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#all of the photos from this production are stunning

starlightkun · 4 months

Text

❧ word count: 17.4k ❧ warnings: cursing ❧ genre: fluff, some mild angst, model jeno, journalist reader, reader is lowkey a bit of a jerk for some of it but for understandable reasons ❧ extra info: this is a reworked version of an old fic of mine that was about a former member. since i still really love the fic, i’ve made some (heavy) edits to re-release it about jeno instead. you can consider this the spiritual successor/an alternate universe to my sleepless cinderella series

You’d finally gone insane, you’d decided. Absolutely bonkers, completely crazy. After all, how else would you explain the fact that you were now kissing Jeno?

You felt absolutely pathetic. You were a journalist at a rather popular magazine, and your editor had finally entrusted you with a centerfold spot. So far, your word document for your article had less than a handful of words: your name. Writer’s block, and with only two months until copies were supposed to hit the shelves.

And so here you were, sitting on the small couch in your boss’ office, trying not to sound like you were whining to her. But you needed some sort of guidance. Ms. Zhang was sat on the other end of the couch from you, legs crossed, and round frames perched on the end of her nose as she thoughtfully listened to your rant.

Her voice was casual as she simply replied with, “Anything new in your life, Y/N?”

Which was a complete non-sequitur from your desperate plea for a subject. She really just wanted to make small talk while you were having an existential crisis?

Stunned, you blinked for a moment before answering, “Uh, not much. My roommate made me go out to this party a while ago.”

“That’s nice. Did you have fun?”

You were still completely unsure of why she wasn’t addressing your issue, but went along with it, nonetheless, “I guess.”

“Meet anyone?”

“Kind of. Seven someones, technically.”

“Oh?”

Realizing how that sounded, you grimaced to yourself before giving your boss an explanation of the actual situation. Your roommate NingNing had dragged you to the grand opening of a new nightclub, which she got an invite to thanks to her huge social media following. She was possibly the only actually down-to-Earth influencer you’d ever met—and you’d met plenty, thanks to her. The two of you had been friends since you were kids, before you entered into completely different lives as adults. You had a 9 to 5 while she was being paid insane amounts of money by luxury brands just to post a single photo of herself with their product.

The nightclub of course had a VIP section at the back, which NingNing was easily given access to, as well as you, her plus-one. It was there that you were introduced to Mark Lee, an up and coming young actor with a practically cult following online; Huang Renjun, an extremely popular video game streamer and YouTuber; Lee Jeno, an actual supermodel whose visage was across some of the biggest billboards in the city; Haechan, a pop star that you didn’t dare address by anything other than his stage name; Na Jaemin, another streamer and YouTuber who had recently been picked up for a modeling contract; Zhong Chenle, heir to the Zhong family fortune, whose family was involved in anything and everything to do with the entertainment industry and owned the nightclub; and Park Jisung, an influencer more in the same vein as NingNing, with millions of Instagram followers. Apparently, you had made a good enough impression that Chenle gave you your own pass to the VIP lounge—NingNing of course had her own, too.

At the end of your story, Ms. Zhang had a worryingly knowing smile across her lips, “You met seven celebrities in one night?”

“Do influencers and streamers really count as celebrities?”

“You met seven very popular men—three or four of whom are certifiable celebrities—in one night, have access to a private lounge they all frequent, and you still don’t have a subject for your article?”

Your jaw may have dropped slightly as you realized this. Immediately, your face turned hot as you refused the idea, “I don’t want to exploit them and make them uncomfortable somewhere that’s supposed to be free from that kind of stuff.”

She frowned as she shook her head, “I’m disappointed in you, Y/N. I thought you understood that journalism isn’t inherently exploitative.”

“I’m sorry, I know it’s not—”

“Are you going to publish horrible rumors and tabloid things with private information they don’t want to be out there? Is that what we do here?”

“No, but they’re all going to think that’s what I’ll do.”

“Show them those assumptions are wrong. It’s all in the way you carry yourself. If you are honest and humble and make them feel comfortable, they should have no reason to doubt what kind of journalist you are.”

At this point, you felt like melting into the pinstriped couch cushions in shame. You shouldn’t have doubted your boss’ vision for her magazine or demeaned your own career. And now you’d made Ms. Zhang disappointed in you. You would’ve preferred her to have yelled at you.

All that was left was to make her proud.

Three days later and you still hadn’t returned to the lounge.

Honestly, you were just being a chicken. And a procrastinator. A procrastinating chicken.

Slumped into your armchair in your living room, you blankly zoned off into the distance as you listened to your playlist through an earbud. NingNing was perched on your kitchen table, feet swinging off the side as she edited some photos on her phone.

As she tapped away, you found your gaze fixating on the visage on the cover of a magazine that had been resting on your coffee table. Squinting your eyes curiously and tilting your head to the side, you asked, “He kind of looks like a dog, right?”

“Who?” Your roommate raised a concerned eyebrow as she peered over her phone screen at you.

“Lee Jeno.” You held up the magazine. “He kind of looks like a dog. Right?”

Your friend squinted at the cover then gave you that same look, “No, he doesn’t. Y/N, I think the sleep deprivation has finally gotten to you. You’re delirious.”

“No, I swear, he looks like a dog,” you insisted, pulling your earbud out to be able to better argue your point. “A very specific kind of dog, God, it’s on the tip of my tongue.”

“He doesn’t.”

You crossed your arms. “I bet the others would agree with me.”

“You want to go ask them?” She challenged. “Jisung texted me saying they were all going to be there again tonight.”

“If that’s what’ll convince you.”

“I have been begging you to go back for weeks, and now you’ve agreed to go back to ask them if they agree that Jeno looks like a dog?” NingNing scoffed incredulously.

“Yeah.”

“Alright, fine, you weirdo. Be ready to leave at midnight.”

When you arrived at the club, you immediately felt out of place again. You clung onto NingNing’s arm tightly as she confidently led the way through the crowd to the VIP lounge. She flashed a smile and her VIP pass to the bouncer outside the room, who nodded and stepped aside. As soon as the two of you entered the small room that consisted of one large rounded booth, you immediately regretted your decision. When NingNing said that everyone would be there, your brain hadn’t pieced together that ‘everyone’ included Lee Jeno, who perked up with interest as the two of you walked in.

Jeno eyed you curiously, an eyebrow raised, “So you came back.”

“Y/N has something really important to ask you guys,” NingNing announced, gesturing to you pointedly.

You felt like a deer in the headlights as all of them turned to look at you. Swallowing thickly, you avoided looking at Jeno as you tried to think of anything else to say.

“Sit down, let’s get you a drink first,” Jaemin kindly saved you, gesturing to the open space at the end of the booth seat.

NingNing sat down next to Mark, who had previously been at the end, and you scooted in after her. The circular table unfortunately made it so that you were looking directly at Jeno, who you couldn’t help but sneak glances at as your brain still stubbornly tried to remember what breed of dog he reminded you of. Another round was brought out for everyone, and you gratefully started sipping on yours.

It was when he smiled up at the waiter as he was handed his drink that it finally hit you. You had to bite down on your lip not to cry out in victory.

Chenle looked at you over his sunglasses—yes he was wearing sunglasses indoors at night, as he had been last time. He asked, “So what is this really important thing you have to ask us?”

You looked at NingNing desperately, but she just gave you a deliberate nod.

“Come on, Y/N, it’ll be fine.”

With a gulp, you gathered your courage to just fucking say it and get it over with. You still wanted to be right. “Okay, think about it really hard before you answer.”

They all nodded in assent, anticipating your question.

Taking a deep breath, you finally asked, “Doesn’t Jeno kind of look like a Samoyed?”

A couple of them seemed concerned for your mental state. The rest pondered your question whole-heartedly, brows furrowed as they studied the model. Jeno had a look of pure bewilderment on his face.

Finally, Haechan gasped, “Oh my God you’re right.”

“Thank you!” You sighed victoriously, looking over at NingNing smugly.

Jisung fervently searched something on his phone, eyes widening in shock, “Now that you’ve said that I can’t unsee it.”

“What? Let me see.” Chenle yanked the phone out of Jisung’s hand, holding a picture of a fluffy white Samoyed up to Jeno’s face.

The model tilted his head to the side in confusion, perfectly mimicking the picture on-screen. Chenle burst into loud, cackling laughter.

“Shit, he-he does!” Renjun declared between his own laughs.

Murmurs of agreement erupted around the table, and you were now fully vindicated. “Thank you! Thank you! NingNing didn’t agree with me so I had to come and—”

“No, I did,” she snickered. “It was just the only way to get you to come back. You’re a whole different person when you think you’re right.”

You tried to glare at her, but you were much too ecstatic at being proven right to really be all that mad.

Jeno looked about to open his mouth as Chenle giggled incessantly and started swiping through more search results of Samoyed pictures. A horrible sense of dread covered you like scalding candle wax. It was hot against your skin, thick, and you felt like you couldn’t move or breathe. You prayed to every deity you could think of that Jeno had a really good sense of humor and wouldn’t take offense to someone he had met twice saying he looked like a dog.

When Jeno’s gaze finally focused on you, you swore you had never wished to turn invisible more in your life than in that moment. Or make time stop. Or wake up and realize it was a dream. Anything to get you out of this situation. But you were absolutely petrified, all excitement from before completely eradicated from your being.

Then suddenly all tension was gone from the air as his eyes crinkled into crescents and his mouth parted wide to let out hearty guffaws.

You looked around in alarm, waiting for the hidden camera to be revealed or something. This couldn’t be real.

He managed to contain his laughter enough to choke out between chuckles, “That’s— that's really, really funny.”

Your wide eyes were focused incredulously on him as he caught his breath. Still with a grin on his face, he continued, “Oh my god, seriously that was fucking funny. I’m a cute Samoyed, right, Y/N?”

Utterly speechless. That’s what you were. And also staring at him, completely dumbfounded.

“I think you broke her, Jeno,” Renjun snickered, reaching a fist out as if he were about to knock on your forehead like a front door.

Instinctually, you smacked his hand away from your head, a scowl overtaking your features, “I’m fine, Renjun.”

“Then why can’t you look him in the eye?”

You pointed to yourself, “Normal person—” then to Jeno, “supermodel. I’m still not used to that.”

But Renjun was right, you couldn’t look Jeno in the eye, and your whole body was practically on fire. Honestly, how were you supposed to react to this situation? With grace and comfort? No way.

“What? Seriously?” Jeno scoffed, standing up from the booth to pointedly sit on your side of it. Directly next to you.

“I’m not that— Y/N, really? You’re actually scooting away from me?”

You hadn’t even realized that you’d shifted the opposite direction from him, pressed into NingNing’s side. Meanwhile, the others were all finding this spectacle absolutely hilarious, sharing annoying snickers and giggles.

Your face was burning, and despite your satisfaction at being vindicated, you were now regretting coming to the club at all.

“Can you guys stop? You don’t have to be so annoying,” Jeno scolded his friends, much to both yours and their surprise.

Haechan had a look of mild offense and disbelief across his face, “Being annoying comes as natural to us as being ridiculously attractive comes to you.”

“Speak for yourself!” Jaemin slapped Haechan’s arm as Chenle was practically howling with laughter.

While they were distracted among themselves, Jeno’s attention was focused back on you. If you could look him in the eye, you’d be able to appreciate the genuine concern held within them. But you couldn’t, so all you could do was hear the genuine concern in his voice as he said quietly, “Sorry about them.”

“You don’t need to apologize for them,” you reassured him, messing with your fingernails.

“Anyway, I can’t stand having you be terrified of me.”

“I’ll get over it,” you cleared the audible squeak out of your throat, “eventually.”

“Eventually...” Jeno didn’t seem satisfied with that qualifier you added at the end. “Are you busy today?”

“Uhm— I don’t know. Why?”

“We should hang out.”

“What?”

“The more you’re around me, the less scary I’m going to be to you. Right?”

“I guess.”

“Then we should start right now.”

Your throat nearly closed up at this suggestion. Especially because you realized that the room was dead silent. The others had ceased their squabbling and side conversations and were awaiting your response to this too.

So you did the thing that came most naturally to you: procrastinated the issue.

“Oh, well, it’s already after midnight—”

“Then tomorrow.”

“I’m going to be super busy for a while, I just got a really big assignment at work—”

“What do you do for work?”

“I’m a journalist. Just got centerfold and it’s going to make or break my whole career so it’s going to take up all of my time for the foreseeable future, so...”

Jeno was unfazed, “What’s the topic?”

“I-uh it’s...” you couldn’t even bullshit an answer at this point, your stupid tongue tripping over itself. “I don’t have one yet.”

NingNing just had to offer up her opinion right then, “Do it on Jeno!”

If you were a lesser person, you'd have strangled NingNing in that moment, because the model’s features lit up. He clearly liked this idea.

“Yeah! I would love to. If it’ll fit your guidelines or whatever, of course.”

You sighed, “It does...”

The socially anxious part of you absolutely hated this idea. But, the journalist part of you knew it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Gritting your teeth, you managed to look Lee Jeno dead in the eye and say, “I would love to interview you, Jeno. Thank you.”

“Uhm, Jeno?” Jisung speaking up stopped the wide grin that was spreading across his friend’s face. “Aren’t you like, banned from interviews or something?”

“Technically,” Jeno answered dismissively, not breaking eye contact with you.

“Technically?” You echoed in confusion. Were you just being messed with?

“Something… happened with the last in-depth interview I did a while ago,” he admitted sheepishly. “But! I’ll talk to my manager and get it cleared, I promise, Y/N!”

[jeno: manager han gave the okay for the interview! when can we get started?]

Your stomach contorted itself at the message that just popped up on your phone screen. Last night you’d left the lounge with a growing sense of dread and anxiety. And Jeno’s phone number.

[jeno: i have a fitting this afternoon but i'll be done in time to get dinner]

[jeno: if that works for you, of course]

[jeno: we can always start it another day, whatever is good for you!]

[jeno: do you want me to send you my schedule for the next few weeks to make it easier for us to get together?]

Your phone’s continuous buzzing with enthusiastic and sincerely kind messages from him caught the attention of NingNing, whose feet were currently resting on your lap as you shared your couch together.

“When did you get so popular?” She questioned teasingly, peering at you over her own phone screen.

“It's just one person,” you informed her.

“Who texts you that much in a row other than me?”

“Lee Jeno, apparently.”

“Y/N, you seem very unenthusiastic about this,” she declared with a thoughtful frown, completely abandoning her phone. “Isn’t this a really big break for you?”

“I’m still a little shocked,” you admitted. “And scared.”

She shoved you with her foot. “Well at least text him back.”

“Right.”

Not a great idea to leave him on read.

[you: a copy of your schedule would be great]

[you: and yes, i can do dinner tonight]

It was less than a minute later that he replied.

[jeno: here’s my schedule]

[jeno: attached image]

[jeno: and could you give me your address so i can drive you to dinner tonight? the place i have in mind is kind of hard to find if you haven’t been before]

A lot was happening right now. Too much for you to process. Good thing there was another brain in this room to help you process it.

“Hey, NingNIng?” You got her attention before thrusting your phone screen towards her so she could read the texts.

“Uh, three options here.” She pointed to a new finger for each one as she listed them off: “He’s ridiculously excited about this interview; he likes you; or he’s going to kill you.”

“So far the last one seems most likely.”

With a shake of your head, you sent him your address.

Your fingers anxiously tapped along your bouncing knee as you waited on your couch for the text from Jeno that he was here. He told you that the restaurant was just casual, but you weren’t sure that a model’s idea of casual wear was the same as yours.

Jeez, what were you doing? Getting dinner with and interviewing one of the most well-known models in the country? You were so out of your depth here.

A buzz came from your other hand that was tightly gripping your phone. An incoming call from Jeno. Maybe he was calling to cancel, and you could just keep rescheduling until you both gave up on the whole idea and you never showed your face in that VIP lounge again.

Answering it, your voice squeaked as you attempted to give him a casual, “Hello.”

“Hey, Y/N!” The bright voice of Lee Jeno came through your speakers. “I’m just parking now, I’ll be up in a couple minutes.”

“You don’t have to come up!” You told him a little too forcefully and quickly. Having Lee Jeno in your apartment would just be too much.

“I don’t mind—”

You leapt up from your couch and rushed towards your door, “Too late, I’m already on my way down.”

With a sharp hit of your thumb, you hung up. Pressing the down button on the elevator impatiently, you prayed that Jeno would just give up and wait in his car.

He didn’t.

The elevator doors opened to the lobby, with Jeno right outside them. In fact, you nearly slammed right into his chest, but thankfully he took a step back before you could actually collide.

His ‘woah!’ was muffled slightly by the dark face mask over his mouth, accompanying dark baseball somewhat successfully obscuring his identity. As long as you didn’t look too closely, he could be any other guy.

“I told you I’d just come down on my own.” You shook your head at him, eyes trained on your shoes.

“And I told you that I’d come up and get you,” he shot back smugly. “Seems like neither of us listen very well.”

With no response coming from you, Jeno took your silence as the cue to lead the way out to his car. It was nice, nicer than most cars you’d seen around, but surprisingly not that ostentatious. It looked like something a moderately successful businessman would drive, not an A-list model.

Inside was a comfortable leather interior, and you took quick, short notes on the small notepad you kept with you as you looked around. After all, this was an interview, and you had an article to write. You could get over your own social awkwardness and feelings of inferiority for the sake of your future career.

Hopefully.

The restaurant Jeno had chosen was definitely out-of-the way.

It was down one back alley into another, through the back of an electronics shop, up a flight of stairs, then through a room of old ladies sat at sewing machines. They all gave a friendly chorus of hellos to the two of you, seeming to know Jeno pretty well as they all told him that he’d grown since the last time he’d come by. He bowed to them bashfully as he led you through. Past the curtains on the far wall, you finally ended up at the restaurant.

Okay, out-of-the-way was an understatement.

But despite the hard-to-stumble-upon location of the restaurant, it seemed busy. The small room was tightly packed with tables that you could barely see through the mass of people seated around them and plates of food resting atop them. A loud buzz of various conversations mixed in with the bumping of plates and clattering of utensils.

Just past the entrance was a small host’s stand where a young boy stood. He looked to not be out of high school yet, presumably a young relative of the owners: their son, nephew, or grandson.

He also knew Jeno, bowing to him, “Ah, Mr. Lee. We have your reservation for you. Come.”

Jeno bowed back and looked to make sure that you were still following the two of them through the nearly claustrophobic environment.

You were, eyes drinking in every detail as your hand furiously scribbled them down on your notepad, muscle memory functioning at full speed to write every letter without looking away from the scene around you. There was one more curtain for you to go through, and it was much quieter on the other side. This was most likely a VIP section of sorts, with just a couple tables separated by a divider.

The host gestured to one of the two tables, and you gratefully sat down across from Jeno. He then took his hat and mask off, fingers working through his hair for a moment to rid it of the hat’s aftereffects.

“Thank you, Yeonwoo,” he thanked the host, which you repeated as well.

The boy, who you now knew to be named Yeonwoo, bowed politely to the both of you before scurrying off.

“You must come here often,” you commented, hand poised to write his response.

“My family and I came here a lot when I was younger. Since I started my career it’s been difficult to eat here as often as I did before. Especially because their food isn’t technically allowed in my diet,” he had a mischievous glint in his eye as then he added, “But you won’t tell on me, right?”

“Of course not, unless writing an article about you that will be published in a magazine counts as tattling,” you snorted, much to his delight.

He laughed, “Right, right. That’s pretty much the ultimate form of tattling, huh?”

“If it gets published, yeah. If not, then the only people who will know will be you, me, and my editor. And I suppose Yeonwoo and our server, as well.”

“Speaking of our server, there she is!” Jeno announced, making the young girl who was approaching your table blush behind her notepad. She was probably around Yeonwoo’s age, maybe a little older.

