#you know how vitally important it is to me to be able to blow my entire life savings on playing poker as michael

[rpfisfine]

you might want to cancel me for this, you might not think its "political correct ", but i love gambling in video games

[swordbisexual]

in awe, there I stood

It starts the morning after the party.

Gale has been to parties. Several of them, in fact: all high Waterdhavian society affairs, with the toast of the magical set all convening to speak sidelong about their own prowess. He’d been something at those parties, with the goddess’ sigil on his ear and an aura of grand importance accompanying his every gesture. He was always in his finest robes, always ready with a witty rejoinder, always above reproach thanks to his place as Chosen.

Not so at last night’s party.

The tieflings brought, along with several casks and bottles, a raucous sense of abandon so unlike their cowed and meek collective within the bounds of the Grove. He should, in theory, be far more sparkling company than any of them. And yet, he found himself alone, and morose, and nursing one of the least disagreeable bottles of red just outside the safe and cozy confines of his own tent.

It’s a wonder that Vissenta came to speak to him at all, but she has proven herself a wonder over and over again. For a devotee of Kelemvor - a Doomguide in the making, she’s said, and who is he to argue the point when she drops her brash facade to lend a comforting hand to those on their way to meet the Guide Himself, no matter their provenance - she is awfully bright and alive, positively vital, hands and skin and smile brimming with warmth like to the fire that refines steel. She sauntered over to him with a bottle of her own in hand, the end of her plait swaying in time with her hips and her smile as wide and sharp as a wolf on the prowl.

What else do you like about me?

So many things, from her hair to her eyes to the way the muscles of her thighs flex beneath her mail, and her smoke-soft voice, when she swears like a sailor in the Dock Ward just as easily as she sings a somber and sacred dirge.

Were I to recite that list…

Perhaps he should have. It might have bought him a little more time, a little more of her laugh, a little more of the foolhardy hope that they might be able to make something more than a wistful fantasy.

With my condition as volatile as it is…

And now, in the too-bright morning light after a breakfast punctuated by the too-loud enthusiasm of Halsin’s emphatic insistence that they find a way to Moonrise Towers, Gale is confronted once more by Vissenta’s bold-faced determination.

“If you consumed another artefact,” she says, her voice so low he nearly misses it as she kneels to pretend at helping him check over his things as they pack up camp for what might be a long, arduous journey indeed. “How long would you have before you might get…”

He thinks he knows exactly what she’s getting at, but he doesn’t want to hope for it. “Before I what, exactly?”

She peers at his telescope, leaning down to peek through the glass at what’s only a blazing blue sunlit sky. “Is a kiss going to blow us all sky-high?”

“Gods. That would be a way to go, wouldn’t it?” He tries to sound lighthearted, if only to disguise the way the thought makes his heart race. She’d imagined such a thing before, with picture-perfect clarity, so vivid that even seeing the fleeting impression of it through the Weave seemed to take the air from his lungs and turn the ground beneath its feet into a shaky thing indeed. “That seems to be a costly line of inquiry.”

Vissenta straightens, lips set in a line, and she reaches beneath the collar of her surcoat to pull out a locket. It’s one the tiefling couple - young, worried, haggard beyond their years from child-rearing and gods know how much time on the run - gave her as thanks for saving their daughter, and even now, Gale can sense the weak glimmers of the Weave that dance around it. She pulls once, sharply, so the chain’s clasp snaps apart, and she presses it into his hand. “Let’s try.”

He doesn’t mean to. He shouldn’t destroy the bauble so, little as Vissenta might actually use it to cast any lights in the dark, but already the hunger in his chest lurches out to take, and take, and take. It soothes an ache he’s nearly forgotten is there, so low and present it’s become these last several months, and only in its absence does he know that he needed such relief.

Vissenta’s fingers close around his, and the balm to his hunger is followed by an incredible warmth. Warmth flares to heat as she raises up on her toes to press her lips to his cheek, just missing the corner of his mouth. His eyes drift shut on a sigh; her hands and lips are both as wonderful as he’s imagined, just this side of rough, cloaking a softness beneath that approaches the sublime. He wants to feel her lips on his, wants to taste them, wants to drink in the musky herbal scent of her as she presses that sword-callused hand to his heart, and—

Too much. It’s too much.

He leans back and tries not to look too deeply into the wounded flash of her stare. “I—”

She lets go. “Right.”

Gale tries again. “My apologies. It’s just…”

Vissenta licks her lips and takes a breath. “Next time,” she says, slowly, “we need something stronger.”

He nearly can’t believe it. “Something…?”

She nods, once, and squeezes his hand once more before letting go. “Next time.”

[lulublack90]

Prompt 18 - Floo

@wolfstarmicrofic September 18, word count 571

Previous part First Wolfstar part

“What if I go ask father? He might be able to set something up,” Sirius chimed in the argument Remus and Regulus were having about how to lure Voldemort out into the open so they could plan their attack. 

“It can’t hurt,” Remus allowed. “He’s been an asset so far.”

“No,” Regulus glowered. “He can’t be trusted, especially not with something as important as this.”

“You’re just sore because he never made you the heir,” Sirius scoffed. “Right, who votes I go see Orion?” He looked around their gathered group, all of them put their hands in the air apart from Regulus. 

“Traitor,” Regulus glowered at James.

“Rorbey!” Sirius called, and a little pop alerted them to the elf’s arrival. 

“Yes, Master Sirius,” The elf said, bowing. 

“Is my father alone in the house?” He asked. Rorbey shook his head, his ears flapping slightly. 

“No, Sir. Mistress is there,” Rorbey replied.

“Could you come back and get me when he’s alone?” Sirius asked. Rorbey nodded yes. “Great, thank you, Rorbey,” And the little elf vanished. “Well, that’s that then,” He grinned, clapping his hands together. 

“Well, let’s hope, Father is more concerned about you than the Dark Lord,” Regulus scowled at Sirius and left the meeting, dragging his traitorous boyfriend behind him. 

It wasn’t long before Rorbey was back and apparating Sirius into the main drawing room, where Orion sat reading the Prophet. 

“Sirius!” He gasped, jumping to his feet and hugging his son tightly. “When you didn’t come after Rorbey had told you it was safe, I thought you wouldn’t come back,” Sirius could see the sadness in his father's eyes, and he tried to ignore it. 

“I’m sorry, I would have if I could, but there wasn’t the opportunity to get away,” His explanation softened the blow some but withheld the vital information that he couldn’t share. 

“Barty Crouch has changed his tune,” Orion changed the subject. “He seems less inclined to go out on the muggle hunts the others like to organise. He seems almost as though he doesn’t want to be a death eater any more,” Orion looked pointedly at his son. 

“Wow, who’d have thought it,” He said, taking a leaf out of Regulus’s book and forcing his face into an unpenetrable mask. Orion sighed. 

“Don’t shutter your face like that. You used to do that when you were trying to hide things from your Mother. I won’t ask anything, don’t worry, just don’t look at me with that blank face,” Orion's face fell as he pleaded with Sirius. Sirius let it crack a bit, and Orion’s smile returned. “There’s my handsome son. Now, why are you here?” 

“We need to know how to get Voldemort away from his followers and out in the open,” He told his father. Orion blinked at him in shock. 

“I’m not sure about that, son. Let me look into it, and I’ll send Rorbey to you with anything I come up with.”

“Rorbey, come here. Orion, where are you?” Walburga’s shrill voice broke the silence. Orion and Sirius jumped in their seats, Orion reacting first. 

“Quick, use the floo,” Orion urged him, pushing him towards the fireplace and summoning the pouch of green floo powder. It took him a precious second to figure out where to go, but once he decided, he stepped into the fire, tossing the powder as he went and calling out the address of Peter’s flat. 

Next part

[merp-blerp]

So Claudia Cacace recently posted her last Be More Chill animatic and said in the pinned comment that she had wanted to stop a long time ago when people gave her bad attention; it made me think about how animatic creators at the height of the musical theater fandom were treated horribly, despite being the backbone of that fandom for the longest time. For example, I remember people used to give Mushroomie/Mushie r crap about how they were “copying” Szin’s art style, which is literally impossible. A lot of people in the fandom were clearly inspired my Szin’s artwork because she was one of the most popular artists in the fandom at the time and her art was indeed really good. You can’t “copy” an art style. And when Szin announced that she wasn’t going to make Hamilton animatics anymore “fans” were calling her a liar among other awful things because she had said in a now private (or maybe deleted) Q&A video that she had wanted to do all the songs, despite that fact that she also said in that same video that she was going to keep making Hamilton animatics as long as they were fun for her, which they has ceased to be by the time she had finished Act 1 and a bit of Act 2. It had been years, disinterest naturally happens and that’s okay. There were a lot of animatic creators who stopped for the same reason; animatic creating had stopped being fun for these artist and began to be more like a job rather than the hobby it started out as. Remember most of these creators were making these animatics alone and possibly without much if any pay from YouTube. And on top of that a lot of these creators were minors at the time! They likely had other obligations in life like school and family, not able to have time for a job, let alone a very time consuming, demanding, solo job. Not to mention all the other things these creators had to deal with, like making content in a timely manner so the algorithm didn’t abandon them, or YouTube’s shitty fair use system constantly threatening to copyright claim or strike videos and even entire channels in some cases like Mushroomie. If you were in the musical theater fandom around 2016-2019 you know how important animatics were. Pro-shots were even more rarely made than they are now (like pretty much never), and bootlegs of then-currently running shows stayed up online for only a few days or weeks if you were lucky, so a lot of fans had no way of legally seeing the show(s), and sometimes not even illegally. A lot of people who loved these musicals would love a show for it’s music, but had no clue what the full plot was out of a lack of being able to access the show in an affordable way, affordability still being an issue with Broadway today. So animatics were very vital to people getting at least an idea of how these shows visually looked and an opportunity for artist to do something they loved. This was how people got to see their favorite show in away that YouTube couldn’t (fairly) take down. Quite noticeably, when these animatic creators almost collectively stopped making animatics for these musicals or slowed down around 2019, the fandom fizzled out as well, or at least changed. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t dead like some believe in my opinion, but it’s definitely different. In one way, now that a lot of the most popular shows from this time and others have some kind of pro-shot or shitty movie adaptation, and YouTube being a lot more lose with bootlegs then they used to be, animatics aren’t as vital, but their importance shouldn’t be something to sneeze at and it blows that these animatic creators weren’t treated with the utmost respect they deserved at the height of their popularity. I know I’m pulling an old issue out of the grave and this issue is essential gone, with animatics being made at a less frequent rate than they were at the time, but I’ve never seen this talked about in length. If any animatic creators, currently active or not, are reading this, I hope you continue to enjoy you creations and that people respect you as they should.

[kivaember]

me succumbing to the desire to write some kid tao and koshimizu stuff and ofc since this is gonna be set in mortal gods, that means shun'ya's there... it'll give good context to their relationship at least...

me sitting here like god i kinda wish we had more reaction from koshimizu in vanilla smtv about tao dying bt hey that's why fic exists i guess. anyway. i love my raidou oc shun'ya.

teaser under the cut as per usual uwu

-

“You want me to babysit?”

“Bodyguard,” Tsukuyomi corrected mildly. “It’s a great honour.”

Shun’ya, Raidou’s apprentice, clearly didn’t seem to think so. His blue eyes were narrowed into a petulant glare, and his bottom lip was threatening to push out into a pout, rather than the very stern frown he was valiantly clinging onto. Well, not that his frown was all that intimidating to begin with. Just shy of eighteen, Shun’ya’s face was still cursed with lingering puppy fat, and combined with the smattering of freckles over his cheeks, and his dark, fluffy hair, he looked a few years younger than he actually was.

It meant his petulant sulk was more endearing than insulting. Probably why Raidou let him get away with far more than he should (not that Tsukuyomi wasn’t any less guilty of caving to Shun’ya’s wide blue eyes and fat-lipped pouts)…

“You want me to take Tao to the park and walk her to school,” Shun’ya accused. “I’m not sure what’s so honourably great about that.”

“Her status as ‘Saint’ means she is always a target for those who crave power.” Tsukuyomi clasped his hands together and let them rest atop of his desk as he leaned forwards in his seat. “You should know better than most, how vulnerable children with vast amounts of spiritual power are…”

It was a low blow. Shun’ya’s sulkiness instantly evaporated, his expression pained as his gaze lowered.

Tsukuyomi pressed the point. “I’ll remind you that it’s only been a few months since her rescue-”

“Kidnapping,” Shun’ya mumbled under his breath, too low for a human to hear. Tsukuyomi ignored it because, well, he was right. Technically.

“-and she isn’t acclimatising well to her new surroundings. Likely because she has nothing but angels and technicians to speak to.” Tsukuyomi’s tone turned a bit dry at the end. He knew first hand that they were not the most riveting or pleasant conversationalists. “It’s vital to a human’s development for them to socialise and go outside… and this arrangement is the compromise myself and Abdiel have reached.”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Shun’ya sighed. “I guess it’s something no one else can do around here.”

“Exactly.” Tsukuyomi punctuated the point with an encouraging nod. As a reward, he obligingly fluffed Shun’ya’s ego a little: “I would trust no other devil summoner - aside from Raidou himself, of course - to protect Tao from the dangers outside. You’re talented and capable for your age, bear enough similarity to her for the average human to assume familial links, and you’re uniquely equipped to understand the turmoil Tao is going through. You’ll not only safeguard her physically, but may be able to offer her emotional and mental support as well, which is important if she is to become well-adjusted.”

“I don’t think anyone will grow up well-adjusted in Bethel of all places,” Shun’ya deadpanned. “You’ll be lucky if she doesn’t grow up to be a freak.”

“She won’t grow up to be a freak,” Tsukuyomi said, though she was Amaterasu’s Knowledge, and his sister had her… quirks, that he politely turned a blind eye to. “You managed to grow up… mostly fine, didn’t you?”

Shun’ya scowled but didn’t rise to the low-hanging bait.

“I guess you already passed this by Raidou,” Shun’ya said rather than asked. The sulkiness was beginning to creep back in, but Tsukuyomi overlooked it. For all of his talent and training, Shun’ya was still a juvenile - albeit a lethally trained one. Some immaturity was to be expected.

And, more importantly, Tsukuyomi knew that while Shun’ya may view this ‘great honour’ beneath him, he’d give an exemplary performance as always. He was predictable in that he refused to embarrass Raidou in any way, and so long as that stick was hovering in his periphery he’ll do as he was told without fail.

Well, he’ll bark a bit before obeying, but Tsukuyomi didn’t mind it. Humans were a wilful species. It was a charm point.

[bodyalive]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 12, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 12, 2024

Last week, after President Joe Biden went to Valley Forge and then spoke in Pennsylvania, I got a chance to sit down with him to ask a few questions. 

What I wanted to hear from him illustrates the difference between journalists and historians. 

Journalists are trained to find breaking stories and to explain them clearly so that their audience is better informed about what is happening in the world. What they do is vitally important to a democracy, and it is hard work. One of the reasons I always try to call out the names of journalists whose articles I’m describing is to highlight that there are real people working hard to dig out the stories we all need to know and that we are all part of a community trying together to figure out what’s happening in this country.

Historians do something different than journalists. We study how and why societies change. We are trained to see larger patterns in the facts we find in documents, speeches, letters, and photographs…and in the work of journalists. Some historians believe that mass movements change society, and so they focus on such movements; others believe that great figures change society, and they focus on biographies. Still others focus on economic change. And so on. 

In my case, I am fascinated by the way ideas change society, and I am especially interested in the gap between what people believe and what is actually happening in the real world. That interest means that I always want to know how people think and especially how their worldview informs the way they act. Then I compare that worldview to the real-world policies they are putting into place. I sometimes think of what I study as the place where the rubber of ideas meets the road of the real world.

I have twice now been able to interview President Biden. (And let me tell you, it is an odd experience to have your historical subject be able to talk back to you!) The opportunity to ask a historical figure how he thinks, after I have spent years studying his policies, is mind-blowing.

To that end, I wanted to know why he chose to go to Valley Forge, where General George Washington quartered his Continental Army troops for six months in the hard winter of 1777–1788, to start his 2024 presidential campaign. Valley Forge looms huge in American mythology, but most people probably can’t say why. So what did it mean to him to launch his 2024 presidential campaign from there? 

I also was deeply interested in what he means when he says he has great faith in the American people—something he says all the time but usually without much context. So what exactly is it about the American people that gives him such faith? 

The answers are important, I think, and I found at least one of them surprising. 

As I say, it is an odd thing to have a historical subject who can talk back to you, but in all the right ways: it forces you to adjust your understanding of our historical moment. That’s the sort of information that will make the historical record clearer and that, when today’s society has itself become history, will help historians in the future better understand how and why it changed.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[euroclydonn]

I need you to imagine a scenario in which you, as a nurse, are working your nurse job. um uh. okay. and you have a very fragile, delicate, little old man who happens to have contamination OCD as a patient. The main thing making him so very hospitalized is the fact that his heart has one too many holes in it- a condition that, put under any undue stress will cause his heart to explode. and, and this is very important and you can put it in the tumblr post but you must heed my verbage: on this unfortunate day, some tragedy has befall you and there are two options and only two options and whichever one you prefer you can accept as happening. And in truth I just wanted to prognosticate some extra misfortune into your shitty shitty life.

option 1: you woke up this morning hungover as fuck. Only to find that in the night grease had started leaking from the numerous cracks in your walls, directly into your pores causing you to have the most heinous and distasteful bout of acne in your short lifetime. Nevertheless, you roll haphazardly out of bed, not even bothering to brush your hair before walking out of the door. And, truth be told, you look and smell heinous. um. or.

option 2: wait I don't know how to phrase this. include this: sometimes I wish I had a forked tongue to be able to convey all at once, the numerous paths of conversation that are constantly flowing through my head. um so. at the end of scenario one, you will find yourself at the hospital you work at. so. option 2. you're working a shift. the same shift. in an alternate dimension. simultaneously the same and opposite to the first scenario. This time you come to the patient's bed in what can only be described as the most unfortunately embarassing thing that a human can do. You have neglected your daily morning ritual of blowing all the snot out of your nose. You have one single crusted, calcified, dry ass booger hanging out of the tip of your schnozz. can we do this more often? can you include that. and so. are you ready for me? in either one of these scenarios in which you look just dreadful due to uncontrollable circumstance, you bend over the patient to get his vitals and just just seeing the way you look, it causes his poor, gamey, malfunctioning heart to explode- killing him instantly and painlessly. now, when this happens, and as I said before I am prognosticating, you will bend and fall to your knees and look to the heavens. and and you will scream, "Oh dear god, why did you not make me a graphic designer?"

