#the readers meet each new character through the protagonist's eyes
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12:04 A.M.
ft. akaashi + f!reader
akaashi is all too aware of the little velvet box in his bedside drawer. he knows it’s there, taunting him as he lays in bed at night. he wants to glare at it each time he opens his nightstand, as if it was the ring’s fault he hasn’t proposed yet and not his own.
he hasn’t planned everything out, but he fantasizes about it every chance he gets: in the shower, during meetings, on the train. every rom-com he catches on television, he imagines the two of you in the main characters place. he empathizes with the protagonist of each romance novel he reads, knowing exactly how it feels to fall in love at first sight. he observes you carefully as you watch your favorite dramas, looking for signs of what you might want. he ends up getting invested in the storylines instead, falling even harder into his role as a hopeless romantic.
he just wants the moment to be as special as you make him feel.
it’s more than late when he gets off of work. he manages to catch the last train home, texting you a promise of picking up the food you’d ordered for the two of you, heart pulling in his chest at the thought of you forcing yourself to stay awake and wait for him. he apologizes profusely to the old woman behind the counter as he grabs the takeout bag from her, wishing her a goodnight, hand squeezing his house key in his pocket in anticipation.
even heavy with sleep, your eyes light up when he comes through the door, lips pulling up in a smile he can’t help but match. you greet him with messy hair and his hoodie hanging big on your body, hitting just above your knees.
you make grabby hands towards the bag as he pulls out your food. “thanks, love you s’much,” you say around the crinkles of the takeout containers, leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek. you make yourself comfortable on the floor as he settles across from you, your feet stretching out to rest against his legs underneath the coffee table.
something about sitting there with you, a little sauce smeared on the corner of your mouth, feels so perfect to him. all the weariness of his work day melts away so quickly that before he even realizes it, he’s speaking. “i want to do this for the rest of my life.” he freezes as soon as the words leave his lips; he’s been thinking it for so long, he doesn’t even realize it slipped out.
you hum around your mouthful of soup. “right? i think this might be my new favorite restaurant.“
“no, i mean…” he flexes his chopsticks in lieu of fidgeting with his fingers. “being here with you. i can’t believe i get to see you everyday. i know we’re only eating dinner, but i can’t imagine doing this with anyone else. i want to wake up next to you every morning, fall asleep next to you every night, and...” he hesitates, but all it takes is one look up at your big, surprised, pretty eyes for him to say it. “i want to marry you.”
you blink at him, your spoon frozen in your grip. “keijiー”
“wait,” he bumps his knee against the table as he stands up, but he doesn’t even feel it. he doesn’t think his body is processing his surroundings anymore, eyes only focused on you. “just stay there, please. i’ll be right back.”
he exhales a breath when he opens his drawer and sees the box, right where he left it, as always, he chides himself. your eyes are watery when he gets back, food forgotten on the table as you turn towards his figure.
he gets down on his knee, nearly level with you still sitting on the floor. “i love you so much. i never thought i’d love someone as much as i love you. i don’t know what i’m saying right now, i swear i was going to plan something, it’s just you right now, and it’s late so…” he trails off, and you take the opportunity to kiss him. he’s stiff when you pull away, not even letting himself relax when you run your fingers through the soft hairs along his nape.
“yes.”
he blinks at you. “yes?”
your tears are trailing down your cheeks now, dribbling off your chin as you nod at him. his hands are shaking when he wraps you in his arms, nearly knocking the two of you down from how tight his grip is. he only lets go to slide the ring onto your finger, pressing a kiss to the back if your hand before he intertwines it with his own.
“i can’t believe you proposed to me when i look like this.” your little laugh comes out more like a sniffle, loose bangs stuck to your wet cheeks as you wipe your runny nose on your sleeve.
“i think you look beautiful.” he grabs one of the cheap napkins from your forgotten takeout, dapping it along your face. you’re smiling so hard your cheeks are dimpled, eyes glistening from leftover tears.
when you calm down enough to pick up your chopsticks again, he finds his gaze stuck to the ring on your finger. it doesn’t falter, even when you retreat to bed. as you fall asleep, safely curled around him, he admires how it manages to glitter in the darkness of your bedroom. it wasn’t the magical night he’d imagined, but it was still perfect because now, he sleeps peacefully for the first time in weeks, knowing he has the honor of spending the rest of his life with you.
HQ MASTERLIST
#akaashi x reader#haikyuu x reader#hq x reader#akaashi x you#akaashi x y/n#akaashi fluff#haikyuu scenarios#haikyuu x you#hq fluff#hq imagines#haikyuu imagines#💌 . . . with love mai ⊹ ࣪ ˖
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Book Review - The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
After reading, I learned this book was first published on 28 February 2017, which makes this a timely review at its seventh anniversary.
It’s difficult to write a book with social justice themes without the narrative dipping into a lecture-style and the author’s voice bleeding through. Angie Thomas pulled it off masterfully, and never once was the immersion broken while discussing themes. This book is clever and chooses each word meaningfully. The Hate U Give gripped me by the collars and would not let me put it down. The story is compelling and highly readable, covering emotionally heavy material and educating the reader on racial justice while also presenting a coming of age tale and lots of humor. This style represents its core message: despite growing darkness, we have to keep living. The narrator’s voice, the unfortunate ongoing relevance to current events, and the unrelenting suspense make this book a modern classic that I think should be in every high school.
The voice of the protagonist and the ways in which she interacts with her world and the people around her immerse the reader. Starr is a likable character, funny, resilient, and brave even when she doesn’t think she is. Her characterization was so strong I felt like I could meet her in passing on the street or follow her tumblr blog. She collects sneakers. She knows how to put price tags on groceries. She’s embarrassed by her parents’ dancing. The driving plot of The Hate U Give is the murder of Khalil and trial of 115, but the book is about so much more. The book is about Starr and how she grows into self-confidence and realizes her power to change her community. We care about Starr’s conflict with her friends and boyfriend, her worry about her parents’ marriage, and her complicated feelings with attachment to the place she grew up versus moving to a better life. Suspense never relents, lending a thriller feel to the story. Will Starr decide to speak up? Will 115 be charged? Will Hailey apologize? Will the family be able to protect DeVante from King? The people and places are described with such care they leap off the page. The appeal and success of this story is not from larger than life characters and events, but painful and heartfelt realism.
I had a few tears in my eye at the end of the novel, in a good way. There was no justice for Khalil, just like continues to happen in the real world. The Hate U Give was published in 2017, and it feels like little has changed since then in police reform. But there is still hope. Starr and her family get a better house, her mom gets a new job, the community help rebuild the store, Starr stands up for herself against Hailey, and she’s closer than ever with Chris who has shown he’ll support her in anything. The central message of the book is not loss but hope, a story about fighting for a better world because we live in it. This is what we need in face of rising darkness. The audience cares about the characters, cares about the tragedy, cares about justice, but the ultimate reason The Hate U Give hits so hard is that it doesn’t lean into despair. It says, “we must do something, and we can.”
I think this book should be taught in high schools. I certainly wish it was taught in the one I attended (a semi-rural, predominately white community). I know people would have a fit about the strong language, especially “that one news channel” as it was called in the novel, but the message is more important than a couple swear words the students would hear in the hallways anyway. It’s an introduction into learning about activism, written in a voice that is relatable and easily comprehended, wrapped in the attention-grabbing vibe of a YA thriller. Teens and adults alike can enjoy the storytelling and learn a lot from it. I certainly learned a lot about a culture that is not my own, and I’m grateful Angie Thomas created this and shared it with us. It surely took a lot of emotional labor, and the author’s emotional connection to the story shows and makes it all the more impactful.
Stories have the power to change the world, and if they didn’t, there wouldn’t be massive censorship efforts all throughout history. We’re living amongst the worst of modern censorship waves in the United States right now, with any book that mentions race or sexuality being challenged, even children’s books about things as unprovocative as doing hair. The Hate U Give covers dark subject material, but we need to not look away from the darkness in the world we live in. The enemy of hate is care. Through trying to understand one another and our struggles, we can be the light, like a star.
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Finding the Best Length for Your Chapters
One of the most freeing parts of writing is getting to decide how long your chapters will be. It's also one of the scariest!
You don't want to turn readers away with dense literary bricks or make them feel rushed through flash chapters.
There's no recommended limit for chapter length because it's so varied. If you're struggling with this common writing challenge, these are a few tips that can help.
End With Resolved Conflicts
When people reach the end of a chapter, sometimes they take that opportunity to put their book down and return to their responsibilities. It's much more enjoyable to do that when the chapter ends with a resolved conflict.
That conflict could be your protagonist sending a text to their crush at the end of a first chapter that builds on their overwhelming feelings for that person. Right before the chapter ends, their crush texts back—they'd love to meet up for coffee sometime. It's a pleasant end to a conflict that opens the door to more character development/drama/action later on.
End With a Sunset
Your readers might enjoy reading your work after settling down in bed. They read until their eyes grow tired, so it feels natural to reach the end of a chapter where the protagonist goes to bed and they do too.
Many times chapters end on the protagonist falling asleep, watching a sunset, or going home for the night because it's the ending point of the day that everyone can relate to.
While it's fine to use this as a chapter ending, be careful of repeating this as every chapter finale. It can become noticeably repetitive and take your reader out of their reading experience.
End With a Cliffhanger
Chapters that end with cliffhangers are some of the most exciting and emotionally conflicting! It's the moment where your protagonist turns around and finds themselves staring down the barrel of a gun or watching their action have an immediate negative consequence.
Your reader will want to keep turning the page after this type of chapter ending. It's a useful craft tool if you're about to launch into the next phase of your story's action or kick off a major event in the plot.
End With a Revelation
Your protagonist has a normal day, gets the mail after returning home, and opens a letter—the father they always thought was dead has written them. Next chapter please!
Learning something new at the end of a chapter leaves your reader with a revelation. It's another type of cliff hanger that can either heighten your protagonist's stakes or give them a sense of peace about something.
End With a Plot Point
Each chapter is like a scene building to the climax of your story. If you like to plot your WIPs, try viewing each major plot point as a chapter. Although every bullet point, paragraph, or sticky note might not have enough detail to make an entire chapter, it's a good way to practice building tension with your chapter breaks.
End When You Feel Bored
Re-reading your work is always helpful. It's an excellent editing tool if you're reading your WIP out loud, but it can also help you adjust your chapters.
If you're bored in the middle of a chapter, you might need to shuffle things around to insert a plot point or some type of development and move onto a new chapter. Readers will experience the same boredom if a chapter doesn't have any rising action, character development, or has gone on for too long without letting them mentally pause and breathe. You'll know you've reached that moment if you're re-reading and feel bored too.
End With a Page Limit
Although there's no hard page limit to chapter lengths (unless you're publishing with a specific publisher who has an in-house guide to page limits), you can make a loose limit based on the visual length of each section.
A double-spaced manuscript will take up more visual space than a single-spaced document, so you might make your chapters a bit shorter to maintain your story's pace. However, you might allow a few extra pages if your story will be a double-sided printed manuscript.
You should also consider this tip if you're writing for a contest or submission with a hard page limit. If you know you only have 100 pages to work with, you can keep a general rule of making a new chapter every 10-15 pages to end with 10 or less chapters.
End With Your Preferences
Reflect on the last book you read or flip through one of your favorite novels and grab a notepad. Write down why each chapter seems to end/how each chapter ends/how many pages each chapter has. You'll learn from the authors you most look up to or enjoy reading, which helps craft your work in similar ways.
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Structuring and ending chapters may look different with each new story you write. That's absolutely normal! What you're writing and the purpose of your work can change what your readers need from your chapters.