“Good evening,” she greeted the two of you politely. “My name is Jieun, I’ll be your server tonight. Are you ready to order?”

You were a bit confused by her question, you hadn’t been given any menus yet. But Jeno seemed completely unfazed.

“Two orders of my regular, please,” he requested sweetly, which she quickly scribbled down on her pad.

“Of course, it’ll be out soon,” she informed you before hurrying away.

He turned back to you, “Jieun is Yeonwoo’s older cousin, their grandparents own the restaurant.”

You added this to your notes as well. It could be nice to add in to set the scene and show how down-to-Earth Jeno was, knowing this family as well as his own and not forgetting his roots even as a big model. Or something like that, you’d figure it out eventually.

“So, interview questions?” He prompted you, bringing you out of your contemplative planning ahead. You’d write that up later.

“Earlier you had mentioned your family, tell me a bit about them. Brothers, sisters?”

Could you have looked that information up online and found it? Definitely, but you wanted it from the source, to see if he would provide you with anything that wasn’t already out there. And you wanted to get a feel of your subject.

“Well there’s my parents, my older sister, and me. They’re not famous or anything. My parents own a grocery store nearby, and my sister’s a teacher.”

“You took my next question right out of my mouth,” you clicked your tongue in teasing disappointment, continuing on with a different one. “You said you used to come here often with your family, what are some other things you miss from your childhood that you don’t do as often?”

Jeno’s face easily betrayed his delighted surprise, “Oh, I wasn’t expecting that one.”

“Hm?”

“That’s a good question. Normally I get asked about celebrity crushes or my ideal type.”

You tilted your head to the side curiously, “If you thought that I was just going to ask you the same questions you usually get asked, why did you offer for me to interview you?”

“Never mind, never mind, sorry.” He coughed awkwardly, then quickly went to get off that topic, “Uh, it might sound kind of weird, but I used to help out at my parents’ store a lot as a kid. It was my first job I ever had. As soon as I could reach the register on a high stool, they put me to work. It’s actually how I got scouted, for modeling. My manager now just happened to come through my line while I was on the register and gave me his card. I thought it was a scam, honestly. But Jaemin made me give him a call, and he turned out to be legit. Even if I had the time to help at the store now, I’d just be too much of a distraction if I tried. And trust me, I tried. Once. So yeah, I miss helping out there.”

The desire for an answer to your other question was still there, but it was a path that you didn’t want to go down right now. Right now was time for the interview. So you simply scratched down his statement about his parents’ shop, then shorthanded off to the side ‘why me?’ as you readied your next question.

“You knew Jaemin before you guys were famous?”

“Yeah, we’ve been friends forever.” A fond smile crossed Jeno’s face. “Seatmates since primary school. He blew up with streaming first before I got my break as a model, actually. Most people usually assume it’s the other way around.”

“And what about the others?”

As Jeno eagerly answered your questions and you filled up page after page on your notepad, there was still that one lingering in the back of your mind.

Why you?

Over the course of a couple weeks, you’d spent a considerable amount of time with Jeno. According to his schedule that he had sent you, every free moment he got was taken up by your interview. Sometimes it would be more formal, like your first dinner meeting, and sometimes it was more casual, get-togethers in the lounge with the other VIP members or a riverside walk that felt more like two friends talking than a professional interview. And it all went in your notes, it would all go in your article. This was going to be a great article. The real Lee Jeno when he’s relaxed, what he’s like off the runway.

Today was very special, however, as you’d been invited to tag along to one of his photoshoots. You were just outside the building housed at the address you’d been given when you were met by a young man whose stern gaze never left you. It seemed as if he had been waiting for you.

“Are you the journalist?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, completely skipping any greetings.

“Ah yes, Y/L/N Y/N,” you confirmed, nodding your head respectfully to him as you held out your VIP lounge card as proof. Jeno told you that would be your pass to get in.

The man only scrutinized the card for a moment before he pivoted on his heel, “Follow me.”

You kept his hurried pace easily, ready to ask him questions as well, “So what’s your job here?”

He took a moment to push open a door that then nearly closed on you before answering, “I’m Lee Jeno’s PA.”

“Oh, Song Eunseok!” The name easily came to your mind.

The PA’s eyes widened in surprise, “Jeno’s brought me up?”

“Of course he has! You’re with him pretty much all the time, how could he not mention you?” You flipped through your notebook to where you’d taken previous notes about him, “Here, I asked him to walk me through his typical day, and he mentioned ‘Seokkie’ like seven times.”

Eunseok physically grimaced at this, “I’ve requested that he not call me that.”

“Why? I think it’s a cute nickname.”

“Really?” His eyes were now trained on his shoes as opposed to his previous laser focus on the end of the hallway. Your eyes could’ve been playing tricks on you, but you swore the tips of his ears were tinged pink, too.

There was another door, and this time you definitely couldn’t miss the fact that he held it open for you this time.

“Really,” you echoed.

The door had led to what you could really only imagine to be the set. Huge lightboxes, a couple cameras, and a multitude of people all set up with a single black sheet as the focal point. A white loveseat contrasted it starkly, but that wasn’t where your eyes were drawn. They were drawn to the man seated elegantly atop it, dressed head-to-toe like the playboy prince of a small but filthy rich country. Lee Jeno.

“You can wait for him over here with me,” Eunseok tapped your elbow with a feather-light touch, snapping you from your near-trance.

“Thanks.” You walked with him towards a table lined with various food and drink.

Your focus was still on the PA as he got a bottle of water, opened it, took a lemon slice from a small bowl and squeezed it into the drink before plopping a blue straw in as well. Then didn’t drink it. Instead, he turned back to you and held it in his hand patiently.

“The straw disturbs the makeup as little as possible,” Eunseok explained to you, and it was then that you realized it wasn’t for him, it was for Jeno. “Makes the makeup artists’ lives a little bit easier.”

“That’s very considerate. I wouldn’t have even thought of that,” you commented, taking note of that process as your focus returned back to Jeno and the photoshoot.

Knowing that your next question might be considered disrespectful, you leaned closer to Eunseok to whisper, “So who’s the photographer?”

He understood your delicacy, replying back equally quiet, “Chen Man, she’s brilliant. Jeno’s worked with her in the past, but this is his first solo shoot with her. It’s for the new YSL campaign that he was chosen to be the face of.”

And you were rocketed back to the fact that Lee Jeno was a famous model. Obviously, you hadn’t really forgotten it, but in your casual meetings and interviewing outside of his work, the magnitude of it was lessened. But a PA, giant photoshoot, famous photographer, and being selected as the new face of a campaign for a huge designer really hammered in the famous model part.

“Wow.”

It was just then that Chen Man called for a short break, and the silent studio was immediately filled with chatter. Jeno made a beeline for you and Eunseok, his normal contagious grin across his face, “Hey, Y/N! I’m glad you made it here okay.”

Up close, you could appreciate the detail and regality of his outfit. It was made of crushed velvet of a deep cerulean color; various intricate medals flashing on his chest; dark epaulettes making his already broad shoulders even more imposing; large black boots; and silver jewelry and chains glinting on his fingers and neck.

Eunseok offered the water out to Jeno then, and he accepted it gratefully, “Thanks, Eunseok.”

You continued from the model’s earlier statement, “Yeah, Eunseok made sure I got to the right place.”

“Good, I sent him out there to get you.” He turned on his PA, “You didn’t give Y/N a hard time, did you?”

“My job is to make sure none of your insane fans somehow get in here,” the other man scoffed.

“So you did give her a hard time.”

Eunseok rolled his eyes at Jeno’s teasing words. Despite knowing that they were employer-employee, it felt much more like two friends to you. You added that to your notes.

Jeno took a couple big sips of his water, and you took this time to ask him a couple of questions.

“So Eunseok was saying that this shoot is for the new YSL campaign that you’re the face of. Have you ever done something like this before?”

He blinked at you a couple times before actually replying, “Yeah, it’s really an honor and a big opportunity to be chosen for this. I’ve done solo shoots before, but not ones of this magnitude.”

Another figure approached your small group, a makeup artist. Jeno handed his water back to Eunseok before leading the way a little further away to sit in a chair. As the makeup artist attended to his makeup, you continued with the interview.

“How familiar are you with the photographer on this shoot?”

“I’ve worked with Chen Man a few times before—” he paused to let the makeup artist apply his lip color again. After she was done, he continued, “Her ideas are incredible and she’s honestly so wonderful to work with. However, all those other times I was with other models, so doing a solo photoshoot with her is a bit nerve-wracking. She’s the kind of person that you really want to make proud, you know?”

Thinking of Ms. Zhang and her disappointment in you earlier, you nodded, “Yeah, I know.”

There was a call for everyone to start getting back into their places, and you took this as your cue to leave Jeno alone. He had work to do.

The makeup artist did one touch up on his face before letting him up out of the chair, another person coming to his side to fix his hair up just the way they wanted it, walking alongside him awkwardly to do so.

“Take a bunch of notes on your little notepad, Y/N!” Jeno quipped as he walked back in front of the camera.

“Will do!” You affirmed, holding your notebook above your head and shaking it slightly so he could see it.

Returning to your previous spot off to the side with Eunseok, you had a fond smile on your lips from your short interaction with Jeno. Eunseok had a little smirk of his own as he gazed at you.

“And what’s that smile for?” You questioned, head tilted.

“Nothing.”

You elbowed him with a short giggle, “Come on, tell me.”

“No,” he shook his head, that same smile on his lips.

Even as you rolled your eyes, your focus never faltered from Eunseok. You changed tactics, a slight pout on your face as you asked again, “Please, Seokkie?”

Finally, he relented, “You’re pretty special, Y/N.”

“What?” You questioned in pleasant surprise.

“For Manager Han to have approved this interview after what happened last time, Jeno probably begged.”

“I can't imagine what would be so special about me.”

Eunseok had a brightness to his features that you hadn’t seen yet as he replied, “I can.”

You raised an eyebrow, “And what is it?”

Shouts from the set took both your attentions away from each other. Chen Man had been calling directions out during the whole shoot, but never with such aggression as then.

“Jeno! Lee Jeno!”

You scanned the scene in front of you as you tried to figure out what exactly was happening. Jeno’s arms were crossed across his chest, a startlingly stern but calm gaze focused on… you?

“Jeno can you—ugh, fifteen-minute break, everybody!” She yelled out in exasperation, the rest of the crew breaking the silence, scattering from the set.

Chen Man continued addressing her model, “Jeno, your expressions… they’re off.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll work on them.”

Despite acknowledging her words, you were doubtful of if he had actually registered them, stalking off the set with seemingly one destination in mind.

“Y/N,” Jeno stopped right by you and Eunseok. “Can I speak with you for a second?”

“Of course,” you nodded, well aware of how the crew was only pretending to be busy, instead actually focused on the three of you.

Your subject took off again, and you guessed that he anticipated that you’d follow him. Which you did. Eunseok stayed behind.

His longer legs made it a little hard to keep up with him as he took twists and turns down hallways of the building.

“Jeno,” you breathed out, seeming to finally snap him out of whatever mood he had been in.

Immediately, he slowed down to your pace, a faint smile coming to his lips, “Sorry, long legs.”

“Where are we going?”

He abruptly stopped, “Here is fine.”

It was the middle of some random hallway. He apparently didn’t have an actual destination in mind, more-so a distance.

“So what do you need to talk to me about?” You questioned, pencil and notepad at the ready. It had to be something for the interview, it couldn’t possibly be anything else.

“Y/N…” Jeno reached his hands out to cover yours, gently lowering the pencil and notepad for you. His hands were big and warm on yours, and you felt nerves flare up at his clear insinuation that this wasn’t for the interview.

“Jeno…” you said back with a nervous half-giggle. He was still holding your hands.

“This isn’t part of the interview. I’m not interviewee Jeno, and you’re not interviewer Y/N right now.”

“Okay…”

As soon as you had accepted these terms, he released his feather-light hold on your hands and took his own back to wring them nervously. What could Lee Jeno possibly be nervous about?

“Hm, I’ve never done this before,” he chuckled, pressing a palm to the center of his chest.

“Done what?”

“Okay, I’m just going to be upfront. Uh, I think you’re super great, and pretty, and awesome and I’d really like to be able to take you out on a date some time.”

This had to be a fucking joke. No way that someone who looks like him, an actual model, someone who gets paid for being ridiculously attractive, could actually be asking you out. This had to be a sick, terrible, horrible joke he was playing on you.

And yet as his big brown eyes gazed at you, wide and hopeful, looking a lot like a puppy waiting to be adopted from some animal shelter, you knew that he was being genuine.

And you panicked.

Stuttering for a moment, you finally choked out the most formal and emotionally removed response you could’ve come up with, “I’m sorry, I—that wouldn’t be appropriate, since I’m interviewing you right now. A bias or conflict of interest would damage the integrity of my piece as well as my career.”

Surprisingly, his features didn’t seem as crestfallen as you anticipated, his expressions were always so easy to read. He, in fact, seemed very happy with your reply.

“I get it,” he beamed at you, giving your hand a reassuring squeeze for a moment before letting it go. “After the article, then.”

That wasn’t what you meant. At all. But between your own burning cheeks and internal state of panic, you couldn’t express this to him. Or even really process your own thoughts right then.

“We should head back, Eunseok will come looking for us soon,” Jeno nodded with his head back in the general direction that you two had come from.

He kept a polite distance from you, allowing some of the panic alarms blaring in your mind to quiet just a bit. You tried to brainstorm ways you could possibly keep this interview going forever. Ways to give you as much time as possible. To do what, exactly? Maybe come up with an actual way of rejecting him. Or maybe give him enough time to change his romantic focus to someone else, so that he would never end up revisiting this subject after the interview.

You could dream.

“Oh my god!” NingNing exclaimed. “Are you shitting me?!”

You’d just recalled your day to your roommate, finally ending at the part where Jeno had asked you on a date. She had literally done a spit-take back into her soda as she smacked your leg in excitement.

Despite still being in disbelief yourself, Jeno had been extremely up-front and clear about it. No room for misinterpretation. Unlike your response to him.

“Well when’s the date?” NingNing squealed, pressing for more information.

“I said no,” you deadpanned.

“What?”

“Well, kind of.”

At the clear grimace on your face, your friend sighed, “Y/N, what did you tell him? Verbatim.”

“I told him that it would be inappropriate right now because a bias or conflict of interest would ruin the integrity of my piece and any career opportunity that came out of it,” you repeated your statement from earlier almost word-for-word, sure that it would be burned into your memory for the rest of your life.

“You do know that he now definitely thinks that you were telling him to just wait until after the article is over, right?”

“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of,” you groaned, dropping your head into your hands and rubbing your face in exasperation.

“You don’t want to go on a date with Jeno?”

“I don’t want to date Lee Jeno,” you confirmed, nodding the head that you were still holding.

“Let me just review the situation here: you’ve got a very sweet, very funny, very hot guy that’s into you. What’s the problem?”

“He’s hot.”

Finally, you’d found it. The real reason you’d said no, the real reason you had a deep pit of dread in your stomach as soon as the words had left Jeno’s mouth hours earlier.

She snorted, “That’s a problem?”

“His entire career is based off being hot, he’s a model,” you explained rather desperately, relieved to finally be able to put your tumultuous thoughts into proper words. “I can’t deal with all that shit that comes with it. I just can’t.”

“So you’ll never want to date him? You’re not going to change your mind?”

“No, never. I couldn’t.”

“Never say never,” NingNing taunted with a sing-song voice, but at your eye-roll, became more serious. “Okay, let’s just say you’ll never date Jeno in your life—despite the fact that nothing is ever definite—you shouldn’t lead him on. Intentional or otherwise. Don’t let him spend the next few weeks thinking that you two are going to date after the article’s over.”

The anxiety was still there, however. “What if he doesn’t actually think that and I just misunderstood him? What if he just naturally gets over me in the next few weeks and doesn’t need me to confront him about this and straight-up reject him? He’s probably never been rejected in his life, what if he doesn’t take it well? What—”

She cut your endless strings of ‘what if’s short, “Y/N, didn’t he say that he’d never done this before?”

Realization hit you straight to the gut. “What if me rejecting him makes him never want to ask anybody else out again for the rest of his life and I scar him permanently?”

Your roommate had a clear look of ‘yikes’ on her face, and pure mortification ran through every inch of you.

“Never mind, there’s no way I could ever have such an impact on Lee Jeno’s life, that’s fucking ridiculous. I’m just some normal person, some journalist, and he’s literally a supermodel. No way this would actually matter to someone like that.”

“Y/N, don’t say stuff like that,” NingNing frowned, pulling some hair away from your face gently. “You matter to me, remember? You’re my best friend.”

Completely ignoring her, you continued, “I just have to be upfront with him, tell him I don’t want to go on a date with him, and be done with it. He’ll probably never think about it again for the rest of his life.”

She let out a sigh as if she were going to say something but thought better of it. You didn’t press her; your mind had been made up.

You couldn’t do it.

The next time you saw Jeno, you had every intention of being upfront. But you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. You were an absolute coward. Some part of you didn’t want to tell him, for whatever reason.

Maybe because the way his face absolutely lit up when he saw you was something you’d never seen anybody do for you before. Maybe because he asked you how your day was and didn’t look disinterested in your answer. Maybe because no matter how hard you tried to tell yourself that this was a professional interview, he made you feel so at ease that you somehow talked more about yourself than him.

Maybe because you did kind of want to date him.

Your notebook had been completely abandoned about fifteen minutes into your ‘lunch meeting,’ a fact that went mostly unnoticed by you. Until the waiter came with the bill and you had to move it out of the way for him to set it on the tabletop. You’d written just a couple short notes, nothing substantial. That wasn’t an interview, you couldn’t even try to bullshit it to yourself. That was a date-but-not-a-date. And you enjoyed yourself.

As you contemplated over your mostly-blank page, Jeno had already tucked his own card into the pouch and waved the waiter back over. Before you could argue him paying for you, the waiter was halfway across the restaurant.

“Jeno, I can pay for my own food,” you reminded him gently, feeling very much like you were scolding an over-excited puppy that had accidentally knocked over a potted plant in its haste to greet you.

“And I can pay for both of ours,” he countered.

You held his gaze firmly, waiting for him to— there it was.

His mouth split into a sheepish grin as he held up his hands in surrender, “Alright, I get it, I get it. Interview time right now. We’ll split the check for now.”

For now.

Maybe you liked the idea of that.

“Except this one, since they already ran my card,” Jeno added, a victorious smirk on his face, one that had you shaking your head fondly.

“Can I at least tip?”

“Already added that on the receipt.”

“How dare you be so thoughtful and respectful.”

He seemed about ready to quip something back when a distant chorus of squeals cut him off. You took a cursory glance around, eyes landing on a group of teenage girls standing just outside the window that you were seated by. They weren’t uncomfortably close, but it was clear what had made them so excited.

Jeno ducked his head shyly as he raised a hand to acknowledge them, only setting their nervous titters off again. Maybe he should have left his mask and hat on, or not chosen a table by the window.

And your heart dropped as you were once again reminded of who exactly the man in front of you was. Not just some cute guy named Lee Jeno, but a model who was known internationally, with fans who would recognize him out and about, with a career and life that was under the public gaze constantly.

You couldn’t do that. You couldn’t subject yourself to that. It would be too much for you.

With the girls still watching the two of you, you collected your notepad and stood up, stiffly bowing to him. “Thank you for allowing me to interview you, Mr. Lee.”

Thankfully, he took your lead, standing and returning your bow, “Of course, thank you as well, Ms. Y/L/N.”

Hopefully the girls got the message that this was business and nothing else. A dating rumor with Lee Jeno was absolutely the one thing you did not need in your life. Lee Jeno was absolutely the one thing you did not need in your life.

