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dropsofletters · 5 months

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what's up, mr. hollywood?

—SUMMARY: if someone hasn’t heard about jeon wonwoo, they must be living under a rock. one of the grandest stars in hollywood, face to rom-coms and thrillers, shows the spectrum of a real celebrity. though, that is ruined when a bitter ex-girlfriend decides to drop pictures of him almost naked for the world to see, splitting it in half—should he just do an underwear campaign or disappear from the limelight for good?

so, he decides to travel to the most secluded villa he can find, and in there, he happens to fall in love with books and a certain librarian who speaks too much and still, leaves him with too little information about her.

eager to get to know her more, wonwoo forgets that he’s actually a celebrity and that reality must strike at their door one day. hopefully, not any time soon.

—TITLE: what’s up, mr. hollywood?

—PAIRING: jeon wonwoo x reader

—GENRE: glimpses of notting hill!au ; strangers to lovers!au ; celebrity!au ; actor!au ; idiots in love!au ; librarian!au ; bookstore!au

—TYPE: fluff ; angst if you squint ; suggestive if you squint ; humor given by jun’s character lol

—WORD COUNT: 13,270 words

—NOTE: this was a kofi request! if you want to support me, you can ask me to write something for you over there.

He could get tied down by the diamonds that wrap around the wrists of the women that transcend in his life, like the pieces of paper of a script that he never really imagines in his list of cinematography. That way, it would be easier to wake up in West Hollywood, in a mansion so big that—sometimes, though he won’t admit—he gets lost in the rooms. Wonwoo wouldn’t have to think twice on promising with a band a supposed forever that ends in five months. Like everything in this plastic world does.

Wonwoo could get used to the sweet taste of fame, that bathes the gold of his latest Oscar for a film he knows will follow him to the grave. The flashing of lights, the egotistical boosting and the screaming voices that grant him the benefit of leading a generation while he feels inherently lost. Pursuing a fraction of what he was able to give through three years of pressure for completing only two hours of film, applauded by the critics, but now a shadow he will always have to follow, mimic and surpass.

He could get used to being famous.

He could.

The truth is, Wonwoo isn’t, doesn’t and won’t. He’s there, then he’s not. It’s been like that for nine days now. Spank Magazine! Decided it would be a great idea to plaster him in his most delicate and reckless state. Wonwoo had been sharing a few summers with the same woman, Courtney, a love that never really translated into nothing more than a week together, drinks to be shared, kisses to be yearned for and then, he’d leave London. With nothing to seek for other than the faint breeze that is the complete opposite of the blaring sun in Hollywood, and the idea that he has someone waiting for him in case he feels lonely in between films.

The drinks must have gotten heavy, or Wonwoo isn’t really as smart as he grants himself to be. Always. He thought he’d never miss a step and he almost hears his manager, Sandara, laughing at him straight at his face. If only she wasn’t trying to erase the image of Wonwoo looking out of a window in white boxers in some secluded penthouse in central London. This summer, it seemed like Courtney wanted something else. Fame.

He hadn’t realized the picture had been on her iPhone, neither did he think that the moment he got off his plane that took him back home he would have to see literal signs at the airport that showed him half naked. The first thing he did was hide, and the second…okay, he hadn’t really thought of a plan. Other than compulsively buy a plane ticket to a villa in France and hope, perhaps, that he won’t have to explain if his shoulders are really that big naturally or not.

“You could have totally stopped this from happening.” Sandara looks unlike how she does when they are in Hollywood. Normally, she’s wearing a straight pencil skirt paired with a button down and her hair in a ponytail. She never misses the coffee with three shots of espresso and perhaps, a line of sugar—or cocaine, her energy is unmatched—, but now, she’s trapping a croissant in between her hands and she has tried to make the enormous yellow sweater she has paired with green leggings work. The frog look isn’t half as bad on her slim body.

“I know.” Wonwoo walks slowly, while she roams around him like a puppy would. Sandara has always said it. Wonwoo’s weakness for complexity gravitates him to women that leave everything to desire. He pulls the cap a little over his head, covering more of his eyes in case anyone sees him while walking to the nearest library. “I never said it wasn’t my fault, but I’m giving you a vacation and running away from the chaos you were trying to solve.”

“I offered you a way of turning this around and you didn’t—”

Wonwoo scoffs at her words, rolling his eyes. “You knew I was going to say no from the get-go.”

“Wonwoo, people are not hating on you because you’re half naked. You just pulled a Miley Cyrus. Destroyed the whole poised, serious, intelligent guy persona and changed it for the hot guy in the white boxers thing.” Sandara pulls a finger up in the air, pointing out what she thinks is obvious. Meanwhile, the breeze plays with her hair until it is standing on various spots. “…Calvin Klein offered to help us out. A few campaigns with the boxers on, and then, we finish it off with a good sex scene in one of your films. You’re a man. If it was me on that magazine and I was famous, I would have been destroyed.”

Wonwoo hates that it is a reality, but he didn’t really intend on posing. Sure, he is not an angel. His career doesn’t let him stay with someone as much as he’d like to, for he always has to travel, film something else, prepare for a script or a new series to take on, but he also hasn’t done much else past the expected. Stories can be told about Hollywood that are rather true of orgy parties and eccentric relationships, but he doesn’t do much past the normal. Perhaps, a risky picture if he is feeling…rather comfortable, but he’s private about the matters that take up on the heart.

He just happened to be a bit tipsy, looking out of the window and not noticing that a picture had been taken of him, and while he’s pleading the case of using the law against Courtney for breaking his privacy, he’s also taking a break. And needing to read a book.

“I’m not saying it’s a bad idea,” Wonw0o starts, pushing the doors of the only library he could find in this secluded spot he had found in France. Sandara passes under his arm, still walking backwards and somehow not falling. “But it’s not who I am. I just don’t do soft porn.”

“Wonwoo—”

“My ass was displayed on a magazine. I’m lucky it’s not my dick, but I’d rather just not…milk it.”

“Oh, wrong choice of wording.”

“Sandara.” He groans, throwing his head back. The place catches his attention in the matter of seconds. The walls are baby blue, like the revelation of a child’s bedroom, with sprinkles of brick walls here and there in a beige color as an addition of texture. The tables are smaller in comparison to the rows of books, lined up by genre and color. It’s a pleasure to a thoughtful mind, as he traces the outline of the romance plethora. His least favorite genre. “You’re sexualizing your client.”

“I swear I’m not. You’re the one talking about milk!” She jokes around, laughing at the flush that he’s certain appears on the apples of his cheeks, before she’s grabbing one of the smaller books in the row, standing at the tip of her toes to reach it. “The Duke’s Final Wish. Oh, so the duke dies in this book. What’s the point of reading something you know everything about just by the title alone?”

He doesn’t understand it either, so Wonwoo shrugs. “I’m more of a thriller guy myself, but I’m in France, I’ve just dumped someone entirely from my life and…” His nose scrunches up upon the sight of the naked, sun-bathed abs on the duke on the cover. “Maybe, I just need to read softcore love times to feel less miserable about…everything.”

Sandara’s brown eyes turn mellow, sighing deeply. “Wonwoo, this is just another turn in your career. I promise everything will get better.”

It will, he’s certain. Matters always go back to place.

However, he remembers his start as an actor. He was this shaky, flimsy sixteen-year-old teen who cried on the outsides of a casting because he was tired of receiving no’s. Who wiped his tears on a pillow when he got called from another casting to participate with just one line. He’d wake up every single day at five in the morning; giving up adulthood, growing up, having friends, dating, studying, just for the sake of getting in better movies. He hit it big when he was twenty, skyrocketed in a military film, and from then on, he never rested. Movie after movie. A show, then another one.

And just like that, it lost sense. With every critic that shadowed him with that one big film he did last year, whatever product that came to fruition was worthless. It was a race with himself—and he’s tired of running.

And—

Oh, wait.

It smells like insect repellent…

“Roach, go away, you!”

“Huh?” Wonwoo’s curiosity gets the best of him, peaking from behind the shelf to see a slender, tall man holding, indeed, an insect repellent and spraying it on a blonde gentleman. He recognizes the first one—the attacker in question—to be one of the workers because of the uniform. A cloud sweater inside white pants, according to the name of the library—Somewhere On The Clouds—, but he’s flimsy in comparison to the buffer, taller man that he’s trying to go after.

The cockroach character, per say.

He hears more shushing and spraying, along with a woman’s name that escapes the blonde’s lips. “I wasn’t talking to you, Wen Junhui, my wife is over there and you’re not letting me talk to her—”

“She’s not your wife anymore.”

“You can’t physically get over someone so quickly.”

Another spray and now, this Junhui guy with the long brown hair and septum piercing, has finally landed on the taller man’s eyes because he hears a groan that reverberates throughout the library. “If it’s you the someone we are talking about, oh, trust me, it’s easy. No woman could ever—”

“I’ll close your mouth up with a good old fist, Junhui. Stop! Stop spraying me!”

He hears another commotion, of closed doors and shushes that follow after someone physically more peaceful than the other men. And for once, Wonwoo loses interest in physical matters like the cameras that could flash around him and the book at hand. His heart hums, singing a melody when looking at her. Her hair is tied in two braids and closed in a bun behind her back, glasses perched on the tip of her nose, looking at the blonde man with the firing rage of a million wars that went unfought.

Even Sandara is listening closely when she speaks. She’s rain in its biggest form; when it pours down and becomes unstoppable.

“I thought he said you could go away, Pierre.” She outs to the world, only to have the blonde man shaking his head, twinkling green eyes staring back at her.

“Love,” He’s trying to grasp her hands, wishing to say something more, but when their hands interlock, she slaps his away. “Don’t you push me away.”

“By law, you pushed me away yourself.” She instructs, pushing at his arms when he’s trying to get closer. “Pierre, I’m being serious. Stop disrupting my library and just go away.”

“But—”

Wonwoo is not a hero, neither does he think this is the situation for him to try to be one. However, he does accidentally—or not so much so—happen to slide his hand across a shelve that wasn’t holding up tightly. The books fall one by one, like a domino effect that gain him the attention of the woman with the attitude of an owner and a dislike for her ex-husband and the man in question.

He smiles, tight-lipped and shy, with the Sun blessing his cheeks along the lines of red coloring. He expects her to launch at him, ask him to leave Somewhere On The Clouds, but instead a gentle smile takes over her face. Oh, of course, someone like her would just know what he’s doing…and why.

“Let me help you with that.” She says, moving closer to him and crouching down at the same time that he does. Wonwoo is spurting out a short laugh as he hears whom he thinks is called Junhui pull Pierre away from the library.

“I’m sorry. I’m a total mess.”

“Or really observative. Guess we’ll never know.” She shrugs, smiling at him when standing up with a pack of books pressed to her chest and the lingering scent of mints following after her.

“Witty.”

“I’m a woman. One has to be.” The answer that leaves her lips has him grinning like a fool, looking down only to be blinded by her sight when staring up again. “I’ll give you a discount just for that.”

“There’s no need—”

The pocket of his jeans is filled by her hand, sliding something quickly there before she’s fleeting away with a simple: “Just take it.”

Half of his mind thinks she has left her number there, and he’d be more than happy. However, Sandara is looking over his shoulder by the time he takes the paper out, viewing a small coupon with clouds drawn all over it that reads off ‘fifty percent off your next order’.

“Dang, I thought it was her number.” Sandara whispers, snapping her fingers. “I’m going to get it for you.”

“No!” Wonwoo shrieks, plastering his hand on top of her arm and dragging his manager closer. “We’re…we’re just going to take the coupon. This is supposed to be a vacation. No love involved.”

“No love involved…” Sandara repeats, laughing at his words. “We’re calling your autobiography that. That’s for sure.”

Huh, even he admits it wouldn’t be a bad name. Much more if it was a rom-com of sorts.

But that’s not going to happen.

The sky looked like a child’s portrait, painted outside the lines. The stars blurred in between the deep shade, though he knew it could be that he needed a new pair of glasses. He kind of forgot his new formula back in Hollywood, and the ones he got were bought on a whim. However, he walks through the empty, too-small streets of the villa, hands fisted in pockets, trying to understand the change of weather. It was windy, but it was a kind of humidity that made him scrunch up his nose every once in a while to sniff a bit of snot.

Allergies. It’s whatever.

Wonwoo rolls on the heels of his shoes, looking up at the sky and wondering why the world feels so unlit as of lately. He’s at peace, but running away from something. Empty. Lonely. And sure, he has gotten used to solitude, at least for now, but what was once something he chose is now the only option that he gets to fulfill. Cornered, in some place far away from home, where he can only wish for life to be different, for better or for worse.

What interests him is the shout he hears after, a commotion of a solid against iron that has him rushing his step the slightest. He doesn’t know if he’s prepared to run or go help, but what he sees at eleven at night—when he should be asleep and trying to conceal a good night of rest with a warm glass of milk, as Sandara said—is rather surprising. The owner of Somewhere In The Clouds, a library that he has visited often in this past week, stands in front of a house’s gate, forehead pressed to the iron, hitting her boot against the surface once again.

“Shit.”

She looks rather different than she does with the pastel colors she wears at her library. Wonwoo has seen her a bit, with faint glances and a few exchanged words of good books and prices, but he has never fully developed a conversation. One that matters. Right now, he wishes he was braver, for the expanse of her back is shown in jeans that are falling off her waist and he swears he sees the hairs on her arms stand up upon the breeze that he can’t understand but seems to cherish her in shivers.

“This is all Pierre’s fault!”

She screams at the world, the sky, the heavens that decided divorce was meant to be on her side. But, instead of leaving it at that, she grabs a rock from the ground, molds it on her fist before throwing it at something. Something being Wonwoo, who shrieks at the touch of the rock against his cheekbone. Gasps mingle with the weight of her steps against the pavement when she rushes to him, shouting:

“Goodness gracious! I am so sorry!”

Wonwoo feels the warmth of her skin against his own, palms connected to him in the least delicate of ways, thumb and index finger tracing the cheekbone that must flourish with the tone of roses. However, when he opens his eyes, he realizes that her own hold a weight that he can’t understand. As if every speckle of golden that brims the natural color of them anchors him to a dilemma that he should not want to solve.

“I…I totally didn’t see you there. It’s all the gate’s fault.” She says, only to have Wonwoo clasping her hands on his own, pulling them away from his face softly.

“Where’s your key?”

