#or learning to live with her friend's choice of boyfriend or dumping the boys completely and going off into the sunset together | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

baepsaesbae · 3 years

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Masked Windfall

Pairing— Park Jimin x reader x Jeon Jungkook

Genre— SMUT, strangers to lovers au

Warnings— Switch!Jimin, Dom!Jungkook, Switch!reader, threesome, explicit unprotected and somewhat rough sex (stay safe my friends), double penetration (but like a bj and in your business at the same time? I’m bad with terminology I’m sorry), brief handjob, fingering, multiple orgasms, a booty slap, praise kink, slight derogatory kink, brief guy on guy action, nipple play, hair pulling, lots of kissing, teasing, swearing, PHEW I think that’s all? Please let me know if I forgot something

Word Count— 6k

Win(d)fôl: a piece of unexpected good fortune || After a bad breakup, you’ve given up on the prospect of a relationship, and on romance in general. Things take a turn once you get dragged to a mysterious party an encounter an alluring stranger.

A/N— Happy 2021~ I hope you guys enjoy this sinful fic! This was the first fic I ever wrote a threesome scene for and I was quite happy with how it turned out. Reviews and reblogs are greatly appreciated <3

Ever since your breakup, it was as if love was in the air for everyone but you. Seeing happy couples everywhere served as a constant reminder of your bitter split with your longtime boyfriend. Your jerk ex-boyfriend dumped you right before the holiday season, even after you had planned to spend Christmas and New Years’ with him. Left dejected and inconsolable, you gave up on the idea of romance.

“You gotta stop moping around,” your friend, Chungha, tried to cheer you up.

Chungha was single too, but by choice. Boys (and girls) were constantly flinging themselves at her. She didn’t care for a relationship at this time, and would rather opt for meaningless one night stands.

“Come with me tonight!” she excitedly shoved a flyer in your face.

“Love is Out, Lust is In! An exciting one night event dedicated to adventurous singles who just want to have fun…” you read the flyer aloud, “Yeah, I don’t know about that.”

“Girl, you gotta stop feeling sorry for yourself! It’s not your fault that that idiot dumped you. To be honest, I always thought you could do so much better,” Chungha rubbed your back, “I’m not gonna force you to meet anyone new, but one night out can’t hurt. You might even have a serendipitous encounter!”

“Fine, I’ll go. But just to watch over you, I don’t want some creep to follow you around all night,” you caved in.

“I love my little knight in shining armor! This’ll be so fun,” she excitedly clung onto your arm, “I’ll pick you up tonight. Wear something sexy! I think the motif is black? Something appropriate for an anti-lovey dovey stuff.”

It was nearly time for Chungha to pick you up. You concluded that dressing up for the first time in ages was the right move. Maybe it was about damn time to move on from your past.

“Ohhh girl you look amazing!” Chungha praised as you stepped outside, “There’s no way you WON’T be getting dicked down tonight.”

“Oh hush, before I change my mind. I haven’t worn anything this revealing in forever,” you tried to hide your embarrassment.

You were wearing a black mesh top that revealed your bra (the one that makes your boobs look the best of course) paired with a flattering skirt. You felt sexy, but you didn’t have the confidence that you used to. Chungha also looked amazing, but that was a given.

“Where did you learn about this event?” you asked as she drove.

“My friends in the cabaret club told me about it,” she answered.

“You have friends who work in a cabaret club? That’s cool,” you mused as you gazed out the window.

“Not exactly. It’s just called that; it’s really just a group of girls who like to brunch on the weekends. The place we’re going to is known for being a bit secretive,” she smiled.

“What does that mean?” you start to get anxious.

“You’ll see!” she said gleefully.

The venue looked more like some millionaire’s mansion. The property was stowed away at the end of a sketchy road that was more akin to a beaten up dirt path. However, you saw that the lot in front of the house was littered with fancy cars; from G Wagons to Bugattis. The guests emerging from the vehicles all looked like celebrities.

“Where the hell are we?” you asked Chungha.

“Not quite sure, but I can’t wait to find out,” she was also awestruck.

Upon arrival, a gentleman stationed at the entrance requested for your invitation. Chungha pulled out a fancy envelope and casually handed it to him. It looked far more formal than the flyer she showed you earlier.

“Is this your plus one?” he gruffly asked.

“Yep,” Chungha linked her arm in yours.

“Very well. Here are your masks. Enjoy your stay,” he responded curtly.

“Masks? Chungha, seriously. Where the hell are we? I was picturing some dingy club based off of the flyer you showed me. Not to mention that I am drastically underdressed,” you admitted as you helped her put on her mask.

Chungha took the sparkly white mask that was adorned with feathers, which was fitting since it made her look even more angelic. Your mask was matte black accented with gold trimmings. It was far more elegant than the outfit you were wearing.

“Okay, I confess. I made the flyer. I knew you’d decline if I told you it was actually a swanky invite only shindig. I’m sorry for lying! I just really wanted to take you out,” she pouted.

Her puppy dog eyes worked on you every time.

“I forgive you. I don’t know if I’d ever get to experience something like this without you anyway,” you pulled her in for a hug.

“Aw yay! Alright, we’re gonna have a bunch of fun tonight! Also, you look hot. Don’t worry about what you look like. Plus, I have a feeling that people aren’t gonna care,” she says as soon as you both enter the foyer.

Your jaw dropped as soon as you saw the most sumptuous house imaginable. The foyer opened the house up to two grand staircases. The baroque decor screamed nothing but lavish expectations for the rest of the house. Chungha led the way into the large room past the staircases. The room was even more magnificent than the entrance, with white marble pillars creating the doorways.

The place was bustling with activity. Once you finished admiring the place, your attention turned to the guests. Some women were wearing seductive gowns, while others were only wearing beautiful (and probably extremely expensive) lingerie. All of the men were wearing suits or tuxedos. With the motley of outfits you observed, you figured what you were wearing really wasn’t that strange.

“Drinks ladies?” a waitress materialized from thin air.

“Yes please! Thanks,” Chungha quickly grabbed two glasses.

Your eyes widened as the waitress walked away. She was wearing a thin white sheet that was completely see through, and she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

You realized that this must have been their uniform, as the rest of the servers were dressed the same way. Both males and females.

“CHUNGHA!” a shrill voice cut through the air.

“Ah hey! Thank you so much for inviting me!” Chungha greeted the girl who called out to her.

“Of course! I live for these parties! I’ve never seen hotter men anywhere else,” the girl winked, “My uncle wants the guests to know that all of the servers are available. All the rooms upstairs are unlocked, unless they’re being used of course. I hope you ladies get a good catch tonight!” the girl quickly hugged both of you before scampering away.

“The servers are all available…? For what?” you shot a confused look to Chungha.

“I think you can figure that out,” she smiled sheepishly.

“Chungha, did you invite me to a freaking orgy!?” you cried out.

“You said you wanted to watch over me!” she playfully argued, “You’re already here, ___. You might as well try to enjoy yourself.”

“I guess I’ll settle for people watching,” you sighed.

“Oh! I see someone I know, I’ll be right back,” Chungha squeezed your arm before disappearing into the crowd.

After snatching another drink from a scandalously clad waiter, you retreated to an empty corner. You hoped to observe the guests unnoticed and unbothered. After about half an hour, you noticed an odd pattern. People would woo their target, disappear for a bit, and then return to continue the hunt. Their clothing was often disheveled once they resurfaced, but it didn’t really matter when they were bound to be torn off again.

“Bored?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

“I’m thoroughly entertained,” you answered without taking your eyes off of the party.

“I think I could bring you more entertainment,” the man suggested as he gripped your hips.

“Get your hands off of me!” you push him off.

The assailant was an older man, at least 30 years older than you, and he seemed bewildered that you turned him down. His breath reeked of alcohol, and the dilation of his eyes alluded to his other indulgences of the night.

“I was promised that everyone at this party wanted to have some fun,” he angrily grasped your arm.

You cried out in pain. You were about to punch him in the face until someone else beat you to it. The man crumpled to the ground clutching his bloody nose.

“You little shit! I’ll find out who you are and ruin your life!” the man threatened.

“Mind your tone, worm. Or do I need to beat you senseless to remind you of your place?” your savior shot a baleful glare at the pathetic man who now cowered in fear.

“Are you okay?” your rescuer asked in a soft tone after the man was out of sight.

“Much better now, thank you. That guy was crazy. I’m ___,” you raised your hand for a handshake.

“I’m Jimin. Pleasure to meet you,” he delicately kissed your hand.

His intricate silver mask matched his hair. Even with his face half covered, you could tell that he was remarkably handsome. His dark suit made him look professional yet charming. You felt out of place standing beside him.

“Have you found a partner yet?” he asked bluntly.

“I’m not looking for one; I’m just here to take care of my friend. I don’t think I belong here,” you admitted.

“Why not? I know half of your face is hidden, but I’m willing to bet that you’re more gorgeous than half the people here. I like your style, it shows that you don’t really care for the norm,” Jimin gave you a thumbs up.

Even though it was meant as a compliment, it was off putting to know that you really did stick out like a sore thumb.

“Thanks,” you replied softly, “Have you found yours?”

“Nah, I hate big parties like this. Especially this one,” he shrugged.

“Then why are you here?” you figured that he’d have a line of women begging to sleep with him.

“Much like you, I’m watching over a friend. However, I have lost track of him. Where’s your friend?”

“I lost track of her too,” you laughed.

“If you don’t mind, could we go somewhere quieter? I’d love to get to know you better. Wait, not like that. I genuinely mean I’d like to have a conversation with you,” his flushed cheeks made him even cuter.

“Sure, lead the way, my noble hero,” you took his hand in yours.

It was a bold move, and you usually preferred to play it safe. Tonight was different. You’ll probably never see this guy again. Where’s the harm in flirting a little?

“Of course, my lady,” he played along.

He led you outside to the gardens. Fairy lights were strung up everywhere, giving the gardens an inviting aura. Tall shrubbery caught your eye. Jimin’s eyes followed your gaze.

“It’s a maze,” he said, observing your curiosity.

“This place has an actual labyrinth?” your eyes widened in disbelief.

“Wanna go explore it? I can’t guarantee you that we won’t get lost,” he offered.

“Yes please!” your eyes lit up.

Jimin couldn’t help but smile at your ebullience. How did someone so sweet end up in a twisted place like this?

“Can we take off these silly masks now? I hate wearing mine,” Jimin squeezed your hand.

“Sure, I don’t care. I apologize in advance if you go blind after seeing my face,” you jested.

You both took a moment to soak in each other’s true appearances. Jimin was more handsome than you could’ve dreamt. His individually delicate features attributed to an overall godly image that you had a hard time believing was real.

“Even more beautiful than I imagined,” Jimin acknowledged you with an approving smile, “Let’s ditch this stupid soiree,” he held out his arm for you.

Abandoning the masks on the ground, you practically dragged Jimin into the labyrinth. Corn mazes at Fall Festivals were fun, but this was the real deal. The hedges were at least 3 meters tall. No one would be able to find you if you actually got lost here.

“I think I heard that the trick is to keep to the right wall,” Jimin explained.

“Why don’t we take turns choosing which way to go? Unless you’re scared of getting lost,” you teased.

“Don’t get mad at me when we’ve been stuck in here for days,” he laughed.

You traversed the maze hand in hand with Jimin. The conversation began to flow naturally. Jimin listened to you intently and replied thoughtfully.

The night darkened as the party was left further behind. Normally, this eerie setting would frighten you, but your company made it bearable. Nothing but the moonlight lit your path now. You were too busy enjoying yourself to realize that you both were hopelessly lost.

“I hope you don’t mind me pointing out that this is the third dead end we’ve encountered in the past two minutes,” Jimin elucidated once you found yourselves staring at a green barrier yet again.

“Do you think someone will come to rescue us?” you started to panic.

“Definitely not tonight. Probably not tomorrow either,” Jimin answered brusquely.

“Let’s retrace our steps again. I might end up eating you if we really do get stuck out here,” you tried to joke.

“Eat me?” Jimin chuckled, “My dear, what if I end up eating you?”

“Sorry pretty boy, but I feel like I could easily beat your ass in hand to hand combat,” you laugh as you turn to leave.

Suddenly, your back was being pinned against a hedge. Jimin placed one of his hands on your shoulder and the other one on your waist.

“Let me rephrase that. What if I end up eating you out?” he raised an eyebrow suggestively.

“I might enjoy that. However,” you quickly hook your leg around his knee to dead leg him.

Jimin’s surprise gave you the opportunity to knock him to the ground. You wrapped your right arm around his left arm, effectively pinning him down. You firmly gripped his left wrist with the same arm, rendering both of his arms useless.

“I don’t think you’re capable of doing that right now,” you fake a pout as your free hand wanders from his chest down to his crotch.

He was already somewhat hard when you began to palm him through his pants. You planted a soft kiss on his neck, sucking slightly before breaking contact. Jimin moaned at the sensation, his hips bucking up into your hand.

“What do you want, pretty boy?” you whispered in his ear as you cupped his length in your hand.

“Oh my god I want to fuck you,” he pleaded.

“You’re in no position to fuck anyone,” you reminded him, tightening your grip on his arms.

“I want you to fuck me, ___,” Jimin’s whines grew desperate.

“Is that so?” you say as you unzip his pants, “Here outside? On the ground? That’s a bit improper for a prince like you, don’t you think?”

His erection was fully exposed now. You slowly pumped him, pleased with his length. It took every bit of self-control to not immediately pounce on his dick. You traced your thumb around the soft tip, causing him to moan again.

“I don’t care. I just need my cock buried in you,” Jimin replied between moans.

“You’re so needy. I guess I could help you out,” you release him from your clutches.

Jimin instantly knocked you onto your back as soon as he was freed. He pinned you the same way you pinned him. You were both impressed and shocked that he learned how to do it already.

“That was a cheeky display. Very hot. I admit that I’ve never begged for pussy before, so props to you,” Jimin awarded you plaudits.

His free hand snaked its way down to your clothed pussy, pleased to find that you were already wet. He toyed with your clit through the fabric of your panties. He relished watching your squirm beneath him.

“It’s not so fun being pinned down, huh?” he kissed your neck in a similar fashion, except he ended his kiss with forceful suckling that was sure to leave a mark.

“I don’t know, it’s kind of fun,” you tried to keep your cool, but were failing miserably.

“Do you want me to touch you, my dear ___?” Jimin asked sweetly.

“Please do,” you exhaled with exasperation.

“You can beg better than that,” he admonished.

“Jimin, fuck me until I forget my own name,” you begged.

“You’ll only know my name by the end of tonight,” Jimin promised as he pulled your panties aside.

He slid in a finger to test how wet you were. You squealed with delight as he easily stuck in two fingers. He expertly curled them in you, grazing your g-spot. Your body tried to move to cope with the pleasure, but Jimin refused to let you go.

“You’re staying right here until I say so. I enjoyed going along with your power play, but you have to learn that I’m the one in charge,” he smirked.

His thumb circled your clit as he mercilessly fingered you. Your legs spasmed as your orgasm led a wave of euphoria across your body.

“Jimin, I’m--oh fuck, I’m cumming,” you cried out.

Jimin helped you ride it out, not slowing down his pace. However, he still didn’t slow down afterward. Your clit was oversensitive and tears began to well in your eyes.

“You’re beautiful when you cum, I want to see it again,” he praised as his pace quickened yet again.

It wasn’t long before your second orgasm hit. The bliss was more intense this time, causing you to cry out even louder. Jimin finally pulled his fingers out of you, then promptly popped them into his mouth.

“You taste like a delicacy,” he said after licking his lips, “You ready to take this cock?”

You nodded silently, as you were attempting to catch your breath.

Jimin aligned his hips with yours. He tantalizingly ran his dick along your wet folds. His tip eventually teased your entrance by barely entering before he took it out again. He loved watching your body beg to be fucked; your hips seemed to move by themselves as they tried to buck into him.

“Jimin, I can’t take this anymore. Stick it in already!” you yelled.

“So impatient,” Jimin chuckled, “Ready?”

“Yes!”

Jimin slowly inserted himself in you. You groaned at the feeling of finally being stretched out by his cock. His tip was fully inside you when a commotion interrupted him.

“We’re fucking lost bro,” a guy said.

“We wouldn’t be in this mess if you listened to me in the first place!” his companion retorted.

Jimin immediately pulled out and helped you up. He shoved his erection into his pants before leaning against a hedge to blend into the shadow.

“You’re the one who said you wanted to go in!” the first man bickered back.

“I said ‘I bet no one else is in there, let’s check it out’”, his companion explained.

“Okay, well now we’re lost. We haven’t even seen a single person since we’ve entered.”

Jimin took you by the hand and quietly led you out of the dead end. He didn’t know where the interrupters were, but he simply went in the opposite direction of their voices.

“We’re all alone now. Pull down your pants, Hobi,” you heard one of the guys say.

“Make me, Yoongi,” the other guy challenged.

“You won’t be so cheeky when my balls are in your mouth,” Yoongi replied, his voice suddenly lower and domineering.

The sound of clothes being ripped off mixed with passionate groans and wet noises grew further away as Jimin navigated through the maze.

“They sound like they’re having fun,” you broke the silence.

“That should have been us,” Jimin was obviously annoyed, “I’m gonna get us the fuck out of this goddamn maze. I swear to god, I’m going to dick you down properly tonight.”

You didn’t know which was more impressive: sheer luck or Jimin’s determination. Either way, one of those things (or maybe some of both) allowed both of you to finally emerge from the maze’s clutches.

Jimin dragged you back to the mansion while completely ignoring everyone who called out to him. You’re not surprised by his popularity; this man looks like he was carved by God himself.

The party had only escalated inside the mansion. Guests had started to forgo public decency altogether. You saw at least three explicit acts of fornication on your way up to the private rooms.

Once upstairs, you heard nothing but people deep in the throes of passion on the other side of just about every door. Jimin led you past them all, not even stopping in front of the ones indicated as ‘vacant’. At the end of the neverending hall was a large ornate wooden door. Its style clashed with the sleek marble that decorated the rest of the mansion.

Jimin whipped out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. You weren’t prepared for what was on the other side. Unlike the modern style that fitted the rest of the house, this room was decorated with wood.

The carved wooden furniture gleamed brightly due to their polish. The room itself was huge. A king sized bed awaited you at the opposite wall. Elegant curtains draped around the bed, reminding you of the beds royalty would use in movies. Even though the room gave off a cozy aura, it still boasted opulence.

“You like it?” Jimin asked once he saw you gazing around the room in awe.

“It’s beautiful. It feels like I’m in some Elvish Woodland King’s room or something,” you spoke honestly.

“That’s high praise,” he chuckled, “C’mon. I believe we have some unfinished business,” he pulled you onto the bed.

Jimin kissed your neck, peppering in nibbles that made you shudder. You slipped off your skirt and panties as he fondled your breasts. You helped him undress as you threw off his suit jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. You held back a gasp when his abs and toned chest were revealed. You figured he was fit, but you didn’t realize how fit.

His fingers found their way back into your pussy. Jimin sucked on your neck as his nimble fingers made you wetter by the second. Your back arched as your moaned in pleasure when his thumb played with your clit.

“I’m so fucking wet, Jimin,” you breathed into his ear.

“All for me, baby?” he cooed.

“Who else? Honestly, I’ve never been this aroused in my life,” you admitted.

“I’m happy I could change that for you. If you liked my fingers that much, let’s see what my cock can do for you,” he winked as he tugged off his pants.

Jimin spread your legs open as far as they could go. He didn’t have the patience to tease you this time. He filled your pussy up with the entirety of his cock. You relished the stretch; you’ve been waiting all night for this the moment you laid eyes on him.

Jimin began vigorously thrusting into you. The sound of his hips slamming into you coupled with the wet noises of your sopping pussy were drowned out by moans from both parties. Hearing Jimin’s grunts only turned you on more, and the same could be said whenever Jimin heard your melodic moans.

Jimin leaned over to makeout with you, his tongue dipping between your parted lips. You clawed at his back while you kissed him back with ferocious reciprocity. You were getting close to climaxing yet again.

“Jimin, I’m so--”

“Missionary? I know you can do better than that,” an unfamiliar voice interrupted you.

“Fuck off, can’t you see that I’m busy?” Jimin replied angrily, yet he never stopped fucking you.

You were so embarrassed that you grabbed a pillow to hide your face. One person seeing you like this was already flustering enough, but two? Although your mind immediately went to shaming you for being in such a compromising position, it was also kind of a turn on.

“Aw, is she shy? That’s cute,” the unfamiliar boy said.

“What do you want?” Jimin finally pulled out to actually hold a conversation with the intruder.

“I got bored. I figured I’d come in here and jack off or something. I didn’t think you’d be using it,” the voice got closer.

“Well, I am. So get lost,” Jimin growled.

Suddenly, the pillow that covered your face was yanked off. Looking down at you was a man whose beauty rivaled Jimin’s (though you didn’t think that was possible). The man had more of a boyish devil-may-care look. His long dark hair framed his face perfectly, as it showed off his sharp jawline. He traced a finger from your cheek down to your chin.

“She’s cute,” he gave Jimin an approving nod.

“Yeah, and she’s mine. Go away, Jungkook,” Jimin was getting more frustrated by the second.

“Yours? Are you guys dating already?” Jungkook raised his eyebrows in amusement.

“No, but--”

“Then it should be fine if I did this,” Jungkook cupped your face with one hand as he bent down to kiss you.

“Jungkook!” Jimin threw a pillow at him.

Jungkook chuckled as the pillow harmlessly bounced off of him. He deepened the kiss, and soon your tongues were swirling over each other. One of his hands wandered over to your breasts. He pinched your nipple, causing you to gasp into his mouth.

“Oh, she’s so sensitive,” Jungkook smirked, “Let me play with her after you.”

“She’s not a toy,” Jimin defended you.

“It’s okay,” you said softly.

“What?” both of the boys asked in unison.

“You can both use me...however you like,” you looked away shyly, bewildered at what you had just said.

“Fuck, that’s hot,” Jungkook grinned.

“You’re too sweet for your own good, ___. Are you sure?” Jimin asked.

You simply nodded, not able to make eye contact with either of them.

“Alright, baby. Let me take care of you first. Jungkook, you can watch how a man properly fucks a lady,” Jimin glared at Jungkook.

Jungkook stripped down to his underwear as Jimin flipped you onto your knees. You moaned loudly as he started hitting it from the back. This position allowed him to penetrate you even deeper. You buried your face in the sheets in an attempt to muffle your whines.

“Nuh uh,” Jimin tsked as he grabbed a fistful of your hair.

He pulled your head up, exposing your lustful moans. He thrusted harder when he heard you. You opened your eyes to find Jungkook intently staring at you. Feeling cheeky, you made a ‘come here’ motion with one of your pointer fingers.

Jungkook happily obliged. Instead of directly kissing you, he licked up your neck, causing you to shudder. He sucked lightly on your neck as he once again played with your boobs.

“You’re not mad, Jimin?” he was surprised.

“She got wetter. Keep doing whatever you’re doing,” Jimin was lost in pure bliss.

Jungkook pulled you into another heated makeout session. You periodically moaned into his mouth whenever he tugged at your nipples. You whined as he broke the kiss.

“Such a good girl,” Jungkook stroked your cheek, “Wanna try something?” he asked.

You eagerly nodded. It was hard to think when one gorgeous man was making out with you and pinching your nipples, while another gorgeous man was roughly fucking you from behind.

“Open your mouth and stick your tongue out,” Jungkook ordered.