The light hum that had been in Ms. Zhang’s throat through most of her reading of your article suddenly changed tone as she came to the ending. Her brow furrowed thoughtfully, and your mind was running wild with nerves as you waited for her to speak.

“It’s good, Y/N,” she started.

You sensed a ‘but’ coming next.

“But… in the very first paragraph you introduce him as model by day, and explorer by night, or something to that effect.”

“Yes, that’s how he and his friends introduced him.”

“But you never bring up his ‘exploring’ again. This is about his life as a model and what he’s like outside of modelling here. You hooked me on the exploring part, but left me ultimately unsatisfied with that point.”

She was right. She was absolutely right. In your own personal whirlwind of confusion about your emotions and wants, you’d left a loose end in your article.

Ms. Zhang continued, her tone rising, “But…”

Oh, another ‘but.’

“This might just be perfect for a sequel. We publish this and advertise it as a two-part look into him, the first part his model by day, and the second part all about him as an explorer.”

You were caught off-guard, “You want to publish it?”

You had honestly expected her to throw it in the trash and fire you. You’d been so all over the place the entire time you’d been working on the article, you didn’t think it was anywhere close to your best work.

“Of course, this is the most hard-hitting and real piece that’s ever been done about the man! Most of it is tabloid nonsense. Not to mention that this is the first interview he’s done in over a year, it’s fresh content. It’s perfect, Y/N.”

Ms. Zhang just called your article perfect. You were on Cloud Nine, barely listening as she continued.

“Do you think you’ll be able to get a second interview with him? Maybe even tag along on one of his exploring trips or something, like how you went to one of his photoshoots in this one?”

That snapped you back into reality. Going on a trip with Jeno? That sounded dicey. But… also a chance to extend the interview, prolong the inevitable: his expectation that you’ll start dating after the interview. Your worst fear.

Avoiding an uncomfortable scenario and making your career out of it? It was an opportunity you couldn’t pass up.

“Of course, Ms. Zhang.”

Right as you walked into the VIP lounge, you were met with the expectant face of Jeno. You’d agreed to meet him there on your lunch break, right after your morning meeting with Ms. Zhang, to let him know if she was going to move forward with publishing your article or not. It felt a bit weird being at a nightclub in the middle of the day in your work clothes, but it was one of the more private places to meet with him.

“So?” He asked hopefully. “How’d it go?”

“She’s going to publish it,” you breathed out, still in shock yourself.

Two strong arms were suddenly around you, pulling you into a warm chest that was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Oh my god!” Jeno hugged you tightly. “Congrats, Y/N! I’m so proud of you!”

You hugged him back for a moment, enjoying it more than you should have considering you swore up and down that you weren’t going to let yourself date him. Then you remembered the other half of the conversation, your arms going limp.

“And she wants a second part.”

“That’s great!” He exclaimed, then after another moment, it seemed to have dawned on him. “Oh wait.”

And he let go of you, a particular chill coming to your body as he took a step back from you, declaring, “Professionalism. No bias or conflict of interest.”

You felt bad. You felt so bad. And yet you nodded, “Yeah, it’s still going to have to be like that.”

Maybe forever, if you could swing it just right.

“So… a second part about what, exactly? The article was super great, but I’m not sure how I could be interesting enough for a sequel.”

“Your ‘exploring,’” you explained. “I had mentioned it, but never returned to the topic or expanded on it, so she wants this whole second part to be about your trips and you know… all that stuff. Whatever you get up to when you’re not a model, and when you’re not a regular dude here.”

A rather cheeky grin spread across his face at this, and you didn’t want to know why he was so excited about you not dating, because you had a feeling it would be something awful close to it.

“Well then, what better way to get to know Explorer Jeno than coming with me on my trip to a tropical island next week?”

You were taken aback by both the invite but also by the event itself. After all, Jeno had given you his entire schedule for the past two months, which included next week. And you didn’t remember a trip being anywhere on there.

“Since when have you been going to a tropical island next week?” You asked incredulously.

“Since now.”

You sighed, rubbing your face. “Jeno, you can’t drop everything in your life just to do this. I can wait until whenever your next actual scheduled break is for whatever trip you make then.”

“Yeah, but I can’t wait,” he insisted, a near pout across his features. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket, half-mumbling to himself, “I’m calling my manager right now. He owes me vacation days anyway, I’ll just take them early. Make my three-week backpacking trip in Europe next year fifteen days instead. I can’t wait.”

That went straight to your heart, and you felt your chest hurt from the implications of that. He couldn’t wait until he could date you. With every passing moment you felt like a more and more terrible human being. Which you were, you absolutely were just a horrible human being for doing this to him. After all, like you’d said, you were never going to date Lee Jeno.

Right?

One week later and you were in your third airport of the trip, your second layover as you waited for your connecting flight. You’d been in interviewer mode since Jeno had picked you up to head to the first airport that morning. Asking questions, writing answers, asking more questions. There was no room for anything but business on this trip. This article would be the follow-up to your first piece that your boss thought was perfect. So this had to be more perfect than perfect. You wanted to make her proud.

Jeno, surprisingly, was being rather professional too. Other than the slight touch here, an odd phrase there that couldn’t exactly be classified as professional. A brush of your hands as he tried to get your attention, off-handed comment about how cute you were when you were focused taking notes. You’d only remind him that this was a professional article, hoping that he couldn’t see the bashful smile on your lips.

Or even now, he returned from what was supposed to be a quick bathroom break with waters and snacks for the both of you.

“How much do I owe you?” You asked as you accepted the food and drink.

“Nothing.”

You frowned.

“Come on, Y/N,” he sighed in exasperation, cracking open his own water bottle. “I know we’re serious professional interviewing here, but two people doing business together can still be friendly and do nice gestures for each other.”

He was right. He was absolutely right. You were being a jerk for no reason. Well, not for no reason. There was a small voice in your head that hoped that maybe if you pushed him away enough now he would change his mind about wanting to date you, that he’d think you were actually a jerk. And that little voice was apparently wrong. And also a piece of shit. Jeno didn’t deserve that.

“Right, sorry,” you shook your grumpy face off, offering him a smile instead. “Thanks, Jeno.”

He pulled down his face mask to be able to drink the water, and that combined with his inconspicuous baseball cap brought back the idea that he was a famous celebrity who had to cover up his appearance when he went out to avoid being detected. Even in some random foreign country you didn’t know the name of on a layover. If you did actually start dating him, would he have to wear those on your dates? Any time you wanted to spend time together in public? Would you have to start wearing them?

Those were ridiculous thoughts, especially because you were never going to date Lee Jeno.

Right?

On the plane, you halted the interview to allow the two of you to both take naps, already feeling the toll of the heavy travelling you’d done today. And you’d be doing even more soon, as this flight wouldn’t even take you to the island directly, you had to take a ferry from a different island’s airport out to the actual island that was your destination. Then a car ride of some sort from the harbor to wherever you were staying. And based off the clothes Jeno had requested you bring, you’d be getting very in touch with nature on this trip, another exhausting idea.

All for an interview. All for a way to avoid the inevitable.

As you snoozed, not quite asleep yet, you felt Jeno slowly shift in his sleep, his head lolling to the side until it finally found a resting place on your shoulder. Even in his sleep this man completely disregarded professionalism.

But you were too tired to complain, soon falling asleep yourself, with your own head rolling until it finally found a resting place on his.

“So what exactly happened at your last interview that was so bad you were banned from them?”

Your questions continued as soon as you’d left the airport on the island, only halting when you were caught off-guard by Jeno’s choice of transportation: a cream yellow moped. Which you were now on the back of, clinging onto your bag for dear life. Thank God you had packed light like he suggested.

“It’s kind of a long story,” he replied loudly over the wind. “I’ll tell you when we get to the hotel, okay?”

“Fine.”

“We’ve got some tighter turns coming up, you might want to hold on to something actually attached to the moped.”

He didn’t say it, but you knew what he meant. Wrapping your arms around his torso, you then held onto him for dear life as he whipped around the turns. How he could possibly make a moped feel dangerous was truly incredible to you.

“Yeah, that—” he stumbled over a voice crack. “That’s good. Much more secure.”

“This question shouldn’t be a long story: Have you ever driven one of these things before?”

The hotel was small and homey, with so few rooms that the two of you would be sharing one. Jeno had already informed you of that beforehand, having asked for the okay from you, that sharing the room wouldn’t be too unprofessional. While it definitely was, there were no other rooms available, so you were stuck between a rock and a hard place. When he informed you that there were two beds, you finally agreed.

Except it wasn’t two beds, as you found out when you walked in. It was a bed and a pull-out couch. And he’d already claimed the pull-out couch for himself.

“Jeno,” you sighed again as you watched him set his stuff down on the less comfortable option. “This isn’t two beds.”

He shrugged, “We have separate places to sleep, that’s what you were worried about, right?”

Your patience was wearing thin. It was almost annoying how sweet he was. Well, it wasn’t really him being sweet that annoyed you. It was the sneaky ways he liked to do it.

“Jeno…” you repeated his name, trailing off as you waited for him acknowledge you.

He was still messing around with setting up the pull-out couch.

“Jeno, look at me.”

At your request, he immediately did so, the attentiveness catching you off-guard for a moment. But you were determined.

“I don’t like being lied to or tricked. Even if it’s something nice, you know? It’s sweet, but I like to make my own decisions about things. Even things that may seem little to you, like splitting the bill at restaurants, or whether you’re coming up to get me or I’m going down to meet you, or you dropping all your plans to go on some spur-of-the-moment trip, or who’s taking the couch and who’s taking the bed. I’d like a say in the matter, okay?”

He gulped, seeming to really be taking his time to mull over what you were saying. And you did, too. It was another reason that you could never date him. He was a celebrity, he was used to being able to do whatever, to not having to worry about the kinds of things normal people like you had to worry about. The implications of that terrified you. You couldn’t do it.

Finally, he said, “Okay, yeah. I understand. I never really saw it like that, I’m sorry. I should’ve been more thoughtful of how it was making you feel. I’m really sorry, Y/N.”

Shit, this dude was way too fucking sweet.

You nodded, mumbling some kind of response to the genuine apology he’d given you.

Clearly as eager to change the topic as you, Jeno spoke up, “So, what was it that you’d asked me on the moped earlier?”

And you were more than happy to revisit that, snatching up your notebook from your bag and sitting on the bed, “What happened at your last interview that caused you to be banned from them?”

“Oh, right,” he physically grimaced at this, rubbing his face with his hands for a moment. “It’s a long story, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I’ve got plenty of paper.”

Jeno let out a sigh, sitting on the pull-out couch. “No, Y/N. I can tell you, but you can’t write it down, you can’t publish it. I’m sorry to have to ask you this, because I know how dedicated you are to the integrity of your work but… if you’re going to publish it, I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. The others don’t even know the whole story. Jaemin doesn’t know.”

His words struck you differently, hearing the genuine defeat and distress in his voice. With a twinging heart, you tucked your notepad and pencil back into your bag. For someone who had been preaching about professionalism and keeping the integrity of your article, you were really so ready to throw it out for him as soon as he asked, weren’t you?

“I won’t write it down, I won’t tell a soul,” you reassured him, wanting nothing more than to sit down next to him and hold his hand and tell him that everything was okay. But you still clung onto some little semblance of professionalism here. For some fucking reason, when it was getting clearer by the minute that all your resistance would be futile.

Just a glimmer of a smile was across his lips for a moment at your actions before it was taken over by the same pensive face as before, and he started the story.

“It was… oh probably over a year ago now. I was still kind of new to the modelling industry, but it felt like everyone’s eyes were on me. My company toted me around as their rising star and every second I wasn’t at a gig, I was being interviewed by someone. It was a lot, but it was freaking awesome.”

The brightness in his features that had been there as he recalled the earlier days of his career suddenly turned dark at his next words. “Until this one interview. It was for a smaller magazine, and my manager didn’t even know why I wanted to do the interview. But it was a magazine that my mom liked to read, and I wanted her to be able to see her son in it. So I sat down with the interviewer, and it felt like it was going like all my other interviews had gone. And maybe because I wanted to really make a good impression on her, so the article my mom read would be as positive as possible, I accidentally led her on or something like that.”

You tilted your head curiously at this last statement. If it had come from any other hot guy, you might have doubted his actual intentions, but it was Jeno. You knew that he wasn’t only physically attractive but had such a way of being naturally charming and making people feel at ease that it was impossible not to be drawn in by his attractive personality. He didn’t do it on purpose, he was just a genuinely nice guy.

“But afterwards, she asked for my number. I said no. I let her down as easy as I could, and she took it with grace. Or I had thought so until Manager Han and the CEO of my company—who I had never met until this—sat me down in his office and showed me a naked picture of some guy and asked if it was me. You couldn’t see his face, and his build was similar to mine, so I could see how they were doubtful. It wasn’t me, but that didn’t matter. The interviewer had sent those pictures to my company saying that if they didn’t pay her a bunch of money, she would post them online saying they were of me.”

Your eyes widened almost comically at this. You couldn’t believe that someone could actually think of doing something like that, especially to Jeno.

“Now, the company doesn’t take very well to people trying to extort them or threaten their people, so she was taken care of.” After a pause, his eyes shot open comically wide as he shook his head fervently, “Legally, in the legal system, it’s not like my company like killed her or anything, I phrased that very badly.”

A quiet laugh came from your mouth at his backpedaling.

“Anyway, they decided that after that, it would be best for me to not do interviews for a while. I don’t really know what happened to her after the court case, but to my knowledge, she hasn’t bothered us. And I haven’t had an interview since. Until you.”

“Until me,” you echoed, mind reeling from this story.

This interview really meant more to Jeno than you had realized before. You’d incorrectly and selfishly assumed that he was so invested in it just because he liked you. But it was more than that. His last interview had been a disaster, the interviewer threatened to humiliate him publicly, and betrayed him. He had taken a chance on you to be different than that, taken a chance to make you his first interview back after the shit the last one had put him through. You were sure that he was feeling the pressure from his company to make it the best possible return to them ever. And he had entrusted it all with you.

You weren’t sure of how long you’d been sitting in silence for, but it started suffocating you, so you finally choked out, “I’m sorry she did that to you. She’s… a bitch.”

Jeno chuckled, “I guess. I kind of just feel bad for her.”

“I don’t,” you snorted, feeling your blood starting to boil as you thought about it even more. “She tried to ruin your career and reputation because she got rejected. It’s not your fault, Jeno. You didn’t do anything to deserve that. She’s just a bitch.”

While he didn’t outright agree with you, the faint smile on his features was still apparent as he went to stand up, forcing some pep into his tone. “Okay, time for some island exploring. After all, you’re here for Explorer Jeno, right?”

“Right!”

Right?

Being on the island was refreshing. Not only because you’d never been on a trip to a place quite like it before, but just everything felt absolutely perfect. It was the perfect temperature outside, the warm sun being balanced out by a cool breeze that blew through your hair, the water surrounding you was the perfect clear blue, the flora the perfect rich green, and the man with you was… perfect.

You’d given up on trying to keep your fond thoughts of Jeno at bay. He was wonderful, that was undeniable. And as you went around the island together, his baseball cap and face mask left behind in the hotel room, the notion of his fame slipped from your mind. Sure, you were still writing down your observations, small adventures, and pertinent questions you asked him. But you weren’t interviewing Famous Supermodel Jeno right now, you were interviewing Explorer Jeno. And he was someone you could let yourself fall for, even for just a few days on this little island.

After your third day on the island as you signed onto the hotel wifi to transcribe your notes from your notebook to your word document on your laptop, a few email notifications popped up, catching your attention. Reception wasn’t the best, and you had so many other things occupying your focus and time—mainly Jeno—that you rarely checked your phone. Not to mention that before you’d left, you were unsure of if you’d even have cell phone service on the island, so you’d told your friends to email you if they needed anything.

One was an email from NingNing, the short preview of her message that you could see making you shake your head. You were not on a romantic getaway with Jeno.

The next was some flyer from a store advertising their latest sale, which you quickly discarded in favor of opening the one from Ms. Zhang. The person who was literally paying for you to be there right then.

The gist of her email was basically just asking for a status update, a routine check-in to see how your research and interview was coming along. You filled her in on what kind of direction and outline you were thinking of for the article, telling her some of the things you’d done together around the island, framing it as professionally as you could. However, it was very hard to make it business-like, you realized in slight defeat as you reread the email draft to yourself. Maybe you could make it casual-business-friendly-sounding instead. After editing a couple phrases here and there, you read it one more time. Satisfied that you’d made it sound the least like a ‘romantic getaway’ as possible, you hit send.

You had just sent it when Jeno emerged from the bathroom, fully clothed and toweling off his wet hair.

When the two of you had gotten back from wandering the streets and seeing the nightlife of the town, you’d given him first shower of the night, wanting to sort out your notes as soon as possible. You had a lot to move over just from that night alone, especially the moment when Jeno was ordering something from an older street vendor and had suddenly busted out some local dialect he’d picked up from God knows where. And the man knew what he was saying too. Jeno never ceased to amaze you.

“Jeno,” you called his name out from where you sat cross-legged on the bed, laptop with the email still up in front of you.

“Hm?” He hummed in acknowledgement, abandoning his towel in order to run his fingers through his damp hair.

“The way the guys had described your exploring, and the stuff you’d told me to bring made me think it’d be more… rugged than this.”

A handsome, crooked grin split his lips, seeming very delighted at your observation, “And what did the guys tell you?”

“Jaemin and Renjun seemed fearful for my life and told me to be safe; Haechan and Chenle were rather ecstatic and told me to have fun in a tone that made me not want to know their implications; Mark told me to bring plenty of water and a first aid kit; and Jisung… well he didn’t actually say anything but his face said it all.”

“You talked to all the guys about the trip?”

“Not by choice, NingNing brought me to an influencer party with Jisung, Jaemin, and Renjun the other day, and I was summoned to the lounge by Chenle and subsequently ambushed by him, Haechan, and Mark about it.”

“They’re all menaces,” Jeno shook his head fondly. “But don’t worry, I’ve got some plans for us tomorrow.”

“That sounds ominous.”

He giggled.

“So we’re hiking to the top of this volcano?” You summarized what Jeno had just told you, in much fewer words.

“Yep!”

“Then camping near the top, which we may or may not be allowed to do.”

“Yep!”

“Without a guide.”

“I’m your guide, Y/N! I do this kind of stuff all the time, and there’s a trail to follow anyway.”

“Now I know why Jaemin and Renjun feared for my life.”

“They were being dramatic, it’ll be fine.”

“Oh I’m not protesting going, I’ll just make sure to type up my will in the notes app in my phone first.”

“Now you’re being dramatic.”

You laughed, putting your hands up in surrender, “Alright, alright. I won’t write my final will and testament right now.”

“Let’s go!”

Thankfully, you’d taken heed of Mark’s advice to bring extra water. With the amount you were sweating, you would’ve been dehydrated less than an hour in if you weren’t constantly replenishing the lost fluids. It wasn’t an incredibly strenuous or difficult hike. Not a casual stroll, but you were managing. It was just that it was so hot and humid now that you were in the more confined landscape of the trees, you couldn’t tell if more of the moisture was your own sweat or the water hanging in the air and clinging to your skin as you continued through it.

Jeno kept you plenty entertained with stories of his previous (mis)adventures, almost all of which were solo. There were a couple times that he brought along others, but they didn’t go great. One unfortunate happenstance was when he’d dragged Eunseok out white water rafting with him and the poor guy fell out of the raft into freezing cold water. According to Jeno, his PA almost quit right on the spot. Another time, the other VIP lounge members had joined him as a celebration trip after Renjun hit 10 million subscribers. They ran out of water on the second day, Chenle ended up spraining his ankle, and they were ready to commit mutiny before the 48-hour mark, so the trip was concluded early.