“My ex-husband took the spare key and now that I left my keys inside, I don’t know what to do.” Her digits wrap around the gate once again, moving it from the front to the back in a motion that causes it to noisily make its state known. Closed as ever. “This is what happens when I decide to have a great time. Jun just…he just wanted to share some mojitos and now, I’m out here, probably a step away from sleeping in the cold.”

Wonwoo chuckles to himself, pondering: “And you’re telling all this to a stranger?”

“You’re not completely a stranger. Judging by your book selection, I can tell a lot about you.” She crosses her arms over her chest, beautiful as ever in the way the wind blows at her hair and connects it with the skin of her face. And on top of it all, she remembers who he is. “You’re not a complete asshole, and that’s enough for me to tell you that this fucking night sucks.”

Tipsy, she is, and Wonwoo chuckles at her antics softly. He remembers, before stardom, how he used not to give a damn about the world, quite like she does. “Alright, here’s what we’re going to do.” He crouches down, caging his hands together to make a socket for her to place her feet on. “You’ll step here and I’ll get you up the gate.”

He shouldn’t be thinking about doing this. For God’s sake, she’s not in her right mind considering there are, at least, three mojitos in her system, and she must think the same because she shakes her head.

“Wonwoo, I’ll crush you.”

“Or you’ll get home safe.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure I didn’t just decide to squat in the middle of the street.”

She rolls her eyes at his words, though a smile transcends to her features. She moves with carefulness, placing one boot on top of his hand and then, the other leg lifts up to follow after the trail of the gate. Wonwoo’s eyes go down her legs and he admits he does peek at the curves that form there, but soon after, he’s more worried about the way she’s clinging to the top of the gates to pass over it.

“Help.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Wonwoo mutters, hoisting her up in his shoulders before pushing her upwards by the back of her thighs. She clings to the metal with strength, only dropping herself when she feels safe, and though she lands directly on her ass, the thud is soft enough for him to ponder that maybe, it didn’t hurt her as much. “You okay?”

“In one piece, so…okay!” The smile that spreads across her features is worth a million dollars, and Wonwoo finds himself gravitating towards her, hands expanded on the gate, separated by the mere iron. He returns the grin, because a gift so beautiful can only be given back, right? “What are you doing out at this time of the night?”

Midnight, it strikes in the imaginary clock. He hasn’t checked his phone because he knows he’ll have missed calls from a sleep-dazed Sandara who wants him to return back to the place they rented for their time there. “Jet-lag has been killing me, and I just needed some time alone to think.”

“Jet-lag? Where are you visiting us from?” Leaning on the gate, her eyes close to slightest to rest, and Wonwoo knows soon will be time for him to leave.

“California.”

“Well, hope my villa traps you a bit longer.” She announces, yawning into her fist before smacking her lips together.

“You’re falling asleep.”

“Possibly, probably, maybe. All synonyms. All right.” Once again, that smile that could paralyze traffic if she dared is given to him, but she pushes herself off the gate. “Sorry for stepping on you.”

“No problem.”

“A free book will wait for you.”

“I can totally pay the next one I’ll buy, don’t worry.”

“Never deny a librarian the benefit of giving you a book.” She announces, pointing at him as she swings towards the door. “Wait, the front door is locked, too.”

She stops on her tracks and Wonwoo is ready to stay the night seated outside the gate, just in case someone causes trouble to her, for leaving a woman alone in the middle of the night is not precisely something he is thinking of doing, but when he opens his mouth, she’s already pushing the front window upwards.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting in through the window.”

“I’m not telling you, I’m showing you.” She announces and, for the first time in a while, Wonwoo full on laughs. He doesn’t remember feeling his chest so tightly put-together in a while. The more he sees her wiggle herself through the window, the more he cackles.

“Please, be careful.”

“I am!” And she is, waiving at him once she’s through the window, hair done a mess, shirt falling off one shoulder. “Thank you for your service, Mr. Hollywood.”

“Go to sleep, you.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

The nickname, strangely, doesn’t settle badly in his stomach. Much less when he gets to see her turn off the lights and doze off to God-knows-where.

Wonwoo has made common occurrence for him to start a new book every Monday. He was on a reading strike for years, only yearning to find the next story he could act in, but it’s much different now. Much more after he decided to accept the book that the librarian had, oh-so-sweetly, decided to gift him.

The story read in utmost perfection. A thriller that chilled him to the bone and cradled him in fear late at night. Something different; and hell, maybe, he’s a little bit insane for wanting to feel something other than anxiousness. All he does is read the pages that week, weakened by the figure at the end of the road, in between clouds of smoke that the book always talks about. Is it real? Is it not? And why does the book end in a way that caused him to drop all the things that were on his hands as he was reading, perched in a boat in the middle of the lake near the library?

He dropped the damned book. He needed to return it. The worst possible outcome happened, because the moment Wonwoo decided to pluck it out of the water, the pages were torn, ink shredded, heart racing within his chest.

He runs away for a while. Escapes the library in hopes of her thinking that he’s just taking a little bit more to finalize the capturing pages of a well-written text. However, life isn’t so great when the next Wednesday, he comes face to face with her. She’s not in her work clothes, hair pulled away by a hair-clip, eyes a little drowsy with sleep as remaining pieces of her mascara cling to her eyelashes. Her hands hold a bag of groceries weakly, a little bit lazily, and while Wonwoo is trying to grab a snack to continue his Wednesday movie marathon—You’ve Got Mail is paused on his screen because he just wanted something salty—, he comes face-to-face with her.

Alright, the anxiousness is back.

“Do I terrify you?”

Wonwoo fixes his glasses, crossing his arms over his chest. Magazines would have torn him apart from the plaid shirt he is wearing today, antique and brought out of a film from the early nineties. He stammers. Gosh, when was the last time someone made him stutter? “Uhm, no?”

“You haven’t gone back to the library, and I’m not certain if it was because I gave you a thriller book or if it was because you saw me drunk out of my ass.” She’s speaking rather quickly, scoffing out a laugh that dies down soon after, rubbing the back of her neck out of nervousness. “I’m sorry. Uh…I must’ve looked like a total serial killer giving you a thriller book.”

The book. What can he say about the book? “Not at all. It was one of the best books I’ve read in a while.” He admits. Too bad it is in the depths of the ocean by now.

“I’ll give it to you, then. The copy, I mean.” She shrugs her shoulders, biting on her bottom lip and staying silent for a brief second that he takes to study her face. Something about her is always rushing; as if she can’t stay still for too long in fear of being caught. By life or someone else, he doesn’t know. Or catching feelings, like he musters could happen if he doesn’t get away soon.

“I wish I could read it again.”

“Then, do it.”

“…I accidentally dropped it in the local lake.” Wonwoo whispers, expecting her to get mad, but she extends a hand on top of her chest and starts laughing. “I—I’m sorry. The ending surprised me that much. Stupid hands.”

“I imagine. I imagine.” She hums, mimicking his pose and crossing her arms over her chest. “How are you making it up to me, Mr. Hollywood?”

He’s knowledgeable in the art of flirting. Not because he has mastered it, but rather because Wonwoo is the one of the being-flirted-on end. He must be reading into it, but the twinkle in her eye incites him, bringing him closer as he shrugs his shoulders.

“Anything in mind, Mrs. Countryside?”

“Ew, I don’t know why I don’t like the sound of that.” She enunciates, only to have him laughing. He sees the portions of her that are fractured, from the way she covers her mouth when laughing, to the slow blink she gives after a minute of silence. As if she wants to be awakened by her thoughts. “Mhm, how about burgers?”

“Burgers?” Wonwoo asks. “That’s what would make you forgive me?”

“A great burger can make me consider forgiving you.” She answers, pressing a hand to his shoulder to balance her weight as she takes her phone out of her pocket. “Write your number down there.”

Wonwoo jots down the digits that he has learned just the past few days, smiling at her. “Alright, you’ve got a free coupon for limitless burgers until we find a book as good as that one.”

“You don’t know what you’re promising.”

“Possibly. But it’s an excuse. Either we find the greatest burger or another good read.”

“Huh, you’re right.” With that, she puts her phone back in her pocket, smiling at him with her full teeth. “I’ll text you for my price.”

“Anytime.”

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t looking after her step after she left. How someone so gorgeous hid in such a secluded villa? He would never understand.

The Headlock For Two Challenge.

When Wonwoo ventured into one of the best rated burger places in the villa, he didn’t expect it to be…so simple. Wooden walls and heated tables in bright red, with towers of meat and chicken stacked with perfectly-spiced veggies and sauces that would mingle into one’s tongue for an entire day. She seemed to be impressed when he linked her over to this place only three days after they started talking through text, but she was equally as interested when she read about the challenge in the menu that was presented to them in a small piece of wood, carved letter after letter, honoring the toughness of the place.

“We can totally down this one between the two of us.” She turns the menu around, showing it to a wide-eyed Wonwoo. When he sees the picture, he doubts they can for a little bit. His glasses push his hair away from his face when he takes them off to check it out a little closely. Three layers of bread. This is final—he might die if he takes up on this challenge.

“What’s the price?”

“The burger is a price on its own.” Claiming, she turns the menu around once again before clearing her throat. “We’d also get a picture of us hanging from these very own walls, and, if that’s not a lot on its own—a grand price of a month-worth of free French Fries.”

“You bought me with the fries. I’m not much of a picture guy.”

He has gotten pictures of him taken from every angle and while he adored to catch a sight of the world from another point of view, he hates the way he has been portrayed in such imagery. He’s always perfect. Never himself. And yet, never enough.

“Waiter!” She lifts a hand in the air, catching the attention of the short man with the buttons of his shirt almost popping out from how closely it clings to his belly, but the smile he gives through plump cheeks and a dense moustache would have anyone trusting him with their orders. “We’d like to take over the challenge.”

“Oh, really?” The waiter starts jotting down on his notepad. “A group of men tried to take it down a few days ago. Couldn’t make it without throwing up.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Wonwoo asks and he sees her spread a hand on her stomach.

“I meant it when I said I was hungry.”

“Fine. And two glasses of cola with that, please.”

“On our merry way, sir.” The waiter gives a sharp touch of his pen against the pad before closing it and leaving to the kitchen. This is the moment he gets to see her again, closely as she lifts the sleeves of his yellow sweater up to her palms and leans her cheek against one of them, elbows well-prepped on the table.

She tried a little today. He has been under the limelight for long enough to know that there is a glimmer of pink on top of her cheeks, paired with sweet highlighter. She has a red lip on, eyelashes curled until they seem like her eyes are flirting with him just by sharing a glance.

“Why here, Wonwoo?” She asks. “You were in California. Everyone dreams about being there, around celebrities and all. Why here?”

The column of his throat contracts at her words. He almost fears that she has caught him for who he really is—a well-known actor.

“Take my word for it. There’s nothing special there.”

“You’re awfully negative, aren’t you? Here we are, in a villa that no one knows, where the lake could eat me alive one day and no one would remember me, but in a city so grand, where every step someone takes feel like part of a movie, you wish to run away.” She’s babbling, eyes twinkling with excitement. “Isn’t that exciting to you?”

He shakes his head. “No.” Wonwoo adds. “Because in a city so big, only a few people are remembered. We don’t choose what we are remembered for, either.”

“Oh, trust me,” She says. “You’d be remembered by good. Everyone in this city coos about the possibilities of you.”

“And that’s the thing. I don’t like expectation.”

“I understand.” She stops. “So, reason—?”

“I’m negative, but you’re good at prodding.”

“I was once a journalist in the making, but I ramble too much. I’d get in front of a camera and freeze, or say something really stupid. Probably both.” She conquers, sighing into her hand. “But you don’t have to answer, actually. I just want to get to know you. You could ask me something of your liking, too.”

He could ask about her library, but they have talked about that through text. He knows that it’s a family’s tree doing, where she loved literature and happened to continue down the road that was crafted for her. A place that was meant for her to walk on, but the wood on the floor was not precisely brought to life by her.

“Why didn’t it work out with your ex-husband?”

The reason why he left California is, perhaps, as personal as her divorce. She doesn’t swallow thickly, but she is left thinking for a moment, looking ahead and towards where he is, before the waiter returns with the burger in his hands and three glasses filled with a yellow, pink and white sauce.

“Thank you. This looks delicious.” Wonwoo compliments, only to have the waiter nodding.

“We start the timer now. Thirty minutes to finish all of this.” Just as he clicks the clock, she takes the half of the enormous burger and places it on her plate, and while he gives it a huge bite that fills his mouth and leaves his jaw hurting, she eats it bit by bit, plucking the food and swallowing it quickly.

“Probably my best kept secret.” She says, shrugging her shoulders. “I was promised until death, and then, I realized living one more day with him would be the cause of my death. It’s like…being pricked little by little, being married.”

“In general?”

“To him, precisely. Pierre has his own issues to figure out. He has…these experiences that he wants to go through in love. He wants to try with other people. And I wasn’t going to wait there, watching him mindlessly flirt with people, asking me if I’d ever been with more than one person, until I was finally hurt by something I expected.” She motions, sighing. “And now he’s trying to come back, so maybe, he already tried and thought returning home was the solution of the mess he made.”

“That’s pretty common. I happen to never last more than two months with somebody.” Wonwoo cackles at his own state in relationships, moving his head from side to side. “For a while I thought it was me.”

“How so?”

“Uncapable of being loved, if that makes sense.” Wonwoo announces. “I’ve never tried hard enough to make someone stay.”

“So, you’re the complete opposite of me. I have a hard time letting go.”

“I have a hard time making someone stay.” The mingle of tastes inside his mouth makes him wonder if she just wanted an excuse for them to try something good and new, not precisely break a challenge. Make herself memorable. Or maybe, that’s just her personality. Not everyone has to be trying all the time. “It probably is me.”

“Everyone has their little glimpses of red in their flag.” She jokes, tilting her head to the side when Wonwoo groans. “But hey, I’m a divorced woman, who am I to judge?”

“So, California…stinks a little bit, feels way more dense than this villa does, and it just…it reminds me of who I could’ve been. And who I am not, clearly.”

“Well, Wonwoo,” She picks up a portion of her burger, dipping it in what he thinks is corn sauce, before lifting it up in the air. “Cheers to that. We can be remembered for the picture we’ll have hanging here later this night.”

“Not at this pace.”

“Just say ‘yes’ for once. I promise, it doesn’t hurt.”

She could teach him that life is not filled with ‘no’ responses all the time.

