#it was so fun to talk about matt and van for once
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Oooh did you get sent Johnny and Xixi yet?
If you have then EITHER 5 more for them bc I'm sure you have infinite amounts :3
Or some for Van & Matt :)
P.S. saw the bangs they are BANGING :D
oh Chase, you know exactly how to enable me. here’s some Van and Matt scenarios with even more Johnny and Xixi because I do indeed have an infinite amount 🫶🏻 (and thank you so, so, so much for complimenting the bangs!)
Van and Matt
- Van and Matt actually crossed paths once or twice pre-SRTT. After Van's sudden move to Steelport, she was really just doing whatever she wanted and wreaking havoc. I doubt she didn't show up on Matt's radar at least once and I also just feel like they would totally have passed each other unknowingly on the street.
- When they met, I genuinely think that Matt was shocked at how chill Van was with him (after they bring him into the fold, of course. there's a lot of context missing here) especially compared to the rest of the Saints. She just treated him with like, basic decency and he immediately latched on to her. Vanessa was his voice within the Saints. Should an issue arise, they won't listen to him but they'll always listen to Van.
- For some reason, whenever I think about Matt and Van, I imagine them walking around the city at night. Not doing much-not doing anything really. Just them, the comfort of each other's presence, and the moon. I think that maybe these late night walks are what really brought them close as friends and brought them even closer as romantic partners years later.
- I have said it before but Van is 1,000 times more chronically online than Matt. Like, some mornings he'll wake up and she's shoving some obscure Reddit thread in his face or explaining the most pointless Twitter beef. She's on the internet like she has the time and Matt has to remind her every so often that she, in fact, does not have all the time in the world to engross herself in internet niches.
- Vanessa genuinely finds herself missing Matt when he goes off to do his own thing after SRTT and its almost sad because she feels that she can't confide in anyone about these feelings. They all hate him anyway, what good is that gonna do her? So she just sort of doesn't let herself miss him. She "lives and lets live" as she puts it. Of course, all those buried feelings come flooding back in years later when he appears in Steelport once again.
Xixi and Johnny
- I know for a fact I mentioned this once in tags somewhere but: Xixi does not experience love in a very healthy way. Its all pain and violence with her, so of course she would be drawn to someone who is the very personification of those two things. He's the only one that really gets it. The only one who can really stand her without it hurting him back all that much.
- I see so much casual touching in their day-to-day lives. Her hand on his shoulder, him playing with a couple strands of he hair. There's just something so intimate about it. Something that I think fits them very well. No matter the iteration or timing of their relationship, there is always that comfort. There is always that safety.
- Johnny gave Xixi one of his chains. Way back in 2006 and it could have been an old one or straight off his neck but it was something of his that she now carries around with her. She left him in that parking lot with it on, got on that boat with it on and 5 years later, in that courthouse, she saves him with it on.
- When they start living together post-SR2 (without any labels or telling anyone at all), there's just this sense of domesticity. They share a home, a bed together, and still they refuse to cross that line again. To ruin what they've built. There's immense self control and there is also the inner turmoil within themselves to throw caution to the wind every time they are alone together.
- Johnny and Xixi are actually not on very good terms when he comes back post-SRTT. He feels almost abandoned by her, sort of betrayed by the fact that she built up an entire life separately from him while he lay in a hospital nearly dying for months. And because Xixi is Xixi, she returns all the passive aggression, all the dirty looks. It takes them a while for them to just be okay with each other again but when it happens, that's it. They're in it and they're in it for good.
#snail mail#masschase#saints row#it was so fun to talk about matt and van for once#but of course i had to balance it out with even *more* johnny and xixi lmaoo#some of these are just headcanons and not scenarios. rip.#boss posting#ship: van x matt#ship: xixi x johnny
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[request] reader has been flirting with nick for a while but nick just thinks he is a straight guy who is being nice till someone finally tells nick you know he‘s gay and flirting with you right
He likes me?
Summary: Nick tells his brothers about you confusing him, they open his eyes and tell him you like him, so he goes to your house to confess his feelings
Tw: cursing.
Nicks pov.
"AHHHHH!" I let out a scream as I close the door behind me.
"What the fuck, dude?" Chris and Matt are on the kitchen waiting for me.
"Is that kid again? the one you have been obsessed for a while?" Matt asks as he sips on his can.
"I'm not obsessed, and yes, we went out." they give a look that reads and? "AND I'M CONFUSED, I DONT KNOW IF HE LIKES ME OR IS JUST NICE." I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and crack it open.
"Okay, tell us what has happened that makes you feel that way" Matt sits on the counter and looks at me. Chris nods, leaning on the counter with a can of Pepsi on his hand.
"Well...
your pov:
"Really? did Madi not tell you that she had to cancel? it will just be the two of us tonight." I say as we walk into the cinema. Madi did not have to cancel, it was a mini plan we had for me and Nick to spend some time alone.
"That’s all right, we haven’t spent time alone in a while."
"Yeah, it will be great, plus I already bought all your favorite snack." I see Nicks cheeks get a bit pink.
"Thank you, That’s so sweet."
Nick pov:
"That was like the first time I was like, is this kid trying to flirt with me? because Madi never, NEVER, cancels on me at the last minute. Plus, I already bought all your favorite snacks, come one."
"Yeah, I have done the oh our friend had to cancel once." said Chris.
"Well, what else?"
"Yeah, yeah. The same day, during the movie..."
your pov:
"Shit, sorry." I whisper because I bumped Nicks arm, he shakes it off, but doesn’t move the arm from the arm rest, I don’t either.
when the movie ends and we walk out talking about our favorite parts, least favorite, plot twist and more. "It's cold out here." I say and laugh a bit.
"Kind of. Wait, were is your jacket? did you forget it again?"
I shrug my shoulders and blush a bit.
"You are so forgetful. You'll forget your big ass head if I wasn’t attached to your head." He says as he takes his jacket off and hands it to me. I put it on, trying to ignore the hot on my cheeks.
Nicks pov.
"LIKE WHAT? I KNOW he doesn't forget his jacket or hoodie or whatever, he does it on purpose, because when he hands them back, they smell like HIM."
"Damn."
"Yeah. And once...
Your pov
"Let's go Nick, this store has good clothes. Come see." he rolls his eyes, but I grab his hand and pull him into the store. "See? they have new clothes."
As we walk on the store, I see Nick looking at a few t-shirts. I walk besides him and put my head on his shoulder.
"I think those would look good on you."
Nick pov
"LIKE, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT?" I take a chug of water and then cross my arms.
"Dude, I mean, he is flirting with you. We have seen him." Matt says.
"What do you mean you have seen him?"
"Yeah, the time we went to pick you up and...
your pov
We were outside the arcade. One of out "hang outs" I wish I could call it a date out loud.
"I think Matt is nearby. I don’t see the van..." He looks around the parking lot.
"Yeah, me neither. Uh, Nick." He turs around and looks at me, I walk closer to him but behind him I see Matt and Chris approaching with smoothies in hand. Shit, I lost my chance. "I had fun today." I hug him and he hugs me back.
"Me too, this place is amazing. Again, thank you for the plush you won for me."
"Oh, it was nothing.
Nick pov.
"Like come on, he wanted to kiss you." Chris scoffs.
"He did NOT."
"He DID, even I saw it. He didn’t because he saw us behind you." Matt says rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, and what about that time the 4 of us went out to take you pictures, and he was Nick, your outfit is amazing and Nick, you look so good. COME ON KID, get the hint." Chris said.
"Yeah, I will know it was flirting if he was gay or bisexual or I don’t know. But he is straight." I cross my arms over my chest.
"WHAT? who told you that?" Matt raises and eyebrow.
"No one... I assumed."
"YOU ASSUMED?" Chris yells. "God, we are doomed. He likes BOYS, for Christ’s sake kid, he likes Pedro Pascal. What kind of straight boy posts edits of Pedro Pascal on their close friends?"
"I-... shit, I’m an idiot, aren’t I?" I cover my face with my hands I let out a loud groan.
"The most idiotic person on earth." Matt says. "It took me listening two of your 'I don’t know if he is flirting or not' stories to realize he is into you."
"Shit. Shit. FUCK! I'm going to call him. No, I'm going to his house. Right now. Matt. Turn on the van."
"Don't you think this is so sudden?"
"No, like you said, I have been obsessed with this kid for a while. Take me to this fine mans house to confess my feelings for him."
"Okay, whatever. Chris, you coming?’’
‘’Of course. I won’t miss this moment for anything.’’
Your pov.
I don’t know if I should keep trying, Nick doesn’t seem to realize I like him, or maybe he does and just doesn’t feel the same way. Should I stop? This sucks.
As I was getting ready for bed, I hear the house doorbell ring. I go to see who it was, and I see Nick standing outside my house with a bouquet of flowers and a plushie. What the actual fuck? I open the door and look at him stranged.
‘’IS everything okay?’’ I say when I opened the door.
‘’I’m so sorry I’m here at this hour, I know we just hang out, but I was talking with my brothers and I realized how dumb I am. So, I’ll stop being dumb and ask you now, can I be your boyfriend?’’ he was red, his face was burning and mine did the same, I was dumbfounded.
‘’Wh- YES! Yes, of course. God, I thought this will never happen.’’ I hug him and he hugs me back.
‘’I bought these things on target, I hope you liked them, I didn’t want to come here empty handed.’’ He kisses my cheek and I laugh.
‘’I love it, It’s beautiful.’’
‘’Okay you two, let’s go get some food and celebrate that you are FINALY together.’’ Chris screams from the passenger sit. ‘’God, you won’t BELIEVE how much he talks about you.’’
‘’Chris SHUT UP.’’ Nick yells at him all blushed up.
‘’I want to listen to those stories.’’
‘’Please don’t.’’ Nick covers his face and I smile looking down at the flowers and teddy bear in my arms.
#nick sturniolo x reader#nick sturniolo x you#nick sturniolo x male reader#sturniolo triplets x reader
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HELP ME OUT? PT 4
pt 1 p2 pt3 pt4 pt5 pt 6 pt7 pt8
chris sturniolo x fem reader
pink- reader
orange- chris
blue- matt
purple- nick
summary: chris is falling behind in english. he knows he has to get in grade in check before his big lacrosse game, or else coach will bench him. so what better idea than to reach out to the smart girl who sits in front of him in class? after all, it's just a little help... right?
a/n: i did little to no research on lacrosse for this. please don’t judge me 😭
readers pov
the first bell rang through my ears and i walk down the crowded hall to my locker. a group of freshmen boys were laughing obnoxiously. blissfully unaware of me standing there, waiting for a chance to get in my locker. i muttered a few ‘excuse me’s’. none of which they heard.
“move.” i hear a voice behind me. the flock of boys hurrying away.
i turn around and see chris standing there, watching as the boys disappear down the hall. after a few seconds, he looks back down at me. the blue eyes that i’ve been craving to catch since the second he left my house last night. i was sure that the shade of blue was my new favorite color.
“thanks.” i smile.
“no problem. they’re on the jv lacrosse team. they’re painfully oblivious to their surroundings.” he laughs. god i loved that laugh.
“this is an every day occurrence” i say, quickly putting in my combo and opening my locker.
“it won’t happen anymore.” my face grows hot again. i knew for sure my face had just changed 7 shades redder.
“oh my hero!” i clutch my chest jokingly.
“yeah yeah. speaking of lacrosse, are you coming to the game friday?” he asks as i grab my books from my locker.
“i thought you said your big game was next friday?” i furrow my brows.
“well yeah. the big game is next friday. but there’s also a game this friday.” he grabs my books from me, placing them under his arm. he did it like it was second nature.
“oh. i wasn’t really planning on going, no” i reply. trying to act cool. shutting my locker door slowly.
“why not?”
“i don’t understand lacrosse. and i don’t really even know anybody who plays. well, besides you obviously” we start walking down the hallway to english. so close that our arms occasionally brush against each other as we step.
“aw look who needs a tutor now.” he teases. bumping into me gently.
“oh hush.” i roll my eyes. a smile playing at my lips.
“you should come.” he suggests.
“i don’t know.” i respond. looking down at my shoes.
“please” he begs. “for me?”
i swore i felt my heart do a flip in my chest. “fine.” i try masking my excitement. he grind. chris sturniolo wanted me to come watch him play lacrosse.
“sick. how about today instead of you teaching me english, i teach you some lacrosse, help you out for once, yeah?” he grins. he makes it almost impossible to say no.
“chris you need to be studying for this test.” i try reasoning with him. honestly, i just wanted to listen to him talk more.
“come on y/n. let’s take a break from the books today and have fun” we enter our classroom. taking our seats. he places my books down on my desk. but instead of taking his usual seat behind me. he sits down right next to me.
“okay fine.” i cave.
“hell yeah. i’ll come pick you up after practice. is that cool?” he smiles.
“that’s cool.” i smile back at him.
chris pov
as soon as practice ended i i couldn’t get in the van fast enough.
“we’re picking up y/n” i tell matt as soon as he gets in.
“what? since when? i thought i was dropping you off at her house?” he questions, throwing his year in the back.
“we’re gonna hang out at our house tonight. i’m gonna teach her the basics of lacrosse. she’s coming to the game friday.” i explain.
he wiggles his eyebrows at me. he doesn’t say anything, but i know exactly what he’s thinking.
“matt it’s not like that. we’re just friends.” which wasn’t a lie. we were just friends. i just so happened to think about her every second since he sat a foot in front of me rambling on and on about shakespeare and how beautiful his work is. she was a whole hell of a lot smarter than me. i liked it. i admired her for her intelligence. it’s like she knew everything. the one thing she didn’t know? i was falling for her. scarily fast.
we arrive at y/ns house. i get out of the van and walk up to her front door. knocking a few times. she opens the door.
“hi.” a big smile plastered across her face. i loved when she smiled. the way her eyes squinted. the way her cheeks looked so full. the kind that grandmas squeeze and pinch and tell you about how adorable you are.
“hey.” i smile back at her.
we walk out to the van. i open the door for her and climb in behind her. sitting in the seat next to her rather than the passenger seat. the seat i claimed as my own since the second matt got his license. the seat i never left. just so she didn’t feel lonely. and also because i just wanted to be close to her. her sweet perfume filled my nose. it was like a warm vanilla. like fresh baked cookies. sweet.
the drive to my house was fairly quiet. just meaningless small talk like ‘how are you’ ‘good. you?’. the works. when the car stops and matt throws it in park. i get out. holding the door open for her again. i go around to the trunk and grab my duffel bag and all my lacrosse gear and lead her out to my backyard.
“here. put this on.” i hand her my helmet.
“what?” she blurts out.
“put it on.” i gesture down at the helmet. making motions with my hands, acting like i was putting a helmet on myself.
“i thought you were just gonna tell me about lacrosse?” she giggles. my helmet still in her hands.
“oh we’re playing. i want you to get the full experience. i’m showing you how it’s done.” i smirk.
i walk closer to her, taking the helmet from her hands. i gently brush her hair out of her face and slide the helmet on over her head. she doesn’t say anything. she just looks up at me. her cheeks turning bright pink. i carefully strap up the chin strap. adjusting it accordingly. once i get it all sorted out, we just stare at each other. not saying a word. we didn’t need to.
i hand her my stick. “here’s this too.”
she takes the stick from my hands. our finger tips grazing each other. it felt like electricity shooting down my spine.
something about her being in my lacrosse gear made me feel on top of the world. i couldn’t stop smiling at her.
“lookin good y/l/n” i try to sound as casual as possible.
“thanks.” she peers up at me through the cross bars on the helmet. a smile pulling at the corners of her lips.
“so basically the object of the game is well, scoring more points than the other guys.” i explained half assed. i couldn’t explain things with the same flow as she could.
she laughs at my bluntness “kinda just like every other sport?”
“besides golf.” i retort.
“besides golf.” she repeats.
“you can use your stick to catch and pass and stuff. and you can use it to get the ball away from the other team.” she looks at me intently. taking in everything i was saying.
“here. catch this” i toss a ball to her.
she catches the ball with her hands. i laugh and roll my eyes. “with the stick, goof.”
“oh right” she laughs and tosses the ball back to me.
i throw the ball to her again. she attempts to catch it, but misses. earning a sigh of defeat.
“you’re good you got this.” i encourage her. i toss her the ball again and she catches it.
“WOOHOO” i cheer. she chuckles and tosses the back back to me.
“better watch out christopher. i’m coming for your spot.” she taunts.
“we’ll see about that. how about you try scoring a goal? here’s let’s say the goal is from this tree to uhh roughly about here” i walk from the tree to about a half way marking before the next tree. sticking a twig in the ground to mark our makeshift goal.
“if it’s like, a foot above my head it doesn’t count.” i explain.
“oh don’t even worry. i got this in the bag” she says confidently.
“alright im gonna like, guard you, so i’ll kinda have to get all up in your bubble. unless you don’t want me to then i-“
“it’s fine chris” she cuts me off. i smile at her.
“alright. here’s this” i place the ball in the net of the stick “okay. play on three. 1. 2. 3!”
she runs towards the goal. i move in front of her, blocking her. her chest pressed against mine as she tries pushing past me. she’s laughing. she was enjoying herself. she was enjoying herself and having fun with me.
she launches the ball towards the goal we made. i reach up with matt’s stick, sort of purposefully missing the ball. it fell through our goal.
“YEAH!” she cheers. smiling ear to ear.
“SHE SHOOTS AND SHE SCORES!” i yell.
“told you i was coming for your spot.” she teases.
“oh yeah?”
“yep. your coach is gonna see my skill and be begging me to join the team.” she states, matter of factually.
“that’s if i don’t get you first” i grin. without warning i pick her up, hoisting her over my shoulder and spinning us around.
“chris put me down!” she giggles, smacking at my back.
“what’s the magic word?” i smirk.
“please!” she laughs.
“atta girl.”
i place her back down onto the ground. our bodies still close to each other. she takes my helmet off slowly and looks up at me. her hair laid messily in her eyes. i brush it behind her ears softly. my hand resting on the side of her cheek. a comfortable silence fills the air around us. i’m surprised you couldn’t hear my heart practically beating out of my chest. she looked she so perfect. she was effortlessly beautiful. the way the sun illuminated her gorgeous y/e/c eyes was enchanting. her freckles became more visible in the gleam of the bright sun that was setting. my eyes flicker down from her eyes and down her her plump pick lips, then back up again. she did the same. her lips felt like a magnetic field that was pulling me in. i began to lean down, slowly.
our lips were still a few good inches away from each other when nick walked outside. causing the both of us to whip our heads to the side.
“oh shit am i interrupting something?” nick throws his hands up, taking a few steps back.
“uh no.” i clear my throat. “i was just uh teaching y/n how to play lacrosse”
“oh… right” nick nods his head slowly and walks back inside.
i couldn’t wrap my head around what just happened. did we almost just kiss?
“it’s getting kinda late. i should probably get going home.” y/n breaks the awkward silence that had fallen between us.
“i’ll walk you home. it’s only a few blocks.”
“oh you don’t have to do that.” she hands me back my helmet and i toss it into my bag.
“yes i do. you aren’t walking home alone.” i insist.
“okay. thank you.” she smiles.
as we head down the sidewalk, we don’t talk much. just random facts about each other. middle names, what our siblings are like, nothing too entirely special. but i paid attention to each detail of everything she told me like it was something sacred. my heart is still racing from the thought that i almost knew what it felt like to have her lips on mine.
as her house comes into sight, i feel a bit disappointed. no amount of time i spent with her ever felt long enough. i walk her up the stairs to her front door.
“thanks for walking me home.” she smiles slightly, fidgeting with her bracelets.
“no problem. anytime.”
“i had a lot of fun today. i needed that.” she smiles up at me. the porch light tracing over her delicate features perfectly. i wish i could take a picture of this moment with my mind. she truly was the most beautiful girl i had ever seen.
“i had a lot of fun too.” i admit.
before i can say anything else, she places a quick peck on my right cheek. i was instantly flustered.
“goodnight christopher owen.” she smiles and opens her door, walking inside without another word.
i stand there stunned. her lips were soft, just like i had imagined.
that’s a feeling i could definitely get used to.
a/n: HOPE YALL LIKE THIS!! i can’t decide if i like this or not. i started writing it and everything just kinda flowed out of me 😭 none of this was really planned tbh. kinda just made it up as i went.
taglist: @rac00ns-are-c00l4 @chrissturnioloswifesblog @pepsiimaxx @honestlybabymiracle @luvmxtt
#chris sturniolo#chris sturniolo x reader#matt sturniolo#matt sturniolo x reader#nick sturniolo#sturniolo#sturniolo triplets#sturniolo triplets x reader#chrissturnioloxreader#christopher sturniolo#space camp wellness#matthew sturniolo#nicolas sturniolo#fresh love#cut the camera podcast
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Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews: Two very different personalities leading the Maple Leafs
By Jonas Siegel | Feb 6, 2023 | The Athletic
Matt Martin played alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner during their first two seasons in the NHL.
What he quickly came to realize about the two talented players at the forefront of the Maple Leafs: “They’re two very different personalities,” Martin said in an interview last spring.
“When people would ask me about the two of them, I’m like, ‘Mitchy’s your fun-loving, always happy, always wanting to be around, always a smile on his smile, just loves to play the game, loves to be a part of it, loves to be with the guys.’
“And Matthews,” he added, “is just power-hungry. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. Like, if he scores a goal, he smells blood and he’s coming for three or four. That’s just kinda who he is. He’s just got a completely different demeanour than Mitchy. And I think those two personalities really play well off each other, especially when you think about where Matthews is the elite goalscorer and Mitchy is the elite playmaker. So you have the fun-loving personality playmaker and the elite goalscorer who kinda has that eat-your-heart-out mentality.”
Matthews and Marner are both 25 and often linked as the Leafs’ two best players — both All Stars in 2023 (Matthews was unable to attend because of injury.) But as Martin and other current and former teammates have observed, they couldn’t be more different as people.
The ‘bubbly’ one
Chatty, energetic, and a social butterfly who wants to be involved in everything. That’s Marner.
“He thinks it’s crazy we’re not going for lunch today,” Morgan Rielly said. “I can’t (do lunch today). He thinks that’s bananas.”
Marner is outgoing that way.
After he took his splashy All-Star weekend skates for a spin at practice last week, Marner excitedly showed them off to teammates. “Mark-o!” he yelled across the dressing room to veteran Mark Giordano. “Come see these things.”
Moments later, Marner pulled David Kämpf in to have a look.
“He wants to know what everybody is doing,” Rielly said. “He wants to make jokes about everybody, have everybody make jokes about him, and be very involved.”
James van Riemsdyk, another former teammate, put it this way: “Mitch is a bubbly person in general and I don’t think a lot of people would describe Auston that way, from the outside looking in.”
“(Mitch) is almost like your little brother drinking sodas, eating candies,” van Riemsdyk said.
“Mitch is just very energetic,” Rielly added. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a trainer or a coach or a player, if they’re wearing a bad pair of shoes he’s gonna say something. He feels the need to poke and prod and be involved in the conversation and be involved in the joke.”
Marner leads with his energy. He’s one of the loudest voices in the Leafs’ dressing room.
“You can always hear him chirping back and forth,” Alex Kerfoot said. “He’s just got that youthful, exuberant personality that kinda draws guys in and makes it fun to be around him. He almost has that attitude of a young kid that would do anything — nothing’s really gonna make his day any worse. He’s feeling good and you can see that with the way that he plays on the ice. He just has so much confidence in himself. He’s always having a good time.”
Marner stands by the door to the Leafs dressing room just before they hit the ice for games, giving each and every teammate a pound and word of encouragement. With many, including Matthews, there are even special handshakes.
That outgoing demeanour tends to make its way onto the ice.
Martin and Marner became close pals during Martin’s brief stint in Toronto. Martin once memorably played alongside both Matthews and Marner for a game or two during the Mike Babcock era. Marner will “talk to you and tell you things” on the bench, Martin said.
“The special thing about him is he tries to use your strengths to his advantage, if that makes sense,” Martin explained. “So, he would say, ‘If I have no play, I’m (putting the puck) in your corner and I’m coming and I’m following you up.’ So I would go in and I would hit somebody and then just tap the puck back to him. So he was using your strengths to the advantage of the line.
“And then he’s not just gonna go out there and try to do it all by himself. He wants to get everybody involved.”
Marner’s playmaking talents, Martin said, were fueled by his hockey smarts. “It’s almost like he’s playing a video game,” Martin said.
The ‘laidback’ one
And while, as Rielly observed it, “Mitch kinda operates up here, just at a high frequency,” Matthews was far more laid-back. “He kinda takes it as it goes, he goes with the flow a little bit more,” Rielly said.
Don’t underestimate that Arizona cool, teammates say.
“He definitely knows how good he is – and we all know how good he is,” Michael Bunting said. “He’s not the type of guy that would go around flaunting it. He has that calm, cool (demeanour) about him.”
“And nothing affects what he does day in and day out,” Kerfoot added. “He just tunes it all out and goes about his business and is extremely focused on being the best possible player that he can be.”
Martin said he was struck by that in Matthews’ very first NHL game, when he made history by scoring four goals.
“Most guys would be jumping around,” Martin said. “And he was just – he expected to do it. It wasn’t surprising to him. He wasn’t going crazy on his celebrations.”
Martin said that game, back on Oct. 12 2016, was “one of the more impressive things” he had ever been a part of. “He just buries four and it just seemed like another day’s work for him. In a lot of ways, we were like, ‘Oh my God,’ and he was just like, ‘What’d I do?’”
Martin described Matthews as something like a shark when it came to goal-scoring.
“There was moments in games where he scores a goal and it ends a slump – and a slump for him is like three games or two games, not like my kind of slump – and then you just see this switch goes off,” Martin said. “And then the next shift he’s coming and he gets another big scoring chance, and then it just seems like he’s coming and coming and coming and coming. It’s like as soon as that opportunity presents itself and he starts to feel it, it’s like, good luck stopping him.”
Matthews stepped into the NHL at 19, but seemed a lot older than that from Martin’s standpoint.
“He had leadership qualities the first day he stepped in that locker room,” Martin said. “As a fourth line guy and somebody that plays a completely different game from him, he just always appreciated what I think everybody brought to the table.”
Matthews was first to celebrate a teammate for blocking a shot, for instance. He made it known just how much he appreciated the job of each individual.
Zach Aston-Reese made note recently of Matthews’ encouragement that way.
“When one of your best players, or in this case, the best player on the team, is recognizing the things that other guys bring to the table, that’s the type of stuff that just brings a team closer and closer together.
“It’s maturity. Some guys, it takes a while for them to grow into their skin, to be comfortable being vocal and talking to some veteran players.”
Matthews and Marner both share a fondness for their dogs — Felix for Matthews, Zeus for Marner. Both enjoy hip-hop (Marner also has a fondness for country) and along with Bunting, devoured the Netflix show “You” last summer.
“They have a lot in common obviously with their games,” Rielly said. “They’re both extremely talented. They both like certain things. But ultimately, their personalities are a little bit different.”
#toronto maple leafs#mitch marner#auston matthews#1634#matthews#marner#hockey#hockeymedia#i will not be getting over them and neither will any toronto journalist god bless kfnefkndknfemk#THE HEAD AND THE HEARTTTT THE SOULMATISMMM
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'Traces of You: Part the First'
‘So how’s the passion project?’
I liked Matt. I had liked him from the moment I had seen him at my local bar. I always used to get him mixed up with one of my old party friends. Same curly hair. Same Roman nose. Same quirky demeanor. It was years before I realized he was not my old party friend. Moreso because my party friend had a cool and FEMALE best friend versus his best friend who I could not stand.
Then Matt started to work at the local bar. So I was him more often. And we would talk books, tv shows, and movies. Of course I had mentioned that I was a self-published author. And while he had been fascinated at first, he appeared to be a different beast after the pandemic. At least…he was with me.
Outside of the anthology SHATTERED ILLUSIONS that I had done with my writer’s group, I had not published a book since DARKENED TABULA (Book 3 in the Darkened series) in 2020. That was a looong time for a writer to not have written anything. So perhaps it was Matt ribbing me with that fact.
But that did not make it hurt any less.
Passion project? Really? All the years we have sat at the bar counter and discussed my books, Pierce Brown, and the upcoming Dune, Matt thought that all I was doing was a passion project? Moreso since that was his greeting to me?
Moreso because…I WAS working on something.
But Are You Happy Then?
Well one cannot hate on Ryan Reynolds.
I remember when he was a boy named Billy on the Nickelodeon show Fifteen. But look at him now!! Married to the beautiful Blake Lively. Starred in the old Blade movie series. And of course, became the living embodiment of Deadpool in the X-men Universe.
Speaking of the Blade series, he once did an article in Best Life. And the main topic…happiness. He was just starting Blade: Trinity and thanks to the movie Van Wilder and his gift for comedy…he was slowly on the rise. So naturally a magazine asked his thoughts on happiness.
I remembered that article really resonating with me. So much so that I made a copy of the article (and a colored copy of the cover hehe). And I carried it with me. From Harlem to Little Rock to back to its ‘origin’ in San Diego. I still have the article…old pages and all!! That was how much it had touched me.
Sometimes when I was in between projects, I thought about that article. I took stock. How was I feeling? It was not too long ago (or was it?) that I had written a blog about expand, expand, expand in all ways. (Someplace That is... Else — New Dawn Rising: 3 Lessons to Take into 2021 from... (tumblr.com) ) But just thinking about it…was I?
The world had adjusted to the pandemic a while ago. Corona was still running around. However, it was still possible to have a life. And I could have gotten back in the swing of things myself. Not only did I have research to do for my forthcoming novel DARKENED SOUL: THE BREAKING OF CIRCLES, but I had most of a YA sci-fi novel written. And did I even have to mention Book 4 in my Darkened series. And yet…I had no focus.
Not true. I had focus. It was all on my jobs though. To that, I had to shake my head. I had worked hard to make room for my growing writing dreams and goals. Now I was back to That Guy. That Guy whom mind stayed on work, work, and more work rather than focus on his dreams or even living. That Guy who I thought I had grown out of during the pandemic. Guess not.
Perhaps that was why Matt made fun of me. Passion project? Hobby? Not when was my next book coming out. Just not treating what I hoped to be a growing career as just that…a career.
Was he right?
THE CASE FOR HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES…NEW BOOK, NEW DIRECTION…?
My friend Mr. Moore had always wanted me to write.
He always loved my novels. He also supported me as I worked hard to keep my focus on writing. And while he loved all my books, Mr. Moore always felt like I was just scratching the surface of what I could be writing.