“Jeno, it sounds like the people who go exploring with you don’t have a great track record of enjoying themselves,” you pointed out, taking another swig of water.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Y/N?” He countered.

Looking around, you could just make out a peek of blue ocean through the trees, and looking ahead of you, the two of you were more than halfway to the top.

“Yeah, I am. So far. There’s still time for me to sprain my ankle or fall into a freezing river.”

He shook his head affectionately at your teasing, “Careful, you’re going to jinx yourself.”

“Old hiking superstition? If you talk about spraining your ankle you will?”

“No, but still. My own little superstition, I guess.”

“Got it. Then I’ll un-jinx myself: I will not sprain my ankle or fall into a freezing river on this trip,” you announced loudly to the surrounding forest, earning another fond smile from Jeno accompanied by a soft chuckle.

“There you go.”

“Another five minutes or so and we’ll be at the peak!” Jeno yelled back over his shoulder to you excitedly.

You were a few steps behind him, your legs had been complaining for the greater part of the last thirty minutes. But with this information, you felt reinvigorated, having the end so close bringing a new spark of energy to your tired limbs. You caught up to him, sharing the trail at the wider parts and staying just behind him at the narrower parts.

Finally, you were at the top. And you knew because the trees opened up to a clearing, the leaves and branches giving way to the most incredible sights you could’ve imagined.

“Wow,” you breathed out, turning to get the full view.

From here you could see the whole little town below you, other nearby islands, the forest you had just hiked through, and the vast, glistening blue sea surrounding you. The sun bounced off of the water at the perfect angle to make it look like it was made of diamonds. It was breathtaking. Not to mention that now that you were out of the humid forest, you could once again feel the cool breeze across your heated skin.

A pod of dolphins surfaced briefly, their fins dipping up and down between the calm waves.

“Jeno, dolphins!” You pointed them out to him eagerly, instinctually clutching his arm in excitement. “Did you know that dolphins in the Amazon River are pink because of repeated skin abrasion, and that the males are pinker because they have a lot more interspecies aggression?”

“I think my guide told me something like that, but I was too focused on getting my paddle back from one to really listen to him.”

You turned to him with wide eyes. “You’ve seen them?”

“Yeah, I went to the Amazon last summer. I had to wrestle my paddle back from a rather playful one,” he shrugged, as if it was just a casual little day trip or something. “So you really like dolphins?”

“I did a report for school when I was like 11, some of the info just stuck.”

As you kept watching the dolphins, a smaller one popped up in the middle of the pod. “Oh! A baby! It’s so cute!”

“Yeah, she is,” he agreed with you.

You furrowed your brows in confusion. “You can’t tell it’s a girl from here!”

Then you looked over at him, realizing that his focus wasn’t on the dolphins, but on you. Mumbling something about professionalism, you let go of his arm, clasping your hands in front of you as you awkwardly looked back out to the sea.

With a victorious smirk on his face—probably enjoying the fact that he was able to fluster you—Jeno took a few steps away from you, yanking his knapsack off his back and grabbing a blanket from it, “Time for a late lunch.”

He laid the blanket out on a flatter part of the terrain, then brought out a small assortment of foods. You sat down with him, eager to dig into the food. With how much your legs hurt from hiking up here, you hadn’t realized that you were starving until he mentioned lunch. Your stomach growled angrily, and you just hoped it wasn’t loud enough for him to hear.

Jeno had packed a very nice lunch for you to share. For the most part, you two were quiet, mouths full of food and eyes still drinking in the stunning view of where you were. You turned your phone on to snap a few pictures before shutting it off again. With no charging ports out here, you had to conserve the battery until you were back in the hotel.

“Do you know which island that is?” You asked Jeno, pointing to the one that seemed the closest to you.

“Nope.”

“That one?” You pointed to a different one.

“Nope.”

“This one?” You teasingly pointed at the ground you were sitting on.

Jeno raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

Right as you had opened your mouth to say something smartassy back, you pursed your lips in defeat. “Uh, nope.”

He chuckled, capping his water and starting to put the trash and leftover food back into his bag. You followed his lead, standing when he did so he could pack the blanket back up too. Stretching, a few satisfying cracks came from your back, letting go of the tension that had built up from your sitting position that probably wasn’t great for your spine.

“We should head down to the campsite soon,” Jeno informed you quietly as you had gone back to watching the ocean.

He’d told you while you were still at the base that you wouldn’t be camping at the peak, but at another area a little further down the mountain that was a lot safer for sleeping on. You wished you could’ve stayed up here for the rest of your life.

“Can’t we stay and watch the sunset?” Your voice was nearly a soft whine as you resisted leaving so soon. “It’s got to be incredible from up here.”

“I’m sure it is,” he sounded very reluctant to be telling you this. “But we have to set up camp before it gets too dark.”

“A couple more minutes?”

“Yeah, of course.”

After being rather useless in helping Jeno set up your campsite—not for any chivalrous reasons on his part, you were truly just inept at things and did more harm than good when you tried to help—you sat outside the tent with him. The two of you were going to be sharing a tent, which he had asked earlier if that would be okay. You told him it was fine with you.

The blanket previously used for lunch earlier was under the two of you as you sat just outside the tent. The site Jeno had chosen as your campsite was in a rare area where the foliage wasn’t too thick, and you could just make out some of the ocean as the sun set. It wasn’t the picture-perfect sunset you imagined could be seen from the peak, but it was still pretty.

You continued with your interview questions as you looked out towards the water, scrawling down his answers in the fading light. You couldn’t quite see what you were writing, hoping you didn’t just make a bunch of illegible scribbles instead of notes. He spoke again of his trip to the Amazon, saying how he’d like to go back again sometime, and maybe have a better look at the pink river dolphins. The way he said it fostered some implications, a thought in your mid that maybe you could go with him if he did go back. That was a nice thought. And impractical one, but it gave you warm fuzzies nonetheless.

“So, why do you think you like exploring so much?” You asked him after hearing so many stories of all the destinations he’d gone to.

“Who doesn’t like to travel?”

“What you do… it’s not just travelling, it’s not just a vacation. You’re not booked up in five stars hotels in city centers or doing every tacky tourist thing out there. You get at the heart of where you are, you explore it, you don’t just visit it. Why is that?”

“That’s a rather deep question,” he let out a light chuckle, shifting to face you as he closed his eyes, taking a moment to think. “I guess… like you said, I try to get at the heart of the place, not the surface-level stuff everyone else sees. I’ve always had a sort of wanderlust in me. When I was about twelve, I damn near gave my mom a heart attack because I got on a train and wanted to see where it went and ended up fifty miles from home. And now, I don’t know, I guess the stuff everybody else does doesn’t really interest me… the picture that’s painted to tourists of a place isn’t what it actually is, and I want to find out what is. If that makes sense. Did that make sense?”

You swallowed hard, nodding fervently. “Yeah, it did. I completely understand, yeah.”

That’s how he saw the world, and it was beautiful. And maybe you could see it like him; maybe you could look past the picture that’s painted and what everyone else sees to get at the heart.

Up this high, cold started setting in some time long after the sun had finished setting and darkness was all around you, save for the soft glow of the lantern Jeno had going. The temperature wouldn’t drop terribly, but it was cooler than it was during the day, encouraging you to tuck your chilly fingers into the inside of your knees for some warmth.

“I’m sorry,” Jeno frowned, standing up and stepping over to the tent. “I forgot to tell you to bring a jacket, didn’t I?”

“I’m alright, Jeno,” you assured him, but his arm popped back out of the tent holding a couple pieces of clothing.

It was two sweaters, one he offered out to you, the other presumably for himself. You didn’t refuse, which maybe you really should have for professionalism’s sake. Slipping the hoodie over your head then sticking your arms in, you were immediately swallowed up by it. Sure, Jeno was pretty buff, but you were sure this would be oversized even on him.

You didn’t even have to try to pull the sleeves over your hands, sweater paws already there as soon as you’d put it on. Which wasn’t ideal if you wanted to keep writing stuff down for the article.

“I would’ve told you that I’m a human space heater, but I figured this was a little more professional,” he said, heavy implications there.

Butterflies fluttered around in your stomach as you took it upon yourself to scoot closer to him until your legs and sides were touching, “This is still professional, just two professionals huddling together for warmth.”

“Yeah.”

You were trying to convince yourself more than you were him, knowing that you couldn’t really fool yourself on this one. But damn, you could pretend you did.

It was pretty soon after he’d gotten sweaters for the two of you that Jeno interjected into your conversation, “So when is the article technically over? When you’re done writing it? When your boss okays it? When it’s compiled with the other articles in that issue of the journal? When the copies hit the shelves and its uploaded to the website?”

You let out a shallow breath, knowing what he was really asking. When can the two of you date?

The part of you that was saying ‘never!’ was getting smaller and smaller, and the part of you who just wanted it to be right now was growing bigger and bigger. And yet, for some reason, you were still listening to the little one.

“I don’t know, probably when it’s officially published. You know, when ‘the copies hit the shelves and it’s uploaded to the website.’”

“When do you think that will be?”

“The first one is being published in this month’s issue. So, depending on how fast I get this one written up and proofed, at the earliest next month.”

“And the latest?”

“A couple months. I’m not sure how long Ms. Zhang will want between the two, if she wants to leave the audience in suspense for longer or give them the next part as soon as possible. Probably the first one, if I’m being honest.”

“Oh,” Jeno’s pout that you could see illuminated from the lantern was suddenly split into a wide yawn. “We should go to sleep, we’ve got the climb back down tomorrow.”

You were glad that he had brought it up first. After all, you were pretty tired, but you weren’t about to be the one to end the nice time you were having. Nodding, you stood, taking the lantern in your hand as Jeno folded the blanket back up.

Ducking into the tent, you immediately plopped down onto your sleeping bag, giving Jeno as much room as possible to maneuver his limbs around as he zipped the tent up behind him and set his stuff down in the corner. You put the lantern down at your feet, keeping the area illuminated as you climbed into your sleeping bag and started settling in for the night.

With the covers pulled up to your shoulders and Jeno’s hoodie bunching around your face in a comfortably warm way, you were pretty content to fall asleep then and there. But the light was still on.

Groaning, you looked down towards your feet, glaring at the lantern you knew you’d have to get un-comfy to turn off. Jeno had a small smile on his face as he sat up, “I’ll get it. You ready to turn it off?”

You nodded, your ‘yes’ muffled by the hoodie.

The last thing you saw before complete darkness was Jeno’s soft grin. That was a rather nice image to have in your mind as you drifted off to sleep.

Eyes fluttering awake, the first thing you were aware of was that you were warm. Very warm. Way too warm. One might say that you were currently in a pool of your own sweat. You’d have to wash this hoodie before giving it back to Jeno, it was definitely disgusting.

Speaking of Jeno, he wasn’t in the tent with you, which you noticed as you peeled the somewhat damp sweater off yourself. You took the opportunity to apply some more deodorant and change your short sleeve shirt before shoving your feet back into your shoes. You headed out of the tent, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes as you did so.

The very last traces of the sunrise were still in the sky from the little that you could see, but it was definitely morning. Looking around, you spotted Jeno standing a little further away from the tent, holding his hand out towards a lower-hanging branch. You wouldn’t have quite been able to reach it yourself, but he could. Perched atop the branch was a bright blue bird, eating right out of his hand. Your eyes widened just a little at this, though you were too tired to be terribly surprised.

Watching him feed the bird for a little longer, you felt your chest swell. His hair was messy, not having fixed his bedhead yet; a peaceful hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth; his big, round, eyes watched the bird eat with a certain simple happiness that for some reason had tears threatening to well up in your own.

You opened your mouth to call out to him, but instead a hoarse croak came out, one that made the bird take off in a flurry of blue feathers and fear. Jeno’s head whipped around to look at the source of the noise, you, and a bright grin came to his features.

“Morning, Y/N,” his voice was even deeper from sleep as he greeted you. He didn’t even seem mad that you’d scared off the bird.

As he approached you, the swell in your chest continued to the point where it hurt, and your vision started going blurry from the tears building up. Jeno’s expression changed to one of concern as he seemed to notice your moist eyes the closer that he got.

“Wh—”

You’d finally gone insane, you’d decided. Absolutely bonkers, completely crazy. After all, how else would you explain the fact that you were now kissing Jeno?

With your hands gripping at his shirt to bring his mouth down to yours, you kissed him like you’d been sick for your whole life and his lips were the cure. All the voices in your head finally shut up, your chest decompressed, and a single tear ran down your face.

He immediately kissed you back, but his hands seemed unsure of what to do, gingerly resting on your arms, featherlight as they hovered there. As if he was afraid that he’d break you, despite the force with which you had crashed your mouth to his.

When you let yourself come back down—and also breathe—you loosened your grip on Jeno’s shirt, releasing him from the slightly hunched position he had been in. Slowly, you brought one of your hands down to wipe away the lone tear.

Jeno was looking at you with a tilted head. “Well, that wasn’t very professional.”

A strangled chuckle escaped your mouth as you fiddled with the hem of your shirt, “Yeah, sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize,” he said softly, a gentle hand coming to cup your cheek, urging you to look back up at him. And when you did, he lightly brushed his lips against yours. A tender ghost of a kiss, one that didn’t last long as Jeno ended it almost as soon as he’d started it.

Opening your eyes, you saw a nearly silly grin spread across his face, precious giggles bubbling up. His smile was contagious, one gracing your mouth as well.

“Is this going to ruin the integrity of your article?” He asked, still smiling down at you. “If you want this to be a thing, of course.”

“I do, I do,” you nodded fervently, a great weight lifted off your soul now that you let yourself admit that. “I’ll tell Ms. Zhang and see what she wants to do about the articles. Until then, we’ve got to lay low.”

“Movie nights,” he immediately surmised.

Quite liking the idea, you agreed, “Yeah, movie nights.”

The doors opened to the VIP lounge, where you had agreed to meet Jeno after your meeting with your boss. It was almost two weeks after you’d returned from what NingNing was now definitely referring to as your ‘romantic getaway,’ which you couldn’t argue. Most of those two weeks was spent by you finalizing your second article, not wanting to tell Ms. Zhang about how that trip had really gone until after you had work to show for it.

Jeno was waiting for you, already standing up and pacing the small room nervously. He seemed more worried about this than you were, despite it really being your career on the line and not his.

You made a beeline to wrap your arms around his torso, burying your face in his chest, and he immediately reciprocated it, holding you closely and pecking the crown of your head.

“Hey, how’d it go?” His gentle tone of voice betrayed his assumptions that it was bad.

Bringing your face out of his chest in order to look up at him, you squealed, “She’s still going to publish them!”

“Ah!” He cried out, tightening his grip on you until it was practically bone-crushing. “I knew it! I knew you were just so good she would have to publish your articles.”

You elaborated, practically buzzing with excitement, “Because I kept out the uh, more private details of the trip and focused on you and the trip itself, she says that it ties up the loose end from the first one nicely. Although, she did recommend not going public until after the second article was out.”

“But you won’t get fired if we don’t abide by that recommendation, right?”

“No, I won’t,” you reassured him, happiness fluttering in your chest as he pecked your forehead.

“I’m so proud of you, Y/N.”

“Mhm,” you hummed, letting him peck your lips too before you spoke up. “I do think she’s right, though, we should wait a while to go out in public as a couple.”

Jeno clearly didn’t like that idea, sighing in reply, “Why?”

“It’s been less than a month, what if you decide you don’t like me?”

It was meant to be a joke, but he took it seriously, kissing your forehead, then your nose, then finally your mouth, “Impossible.”

After a moment, he relented, “Alright. I waited two months, another one or so shouldn’t be that bad.”

“Actually, she’s publishing the second article in a special edition that’ll come out two weeks after the first, not a month.”

“I can wait three weeks.”

And wait three weeks he did. Three weeks exactly. Twenty-one days after your conversation in the VIP lounge, two days after your second article hit the shelves, Jeno picked you up for your first public date. This time, you let him come up and get you—your roommate wasn’t home to bother you—and he left his hat and face mask at home.

“Hi Jeno,” you greeted him as you opened the door.

“Hi, baby,” he replied, wasting no time in lacing your fingers together as you walked to the elevator.

As soon as you stepped foot out of your apartment building, whatever resolve he had broke down, and he smooched your cheek loudly. You giggled at the gesture, squeezing his hand to let him know that you were okay with it. After all, you’d made the poor guy wait longer than he should have, some PDA was in order.

The date was at a small café a few blocks over, within walking distance. Which you were sure Jeno appreciated, having a longer time to be out in public with you, never once letting go of your hand or without physical contact with you. He had to let everybody know that you were dating, and you didn’t mind. You liked that he was so ecstatic to be dating you.

At the café, you ordered up at a front counter, and the cashier asked, “Together or separate?”

“Together!” Jeno replied brightly, wrapping an arm around your shoulders.

You leaned over to murmur to him, “She means, are we paying together or separate?”

“Together!” He repeated.

Squinting up at him for a moment, you didn’t argue it, letting him take the check for both of you. Although you did take a few crumpled bills out of your wallet to drop into the tip jar. After getting your food, you eagerly dug in, a light and amicable conversation had between bites.

“So you really waited exactly three weeks, huh?” You teased him.

“The second article came out two days ago, I think that’s plenty of time for everyone to read it,” he defended himself.

“It took you five days to read it.”

He seemed about ready to quip something back when a muffled chorus of squeals cut him off. You took a brief glance around, eyes landing on a group of teenage girls standing just outside the window that you were seated by. They weren’t uncomfortably close, but it was clear what had made them so excited.

Jeno ducked his head shyly as he raised a hand to acknowledge them, only setting their nervous titters off again. This situation was eerily familiar, déjà vu washing over you.

But this time, you were kind of glad that he had left his mask and hat at home, and that he’d chosen a table by the window.

Because your heart soared as you were once again reminded of who exactly the man in front of you was. Not just a model who was known internationally, with fans who would recognize him out and about, with a career and life that was under the public gaze constantly, but also a cute, sweet, funny guy named Lee Jeno.

You could do that. You could subject yourself to that. It would be fine as long as you had Jeno with you.

With the girls still watching the two of you, you reached a hand out across the table towards him. Thankfully, he took your lead, picking it up before pressing a few tender kisses to your fingers. Hopefully the girls got the message that this was romantic and private, and nothing else.

A dating rumor with Lee Jeno was absolutely the one thing you needed in your life. Lee Jeno was absolutely the one thing you needed in your life.

“Jeno?” You called for his attention, ignoring the gaggle of fans outside the window.

“Yes?” He focused on you, squeezing your hand.

“I have a question…”

“I thought the interview was over,” he pouted teasingly.

“It is, I swear.” You lifted your linked hands pointedly. “I just… There’s something that’s kind of been nagging at me, about the interview.”

“Ask away.”

“Why me? Like, I remember at our first interview session, you thought I was just going to ask you all the normal stuff about celebrity crushes and stuff.”

“You remember what I said, about my parents’ shop? How I used to help out there?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“When NingNing brought you to the lounge, and you said that thing about you being a normal person, and me being a supermodel, and how you weren’t comfortable around me because of that, it really hit me. I-I really hated that.”

“Jeno, I’m sorry—”

“No, it’s not your fault,” he insisted. “It’s nobody’s fault, that’s just how it is, how our culture is, or whatever. But I hated that you felt like that around me. Because I didn’t use to be like that. I used to be a normal person, too. And I just thought that if you and I had met a few years ago, when I was working in my parents’ shop or something, I could’ve talked to you like a normal guy, and I would’ve been able to put you at ease and flirt with you like a normal person. Instead of having to do it in the most roundabout way like I did this time.”

You grinned. “Oh, I don’t know, you would’ve still been a stupidly attractive register boy, Jeno. I might’ve been a bit tongue-tied if we had met back then, too.”