You complied, opening as wide as you could. You watched Jungkook reveal his hard cock, which made your mouth water. His dick was bigger than Jimin’s, but less girthy. It had a little curve that made it look prettier for some reason.

“Want me to put it in? I’d love to see how deep you can take it,” Jungkook stroked his cock.

“I’ll take it all,” you said confidently.

Jungkook smiled at your determination. He lightly placed the tip onto your tongue. You twirled your tongue around it, making Jungkook moan with surprise.

“Maybe she’s not as shy as I thought,” he said to Jimin.

Jimin harshly spanked your ass, causing you to jerk forward. You heard him chuckle behind you.

“I love it when good girls go bad. They’re always the most fun,” Jimin reached his hand around you to play with your clit.

You almost lost control in your arms and fell forward when Jungkook grabbed you.

“You have to be a good girl and hold yourself up. We can fuck you from both sides if you do that, babygirl,” Jungkook ran his thumb along your drooly lips.

You propped yourself back up on your arms and opened your mouth again for Jungkook. He patted your head in approval before placing his dick back onto your tongue. He began pushing himself into your mouth, his eyes never leaving yours.

“Blink twice if it’s too much,” Jungkook instructed.

To his surprise, you managed to take in his full length. You kept gagging since Jimin was thrusting you forward, but that just made it feel better for Jungkook. Jungkook let you know that he was going to start face fucking you, to which you nodded in response. Well, as much as you could nod while his penis was in your mouth.

It didn’t take long for both of the both to boys to fuck you in unison. They rhythmically pulled out and thrusted into you at the exact same time. The intensity of everything turned you on so much, you could feel your juices running down your legs.

Your climax hit you like a truck. Your legs spasmed under you as you cried and gagged on Jungkook’s dick. The feeling of you cumming on Jimin’s cock brought him to the edge. Almost immediately after, Jimin pulled out and came all over your ass.

“Switch places with me,” Jungkook instructed Jimin, “You didn’t think you were done yet, did you?” he winked at you before pulling his dick out of your mouth.

Your sensitivity was through the roof. Jungkook didn’t give you any warning before he inserted himself in you. Jungkook went even deeper than Jimin, and your legs were on the verge of giving out.

“It looks like she can’t hold herself anymore,” Jimin observed with a sly smile.

“I guess I have to do all the work. Stupid slut,” Jungkook groaned, abruptly snatching your arms.

He chuckled when you momentarily fell forward onto your face, but he easily lifted you back up by pulling back on your wrists. You’ve never been roughly restrained like that before, but you wouldn’t complain. Jungkook’s powerful thighs slammed into you repeatedly.

You couldn’t begin to comprehend how sinful you looked: titties bouncing, messy hair, and a lustful expression that rivaled that of succubi themselves. Not to mention you were practically glowing from the film of sweat that developed over the night.

“I’m jealous that he’s kissed you more than I have,” Jimin pouted before he cupped your face.

Wriggling underneath you, Jimin made it easier for you to kiss him. His pillowy lips felt heavenly as he playfully fondled your breasts. He didn’t twist or pinch your nipples like Jungkook did. Instead, he massaged them in a way that still felt delightful.

“Dude, your junk is really close to mine,” Jungkook complained.

“I don’t give a fuck,” Jimin responded between your kisses.

Jungkook’s pace started getting sloppy. You could tell he was close just by his irregular breaths. The room was filled with lewd sounds. Jungkook’s grunts, Jimin’s moans, and your mewls all blended into a chorus of carnal pleasure.

“Fuck, you’re so hot,” Jungkook stuttered before pulling out.

You felt his hot juices splatter across your backside. You toppled onto Jimin when Jungkook let go of your wrists. Jimin just chuckled and held you in a warm embrace.

“You did so well, ___,” he praised before kissing your forehead.

“Was that your first threesome? If so, I’m impressed,” Jungkook cleaned you up with a warm washcloth.

“Mhm,” was all you could muster up to answer his question.

“She’s pretty out of it. Should she stay here for the night?” Jimin asked Jungkook.

“You’re offering to house her? You must have really loved her pussy,” Jungkook laughed.

“Shut up, I’m being serious. I don’t want to let her go back out there to those animals,” Jimin disclosed.

“Did she come alone?” Jungkook sat at the foot of the bed.

“She said she was watching a friend...I don’t think she mentioned who though. Hey, ___, darling, who did you come with?” Jimin gently questioned.

“Chungha,” you said meekly.

“Holy shit. Everyone has been trying to get with her all night,” Jungkook was shocked, “Yeah, I think her friend will be fine on her own. I can watch after her if you want.”

“By watch you mean fuck?” Jimin rolled his eyes.

“Who’s to say I haven’t already?” Jungkook replied cheekily, “You’ve been the most fun I’ve had in a while though,” Jungkook affectionately began scratching your back.

Your eyelids were getting heavier with each passing moment. You instinctively clutched onto Jimin tighter. You’ve always been a cuddler when it was time to sleep.

“I’m gonna go, want me to lock the door?” you heard Jungkook say.

“Yes please. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jimin sent him off.

“Are you sleepy?” he asked while stroking your hair.

“Mhm. And hungry,” you said half asleep.

“What would you like to eat?” Jimin inquired.

“Grilled cheese,” you said without skipping a beat.

“Just grilled cheese? I could get you anything you want. Lobster, caviar, takoyaki, or maybe even steak?” Jimin was eager to take care of you.

“What time is it?” you asked groggily.

“Uh, a little past 1am.”

“It’s time for a midnight snack. And grilled cheese is the perfect midnight snack,” you nodded your head to confirm your reasoning.

“God, you’re adorable. Alright, a grilled cheese will be here soon,” he kissed your forehead again.

“You go make it?” you pouted, not wanting him to leave your side.

“No, I just texted one of the chefs,” he answered.

“Oh, you’re friends with a chef? That’s nice.”

“Somewhat? They work for my father.”

“Is your father the head chef?”

“No, he’s a businessman,” Jimin chuckled.

“Do you like business? Like your father?”

“No, I actually detest it. My father’s riches mean nothing if he can’t even love his family. He does ridiculous things to showcase his ‘love’ but I don’t buy it. Like this stupid fucking party that he throws every year. His excuse is that he’s providing any luxury money can buy. It’s all just bullshit,” Jimin sounded upset.

“This party? Your dad hosted it?” intrigue stirred you from your sleepy state.

“Yeah, this is the house I grew up in. This is my room,” Jimin admitted.

You were silent for a bit before responding, “I’m sorry your dad is a dick.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not your fault. At least one good thing came out of tonight,” he squeezed you tighter.

A knock at the door interrupted your thoughts. Jimin retrieved the delivery. Never in a million years would you have thought that you’d be eating grilled cheese off of a silver platter. Jimin ate quietly beside you.

“I don’t know if this is too forward, but would you like to go on a date with me sometime?” he finally piped up.

“I literally can’t think of anyone that has seen me more intimately than you. Well, besides Jungkook. Of course, I’ll go on a date with you,” you leaned over to kiss Jimin’s nose.

“I guess the dating timeline is a little off since you’re spending the night here too,” Jimin laughed before stopping himself, “Wait, you are spending the night, right?”

“I have no idea where Chungha is, and she’s my ride,” you shrugged.

“You’re welcome to say here if you’d like,” he offered.

“I suppose I can clear my schedule for you,” you teased.

With a tummy full of grilled cheese, it didn’t take long for you to fall sound asleep in Jimin’s arms.

[9:24am from Chungha] BITCH! I heard rumors you slept with THE Park Jimin?! A different rumor said you slept with Jeon Jungkook??? Explain please???

[10:19am] What if I slept with both?

[10:20am from Chungha] NO WAY! Tell me all about it asap

“You good?” Jimin nuzzled your neck.

“Never better,” you smiled.

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awanderingdeal · 3 years

Text

Never too late - 6 - 7

A continuation of Leo and Regulus’ attempts (antics) to give Regulus the childhood he never had.

CW: Food talk

Please message me if you feel I need to add any content warnings

Rating: T

Previous and future chapters can be found on my masterlist

Credit for the sweater universe and the characters within it go to @lumosinlove. What a hero.

[This is currently unedited, and I'm not that happy with it, but also my writing mojo has decided it is vacay time so it is what is it]

6. Go to camp! You’ll make friends for life.

“Le! Did you order something?” Finn called, appearing in the doorway of the kitchen carrying a large box.

“Yeah, it’s the t-shirts,” Leo nodded, scraping the onions he’d just chopped into the pot. “Put it on the island for me please, babe.”

Finn looked down at the box, making a show of testing its weight before he looked back at Leo with wide eyes, “This seems like...a lot.”

After adjusting the temperature on the stovetop slightly, Leo washed his hands and made to inspect the delivery. “Err, yeah. Potts got wind of the plan and got all excited. Half the team are coming now,” he smiled sheepishly.

“Of course that happened,” Finn threw his head back with a laugh. “You might as well make it a thing.”

“A thing?” Leo repeated, throwing Finn a bemused look.

“Uhh huh,” Finn nodded.

“I’m gonna need more, babe,” Leo said, lifting one of the shirts out of the box and running the material through his fingers, humming a note of approval.

“More shirts? There’s like 50 here,” Finn frowned.

“No, love,” Leo laughed, shaking his head “More on what a ‘thing’ is.”

“Ohh, got you,” Finn chuckled, leaning against the counter. “I just meant, if half the team is coming anyway, you might as well invite the other half. Get the kids involved. You know, a thing.”

“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” Leo cocked his head.

“Well, I did go to Harvard,” Finn shrugged, rooting around in the fruit bowl to find a suitable pear. One that wasn't too big because Finn got bored of flavours quickly and could never finish them. One that wasn't too soft, because he hated the sticky mess on his hands. In the early days of their relationship, Leo had been excited for the adventures that were going to come with his boyfriends, but he hadn't been prepared for how much the little nuggets of information he would discover about them would mean to him. The satisfied smile that appeared on his Finn’s face as he procured the perfect one was infectious.

“Such big brain energy and yet he still can’t load a dishwasher,” Leo retorted, motioning to the stack of crockery that had been abandoned on the counter.

***

“I have no idea why I put up with you,” Regulus scowled, covering his eyes with his hands. “Okay, I promise I can’t see.”

“Because I’m your best friend, obviously,” Leo replied, making a stupid face to ensure that Regulus was, in fact, telling the truth, and began to lead him towards the back door.

“Obviously,” Regulus drawled. “Do I get a choice in this best friend business?”

“Well, you can try and resist it if you want, but I am incredibly loveable and inevitably you will have to succumb to my charm so you might as well just deal with it,” Leo said.

Regulus gave a resigned sigh, “I suppose as best friends go you aren’t too bad.”

Leo laughed, punching Regulus lightly in the shoulder before telling him to watch out for the step up into the back yard.

“I hope you know that if I break my neck, you will be paying for -” Regulus started.

“Wegggie!!” Harry shouted through a mouthful of graham crackers that James had been trying to buy his silence with.

“Is that?” Regulus pulled his hands from his face, his eyes going wide at the scene in front of him. Leo had to admit he may have gone a little overboard with the execution of the summer camp. What had started off as a few classic summer camp activities had turned into a carefully planned extravaganza. There was a climbing wall and he’d hired an events team that taught archery. Between the games of dodgeball and capture the flag, there would be time for tye-dying, friendship bracelet making, water balloons, tug of war and much more. Of course he hadn’t skimped on the food either: burgers, pizza, vegetable sticks, taco salad and hot dogs; there was a long buffet table laden with an endless supply.

Regulus pulled Leo back inside, tugging him further into the kitchen so that the crowd of Lion’s players and their families couldn’t see them. “Leo, this is too much.”

Leo looked at Regulus trying to read his friend, but the other boy was infuriatingly closed off. “Look, if you really don’t want this, I’ll go and tell everybody to enjoy themselves and we can get out of here.”

Regulus huffed out a breath, “It’s not that I don’t want to...it’s...it’s weird everybody being here. They are obviously just here because you asked them and I feel like an add on.”

“Okay, let me stop you right there,” Leo held up a hand. “You practically live at Kris’ house the amount of time you spend there with Avie. Celeste loves you like a seventh? eighth? child...honestly, I’ve lost track of how many children they’ve adopted at this point. You and Olli…”

“Alright, alright,” Regulus interrupted, “I get your point.” He cocked his head slightly, “Huh, I guess I didn’t realise how much I’ve settled here.”

“You need a second to process that or are you ready to go have some fun, because I think Harry might eat all the s’more supplies if we wait much longer.”

***

Leo leaned into Logan’s shoulder, smiling as he watched his boyfriend show Katie how to toast her s’more in the bonfire that crackled in front of them. He was admiring the softness of the French leaving Logan’s mouth, when Regulus plopped himself onto the large log they were sitting on, a sleeping Aveline clinging to him.

“Hey, Reggie,” Leo greeted, turning his soft smile to his friend. “You alright?”

“I’m good. I just wanted to say thank you,” Regulus nodded, shifting Aveline into a more comfortable position. Leo noticed that Regulus had added another 3 new friendship bracelets to his haul since he had last got a moment to catch up with him. “For all this. This day has been amazing. All of it. I’m not sure if summer camp would have been my thing really, but I never really got to do fun family garden parties either and this has been incredible. ”

Any reply that Leo was about to make was disturbed, by Aleandra dumping a water balloon over Marc’s head right in front of them, their loud screams causing Aveline to wake with a cry.

7.Decorate your room! Paint the walls, buy new bedding and pick some new accessories! Make it your space.

"Well," Leo set a pile of magazines on the bed with a soft thud. It was a little old-school, but he was adamant that it was easier to come up with a complete picture this way. "What do you like? You don't have to know exactly, but we can't go to Ikea without any idea." He let out a soft snort at the unintentional rhyme.

Regulus looked up at him, wide eyed, as if he'd just asked him to supply the solution for world peace. "I don't know," he shrugged, toying with the sleeve of his shirt.

"You must have some thoughts."

"I don't know," Regulus snapped. "I've never had to make these decisions before. There was no point liking anything, because our parents would do what they wanted either way." He spat the words, and despite how it made Leo feel he knew the anger was a sign of some sort of progress. Not even a few months ago, his friend had spoken about his childhood like it was just a different form of normal.

"I'm sorry," Leo apologised, climbing onto the bed next to Regulus.

"It's not your fault, is it," Regulus shrugged, tucking his knees to his chest.

"I shouldn't have pushed you for an answer," Leo clarified, moving the magazines out the way and dragging his laptop from the bedside table. “Look, how about we go through Pinterest and you can pick some pins you vibe with. I’m sure we’ll find a trend.”

“Yeah,” Regulus breathed, shuffling closer to Leo. “Yeah, okay.”

***

“What the hell, there’s more,” Regulus said in awe as they rounded another corner to be confronted by rows of rattan baskets.

“I think we’re nearly at the end.” Leo looked up from the map he was trying to follow, almost stumbling over the cart when Regulus came to a sudden halt.

“These are nice,” Regulus mused, picking up a walnut coloured weaved basket. “My towels will look nice in these.”

“I’m sure they would,” Leo chuckled. He shouldn’t have been so surprised by how quickly Regulus had gained an affinity for interior design considering how he had taken to honing his clothing style with such ease.

“Oh! But these are nice too.” Regulus turned to show Leo another basket, that was identical in every way except for being perhaps a shade lighter.

Leo groaned. They had been in the store for over 3 hours and the cart was overflowing. His friend was adamant he was going to pay his own way and considering the short amount of time he had played for Slytherin along with the legal fees to end his contract early, the man was having to learn to budget to be able to afford college. Leo had suggested that doing a couple of interviews would leave him with a fair buffer, but Regulus had wanted to put as much space between hockey and his new life as possible. Leo was supportive, but Regulus seemed to be having trouble getting out the habit of buying everything he wanted.

“Right, pick one and then close your eyes. We need to get out of here.”

***

“Up a little on the left,” Leo instructed, shaking his head as Regulus lifted the left side of the photo frame considerably. “No, not that much.”

“That’ll do.”

“It’s not straight!”

“Neither are you and you don’t see us complaining,” Regulus huffed as he adjusted the frame again.

“You’re just jealous,” Leo threw one of Regulus’ new cushions across the room, hitting him squarely in the back of the head.

“Eww,” Regulus deadpanned. “And please do not throw my things,” he glared, hugging the cushion to his chest.

Leo was about to make a comment back, but he was interrupted by Sirius clearing his throat in the doorway.

“Got you a present,” Sirius said, holding out a large bag.

“Sirius.” Regulus crossed his arms over his chest, his face set into a disapproving stare. “I told you -”

“Think of it as an early birthday present,” Sirius interrupted.

“My birthday is not for another 4 months.”

“Just take it. I promise I’ll let you do this the way you want, but you’ve got to let me buy you things every now and then too. That’s what big brothers do.”

Regulus sighed, crossing the room to take the bag from Sirius. “Thanks,” he muttered, the corners of his mouth lifting despite his best efforts. The smile spread further as he laid the mustard coloured herringbone throw he’d been salivating over in the small boutique they’d visited a few days prior.

“You’re welcome,” Sirius nodded. “Looks good in here, by the way. We’ll have to find you an apartment in New York that will be big enough to fit it all in.” he commented, walking away as he finished his sentence.

“I’m paying for the apartment!” Regulus called after him. Leo barked a laugh as Regulus ranted about stubborn humans on NHL wages. Regulus poked a finger at him. “You can be quiet. I know this was your doing.”

#regulus black #leo knut #Sweater weather #Lumos in love #Rating: T #CW: Food talk

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itsblissfuloblivion · 4 years

Text

Torch - Chapter 7: March

we’re back! and we love this chapter so so much because it’s fluffy and aaaaah, we’re getting THERE, aren’t we, folks!

read at leisure on Ao3 and FFnet

After Ron’s dung heap of a birthday, Harry really is inclined to feel sorry for his best mate and definitely to be grateful he’s not dead - in that way he’ll probably never actually say without a few belts of firewhiskey and maybe a bit of Veritaserum. And not because of any macho preening idiocy but just because Harry’s not particularly a fan of sharing feelings with anyone . If he can blame the Dursleys for anything…

It’s all beside the point though - Ron’s his stupid best mate and he’s glad he’s still alive to fill the role but the whole post-poisoning drama is driving Harry batty. First, the decrease in Ron in Harry’s daily life has been replaced by the obnoxia of McLaggen’s repeated and increasingly detailed pleas, arguments, and demands to take his ‘rightful’ place as Gryffindor’s Keeper. Which is grating enough without ‘Lav-Lav’ attempting to supplement her boyfriend’s usual emotional support with Harry’s admittedly reluctant and bare responses.

He’d maybe be willing to make an attempt at being moderately helpful or at least not rude , but between the conflicting stresses of classes, Quidditch, lessons with Dumbledore, and figuring out whatever the hell Malfoy’s up to - Harry’s patience is stretched quite thin.

Not only is everyone creating drama that really all comes back down to romance in one way or another, but Harry’s life remains woefully intense with none of the snogging related benefits. And his increasingly creative subconscious is a double edged sword in all of this - waking up in the aftermath is simultaneously disappointing and terrifying.

Who knows if he’s a sleep talker and who knows if Dean’s suddenly a light sleeper. One of these days he’s going to wake up with Dean and Seamus standing over him ready to beat Voldemort to offing him.

Which all leads to Harry stalking through the halls not unlike a certain former Potions Master and the comparison only puts Harry in a worse mood.

On one such stalk through the castle, he finds himself no longer alone in his brooding when Ginny slips up next to him as he breaches the entry hall and reaches the sunlit grounds.

She nudges him with her elbow and tilts her head back to drink in the warm afternoon. “So mysterious and brooding lately - half of Hogwarts thinks you’re secretly in love with Ron and the other half doesn’t give a shit who you fancy because they want to snog you ‘til their lips fall off.”

Harry grunts in response.

“That’s no way to respond to my update - mysterious only covers so much arsehole activity.”

Ginny comes to a halt as they reach the bank of the Great Lake and grips his arm. “What the - when are you going to stop acting like a jerk?”

Scowling, Harry drops into the swaying grasses and rips up a couple of handfuls by the roots. “Nobody’s making you hang about.”

“Your entire life is a distress signal at the mo’ Harry - I wouldn’t be a good friend if I let you keep acting like a prat.”

“So I’m a prat now - you’re really tops at giving a pep talk, Ginny.”

Ginny’s satchel falls to the ground with a thud and she follows after, lying down in the grass at Harry’s side. He’s a bit thrown, honestly, because he really is acting like a prat, now that she mentions it. And though he doesn’t quite want to admit it aloud yet, Ginny’s well within her rights to storm off and have a brooding session of her own.

Instead, she sighs and tucks her arms beneath her head. “I’ve learned your interest is best garnered with a few choice swipes at your carefully crafted view of yourself.”

Blowing out a deep breath, Harry mimics Ginny’s action and drops back to the grass, spring and freshness sharpening the air around him. It feels safe, being hidden away like this, and he finds the words spilling from his lips before he can stop or even consider the results.

“Everything’s just a bit shit lately. Not to make everything about me,” Harry pauses to shove Ginny when she snorts, “But between Ron almost dying in front of me and Lavender torturing me for information and Cormac being a cocky ass - ”

“Don’t get me started on that idiot,” Ginny mutters.

“And plus - well, I’m me.”

“So you must have some super secret something or other brewing alongside all this teen angst.”

“Of course.”

Harry pushes his glasses up onto his forehead and leaves his forearm draped over his eyes. “Plus when you’ve got your own internal frustration piling up about everything including fancying - ”

And right about there, his self-preservation instincts kick back in and he realizes he almost just moaned to Ginny about the trouble of fancying her secretly and as far as he knows about three years too late for some requited feelings.

Oh hell. Just add it to his angst pile of life.

It’s quiet for a beat or two between them as Harry’s sentence dies unfinished and Ginny probably contemplates dumping him in the Lake so the squid can end him once and for all. But when she does break the silence it’s with a low, steady voice. That voice he’s come to associate with so many feelings that sound like conflicts but just make up the mosaic that is Ginny Weasley. She’s a comfort, a friend, a tease, cheeky, kind, loyal, braver than most - and currently offering some sort of response he’s missed almost entirely.

“ - and anyway, I know it feels like you’re the only one with all these mixed up parts of your life crashing down around you,” her pinky brushes the side of his hand, “And you certainly have more drama than most - especially with Ron and Hermione for best mates - but you’re not weird or strange or broken. I think. Well, Mum says it’s just part of growing up.”

Harry hums. “You think she’s right?”

“Who would question Molly Weasley?”

“I’m the Boy Who Lived,” Harry chuckles.

“Not for long if you back talk Mum.”

____

Harry slumps into the 6th Year Boys’ Dorm and falls back against the door with a sigh which turns from completely dejected to mostly dejected and slightly relieved. “All alone?”

Ron grunts. “Aye - good thing. I’m still recovering.”

“My headache is definitely going to cut my Dean and Seamus clucking session patience,” Harry agrees as he deposits his things in his trunk. It’s a bit of a messy clean up but once the top drops down it’s out of sight and he honestly can’t summon up the motivation to give a rat’s arse. Especially with lingering daydreams of Ginny fawning over his prone body, wondering aloud why she chose Dean and let Harry nearly die without snogging him to death. And instead leaving him to the cold, cruel death by bludger.

When Harry emerges from daydream take two, Ron’s looking at him half expectant, half confused, and Harry decides to milk the head injury as long as possible. He’s paying the price with a splitting headache at the base of his skull so at this point excuses are earned. “Sorry mate, say it again? Brain’s still a bit wobbly.”