He always felt that as a gay black author from the South, I had a unique perspective that I hardly ever used in my writing. It made me think of so many of my English teachers in school. They all felt that I had the talent. That I had the potential. However, they all gave me a look or a frown when I said I wanted to write horror. One even wrote on one of my short stories. He loved the writing, but felt the story was trite. WOW.
Besides E. Lynn Harris…another author of Arkansas…held the market in that particular arena. And I didn’t think anything else about it.
Then…Mr. Moore succumbed to cancer.
For him, it was January 2020. For me, it was March 2020. As the world dealt with the pandemic. As San Diego went into lockdown, I found out that my closest friend had passed. Not only that, the funeral had come and gone. I could only imagine how his boyfriend felt.
The world got back to normal. It went back. And I…found my mind going back to HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES. I had tried various times to work on it throughout the years. And I would get writer’s block in the exact same spot.
I missed my friend. I never truly got to mourn my friend. He never got to see how successful I could be as an author. I never got to show him how I could write something different. So it was that I started to work on HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES again. Anxiety slowly cropped up as I neared the same spot that I always got to where the writer’s block hit.
Perhaps it was the process of coping with my friend’s death that got the words to flow. Perhaps it was Matt’s voice in my head about my ‘Passion Project.’ Perhaps it was just feeling my emotions close to the surface. Whatever the reason, I arrived at the moment where main character Shaun told the truth. The moment that everything went into writer’s block mode.
And…I kept going past it.
I was shocked the next day when it happened. The way the words kept going as my pencil crafted them out on paper. After all this time, I was going to see what happened next.
Finally.
After writing nothing but supernatural cross-genre stories, I embraced writing something different…the quirky gay novel.
HELLO, I’M MIRROR.
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.
After all, it was not the first time my characters had done it to me.
As I mentioned, I had tried various times to write HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES. And when I’ve been working on it, I had thought about other storylines and subplots to bring into the story. There was one plot device that I had wanted to throw in in a few versions that I’ve written. It involved Shaun making a potential mistake with his close friend Trey. A simple plot twist to up the emotional stakes.
It felt like a great idea to use in this novel. And the steering toward that plot twist gave my novel a firm direction after the initial reveal of Shaun’s confession to potential love interest Eric. Meanwhile, his friend Trey had a subplot involving a closeted up-and-coming rapper. So it was a matter of growing their friendship and exploring it. And then having their lives fall apart at the same time. And then plot twist. Followed by aftermath as well as new building tension.
What I did not expect was how much the aftermath of said plot twist reflected a dilemma in my own personal life. Once my characters started to voice familiar words that I wrote, I found myself pausing. It felt like being slapped in the face, shock striking my body.
I had similar experiences with DARKCHILDE, the second book in my DARKENED series. I also had a lot of moments like this in my novel DARKENED SOUL: JONATHAN’S TALE. And now here I was with HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES.
Mirroring.
Meh. I disliked when my characters’ lives seem to mirror or mimic what was going on in my own personal life. I did not intend for that to occur. And I definitely did not go searching for that to happen. And yet, there it was on the page in front of me.
I put my pencil down. That was not what I was expecting. I wanted my characters to act the way they were supposed to. And I also had my ending planned out.
But this curveball…was not expected. My characters mirroring my life.
And I…didn’t like what I saw.
TO BE CONTINUED…
#writing#ryan reynolds#elynnharris#best life#magazines#pandemic#passion project#mirror#traces#cancer#van wilder#blade trinity
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||Hot Spring vacation!!||
*Waving* Hello, I had a short idea for a drabble, so I hope you like it. It involves a few but you'll see when you read it but I hope you like it. This is a short funny drabble for @demon-blood-youths
||Drabble Summary||
The Class of 1-A has invited the fractions from NYC to Japan once more for a all out vacation. It was a way to say sorry and hope they forgive them for what happened. So right now, they were having fun enjoying the vacation but it seems one person was excited and wanted to have a little fun. Now who could this be? Read to find out.
||Warning||
~Some light nsfw is seen in this drabble
~Beat up will be present (you'll see)
||Guests in this Drabble||
The Class of 1-A is guest stars in this but belongs to the MHA anime and manga. Some of the classmates are muses of mine that I rp with so they will be present.
Yuuka Nakano, Ashley Butterfly, Rex oxford mills, Willow, and Jinx along with their fractions belong to me.
Van ink, Kali, Joshua, Fin, Ethan, Guam, and Matt (How is hanging out with Ryu again but is told this in another area of the hot spring) along with their fractions are in this. They belong to @demon-blood-youths
((Note: This drabble will have grammar mistakes and errors in it but it was written for fun so please understand. With that said, please enjoy.))
It was another nice night here in Japan, with the 1-A class spending time with the fractions from NYC or America. They invited them for a month vacation to relax and chill since things have been calming down and being fixed up. Of course, they accepted the invite so we go to now with the guys who was speaking to one another in a boy hot spring together.
"No." The boys looks annoyed at Minoru who was looking at them confused. They were just getting ready to spend time in the relaxing hot springs but it was a separated bath. One for the boys and one for the girls. Right now, the girls were in the hot bath talking and relaxing together while some of the guys were in the boy hot spring but they were trying to talk some sense into Mineta who wanted to do some 'peeping' into the girls side.
"Huh?! Why not! Are you guys even curious a little! I mean, the girls are on the other side!! I beat they are super cute and all!! So many cuties just on the other side of that wall!!!!" He wanted to but the guys had a sweatdrop shown on the side of their heads before one bonks him on the head.
"OW!"
"You know you can't! And second, you shouldn't cause trouble when the girls can either kill you or worse, kill us if we let you!" Bakugo shouted annoyed at him as he was shaking scared with some of the boys sighing.
"He's got a point. It's rude to peek on the girls like that. It's really immature and we are not trying to end up on their hit list. "Fin said sitting in the hot spring with a hot towel on his head. His boys were happily relaxing with smiles.
"True. We are not like you when it comes to that. Besides, you do realize the girls will not like the idea of you peeking on them?" Ethan said with arms crossed seeing some of his boys in his fraction agreeing.
"True. It would not be wise indeed." Light said with arms crossed with the other guys sighing as Bakugo drops Mineta into the hot spring water as he comes back up.
"Geez, you guys are no fun! I wish we can but besides, I know some of the girls are on the other side are dating some of you so wouldn't you-"
"If you keep talking, you'll get worse than that." Rex oxford mills warns him since that includes him trying to peek on his girlfriend Kali.
"Huh? But I just-" He stops seeing a murder aura from the blind quirk user but he gulps to be silent. Yeah, he blinks but crosses his arms to sit. He did hear the girls laughter and talking on the other side.
"Though, relaxing like this is nice for once without chaos going all about." Shdwkyz said while seeing the guys from the DBT agreeing.
"Yeah, for once it's..nice. No crazy shit going on and whatever.." Navarro said but the 1-A class still agrees.
"But, we are still hoping you guys are enjoying the vacation right?" Shoto said but looks to them as the guys agree.
"No worries, we are. It's nice that you guys invited us to come for a vacation so thanks." Jaron smiled as the guys were happy and relaxing. However, Mineta was trying to listen in with the girls talking.
~~Girls side hot spring bath~~
"You gotta relax a bit more Ashley! It's alright!" Ink laughed happily while Ashley butterfly was nervous looking at the water. She's never been in a hot spring bath before but the other girls were trying to help her relax.
"Think of it like a small hot bath but you can feel your troubles melting away." Momo said sitting by her classmates and seeing Yuuka relaxing beside Oblivion who was relaxing as well.
"I..Is that s..s..so?" she mutters seeing Momo nod.
"She's got a point. Just come on and just relax! You'll be alright!" Jinx smiled to happily help her with Ink as the two get her in, hearing a squeak from her. She got in the water but she was feeling herself sat down to looking shy.
"See? Nice right?" Jinx said as her girls were happily relaxing while blushing.
"I..It is really n..nice...." Ashley mutters blushing to seeing the other girls talking with smiles. Even Echo was relaxing like a happy little puppy but if she had a tail it would be wagging.
Melinda was smiling with eyes closed even Vivi who was relaxing too. "This really is nice right, Vivi?" she asked.
"Mhmmm.." Vivi said with eyes closed relaxing. "I was told the hot springs in japan were quite lovely.."
"Yeah, we got that a lot. They do say the hot springs is the best here!" Mina laughed as the girls sigh to relax. However, Vanessa had a question.
"But..that leaves one thing. The other side are the guys..you don't think they would..." the other girls looks to hear but thinks.
"Hmm, No, I'm sure they wouldn't. The only one you might have to worry about is Mineta. He's well.......a bit of a perv but we should be alright.."
"H..Huh? A perv?" Ashley asked.
"Uhhhhhh....." Ink blinks confused but Kali glares. Great.
"Well, as long as he isn't stupid enough he won't die this night." she warns with the girls showing sweatdrops on their faces. Even so, they relaxed on this night before hearing a giant splash on the guys side with a few shouts. "Hmm?"
~~Boys side Hot spring bath~~
"MINETA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" Shdwkyz was soaked with his hair covering his face as some of the guys from his fraction was soaked too coughing. Mineta was trying to climb but he looks or tries to be.
"Nothing! I was just trying to-"
"You were trying to peek! You idiot! You are going to get yourself caught and you'll get us in trouble!" Rust said glaring at him.
"Again, you can't blame me! I just wanna have one small peek! Just one!" he said. "And wouldn't you like to know since your girlfriend is on the-"
"Oh no, your not peeking on Breezy you idiot!" Rust said holding his human fist up glaring at him.
"Mineta you really shouldn't. You know how the girls are even when you tried doing that in class." Midoriya said worried. Besides, he's seen the girls anger, well some of them, and he knows enough.
"That and the point you'll end up getting a worse punishment." Ethan warns.
".....You guys are no fun you know?" he said but saw Shdwkyz walk over to hit him on the head as he yelps. He saw a angry snake above him ready to beat him up.
"Why are you hitting me!?" he said holding his head.
"Because your being stupid. Why don't you behave and stop trying to be a pervert!" he said.
"It's not my fault! Besides, I bet your sneaky that you could use your quirk to slither in the shadows to peek! Same with that viper girl!" he points that Shdwkyz felt a vein showing on his head now showing his eye twitching.
"Y..you!....your lucky I don't have my blade or I would have-"
"Easy Shdwkyz easy!" Jaron said waving his hands as the guys pulls him away from the scared Mineta who was seeing the others sigh. Maybe they need to keep a eye on him.
"Even so, we should just relax. And no peeking Mineta!" Kirishima warns as he saw Mineta grumbles sitting back in the water. He was curious of the girls as they were chatting and yet he was having trouble with not wanting to.
So the guys went back to relaxing with no trouble and worries. Denki was happily seeing the guys talking or relaxing in the bath now without Mineta trying his hardest to behave. Though, thinking of the girls on the other side well.....that's when he stood up.
"THAT'S IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT! I HAVE TO SEE!" He rushes over to try climbing the wall as the guys saw.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? GET BACK HERE!" Bakugo shouted as the guys were trying to catch him. He dodges while rushing to the wall. He saw the boys trying to stop him as he got nervous.
"I NEED TO SEE! JUST LET ME SEE ONE TIME AND I'LL STOP!" He said running around as the other guys tried stopping him.
".........You know he'll break that promise right?" Denki said as the boys sighs seeing him running left and right with some trying to catch him.
"NO RUNNING AROUND THE HOT SPRING!" Ida shouted trying to stop them. Mineta kept running but he dodges Bakugo trying to grab him. He dodges Shdwkyz and Jaron who crashes into one another. Even Rust slams and trips into the hot spring.
The guys was making a racket with the girls looking from their side wondering what is going on. Fin saw his boys trying to catch him but they ended up crashing against one another.
"You'll never catch me!" Mineta shouted as he scales the wall blushing. "Just a bit closer and it's all girl heaven!!" he laughed climbing.
"Tch, that's it! I'm blowing him sky high!" Navarro said showing a bomb and-wait how did he get that in here!?
"Navarro, you wouldn't dare!" Fosh said panicking as the young bomber glares. "If you do that you might-"
"He's right Navarro don't!" Izuku said worried as Navarro looks.
"Then what do we do!? He'll get us all in trouble if we let him peek! I don't need Echo shouting my ass off because of him!" he said but the guys looks that Yuga had a idea.
"How about we just blast him to knock him out. I'll do it!" He focused but the others in the class saw him aiming right at the wall. Then they go into a panic knowing what might happen.
"NO NO NO NO DON'T SHOOT!!" They shouted but it was too late seeing him fire his navel lazer right at Mineta but also at the wall. That's when a big explosion resulting in the water going up in the air happened with both sides coughing and trying to clear the smoke. Though the guys were coughing as they were trying to find Mineta.
"Damn it! Where did he go!" Shdwkyz said coughing. However, the smoke clears as the guys look but they wished they didn't. Their eyes widen seeing the wall destroyed but......they saw the girls side as they were standing but soaking wet. They did see Mineta who was happily nuzzling against something soft to show he was nuzzling into Ashley butterfly's chest.
"Soooo soft...and warm. What a nice spot." he said giggling with his cheeks red. However, Ashley was shaking blushing red, tears shown in her eyes, as he was nuzzling and hugging her.
'Your so adorable...your boobs are soooooo nice..' he said nuzzling against her chest more. Showing that perverted creepy smile.
"A...ah...ah..."
She shook more with more tears in her eyes to shut them before suddenly.....
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
"THE FUCK!? GET OFF OF ASHLEY YOU PERV!!" Echo said kicking him off but he hugs her as she twitched.
"Your even cute up close! So soft too but they are pretty nice at this size!" he said.
"THE FUCK DID YOU SAY YOU ASSHOLE!! GET OFF OF ME!!"
Mineta giggled but saw the other girls. They tense seeing his hands making grabby motions with blushing and drooling. However, Ashley was still crying covering her chest.
"You girls are so cute!!!" He said but some of the girls scream covering themselves but that's when the guys on the other side covers their eyes.
"ASHLEY!! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" Rex shouted from the boys side hearing her screams and some of the girls.
"GET RID OF HIM!!" Mouse said in shock.
"HOW DID HE GET OVER THE WALL!?" Willow's voice was heard covering herself.
"HE MUST HAVE CLIMBED IT! FUCKING PERVERT!" Luna shouted angry.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?" Kali shouted but Mineta even happily was dodging to land against Melinda who yelps to push him away from her covering her chest.
"WHY WEREN'T THE OTHER GUYS WATCHING HIM!?" Kali said as the other guys kept their eyes covered.
"GUESS NOT!" Ming said seeing Mineta hopping around happily seeing the cuties with Ink confused while Jinx was seeing the girls panicking.
"GOD DAMN IT, MINETA!" Bakugo said covering his eyes. However, Kirishima was nervous hearing Kali's angry shout.
"NO NO! WE WERE BUT YOU KNOW HOW HE IS-"
"I DON'T FUCKING CARE!! JUST GET RID OF HIM!!" Kali shouted at Kirishima.
"LADY HEAVEN! I'M IN HEAVEN!" He said even hugging Yuuka who was struggling.
"WILL YOU GET OFF OF ME!?" she said but as he was nuzzling her chest, he heard sparks of electricity to slowly look then goes pale. A very angry Oblivion was seen while her eye was twitching.
"....Uhhhhhhh.....I didn't mean it?" he laughed but he only got bonked hard on the head to knock him out but sends him crashing into the wall back to the guys side. The guys on the other side kept their eyes covered blushing red.
"......" Yeah the girls were pissed right now.
"Now I know you girls are mad but please hear us out-" Rust tries to say but Mineta coughs to look.
"It was worth it!" he said but passes out. The girls said nothing but sighs before looking to them.
"You. Saw. NOTHING! Get it!?" Kali said as the guys agreed before Melinda uses her powers to get towels for the girls to cover themselves up and leave quickly. Mouse with Mina was carrying a knocked out Ashley out to leave the guys. They lower their hands but looks silent.
"........You know they are going to kill us right?" Rust said.
"Don't remind us Rust we know.." Shdwkyz said annoyed with Bakugo shaking Mineta and shouting at him. Well, at least the vacation was still alright. For a bit.
~~Somewhere during that event in a private Hot spring~~
Matt was even here but relaxing with his boyfriend/mate Ryunosuke but they saw the chaos going on to look silent. "What do you think that was?" Ryu asked but Matt opens one of his eyes while Ryu was rubbing his shoulders.
"I don't know but sounds like someone is in deep trouble." Matt laughed but the two goes back to relaxing like nothing happened. Rynosuke sighed but he smiled, happily cuddling and still rubbing Matt's shoulders.
"Well, I'm sure they are fine.." he said then kisses the top of Matt's head while blushing a little loving being close to him. Matt smiled while he was relaxing too. Seems their night was well so good for them. That was something else so it was all fine.
#IC#silver roses#Drabble/short or long stories#silver butterfly mun#peahen mom#the mansion owner#Hot Spring Vacation#The class of 1-A#midoriya izuku#bakugo katsuki#shoto todoroki#uraraka ochacho#matt knack#ryunosuke akutagawa#The fractions of NYC#The outside fractions of NYC#demon-blood-youths#peahen writer
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Plitvice to Rijeka to Rovinj to Pula -
We awoke the next day and had a fairly relaxing (by our standards) morning of packing and departing. It had rained overnight so the kids had fun jumping on the wet trampoline while the parents loaded things, then we headed out for what may be our biggest driving day of the trip. The first leg was Grabovac to Rijeka, including some super windy/narrow/potholed sections to wake our driver Matt up in the morning (and cause carsickness for most others…though no vomiting occurred!). After a while we were back on the fancy toll roads which are similar in quality/nicer than US interstates and it was smooth sailing from there on out to Rijeka. On arrival we had some brief navigational difficulties due to road construction but eventually made it to Trsat castle, which was small but worth the price of admission (free). We then wandered through a nearby plaza which included monuments to pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa and let kids play a bit in a nearby playground before loading back up the van and heading onto the Istrian peninsula to our next stop- Rovinj. Matt wanted to stop here as he heard it was Rick Steve’s favorite spot in Istria on a podcast. It turned out to be very difficult to find parking so we gave up, but just as we were headed out of town found a spot in a free lot, so hopped out and the kids enjoyed 2 different very cool playgrounds and adults took in the scenes. Rovinj reminded us of "Dubrovnic-light" it had similar cool buildings and the edge of the city rising straight up form the water. We also enjoyed a tasty snack of Burek (basically a giant pastry stuffed with cheese/meat) per lonely planet. We then hopped in the car for the last and shortest leg of the day: Rovinj to Pula. On arrival in Pula the plan was to drop everyone off at the airbnb then have Matt drop the car off at the airport and come back. This turned out to be a bit difficult as there was a Robbie Williams concert in the ancient Roman arena that night so there was lots of car and foot traffic to navigate, as well as a lady guarding the entrance to our street trying to keep people from going up there to park. We talked our way past her, parked briefly with emergency flashers on and unloaded into our airbnb. Then Matt headed for the airport to drop off the car and caught a taxi back into town. His taxi driver had a lot of thoughts about US politics (Desantis better than Trump, etc…) but was otherwise pleasant and got Matt back smoothly. We then enjoyed a dinner in (not pizza as we had planned as it turned out we just had 2 electric burners and no oven). Afterwards, Matt took Oli and Emily (the only interested parties other than himself) out to try and see “lighting giants” where cranes in the Pula shipyard are lit up different colors once it gets dark, it was almost a bust, but they lit up just as we were headed home. After that all went to bed (Matt nursing a sore hip flexor from all the driving)
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Doctor Who, but Chronologically 21
WELL SWEET CHRIST ON WHEELS THIS ONE HAD A LOT OF PLOT
Okay, so, it’s 1892, and the episode is Angry Snow The Snowmen, and FUCK ME SIDEWAYS.
First off, it’s a Christmas episode. I usually find Christmas episodes of everything to be nauseating and tedious, but I’ll be honest, I did actually enjoy this one. But all the more so because it’s an origin story - for Clara!
Now, we all recall Clara - so far, she has been tied for first place with Donna in the Best Companion Rankings, with Rose a worthy third, because of her ability to make Peter Capaldi actually do something for once in his miserable life and help someone other than himself. Also, while it’s true that her personality is mostly in the performance rather than the writing, Jenna Coleman is indeed a charismatic actor, so Clara is a heady mix of fun, hyper-competent, no-nonsense, and also sizzlingly hot (be still my stupid bisexual heart). She is excellent, and also specifically the companion of Peter Capaldi. That’s it. No other versions of the Doctor.
So IMAGINE the surprise of seeing her here, as a Victorian governess-cum-barmaid (although the double life is never actually explained or even hinted at), meeting the Doctor for the first time - PLAYED BY MATT SMITH. Zomg! A different Doctor! And I never would have guessed she was a Victorian, what a fun twist.
Except she’s not.
So, this is an episode about furious snow that wants to be an army of ice warriors (not Ice Warriors) because Richard E Grant told it to, or something. This will kill all humans. The Doctor meanwhile lives on a cloud now, accessed via a spiral staircase, which... is also never explained at any point. He is bitter about the world and in hiding and doesn’t want to help anyone. Perhaps this is all Clara ever does. Convinces a tedious misanthrope to stop being a lil bitch. God, she deserved to have Tennant as her Doctor. Just a little. Just a little fun travel, as a treat.
Anyway the Doctor is grumping about proclaiming that he needs no one and has no friends, while nonetheless chilling in the Victorian era with not one or two but three friends. They are a fun bunch - one is a lizard woman, one is her wife played by Catrin Stewart putting on a very good Cockney accent that means she’ll probably get to survive the episode, in spite of this show’s track record of killing off Welsh people, and one is, of all things, a comedy Sontaran called Strax. In actual fact I should point out that Strax is Welsh, as are all Sontarans in New Who, which is exciting, because it’s the only way we *do* get to survive. Strax has been repurposed as a medical professional and/or butler - he gets to have lines like “Try not to worry (derogatory)”.
But weirdly there’s a whole BLOCK of plot we haven’t seen yet with him. The Doctor tells Clara that Strax died because a friend killed him, but another friend brought him back. The lizard woman tells Clara that the Doctor is alone because he lost some people who were close to him, which is not the first time we’ve heard something like that. The furious snow turns out to be the Great Intelligence, except I know that one, shout out to the Web of Fear! Luv me some Troughton. I chose to believe that Matt Smith doesn’t remember it properly because the episodes were still missing at that point.
The other thing that happens a lot in this story is people suddenly springing “tests” on Clara when she’s busy trying to save the world. She does very well in all of them, but really, it’s a wonder she doesn’t lamp someone in the face with a furious snowman. Also, there’s a moment where the Doctor smirks at a mirror and says “Bow ties are cool,” and we know that one too - he said it in the last episode we just watched to Bill Nighy while talking about Vincent van Gogh.
ANYWAY, then the Doctor realises she’s great (correct) and tries to give her a TARDIS key, which you would think is her jumping on point BUT NO because she promptly dies. So, uh. That’s weird.
Her last words to him, though, are “Run. Run, you clever boy, and remember.”
And the Doctor suddenly goes WHAT THE FUCK WHOMST????!!!?
Then we see her funeral. “I never knew her full name!” the Doctor cries. “It’s Clara Oswin Oswald!” which, uh... wow, yeah, I see why she kept that one quiet, like.
And then we suddenly get a bunch of flashbacks to shit we haven’t seen featuring Clara, saying the same words, and the Doctor says he never saw her face with the Daleks, and that she was Souffle Girl, and that she died last time, too, and then he runs off into the TARDIS to try and find her.
So this is NOT her jumping on point, but it also isn’t even the first time he’s met her, and obviously it’s not the first time we’ve met her either except we’d seen her with Peter Capaldi because of this very sensible and normal watch order, so... we still haven’t seen either Clara’s origin story OR her jumping on point.
What the fuck.
Final shout out to Him From Silent Witness who plays Clara’s employer, who at no point has anything actually explained to him but nonetheless manages not to punch anyone in the face with a butter sock.
LET’S UPDATE THE PLOT THREADS! Hoo boy.
“She” (an unknown person) is returning (perhaps River returned as Missy. Maybe Me? NEW INFO: maybe Clara???!)
There is something on Donna’s back
An entire planet, Pyrovilia, just… disappeared, somehow. (Maybe because the TARDIS is exploding??? Saturnine was also lost, and that WAS because of the TARDIS exploding. The lion man’s planet was also lost but he was a bit of a knob about it if I’m honest.)
Amy is maybe dead (she’s not)
The Doctor has been cubed (he’s out, but how?)
River is possibly blown up (unless she’s Missy)
The TARDIS has blown up (It’s fine now. Except it’s sort of melting now because it’s corrupted, but it’s fine again)
The universe appears to have ended (the universe is back again)
The Doctor has employed(?) Nardole (And Nardole was “reassembled???”)
There’s a vault in the TARDIS and it contains Missy but we don’t know why (sometimes she knocks for the bants)
What has happened to all these companions and where are the new ones coming from?
There’s an immortal Viking girl now. Her name is Me and she’s now looking after the people the Doctor abandons
Who/what is the Half-Faced Man that the Doctor talked about?
Why, when the Doctor saw the ship’s computer set to the Promised Land, did he say “Oh not again”?
What’s With The Silence?
Why was Rory entirely unconcerned by the entire world suddenly going silent when that is Not Normal and should have been, at the very least, extremely disconcerting?
What did the Doctor do to Queen Lizzie One?
Who is Captain Jack Harkness? (Is he the one who gave the companions a warning about the lone cyberman?)
Why is Amy seeing a one-eyed woman in a vanishing window?
What’s with the Doctor’s future involving getting shot by an astronaut?
Is Amy pregnant and why is it inconclusive?
Who is Sarah-Jane Smith?
How is the Doctor Bill’s teacher and why/where does he have an office?
What is going on with the Cyber War and the Cyberium???
Who did the Doctor lose to Cyber Conversion?
What happened with the Other Cyber War?
What happened with the Third War that deleted the void?
Why does Rose seem particularly important?
What’s with the statues you mustn’t blink at?
What order do these Doctors go in? (Eccleston, Tennant, uncertain.)
Which companion just... forgot the Doctor, and how?
What is the Flux and what did it do?
Who is the mysterious Victorian man who met Yaz?
Yaz and Vinder are about to die as Mori/Mwri/Muuri
There is a Lupari shield around Earth.
What’s a Time War?
What’s the Rift?
What’s Bad Wolf?
What happened with Amy’s pregnancy?
In which war did the Doctor become a war criminal, and how?
Who is the Master?
Why has Amy forgotten Rory?
Is Rory plastic or not?
Why is the Doctor sulking on a cloud?
How exactly does the Doctor have a cloud?
What exactly happened with Strax to, uh, tame him?
Which friend killed Strax?
Which friend brought Strax back?
Where did this lesbian lizard and human couple come from?
What happened with Clara as Souffle Girl and the Daleks?
How does Clara actually join?
Why so many Claras?
THIS LIST IS GETTING RIDICULOUS WHY ARE WE WATCHING THIS SHOW LIKE THIS
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Campaign 3 Predictions - Compiled
So, as a fan of compiling statistics, I've been keeping track of race/class predictions for campaign 3 for the past...at least a year, from tumblr, reddit, and twitter. with EXU over, and my spreadsheet hitting 400 (?!), I figured I'd share the fandom's current predictions
Travis
Human (30), Dwarf (29), Elf, Shifter (11), Half-Elf (10)
Cleric (103), Bloodhunter (63), Wizard (50), Fighter (49), Druid (46)
Lycan bloodhunter (41), Forge cleric (26), War cleric (16), Eldritch Knight fighter, Bladesinger wizard (14)
Marisha
Elf (16), Genasi, Tiefling (14), Dwarf (13), Dragonborn (11)
Paladin (112), Rogue (53), Fighter (43), Cleric (40), Warlock (37)
Eldritch Knight fighter, Glory paladin (14), Artillerist and Armorer artificer, Battlemaster Fighter (8)
Liam
Dwarf (25), Halfling (18), Tiefling (13), Elf (12), Warforged (11)
Druid (77), Cleric (72), Bard (71), Fighter (59)
Stars druid (16), Dreams druid (10), Eloquence bard (8), Alchemist artificer, Whispers bard, Twilight cleric (7)
Sam
Dwarf (34), Kobold (24), Goliath (17), Warforged (15), Kenku (13)
Sorcerer (106), Cleric (98), Druid (63), Wizard (47)
Wild Magic sorcerer (61), Wild Soul barbarian (14), Twilight cleric (8), Life and Forge cleric, Wildfire druid, Divination wizard (7)
Laura
Elf (21), Human, Tabaxi (19), Genasi (15), Gnome, Aasimar (10)
Barbarian (75), Sorcerer (74), Bard (64), Warlock (60)
Wild Soul barbarian (14), Wild Magic sorcerer (12), Glamour bard (10), Shadow monk (9)
Taliesin
Warforged (16), Elf, Changeling (14), Gnome, Genasi, Tabaxi (8)
Sorcerer (68), Rogue (65), Warlock (55), Bard (45), Wizard (43)
Aberrant Mind sorcerer (18), Whispers bard, Phantom rogue, Soulknife rogue (11), Mastermind rogue, Clockwork sorcerer (9)
Ashley
Elf (26), Human (18), Tiefling (17), Half-Elf (12), Dwarf (11)
Rogue (95), Bard (91), Monk (43), Ranger (41), Warlock (38)
Swashbuckler rogue (21), Glamour bard (13), Mercy monk (9), Drunken monk, Wild Magic sorcerer (8)
I also (although less consistently) collected continent/setting predictions. Marquet was the top (49), then Issylra (29) and the Shattered Teeth (22). For non-continent settings, some form of Spelljammer was the top (19), followed by the Age of Arcanum (17), and Planescape/Planehopping (15). Underdark, Ravenloft, Blightshore, and a return to Tal'Dorei were also suggested multiple times.
Much longer and rambly discussion (and my own predictions) under the break.
Top predicted races were Dwarf, Elf, and Human (~100). Dwarf and Elf haven't been played before, so that tracks, and I don't think it's out there to assume we'll get at least one human again. Also, post the whole thing with Essek and long rests, people really started jumping on Elves (which, fair). Warforged, Dragonborn, Tabaxi, Genasi, Tieflings, and Changelings all are pretty prominent (~50).
Of the races not yet established as existing in Exandria, Warforged and Changeling were the most popular (Warforged now dubiously canon post-Aeor, and Changelings dubiously canon with the LoVM bartender), followed by Shifters, Leonin, Kalashtar, Fairies, Grung, Ravnica races (Loxodon, Simic Hybrid, Vedalken), Van Richten's Races (Dhampir, Reborn, Hexblood). Locathah and the other Feywild/Strixhaven races are the only officially published races at 0 suggestions. The lowest previously seen race is Gobins at 2, one of which was for Sam again, and the lowest PHB race was Half-Orc at 17.