“I guess we’ll never know, will we?”

“I guess not,” you clicked your tongue. “Though that would’ve been an even better meet-cute than me saying you looked like a dog.”

“Oh, so we’re not telling that story to our kids?”

“Kids?!” You sputtered out. “When did kids enter the equation here, Lee Jeno?”

“What? Who said that?” He blinked at you innocently.

“At least say the L-word first, jeez.”

“I love you.”

“Christ, I was joking!”

“I wasn’t!”

You shook your head, unable to fight off the smitten grin on your lips. “I love you too, Jeno. You crazy son of a bitch.”

⤷ blog masterlist

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yourstrulynix · 11 months

Text

max, when was this? || ln4

social media!au | lando norris x actress!reader

synopsis; lando falls for someone who the internet considers way out of his league face claim; cindy kimberly

euphoria

liked by mygirly/n, ruepoo, madsbadbitch, euphoria4days and 1,344,234 others

tagged: yourusername

euphoria which rory look has been your favourite so far?

view all 4,588 comments

euphoriaconfessions i thought season one rory gave looks but this girl slayedddddd this season

y/nqueenie the first photo should be the cover photo for season 2 ep 1 because damn my queen is looking fire 🔥🖤

zendayaacc.96 I'm obsessed with her carnival look in the second pic from season 1 - i need to know where to get that top !!!

euphoria fun fact, most of the little bits like jewellery, tights and most of her shoes y/n actually owns and used them to help create rory's outfits

f1y/nforlife everyone is a y/n fan. even if they say they're not, they are a y/n fan ❤️

yourbestfriend

liked by yourusername, maxfewtrell, nancydaisy, mclaren and 18,321 others

tagged; mclaren, landonorris, yourusername

yourbestfriend special shoutout to mclaren for having our clueless asses

view all 987 comments

mclaren always welcome but please educate yourselves for next time 😋

yourusername i see how it is...i wonder if ferrari would be more welcoming

landonorris how dare you mention the enemy?

yourusername just saying it how it is 💅🏽

f1girlie21 I'm sorry but what is this interaction?????

yourusername i love you boo but you're the clueless one

yourusername

liked by zendaya, dominicfike, landonorris, billieilish and 4,629,288 others

location: milan

yourusername its fw in milan...

...and i'm wearing orange for the foreseeable future 🍊

view all 1,349,537 comments

fwupdates you looked stunning for the prada show!

zendaya my girl is 🔥

yourusername says the sexiest woman around

y/ngirlie21 why the hype around orange?

spinningy/n i wonder if it's a hint towards her rumoured collab with prada?

euphoriastyles ugh i hope they drop something soon - our girl's style is just fabbbb

landonorris

liked by yourbestfriend, max_fewtrell, neymarjr, george_russel and 745,382 others

landonorris miami

view all 942 comments

j_corden you're an absolute gentlemen! well done with the race

carlandocontent who's the girl in the third photo??

danielricciardo wow...i rocked that look

alex_albon how very george of you both

team_quadrant

liked by riabish, luv4lando, mclaren, yourbestfriend and 88,321,101 others

team_quadrant QUADRANT LIVEFAST PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS

28.06.22

20:00 BST

view all 723 comments

papayalove a y/n & quadrant collab! why weren't we warned????

myqueeny/n wtf i thought our girl was collabing with prada not some shitty twitch group?

roryeuphoriabuzz honestly, she is too fabulous for this

landonorris and yourusername

liked by carlossainz55, yourusername, lewishamilton, tomholland and 1,472,273 others

landonorris more photos of the LIVEFAST* by team_quadrant which is out now. this was a fun shoot 😏.

view all 5,408 comments

max_fewtrell don't think i've ever seen you so attentive during any of our other shoots...

landonorris bugger off

yourusername this was fun 😚

mclarenboys anyone else getting hot 🥵😧

f1papaya the sexual tension coming off this post is ridiculous

y/nseuphoria ok seriously who is this guy???

Twitter

max_fewtrell

liked by riabish, ten_quadrant, olivernorris1, teamfewtrell and 45,138 others

max_fewtrell spent june with some great people 🇬🇧☀️

view all 250 comments

theofficialfng i'm taking this personally mate

_aarava we see how it is

landonorris cutie

max_fewtrell dude...

theofficialfng dude.....

landonorris not you, idiot.

teamln4girl max, when was this? 🫢

fewtrellnorrisbabe not max soft launching lando's relationship

f1groupie I'm surprised neither of them let it slip sooner

side note; another part to come x

#lando norris x reader #lando norris imagine #lando norris #lando norris social media au #f1 social media au #f1 instagram au #f1 imagine #f1 fanfic #f1 #mclaren f1 #lando norris fanfic #lando norris x you #lando norris drabble #lando norris x y/n #formula 1 imagine #formula one

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f1byjessie · 3 months

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A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS ━━ LN4.

sometimes the right words are hard to come across, and sometimes everything you need to say can be captured in an image.

( lando norris x photographer!reader )

━━ part two.

Friday evenings are typically spent in the comfort of your flat. Normally, you’re half paying attention to reruns of whatever shitty reality TV happens to be on and half scrolling through social media to keep up with the ever-fluctuating trends of content as per your job requirements, all the while eating your body’s weight in takeaway. It’s not the dream, but it’s certainly a dream.

Tonight, you plan on amending things to include going through the pictures of Bali’s stunning beaches that Lando’s been spamming you with throughout the day, but beyond that, you have no intentions of deviating further from your norm.

You’re actually really looking forward to it. Though you’d rather cut off your own hand than admit it to his face and give him new ammunitions to tease you with, you miss Lando during the winter breaks. So much of your year is spent having him nearby━ a near-constant presence buzzing with the inability to slow down let alone stop━ and when he isn’t around, the silence seems louder. There’s no one else who manages to annoy you the way he does, and it’s just not the same without him.

To make matters worse, between your new job, Lando’s travels, and the scheduling conflicts that have arisen in turn, you haven’t had a chance to catch up with him beyond a few back-and-forth messages about his current escapades. So you really, genuinely, truly are looking forward to it.

Garrett Ward throws a wrench into things.

You have mixed opinions of Garrett. He can be very sweet, and he’s gone out of his way to make you feel incredibly welcome in your first week with the Manchester City team. He makes good conversation and seems genuinely interested in what it is you’re doing, often asking questions about your equipment and process, which is a nice change of pace from most other clients you’ve worked with in the past who rarely give two shits about anything beyond the final product. But his reputation is… concerning.

Garrett Ward is infamous in English tabloids for being a notorious womanizer.

There are several articles that come to mind, but the most damning of which is from 2019, before his trade to Manchester City, detailing with very incriminating photos how he’d been seen entering a club with two women and then leaving just a few hours later with a completely different pair. You don’t want to assume he’s the same man now as he was back then, nearly a full five years ago, but you’ve been working in the sports industry long enough to know that athletes can have anyone and if they want then they will have anyone━ there is no shortage of temptation.

And you are not arrogant enough to assume you would be the outlier.

Which makes his interest in you feel less like friendly curiosity and more like something you need to be wary of.

It’s also why━ as you make the trek through the Etihad Campus car park━ you feel dread begin to pool in your stomach as you answer your ringing phone. “Hi, Garrett.”

“Y/N!” He exclaims excitedly, sounding like he hadn’t just seen you barely ten minutes ago in the weight room. “I meant to catch you before you left, but you were outta there so fast I wasn’t able to.”

And there’s probably a reason for that, you want to say, but you hold your tongue. “Yeah, I usually try to be pretty quick about it.”

There’s an awkward pause left open as if he expects you to say more, and when you don’t he clears his throat. “Erm, well, I was actually just calling to see if, perhaps, you would like to grab dinner with me this evening.”

You don’t. At all. It’s one of the last things you would like to do. There are plenty of other hellish things you would willingly rather subject yourself to before sitting down and sharing a private meal with this man━ jumping into the Thames is one of them, and letting Lando drive you around on the autobahn in his Spider is another. Both could very easily result in death, permanent disfigurement, or any other number of horrible outcomes, but neither includes Garrett.

Your hesitating silence must be an answer enough for him, because he chuckles again and adds on quickly, “No strings attached, I promise. It’ll just be two friends getting dinner.”

All you want to do is get cozy on your couch in your pajamas with a kebab from the place down the street and watch pretty people deal with their pretty people problems on TV. You don’t think that’s too much to ask for, but apparently, some higher power does.

“I suppose that’d be alright then,” you agree tentatively, speeding through the stages of grief as you mourn the initial plans of your Friday evening━ the easy, simple, comfortable plans. “Shoot me a message with the time and place and I’ll meet you there.”

“Awesome!” Garrett cheers. “See you later then.”

The peaceful silence that awaits you after you hang up feels like it’s mocking you. Too bad you can’t flip off silence.

“Look, the truth is, City is looking at trading me at the end of the season if I can’t clean my act up.” Garrett’s voice is quiet as he admits the reality of his future to you, but it breaks the silence of the world around you like a gunshot. “And not just loaning me out━” he adds, a twinge of something akin to anger noting his tone, “━but fully trading me. They’re saying that my image makes things too hard for them and the only way they’ll consider re-signing me is if I can either keep my name out of the tabloids or try to clean myself up.”

In Garrett’s defense, he technically did hold true to his promise of just two friends getting dinner. Things were actually going quite well, too. The restaurant was a little more high profile than you would’ve expected for a casual meal, but that can easily be passed off as the luxurious lifestyle and expensive tastes of a pro athlete who can certainly afford it. Expenses of your meal aside, he’d been good company, asking after the ways of working in Formula One and then finding similarities in his football career that made it easy to chat about the struggles and stressors of professional sports.

But you can recognize that this is where it’s all beginning to go downhill.

He’s announced it completely out of the blue as you’re walking back to the garage where you’ve both parked your cars. On top of that, his pace slows and you’re forced to slow down as well to match it until you both eventually come to a halt in the middle of the pavement.

You feel for him, in all honesty. You understand the difficulties of contract negotiations and how easily they can fall apart. The fragility of Formula One contracts is its own special brand of tricky and you’ve seen many friends move on to other teams in the blink of an eye just as they’ve begun to settle down and make their mark where they are. You can’t say for certainty that you understand the mechanics of football contracts to the same degree, but you can imagine they have their own fragile fine print.

But the chill of a January night in Manchester is brutal, and you’ll be the first to admit that your outfit does not protect against it. You don’t really want to be having this conversation in general, because you’ve known Garrett for all of a week which makes you acquaintances at best, but you especially don’t want to be having it now, out here in the cold when all you want to do━ all you’ve wanted to do since this afternoon━ is curl up in something warm and comfortable and pretend the world outside your flat doesn’t exist for a few days.

“I’m not sure what this has to do with me if I’m being honest, Garrett.”

He shrugs. “I just thought you might be able to help.”

You shove your hands in your pockets in a desperate attempt to keep your fingers from going more numb than they already are and shake your head at him. “I don’t know how exactly you think I can help you with that. I’m a photographer, not a PR officer.”

“My agent thinks it would be a good idea if I showed the media that I could hold down a steady relationship. Prove to them that I’ve changed my ways, and have matured.” He shrugs again, nonchalant despite being the one to bring this up in the first place.

“Have you?”

He makes a face, something between a flirty smirk and a suggestive wink, “Well, I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Garrett.”

“Look,” he crosses his arms and levels you with a look that fills you simultaneously with more rage and annoyance than a single person has ever made you feel before. “It would just be for a couple of months, and then we could stage an amicable breakup and that would be that! It just has to be long enough to show everyone that I’m not the same as I used to be.”

You give him a look right back, hoping it conveys how appalled you are by his audacity. “Okay, but why me of all people? Christ knows you probably have a list of women in your contacts who would jump at the chance to pretend to date you for a few months.”

His face pinches up in disgust. “Yeah, but they’re all former hookups, and I mean, they’re kinda psycho about me to be fair. If I tried to end things, they’d probably go to the tabloids themselves and smear my name with the worst things they could come up with.” He shrugs again, and you’re starting to find that you hate it when he does so. “I need someone willing to just play along for the time being and who will be discreet when things are over.”

“And you think I’m that person?” You scoff. “You’ve known me for a week!”

Your voice echoes and it reminds you once again that you’re having this conversation in the middle of a random street in Manchester. It’s cold and dark, and you’ve been attempting to bite back your frustration since the moment Garrett called you. You’ve been as nice as you possibly can be for this man, shy of bending over backward to worship the very ground he walks on, and you’re so close to your limit that you think if he shrugs one more fucking time━

He shrugs. “Well, yeah, but you know how this industry works. So I know you can be trusted.”

You take a deep breath to try and retain what’s left of your quickly slipping composure, before you say, “Garrett, this goes beyond unprofessional. I could potentially get into a lot of trouble for this. You’re technically my co-worker, if not my client by proxy. It’s not a good look for me to be getting with the athletes I work with, considering my entire career is based on working with athletes.”

He makes a befuddled face as if asking what that has to do with anything. It occurs to you that he’s probably never had to worry about the ethics of hooking up with someone when most of the women who are interested in him would do everything in their power to spend a night by his side whether it’s morally just━ or legal, for that matter━ or not.

“That doesn’t seem to stop you from being all cozy with that Nor-whatever guy,” he grumbles.

“What?”

“That driver,” he repeats. “You post him all over your socials, like, all the time.”

You tear your hands from your pockets and throw them up in the air, “Because that’s my job?!” The stupidity of the man before you is genuinely baffling. He’s been asking about your job all week long but the way he’s talking now makes it seem like he didn’t catch onto the fact that your entire career is centered around media and the creation of content made with the explicit intention of being shared.

“I am quite literally paid to take and post pictures of him per my contract with McLaren,” you continue. “And even if I wasn’t, he’s my best friend?! I’ve been working and traveling and spending the majority of my time with Lando since 2019 so of course I’m going to be close with him. Do you not post your mates every once in a while?”

“Yeah, but it’s different. All my mates are guys, so nobody thinks I’m dating any of them when I do it.”

You scoff in disbelief. “I cannot believe this right now. You know, for a moment, I briefly considered helping you. But you’re actually exactly the type of prick the tabloids say you are.”

He takes an intimidating step closer, and his voice drops an octave lower. “I would reconsider if I was you.” You’re not short, but Garrett isn’t either. He’s one of the tallest players on the Manchester City team, and the way you feel now with him staring you down makes you wonder if this is what it feels like to be his opponent on the pitch.

It’s fucking terrifying.

But you’re fucking livid, too.

Your jaw clenches and you bite out sharply, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“What it means,” he starts, “is that if you don’t help me, maybe I slip a word about something or other to my boss who slips a word to his boss who is, also, your boss, and suddenly, whoops!” He gives you a cocky smirk, so sure of himself that it makes you feel like your blood is literally boiling. “He’s not your boss anymore. In fact, nobody is your boss anymore, because your ‘slip in conduct’ was very inappropriate and made several players uncomfortable, which doesn’t look very good when trying to get jobs elsewhere in the industry.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Well,” he fucking shrugs. “When you say it like that, yeah. I guess I am.”

You cross your arms, your hands clenched into fists so tightly that you can feel your nails digging painfully into the flesh of your palms. “You’re a real bastard, you know.”

“You’re not the first person to tell me that, love.”

If only it were legal to kill a man━ Garrett Ward would be six feet under and picking worms from between his teeth.

You weigh your options, though. You’re not sure how much weight his word actually carries. For all you know, he could tell his boss, they could bring you in to discuss things, and then you could explain it all from your point of view. Garrett is a notorious flirt and you doubt it’s the first time he’s tried to pursue someone who isn’t interested in him. You doubt it happens very often, but it has to have happened at some point. Not to mention, his reputation regarding women is bad enough that Manchester City is already giving him an ultimatum, so you probably have a chance, and the worst-case scenario is that you amicably part ways with the team and that’s that.

But realistically there is a worse worst-case scenario, and it’s pretty damn close to what Garrett is threatening. Losing this side gig wouldn’t really be too much trouble. It would put a dent in your savings, and you’d have to be a bit better about how you ration out your groceries and other necessities around the flat, but losing your job at McLaren? Being blacklisted from the industry entirely? That’s life-destroying. You would lose everything━ all the blood, sweat, and tears you shed to get where you are would be for nothing.

All because of a prick in sky blue.

“Fine,” you utter from between gritted teeth. “I’ll help you. But I won’t post you on my account. I won’t bring you home to my parents. I won’t go round to your flat and I certainly will not have you round to mind. You get one kiss to make it official to the paps, and then nothing more.” You take your own threatening step toward him, and a vindictive part inside you shines with malicious glee when he shifts ever so slightly backward. “If you try anything else, I will run to the papers and drag you through the mud worse than any of your little psycho groupies ever could.”

He scoffs, “You’d ruin your career.”

“But I’d tear you down with me,” you reply.

He takes a moment to think, staring into your eyes and weighing how serious you are. Whatever he sees staring back at him must be convincing enough because he sniffs, nods, and smirks.

“Deal.” He leans down, “I think I’ll be taking that kiss now. Make sure to really sell it, yeah?”

━━ tags: @maih23 @urfavnoirette @leclercsluv @f1luvur @formulaal @a-disturbing-self-reflection @starlightpierre

━━ a/n: i feel like i say this every time, but i am seriously blown away by how well the first part of this was received! like, seriously, thank you so much for the kind words everyone said about it! hopefully this second part lives up to the hype of the first, it's a little denser, but the events are important to establish for the rest of the story so it needed to happen!

#formula 1 #formula one #f1 #formula 1 imagine #f1 imagine #formula one imagine #f1 x reader #formula 1 x reader #formula one x reader #f1 fanfic #f1 fic #social media au #lando norris #lando norris x reader #lando norris imagine #ln4 #oscar piastri

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vonne-inc · 7 months

Text

product: yandere boss - stolen shirt.

gender neutral reader. masturbation with clothing. typical pervert stuff. (a little bit of) yandere behavior.

the day was quiet— the only sound was the clock ticking on the wall. tick, tick, tick, tick. a small reminder, one all too evident, that you weren't around. not now, at least.

even if your absence was temporary, he couldn't stand it. the growing need to see you was growing, and it was becoming unbearable. the only thing that kept him under control was knowing when you'd be back.

his body grew tense, looking at the ticking clock. five hours, nine minutes, and fifty-three seconds. it was still too long... still too much.

