#youre editing something that was posted weeks ago and now its pages and pages down in the archive
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STOP MAKING "PLACEHOLDER FICS" ON AO3 FOR YOUR WORK IN PROGRESS. AO3 IS AN ARCHIVE. IT IS NOT A FYP. THERE IS NO "TAGGING FOR REACH". IT IS BY DATE AND TIME OR RELEVANCE.
WRITE WHAT YOURE GOING TO WRITE AND THEN POST IT. EDITING YOUR PLACEHOLDER DOES NOT PUT IT BACK ON THE FRONT PAGE.
#ao3#fanfiction#archive of our own#idk where this trend is coming from#but it really drives me insane to see a fic posted with less than 14 words#and all it says is âthis is a placeholder for my upcoming fic...â#thats not how this works#that isn't what an archive is#and then will complain that their fic isnt getting the attention it deserves#this is why#youre editing something that was posted weeks ago and now its pages and pages down in the archive#of course nobody is seeing it#or worse#you're getting muted/blocked by anyone seeing it because its basically spam#there's no need to overcomplicate this.#post when you're ready and tag properly#you don't need to ask who all is interested in what youre writing before you write it#write it for you!! be self indulgent!!#there are people out there that will read it i promise#but make sure it sees the light of day so that people know it's there!!#okay im done
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Wounds We Never Show // Ch.6 â jjk.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/487c871a804ade4b2ab50a1148061ad7/636e3ed0c8bfc3b3-e0/s540x810/b884a25dbcc8c50dcce3c9ca29541e6f69ca3cc8.jpg)
.ă»ă.ă»ăâă».ă»â«ă»ăă»ă.ă»ă.ă»ăâă».ă»â«ă»ăă»ă.ă»ă.ă» â„pairing: Jungkook x Reader (she/they, afab) â„genre/rating: 18 +explicit content, enemies to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers, enemies with benefits â„chapter warnings/tags: More of a funny chapter, some fluff, Taehyung being the biggest menace on the planet, Some touching (Not sexy touching sorry lol, its worth it), hella tension, dirty thoughts hehehehe, more confused feelings, stress, yoongi mentioned, seokjin continuing to make vics life hard, Jungkook is bad at feelings, drinking, swearing, smoking, y/n continuing to be the biggest avoider of the century, they are getting better just trust me, healthy communicating??? Ji-eun continuing to be my fav â„word-count: 11.6k â„Series Masterlist Previous Chapter ||â„|| Next chapter fic is cross posted to ao3 send an ask or comment on post to be added to the taglist! a/n: This is like 85% edited right now so sorry if there are mistakes but I wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible! So enjoy and if you see a mistake no you didn't and Happy Holidays! .ă»ă.ă»ăâă».ă»â«ă»ăă»ă.ă»ă.ă»ăâă».ă»â«ă»ăă»ă.ă»ă.ă»
Five years ago
âCome on! Let me take you out. You donât even have to think about the breakup anymore,â Taehyung called out, trailing after Jungkook as he moved from his bedroom to the kitchen, then back again.
Namjoon had texted Taehyung earlier, saying Jungkook had been sulking around the apartment for days. The breakup was mutualâor so Jungkook claimedâbut it was still a gut punch. He and his girlfriend had been together since the start of college, and the shift from something so constant to nothing at all wasnât easy to navigate. Jungkook hadnât gone into much detail, just muttering something about them not wanting the same things anymore.
 His silence, though, was worrying his friends.
Jungkook barely acknowledged Taehyung, focused on shoving notes and books into his backpack. âI canât, Tae. I have to meet my project partner.â he muttered, his voice laced with mild frustration.
Taehyung leaned casually against the doorway, arms crossed, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. âThe one who already doesnât like you? Sounds like a good enough excuse to put it off.â
âI canât,â Jungkook said, sharper this time. âShe already doesnât like me, so being late will just make it worse. Iâm barely tolerated as it is. Weâve been working on this for weeks, and itâs been nothing but cold shoulders and annoyed muttering.â He slung his backpack over his shoulder, heading for the front door.
Taehyung wasnât giving up so easily. âSo...is this the same partner you were complaining about before?â
âYes.â Jungkook groaned, not breaking stride.
âWell, maybe I should come along. Iâm great with people. Could smooth things overââ
âNo,â Jungkook cut him off, opening the door. âAnything connected to me seems to make it worse.â
Taehyung kept pace, still grinning. âBut youâre already late. Whatâs five more minutes? I can be a neutral third party. Mediate, make her laugh, maybe evenââ
âNo.â Jungkook protested again, but Taehyung followed him. Then kept following him all the way to the library.
Once inside, Jungkook scanned the study area. He spotted you almost immediately at a small table in the corner, papers spread around you like a protective barrier. You were frowning, your hand moving quickly across a page as you scribbled something down, a furrow of frustration etched between your brows.
âAlright, time for you to leave.â Jungkook hissed, spinning around and shoving at Taehyungâs shoulder.
But Taehyung wasnât going anywhere. He caught sight of you, and his playful expression shifted to one of delight. His mouth fell open, and then a slow, mischievous smile tugged at his lips. âWell, hello, gorgeous.â he muttered under his breath.
Jungkook frowned. âWhat?â
âYou didnât mention she was hot.â Taehyung said, his grin only widening and a wiggle to his eyebrows. âI can work with this.â
Jungkook groaned, grabbing at Taehyungâs arm to stop him, but Taehyung sidestepped him easily, practically skipping as he made his way over to you. You were deep into some calculations for your math class and you felt like you were going insane when someone sat across from you, you peered up to see a stranger swiftly pulling out another chair at your table.
âHi.â He said warmly, tilting his head as if heâd just stumbled into a casual coffee chat.
Raising an eyebrow to him, you blinked, your pencil pausing mid-air. âHi? Iâm sorry, do I know you?âÂ
Taehyung shook his head, âNo, Iâm Taehyung.â He held a hand out to you to shake.Â
You hesitated for a beat, then placed your hand in his for a quick, polite shake. âNice to meet you, Taehyung. I donât mean to be rude, but Iâm actually waiting for someone.âÂ
âAh, donât worry. I wonât take up too much of your time.â Taehyung said smoothly, leaning back in his chair. âIâm here on a mission.â
You let out a heavy sigh, âIf itâs to ask for my number or anything like that. Iâm not interested.âÂ
Taehyung waves you off, not that he would mind slipping you his number, âNothing of the sort⊠I mean unless you like what you see.â Taehyung leans back posing in his chair, and you canât help but laugh at the absurdity of him. âIâm actually here to get some information.âÂ
âOkay?â You cross your arms over your chest, an amused grin on your face. Jungkook from a small distance amazed you havenât bitten Taehyung's head off.Â
Taehyung nodded gravely, but his eyes sparkled with mischief. âIâve come on behalf of my dear, troubled friend, Jungkook.â
Your polite smile faded instantly, replaced by a tight line of irritation. Casting a quick glance past Taehyung. Sure enough, Jungkook was standing a short distance away, half-hidden behind a bookshelf. His expression torn between embarrassment and dread. âI have to apologize Taehyungââ
âYou can call me Tae.â He grins with a wink, and you roll your eyes.
âOkay Tae. I donât know you well enough to get into all those details.âÂ
âHow about we have dinner and discuss it then?â Taehyung scoots his chair closer to yours leaning his arms on the table. Just at that moment a hand comes down on Taehyung's shoulder, he glances up to see an annoyed Jungkook towering above him.
âThatâs enough.â Jungkook wants to avoid your annoyance at him increasing any further by Taehyung's antics.Â
âYouâre late,â you said pointedly, your tone icy as you picked your pencil back up and focused on your notes. Refusing to look at Jungkook.
âCan you see why?â Jungkook gestured to Taehyung and took another seat at the table. Taehyung rubbing his chin glancing between the two of you with some amusement.Â
âWow, there really is some hostility here⊠almost electric.â Taehyung leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as his gaze shifted between you and Jungkook. His grin was as sharp as a knife, cutting through the tension with deliberate ease. âFor the sake of Jungkookâs sanityâand mineâI have to know. Did he ghost you? Forget a birthday? Sleep with you and never call you again?â
Your eyes widened, disbelief freezing you for a beat before your voice finally squeaked out, âExcuse me?â
âTae.â Jungkook kicks his leg under the table and Taehyung winces.
âI was just curious!â Taehyung raises both of his arms up in surrender, âSeriously, what did he do?â He pressed, eyes sparkling with mischief as he ignored Jungkookâs obvious irritation.
You shifted in your seat, feeling caged in under their expectant stares, but your posture stayed composed. You refused to let them see you squirm. âI thought I already said I donât know you well enough for the details?â You replied coolly, hoping to deflect.
âWell,â Taehyung said, clearing his throat as if settling in for a monologue. âIâm Kim Taehyung. Iâm a Capricorn. I enjoy wine and find most other alcohol kind of overrated. Jungkookâs one of my closest friends, like, ever. I love dogs, but I have a massive respect for cats. See? We know each other better already.â
His brazen confidence was so unexpected it caught you off guard, drawing a small laugh from your lips despite yourself. âThatâs all fine and good,â You said, shaking your head, âbut this is personal, Tae.â
âCan I at least put in a good word for him?â Taehyung raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, gesturing toward Jungkook like he was trying to sell a piece of furniture.
You hesitated, glancing at Jungkook than back to Taehyung. âAlright.âÂ
Jungkook was surprised you were even entertaining his theatrics. Taehyungâs face lit up in triumph, and he shot Jungkook a smug look before leaning in like he was about to share a juicy secret. âOkay, listen. Whatever he did to earn this⊠frustration from you, I can guarantee it wasnât on purpose. Either that, or heâs completely oblivious. Probably the second one, honestly.â
You tried not to let his words affect you, but the sincerity in his voice was hard to ignore. He didnât seem like he was messing with you.
âHereâs the thing,â Taehyung continued, his tone dropping lower as if the next part was especially important. âJungkookâs one of the best people I know. Seriously. Heâs somewhat dumb sometimes, sure, but heâs also loyal and⊠well, kind of a big softie. I think whateverâs going on here is probably just a huge misunderstanding.â
You blinked, caught off guard by the honesty in his words.
Then, as if he couldnât resist, Taehyung grinned again and reached over to pinch Jungkookâs cheek. âPlus, heâs a big baby and such a cutie, right?â
Jungkook groaned, swatting Taehyungâs hand away. âStop.â
âNo, seriously,â Taehyung insisted, turning to you with exaggerated curiosity. âHeâs cute, right?âÂ
You froze like a deer in headlights, eyes darting between them. âI mean⊠heâs alright, I guess.â you said, shrugging in an attempt to play it cool. It wasnât like you hadnât noticed Jungkookâs looks, they were hard to miss, but you weren't really on the market these days.Â
âOkay, but what about me?â Taehyung tilted his head, all innocent. âAm I more than just âalrightâ?â
âGoodbye, Taehyung.â Jungkook stood abruptly, tugging Taehyung up from his seat. âWeâre leaving.â
Jungkook got up from his seat trying to pull Taehyung away from his own. Taehyung resists for a moment, snatching your pencil to quickly scribble his number down on a blank piece of paper you had out.Â
âCall me.â Taehyung lifts his hand up to hear ear to motion for you to call, as he is getting dragged away by Jungkook. Far out of your sight from your table. You glance down at the number, it was poorly written but you could still make it out.Â
You knew you wouldnât call but Taehyung's genuine honesty and unabashed personality was a breath of fresh air. At least you could really only hope everything he said was real and not him covering for Jungkook.Â
After a minute Jungkook returned to the table, annoyance written all over his face. He took his seat again with a heavy sigh. âSorry⊠about him.âÂ
âOh, itâs okay. I could tell he meant well.â You brush him off and continue to write something in your notebook. âSeems like a good friend.âÂ
âHe is.â Jungkook nods, finally taking the time to pull out his own books and notes. âJust a tad nosy.âÂ
âYou think?â You raise an eyebrow with a small smile, presenting the phone number. âSeverely cocky too.âÂ
Jungkook laughs, shaking his head at the horribly written numbers on the page. âYeah, youâre welcome to burn that.â
.ă»ă.ă»ăâă».ă»â«ă»ăă»ă.ă»ă.ă»ăâă».ă»â«ă»ăă»ă.ă»ă.ă»
Present Day
Taehyung had always been nosy, maybe even intrusive at times. He really just liked being in people's business and being in the know. This time though, he just happened upon this information and wasnât really trying to be involved. He really couldnât help himself in this case.Â
âIf you tell me whatâs going on with you and Y/N.â Taehyung said, propping his chin in the palm of his hand. His elbow rested on the table as he studied Jungkook with a knowing glint in his eye.
âWhat are you talking about?â he asked, his voice steady, though a flicker of unease slipped into his tone. He casually raised his drink to his lips, taking a slow sip as if the conversation was of no consequence.
Taehyung grinned wider, his head tilting. âOh, come on. Donât play dumb. I saw you.â
Jungkook frowned faintly, still feigning confusion. âSaw me what?â Jungkook didnât reactânot outwardly, at least. Years of navigating intense courtroom scrutiny made him a master of keeping a cool exterior. But beneath the surface, his pulse quickened.
âYou and Y/N. Leaving together after emo night.â
Jungkook blinked once, twice. âOkay?â
âOkay?â Taehyung repeated, drawing the word out mockingly. He leaned forward just enough to make Jungkook feel cornered. âY/N wouldnât share a fry with you, let alone a ride home. It doesnât add up. So I started thinking.â He paused, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table, each tap feeling like a provocation. âAt first, I let it go. People share cars sometimes, sure. But then Jimin mentioned youâve been acting... off. Quiet. Weird.â
âItâs called maturity,â Jungkook quipped dryly. âYou should try it sometime.â
Taehyung snorted, leaning back in his chair. âMaturity? You? The guy who stress-ate three bags of gummy worms during trial prep and then tried to convince us it was a âtacticalâ decision?â
âThey were sour gummy worms,â Jungkook shot back defensively. âCompletely different vibe.â
âSure but youâre usually unbearable before a trial.â Taehyung raised a brow. âPacing around, running through every tiny detail like your life depends on it. Hell, last time you made me and Namjoon sit through your entire case just to âpractice.â You even roped Melanie into being the jury. Still canât believe she ruled against me.â
âShe has great judgment,â Jungkook quipped, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Taehyung rolled his eyes. âSure, sure. But hereâs the thing: this time? No pacing, no rambling, no pestering me to play the opposing counsel. Just radio silence. Itâs weird.â
Jungkook shrugged, his shoulders stiff with tension. âMaybe Iâve gotten better at managing my stress.â
Taehyung snorted. âYeah, right.â He turned in his seat to face Jungkook fully, his expression sharpening. âWhen Jimin said something, I started piecing it together. Thinking on the last few weeks. I thought maybe it was family related but, you hadnât mentioned anything recently. So then I thought, whoâs the only person who throws you off your game? Y/N.â
Jungkookâs stomach dropped, but he kept his face neutral. Barely.
âI also thought it might have just been the forced proximity. You two always go nuclear when you spend too much time in the same 500 yards. Except I remembered how weird you two were acting at the wedding, and how you guys disappeared for a while during the rehearsal dinner.â Taehyung continued, his voice dropping just enough to feel like a warning shot. âYou think I didnât notice?â He tilted his head, his gaze cutting. âSo, one more timeâwhatâs going on with you and Y/N?â
A silence hung between them in quiet confirmation. Jungkook's face was hot and he was flustered, but also⊠filled with relief? Like a weight was lifted? Jungkook hadnât told anyone what had been going on with you two but Taehyung figuring it out made it suddenly so easy. It had all gotten him so wound up and freaked out that he hadnât realized how much he really wanted to talk. Talk it through, you certainly werenât going to want to discuss it.
Taehyungâs face morphed into a relaxed and understanding grin, clearly reveling in his own detective work. âHey, listen. If youâre not ready to talk about it⊠whatever! I think itâs great. Whatever it is, friendship, relationship, sex. Youâre both adults. Have fun.âÂ
Jungkook let out a breathless laugh, adjusting in his seat. âI donât even know whatâs going on. Definitely not a relationship, Iâll tell you that much.â His lips curled into a shy smile, but his voice carried an edge of uncertainty.
Taehyung nodded knowingly, leaning back in his chair. âWell, start by telling me how this all started.â
Jungkook hesitated for a moment, organizing his thoughts. âWhatâs weird is that, thinking about it now, it feels⊠insane. We fought at the rehearsal dinner. Like, properly fought. Then we went outside to cool off, and I donât knowâsomething shifted. We started talking about how weâre terrible at communicating. Like, talking has never worked for us.â He paused, running a hand through his hair. âSo, I said maybe we should try something else. Something physical.â
Taehyungâs eyebrows shot up. âYou suggested that?â
âYeah. Why is that surprising?â
âBecause Y/N would never suggest that, and youâre usually too uptight to even think about it.â Taehyung took a long, deliberate sip of his drink, clearly enjoying the moment. âSo you guysâŠ?â He trailed off, leaving the question hanging even though it was painfully obvious.
Jungkook sighed and gave a reluctant nod.
âOh my god,â Taehyung said, leaning forward with wide eyes and a grin. âI knew you two had chemistry.â
Jungkook frowned. âNo, you didnât.â
âDid too! The first time I met Y/N, it was so obvious. Sure, she was silently plotting your demise, but that doesnât mean there wasnât heat. You can have tension and attraction, you know.â
Jungkook rolled his eyes, but a small smile tugged at his lips despite himself. âYouâre delusional.â
âSo,â Taehyung pressed, clearly not planning to drop the subject anytime soon, âHow does Emo Night fit into this?â
Jungkook leaned back, exhaling slowly. âHonestly⊠itâs kind of a blur. We were fighting, then we werenât. Then we were laughing, and the next thing I knew, we were going back to my place.â
Taehyung let out a low whistle, giving Jungkook a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. âWow. Good for you. It was only a matter of time.â
Jungkook blinked at him, confused. âWhatâs that supposed to mean?â
Taehyung shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world. âI mean, come on. Youâre both hot. Youâre both single. Nothing wrong with playing around and seeing what happens.â
Jungkook hesitated, his expression shifting. âI donât think itâll happen again.â
âWhy not?â Taehyung asked, his tone light but his gaze probing.
Jungkook shifted uncomfortably, his hands fidgeting in his lap. âI donât know. Every time itâs happened, Iâve felt this⊠weird sense of guilt afterward. Like Iâm doing something I shouldnât. Itâs hard to explain, but itâs like Iâm not even living in my own skin.â He hesitated, then added, âIâm not the type to just hook up, you know that. I donât have the time or the mindset for it.â
Taehyung tilted his head, studying him thoughtfully. His voice was softer this time, almost careful. âDo you feel guilty because you think youâre not supposed to? Or is it because it actually feels good, but since itâs with Y/N, youâre telling yourself it shouldnât be happening?â
The question caught Jungkook off guard. He blinked, his brow furrowing as he thought about it. âI⊠donât know.â
Taehyung chewed on his lip for a moment, his expression pensive. âIf Iâm not overstepping,â he said cautiously, âI think you are enjoying yourself. And sure, I know you only like to sleep with people if youâre considering a relationshipââ
âThatâs the thing,â Jungkook cut in, his tone sharper than heâd intended. âIâm not looking for anything right now. Let alone with Y/N.â
âThatâs not what Iâm saying.â Taehyung held up a hand, his voice calm but insistent. âIâm saying maybe⊠let the chips fall where they may.â
Jungkook frowned, his confusion evident. âWhat do you mean?â
Taehyung leaned back in his seat, his fingers drumming lightly against the tabletop as he chose his words. âYouâve had so much going on in the last year. Maybe thisâwhatever it isâis happening at the perfect time. It doesnât have to mean anything. It doesnât have to be forever. But maybe itâs exactly what you need right now.â
Jungkook snorted, shaking his head. âIâm not like you. I canât just sleep around. Plus, work takes up all my time.â
Taehyung laughed lightly, a teasing lilt in his voice. âOh, Iâm not saying with just anyone or all the time. Iâm saying just whenever it comes about naturally⊠with Y/N.â
âNo way.â
âYes way,â Taehyung said, grinning now. âFunny enough, I think Y/N is perfect for this. Sheâs not going to get attached to you, and you already know you have chemistry. Itâs like the universe handed you the ideal situation on a silver platter.â
âNo,â Jungkook said firmly, shaking his head again. âItâs too complicated with Y/N. It shouldnât happen again.â
âWhy not?â Taehyung pressed, his teasing grin fading into something more thoughtful. His voice softened, but the curiosity behind it remained sharp. âHave you even talked to her about it? Like, actually talked?â
Jungkook let out a dry laugh, the sound short and humorless, as he rubbed his chin. âSort of. Not really. We talked about the wedding for about five seconds, and then we fought about⊠well, the last time.â
Taehyung snorted, propping his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. âWow, groundbreaking. Gossip of the century. You and Y/N fighting? Stop the presses, Iâm shocked.â His voice was thick with sarcasm, and the smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth made Jungkook glare.
âYou act like conversations come easy for us,â Jungkook shot back, his tone defensive.
Taehyung tilted his head, his expression shifting to something softerâalmost amused. âYou know,â he began, his voice thoughtful, âIâve gotten to know Y/N pretty well over the years. Sheâs not as stubborn as you make her out to be. If anything, sheâs way softer than she lets on.â
Jungkook looked at him sharply, his brow furrowing. âOkay?â
âIt means,â Taehyung said patiently, âyou should at least try. Y/N is actually pretty reasonable once you sit down and actually talk to her.â
âTalking to her isnât as simple as youâre making it sound,â Jungkook muttered, his fingers fidgeting with the hem of his hoodie.
Taehyung raised an eyebrow. âYou talk to people you donât even like all the time at work. How is this any different?â
âWhere do you think I got all that practice?â Jungkook retorted dryly.
Taehyung let out a bark of laughter, his head tilting back briefly before he fixed Jungkook with a pointed look. âFine. Youâre going to Namjoonâs tomorrow, right?â
âOf course.â Jungkook said, crossing his arms like the question was ridiculous.
âPerfect,â Taehyung said, clapping his hands together. âThereâs your opportunity. Just try to have a normal conversation with her. Just⊠be casual. You can do that, canât you?â
Jungkook raised an eyebrow. âDo you even know me?â
Taehyung ignored the jab, waving a dismissive hand. âIâm serious. You donât have to solve the worldâs problems tomorrow. Just talk. And for the love of all thatâs holy, keep your clothes on. Since that seems to be difficult for you two now.â
âAlright Iâll try.â Finishing off his drink, Jungkook stood. âI should go now. I need to get some more work done tonight.â Jungkook started to leave when Taehyung called after him.
âHey!â Taehyung called after him as Jungkook made his way to the door. âJust think about it, alright? You might even realize Iâm right. It happens more often than youâd think!â
Jungkook just waved to him as he left. He was going to make his way up to his car but he paused. Pulling out a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. Taking one and lighting it. He hadnât been smoking as often lately, but he felt he deserved one after the success of the week. Jungkook took a long drag letting the smoke fill his lungs before blowing it out through his nose. A small buzz washed through him, cigarettes didnât really have the same hit these days but couldn't quite kick the habit.Â
He knew the smell would stick to him, would linger and cling to these clothes. He started to walk up the street to his car. Just finishing off the cigarette slowly and making sure he was more than safe to drive. Thinking about what Taehyung told him, he hadnât thought he had been so stressed. Hooking up with you continuously was just a recipe for disaster, it had to be. He was just asking for something to go wrong and you two were always on thin ice as it was. Not that Jungkook would ever bring up any of Taehyungs advice to you⊠again.
Last time was the last time, a very specific set of circumstances had to come together for the last two times to even work out.Â
All though Jungkook had become the furthest thing from your mind this evening. You were entering the hospital at the ungodly hour of 10:30pm because you decided yeah I can totally switch shifts this weekend! I havenât done a night shift in a while so this will be fine! You are majorly regretting it now. You had slept most of the day but you were still somehow exhausted.Â
âGood morning beautiful.â Vic greeted you as you trudged your way to sit next to her at the nurses station. You shot her a glare sitting down in your chair pulling out one of the tablets.Â
âI hate the night shift. Why did I agree to this?â You groan, typing your password multiple times and failing.Â
âBecause you are lovely and wonderful and Maya really needed the switch.â Vic stood up and behind you and rubbed your shoulders. âYou can do this, itâs pretty simple at night anyways.âÂ
âUgh please donât jinx me. Youâll say that and suddenly everythingâs gonna go wrong.â You lay your head back looking up at her with a small pout.Â
âYouâll be just fine, plus Yoongi is here all night with you. Heâs fun to torture during the night shift.â Vic patted you before she grabbed her bag and rounded her way to the elevators.
âHave a good night.â You call out to her but then dive your head into your work. Since it was so easy going you knew this would be a good opportunity to finish up paperwork. There was always plenty to catch up on, you could maybe even get a medication inventory count done tonight as long as everything goes smoothly.Â
You spend the next little while just working. Yoongi came and joined you after a while and you both just made small conversation here and there. The two of you had actually gotten closer in the time youâve been up here. Heâs actually super nice and much funnier than anyone gives him credit for. The quiet exterior thing was mostly a professional front but when heâs around you and Vic he loosens way up.Â
Once one of the other night nurses, Kay, had arrived you stole him away to help you with meds.Â
âOkay would you rather broadcast your thoughts to everyone around you at all times or never be able to think in words again?â You ask as you write down some notes about things that need to be ordered.Â
Yoongi thought for a moment as he is opening up a box to inspect the contents, âCan I think in pictures?âÂ
âHmm Iâll say yes but you canât imagine pictures of words.â You tap your pen against your mouth.Â
âIâll never think in words again. I donât need everyone knowing my thoughts.â Yoongi says and you nod. âWhat about you?âÂ
âYou know what, I agree. I donât need everyone knowing how often I think about quitting.â You snort under your breath. Yoongi smiles amused.Â
âWe all know, you donât need your thoughts broadcasted for that.â Yoongi teased and you push his shoulder.Â
âIâm quitting right now.âÂ
âRight.âÂ
You sigh looking around. âWell weâve barley made a dent. Iâm going to going do a loop and check in, will you see if Kay needs anything?â You hand him the notepad you had been making notes on.Â
âNo problem, and we can totally finish this tonight. Plus we have like 10 more hours.â Yoongi points around the room. Itâs true you guys just needed to stay focussed.Â
âNah you have better things to worry about tonight. Iâll just force Wendy to help me when she gets in.â You wave your hand back and forth, leaving the closet.Â
You make your way up and down the wing. Most patients were asleep and you would slip in just to make sure there was nothing you guys were missing or not being alerted about. You had pretty good systems and alarms to make sure that didnât happen but you always liked to check just to make sure. Everyone seemed in good shape for the night, you decided to ends your rounds with checking in on Ji-eun. You poked your head into the room to find she was in fact awake. She was looking at something on her Ipad. The light dimmed.Â
âWhat are youââ You step into the room, Ji-eun's attention pulled to you. At that moment your attention is immediately pulled to the couch that came into view. Someone was asleep there with blanket pulled over them and they were facing away. You drop your voice to a whisper. âOh my god Iâm so sorry. I didnât know someone was here with you.âÂ
You try to backing out of the room, but Ji-eun waves for you to come back. Her voice also a whisper, âNo no no come back in. Iâm happy to see you, youâre never here this late.âÂ
A sigh of exhaustion leaves you, âYeah one of the girls needed to switch shifts due to an emergency. So here I am.âÂ
âThatâs nice of you. I canât imagine overnight shifts are at all easy.â She gives you a sympathetic smile, setting her iPad to the side.Â
âItâs alright. Dr. Min and Kay are good company.â Your attention is pulled back to the figure on the couch that shifts slightly. Maybe it was Ji-eunâs husband? You hadnât had a chance to meet any of her family yet. They were never here when you usually worked. âIs that your husband?âÂ
Ji-eun looks over and then back to you with a shake of her head. âOh no, this is one of my boys.âÂ
âOh! How sweet heâs here with you.â You glance over and then back to her.Â
âYeah he must have arrived just barely before you. Heâs had a long week and hadnât been able to stop by. Then he fell asleep.âÂ
âIs this his first time coming to see you? Since you got here?â You found your curiosity peaked.
âOh no no. He was with me the day I checked in and then heâs been here several times since. Always late like this.â She glances over then back to you. âI hope itâs okay heâs here.âÂ
Technically you really shouldnât let family stay over night but it wasnât a rule. More frowned upon due to some incidents in the past. âUsually we try not to allow it, but Iâll let it go for now.â You give her mischievous grin, and she laughs to herself.Â
Ji-eun had an operation schedule for two weeks from now for the tumor in her leg to be removed. She was in high spirits about it. Removing that tumor would officially bring her back down to stage 3. The hope was that they could remove the whole thing.
Dr. Kim took a new biopsy earlier in the week and you learned this tumor was completely unrelated to the liver cancer, which was the original belief. Since the tumor had gotten down almost to the bone she would be off her feet for some time. She also will have to stop chemotherapy for a while until she heals from this operation. So mostly good things but concerning in terms of her cancer and how aggressive her case has been.
The current treatment hasnât shown any signs of improvements to the tumors on her liver. It was still early so it was inconclusive. You could tell from the way Dr. Kim and Yoongi had been speaking about it that they were hoping for more improvement. Ji-eun hadnât lost her spirit though. She was still so cheerful everyday you saw her and always had a story or smile to give. Sheâs made the weeks up here easier. In the time youâve spent up here you have seen a few patients pass. Two just this week. You didnât know them well but it was still tough. Especially because they were cases that had much better odds than most. Needless to say it weighed on you, so talking to Ji-eun made it easier.Â
Vic and Yoongi had also done a good job at showing you how they handle it. In other specialties you donât spend as much with the patients, little easier to become impersonal. Up here you have people who are here for weeks or months so you learn about them. Which makes it worse if they donât pull through.Â
âWhy are you up so late?â You sit on the end of her bed, âYou just had treatment on Tuesday, you need rest.â
âJust a touch of nausea itâll pass.â She pats her stomach.
âAre you finally admitting to feeling it a little?â You say, talking about the chemo. Ji-eun had been doing well on this one and not shown any major symptoms yet. At least, that is what she was telling everyone.Â
âA little.â She huffed, âNothing serious. Itâll pass soon.âÂ
âI can get you something if you need. You donât have to just tough it out, even though I know you try too.â You lean on one of your hands, your face falling into slight concern.Â
âI'm tougher than you think. No chemo can get me down. Now you go. Iâm sure you have plenty of work that needs to be done.â She tried to wave you out of the room, but you roll your eyes.Â
âIâve got a minute.â You glance over to her ever updating pile of crochet projects. âWhat are you working on right now?âÂ
Ji-eun glances to her pile. âI know itâs a big clichĂ©, but Iâm working on a few things for you and Victoria, and the docs.â She pull over some of her stuff, âItâs just scarves.âÂ
She pulls out one that looks to already be complete that is green and blue and red stripes. Another that is all red.Â
âThe stripped one is for Dr. Kim. The red is for Victoria. Felt fitting since she is so fiery, and Dr. Kim is so flamboyant.â She held them out to you, they were very well done. She picked a very oft thread for them as well so they were nice to touch.
âOh these are lovely.â You fold them and lay them back down on the bed. âDr. Kim will love his, I assure you.âÂ
âAnd this,â She reaches down on the side of the bed, âwill be yours eventually.â She pull out a dark blue scarf that had stars being stitched throughout. It was still a work in progress, maybe about half way done? It was truly lovely so far. âI think it looks pretty good!âÂ
You give her a happy pout looking at it, âI love it. Itâs so cute. I canât wait to wear it.âÂ
âWell I better hurry up and get it done!â Her voice was a little louder than she intended, and whichever of Ji-eun's sons was on the couch stirred. âWhoops too loud. Can I get your opinion for Yoongi? I want to make him one but Iâm not sure.âÂ
You thought for a moment if you should tell her to give him something outrageously bright just to see him feel forced to wear it. You decided against it though. âProbably something neutral. Heâs not the flashy type. Maybe a black or grey.âÂ
âAwe I was hoping maybe he had a colorful streak hidden under that quiet exterior.â Her face twisted in annoyance, âNeutral it is.âÂ
You get yourself off the bed. It was time that you got back and continued your work. It was a nice little break but there was a lot left to be done tonight.Â
âI must leave you now. If you need anything you know where we are.â You take a step towards the door.Â
âIâll try.â Ji-eun huffs with fake annoyance in her tone like you were a mom scolding her.Â
You roll your eyes knowing sheâs just going to continue to be tough about it. You turn to the door before something catches your attention before stepping out. It was subtle and you hadnât noticed it before but you definitely smelt it now.Â
Just a faint smell of cigarette.Â
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After a long and grueling night. Your shift was coming to an end. You and Yoongi, with the help of Wendy another night nurse, you managed to get a good jump on inventory. The rest of the night you mostly just did paperwork and bothered Yoongi when you could. No major issues except you were not really built for a night shift. About an hour ago you took advantage and stowed yourself away to get a tiny bit of rest in an on call room. With your slumber abruptly interrupted.Â
âRise and shine baby girl!â Vic hit her leg on the side of the bunk you were sleeping in. Rattling it and you awake.