Class wise, Sorcerer was actually the most predicted class (which kind of tracks, as it's the one that hasn't shown up even as multiclass), followed by Cleric (generally assumed as compulsory), Paladin (only as a multiclass), and Rogue (also assumed as compulsory, but way less so. Not surprisingly, Bloodhunter, Ranger, and Artificer were the lowest.
Wild Magic Sorcerer was far and away the most suggested subclass, the only one to break 50, although it hasn't hit 100 quite yet (I think it will by the time the final characters are announced though). EK Fighter, Lycan Blooodhunter, Forge Cleric, Swashbuckler Rogue, Wild Soul Barbarian, Stars Druid, Glamour Bard, Bladesinger Wizard, Eloquence Bard, and Echo Knight Fighter are the other top subclasses.
Every official subclass has been suggested except for Berserker Barbarian, Grave Cleric, and Transmutation Wizard (previously played), Battlerager Barbarian and Banneret/Purple Dragon Knight (SCAG subclasses, which are widely unpopular), and the dubiously-official Planeshift subclasses. Open Seas Paladin is the only Matt homebrew to not be suggested at least once. For dead UA, Satire Bard, Brute Fighter, Giant Soul and Stone Sorcerer, and Raven Queen Warlock have all been suggested, usually only once, although many of the suggestions were collected while classes were in UA for Tasha's, Van Richten's, and Fizban's which is technically still UA but announced so...
With Travis, the predictions bounce between two main ideas - a melee spellcaster (Forge/War/Tempest cleric, Bladesinger/War wizard), or going back to a melee class (Bloodhunter, Fighter) but with a bit more mechanical interest (Lycan, EK/Echo/Rune/Battlemaster). I think those are both solid predictions, and while I really, really doubt we'll see a Lycan bloodhunter or a Forge cleric, I think the general vibe is probably spot on.
My own prediction is one of the more out there, but still in line with the general thinking - Artillerist Artificer. Travis is definitely a very tactical player, and it would be cool to see him get a turret for the battlefield, plus all the general utility/versatility of the artificer. Alternatively, I really could see a rogue, although more like what Mastermind or Inquisitive is trying for as opposed to how they actually turned out, if that makes sense.
Race wise, the top guesses are fairly plain, outside of shifter (which is mostly tied into the "werewolf" vibe). None of them would shock me, but I don't have any predictions.
I think that everyone's right on the money with Marisha as a paladin. Her next character being high charisma seems spot on, and I think moving to a half-caster also tracks. EK/Echo/Rune/Psi fighters would also fit, although they don't lean towards high charisma, or a warlock, maybe a more melee one.
Rogue seems unlikely purely due to the fact she's played one before, kind of. Matt and Marisha have both talked some, but her first game wasn't Vox Machina, but a previous game Matt had run where she'd played an assassin. You can do non-assassiny rogues, but still.
(Other fun facts about this game because it's wild: apparently the session she sat in on before playing involved half the party getting eaten by ghouls. the party joined up with another half-tpk'd party (marisha and the replacement characters) to get the raven queen to bring their dead friends back, and a fate-touched rogue swore service to the Raven Queen in order to bring the last party member back.)
My prediction for Marisha is also paladin, although I don't have any thoughts on the subclass, with genie warlock as a second because they are fun. No real thoughts on race other than I too would love to see tiefling Marisha.
Most people are going with a support caster for Liam, which I totally buy. Caleb definitely leaned towards support caster, even if he usually did end up played as DPS. Druid has taken the top given the polymorph->wildshape vibe, although it's still very yclose with Bard and Cleric. Suggestions for fighter dropped after EXU, and while Liam does play a lot of fighters, I doubt we'll see it for C3.
Honestly, Liam is the one I have no predictions for outside of 'support caster'. I'd lean away from Cleric and towards Druid or Bard, but it's hard to say. I also think Artificer deserves to be in the running, as it seems like something Liam would really enjoy, but also...might not want to go Int-caster to Int-caster. My only real thought on race is that I want to see whether Marisha and Liam choose the same again.
Top guesses for Sam is, far and away, Wild Magic Sorcerer. This was also the top guess for C2. I do not think Sam will play a Wild Magic Sorcerer. In general, though, the vibe is going back to fullcaster - Sorcerer, Cleric, Druid, Wizard. I think full caster is probably right.
Sam is so hard to predict because it isn't what he'd choose, but what Liam chose for him. I think it's either something really standard or something really out there, and since I can't guess the really out there, I'll go for the standard - Elf Wizard or Dwarf Cleric, leaning towards Dwarf Cleric, due to the support class and the fact that Sam's mentioned never playing a religious character.
The main vibe for Laura is definitely "DPS" which is understandable. I don't know if I agree with it, but I understand it. Aside from Barbarian, the rest of the vibe is spellcaster - and I don't think we'll see a completely no magic character from her either.
Prediction wise...I understand barbarian, but I'd actually go with Ancestor or Beast over Wild Soul. I could actually see a Bloodhunter from her too, although leaning away from Vex vibes. I think I'd want to go with Wizard, though I'm not certain on that. I would bet Tabaxi but idk, I could see her avoiding that for Travis' sake.
Everyone always names Taliesin as the hardest to predict (he had the lowest count at 354, under even Ashley at 365, to everyone else's ~380/400) but I don't think he's harder to predict than Sam. The thing that makes him hard to predict is that he likes to build characters to fit the party, which he (probably) won't be doing, same as with Molly. The other main thing he tends towards is mechanical complexity in a way that suits his characters.
The main driving influence in the top suggestions is Eldritch Weirdness. Aberrant Sorc, Whispers Bard, Phantom Rogue, Warlock in general. I don't disagree with any of the subclasses, but I really don't think he'd go eldritch for eldritch sake, if for at the very least being...he has always been this weird and it's yet to be a driving force behind any of his characters before. Like the Taliesin-is-an-elder-god thing, I think this is mostly people who don't hang out around occultists. Look, I've had multiple people sell me their actual souls, and you don't see all my characters being warlocks.
That being said, I don't think I disagree with the top classes, just the subclasses. I definitely agree with Sorcerer as a good choice for him, although I'd actually go Clockwork, as I think it has a fuck-with-the-DM vibe. Taliesin is the most heavily suggested for dunamancy subclasses, which wouldn't surprise me, but I think he might avoid on the sole point of not wanting something too tied with the last campaign. A lot of people also name the psionic subclasses, which I'd be more likely to second if they had kept the weird mechanic from the UA, but don't disagree with, excepting my issue with Aberrant Mind.
My out there guess is that he's going to choose a multiclass build. He definitely enjoys playing around with weird builds (Owlbear, he did a non-CR oneshot as a monk/stars druid). On the one hand, a lot of these builds work best for oneshots or starting at higher levels, as they can take a bit of time to come online, but with such a large party, I think it will still function.
(my actual prediction for Taliesin is that his character is weirdly reminiscent of either the aasimar echo knight or the elf blood cleric from the exandria game I'm running.)
Ashley is being predicted as a Dex/Cha build, and I'm totally here for it. Pre-Fearne, I was leaning Ranger, especially Fey Wanderer for a fey build, but post-Fearne, I'm going Rogue, especially Swashbuckler. I agree that seeing a high Cha Ashley would be great, especially to let her be more center-focused than Yasha had been, and swashbucklers are just...really fun. Also, the whole Aeor arc really left me wanting to see Ashley as the go-ahead-and-scout character, just to watch her push buttons.
For continents...I understand why people are guessing Marquet, since it's currently the most explored. I think that if they're going to do Marquet, then Matt will sit down with a cultural consultant. I say will over should, because I won't make any value judgements, but I think it's in line with what Matt and CR would do in that situation.
I can't really tell whether this is a prediction or what I'd like to see (the two are distinct but often difficult to untangle) but I'd actually go with Issylra, and specifically playing up the (at least initial) set up of explorers and adventurers heading out into the wilds. I will also place my bets on them having some sort of more steady home base, and my hopes on that they get an airship. My wildest out there guess is that the plot will move towards either planescape/spelljammer in the upper levels, tying into some of the seeds from the end of C2.
I have seen a handful of people predicting table seating order, which is both very minor and also the thing that I may be most interested in. A while back, someone made a post pointing out that the main romantic relationships were all cross-table, while the strongest platonic relationships were same-table or side by side. Because I am the sort of person that I am, I did statistical analysis on ao3 fics....and it's statistically significant. So I am trying to see whether or not, based purely on C3E1, I'll be able to predict what the top ships for the campaign will be.
This rambling has mostly gotten out of hand because I don't have much opportunity to talk about this, but, you know. If you send me predictions I will give you the current odds gambling style, so that you'd know how much you'd win if you'd place a bet, because I did the tables up as a joke for something else and now I kind of want them to be used for something.
#critical role#critical role campaign 3#cr campaign 3#critical role predictions#critcal role meta#cr meta#cr stats
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Mass Effect development insights and highlights from Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development
This is the Mass Effect version of this post.
[In case you can’t read it the subtitle in the bottom left logo above is “Guardians of the Citadel”]
Note: Drug use is mentioned.
Cut for length.
Mass Effect 1
ME began its life in a vision document in fall 2003
Codenamed “SFX”
Conceived of by Casey Hudson and a core team from KotOR. Its genesis was the intention to create an epic sci-fi RPG in an original setting that BioWare owned (so they could have full creative control), and in a setting that was conceived of first and foremost as a video game
Initially players could control any squadmate, but they wanted it to be about Shep and for players to be focused on Shep being a battlefield commander, rather than on switching bodies
By the start of 2004 its story was shaping up. Initially humans landed on Mars in 2250 and discovered evidence of an ancient alien race and a powerful substance, Black Sand, which rapidly advanced tech to the point that FTL travel was possible. (My note: obviously now the Prothean artifacts on Mars & associated mass effect force tech enabled this in the final canon, but I wonder if aspects of the ‘Black Sand’ naming-type & powerful substance stuff was rolled into red sand from final canon) Humans were suddenly capable of travel to multiple star systems and made contact with a multitude of other species. At the start of the first game, these species together with humans had a fragile peace, with focus placed on the political center of the galaxy, a hub known as Star City, later renamed the Citadel
Multiplayer was a vision for the series as far back as 2003. The plan was for ME1, an Xbox exclusive at launch, to take advantage of the platform’s online components. Early designs saw players meeting in one of the central hubs to interact and trade items in their otherwise SP adventures
By 2006 it had the name ME and the story was more specific, with the theme of conflict between organic and synthetic lifeforms. The story’s scope now stretched across 3 games and included scope for full co-op MP
They tried to do MP in every game, discussing it from the get-go, but it always just fell by the wayside. “When you’re trying to build something that is a new IP, on a new platform, with a new engine, you’ve got to really focus on the core elements of the game.”
The conversation system prototype was made in Jade Empire, and some of ME’s earliest writing was done in an old JE build. At first there was no conversation wheel. Paragon was “Friendly” and Renegade “Hostile”. In the prototype Shep was a silent unnamed Spectre. Many conversations in the prototype about the player’s choice in smuggling a weapon through Noveria made it into the game
In said prototype a merchant referred to themselves as “this one”, though the word hanar never appeared. The PC in it also had the option to end a conversation with “I should go”. In the prototype also, Harkin was voiced by Mark Meer
An early version of the Mako got used as the krogan truck in ME2
Early concepts of the Citadel were drawn in pencil by CH. A piece of concept art of its final design was painted based on a photo of a sculpture near Aswan, Egypt
As with any new IP naming it was a struggle. They put out a call to all staff for ideas, did polls, made a name generator that combined words that they liked in random ways and made pretend logos of ones they liked in Photoshop to see if they could make themselves love the name or find visual potential in it. (Some of these names are in the pic at the top of this post.) CH liked “Unearthed” as it was a reference to Prothean ruins dug up on Mars and humanity’s ascendance going away from Earth. They knew the game would have a central space station featuring prominently so some of the ideas were based on that - “The Citadel”, “The Optigon”, “The Oculon”. “Element” was another one they had in mind due to the rare substance in the game
CH: “I was a big fan of John Harris’ book Mass, which had epic-scaled sci-fi ideas, so that was a word that came up often. Many of the names came from the idea that the IP featured a fifth fundamental physical force (in addition to the known four of gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear) so the word ‘effect’ came up pretty often.” Ultimately none of the ideas really felt right. One Monday morning they were going over the names and Greg Zeschuk said he had an idea on the weekend: “Mass Effect!” CH: “I said, ‘I don’t hate it’, which in the naming process is a high compliment. And it stuck!”
CH on Shep’s Prothean vision from the beacon: “It was hard to imagine how we would do this. CG was - and is - really expensive. Instead I wanted to try doing it through photography and video editing. So I went to a local grocery store and bought a few packages of the weirdest looking meat that I could find. Then I set up a little photoshoot in my basement, complete with some electronics parts and some red wine for juicyness.” He used these props to create a video sequence where the photos were rapidly cycled and blurred, along with production paintings, to create the scary vision an organic/machine experiment on the Protheans. These mashups were also used as inspiration for concept artists and level designers who were working on these themes
Tali used to be called Talsi
On the licensing side they often joke that they’re licensing N7 not “Mass Effect” due to N7′s popularity
There was a confidential internal guide to the IP in 2007 to help devs along and summarize/synthesize the vision etc. Some excerpts from it are shown in the book and this is the first time the public have ever seen them
Early versions of Asari had hair
Asari were designed as a nod to classic TV sci-fi (with human actors wearing obvious makeup and prosthetics to play aliens)
The turian design guideline was “we want them to be birds of prey”. They also wanted a range of alien types, some close to human like Asari, while others were to be a lot further away, like turians
BioWare patented the conversation wheel, which was a first for them. CH had been frustrated with reviews of Jade Empire that said that the actioncentric game was too wordy [with its list dialogue]. “I’m like, story is words. [...] What is it about our games that is making people feel like they’re wordy?” Then he thought “In a game you kind of need to feel like you’re continuing to play it. Maybe you should continue feeling like you’re playing it actively into the dialogue.” “[The wheel] kind of gave a new experience with dialogue when you did start to react based on emotion, and that’s ultimately what we’re trying to bring out in our games”
The original krogan concept was based on a bat “with a really wide squidgy face. We just used its face on top of this weird body and it kinda worked”
Geth musculature was based on fiber-optic cables, with flexible plates of armor attached
The vision for the IP was 80s sci-fi inspired space opera
The concept art of Saren lifting Shep by the throat inspired a similar scene in-game. The staging wasn’t planned til designers saw that art
A squadmate with Shepard on the way to meet Ash in an old storyboard was called Carter. Early name of Kaidan or Jenkins?
Bono from U2 was kinda instrumental in bringing us ME lol
Finding the right cover art for ME1 was notably tricky
Matt Rhodes got his start drawing helmets for ME1, including one which would become Shep’s “second face”. He estimates he drew between 250-270 different ones
Some of the sounds in-game were people smashing watermelons with sledgehammers and sticking fists into various goos
The audio team had fun trying to slip the iconic main theme into unexpected places throughout the MET. “We were very aware of how powerful that track was for the fans and it was tempting to overuse it for any moment we wanted to make really emotional”.
The theme was creatively repurposed in ME3: slowed down and reworked as the ambient sound for the SR-2. “If you listen to it for a really long time, just stand in the Normandy and listen, you’ll actually hear the notes change slowly. It doesn’t sound like music, it sounds like a background ambiance, but it’s there.” (My note: Well no wonder the Normandy feels so much like home?? 😭 sneaky..)
Bug report: “Mako Tornado”. There wasn’t enough friction between the tires and the ground, causing testers to lose control of the vehicle and send it spinning into the air like a tornado. “As it turns, the front end comes up, and then it starts spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning faster and faster and faster until it just flies up in the sky” (My note: Sounds like a regular day in the Mako to me)
Cerberus originally had a bigger role in this game. It was cut but they had a whole explorable outpost. “I called it Misery,” says Mac Walters, “It was this planet with a little outpost that said ‘Welcome to Misery’”. Everything on the outpost was shit - dirty worn stuff, no windows, no kitchen, the vehicle bay was open to the elements etc
The Reaper sound is literal garbage. Some audio designers went on a recording trip to a national park. One of them got fixated on a garbage can, “a metal bear-proof receptacle with a heavy lid that creaked horribly when opened”. “It was like, ominous, spooky, tonal and almost musical. I decided to throw a mic into the garbage and record it moving. I didn’t know what it was going to be until later”
They were making lots of noises to record like throwing logs and rocks around. An old couple peered at them through the window of their camper van in the woods and must have called the cops because then the cops showed up, pulled them over and told them to stop. The cops towed their car (the driver’s plates were Cali plates and expired), drove them to Edmonton outskirts and then the audio producer Shauna got a call and had to go pick them up “like three little boys”. “We got a stern talking to”. Once back they were playing around with the garbage sound, editing it etc. Casey heard it and proclaimed “That’s the sound of the Reapers”
Preston Watamaniuk: “There are things I could have done to Mass 1 to make it an infinitely better game with better UIs” and some simple cuts and changes. “But when you’re living with it, it’s very hard to see those things”
BioWare Labs
As social media and smartphone games exploded, BioWare dedicated a small team dedicated to exploring opportunities here - BioWare Labs
Mass Effect: Galaxy used a unique graphic art style and static visual presentation common in visual novels. It has the distinction of being the only iOS game BW have made during their first 25 years
Scrapped ideas were a 3rd person space shooter called Mass Effect: Corsair and 2 DA titles - a strategy game and a top-down dungeon crawler starring young Wynne. (My note: Maybe the corsairs stuff was rolled into Jacob’s backstory in 2, the Alliance Corsairs)
Corsair was a very short-lived project that never got its feet under it. It was a spin-off on Nintendo DS featuring a behind-the-ship perspective and branching dialogue. At one point it had MP. The idea behind it was basically “ME: Freelancer” - fly your ship around, do missions, get credits. It had a limited branching story but was a gameplay-centered experience intended to fill the gap between ME1 and 2. That gap ended up being filled by Galaxy
Galaxy and Corsair’s smaller screen allowed concept artists to use bold colors and a simplistic character design style to help those games stand out from Shep’s story
Nick Thornborrow did some art for Corsair but was worried his art style didn’t fit ME. He moved to DA where he feels his art style fits better
Lots of BioWare VAs and even a lead writer and the VO director are drawn from Edmonton’s local community theater scene, which is vibrant. Think this is how Mark Meer got involved
Mass Effect 2
Player choices carrying over was a first for BW
Dirty Dozen-inspired plot
Its plot is a web of conditionals (see Suicide Mission)
Was more of a shooter than anything BW had made since Shattered Steel
There was 2 camps on the team, those who wanted to push combat and systems forward and redefine the ME experience and those who wanted to make a true sequel, with the same gameplay and systems but a new story. Karin Weekes: “I think it ended up being a good push-pull. It felt like a pretty healthy creative conflict”
“ME2 was a game you could hold up to someone who argues that games aren’t a serious medium and go ‘Oh yeah, then why is Martin Sheen in this?’” Sheen was their first pick for TIM
The idea for TIM came from a mash-up of concepts CH had collected over the years. The name “Illusive” originally came from his pitch for naming DAO’s Eclipse engine, a word inspired by Obi-Wan’s line “It’s not about the mission, Master. It’s something... elsewhere. Elusive”. “I thought, what if we called our next engine 'Elusive', but used an ‘I’, and then it’s like ‘Illusion’. [...] I still really like the word with an ‘I’ and what it conjures”
When ME1 DLC was in production, CH had been watching a lot of CNN, specifically Anderson Cooper. “How is one guy travelling to all these places and never looking tired and always being able to speak with clarity?” CH says it seemed almost superhuman. “What if there was someone who is the absolute maximum of the things you would aspire to be, but also the worst of humanity?” Cooper, though not evil, became an inspiration for TIM down to the gray hair and piercing blue eyes
Inspiration for TIM’s behind-the-scenes role pulling political strings came from Jack Bauer’s brother Graem in 24. Graem “can call up the president and tell him what to do and hang up, because he’s so connected and so influential”. Sheen had played a president and his performance brought gravitas and wisdom to the role. He had quit smoking, but the character smokes. He didn’t want to fake it, but he also didn’t want to smoke, “so he actually asked for a cigarette” to hold so he could stop his words to take drags with natural cadence
Writing was still pushing to write and revise lines hours before VO started. A series of problems like injury and some writers leaving for other opportunities left it so that Karin, Lukas Kristjanson and editor Cookie Everman hand to land the story safely, with PW helping where they could. Lukas: “We took over the writing bug and task list, and I can’t stress enough how much [Karin and Cookie] did to get ME2 out the door. There’s no part of that thing we didn’t touch”. Karin: “That was the most dramatic 2 weeks of my life”
Initial fan reaction when they started promo-ing ME2 was very negative because people didn’t want to know about new chars like Jack and Mordin. “[fans were like] ‘Get them out of here. We want our characters from the first game’. But then when they played them, those became some of the most popular chars [of the series]”
Concept art of Thane has an idea annotation saying “Face can shapeshift?”
At one point when designing Thane concept artists sent multiple variations of him to the team asking them to vote on which was the most attractive
Most of the Normandy crew was written by lead level designer Dusty Everman. Lukas gave him advice in the evenings between bugs
BioWare Montreal made ME2 and 3 cinematics
CC for Shep was based on tools used by char designers to create in-game chars. Under the hood similar tools existed to create aliens
Aliens were much easier to animate than humans. When something is human it’s very difficult to make it look realistic and you can see all the mistakes and everything
Over the holiday period in 2007 CH worked out a diagram on a single piece of paper that would define the entire scope and structure of the game. The diagram is included in the book
Bug report: “I shot a krogan so hard that his textures fell off”. At one point shotgun blast damage was applied to each of the pellets fired, and shot enemies ended up with just the default checkerboard Unreal texture on them after their textures got blown off
Blasto was meant to be 1 step above an Easter egg but his fan popularity prompted them to bring him back in ME3
They rewrote chunks of Jack 2 days before she went to VO. She was the only one they could change because all the other NPCs were recorded. They redesigned her mission by juggling locked NPC lines and changing Shep’s reactions by rewriting text paraphrases to change the context of the already-recorded VO
Lukas snuck obscure nods ito ME2′s distress calls. In the general distress call for the Hugo Gernsback, there’s BW’s initial’s and Edmonton’s phone number backwards. In a fault in a beacon protocol there’s the initials and backward phone number from Tommy Tutone’s “Jenny”. In 2 other general distress calls there’s initials and numbers from Glenn Miller Orchestra’s “Pennsylvania 6-5000″ and initials and numbers from Geddy Lee and Rush’s “2112″ respectively
Mass Effect 3
“The end of an era marks the beginning of another”
ME3 “marked the end of Shep’s story”
Saying bye to Shep was as difficult for devs as it was for players
JHale’s final VO session included Anderson’s death and romanced Garrus’ goodbye. “We were in the session and we both just started crying”, Caroline says. “I couldn’t come on the line to give her notes because I was crying, and she was crying. And so there was just this minute-long pause of like, nothing, nothing, nothing - just silence through the airwaves. And then I came on and just told her that I was crying and she said ‘I’m crying!’” They talked about these anecdotes also here on the N7 Day reunion panel
The Microsoft Kinect voice support required devs to teach Kinect hundreds of commands in a variety of accents across multiple languages. The result was useful but made for some awkward moments. Numerous players accidentally said “geth” or “quarian” while making a particular decision and accidentally killed Tali
MP chars were voiced by cops and military people
The helmet on one of the MP chars was originally designed for cancelled project Revolver
The payload device at the end needed to attach to the Citadel while essentially serving as a giant trigger. “It ended up becoming quite the engineering feet just to visualize how this thing would move and connect to the Citadel”
Concept artists explored creating an anti-team, where Kai Leng was almost an anti-Shepard essentially, with an elite squad to counteract your team. This idea never went beyond concept phase
ME3 Special Edition was released on Nintendo Wii U exclusively. This exclusive version of the game includes Genesis 2 (a sequel to the original Genesis comic) and unique gameplay features that took advantage of the touchscreen GamePad. For years Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood had had the honor of being BW’s only game made for a Nintendo console
FemShep regrettably didn’t feature in major ME marketing til ME3. Later releases like DAI, MEA and Anthem have taken increasing care not to gender their protagonists in cover art
To capture combat sounds they took a trip to CFB Wainwright, a military base southeast of Edmonton. They got a big tour of it and were allowed to record anything they could find. The tour ended with them getting to drive and shoot tanks (real shells). The force of doing that sent waves through Joel Green, he felt his whole chest compress when it went off; the perfect sound for the Black Widow! After the trip the soldiers let him keep the shell he fired and it’s been passed on like a torch to various devs since
Kakliosaurs began life as a joke in the writers’ room after John Dombrow placed a Grunt figure on a t-rex toy he had on his desk. Lore was brainstormed to justify the mash-up before someone asked, “Why don’t we put this in the game?” They loved it so much Karin had custom coffee mugs made
Bug report: For a while Tali’s final romance scene would fire when she was supposed to be dead
“Balancing combat: how designers in ME3 entered an ‘arms race’” - the solution to players feeling OP vs players feeling frustrated by really strong enemies is to find a good middle ground, but for designers Corey Gaspur and Brenon Holmes, it was war. Brenon designed enemies, Corey designed guns. Corey “was obsessed with bigger, heavier guns. We had this sort of informal competition where he’d make this crazy overturned gun that would just murder all the enemies, and then I tuned some stuff up to compensate”
Brenon had to invent new ways to “stop Corey” and this led to the Phantoms. Corey had in turn designed consumable rockets that could wipe out entire waves of enemies. He must’ve figured this would make short work of Brenon’s space ninjas, but Brenon had other plans: “I had just added the ability for her to cut rockets [when Corey was playing MP and he was watching]. She cut the rocket in half... Corey just turns and looks at me and is like: ‘Really dude? I just shot a rocket at this Phantom and she’s fine? Not even damaged? Zero damage?’”
This friendly rivalry helped elevate ME3′s gameplay. Corey had a knack for making a gun feel so good to fire it had his fellow designers scrambling to keep up. It was his version of balancing. Before Corey sadly passed away he mentored Boldwin Li in all things weapon design and the arms race continued
Corey designed the Arc Pistol. It was causing problems for enemies because it was too powerful. It seemed hell bent on staying that way, Boldwin would tune down all its stats and it was still doing 3x the damage it should have been doing. “I was like ‘What the hell?’, and then I looked closer. It secretly fired 3 bullets for every pull of the trigger! Corey, you sneaky jerk”
The day it launched there were midnight launch parties across North America including one near the BW building. Numerous devs sat at long tables greeting fans and signing autographs as the fans picked up preorders. When midnight struck the line was long enough that it took several hours for some fans to get their game. One particular fan is remembered: “It was 3am. Some guy drove up from Calgary with his friends. He was like one of the last people in line. I think he was sort of tired-drunk. He threw himself across the tables, pulled up his shirt and shouted ‘Guys, sign my abs!’ And like I did, because he waited so long. It felt impolite not to. So I hope he enjoyed his copy of ME3″
For designing Protheans concept artists had free reign to design something that read as ancient
Before the concept art team had the story of the game to work toward, they explored wild ideas of their own including an image of the crew stealing back the Normandy to go after the Reapers
Jen Cheverie was testing scenes and was initially excited to be testing Mordin scenes, til she saw she was testing the Renegade version of his death. “This is even before like all of the audio and everything was in, so you didn’t even have the sad music. I remember sitting at my desk and my hands just went to my face when I saw that the gun Shep pulls on Mordin is the gun he gives Shep in ME2. I burst into tears and was crying for the rest of the day. People are waving to me as they walk by and I’m like, ‘It’s ok, I’m just killing my best friend’”
There’s a segment called “Shepard’s story ends”. Casey on the ending: “There’s a whole bunch of things that come together to make it incredibly tense and emotional for players. I think the biggest one was the sense of finality, that whatever it was that happened in that very last moment... was it.”