Wonwoo thought the following times they’d see each other; they wouldn’t have any interruptions. However, much to his distaste, the moment he steps inside her house for what she called through the text ‘dinner and a movie’, there was another person invited.

The library’s worker, Wen Junhui, is not commonly known by him, but he has heard wonders about the man around town. As it goes, no one could ever tame him. Not from going around dating, but from being less eccentric. He sits in front of the TV they could have been using, holding fried chicken in between his digits after dipping it in barbeque, and he’s watching some Steve Harvey show that he is not quite sure he’d getting a glimpse of before. Too old for his liking, maybe.

“We have…companionship.” Wonwoo whispers to her, feeling the weight of her hands glide down his arms as she takes off his jacket. When he turns around, he sees her hanging the jacket, running her palms over it to keep it straight before humming.

“I didn’t know we had some either, but I totally promise Jun movie night every Friday. I can’t just kick him out. Or I can. But like, look at his face,” She points a hand towards Jun, who is still munching happily and laughing at whatever the host of the show had said. “One can’t just break a heart that easily. At least, his.”

Wonwoo can accept that Jun, while wearing a tank top and shorts, looks entirely different. A bit childish, with his bangs pushed back by a small clip, eating to his heart’s content. “I’m not saying you should kick him out.”

“But you had the hope it would be the two of us.”

“Awfully conceited, woman, don’t you think?” Wonwoo jokes around, the corner of his mouth lifting in a half-grin. He’s normally not a sweet talker, but he’ll take the merit he can.

“Anyone would want to spend alone time with me.” One of her shoulders shrugs up, the structures of her face fighting their hardest to let out a smile. “Would you want some water, coffee, tea, juice, cocktail? I don’t know how to make cocktails, but I can fetch something up.”

“None.”

“Oh, maybe some energy drink, perhaps? Or, oh shit, you’re from Hollywood, maybe you’d like sparkly water, or bubbly water…”

“Trust me, we have normal water in Hollywood. I think.” He leans down to fix her hair over her shoulder, jotting his chin towards the TV. “Are we ordering something else or we’re sharing chicken with Jun?”

“He will notice there are only two pieces left in a few minutes and order some for everyone, so we just wait.” With that, she walks ahead of him, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to snuggle to the density of her white sweater, or that he’s not a bit enamored of the way her thighs fill the ripped jeans around her hips. She’s unique—so homely in a way that he hates he can feel that a little more time with her could end up in him in love.

“Wonwoo!” Jun speaks through a mouthful and in the month that he’s been there, he has gotten to know him a bit. The man is as sweet as one can get, but he’s also a bit odd. “I didn’t know you were coming. Do you want some—?” He stops on his tracks when extending the takeout bag towards Wonwoo, looking down at…yes, two pieces of chicken left. “Let me grab my phone,” He speaks after plopping his thumb in his mouth to lick the remaining sauce off. “And order something else.”

“Told you so.” She mouths after sitting down next to Jun, who is in between them like a child would. “Would you mind ordering a pizza? I think that’d last us some more than the chicken.”

“Oh, totally. There’s a two-for-one coupon in my phone case.” Jun is mumbling to himself, tossing glances towards the TV screen every once in a while before returning to his phone.

“I’ll pay for it. Don’t worry.” Wonwoo announces, but Jun shakes his head.

“The whole coupon thing is true—”

“But I want to pay, let me.”

That’s how they end up watching old marathons of family shows, with one hand holding a slice of pepperoni-filled pizza and the other on the couch behind them as they sit on the couch. When he can, he looks over to where she is and he catches her looking back, with eyelashes fluttering against her under-eyes and lips mingling in a small smile. He’s a bit surprised, however, when Jun is rambling with him about nineties shows, because a hand lands on his behind her friend’s back.

The touch of gentle fingertips hold back when tracing the outline of his knuckles, hesitantly slipping in between his own. Wonwoo feels his heart hammer against his chest, a beat that almost leaves him with ringing in his eardrums, for the blood rushes through his entire body until he can’t mask a smile. And sure, Jun may think that he’s smiling towards him, immersed in a conversation that now is a stammer in his head, considering her thumb is drawing on the veins of his wrist, like the gentle kiss she is not promising, but is making him think about.

In the midst of a villa, Wonwoo starts thinking about possibilities, and percentages have never been his thing more than art does, but the interlude of this story starts to make him think about staying. When Jun leans to grab another slice of pizza, Wonwoo takes this moment to bring that hand closer to his mouth, slotting his lips against her knuckles and watching her widen her eyes while staring at the screen.

Their little secret, now even more engraved in his brain by the expression on her face.

The inhibition of love is a saddened matter. Wonwoo never thought he’d be on the end spectrum of not being able to fully open up. After all, acting takes up the imagery of shredding every portion of himself in order to make a character come alive. He needs to unalive his motions in order to be someone else in front of a camera. However, when laying on that bed of his, in his place in the villa, that had felt more like home than any mansion could ever do for him, he is awfully aware of the person next to him.

“Do you have…um…any idea why I call you Mr. Hollywood?”

The question is soft against the sheets. She’s laying on her side, knee angled until she is almost resting a thigh over his hip. Wonwoo shakes his head, turning his head to look at her from up close. She has forgone the makeup today, hair a bit dirty and laying on top of her head by a ponytail. When she opens her eyes, he’s staring back at her.

“You didn’t answer.”

“Oh, I thought I did.” Wonwoo mumbles, trailing a finger on the side of her face before shrugging. “I have no clue. Anything in particular I should be aware about?”

Wonwoo, when asking to spend time with her almost every day, is knowledgeable of the fact that she’s a very smart woman. However, as the night slips through his clear curtains, cascading along her features in the moonlit nature of a November midnight, his mind forgets the fact that he’s Jeon Wonwoo, and that maybe, his stigma as a person is harder to hide than he thought.

“…I saw you in a movie once.” The confession has his heart hammering against his chest, and he sits up immediately. Not angered, but terrified. Afraid of being used for what is always loved about him—his power, love for acting, his money. “I want you to listen to me, okay? You’ve been here for almost two months and I feel like…it’s time to tell you something. Nothing bad. Just something.”

“You talked to me because of me being an actor?”

“God, no. I didn’t want to talk to you for the same thing. You terrified the hell out of me.” She says, sitting up with him and pressing a hand to his thigh in order to keep him in place. Her eyes beg him to stay close and somehow, he does. Though the alarms in his mind tell him to fleet. “You still do, but for different reasons. I saw you in this movie…Stay With Me? The one where you played a secondary character. The main guy’s best friend. I didn’t recall enough about the movie, but I knew that face. I thought you were…good looking. That’s all. I’m not a fan.”

“That’s a very old film.” It was in the start of his career, when rom-coms would call him just to play the knowledgeable best friend. He has the face of a man who knows how to give advice, they told him. “So, you call me Mr. Hollywood because you know who I really am outside of these walls I’ve built to run away?”

“To remind me you’ll leave, I guess.” She sighs out, running her free hand through the locks of her ponytail. “Calling you Mr. Hollywood reminds me you’re…you know, somehow unreachable.”

“Gosh, I am not!”

“Come on, Wonwoo. I’m just a woman who happens to sell books for a living. Each day, I wake up to a bed on my own, wondering what kind of legacy I’ll leave in this world, but I am also timid enough to not want to be remembered. And it’s the paradigm of being…just somebody else. I won’t be listed as one of the most gorgeous women, neither one of the most talented, but I can reassure you…Wonwoo, anywhere you stand, as an actor or not, you’re special.”

He has seen love in scripts, written to be perfection, clouds of pink that cascade the fall of a person who would have never thought romance would be on their way. He has acted it out, softened eyes and sweet words that come with the clash of lips, but he doesn’t expect how love really feels like. Numbed out of every word that could make him feel insecure, trapped in the odyssey of wanting a kiss that has him leaning forward, capturing her face in his palms and looking into her eyes, not seeking softness, but the reassurance of something else. Of the feedback of warmth.

“And I am just a man who wants you to see him as he is. Hollywood or not.”

“I see you, Wonwoo.” She mumbles, and that’s enough for Wonwoo to lean forward. Fill her with a kiss that threatens to whimper in her mouth when her mouth parts and clashes against his.

Wonwoo feels complete, like a thread follows after him and whispers in his mouth everything he wants to hear without a noise at all. Her hands mingle on the back of his head, legs interlocking with his own. And he hates that even when he is kissing her with fervor; tracing the outline of lips that he wishes to remember to the day of his death, there is still a voice of insecurity.

He leans back on the bed, with her body trailing after his, settling a leg in between his own and pulling away to press a chaste kiss to his jaw, soon after pressing her mouth to his neck. Both of his hands expand on her back, under her shirt to feel the softness of her skin when he whispers:

“Could you please turn off your phone?”

“Excuse me?” She questions, only to have Wonwoo shaking his head.

“I…I got some pictures taken of me. I was intimate with a woman I used to date on-and-off and now…everyone has a picture I didn’t consent to of me in my boxers.” Confessing it has his cheeks blaring in heat, and he expects her to laugh. “And sure, you may think it’s stupid, but—”

She settles her hips on top of his, sitting and reaching for her phone in the bedside table, only to show the screen turning off to him. “It’s not stupid to me. Whatever makes you feel comfortable, I can consider.”

“Where were you my whole life?” Wonwoo asks, feeling her mouth return to his neck. And she laughs against his skin, drawing sparkling stars in his stomach and letting them tingle with…whatever feeling he’s starting to let cascade over him.

“Far, far away.”

“But I found you.”

“…You found me.” She interlocks their hands together, smiling at him. “Thank God, you found me.”

“What is this?”

Sandara positions three things on their coffee table in a specific order. A cup of coffee, with a savory smell of Bailey’s that he has been obsessed with every since he tried it on a café shop downtown. A croissant, with an extra layer of powdered sugar on top of it, and of course, what takes him off guard. A stack of papers, placed neatly like a script would. He picks up his coffee, giving it a taste even though he’s eyeing the paper, not touching it.

“Well, we’ve been here for almost three months…” Sandara sits down on the couch next to him. Her hair is shorter than how it had been when they got there, and she has dyed it back to a light brown. She moves it to a side on its entirety before pressing her knuckle to her cheek. “I think it’s time we start to think of a comeback. I was introduced to this idea where you’d star with Cillian Murphy, and I just couldn’t say no. You’re totally reading it.”

Acting is a prolongation of his anatomy. Wonwoo can’t exist without acting, but taking a break has never hurt anybody. He believes that most good actors take one in their lifetime. However, being pushed into stardom once again it’s not something he had thought about. Or he has, but he has always pushed it to the back of his head. That would mean going back to Hollywood, casting interviews where he’ll have to talk about the whole photo incident, perhaps take up on that Calvin Klein campaign that Sandara was so excited about…and that all sounds like a ton of work.

“You didn’t ask me about this.” Wonwoo announces, but Sandara is already placing the script right on top of his lap, pointing at it with a manicured nail. “Sandara—”

“I didn’t ask you, but you need to continue, Woo.” She says. “You’re one of the biggest talents of this generation and you’re throwing it all to Hell because of a picture? No. That’s the answer. We’re not letting that happen. We’re going to meet the team the following Monday and Cillian is going to be there. We can read over some—”

“What?” Wonwoo stands up, throwing the script on the table and shaking his head. “I didn’t consent on going back to Hollywood.”

“Wonwoo, it’s where you’ve grown to be the person you are today. You can’t escape it forever.”

“Yes, but I also don’t have to return just because you’re telling me to. It’s more complicated than that.” Hence, he has spent almost every day sharing kisses, touches, stories and whispers with a woman that he has promised is not temporary. It’s been almost a month since they shared their first kiss…and from then, they have fallen into the comfort of…

A relationship, maybe. That’s what he calls it inside his head, but he’s too afraid to voice it. For reasons as such, like this, when he will need to fly away to Hollywood just because reality is calling.

“They are offering millions of dollars for this, and Wonwoo, you’re going to miss acting eventually. I’m sure you do now, as you are standing here every morning just reading books and doing nothing.”

“Healing is not doing nothing.” Wonwoo corrects, and when he tosses a look at the script, he can admit he is a bit intrigued. How can a person be both here and there at the same time? How can the man he has grown to be in the villa meet the celebrity that he really is?

“Just read it. We both know you want to.”

“And then, what? I never come back here. I have a…someone, a girlfriend, maybe, and I don’t want to leave that behind.”

“I’m not—Just don’t get ahead of yourself. Think first about what you want to do and sure, if it’s staying here for a while more, I’ll accept it. But this is such a good film that is going to rise from the ashes and I want you to be part of it. You need to. It’d be iconic, Wonwoo, I swear.”

Does he want to be remembered by everyone as the actor who could do it all, battle against the tabloids and shine as one of the best performers of the generation? Or perhaps, does he want to be remembered by one person as the man who mended her heart after not wanting to believe in anyone because of a horrid break-up?

“I’ll think about it.” He feels bad about saying it and sitting down with that coffee and croissant to read the first page. “Just leave me alone for a while, will you?”

“Right.” Sandara presses a kiss to the crown of his head, patting the hair soon after. “I’m only doing it for you, I swear.”

“I know.”

That’s the only whisper he can muster to give her as he traces the outline of the title. The ink, the indents, the fresh paper…he misses this, but at the same time, he doesn’t feel ready to return to the emptiness that is felt when going through stardom. He’s enamored of reality, and that isn’t supposed to be a sin.

The more he reads the script, the more he likes it…and he starts to wonder if there are two men living inside of him, or if there is one that perseveres more than the other.

Molding against somebody’s body is a connection on its own. Wonwoo could get used to the dance of breathing that comes with laying next to somebody, when his chest connects to her back, arm weighting her waist down, chin squished to her shoulder. However, this morning is different. They don’t wake up to the sound of her alarm but to something else. His ears make out a noise that is familiar to him.

Flashes.

Clicking.

Shouts.

His name.

Her name.

Why do they know her name?

Wonwoo stands up, breathing quickly with the flaming hope of only being in a nightmare. However, the coldness of the floor seeps through his bare feet when he moves towards the window, moving the curtain to the side in order to see a herd of paparazzi standing outside of her home. Jun is in front of them, waving his hand like an idiot and posing for the camera. Quite like the characters in White Chicks would.