[outofthiisworld]

@grandgrief asked: “plots please” [[ For our old pal Doc? from ⤏ send me “plots please” / always accepting !

—💽🚀⁉️rubs my lil hands together⁉️🚀💽—

First and foremost, the idea of Doc and Nero being frenemies is so funny to me. I can see them getting under each other’s skin but usually in the same vein of “Hey! Only I can bully this mother fucker, you mother fucker!”

Depending on where they land on the friend vs enemy spectrum would depend on the verse/AU— Being part of the UFV Wishbone, Doc is much more playful and lighthearted towards Nero and his antics! He’d love the crew like it’s his second family and would feel responsible to ensure no one blows themselves up in the process of exploring the outer reaches of the cosmos.

It uh, makes my heart hurt cause INTERPLAN is what he imagined ATLAS to be like, so truly he’s living his best life here and it's what he deserves god damn it. (in this AU i like to imagine his arm got blasted in an accident, by a well meaning crew member maybe. If it was Nero– Doc won’t let him live it down.)

Nero: “Hey, can you give me a hand over here?”

Doc: “Another one? You already took one of mine before.”

Nero: -GROANS IN THE 5TH DIMENSION-

— 💽🚀⁉️—

Me, holding that same beer from the other night: hey do you want Nero to get fucked up by ATLAS?

-i am instantly booed off the stage-

Nero being an experiment could go in so many different directions, the world is your oyster over at the ATLAS playground.

One idea is closer to his FUTUREF$%# verse, where maybe Nero is a synthetic clone of a human who has no clue he’s an experiment and believed he joined ATLAS by his own will, by ATLAS’ design— in order to see how far they are able to create/clone humans and memories from scratch (little test tube baby). Doc is assigned to oversee Nero’s development, and the old medic is frequently tormented by whether he should tell the truth to Nero or not (and if he did, what good would it do?).

Another idea is if we want to throw some more power in the mix, Nero could have either been a regular human captured by ATLAS and made into a weapon (similar to Ophelia, this practice is common in hopes that your work will be noticed by the higher echelon of ATLAS) or he could also still have been synthetically created as well— regardless, being able to copy the abilities of others would put Nero in the forefront of ATLAS' attention and land him right into their elite task force.

How far could they push his DNA to the limits for their own gain? Could they get him to not only copy abilities, but appearance as well? A few tweaks could maybe let him mimic voices too!

Doc was the primary medic for the lifeforms deemed more important by ATLAS, so he would be heavily involved (and usually, he's the only one who tries to help enrich the experiments lives outside of just keeping their vitals stable and fit for the next mission or test).

— 💽🚀⁉️—

ATLAS is heavy. Time for palate cleansers 🧼

For the Hollywood Biz AU, I think it would be funny if Doc was maybe Nero’s agent and pseudo-assistant. (“I don’t care WHO you send, he is NOT paying taxes.”). Very much similar vibes to being a Miss P.auling from T.F2 and A.lfred P.ennywise where he handles the mundane stuff Nero can't be bothered with and some...less mundane, wackier stuff as well (burying bodies, stitching up Nero after a night beating up who knows who).

This can also bleed into Nero's vigilante AU's like Direlash, where they share a similar relationship like so:

[queers-gambit]

Angel is the Centerfold

prompt: insecurity runs deep when Eddie's secret lady-love finds the worn pages of a centerfold - marked on a woman who looks nothing like her.

pairing: Eddie Munson x female!cheerleader!reader

fandom masterlist: Stranger Things

note: you ever just get overwhelmed and wanna dip off for a week because you need to recharge your battery? reader's actually able to do that here - lucky ducky.

word count: 2.7k

warnings: cursing (when isn't there), insecurity, small angst, comfort ending i guess.

Let's be honest, high school wasn't easy on anyone. Sure, some people could slip through the cracks while remaining unnoticed, unseen, unheard, and never bothered. Others weren't as lucky but it wasn't as bad or pressured as some other lives in high school.

I wasn't gonna make excuses for the other jocks but I found life just flowed a little simpler if I nestled myself securely on the outskirts of social circles.

I was once lead in the spring musical last year and liked to keep up with my drama friends; I was voted in as class president in October; pitcher on the softball team; might've even found myself on the cheerleading squad.

Did it make sense? Probably not to others.

But for the way my mind liked to race, keeping extra busy with a plethora of friends was easier. I was never in one 'crowd' and could hop around freely to my choosing; occasionally even hopping over to the Hellfire Club on a few random days.

Those were the conversations I was most animated in.

These guys never gave a fuck and liked pushing creative envelopes. So, they wouldn't push me about my home life but sure as shit pushed me into whether or not I thought Luke Skywalker was hot or not. Gareth was running a very important poll and it was vital I give them my honest opinion on the Jedi.

If I wanted, I usually had a seat at Hellfire, too. I couldn't make every game and usually my character was someone fleeting due to my busy schedule... But it was how I came to really get to know Eddie Munson better. He was the Dungeon Master and was always willing to hang for an extra hour to go over some details about the campaign or game.

If I didn't understand something, he was breaking it down for me. He teased me, sure, but never made me feel lesser-than for not grasping a concept completely.

It could've been the reason we started hanging out at his trailer.

Maybe it was also because life was finally catching up to me and overwhelming me in a tsunami wave of stress, and I needed an escape.

Either way, one moment, I'm content being a busy little bee, and the next, I'm crying my eyes out at Eddie Munson's trailer as a roach smoldered in a glass ashtray between us.

It became something of a regular occurrence for us. Sometimes, I ran into his Uncle Wayne on his way out to work and other times, it was nearly pitch black when I arrived. But Eddie was always welcoming; never complaining when I'd burrow into one of his hoodies for comfort; content to roll a joint and let the pair of us rant about our weekly worries.

I guess he got sick of hearing me complain so much because one evening, perhaps while rambling, Eddie leaned forward and seared his lips on mine. He made some comment about shutting me up like this from now on before pressing his tongue into my mouth and commandeering every known thought I had.

It worked... For the first couple months.

It was nice to feel like I had something private, 100% for myself. Nobody knew that Eddie Munson was the guy I spent my free time with; they didn't need to know I started blowing them off in favor of him. They didn't know how we would lay in his bed, fucking, talking, laughing, smoking; they never needed to know how he whispered sweet nothings in my ear, and like a fool, how I ate it up.

It was private. Eddie was private.

Stolen glances in the hallway, a few kisses in empty classrooms.

But then... It turned a little repetitive.

Once, I'd met him in the woods (per his request) and when I arrived 'early', he was in the midst of another deal. Waving me off as "another customer that can wait", he turned to the boy in front of him and all but basically ignored me.

I knew we weren't public, but damn, right?

And there was the time when my Mom's car tire blew and she couldn't pick me up from softball practice... But Hellfire had just let out and when I asked Eddie for a ride home, he chuckled, "I would, princess, but I don't think I could fit your reputation in my van."

I get there were some other people around when I asked, but shit.

Oh! And there was that other time when he and I went to the corner store for a few snacks and his arm was securely around my shoulders. It was about 12:30 in the morning on a Saturday, and sure, not many people were out but a few had come in after us... And Eddie had dropped his arm so quick, you would've thought he was burned.

He had waited until they were gone before letting us pay together and leave...

It was starting to feel more and more like Eddie was ashamed of me. Like he didn't want to be seen with me... Like he couldn't stomach the idea of people knowing he was into me - or I was into him.

None the less, the idea started to gnaw at my mind because I couldn't begin to understand what was so wrong about... Well, me.

Eddie had called that night and asked if I was down for a movie and joint, claiming he had picked up my favorite candy at the store today and needed my company to break into it. I had agreed with the thought that maybe I'd just gently broach the subject; just ask in earnest if there was something about me he was ashamed of or not.

"Hey, sweetheart," Eddie panted when he opened the door for me, instantly leading me through his trailer, "I'm so sorry, I lost track of time. You mind hanging tight so I can hop a quick shower?"

"Oh, yeah, no problem," I assured, nodding with a small smile.

"Thanks, doll," he whispered, kissing my cheek, "be just a minute."

I nodded absently and watched him go, looking around his room and finding it only mildly messy today. I sat on his bed and rubbed my hands together, trying to think of the best way to ask him what was up, when suddenly, my eyes caught sight of a dog-eared magazine peaking out from under a pair of boxers in front of Eddie's bedside stand. Curiosity burned my stomach and I let the tip of my show gingerly toe the boxers to the side and cocked my head to get a better look.

Only... I almost wish I hadn't.

The woman in the worn-centerfold was outstandingly gorgeous and her curves were natural. You could say I was staring but there's a way you can tell - and that woman, staring up at me, was 100% natural. She was something lethally beautiful with sculptured thighs and a taunt stomach; defining outlines running along her curves.

Picture perfect.

An angel in the centerfold.

Her hair was even perfectly cascading around her, maybe akin to a halo that draped off her thin, highlighted shoulders. Reaching up to feel my own, I couldn’t help but scoff and drop my hand instantly as even our fucking hair was stark opposite one another.

I felt my mouth dry as I took note of her breasts and how they spilled from her lace bra before darting my eyes down to skim her body and land on the smooth, hairless cunt peaking out from a pair of pure white crotchless panties. Taking a sobering breath, I realized everything about her was in some way, shape, or form the exact opposite of me.

Insecurity reared its ugly head and made me question if this was the reason Eddie didn't want to be seen with me. If this was why he didn't want to commit; to date me; to let others know... Because I was wrong. I was all wrong in his mind - this woman with the perfect natural body was a reflection of what he thought was ideal.

His idea of what he wanted.

And it was the literal opposite of me.

Feeling sick, I let my foot jerk to push the boxers back over and stood nervously from his bed. The room was about to collapse on me and a ringing started in my ears, forcing my feet to move or else I'd break down in sobs right there.

Pausing at the cracked bathroom door, I knocked and called, "Hey, Eddie, I forgot my aunt's coming to town and I have to help my mom. I'll just call you later, okay?"

Praying to God my voice remained steady, I waited as Eddie mulled over my words. "A-Are you sure, sweetheart? I didn't get to see you much this week. We can always just watch a movie, or something?"

"I'm sure, I'll just call you later. Bye," I called, not leaving room for argument.

"O-Okay, call me when you get home! Bye! Drive safe!" Eddie called over the sounds of his shower; my feet surging to get me as far from the trailer park as possible.

Call it childish but I didn't call Eddie. I just didn't really have it in me to entertain a conversation where I wasn't okay. In fact, I didn't really have it in me to do anything that week. So, I took mercy on myself and canceled all of my obligations - only going to classes, and then straight home, where I remained alone in my room as my mother worked nightshifts at the hospital this week.

And at lunch, I just hung out in the SGA room where I made up for the work I'd miss from all my canceled after-school meetings.

So, it was easy to avoid everyone. Easy peasy.

Nobody seemed to notice because of how thin I constantly stretched myself, but my self esteem took a major blow that I wasn't really looking to actively heal and wanted a little peace to myself. So I made myself extra scarce by faking a really bad period so nobody would question me too much.

Turns out, maybe Eddie noticed my flighty behavior. I didn't know it, but after school on Wednesday, he caught Chrissy's elbow and ducked into an empty classroom to ask her what was up with me.

The head cheerleader assured him I was just feeling a little under the weather, not putting too much thought into why he seemed so worried. She knew you two were friends and figured he thought I was sick, not realizing he was actually trying to understand why I had blown everything (and one) off this week.

After school Friday, Eddie had enough and loaded into his van after clocking my absence at practice again. Not that he was paying attention (he totally was), but I'd missed the whole week, and he knew that wasn't normal.

So, when he showed up at my door, imagine his shock to see me answer it in my pajamas.

"Eddie," I felt my eyes widen, trying to subtly close the thick cardigan I was wearing around my leggings and tank top. "Uh, did I forget something in History?"

"Funny enough, you did."

"Oh."

"Yeah," he breathed, "see, by my observations, you've been blowing everyone off this week, and can mean you've forgotten your friends."

I scoffed, "No, not entirely."

"Yes, entirely," he repeated. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit," he shook his head. "You've not been in the cafeteria all week, you haven't been doing the morning announcements, you haven't shown up at Hellfire, or SGA, or cheer, or any of your other orgs - the hell's up with you?"

"Oh, I uh... Didn't think anyone really realized," I admitted quietly.

"When you move as quick as you do and then come to a screeching halt, yeah," he chuckled, "a few people notice. So, again, what's wrong?"

"It's literally nothing."

"So, why're you blowing me off too?"

"I'm not."

"You're standing pretty defensively in your doorway," he pointed out softly. "Am I... Like, am I not welcome anymore?" His question caught me off guard because I wasn’t sure how to answer it. My silence was enough of an answer as he whimpered, "Oh, shit, wait, what'd I do, sweetheart?"

"You didn't do anything."

"Well, obviously I did if - "

"No," I sniffled, cutting him off, "that's what's wrong, you just... You never did anything."

"Okay, darlin', I'm confused," he paused. "What didn't I do?"

"You... You were always ashamed of me, never wanted to be seen with me, or let people know we were hanging out. I get we weren't dating, but you never asked me to be your girlfriend, either. So, yeah, you didn't do anything... And then I just... I found something that confirmed I'm nothing like what you want. So, maybe you're not welcome here anymore because I don't think I was ever welcome in your life."

"Sweetheart, how can you say that?" Eddie asked in confusion. "I'm ashamed of you? No, that's the farthest from the truth! Where is this - I don’t understand.”

"C’mon, Eddie. You literally run the other way when it comes to even seeing me in public," I pointed out. "If you're ashamed, that's one thing. If you just don't want to be in a relationship, that's another. But I don't think you really want to be with me, so, let's just cut our losses."

"What the hell could you have seen that made you think I don't want you?" he scoffed. "Darlin', I just - I'm not very good at this shit, okay? And I'm the Freak, remember? You're gonna take more of a social hit dating me than I will - I just wanted to try and protect you from the ridicule coming your way for even being seen with me."

"Then that's my decision to make," I shrugged.

"You're right," he agreed. "And I'll let you make that decision on your own, but that's if you even want to be with me. 'Cause apparently you've found something that's so Earth-shattering, it's making you think I don't want you. Darlin', I worship you, okay? So whatever it is, I promise it’s not what you think.”

"Then why... Why don't I look like them?"

"What?" He asked. "Like who, doll?"

"I know it’s stupid but… The women you look at in magazines, okay? The women you fantasize about - those women. Why don't they and I look alike?"

Eddie looked gobsmacked for a moment but recovered quickly, speaking softly but strongly, “Because they're exactly that, pretty girl, a fantasy. Nothing like the real thing," he smiled at me. "And for whatever it's worth, I look at a variety of things, so, the odds of you lookin' like one of the women I look at... Are actually pretty high."

"Eddie - "

"No, I'm serious," he smirked, "'cause I just think about you most of the time. Those women might get me started but it's the thought of you that takes me out, hmm?"

"Oh, my God," I couldn't help but laugh, "okay, okay, you've made your point.”

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I guess I just got a little in my head.”

"So, why're you home instead of at practice? You’re always over thinkin’ something, why’s your head all in a twist?”

"Well, you, Munson, put my head in a twist pretty consistently. And for the record, it started as an insecure week that required a lot of self-care."

"Well, what's on the agenda for tonight?"

"Um, gonna paint my nails and watch a few movies?"

"Got room for one more?" He pouted dramatically. "Missed you this whole week, and I barely got to see you last week, too."

"I think I could squeeze you in somewhere," I smiled with a nod, opening my arms to let him step over the threshold and into my embrace. Against his chest, I spoke, "If I didn't want to be with you, Munson, I wouldn't be. So, don't go worrying about protecting my reputation, because I'm only concerned with my happiness - and you make me pretty damn happy.”

I felt Eddie's arms tighten and his lips press to the top of my head, "Good plan, baby. And I'm only concerned with your happiness, as well."

"All right, kiss-ass, you’re already invited in. Don’t gotta lay it on too thick.”

“Oh, so, I don’t have to offer to paint your toes?”

I paused, letting my chin press to his chest as he smirked down at me. “Well now, wait a minute…”

[wwtneosay-archived]

For You? pt.1

series masterlist lies here

The pairing is Mark x Y/n x Haechan but literally all of 127 is mentioned, I was feeling a little bit obnoxious… No Sungchan mailman feature tho, if you guys are good maybe he’ll make an appearance next time ;)

Synopsis: childhood bffs turned superstars, within their years of success the bond of friendship has never been broken, outings to let loose are vital in order to withstand the pressures of being a celebrity. What will happen when you unintentionally push your body’s limits on a night out?

Word Count: 11.5K

The story has got it all; love triangle, eventual smut like… yeah , fluff, angst, heavy dialogue can be expected, also its multi-pov! I feel the need to mention that this story does not pass the Bechdel test..Oops! Mark’s residing in simp city and Haechan is, well, himself… but maybe you like that mix? Read below the cut to find out!