With an angry grunt you rolled over to look at her. âYouâre so obnoxious.âÂ
âIâm here to relieve you. Get up.â She holds a hand out to you to help you get to your feet. âHow was last night?â
âNot bad.â You yawn and stretch your arms straight into the air. You fill her in on some other details and you both leave the on call room and walk back to the nurses station. Giving her some updates on what you and Kay did in the night.Â
You collected some of your stuff from the desk when you overheard some of the other girls you worked with talking.Â
âOkay but like you saw him.â Lana, a new hire here, leaning on both of her hands swiveling from side to side in her chair. Dramatically star struck.Â
âYou were right, hot.â Angel, another girl who usually works opposite shifts of you. So you havenât gotten to know her much.Â
âLadies,â Vic interrupted arms folded, âI think we have better things we could be doing?âÂ
âYeah but Lanaâs crush was here. So sheâs all distracted now.â Angel rolled her eyes, nudging Lana to come out of her dream state. You laugh under your breath.Â
âWhoâs her crush?â You breath, balancing your stuff in your arms. Looking between the two of them.
Lana groaned, âI donât actually know his name. Iâm just pretty sure heâs Ji-euns son. You had to have seen him Y/N, youâre on her case.â She looked to you, her pupils practically turning into little hearts.
âI actually havenât met any of Ji-eunâs family. Iâll see what I can find out.â You yawn thinking back on it. Sad Ji-eunâs been excited to introduce you to her family and you just barely missed him. Maybe next time.Â
âGet his name as soon as possible please. So Lana can bug you about it instead of me.â Angel got up from the desk, walking away as quickly as she could. You and Vic watch her go in her annoyance and you both have amused smiles.Â
âIâm sure you could just ask. Ji-eun uses any opportunity to talk about her family.â You pat Lana on the shoulder, âHope heâs everything you hope he is.âÂ
âMe too.â Lana gets up as well taking a tablet with her in a day dreamy walk.Â
âDonât encourage her. Sheâs new so she doesnât need to get her hopes high. âVic nudged you. She was mostly teasing.Â
âHey, we need some new entertainment around here other than Yoongi. Iâm just sad her crush isnât on him so we donât get to tease him about it.â You laugh, just then Seokjin and Yoongi were rounding the corner.Â
âGood morning my wonderful staff.â Seokjin beamed between you and Vic. Vic narrowing her eyes at Seokjin already. Oh heâs in for a long day.Â
âYou didnât sign your charts last night.â She taps her finger impatiently. Yoongi trying to hide. âYoongi this goes for you two, and you have no excuse you were here all night.âÂ
You place a hand on her, âTo be fair he really helped us out with the medicine and inventory count.âÂ
She huffs, âOkay fine youâre off the hook. You sir,â pointing back to Seokjin. âYouâre gonna sit and do it before you do anything else today.âÂ
âWhatâs with the hostility? To think I bought treats for you today and this is the thanks I get?â Seokjin sniffs and fake wipes his eyes.Â
âIâll be less hostile when you sign your charts.â She barks.
You decide you need to slip out now before the blood bath begins. You made your way home in record time. You were desperate to sleep in your own bed because you were finally going to see Melanie tonight. You were so excited that her and Namjoon were back, and tonight would be all in good fun. Or at least you hoped it would.Â
Jungkook's annoying presence would certainly be something to handle⊠considering.Â
You couldnât even think straight as you crashed on your bed. You didnât even bother to change, just letting the weight of the night overtake you. It felt like a blink of an eye though as it was suddenly 6 pm. You needed to get up and get ready for sure now. You had roughly about an hour before you needed to be getting out the door. So you shower the night off and dress casually, you had a feeling you may be crashing there tonight so you didnât need to look amazing.Â
You certainly didnât feel too amazing, exhausted really.Â
After too long you were arriving and knocking on the front door. Namjoon and Melanie had a very nice townhome, it wasnât decorated in a typical fashion. It was always very warm and welcoming and homey. You tended to hang out here a lot because of how good of a job they did at making it so nice. Unfortunately that did involve many night where you, Ash, and Melanie overtake the house and Namjoon is left sleeping in the guest room or downstairs. He really didnât mind but you always felt a little bad.Â
With a swift swing open of the door Melanie was who you came face to face with. âFinally! My knight in shining armor has arrived!â Melanie swooned against the door frame.Â
âMy darling Iâve return from war!â You step inside and are immediately enveloped into a hug. It was so nice to finally have her back. You didnât want to bug her with anything while her and Namjoon were away but now it was free game. âI need to hear every detail about your trip.âÂ
âOh trust me Iâve got a whole presentation prepared.â She keeps an arm around you as you enter the house.Â
The entryway was a long hallway with tall ceilings, stairs lined one wall, with entrance to the living room first and then just up the hall entrance to the kitchen. A small bathroom tucked under the stairs.Â
âOh I canât wait.â You giggle and rub your hands together, âI need something to eat though Iâm starving.âÂ
âOh thereâs plenty of food so help yourself. Weâve got all night.â She pulled you into the living room where you were greeted with Ash and Namjoon in a heated debate about what looked like a just finished match of Mario kart. Taehyung was sprawled out on the couch, looking like a kicked puppy. Melanie sat down on the opposite love seat leaving you standing,Â
You squat down to Taehyung's eye level, âWhat was it this time? Eleventh or twelve?âÂ
He fakes sobs, âIf there was a thirteenth place they would make it for me.â You snort and ruffle his hair.Â
âYouâll get him next time.â You sit down on the love seat with Melanie laying your legs across her lap.Â
âYou donât want to sit with me?â Taehyung sat up on the couch with a puppy dog look in his eye.Â
âI need some Melanie time tonight. Iâll give you my attention another time.â You say but Taehyung still played sad.Â
âMel! Back me up! He so cheated!â Ash erupted between the three of you, pointing to Namjoon accusingly.Â
âI did not!â Namjoon quipped back, âSheâs the one who was trying to shove me the entire time!â
âIâm not getting in the middle of you two and your stupid Mario kart rivalry again! I made that mistake once and I almost got my head bitten off for it.â Melanie grumbled in annoyance at the two of them. They both deflated but still were annoyed.Â
âYou know how competitive they get, why let them play?â You ask, raising an eyebrow to Taehyung and Melanie.Â
âI left the room for five seconds and suddenly they were deep into it by then.â Melanie raised her hands in innocence. You believed it, Ash and Namjoon had a years long running tally of Mario kart wins. They always stayed neck and neck and it was very serious for them. You were okay at it, always coming out somewhere in the middle.Â
âWell I need a drink if this is how the night is going to continue.â You get back up from your seat.Â
âThereâs tons of wine please drink it.â Namjoon called after you, you gave a thumbs up behind you in response. Heading down to the kitchen.Â
Rounding your way into the in there really was tons of snacks and food at the ready on the island counter. You imagine Melanie had meant to bring it into the living room but got sucked into the game with the others.Â
You pick a random bottle, opening it and pouring yourself a glass. It was pretty good for a random pick. You balance your glass, the bottle, and a armful of snacks bringing them with you to the living room to lay them out on the coffee table.Â
âOh thank you.â Melanie beamed, taking a bag of chips from you.Â
âI figured they got left behind in the gaming escapades. This wine is also nice.â You take another sip from your glass, setting the bottle down.Â
Melanie takes the bottle holding it up to Namjoon, he also looks at it, âJoonie, where did we get this one?âÂ
âJungkook got it as a gift.â Namjoon nodded when seeing the bottle.Â
Taehyung dramatically held onto the nearest object. You gave him a funny look.
âSorry Jungkook's name was mentioned in your presence. Thought I should prepare for a disaster.â He teased, you hit him on the shoulder.
âIâm not that dramatic.â You settle down on the couch next to him. âHere Iâll give him a compliment right now. He can pick out a nice wine. Letâs hope itâs not poison.âÂ
âWow,â Taehyung deadpanned, clutching his chest. âDonât strain yourself.â
âAnyways, whatâs going on with you these days.â You look at Taehyung. âI havenât seen you since the wedding.âÂ
âI tried to catch up with you at emo night but seems you got stolen away.â Taehyung says and it makes you take a slight moment of pause. Taehyung said it that way on purpose. Knowing what he knows, âYou know cause you went home early.âÂ
You nod, playing it cool. âYeah I had too much. It was good I called it early because it could have gotten messy.âÂ
âProbably smart, a little too much to drink can make us do some questionable things.â Taehyung says it almost with some suggestion, like trying to point to a certain subject. It didnât slip by you, it felt too intentional.Â
âYeah, I guess?â You play it off, âAnyways, any new girl I can hear about as of late? Any crazy stories you got for me?âÂ
Taehyung shakes his head, âIâve taken a little break lately. Trying to be serious.âÂ
âReally? You?â You cock an eyebrow.Â
âNah,â He smirks, âWhat about you? Anyone wrapped around your finger at the moment?âÂ
You narrow your eyes at him, Taehyung had a way of trying to subtly gets answers. Him asking about your love life never comes without a catch. Last time it was a blind date he wanted to set you up on. âNo. Iâm not really looking right now.âÂ
He slowly nods his head, his stare a bit too intense for comfort. âVery interesting.âÂ
âOkay what are you planning? If you're planning on giving my number out to someone can I at least know who and why?â You groan, leaning your head on the back of the couch looking up to the ceiling.Â
âNo I wouldn't do that to you⊠again. Iâm just confirming a solution to a problem Iâm working on.âÂ
You wanted to probe further into what Taehyung was talking about, but decided to just leave it. Whatever he had cooking up in his mind could not be good. Better to not indulge him.Â
The night buzzed with the hum of wine-fueled laughter, the clink of glasses, and a playlist that had long since fallen victim to the chaos of too many requests. You were tipsy, just enough to feel bold and carefree, your giggles blending seamlessly with the chatter around you.
Ash, Melanie, and you had claimed the big couch as your domain, limbs tangled in a haphazard heap. Your head rested in Ashâs lap, where she was absently braiding and unbraiding sections of your hair, likely creating a disaster you'd deal with tomorrow. Namjoon and Taehyung had been exiled to the love seat and the floor, making them easy targets for your drunken commentary.
This was how these nights always wentâwine, games, and an inevitable retreat to Namjoon and Melanieâs room, where the three of you would indulge in a late-night slumber party like teenagers.
Just then a ring from the doorbell sounded through the house. Announcing the arrival of the demon spawn. Namjoon sprung up from his spot and trotted to the door. You could hear a few voices echo in the hall before Namjoon and Jungkook reentered the room with some laughs.Â
âGolden boy finally arrived.â Taehyung held his arms up in celebration. The wine in his glass almost flinging everywhere.Â
You rolled your eyes so hard you were sure theyâd get stuck. Melanie wiggled her way out from under your legs to give Jungkook a hug, which he returned with genuine warmth. You looked away, muttering under your breath, âGreat, now weâre all blessed by his presence.â
Melanie beamed, entirely ignoring your sarcasm. âOkay, now that everyoneâs here, we can finally show pictures from the trip!â She dashed out of the room and returned moments later with her laptop, bounding around everyone and hooking it up to the TV.
âOh you actually had a presentation prepared?â You laugh at her and Melanie rolls her eyes.Â
âYes,â Melanie retorted, tossing her hair over her shoulder. âYouâll like it. Now, everyone, sit.âÂ
Melanie urges Namjoon and Jungkook to sit back down. Namjoon took the available spot next to Taehyung, which left the spot your legs currently occupied the only place left.Â
The command turned the room into a musical chairs scramble. Namjoon reclaimed his spot by Taehyung, leaving the couch seat you were sprawled across as the only one open.
Jungkook eyed the seat with a smirk and crossed his arms. âGuess youâll have to move.â
Without budging an inch, you waved dismissively at the floor. âThereâs plenty of space down there.âÂ
Jungkook, tilted his head, tongue in cheek. He should have expected the immediate annoyance he would get from you being here. Taehyung watched from the other couch with bated breath, sipping on his wine.Â
âOh this looks like such a comfortable spot though.â Without warning Jungkook places his butt right on top of your legs. Sighing joyfully, it was not comfortable but the face you were making was worth it.Â
Ash immediately burst out laughing, her hands still tangled in your hair. âI mean, heâs not wrong. Youâre pretty cozy.â
âGet off.â You groan, tugging your legs out from under him and sitting up straight.
Jungkook stretched out leisurely, claiming the newly vacated spot with a satisfied smirk. "Ah, much better."
You narrowed your eyes at him, resisting the urge to shove him off the couch entirely. Taehyung, still observing from his perch with an amused glint in his eye, raised his glass in toast. "And just like that, our main event is underway."
"You're enjoying this way too much," you snapped at Taehyung, who simply shrugged and sipped his wine.
Melanie clapped her hands, reclaiming everyone's attention. "Alright, children, settle down. You're distracting from my masterpiece here." She gestured to the TV, where the first picture from their trip was already displayed: a stunning view of a mountain range bathed in golden light.
The room collectively oohed and aahed, and Melanie launched into a detailed explanation of the hike they had to endure to get the shot. Namjoon chimed in with a few quips about Melanie nearly slipping on a rock, which earned him a playful swat on the arm.
Ash, kept you grounded in your spot so you didnât push Jungkook away. He didnât try to antagonize you again. He stayed settled to his spot and his attention on Melanie. Staying engaged with everyone except you. You got another drink into you during the presentation and so did Ash. both of your giggling every now and then on your side of the couch. Entertaining yourselves thoroughly.Â
Jungkook just stayed as far on his side as he could. Didnât mean something else was happening. Because Taehyung was texting him.Â
Tae: So are you going to talk to y/n tonight??????
Tae: I think you should ;)
Tae: Remember just keep it casual!!!
Tae: Could lead to⊠well you know⊠again ;)
Tae: Iâll even break the ice
Tae: ;)
Tae: Should be an interesting evening
Jungkook would look every once in a while and not dignify Taehyung with a response. Jungkook could feel Taehyungâs eyes also boring into the side of his head in anticipation. He was looking for that spark, maybe there was something much more going on here.Â
After a little while, the wine was really getting to you. As well as your messed up sleep schedule making you fuzzy. Warm. You were watching Melanie talking about some trail her and Namjoon followed and got lost along as your attention was caught to Jungkook moving his hand to run through his hair. Settling it back down into his lap. It caught your attention for a moment and it felt like it moved in slow motion. Then without even realizing you were staring at his hands in his lap.Â
He was fidgeting with his fingers. Probably mindlessly playing with them. Your mind began to drift though, because you know those hands now. You know they are much softer than they initially look. They were warm and strong. His fingers are long and slender, pretty even. Pretty in an artistic way, almost. A memory of them running all over your body imprinted on your mind. Being pulled to the surface.Â
Almost too quickly you felt like your face was on fire. The memory coming in small flashes. A laugh to a messy drunken make out in a fluorescent bathroom. Your lips finding their way to his skin. Then being in his apartment and stripping down together. Then suddenly being laid back. First his fingers and and then his tongue painting you with pleasure. You could see his hands in your mind so clearly, then suddenly his eyes. Looking back at you, while he took you over the edge.Â
You need to stop. You shook your head and adjusted in your seat almost too quickly. You cannot be thinking about this right now. What is wrong with you? It had to be the wine, you always got somewhat horny when you drank wine. You settled back into your spot, playing it cool. Your eyes danced around the room for a moment. Pulling yourself back down to earth. Keep it together, you are better than this.Â
Your eyes glanced at Jungkook for one second. Not even trying to look but you caught him right as he was playing with his lip ring with his tongue. Forcing your eyes to look back to Melanie and the screen.Â
Pay attention to the presentation.Â
Your foggy conscience easily betrayed you though. This time, quiet and patient kisses in an elevator. Then a dark hotel room. An image of Jungkook standing above you saying please. Then him placed behind you, slipping himself insideâ
You take in a sharp breath in through the nose. You begin to pick your own nails. Surely if you keep your hands busy you can keep your mind distracted. Yes you were a little tipsy and you were having flashbacks but you can fight this. Remember heâs gross, awful, and has said horrible things to you. He drives you insane.Â
You will not let your tipsy mind flow to... Jungkook.Â
You decided you needed to get some ice cold water. The pictures wrapped up, Melanieâs enthusiastic commentary dwindling to polite applause as everyone shifted back to casual conversation. You decided it was the perfect moment to escape, slipping away toward the kitchen with quick, deliberate steps. The quiet was immediate and welcome, wrapping around you like a shield.
Getting yourself a glass and getting some water from the sink. Sipping it quickly, letting the coolness slow your mind.
The reprieve didnât last long.
You heard the floorboards creak and glanced up just in time to see Jungkook stroll into the kitchen. His presence was impossible to ignore. He didnât look at you at first, but you felt him there, his every move trying to pull at your attention like a gravitational force.
Your grip on the glass tightened reflexively.
âJungkook.â Your voice was flat, carefully devoid of emotion.
âY/N.â He mimicked your tone, brushing past you to grab a glass of his own. His voice carried a teasing edge, but there was something elseâsomething softer underneath.
The silence that followed was sharp and deliberate, the air thick with unspoken words. Jungkook could easily toss out some snarky comment to rile you up, it was practically his trademark, but he didnât. Not this time.
Instead, he lingered, standing just close enough for the faint scent of his cologne to drift your way. Cedarwood, or something like that. It was annoyingly intoxicating.
You busied yourself with your phone, scrolling aimlessly. A quiet laugh escaped you at something you saw, but it felt too loud in the stillness, too revealing.
Clearing his throat, Jungkook finally broke the silence. âHow are you?â
You blinked at your phone, unsure if youâd heard him right. Slowly, you glanced his way. âWhat?â
âHow are you?â He rubbed the back of his neck, his movements almost shy.
âWhy?â
âIâm making conversation.â
âWhy?â
âBecause itâs what people do, Y/N. They talk.â His tone had a touch of exasperation, but his lips curled into a faint smirk. âJust answer the question. Youâre not going to combust if you do.â
You hesitated, the urge to deflect warring with the odd sincerity in his gaze. âIâm good,â you said finally, though it felt like pulling teeth. âExhausted, but good.â
âHow come?â
You narrowed your eyes, trying to read him. Was this a setup? âI worked an overnight shift last night,â you said cautiously. âSo my sleep schedule is all over the place.â
âOvernight shift, huh?â Jungkook turned to lean against the counter, crossing his arms as he studied you. âAnd you still showed up tonight?â
âYeah.â You shrugged, suddenly hyper-aware of how close he was. âI missed Melanie and Namjoon. We usually crash here after these things.â
âCrash?â He raised an eyebrow, the faintest hint of a grin tugging at his lips.
âYeah.â You smiled despite yourself. âMel, Ash, and I take over Namjoon and Melanieâs room after too much wine.â
Jungkook let out a low laugh, the sound unexpectedly warm. âThat explains it. Namjoon was muttering about an invasion yesterday. Makes sense now.â
You laughed lightly, the tension between you softening for a moment. âYeah, invasion is probably accurate. If you and Taehyung werenât here, the living room would already be in ruins.â
Jungkook moved then, stepping toward the sink to fill his glass. The motion was smooth, casual, but you couldnât ignore how close he came, the heat of his body brushing against yours. The scent of his cologne floating your way one more time. You took a small step to the side, trying to ignore the way your pulse quickened.
He seemed to notice your shift but didnât comment, his gaze flickering to you for a split second before returning to his glass.
You cleared your throat, your voice quieter than you intended. âHow are you?â
Jungkook stilled, glancing at you with something like surprise. For a moment, he didnât answer, his dark eyes searching your face like he was trying to decide if you meant it.
âIâm alright,â he said finally, his tone subdued. âBusy, though. Iâm in the middle of a trial.â
âRight,â you said, nodding. âLawyer stuff.â
A small, wry smile tugged at his lips. âYeah, lawyer stuff.â
âWhat kind of trial?â you asked, surprising even yourself.
He hesitated, as if weighing whether to tell you. Finally, he said, âItâs a class-action case. Workers suing their company for unpaid wages. Iâm representing them.â
Your eyebrows lifted, genuinely impressed. âWow. Didnât expect you to be on the workersâ side.â
Jungkook tilted his head, his expression unreadable. âWhy not?â
âI donât know.â You gestured vaguely. âKnee jerk reaction. I typically expect the worst from you. Most people would go for the big paycheck.â
A low chuckle escaped him, warm and deep. He couldnât blame you for jumping to a conclusion after all these years. âFair enough. It was the right thing to do though.â Jungkook rubs on his neck another time. You noticed it, he had done it a couple of times tonight. Almost like it was bothering him.Â
âWhatâs wrong with you?â You tighten your eyebrows together, Jungkookâs eyes meeting yours for just a moment before darting away.Â
âOh,â He twists his neck trying to relieve the discomfort. âMy neck is just hurting. I think I slept wrong.âÂ
âYou could take something, or there are some stretches I know that can help.â You begin to look around the kitchen seeing if you can find some ibuprofen. Your hurriedness surprised Jungkook. Threw him off balance.Â
âI already took something but didnât seem to help. Still some pain.â His eyes tracked you round the kitchen as you continued your search.Â
âWell Iâll show you the stretches then, grab a chair.â You exhale, nodding your head to one of the chairs at the dining table.Â
Jung walked over and pulled one of the chairs out and took a seat. You hesitated for a moment before you stood right behind him. Your hands hovered hesitantly above his shoulders. What the hell were you doing?Â
âAre you okay if I just do it⊠t-to show you how?â You say hesitantly.Â
Jungkook doesnât look back to you but finds himself rather⊠nervous even. Had you gotten him in the perfect position to actually just strangle you out? Were these his final moments?Â
âJust donât kill me⊠but yeah go for it.â He nodded, not looking back to you.Â
âOkay. Just relax.âÂ
Jungkook feels you place one hand on his left shoulder, making sure his posture stays back and your other hand resting on the top of his head gently pushing it forward. Jungkook could feel a small pull in his neck stretching it out. The pain was on the right side so this was too bad. Your hand on his shoulder was touching some of the skin on his neck and it felt like it was burning into him. It was quiet, just your quiet breathing filling the room.Â
âSo you lean your head forward and then you roll your head side to side,â you murmured, guiding his head gently to the left Your voice was softer than youâd intended, the quiet of the kitchen making every word feel heavier.
Jungkookâs breathing hitched slightly, though you werenât sure if it was from the stretch or the weight of your hand on his shoulder. His skin was warm beneath your touch, and you realized with a jolt that your fingers lingered longer than necessary.
âYou should feel a pull right along here.â You hovered for a second, but drew a line along his neck where the muscle was tense. Trying to focus on the task and not the way your voice seemed to tremble.
Your touch made Jungkook want to wiggle away from you. So light but almost electric. His mind drifted away somewhat, almost remembering last week but he kept himself grounded in the present.
âYeah,â he replied, the pull was slightly painful but felt good. âItâs⊠helping.â His words were simple, but something about the way he said them made your stomach flip.
You adjusted your hand, sliding it to the other side of his head to tilt it gently to the left. âAnd this?â You kept your eyes focused on the wall now, You had already spent too much time looking⊠and thinking about his hands tonight. You didnât need to think about his neck.Â
Jungkook exhaled, a slow, deep sound that felt too intimate in the quiet space. âBetter,â he said, his voice quieter now.
âIt also helps to roll in circles slowly too. Trying to stretch those muscles as far as you can. You want to feel the pull.â You remove your hand, but keep them on his shoulders as he rolls his head around in slow circles.Â
The kitchen, bathed in the soft glow of the overhead light, felt suspended in time. The sounds from the living roomâmuted laughter, clinking glasses, the occasional burst of louder conversationâfaded into the background. It was just you, Jungkook, and the lingering ghost of your touch on his skin.
Your hands had rested on his shoulders longer than they should have. Neither of you had acknowledged it, though Jungkook had noticed. He couldnât stop noticing. The weight of your touch, light but grounding, had felt entirely different from the energy you normally exuded around him.
Gentle.
It made his pulse quicken, a response he tried desperately to suppress. But his mind betrayed him, conjuring thoughts he had no business entertaining such as your hands moving from his shoulders, sliding down his chest, fingers tracing his jawlineâ
He swallowed hard, forcing himself back to reality. Because that feeling was there again, that small guilty twist in his stomach. What he had been telling Taehyung about bubbled up. He still couldnât name it, because guilt didnât feel right. It wasnât that but it felt so strange. What was that?
Almost like the universe had heard his struggle, Taehyung appeared in the doorway, a wide grin already plastered on his face. His eyes scanned the scene quickly, locking onto Jungkook still seated and you standing just behind him.
âOh my god itâs finally happening. Y/N is going to strangle you out!â Taehyung gasped and threw his hands over his mouth dramatically, âY/N please spare him! Heâs a good boy!â
You laugh to yourself, stepping back from Jungkook letting your hands fall away from him. The absence of touch is almost louder than the conflict itself. âIâm not strangling him,â you said, crossing your arms and giving Taehyung a look. âThis time. Now roll your shoulders back.â you instructed Jungkook, stepping even farther away as if to reestablish boundaries.
Jungkook complied without a word, rotating his shoulders as youâd shown him. He tilted his head from side to side, testing the stretch. When his gaze flicked back to you, a faint smile tugged at his lips. âYouâre good at this,â he murmured, his voice quieter now, almost thoughtful.
âI do it for patients all the time, the hospital beds are notoriously uncomfortable.â You replied, shrugging as if it were nothing. Your arms stayed crossed, a subtle shield against the shift in energy between you. âItâs not a big deal.â
âIt doesnât feel like nothing,â he said, his words soft but lingering. His eyes stayed on you a fraction too long, enough to make your chest tighten and your cheeks warm.
Taehyung, clearly enjoying himself, stepped farther into the kitchen. His smile widened, but he kept his tone light. âWhat exactly were you doing?â
âI slept weird last night,â Jungkook interjected, standing up from the chair and adjusting it neatly back under the table. âMy neckâs been hurting all day. Y/N was just showing me some stretches to help.â
Taehyung hummed, unconvinced. His gaze darted between you and Jungkook like he was piecing together a puzzle. âRight. Stretching. Sure.â
You decide this is your chance to escape out of here. You pick up your glass and exit the kitchen quickly to rejoin the others in the living room. The kitchen was quieter now that youâd left, though the tension youâd unintentionally abandoned seemed to cling to the air like static. Taehyung leaned against the counter, his grin infuriatingly smug as he watched Jungkook refill his glass of water, the younger man pointedly ignoring him.
âIf I had shown up even a second later, you two wouldâve probably stripped naked,â Taehyung said.
Jungkook groaned, turning his back on him to hide his flushed face. âWe were only talking.â
Taehyung nodded sagely, his expression far too knowing. âOh, sure. Just talking. Nothing else. Completely innocent. Two people practically pressed against each other in a dimly lit kitchen, having a totally platonic chat.â
Jungkook shot him a glare. âYouâre insufferable, you know that?â
âOf course I do,â Taehyung replied smoothly. âBut itâs part of my charm. So, what was it really? A nice heart-to-heart, or were you two silently fighting like usual?â
Jungkook paused, his hand tightening briefly on his glass. âNo⊠no, actually. It was just a conversation. Awkward, but⊠maybe the most normal weâve spoken to each other in years.â
Taehyungâs grin widened as he pushed off the counter, his eyes alight with mischief. âTold you.â
âShut up.â
âIâm always right and you know it.âÂ
âNo youâre not.â
âShe was sweet, though, wasnât she?â Taehyung continued, his voice quieter now, his teasing edge softening. âAlmost shy? Kind, even?â
Jungkook hesitated, his gaze fixed on the countertop. He hated how easily Taehyung saw through him, but there was no use denying it. â...Yeah,â he admitted grudgingly, barely above a whisper.
Taehyung clapped him on the shoulder, his grin shifting into something genuine. âSee? Progress. Keep trying.â
Jungkook sighed, rubbing the back of his neck where your touch still lingered faintly. âYeah. Easier said than done.â
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Poolverine 12. Writer and editor au
âAnd how many fucking times have you tried calling this guy?â Logan asked Ellie who looked far too tired for it to only be Monday.Â
âThree on Thursday, ten on Friday, and so far sixteen today.â He checked his watch, it was only 11am.Â
âYou sure heâs not dead?â The woman shook her head, sitting up straighter as she pulled her computer close. Logan came around to her side, watching as she typed away. A website he knew his daughter used to post memes and âshit-posts dad, itâs a hellsiteâ came up. She logged in and second later had another account up.Â
âHeâs been blogging all night. Memes, pokemon fanart, some boobs on his private account. This is his main where fans sometimes send questions and he sometimes answers them. That question there.â She pointed to a question. âWhy donât you get off your lazy ass and reply to your goddamn editorâ. âI asked him that at 2am. Â
Logan scratched at his scruff as he read the reply. âMy dear dear Ellie, suck my dick. Iâll send you the next chapter once Iâm done.â
âAnd thatâs the only communication heâs given you? When the hell is his book due?â He lent back. Ellie turned in her seat and shook her head at him.Â
âNo. I sent him another question and he made a post about authors needing time to see their babies grow or some shit. Thatâs the last I heard from him, but he reblogged a cat playing in snow about a minute ago.â She was back on her laptop, refreshing the page. âAnd some fanart for his series.â
âHm.â Logan grunted looking over the screen once more. Deadpool, real name Wade Wilson was a handful. Thatâs how he went through six editors in two years. Ellie was at her wits end and had called in Logan to deal with him. Logan was the editor they called in as a last choice. He wasnât afraid to barge into an author's house and harass them until they wrote. Charles, the owner of the publishing house, said to him that this guy might be his biggest task yet. âAnd when is his book due?â
âNext monday. He has a week to get three chapters done, and for me to edit them. Charles wanted it half a month ago.â
âGot it. Pack up your laptop, we are going to give this little prick a visit.âÂ
-
âHey now, youâre an all star, something something, get paid.â A voice from the otherside of the door that the two editors stood at. Logan clenched his jaw as he knocked on the door. There was silence before a light patter of feet came to the door. Logan stood there with his arms crossed, Ellie just off to the side to not be seen by the author through the peephole.Â
âAre you the dancer Dopinder got me for my birthday?â Came the voice on the other side of the door. Logan uncrossed his arms, and jutted out a hip.Â
âSure thing Bub. Open the door so we can get the party started, darlinââ The door was unlocked and thrown open with such speed it nearly got torn off its hinges. Logan didnât waste another second, shouldering himself inside with Ellie on his heels.Â
âWhat- Oh come on! You got me excited for nothing?â The man whine when he saw the woman enter. âWhat, did you get me this piece of eye candy in hopes to trade for the next chapter?â
Logan ignored the man as he looked around the room. Pizza boxes, random socks thrown on the floor, the dumbest looking dog heâd ever seen laying beside an open laptop. He moved towards the laptop and opened it up.Â
âChapter 23
What the actual fuck do I write here. They all died. The end.â
âHey, that's private info thatâs only supposed to be between me and the Xavierâs publishing house.â Wade had slapped the laptop out of Loganâs hands. It landed on the dog, who gave a disgruntled sniff and layed back down.Â
âI am a fucking editor. Heâs still working on chapter 23, what was the last chapter you got?â Ellie opened up her own laptop and was going through some documents. She looked a little less disheartened when she looked up again.Â
â20.â Logan grabbed Wade by the shoulder and shoved him down beside the dog. With one hand holding him there, he bent down so they were face to face. He ignored the manâs pretty eyes as he spoke.Â
âHere is what we are going to do Bub. You are going to give your editor those two chapters, then you and I are going to get the next few out. I donât care if I have to tie you up and glue your handâs to the fucking keyboard. You will start writing, and you will not stop until your fingers bleed. You are getting this done, today.â Wade looked from Logan to Ellie.Â
âWhere the hell did you find this guy? Heâs going to get my dick hard, not get rid of my writerâs block.â Logan grabbed him, spun him around and pinned him on the floor, sitting on the manâs back.Â
âIâm the editor they call when authors are being little shits.â Wade moaned into the floor and nodded.Â
âYeah, Okay. I can work with this. Sexy mafia boss business. Got a real bad boy air aboutcha âÂ
âSend me the last two chapters Wade, and I can leave you two to⊠all this.â She waved a hand at them. Logan sat the computer in front of Wade, still sitting on his back. The man quickly sent the editor the last two chapters. He then opened his own document.Â
âChapter 23.
Write here about MC getting his fucking back blown out by some mafia boss-editor person.â
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Nick Mag Highlights - Nick Mag Presents: Danny Phantom (Fall 2005)
Well, well, well, fancy meeting you here. Welcome back to my blog and the words that inhabit it. Today, Halloween comes early this year when we read through another exciting issue of Nickelodeon Magazine Presents, this time all about Danny Phantom. Boo! Trick-or-Treat! Deck the halls!
And not only is this edition of Nick Mag Highlights spooky, itâs also⊠pretty chill. Yâknow? Just takinâ it easy, reading a handful of comics and probably a crossword puzzle or something. As much as I love researching the kind of stuff Nickelodeon Magazine includes in its articles, sometimes itâs nice to sit back and take things at face value and just see what the state of Nickelodeon was like at any given time, and these short-and-sweet issues of Nick Mag Presents are the perfect venue for just that.