"sir?" his eyes snapped to the voice, his dilated pupils contracting. heels clicked against the floor, and soon, a plastic bag was set on his desk, "your lunch." staring at the bag, a familiar logo stamped on it, he quietly hummed.

as quickly as the substitute assistant came, she left. he paid no mind, focusing on the food. pulling the take-out container, his fingers skillfully opened it as he wafted in the smell. it was nothing expensive, rather cheap from a nearby restaurant. although it was special; a dish you commonly ordered.

ah, right. you.

his eyes flickered back to the clock. five hours, three minutes, and thirty-one seconds. only six minutes passed, "fuck..." he mumbled, the itching feeling growing again. his skin tingled, brows narrowed, and shoulders tensed.

pushing aside his lunch, letting it touch the end of his desk. he pulled his desk drawer out; a black, clean chest is shown into view. with a diligent motion, he grabs the key from his pocket and opens it with eager hands.

a sigh leaves his lips, pupils dilating once more as he spots the items inside. clothing, candid photos, perfumes, etcetera. all of it being yours. things to keep him managing whenever you're not around.

picking up one of the shirts he'd collected, unzipping it from its ziploc bag, he carefully takes the cloth and inhales your smell. it smelt just like you; your natural musk mixed with perfume.

the more he breathed in, his pants tightened as it showed his evident arousal. his legs spread wider, cock twitching, as his mind began to wander.

what would you do if you found him like this? force him to his knees and degrade him as he shows you how sorry he is? worshipping your sex with his mouth as he pleas for forgiveness.

would you let him bend you over his desk, fucking you with primal need? him whispering each perverted fantasy he's had of you; his assistant. praising you as he rips an orgasm from you repeatedly.

without thinking about it, his hands drag down his buttons shirt and toward his black pants. working at his belt, it falls loose as he slides his pants down— enough to free his cock.

the tip red, leaking with precum already, he begins to trace the veins of his length. his head throws back, eyes snapping shut as he continues. the stolen shirt had fallen from his grasp and hung on his lap, the smell still reaching his senses.

he reaches for it again, grasping it in his hand, while bucking his hip into the fabric. the loud groan resounded throughout his office. the act of your clothing being wrapped around his cock was enough to get him a needy mess.

his hand begins to stroke the cloth along his shaft, meeting the tip as it soaked in the precum forming. hips bucking up, digits balling into a fist around himself, he couldn't resist fucking into the shirt.

all he could imagine was what you'd look like with his cock thrusting inside of you. the way your face would contort, how your moans and gasps would sound, how stunning you would look riding him with his cum soaking your stomach and chest.

at that thought, he could feel the coil tightening. his grunts grew louder, eyes rolling into his skull. his thrusts became more erratic whilst his office chair squeaked underneath him.

ropes of white shot from his slit, soaking into the shirt and coating the end of his desk. cum hit his clothes, and he choked back a sob at the relief.

once he calmed down, he stared at the shirt in his grip that was still wrapped around his cock. before he thought about another perverted fantasy and become hard, he grabbed the ziploc and secured it back into the chest as he closed the drawer.

and while those hours without you were still unbearable, all that surrounded his thoughts was how much he couldn't wait to leave his newfound gift at your doorstep. he just knows that you'll be surprised to see your favorite shirt covered in his cum.

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eternalsa2z · 5 months

Text

GGLAM: Krystal

"Hiiiii Krissy! Welcome to GGLAM!"

Kristie had been going to "GGLAM By Polly" for a few weeks. Normally a high end salon wouldn't be her thing. But after "Paula's Cuts" shut down and was replaced by this Barbie-like boutique, her choices were limited. Of course, it also helped the the bubbly and beautiful Polly 'grandmothered' in all of Paula's old clients, offering the old prices for whatever their old styling used to be.

Of course, Polly was always pushing for this or that. Telling her client that she'd look cute with extensions. How she should totally go blonde. That thick and curvy waves with a full body were sooooo in right now. Kristie would always decline the over-enthusiastic bimbo, who to her credit would always drop the subject and do something simple. Kristie did appreciate that her stylist always listened and obeyed her...or maybe the ditz just forgot she offered a total makeover just a few minutes before.

"You're hair is soooo soft and shiny and pretty! Do you trust me?"

Honestly, she did. Polly was exciteable but never did anything Kristie didn't want. So whether it was the stylist's adorable eagerness, the endless happy salon music, or an inner curiosity wearing her down, she relented and consented.

With a squeal of excitement, Polly got to work. Blowing. Teasing. Fluffing. It felt like forever and Kristie almost dozed off as the bubbly beautician tried something new and exciting. When the makeover artist's long acrylic nails tapped on her shoulder, Kristie stared at the mirror in a daze.

"You're such a good girl letting me give your hair a makeover! Do you like it?" Polly asked hopefully.

Kristie nodded. It was...pretty. Sexy almost, but not too over the top. She liked it. Somehow, for some reason, she wished Polly had gone further.

"OMG your face is flawless! You're, like, a literal Barbie!"

Kristie blushed, even if her face didn't show it under all that foundation. Polly's compliments were what convinced her to do more this time. Sure, her hair was kept simple, just washed in a special silicone enriching bath that Polly kept gushing about. But this was the first time Kristie had agreed to pay for the 'Pretty Girl Package'.

The results were stunning. The pink lipstick, the pink top, the little sparkly earrings all made her mind sparkle. She couldn't help but giggle with giddiness alongside her stylist, especially after Polly told her that the package meant she could take all the products home for free.

"Look at you Krissy! Ur, like, a living advertisement for GGLAM! An adorable doll on display!"

As Kristie posed, she processed the words. Her new blonder and curlier hair. Even her somehow curvier form that fit that new dress juuuuuuust right. For a moment she tried to think about it, whether the change was too much. But Polly played that catchy little jingle from the salon as she snapped some photos and Krissy forgot what she was worried about.

There was nothing to worry about! All she had to do was let Polly make her pretty. Wear the cute clothes. Be a GGLAM model. It was soooo easy and soooo nice to let someone doll her up and dress her so sexy. It's like Polly was always saying - Good Girls Love A Makeover!

"Yesssss Krissy! Look at my little blonde angel! You're shining like a diamond...or like, a Krystal!"

Krissy felt amazing. After weeks of makeovers, special supplements, enriching hair treatments she finally went blonde. 'Bimbo blonde' as Polly called it. They left a bit of Krissy's dark roots as a reminder of her old self...but, like, Krissy could barely remember what she looked like before she started working with Polly.

But Krissy didn't worry. Or think. She just did what she was told. Sat obediently in the chair. Gave a smile for the camera. Did a little twirl on command. Polly knew best. Krissy trusted Polly. Krissy would be GGLAM's good girl model.

"Krystal you've been, like, an uh-may-zing client! I've sooooo loved helping you become the super pink girly girl bimbo you told me you were on the inside!"

Krystal just posed and pouted prettily. She, like, didn't 'member telling Polly that she wanted to be a bimbo. Or even looking like such a girly girl before. But, like, Polly must've known. She always knew what was best!

Now Krystal looked her best. She was a bit sad Polly said that after her latest pink makeover her 'Good Girl Package' was done. But quickly happiness took over as her cotton candy pink brain saw her candy pink new hair and yummy new body. As pink and pretty on the outside as she was on the outside, with a hawt new bod to match her mind.

"Hiiiii this is GGLAM by Polly, 'cuz Good Girls Love A Makeover! I'm Krystal...how can I, like, help make you beautiful?"

She stared blankly at the mirror, absent-mindedly brushing her hair and admiring her makeup. Her simple little mind couldn't memorize much beyond that silly short intro line, but luckily Polly had a 'lil repetitive tape that helped drill the greeting into her head. GGLAM's new reception needed to make a good first impression!

After month going to GGLAM, Krystal always made a good first impression. Especially after Polly plumped up her lips even more. It was sooooo worth it quitting her old job. Not only did she, like, get to hang out at the salon allllll day, but Polly gave her comp...complimen...like, free makeovers for working there! It was totes the best deal ever!

She was a total GGLAM girl now. But as she talked the next client...she hoped she wouldn't be the last. Good girls love a makeover...and bimbos need besties...

#f2f transformation #bimboification #hypnosis #gglam salon

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hotvintagepoll · 1 month

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Propaganda

Lalita Pawar (Shree 420, Mr and Mrs '55)—look at her 1930s swag in this photo i found [first photo below the cut]. stunning

Agnes Moorehead (Dark Passage, Mrs. Parkington)—i'm just submitting all the milfs at this point

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Lalita Pawar:

Agnes Moorehead:

“Daughter of a minister, she’s incredibly religious. Would arrive on the bewitched set with “the bible in one hand and the script in the other.” And once during an earthquake, she refused to run to safety and said, “God will protect me.” - Her father prohibited her from attending an acting school until she had a formal education so she got a degree in biology. She taught at english, speech and history a high school while also getting degrees in English and Public Speaking. Entered AADA at 25. - Her film debut was in Citizen Kane when she was about 40 - She had a lovely singing voice. - Despite her religiosity, her privateness and close relationships with female friends fueled rumors even during her lifetime that she liked women. In her rather emotional interview with Boze Hadleigh, she expressed her desire to not have her private life be reduced to a few paragraphs of sensationalism. It is not really possible to know with certainty. - She had a farm with cows and donkeys. Lastly, I am aware that Agnes was not considered a leading lady and I’d like to campaign for her inclusion as we have reason to believe that this might have been due to the prejudices of ageism, her unusual (but stunning) features and a number of other factors: 'To classify her roles so as to discover her closeted lesbianism, although productive in the exploratory sense, runs the risk of imposing another set of stereotypes upon Moorehead. Linking character actresses and lesbians confirms marginalization, and while Moorehead played marginal characters in most of her plays and films, she could have played the leads had she so been cast, and she did play supporting roles brilliantly. That New York and Hollywood directors cast her as the outsider may be as much a statement about ageism and sexism as about sexual identity. It is probable, however, that her sexual identity figured and figured prominently, and if as an overlay to the other issues, we are left to interrogate the entertainment industry that forced her into exaggeration because she could not express whom she really was. Endora and Moorehead, one and the same, finally achieved supporting star status, with all the ambiguous meanings implied by the ''Bewitched'' narrative; however, Moorehead might have achieved diva status within legitimate classical theatre had she sought unambiguous sexual leads. Because she did not, or could not, we can conclude, using the soft evidence of innuendo and intuition, that her sexual identity clearly affected the direction of her career.' From a paper called ‘The Witching of Agnes Moorehead’ by Lynne Greeley”

#agnes moorehead #lalita pawar #hotvintagepoll #fuck that old woman #ladies 2

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bun-lapin · 9 months

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TWST Frog Housewardens HC

Summary: All of the housewardens have somehow been transformed into frogs! Your kiss is the only thing that will break the spell. They all have different reactions upon changing back.

A/N: These are mostly just silly headcanons I did for comedic scenario practice <3

🐸

Riddle: Fixes his clothes and checks his pocket watch. "Thank you very much for your assistance. I will speak to you tomorrow with a more appropriate show of my thanks." Kisses your hand, gets up and leaves with his face blushing like crazy. Someone from Heartslabyul explains to you that today there is a birthday party scheduled for one of the dorm's hedgehogs.

Leona: Just clicks his tongue and says, "Ugh, what a pain." Has you sit down and then uses your lap as a pillow. "I'm going back to sleep." Puts your hand on his head and basically makes you play with his hair until he falls asleep (starts purring and smiling in his sleep after a few minutes).

Azul: "Oh my! You've certainly done me a great service! I suppose I'll have to repay you swiftly to clear this great debt I owe you." Kisses you on both cheeks and then takes you shopping. Buys you literally anything you show any interest in. He makes Jade and Floyd hold all your bags while he holds your arm the entire time.

Kalim: Launches himself at you and gives you the biggest hug while saying "Thank you!" over and over. Starts listing off all the ways he's going to show his thanks: endless feasts, parades, gold and jewels, your very own elephant etc. Jamil cuts in at this point and after checking for himself that Kalim is fixed, basically drags him away by the collar before he promises you his entire estate.

Vil: Immediately checks himself in a compact mirror. After checking that everything has been fixed and he's back to normal, breathes a huge sigh of relief and thanks you very politely and elegantly. He then applies a fresh coat of lipstick and kisses you all over your face. After he's done, Vil asks Rook to take a picture of the two of you together (you with kiss marks on your face and Vil with smudged lipstick). Later when you get the photo print, Vil signs it.

Idia: Literally just gets up and runs away. Sends you a 'thank you' emoji later in an online message. For the next week he orders huge amounts of food, books, video games, any product you search online, to be delivered to your room. Eventually Ortho forces Idia to go say 'thank you' to you in person. After he says "Thank you very much" he gives you a small kiss on the cheek, runs away in a blind panic, and runs straight into a wall.

Malleus: Honestly everyone is so confused about how something like this could happen to someone as powerful as Malleus that everyone present just kind of sits in stunned silence for a long time. After a while, Malleus conjures up a magnificent throne, has you sit in it, and has everyone bow down to you. While kneeling in front of you and kissing your hand, he makes a very poetic speech and pledges himself to you for all eternity.

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst imagines #twst headcanons #riddle rosehearts #leona kingscholar #azul ashengrotto #kalim al asim #vil schoenheit #idia shroud #malleus draconia #bun-lapin écrit

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alcoholfreenayeon · 8 months

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How would twice react to their s/o wearing a revealing outfit?

Nayeon

Nayeon entered your room without warning as she had grown impatient while you were getting ready. She wasn’t expecting you to look like that at all. Her jaw drops and she even blushes a little.

“W-what are you wearing!”,She squeaks. This causes you to smirk, it wasn’t very often that Nayeon was lost for words.

“Do you like it?”, you ask her smugly as you twirl and give her the whole view. Though she’s still stunned, Nayeon manages to regain some composure and nods with a proud smile.

“You look absolutely stunning”, she declares. You smile satisfactorily and continue brushing your hair. You put the comb down and turn around to see Nayeon right next to you, still checking you out. Then without warning she grabs your chin with one hand while the other goes on your hips and whispers with authority, “Y/n, a lot of people will stare at you when you look this hot you know. But you are mine and only mine.”

Jeongyeon

“Mmm…tell me already! What’s the big secret? I’ve a long day, I don’t want to wait much longer.”, Jeongyeon complained as you dragged her by the arm to the bedroom.

“You’ll just have to!”, you scold her. “Now, close your eyes, it’ll take a minute!”. Jeongyeon nodded impatiently and closed her eyes, racking her brains to think what could you possibly be up to.

“Don’t open them yet!”, you reminded her as you quickly changed your outfit. You then glance at the mirror and fix a prong of your hair and take a deep breath. “You can open them now.”

Jeongyeon slowly opens her eyes and lets out a quiet gasp. “You-what are you wearing?!”. You smirk, “didn’t you say that one of us should dress sexy and the other cute so we are 50% sexy and 50% cute.”

“I didn’t think you’d go for the sexy look though. I mean look at you! This isn’t the cute girl I fell for!”, Jeongyeon teased as she grabbed your shoulders and shook it dramatically. You giggled and pushed her off, “stoppp teasing me or I won’t show you!”.

“Show me what?”, she asked tilting her head. You smugly shook your phone, “I took some pictures in other clothes to see which I liked best, some of them styles might be your type.”, you finish teasingly knowing you’re asking for trouble as Jeongyeon loves to have pictures of things she loves and of course you are on top of that list.

Momo

Your watching Netflix when your phone vibrates, it’s a text from Momo, she’s asking you to open the door as she’s arriving in a minute. You quickly get up and rush to the mirror, putting on Momo’s favorite shade of lipstick.

A few months ago, Momo had temporarily moved in with you because the other members had all gone back to their families or on vacation but she wanted to spend time with you. But when she went back, she left a lot of her stuff behind. Clothes, make up products, even a cute teddy bear which you now claimed but Momo doesn’t accept it and said that she can’t believe you stole one of her children. She stated that since she visits so often it’s not an issue for her and you didn’t mind either.

While you did rummage and try on some things here and there, for some reason today you had an urge to try on something bolder, something riskier. And of course you wanted to see how Momo would react to that. Smiling to yourself you go out to open the door to see Momo had just gotten out of the car. She saw you, froze, and then quickly walked over to you and dragged you in asking you why did you do this. Feeling hurt ,you apologize weakly and say you will go and change when she stops you.

“Y/n! That’s not the problem. The problem is that…it’s too good. You look so good, way too go-these are my clothes! No one else can see that!”, she stares at you for a few moments more before taking out her phone. “I want to take some photos of you darling. You look so beautiful like this.”

You finally find your voice back, “what’s up with these reactions Momo! I still can’t tell whether you are angry or happy.” She makes a face at you, “it’s not my fault, you look so good like this, I don’t want anyone else to see you like this because they’ll fall for you.”

“Who falls in love that quickly!” You counter, Momo makes a face at you again. The two of you continue to bicker like a married couple but with each point both of you sat closer to the other. Within a minute you both were practically cuddling.

Sana

You were making sure your hair looked fine when you heard the door creak open. Not paying any further attention to it upon seeing it was just Sana walking in, looking at her phone. Just as you finished putting on your lipstick you heard a quite gasp. “Oh!….. my!”, Sana stared at you, her mouth open.

You smirk and wink at her before turning back around towards the mirror calmly. Despite the fact that your heart was dancing happily. It was quite a feat to get this sort of reaction from your Sana. You began to hum happily while putting on your earrings when you realized Sana hadn’t said anything else yet.

Curiously you glance towards her through the mirror and see that she was….staring at you. But differently, like she was checking you out or something. You then notice her subtly bite her lip. Was…was she eye-fucking you???

“H-hey, my eyes are up here!”, you protest suddenly, feeling a bit shy now. Sana ignores what you said and says something that makes your heart pound, “Hey, listen…your friends wouldn’t mind you being late would they..”

Before you can answer, she pushes you on the bed, you look up to see her towering over you, biting her finger. She hands you your phone as she unbuttons her shirt. “I think you better tell them you won’t be able to make it now….because your mouth might be too busy for it later”, Sana says seductively.

Jihyo

“No no no and no! I can’t wear THAT!”, you defiantly stated. You couldn’t believe Jihyo not only wanted you to wear but also go out while wearing it. It’s not like you hadn’t worn crop tops before, you obviously had this particular one basically was more like a bra than a top. Not to mention the shorts Jihyo wanted to go with it. It was just too much for you. Yeah sure, Jihyo had a better sense of fashion than you and sure, her advise had always been on point but….ugh fine you’ll JUST try it on.

Jihyo pouted and accepted your decision and was about to put the clothes back when you stopped her. “Fine I’ll try it out for you but I’m NOT wearing it outside.” Jihyo smiled and agreed, “fine I won’t force you, that’s good enough for me.”

“Slayyy!”, this was the reaction of Jihyo when she saw you. You tried to act nonchalant but a satisfied smile took over and you ended up giggling a bit. It was hard not to feel proud, especially with the way Jihyo seemed to be ogling at you and praising you. “Now you look like my eye candy”, Jihyo teased, “let’s go out now”.

“Hey!”, you playfully protested before giving her a quick peck.

Mina

Mina was mentally preparing herself to perform. All the members were going for a solo stage. Right now Momo had left so it meant that she still had some time left to spare. Deciding it’s still too soon she slumped onto the sofa to rest for a bit. Just as Mina was about to lose herself to her thoughts she was interrupted by her stylist who entered her room, “Oh! Mina, Y/N is here, she said she wants to talk”.

Mina nodded and got up, looking at the mirror to make sure she looked ok. “Mina! How do I look?”, you interrupt.

“You look pretty”, Mina answered absentmindedly before turning to look at you. “Eh!”, Mina exclaimed in shock, her eyes widening as she realized what you were wearing.

“I guess you like it!”, you declare cockily. You approach Mina confidently and sit next to her. Putting your hand on her thigh, you speak with suggestiveness “You know, since there still is a bit of time before your stage, I think I should show you my outfit properly. Don’t you think?”

Mina can only manage a quick but desperate nod before you sit on her lap……

(Good thing concerts are so loud🤭)

Dahyun

Dahyun was deep in thought in the studio. She had taken the task of writing for the next Twice album but it seemed like her creativity had abandoned her. She had tried everything she usually does but for some reason nothing was working. Frustrated, she went out thinking maybe a coffee break will give her time to reflect and hopefully give some inspiration.

Before she could get out, she yelps as the door opens in her face and you squeal too as you are surprised too. “Dahyun!”, you whine, “why did you shout?”. “I only screamed because you shocked me-what is this!”, her eyes widen as she notices your dress.

She covers her mouth her one hand and puts the other on your tummy, staring which you like and it starts to make you feel a bit fuzzy when without warning she pokes yours stomach causing you to gasp and giggle and immediately protest. Dahyun smirks and then laughs, “sorry that was a bit mean but I couldn’t help it, it was so such a good opportunity.

“But seriously you look nice in this”, She said sincerely. “Does it look nice because of me or because of that character you like who dresses the same”, you cheekily ask while raising an eyebrow. Dahyun, adjusts her glasses and clears her throat, “I don’t know what you are talking about”.