Give yourself some flexibility to try new things and revise chapters during the editing process to become more confident about following your gut with sections in new stories.
#writeblr#writing chapters#writing novels#writing tips#writing advice#writers of tumblr#writing community#chapter length#creating chapters
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I've been reading Same Heart and enjoying it thus far!
My favorite parts have been with the Batch and the main character, especially with Crosshair and how you have been exploring with Crosshair's feelings for the main character. I do worry how Crosshair having feelings for her will be taken by Echo, especially since she seems to be forming feelings for Crosshair as well.
Crosshair is the type to push at people he doesn't know or trust, to hurt them so they can't hurt his family, and I believe your characterization of Crosshair has been fitting that "heart of gold hidden by steel walls" very well.
Scared to see what happens when his chip activates though... and if the Batch will try to save him, if that is where your fic is leading to.
For all that, the parts that hit most personally were the moments in Chapter 18 when Tech went to talk to Echo and was told off in the start, and in Chapter 19 when the main character told Tech off for recording them (this part, most of all, [“Apologies if I’ve overstepped,” Tech says, not meeting your eyes] as I understand and feel for Tech so much there. I know he's not a main focus, but seeing these small moments with Tech are nice!
Appreciate the exploration of trauma Echo would be realistically going through after being removed from the cryo chamber on Skako Minor, as well as the fact he would not be able to recover instantly to head to battle on Trench's ship. Also appreciate that the main character is dealing with her grief and pushing herself (as before she was assigned to the Bad Batch) beyond her capabilities because of it. I hope she can start to heal over time!
(Also, simply because I sometimes have a hard time with distinguishing when a new character speaks in some paragraphs, would you be able to put new paragraphs for each new speaker, please?
Like this paragraph in chapter 18:
“Don’t be,” he says, waving it off. “Do you need anything?” he continues. You stretch again and sigh heavily. “I’ll start with a shower, I think.” you say, quickly grabbing a change of clothes. “You want to supervise that too?” you say with a smirk.
Would be easier to read like this:
“Don’t be,” he says, waving it off. “Do you need anything?” he continues.
You stretch again and sigh heavily.
“I’ll start with a shower, I think.” you say, quickly grabbing a change of clothes. “You want to supervise that too?” you say with a smirk.
or something like that. It helps because I have dyslexia and always struggle with these paragraphs due to how my brain reads them. You don't have to, of course!)
Looking forward to the next chapters and what happens with Cross and everything possibly revolving around that!
Hey, thanks for reading! I love that you’ve taken the time to share your thoughts about the story with me.
Most important thing first off: Dyslexic readers genuinely didn’t occur to me, apologies for that, I’ll put more effort into ease of reading.
With that in mind, I’m going to put this under a read more so I can break up the blocks of text but not take up too much dash space.
I’m glad to hear the way I’m writing Crosshair is working, I’m always worried he’s ooc. Depending on how season two of TBB goes, I may wind up splitting away from canon eventually.
Right now I’ll be following the same general storyline of season one, once we get there. His chip is going to be a major source of conflict regardless.
As for Tech, I wanted to eventually explore and develop everyone around the protagonist, he just happened to pop up first.
I make mistakes like that too, and he feels more relatable like this. He’s trying! I also wanted Meds to have a noticeable impact on the guys around her too.
Echo, my love. It’s always bothered me how his recovery was glossed over (I understand why, for times sake, and at the end of the day it is a kids show) and I wanted to take the time to more realistically explore that. That’s what fics are for!
Many in the fandom give Echo a hard time for being ‘grumpy’ and that just doesn’t sit right with me. I think they tend to forget how traumatized he is. Hopefully showing what he’s been through that we as viewers didn’t see will help some to understand him better.
Meds has a good heart, but she needs to remember that it isn’t wrong to put herself first sometimes.
Thank you again for such a great ask! Feel free to ask me anything else or make suggestions like this again.
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Review🍓
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.
First of all I would like to talk about the physical aspect of the book because it is something that stands out a lot. The cover is extremely beautiful, the art is incredible and the title is so powerful that it immediately catches the eye, I feel that both the author and the illustrator did an impeccable job in this aspect that will surely catch the attention of many readers, which is something worth mentioning.
Now, the content.
The book follows Jess, our protagonist, a teenage girl who from a very early age was left in the orphanage, since her mother could not take care of her because she suffered from schizophrenia, at her young age she has already passed through several temporary homes in where her caregivers saw her as a problem, and by several schools where she suffered harassment, so she decides to create some unbreakable rules or tips to survive the life of a 'foster kid', which makes her seem like a cold and closed person. One step at a time, her life changes when she moves into the home of her new caretaker, Barbra, and meets Oscar, a boy who likes cosplay and the geek culture in general, at school, who is impressed by her as much as her talent with makeup and dress and He asks her to join his small group and enter a cosplay competition, Jess is initially uninterested, but quickly realizes that such competitions could bring her closer to her bio mother.
I feel like Jess is such a real and complete character, it's easy to get caught up in her interests, to appreciate the way she identifies with Poe, her self-confidence, what her style means to her, but it's also easy to empathize with her. With her deepest thoughts.
Although she may seem cold, you understand the reason for her rules, you understand her desire to reunite with her biological mother even knowing that it is a bad idea and that Barbra is a great caregiver, and more than anything you understand her resentment and fear of one day suffering from schizophrenia just like her mother.
There are parts in the book where I just empathized with her so much that couldn't help but cry a little, all of her feelings become very real and personal to the reader.
But the good work that the author did does not end with Jess, the other characters are just as wonderful, although we do not know them in depth, none of them feel flat, stereotyped or repetitive, each one has their own identity and personality. Each one shines in their own way.
The author emphasizes how important representation is and this is just how it feels in the book, the characters are people we could meet, who could be our friends or even us. With Oscar I have experienced what is like seeing myself on a page, his fight against his anxiety is something that I know very well and that somehow made me feel truly accompanied. It made me feel no longer alone.
As a Psychology student, I feel that the author handled the subject of mental health very well, the approach is very positive and leaves you with a wonderful message that is something that we should all keep in mind: suffering from a disorder is not our fault, and that we all deserve both to be accompanied and to be loved even with these. Suffering from one or seeking help is not something we should feel ashamed of, and that we all, as a society, should do our best not to abandon people.
Accompanied by all this, the book is written in a very friendly language that both teenagers and adults will enjoy reading, the pace of the book is very good, although unfortunately I had to pause during reading, it was always easy for me to resume and follow the thread, mainly towards the last part where the story becomes so engaging that you don't want to take your eyes off the page.
I really applaud the author, this is her debut book and anyone who reads it would think that she has been in this industry for years because of the good work she did.
Without a doubt, it is a book that I would recommend to everyone and that will have a special place in my heart for the rest of my life.
#bookblr#books and libraries#bookaholic#booksbooksbooks#bookworm#book review#books#booklr#bookish#reading#lgbt representation#mentalheathawareness#representation
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Geekerella, (Once Upon a Con #1), Ashley Poston
Synopsis:
Cinderella goes to the con in this fandom-fueled twist on the classic fairy tale.
Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.
Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.
Review:
I haven’t read a lot of YA books in my time that are explicitly romance focused, though most YA has a romantic aspect to it (one day I will write my platonic novel, one day). So I was expecting a very cliché fairy-tale retelling with lots of gazing into each other’s eyes and so on and so forth. I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised by how sweet this story was (without being sickly). I think levels of tolerance for romance is varied, so for some even this level may be unbearable, but for me, this felt like a good place to be.
This book has what I’ve referred to in my notes as ‘huge fanfiction vibes’ by which I mean you can see where the plot is going after about three chapters but you don’t mind because by that point you’re along for the ride. In part that is because this is a retelling (adding to the year of all the retellings) which obviously means you know how it will end, but I could see how Ashley Poston started writing through fanfiction. I know some people would take that as criticism, but personally, I believe some of the most passionate and engaging writers are those who write or have written fanfiction in the past. Overall, the effect this has on the book is that it’s a comforting and comfortable read, with a simple enough plot that the personalities of the individual characters can shine through. The ‘fanfiction’ feel also helps to cover the fact that the entire premise is not 100% realistic, something which some romantic novels just expect you to deal with. However, the way this book is written encourages you as a reader to suspend disbelief to a certain degree, to believe in fairy tales and in, if not the impossible then the improbable.
I’ve touched on characters but let’s go into a little more detail. Our protagonist Elle is, understandably, the star of the piece. What I loved about Elle’s character was that she was so passionate about Starfield without excluding others. Rather than keeping her information about the show to herself she brings a new friend Sage into the community and shares her love of the show. I don’t want to go into too much detail about that dynamic, because I’m saving it for a blog post where I tear apart Ready Player One but suffice to say this was a well-written fangirl for sure.
Another thing I think this book does well is gradually developing the characters and friendships without feeling rushed or fake (for the most part). I think this is perhaps best shown in Darien’s character. This could have been a very flat, one-dimensional character (as Prince Charming is in the original fairy-tale let’s be honest) but instead, he has his own development and growth within the story, a lot of it happening outside of the knowledge of Elle. I liked that both characters were fully realized, it made it a more satisfying romance to have both sides of the story.
Even the side characters were interesting and had important moments within the story. Of course, I loved seamstress Sage, but I also enjoyed the two sisters and the stepmother, these are characters who have been approached by many an author in a plethora of different ways, yet in this book, they felt much more than just generic evil or nasty women. Good characters make for a good book (even when those characters aren’t morally good).
This is a comforting book, it’s simultaneously incredibly simple and profoundly detailed. I would describe it as the reading equivalent of watching a familiar film where nothing can go terribly wrong and even if it does, it’ll all be fine in the end (mine is Mamma Mia, what’s yours?). If you’re the kind of person who likes a retelling and a romance then this is the book for you.
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My Last Five Reads
While January held much time for reading, February isn't quite the same. Just more schoolwork to deal with. But there's still some time read!
When We Were Enemies by Emily Bleeker - This was my last book of January. And what a flop to end on. I hope this one was a free eBook because it was not good. Protagonist Elise is descended from a line of Hollywood actresses. She still works is in the biz, but she's not an actress. She is back in the small Indiana town where her grandmother grew up before she became a Hollywood star. She plans to get married there. We go back and forth between her grandmother's past and Elise's present. Neither storyline was my cup of tea. 2 stars.
The Village Healer's Book of Cures by Jennifer Sherman Roberts - If I had seen the cover of this one, I may not have read it. There's a crow on it. The crow is a character in the book. That is two books out of the last three that a bird is a character. *shudder* Yuck! I digress... Mary Fawcett lives in 17th century England raising her young brother after her parents die. She is the healer mentioned in the title working with recipes passed down for generations for many ailments. Enter a witch finder who believes Mary is a witch who either killed her patient's husband or forced the patient to do so. Strong beginning and ending. Some parts in the middle were a bit slow, but 4 stars overall for the plot being accompanied by solid writing.
Hurt Mountain by Angela Crook- This writing in this book was nothing special, but I really enjoyed the plot. The simplistic writing style made the plot move at a good clip. When the book opens, police officer Brandon comes upon a broken-down car on the Colorado highway. The girl in the driver's seat is covered in blood, and teenaged boy in the back is long dead with brutal injuries. Brandon rushes the girl, unable to speak, to the hospital where his ex-wife, Olivia, is the doctor on call. Their history as a couple emerges as we learn more about the girl aka Jane Doe. Again, the plot the makes up for the writing. Recommended if you're up for a good mystery/thriller as the plot really moves at the end. 4 stars.