But why exactly am I tackling this purportedly Halloween-themed issue in August? Well, mainly itâs because that new Danny Phantom graphic novel just came out⊠two weeks ago (oops). And I really enjoyed it! So Iâve since been in a big Danny Phantom mood lately. I even ended up re-watching the whole first season and had a blast doing so. This show was a real obsession of mine as a kid, so maybe this blog post is also a way for me to give it its dues.
This issue can be found online here, read along⊠if you dare!
Another Nick Mag Presents, another humorously wordy introduction. If youâre unfamiliar, basically all these Presents-styled issues have a panel on the first page with a character essentially advertising the book to you and talking about all the comics and activities included inside. This one here features Danny and an understandably perturbed ghost, for example.Â
Since these issues were usually sold in stores as opposed to through a mail subscription, I suppose this is the issueâs way of hooking you in and explaining to you why you should buy it. I think a kid would probably be more inclined to just flip through the book and arrive at the same conclusion, but I guess this approach doesnât hurt anybody.
But anyway, letâs see here⊠aw, only two wholly new comics? The Fairly Oddparents-themed issue I took a look at previously had five original comics. Thatâs a bummer, but at least weâve still got variety⊠SpongeBob, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and The Wild Thornberrys, oh my! Even Tak makes an appearance here, two years before the premiere of his actual Nickelodeon cartoon, meaning this was an attempt to interest readers in the then-recently released video game: Tak 3: The Great Juju Challenge. Not sure if that worked.
And if youâll take a look at that yellow, spiky bubble with words on the right there, this September 2005 issue is meant to coincide with the then-upcoming two episode-long Danny Phantom special, âThe Ultimate Enemyâ, which featured Danny taking on a more powerful version of himself from the future. Seems like the included removable poster is even themed around that very episode! Letâs just hope that poster is still left intact, eh?
So first up, weâve got a page to get you up to speed on the main cast if youâre new to the show. Itâs even got some new factoids for the already familiar superfans! For example: Did you know Sam is into anime? I sure didnât.
Oh, and if youâre wondering where series villain Vlad Masters is, donât worry, they go over him later on in the book.
On the right youâll find an easy if not slightly amusing word puzzle, which tasks you with solving questions where each answer contains the word boo. Simple enough for a kid while still being worth the time, methinks.
Although all the stock ghost art on the page gets me wondering, how come most of the ghosts in the show manifest as typical-looking cartoon ghosts while others manifest in a human form? I guess maybe it comes down to the strength of your spirit. Whoâs to say?
Youâve met the characters, now itâs time to meet the voices behind them! Iâll always take a side of interviews with my Nickelodeon Magazine, and this is no exception. The questions are cute, and I had fun reading them. Not much to say.
So weâre finally here at the first comic of the issue, and⊠not really a fan of this one! Yeah, sorry to start this retrospective off on a sour note but this isnât really doing it for me. The main villain of this one is Youngblood, who already isnât exactly one of my favorite villains from the series. But here theyâve got him and all the other characters stuck in a pretty by-the-numbers plot where Danny and co. get stuck babysitting the brat while he tries to maim them, with them of course unable to fight back lest they face the wrath of his parents (who are humongous lizard monsters, for some reason).Â
If youâre even a little familiar with cartoons youâve probably already seen quite a few takes on this formula already. And even if you like Youngblood as a character they donât have him doing his usual pirate shtick heâs remembered for, so Iâm not sure what anyone is getting out of this, really. What's especially not helping is that this goes on for ten pages, further dragging out an already tired concept.Â
So there you have it, I guess. Done-to-death story with accordingly done-to-death jokes, a lame villain, and about two pages of action. I will say though, Danny and Tuckerâs babysitting poster on page 2 did get a smile out of me, at least.
Youâve met the characters, and youâve also met the voices behind them, now itâs time to meet⊠the rest of the characters! The villain ones! These guys really made the show for me, cause the team behind the show really just seemed to understand the assignment and made all of them really unique and memorable.
So we can see theyâve been ranked in terms of how dangerous they all are, which is a fun idea. âCourse youâve got Vlad at the top of, but then thereâs Technus just behind him? I canât say I remember him being notably more dangerous than any of the other baddies, Iâm fairly certain he gets swept up at the end of his specific episode just like all the rest. Iâm pretty sure Valerie gave Danny a bigger run for his money, and sheâs down at #3.
Woah now, Iâm starting to scrutinize the power levels of cartoon characters. Cartoon characters from a show I havenât even fully watched all the way through since I was a kid, no less. Better put a stop to that before it gets ugly.
Cool little cartoons on the left there, that one on the top right is properly devious and Iâm all for it. All the art is quite lovely too.
The right is⊠well, itâs Mad Libs, thereâs no other way around it. Yâknow the Mad Libs website refers to itself as âthe worldâs greatest word gameâ but I seriously think they need to take that up with Scrabble, or hell, even Hangman. Yeah I was never a big fan of this kind of fill-in-the-blanks stuff, but I guess itâs a pretty inoffensive activity to include.
Check out Dannyâs dad rocking that emo hair.
And now weâve made it to the second and last new comic for the issue, and unfortunately itâs only a two-pager. But hey, if my thoughts on the previous ten-page comic said anything, it was that I prefer quality over quantity. And this one is⊠okay. Itâs funny enough, does what all it needs to with the concept, and it definitely doesnât overstay its welcome. Iâm again surprised by the lack of action in both of these comics, considering Danny Phantom is an action show, after all, but itâs not like the show wasnât a comedy either, so itâs not that weird.
I guess while weâre here I could nitpick it a bit. The lineart here courtesy of series creator Butch Hartman* is a bit wonky at times. Thereâs the aforementioned emo hair Dannyâs dad is wearing, but my main gripe is that dog robot just doesnât really fit in with the rest of the artstyle. It being the only new original character design for this comic as well doesnât seem like a coincidence to me. I guess the team was fine with whatever Hartman drew because he made the show after all, so surely he knows what heâs doing, right?*
*Insert obligatory comment about how much of a loser Butch Hartman is here.
Just want to give a shoutout to this pretty creative puzzle here. It actually stumped me a little when I first read it! Those monster designs are pretty entertaining too. Solid activity overall.
Next up itâs an installment of Sam Shade, which was a short-lived recurring series in Nickelodeon Magazine. Apparently the series ran from 2002 to 2005, so this may be one of the last times a Sam Shade comic was ever printed in a Nick Magazine.Â
These comics mainly consist of the titular Detective Sam Shade trying to solve some mystery, sleuthing around the area in a series of detailed, wordy scenes. Likewise, you as the reader are as well tasked with scouring the pages for clues to help deduce the culprit. Each panel here smoothly moves into the next, making for something like a Whereâs Waldo puzzle but with an actual narrative. Itâs a really good idea! A shame this series didnât last longer.
Hey, is that Carl from Jimmy Neutron on the bottom right there?
Pretty nice My Life as a Teenage Robot comic here. Although thatâs kind of unfortunate in a way, since that means I havenât got much to talk about! Itâs pretty much a 1-to-1 translation from animation to comic here. The artstyle and writing are both on point, itâs all just in a shorter, more paper-y format.
I wonder why the aliensâ speech bubble has flowers in it. Is that a theater reference, maybe?
The design of these fiery aliens are particularly awesome - simple but effective. Iâm surprised they used such a cool design in a comic that was going to be seen by way less people as opposed to using it in the cartoon. Man, this show is so cool, even its supplementary media is stylish!
But anyway, do you want to know how this story ends? Read it yourself!
Ohh man, I distinctly remember this comic. I donât remember what issue of Nickelodeon Magazine this one is sourced from, but whichever one it was, I had it. The storyâs nothing to write home about really, It's another take on the age old tale of âSquidward yells at SpongeBob and Patrick for doing something annoying, so they inadvertently ruin his lifeâ. Squidward must have a really good lawyer for him to be able to bounce back from all the crap SpongeBob and Pat get him into.
This version of the usual story has S. Bob and P. Rick making a cake in Squidwardâs image. Mr. Krabs ends up mistaking it for the real Squidward, bringing it to the Krusty Krab, and having it run the cash register, obviously to disastrous results. Itâs all pretty par for the course, and thereâs some funny lines to be had.
Weirdly though, unless Iâm blind, I canât seem to find any credits for this one. Not in the comic itself or at the back of the book. Iâm pretty sure the artist(s) behind this one did more SpongeBob SquarePants comics though, and I wouldnât be surprised if the same writing team had a hand in them too. I distinctly remember one where all the characters turn into desserts. Or maybe it was an alternate universe where theyâre all desserts? Something like that. Maybe Iâll find it and cover it on this blog someday!
And up next, itâs a Wild Thornberrys comic of all things (said with feigned surprise, having read the table of contents moments ago). And Iâm just now realizing none of these comics have anything to do with ghosts, or horror, really. Quite the magazine youâve got just in time for October, Nickelodeon!
But hey, itâs not right to judge a piece of art specifically by the context in which it is presented. Especially when it was originally published in a magazine that likely came out years earlier, probably not even around the month of October. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that, even when it comes to filling the pages of a magazine.
This comic is especially cool, anyway, as you can no doubt tell from its distinct shakeup in style!
The story has Eliza receiving some gifts from her Japanese friend, Mayumi (who was probably in the show, presumably), one of those gifts being a homemade manga. And while Iâm not exactly an expert on the Japanese arts, I certainly find this art convincing and really appreciate the attention to detail. I bet any kids that were fans of manga around this time must have felt pretty seen to have one of their hobbies referenced in a rather unlikely place, and with such attention to detail no less.
One thing I can also appreciate is that this story really isnât something they could have pulled off in the show itself (unless they studio really wanted to have an anime-themed episode and go through the undertaking of doing an episode in an entirely different, foreign animation style all on their usual budget), so overall this is a really fun idea done quite flawlessly. My only gripe is we donât get to see a manga-styled Nigel Thornberry, but what can you do?
Oh boy, the Tak comic, cool. Now, I know these games have their fans, but I canât say Iâm one of them. I did watch the show a bit though, but Iâve heard it has nothing to do with the games, so I guess that makes me rather unprepared to tackle this two-page comic on an intellectual, researched level. I will say though that I think the Sam Shade comic from earlier pulled off this style of free-flowing, no-panel storytelling to a much greater effect. The amount of Taks they threw around the page makes it feel really busy and cramped, and they had to essentially remove the second character Tak is traveling with from the story since I guess they were strapped for page space.
But yeah, the colors are nice at least, and Tak media is especially hard to come by nowadays, so I suppose if I were more into the property, I might be more into this.
Last comic of the day, and itâs Jimmy Neutron. At least this one kinda fits the theme, I mean, aliens are almost in the same horror-league as vampires, zombies, ghosts, and all that. This is a pretty quality one to end off the book with, and in regards to Jimmy Neutron, this is one of the better ways these characters have been translated to 2D. Although the incredibly warm colors and harsh shadows throw me for a loop. Pretty good overall!
Before we wrap things up, I would like to mention that advert for The Nicktoons Film Festival on the right. I totally forgot these used to be a thing! From 2004 to 2009 Nickelodeon hosted a film festival and let viewers vote for their favorite animated short, along with letting proper animation people who know what theyâre talking about vote on their favorites, too. Lots of great up-and-coming cartoonists took part in these festivals. This one in 2005 actually featured a short by J. G. Quintel that eventually was used as a basis for his own Cartoon Network show, Regular Show! You can check the short out below:
youtube
Neat bit of history there, yeah?
Even though Iâm still a bit disappointed this issue didnât include more original content, I still think this ended up being a fairly entertaining walk down memory lane. And hey, I hope you had a good time too. Iâm doubly disappointed, however, that the archive of this issue didnât come with that tear-out poster! Now weâll never see it in its full hi-def glory.
As always, thanks for stopping by and checking out another bit of Nick history with me. Have yourself a good one, and Iâll see you all next time!
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Ok, listen, since I am a bad person who said I would post this two weeks ago, and since Ao3 is down, here are the first few pages of the vet fic, and I will try and be the change I want to see by editing the first part and posting it this week.
The Dales in the morning light were ethereal. Less ethereal was the flat tyre which Merlin received, courtesy of a nail which some berk had jettisoned from their flatbed, and left in the road for such innocent recipients as a man barreling along at the speed of Itâs a Bloody Nice Day, and singing accompaniment to Lady Gaga. So what had started off as a day of impossible sun, which brought out every colour there was, now was a little more dingy; now had assured that the lustre was off not only his mood, but his person, which had to crawl about under the truck to get on the spare with some cursing as multihued as the hillsides. There was a reasonable expectation of muck in his line of work, but he had not thought to be wearing it before getting down in it with whatever animal was ailing, and especially not before he had made an impression of youthful competence on some clients who had been used all these long decades to that shuffling figure of experience which had been bringing their livelihood into the world and seeing it humanely out for all their working lives.
So he had had to wipe off the worst of it with the paper towel in which he had carried his breakfast, holding the toast in his mouth whilst he used its wrapper to make himself vaguely presentable, and then going along in a slightly more subdued manner, for the sake of the spare, in the sunlight which urged him to speed. He made the drive for Pendragon Farm Stud fifteen minutes later than he had meant to make it, and parking outside the stables, got out of the truck with his kit and his wellies, turning back his sleeves and kicking the door shut with his heel. There was a man coming on down the drive, bearing the presence of Ownership; a blonde and rather fit-looking man round Merlinâs age, when he had thought to meet with one near Gaiusâ. The man stopped at the same moment Merlin stopped. He was dressed in tailored slacks and jacket, and looking at him as if Merlin had done something dreadful to him. Now he was closer Merlin noticed he was not rather fit but extremely fit; and his jawline was modelled from stone. In the sunlight his hair was one with the dazzle, as if he were wearing a cap of it; and then he opened his mouth, and spoke from the depths of Eton, turning himself, immediately and alarmingly, into one of those posh precious bollocks whom Merlin had brawled at uni.Â
âWho the hell are you?â the man demanded.
âEr, Uther? Pendragon? Iâm Merlin. My uncle Gaius said heâd told you to expect me? Sorry. He swore to me he remembered to tell you.â
âIâm not Uther, Iâm his son, Arthur. Whereâs Gaius?â
âBack at the practice. Heâs sent me to do his rounds.â
âSo Gaius has sent some--lackey to check on our multimillion-dollar horses?â
âNo, heâs sent his nephew. Iâve come to help him with the practice. Heâs reducing his hours. Heâs going to have me start picking up a lot of the livestock work.â
âWhy on earth is he doing that?â Arthur snapped.
âBecause heâs old as fuck?â Merlin replied, shifting the bag in his hand to the other hand. He would have liked to hit Arthur in the nose with it. It was a rather big nose; shaped for his face, and also for punching.
âHeâs what?â
âHeâs really old!â Merlin shouted, enunciating helpfully. âSo heâs sending me, his far younger, more charming nephew, to start picking up the work thatâs getting too hard on him anymore.â And he dimpled, to show that the charming bit was not mere empty wind.
Arthur ignored the dimples. âAnd what exactly are your qualifications?â
âSix years at the Royal College of Veterinarian Surgeons, like every other qualified vet. And about five years practising.â
âYou look young.â
âIâm nearly thirty. Iâve been out of school nearly six years.â
âWell,â Arthur said imperiously, âGaius has been practising nearly thirty years. So heâs just handing off his lifeâs work to someâŠlittle--upstartâŠbaby?â
Now the urge to punch him was not only fomenting but seething; he had a little height on him, and practical muscle, gotten from wrestling pigs who did not want to be castrated, rather than the gym, and fancied he could give this bloke some manners before his fat head had registered there was any such lunacy as politeness being drubbed into it. He shifted the bag again. âYeah, you sure look like youâve got ages and ages on me; or is that just posh skincare? Are you actually an old, withered knob, or just acting like one?â
âAm I what?â Arthur blurted out, and spontaneously invented a new shade of purple; then there was a woman wedging her way between them, and saying, âWhatâs going on?â
âHe called me a knob!â Arthur cried.
The woman looked at him from out of a face that turned his bisexual heart for a moment heterosexual; if she had stabbed him, rather than spoken to him, he would have graciously thanked her. âHello; the new vet, I assume?â
âYeah. Merlin.â And he held out his hand, as he would have done to Arthur in the spirit of human civility; except that Arthur had met neither the standards for humanity, nor civility, which included such difficult requirements as not being a rotting limp prick.Â
âMorgana,â she said, giving him a small, smooth hand, which crushed out the life from his bones. And to Arthur she said: âWere you being a knob?â
âHe was,â Merlin offered helpfully.
âWell, there you go. No surprise, really. Terribly sorry Arthur was your first impression of the farm, but you can always ignore him, and if that doesnât work, run him over a little with your truck.â
Arthur was outraged. âYouâre just going to take his side? Heâs a complete stranger; Iâm your brother.â
âYes, but his claims are in line with your behaviour. Why donât you run along and look at yourself in a mirror? Iâll show Merlin where to start.â
âHow about the bloody gate where he came in?â Arthur snapped.Â
âGaius isnât coming out. So I can look at your horses, or nobody looks at your horses till you find a vet who doesnât mind changing your nappy to put you in a better mood.â
âOh, excellent,â Morgana said gleefully. âI didnât realise Iâd be witnessing a murder today.â And then she put her arm through Merlinâs, and led him away, a thrilling experience, full of her perfume, and side breast. So he had got the flat tyre, and nearly come to blows with a twat; but otherwise the day was looking to be lovely.
Arthur had come down the drive to see a man who was not Gaius, getting out of Gaiusâ truck; that was what he had registered, firstly: the dark head where there ought to have been a grey one, and the unfolding of a body at least a head taller than Gaiusâ body. Then the man had turned back his sleeves from some forearms which had taken their shape from honest labour, rather than dumbbells, and looked up, and Arthurâs brain, very nearly audibly, had shut down its seething processes. He had been thinking about one of the mares to be sold; and then he had been thinking about nothing. He felt that all his systems had hiccoughed. He was stood in the centre of the drive, waiting as if for a reboot, whilst the man waved his face about in the sunlight. It was under a good head of black curls, with a few of them wild on his brow; and he had cultivated for some cheekbones that would have stood out on a model enough stubble to meet those standards which Arthur had heard were the standards of godliness.Â
Then the man had lashed out at some perfectly reasonable questioning, and showed that those minor advantages of genetics were the only advantages of his person; and now he had taken himself off on the arm of Morgana, to subject the poor mares in their delicacy to his personality and fumbling. Whilst they were nearing their foaling, he would be putting the ungainly hands on them, where they had been used to the graceful touches of Gaius, who had known not only how to handle a horse, but how to handle society. This man had arrived from the backwoods, without his bearings, or manners, and thought he could treat regular men the same as he treated what sows or sheep that he housed with.Â
Arthur stormed into the office, and took off his jacket, and very reasonably threw it. It brought the lamp down on the floor, and Uther down on him.
âWhat was that?â he demanded.
âNothing,â Arthur said. âI missed the coat hook, is all. Why didnât you tell me there was a new vet coming?â
âIâd forgot,â Uther said dismissively, and turned back to his own office, and paperwork.
âAre you sure heâs qualified?â Arthur demanded, bulling through the door he rarely dared even to enter, let alone storm. âHeâs very young.â
Uther was turning over some pages on his desk, looking at them, rather than Arthur, the same division of attention which Arthur had been getting all through his childhood, expecting it was manhood would make him worthy of eye contact; and feeling now, though the anger was still hot in him, the same smallness of being which he always had standing before the work that was Utherâs true love and only love. âHeâs Gaiusâ nephew. Iâm sure heâs adequate.â
âHeâs only been out of school a few years.â
âGaius tells me heâs practised for nearly six years, Arthur. If you have concerns after seeing his work, then bring those to me. Otherwise your reservations are pointless. Theyâre horses. Theyâll make do with anyone competent enough to keep them alive and healthy.â
So that was the matter, done and dealt with; and he had to go back into his office feeling troubled in himself, in his reaction to the lean figure getting out of the truck instead of the squat; and his reaction to his reaction. He had possibly behaved a bit abysmally. He had possibly made a small but reprehensible knob of himself, because some strange man had come to see to his loved ones. He sat down at his desk, and picked up a pen, and fiddled it round in his fingers, and set it down, and picked it up, to fiddle it some more; and then because there was still a boiling in him, because he was still unsettled in the roots of him, he went out the door and into the sun with his hands in his pockets, and made for the stables at the very casual pace of a stroller, out for a walk, and not an apology. He heard Morgana laughing, and strange laughter following it; and stopped outside of the barn from which it was emanating, thinking to turn back, or go on as if in oblivion. And he turned and walked into the opening, where the daylight turned itself in a flash of brilliance to dimness, and he was amongst those cool black pockets of solitude in which the horses drowsed or nosed at their fodder. He saw Morgana at the far end of the aisle, leaning on one of the stalls, and speaking, and laughing, over the partition which was between her and the cheekbones which apparently had blinded her to the wretchedness of their owner. Then she was tearing herself away, to give him a look; or rather, to slap him with it. âBe polite,â she said. âOr Iâll toss you out on your arse.â
He scowled at her âIâm twice your size.â
âYes, but so are all of the grooms, and they like me better than you.â But she had shifted aside to make room for him, so that he could see over the door and into the workspace which Merlin had set up in the hay, where he had laid out the ultrasound machine, and now was lubricating the probe and his glove.Â
âBe careful,â Arthur warned.
âOh, crap. I guess you donât know; the schoolingâs changed since Gaius went. Yeah. They teach you just to ram it up there and stir it round a bit. Really, if the horse isnât shrieking, youâre doing something wrong.â He looked up from under the curling fringe, going round behind the mare, and speaking to her in a far lovelier tone than he had used on Arthur. âSomeone want to hold her? And by someone, I mean the person who didnât call me a useless infant baby who has no business touching his precious capitalist wet dreams.â
Arthur frowned at him. âI just said you looked young, is all.â
âYou literally called me a baby, which is ironic, considering you were acting like one.â He gave the mareâs hindquarters a little firm pat. âWhatâs her name?â
âSomething dreadful like Enchantress, but Arthur and I call her Mellie,â Morgana replied, whilst Arthur with his hands still safely in his pockets continued to look over the scene with a critical eye, to see whether and where Merlin was failing her. But he was saying in the accent which Arthur couldnât quite place, âMellie, ok, you look like a Mellie donât you, no, weâre not anything dreadful like âEnchantressâ are we; why are the humans giving us these silly little names, hmm?â and giving her a fond enough stroke down the spine, to quiet the flesh that was flinching there. Then to Morgana, he said: âWould you hold her, please?â And Arthur, slipping in through the door before Merlin could do anything more than make a face which people did not make when they were about to be gifted with Arthurâs proximity, said, âIâll do it.â He had taken hold of the halter already, and was rubbing the fine velvet nap of her nose. If they had been alone he would have kissed the soft tip which he was soothingly stroking, and murmured to her as if they were confidants; but here under the judgement of one of the blue eyes, and the eyebrow doubtingly pointed at him, he gave her the little scratch, and some wretched trite rallying, which he did by clearing his throat, and saying in a firm voice, rather than a tender one, âGood girl.â
âJust so you know, Iâm the haunting type. If you let this horse kick me to death, Iâll come back. Youâll never know a moment of peace again; I know every sea shanty there is, and Iâve invented some of my own.â
Arthur wrinkled up his face. âSheâs not going to kick you to death, you great girlâs blouse. And why are you inventing sea shanties? Can we expect you to be going to sea any time hopefully soon?â
âTo prepare for haunting, obviously. You donât want to be roaming round in the afterlife without the means to annoy people.â
âYou donât seem to be in any danger of that,â Arthur said, giving the lips which roamed over his palm a little fond tickle.Â
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Writing Update - July 2023
I'll admit it; I didn't even peek at my stats this month until just now. And hey, I'm pleasantly surprised!
I knew July was going to be a bit of a tossup, productivity-wise. At work, I am starting to get crazy busy and they're requiring us to go into the office a few times a week after being purely work from home for over three years. At home, we had some major work done on the house (very $$) and it's been stupid hot, which never does good things for my mental health. And we went to TFCon a few weeks ago, which was a blast, but I also got zero writing done while I was there.
That said, I wrote a 8,290 words in July, more than doubling my output in May. I finished my TF Big Bang fic (coming in September!!) and immediately started casting about for something else to write. Ignoring the six (count them, SIX) works in progress I've got going right now, I started something new (sigh).
But hey, I'm writing again! And this past weekend I finished that "something new" story, so look forward to that in the next few days.
I have a little project I want to spend some time in August focusing on, but the other thing I want to do is get serious about starting to post that big longfic I've been working on for well over a year. It's featured heavily in the Six Sentence Sundays over the last - oh, 18 months or so, and I really cannot wait to start sharing it with people. (I think I've been having a bit of anxiety over it because it's fairly different from anything I've written before.)
Posted
Rechargus Interruptus. 1090 words. A reposted story; it was backdated to its original posting date so it didnât appear on AO3âs âfront page.â
WIPs
This is only what I actually put words down on this month.
Sharing is Caring. 3500 words. Just your basic porn without plot fic, set in the Praxian Trine series. I just need to finish up the editing.
Zine project. 940 words. Nothing I can share about this yet.
Sun and Moon (working title). 45,800 words. Man, I really want to start posting this. But.... Hnnrgh. (Also this project's "real" title is probably going to be The Prime and His Protector.)
Stump. 660 words. A photo prompt story that I posted here a little while ago. My goal for next month is to clean it up and get it posted to AO3.
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more musings:
hi, my loves! iâm a little late to the party (itâs been an insane year, an insane few months, an insane week), but a week ago, i published the last 3 chapters of bring me home and that unleashed a WHOLEEEEE bunch of complicated emotions. i penned this little love letter to my newest fic and to all of you đ€
we are one day out from 2025, which is both a relief and also, in its own way, completely devastating. as i reflect on 2024, i am just so grateful that bring me home was a story i got to tell. itâs forever my pride and joy. i love it and i love all of you.
thank you, thank you, thank you.
now the letter:
and with that, 27 chapters have come and gone! weâve made it! bring me home
is yours! down the line (harryâs version) is an actual, real thing and you can read her!
for me, today comes with an incredibly convoluted mix of emotions: elation that my readers get to meet her in her entirety and know her the way i do. exhaustion after crossing the finish line. relief knowing all 27 chapters are published. devastated that I won't be working on this story anymore. anger and sadness and grief, because these past months have been hell and i wish we had a lighter world to exist in. grateful to the bmh universe for being my haven over the past two months. grateful to all of you and this family we've created. grateful, all the time, for the boys and the joy they've brought into my most formative years.
bring me home has two lives. plotting this story took several years. before writing a single sentence, i was creating 50+ pages worth of planning docs and sending pey 20 minute long audio messages and annotating down the line. it was pure passion-fueled work. then, over the course of ten months, i got to write her. alongside an amazing guardians season and along with this yearâs best memories. late nights writing and writing and laughing with pey and writing some more. there is so much joy attached to this story. itâs the staple of the writing process. maybe thatâs why sheâs over 400k- a part of me never wanted this to end.
the second life, of course, is more difficult to talk about. when bring me home was published on october 13th, no one could have predicted how our worlds would change only three days later. it was unthinkable then and it still is now. for several weeks, i hated myself for publishing this story at the worst possible time.
now, though, i think bring me home was published exactly when it was meant to.
i needed this story. i needed to be able to escape into this universe where the boys are professional baseball players and they live in my gorgeous little city and theyâre safe and happy and together. editing bring me home healed something in me. it was fun, it was hard, it made me laugh and it made me cry and getting to see all of you react made every tear worth it. fiction is healing. community is healing.
bring me home, thank you for being the bright light in an otherwise horrific time. we got a trauma bond like no other, babe.
i was really adamant, in late october, that i wanted to wait to post bmh. i wanted this story to feel light & happy. i now know that itâs okay that it also feels heavy, dark, & grief stricken. if i waited until it stopped hurting to finish bring me home, it never would have been finished. & it needed to be.
i hope bring me home can offer you comfort in the way it has brought me comfort. thank you so much for being patient and understanding and giving me the grace to approach editing and posting this story in the way i needed to. sheâs yours. finally. please be gentle with her.
many of my favorite memories from my stories have come after they've been published. watching them start to mean something to the readers, too, is so special. it gives the story a new life. It's magical.
maybe this can be bring me homeâs THIRD life. good things, after all, come in threes. baseball has taught me as much :-)
thank you for everything x cheers to the last bring me home day. iâm filled with so much gratitude and also i am so ready to take the nap of ALL naps. i love you all so much.
bring me home, forever. x
-lexie x
#ao3#larry fanfiction#bring me home#down the line#i love you all so much#open letters#so many emotions#i have felt too many emotions as of late#i must stop
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Slow start
Day three.
Well, day 2 was kind of a bust, but I had already expected that. While I am writing as a full-time job, there is a bit of flexibility in it. I knew yesterday, and the next few days, will have no progress. Before I put my notice in with my employee, I had 12/19 as well as 12/21-12/22 requested off. I have personal days, just like anyone else.
As far as "the job" is concerned, Monday was very productive. Only a single page written in a 9-hour workday. Sounds horrible, doesn't it? Well, there is a business side to this as well. Reactivating social media accounts and updating my website took up the first two hours. I have about an hour a day allotted to social media. I might take it each day; I may do a couple of hours here and there.
The rest of the day was reviewing the current rewrite. The first draft of this current piece was finished about ten months ago. Since then, I have been treading water on the rewrite. I may get into the nuts and bolts of "my process" in another post. But, for now, consider it loosely defined like this:
Basic Outline.
Vomit out a first draft. Ignore being good, and just get the important parts nailed down. It'll be sloppy, and barely worth calling writing, but it is the foundation.
First rewrite: do the writing. This is the mechanical part of it. Make it good.
Second Rewrite: Self-editing of content. I.e. trim the fat.
Third - Fifth Rewrite(s): Grammar, spelling, structure, themes all get a final review. These are usually very fast. I usually need a few of these. As this blog will attest, my grammar and spelling are terrible.
Send to the editor. Thank God for editors. By the way, they're always right. Ignore them when you absolutely have to. I will limit myself to one "I'm not changing that" per story.
Revise based on editor notes.
Final editor pass. Be prepared to justify the thing you kept which your editor said to change. Smile broadly when the editor doesn't tell you to remove it the second time.
Release.
Number 3 is the longest, and most arduous step for me. However, this is where the book starts to actually resemble something worth reading. I am about 40% of the way through this rewrite, but I had to reread all of the previous work. This reflects how unfocused the process had been while I was working full-time on my previous day job.
This draft is still a mess. Luckily the core themes are properly worked out, and they evolve as I was hoping. My worst fear was repetition. I had to be sure the core ideas weren't creeping back into the piece later on. The themes need to evolve through the story, even a non-fiction story. Somehow, even as disconnected as those rewrites were, the themes are moving forward through the book at a natural progression.
If I stick with this format, I should finish two to three chapters a week. This doesn't look like it will be longer than my previous books. So. it looks like a month before the narrative is finished even with the holidays. Then I do the follow up rewrites. I also have appendices to write, but these are more academic than narrative, so they should go pretty quick and will only have one or two rewrites (if that).
During this process I will journal my thoughts and feelings here. I don't know if anyone will care. That's not the point. I think of it like those behind-the-scenes extras for films. Mostly, they are self-gratifying, but if you are interested in how the sausage is made, then its available.
I also want to use this to document how this process may change from story to story. I am curious how it might look after a few years. Will I have refined my process, or dumped it altogether? I wonder what future me will think of this. I bet future Ruel will take a look, get through the first half, delete it, and hope no one scraped a copy or thinks to look at the way back machine's archives to dredge this up.
One last note. I am rereading "On Writing" by Stephen King. I started in my final week of employment. I highly recommend it for any author, aspiring or not. While it has some advice, it is more of a peek into Stephen King as a writer. I am not a huge fan of King. I like many of his stories, but I don't go running to by a new book of his just because it was released.
However, I always find this book to be reaffirming, and inspiring. I don't agree with everything he says, but that's ok. I think the core value of the book isn't the advice. To me, it feels like he is sharing his experience and passing it along in case what works for him can help other writers. That's not to say one should ignore the advice. Its good advice. But that doesn't mean it works for everyone.
I don't expect the same fame, or any fame. I don't even know if writing will be profitable yet. But there is this sense of kinship when you read this book. I can relate to him, and much of what he says. The first time I read this I found myself nodding at a page like he could see me agreeing with him. It's like a conversation with King. "I totally get where you're coming from, Stephen. Telepathy."
Anyways, it's not a revolutionary book that will suddenly make a writer out of anyone. It's not designed for that. But, if you are a writer, it's a good read, and I recommend it. It's great for slumps. For me, I just needed another writer's voice to tell me I'm not crazy.
Welcome to your first day on the job, Ruel. Did you bring your toolbox?
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Looking for a Place to Happen
Warnings: non-consent sex and rape (series), age gap, general stupidity.
This is dark!biker!Sam Wilson x reader and explicit. 18+ only. Â Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.
Series Synopsis: Thereâs lots happening in Birch and you find it all too amusing.