“Ah, hell with it. I dunno if I can take one more gossipy discussion of who’s dating who and whether they’re invested and if it’s long term and whatever other shit manages to come up.”

“At least you could fake sleeping through Lav Lav without Pomfrey thinking you’ve got narcolepsy.”

Ron snorts and pushes up on his elbows. “She’s a persistent thing, eh?”

Harry’s on a roll now and he can’t quite stop himself before his grumbles continue. “And then Dean can’t seem to decide between bragging like an asshole and whining like a little baby because Ginny doesn’t powder his bum.”

“She better not be anywhere near his bum,” Ron grunts, “Care for a game of chess? I could use a good violent outlet.”

Before Harry answers, Ron’s already crawling to the foot of his bed and rustling around for his beat up chess board. Soon enough he’s placing the chipped pieces on the squares while Harry lingers in the doorway. “Can I put on pajamas first?”

“Slip into something comfortable for me, Potter,” Ron says with a teasing wink. Harry grabs a pillow and tosses it in his face.

“Stuff it.”

“You send me,” Ron moans dramatically, and when Harry slams the loo door behind him, Ron calls, “And bring something for a snack before you come over here.”

“Eff off, Ron.”

“I’m peckish and we all know you hoard food.”

When Harry reemerges from the bathroom he shoves his robes in with the rest of his dirty laundry and grabs a few handfuls of candy from his apparently not-so-secret stash. “What’s your poison.”

“Too bloody soon,” Ron laughs, snatching a licorice wand, “So Dean and Ginny? Anything while I was out of it?”

“She’ll be ticked at me if I act informant on her,” Harry says, gesturing one of his pawns forward.

Ron orders his pawn two spaces ahead and sighs, “Since when does she rank over best mate privileges?”

“I dunno - probably since I saw her bat bogey hex live and in person.”

“Baby.”

____

Harry’s heart nearly jumps out of its cage when he sneakily walks out of the Room of Requirement and is about to turn the first corner.

“Ginny!” He mostly blurts out, hand over his heart and heaving. He surely wasn’t expecting to bump into anyone, let alone a lone, wandering Ginny Weasley.

She looks just as surprised, but mostly amused, a trait evident on all Weasleys. Even Percy on his better days.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. That bludger to the head must’ve done things to you, eh, Harry?”

Yes, but the grin on your face does a lot more and entirely different things to me, Harry’d like to say but doesn’t. Impromptu snogging in the corridors is frowned upon, he remembers with a slight cringe. Nothing in the world that can erase the memory of Ron’s red, angry face from his mind, though.

“I was only -”

But he stops mid-sentence. Can he tell her? Should he tell her about the cabinet and Malfoy and Snape? Ginny would never be flippant about it, right? Or would she?

To his great surprise, her cheeks start to redden all the way up to her forehead, her deep brown eyes suddenly averting his gaze.

“Did I - erm, did I interrupt...anything?” Ginny stammers, teeth sinking into her bottom lip.

“What?” Harry’s gaze blurs out for a moment before something akin to horror washes over him. “No, no, no! Nothing like that! It’s - erm, it’s Dumbledore, really. New task from Dumbledore, yeah. That’s right, a new and insanely difficult new task from Dumbledore that I cannot and will not speak about.”

Harry finds himself panting at the end of his little speech, cold sweat dripping from his temples to his armpits as Ginny stares at him and blinks before that warm, hearty laughter erupts from her throat and she doubles over. On his part, well, Harry’s never wanted anything more than to simply disappear from the face of the earth. Poof , and all his troubles would go away.

“Didn’t mean to laugh,” she apologises, fingers wiping small tears from under her eyelids.

“No, no, by all means knock yourself out.”

Harry really tries to sound dignified. He pushes his round specs back onto his nose, combs his wild hair with one hand and tugs at the creases in his robe with the other, suddenly very much self-aware.

“Oh, wow. That was something,” Ginny finally seems to recover, her back leaning against the cold stone wall. “Honestly, Harry, if you were there alone or with someone -”

Please don’t say something even remotely...suggesting.

“ - doing whatever everyone is doing, it’s completely alright, really. Despite what Ron was preaching before he turned into a leech and became perpetually glued to Lavender’s lips,” she finishes her sentence with a bit of a frown and Harry feels like he’s about to faint.

The last thing he wants is for Ginny to think he’s fooling around with someone around the castle. Or even worse, that he’s - erm, doing it to himself and going to such great lengths to do so that he hides behind magic doors instead of casting Muffliato in the middle of the night like any other sane teenager.

“Thanks for the advice, Ginny, but it’s really not necessary.”

“Oh. Alright, then.”

She looks a bit forlorn and Harry realises he must have been a prat again.

“I don’t have anybody to snog in secret, I mean,” he quickly amends. Damn, that crease between her eyebrows truly throws him into guilt-trips like nothing else, eh?

Ginny’s lips stretch into a small smile, her eyes a little sheepish as she searches for his own. “You’re not missing out on much, promise.”

“I take it Dean isn’t as good as he brags, then?”

“He what ?”

“What’s said in the boys’ dorm must stay in the boys’ dorm.”

“Harry James Potter, you tell me what that git is saying about me to you lot right now, or -”

“Or?”

“Or I’ll tell Romilda Vane you confessed your love for her to me.”

“Ooh, that’s beneath the belt, Gin. Where’s the sportswoman in you?”

“I put her on hold. She’s not great with interrogation tactics.”

Ginny looks entirely too smug for her own good because Harry feels like leaning in and kissing her silly. In fact, at one point in their passionate banter they kind of, sort of inched closer to each other - otherwise, Harry has no idea how to explain the fact that she’s so close to him he can taste the sweetness of her breath.

They both glare at each other until one of them gives in and into laughter, the echo of their combined mirth reverberating throughout the corridors. But they don’t care, not much and not right now.

Right now, they’re two teenagers having fun, enjoying each other’s company. Right now, they’re Harry and Ginny being normal and being friends.

Harry feels warm inside and smiles widely. Without knowing, without even realising, Ginny’s crept into his heart little by little until she’s come to mean more to him than he could ever find words to describe. He’s come to rely on her and that’s a lot to him.

“Honestly, Gin, if Dean’s giving you any trouble, just tell me and I promise I’ll take care of it,” Harry grins as they jump down the stairs two by two to the Great Hall.

“That’s very chivalrous of you, Harry.”

He can feel her roll her eyes though her tone stays amused.

“I won’t even tell Ron, promise.”

“You won’t have to. If anyone’s dumb enough to play me dirty, I’ll make sure everyone from the First Years to Moaning Myrtle finds out,” Ginny winks and Harry nearly misses a step.

“That mostly renders your six brothers plus me useless, though,” he laughs, now more careful with the stairs. No need breaking his neck again when he’s only recently been dismissed from the hospital.

“Oh, no. Did mean ol’ Ginny threaten your masculinity?” She pouts as her finger jabs into his chest and Harry laughs.

“You have to turn everything into a competition, eh?”

“Absolutely. Also, last one at the dinner table is a smelly loser!” Ginny sticks out her tongue and darts away so fast Harry’s left blinking in her wake.

A great, big grin nestles on his face and Harry shakes his head before he pelts right after her, taking the steps four at a time and laughing as she splutters like an angry cat when he dashes ahead of her. He’s still the fastest runner and he’ll make sure that never changes. Seeing her slightly annoyed, mostly amused face, that competition loving flame in her eyes and that blazing, scorching look on her face - that alone gives Harry enough pleasure and charges him with enough courage he honestly feels like he can conquer death.

____

Harry hopes the absolute best for his two best mates when he waves them goodbye to their Apparition lesson in Hogsmeade because, who knows, maybe they can really hold in the snappy banter and use their lips for something that’d shut them up for awhile once they actually start doing it. And also cut that sexual tension that’s been growing over the years right down to nil, Harry likes to tell himself.

Bumping into Tonks doesn’t help him either but merely charges him with renewed guilt. It’s hard enough waking up and realising there’s no Sirius and that there never will be, but to actually see people grieving...He knows he’s the only one to blame.

Not to mention his fourth lesson with Dumbledore and the brand new incursion into the life and times of Tom Riddle. Somehow it doesn’t get easier, no matter how many times he goes back into Riddle’s past, no matter how hard he tries to tell himself that if he’d only managed to understand him…

Harry feels something disgusting crawling underneath his skin after those lessons and he’s almost sure it’s not only in his head.

And Malfoy. And the Room of Requirement.

And the Prince teaching him increasingly dangerous spells (even though he’d never admit he considers them dangerous for fear that Hermione might hear and go on her little ‘told you so’ routine).

So, just like a perfect cycle, Harry finds himself finishing the first month of Spring precisely like he started it: drowning in a right well of angst and being broody. Right until a fuming Ginny slams the door to his compartment, that is.

“What’s got your pants in a twist?” Harry raises one eyebrow as his eyes follow Ginny from behind round specs. She sways for a moment in the middle of the compartment, leaning into the movements of the fast running train, before she decides to plop down, frowning and pouting opposite him.

Ginny simply grunts in response and Harry knows it’d be useless to push her. She’ll tell him when she’s ready anyway and he’s got a nasty feeling it’s got to do with Dean.

Maybe it isn’t the best option to find out right now - he might stroll into Dean’s compartment and casually strangle him if indeed it was him who upset her, Harry privately reckons.

“You never told me how a toaster works,” Ginny says after a beat, her eyes glued to the green outside the window. “Care to explain now?”

Harry poorly muffles a chuckle with a fake coughing fit and dives right into explaining the intricacies of obtaining fresh toast the Muggle way. Fortunately, it keeps them occupied for more than he’d hoped and it’s really nice talking to her like that.

But when her questions start spiralling towards more technical stuff than Harry’s ever known or even dreamed of knowing, he simply starts making things up, one more ridiculously fantastic than the other. Obviously, Ginny’s no fool as her aha s and oh really s sound dryer and dryer.

At least they share a good laugh when Ron and Hermione return from their Prefect duties and Ron, being his father’s son, is suddenly gullible enough to believe there are actual little people hiding inside a TV playing the same movie over and over again “like actors in a play.”

The compartment shakes with their laughter as the train rolls out of Scotland and Harry feels so much lighter, almost happy sitting there with the four people he cares most about in the world.

Quite frankly, Easter at the Burrow sounds pretty good to Harry now and, if he’s being entirely honest, he can already smell Mrs Weasley’s treacle tart and shepherd's pie warm and waiting for them on the old wooden table.

#itsblissfuloblivion writes #torch #torch chapter 7 #hbp fic #hinny #harry x ginny #harry potter #ginny weasley #hints of romione #we're getting there!!#fab collab #itsblissfuloblivion #gryffindormischief #fightfortherightsofhouseelves

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chenle-dressed-in-black · 4 years

Text

baldrs, neos, and kangs~ pt.1

NCT mafia au with my own oc named Kang Sooyoung, who is a young girl born into one of the coldest mafias of them all. She’s trying to live on her own and cut ties with her family, but with everyone either looking out for her or waiting to kill her, it’s a lot harder than it sounds.

relevant people in this story who will appear a lot (every nct member appears at some point): johnny suh, dong sicheng, nakamoto yuta, and kim doyoung

warnings: language

word count: 1.6k

m.list

series m.list

Sooyoung picks up her phone each time it rings, which is admittedly a bad habit she should start working on. “Hello?”

Her cousin, Gwen, mouths a question at her. Who is it? She’s sprawled across her purple velvet, four-poster bed. Her bare feet hang off the side of the bed lazily. She looks like she doesn’t have a care in the world, so nothing new there.

“Are you even home?” It’s Sicheng, but Sooyoung should’ve expected that. “You’re not, are you?”

He sounds irritated, which puzzles her. Gwen makes a face at her across the room. Sooyoung’s confused silence is enough to propel Sicheng into an exasperated explanation. “We’re going to the new Chinese restaurant tonight. You promised we could.”

“Oh.” She feels like shit. Gwen shakes her head and theatrically puts her hands on her forehead in feigned disapproval, but not surprise. Her thick, wavy hair doesn’t move with the gesture. “I completely—”

“You forgot.” Sicheng steals the words right out of her mouth flatly. “You’re with your cousin, who’s having an emotional breakdown, so it completely slipped your mind. You’re really sorry, but we can do it another night next week.”

Sooyoung frowns, but she’s hopeful. “We can?”

“No,” he deadpans. “I’m going home next week like I do every year the first week of spring.”

Gwen gracefully stands up, walking over to her cousin, who’s standing in the middle of the room on a plush fake-animal rug. Holding out her hand for the phone, she waits until a reluctant Sooyoung gives it over. Gwen takes a deep breath. “It’s not Sooyoung’s fault my boyfriend dumped me, Sicheng,” she says in a perfectly calm, sultry voice. “You know she’ll make it up to you.”

There’s a huff. “I know you’re family, but I don’t understand why Sooyoung is the one who has to solve all of your problems.”

“I’ll let that slide, lover boy.” Sooyoung’s eyes goes wide at that comment, but Gwen just shrugs her off. “I’m giving the phone back to the nice Kang now.”

Sooyoung claws at the phone, shoving it back up to her ear. “I promise we’ll find another time. I’m not blowing you off.”

“Okay.” He’s clearly impartial at best and deeply upset at the worst. “Whatever you say. Gwendolyn should learn how to solve problems herself. She’s supposed to be the one who looks after you.”

Sicheng is gone before she can say anything. Sooyoung tosses the phone onto a plush chair, flopping down onto her cousin’s bed. She screams into the blanket. This marks the third time she has postponed the restaurant outing with him. Neither time before was intentional. The first time, Gwen came down with the stomach flu while her parents were off doing a black-market bypass surgery in Indonesia, so there was no one else but Sooyoung to take care of her. When Sicheng heard, he offered to bring soup and stay to help, but Gwen said she would rather die than let that boy see her with sweat matting her long black waves to her forehead and laugh at her with his dyed hair and evil eyes.

They don’t get along well. Obviously. Anyway, the excuse Gwen used to keep Sooyoung in the clear this time was the same as last time. Except she was the one who dumped her terrible boyfriend. That didn’t stop her from sobbing into Sooyoung’s shoulder all night, though.

Now, the third time around, Gwen’s not-so-ex-boyfriend cut ties with her again. Trouble and bad consequences are stray dogs she shouldn’t have fed. They follow her everywhere. Sooyoung was honestly not completely sure what was happening between Gwen and Yuta. She dumped him, but then he showed up at her apartment in sobs and begged for one more chance. She agreed, of course. Gwen’s parents reached out to Sooyoung immediately, urging her to convince their reckless daughter to leave that troublesome Neo boy once and for all. So, Yuta ended things with her again, apparently. She isn’t sure how Gwen and Yuta can even keep up.

It’s also Wednesday, which means that Sooyoung cannot go to her apartment. Sicheng knows everything about her, but not this. “No wonder he hates me,” says Gwen wistfully. “I’d hate me to if I were him. Me and my relationship problems are such a cock-blocker.”

“He was really upset.” Sooyoung sighs. “I feel bad.”

“Of course he’s upset. The love of his life keeps ditching him for her rash cousin. And Sicheng has to spend his week being told he’s a coward for not killing more people.”

“I wish you wouldn’t make a joke out of his feelings. It’s really not fair,” replies Sooyoung. “I’m not what most people would call , ‘emotionally available.’”

Gwen snaps her fingers. “But you should be, because we both know that Johnny left to go all Neo City. He’s not coming back, sweetie. I love you, but it’s the truth.”

“We don’t know if that’s what happened,” she says weakly, because she knows that is exactly what happened.

“You need to let him go.” Gwen puts a gentle hand on Sooyoung’s shaking shoulder. “The way Sicheng has. Johnny’s ignoring the most wonderful girl he’ll ever know and ditching the most annoying best friend he ever had. I’ll tell you what’s going on: Johnny Suh is an asshole.”

While she makes self-destructive choices in her own personal life, she is extremely gifted at advising others. Right now, Sooyoung is being reprobated by the offender. “You’re one to talk about letting go.”

Gwen drops her brown hand, returning it to her side as her expression goes cold. “At least I’m not delusional.” She’s staring hard at her cousin, black eyes afire. “I’m trying to help, but you wanna deflect everything to me.”

“Maybe someone should!” Sooyoung, who never yells, is screaming at the top of her lungs. “All you do is tell me to get over Johnny, but you’re still sleeping with Yuta!”

“If you don’t truly let him go soon,” says Gwen slowly, “I fear how much he will hurt you, in the end. Look what he’s done to you already. I can’t even blame him for this anymore; it’s just you.”

The way she stays so collected after being insulted makes Sooyoung want to scream even louder. Does nothing bother you? That’s what she wishes she could yell, but suddenly she feels afraid that she won’t be able to control whatever comes out of her mouth if it opens again. She’s taken aback by herself. Before she can think once about it, Sooyoung is spinning on her heels and running out of the apartment.

Once she is gone, Gwendolyn stands in the middle of her bedroom for a long time without moving an inch. She’s stunned, frankly. That didn’t seem like Sooyoung at all. If anything, the person she who just screamed at her reminds her of Hyeyoung. And, for god’s sake, that is not a good thing. A buzzing sound yanks her out of her thoughts, sending her over to the nightstand. Her eyes take over her face. It’s Hyeyoung who’s calling her, which only has one explanation: somebody died.

“What happened?”

But Gwen isn’t the one who asks, which worries her more, for some reason. She’s already looking for shoes. “What are you talking about?”

“She’s not homeless, is she?” Hyeyoung inquires manically. “No way, because you’d let her stay with you. So what’s going on?”

Having secured a pair of combat boots, Gwen is tearing through her messy walk-in in search of her favorite leather coat. “That’s a great question. Here’s another one: why the hell did you call me?”

“I miss you, too, cousin.”

Gwen’s heading for the door now. “Answer the question.”

“Sooyoung passed out in the middle of the street.” There’s accusation in her voice that Gwen doesn’t like one bit. “It looked like she was having a hard night and I’m betting you know why.”

“Where did you take her?” asks a jogging Gwen. “. . . Unless you left her there.”

“Of course I didn’t!” cries Hyeyoung. “I brought her home, obviously.”

As she is about to reach a taxi, she cannot resist. “You mean your parents’ house?”

“Where else? That’s Sooyoung’s home! You need to watch out before—”

With a carefree laugh, Gwen says, “Don’t threaten me, darling.”

She hangs up before Hyeyoung can scream into the phone like a death-metal vocalist. Someone is calling her name behind her; she spins. “Sicheng?”

He stops running once he’s caught up to her. “I need to talk to Sooyoung.”

The taxi has already been taken by another passenger and it speeds by. Gwen’s heading toward another with him on her tail. “She’s not here.”

“Was she lying earlier?” he asks, his nose wrinkling in confusion. “But I heard your voice on the phone.”

And he trusts Sooyoung, but Sicheng doesn’t need to speak for either of them to know that. “We got into a fight and she left.”

“Is she at her apartment? I really need to see her.”

Gwen is unphased by his urgency, since she matches it. “She’s at my aunt and uncle’s. Apparently she fainted in the street. I’m going to see her right now; this is all my fault.”

Sicheng, who does not commonly pass up a free opportunity to make a jab at the contentious girl, only asks: “Can I come with you?”

Opening the backseat of a taxi, Gwen shrugs. “I can’t stop you.” She scoots over to make room for him. After a few minutes, she clears her throat. “I need you to promise me something, though.”

Sicheng nods for her to continue.

“As soon as we know she’s okay, you have to help me get her out of there. Hopefully before she wakes up; Sooyoung is gonna freak the fuck out if she sees her family. I don’t know how much she’s told you about what happened—”

“Sooyoung didn’t tell me anything about why she left.”

“Trust me on this,” Gwen pleads. “The faster she’s out, the better.”

“Okay,” he declares, meeting her eyes. “I’ll help you.”

series m.list

#nct #nct mafia #nct au #nct mafia au #dong sicheng #johnny suh #kpop #kpop au #kpop mafia au #oc #kpop oc #kpop mafia oc

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zodiyack · 4 years

Text

Billy Hargrove VS The World

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x reader Scott Pilgrim Vs The World AU (See note!)

Warnings: 7 exes that would love to kill Billy, violence, swearing, soft!Billy, I guess two sexual references since it’s Billy we’re talking about, smut mention but no smut, making out, SPOLIERS!, and cheesy pirate Patel

Words: 4947

Note: This is a Scott Pilgrim Vs The World AU because I love that movie and it would be interesting to write an AU involving that. Also this is a multiple part story due to all 7 exes and the battles. One ex per post! (maybe) I’m sorry for the unoriginal title lmao

By the way, yes. There is dialogue from the movie. That is in and going to be in this miniseries. As I said, I love this movie and I think most of the dialogue was funny, plus it is semi important to the story. And the exes are the same people from the movie. Sorry if you don’t like that.

o/o/y/f/c = One of Your Favorite Color(s)

Bold = Words From The Movie (that appear on the screen, if you’ve watched it, then you know what I’m talking about)

Italics with apostrophes = Billy’s thoughts (and Matthew’s thoughts but only once)

Italic = Used for a few different things, mainly enthusiasm/emphasis on words

Masterlist | Stranger Things Masterlist

link to the soundtrack on youtube ‘cause why not (a few will be in here I guess)

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5 and 6. Part 7.

“Look.”

Tommy pointed to the new girl. Finally, some fresh meat for Billy. Or Tommy, whichever one thought of her first. Billy finally grew bored of the girls at school, he waited for one that was newer. Fresher. Cuter.

There she was. Her unnatural o/o/y/f/c hair sat on her shoulders. Roller-blades on her feet, her torso clothed in a shirt covered with a hoodie and another jacket. Her bag hung by her side, headphone strings leaving it and connecting to the headphones on her head. She didn’t look like most girls. Billy had seen most of them, and none had looked as breathtaking nor interesting as her. Before either teens could walk over to her, a boy around their age walked in front of them. She was gone when he moved.

“Weird...”

“I hear she’ll be at Tina’s party tonight.” Carol noticed the boy’s fascination with the new kid, sharing it. “We should go, it’ll give you the chance to learn more about her, Billy.”

“We’ll see.” He brushed off his thoughts about the odd girl, her choice of hair color and clothing, and her headphones that caused her mental absence from the world. Billy turned and walked away, continuing with the rest of his day.

. . .

Billy was stopped by Tina. She asked him how the party was going and if he needed anything.

“Hey Tina, you know everyone, right?”

“Yeah. Pretty much.” She let out a small laugh. Billy didn’t know whether it was fake or genuine.

“Do you know this one girl with hair...” He grabbed a pen the same color as the new girl’s hair color, quickly drawing a horrible doodle of the girl’s hair. “Like this?”

“Yes, that’s Y/n L/n.” Tina took a sip of her drink, “Someone said she was gonna be here tonight actually.”

Billy’s hand that held the drawing went down quickly, his head snapping to the side and his eyes searching for Y/n. “What?”

“Oh Billy, you got the hots for her or something? I’ve gotta tell you though, I hear she’s a little hardcore-” Tina had looked down mid-sentence and when she looked back up Billy was gone. She turned her head with confusion.

Meanwhile, Billy was now walking through the crowd in search of his unique looking crush. His eyes and head shifted when he couldn’t see her, switching from left and right with each step he took. He didn’t blink, afraid that he’d miss her if he did. After many turns of his head and movements of his eyes, he finally spotted her. His hand clenched the red solo cup, squeezing it until it was crumpled and disfigured.