Wrapping up the story was a massive feat. In a way all of ME3 is an ending. Its final moments were the players’ last with a char they’d been with all the way from Eden Prime
“And while the critical reception of the game was extremely positive, many fans were unsatisfied with the ending, which became one of the most controversial in the history of games.” CH: “We were, on one hand, at the end of a marathon trying to finish the game and the series. But as devs we also knew that there would be more. We knew that we would continue to tell the story. In retrospect, we didn’t fully appreciate the tremendous sense of finality that it would have for people”. He envisioned an ending that posed new questions, something in the tradition of high sci-fi that left players dreaming about what that particular galaxy’s future could hold. “Frankly, there’s a lot more that we could have and should have done to honor the work players put in, to give them a stronger sense of reward and closure”
AAA games are massive undertakings with a million moving parts. Somehow they come together but even the best-planned projects don’t turn out quite like devs hope. From start to end video game production is a series of compromises. It’s rare if not impossible for devs to ship a game they’re entirely happy with. “I think that people imagine that when you finish a game, it’s exactly the way you wanted it to be. But whether people end up loving or hating the final result, we work hard to finish it the best we can, knowing that there’s a lot we would have wanted to do better. I think that’s true of any creative work”
As the dust settled after the initial reaction to the ending and later its epilogue, meant to show the wide-reaching ripple effects of Shep’s final choice, “players emerged mostly asking for one thing”. CH: “Now, most of what we hear, after both ME3 and MEA, is ‘Hey, just go make more Mass Effect’. And that to me is the most important thing. Knowing that players want to return to the ME universe is what inspires us to press on and imagine what comes next”
Mass Effect: Andromeda
By creating a new ME in a new galaxy the team was challenged to put their own visual stamp on the game while keeping it true to the franchise
Being the first ME game on a new gen of consoles meant for more detail
“Massive transport ships called arks populated with salarians, turians, humans, asari and quarians” made the risky jump to the Cluster
MEA was the first time BW had truly codeveloped across 3 studios: Edmonton, Montreal and Austin. The bulk of the work especially early on was done in Montreal, which was composed of a handful of Edmonton expats and heaps of experienced devs who joined from elsewhere specifically to bring a new ME experience to life. Series vets in Edmonton then came on to contribute writing, cinematics, design and QA, along with leadership from creative director Mac Walters and the core Production team. Austin writers and level designers also joined the fray
“It took a new team to take ME beyond the Milky Way”
Mac: “A lot of people in Montreal joined BW as fans of the franchise, so they just had this passion, and it felt like it was more like the days of Jade Empire, where a smaller younger team gets to do something for the first time. Even though it wasn’t necessarily a new IP for me, it felt fresh and new because of that. The team was just super excited to be working on it”
Early plans had the player exploring hundreds of worlds, procedurally generated, allowing for a nearly infinite variety of experiences. But as development wore on, it became clear that the game narrative required more specific, hand-touched level design on each world to keep the story focused and the experience engaging. “The plan was to give players numerous uncharted worlds to explore. Designers worked hard to come up with procedural elements that would make such planets special. Eventually the team made the difficult decision to abandon procedural planets in favor of more memorable hand-touched alien worlds, each with a specific story to tell”
One challenge was defining what ME meant without Shep. Care was given to include many of the MET’s key species. “Ryder recruited turian, asari, krogan and salarian followers”. Like Shep Ryder represents humanity’s hope for a peaceful coexistence among aliens who had long operated without human contact
Beginning with MEA the team decided that with few exceptions vehicles in ME have 6 wheels. Early Nomad concepts were bulkier. Later ones focused on its ability to move over its ability to protect itself from hostile fire, underlining the themes of exploration
German concept designer and auto-motive futurist Daniel Simon was contracted to create the Nomad and Tempest. The Tempest’s final design took inspo from the Concorde
Concepts for angaran fighter ships have the following notes: “Two doors swing open, wings rotate down to function as landing struts, the landing struts split open. It has a spinning turbine engine
Despite being set a galaxy away and some 600 years after Mordin’s death, there was a time when he had a cameo. It wasn’t cut due to running out of time however, it was cut due to drug references. John Dombrow explains: “One day I had to write a small quest for Kadara. I thought it’d be amusing if these 2 guys living way out on the fringes in a shack were growing plants for uh, medicinal purposes, and needed Ryder’s help with it. It occurred to me, wouldn’t it be amusing if Ryder had the option of actually trying ‘the medicine’ to see what would happen? And I thought, what if it turned into some hallucination that somehow involved SAM - like maybe SAM would sing? But why? How could I motivate that? Then it hit me. Who else in the ME game sings unexpectedly? MORDIN. As a nod to him I wrote SAM singing Modern Major-General. It got even better when our cine designer John Ebenger wanted to take it even further. Bless him, he came in on a Saturday to do a special hallucination showing Mordin himself. It was great. Til the fateful day we were told MEA had already been submitted to the ratings board. That’s when you declare things like drug references in your game. Mordin fell under that category which meant it was a no-go. We were too late”
Ryder’s white AI armor contrasts Shep’s iconic dark armor (intentional design)
Concept art for Ryder involved experiments with cloth (cloaks, ponchos, capes - “Pull here to release cloak”) and asymmetrical design elements
For alien design, there’s a few exceptions but humanoid figures are the ME standard and this persisted into MEA
Kett and angara concepts explored striking lines and textures
– From Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development
#mass effect#mass effect: andromeda#bioware#video games#jade empire#Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development#Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development spoilers#Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development spoiler#spoilers#spoiler#lul#dragon age#garrus vakarian#best boy#feels#anthem#long post#longpost#drugs for ts#drugs mention#drugs cw
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♡ꜜ eddie ate dynamite﹫johnny suh
fangs - matt champion
PLAYLIST
pairing : johnny x reader (f), feat. ten as johnny’s best friend and roommate and jaehyun as your college friend.
genre : fluff, another case of smut with too much plot, pianist!johnny, guitarist!reader, college!au, neighbour!au, strangers to friends to lovers,
warnings : ten being a cockblock, it’s overall really cute. heavy making out, grinding, marking, slight choking, slight thigh riding, mutual masturbation, slight panty kink and menhandling, oral, penetration.
word count : +22k
synopsis : where you never really tried to make friends with your neighbours. after all, most of them – if not all – are families that would not have much time to talk to a college student. you don’t mind, you’d rather spend some time with your guitar. but your new young neighbour doesn’t seem as anti-social as you are, it’s eleven past meridiem when someone airdrops a tab sheet on your computer, you play it.
a/n : i got this idea while i was showering just after i ordered my electric guitar, i also felt like shit so figured writing about my ult would cheer me up.
Calm and clean streets, pretty cherry trees dotted in red, small park filled with multicolor flowers, you remember the day you moved in your neighborhood like it was yesterday. You don’t say it much, but you love everything about your district. Yes, it might be mostly – if not totally – filled with small families and couples in their thirties, and they usually don’t have much to tell you, you still love the tranquility.
No college students being obnoxiously loud, no parties every week, no gatherings of wannabe frats.
You have to say, you got lucky. The small – but convenient and comfortable – apartment you’re ranting is what you could call a “perle rare”, a gem.
After searching and searching for anything that could fit a college student and it’s budget, you found this very building, freshly built. Only fifteen minutes away from the city center, exactly seventeen minutes away from your university, you couldn’t really believe your eyes, you even thought it was a scam at first. A more than decently sized apartment at the second to last floor, elevators, almost soundproof walls, balcony, big windows facing south, you couldn’t ask for more.
Even better, the owner was a family friend, a deal that made everyone happy was quickly made and, a few days after your twenty-first birthday, you moved in.
It was a bit more than a year ago and you have to say, you quickly made yourself at home, you didn’t mind leaving alone either. Besides, you had friends over a few times a month, and your family didn’t hesitate to visit without any notice.
Ah, and, a few days after moving in, you found this very cute and cosy coffee shop down the street. Oh, how you got addicted to their éclair au chocolat and their croissant. You’re a regular there, now, and the short brunette girl at the register still makes fun of you for your pronunciation. They also make a pretty good iced vanilla coffee, one you’re drinking this very moment, hands turning cold over the transparent plastic.
“Y/N, hey ! I have something for you !”, a voice you quickly grew familiar to sings the moment your badge opens the front door to your building. Sun Sangkyu, building H7’s concierge, doesn’t even wait for the glass door to close behind you to stand up from his chair, searching for the said “something”.
He’s a balding man, you’d say he’s around sixty-something years old. He agreed to work at the desk for good money despite his age, you remember him saying he loves it, it distracts him for the day while his wife volunteers with kids in a less wealthy area. Sangkyu wears big glasses that often fall down the bridge of his nose, eyes half moons whenever he smiles with his little diastema.
“Ah-a, I know what it is !”, you match his tone almost perfectly, a smile stretching your lips. Walking a bit closer to the men’s cubicle, one he customized so much it contrasts with the minimalist style of the entrance.
Red banner for the Chinese New Year, you’re surprised he did not take it down sooner. Next to it, he has multiple drawings from the kids in the building, pictures of him, his wife and kids.
“There it is. Such a tiny box, what did you order ?”, he asks, and the middle aged men doesn’t hesitate to shake the box a little, bringing it to his ear. He’s a bit too curious for his own good, but you don’t mind, it’s funny.
“Guitar picks.”, you tell him with a laugh once he lets the cardboard box fall into your waiting hands.
At that, he frowns.
Small pout on his thin lips, his dark brown eyes shift to the left as he tried and search in his memory.
“But…What about the ones you brought last winter ?”, he asks carefully, almost like he’s scared of not recalling things well. But, after all, you were the only guitarist in the building.
“I…lost them…”, you answer after a few seconds of silence, like a child admitting they misplaced something to their father.
“Ya…”, his instinct kick in with the noise escaping his face, slightly rolling his eyes, drawing out the last letter. “Anyways, I have something else for you.”, he looks at something on the floor, probably where he left his leather bag.
“But, I didn’t or-.”
“My wife made some yesterday !”, he cuts you abruptly, wide toothy smile as he slides a paper bag. And, oh, you already know what they hold by the smell alone. Baozi, steamed stuffed buns Sangkyu’s wife can make like a real master, your mouth salivates with the thought alone.
“Oh, bless her.”, a sigh tumbles from your lips, clenching the small bag against your chest. As you open your mouth to thank him, the slight buzz of the door opening catches your attention. You notice a rather tall men pushing the door with his back, strong arms holding boxes.
“Thank you very much, Sangkyu. Have a nice day !” You conclude with a smile, nodding as the oldest returns the gesture, face already towards the unknown men.
You don’t pay much attention, quickly walking towards the elevator with your two precious items in hand. Your index taps the code and your floor number like a mechanism and, just before the metallic doors close, you catch the unknown men sighing, “One more box and we’re done, Mister Suh !”
Ehm, the apartment on the second floor probably found a new owner, you think at first, the thought brushed away in a second.
The ride to your floor is a quick one, your full attention on the small box in your hand, one you’re trying to open as best as you can. But you quickly find hard to rip the thick duct tape with your left hand occupied with the wrapped food.
“Oh, fuck !”
What was meant to happen, happened. As the feminine yet weirdly robotic voice announces your floor with a “Floor number nine, floor number nine.”, you drop the small box.
The cardboard hits the floor with a small sound, laying lifeless a few centimeters away from your shoes. Great, that will teach you.
Leaning down, you pick the box up with a sigh, straightening your back as the grey metallic doors open in front of you, left wrist twisting to let your digits wrap around your keys.
And it’s your turn to frown. Eyebrows furrowed, you take a step forward, taking your body out of the elevator before the doors close and head down again.
Boxes, boxes everywhere. Your door’s on the left, body naturally facing your apartment but your eyes can not help but look at the overwhelming amount of…stuff laying there. Probably a dozen cardboard boxes in the hallway, the door’s open to the empty apartment if it’s not for all the wrapped furniture in the entrance.
Uh, so it’s not the second floor.
You have to say, you’re a bit surprised. When you moved in, you remember this very apartment being owned by a middle-aged woman, the fake blonde told you about the three other places she owned and ranted all year around. Be it to travelers, students, young adults.
Someone ranted it for two months at best, before moving out, you don’t even remember their faces, to be honest. You never asked why it was always empty, you just figured the area was more appealing to families that would rather buy their own place rather than rant it for god knows how much.
Well, seems like you have a new neighbor. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll introduce yourself later, once they’ll be done with moving in.
Let’s be real, you’re not Bree Van de Kamp from Desperate Housewives but, you were well raised. Ah, and, you should probably tell them about your habit of playing the guitar a bit too late at night, you think as you finally take your attention off the open apartment and go for your own.
Everything might be pretty well isolated, you don’t want to risk starting beef with people you barely know leaving right next to you.
Plus, who knows, maybe they’re nice.
Knife stabs the duct tape, the brown layer easily ripping under the sharp object. Comfortably sat on your bed, you quickly tear the cardboard with your hands, leaving the packaging on the floor of your bedroom, neatly leaving the small bag of picks you ordered on your white sheet.
It’s around ten and a half post meridiem when you finally get around opening your order.
College life is one you knew would be busy, but seventeen years old you never knew you’d spend hours on an essay’s introduction. But thank god, you finished a good chunk of your assignment, showered, ate and now, it’s time for a bit of relaxation.
It’s sort of a ritual for you, a way to reward yourself after a productive day. You take a long shower or a good bath – it depends on the bath bombs you have in stock –, you eat a good, hot meal and get to your room for some alone time with none other than your beloved guitar.
The sun’s already set, the streets’ lights filling your bedroom. And, that’s when you notice the dim light coming from the room right on front of you. The layout of every apartment being identical, you know it’s another bedroom, few meters away from your own. It’s a bad habit you developed after your old neighbor left, you’d pull your curtains to the side and eventually took them out, they clashed with your room’s aesthetic anyways. After all, if no one was leaving there, you would let your window wide open for a bit more light.
You figure you should maybe go and find where you stacked them and get ready to struggle for an hour before eventually, putting them up again.
But for now, you don’t mind, if your new neighbor actually pulls his curtains to look outside, all they will be able to see’s your light purple colored walls, paintings and pictures, your overly packed schedule stuck right on top of your desk.
You don’t let your mind wonder too much, after quickly opening the thin packaging, you let the small plastic picks fall on your bed. Medium sized, you choose the color you like the best, abstract design in red, black and white. Now that you think about it, you really don’t know where the six other ones disappeared, you even used to keep the last one in your phone case.
Digits wrap around the slender neck of your electric guitar, picking it up from the stand it rested on for a few days now, instrument easily finding its place on your lap. Ah, how you love the feeling of the smooth material under your fingertips, left hand on the body to keep it from falling as you lean forward.
The Jack cable you left laying there a few days ago moved a bit, hiding under your bed but you’re quick to grab it, plugging it where it belongs. A flick of the wrist, you turn on your amplifier, turning a few settings. Now that you have neighbors, maybe you should turn the volume a bit down.
Until now, you could play as loudly as you wanted thank to the building’s isolation and a few other…reasons. The men living right above you was a bit older than Sangkyu, and he had a few hearing problems, plus he didn’t mind the music at all even if he heard it a bit, when your window was opened.
The women leaving right under you is in her mid-thirties, a nurse that had a working schedule you cannot wrap your head around. One thing you know, she’s never there from nine post meridiem to some ungodly hour in the morning.
You’ll talk to your new neighbors tomorrow anyways, brushing the thought off as you place the strap on your shoulder.
“Eddie ate dynamite.”, you mumble under your breath, pick plucking at the three top strings. In tune, great. “Good bye Eddie.”, the three last strings are slightly out of tune, but your quickly arrange that with a few twists.
Right hand flat on the six strings, you stand up from your bed, walking to your desk with a few steps. You had left a tab sheet open on your devise before going for your bath, screen lighting up as you open it. It’s a song you practiced once a few weeks back before forgetting about it. Bold, black letters, “Fangs – Matt Champion”.
Eyes scanning the numbers, your fingers quickly find the strings without you needing to even look at your guitar’s neck. Your body follows quickly, shoulders and head moving at the rhythm, it’s a chill tune you can warm your fingers up to.
It’s a moment you adore, when your entire building’s silent, fresh breeze of the early summer sneaking into your room, multicolor lights flashing in your bedroom (tiktok made you buy them).
Tones and sounds of stings being pulled fill your room, it’s no hard for you to remember the notes at the end, eyes closing as you finish the song.
A good song to start on, you think before opening your eyes and…?
“What’s that ?”, you ask out loud, eyes squinting at the window that opened itself on your screen. Apparently, someone’s trying to airdrop something. It’s probably a mistake, you think at first. A weird mistake, for sure, your laptop clearly had your name on it.
Your index finger’s about to decline the request before you take a look at the actual picture sent. Is that…A tab sheet ?
Your eyebrows furrow a bit more. Clearly, this was not a mistake. Eye travel to the window, could it be ? Your neighbor’s room is now lit up, but you can’t make anything up in it, unconsciously waiting for a head to pop-up.
But hélas, no movement comes from the other side. It could come from anyone, but you doubt
“The Less I know The Better – Tame Impala”.
Ah, you’re not a stranger to the song, you have it in multiple playlists, but you never took the time to look at the tabs. At least the person has some good taste. It’s a weird situation for sure, is this…a request ?
Unconsciously, your fingertips press on the right strings. Eh, might as well try it, right ? Tune familiar, you go through the intro easily, though maybe you should’ve taken something to loop the sound.
Irises focused on your screen, you try your best not to mess up, eyes sometimes traveling from your computer to the neck of your guitar.
Brown polished wood glow under the purple light, it softly transitions to blue, green, and you stop after the chorus.
Maybe you’ll keep the sheet.
Cold morning breeze, sounds of a city waking up. Birds singing a bit too loudly, a few cars driving by, chatter from families and young adults all around, voices muted by how high you’re apartment is.
You follow along, body turning in your bed, though maybe in a less graceful way, softly shaking the sleep out.
You changed your sheet right before going to sleep, after playing a few other songs, flowery fragrance comforting, nose deep into the soft fabric. You almost think about not leaving your bed but hélas, you have some classes to attend today.
At least, they’re starting a bit late. Sleepy eyes shift to your clock, the very one that woke you up, nine ante meridiem, you have an hour to get ready, that should be enough.
Another bad habit, your hand grabs your phone as you roll over to your side, cheek squished on your pillow, one eye closed. Maybe you should not do that, apparently the second eye's vision can and will go down if you do this too much. You have an appointment soon anyways, working on your computer all day long got your eyes dry.
Checking mails, social media, texts, you tour your phone before finally stepping out of bed.
Music theory class, multiple hours of it. But, at least, it didn’t end late at all, today was your only free day. But again, depends on what is your vision of freedom, you'll probably end up at the bakery slash coffee shop down the street to study a bit more.
Arms stretching above your head, your lips part in a yawn you quickly hide behind your hand. Fuck, you probably slept on your arm, shoulder aching under your fingertips massaging the muscle.
Walking around your bed, you take a few steps, dragging your feet on your floor towards your window. You needed a bit of fresh air before anything else.
The weather's pretty good today, you note as you fully step in front of your window, skin gratefully taking in the sunlight, a few white clouds here and there in the sky but nothing to complain about. The sun seems to already be heating the air up, maybe you can go for a light coat today, or a thick top alone.
Naturally, your eyes fall straight forward, to the very window you were looking at the night before.
Curtains pulled to the side, your curiosity gets poked, maybe you can have a quick look at the room, right ?
It looks empty anyways, you think at first, but it seems the universe wants to annoy you a bit today. Just as you're about to detail the room opposite to yours, a figure walks in.
His shadow is the first thing you see, stretching on the beige painted walls of the room before he eventually steps in front of his window as well.
Fortunately for your dignity, the men has his back turned but how... Broad do they look, even from a distance.
You have no idea why, but you're stuck there, one side of your brain telling you to leave before you get caught and inevitably get label as the creepy neighbor while the other whispers that you might want to see the strangers' face.
Shoulder blades move against the tanned skin, hands quickly run in his honey colored locks, pushing them back, it seems your neighbor's getting ready too.
That's when you realize your hand's still gripping your window's handle, right hand falling to your side, you really should go and get ready too but... You wonder, is he the one that sent you the tab sheet yesterday ? Wouldn't you want to put a face a the music taste ?
As you're about to take a step back, the men turns slightly, applying what you can only assume is cream to his face, digits running down his jawline as he angles his head as desired. And oh, the one second long glimpse you get at his profile is enough to make your lips part.
Shiny locks falling in front of his eyes, straight nose, full lips, sharp jawline, a curse almost falls down from your lips. You'd think anyone would find the guy attractive from the small peak you just got but... Isn't this a bit... Weird ? You suddenly feel like a whole voyeur, your eyes detaching from the stranger as your morals kick in.
He doesn't look like a father, or maybe he's very young father ? But again, you didn't see anything for a baby yesterday, nor did you hear one crying yesterday night...
Maybe he moved in here with his significant other, even though young couple usually go for the other side of the city.
Or maybe, he's a college student like you are, does he have a roommate ?
Pupils traveling up again to the window, you're about to get on your toes for a better look. Maybe you should say introduce yourself tonight, rather than guessing and throwing hypothesis out there. And maybe, just maybe, you want to get a better look at his face.
He turns around, you duck to the side.
It’s around six after meridiem when you finally, finally get up from the sit you occupied for several hours now. Maybe you should’ve taken a break between two massive paragraphs to write, you think as your arms stretch up above your head. Thank god, the beloved coffee you decided to drop your bag in had some comfortable light beige chairs, cushion as still cloud-like, exactly like you found them the first day you entered the shop.
You wonder how they keep them so clean, someone must’ve dropped their dark coffee or chocolate on the unforgiving fabric at least once, you surely fear being one of these clients.
“You done ?”, familiar voice hums, and you just nod at the question, eyes falling on the black clock right behind the counter.
“Yeah, I can’t think anymore.”, you tell your friend, hand grabbing the second cup of coffee you brough, shaking it lightly to estimate the amount of liquid left.
Jaehyun, maybe your closest friend in your university, pouts at that. Dirty blonde hair fall in front of his eyes as he grounds, before he lets his forward press against his computer’s touchpad. The poor guy had been struggling for an hour now, the rhythm of his fingers tapping on his keyboard gradually loosing speed.
You have to say, you were in the same situation, writing and rewriting the same sentences again, brain refusing to cooperate after already vomiting out a few large paragraphs.
But, unlike your friend, you decided to stop there for the day, you still had a full week to finish it anyways.
“I can’t do this anymore.”, the Korean grounds again, dramatic nature kicking in as his head snaps back, rolling backwards, the men cannot go a day without faking death.
“Save it, we still have a week to do it.”, you sigh out, but you don’t hide the smile growing on your face at his antics. Though, you don’t wait for his answer, saving your own file before closing your laptop.
“Six days. Six.”, he corrects, like a day changes anything anyways. See, Jaehyun needs to turn his paper in a single day before yours, since he had chosen to attend the very class twenty-four hours before you.
Rolling your eyes, you know the men cannot read your facial expressions, bag turned as you drop all your belongings into your bag.
“You gonna stay ?”, you simply ask, there’s no need for you to point out the slight difference in days. Jaehyun nods fingers running on his touch pad as he zooms out his Word Documents, eyes scanning over his six pages for any underlined errors. “Well, good luck. I didn’t finish this, want it ?”, you ask, eyebrows slightly raised as you push the still fresh iced coffee towards your friend, who doesn’t need more, lips wrapping around the straw.
“Text me when you’re home.”, Jaehyun mumbles, mouth filled with tiny ice pieces, pieces he quickly swallows. “Don’t work too late, text me too.”, you finish it like you too usually do, quickly waving before you walk out of view.
“Are you done, Y/N ?”, another familiar voice calls you out, one you know pretty well by now. See, the coffee shop is getting more and more exposure as days go by, but it does not meet the owner and workers will forget about the regulars, like you. “For the day, yeah. Still have a few things to write but I should be done tomorrow or the day after.” You smile at the brunette, Hana, coffee “Flâner”’s cashier. As said, she’s a brunette with the longest locks you’ve ever seen. Or maybe she has black hair, you think it depends on the lighting. Anyways, she’s been there since the opening, working 4 days a week, greeting costumers with a smile and a light French accent whenever she spoke, thought you remember her saying she was born somewhere else.
“Ah, I hope you’ll have a good grade !”, she says cheerfully, black irises leaving your form as she places some cakes into their signature black box. “Is…Jaehyun staying ?”, the smallest asks, even behind the counter, you can’t help but notice her small, petite figure. It’s like she doesn’t dare to look at you, and a small smile stretches your lips. Oh…She doesn’t hide her crush very well. You wonder, is Jaehyun staying late for another reason as well ?
“Ah, yeah. He’s proofreading what he wrote today.”, you explain, fainting obliviousness.
“Oh, alright !”, she responds with a smile, eyes flickering from your figure to the your friend’s.
You’re about to leave, let them somewhat alone if you forget about the three other costumers drinking their tea, when your eyes fall the small cakes she’s arranging behind the glass. And god, how they look tasty. You guess they’re make of a chocolate mousse, a shortbread at the bottom, your mouth salivates.
As said, you’re not the Bree Van de Kamp of your building but, if you’re going to greet your new neighbors today, shouldn’t you bring something ? And no, you’re definitely not doing this because of what happened this morning, no way.
“What are these ?”, you ask, taking a step closer.
“Un royal !”, she answers in French, your eyes squint as you try to say it back. How the fuck does she do that -r sound.
“Can I have two of them ? And a croissant, please.”, you order, hand already fishing for your phone. God, this shop will make you go bankrupt, they will also make you addicted to their food, if you’re not already.
“Sure, ma’am !”, the young girl answers, before she grabs yet another black box. Fingers push the cardboard until it takes the shape desired, iron tool dropping the cakes into it.
You’ve done this so many times, it’s ironic. Right hand grabs the box, left hand turning your phone screen towards the young girl so she can scan the code.
“Thank you, good bye !”
“See you soon, Y/N !”
The glass door is pushed with a shoulder, smile stretching your painted lips when you give another look inside the shop, catching Jaehyun walking up to the counter. “Buying three coffees isn’t a way to flirt, Jaehyun.”, you laugh to yourself before leaving.
It looks like the sun is about to set, sunlight a lot less aggressive compared to the beginning of the afternoon. Cakes in hand, the walk to your building is a short one, though you come across the Hwang family from the fourth floor going to the park, greeting the mother with a smile, waving lightly at the twins she’s holding hands with.
Ah, you really do love this area, you think as you walk along the park’s barrier, catching a few giggles and screams from young kids. And, from the sound of it, they started opening the water in the fountains.
“Cakes again !”, Sangkyu might be on the older side, he still has some sharp eyes, you note. The door closes behind you with a small noise, the lock activating itself.
“Yes, cakes again.”, you say, shooting him a fake-ly offended glare, left hand to your chest. “But these aren’t for me, they’re for the new neighbor.”, you point out, walk slowing down in front of the men’s cubicle.
“Ah ! Mister Suh and…”, his face contours as he tries his best to recollect the second name. Oh, maybe it was a couple, good thing you got two cakes, even though you got one for yourself…
“Right ! His roommate, Mister Leechayapornkul !”, his features light up with a smile as he correctly – you assume – recollects the second name.
Ah, a roommate, you think, interesting. “Oh, I didn’t know they were two. I’m going to introduce myself now.”, you tell him with a smile.
“Ah, by the way, have you heard ? Miss and Mister Jeon want to organize something for the building’s anniversary, I’ll keep you up to date !”
On that, you leave the old men with a smile, quickly strolling to the elevator. The metal cubicle stops at the third floor, a young girl you don’t really know polite greets you before pushing the fifth button floor, she’s probably friends with the kids on that floor.
“Floor number nine, floor number nine.”, the metal doors open on your small hallway, and for the first time, you walk towards the right door. Deep, dark green color like yours, your shoes barely make a noise on the light beige carpet as they lead you to your neighbors’ place.
You stay there for a second, mind questioning the dumbest things, should you wait a bit ? How many times should you knock…?
Raising your fist up, the first joints of pointer and middle finger tap a few times on the dark wood. One, two, three. You wait.
Though, everything seems silent, if it’s not for the small noise of the elevator going up and down. Are they…Not there ? A small pout on your lips, you shift on your feet, both hands grabbing onto the black box. The apartment was silent, you guessed your new neighbors were not there, your luck.
From : Jaehyun, 8:37 pm.
: “im home !!”
: “ended up proofreading and wrote the second to last part”
The well familiar name flashes on your phone, alongside a picture you took when you visited his family on the country side. Jaehyun’s rather tall body’s folded as he tries to ride on a small tricycle, legs so long his knees are above the handlebars. Quickly, your thumbs tap on the small keyboard as you walk toward your room.
After entering your bedroom, you decided to eat a bit earlier, taking a shower before going back to your guitar. The shower was a cold one, if the sun had already set, the air was dense, heavy. Moments after stepping out of your shower, a thin layer of sweat managed to gather around your hairline. It’s like the weather suddenly switched to the middle of summer, and you definitely were not ready for it.
To : Jaehyun, 8:38 pm.
: “is it because of the third coffee you bought :D ?”
To : Jaehyun, 8:40 pm.
: “…i do not know what youre talking about .”
To : Jaehyun, 8:40 pm.
: “when are you gonna ask her ?”
You send the message before locking your phone, throwing the devise on your bed. You’re quick to set up your guitar, since you left you amp’ plugged in yesterday. Right index flicks the switch up, before you plug the Jack cable in.
However, as you’re about to flop on your bed again, you notice the screen of your phone lightening up as your college friend calls you.
“How did you know ?”, it the first think he asks, tone whiny, the second you accept the call and press the speaker button.
“It is very much obvious, Jaehyun.”, you laugh out, left hand finding its place around the neck of your black and white guitar as you bring it on your lap.
“Do you she’s int-.”, Jaehyun starts as you play out a few random chords, thumb stroking the six strings ever so softly.
“Yes.”, you cut him before he even manages to finish his sentence. “She’s into you. I thought you knew.”
“I, uh, I wasn’t sure.”, he mumbles, and you hear his fork pick whatever his eating.
After hanging out around the male for some years now, you figured your good friend was a bit clueless when it came to his looks and charms. Yes, Jaehyun knows that’s he’s handsome, you don’t miss the opportunity to remind him whenever he gets dressed up or send you a selfie, as a good and supportive friend.
But, Jaehyun doesn’t really weight the affect he has on girls, guys, and everyone in between. You remember when this guy in your Music Therapy class, and another girl, you don’t really remember what hear studies were about, but she was in your distant group circle and they both had a big – massive – you’d say, crush on your friend.
You remember both of them throwing some light hints at first, thought the girl went a bit harder after as the first eventually dropped it. Jaehyun, him, was completely oblivious until you told him one night, when he was staying over after a night out.
“Ask her out already !”, you sign out, left hand over your guitar’s string, blocking any sound.
“I will soon, okay ! Give me some time, I’m…Thinking about the right way to do it.”, your friend starts, drinking something in between his words. “Anyways, moving on ! How’s your neighbor ?”
You sigh at the question, opening your laptop as you search in your files for something to play, you really should organize your things a bit better, you think to yourself.
“They weren’t there.”, you breath out, eyes unconsciously flickering to the window. From this angle, you can’t really see much, apart from the vague shapes behind the curtains, yellowish light on before you even came in your room.
“They ? Oh…Is it a couple ?”, Jaehyun asks, tone slightly disappointed. See, this morning, you obviously told your friend about the airdrop…Thing. Obviously, you had texted him before going to sleep but decided to keep much of the details for a real life conversation. After a hushed story-time, eyes travelling to your teacher every now and then to make sure he was not looking at you, you told him about what happened this morning.
Of course, it immediately poked the blonde’s curiosity, who would not be. As said, you and Jaehyun had been friends for some years now. When you two met, he was in a relationship that ended a few months after, you being there for him had strengthen the bond, he had been single ever since and you, had been single all the way. Sure, you had a few crushes, two or three people shooting there shot but, the crushes were always short-lived, nothing serious.
So, when Jaehyun heard that you found someone attractive after months of radio silence of the channel of your earth, someone who lives next to you at that, your friend jumped on the occasion, already hoping for something to happen before you even got to introduce yourself to the guy.
“I don’t know, Sangkyu said they’re two roommates.”, you inform, trying to recall the two names the oldest men told you hours before.
“…Are you sure you don’t want me to stalk ?”, Jaehyun proposes for the second time today. As soon as you finished your small story this morning, the Korean asked if you wanted him to do some stalking, promising and selling his apparently, amazing, skills in the domain.
“Jaehyun, no. I didn’t even introduce myself.”, you breathe out, half-desperate, half laughing at his antics.
“Alright, alright. Go see them soon, alright ?”, there’s a small silence, you simply hum at his question. “Play me something while I do the dishes.”, your friend yawns and you oblige pretty quickly, after finally finding a song to practice to.
Maybe you need a little more practice on the song, one by Frank Ocean in the “channel ORANGE” album he put out in 2012, if you recall correctly.