Sister series to Smalltown Bringdown, When the Weight Comes Down, Little Bones, and Fully Completely
Note: Weâre starting Samâs installment but this weekend Iâll probably only be catching up on my headcanons and drabbles because Iâve been a lazy bitch and Iâm sorry to those who have been waiting.
Thanks to everyone for their patience and feedback. :)
I really hope you enjoy. đ
<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!
Chapter 1: I've got a job, I explore
đđđ
The sleepy town of Birch was awake.Â
In those last weeks, the arrival of outsiders had roused the attention of many once passive residents of the timeless territory. Those brick buildings unchanged by the tick of the clock inlaid into the old tower above the library that chimed every hour on the hour. They still stood with only chips in the mortar but the air tasted different. The frost was more bitter and the sky more grim. An omen of something no one could predict.
It was the perfect setting for a screenplay. The isolated town with its unsavoury secrets and the visitors who threatened to bring them to the surface. It was inspiring to you, to imagine what was hidden behind the stern wrinkled faces of the town elders and under the jackets of those men who wore the cut of the local club. The bikers ruled the town covertly but everyone knew that Bucky Barnesâ palm was lined with the map of Birch.
As a bystander, an unnoticed observer, just another ant in the hill, you watched from the side and amused yourself with the drama of others. It was like a soap opera or another HBO hype machine. Those things you aspired to when you could be free of this ho-hum town.
The snows added to the natural gloom of the place. The deep heaps smothered the noise and harkened back to those days of colonial settlement. Forgotten, desolate, fearful.Â
You ventured down in your heavy boots that stretched to your knees and pushed your chin down into your scarf. As a child, you ran and jumped in those piles, now you were out of breath just trying to walk past them.
You stopped in the bakery that doubled as the only cafĂ©, a place where the owner, Babs, tried to to intimidate the last caffeinated trends. She was always a few seasons behind but you didnât mind so much.Â
You ordered the salted caramel mocha and waited patiently as the quiet woman fought with the steaming machines. She was older than you but youâd work with her for one summer during high school, only five years ago. She had the eyes of a child still, but there was something worn in her. As if sheâd been exposed to far too much in her three or so decades in that place. She was a harbinger of what you didnât want to become.
You thanked her for your drink and set out once more into the billowing winds. Birch winters were never kind but this one was crueler than most. Your teeth chattered as you blew the steam away from the lid and hugged it with your mittened hands.
You stopped short as you heard the familiar ding of the diner door across the street. You recognised the mechanic who kept to herself and once growled at you in the grocery store. She stormed across the street, followed closely and quickly by a black-haired man youâd only seen once before. He was one of those outsiders who came to deal with the club men.
You sped up as you sensed chaos brewing and pulled out your phone as you balanced your paper cup in your other hand. You flicked your camera on just as you got to the front of the shop and the man grabbed the mechanic. You let out an âoopâ as she turned on him and you aimed the lens at the couple as they fell into the snow, the manâs shoes giving little traction to his steps.Â
You moved closer, stunned by the scene, and kept your cell phone rolling as you found a better angle around the snowy walks. As she choked him on the ground he elbowed her and she coughed as she rolled away. She snarled as he clamoured to his feet, slipping and sliding as he marched away.
You killed the recording and watched the man cross the street again, nearly wiping out as he did and when you looked back to the mechanic, she was gone behind the clattering door. You chuckled to yourself and tucked away your cell. It was prime footage for TikTok; with a bit of editing, it would be comedy gold.
đ
You stomped up the steps of your grandmotherâs house, this time through the front door as you heard her chair rocking in the front room. You usually took the stairs in the back as you paid her to live on the upper floor of the duplex. You checked in with her daily, she didnât get out much more than the occasional trip to the grocery store when you couldnât or you dragged her out to join you for a tea at Babsâ.
âYouâre late,â she grumbled as you set your cup down and unzipped your coat.
âFor what?â you scoffed.
âItâs after noon and you donât even come down to say hello? A âgood morning, nanâ,â she harrumphed.
You chuckled and hung your coat before shoving your boots over on the mat. You grabbed your mocha and leaned on the doorway as you watched her crocheting in her chair, reruns of some court show playing from the boxy television.
âI was working,â you said, âsent in some stuff for review. Hopefully not much work to be done.â
âI donât know how you make money on that interweb,â she bemoaned, âI donât trust it.â
âMaybe youâd trust it more if you used the Netflix subscription I got you,â you crossed your arms, âthen you wouldnât have to watch trash daytime TV.â
She shrugged and muttered under her breath. She could be crotchety but you liked her sense of humour. Your aunts and uncles never came around because they just took it as spite. You were the only one who knew how to handle the jaded old lady.
âMaybe you coulda looked out the window,â you snickered, âquite a show going on in town.â
âHmm, whatâs that?â she stilled her needles and reached for her tea stained cup.
âJust a fight. You wouldnât believe it, that lady mechanic beat the shit--â
âLanguage,â she huffed.
âAnyway, she had this guy in a chokehold. It was awesome.â
âWhat guy?â she squinted at you over her glasses.
âI dunno. Some out of towner. Remember I told you about that burly dude hanging around the library?â
âThereâs more?â she sucked on her teeth, âthose bikers have never been good news and now theyâre bringing in more.â
âYeah, well, whatâre you gonna do?â you sniffed as you took out your phone and rewatched the scuffle with the volume down. You shook your head and opened up your TikTok.Â
âI donât understand why youâre always on your dang phone,â your grandmother pestered.
âIâm not always on my phone,â you smiled at her smugly, âthere are those time when Iâm listening to you prattle on or you know, making you tea, oh, and cooking you dinner. What was it I did last week? Oh thatâs right, I got Pippin out of the crawlspace.â
âIâm too old to be chasinâ that cat all around,â she huffed, âwhere is he anyway?â
âHeâs your cat, I donât know? Last time I saw him, I sent him back out the window for shredding my charger.â
âHe knows you need to give it a rest,â she laughed to herself, âgot your nose to that screen too much.â
âAnd what do you do, old lady? Crocheting doilies to put where exactly?â
She gave you that dry smile, the one that said watch it but carried a hint of humour still. You hit post and put your phone away as you waved off her irritation.
âWell, you know what, I sit all day at my computer, doing who knows what and you know what it got me?â you taunted, âa large mocha!â you sipped as you sat on the sofa and grabbed the remote, âand itâs paying my rent and putting bullet points on my resume.â
âMhmm,â she scowled, âjust remember, real life ainât online. Those videos youâre always laughing at like hyena, thatâs not reality. You forget it and itâll come back and bit you. âSpecially with those bikers.â
âOh, nan, you know too well, donât you? Didnât you have a fling with one back in your hippie phase?â
âTwo, actually,â she raised her brows, âI was young and stupid. Not like you, but still.â
âI love you too,â you chirped and sipped from your cup, flicking the station to Jerry Springer, âthatâs more like it.â
đ
Your usual TikToks were sarcastic and dull complaints about your small town life. The response was less than pleasing but it gave you an outlet to vent. You liked to goof around and document the very specific type of weirdos that resided in Birch. But the video of the fight in the snow blew up your phone and made it difficult to ignore the buzzing as you went back up to your room to eke out the last of your captions for the ad agency.
When at last you could call your day hard-earned, you logged off and sent in your hours to the agency. Social media promotion was easy enough but the working gigs for a thousand different companies was tedious. You hoped you could build your portfolio enough to manage a single corporate page as you continued to chip away at your creative outlets.
You picked up your phone as you waited for Netflix to load on your tiny smart tv and flopped onto your bed, not two feet from your desk. You hit the icon in the upper panel of your phone and scrolled through the notifications, pausing to turn on another episode of the cable sitcom from ten years before. You snorted as you read each comment but the number under the video made your eyes round. The thing was bound to go viral.
As usual, you went down to help with supper. Pippin, the orange tabby, returned to cry at his dish and you fed him too. Your nan peered through her glasses at a crossword as she tasted the tangy pasta sauce.Â
âMore basil,â she snipped.
âWell, I asked if you wanted to help,â you muttered, âI think itâs good.â
âHmmp, I need milk,â she jutted her chin out, âfor my after-dinner tea.â
âYou couldnât say something like three hours ago?â you blinked.
âI could have but I didnât,â she snickered. You rolled your eyes and she took another forkful of penne and filled in another line on her puzzle, âah, no hurry, girlie, you know Iâm patient.â
âPatient? You?â you chuckled as you took your plate and shoved it in the microwave to keep it warm. The ancient thing had a dial and the door stuck, âIâll just go get it over with.â
âDonât forget your mitts,â she called after you as you tramped into the front room, âitâs cold.â
You pulled on your knitted cap and matching mitts. You zipped up your parka and shoved your feet into the deep boots. You grabbed your wallet and buried it in the spacious pocket. You bounced out the front door and down the steps as the sky sent down another coat of powder for the night.
You went up White Forge Street and through the short path behind the diner that led to the main road. You glanced over at The Asp, the beacon of the dull town, and turned towards the grocer. Like anywhere in Birch, the store was outdated and stuffy. It felt like stepping into another time with the paper bags and chunky tills.
You went down the center aisle and stopped at the fridge to search through the frosted glass. Your nan only drank whole milk and the last time you carelessly grabbed skim, she whined that even Pippin wouldnât drink it. She was particular but that was just her nature. You couldnât say you were any less fussy in some instances.
You grabbed a jug and the door slapped closed against the worn rubber seal. You headed up the candy aisle and brushed your woolly thumb over your chin as you considered gummy bears or Reesesâ Pieces.
âHard choice?â The deep voice jolted you.
You snatched the box of chocolate and looked over at the man in leather, his chin tucked down behind the collar as snow dusted his shoulders.
âSure,â you said as you brushed past him.
The cut of the leather told you he was better not entertained. While you thought the men amusing, you werenât stupid enough to engage with them. You rarely listened to your grandmother but she was wise in her own way.Â
You knew a girl in highschool, she was fucking around with one of the club men in her junior year, she ended up with a baby and no support. You didnât think he was into you that way but he could hardly have innocent intentions.
âHowâs the old lady?â Clayton asked as he rung in your order at the end of the belt, you moved along with the groceries and pulled out your wallet.
âThe usual, you know? Sheâs tryna quit again. Donât know how long itâll last.â
âOh yeah? Iâll keep a carton aside for her,â he kidded as you felt your phone vibing in your back pocket.
âDonât encourage her,â you swiped your card and punched in your pin, âalthough I donât know whatâs worse; the smoke or her sucking on those mints all the time.â
âOh, itâs not the bitchinâ?â he laughed.
âThat, too,â you scooped up the paper bag and put your wallet away, âhave a good one.â
As you came to the end of the first counter, you were nearly cut off by the club member as he swept around from till two. His own purchase of a car magazine and jerky was tucked under his arm.
âAh, sorry,â he smiled, a sparkling smile, almost charming.
âNo worries,â you continued on and he followed close behind.
âThose mitts look real warm. âSpecially in this weather,â he said as you pushed open the door.
âUh huh,â you kept on as your boots crunched out into the snow.
âYou know where I can get a pair. Leather isnât exactly thermal, you know?â
âThese? My nan made âem. Iâm sure Clayton got some hung up back there,â you looked across the street as you stepped up onto the ledge of snow between the sidewalk and the road.
âAm I bothering you?â he asked.
You looked at him dumbly and almost laughed in his face. You glanced back across the street then down towards The Asp.
âSorta,â you answered.
âMake you a deal. Leave ya alone for your name.â
You eyed him. He was older than you like many of the Commandos. At least a decade, likely more than that. You chewed on your hesitation and cradled the bag more firmly against your side. His eyes strayed as he tried to see through the thick layer of your coat.
âNah, Iâm not sâposed to talk to strangers,â you said and hopped off onto the road.
You heard him behind you as he struggled to follow and as you came up to the other side, he came parallel with you and kept stride with you easily.
âI know youâre young but youâre not a kid,â he intoned, âwhatâs the harm in a name?â
âItâs a small town,â you stopped short of the end of White Forge, âI think I know enough about you to avoid you.â
âOh ho, is that it? Well, Iâm Sam, Iâm not a stranger now, am I?â
âNot interested, Sam. Sure thereâs women your own age over at the bar,â you nodded behind him.
âYou wanna come see? Maybe have a drink?â he gave a crooked grin.
âYou donât give up, do you?â you shook your head, put off by his forwardness.
âWell?â
âNot tonight, Sam,â you turned around and headed down White Forge.
âThen what night?â he asked but you didnât answer and he didnât follow.
You turned down onto your street and refused to look back in case. It would be best not to mention the run-in to your nan, she was paranoid enough as it was. Besides, youâd forget about it by the end of next week.
#sam wilson#dark sam wilson#dark!sam wilson#sam wilson x reader#birch#series#sequel#fic#dark fic#dark!fic#looking for a place to happen#biker au#biker!au#au#marvel#mcu#captain america#avengers#tfatws#falcon#biker boys of birch
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You killed me on a Wednesday
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/9489ba4be0d742ec16f71e34d01867f1/b99df55d1f3b9935-40/s540x810/9e53461ca5035bef8834aaeb7dee16692e3c0ce4.jpg)
But I got reborn on a Sunday! đ
Basically; I won't let this bitch ruin what I have worked so long to create. Yes I had a meltdown but that doesn't mean she is worth it to be ruined. Yes. I dedicated it to her. As I gave her a universe.
A universe with so much backstory and so much emotion, so much fantasy...so much of everything.
I wasted money. I wasted time. I made her a Norwegian dictionary written by hand. I showed my country. Where I grew up. I shared her secrets. I have wasted my creativity. My devotion. Wasted so many whole 24 hours and nights just to write for HER. And this bitch even gave the main character of my story, a perfect name. It fit with the story. Of what this character would become. Of what the purpose of the charcter was going to be. I even found the perfect backstory to why she got the name. It fit with where the main character was from. From Argentina. It was perfect. But she now needs a new name. As that french bitch screwed me over. I now have to rename the main character of Liebeslied. It will be similar to the old. Because I am lazy. And she is mentioned in several hundred pages already. Don't care to edit away all the first name and replaxe it with a brand name. You can't complain on me for that!
But it's scary isn't it? How you can dedicate your entire self to someone. And then with a single "yeah sorry..." they can brush you off. As if you never happened. Like 3 weeks ago I was happy. I was actually editing the chapters I already had, instead of making new ones. I was going to give my universe. My work for 4 whole years. 24/7 for 4 whole years. If I didn't wrote. Then I thought about it. If I didn't thought about it. I acted it out (but alone because I am not the kind to be talking to myself in front of others). My whole life for 4 years (almost 5) and this bitch would get it all for x-mas. For FREE. But no. That's not what happened.
I had to ask her. It had to be done;
hey? Are we still friends?
And she had to shoot me down.
"Yeah Sorry...should have told you long time ago.."
"Yeah sorry..." as in "yeah btw..." our friendship to her was just that..."yeah sorry." " Yeah btw..."
Because she "grew up". She got a bf. A career. "I'm not the same".
No. She weren't. But that doesn't change the fact that
I wasted 4 years for something that died about 2 years prior to this. And she knew it was dying. And I was naive.
I dedicated A UNIVERSE for her. I don't think she will ever realize this!!
A whole UNIVERSE. It had people in it. People that to her was pure fiction but I myself saw them as my children.
And she doesn't want me to give it to her. She never replied to my "could I still post you Liebeslied once its all done. As a form of closure. You don't have to contact me beyond that. Just for closure. Beyond that I wish the best for you aswell".
She never bothered to reply.
Well you know what?
I have had 3 weeks. To think this over. My conclution?
She doesn't deserve what I gave her. She never did. I was just a way to "pass time". So she could get a bf and a career.
The time. The effort. The money. My creativity. My writing. My enthusiasm. My PASSION! My dedication and lastly even my tears and sanity. She didn't deserve ANY of this. She made her choice! She gave me up. Just like that. I wasn't even worthy of a
"hah no thanks I don't want Liebeslied anymore."
She gave this up. But I won't. I won't give up.
She will never know how Liebeslied ends. And that'd ok. She doesn't deserve to know how it ends! It's not for her anymore!
And so I wipe away my tears before they fall. Always before they fall. Because that french bitch doesn't deserve them.
Her friendship to me was simply to her a way to "pass time" until she got a bf and a career.
I am worth more than that!
And so is the Universe that I have created. That I have breathed, every day for so long! Which is why the first fic of the Liebeslied series will be published in 2023 as then everything about this bitch will be in the past.
Tania as the main character is dead.
And Thalia has risen from her ashes.
And with that minor change. Liebeslied will live without that bitch. That french whore that left me for a man and a career. Nope! Screw that!
I will have the first story done in 2023. That is a promise! And it will be good. It is (if I'm gonna say so myself and I will!) way too good to be given up because of something as lousy as her! And I know. Deep inside my still somehow shattered heart. I do know. That some of you yes you; you lovely, amazing, kind, wonderful, beautiful beings...SOME will love it. Some of you will love that universe that I have spent so long making! I am sure.
And unlike that bitch, you all actually deserve this universe!
I have risen. For you! Because of you! My wonderful followers and mutuals, I have kept the little drop of my sanity left. It is the thought of you all that have kept me going for these 3 weeks and more!
I know now that I am better than that bitch. Why? Because I know the meaning of friendships. And that lying bitch obviously doesn't!
So hail to me. For I have risen!
Hail to Liebeslied. For this universe and it's children will go on!
And I promise I will impress and scare some of you. I will make some of you angry. I will make some of you you smile. And some of you will cry and wish that my children would exist and I will have to remind you that they DO! THEY WILL BE BACK! You just as much I breathes life into them! All my followers and mutuals and especially those of you that have wanted and longed for this Universe ...for MY universe to carry on, I am doing this for YOU! And it WILL carry on! Next year. It will all break loose! And I hope you are ready!
Because guess what mothafxahs?
I am back bitches! The gothic viking is stubborn. It's in my name. Viking. And so it's in my blood to be stubborn and keep it going.
I am back! And I oh my have I missed you all! You lovely fxers, you!
đ€âđ€
As my fic Richard would say:
Let's go, Honey! We got this! đ
#hey all you lovely people...I am alive but barely..#i will post a little video soon or more likely several videos and address everything...am I still a mess? yes#will Liebeslied continue? yes. but not this year as planned...because this year is fk for me..i am waiting for the next#i will have to change the main characters name and so i have to edit several hundred pages..but i have to#please be patient with me.#please know that I love you and you are all a big reason for why i keep pushing on so thank youâ€
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đđđźđ đĄđ đđđ-đđđ§đđđ
"Ehm, is this like a seven-minutes-in-heaven thing?â
pairing: percy jackson x child of hecate!reader
words: 5,236
warnings: none? pls let me know if i missed anything
timeline: post sea of monsters
if you want to be tagged every time I update this story click here
a/n: hi hi! i hope you guys like this chapter. i fell in a little bit of a rut about my writing so I've been holding off on posting but I think I'm pretty satisfied with how this came out. i'm so fried after editing this so if i happened to miss any typos, sorry, i tried haha.
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven
The heat and dimness from the cabin surround you like a warm hug making it challenging to stay awake. Your eyelids droop against your wishes to study, fatigue messing with your vision as it blurs the letters on the page you were trying to read. As you find yourself mindlessly reading words, you decide to give in, and soon youâre settled in an in-between state of consciousness.
Suddenly, youâre standing at the entryway of the kitchen in your home, the first thing you notice is the scent of your favorite meal as it fills your nostrils, and you smile sleepily as your father looks at you. Heâs hovering over the stove, right hand stirring something in a saucepan, and he smiles widely at you.
âStella, youâre home!â He announces as he pushes his round glasses up the bridge of his nose, âGo, sit! Dinner is almost ready.â
You smile at the nickname your father has called you since you were a child. He said that the first time you cried in his arms, your little body illuminated like a supernova, and since then, heâs called you Stella, the Latin word for star. You make your way past the kitchen island on your left, noticing the history channel playing on the small TV in the corner of the counter like always. A sense of nostalgia hits you in your core, and you sigh, feeling safe. As much as you loved the camp, homesickness was unavoidable.
You settle yourself at the black round table in the back of the kitchen, chin resting on your palm as you look outside of the window beside you. The small garden of herbs and flowers you have in the backyard is as you remember. Every summer, your father cultivates herbs and flowers in dedication to your mother. He uses most of the herbs for spells, and at the end of the summer, he would make a bouquet out of the brightest flowers in the garden and rest them on your motherâs alter.
The reminder of your mother made your stomach feel heavy, and you quickly push the thoughts of her away. You werenât in the mood to deal with them, especially not in a dream like this. The thumping of Atticusâs footsteps coming down the stairs catches your attention, and soon your brother appears in the doorway with his usual wide smile.
âHey! I thought you were making my favorite tonight.â His shoulders slump, and he playfully narrows his eyes at you. You shrug,
âWhat can I say? Must suck not being the favorite,â you joke, and Atticus gasps dramatically. The sound of your fatherâs laughter fills the room as he tilts his head back.
âI love you guys equally! Thatâs not nice to say,â he says as he points the spatula at you as he squints. You snort as Atticus joins you at the table,
âYeah, Y/n, thatâs not nice,â he repeats, poking his tongue out at you, and you return the action. You and your brother have a short competition of who can stick out their tongue harder as your father puts the food on the table. At the sight of your favorite meal, you let Atticus win, turning to put a portion on your plate.
Amidst your dinner conversation with your father and your brother, the deep growl rumbling in Ambroseâs chest makes its way into your dream. A soft hum leaves your lips, your neck relaxing against your will, and your head jolts forward as your cheek slips off your palm. You blink a few times, groaning since youâve lost your dream.
âAmbrose, shush.â Your chin returns onto your hand, and you submit to your fatigue once again. The image of a ravenous bunny, cartoonishly stomping its way through a candy cane forest, filled your mind, projected on your eyelids like a movie in a theater. Itâs too ridiculous to give much thought, and you were too busy relishing in the soothing feeling of sleep.
All of a sudden, Ambrose bursts into a series of short high pitched barks, jolting you awake. Your eyelids fly open, and you turn in your chair. Ambrose stands up tall, his fur contouring to his muscles as they flex. His ears are perched up; his focus fixed on the back wall. Whatever he was looking at, he didnât dare to approach.
"What? What is it?"
The bunk beds obstructed your view, but you are sure you are alone. Everyone was out and about doing their normal camp activities; if anyone had entered the cabin, you would have heard them.
You groan in your hands as they rub your face to shake off the remaining fatigue, growing annoyed at Ambroseâs persistent barking that nips harshly at your eardrums.
âAmbros-â
A bitter breeze fills the room, and your breath gets caught in your throat at the feeling. Your arms wrap around your frame, failing to prevent goosebumps from forming on your arms. It was impossible. Todayâs weather report called for a hot, humid day like itâs been all summer. As the hair at the back of your neck stands straight, and you have an idea of whatâs happening, but you hoped you were wrong.
Ambrose abruptly ends his barking with a distressing whine. His ears sag low on the sides of his head as he retreats, his large body shrinking in fear. With cautious steps, you approach him in the middle of the cabin. The thumping of your pulse is loud in your ears, and for the first time in a while, a familiar pang strikes you in your gut. Youâre being watched.
Despite his fear, Ambrose guards you finding the courage to stand tall and confident after cowering a few seconds ago. You let out a shaky breath, and warily, you finally catch sight of what has his attention.
A tall, dark figure stands still at the end of the room. The light that bleeds through the thin curtains behind it wasnât enough to expose its face but instead illuminates the swirling black vapor that made up this human form.
From your years of experience, you learned how to deal with these kinds of things. Ghosts gravitated towards you like a moth to a lit flame. Most of the time, the spirits are harmless, looking for some company, and were eager to ask for favors you often couldnât fulfill. Other times, they were more malevolent entities, existing to feed off your fears, and had the reputation of being stubborn guests.
From the way, the room turned impossibly cold in the middle of a sweltering summer afternoon and the heaviness in your gut, the shadow in front of you was definitely the latter.
"Who are you? How did you get here?" Your voice booms through the silence. "Why are you here-"
The cabin door slams open, the shadow dispersing the moment the sunlight bleeds through the room. You jump, gasping as your whole body turns around. The two figures at the doorway are dark, the sudden beams of light blinding you for a moment before you manage to recognize Connor and Travis.
âWhy is it so damn dark in here? And cold? Jeez, Y/n, open the curtains at least,â Travis nags with a smirk on his lips.
âI donât need light to see.â You groan, turning your face away, the sun shining right at you as Travis begins ripping open the curtains. âAnd I hate when the sun gets in my eyes,â you complain, stepping aside where sunlight doesnât reach. Though you saw the shadow disperse, you glance at the back of the room, double-checking that what you saw was gone.
"You know... â
Your focus returns to the two boys standing side by side a few feet away from you. Both of them sporting the mischievous smirk that all the Hermes kids had when theyâre about to stir up trouble. Connor only uttered two words, but it was clear they were up to something, and you were about to be involved.
"You've been locked up in here, in the dark, alone, for a while now. It's been like a week and a half since the incident, and we know youâre still a little down,â he trails off, swaying on his feet.
"... yeah?"
"And we think we have the perfect way to cheer you up!" Connor gives you a toothy grin, and as confident as he looked, you donât quite believe him.
"And that is?"
"I think it's time we execute our bunny prank on the Ares cabin!"
You press your lips together in a thin line; head cocked to the side. "That's supposed to cheer me up?"
"Yeah!"
"How is putting my life in danger going to cheer me up?" Your gaze switches between the two as they exchange looks with each other.
âUmâŠâ Connor says, lost for words.
"It'll be fun. We promise!" Travis insists, waving your comment off. He moves to sit in your chair, leaning back as he props his legs on your desk. "So, have you thought about how we're going to do this?"
You sigh softly, not bothering to protest. If you denied participating, Connor would be quick to remind you whatâs at stake.
"I have," you admit. After your last interaction with Clarisse, the prank did come to mind.
The Stoll brotherâs faces grew almost as bright as the sun outside. Connor takes a seat on the bed closest to you, leaned in with his elbows on his knees, "Tell us the details then,â he urges.
"Okay, so I found a shape-shifting potion in my spellbook. It's pretty simple. I have all the ingredients except for one. The only thing I need is the hair of a rabbit. Get that for me, and I'll make it." Connor and Travis nod eagerly, and you can already see the gears turning in their heads as they formulate a plan to catch a bunny.
"If you can get it to me in a few hours, we can sneak into their cabin while they're practicing in the arena. Then I can pour a few drops of the potion into their water cooler. The potion is potent; you only need a few drops for it to work."
"Sounds like a solid plan. They'll be thirsty after practicing, and boom, theyâre all cute little bunnies,â Travis says, legs unmounting from your desk, and he hops onto his feet.
"So hurry and get me rabbit hair!â
A small, almost manic laugh comes from Connorâs lips, "This is gonna be epic!"
"Should we ask the nymphs for help?" Travis ponders out loud as he makes his way out of the dorm.
"Wait! We should get scissors! Do you have scissors?â Connor asks you, and you giggle. You grab a pair of scissors from your desk drawer, and Connor quickly swipes them from your hands the moment you present them to him.
"Thanks, Y/n!â Swiftly, he turns on his heels, trailing behind Travis.
"Be careful, please! Don't hurt the bunny!"
"We won't! The worse we'll do is give it a bald spot; theyâll be fine!" Travis shouts.
After the slamming of the front door and the ragged footsteps of Connor and Travisâs departure, your smile falters as the silence regresses. The figure you had seen comes to mind, and you frown, Ambrose whining as he sits close to your legs.
"That was weird, wasn't it?" You lean down, affectionately scratching the backs of his ears as Ambrose licks your wrists. The sight of his drooping eyes told you enough to know that this wasnât the last time youâll be seeing whatever that was.
"C'mon, let's not worry about that now. We have to make that potion." An uneasy grumble comes from Ambrose's chest as he nuzzles his snout in your hand.
"I know, I know," you whisper before standing up.
ââ..:â
:..ââ
"Shh, theyâre coming,â Travis announces in a whisper, silencing you and Connorâs conversation. The distanced chattering and footsteps of the Ares campers become louder as Clarisse pushes open the front door. The three of you duck lower in your place as they scatter to their beds, beginning to take off their armor. Travis slowly rises from his crouching position, peaking enough to see the inside. He gives you and Connor a nod, a silent okay to peek yourselves. Cautiously, you come up, watching the group now crowding around the water dispenser, playfully telling each other to hurry up.
Connor lightly pats your shoulder with excitement, and you scrunch your face, anticipation swirling in your stomach as one by one, they begin taking sips from their water bottles. Your jaw drops as Mark forms a snout, his hands flying up to his face.
"W-what?" He sputters, moving closer to his reflection in the mirror. "What is-"
The rest of his words became soft squeals, his whole body shrinking and shifting into a stark white bunny in the blink of an eye.
âUm? Did that just-?â
âHow did-â
âYou have bunny ears!â Ellis shouts, pointing at Clarisse while she formed a pair of her own. Clarisse didnât have time to comment as Ellis joins her half-brother. One by one, they began shrinking, and small shrieks fill the room.
"What are you guys doing?" The three of you practically jump out of your skin, heads snapping in the direction of the voice.
Percyâs eyes are wide and curious, furrowing his eyebrows at the chaos breaking out in the Ares cabin. You open your mouth to say something but stop yourself, not wanting to blow your cover.
âIt must have been the water!â
âWhen I see the Stoll Brotherâs Iâm going to-â Squeal.
Travisâs face was a tint of pink from holding in his laughter. He doesnât respond, simply waving at Percy to come and see for himself. You and Percy exchange a smile before turning back to the window.
His chance at seeing the pool of white bunnies went down the drain; the four of you met with an angry Clarisse instead. To your dismay, she didn't completely transform. Her normally brown eyes are now crimson and her mouth transformed into a whiskered snout. White bunny ears peek through her brown hair, making it look like she was wearing one of those bunny ear headbands they sell at the pharmacy around Easter time. Youâd be laughing as much as the Stoll Brothers if Clarisseâs stare wasnât fixed on you and only you. You give her a nervous smile as you step away carefully, and the moment Clarisse moves to jump out the window, the four of you bolted.
âSheâs gonna kill us!â You exclaim; Travis and Connor burst into laughter, hands over their stomach as they run beside you.
âSplit up! She canât kill all of us!â Travis suggests, already making a beeline into the forest with Connor.
âYeah, cause sheâs gonna go after me!â
âWeâll weave you a nice shroud!â
âWOW, THANKS!â
The cackles of the two made you roll your eyes, and you make a mental note never to help them with a prank ever again. You grunt as Percy grabs onto your wrist, and you stumble for a second until you catch up to his pace.
âYou canât run from me forever!â Clarisse shouts, running close behind. She was right, you couldnât avoid her forever, but you just needed her to calm down. "When I catch you, I'm tying your necks like shoelaces!"
You cringe at the threat as you and Percy burst through the swinging doors of the Arts and Craft center, weaving your way through the campers.
âSorry!â You shout over their groans as youâre pulled into one of the hallways. Seeing the closets along the walls of the hallway gave you an idea. You bite your lip, focusing on the door leading to the outside. Reaching your hand out, you flick your fingers forward, causing the door to burst open fast enough for it to lock in place.
The moment you approach the last door in the hallway, you grab the knob. A grunt leaves Percyâs lips as you drag him in the closet with you. He loses his footing from the change of direction, spinning hastily toward you, and the both of you stagger into the closet. You yelp, the weight of Percyâs body sending your back right against the wall, and the knob comes out of grip right as it slams closed.
Percy grunts, his hands push against the wall beside your frame, promptly lifting himself away from you.âSor-â
âShh.â Your index finger rests your lips as you look at the door. Your shoulders tense up, afraid that Clarisse had heard the slam. Soon, Clarriseâs pounding footsteps rise like a crescendo and, to your relief, gradually fades as she runs right out of the building. A shaky sigh leaves your lips before glancing at Percy, whoâs directly in front of you. You smile sheepishly, foot moving to step back only to be met with the wall.
Percyâs heart beats loud in his chest, and he was hoping that you couldnât hear it. He tried to step back as well, but Percyâs foot was met with the shelves behind him to his dismay. He scans your face in the dim lighting for a few seconds. Suddenly, heâs reminded of how he stumbled on top of you, making him too embarrassed to look at you any longer. His focus falters to the shelves beside him, forcing himself to find interest in the tubs of paint stacked on them.
âItâs your fault,â you accuse after some silence. Shock flashes across Percyâs face,
âHuh?â
âBecause you were so nosey, you blew our cover.â You reach over, and you poke his shoulder. Percyâs peers down at where you poked him as if he was offended.
âAt least I ran with you. Travis and Connor left you for dead!â
âGreat friends, they are, huh?â You ask, your voice laced with playful sarcasm.
Percy laughs, "I think you've taken the trophy of being the most hated by Clarisse," he jokes.
"I don't think I can one-up you. You literally fought her dad and won," you point out. "I think if we split up, she'd definitely come after me. Imagine the last thing you see when you die is Clarisse looking like⊠that. "
Percy laughs and you laugh, too, feeling comfortable with making light of the situation now that you were out of harm's way.
