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elliesguitarstrings · 4 years ago

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promises, promises || part one: what used to be

masterlist || series masterlist

tom holland x reader

summary: you're crying over someone you haven't seen in two years, tom is straight up depressed, your friends are trying to set you up, and sam is just trying his best to help

warnings: ANGST, language, mentions of sex, little bit of fluff, probably typos

A/N: PART ONE IS HERE!!!! i absolutely love this fic and i hope you guys love it as much as i do :)

p.s. this ended up being really long sooooo i decided to make it into a series instead lol if y'all haven't figured that out

wc: 5k

~~~~~~~~

"I got the part! Holy shit I actually got the part!" Tom throws his computer across the bed in disbelief, almost hitting you.

"Wait, like THE part? Like Spiderman?" you question excitedly.

"YES!!! Check the Marvel Instagram right now!" he crawls over to you as you whip out your phone and quickly search up the account. You scan the page to see a post captioned, "Click the link in our bio to see who the new Spider-Man is!" You quickly find the link and impatiently wait for the page to load. And then you see it, boldface print and giant letters across your phone.

The new Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man will be played by: TOM HOLLAND

"HOLY SHIT TOM! You're fucking Spiderman!" you tackle him with a hug, squeezing him so tightly that he has to fight for breath. "I'm so proud of you, I knew you were gonna do big things." you smile brightly.

"We have to go tell everyone else, come on!" Tom pulls you off of him, dragging you out of his bedroom and down the stairs to give his family the big news.

The rest of the Hollands were already together in the family room, and they immediately took notice of yours and Tom's excitement as the two of you are bounding down the stairs.

Out of breath, Tom sprints to the center of the room. "Attention everyone, I have an extremely important announcement to make!" He pauses for dramatic effect, his family waiting in anticipation. "I'M GONNA BE SPIDERMAN!"

This causes an outburst of cheers and applause from his parents and brothers, each one of them getting up to hug Tom and congratulate him on this huge achievement.

Paddy pipes up, "How did you get the news? Did they call you or something?"

"Um, not exactly. They posted it on their Instagram and on the Marvel website as well, wanna see?" He turns to you, "Y/N, show them your phone!"

You pull out your phone and open the screen you were just looking at, showing the Hollands the Instagram post and article.

"No way, they're totally hacked." Harry remarks, earning disapproving looks from Nikki and Dom. "if you were really gonna be the next Spiderman, they would have called you."

Before Tom has the time to argue back, his phone rings, as if on cue. Tom pulls it out of his back pocket and nervously studies the number across the screen.

"Well, what are you waiting for div, answer it!" Sam chirps impatiently.

The rest of the room is silent while Tom listens intently to the person the other line. You can't make out what they are saying, but the eventual smile on Tom's face completely gives it away.

"Yes, thank you. Thank you so much for this opportunity," he holds while the other person talks again. "Yeah, I'll be in touch, definitely. Thank you again." Tom ends the call and lets out a sigh of relief. "That was fucking Kevin Feige! I got the part! I actually am gonna be the next Spiderman!"

You and the rest of his family cheered even louder than before, enveloping him in a giant group hug.

"I say we celebrate!" Nikki announces. "How about we go out for a nice dinner?"

Tom smiles, "If I'm honest mum, as nice as that would be, I'd rather just stay in and celebrate here tonight. I like your cooking better than any fancy restaurant anyways."

"Of course honey, I'll make your favorite. We can have a nice big family dinner, how does that sound?"

"Sounds perfect mum, thank you."

She dashes into the kitchen followed by Sam, the aspiring chef of the family, while Dom, Harry, and Paddy go to dress the table.

You take this as your cue to leave, seeing as you don't want to disrupt the rest of Tom's night with his family. "I guess I should get going then," you turn to Tom, hugging him once again. "Congratulations again, I'm so proud of you Tommy." you smile as you head to grab your things before you leave.

"Nonsense! You're staying for dinner too!" Tom stops you.

"Tom, I can't, you should spend this night celebrating with your family." you try to reason with him.

"But I want you here too!" he pouts.

"And you are family!" Nikki pipes in from the kitchen, earning nods of agreement from the rest of the family.

"See, everyone wants you here Y/N, please celebrate with us?" Tom cups your face.

"Are you sure? I really don't want to-"

Nikki cuts you off, piping in once again, "Y/N, I insist you stay for dinner with us. You've been a part of this family for so long, and you know that. So please stay and celebrate with us!" she smiles.

You giggle, "Well, I guess I can't say no to that." Tom smiles, giddily engulfing you in another hug.

After a long and delicious dinner, you and Tom now lay under the stars in the treehouse in his backyard. Dom had built it for you two when you were eight years old, and it's been your special place ever since then. Obviously, it has been upgraded and redecorated since then, now that you and Tom were both eighteen, but it still takes you back to the old days when you were just carefree little kids.

You cuddle into Tom's chest, looking up at the night sky through the small window in the roof of the treehouse. "I wish we could stay here forever," you whisper.

"Me too." Tom pulls you closer, kissing your forehead.

"Everything's gonna change you know. We're graduating in two weeks, and then you leave for America. I don't know what I'm gonna do without you." A small tear rolls down your cheek which doesn't go unnoticed by Tom.

He wipes the tear off your face with his thumb, cupping your chin to make you face him. "Hey, hey, look at me. Things might be changing, but that doesn't mean we have to. I'm only gonna be gone for a few months, and then I'll be back. I love you so much, and a few hundred miles is never going to change that. I will never let anything come between us, ever, okay?"

You smile softly, "You promise?"

"I promise darling. It's you and me forever. I'm never letting you go. Never in a million years." he kisses you lovingly, and you swear you could just live in this moment forever with him, and only him.

That was six years ago. And what Tom said was true, everything had changed. You just wish everything else he had said that night was true too.

Now, Tom is a world-famous actor, living a luxurious life out in Hollywood. You, however, have stayed in England, living only thirty minutes away from your childhood home with your newfound best friends Julia and Finn. You are no longer a part of Tom's life, and he is no longer a part of yours. But that doesn't mean you've forgotten about him.

How could you possibly forget about Tom? Your entire childhood was spent with him. From the ages of two to twenty-two, you were inseparable. To this day, you still remember when you first met, and you think about it often.

"I no wanna go! I stay home and watch princesses!" you cry, defiantly pulling away from your mother's firm grip as she tries to stuff you into shoes that are much too small for your rapidly growing feet.

"I know honey, but we have to go welcome the new neighbors who just moved in across the street. We made them brownies, remember?" she smiles.

You scrunch your face up, " No! I stay home!"

Your dad chimes in, kneeling down to your level. "Listen peanut. How about we make a deal. You come with us and say hello to the new neighbors, and then after we get home you can watch any princess movie you want and maybe even have some ice cream, how does that sound?"

You smile, "Ice cream with rainbow sprinkles?"

He rubs your head, "With rainbow sprinkles."

"Okay. I go then."

Your parents smile, and you hold their hands as you walk across the street to meet the neighbors. Your mom rings the doorbell, and the door opens to reveal a red-headed woman, smiling at you and your parents. Hiding behind her is a small, curly-headed brunette boy about the same height as you.

Your mom introduces herself, "Hi! My name is Y/M/N, this is my husband Y/D/N, and this is my daughter Y/N. We live right across the street, and we just wanted to welcome you into the neighborhood." She outstretches her arms, holding the brownies, "I made these for you as well, I hope you like them!"

The woman smiles, "Oh, wow, thank you so much, you are so sweet! Would you like to come in for a bit?"

"Of course, as long as you'll have us."

She ushers the three of you in and you stay close to your mom, still wary of entering a stranger's home.

As she closes the door behind her, she introduces herself as well, "Sorry, the house is a little messy, we’re still getting settled in. But I'm Nikki, my husband Dominic is unpacking in the kitchen, and this is Tom." She motions to the boy behind her, "Tom, say hello to the nice people!"

He timidly steps forward, waving at you and your parents. "Hello." he says quietly.

"Oh my, he is adorable!" your mom gushes. She walks over to him, "How old are you Tom?"

He holds up two fingers, "This many."

She smiles, "Two years old? Wow, you're so big! Guess what, you know who else is that many?" Tom shakes his head no. "My daughter Y/N!" She motions for you to come, and you shyly walk forward.

You wave at him, and that makes him smile. Nikki taps Tom on the shoulder, "Do you maybe want to show Y/N your toys upstairs?

He nods his head, smiling at you, "Wanna go play?" he asks.

You smile back, looking at your mom for permission. She nods her head and pushes you forward. "Okay, we go." you respond. He takes your hand and pulls you upstairs, seemingly coming out of his shell. You don't know what it is about this boy, but he makes you feel warm, like a hug. It's something your two-year-old brain can't quite comprehend, but suddenly you couldn't care less about watching princess movies or eating ice cream.

Sometimes you wish that day had never happened, that you had never met him. You wish your little two-year-old self had fought harder against your parents so that you wouldn’t have to endure the years of pain he would cause you later in life. But you can’t go back, and in part, you’re glad about that. He was your first friend, your first crush, and your first love. But he was also your first heartbreak, and that’s something you can never forget.

You're snapped out of your thoughts by a sharp knock on your bedroom door. "Hey, are you almost ready? We have to leave in ten or we'll be late!" you hear Julia's muffled voice from the other side of the door. Finn is hosting a gala tonight for his art studio, and being his best friends and roommates, you and Julia are basically required to go.

"Uh, yeah, I'm about done, I'll be out in a minute!" You haven't even started getting ready, but you don't have any more time. You quickly raid your closet and find a short v-neck black dress and matching heels. You wiggle into the dress as you make your way into the bathroom. You had planned on straightening your hair, but you have no time, so instead, you brush it back into a sleek low ponytail and spray it with a bit of hairspray. There's no time for the elaborate makeup look you had planned either, so you quickly throw on some concealer, blush, mascara, eyeliner, a bit of highlight, and you're set. As you walk to the door, you grab your purse and slip on your heels, making sure you have your phone and keys. Finn and Julia are already waiting in the car, both with disapproving looks.

"What the fuck took you so long? We were supposed to leave five minutes ago! You know I can't be late for this thing." Finn complains as you slip into the backseat.

"Sorry, I, uhm, don't feel well. A little nauseous." you lie. You don't feel like telling them that you were actually crying about someone you haven't seen or talked to in two and a half years like you do every other night.

"You're not pregnant are you?" Julia chuckles.

"Oh please, we all know that Y/N hasn't gotten any since he who must not be named." Finn replies for you.

"Thanks Finn, what a great friend." you joke sarcastically.

He's not wrong though. Since you and Tom broke up, you haven’t slept with a single person. You’ve been on a few dates and kissed a few guys, but nothing past that. The closest you got was about a month after Tom broke it off with you. You were looking for someone to take your mind off of him, so you found a random guy named David at a pub and took him back to your place. But as soon as he took off his shirt, you saw a birthmark on his back that looked eerily similar to Tom’s, and you promptly broke down crying.

No matter what you do, you just can’t seem to get him off your mind.

"Alright bitches, we're here." Finn sighs. "Help me bring my stuff in, we don't have much time thanks to someone who took ages to get ready."

You give a halfhearted apology as you grab Finn's paintings from the back of his car. Julia stops you before you follow Finn into the venue, "Babe, are you sure you're doing alright?"

You smile lightly, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be fine."

"Okay, if you say so. And sorry about Finn mentioning... him. It's been two years, he should know better."

"Oh, no. No, don't worry about that. It's okay. I don't care." you lie.

She gives you an encouraging nudge on the shoulder, "Hey, who knows, maybe you'll find a hottie here tonight and finally get back out there! What do you think, huh?"

"Yeah, that would be great, actually. Maybe Finn can introduce me to his friend James, I know he's pretty hot." you say just to get her off your back. You know for a fact that you won't be going home with anyone tonight, but you want to ease her conscience, so you continue to lie.

"That's the spirit! Good luck hun, love you."

"Thanks Jules, love you too." you smile.

Halfway through the gala, you already want to go home. Finn is over at the bar flirting with some guy, probably trying to get him to buy his artwork. Meanwhile, Julia has disappeared into the bathroom with her boyfriend Ollie, who she invited about thirty minutes into the event because she "got bored."

You look at your phone and realize it's already midnight, and you know the event won't be ending anytime soon. You slowly make your way over to Finn through the sea of people and tap him on the shoulder, drawing his attention away from whatever guy he's flirting with.

"Hey Y/N, how's it going with James?" he asks excitedly.

"Oh, um, it didn't work out, thanks for introducing me though. I just wanted to come tell you that I'm still not feeling well, so I think I'm gonna head home, sorry."

"Oh, okay, no problem. You're probably gonna be alone tonight though, just a heads up. Jules is going back to Ollie's for the night, and" he starts to whisper, "I think I might be going home with this hunk."

You laugh, "Okay, thanks Finn, see you tomorrow then."

"Bye babe. Do you have a ride?" he questions.

"Uh, no, I'm just gonna Uber home, it's no problem."

Finn gasps, "Not this late at night you're not! Let me drive you, hottie with a body over here can wait."

"No, no, don't let me ruin your night. I'll just call Sam then."

His eyes widen, "Like... his brother Sam?"

"Yeah, we're friends still, it's not a big deal. Trust me."

"Okay, fine. But text me when you get home, okay?"

"Okay, love you Finn, see you later." you give him a quick hug and walk outside to call Sam.

You aren't lying, you and Sam are still good friends. Back when you and Tom were together, Sam was the brother that you were closest to, and you felt that it would be unfair to cut ties with the rest of the Hollands just because Tom was a dick to you seeing as they were as much of a family to you as your own parents were, maybe even more. He was attending culinary school in the area anyway, so you decide he’s the best person to call.

As expected, he's happy to drive you home, and about ten minutes later he arrives at the venue where you are still standing outside.

"Hey Sam, I'm sorry for calling this late, but thank you so much for picking me up." you smile as you slide into the passenger seat.

"It's no problem, I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. How've you been?"

"Fine, I guess. How about you?"

"C'mon, I know that look. Something's up with you." he pries.

"I told you on the phone, I'm just not feeling well." you lie, hoping he doesn't catch on.

"It's Tom isn't it?"

"How the fuck do you always know?"

He chuckles. "He is my brother, remember? And you're basically my sister too. I've known you both for literally my entire life, so trust me, I know when it's about him."

You sign in defeat, "I don't know why I can't get over him Sam. It's been nearly three years since we broke up, and I haven't seen him since. My roommates think I'm overreacting, and honestly, I'm starting to agree with them. I should be moved on by now, but I just can't stop thinking about him."

"Hey, hey, don't listen to them, you aren't overreacting. You and Tom were literally attached at the hip for twenty two years, and you weren't even dating for most of them. It's completely normal for you to feel like this, trust me. And I know it doesn't help much for me to say this because I've said it a million times before, but Tom's a complete dick for what he did to you. He's my brother, and I love him, but he's a dick."

"Thanks Sam. I just wish I knew why, y'know? Why, after twenty-two fucking years, he just completely cut me out of his life." you feel your eyes brimming with tears.

"I wish I could have an answer for you Y/N, I really do. But I haven't got a clue. Hell, I honestly don't even know if Tom knows why he did it."

You sigh, "Well, he must have had a reason. Plus, he seems to be doing great in Hollywood. He seems perfectly happy without me."

"You've been stalking him on Instagram, haven't you?" Sam chuckles.

You laugh, "Shut up." That's the great thing about Sam. He can always lighten up a situation, no matter how serious or how sad. Tom did the same thing, that was one of the things you liked most about him.

You and Sam sit in silence for a few minutes, until he finally breaks it. "He's not, you know."

"Huh?" you question, confused.

"He's not happy. You said he seems happy without you, but he's not. He's doing terribly, and it's not just from stress or his work. He won't admit it, but he misses you." he pauses, "I know I shouldn't be telling you this, but he asked about you the other day. About how you were doing and shit like that. I think he would take it back if he could."

You want so badly to believe him, belief that Tom actually still cares about you after all this time. But false hope is the last thing you need right now.

"Well, he can't, can he?" you say sharply, tears still threatening to flow out.

You and Sam sit in silence for the last five minutes of the ride back to your apartment. As he slows the car to a stop, Sam looks over at you sympathetically, "Look, I'm sorry if what I said made things worse. I just wanted you to know that your feelings aren't... one-sided I guess."

You know better than to yell at Sam, he was just trying to make you feel better, so instead of spitting out the sarcastic remark that was on your tongue, you manage out a half-hearted, "It's okay, thanks Sam." and shut the car door.

As soon as the door of your apartment closes behind you, all of the emotions come crashing down on you. A mixture of sadness, anger, guilt, and regret crushed your heart, smashing it into a million little pieces. It feels like two and a half years ago, when he first broke up with you, all over again. Everything was fine until Sam brought him up again, and the memories just all flooded back in. You fall to the floor, clutching your chest in pain, wishing someone was here for you. Wishing he was here for you. At the moment, it feels like you have no one. In reality, you do; you have an entire support system of people who love you so much and would do anything to protect you. But you only want him. You need him. He is the only person you have ever wanted, ever needed, and he's gone.

You want to hate him, you really do. He's caused you more pain in the past two and a half years than anyone or anything has ever caused you in your entire life. But you can't. You can never, and will never, hate him. Which makes you hate yourself.

After what feels like hours of crying, you finally calm down. There's no one at home to talk to and it's too late to call anyone at this point, so you flip on the tv. There's nothing good on Netflix or Hulu that you haven't seen yet, so you scroll through the other apps. You remember that you just got a free Apple TV subscription with your new phone, so you check to see what's on there.

And there it is. Cherry.

His face right on the screen in front of you, lighting your dark bedroom red. You know it's a bad idea and you know you'll regret it, but something draws you to watch it. You need him right now, and this is about the closest you're going to get.

It's fine at first. It's actually nice to see his face again after so long. He looks basically the same as the last time you saw him, just a little more mature. You feel good supporting him, even if he doesn't know it.

But then it's not fine. His character had just gotten into a fight with his girlfriend, so she comes to visit him in his apartment. They talk, and eventually he reveals that he joined the army and has to go away for two years.

"It's just a couple years. Just a couple years and a lifetime together." he whispers.

Then it all hits you, and you break down crying once again. You can't help but think back to that night in the treehouse, and how the conversation is so eerily similar. You wonder if Tom was thinking about it too, while he was filming the scene. Obviously, the circumstances were different, but it still makes you wonder.

You quickly shut the TV off, unable to bear it anymore. With nothing else to do, you try to sleep, but your thoughts keep you up. And as much as you try to fight it, your mind drifts back to the day you so badly want to forget. The day that it all ended.

"Hey, Tommy, what's up? I'm excited to see you tonight!" you pick up the phone. Tom is supposed to come back to London after filming his first solo Spiderman movie, and you could not be more excited to see him. It's been almost a full year since he left for America, and you miss him so much.

"Yea, uhm, about that. Plans have, er, changed a bit." you can hear the solemn tone in his voice.

"Oh no, what happened? Did your flight get delayed or something? I know there's some rough weather in Atlanta, but I didn't realize it was that bad."

"No, no, it's not that. I don't really know how to say this," he sighs, "I'm not coming home."

Your heart drops to your stomach. "What?"

"Yeah. I'm, um, I'm staying in America for now. I found a house in LA, it's nice."

"Well when are you coming back then?" you utter in disbelief.

"Not anytime soon. I have work, so it's just easier for me to be in America. I'm sorry." his tone is stiff.

"But what about us? I miss you so much, these past few months have already been hell for me. I don't think I can survive much longer without seeing you."

No response.

"Tom, are you still there? You know I can't move in with you. I'm already enrolled in university here in London, I can't drop everything and come to America if that's what you want."

"That's not what I want." At this point he seems to have no emotion in his voice, as if he's reading directly from a script.

"So then what do you want?" you start to really worry, tears already stinging your eyes.

"I think you can probably figure that out by now, Y/N."

"Tom, no. You seriously can't be thinking-"

"Yeah, I am thinking that. You've already said that these past few months have been hell, and I'm too busy with work, so I think that's the only option."

You plead with him, "Tom, please! We can figure this out, I love you so much. We can't break up Tom, I can't lose you." You're sobbing at this point, scared to lose the one person you need the most.

"No, we can't figure this out. We have to break up, there's no other choice."

"What happened to you and me forever? That- that night in the treehouse you said you wouldn't let anything come between us!"

"We were kids, Y/N! We had no idea what our lives were going to turn out like. That was a stupid thing to say and I never should have said it, okay? You can't keep every promise you make, especially when you're eighteen. But we're mature adults now, and the mature way to handle this is to break up. Understand?" His voice is booming through your phone speaker, and it's nothing you've ever heard come from him before. He was always calm, looking for a way to work things out. But now, he's completely giving up.

"Tom, please, I-"

"No, Y/N, I don't have time for this right now, I'm sorry. Goodbye."

He hung up. He's gone.

That was the last time you spoke to him. You didn't even get to properly say goodbye, let alone see his face before he was gone forever.

Unbeknownst to you, that phone call is still, to this day, Tom's biggest regret. Almost immediately after he hung up, he wished he had never called you in the first place. He was stressed from work, he was angry at his management team for making him stay in America, but most of all he missed you. So he did the only thing he could think of to take it all away - separate himself from you. He thought that if he broke up with you, he would feel better about his career choices and he wouldn’t have to wwc:orry about missing you anymore because it would be over.

He was wrong.

Every day since then, he’s wanted to call you, text, you, or somehow contact you to apologize; explain why he did what he did and how he still loves you, still needs you, still misses you every second of his life. But he knows he can’t. You would never be able to forgive him for breaking it all off so suddenly. There’s no way in hell you could still love him after something like that.

So he’s stayed out of reach from you for good. And he hopes that maybe one day he’ll be able to move on, find someone new like you’ve probably done by now. But deep down he knows he never will.

You’re still unable to sleep, and now that it’s almost four in the morning, you decide that you probably won’t be able to for the rest of the night. Not knowing what else’s to do, you begrudgingly roll out of bed and go to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. As you fill up your mug with warm water, you hear a knock at the door.

Who the fuck would be coming to your apartment this early? You suspect it’s Finn, as he always manages to forget his key. Maybe his night with the mystery bar hunk didn’t go as well as he had planned. You quickly set a tea bag in your mug and walk to open the door.

“Back so soon Fi... what the fuck.” your heart drops to your stomach.

It’s him. The same brown-haired, brown-eyed, British boy that you remember, staring down at you from outside your apartment at four in the morning.

“Hey.”

~~~~~~~~

tags: @pxkajesus @roseke @agentsofparker @lifeasjazzz @damnrancidchicken @tomhoelland01 @iwannabekilledtwice @rafehogwarts @non-eexistent @rosiexx8 @nearlydanger9 @realityisabitch07 @midgardassassins @jbreenr @cap-marvxl @ellesmythe @deepestcolorgiantopera @that-one-person @nevertrustapanda16 @rxmanxff @bubbleskz @quinn-spn58 @idkkkkaaw @aayaissaa @pjmjams @tiredstudenttrinity @isabella-bby @hollandprkr @pure-ghost @ladykxxx08 @white-wolf1940 @runawayolives @geekgirleve @thathurtbrolol @lost-girl24 @justafangirlduh @emistrash @writingrem @hallecarey1 @adayasgeorgia @mathletemadison @paulaabellag @miraclesoflove @captainamirica @mlmarint @quaksonhehe @laneybobeczko-g @peterspideysense @hollandstanevans @anna-sofia

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland fluff #tom holland smut #tom holland angst #tom holland fanfic #tom holland fic #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland series #peter parker #peter parker fluff #peter parker x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x fem!reader #soph writes #promises promises

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oftenderweapons · 3 years ago

Text

Natural Connection | KNJ | CH1

A Small Town Swoons story

Title: Natural Connection

Pairing: Kim Namjoon x reader (nicknamed Plum)

Wordcount: 3.6k

Genre: stragers to lovers, fluff, angst; ranger/trainer!Namjoon, Chef!reader

Rating: 18+ for future NSFW topics

Synopsis: Fed up with your job, you decide to take a break before making rash decisions, and a unusual stay seems the ideal plan to break away from your daily routine. What happens when you find out your outdoor adventures might become more exciting than you expected? Trigger warnings: very mild sex puns and allusive comments. Sexism and misogyny in Plum's work place. Joon's parents are divorced and he grew up with his mom. Plum's dad passed when she was a teen and her mother remarried to a nasty dude. In depth discussion of healthy diet and mention of alcohol. A/N: all the love to my eternal, divine wife @joheunsaram, my darling, you are the living proof that god is a woman.

Here is my Masterlist, enjoy!

Navi: Part 1 – Part 2 — Part 3 – Part 4

You were more than happy about the lobby boy helping you carry your equipment to the reception room of the expensive countryside retreat. You were tired enough already, the only thing keeping you alive being the large coffee you had sipped while driving to the luxury hotel at eight am in the morning. Still, you were ready. Energised. You wanted adventures. At least, something more adventurous than shopping for groceries and fighting with half the male staff of your kitchen.

You had four years of working your ass off and not getting laid to get rid of. Four years of boys trying to slap said ass which was overall nice, round, fit and pretty much a masterpiece, after clawing your way up in one of the most prestigious restaurants of the city — first becoming the chosen assistant of chef Pollini, and then being appointed as his successor once he decided to start a new restaurant on the other side of the country. Once you had earned his position, you worked hard to defend it, to show yourself worthy, adding one more Michelin star to the one the bistro already had.

And now you were reconsidering some of your life choices; therefore, before you made a decision driven by frustration and stress, you decided you could use a break, resident chef position be damned.

At the lobby, they assigned you your personal cabin and called a kart for you, a young female assistant accompanying you and your luggage to your accommodation. It was a very modern A-shaped cabin, just like you’d seen in the website, and the terrace of your bedroom had a wondrous view over the Valley — and the wineries in the distance. Still, that was not what excited you the most. Being an hyperactive child meant that after all the time spent in the city gym, you craved some outdoor activities and well, no matter how inviting the cabin was and how fancy the spa had seemed, the real attraction was the twenty or more sports that were illustrated in the brochure.

Just like that, with a tank top and a pair of biker shorts, your hair up in a ponytail and a white cap in place, you put on your running shoes and headed to the sports center, fatigue a very foreign concept for your current mindset.

Namjoon knew your average blood pressure at rest and under effort, your shoe size, your weight and height. Still when he found you right before him he could barely believe the sight of you. He knew you were small but this small? He was surprised. Amazed. Completely dazzled by your size.

“Uhm. Kim Namjoon?” you asked, hesitant.

God, even your voice was small, he noticed. As you got even closer, he realised you barely reached his sternum. He was endeared. He imagined how hugging you would feel. Why was he imagining hugging a stranger?

“Hello! Welcome to the Valley!” he said, offering you his hand.

You took it and shook it energetically. “Thank you. I assume you will be my guide during my stay,” you checked.

“Exactly. I’ll be your coach and your guide through the whole experience.”

“Perfect.” You smiled.

He was dumbstruck by it. So sweet and bright. You noticed he had a nice voice. And a kind smile. He looked like a very gentle giant.