On the other line, the sound of water running and dishes being done drowns the voice of your friend slightly singing to the song, one you two have on the collective Spotify playlist you have.
Your attention stays on your screen, just in case you forget a chord and, as you’re starting the second chorus, something comes between your eyes and the sheet.
Your hand comes flat on your guitar strings, stopping the music at once. You already know what it is.
Jaehyun does not stop the water, but his voice does comes closer, microphone muted every now and then as you hear him struggle. “Why did you- Oh, fuck, nooo. There’s sop everywhere.”
You laugh breathlessly at his whines, eyes quickly looking at the black screen of your phone, like you’d be able to see your friend. Though, you hear him wipe his screen, cloth going over his microphone again.
“There ! Why did you stop ?”, he asks, bringing his mouth a bit too close to his phone.
Staying silent for a second, your finger tap on yet another Airdrop.
“He sent another one.”, you simply say, a bit quietly, as if your neighbor will be able to hear you. Pupils look over at the window, you almost want to get up and walk to your window but…
Jaehyun gasps softly over the phone, “Play it, play it.”, he says as you’re scanning the sheet sent. And oh, he’s that type.
It’s crazy how two songs alone help you draw a quick sketch of your neighbor’s personality, or his music taste at the very least. Unlike yesterday, you don’t hesitate and open the file sent, though you have to say you already know the chords.
“Jae’. He sent The Neighbourhood’s Daddy Issues.”, you squick into the phone after grabbing into with your right hand. Jaehyun knows well, you still love the band but had an unhealthy obsession a few years back, not to mention your massive crush on Zach Abels.
“Oh. Ooh. He’s like that.”, Jaehyun notes as well, before he presses you again to play it. Urged by your friend, you lean forward to adjust the reverb on your guitar. “That’s…Kinda hot, though.”, your friend whispers out and you, yourself, can’t comprehend the sound that comes from your lips, something between a laugh and a choked gasp.
“Jae’…What ?”
“No, but, I mean…Daddy Issues, that’s hot.”, he tries to explain himself, you quickly shut him up by running your fingers over the six strings.
You don’t really need to look at the tabs, from memory, your fingers find their rightful place.
“3D, 5D, 3G, 5D, 5B, 5G.”, you say as you play the notes, humming the rest as you play the intro.
“C minor, G minor, B flat major.”, and from then, you remember the song pretty easily. Between two chords, you turn the volume on your guitar up, just to make sure your neighbor’s hearing you play.
“That’s flirting.”, concludes Jaehyun once you’re done with the song, you know him well enough to know his mouth a bit agape.
“It is not.”, you tell him, though you’re not sure yourself what this is.
“You have to talk to him like, right now.”, he urges so loudly you have to turn the volume on your phone down.
“Now ? No ! I’m in my pyjamas, and I don-.”, you start, and it’s your friend’s turn to cut you off. “’kay, okay ! Go talk to him tomorrow, please ?”
“I will, don’t worry.”, you start, but before you can continue, you’re phrase’s cut again but this time, it’s by…A piano.
Your mouth parts for a second, a single syllable falling from your lips before you close your mouth. The tune’s familiar, but you never heard in played on a piano. Your head slowly raises, eyes fixated on your window.
“Can you hear this ?”, you quietly ask Jaehyun, who answers with a soft “Yeah”, sounding as dumbfounded as you do.
Slowly, you get up from your bed, leaving your guitar on your bed, that’s when you realize how hot it is. The fabric of your shirt sticks to your skin, hands lacing into your hair as your push them up in a makeshift ponytail to let your neck get some air.
It's after a few notes that you finally put your finger on it. The Weeknd's last album, “After Hour”.
“Repeat after me.”, you tell Jaehyun, I single “Oh” coming from his lips as he recolls the song.So he's a musician as well, you conclude easily. You never heard anyone play this very song on the piano, you wonder if it's his own arrangement.
On the other end of the line, the blonde's silent, carefully listening to the soft piano tunes as you do the same. Few steps take you to your window again, just like you did this morning. This time, curtains are pulled to the side, enough for you to see the same broad shoulders under a black hoodie, back straight as his head hangs down towards the keyboard.
From your spot, you can't really see his fingers, but you do see his hands quickly running over the black and whites, pressing confidently. Seeing a pianist's always mesmerising, eyes stuck on the figure, you try your best to get a better view but, what can you do from your room ?
When the song ends, unlike this morning, you don't hide behind your wall. Your neighbor doesn't move, stretching his arms above his head, fingers laced together, a curse falls down your lips.
“Y/N. Send him a sheet.”
It's around five in the afternoon when you find yourself in front of your neighbor's door, holding a black box of cakes, for the second time this week. Your classes had ended two hours earlier today and maybe, maybe you should use that time to work on your assignment but since last night, you don't think you can go another day without introducing yourself to the building's new people. Plus, you have enough time, you tell yourself.
It's ironic, isn't it ? You weren't the type to go out of your way to speak to your neighbors, most didn't have a lot in common with you but now. Now, this nameless, a bit too handsome young guy moves in and you're bringing some patisseries in front of his door.
Music brings people together, you've always thought, you've always known and this, this is a pretty good example. You're pretty sure you wouldn't have went out of your way like this if the guy didn't send you a tab sheet, if he didn't play last night.
Like yesterday, you bring your first up, knocking a bit more confidently this time, thought you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding.
You barely have the time to let your hand fall down to your side when a deep, voice a bit far away let's out. “Coming !”
Of course, broad shoulder guy had to have a deep voice to go along side.
“Oh, hi.”, your soul almost jumps out of your body when the deep green door abruptly opens to reveal none other than your - handsome - neighbor.
“Hi...! Uh, I'm your next door neighbor, the name's Y/N.”, you let out, maybe you should thank your past self for practicing this very line right before stepping out of your apartment.
Your right hand's stretched out in front of your for him to shake, but your attention's on something else. Deep brown eyes stare down at you, they almost make you feel small. Or maybe they're a honey brown, you wonder as the plane blocking the sun finally moves away to reflect into his eyes.
Yes, definitely honey brown eyes, the same eyes that turn a crescent shape, just like before a full. moon.
He smiles at you with the same full lips you saw from your window, hands wrapping around your own.
“Ah, yes. Johnny, nice to meet you !”, he says, hand slowly shaking your own. Finally, a name on the face. You quickly notice the slight simple in the middle of his cheek before he lets go of your hand.
“Oh, I bought some cakes from the coffee shop down the street.”, you tell Johnny, both hands one the black box.
At this, his lips turn from a smile to an - o shape, eyes round. Maybe you guessed right at the moon phase.
“You didn't have to !”, your neighbor blurs out, hands at his sides for a few seconds before they eventually accept the gift when you slightly push the box towards him. Your eyes fall to his hands for a quick second and yes, definitely some pianist hands.
“It's just a small welcome gift ! I wanted to drop them yesterday but, I think you weren't there.”, you explain, a lot, lot more relaxed, though turning your attention away from the men's hands. This isn't the moment nor the place.
“Ah yeah, me and Ten we're out for the first grocery shopping trip.”, he explains, right shoulder leaning against his door frame. You get a quick glimpse at the apartment itself, though you don't look at it too long, everything looks already set up. You remember taking a week to get everything as home-like, but you guess having a second pair of arms help.
“Ten ?”, you ask, right hand wrapping around your left upper arm. Probably the one Sangkyu was talking about the other day.
“Yeah, he's my roommate.”, Johnny answers, letting a silence settle between the two of you. “Do you want to come in ? I won't be able to eat two cakes by myself.”, the men proposes after a few seconds, pupils landing on the black box. He probably saw the two cakes thank to the transparent part of the cardboard box, at the top.
Come in ? And... Eat with him ? Suddenly, your palms grow sweaty, slightly shifting one foot to another. “Oh, but. Your roommate.”, you mumble out.
Sure, at first, you bought two cakes, one for him and one for you. Though you thought you'd eat them by yourselves, when Sangkyu told you about the second person living there, you figured you'd keep the two cakes for your two neighbors.
“He's at his parents’ house to get some things, he won't be there until the day after tomorrow.”, the brunette tells you with a smile. His body moves a bit more, enough to let you enter. “Come on, I need someone to help me eat all of this.”
How can you say no to this ?
“Wait, it ends like that ? There’s no way he does that.”, laughs Johnny, a full laugh that shakes his chest, right under his plain white t-shirt. Short sleeves rolled up to his shoulders, his body leans back, black jeans covered legs spread on his one person sofa.
“I swear he does, watch the second season !”, you interject quickly, straw mixing the iced tea in your long glass, ice cubes clashing against each other before eventually melting away.
“Yeah, I guess I will…! I never thought he’d kill her.”, you neighbor says, and he seems genuinely choked, bushy eyebrows raised.
After taking a step in his apartment, the pianist led you to the biggest sofa, where he left you for a few minutes. People say boys are bad at decorating their place, but you have to say Johnny and Ten’s apartment was already looking pretty good.
Beige walls, a few black and white pictures were hung up right above the dark sofa. Wide windows on your left, your apartment has the opposite view. While you have a view towards the city center, street lights fascinating at night, Johnny has an amazing view on the park.
Large television right in front of you, you quickly notice de PlayStation 4 and switch neatly placed under it. On your right, just like your apartment, the small open kitchen, counter the only thing separating the two rooms.
The honey-eyed seemed to have found his marks easily, navigating in the kitchen quickly. After taking out two plates and two small spoons, he placed the two cakes, refusing your help every time you offered it.
“Iced tea ?”, he had asked, taking out two long glasses when you agreed.
Red hibiscus iced tea was poured and handed, before he sat in front of you.
You do not remember well how the conversation around the series “You” started, but you recall seeing his Netflix profile on the tv screen.
“So, you live alone ?”, he asked after some seconds of silence, pillow lips wrapping around his metal straw.
“Yeah, I’ve been there for a year, I’d say.”, you start out, spoon digging into the chocolate mousse. “You’ll see, it’s lovely here.”, you tell Johnny with a smile he mirrors.
“I’m sure it is, everyone’s really nice. Especially Sangkyu.”, you laugh at that, the old men really has the power to give one memorable first impression.
“Ah, Sangkyun-.”, you laugh, “He’s something.”, you point out, yourself taking a sip of the iced tea. “Really good memory too, he made fun of me for buying two sets of guitar picks in a few months span.”
“Oh, right, the guitarist.”, Johnny smiles, placing his empty plate on his table. Pink tongue pokes out to wet his lips, your eyes shamefully follow the movement before forcing yourself to find his honey eyes again.
There it was, you didn’t know when nor how to bring the subject up, but you were thankful it happened naturally. For two people, two strangers, the conversation was going pretty well.
“Exactly ! By the way, sorry if the music’s too loud.”, you add quickly, yourself reaching towards the table to leave your empty glass. You’ll have to ask for the receipt.
Johnny’s reaction is almost comical, his head shaking from left to right. “No, no ! It’s not too loud, not at all. T-That’s why I sent you a sheet, I liked it.”, he blurs he words out quickly, cute, you think.
Crossing one leg over the other, your eyes shift to the left for a quick second at the small compliment. “Thank you. You’re a good pianist.”, you return with a smile, spoon scraping the last bit of biscuit.
“Thank you very much, it means a lot. Have you been playing for long ?”, he asks, glass a quarter full left on the table. His right arm comes behind his sofa’s backrest, getting more comfortable.
“Since I was…eleven. Got an acoustic for my birthday and ended up selling it for an electric a year and a half later. What about you ?”, you explain, remembering the light brown instrument your parents got for you, you also remember it being way, way too big.
“Ah, yeah, I’ve always liked the sound of an electric guitar better. I was seven, or eight. My mother wanted me to learn and I ended up really liking it.”, he explains, fingers tapping on the sofa’s fabric.
Music brings people together, you tell yourself a second time when Johnny tells you about how her mother loves the sound of a piano, how she’d always stop next to her when he played. A kind of art that helps you learn more about a person, when he tells you his favorite songs to play and you tell him yours.
“But you do have a real pianist’s hands !”, you argue back when Johnny down plays one of your compliments, to which the brunette looks down. Crescent shaped eyes fall on his ring clapped fingers, a small smile on his lips he struggles to hide. “You noticed ?”, he asks, and you try to convince yourself his voice did not get lower.
“Well, yeah. A music student always looks at people’s hands.”, nice save, Y/N.
You learn the young men kept music as a hobby and currently studies international commerce et economics, Ten is a long, long time friend pursuing performing arts.
You learn your neighbor’s not only a good looking men, brown locks falling in front of his, nose crunching up every time he finds something funny, rosy lips tugging up to reveal a row of white pearls. He’s also extremely well mannered. Soft spoken, polite, his chuckles put you in a comfort zone, the way he almost doesn’t let you help him clean the two plates a bit too cute. You find his presence entertaining.
Maybe it’s because you just met him, things to learn about him awaiting, but you don’t see the hours running by, nor does he.
It’s around ten post meridiem when Johnny insists to walk you to your door, handwritten receipt of his hibiscus iced tea in hand.
“Do you want me to st-”, Jaehyun asks over the phone for the third time in a week, or maybe for the fourth time, you lost count. Your devise rests right next to your laptop, which is propped on your desk.
“No, Jae'. I don't want you to stalk him.”, you breathe out into your microphone, fingertips tapping on your touchpad at a random rhythm. A paragraph, the conclusion, and you should be done on your essay.
“Too late. Got him !”, he almost chants out and, at that, there's a silence. Clear sign of your disappointment and your blonde friend's concentration. “Oh, wow. He's a photographer too ?”, he asks as if you can see his screen.
You hate it, you hate how your curiosity gets picked by the simple sentence. Needless to say, Jaehyun was filled in by every bit of information you got once Johnny walked you to your door, at least he waited two days before searching for your new neighbor's Instagram. Or at least you think.
“Oh wow. OH. Woah.”, your friend gasps into his microphone, your index taps aggressively on your keyboard, deleting the last sentence you wrote. He’s obviously doing it on purpose, pushing your bottoms. The blonde knows how curious you are, he’s just trying to see how long you can keep it together.
“Uh, Ja-. Show me, what did you find ?”, not very long, obviously.
“Ah, see ! Wait, I'll send you some screenshots. He's hot.”
He is, you want to answer, but would rather shut your mouth for now or you’ll never hear the end of it. Eyes finally leaving the screen of your laptop, they travel to another, finger unlocking your phone.
Your text messages with your friend enlighten your features, bubble appearing at the bottom.
“Finding him was extremely easy.”, Jaehyun points out, before a few screenshots are sent at the same time.
And indeed, you see how easy it must've been for your blonde boy. User johnnyjsuh.
He must've been pretty popular in his old schools, you think after looking at his followers.
Pictures of him in the same white shirt you saw him in days prior, pictures of him with an argentic camera, selfies, mirror selfies, outfit pictures. His feed is almost as good as Jaehyun's. And that says something.
Unlike Jaehyun, you don't have to be careful, worried you'll accidentally like one of his pictures. Shamelessly zooming on the screenshots your university friend sent you, you unconsciously pull your bottom him between your teeth.
He's cute. Too handsome it should be illegal.
“That's a lot but, yeah.”, Jaehyun giggles, you learn you don't have much of a filter between your mind and mouth. “Follow him !”
“Are you crazy ?”, you almost scream out, eyes wide at the suggestion. “He'll know we searched him up.”
Basic social media rules, you can't follow the guy when you don't even have his number, nor talked to him more than twice at this point, if him talking to you in the elevator counts.
“Alright, alright. Don't scream in my ears like that, I have earphones.”, he complains, not leaving you a second before continuing. “Y/N, don't be a coward, airdrop something.”
“I-.”, you start out, attention drown back to your computer. With one tap of your finger, you manage to hide your word document, piano sheet open behind it. You’ve searched a few sheets the day prior, downloading one before going to sleep that night, just in case.
After all, he sent you two tabs, why wouldn't you send him something ?
Tap, tap, you open the airdrop settings. You really should, hm ?
“Alright. I'm doing it.”, you finally say, more to yourself but your friend softly cheers on anyways.
“Ocean Eyes - Billie Eilish.”, from the songs he sent you, it's a fair guess your neighbor is familiar with this one too, you’d doubt he doesn’t know who Billie Eilish is.
“Johnny's IPhone”, it's a click away. One you reach, tapping on the touch pad again. Sent. There.
“Now we wait.”, you announce, leaning back .
“Tell me if anything happens, I have a call to take.”
On that, simple goodbyes are said, you promise Jaehyun you’d tell me if anything happens, he hangs up after saying good bye a second time.
Minutes go by, you don't really know how many, maybe five where you debate going back to your essay, finger frantically tapping on the Word Document icon.
Before a few notes are heard.
Piano notes, fingers pressed down on white and black keys. It has the power to make you smile, lips tugging upwards, there’s obviously not a doubt who’s playing at this very moment. Even the way he plays feels confident, he's sure of himself, he knows what he's doing.
Attention for your school work long gone, your pupils naturally find your window again.
It's slightly open, the music would come in easier if it was fully pushed, you think to yourself.
Do you even have to hide anymore ? You guess not. He knows, you know, it's just music you want to enjoy, you convince yourself even though your palms are slightly warm, heart fluttering in your chest.
Leaving your phone on your desk, you quickly walk to your window, right hand in the handle pushes it towards yourself. Warm breeze enters your bedroom, in a soft gush that sends your baby hairs floating away from your face, framing your features.
The sun's just starting to set, purple hue tiger stripes on the blue sky but your eyes are on another shade of purple.
Johnny's wearing a light lilac hoodie, brown locks the only thing you can see, he hasn't moved his piano, his back facing you again.
Forearms against the window frame, you lean forward, humming at the summer sent floating in the air.
A bit too quickly, your neighbor ends the song, hands lingering on the keyboard.
Finally, his right hand grabs the very phone he propped up on his piano to see the sheet you sent him, sliding it in his back pocket.
He stands up, fingers toying with a button on his instrument, probably turning some things off.
He turns around, you don't duck to the side.
The men's visibly taken back, his turn stopping mid-way, lips slightly parting for a second. Honey brown eyes find yours before his pupils travel down at your body behind your glass window. He genuinely smiles after a few seconds, eyes half crescents, full lips tugging upwards, you can almost hear his giggle.
“Hi.”, voice soft, Johnny says once he opened his own window a bit more, forearms on his frame, mirroring your own posture.
“Hey, that was very good.”, you tell him, head tilting to your left.
“Ah, thank you. I messed up somewhere in the beginning, though.”, one hand scratches the back of his neck like an embarrassed teenager, before his elbow rests on the frame, hand holding his jaw.
“Ah shoot, I'll send something easier next time.”, you tease, to which he laughs lightly, the sound airy.
“Would be easier to send it by text, wouldn't it ?”, Johnny asks, one eyebrow raised and you have to say, you took a second to understand. But when the brunette hands you his phone, pricy devise between two apartments on the ninth floor, your eyes grow wide.
Your number, he wants your number.
Probably just because you two are neighbors, you have a bunch of your neighbors’ phone number too...
And also probably because sending sheet via airdrop isn't the most convenient thing in the world. Don’t over think it, Y/N. Don’t overthink it.
Two hands grab his phone, just in case, and you struggle to remember your phone number all of a sudden.
You have to retract in your room, too scared you're going to drop the devise with your slightly trembling hands before eventually typing in your name and phone number. You don’t get why you’re so nervous, maybe it’s because Johnny didn’t stop looking at you, slightly giggling at your antics.
“Oh, by the way. I'm sorry if sending that tab sheet the first time was too much. I just couldn't resist.”, Johnny blurs out once he gets his phone back, sliding it back into his pocket. It’s his turn to look slightly nervous, hand rubbing at his shoulder.
“Ah, no, not at all ! It was fun, plus I think we might share the same music taste.”, you reassure him with a smile.
“Really ? You should send me your playlists.”, your neighbor says with an enthusiastic tone, eyes lightening up.
If Jaehyun was there, he'd tell you this was blatant flirting. Maybe you'd agree. At that very moment, you thank your past self for having a pretty organized Spotify accounts, you're one of these people with matching playlists accounts and vague names, a playlist for each feeling almost.
“Yeah, sure ! I'll send you my Spotify user !”, you immediately tell him, as keen as he is.
“Nice, and I c-.", his sentence is abruptly cut by a surprised noise falling from his lips, brown eyes looking up at the sky. He sticks out his right hand, palm up.
Rain starts pouring down.
Saturday, laundry day. It’s not a moment you particularly cherish but at least, you do not have to walk meters or kilometers to wash your clothes.
Half thorn basket on your left hip, your right hand mindlessly scrolls through Johnny’s playlist, small smile on your features.
See, after the rain started pouring down, you two decided to return to your rooms in unanimity. Now that he had your number, communication was a lot, lot easier.
As promised, you sent him your Spotify profile, where he followed you and you did the same.
User youngho’s listening to “The Weekend – SZA” from “late summer nights and city lights” playlist.
Your playlist.
User citylight’s listening to “Angelina – WIINSTON” from “yellow” playlist.
His playlist.
Blatant flirting, Jaehyun would say.
Johnny has his playlist organized by colors, a simple theme you quite like. You have to say, you like all of them but, you had to follow his “purple”, “blue” and “yellow” playlist, where your neighbor managed to capture the color’s feeling.
However, after a few days, the “red” playlist sat untouched. You didn’t dare. For having a similar playlist Johnny was actually shamelessly listening to, you knew exactly what the “red” playlist held.
To : Johnny, 1:25 pm.
: “how does angelina only has 40k view on youtube !!”
You quickly type on your keyboard, right after saving the said song to your likes. Finding new artist and finding new song’s always fun, especially when Johnny’s as invested as you are. He’d send you his thoughts on some songs, and you quickly learned the brunette was musically more intelligent than some people in your course.
From : Johnny, 1:27 pm.
: “I honestly don’t know….”
: “It’s such a catchy song too like”
Double text.
Fuck, Jaehyun really got into your brain, didn’t he ? The notification bar slides down for a few seconds, enough for you to read his texts. At the same time, the metallic doors of your elevator open up to the lobby. Leaving your devise in your basket of dirty clothes, you figure you’d answer in a few minutes, once you’re done with your laundry.
“Good afternoon, Sangkyu !”, you call out the the older men before he manages to see you. It’s a fun thing you like to do, catching him off guard whenever you can. Turning his face towards you, the bold men vigorously waves.
“Y/N ! Hello !”
You don’t stop by his cubicle, rather turn to your left right before. There’s built the building’s laundry unit, you thank the architect every week for this. You do pay a little for it every month but again, it’s better than having to walk for minutes with a basket of heavy fabric.
Four small machines and four bigger, it’s enough for everyone in the building. It’s also where some announcements are tapped, probably because people usually sit around the laundry room waiting for their clothes.
You’re probably going to watch an episode of Chambers while your clothes watch, you think to yourself as you open the door.
It seems the universe has some other plans for you.
By now, it’s almost comical how easily you recognize Johnny’s back. Brown t-shirt on his broad shoulders, his head bob to a rhythm you can’t hear. He’s dropping his wet clothes in the machine to dry them, face turning towards the noise as you close the heavy door behind you.
“Oh, Y/N, hey !”, his smile is heard through his voice, right hand taking his earphones one. Johnny places his Airpods in their case, one you quickly notice is Marvel themed.
“Hey, Johnny.”, you wave with a hand, taking your earphones off as well.
“I was just listening to your playlist.”, the brunette says, shaking his earphones in his hand. You laugh at that, leaving your basket on the table. You assume the second basket there is Johnny’s. “Same !”
There’s a comfortable silence, the brunette pushes a few buttons on the machine and his clothes are sent for a cycle. You, yourself, drop your clothes in the washing machine after setting your phone on the brown table.
You’re about to turn around and sit down, but you’re abruptly blocked by a tall figure, accidently bumping into Johnny’s chest.
“Oh, sorry.”, he breathes out, you hear him place another basket on his machine, right hand on your shoulder as if his chest did anything more than surprise you.
“No worries…How many clothes do you have ?”, you ask with a laugh, not meaning to sound rude. But your neighbor’s dumping a second whole basket into the machine right next to you.
“Ah, Ten. He needs an entire outfit every day. Sometimes he even changes in the middle of the day.”, the machine quietly starts after the blue liquid is poured, Johnny leans against it.
You’ve never seen your neighbor so up close, how is his face so symmetrical ? Slender eyes curling inwards, short little lashes batting a few times.
“Y/N ?”, fuck. His lips sure were moving and you didn’t register anything at all, you probably look dumb.
“I’m sorry, wh- what did you say ?”, clearing your throat, your eyes travel down to the machine, looking at the settings like you forgot to turn something on.
“I found your guitar picks. I mean, I assumed they’re yours.”, he says again, but he doesn’t hide the wide smile on his lips. You probably look dumb, really dumb.
Right hand fishes into his back open, before he presents what indeed is one of your guitar picks, the light blue one. He holds it between his thumb and index, you notice he does so the right way, maybe he plays guitar.
“Oh, yeah. That’s definitely mine. Where did you find it…?”, you half ask, already knowing the possible answer. His palm opens to reveal not one, but two other picks of different colors.
“Washing machine.”, he says simply.
You learn Johnny uses a detergent that smells like vanilla and some flower blossom you can not distinguish, but the smell sure is comforting. It floats in the air as he folds his clothes next to you while doing a very detailed report on The Weeknd’s new album.
“But he’s right, though. “Repeat after me” is just a song where he brainwashes her but it’s so good.”, you tell Johnny while you take care of your wet clothes.
“His storytelling skills just keep getting better.”, he approves while popping a candy in his mouth. “Want some ?”
“Oh yeah, thanks !”, dropping the small chocolate in your hand, both your attentions are caught by the sound of the door opening. A lady in her mid-thirties enters the room, dyed red hair stopping at her shoulders.
“Miss Jeon, hi !”, you great the lady with a smile, one she easily returns. For the entire year you’ve been there, you don’t think you ever saw her without one tugging her lips.
“Hey, kids !”
Ah, yes. Miss Jeon also insists on calling everyone slightly younger than her “kid”. You don’t mind, though. You notice the rolled up paper in her right hand as she takes the hairband out.
“Doing laundry, eh ?”, she starts out, “Ah, it’s a great thing you two are here. Me and my husband are organizing a little gathering for the building’s anniversary.”
Right, Sangkyu told you about it, you remember. You hear Johnny hum behind you, to what Miss Jeon continues.
“It’ll be Saturday in two weeks ! Johnny, you and your roommate could come and get to know everyone a bit better, yeah ? Though I see you’ve already made friends with our Y/N.”
Oh no, there she goes. You love the Jeons, but they’re so, so talkative, and they never know when to stop. They’re like parents taking your old embarrassing pictures out when your friends are over. Your eyes grow wide, a slightly embarrassed chuckle coming out of your lips.
The lady struggles to unwrap the paper, to which Johnny leaves the shirt he was folding to help her out.
“Ah, thank you. You know, Y/N isn’t really that talkative, but I think it’s because we didn’t share a lot in common, and we’re not as young and handsome as you.”
God.
Stuck on your chair, wide eyes look at the scene as your neighbor chuckles.
“Oh, really ?”, he urges her to continue to your misbelief, but you quickly understands he’s doing it on purpose, crescent eyes sparkling with amusement as he looks over at you, the young and handsome bit wasn’t necessary but it sure did boost his ego.
Miss Jeon finally unfolds the paper, a big announcement on the anniversary gathering she’s holding. In the park, with the date and hour, you guess you should find an appropriate dress for the event and something to eat to bring.
“Anyways, it’s great having new faces ! You’ll come, right ?”, sticking he paper to the wall, the lady claps her hands, a little joyful jump when Johnny nods.
“Yeah. We’ll go together, yeah ?”
You learn Johnny isn’t only a good looking guy, he’s also a really good friend.
The friendship grows easily, after Miss Jeon left, he helps you out with your clothes while already planning what to bring for the gathering. The brunette tells you he’s better at cooking salty dishes than sugary cakes.
You agree on that, it’s one of the many reasons why you buy anything sugary at the coffee shop down the street.
Nonetheless, you and your new neighbor decide to challenge yourselves, you propose some French crepes and Johnny agrees on using his kitchen for it, with the help of Ten who’ll surely be here. Surely, the kids living in the buildings would love them and, they aren’t that hard to make.
You two walked to your apartment floor, basket in hand, though Johnny’s ability to carry two at the same time is rather impressive.
One on top of the other, you try to be as discreet as possible when your eyes travel down to his arms, flexing, to his ring clapped fingers, gripping at the handles. He doesn’t walk you to your door but, is it really necessary ?
It’s funny how the universe seems so willing to put him on your path.
Every now and then, you catch a glimpse of the men through your window, walking in his room, mindlessly walking back and forth when he’s thinking about a composition, pen taking on his full bottom lip. He seems really concentrated whenever he tries to write something, eyebrows furrowed, whispering quietly to himself.
He catches you carelessly dancing to songs late at night under your lights, moving like nobody’s watching, hands in the air as the singer’s angelic voice seems to control your body, silently giggling when you catch his eyes and abruptly stop.
He seems to vaguely have the same schedule as you do, you see him getting ready some days of the weeks, applying cream on his face like the first time you ever caught a glimpse at his sharp features at a distance.
And you bump into him in the elevator every other day, both so exhausted with your classes, heavy backpack carelessly throws over your shoulders, so tired you two would rather smile and stay silent in the metal cubicle.
You see him with his roommate a few times too, the first time happens to be right in front of their door, both of them carrying two bags of groceries.
Finally, you’re introduced to Ten, a much smaller and a bit thinner guy, though you quickly find out his personality might be as big as Johnny himself.
His bright smile and laugh are both extremely contagious, and you also notice for yourself how much he cares about his appearance.
Just like Johnny told you when you first saw him in the laundry unit, he wears different outfits like he’s going for a runway every day. Sharp eyes covered under his jet black hair, you can’t help but notice the multiple piercings on his ears.
Funny enough, you catch your new friend at the “Flâner” coffee shop, getting the exact same cake you brought him and some dark coffee, he tells you he got addicted to everything they do but regret not having enough time to sit down and study here.
On top of that, he never stops texting you, you never stop texting him. Conversation flows easily to the point where you sometimes have to pause to type out a response while you’re on the phone with Jaehyun.
Ah, your dear friend Jaehyun. Your blonde friend follows the events like a drama, though you tell him multiple times that “Nothing will happen, we’re just neighbors.”
Are you, though ? You don’t know if neighbors send each other sheet, you and Johnny never stopped, it became easier with his number.
You don’t know if neighbors talk to each other by the windows, for so long it leaves marks on both your arms at the end of the night, red dent on your skin.
You don’t know if normal neighbors talk to each other that much.