"How did that even happen!?â
"I don't know!â You sigh, bummed that Clarisse had managed to be the only person who stayed human. âMaybe she didnât drink enough water?â
âWow, the only person you needed to transform into a bunny just didnât,â Percy says as he crosses his arms over his chest, leaning against the shelves.
âPretty much.â
âYou have amazing luck, Y/n,â he says sarcastically.
âWhatever,â you mumble, eye faltering to the shelves beside you. Percyâs laughter fills the small space, making it hard to prevent the smile from creeping on your lips. The sound of footsteps interrupts you as you open your mouth to say something else and it brings Percyâs laughter to an end. Your shoulders are practically up to your ears as you look into Percyâs wide eyes before he mouths, âweâre dead.â If it is Clarisse, you guys are cornered, and you prepare to shadow travel even if it meant you might pass out, especially if you bring him with you.
You furrow your eyebrows as you hear two familiar voices, and soon the door opens, revealing you both to Beckendorf and Silena. There is a moment of silence, Silena blinking at the both of you, her head tilted slightly to the side as she observes the tension. Beckendorfâs right eyebrow raises, glancing between you and Percyâs face.
"Ehm, is this like a seven-minutes-in-heaven thing?" Your face gets hot, and you exchange a look with Percy, noticing the tips of his ears are bright red.
"No, we were hiding from Clarisse,â he stutters out, gaze snapping to the two, and you nod quickly,
"Because I turned her into a bunny and-"
"She didn't transform all the way-"
"It's okay. Charles and I would sneak around at first, too," Silena interrupts, her lips curled up in a satisfied smile.
"We were just talking!" You and Percy say in unison. The more defensive you got, the more suspicious you both came off. From the way Beckendorf and Silena smiled at each other, you knew they werenât buying it.
Beckendorf shrugs, and he steps forward, reaching between the two of you to grab the box of beads from the shelf. He hums, âItâs clear we interrupted something. I just needed this. You guys can carry on,â he teases, amused at how embarrassed the both of you are.
âBut- we-â you stutter, unable to finish your sentence, Beckendorf shutting the door, and Silena makes a sound between a giggle and a squeal as they walk away.
Percy clears his throat, interrupting the short silence that fell between the two of you, âUm, should weâŠ?â His voice falters, not finishing his sentence, but you already knew what he was going to ask.
âYeah,â you agree awkwardly, opening the closet. âLetâs go,â you mumble, stepping out with Percy close behind you.
"Where should we go now?" Percy asks, opening the door to the outside for you, and you smile, finding it sweet. You thank him shortly, and you shrug,
"I'm not sure, but I don't think Clarisse has calmed down yetâŠ" you trail off, catching sight of a fuming Clarisse standing beside Chiron a few meters away. âDammit.â
ââ..:â
:..ââ
You shift on your feet, standing in Chironâs office alongside Travis, Connor, and Percy. Clarisseâs crimson eyes are still narrowed at you as Chiron sighs, backing into his wheelchair before his backside disappears, allowing him to sit fully into it.
"I understand you guys are just having fun. However, I believe the Ares Cabin deserves a little break from the pranks, don't you think?" He asks as he looks at Connor and Travis.
You fiddle with your fingers, your shoulders slumped along with Connor and Travisâs shoulders. Travis nods, and he hums as if he considers it for a moment.
âWe could prank the Apollo Cabin instead?" Connor suggests, and Chiron opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. You press your lips together in an attempt to refrain from smiling, discovering that Percy was doing the same. You became more amused at his face turning a little pink as he holds in his laughter, and you quickly look at your hands to recollect yourself.
âIâd prefer you tone down the pranking altogether,â Chiron clarifies. Connor frowns, and he nods slowly,
âOh. Yeah, we could do that, I guess,â he mumbles, his hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. Chiron nods, shifting his gaze to you,
âY/n, what did you used to transform them into rabbits?â You hum softly,
âItâs a shape-shifting potion from my spellbook,â you explain.
âHow long will it take for them to transform back?â You look up for a second, trying to remember your notes. While recalling the day you went through Ernestâs potions book to jot the recipe in your Book of Shadows, you realize how many forms of the potion there were depending on the transformation length. Ernest had mentioned in passing something about reading his notes carefully. It wasnât until now did you realize that the potion you had made was not the short-term one.
âAbout ⊠24 hours,â you admit, and Connor snorts beside you.
âWhat!?â Clarisse snaps, her fists clenching on her side. âYou mean, theyâre going to be like that until tomorrow afternoon?â
âYes, thatâs what 24 hours means,â you snap back; her presence was enough to annoy you. Clarisseâs glare burns into your face, and she moves to take a step, about to charge at you.
âClarisse, please! They will be punished accordingly,â Chiron reassures her, making her halt in her place, and she groans, her arms crossing over her chest as she waits for Chironâs verdict.
"Well, I was going to assign you four to clean the Pegasus stables, but now that it has come to my attention that the potion lasts 24 hours, your punishment is to feed and clean up after them while theyâre under the spell."
âEw, Iâd rather clean the stables,â Connor mutters, and you furrow your eyebrows,
âBut wouldnât the pegasus stables be more work?â You ask, hoping to get him to change your punishment. The last thing you wanted to do was be surrounded by a bunch of angry bunnies. Sure they were small, but you did not doubt in your mind that you were going to be attacked by them.
âThey are a big group; I think it is fair that Clarisse gets assistance in taking care of them,â He says calmly, his fingers intertwined as they rest on the desk in front of him. âFeed them before you go off to dinner, accommodate their sleeping arrangements and clean up after them before morning check-ins,â he decides. You sigh softly. At this point, as long as Clarisse wasnât on the hunt to kill you, you were okay with it.
As Chiron dismisses you, you catch the satisfied smile Clarisse was sporting, and you felt your anger swirling in your chest. You grunt as you turn on your heels, Travis and Connor behind you as Percy walks by your side. You sigh, lazily trotting off the steps of the big house,
âThis...â
âSucks,â Percy finishes your sentence, and you nod, the both of you frowning.
ââ..:â
:..ââ
âStop biting me!â You complain, nudging off the crowd of bunnies from your arm. Percy laughs, seated on the floor beside you as he helps you make a nest of blankets big enough for the bunnies.
âThey hate you,â he comments, amused. His smirk falls flat, and he hisses as one of them gets a good bite on his finger. âOw!â He squints at the bunny before picking it up. It was your turn to laugh, and you watch curiously as he walks to one of the dressers and plopping it on top. âI donât know who you are, but youâre in time-out,â he grumbles.
âWait, thatâs actually really smart!â You look down at the bunnies around you. âThey canât jump from that high!â As you reach for the closest bunny, they run out of your reach, squealing, and soon they were huddled under a bed.
Percy smiles as they disperse, âwell, now theyâll leave us alone,â he says as he sits beside you to continue piling the extra blankets you found. âYou should have let me play that rock-paper-scissors game with them,â Percy mentions.
The two of you were stuck making a makeshift bed for the Ares campers since Travis and Connor had to round up their cabin for curfew. Well, one of them could have done it, but they insisted that it was a two-person job. You said it was unfair if they skipped out and they offered to settle who will go with an intense rock-paper-scissors game; best of three. You had accepted the challenge and lost miserably.
"I should have known there was no point in trying with their luck."
"Yeah, you walked right into that."
You side-eye him, "anyways, you would have lost.â
âHow are you so sure?â
"Because, you just would have," you say shortly, and you smile as he turns to you.
âWell, considering how lucky you've been all day," he says sarcastically, and you squint at him. "I would have had a better chance,â he gloats.
âYouâve been real sassy today,â you mumble, and he laughs. âItâs fine. Thereâs not that much to do anyway.â Carefully, you roll the sides of the blankets into a nest shape after Percy finishes piling them. You rise on your feet, âItâd sleep there if I were a bunny. What do you think?â
âI would too. It seems comfortable,â Percy smiles as he stands up.
"Are you losers done?" Clarisse walks into the cabin with bowls of water for her siblings, and you roll your eyes as she puts them on the ground.
"Yeah, is it to their liking?" You ask with fake politeness, straining a smile. Clarisse observes the bundle of blankets as her siblings get in to try it out. She furrows her eyebrows, listening attentively to the various squeals. She had inherited most of the bunny traits, and though she didnât transform completely, she could understand what they were saying.
âEh, itâs good enough,â she concludes after hearing all the complaints of her siblings. âIâm sick of seeing your faces; get out.â She didnât have to tell you twice, and you donât waste any time as you turn on your heels. You were sick of seeing her face too.
Walking down the steps of the Ares Cabin, Percy follows beside you. A slight hum comes from his lips, and you look over,
âI was wondering when youâd come back to sword fighting,â he mentions, and you nod, recalling that you had agreed to attend classes after sparing with him a couple of weeks ago. âYour brother has been coming more often; heâs gotten a lot better.â
âThatâs why my body has been aching so much,â you mutter more to yourself. For the past week, you thought you were staining your body in your sleep.
âHuh?â
âLong story,â you wave your hand, and you think about his question.
If you were completely honest, you werenât as depressed about what had happened anymore. After you talked with Percy, you had finally come to terms with many of the thoughts that were tormenting you. However, you still stayed locked up in the Hermes Cabin because in the past week or so, youâve gotten so much studying done. You wanted to stay in and read, and you were planning on milking your excused absences for as long as you could. But now, you considered that maybe you should return to your normal activities. Connor and Travis were becoming more worried, so were Atticus and Lou Ellen.
âI could join tomorrow,â you say hesitantly, your heart fluttering as Percyâs face brightens up. âAre you that excited to beat me up?â You joke, and Percy laughs, shaking his head.
âNo! Itâs just⊠itâs weird not seeing you around.â He admits shyly as he looks away. The cool summer breeze blows on your warm cheeks, and you swallow,
âIâll go tomorrow,â you confirm, sounding more sure of yourself this time. Once you approach the steps of the Hermes cabin, you turn to him. âGood night, Perce.â
The sides of Percyâs eyes crinkle as he nods, âGood night,â he says as he slowly backs away. âAnd try to wake up on time, yeah? Iâm not feeding the Ares cabin alone tomorrow,â he teases. You did have a habit of being the last person to arrive at breakfast. He must have noticed.
âYeah, yeah. Worry about yourself, waterboy.â You smile, hearing him scoff. Opening the door to the Hermes cabin, you look back at him one more time. You take in the wide grin on his face, and he nods,
âGot it. Iâll remember that when youâre being chased by Clarisse again.â Your mouth drops open, eyes glinting at his banter.
âYou better go before the harpies eat you!â You shoo him away as he laughs, then with a short salute of his two fingers, he walks off to his cabin.
masterlist taglist: @xxyrr @nct127bee @mochabreezeee @minamisulemisa @yanfeisluvr @-thatgirloverthere- @sanovr @passionswift @nanskidoodle @Slytherclaw-kitten @zhethugisa
#my writing#percy jackson#percy jackson and the olympians#percy jackson x reader#percy x reader#percy jackson fanfiction#percy jackson oneshot#percy jackson imagine#percy jackson and the olympians fanfiction#pjo fanfic#pjo x reader#percy jackson x y/n#percy jackson fluff
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warm hands. (mako x f!reader) rewrite.
hello everyon!! a while ago i wrote a request called warm hands that got deleted by tumblr when i tried to edit the post on mobile :/ iâve been on this hellsite for years and it still sucks but ANYWAY. as a thank you for supporting me and also as an apology for not updating lmao i wanted to repost a better version i wrote <3 much love to u and to mako
She turned to the man standing just a few feet away from her, surprised at how familiar his face had looked. His jet black hair, thick eyebrows, and golden eyes were from somewhere, but (Y/N) couldnât place if she had dreamt about someone like him or had actually met him.
It would bug her the rest of the day if she didnât say anything to him, so she had. âExcuse me,â She said, lightly touching his arm to get his attention. âSorry to bother you, you just look really familiar to me.â
He had stared down at her silently, his brows furrowed, and in normal circumstances (Y/N) would have felt absolutely mortified...
There were dozens of libraries within Republic City, yet so far none of them had what (Y/N) was looking for. She had spent her entire day off trekking through the busy streets and bustling sidewalks, hailing cab after cab until her resources ran just low enough where she would have to be very picky about what groceries she picked this week. Sweat dripped down the back of her neck as she walked toward her destination. Summer was in full swing and it felt like the sun was after her specifically. She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. So far, she had visited fifteen libraries, and was walking up the steps of the very last, hoping that someone inside would be able to help her with her request.
She passed through the double doors and was met with a rush of cold air that sent a chill down her spine. She must look ridiculous, she thought, as she approached the information desk. An old woman was positioned behind it, her back hunched over a book. She hadnât heard (Y/N) approach, so the young girl rang the bell that set on the counter. The old woman jumped back, a startled expression on her lined face.
âIâm sorry!â (Y/N) exclaimed, then clasped a hand over her mouth. This was a library, she had to watch her volume in here. âSorry,â She said again, her voice lower. âI was wondering if you could help me with something? Iâve been looking all over town for books on firebending and I canât seem to find any.â
âWeâve got some!â The woman chirped, seeming to have recovered from her startle. She rose slowly to her feet and grabbed her cane. âAlthough theyâre not technique books, if thatâs what youâre looking for. My grandson has a great firebending academy just down the street if youâre interested.â
âOh, no,â (Y/N) said as she followed the old woman through the enormous stacks of bookcases. âI donât need any training, Iâm just looking for a fact book or something like it.â The woman nodded and silently led (Y/N) to a very dimly lit section of the library. Just as (Y/Nâs) feet began to ache from walking, they stopped, and the librarian pointed her cane up at the top shelf. It was out of her reach, but just within (Y/Nâs).
âThatâs the one youâre looking for,â She said, smiling pleasantly. (Y/N) looked up and found an enormous book, bound in red cloth with the Fire Nation emblem on the side. She reached up and took it into her arms, nearly toppling over at its sheer weight.
âThank you,â (Y/N) strained herself to say. The librarian nodded once more before disappearing into the stacks of books. (Y/N) waddled herself over to a table in a more well-lit section of the library and sat down.
She had never cared much for bending. Being a nonbender herself in a nonbending family, she had watched indifferently as some of her classmates developed their bending skills. (Y/N) was always able to get through life without bending, so she had never thought of it as something important. Even probending, which rocked the city with its competitions, had never interested her.
(Y/N) sighed as she turned to the first page. To think, she was going to all of this trouble for a boy.
(Y/Nâs) older brother had known Mako first, when they were just kids. Both worked for the Triple Threat Triads for a number of years. (Y/N) had remembered Mako as the serious (and slightly intimidating) friend of her brotherâs that would stand outside waiting while her brother tried to convince her to cover for him. He might not have been a bender, but he was as strong as a platybus bear for a boy of fifteen, so the Triads made great use of him. (Y/N) had never liked it, but she always lied to their parents on his behalf. Sometimes, she had glared down at Mako from her bedroom window, and it seemed like some nights he frowned right back up at her.
This was all years ago, of course. Once her brother went off to join the United Forces, (Y/N) had forgotten all about Mako. It wasnât until this past spring that she had seen him again. They had been waiting for their food outside of a soup shop. It had been the lunch hour, so (Y/N) had known they would take a while, but she didnât mind, because she liked to people watch in order to keep herself occupied. She turned to the man standing just a few feet away from her, surprised at how familiar his face had looked. His jet black hair, thick eyebrows, and golden eyes were from somewhere, but (Y/N) couldnât place if she had dreamt about someone like him or had actually met him.
It would bug her the rest of the day if she didnât say anything to him, so she had. âExcuse me,â She said, lightly touching his arm to get his attention. âSorry to bother you, you just look really familiar to me.â
He had stared down at her silently, his brows furrowed, and in normal circumstances (Y/N) would have felt absolutely mortified to be having this exchange with a total stranger, but something about him was different. She felt calm around him.
âI know you from somewhere, too,â The man said then, a small smile appearing on his face. âDid your brother used to work for-â
âThe Triads!â (Y/N) finished, whispering the words excitedly because you couldnât just shout the name of one of the leading gangs in Republic City in a crowd full of people. âYouâreâŠMako, right?â
âYou must have a great memory, itâs been years since Iâve waited outside your house for your brother to come down.â (Y/N) laughed. âIf I remember correctly, you used to give me the evil eyes from your bedroom window.â She smiled.
âThat was me!â She extended her hand. âIâm (Y/N). Itâs nice to officially meet you.â
âSame here,â Mako said, shaking her hand. âHowâs your brother doing?â
âVery well, I think! Heâs with the United Forces now, so I donât hear much from him, but his last letter sounded very promising.â
âIâm glad to hear that.â
âHow are you doing? Iâll have to write to him about you, Iâm sure heâll be so excited to hear it.â
âOh, Iâm fine. Joined the Republic City Police, so I guess Iâm arresting the people I used to work with.â He shrugged.
âBeats getting arrested,â (Y/N) offered, and Mako cracked a smile.
âIt sure does.â Her order was called from the counter, and (Y/N) scurried over to pick it up. When she returned, Mako had his own food in hand.
âBefore you go,â (Y/N) started, and it was like the words would come out of her mouth before she had the chance to stop them. âWould you like to get a cup of coffee with me sometime? Iâd love to give my brother a detailed description of what youâve been up to.â She was never this bold, but it was like something else entirely had overcome her. He was handsome, and it was just a cup of coffee. Nothing too scary.
Mako had agreed to the cup of coffee that week and one cup had turned into three before turning into dinner. It had been nearly eight months since they met and the majority of their free time away from their jobs was spent together. Things were surprisingly easy with Mako. He was a fantastic listener and offered her the advice that she needed to hear. He had a bit of a rough shell on the outside, but (Y/N) worked tirelessly to break through it and revealed a man capable of so much love that she came to learn very few had ever actually given him it in return.
She was always completely lost when he talked about his probending days, but she enjoyed hearing him talk about his youth so much that it had set her on a course of research. (Y/N) was at the library today to better understand firebending. It was part of Mako, and she loved Mako (even if she hadnât admitted it), so she would learn to love firebending as well.
She read for hours, until the sun had set outside and lanterns were lit within the space. (Y/N) looked up from her book, eyes heavy and dry from reading so many pages. She had only made it about halfway through the book, so she checked out the heavy title from the librarian at the front and made her way home. Mako would be working the night shift that night, so she didnât have to worry about any interruptions.
---
Mako wasnât quite sure what had gotten into his girlfriend. (Y/N) couldnât bend. Not that there was anything wrong with that of course, Mako respected nonbenders just as much as benders (except for, yâknow, the Amon thing), but lately (Y/N) had become a walking fountain of knowledge on firebending. At first he hadnât thought anything of it, but as it continued on he started to sense that something was up.
The first time it had happened was on one of Makoâs days off. He had slept in late even though (Y/N) had promised to wake him up. With disheveled hair and his eyes squinting at the bright late morning light, he shuffled into the kitchen to give his girlfriend a very soft piece of his mind. She was scrambling eggs in front of the stove, turning to look back at him with a smile brighter than the sun. Mako allowed himself a smirk before his face turned stern.
âYou were supposed to wake me up,â He had said, his voice gruff from having not been used. (Y/N) shrugged.
âI donât think an earthquake couldâve woken you up,â She said in her defense. âPlus, you deserve extra sleep.â She had poked him in the stomach. âFirebenders canât firebend if theyâre exhausted.â Mako had chuckled. It sounded like the sort of thing mothers told their children in order to get them to go to bed.
But a few days later, she had mentioned something similar. They had been walking down the streets of Republic City, on their way to go visit Korra and Asami for lunch, when (Y/N) stopped suddenly in front of a store display. Mako jerked backward, unaware that she had paused.
âDo you know what that is?â She asked, looking up at him with an expression that indicated that she was testing him. Mako stared at the storefront.
âA clearance sign?â He questioned. (Y/N) had rolled her eyes.
âNot that,â She sighed, and pointed her finger at the tapestry that was hung in the back of the store. How she had spotted that from the corner of her eye, Mako had no idea, so he shrugged. âItâs the symbol of the Sun Warriors,â She explained. âThey were the first firebenders, after the dragons, of course. Theyâre extinct now, I think.â (Y/N) smiled up at him while he raised an eyebrow at her. He cracked a smile before tugging at her hand.
âIâm about to go extinct if we donât get some lunch.â
The biggest indicator by far had been the other night, when he was getting ready to leave for work. (Y/N) had sat on the bed as he stood in front of the mirror and buttoned up his uniform. He kept spares at (Y/Nâs) place now, since he spent nearly every night there anyway.
She was looking at him with an expression he had never seen before. It was like she was analyzing him. Mako turned around as he finished the last button, but before he could speak, she beat him to it.
âHow do you do it?â She asked, and Mako furrowed his dark brows.
âDo what?â
âBending.â She looked into his eyes at this point and Mako had felt his heart swell. He had a hard time transmitting the emotions that he was feeling inside to his appearance outside. If he could, he would have melted into a puddle on the floor for this girl. In a matter of a few months she had become something to aim toward, to strive for. Catching criminals and solving cases mattered to him, but not nearly as much as returning to her apartment in one piece.
He cleared his throat. âWhat do you mean?â
âI donât understand it, you know? How does it happen? Do you just think about it and it happens? Or do you have to focus?â
âA bit of both, I guess,â Mako said. âWhen youâre first learning, it takes a lot of focus to master a new move. But once youâve got it, it kind of becomes second nature.â He sat on the bed beside her to put on his work boots. âItâs like writing something. When you were little, you had to think about how to hold the pen, how to form the letters, what the letters meant. Now you just know.â
âDo you have to think about using lightning rather than fire?â Mako shook his head.
âItâs different movements.â She hummed, staring down at her hands as she contemplated what he just told her. Mako checked his watch for the time. âIâve got to head out.â
âOkay,â She said as she turned toward him. âBe safe! And donât forget to invite Bolin over for dinner this weekend.â
Mako let out an exaggerated sigh, at which (Y/N) frowned. âIâm serious Mako,â She continued. âIâll call Bolin myself to make sure you ask him!â
âWhy donât you ask him?â Mako asked as he packed his badge and wallet.
âItâll mean more if itâs coming from his big brother.â Mako leaned down and cradled the back of her neck with his hand, leaning for a kiss to which she happily obliged. Mako had many favorite things about (Y/N), but perhaps his most favorite was how she smiled into every kiss he gave her.
âIâll be sure to let him know,â Mako had said as he ran out of her apartment. If he was late again, Chief Beifong would kill him.
Mako contemplated these instances as he walked back to her apartment. (Y/N) had never expressed very much interest in bending, pardoning recent weeks. He wondered what had gotten her so curious. Perhaps she listened to a new radio show that talked about it. Mako never really listened to the radio anymoreâhe used to, but Bolin talked over all of the stations so he just turned it off whenever he was in the car.
He hadnât told her that he would be coming back to her place tonight. He hadnât entirely been planning on it, but one of the rookies was somehow put in charge of the schedule and put Mako and a kid named Lee on the same shift. Considering Mako had the seniority, he had gotten the night off, but not before completing the copious amounts of paperwork that had piled on his desk. It was nearing one in the morning, so (Y/N) would be fast asleep, but he figured she would enjoy seeing him again. Or at least, he hoped so.
To improve his chances of not facing the wrath of disturbing her slumber, Mako stopped by a late night dessert shop and picked up some of her favorites before returning on his way. When he finally opened the door to her apartment, Mako was unsurprised to find that every light was off, save for the light that peaked underneath her bedroom door.
Mako took his shoes off at the front and dropped the desserts on the kitchen counter before quietly making his way to her bedroom. (Y/N) lay curled up underneath her covers, fast asleep, with the biggest book Mako had ever seen lying beside her. He lifted the heavy book into his arms and thumbed through the pages. Each and every chapter was about firebending. Its origins, its practices, and its faults. Mako smiled to himself. So thatâs how she had become a walking encyclopedia.
He changed into his pajamas and slid into bed beside her. Startled, she opened her tired eyes and furrowed her brows at him. âChief let me go early,â He whispered to her, reaching over her body to turn off her lamp. âGo back to sleep.â
Instead she moved closer to his body and took his hands in hers. âI was reading,â She whispered slowly, as if her brain was cranking back to life. âThat firebenders can control the heat in their bodies.â She placed his hands just below her bellybutton. âMy cramps are really bad tonight, can youââ
Mako pulled her into his body and kissed her shoulder, spreading his hand wide so that it would cover as much surface area as possible. She hummed as she felt the warmth emanating from his hands. âThank you.â After a few minutes, her even breathes indicated that she was asleep.
Mako wondered then if he had been the reason that (Y/N) had a newfound fascination with firebending. While he was a great detective, he was absolutely clueless. She had gotten a whole book about firebending, had shared her knowledge to let him know that she cared about something that she had never cared about before. Mako pressed his face into the crook of his neck to hide the wide smile that no one would see.
(Y/N) wanted to know more about firebending because it was part of who he was. No one had ever taken such an interest in Makoâs passions. He had figured before, but was now certain, that he loved the girl in his arms so, so dearly.
---
TAG LIST
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#mako x reader#lok#legend of korra#korra x reader#asami x reader#bolin x reader#bolin#mako#korra#asami#writing#fanfiction
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HIIIII!! can i get a pieck finger dating headcanons if thatâs alright with you of course? your stuff makes me soft, stay safe!
yuh âŒïž tysm for your request
pieck finger dating headcanons (modern au)
pieck finger x gn!reader
warnings: literal fluff, no angst or anything i love pieck
- bc pieck is assumed to be like 23-26 this wont be a uni au or anything
- idk i rlly think you guys wouldve met in a mundane way
- like you bump into her on the sidewalk and try to the really awkward "oh im so sorry i didnt see you there- no really it was my fault- are you sure youre okay ?- okay great- no im not hurt- yeah- okay have a good day and again im so sorry !!" thing with her
- and then maybe you guys see each other again at a coffee place, youre there with your friends and shes there with hers, and you dont wanna talk to her obv bc that would be awkward
- then ur friend makes u go and order another coffee for them, and while youre waiting for your order pieck comes and stands beside you
- and shes very observant yknow ?? if she sees a face its very hard for her to forget it
- so she immediately recognizes you and blurts out "its you !"
- and you have to be like "oh yeah ! it is me ! its you too"
- she finds it quite cute and giggles about it
- a very laidback person but also a very blunt person
- she doesnt find any harm in asking "can i get your instagram @" look she doesnt wanna be a creep and ask for ur number right at the start
- and it gives her a chance to find out what kind of person you are
- it would absolutely suck for her if such a cute face was posting fishing pictures and alt right propaganda yknow ??
- so you two do and then both of your orders come so you two give awkward goodbyes before going back to your groups
- her instagram is very pretty, nice themes
- she posted a couple of hours ago, with her and her friends in a park, taking a couple of posed photos while some looking like they were natural
- shes adorable and you cant help but feel your cheeks go warm as you basically stalk her page
- she dms you and says "are you too busy looking at my feed that you havent followed me yet ?" and you see this mf staring at you across the room like đïžđïž
- okay nosy lets calm down now đđ€
- you try to defend urself but ur typing so quick you keep making errors in your writing, she ends up saying something else
"you know, i was doing the exact same thing. youre beautiful you know"
- thank you pieck đ„°
- over the next couple of weeks thats how you two communicate. she'll send you instagram memes and edits of her favourite shows, movies, games etc. and you find yourself having a lot in common w her
- you check her story so frequently it becomes one of the first accounts on the top of your homepage
- and FINALLY, when she feels she can see you as a friend and not just some pretty stranger she met on the street she asks you out
- it was a simple thing, just to the movies, and she even let you pick which one !! (imagine its pre covid idfk)
- you two go and its an awkward hug before you both head inside
- you pay for your tickets and she gets an extra large popcorn and a drink
- you assume shes just v hungry but before you can order yourself something shes like "what are you doing i got this for us !!"
- rlly cute bitch omfg
- during the movies, after she eats literally most of the fucking popcorn, she pulls your hand out of your lap and holds it with her buttery one đ„°đ€
- this bitch had crumbs and didnt even think to wipe them off
- you still held her hand tho anyways
- after that night you parted ways in front of the theater after making sure you two would be getting home safe
- and that became routine for a couple of weeks, not going to the movies obviously bc thats expensive but watching movies together !! youd go over to her apartment or she would come over to yours
- one thing about pieck is that shes very touchy
- one way or another she will end up cuddled with you on the couch
- it doesnt matter if its you being forcefully pulled on top of her body or her draping herself over you like shes a blanket, you two WILL be cuddling and you WILL enjoy it
- but finally, as if the gods gave you mercy, she finally kissed you
- it felt so nice, her lips were soft and sticky from her lip gloss and she tasted like the swedish berries you had gotten for her to munch on
- and the rest of the movie you two just sat there, kissing each other and giggling like teens
- she ended up staying the night, and complimented your bedsheets
- your relationship moved pretty fast after that
- she had already told all of her friends about you, they werent very surprised
- when you got officially introduced her friends zeke and porco tried to do that whole "if you hurt her.." speech before she slapped them and had marcel pull you away to safety
- other than that the night was very fun, you got to talking about your career, why you moved to the city, and other mundane topics
- pieck is actually a graphic designer, and everytime she comes to sleep over she just HAS to bring her laptop with her
- its basically just her laying in between your legs while she types away, youll pet her hair and lay soft kisses on her neck, and occasionally ask what shes doing
- she likes to tell you, has no problem in answering the questions you have, even if you think theyre stupid ones, shes very soft with you
- also a bit of a trickster
- for your first april fools together she slept over, you didnt have anything planned for her bc youre a good person and wont hurt the ones you love
- she stuffed your breakfast muffin with mustard đđ
- you gave her the cold shoulder for the rest of the day until she apologized by getting you a new muffin
- now she always dropped the l bomb to you, but she never needed you to say it
- thats why, when you were helping her cook dinner at her place you softly said "see ? and thats why i love you" she kind of,,, stopped what she was doing
- you realized why she wasnt washing the knife she used to cut your vegetables and tried to backtrack, but it was too late, she was already tackling you into a hug and taking you down onto the floor
- she just gave you kisses while repeating "i love you i love you i love you" over and over again
- bc of her you burnt ur fucking chicken smh
- you spent that night eating junk food and watching movies
- piecks a very observant person, so she always knows when youre sad too
- when you give that little huff when you come home to your (new !) shared apartment she knows something is up
- she'll slowly trail behind you as you walk to your bedroom, stripping to your underwear and changing into your pajamas
- you crawl into bed just wanting a nap to forget about the day, and she'll crawl in with you and hold you
- you never like to cry but youre so frustrated and upset at your coworkers, at that rude customer, at those deadlines, that you just breakdown
- and she lets you, she lets you almost suffocate yourself in her chest with how much your pushing your head into it, she strokes your hair while you choke on your own cries and hands you tissues when you need to blow your nose
- "what do you need my love ?" "i just need you" "okay baby"
- communication is a big thing in the relationship, and because shes been so open and honest from the beginning, talking about how you feel has never been easier
- in fact, you like talking about how you feel about your relationship, or how you didnt like what pieck said to your friends the other day, this and that, you feel comfortable and safe with pieck no matter what, which makes talking about even the most hardest things seem so simple and natural
- all in all, even when she wakes you up with spontaneous ice cream dates or asks that you put raisins in the popcorn during movie night, even with the fights and the crying and the exhaustion the next day, life would be much duller without her, and you only have to thank your clumsy self
uhh i feel like this is very short but yeah â€ïž requests are open so go crazy mfs âŒïž
#attack on titan#attack on titan fanfiction#attack on titan x reader#hange zoe#pieck finger headcanons#pieck finger x reader#pieck finger#pieck x reader#pieck headcanons#pieck aot#marcel galliard#porco galliard#porco galliard x reader#zeke jaeger x reader#zeke yeager x reader
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if you wanted to go to the moon, he would take you there.
plot twist | crash zoom | happy ending
16.1k (lol) | joshua x afab enby!reader, fluff, humor, suggestive, reader is ace lol, youtuber au, chef au, swearing, drinking, detailed descriptions of meals, mentions of past trauma including sexual assault, i swear it's not that deep, lots of implied sex but none on screen (yet), watching movies and playing video games, yes i am trying to set up all my friends, would anyone get it if i said r&r
welcome to part two of classic!! please enjoy this tooth rotting relationship garbo in which i basically announce to the world that i have a disgusting crush on joshua. posting this later than intended but i started working five tens so i'm đ
a little tired lol. but joshua makes it ok <3
when you mentioned offhandedly that you had never had bibimbap in jeonju, joshua practically dropped the groceries he was helping you bring up the elevator.
"how long have you been in korea?" he asked.
you looked at him, wide eyed. "four years?"
he squinted at you, jutting his jaw out. "and you've never gone to jeonju? it's, like, the food hub of korea. how the hell?"
"iâŠ" you laughed, exiting the elevator when the doors opened. "i don't know? it's never been top priority, i guess?"
"okay, well it is now," he stated plainly, following you to your door while you adjusted your bags in your hands to punch in the code. as soon as the groceries were safely on your counter, he pulled out his phone. "friday to sunday?"
you looked up from the vegetables in your hands. "what?"
he looked at you. "we're going. this weekend? i need to reserve the ktx tickets."
you laughed. "this weekend? joshua, it's wednesday."