“Have you brought any specific equipment with you or would you prefer to use the one we offer?”

“I have trekking boots and walking sticks. You know, basic stuff that’s difficult to find when you’re the size of a teapot.”

He laughed a loud belly laugh, which surprised and pleased you.

“Okay, we can head to the hall and chat about your activity plan,” he said, leading you.

Walking behind him was definitely a hard challenge, both because his legs were kilometric — and damn fine — and because how could you not stare at that ass right in front of your gaze, clad in oh-so-tight shorts?

Once he realized you were basically running behind him, he turned, a bit confused. And then embarrassed.

“Sorry,” he smiled sheepishly, taking shorter steps.

“Don’t worry, it’s okay. I’m a fast walker,” you stated. He grinned. He barely stopped himself from murmuring ‘cute’. You were adorable.

Namjoon had never been so impressed as you did your health checks with the doctor who worked in the facility, leaving her amused too. “Miss, you are perfectly healthy. Your stress test shows almost no strain at all. Your heart sports one of the most regular electrocardiograms I’ve seen here.”

You smiled and nodded. “I try to keep healthy and I mind my diet.”

“That’s excellent news!” The doctor seemed very enthusiastic while Namjoon tried not to think about how such a small body could be so efficient. Maybe he was the excessively large one? It must have been the combo. You being small and him being large. That was it.

Still, he was dazzled by the fact that only in the last eight minutes, on the highest settings, you started showing some difficulties.

“I think we can give her a blue pass. I would recommend packing extra sugars and keeping her on a high carb diet during the stay when you plan high intensity activities.” The doctor observed your blood tests and your activity plan. “She’s a bit low on platelets, therefore I’d be very careful with cuts and similar. Better add some leafy greens in your diet. Do you consume alcohol?”

“Only a glass of wine, more or less once a week,” you replied. Yes, you were a very disciplined eater, both because you liked eating good, healthy food; but also because, after seeing so many fellow cooks and friends sporting weight and health issues, you decided that was not the way you wanted to go. And having a regular diet kept you from thinking too hard about what to make for lunch.

“Excellent. Then the greens will do. Lots of chlorophyll. You’re a chef so I assume you know what I mean, right?”

“Yes, thank you!” You were genuinely grateful for the assistance: apparently, all the money you had paid was most definitely worth it. “I promise I’ll eat my greens, doctor.”

“Good. I see you requested some high energy activities. Do you have any experience in those?”

“Most of them, yes, I’ve practiced those in the last three years. The only one that might trick me is climbing. I learned it when I was ten and did it quite regularly until I was sixteen, but since then it’s been a while.” You looked at the doctor, then at Namjoon.

He nodded. “I think I’ve got that covered. We’ll do some training and then we’ll test it out on an easy track. Maybe intermediate, since you seem proficient. We’ll see once the week starts rolling.”

The doctor nodded. “Namjoon will most definitely keep your pace. And he has the kind of versatility you require. Luckily we had a very important competition the other week, and this week is slower.”

“This means I’ll probably assist you for your whole stay,” he explained. He hoped you wouldn’t kill him — he hoped he would find something that made you suddenly completely uninteresting, or unattractive.

You nodded and stood once the doctor did. “Great. You’re free to go. We’ll add your documents to your personal papers. Lunch break and then bike tour, correct?” The doctor looked at Namjoon as he completed your file and fixed it in your personal backpack.

“Yes, we’re ready!” You were sparkling with enthusiasm, your behaviour even more interesting to Namjoon. Usually he didn’t enjoy exceedingly eager people, but the feeling looked good on you.

“Let’s go to the dining hall,” he said, greeting the doctor goodbye before leading the way. “I’ll show you where it is, and eventually you can head back for a shower before going to lunch.”

You fretted after him like a small puppy chasing after its mother, feeling challenged but also excited about all the activities a blue pass would grant you. “Are you having lunch here too?” you asked, looking at him.

Namjoon turned. “Normally we have a table for the instructors, and I don’t want to overstep.”

You nodded, staring at the floor. Maybe you were a bit too happy to have a companion for once. “Then… Thank you for showing me the hall. I’ll go rinse real quick. What time do we meet for the bike trip?” You tried to be bubbly. You had a lot of things ahead of you and Namjoon seemed like a nice person, respectful, professional.

He looked at you with a serious expression. “We’re meeting at the sports center at two thirty. Make sure to keep your cap, wear sunscreen and bring water with you. You can fill your bottle in the sports hall.”

You nodded and turned on your heels. “Later,” you said with a wave.

He rubbed his hands down his face. He needed to be professional, no matter how inviting it seemed to have lunch with you and get to know you better — and most importantly get to know how a cute grasshopper like you managed to be skilled in that many sports. He stopped by the sports center, his mind already fixating on how his week would go. It had been a while since he’d last been truly challenged by a plan like yours, and a part of him predicted you'd be tired after two days and ask for a slowdown. Well, maybe he was underestimating you. Still, a part of him hoped he wouldn't find himself struggling after you. That would be extremely rude. Maybe he could switch with one of the guys.

“So. Have you met the tiny one?” Mino, one of the other guides, asked at the lunch table.

“Yeah.”

“Donna told me she's fierce.” Richard, the pilates instructor said casually.

“She's in good shape.”

Edward decided to join the conversation. “She's gonna wear you out, huh?”

Namjoon snickered. “Maybe.” He went on eating quietly.

“And she's sweet on the eye, isn't she?” Richard tried to get something more explicit out of him.

“She's very good looking, yes.” Namjoon drank some water, trying not to show his mind.

“Oh, there she is.” Richard and Edward turned to the door at Mino's words. “She looks cute. But sexy.”

“Please, guys.” Namjoon hissed.

“Listen. We all took a step back and gave you a chance. Do not waste it, or we'll punch you in the balls.” Edward shook his head and stood up. “I've got a manhunt with the jocks in fifteen. We'll be playing paintball so be careful around Hare Hill.”

Namjoon kept that in mind, nodding silently. Once only Mino remained, Namjoon looked at him with a serious look, the man deciding to speak up. “Listen. She's sweet, I've crossed her on the path. She could be your type. Stop brooding and try to get to know her. Maybe getting laid will help you, mh?”

“Mino, I'm doing fine, okay? This is my job. I don't want to lose it.”

“Listen, Rita understands. We're good guys. She trusts us. You're a responsible one. Just get to know her. Give it a chance.”

“She lives two hours from here.” Namjoon took a slice of watermelon and started cutting it into small pieces.

“So you've thought about it, mh? Just live in the moment for once. Enjoy the present, okay mate?”

He tutted and shrugged, getting a pat on his back before Mino left.

After one hour pedaling under the shaded path in the woods, Namjoon had the sight of your behind burned into his pupils.

He had let you go first only because you could set the pace. It had nothing to do with the way you sprinted, standing straight on the pedals.

“So, how long have you been working here?”

Namjoon blinked a few times. “Uhm… Since I was… Twenty-two.” He did the math. “Yeah. Five years.”

“You're only twenty-seven? I thought you were thirty-something. You look so mature and serious.”

He snickered. The comment was too chirpy for him to consider it an insult. Though, he was tempted to put you back in place. “You look alarmingly young instead.”

“That's what the men in my crew always say.” You sped up at the thought, Namjoon picking up his pace. “They think I'm unfit.” Namjoon realised he had said the wrong thing. “Fucked my way up to the top, they say,” you hissed, and maybe he wasn't supposed to hear that. He shouldn't have said that.

“I'm sorry,” he spoke out loud. He was really a mess. It had been too long. He was stupid. He could never stand a chance. One of the other guys should have taken you up.

“It's okay. It's a man's world.”

That made him feel guilty. It shouldn't be a man's world. “I'm sure you deserve your position. You seem like a very determined and ambitious person.”

You snorted. “Those aren't usually good traits in a woman.”

He decided to pedal beside you. There were relatively few people on the path. “A real man would never consider determination and ambition bad traits. I think only a coward can be intimidated by a strong woman.” He looked at you for the briefest second. “You look like a strong woman. You deserve admiration.”

The compliment felt genuine — for now. “Thank you.”

“It's okay. We have a crossroad in a bit. We can continue uphill or head down to the lake. There's no shade on the lake path and we'll have to get back uphill at the end to reach the hotel, when we'll be more tired. We can also head to the pastures, there are slight hills and it's sunny all over.”

“What's uphill?” you asked.

“The creek narrows into a stream. The land is very rich in water. There are several waterfalls up high, but we'll head there for climbing.” Namjoon and you stopped at the crossroads.

“Let's stay in the shade. The sun's too hot and I don't wanna exhaust myself on the first day.” You followed the path named 'creek'.

“Smart choice,” he said with a smirk. The two of you pedaling for another hour before reaching the picnic spot at the stream.

Namjoon took a honey packet from his backpack, sitting under a tree while you wandered around. He realised you looked like a little frog, perched on a rock, watching the water stream by. “Do you need me to take pictures for you?” Namjoon asked as you made eye contact with him. You stared at him with a confused glance on your face. “You know, to send to your mom or post on social media,” he clarified.

“I don’t have those.” You once more focused on the stream, watching a small silver fish glimmer underneath the water.

“My mom always asks for pictures of where I go,” he commented.

“My mom is not really part of my picture anymore.” You started walking upstream, trying to find something to do to escape his glance. The way Namjoon looked at you made your stomach flutter with a kind of attention you hadn’t received in a long time. Maybe never.

“I’m sorry.” How come he couldn’t find one right thing to say?

“It’s okay. She got remarried after my dad died. Her new husband is not a person I want in my life and well, she chose him anyway.” You found a bush of daisies on the ground, starting to pick up a few. It had been ages since you’d last made daisy rings.

“It’s a shame.” Namjoon walked all the way to you, watching your nimble fingers as they bent the flower into shape. “She’s missing out on a great person.”

Again, you weren’t sure his words were a compliment but you felt a blush on your face anyway. “Thanks… I guess?”

He smiled and crouched down at your side. You realised just how much bigger he was; you were used to feeling small, generally speaking, but good lord, it took both your thighs to make one of his. A part of you wondered about how it would feel to fall asleep at his side — that was before your brain backtracked since it was a stranger you were wondering about. “It’s okay. How did you pick up that many sports?”

“I’ve been hyperactive since I was a child. I started swimming when I started walking, more or less. Once running I got into basketball but didn’t like it. I was too small and the other girls always ran me down. Then I got into martial arts and continued until I was fourteen, and I was still small. Apparently I got it from my mother’s side. Anyway, whenever I went on holiday with my dad, we always did fun activities since he didn’t want me to get bored. I learnt canoeing. Then climbing. I really liked speleology for a while but I got scared after watching a nasty film about an expedition getting stuck underground. And then skiing.”

“I also like skiing.” Namjoon smiled.

“Skiing is great!” You replied enthusiastically, looking at him, both your faces filled with a joyful gleam. It startled you a little. He looked so young for a quick second, a dimple indenting his cheek.

“My mom taught me. She really likes it.” You noticed he had mentioned his mother twice within a very short conversation.

“Are you very close to your mother?”

He nodded. “My parents divorced when I was thirteen. I stayed with her. It made us really close.”

You smirked, staring at the daisy ring on your finger. “A mama’s boy, uh?”

His expression was nothing shy of a mischievous pout. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I never said there was.” You stood on your feet and moved to another patch of daisies, deciding to make a little circlet of them. “I think it’s a privilege.” The small crown was bracelet-sized, made of ten flowers or so. Namjoon observed you as you delicately laid it on the surface of the water.

You looked otherworldly for a second, too calm, too meditative to be the same woman who had been restless since the very first second he’d seen you. It looked like the gesture had some spiritual meaning to you as you stayed crouched by the water.

“How great it is that all water runs to the sea,” you murmured. For a second, the rest of the sentence felt morbid, but something stronger made you speak it. “And that all life runs to death.”

“And the sea evaporates. And it becomes clouds. Clouds become rain. And water runs to the sea again.” Namjoon seemed perfectly attuned to your mood for just a second. “I wouldn’t be able to deal with the restlessness of eternity.”

“I’ve always seen it as a curse.” When you turned and made eye contact with him, you realised there was that sense of fatigue on him, like gravity worked harder on him. That his heart was heavier on his chest.

You returned to the daisy bush, making one more crown, your fingers working faster now that they had been reacquainted with the motion. Standing in front of you, crown laying in the palms of your hands, you tipped your head toward the stream, inviting him to kneel down beside you. You turned to him and gave him the small garland, his hands so enormous compared to yours. “Let it go. One soul is enough of a weight.”

He felt something primal and ancient stir inside his chest, something that slithered like a snake, like a basilisk, like a hydra, so full of different heads that couldn’t and should never share one single body.

Once his hands were under the water, the crown drifted off in the current, and with its unbearable lightness, it carried away the wretchedness of being alive. Suddenly the biker shorts and tank top and baseball cap looked awfully wrong on you.

You were to be covered in billowing drapes embroidered in flowers, your hair long and loose, dancing in the breeze, the tips dipped in the water, and your feet needed to be bare. You were a fairy and for a second he was enchanted.

“Doesn’t it feel lighter?”

He could feel tears prickling his eyes. “It does.” You stood and were once more the electric child he’d met a few hours before. “Thank you,” he called.

Your smile was buzzing with life. “Thank you. You led me here. Do you perhaps have more of that honey?”

Quickly, he reached his backpack and found one more pack. You squatted down on a rock, your ass finally landing on it before you crossed your leg and started sucking at the pack, squeezing it.

A honeybee. That’s what you looked like to him before he— No. Not a honeybee. Tinkerbell.

That’s what he had been looking for since he’d first seen you. He didn’t like watching Peter Pan. He’d never liked it. He had always preferred other cartoons, but he knew he had seen someone, something like you before. And there it was, Tinkerbell.

Once you were done, you put the packet back in your bag and reached the bike. “Shall we?”

“Let’s go.”

Namjoon was glad that the two of you were back to the hotel after the excursion. It was a bit past six in the afternoon, and though the summer day allowed two more hours of daylight, he much preferred going easy on the first day. “I can’t wait to hit the shower and then head to the pool,” you said as the two of you turned in your bicycle. “Is your day over?”

He shrugged. “Formally, yes. Actually, I don’t know.”

“In case it is, then I’ll wish you goodnight.” You started heading to your cabin.

“Goodnight!” he replied. And then you parted ways.

More on the Small Town Swoons project here!

Taglist is open!

#namjoon x reader #namjoon fluff #namjoon angst #strangers to lovers namjoon #Kim namjoon fanfiction #52hertz #thebtswritersclub #houseofddaeng #thetruthuntoldnet

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stars-falling · 3 years ago

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late night at the local convenience store (elriel)

summary: elain, desperate for snacks, visits her local store late at night and bumps into her supposed rival (and he's hot).

prompt: esteemed rival chefs find each other shamefully buying ramen at 3 in the morning AU

word count: 1985

note: welcome to the first july upload! this piece was written for a writing month challenge and i had great fun with it! i'm really excited for the other pieces i'll be posting over the next month. i hope you enjoy them as much as i enjoyed writing them! i'll continue working on other pieces over the month too, so there will be more coming after july (hopefully i can finally finish part 2 of both a storm and a summer's day).

in the meantime, hope you enjoy!

lily (tysm for 760 followers btw! love you all <3)

read here on ao3 // masterlist

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Archeron’s Kitchen was the most popular restaurant in Velaris. It had the best food, the best drinks, the best atmosphere, and Elain had never been more proud to say that she was the Head Chef. It had taken years of hard work from both her and her two sisters to reach the level they were at now and they only continued to grow. The sisters worked closely together: Nesta (the eldest) directed the finance and other admin, Feyre (the youngest) worked on the design aspects and managed the staff and Elain manned the menus and the actual cooking. They worked well together, with only minor disagreements happening occasionally, and soon they had rocketed to the most well known and sought after restaurant in Velaris.

This was why she was contemplating her life choices as she pulled up to the local convenience store to buy ramen at 3 am. It wasn’t even the nice ramen; it was the crappy 50p packet of ramen that took less than a minute to cook. She often tried to utilise her skills to cook herself the healthiest and tastiest meals but recently she had been working overtime due to another restaurant's rising popularity. The two staff had even formed some sort of rivalry, trash-talking each other in the streets and slandering the other restaurant to their patrons. She found it childish, so Elain didn’t partake, but she did find it mildly amusing. The new restaurant was several streets over and it was the opposite of Archeron’s Kitchen in every way. Where they were warm and cosy, Starfall was sleek and modern. Where they focused on comfort foods, Starfall served new and innovative dishes. People went to the Archeron’s for the food, whereas people went to Starfall for the experience. And where the Archeron’s Kitchen was run by three sisters, Starfall was run by three brothers.

She had never actually met them. She knew their names and what they looked like but in terms of interactions she had only caught a glimpse of two of them once before. They had stood in the main square with Feyre and Nesta arguing about the importance of serving classic food. Her sisters had both come away grumbling about ‘upstart assholes with no sense of tradition’. As far as Elain was aware, the two brothers they had argued with weren’t actually in charge of the menu, making her unsure if they had full authority over the subject, but she didn’t want to start them off again so she refrained from mentioning it.

Elain pulled into an empty parking space and took a moment to lay her head against the headrest and close her eyes. She was tired and hungry. There was no food in the fridge, her bank account was looking quite sorry for itself and she still had more menus to plan and ideas for new dishes to brainstorm. Steeling herself, she hauled herself out of the car and locked it as she walked to the bright light of the store. She pulled the hood of the tattered sweatshirt she wore over her head as a precaution against recognition. With the status of a semi-famous chef, she didn’t want anyone to see her in the somewhat pitiful state she was in. The bell rang as she pushed open the door, signalling her entrance. The bright flickering lights and cool temperature made it feel like she was entering a separate dimension, one that lacked all sense of time and direction. Elain nodded at the cashier as she walked past them, making a beeline to the snacks aisle. She was greeted by a wide range of ramen, the different flavours and prices making it difficult to choose. She had about £1.50 in her purse and she desperately wanted a coffee too so she would have to be frugal. She was so engrossed with her ramen selection that she failed to notice a person coming up beside her. When she swivelled around to check the time on the obscenely large digital clock above the checkout, she crashed into them hard, causing her, them and the copious amounts of ramen they had piled in their arms to go flying to the floor.

Elain let out a yelp as she landed hard on her tailbone and felt her face heat up.

“I am so sorry!”

A deep, warm chuckle floated toward her and her head snapped up to look at its source. She found hazel eyes staring back. A large man with tan skin and dark hair sat in front of her, surrounded by many colourful packets of ramen. Her heart fluttered slightly as he smiled at her. He was handsome, even in this shitty convenience store lighting at 3 am dressed in similar attire to her.

“Don’t worry about it. I should have been paying more attention. Are you okay?”

She nodded before sitting up fully and helped to gather the ramen that lay around them. He smiled at her gratefully and they sat in content if not slightly awkward silence as they pulled the packets into a pile before finally rising. As she looked closer at him, a spark of recognition kindled within her.

“Do I know you?”

He looked at her curiously, tilting his head.

“I’m not sure but you do look familiar.”

They stood analysing each other. Normally the staring would make her uncomfortable, but with him, she found it didn’t bother her nearly as much as it should have. This went on for about a minute before she saw realisation set into his eyes.

“You’re Elain Archeron. The Head Chef for Archeron’s Kitchen. Why are you buying shitty ramen at 3 am? Shouldn’t you have made yourself a three-course meal by now?”

Elain felt something drop inside her. She hadn’t noticed that her hood had fallen off when she fell, exposing her and her shameful ramen buying to the whole world. But as he laughed softly, she remembered where she recognised him from.

She scowled at him as she said, “ Well you’re Azriel Knight, Starfall’s Head Chef, so you can’t exactly talk.”

She gestured to the stack of ramen that she had just helped pile into his arms. He turned away slightly as if to hide them.

“My stash had run out, okay. I need it to keep me going when I stay up late planning dishes.”

“I get that. That’s why I’m here right now.” She replied and a mutual understanding passed between them.

Elain knew she shouldn’t be talking to him right now, the reminders of the supposed rivalry between the two restaurants loomed like a shadow behind her. But the longer they spent together, the more she found herself not caring.

“I feel like we should be arguing,” He told her. “If my brothers were here, they would have been kicked out for yelling by now.”

She smiled, “Same for my sisters. But I’ve never really cared to be honest. I just want to focus on the food, not a silly competition that people seem to be taking too seriously.”

He nodded in agreement and they both began to walk to the cashier.

“So, what kind of dishes are you planning then?” She asked. “I promise I won’t steal any ideas. It’s not my style anyway.”

“I”m not a hundred percent sure on the actual contents of the dish right now, but I’m currently trying to create a more experimental menu. We recently unveiled a new line of drinks that have a more theatrical element to them. Colour changing, dry ice, bubbling, the whole shebang and I wanted to design a food menu that went along with that.”

He turned away from her to pay the cashier, giving her a moment to turn over his words in her head. She’d gotten a glimpse at some of the drinks and food from when she had taken a look at (read: stalked) their website and various social media sites. She had called it ‘scouting out the competition' when really she was curious to see what had set them apart enough for them to have such a rise in patronage. Whilst it wasn’t her style, she had always thought that she’d like to visit them and try what they had to offer. That was until the stupid rivalry had started and just walking by the restaurant was asking for trouble. Azriel finished paying and grabbed the plastic bag the cashier had placed his ramen in, moving out of the way so she could step up to the counter.

“That sounds amazing!” She replied. ‘I admit, I’ve always wanted to try some of your food but unfortunately, my sister’s might disown me if I even mention it. Calling them over-competitive would be the understatement of the century.”

He laughed at this and she took the opportunity to turn away and press the 50p coin into the cashier's hand. They nodded at her, satisfied and she turned back to Azriel. Together, they walked out of the door and into the cool night.

“I’d say you should stop by, but as you said, our siblings may not be too happy about that.” He let out a sigh. “As much as it amused me at first, I do wish we could just get along. I’d like to come and try some of your food too.”

He swivelled towards her, the white light from the store casting his face into shadows.

“I hope this isn’t too forward of me, but would you like to grab some coffee?”

She smiled at him, shoving the packet of ramen into her hoodie pocket.

“I’d love to. And maybe in the future, we could make some of our food for each other.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “Like a date?”

She felt dread trickle in. Maybe she had misread the situation. They seemed to have been getting on well, and she had caught him checking her out when they first bumped into each other. Plus, he had just asked her to grab coffee with him. Perhaps he was just being friendly.

She swallowed anxiously before replying, “Yeah. If that’s something you’d be interested in.”

He smiled at her brightly, making her heart stutter and skip a beat.

“I’d like that.”

They stood under the streetlamps in an almost abandoned parking lot. Two head chef’s from popular restaurants with bad ramen and a budding connection between them.

“What are you feeling? Starbucks or maybe that local coffee shop down the street? I think it’s called Veritas?”

Elain hummed as they started walking along the road.

“Veritas, I think. I can get a cup of tea for a pound.” She reached into her pocket to show him her single coin.

For the second time that evening (or was it morning?), he raised an eyebrow at her. “I thought I was buying?”

She glanced at him in confusion. “Since when?”

“I thought since I had asked you it was implied?”

She let out a laugh, shaking her head. “My god, we are bad at this. I think we need to get out of the kitchen more.”

“I’m not sure about that, I’ve got plenty of pick up lines I've stolen from my chefs.” He stepped in front of her, stopping her in her path. “Baby, you’re the crème to my brûlée.”

She groaned, hitting him on the arm as she pushed past him. “That was so bad! I might leave.”

“As if you could do better.”

She pulled out her phone, searching up ‘chef pick up lines’. She grimaced, “These are all so sexual! I think it might be best if we keep flirting out of the kitchen.”

They both doubled over in fits of laughter before continuing down the street. She was glad she gave in to her cravings and went to buy ramen at 3 am. She could tell that whatever this was, it was going to turn into something great.

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theflashdriver · 3 years ago

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Asymptote (A Silvaze FanFic)

Amy Rose was used to her expertise being recognised; she’d been central to saving the world enough times that the world itself had taken notice. The hedgehog was known for her surprising strength, her hammer had drawn the awe of many, and while she wouldn’t call herself brave, others were rather quick to. She was a talented babysitter, decent chef and accomplished floral arranger. There was however one skill she held that was rarely called upon, so much so that she couldn’t recall the last time that proficiency had been sought.

Miss Rose was stood in the combination living room and dining of her Station Square flat, staring at a wall that had been close to blank less than an hour prior. The pictures of her friends that had been hanging there were newly replaced, their mounting nails used to hoist a cork-board that had previously been hung on her bedroom wall. Photos, shopping lists and little notes to herself had been, for the most part, removed. Now red string connected countless thumbtacks, which themselves held up a variety of pictures and notes.

Eggman was a blue blur’s most common adversary, but no one was better at catching Sonic than Amy Rose. It all began in the right corner of the board, where the romantic had tacked her present best guesses as to her lover’s location- rural Eastern Spagonia, the beaches of Adabat or the verdant runways of Greenhill. The three locations were, admittedly, quite spread out and in themselves weren’t specific to even a town or city, but that was the reality of tracking him.

Amy had first narrowed her selection based on a call with Tails, asking if the boy genius had seen him. She’d long learned to pick up on the stutter that indicated his lying, but she hadn’t heard such in the fox’s voice when he claimed not to have seen Sonic for three days and that he’d last been sighted chasing the sunset toward Apotos. That immediately ruled out Angel Island, the fox would have joined the hedgehog if they were heading up there to see Knuckles, and the three-day period suggested Sonic would no longer be in the mentioned country of white stone.

From there, Amy had taken to social media and scrolled through the major websites and the forums. Though Sonic himself did not really have an internet footprint, having lost or broken every single mobile phone Tails had given him, the hero’s sightings often drew the attention of people who did. Pictures would be taken, more typically than him stopping for a photo people check their phones only to find he’d photobombed an image while running by. Others would post about just seeing him or just being too slow, often accompanied by blurry photos.

From all that gathered information, Amy had pieced together his rough movements over the past week and categorised them. While the Blue Blur wasn’t presently in any of her predicted locals presently, his movements suggested he’d be heading for one of them-

“Amy?” A serious voice, sounding from the kitchen, interrupted Amy’s train of thought, “Are you sure this is entirely necessary?”

“It is, trust me; I know Sonic better than anyone. He’ll only stop under two circumstances,” Amy responded in kind, “The first is if he’s tired; but if that’s the case he’ll be even harder to find and won’t pay half as much attention. We need to entice him into stopping and food’s key to doing that. He never realises how hungry he is until the scent of something tasty hits his nose, he gets too distracted running. Set this up right and it’ll be the perfect trap!”

“I understand that but…” Something clattered in the other room before, hopefully, being caught, “Wouldn’t it be more efficient to work together? First on the baking, and then on the tracking?”

“We’re burning daylight, Blaze!” The pink hedgehog shouted toward the kitchen, intentionally being overly theatrical, “If we waste time on a single task, our information might become outdated. If he makes it somewhere without people, it’ll be way harder for us to find him.”