He slid along the wall, stopping when his body was right next to hers. He faced her, his body turned slightly so that she knew she had his full attention.

“Hey, what’s up?”

She turned her head to him for a second, facing forwards again and replying with, “Nothing.” before taking a sip from her cup.

“Hey you know swimming?”

“I know of it.” She took another sip, still not facing him.

He rambled on about the breast stroke and how he could teach her. Billy took notice of her silence, looking up to see that she was facing him with no emotion visible.

“That’s amazing.” Her reply was just as her face was; emotionless and dull.

“Uhm...” He looked down. No girl could make Billy nervous. By now, he’d have them a blushing mess, begging for him to do whatever he’d like. So now that the new girl, on the first day she’d ever met him, just somehow managed to make him regret every word he said, he thought he’d gone soft. “Am I dreaming?” Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion and another emotion Billy couldn’t quite think of. However, it was enough to make him regret speaking once more. “I’ll leave you alone forever now...”

“Thanks.”

And Then

He Stalked Her

Until She

Left

The Party

“Dude!”

He grabbed Tommy’s shoulder, spinning him around.

“What?”

“She’s totally real!”

“Who?”

“Y/n L/n.” His gaze went elsewhere. Billy then speeded off to find Tina. “Dude!” She made a face at Billy’s sudden approach, but let him speak. “What do you know about Y/n L/n?”

“All I know is that she’s (ethnicity).”

His sudden dramatic and demanding of knowledge persona swapped to dreamy, just as it had when he said her name to Tommy. “(ethnicity)...”

“Why don’t you go talk to Sandra and Monique, they know more about her.” Tina’s head nodded to two blond women laughing in a doorway. Billy rushed to them.

“Lady-dudes. What do you know about Y/n L/n?”

Sandra spoke up first, “I heard she has a boyfriend.” Monique confirmed her knowledge, “Mhm, yes. Left him back in New York.”

Billy felt a bit annoyed, but still wanted to know more. “Yeah yeah yeah...What else?”

He asked other people, earning all kinds of different responses.

“I heard she kicks all kinds of ass.”

“She’s on...another level!”

“She has men dying at her feet!”

“She’s got some battle scars dude.”

“What about Y/n L/n?!” Robin asked, semi full of annoyance for her old friend.

“You know her? Tell me now.”

“She just moved here, got a job at the mall, comes into my work.”

“Does she really?” His tone was dreamy again.

A girl put her arm around Robin, “didn’t you say she just broke up with someone?”

“Did she really?”

“They had uh...huge fight or whatever?”

“Did they really?”

Robin slapped the other girl’s arm off of her. “Yes! But I didn’t want Billy to know that, Kate!”

“Yeah...I don’t know what it is about that girl-”

“Billy, I forbid you from hitting on Y/n! Even if you haven’t had a real girlfriend in over a year or whatever.”

Billy’s daydreaming halted to a stop. He let out a scoff and turned away.

“Hey, woah woah woah, my man Billy’s got all kinds of girls...he’s totally getting with an older girl sometime, right?” Tommy couldn’t keep his big mouth shut, as usual.

“Getting with an older girl or multiple girls is not having a real girlfriend.”

“She’s got a point.” Kate wrapped her arm around Robin again.

“I thought you guys weren’t friends anymore?”

Robin slapped away Kate again. “I don’t want you scaring off one of my old friends now that she’s in town, Billy. We all know you’re a lady-killer-wannabe-jerky-jerk.”

“That’s completely untrue.”

“That time with Lisa?”

“That was a misunderstanding.”

“That time with Holly?”

“That wasn’t what it looked like.”

“That time you dumped Faith for-”

“Okay me and Faith are all good now, right?” He turned to where the girl Robin had mentioned stood. Her cup was in her hands and her face was blank with wide eyes. She looked traumatized. Billy turned back to Robin.

“Whatever! Y/n’s just out of your league, let’s just leave it at that. Besides, I’m not even sure she had a big break up. She keeps mentioning some guy named Gideon.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what it is about that girl-”

“FORGET IT BILLY!”

. . .

“What’s this?”

“I don’t know, it’s a letter for you dumbass. Read it.”

Billy grunted and took the letter from his father, tearing it open and allowing his eyes to scan the page slowly. He mumbled the words as he read them. It was only Max and him in the room, so it couldn’t do much harm. “Dear Mr. Hargrove, it has come to my attention that we will be fighting soon. My name is Matthew Patel and blah blah blah blah...fair warning, mono e mono, 7 evil blah blah... This is... This is... This is-”

Max grew annoyed with her older brother. “What?!?”

“This is borrrinnnggg. Get rid of thisss.” He threw the letter into the recycling and walked up the stairs to his room. “Hey Max?” For once, he didn’t care about being an ass to the redheaded girl. He had a plan, and he needed her as an excuse to leave the house.

“What is it?”

“Wanna go to the mall?”

“For real?” Of course, he couldn’t tell her. “Let me get my wallet and I’ll meet you in the car!”

. . .

“Hello. Robin tells me you ordered this ice cream but left before she could give it to you, so here.” The ice cream that she handed him was indeed abandoned when he heard Steve say that Y/n was in the mall and would be hanging around Scoops soon. “You gonna take it? Ooor-”

“Hi, I was thinking about asking you out but then I realized how stupid that would be...so do you wanna go out sometime?”

“Um no, that’s okay. You can just pay for this, alright?”

“You don’t remember me, do you? We met at the party the other day.”

“Were you the swim guy?”

“Nooooooooo, not even. That was some total ass...I was the...other guy.”

“You know you need to take this and pay for it?”

“But if I do, you’ll leave.”

“Yeah. It’s how it works.”

“Okay well maybe, do you wanna hang out sometime? Get to know each other? You’re the new kid on the block...right, I’ve lived here...for a while so there are reasons...for you to hang out with me.”

A short pause was shared between the two. Y/n’s eyes glanced up to Billy’s with an eyebrow raised. He didn’t know why he felt desperate, but this girl was making him feel different.

“You want me to hang out with you?”

“Um...” He looked down shyly, but quickly looked back up to her face. “Yeah, if that’s cool...” His tough demeanor seemed to flee whenever she was present.

“If I say yes, will you take and pay for your damn ice cream?”

He snatched the ice cream from her and tossed it over his shoulder and into the garbage can behind him effortlessly, taking out the money needed and handing it to her. “So yeah, eight o’clock?”

So Yeah ( . . . )

“Why’re you just standing there?”

“Dude, I’m totally waiting on you.” Y/n turned to Billy, her hands tucked into the pockets of her hoodie. Billy didn’t know whether she looked offended or confused.

“Oh...I’m sorry, I just assumed you were too cool to be here on time...” In other words, he assumed she was like him. If you were at Tina’s party, then you were bound to be somewhat of a “cool kid” or a rebel or anything remotely relating to popularity. Then again, Tina loved handing out invites.

“Well. You assumed wrong.”

They walked in the chilly weather. Small talk slowly formed and they tried their best to get to know each other just as Billy had suggested. His nervousness didn’t leave him around her, and he was glad that no one else from school was there to see him make a fool of himself. ‘You’re just gonna get lucky and then leave her like the rest of them.’ No matter how many times he told himself that, he was too interested in Y/n. His felt something he wasn’t sure he had ever actually felt.

“So, how’d you end up in Hawkins?” Crap. He wasn’t even sure he could get to like him. Let alone be his snack of the week.

“Just needed to escape I guess...”

“Oh yeah.” He knew exactly how she felt. Or at least what he thought she meant by it.

“I got this job here and Gideon always said Hawkins was one of the cool places, so.”

Now Billy felt the need to ask the question that had been bugging him since Robin brought it up. “Is Gideon...your boyfriend?” It had been bothering him and filling him with a small amount of disappointment and worry.

“He’s...a friend.” Her gaze strayed away.

“Was he your boyfriend?”

She looked hurt. Hurt and uncomfortable. “Do you mind if I don’t get into that right now?” Y/n turned and walked to the swing set in front of them.

“Uh- it’s so not interesting to me...”

Y/n kept walking, Billy joining her and attempting to not bother her any more than he had already done. She took notice and initiated conversation so that he wouldn’t feel as awkward and guilty, “What about you, what do you do?”

“Oh, I’m in between jobs at the moment.”

“Between what and what?” She moved in front of the swing and sat down as Billy started talking. He did the same but his movements were still shy and cautious.

“Well my last job was...a long story, filled with sighs.”

“I know plenty of those.” Billy took the opportunity to check on Y/n. His face slowly looked over to hers, which was looking up and admiring the sky.

“Is that why you left New York?”

She looked in front of her, furrowing her eyebrows and nodding, “Pretty much. Just time to head somewhere a little more chilled.”

A cold breeze swept past the two. It was incredible timing.

“Well it’s certainly chilled here!” The wind gave Billy the perfect opportunity to try and lift the mood. A smile rested on his face, his joke seemed like one of the funniest things in the world seeing as Y/n had that same smile.

“Yeah...”

“It’s chilled as in cold...” Oh no. ‘Why the fuck am I so awkward?”

“Yeah.” ‘Oh dear god she noticed.’

The two decided to swing a bit more. With the conversation at a pause, that was honestly probably needed, Y/n and Billy swung their legs back and forth. competition started. They both tried to see who could go higher, Y/n won and smiled slightly while Billy smiled and chuckled with accepting defeat.

After they finished their fun, Billy and Y/n hopped off the swings for a finale. They continued their conversation afterwards, light droplets of rain mixed with small snowflakes falling over their heads.

“It’s ridiculous. Isn’t it like September?”

“No...but it doesn’t snow much in Indiana...ya know, I can barely see you?” His leather jacket was suddenly not projecting as much warmth as he normally would have anticipated. “This whole thing is an unmitigated disaster.”

“I think ‘Act Of God’ is a pretty decent excuse for a lousy date.”

Billy stopped in his tracks. A sneaky signature smirk crept onto his face and his usual attitude made an appearance. “So this a date, eh?”

She stopped as well and turned. “Did I say date?” He nodded. “Slip of the tongue.”

“Tongue.”

“Anyway, nights not over yet...” She turned back to where they were originally facing, “and there’s a thingy over here somewhere.”

“Thingy?”

Once again, she turned her head towards him. “A door.” She turned it back, yet again, but this time there was a door in front of them. Odd. She nodded her head over to it in a beckoning way. “Come on.”

Billy took her hand and was dragged by her over to the mysterious door.

Y/n Come Closer ( . . . )

Y/n took off her shoes and looked up at Billy. He sat at her dining room table, staring at her with awe and adoration. Y/n broke the silence and walked over to her cupboard. “What kind of tea do you want?”

He didn’t know why he took his jacket off. His arms were cradling themselves as one would when they were cold. And he was cold. “There’s more than one kind?”

She opened the cupboard. “We have,” she inhaled. “Blueberry, raspberry, ginseng, sleepytime, green tea, green tea with lemon, green tea with lemon and honey, liver disaster, ginger with honey, ginger without honey, vanilla almond, white truffle, blueberry caramel, vanilla walnut, constant comment annnnnd...earl gray.”

When her sentence was finished, Y/n turned to face a wide eyed Billy. “Did you make some of those up?”

She reached into the cupboard and pulled out a box, “I think I’ll have sleepytime.”

“That sounds good to me...”

She made the tea and set it on the table. Billy’s position didn’t go unnoticed by her, “Want me to get you a blanket?” Her eyebrows were raised with amusement.

“That would actually be...awesome.”

Y/n walked away into her room. A few minutes passed. More minutes. Billy was almost done with his tea. He wondered where she went. He wondered why she was taking so long. Billy decided to go into her room and check on her, making a grunt-like wheeze.

Facing her closet, she was taking off her shirt. Upon hearing him, she turned and raised her arms. “Dude I’m changing.” She didn’t seem bothered by the fact that he just walked in on her while he bra was the only thing covering her chest.

Billy let out a small, “Ah, sorry!” and covered his eyes. “I’m just cold...”

“Here. That help?”

“Yeah...that’s very warm...What is that?” His hands slowly left his face. “Oh- kaaay...” Y/n was standing right in front of him with a cheeky grin on her lips. He leaned in and kissed her. It was finally happening. Their lips danced together, it felt like they had rehearsed the dance for so long yet in reality they were very new to each other.

The make out session with Y/n was all it took to break Billy. He was in love and he couldn’t deny it. As their passion turned rough and intense, he thought of how happy he felt and how he wouldn’t normally feel that with a girl.

They finally pulled away. Billy’s arms were around Y/n and one of her hands was on his shoulder, her arms laying loosely, and her other was clutching his side under his arm.

“Were you just gonna...bring the blanket from your bed?”

“I guess...” Her voice was soft, unlike her previous dead tone. Billy managed to shatter her “hardcore” exterior with a simple make out session. Or so he thought, if you asked anyone what they thought, they’d say Y/n managed to break him within their first conversation and then decided to let him in after touching her lips to his.

“Maybe we should...both get under it...since we’re both so cold...”

“What about our tea?”

Of course. The tea. Billy didn’t give a fuck about the tea. “I can...not have tea.”

The night went on with passion and...lust. They stripped down to their underwear and continued making out on Y/n’s bed. At some point they got under the blankets and Y/n leaned over Billy to continue their rough kissing. When it was “just about to get good”, Y/n pulled away from Billy.

“I changed my mind.”

“...changed it from what?”

“I don’t want to have sex with you Hargrove.” She moved over beside Billy, laying on his arm and snuggling into his side. “Not right now.”

Another, “Oooh- kay?” escaped Billy’s mouth. As usual, he didn’t know if he should feel hurt, angered or just plain okay with it. He longed for Y/n. She was his addiction, better than any drug. In his mind, he made the exception; feel bad about it later, stay with her for now.

“It’s not like I’m gonna send you home in this weather or anything, you can sleep in my bed. And I reserve the right to change my mind about the sex later.” At least he had a chance.

“This is...nice. Just this...” He was referencing their semi-cuddling forms. “It’s been like, a really long time so I think I needed this...whatever it is so...thank you.”

Y/n leaned over and kissed his cheek, “You’re welcome.” He wrapped his arms around her when she wrapped one of her arms around his neck.

. . .

Billy and his basketball team were just having some harmless fun. It was a game, and school was out for the day. No one could do anything bad, right? Wrong.

Read to show off, Billy brought the new girl to the gym. Max was dragged along since Billy was her ride home. He and his team were horribly distracted by the pretty girl now known as Billy’s first official girlfriend. Scowls and mean looks were given to Y/n by the other girls at school, purely out of jealousy. This morning, Y/n was walked down the hall of Hawkins’ high under Billy’s arm, wolf whistles and more sounded around them.

A weird looking guy stormed into the room, “MR. HARGROVE. IT IS I, MATTHEW PATEL. CONSIDER OUR FIGHT,” Y/n looked horrified. She was pale and breathing unsteadily. The guy who had announced himself to be Matthew moved his head slightly, nodding his hair out of his face. “BEGUN!”

He ran at Billy. ‘What is this kid on?’ Time felt like it was moving in slow motion. “What did I do...?” His voice was slow. He really was moving in slow motion. “What do I do...” Matthew launched himself into the air with his fist raised. He aimed himself to punch at Billy.

Tommy gripped the shoulders of the boys next to him, leaning forward and yelling with entertainment. “Fight!”

Billy’s eyebrows furrowed. His fists clenched. He threw the basket ball to the side and shifted to a fighting stance. He blocked Matthew’s punch with his arm and reversed their roles. He swung his fist at Matthew’s face, somehow knocking him to the side of the room. Tommy, Max and Y/n’s eyes widened, as well as everyone else’s in the room.

Matthew still refused to give up. He jumped in front of Billy, “Alright! Alright...”

Max yelled from the bleachers. “Watch out!” They all turned to her. “It’s that one guy.”

“Ha!” Matthew smiled mischievously and ran at Billy again. Sadly, some people just don’t learn from their mistakes. Billy threw an uppercut to Matthews chin, sending him flying to the back of the room. Billy got in some extra punches while Matthew was still down. The two landed in front of each other, most of the people in the gym now gathered around them.

Matthew blew dust off his shoulders and turned to Billy before laughing a laugh that could’ve been mistaken for a villain’s. They started to circle each other, Mathew taking a step to the left and Billy taking a step to the right, “Well well well...you’re quite the opponent.” His neck moved left and then moved back to the right after each syllable when he said, “Hargrove.”

“Who the hell are you anyway?”

“My name,” he swung his right arm up into the air, his left clenched in a fist that met his collar bone. “is Matthew Patel! And I’m Y/n’s FIRST,” Matthew lifted his pointer finger on his left hand and moved his arm to the side. He moved his fingers so that his pinky, ring and middle fingers were out, his thumb and pointer finger touching so that the tips were smooshed together. He turned back to Billy, “evil ex boyfriend.” His shoulders moved up and down one at a time when he said boyfriend. When his hand went down, he let out a growl.

“Her what?” Everyone’s heads turned to Y/n.

She turned to Max and the other people on the right of her. Y/n nervously smiled, “Anyone need a drink?”

A fight initiated between the two boys, fists and feet being used. The grunts coming from both males were loud. Surely, at least one of them would have bruises after this.

Max made a face of massive confusion, looking around for any clues of the situation. Her older brother kept fighting the abnormal kid. After a few more swings, Billy, again, realized how confusing this really was. He wanted to ask beforehand, but this Matthew guy was really determined to teach Billy a lesson.

“Wait!” He held out his hand in a stopping motion. “We’re fighting over Y/n?” He personally had no problem with it, but the “Evil Ex” thing was getting to his head.

Matthew lowered his fist slightly, “didn’t you get my letter explaining the situation?”

“I skimmed it...”

Max squeezed her eyes shut and clicked her tongue. “Mm mm.” She shook her head with her disconfirming noise.

Matthew only seemed to grow madder. “You will pay for your INSOLENCE!” He threw kick after kick after kick, all of which were blocked by Billy. The anger fueled him to the point where Billy could only do few attacks with little time. Just as Billy was gaining the upper hand, Matthew socked him square in the face with both fists, then his right foot with a jump spinning kick.

The people in the crowd behind Billy caught him when he fell backwards from the attack, pushing him forwards and urging him to continue with the fight. Matthew backed up one foot at a time and did weird dance, finishing it off with pulling his coat forward a bit so the dust came off of it and tilting his left foot upwards.

“Hey.” Max leaned forward, gaining the attention of two boys as well as everyone else in the gym. “What’s up with his outfit?”

“Yeah. Is he a pirate?” Laughter flooded the room at Tommy’s observation.

Billy was also curious. “Are you a pirate?” He asked Matthew in a simple and genuinely asking way. Unfortunately, Matthew looked caught off guard and offended.

“Pirates are in this year!” He wasn’t shouting, but he said it with a sassy and upset tone. “Gah!” This time he did shout. His fist was aimed at Billy, and his feet were already moving forward.

More attacks were made. Billy finally did have the upper hand. After Matthew tried to hit Billy’s face again, Billy caught his arms and held them to his chest. His eyes and head turned to Y/n. He was pissed off now. “You really went out with this guy?”

Everyone faced Y/n now. “Yeah.” She stood up and leaned forward, “In the 5th grade.”

Silence. Billy looked around, waiting for her to continue. When she didn’t, he spoke up again, “And?”

She sighed. “It was football season and for some reason, all the little jocks wanted me. Matthew was the only nonwhite nonjock boy in town, so the two of us joined forces and we took 'em all down. We brawled and scrapped, fought for hours. Nothing could beat Matthew’s mystical powers. We only kissed once. After a week and a half, I told him to hit the showers.”

Matthew was full of rage. His furrowed eyebrows and reddened skin could do nothing but confirm that statement.

“Dude wait- mystical powers?” Billy was confused. Unluckily for him, Matthew took advantage of his distracted state and broke free from his grip. Music started playing in the background. Matthew pushed Billy and turned to Y/n, holding out his pointer finger and pointing at her. The veins on his forehead were bulging.

“You’ll pay for this,” He paused for a second. Y/n was visibly afraid. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was was ajar. Matthew finished his sentence with a slight raspy sound to his voice, “L/n.” He swiftly turned to Billy and started dancing and singing. It’s a cringey dance and song to say the least.

“If you want to fight me,”

Max made the same confused face as she had previously. “What!?” She knew it was dumb to pick a fight with Billy, but to sing and dance while doing so? And to get her exes together so they could fight Billy? Were they that dumb?

“Hah! You’re not the brightest.

You won’t know what hit you,

in the sligh-igh-ightest.”

He made sounds with his mouth, floating into the air. Black and white colored girls, kind of like those old animations on tv, were summoned around him. They looked like someone wanted to make demon girls but was a perverted guy who loves hipsters.

“This guy’s good-” One of the basketball team members spoke. He too was wide eyed and confused as fuck.

“Me and my fireballs,

my demon hipster chicks!”

Looks like he was right about hipsters.

“Tell ‘em Matty.” They had a seductive-like voice. With a closer look, Billy could see that their eyes were like snakes. Their teeth were sharp too.

“I’m talking thee talk,

‘Cause I know I’m slick!” He winked before his weird demons spoke again.

“S-L-ICK.”

“Fireball-balls!” He threw the fireball at Billy, who thankfully dodged it in time. Gasps were heard around the room. At least it wasn’t just Billy seeing this shit. “Take this sucker out!” More flames erupted from his hands, shooting at Billy again.

“We’ll show him

What we’re all about!”

“That doesn’t even rhyme!” Billy finished off his sentence by throwing the now broken ring from the hoop at Matthew like a frizzbe. It hit him in the head and caused him to flip backwards a bit. His demons disappeared and it was his turn for his eyes to widen.

‘This is impossible. How can this be?’

Somehow, Billy heard and responded to Matthew’s thoughts with his own, ‘Open your eyes. Maybe you’ll see.’ He jumped at Matthew and returned the punch that had formerly knocked him back into the crowd.

Though, something strange happened this time. When Billy’s fist made contact with Matthew’s skin, he slowly fell a bit, but when he hit the ground, his body turned into 9 quarters. Everyone except for Tommy, Max, Carol, Billy and Y/n continued acting normal. The difference with them and the 5 others were that they had no memory of this “Matthew Patel” or of any fight. The damage in the gym was restored, but still. The 5 of them knew what happened and didn’t know quite yet that no one else did.

“Sweet! Coins!”

“Coins that’re mine, shortstack.” Billy took the remains of Matthew from the poor kid holding them. He walked outside, following the other 4 to discuss what just happened.

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celestialmystical · 4 years

Text

The Waiting Game

As I sit here in this square room, staring out over the Han river at Incheon, with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company, I ask myself: Why did I really decide to move here to South Korea?

Why am I purposefully putting myself in such an uncomfortable situation?

I mean, leaving my friends and family and living in a country where I can barely speak the language and I don’t really know anyone?

Why would I do that to myself?

I think back to about five years ago, when I was nineteen, I came across a video on Instagram of some girl dancing. I saw there were judges and other girls like her in the back. I don’t how but I assumed from the video it was a show about making a girlband.

Intrigued, I looked up what the show was and found out it was Produce 101.

Produce 101 was a show about 101 South Korean girls auditioning to make a kpop group.

I really enjoyed the show and then became obsessed with South Korea. I listened to lots of different kpop groups as well as kr&b and watched a lot of kdrama, Flower Over Boys being my first one. I watched several videos on youtube about what it was like to live in South Korea and how I could possibly move there.

That’s how I found out that you could live in Korea for a year simply by teaching there.

At the time, it was just an idea that I could do that. I didn’t really have any goal for that to happen.