"okay, next weekend?"
you stared at him a second, purely because you were in disbelief. "no, i have a demonstration next saturday."
he exhaled, looking at the calendar on his phone. "okay, and jamie's birthday party is the weekend after, so," he paused, looking at you through his lashes. "this weekend?"
you pushed your hands onto the counter and sighed heavily. "when would we leave?"
he grinned, knowing that meant he had won you over. "after i get off work? i can be here by 3:30."
"how long is the train?"
"uhh," he quickly searched for the tickets. "two hours. less than. we can buy snacks for the ride and have dinner when we get there."
you chewed your lip. "i have to edit on sunday, so we can't stay all day."
he nodded, inspecting the time table for tickets. "stay two nights, leave after breakfast?"
you considered that for a second. "i could bring my laptop and export footage on the train."
a smile crept across his face when you puffed out your cheeks in thought. "is that a yes?"
your cheeks deflated as you exhaled. "fine."
"yeah?" joshua grinned at you, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and tugging you into his chest. "jeonju this weekend?"
you exhaled again, your arms reluctantly winding around his torso. "yeah. jeonju this weekend."
"you're gonna love it," he said, pressing his lips against your temple. "i helped on an article about hole in the wall finds there years ago, so i know all the good spots."
you giggled, pulling away to look at him with a quirked eyebrow. "you used to write for the magazine?"
he shook his head at you. "when i was interning."
"aw," you poked at his cheek. "intern joshie?"
he rolled his eyes, separating himself from you as you giggled, and he looked at you slyly from the corner of his eye. "joshie?"
you grinned, reaching out to pinch his cheeks. "joshie!"
he laughed and batted away your hands. "joshie?"
you: i think i'm finally packed
joshie: i don't understand why it was so difficult when we're going for Two Days.
you: đĄ
joshie: đ
as promised, he arrived at your apartment in a cab and stubbornly took your roller suitcase despite your insistence that you could handle it. joshua was always doing things like this - for you, you imagined, he would probably even lay down his jacket in a puddle so you wouldn't have to walk through it. but at the same time, he wouldn't fault you for kicking his jacket aside and purposefully jumping in it instead. he would probably join you, even.
he had joked with you that this would be like a work trip for you, but only because he was the one that suggested you film - plus, he reminded you, filming a full video this weekend meant that you didn't have to film next week. and to be perfectly frank, you wanted the break. if you could have a weekend getaway with joshua and then a week long break to have a normal routine without a camera, it was a win-win.
equipped with coffee and cafe sandwiches, you casually kicked your feet and happily sipped at your americano as you edited a picture of it for your instagram story. joshua sat beside you, also doing something on his phone, and you watched him with no intention as he pulled his airpods out of his coat jacket and offered one to you. you looked at him, smiling when he gestured with the open case again.
"i made a playlist," he said quietly as you put the airpod into your ear. he took the one you left and did the same, tapping on his phone.
the thought of joshua hearing a song and thinking of you making your chest flutter to life, the heat rising through you until you were left in a comfortable glow, smiling softly at him as a melody started in your ear. he looked back at you, double taking slightly when he realized you were looking at him.
"what's that look for?" he asked, a sideways grin breaking his face in half.
you shook your head, unable to change your face. "that's, just... really nice."
"making a playlist?" he hummed, settling back in his seat as you stuck your straw between your lips. "i didn't consciously do it. i just started a list of songs to show you because i thought you would like them, and this ended up being a good time to share it."
you sighed dramatically, falling back against the window of the train. "that's even nicer, you dickhead!" he laughed, shushing you and looking around, worried someone might have understood your slightly-above-inside-voice exclamation. "i know for a fact i didn't do anything to deserve the sweetest, handsomest, loveliest boyfriend on the planet, so what's the catch, mr. hong?"
his eyes went to the ceiling as he thought, kneading his lips once before saying, "i think you forgot funniest, too."
"ah," you said, a dry chuckle following the realization. "that's the catch."
"hey!" he laughed, eyes big as he pretended to be offended. "i know i'm funny!"
you giggled with him, mentally noting that you liked the song that he was playing. that he must have somehow picked up on why you liked the music you did. you thought about how you had the same thought, sometimes, when you were listening to music alone in your room and a song popped up on your discovery that sounded like something he would listen to. how you would immediately text them to him, knowing you would forget if you didn't send it right away, and he would react with some assortment of positive emojis. how he must have been doing the same thing, but wanted to be there when you heard them, and didn't have the same flighty memory as you. you brought your straw to your lips again, staring after him as he adjusted something in his bag, taking too long to refocus your attention to story you had been trying to post.
he later nudged you, getting your attention as you responded to an email on your phone, gesturing his finger with the melody, and you gave him a childlike look of awe, as if to tell him that yes, you agreed, this was exactly the kind of run you really enjoyed. he pounded a fist against his knee at the beats, pointing up at the key change, and you exploded into a stifled laugh, your palm covering your mouth. he laughed with you before he showed you the now playing page on his phone, holding it open dutifully as you quickly searched for it to add to your own library.
as promised, joshua provided great insight for the food tour the two of you set out on. travel day, he had told you, meant that you would have something easy - bibimbap and makgeolli at two of the best places he knew, apparently. by the time you made it back to the hotel room you had checked into before headed to the bar, you just about collapsed onto the queen bed.
"i'm so full," you exhaled, eyes dancing across the ceiling. "i'm never gonna move again."
joshua just laughed at you, toeing both of your shoes aside at the door before shuffling into slippers. "we have a full day of eating tomorrow, so you better move."
you let our a breathy laugh, rolling your head to watch as he flopped onto the bed beside you. "i'm glad you also plan trips around the meals."
he gave you a puzzled look. "is there another way to plan a trip?"
you rolled onto your side, tucking your arm under your head to look at him. "some people like sightseeing. or activities."
his brows were still ruffled in confusion as he looked away from you. "i like looking at food. and the activity of eating food."
you giggled, and his face finally broke to reveal the bewilderment had been a bit all along, his smiling laugh meeting yours.
you walked a lot the next day, and you were grateful for the light exercise to help your digestion a bit between meals. the local famous kalguksu for breakfast, a visit to a cafe for coffee before walking down a historical street together. you filmed with a smile on your face, shaking your americano for camera with a colorful background, just for you to pull down the drink and let the beautiful buildings and trees take the focus.
joshua could watch you forever, he was pretty sure. watching you conceptualise what you wanted this out of the ordinary video to look like, seeing the way you managed to be present with him, joking and giggling on your scenic walk, but squeezed his hand in warning before letting go, telling him quietly you wanted to get a shot. he had seen the way you filmed food, and how you filmed your kitchen, which was incredible in its own right, but this was the first time he got to see your process on the fly. when you went to work, as it were, taking in your scenery and deciding the way you wanted to portray it - more thought went into this than filming at the same barbeque restaurant for the fifth time, but joshua saw the similarities in the way your eyes twinkled when you saw something through your camera lens for the first time, even if only the first time that day. the way you would review the footage quickly, smiling at the way it turned out, but announcing that you were taking a second shot for safety.
then, he took you to another restaurant.
you barely noticed the passage of time, but when he conveniently "happened" upon the next stop on your food tour, you were pretty sure your stomach growled at the thought of eating an insane amount of dumplings, and you smiled at him in a way that made him want to cause it constantly.
if having your pick at dumplings was enough to make you giddy like a child, the night market was life altering. the food stalls were set up like they always were friday and saturday nights, joshua told you, and that meant you got to experience korean street food in a way you hadn't yet. you found the best pad thai you had ever eaten, succumbed to the tempting smell of grilled squid when passing a busy stall, and you even got served alcohol practically in passing, the specialty liquor being offered in a way that was hard for either of you to say no to. after a few too many, you had to stop joshua before he dragged you to a choco pie stall.
"we should eat more first," you said, gesturing to a woman making hashbrowns on a griddle. "while we have free hands. loop back around for dessert and buy some for the road."
joshua tapped his nose, then wagged his finger at you. "smart and hot."
you laughed, pulling him towards the hashbrown stall.
that night, you laid in bed beside each other, talking like you hadn't just spent literally the entire day together. recalling highlights of the day, sharing related anecdotes with assorted friends and family. you didn't even want to sleep - your body did, sure, clearly, by the way it kept interrupting your conversation with yawns. joshua would laugh, then yawn in response, and tell you that you should sleep. you would shake your head, a pout on your lips, and he would just smile and keep talking about whatever the yawn had interrupted.
being in bed with joshua wasn't demanding, nor was it uncomfortable, and you were pretty sure that meant something good.
you were making curry. he had mentioned that it looked good while you were watching some show the week prior and you couldn't get it out of your head. so, even though it was midsummer and far too warm for something as hearty as japanese curry, you decided you needed to make it anyway, if only for your own peace of mind. you invited joshua over to cook dinner for him, and he asked where your camera was when he arrived with your requested potatoes (you had some, except they were older than you thought and started sprouting), but you told him you weren't filming tonight.
"this ones for us," you said matter of factly, giggling when he looked shocked. "i don't film every meal, y'know. sometimes i cook things just for me."
he watched you dump the potatoes into the sink to wash. "what if it ends up being really pretty?"
"josh," you said, looking at him. "i don't make things that aren't pretty."
he asked if you needed help with anything, but you just shook your head and told him to relax. that you had made this a million times, and that you could do it with your eyes closed. he asked again if you were sure, and you laughed, scrubbing potatoes and using your shoulder to get your hair out of your face.
"actually," you said, raising the wrist on which you kept a hair tie. "do you know how? my hands are wet."
joshua smiled and nodded, coming over and pulling the tie off your wrist, careful to not get it too wet on your hand. "how high?"
"ariana," you said, making him laugh as you giggled. "as high as you can manage, but i don't really care."
he just smiled, taking your hair in his hands as you washed the potatoes one by one, and you tried to ignore the way you heart skipped a beat when you felt his touch drift across the back of your neck. he gently gathered it all in one palm at the crown of your skull, brushing through it with his fingers. "here?"
"perfect," you said, chewing your cheek and smiling. he pulled the band over your hair, tying it off tightly and pulled at the hair gently to keep it in place.
his hands glided over your waist, leading his arms to wrap around you as his chin landed on your shoulder. "not too tight?"
you shook your head, smiling. "you're multi talented."
"i have a sister," he reminded you, then put a kiss on your cheek.
you managed to convince him to sit at the counter, and he smiled and laughed with you as you conversed about anything that came to mind. he talked about his latest work antics, and you told him about a café you found the day before that you really enjoyed. he watched you skillfully chop vegetables and prepare chicken, flitting around your kitchen with a familiarity that could only be fostered by time. he glanced at the time on his phone, then looked at the door behind him that led to a bedroom.
"is karol here?" he asked. she normally would have emerged to say hi by now.
you looked at him before going back to pan frying the chicken. "no, she's in busan this weekend with some friends. she'll be back sunday night."
an alarm went off in joshua's head, and he tried not to think too deeply about the fact that you had invited him over while your roommate was away. sex hadn't even been a discussion on the table yet, but not because joshua didn't want it - because, frankly, he wanted it - he was just more concerned about you and your wants. for most things, he felt as though he had learned your thoughts and opinions naturally over the last few months, but outside of a few passing jokes, you hadn't ever mentioned how you felt about sex in general, much less sex with him.
so he stared at you, suddenly unable to ignore the fact that you were wearing shorts because of the weather, but they were hidden under the hem of the neutral toned apron he saw in your videos every week. or the way you smiled at him as you talked, your eyes glinting with mischief when you made a joke at his expense, but only made him laugh and want you more. he stood and came around the island, standing with his hip against the counter as the two of you continued conversing and you added the roux cubes to the pot.
his eyes never left you or your actions, and you noticed the way he inched towards you as your cooking became less involved and began to wrap up. you didn't argue when he put his arms around you again, watching you stir the curry with his cheek against your ear. he wasn't in your way, not even when you reached over to pull a spoon out of a drawer to give it a taste and make sure the seasonings were right, so you instead just enjoyed his presence.
you hummed, licking your lips briefly as you appraised the flavor. "not bad," you said, using the ladle you had been cooking with to pour more into the spoon you had just used to taste. you blew on it, then displayed it for joshua, who looked at you in his peripherals before accepting the bite.
"oh, wow," he said, making you giggle as you put the spoon aside. "that's better than a restaurant."
"thanks," you said, tapping the ladle on the side of pot to get the excess back in the pot, a spot of sauce landing on the back of your hand. you put it on the spoon rest next to your stovetop and replaced the lid on the pot of curry, quickly turning the burner to low. "now we just wait for the rice to pop," you said, spinning in his grip and licking the spot off the back of your hand.
joshua stared at you, desperately wishing in that moment that he wasn't such a damn man, because it was clear in your eyes that it was a completely innocent action. you got some of the delicious sauce on your hand, so why would you wipe it off when a towel wouldn't appreciate it like your tongue would? you wouldn't, obviously. he wouldn't have, either, if it had been his hand. but here he was, gaze fixed on your mouth as you pulled your hand away from it, and one of your eyebrows raised when you noticed.
"can i help you?" you asked, glancing down at his lips when he involuntarily leaned into you.
"i-" he swallowed. "sorry, i'm just-"
in that moment, you registered what his gaze meant. and while you were fairly oblivious to most things, you were far from innocent, so you put your arms over his shoulders and knit your fingers in his hair. "you're just?" you prompted.
there was a chuckle on his lips as he backed you against the counter, and he shook his head lightly. "i just think it's insane how into you i am."
joshua had this way of kissing you that made you think his life depended on it. he kissed you like you were in the final scene of an apocalyptic movie and he had come to terms with the fact that this was the end. like he knew that if your lips left his, he would magically disappear before he could tell you how much you meant to him. like he could stop time as long as he had you pressed against him with his hand on your jaw, but the sun was setting and he wasnât ready to say good night.
when he finally pulled away from you, you were trying to catch your breath as his hands ran down your waist, and you stared into his eyes. his lips were parted, and his fingers gripped at your hips in a way that you knew meant he wished there were less layers between your skin.
your mind raced, thinking quickly back to how long the two of you had been seeing each other. how long you had known that you were interested in keeping joshua around for the long term. you wracked your brain, thinking about when people normally took the next step at your age, finding a discrepancy in the timing. you had made him wait for so long, but this was the first time you had noticed him trying to bed you - though, this was hardly subtle, so perhaps you had missed signs earlier? hell, the two of you had even shared a bed at this point, but you were pretty sure he hadn't tried anything then, either. you considered the fact that this relationship had gone for over two months without so much as a hint to take the next logical step, and you decided that joshua was definitely the only guy you had met in years that you would be willing to allow under your covers.
"the curry can sit for," you started, blinking rapidly as your mouth caught up to your mind. you swallowed once. "well, until tomorrow, technically, but-"
joshua's lip quirked upward. "did you invite me over to have me stay the night?"
"not-" you exhaled. his tone was slightly accusatory, but only playfully, and you found yourself more flustered by the question than you would have liked. "not consciously, butâŠ" your eyes studied his face. "do you want to?"
"are you kidding?" he asked, making you breathe out a laugh, his forehead landing on yours. "did you not hear me when i said i was insanely into you?"
the rice cooker beeped, drawing both of your attention as it sang out a small tune to alert you it was finished. you looked at joshua. "are you hungry?"
he looked back at you, a smile sneaking on his lips. "i mean, working up an appetite wouldn't hurt, right?"
he let you lead him to your bedroom, which he had only been in once, briefly, when he had helped you put some lights away. the two of you admittedly spent most of your time in kitchens or restaurants, the remainder of your alone time being split between joshua's car and a couch to watch a movie, but joshua thought your taste suited his as he glanced around again, and that he would happily lose time in bedrooms with you. you kissed him again, and he was quick to pull you against his body, leaning into you, making you giggle as you bent backwards at the hips. "josh."
"what?" he asked, giving you a half lidded smile as his hand found your jaw, pulling you back into him. "stop leaning back and i'll stop chasing you."
"i'm-" you giggled into the kiss he interrupted you with. "i'm not leaning back, you're pushing me."
joshua made you feel like you were out of your depth, but in a way that was more exciting than scary. it had been ages since someone had been able to surprise you, or had helped you surprise yourself, but today he was doing both. the last time you had let a man into your heart, it had been less than perfect, especially towards the end, but joshua felt like home. cozy. he made you feel safe. like he wouldn't let you fall backwards unless your mattress was waiting for you.
and when you fell, he crawled over you, connecting your lips again with a hand against your jaw, the other holding himself above you, and you tried to restrain a whine.
"josh," you said suddenly, pushing on his chest lightly, processing fully what was about to happen and a shot of anxiety running through your chest. "c-can i tell you something first?"
joshua paused his motions, studying your eyes, his expression skewing scared. "oh, shit, are you a virgin?"
"what?" your eyebrows creased, a laugh on your lips. "no, what the fuck, josh? i'm in my mid-twenties."
he blinked at you. "there would be nothing wrong with you if you were a virgin in your mid-twenties."
"i'm not a virgin, joshua."
"right," he shook his head slightly. "sorry, i don't know. what were you saying?"
you chewed at your cheek nervously. "i just. i haven't⊠been with a guy in a really long time."
his eyes examined your face, looking for a hint at what you meant, because if it was only what you were saying, he didn't understand why you were so worried. "okay?"
"like, really long," you reiterated.
"baby, i promise," he said, forehead against yours. "i promise you, i don't care."
you exhaled sharply, wishing you could just enjoy things normal people did. that you knew what people wanted out of these encounters innately, instead of having to overthink them. "like, i don't want to⊠i don't know. disappoint you."
"disappoint me?" his head bobbed backwards in shock. "how the hell could i ever be disappointed when you're you?"
your eyes shut, grateful that he could still make you smile when you felt so out of your league. "i just mean that i-" you paused, trying to figure out how much you were willing to say, and how much you could without ruining whatever mood had been fostered here. "i just don't really do this. like, i feel like i don't know how."
"baby," he said, pressing his lips to yours briefly. "honey, sweetie, darling," he continued, punctuating each name with quick pecks. "you could starfish and i would have the time of my life."
you laughed, a hand landing on his shoulder sharply as he smiled at you. "okay, i'm not that bad, jesus."
"i'm telling you," he assured. "i don't care. i don't care if it's been months or years or forever, i don't care." he paused, appraising your expression. "we don't have to do anything. i'd be happy to just kiss you for an hour and a half if you're not ready."
"no," you whined, crinkling your nose. "it's not that, i justâŠ" you took a breath. "i might just need you to take it a little slow."
"well, baby, you're in luck," he said, giving you a teasing smirk as his lips closed in on yours again. "slow and steady is exactly how i want you."
karol had said you hated men. she hadn't been wrong. you hated a lot of men, and how they made you feel like a prisoner in your own body. you hated the men you had encountered in your past, who made you feel small and weak. ugly and only wanted for one purpose, disrespecting your boundaries, your presentation, and your being. you hated those men, and nothing would ever redeem them for you.
joshua was different, though. he wasn't like them, because even though you didn't say explicitly why you needed a little extra care, he was more than prepared to give it to you. without even needing specific direction, he paid special attention to your reactions. to your body. he waited until you were ready, and asking him for more. and even when he sheepishly admitted that he'd started carrying a condom in his wallet the month prior, you could only giggle and silently be overwhelmingly thankful that he was truly nothing like any man you had ever been with before.
you swore you had made the same recipe you always did, but your curry tasted sweeter than you remembered. maybe it was just that you were eating it in your underwear with a man that made you feel comfortable in your skin for the first time in forever, a home improvement show remaining unwatched on your tv as the two of you joked together.
joshua woke the next morning in your empty bed, and was only confused for a second as he looked around your white walls. he stretched once, then sat up, eyes meandering over your orange patterned rug (one he remembered describing as "groovy" when he had first seen it, which had made you laugh in that way he adored), then noticed your laptop had been turned on. it was saturday, he realized, and you were likely going to edit today so you wouldn't have to tomorrow. he decidedly did not peek, though he wanted to, and peeked out your bedroom door instead.
you were easy to find, standing in your kitchen with an oversized shirt on and your hair pulled out of your face as you formed rice balls. you looked up from your work, smiling when you saw him, placing the triangle of rice you had just made on the cutting board. "good morning!"
it was, he thought. it was a really good morning.
you teased him for hugging you in your kitchen while he was only wearing underwear, saying that he seemed to have made himself comfortable quickly. he just playfully ran his hands under your shirt, saying, well, what about you, then? making breakfast with no pants on?
"i live here," you said, giggling and using your hip to bump him away. "i pay rent. what do you do?"
his eyes darted away from yours as he thought. "sit still, look pretty?"
that made you laugh. "you are very pretty."
he grinned, taking the opportunity to pull you into his chest again. "you, too."
he looked at what you had made, noticing the pot on the stove for the first time.
"soybean paste soup," you said, reacting to his gaze, then pointed at the neat triangles of brown tinted rice in front of you. "mushroom riceballs, and i'm making tamagoyaki next."
joshua blinked at you after processing everything. "do you do this every morning?"
"not every morning," you giggled. "but i wanted to today."
weeks later, you were biting your pinky nail to oblivion as you scrolled through comments on the video you had posted earlier that morning. you were sitting on the couch in joshua's living room, your laptop perched on the arm and your boyfriend fixing something to eat before the two of you sat to watch a movie. you had made a risky move in your video - one you thought would have been fine, but clearly people read more into it than you expected. joshua came over for dinner earlier in the week, when you had made pasta with all the delicious fresh seafood the two of you had found at a market the day before, accompanied by a simple salad and white wine. karol was working late, so you had set some aside for her, but that meant it was just you and joshua in frame when you filmed your usual table setting shot.
people were speculating.
you knew it was inevitable, and a few comments had pointed out the man that had eaten sushi with you in the vlog that included your first date, but at this point, the comments were flooded with questions and hypotheses on who the mystery man could be. most assumed boyfriend - which, while true, made you feel slightly annoyed - and a few wondered if he was your brother, or close friend, but they all noticed that his hands and voice had become regular guest stars on your channel. that, while you still got meals with krys and karol, this nameless, faceless man sat opposite you more often than anyone else.
the jeonju vlog is what sparked the most comments. people suspected some amount of intimacy when they realized this guy was travelling with you, too, and you probably would have thought the same if it had been someone you watched regularly. you had been careful with the editing, only including clips with food and the scenery shots that didn't star him (while you had filmed a lot that did, those were just for your own personal record), but you supposed it was in peoples' nature to try and find a romantic plotline in your slice of life.
"josh?" you said suddenly, pulling your pinky from between your teeth. you heard his vague noise of acknowledgment and spun around on the couch to watch as he cocked his head at you from the kitchen. "should we go public?"
"uh," he paused, looking at the scallion pancake he was cooking, quickly grabbing the panhandle to flip it. "give me, like, two minutes and we can discuss? i'm almost done in here."
you puffed your cheeks out and nodded, turning back towards your computer. "okay, baby."
when joshua came into the living room, the spread he had quickly put together across a tray you had bought for him (because you wanted it, mostly, but karol would kill you if you brought more home), he put it on the coffee table and sat next to you, quickly addressing the subject again.
"people keep," you paused. his eyebrows raised, prompting you, but he only chewed on his bottom lip to let you take your time as you hugged your knees to your chest. "people keep assuming you're my boyfriend anyways, so i'm just thinking-" you exhaled sharply. "should we just say fuck it? just confirm that we're a couple?"
joshua studied you. "you've always been pretty private."
you chewed your cheek, putting your lips against your knees. "that's on purpose."
"you don't have to say anything you don't want to," he reminded you, rubbing a hand against your back. you put your chin on your knees and gave him your biggest doe eyes, making him smile. "they can speculate all they want, but you don't owe them an explanation."
you nodded lightly as you hugged your legs and looked around, briefly studying the tray joshua had brought over. he had quickly stirfried some vegetables, grilled the frozen pork belly slices he always kept on hand, and even cooked your favorite premade scallion pancakes, the spread complete with several side dishes you had made together earlier in the week and two bowls of rice. your brows knit together, fingers itching to film how neatly he had put together a light meal for the two of you because you had said you wanted to show him your favorite movie without interruption, and he knew you would be hungry soon.
"would you-" you cleared your throat, looking up from the food and finding his eyes. "what do you think i should do?"
he let out a breathy laugh. "does it matter? you'll do what you want anyways."
you whined, pushing his shoulder as your feet dropped from the couch. "i'm serious, your opinion matters here. would you be okay with being public?"
"you're joking, right?" he laughed, adjusting his posture, and grabbing your hand to folding it between his. "baby, you know i care about you, right?"
your lips pursed as you nodded, looking between his eyes shyly.
"and you know i would never try to say that i, like, own you, right? like, i don't claim ownership over you as a person."
you let out a short laugh. "right."
he held your hand tighter. "i want to tell every viewer of every single one of your videos that you are mine."
your cheek puffed out as you smiled. "really?"
"especially the reply guys, oh my gosh," he rolled his eyes, making you laugh. "there's a place i think you'd like! i could take you, smiley face. yeah, get lost, creep. move along."
your palm landed on your cheek as you laughed. "shut up, are you serious?"
"you don't see those?" his eyes wide when you shook your head. "baby, there's so many people trying to take you out in the comments. so many."
you giggled, pressing your lips together. "well, there's only one guy that gets to."
"that's right," joshua said, a proud look on his face. "the ultimate reply guy fanboy."
you pushed his chest, laughing again. "shut up."
you decided an faq would do, but in the style of your regular videos. you definitely didn't want to just sit down in front of your camera and talk through questions and answers - that wasn't your style, and would feel wrong uploading. so instead, you spent a few hours compiling questions you had been asked often and organized them in a way that made sense, planning on showing your daily life. questions like what camera you used, what your go-to quick breakfast is, where you bought the clothes you liked - it was easy to plan them out to create a vague storyline of your standard day. you woke up on a wednesday (a day you went to the studio, because many of your questions were about what goes on there), excited to film but slightly nervous. as you set up your camera for breakfast, your phone buzzed on the counter.
joshie: good morning, baby! you got this! can't wait to see you tonight đ„°
you: đ„șđ„șđ„ș thank you!
the day went well, filming your planned clips on the subway and at the studio, and when your coworker asked what all the questions you were filming for were, you sighed.
"normal stuff," you said quickly, taking off your apron after several hours of cooking and shooting. "favorite recipes, what equipment i use⊠y'know."
yunhyeong nodded at you, his eyes squinting slightly. "is that all?"
he knew you. he knew how you reacted when you were nervous. how you could practically hide it from anyone, but that certain subjects would always make your eyes look slightly panicked and your speech speed up. the worst part is that you knew he knew, and your facade was almost immediately broken.
"and if i have a boyfriend."
he stared at you for a second before he laughed in disbelief. it took him over a week of bugging you about the guy in your videos before you admitted you were seeing someone, and even then, you only did because joshua had started picking you up from the studio and - against your wishes - introduced himself to your coworkers. yunhyeong thought about how protective you were of your privacy, and how you had never revealed something as personal as a relationship online before - partly because none of the people you had gone on two or three dates with had been serious enough to reveal, but he mostly thought about how you barely even showed your own face. that you stayed mostly silent when you filmed, and if you had to speak, it was a voice that was only adjacent to your usual cadence, as if you were trying to create another barrier between you and your online persona. how you had mourned your grandfather's passing and uploaded your vlog like normal two days later, but called out of work for the week following.
"and you're telling the truth?"
you exhaled, wiping down the stove top now that it had cooled. "yeah, shua and i discussed it. people are speculating, anyways, and it's not like he's going anywhere any time soon."
yunhyeong nodded again, organizing the spices as he put them away. "i'm happy for you."
you looked at him. "what do you mean?"
"it's a big step," he said, purposefully keeping his eyes from you so you didn't get self conscious. "you haven't been this serious about someone the entire time i've known you. i think it's really great that you found someone you care about."
you watched him spin bottles to be label out as you considered his words. "thanks."
he peeked at you, smiling. "of course."
yunhyeong's words rattled in your mind as you walked to the restaurant joshua had agreed to meet you at, filming your feet as you went with the intention of answering a few random questions with on-screen text in the edit. someone you care about.
you thought about how joshua had said the same thing about you when you had asked if going public was something he would be comfortable with. the way it has made your heart flutter. you wondered, briefly, if perhaps this was something more than just caring.
when you were editing the video that saturday, you procrastinated on the last question as long as you could, and when it was the only thing left to do, you escaped to the kitchen to make lunch in favor of finishing the part that was haunting you. your bagel sandwich was delicious, but you could barely enjoy it, mind clouded by the task that made your anxiety peak for seemingly no good reason.
it took you too long to finish it.
when you showed it to joshua, wanting his blessing before you uploaded, he couldn't hide his giddy reaction.
"it's okay?" you confirmed, studying his face.
he nodded at you, lips pushed together into a lopsided smile. "it's really cute."
"cute?" you asked, clicking through the video. "that's good, right?"
"yes," he laughed, squeezing your shoulder to put a kiss on your head. "it's great. post it."
so you did. and while you had gotten a tiny bump when krys excitedly dragged the two of you onto her stream that afternoon, you had no way of predicting the way the rest of the internet picked it up a few weeks later.
"r/relationshipgoals," jeonghan read off his phone, leaning against your kitchen island along with several of your friends that had come over when they saw the two of you on their newsfeeds unprompted. "'cross post from r/cutecouples, the most heartwarming boyfriend reveal you'll see this year.'"
"twitter, too," karol announced looking up from her own phone, seated in a barstool beside him. "you're a twitter moment. people found the clip from krys' stream, even."
you were on the counter opposite them, kicking your feet nervously to the beat in your head as you chewed your lip. you sighed and covered your face. "how long is this gonna last?"
"a while, hopefully," krys said, turning your laptop screen towards you. "your subcounts are insane right now."
you whined into your hands, making joshua appear at your side to put a hand on your spine. you took a breath at the touch, relaxing your tensed thighs on the counter. "it's okay to be nervous," he muttered at you. "but it's also kinda exciting, right?"
you exhaled deeply, letting your hands fall and your eyes trail to his before a smile broke on your face. "kinda."
so after you calmed yourself down, you managed to go through some of the posts about you, and you surprised yourself by letting them put a smile on your face. even the idea of having a public relationship had scared you shitless less than a month prior, but this⊠this wasn't so bad. seeing twitter repost the same video of you filming your feet as you walked into a restaurant, panning the camera up to reveal joshua sitting at a table and waving excitedly at you. the cuts you made to show clips that had landed on the cutting room floor of past videos - the footage you had taken of him pointing out the new wok you had started using a few weeks prior in a kitchen specialty store, and the goofy face he revealed after holding it in front of himself as he brought it back to you. the video of joshua grasping your hand, panning up to his playfully serious face as he dragged you down a boardwalk in jeonju, gesturing to the sunset. the unedited audio from your first date, when you had said something about it looking really good, and he had said something along the lines of how it would have been a waste if you hadn't recorded, and the two of you giggled together in a way that nervous new couples did. short bits of you swinging your camera around to reveal a laughing joshua as you tried to film quiet shots. a clip of him wearing a triangular menu on his head like a hat, acting as though it was completely normal.
you had a hard time believing anything you ever did would be viral-worthy, but even you had to admit, this was a pretty understandable thing for you to go viral for.
besides, it felt like it made sense for this to be the one thing about your personal life that ended up getting attention. it felt like he was an innate part of you at this point, and that you wouldn't be honest if you hid him.
it was august when he broke your heart.
"how could you?" you asked him, staring in disbelief. "you haven't seen lord of the rings?"
"okay, i lied," joshua said, still washing the dishes. "i saw them when i was a kid, but i don't remember them really."
"well, we're fixing that."
he looked at where you were sitting on his kitchen island - a well known habit of yours at this point. "today?"
"not today," you said, poking your toe at his hip. "this weekend, maybe? if we start now, we'll be watching til you go to work tomorrow morning."
he shut off the faucet and gingerly placed the pan he had just washed on the drying rack. "how many movies is it? i thought it was just three."
"it is," you said, laughing at his shocked look. "the extended editions are around four hours each."
joshua exhaled, leaning against the counter as he used a cloth to dry his hands. "you're lucky i like wasting hours with you."
you grinned, hopping down from your seat. "you're lucky i let you."
and that weekend, the two of you did just that - waste time, ordering delivery food for two meals as you camped out on the couch in various positions as the two of you got comfortable repeatedly. you couldn't help but recite specific lines, mouthing along with every word gandalf said like you had thought of the words yourself. you pointed out behind the scenes facts along the way, even, excitedly saying viggo broke two toes when he kicked that helmet, or how faramir's flames were a mirror trick. joshua watched you, because while he knew it was your favorite movie and he really should pay attention, he couldn't help but get distracted by his own favorite movie, and it starred you getting excited about something you loved.
you slept later than joshua that sunday, and when you emerged from the bedroom, you spotted krys sitting at the island with a plate of waffles in front of her, then found joshua leaned against the counter with a cup of coffee. he smiled when he saw you.
"i made breakfast," he said, gesturing to the counter.
you looked around at the spread as you walked over to him. waffles, fruit, bacon, and the promise of a fried egg upon request - a spread worthy of your own brunching standards. "what about second breakfast?" you asked quietly, in accented english.
joshua laughed, his arm wrapping around your midsection as you came over to kiss him good morning. "elevensies?" he shot back, in the same vague accent.
you broke your serious face to giggle. "luncheon?"