“As long as you’re certain it’s what’s best…” A certain discomfort was plain in the usually stoic cat’s tone.

Sinking further still into the sensibilities of a detective, she called back, “We’ll get him, we’ll catch him before he even knows he’s caught!”

The Sol Emeralds’ guardian was the one who’d called upon Amy’s particular Sonic-tracking expertise. They’d bumped into each other in a middle of a street market, the feline looking like her usual frustrated expression was only slightly improving upon their reuniting. New to this world, the royal feline had got herself lost while pursuing two distinct individuals, one of which being their mutual ally in blue. Though Amy hadn’t been able to simply tell her where Sonic was, as the princess had requested, she had sworn to help her find him.

Was she taking this all too seriously and, simultaneously, not seriously enough? Of course, she was. But she couldn’t help bouncing before she threw herself back to stare from the couch, taking in the vast theorist’s collage she’d created. The chase offered by her darling Sonic was key to his appeal, her pursuit of him had generated experiences she surely wouldn’t have received otherwise. By following her beloved not only were there opportunities to see and be with him, but she so often ran alongside the excitement hot on his heels.

Of course, information regarding her darling wasn’t all that littered the cork-board. Connected with green cord were the details that Blaze had provided regarding her greater reason for traveling dimensions. A robot by the much too normal name of Jonny had been sighted off the coast of her island but when she’d gone to investigate, she’d found an interdimensional portal out at sea. This was apparently bizarre as the Sol Emeralds, and the sceptre that controlled them, were presently safely stowed beneath the castle. That meant, the machine had found another way to disturb reality and cross dimensions.

That was why Blaze was looking for Sonic, for someone else who could match the machine’s speed and aid in its destruction. She also had some grander fear about this robot teaming up with Eggman but that was a little more confusing. Admittedly, Miss Rose thought Blaze was going a bit overboard, it was just one robot after all, but the princess’ seriousness and Amy's own selfish want to see her beloved again had led to their current circumstance.

Comfortable with her board’s completion, Amy turned to her key tool for locating Sonic. Sat on the coffee table was a well-maintained box of red-backed tarot cards. While detective work was all well and good, divination had more often than not granted Amy the key pieces of her Sonic hunting puzzle. A simple reading, three cards, would initially suffice. Past, present and future- just to see if they’d find him today. After that, perhaps she’d draw a card for each location to determine the odds of his appearance.

She claimed the cards, quickly shuffling them in her hand. Three cards were dealt onto the table in face down position, the matching floral patterns of their underside being put on full display. A certain tension hung in the air of the otherwise very neat and comfortable room. Despite the light overhead, and the relatively bright colours of the space, the excitement that came with the occult Amy dabbled in tended to conjure dark images in her imagination. The larger box of other goods on the table, including candles, often bolstered that, but alas, she was too pressed for time to enjoy and share her theatrics.

She flipped over the far-left card. The past was embodied by the temperance card in an inverted position. If the temperance was representative of Blaze, its inverted position made sense. Normally the card represented patience, balance, wisdom and looking ahead. Blaze brought balance to her kingdom, she looked out for her people. It being inverted however suggested conflict relating to those factors, a conflict that had driven Blaze from her world. Not to mention, its inverted position matched the princess being out of place in the bustling city of what to her was an alien dimension.

Confident so far, she turned over the central card. The lovers lay before her, in its upright position. That wasn’t surprising, that card had frequently represented the rosy hedgehog herself and her quest for her beloved. Its standard meanings of commitment and partnership all made sense, in addition to its common association with crossroads in life- a choice of three was directly before her after all. Alternatively, Amy supposed the implied new partnership could refer to herself and Blaze, this was admittedly the most they’d really hung out… even if the princess had been sequestered in the kitchen for most of that time.

Finally came the moment of truth, the future’s card would tell all. Would they find her beloved today? Or would their hunt be prolonged?

Amy’s nose wrinkled as her eyes landed upon what she’d flipped. The first of the major arcana, number zero, the fool in its standard orientation. That wasn’t a good sign.

Immediately, the pink hedgehog visualised their plan falling apart. Something stupid was set to happen, they’d set off for Apotos or Spagonia only for Sonic to turn up in Station Square the moment they left. Perhaps her beloved was even set to visit her this afternoon, only to miss her. But staying here and just waiting for him to arrive was stupid! Blaze wouldn't accept that and she’d be a fool for trying it!

Her fingers raked through her quills. The prior two cards had represented Blaze and then herself rather well, not an action they’d take. Was the fool meant to depict an individual they’d meet soon? In name alone the fool was a bad omen for their quest, but it represented a new beginning and inexperience. It also was a sign of beginner’s fortune and having faith in the future rather than the difficulties of starting. While there were ways in which the card could represent Sonic, there were better cards for that purpose. No, this was someone else. But who was the fool? Maybe the robot that-

A thud at the door pulled Amy from her thoughts and pulled her eyes to the door. She had called Cream upon meeting with Blaze, both to reunite the pair and because she knew a larger crowd would more likely draw Sonic’s attention, but they were set to pick up the rabbit while on their way. Besides, she didn't fit the fool card.

Tails was in his workshop, Knuckles was surely up on Angel Island and everyone else was undoubtedly busy. Perhaps this really was her tarot in action and the fool was set to represent all the work she’d done only for Sonic to show up on his own. Then again, she couldn't help but wrack her brain for who else the fool might represent.

Feeling a twang of suspicion, Amy rose to her feet and made for the door. She peered through the peephole, only to get an eyeful of an individual stood much too close to the door. She was immediately met with a set of bright yellow eyes, not staring back through the one-way window at her but just toward the door. A sun kissed muzzle, bordering on being sunburnt, was also just in view and the bottom of white quills, messy and bedraggled, were visible just above the eyes. Only one person Amy knew fit that combination of features, one she knew about as poorly as she knew the feline struggling in the kitchen.

Undoing the latch, Amy pulled open the door and revealed a rather dirty Silver the hedgehog. A musk best described as industrial encroached upon her nostrils, surely sweeping into the flat. He smelled of petrol, fire and sweat, not a good combination. His boots were a perfect microcosm of his entire state, worn within an inch of falling apart and marred by filthy stains.

He stumbled forward, having clearly been using the door to hold himself upright, but he caught himself on the frame before he could breach her abode, “H-Hey, Amy. Is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything’s fine,” Her brow arched, “Are you okay, Silver?”

“W-What? Me? Yeah, I’m fine,” He stammered, “Can I come in?”

Despite what he’d said, Silver very clearly wasn’t fine. The more time she spent scrutinising him, the more she picked up on things like the exhausted look in his eyes and his bandaged right shoulder. A wheeze kept slipping his breath and he wasn’t nearly a good enough actor to cover it, he looked totally exhausted.

Amy stepped back and pushed open the door further, revealing the cream carpeted interior of her flat’s living room, “Boots off at the door, make yourself comfortable.”

The damage he was set to do to her couch curled Amy’s toes but watching how he tumbled into its comfort did prompt a small smile from her. Come to think of it, she reckoned she really did know hedgehog about as poorly as she knew the cat in the other room. He was psychic from the future with a strong sense of justice. She was a pyrokinetic from another world with a frankly ludicrous drive.

Was it coincidence those two had jumped into her life today? Did they know each other? Well, everything happened for a reason, and she had divined a so-called fool arriving. Did he fit that role? Its implied meaning of a fortunate future did somewhat fit him, but his current state implied the future was dire.

“This place is really nice,” Despite how the rest of him looked, his eyes were gleaming with an exhausted curiosity as he scanned the space, “Do you live here all the time?”

Amy took in her abode again. She kept the place clean, but it certainly wasn’t worth gawking at. The couch was made of white faux leather, it was just a little something she’d picked up second hand and was littered with heart shaped cushions. The coffee table was similarly cheap and made from a dark wood, it often doubled as her dinner table. Sure, the pictures she’d hung up were nice and she took pride in her floral arranging, but neither feature was truly special. Come to think of it, the pictures weren't even hanging right now, they were on the floor, replaced with the cork-board.

“Yes…?” She slowly replied.

“Wow,” He almost whispered, drifting into a world of his own, “It’s incredible.”

Amy approached, hopping up onto the left arm of the couch rather than actually sitting on the right seat next to him, “Silver, are you sure that you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just amazed. It’s all so normal, so comfy…” He struggled to bite back a yawn as he pointed across the room, “What’s that board thing for? That’s a lot of string.”

“Oh, just tracking down Sonic. That’s what the cards are for as well,” Amy replied, gesturing to the coffee table before inspiration struck, “Have you seen him recently?”

A look of dread widened the tired hedgehog’s eyes, “Is he missing?”

“No, he just likes to run here there and everywhere. You know him,” She responded, not sure that Silver really knew him.

“Oh,” Tired relief reclaimed him as he sunk back into the couch, “No, sorry.”

How much Silver knew and how well he knew it had always been an enigma to Amy, but not one she'd ever spent much time on. As far as she knew, no one else had ever seen the future the hedgehog claimed to come from or even what he was doing in the relative past all the time. Every so often he'd just sort of show up, but never like this. Always just in the nick of time.

Her fresh train of thoughts left Amy with a certain curiosity, “How did you know that I live here? Is my flat some sort of important historic site in the future?”

“Oh, uh, no. Your flat’s not really…” He winced, “The way I found you is sort of tied to the whole reason I’m here. There’s something I want to ask you about,” The hedgehog reached into one of his overlarge quills and drew a small rectangular object from its depths, “Do you recognise this book?”

Amy did have to squint at it, the tome was battered and burnt around the edges, but its form gave way to a cringe inducing line of thought, “Is that my diary?”

“Yes,” He bluntly admitted, “Well, it’s the diary you went on to write in the future I was last in. I don’t think you’ll write it exactly the same in this timeline, because, well, just because you know I find it,” He quickly elaborated, seeming to catch her hard stare, “Does that make sense?”

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t explain why you have it, Silver,” Amy slightly relaxed, “For your sake, I hope you haven’t read it.”

“O-Only the first page, the one that explains that it’s yours and where to return it. It's how I found my way here,” Amy wasn’t certain she believed that, but the hedgehog kept talking, “It is also what I wanted to come back and ask about. You wrote on the first page that no one else should read this book, but I need to.”

Amy wasn’t stupid, but she wanted to properly hear the truth, “How do you know you need to?”

“I did flip through the pages, I noticed that there’s an entry for almost every day…” He seemed to catch himself, biting his tongue for a moment before acquiescing to path of logic, “Up to a certain point. It’d be really useful for letting me know when certain things happen, yours is the only journal I’ve found,” Amy immediately understood the implication, now bolstered by the hedgehog’s own uncomfortable expression, “I really don’t like talking about this stuff with you guys, I thought asking permission would be easier than this. I just didn’t want to do something wrong.”

A dejected look has claimed his face, though he wasn’t meeting her gaze anymore. Instead, the hedgehog’s eyes were upon the roughed-up tome in his lap that had drawn out. Tenseness was obvious in his shoulders; did he even have a plan for if she said no?

Amy felt her face soften. Though she didn’t know Silver, it was hard to picture others in his position going to this sort of effort. It was undeniably endearing, other serious individuals like Blaze or Shadow surely would have just read the book and went about their business. The psychic had instead taken a more innocent route and through it Amy felt like she already knew him better than she ever had before, much better in fact. It was sort of strange, despite this being the first time they’d really spoken at length, and it being under implied dire circumstances, Amy felt comfortable sat speaking with him.

“You did the right thing, Silver. I suppose, if it’s to save us all, I’ll let you read my diary…” She couldn’t help but smirk, a fresh idea had bloomed in her mind, “But I have a few conditions.”

He looked up at her, the initial spark of excitement in his eyes, “Conditions?”

Given the news she’d just received of her future demise, part of Amy wanted to rush him to read the book and use its contents. Another part however, a much smaller yet louder and more cunning part, couldn’t help but see the potential in her present situation. In the short term, the hedgehog’s flying capabilities would likely prove useful for finding Sonic. In the long term though, well, a partner in crime capable of psychically grabbing her beloved would be useful. That and well, Amy did want to maintain a little bit of privacy.

Amy leaned in, ignoring the stench, “Well, I have a few in mind. First of all-

The kitchen door swung open, the loud hum of the oven fan tore away Amy’s attention. In the doorway, a pink apron still worn atop her long coat, stood Blaze the cat with a black tray in hand. The muted yet disgruntled look on her face paired perfectly with the strong scent of smoke flagging from her direction. Amy immediately understood what had happened.

“It’s no use, I concede,” The feline approached, placing the tray on the coffee table. Twelve muffins, three of them mostly crumbled but all of them burned black, filled the receptacle, “That’s the third batch. I’ve tried everything, even just scraping the burned layer off of them. They’re just ruined. Can’t we just buy food on the way?” She pulled the apron over her head, steaming to herself as she folded it up, “Who were you talking to? I thought there was someone else in here.”

Amy blinked, “Isn’t it obvious? Silver.”

“Sorry, what's obvious?” He turned back from staring weirdly at the far wall.

“Oh? Who’s that? Someone who can help us?” Blaze asked, not so much as looking to the psychic.

By Blaze’s phrasing, it was as if she thought Amy had made a phone call despite the psychic being sat directly in front of her. Silver was acting weird too, not so much as introducing himself, but Blaze was being truly bizarre. It was as if he wasn’t even there.

“Silver,” Amy pointed right, straight at the hedgehog.

Blaze followed her finger but looked all the way to the far wall, “I don’t get it, what are you pointing at?”

“Amy?” Wearing a look of utter confusion, the time traveller pointed back at the hedgehog in red.

The pink warrior’s patience was wearing thin, “What are you two doing, is this some sort of joke?”

“I’m not doing anything?” They simultaneously responded, Silver’s tone carrying concern while Blaze, further fuelled by her failed baking endeavours, was beginning to crack and show aggravation, “You’re acting really strange Amy.”

“You two don’t… see each other?” Amy finally vocalised, “You can’t even hear each other?”

“There’s someone else here?” Silver asked.

“How long has he been here?” Blaze almost simultaneously followed up.

She turned to Blaze, “He arrived while you were in the kitchen,” Then to Silver, “She was in the kitchen when you arrived,” Then down at herself, starting to feel more than a little crazy.

Now both of them were just staring at her, Silver looking confused while Blaze was bewildered. Tentatively, the pink hedgehog reached out and poked Silver’s head. He was real, she could feel his fluff and filth, but the effort only served to double his confusion and brought Blaze’s head to tilt. Seeing a dark smudge left on her white glove, Amy had an idea.

She held out her forefinger to the cat, “Can you see this, Blaze?”

“See what, it’s just your finger?” Blaze didn’t blink.

“The dirt,” Amy mumbled, but quickly recognised that the princess couldn’t see it. Testing further, she pointed to the cushion beside her, “What about the couch? The seat next to me is dirty, right?”

Silver shot up to sit straight, seeming to notice what he’d done. Black stains marked both the white faux leather and the red cushions he’d been lounging on, “Oh, no. I’m sorry Amy.”

“Don’t worry about it Silver,” Intrigue was starting to fill the hedgehog’s heart now, just why couldn’t they see each other? “There’s a mystery afoot!”

Glancing to the seat next to her, the cat seemed to notice something, “I don’t see dirt but,” She stepped around the table, closer to the seemingly oblivious Silver. A frown solidified on her brow, signalling realisation, “It’s like I can see the outline of someone sitting there, the impression on the couch...”

Amy thought fast, working her way through the senses, “What about the smell, you can smell him can’t you?”

“There’s only one thing I can smell right now,” Blaze gestured to the muffins but her gaze was fixed on the couch, “But I can absolutely see his outline, there is someone sat there. I believe you.”

Another thought was sparked, “Silver, can you smell the burned muffins?”

“There are muffins burning?” Nope, he clearly couldn’t, but then he was already filthy.

“The tray that Blaze put down on the coffee table,” Amy gestured in its direction, “Can you not see it?”

He squinted at the table, “There’s nothing there… but the door did sort of open weirdly just before this all started? Was that her? I thought it was a really strong wind.”

“Yes, but before this gets even more confusing, I should introduce you two,” Amy stood, positioning herself adjacent but between them. She extended her hand right to the hedgehog, “This is Silver, he’s a psychic hedgehog,” She then extended the left toward the cat, “This is Blaze, her name is accurate.”

That prompted a sigh from the feline, but she extended her own hand in Silver’s approximate direction, “Please tell him it’s a pleasure to make his acquaintance, despite the oddness of all this.”

“Silver, she’s reaching out for a handshake. She says it’s nice to meet you,” Amy summarised.

“Oh, I’ve never done one of those before,” He reached out, using the right hand but entirely missing her, “It’s nice to meet her too!”

Foreseeing further issues, Amy intervened. She took them both by the wrist and brought their hands to meet. To be honest, she’d half expected the appendages to phase straight through each other, but they did manage to meet. Their hands met perfectly, their respective fingers neatly curling around the underside of the others hands and their thumbs perfectly slotting in above. From the moment they touched, it was all so perfectly smooth.

There was something odd about their expressions once contact was held, a certain wistfulness hung in their eyes. For a moment, Amy thought they might be able to see each other. During the handshake, Blaze squinted at the exact angle to look at Silver’s head, while Silver was perfectly looking up at her.

Blaze’s words dashed that hypothesis however as she let go, tracing her fingers across her palm, “As strange as this is Amy, we do have a more pressing issue on our hands than me being unable to see him.”

“You’re right,” Amy conceded, but then countered, “But Silver really could help us. He’s from the future.”

“The invisible psychic hedgehog I can’t see,” Blaze was wincing as if struggling to process that new piece of information, “Is from the future?”

“Well, anything can sound crazy if you use the right words. You’re a pyrokinetic princess from another dimension,” Amy huffed back.

“Another dimension?” Silver chimed in, sounding confused but staring down at the hand that had been holding Blaze.

“It’s complicated,” Amy waved him off, “Look, I think Silver can help us find Sonic, he’s trying to make the word a better place,

“I’ll help you find him, sure,” He shrugged, “I figured that might be a condition for reading your diary.”

“He just agreed… not that you could hear him,” Amy explained.

“If it’ll make up for lost time, then I suppose this might be worthwhile,” Blaze’s eyes drifted to her burnt muffins, “Please thank him for his future assistance, on my behalf.”

That gave the pink hedgehog an idea; she drew the least destroyed looking muffin from the tray, “I think I know the perfect way to thank him, Silver?”

“Amy that’s-

The conniving hammerer cut her off, “Hold out your hand,” The hedgehog did as instructed and received a very burnt muffin, “That’s one of Blaze’s muffins, just as a thank you.”

“I-It’s floating, you’ve proven he can pick them up,” Blaze relayed, “But you shouldn’t let him-

Before Blaze could finish, the hedgehog took a massive bite. While from Amy’s point of view it all looked normal, if a little gross, she was more curious about how Blaze saw it. Would the food vanish once it entered his mouth? Or would she be able to see it inside him?

“He’s done it…” The cat sighed.

“Can you see the part he bit?” Amy enquired.

“I can see the hole in the muffin,” She grumbled, "But not where the missing piece has ended up."

"I can't see any of it," Silver reconfirmed, his mouth sounding full.

“Drat,” Amy grumbled, in hindsight realising the alternative would trap Blaze with an even grosser perspective, “Sorry Silver, it was just another-

“This is so tasty!” He shouted, beaming and he started to wolf down the rest, “Are there more of them?”

“There are but-

“What is he saying?” Blaze cut in.

“Um,” Amy watched as he finished the muffin and took on a look of abject comfort, “He liked it.”

“Don’t lie to me, Amy,” Blaze growled.

“No, no, I mean it. He was asking for more,” She insisted, but was certain her face was betraying him.

“I was!” He insisted aloud, even though Blaze couldn’t hear, “But, I get the feeling I shouldn’t. You’re going to look for Sonic today, right? I bet they’re for him.”

“Um, yes,” Not wanting to incur the princess’ wrath further, Amy seized her opportunity, “They were meant for Sonic. We should probably keep the rest for later.”

“Alright, but if there’s any left I’d love them,” He grinned, only for Blaze tap her foot.

Evidently, having to use the pink hedgehog to communicate was wearing on the cat, a quick fix was needed. A few thoughts drifted through Amy’s mind, each of them surely more foolish than the last. One idea stood out to the hedgehog though, one draped in fantasy.

“Maybe you two should kiss, that might break the spell,” Amy half seriously suggested, paralleling their current conundrum with that of a fairy-tale.

Silver’s brow furrowed seriously, “Do you think that would-

Silver kept speaking, but Blaze’s harsh tone overpowered him, “I can’t even see him, I’m not kissing him.”

A jeering smile broke onto the light red hedgehog’s face, “So you would if you could see him? I didn’t think my description was so appealing.”

A wave of heat flared from the feline, fists balled at her sides, “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Oh, did it just get hotter?” The hedgehog asked.

“Wait, you can feel that?” Amy replied.

Blaze, seeming to catch her hot temper, folded her arms and turned away with a dower look on her face.

“Yeah,” He nodded, “It feels way more comfortable.”

“Well, if it works one way…” Amy hummed, “Silver, do something with your powers, just as a test?”

The hedgehog pitched the diary into the air before psychically grasping it, bringing it to hover in front of his nose.

Amy turned to Blaze, “Can you see that?”

“No,” Blaze stoutly responded.

Amy gestured for him to stop, then suggested, “Maybe you should try using your power on her instead?”

“I can be gentle but,” Amy caught the frustration on Blaze’s brow, matching the psychic’s concerned look as he lowered the diary, “I’d rather not unless she’s sure she’s okay with it.”

It was weird, something like that had happened a couple of times. Outside her proposing they should kiss; they’d barely interrupted each other. When they’d been holding hands, they’d known exactly where to stare to look the other in the eye. Now it seemed that they were almost attuned to the other’s emotions. It was as if they were in sync.

“Okay, I’ve got a different idea then,” Amy wanted to test that aspect further, “Here’s a random question. Silver, what colour is Blaze’s fur?”

“How am I supposed to know that? I can’t see her,” He initially complained, only to shrink under Amy's insistent stare, “Uh, purple I guess?”

“Blaze, Silver has quills on his forehead,” Amy exposited, “How many are there?”

Annoyance still wrinkled the princess’ brow, “Amy, what are you-

“Just guess,” She insisted.

“On his forehead?” Blaze processed the question before shrugging, “Five.”

“Okay something weird is going on,” Amy concluded, “I mean, it already was, but it’s really weird. You both answered those questions perfectly.”

“We did?” They simultaneously responded.

Amy couldn’t help but bounce with excitement, “Yes, you totally did! It’s like you’re in perfect sync or something,” Something about even just seeing the two side by side seemed to match in Amy’s mind, “I have another idea, let’s test if you two can see each other another way. Maybe once you have, you’ll be able to see each other normally,” She pointed to the left couch cushion, “Blaze, can you sit there?”

Once she took that spot, the scheming girl snatched up her phone from the coffee table and threw herself down to sit between the two of them. It was a flip phone, one of the first tails had ever made, but it served her present purpose perfectly. Flanked on either side by bewilderment, she held up her phone and tried her best to angle the lens to catch the pair.

Simultaneously they both went to ask, “What are we-

“Smile for the camera!” She cut them both off, too excited by her new idea, and snapped the picture the moment they’d turned.

The final image was a little cheesy, Silver and Blaze looking rather bewildered in the direction of the camera while Amy herself was posed perfectly and beaming straight at it, but it would suffice.

She turned the phone to Blaze, “Can you see Silver in this?”

“No,” She flatly replied.

Disheartened, Amy leaned toward her fellow hedgehog, “Silver?”

“I just see me and you,” He shook his head.

“Well, that didn’t work…” Amy pouted.

The rosy hedgehog was still most perplexed about how this had all come about. Them being invisible was odd enough, but why the muffins? Amy was pretty sure the diary was invisible to Blaze too, she hadn’t seen it when he’d floated it nor mentioned a floating diary at any other point.

“You could see the muffin floating when he was holding it, couldn’t you? Even though he couldn’t,” Amy confirmed to Blaze.

“Yes?” She responded.

Amy snatched the book from Silver’s lap, “Hey, I need that-

“Shush, it’s technically still mine,” She held it toward Blaze, “Can you see this?”

“No,” The cat responded, but reached out and successfully touched the tome., flinching back as she made contact

“Well, at least you won’t be able to read it. Hold onto it,” Amy instructed, before reaching to her left, “Silver, here’s another muffin. Don’t eat it,” He pouted, but did take it, “You two can tell where the other is now, because of where the objects are, right?”

Silver nodded vigorously, but Blaze was more thorough, “I can but, I could already by the shape of him against the couch, I assume he can do the same?”

“Right, but if you two were walking about, you’d have no idea where the other is,” Amy explained, “Put those down and both of you pick up a card,” She gestured to the coffee table. Silver drew the fool, Blaze picked up the temperance, “You can still see the cards, can’t you?” Both of them nodded, “So it’s not as if objects vanish when you pick them up…”

As she thought harder still, Amy’s gaze drifted to the cork-board. Sonic could be anywhere by now, they had to hurry. That threat pushed her to form a hypothesis.

“I think that, because Silver arrived holding the book while you were holding the tray, neither of you can see those objects. It’s the same with the dirt on him. That means if the other person holds something neither of you were holding before though, you can both see it,” Realisation struck Amy, “If I get you both a new set of clothes then you’ll be able to at least see most of each other!” Then it hit her again, “But you still won’t be able to talk to each other…”

“If I had Sol emeralds with me, I’d attempt to use its power to sort all this,” Blaze grumbled.

“Silver, do you have a Chaos Emerald?” Amy enquired.

“I used one to get here, but it stayed in the future. Can’t have more than seven of them around,” He confessed, “I know where a few should be though?”

That was all the motivation Amy needed, they’d exhausted their options here, it was time to be a proper leader.

“Okay, then it’s settled,” Amy sprung to her feet, turning to the two, “I’ll go get you two fresh clothes, that way you’ll be able to keep track of each other. Then we can go find a chaos emerald, based on Silver’s knowledge. We can try to use it to make you two see each other, then go after Sonic together. Either way, odds are we’ll need the emeralds later, so it’s a perfect plan!”

Both of them got as far as saying, “I’m not sure the clothes are-

But Amy cut them off, “You can use this to talk till I get back,” Pulling open the coffee table drawer, she set a board and planchette down, “It’s called a Ouija board, usually it’s used to communicate with spirits, but I guess it’ll works for invisible people to?” Both of them looked completely muddled, but that wouldn’t stop her, “You two stay here, if you think of anything else that might work just do it. I’ll be quick!”

And with that final say, Amy left the two invisible individuals to their own devices. She rushed out and along the hall, bursting into her bedroom. Her closet was torn open, its contents made to scatter across the floor so that she could more easily pair disparate articles.

Admittedly, the pink pursuer rather lost track of time picking new outfits. When she exited her bedroom with her arms were laden with two full options for each other them. Admittedly, she wasn’t sure anything she had would actually fit Silver, but it was worth a shot!