I was in my second year of college. I was in relationship with someone I thought I’d marry. What I was going to do after college was far away from my mind.

A lot has happened since I came across that video of Chungha.

I’ve experienced a lot of losses in my life in these past 5 years—friends, lovers, family, pets. Literally and figuratively.

I experienced a really dark period of my life. I constantly felt numb and disconnected from everyone and everything.

But I also experienced great growth from that difficult era of my life. I wrote a book as my healing medium.

It was a period of my life where I really learned so many things about life and myself. The biggest one of them all being the importance of loving yourself before and more than anyone else.

After college, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I knew I didn’t want to live back home with my parents but I had no other choice.

I got a job and met some wonderful people there. And while I had many fun, easy times working there and hanging out with my coworkers who eventually became really good friends of mine, I felt like I needed more.

Lots of people make the decision of taking more school after graduating college—like getting a Master’s, for example.

I didn’t feel like that was the right decision for me. At least, not immediately. While I really do dread the thought of going back to school and writing a bunch of essays where I have to cite people because personal opinions can’t be taken into consideration unless it’s been backed up by ‘science’ and ‘numbers’—which aren’t always accurate given the study and don’t really take into consideration the minority outside of the numbers.

Anyway, while I dread going back to school, I also don’t really know what kind of career I want to go into.

While I was with my boyfriend for two years, I thought becoming a therapist was what I wanted. Even though that had never struck any bells within my heart, I felt it was the safest and easiest route for me. I’m a great listener and advice-giver (if you’re okay with it being a little brutal)—and while the idea doesn’t repel me right now, it surely doesn’t attract me either.

At the moment, I’m kind of over being the trash can for people to dump their problems on.

I’m okay with hearing my friends problems and being there for them in whatever way they need—but to have people just blab blab blab about their problems at me all day, especially people who are narcissistic, sounds extremely draining.

I want to live and be with people who also want to live.

And I think part of living is stepping out of your comfort zone.

Initially, my interest for South Korea was because of the kpop and the kdrama and the fashion. I won’t lie.

After a while though, it morphed into wanting to do something completely out of my comfort zone where everything is new and different for me. I know living in a country that doesn’t speak my language and not many people look like me would do this.

Korea became the option not only because of the sweet deal of teaching here for a year while they give you an apartment to live in and really just help you out in general, but also because, it just called to me.

I can’t say it’s because I know this country the most because I don’t. I only know what kpop and kdrama show me which I know is like the rosiest lense possible. I can’t say it’s because it’s the only country that interests me cause that’s not true. Japan, Iceland, and Italy really interest me too.

I do really want to work with kids--but again, I could do that anywhere.

I don’t know. I just feel it in my soul that I need to be here for some reason. That I need to experience whatever it is I’m going to experience here.

It’s hard to see right now what that is or what it will be.

After coming here the first day and experiencing such a distressing time being lost, it became extremely apparent to me how difficult this was going to be.

My body is honestly so overwhelmed, that even though I want to keep studying Korean, I barely have any energy except to watch shows on my laptop, like Itaewon Class. (which is a great show, I highkey recommend.)

As someone who doesn’t really watch shows, that’s all I’ve had the energy to do. I can barely read or write (creatively, it’s different for me than doing something like this)

That and I’ve been craving food, which is really not like me either. Usually, I forget to eat. But lately, I’ve just been like, what can I stuff myself with?

I know this overwhelmed feeling comes with the fact that I’m having so much new information coming into my brain at once.

Part of it though, I think comes from the fact that I have extremely high expectations of myself.

The fact that I don’t know Korean fluently, makes me think I need to do everything in my power right now to make it so. The pressure adds to the overwhelmingness.

I think I have to be great at everything immediately.

I paradoxically feel like I need to have it all done right now but also feel that have no motivation to do it.

It’s just kind of funny to me.

The Universe always, always reminds me to stay patient and humble.

My mom always says to me, “Rome was not built in a day.”

And she’s so right. I’m not going to be fluent in Korean right this moment.

I’ve literally only been here for two days.

I have to take it a step at a time. Like with everything.

I constantly come back to this concept. It’s equally frustrating as it is hilarious to me.

Though there’s so many things I want to do and see, though I want to be able to speak Korean well, I know that will come, eventually.

But right now, right now I need to be just be here with this little step.

It’s not about the destination, but the journey. It is about those little victories.

This mentality has helped me gain some energy back and has made me realize my purpose for being here will present itself when I’m ready.

As my father has said to me: “Tough times ahead but they will be important life lessons you can carry with you for the rest of your life! There’s a reason you were meant to be there at this stage of your life!! Go find it.”

And that I will. Eventually.

But for now.

For now, I’m going to watch Itaewon Class and eat some chips :)

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withthewerewolves · 5 years

Text

So I was laying awake last night thinking about a Yours, Mine, and Ours pynch au. Ronan and Adam break up like maybe Adam's sophomore year of college, when he doesn't come back to the Barns for Thanksgiving or something. Adam tries to date, but if he can't make time for Ronan, he definitely can't make time for anyone else. Ronan doesn't even try. He knows he'll never love anyone like he loved Adam.

Adam starts volunteering with a foster care group in college sort of by accident. Volunteer work looks good on a resume and they happen to have an opening. Something about it settles something in him though, so he keeps doing it all through his engineering degree, law school, and his internship at the patent office. He plans to stop once he's got his full time job as a patent lawyer, but that's when he meets Maria.

She's maybe five. Fresh out of a pretty serious neglect situation, but luckily there's no evidence of abuse. She's deaf though, and there aren't a lot of foster homes who can deal with that. Adam, who has always been terrified of losing the hearing in his other ear and so took sign language as an elective all through college, is uniquely equipped.

Usually it's hard for a single young man to foster, but he's been volunteering there for nearly a decade so they fast track him through the process. At first it's hard and Adam thinks he's made a terrible mistake, a commitment he can't live up to. He has to learn to make time for someone else, to put his job second. He passes up a promotion to take a lateral transfer to a job where he can work from home. Maria doesn't know how to ask for what she needs, because she isn't used to getting what she asks for. Adam doesn't know what a child needs, because he never got it. But he applies himself to child care with the same dedication he gives everything. He does research. He asks questions. He patiently builds trust and learns to anticipate her needs. She begins to thrive, and he thrives with her. The thing he was most worried about, his anger, doesn’t come up for a while. The first time he gets really frustrated with her, he has a panic attack before he can do anything, good or bad. The second time, he applies the anger management techniques he learned from his therapist, and he keeps his temper.

A couple years later, when he’s started working on adopting Maria, a set of twins comes in, James and Jessica. They're 16, each work two jobs, and have been trying to pay rent and buy food for themselves and their mother while she drains the bank account to fund her drug habit. They are not happy to be in foster care, refuse any and all help, and Jessica is out and proud, something which restricts their choices of foster home even in DC. They're about to be sent to a group home when Adam catches a glimpse of them in the hallway at the foster care center and sees a glimmer of magic in them. He isn't sure what kind yet, but he has a spare room and figures he can at least provide them with more than he had as a teenager. He has to tell his supervisor more about his past than he’d ever wanted to, but between that and how well Maria is doing under his care, they come to live with him.

He decides, two weeks in, that maybe what he had as a teenager was not enough. They're exhausted, they’re malnourished, they're failing school, and he can only sometimes get them to eat out of his fridge, much less accept the new clothes they so badly need. He calls Gansey and apologises for how difficult he used to be. Gansey is caught between “you were perfect, always” and “used to be?” Blue laughs until Adam hangs up on her, then calls back to apologise for laughing and admit she has no advice. He wishes he could call Ronan, who always knew how to handle Adam when he was a broken thing, but they don't talk anymore. His therapist has encouraged him to let himself experience his emotions, so he allows how much he misses Ronan to well up inside him for 30 seconds, then he does what he does best and gets to work.

He starts with packing lunches every day, one for Maria, one for James, one for Jessica, and one for him. He labels them and leaves them on the counter in the morning. The first two mornings, he has to throw James’ and Jessica's away. The third morning, when he gets back from walking Maria to the bus stop, the lunches are gone. He makes more of an effort to plan and cook meals, not just dinner but breakfast and afterschool snacks. A dry erase board with the week’s menu takes up residence on his refrigerator, with a section at the bottom for requests. Maria requests a lot of hot dogs. At first, the twins insist they'll eat on their way to work, or at school, even though he knows they'll just go hungry. He grimaces his way through scraping the leftovers into the disposal, a matching expression on their faces. They eat with him and Maria. He has to put his foot down about the jobs. No more than 20 hours a week during the school year, and they have to be home by 10 on school nights. This leads to the worst stand off yet, and he calls his supervisor at the foster care center to beg for advice. She tells him that if anything he should be more strict, so he holds firm. The dark circles under their eyes start to fade. He institutes a study hour, during which everyone is required to sit at the table and work on homework. Maria puzzles her way through long division with his help, and the twins sit in stony silence. College is not the escape for them that it was for him. They’re plenty smart, but their skills lay in other areas. Adam has a folder in his office with research on every trade school in the state. Finally James cracks, and pulls out his chemistry homework. The next night Jessica brings reading for english. Neither of them ask him for help, but their grades start to rise, and he’s satisfied with that. He wishes they had friends, people who meant something to them besides each other, but he doesn’t know what to do about it, and that is when Gansey calls to invite him to his and Blue’s wedding.

~O~

Ronan’s path to parenthood is similar, for all that it’s completely different. He has Opal, but her needs are so unlike that of a human child that she hardly counts. She doesn’t eat food, and nothing seems to make her sick. She has a bedroom, but she sleeps in the woods or with the goats most nights. Her bed becomes a repository for interesting sticks and globs of mud. She ages at a rate that even Adam, who won’t speak to Ronan but still sends Opal a letter every week like clockwork, can’t figure out. Some years she seems to be growing the way the parenting book Gansey got him as a joke thinks she should, and some years she doesn’t grow at all. He thinks she was maybe six when he brought her out of the dream, and he thinks she’s maybe eight or nine when , nine years later, he finds a teenaged boy sleeping in his barn.

Keith is 17, and informs Ronan that he has run away from home and will not be going back, please don’t call the cops, he’ll be on his way as soon as the sun is up. Ronan doesn’t hear any of this because he’s spotted the deep bruise around Keith’s eye and is caught in a vivid flashback. He offers him a job, helping him milk the cows in the mornings before school in exchange for a bedroom and as much food as he can eat. This turns out to be a lot of food. Keith reminds Ronan of Adam at every turn, even though they’re nothing alike. Keith is sunny and friendly and more similar to Matthew, if Matthew flinched every time Ronan raised his voice. Ronan learns not to raise his voice. Opal is suspicious of him at first, but he treats her like a tiny boss even after he catches sight of her hooves, and this delights her. She orders him to collect the eggs three times a day, despite the chickens only laying them once.

Ronan finds Liam on his front porch one summer night, wrapped up in a blanket and dumped in a cardboard box like an unwanted kitten. People have learned that he takes in animals that are left at the Barns, and he’s converted one of the barns into a cat jungle after he reached his limit on mousers. He doesn’t know how it got out that he’s taking in stray children, but a baby isn’t exactly a puppy that got too big (is he a baby? A toddler? How is Ronan supposed to know?). Declan would tell him to send him to social services right away, but, well, Liam has magic. Not dream magic. Nothing like the psychics. Maybe a little like Adam, but he doesn’t think about that. The cows hate Liam, but all the other animals will come over and snuffle his hair and let him jab his little baby fingers in their faces. Birds perch on Ronan’s shoulder to inspect him in the baby wrap Ronan dreamed so he could cart him around the farm. He only found him that night, rather than in the morning, because fireflies clung to every available space on his little body, a beacon of flashing lights.

Ronan is pretty well at the end of his rope and not in the mood for more problems when Keith brings Laura home from school one day. She’s a year younger than him, and the rumor is that her parents kicked her out when she told them she was pregnant and she’s been living in the woods. Keith, being the friendly, helpful, maybe a little nosy sort, tracked her down and asked her about it. She told him she’s actually been sleeping under the bleachers in the gym, but the rumors are otherwise true. What’s Ronan going to do, turn her away? Then he has to hire her boyfriend, who’s an alright kid for all he forgot to wrap it. He grew up a few streets over from Fox Way, but even though his parents are supportive and loving they can’t afford to take in his girlfriend and their future baby. The boyfriend and Keith become fast friends. Laura takes over the vegetable patch.

So this is how Ronan goes from having one dream child to having four children and a grandkid on the way in the space of a year.

Then Blue and Gansey decide to get married. It’s a little bit the result of their desire to solidify the legality of their relationship and a little bit the result of Mrs. Gansey’s desire not to have her son living in sin as she starts her governor campaign. They decide to let Mrs. Gansey plan an extravagant church wedding exactly the way she wants it, as long as they don’t have to do anything besides show up, and to plan a smaller, more meaningful wedding for themselves at the Barns. They decide this kind of last minute, and Gansey calls Adam in a panic, begging him to come down and help them get everything ready. (Sidenote: Gansey and Blue argue for weeks about who gets Ronan and who gets Adam as their Best Man/Maid of Honor. Finally they realize that they each sort of want both of them and sort of want the other to have both of them, so they flip a coin. Blue gets Ronan and Gansey gets Adam. Henry was always going to perform the ceremony, because he was always going to be a part of the marriage.)

So Adam takes two weeks off work, packs his brood into the car and takes them to his ex boyfriend’s magic farm to plan a polyamorous wedding for his best friends.

Adam’s kids and Ronan’s kids...do not get along. Some of it is that they each think their dad is the best dad. Some of it is that James and Jessica think Keith and Laura have had it easy out here in the idyllic countryside and Keith and Laura think James and Jessica have had it easy because they’ve never milked a cow. Some of it is just that they’re teenagers and they’re expected to get along, so they stubbornly do not.

Opal and Maria hate each other on sight because they each know, through Adam’s letters to Opal, that the other occupies a special place in Adam’s heart that they would like to occupy alone. Opal eats the leg off of Maria’s stuffed dog. Maria starts teaching Ronan sign language. Points are scored and lost by both parties.

Liam, of course, falls head over tiny baby heels for Adam. The sight of Adam effortlessly calming a child that Ronan has been trying and failing to win over for months makes rage well up in Ronan’s chest, and also makes him want a cold shower. Ronan’s careful attention on Maria’s small hands as she teaches him the basics do something similar to Adam.

(Calla shakes hands with James and Jessica and gives a harsh bark of a laugh. Maura later explains, with a little more tact, that Jessica is a mirror, like Blue, and James is a dampener. They’ve been canceling each other out their entire lives.)

Adam and Ronan fall back in love, obviously. Neither of them ever really fell out of it. Adam can work from anywhere with internet now, and James and Jessica never made any friends at their old school, so what’s keeping them in DC? (Maria had friends, but Maria can make friends anywhere. She’s good at that.) Adam makes blissful plans to move himself and his kids to the Barns. Ronan makes blissful plans to build an addition and fill his house with even more family (one of which can calm Liam).

The kids are not pleased and resolve to break them up before Blue and Gansey say their vows. The probably bond with each other in the process. Maybe Keith’s parents make a reappearance and Jessica and James help beat them up. Maybe Laura starts freaking out about having a baby and Jessica offers her expertise (one of her jobs is babysitting). Maybe someone says something racist or ableist about Maria and the others defend her. Maybe Opal and Maria bond over popsicle stick crafts.

They all definitely live happily ever after.

#the raven cycle #look i wrote a thing #pynch

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chloebeale · 5 years

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Why? | part 2.

As per request, here’s a part two to this prompt.

Part one can be found by clicking the link.

(Read it all collectively on ao3!)

RATING: G (part one T for bullying) | WORDS: 2,759

It doesn’t take long for them to decide what they want to do. It’s a decently nice day out, so Chloe suggests they go grab frozen yogurt, and since Beca has made the relatively confusing realization that she doesn’t care what they do, as long as she gets to continue hanging out with Chloe, she agrees without question. She doesn’t even like fro-yo that much, truth be told. But she can deal.

“So, how’s Barden comparing with your old schools?” Beca asks as she scoops a spoonful of strawberry flavored frozen yogurt into her mouth. She was going to get vanilla at first, but Chloe challenged her to try something more adventurous. Apparently strawberry was as adventurous as she was going to get. It had made Chloe smile, though, so that was all that mattered. She doesn’t really know why.

“Mm, too soon to tell yet,” Chloe shrugs, digging her spoon into her yogurt. The color is intriguing, though Beca isn’t sure when the redhead holds it out toward her. “Try some.”

“You want me to eat your yogurt from your spoon?” Beca chuckles quietly, a brow arching almost quizzically.

“What, do you think I’m diseased or something?” Chloe retorts, still offering the spoon out to her. “It’s just mango flavor, it won’t bite you.”

Beca looks skeptical, but eventually she leans forward and wraps her lips around the spoon, the sweet taste of mango hitting her tongue instantly. She has to admit, it isn’t terrible.

“Well?” Chloe asks, eyes almost expectant.

“I’ve had worse,” Beca shrugs, though secretly she thinks that maybe next time that’s the one she’ll go for. “Let me try a different question then. Do you think you’re going to like Barden better than your old schools?”

“I have more friends at this school than the last two combined, so I’d say it’s looking pretty promising.”

Beca knows she’s Chloe’s only friend at Barden so far. The thought is kind of heartbreaking, though she doesn’t let it show. Instead, she just silently vows to stick close to the other girl. She has been having fun with her all afternoon, she finds Chloe Beale intriguing. Again, she doesn’t know why. She just.. does.

“What were you and your friends talking about at lunch?” Chloe questions as she takes another small bite of her yogurt. Beca can tell it’s simply conversational, though she doesn’t plan to answer her truthfully. They’d been talking about Chloe, after all.

“Boys,” she shrugs, the response leaving her lips easily. It surprises her really; Beca has never been the best liar. Then again, boys really had been the topic before that. They generally were. Beca doesn’t usually join in much, she hasn’t really had any interest in anybody since Jesse, and even then she isn’t sure she was completely into him. Chloe accepts the response with a nod of her head, before Beca continues. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Chloe shakes her head this time, and Beca doesn’t understand why she’s silently cheering. “I don’t. My ex girlfriend and I broke up right around Valentine’s Day, so that kind of sucked. But we weren’t right for each other, so it was a good thing really.”

The response surprises the brunette. She wonders if maybe it makes her seem judgmental, the fact that she had just asked Chloe about a boyfriend specifically. The redhead doesn’t seem offended, though, so she tries not to dwell. It’s not like Beca has never met anybody gay before, but those of her friends who are seemed to very slowly and cautiously come out. High schoolers can be mean sometimes, so Beca understands the hesitation. But Chloe hadn’t hesitated at all. She’d just openly and unapologetically been herself, the same way she has all day, and Beca can’t help but find it almost captivating.

“How about you?” Chloe asks. “A significant other?”

“Nope,” Beca shakes her head. “My ex and I broke up a little bit ago now. I guess same as you, though, we weren’t right for each other. So it’s no big.”

“Ex boyfriend? Girlfriend?” Chloe prompts, digging her spoon into her yogurt again.

“Boyfriend,” Beca responds quickly, almost too quickly.

“Did he ever bring you here?”

“What, like on a date? Yeah. There isn’t a whole lot to do around here. Frozen yogurt or movies, those are your choices.”

Beca sees Chloe’s brow raise as she eyes her across the table. “So you brought me on a date to the same place your ex brought you?”

The brunette’s expression falls. “What? You think this is a...” She pauses, motioning between the two of them with her spoon. Chloe giggles in response.

“I’m kidding, Beca. A frozen yogurt date would be nice, though.”

Beca feels her body relax at the confirmation. Honesty, Beca hasn’t really explored her sexuality yet. She’s sixteen years old, her dating life has been pretty sparse so far. She has sometimes questioned whether she’s staring a little too longingly when a beautiful girl walks by, but she has always shrugged off the thought. She has kissed Stacie during spin the bottle, too, but who hasn’t kissed Stacie? She isn’t against the possibility that she could be with a girl, though. She just hasn’t really explored it yet, that’s all.

“Phew.” Beca pretends to wipe off her forehead. “I don’t want you to think I’m lame enough to bring you somewhere like this. I’d find a way better way to woo you.” There’s a goofy smile on her face, though it falls some as Beca replays her words in her head. Is she flirting?

Chloe’s soft giggle sounds kind of flirty in return. Beca doesn’t really know what’s happening... She does know she doesn’t hate it, though.

What had the potential to be an awkward conversation seems to pass quickly once Chloe changes the subject, and Beca finds that Chloe is good at that; at helping her to relax. She doesn’t know why. They finish up their yogurts, and head out of the building side by side.

“What are you doing now?” Chloe asks, at the exact same time as Beca blurts out a quick, “Want to come over?”

Chloe raises a brow, lips tugging into an almost amused smile. “You really want to hang out with me, huh?”

“What? Pfft. No.” Beca responds, though even she hears how forced it is. Chloe gives her a look, one that says ‘come on,’ and Beca finds herself playfully rolling her eyes in response. “Okay, fine. Yes, I do, I want to hang out with you.”

“Okay, where?” The redhead wiggles her brows, leaning closer. “Somewhere you can woo me better?” Evidently, Chloe doesn’t have any issues with sharing personal space. Beca finds herself blushing in response.

“You could come to my house? My mom’s working, so I’d just be hanging out and watching a movie or something anyway. You could watch with me.” Beca suggests, eyeing Chloe almost hopefully. It’s a lie, of course. Beca Mitchell doesn’t watch movies. She knows it’s a little weird, though, so hopefully this keeps her covered. She sees the way the other girl’s brows are wiggling again.

“Wow. Fro-yo and a movie? You really are pulling out all the stops here, Beca.”

The brunette’s cheeks grow hot. Why doesn’t she know how to keep her cool around this girl?

She has no idea that Chloe thinks it’s just about the most adorable thing she’s witnessed.

“A movie sounds good,” Chloe nods her head, motioning away from the building. “Lead the way. Can we walk?”

They can walk there. Beca’s mom lives close to the school. Her dad is a professor at the local college, so he lives on campus. Basically, wherever she goes, there’s some form of learning institute around. It’s really not ideal, since Beca has no desire to go to college -- she wants to move to LA and produce music. She has yet to break that to her parents; they’re positive she’ll be going to Barden University.

---

“Your house is really nice,” Chloe comments as they enter. Beca thinks it’s weird, since her mom isn’t there and Chloe doesn’t have to charm anybody. It’s not bad weird, though. It’s just different. Chloe is different, in fact. Definitely not in a bad way, either.

“Thanks,” she shrugs, dumping her backpack down on the couch. She notices the way Chloe sets hers down beside it and begins to remove her jacket. Her shoes come off next, and Beca thinks it’s kind of sweet, the way she’s making herself so at home. She likes that, she doesn’t know why.

She doesn’t know much today, does she?

“You want a soda or something?” Beca offers. Chloe nods her head.

“Sure. Do you have ginger ale?”

Beca disappears into the kitchen, returning with two cans of Canada Dry and two glasses, setting them both down on the coffee table. She likes the fact that she returns to find Chloe comfortably on the couch with her feet tucked up underneath her, controller in hand and pointed at the TV. Evidently, she’d taken it upon herself to switch that on, too. Beca doesn’t mind.

“What?” Chloe asks, and it’s only at that point that Beca realizes she’s smiling.

“What? Oh. Nothing, nothing,” she brunette promises, flopping down onto the couch beside her. “What do you want to watch? You can pick. You can control Netflix with that remote, too.”