"alright," krys said, voice raised in annoyance when the two of you looked over at her. "i get it, y'all are in love or whatever, but can you have some respect for those of us who are lonely?"
you rolled your eyes, laughing at the fact that she had absolutely brought this upon herself by forcing the two of you together every chance she got, but joshua went cold when he heard her say the thing he had been thinking for a while, but was too scared to say out loud. the thing he felt when you grabbed his arm and told him that if he wouldn't let you carry the ring, then you could at least carry him with all the same dramatics as one samwise gamgee did. when you cried as frodo and bilbo sailed into the sunset for good, even though you had seen it a million times over. the sneaking thought that he was in love with you, but didn't know how to say so. he swallowed down the thought, shaking his head when you raised a questioning brow at him as you dished up a plate of waffles and fruit.
it didn't take you long to trust joshua enough to give him your door code so he could let himself in, but it took him a while to actually use it. he said something about not wanting to intrude, but you told him it was more intrusive to make you come to the door when you could possibly be doing important things and he was completely capable of getting in on his own.
"babe?"
you hissed. you had the thought right before you started this boss battle, that he would arrive before you finished and you would be trapped at your computer. you were right. "in here! gimme like two minutes!"
you heard him enter your room, and his bubbly laugh when he spotted your back at your desk desperately clicking your mouse and striking your keyboard. "wow, is this what you meant by important things?"
"please, please, please," you whined, intermittently squealing as you reacted to the enemy attacks. "i'll get off in a second i just need one more cleansing heart to ascend xin- fuck! not the stupid birds!"
he laughed again, his hand finding the back of your shoulder, thumbs pressing into the constantly sore flesh. you winced as he kneaded his fingers into your shoulder but exhaled, making him laugh lightly when you got knocked over by a boar. "hey, there's a boar there."
"yes, thank you, joshua." you quickly cracked a knuckle as soon as you had down time, sticking your neck out as he continued to massage your shoulders. "i think i have two more waves."
"waves? because it's a water level?"
you groaned into a reluctant laugh. "no shitty jokes right now, i'm trying to focus. normally krys and i co-op this one but she was busy."
he hummed, moving to stand next to you with his hand resting at the base of your neck. "wonder what she was doing."
"don't you live with her?" you teasingly asked, glancing up at him for the first time while sprinting across the platform, your game camera spinning uncontrollably when you suddenly pulled both hands to your mouth and gasped. "what the fuck, joshua?"
he stifled a grin, but it was completely obvious in his eyes as you stared up at him, blonde hair curled lightly to stay out of his face. "what's up?"
you stood from your chair, inspecting his head. "what the fuck?"
he laughed, wrapping his arms around you when you ran your fingers through his bleached locks hesitantly. "do you hate it?"
"i-" you blinked at him repeatedly. "what? no, i don't hate- what the fuck, joshua?"
"what?" he whined, eyebrows tenting at you even though his lips were still smiling. "does it not suit me?"
you held his head and squinted at him. "josh, you're hot. you look hot. but what the fuck?"
he laughed, finally planting his hello kiss on your lips. he watched the gears turn behind your eyes, puckered lips becoming a pout.
"did you go to a salon?"
he grinned. "krys did it."
you made a fist at him, scrunching your face for a second as you exhaled, looking down at the screen right as your last team member died, respawning at a statue. "that's why she used so many smiley faces when she said she was busy."
he put his lips to your cheek, smiling into your skin. "not bad though, right? you got a pretty handsome boyfriend."
and while you would have loved to roll your eyes and tease him, you were overtaken by a giggle as you turned your head towards him again, the tip of his nose gliding across your cheek. "yeah, i do."
his eyebrows went up. "wow, wasn't expecting you to admit it so readily."
you laughed, a light, carefree laugh, your palms on his jaw as you kissed him. "i have eyes, joshua." he just smiled against your lips, lacing his fingers together behind your tailbone, and you pulled away slightly to look up at his hair again. your hands went to his nape, fingertips against his scalp. "how long did it take? you have thick hair."
"we did three sessions," he said. "enjoy it while you can, it might fall out."
you laughed with him, brushing your fingers gently in his bangs again. "it feels fine, though?"
"yeah, i made this incredible discovery that i'm almost positive i'm the first to hear about it. it's called a hair treatment."
you batted at his chest, giggling. "shut up."
"make me," he said, the sweet smile on his lips making the phrase more playful than suggestive.
"i can't believe you surprised me with bleached hair," you said, plopping into your seat and exiting the game. "you know i hate surprises, right?"
"that's too bad," he said, his hand returning to rub against your neck. "i like surprises a lot. get used to them."
you puffed out your cheeks, sighing slowly. "usually people compromise."
"not on this," he stated. "i'm a gift giver."
"yeah, i figured that out when you got flowers sent to the studio on our one month anniversary, then again on our second, then here on our thirdâŠ"
he was just smiling smugly at you when you stood again, maneuvering around him. "and you love getting them?"
you rolled your eyes, not even commenting when he playfully patted your butt as you went by. "they're always tasteful and it's nice to have some seasonal flowers for the counter."
"so you love them," he repeated. "because it sounds to me like you love them."
you laughed, reaching out to catch his hand in yours and pull him along with you as you exited to the main living area. "and what if i do? so what, joshua hong, if it makes my heart beat a little fast when we suddenly get flowers delivered and i realize it's the fourteenth? are you gonna call me a hypocrite because i vocally advocate that traditional chivalry is bullshit?"
he just listened to your playful accusation, more proving that you were self aware rather than egging him on. "no way," he said plainly. "you can still think traditional chivalry is bullshit, it won't stop me from trying to make you smile."
you felt your face heating up, your jaw dropping slightly to let out an annoyed huff. "cheesy, joshua. i'm offended."
"want me to make it worse?" he asked, wrapping his arms around your waist.
your hands landed on his chest as you squinted at his grin. "i'm scared."
he gave you a crooked grin. "happy one hundred days. i brought sushi."
your head whipped over to the counter, spotting the paper bag with a familiar logo. "from nori table?"
"of course, from nori table."
joshua had promised jeonghan that you would make an appearance as a couple at a party he was throwing the next day, and you found yourself almost nervous. you got on with jeonghan famously - almost enough to drive joshua insane - and you even warmed up to seokmin pretty quickly, but from what you had been told, jeonghan enjoyed partying, and you didn't really like getting drunk.
"you made it!" seokmin grinned big, spreading his arms to signal for you to let him wrap you in a hug. you laughed and greeted him, enjoying the friendly comfort, then watching him hug joshua after he let you go. "and you're blonde! life's good?"
"yeah," joshua said, making eye contact with you briefly as his fingers tangled with yours. "life's good. you?"
seokmin blinked before he said "yeah, good!" and your brow knit slightly before you consciously adjusted your face to hide the analysis of his hesitation happening behind your eyes. "this is your first time here, right?"
you nodded, smiling and following him as he led you into the crowded apartment. "yeah, it's been busy lately. but i finally made it to one!"
"well, you need to meet my friends," he said, continuously looking back at you even as he walked ahead, towards a corner of the living room. "you're gonna love them."
"aye, josh!"
you looked to the source of the call, spotting the guy pulling himself to his feet from his seat on the couch, arms wide in greeting to your boyfriend.
"hey, hosh," joshua said, a sideways grin on and his brows tented as he gave him a quick handshake into a hug. quickly, he put a hand on your opposite shoulder, pulling you towards him and quickly introducing you.
soonyoung initially went in for a hug after your introduction, but immediately noticed the way your eyes widened slightly and instantly pulled his arms down, leaving a hand extended for you to shake. you laughed, taking it, and apologized for not being a hugger.
"no worries," soonyoung laughed, and you wondered if he was always this pink in the face or if he had already started drinking. "seokmin will hug me, right?"
"everyone!" seokmin ignored him, pulling you towards the people gathered on and around the couch. he announced you to his friends then quickly went down the line - soonyoung, seungkwan, jihoon, dongmin, yugyeom - you repeated the names back to him like you would remember all of them, even though you knew you wouldn't unless they became regulars in your life, too.
jeonghan flitted by and expressed his greetings to you both some time later, intending to abscond with joshua for drinks and conversation elsewhere, but he stopped jeonghan from pulling him away before he put a hand on your elbow, looking at you meaningfully.
"i'll be okay," you told him, smiling. "go ahead."
he squinted at you. "you sure?"
"seokmin's here," you reminded him, nodding your head at the boy you had practically adopted as your own brother. "real quick, about soonyoung-"
he quirked an eyebrow at you. "what about him?"
you chewed your lip, smiling. "karol's been a little too focused on work lately, right?"
his eyes widened, thinking about your roommate. his eyes went to the man you had referenced, who was currently chanting something into seungkwan's face as he rolled his eyes. "karol?"
"what do you think?" you asked, looking back at soonyoung.
he blinked. "i think he'll drive her insane."
your eyes shone at him. "i think she'll love it."
he laughed incredulously, registering that you had asked his opinion instead of just doing whatever pleased you, and he wondered if that meant you trusted him. "you're right," he said finally. "try it."
"of course i'm right," you said, giggling against the quick peck he put on your lips. "remove him, jeonghan."
"finally," an impatient host shot back, rolling his eyes in a way that landed in a sly smile at you. "for what it's worth, i think your plan will work."
"didn't need your approval, but i'll take it," you said, smiling smugly at him. "i'll update you later."
the update you gave the next time you saw him, weeks later, was that karol had left the apartment every week since to go be with soonyoung somewhere fun and exciting, and you waved her off with a shiteating grin every week, culminating in the two of them arriving to krys' birthday party hand in hand.
jeonghan laughed, stealing a carrot stick from your cutting board as you arranged them into a rainbow themed charcuterie platter. "knew it. soonyoung loves women stronger than him."
you looked at him as he took a bite. "and karol loves someone she can take care of."
"look at us," he said, waving the half eaten carrot between the two of you with a lopsided grin on his face. "what a duo. we should hang out more. fuck joshua."
you laughed at him, then at the offended look on your boyfriend's face as he walked past. "now?" you asked eyebrows raised as you looked at him expectantly, and he laughed when he realized what the last words out of jeonghan's mouth were seconds before.
"please, this is a child's birthday party," he reminded you, and you laughed at the overexaggerated look he gave you to sell the joke.
you looked over to where krys was laughing with seokmin, soonyoung, and karol, then back down to your work as you nudged around quartered figs with a vague smile on. "seems like the kids are having a nice time."
jeonghan sighed, falling dramatically against the counter. "oh, to be young and in love."
joshua laughed. "karol's our age."
his cheek was planted in his palm, elbow on the counter as he gazed after the group. "i'm talking about seokmin and krys."
"what?" joshua asked, voice nearly cracking, and you let out an explosive laugh. "seokmin and who?"
"stop acting stupid," jeonghan waved ahand at him, then popping his eyes up to catch your look of solidarity. he pointed at you. "see? we're on the same page, which means we're right."
joshua looked at you and you raised your hands in surrender. "are you serious?" he asked. "my sister and-"
you landed a hand on his face, effectively shutting him up as you giggled. "shush, josh. just leave it, okay?"
"good idea," jeonghan sighed, straightening and picking up the platter you had finished. "dining table?"
"please," you responded, looking back and giggling when joshua looked just as dumbfounded as he had before you looked away. "she's an adult. seokmin's a good guy. let it happen."
he closed his mouth, stealing a glance at his sister. "he is a kindergarten teacher."
"and both your best friend and your partner love him," you reminded him. "she could do worse."
he gave you a look. "she has done worse."
"shut up," you said, pushing his shoulder in your friend's defense. "you've done pretty bad, too."
his eyes went to the ceiling, remembering the accidental altercation you had been forced to have with one of his more regrettable exes. "how many times do i have to apologize-"
"you don't," you laughed, putting your hands on his cheeks and focusing his eyes on yours. "but krys is an adult. she's allowed to judge her own partners, and even if she ends up being wrong, she's old enough to make her own mistakes."
joshua huffed, knowing you were right but not wanting to admit it. "sorry i'm trying to protect my one and only baby sister."
"yes, and you're adorable," you assured him. "best big brother ever. but it's her birthday, and if you don't start getting drunk soon, she'll be very upset."
drinking with joshua was fun. because he wasn't much different than yourself - he didn't get crazy, he didn't get loud. he just got loose. he let stupider jokes out, and he was more willing to join in on krys' performative comedy bits throughout the night. you found yourself falling onto a couch with him, giggling as he caught his breath after a particularly involved musical number.
the most fun you had drinking with joshua was in itaewon, long past midnight but still what you considered halloween. you had been dragging karol with you for years, but now you had a boyfriend, and she had a boyfriend, and you both had a new joint best friend, so it only made sense for you to get them all take the train ride out to your favorite part of seoul.
ratatouille. that was the only way you could get joshua to go with you. he wanted a couples costume and he wanted you to be the rat.
"this feels backhanded," you told him.
"do you want to be linguine?" he asked. "i can be sexy remy. i can find grey hot pants, but you have to be the one to attach the the tail because i have no idea what my butt looks like."
you laughed, resigning to your fate and buying the outfit online, then looked at him suddenly. "liar. i know you check yourself out at the gym."
"okay," he said, eyes on the ceiling as he herded a giggling you into his arms. "then⊠i want it to be accurate, so you need to attach it directly at my tailbone." he cocked his head at you after you settled into the hug. "i have to be wearing them, obviously."
"obviously," you said. "but unfortunately, i already ordered the body suit."
josh pressed his lips together and made a quick fist in victory. "awesome. i-i mean! aww, well, that's fine, i suppose." he sighed dramatically, convincing absolutely no one that he hadn't wanted this outcome all along. "i'll be linguine."
"i don't feel like fighting a bunch of gays in itaewon for your affection anyways," you said, making him laugh and kiss your cheek quickly before pulling away.
"grilled cheese?"
"is that even a question?"
it wasn't a question when you were weaving through throngs of bunnies and angels, either, holding hands with both him and his sister to not lose them in the crowd, karol and soonyoung trailing behind krys, all five of you on a mission to get carbs in you after starting the night off nearly too strong.
halloween in itaewon was different. it was special, you thought. you usually didn't like crowds, but this one felt good. halloween wasn't a celebrated holiday in korea, but with internet, influencers, and immigrants, the culture found its way into the new age scene. you loved an excuse to celebrate your favorite characters by paying them homage, and joshua had thought that was a noble enough reason for him to justify staying up too late and drinking too much.
you had just left the diner themed bar that you devoured griddle top sandwiches from, as well as another drink, and you spotted a familiar angel making a beeline for you.
well, not you.
"how many times have i tried to get you to come to itaewon with me?" jeonghan asked, pushing joshua's shoulder as soon as he could reach it.
joshua laughed, looking shocked by the sudden appearance of his friend. "you never agreed to be remy!"
jeonghan looked at you, and burst into laughter, making your jaw drop in indignance and whacking your fist against both their arms. "at least we're original. way to put in the effort, han."
he shrugged bringing a straw to his mouth, and you eyed the pink liquid that had clearly been funnelled into a water bottle. "i look better than all these clowns and you know it."
"there you are!"
jeonghan spun, the straw still in his mouth. "shit, i haven't lost you?"
seokmin gave him a sarcastic laugh, adjusting the shoulder of his soccer jersey as he walked up behind him, quickly adding to your small circle as he greeted you and joshua. you stepped aside suddenly, revealing the members of your party that had been lagging behind. "o-oh! it's all of you!"
you made brief eye contact with joshua, who was trying to not laugh at your less than subtle attempt. "you match!" you said quickly, pointing out that krys was dressed as a baseball player. "baseball, soccer," you trailed off, looking around for help.
"sports couple," jeonghan said loudly, slipping you a quick look. "cute."
soonyoung had to put his entire palm over his mouth to stop himself from exploding into giggles when seokmin went red in the ears and krys tried to change the subject as kindly as she could manage.
when you finally made it back into joshua's room, it was far too late (early? you could think about it more, but you preferred resigning to the fact that the passage of time was beyond you and moving on), the sun already starting to light the sky as it prepared to break the horizon. when you stole his toque of his head, he put his hand on your waist, backing you up against the closet door and gently working his lips onto yours.
you giggled, your arms landing on his shoulders. "aren't you tired?
"yeah, but," his eyes fluttering over your face. "i just really like you."
you were smiling when he pressed his lips to yours again. "i really like you, too, but we've been at a sweaty block party all night and we need to shower."
"together?" he asked, a spot of childish hope in his voice. "singular shower?"
you sighed on his lips, playfully threading your fingers against his nape. "if you want?"
the hot water felt especially good after trekking home in the cold without a jacket. and even though it was just meant to be a shower, he kept kissing you like it was something more, pressing you against the tiled wall and running his hands all over your shape. you couldn't stop giggling. pushing his hands away, saying you need to wash up, but giving him looks like you wanted him to keep going. you were running your hands over his chest, rinsing away suds, when joshua couldn't help but put a hand at the base of your neck, tipping your head slightly to deepen an already heated kiss.
"cut it out," you muttered against his lips, feeling them curve despite your eyes staying shut.
"cut what out?"
you looked at him, barely processing anything other than how incredibly handsome he was, even with his lashes stuck together with moisture and his hair slicked back against his head. "trying to fuck me in a shower stall."
he laughed teasingly, leaning into you again. "then why'd you agree to come in here with me?"
your back hit the tile again, and you giggled. "to save water."
and then he's kissing you again, a hand steady on your nape as he worked you open, tongue lapping against yours with a desperation that could only mean one thing. you whimpered dumbly, the squeaky whine escaping you with no difficulty as your hands ran up his chest, your grip longing for any amount of him you could get.
his lips leave you abruptly, asking if this was too much. if you wanted to stop. but you shook your head at him, hands eager to feel more of his shoulders, his neck, his scalp, despite your legs starting to give out. steam drifted between you when you told him your legs felt like jello from your full shift of partying, and if he didn't want to hold you up, you should probably take this to bed.
you were giggling as you frantically dried each other off, stealing kisses that were far too deep to be so short and longing touches that could have been interpreted as purposeful drying if you squinted hard enough, but felt much more like careful teasing. his hands felt right running up your body, and your hair was still damp, but that didn't bother either of you when you fell into bed together.
"i cant believe you want to fuck me when i was dressed like a literal rat," you teased.
he laughed, tugging your thigh up on his hip as his nose nuzzled against yours. "a sexy rat."
you giggled, lips parting when he kissed you. "a rat from a pixar movie."
he didn't miss a beat. "a sexy rat from a pixar movie."
you roll your damn eyes at him, and he just laughs, knowing that it mattered very little what you were wearing before, because now you were bare, clean, and safe in his bed, which was exactly where he wanted you for the rest of forever.
the sun was past its peak when you woke, stretching your sore spine and legs with joshua's arm draped over you. his hand seemed to wake before he did, finding your hip and squeezing gently as he took in his signature first breath of the day.
"g'morning." you smiled at his soft voice as he squinted at you, and you rolled into him to plant a kiss on his lips.
"it's almost two," you said finally.
he groaned, burying his face in the pillow. "too early." his grip around you tightened, making you giggle. "nap time."
you whined. "i wanna make coffee before it gets too late."
"i said nap time," he muttered, face still against the pillow.
"baby, i have a headache."
his head popped up, squinting at the bedside. "there's water."
you laughed incredulously. "i need caffeine."
he just pulled you tighter. "i need you here."
"wow," you said, wrapping your arms around him as he snuggled into your chest. "would rather i suffer from a caffeine headache for your own selfish need to cuddle than let me escape for two minutes to make a coffee and come back?"
he smiled, rubbing his cheek against your sternum. "mhmm."
you giggled, carding your fingers through his hair and resigning to a few more precious moments of uninterrupted snuggling before you could relieve the vague aching in your temples.
he did eventually let you slip out of his grasp, and you asked if he wanted a coffee, too, to which he just blearily blinked at you and nodded once. you laughed, finding a shirt in a drawer and pulling it over your head before exiting to the kitchen.
you hit the kettle first, having a craving for a hot cup of coffee rather than the usual iced, grabbing a mug and glass from a cabinet. the espresso machine sat on the long counter against the windowed outer wall, and your eyes danced across the outside world as you made the two coffees. when you returned to the bedroom, joshua was on his phone, and when you cleared your throat, he dropped his phone on the pillow and pretended to be asleep, complete with a loud snore.
you giggled, sitting on the edge of the bed and nudging him carefully. "get up or i'll put the glass on your neck."
he winced at the idea. "evil," he stated plainly, flopping around to comfortably sit up and taking the iced coffee from you.
you sipped your coffee and put it on the bedside table to swing your feet back under the covers. you shoved at the pillows to support your back as you sat, grabbing your coffee and phone to begin your weekend morning routine of checking the news as you sipped at an americano. "i brought you coffee in bed at two pm. i think i'm pretty saintly."
he gave you a fake laugh, making you giggle and push your foot against his leg under the covers in a half hearted kick. "is that why you said 'oh, god' so much last night?"
you groaned. "gross, joshua. and for the record," you said, eyeing him slyly as a smile broke out on your lips. "that was this morning."
"time is an illusion," he declared, taking a gulp from his coffee and setting it down to get more comfortable beside you as you began to read an article. "are we doing anything today?"
you shook your head, eyes still focused on your screen. "nada."
"nothin'?" joshua fished.
"zilch," you concluded.
"rad," he decided, a light tone in his voice as he grabbed his phone to resume whatever he had been doing before you returned. "do you wanna order breakfast?"
you let out a breath, your head falling back as you looked at him. "yes, oh my god."
he laughed, and his eyes ran over your face in a way you recognized well at this point. to you, it was him just smiling back at you, and you liked that it reached his eyes. but to him, it was the way he looked at you when he was memorizing all the little reasons he adored you, and it was getting harder for him to pretend it wasn't more than just simple adoration.
"question," he started, eyes darting away from yours as he licked his suddenly dry lips and swallowed quickly.
"pasta," you said immediately, pulling your phone to your chest as you gave him your biggest, most convincing eyes before a finger came up to demonstrate a point. "and before you say that's not a breakfast food, i would like to remind you that it is 2pm and i had to sit through a hundred of your italian food puns yesterday despite ratatouille being set in france."
he laughed, and you gave him a confused look. "we can get pasta, but that wasn't the question."
your eyebrow quirked. "what other question could you possibly ask me right now?"
unknowingly, joshua let his face settle into the same look he was giving you less than a minute earlier. "would you want to move in?"
your eyes ran over his face repeatedly, trying to register how serious he was as you considered the idea of staying in this comforting bed and presence for the indefinite future, and even you couldn't hide how nice that sounded. the only thing stopping you was that you couldn't bear to leave karol alone. you had been living together for over four years now, she had been your first roommate in korea, your best friend for years, and an inexplicable source of quiet but understanding comfort for you.
"i understand," joshua assured you, placing his hand over yours after you expressed your hesitation. "i don't know what i'll do with myself when krys decides to move out."
you nodded, studying his face but mind wandering to other things. "krys," you hummed, and he eyed you.
"what genius plan is that brain brewing?"
you shook your head, brushing the thought out of your mind - the thought that krys had said something about needing to find a new place soon. the thought that she had said she was never gonna properly grow up when josh was taking care of her, whether she wanted him to or not. "nothing."
but it wasn't nothing. it was a compromise - you and krys would swap leases.
"are you sure?" you asked her, elbows on the island as krys ate the donuts you had anxiously made that morning. you had brought up the idea to her days before, and she excitedly agreed, but something about it felt too easy to you.
"yes," she assured you, wiping her bottom lip clear of powdered sugar. "i swear, i'm sure. how many times do i have to say it?"
you chewed your cheek. "i don't want you to feel like i'm kicking you out."
"you're not kicking me out," she said matter of factly. "i'm moving out. it just happens to be the same day as you're moving in."
you pouted. "and you're moving into my apartment."
"yeah," she said, nodding. "i get to pay lower rent and have south facing windows in my room. i should feel bad about kicking you out."
it took almost a month to organize everything, but by early december you were just waiting for the date. you purposefully scheduled for a weekend, in order to not disrupt krys' streaming schedule and your video uploads, since you had planned to do a separate moving vlog about safely packing tableware. the weekend before, krys came over to her soon-to-be home for your usual monthly brunch.
flipping pancakes that day felt a little somber, knowing it was the last time you'd be cooking brunch while living with karol. you had been with her for four years, and it felt surreal that you were finally parting ways like this. not only that, but you were moving in with a guy. the idea itself scared the shit out of you - cohabitating with someone other than karol. you'd be sharing a room. sharing a kitchen. sharing all of your space - normally, that would scare you away from agreeing, but something about joshua made you feel safe. he made you feel like you would never try to get back the distance you generally held so dear.
months ago, the idea of sharing space like that while trying to decompress would be unimaginable, but recently, you found alone time with joshua just as healing as alone time with yourself, so the idea of being able to snuggle into his side every night actually put a warm feeling in your stomach. you looked at your friends, who were laughing and drinking bloody marys as you tried to keep up with their conversation. your brain swirled, and you looked back down at the strawberries you were cutting, suddenly realizing you had never felt that way about a boy before.
"woah, you okay, babe?" krys bobbed her head downwards to check your face. "are you crying? i thought only onions did that to you."
you threw your head back, sniffling noisily trying to force the tears back under your ducts. karol stood. "oh, my god, what's wrong?" she frantically put down her drink and rushed around the counter to your side.
"wait, yeah-" krys shook her head rapidly, then reached over to take the knife out of your hand, her face creasing into a worried pout. "what's going on?"
you gathered yourself, embarrassed at how quickly you had cried so hard over such a stupid realization. you almost laughed, realizing what a scene you were making. you never cried. you weren't even sure either of them had seen it before now, yet you were ugly sobbing over something that they all probably already knew.
you swallowed harshly, clearing your throat. "i think i'm in love with josh."
krys and karol always knew you didn't truly care about the gender of your hypothetical partner, but that you had avoided men for a reason other than your attraction to them. they knew you gravitated towards women for practically your entire friendships with either of them, they knew that you never liked to get genuinely drunk and instead took care of the rest of them, and they knew you had never been very interested in sex. these were all known facts about you, and your friends understood that you kept the reasons for these facts close to your chest. they respected that.
but you finally wanted to share why. and the why was your ex.
when you had imagined telling your closest friends about your trauma, this certainly wasn't the situation you expected - crowded around the kitchen counter as your pancakes went cold, and only because you had burst into tears. it wasn't the right place, you thought, for you to talk about how he got you drunk. how you were practically asleep. how you tried to push him away but your body was weak with intoxication and you were powerless against him. someone you trusted. someone you loved.
you had always been the type to fight your own battles. you could stand up for yourself without difficulty, yet he made you scared of men. of what they could do to you. he reminded you that despite your effort to air on the androgynous, you had a body that some people might enjoy against your will. he made you want to hide everything about you and your body, wearing baggy shirts and oversized hoodies every chance you got, avoiding the unwanted gaze of men.
but recently, you've been wearing shorts more. you cropped some old shirts you never got use out of anymore to wear to your weekly yoga class. you had even bought a schoolgirl outfit for exactly one purpose, which had been entirely out of your comfort zone until roughly two months prior, but you had happily worn to please a man.
but in your defense, joshua hong was not like most men.
his appreciation of your body never felt predatory, and it always felt like it was bested by his appreciation of your mind. he didn't treat you like a prize, or like you were his for the taking. he appreciated your body as yours. while you may have found yourself the subject of his desire, you were never an object, and it had been a long time since you had felt comfortable wearing the clothes you liked in favor of opting for whatever would hide the most skin.
krys was crying. karol was too, but she was more focused on hugging you tight as you wiped off the tears that had trailed down your face. krys rounded the counter, loudly vocalising how much she loved you and everything about you, and you laughed out loud as she let out an exaggerated wail.
"actually, though," she said, pulling away slightly and sniffling. "drop the address. we're rolling up on this guy tomorrow."
you laughed again, wiping at your face when your arms were free. "wouldn't even know where to find him now."
"good!" karol declared. "fuck that guy! cut him out! you're a bad bitch!"
krys pouted. "i'm really happy josh helped you heal."
you stared at her for a second, registering that she must have been right. you eyes swam over the counter, thinking about all the times he had helped you feel more comfortable with yourself. with everything. enough to let someone in. enough to love. "i guess that's what this is, huh?"
karol cleared her throat. "so, you love him."
a grin broke out on krys' face, and your eyes immediately rolled. "you love him."
"you love him so bad."
"you wanna marry him and make adorable little hong babies."
"oh my god," you said, pressing the backs of your hands into your eye sockets, annoyed laughter on your lips as they bounced off each other. "you guys suck."
joshua started acting⊠odd. that was the only way you could describe it. there was nothing specific you could name - maybe the way his eyes were moving slightly too quickly from side to side? or maybe it was the way he inhaled a little extra when you asked him what was up, only for him to push his lips into an exaggerated pout and insist that nothing was. whatever it was, it made you watch him a little bit longer, your eyes squinting slightly more than usual.
you called him the day before, asking if you could bring some stuff over in hopes of making the next day as easy as possible, but his response was quick and surprising.
"what do you mean, no?" you laughed, putting down the wooden tray you were deciding the fate of. "do you have a girl over?"
you could hear him faltering on the other end. "and what if i did?"
"good luck getting her to make you breakfast."
he laughed. "i'm kidding. i have a guy over."
"oh?" you asked. "jeonghan?"
"shut up," he chuckled out. "i'm having something installed, but it was supposed to be a surprise."
"joshua," you reminded him, thinking of what the hell he could have meant by something. "i don't do surprises."
"you do now."
you groaned, a palm landing on your counter. "what is it?"
"a sex swing," he said plainly, as though that were the most obvious fact that you could have questioned, and you practically choked on your laughter, not even letting him confirm that he was joking before you were folded over your counter. and quite frankly, you could not wait another day to let him make you laugh like that as a routine.
you finally seceded, but you were glad when joshua arrived - the suv he rented loaded with krys' things - because it was a signifier that the distance between you and said surprise was shrinking quickly. soonyoung had become a surprisingly helpful voice of reason as you went through your piles of tablewares, telling you which ones to leave behind and which ones to take with you. seokmin had even arrived not long after the suv in his own car, a few brightly colored belongings in his backseat. you and karol exchanged a look when you realized he had volunteered to help krys move, but said nothing out loud, knowing she would do nothing but deny the obvious.
after yours and krys' affects were swapped in the car, you looked around one last time before telling josh you thought that was it.
"wait!" krys faltered, realizing she didn't have a good reason to stop you. "i- uh,"
"they know there's a surprise waiting for them," he said, digging the rental keys out of his jacket pocket.
karol looked to you. "do you know what it is?"
"of course not," joshua stated proudly before you could respond. "i'm like a steel trap."
you laughed. "that's definitely not how that phrase is meant to be used."
he raised a brow at you. "that doesn't change the fact that you could never get that info out of me."
"they absolutely could," karol said.
"for sure," krys agreed.
"i just wanted to let you have this," you admitted.
joshua looked between the three of you with his jaw slightly dropped, and seokmin put a hand over his mouth while crossing his arms to disguise the almost laugh on his lips.
"well, i want to see your reaction," krys decided. "so i'm coming."
"wait," soonyoung asked, putting down the retro boombox he had been investigating, among the other things that had been brought from the loft. "like, the surprise?"
"does everyone know about this but me?" you asked, hands hitting your sides in exasperation.
seokmin looked at you with wide, confused eyes. "i don't."
you lifted your hands in a vague prayer towards him. "thank you for your solidarity."
"i wanna see your face, too!" soonyoung said, ignoring you both. "you're gonna freak."
"joshua," you started, turning to him with a look of dread on your face. "what the fuck did you get?"
"i told you!" he exclaimed. "a sex swing!"
there was an excruciatingly long second of silence, making your palm land directly on your face - just above your eye - before seokmin let out a surprised, "a what?"
"he's kidding," you announced, much to the teacher's relief. "and if he's not we're breaking up."
it was decided that the entire party would move to the loft for the surprise reveal, and you watched your friends pile into seokmin's car with your palms sweating slightly and your molars gently gnawing at the fleshy party of your cheek. because, truly, you didn't handle receiving gifts well when you knew what they were, but you didn't have a single clue as to what could be waiting for you in your new home, and that made you a little nervous to have an audience for your possibly piss poor reaction.
joshua's hand found yours on the drive to the apartment. "you okay?"
you blinked and looked over at him, his eyes catching yours between glances at the road. "i don't do surprises."
"so you've said," he nodded. his fingers squeezed at yours lightly and you exhaled. "do you want to know before we go in? you can just act surprised."
your felt your face soften, registering what he was offering you. "joshua, you don't have to do that-"
"i know," he said. "but if it makes you more comfortable, thenâŠ"
"no way," you said. "i'll just stop being a baby. you set up a surprise, the least i can do is participate the way you want me to."
he eyed you, then the way you laced your fingers with his. "but you are a baby."
you rolled your eyes. "shut up, no i'm not."