She’d made it halfway down the hallways when the first sign of a change became evident to her, Amy heard chatter coming from the living room. Though that brought her to a halt, she couldn’t quite make out the words. Now tiptoeing, she rushed to the end of the hall, just far enough to peer out from behind its wall.

Her angle wasn’t great, the couch was against the wall she was looking around, but that didn’t subdue Amy’s surprise at what she saw. They were hugging. The cat’s head was stop the hedgehog’s right shoulder, her arms were around his back and her hands buried among his quills. She was crying. It sounded like they both were? What had happened in the minutes she’d been away?

This meant they could see each other, didn’t it? No, it had to mean more than that. Something else had clearly happened.

“Oh,” Amy couldn’t help but exclaim, but it wasn’t enough to pull their attention away from each other, “It looks like you two found each other.”

#silvaze #Silver the Hedgehog #Blaze the Cat #Amy Rose #sonic the hedgehog #Sonic 06

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sweetkingdomstarlight-blog · 4 years ago

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cherry wine

Pairings - Matt Murdock x Reader

Words - 2742

Warnings - there's some violence but its not overly graphic, some angst

A/N - This is for @awesomerextyphoon 27 Fairy Tales challenge, I chose to recreate the Grimm Brothers Rapunzel and although its not a direct re-telling I’d love it if you could see what I did. I have to give a huge thankyou to @thicccsimp for beta reading this and helping me reword some of it too, she’s an absolute angel. I’m actually really proud of this so I hope you enjoy it. As always my blog is 18+ so if you're a minor please shoo shoo.

“Baby I need it” she tells her husband as she applies her makeup, sweeping the highlighter across her cheekbones and pouting in the mirror at his tense face. Conceding, he creeps into his bosses office, looking in the usual place he sees a large bag of pills and sneaks a few into his pocket. He has been doing this several times a week for the past few weeks and thankfully no one has noticed or he’d surely be dead by now. Closing the drawer and making sure nothing is out of place he slips back into his apartment to hand the pills to his wife, getting a shock when he finds Fisk sitting on the sofa pointing his gun at the woman.

“It seems as though someone has been stealing from me, would you happen to know anything about that?” he asks the man, smirking at the expression on his face. “I know it's you, I have you on camera so don’t lie to me. I have a proposition for you. You can have whatever pills you want for free if you give me your first born when it arrives”. His wife screams no, she can’t give up a baby, Fisk points the gun at her “it's your choice” flicking the safety off and pointing it at the screaming woman.

************************************************

25 years you had spent in this apartment, only allowed to leave when you had your fathers henchmen with you. You had no friends, your father ran Hells Kitchen and there wasn't a single person who wasn't terrified of him. Most of your time was spent online shopping or trying to annoy the guards tasked with keeping you in. Your happiest moments however were when you blasted 80s music, completely losing yourself in the words of the greats like Queen, Bon Jovi, and Prince. You were on the 50th floor of The Sheffield, far away from the ears of others, free to dance around and sing obnoxiously loud and no one would complain. Well no one but the men stationed at your door, but annoying them was a petty indulgence you could never pass up.

A block away Matt Murdoch was patrolling the streets, dressed as his alter ego Daredevil, he was moving in the shadows trying to make his city a better place. He moved around the building tops, landing silently on top of The Sheffield, hearing the sounds of your voice travelling through the open window. You were so carefree, singing along to the Prince song, he could hear you moving around as if you were dancing. He came back every night for a week to hear you having fun, longing to get to know you better but there was always someone in need of help.

He continued to visit you night after night, deciding tonight he would make his move he’d scoped out the building earlier in the day and realised who it belonged to so he couldn’t just walk in and find you. He staked out the building from his perch across the street, trying to find a pattern he could use to his advantage, he was shocked when he realised that you only left once a week to go to the nail salon, closely guarded by Fisks henchmen. You were being held captive in the building.

He listened on top of your building again that night, the urge to talk to you getting too strong to ignore. He left you a little note that night attached to your window You have the voice of an angel, I'd love to get to know you better. If you want to get to know me too leave your window open for me tomorrow. MM.

The next night he arrived at the same time, his heart beating out his chest at the possibility of finally meeting you. He listened again, hearing only you, before swinging down and quietly landing on your window, he felt you grabbing his hand and pulling him inside before moving to your bedroom for some privacy.

You sit him down on your bed, looking puzzled at his red mask “So you’ve been spying on me then?” you teased, sitting next to him and crossing your legs. He chuckles and explains how he ended up on your roof, leaving out the part about Fisk being his number one enemy. You hand him a glass of water and ask if he wants to take his mask off, and get more comfortable, an offer he declines as he is still technically patrolling tonight.

You sit in front of him, cross legged and tell him your real name, Fisk called you Molly but that wasn’t your real name. When you were a child your nanny told you that Fisk named you after what your parents had stolen from him and that your real parents wanted you to be called y/n. You humoured Fisk but knew once you eventually got away you would erase everything that man had ever done for you.

You talked for an hour before he shot off out of your apartment and into the night, just a moment later your father came to wish you sweet dreams. You didn’t sleep that night, wondering what Matt was doing and if he was safe. You spent the next week glued to the local news, looking for anything about Daredevil but saw nothing. Wondering if you’d ever see him again you go for your weekly mani/pedi appointment, trying to subtly look for him without arousing suspicion of the men on either side of you.

You sit in the chair opposite your nail technician and make small talk as usual when a redhead sits down next to you and starts asking you for colour recommendations. She introduces herself as Karen and suggests a dark red colour from the wall, saying it looks good for an evening outfit, she has a date at 8pm tonight. You look at her confused for a moment before the penny drops and you nod your head slightly, you make small talk after that even sending one of your goons out for coffee for the two of you. You decline the offer of her number to repeat the day but let her know that you come here at the same time every week if she ever wanted to catch up again.

That night you leave your window open and dress in your best outfit to give yourself some confidence, he climbs in the window at exactly 8pm and you rush to hug him, taking him into your room again for more privacy. You both lay on the bed eating some snacks and drinking water when you lean in to kiss him, softly at first before he grips the back of your head and deepens it.

You lay like that for what feels like hours, kissing, touching and getting to know each other better before he tells you that he has to leave again. This time he tells you that he wants to come back tomorrow and not wait a week for you, asking you to leave your window open for him once more. You kiss him gently and watch as leaps out onto the fire escape and climbs up to the roof with ease.

That's how you find yourselves for the next two weeks, he would sneak into your room, you’d talk, touch and be intimate with each other before he would sneak back out just in time for your father to come and wish you a goodnight.

You have lunch with your father and you can’t stop smiling to yourself, noticing this he asks you what’s made you so happy but you shrug and say you saw something on Netflix earlier and you really enjoyed it. Seemingly accepting your answer he moves to sit beside you and nods at the chef who brings you your favourite dessert.

Laying down the tiramisu in front of you, you turn to your father and ask him what the occasion is. He just smiles and says he likes making you happy and he wishes you could have the whole world but you’re safer in here where his men can look out for you.

You agree with him telling him you love how protective he is and hope he stays safe out there too, “don’t worry about me my little Molly Moo, no one can hurt me not even Daredevil”. Your expression changes at the mention of his name and you look down taking a bite of your dessert so you don’t have to try to and speak, before excusing yourself telling him you have a book you want to finish before the end of the day.

You sit in your room trying to calm your breathing, he had never mentioned him before and it didn’t make sense for him to do so now. You had to get a message to Matt somehow and tell him to stay away for a few nights, you can’t email him or go to his work website, all of your technology is watched in case you get in touch with your parents. Deciding the best thing to do would be to run across town you slip on your converse and run a bath, turning your music up and locking the door from the outside before sneaking down the fire escape and into the city.

You’ve never actually been anywhere on your own before so the sensations are overwhelming, your heart is beating out of your chest as you hail a cab and tell him the address. You sit in the back of the car and try to control your breathing, a feeling of panic overwhelming you, you barely realise when the cab has stopped and the driver asks you if you’re getting out.

You run into the building and into a man who grabs your shoulders and asks you to breathe, he tells you his name is Foggy and you follow him to Matt's office, collapsing in his arms as he rushes to your side. “Y/N! Focus on my voice, what are you doing here? Does Fisk know you’re out of the apartment?” You shake your head and tears roll down your cheek, Karen appears with a glass of water and helps you take some deep breaths before taking you to the bathroom to freshen up.

You explain to Karen what happened and tell her you need to keep Matt away from your apartment for his own safety. Between you both you hatch a plan to keep him away using her and Foggy as a buffer before you run back to his office. Sitting on his desk you smile and run your fingers over his face “I like you better without the mask” he blushes and places his hands on your thighs telling you should get back to the apartment before someone realises you’re gone. You agree with him and kiss him softly before running out to the cab waiting for you, on the way home you come up with reasons for why you had to leave just in case you’ve been rumbled.

The cab pulls up around the corner from your apartment and you can’t see anything out of place, no one is pacing the sidewalk looking for you. You run up the fire escape again and climb through the window. Your father is sitting waiting for you on the sofa, holding the note Matt left on your window that night, he looks furious but talks calmly, smiling at you and asking where you’ve been. You lie easily telling him you thought you heard someone in trouble and couldn’t just ignore them, he sneers at you and tells you to sit down, you do as you're told the adrenaline rushing through your veins as you try to keep a distance from him.

“You know you’re just as shitty a liar as your parents were, I have cameras and men all over this building my darling Molly. Did you really think we didn’t know he was visiting you? The entire time he was here with you distracted we got to do whatever we wanted, I owe you a debt of gratitude my little princess”. A sick feeling creeps over you and you have to take deep breaths to calm yourself, deep down you’re pleased you told Matt to stay away. He would likely be ambushed and killed and you would never forgive yourself if that happened.

Fisk pulls his gun out and points it at you “since you’ve been such a good help to me, I won’t kill you today. You’ve got 5 minutes to get your stuff and get out, I’ll give you a day head start then I'm personally coming looking for you”. You jump up and grab a backpack stuffing what clothes you can into it along with your toothbrush and a stash of money you had managed to squirrel away over the years. You know you can’t see him anymore, it's too dangerous and he’ll get killed so you decide to get away from all of them but stay in plain sight.

Later that night Matt ignores his friends, telling them he has to check that you’re ok, he won’t be able to relax until he sees you and holds you in his arms. Sneaking into your room he can tell something is off, he can’t hear your heartbeat and can’t smell your perfume. Instead he smells an overpowering cologne “WHERE IS SHE?” he shouts, he knows its Fisk, this might be his one chance to take the man down.

He lunges forward to attack but doesn’t get more than a foot in front of him before four men attack him all at once. They’re relentless, and he's not quick enough to fight them all off, they break bones and knock him unconscious. He wakes up in hospital, bandaged and stitched with Karen asleep in a chair next to him. He wakes her up and she jumps, pressing the button to alert the nurse, passing him a cup of water and telling him not to try talking. He was dumped outside his office with a note in his pocket telling him to stay away, you had been taken care of and next time they’d bury him beside you.

Three long weeks he spends recovering in hospital, he’s told under no circumstances is he to do anything too physical for at least another six weeks. He sits back on the roof of The Sheffield that night, listening for your voice wanting nothing more than to hear you sing about raspberry berets in your off key voice. He wants to smell what you’re cooking, but there's nothing, the apartment sits empty. He visits every night for a full year before he can accept it, using his anger to take Fisk down slowly, one man at a time until the job is done and Hells Kitchen can start to repair itself.

That first night you went to a women's shelter for help, they took you in and looked after you for two weeks before they needed the space and offered you a bed at Clinton Church, you stayed there out of trouble, helping Father Lantom with the upkeep and helping in the soup kitchen. You finally had a purpose, you were used to staying inside and Fisks people always stayed away from anywhere they would have to deal with ‘vagrants’. You were safe, you felt content.

A full year passed and Matt Murdoch walked through the doors, you watched him take a pew but kept your distance. He sat calmly not making a move, a tear rolled down his cheek and he turned to face you “tell me its you” he almost whispered, running over to you and holding your face in his hands, “why didn’t come to me? I would have looked after you”.

You both stood crying, holding each other, perfectly content to be in the others arms. He squeezed you and asked you to come home with him but you shook your head, you would never put him in danger ever again. He shakes his head at you and shushes you, telling you that he’s gone, you don’t have to hide anymore, taking you to your room to gather your things he thanks the Father for taking good care of you and takes you to see Karen and Foggy, starting your life over once again.

#matt murdock #matt murdock x reader #daredevil #27fairytaleschallenge #awesomerextyphoon #matt Murdock fan fic #matt murdock fanfiction #matt murdock fan fiction #matt murdock one shot #matt murdock imagine #marvel fanfic

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noa-nightingale · 4 years ago

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Steven Lim Appreciation Week: Watcher-era Steven

We are celebrating Watcher-era Steven and I want to talk about Hidden Narratives for this day of Steven Lim Appreciation Week!

From the description: “Steven Lim speaks with Asian American leaders across industries about how the coronavirus has impacted our community.“

There are six episodes and one of them is also on youtube. Keep in mind that these episodes were created in March/April 2020. More on that at the end of the post.

Quick disclaimer, I am not Asian American and it would be inappropriate for me to lead any kind of conversation about this podcast; therefore I attempted to keep this relatively surface-level. But I have to admit that I got carried away with this pretty quickly and I am not sure if I stayed in my lane. It was meant to be a short, appreciative post but it got out of hand - if I overstepped boundaries, please let me know.

A warning, this podcast deals with heavy and difficult topics, including racism, grief, pain, people losing their businesses, people hurting. It is also very focused on people coming together and how they can help each other - but these topics are still not easy. I still wanted to write about it because I think that Steven deserves all the appreciation in the world for his work.

The first words that come to mind when thinking about this podcast are “heart” and “dedication”. It has a lot of heart - and despite the not always happy topics, it is such a wonderful, beautiful podcast. You notice the hard work Steven put into it, the passion, the care.

In the intro of the first episode he said he was nervous when he made the podcast but that he hoped that people liked it because it would make him feel good. He explained where the idea came from: His friends talked about how the virus effected their livelihood, and he felt hurt and helpless. And he realized that he could share their untold stories.

Episode 1: How Coronavirus Shut Down A Restaurant in 24 Hours

In the first episode, Steven talks to his friend Deuki Hong, chef and owner of Sunday Hospitality Group, whose restaurants shut down in March 2020. He talked about the emotional impact of things happening so fast, trying to keep his employees safe and worrying about his team, having to question a lot of things he had been taught, and having to deal with the uncertainty.

Steven mostly asked questions and listened. Deuki Hong had to make some difficult decisions, and Steven was never judgmental about it - the podcast allowed for a very honest conversation about a very difficult situation.

The first episode very much was about trying to look out for each other, and that is a sentiment that continues throughout the entire podcast.

Deuki Hong said near the end of the episode: “When people are hurt, they just want someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on, whatever that is, so be that person, just be kind, cause yeah, there’s a lot of hurt people right now.”

There is a GoFundMe set up for the team called Sunday Family Dream Fund. It is still open and has not reached its goal - the first episode of Hidden Narratives came out in March 2020 and the last donation to the GoFundMe was 8 months ago, so I am not really sure what the current state of affairs is. (I will come back to this at the end of my post.)

Episode 2: Why This NYC Restaurant Is Staying Open In A Pandemic

Steven mentions in the beginning of the second episode his “close emotional connection to the food industry” and that it is one of the reasons he started his podcast with two stories from two different restaurants. He also wanted to look at the topic of keeping the restaurant(s) open vs. closing it from two perspectives, and says that he does not know if there is a right or wrong answer.

Steven talks to Jimmy Ly, chef and co-owner of Madame Vo and Madame Vo BBQ. Jimmy Ly made the decision to keep his restaurants open. Steven started the conversation with: “Jimmy, thank you for sharing your story and I hope that those listening can gain a little more compassion, a little more empathy and a little more understanding.”

I found it touching that Steven’s first question was “How are you doing?” - it was asked in a way that allowed for an honest answer. This is also something he continues throughout the podcast, and it is very obvious that Steven is a very thoughtful and considerate person.

Jimmy Ly talked about his decision and for him, too, it is about his staff and his obligation toward them - the wanted to take care of them. Steven summed it up with “It is a choice for them between their livelihood and their safety”.

He talked about the measures they took to keep their staff as safe as possible and about adapting to the situation as best as they can.

Jimmy Ly said, if somebody on his team contracted the virus, he would shut his business down. It was obvious that none of the decisions he had to make and has to make are easy. They also talked about how Asian owned business were hit the hardest, and the drop in business for many.

The end of the episode got emotional - Jimmy Ly talked about how people who had to close their small businesses would most likely not be able to open them again. He said he and many others worked hard and that it is unfair that they could lose everything.

Steven talked about the impact Madame Vo had on him and that he could tell that Jimmy Ly cared about his restaurant, staff and customers and the food and that he poured love into it. Jimmy Ly said that Madame Vo means family to him.

The episode description includes the link to the Madame Vo website - Madame Vo Kitchen is still open while Madame Vo BBQ is “temporarily closed”.

Episode 3: FBI Warns Asian Americans Of Racist Outbreaks Due To Coronavirus

In the third episode, Steven talks to Benny Luo, the founder and CEO of NextShark, about the surge of racism against Asian Americans. He said despite growing up one of the only Asians in his school and being attacked for it, he has never seen so many Asian Americans being attacked in his life before.

From the description: NextShark is “one of the leading sources of global Asian and Asian American news”.

Benny Luo talked about the cases of racism against Asian Americans rising and that him and his team work the hardest they have ever worked in the history of the company to be able to report the stories.

He also talked about the impact of being confronted with those stories regularly - that it is psychologically draining but that his team feels a responsibility to do this work and that he is proud of his team.

Benny Luo told about someone writing to the team about the momentous moments happening for Asian Americans in the past years - and how it felt like it all came tumbling down. He said it is hurtful but that he also hopes it will be a time in history where the entire Asian community will come together.

But he also highlighted the good - there are people doing important work, in the medical field and in other fields, and it is important to be proactive - and these stories should be covered too.

Steven called the conversation “enlightening and therapeutic”. Benny Luo said to Steven: “You’re a creator, you’ve been a representative for us, being an Asian face on a really really big platform and (...) you doing interviews like this with me and you speaking up, I mean, those things have a lot of impact so no matter what it is, I think that you’ve made a big contribution in helping advance us forward.”

Here is the NextShark website.

Episode 4: On Andrew Yang And How Proving Our "American-ness" Won't End Racism

The fourth episode deals with the controversial op-ed by Andrew Yang that advises Asian Americans to show their American-ness to combat racism. Steven said that he was hurt by his words but also by the way Andrew Yang was treated as a result.

In the episode, Steven talks to Taylor Weik, a Japanese-American writer who wrote an article in response to the op-ed. From the description: “Taylor shares more context on why Yang's call-to-action was dismissive to the history of Japanese-Americans and details the negative impacts of Yang's article on the Asian American community.“

In his reflection of the episode, Steven said he did not know how to feel when the article came out - he did not agree with Andrew Yang and he thinks what he said was harmful but people also dismissed all of Andrew Yang’s previous accomplishments. Steven said he can understand the outrage. He said that he thinks that Andrew Yang can learn and that they can grow as a community.

It was clear that this was a difficult topic for Steven but he did his best to have a balanced and fair conversation and to not condemn.

Episode 5: Why American Healthcare Workers Aren’t Safe From The Pandemic

In the fifth episode, Dr. Shuhan He, an emergency doctor and the co-founder of GetUsPPE.org, talks with Steven about the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers.

They had a conversation about what exactly PPE is and why it was so hard to get. They not only talked about the importance of PPE in hospitals but also in nursing homes. Another topic was the importance of wearing masks.

Steven said: “A lot of people are grieving and (...) I’ve been feeling a lot of pent-up sadness and I don’t know how to channel the energy.” He asked how people can help.

Here is the link to Dr Shuhan He’s organisation GetUsPPE. Once again Steven mentioned people coming together and doing good.

Episode 6: Should Churches Gather During a Pandemic?

The sixth episode is very personal to Steven - his Christian faith is the most important thing in his life. He talks to Pastor Drew Hyun, pastor and leader of Hope Church Midtown in New York City. Steven attended Hope Church when he was still in New York.

They talked about churches gathering - Pastor Hyun’s churches are meeting remotely. He said that people were missing connectivity and that’s why they decided to make services interactive and using Zoom instead of having live streams. They also switched their style of services to a style that would allow more interaction.

Pastor Hyun said what makes the situation so painful is that people share the collective grief but are still physically isolated. Steven asked how people are doing spiritually - Pastor Hyun said there was a hunger, and that people are starting to think about faith and life and God.

He said they would not be gathering because they want to be a loving community - a loving community would serve the vulnerable, deliver food to the elderly, raise money for small businesses, serve non-profits. He wanted to lean into love and generosity.

Steven talked about the challenges with his own faith - why would God allow such a devestating thing? He said he can at least channel all the energy of grief, and that giving back has been therapeutic for him. He also mentioned that churches are now more accessible than ever.

They talked about some churches not being willing to stop gathering in person - Pastor Hyun said it is a grief to him and that the most loving thing that churches can do is not to gather.

Again, the end of the episode got emotional - Steven asked how Pastor Hyun personally was doing and he told about how he tried to support the restaurant of a friend and walked out of it crying. He said it would be easy for him to fall into despair and cynicism - but that he clings to the thought that God will do something. He talked about people suffering and how hard it is to watch - and that the situation is challenging.

Steven said he would keep him in his prayers. Pastor Hyun said: “Thanks for what you’re doing and I think it’s beautiful - you’re telling the stories of pockets of light in the midst of what’s happening.”

In his reflection, Steven said that he had been struggling with the situation every day but where he can find joy and peace and confidence is God and the belief that God has a plan for him.

A few closing thoughts: I admire Steven’s dedication. I think this quote from the end of episode 3 sums it up: “I spend my evenings editing this, it’s not part of our overall business plan and probably, you know, we’re losing money from it. It’s not supposed to be my priority. But I’ve been given the green light by my co-founders, by my head of development to continue making this show.”

That’s incredible hard work right there. And it deserves to be recognized.

The podcast was created in the early stages of the pandemic. I don’t know how the people who shared their stories are doing now, about a year later. I would love to have some updates - I thought about doing some research myself and create sort of a follow-up but, again, I don’t know if I am the right person to do it.

To conclude this already too lengthy post, I want to return to the main themes that could be found in all episodes: Coming together, helping each other, creating support, being kind, channeling negative emotions into positive actions, making positive changes.

That’s what Steven is doing with this podcast and with the rest of his work, and it is very very impressive, commendable and inspirational.

#stevenweek #watcher #hidden narratives #usermarylan #usersimba #steven lim #religion

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mydisenchantedeulogy · 4 years ago

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Saccharine [Part One] Closing Time [Bakugou Katsuki]

A/n: a short story about a quirkless fan who gets to meet their idol and so much more.

“He's actually coming here. Can you believe that?”

You pucker a brow, staring at your coworker in concern. Her excited cry echoes around the empty ramen shop.

The hell is she going on about?

The pen in your mouth rolls to the side as you speak. “Who is coming here?”

“Are you serious? I can't believe you consider yourself a hardcore fan, but don't know about this,” she remarks while scrolling through her phone.

Showing you the screen, your eyes widen as you read the text.

Dynamight coming to Shizuoka Prefecture.

You can hardly believe it.

“He's from here, you know?”

Of course, you know.

Not only are you a fan – not as obsessed as Meisa; madam president of the Rising Stars Pro Hero website – but you had met him before, or rather seen, before he became a pro.

You went to Aldera with Bakugou; road the subway home with him most evenings, though you were too shy to ever say hello. He wasn't the nicest person you had ever met in those days, but you read that he had calmed down since becoming a pro hero.

Bakugou making a public appearance surprises you, however. He's not a social person.

Meisa puts away her phone. He's going to be signing autographs Friday at the convention center.

Friday? You baulk. Friday you are closing for a coworker.

You groan in disappointment and drop the pen from your mouth. The pen topper of Dynamight bounces onto the floor.

”I agreed to take Aragaki-san's place that day,” you mention. “I can't go.”

Meisa frowns and crosses her arms. “Tough luck. He's only going to be in Shizuoka for a few days and Friday is his only social appearance.”

Tough luck indeed.

You rest your head against the counter top, pouting. It sucks to be a good person sometimes.

“Tell you what though,” Meisa says. “I'll get you an autograph when I go.”

You raise your head and smile at her. “Thank you. I'm so lucky to have you.”

“I know,” she teases.

A customer walks in and you return back to work.

Friday night comes and you stand behind the counter of an empty shop, glancing through the photos Meisa sent from the convention.

You missed out on a lot. Red Riot made an appearance as well and Meisa was more than happy to brag about meeting him.

Lucky jerk, you reply.

She promises to blow your phone up with pictures of Bakugou.

She'd better.

It sucks you had to miss out, but a promise is a promise.

You have an hour left on your shift when the convention hall closes. Wiping down the tables and replacing the paper menus on each one, you take a short break to check in on Eita, the chef, who is tidying up his work station for the third time.

As you’re doing this, the bell above the door chimes and a late-night customer walks in. You grab your favorite pen – topper included – and waiter pad, coming out from the kitchen with a polite smile.

“Welcome to Shizuoka Ramen. Sit anywhere you like and I––

You baulk upon seeing who the customer is, or rather who they are.

No way! You want to duck behind the counter and hide. What are they doing here? Red Riot and Dynamite.

You watch as they sit at an empty booth, embarrassment burning your face.

They are only people; people who are famous and well liked, you tell yourself.

It's not helping much to calm you down.

Taking a deep breath, you walk over to the table. Your body is trembling in fear.

“What can I get you to drink?”

Red Riot points to a drink on the menu. His long hair falls over his shoulder as he leans over it.

“Gose,” he says with a toothy grin.

You nod. “I have to see your ID.”

He hums and takes his license from his wallet, showing it to you.

Kirishima Eijirou his name reads. You thank him and write down his drink order, turning your attention to Bakugou.

“And you, sir?”

“Porter,” he says as he takes out his ID.

You don't need to read it to know he's old enough to drink, but you fake like you do.

“And what can I––

Kirishima suddenly interrupts. “You a fan?”

How did he know you are a fan? Was it that obvious?

You pucker a brow and watch in horror as he points at your ballpoint pen. How did you forget? You clutch it tightly, feeling your face heat up.

What's worse is that Bakugou is now starting at you.

“Did you go to the convention hall today? I don't think I remember seeing you.”

How sweet. Kirishima remembers the fans he meets. He seems the type.

You frown and shake your head in disappointment. “I took a coworker's place, so I couldn't go. Though a friend of mine did; she got an autograph for me.”

“Do I know you?”

You squeak as Bakugou asks this. Does he remember you? Honestly you doubt it, but you offer your name anyway.

“We went to the same junior high together, and lived in the same area. You probably don't remember me, because I'm quirkless.”

His eyes widen a moment, then he narrows them. “That's not the reason. The hell would make you think that?”

You're confused.

Kirishima gives you a gentle smile. “Don't take it personally. For a long time, he didn't know the names of our classmates at U.A.”