Authors Note: My first ever series haha… Had a lot of fun writing this ngl, like fully cracking up at some parts… yeahhhh I kinda love build up so there’s definitely a bit of background before you get to the dirty stuff, what can i say? I like to paint a pretty picture. But seriously , let me know what you thought :)

Here’s a small excerpt to coax you into reading it lmao <3 :

He retracts his head from the side of your body to take a look at your pretty face. The pleasure he gets from watching you snap out of his trance in real time scratches his ego in just the right spot, he tilts his head slightly as a cheeky grin envelopes his features, “You were so bold in the car, why are you acting so shy all of a sudden?”

You know, you wish you could say something, anything, to convince him his actions were not having an effect on you, but the alcohol has definitely dulled your wits. You go for the option that first comes to mind, playing it off… Yeah, that’ll do it..

Whatever is left of his spell wears off because you’re finally able to look him in the eyes again, “Oh please, I’m an entertainer! I had an audience to please”, you scoff, waving him off.

Yeah that should buy me enough time to build my defenses back up, you think.

You clearly miss the glint in his eyes before he leans into you once more,

“I’m your audience now, so how about you please me?”

*bzzt*

Markly [10:45]: yoo u got five minutes, we’re on our way now.

The boy’s always had a handful to deal with whenever promotion season came up, to be completely honest you tried your best to avoid them this time around, the prospect of possibly adding more stress onto them doesn’t sit right with you, instead you preferred to cheer them on from the sidelines, sending coffee trucks or meals whenever an important date came up. It was your personal way of being there, offering that little dose of encouragement that everyone requires.

Luckily for you, promos don’t last forever, in this case they had ended about a week ago, no more appearances or hours of grueling practice, your friends would finally be back in your grasp.

You’re happy for them, that no one could deny, but it still hurts keeping a distance from the people you cherish the most. God, good thing this ends tonight, you’d been needing to blow off some steam.

Your ears prick up at the sound of tires rubbing over the gravel, you quickly finish up any last moment touch ups and Mark's text serves as your final queue to make your way outside.

Markly [10:50]: outside :)

Man, you would've never thought that seeing a pair of silver vans outside your house would bring you so much joy. You briskly make your way to one of the tinted vehicles, the door automatically opens and you are greeted with roars of cheers, if you didn’t know any better you would’ve assumed their favorite sports team just scored a goal, you don't mind it at all, in fact, you think they could be louder. You echo their enthusiasm, taking in each of their smiling faces before shimmying into your seat, you appreciate that they always left the seat closest to the door empty for you, makes things a whole lot easier, you know?

Their chauffeur (manager lmao) makes sure that everyone’s buckled up before pulling out of your place.

Questions immediately begin to bounce off the walls of the small van, “hey how’ve you been!? I feel like I haven't seen you in a minute..” Mark ponders, a warm smile gracing his features.

Haechan quickly chimes in without missing a beat, “She always disappears during promotions, have you guys just noticed?”

The members look back at him all at once, their faces show that they’re calculating the math, then they turn to look at you. The sudden attention kind of catches you off guard, damn, busted..

Before anyone has a chance to question, you rely on your wits to help you change the subject , “Awww Haechan… I didn't know you kept tabs on me, do you really like me that much?”, a smug grin is plastered across your face. Yeah, this should do it..

You’ve never seen Haechan’s eyes widen like that, his lips pucker into a small “o” as his gaze remained fixed on you. The members waste no time to point out his expression, you let out a cackle as you soak in his flustered face.

He attempts to summon his composure, when that fails he rolls his eyes instead, scoffing at your seemingly ridiculous statement, “Pffft, in your dreams.”

You mentally applaud yourself for not being on the receiving end of Haechan’s playful taunts for once, you can't deny that your ego is soaring right now. So this is why he behaves the way he does..

You lower your eyes, glaring at him as the left side of your lips curl into a smile, “Yeah, ok, sure.. I’ll pretend to believe you..” He lets out a breathy, almost silent chuckle as his tongue pokes against his cheek, it seems as if he can’t bear to hold eye contact with you any longer because he turns to face the window.

Haechan, giving up? Huh…

This sudden dominance, or whatever it is you have over him is quite amusing to say the least…

You take his silent surrender as a queue to move on.

Laughter and jokes continue to resonate in the van as you all fill each other in on any random moments that have accumulated in the past couple of months, nothing is off limits. It's nice to hear their voices again, you always appreciated that no matter how long you spent time apart from them, you were able to pick things up like it was nothing, it’s one of the luxuries of having long standing childhood friends that you often relished in.

A couple of minutes of catching up go by, you begin to notice the familiar billboards so you take it upon yourself to ask if everyone’s ready for tonight, and their faces light up in response, Johnny is the first to speak, “Hell yeah man, it's been so long.”

He was right, they've been busy for a consecutive couple of months now, they deserve to let loose.

Your eyes scan the streets to gauge the liveliness of the night, before you know it you’ve finally made it to your destination, an exclusive club in Hongdae. Security and confidentiality was what made the place so appealing to celebrities. Here, they were able to fully experience their 20’s without having to worry about public scrutiny.

The car comes to a stop and a symphony of clicks are heard as the members move to open the doors. Their faces are quickly met with the brisk air slamming into their cheeks. As everyone makes their way out of the car you take your time to admire the way the tips of everyone’s noses have slightly pinkened thanks to the cold. You’re snapped out of it as you hear your name being called, you whip your head to the other van and see the rest of the members. You’re greeted by Taeil first, “Hey y/n! It’s been a while, huh? Glad you’re back.”, you immediately smile and reach out for a big hug, partially because you missed him and partially to get rid of the cold that was beginning to envelop your body.

Taeyong decides to skip out on these types of outings since he’s not much of a drinker, and Doyoung would much rather spend his time surrounded by peace and quiet, so naturally Johnny steps in as today’s leader. He gathers everyone just outside the doors of the van, making sure to get a headcount before you make your way into the club. You take your time to greet the members that had been in the other van, making sure to congratulate them on their steady success with the recent album and their stages.

Once Johnny makes sure everyone is accounted for, you all head towards the entrance. Today the club was bustling, you could tell by the amount of people drifting on the sidewalk, some crouching down puking, others having a smoke break, believe it or not, they all seem to be enjoying themselves.

As you approach the main entrance, the two bouncers share a look and immediately unhook the velvet ropes. Jungwoo laughs as one of the bulky men breaks his stoic expression, “Y/N?? I haven’t seen you all in a while!! Have a round on me, I'll let the bartender know, Have fun tonight, ok?” He says with a wink. The boys cheer as you lean closer to him to give your thanks “Heeey, thanks Manny I’ll have to make it up to you some other time!”. How cool of him...

You obviously weren’t going to take him up on his offer, I mean if it was one drink sure, but a round of shots for 8 people? That's pushing it honestly.. Instead, you make sure to let the bartender know to put whatever he got tonight on your tab, yeah that's fair, he’s always been so nice to you and the boys anyways, so why not?

—

As you make it past the main entrance you can immediately feel the bass reverberating off the walls. Once you all reach the end of the dimly lit hallway, you can feel the anticipation beginning to rise, Johnny turns around to take a look at all of you “Lady and Gentlemen, let the fun begin…” He says as he pushes open the thick steel door.

Colorful lights splash against every surface, no matter where you look, something seems to be going on. Your vantage point offers a view of the entire club. You’re greeted by a pool of bodies floating around the dance floor, you place your hands on the balcony rails as you soak in your surroundings. You feel a hand being set down on your own, your eyes scan the limb upwards to find that it’s Yuta, he doesn’t say anything but just raises his eyebrows and gives his signature smile, you mimic his expressions and begin to follow him as he leads you to the section, the rest of the boys followed suit.

They’re greeted with every step they take, “Congratulations!” and “Long time no see’s” are being spewed at them left and right. You slowly begin to loosen your grasp on Yuta’s hand as you notice the way people have immediately flocked to them. He gives you a light squeeze, nodding a small “no” to indicate refusal of your actions. You return the squeeze, leaning into his ear to try to overcome the thumping music, “It’s okay! I’ll go set up the drinks, meet us at the table when you’re done!!” He concedes, letting go of your hand watching you make your way through the crowd to your guys’ section. When he notices that Mark trails you he allows himself to take his eyes off of you.

You successfully make your way into the section, pleased to see that your request had been fulfilled, 8 shots were placed in a semi circle on the glass table, ready to be gulped down. You took the time to call beforehand to make sure the bar had all the members favorite liquor in stock, and they even took the time to prep them like this, huh, you can see why you guys keep coming back. There was no need for labels on the shot glasses, each member had their specific tastes so it was easy to differentiate them. Don Julio, Fireball, Jose Cuervo, Jack, Jameson, etc… Some were questionable to say the least, but hey, it’s what they like…

As you’re looking down at the table, you hear a sudden “BOO!” accompanied by fingers nudging into your shoulders. You know, after all these years you’d think Mark would’ve given up on his attempts to scare you but that doesn’t seem to be the case, he still tries his hardest even though he’s met with failure Every. Single. Time. But hey, that’s Mark’s charm.

Dang, you really missed his little antics.

You bring your hands to your heart, dramatically feigning your recovery from the so-called “scare”. Once he giggles at your reaction you offer him a snack, ones graciously provided by the club. He scans the small basket, it's like watching a kid raid their candy bag after a night out trick-or-treating. You notice the way his eyes glimmer as he identifies the watermelon sour patch kids, and you can’t help the smile that grows on your face.

He shoves a few in his mouth before he notices he didn’t offer you any so he extends his hand out, shaking the bag to signal you to get some. You place your palm out and he dumps a few into your hand. The small action momentarily fills you with nostalgia, they taste like the past, you mean that in the best way possible.

You two take the time to catch up while snacking on the candy, your brain absorbs every little detail that spills past his lips. Talking to someone is one thing, but talking to Mark has always been a breath of fresh air, you can't explain it, he gives every word such importance, you can't help but be captivated.

After minutes filled with laughter and him filling you in on his recent activities, you begin to feel a bit thirsty, so you ask if he’s down for a lil pregame shot while you two wait on the other members to make their ways to the section, he happily indulges you, moving towards the bar cart thats a few steps away, “Your favorite, right?”

He doesn’t waste time waiting for you to answer because he already knows what your response is gonna be. One of the things you had in common was your love for sweet liquor, because why would anyone willingly subject their throat to that burn..

A golden colored liquid makes its way into two empty shot glasses, its saccharine scent could be smelt from steps away. Once he fills the glasses, he hands one off to you, you decide on dedicating this first round to him, looking him in the eyes as you begin to speak, “To your hard work and efforts on the new album, just know that it never goes unnoticed, and please know that you can always count on me to be there for you whenever you need me to be, I'm proud of you dude.”

It's funny, he meets your eyes then dodges your gaze mid toast, it seems he found comfort in looking at the floor instead. You decide on not questioning it, his expression is one of content after all. You find it more amusing to tease him a bit (still living off the high from Haechan earlier..) “Oh my god don’t tell me you’re blushing right now”, you say in a sing-songy voice as your pointer finger nudges his shoulder. “Are you that touched?”, you gently bring your hands up on top of your heart to emphasize the sentiment…It only takes Mark a few seconds before he’s able to hold eye contact once again, shaking his head at you as his goofy smile makes its way onto his features. He decides to ignore your previous statements, raising his glass to simply state, “To us! I’m really glad you’re here, let's have fun tonight.” You nod, clicking your glasses before you two down the shot. You miss the way his gaze stays fixed on you, he can't hide a content smile as you close your eyes, sighing in content, relishing in the fact that you didn’t have to worry about any bitter aftertaste.

You’re both startled by a playful lilt coming from behind, “What are you two doiingg?”. A quick “Nothing!” leaves your lips in unison and when you both turn to face each other, you can't help but burst out into laughter. Johnny finds it amusing, the way you two act like a couple of teenagers who just got caught doing something they weren’t supposed to.

He makes his way to your side, “If you guys are going to pregame, at least serve me one too!”He pouts, but only for a second before he bares his teeth at you. That’s your queue to present the chrome salver that held the pre-poured shots so nicely.

Johnny doesn’t hesitate to pick up his drink, knowing instantly which one belonged to him. He quirks a brow at you as he eyes the shot glass, “Damn you really love us, huh?”

You tilt your head as you suck in a small breath “Nah, I wouldn’t say all that… Maybe just a little..”

The two boys chuckle at your response. Before Johnny has the chance to gulp down his drink he hears his name being called out in the sea of people. It's kind of amazing how he managed to locate the source of the call. He raises the glass up at you, quickly swallows it, and sets it down on the table before sparing you and Mark one last glance, “Don’t have too much fun without me, yeah?”, with a playful wink, he disappears within the crowd.

Eventually the rest of the members make it to the table, each downing their designated drinks, laughing, and socializing in and out of the section. After the 4th round of shots you begin to feel the effects of the alcohol setting in, nothing anyone wouldn’t be able to handle though, you make a mental note to hydrate before the next rounds just to stay on top of your toes.

—

The boys seem to be having fun, each in their own little worlds, you can't suppress the smile that creeps onto your face as you take in their expressions. It's been so long since you’ve all had a night out together, you’re elated to see that everyone appears to be enjoying it. You take it upon yourself to mingle within the confines of the club, occasionally coming back to the section whenever anyone would order a round. It's becoming harder to keep tabs of how many shots you’ve taken, so after a certain point you decide to stop keeping track.

—

The alcohol has fully made its way into your bloodstream, the realization hits when you’re stumbling into the women’s bathroom struggling to lock the stall door. Damn when did these things get so difficult? Eventually you manage to shut it before continuing to handle your business. Luckily, unlocking the stall door is a much easier task.

You make your way to the sink because you’ll be damned if you become one of those girlies who don't wash their hands after using it, even though you’re tipsy your sense of hygiene is still intact.

The suds begin to envelop your hands, you sway a bit to the music before deciding an appropriate amount of time was spent lathering your hands. After you finish rinsing the last of the soap off, you take a quick glance in the mirror, taking the time to fix any stray hairs. You blow yourself a kiss before heading out.

You decide to settle on the dance floor, the music is directing your movements at this point. You look around the crowd to see if any of the members are near you, you make eye contact with a few that are, waving at them as you grin ear to ear. You have yet to spot the youngests of the group though, so you look in the next logical place, your beloved section.

That’s where you spot them, Jungwoo, Haechan, and Mark, each with a glass in their hand. You motion towards them in an attempt to get their attention, the crowd was looking a bit sparse, you figured more people wouldn’t hurt.

Jungwoo is the first to notice you and he lifts his glass in return. Unfortunately his simple acknowledgment wasn’t enough for you right now, so what’s the next best thing? Ah yeah… genius, you think.

You mimicked throwing a lasso in his direction, because if anyone were to go along with the bit, it was gonna be Jungwoo.

You begin to tug on the imaginary lasso and he lifts up, adding the exaggerated theatrics you sought out. At first Mark and Haechan look at him confused, but as you continue pulling, they connect the dots.

Jungwoo has made his way to your side, and you two let the music carry you. You spare the sitting younger boys a glance and motion for them to join you, Haechan shares a look with Mark, the left side of his lips tilt into a smile, “Should we join her or what?”. Mark keeps his eyes glued to you as he answers him, “I’m good watching, you should go though, have fun.”.

Haechan shrugs him off and sets his glass down, “Yeah, I’m planning on it…”. Mark is a couple shots in himself so doesn’t really pay Haechan’s statement any mind.

You notice Haechan get up but instead of coming towards you, he waltzes over to the DJ booth.

Booooo, if anyone would be down to dance it’d be Haechan? Maybe he just wasn’t in the mood tonight…

You peel your eyes off of him and decide to see if you can maybe persuade Mark once more, when the lasso trick fails, a gloomy expression resides on your face, you pantomime wiping the non-existent tears from your eyes. He laughs it off, and although he’s well out of earshot, you could’ve sworn you heard his laughter from across the floor, you can't help but giggle in response. Once you see that your efforts are fruitless, you decide to redirect your attention to Jungwoo. He takes your hand and twirls you around a couple of times, he might’ve snorted a bit when you stumble after the third spin.

When you pause to recover from the dizziness you see Haechan sauntering towards you two, an excited smile makes its way to your features.

“Couldn’t resist the fun, could you?” You beam up at him.

“How could I ever?”, he throws you a mischievous grin but you’re a bit too far gone to even notice.

As you envelop him in a hug the lights of the club suddenly begin to dim, turning a deep red. You look around you to see if it was just part of your imagination, but the roars in response to the shift in mood are what make you realize you’re not dreaming.

The mid tempo song that now echoed throughout the club called for slow movements, the groovy baseline paired with the ambiance set in place by club directors clearly portrayed their intentions for this particular moment. All at once, people make their way to the dance floor. In the rapid movement, Jungwoo had been swallowed into another section of the floor, so that left you and Haechan alone. Your eyes widen as sweaty bodies continue to force you two closer and closer by the second. Haechan doesn’t seem to mind so you decide you wouldn’t either.

The fact that you were still locked in the hug from earlier gave Haechan easy access to your body. His left hand reached for your face, his touches were feathery as he caressed your cheek, he chuckles a bit when you lean into his hand. Hmm how responsive…

Your response to his touch only encourages him to keep going. He tucks a piece of your hair behind your ear before he lets his fingers glide along your jawline, they find refuge beneath your chin, resting there a bit before he decides to tilt your head upwards, allowing his eyes to come into contact with yours.

Low eyes study your features as a conceited smile creeps onto his face, you could’ve sworn you felt his irises searing into your flesh. He maintains steady eye contact before shifting his attention down to your lips, the quietest snicker leaves him as he inches closer towards your face, you can only flutter your eyes shut in response. Your senses prick up when you feel his plump lips graze against your ear, he lets out a small exhale before dropping his voice a couple octaves to whisper,

“You should probably close your mouth.”