Fortune by Ellen Won Steil - This one got mediocre reviews on Goodreads which made me a little hesitant, but I loved it! The first chapter opens with widow Edie opening a safe deposit box to be opened only upon her husband's death. From there, Edie holds a DNA lottery for her husband's fortune in their small Iowa town. Three high school friends, since estranged, find their way back to each other as there is more to the lottery than meets the eye. The reader follows Edie and these three women. The more I read, the more engaged I became and couldn't click through/flip those last pages quickly enough. Suspenseful in the very best way! Good character development which isn't always easy in a back-and-forth in time structure. 5 stars!
World Made of Glass by Ann Polonsky - I got this middle grade novel via recommendation and read it this afternoon on the way home from a long weekend at my parents'. Protagonist Iris lives in Manhattan in the mid-80s. When we meet Iris, we learn that her father is dying of AIDS. Iris lives in an apartment with her mother, but after her parents divorced, her father and his partner, JR, move an apartment the next floor up. Iris has some good friends at school despite her BFF moving to Philadelphia. She also has a budding relationship with a new student: Julian. Iris' life is not only difficult due to circumstances at home but because of how some students treat her at school when they discover her father is gay. I cried twice in this short read. The best part of this book is that Iris and her father write acrostic poems to each other. Not ridiculous acrostic poems with one word stupidly describing the word down the side but really poems with strong words and themes and images. Beautiful words. Heartfelt and meaningful. Beautiful read written by a middle school teacher. 4 stars. The author and editors of this book must not be sports fans, though, because in the mid-80s, the Colorado Rockies were yet to exist as an MLB team despite the dialog in the book.
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Embellished to Death (A Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery) by Christina Freeburn #Review / #Giveaway
Embellished to Death (A Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting - West Virginia
Publisher : Henery Press (September 23, 2014)
Hardcover : 274 pages
ISBN-10 : 1941962122
ISBN-13 : 978-1941962121
Paperback : 274 pages
ISBN-10 : 1940976278
ISBN-13 : 978-1940976273
Kindle ASIN : B00N1ADXA0
When Faith Hunter agrees to help PI Bob Roget find an identity thief at a local scrapbook retreat, her friendly croppers’ weekend quickly morphs into a dangerous one.
As croppers share their own memories, a killer collects them for her new identity and doesn’t appreciate Faith in the picture.
Faith struggles to balance her professional, detecting, and personal lives as threats and secrets keep her off-balance. Things turn deadly when a woman is killed and Faith is blackmailed. Truth and lies collide when Faith discovers croppers aren’t the only ones embellishing, and the results might end her life.
Dollycas's Thoughts
What could go wrong at a friendly scrapbooker's weekend? Well, Private Investigator Bob Roget is trying to catch an identity thief, and Faith agrees to help him. But before they can even check in to the hotel a woman is hit by a car in the parking lot and killed. Good thing Faith brought Steve along to help with the Scrap This Store because he was just in time to pull her out of the way of the speeding car, but sustained a serious injury of his own.
That incident and an abandoned car kick off a whole bunch of crazy events. Events that may have Faith revealing a secret she has been keeping from almost everyone. Events that may cost Faith her life.
Faith Hunter is a strong protagonist with a secret. In Embellished to Death we start to get some details about her life prior to returning to Eden and her grandmothers. Her relationship with Steve is moving along but hits some bumps. He drove the truck and trailer filled with product for the Scrap This booth at the retreat and will be staying to help Faith in any way he can. Faith's grandmothers don't make the trip but Darlene and Gussie are attending the event and will be able to step in to help when needed, and oh boy, are they needed. With Faith helping Bob find the identity thief, Steve being hurt, inept retreat organizers, an upset hotel manager, an "undercover FBI agent" with an ax to grind, and a murderer to catch, Faith doesn't have much time to man the store. I do enjoy the strong friendships that have been built between all the core characters. They all have huge hearts and are there for each other through thick and thin, even when bullets are flying.
The mysteries were complicated. Is the identity thief a murderer or are their two criminals hanging out at the scrapbook retreat? Drama, twists, turns, surprises, and more drama with a little bit of crafting, really kept the pages flying. Faith found herself in so many scary situations. The way the strings of the subplots tangled with the main plot was done with an expert hand because the story had an excellent flow. It was very hard to put the book down when my eyes just wouldn't stay open any longer.
I am mad at myself for getting behind on this fun series. I plan to rectify that in 2024 and read the final three books.
Embellished to Death kept me on my toes. It was so well-written that I was completely entertained. It is a great crafty mystery for cozy readers especially those that enjoy scrapbooking. I do recommend the series be read in order to meet Faith, her grandmas, and their friends from the start.
Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent
About the Author
The Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery series brings together Christina Freeburn's love of mysteries, scrapbooking, and West Virginia. When not writing or reading, she can be found in her scrapbook room or at a crop. Alas, none of the real-life crops have had a sexy male prosecutor or a handsome police officer attending.
Christina served in the JAG Corps of the US Army and also worked as a paralegal, librarian, and church secretary. She lives in West Virginia with her husband, children, a dog, and a rarely seen cat except by those who are afraid or allergic to felines.
Author Links – Webpage Facebook Goodreads
Also by Christina Freeburn
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Bridge to Terabithia Book Summary
Bridge to Terabithia Book Summary
Bridge to Terabithia is a heartwarming children's novel written by Katherine Paterson. The story revolves around Jesse Aarons, a lonely boy who befriends Leslie Burke, a new girl in town. Their friendship blossoms as they discover their shared passion for imagination and creativity.
Together, they create a magical world called Terabithia, a place where they can escape from the troubles of their real lives and reign as king and queen. In Terabithia, they encounter countless adventures and challenges, testing the limits of their bravery and loyalty to each other.
The novel is set in rural Virginia during the 1970s, a time when children's imaginations roamed free and technology was not yet a dominant force in daily life. The book explores themes of friendship, imagination, grief, and acceptance through the eyes of Jesse, the main protagonist.
Jesse is a fifth-grader who loves to draw and dreams of becoming an artist one day. Unfortunately, he finds it difficult to connect with his father and classmates, leading him to spend most of his time alone. Leslie, on the other hand, is a confident and imaginative girl who quickly becomes Jesse's friend and helps him discover his artistic talent.
Together, they embark on an emotional journey filled with laughter, tears, and plenty of surprises. Bridge to Terabithia is an unforgettable story that speaks to the child in all of us, reminding us of the power of friendship and the limitless possibilities of the human imagination.
Book Description
The novel Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson is a heartwarming story that takes place in rural Virginia in the 1970s. The book explores essential themes such as friendship, imagination, grief, and acceptance. It tells the story of Jesse Aarons, a young boy who is struggling with loneliness and artistic expression.
The novel follows Jesse's journey as he meets Leslie Burke, a new girl in town who quickly becomes his closest friend. Together, they create an imaginary kingdom called Terabithia, where they rule as king and queen. They use their imaginations to escape the challenges of growing up and the realities of their everyday lives.
The story is told entirely from Jesse's point of view, and the reader follows him as he navigates the ups and downs of childhood. From his struggles with bullying and peer pressure to his relationship with his family, the book provides a poignant and relatable depiction of what it's like to grow up.
As the story progresses, Jesse and Leslie's friendship is put to the test when tragedy strikes, and Jesse must learn to come to terms with his grief. The novel shows how the power of imagination and creativity can help us cope with loss and find acceptance.
Bridge to Terabithia is a touching and relatable novel that explores important themes of growing up. It teaches us about the importance of friendship, the power of imagination, and the resilience of the human spirit, making it a must-read for readers of all ages.
Character Analysis
Bridge to Terabithia centers around the friendship between Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke. Jesse is a shy and introverted fifth-grader who loves to draw and dreams of becoming an artist. He lives in a small farmhouse in rural Virginia with his parents, four sisters, and dog. Jesse's family is poor, and he has difficulty connecting with his father, who is always busy working on the farm. Jesse is also a target for bullying at school, particularly from Janice Avery.
Leslie Burke is an outgoing and confident new girl in town, who quickly befriends Jesse. Leslie is athletically gifted, loves to run, and play. She comes from a privileged background, and her parents are intellectuals. Leslie is imaginative and encourages Jesse's artistic talent, helping him to come out of his shell. She introduces him to her secret hideaway, Terabithia, where they go on adventures and rule as the king and queen. Leslie helps Jesse see the world in a new light, and teaches him to embrace his imagination.
The friendship between Jesse and Leslie blossoms quickly, and they bond over their shared love of art, imagination, and adventure. They support each other through the ups and downs of life, providing a source of comfort and stability.
Jesse and Leslie's friendship faces challenges throughout the book, but they always emerge stronger. When Leslie dies tragically, Jesse is devastated, but he is also able to find solace in the memories of their friendship and the imaginary world of Terabithia. Through their friendship, both Jesse and Leslie learn valuable lessons about acceptance, creativity, and the power of the imagination.
Jesse and Leslie's strong bond is at the heart of this beautiful and emotional story. Their characters are well-drawn, endearing, and relatable to readers of all ages.
Jesse Aarons
Jesse Aarons, the protagonist of Bridge to Terabithia, is a sensitive fifth-grader who loves to draw and dreams of becoming an artist. He longs to connect with his father and peers, but finds it challenging due to his introverted nature. Jesse has a strained relationship with his father, who wants him to be more focused on sports rather than drawing. He struggles with jealousy towards his little sister, who he perceives to be the favorite in the family.
Despite his challenges, Jesse is a kind and imaginative boy. When he meets Leslie Burke, the new girl in town, he finally finds a friend who understands him. Leslie helps Jesse come out of his shell and develop his artistic talent.
Jesse's passion for drawing is central to the story, and Terabithia provides a space for him to unleash his imagination and creativity. Through his adventures in Terabithia, Jesse learns to accept himself and appreciate his unique talents.
- Jesse is a sensitive and introverted fifth-grader
- He loves to draw and dreams of becoming an artist
- Jesse struggles to connect with his father and classmates
- He finds a friend in Leslie, who helps him develop his imagination and artistic talent
- Jesse's passion for drawing is central to the story
Jesse's character is a relatable and poignant portrayal of a young boy trying to find his place in the world through his art. He represents the transformative power of creativity and imagination, and his journey in Bridge to Terabithia is a testament to the importance of staying true to oneself despite the challenges that come with growing up.
Leslie Burke
Leslie Burke is one of the main characters in the book Bridge to Terabithia. As a new girl in town, she quickly becomes friends with Jesse Aarons. Leslie is known for being a tomboy who loves to run and play. She has a vivid imagination and is highly creative, often coming up with new ideas for things to do in Terabithia.
Leslie is Jesse's closest friend and has a significant impact on his life. She encourages him to pursue his artistic talent and helps him to develop his skills. With her support, Jesse gains confidence in his abilities and learns to express himself through his drawings.
Leslie is a strong and independent character who challenges traditional gender roles. She defies the stereotype of what it means to be a young girl and instead, embraces her unique personality and interests. Her friendship with Jesse is particularly meaningful as it shows that true friends accept one another for who they are, despite any differences or hardships they may face.
Leslie is an important character in Bridge to Terabithia, as she plays a critical role in Jesse's personal growth and development. Her imagination, creativity, and accepting nature make her a beloved character in children's literature.
May Belle Aarons
May Belle Aarons is Jesse's younger sister in the book Bridge to Terabithia. She is a charming and enthusiastic girl who looks up to her older brother and is often ignored by him and his friend, Leslie. May Belle admires Jesse and wants to be included in his life and adventures. However, he is too busy with Leslie and his own interests to pay much attention to her.
Despite being ignored, May Belle remains positive and tries to be a part of her brother's life whenever she can. She is a bright and energetic child who is always eager to join in on the fun and try new things. May Belle's enthusiasm is contagious and adds a spark to the story.