“Mind your own business, shitty hair. I still don't remember their names,” Bakugou snaps.

You cover your mouth and laugh. “No reason to apologize. Not having a quirk doesn't bother me anymore.”

Picking up your pad you hide a smile. “Guess I'd better get your orders and put them in before we close.”

Kirishima and Bakugou make an order, and once the ramen is done, I bring their bowls to the table and let them eat in peace, returning to refill their drinks when the glasses are low.

When they are ready to pay and leave, I wish them a good night as they exit the shop. I flip the sign on the door to show that we are closed and begin to clean up, in preparation for closing time in ten minutes.

On the table the heroes were sitting at I find a tip – most likely from Kirishima – and the customer's copy of the check.

Guess neither of them wanted to keep it.

As I go to crush it into a ball, I noticed something written on the back.

It reads:

Coffee shop tomorrow morning at 6 – Bakugou.

My face heats up. Did my idol just ask me out for coffee? I grab my phone and text Meisa.

What in the hell do I do? I hate coffee.

#bakugou katsuki #reader insert #bnha #mha #katsuki x reader #gender neutral reader #bnha bakugo katsuki

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purplesurveys · 5 years ago

Text

749

Have you ever had FOMO (fear of missing out)? Sure, I’ll get it quite often cause there’s always so much going on. If so, what's caused it? The last time I got FOMO it was when Blanch and Andrew made plans to have a drink Friday evening a few months ago, but they invited me by the time I was already home for at least a couple of hours. Fortunately for me the hangout never pushed through that day haha. Are you happy with your social life? I’m a lot happier with it given how dismal it used to be. I’ve since reconnected with some high school friends like Ciamae and my relationships with my orgmate friends are stronger than ever. If not, what would you have to do to change that? Have you ever hosted a party? If so, what kind of party was it? No. I don’t want to bear that responsibility lol I feel like I’d be awful at planning it and that I’d turn out to be a lousy host. I’d rather go to someone else’s party.

What's the best thing you can cook yourself? Meh, don’t remind me of my nonexistent cooking skills. Are there a lot of graffiti around your neighbourhood? No. It’s a gated subdivision, so not only is that not allowed, but the people living here probably aren’t into graffiti either. They’ll be pretty common once exiting the main gate of the village, though. What kind of a phone do you have? iPhone 8. What kinds of stuff do you have on your keychain? I only have the keys to my car and front door. I used to have a rainbow Mickey Mouse that Gabie got for me as well as a UP keychain thingy, but both of them fell off at some point so I stopped including non-key things on my keychain because I was really sad about losing those trinkets. Have you ever made something with your own hands that you're proud of? Yeah. I forgot which province that was in – I think it was Vigan? – but they had a pottery factory that we visited and I was able to make my own small vase. I wasn’t able to take it home because they said firing it would take a couple of days, so I only have a photo of my work as a souvenir. If so, what is it? ^ I’m pretty sure I already posted a photo of that vase on one of my surveys; I just don’t know if this is also the exact survey I answered before lol. What is your favourite Jack Lemmon film? I haven’t watched any of his work. I’ve always wanted to see The Apartment though. What is your favourite David Hyde Pierce film? Unfamiliar name so I had to look him up...andddd after Google I’ve learned I haven’t watched any of his work. A bit of an impressive portfolio though. Have you ever made your own soda? (Soda Stream doesn't count!) No. Do you have a hobby that forces you out of the house? If so, what is it? I don’t feel forced out of the house by it lol but I do love going to museums and trying out new restaurants and what food they have to offer. It’s not as demanding as having Pokemon Go as a hobby as I like doing either on my own time. Have you ever been part of a theater group? No. If so, did you get any lead roles or mostly supporting roles? Which IM app do you use the most? Messenger. For a brief period during the quarantine my friends and I gave Telegram a shot since they also have games in there, but that only lasted like two weeks since the game bots were too wonky. What's the most ecological thing you do? I think it would be segregating my trash. I’ve forgotten most of the things my old school taught me but that’ll forever stay etched in my head, and I’m really grateful that my university also has separate trash bins to allow me to continue the practice, because so many other public areas don’t. My former music teacher, Ms. Ettie, also taught us to ‘save the polar bears.’ It’s essentially lessening your paper consumption by always folding your notebook leaves in half, but she’s always used ‘saving the polar bears’ with us both as an easy way for us to remember, and because it’s a cute way to put it. What's your favourite board game? Why do you like it best? I don’t really like playing lots of board games and I don’t get to encounter them much either. I always end up having a hard time following any of them – especially the new ones that seem to have much more rules :/ – and board games are too expensive these days anyway. Besides English, what other languages can you speak? Filipino. Besides English, what other languages can you read? Filipino. I’ve also been learning Spanish on Duolingo, but I’m still very rusty and despite being familiar with many words and phrases it’s still hard for me to read complete sentences altogether. Do you think you could make it as a chef? No, the kitchen and I have never been friends. This has baffled me for a long time because both sides of my family are known for their cooking, and my own dad is a chef. I dunno what happened to me or my siblings or cousins lol. What's your favourite kind of tea? Unhealthy, sweet, artificial/powdered iced tea. I also like the tea they give out at fancy hotels that are hot, thick, and almost taste like nothing since they make me feel fancy hahaha but I don’t get to have them a lot, so. How do you like your tea? ^ Just the first one I mentioned. I’m not much of a tea girl so the powdered iced teas are already enough for me. What thing/person/happening has made you the happiest you've been? There’s been many things that have made me extremely happy but I suppose I haven’t been as happy as the time I passed my dream school and the time I asked Gab out again and she said yes. Girls, do you ever just say "Fuck it!" and go without a bra? Yes. It’s hardly noticeable whether I’m wearing a bra or not because my chest is really tiny, and in fact it looks even more unnatural when I wear a bra because all of them are just too big for me, even the ones with the smallest cup sizes. Because of that I can alllllllways get away without wearing a bra in school and no one would bat an eye. What's the most freeing thing you've ever done? So far it’s been driving out of town by myself. Have you ever had a restaurant dish that was made with bugs? Unfortunately no. They had bug dishes in Vigan but the menu said their availability would depend on if they’re in season, and unfortunately we were there at a time when they had no bug dishes and I had to settle with the next most exotic thing they had, frog legs. The next place I wanna get to try bugs in is definitely Thailand. If not, would you even want to try one? Yup, I just said I do. Do you think today's kids are really impatient? In the same way that adults are. A lot of kids are exposed to the internet now, so I suppose they’re influenced to be impatient a lot quicker what with the possibility of their videos buffering, websites loading slowly, and other factors like those. But then again I don’t know if I’m making sense; I haven’t had to handle and observe a young kid in years. Have you ever tasted birch sap? Nope.

How about the young buds/shoots of spruce trees? I haven’t. Which edible flowers have you tasted? I don’t think I’ve tried any of them? And answering no to the last three questions has made me realize how inexperienced of a foodie I still am haha. What has been your worst restaurant experience? I can think of three but there were always external reasons as to why they were bad.

Mad Mark’s was really bad and we had to follow-up so many times for each of our meals AND our check, but I’m not as resentful towards them since one of the seemingly only two servers present was pregnant.

Barcino’s service was also quite awful and we waited an hour for our food, but we forgave them since it was Valentine’s and the place was ridiculously busy.

Probably the worst experience comes from a family dinner at Shakey’s, but only because it was my parents’ fault. I had no problem at all with the service but I think my mom and dad just decided to be extraordinarily snippy that evening and criticize every single thing our server – and eventually, the manager – did. It was really embarrassing and I remember spontaneously crying out of frustration at their childish behavior lol. We ended up walking out with my mom sneering “your service sucks” to the manager and me giving him an apologetic look. It was so brutally embarrassing, eugh.

What's the most immature, adolescent thing that still makes you laugh? Probably Pewdiepie jokes. Have you ever had a life threatening condition? If so, what was it? Nope. Do you ever compare your life to somebody else's? If so, why? Eh, it’s something we can’t help but do sometimes. What is a food item or a dish you absolutely cannot stand? Fruitcake or food for the gods. Have you ever had a custom print done on a shirt? If so, what was it? Not me personally, but I’ve ordered t-shirts with custom prints back in high school for our events. What does your favourite mug look like? I really only have one mug and I’ve described it so many times on here, so I just looked for it on Google this time and this is what it looks like. The design turns blue when the beverage inside is hot, and it gradually fades back to black as it cools down.

Do you ever copy surveys to Facebook Notes and share your answers? Mmm nope. I’ve only taken surveys and posted them on my Tumblr. What's the best thing about today? I found out Keeping Up with the Kardashians is coming to Netflix by June and I CANNOOOOOOOT be any more excited for it haha. Do you ever read other people's survey answers? Yes, always. Everyone I follow on here writes very well and it’s always interesting to read their answers :) Do you like daytime or night time better? Why? Nighttime. I don’t really like the sun and I’ve found the nightlife more suitable to my personality, interests, vibe, etc. What's your highest level of education so far? I’m taking up an undergraduate degree but I’m supposed to be graduating this year. The schedule is still wonky due to coronavirus, but I have hope in graduating. I still 130% don’t know if I will be taking up law but I’ve had family and friends lightly nagging me to try taking law school entrance exams in 2021. If you could have any job in the whole world, which would you like? A travel blogger/vlogger. Describe your ordinary day. Back when life was still...normal, I’d drive 1-1.5 hours before my first class so I can beat the traffic, but usually I’d still end up in bad traffic because that’s Metro Manila for you. What I would do on my free time depends; if my schedule was freer I’d go to Skywalk to hang with friends, but sometimes I’ll have errands to run like printing something at the internet cafe. I have nearly-daily meetings in the afternoon so I’ll have to go to those too; and then 1-2 times a week I’ll drive to Ortigas so I can see my girlfriend. It was a very hectic schedule and I miss it a lot. Would you ever have a UV tattoo? A what now? What is the brand and colour name of your favourite lipstick? I don’t have one. What do you like on your tortilla? Just whatever goes on a fajita. I don’t really have tortillas much. How about inside your pita bread? ^ All the same, just whatever goes in a shawarma as it’s one of my favorite food. What do you like in your burger? I answered this in a previous survey but I wouldn’t hesitate to order a burger if a menu says it has caramelized onions, brioche buns, and some kind of secret special sauce because that always makes me curious haha. I’ll sometimes go for bacon, jalapeño, or eggs too, but not always. How about on your pizza? I only ever order quattro formaggi; I never have the heart to order anything else as it’s my favorite variety of pizza heh. Would you ever take part in a games club? Probs not as it’s not really my hobby. If so, what would be your ideal club? I dunno, this question is quite vague haha. I suppose if there’s an club or org that bands together people who love history, debates about it, or likes watching documentaries on different history topics, I’d jump on it. Would you be able to give a speech on your favourite subject right now? Sure. We used to have several impromptu speech exercises in my public speaking class and no matter how much I dreaded each of them I always did quite well, so I got convinced that I must have some sort of talent or skill in it that I never got to discover until I had that class. Do you work better alone or in a group? Depends on what needs to be done. If there’s a video that needs to be done or a poster that has to be made, I’d be much more comfortable if I was in a group cause then someone else could take over those tasks.

Are you more comfortable as a leader or a follower? It also depends. If I like the topic or task we’re given, I have no problem leading the group. Which one of your friends have you known the longest? For how long? Angela, 15 years. What is your favourite song right now at this very moment? It’s a local song called Sino by Unique Salonga. It’s not a recent song anymore, but I came across a fan video of Unique performing it in a gig and just fell in love with it all over again.

#survey #surveys

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homeremodelingatlanta7b · 4 years ago

Text

Determining a Kitchen Remodeling Budget

Basement remodeling atlanta

It is very important to find out a financial budget for virtually any do it yourself project, and kitchen remodeling isn't exception.

A thing of caution: I spent hrs researching kitchen remodeling cost and budgeting online to accumulate data with this article. I ran into a few websites that gave size pricing for kitchen remodeling. Although I commiserate using look for an easy approach to determine remodeling pricing, this kind of advice just isn't based in reality. Remodeling jobs normally are so specific to the conditions of the building and tastes from the homeowner that no square footage pricing is ever going to starting point. I additionally encountered many sites that didn't offer you any real information about establishing a budget but basically interpreted Hanley Wood's Remodeling Cost vs. Value report that's published annually. You happen to be far better off going to the Cost vs. Value report on the web and evaluating the final results yourself.

home remodeling marietta

Like other things in this world a kitchen remodel will cost more than you thought it would and the sky's the limit about what it can cost determined by your preferences. You can find multiple factors that go into determining a remodeling budget.

There are numerous places online you can check out help you establish a basic budget number to start with. Our recommendation is Remodeling Magazine's Cost vs. Value Report which is released by region and major city each year. The truly nice thing about this report would it be provides description from the "average" project to help you gauge in case your kitchen remodel is going to fall above or below the benchmark. Furthermore, i find their average pricing to be an exact reflection in the pricing for our company, so by recommending to clients before I even talk to them that they can investigate this report they are prone to begin a realistic budget we could work within to present them an incredible kitchen.

Custom Hutch designed with Semi-Custom Cabinets

While Remodeling Magazine's report is quite helpful, it is a very one size fits all method of establishing a budget. Continue reading if you want to try to hone your numbers a little.

Escape a pad and paper and jot down several notes about each factor along the way through their list:

Factor 1 Home Value- Consider not merely how you feel your home is worth, but also the price of similar homes where you live that curently have updates. The best site to check home values is zillow.com, simply enter your address and you also have an interactive map with home along with other information listed right on the map. Pay attention to which homes are of similar size to yours, happen to be purchased recently, but have a higher value, then peek in their windows to determine exactly what the house looks like. Ok, seriously, I became only kidding. Should you not know them perhaps it's time to meet the neighbors and ask for a simple tour.

Factor 2 Wow! - It is everything to use your primary goal and motivations. Write down each motivational factor which can be crucial that you you in the kitchen remodel. Here are several possible examples: Kitchen is falling apart. You want to cook and the layout doesn't suit you. You love to entertain and want to start living rooms like a place to gather. You need a kitchen that wows your guests. You get able to sell your own home and also the kitchen is really a sticking point with buyers... Now that you have your list, determine what motivations are most important and relist them in motivational order. Imagining your financial allowance beginning in "the middle" pay attention to which factors might move the budget up or down...i.e. attempting to remodel to encourage sales might slowly move the budget down, remodeling to wow guest might max it...etc.

Factor 3 Did someone say AGA? - List any "must haves" for a kitchen remodel to become worth the cost to you personally. Possible examples: granite counters, a tropical with an extra sink, an extra dishwasher, an advert quality gas range, etc.

Factor 4 Longevity- Determine to the best of what you can do the length of time you intend on owning the home.

Factor 5 Size Matters- Determine what amount of your property your kitchen encompasses. A sampling well over 100 modern home floorplans of 1000 to 3000 square feet homes revealed the average kitchen size to be 7% from the home's sq footage. If your kitchen is greater or smaller than this average you might need to decrease or increase your allowance accordingly.

Factor 6 Layout- should you may have learned you're going to want the sink moved, hawaiian isle sink added, an enclosed wall moved plus an exterior door added, you will want to add money on your budget well past such a basic facelift would cost.

Tricky layout: the decorative column conceals a sound wrapped drain pipe

Factor 7 Funding- Determine the maximum amount money you could manage to spend. If you're financing your project you are able to calculate such a lender will likely lend you. Lenders are interested in a personal debt to income ratio(DTI) of.36 or less. Your DTI is established by taking all of your monthly debt obligations (credit card payments, automobile financing, mortgage, etc.) and dividing from your monthly income. To discover your maximum safe monthly debt multiply.36 times your monthly income. Now subtract your existing monthly debt out of this number and you've got a monthly budget maximum. Here is a connect to a calculator that will perform the math for you personally: mortgage calculator

Putting it All Together

The key to managing your finances are choosing the amount of your home's value you should use being a budget guideline. While researching this article I discovered recommendations to make use of percentages starting from 10% to 25% of home value. For any kitchen remodel of any substance that features new flooring, appliances, cabinets, sink/faucet, lighting and bringing electric approximately code I have discovered anything below 15% to become very dubious number. I guess on a million dollar house 10% will be a workable budget, but on the 200k house a 20k affordability is marginal at the best for the complete kitchen remodel.

If resale value is very important for your requirements it is wise to keept the cost of your home renovation project within 20% of the present worth of your home. Staying within this range insures that the majority of the brand new kitchen's price is recouped in increased home value immediately, and the remaining cost must be recouped within 5 years because your home appreciates.

Ok, let's put into practice one example. Remember, there is no exact formula here. We have been simply doing good to become as informed as you possibly can and create a wise decision about how exactly much to spend on the kitchen remodel.

For the example let's use the house. It's a 50's cape cod with a modest square footage of 1500.

Factor 1 value: Zillow provides me with an estimated price of $167,500, however, I notice zillow hasn't yet updated and taken into account the single homes which are recently integrated the sector behind us with a starting expense of $270k. Zillow also has our square footage listed at under 1200. Looks like the previous owner did a bit remodeling with no permit. I am going to base my budget with a expense of 180k which is similar to other houses locally which might be exactly the same size.

Factor 2 Goals: My family and i want to entertain guests. To create a kitchen remodel worthwhile for all of us we must lose an interior wall to spread out up the kitchen and dining nook on the family area. I am going to add 1% to plan for this.

Factor 3 Most important items: As being a former chef two most important items for me personally are a new oven as well as a really nice propane range(no gas main service here), preferably an advertisement range modified for your kitchen at home (real commercial ranges lack insulation throughout the oven, critical for home safety). I am going to add another 1% to my budget to make certain there's enough money to acquire me my range and propane installation.

Factor 4 Longevity: We plan to be in the house at the very least 4 years. Generally of thumb it will take Five years for most remodeling to achieve and recoup all of its cost. Because we will probably be at least Five years I'm not gonna penalize the budget, consider there's a good chance we'll move right around Five years That's not me gonna increase it like I might whenever we were staying considerably longer.

Factor 5 Size Kitchen: The kitchen at home is approximately 140SquareFeet(SF). That's over 9% of the SF of your home, 2% excellent. Obviously this kitchen is going to require some extra material and cabinets. I'll in the budget 1% with this, I am hoping it's enough.

Factor 6 Layout: We are going to customize the layout of our kitchen pretty extensively. We currently use a cooktop peninsula. The product range will probably use a differnet wall as well as the dishwasher will move to the peninsula, though organic beef ditch the peninsula, slowly move the fridge and add hawaiian isle instead. About the only stuff that won't move may be the sink. I will add another 1% to my budget, again hoping $1800 (1% individuals 180k value) is enough to cover the electrical and plumbing changes.

In my base I am going to use 20%. Because i mentioned earlier on, you'll find gonna be people who will argue with me on that, but going lower often doesn't leave you with workable budget numbers for full blown kitchen remodels. I'm adding 4% according to my factors in the above list. I adjusted my zillow.com estimated home value to 180k depending on the comparable size and value of other homes around me. This provides me a working budget of 24% x 180k= $43,200 When I match it up to the Cost Vs. Value report I see that in the centre Atlantic Region an important Kitchen Renovation is $59, 098. It looks like my budget could be bit low, especially since i have really would really like granite countertops along with the Cost Vs. Value specs necessitate laminate tops. Conversely the kitchen at home is really a lot small compared to their 200SF benchmark, i really think I'll opt for my budget number and discover what my contractor can perform personally because budget.

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kitchenremodelingatlanta41 · 4 years ago

Text

Determining a Kitchen Remodeling Budget

Kitchen remodeling atlanta

It is crucial to determine a financial budget for almost any do-it-yourself project, and kitchen remodeling is no exception.

A thing of caution: I spent many hours researching kitchen remodeling cost and budgeting online to gather data just for this article. I ran into a couple websites that gave size pricing for kitchen remodeling. Although I commiserate using attempt to find an easy method to discover remodeling pricing, this type of advice is just not operating out of reality. Remodeling jobs in general are really specific towards the conditions in the building and tastes from the homeowner that no square footage pricing will ever starting point. Also i bumped into many websites that didn't provide you with any real details about starting a budget but basically interpreted Hanley Wood's Remodeling Cost vs. Value report that is published each year. You happen to be much better off visiting the Cost vs. Value report web evaluating the results by yourself.

home remodeling marietta

Like whatever else on this planet a kitchen remodel is going to are more expensive than you thought it would and the sky is the limit on the it may cost depending on you. There are multiple factors which are into determining a remodeling budget.

There are many web sites you can check out assist you to begin a basic budget number to start with. My personal recommendation is Remodeling Magazine's Cost vs. Value Report which is released by region and major city every year. The truly nice point about this report is it offers a description in the "average" project to help you gauge if your kitchen remodel will almost certainly fall below or above the benchmark. Also i find their average pricing to be a definative reflection with the pricing for the company, so by recommending to clients before I even meet with them which they investigate this report these are prone to generate a realistic budget we can easily work within to provide them a fantastic kitchen.

Custom Hutch developed with Semi-Custom Cabinets

While Remodeling Magazine's report is extremely helpful, it is still an incredibly one size fits all approach to generating a budget. Read on if you would like try and hone your numbers somewhat.

Get out a pad and paper and take note of a number of notes about each factor as you go along through their list:

Factor 1 Home Value- Consider not only what you think your property is worth, but the price of similar homes in your town that already have updates. The best site to check house values is zillow.com, simply enter your address and you also receive an interactive map with house values as well as other information listed directly on the map. Pay attention to which homes are of similar size to yours, happen to be purchased lately, but have a higher value, then peek inside their windows to see just what the house appears to be. Ok, seriously, I was only kidding. If you don't know them perhaps it's time to meet the neighbors and request a fast tour.

Factor 2 Wow! - It has everything to apply your objectives and motivations. Jot down each motivational factor which can be important to you within a kitchen remodel. Below are a few possible examples: Kitchen is fallling. You want to cook and also the layout doesn't suit you. You love to entertain and wish to start the kitchen as being a place to gather. You'll need a kitchen that wows your guests. You are getting prepared to sell your home as well as the kitchen is often a sticking point with buyers... Now that you have your list, determine what motivations are most crucial and relist them in motivational order. Imagining your financial allowance from "the middle" be aware of which factors might slowly move the budget up or down...i.e. attempting to remodel to encourage a sale might slowly move the budget down, remodeling to wow guest might max it out...etc.

Factor 3 Did someone say AGA? - List any "must haves" for any kitchen remodel to get worthwhile to you. Possible examples: granite counters, hawaiian isle having an extra sink, an extra dishwasher, a commercial quality gas range, etc.

Factor 4 Longevity- Determine on the better of your ability just how long you plan on owning the property.

Factor 5 Size Matters- Evaluate which percentage of your house your house encompasses. A sampling of over 100 modern home floorplans of 1000 to 3000 square foot homes revealed the typical kitchen sq footage to be 7% of the home's sq footage. In case your kitchen is larger or small compared to this average you might need to decrease or increase your budget accordingly.

Factor 6 Layout- in the event you know already you will want the sink moved, hawaiian isle sink added, an inside wall moved plus an exterior door added, then you need to incorporate money in your budget well past that of a basic facelift would cost.

Tricky layout: the decorative column conceals a good wrapped drain pipe

Factor 7 Funding- Determine the most money you can manage to spend. Should you be financing your project you can calculate what a lender will probably lend you. Lenders are interested in a debt to income ratio(DTI) of.36 or fewer. Your DTI created by subtracting all your monthly debt obligations (bank card payments, automotive loans, mortgage, etc.) and dividing from your monthly income. To find out your maximum safe monthly debt multiply.36 times your monthly income. Now subtract your existing monthly debt from this number and you have a month-to-month budget maximum. Here is a connect to a calculator that will perform the math for you personally: mortgage calculator

Putting it All Together

The key to managing your finances are choosing the percentage of your home's value you should use being a budget guideline. While researching this article I came across recommendations to make use of percentages which range from 10% to 25% of home value. For the kitchen remodel of the substance that also includes new flooring, appliances, cabinets, sink/faucet, lighting and bringing electric approximately code I find anything below 15% becoming a very dubious number. Perhaps over a big house 10% will be a workable budget, but on a 200k house a 20k finances are marginal at the best for a complete kitchen remodel.

If resale value is vital to you it is shrewd to keept the expense of your house renovation project within 20% of the present valuation on your home. Staying in this particular range insures that almost all the new kitchen's charges are recouped in increased home value immediately, as well as the remaining cost needs to be recouped within Five years since your home appreciates.

Ok, let's run through an example. Bear in mind, there isn't any exact formula here. We're simply doing our best to become as informed as you possibly can making a good plan regarding how much to pay on the kitchen remodel.

For the example let's use the home. It's a 50's cape cod with a modest sq footage of 1500.

Factor 1 value: Zillow provides me with an estimated value of $167,500, however, I notice zillow hasn't yet updated and included the one family homes that had been recently integrated the area behind us with a starting tariff of $270k. Zillow also has our square footage listed for less than 1200. Looks like the previous owner did a bit remodeling without having a permit. I will base my budget on a expense of 180k which is analogous with houses locally which are exactly the same size.

Factor 2 Goals: My wife and I wish to entertain guests. To make a kitchen remodel worthwhile for us we should instead lose an indoor wall to open up inside the kitchen and dining nook to the family area. I'm going to add 1% to plan for this.

Factor 3 Most important items: Being a former chef two most important items personally certainly are a new oven plus a really nice propane range(no propane service here), preferably an industrial range modified for use at home (real commercial ranges don't have insulation round the oven, critical for home safety). I'll add another 1% to my budget to make certain there is enough money to obtain me my range and propane installation.

Factor 4 Longevity: We plan to live in our home at the least 4 years. Usually of thumb it requires Several years for the majority of remodeling to comprehend and recoup all of your money. Since we might be right here at least A few years I am not planning to penalize this, but as there is a pretty good possibility we'll move right around Several years That's not me going to increase it like I'd personally as we were staying for a long time.

Factor 5 Height and width of Kitchen: Our kitchen is all about 140SquareFeet(SF). That's over 9% in the SF of the home, 2% above average. Obviously this kitchen is going to require some additional material and cabinets. I am going to up the budget 1% with this, I hope it's enough.

Factor 6 Layout: We are going to change the layout of our kitchen pretty extensively. Supermarket use a cooktop peninsula. The stove will probably go on a differnet wall and also the dishwasher will turn to the peninsula, though we might ditch the peninsula, slowly move the fridge and add an island instead. The only thing that won't move will be the sink. I'll add another 1% to my budget, again hoping $1800 (1% individuals 180k value) is sufficient to cover the electrical and plumbing changes.

For my base I'll use 20%. Because i previously mentioned, there are gonna be people who will argue when camping with that, but going lower often doesn't provide you with workable budget numbers for full blown kitchen remodels. I'm adding 4% according to my factors in the above list. I adjusted my zillow.com estimated home value to 180k depending on the comparable sq footage and expense of other homes around me. Thus giving us a working budget of 24% x 180k= $43,200 While i compare this to the Cost Vs. Value report I see that in the centre Atlantic Region a significant Kitchen Renovation is $59, 098. It appears as though my budget may be bit low, especially ever since i really would like granite countertops along with the Cost Vs. Value specs require laminate tops. On the other hand my kitchen is substantially smaller compared to their 200SF benchmark, therefore i think I'll opt for my budget number to see what my contractor can do for me because budget.