You knew you had been a bit far gone but damn… How long had it been open?

He retracts his head from the side of your body to take a look at your pretty face. The pleasure he gets from watching you snap out of his trance in real time scratches his ego in just the right spot, he tilts his head slightly as a cheeky grin envelopes his features, “You were so bold in the car, why are you acting so shy all of a sudden?”

You know, you wish you could say something, anything, to convince him his actions were not having an effect on you, but the alcohol has definitely dulled your wits. You go for the option that first comes to mind, playing it off… Yeah that should work..

Whatever is left of his spell wears off because you’re finally able to look him in the eyes again, “Oh please, I’m an entertainer! I had an audience to please,” you scoff, waving him off.

Yeah that should buy me enough time to build my defenses back up, you think.

You clearly miss the glint in his eyes before he leans into you once more,

“I’m your audience now, so how about you please me?”

Hmm, that definitely sobered you up a bit…

You feel a small fire light up in your stomach, but you’ll be damned if you let him win again, he’s already gotten to you once tonight and that was enough for your taste, so you decide to stand your ground, lifting an index finger to his face, “ONE dance, since you want it so bad.” Ha, now it was his turn to scoff.

You turn around so your back faces him, the fact that he wouldn’t be able to get a read on your face was the main reason for this action, but you’re not going to complain about how close it brought you two.

The movements were set by Haechan, slow and drawn out to match the tempo of the song resounding throughout the club. He doesn’t waste time letting his curious hands roam your body. Each gentle drag across your exposed skin only stokes the flame that sits at the pit of your stomach, with each second that passes you begin to feel what once was a small pile of embers grow into a blistering heat.

Sweaty bodies surrounded your perimeter so unsolicited contact wasn’t unexpected, but Haechan’s grazes were different. You could’ve sworn he was riddling your skin with scorch marks, your eyes followed his fingers each time they came in contact with you just to make sure you were indeed imagining it.

At this point your ass was flush against his pelvis, the heat radiating off of him was beginning to become unbearable. You may have pushed deeper into him as he controlled your movements, not that he was complaining, his grip on your waist becoming tighter was quite the indicator. The song is beginning to reach its final couple of seconds, with that, your shared movements naturally begin to die down.

Before fully disconnecting from each other Haechan takes the opportunity to snake his hand upwards to the nape of your neck, he decides to continue a bit more into your scalp, taking a fistful of your hair, delicately tugging at the strands to turn your head to face him, your glossy eyes make contact with his.

God, did you always look like that, or was this expression only something you’ve shared with me?, he thought to himself.

The red lights compliment his features, if it were up to you, you’d look up at him until your neck cramped up, but you’ve unconsciously relinquished any authority over your body at the moment.

He chuckles at you before gently tilting your head to the side a bit, granting him access to your neck. The way you openly let him control your movements had his head spinning,

“What else would you be willing to let me do to you?”

His lips nip at your collarbone, traveling upwards, making sure to graze your jugular, because if you weren’t going to comment on how you were feeling, your body would do it for you.

A small huff is all you feel against your skin after he confirms his effects on you, but your senses are far too overstimulated for you to even realize he’s caught onto you. The journey of exploring your neck concludes when he comes to a halt at the shell of your ear, his lips graze it ever so slightly before he opens his mouth,

“Consider me fully pleased.”, his gravelly voice resonates in your eardrums.

He places what could possibly be one of the most delicate kisses onto your neck, before releasing his grip on your hair. You slowly turn to fully face him now, almost as if your body is just now processing all that it’s experienced in the past couple of minutes. His eyes don't focus on yours immediately, instead he concentrates on smoothing your hair back to its original state.

Before the final seconds of the instrumental fades into nothing his hand extends towards yours, pupils finally meeting your own. He simply brings your hand up to his lips, placing a small kiss on it, not once even daring to break eye contact. And with that, the song seals the moment you’ve shared perfectly. As the crowd woos the Dj’s choice in music taste, Haechan gives you a genuine smile paired with a wink before he makes his way back to your shared section.

You’re left completely bewildered, motionless in the crowd as you maintain focus on the back of his head. It takes Jungwoo rushing into your side for your senses to slowly make their return. “Wow that was amazing, did you see all the pretty lights?”, he asks with actual genuine curiosity. He decides to wave his hand in front of your face after not getting a response, “Helloo?”.

You feel your feet beginning to plant themselves back onto earth, that’s when you’re able to coherently form a sentence again. You beam upwards towards him, “It was mind blowing Jungwoo…”. He lets out a cackle before engulfing your entire upper body in the tightest hug, nuzzling his sweaty forehead against yours, “Haha, how cute, let's get something to drink, yeah?”, I mean, you've known Jungwoo for years now but it still amazes you how much he was into skinship, even in these conditions. Before you can answer he’s already tugging you towards your shared section. With your free hand you wipe away the sheen of perspiration that had built up on your forehead while dancing with Haechan.

The two of you finally arrive at your designated space. You see Johnny and Jaehyun have taken the liberty of inviting a few girls over, these two were like magnets, everywhere they went people just seemed to flock towards them, it was a sight to see truly, but you had more important things to focus on, your feet were begging for a break so you scan the section to find the next available seating. You spot a little booth off to the side, Mark and Yuta are already sitting there, perfect, you were in need of some familiarity after all you had gone through in the last 5 minutes.

You make a beeline to the booth and greet the boys, while Yuta immediately returns your smile, Mark doesn’t even bother to look in your direction, eyes deciding to focus anywhere but where you are standing. Hmmm, that's strange.. maybe he just wasn’t feeling the club anymore? He seemed fine a couple minutes ago? Maybe he just didn’t hear me? But that’s impossible because Yuta—

Your internal dialogue is cut off by Yuta signaling you to sit next to him, you plop beside him, “Having fun tonight?”, he asks. Phew, that's one way to put it. You resort to gestures to provide him with an answer, offering a mellowed out thumbs up. He chuckles as his hand reaches up to ruffle your hair.

“What about you?”, you ask, genuinely curious about what he’d say. Before he’s able to give you an answer he hears his name being called. Without a second thought you raise yourself up, urging him to see what’s up with his friend, he apologizes before leaving, “I promise to answer you when I get back!”He flashes a smile before tailing his friend, leaving you and Mark at the booth.

You position yourself in front of Mark, he wouldn’t be able to ignore what was right in front of him… right? You prop your elbows onto the table, “So how about you, mark?”, not even a second goes by before he answers you, “Never been better.” His voice was monotonous, devoid of any emotion, and he still has yet to spare you a single glance. Something’s definitely wrong, it's clear as day now. You knew Mark could be a bit hot headed sometimes, but it's never been anything like this?

You quickly scan your memories of what’s happened tonight to see if you could’ve said something to tick him off, but to your recollection, everything with him was going great up until now? Whatever it was you weren’t in the mood to handle his passive aggressiveness, not when everyone’s supposed to be having a good time. So you immediately cut to the chase, the alcohol in your system unconsciously dissolving any sort of brain to mouth filter you’d usually uphold, “Sooo, are you gonna act like a child, or are you going to use your words and say what’s wrong?”

His eyes finally look into yours, but the feeling is different. He’s never looked at you like this before and it’s driving you mad that you can’t pinpoint why.

A bitter expression dawns his features, he takes a combative tone. “I’m fine, and you seem to be having a blast too, so what exactly is the problem?”

Your brows knit together, still unsure of where all this hostility is coming from, and why the hell it's even being directed at you. You immediately become defensive, “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Why are you acting like this? Did I say something to make you upset?”, your sentences were laced with exasperation.

Mark opens his mouth to speak but before words are able to leave his lips, he’s interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Everything alright over here?”Haechan questions, he doesn’t ask for permission before he settles next to you in the booth. He offers you a smile before his eyes land on Mark, “Hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

Mark scoffs, “I was just leaving.”

He gives Haechan a once over before he plants his palms on the table to force himself up, storming off into the crowd.

Your eyes follow Mark's figure as it makes its way to the club’s exit. When you lose him in the sea of people, you redirect towards Haechan, “What’s up with him?”, you sigh before you prop an elbow on the table, letting your face rest in your palm, “Dude I wish I knew...”

The last thing Mark sees before exiting the club is Haechan’s hand placed on your back, rubbing small circles into your flesh. He mentally curses at himself for even deciding to look back at you.

—

Mark successfully makes it out of the club, the cool wind that smacks him in the face causes him to lose his balance momentarily, after a few steps he eventually decides to settle on an empty part of the curb.

His eyes close as he pushes out a deep sigh, nimble fingers fumble in his pockets to find the vape Johnny asked him to hold onto before they left the dorms. He oggles the small contraption with curiosity before bringing it up to his mouth. I’m pretty sure this is how Johnny does it…

He takes in a long drag and before he knows it, his lungs reach their limit, now I just let it sit there right…? He attempts to hold in the smoke but his lungs aren't having it. He enters a coughing fit, small clouds of smoke leave his pinched lips with each puffed exhale, he comes to the realization that it may be better to stop resisting it, so he lets out all the smoke in one blow. Great. Now he was pissed off and his throat stings, wonderful.

As he brings his hands up to his throat in an attempt to soothe himself, he can’t help but replay what happened earlier. Why would he shamelessly caress you like that for the world to see? Seeing you pressed up against Haechan only filled him with rage, which only increased by tenfold when the little shit was daring enough to hold eye contact with him, knowing the way his actions were affecting him. He’d pull you in closer each second Mark observed you two, sending him a wink when your body was flush against his.

Each time his hands laid themselves on your body he couldn’t help but wonder; Were you actually enjoying the way he was touching you, is that what you liked? How would you react if it was his hands on you instead? Would you be just as welcoming, maybe even a bit more?

Envy coursed through his entire being each time you two closed the gap between each other, what was he saying into your ear so sweetly that made you look at him like that? Did you have a thing for him?—

Mark shakes away the image of you two, finally letting an ounce of rationality seep into his system. He stares blankly ahead as he lets out a low groan. It finally hits him just how immaturely he handled the situation, I mean, you never belonged to him? You were well within your right to dance with whoever you wanted. How were you supposed to know how he felt? It's not like he’s ever told you anything?

His face finds refuge in his palms as he exhales. After sitting with his thoughts for a couple of minutes, he reaches into his pocket for his phone. He fumbles with it a bit before getting it right-side up. The bright screen lights up to reveal a picture Doyoung had taken of the both of you. Even drunk he’s able to recall what the two of you were doing, and the exact words that left his mouth, making you laugh the way you did. He smiles at the screen for a few seconds before paying attention to the time; 2:08AM. Dang it's pretty late… He determines that his night has come to an end, the thought of having to look Haechan in the face leaves a sour taste in his mouth, and he doesn’t want to put a damper on anyone’s (your) night more than he possibly has already.

With a few clicks he reaches his managers contact page,

Mark [2:10] : hey, yoiclose ??

Manager hyung [2:11] : Gonna be honest I didn’t expect you to be done so early, I’ll come to the front, we can meet there.

Mark [2:13] : csn we stip for food. ?

[read]

Mark slumps against his manager as he raises himself up, “Ah hyung, you always take care of me, thank you.” His words are slurred but his manager understands the sentiment. He helps Mark stumble his way to the car, making sure he’s buckled up before slipping into the driver's seat.

They’re a couple stops away from Mark’s favorite noodle shop before he asks him “What dish are you feeling tonight?”. When he doesn’t receive a response he adjusts his rear-view mirror to get a look at Mark, who has drifted into what seems like a peaceful sleep. He chuckles a bit at the boy’s figure, luckily the redirection wouldn’t take long, the place was near the dorms after all.

—

Pain. Throbbing pain settled on the left side of your head. That’s all you feel as you find the courage to open your eyes. You’re dazzled by the sunshine bouncing off the walls of the room, so you immediately pinch them shut. You know you’re at the dorms, the question is, who's?

Since sight is faltering at the moment, you decide to rely on your other senses for an answer. A small hum of a computer fan is what registers first, and you can only assume you’re in one of three rooms. It becomes clearer where you reside after taking in a deep breath, a familiar citrusy scent makes its way to your nostrils. Yup, this is Haechan’s room.

After what seems like a few minutes, you gradually begin to open up your eyes, allowing them to expand from a squint until they’re fully open. You slowly bring yourself up so that your back rests against the headboard. The shared room is pretty neat, it looks like they’ve got an air purifier running, oh so it wasn’t a computer...

Your eyes look over to scan Johnny’s bed and see that besides a small ruffle on the edge, it's fully made. He must’ve slept in the living room or something… hmm, that's pretty strange, he's never minded sleeping in the presence of others, much less you. Damn, could it be possible that he didn’t even make it upstairs?—

Your thoughts are interrupted by Doyoung’s muffled voice that can be heard through the walls. “Set up the table and go wake her up, she should eat something.”. A small groan is all you hear in response, followed by metal utensils clattering as someone springs a drawer open.

A small smile registers onto your face at the command. As you let out a deep breath your eyes peer down to the small bedside table, it holds a neatly setup cup of water and 2 extra strength Tylenols. When your hand reaches towards the cup you notice it has a sticky note on it, “please enjoy deliciously ;)” the little sun drawn on the corner lets you know this was Haechan’s doing. You let out a laugh but immediately stop, as it causes your head to pulse even harder.

Once you take the two pills you bring your body to the edge of the bed, slowly encouraging your brain to allow you to stand on your two feet. Your legs hover a bit before coming into contact with the floor and before you know it you’re standing, completely still but hey, you’re up.

You’re mid-stretch as you hear heavy footsteps making their way towards the room, and suddenly Haechan bursts through the door. You wince at the sound of the door slamming back into the wall. “My god, do you have to be that lou—“, you’re cut off by arms wrapping around you, flinging you onto the mattress. Haechan lands on top of you, legs cradling your sides. He soaks in your fatigued state, bringing a hand to your face to gently stroke your cheek, “All tired out from last night, huh?”

WHAT?!

Your heart stops. You’re unable to produce a sentence as you attempt to recall last night's events, only to be met with splotchy blurbs of memories instead of full stories.

Haechan notices the panic in your face, and to be completely frank he revels in it a bit before revealing the truth to you. “I’ll save you the hassle, we didn’t sleep together.”

Relief washes over your features, and you shut your eyes, “Oh thank go—“

Once again you’re cut off, sleep still coats Haechan’s voice as he leans into your ear, “Although I will say, it was very hard to turn down your begging, you looked so pretty when you were—”, You pinch the underside of his arm to get him to shut up, and you’re glad it works, you shove him off of you, bringing yourself to stand up. He writhes around on the bed, exaggerating his pain, letting out dramatically loud wails. Seeing him like that made you almost forget how shit you were feeling, almost…

“Ok, alright, relax you little princess.”, you murmur.

He immediately freezes to make eye contact with you, “You think I’m pretty enough to be a princess?”

An amused scoff is all you can let out before deciding to change the subject, “If we didn’t sleep together, where did you sleep?”

His brows furrow at first, but he soon realizes what you mean, “Oh no— we slept together, we just didn’t sleep together, you know?”

Me and Haechan… In the same bed?

He can see the gears turning in your head at this newfound information, you fail to register the glint in his eyes before he continues, “ So you're telling me that you don't remember clinging to me all night, whining nonstop to get me to hug you back?”

You pinch your eyes shut, both hands instinctively make their way to your temple, lightly massaging the throbbing flesh.

“Of course I caved, I’ve never seen you act like that, plus Doyoung was getting sick of your noises, he came to check on us because you were that loud.”

Great, not only had you embarrassed yourself in front of Haechan but out of all the members on the 5th floor, DOYOUNG was the one to witness it? What kind of sick joke was this?

Your mortification is cut short by a knock on the door, you turn your head to see Johnny’s rangy frame leaning against the door. He eyes you up and down before his attention darts to Haechan then back to you, he does this twice and his face is awfully smug prior to opening his mouth, “Come on, you two dont want to make mom mad.” His voice is still gruff and you find pleasure that, by the looks of it, you weren’t the only one that had a rough night. As he pulls the knob to shut the door, he gives you one last grin, then he’s off with a shake of his head.

You slowly turn to focus your attention back to Haechan, pointing your thumb towards the door, “What was that all about?”

He feigns an unknowing shrug as a smile paints across his face, “Idk let's go eat, you already pissed off Doyoung earlier, don't wanna make it worse for yourself.”

As you mentally seek the courage to be able to look Doyoung in the eyes, Haechan climbs out of his bed and drapes an arm around your shoulder, leading you both to their shared kitchen.

—

When you step foot into the kitchen you’re greeted with groans and a couple of surveying looks instead of actual hellos. What could they possibly be looking at, this isn’t the first time they've seen me hungover? You decide to ignore their prying eyes, too tired to question their behavior.

So far, it's only the members of the 5th floor that reside in the kitchen, but you know it won’t be long until the rest of them make their way downstairs.

Doyoung’s parked in front of the stove. He always makes food for everyone after a night out, it's basically routine at this point. You know, even though he nags throughout the entire cooking process, you always notice the way he tries to hide his smile when he sees everyone digging in. You'll always be grateful that you have the privilege of calling him your friend, his presence is absolutely vital.

The only semblance of liveliness can be felt radiating off of Taeyong. You’re fascinated, staring at him with admiration as you watch him prep the plates of food, making sure to garnish each dish till he's satisfied with their presentation.

You decide to settle next to Johnny who leans his head on your shoulder when you’ve fully sat down. Bringing a hand to his head, you begin stroking his hair, “Have fun, at least?”, you ask, voice still a bit groggy.

“Of course… Not as much as you tho,” he says in between chuckles.

You freeze when the rest of the members chortle in unison to show that they second his statement.

I couldn’t have been that bad right? … Right…?