Chloe has already found the setting for it, and is skimming through the recommended options.

“Do you like horror movies?” Chloe asks, glancing toward Beca.

She doesn’t want to admit that she doesn’t like movies in general. She doesn’t respond, which prompts Chloe to raise a brow.

“Comedies?”

Again, no response.

“What do you like?”

Beca shrugs. “I don’t know. I like music better than movies.”

“But you have a favorite movie, right?”

The brunette begins to chew on her bottom lip.

“You don’t like movies?”

No response.

Chloe’s laugh is not a judgmental one. It’s a little surprised, but not judgmental. It makes Beca laugh, too. She has found that Chloe’s moods are kind of infectious, and her laugh is like music. It’s adorable. Chloe is adorable, in fact.

“I just don’t see the point in them. I get bored before the ending,” she finally admits with a small shrug of her shoulder.

“You’ve just never had a good movie experience,” Chloe says, going back to flicking through the various options on the screen. “Nobody has ever sat with their arm wrapped around you while you cuddled up together and watched a movie you both love. That’s the best.”

“Is that what we’re going to do now?” Beca hears the words leave her own lips, though she wonders who put them there. It is so not Beca Mitchell to be so bold. She wonders if she can play it off as a joke.

Chloe’s grin is soft as she nods her head. “If that’s what you want to do, then yes, that’s what we’re going to do.” She continues on through the different movie options. Finally, she settles on Bad Moms, promising that Beca will find it hilarious. The brunette thinks that she probably isn’t going to be paying too much attention to the television, anyway.

Chloe’s backpack begins to vibrate, and the redhead leans over to unzip it, pulling out her phone. “Shoot. I didn’t tell my mom where I was going,” she mumbles, chewing on the faint remnants of her lipgloss as she answers the call.

“Mom, hey. I’m really sorry, I got caught up and lost track of time.”

Beca doesn’t know what Mrs. Beale is saying, of course. She can only hear Chloe’s side of the conversation.

“No, I’m fine. I’m with a friend actually. Yeah.”

She notices the way Chloe’s lips settle into a small, contented smile.

“Her name is Beca. Yeah, she’s really sweet.” Blue eyes flicker over toward her, and Beca wonders if it’s suddenly warmer in the room or if she’s blushing again. Of course it’s the latter. She hears Chloe giggle softly, nodding her head in spite of the fact that her mother can’t see her. “I will, I promise. Okay, love you too, mom. Bye!”

Chloe hangs up the phone, and Beca glances over at her with a raised brow. “Wrong number?” She jokes. Chloe’s eyes glisten as she softly laughs at her terrible joke. Beca evidently spends too much time around her own father.

“My mom just wanted to check I was okay.” The redhead slips her phone back through the gap in the zipper of her backpack, then sets it down on the floor and out of the way. “She also wants to hear all about you when I get home.”

“Oh? What are you gonna tell her?”

Chloe shrugs. “I don’t know.” She sits back comfortably, and Beca sees the hint of a smile threatening the corners of her lips. It’s completely smooth, almost seamless, the way Chloe lifts her arm and drapes it over Beca’s shoulders. The brunette finds herself scooting closer, curling into her side. “I’ll tell her that you were super nice to me all day. And that you took me on a frozen yogurt date, and a movie date.” She winks over in Beca’s direction. “And that you’re maybe the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

The words are bold and blunt, though Beca almost isn’t even surprised. It doesn’t seem that Chloe has any problems with speaking her mind. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“The prettiest girl you’ve ever seen?” Beca questions, brow quirking. Entirely unsurprisingly, her cheeks have grown hot once more. She can only imagine the deep shade of red spreading across them, though Chloe doesn’t seem to mind.

“That’s what I said,” Chloe confirms with a nod of her head. She looks down at Beca with a smile that almost melts her, then turns her attention back to the television.

For the most part, they watch the movie together in silence, and Beca does actually find that she kind of enjoys it. It’s funny, and Chloe’s laugh is infectious, so she has found herself chuckling along with her. She missed a certain part, because Chloe’s fingertips had begun to brush delicately against her bare arm, and Beca couldn’t focus on anything else, but she brought herself back to reality quickly.

Once the movie ends, Beca wonders what’s next, and finds that she’s quietly disappointed when Chloe announces that she has to go home. It makes sense; it was Chloe’s first day, her parents will want to hear all about it over dinner like a normal family, Beca is sure of it. They’ll see each other tomorrow, though, so that helps to keep her pout at bay.

“I had a great day with you, Beca,” Chloe says appreciatively as they reach the door. The redhead has told her that she lives close by, and has insisted that she’ll be fine to walk home alone, even though Beca has tried to tell her she’ll walk her.

For the second time this afternoon, Beca surprises herself with her response. “I did, too. I wouldn’t be against a second date.” She thinks her tone is playful, and she’s sure deep down that it’s a joke.

Chloe’s lips curve into a soft smirk. “So it was a date, huh?”

Playfully, Beca rolls her eyes, her near permanent blush of course returning. “Get out of here.”

The redhead responds with a bright grin, before holding her phone out towards her. “Put your number in,” she instructs. Beca does as she’s told, then hands the device back over. Almost instantly, she hears her phone begin to ring somewhere in the living room. “That’s me,” Chloe explains, tapping her phone screen and effectively ending the buzzing from the room. “Now you have my number, too.”

“What should I do with it?” Beca asks, eyes on the other girl. Chloe has begun to back away from the door already, but shoots Beca a knowing glance in the process.

“See you at school, Beca,” the redhead says, before she’s turning to begin walking off in the direction of home.

Beca finds herself watching her for a moment, before she closes the door and makes her way back into the house. Her phone has begun to buzz before she’s even made it fully into the living room, but she reaches to grab it as soon as she enters, not recognizing the number on her screen.

“Hello?” She answers, a little uncertainly.

Beca recognizes Chloe’s voice right away.

“So, about that second date?”

#beca mitchell #chloe beale #bechloe #bechloe fic #mine #mine:writing #why?

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dreamangel-ren · 5 years

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FFXIV April Fools Joke Expanded

I shall call it FFXIV AU: Eorzea Academy

So, after seeing the April Fool’s Day joke about our beloved FFXIV characters attending to high school, I got heavily inspired and add a bit of my magic to this wonderful idea. NOTE: This is all pure headcanon so that means it is NOT to be taken literally! If you don’t like this kind of stuff, then stop reading now!

Still here? Okay here we go:

-Of course, my Warrior of Light is the star of the show! - Ren Kurosaki attends to the school as a new student. The school’s first impression of her is that she’s wild and mysterious. On her first day, she stopped bullies from picking on a fellow student. Many are trying to figure out if she’s even eligible to attend to Eorzea Academy since her documents contained vague information. -Ren lives by herself; she goes from being a bard to going on extravagant quests to maintain financial security. At times, she receives aid from fellow neighbors when times get too hectic. - Appearance: Long wavy brown hair with hair clips on the side of her bangs. She always has her sleeves rolled up to her elbows; she gets lectured by the teachers to have her sleeves worn properly. She wears a bracelet on her left wrist. Her choice for socks is the mid-thigh high ones. -She excels in archery, white and black magic (RDM), and dancing; she wishes to get better with ninjutsu, weaving, and cooking. She’s terrible with tanking and she gets nervous when practicing healing.

- Some teachers don’t approve with Ren’s behavior because she ends up breaking the school’s rules, but for a good cause: to help make Eorzea Academy a more comfortable and fun environment for the students. Some consider her the Warrior of Light because of her good deeds while some consider her the Warrior of Darkness because she only makes things worse. With Eorzea Academy being a very prestigious school, students go there mostly tensed because they don’t want to disappoint their superiors. -Ren does have a harem, but there can only be one! (Yup, it’s a shoujo kind of story fellas). The Remaining Cast: Yotsuyu: The president of the student council and the Queen Bee of Eorzea Academy; many students would do anything for her because of her undeniable beauty. She uses her power to pretty much manipulate the entire school for her amusement and a few students hate her for this reason. With Ren in the picture, Yotsuyu is worried that she will lose her position to the new student so, she’s bound and determined to wreck Ren’s reputation. Aymeric: The vice president of the student council, head of the Heavensward Elite, and one of the wealthiest students of the school. He is also known as the lady’s man because most girls want to date him (he even has his own fanclub). However, some believe that him and Yotsuyu are dating because they are the most attractive duo. Yotsuyu loves Aymeric and already confirms to everyone that they are in a relationship, but the young lord on the other hand doesn’t feel the same way; he doesn’t like how Yotsuyu treats the other students. When Ren arrives to the scene, he takes interest because he admires her free spirit and her endless service to the school. Estinien: Aymeric’s best friend and part of the Heavensward Elite (along with Aymeric, Haurchefant, and Ysayle). The typical strong silent type of the bunch, Estinien always look out for his best friend because he knows that there are sharks out to get Aymeric because of his reputation and some would try to take advantage of his kindness. He has secret feelings for Ysayle. As for Ren, he doesn’t quite get her, but he comes around to help her when he feels like it.

Haurchefant: Another member of the Heavesnward Elite and everyone’s best friend; this boy is very popular among the students because of his big heart. Furthermore, he holds high status since his family, The Fortemps, are one of the founders of the school. He would help any student in need even if they didn’t ask for his help. He meets Ren and instantly develops a huge crush on her which later turns to love. Every chance he gets, he tries let Ren know his feelings; however, she’s oblivious to them. Despite this, he protects her from Yotsuyu’s evil schemes and supports her to the ends of the Earth.

Ysayle: The only female of the Heavensward Elite and highly respected to all students due to her passion in the school and students. She kinda bumps heads with Ren because Ysayle usually goes by the book and disapproves Ren’s rebellious nature. Many strongly believe that Ysayle should’ve taken the role of president of the student council. While her reasons for not accepting the position are unknown, they come to her for guidance. Yotsuyu can’t stand her because the students adore her; so, she started a rumor about Ysayle tempering other students to follow her which folks gave her the nickname Shiva, the Ice Queen. Zenos: A transfer student who attends to Eorzea Academy and students are afraid of him. With him being a crown prince from a different country, students believe that he would put Yotsuyu to shame, but they don’t want him to take control because he would make everyone’s life a living hell. Noticing the student’s fear towards him, Yotsuyu wants Zenos to join forces with her to bring Ren down. At first, Zenos didn’t agree to the plan because he didn’t care; however, after a few encounters with the student, he slowly changes his mind and he grows an obsession with Ren. Asahi: Zeno’s bodyguard who also attends to the school. He has strong admiration for the crown prince of Garlemald and anyone who challenges his master must deal with him. Upon learning that his step sister, Yotsuyu is the student body president, he’s determined to bring her down so he can give the title to Zenos. However, completing that mission will be difficult after he learns that his master has interest in Ren; the Doman boy refuses to let the new student take his beloved master away from him.

Alphinaud: The boy whom Ren rescues on the first day of school from bullying which later they become close friends (Ren sees him as a little brother that must ALWAYS be protected). He’s one of Eorzea High’s best students (alongside his sister, Alisaie). Although he’s an excellent student, Alphy at times have issues with his self-esteem because he gets bullied for being soft. Estinien becomes his senpai as he teaches him to man up. Alisaie: Alphinaud’s twin sister and one of Eorzea High’s best students (alongside her brother, Alphinaud). She constantly teases her brother about mostly everything; however deep within, she envies Alphy because he has done so much that impacted the school while she is left in the background. She looks up to Ren and wishes someday to be just as strong as her so she can protect her dear brother.

Thancred: Ren’s ex-boyfriend. When Ren made her arrival to Eorzea, she didn’t know her way around until she met him; he helped her get settled into the realm and began her small career as a bard. They were together for awhile until Ren dumped him after discovering that he still had feelings for one of his previous lovers.

Hien: Another transfer student, but from the Far East who happens to be the prince of Doma. Hien gathers a lot of attention from many students due to his charismatic personality. After hearing about Hien’s skillful swordsmanship as a samurai, Ren challenged Hien to a match. Both sides made a bet if one loses, they must tell their darkest secret. Although, the match ended in a draw, they praised each other’s skills and became friends. Lyse: Although she doesn’t have special talents like the many students, her family name is what got her into the prestigious school. When she first attended Eorzea High, people teased her for trying to be like her late sister Yda; eventually Lyse grew tired of it and started training to become one of the best monks in the school. Understanding her struggle to finding her identity, Ren gladly accepted Lyse as a friend. Y’shtola: Friends with Lyse, Y’shtola is the smartest girl in the school. She is super popular among the boys because of her sassy attitude; however, she doesn’t take interest in dating. She has all knowledge about the school and students which Yotsuyu has a hard time dealing with her because Y’shtola is quick to catch on her schemes. Whenever Ren and Lyse get into trouble, she gets them out then scolds them later. She is the big sister of the group.

Yup, that’s all I thought about from the joke; I do plan to draw pictures based from my headcanon sometime soon hopefully.

#ffxiv #APRIL FOOLS!#alternate universe #high school #I had fun doing this #possible illustrations in the near future

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staygoldenlightning · 6 years

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An exciting new review experience in three parts! It’s gonna be a long one!

It was only a matter of time until I addressed this elephant in the room: I’m a little bit obsessed with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before — both the Jenny Han novel and the Netflix original movie. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. To All the Boys is the story of Korean-American, high school junior Lara Jean, whose personal love letters to each of the five boys she’s loved are accidentally sent out, all while she’s dealing with the challenges of her older sister leaving for college (and leaving behind an ex boyfriend that Lara Jean has always had an eye for). In an act of mutual damage control, Lara Jean and her former crush Peter Kavinsky enact probably the best (and definitely my favorite) rom-com cliche of all time: they pretend to be a couple.

I received a copy of the book (the first in a trilogy I haven’t read the rest of yet, NO SPOILERS) as a Christmas gift last year, and I read it back around February or March. Now that the Netflix film has taken Twitter the world quite literally by storm, I figured it was time I launched my thoughts right out into the eye of it. So without further ado, here’s everything I have to say about To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, presented in three parts.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before: The Movie

When I’m out of town for the night, Matt has a ritual where he gets a pizza or some snacks and watches a movie I wouldn’t like with the cat. Last week, on a night when Matt was going to be out late and my cat and I were home alone, I decided to do the exact same thing myself (except now I’m pretty sure that he would actually enjoy this movie too). Actually, there are a lot of reasons why this movie is good for EVERYONE, even us “grown ups.” I was feeling a little down on that particular day, and I needed something lighthearted and a little bit indulgent to get my mind off of it, so I put on To All the Boys, because even though I knew I wanted to watch it, I’d been putting it off, in a way.

While some nights since its premier I just didn’t have the time to sit and watch a whole movie, hype scares me away from things. Not in a hipster sense of “If too many people like it, then it must not be good,” but I fear the bandwagon effect. I don’t want to like it just because other people do and I want to fit in. But I have nothing against liking something popular if I actually connect with it. With this movie, I was actually expecting it to be a little cliche, a little cheesy, and a little silly, but in all actuality, it’s just the best rom-com I’ve seen in a really long time. Seriously.

The casting, the characterization, and the pacing all impressed me in their own ways, but what actually stood out to me about the movie was the cinematography and the storytelling choices. I’m not pretending to know anything about movies, but this could have easily been a movie that focused on the plot to give the people what they want: ROMANCE. While that’s still the main focus, the creative direction of the movie really surprised me with the handling of all the side conflicts circling around the main arc. Visually, it was way more interesting than you’d expect from a rom-com: the shots are interesting, and a little bit conceptual, and all meant to capture Lara Jean’s state of mind, not just what she’s doing or what she looks like.

I also give the movie huge props for something a lot of teen movies weirdly fail at, which is writing dialogue that actually sounds the way teens talk. There was no awkward slang, no overly-rehearsed sounding monologues, and even Kitty sounds appropriately mature for her age without going overboard. Even with it’s modern inclusion of social media, To All the Boys actually nailed it in the dialogue department.

I’ve only got one real bone to pick with the writing overall, and that’s the scene in the first act of the movie that, in my opinion, pretty obviously gives away the twist at the end. I read the book; I knew what happened already. But for someone that didn’t, I think they showed their hand too early. (Notice how I’m speaking in generalities to avoid spoilers). The reveal wasn’t explicitly stated, but I think it was too heavily implied. What Kitty says on the couch is enough. If there was a way that the dramatic irony of us knowing the secret that Lara Jean doesn’t could have enhanced the movie, I would have been all for it, but I don’t think they pulled that off. But this is still a small enough gripe not to ruin the movie for me.

And one more thing: the movie didn’t treat really any character as merely an expendable plot device. Lara Jean is and incredibly well-developed protagonist who I came to love almost immediately (how couldn’t I when she daydreams in regency-era period dress?). But the important thing is that we never stop learning about her; not all the information is dumped into exposition, we have to earn our full understanding piece by piece. While I did feel that Gen was reduced a little bit to the “mean girl” stereotype, we do eventually find out why she acts the way she does, and it’s actually a game changer, if only subtly. (Actually, it’s my opinion that the movie needed more Chris, too.)

This is also part of what makes Peter K. such a great character in his own right, not just as “the love interest.” What’s refreshing about Peter is that he’s a softer form of masculine lead that we don’t see too often, but the kicker is that he’s not afraid to show it from the very start (and to be honest, I didn’t get this as strongly from Book Peter). No “tough guy” layers to dig through—his heart’s pretty much on his sleeve, even though he’s still the cool guy all at the same time. Plus, Noah Centineo is a dreamboat (we were all thinking it). I’m telling you, he’s going to be the Chad Michael Murray of his time.

This is unfair and their outfits match.

While of course there wasn’t time for book-length dives into every character, even Lara Jean herself, the characters were portrayed in a way that encourages the audience to make a connection.

https://twitter.com/ivyjune12/status/1037885481302847488

I’m a firm believer that a movie is not a book. Obvious, but what I mean is that a movie doesn’t just have to be a direct retelling of the book in exact detail. In my opinion, if that’s all a movie does, it was unnecessary. I did all that in my head already. What I think makes a great movie adaptation is that it has to have something to say, some interpretation of the characters, plot, and themes, while still capturing the overall idea and spirit of the book from whence it came. I understand the cuts that were made for the sake of real-estate (though I’m hoping a certain deleted kiss surfaces in the sequel I’m praying for). What they did was tailor down the story to make it more self-contained, more refined, and more to the point so that it fit the medium and told they story it needed to tell while really letting us live inside Lara Jean’s head for a while.

But also, how much do you think Subway paid for that product placement?

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before: The Book

You’ll have to excuse my copy of the book, for it has the leftover residue of a “soon to be a major motion picture” sticker that didn’t quite come off all the way. Switching gears, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han is just about everything you want in a YA read: a quirky, relatable (and diverse!) main character, a pseudo-love triangle with ~nuance~, and a family secret or two threatening to fracture some relationships when it erupts. I’d known about the book for a few years (thanks, Tumblr), and I made pretty short work of it once I actually had a copy in my hands. The romance arcs made it a page turner in a lot of ways, with the way they criss-crossed and changed shape and came to a heated point.

That being said, I found the book itself a little slow in places in terms of pacing. It’s on the longer end of the YA spectrum, and while I can’t say I ever lost interest, I got a twinge every now and then when I finished a chapter without learning anything new, per se.

My other issue had much ado about Margot, Lara Jean’s older sister, who, despite not being present for the majority of the story, never truly leaves us. I completely understand why Lara Jean thinks of Margot often: she misses her sister, is distressed about keeping the secret, and worries that she’s not ready to fill Margot’s shoes as a caretaker. But in the book, Lara Jean is so preoccupied with Margot that I have to admit that there were moments I was sick of hearing about her.

What I loved most about the books was that Lara Jean’s romance was surrounded by several subplots dealing with friends, family, responsibility, family, and growing up. While a movie only has so much time before it loses us to sleep or boredom, a book can go on, night after night, expanding the main character’s world that we’re lucky enough to be living in. In the book, we get to see a lot more of what Lara Jean’s mom, and her Korean culture, means to her. We also get to see a lot more of how her family has grown from the past until now, and how they’ve all taken on changes before and after Margot’s departure. And maybe the thing I was the most heartbroken about was the letter in Margot’s desk and all the implications it held. Lara Jean wasn’t the only one with a secret, and I love the complexity it added to the sisters’ relationship.

https://twitter.com/ivyjune12/status/1037856493410897920

If you’re wondering about that Tweet, I was quickly disappointed and then overcame it.

Moving on, I’d be so interested to see what more movies would do with the material we have, because there’s a choice to be made at this point: do they go back and pick up the conflicts they didn’t have time for the first time around, or do they move on to whatever new ideas are hidden inside books 2-3? No matter what happens, sequel or not, the movie has actually really nudged me towards picking up the rest of the series—something I wasn’t totally convinced (Peter Convince-sky? No, but A for effort) I’d do before.

2 Outfits Inspired by Lara Jean Covey

I saved this little bonus section for last, mostly just to amuse myself. It was impossible not to notice how amazing Lara Jean’s style was in the movie; every outfit was a SENSATION and I haven’t stopped thinking about a single one. So, for giggles, I dug around in my closet and came up with the two closest Lara Jean outfits I own.

https://twitter.com/gicatam/status/1035720646196510720

1. Skirts and Stripes

A tried and true Lara Jean combo, a button front skirt paired with a cute (often striped) top can be found during a few scenes in the movie, but I would say I came closest to the airport outfit. While my color scheme is off, the spirit is there: I even braided my hair as much as possible. Fun fact: I am a cartoon character who owns this shirt in two different colors, and these boots are old enough that I can ~almost~ call them vintage (not really).

2. The Pink Power Suit

All right, it’s not a suit, but the soft pink blazer paired with skinny black jeans and a black choker was almost certainly a confidence move for the first ride in Peter’s Jeep. I don’t wear this pink blazer enough, and I wasn’t sure if I’d love it with this outfit because it’s more of a salmon than a blush (I want to introduce my best friend Squidward to everybody in town wearing a salmon suit). Actually, this combo worked out surprisingly well, minus the fact that I’m wearing a literal shoe string as a choker.

Actually, I’ve left the house wearing it like that before, and I love it. Fight me.

^This is the best image I could find of this outfit and I’m bummed about it.

Lara Jean’s style is the perfect combination of vintage revival and current trends, which is really everything I want to be in my life. I’m already making my list of things I need to add to my own closet: a yellow beret, a lot more bomber jackets, a gorgeous red ballgown. Maybe by the end of autumn, I’ll have the full collection. From now on, every time I go shopping, I’m doing so with the motto: “What would Lara Jean wear?”

If you made it to the end of this post, I salute you. Know of any other books/movies with outfits I should try and copy?

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before: Movie, Book, and 2 Lara Jean Outfits An exciting new review experience in three parts! It's gonna be a long one! It was only a matter of time until I addressed this elephant in the room: I'm a little bit obsessed with…

#Book Review #books #Movie Review #Movies #Outfits #Style

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aftgficlibrary · 6 years

Text

Staff Favourites

The top five fics/series of the staff. We hope you love them as much as we do!

Scout:

at the edge of what was by BurningFairytales for SHCombatalade (M | 8,973 | 1/1)

He flips Neil’s phone open and scrolls through the call history. It’s not a long list; his own name is at the bottom, then there’s a call from Nicky one from Dan. There’s an outgoing call from Neil’s phone to Andrew’s – that day they went to Atlanta – and one to a number that isn’t saved but that Andrew recognises as Bee’s.

And then there’s a call from an unknown number, no more than an hour ago.

He wants to call it. He wants to call it and demand where Neil is, wants to find out whoever the number belongs to and bash their head into a wall, break every bone in their body until Neil is back with them.