Although May Belle is a secondary character in the book, she represents an important part of Jesse's life. She is a reminder of the family and community that he has outside of his imaginary world with Leslie in Terabithia. By the end of the novel, Jesse realizes that he needs to appreciate and cherish those relationships just as much as his friendship with Leslie.
May Belle Aarons is a lovable and essential character in Bridge to Terabithia. Even though she may be ignored at times, her enthusiasm and energy make her a joy to read about.
Analysis
Bridge to Terabithia is more than just a children's book; it is a poignant reflection on the complexities of childhood and the human experience. The themes of friendship, grief, and imagination are interwoven throughout the novel, providing a deeper understanding of the characters and their struggles.
One of the most prominent themes in the novel is friendship. The bond between Jesse and Leslie is the heart of the story, and it shows the reader how true friendship can provide comfort and solace in times of hardship. The novel also explores the idea of isolation, and how forming connections with others is essential to finding happiness and addressing feelings of loneliness.
Grief is another theme that is dealt with sensitively in Bridge to Terabithia. The loss of Leslie is a devastating moment in the novel, and we see Jesse struggling to come to terms with his grief over the course of the story. The novel shows that everyone processes grief differently, and that it is important to have support from friends and family during these difficult times.
Bridge to Terabithia emphasizes the transformative power of art and creativity. Both Jesse and Leslie are artistic characters, and their imaginative world of Terabithia is a testament to the transformative nature of art. The novel demonstrates how creative expression can help us heal from trauma and cope with the challenges that life throws our way.
Bridge to Terabithia teaches young readers valuable lessons about friendship, grief, and the importance of imagination and creativity. It is a timeless classic that remains a relevant and important piece of children's literature today.
Reviews
Bridge to Terabithia has received rave reviews from critics and readers alike since its publication in 1977. The book's emotional depth and poignant themes have made it a beloved classic in children's literature.
Many reviewers have praised author Katherine Paterson for her ability to create relatable and complex characters. Jesse and Leslie, the two main characters, have been described by reviewers as "realistic" and "memorable." Paterson's writing style has also been commended for its simplicity and clarity, making the book accessible to readers of all ages.
Another aspect of the book that has been praised is the way it deals with difficult topics such as grief and loss. The book's exploration of these themes is both sensitive and truthful, making it an important resource for anyone struggling with these issues.
In addition to its emotional depth, reviewers have also noted the book's imaginative and adventurous elements. The creation of Terabithia, an imaginary world ruled by Jesse and Leslie, has been described as "captivating" and "enchanting." Readers of all ages have been drawn to the world of Terabithia and its ability to transport them to a place of wonder and possibility.
Bridge to Terabithia's critical acclaim is well-deserved. This touching and insightful novel has become a staple of children's literature and continues to inspire generations of readers.
Details
Bridge to Terabithia is a children's novel that is 163 pages long and has 13 chapters. The novel was first published in 1977 and has since become a classic in children's literature. In addition, the book has been adapted into a movie two times. The first adaptation of the book was made in 1985, while the second adaptation was released in 2007. Both movies were well-received by audiences and have helped to introduce new generations of children to the story of Jesse and Leslie.
The book's length and chapter, as well as the pacing, are all perfect for young readers. The descriptions are clear, evocative, and easy to understand, drawing readers into the magical world of Terabithia without overwhelming them. Katherine Paterson's writing style is accessible and straightforward, making the book a perfect choice for young readers who are looking to expand their literary horizons.
Readers who enjoy coming of age stories, as well as those who are fans of fantasy and adventure, will find Bridge to Terabithia to be an enjoyable and engaging read. The novel is suitable for readers of all ages, from young children to adults who are young at heart. The world of Terabithia is filled with wonder, magic, and adventure, making it a delightful escape for anyone who is looking for a little bit of excitement.
Bridge to Terabithia is a well-written and captivating story that is sure to remain a beloved classic for years to come.
News about Bridge to Terabithia
In February 2021, the novel celebrated its 44th anniversary since publication. 44 years since the book was first published, it remains a beloved classic in children's literature. Bridge to Terabithia has been a fixture in school curriculums and is frequently included in lists of must-read novels for children.
The book's timeless themes and relatable characters continue to resonate with readers of all ages. Its exploration of friendship, imagination, and grief remains poignant and thought-provoking to this day. Since its publication, the book has sold millions of copies worldwide and has been translated into multiple languages.
In addition to its popularity as a novel, Bridge to Terabithia has also been adapted into two films. The first, released in 1985, was a made-for-TV movie. The second, released in 2007, was a full-length feature film that received critical acclaim for its faithful adaptation of the novel.
To celebrate the book's anniversary, publishers and bookstores have organized events and promotions to honor the novel's impact and legacy. For many readers, Bridge to Terabithia remains a treasured childhood memory and a reminder of the power of literature to touch our hearts and minds.
Ratings
Bridge to Terabithia has earned a high rating among readers since its release in 1977. Goodreads, the popular book review website, shows that the book has an average rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on over 450,000 ratings. The high rating is a testament to the book's quality and lasting appeal.
Readers have praised the book for its emotional depth and relatable characters. Many reviewers note that they first read Bridge to Terabithia as children and have continued to revisit the book as they grow older because of its timeless themes. Others appreciate the book's focus on friendship and creativity, which helps readers connect with the characters on a personal level.
The book's clear and accessible writing style also contributes to its high rating. The story is easy to follow and comprehend, which is especially crucial for its target audience of young readers. The book's length, 163 pages, is also ideal for children who may struggle with longer books.
the high rating for Bridge to Terabithia reflects the book's enduring appeal and the impact that it has had on readers of all ages. Its expert handling of important themes and its relatable and well-drawn characters continue to make it a standout in children's literature.
Book Notes
If you are a fan of children's literature, Bridge to Terabithia is a must-read. The book is a touching story that explores the themes of friendship, imagination, and loss. Through Jesse and Leslie's imaginative world of Terabithia, readers are transported to a different world where anything is possible. The book is a poignant reminder of the transformative power of art and how it can help us cope with grief and loss.
The characters of Jesse and Leslie are relatable and endearing, making the reader invested in their journey. Through their friendship, Jesse learns about himself and discovers his artistic talent, which is a powerful reminder of the importance of supporting and encouraging those we love.
The novel's emotional depth and universal themes make it suitable for readers of all ages. The story is beautifully written, and its message stays with readers long after they finish the book. It is no wonder that Bridge to Terabithia has become a beloved classic in children's literature.
Whether you are looking for a heart-warming story or want to explore deeper themes of friendship and grief, Bridge to Terabithia is a book that should not be missed. It is a touching and unforgettable masterpiece that will leave you feeling inspired and moved.
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I’ve been an Allegra Goodman fan for years, but Sam is hands down my new favorite. I loved this powerful and endearing portrait of a girl who must summon deep within herself the grit and wisdom to grow up.”—
Lily King, New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers
What happens to a girl’s sense of joy and belonging—to her belief in herself—as she becomes a woman? This unforgettable portrait of coming-of-age offers subtle yet powerful reflections on class, parenthood, addiction, lust, and the irrepressible power of dreams.
“There is a girl, and her name is Sam.” So begins Allegra Goodman’s moving and wise new novel.
Sam is seven years old and lives in Beverley, Massachusetts. She adores her father, though he isn’t around much. Her mother struggles to make ends meet, and never fails to remind Sam that if she studies hard and acts responsibly, adulthood will be easier—more secure and comfortable. But comfort and security are of little interest to Sam. She doesn’t fit in at school, where the other girls have the right shade of blue jeans and don’t question the rules. She doesn’t care about jeans or rules. All she wants is to climb. Hanging from the highest limbs of the tallest trees, scaling the side of a building, Sam feels free.
As a teenager, Sam begins to doubt herself. She yearns to be noticed, even as she wants to disappear. When her climbing coach takes an interest in her, his attention is more complicated than she anticipated. She resents her father’s erratic behavior, but she grieves after he’s gone. And she resists her mother’s attempts to plan for her future, even as that future draws closer.
The simplicity of this tender, emotionally honest novel is what makes it so powerful. Sam by Allegra Goodman will break your heart, but will also leave you full of hope.
In Sam, Allegra Goodman presents a poignant coming-of-age story that explores themes of class, parenthood, addiction, lust, and the search for joy and belonging. Through the eyes of protagonist Sam, we witness the struggles and triumphs of growing up and finding one's place in the world. This beautifully written novel is a must-read for fans of coming-of-age stories and will leave you feeling moved and full of hope.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Allegra Goodman knows. She knows families, their griefs and rages, their love and loss: complicated parents and complicated children. In Sam, she goes deep into the heart and soul, and voice of one girl. Sam is a deeply wise and empathetic portrait of this unforgettable girl, making her way into this tricky world and into the reader’s life.”—Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of In Love
“Sam is one of the most evocative and tender examinations of youth that I’ve ever read, and Allegra Goodman fully understands the strange and dreamlike qualities of Sam’s world as she tries to navigate it, populated by adults who mean well but complicate every single moment. One of the best writers around, Goodman has made something truly beautiful, evoking a feeling that is hard to name but stirs inside us with every line.”—Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here
“What seems at first to be a simple coming-of-age story deepens under its own weight and shows itself to be a beautiful meditation on all the ways we love and fail each other. I was moved by the cumulative power of Sam, and I’m still rooting for the characters.”—Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward
“Bracing . . . Sam’s . . . travails gain heft through [Allegra] Goodman’s perceptiveness, specificity regarding Sam’s emotions, and arresting turns of phrase. It’s impressive how much emotional power is packed into this . . . contained story.”—Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Allegra Goodman is the author of five novels, two short story collections, and a novel for young readers. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in The O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Product details
Publisher : The Dial Press (January 3, 2023)
Language : English 336 pages
#Allegra Goodman is the author of five novels#two short story collections#and a novel for young readers. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and elsewhere#and has been anthologized in The O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. She lives with her family in Cambridge#Massachusetts.#art#design#beautiful#quotes#love#painter
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Rainy daze farm
RAINY DAZE FARM SERIES
As well as negotiating with Sam, Eliza has to ensure her bosses don’t get too impatient and don’t endanger the hostages by acting too soon. Although Eliza is more on the outside, she isn’t treated as just window dressing and is given her own back story so we understand she is a human being too. While Eliza does a good job of getting under Sam’s skin, she is nowhere near as successful as the hostages who bond with Sam despite the circumstances. It takes a while for Sam to answer Eliza’s calls but when he eventually does answer the phone, Eliza has to use all her skills to keep him talking. Our last protagonist is Eliza, a police negotiator, whose job it is to build a rapport with Sam and to eventually talk him down enough to defuse the situation. Sam’s story is one of emotional cruelty and manipulation so it is hard to condemn him for what he had done in the end. Sam’s life changes after the death of his father and his mother’s growing reliance on Robert who she eventually marries. Once Sam begins to communicate, we are given his point of view and many chapters are dedicated to his experiences growing up with his parents on their farm. Sam seems distraught by his actions and the others attempt to draw his story out of him. They slowly learn his name is Sam and he is the stepson of Robert, the Tuckbox owner, who he has just shot. As the last one to open up, you know her revelations are going to come at a pivotal point in the story.Ībi, Neil and Mutesi are unusual hostages because once they get over their initial fear, they realise there is more going on with their captor than meets the eye. Mutesi remains secretive about her past until almost the end of the novel, however there are enough hints along the way for the reader to realise her story is a painful one. Brigitte and Emmanuel are eventually released but Mutesi stays to form the hostage trio with Abi and Neil. Mutesi was definitely my favourite character and you really believed her when she sys everything will be okay. Born in Rwanda, Mutesi experienced the horrors of the country’s genocide so she isn’t abut to let a guy with a rifle scare her. Mutesi, a care worker, has just finished her night shift and heads to the cafe to meet her daughter-in-law, Brigitte, and her grandson, Emmanuel, as is their habit before school starts. A compulsive gambler, Neil used to be a teacher until his habit got out of control and he lost his job as well as his family. Neil, a homeless man who sleeps on a church bench, likes to spend his mornings at the Tuckbox where he can have a warm cup of tea and a newspaper to read. Abi, a lawyer who is on her way to court to defend a young woman charged with abusing her baby, is preoccupied with the negative result she got from her latest pregnancy test and the fact she is hiding the news from her partner after their latest round of IVF. As most of the customers flee in panic, three of our main protagonists are trapped there. The characters all converge at the same time (except one) and end up being taken hostage when a young man has a row with the owner and ends up killing him with a rifle. The characters are intriguing in their own way and each of them has secrets which are slowly revealed at different paces.