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oftenderweapons · 4 years ago

Text

Girls’ Night — a girlfriends’ tale

Characters: OCs (Vixen, Princess, Lace), small Namjoon intromission

Wordcount: 12.2k

Genre: slice of life with discussion of BDSM themes, conversation

Rating: suggested 18+

Hello doves! As I announced the other day, I have been working on extra pieces that I really loved as a concept. This one — I must admit — is especially dear to me since it covers topics that I consider extremely important. This fic discusses mature themes. Please minors, do not read or interact.

Quick recap: (read Jimin’s Love Talk if you want to know the whole background for this story) Princess — Jimin’s girlfriend — has ventured into the world of BDSM after Jimin expressed his interest in being dominated and spanked. A few days after her first brief session with Jimin, two old acquaintances come to her help: Vixen — Namjoon’s girlfriend and Princess’ high school classmate — and Lace, Vixen’s best friend, Princess’ university flatmate but also Taehyung’s latest crush. (Tae and Lace met through Vixen at Taehyung’s housewarming party). The girls meet for dinner at Princess’ apartment and after some confessions and girl talk, they explore the most important rules and procedures a person should know before dominating their partner in a basic impact play scenario, with special contributions of a trained domme and an experienced brat.

The piece is written with the girls as characters described through the POV of an external narrator. If you want to get to know the characters a bit better, you can find their headcanons here (Vixen — Princess — Lace).

On a lexical note: throughout the text I’ve used the word “dom” both as in short of the verb and of the noun. Even though the feminine form is usually “domme”, I’ve considered it gender neutral, as a short term for both “dominator” and “dominatrix”.

On an ethical note: I wanted to raise awareness on how a safe, sane and consensual domination works. These days there’s an increasing number of BDSM pieces coming out, and very few of them mention the level of emotional connection that is necessary in these circumstances. Most of them focus on the scene, without showing how pre-session negotiations, aftercare and post-session feedback work. I wanted this piece to be educational and I wanted to show the “background work” on how I plan each BDSM-themed piece before I write it. Though I’ve done a lot of research on handbooks, websites and forums, I am NOT a BDSM educator, so I would recommend reading more in-depth manuals in case you ever decided to venture in this world, and possibly speak with an expert first.

On to trigger warnings: swearing, consumption of alcohol, obviously there is in-depth discussion of NSFW and BDSM themes with focus on impact play. Discussion of hard limits, negotiations, SSC (safe, sane, consensual), safewords, aftercare, bruising, cutting/puncturing (connected with cane and cat-o-nine-tales whipping), marking, pain kink, punishment, drop (both for subs and doms), anatomy of impact play (where to hit, how to hit), sex toys (spanking, face slapping, paddle, riding crop, slapper, strap, whip, flogger, cane). That should be all. In terms of angst, there is some insecurity, jealousy, and slightly traumatic past experiences. Lace recalls one time she “dropped”, Vixen recalls a series of quite intense scenes. There are mentions of Vixen’s second relationship (toxic relationship with a man who called her out for her sex drive, kinkshamed her and forced her into becoming exclusively vanilla). Both Princess and Vixen mention abandoning some friends since they couldn’t trust them close to their boyfriends, or not respecting their privacy. Lace mentions traumas that lead her to learn domination. She also explains her insecurities about possibly dating Taehyung.

Word count: lengthy. 12.2k words. Reading is not necessary but recommended since a lot of pieces stem directly from this one.

Here is my masterlist!

Enjoy 💖

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EDIT: You can find part two here

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Lace came through with the loud stomps of the heels of her boots, the bag on her shoulder swaying heavily. It looked like she was ready to enter Cat Woman mode, wearing a cropped leather jacket rimmed with a thick black-fur neck. Her wondrous thighs were clad in tight, high-waisted jeans, her black leather knee boots completing the look. She impeccably wore her part.

As she neared the door, she checked her watch, noticing that she was a couple minutes early.

Five minutes later, always fashionably late, arrived Vixen, her hair falling perfectly around her pretty face, her lips tinged with a deep wine red, her doe eyes as inquisitive and wide as usual. It was exactly the girl she had met two years before on the other side of the counter of her shop, it looked like she hadn't aged a week.

"Hello!" She greeted her friend.

"Hi there! Look at you, you look like the best girlie in the world." Lace hollered back.

"Because I am." Vixen replied, basking in the attention and the praises.

"That self esteem is thriving! Freshly fucked and ready to misbehave?"

"Unfortunately not freshly enough, but you know me, I'm always ready to misbehave." Vixen winked before making her way to the entrance of the building, pressing the buzz for Princess' apartment.

"Isn't your big boy attending to his duties?" Lace asked, curious about the whole situation. She had personally met Namjoon and had seen the two of them together. They looked like the it-couple and she would gladly bet big money on the pair. Plus she knew about Vixen's collection and Namjoon's taste in terms of lingerie and negligees: in her honest opinion that's a solid base for a lasting union.

"He's attending, yes, but I don't want to vex him with my continuous cravings."

"Baby, not all of us are like that slut-shaming bastard of your ex. Stop thinking that needing to get laid more than once a week is a shame."

Princess voice sounded from the intercom. "Hi! It's floor 16 number 41!"

"Thank you!" Vixen replied before pushing the door open.

Lace slapped her hand and held the door as Vixen walked through. The other followed. "It's just that… He's been busy, plus he keeps saying he likes to come back early so we can have dinner together, he's always rushing from the studio to the dorms to his apartment. He looks like he'll get drunk on motion sickness before the tour even starts."

Lace stared at her feet as you both stood in the lift. How could she start something serious with Taehyung if they were going on tour? By the time she would get used to him he would be travelling on the other side of the world.

"So he stays at the dorms?" Lace fixed her bag on her shoulder.

"Often, yes. He stays at the apartment when I'm around, but he prefers the dorms when he's by himself or working."

The lift dinged and you exited, heading down the hallway "Thirty-eight, forty, there!" Lace chirped, noticing the open door.

There stood Princess, hair in a ponytail, wearing a fashionable white turtleneck and a thigh knee-length skirt. She looked classy and smart, just like she had appeared during previous meetings.

"Hello girls!" She waved at the pair, gesturing at them to come in.

"Hi there!" said Lace, "long time no see."

"We don’t see each other in ages and then two times in less than a month." Princess replied while hugging her. “Wouldn’t it be lovely if we reacquainted?”

Vixen nodded with a cute smile. "It would. I must say it was a surprise to meet you at the party with Jimin." Vixen took off her shoes as Princess offered her a pair of slippers.

"It seems like fate brought us back together." Princess replied.

“Indeed.” She commented, thinking about how they would get even closer if she gave in to the preternatural connection with Taehyung. Lace tugged at her boots, fighting with them a little before finally removing them, lost in her thoughts. She clumsily tried to avoid Vixen’s stare. She knew the girl would spot her secret in a second. Not now, she told herself. With the slippers on, Lace still looked like Catwoman from the ankles up, but her feet were clad with a pair of pink panther slippers that gave the outfit a hilarious twist.

"Let's move to the kitchen," Princess said, leading the way. "The apartment is small, sorry."

"Don't worry sweetie, with a view like this I would gladly live in a shoebox." Vixen commented, looking out of the window. "Plus you live pretty high up."

"It was accidental. I just needed something close to my office."

"What did you end up doing?" Lace asked as she looked at the prints on the wall.

"I work for a fashion magazine. Usually I do model casting and a little bit of everything about organising photoshoots." Princess replied.

"That sounds great!" Lace exclaimed, grinning.

Princess clumsily opened a bottle of wine, but fortunately no damage resulted. "What about you?"

"I'm a shop assistant in a lingerie shop." Lace replied.

"Don't diminish yourself like that." Vixen said, looking away from the window. "She works at the La Perla boutique in Gangnam, plus she has her own studio where she creates customised orders." The woman patted her friend on the shoulder. "She's amazing."

Princess lit up. "So you managed to make part of your dream come true!"

"A small part. I'm still far from having my own shop." Lace exhaled.

"But she's getting there." Vixen added with a positive note.

"I ordered in a little bit of everything." Princess said, taking the food out of the oven. "I didn't trust my cooking skills knowing this one." She pointed at Vixen. "I've heard you're almost a chef."

"I just took lessons." She shrugged. "I just really like everything that feels like home."

Sniffing at the air, Vixen sparked up, getting cozy at the smell of bulgogi. "This smells very nice."

"A little bird told me it's your favourite." Princess winked.

"Do I know that little bird?"

"He knows you very well." Princess said, admiring how the polished, elegant woman-girl turned completely smitten.

"I'll make sure to thank him."

Lace snickered. "Do you need help?" She offered, while Princess laid out a bunch of smaller plates and bowls with side dishes. "I got some dumplings, pancakes and our baby's favourite: braised potatoes."

Vixen clapped enthusiastically.

Dinner proceeded calmly, all the partakers digging in quietly, chitchatting between one serving and another, catching up on the various mishaps that had happened during those years apart.

"So you studied in Europe, right?" Princess asked Vixen.

"I spent almost two years between France and England, yes." She replied politely, sipping her wine composedly as if she hadn't devoured her serving of potatoes like a very smug wolf.

"Cool. But you came back here." Princess continued.

"Yes, I missed home. And I missed jajangmyeon." Vixen grinned. "Food in general. I like my life here. Living in Europe to me felt like being continuously on the sidetrack of something. Catching up with the culture is seriously a challenge, especially when you're in the art world."

"Right, you're an interior designer." Princess reminded herself.

"Exactly."

"I've heard you met Namjoon because of that."

Vixen smiled. "Yeah, well… The usual. We met at a gallery, I had a meeting with the artist and he accidentally participated. The artist and the director of the gallery accompanied us through the exhibition and at the end he asked if I wanted to grab a coffee. At the beginning I thought it strange that he hadn't booked a private visit, but he said that because of a last minute plan he had begged the director to book him in anytime. Since I'm friends with the director and I have strict privacy agreements at the firm, the curator thought it was a good idea."

"Who would have thought, uh?" Lace chirped in, laying her chopsticks on her empty bowl.

"Y'all, soju?" Princess asked, now that they were all done with the food.

While Vixen nodded, Lace held back. "I think I'll take just a sip. It gets me bloated."

The table was clean, the small cups for soju laying on the table as Princess shook the bottle and poured it according to tradition.

"Cheers to your taken asses and my single one." Offered Lace, the three of them laughing and downing the liquid. Princess drank it without even blinking, Lace taking it in a small measured way while Vixen downed it and scrunched her nose, shutting her eyes tight and shaking her head as she processed the burn.

"You're still a doll." Princess commented.

"And you're still otherworldly cool." Vixen replied, smirking. "You were the most bad ass girl of the class. I had lots of respect for you, but I was so scared of approaching you."

"You were so tiny and shy." Princess gushed. "You were everyone's crush but you were so smart. And a bit strange. It felt wrong to even think of you like that."

Vixen shook her head, "It feels strange to bring up those memories. After university and being abroad it feels like another life."

"Because many things changed in the meantime." Lace argued. "I've known you since you started working, two years ago."

"I spent half of my first paycheck at your shop."

"You did. And I asked you for coffee because I liked your sense of fashion."

"I thought you wanted to date me." Vixen laughed.

"Well, when you're done snuggling your big bear, you know you can come to me." Lace winked.

"My bear is pretty big so it might take me a while to be done with that." Vixen joked. "Plus I'm pretty happy. I haven't been this happy since I was nineteen. I'm content. Satisfied. Taken care of. Loved. I'm thriving." She closed her eyes and shrugged, smiling.

"My bad." Lace patted her own shoulder in support. "What about you and Jimin?"

"Oh, we met during a photoshoot. I assisted in his shoot and when he was done he asked to see the pictures that would feature on the magazine. That's when he asked me out for dinner." Princess said, her eyes shining as she remembered the event.

Lace noticed the two women staring at her. "Well time for my story… Me and my dildo met at the store, he was cute, I was needy and I invited him to my bed. That's how we first met and we've been happy ever since." Lace told emotionally. The other two burst out laughing, Vixen holding her belly while Princess leaned on the table.

"Oh goodness." The smaller one said.

"I think it's time we face our main topic. Would you like to start?." Lace asked Princess.

"Okay. I'll be very direct." Princess warned.

"Don't worry, we're all grown ups here. You're safe, darling." Vixen stretched her arm out to caress her forearm. "And we're pretty open minded, trust me."

"Okay. Basically, Jimin would like me to get a bit more rough in the bedroom. Namely, we tried spankings the other week. He sort of power-bottomed? Like he gave me instructions on how to do it."

Lace nodded.

"I am worried about how to handle this. I want to do it, but I don't know how to do it right. I don't want to hurt him." Princess said with a frown. “And I’m a little worried I liked it so much.”

Lace’s lips formed a small conspiratorial smile. “At the beginning there’s always a little bit of fear. And a bit of… Shame.”

“Yes.” Princess confirmed. “But it’s not something that bothers me. Like, it’s there but it doesn’t bother me. I don’t think it will persist. When I think about what we did… Well, I’m almost proud.”

Lace smirked and nodded. “That’s good. What would you like to work on? Is it just impact play — you called it "spanking" — or is it also domination on a broader sense?"

"Well… Wait, I took notes." Princess looked around, walking towards her bedroom and coming back with a small notebook and the guide.

"It's the book!" Lace exclaimed.

"The book." Vixen wiggled her eyebrows knowingly.

"You, vixen." Lace smirked. "Namjoon is right calling you that."

"You have no idea." The other replied. "Now, let's see."

"I'll return you the book." Princess reassured her.

"You can keep it for another bit. You'll need it again with Jimin."

"We have our own copy, don't worry." Princess replied, with a quick smirk. "Well, I think I can dom pretty fine — as I read the book I realised I already have some of those behaviours. However there are some practices I might have to learn in person."

"Normally we teach how to dom through subbing: what you experienced the first time with Jimin was subliminally subbing." Lace took the reins and explained. "It is one of the most sophisticated forms of domming — being a power bottom — and the fact that he did that should suggest you that A — he's a very skilled sub, or B — he's generically a very smart person with good manipulative skills."

Princess listened to the explanation quite raptured. "Personally, I don't know how far he's gone with his exes but I would say he has taken the lead before and he's quite used to speak up and order me around a little, so his behaviour might come from that."

Lace nodded. "I would recommend that you talk to him and try to design a specific plan for the two of you. As I hinted before I have taken lessons on BDSM practices in a club here in the city. I have received almost two years of training and I have taken part as an assistant to a teacher for another two years, that's why I might sound academic and serious. You can stop me whenever you feel uncomfortable or when you need to ask a question." That's when Lace shifted. Her whole position changed: her back got straighter and her hands splayed on the table, somehow squaring her position.

"Okay." Princess confirmed.

"You know that during university I took that course on acrobatic yoga?" Lace asked.

Princess frowned. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well, it wasn't exactly acrobatic yoga." Lace shrugged and raised her eyebrows. "At the beginning I did do some acrobatic yoga lessons but then one of the students introduced me to this BDSM course and I left yoga for… yeah, you know." Lace laughed.

Vixen listened quietly, observing Princess' reaction.

"Would you consider taking lessons from an expert?" Lace asked.

Princess shrugged. "I think that the book was very good on general analysis. Personally, I've never considered meeting an expert mostly because I wouldn't know where to look for one. Plus, I've only had a week to think about this."

Vixen looked at Lace. "I'll be very blunt here, darling. I think that the best thing to do would be discussing the whole book thing with Jimin. Have pre-session negotiations. Discuss stuff. Find out what you want to explore and go there together."

Lace raised an eyebrow. "However, it is perfectly okay if you want to practice by yourself. Being a good dominant means that you can convey control and safety through your stance and behaviour. That requires practice."

Vixen nodded before adding, "It's okay if you want to take some steps by yourself before bringing him into the equation."

"Okay, so I reckon you have quite some knowledge on the theme. Maybe you could teach me something?" Princess asked Lace, a bit shy but fully determined.

Lace smirked. "That's why I came prepared. However, I must remind you I have been a co-trainer, and that doesn't mean I am a teacher, therefore I can only cover the basic stuff, which for now will suffice."

Vixen's eyes burned expectantly.

"Our girl here might help you see stuff through a submissive's eyes, right?" Lace questioned.

Vixen nodded and smiled, reassuring Princess by placing a hand on top of hers.

"Okay. Let's talk about general principles. BDSM is an acronym for Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism. But I guess you read this in the book." Lace presented.

Princess nodded.

"The golden rule is SSC: Safe, Sane, Consensual. Use protection and make sure that you're both tested and clean if you go without a condom or dental dams. Also, keep your toys clean. Do not start anything if your judgement is clouded — by alcohol, drugs or violent, instinctual emotions. Make sure that both you and your partner want the same things. Explain what is going to happen and negotiate before each session — at least for the first few times. This is also the right moment to talk about safe words."

"Me and Jimin covered these already." Princess noted.

“Then you’re already halfway there. The biggest part of training is making people always aware of all the steps that could possibly go wrong and make sure that you’re prepared for the worst case scenario.”

Vixen nodded. “As a sub, it is important to feel safe. An anxious sub is a sub who can hardly feel pleasure, and that invalidates the experience as a whole. We only do it for pleasure.”

Princess listened carefully and thought about it a little. “How… How does it feel…To be a sub? I mean, I’ve sort of subbed with Jimin but… Yeah.”

“Well, I’m leaning-sub. That means I rarely dom, and when I do I’m a power bottom — that thing that Jimin did when he gave you instructions on how to dominate him. Being a sub has a lot to do with feeling cherished and taken care of. Some of us are not comfortable with power and responsibilities. Some of us simply like to be told what to do and please. I like doing what Joon tells me to do and do it perfectly the way he wants it to be done, because I know he will praise me and reward me. I know that he loves me regardless of me doing what he wants, but it pleases me immensely to use my submission to show him how far my trust and love for him go. I feel safe when I'm in his hands. And I like punishment, it helps me deal with guilt. When I make a mistake, I always torture myself with guilt and self-hate, but punishment makes me feel like I've made a mistake and I've paid for it. The point is not the punishment, but rather the forgiveness and the sense of atonement afterwards." Vixen spoke with a composed attitude, however her eyes wandered around nervously, as if trying to avoid meeting the others’ gazes.

"In that case the dominant is supposed to be attentive in terms of how far the submissive pushes themself. A sub looking for forgiveness is a sub willing to go further than normal, which means that they might inadvertently reach their breaking point — which shall never happen." Lace highlighted.

"The golden rule is to always leave hungry. There is a fine line between satiety and nausea. The moment you overstep and reach nausea is the moment your sub might hurt themself." Vixen said, tight lipped.

Princess nodded. "I'm glad we can have this conversation. It's not something I can quite talk about with my friends since the whole situation with the boys is pretty delicate. I had to close some of those friendships to keep Jimin safe. I realised I couldn't trust some of those people and I'm glad I realised before it was too late."

Vixen’s leg started bouncing. “Same with Joon. I don’t have that many friends in the city, mostly because of the time abroad and the fact that all of the friends I had by now are married and/or with kids. I couldn’t trust many of them, but you —” she said, gesturing towards Lace, “and when I introduced you to Namjoon I told him you were one of the most discreet people in the world, because you value your privacy and other people’s privacy because of your, uhm, lessons.”

“It feels good to have someone to share this burden with. I’m pretty scared of the tour.” Vixen looked down. The poised young woman seemed to crumble, giving space to an insecure little creature. “We’ve been dating since last November, but our relationship hasn’t really begun until late February. To be honest I’m terrified.”

Both Lace and Princess reached out for her.

“I’m scared.”

“Have you told him?”

“Yes, he knows.” Vixen sparked up for a minute. “We talk a lot. He always asks me how I feel about things. Lately I’ve been spending all my time away from work with him. It’s been… maybe three days since I last went back to my apartment. And in the last month or so I’ve slept alone maybe three or four nights. I don’t know what I’ll do when he’s away.” Vixen’s eyes welled up with tears before she smiled classily and recomposed herself. “But that’s not relevant.”

“It is, baby.” Princess rubbed her shoulder. “You have my number. You can reach out to me anytime.”

“I’ll be there too, you know. I know I’m not your Big Bear, but I can cook and I’m an excellent vintage movie marathon partner.” Lace rubbed the other shoulder, catching the few tears that had fallen. This was a further confirmation that Namjoon was the right man for Vixen: he had reached out to Lace a few weeks after they had been introduced, asking her if it was cool if he asked her updates on Vixen during the tour, mostly because he knew she would put up her strong, charming face in front of him, but secretly she would be worrying over his absence. That brought them close; it felt good to create this safety net for Vixen and it felt even better to know her in the hands of a man worthy of her, attentive despite his busy schedule and strong work ethic.

“Thank you, girls. That’s really sweet of you.”

“You’re the one who made this possible,” said Princess, gesturing to the three of them sitting at the table together. “I owe you. And I reckon this is a good time to make amends for not making friends with you in high school.” Princess laughed. “We’ll all need each other. We could have a group chat with Jin’s girlfriend too. Plus Jimin mentioned Yoongi is seeing someone.”

“Yes, Namjoon mentioned too. I’ve heard she’s a lawyer. He’s got this insanely huge crush on her.” Vixen giggled. “I haven’t met her yet but I’ve heard they were supposed to go out tonight.”

“Maybe we’ll see her at the next gathering.” Princess wondered. “I must admit I’m curious.”

“I am too.”

Lace felt a bit out of the conversation. “Me and Taehyung have been texting.”

Vixen blinked and turned to her. “What?” She had this face that read perfect confusion. “How long? And you’ve never told me? I mean, I gave him your number but I didn’t—”

“It’s because I haven’t been really taking him into consideration until recently.” Lace replied. “Normally I would reply to him with small texts, just to avoid sounding rude.”

“You mean to tell me you have Taehyung wrapped around your little finger — Kim Heartthrob Taehyung — and you weren’t even interested? Have you been doing drugs too?” Vixen looked outraged. “Fucking insane.” She shook her head.

“You know me. I value my privacy. Do you know how fucking un-private it is to potentially date that man? What if they find out about my extracurriculars?” Lace pointed out.

Vixen exhaled and formed a tight-lipped smile.

“Don’t give me the disappointed mom look.” Lace replied. “Plus I’m the same age as you, you have no right to turn judgemental.”

“Of course.” Vixen nodded. “Your safety first, love.”

“It’s just that I want to, but I can barely imagine how fucked up that could be.”

Princess breathed out. “Jimin and I have been extremely private about us and me being so close to the press means I am risking so much.” Princess opened her arms wide. “But it would take a catastrophe to take him away from me.”

“Give him a chance. Tell him about everything outright and let him choose. He’ll take his chance. Don’t choose for him.” Vixen pointed out. “That’s how I did with Joon. We talked and clearly said ‘this is what I need and what I can give, can you comply? Are you okay with it?’ It’s a bit of a bet, but I think the prospect of gain outweighs the actual risk of it.”

Lace nodded. “And then there’s the tour.”

Vixen and Princess nodded. Vixen tried to keep her insecurity and jealousy at bait. All those girls drooling over him, all those female staff members travelling with him. She propped her elbows on the table and pressed her forehead against her palms, her lovely hair falling forward.

Princess, sitting beside her, rubbed her back. “What if you just give him one date. Tell him your situation both about your, uhm— hobby and your emotional state. I’m sure he will understand. His emotional intelligence is impressive.” Princess stated, nodding, her hand still rubbing Vixen’s spine.

“He’s the kind of man I would gladly be a sucker for.” Lace explained. “I knew I was a dom since I was eighteen, but Jesus, I know I would sub for him.” Vixen seemed to awaken at that comment. “I’ve seen his stages. He is insane.” Lace bit her lip. “But I need time to trust him. And it would feel useless to get cosy with him only to have him leave for the tour.”

“Just tell him.” Vixen encouraged her. “He will surely work with you on a compromise.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow. Are you okay?” Lace checked in on Vixen.

“Yup. Just a sudden jealousy rush.”

Lace frowned. “He would never. Don’t worry about that.” Lace cocked her head to the side. “He worships the ground you step on.”

“Girls throw thems—”

“He throws himself at you.” Lace remarked. “Plus he loves you. You love him. That’s all that matters. He gave you the passcode to his house, basically made you move in, what else do you need? I bet he’d gladly handcuff himself to you if you asked kindly enough.” Lace joked.

“Scratch that ‘kindly enough’. He’d cuff himself to you without you even asking.” Princess remarked.

“Can we move back to the BDSM introductory lessons?” Vixen asked, shaking her head, but with a tiny smile on her face.

Lace saw that was a good sign. Princess smiled beside her. “Okay, I’ll go with my request. I know I told you I wanted to get to know more of impact play and if we could focus on that...”

“Yes, I get where you’re headed. Let’s get it. But we’ll need a clean table for this.” Lace explained.

“Let’s do this.” Princess stood up from the table, beginning to clean up everything. It took the girls only a couple minutes to get rid of dirty dishes, empty boxes, the glasses and the soju. Even the fruit basket the guests had bought was moved on the kitchen counter.

“Do you have any sanitizer, perhaps?” Lace asked.

“Isn’t it better if we move to the sofa?” Suggested Vixen. “Use the coffee table?”

Princess shrugged. “Same to me.”

Lace nodded convincedly. “Let’s prep the coffee table. Sorry for the main table.”

Princess shrugged. “Needed to clean it anyways.”

A few minutes later the girls were all sitting around the coffee table, Lace’s bag placed at her side while Vixen occupied her other side, Princess sitting in front of them.

“Let’s do an impact play in depth analysis. What you need is one — a dom, two — a sub, three — optional, — supplies.” Lace listed. “Let’s go a bit at a time. First, the dom. A dom must be sober, lucid. No alcohol, drugs, and most importantly, no impulsive, instinctual emotions. If you’re furious, don’t go there. Violent emotions can cloud your judgement. Don’t let those lead you. Of course you might be angry or aroused, but that must not take the lead. If your anger makes you want to give them fifty spanks, but normally your sub can take twenty, you can negotiate maybe twenty-five. Be judicious, never hungry.”

“Good.” Said Princess, focusing on every single one of Lace’s words.

“Once you’re sure you’re in a coherent, calm mindset, you should negotiate with your sub. Remember: safe, sane, consensual. Safe, in this case, involves that your supplies are clean and cannot hurt your sub, both in terms of cleanliness and state of use. Check for loose threads, scratches on leather that could possibly host bacteria or dirt, splinters in case of wooden devices, porous surfaces. We’ll talk about this more accurately in the supplies section. Sane means to check your mindset and your sub’s mindset. Same rules as before: no alcohol, drugs, violent emotions.”

Vixen made eye contact with Lace, silently requesting permission to speak. “Small note on that, may I?”

Lace nodded.