Hmmm maybe it's better to address the situation before continuing on…

You lift yourself up from your seat, gathering the attention of everyone in the room, making sure to meet eyes with each and everyone of them, “I’m gonna be completely honest, I don’t remember everything that happened, but I’m really sorry for whatever I might’ve done yesterday, and Doyoung, I apologize if I might’ve bothered you last night, that wasn’t my intention...”

The silence that filled the room was deafening, all that could be heard was the sizzling of whatever Doyoung was frying on the stove. Guilt washes over your entire being, gaze instinctively dropping to the table. Damn, what the fuck did I do?

Suddenly, a roaring laughter erupts, it's enough to startle you out of your remorseful state. Your head Immediately shoots up when Doyoung is the first to speak, “Why are you the one apologizing, Haechan was the one I could hear the most?”. A flurry of agreements echo within the room.

Your eyes widen at the sudden revelation of truth, they seek out Haechan who immediately feels the daggers you’re shooting at him. Punk ass liar…

Phew, I mean, at least now you know you weren’t the one being a complete nuisance. Still, this leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and it's becoming a bit tiresome to try to mentally fill in the blanks, so you settle on asking what happened instead.

“We had a blast at the club, but the real fun began when we came home.” Johnny grins, he notices the way your eyes are pleading him to continue, so he does,

“You couldn’t make it up the stairs so I had to carry you, but honestly listening to you going off on Mark was personally the highlight of my night,” Contemplation riddles his features before he resumes, “You know what, scratch that, it was actually when you threw up on yourself… and Haechan.” He cackles as he recalls your actions, meanwhile you can only duck your head and inhale a sharp breath in response.

The boys laugh as they replay the memory, you giggle a bit yourself as you bring your head up to look at Haechan, “…I may not be able to recall everything that happened last night, but I really feel that deep, deep down… you might’ve deserved that.”, you beam at him from across the table.

He raises his pitch a bit in an attempt to mimic your voice “ Wehh, i think you deserved it meh bleh blah— I can't believe this is how you treat someone who literally took care of you all night..”

Johnny interjects before you’re able to counter, “Hmmm I wouldn’t necessarily say that. I mean yeah, you did clean her up and all but you literally wouldn’t let her out of your grasp after that, I had to sleep in the living room because you were being so obnoxious.”

Leave it to Johnny to spare the bullshit lol, it's part of his charm that you often commend.

Doyoung relishes in the fact that he finally got an answer to his unvoiced question, “Oh so that’s why you’re wearing his clothes.”

……huh?

A stream of “Ahhh’s” and nods of realization follow Doyoung’s statement.

You look down to see Haechan’s garments covering your body, top to bottom.

You're at a loss for words at first, then your eyes widen at the sound of alarms going off in your head, “YOU STRIPPED ME?!?”

All heads turn to Haechan, who remains unphased at the sudden attention, “I mean yeah, I wasn’t going to let you sleep on my bed after you puked all over us? Would you have preferred if I left you sitting in your pile of vomit?”

The gazes shift in your direction now. Damnit, you hate it when he made sense… Silence fills the room, but it's quickly shortened,

“Your panties were super cute by the way, I always did love Wall-e.”

The members attempt to stifle their laughter, but they inevitably fail, quite miserably in fact…

A deep warmth rushes to your face, you fight through your embarrassment though, forcing yourself to meet Haechan’s observant eyes, “Yeah I’m gonna need you to erase that image of me from your memory, IMMEDIATELY..”

“Sorry, already seared into my memory. I might need it for when i get a littl—“

“OHKAYYY, food’s ready!! Who’s hungry?” Taeyong jumps in to save you from further embarrassment, he sets a couple of bowls on the table before sitting himself down.

Haechan snickers at you before shoving a spoonful of rice in his mouth, he makes a conscious effort to chew extra loudly before blowing you a kiss.

“Gross.”, You sneer.

“You know you love it.”

You roll your eyes as you bring a spoonful of warm broth near your mouth, you let the smell fill your nostrils before digging in. Damn, Doyoung’s meals really never miss.

You can feel your stomach unknotting with each spoonful you take in. A comfortable silence fills the kitchen as you all savor the food, the cacophony of quiet slurps and metal brushing against porcelain dies down slightly when you hear the front door opening.

Yuta and Taeil are the first to make their appearance, compared to the rest of the group, they seem to be walking on water. Congratulations, sooo happy for them... They greet everyone with warm smiles before taking whatever seats are left at the table. Doyoung had already set up bowls for everyone, so all there was left to do was dig in.

As Taeil swallows his first bite of food his eyes land on your figure, he notices your attire and it strikes a thought, “Hey, Haechan has a shirt just like that!”

“It’s his.”

The way everyone in the room felt the need to respond to his observation in unison has you choking on a spoonful of rice.

Taeil and Yuta look at you wide eyed, before their attention shifts to Haechan, who does nothing but wiggle his eyebrows at them.

Yuta turns to look at you once more with what seems like a concerned look etched across his features, “ Wait… So you two.. Slept together?”

You enter a coughing fit at this point.

Johnny offers you a glass of water along with a pat on the back, once your breaths are under control you clear your throat to give Yuta an answer, “Absolutely not. I may or may not have thrown up on myself.. And Haechan… Point is, I ruined my clothes so that's why I’m wearing this..”

Taeil just chuckles as he plays out the image in his head, but your ears are able to pick up the soft sigh of relief that leaves Yuta’s lips, and to be honest you’re not entirely sure why that's his immediate response.

You swallow a gulp of water and attempt to steer the conversation in another direction, “Enough of me though, how was yesterday for you guys?”

The two boys continue on to discuss the highlights of their nights, you’re glad they were able to enjoy themselves and come out of it looking the way they did, they genuinely looked like they had a blast.

As Yuta gives a reenactment of one of his stories he mentions Mark. You politely let him finish before letting your curiosity get the best of you, “Hey so what happened to him last night, did he get home safe— Is he up yet?”. Haechan’s eyes peek up at your displayed interest in Mark’s night, as Yuta parts his lips to reply, he’s quickly cut off, “ Why do you even care, he didn’t even have the decency to say bye to us before bailing last night.”

All eyes are on Haechan now, and that's when he realizes that he verbalized his thoughts instead of keeping them contained.

Johnny shoots him a questioning look, “Woah woah woah, what's with all the hostility all of a sudden?”

He’s stunned, but only for a split second before he formulates a response, “No hostility, just stating what happened.” He drops his spoon in his empty bowl before lifting himself from the table.

Your eyes trail him as he places his dish in the sink and trampes off to his room, all without sparing anyone a single glance.

What the fuck was that?

You raise an eyebrow at his behavior, “ Alright… You were saying Yuta?”

“Oh yeah, He’s asleep for now, Jungwoo promised to wait for him so they can come down together.”

“Perfect!” You immediately raise up off your seat, discarding your used dishes into the dishwasher before briskly making your way to the door.

As you squat down towards the floor to slip on a pair of shoes Taeyong shouts, “Where are you going!?” You peek your head into the kitchen, breath a little short when you reply, “He seemed angry about something yesterday, so I was gonna stop by our favorite spot and get us something so we could talk about it. It's past 9 so it should be open by now, do you guys want anything?” The members shout out a couple of menu items and you make sure to jot them down on a piece of paper so you’ll be set for when you call in the order.

As you slide on some sandals, Johnny makes his way to the door, “Want me to come with?.” You flash him a smile, “It’ll be right back, it shouldn’t take me more than 20 minutes bc it’s a pickup.”

He throws his hands up in the air in a false defeat, “Okie dokie, walk safely then, If you need anything text me, we’ll be here.”

“Bet”, You wave a goodbye at him as you sprint down the hall.

—

As you arrive at the shop you can see your order sitting on the counter off to the side. When you get ready to make your payment you notice a dessert tray sitting behind the glass window to your left. The pretty white plate holds about six bear shaped cookies, how cute. Hmmmm… Since Haechan didn’t come out to request anything you figured you’d take him some, I mean, you never did thank him for taking care of you after all …

“Hey! I knew it was you, there were a couple extra meals than usual, having some friends over for breakfast?”

The owner is an older woman, she’s taken a liking to you and Mark, every time you two visit she offers something on the house. You always accept it of course so as to not come off as ungrateful, always leaving a sizable tip in return because damn this woman can COOK, you can taste the love she puts into her meals, truly. You silently ponder if this is how Doyoung’s cooking will evolve…

You explain to her how you’ve spent the night with friends and just wanted to provide a meal in return. She smiles wide at your explanation, “They’re very lucky to have you.” The comment has you blushing a bit, she giggles at your slightly flustered figure.

“Would this be all for you then, dear?”

“Oh, and can I also get two of the bear cookies please?”

“Yes of course!”

She packs the cookies in a small brown bag and hands it off to you before continuing to process your payment.

When you grab the order off the table she walks towards the door to hold it open for you, as you approach the threshold, you thank her and she gives one last remark before you make your way back to the dorms, “Make sure to bring your boyfriend next time, he’s a keeper that Mark.”

“Mark?”

She places her hands over her mouth before speaking again, “Oh my, don't tell me you two broke up? It wasn’t my intention to bring up any bad memories.”

You chuckle at her worried expression, “Oh no don’t worry, it's nothing like that. Mark and I are just friends, that's all.”

“…Just Friends?” She looks at you as if you had broken out in foreign language.

There’s a small silence before she speaks again, “Are you sure we're talking about the same person, I mean the scrawny one who wears the round glasses. The one you always come in with!” Yup that's Mark alright..

You let out a genuine laugh, one where if anyone were walking by they'd think you just heard the joke of the century.

She just looks at you in amusement as you attempt to regulate your breathing. Once you’re able to catch your breath you give her one last thank you for the meal and head back in the direction of the dorms.

Me and Mark? That’s a new one, you smile to yourself.

She stays at the door observing your walking figure, she titters a bit as she shakes her head, speaking aloud to herself, “Pfft, she can lie to herself all she wants, I see the way they look at each other.”

—

You return to the 5th floor to deliver the orders, as you step in you celebrate slightly when you notice Jungwoo and Mark still haven’t made it down yet. Echoes of thank yous can be heard as you pass them their food, they look at the meals starry-eyed like they didn’t just eat less than half an hour ago lmao.

Once you ensure everyone’s gotten their food, a quick “You’re welcome!” leaves your lips as you practically glide towards Haechan’s room.

You don't bother knocking, that would take too much time.

He jolts on the bed at your sudden intrusion but he doesn’t bother taking his eyes off of his phone, “What’s this?”

“FOR YOU!!!!!” You yell, crashing next to him on the bed.

He’s still failing to acknowledge your presence, so you decide to get closer, batting your eyes as you shove your face between his eyes and this phone screen. When he breaks out into laughter you explain to him,

“You seemed off earlier plus I mean… I never said thanks, you did take care of me last night.. So like, two birds, you know?”

As he pulls out the cookies, he attempts to hide his enthusiasm, but you’re able to see right through him, “Bears, how original.”

“Oh please, you love it”

“Only a small amount…” He flashes you a smile, the kind that makes its way to his eyes.

After he takes a bite, he brings the cookie up to your mouth, motioning for you to take a bite yourself. When you lean in closer, you open your mouth to welcome the cookie, only for him to shove it up your nose.

You quickly expel the crumbs from your nostril, guffawing at his action, but if you were being honest you kind of wanted to taste it, so you squeeze his arm to hold it still. Even though you tremble a bit to keep it steady, you do manage to get a bite and wow, as expected, the owner has yet to disappoint…

“Hmmm so good~”

He chuckles at your satisfied face, “I know, where did you get it from?”

“Its this one spot Mark and I are always going to, this lady, Haechan, she makes the be—“

He cuts your sentence short, a hint of annoyance laced his words, “Oh yeah, Mark never shuts up about it.”

“I should take you, it's super close! We can go after your schedules one day if you want?”

He pictures it in his head, you, in that one dress he likes, sitting to grab a bite to eat, getting to listen to you go on about whatever interests you in that moment…

He’s looking off into the distance completely silent so you backtrack a bit, “Or not, no pressure…”

When he snaps out of his daydream he looks into your eyes, his face is unreadable and it’s throwing you off. You shift side to side on his bed, fidgeting with the hem of his tee that drapes your body.

He only blinks at you twice before leaning into you, softly placing his hands on each side of your cheeks, his eyes dart back and forth between yours then down to your lips, almost as if he was searching for any sign of resistance on your end. When he finds none, he brings his thumb up to your lips, gently running the digit against them. You let out a soft sigh of relief at the contact, as if the greatest weight had just been lifted off your shoulders, and when your eyes flutter shut he takes it as his queue to close the little remaining distance between you, pressing his plump lips against your own.

A spark of electricity travels through up your spine, causing your brain to momentarily short circuit. Fried neurons send the signal to tilt your head, deepening the kiss. Your lips part slightly to allow him to slip his tongue into your mouth. When his wet muscle comes into contact with your own, you can't help but wonder how it would feel gliding across your body.

Your heart is slamming against your chest as each second goes by and you’re curious if he can hear it. You realize that your brain can't help but crave more of him, because before you know it, you instinctively leap to straddle his lap. The newfound heat of your body on his has him groaning into your mouth. Fuck, it should be illegal for him to sound this pretty…

He slips his hands up your his shirt, raking his fingers up and down your back. Although you made your way onto his lap, he finds that you’re not close enough for his liking, so he decides to slightly dig his fingernails into your soft flesh. The action causes you to arch into him, causing you to let out an absurdly loud moan when you feel his dick come into contact with your core.

Your noise causes him to bring his actions to a halt, as he pulls away from your lips to get a good look at your face, you begin to feel the sting of embarrassment course through your veins.

When his blown out pupils look into yours for what felt like eons without saying a word, you promptly remove yourself from on top of him.

He eyes observe your now standing figure in awe. He doesn’t know how to process your reaction, it's so uncharacteristic of you, or was it? He’s never seen you in this state before. His head becomes overloaded with sinful thoughts. If that’s what you sounded like with barely any effort, what would happen if I actually tried a bit more? He feels lightheaded just thinking about it.

You stare at his heaving figure from a safe distance, before letting out a small chuckle,

I really just made out with Haechan right now..

You tuck your hair behind your ear as you prepare to speak, your voice wavers before breathlessly pushing out your next words, “I uh.. hah— I really should go upstairs.” You rapidly head for the door, not daring to look in the boy’s direction.

As your hand reaches for the door knob you feel his hand on your wrist, it's followed by a low voice, a foreign seriousness coats his next words, “It's not in my head, I can't be the only one who felt something at the club last night, you know what I’m talking about, and you can say whatever you want, but this—”, he motions at your flustered state, “confirms that for me.”

How dare he? I mean he’s absolutely correct but still, how brazen of him..

A small glimmer makes its way to your eye, you let a confused expression bloom onto your features before turning to face him,

“Last night… at the club?”, you furrow your brows as you tilt your head to the side to really sell your faux confusion.

He’s completely taken aback, dumbfounded, it takes him a minute as he chooses his next words carefully, “Yeah— I mean… Wait a second, you’re telling me you don’t even remember the club? What exactly is it that you DO remember?” You can feel his hand becoming clammy as he continues to hold his grip onto your wrist.

It's getting harder to hold back your amusement, but you manage to put on an excellent performance.

You stare at him blankly before raising an eyebrow, “Dude I literally blacked out? Did you forget the part where I asked everyone at breakfast to fill me in on our night?”

He freezes, demonstrating the telltale signs of someone who’s buffering in real time, Oh fuck, tell me that did not just happen right now…

You let your facade drop after a few seconds of silence, letting a smug aura emanate from your body, “But please, don't stop, what was it exactly that you felt last night?”

He quickly loses his grip on you, turning around to make his way back onto the bed, “Weren’t you in a hurry to leave or something?”

A puff of air leaves your nostrils as you observe him sliding under the covers, “Yeah I’m just gonna go up to the 10th floor” As you’re opening the door you turn to face him, “I’ll be back later though, try not to miss me too much”. He lets out a scoff at your remark, “I think I’ll survive.”

How does this man have an answer for everything? Hmmmm, how could I possibly get a reaction out of him?

As you pull the door to shut, you make sure to leave just enough space for you to peek your face through, getting in one final quip, “Oh— and if you decide to feel anything else, be sure to share it with me this time, you have my number.” You shoot him an exaggerated wink before slamming the door shut.

He sinks into the mattress as he hears your fading footsteps, wishing it would swallow him whole.

This is gonna be even more fun than you thought..

—

That’s a wrap on chapter 1!

part two can be found in this masterlist

What could possibly happen next?

Any feedback is appreciated haha :)

[minisugakoobies]

Versus | MYG, JHS - Chapter Two

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader x Hoseok

Genre: smut, fluff, angst, crack, enemies to lovers, Villains!AU

Rating: M (18+)

Warnings: weapons - daggers & laser gauntlets, swearing, mentions of blood, fighting (superhero workout-style), masturbation (m), allusion to shower sex

Word Count: 2.7k

Disclaimer: NSFW, obviously I don’t own BTS - they just inspire me

Summary: Supervillain exes Yoongi and Hoseok are sick and tired of having their plans for world domination wrecked by you, aka Vitality, the world’s most powerful superhero. When fellow villain Jimin suggests a little competition to see who can bring you to your knees, they both eagerly accept. Now the battle is on as both men engage you in fight after fight to see who will conquer you first. Will you finally defeat these two, or will they destroy you - and possibly take each other out in the process?

A/N: The challenge has been accepted, now it's time to establish the rules! And introduce a few other key players. Also, uh, gird yourselves, here comes the angst. Just a little!

Unbeta’d as usual. I’d love to know what you think - my inbox is always open! 💕

Chapter One ✨ Series Masterlist ✨ Chapter Three

CHAPTER TWO - THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Hobi stalks angrily through his lair. Struts, actually. Not intentionally. It’s just how he walks, like the world’s his runway. Helps that he’s usually dressed to kill, both literally and figuratively. 