You and Johnny tip toe on the lines between neighbors and friends, the line between friends and…a little more ?
The line snaps right before the building’s anniversary.
Thursday, one in the afternoon when the metal doors of your elevator open to your hallway. The sun’s shining, birds singing, your teacher’s car broke down, leaving you with a free day. Truly, the universe was on your side, you thought when you got the text from your classmate.
After texting Jaehyun who told you he already went to the mall at your opposite, you decided to use that time to buy some curtains and take a day off your studies. A well deserved day off, you might add.
After searching again and again, you thought it’d be better to get new ones. You remember the old ones got dirty anyways. Plus, it’s not like you want to hide yourself from Johnny, he has some and you figure you should too for some privacy every now and then.
A pack of clear curtains in your hands and some cushions in a bag for your living room, you step out of the metal cubicle, only to be greeted by a Johnny standing right in front of your door.
Attention caught by the sound, your friend turns around, half expecting to see you and, he looks slightly flustered ? Short eyelashes bat a few times, rosy cheeks as he opens his month just to close it right after.
“Hey, Johnny ?”, you start, completely clueless at first, you don’t notice the white fabric he has in his hand. “Do you need something ?”, you ask, setting down all the new things you bought down, alongside your bag as you fish for your keys inside.
“I-uh…”, he starts. Why is his voice so shaky ? Eyebrows slightly raised, a knee down, you look up at your friend with a curious look. At that, the brunette looks away. Honey eyes diverge to his right as he shifts his body from left to right.
“Johnny ?”, keys in hand, you rise to your feet, slightly turning away to open your door, struggling a little at the last lock.
“We uh, got some clothes mixed up.”, he tells you, pink hue on his cheeks. You take a few seconds to understand, before recalling the meeting in the laundry unit.
“Oh ! I didn’t even notice anything missing.”, you tell him with a laugh, before your smile wavers to a more…stunned expression. The white fabric he’s holding in a hand, you only need a second look to distinguish the lace waistline you know too well. Your panties. He’s holding your panties.
God, you didn’t even notice ? You wear these often, you don’t have that much panties.
“Oh.”, you say again, with a much different tone. Heat washes over your body, a much deeper shade of pink coloring your cheeks.
Lips dry, you extend your hand down, almost timid to hold your own piece of clothing.
Johnny stays quiet, handing you the white underwear, hand hiding in his pocket right after.
“Erhm, thank you.”, you mumble out, hiding the fabric behind the pack of clear curtains, like he did not have the time to look at it before.
“I’m sorry, I found them in my shirts this morning and I first thought about just leaving them at your door but it would’ve been even more awkward.”, he laughs slightly, hand rubbing at the back of his nape again.
You laugh lightly at that, it sure would’ve been even weirder to find your panties in a box in front of your door. Creepier too.
“Would’ve been very Joe-like.”, you tell him with a smile, the atmosphere immediately a lot less tense. You’re thankful for it, it’s clear Johnny didn’t want things to be…weird either.
He laughs a little, cheeks high, before noticing your new purchase, especially your curtains.
“Oh, redecorating a bit ?”, his arms cross in front of him, biceps building up, stretching the sleeves of his shirt.
“Ah, a little. I just needed new curtains, I forgot where I stored the old ones.”, you tell him, shoulder leaning again your door. “Putting them on was a nightmare.”, you sigh a little, head resting on your door as well. When you first moved in, you had to put the curtains all alone and only remember the ache in your neck and arms.
“…Was it ?”, he asks with a sly smile, eyebrows lightly furrowed like he’s questioning your experience.
“Some of us aren’t blessing with your height, Johnny.”, you tell him with a fakely annoyed glare, “I almost fell down and broke my back.”. You dramatize with a pout on your lip, to which Johnny only smirks lightly.
“Need some help ?”, Johnny finally, head tilting to the side. “I don’t want you breaking your back.” Yet, Johnny thinks.
“Ah, please !”, no need for him to propose a second time, you’d take anyone to help you with these demons any day, let alone someone like Johnny. One hand turns your door handle, proceeding to push it with your body. “Welcome to my humble home.”
Johnny lightly chuckles at your antics, curious eyes scanning over your apartment. It’s always weird to see an apartment so similar to yours yet so different, he hums at the sent of the light incense you blow out right before leaving.
Sliding your shoes off, your friend follows quickly after, though he takes them with one hand to neatly store them right next to your door.
“It’s really pretty.”, he hums behind you as you walk towards your living room, letting the back full of cushions on your table. Smiling brightly as his compliment, you have to say you were pretty proud of your decorating skills. You took multiple months to pile everything you wanted up and, after a year, all your plants grew green and luscious.
“Thank you very much !”, hands gathering your hair, you quickly attach them with a hairband you always have on your wrist. “Do you want something to drink ?”
“Hm, maybe later ! Let’s start with these nightmare curtains first.”
“Alright, let me just get the stool.”, and on that, you take a second to remember exactly where you stored it before quickly jogging to the small closet near your entrance door.
You don’t remember the last time you used it, you take a few seconds to take the cold iron object out of its hiding place, one foot stuck in a random box you still have there.
You finally pull the object with a sharp tug and not without a small sound of struggle. Johnny is quick to grab into the heavy object and lets you take care of the pack you just bought.
For the few seconds you take to move from your living room to your bedroom, you pray you didn’t leave anything too embarrassing there, you really didn’t think you’d have Johnny over today.
But thankfully, when you open your bedroom door, the only think you left on your bed’s your pyjamas or rather, shirt you sleep in you didn’t fold the morning.
“So that’s the room.”, Johnny notices softly, the very room he seems fragments of from his own. Curious eyes look over your desk and the multiple things you sticked right above it, before they travel to the side he definitely never saw from his window.
Denty fingers gaze at your guitar’s neck like he’s afraid of touching it without your permission, though it’s definitely clear you don not mind.
“It is ! Is it weird seeing it entirely ?”, you joke a bit around as you sit the pack down on your desk. Scissors you leave on your desk are used to cleanly open the transparent protection as Johnny opens the stool and places it where he desires.
“Really weird, I’m used to…this.”, he jokes too, thumbs and pointers digits forming a frame in front of his eyes. “And that’s what you see. My room looks so empty from here.”, Johnny notes, leaning a little in front of your window.
“It looks like you only have a bed and a piano in there.”, you tease him.
“I don’t ! I spent two entire days decorating it ! I’ll show you next time.”, he promises and somehow, it has the power to make your lips part a little, heat slightly burning your cheeks.
The brunette doesn’t notice though, and immediately starts helping you out with your curtains.
Or rather, you help him. Johnny does most of the work on your curtains and you won’t complain. The men takes things into his hands, stepping onto the stool.
Where you needed to climb the four steps, Johnny barely needs to climb two, body barely needing the extra height. His hands work quickly to detach the metal bar on each side, fingers twisting at the sides.
When the black bar is finally off, he hands it to you so you can work on the hoops and slide the curtains in, which you do quickly.
As easily as he took it out, Johnny slides the metal bar back in before screwing each side in. From this angle, his jaw looks even more sharp, eyes focused never leave his work. He looks even more intimidating, especially when his eyes look down at you and you have to dodge eye contact.
“Much easier like that.”, you say, almost dumbfounded at how easily he just did…that. Johnny laughs with the breathy giggle you’re starting to get used to.
“See, only took a few minutes at best.”, Johnny says while stepping off the stool, hand lightly touching the curtains.
“Wait, let me throw this away.”, you mumble out, picking the packaging in your hands. Again, Johnny isn’t slow to follow, telling you he’ll help you with your stool.
The young men follows you quickly, easily finding the small closet you store anything and everything in once you point it with your index.
From your small kitchen, the sound of the stool being pushed inside and the door closing is followed by Johnny’s joyful “Done !”.
“What do you want to drink ?”, you finally ask when the brunette sits down right in front of your kitchen counter. Elbows on the cold grey material, he stares for way too long at the two choices you offer him. Tropical juice in your right hand, still unopened bottle of some bubbly beverage in the other, your friend acts like it’s a life or death decision.
“C’mon ooon.”, you laugh out, arms getting tired at the way you’re holding the heavy bottles.
Finally, the brunette points your right hand with an index.
“Oh, you’re a slytherin ?”, he asks when you open your cupboard. Glasses on the bottom and mugs at the top, you look up at the same exact mug he noticed. Right in the middle, the grey and green logo is a clear statement on your Hogwarts house.
“Yes, a very proud slytherin.”, you tell him while setting the two tall glasses on the counter, pouring equal amounts of juice into them. “Let me guess, Gryffindor ?”, you ask, arching an eyebrow.
“I actually never took the test.”, Johnny says, to which you dramatically gasp. “And I never watched the movies. One of my friend’s just a really proud slytherin as well, I bought so many slytherin themed gifts that I just can recognize the logo right away.”
Double gasp, you set your glass down, eyes growing wide as you’re trying to judge if he’s actually joking or not. You found he definitely isn’t, but he does find your reaction quite funny. His laughs resonates into his glass, liquid half drowned.
“Are you for real ?”, you ask him just to make sure, and your neighbor just nods.
“A hundred percent, I just never really had the chance to watch it.”, poking his tongue out, pink muscle collects the drop of juice threatening to fall down.
“In 2020 ?”, you’re dumbfounded, you never thought someone could actually go so long without watching it. “You have to watch it.”
“I will. One day. Maybe.”, Johnny teases, eyes falsely rolling back.
“Now.”, you tell him, a certain sense of urgency in your voice. “I won’t let you get out of my house uneducated, young sir.”, you tell him before looking through another cupboard, hand pushing some unopened chips bag and opened for too long biscuits. Finally, your hand find the flat package you were looking for, proudly taking out for Johnny to say right after checking for the expiration date.
“I have popcorn.”
How can Johnny refuse ? How can he, who he has to say, already has a soft spot for you, say no to such a proposition ? Not when your clutching the said uncooked popcorn bag against your chest, slight pout he’d probably kiss away on your lips. Wait, what.
Johnny understands he’s utterly fucked once he agrees after a very short time thinking, he’s fucked because he knows the more time he spends with you, the more he’s probably going to fall.
You, on the other hand, only understand what you did once Johnny comfortably takes place on your coach. You’re unaware of it, but you have the same exact soft spot, the same small butterflies whenever music is heard from the other’s bedroom, the same tiny smile creeping up whenever one sends a song recommendation, the same tingly feeling in the middle of your chest whenever one catches a glimpse of the other.
Another thing the two of you have in common, you two have some impressive actor abilities, if Johnny acts cool and unbothered, totally not lowkey stressed and watched over by adrenaline at this very moment, you can do the exact same.
Has his thighs always been so…Muscular ? Firm ? Your eyes quickly move away when you catch the train of your thoughts, looking into your bowl like it’s most interesting thing ever as you pour down the hot popcorn. Picking one up, you pop in into your mouth, unconsciously trying to distract your thoughts.
This brand’s popcorn really good, right amount of caramel on each piece, you wonder what hickeys look like on Johnny’s caramel skin.
Fuck, bravo. Way to go. It’s his jeans, you blame it on his jeans and how they seem to perfectly hug his legs as he spreads them on your coach, one arm right behind it as he scrolls on his phone with the other.
If the brunette’s thumb is scrolling ever so slowly on his twitter timeline, his mind isn’t really able to read the small tweets at this very moment, not when you set the bowl full of popcorn down on the table before dropping on your knees in front of your tv.
Why does he have to see everything in such a way, Johnny quickly blinks and tries to get his attention back on his phone but what can he do when you’re right in the background, in the peripherical vision.
He sees you looking for the movie in the pile of CDs and games you have, before finally finding the very first Harry Potter, a triumphant “Ah-ha !”, coming out of your lips.
“You’ll love it.”, you tell Johnny once you place the CD in the CD player, something you haven’t done in actual months, seating down right next to him. You’re some what grateful you only own one single sofa that’s enough for two people and a bowl full of popcorn right in between.
“Wait, is that how Cedric dies ?”, Johnny’s mouth hangs open at the young actor laying seemingly lifeless on the grass after a fatal spell, a gag sound coming out of your friend’s lips when Voldemort’s bare feet comes in contact with the Hufflepuf’s face.
“I hate this shot.”, you tell him, slightly disgusted at the scene, before you yawn loudly against your hand. The glass you refilled many time is now empty, you leave it right next to the empty pizza box Johnny insisted on buying.
It’s midnight, you can barely process the hour it is, not how long you stayed by Johnny’s side to the point where you’re curled up next to him under the blanket you two are sharing.
At the end of the first movie, you were happy to see a pretty speechless and invested Johnny, it was still pretty early, around four and a half in the afternoon and you both agreed to watch the second. At the end of the second, he offered to buy pizza and something to drink while you popped the third movie. Let’s just say Johnny got a bit excited when you said the four movie was your favorite and midnight being still a bit early for two students, you agreed on watching a last one.
“So, what do you think ?”, you ask once the credits starts rolling, lazy smile stretching your features. Your tall friend flops off the coach, letting his body slowly fall on the ground to grab his phone charging.
“This one’s definitely the best, I mean, the whole Marauders thing ? Love it.”, he tells you, head resting on the sofa you’re still on. “I wanna know what my house is now.”, he mumbles while unlocking his phone, searching the right quizz.
“Wait, wait. Let me read the questions !”, you tell him, hand stretching to get his phone, and the brunette gives it to you without hesitation.
You, who took the exact same official test four times, are familiar with questions and ask them one by one. Day or night, forest or beach side, Johnny thinks about his answers before.
Familiar animation before the sorting hat reveals his pick, you hide the phone with a hand.
“Guess.”, you tell him after looking at the result, results you would’ve easily guessed.
“Gryffindor ?”, he asks with a slight bit of doubt in his voice.
“Gryffindor !”, you tell him with a dramatic shout, mimic the sorting hat’s. His head rolls back with a grown, eyes screwed shut even though he has a smile stretching his full lips.
“Ah-! I lowkey wanted to be a Slytherin.”, he tells you, big puppy like eyes looking at you from below.
“Oh, really ?”, you ask, slightly surprised. You had to say Johnny was more of a Gryffindor than a Slytherin.
“Yeah, I wanted us to match.”
Full lips out in a pout, it’s your turn to think about kissing it away.
You understand you’re fucked when Johnny helps you out in cleaning your living room, washing your glasses while you dry your plates and bowl. He understands he’s fucked again when you hum a song he’s familiar with but can’t put his finger on the name.
You both are fucked when he slides right behind you to set your glasses in your cupboard, chest brushing against your back. It feels strangely domestic, comfortable and…Normal ?
A soft “Be careful”, comes out of his mouth and his breath moves a few pieces of your hair, arms stretching up to carefully place the glasses he just washed.
It’s your turn to walk him to his door, where you two understand Ten’s already fast asleep, loud snores coming out of one of the rooms.
How strange it is, people say time alters in airports, empty trains stations and others. Time alters in front of Johnny’s door. He leans against his door frame like the first time you two met, lazy eyes looking down at you as you stretch a bit more.
“It was fun.”, he tells you quietly, tired smile stretching your lips. You return it, sighing as your muscle wake up.
“Yeah, glad I got you into Harry Potter.”, you tease him a bit, “Might have to buy you some Gryffindor themed things.”
“Ten’s gonna lose it when he learns he wasn’t the one to get me to watch it.”, you frown at that, head tilting to the side.
“Wait, he tried ?”
“Yeah, but he never sold it like you did.”, he hums and for a moment, it seems his mind isn’t really where his words are. Honey eyes drop for a quick second to your lips, but he regains his thoughts as quickly.
“Oh, he’s gonna kill me, isn’t he ?”, you joke a bit, though you’re surprised you managed to get Johnny into the saga quickly when he told you before that him and Ten knew each other for years.
The brunette’s laugh is breathy, controlled so he doesn’t wake up his roommate who’ll probably kill him right before killing you.
“If he finds out, totally. We don’t have to tell him, though.”, and, did his voice just drop even lower ? You didn’t think it was possible, the man’s voice is already deep but right now, in the dead of the night, it almost seems sultry.
“Oh wow, having our secrets already ?”, you breath out, biting a laugh down on your bottom lip. It does it for Johnny, his attention was already on them right before but, his slightly clouded mind could not really help himself. He doesn’t take his eyes away, not even when your mouth slightly parts at the realization.
Only then do you wonder if it is mutual, your breath alters for a second, just when the taller let’s a simple “Yeah” tumble from his lips.
He leans down, or at least, you think he does. A millimeter, maybe you dreamt it, maybe he was going to hug you, a millisecond, a third voice gets heard from the deeps of the apartment.
“Johnny ? Turn the fucking light off.”
“Y/N-ah, Y/N !”, Sangkyu sings the moment you step foot in your building with your grocery bag. You guess quickly it’s because of tomorrow’s gathering, the old men always loved a reason to party, with moderation obviously.
“Hi ! You seem particularly happy today.”, you tell him, stopping in front of his cubicle, you notice he added another drawing to his wall, probably the kids on the first floor.
“I am ! We finished making the cakes a few hours ago and they are de-li-cious.”, his eyes disappear as he smiles brightly, you decided you love this man with all your being.
“Ah, I can’t wait to taste them !”, you hum, switch your bag from your left hand to your right. Even without knowing what him and his wife did, you can at least guess without a doubt that it is going to be as delicious as he says it is.
“Just a day ! What are you making ?”
“French crêpes !”, you tell him while lifting your bag, proud smile at your pronunciation, you just went and bought some milk and flour for it right after leaving your university, Johnny told you he had everything else.
“Ah, yes, with our new neighbors, hm ?”, he starts, smile turning vicious and oh, you know where he’s going. You wonder if Jaehyun and him are working hand in hand. Let’s just say Jaehyun did not drop the subject, not when he learned you accidently ignored his texts the other night because of a movie night with the brunette.
Not when you told him you think Johnny almost kissed you. Or hugged you.
“Yes.”, you tell him simply, not going any further. You hope he will drop the subject, but you know he probably won’t.
“We hear you two playing, but you should both play something together.”, Sangkyu tells you, not taking the hint or maybe, he decided to ignore it. But he is not wrong, you two should play something together. You have to say, you didn’t know your playing was so loud but if no one ever complained, it was a good thing, right ?
“We should.”, you tell him with a smile, ready to go towards the elevator, his voice stops you a second time.
“Do you like him ?”, he suddenly asks. God, he really is acting like a father who also wants to be a friend. You suddenly stop right in your track, hand turning towards the oldest.
“Who ?”, you ask dumbly, but Sangkyu isn’t one to take your fake attitude.
“Johnny.”, he tells you straight forward and a bit too loudly, arms leaning against his counter with a too happy smile.
“Sangkyun…”, you whine, quiet in case anyone walks in.
“Y/N-ah…!”, he mocks the tone of your voice and you whine even more.
“Come on, you can tell me.”, you says, you know he won’t ever let you go and even if he does, he’ll draw his own flowed conclusions, better tell him already.
“Maybe, yes.”, you tell the oldest before walking a bit too quickly towards your elevator, index jamming into the up button.
“I knew it !” and, when you hide yourself in the metal cubicle, you see your old friend making a few happy dance moves with his arms, you wonder if you’re seeing Jaehyun in the future.
“Alright, how’s this ?”, you ask Jaehyun after stepping right in front of your phone. You’re actually video chatting with your blonde friend, but you can barely see half of his face, he decided to hold his phone so close you could only see from his hairline to the bridge of his nose.
“Turn around.”, he says, breath overloading his device’s microphone. You do so anyways, showing him the outfit you decided to wear for tonight. Obviously, it was just a small gathering between neighbors, you didn’t have to go all in with a cocktail dress but, a nice and pretty one was expected.
Following your friend’s order, you turn to show off a black, thin strapped, body hugging dress you got a year ago and yet, never wore.
“Is that your mom’s jacket ?”, Jaehyun asks, chewing on what you think is a handful of chips. You hum at the question, you’re indeed wearing the oversized jean jacket you mother used to wear when she was in college. “The dress looks hot, when did you buy it ?”
“Eh, last year ? Around the middle of the summer.”, you tell your friend, stepping out of your phone’s camera to search for your earrings. “Wait, you never wore it, right ?”
“Nope.”, from a distance, you can hear Jaehyun mumbling something about you having too many clothes. Maybe he’s right, but you brush the remark anyways, taking your rings.
“How’s my makeup ?”, you ask, kneeling in front of your phone, you step closer to let the blonde have a closer look at your eyes makeup.
“You know I don’t know shit about makeup !”, he complains, finally letting you see his face as he moves his phone.
“Jaehyun, does it look good ?”, you ask him, acting annoyed at his antics.
“Yes, you look good.”, he says, voice somewhat a high pitched tone as he snaps a picture once you stand up again. “If lover boy doesn’t kiss you tonight.”
Small smile stretches your lips at the compliment, you decide to brush the second sentence off, applying some lipstick before checking your watch.
“And you’re telling me he acted like nothing happened ?”, Jaehyun asks, sound of the chips bag covering his voice.
You sigh at that, eyes rolling a little, you think no matter how many times you’ll tell him, he’ll keep asking. “He did. I mean, his roommate was there so, he couldn’t really…Y’know ?”
A quick glance at the bag you’re supposed to bring down to the gathering starting in fifteen minutes, it holds the dozens of crêpes you, Johnny and Ten made a bit earlier. Just like it was planned before hand, you showed up after class to their apartment, Ten was the one who opened the door.
Apparently, Johnny was a bit late, his teacher’s lecture went on for a bit longer than anticipated and when he showed up, he immediately helped with the batter.
The brunette greeted you like he usually would and acted like nothing happened the night before, though you don’t blame him, not when his roommate was between the two of you half of the time.
You had to bring your own pan after realizing how many crêpes you’d actually make and, after about two hours, you left to get ready. Let’s just say Jaehyun was not happy with the lack of exciting events.
You weren’t either, but you still somehow hoped something would happen tonight, somewhere deep in your thoughts. However, you didn’t want to think too much about it, tonight was a gathering to celebrate and have fun, you didn’t want to overthink what happened the night prior.
“Anyways, I have to go.”, you finally tell you friend, who simply tells you to enjoy yourself and text him after before hanging up.
Heavy bag of crêpes in your hand, you slide out of your apartment after spraying some perfume on your neck. Locking your door, your neighbors are quick to follow as you agreed to go together and, fuck.
He looks hot, Johnny looks hot. There’s a slight second where you stay silent and take in his figure, legs hugged by a tight pair of black jeans, cotton white blouse slightly open on his caramel chest, the golden hour isn’t even here and yet, the slight bit of sun hitting his skin makes him glow.
You know, you know he caught you staring and yet he stays silent, slight smirk tugging a side of his full lips.
“Y/N, Ma’am !”, Ten’s voice drags you out of you reverie. The men takes a step closer, you notice the very pricy Yves Saint Laurent grey and white top he’s wearing. “You look fucking good ! Right ?”, it seemed the men only needed a few hours to get familiar with you, but you don’t complain and smile at the compliment.
“You do, you look amazing.”, if Ten managed to make you smile brightly at his antics, Johnny’s low voice only makes you blush and your eyes waver a bit, not knowing where to look, almost unable to keep eye contact with the tallest. “Thank you. I-, hm, you too.”
Great.
“Thank you. Let’s get going, I don’t want to be late.”, thankfully, he doesn’t say more, hand grabbing onto his own bag where you assume he has the chocolate and strawberry spread.
“Wait, what about me ?”, his roommate asks, acting so offended you wonder if he isn’t actually hurt by the lack of compliment you and his roommate showed. The smallest frowns, angry glare at Johnny who doesn’t even notice him as he went towards the elevator to call for the metal box.
“This shirt looks amazing on you, very pricy too.”, you tell your neighbor with a laugh, stepping right behind the tallest, waiting.
“And I already told you it looked good.”, he says, right before stepping in the elevator.
“Thank you, Y/N.”, the black haired says your name a bit louder, but you don’t pay too much attention either.
Poor thing, if you and Johnny aren’t aware yet of the tension, Ten sure is, and he hates every bit of it when he understands, stuck in an elevator where he’s the third wheel.
By the way, has your elevator always been so small ? Your back leans against one wall as Johnny does the same right in front of you, honey eyes traveling from your eyes to your uncovered collarbones.
The brunettes tries, he really tries to stop his eyes from traveling down but they do eventually, swallowing built up saliva when his pupils travel down your hips, to your naked legs.
Ten’s almost about to say something, just to break the thick silence before the doors opening saves the young men, he decides he definitely is not going to stay with the two of you tonight.
You, on the other side, seem to finally be able to breathe once you step out the elevator, Johnny’s attention did not go unnoticed.
Try and act normal, probably the only thing going on your mind and Johnny’s.
“Hey, look who it is !”, Miss Jeon’s voice is heard before you can even see her. You’re familiar with the park the gathering is taking place in, but it sure looks amazing in the late afternoon. At this time of the year, the grass’ green, flowers bloomed, small fruits are starting to turn red under the summer sunlight. Even better, the water fountains are on, the one right in the middle is large, tall, multicolor lights when the moon shines.
Finally, when you and your two friends turn the corner to enter the park, you’re physically greeted by Miss Jeon who’s wearing a really pretty pen skirt, hair flowing in the soft summer wind.
“Miss Jeon !”, you greet her with a smile which isn’t enough for the lady who pulls you into a hug. One hand grabs yours and the tallest makes you swirl around, a high pitched “Wow ! Look at you !”, coming out of her lips.
“You look amazing, darling. You two, too.”, as always, the lady is extremely cheerful. You notice hers and other neighbors’ kids already playing around in the park, loud screams every now and then. A bit closer to the fountain, multicolor light are hanging from the threes, you can faintly distinguish a song playing. Large tables are set there, alongside chairs were parents and others are all talking together, setting whatever they bought.
“Go set everything there, we’ll start eating soon.”, Miss Jeon instructs, and you follow her orders as she stays in front of the park to greet anyone coming.
Everything is quickly set up where all the deserts are, neighbors come until you they flood the park, you almost think everyone’s here.
“I did not expect so many people.”, Johnny tells you, taking a plastic cup to get himself some juice right before giving you a cup.
“Me neither.”, you tell him, eyes glazing over the last people walking in. Almost everyone responded to the call, a pretty heart warming sigh. Some of your neighbors you never actually talked to are here, mostly because they’re from other buildings from the same project.
“I see Ten is already making friends.”, you continue, eyes catching your friend talking to another neighbor, one you think is in his early thirties, you’ve talked to him once, maybe.
“Ten is a social butterfly.”, Johnny laughs into his cup, before eventually taking a step forward toward the black haired. If his roommate was going to socialize, he might as well too.
“I think it is overrated.”, ah yes, now you remember why you did not much to this guy.
James is a foreign, blonde, man bun type of guy who finds everything overrated, it’s almost impossible to talk about your hobbies and interests with him without being ripped apart. He probably isn’t that mean just, not that good at social interaction.
You see Ten’s expression turning from excited to somewhat confused, to what you intervene.
“What is ?”, you ask, and you don’t really like when the blonde acts like he did not notice you and Johnny walking.
“Oh, Y/N, hi. Long time no see.”, he says, not paying any attention to Johnny. You greet him anyways, slightly taken back by his attitude. “And you are ?”
“Johnny.”, the men behind you says, stretching a hand out to shake his.
“Oh, strong grip.”, slight contortion of the blond’s face, he quickly retracts his hand when Johnny lets go.
“Anyways, when are you letting me see you play ?”, James ask and oh, how you have to search in your memory to understand what the fuck he’s talking about. The blonde wants to learn how to play the guitar, that was, maybe eight months ago.
“Oh eh. One day, maybe.”, you awkwardly laugh.
“We hear you play every night, don’t say you don’t have time for me !”, he tries and laugh off the sentence. Ten shifts, poor thing seems taken back but thankfully, Johnny’s quick to react. As you’re about to respond, his hand slides on your waist, “I’m pretty busy with uni’, but I can send you some great guitarists’ videos.”, you choke out, mind slightly bugging at the brunette’s touch.
“She’ll let you know when she has time for you.”, the tallest does not hesitate and, it visibly annoys the blonde. A sharp “Okay .”, tumbles from his lips before he leaves towards the salty foods.
“He’s weird.”, Ten finally says, Johnny doesn’t take his hand away.
It takes hours for Johnny to address it again.
The midnight breeze always feels special, soft, fresh, it licks the thin layer of sweat the bolt sun created on your skin. Your jacket’s off your shoulders, loosely hanging on the crook of your elbows, seating on the cold marble of the fountain.
Soft sound of the water running behind you, all the kids have been sent to sleep, alongside their parents and other hard working adults needing of sleep, just the low sound of some jazz music you’re unfamiliar with and some chatter as the background noise.
You shoes kick off some small rocks and sand, eyes looking up at the multicolor lights still hanging on the trees. You laugh off one of Johnny’s joke, before he gets serious again, his left hand lightly touching the fountain’s water.
“By the way, sorry about earlier. I didn’t ask if I could touch you like that.”
You have to think for a slight second to understand what he’s talking about, hand grabbing onto the bowl of ice cream you set aside for yourself. Your spoon digs into the chocolate cream, taking a fair amount of whipped cream.
“Oh ! Oh, no. Don’t worry about it, I don’t mind.”, I liked it, you would’ve said if you were a little bit more brave. Spoon in your mouth, you eagerly gulp down the frozen desert, Johnny only softly smiles.
“Is he always like that ?”, he asks, body turning a bit more to face you. He’s close, really close, but it became normal. It became normal for him to have your naked thigh against his, you shamelessly look down at it for god knows how many times tonight. It became normal for you to almost be able to feel his breath die on your skin.
“I don’t know, tonight was the second time I ever talked to him.”, you tell him, tongue quickly cleaning the tiny drop of ice cream forming at the corner of your lips. Johnny stays silent for a second, eyes flickering from your eyes to your lips, before its feels like he shakes his thoughts away. His gaze stays fixated on your eyes so confidently it’s even worst than him looking at your lips, you shift under his pupils, crossing a leg over the other.
“He seems really pushy.”, Johnny breathes out, and he finds the exact same octave he was speaking to you in just last night, right in front of his apartment. It’s clear he only is replying for politeness.
“You have hm, some ice cream, here.”, the brunette hums, again ripping you out of your reverie. Left hand covers your mouth, index and middle finger brushing at the corner but it seems you are not picking the right side.
“Wait, no-.”, he laughs for a quick second, crescent eyes before they shift to something else. His thumb quickly wipes the other side of your lips, and you freeze. You lock dead in your position, eyes slightly larger as he helps you clean up with a soft yet deep “There you go.”