“Love, where are you going?” She’s mumbling against the pillow and for a moment, all Wonwoo sees is white. He feels let down by the woman waiting for him in the mattress. How could they have found him here, when he has gone months to no end completely unnoticed by the citizens? And Jun is enjoying the attention, that has to say something.

“Nowhere. I am unable to go anywhere because there are fucking paparazzi in your front yard.” Wonwoo lurks through the clothes left on the floor, running the fabric of a cotton t-shirt over his body and sighing in distaste. He’s walking from side to side in the bedroom. The paparazzi will only leave when he gets out of that door, after all.

“What?”

“Just tell me the truth. When did you call them? I was with you the entire night.” Wonwoo points out the obvious, placing his hands in his waist and frowning towards her. Her eyes widen and he swears he sees the little, fragile glass that she has within her chest playing as a heart breaking with one look alone. “You did exactly what everyone did before you—”

“Fuck, Wonwoo, what are you even saying? I would never do that to you!” She stands up and though he wants to believe her, he has heard that before. She’s walking towards him, sheets pressed to her chest, pleading at him with her vision alone. “Let me see.”

“No!” He shouts, taking her by the arm and keeping her away from the window. “If they take a picture of you, it’ll be everywhere in a second.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know how t—these things work.” She stutters, pressing her hand on top of his and trying to rub at the skin there. “Wonwoo, you have to believe me. I would never betray your trust like this.”

“Your roomie is out there making a show out of this.”

“Jun would never, either! He’s probably just enjoying the attention.”

“My God.” Wonwoo takes another glimpse out of the window, feeling his eyes get filled with tears. “How…How am I supposed to believe you when it all ends like this? Another scandal. I don’t deserve to be in the highlights of a magazine once again!”

“I’m sorry…” She mumbles, trying to catch him in her arms but he’s moving. Walking out of the bedroom, he goes down the set of slim stairs as he prepares to go through the masses of paparazzi and perhaps, lose himself in the process of stardom once again. Vacant answers, eye-rolls, and the undignified tilt of his head looking down because of the flashes and the lack of sincerity towards his self. “I don’t want you to leave. I’m—I’ll go with you, just let me get dressed and I’ll talk to them with the truth. They just need to know who you really are.”

“You truly believe that being sincere is what helps me here?” Wonwoo turns around, looking down at her and scoffing. “Sunshine, I’ve tried to be sincere in a world where they only want to see my worse and I expected you to understand that.”

“…You know, I’m starting to feel offended that you don’t believe me. I understand you, but I would never do this to you.” Wonwoo sighs at her words, sparing one good look at her face. He will miss the shared laughter and even more so the love that she had gifted to him without nothing in return. Nothing more than loving her back.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience in your home.” Wonwoo says, putting on his jacket and his sunglasses before turning around and nodding at her. “And thank you for giving me the benefit of loving you.”

“Wonwoo—”

He opens the door in a hassle, eager for paparazzi not to see her in her pajamas and shred her to pieces. Jun greets him happily, offering him a cup of coffee that he ignores as he walks through the masses. The cameras go wilder for him, asking him questions:

“Where is your new love?!”

“When are you returning to Hollywood?!”

“Is she aware of your soft-porn pictures?!”

“Is this the end of your career?”

At this last question, he turns around, grabbing the microphone from the journalist’s hand and adding: “I don’t know, you’ll be the judge of that.” With that, he gets inside his car, hands trembling as he years to get out of there. They will follow after him, but the best he can do is reach Sandara and hope that she can take care of it.

With a broken heart and his wheels swirling, Wonwoo gets out of her life for good.

And he doesn’t look back.

For twenty-one days, she curses believing in love again. Even so, she starts to ponder if she should take out the entirety of the romance shelf off her library, but Jun is the one to stop her before she wiped out the best-selling row of their plethora of books. A fraction of her being understood where Wonwoo was coming from, and maybe, that’s the reason that upon hearing he’d be holding a press conference in a city nearby her own, she decided to go give it a glimpse. Perhaps, be another fan that just happened to get a little too close to the star.

“You’re losing your damn mind.” Jun says when following after her, entering the crowds of people that mingle to get a glimpse of Wonwoo as he’s expected to enter one of the most popular hotels in the city. “And I’m starting to like it. You’ve never acted like this before.”

“Jun!” She drags, a little mortified that she’s here. She has tried contacting Wonwoo, but the last thing she heard about him is that he had taken a plane back to Hollywood. She was even a bit surprised that he had come back. Everyone was trying to deduce who was the one that had captured him for three months in some secluded villa that no one had been able to find him in, but the masses of rumors were met by silence from his team as they announced his new film. “I shouldn’t even be here. He hates me, and for pictures that I wasn’t even in.”

“And I finally got the number of the girl in the supermarket because she saw me on TV. One of us is winning, so that makes two of us winning.” Sometimes, she wishes to pluck each hair of Jun’s head one by one only to see if he has a proper adult reaction. However, her best friend wraps an arm around her shoulder, grinning at her. “Are you sure you want to be around here? I looked up the best places to visit around here and we can totally go. It wouldn’t be on vain either.”

“I want to see him. One last time.” She ponders, humming at his words. Though, she has to scream a bit, considering the fans are going crazy, talking within themselves about the announcements he was supposed to be making today. “You know, maybe I can pluck him out of my heart that way.”

Though, that thought completely vanishes when looking at him. Wonwoo has decided to wear a long brown coat, sunglasses propped on the tip of his nose, getting out of a limousine as two guards help him get through the groups of people. A black shirt enters his black slacks, accentuating the waist she’d rest her cheek on when hugging him from the side as he poured coffee for her in the early mornings. She had lost that, along with the smile that characterized him when being with her. Though, she can say it had been taken away from both of them.

They are placed in a corner of the grand room in the hotel that is supposed to be taken up by Wonwoo and his team. He’s seated on a table, well perched and high on the stage, with Sandara on one side and another man whom she does not recognize on the other, but he’s making sure that the microphone is working well. The fans, such as them, are on the side to support him as the journalists take up most of the space.

Like parasites, she realizes, when the interview starts to enroll.

It’s supposed to be a press conference to announce the return of Wonwoo to acting and stardom, but they have made it all about the pictures that months ago had reached a magazine because of his ex…situationship, and also included glimpses of her. Of the mysterious woman whom he can’t find words, for he chooses other questions and gets shouts from the journalists who want more from him. He does admit to have signed a contract for a film, and she’s entranced in the way he speaks about the plot and what he wishes out of it.

A woman in her forties stands up, heels clicking when she plots her hip to the side, grabbing the microphone in between her hands with expertise before adding: “We have gathered information and found out, Mr. Jeon, that you have lived in the villa for almost four months by now. Reading books, having coffee, just living the life of a man in his fifties while also being in your twenties. What was the reason to stay out of stardom for so long and do you wish to go back to it any time soon?”

Wonwoo is uncomfortable; she can tell by the way he wrings his hands and turns them pale after taking off his sunglasses. He’s rotting in between the sense of lying or being truthful to himself. However, before Sandara could say to ask another question, Wonwoo leans over the microphone and sighs.

“Because I…happened to meet people who made me want to stay, and I sadly did not have the chance to stay for longer.”

“How so?” The journalist keeps prodding now that he has answered, and Sandara takes up over the microphone.

“I think it’s time we cut this round off—”

Though, Wonwoo gently pushes her away, rubbing at one eye before clearing his throat. “Because, as an actor, I have played enough roles for people to visualize me as such. I wanted to be someone normal for once, and reading books, like you said, made me unite with the citizens around the villa. I—I would have stayed if I could, but…reality wants me here. This is who I am.”

That could be the finalization of them, and it should have been, but damn her for being stubborn and knowing precisely when a good person is leaving her life, because she places a hand on top of Jun’s shoulder and whispers in his ear:

“Hoist me up. I’m going over the gate and getting to him.”

“What?”

“I can’t let him leave like that. Not without knowing I love him, at least.”

“Alright. If you’re going to jail, I’m going with you.”

What a paradox, it is, that the start of their story included him helping her get over her own gate and now she does as such, earning gasps and shouts from the masses of people as the guards rush towards her and catch her just in time for her mouth to let out:

“I just—Hey, I just wondered, Mr. Jeon, if you’d like to hear something from one of the citizens!” She’s battling against the strong hands of the guards trying to drag her away, feet kicking and asking to be given a second by Wonwoo.

She swears she sees a smile creep up his features when he leans over the microphone once again and says: “Let her go. I know her.”

The strong pair of arms unravels from around her waist and she sighs out in glee before she’s granted a microphone. She fixes her hair, stands up a little straighter and hates the fact that she didn’t try to look better after twenty-one days of missing him. “I was wondering, Mr. Jeon, if there was anyone who would have made you stay in that villa if it weren’t for your duty calling you. If…if it hurt you leaving the villa at all.”

She should expect the worst, judging by the ways cameras start flashing and people start whispering within themselves. However, Sandara is talking in Wonwoo’s ear, eager to get him to say the right thing, but as they look at each other, they are back to the nights in which she’d ask him to turn off the lights because she didn’t want him to see her without makeup or sick and he’d shrug his shoulders without a care in the world. They are back to the first time he was able to sleep next to her without turning off all the phones in the house.

It’s just the two of them. Their world. Their villa. Their three months.

“…You. You are the only one who could make me stay.”

That’s what makes everyone talk louder, after the bead of silence that leads up to the grandest reveal. The cameras turn towards her and she’s afraid of how she’ll look after, but that won’t matter if Wonwoo returns…one day, even after the movie, even for the weekends or when he’s free.

“That’s…that’s lovely.” She says, looking up as not to feel shy or embarrassed by what she’s about to admit. “Because I want you to stay, Wonwoo.”

“Um, I think we need to return to the questions—” Sandara is speaking, but Wonwoo has lifted his eyebrows, smiling softly and standing up from his spot and going over to where she is. Each step slows down the closer he gets, and the guards move to his place in order not to have journalists or fans jumping at him.

“Before you say anything,” She starts, interlocking her hands together in front of her body. “I…I love you. I just need you to know that. I don’t need anything else right now.”

Wonwoo quirks his head to the side, cheeks blushed and hands fisted in his pocket. “Well, I was about to offer three months in Los Angeles to film a movie and then, back to our villa indefinitely but—”

“You have to be joking.” She coos with a smile on her face, but Wonwoo shakes his head.

“Pretty honest. I am characterized for being such, aren’t I?”

Before she knows it, she’s launching herself at his arms, lips jotted to his own and even though everyone is looking, she couldn’t care less.

Indefinitely. That starts to sound a lot like forever, and with him, that doesn’t seem impossible.

“I love you, too.” He whispers as she hides her face from the cameras in his jacket, laughing at his words.

dedicated to @wisteria-woo

#wonwoo x reader #wonwoo scenarios #seventeen x reader #seventeen scenarios #wonwoo #seventeen #kpop scenarios #writing #actor!au #notting hill!au #and my return from writing after months be nice to it omg

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sunnebeam · 8 months

Text

"my boss just gave me orders."

A 'PERKS OF BEING A HOUSEHUSBAND' DRABBLE.

pairing: min yoongi x reader

plot: the (mis)adventures of retired gangster min yoongi as he leaves behind the life of the mafia and navigates the way of the househusband.

warnings: the way of the househusband au, marriage au, crack, domesticity, yoongi being oblivious & wifey being horn knee ;)

masterlist + disclaimers.

note: in case u didn't know, i'm still currently on my aug-oct vacation (see details in pinned post!) and this post was scheduled in advance :> tbf i don't really like how this turned out (well what's new?) but i hope u guys still enjoy this. and as always, feedback & reviews are highly appreciated!

After the longest day at work, you finally arrive back home.

Holly barks at you, welcoming you home, leading you to coo and kiss the poodle hello. Your husband follows right after, taking your bag from your shoulder and welcoming you with a big smooch on the lips.

"Welcome home, darling," Yoongi greets you with his signature uneven smile.

He's changed up his outfit today, choosing to wear a fitted black shirt that outlines his chest beautifully. You drool at the sight.

"Welcome home, indeed," you echo back.

"Are you hungry?" he asks you.

"Mhm," you confirm.

You step closer to him, wrapping your arms around his neck.

"I'm so hungry, Yoonie," you continue in what you hope to be a seductive tone. "Absolutely starving."

Unfortunately, your husband takes it literally.

"Why? Did you work through your lunch break?"

"No, no, Yoonie, I meant—"

"That can't do, darling," he says in a no-nonsense tone. "We need to get some food in you. Come on, quick."

And Yoongi leaves you there – stunned, horny, and in disbelief.

But you remain persistent. You try again after dinner and after you've both finished washing the dishes.

"Yoonie? Wanna watch some Netflix and chill with me?"

This should work. Your husband's a millennial. Surely, he knows what Netflix & Chill means, right? Right?

Wrong.

"This is a good movie," your husband mumbles through a mouthful of popcorn. "You picked a good movie, darling. It's well-directed and the cinematography is outstanding."

You smile dryly in response.

You're both seated on the couch with clothes still on, unfortunately. Naturally, Yoongi took your words for what they were and is currently engrossed in the Netflix film you mindlessly picked.

Looks like you need to be more specific.

"God, it's so hot in here!" you exclaim in exaggeration, fanning yourself with your hand. "Aren't you feeling hot, Yoonie?"

He finally takes his eyes off the movie to focus on you.

"Uh, no?" he responds in confusion, staring at the thermostat that showed an acceptable temperature. "Are you?"

"I am!" you tell him. "I feel so hot. Maybe we should take our clothes off and—"

"Hang on, darling," he cuts you off, and promptly stands. "I know what to do."

He heads somewhere for a few seconds before returning with a portable mini-fan.

"Do you want me to hold it for you? So your arm won't get tired?"

You blink at him. Honestly, you could cry. Whether because of his sweet gesture or because of how dense he is, you don't know.

"On second thought, Yoonie, I think I'm fine now."

"Are you sure? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry," you start to say, but then you realize you could use this opportunity as a final attempt. "Actually..."

Yoongi stares at you, waiting.

"...I'm not completely fine. I've been so stressed lately, you know?"

"From work?" he asks.

"Yeah. I think I need some stress relief..." You look him in the eye to get your point across. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

There's a glint in Yoongi's eyes.

"I understand completely, darling."

Finally.

But wait.

Where is he going?

And what's that he's bringing?

"Aroma therapy," Yoongi tells you seriously, placing a diffuser near you and setting it up. "Essential oils are known to help with stress. Don't worry, darling, I've got you."

