history left to remain in youtube compilations. Thomas Kinkade is a lot like Enya. Art critics treated him like a comedic punching bag for so long, but I doubt there’s an artist that grasps the kind of sterile enchantment people want after a long day of opioid benders. We’re all trapped inside doing puzzles why not do the bare minimum of slightly animating a pleasant scene of Mickey and Minnie roasting marshmallows or enjoying a breath of fresh Alpine air?

5. “Dust Lickers” by Odd Nerdrum

Quick! Get me Trash Humpers’ Harmony Korine on the Line Show him Shit Rock! The world of Odd Nerdrum is a harsh and primeval one that would make for an astonishing animated landscape. Odd Nerdrum himself feels like a worthy subject of some kind of documentary based around his imagery and insistence on making his art in the most arcane and old fashioned methods possible. Once again, maybe the visual world of Odd Nerdrum may not make for a full on narrative series, but once again would make for one hell of an animated segment.

6. “Homemade Pasta” by John Currin 

A cozy Queer slice of life cooking drama based around the two charming fellows of John Currin’s Homemade Pasta scene. A series of vignettes based around the completely unfabulous and domestic version of bliss that was denied many people as a result of the AIDS crisis. You can’t tell me you don’t see those two nice guys getting cozy and making pasta together and you aren’t dying to see how they go about rolling out their own focaccia bread.

7. “The Velvet Elvis” by the Collective Conscious 

David Lynch at one point in time was trying to crack into making his own Elvis biopic. I think it’s pretty safe to say that the age of a public wanting a David Lynch directed Elvis biopic has probably passed, but that does not stop Velvet art enthusiasts. TheVelvetStore.com is featuring a remarkable promo that could really bump up what a David Lynch Elvis movie could be like and the horror of having one’s soul trapped inside of a Velvet Elvis rendition painting seems like a pretty fertile place to begin a proper story about Elvis in America. 

8. “Big Eye Bunch” by Margaret Keane 

Yes, it was only a matter of time before Ms. Big Eyes herself, Queen of Kitsch, Margaret Keane would come up on a list like this. Tim Burton tried and sort of kind of captured what it so endearing about Keane’s work, but I think a fully animated dive into an orphanage full of sad Big Eye kids that time travel and meet other Big Eyed children version of historical figures is a Big Idea that could make a whole new generation keen on Keane.

9. “Banality” by Jeff Koons

An animated series based around the artistic sensibilities of Jeff Koons would be a tricky affair, but just the kind of gaudy whimsy that someone like Michel Gondrey could use to proper effect. A series based around someone trying to steal the fifteen million dollar Michael Jackson statue would also be appropriate.

10. “Groovenians reboot” by Kenny Scharf

Scharf is the only artist on this list that actually was a kitsch artist that caught the attention of early aughts adult swim. A tv show that only features the artistic sensibilities of Scharf but also a voice acting cast that consisted of Paul Reubens, Rupaul, Vincent Gallo, and Dennis Hopper. There’s also a theme song performed by the B-52s and musical direction by Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh. One of the only known published reviews of the pilot describe the show as needing mind altering substances to enjoy and that it is essentially like “watching a cartoon reflected off of a funhouse mirror. This is basically a description of the modern tik tok addled twitchy type content that makes a killing on the Internet for millenial and zoomer types. Basically the whole aesthetic of a warped and broken looking cartoon is the exact sort of thing weirdos deep diving at youtube at four in the morning are looking for and seeing that this gets a failed pilot and Denis Leary’s Dog Poker vignettes get greenlit is exactly what’s wrong with the world.

[the-weeping-author]

Hate To Love chapter 1

A/N: This is my first series thank you guys so much for liking my last three fics, I hope you guys enjoy this series.

This series will include: bullying, angst, fighting/arguing, fluff, smut. There will be a Steve vs Joyce show down.

Parings: Steve Harrington x Sara Byers

Trigger warnings: none in this chapter maybe not feeling loved??

Tag list: @ahoy-stevieboy @thehair-ington @galactic-kitten-nonsense @linkispink1995 @theworldisugly-22 @harringtown @phoebethepheebs @spiritsent

(Please don’t copy my fics as your own also I don’t own anything about the stranger tings franchise.)