For hours now, Johnny had been the only thing on your mind. From the moment he stepped out of his apartment, the moment his eyes seemed to devour every bit of your body, the moment he left is hand lingering on the small of your waist. To the moment he sat down to eat, legs, strong thighs spread, the moment he talked to the smallest kids from the second building, the moment he lead you behind the fountain with a hand in the small of your back.
But, when Johnny lets his lips capture the tip of his thumb, cleaning the bit of ice cream, you think you might never be able to think about anything else but him, but Johnny.
You have to look away, desperately trying to gather your thoughts, something you can’t do when the brunette’s looking at you with such innocent eyes.
“You okay ?”, he asks like he didn’t do anything, like he did not just do that.
“Yeah, I-.”, you have to leave you plastic bowl somewhere behind you, brain fuming to find something else to say.
“You’re blushing. You had the same look yesterday.”, he notes, and…He knows ? He knew before you did, that’s what his slight smirk tells you. “It’s a shame Ten had to ruin it, but I like this setting better.”, Johnny hums, but he never takes his eyes away.
“Could’ve kissed me anyways.”, you dare to say. Your mouth goes dry, for some reason, biting down on your bottom lip. The brunette comes a little closer, and just like last time, you can't help but get lost in his irises, notice the way his eyes curl at their inner corner, now how his pupils slowly eclipses the soft brown of his eyes.
Tongue poking at the inside of his cheek, his lines a bit closer again, hand sliding under your chin. You stop breathing for a second, eyelids involuntarily growing heavy.
“Did I miss my shot ?”, you can almost feel him mouth the words.
“Maybe, but I can give you another one.”, you manage to tease, face tilting to the side before he even does anything. If he doesn't do it himself, you'll break the distance, but he holds you in the palm of his hand, so hypnotise under his spell you can only anticipate his next move.
“Good, would've hated myself for missing it.”, he says and, as you hoped, the brunette finally lets his lips crash against yours. It's soft, a kiss to taste the water, though he himself taste the chocolate you just ate.
Pillows lips slowly starts moving against yours, you easily follow his rhythm, sighing when his hand moves from your chin to your neck, deepening the exchange.
Your hand easily finds his hair, finally letter your fingers grasp onto the soft locks. It's a soft grip, yet Johnny sighs softly against your lips, sound turning into a slight groan once you bite down on his bottom lip.
That does it for him, the kiss quickly turns needy, desperate, he touches where he can, second hand lightly running up your thigh.
Arms wrap behind his neck to keep him close, body leaning backwards, Johnny has to plant a hand on the marble behind you, second hand wrapping behind your waist.
The brunette doesn't hesitate a second more, like he's afraid of letting go of the moment, afraid you're gonna slip away between his fingers like the clear water of the fountain. Pick tongue laps at your bottom lip, you part them without a moment of hesitation. It's eager, rushed, the taste of the desert you just ate still lingers on your tongue while you get the fruity drink he was sipping on moments before.
Finally, when you have to let go for some air, breathing altered by the exchange, Johnny doesn't let go. Long kisses are planted at the corner of your lips, he takes his time until he travels down to your jaw where you stop him.
And, before he can ask you anything, you quickly grab his hand in yours, “Let's go inside.”
He follows quickly behind, leaving everything behind, you take the second gate of the park. Shorter, you also don't have to walk in front of all your remaining neighbors like this, lips swollen, eyes blown.
You don't think you've ever walked so fast to your apartment, you don't think you've ever been so happy to see Sangkyu's spot vacant.
The silence is heavy, breath still uneven when you push the button of the elevator and the doors open immediately.
If you didn't know the men behind you was as desperate as you were, you definitely understand once he pushed you inside the small cubicle.
He blindly pushes the button to your shared floor, right hand wrapping around your throat to swiftly push you against the cold wall. If he doesn't tighten his grip, you sure wish he did, but you have other things to care about at the moment. The hand previously around your neck plants itself right next to your hand and this time, he has to lean down to capture your lips another time.
Completely pinning your body to the cold metal, he uses his hips against yours, a gasp escaping your lips he uses to slip his tongue between your lips again. And, you let a breathy moan come out of your lips when he pushes his hips flush against your, hard on pressing against your body. Even with the two layers, you can feel him.
You never felt so hot inside this elevator, it moves without stopping at any floor, no music as the silence is filled by your soft breaths and the sound of his mouth against yours.
Beat washes over you, if your panties weren't ruined already, they sure are now. Now that the brunette rolls his hips, slowly, tentatively slow, just to make you feel every inch. Your mind's clouded, body reacting by itself when it archs away from the wall.
He lets his forearm rest against the metal wall, about to travel down to your neck, hips grinding against yours.
When he's about to bite down on the skin of yours neck, teeth grazing over the flesh, the doors open to your floor.
It's Johnny's turn to grab onto your hand, pulling you out of the elevator but he never stays too long away from your body.
Full lips pepper kisses on your face, before he breathes out against your skin.
“Your apartment, yeah ?”
Obviously, you want to tell him, naturally walking towards your door.
“Unless you want your roommate to walk in on us.”, you let a breathy giggle out, facing your door.
Fuck, now out of all times, you can not find your keys. Maybe it's because your shaky hands can barely search your pockets. Hard to blame yourself when the brunette stands behind you, hard cock pressed against you, arms tightly wrapped around your stomach, face buried in your neck.
“Baby, they're here.”, the tallest hums, voice so low it vibrates against your skin. His right hands pats one of your front pockets. A simple “Oh.” tumbles from your lips at that, mind hardly registering the way he still his moving against your body, nickname rolling out of his tongue too easily.
Finally, you manage to force your key into your door, quickly twisting the metal piece before you push the door open.
This time, you don't know if you pull Johnny in your apartment or if he pushes you in, the door is loudly shut before the men tries to take your near your coach, as you drop your jacket off somewhere.
“Johnny.”, you try to whine, but it comes out as a breathy moan as the men soflty sucks on the skin between your neck and shoulder, a pale purple petal blooming. His name coming from your lips sounds oh so delicious, Johnny decides he loves the way it sounds, determined to hear it again and again, louder and louder. “Let me at least close the door.”
When he lets you do so, not whitout a pout on his lips, they find yours again in a desperate kiss, hands grabbing the back of your thighs.
“This dress looks so fucking good on you.”, he growls once you let him pick you up, black fabric riding up your thighs.
“Got dressed up for you.”, you confess, your own lips traveling down his neck when the brunette sits down on your coach. He chuckles lowly, head rolling back, humming at the small attentions you're giving him. “Hm, saw you putting your makeup on and knew you'd look ravishing.”, he says.
Large hands on your hips, Johnny easily pushes your hips down on his thigh.
“Wow, I'll make sure to pull my curtains next time.”, you tease, blooming flowers on his collarbones.
“Give me a fucking show next time.”, he growls out, hand ghosting over your neck before his thumb traces your bottom lip again.
You almost freeze, mere thought of following his oder the next time you catch him in front of his window a little bit too appealing. Having him so close yet, too far to feel his touch, you already felt it for days.
“Come on, ride my thigh.”, you moan out.
Forceful hands help you find a rhythm, one you easily follow once your thoughts get over your dizzy mind. You mouth hands open, hands grabbing onto his arms at the sudden gesture. Johnny only smirks, an eyebrow arching up.
If he didn't before, he sure does look like a god at this very moment. Blown out pupil look directly into your eyes, honey color you know so well eclipsed. Swollen, red lips, a hue painted over his cheeks, small love bites trialing down. Soft brown hair messy by your hands.
“What ? You think I didn't see you glaring ?”, there's a slight mocking tone in his voice, slight embarrassment washing over you but your body follows his voice anyways. Strong thigh under your core, you can barely gather words to reply, it's even harder when he flexs his muscles under you.
Your hips rocks back and forth, delicious pressure against your nub but you need more, more than just his thigh. He has everything to offer and if you don't get it now, you might go crazy.
And so, you tell him. “Johnny, need more.”, your voice sure sounded a lot less weak but the men obliges.
“Impatient little thing.”, he gestures towards your room, and when think you might not be able to walk all the way there without him pushing you against another wall, you surprisingly do.
When you turn around and crawl up your bed, Johnny's quick to follow, hands gripping onto the fabric covering his back before he pulls it over his head.
Defined abs under his caramel skin, strong arms holding himself up, you need a moment to take everything in, hands running down his chest when he hover over your body.
“Take it off.”, he demands, voice almost strict. Leg over his hip, you barely use any force to change positions.
You sit on his lap a second time, supporting yourself on your knees to take off your dress. The brunette uses his elbows, mouth parting when you pull the fabric over your hips. He barely needs any support to sit up, hands grasping the black dress to help you take the fabric off entirely.
The brunette mumbles praises into your skin, lips ghosting over your neck, hands touching wherever they can. Desperate, he maps your body, learning every curve, every inch.
“So beautiful.”, he mumbles out, before his right hand traces the line of your panties.
They're soaked, wet patch on his black jeans and he doesn't fail to notice.
“Already so wet, hm ? Fuck, can I ?”, he doesn't hesitate once you give him your verbal permission, a finger running over your folds over the light fabric.
What a simple touch can do to you, you don't doubt the men doing it also has a huge part in it, but you shiver under the slight attention.
Biting down on his bottom lip, ring clapped hand dips into your panties, where his index and middle finger gather your juices, humming contently.
You're about to complain again, ask him to do something already but he beats you at it, both fingers effortlessly sliding between your lower lips.
“Fuck, ah— Johnny.”, hands gripping his shoulders, your eyes screw shut once he finds a slow and torturing pace, moving in and out as his thumb brushes over your bud.
It's sensual, burning, one hand travels down his chest until you're met with his jeans, quickly working on them once he nods.
You curse his tight jeans for a moment before he helps you push the fabric just enough, alongside his grey briefs.
And fuck, he's big. You knew when he grinded against your inner thigh, but the way his cock slaps against his stomach, head red and hungry, has your mouth parting, core clenching against his fingers.
“Shit, yeah. Good girl, right there.”, Johnny loses himself in praises, head rushing with thoughts he groans out once your hand wraps around his length.
It's probably the honest thing you've ever seen, Johnny's head rolls back, it hits the wall of your bedroom, Adam's appel bobbing up and down. The pace of his fingers matches the rhythm of your hand around his cock, eyes slightly opening just to watch your slender fingers around him and the way you take his.
“You're so fucking tight, god.”, a third finger goes alongside and you have to pose, jaw hanging open and the brunette can not resist.
His mouth finds yours again, kisses deep, messy, hurried. It's like his starving, he growl against your mouth when your thumb runs over his slit and your hips move against his fingers.
“Fuck, wanna taste you.”, he flips you over too easily, a gasp coming out of your lips when you back harshly hits your bed.
Strong hands gripping at your panties, your hear the sharp snap of the elastic breaking under his soaked fingers.
“Johnny !”, it's between a whine and a moan, how can him ruining your panties be so fucking hot.
“Will get you new ones if you want.”, you can barely recognise his voice, his fingers slide the fabric down and he looks up at you, eyes hungry, lips red.
“You have no fucking idea how hard I was when I found your panties.”, he confesses and, before you can reply, his mouth dives in. Tongue flat against your core, your legs instinctively close around his head, but his hands are quick to pin your thighs to the mattress while yours find his hair, messing it even more.
“Yeah ? Fuck, you're so good, your tongue feels so good.”
Johnny only hums, tongue running up and down until he wraps his lips around your button of nerves. The brunette's eating you out like a starved men, shamelessly, the wet sounds filling the room.
When he takes a break to breathe, he pops his fingers into his mouth, cleaning them.
“Taste so good.”, every word he says fires your body up even more, his mouth doesn't even need to speak for it to affect you, but you need him.
He dives a second time, fingers joining this time. Pace a lot less slow, his lips wrap around your bud a second time, focusing on the small button while his fingers quickly move.
In, out, in, out. Long fingers quickly build up the tension in your stomach, cold rings contrasting with his hot breath.
You only need a little bit more, when his fingers curl the right way, his groans vibrate at the right moment. Your fingers tighten around his locks as you come undone, loudly, unapologetically.
Wet lips, glossy eyes, Johnny looks at your figure as you arch your back away from your bed, moaning into the air.
It takes almost minutes for you to come down but, when you do, Johnny's about to dive a third time. Your hand stops his head.
“Want you inside, want to feel you.”, you tell him once you pulled him towards you face again. A quick kiss is planted on your lips where you can taste yourself, before he hides his face again in your neck, breathing heavily.
“Do you have a condom ?”, he asks, blown out eyes looking into your own.
You nod quickly, pointing at your bed table. You hear the brunette thanking the gods, he didn't want to have and walk all the way to his own appartement to get one. Leaning towards the said bed table, he pulls the small door open and find the box there.
Taking a little foil package between his lips, Johnny quickly closes the small door before hovering over you again.
Pearly teeth are used to open the packaging, he doesn't wait a second to roll the material out on his hard shaft, sighing slightly.
“So tiny, can you even take me ?”, it seems the brunette asks himself, hand jerking himself off.
You answer him anyways, “I can, please.”.
Soft smile on his lips, the brunette uses his hand to align himself with your drenched core.
The tallest thought about this very moment for hours the night before, but nothing prepared him for the tightenes, your wet, hot core wrapping around his head.
You both moan in almost unison, Johnny has to hold himself from slamming in. You, on the other hand, have a hard time wrapping your head around how he's stretching you out so nicely.
A mixture of pleasure and slight pain you're quickly addicted to. A hand claws at his back, the tallest moves inch, by inch, by inch.
“So fucking tight. When's the last time someone fucked you properly ?”, his sudden change in behaviour gives you whiplash, you can only whine at his question and mumble something about not knowing when, exactly.
“Please, fuck me.”, if you have to beg, you will but thankfully, Johnny doesn't have much patience tonight. Once he's fully in, he doesn't hesitate to pull out just to ram in. Your body rides up, head thrown back, moan silent.
“Gonna fuck you nice and deep. Stretch you, yeah ?”
You can only nod eagerly, Johnny laughs breathlessly. His forearm supports his body right next to you head, necklace hanging over your body, right hand tightly holding your hip.
He barely gives you the time to adjust, hips snapping at a steady pace.
Headboard sharply knocking against your wall, your thankful your neighbors aren't here. Still sensitive, your moans turn breathless, barely audible. Forehead against your own, Johnny doesn't hide his moans, your name, any profanities coming to his mind.
“Fuck, turn around for me, baby.”, breathless, chest irregularly moving up and down, he helps you do so after moving out.
Flipping you on your stomach, the brunette curses at himself a second time. His body flush against yours, he supports himself next to your head again, second hand affectionaly running in your hair.
He takes you from behind, cock easily sliding in this time. Moans hidden in your pillow, Johnny doesn't take that, using the hand locked in your locks to turn your head.
“Don't hide your moans, wanna hear you.”
Just like he wanted after stepping into your apartment, the tallest has you whining his name, loudly, until you're numbed, fucked dumb until his name's the only thing you know.
A snap of his hips reaches deeper, it's there you feel the tension threatening to break.
It's like he can read you, he does it again, breathy laugh coming out of his lips.
“Come around me, let go. Let go for me.”, it's all you need, you easily follow his order, core tightening around his shaft.
“God, your pussy’s gripping me.”, his hips alter, lips finding yours again. “Gonna make me come so hard.”
Fucked out, yet you managed to raise your hips, core clenching around him. That does it, loud growl resonates in the room, mixed in with your name.
“Are you okay ?”, Johnny asks, voice soft after he pulls out, throwing the condom in your bin.
You hum, too tired to answer, you smile nonetheless when he takes you into his arm, arm pushing your hair to the side.
“This isn't how I wanted things to go.”, he hums, picking a fallen eyelash from your cheek.
“Oh, really ?”, you ask, tired, his hand running up and down your spine putting you to sleep.
“Wanted to take you out on a date first.”, he admits. “But how do you want me to resist when you were calling me like a siren singing at a lone traveler.”
© NEOVISIONED l NO REPOSTING OR TRANSLATIONS ALLOWED.
#eddie ate dynamite#neovisioned#johnny smut#nct smut#nct 127 smut#johnny suh#nct#nct 127#johnny fluff#nct fluff#johnny au#pianist!johnny#strangers to friends to lovers#neighbor!johnny#college!au#smut#fluff#one shot#sicheng#yuta#taeil#taeyong#jungwoo#jaehyun#doyoung#mark#haechan
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Danielle Wilds
i’ve decided to emerge from the void and give some of my dan hcs bc i LOVE her
she ALWAYS has the best nails
she used to let one of her stage sisters practice on her hands all the time
that same stage sister now has a small salon in columbia and dan goes up there once every two weeks to get the FRESHEST sets
even allison is jealous
she gets short, long, muted colors, bright colors, patterns, you name it she’s had it, and they never get in the way of her playing
she’s got three tattoos-a small #1 on the inside of her left pinky, a tube of lipstick on her inner right elbow, and “Forever is composed of nows.
-Emily Dickinson” on her upper right back
she’s a tea drinker for sure
her alcoholic beveridge of choice is a margarita
she sucks at any video game ever
but she’s really competitive
so she’s always talking mad trash while being in last place
“yeah i just dodged that blue shell bitch, what are you going to do about it? cry?”
“i’m two laps ahead of you”
her pep talks? insanely effective, both on and off the court
her endless self-esteem and confidence just ooze into the people around her
idk and idc what the extra content says about her major, that lady is pre-med
she wants to be a gynecologist for sure because she loves helping women and making them feel seen, validated, and listened to
she’s just so smart and great with people...major doctor vibes
i really don’t see her going on to play professional exy after college
i think she loves the sport but she wants to settle down and have a family, and she doesn’t love the idea of bouncing from team to team and city to city
the music she listens to is like exclusively grunge
she makes most of her own clothes
she loves finding eclectic fabrics, sewing things together, and making patchwork clothing that shouldn’t look good but somehow does when it’s on her
i know aftg is set in the 2000s but if it weren’t...bucket hat queen
also biker shorts
she owns more pairs of vans than aaron does (which is saying a LOT)
baking is her one true passion
she likes to experiment and give the first bite of whatever she makes to renee because she knows renee will be positive
she gives the second bite to allison because she wants to know if it’s actually tasty or not, and allison never sugar coats anything ever
most of the time it’s good, though
she’s a prankster!!
once, she filled the boys’ dorm with rubber ducks for no reason except mischief
she covered every surface with them, stuck them in drawers, hid them in cracks and crevices
the boys were finding ducks in strange places until they moved out
her secret talent is that she’s insanely good at the harmonica
no one knows how or why she learned
and again, she doesn’t listen to anything other than grunge
but once when matt was playing the guitar she came in with a harmonica in the same key and just. nailed it.
she’s such a fun person, but she’s also what her friends call “the intervener”
she’s not afraid to call anyone on their shit or have a serious discussion about self-destructive tendencies
she’s not very subtle about it, which can really piss people off, but in the end she only ever yells at people because she loves them and wants the best for them, so nobody ever stays mad
she usually pulls a harmless prank to speed up the forgiveness process
(which sometimes backfires horribly)
but she’s incredible
i love her with all my heart
#aftg#all for the game#dan wilds#danielle wilds#matt boyd#aftg fic#aftg headcanons#andrew minyard#neil josten#andreil#nicky hemmick#renee walker#allison reynolds#kevin day#aaron minyard#tfc#trk#tkm
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My Fic List
Whelp, decided I should do one of these. I have mostly written for Hockey RPF and BNHA, as you have likely already seen!
My BNHA Fics
Bury Them Deep
- “Shouji Mezou's entire life has revolved around being a goalie and playing hockey since he was five years old. After being drafted in the third round in the NHL, Shouji has two more years of college before moving on to playing professional hockey like he's always wanted. Or at least like he always thought he wanted. An injury that ends his season throws him into a tailspin, forcing him to take a look at his life and how he is going to live it, especially after meeting his fascinating new goth history tutor.”
(This bad bitch is 81k total and is chock full of my red hot hockey takes and midwestern references. I love it very much and it is a sweet baby.)
The Rooftop Necromancy series AKA my black metal band AU:
Downhill from Here
- “ Hizashi just wants to tour the country with his best friends with their metal band in their shitty van like they've been planning for years. He'd successfully hidden his crush on one of them for years, after all, he would definitely be able to make this work and keep things fun and uncomplicated. Until Aizawa decided to start acting weird. “
(In which I take you all on a nostalgic trip to 2006-2008 metal culture and you can see the black metal love song that my dumb ass wrote.)
The Perfect Mistake
- “ It wasn't as though Hizashi had planned on breaking up with his boyfriend while they were on tour in a tiny cargo van with no room and no peace. He would have much rather preferred to do it when they were home and he could easily go and crawl back into his mom's basement. But he didn't have a choice. “
(As relationships tend to do, theirs goes through problems.)
Rooftop Necromancy
-"He’d even ended up leaning into the crowd when someone’s elbow had connected solidly with his nose and thrown him back. They’d gone quiet as Hizashi got himself up to his feet, ripped off his now bloody ‘Within Temptations’ tshirt from 2004, whipped his hair back from his face and screamed, “That’s what I’m FUCKING talking about.” into the mic.
They went wild for it, cheering as blood ran down his nose, past his mouth and dripped onto the stage, leaving him feeling like an otherworldly monster performing an occult ritual. Metal, he thought dazedly to himself, why in the fuck had he ever stopped doing metal."
(I hyperfocused so hard at the idea of Mic as a metal head that I wrote this in seven straight hours and WROTE THROUGH THE ATTEMPTED COUP ON DEMOCRACY WITHOUT KNOWING IT. It’s a bit rough, but it’s got some good parts and it spawned the whole damn series.)
Hands Up
- "But of course he had, they had always been able to read each other and what they meant. That had often been their problem, if he was going to be honest."
(In which they figure their shit out. Basically it was written when I was thinking alot about how my own mental health had evolved through the years. It’s basically the story of two people who are both very good for each other and also very bad and how they deal with that. It’s probably the most personally meaningful thing I’ve ever written.)
The other BNHA fics:
Waking Up With Ghosts
-"Hizashi opened his eyes to a world that belonged to ghosts. His headphones were gone and the gray, grimy world that he felt more than saw was muffled and still. This was bad, he hazily thought."
In which we follow Hizashi shortly after the events of 296. How he's found, how he finds out and how he has to tell.”
(I fished this one out of the garbage of my Google Docs because I’d written most of it and forgotten about it. I dragged it out, prettied it up a little and threw it up on AO3. It is by far my most well read BNHA fic, go figure.)
Leave Her Johnny
-”Captain Hizashi Yamada has combed the Seven Seas looking for the elusive smuggler Eraserhead. He has spent years searching for him, tracking his movements and trying to anticipate where he would be next. But he had never considered what would happen when he finally found him. “
(I wrote a paragraph of this and was immediately like ‘I MUST CREATE THIS’. I take some chances writing wise in this as the whole thing is done in a Victorian Era ish style of writing. But I think it’s effective and the ending is likely one of the best that I’ve ever managed. I’m proud of it.)
Gold Rush
-”"That earned him a laugh and Mashirao’s smile made something in his chest ache, something that made him want to hurt. Why had he ever left?
“I’m really not,” Mashirao was saying but Shinsou just shook his head and kissed him once, twice and wished he could take the sunny afternoon and make it stay forever. Make it stay forever like Mashirao somehow had, while the neighborhood had adjusted without Hitoshi’s permission.
“You are,” he said, “And I love it.”
I love you, he should have said. But as Mashirao’s eyes softened and the blonde pushed him back against the bed, Hitoshi knew he didn’t need to say it."
(You know how sometimes you listen to a Death Cab for Cutie song about gentrification over and over until a fic comes out? Because that’s basically what happened here.)
Black Sun
‘"But then he remembered the way that Shouji had eaten the night after, one hand curled into his hair as he hung back in the corner. Shouji hid when something was wrong, like a wounded cat trying to find a dark place to either live or die and he was being released tomorrow. Now was the time to push or he’d find Shouji right back on his bed, staring at nothing."
Something happened to Shouji on the beach. Tokoyami is sure of it.‘
(Aaaaaand Death Cab for Cutie strikes again. But heyo, my first published ShouToko and it is SOFTTTTT)
In the Far and Mighty West
Mic came closer and despite himself, Shouta could not find it in him to feel afraid. “You won’t understand, not really. I’ll try, though. I’m like Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan or a jackalope or that fish that your friend caught that he swears he brought in but that you’ve never seen proof of. I’m the herd of dogies moving sweet and steady in the right direction, I’m no stragglers to worry about, I’m that perfect dog that’s there to keep them in line. I’m that group of good friends that you would kill for, I’m the woman who you’re dying to come home to, I’m that promised home of milk and honey. I’m Mic.”
Shouta stared at him dazedly and licked his lips, feeling drunk and stupid as he stared at the man. “You’re… magic?”
“I suppose you could call me that.”
(Cowboy!Erasermic. Inspired heavily by American Gods and my own love of folk heroes.)
In Your Violence
- “'Mezou frowned, eyes narrowing. “Are you trying to say that you’re scared that I’ll be killed by having faith in you?”
“It would be in your best interest to stay away from me,” Fumikage finally said, his voice falling flat and quiet. “I am destined to be a monster.”
'Mezou gets the call he fears, the one that says that Fumikage has lost control again. But this time it's different, in more ways than one.”
(I listened to Silence by Marshmello until I went insane in this is the result. Featuring some of my super depressing headcanons about Shouji! But it’s not awful.)
My hockey fics that I still like:
Hufflepuff Halfwit
- ““Zhenya, the wind is coming from the west, I will not remind you again. You shut that window before the house stinks of factories!” She snapped and Geno stared at the owl as though maybe it would know what to do. But instead, it had given a little hoot and wiggled inside, only to drop it’s letter on the counter.
He turned his head very slowly back to look at his mother, who had suddenly gone very quiet. “It… just showed up, Mama. And um. It brought a letter.” He waited again, looked back at the owl who had begun to nose at the pirozhkis in interest and then looked back at his mother with the best puppy dog eyes he had ever attempted. “Can I keep it?”
(This is a part of my hockey/Harry Potter au that still legitimately haunts my dreams. It’s basically a Sid/Geno in Hogwarts but I really love the world building I got to do with Koldovstoretz, the Russian school of wizardry. Don’t read ‘On the Word of a Slytherin’ though, I’m not as proud of that one.)
The Prince
- “What the fuck.” Matt breathed out, sitting back heavily onto his hotel bed as he stared at his phone.
‘This is Henrik.’ The text read. ‘I would like to meet you. I will book a room in Pittsburgh at your convenience. Let me know what time will work for you.’ -
(Listen, it’s Henrik Lundqvist/Matt Murray smut, I feel like that is novel and interesting and worth your attention. I wax poetic on goalies in this, as you do.)
The Zoo of Toronto
- “No one missed it when a massive porcupine had shuffled in between the reporters with a single minded focus, pushing media away until it was able to grip onto Phil’s suit pants and try to pull itself up. He hadn’t been able to do more then besides pick the animal up before it could shred his pants to shreds and walk out of the locker room before the decision had been made with the Toronto media.
Phil Kessel was guilty.”
(Not gonna lie, this is probably my favorite of the hockey fics I’ve written. And it’s Phil/Carl, which is never found anymore but it was a good pairing.)
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Push and Pull (Part 11)
Pairing: Matt Murdock x OC
Warnings: cursing, trauma and panic attacks
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A few days went by that were pretty uneventful. Daphne had given her intel to Brett and she would wait to hear what he wanted her to do next. In the meantime she just took it easy. Foggy hadn't been by with the food, he'd texted her to say he and Matt had been swamped with cases but that he'd check in when he can. She idly wondered if Matt was just refusing to cook for her after their last run in out of spite but she wasn't going to cry about it. She did miss her regular talks with Foggy though but maybe it was for the best. Being attached to people only led to disappointment in one way or another down the line anyway.
But despite her respite from the masked fiend, today she needed to find him. She really hoped that with Keiran now in hospital and then on his way to jail, that her nightmares would subside and her anxiety that always seemed to be simmering would evaporate. She didn't have much luck though and she hated how this whole thing was still bothering her. She wanted to just be over it and get back to herself 100%. It was the lack of control she felt over the situation that gnawed at her. How easy he'd hurt her, how easy he'd taken her down and cut off her air supply. She'd been seconds away from death. So as much as she didn't like Matt, he was the only person she could think of that might be able to help her. She'd done her own backseat casual investigation of Matt when Foggy had come over during their friendly talks. She'd drop in a question about Matt every now and again. Foggy would answer and then steer clear of the Matt topic. But she got enough information to know what days he frequented Fogwell's gym. The same gym his father used to box in.
She had on some leggings, her black and white vans and paired them with a long sleeve black tee and a zip up hoodie. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she left her backpack and camera, not needing it for what she was hoping to do. She really had no idea how this would go. He could say no and tell her to fuck off, which honestly she was expecting. His hot and cold moods gave her whiplash but she was hoping he'd take pity on her if she was honest with him about why she needed his help. She didn't like him much and loathed sharing a vulnerable part of herself. But if anyone understood the brutality of what she went through and the guilt that plagued her, she figured it would be Matt. She had a lot of pride but she also knew when she should swallow it. In this case, she'd rather bruise her pride a little now with Matt than have it ripped to shreds if she got attacked again.
The air was chilly outside and she tugged her hoodie tighter around herself as she walked briskly to the gym. She'd never been to that gym before, or any really. She wasn't trained in fighting or super into fitness. She just kept herself okay enough to get by with her job. She didn't technically know how to fight but she could throw a punch when needed. It was her sheer stubbornness and self preservation that drove her in those moments when it came to it. Just like her attack at Mr Lee's House. But that almost went very very badly for her and she wanted to be more prepared. She really hoped it never came to it but she was taking precautions either way. She was hoping by taking back some level of control over what happened then maybe she'd be able to start sleeping again. She'd grown tired of Foggy and Brett making remarks about the circles around her eyes.
Once she got to the gym, she stood outside for a moment. She felt a flutter of nerves, knowing that she would need to be honest and open with someone she didn't like all that much. For all she knew he wasn't even here. He should be if he followed his routine but the one thing that prickled at her with Matt was his unpredictability. She pushed open the door quietly and tiptoed inside. It was empty except for the man she was looking for. He was in a vest and baggy shorts, nothing covering his eyes. She was expecting him to turn to her, his senses alerting him she was there. But he didn't. The boxing bag was a victim of the onslaught of punches Matt threw its way, grunting and panting as he did. She couldn't help but stand and watch for a moment. He was so aggressive, graceful yet savage. She found herself admiring it for a moment.
Slapping herself out of a moment of stupidity, she cleared her throat loudly. He stopped punching, his head whipping in her direction and confirming that he had been too absorbed in what he was doing to notice her.