/Graphic Depictions Of Violence

you say i'm a dreamer, but i'm not the only one. by Idnis (M | 58,350 | 29/29)

Neil Josten wouldn’t say his life was very magical. His dreams on the other hand.

They always seem too real.

And then there's the fact that he finds himself returning to one person's dreams.

Part 1 of you say i'm a dreamer, but i'm not the only one

loving you is muscle memory by Talls (T | 1,452 | 1/1)

Neil has temporary amnesia, and Andrew is disconcertingly attractive. This is especially disconcerting because Neil was pretty sure he didn't swing. Nicky is endlessly pleased by the entire situation.

Fast in My Car by exybee (T | 3,897 | 2/2)

It's four in the morning and Andrew just wants to know how the hell he ended up in the middle of a high-speed police chase with a blue-eyed heartthrob in his passenger seat.

AKA: The Car Thief AU where Neil's not very good at stealing cars, but he's doing a bang up job of stealing Andrew's heart.

the harder you fall by petalloso (G | 17,078 | 2/2)

“The chances of dying on a plane are slim to none,” Neil says casually. “But if it were to crash, you’d be unconscious in a second, and probably dead before we hit the ground.”

Andrew stares at him, mildly baffled. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

Ari:

Nine Weddings and No Funerals by gluupor (T | 28,578 | 10/10)

Neil's just been unceremoniously dumped by his longtime boyfriend before a busy wedding season where it seems like everyone he knows is tying the knot. Desperate not to look like a pathetic loser in front of his ex, he goes along with a plan to bring along a fake boyfriend to the weddings. Since neither Neil nor his date Andrew are interested in pursuing a relationship, there's no chance that anyone's feelings will be hurt.

Surely nothing about this plan will backfire.

a few living things by flybbfly (M | 14,066 | 4/4)

what if a mob boss and the assassin sent to kill him fell in love?

Foxglove Fridays by moonix (T | 4,207 | 1/1)

Every Friday, Neil comes into Andrew's shop to buy flowers.

i'm here right now (just be here right now with me) by Talls (M | Incomplete | 4/7)

Neil first meets Andrew with a racquet to the stomach in a locker room when he's eighteen. Andrew first meets Neil with a hushed conversation on a beach in California when he's five. They still manage to meet on rooftops, fall in love, find family, and heal together, just not quite at the same time and definitely not in the same order.

(In other words, Andrew is the Time Traveler's wife.)

The Real Folk Blues by moonix, nefelibata

(E | 42,365 | 4/4)Captain David Wymack and the bounty hunter crew of the Bebop spaceship might be a little out of their depths chasing down the infamous hacker and notorious runaway Neil Wesninski, whose bounty exceeds even Kevin's wildest dreams. Worst of all, Andrew might actually enjoy it.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

Halley:

Like A River by moonix (T | 65,259 | 8/8)

Andrew was a statistical anomaly. He was both a Seer and a Squib, an unfortunate combination of genetic traits that still somehow got him into Hogwarts. He had both hands full babysitting Kevin Day, resident Quidditch prodigy, after the drama with Riko Moriyama in fifth year, and making sure his brother finished his last year of education after the death of their mother. What he did not need was another stray to take in – Neil Hatford, formerly Nathaniel Wesninski, prominent guest in Andrew's prophetic dreams with his blue, blue eyes and death omens flocking to him wherever he went. What he needed even less was to start pretending they were in a relationship, but then, Andrew never had been very interested in doing what was good for him.

wind me tighter than a wire by ephemeralsky (T | 4,829 | 1/1)

The insufferable man with an incorrigible inclination for drama leans over the bar, his posture relaxed like a cat’s, and asks the woman, “What did you make him?”

“Ginger highball.”

“Hmm.” Turning towards Andrew, he says, “Now you have another ginger to appreciate.”

Andrew keeps his face carefully blank, taking inventory of the man. His eyeliner makes the ridiculous color of his eyes stand out even more, but the auburn hair is just as conspicuous. Andrew isn’t even going to think about his outrageous costume or about his outrageous legs.

“Gingers aren’t my type,” Andrew says, impassive.

(or: Kevin and Andrew are detectives, and Neil is a show boy who knows A Lot of things)

i'm here right now (just be here right now with me) by Talls (M | 12,201 | 1/5)

(In other words, Andrew is the Time Traveler's wife.)

right side of rock bottom by allyasavedtheday (M | 20,019 | 1/1)

Neil thinks it might be the first time he’s taken a breath in days.

He hadn’t realised it because he’d been so caught up in packing and saying goodbye to everyone but now that it’s over he remembers his self-imposed countdown was meant to be up by now. It’s the end of the school year and five months ago, he thought he’d be dead by now.

Instead he has a team and a future and a home and Andrew.

Way Down We Go by nekojita (E | 620,923 | 46/46)

How would things be different if Nathaniel and his mother had been in Seattle early enough to put him in California the same time as Andrew? What if their paths had crossed back then? What if Andrew's first promise wasn't to Aaron but to Nathaniel?

Catherine:

missed call by badacts (T | 5,757 | 6/6)

There was one thing Nathan had always stood by, his personal code – if you were going to go after someone, you went after them. Not their dog, not their parents, and definitely not their partner. He might not have managed to teach that to his henchmen, but he clearly succeeded with his son.

That, and 'a head for an eye'.

Lessons in Cartography by crazy_like_a (E | 121,706 | 37/37)

Nora mentioned in her extra content that Neil slowly maps out Andrew's body and then this fic happened. Starts after The King's Men

The Smallest Exy Player, Now Even Smaller by ionlyloveyouironically (T | 20,654 | 10/10)

Aaron pissed somebody off, which isn't a surprise, but what happens to Andrew in retaliation definitely is.

(Just another beloved-character-gets-magically-turned-into-a-child fic.)

please tell me it's just the fandom freaking out by OneSweetMelody (T | 16,573 | 7/7)

And finally, the Minyard/Josten Rivalry as told through social media.

Neil Josten @neiljos10

Sadly @ajminyard isn’t too excited about that face off

Neil Josten @neiljos10

Maybe @ajminyard will learn how to block an offside bouncer before then. Or any shot.

unsteady by lipsstainedbloodred (T | 808 | 1/1)

Andrew and Neil get into an argument and Neil has a panic attack.

Bea:

Every Choice Leads To You by SpangleBangle for tycutiovevo ( G | 2,809 | 1/1 )

Andrew knew they had to get up at some point, if only for the bathroom, but was loathe to hurry the moment along. He would take every greedy minute of Neil snug in his bed, for as long as he could. It was the choice he’d made years before, and the one he made every day when he saw Neil’s ‘good morning’ smile. He had a feeling it was a choice he’d be making for many years to come. And while that thought should be terrifying, with Neil sweet and content in his arms, fear was far away.

sickeningly sweet (like honey) by broship_addict( M | 30,351 | Incomplete )

Andrew Doe is twelve years old when he walks into Fox's Sweets Shop. Somehow, he leaves with three friends and all of them are Exy-obsessed losers.

Also known as the kid AU in which the Foxes are happy children and Andrew has a crush

The Real Folk Blues by moonix, nefelibata ( E | 42,365 | 4/4 )

Captain David Wymack and the bounty hunter crew of the Bebop spaceship might be a little out of their depths chasing down the infamous hacker and notorious runaway Neil Wesninski, whose bounty exceeds even Kevin's wildest dreams. Worst of all, Andrew might actually enjoy it.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

in reference to motility, please proceed by Saul ( T | 8,283 | 1/1 )

She could be so small, he marveled. She was a cat, sleek and windy. A mouse, whiskers perfect and round ears quivering. A moth, fragile and dusty. A caterpillar, wriggly and colorful. She almost disappears.

“Alex,” his mother chided, her voice low and hand tight around his upper arm, but if she wasn't looking at him it would've taken him a moment to know who she meant. She was scared, she’s terrified, her pupils are dots, even though they were just in the second last row of a near-empty greyhound bus. “Stop playing. Are you listening to me?”

In his hand, Marie turned into a pill bug and curled up tight. He closed his hand around her, making her disappear.

The Continuing Adventures of the Nine-Nine by gluupor ( G | 43,357 | 9 Works | Complete )

A series of short, ridiculous, mostly plotless stories featuring the Foxes as the cops of the Ninety-Ninth Precinct.

Aaron:

corvus, vulpes, lupus by badacts (T | 31,834 | 6/6)

It’s not until Mary dies that she finally does settle. Neil looks away from the car, dazzled by firelight and the sense memory of her daemon breaking apart, and finds silvery speckled fur with jet-black points and reddish eyes the same colour as Nathaniel Wesninski’s hair. Just like that, he knows she won’t shift again

/Graphic Depictions of Violence, /Rape/Non-Con

they used to shout my name (now they whisper it) by badacts, broship_addict, PuckB (M | 46,940 | 5/5)

Neil is a bound witch on the run, making a choice between fleeing, slavery, and death. To Andrew, he looks like a useful weapon - at first.

It turns out that ‘useful’ isn’t all he is.

Funky Happenings with the Fox Family by dobbypussypopper (Not Rated | Incomplete | 10/?)

naughtygayweedcrime: did I rlly just see neil say woke

naughtygayweedcrime: what a surreal timeline we live in

dumbfool: allison is trying to teach me how to meme so I can get hip

naughtygayweedcrime: bless your poor soul

davidwymack: sometimes I regret living

davidwymack has muted exyllent, damnwilds, + 7 others for 30 minutes

Learning To Feel (When You've Forgotten How) by thegirlwiththeprettybrowneyes (T | Incomplete | 13/15)

On the night before his first day of therapy at Easthaven, Andrew blows out his legs and decides he isn't going to bury his feelings anymore, consequences be damned. In return, he gets a schedule change, and a very strange new therapist. /////// "Doesn't mean I wouldn't blow you," Andrew finished, looking anywhere but at Neil's face. Neil looked like he had just realized the sky was blue. "You like me," Andrew sighed. "Yeah," he said, resigned "Yeah, Neil, I like you," /////// No Proust AU

The Fleet Foxes Detective Agency by transandrewminyard (nocturnalboys) (E | Incomplete | 17/18)

In a catastrophic post-1929 Boston, the stock market crash and violent, unpredictable weather have dissolved the young nation known as America. Replacing it, a new lawless world rises, the nation-state of Independence, run by elite families who have the cash and clout to keep their grip on the survivors of the Crash. Andrew Minyard and Renee Walker, private eyes and owners of the Fleet Foxes Detective Agency, are the law, solving crimes in exchange for making their livelihood. When Andrew meets Neil Josten, jazz singer and objectively handsome man, he feels himself falling- into the realm of a new mystery, one that he isn't entirely sure he's prepared to solve, and a case that could radically change Independence forever.

Maz:

forever, for you. by softlightwood (G | 3,584 | 1/1)

The smile splitting Neil’s face in two is a soft thing, gentle and wonderful and the most genuine the expression has ever felt settled into his mouth. “I think you like putting up with me”

“Shut up”

“Make me,” Neil tells him.

“Marry me,” Andrew replies.

down beside my red firelight. by paleromantic (T | 2,052 | 1/1)

"Hey, Andrew?"

Andrew took a deep breath, and then looked over at him. "What is it?"

Kevin raised an eyebrow and hooked his thumb in the jeans he'd put on. "You look like... well, you look like you've gained weight recently."

of cabbages and kings by intrajanelle (T | 12,106 | 4/4)

Andrew is a bored lighthouse keeper on the Forgotten Coast. He tends to his garden, feeds the gang of stray cats that prowls his lawn, and occasionally parents the scrappy town orphan. He doesn’t need anyone else.

Or: Neil Josten moves to town.

Feels Like Wasted Youth by conniptionns, exybee (M | 10,170 | 5/5)

Neil’s current living situation is … complicated.

Between his roommates’ badass rager parties and his neighbors’ constant barging into his apartment, Neil’s sure he can handle anything junior year throws at him

That is, until someone leaves a passive-aggressive noise complaint on his door. Unfortunately for the second floor, Neil has skipped the passive and gone full aggressive.

Or the Neighbors AU featuring post-finals parties, ill-timed fire alarms, and helpful campus squirrels.

Remy:

Sunshine and Moonlight by SpangleBangle (T | Incomplete | 5/?)

Andrew starts regretting signing with the Palmetto Foxes the minute the other athletes start commenting on the form of his familiar, and definitely the second his new team mates start digging for details. Ugh. He just wants to tend to his plants and get through college in peace, even if it is fairly unusual for a witch his age to have a familiar. Whatever. That story is private, and nobody else's business.

we're just strangers by whenwordsflyoffthepage (T | 83662 | 21/21)

AU where Neil is in witness protection but still ends up an Exy junkie, Andrew doesn’t play Exy and needs a fake date to Allison and Renee’s wedding, the Moriyama’s aren’t criminals but Riko is still a dick, and Kevin has been living with his father since age 17 and just wants his friends to stop being dramatic so he can play Exy in PEACE

Once More by AkemiAsh (E | Incomplete | 30/?)

When Neil wakes up in a very familiar car sitting next to a ghost, a little more than 7 years younger, he was more than a little freaked out. Last thing he remembered was going out for Andrew's 25th birthday. He hadn’t been sure what to expect. He hadn’t even been sure why he’d done it. He was left adrift in too tight skin, sitting for hours next to the ghost of his mother in what was apparently a jaunt into the past, but it was ingrained in him to run back to Andrew. Always he orbited around the man who stood between him and any threat. Always he found his way to the man’s side. Now was no exception. He hadn’t really expected for Andrew to know who he was though. As he heard Andrew’s voice say his name, he realized that he’d been expecting a ‘Who is this?’, not a ‘Neil?’. Somehow, the relief he’d felt at hearing it though, was short lived. He was panicking. “Where the fuck are you. I woke up six hours ago in the house in Colombia with Nicky and Aaron. It’s fucking April 22nd, 2003 Neil.”

/Graphic Depictions Of ViolenceRape/Non-Con

The Road To Nowhere by emmerrr (M | 118526 | 30/30)

The population has been decimated by an epidemic, society has fallen, and no one is safe. But Neil has never been safe to begin with. When the death of his mother finally leaves him with nothing left to lose, Neil inadvertently stumbles across a miss-match group of people living and working together despite the odds. Sometimes it takes the apocalypse to find out where you truly belong; the hard part is holding onto it. And when so much of him is held together by lies, Neil might have to learn that you can never outrun your past indefinitely.

/Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Beth:

All we need is somebody to lean on by AgapantoBlu (T | 33,196 | 14/14)

“Stuff came up,” he said, in a voice that let no doubts about how much goodness could be in such stuff. None. “It involves my parents and a courtroom.”

Nicky didn’t react while saying those words, but Matt flinched enough for both of them. Once more, he didn’t know the details, but he knew, just like all the other Foxes, that Luther and Maria Hemmick figured in the register of campus security as “unwanted: forbidden entry”.

The Kids Are Alright (Now) by Marmeladeskies for BakaDoll (T | 13,098 | 10/10)

When they're two years old, Aaron and Andrew are adopted together- and it changes the course of their fate drastically.

A story about scars, healing, dogs, and the little boy with the auburn curls who just moved in next door.

raze it to the ground by ilgaksu for badacts (T | 4,511 | 1/1)

It stops being about Neil entirely, and it starts being about this: Andrew is really, really fucking tired.

Part 1 of the long way down

I'm Here (Except When You're Not) by LittleWonderly (E | Incomplete | 13/?)

He’s going to leave. The thought raged it way through Kevin’s mind so fiercely it burned. He’d thought it for months, he’d imagined a hundred different ways before falling asleep but he was not prepared for the moment, not even close.

Kevin graduates from the Foxes and has to leave behind everything that he has come to know. His new family, both blood and not. His partners. With the absence of all he has come to rely on, is being alone something Kevin can survive?

Chasing the Night to See the Stars by ChasingSunlight (Not Rated | 62,746 | 34/34)

Jean Moreau comes to the Trojans a broken man. The Trojans, for their part, decide that broken does not mean unlovable.

\ Rape/Non-Con

Félix:

we might be hollow (but we're brave) by stttmsbwa (M | 40,681 | 4/4)

Andrew is looking to live his life in peaceful nothingness, but his new neighbor's cat won't stop sneaking onto his balcony. As much as he tries to not make it into something, Andrew finds himself drawn to the mysterious and tempting man next door. Neil is just trying to find a reason to not leave Palmetto after everyone else has moved on. But he never thought he would want to run toward something in favor of running away. (In a slightly different world, two people find themselves meeting in a softer setting and in just as much need of each other. A story about dealing with pasts, sharing secrets and a cat who is an asshole yet manages to charm everyone around it.)

be neither fish nor fowl by KING (pelted) (T | 26,363 | 1/1)

They found it in the locked room of a Royal Navy's vessel, The Fox waiting to take her crew and their new spoils across the deep blue. It was beautiful. It was rarer than any diamond. “A mermaid,” Dan laughed, taking a step back and sweeping her hat off her head to hold to her chest. “They were transporting a mermaid.”

It was going to make them rich. ( wherein the Foxes are pirates, Neil has gills, and no one quite trusts the magic. )

Part 1 of Fear No Fall

bloom (just for you) by godotco (M | 7,592 | 4/4)

For lack of any better explanation for what was happening, Neil was in uncontrollable full bloom. - A little slice of witch au turned flower shop au

you take the fucking cake. by Idnis (T | 12,284 | 1/1)

In which Kevin takes baking way too seriously, Andrew makes cookies and Neil learns to bake, and to stay

Show Me How You by smokesprite ( Not Rated | 6,825 | 1/1)

"They thought they would stop the show; they thought they could cut the act, but Neil had been sulking around too long now to not know where all the necessary equipment was. He was a ghost, and he would do the ghost dance, goddammit." Neil is a ghost with a house to haunt, but the Moxie Foxy Burlesque Troupe refuses to be chased off. If you can't beat em...join em.

#masterlist #staff faves #andreil #andrewminyard #andreil fanfic #andreil fanfiction #neiljosten #jerejean #jerejean fanfic #jerejean fanfiction #kandreil #aftgflrec

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cutebutstillsingle · 3 years

Text

What to do when your boyfriend refuses to talk to you

My last ex boyfriend was somebody who I thought at the time I deeply loved and admired. Part of my heart will always have these feelings, perhaps. He was by no means perfect; but there was a lot that I loved about him.

In the past year, I’ve read a LOT of books that have shed a lot of light about...

why people behave the way they do towards others. And it has given me some insight on how to approach challenging communication in relationships.

In the case of me and my ex, JB, I’m the one who initiated ending that relationship because when Covid got really bad my whole entire life crashed and burned against my will. I felt really insecure, literally. I watched myself get laid off after working a 13-year arguably rare career in a very specific industry. And I didn’t know if I’d find another respectable job anytime soon & be able to support myself after watching what COVID did to the industry I was working in. I’ve been financially independent since I was 17 years old; so my survival is truly on me, 100%. (for the record I was right-- I did not find another full-time job in my industry for another 8 months).

Since I found myself jobless and in genuine survival mode, and noticed myself really stressing out, I thought “maybe this is not the best timing to be in a romantic relationship”. Reasonable enough, right?

I was also observing how my ex was responding to my unemployment stress and fear. He was hardly supportive or emotionally available. And I began to question if he was really the ideal partner in that regard. If he couldn’t hang emotionally for problem #1 of our relationship, it didn’t exactly bode well for long-term potential.

I have since learned, again, a LOT, about the human tendency to respond to others. And I now know that if I had to live that situation over again, I would have responded to his response to me in a completely different way and with a lot more maturity and understanding.

But ultimately, if I’m concerned about my basic survival, what the fuck am I doing in a romantic relationship, yenno? So I (foolishly and rashly, in retrospect) initiated ended things. While it may have indeed been rash, it was not a totally irrational train of thought.

But here’s what happened next.

What happened next is that he decided to curse me out, then stonewall me and completely refuse to speak to me any further. He completely refused to have an adult conversation, like a grown adult man; so that he could hear my entire perspective of about why I didn’t think it best to be in a relationship at that point. And how I was feeling, etc. At the time that I dumped him, I just dumped him and I didn’t really give any true details why. There’s a mistake I will never repeat again. But hey, live and learn.

But less than 24 hours later after most of my fear subsided (dumping him was like a pressure release valve on a lot of over-built anxiety), I dropped back down into my rational brain. And I regretted making such a quick and “final” decision.

The truth in actuality is that nothing is final until both people decide it’s final; and the truth is that a lot of couples take a break, take space, and get back together after they smooth some wrinkles out and think things through. I will say, sometimes you have to take some serious space from the things you love to fully realize just how much you actually love them.

In response to him stonewalling me, I responded by trying to write him a letter, which is what some dating coaches suggest a girl ought to do when her boyfriend refuses to hear her out. Well fuck that advice-- I don’t think he read the letter to this very day.

Dating coaches also recommend that you take a full 72 hours of no contact if any disagreements with your partner gets really emotionally intense.

STRATEGY 1: 72 HOURS OF SEPARATION + come back and discuss + are you forcing me to figure it out on my own?

I didn’t know that at the time. But having lived through my experience, I say give space up to 72 hours tops, and make a non-negotiable agreement that by day 4, the problem must be addressed, assuming no one is in legitimate danger; and your partner must be willing to communicate, or you will have no choice but to “figure something out on your own”. Especially if the solution involves continuing on in your relationship. This time-sensitivity should motivate him to respond accordingly if he’s smart. But sometimes they’re not the sharpest marbles in the drawer.

if the 72 hours rule doesn’t work, I recommend every female try this assuming your boyfriend is being an immature idiot and refuses to talk to you or listen to you. There is a lot of information online from dumb men to other men about how to manipulate or respond to women in dating scenarios. And trust me when I say that advice is not produced in a woman’s favor. So listen up, my sistren.

If your boyfriend refuses to hear you out & talk to you like a grown ass man after the 72 hour rule, you schedule an appointment with his mom, dad, sibling, his best friend, or someone else from within his inner circle of trust instead of trying to talk to him.

That’s right. Just bypass him altogether; if he’s not man enough to speak to you, and you remain dissatisfied but determined to try and solve problems and make your relationship last, move up the chain of command in his “emotional support family”, if you will, so that you can be heard like the respectable adult you deserve to be regarded as.

Let me be clear-- you are not welcomed to march in there like a psycho and go off-- you need to request a meeting with your person of choice, and remain calm, collected, and almost business-like. With gentle power, be determined to be heard. The goal is that anyone besides yourself, who genuinely cares about this guy, and has half a brain and heart, knows the full truth of the situation, not just his version of the truth. Because otherwise, all everyone on his side will ever hear is his victimized boo-hoo, woe-is-me or “fuck that bitch, she’s crazy” version of his filter on the actual truth.

Do note that this strategy may not work if his people are too immature, emotionally detached, or emotionally dysfunctional in any way. But if his people are reasonable, skip him & move up that household chain of communication.

At least then, you know you can walk away with your head held high, having been heard. And at least they will know you genuinely loved their son, you weren’t some crazy bitch, you actually cared about him, & you tried to fix shit.

There’s always the possibility that they will talk some sense into him later, or that you might learn to understand him better through the eyes of the people who love him and have known him his whole life if they offer you any insight.

There’s also the chance they may side with him & hate on you, too. I have a best friend whose mom told her own son (my friends boyfriend at the time) “Son, you don’t deserve a woman like (my friend)”. And it actually drove him to dump her because he had weak ego boundaries in the face of his overbearing mother.