Please enjoy 😌

Saturday November 5th, 1983

I’ve been home one day, I’ve already got all of my stuff unpacked into the spots I wanted my stuff to go then I decided to go look at the town I once knew like it was apart of me but now with my recent weight loss it feels like it’s foreign to me.

People looked at me like they didn’t know me anymore. Like I wasn’t Sara Byers anymore. I had to remake myself from the person I used to be, I had told my mother about what Lonnie had said about me to that woman over the phone.

I had to stop her from calling and giving him a piece of her mind, I was out and about so I could start putting in applications at any job that would take me. I took a deep breath, walked into a gas station that had a help wanted sign in the window.

I put the biggest smile on my face I could manage walking up to the person behind the register.

“Hi I’m here to apply for the position that y’all need to fill.”

The lady with curly hair smiled at me then popped her gum.

“Okay honey are you good with people?”

I smile shrugging.

“I’d like to think I am.”

She looked at me then at the door when someone came in.

“Alright when can you start?”

I looked at her while my eyes widened, excitement washing over my body.

“I can start right now if you need me too.”

She nodded, telling me to come behind the counter so she could show me how everything worked.

After she showed me everything she took down the help wanted sign then assured me she’d be back.

After she left it was kinda slow, I was behind the counter reading a magazine when a customer put the stuff they planned on but on the counter.

I started to ring them up when I heard my best friends familiar voice.

“Sara?”

My head snatched up to see my best friend in middle school barb.

“Oh hey barb how have you been?”

She smiled at me.

“I’ve been great did you lose weight I barely recognized you?”

I smiled at her, started playing with my hair.

“U-Uh yeah I did do I look bad?”

She quickly shook her head at me.

“Hell no girl you look fantastic I can already tell hearts are going to be broken, I don’t mind seeing them as long as one of them aren’t mine.”

I let out a loud laugh which made her laugh.

“Barb you know I could never stop being your friend.”

She smiled at me while I gave her her total.

“I know Sara and that’s why you’re the best.”

I smiled and I flipped my hair.

“Yeah I know.”

She gasped at me.

“Who is this confident teenager in front of me? What have you done with my Sara?”

I smiled at her then let out a giggle.

“The old Sara has gone out of business. This is the new and improved Sara.”

She laughed at me then hugged me over the counter.

“Well Sara I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

I smiled then nodded at her.

“Alright barb.”

I thought having the friend reunion was over until Tina walked in around six thirtyish. She had grabbed some snacks which I assumed was for some party that was either going on or she was throwing. She walked up to the register and smiled.

“Oh my god Sara? As in Sara Byers?”

I looked up at her then smiled at her.

“It is I, in the flesh Tina.”

She shook her head at me then looked me up and down.

“Damn girl you’ve gotten hot, I mean you’ve always been hot shit but damn this brings it to a new level.”

I laughed at her as I scanned her items.

“Alright Tina your total is $10.27.”

She smiled at me while she put a twenty dollar bill on the counter.

“Alright honey your change is $9.73.”

She walked away, gasping immediately stopping in her tracks.

“Oh by the way Sara there’s a party going on tonight at my house, I know, I know you don’t do parties but you should show the boys at Hawkins high what they are going to be seeing a lot of this year.”

I shook my head at her.

“No way Tina, I don’t want anyone to see what I look like yet, I want them to see that Humpty Dumpty got a makeover.”

She simply just shrugged at me.

“Okay fine but you owe me.”

I smiled at her.

“Yeah, yeah tell who you want that I’ve had a makeover I’m pretty sure they won’t believe you anyways.”

She shook her head as she walked out of the gas station, I went back to reading my magazine. The rest of the day went by really fast, the woman I soon learned was named Emily came back around 7 to show me how to close. That is when I would close the gas station.

I got in the car my grandma had left me in her will, I drove home. When I got there I saw the lights on and Jonathan's car.

“Great.”

I thought to myself while I got out the car, I walked to the front door and took a deep breath unknowing what could happen behind this door. I knew Johnathan was pissed and hurt at me leaving but I was back, he had no right feeling how he did towards me.

I took a deep breath then walked into the house, immediately I was pulled into a hug by Will.

“Hey little dude I’ve missed you.”

He buried his face into my neck when he pulled away his eyes were watery.

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

I shook my head as a stray tear went on his cheek, I quickly wiped it away.