“Your sub might come to you while being emotionally unstable. They might need you for comfort or atonement. Make sure to heal that emotionally before dealing with it sexually. It means to discuss what caused the upset state of mind in order to identify the real entity of the problem, correct the perception of it and negotiate the atonement.”

“Excellent point.” Replied Lace.

Vixen smiled cutely.

“Can I have an example?” Asked Princess with a frown.

“Of course. Let’s say I fucked up at work, I booked the wrong artwork and the artwork they wanted is no longer available. I manage to find an alternative but I somehow feel like I let down my client. I go home and I am scolding myself because I didn’t deliver what was asked of me. My dom may spot my disappointment or may recognise self-punishment. Also, I might explicitly tell my dom I am not feeling well due to a sense of guilt. This leads to my dom asking me why I am upset or why I am punishing myself. I — along other perfectionists like Jimin — tend to overestimate my mistakes, making them a bigger deal than what they actually are. My dom corrects my perspective through objective analysis, underlines my successful abilities in dealing with the issue and suggests potential improvements on those things I didn’t manage to solve. Perfectionists have a strict inner judge that scolds them and punishes them. Therefore their psych is divided into victim and punisher. This fracture obviously causes discomfort. The dom’s goal is to heal this fracture, especially since the perfectionist’s “punisher” side — so to say — is very strict and usually overestimates the damage and subsequently overestimates the punishment. After correcting the perception of the mistake, the dom gives an appropriate price for atonement.”

“So the goal is to stop the guilt trip mechanism?” Princess asked.

“Yes.” Vixen confirmed. “But this is just one kind of spanking. There are other cases. It can be educational or simply sexual. Educational is when the dom corrects the sub’s behaviour because they violated a rule or an order. In that case it’s mostly dom-initiated—”

“Unless the sub willingly misbehaved to earn a punishment.” Lace added.

“That sounds Jimin.” Princess commented, rubbing her forehead.

Vixen smiled widely.

“That’s not funny, you brat!” Lace scolded her.

“When you find your sub willingly misbehaving, you should talk to them very clearly. Usually they do it to attract attention. Ignoring them might hurt them or bring them to further misbehaviour, which can turn dangerous. I normally recommend conversation.” Lace explained. “Pay attention to them and ask why they broke the rule, what they were trying to get out of it. You can give them the punishment they were asking for — for example if your sub disobeyed because it earns them spanks and they like spanks, you can either give them spanks or punish them with something that they really don’t like, for example edging.”

Princess nodded. “That’s interesting, thank you.”

“Any remark, Vixen?”

She shrugged. “No, I don’t think so.”

“What about sexual spanks?” Princess questioned.

“Those can be incorporated into foreplay. Some people are simply aroused by pain.” Vixen shrugged. “It puts the sub into a vulnerable position, and it underlines a power imbalance. It makes the sub feel smaller, powerless — or almost so — and sometimes humiliated.” Vixen explained.

“Exactly. I would add that it stimulates the circulation of blood to the pelvis region, which means that skin is more sensitive, arousal increases and the whole perception intensifies. It builds trust and sometimes, according to personal history of each sub, it can send them back to childhood memories, mimicking the power imbalance between child and adult who disciplined them. It has strong disciplinary and educational value, back to the punishment scene.”

“Oh, about punishment!” Vixen exclaimed. “We forgot the most important part of it all. But it refers to all sorts of spanking, to be true. Negotiation. Once you have identified the fault, tell your sub how many hits there will be, how you will deliver them and with which instrument, which position they will have to assume. Repeat safewords. Make sure that they agree fully to every detail of the spanking. If they do not agree to some parts, ask to find a compromise, a middle ground between your and their needs. Once you have the green light, you can talk your sub through the whole experience as the scene actually develops. Once you are done with the scene, say a code phrase that means that the scene has finished.”

“Okay, me and Jimin did this stuff our first time trying this.” Princess confirmed.

“Wonderful. Was it a positive experience? Did you have any uncertainties, questions?”

“It was a very positive experience, both in mine and his opinion. We talked it out the morning after, since I preferred to have some time to elaborate my personal feelings about the scene”

“That’s okay. As a dom you can experience mixed feelings, especially after a first scene, with activities that are usually misjudged by society”. Lace explained, gently patting Princess’ hand on top of the table.

“I think that Jimin’s positive reaction and guidance helped me feeling positive about the whole scene. He was truly supportive through all of it.” Princess smiled softly.

“That’s a good partner. Both for life and for play”. Lace smiled herself, glad that Princess’ first experience went well.

“There were very deep emotions of care and support and love during the whole scene. A kind of affection and vulnerability I had never experienced with anyone else. I hope I can go there again with him, but next time I want to be more reliable and secure and experienced. I thought that a general introduction, especially about supplies, could help me, since Jimin was interested in that.”

“Okay, let’s just finish the general intro. We were saying safe, sane and consensual. Safe means toys, safewords and aftercare supplies. Sane means both parties know what they’re doing, the dom is aware of the sub’s mental space. Consensual means negotiation about number of blows, technique, position and eventually toys. Make sure that your sub always knows about the motive of the spanking. The natural response, especially to pain, is ‘why’. Make sure they know. Eventually, remind them. Once more remind them of safewords and the final sentence.”

“Do not ever stop unless they safeword.” Vixen said. “If they repeatedly tell you to stop, remind them they have their safewords if they want to. As a sub I’ve said both ‘stop’ and ‘why’ at least a hundred time during a spanking. ‘Stop’ and similar are pretty recurrent. Just say ‘You know your safeword, love’. If they really need them, they will use them, trust me. Just remind them all the time. You could maybe need to slow down, make sure that they aren’t panicking and they do actually remember their words.”

“Yes, that’s right.” Lace confirmed before turning to Vixen. “Have you been studying?” She joked.

“I’ve been reading lately.” Vixen confirmed, with a very happy smile on her face.

Lace mirrored her expression. She knew Vixen had been pushed into quitting BDSM activities by her ex boyfriend. Knowing that she was finally back to something she liked, something she was comfortable with made her happy. “I’m glad you’re back on track, sweetie.”

“Thank you.” Vixen closed the small exchange with Lace.

“Once a scene is closed, your sub might have different responses. They might ask to be left alone. In that case, make sure that healing supplies are ready for their self care. Remind them to check for abrasions. If the skin is damaged on a surface level — that means it is not only bruised, but also broken — you will need disinfectant and probably band aids.” Lace explained.

“But that happens rarely, right?” Vixen asked.

“With average spanking, that is quite rare. Normally you need specific instruments specifically meant to cause abrasions.”

“Like canes and spiked toys?”

“Yes, but not only those. I’ve seen pretty heavy damage caused by an apparently regular flogger.” Lace commented, shuddering at the memory.

Vixen blinked, a bit shocked. “Okay, back to aftercare.”

“Yeah,” said Princess, exhaling and looking away.

“So, unless your sub wants you to leave, you stay around. Provide for them. Rub lotion first. Some subs store specific lotion for this kind of stuff. To ease the burn, the sting, or lessen the bruises.”

Vixen interrupted. “I must say, most of us like the bruises and the reminder-sting, so they don’t really do much about it. Still, it depends on how far you’ve gone and how the sub feels. Usually, my favourites are a cold cloth, lotion and if I went particularly far maybe a painkiller. Normally herbal lotion and muscle relaxant are an excellent solution. They’re softer and safer, especially since you never know how a sub might react to medicines. As usual, make sure that whatever you use on them is safe. Let them prepare their usual medication. Make sure you have plenty of time to ascertain that they are emotionally stable. Do not leave them alone unless they request so, and tendentially it is good etiquette to stay in proximity, in case they change their mind.”

“Thank you so much for all the head ups.” Princess said, true gratitude shining all over her face. “I feel more comfortable knowing that we followed those lines during the first time too. It’s not something absurd. Youjust really need to use your common sense.”

Vixen nodded. “Being smart sure helps, but it’s not everything. You can only truly learn it by making it a routine.”

“You mean practice?” Princess questioned.

Lace nodded. “Yes. Once you actually start practicing, you’ll immediately find out your forte and potential weaknesses. Be comfortable with those: you can ask us or look it up on the guide, or on BDSM blogs. I can send you reliable sources, if need be. I would say you can reach out to my dungeon, it is a safe and discreet environment, but I fully understand your position, and I get that you might prefer to have a private approach to this. You can eventually book personal appointments with an expert. Those normally include non-disclosure agreements and Jimin could be protected from the public eye, as far as it can go.” Lace explained. “We have had many, many clients who have requested so. It would be perfectly normal.”

Princess thought about it and nodded. “I’ll discuss it with Jimin.”

“Perfect. As you can see the key to this is communication.”

“Indeed.” Confirmed Princess.

“Now, let’s get down to the actual business.” Lace opened the bag but left all the contents inside. “Impact play can happen on different parts of the body. Vixen?” Lace called.

Vixen stood up gingerly.

“Tie your hair, doll.” Lace reminded her.

The woman fished a ribbon from her pocket and did a soft ponytail.

“Good. I’ll show you.” Lace fished out a long, silky bag from her weekender; untying the ribbon, she pushed her hand in and extracted a long stick. A cane, Princess corrected herself.

Lace didn’t pay much attention. Its purpose was that of a pointing stick at that moment. “Number one, the derrière.” Vixen turned and Lace let the wooden instrument hover over the girl’s ass. “You know what to do to hit here?”

“Find the tailbone and place your non-dominant hand over it to protect it. Alternate sides, rub between a spank and another. Hit the lower region, far from the nerves up high. Where the flesh swells, that’s where I can hit. Also the back of the thighs.”

“Excellent. That’s all.” Lace congratulated. “Other spots are the back of the legs, more precisely the back of the knees and the calves. However, knees are delicate, so you can only deliver delicate blows with a restricted selection of toys. I would not recommend it. The back of the calves also offer a limited selection of toys, but it is slightly safer to go there. Still, the surface is limited and the knees and ankles are close. The risk of missing your target is high. Since you’re a beginner I would not go there.”

Princess nodded. “What kind of toys can I use?”

“We’ll cover that later. For now let’s just run through anatomy.” Lace answered calmly. “Are you good, Vixen?”

“Yup.” The other replied.

“Perfect. Turn to your side profile.” Lace asked and Vixen quickly provided.

Lace pressed the cane in a line connecting the peaks of each of Vixen’s glutes. “From here—” she moved all the way down to her mid thighs “— to here it’s good. The peak to the midthigh.”

“Great. Got it.” Princess replied. “There are other places? Like…?”

“Would you like to talk?” Lace asked Vixen. “You're the expert.”

“May I?” She asked.

“Of course, sweetie. You’re the expert in this.”

Princess raised an eyebrow at the comment, but still she stayed focused. To say she was intrigued was a big understatement.

Vixen’s sweet voice began speaking. “Other than the backside, as we’ve just mentioned, there are other spots that can be involved in impact play. While the back of the thighs and the butt can stand harsher beatings with almost all toys intended for impact play, other areas are more sensitive, more delicate or consist in a smaller expanse of skin, therefore they shall be treated differently. Both the palms and the back of the hands, just like the soles of the feet can be involved, especially when matched with instruments with a smaller surface of beating, like a slapper, a riding crop and a cane — for example. They shall be treated lightly, since they have lots of nerve endings, bones and tendons exposed.”

“What’s a leather strap?” Princess asked.

Lace lifted a finger as a sign to wait, before digging her other hand in her bag and extracting a small device, of maybe twentyish centimetres of length and five or six of width; she placed it on the table to let Princess observe it. “Handle and slappers.” She pointed. “Very noisy, actually pretty innocuous. The leather bits slap against each other and create a single impact that sounds like a double.”

“It sounds scary, though.” Vixen noted. It always made her blood curl in her veins, the heavy smack turning into a torturous feel as the hit didn’t match the noise. Fear worked, but the sensation didn’t. It was not something she liked, usually.

Lace nodded. “I haven’t used it much. Usually people like the cane on the back of the hands. Because of old school punishments.” Lace explained.

“Right. Thanks.” Princess nodded.

Vixen waited for a sign before moving on. Once she had both women’s attention, she proceeded. ”Thighs are generally all good, if they’re fleshy and plump enough. Make sure that you don’t go too hard when hitting close to private parts. While a vulva can handle a fair bit, the penis is generally more delicate in the structure. Thighs can handle all toys, just like the ass. Paddles, slappers, straps, riding crops, whips and canes. For private parts I recommend the riding crop.” Vixen smiled politely.

Princess interrupted. “The strap is that kind of… like?” She gestured a long and thin rectangle with her hands, looking for words.

“It looks like a belt bent in two, with a handle. Maybe I have it…” She rummaged in her bag. “No. Sorry. I think I left it at home.”

Princess waved her hands. “Don’t worry, that’s okay, I think I visualised it pretty well.” She smiled. “There’s more?” Princess said, marvelled as Vixen began talking again.

“Well, yes. Oh, first a small warning — before I forget. You must absolutely stay away from the belly and the stomach. Same for the lower back.” Vixen showed the various spots on her body with precise gestures of her hands. “Too many vulnerable organs left unprotected there.” She took a small pause and then moved on.

“Some people can handle hits on their shoulders and upper back, where the internal organs are protected by the ribcage and other bone structures; however I would talk with a professional about that kind of scene since you need to flawlessly master advanced equipment — people tendentially use whips and similar, or the strap.” Vixen stopped for a second, looking at Lace as if asking whether she had anything more to ask. Lace shook her head, inviting the other woman to proceed.

“Now, about delicate parts: some people like being slapped in the face, but then again, that must be clearly stated in the negotiations. I’d say you should only use hands, but maybe I’m projecting.”

“In four years, I’ve only used and seen other use hands. Also, riding crops, but usually that’s just to direct head movements or to pat the face, rather than slapping it.”

Vixen nodded. “Great. About interesting stuff, nipples can be gently stimulated with small, very delicate pats. Riding crops are excellent for this use. Also slappers. Maybe canes in some cases.” — Lace did a so-and-so motion with her head. Vixen continued, — “Some people can go very hard on nipples and technically — just like with the butt — women who have bigger breasts can stand more intense stimulation”.

“Oh, that yes. You can use, as usual, riding crops, but also paddles, straps and whips — if you’re experienced.” Lace added.

Princess nodded with an interested expression. She could mention that to Jimin. Imagining him with a riding crop, standing at the side of the bed, rubbing the leather bit against her nipples before whipping them harshly had her losing focus for a second, taking in a big breath and biting her lip.

Vixen grinned. She could practically read the other woman’s thoughts. “For women with smaller breasts and men, I would say to stay on the more gentle side for the first few sessions and eventually — once you know each other and once you know your sub’s pain threshold — you can get more heavy-handed, so to say. As I said before female private parts can handle pretty harsh whippings, especially since arousal tends to make the labia plumper and therefore protect the skin better. Still, you should start slow and work your way up. Male crotch area is a lot more delicate, however the shaft can take a medium-intense whipping. I recommend riding crops and small leather straps.”

Lace raised her eyebrows at Vixen with a proud grin. “Nothing to add. This should be all.”

“Wow.” Princess was a bit excited. If Jimin had looked that good with a few spanks, she could only imagine what he would do once she got more experienced and learned what actually drove him crazy.

“That’s a lot of stuff, I know.” Lace reassured her.

“I’m actually excited. Like, it sounds very interesting. There’s a lot of trust and knowing each other. I really like that. I think it brings the partners very close.”

Vixen nodded. “It does.”

Princess bit her lip. “I don’t want to pry but… Do you do all of that?” She looked at Vixen with a slight blush.

The woman giggled. “Not anymore, no.” She took a meditative pause, like she was reminiscing something. It felt strange that a girl so young could feel so old every now and then. That dark cloud that obscured Vixen’s doll-like traits disappeared, leaving only a fond grin in tow. “Now I do the bits I like best.” She grinned.

Lace looked at her with a bit of worry before smiling again.

“Before we actually start with tools I need to make sure that you know all you need about aftercare and drops.” Lace said seriously.

“Yes, please.” Princess said. “May I recap what we said about aftercare?”

“Yes, sure.” Lace invited her.

“Prepare the stuff before. Check for abrasions: if there are, then disinfectant and band aids. Next cold cloth, lotion and eventually painskiller. Use medicines that my sub takes regularly. Make sure that they’re okay emotionally. If they want me to leave, I do, but I stay close.”

“Amazing. Quick learner.” Lace cheered.

“Those were also in the book.” Princess commented, diminishing her feat. “Plus I did it already. Sort of.”

“I’ve seen people take weeks to put all of that together. You did a good job, stop doubting yourself.” Lace corrected her. God, these two insecure creatures would be the death of her.

“Aftercare is not only physical, but mostly emotional. If your sub wants you close, cuddle them. Jimin looks like the type to want cuddles and reassurance afterwards. Make sure you give plenty. Would you like to explain the drop Vixen?”

“Yes, of course.” Vixen intervened before addressing Princess. “I always like to talk about this subject because it can affect anyone, without any need to get involved in BDSM. ًWhen experiencing an orgasm, our bodies produce an incredible quantity of hormones that make us literally ecstatic. What happens sometimes, especially after long or intense scenes is that our bodies get high on these hormones, experiencing a sense of withdrawal once the rush is over. Such withdrawal, so to say, can cause pretty intense sadness that can lead to numbness, indifference, or even hate and depressive or aggressive behaviours. A good way to slow down this sadness is providing the body with other hormones that usually calm us and relax us. Cuddles and sugars usually are a good way to help the body produce oxytocin — commonly named ‘the hormone of happiness’. It’s the same hormone that spikes when mothers are breastfeeding their babies.” Vixen smiled fondly.

“This is incredible.” Princess said, completely amused. “So cuddles heal both the sub and the dom, I assume.”

“I think so, yes. Usually I’m the cuddler while Joon is the cuddlee during aftercare. Both subs and doms can experience the drop since both suffer the shift in hormones. It’s really about mutual care. Usually though, there are people who suffer more.” Vixen commented.

Lace spoke shyly. “Once I went so hard on a sub that I felt awful with myself after the scene was done.” Lace said. The silence felt heavy, like in some part of her mind Lace was still seeing that scene. “Usually the dom is expected to give the sub water, sweets and a cozy blanket — water for the body fluids, sweets for rebalancing the sugars after an intense effort and the blanket for emotional safety. I remember that one time the sub used the aftercare kit on me. It took me almost an hour to get back on a neutral state of mind.” It was Lace’s turn to be comforted. As Vixen rubbed her friend’s back, Princess spoke.

“So I might experience guilt and sadness afterwards and that’s normal?”

As Lace was still thinking, Vixen spoke up. “It happens, though usually, if your partner reassures you and supports you properly, you should be able to deal with it together with quite some ease. I myself have shouted slurs at my dom in the past during punishment, but that is because pain or anger make you do that. I may have sent him into a drop once, and since that time I always make sure that I praise and cuddle my dom once the scene is over. It’s important that you remind yourself that what is said during an intense scene is due to the sub’s sensations in that moment, therefore you shouldn’t give it much importance. Still, once you have your post-session chat you have every right to say ‘that hurt me, please don’t do that again’. It’s etiquette.” Vixen said with a serious note.

Princess nodded. “So cuddles, water, sweets and a good comfort blanket.”

“Normally, yes.” Vixen replied. “Sometimes shower or bath together, wash your partner clean or have them wash you. For some people physical cleanliness is also spiritual cleanliness. It eases the mind from whatever ‘dirty thing’ you’ve done during the scene. The rest is really what you would normally do during self-care, but with your sub. Facemask? Junk food? Lotion? Massage? Tea? Whatever you like as long as you do it with affection.”

Princess nodded. “This is really helpful. I just need to do anything that Jimin likes, and do it with him.”

“Yes, if he wants you close — which I assume he does, knowing the two of you.” Vixen smiled.

Lace added her own contribution. “If possible, remember to schedule a post-session chat. Whenever it feels comfortable. Normally you wait until all parties have fully recovered before saying ‘let’s talk about it together’, but some subs are already okay talking about it during aftercare. Just make sure that you know how your sub felt about the stuff that you did together, and that you tell them how you felt yourself. This is not one-sided. Power imbalance is limited to the scene: once you’re done, You’re equal again — that’s why a final sentence is necessary. It breaks the power imbalance and repristinates equality. All parties are equally entitled to support and communication.” Lace said, making sure that Princess grasped the concept. That’s where most couples went wrong: communicating.

“Thank you girls.” Princess said gently. “Thank you for the insights, and for your personal experiences.”

“You’re welcome.” Lace said heartily before grinning. “Now, let’s discuss supplies.”

Vixen cheered with a small ‘yes’ at which Lace replied murmuring ‘painslut’, chuckling playfully.

“Let’s start with these.” Lace showed her hands, letting the sleeves of her shirt fall a little, exposing her wrists. “These are your main instruments.” She showed the palms, then the backs. “You can use them everywhere. You can use your whole palm, flat, for a sting and cupped for a thud.”

“What’s that?” Princess asked.

“Vixen.” Lace called.

“A sting is when it prickles and bites, a thud is when it reverberates and goes deeper. You go with a quick, fleeting swat when you go for a sting—the palm must be flat and there must be a bit of wrist game. To deliver a thud, you should let your hand cup slightly and hit hard, keeping your hand pressed where you hit. It’s a matter of angle and speed.” Vixen replied readily, as if she were being asked what is two and two.

Princess grinned and nodded. “I see. Jimin mentioned something about it, but I don’t remember clearly. Which one hurts the most?” Princess asked Vixen.

“Well, it depends. It’s a different kind of pain and it depends on one’s sensitivity. Personally I prefer thuds, because usually it’s the muscle taking most of the impact, in case of traditional, over-the-knee butt spankings. Stings make my eyes water a little, because it hits a smaller area of skin with more pressure. But it really depends on what your sub feels.”

“It is all in the way it is delivered.” Lace stated.

Vixen bit her lip, nodding, and moved on.

“Hands can be also used to slap the face, as we said,— that should be especially clarified during negotiation — but also nipples and genitalia. Also, thighs, calves, hands and feet — though in some cases they might be too mild. Always remember that it is good manners to try the toys on yourself first, especially if it’s a toy you’ve never used before. Get familiar with its weight and density and grip, so you know how it affects you before affecting your sub. Make sure to start slow and eventually intensify, always asking your sub if they’re okay in the first place. Be careful with your sub’s pain threshold: since you don’t have direct perception of how much you’re hurting them, try to increase force and pattern a bit at a time.” Lace explained.

Princess felt sure about the directions. Common sense and the guide told her the same things, which reassured her about the fact that she would remember all the complicated passages. Sure, it would be easier to have an actual practical exercise.

But for now she would make do.

“You ready for the next?”

“Yes.” Vixen replied.

Lace tutted. “The question was not meant for you, menace.” She said, reprimanding a grinning Vixen.

Princess cackled. “Sure.”

Lace picked up another object from her bag. “Here we have a paddle. It can have different shapes and textures. Some contain small indentations, or even spikes. The main features are the handle.” She showed the part. “And a flat surface, used to hit the sub. In terms of tenacity and resistance, mine has a hardwood interior covered in a leather exterior. Oh, and it’s branded.” She showed a red leather heart sewn onto the black leather cover. “It leaves a mark.” Lace smiled cutely. “Best used on wide, fleshy surfaces. Questions?”

Princess shook her head. “Oh, yeah. How much is it?”

Lace twisted the object in her hands. “A good one is around thirty five thousand won or so. If you want something that lasts and that is actually covered in true leather, the price might be higher. I could recommend a shop that sells excellent gear.”

“Thank you. Also, you said it comes in different shapes.”

“Yes. A dom in my dungeon has a pretty extravagant one in a cherry shape.”

“With a double sting?” Vixen asks, eyes almost glittering.

“Yup.”

“Amazing. I had spotted it once but I never bought it. Maybe I’ll have it commissioned.” She mused.

“Joon would?” Lace asked, eyebrows raised.

Vixen shrugged. “I just need to be good — or bad — enough.”

“See, darling, this is a brat.” Lace addressed Princess, pointing at the other girl in the room. “Their anatomy is five percent manners, five percent playfulness and ninety percent utterly smart evil.”

Vixen smiled before cocking her head to the side prettily. “Yes, that’s me.”

Princess bit her lip and smiled. Vixen was a lot more interesting than she thought. All those cute manners and polished looks could not entirely shade the dark magnetism of her eyes. She would pay good money to see what ruckus she could cause with Namjoon in the bedroom. And it would be even more interesting to see what poised, calm Lace could do to teach her how to behave.

Lace put her paddle down before fishing something else from inside her bag. “For tonight let’s cover only the basics. I’ll keep more lowkey devices for another time. Or maybe I could show you what I have and you ask me about what looks interesting to you.”

Princess nodded. “That would be lovely. Plus I’m sure you’ll have to get back to Joon since he’ll want to see you before they leave tomorrow.” Princess asked Vixen.

“I don’t know if I’ll see him— oh, that one looks lovely!” She said, looking at a riding crop from Lace’s collection and distracting herself with it. “Yeah, I told him he should stay at the dorms and rest. His week has been hectic with all the briefings for the press conferences and tv shows.” Vixen explained as she picked up the crop, studying the red, heart-shaped bit.

“Yeah, I figure. Jimin and I are meeting for an early breakfast tomorrow, before they leave.” Princess explained.

Vixen’s fleeting gaze moved away. She seemed visibly unsettled. Still, her mood changed once more as she collected Lace’s paddle from the coffee table, the other woman not even noticing one of her devices had attracted Vixen’s attention.

Vixen rolled it in her palm a couple times, shifting it to feel the weight distribution and the texture.

Princess looked at how she studied the object, carefully taking in every detail. Vixen’s perfectionism showed in that exact moment, in the undisturbed, slow way she felt every ridge and stitch with her fingers. If she could think of an adjective it was ‘thorough’, in the first place. ‘Sensual’ in the second.

Raising an eyebrow and biting her lip, Vixen opened her free hand, lifted the paddle and delivered a heavy thwack.

A shiver ran down Princess’s spine. She could almost feel how Jimin would moan after a smack like that.

Lace turned around, looking at Vixen. “Like it?”

Vixen simply nodded with a wicked smile. “Do you know what wood it is?”

“Not sure, possibly birch or cherry tree. Soft wood but very elastic.” Lace sat upright as she was done taking out all of her collection.

“And the leather is splinter-proof.” Vixen commented.

Lace hummed in confirmation. “See anything interesting, Princess?”

Princess creased her brow. “What about the riding crop?”

Vixen smiled mischievously as Lace wrapped her palm around the handle, lifting the object. “Here. This is a personal riding crop. It has been commissioned specifically for me. It’s my favourite and somehow my brand.” She smiled fondly as she studied it. “However, I would say one should never grow fond of a vulnerable thing such as a riding crop. They break fairly easily. Anyway — the general traits of a riding crop are the shaft, the handle and the tip. In terms of length, I normally recommend minimum sixty centimeters, to increase flexibility and impact strength. The shaft should be elastic, but not too much or it loses impact strength and a submissive usually doesn’t want the whoosh without the smash.”

Vixen giggled at her side.

“What is that?” Princess asked, frowning.