At the moment, he’s striding towards his weapons room wearing a stunning embroidered Louis Vuitton suit that has all of his henchmen doing double takes, and not just because of the splattered blood staining the luxe threads.

The life of a henchman is hard, as one constantly risks bodily injury time and time again for one’s leader, but working for someone who looks like that helps to soften the blows a bit. 

Hobi glares into the retinal scanner outside the weapons depot and the doors slide open as it recognizes his chestnut orbs. It also recognizes his glare. 

“Rough day, daddy?” a robotic voice purrs overhead. 

“Yes, Jin, today was shit,” Hobi declares as he returns his laser gauntlets to their place in his vast arsenal. “And I thought I told you not to call me that?”

“Sorry, sir,” the integrated A.I. system replies. Hobi rolls his eyes in annoyance. Perhaps it was a mistake giving the Synthetic Electronic Optimum Knowledge Jung Intelligence Network aka S.E.O.K.J.I.N. (Jin for short) sentience. The first thing it did upon rebooting was declare its undying devotion to Hobi. Which means an endless stream of ridiculous terms of endearment. Or pet names. Or worse.

Hobi’s starting to fear he’s going to grind his teeth into dust.

“Want to tell me all about it?” Jin inquires, automatically opening the vault door to Hobi’s inner sanctum.

“Not particularly.” He’d rather not rehash his day. It was painful enough living through it. 

Of course, Jin is undaunted. “Did the meeting at Jimin’s not go well?”

Hobi’s lithe fingers work the knot in his tie, loosening it until he’s able to tug the thin strip of fabric from his neck. “It was fine. Productive. We nailed down the rules of engagement for Jimin’s contest.” 

The terms of the challenge are concise and clear:

No outside help

No teaming up

The competition ends when Vitality draws her last breath. The man responsible wins.

The first rule is the most important. No outside help means neither can ask for assistance from any other villains, including Jimin, who must remain an impartial observer, as he so haughtily put it. The only exception is the allowance for both to continue to use Jimin’s power disrupters. 

Jimin originally decreed that the disrupters were banned, but swiftly reversed course and said they could use them since they already had them. The meeting then paused so Jungkook could apply some bandages to Jimin before he bled out all over his newly-cleaned rug.

As far as Hobi is concerned, rule two is completely unnecessary. Moving on. 

The final rule is mainly a technicality, making sure everyone understands the goal here. Once that annoying little superhero is gone, the victor will be declared. And to the victor go the spoils. Namely, a straight line to world domination, and the knowledge that they’re the superior villain, second to none. 

“That doesn’t sound very upsetting,” Jin muses. “Is it because Yoongi was there again?”

At the mention of his ex’s name, Hobi snarls. “No. I can handle seeing him.” He continues to strip, frowning at the sight of his ruined suit. Once he’s completely bare, he wanders through his bedroom to his en suite for a shower. 

“Then I guess I just don’t know what’s got you so mad, kitten.” 

Hobi presses a finger to the pinched spot between his dark brows, rubbing soothingly. The bathroom door opens. “I’m going to shower. If Jimin calls, tell him to expect a dry cleaning bill tomorrow.” 

He sighs wearily as the door closes behind him. There are no cameras in this room, so Jin is blind to what goes on in here. Not because Hobi is shy. Quite the opposite, actually. But he needs one room in the underground lair he calls home where he can go to be totally and completely alone.

Tucked away at the bottom of his vanity is a picture frame. He pulls it out, gently running his thumb over the photo inside. Bad idea. Too many conflicting emotions swirl through his already disquieted mind. He tilts the frame away and catches his reflection in the fingerprint-coated glass. The man gazing back at him struggles to maintain his cool demeanor. He turns away.

Warm water pours from the rainfall showerhead, filling the room with steam. Hobi stands directly underneath the stream, still adrift, until one particular feeling bubbles to the surface, and he strokes himself until he’s shuddering, his release washing away without a trace. When he exits the bathroom later, towel slung low over his hips, his expression is calm once again, betraying no sign of the maelstrom within.

THOCK

Taehyung strolls down the quiet hallway of the mansion. 

THOCK

He pauses outside the study, strands of his bright blue locks falling in his eyes as tips his head, listening. 

THOCK

With a grimace, he twists the doorknob. “Yoongi-hyung.” 

“Taehyung-ah,” Yoongi responds cordially, before flinging another dagger. 

THOCK

The blade lands directly in the middle of a face.

“Didn’t know you were back already.” 

Yoongi doesn’t reply as he saunters across the room. With a violent yank, he jerks the dagger out of the nose where it’s embedded, and grabs the other six that form a perfect circle around it, leaving only the one at the top that pins the portrait in place. 

“Meeting ended early,” he finally states. He removes his striped suit jacket, hanging it primly over the back of a chair before resuming his position several paces in front of the wall. “Jimin fell ill.” 

Taehyung notes the dried blood still clinging to one of the blade handles. “What did he want this time? Did he finally figure out the bug with the power disrupters?”

“Of course not. No, he wanted us to go over the rules for his stupid little competition.” 

THOCK

“And you didn’t like his suggestions?” Taehyung gestures to the dirty dagger. “Hence the blood?” 

Yoongi pauses mid-throw to inspect the handle of his blade. “Oh, we had a little disagreement, you could say. But Jimin eventually came around to our point of view, and I agreed to all of his terms. As did Hoseok.” 

THOCK

Ah, of course. Hoseok-hyung was there again. No wonder the wall was currently under attack by Yoongi’s blades. Taehyung tries to remember where he’d put the spackle after Yoongi’s last assault on the drywall.

THOCK

As another dagger whizzes by, within millimeters of Taehyung’s unconcerned face (he knows his hyung never misses), he tries not to think about what happened when Yoongi and Hoseok split. Taehyung had never seen Yoongi on a rampage like that before. So many blades. So much blood. As much as he adores his hyung, that’s a side of Yoongi he hopes to never see again. 

“So… what are the rules?”

“No outside help.” 

THOCK

“Even from me?” Taehyung pouts at the thought of not being allowed to help his hyung vanquish his enemy. His entire life is devoted to Yoongi, after hyung saved him. He gave Taehyung a purpose and something solid to cling to when the cruel winds of fate tried to tear him apart. 

In other words, Yoongi’s his rock. 

“No outside help from other supervillains. You’re not on the outside. You’re in my inner circle.” 

Taehyung beams proudly, boxy smile lighting up his handsome features.

“The other rules are simply formalities. No teaming up.” Yoongi laughs dryly. “As if that would fucking happen. I’d rather die than ask Hoseok for help, and I’m quite sure the feeling is mutual.” 

THOCK

“And the challenge is over once Vitality is dead.” 

“Okay. Those all make sense, to me.” Taehyung treads lightly. “So… just letting off some steam, then?” 

THOCK

“A little. But I’m also brainstorming. You know the blades help me think.”

Right. Taehyung remembers when Yoongi was preparing for the Tokyo maneuver. What a horribly stressful time that had been. Yoongi spent so many nights strategizing that Taehyung had ended up replacing an entire section of the wall. Spackle only goes so far. 

“Strategizing how you’ll take Vitality out?”  

“Yes. But I’m planning so much more than that.” He tosses a dagger straight above his head. Taehyung watches it flip a few times before Yoongi effortlessly plucks it out of the air, pinching it by the blade. The smile he flashes chills Taehyung to the bone. “I’m going to take them both out.” 

THOCK

The hilt quivers with the force of Yoongi’s throw, dagger buried once again dead center in Hoseok’s face.

“Harder!” A grunt falls from Namjoon’s panting mouth at your command. “Come on, Joon, give it to me!” 

“Can’t…don’t…wanna hurt you.” 

You scoff, rolling your eyes. “I’m not gonna break, Joon. Fucking stop holding back!”

Namjoon obeys, throwing his next punch with more oomph. Still, you easily dodge the blow, sliding beneath his outstretched arm and landing a jab to his gut. 

“Jesus, if you punch like this on your next mission, you’re never going to win! You gonna need me to come fight all your battles for you?”

Your goading works. The yellow haze surrounding Namjoon shimmers as he spins into a roundhouse kick. As his large foot connects with your torso, you let out a pained “OOF!” and fly across the mat, landing square on your back. All the wind in your lungs leaves your body in one loud whoosh. 

Namjoon hovers over you, hands on his knees as he catches his breath. “You okay?”

Weakly, you flash a thumbs up. 

“Okay, I think that’s enough sparring for today,” Namjoon clucks his tongue. 

“‘M fine. Just gonna… lay here… for a while.”  

Your teammate flops down next to you and rolls into his cool-down stretches. “I know what you’re doing, by the way.”

“Trying to breathe?”

“You know what I mean.” 

Of course Joon sees right through you. He’s your best friend on the team. The two of you have clicked since the day Doc brought you to the company. His hulking frame and frankly mind-boggling strength run counter to his sweet, quiet nature. A gentle giant if ever there was one. But he’s an astute motherfucker, much to your displeasure

“You don’t have to punish yourself for Dark Hobi and Evil Yoongi both escaping again. That’s not on you. Once we capture our targets and turn them over to the containment teams, it’s on them to keep them imprisoned.” 

Obviously, you know this. But it doesn’t do anything to calm the anger still roiling in your chest. How many times are you going to have to defeat those two before they’re captured for good? 

It’d be so much easier if you could just take them directly to The Hole, where all the villains found guilty of crimes against humanity are taken and locked away for eternity. But no. You know the rules - find the target, take them down, turn them over to containment. They’ll be brought to justice by the company’s tribunal, who judge whether a villain is fit to be rehabilitated and reenter society or sent to The Hole forever. 

Justice. What does that word mean, anyway? Why does the company get to decide their fates? You’re the one with the power. 

You know better than to mention these thoughts to Namjoon as he reaches for his toes, loosening his hamstrings. He’ll just recite the same annoying phrases again and again–we’re not above the system, we work for it. No one is meant to be judge, jury, and executioner all in one. It’s not right. 

Except… it sure seems like the company is all three. Why does it get to decide what’s right?

These questions are above your pay grade. Which, admittedly, is pretty high. 

“I’m not punishing myself,” you finally reply, grinning. “I just prefer to spar with someone worthy. No one else here can really give me a workout like you can. Being friends with the strongest man in the world has to have some sort of perks, you know?” 

“Besides literally bench pressing you?” He winks. “Like the other night?”

You stare off into the distance. “Ah, yes, that was a magical evening. The day I discovered I have a size kink. You really made my head go brrrr, you know that?” 

Namjoon frowns. “Sometimes I think we speak two different languages.” 

“Whatever. Help me stretch my thighs, will you? They’ve felt really tight since we got off the treadmills.” Lying on your back, you lift both knees to your chest. Namjoon nods, kneeling by your ass. He grabs one of your ankles and extends the leg, then presses your thigh into your torso. 

It’s a terribly intimate position, but neither of you flush, both deeply familiar with the other’s body by now. It’s hard as fuck to date as a superhero. Practically impossible, really, with the crazy schedules and the always lurking paparazzi, not to mention the groupies–the cape clingers, as the company calls them. So the two of you have an arrangement. Purely physical. 

“I heard the search for Hobi’s lair isn’t going well,” Namjoon murmurs, his thick fingers digging into your flesh as he switches legs. He is unfortunately correct, which you already know without hearing whatever gossip he’s about to drop. “Doc said the presentation to the shareholders last month kinda skirted around the scout’s report.” 

Over the years, Dark Hobi has completely managed to elude your company’s ability to locate his base of operations, despite the fact that you’re pretty sure his weapons cache alone must be the size of Texas. Whatever he is using for security is clearly more sophisticated than anything the company has, a fact that absolutely drives the CEO mad. He wants to be the one with the best toys. 

“I’m telling you, he’s got an underwater base. It’s the only thing that makes sense,” you mutter back, making a face at Hyunjin when he walks by and whistles suggestively at the two of you. “Oh, fuck off, Jinnie, you know you wish you were the cream filling in this delicious whoopie pie right now.” 

Hyunjin just laughs, but Namjoon rolls his eyes. ”Whoopie pie?”

“I don’t know, I’m hungry.”  

Namjoon releases your legs and begins to stretch his own. “Anyway… he said the meeting was pretty cut and dry, the usual facts and figures, not much new. Oh, I guess there was some sort of weird Geiger spike the other night out in Busan but when the teams combed the area it came from, they didn’t find anything.”

“Busan? Who do we suspect is in Busan these days?”

“No one new that we know of. Just Jimin.” He snorts and you both begin to cackle. 

“Fuck, could you imagine if that guy got his hands on nuclear weapons? Probably blow himself up immediately.” As far as villains went, Jimin aka Mr. Machiavelli is less of a threat to mankind than Dark Hobi or Evil Yoongi than he is to himself. And he isn’t some sort of amazing tactician who keeps slipping through your fingers–no, you’ve defeated him plenty of times. The only reason he isn’t currently in containment is because he has an uncanny knack for charming the guards into letting him go. 

With a yawn, Namjoon stands, offering you his hand. “Probably. Come on, I need a shower.” 

”And that requires me?”

“Yes. You blew off your steam, now I gotta blow off mine.” 

Namjoon tugs you into the communal changing area where your other teammates are milling about and you giggle as he helps you shuck your gym clothes in front of an eye-rolling Hyunjin. “Stop gawking, Jinnie, haven’t you ever seen two people about to fuck before?”

Bang Chan runs into the shower area, blue aura blazing. “Vi, we just got word that Dark Hobi’s been spotted off the coast of Jeju Island. Doc wants you ready to mobilize in ten.” 

You sigh. Just another day’s work. “Ten minutes? Fine.” Taking Namjoon’s hand, you lead him into one of the shower stalls. “Come on, thunder thighs, show me what you can do in five.”

© 2022-23 by sunshinerainbowsbts/minisugakoobies. Crossposted to AO3. Please do not copy or repost.

Masterlist 💜 Find me on AO3 💜 

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[sitp-recs]

Take the Moon by @tackytigerfic

Harry/Draco (2022, Mature, 15k)

Harry Potter has always wanted a family of his own, and when a deadly blood curse forces him into a marriage bond with his best friend Draco Malfoy, it looks like he might just have found one. It's just a shame they’d always planned to break up after a year…

Harry had always thought that love would be stable, that love was a thing that people went through together. Nothing had prepared him for this loneliness, or the helpless sick certainly that Harry was going to love both Scorpius and Draco forever, no matter what, and there was no getting out of it, no matter how removed they were, or how quickly and efficiently Draco had whisked them out of Harry’s life as soon as the year was up.

Sadly, reading this fic for the 3rd time last night did absolutely nothing to help me write this rec which I saved for last because I’m nothing if a top notch procrastinator. But once again I was left speechless and hungover with feels, body soft as pudding, mind fuzzy and unable to put my thoughts into words. I’m still not sure how I was able to leave a comment and at first it did feel too superficial and inadequate, but Tacky seemed to get it so I try not to stress too much about it (another important thing our friendship has taught me!).

This fic reunites a bunch of tags I rarely engage with - mainly forced marriage and kid fic - and softens the blow by adding wolf Harry + break up make up, two personal faves. I already knew how personal these themes were for Tacky and I wasn’t expecting to get involved on a personal level, more like an objective tender heartbreak? And to be honest everything was fine as Draco asked You’ll marry me? sending Harry through a “sort of slow creeping warmth, something peaceful and blanketing”. Everything was less than fine when Harry had his eyes alight as he mouthed Husband in a constant loop during the marriage bond ceremony, and by the time they were fucking on the kitchen’s yellow rug I was close to screaming crying throwing up. I remember reading the bond consummation scene very slowly, almost in a trance with a hand on my heart and trying to commit every word to memory. At some point my husband asked me what was going on “your face looks kinda funny, you’re smiling but it’s as if you’re about to have a breakdown”. I checked and saw that I had just read the unforgettable I’m not done, I’ll never be done with you and right then I promptly started crying. For the first time.

It’s a really interesting phenomenon to read something so distant from your reality and still feel so deeply moved by it it’s like suddenly that whole life belongs to you. Tacky is a master at making you feel not only completely immersed but emotionally invested, getting so close to the characters it’s as if we’re standing right inside their hearts - and let me tell you, this fic has A LOT of heart. It jumps straight from a hot and breathtaking bond consummation to the wreckage of a post-marriage empty house and lonely heart. Between Harry’s melancholy and pining for Draco, his tormented desire for a family of his own and his absolute devotion to Scorpius, my rib cage was torn open with the ugliest aching. As per, Tacky’s nuanced brand of angst is unbearably sweet and wistful, so full of tenderness and care that we have no choice but to embrace the hurt. There’s no doubt that Harry and Draco care deeply for each other, in a way that even transcends a lovers relationship. They’ve been friends for ages and know each other like the palm of their hands. I love how they communicate in this fic (except for the big elephant in the room 😂) and more importantly, they’d both move heaven and earth for little Scorpius. Raising Scorpius together is a major and vital component of their love story and it’s beautifully moving to see their unconditional love for him bringing them together time and again, overriding all complications the romantic side of their relationship have suffered.

Speaking of Scorpius, his arc as an autistic kid is superb and one of the main reasons why this fic hits so strongly on the solar plexus. Tacky explores the theme in a very compassionate and realistic manner, showing how challenging and heartbreaking it is for kids and parents to navigate a system that wasn’t designed (and us not willing) to accommodate those who are different. The nursery scene is visceral in this sense, and I loved seeing how Harry and Draco come together for Scorpius but diverge in their approach - Harry feisty and furious, a force of nature moved by confidence and the inherent social power he has, balanced by this quietly restrained Draco, looking “expensive and untouchable”, no less feisty but extra careful not to say the wrong word and jeopardize everything they’ve been fighting for. Beyond its realism, the scene is only this powerful because it builds on masterful characterization, tension building and dialogue.