Chaeyoung

You stepped out of the room, dressed up like Chaeyoung wanted and waited for her to comment. “Wow! You look so pretty and cute in that!”, she cooed happily. “Hey!, Atleast call me hot or sexy or something! What’s up with cute!”, you protest with a pout.

“Mmm, no. With that pout you can only be cute.”, she said playfully. “Ok fine”, you sigh in defeat, “so why did you want me to wear this?”.

Chaeyoung suddenly stood straight, put on a serious face and deepened her voice, “I wanted to draw you like one of my French girls”. Although you did think it was quite sweet of her, you suppressed a smile and asked her, “shouldn’t I be the one asking you to draw me?”.

“Uh….”, Chaeyoung started to giggle. “ANYWAY, do some cute pose so I can make a doodle of you”.

“Wouldn’t you rather make a mess of me”, you say cheekily with a wink. Chaeyoung sighs and smiles with a little blush, “Ahhn, you are so annoying”.

Tzuyu

You rang the doorbell, feeling a bit nervous but also excited to show Tzuyu your new dress. She opens the door, gives you a once over and sucks in her breath, her cheeks reddening.

“Tzuyu? What’s going on! Your face is red.”, you tease while looking at her innocently. However, Tzuyu being stubborn refuses to submit, “oh, no-nothing, I just…nothing.”. You smile to yourself and nod, happy with the effect you are having on Tzuyu.

“Do you want something to eat?”, Tzuyu asks seemingly already back to being composed. “I can see something I like so sure”, you say while glancing at her. Tzuyu looks around confused, “there’s nothing except the pasta”. You sigh in defeat and sit across her at table, “it’s fine, forget it”.

Tzuyu then smiles coyly, “y/n I actually understand what you meant but it’s a waste to say that to me when you look this beautiful.” She then giggles as you look at her, dumbstruck by her sudden bluntness. She then leans in shyly, prompting you to kiss her but when you lean in, she pulls back showing you the fork she grabbed from your side and smiles with a wink.

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ryker-writes · 1 year

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TWST characters as ✨best friends✨ (Pomefiore Edition)

What would it be like being friends with them? Come and find out! I offer my thoughts on what they would be like so I'm sorry if some of the characters are a little Ooc. Some characters I don't know as well but I'll certainly try! More dorms coming soon!

Vil:

fist of all, congratulations

it's not everyday your best friend is a celebrity

if he has your permission, he will post a photo or two of you on his magicam with both of you looking ✨stunning✨

his fans love you and are also jealous of you

if you don't want him to post you he absolutely won't

he respects your privacy

but fans will be curious when he mentions his best friend

Vil won't say anything about you without your permission

you get all the best beauty products from him

it's his own brand and everything

you're not taking care of yourself? unacceptable

he will make you take care of yourself

will use his unique magic to help you take care of yourself

someone's bothering you? how ugly of them

he'll tell you not to worry about it and take you to do something else

he has Rook handle those people

if you like to wear makeup he will ask to do yours for you sometime

if not that's okay he still thinks you look great anyway

Rook:

chances are he knows a lot about you already before you became best friends

he will compliment your beauty and skills a lot

if you disagree with him on that he will be very upset

it will only make him go into more detail about it

he is a great person to talk about your insecurities with

he just knows how to make it better so you can see yourself in the same beautiful way he sees you✨

he is always there when you need him

like literally there the same second

he has some sort of sixth sense for when you or Vil need him

someone is bothering you? say no more

he will take care of it just carry on with your day

you have to be able to appreciate Vil's beauty

fangirl with him

Epel:

hype buddies

I think I've said this before but Epel is perfect for hyping you up for anything you're doing

even if he doesn't understand he will hype you up

in return hype him up when he fights with Vil

you get free apple products from his family's farm

if someone's bothering you he will try to fight them immediately

if you have a problem and need him he will run across campus as fast as he can to find you

doesn't matter what he's doing

if he hears you being insecure about something he will strongly reassure you that it's not true

you get the accent and everything

same thing if he finds out you're not taking care of yourself

he will start checking in on you to make sure you're eating, drinking water, and getting enough sleep

he invites you to his spell drive matches

and of course, hype him up for the game!

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #pomefiore #pomefiore x reader #vil schoenheit #twst vil #vil shoenheit x reader #vil x reader #rook hunt #twst rook #rook hunt x reader #rook x reader #epel felmier #twst epel #epel felmier x reader #epel x reader

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wilbursprincess · 3 months

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A fic of superstabur meeting someone and being immediately enchanted with them and and at no point they mention the fact that he's famous so he thinks they don't know him until at the end of the date they're like "of course I know who you are Wilbur I just didn't see why comment"

“I Was Enchanted To Meet You”

Superstarbur x Female Reader

Warnings: Slightly awkward first date stuff but all fluff!

Hello anon! Love this idea lol, and hearing the word “enchanted” as a Swiftie just has me screaming I WAS ENCHANTED TO MEET YOU! I’ve definitely been on my share of bad dates, so being able to write a good date story is super fun :D

Fic below cut!

Wilbur sighs, adjusting his tie a fraction of an inch in the mirror, adding a tiny bit more product to his slightly messy curls. It was his first date with you, the gorgeous yet elusive barista who made his coffee last week. The gorgeous, yet elusive barista who’d flirted back, accepting his compliments with a wink and writing her number on his hand in the pen she carried in her work uniform. Your perfume had almost overwhelmed him, rich with warm tones of vanilla and amber, your perfume he was already hoping to smell again tonight.

He walked to your apartment to pick you up, heart almost stopping when you stepped elegantly out the front doors of the building. Your dress hugged every gorgeous curve, colors looking stunning against your skin and hair that glistened in the dim streetlights. Tiny kitten heels on your feet made you barely tall enough to reach his shoulder, and when you walked up to give him a friendly kiss on the cheek, the scent of your perfume threatened to overwhelm him.

“You clean up well,” Wilbur joked, offering you his arm and getting a jolt of excitement when you wrapped your perfectly manicured fingers around his bicep.

“Same to you,” you retorted with a sly grin on your lipstick-painted lips. “I’ve been looking forward to tonight, Will. Thank you for offering to take me out.”

His name in your smooth voice was enough to make his stomach flip. “No, thank you, gorgeous,” he replied, and you laughed, the two of you making your way down the sidewalk to the restaurant.

Wilbur pulled out your chair for you when the waiter sat you two down, giving you a dazzling smile and a wink with his sparkling brown eyes. The date was going well.

Really well, in fact.

He was surprised you didn’t know who he was, considering the day he saw you, he went into the cafe with the entire band, even taking pictures with fans outside the door. But he wasn’t going to focus on that. It made him feel vain in a way, wondering why people didn’t know who he was.

You two talked about everything and everything for the next few hours, lingering over a bottle of champagne and each other’s company. Wilbur laughed at stories from your work, cooed over photos of your cats, and couldn’t take his eyes off you the entire time.

After Wilbur settled the bill, he walked you home, suit jacket around your shoulders to protect them from the chill of the night air. You had already suggested planning a second date, something he wouldn’t ever be able to say no to. Not when you looked at him with those eyes, teased him with your teeth nibbling at your lower lip.

“Thank you for such a wonderful night, Wilbur,” you said, kissing him on the cheek in farewell. “I can’t wait to do this again.”

“You’re welcome, darling,” Wilbur replied, brushing his lips over the back of your hand in return. “I really- wait, wait, wait, what did you call me?”

You giggled, batting your lashes at him. “You’re Wilbur. Of course I know who you are, I just didn’t see the need to comment.”

With a wave, you disappeared into your apartment building, leaving Wilbur standing on the sidewalk with a dumb grin on his face, your lipstick smeared on his cheek. He was already excited for the second date.

Do I make this a series 👀 y’all seem to love your Superstarbur smut and this could definitely go that direction

#princesswrites #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur soot x you #wilbur x reader #mcyt x you #wilbur soot #wilbur x you #wilbur soot fluff #wilbur soot x female reader #wilbur mcyt #princessfics

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chahnniesroom · 9 months

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tenderness | chapter 4: mask on

[noun] /ˈtendərnəs/

1. the quality of being gentle, kind, or loving

2. the feeling of pain, aching, or soreness

pairing: bang chan x female reader

summary: in a world where soulmates are rare and precious, you don’t know why the universe has decided to give you one. you never could have imagined that they would be an idol, and one that you worked with at that, or the challenges that would arise from your bond.

chapter word count: 4.1k

chapter warnings: arguing, emotional/verbal abuse, reader doesn't have a good relationship with her family

a/n: this chapter was very difficult to finish and took me way longer than the rest. luckily the next chapter is already almost finished! i'm excited for that one :)

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter | read it on ao3

Y/n insists on getting ready for Chuseok at her place instead of the dorms. Once Chan’s dressed in his suit, Y/n sits him down in a chair that she’s dragged into the bathroom. She meticulously styles his hair, retaining some of his natural curls, but taming the mess that he’s barely touched during the past couple of days that they’ve had off. The prickles of the Charge when her hands touch his head combined with the gentle repetition of the straightening iron smoothing through his hair lull him into a relaxed state.

“Do you want me to do some makeup too?” Y/n’s voice breaks through the silence.

Chan quickly agrees. When he had chanced a glance in the mirror after Y/n had finished with his hair, his bare face had stuck out like an eyesore. She prompts him to close his eyes and when she’s finished, Chan’s shocked. He never knew that Y/n was so talented with makeup. The products that she’s applied are light, barely noticeable, but somehow manage to conceal or transform every feature that Chan’s most self-conscious of, even though he’s never voiced these insecurities to her. He has always appreciated the makeup artists that they had for schedules because he felt like they turned him into a completely new person, the idol version of himself. He’s always considered him with makeup to be Bang Chan, leader of Stray Kids. Right now, he still looks like himself, but… better.

She shoos him out of her room as she changes and does her own hair and makeup. Chan has only visited a couple times, mostly when Y/n has to run in and grab something, so he takes the time to have more than a cursory look around. Surprisingly, there’s not much to look at considering the amount of time that Y/n had been living here before she had moved into the dorms. She has a bookshelf with a number of small trinkets and a fake plant.

There’s a few pictures showing Y/n at her graduation with friends, polaroids and photo booth printouts with Eunsung and a couple of people Chan doesn’t recognize, and a signed photo of Y/n with Xdinary Heroes. The members are all crowded around Y/n, smiling faces pushed together to fit properly in the frame and arms wrapped around each other tightly.

Chan stares at it hard enough that he startles when Y/n calls his name. He turns around and feels his jaw go slack.

Y/n’s dress is similar to his suit, simple yet luxurious and extremely flattering. It’s also black with intricate gold embroidery, but she has flowers and leaves twining up the side of the dress where Chan has a dragon and wispy clouds. Her hair is in a complicated looking updo with gold accessories and she’s holding a pair of heels that match the rest of her outfit.

Y/n always looks nice. She’s always perfectly put together at work and even at home when she’s just wearing her sleeping clothes, Chan finds her pretty.

But today, Y/n looks stunning. Chan thinks he’s forgotten how to breathe.

“Channie-oppa?” she prompts. “Everything okay?” Chan realises he hasn’t said anything, that he must have missed Y/n talking to him, and flushes deeply.

“What? Uh, yeah, I’m okay. Everything is fine! Great!”

“Okay… Are you ready to go then?”

“Right! Yes, let’s go.” Y/n is already at the door, but Chan is still frozen where he had been standing in front of Y/n’s pictures. “Just, Y/n-”

Y/n stops and turns around expectantly. Her stare makes Chan feel tongue-tied again.

“You look nice. Especially nice today. I just wanted to tell you,” he says.

“Aw, thank you. You clean up pretty nicely yourself,” she says, blushing. “Now let’s go, I’m dreading how bad the traffic is going to be.”

—

Chan has never seen Y/n drive, she normally opts to take transit or walk since the dorms are fairly central and they have hired drivers for transporting them to schedules. She’s a careful, yet confident driver, clearly familiar with the route and at ease weaving through the busy traffic. But what Chan’s most impressed by is her car. It’s black, sleek, and quietly powerful, the engine purrs when Y/n presses on the accelerator.

Chan can finally see all the pieces being put together that make up this version of Y/n, the one that’s a daughter instead of a manager of Stray Kids or his soulmate. So far, he still doesn’t quite understand why she’s kept her family so secretive, other than maybe a general hesitance to share that they’re wealthy.

“Chan-oppa,” Y/n says, right in front of the door. Chan’s almost too busy marvelling at the house’s design to hear her. “Whatever you hear… Whatever they say… Ignore it, okay?”

“What do you mean?” Chan glances at Y/n and finds her looking down, twisting her hands together.

“Just… Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

Before Chan can reply, the door swings open, revealing a large entryway that doesn't seem to have anybody in it. When they step in, Chan sees that there's a household staff person holding the door open.

“You’re late,” A voice calls from the door that leads from the entryway to the rest of the house. Chan knows for a fact that they’re at least 15 minutes earlier than the time that Y/n said they have to be there. “Your brother and his wife are already here.”

“Eomoni,” Y/n breathes out. “I’m sorry.” She bows deeply and Chan immediately follows.

When he straightens, he finally sees Y/n’s eomoni. She’s not that tall, just a bit more than Y/n, but is somehow still an imposing figure.

“This is Bang Chan-oppa, my soulmate. Chan-oppa, this is my eomoni.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Have a happy Chuseok with a bright and full moon.” Chan bows again.

“It’s very nice to meet you as well, Bang Chan-ssi.” She inclines her head in greeting. “Thank you for celebrating Chuseok with us. Come on, I’ll take you to where the others are.”

When Chan observes Y/n from the corner of his eye, he almost does a double-take. She’s still smiling and it’s not obviously forced, but there’s nothing behind it. It’s sweet but not happy. If Chan hadn’t spent the past few months seeing Y/n everyday, he wouldn’t have noticed the subtle changes in her expression, how she seems smaller, presence muted.

Y/n’s eomoni waits until they have exchanged their shoes for slippers before leading them the way that she had first arrived. As she does so, she makes a comment about their outfits, mentioning a designer that Chan has never heard of. It sounds like a compliment, but there's a slight edge to it that Chan doesn't know how to interpret.

"Thank you," Y/n replies, warily.

“You’ve never been very careful with your money,” she sniffs. “I guess I was wrong to think that these years of having to rely on just your own income would make you more responsible."

Chan’s shocked by the blatant chastisement, especially in front of him. Y/n’s eomoni doesn’t seem to be joking, but Y/n doesn’t say anything but bow her head in deference.

“I bought it,” he blurts out. “I was the one to pay for it, it was a gift.”

“That’s very generous, Bang Chan-ssi. You have good taste.” Y/n’s eomoni eyes him for a moment, then turns to Y/n. “Don’t get used to it, you don’t want to be accused of being a gold digger.”

Chan’s stomach drops. It feels like one of the video games that he’s played where every option leads to a bad ending. No matter what he says, there’ll be a way to twist it into something that puts Y/n in the wrong.

At that moment, they reach a turn in the hallway that opens up into an enormous dining room. The furniture itself is fairly simple, which draws the eye to a glittering chandelier above the table that throws light across the room and makes it seem even bigger. At the far edge of the room, a number of staff are lined up, heads bowed and hands crossed, just waiting for orders to be given.

There's three people already seated. Y/n's abeoji is at the head of the table, on his left is her brother, Siwon, and beside him must be his wife, Eunbee. They do quick introductions, Chan making sure to bow deeply to each person and smile. Already, he can see stark differences between the personalities and mannerisms of Y/n and her family. Where she is warm and enthusiastic, they are dispassionate, yet painstakingly polite.

“Now that everyone is finally here, let’s begin the meal.” Y/n’s eomoni says, gesturing towards the waitstaff.

The first course they’re served is gorgeous, although Chan’s not quite sure what it is. Delicate layers of something have been twisted together to form a blossoming flower, a petal of green sauce curled at the base. The family chatters around him, as Chan considers the best way to eat this dish without just stuffing the whole thing into his mouth at once. After watching Y/n, he finally breaks the ‘flower’ into pieces and lifts one to his mouth. It’s sweet, savoury, and a touch acidic. Delicious, even though Chan’s still unable to tell what any of the ingredients are.

The rest of the meal follows suit, plate after plate is placed in front of Chan, all of them small enough that Chan’s certain he could eat it in two bites at most if he was alone and wasn’t so conscious of his appearance. He only recognizes a few of the entrees, a perfectly seared slice of pork belly, a tiny bowl of steamed egg topped with pollock roe, and an array of crispy jeon. Everything else is too fancy for Chan to fully appreciate, although they all somehow taste good.

He contributes to the conversation a couple times, but the talk mostly consists of countless updates of people that Chan has never heard of. Based on the scathing criticisms some of them receive, he’s glad he’s never met some of them. It’s mostly Y/n’s eomoni that directs the conversation while the rest of the family nod long. Chan feels off-kilter, this evening is so different than what he's used to that he doesn't know what to do other than nod and laugh when everyone else does. More than ever, he finds himself grateful for and missing his own family.

One of the last dishes they’re served is a variation of raw marinated crab. The meat is presented in the shell, but without the legs for ease of eating. Beside it is a perfect little ball of rice that has been garnished with sesame seeds. Chan rolls the rice ball into the crab shell and smashes it to mix with the meat. He's past the point of stressing over eating it as delicately as possible.

He’s just chewing the last bite of crab when a second shell slides onto his plate. Y/n is nonchalantly sipping her tea, but her plate is suspiciously empty.

“Y/n!” Her eomoni immediately scolds her.

“Chan-oppa enjoys this dish so I wanted to let him have it more.”

“I didn’t have a chance to eat it a lot when I was growing up, so it’s nice to have now,” Chan says. In reality, he’s not especially fond of this dish. He doesn’t mind eating it, but it’s not one of his favourites. Now that he thinks of it, he doesn’t think he’s ever seen Y/n eat crab before.

“If that’s the case, we can just get you another one, Chan-ssi.” Y/n’s eomoni flags one of the waitstaff. They take away both Chan and Y/n’s plates and replace them with new crabs right away. Chan wonders how many extra dishes they prepare for each course.

“Where did you grow up, Chan-ssi?” Y/n’s abeoji joins the conversation, before her eomoni can make any more comments.

“Australia, I’m from Sydney.”

“Ah, and you came to be an idol? What group are you in?”

“Stray Kids.” When he shows no recognition, Chan adds, “We’re under JYP Entertainment.”

“Ah! Park Jinyoung, he’s a good man. I assume he knows about-” Instead of finishing his sentence, he just uses his chopsticks to gesture between Y/n and Chan.

“Yes, there was a lot of paperwork that he was involved in,” Chan confirms.

“You’re keeping the soulmate bond a secret though, right? How many people know about you two?” Y/n’s eomoni cuts in.

"Yes, eomoni. We're being careful at work to stay professional," Y/n says quickly. “JYP PD-nim is one of the few people who know. The information is kept highly confidential and everyone has had to sign a lot of NDA’s, just like how you also had some to fill out.”

"Good. If people find out there's any relationship between you they'd assume that you only got the promotion to his team because you slept with him."

Chan immediately opens his mouth to come to her defence, but Y/n puts her free hand on Chan’s leg, stopping him from speaking. He feels his face heat with emotion and knows his ears are likely bright red by now.

“Eomoni,” Siwon says warningly.

“It’s okay, eomoni is just trying to protect me,” Y/n says. Chan doesn’t believe that for a second. He can’t tell if Y/n’s eomoni is just trying to get a rise out of Y/n or if she genuinely just enjoys insulting her daughter. He has no idea why Y/n is trying to justify her eomoni’s words either.

"See, Y/n knows. I just don't want people thinking she's some kind of whore," she says matter-of-factly.