Opening her palm, Lace calculated the distance and whipped the leather bit hard against the soft flesh at the base of the thumb. Princess clearly recognised the sound of air whistling before she hit her skin with a thin clap. “That’s what I meant.”

Princess nodded with eager eyes, keeping an amused silence.

“Fiberglass is a good material for beginners. If you’re buying one in person — which I recommend for the first time — make sure that it can make a forty-five degree angle when you bend the tip towards the handle. A forty to fifty degrees with a fair amount of resistance means it’s flexible enough, just make sure that it’s not too close to the breaking point. The handle is normally made of leather or very good rubber to improve the grip. Some cheap riding crops — also, the ones not intended for BDSM purposes — come with a strap to slip your wrist into. I recommend you don’t use the strap or that you remove it completely because first, you shouldn’t need it and second, you should avoid everything that keeps you from interrupting the scene and comforting your sub as quickly as possible. Sometimes even a couple seconds can be very important when it comes to subdrop. Remember this at all time, in all scenes. Remove everything that could keep you from helping your sub.”

“Okay. But if my riding crop falls?”

Lace smiled darkly. “Trust me dear, you’ll hold on to that as if it were the sceptre of England.” Princess laughed. “And if it falls, it’s usually a sign of poor mastering of your tools. Train yourself. You can use a dense pillow to learn the variety of strokes that a crop can deliver. It can be used for sensation play, simply rubbing your sub’s skin, caressing it, spending some time to arouse them before the whipping starts—”

Vixen purred at that.

Princess thought of Jimin biting his plump lips, eyelids fluttering at the gentle touch of the leather tickling his body.

“Are you with me?” Lace called for Princess’ attention, an amused grin on her face. Lace almost wanted to congratulate her for staying focused for so long.

“Yeah, just — thinking.”

Lace exhaled and wore a grin on her face. “I get that. Let me just finish this and we can take a pause. The tip is the important part of the crop. Mine has a fancy, heart-shaped tip, however, the best standard ones have triangular or rectangular tips that are a couple fingers wide on the very tip and restrict around the head of the stick.”

“Sounds nice.” Princess said.

“It is.” Vixen mused. “As Lace said, riding crops aren’t excessively difficult to use, if one has the patience to learn the basics and take some time to experiment. They can offer plenty of freedom to the dom in terms of use since they can be incredibly harsh, but also extremely light and gentle. You can use them on most spanking areas: breasts and nipples, feet, thighs, ass, shoulders and genitals, both male and female. Also the face, if you’re being light-handed enough.”

“Jesus, you’re wicked.” Lace snickered.

Vixen shrugged. “Says you.”

Princess looked at the exchange quite amused. “Okay. I think I got it. Oh, isn’t that a flogger?”

“Yes, it is. But that is for your sophomore lessons. For now, let’s stick to the beginner deals.” Lace said, slowing down Princess’ enthusiasm.

“Oh.” The other answered, taken aback.

“The bigger the toy, the more difficult it is to use it. Floggers, also called multi-tailed whips, are unpredictable because the whips are really flexible, usually made of leather, and very light. You must have excellent wrist flexibility and great spatial awareness. Once you can use your crop with your eyes closed, then you can consider learning the basics of flogging.”

“Okay. I assume canes and that fancy thing over there are off-limit too.” Princess noticed.

“Isn’t that a cat-o-nine-tales?” Vixen said, wide eyed. “It’s been years since I last saw one. Since my training.” Vixen shivered. “He had silver studs on the tips.”

“Did he ever use it on you?” Lace asked, very serious.

“Once. I didn’t speak to him for a week afterwards.” Vixen said, gaze empty. “I’ve never seen one like that in my life, though. Are those flowers?”

“Yes.They have a silver bead in the middle with some petals around it. The effect is very unusual, or so I’ve been told.” Lace answered with a chuckle. “It was a gift from one of my students. Lovely girl. Kinkier than hell.” Lace smiled and took the toy. “See. Those are meant to hurt. Mark or scar even, in some cases.” She showed the appendage to Princess.

“I don’t like that.” She replied with tiny hesitance.

“The cane is also a vicious one.” Lace suggested.

“The first time I safeworded was with a cane.” Vixen said with a meditative smile. “It hurts like hell. Normally I can take around forty to fifty spanks. I couldn’t handle ten with a cane.”

“I don’t think I like that either. My favourite so far are the paddle and the riding crop. I think Jimin likes the paddle, or at least the idea of it. The riding crop is… for personal reasons.”

“Excellent choice.” Lace grabbed a glass of water and drank, easing her mouth and throat after all the talking. “A riding crop can really gratify a dom at their first experience. You can study it, if you want to.” Lace encouraged Princess to hold the toy and look at it from up close.

Princess thanked her before lifting the crop from the table. “It’s very light.”

“Indeed. It’s a lot lighter than a paddle, that’s why it’s a personal favourite to most female doms. Plus it can be used to praise and to punish, making it a tool of great versatility.”

Princess studied the handle, with a thick leather band wrapped around the stick to grant a good grip. Lace, previously standing, bent down behind Princess. “The leather has been treated so to reduce any slipping.” She corrected Princess’ grip around the handle, placing her hand wrapped tight around it and fixing her thumb. “Like this.” Next, she placed the tip on the flat of the opposite hand. “Always make sure that there are no loose stitches here. Make sure that the spot where the tip meets the stick isn’t rough or hard or juts out in a way that could cut the skin.” She fingered the spot, tracing it. “Also remember to check the flexibility, see?” Lace made Princess’ fingers wrap around that spot, making her push it towards the butt of the handle. The sensation was extremely elastic, with a bit of give still, but far more resistance. “That is good elasticity for a versatile crop. Try it on your forearm.” She suggested, pushing Princess’ shirt upwards.

A bit hesitant, Princess lifted her dominant arm up. Lace corrected her stance, repositioning her elbow. “You only need to do a slight rotation of your forearm for now. Keep your elbow still and smack your forearm down, like you were arm wrestling but with more snap.”

Princess nodded, her eyes closing before she let her arm snap. First she heard the ‘whoosh’ of the stick cut through the air, and then the snapping sound, like a dry cracking.

“Good one. Did it hurt?”

Princess tutted. “Not too bad. The bite was pleasing.”

The sound awakened Vixen from her trance. She had been staring at the paddle for a few minutes, thinking.

“Try using it feather-light now. Like it was a make-up brush on your skin.” Lace placed the tip of the crop on Princess skin with the lightest pressure, the touch so soft that the tip didn’t even bend a little to accommodate the skin. It was simply lingering, grazing.

“I really like it. I think I’d love to own one.” Princess said enthusiastically. “Would you come with me if I go buy one?” She looked up to her friend.

“Yes, sure. You have my number, we can arrange someday this week, or whenever you like it.” Lace smiled genuinely. Her cheeks puffed up in round apples.

“I think you should check on Vixen.” She whispered.

The girl was being too quiet. It meant she was thinking. Overthinking, if Lace knew her friend well.

“Are you okay?” Lace moved towards Vixen, looking at her vacant stare, her skittish mood and the insecure nibbling on her lower lip.

“Yeah, I was just thinking...” Vixen replied, still unfocused from her surroundings. “I don’t know if Princess is okay with this. It’s her home, after all.”

“What is it?” Asked the other one, immediately alarmed.

“Would it be awkward if we tried a small simulation? Not a scene, just an exercise. For practice.” Vixen proposed. “If you’re all okay with it.”

Lace studied Vixen’s expression. “What about Namjoon?”

“I could ask him. I think he’s awake, I’ll text him. Ask him if it’s okay with him. This is nothing sexual. It’s just for learning purposes.” Vixen shrugged.

A part of Princess’ brain was already seeing it happen, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. “If it’s not too much of a bother, I think it would be really helpful to me if you and Lace tried. I don’t think I want to do it myself, but I’d like to watch.” She admitted.

“Are you in the right mindset to do this, sweetie?” Lace asked. “You’ve been on mood swings the whole night. Are you sure?” Lace asked, seriously concerned.

“Yes, I’m sure. Trust me,” Vixen said, reassuring her friend with a kind smile. “I just need to ask Joon.”

Lace thought about it. Doing such a thing with Vixen of course could be extremely helpful to Princess, showing her how a scene worked, however Vixen’s mood swings suggested that she was looking for reassurance, that she was hoping someone would literally spank her negative thoughts out of her. She probably wanted Namjoon instead of Lace, but maybe this mechanism of simulation and education was what she needed to rein in her insecurities. Vixen was a smart woman, extremely aware of her emotions and the mechanisms to handle them. Lace decided. “Okay. Call him.”

“Let me grab my purse, then.” Vixen stood up and reached for her phone at the dining table. “Thank you”, she said to Lace before unlocking her phone and finding Namjoon’s number on her shortcuts.

“Put it on speaker.” Lace told her.

The three women waited expectantly as the ringing echoed through the small room — Lace with cold ice settling in her veins, Princess with ebullient anticipation and curiosity, Vixen with a certain emptiness in her gaze, her free hand toying with the small pendant laying between her collarbones while she rubbed the flat of her upper chest.

The ringing stopped, followed by a couple seconds of silence.

“Hello?”

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

Part two here

#bts blog #the Girlfriends #introducing the girlfriends #bangtan sonyeondan #bts fic #Bts smut #bangtan smut #Introducing vixen #introducing princess #Introducing lace #namjoon x reader #namjoon x vixen #jimin x reader #Jimin x princess #taehyung x reader #taehyung x lace #bts fanfiction

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pandawritespoorly · 5 years ago

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With Time: Chapter 13 - Confidence in Progress

Author’s Note: Here we are, posting more With Time! I love the response to the akuma in the last chapter, it was a ...unique thing to write. Anyways, without further ado, here's chapter 13!

Chapter Summary: Marinette talks with Fu quickly. The Quantics and Co. bake cookies.

First | Previous | Saturday

Marinette knocks on the door, waiting for the Guardian to open the door.

She doesn’t have to wait long, she’s allowed in quickly, “Ah, Marinette, we’ve been expecting you.” Master Fu speaks calmly.

“You have?” Did she mess up that bad?

“When Wayzz and I saw that The Revealer lasted so long, we were certain it would not be long before Tikki or Plagg fell ill. It would seem Tikki is the first.”

“Given Plagg’s nature to take longer breaks, that is no surprise.” The turtle Kwami shows up above Fu’s shoulder. They walk into the same room where Tikki first got healed. Marinette lifts her Kwami gingerly from her bag and gives her to Master Fu, who nods and begins.

After the ceremony is finished, Tikki munches happily on a cookie in front of Marinette.

“Master?” She’s been debating this for so long, postponing and procrastinating as long as she can, but being here already, she has no more excuses. “Yes, Marinette?”

“I can’t call on Rena Rouge or Carapace anymore.” Given how she reacted to simply seeing Alya and Lila, there is no hope that she can work efficiently as a team with them anymore. She studies the floorboards, unable to meet his eyes. She failed to choose heroes well. He’s going to be so disappointed.

He sips from his tea calmly, “Why is that?”

“I- you told me to choose someone I can trust, and…”

“And you no longer you feel that your choices are worthy of that honor.” She would have phrased it a little differently, more along the lines of fearing the wrath of a betrayed friend, but maybe she can think of it that way instead. It feels better that way.

“...yes.”

“Very well. It is understandable to come along bumps in the road. You are a smart heroine, Marinette, I will trust your judgement.”

“But what if I choose wrong again? How many ‘bumps in the road’ will there be?” She doesn’t want to mess up again. Not after last time.

“Perhaps you should consider the actions of a hero. When I looked for people to become the holders of the Black Cat and Ladybug miraculouses, I considered their actions. You, as well as your partner, proved yourselves to already being capable of heroic acts, without the jewelry.”

“So I need to find people who… already act like heroes?” She finally meets his eyes, and finds nothing negative in them.

“Indeed. Being heroic does not require magic jewelry.” He pours more tea for himself, “You mentioned that Rena Rouge and Carapace would not be fighting anymore, but what of Queen Bee?”

That didn’t even occur to her. She’d not even considered Chloe, because the blonde had been less involved in the actions leading up to Marinette’s transfer. No, that isn’t entirely right. She’d been involved, but in a positive way. She’d been the one to bring her home on Thursday, calming her down in the bathroom.

She’d even apologized for her past actions.

“I- I think there will be a new holder for the Bee miraculous as well.” “But…?”

“But I think that having the miraculous has helped Chloe change. For the better. I think that if I needed back-up and she was available, I would choose her. I trust her - more that Rena and Carapace.”

“So in the event that you require the assistance of the Bee, or if the new Bee holder is unavailable, you would allow Ms. Bourgeois to take up the title temporarily?” Master Fu looks to her for confirmation.

“Yes. I would.” She nods.

“I will inform Trixx and Pollen.” Wayzz floats up from his snack. Marinette feels bad, he and Nino seemed to get along well.

“I’m sorry, Wayzz.”

“It is quite alright, Marinette. I was aware from the start that the arrangement may not be permanent. I do regret that Nino made the choices he did. Perhaps this will be a learning experience for him. I can only hope.”

Marinette smiles weakly at him and he flies to the Miracle Box. Her phone dings in her pocket.

“Perhaps you should be on your way. Unless there is anything else?”

“No, Master.” She starts toward the door, “Thank you.”

Once outside she glances around quickly before looking to her purse.

“How do you feel, Tikki?” The little Kwami looks a lot better, she’s sitting in the purse looking up at Marinette with bright eyes holding a cookie in her paws.

“Much better, thank you!”

“It wasn’t a problem, you were sick, I couldn’t leave you like that.” What if there had been another akuma? Tikki would have felt even worse after that, and that would be terrible.

“Why am I any different than you?” She knows the Kwami is thinking of her behaviour on Saturday, overworking herself to get her to the point that she got to. Marinette shakes her head.

Why is it different? It just is. Tikki is the Kwami of Creation and Marinette is just some human girl. But she’s Ladybug, she’s a hero. Maybe it isn’t that diff-

Tikki makes surprised squeak and ducks back into her bag, Marinette glances up and sees Adrien coming this way. She’s still standing in front of Fu’s place and there’s no way she could leave without catching his eye.

He hasn’t noticed her yet, due to how intently he’s looking into his bag, seemingly talking to himself. Once he reaches the massage shop, he stops and looks to the door. He finally notices Marinette and pauses, staring at her in slight confusion,”Oh, uh, hey Marinette. What are you doing here?”

“I- uh, um, tea! My… maman! Yes, my maman wanted some tea and sent me here! For the tea!” she smiles convincingly, “Wh-what about you?”

“My uh, Chinese tutor, uh wanted me to come to him today, so… yeah.”

She nods, that makes sense.

“Actually, Mari, how are you?” He cocks his head at her slightly, looking at her caringly.

“What?” Did she worry him somehow? How did she do that? Why did she do that?

“I, um, happened to be near your school during the akuma attack. I saw Alya and Lila… it looked like you had noticed them too? I just, uh, tried to distract them. They’re back at Fr- school now.”

Right. Alya. And Lila. Do they know? Do they know where she goes now? Are they going to find her? They’re going to find her at school tomorrow. They’re going to confront her, her friends will find out just how much she sucks, they’ll hate her too, because of course they would that’s what she des-

Adrien puts a hand on her shoulder, interrupting her spiraling, “Marinette.”

“R-right. Um, I’m good. I-I’m fine.” He looks at her doubtfully, but before he can say anything more, she continues,”Anyways, I should get this tea! Back to Maman! And you, probably need to uh, get tutored! For chinese! Ummm… yup! Bye!” She turns and hurries away, waving over her shoulder at him as she goes.

The rules. The rules. She can’t just disregard the rules.

Rule #6: If asked, you’re doing good

She’s good. Absolutely fine. Perfectly great. No need for anyone to worry about her. Her phone dings again.

Right! She’d completely forgotten that someone had texted her. She’d ignored someone. They were probably worried about her now. Stupid.

Rule #11: Adrien, Claude, Allegra, Allan, and Felix have been nice enough to put up with you, don’t make them regret it.

Or it’s her parents, who don’t have a choice in enduring her stupidity. Either way, she’d ignored someone for longer than necessary and now they’d either been forced to check with her again or they were finally letting her know that they’re done with her nonsense.

Kid Mime: hey if u want to come over when ur dun u can!

Kid Mime: were mking cookies

HE LOVES US: I fear they may burn down the building.

HE LOVES US: ...

Felix: Marinette, excuse me for a moment to exact revenge on Claude.

The Mom Friend: dont worry

The Mom Friend: there fine

Oh. They weren’t mad. They didn’t hate her.

Yet.

Maybe she should go? They wouldn’t hate her for it if she’d been invited. They were making cookies, that would be fun.

You’d get in the way. You’ll be that killjoy that gets too specific about the recipe.

“You should go!” Tikki has made her way onto the girl’s shoulder, “Cookies are fun!”

Tikki likes cookies. She would go for Tikki. That’s okay, right? It’s not selfish if you’re going for someone else?

Patiserie Princess: im on my way

---

As soon as she knocks on the door, it opens and she is whisked into Claude’s kitchen, where chaos is likely about to ensue. There are, presumably, all the ingredients necessary out along with a few measuring cups. There’s a bowl on the counter that might be meant for mixing all the ingredients, but it’s probably too small. The stove has a pot on it but the stove is off. Claude already has some flour on him, despite the flour being closed. Allan is taking out a few more ingredients, while Felix sits at the counter with tea, content to watch for now. It’s probably a good choice considering his black clothing would display any and all flour that lands on it.

Something is placed on her head. She looks up to see Allegra beside her.

“Thank goodness you’re here. Claude decided I’m in charge and I don’t know what I’m doing. You’ve got the hat so you’re in charge now.”

“M-me?! Are you sure I should?”

“You live in a bakery, and regularly assist in baking goods for sale. Of all of us you will be the most capable of directing us in creating baked goods.” Felix sips his tea as he says this.

“Yay! Marinette’s here to save us!” Claude throws his arms in the air as Allan puts the last of the ingredients on the counter.

“Hey, ‘Nette.” he looks at the chef’s hat, “So what do we do?”

“I don’t know, uh… where’s the recipe?” She still wasn’t convinced that she is the best to be in charge. They’ve never seen her as a leader, are they sure they want her to do this?

Allegra hands her a sheet of paper printed from a website. Marinette skims it quickly. It’s pretty good, but being raised by two bakers she makes some small adjustments in her head. Used to correcting recipes at home, she grabs a pen and quickly scribbles them onto the paper. Something in her switches, and she steps back with a mindset she hasn’t used in her civilian life since before. Her friends see the different expression - a new one for them - and smile.

“Alright, so first we’re going to need to melt the butter. Allan, I’m going to need to you turn the stove to a medium heat and keep an eye on it. Once it is boiling, stir it constantly until it is an amber color. At that point let it cool for twenty minutes.”

She hands him the two sticks of butter and turns to Claude and Allegra, “You two should measure out and mix the dry ingredients.” She hands them the corrected sheet, “And you’re going to want a bigger bowl.” She approves their new bowl, taking the old one with her as she clears a space a little away from the others to cut up the pretzels.

While they’re all distracted by their tasks, there’s a knock at the door. Felix stands and opens it, allowing Adrien into the kitchen. He starts to speak, but stops abruptly as he takes in the scene before him.

At this point Allegra and Claude have finished mixing and are just talking. Marinette has mixed the chocolate and butterscotch chips and pretzels together in a bowl. She’s standing at the stove with Allan and they’re talking as well. Felix has returned to his tea and none of those involved in the baking have noticed him yet. A timer beeps and Marinette straightens.

“Alright, the butter is cool now. Allegra, can you put the eggs and vanilla in with the butter? Allan can you do the brown sugar? I can mix it, and Claude, you can mix in the stuff in the other bowl when we get to that point.” Marinette is entirely in her element, having been raised on recipes that were probably more complicated than this one. She knows what to do and is easily directing those around her to include them all in the process.

Adrien hasn’t seen her so comfortable and confident - especially when directing others - in, well, a while now. It’s nice to see. He decides against interrupting and sits next to Felix to watch.

Father wouldn’t allow him to join in such a messy activity anyways.

Soon enough, the cookies have been put in the oven and Marinette sets the timer for them. She takes the hat off her head, “There! All done! I told you that it wasn’t that complicated!”

“That’s ‘cause you actually knew what you were doing!” Claude exclaims, hugging her.

“I am still certain that without your presence Claude’s kitchen may not have survived this experience.” Felix stands to put his mug away and the others finally notice Adrien.

“Oh hey, Adrien. When’d ya’ get here?” Allan sits at the table with the blond.

He shrugs, ”A little bit ago. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“You could have said something, if you want to join.” Marinette has yet to flip back to her normal state of mind. She’s channeling her Ladybug mindset for public situations.

“Father wouldn’t have wanted me to.”

At this, Marinette gets a defiant tone and her expression changes to yet another new one for all but Adrien, “Well y-” She cuts herself off abruptly, remembering herself and slouching slightly, “Well that’s unfortunate.”

“I think that you should do what you want. He’s not here to stop you.” Allegra sits as well.

“Last time I tried that we were chased through Paris by a mob of fans.” The others are confused, but before any of them can question further, Marinette drops her head to the table.

“Ugh. I still can’t believe I was in my pajamas that whole time. How did I forget to change into my clothes before leaving the house? Aaaaaah.”

Adrien snorts at that and Claude slams his hands onto the table (but gently), “Storytime?!”

“It was on the news…” Adrien supplies, wondering if that would jog their memories - if they’d seen it at all.

“Don’t remind meeee…” Allan pats Marinette consolingly. Her head is still on the table.

“It’d still be more fun to hear it from you guys.” Allegra leans forward excitedly.

Adrien shrugs, deciding to start with the news footage. He pulls it up on his phone and puts it in view of all of them. Marinette sits up to watch it, cringing every so often.

“Anyways that’s just the early stuff-”

“So not even all of it, you didn’t even see my brilliant disguises.” Marinette covers her face with her hands.

“It turned into an akuma attack eventually.”

“You got dropped off the side of a building…”

“He what?!” Allan interrupts them, “Were you okay?”

“You guys lead very eventful lives...” Allegra adds.

“Ladybug caught me. Also her cure would have fixed anything anyways.”

“Still.” Allan shakes his head. Marinette’s point goes unspoken. What if it didn’t fix everything? What will happen when she inevitably messes everything up and can’t reverse the damage? People shouldn’t trust Ladybug so much.

“I don’t think that our lives are that eventful…” Marinette tries to draw their attention away from Ladybug. It’s hypocritical, but as much she wishes they wouldn’t trust her hero alter-ego so much, she fears the day when everyone realizes how useless she really is.

Well, maybe useless is a strong word.

“The lives of spectacular people are always eventful! That’s what happens when you’re talented Mari!” Claude throws his arms in the air excitedly and she blushes.

“Well, if the heroes of Paris recognize ya’ by name your life has gotta’ be at least kinda’ interesting…” Allan chimes in.

Marinette shrugs noncommittally. She wouldn’t mind telling them those stories, but they involve her old classmates and to think about them too long would make her feel bad - which would be against the rules - one of the newer ones.

Rule #12: Don’t do anything that could attract an akuma to you.

She’d already messed that up earlier, but she hadn’t seen it coming. Alya showing up with Lila had been a surprise.

You should have realized that she would have shown up at an akuma attack you idiot.

To be fair though, Alya was only part of the problem, it was Lila’s presence that had really pushed her over the edge.

No. No excuses. The whole point of her rules is to have her accept these things as facts. If they’re facts, then she shouldn’t feel bad, thereby making her safe from akumas. She can’t just follow them whenever she pleases - that’s not how rules work. She’s been breaking the rules a lot recently, especially when she got sick. Maybe it would be for the best if she re-read them tonight. For the sake of reminding herself.

She’d memorized them, so she hadn’t read them in almost a week.

“What should we do while the cookies are in the oven? Board games?” Claude suggests.

“Sure!” Allegra clears the table to make room for whatever Claude drags out of his room. He brings a few different things out. It’s impressive just how many things he manages to carry at once.

“Okay! I got Jenga, Suspend, Sorry, Sleeping Queens, Dixit, Coup…”

“That’s a lot of games at once, Claude.” Allegra looks at him doubtfully, “Do you two even know how to play some of these?” She looks at Marinette and Adrien.

Marinette nods, but Adrien shakes his head.

“The only board game I’ve played is Monopoly. I hadn’t even played that until a few months ago…”

“Welp. Claude’s gonna’ introduce ya’ to all of his.”

“You bet I am!” He punctuates this statement by dropping everything at the end of the table.

Eventually the group settles into their games, and when the timer goes off, Marinette takes the cookies out to let them cool, turning the oven off before joining back into the game. They play a couple different games for a few hours, eating the cookies while they play. Marinette slips a couple in her purse for Tikki.

“These taste like friendship!” Claude declares.

“They’re pretty good.” Allegra says, then notices Adrien hasn’t had one yet, “Do you want one Adrien?”

“Well, uh,” he rubs the back of his neck, “Do you think I’m allowed to? Father…”

Before the rest of them can respond, Marinette hits her palms to the table, looking at Adrien intensely, whispering conspiratorially, “Rebel.”

The group laughs when Adrien eats a cookie quickly, seemingly having been entirely convinced by this.

Eventually it’s starting to grow dark outside, and it’s time for them to leave. Claude shows them out.

“Farewell, friends!” The other five smile, waving goodbye as they leave. Once they’re outside Marinette wraps her coat around herself tighter, hissing at the cold.

“You gonna’ be good ‘Nettie?” Allan cocks his head at her.

“M’ house isn’t that far.” The girl sticks close to the rest of them, which doesn’t seem like it would do much good. Her miraculous condition makes her extra sensitive to heat in the winter though, so for her it’s a little better - she can sense their body heat. It’s entirely unconscious, but she always can tell where a heat source is. It’s not super useful when she’s too tired to move, but at least it means she typically falls asleep on the warmest person.

“We’ll walk with you - just to be safe.” Allegra wraps an arm around the shorter girl’s shoulders, who leans into her.

They carry on their conversation as they walk, dropping off Marinette first. She goes straight to her bed, as does Tikki. Before Marinette can sleep, she forces herself to sit up, remembering her promise to reread the lists.

After she reads them she thinks that maybe it had been too long since she read them last, seeing as now she felt bad and that is the whole thing she’s trying to avoid.

She goes to sleep afterwards, because she’s still tired. She can think about the lists again in the morning.

---

Author’s Note: That definitely wasn't an excuse for her new friends to put her in charge of something while still allowing her to stay in her element. No,of course not. They're just helpless in the kitchen.

The recipe is here, if you're interested. I baked it with a friend a bit ago, and it was fun. They turned out pretty well, but I feel like a bakers' daughter such as Marinette would have adjustments to make.

Did I give Claude some of my own favorite games? Yes, yes I did.

Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below! The comments are my favorite part of this!

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#miraculous ladybug #transfer #with time #fanfic #chameleon salt #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #master fu #wayzz #tikki #quantic kids #allegra #allan #claude #ml felix #baking #cookies #miraculous tendencies #miraculous side effects

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