Of course, you sigh internally.

You should've known better than to beat around the bush with your blunt, straightforward husband.

You grab his hands.

"Yoonie! Stop it!"

"But the oils—"

"Forget the oils. I don't need aroma therapy, okay?"

He's genuinely confused. "But you said—"

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm not too stressed out, alright? You don't need to worry. I just..."

"Just what?"

You grip his chin and bring his face closer.

"I just want you to fuck me."

It's out in the open now and your husband blinks at you for a few moments, before realization dawns on him and he smirks lazily at you.

"Why didn't you just say so?"

You shrug, smiling now that he finally gets it.

"Well," he grunts, "my boss just gave me orders. What should I do?"

You play along with him, wrapping your arms around his neck, making your lips hover just centimeters from his.

"I think you shouldn't make her wait any longer," you say cheekily. "And I think you shouldn't hold back on her tonight."

Yoongi sweeps you up in his arms, making you squeal.

"Be careful what you wish for, darling," he tells you in that deep voice of his and you feel your underwear dampen.

And without wasting any more time, Yoongi carries your horny ass to your shared bedroom where he fucks you all through the night.

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kvtie444 · 4 months

Text

°•★ SOLO .1

A/N: luv this sm and it's gonna be a slow burn! so excited for this!! couldn’t pick a song for the first chapter so i did this lolz cool name n that

Summary: reader moves to LA for work and becomes the sturniolos editor, but what happens when she falls for chris..

Warnings: swearing, mentions of sex and drinking

・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆

I've achieved a major milestone at the age of 19 – relocating from my hometown to Los Angeles. While my current residence is a modest yet comfortable apartment, I aspire to upgrade once my income starts flowing. Thanks to some connections my mum, I landed an opportunity to showcase my photography and cinematography skills. My mums friend Laura manages the Sturniolo triplets, a prominent group in the YouTube community.

“Y/n?”, the barista interrupts with my drink. Smiling, I grab my beverage and head outside, taking in a deep breath. A sense of responsibility to make a good impression washes over me as I stroll, catching glimpses of myself in passing windows. The anticipation and nervousness fuel my journey to Laura's home office.

Arriving at her house, I ring the doorbell. Laura opens the door with a warm smile, “Hi dear! You look just like your mum” she says. Pulling me into a hug. “Lovely to meet you” I smile back. We exchange greetings, and she guides me upstairs. Seated in her office, she briefs me on the tasks ahead – editing their weekly podcast, vlog, and car video, along with organizing a photoshoot for an upcoming merch drop.

Midway through our conversation, a knock at the door interrupts us. Laura's daughter, Madi, "Nick's outside, I'm leaving now," she informs Laura, who interjects, "Actually, Madi, would you mind taking y/n here with you? She can actually meet them." "Oh, I don't want to intrude," I say, but Madi reassures me, "No, it's fine! I mentioned you had this meeting earlier, and Nick saw your page. We were both obsessed with your work." I agree with a smile, bid farewell to Laura, and follow Madi for a casual chat on the move and work.

At the front door, we find a minivan, and I open the back door, greeted by Nick. "It's so nice to meet you! I'm Nick, sorry for picking you up so last minute," he apologizes with a smile. "It's fine, no worries," I respond with a laugh. The driver, Matt, turns around, and I smile and wave. "You alright?" he asks, focusing on pulling out of the parking spot. "Yeah," I reply with a smile. “Is Chris still home?” Madi inquires, and Nick nods. The car ride is accompanied by quiet music and small talk, centered around getting to know each other.

Upon reaching the Sturniolo's house, we let ourselves in and head up the stairs to their living room. I drop my bag onto the couch. Madi, Nick, and I sit around the couch, with me in the middle, as Matt heads to the fridge. "Y/n, want anything to drink?" he asks, turning to me. "No, it's fine. I'm good," I shake my head. He places four Pepsis on the coffee table before taking a seat between me and Nick. I smile to myself, cute.

Nick is incredibly friendly, and we bond over our shared interests in photography. Matt is also sweet, ensuring I'm not left out in any conversation and keeping me entertained. Madi already feels like a sister vibe. The three of us are currently laughing at Nick's tangent about some driver on the journey to Laura's. "I mean, this dumb fuck shouldn't be allowed on the road, didn't even know how to use a fucking indicator," he practically yells. I laugh, my head falling back.

My attention shifts to the stairs as I hear someone walking up them. It's Chris - he practically ignores us all as he walks to the fridge, opening it. Our conversation dies down, and the room becomes dead silent; you could hear a pin drop. "Who the fuck took the last Pepsi?" he grumbles, basically slamming the fridge shut. "Chris," Nick scolds. Chris turns to look at us all on the sofa. "Oh, hey," he nonchalantly nods at me. I shoot a quick, small smile before dropping it. What the fuck.

"We can pick up another pack when we go out to film the car video tonight," Chris starts but is quickly cut off. "Chris, this is the editor, Y/n," Madi speaks up, furrowing her brows at him. "Oh shit, my bad. Just thought it was some girl Matt brought back," he chuckles, motioning to Matt's arm behind my head on the sofa. We all just stare at him in disbelief. He hums to himself before walking over, picking up my Pepsi in front of me that I had already had half of, holding eye contact with me. He downs it and drops it back on the table, the can rolling away. "Dude," Nick scolds him. "Later," Chris mumbles before going back to his room. My jaw is slack from slight shock at him. "I'm so sorry about him," Matt begins. "It's fine, don't worry about it," I smile, lying at him; in truth, it did bother me because, it was out of order. I mean, I'm going to be working for this absolute dick.

We're snapped out of our thoughts again by someone walking upstairs, but this time it's some blonde Instagram model girl from Chris's room. She simply walks past us and leaves the house. Lovely.

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

Nick added you to a groupchat

I read the notification before unlocking my phone, it was a group chat of me and the triplets, just titled “📸”

I go on the chat, the only message being from nick.

From Nick

Hey girl, videos coming out in 2 days, I've got the SD card if you wanna come pick it up!

I smile and respond, agreeing to the plans. Nick and Matt like the message, while Chris leaves it on read. The noise from my upstairs neighbours is getting louder, prompting me to sigh and pinch my nose. I quickly pack a bag with my laptop and other essentials. Thankfully, the weather in LA is never cold, so I leave in my comfy outfit of sweatpants and a crop top.

I arrive at the house and knock on the door. Matt opens it, greets me, and pulls me into a side hug. "Hey, is Nick in?" I inquire. "Yeah, he's making lunch. You want any?" Matt offers. Despite not wanting to be a burden, my rumbling stomach speaks for itself. "If you don't mind," I smile at him. "Not at all," he says before heading upstairs.

Nick is busy cooking pasta, and Chris is lounging on the sofa, scrolling on his phone. He looks up at me as I quickly avert my gaze. "Hey, food's ready now if you want a plate," Nick smiles at me as I slide my bag off my shoulder onto the dining table and sit down. "Yeah, that's great. Um, would you mind if I edit here? My neighbours are driving me crazy," I ask nervously, sticking my tongue in my cheek. "Of course! Stay as long as you like," Nick offers a warm smile, serving the pasta.

"Just letting you know, Chris is having people over later, so you can edit in my room upstairs," he continues, placing my plate in front of me with a fork. I stab the pasta, blow on it, smile, and nod. Matt takes his plate and goes to his room to stream, while Nick leaves a plate out for Chris as he goes to shower. shit, it's just us in the room now.

As I eat my pasta, I hear Chris get up from the couch, then the chair next to me scratching the floor. He sits next to me, pulling his plate of pasta toward him as he begins eating. It's awkward, with his legs obnoxiously spread so our knees are touching. The only sounds are the slight chewing and our forks scraping the plate until Chris speaks up, "You drink?" he asks me. "I guess," I reply, considering I only drink socially. "I was gonna invite you to my thing tonight, but not if you're dressed like that," he says, stabbing pasta with his fork. Thanks. "I'm busy editing tonight anyway," I mumble, playing with my food slightly on my plate. He sighs before breaking the silence again. "I've got a fresh love drop, need you on the set for photos, can you take them like this?" he asks sounding more like an order than a question, as he shows me my own Instagram post with photos taken from a digital camera. "Yeah," I reply, my eyes still on his phone as I eat. He swipes off Instagram, and as he does, I catch a glimpse of what I assume to be his designs in his camera roll. I have to admit; he has a good vision.

I eventually finish my meal, wash up after myself, grab a drink, and head upstairs to Nick's room. He's playing Fortnite on his TV with Matt on the other end of the headset, presumably still streaming. We exchange silent smiles before I sit on his desk and pull out my laptop. He left the SD card out for me, so I slot it in and begin working on it. While watching the unedited video, I can't help but stare at Chris. As much as I hate to admit it, he looks good - the way his black tee hugs his biceps, how blue his eyes are. Focus, Y/n.

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

I've just finished the video, and Nick and I are currently sitting on his bed, sharing headphones. It's hard to pay attention due to the obnoxiously loud people downstairs and the booming music. It's now 2 am, and the party seems to be ending as the music stops, and the muffled voices get quieter. He laughs as the video ends, clapping his hands together in amusement. "Honestly, y/n, that's amazing," he smiles at me. I save the video and hand the SD card back to him, ready for upload.

"Tomorrow, we're going out to film another 'come eat with us' video. I'll let you know when we're ready for editing," he explains, and I nod in agreement. "I should get going," I say, looking out the window at the night sky. "Let me ask Matt to drop you off," he suggests. I nod and hug him before heading downstairs with my bag alone.

The scene downstairs is chaotic, with red solo cups everywhere, spilt drinks on the now sticky floor, and chairs moved around. Chris is by the kitchen alone, drinking Bacardi straight from the bottle. I sigh as I attempt to walk past, but he calls my name. I turn to look at him, and he waves me over with his middle and index finger. As I step towards him, I can smell the alcohol on his breath; he's clearly drunk.

"Drink with me," he slurs. I shake my head no, but it doesn't stop him. He shoves the glass bottle in my face. "Chris, I'm good," I assert, but he doesn't stop. He continues, and I try to push the bottle away, but it ends up dropping, shattering on the floor. I groan as I bend down, picking up the large pieces of glass.

"Y/n," he groans, but I ignore him. I wince as a shard cuts my hand, and blood quickly starts coming out. "Shit," I mutter, dropping the glass I was holding and standing up. "Let me see," Chris mumbles, grabbing my wrist. I let him, and he examines the cut, almost snapping out of his drunken state. His warm hand sends jolts through my body as he holds me. He walks me over to the sink, turning it on and rinsing my hand under it. I wince at the feeling, causing him to soothingly rub his thumb over my wrist. "Shh, it's okay, you're fine," he mumbles. He grabs a bandage from a drawer while still holding onto my wrist, gently placing it on my palm and rubbing it down.

"Pretty sure you're meant to disinfect it," I look up at him. "Pretty sure you're the sober one, and somehow I'm the one helping you," he smirks to himself. I breathe out a laugh as he looks up at me and away from my hand. We stare at each other for a second, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. We hear a door open, and he's quick to drop my wrist, turning away, making me frown slightly. "Yo, y/n, let's go—what the fuck?" Matt says, coming from his room and seeing the glass on the floor. He looks up at my bandaged hand. "What happened?" he asks, concerned. "Don't worry about it, let's go," I mumble, walking around the glass and to him. I look back for a second and see Chris leaning against the counter, eyes glued to his phone.

I get in the front seat of Matt's car and feel my phone buzz.

From Chris

sorry

・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆

tag list !!

@iloveneilperry @bernardenjoyer

@daddyslilchickenfingers

@mbbsgf @sturnvilmed @sturnphilia @s1urnioloslvr

@mattsbratt @mangoposts @christinarowie332

@recklesssturniolo @bluesturniolo333

@flowerxbunnie @kenzieiskoolaid @pepsiskiess

@poopydroopt @byechristopher @solarsturniolo

@m6ttsturniolo @lustfulslxt @stardustmf444

@thankyounextt @glossyfx @bellasturniolo @justurniolos @cl0esblogg @strumbolisworld @strniolosworld @chrisloyalgf @aliyahsbody

#chris sturniolo x reader #angst #matt sturniolo x reader #imagine #matt sturniolo #fluff #chris sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #smut #nick sturniolo #Spotify

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hai7ani · 6 months

Text

WHAT'S LUV? haitani rindou

sfw

happy birthday rindou ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱

i like to think that rindou is a man of many things.

he likes you, he likes ran sometimes, he likes music, and he also likes garlic bread -- the saltiness that comes with it always makes him moan a little more when munching on a piece and you're beside him begging for a bite too. he pulls his hand away before running to the other side of the room to finish his bread because this is his, not yours, and he tells you to go away with a pout. you laugh while flying a leg to his butt before heading off to complete your daily to-do list, but when you emerge from the shower you see two big pieces of garlic bread sitting in a tupperware on the kitchen counter. he isn't home, he's left for classes -- he told you after peeking a head into the shower and eyeing cheekily at your naked body and getting kicked out by you with a blush and there's also a sticky note on it when you shuffle closer to take a look -- finish it for me. i'm full -- yeah..... and you know your stupid boyfriend has never been a great liar too :3

rindou is a fan of cinematography. whatever christopher nolan, fight club or aesthetic movie that you feed him on netflix during movie night every friday, he'll devour it every single time. and he hugs you close when you fall asleep halfway through the movie because he thinks you are so cuddly when you're wearing his calvin klein hoodie in his 21°C bedroom and your nose is in his neck -- soft inhales and snores blowing against his skin and he smirks a little when you unconsciously hook a leg over his hip.

contrary to popular belief, rindou is actually a big afternoon napper. he really loves sleeping when it's still 2pm and hot outside after a nice shower, wearing his favourite thin cotton tshirt and he's waiting for his hair to dry and he just ... lays in bed and then accidentally doze off because it's just too comfortable for him. he loves catnapping with you too -- on the couch, in his bed, in your bed -- just having you lay on his forearm as you fall asleep together feels so intimate and loving to him and he can't help but love you a little more when you wake up and look at him drowsily with half open eyelids, some stray hair sticking to your face and you've got some sleep marks indented on your left arm. he wipes your hair away for you, your face sticky against his palm from the heat, and rindou still pulls your body close by your thighs to press a sweet kiss on the corners of your lips. "hi." "hi..."