The intensity of Harry’s longing is devastating in a way that only a bone-deep certainty that you’ll never get over someone can provoke. A very much appreciated bonus, the werewolf aspect is mentioned casually enough to make us swoon in delight. Wolf Harry is not at all the focus of this story, but it makes for incredibly spicy smut. The urgent and slightly possessive want, the subtle scenting kink!!!! As the official patron saint of wank banks I can attest this fic is sexier than a lot of E-rated content out there and many moments made me gasp out loud at how beautifully written they are. I really love the hot combo of something primal and something tender interlacing every time they fall into bed together, lovely and complicated and so very compelling. Lastly I can’t forget to mention our beloved side characters and how organically they’re introduced here, really shining in their scenes. Caring and perceptive Ron + Hermione, brilliant Astoria, and this charming and ruthless Teddy who once again stole my heart during his scene with Harry. Their witty and vibrant personalities jump off the screen and easily work their way inside our hearts.

This was such a refreshing take on the bond trope, exploring its initial euphoria and going straight into the painful aftermath. As I finished reading there was a strange little lump in my throat leaving me raw with emotion, partly satisfied with the perfect emotional resolution, partly desolate that this meant saying goodbye to these characters when I’d gladly stick around to see the life they build together. This fic was impeccably executed, it felt way longer than 15k and at the same time not long enough. It has so much heart and empathy you can tell it comes from a very special and personal place, one that was able to shake me to the core and fall in love with how selfless these two men love.

Here’s my last single rec for Wireless, and I just found out that today is fic writers’ appreciation day which is very fitting for finishing this short series! I hope you all have enjoyed these fics as much as I did. Happy Sunday!

Read on AO3

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 38

Sorry for the delay. Real life gets out of hand. But here it is! The antepenultimate chapter.

Shout out to @asongeverlasting for beta reading for me and making sure I actually got this out.

Check her writing out on AO3 as Ramblingwren

(Master post)

(Read the fic in a more condensed on Ao3)

(The latest chapter will be up on there once this reaches over 500 notes on tumblr)

Hope you all enjoy

_____________________________________________________________

“I shouldn’t have let her go out there.”

Fu watched the school nurse, Angela, fret as she paced back and forth.

“I understand your concern, but I believe that it will all be alright. Ladybug and Chat Noir haven’t failed in handling an akuma yet,” he explained. “The girl will be okay.”

The nurse stopped pacing.

“I appreciate your optimism but… I am really not used to this,” She said as she gestured to the air.

Fu blinked at the statement.

“Oh?”

“This! This whole thing! Super villains that appear whenever someone gets sad, teenagers with superpowers! This is all new to me! I just moved to Paris a month ago from the countryside. All I wanted was to further my education and get work in the medical field. It… It boggles my mind that everyone in this city is so okay with all of this! Even my new boyfriend Curtis is able to shrug off an akuma attack like a sudden drizzle. This isn’t normal!”

The guardian could tell the young woman was distressed, and he couldn’t blame her. In a way, he envied her. This was all foreign for her, but to him, this was his entire life.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blow up like that. I've had a lot to deal with, and this whole situation is just so…”

Fu moved to her and helped her sit down.

“It’s alright, this is by no means a good situation. Your concerns are very understandable. I can tell that deep down that your frustration and fear come from compassion and empathy. You will make a wonderful doctor one day.”

She took a deep breath.

“Thank you. You have no idea how much I really needed to hear that today.”

“How about I teach you a medication technique that will help you calm down?”

“Meditation? I'm not really one for that kind of stuff.”

“If one wants to be a doctor, being able to calm down and handle an emergency situation is a must.”

The school nurse agreed that he had a good point, and that this may help get her mind off of things.

“Okay, I guess I'll give it a shot.”

Fu smiled.

“Good. Let us start simple. Close your eyes and put your hands together.”

Angela felt the action was a bit odd but complied.

“Now, take a deep breath. Count to 5 in your head and then breathe out.”

She took her breath and followed the order.

“Whenever you feel a thought come to your head, simply picture yourself putting it out of your mind and into a bucket.”

She tried her best to comply.

As she did this, Fu moved behind her and quickly pinched a nerve on her neck, causing the young woman to seize up for a moment before losing consciousness.

“That will help her relax.”

He carefully moved her to the cot and laid a sheet over her like a blanket.

Once it was clear that she was asleep, a turtle kwami flew out of hiding.

“So, what do we do now, Master?”

Fu took a moment to consider.

His plan was already in motion. Ladybug and Chat Noir had plenty of allies to help fight the akuma. All that needed to be done was to sit down and wait.

But as he thought about it more, he couldn’t help but think that he should go in personally. It was what he'd initially planned to do with akuma, after all. Listening to this young woman’s fears made him really see how his inaction has led to such fear and uncertainty.

For once, it was time for him to go on the offensive.

“Now we head out and find this akuma.”

“Master, you already sent out three miraculous. Let the other heroes handle this,” Wayzz insisted.

“The people of Paris should not have to become used to this. I have been far too lax with this situation. Right now, Ladybug and Chat Noir are facing their most dangerous akuma yet. For decades I have always remained passive in order to avoid making another mistake, but I have already made so many with my inaction. It's time I stop letting my actions be dictated by fear.”

“But Master, you can’t transform! Your body is too old to handle it!”

“Fear not, Wayzz. I have been exercising and restoring my vitality with the techniques of the guardians. By my estimation, I should be able to maintain the transformation without too much issue for 10 minutes,” Fu assured.

“That is not a lot of time, Master!” Wayzz pointed out.

“True, but it is better than nothing. We will head out and wait for the moment we need it. Be ready, Wayzz.”

The old guardian started heading to the door.

“But Master, what if you get captured? What if the akuma does succeed and you are unable to step in?”

Fu paused at the door.

“I know you are concerned for me. I appreciate your care. But I need to go out there. I have lived a long life, Wayzz, far longer than most humans. One day I may not be here to be the guardian.”

Wayzz felt a pang of sorrow hearing his Master talk about how he would no longer be around.

“But that’s okay. I know that when that time comes… I have two young heroes that will be ready to stand up and fight. The best thing an old man like me can do is pave the road for them.” The guardian said with certainty. He went to open the door.

“Fu…”

The old man stopped. Turning around, he saw the turtle kwami he had known for most of his life smile at him.

“I know you think of yourself as a failure of a guardian… but Su Han and the others were wrong. You are a great one. You are the most caring guardian that has ever held the title. And I will be by your side to the end.”

The old man felt his eyes well up at the sweet comment.

“Then let’s go, Partner.”

___________________________________________________________________________

The dragon heroine grabbed the confused snake hero and moved him to the closest room before closing the door.

“Okay we should be safe here,” she said as she looked over to her comrade. It was clear that Viperion was still very confused. It did not help that both his and her miraculous were beeping. They didn't have much time.

“Thanks… ummm,” Viperion started as he tried to rack his brain for a name. Part of him felt like he should know her. But his mind is blank.

“Ryuuko. You can call me Ryuuko. And you are Viperion.”

“Okay… weird name for me, but I guess it works.”

Ryuuko realized that the bubble Viperion had been put in wasn’t just to keep him frozen in place. One of the side effects must have been leaving him without any memory of who he was. Had her partner been aware of that risk when he took the bubble for her? She couldn’t know for sure. But right now, she needed to focus on the task at hand. Shehad to take charge since her partner was out of sorts.

“Okay, 'll try to explain this as quickly as possible.”

“Your real name is Luka. But when you are in your hero form, you go by Viperion.”

“Hero form...”

He looked down.

“Well, that does explain the costumes. I thought it was some sort of weird costume party.”

Ryuuko decided to ignore that.

“Okay, so I'm a hero. And you're one too?”

“Yes. We are both heroes picked by Ladybug to help her fight villains. Right now, we're fighting a bunch of them, and you got your memory wiped by one of their attacks. That’s why you are confused. Any questions?”

The boy took a moment to look himself over and then look at her. This was a lot of information to take in. Ryuuko was half expecting him to call her crazy. Which, given how bizarre the circumstances were, she wouldn’t blame him.

“Okay, I think if it was anyone else telling me this, I would have called it a load of bull. But… I don’t know why but I feel like I can trust you. You sound sincere,” Viperion responded.

“Okay great, now let's…”

“I still have a few questions.”

Ryuuko sighs.

“Look, we really don’t have much time. We need to hurry and get out there to help…”

And just before she finished the statement, both of their transformations wore off. Revealing their civilian forms.

“Oh no.” Kagami muttered in horror.

“What happened? Where am I… What am I?” The snake kwami questioned as he looked at himself.

“It appears that Sass was also impacted by the amnesia.” The dragon kwami that popped out of her necklace commented.

Luka stared wide eyed at the creature.

“Are you a snake?”

“A snake? I suppose?”

“A snake with limbs? That is very rock and roll.”

The two fistbumped. Thankfully they seemed to get along.

Longg looked at them.

“This is quite a predicament.”

“We need to hurry back in. Longg! Bring the….”

“Hold on a moment. Both Sass and I will not be able to do that yet.”

Kagami stopped.

“How come?”

“We need to refuel. The energy of transforming AND using our unique powers drains a lot out of us. We need some food to continue.”

“Food… Okay.”

The snake Kwami grabbed his stomach.

“I find myself rather famished,” he commented.

Luka looked at him.

“Let me see if I can help you out.”

The teen took off the backpack he was wearing to go through it. Thankfully there was a bag lunch in there. For some reason he felt that was important. But decided that if it could help the little guy out, he was sure it wouldn’t be a big deal.

He opened the bag lunch and pulled out a bag of apple slices. Opening it to grab a piece.

“I know snakes usually are carnivores, but how about some fruit?”

“Ooo! It smells divine!”

Luka handed the floating kwami a piece of the apple.

He takes a bite.

“Oh! It's delicious! Juicy and sweet!”

The snake quickly devours the apple piece.

As that happens, Kagami looked through her bag.

“I don’t have fruit but I do have some onigiri. It was my afternoon snack… but since this is a dire situation.”

“Rice? Yes please!” Longg exclaimed as he dive bombed right into the delicious rice ball.

“It’s Umeboshi, it’s not to everyone’s taste but It is one of my favorites.”

“It’s the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. The sour plum really brings a new dimension of flavor.”

Kagami smiled a bit at her kwami companion, happy that she could help.

The two Kwami finished their food and were ready for action.

“Okay, Sass. You need to help Luka transform.”

“Sass? Is that my name?” the snake inquired.

“So, he helps me transform into Viperman?”

“Viperion, and yes,” Kagami responded.

“All you need to do is say. Sass, Scales Slither. And to activate your special power just pull your bracelet back and say second chance. Then pull it back when you want to use it. But be sure not to use it right away,” Longg instructed.

“Okay seems easy enough. Are you okay with this?” Luka asked as he turned his attention to his snake pal.

“The floating horn snake seems fine with it so I say let’s give it a try”

Longg decided for the sake of his friendship with Sass to ignore the comment.

“Alright! Let's do this!” Kagami exclaimed as she prepared to transform.

“One last question.”

Kagami was starting to get antsy. She wanted to be back out there fighting. But she held back her annoyance, considering how he sacrificed his memories for her.

“Make it quick, we need to hurry.”

Luka scratches the back of his head.

“Are we a couple?”

If Kagami was drinking water she would have done a massive spit take. Her cheeks turned red.

“What?!”

“You know… together? You seem to know a lot about me, and I just feel this connection... like I can trust you even though I don’t remember anything. I don’t know how or why, but I feel like you matter to me.”

Kagami’s eyes went wide at the comment. It felt surprisingly bold of the musician to say. She had to admit that the statement made her heart skip a beat.

“No, we had just recently become friends.” Kagami responded.

“Oh…” Luka was saddened by the response.

“But, I have thought about the possibility it could be more than that one day," Kagami continued. "But that is something to discuss when you have your memory back. Maybe.”

The fencer felt her mind scream at her.

‘WHY DID YOU SAY THAT! Well, at least he won't remember.’

Luka smiled at that.

“Well, that must mean I must be a good guy, if I could have such a great friend like you.”

The teen prepared himself.

“Alright then! Sass! Scales Slither.”

The musician shifted into his hero form.

“Let’s go save the day.”

Kagami looked at her hero partner and smiled.

“Longg, Bring the storm.

______________________________________________________________________

“Well, that might be a problem.”

Chat Noir and Ladybug looked to see a stone giant guarding the front door of the classroom. The two had hidden just out of the goliath’s view.

“Any ideas on how to take down Mount Akuma?” Chat Noir questioned.

Ladybug looked at the giant from their hiding spot and began formulating a plan.

“Stoneheart grows bigger when he gets mad. These akuma aren’t really able to express their emotions. That means we don’t need to worry about him getting bigger. We just need to find a way to incapacitate him.”

“We could ask Mayura,” Chat Noir pointed out.

“We could ask… wait WHA…”

Chat Noir covered his partner’s mouth and ducked down.

“Shhhh! She’s right there,” Chat Noir hushed.

Ladybug removed the cat’s hand from her mouth and looked from the spot to see that her partner was right. Mayura was in the building!

“She actually showed up?” Oh, this is a lot more serious than we thought. Hawkmoth is really playing it serious with this one.”

“To the butterfly man’s credit, he really has been throwing out some tough ones.”

“I will not give our worst villain credit for anything except this headache,” Ladybug retorted with annoyance.

“So, what do we do? Mayura is in the building and she is talking with the giant.”

Ladybug felt like the situation couldn’t get worse.

“Not so fast, Feather Freak!”

Ladybug recognized that voice.

“Chloé?”

Chat Noir and Ladybug glanced to see a familiar blonde strutting down the hallway. But their expressions of shock shifted to bewilderment when they noticed what she was wearing.

“So are you and that purple fashion blunder here? Or is it just you? I am guessing it's just you. Your boss doesn’t really like to show his face unless he thinks he is sure to win. No wonder Ladybug always kicks his…” The bee themed heroine confidently quipped.

“Queen Bee. Now that is a surprise. I thought Ladybug was done giving you a miraculous.” The peacock villainess commented. She had no interest in dealing with the bee heroine at this time.

“Well, you would be surprised by a lot of things. So how about we settle this. My fist really misses your face.”

Mayura rolled her eyes.

“Fortunately for you, I don’t have the time to deal with you. Stoneheart, I am sure Masquerade would love for you to take care of this pesky bee.”

“Oh don’t think you can walk away! You and that purple cockroach are the same. Both cowards that can’t even face children.” She jeered as she walked forward.

The stone giant moved forward, allowing Mayura to walk to the door and enter.

“Too scared to face me! Typical. I'll beat your pet rock as a warm up and then your butt will meet my foot!” Queen Bee exclaimed with confidence. “Because I am a real heroine!”

Queen Bee got into a stance and prepared to trade blows with the colossus of rock.

Chat Noir looked to Ladybug.

“Did you give her a miraculous?” He whispered in surprise.

“I don’t have any additional miraculous. I thought she had been captured with the rest of the class.”

“Wait… if it wasn’t you… you don’t think…”

“Either Master Fu is in the building and saw how dire the situation was or Chloé snuck away and had a Queen Bee costume stowed away in her locker.”

The two look at each other and immediately come to the same conclusion.

“We need to save her before she gets crushed!”

______________________________________________________________________

Mayura walked into the classroom.

She managed to keep a straight face, but internally she had a lot going through her mind.

What was once a standard classroom now looked like an elaborate throne room. The amazing curtains, the high ceilings. The steps leading up to an elaborate throne. The portraits of Masquerade really brought together the utter decadence and vanity of the akuma persona. It reminds Mayura of Gabriel’s obsession with Emilie in the worst way possible.

Despite finding the décor off-putting, she had to admit it was impressive how Masquerade had been able to change the room into something completely unrecognizable. A testament to her vanity.

She took a moment to see what akuma servants she still had in the room. The Gamer, Reflekta with around 12 copies, Princess Fragrance, Robostus, Zombizou and Horificator. While the white masks obscured their expressions, it was clear that all of them were watching her. It greatly unnerved her.

She kept these thoughts to herself as the masked akuma that was running the school took notice of her.

“Mayura. I've been expecting you.”

Mayura looked up to see Masquerade sitting on the throne.

“Please, come in.”

She approached confidently. Though in the back of her mind something seemed off.

Masquerade stood up from the throne and walked down the steps, a smile of certainty on her face.

“Masquerade. Your Sentimonster gave me the basics of your plan. Securing the school as your base of operations was a good first step. Your plan of creating a video to lower the spirits of those in Paris was also a nice touch,” Mayura praised.

“But of course! My plan is flawless,” Masquerade boasted. “Not even Ladybug and Chat Noir will be able to stop me.”

“Getting ahead of yourself aren’t you?” Mayura cut her ego trip.

Masquerade’s mood soured as her smile faltered.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You have yet to face the two heroes. Not to mention there's a pesky bee flying around.”

“A bee?” Masquerade was very confused by the comment.

“Yes, Chloé Bourgeois, or Queen Bee, to be precise. Seems that Ladybug and Chat Noir went and got back up."

“It doesn’t matter if they have one additional hero or three. This plan won't fail.”

‘Something isn’t right here. I need to leave now!’ Mayura’s mind screamed.

She wasn’t sure why, but something felt incredibly off.

“Speaking of heroes, your plan never really specified how you will deal with them. Care to elaborate?”

Masquerade’s smile grew more sinister.

“I am glad you asked. After Simularé relayed to me that you were here. I finally figured out the perfect way of dealing with those arrogant heroes,” the masked woman stated with certainty, moving forward.

She now stood only a few feet from the peacock villainess.

“Wait a moment, something is wrong here,” Mayura commented as she tried to focus. She couldn’t ignore the warnings in her head.

“What do you mean?” The mask akuma looked with confusion at the blue villainess.