RAINY DAZE FARM SERIES
The book begins by highlighting a series of different characters and it isn’t immediately obvious how they are connected until you reach the part where they are all heading to Tuckbox, a local cafe they frequent. The Secrets of Strangers is fast-paced from the start and continually confounds your expectations as you progress through the novel. Charity Norman is an auto-buy for me so I was really happy to see she had released a new book which I believe is her sixth.
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YOU KNEW I WAS GONNA REQUEST SOMETHING BUT—
SOFT TANJIRO HEADCANONS PLEASE 🙏 As much as I enjoy Muzan content I love soft headcanons for characters.
soft tanjirou headcanons
Synopsis: Just some cute and adorable headcanons with the protagonist of demon slayer :D
Pairing: Tanjirou x GN!reader (they/them)
A/N: awww hello Chaos, hehe I shall deliver you your Tanjirou headcanons. I too enjoy soft headcanons a lot too, so enjoy your juice Tanjirou stans <3 (sorry that they are relatively short—)
TW: NONE HAHA NONE ITS ALL FLUFFY
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Oh bestie you’re in good hands
Like— not even joking, Tanjirou is probably one of if not THE NICEST person you’ll ever meet in this demon slaying world
He just seems like he type of person who constantly radiates good vibes
You most likely met him during a mission you both happened to share
And ever since then you’ve been traveling with the redhead!
He constantly checks your health and makes sure you’re okay
A simple “Are you okay? Let me help you,” is enough to for you to just absolutely melt
Did I forget to mention Nezuko absolutely adores you?
Tanjirou’s eyes gleam before him every-time he sees his kid sister play around with you
It makes him feel at ease, y’know?
He’s definitely very protective of you at times
You bet there’s one time where he had to protect you from a pervert and you kept him from beating the crap out of them too lol
It’s cliche but I find it endearing
BUT MOVING ON!!
You both also look out for each other whenever needed, you guys are a power duo in battle
If you’re seriously hurt, he’d drop whatever he’s doing and rush to help you
He just doesn’t want to see one of his friends in pain, if you’re hurt then he’s hurt :(
Now I’m just saying bestie— you should definitely play with his hair
Maybe even put a little braid in it, his hair might be a bit crusty from all the missions but nonetheless it’s mostly soft!
It’s actually quite a nice feeling to work through his hair, and Tanjirou enjoys the feeling too
Also, during the Wisteria house resting time is when you guys started to grow a bit closer
You both would do a lot together during that time, whether it was just idle chatter or playing around with Zenitsu and Inosuke!
You’re all just kids after all, it’s nice to feel young every once in a while when you’re not out demon slaying
But your moments with Tanjirou have been some of the greatest by far, without a doubt
You stood outside of the Wistera crest house, settling under one of the purple-flowered trees and gazed up at the night sky, knowing very well you’re safely guarded by the comforting smell of the beautiful violent flowers before you. You were enjoying your little moment to yourself, until you felt something— or rather, someone, shuffle beside you
You looked to your side to be met face-to-face with a particular sunny red-eyed friend, Tanjirou. You returned his friendly smile and looked back up at the night sky, and he so only followed after you. “The sky is very pretty, isn’t it, Y/N?” The scarred kid stated, making you hum and nod in agreement “Agreed, Tanjirou. It’s very nice to finally get to enjoy the stars without having to worry about crude flesh-eating demons y’know?” You said, slightly joking at the end of the sentence, which made your friend chuckle.
“Hey. Y/N?” Tanjirou spoke up, making you look at him in question. You faced him, only for you give off that signature smile of his. “Thank you, for traveling with me and Nezuko. It means a lot to the both of us.”
Suddenly, your heart started to pound relentlessly and your stomach had butterflies blossoming and fluttering around inside. You don’t know what it was in him that made your heart flutter, but you’re willing to accept this new feeling you’re getting with open arms. You smiled at him in return. “It’s not a problem, I don’t regret coming with you one bit.”
You both were happy in each other’s presence, and the two of you wouldn’t want it any other way
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#demon slayer#demon slayer fanfic#fanfic#fanfiction#kimetsu no yaiba#demon slayer nezuko#demon slayer tanjiro#fluff#kny tanjiro#tanjiro kimetsu no yaiba#tanjiro x you#tanjiro x y/n#tanjiro x reader#x reader#reader insert#soft headcanons#fluff headcanons#tanjiro headcanons#kamado siblings#tanjiro fluff
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How to Use Seven-Point Story Structure in Your Writing?
What Is Seven-Point Story Structure?
The seven-point story structure is a list of sequential events within a story. Writers use these seven plot points as a guide to help map out their story. From beginning to middle to end, there are certain milestones every story should reach to propel the plot forward, like the opening hook, turning points, and the climax. The seven-point structure outlines each important element to guide a writer while they’re crafting a story.
How to Write a Story Using Seven-Point Structure
1. Hook.
The hook is the first scene of act one. This is your starting point. In this first section, you establish the setting and introduce your main character. In every story, the main character goes through a transformation. In this first section, the writer must give readers a solid feeling of who the main character is and what their life is like before they embark on their mission.
2. Plot Point 1.
After you’ve introduced readers to the people and places of your story, next comes the inciting incident. This is the event that fuels the plot and sets the protagonist off on their journey, forcing them out of their comfortable existence. There must be a strong reason that compels them to reluctantly accept this challenge. It’s a point of no return and roughly where the traditional second act begins.
3. Pinch Point 1.
As act two gets underway, your character sets out on their journey and reacts to their new surroundings and challenges. External conflicts begin to apply pressure on them. This is where antagonists, or bad guys, are often introduced.
4. Midpoint.
About halfway through a story, there needs to be a major event. As a result, the protagonist sets their eyes on the prize and pivots their strategy from reaction to action. As the story begins its upward climb to the climax, the intensity and tension kick into high gear.
5. Pinch Point 2.
As the protagonist moves full steam ahead, something goes wrong. The protagonist hits an obstacle. It’s a turning point and creates suspense by making the reader question whether the protagonist will be victorious at the end. The protagonist doubts their own abilities as they gather the energy to face the enemy and complete the journey. As this section builds towards the big climactic showdown, the protagonist gains a new perspective, and they find the confidence to persevere as the end of a traditional act two draws to a close.
6. Plot Point 2.
It’s here that the story approaches the climax. This is where the protagonist finally meets their nemesis face to face. This is the peak of a story’s dramatic and emotional intensity and must provide a big payoff for readers.
7. Resolution.
Also known as the denouement, this final scene (the conclusion of act three in a traditional structure) is where the protagonist returns to some semblance of normalcy or accepts their new normal. By the end of this act, character arcs conclude and the protagonist has undergone a transformation that leaves them in the opposite state they were in when the reader first met them.
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For the Love of the Rom-com
While I read across genres in the Young Adult section, I have a soft spot in my heart for the rom-com. Though this genre might come across as light and fluffy, in actuality the form is able to take on topics as varied as mental health, identity, immigration, racism, and grief, to name only a few. Sure there’s romance, escapism, and happy endings, but what kept me picking up one YA rom-com after another in the last month was the window into the lives of each protagonist. More than ever I’m seeing #ownvoices authors tell stories that reflect their particular experience with the characters that they hadn’t seen in novels as young people. In turn I get a glimpse into a life different than my own and subsequently widen my world view. Here’s a collection of some of my recent reads!
Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan
The debut novel from this Bangladeshi American author (and the first novel I’ve read by a Bangladeshi American) takes the fake dating trope and turns it into a thoughtful exploration of expectations across cultures. Karina Ahmed is a high school junior buckling under the weight of Bangladeshi parental expectations and coping with anxiety largely on her own. They want her to be a doctor. She secretly longs to be an English teacher. When her parents take a month-long trip back to Bangladesh, leaving Karina and her younger brother in the care of their grandmother, Karina is looking forward to a much needed break. But her quiet month is almost immediately disrupted when, through a series of circumstances, she is roped into pretending to be Ace Clyde’s girlfriend, Midland High School’s bad boy. As the two slowly get to know, appreciate, and, of course, fall for each other, they also encourage and call out each other’s strengths. Bhuiyan movingly portrays the complex experience of a Bangladeshi American female teen, trying to meet the expectations of her more traditional parents, navigate managing her anxiety, dealing with the double standard of her gender within her culture, and learning to stand in her own power.
Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
Given this cover, I expected something totally different from what the pages held. The main character of this “lost princess found” novel is anything but sweet and demure, the impression I had from the cover. Japanese American Izumi (Izzy) Tanaka is living her best average life with her single mother in the small Northern California town of Mt. Shasta. When she finds out that her previously unknown father is actually the crown prince of Japan, her world turns upside down. Once this knowledge goes public, Izzy is whisked away to Japan to get to know her father and become acquainted with the rest of her family. Having always felt out of place as one of the few minorities in her town, Izzy is hopeful that she’ll finally find a place where she belongs. But life at court is more complicated than Izzy can imagine, and she finds that in Japan she’s too “American.” Izzy’s voice is suffused with humor, so even as she struggles to fit in, her inner monologue made me laugh out loud. A slow burn romance with a hot bodyguard, backstabbing cousins, and relentless paparazzi shenanigans only add to the delicious fun. There’s talk of a sequel in 2022!
Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter
The premise of girl uses boy next door, with whom she (seemingly) shares a mutual dislike, to get to the boy she crushed on in childhood that has just moved back to town manages to squeeze in a slew of rom-com tropes with witty breeziness. Liz makes a deal with boy next door Wes that she will relinquish the parking spot they feud over daily if he will help her get a date to Prom with childhood crush Michael. Of course it ends up being more complicated than that. Liz is confident and comfortable in her own quirky skin, but is also still dealing with the grief of losing her mother, which seems to be hitting her more sharply as all the “lasts” of senior year are happening. Spending time with Wes in her efforts to get close to Michael, Liz realizes that maybe she doesn’t hate him as much as she thought she did. Movie lovers will appreciate that each chapter is headed by quotes from the rom-coms that Liz obsesses over. I appreciated the balance of snarky banter with an honest portrayal of the complicated relationship Liz has with her grief.
Love in English by Maria E. Andrew
I’d been meaning to read Love in English for months and finally picked it up. Ana and her mother have recently moved to New Jersey from Argentina to join her father, who’s been living in the United States for some time. In Argentina, Ana thought her English was pretty good, but finds that navigating high school in America is a daily struggle in understanding her classmates and teachers. Andrew uses blocks of ##### to show the parts of conversations Ana misses, drawing the reader into her confusion and frustration. Reading this novel, I was reminded of when my family hosted a Japanese exchange student in high school, and the hours she spent translating her homework from English to Japanese. Reading what it was like for Ana, I had a glimpse into what it might have been like for Miki, and it made me admire her, and all the people who come to the United States not knowing the language. I’m certainly not proficient in any other language than English. The short chapters are interspersed with Ana’s handwritten ESL journal entries, musings on the confusions of the English language and poems that play with varieties of word meanings. Ana is attracted to a cute boy in her math class, Harrison, but also bonds with fellow ESL student Neo, who is from Greece. While romance is a central thread in the story, what I found most compelling was the portrayal of what it’s like to live in a place where the ability to communicate and comprehend is limited. Ana’s perseverance and curiosity in the face of that challenge is inspiring.