"my baby," he clarified, and you let out an involuntary giggle.
he was guiding you into the kitchen, his large hands placed over your eyes and covering most of your face by proxy, and you didn't quit your playful complaints for the crowd of your closest friends that had gathered around, their presence obvious despite your vision being impaired.
"ready?" joshua asked.
"josh, i literally hate surprises, do we have to do all this?"
"yes," he said frankly. "because i'm doing something nice for us and you're going to love it so can you shut up and let me do this the way i want to like you told me you wanted me to?"
you paused, hearing the way your friends stifled their laughter as you took in a deep breath.
"ready?" he repeated.
"yeah, i guess," you sighed.
the light was harsh when his hands left your face, and you blinked repeatedly at the kitchen that you spent countless hours in, registering what was different. then, it suddenly clicked, the stovetop joshua had always had was replaced by the blue vintage styled range of your dreams.
"joshua!" you gasped, hands going to your face as you spun to look at him, then back at the range. "you bought me a lacanche?!"
he grinned, hands snaking around your waist from behind as you stood frozen in place. "i bought us a lacanche."
seokmin leaned over to krys. "what's a le conch?"
she reached up and put a finger over his mouth, eyes fixed on you. "shh, they're communicating."
you rushed over to the range, joshua following behind you as you ran your hands over the polished chrome handles that you had stared at on the website for years. "and it's all hooked up?"
he nodded, eyes on you with a smile on his face. "tested it last night."
"without me?" you asked, incredulous.
he laughed. "i didn't want to ruin the surprise by burning the loft down directly after."
your finger fidgeted on the handle, looking over to joshua. he gestured for you to go ahead, and you pushed and spun the knob, lighting a burner and squealing. you shut it off again before launching yourself into a hug.
"joshua!" you wailed, arms wrapped around his neck as he laughed, putting his around your waist. "i love it so much ican'tbelieveyouboughtusafucking lacanche range in portuguese blue for no goddamn reason!"
"there was a reason!" he laughed, letting you pull away slightly to study his face. "it's a housewarming gift. i want you to know this place is yours, too, now."
you did your best to suck the tears back into the ducts they belonged in, trying to not show just how much the gesture meant to you in that way, but you were sure one escaped down your cheek when your hands went to the base of his skull, pulling him into a kiss. you forgot the context of the move. you forgot about your friends that had been excitedly crowded in your new kitchen, anticipating your over the top reaction to what they saw as just a new stove. you, however, were overwhelmed by the specifics - the fact that he had picked the color you chose most often when building your hypothetical dream stove on the website you frequented more often than you would ever admit. the fact that it matched the details on the tile of his kitchen backsplash, a detail you hadn't even noticed when you were looking at them online. the chrome vintage knobs, the layout of the burners - everything was exact to what he had seen you dream about, and you couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the love and care that expressed, hoping you could tell him just how much it meant by working your lips against his.
"ok, gross," krys announced, looking away when the two of you didn't pull apart. "i'm saying goodbye to my wallpaper and we're leaving. would anyone else like to pay their respects?"
seokmin raised his hand, his eyes on the ceiling, and krys grabbed his arm and retreated towards the hall, karol telling them to hurry as soonyoung put up a hand to obstruct his view of you and joshua. when you finally pulled away, it wasn't for their reprieve, though they reacted as though it was. it was so you could look into joshua's eyes, creased with the grin on his face as you gave him a similar one, and you couldn't wait to cook with him, on your, plural, portuguese blue lacanche range, with chrome classique handles, four gas burners, a griddle, and a warming drawer. and it would be your best brunch yet.
#caratwritersclub#svtredroom#this part hits lol#seventeen fluff#seventeen scenarios#seventeen imagines#joshua hong imagines#joshua hong fluff#joshua hong scenarios#joshua imagines#joshua scenarios#joshua fluff#fluff#i wrote dis#yes all the banners are based off movie posters#is this actually funny or am i just stupid#josh
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By Your Side
Pairing: Jesy Nelson x (Fem!)Reader
Summary: Youâve had your run-ins with bad love and friendship betrayals. However, that never stopped you from being who you are, regardless if you were sad on the inside. That was all because of Jesy Nelson. However, Jesy had it worse. One encounter with Jesy leads to two broken people coming together in order to help each other
Warnings: Depression, Past Trauma, Slight angst, Attempted Su!c!de
A/n: Okay, so Iâve never written a story where the story is slightly dark. But, The warnings are listed above and if Iâm missing any donât hesitate to tell me! Also, y/nâs past trauma is based on my own experiences with bad-love relationships
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As you snap the final photo of the tour, you could easily tell that one of them; Jesy Nelson looked exhausted.Â
As everyone heads out back home, you could hear crying.... Jesy... Oh dear.. You grab a piece of paper and write something onto it and fold it. You slip it under the door and gently knock. You make your leave and head to the address I wrote down on it.Â
Jesy's POV Jesy turns around as she hears a slight knock at the door. I thought I already told Jade and the girls I wasn't up to joining them tonight. As she picks up the note, she opens it and it isn't from one of the girls.Â
"[Insert Address and 24/7 diner here], I noticed you weren't full of enthusiasm as the Jesy I normally see. But that's understandable. If you're up to a quiet evening with coffee and a small meal, Y/N Y/L/N, Head photographer for Tour." Jesy reads aloud, I could go for something quiet tonight really.
Y/Nâs POV As you click through all of the pictures you've shot during tour, you feel a small tap on your shoulderÂ
"Y/N Y/L/N right?" Jesy asks as she seats herself across from meÂ
You nod and you ordered water for the both of you. You weren't down for a classy drink to celebrate the night.Â
"You didn't join everyone else?" Jesy asksÂ
You shake your head, "I wanted something quiet tonight, I wasn't in for drunk adulting either. It's nice to wind down."Â
You slide your camera over to Jesy and you let her look the photos you've taken from the duration of the tour.Â
"You gonna post these?" She asksÂ
"Once I edit them I will," you smile, "You were really into the shots. But I love them."Â
Jesy rolls onto one where she was knealing down, performing to your camera.Â
"You really know how to capture shots Y/N," Jesy smiles, "I wish I could look better in them."Â
"What are you talking about?" you ask, "You look amazing in them. Which is why it caught my eye during the show."Â
"No I do not look amazing Y/N," Jesy statesÂ
She puts your camera down and takes a drink of her water.Â
"Jesy," you say, calmly, placing your hand on hers
You were going to say something but your mind scrambled how you really wanted to say it vs how your mind ended up piecing it together.Â
"Do you have anywhere to stay tonight?" She asksÂ
"Well, I'm going to be in London for awhile," you state, "Aside from the hotel I was meant to be staying at. No. No I don't."Â
"Do you want to stay with me?" Jesy asks out of the blue, "So you'd have somewhere besides the hotel."
"I'd like to. Thank you Jesy." You smile at her
When you and Jesy finish up our seemingly quiet dinner, she hails a cab to the hotel for you to get your remaining things and check out.
Once the both of you had all of that settled, you teo go back to her place.Â
"Very Jesy," you smileÂ
She shows you to the guest room to settle your things down and then she begins showing you around. You have taken a big liking to her dining room as it was basically a bench with a table and a view of her backyard.Â
"And you live here?! With your mans?" You askÂ
"I'm actually single love," Jesy inerrupts, "Itâs lonely really so Iâm glad you're here."Â
You smile as you follow her up the stairs and you part ways to each others' rooms for the night. However, by 3 am, you were still hooking up your photos to your laptop. You hear a gentle knock at your door.Â
"Yeah?" You call outÂ
"Oh, Y/N you're still awake," Jesy calls back, "can I come in?"Â
"Itâs open," you state, putting your photo stuff awayÂ
"What's the matter?" you ask, motioning for her to take a seat, and she doesÂ
"It hurts," Jesy begins crying, holding up her phone to your faceÂ
You take her phone and see a tweet... Katie Hopkins.... You were familiar with Jesy's rough past however, you never thought it was still going.... You grab your phone and begin tapping onto there.Â
"What are you doing" she asksÂ
"Putting this bitch in her place," you growl, finishing your tweetÂ
Almost immediately there were likes, tweets and retweets to your post. They all say how they agree with you and how you should say it louder for the idiots in the back. One even said preach. However, Katie Hopkins replies to my tweet.Â
"Oh what a knight for for this chubby mixer. You're not even as half good as the REAL photographers. This woman is desprate to gain attention from her so called fans. What a child."Â
You begin replying back in such a heated manner, you didn't even realize Jesy was looking at you funny.Â
"What?" You askÂ
"Are you arguing with her?" She asks, sniffling and wiping her tears awayÂ
"Yeah, what of it?" You ask, calmly, "someone has to teach her a lesson to not be so critical of people. Yeah she called me a not-real-photographer but-but I've had worse come at me. So Iâm not letting her get the best of me, and Iâm not gonna see you cry because of this crusty-looking-ass-bitch."Â
Jesy witch cackled and you smile, knowing you made her feel somewhat better.Â
"You alright now?" You askÂ
"Somewhat, thank you Y/N," she saysÂ
"Now don't worry about this and help me," You say, enthusiasticallyÂ
You pull up your photos and hook them back up into your laptop and begin going through your photos of what to post as the "Tour Series" on your Instagram page. You take off your sweatshirt and put it on her as you continue working on your photos with her.Â
"Hey its almost 6 am already," Jesy states, yawning, "We should get to bed."Â
"True," you reply, "You gotta show me around London because I will not know how to navigate with the steering wheel on the right side of the car."Â
"Okay love. It's decided," she says, gigglingÂ
The week goes by with Jesy touring you around London and having dinners in and out.Â
"Hey what are some cool abandoned places to do photoshoots in?" You askÂ
"Why?" Jesy asks, sounding nervous, "Who are you going to do them with?"Â
"I was going to ask you to be my model," you say, with Jesy looking at meÂ
"Me?" She asksÂ
"Yeah," you say, "I thought it would be cool to do and explore a little bit. It would be during the day obviously."Â
"Then sure, you know what you're doing when it comes to abandoned places," she says, "But I sadly don't know any."Â
"That's fine," you say, "I like doing research on that."
Once you two get back to Jesy's, you hop into the kitchen as it was your turn to cook dinner. You decided that you were going to make Shrimp Tempura with Udon noodles. The udon noodles are packages because you can't cook for shit but it'll be better. You take your speaker out and connect it to your phone and put on a random playlist.Â
As you were popping the tempura into the mini fryer, "Black Magic" by Little Mix came on next and you spin around, happily playing a bop.Â
Take a sip of my secret potion I'll make you fall in love For a spell that can't be broken One drop should be enough Girl you belong to me I got the recipe And it's called Black MagicÂ
As you spin around, you noticed Jesy in the doorway and you almost fall over as she starts singing her part. However, she stops when you actually did fall onto the floor.Â
"I'm so sorry love," Jesy laughs, "I couldn't help to listen to one of our songs."Â
"Well, this is actually the first song I got introduced to Little Mix," you start, "So I got hooked since then."
Dinner finished and the both of us are both in our rooms. You are still working on the photos however, at midnight you hear Jesy crying again.... You couldn't help but your legs immediately hop off the bed and walk toward Jesy's room.Â
"Jesy?" you ask, "Are you okay?"Â
You could easily hear Jesy force herself to stop crying and let's you come in. You sit on her bed right next to her. She immediately puts her head on your shoulder as she still cries her eyes out. Ypu put her head into your lap and you begin to brush her hair.Â
"Talk to me love," you say, brushing her hair hair gentlyÂ
"Everything hurts," she cries, "They aren't stopping.... I want this to go away. I don't want to feel this pain anymore. I want it to go away."Â
You sigh.. I know this feeling...Â
"I understand this feeling all too well," you say, calmly, "Though I don't understand how you exactly feel. I understand how it feels to not want to feel any form of pain anymore. I can't speak to everyone who's feeling how we are. But I don't want you to think that. That may not help but I don't want to see you be sad about stupid things. I understand that it hurts...."Â
Not knowing where you could go with my whole essay further you trail off. Jesy sits up and looks at you.Â
"Y/N, what happened to you?" She asksÂ
"Oh, you wouldn't wanna hear about it, it happened a long time ago so it's fine," You lie, but Jesy knew it was a lieÂ
Jesy looks at you and gives me a firm look. Not one to intimidate you but saying, "you can tell me. You can trust me."Â
"It started in my second year in high school," you start, "There.... There were these two girls. They were new so I wanted them to feel more welcome. Being an extrovert at the time wasn't a real fun idea. But moving on, when we did talk I was really happy so I began showing how I act around my friends; I hug them, I walk around with them and talk to them, maybe catch them and talk to them again before they go home. I begin doing that with them. They did not like that. So they basically reported me to the assistant principal and I had to be told; feeling like Iâm being cornered.... Being appointed the bad guy that what I was doing to them, they didn't feel comfortable with. The way I am around my friends wasn't a good excuse. But, the thing was they never told me they were not comfortable with who I was. I tried that and one of them said 'you did nothing wrong' but then proceeds to block me. So i even tried explaining my side of the story but their counselor didn't give two shots about my end of it. I wasn't told before hand so I had to be confronted about it. Since then.... I never trusted the counseling system there, I could only feel safe in the band room area.... And.... That was the first time having suicidal thoughts.... I was sick of who I was when that happened. I didn't want to feel the pain anymore I just wanted to not exist anymore."Â
Jesy looks at you. You continue on, "Until I did winter percussion, I realized then I had better people to be around, regardless if I act the way I do."Â
"Thatâs good love," she says, holding your cheek with her hand, "Iâm glad you're still here. Truly."Â
"And I'm happy you're here too," you reply, "Are you feeling any better?"Â
She nods, "Thank you for checking in on me. Could you... Stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone."Â
You smile, "Of course I will love."Â
She immediately buries herself in your chest as you get under the covers and have her use your arm as a pillow. You didn't mind. The feeling of being held onto was a lovely feeling.Â
The next morning as you woke up, you woke up before Jesy. Her back was facing you. What if I made her breakfast?? And she'd wake up to it so she wouldn't have to make an effort... She did listen to my shit show past last night so its the least I could do. You slowly slip out of bed without waking Jesy. You pull the covers up to her shoulders so she wouldn't be as cold and you make your way down the stairs as you walk into the kitchen, greeted by her dogs, whom you let out to go to the bathroom.Â
"Okay so..... Breakfast.... Eggs, Bacon.... Pancakes, fruit... The basic necessities." you mumble to yourselfÂ
You put on some music, not like hype music. Just music for a calm morning and you don't blast that, you don't want to wake Jesy up... Yet. You wander her fridge for all breakfast essentials and her pantry for those as well.Â
You carefully walk up the stairs and back into Jesy's bedroom and place the tray onto a nightstand and lean close to Jesy.Â
"Jesy," You whisper, she groans and tries to shake you away, "Time to get up love."Â
Jesy turns over and her eyes flutter open, "Good morning love. Why are you up?"Â
"I thought I'd treat you today," you say, bringing the food tray over. This immediately gets her to sit up.Â
"For me?" She yawns, and you nod as youplace it into her lap.Â
"You shouldn't have love, thank you," she saysÂ
"But I wanted to," you smile, "A thanks for listening last night."Â
Jesy places a kiss onto your cheek as she begins eating.Â
As you begin the process of posting the first part to your four part Instagram photoshoot series, you see Jesy's fingers pinching bacon; to hold it. You look up at her and she smiles.Â
"You deserve to eat too," she smilesÂ
You smile back as you open your mouth for her to feed you as we begin finishing the breakfast you made together.Â
"I also found a cool abandoned place we could do a shoot at tomorrow afternoon," you start, "It's a Manor called 'Crumbling Berklyn Manor". It looked like everything was kind of intact and looks like we could do some photos there. But only for an hour or so."Â
"Really?" Jesy asks, "Wouldn't it be illegal?"Â
"I'm not sure," you say, "I've done these kinds of shoots before so I know what to do."Â
"You sure?" She asks, you nodÂ
"Trust me Jesy," you say, "But aside from that what do you want to show me today?"Â
"That's for me to know and for you to find out,"Jesy teases, "But trust me, you're going to enjoy it."Â
You smile as you take the tray back downstairs and clean up.Â
"Hey do you have a nice outfit?" Jesy calls,Â
"Sort of," you answer, "Why?"Â
"Where I'm taking you tonight is a semi-nice place," she repliesÂ
"Alrighty then," you smile
When evening falls, you keep my pants on however, you strip your hoodie and search for your black button down shirt. As you button up my shirt, you turn to the door and notice Jesy watching you.Â
"Take a goddamn picture if youâre gonna stare," you tease, leaving the two top buttons unbuttoned and grab your leather jacketÂ
You see Jesy doing "the thing" where she puts her finger in her mouth.Â
"Well don't you look ravishing," you smirk as you offer your armÂ
She smiles as she takes it and the two of you walk down the stairs. It feels like a fairy tale... You open the door for her and let her out to the car. You open the left side of the door for her she smiles.Â
"Oh you're going to drive this time?" She smilesÂ
"You've been driving me around enough," you say, smiling and closing her door, "All you have to do for me is to lead me there."Â
You hop into the driver's seat and begin driving off.Â
She leads you to this bar called "Bar Soho". Jesy gets you into a good parking spot and you do the same thing where you get her door.Â
"Such a gentleman," Jesy smiles as she grabs my armÂ
"I do try milady," you smileÂ
As you get to the entrance, a security person lets the both of you in through one of the entrances as youâre in awe....Â
"Oh, mama," you gaspÂ
"What's wrong love?" Jesy turns to meÂ
"I've-I've actually never been in a bar before," you say, "or it's been too long."Â
Jesy smiles and drags you to the bar. The both of you sit down and Jesy orders a drink for herself. You settle on a glass of champagne and begin leaning back into your chair. You gently twirl the glass around as you notice Jesy staring at you; drinking you all in.Â
"Take a damn picture," you smirk, taking a sip of my champagneÂ
She takes out her phone and snaps a photo and posts it to her Instagram page; Captioning "My best friend is a real lady killer. Watch out ladies she might be coming for you." you look at that post and like it. You look up at her and smirk at her again.Â
"You're really full of surprises aren't you?" you ask, finishing your glass, "You wanna dance?"Â
She nods as she drags you to the dance floor. Most of the songs were upbeat and fast. However, there was one song that was slowed down so Jesy's arms settle onto your arms and yours settle down to her waist.Â
"When are you going to go onto your next adventure?" Jesy asksÂ
"Hmmm," you hum, "Whenever I feel like it. I'm still working on the current series however, I like it here too."Â
"Why's that?" She asksÂ
"There's a certain woman keeping me bound here," you say, smiling at herÂ
"Well that woman sure is lucky," Jesy says, completely having my compliment go over her headÂ
You sigh.... But you end the dance without it being awkward. You drive back to Jesy's however, Jesy didn't say anything but just go into her room and closes the door. You sigh and go into yours.
As you work on your series, you hear crying again... Feeling bad you immediately get up and walk out of your room to hers.Â
"Jesy?" you call out, "Are you doing okay? Can-can we talk?"Â
You hear nothing however, the door was unlocked. You open the door and your eyes land on pills that are in the nightstand and Jesy laying still. Your legs sprint over to her and you hold her onto the floor.Â
"Jesy!" You scream, "No no no no no....."Â
You stuck two of your fingers into her mouth and begin making her gag to get the pills out of her mouth, "Spit it out spit it out spit it out!"Â
You grab a bag and she pukes. With shaky hands you grab her phone and dial whatever number it was to the equivalent of "911" in the US.Â
"What is your emergency?" The first responder asksÂ
"It's-itâs my friend, Jesy!" You scream, "She swallowed pills and-and I made her pull them out but I don't know what to do from here."Â
"Slow down, I'll send an ambulance there, just stay close to her and don't let her move."Â
You follow what the responder does and try and wake her up.Â
As the ambulance arrives, you watch them take Jesy to the hospital....Â
"I need to go with her," you request, "I can't leave her alone again."Â
The paramedics reluctantly let you in along to them.Â
As we reach the hospital you couldn't go any further in. Face is flushing, head is reeling, you shakily call Perrie, Jade and Leigh-Anne as they were the only ones you could think of calling and within an instant they were already there. You stand up to greet them but you couldn't say anything but cry. Jade was the first one to hug you.Â
"Jesy-she...." you sob, "We went to the bar and-and I told her a woman was keeping me here and she thought-she thought it was someone else..... when it-it was really her... i left her alone and.... I goddamn left her alone."Â
Jade, Perrie and Leigh-Anne hug you as you sob your eyes out.Â
You all wait for what felt like hours until a doctor came out.Â
"Y/N Y/L/N?" He callsÂ
You look up, "That's me."Â
"Jesy will be okay," he says, "If you never made her throw up the pills she wouldn't have made it to the Hospital."Â
The girls pat your shoulder or rub your back. You still didn't feel like a hero... I still need to talk to Jesy.Â
"Is she taking any visitors?" Perrie asksÂ
"Yes," he answers, "But only Y/N."Â
You follow him to Jesy's room but youâre the only one who goes in. You notice her sitting up and she looks up and smiles at you.Â
"Jesy!" You say, walking in and hugging her, "are you okay?"Â
She nods, "Shouldn't you be talking up that girl you were talking about?"Â
"No, Jesy listen," You say, "When I told you that the woman who was keeping me here.... That woman was you... Jesy Nelson."Â
Jesy looks at me like youâre crazy. You are sometimes but you were serious about what you had just told her. However, her surprise turned to happiness when she grabs your face and kisses you. Your arms coil around her gently as you begin deepening the kiss.Â
"Jesy," you sayÂ
"Hmm?" She asksÂ
"When we get out of here, I am not going to leave you alone," You smile, "Because I'll be By Your Side forevermore."
#little mix imagine#little mix x reader#little mix#jesy nelson x reader#jesy nelson imagine#jesy nelson#leigh anne pinnock#perrie edwards#jade thirlwall#female reader
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Haikyuu SakuAtsu fanfic recs: series edition ;)
ALRIGHT LOVES, BUCKLE UP! IM FORCING MYSELF TO FIND MOTIVATION LOL
As I was making that cursed SakuAtsu fanfic rec post (it really is cursed, but itâll get done eventually cause I do love the SakuAtsu too much, when tho? only god know LOL), I decided that if Iâm gonna finish it, imma have to break it up. SO thatâs why this is our lovely series edition post LOL. Originally, it WAS writers, tags, series, then single fics BUT I decided to scrap tags and even then I was like itâs too long..... And so, this post materialized LOL (mayhaps writers next? who knows anymore cause I certainly donât LOL). These are ONLY some of the series that I absolutely adore, and I say some because 1) the tag is literally like 4k fics long and I was on like page 20 something and I have SO many tabs open rn for SakuAtsu, so chances are I missed one or five LOL :â((((( and 2) my ao3 account hasnât been made yet (shouldâve done this a looooooong time ago) and so I donât have them all saved anywhere :( (these just sound like excuses LMFAO) So these are just the ones I saw and was like OOP I LOVE and then added LOL (and so theyâre in no particular order hehe). I also didnât *** any of them cause theyâre all so freakin good and even if you randomly chose one, you will not be disappointed.
As per usual, pls check WARNINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES for series and each individual fic before reading and make sure youâre taking care of yourselves (since mental health is key!) Stay healthy loves <3
I would also be more careful cause there are a lot more TW in these fics than other ships!
Terminal Curiosity by favspacetwink, moonlumie (E) // CHECK WARINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES!!! this is one of the BEST series Iâve read for this ship and even though I tend not to read WIP, ITâS WORTH IT! Please read ALL the tags before going into any of the fics in this series because thereâs some real spicy stuff that may not be your cup of tea!
your highs and lows by astroeulogy (T,M,E) // this fic made me go on a roller coaster of feels from start to (tentative) finish :))) Itâs great and I love it AHHHHH The progression in their relationship is just so ajfkjsf, and I just adore how Atsumu just broke(?) during that first fic and the number of double takes he did, v relatable LOL.
Different Kinds of Dysfunctional by DeathBelle (T,E) // I LOVE the entrance to this fic and how it flowed so well. I think Atsumu is characterized really well throughout this series (I could totally see Atsumu bringing the same thing up over and over again LOL), and his development was done beautifully (You just want to make me say it.,,, Kinda, yeah.). I really freakin love this series so please go ahead and read it donât be shy hehehe.
we call everything on the ice, "love" by awkwardedgeworth (T) // I LOVE this fic omg,,, itâs in series, but itâs only two fics LOL... Anyway, Notte Stellata is one of my favorite SakuAtsu fics and I have reread it way TOO many times and the fanpage fic IS SO AMAZING (AND FUNNY ASF PLS). I really love ice skating AUâs too so this really made this âseriesâ all the more better <333333
know you better & related stories by theglitterati (T,M,E) // this is definitely one of the best relationship development series Iâve read, I love it so much! It really touches all the bases, and the progression is just SO good. It really is the fic version of the get along shirt, extended edition LOL.
flutterbird (a collection of sakuatsu one-shots) by wordstruck (T,M,E) // this series is such an easy pick up because itâs a bunch of one-shots (esp. if youâre not into smut cause there is some), BUT all of them are def worth a read. Personally, the third one, the sakusa kiyoomi listography, is my favorite (cause imma sucker for Sakusa), but thatâs just personal preference hehe :)
Atsumu + Sakusa + The National = ? by isaksara (syailendra) (T,M) // this is another stand alone fic series but with AUs :D I donât even know like most (ie. all) of the references (LMFAO), but I still read all of them LOL. Again, a personal favorite (without any references LOL) is the second one, famous angels (never come through england), itâs really funny and good and I just love it okay?
Better For Us Both by abrandnewheart (M) // (this was CP from my angst fic rec post LOL tho it is slightly edited cause istg my writing style changes every post LOL) THE MUG FIC. There is a sequel and when I saw it, it took me another week to read it cause I was like,,, am I ready to have my heart break again? No LOL. But the sequel is actually not as angst (but thereâs still angst), so if you want to be like semi-broken or whatever, just read the sequel LOL (also itâs Sakusa POV HEHE). Itâs so sad and it made me physically hurt every time someone even mentioned mugs afterwards (LOL why am I so dramatic but itâs the truth :///). Go ahead and hurt with me. You should read it even if you donât like angst because you know what they say, no pain no gain :â)
parallax error: angle of inclination by min_mintobe (T) // okay so technically this âisnât a seriesâ, but it is two fic that are related, and what is that if not A SERIES :DDDDD Anyway, I really love this fic enough that I would find loopholes in my own dang post to recommend it LOL. I really love the service ace bet between Sakusa and Atsumu (I do think it is a superior headcannon (itâs hc right?)) but I also love whatâs left unsaid by both in each otherâs POVs hehe. If you want to go straight to Sakusaâs POV (cause their different POVs of the same fic), here it is parallax error: line of sight. You can read either first, but I recommend you read both eventually :)
to make any other mistake by honeymilktea (rosevtea) (T) // I, myself, am a very big fan of college Haikyuu (tho idk if it seems like that LOL), and this fic is very much up my alley hehe. I really like the idea that they are both TAâs and that Atsumu would totally bribe Sakusa into fake dating him as well as Sakusa wearing his brightest outfits to spite Atsumu.
How Do You Know? by awkwardedgeworth (T) // these fics are both so funny omg. The google search histories, the trial and error, and just everything in these two fics gives me so much dopamine LOL. Thereâs one POV for both end of the ship, though their tragedies are slightly different.
the human disaster chronicles by firtree (G,T) // is this another Atsumu gay panic fic? Yes, yes it is and I have absolutely no shame in recommending it hehe. I realllllllly like this fic and Atsumu having a break down cause Sakusa didnât follow his routine? It is the move. Anyway, pls read this series cause like the title suggests, it really is a disaster (but at least thereâs love right? LOL).
I Love You (Though it's Inadvisable) by Anubis_2701 (T) // okay the series itself is a wip (as in only one fic for now LOL), but the fic is so good, I couldnât leave it off :))))) First, I do love a good soulmate AU and although Iâm not a big fan on the body switching AUs, THIS one was SO good!!! It gets really cheesy and fluff at the end, but the beginning of this fic was just so immaculate, that weâre gonna ignore how much the ending made me want to stick my head into a hole (cause it was so FLUFF OMG).
The Germaphobe and the Asshole by metaandpotatoes (T,E) // so this series is also actually a WIP, but itâs okay I only read the first and the last one anyway cause theyâre basically stand aloneâs LOL. This series focuses a lot on Sakusaâs mysophobia, so if youâre not a fan of the hc, you should prolly pass hehe. TBH, my favorite is the third one, Avoidance Behavior, but thatâs mainly cause I really like SunaOsa and I love the brother bond in it!
you are the cause of my euphoria by SugarHighs (T) // ajsfljksadhjkdfk is my first thoughts while reading this series cause ATSUMU WOULD. He would start posting thirst trap pics (which really reminded me of Wonho) in order to prove he was the most good looking member of MSBY. Tho, we do love the clowning of one Sakusa Kiyoomi, as done in the third fic (PLEASE NUMBER 17 AND Cheezel). Even if you canât get yourself to read the other fics, read the third one, 5 Ways To Tell If The Person You're Dating Is The One, for the free serotonin boost plsplspls.
'basis' - noun. the underlying foundation for an idea or process. by auvelli (T) // like I said, college AU is a great AU, love it. This one, I do love indeed. We do stan having microwaves and mini fridges hehe. I support the ramen endeavors but oatmeal is gross, I said what I said. Anyway, I love the tags in the second fic, so even if you donât end up reading it, read the tags,,,, theyâre funny okay?
and i press you to the pages of my heart by volchitsae (T) // I LOVE THIS ONE, teehee again the college AU makes another appearance LOL. I REALLY love this writer, and this one is so funny but cute at the same time. Itâs another two POV fic, but youâll want to read this one in order hehe. Again, the ending is so FLUFF, that my head wanted to take a visit to the underground BUT ITS OKAY.
affection and acid reflux by volchitsae (T) // so the first fic is ~angst~ but IT GETS BETTER OKAY, happy endings. HAPPY ENDINGS. Anyway, thereâs some really cute Sakusa in this one (esp. when he talks to the boy at the village LOVE HIM) and a healthy amount of angst as well. I really like this fic and guess what it is? Say it with me, COLLEGE AU LOL.
how big the hourglass, how deep the sand by volchitsae (E) // did I just recommend the same writer three times in a row? Yup and I think that says something LOL (tbh I like some of their stand alone fics more tho LMFAO but that doesnât mean these series are bad nononono not at ALL (this sounded sarcastic but that was not the intention LOL)). This one is ~magical~ (v literally) and has some kinky stuff (holy water ftw) in it, so tread carefully :) I would make sure to read the tags before each one because it gets kinda steamy LOL.
^^ if I had to choose between these three, I liked and i press you to the pages of my heart the most just cause the plot was my type LOL. But theyâre all good hehe.
a study on you(th) and reverie by sieges (G,T) // this series is such a sad series :( The first two are the only SakuAtsu but the third one is an angst Osamu one so thereâs that LOL (and ofc the fourth one is KuniYama (is that their ship name idk)) But the first one is a moving on fic (which I liked) and the second is like basically a fake break up (which I liked more LOL) and both have some nice shares of angst and fluff so choose your battles wisely (or just read both LOL).
Burden of Blame by DeathBelle (E) // CHECK WARINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES!!! ah yes, the mafia fic LOL. I REALLY LOVE THIS FIC. I felt so bad for Atsumu the entire fic and yes it is, ATSUMU BEST BOY time. Did I really just recommend this series AGAIN for the THIRD TIME in THREE SEPARATE POSTS? Apparently LMFAO I didnât even know TBH LOL. I just really like this one,,,,,, okay? But pls Atsumu just here for the ride man cause he BEST BOY. Anyway, if you want to see my other comments of this fic that I forgot I did links here :D (links and here are two separate links to two separate posts LOL).
OKAY so thatâs most of the series that I saw and was like gotta put this here LOL. And do you see how long this is (I know Iâm missing so many series I like istg when I find them later imma cry or just make another post LOL).... Can you imagine how long my actual fic fic one is LOL (iâm not kidding tho itâs so long I might just do fics with their actual summaries instead of adding my invalid, piss poor reviews :/). Ugh the more I think about it, the more I lose motivation to finish LMFAO, so imma go be no thoughts head empty, but I hope you enjoyed reading these series! I love SakuAtsu SO much, so thereâs lots more to come (is that good or bad idek). I know I was kinda lazy on the warnings (my bad), so I hope you all were attentive and made sure to check before reading! Also if there are any errors, send me a message/ask! PLS, theyâre v embarrassing LOL. (Also tell me if I forget to cap my Iâs bc I do that sometimes and I canât tell cause of the font LMFAO.) The way my posts get slightly more chaotic every time I post LOL.
#SakuAtsu#haikyuu fanfic rec#Haikyuu fic recs#hq fic rec#fanfic#fanfics#fanfic recs#Haikyuu fanfics#anime#manga#these writers are literally GOD#UGH#I love these series so much#please read all of them#it's so worth it#there is some#SunaOsa#but not a lot#:)#I love them so much#bless fanfic writers#I love them#I love these fics#no thoughts just this#hehe#also i can't believe I recommended the same fic three separate times like#wtf am I doing#LOL#haikyuu#hq
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