Mayura looked around. Frantically trying to find something but it was fruitless. This distress caused Masquerade to smile.

“I can't sense it,” Mayura spoke with slight worry.

“Sense what?” Masquerade inquired further.

“Where is your amok? It should be on your person but I can't sense it.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Yes. If you don’t have the amok in your possession then that sentimonster will go out of control!” Mayura explained.

“Can’t you just rip the amok out?”

“If it's nearby and I sense it, yes. But I can’t do that if it’s out of my range.”

“So you’re saying you have no power over me right now.” A devilish grin appeared on Masquerade’s face.

“No, I am saying I don’t have any power over the senti…”

Mayura felt a chill as she realized that the masquerade in front of her was not an akumatized Lila.

“Horrificator, block the door,” the Faux Masquerade commanded.

The pink and purple monster quickly moved to block the door with her large form.

The controlled akuma started circling around her as Simularé undid the illusion and morphed into its true specter form, Simularé.

“You ungrateful little monster. You think your master will be okay with you attacking one of the ones that gave her power?”

“My master doesn’t care about you or Hawkmoth. You are a means to an end. And she gave me special permission to take your miraculous from you.”

“Well if your master isn’t here, then no one is jamming the signal. I can contact Hawkmoth and put this little coup to an end.”

Simularé shifted into Lady Wifi.

“I have access to every power my master does. You are trapped with no options.” The sentimonster mocked.

Mayura looked around as she was circled by the controlled akuma. She needed to get out of there.

She felt a pain rush to her head.

‘F*** not now’ She mentally cursed.

The odds were indeed not in her favor.

______________________________________________________________________________

Stoneheart began charging at the bee themed heroine, and just as Queen Bee was about to move, a yo-yo wrapped around her waist and pulled her away from the monster.

The stone giant had expected his charge to make contact but forced himself to stop when he noticed the bee was gone.

“Sorry tiny, but I’m your playmate now,” called a cat-themed hero.

The mindless akuma didn’t visibly react to the change in foe and simply charged at the cat hero.

Queen Bee found herself near Ladybug.

“Chloé! What are you doing?!”

“Uh… Saving the day? I got the jewelry box that you sent out because you needed my help.”

“Jewelry box… wait a minute that means. You are wearing a miraculous.”

“Yep! Don’t worry LB, I will show you that I am worthy of being Queen Bee. And not to boast, but I totally saved someone. But right now, we gotta go beat that ugly pile of rubble.”

Ladybug looked at Chloé for a moment. With the situation as hectic as it was, Queen Bee has shown some competence when there is real danger. Ladybug knew that right now, all hands that could help would be appreciated, and Queen Bee’s appearance could mean that Fu may be closer than she expected. So maybe there were more reinforcements. So if this was the case. She would trust Fu’s judgement.

“Alright, just be ready to return the bee after all of this is over.”

“Right, right, but just know I will probably change your mind about that after this is over!” the bee exclaimed confidently as she jumped back into the fray.

Ladybug shook her head. Whether she was Queen Bee or Chloé, she was still a handful.

“Are you finished gossiping? Because I could REALLY use a hand!” Chat Noir shouted as he held his staff up to hold back the rock monster’s boulder of a fist.

Queen Bee and Ladybug jumped into view and noticed the situation.

“Don’t worry you stray cat, The Queen Bee will put that rock in his place. Ve…”

Ladybug covered Queen Bee’s mouth before she could.

“Hold it. We might need your power for later.”

“I think it would be useful now!” Chat Noir shouted as he struggled to hold the weight of the giant’s rocky hand.

“Okay if my powers are a no no right now, what is the plan?”

Ladybug looked around. She found her attention drawn to a fire extinguisher, Queen Bee, a rubber band, and a discarded backpack.

“Okay, I have a plan.”

______________________________________________________________________

Gabriel had made a decision.

He hurried out of the lair in his civilian form. He was going to head to the school. Now he would just need to get his chauffeur and go…

Gabriel’s eyes went wide as he saw his son’s bodyguard and chauffeur fall to the floor at the steps of the main entrance, a white mask adorning his face that he was desperately trying to get off.

“What is the meaning of this?” Gabriel asked aloud in shock and anger.

He looked to see the mask akuma he created standing at the door.

“Well, if it isn’t Gabriel Agreste. Fashion mogul, and master manipulator.”

Gabriel’s visible anger faded as he stared at the akuma.

“Lila, is that you?”

“Oh quite astute! An amazing deduction. Was it that observational skill that made you the fashion success you are now?” the akumatized Lila inquired. “Though I go by Masquerade now.”

Gabriel knew very well the girl’s powers. He was the one that gave it to her. She was trying to antagonize him, get him angry. But that would not work.

“Well Masquerade, what brings you to my home at this time?” Gabriel asked calmly. Doing his best to keep his tone and mannerisms calm.

“Oh, I was just in the neighborhood, finding more people to join my little army and I notice my charm glowing as I was getting near.”

Gabriel’s eyes went wide as he realized something. The charm bracelet was configured to locate anyone that has ever been akumatized. That included him. His ploy to ward suspicion off of himself was now biting him in the butt. And of course, Lila was likely holding a grudge with how he pushed her with his words about his son and his classmate.

“My bodyguard was akumatized. What of it?”

The silent action figure enthusiast stopped resisting and his body began growing. Gabriel noticed the man was transforming into the gorilla akuma. Gorizilla! And he rushed up the steps as the akuma moved and pounded his chest.

“Gorizilla, go gather up anyone who has been akumatized that you know of. I will handle Mr. Agreste myself.”

The giant akuma nodded at its master and headed off, leaving the agreste mansion with a giant hole that was once the front of the mansion.

“Handle me? And what do you plan to do?”

Masquerade’s necklace began to glow.

“Oh! Well that is very interesting,” Masquerade mused aloud as she learned from the glowing charm.

“What do you mean, interesting?” Gabriel asked. He knew that the charm had the bonus effect of pointing out the emotional weak points of those that had been akumatized. But he had PRETENDED to be angry and wasn’t actually emotional when the akuma took over. Did the charm still impact him the same way it did everyone else?

Masquerade started walking up the steps.

“You blame yourself for your wife’s passing.”

The statement was a blade pointed right at his throat. But Gabriel refused to react. He would not let himself be taken advantage of by his own akuma. He has been on the receiving end one too many times and he would be damned if he let that psychopath have control of him.

Masquerade saw that Gabriel was not reacting to the statement.

“I have never seen a man more miserable and pathetic,” Masquerade said. Her words sounded genuine and cutting.

Gabriel tried to turn around and walk away. But Masquerade jumped high with her superhuman agility and landed right in front of him, continuing her tearing down of his emotional state.

“All of this wealth and yet you are obsessed with what you don’t have. You are so blinded by the grief of losing your wife that everything else in your life may as well not exist. You locked yourself away, desperately trying to find something, anything that would bring her back. But now you are finding that color is starting to return in your life. You feel guilt over hiding the truth from your son, you loathe the attraction that you have been developing for another woman. You hate that you can’t dedicate every second to your lost wife and any speck of joy you feel without her here feels like treason since she is not here with you. You are a man so blind with his obsession that you fail to see the world doesn’t revolve around you. It's disgusting.”

“You know nothing of my life,” Gabriel dismissed.

But Masquerade knew he would say that. She only smiled. The truth was right in front of her. And she was ready to bring it home.

“You are actually terrified of facing her again.”

That shook Gabriel.

“What?”

“You are afraid of seeing her again. Whether it’s a year or 10 years, you feel that even if you could bring her back, she would be here and realize how much of a shell you had become without her. You are afraid that your obsession with her will be the very thing that drives her away once you see her again.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Then why haven’t you brought her back yet? Don’t you love her?”

Gabriel felt like his heart was being repeatedly punched.

“How dare you question my love for my wife!”

“Then why isn’t she here? If you loved her she wouldn’t have been taken from you and Adrien. But you were far too pathetic to do it. You failed her, and you are still failing her. You will never be with her again, and deep down. You know it to be true,” Masquerade answered coldly.

Those words were enough to get him down. That is what finally did him in.

Gabriel fell to his knees.

“No…”

Gabriel had broken. Masquerade knew she had him.

He was emotionally devastated, to the point where couldn’t even react to the mask coming his way.

____________________________________________________________

Well now things are now hitting their highest points of drama!

Will Ladybug and other heroes be able to stand up to Masquerade?

Will Mayura fall to Simularé's double cross?

Will I EVER update in time?

Tell me your thoughts on the chapter. Your support keeps it alive

[tobi-smp]

hi !! i’m sorry if you’re sort of done with talking about the cc!techno lore discussion situation, but i wanted to weigh in, if that’s okay. (no pressure to respond !)

the whole thing sort of reminds me of this distinct disconnect i think audience members tend to see among [some] actors and their work - and i can tie this to my own personal experience of having been in varsity theatre in high school, and even to big-name movie stars.

for example, i was in a show called radium girls, and i was cast as this doctor character. i knew my scenes and my lines front-to-back - since that’s really important in giving a good performance - but when i wasn’t directly involved, i was backstage. as a result, if you were to ask me “hey, what’s the plot of radium girls?” i’d be able to give a brief synopsis based off of the parts i myself was directly involved in - but that would be the extent of it, y’know? my synopsis would definitely exclude a significant portion of the story - all of which is vital to understanding the other leads’ characters arcs, and the nuance of the plot itself.

we even see this from cast members of ultra-popular media, like marvel. you’re sort of like, “how could these actors be apart of endgame and not have a clue what’s even really going on?” - and the reality is, unless you make the conscious effort of becoming hands-on, and investing your time into becoming familiar work the material, you’re going to be a little out of the loop. (very sorry for rambling !!)

i think my point is definitely i believe cc!techno is entitled to his personal interpretation of the media he’s in ! especially considering he was involved in a lot of major overarching events. however, i just think he’s sort of viewing the story through one of those cardboard toilet-paper rolls, and he should probably re-examine it as a whole to get a better understanding. dsmp analysts do so much for the community - especially those on tumblr - and i’d love to see him connect with them more. you know, use that english major knowledge for good, rather than evil. (/j /lh)

while I certainly understand what you're saying here, and to an extent you aren't wrong, the problem is the Specific Context

1: technoblade was specifically engaging with the ways that the Audience interprets his character, trying to argue with the perception of him as a villain (or at least as villainous at the red festival), as well as point out several points common in discussion that he doesn’t like (such as the “age arguments,” which in context is the idea that his actions in the red festival were worse because the person he chose to kill was a teenager), which just isn’t the same thing as him having his own interpretation of the character based on his limited perspective.

to use your experience in theater as an example, it’d be as if you walked up to people discussing the play afterwards and argued with an audience member for criticizing your character’s actions and trying to explain why your character Couldn’t have been in the wrong based on the limited knowledge that you have. it’s not a productive conversation and nobody was asking for it.

2: not everything that technoblade said was his personal understanding of his character or his character's motivations. in fact the Majority of what he said was about Other Characters' actions, which becomes problematic both because he didn't have the context to understand those characters on a deeper level And because many of the things he said were just objectively wrong.

as an example: telling his audience that wilbur, tubbo, and tommy tried to kill him by withholding information about the plan is, an extremely bad take on its own. but it becomes worse when we have in stream evidence that tells us that wilbur Did tell techno what the plan was and what techno was supposed to do [Link], tommy's entire arc during pogtopia was about him Not wanting to blow l'manberg up, and neither tommy or tubbo had any reason to think that techno Didn't know (because wilbur had already told them that he was in on it), among other things.

he's not just wrong about the things that happened while he wasn't around, he's wrong about the things that he actively participated in and he's spreading that misinformation to his audience which already has a history of twisting canon to demonize the other characters and downplay the results of c!techno’s actions to absolve his character of guilt.

3: technoblade isn’t just an actor, he’s a writer. he has direct control over his own character, what arcs his character gets involved in, what his character does and says and when he does it. this is an improv roleplay and while there have been instances where there was an overhead writer organizing the events so they played out cohesively that’s long gone. technoblade’s understanding of the story affects how Everybody Else is able to tell their story around his character, which Matters when technoblade is involved in every major arc as of right now.

I talk about this more here [Link], but when tubbo wanted to dig into the consequences the red festival had on his character in more depth he put Quackity into the role as the person his character was angry at and wary of Because of the red festival, having his character absolve c!techno because quackity “forced him to do it” when quackity was openly begging for schlatt and techno to Stop and got hurt By Techno.

c!tubbo isn’t Allowed to explore his trauma From Technoblade because cc!techno isn’t willing to play along, isn’t willing to see his character as a villain or even as someone who made a Mistake. so the narrative had to Bend Around the obstacle that technoblade became in order to explore those feelings. which makes it all the more frustrating when techno apologists turn around and use that to further absolve c!techno of guilt by saying that c!tubbo forgave him and didn’t blame him.

it’s Detrimental to the storytelling of an Improv Roleplay when one of the improvisers refuses to play along.

required reading before you argue with this post: [Link]

[drdemonprince]

I'm a recently self-diagnosed autistic who has had adhd/depression/anxiety diagnoses for 6 years. I have somehow ended up in a position that requires me to supervise ~15 people. Most of them are fine, but I have several that cause drama through lying and gossiping. I *hate* being lied to and want to call them on their bs, but race is a factor so I want to be mindful of that. How do I hold them accountable while avoiding burnout? I'm currently reading UA and love it!

race is a factor in your supervisees lying and gossiping? I need to know what you mean by that before I can answer this. Because I can think of a wide range of potential interpretations of what a person might mean when they say that... But, if you have employees pointing out instances of racism in the workplace I would advise you to take it super seriously. 

I would put aside your own feelings about hating being lied to -- it’s important for you as the person in power here to be as impartial as you can be (though of course, you will *never* be objective, you will always be a human being with emotions and the one with privileges that are institutionally held over other people, and that will taint things, and it is vital to acknowledge that to oneself, I believe). It’s okay to feel annoyed or to have your own internal reactions, but don’t let them guide your behavior. 

 Think of yourself as being in a support role for your managees -- not a position of power. What support do your managees need to be able to do their jobs? Is anyone mistreating someone else, or getting in the way of them doing their job as comfortably as they can? Who needs my help, and wants it, and what can I do to help -- those are the questions. Not how do I get the people working under me to behave the way I want them to. pretend you did not have the power to fire or reprimand anyone -- because for the most part you shouldnt have that kind of power over others. what would you do to help your employees and advocate for them? focus on doing those things especially when you know they’d be wanted. 

If someone’s lies/gossip is targeted at a fellow employee and its hurting them and getting in the way of them doing their job, you should step in. If it’s just people blowing off steam at work in a way you find unsavory, I don’t think doing anything about that is your place. BUT if employees are spreading racist gossip and lies you should step in in a major way immediately. But i’ll have to hear back from you more about what you meant wrt racism

[space-blue]

Hello:)

I keep having debates with friends about Sevika’s intentions when telling Silco to let jinx come to him after Sevika was just tied from the ceiling BY jinx. On one hand, some think it was a genuine display of empathy.. and on the other, some say it was manipulation to keep jinx away (let her get worse mentally and not interfere, etc..).

So I was wondering what your thoughts are on Sevika’s “I didn’t always see eye to eye with my old man” quote?

When she was advising Silco, She seemed like she genuinely wanted to help a bit. The “she’ll come to you when she’s ready” advice fits more to Sevika’s personality than jinx’s. It makes me wonder if maybe that’s not the first time she’s advised Silco about Jinx.

Noooo, Anon, not the true trick question!!

I honestly don't know. My first few viewings, I took her at face value. She seems so honest. She seems to feel vulnerable emotions as she recalls her father (who I like to imagine as a meek, bespectacled, jersey wearing horticulturist or chemtech. A man who bewitched a strong woman who then died, and left him to raise a firebrand daughter. I like to think she often lost her temper with him because of his peaceful, non-confrontational ways. That she blew up in his face and left for days on end, but he was always right there when she was ready to return to him).

But then someone introduced the idea that she's hoping Jinx blows up to me and fuck it makes too much sense.

Jinx just fucked her up nice and good. Sevika openly voiced the desire for Jinx to blow up and Silco to discard her as a result.

It just makes sense that she'd do anything to make this happen.

BUT. And I'm going into headcanons here... We also don't know what went down between Silco and Sevika as he took her down.

Did he mention the gem? Did he make Sevika understand how important her role is right now, and how vital it is to prevent her sister's interference?

Because if he did, we can then clear the air. Sevika could huff and puff and bury the hatchet, because weaponizing the gem could fast forward them to the Free Zaun she CLEARLY believes in.

However, from a writer's perspective, the scene of Silco freeing her could also be used for a building inner monologue that sets her completely against Jinx and prepares Sevika to lie.

Also... We never see her lie much. If at all?? But I guess she wasn't lying to Silco either. Maybe that's why her emotion is genuine. She may be sharing this honest advice, fully knowing it'll contribute to Jinx blowing up.

We just don't know, because we also don't know what past problems with Jinx have looked like. Does Sevika think Silco is overbearing? Is he? Would seeking Jinx out have changed much?

Because she does come and find him a little later, and while she's very aggressive, Silco seems to be able to talk her down from her rage.

I think the only difference is if Silco could catch her before she blew the flare, and that's before he finds Sevika so... Too late.

Mmmh. Thinking through this, it seems that Sevika's delay of him is of little importance. Sure he could heal her wound better, and maybe ease her from her splintering crisis, but would she not still finish her bombs? When she goes to the bridge, it's her doing Silco's bidding of taking care of the blockade, isn't it?

The only other thing she does is recall Cait's name.

So maybe the show isn't intending us to read that much into Sevika's words.

Also, if she fully means it, it makes her an even more devoted and loyal follower, capable of overcoming her personal wants and dislikes to help her boss/leader.

So I guess in the end it's largely up to the sort of interpretation you want to have for Sevika as a character.