The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss by Amy Noelle Parks
Last but not least I decided to continue my theme of YA rom-coms in my current audiobook and cued up The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss. Set at an elite boarding school for math and science prodigies, this is a dual POV narrative Evie and Caleb, best friends since childhood. Evie is one of the few females at their prestigious school, and excels in math and physics, but hasn’t shown any interest in the opposite sex until new guy Leo catches her eye - with his physics proof. When Evie decides romance might be worth exploring with Leo, Caleb has to figure out how to be supportive, despite the fact that he himself is also secretly in love with Evie. Alternating chapters between Caleb and Evie’s POV mean that we get to see what’s going on internally for both of them as Evie embarks on her first relationship with Leo, Evie and Caleb team up for a national physics competition, and the course of love takes twists and turns. While there is plenty of swoony romance, I also loved the way that Evie has grown to learn to live with her anxiety and how she sets the boundaries she needs to take care of herself while also pushing herself beyond her comfort zone. Parks does an excellent job of making the all the math and physics approachable for the layperson.
There are many more YA rom-coms to choose from in the Teen section, so stop by and see what catches your eye!
— Lori
#island books#lori robinson#ya romcom#counting down with you#tashie bhuiyan#ownvoices#tokyo ever after#emiko jean#better than the movies#lynn painter#love in english#maria e andrew#the quantum weirdness of the almost-kiss#amy noelle parks#summer reading#librofm
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Electric Feel - Tom Hiddleston smut
The one where Tom moved in to help you, but you end up helping each other.
Warnings: porn with a very unecessary and minimal plot, smut, dom!female, sub!Tom, masturbation (m), oral sex (f), mistress kink, brief mention of a stalker, actress!reader
Word count: 2k<
A/N: This is so small compared to everything @just-the-hiddles deserves, but it’s her birthday and I just couldn’t let it go by without a token of my gratitude, love and admiration! Happy birthday, Liz! I hope you know how much I care about you! ALSO: unedited for the moment because I just started and finished this entire thing in the last six hours when I should be studying but oh well.
Tom’s P.O.V.
I didn’t remember stopping to think for a single second ever since I saw the news. My fingers acted on their own accord, hitting those numbers I had memorized so long ago, raising the phone to my ear as I waited for her to pick up.
“Hello?” Hearing her voice didn’t calm me down like I expected it would. I realized then, I’d only feel tranquil once more when I could see her with my own eyes, touch her skin, feel her warmth.
“Darling? How are you?” I still asked, almost automatically, and if I had hoped she would at least be well enough to pretend to be okay, the sharp inhale that preceded her burst into tears shattered that illusion in a second. “I’m on my way.”
And that was how I ended up in her house in what felt like the blink of an eye. The trip there could have lasted days - all that mattered was that the second I had my arms wrapped around her, everything felt alright again.
“It’s okay,” I soothed her, but it was probably better directed at myself. “I’m here now.” It took at least a day before I was comfortable enough to ask her about it. “How did they find the guy?” When she latched onto a detailed explanation of the events from the last week, how she’d started receiving random death threats that suddenly weren’t so random anymore, I felt almost like I wasn’t even there, but floating over the living room, watching us talk from the outside looking in.
I held her close for a long time after that, unable to admit even to myself that not feeling her body against mine made me feel empty and weak. And so the feeling of protectiveness stirred awake inside of me - or maybe it had been there all along, I just failed to acknowledge it.
All I knew was that inserting myself into Y/N’s daily life was much easier than I ever expected it to be. And even if I told both her and myself that this was for her own safety, because she needed someone around until she felt comfortable by herself again, I knew it was more for my own benefit than anything else.
I just didn’t anticipate it would make my feelings that much harder to deal with. Did I know that I wanted her? Yes, maybe even ever since we’d met. And as our friendship progressed and we became closer, I saw that desire develop into something deeper, more solid. Still, I stupidly believed it was nothing more than a crush, and I’d be able to pretend it didn’t exist and get on with my life day after day like it wasn’t there.
Now that my days began and ended with her, I was highly aware of my mistake.
“Tommy,” she called out, making me lift my eyes from the tv and fall on her and the dog she currently tried to control. “I’m going to take her for a walk, okay?” I sat up automatically, ready to join her, when I felt a hand over my shoulder, gently pushing me back against the sofa.
“C’mon, finish the movie!” She admonished, a knowing grin on her face. “I think there’s a scene coming up with someone you particularly enjoy. I’m just going into the backyard, no need to worry.”
Even though I stayed seated where she’d left me, my eyes trailed over her figure as she disappeared inside the kitchen, until I heard the backdoor close. Despite knowing there was no possible immediate danger to her inside the boundaries of her own home, I couldn’t help but worry.
That was until a moan caught my attention, bringing it back to the tv once more. It sounded so familiar and so foreign at the same time, I was instantly intrigued, eyebrows furrowed as I struggled to identify the young woman that was being so brutally fucked by the main protagonist in a dark club.
My mouth hang open once the lighting changed and her face became recognizable, those same alluring features tempting me just as much as they tempted the character on the screen. So this was what she meant, I didn’t even know she was on this movie when I first picked it out.
I could feel my member hardening inside my sweatpants as her beautiful, melodic voice kept tempting me, and I grit my teeth as I chanced a glance at the kitchen, wondering how long I had before she was back. Not enough, I knew that. Still, looking down at my crotch made me believe it was worth at least a try, because the alternative was her surely seeing just how affected her little scene had made me.
Y/N’s P.O.V.
The silence in the living room was my first indication that something was different, and as I stepped foot in the place where I’d left Tom not even five minutes ago, I realized my intuition was right - he’d abandoned the movie and left me alone in the main floor of the house.
Maybe he wanted to take a shower, or answer a call? I didn’t know, but I figured I should let him know I was back before he got worried, so I climbed up the stairs two at a time before stopping in front of the guest room he’d been staying in, suddenly frozen by what I heard.
“Y/N…” It was my name, breathed out in a whiney, raspy moan that left me no doubt over what was happening behind the door I now clutched so tightly. My mind drifted back to the movie we’d been watching, the scene I knew he’d see. Had I been the cause for his arousal?
My body acted of its own accord, the week of emotional tension before he arrived, replaced by the sexual energy that was always present whenever he was around finally getting the best of me.
I opened the door. His hand was curled around a large member, the sight of which had me whimpering as I clenched my thighs together, alerting me of my entrance. His eyes, which were closed, immediately widened upon seeing me, and he tried to cover his erection with both hands, even if it was obviously not possible to do so.
“Why are you shy?” I asked, head tilted as I analyzed the man before me, my mouth watering at the sight. I was desperate to give in to this desire, let go of the fears and anxieties that had been clawing at me ever since the first message arrived, and so I climbed on the bed like he was my prey, determined to make him crack and admit his own attraction to me.
“You called my name,” I noticed once I was on his lap, eyes taking inventory of every inch of pretty skin I couldn’t wait to bruise. “Don’t you want me?” At the sound of the insecurity in my voice, he jolted, eager to show that there wasn’t a reason for there to be any.
“Of course I do.” Smiling, I hummed appreciatively as I licked my lips, eyes darting down and seeing that he still hadn’t resumed his movements on his cock, even though it clearly needed some attention.
“Then why don’t you touch yourself while I suck little lovebites all over you huh?” Finally, I enveloped his pink lips with mine, eager to taste them, touch his tongue with mine. But I needed to see him cum way too badly, and I craved the control I knew I could exercise with him.
So I forced myself to pull away, laying kisses down his jaw until I reached his neck, starting to bite and suck there at the sound of his whines. Below us, I noticed he had started jerking off again, although hesitantly, and so I covered his hand with mine and forced him to get back to his previous pace.
“Show me how much you desired me,” I ordered, as he instantly fought back, “Kiss me again.” It was such a sweet request, and particularly in the breathless tone he tried to make petulant, it made me even more excited to play with the man I had wanted for so long.
“But do you really deserve another kiss?” I taunted, pressing them on his chest, on his biceps, anywhere other than his lips. He was breathing through his mouth now, long deep sighs being interjected by his moans and whines, and it all went straight to my panties.
“Yes,” he insisted, hand tightening around himself and a delicious blush spreading over his chest as I sat back on by heels to judge the hauntingly tempting image before me. He bit his lower lips in an effort to hold back his own sounds, but as I got rid of my clothes, his efforts proved fruitless, and a wanting cry escaped his throat as I forced him to quicken his movements once more.
“Oh, I see…” I wasn’t done teasing him, not by a long shot. “You’ve wanted me all along, haven’t you?” All he could do was nod, and I could see the underlying shyness in his reluctance to admit it.
“Well, I’ve wanted you too, baby. And right now, I want to suck you off until my jaw is sore, how does that sound like?” Another moan was all I got as a response, making me smile wider than I’d ever done before.
“But I don’t think you’ve earned it yet. So for now, all I’ll let you do is keep touching yourself while you suck on my tits, how about that?” His eyelids were heavy when he looked at me, having to throw his head back to be able to meet my eyes.
“Fuck… It’s… perfect.” I cooed at how wrecked he looked like, even with how little I’d touched him, my navel brushing his member briefly as we adjusted ourselves so he could wrap his lips around my nipple.
“Oh…” I gasped in delight as tingles raised up my spine at the pleasant sensation, and between us, I could feel his movements growing more desperate as my moans replaced his in the otherwise silent bedroom.
When I felt him spill all over my stomach, I pulled him away from my chest by my grip on his locks, finally giving him what he wanted and capturing his lips with mine once more. “Hmm…” I moaned once we parted and I’d scooped some of his release to give it a taste. “So sweet.”
Tom was looking at me like I was some sort of extraterrestrial being, chest visibly heaving in his effort to keep breathing. “Can I taste you know?” He at last managed to ask, and I pretended to think, before gently nudging him out of the bed and onto the floor.
“Yes,” I approved, wrapping his curls around my fingers again before bringing him down to the apex of my thighs, moaning as his tongue eagerly plunged inside of me, eager to get acquainted with the most intimate part of my body. “Who would have known you could be such a submissive little thing, huh?”
When he raised his head to answer, just the sight of my wetness dripping from the lower part of his face had my heart skipping a beat. “You should have known… A single word from you and I’d drop to my knees and worship you like you deserve… Mistress.”
#my fics#tom hiddleston smut#smut#tom hiddleston#tom hiddleston x reader#tom hiddleston reader#tom hiddleston reader insert#tom hiddleston reader inserts#tom hiddleston fanfiction#tom hiddleston fanfic
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a penny for your thoughts.
pairing — han jisung x female! reader
genre — trope inversion of the soulmate au, college au, enemies to lovers, angst and fluff-ish, smut; oral, possessiveness kink, praise kink, safe word, size kink, first time
synopsis — life isn’t easy when you belong to the 1% of the world population that has a soulmate, know who your soulmate is and happen to be utterly in love with said soulmate’s best friend. alternatively, jisung can hear all of your unfiltered thoughts and has heard enough of your horny fantasies to the point where he wants to throw up, so he takes matters in his own hands.
note — i think i’m gonna cry this work is my 11k word BABY i’ve never been THIS invested over a fic. this is purely self-indulgent and an emotional rollercoaster ride if you ask me. this fic is all over the place it’s chaotic and i apologize in advance for many italics you are welcome i hope you CRY and SUFFER with me because completing this bitch was a midlife crisis in itself. that being said, i appreciate any form of constructive criticism so pls go ahead and rip my baby apart sdkjl
“You’re staring again,” Hyunjin notes. Seungmin and Jeongin stifle a burst of laughter while Felix, whose head is resting on Hyunjin’s lap, sends you a look that resembles Candace from Phineas and Ferb whenever she finds her brothers creating some whacky futuristic shit, laughs like a madman and then resumes to call her mother with an ear-splitting MOOOM! because she’s so certain that her brothers are busted this time.