rindou was a chubby kid when he was younger -- paired with the little glasses on his nose, he's gotten bullied before for it. but after he's hit puberty at the age of 14 and has easy access to gym equipments, rindou trains whenever he can. there's a few stretch marks on his stomach and biceps and you know he's a little sensitive to them -- it's just there ever since he started training, he doesn't really know how it came to be, and he doesn't know how to make it go away either. though he can't help but get so shy and blushy before pressing a little kiss to your neck when you touch on them and smooch on them a little. "they're you, rin. they're a part of you." and you run your palm over the areas warmly while he purrs in your neck like a little cat.

he also adores it when you keep him on track for his diet. like the extra larva cake that ran had bought last night taunting him in the fridge and you push past his body to snatch it away from his sight before rindou can act on his desires. you're always there, and every time when this happens you always give him a scoop though -- just one scoop of the dessert after he flashes you some look of longing and you kiss his cheek with a mouthful of chocolate, "go now." he smirks while grabbing his gym bag off the rack, the bottle of his protein shake that you made for him earlier hanging off his pointer. "see you." and he leaves for his Sunday morning gym session with a giddy smile and a rattling, itchy heart.

rindou is a bit possessive. he likes to think that he isn't the over-protective boyfriend that most girls hate in guys -- he's just a little territorial when it comes to you. which is why he doesn't tell his friends about you despite their curious asks about his girl -- though everyone knows haitani rindou has a girlfriend, nobody knows who she is. and people had only found out how serious he is about you when some guy in tokyo manji had crossed his boundaries. he'd just joined the gang -- he isn't familiar with the people and the customs, but so many wants to know just who haitani rindou really is when provoked. and some idiot just goes up and pokes a finger into rindou's shoulder, talking down on him like he isn't the same guy who'd went to juvie with his brother for beating a man to death, and rindou isn't fazed at all by it at first. he's unresponsive to the guy's taunts, smirking when he talks big to rindou, but he finds himself getting irritated when he starts yapping about his girlfriend. "ah, my chick's actually really annoying, so i'm thinking of dumping her. you got any recommendations for me? i like sweet girls. maybe yours would do." rindou had punched the soul out of that man after grabbing his collar, daring him to say it again (he really did, and they get into a violent fight, and rindou won). but he gets suspended for a month because mikey is serious about his no-infighting rule, even though it wasn't even rindou's fault at all, and you'd gotten so mad at this asshole called sano manjirou after you find out the reason why your boyfriend had came over to your house with a busted lip and a big bruise to his cheek and he tells you that he won't be any attending gang meetings for now; that he'll be taking you to kyoto this saturday for a quick trip since he's freed up his weekends.

you stomp over to musashi shrine the next time ran tells you he'll be heading out to a meeting, and you point a long finger in mikey's face, "apologise to rindou." they'd all looked at you like you were some crazy woman when you'd entered, and an even crazier one when you mention the younger haitani's given name from your mouth like he's some close relative to you. "he's done nothing wrong. and where's the asshole that talked about me? tell him to come say it to my face." and draken laughs at it. so this is rindou's secret girlfriend. you frown in mikey's face to teach his men better, and he ends up saying sorry to you instead with a flush to his cheeks because he still holds a petty grudge against rindou for accidentally stepping on a packet of his unopened taiyaki that had fell to the floor (rindou wasn't wearing his glasses... hence the accident...) and you find out later that the guy who'd talked smack about you earlier was still in the hospital from his injuries. rindou drags you to the park later and sits with you at the swing. "everyone knows who you are now." he pouts silently, the possessiveness going hard on him (he just wants his pretty girl all to himself) and you pout too after a little while. "i want them to know me though." you murmur, and it's as if a switch had went off in rindou's head. he realises many things that night, and after he's walked you home he goes back and posts a picture of you and him hugging in bed (you're sleeping, your face is a little covered by his arms, but he thinks this will do for now) on his instagram later that night. stink -- he captions, he tags you, and he disables his comments.

you like drawing and doodling on rindou's untattooed arm when you're bored, and he watches you do it on his skin every single time with a lovesick gaze. sometimes it's a few smiley faces, other times some flowers (roses, bellflowers, orchids), and today you draw a bunch of black on the area just a little below his pulse that he cannot for the love of his life figure out what it is. he nudges your cheek with his nose after giving up and you hum. "what's that?" you simply smile, "my name and your name together. look closer." and he sees it all when he leans in next to your face -- your kanji and his kanji jumbled together in your pretty fine handwriting. from far it may seem like there's just a very huge mole on his wrist, but if one were to look closer, he thinks it's the prettiest thing they can ever see in their life (next to you). rindou doesn't let you wipe the ink off his skin later. he leaves your house that evening with a lame excuse of needing to get some errands for his mother because he'd forgotten despite your little whines and fits of telling him to stay, "it's your birthday, rin! i was gonna bring you somewhere..." you pout and he nods with a kiss to your cheek, telling you he'll be back soon and he rushes over to a friend's to ask for a favour.

"i'm closed for the day, rindou." his friend blinks, counting the stacks of cash in his hands and rindou scratches on his scalp. "i'll pay you upfront, in cash. just need to get this tattooed real quick."

rindou snaps a photo of it when it's done -- the tattoo fine-lined, fresh and red, and his skin is a little swollen, but it's pretty, and he sends it to you.

for you from me

n happy bday to myself too ig

HWAT THE FUCK?!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POOKIE RIN i love you to the moon & back 🤣🤣🤣🤞🏻💞 he's so silly i love him sm im gonna eat his cheekies

#r1988 #MY BOYFRIENDDDDD #rindou x reader #rindou haitani x reader #haitani rindou x reader #rindou haitani #haitani rindou #tokyo revengers x reader #tokrev x reader #tr x reader #tokyo revengers #tokrev #tr #rindou imagines

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unhinged-diaries · 5 months

Text

Business Guide:

How to get started

When you have a business name in mind look up the domain name to see if it’s taken. You don’t want to spend money on an LLC just to find out that your name is taken. Thats a waste of money because you also have to pay to dissolve it.

If the name is not taken, great, don’t file an LLC yet. Go online and get a virtual business address. Why? If you’re running your business out of your home like I am, just know that it’s public information if you use your address to file your LLC. A virtual address should cost like $10-$20 a month. Use that to file your LLC.

Once you’ve filed that LLC get your Ein. That’s your Employee Identification Number. It’s your businesses tax id. It’s free to file on the IRS website. Don’t fall for the scam websites you guys.

Once you’ve gotten your EIN go to Google domains and get your website name aswell as 3-4 emails. An email for your social media accounts, an executive email for yourself, an [email protected] for things like your business bank account, Shopify account, etc; and maybe a customer support email. I use the social email as a customer support email. All of this should be like $50/month.

Once you’ve don’t that get on Canva and make that logo bookie. Personally I paid someone on Fiverr to make mine because I’m a “soft business life” kind of girl and I’d rather pay the professionals. Thats just me though.

Once you’ve got your logo go ahead and get them social media accounts going. Instagram, tiktok, Facebook.

Alright now this is where it gets specific to clothing brands because that’s what I own.

Time to find a manufacturer. Head over to alibaba and search what kind of product you want to sell. Be sure to add “oem” if you want a manufacturer that customizes. Look for the amount of orders they’ve gotten on that product. If it says zero orders that’s ok. Some styles are new and thus haven’t been ordered yet. Check any reviews they have for other products. Also check the total revenue they’ve done. It’s on the store profile. I can’t tell you what the sweet spot is yet bc I’ve only used one manufacturer so far but I’d look for mid six figures and up if you wanna be real safe.

Chat with them and order a sample. Even if you buy from a vendor list you’ll need your own sample to make content with. I suggest buying one and first. It’s worth the wait because if you buy multiple and end up not liking them you’d have wasted money that could’ve gone into testing a different manufacturer.

Do not launch with more than 2 products. Even 2 is a stretch, wallai start with one.

This is because if you’re doing the preorder, which I suggest, you’ll be depending on customer orders to pay for the bulk order. Manufacturers do their moq by color or style. If you have too many options in your website and customers order a mix of things, you better pray you have enough money to cover the bulk for all those different styles. Stay safe and give them 1-2 options to choose from.

Pre order method is great if you don’t have a lot of cash to start with because the orders pay for themselves. Bulk orders start to wrack up. Especially if it’s a custom style or material. You don’t want to break the bank for something that might not sell.

Once you’ve gotten and approved your samples choose a launch date. 2-3 weeks before that launch dates post consistently. At least once a day but remember quality over quantity. Now don’t be tricked. Quality doesn’t mean a full cinematography. It means connecting with your audience and relating with them to a point where they’re like “this business gets it”. Either that or attaching yourself to an identity they want to have. “It girl ig influencer”, “feminine soft life babe” “clean girl Pilates princess” whatever the fuck it is embody ur as best as you can. When customers attach your product with an identity that is aspirational to them they will buy it without rationalizing. It’s why the luxury market makes so much off of ppl who can’t afford to buy it twice.

Focus on the backend

If you have a goal of getting an influx of orders and making a lot of sales, be sure that your business is structured in a way that can handle it happening at any given time. You know those tiktok businesses that get one viral video and sell out over night? That could be you but if you’re not prepared ppl are going to be upset. I suggest working backwards:

A customer service platform/inbox so that you can answer them right away with frequently asked questions.

Have stock so that you have something for customers to buy once they finally land on your website.

Have a well presenting website so that ppl don’t think you’re a scam. I’m going to do a post on this bc some of these business websites drive me fuckin nuts. Color theory ppl, color theory.

A social media page with some kind of social proof ie reviews from customers in some way shape or form. Ppl are going to be looking for what others have to say about your brand. Hire UGC creators to make videos that you can post on your page. They’re cheaper than influencers but still know how to convey the message well. You’ll have to have extra samples and items on hand to send them. Also check out their usage rights. Some will allow you to use their videos in ads but you have to pay extra and it’s only for a certain amount of time. But if they do it right, you’ll get a great return. Scared money don’t make no money.

A social media page that shows the products in movement and different lighting. I need to be able to imagine myself in the item before I buy it. Where would I wear it, how will it fit on me. Even when I’ve already ordered something I stay going back to the businesses social media page just to see the clothes again. I might even search it up to see other ppl wearing it.

Packaging

No need to go crazy with the packaging in the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, branding is important but as a beginner you may not have the money for that yet. You need to focus on spending money on what will give you the best return. Just get regular poly mailers from Amazon in your brand colors. You’ll also need:

A stack of 6x4 shipping labels

A thermal printer

A scale

When your manufacturer sends you the clothes they will most likely be in their own little bags. If not you can get those from Amazon too.

Later on you can go to alibaba and find a manufacturer to print you custom poly mailers for that extra edge. Put your logo, a cute message, and your social media handles on the bag and that’s it. Good to go.

You can also design your own thank you cards as well. I won’t be doing that.

Little things to remember

Don’t feel like you have to keep up with big brands. You don’t need to launch something every two weeks. As a matter of fact I advise against emulating super fast fashion brands. I only launch a new item once the pre ordered items have been shipped out to customers.

Be nice to your customers. You’d think this was obvious but it’s not. Some ppl are rude, ghetto, and uncouth. If you hate authority and have a smart mouth I think you should either take a customer service course or hire a virtual assistant from the Philippines to do your customer service for you because no customers = no money.

I’ll update this as I learn and grow:

12/18/2023

Influencers

Not every influencer with a mass follower base is going to be your influencer. It’s possible that you pay $5000 for an influencer with 75k followers to post your product on her page but that post makes you less than $3k. That means you’ve net negative $2k. What a fuckin waste of money.

This is why it’s important to develop a persona for your brand. What is your brand identity? Who is your target audience? What are their psychographics?

Where do currently shop? What are there favorite social media apps?What is their race? Their age? Their ethnicity? Are they in college or highschool? Do they have parents that support their lifestyle or are they hustlers? Are they concerned about price or quality more? Are they married? Do they have children? Are they environmentally conscious?

You need to embody Joe Goldberg and peer at them through their window. Acquaint yourself with every part of their life.

Also, you might not be your target demographic yet and that’s ok. The girls that shop with my brand have social lives. They go out with their friends and need outfits to wear. I don’t have a social life. The only clothes I wear are my work clothes to go to work and my robe when I’m at home.Or a sweat set and a bonnet to run errands.

Don’t think to yourself “ I would never wear that.” “I would never buy something at that price point”. That’s fine cuz someone else will. A lot of people will.

Another thing is your demographic could change once you start your business. It might be that you create content that attracts a different type of person than what you originally planned and that’s cool too. We don’t live in a perfect world. As long as they’re close enough to what you had predetermined it’s ok. Sometimes our business comes out different than we hoped but it’s just as good if not better. It’s like child. Don’t destroy its greatness trying to turn it into something it doesn’t want to be.

User generated content

Love, love, love her down. She’s that sweet spot between making content yourself and having an influencer with a large following make the content for you. UGC is a form of social proof which is something you need for an e-commerce brand especially. Ppl can’t just pop into your store and try on your stuff so they need the opinions of “regular” people to sell them on it. They want to see that person try it on, do a close up of the fabric, wear it to a social setting, etc;

What I like about UGC is that I can pick someone who fits into my brand persona to represent my brand even if I don’t. Someone that appears aspirational but still relatable. Like I said previously, you yourself might not embody your brands persona but you can pay someone who does.

A little translate for yall: I do not live in a nice apartment. My room is small, and dark, and filled with boxes. My living room has mix matched decor and I myself am not the body type I’d like to be (pls don’t hit me with body positivity babe). What I can do is pay a girl with the opposite of all those things and knows how to sell a product.

I have a girl right now that I’ve inquired to make posts for me and she’s got it all. Her rate for one video is $100 with an extra $30 for 90 days of usage in ads. $100 is the new 50 and for the return I’ll get on her, THATS A STEAL.

If you need to find a UGC creator search it up on tiktok and Twitter. Most of them have a portfolio of past work they’ve done. If you feel like they match your brands vibes, keep their info for when you’re ready.

I suggest to have a roster of them because if ppl keep seeing the same person over and over, the thought that that person is just a regular degular customer leaves their mind and you lose the magic of UGC.

Update 12/21/2023

I’ve been sick but yall ain’t paying me so it’s ok. Here’s the update.

Website

Your website is your home babe and when you’re preparing for guest you can’t have your home looking any type of way. Not only does it need to be clean but it needs to be cohesive and inviting.