“No buddy what would make you feel that way?”

He looked up at me and bit his bottom lip and took a shakeup breath.

“Cause you left with dad, since he doesn’t ever come around why would you?”

I felt my stomach drop at his words they stung, but I knew he didn’t mean to hurt my feelings but he did. He was my little brother and I’m supposed to be here for him and I left him.

My mother was next to bring me into a hug, she rubbed my back then she kissed my forehead.

“I knew you’d be back, I just knew it.”

I smiled at her then she pulled away.

“Did I ever say that I’m sorry for what you overheard Lonnie saying, I know I can’t control what he said but I can make you feel better?”

She smiled at me while I raised my eyebrow amused at her.

“What’s that momma?”

She put her thumb under my chin and gently rubbed it with her thumb.

“Well since I gotta work tonight why don’t we eat ice cream while Johnathan, you and I watch a scary movie?”

I smiled at her until she mentioned Johnathan.

“Yeah I don’t think Johnathan would like that idea.”

She furrowed her eyebrows at me confusion evident on her face.

“Why would you think that Sara?”

I sighed looking at my hands.

“Well because he hasn’t spoken to me since I got back.”

She smiled at me while she rubbed my shoulders.

“Oh honey he’ll get over it he’s just hurt and being stubborn right now.”

“Who’s stubborn?” Johnathan asked As he entered the living room.

“Oh no one.” She turned towards me and made some dramatic face causing me to giggle.

“Hey Johnathan I’m working late tomorrow night so can you please watch Will?”

He sighed but agreed as he walked into the kitchen I decided to show our mother what I was talking about.

“Hey Johnathan.”

Not only did he not speak back but he didn’t even look my way, I turned to look at my mom.

“See what I’m talking about?”

My mother smiled Sympathetically at me while he walked back to his room.

“Honey just give him time y’all are twins y’all will come together again.”

*Time skip*

I was laying in bed listening to some Cyndi lauper record when I heard a knock on my door.

“It’s open.”

Johnathan quickly walked into my room, I got off my bed and turned my record down.

“Hey so Sara I need to ask a favor.”

I raised an eyebrow at him as I sat back down on my bed.

“Oh okay what’s up?”

He took in a breath then sat on the edge of my bed.

“I need you to watch Will tomorrow night while I pick up a shift.”

I looked at him blankly.

“Excuse me?”

He looked at me like I was speaking another language.

“I said can you watch Will-“

“I heard what you said Johnathan but why talk to me now? You’ve had the last day to talk to me, now that you want something I’m your best friend?”

He opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water gasping for breath.

“You know what Johnathan I don’t mind watching him tomorrow night, all I’m going to say to you is don’t just talk to me when you want something.”

He nodded mumbling a sorry then walking out my room without another word.

I sighed and decided to pick out my outfit for Monday. I knew it was only Saturday, I wanted to make sure I looked my best for Monday.

After I picked the outfit I was cleaning the house when Will had come rushing out of his room, he threw on his coat but as soon as he opened the door I stopped him.

“Hey little bro what’s the rush?”

He stopped in a halt turning to look at me flashing me a smile.

“Oh just over to mike wheelers, mom knows I’ll be back before ten okay?”

I looked at him and raised a brow then decided to pretend hurt.

“Oh okay I guess I’m too lame to hang out with now.”

Panic was written all over his face as he shook his head no at me.

“N-no not at all it’s just we have a DND campaign we started, the guys wouldn’t understand because we all promised we wouldn’t miss a campaign.

“Alright well did you let Johnathan know cause I have to work so I’ll see you later okay?”

He smiled then nodded at me.

“Yes Sara Johnathan knows I love you, I’ll see you later.”

I smiled then gasped.

“Will wait.”

He turned around halfway out the door, raised his eyebrow at me.

“Yes Sara?”

“You forgot our brother sister handshake.”

He quickly ran over to me then, put out his hand then I slapped his palm, we both put our hands in front of us like we were holding wants to hop around in a circle then hooked both of our pinkies together then kissed the side of our hand then he ran out the door.

“Love you Sara.”

I smiled after him leaving out the front door whispering to myself.

“Love you too nerd.”

A/N: sorry this took so long I was trying to make it perfect even though I feel like it’s not please let me know if you’d like to be added to my tag list request are open thanks. ~Destiny ❤️