“Am not,” you huff as you tear your eyes away from the guy just sitting a little bit farther away from you, basking in the warm glow of the sun. Today he’s sitting in the perfect angle, giving you the best view on his side profile. His signature cap is perched right on top of his head but even then, you can see how his eyes brighten up and how the corners of his lips tug upwards as he laughs at his friend’s joke.
“You’re a worse case than the Mary Sue protagonist of every romance anime ever.” Seungmin snorts before he playfully nudges your side with his shoe. “Just say you want Seo Changbin to bang you and go.”
“Hey! We have a child present!” Hyunjin chastises, to which Jeongin rolls his eyes.
“I’m not a child. We’re all in fucking college.”
“Fine, not a child then. The baby has been corrupted! Don’t swear, it sounds so wrong coming from you!”
“Shut up. It’s called freedom of speech!”
“It’s ‘shut up Hyung’ to you!”
Felix groans in distress and is probably rethinking his life choices. Seriously, what does Felix, resident hopeless romantic, see in Hyunjin? Sure, he’s good-looking and a great friend when he’s not bitching around or hovering over the nearest trash can after taking too many shots. But a romantic? Please, Hyunjin can’t even eat without making a mess out of his shirt.
“I don’t want him to bang me,” you mutter and receive a collective ‘yeah sure’ look. “Fine, I don’t want him to bang me only. He’s nice,” you retort before your eyes flit back to him for a millisecond. By now, Changbin has put his hands on the grass and is leaning back, enjoying the sunlight while listening halfheartedly to the other guy blabbering.
“And hot. We get it. Now get dicked,” Seungmin deadpans, earning flabbergasted looks from everyone and a smack from Hyunjin.
“Show a little more empathy, you dickwad. She’s whipped.”
“Anyway—“ Felix sits up, earning a pout from Hyunjin but he blatantly ignores it, and directs the conversation back to the previous topic before the other two bump heads, “(y/n), you have his number. You’re not strangers, so why don’t you just make a move?”
You glance at him with horror in your eyes. “What do you expect me to do? Ring him up and ask him to hang out with me because I find him cute?”
“Uh, duh? Last time I checked, that’s how you ask someone out.”
“Absolutely not.”
“New idea.” Seungmin butts in. “Why don’t you ask Han Jisung—“
“No.”
“Agreed.” Hyunjin shoots you a nod of approval before Seungmin can start yet another interrogation about your bitter hatred towards Jisung. Jisung, who happens to be said friend of Changbin that is laughing beside him right now. “He must think he’s so much better than us because he’s hanging out with the senior geniuses of the music production major. Then again, Seo Changbin and Bang Chan are on a different level than us commoners.”
“Speaking of Chan,” you quickly say to steer the conversation away from the personification of everything you hate. “Where is he? It’s so weird seeing the trio incomplete.”
This time, Jeongin chimes in. “Haven’t you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“Chan and that one language major — you know, the one who collapsed a while back?” When all he’s met with are clueless faces, Jeongin sighs. “Seriously, you guys should keep up with campus news. I swear, everyone and their mothers already know by now. But anyway, they’re soulmates. It’s also the reason why Chan has been pulled out of the boxing team until the end of the semester and had to cancel their training camp as soon as she broke down.”
Felix does a double-take. “But Chan’s the ace of the boxing club!”
“It is what it is.” Jeongin stretches his legs out, shrugging. “What else is to expect when you have the proximity link and need to be around your soulmate within a certain distance unless you want death?”
“Poor guy. Must be a smack in the face for him, now that he’s got a soulmate and happens to have the worst link one could have.” Seungmin says.
“The tattoos are worse though.” Hyunjin fires back. “I mean, you’re literally born with a tattoo of your soulmate’s name and then grow up knowing that you have one? And even if you never meet them, you won’t have better chances with others if you want some romance. Who in their right mind wants to have a lover who’s got someone else’s name tattooed on them since birth?”
“No one.” You chuckle. “Absolutely no one.”
In another lifetime, another universe, you and Jisung would probably be on better terms. He’s sunshine on legs and looks decent from an objective point of view.
In another lifetime, another universe, you’d like to believe you’re childhood friends and have been neighbors ever since your first shit in your diapers. Perhaps you would be clowned from being inseparable once in a while, but you’d go with it and then shrug it off as if it was nothing.
In another lifetime, another universe, you’d like to believe that being soulmates doesn’t equal the downfall of two people. Sure, the fact that people are bound to each other and the danger of growing too dependent on that person remains, but it probably won’t be so frowned upon. Probably. Hopefully.
However, as much as you want to twist it, another lifetime is not this lifetime, the reality.
In reality, you and Jisung are only neighbors because the universe has some kind of inexplicable hatred towards you. Seriously, you must’ve done something wrong in your previous life to be punished in this one. And because the universe has sadistic tendencies and loves to make you suffer, the laws of the universe are just as equally fucked up.
The concept of soulmates is a lot of things, but most of all, it’s a mystery. There are endless possibilities for soulmate links, not all of them discovered. And unlike popular belief, soulmates do not have to necessarily share the same link. So voilà, even more fuckery from the universe.
There’s only one reason that justifies your wholehearted, unfiltered hatred towards Han Jisung. Well, only one reason that seems justified in this lifetime.
The tattoo is simple; just fine black characters under your collarbone that are nicely hidden under high-cut shirts.
But the fact that it’s his name tattooed on you since birth remains.
“Let me crash here for the night.”
“No.”
“Let me crash here for the night, please.”
“My answer is still no.”
The exasperation is plastered on Jisung’s face as he tries to keep his temper in check. Truth be told, it’s damn satisfying seeing him wanting to rip your head off but refraining to do so. Perhaps you’re enjoying this more than you expected at one o’clock in the morning. For the past five minutes, Jisung has been asking you to let him stay over for the night. You’d save him out of his misery and help a neighbor out who locked himself out of his apartment at this hour — well, if he wasn’t Han Jisung.
By now, he’s growing more impatient with every further rejection. “Oh come on, all my friends live on the other side of town and you can’t expect me to ask the old grandma next door! At this rate, I’m gonna freeze to death overnight!”
“Then go break a window or something,” you deadpan, ignoring the dramatic hand gestures he’s making to accentuate his words.
“The fuck? I’m not going to break into my own place.”
Not wanting to draw out the pointless conversation any longer, you’re about to slam the door shut when he blocks your action with his foot. “C’mon, just this one night. Please.”
He’s not budging anytime soon. His bullheadedness reminds you of Seungmin, who always tries to get Hyunjin wasted whenever you attend those Greek frat parties. Seungmin, who always succeeds in getting Hyunjin wasted, followed by Hyunjin hugging a bucket for the next few hours as he tries to get over the hangover. With a defeated sigh, you gesture Jisung to come inside and don’t wait for him until he’s taken his shoes off at the entryway.
“Look, I know you don’t like me—“
“Well, ‘don’t like’ is putting it very lightly—” you scoff once he’s caught up to you in the living room. It’s not exactly spacious; the couch takes up most of the room and college assignments are spread all over the minuscule coffee table.
“You could at least treat me like a decent human being.”
That statement is enough to get your ears flaming. You whip your head in his direction, voice getting louder. “How can I when your existence is making my life worse than it already is! And I mean it literally! Just seeing your name whenever I look at myself through the mirror sickens me!”
“Stop acting like you’re the only victim here.” Jisung snaps back in the same manner. If there was a little bit of etiquette in the first place, it has all vanished now. “I’m not having it easier when all I hear from you is the dozen ways you want Changbin to fuck you dumb!”
You freeze.
“Cat got your tongue? It’s already bad enough that you have those kinds of thoughts about my best friend every single day.”
“But I thought— y-you had the proximity link?!” This has to be a joke. A very bad one at that. His proximity link is the very sole reason why you lived next to him. His soulmate link is the only reason why you’ve been stuck together like glue since you could walk.
Jisung taps his foot impatiently, running his hand through his hair. “That’s what I thought too until I started hearing things that nobody said around me. First, it was just a few thoughts every other day, but now you’re like an annoying radio that I can’t switch off.”
“Why didn’t you tell me then? I would’ve—“
“Stopped fantasizing about Changbin’s dick? And then you would’ve jumped to the next person. I don’t care if you like him or not, it’s none of my business. Changbin’s hot, anyone with eyes can tell. Besides, it’s not like you have a chance anyway…”
You feel your blood boiling at his underlying message and cross your arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Jisung doesn’t bat an eyelash and says in a mocking tone as if stating the obvious. “No doubt that Changbin will make you feel good. But could you return the favor?”
That’s a low blow. Even for Jisung, that’s a low blow.
“I get that you’ve got a dirty mind. But those are just fantasies. Could you really execute them just the way you had in your head? You don’t even have experience in the first place.”
“If I sucked you off right now, you wouldn’t even be able to speak properly!” God knows what went over you when you countered. At this point, rage has taken over your brain and you don’t even realize what you just said right away. Not that it matters anyway; all you see is red.
Jisung just raises a brow, clearly unimpressed by your outburst. “Prove it,” he challenges casually and then flops himself onto the couch, legs spread wide. It’s an open invitation. “Go ahead, make me see reason with your oh so mind-blowing skills.”
The only thing you’re able to do physically is gape at him. He is joking, right? As if he actually means it—
“I knew it. Shameless in your head but too flustered to say it out loud, let alone following up with your bold statements.”
That seals the deal. You’re fuelled by anger and the desire to prove him wrong as you drop on your knees and are on eye level with his crotch. However, your spirit dissolves the longer you silently stare and realize that you have no fucking clue on what to do. Jisung is painfully aware of that too.
“I’m more terrified than turned on seeing your angry face.” He lets out an exasperated sigh before he pulls you up and directs you to sit on his lap. “Obviously it’s not working when neither of us is in the mood. You gotta get in the mood first,” he mutters, hands settling on your hips.
The look in his eyes is more composed now, but you can tell he’s being observant. As if you have clues written all over your face, he keeps you under his stern gaze. Then his eyes droop lower to your lips and he slowly leans forward.
Not even a second later, you firmly plant your hands on his shoulder and push him back. “No lips.”
If Jisung is judgemental about your sudden stunt, he doesn’t comment on it. “Anything else, your royal majesty?”
You’re too tired to react to his mockery and roll your eyes. “No marks.”
“I can work with that,” he mumbles more to himself rather to you. Then he leans forward again and buries his face in the crook of your neck. Surprised by his actions and new to the unfamiliar sensation, you tense up. Jisung seems to take notice of that too.
“Relax,” he orders, rubbing circles on your hips to help you loosen up.
Well, that’s easier said than done. It’s already bad enough that you’re gradually exposing yourself as the complete amateur you are, and out of all people who could’ve been the first to do any form of sexual advances on you, it just had to be Jisung. Perhaps you shouldn’t have rejected that one kid in high school who was the only one who ever had a crush on you. Even if that kid wasn’t your type and not a serious commitment anyway, maybe you would’ve at least some sort of experience with dick.