But if a man’s emotional support posse sides with him in encouraging him to bail on the relationship, that’s your very clear answer that it’s time to walk away— they’re all nuts, or none of them like you, he’s weak and would have always chosen them over you instead of adding you to the family, and now you know the truth. Go where you’re celebrated and embraced.

If he wants to act like a boy, then what do you do? You do what kids are trained to do-- Tell on him. Tell his mama, or a sibling, or his best friend. Except you’re going to do it like a woman. With maturity, poise, and rationality. From the space of “I have a problem and I need the help of my boyfriend’s closest loved ones to fix it”.

If you have to go to his house to make this appointment, make it very clear that you’re not there to talk to him— you’re there to talk to his mother/sibling/father in private. Person to person, they should have the heart and mind to know that you’re there trying to defend a beautiful relationship with your boyfriend. For your boyfriend. And if your boyfriend said anything emotionally damaging to you in the process of this argument/ issue, now is also the time to tell the person that he said that shit, and that you didn’t appreciate it. Because chances are high that if he won't even talk to you, he probably didn’t tell any of his people the cruel and heartless shit he said to you. This is not a plea to make him look like the bad guy, which you can outright say. We all make mistakes and say things we don’t mean. but it’s just an opportunity to shed light on the truth. Because if things end between you two, chances are high there will be another girl coming to walk down the same path as you. And if he repeats the same mistakes with her, too, they’ll see the patterns.

So there it is, ladies. If your boyfriend is acting like an immature jerk, and won’t talk to you, talk to his people.

#boyfriend problems #relationship problems #communication #maturity #why am I still single #relationship advice #problem solving #he won't talk to me #best friend #family #girlfriend #boyfriend #partner #the crew #his people

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blyanten · 6 years

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THE DUCK AVENGER PK2: #15 THE TRUE ENEMY

AKA “Kids, I'm going to tell you an incredible story: The story of how I met your mother”

Right now, the Avenger is wearing a hole in Lyo’s carpet. As per status quo, he’s still confused as to what Everett is up to. They used to be friends, now they’re enemies, except when they’re allies… sometimes Everett seems to be what he presents himself as, an entrepreneur who created an economic empire thanks to his inventions or a criminal with some kind of planet-wide scheme.

Lyo finishes the sentence, pointing out that the Avenger has been repeating this over and over again for weeks. Lyo also thinks the Avenger is starting to sound like Agnus. Rude.

The Avenger takes a moment to ask for Lyo’s opinion, but he can’t add much. He has collected everything they have on Everett in the computer, so they have it easily accessible. So we get a quick summary of Everett’s greatest hits, microchips in the brain, weird antennas, the North Pole thing… nothing that seems friendly, and yet nowhere near the kind of devastation Everett could manage if he wanted to.

And then there’s Korrina and Juniper. The Avenger notes despite Korrina’s hostility, he owes her his life. Then there’s the seemingly sweet Juniper, who more and more seems to give no fucks about anyone but herself. The body-switch incident was an eye-opener on that.

The Avenger decides it’s enough. They need to start somewhere if they’re going to figure this out, and they’re going to start with the device from the North Pole. But first they have to find it.

Over at Ducklair Enterprises, Everett is telling his two underlings that they better make sure said device gets where it’s supposed to go, Ducklair Enterprises. Birgit Q is responsible for transport. Anymore Boring will be the one to receive it, and make sure there’s a lab ready.

The minions leave that meeting needling each other, while Everett throws a pity party.

Even excluding genuine accidents, at least 60% of that is still your own fault.

Everett notes that “family” is an inappropriate term for him and Juniper, before starting a rant about how he’s super-rich, and can basically ruin entire countries if he wanted to. But what he really wants is a family of mutual love and support.

Instead he was forced to abandon everything, home planet, his wife, to save his daughters, with the result that Juniper barely speaks to him and who knows where Korinna is?

We do, of course. Korinna is busy training the kids she’s responsible for to be perfect little robots. She warns them she can see them no matter where they are, and sends them in to be with their parents and a family friend.

Said family friend has a dog, who just can’t wait to play with the two kids again, but the kids inform their parents and friend that they can’t waste time on useless animals. They should only focus on important things.

The adults react accordingly.

At Duckmall, the competition to be boss is heating up. Donald claims he hasn’t thought of it, but Fitzroy calls him a liar. Rupert also has his mind on other things, like his date with Stella. He leaves them to it. As does Donald, who really has more important things to worry about.

Lyo has located the device. It’s just been delivered at the pier, where a small army and Birgit is waiting for it. The Avenger tries to come up with a plan, but he’s spotted by some security robots. No that he’s busted, he decides to just punch his way through.

Birgit tries to shoot him, and she’s not really open for talking about this either. She’s not letting him get in the way, and uses a secret weapon to trap the Avenger in a “blob-ball”, and then dropkick him into the sea.

I just love the confused seagulls. It’s the kind of detail that just makes a page.

At Ducklair Manor, Everett has straight up trashed his office, and freaked out Juniper more than a little from the looks of it.

And so the lord said to ye... you’re really not helping your case here.

He then decides it’s time for some real talk with Juniper. Juniper says it’s not the time, but Everett insists. While it might be difficult for him to talk about this, especially with Juniper unwilling to listen… Juniper interrupts, declaring it her fault and asking if that makes him happy.

Not really.

Everett took them from their home, their mother, and them brought them to Earth where he forced them to grow up in a machine. He stole entire years from them.

Everett objects, saying that while that’s what it looks like, he was forced to. He grabs Juniper, who tells him to let her go. He does, and Juniper goes back to her chair. Everett takes another one, finally getting to the point. He’d like for Korinna to be there too, but since that’s not possible, he at least wants to explain the situation to Juniper.

Now, what does she remember about Corona?

Juniper says it was beautiful, and Everett agrees. Corona had managed to balance technology and nature, leading to a high quality of life and welfare. This was the result of centuries of hard work, lead by a rigidly structured government.

There was the Queen, who had final word on every law, and was elected by a parliament, composed of representatives from every city state on Corona. One more, important detail, every member of the government had to be a woman.

I just love this throne room.

Because, while all Coronans have mental powers, the women were much stronger, capable of controlling their emotions in order to make decisions for the common good, ignoring the suffering of individuals, even if it was family, or themselves.

This, of course, required a lot of traning.

FINALLY.

Everett was hunting insects with a freeze gun, as you do, and a fascinating one just landed on their mom’s shoulder. She seems unimpressed by his explanation, so he introduces himself, Everett Ducklair, aeronautical scientist, and she has to be a new member of parliament, following the course of emotional self-control.

Since she wasn’t startled when he shot at her, he challenges her to a “see who laughs first” contest.

Dork.

So, at a guess, women are supposed to be in control of themselves at all times and they’re in charge of all politics... wonder if that has a side effect of expecting guys to be less mature? I mean, if the deal is that they literally can’t reach the level of self-control women can, then you might get a society that basically takes “girls mature faster than boys” even further than RL earth does.

*points at Weight of Memories* I mean, Everett was pretty much adopted.

She laughs, then argues that making faces isn’t fair. True, but if making faces is all it takes to make you crack, you might wanna work a little harder on that self-control thing. He offers to buy her a djufango shake as an apology. She agrees and introduces herself as “Serifa”.

Actually, you introduced yourself as Everett, but whatever.

Everett tells Juniper that he fell hard for Serifa, sure that underneath the cold exterior there was a living heart, full of feelings. My, aren’t we poetic. They started seeing each other, and soon became lovers.

Two moons.

Over time, both moved up in the world, but managed to keep a happy life together.

Until it turned out that queen Artana V had secretly created a family. The queen was not supposed to have a husband or children, she was supposed to be entirely focused on the responsibility of command. Artana didn’t have complete control of her feelings, and that was a real scandal. The queen had to resign and the parliament had to chose a new queen.

All the parliament members wanted to be elected, Serifa included.

You’re both so selfish. The complete lack of regard for what the other one might be feeling... which she points out, to be fair, but looking at this entire issue, I’m not gonna be surprised if the attitude is common on this planet.

You know, if you want to be chosen for a job that demands no emotion, no family ties whatsoever… maybe dump your boyfriend. Or at least not have him pick you up. Having a Plan B is nice and all, but not when Plan B straight up disqualifies you from said job. Find a new one later, if you fail.

And it seems kinda mean to not break up when what you really want is… well, definitely not a family. Though, I think world building wise, it could make sense that people try to live as normally as possible, even with the strict emotional control, but if they get a shot at being queen, it’s accepted that they drop all emotional ties to be the queen.

But even if that’s true, if the choice is between woman A, who has a boyfriend, and Woman B, who doesn’t, I figure woman B just earned herself a crown.

Serifa is unhappy at not being chosen, while Everett is thrilled. He had other plans, which would have been sadly interrupted if Serifa had been chosen as queen.

That same night he proposes.

I get the impression these two are not on the same level when it comes to this relationship.

Serifa gets over her disappointment real quick though, and is seemingly happy to accept the proposal. So they get married, buy a house and have kids, because that’s what you do, I guess. The happiness lasts for a few years more, and then the problems started.

Everett and the girls were outside and they found an animal. Korinna and Juniper takes it with them home, asking Serifa if they can keep it. She says no, telling them to go study. She and Everett then has a fight.

Everett doesn’t see anything wrong with letting the kids get used to caring for animals, while Serifa does. How can the kids learn to be as unemotional as their culture demands if Everett goes around teaching them to care?

On one hand, there’s no way every woman can be a member of the government, so the same level emotional control might not be necessary for all of them, even if it’s probably something most want to achieve on some level, or at least it is expected of them even if they don’t go into government.

And a world like this, with a single queen as the final arbiter of law, where people are expected to supress emotion and where the greater good is explicitly more important than individual people has to be fairly authoritarian. Standing out in a way that’s not generally approved of might be really bad for you, so you might end up with a question of not just a career in government vs. emotional health, but your life in general vs. emotional health.

That’s enough speculaion, I think.

The main reason Everett is causing problems is that after the scandal with Artana V, the Parliament has decided that future members of the government must be educated more severely than before. And whatever that means for the general population, it does mean that anyone who really wants their kids to have a chance at being queen is going to have to step up their game.

So Serifa does. Korinna and Juniper will be isolated from their peers and home schooled, under her supervision. So she throws out all their toys and brings in a robot to teach them.

Everett apparently have no say in this. A general thing on Corona, or just this family?

As soon as Everett has the chance, he allows the kids to play video games and programs the robot-teacher so that when Serifa checks, it will look like the kids did the work they were supposed to.

That seems like a bad idea, both education wise, even is mom is going nuts, you still need one, and because all Serifa has to do is ask the kids a question about their schoolwork.

Or because eventually, mommy’s going to come home early.

But who could have predicted this?

Everett takes the blame, to Serifa’s complete lack of surprise. Everett again starts objecting to their daughters’ education depending on a robot, which is currently sweeping the floor. Serifa says this nonsense is over, and they should all follow her.

She brings them to her home office and shows them what the Parliament has planned. They’ve chosen 20 girls, one of which will become queen in the future. To make sure they won’t get up to what Artana V did, the girls will be put to sleep inside an experimental machine that will teach them all the facts they need to rule, and no emotion whatsoever.

Oh, the irony.

Serifa has made sure both Korinna and Juniper are among the 20 girls.

So what happens if they don’t get chosen? Actually, since there’s only one queen anyway, what happens to the 19 that don’t get chosen? Is it a heir and spare deal, except it’s a queen and her 19 spares? Or “hey, at least one of them has to come out right”?

Everett did not agree to this, but the new queen has already made it a law.

Well, I think that answers my previous question about parental rights.

The very next day, a special squad will come to pick up the girls and take them to a secret place to begin the treatment. So that’s a no on this being something you can volunteer your kids for. Serifa insists that one of the girls will be able to have what she didn’t.

So, either this obsession was brought on by the opportunity, or she’s been playing a real long game. Either way, it’s time to get the hell out of there. That night, Everett makes sure Serifa won’t notice by putting some kind of force field around their bed, as he takes the kids and runs.

He takes the kids to the research center he’s in charge of, where he was working on a prototype for an intergalactic spaceship that had yet to be tested. So experimental machine vs. untested spaceship!

Everett chose the planet most like Corona, in the closest galaxy, and, well, we know how that went.

That seems like the obious place to look as soon as anyone notices the missing spaceship, but time was definitely an issue here.

In the present, Everett finishes his story, hoping Juniper will understand. She asks him to leave, seeming confused by the new information. Everett does, also hoping he’ll get to tell Korinna what happened as well.

Korinna is putting her charges to bed, taking away their toys and turning off the light against the kids’ wishes, telling them they’ll be punished if they disobey her.

The kids’s father, having noticed the strange behavior earlier, seems to have been keeping an eye on them, and goes in to the kids, turning the light back on. He says he’ll talk to “Judith” tomorrow.

This seems like a reflection of Serifa and Everett. Korinna, not knowing what happened back then, is acting like the parent she thinks she can still trust, and that’s Serifa. Which is tragic when the exact thing they’re furious at ther father for is something their mother would have done on purpose.

Meanwhile, the kids’s father is clearly the one we’re supposed to side with, and he’s basically acting like Everett would. Which feels... okay yeah, he’s the better parent, compared to the low bar Serifa set here, buuut...

The story Everett is telling here is info Juniper should have been given the moment she was lucid enough to understand it. It’s understandable that it’s a difficult conversation to have. You know what is probably more difficult? Waking up on a different planet, having gone from a small child to an adult over night, and then realizing your father took you away from everything you knew for... reasons! And also, your sister, who was with you when you father kidnapped you, is missing.

Of course, it would have been a way less dramatic reveal if this came earlier, considering that it answers several of the driving questions of this arc.

¯\_(ツ)_ /¯

And character wise, Everett making a mess of personal relationships is not something I’m gonna argue with.

Still, the reflection of Korinna and what’s-his-name to Serifa and Everett as bad parent, good parent, feels kind of hollow, but taking it as an echo of the simpler times of the past, it still works.

Back at the docks, the Avenger has managed to get out of the blob and back on land. He takes off after Birgit and the alien device, and now he’s the one who’s done messing around.

At least there’s no one else on the road.

He blasts them. They shoot back, and when he tries talking, Birgit runs him over. He’s fine, hiding behind a shield, but not the shooting war in on. The Avenger manages to slow down the truck Birgit’s in, but they crash, straight into Duckmall.

Fitzroy is rather confused.

Birgit and driver gets the car back out of the mall, but end up crashing into the trailer they’re escorting. The Avenger, seeing that the two are fine, takes the opportunity to look inside the trailer, hoping to grab the device.

It’s empty.

Birgit shows up again, aiming a gun at him, but is as surprised as he is when he asks if she often spends this much effort defending empty trailers.

She had no idea what’s going on, and finally admits that despite working for and with Everett for a long time now, she doesn’t know him at all. And now he’s even made a fool out of her by not trusting her with what he was really doing. This seems to be the final straw of… something, as sits down on her knees, tells the Avenger she doesn’t know anything anymore and to please leave.

Everett’s people skills in action.

The next day at Duckmall, Fitzroy uses the situation last night to pretend he was a hero. Donald is annoyed, but still has other things on his mind.

Korinna is having a bad start to her day, as she’s being fired. She’s not allowed to say goodbye to the kids, but when she notices the two staring at her from a window, she gives them a wave, before walking away crying.

And she really liked that job too.

At Ducklair Manor, Juniper is also crying. Because she’s still processing what Everett told her or because Korinna is?

And at Century, the Avenger is asking the same questions as he was at the beginning.

#pkna #duck avenger #comic #review #sort of #for fun #pk2

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riverdaleroundup · 6 years

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Riverdale Roundup: 2x05 “ When A Stranger Calls”

Alright here I am once again, watching this damn show almost a week late. I honest to god don’t really remember what happened last time.

Oh right the Black Hood gave Betty a call and was like “ Hey girl, it’s me. Ya boy”. And he’s all like your sisters Uterus is FULL of sin so like if you don’t behave i’m going to kill that bish.” Alice comes in and assumes Betty is on the phone with her boyfriend like a normal girl instead of a mystery psycho killer and is like okay “ I pretended to like your boyfriend for like 3 minutes but honestly you should dump him. “

The writers remember that Betty and Archie are supposed to be freinds and they walk to school together and Betty is like I have tea to spill. Archie is like “you gotta go to the police” and Betty is like” nah i’m good. I’m fifteen and a grown up so like I can handle a literal murderer.”

So the Lodge family is gathered in Daddy's study and plotting about getting some other richie rich family to give them money for their SoDale(?) project and i’m like I STILL don’t know what the fuck that is.

Jughead meets up with the cast off B league teenage string of the South Side Serpents and it’s confirmed to me that Dilton confirmed did stab himself like a little attention seeking whore. I was unsure about that. So the Serpents think that the next reasonable step after the rumble at midnight with the Riverdale high school Bulldogs is to blow up a LITERAL building. That makes good sense. The slithery little snakey snakes are all like “ we aren’t the bad guys and to prove it to you we’re going to blow up the local newspaper with a pipe bomb our bros cousin made in his garage.”

Veronica starts going off about her old life with this Nicky bish back in nam where they went on crazy adventures and stayed up all night and i’m like oh last year? When you were 14?

Jughead rolls up to the South side Serpent bar and is like ‘okay i’m in put me in the gang’, and they’re like “ okay but first we’re going to haze you like you’re a pledge at Alpha Sigma Phi at Centeral Florida State University. “

The black hood is all like “Betty publish this story about your mother and her past on the south side” but like he literally sends her a newspaper clipping from back in the day. So don’t people already know about this? Why is it a big deal? Riverdale is small and gossipy as we’ve already seen so like did no one read the newspaper that day or did Alice gather them all up and burn them before anyone got their morning paper from their doorstep?

The Sinclairs roll up and “ Nicholas” as Veronica calls him at least 11 times in the span of this 45 second scene is like “ this hotel sucks” and Veronica is like “ The five seasons is lovely.” So this is supposed to be a play on the four seasons which are VERY fancy hotels. In what world would a town like Riverdale have anything close a four seasons or anything close to the kind of apartment that the Lodges live in? Nicholas should be complaining about having to stay at a Best Western or as this show would probably call it a Best Eastern or some bs like that, because that is far more plausible and riverdale is nothing if not completely plausible. So where do I know this Nicholas guy from? Okay so I JUST discovered that his name is St. Clair and not Sinclar. Fucking sue me. I’m not going back to change it. that’s just too much work and I literally could not care less. He was that kid DJ in XOXO and in Staten Island summer. Oh shut the fuck up he was in 13! The musical. That’s fucking hilarious. Mirder me.

So Alice (whose bangs are once again different and I can’t handle it omg pick a style and stick to it) is all like Betty did you write this letter yourself for attention you sneaky little bish. Honestly it’s not going to shock me if the person who is calling Betty isn’t the real black hood and just someone fucking with her. How iconic would it be if it was Cheryl being like “ you threatened me in the bathroom so now i’m going to ruin your whole fucking life”. That would honestly make sense. So either Alice or Betty are getting Black Hood notes from a copy cat. OR there are two blackhoods. Who the hell knows?

Archie is in his bedroom pumping iron because you know he’s a man.

Jughead is trying to learn the serpent pledge and honestly shouldn’t it just be like “ I promise to share and be a friend” ala the girl guides. That’s so much simpler. So Jughead has to take care of hot dog and get spat on while what’s his face screams in his face and to top that all off he has to put his hand in the Rattle snake enclosure and i’m like okay i’m out. No gang for me. Toni calls Jughead Juggie and honestly i’m cringing.

Betty keeps coming for her mother and i’m like chill bish.

Veronica, Nick, and Archie are hanging out in her bedroom and it’s the strangest trio ever. Veronica turns down a line of coke because she’s too full from eating copious amounts of pasta at dinner i’m sure.

If Betty could change her ring tone I would be like SUPER grateful. Okay thanks. She finds out she would recognize the face under the hood and i’m like no shit don’t like 11 people live in this town? The black hood is like “ I’m your only friend so cut Veronica loose” and not going to lie that’s totally something I would do.

Jughead and Betty greet each other like they’re coming back from war in the middle of Pops dinner and they both just sit across the table from one another and feed each other lies. So healthy. So not annoying.

Nick is throwing a party and Cheryl is like fuck you all i’m coming to this thing. She’s Riverdale’s “ Resident IT girl” and she wants EVERYONE to know it.

It’s like three minutes into the party and Nick is like “ you’re friends are boring let’s all get high” and Veronica is like let’s pretend to be normal and i’m like is it normal that 15 year olds get high in hotel suite off pixie stick esque mystery drugs?

Betty tears Veronica a new asshole and is honestly SUPER harsh but honestly pretty honest and i’m like Betty did you have to be so brutal? But whatever. Into it.

Toni rolls up to warn Jughead about joining the gang but all I could focus on was the dog in the background.

Nick is coming on to Veronica and she’s like lol we’re friends, no bro. Then he’s like “listen up bitch. If you don’t blow me i’m going to tell my daddy to tell your daddy to go fuck himself.” So like yikes.

The black hood is like defs not #Teambughead and is like okay Betty dump him. She’s like shit, and basically begs Archie to break up with Jughead for her and I would be judgy but I once made my sister quit my job for me so like bitches in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

So Alice rolls up to this gala in a very TS style fashion owning the snake label in a romper that basically goes down to her belly button. She promptly tells her good for nothing husband to shut up and continues to act as if she owns the place. I love it.

Nick is like “ omg so sorry for trying to blackmail you into sleeping with me V. I’ve been to rehab btw” and Veronica is like “ Okay we can be BFFs again. Let’s drink some ginger ale.”

Archie breaks up with Jughead for Betty in front of his whole new posey and it’s ice cold. The Serpent's proceed to beat the living shit out of Jughead and i’m like cute. Best way to gain loyalty from your new member.

Nick and Cheryl are chatting and it’s going well until he’s like “ hmmm she seems into me. Guess I’ll roofie her.” Like what the actual fuck you monster?

Josie and the Pussycats + Veronica decide to pull out a cover of a song from Rent and i’m like i’m not mad but why? It just seems like such a random choice. They note Nick taking a clearly fucked up Cheryl “ out for some air” and i’m like are you not in a literal tent?

They run through the halls of the 5 seasons and discover a master set of keys because all hotels just leave those hanging around. They rescue Cheryl and beat the living shit out of Nick which like good on you but that’s like super illegal and he’s so the type to lawyer up with Daddys money.

Black Hood tells Betty to go to this abandoned house to find out who he is and i’m like bitch this is SUCH a bad idea. Obviously he was never going to tell her who he is. Like what did she expect she’d put the mask on turn around and be like “ OLD MAN SMITHERS!” like this is some Scooby Doo type shit? Clearly not you silly bish.

Okay so we all gather around Cheryls bedside and Archie is ready to go FULL red circle on Nick and honestly betty is almost just sitting there like “ why am I here?”

Toni and Jughead admire his new tattoo while he ices his now fucked up face and then suddenly they're making out and i’m like okay murder me i’m not here for this.

Black Hood is like “ Betty what the fuck you’ve been telling Archie we’ve been wheeling! That’s so rude. I’m going to murder your whole family if you don’t give me the name of someone to murder” and she’s like “ Nick the would be rapist” and black hood is like “ yas good one. We are totes twins.”

Boom. Episode over. There’s a new episode in like two days so like a bitch will be back.

#riverdale #riverdale roundup #Bughead #jughead jones #betty cooper #archie andrews #veronica lodge #the cw #the cw riverdale

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