You know how many times I’ve opened someone’s booking page on Instagram and I click off. Not only am I not reading through all of that small ass text but my head hurts cuz you’ve got a black font on a hot pink background.

Some of yalls websites to not comply with accessibility guidelines so pay attention to that bc you can be sued. Ppl should be able to read what you have on there without getting a headache.

Good rule of thumb is to have one primary color, and then black and white. Don’t over complicate it. Your primary color will be your logo, think twitters blue, then your secondary colors should be black and white, for your text. You might have an accent color like gold or silver, this should be used sparingly for a little dazzle.

If you’re a clothing brand like me, keep the text short and sweet. Think about it, when you go shopping on your favorite website are you bombarded with a soliloquy on how the collection came to be? And even if you are do you stop and read the whole thing? I don’t bc I don’t care. That’s what your Instagram story is for.

All I want to see is the attention grabber and a short,but convincing, tagline.

Example: Ski Resort 2023-“Stun the slopes and stand out on the ski lift with best sellers spotted at St. Moritz”

Let you images tell the rest of the story.

Don’t overwhelm them with options

Guys this is so important. The more options ppl see the less they buy or the less likely they are to buy. Why? This is the thought process.

“Omg the stuff on this website is so cute! Let me go through their catalog and add to my cart as I go”

5 minutes of scrolling

“Ok I have too many things in my cart let me just save to a wishlist instead”

Another 5 minutes of scrolling

“Ok I’ll just stop here and go back to my cart and decide what I’m going to get rn”

Goes to cart

Spends 10 minutes deciding what she’s gonna get bc there’s so many good options

Takes 10 items out of her cart and only buys two basics bc she knows those are less likely to disappoint.

And scene

That is if she didn’t leave after the second five minutes of scrolling. Nowadays five minutes on a non stimulating website is a lot, don’t let it take that long.

Obviously this also depends on the customers budget. Some people have the money to just buy everything in their cart (I wish- one day), but most are just window shopper you hope to convert with your nice styles, images, and prices. Don’t make it harder for people to give you their money.

I have more but I’m tired of writing so I’ll update yall tmrw.

#level up #glow up #luxury #entrepreneur #spoiled heaux #blackgirlglowup #scaling business owner #confessions of a business owner

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queer-ragnelle · 9 months

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Excalibur (1981) | Directed by John Boorman

Arthurian Film List | Arthurian Show List | Movie review below the cut ⤦

Star rating: 10/10 Content warning: multiple rape scenes, heavy gore throughout, elements of horror, nudity, animal brutality (horses in battle are treated roughly) Overview: Writer and director John Boorman understood the assignment. It's evident this film was a passion project. Both of his children are in it (his daughter as Igraine, his son as young Mordred) and he had been working with J. R. R. Tolkien back in the 70s on an adaptation of Lord of the Rings which fell through, and much of those elements were revived and put to use here. The script, acting, score, and cinematography meet the epic demands an Arthurian film requires to succeed. Synopsis: The film opens with Uther before he meets Igraine and goes on to detail the entirety of Arthur's reign and life. Arthur's beginnings with Ector and Kay are very sweet and culminate in his pulling the sword in the stone and meeting a fun, quirky Merlin. The wizard trains Arthur up and he's eventually knighted by Urien and makes an ally of him while defending Leodegrance and Guinevere's castle. Arthur falls in love with Guinevere and intends to marry her, but first meets and battles Lancelot, wins his loyalty, and sends him to pick Guinevere up for the royal wedding. Meanwhile Morgan learns magic from Merlin and uses it to conceive Mordred with Arthur. After the royal wedding, the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere begins. While staying away from Camelot, Lancelot meets country bumpkin Perceval, who follows Lancelot back to Camelot from his secluded woodland home, then takes up the mantle of Gareth Beaumains by working for Kay in the kitchens and champions Guinevere against Gawain until Lancelot can arrive. After the affair between he and Guinevere is found out, Lancelot runs off mad into the woods, and Arthur's prosperity declines. Perceval begins a decade-long quest in search of the Holy Grail to restore Arthur/Fisher King's health so he can reclaim his lands now ravaged by disease. Mordred has grown up in this time and been taught by Morgan to hate Arthur. Once Arthur has been cured, he goes to find Guinevere in the abbey where she had been living, and retrieves Excalibur, which she had been keeping safe for him all that time. Arthur then goes with his remaining knights to battle Mordred, where he is mortally wounded, and Perceval fulfills his final act for his king by returning the sword to the Lady of the Lake as Arthur is spirited away to Avalon. Final thoughts: This movie is so damn good. Nobody's doing it like Boorman. It's my favorite version of the grail quest. Very horror, as it should be. (Monty Python is a different tone, not a worse one!) I love everyone's acting here, the casting is so rich, I love the look and vibe of everyone, the Shakespearean line delivery. All of it. The gaudy green lighting is so 80s but it works, it sets a tone, it commits to the bit, illuminates every magical scene. And the armor is obviously incredible. I won't hear criticism. Either you get it or you don't. You can watch an entire mini-series about the armorer, Terry English, produced by Mythbuster's Adam Savage on YouTube, here. And if you want to learn more about Mordred's cool helmet specifically, watch here. Anyway please watch this, you won't be disappointed.

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burnmarksofficial · 7 months

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꒰꒰ ‧₊˚𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐄 ─ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐀 ˚₊· ꒱꒱

❨ series masterlist | request | taglist ❩

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒 ─

★ birth name ─ jae-eun lee ★ hangul ─ 이재은 ★ nicknames ─ jae, jj, jae-bear, jennington, lilo

★ birthday ─ 5th november 2003 ★ age ─ 20 (int.) 21 (kor.) ★ zodiac ─ scorpio ★ chinese zodiac ─ sheep

★ birth place ─ seoul, south korea ★ home town ─ seoul, south korea ★ current residence ─ seoul, south korea

★ nationality ─ korean ★ ethnicity ─ korean ★ languages ─ english (100%), korean (100%), japanese (100%), french (100%), chinese (97%), spanish (97%), italian (96%), german (96%), thai (54%)

★ gender ─ cisfemale ★ pronouns ─ she/her/hers ★ sexual orientation ─ bisexual ★ romantic orientation ─ biromantic

★ height ─ 170.18 cm (5'7) ★ weight ─ 72kg ★ blood type ─ o negative ★ eye colour ─ black ★ hair colour ─ black

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐑 ─

★ occupation ─ formula one driver

★ team ─ oracle red bull racing ★ position ─ 1st driver ★ race number ─ 13

★ sponsors ─ the hwang corporation ★ helmet ─ bell

★ podiums ─ 65 ★ grand prix entered ─ 67 ★ points ─ 1562 ★ highest race finish ─ 1 (x53) ★ highest position ─ 1 (x3) ★ world championships ─ 3

★ manger ─ jin sehun ★ opertaions manger ─ do-yun park ★ personal assistant ─ yana rintarou ★ trainer ─ rin hiniki ★ press officer ─ moon dan-bi ★ race engeriner ─ claudia lao

★ debut race ─ 2021, bahrain gp ★ debut age ─ 18 ★ first podiums ─ 2021, bahrain gp (1) ★ first points ─ 2021, bahrain gp (25) ★ debut race win ─ 2021, bahrain gp

★ fans names ─ j-nation ★ offical colours ─ black and white

★ instagram ─ jaeeunlee ★ twitter ─ jaeeunlee ★ youtube ─ jaeeunlee ★ tiktok ─ jaeeunlee ★ twitch ─ jaeeunlee ★ facebook ─ jaeeunlee ★ personal website ─ jaeeunlee.com

★ role modles ─ ha-ru lee, ayton senna, michael schumacher, kimi raikkonen, sebastian vettel, lewis hamilton

★ signature ↓

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 ─

★ mbti ─ intj-a

★ strengths ─ organised, creative, well-rounded, calm, realistic, naturally gifted, smart, introvert, quiet, logical, planner, open-minded ★ weaknesses ─ perfectionist, temper, self-critical, serious, detached, guarded, cold

★ family members ↓ min-jin hwang ─ mother ha-ru lee ─ father (deceased) ari lee ─ older sister ye-jun hwang ─ younger brother dea-eun hwang ─ younger sister saja lee ─ younger brother

★ hobbies & skills ─ photography, cinematography, art, fashion, racing (formula one and others), sports, reading, music/playing instruments (specifically guitar), skateboarding, working out, traveling ★ habits and mannerisms ─ headphone tapping, order in which she wears her jewellery, lip biting, picking at her nails, rolling her eyes, resting bitch face, speaking extremely monotone

★ likes ─ family, friends, her dog loki, woking out, music, playing guitar, skateboarding, art, fashion, photography, cinematography, reading ★ dislikes ─ rude people, racists, homophobes, basically any one that doesn't stand for human rights, people that abuse their power, mclaren

★ medical history ─ depression and anxiety ★ phobias ─ atychiphobia (fear of failure)

★ favourites ↓ number ─ 13 colour ─ black animal ─ dogs emoji ─ 😭🫡✨💀🫶🏼🏎📸 season ─ summer

★ favourites food ─ pizza, kimchi, soft tofu stew, samgyeopsal, sushi, instant noodles, tteokbokki, bibimbap, naengmyeon, bulgogi, korean bbq ★ favourites desserts ─ chocolate, mochi, cheesecake, crepe, red velvet cake, basically anything sweet ★ favourites drinks ─ coke, soju, strawberry milkshake, engery drinks, tea, coffee, milk, water, red wine

★ personal playlist ─ here

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jpmarvel90 · 9 months

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Not going to make it

Masterlist Scarlett Masterlist

Relationship: Scarlett x Reader

Summary: Y/n and Scarlett are expecting their first baby together. But when Scarlett's project is delayed, there's a risk she may not make it home for the birth.

Word Count: 4498

Y/n's POV:

Never allow your wife to go and work on a project a month before you are due to give birth. That's exactly what I did and now I'm regretting it as I'm sat in the delivery room about to push a baby out of my who ha. To be fair, she didn't really want to go, but I'm in an incredible amount of pain now, so everything is her fault! Let me back up a bit.

I've been in an incredible relationship with Scarlett for 8 years. Married for 5 of them. We met a while before that though on the set of Iron Man 2. I was one of the cinematography assistants on set. Scarlett, being the wonderful person she was, always made an effort with everyone on set. She knew everyone's name and treated them the same as she would her fellow cast mates.

Our relationship turned into one of friendship when she was going through her divorce. I was working to make sure everything was ready on a set on the backlot. Turns out Scarlett was using it to have her daily meltdown. Her words, not mine. At first, I didn't know what to do. In the end, just sat next to her and offered her a tissue. She broke the silence to explain what was happening.

From that day, we became close. She would search me out when she was having a down moment, and we'd go to an unused set, and she would let her feelings out. Sometimes she would scream, others cry. Sometimes she would be so angry she's just kicked the shit out of the props. It was cute, because she would then politely put everything back to where it was before her rampage.

I often didn't say anything. I think I was mainly there as a soundboard for her. I didn't try to offer her much advice. My own love life was a disaster so I couldn't speak with any wisdom on the matter. As things from her divorce calmed down, we started to hang out away from set. Coffee and lunch here and there. It was nice to see the change in her as she started to get over and move on from her divorce.

In fact, I was surprised when she had moved on far enough that she kissed me at a cast party for Avengers. I had just got a promotion and Kevin had talked about me taking over head of cinematography when Patrick retired at the end of this movie. I was so excited, and Scarlett was the first person that I wanted to tell. After I excitedly told her, she grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a kiss filled with fireworks, whispering "I'm so proud of you." I was completely shocked, but after talking, we both admitted that we had feelings for each other and started to go on dates together.

We were definitely a slow burn. Although the feelings there definitely there, there was always a hesitation to take it to the next step. It wasn't until I was going to work on a movie in England that it kind of forced us to address the situation. Scarlett burst through the door to my apartment almost in a rage. "Were you going to tell me that you are moving to England for 6 months?" She fumed.

"I only found out this morning and was planning to tell you over dinner tonight." I admitted, as she towered over me whilst I was sat on my sofa. "Oh, uh. Sorry. Seems I overreacted a little here." She awkwardly laughed, rubbing at the back of her neck. I was quick to pull her down onto my lap. "I don't want you to go without knowing you're mine." She whispered with vulnerability. "Oh Scarlett. I have always been yours." I confess, making her eyes light up. "Be my girlfriend." She rushed out as she cupped my cheeks.

I leaned in and captured her lips in a sweet kiss. "I'm taking that as a yes." She grinned and I nodded. "I've wanted to ask you for so long, but I didn't know if you were there yet." I admitted shyly. "Babe, we've been dating for 4 months. Of course I was there. But I appreciate you being so thoughtful of my own feelings. But let's make sure that we have clear communication. We're going to need it over the next six months." She suggested, something I easily agreed to.

Those six months were really tough. Being so new to our relationship, I think we were both worried that it would be too much of a strain to have a long distance relationship. But we made the effort with each other, both taking the trip across the pond to spend time together, talking every day. I actually think it's why our relationship is so strong.

I knew after being with her for less than a year that I wanted to propose, but her work schedule, and mine, as I worked with Marvel, became so busy. I wanted the proposal to be perfect, so I waited. Too long really. I proposed after we had been together for two years. With the help of our friends in the cast and crew, I proposed on the set where I first saw her having her break down. That was where I started to have feelings for her. The set may have changed over the years, but my feelings for her didn't.

A year later and we tied the note and have been happily married ever since. We made a home in New York, and it was where we planned to start our family. It's not been an easy journey to get here. IVF was difficult. With the commitments Scarlett had, we agreed that I would carry first, and then Scarlett would carry our second. But it took us a little longer than we had anticipated to get pregnant the first time round. It took us 18 months. It's not bad in the grand scheme of things and people go for much longer. But for us, we were so desperate for our own little family, it was a painful time. Especially when I miscarried twice.

But after a year and a half of trying, we were finally successful. We were so cautious in the early stages. I barely went out and took some time out of work for a month. The press, and even our friends, thought that we were going through a breakup. So, it was a shock to them all when we announced our pregnancy when I reached 12 weeks.

Our friends and family were so happy for us. Scarlett's mom only lives a few minutes away and her dad is within the hour. Being based in New York wasn't what some of our friends wanted though. Both Lizzie, Scar's best friend, and Florence, mine, bought apartments near us so they could be near by once the baby came along. There were like two sisters to us. It was great.