“Eomoni!” Siwon is out of his chair in an instant, horrified. Y/n’s hand tightens on Chan’s thigh, preventing him from doing the same. She doesn’t say anything in response, but is no longer pretending to eat her food, just frozen in place. Her lips are pressed together so tightly the natural colour has been squeezed out, a sharp contrast to her flushed cheeks which are only partially noticeable from under her makeup.

Siwon's wife has to tug lightly at his hand to get him back to sit, but he does so unwillingly.

Chan feels the same way. Anger is roaring through him, his hands are trembling with contained rage and he’s certain his jaw will be sore later from how tightly he's clenching it. The only thing holding him back is the fact that Y/n clearly doesn't want him to do anything and he's afraid that anything he does would reflect poorly on her. His first failed attempt to excuse her still weighs heavily on him.

In the resulting silence, dessert is served. It’s a multicoloured set of three songpyeon that each have flower designs layered on top of them. They taste like ash in Chan’s mouth.

Through it all, Y/n’s eomoni sits unrepentant and unaffected by the reactions of the other members of her family. At the head of the table, Y/n’s abeoji is also unbothered. For him, this is like just another family dinner. Chan’s starting to realise for them, maybe it is.

—

The drive home is blanketed by a heavy tension. You can tell that Chan keeps glancing over at you, but you keep your eyes firmly on the road. Parking your car at the dorms and riding up the elevator is the same, you can tell that Chan is itching to say something, but you’re almost scared to find out what. It’s only when the two of you are side by side in the bathroom, wiping off makeup that you decide to break the peace.

“That went pretty well,” you say mildly.

“What?” Chan looks up and meets your eyes through the mirror in disbelief. “You think that went well?”

“I think it could have gone worse. They respect you, that’s a lot.”

“Respect? I don’t think they even know what respect is. The way they treated you-”

“That’s different!” you cut in, starting to feel defensive.

“It is! It’s worse! How can you just stand there and say nothing when they insult you like that?” When you don’t reply, he shakes his head. “I can’t do this right now, I’m going to- I’m going to go to the gym.” He leaves without another word, practically running out of the room.

You stare in shock at the place that Chan had been standing, flinching when you hear the front door slam shut. Honestly, things had gone better than you expected. Although you had no doubts in Chan’s ability to charm people, you knew that him being your soulmate would make things more difficult.

Methodically, you finish your skincare routine, then change into your sleeping clothes. You hang up your dress, and do the same to Chan’s suit, which is in a crumpled pile that’s only partially on the bed.

You find yourself in the living room, staring at the blank TV. Without any distractions or people around, there’s nothing to stop you from crying. You’re not even sure why-you had known from the start that things would go bad-but the tears just seem to spill out, dampening your pants that you’re wearing.

“Hey, you guys are- Y/n what’s wrong? Why are you just sitting in the dark?” You look up to find Felix exiting Hyunjin’s room with a stack of dishes. You forgot that he’s been staying in the dorms with you and Chan during the holidays while everyone else was away. You hastily swipe away any evidence of the teartracks that stain your face and paste on a smile, trying to maintain a sense of normalcy and hoping that the dim lighting hides your puffy face.

“Oh, Felix! I- I didn’t know you were still awake.”

He stares at you for a moment before saying, “it’s only 10.”

“Ah, is it? I didn’t realise.” You pretend to laugh, but neither of you are convinced.

“How was dinner?”

“It was… fine.” You say, smile faltering.

“Oh.” It’s obvious that you want to drop the subject and luckily Felix plays along with you. “Where’s Channie-hyung? I thought I heard his voice earlier.”

“He’s at the gym. Wanted to work out before showering.” At least that’s partially the truth.

“Oh, I see. Nice.” Felix ducks into the kitchen and you hear the clatter of dishes against the bottom of the sink. You close your eyes and press the heels of your palms against them, trying to pull yourself together.

“Hey.” When you look up, Felix is back, hovering at the arm of the couch you’re sitting on. “Are you sure you’re doing okay?”

“Yeah, of course!” you try to say, but your voice betrays you and cracks in the middle of the sentence. “It’s just uhm, Chan-oppa. He- I don’t think he had a good time.”

“Channie-hyung? What do you mean?”

“I knew I shouldn’t have let him come with me,” you say, shaking your head. “I was right, he got really upset.”

“Y/n…” Felix says, pulling you close so that he can hug you. You go willingly, feeling slightly better in his embrace. “I didn’t see him. Are you sure? I know he was really excited about meeting your family.”

“It’s probably better that you didn’t see him. When we got home… He was so angry. I’ve never seen him like that before. I’m so stupid for thinking- I don’t even know what I was thinking, I just-” Unable to find the right words, you just let out a noise of frustration.

He must hate me, is what you want to say, but somehow you don’t think Felix would react well to that.

“Y/n,” Felix says hesitantly. “How about I go talk to Channie-hyung. You know how he gets all stuck in his head sometimes. I don’t know what happened, but I really don’t think that he blames you for any of it.”

“I- okay. Thanks Felix.”

You’re feeling more calm after talking to Felix, probably a mixture of his soothing presence and the chemicals that you must have released while you cried. When you go to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and find that the growing stack of dishes that have built up during the boys’ days off has turned into a mountain. Wanting to keep yourself busy, you fill the sink with warm soapy water and start to wash them.

When the front door opens, you immediately tense up, but continue cleaning. One pair of footsteps heads directly to the hallway that leads to all the bedrooms, the other approaches you slowly.

Chan doesn’t say anything, just hugs you from behind.

“Chan-” you start to say.

“I’m sorry,” he says, voice muffled from where his cheek is pressed tightly against your head. “I should have talked to you, explained things. I thought I needed time to calm down, cool off. I was mad. I was so mad. Actually, I still am. But never at you. I just… I can’t believe they treated you like that.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not! I didn’t stand up for you, I should have-”

“It’s okay,” you repeat. “I’m used to it.”

“What they said-” Chan cuts himself off mid-sentence. “What happened to your neck? Are you having a reaction to something?”

“It’s nothing,” you say stiffly.

“What- no, it looks like hives, are there more?” He turns his attention to your arms. You’re wearing gloves to wash the dishes, but since you had rolled up your sleeves to prevent them from getting wet, the few bumps that have formed on your forearms are visible. He yanks up your shirt sleeves, revealing even more of them. They’re an angry red and fiercely itchy, although you’ve done a good job of not touching them so far.

“Y/n, these look- they look really bad. Do you know if you’re allergic to anything? Is it something you ate or is there something else? They weren’t there earlier. Is there medicine that we need to get for you?” Chan’s clearly distressed, tugging off your gloves and examining your hands. You wrest them away, already knowing what he’s going to find.

“It was the crab,” you say, resigned. “I’m allergic to shellfish. It’s okay, it usually goes away on its own by the next day. It’ll probably be even faster now with the soulmate bond.”

“And you still ate it? Why didn’t you say something?”

“What was I supposed to say? You think she cares? I’ve been allergic my whole life and it’s never made a difference. I had to eat what I was given, no excuses.”

“It’s not an excuse-”

“I know!” you exclaim. Both you and Chan fall silent for a moment. “I know. It’s just the way things are in my family. My eomoni just wants what’s best for me even if her… way of showing it isn’t always something I understand.”

“Best for you-”

“Chan-oppa, just- I know we’re not going to agree with this, maybe ever. I know our relationship looks bad. But as much as I hate my eomoni for how controlling, how critical she’s always been, I love her too. In some weird way. As much as I hate the way my abeoji and Siwon-oppa don’t interfere, I understand and I love them.”

“I think I’m just upset, Y/n,” Chan says quietly. “I’m just… upset that you have to go through that. Upset that they don’t treat you the way you should be treated. You deserve more than that. More than them.”

“Well,” you say, wiping away tears that you had barely noticed forming. “It’s okay. Like I said, I’m used to it. There’s nothing I can do."

Chan doesn’t say anything in response. You both know that it’s not okay, that even after all these years, you’re not used to it. There’s nothing that Chan can do or say to fix things and make it better. Instead, he just holds you closer.

Somehow, that’s enough.

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visit-new-york · 1 year

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New York City

New York tumblr more photos here New York City, often simply referred to as NYC, is one of the most iconic and vibrant cities in the world. Located in the northeastern part of the United States, it is situated on the southeastern tip of the state of New York. With a population of over 8 million residents within the city limits and over 20 million in the greater metropolitan area, it is the most populous city in the United States.

Geography and Layout: New York City is composed of five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. The city is located on a series of islands and connected by bridges and tunnels. Manhattan, the heart of the city, is where many of its most famous landmarks are located. It is divided into several neighborhoods, each with its own distinct character and atmosphere. The city is known for its impressive skyline, dominated by iconic skyscrapers like the Empire State Building, One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower), and the Chrysler Building.

Culture and Diversity: One of New York City's defining characteristics is its incredible diversity. People from all over the world have made the city their home, resulting in a rich tapestry of cultures, languages, cuisines, and traditions. This diversity is celebrated through various cultural events, festivals, and neighborhoods that showcase the heritage of different communities.

The city's cultural scene is unparalleled, with world-class museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the American Museum of Natural History. Broadway, located in the Theater District of Manhattan, is synonymous with American theater and is famous for its top-tier productions.

Economy and Business: New York City is a global economic powerhouse. Its financial district, centered around Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, is home to some of the world's largest and most influential financial institutions. The city's economy is incredibly diverse, encompassing finance, media, technology, fashion, tourism, and more.

Education and Research: The city boasts some of the world's most prestigious universities, including Columbia University, New York University (NYU), and The City University of New York (CUNY) system. These institutions contribute to the city's reputation as a hub for research, innovation, and intellectual exchange.

Cuisine and Culinary Scene: New York City is a culinary melting pot, offering an array of dining options that reflect its multicultural makeup. From street food carts offering hot dogs and pretzels to high-end restaurants serving international cuisines, the city caters to all tastes and budgets. Iconic foods like New York-style pizza, bagels, and deli sandwiches are part of the city's culinary fabric.

Transportation: The city's extensive public transportation system, which includes the subway, buses, and ferries, is a crucial part of daily life for millions of residents and visitors. The yellow taxi cabs are also an iconic symbol of the city's transportation.

Landmarks and Attractions: New York City is home to an impressive array of landmarks and attractions. Some of the must-visit places include:

Times Square: A bustling commercial and entertainment hub known for its bright lights, theaters, and New Year's Eve celebrations.

Central Park: An expansive green oasis in the heart of Manhattan, offering a retreat from the urban hustle and bustle.

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island: Iconic symbols of American freedom and immigration history.

Brooklyn Bridge: A historic suspension bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn, offering stunning views of the city skyline.

Rockefeller Center: A complex of commercial buildings, famous for its ice-skating rink and the Top of the Rock observation deck.

The High Line: A unique elevated park built on a former railway track, offering a serene escape above the city streets.

Museums and Art Galleries: In addition to the aforementioned museums, NYC is home to the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and more.

Challenges and Opportunities: Despite its allure, New York City also faces challenges such as high living costs, traffic congestion, and issues related to affordable housing. The city has shown resilience in the face of challenges, and initiatives are continually being developed to address these concerns and create a more equitable and sustainable future.

In summary, New York City is a dynamic and multifaceted metropolis that captivates visitors and residents alike with its cultural richness, economic vitality, and unparalleled energy. Its ability to constantly reinvent itself while honoring its history makes it a truly remarkable and enduring global city.

#New York City #new york #newyork #New-York #nyc #NY #Manhattan #urban #city #USA #United States #buildings #travel #journey #outdoors #street #architecture #visit-new-york.tumblr.com

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mayakern · 7 months

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Youre new product shots of the skirts are giving me such like. Classic painting energy. Y'all are stunning :)

aw haha thank you ☺️ we’ve worked really hard to improve our photo quality. like, these pictures were taken just a year apart

this photo? this is from april of this year

look how far we’ve come!!

same “model” (ie me) in all shots

#ask #store #product photography #fashion photography

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cressthebest · 15 days

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AHHHHHHHHHHHH

while packing everything to move out my dorm, i had The Mischief Productions short films playing in the background. i was watching them all (again) and i am (once again) not okay

-A Night’s Tale (jegulus) is probably my favorite so far just because of the quality and also length. absolutely stunning

-THE WOLFSTAR ONE AHHHHH. it perfectly captures their volatile dynamic. remus and sirius DO argue and they DO fight, but they also mean the world to each other and wouldn’t trade a thing to have the other back safe. i love the way it displays their after school domesticity

-THE EVANS SISTERS RAAAAHHH. god, i love how it opens with james not able to use a phone. he’s so precious 😭😭 but also like, lily and petunia’s entire dynamic. you can see how hesitant both of them are to get close to the other. you can tell how badly they both want the other to care, but is too scared of getting close and getting hurt. ughhh that one was fantastic

-OMG OMG OMG i’ve watched the jily “The Lasg Christmas” one like eighteen times. it’s ridiculous how much i love it. omg everything from james and lily’s dynamic with each other, to seeing their little house, to knowing that harry is asleep in the room over. AHHHH. the way that LILY is the one who first splashes flour in james’ face to cause trouble. they belong with each other omg. AND WHEN PETER SHOWED UP HOLY SHIT I WAS NOT OKAY. god, they’re all besties. it shows that lily cared deeply for peter too. they were close. and the way they all sang along to queen, TOP TIER SHIT RIGHT THERE! you can see james-physical affection is how i show my love-potter was interacting with peter. AND THEN the gift exchange. i was not okay with the snow globe’s light going out. i think i cried all the way up until my eleventh or so watch of it. the snow globe going out absolutely destroys me. until the jegulus one came out, this one was my favorite. and quite honestly, i recommend watching this one more than watching the jegulus one, simply because i view this as heartbreaking canon, and the jegulus one is fanfic fluff.

-DORLENE MY BELOVED DORLENE MY BELOVED OMG. okay like so i’m at a loss for words over how fucking gorgeous this film is. dorcas and marlene are quite literally some of the prettiest people i’ve ever seen in my life. also, the scenery and the beautiful outside date they’re having <3 they had strawberries! and chess! and marlene was taking photos of dorcas! and they giggled and held each other!! AND THEY KISSED!! and they were in love! (and we’re gonna ignore marlene’s stresses about the war. cause yikes, i like to pretend that they all make it out okay)

1000/10 highly recommended any and everyone go and watch their short films. i view it as real cinema and THESE are my comfort films.

#marauders #regulus black #james potter #jegulus #mwpp era #sirius black #remus lupin #wolfstar #evans sisters #lily evans #petunia dursley #jily #peter pettigrew #dorlene #dorcas meadowes #marlene mckinnon #the mischief productions #short film

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hwatermelons · 10 months

Text

seonghwa ⋆ salt water

⋆ i raise you 1 hwa to soothe your worries about your appearance. plus a beach date, turtles, and cuddling in your room ^^ ⋆ 1.0k words ⋆ bf!seonghwa x gn!reader ⋆ fluff/comfort/a little angst ⋆ warnings: unspecified body/facial image insecurities (tried to make it as general as possible). imagining other people's negative thoughts about the way you look. one kiss in public mentioned. in private, some chaste kisses on the lips and more on your face. mentions that the reader wore a modest swimsuit (up to the reader's definition of modest). ⋆ a/n: to all my gorgeous girls, beautiful boys, and enby hotties who aren't feeling the best about their appearance right this moment. me too. but you're more than your packaging, you're a whole gift. i don't take second opinions, and neither does seonghwa >:) ⋆ now playing: <the marías - cariño>

╭──────────────────────────.★..─╮ there's no better feeling than seonghwa's fingertips on your scalp as he delicately combs an organic styling gel through your hair, still damp from the shower. you lay on your shared bed with your head in his lap while scrolling through the photos of today's beach date. you two had had a lot of fun splashing around in the water, eating colorful ice cream and taking pictures. but most importantly, you'd felt confident in your own skin for a change. desirable, even. like you were good enough to stand next to seonghwa and he'd feel proud of being with you.

but these pictures...you couldn't believe you'd walked around the whole day, in that outfit, letting yourself look like that in public. it made you feel sorry for your boyfriend. how could he be seen with someone who so distinctly contrasted him like this? you weren't sure if you were imagining it, but in retrospect, maybe you were too distracted to hear the whispers of the other people at the beach. whispers that people like you shouldn't bother wearing something as bold as a swimsuit, even if it could be considered modest for one. that the man next to you was gorgeous, and was he single? and when he held your face in his hands and kissed you, you knew that all that was on their minds, and all you could think about now, was that he could do so much better.

"oh, my angel, come here." seonghwa's voice breaks through the fog of your thoughts, and you realize too late that you've said them aloud. he pulls you into a sitting position in his lap and rests his chin on your shoulder, your back to his chest. his hand continues to run through your hair, coating each strand with the product. "i don't want you to believe for one second that i could choose anyone over you," he says, closing his eyes and filling his lungs with the scent of your conditioner. "i couldn't settle for anything less."

seonghwa gently turns your head towards him and presses a kiss on the tip of your nose, his eyes twinkling at the flush rising to your cheeks. "every part of you is so beautiful," he whispers, letting his eyes roam across your face in awe, leaving no square inch neglected. "each wrinkle that appears when you smile, every hair on your skin. the way both of your hands disappear inside mine. but i especially love your ears--" he pauses to peck at the now bright red one closest to him, "--they're so expressive." pleased with himself, he leans back to admire his handiwork: the blushing mess he turned you into in under a minute.

still, you can't dismiss the doubt buried deep in your mind. even though seonghwa would never lie to you, this isn't just something you can believe that easily. despite years of your friends telling you that you looked absolutely stunning in your sweatpants and hoodies and months of your boyfriend being utterly unable to take his eyes off you, you never seemed to be able to view yourself that way. said boyfriend, however, isn't done.

"my favorite part of the day," he continues while smoothing the gel through your hair, "is just before i fall asleep. because i love seeing the worry on your face gradually be replaced by the peaceful expression you get when you rest. and each morning when i wake up to your adorable messy hair tickling my chin, i'm reminded of how grateful i am to be a part of your life." he buries his face into your neck and playfully nuzzles you, his nose tickling right below your ear. you have to stifle your laughter despite yourself.

"and beyond that, you're not just enough for me." your lifeline lifts his head to take in the full view of your face, before locking eyes with you. you almost look away at the sudden intensity of his gaze, but manage to hold on. "you're more than i've ever dreamed of, and you make every single day better just by being here with me. and it breaks my heart that you don't feel proud of yourself for that."

placing his clean hand over your own that's holding the phone, he scrolls to a picture he took of you smiling at an approaching sea turtle. it's a candid photo, and you remember that it was moments before you noticed him with your phone's camera pointed at you, safe in its waterproof sheath. by reflex, you'd shoved a mighty amount of seawater at the offending lenses. shrieking and laughing, seonghwa had half-run, half-swam back to shore, tossed your phone in its protective covering into your beach bag, and promptly returned to kick up a tidal wave into your face in retaliation. your lips naturally curve up at the memory.

"do you see that smile?" he points to the photo, then pokes your cheek when he sees the expression mirrored on your face. "be careful with it, because it's powerful. it can light up the darkest corners of the world and turn anyone's stressful day around in a second. trust me, i know firsthand." you blush again as seonghwa wipes away the last of the gel into his own drying hair and cups your face in his palms. your eyes slide closed, relaxing into his touch and breathing in the fresh scent of the product on his hands. "and as the one responsible for that smile, it hurts so much to see someone take it away. especially when it's someone who doesn't deserve to witness it in the first place." he kisses each of your eyelids, then your cheekbones, then after a nod from you, he presses a sweet kiss on your lips.

"and i will always, always be proud of being yours," he whispers against the upturned corners of your mouth.

╰─..★.──────────────────────────╯

⋆ likes/reblogs appreciated ⋆ do not repost ⋆ taglist: @mazeinthemiroh