"Daphne?" He asked breathlessly. He sounded genuinely confused but he didn't have the same bite he did the other night so she was hopeful this wouldn't be too painful for her.
"Hey," she murmured awkwardly, moving closer inside. Matt walked over to his water bottle on the bench, gulping it greedily. She watched him for a moment as she gathered the nerve to ask him what she came for. He was all sweaty and his hair was stuck up everywhere. It was slightly endearing. He looked more like a person than the Devil of Hell's Kitchen right then.
"What are you doing here?" He asked as his chest started to calm down with the heaving. Once again he didn't sound mad.
"I uh… I was kind of hoping for a favour," she grimaced. He blinked in her direction, tilting his head like a confused puppy.
"It couldn't wait?" He snorted.
"Not really. I was kind of hoping you'd train me," she blurted. There. She ripped off the bandaid, now she just had to wait for which Matt she would get and figure out how to proceed. He was silent for a moment, lifting his vest up and wiping his face with it. She wouldn't deny she took a peek at his abs. She didn't like him but she never denied he was attractive. She’d told him that the first time they'd met.
"Any reason why?" His voice was devoid of any telltale sign of how he felt so she really had no idea which version of himself he was. That made her nervous. She felt her heart flutter as she folded her arms around herself like a protective cocoon. He seemed to notice as his face softened a little.
"Your attack right?" He asked knowingly. She was grateful one of them had the balls to say it but hated that it hadn't been her. But he seemed to be amicable which was something so she decided to just press on.
"I have nightmares every night. Flashes of… Mr Lee's body and… Keiran's hands around my throat. I thought it would get better once he was caught but...its not," she muttered as her throat tightened. Matt stayed silent as he watched her but she wasn't looking at him. She was frowning at the floor.
"I felt so fucking helpless, Matt. I can throw a punch and I can take a punch. But that… I wasn't prepared. And that lack of control is fucking with me. I hope to fuck I never go through something like that again but if I do, I want to be prepared. That was the second time someone used a knife on me. I don't need to do fancy blackflips and shit, but just basic self defense. Disarming people and getting out of holds," she continued. Her voice was tense and she felt a dull ache in her chest. But she'd gotten it out now, even if he said no at least she tried. When she chanced a glance at him, he was biting his lower lip as he glared at the floor. His whole body looked tense and she started to panic he'd say no.
"Please," she insisted. She hated herself for begging him for anything but she needed this. She needed some semblance of control back in her life so she could go on as normal.
"Alright," he relented. She blinked for a moment before relief swept through her. Maybe it would be awkward but she didn't care in that moment. She smiled gratefully with a nod.
"I'll train you on one condition," he said firmly. She groaned and rolled her eyes, of course there was a condition.
"What is it?" She sighed.
"If I train you, you stop calling me Devilboy," he said seriously. An inelegant snort left her lips, she hadn't expected that to be his request.
"But it suits you," she whined playfully. His lips quirked up as he shook his head.
"That's the deal, take it or leave it," he smirked at her, outstretching one of his wrapped hands. She rolled her eyes goodnaturedly as she walked over, shaking his hand firmly.
"What about Satan spawn?" She asked cheekily and he shot her a dirty look with his unfocused eyes.
"Nope," he replied firmly.
An hour later and she was ready to tear her own hair out, or his, either really. He'd had her warming up on the punching bag to see how she fared. He'd been impressed by how hard she could hit but took great pleasure in criticising her form and how she'd cause more harm to herself with the way she did it. She got better after his advice although she still wasn’t perfect but his nitpicking was starting to chip at her sanity. She knew he was helping but he seemed to enjoy being a little asshole too much.
"Alright, let's go," he said. She furrowed her brow not sure what he was talking about but he tossed her some boxing gloves and put some on himself before he hopped up, climbing through the ropes in the ring. A sly grin crept onto her face. Sparring him would be much more fun, even if she knew she had no chance of winning. Even if he took it easy on her which she knew he would. She climbed into the ring and stretched her neck a little.
"What are we doing?" She asked. He started circling her like a shark with its prey and she found herself following suit as the adrenaline started sparking inside of her.
"Just a free for all. You need to practice on a moving target and learn to dodge," he replied carefully.
They circled each other for a moment more before she threw the first punch, she wasn't surprised when he dodged it way too easy.
"Did you forget everything I just taught you? Fix your form," he demanded. His attitude was fuelling her annoyance and she swung at him again.
"Better. Try again," he muttered. She went to punch him but instead of dodging, he blocked and then pushed her back. Not too hard but she still grunted and almost lost her balance.
"This isn't fair. You're not exactly a normal opponent," she huffed, readying herself again.
"You gonna keep trying or cry about it?" He smirked. Her jaw dropped a little and she swung out again but once again he deflected.
"I thought you said you could throw a punch," he taunted, causing her to purse her lips.
"Against a normal person. Not Daredevil," she scolded with a glare.
"I'm hearing a lot of excuses," he snorted. Her anger was starting to simmer away on the back burner. She swung at him hard but he grabbed her wrist, twisting her and spinning her away from him.
"Do better!" He barked. She threw another punch but she missed as he ducked out of the way, kicking his leg out and sweeping her own out. She landed on her back with an oof. Her chest was heaving and she didn't know if she was more annoyed with him or herself.
She jumped back up onto her feet and rolled her shoulders.
"Maybe you could take it easier on me," she bit out.
"Right. Because if you get attacked I'm sure they'll take it easy on you. No wonder Keiran took you down so easy," he sneered. A white hot rage ran through her at the words.
"Excuse me?" Her voice was deadly calm as her hands started shaking with anger. He just smirked cruelly and gave her a lazy shrug.
"Did you even try to fight back or did you just lay down and take it?" His words made her snap and she lunged at him. She threw out her right hand but as he dodged it she hit out with her left, clocking him right in the jaw. She felt exhilarated she got a hit in. She didn't have time to celebrate as he shoved her instead of hitting her back. He swung his legs out but she moved out the way just in time and she sent a kick to his torso that landed. It barely moved him but it connected.
He laughed, actually laughed and not in a mocking way. It occured to her then he'd purposely pissed her off so much to help her. She should have seen it sooner since pushing people's buttons to elicit a response was her thing. She leaned left to throw him off before quickly weaving right and landing another punch to the jaw. She groaned when his gloved fist landed on her side. It was by no means a full punch but it shocked her since he'd done nothing but deflect and dodge so far.
"You hit me," she muttered with wide eyes. He snorted and tilted his head, unfocused eyes in her direction.
"That's generally how this goes," he smirked. She shook her head with a grin of her own before throwing another punch at him. They spent some more time and he didn't hit her as many times as he could have and she didn't land as many as she wished she had, but she was getting better.
Her chest was heaving after a moment and he leaned against the ropes as he caught his own breath.
"You did good. With practice you'll get even better," he smiled. She stood up straighter and wiped her brow with her arm.
"Was that a compliment?" She snorted, cracking her neck as she walked over and took the gloves off after he did the same.
"I wouldn't go that far," he retorted with a smirk.
"What next?" She asked. She tightened her hair tie and tried to ignore the strays that had flown out during the sparring.
"I'll teach you how to get out of some holds," he stepped closer to her before walking behind her. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle.
"Alright, if someone comes and grabs you from behind like this..." he put his arm loosely around her neck and she straightened up a little.
"As soon as you feel the arm, you need to push your chin down," he instructed. She did as he said as he brought his other hand up and gripped the other.
"Now grab my arms with both hands and step to the side," one again she did as she was told, soaking up everything he was telling her. He tapped her left arm briefly before putting his hand back in his other.
"With this arm, you'll hit back. Aim for the groin," she raised a brow at his words but she couldn't turn her head to look at him.
"You want me to hit you in the dick now or just pretend?" She snorted. She couldn't see him but she felt a light laugh dance across her neck.
"Just pretend or get my leg right now. But if this was anyone else, the groin," he replied. She hit back, stopping before she made contact.
"So usually, when you do this, the asshole will move like this to grab your arm," he said as he bent slightly and grabbed her wrist.
"But before he grabs you, you wanna elbow up right in the face," she almost asked if she could really elbow him in the face but decided against it. He released her completely and she glanced back to him.
"Ready?" He asked as he looked in her direction. She faced away again and blew out a breath.
"Ready," she confirmed.
He quickly wrapped an arm around her but she pressed her chin down as he'd told her to. Then gripping his large forearm with both hands, she stepped to the right and swung her fist back, not making contact. He went to quickly snatch her wrist but she flung her elbow up, almost connecting. She beamed a smile as he let her go and she turned around.
"That was good. You're a quick learner," he smiled. This wasn't turning out to be as bad as she thought it would.
"Thanks. I'd say you're a good teacher but I'm scared your ego would get bigger than it already is," she smirked and he chuckled at her.
"We'll do one more for today, lay down," he gestured to the floor and she quirked a brow before getting to the floor and laying on her back.
"This one is harder to get out of, there's a lot more steps. But if you practice it then you should be fine," he said as he got on the floor on his knees. He grabbed her ankles and pushed her legs so her knees were bent and he moved so he was pressed against her. She just lay there curiously for a moment.
"You ready?" He asked carefully. She hadn't really thought too much about just what they were about to do but she nodded anyway. Then his hands were wrapped around her throat. It wasn't tight at all but as he loomed over her, even the featherlight touch around her neck sent her fight or flight into overdrive. His face suddenly morphed into Keiran's and despite no pressure being applied, she felt like she couldn't breathe.
"Daphne?" Matt faltered, his voice unsure. Something snapped in her and she shoved him off easily since he didn't try to resist her
She sat up, gasping for air as she scooted back until her back pressed against the rope. She had no idea what was wrong with her but her ears started ringing. Matt was talking but he sounded like he was underwater and she couldn't make out his words. Large hands cupped either side of her face and his fuzzy face came into focus. Matt, not Keiran.
"Breathe, okay? You're fine. Just breathe nice and slow for me," he soothed. She closed her eyes, her whole body shaking as she did as he said. She was safe. She knew that so why did she freak out? She felt her face flush in embarrassment and anger at herself for reacting that way as her breathing started to steady. Her body still trembled even when she could now breathe.
"I… uh…" she wanted to say something. Tell him she acted stupid. That she knew she wasn't really in danger and was being dramatic. But no words came out that didn't make her sound as pathetic as she felt.
"It's fine. You weren't ready. We can try again another time," he murmured. His hands left her face and he stood, holding a hand out to her. She took it and let him help her stand. The silence was tense as she wallowed in her embarrassment. She had to freak out over nothing, in front of Matt no less.
"Daphne, if you need to talk-"
"I'm fine," she bit out harshly. She hadn't meant to but she was angry and of course she'd lash out. He bit his lip with a tense nod as she climbed out from the ring. She stalked over to the water fountain and took a long gulp to try and calm herself down. Things were going fine until they weren't. She heaved a sigh.
"Thanks for training me," despite her words and how much she meant them, her tone was still guarded and a little brisk.
"No problem, feel free to come back when you're ready," he replied. She couldn't really read his voice. He didn't sound angry at her. He didn't sound anything. But she knew she'd been a bitch when all he'd done is help yet she couldn't find it in her to say sorry.
She swung her bag over her shoulder before leaving without a goodbye. Maybe it had been a mistake to go to him for help. He had helped though but she loathed feeling so vulnerable in front of anyone. Especially him. She knew her anger was at herself though. She felt so weak and helpless. She knew Matt wouldn't hurt her and she'd freaked out for nothing. The attack seemed to infect every part of her life and all she wanted was to close that chapter in her life and be done with it.
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||A Deadly battle 15: Yuji and Sukuna’s talk; his message||
Hi all, Peahen mom and is back with another Drabble to the on going drabble series A deadly battle. This is a mini series between me and @demon-blood-youths of a upcoming battle with Ink and Sukuna.
If you wish to read where the series is right now, the chapters are down below.
~~Chapters~~
Part One: King vs. Dragon heir
Part Two: Aftermath
Part Three: The king vs. Matt Knack
Part Four: Aftermath Acceptance
Part Five: A Risky Solution
Part Six: The talk; Painful conversation
Part Seven: The Meeting
Part Eight: Thoughts and worry; extra teachings
Part Nine: Her Training Begins
Part Ten: First Part of Training
Part Eleven: Second Part of Training
Part Twelve: Deathly Lessons
Part Thirteen: Near death experience
Part Fourteen: Reawakening
((Your reading part 15 right now))
~~Drabble summary~~
We jump to the middle of the Forth month has the training with Ink has gone well, everyone is rested up still doing everything they can to work on helping her for the battle that was one month away. However, during this time, Sukuna was growing more bored so Yuji decided to speak to him and well..found out some disturbing things when he was free. If you wanna find out, take a look.
||Warning||
Not much in the beginning but their will be gore and blood spoken of and see but again you will know later on.
~~Guests in this story~~
The Devils (Half belongs to demon mun and the other half belongs to me))
Sukuna and Yuji belongs to the anime and manga jujutsu Kaisen but me due to rping as them as muses
The fractions (Half belongs to her and the other belongs to me)
~Their will be grammar errors and other issues for this but it was written for fun. Please understand. With this said, enjoy.~
The start of the next month has came, the fractions are still in hiding but are recovering. The Devils for them didn’t want to send them back even if Sukuna was not present. They wanted their heirs to be alright before that day came on that first start of the fifth month or the end of the month? they were not sure. Right now, the Devils were speaking or having a meeting trying to figure out what to do since their heirs are still training Van Ink for her upcoming battle.
And the possible outcome of setting a world here in the demon realms for Sukuna. The contractors were worried never seeing the devils like this but they really want to be sure things go smoothly for them. So for now, the fractions were calm with the leaders resting together while it was raining in Vanity’s domain.
~~Meanwhile in New York~~
Gojo was seeing his classmates resting up but he saw that Yuji was in his room once more thinking about the upcoming fight with Sukuna and Ink. Panic and worry was seen on his face even if he didn’t want this to go down south. He wanted to help her or at least talk some sense into Sukuna to not do this but he already had his mind set.
So, it leaves the question to what Sukuna thinks about it. Well, he will find out or already is. In his domain, he was called to speak with him but the cursed king just snickered hearing this from the brat.
“Really? You want me to rethink of this fight? Why? We already are coming along the home stretch. I’m just too excited to call it quits now. Not when we are going to have the battle of a life time.” He grins looking to Yuji but he sighed looking angry at Sukuna.
“Yeah, I figure you would but you also rmember thanks to you, we’ll end up being executed thanks to you.” he said rubbing his arm looking up at Sukuna who still sits on his Ox skull throne, showing his sick twisted grin on his face at the thought.
“Oh? I heard the elders were indeed planning for that....I don’t see anything I did wrong. I was just having fun is all.” He shrugs it off but Yuji glares at him.
“You did nothing wrong? Having fun!? You fucking went after Ink and her friends and hurt them! Cause some damage in NYC and now it comes to this giant battle you’ll have with Ink!” he didn’t like the thought but Sukuna looks to him to smile. Geez, he really was worried wasn’t he? True, he may have scared them but he was having fun!
“So what? I did had my fun and I’m going to have more fun when it’s time to fight Inky. I really am curious to how strong she’s become so far. I know she’s been training over the last four months and I really am excited! She said she was going to give it her all this time with no jokes or so.....” He snickered but Yuji looks down remember that to sigh calming down.
“But you know? I still wish I can fight more than her but..a deal’s a deal. I can’t harm her friends or the others. It would be such a bore but oh well..I still had some fun while it lasted.” he snickered.
“That’s sick. What the hell Sukuna!?”
“What?! I was honest! I will admit, they did put up a good try when trying to fight me. Even the leaders but even from all that: It. Was. Not. Enough.” He teased looking to his hand but he was happy to see that he looks to his hand to think.
“I was so excited being able to have the fun of scaring them and getting a warm up. From beating them senseless to digging my hands into their bodies. Clawing, ripping, tearing..and all the other sickening games I had plan would have been fun. Heh, I just love the sound of someone crying out as I inflict pain to them.” He looks to think about it then looks to Yuji, his hand shaking as it’s in a fist. This caught the king of curses eyes to his own eyes glowing blood red.
“They said to be demons right? Deadly demons that’s well feared in this world well...I guess that’s proven wrong depending on your power. They were young demons. New ones even if they got the hang of it, they were not even scratching the surface.” He looks to his hand but flexed his fingers. “And to think they live life in peace when it’s all shit now..Heh..” He was gloating now but he looks hearing a sigh from Yuji.
“What? Got something to say Brat?”
“....N..No. I just....’ He didn’t want to anger him and change his mind to the agreeing Ink and Sukuna made. “I don’t understand why? You could have just did something else to have fun. Why did you have to hurt my friends like this?” He asked that Sukuna snickered.
“That’s dumb to ask...because I can and I love torturing the innocent. I’m a fucking king of curses brat and this is just more fun for me. Even though I can’t fight her friends to have some fun, I still can at least enjoy one person to fight. Besides, you should be happy. Inky’s willing to fight me but keeping me entertained. If not, I would have gone after then either way. Playing with my new ‘toys’ always makes me excited.”
“...Even though it’s risking us getting executed...” he said with arms crossed that Sukana laughed crossing his leg over the other. He knew about that and honestly, he didn’t mind. Because Yuji knew if he did, that would end up with him finding another.
“Besides, I don’t mind if Inky’s able to prove it. She said she was going to give me a good show but it seems I can do the same. During my little training, I’ve learned a new few tricks that I can’t wait to show her. If she’s true to her word she’ll be sure to grant me my wish of being free from you and becoming a demon. A horrible monster.” He chuckles that Yuji was worried.
“New...tricks? He asked feeling nervous that Sukuna smiled laughing a bit.
“Yes. New tricks. Thanks to my precious princess, Kinie Ger I was able to gain more time and it gives me more to try new things. Like making copies of myself and still evening my power. Extracting cursed energy to feed my own even though mine grows stronger and even going to new places like..the demon realms.” He saw Yuji blink but hearing this got him worried. Demon realm?
“Yes, I’ve heard of this place but has many different places one finds themselves in. I still haven’t found where Inky and her friends went but even after beating you up, you still never told me where they are.” He said this but Yuji looks at him.
“Because I don’t know! I only saw the blinding white light and they were gone. I don’t know where they were taken.” He tries to explain again but Sukuna sighed to glare at him.
“Which is why I’m going to figure out where they could be sooner or later. Though, fighting and keeping focused for the main game is still fun. I really can’t wait to see how much she’s grown.” He chuckled then looks to Yuji who really was worried to sigh.
“I could send a reminder of the battle but I guess I’ll try a random spot then. A demonic trait that might lead me to where she and them went to. Though, that will come in a while. I guess I’m done with you, Brat. I’ll see you later.”
“Hey, we are not do-”
Yuji snaps away seeing he was standing then looks to the window seeing it raining. He looks down being quiet but was angry at Sukuna for what he was planning to do. Even if what he said made him worry for Ink and her friends. He just hopes he didn’t do anything worse to harm them.
~~Meanwhile~~
Sukuna was looking ahead but he was smiling, seeing something else. Orbs. Med sized orbs floating about him but these orbs were bits from the fractions he fought. Something surrounded the orb to show who belongs to who. “Oh Inky, Inky, Inky. I can’t wait to see you again..” He laughed holding a orb that had angel wings but he only saw the other orbs moving about as he looks to it then grips one of the wings to almost crush it seeing some clear blood floating out. He only reforms it and saw it hovering away slowly. Though, the one he mainly had was a blue orb but it had some dragon essence within.
Even from all these orbs, Sukuna was excited and ready.
~~Later in Vanity’s domain~~
Hours has passed due to the devil’s talking but that was stopped when something of a disturbing message comes about. They were speaking of some ideas on what they could do before hearing a loud sick thump from outside Vanity’s domain against the multi glass color window. Everyone was confused wondering what it was but they tense seeing it left a rather..messy sight on the other side
Feeling worried, Vanity looks to see Duke check it out but he came rushing back moments later looking..disturbed. Everyone looks to him.
“Duke? What is it? What was it?” he asked but Duke looks quiet.
“You’ll..have to come out and see for yourself...”
In a few minutes, everyone was near the gate doors of this church to see the rain coming down but that isn’t what shocked them.
The devils eyes were wide in shock or horror, seeing a bloody mess of another demon laying on the floor. It’s body was broken up and the other was dead. They couldn’t tell which realm it came from. It could be some outsider or..from one of theirs. Vanity said nothing seeing this but his grey eyes were glowing figuring this was Sukuna’s work or message.
((I can’t wait for our fight Inky. You better be stronger than the last time because I’m so excited. I hope you prove to me you really have gotten stronger because I won’t hold back....I might know a place to have our fight but it’s secret. Hope you don’t mind this bloody message.))
Sukuna
“What...the fuck?” Caym whispered seeing the dead body with the other devils speechless.
“How? How could he...” Ox was looking seeing some of the others looking disturbed and seeing the inside of the demon’s body.
Uriprayt was shaking where she stood covering her mouth to cry. It was painful to see a demon like this but she only felt Leonado patting her back.
“It seems Sukuna is either growing impatient or he’s giving a word or a reminder for the damn fight with Ink..”
“Seems like both......I don’t think our heirs need to see this...” Kukuclan said with Onibi agreeing. This was sickening for Sukuna to do but what was he trying to prove? He already harmed the heirs and got a rematch with Ink. So what else did he want?
“.....Vanity? What are we going to do?” He looks hearing Oski speak but looks worried of her heir and the others. “This..this monster has already proven his point but....what if this fight wasn’t enough for him? You heard what he might do even with the chance of being a devil..”
“We know the risks, Oski but we can’t have any mistakes. It’s already bad enough Ink has to fight Sukuna.” He said with arms behind his back.
“We know that but it’s painful for them. How will we know Sukuna will keep his word? You saw what he does and can do. How can we trust someone like that?” Ironia whispered but looks down thinking about Rust. “All of our heirs have just recovered and we don’t know when it’s safe to send them back....”
“I agree with Ironia, Vanity. This is just too much for them but as they grow they will know or understand. It’s already painful seeing the ones we helped die to a monster like that.” Goa hissed but closed her fan with a snap thinking about it.
“Even so, Goa. We don’t know what he will do. He’s a sneaky one we know that but we just can’t risk finding out right now...even with his disturbing message.” He sighed with Orochi agreeing.
“We just have to think and keep calm...but..that message gives off a disturbing feeling....or a warning?”
The other devils got worried but Vanity quiets them to calm down.
“Listen to me my fellow devils. I know right now this is looking grim but remember, Ink already agreed to fight him. We have no choice to amend to his rules and see where it will take it. You all know she’s training as much as she can even with the leaders being out for a while.....” He saw the devils look to him but was worried.
“Even though it’s a possible risk of what he might do?” He heard Beezlebub mutter with arms crossed.
“And it leaves another question: what if he...” Vanity stops Ira to speak.
“He won’t. My realm is a safe haven. No one is allowed in unless I wish it. Even if he could, he can’t get in..I made sure of that.” Vanity knew this was true but if Sukuna learned new things, that might include breaking through his world’s barrier.
“And if that was to happen???” Chernoborg asked but Vanity sighed looking at them.
“We will have to get our heirs out and back home. For now, like I said, this is a safe place. You all trusted me for thousands and thousands of years when we had our daily meetings speaking of what we seen for our heirs.” He reminds them as the devils remember to look at him. Vanity sighed to look at them.
“All we can do..is see where this goes..and hope. It’s rare to think of that but...for this moment, we will. I know Ink did a dumb thing but she’s learning from it. All of our heirs are learning and growing Their still young demons themselves trying to understand. Not everything is going to be easy.” He looks up at everyone.
“For now..we still have one more month to go before my heir fights him.....but we have to prepare in case......” he looks but everyone was silent to agree but slowly looks to the bloody body on the ground disturbed now. Even the demon contractors like Miss Madam a.k.a lilith and Senkai were quiet seeing the body. It was sickening to see this but Lilith lets out a slow breath seeing the rain coming down hitting the body spilling blood around.
“Men, please discard the body...I don’t need Ink or the others seeing this.” Vanity saw his men nod, going to do that while he was getting the other Devils back inside but Senkai looks but he had his arms crossed. This Sukuna really a twisted monster. Now he was wondering of Ink and the other heirs.
“Senkai?” he blinks to see miss Madam look at him. The other contractors were worried.
“I’m fine my dear. This is just a lot for everyone to handle. Can’t believe this is even happening. I could be at home relaxing and yet here I am freaking out a bit over this cursed spirit..” He sighed but looks down.
“That’s a first for you...You never would be the one to freak out but I don’t blame you. Everyone is worried and nervous. It’s only a matter of time....” she looks up seeing the rain but the two looks quiet seeing the other contractors heading inside.
She saw the rain coming down but looks ahead. “All we can do is hope that Ink pulls through that horrible fight against him. I worry for her but....like Vanity said, we will have to wait and see. The young ones deserve to be happy and safe...and not living in fear because of a cursed spirit.” She slowly turns to head back inside.
“This is also new for you, Lilith. You always told me the ways of demon life was different.” she stops at the door looking ahead with hands in front of her.
“I may have said that yes, but right now. That means something different now.” she looks down but the upper part of her face was dark. “I don’t want that monster to hurt my little vixens or kill them. I watch over them yes but it would be heartbreaking to lose them. I believe it’s the same feeling for the other devils but they show it differently. To say honestly, I guess I’m hoping things go well..for them..for her...and all of us.” she speaks to start walking forward.
“It will besides, they used to be humans before singing the contracts. Each one of them signed for their own reasons and we contractors know of that.” He explains.
“........I know Senkai but still, even contractors have to worry..don’t they?” she said to him.
Senkai looks seeing her walking off but sighed, seeing some of his bats flying around him as one lands on his shoulder. “......You better prove to that jerk you mean business Ink......because if not, were all fucked..” Looking at the rain, he turns to head back inside as the main gates closed with everyone back inside. However, it seems the body was gone but a dark chuckle was heard.
‘I found it. I can’t wait for our game Inky....it’s going to be so much fun. See you soon Inky.’ he whispered from what he saw in his domain before it was quiet. The eye that saw this disappears into smoke.
Time remaining: one month left before final fight
#IC#silver roses#Drabble/short or long stories#silver butterfly mun#peahen mom#the mansion owner#A deadly battle part 15#Yuji and Sukuna's talk; his message#The devils#Sukuna#yuji itadori#Senkai#Miss Madam a.k.a lilith#demon-blood-youths#The fractions of NYC#deadly battle au#peahen writer
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oooooh what about Rossi holds like a hugeeee family bash and ems twins + hotch’s daughter is just tryna keep track of all the kiddos 💀. like the adults are in the dining room drinking wine or something and they just see matts/kristys triplets being chased by ems twins and hank being chased by hotch’s daughter
Okay ALL THE KIDS TOGETHER HEADCANONS
-the adults are all drinking and having a blast and Hotch and Emily pulled their kids aside and asked them to just keep an eye on everything and the teens all grumbled but olbliged because how hard can it be?
-very hard.
-Matt’s kids are the hardest, the teenagers find. They’re always running around, chasing each other, fighting, screaming, yelling. And they aren’t bad in a bratty way or anything- actually, they’re very polite bc Kristy would have their heads if they weren’t -but they’re used to being able to be loud in their house PLUS they’re all outside so why not?
-Hank is in middle school and he’s talking to Penelope’s kid who’s also in middle school. They hang out a lot bc Derek and Penelope visit each other often.
-Penelope’s kid is looking over hank’s shoulder at his laptop and he’s showing her this science website and Penelope’s kid isn’t all that interested in science but they’re showing Hank how to hack into it to get the more confidential information on new research projects
-he’s nervous and he’ll probably confess to Derek later that night (unprompted but he just feels guilty) but he does it in the moment bc 1. He wants to know and 2. He likes to hang out with Penelope’s kid
-Emily’s daughter is letting out grunts bc Spencer’s kid is pulling at her earrings and necklaces and chains and it’s strange bc elle’s baby (they’re like three years old) is kind of skittish around Emily’s daughter bc of how she dresses but Spencer’s daughter (she’s like four) just finds it really cool and wants to play with her all the time
-and it looks really funny bc this four year old is like “can I please get more strawberries🥺” to this teenager decked out in grunge apparel who always seems to have a snarky comment resting on her tongue and she’s like “😑yes”
-Hotch’s daughter is with elle’s baby (I’m starting to think Elle has a son) and it’s great bc jack is there to help and so jack is playing games with elle’s son and Henry is joining them bc he was playing with Matt’s kids but they tired him out and they all have this habit of running off without telling hotch’s daughter where they’re going so she’s constantly chasing after them and yelling “wait for me!”
-and then Emily’s son is herding around ALL of Matt’s kids and he’s giving glares to his twin like “how the hell did I get stuck with all of them!?” And they LOVE him bc he never says no and so all the daughters are like “can we braid your hair?🥺” and it’s not that long, maybe that 90s cut that goes to your ears and he’s sighing, and saying “yes” and when the adults glance out they just see Matt’s boys tag teaming the son, a mix between wrestling, chasing, and boxing, and the girls are giggling because in Emily’s son’s hair is just a bunch of hair ties and butterfly clips
-all of the kids had wayyyyy too much cake before they went outside too so it just sounds like a madhouse
-eventually the three teens coral all the kids into this huge circle and they play games, tell stories, and do really dramatic re-enactments of whatever the kids yell out (hotch’s daughter is in drama so she’s a favorite of the kids)
-Emily’s son did bring his guitar and his twin begrudgingly sings next to him and hotch’s daughter is tapping against her legs and all the kids are smlining and happy and theyre one big family
-when the adults hear the music they join them, Rossi starts a fire and now it’s a bonfire party that lasts well into the night and half of Matt and kristy’s kids fall asleep and so they have to carry them back to their van. Spencer’s daughter climbs into his lap and just yawns
-the kids are raving to their parents about how much fun they had
-the teens are EXHAUSTED
-they whine ab having had to watch the kids but they secretly had a really good time
-Emily’s son definitely walks Hotch’s daughter back to hotch’s car and Hotch is still wrangling jack away from the house and they’re alone and he places a sweet kiss onto her lips and bids her goodnight and she’s blushing like crazy the whole ride home
-and Emily’s son is stumbling into the car dazedly bc kissing hotch’s daughter makes him feel dizzy and Emily’s daughter rolls her eyes, used to it, and pushes him into the car
-“get in lover boy”
-Penelope’s kid, while shy and usually introverted, talks to Penelope the entire ride home about how tonight was a good night and they had fun
-the team agrees they’ll have to do it again sometime and they’ll probably do it once every month.
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