Through my pregnancy, Scar was amazing. Very protective, not that I blame her after the stress the miscarriages put us through. But she was so loving, and my favourite moments were watching her interact with the bump. Every night she would read a book to them, and she would so often singing to them. Though this would often send me to sleep as her voice is so calming to me.

I was annoyed when it was a Marvel project that caused there to be a hint of worry that she wouldn't make it for the birth. Initially there weren't any issues. She was filming on the new Scarlett Witch movie. It was a great opportunity, with Natasha coming back in the Multi-Verse and Scar was so happy to be back in the Marvel fold.

The project was due to finish a month before my due date. We talked for a long while about whether she was going to take it. To be fair, it was mainly me trying to convince her to go. I knew how much she wanted this, and I didn't want me or our child to be the reason she didn't get to do something she loved so much. It was the promise that her mom and Flo would be around for anything I might need that ultimately helped to convince her.

We were both shocked when Hunter came back from Puerto Rico to be around for the birth. He stayed with Melanie but was a great entertainment to me. Flo was around every day, and she would often stay over. In the beginning, it was actually quite fun. I was waited on hand and foot, with Hunter and Flo being far too scared of Scarlett to do anything less.

But then I got a phone call I dreaded. When I answered the phone, I could already head that Scarlett was crying. It sent my anxiety up straight away and I was terrified that something was wrong. "I'm so sorry." Is all she kept repeating, but not actually telling me what she was sorry for. I could hear Lizzie in the background trying to calm her down.

It took her 15 minutes until she was able to calm down and tell me that filming was delayed by two weeks. She was terrified that she was going to miss the birth of the baby. I was too, but I didn't want to make her feel any worse by adding to those fears. Instead, I took the time to talk her down and explain that there would be time and at the last appointment, out little man was very comfortable and didn't look to want to be going anywhere.

I even worked out how long it would take her to get to be from Atlanta and showed her that unless I was having a super speedy labour, she would more than likely make it in time if she was able to leave as soon as she knew. Thankfully she agreed and stopped threatening to walk out on her contract. As I knew Kevin Feige quite well, I called him up and explained the situation. He said that he would allow Scarlett to leave if I went into labour and offered his own private jet to ensure that she got here as quickly as she could.

It was all sorted and everything was going to work out. That was until I started to feel lower back pain when heading to bed one night. Not thinking too much of it, as I had pretty bad back pain through the pregnancy, I ran a warm bath and soaked to help ease the pain.

It helped and I climbed into bed feeling slightly better. I feel asleep pretty easily, but I woke up with the pain returning. I looked at the clock on the side of the bed and saw that it read 3am. I got up to make myself a cup of tea and a quick snack as I was getting pretty hungry. By 8am, I was worried as the pain wasn't going away. I picked up the phone and decided that it would be best to call Flo, just in case. "Hey Y/n/n. Everything ok?" Her perky voice echoed down the phone. "Hi Flo. Could you come over. I'm not feeling great and think it would be best to have someone here just in case something happens." I ask.

Before I can even finish asking, I can hear her moving around her apartment. "I'll be there in 15 minutes. Do you think you've gone into labour?" She asks and I think about how I'm feeling. "It's only a sore back. Probably nothing." I try to shut down any thoughts of this baby coming early. I've still got another 10 days until the due date and Scarlett is due home in two days. This little bugger better stay put.

When Flo arrived, she helped get me comfortable on the sofa. I considered calling Scarlett, but I didn't want to worry her if this wasn't the real thing. But the decision was soon taken from me when I shot up from the sofa, clinging to my back and stomach as a wave of pain washed over me. I tried the best I could to breathe through it. Flo came in just as I was coming to the end of is and her face turned to have a worried look on it. "Shit! Y/n are you having contractions?" She asks, taking a seat next to me and slowly rubbing her hand up and down my back.

I nod as I control my breathing and wait for the pain to pass. "You need to time them." I grimace as I try and get comfortable again. Flo grabs her phone and starts a timer. "Ok, we need to call Scar." She says, handing me my phone. I call her a few times and she doesn't answer. "Seriously!" I huff when she doesn't pick up for the fifth time. I change tack and call Lizzie instead. She answers after two rings.

"Hi Y/n. Are you ok?" She asks with a cheery voice. "Are you with Scarlett?" I question and I know she can hear the slight panic in my voice. "She's filming at the moment, but I'm on set. Is everything ok?" She enquires. "I think I'm in labour." I reply, which earns a squeal of excitement. "Lizzie. Any chance I can speak with my wife?" I ask when she doesn't seem to be doing anything but bouncing around with excitement. "Oh right. Of course. I'm on my way."

I listen as she rushes across set. I hear the voice of Kevin and then he calls out to Scarlett. There's some mumbling before I finally hear my wife's voice. "Hi my love. Is everything ok?" She asks a little out of breath. "How quickly can you get to New York?" I ask, feeling a pain starting to pick up again. "Don't mess around Y/n." She lightly scolds, but the sudden cry of pain shows her that this is no joke. "Oh shit. Is that a contraction?" She questions through the phone, her voice getting frantic.

"No, I just like crying down the phone to you." I respond sarcastically. "Fuck. I'm not there. I have to be there." She starts to panic. "Then get going." I almost shout down the phone as Flo tries to help me through the contraction. "Right! Yes. Put Flo on the phone." She orders and I put the phone on speaker. "I'm here Scar." Flo announces, giving me a smile. "How far apart are her contractions?" She quizzes. "At the moment 15 minutes and her waters haven't broken yet." She informs my panicking wife.

There's some mumbling as she talks to someone and then returns her attention back to us. "Ok, when they're 5 minutes apart, she has to go to the hospital. I'm going to leave as soon as I can. I just need to change and then I'm heading to the airport. I should be with you within 7 hours. Call my mom and brother so they're there too." She instructs to Flo. "Just hold on for me babe. I promise that I'm going to be there, right by your side." She then tries to comfort me. "I need you Scar." I cry as I finally come through the contraction. "I know my love. I'm going to be with you as fast as I can." She says, before reluctantly telling me she needs to hang up so she can get ready.

After that phone call, Flo does as asked and calls Melanie and Hunter. They both say to call when we go to the hospital as they don't want to crowd me. Which I'm really grateful for. It's now a waiting game for my contractions to get closer together. I stand up to walk off some of the pain, slowly rubbing my hand over my bump. "I'm begging you little man. Please hold on so your mama can get here." I beg him, not wanting to do this without her.

My phone rings and I grab it to see a facetime from Scarlett. I answer it to see her smiling at me, but I also see the concern in her eyes. "Hi babe. I'm in the car on the way to the airport. How are you?" She asks me. "Sore. This fucking hurts Scar." I tell her and she chuckles, but quickly stops when I glare at her. "I miss you." I sniffle, trying to hide the tears. "I miss you too. So much. But I'm going to be with you before you know it!" She tries to comfort me.

"How far apart are your contractions now?" She questions. I look over to Florence. "8 minutes." She informs me. I see Scar's face falter at that. "Wow, that's quick." She mumbles, panic taking over her. "You'll get here on time." I tell her more confidently than I feel. "Maybe I can just close my legs." I joke which makes her laugh. But that soon stops when I feel a gush of water between my legs. I look down and see a puddle of liquid by my feet. "Y/n?" Scarlett calls to me.

I slowly meet her eyes through the phone. "My waters just broke." I inform her. Flo jumps up from her seat when she hears that and gasps when she sees the state of me. "Shit. OK um, I'm just at the airport. Kevin's plane is waiting for me, and I should be in the air within an hour." She tells me. "Ok angel. We'll be waiting for you." I tell her with a smile, trying not to show her the fear I'm feeling that she's not going to make it.

90 minutes later and my contractions are now 5 minutes apart. Scarlett messaged to say they were just taking off about 15 minutes ago so it was definitely going to be close, she still has at least 4 to 5 hours until she can realistically be with us. "Come on Y/n/n. Let's get you in the car. I've called ahead to the hospital and let Melanie and Hunter know too. They're going to meet us there." Flo tells me as she helps to guide me to the car. She runs back into the house and grabs the to go bag and we're on our way.

It's been over three hours since we've arrived at the hospital. I'm now 6cm dilated and I no longer have control over my emotions. "Where is she?!" I shout through another contraction, my hand squeezing the sides of the bed. "She should be landing any minute now sweetie." Melanie tries to comfort me, dabbing at my head with a wet cloth. "I can't do this on my own." I start to cry. Melanie and Flo both stop what they're doing, taking one of my hands each. "She'll be here. And if she isn't, you're not alone. You have us with you. We're not going anywhere." Melanie tells me firmly.

I'm not close with my parents. When I came out, it had a negative affect on my relationship with them. When I told them I was pregnant, they could barely hide their disgusted at the thought of Scarlett and I having a child together. Melanie has been the mother I didn't have and I'm so grateful that she's here. But she's not the one that I want next to me. I want my wife.

"She's landed and making her way here." Hunter rushes into my room with a smile, but it's not met with enthusiasm. "She's 9cm dilated. It's almost time." The midwife tells me, but I shake my head refusing to believe it. "Nope. Not happening. I'll just hold my breath or something. This baby is not coming until my wife is next to me." I say firmly. "Come on buddy, we had a talk." I plead to the bump once again, only to be hit by another contraction. "Oh, fuck you!" I scream as Flo imitates the breathing pattern I need to do. "Come on Scar." I whisper to myself.

"No, no, no." I chant, gaining Flo's attention. "What's wrong?" She asks, gently running her fingers through my hair. "I feel the need to push" I tell her, which gets the midwives attention. "Ok, that's the sign that your son wants to join the world now Y/n." She says but I'm shaking my head, sobbing at this point. "NO! She's not here. Please!" I beg, but I know it's no use. "Ok, we can only have one person in the room during labour." The midwife informs the three of them. "You're her back up birthing partner Flo. We'll wait outside." Melanie responds before leaning into leave a kiss on my forehead. "I'll be back to meet my grandson." She smiles, which I easily return.

Hunter is next to say goodbye, before they both disappear into the hallway. Flo takes my hand and gives me a confident look. "I thought she'd make it." I cry as Flo tries to shush me. "I know. I know I'm not the one you wanted with you. But I'm not going anywhere." She tells me, providing me the smallest of comforts.

"Ok Y/n. We're going to need you to start pushing with your next contraction." The midwife informs me. She's not here. She's not made it. Our son is going to come into this world without her. As I push with the next contraction, tears stream down my face to know she's not here. It's breaking my heart.

"I'M HERE!" Scarlett's voice fills the room as the door slams open. Relief washes over me as my contraction comes to an end, and I see the one face that I've wanted by my side. Flo places a kiss on my head and leaves so Scarlett can take over. She instantly takes my hand in hers and places a kiss on my head. "I'm so sorry. I'm late." She says panting, out of breath from clearly running. "It's ok. You're here now." I smile at her, puckering up my lips to show I want a kiss. She giggles and leans down and captures my lips in a kiss.

It doesn't last long as another contraction kicks in. "You got this baby. I'm so proud of you." Scarlett encourages as I push. "That's great. Y/n I can see the head. Take some deep breaths for me. You're almost there." The midwife says. I follow Scar who is guiding me through the breathing techniques. "I'm not sure I can go again. This hurts so much." I pant, leaning my head back against the pillow, dreading the next contraction to come. "Yes, you can. You are the strongest person I have ever met. It's something I admire about you so much and our son is so lucky to have you as their mom. I'm here with you. We are going to get through this together."

The sincerity in her voice is making me emotional, until another rush of pain hits. "Sure! Together! How's your pain level?" I hiss as I push once again, for what I hope is the final time. But all that frustration washes away when a baby's cry rings out. I look to Scar, to see her eyes filled with tears. There is no sound more magical. "Congratulations. You have a healthy baby boy." The midwife tells us, with a big smile. "Go cut the cord." I instruct Scarlett, with a push, who's reluctant to leave me. She places a kiss on my forehead and moves down towards our son.

She lets out a gasp as she meets him. "He's gorgeous." She whispers in awe. "Just like his mama." I smile. Seeing how happy Scarlett is as she takes the scissors to cut the cord. The midwife wraps a towel around the baby and pass him to Scarlett who holds him like he's made of glass. "He's got your eyes." She says as she walks him towards me and places him on my chest. Tears fall freely as his eyes meet mine. "Hi there. I'm your mom." I say with a teary smile.

Scarlett wraps her arm around my shoulders and rest her other hand on the baby. "He's perfect. Thank you." She beams, turning her gaze to me, love overflowing. "Thank you for making me a mom." She clarifies, leaning down to rest her head on my own. "We're a family of three." I smile and she chuckles. "My perfect family." She sighs contently.

After going through birthing the placenta and getting myself and the baby cleaned up. All the pain and grossness are in the past as this bright bundle of joy rests in my arms. Calmness now fills the room as Scarlett sits next to me, cooing at our newborn son. A knock at the door draws our attention as Melanie pokes her head around. "Can we come in?" She asks and we both nod quickly.

The door opens fully, and she's followed in by Hunter, Flo and also Lizzie. "They all gasp as they see the baby in my arms. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet our son. Leo Hunter Johansson." Scarlett announces to everyone's surprise. Hunter is frozen to the spot as tears fill his eyes. "Really?" He asks and Scarlett nods, standing up to pull him into a hug. "Do you want to hold your grandson?" I ask Melanie who nods, words escaping her.

I adjust my hold so she can take him. As soon as he's in her arms, she's cooing and crying herself. "My first grandchild." She babbles. Flo and Lizzie take their place by my side as Scarlett, Hunter and Melanie have a moment together. "What are you doing here Lizzie?" I ask. "I couldn't let her go on her own. She was so out of it, I'm sure she'd have gotten on the wrong plane! Besides, I wanted to be here to meet my nephew." She replies, a big grin her face.

I then turn to Flo who's already looking at me. "Thank you for being there for me. I can't thank you enough. I don't think I could have done any of this without you." I tell her honestly. "What else are sisters for." She states simply, and just like that the dam breaks and I cry into her shoulder. Stupid hormones!

After everyone has had a cuddle, they eventually have to leave as visiting hours are over. Scarlett's allowed to stay with me before Leo and I are discharged in the morning. She scoops Leo up into her arms and starts to walk around the room, bouncing him in her arms. I take a few photos and videos as she starts to sing to him. It fills my heart with so much joy and love and I can't wait for our lives together as a family.

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