“A-ah—“ your breath hitches when he nips on the patch below your earlobe. He smiles against your skin as if he just made some scientific discovery and swipes his tongue on the same spot, eager to make you squirm. Not wanting to slip up anymore, you clamp your mouth shut with a hand.
“Let me hear you, baby. Just relax, I got you.” When the fuck did his voice start to sound lower and raspier? Where did ‘baby’ come from? All rationality and resistance leave your body when he wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you closer to him.
The cologne of musk lingers strong on him, almost intoxicating even, and you can’t form a cohesive thought anymore. The only things you are painfully aware of are an arm forcing your chest flush against his and his hot breath all over your neck.
You’re so far gone that you fail to notice that you’ve started grinding on his lap. Jisung moans softly into your neck as he encourages you to move with his hands.
“On your knees, baby,” he whispers after a while. A rush of disappointment runs through your veins once he detaches his lips from you and slides you off his lap, but all of that is forgotten once you see the prominent bulge in his pants.
Right. There’s a reason why you ended up in this predicament in the first place.
Jisung urges you to touch him with a simple nudge. “C’mon, baby. Take it off.”
You don’t waste time discarding his sweatpants. Just when you’re about to tug his underwear off, you notice the wet patch on the fabric. A surge of mischief washes over you as you boldly cupped his hard-on over his boxers, causing an obscenely loud moan from him.
He flinches, definitely not expecting that brashness from you, and throws his head back. “S-stop teasing me already and take that goddamn thing off or God help me what I’m going to do if you push my buttons.”
That. That was a threat. That dealt much more damage to you than you like to admit.
As much as you want to watch him break and see if he’d make his threats come true, you decide against your feelings and hook your fingers under the waistband and tug the fabric down in one swift motion. A groan leaves Jisung as his cock, fully hard and leaking precum, is exposed to the cold air. He’s certainly above average; on the longer side probably, and you’re conflicted on whether to think fuck, I want him in my mouth right now or fuck, how on earth is that supposed to fit into my mouth?!
You don’t get far with your inner conflict when a hand grabs a fistful of your hair and slowly urges you closer. The next thing you know, something is tapping your lips and before you fully register it, the tip of Jisung’s cock lies heavy on your tongue.
You carefully look up and meet Jisung’s hooded eyes. His shirt has ridden up a bit and flashes just a little bit of his toned stomach. That’s just enough of an indicator to see that Jisung is holding himself back, in case his irregular breathing hasn’t been a dead giveaway.
Jisung opens his mouth, about to say something, when you give an experimental suck on his dick. “Do something— f-fuck, a little more, baby.”
That’s enough to build your confidence up. You slowly take in more of his dick, sucking carefully and making sure to cover your teeth. The rest that doesn’t fit in your mouth is barely covered with your hands, and you messily try to coordinate your hands, switching between rubbing the base of his dick to cupping his balls.
“Mmh, use more pressure,” Jisung whispers, not trusting the stability of his voice when you fondle with his balls. A groan leaves him when you suck harder on his cock and switch back to swirling your tongue around. For a total beginner, you are holding yourself up better than he expected. Fuck.
“Focus on the tip fir— hhh- aa-ah...” His brain blacks out for a moment when you swirl your tongue around his tip and dare an experimental hum, the vibrations going straight down to his dick. The grip on your hair loosens, but it’s still firm enough to experience a sharp tug. “You’re doing good baby. So good.”
The combination of his sounds, the decent taste of precum on your tongue and the way his adam’s apple bops is enough to send you into sensory overload. You notice the way Jisung tenses his thighs, as to keep them still. You’re about to pull out completely to prevent your drool from getting on your face. However, before you get the chance to complain, he forces his length back on you that it grazes the back of your throat, nearly making you choke.
“Fuck, I— I’m gonna— s-soon—“ he hisses and you take it as a sign to speed up. At this point, your jaw hurts and a mixture of drool and precum drips down your chin. It’s borderline disgusting if you think about it, but the delectable sounds leaving Jisung compensates for it.
He sharply tugs on your hair, ordering you to pull off, but you slap his hand away. “I’m going to spill in your mouth if you don’t pull off right now—“ Jisung chokes on his words when you interrupt him with a hum as if to say so what? It doesn’t help that you’re looking up at him with teary eyes and a lot of conviction, even though you’re visibly struggling to keep half of his dick in your mouth.
When he cums, it’s accompanied but drawn out moans, and you forcing yourself to swallow the horrible texture. It’s not horrible per se, but you’d gladly refuse to swallow a second time if you were given the choice.
Jisung looks down at you with flushed cheeks and is about to wipe off the drool or cum or whatever liquid is staining your bottom lip, but you quickly block his hand. “I’ll clean up by myself.”
For a minuscule second, he looks defeated; he looks borderline disappointed, but before you can pinpoint his feelings for sure, his expression changes. “But what about you?” he asks, eyes raking down your body and stopping at the waistband of your pants.
“I’ll deal with it on my own.” You shrug, avoiding his eyes. All of sudden, you find it hard to breathe in the room as the realization settles into your brain. You just sucked off Jisung. Jisung, out of all fucking people.
“You sure?” Your eyes flit to him who looks like he’s been observing you the entire time. His breathing has calmed down, his lips look a little bit plumper than before and his hair sticks out in all different directions. Looking at his current state makes you feel sick, and your undying hatred for him starts growing again. It’s your fault that he looks so fucked out and—
Why the fuck did you even do that?
“Yes. Now stop asking before I change my mind and kick you out.”
Before he can have the last word, you turn on your heels and rush into your bedroom, ignoring the fact that your underwear is practically drenched.
You wake up to the smell of pancakes emerging from the kitchen. “What are you doing?”
“I’m making breakfast?” Jisung throws you a questioning look and then plates the last batch of pancakes from the pan. “It’s the least I can do after you were friendly enough to let me crash on the couch.”
Your eyes wander to the countertop to the two plates stacked with pancakes. Jisung finishes up the second plate and hands it out to you.
You stare dumbly at the plate. It’s too early for your brain to mouth filter to work, so the first thing you spit out is, “How do I know you didn’t poison it?”
“Are you fucking serious—“ Jisung squeezes his eyes shut, mutters something inaudible under his breath before he puts on the fakest smile he can muster. “I can take a bite if you really insist.”
“Give me that plate.” You point to the other plate on the counter. Presentation-wise, it looks the same as the one Jisung is offering you, minus the visible steam.
“There. Wanna switch again or can I finally eat?” he scoffs when you walk past him to get cutlery and sit at the dining table; it’s essentially a round wooden table where one of the legs is about to break. Two plates and a pitcher at most take up the entire surface. You really should consider buying a new table, but you have better things to spend on rather than that.
From your peripheral vision, you see Jisung rolling his eyes. Perhaps you were making an entire unnecessary circus, critically cutting through the pancake and inspecting each and every side before stuffing it in your mouth. But again, in your defense, it’s too early in the morning to show basic etiquette towards him out of all people.
You have to admit that visually, the pancakes look good. What you didn’t expect were the pancakes to taste just how they look. It looks like you couldn’t contain your surprise in you, judging by the amused smirk that finds its way onto Jisung’s face as he claims the chair across from you.
“As if you could actually cook,” you splutter because there’s no fucking way you are giving him that satisfaction of the day.
However, it seems to bemuse him even more. “You literally eat this every day and know the recipe by heart. With the excessive number of times you recite the ingredients a day, obviously, something got stuck in my brain,” he explains while cutting through his own portion.
The rest of breakfast is spent in silence. You both finish at the same time and while you’re washing the dishes, he’s stayed put in the chair, mindlessly checking something on his phone.
“You didn’t have to cook, you know. You could’ve just left.” you start. It’s already awkward enough that he’s still here. Bloody hell, you should’ve just waited with the plates and ushered him out of your place instead of just getting away as fast as possible from the table. Now that you think about it, this was probably the only time you two were somewhat amicable at such proximity. (Even if you didn’t talk at all. Still, it’s progress.)
He drops his phone on the table with a soft ‘bang’. “It’s the least I could do. Besides, I was starving too.”
“In other words, you’re taking advantage of my fridge?”
“Exactly.”
Just as you’re drying your hands, he’s about to leave. “I’ll get going, lecture’s starting in a few. And, uh, thanks for letting me stay here.”
You just shoot him a weird look. “You already thanked me once. How often do you wanna repeat yourself?”
Jisung rolls his eyes. “Fine, next time I’ll just leave without a word then.”
It’s when he’s finally out of the door that his last words sink in.
“Yo, I have pics of sweaty Changbin in a jersey. How much do you wanna pay for those gems?”
You nearly choke on air. “What the fuck?” Really, that’s the only appropriate reaction.
“Hyunjin, this needs more context.” Felix looks like he’s seriously second-guessing his taste in men before shaking it off with a sigh and elaborates. “He’s been trying to find out some scoop about Chan for the campus blog and caught him in his angry boxer mode and Changbin was also there assisting him. Hey, did you know that Chan doesn’t tape his hands before punching the bag? Fuck, that’s so intimidating but so hot at the same time—“
“Yah! I’m your boyfriend! How can you say that in front of me?!”
Changbin. Changbin in a jersey. Changbin in a jersey and drenched in sweat. And Hyunjin seriously has HQ pictures of that Changbin.
It really, absolutely shouldn’t have been the first thing that crossed your mind, but the idea of that Changbin — bonus if he still has anger pent up in him — barging into your place and instantly throwing you on the bed—
“I’m not a perverted creep who’s gonna buy pictures of him that he doesn’t even know exist. Besides, isn’t that a violation of his rights? He never consented to those pics. This is college, you’re only working for the campus blog, not fucking Dispatch.” you deadpan.
“So you don’t even want to take a sneak peek at a picture?”
“No.”
You barely stepped a foot into your apartment when Jisung storms out of his own place and stops in front of you. “You fucking liar.”
“Excuse me? What the— hmph!”
The next thing you know, Jisung forces his way into your hallway, slams the door shut and crowds you against it. His face is invading your personal space, eyes enraged and jaw locked. Even though his anger is far from justified as you haven’t glanced at him ever since he stayed over, a tiny part of you believes that you pissed him off for good. It's not the first time you witness him angry. However, it's the first time you witness him look as if someone murdered his family and was trying to get revenge.
“I thought you took care of it yourself!”
“Took care of what?”
“Did you already forget that I can read your mind?!”
You scrunch your nose, trying to connect the dots in his words. It doesn't take long for you to realize that there’s no point in trying. A frustrated groan leaves you. “Why are you getting so riled up? I just breathed and you stormed into my place!”
“‘Bullshit. You weren’t just breathing,” he snaps, and you flinch when his hand lands a few inches beside your face with a loud pang. “You were thinking of Changbin again! And I mean that in the thousand sex positions and locations you want him to bang you kind of thinking! And also—“
“Also what?”
“I know you’ve been pent up for days. Seriously, why don’t you just get off like every other sane human being?”
His brutal delivery leaves you flabbergasted. How the fuck does he know that? No. No. No. He doesn’t know. He can’t. Just because he can read your mind doesn’t mean that you didn’t pleasure yourself after giving him that blowjob. Jisung’s probably bluffing — he has to be bluffing.
“W-why should I answer you?” you stutter. Suddenly the walls look much more interesting. When was the last time you painted the walls? Maybe it’s time to switch things up—
“Are you really about to get all cocky with me? Give me a break.” Jisung chews on his bottom lip after little deliberation. “You wanna know why? Because one of my best friends is going through a hard time that can utterly destroy his entire future thanks to the fucking universe! If that isn’t stressful as it is, I also see and hear all kinds of things you want Changbin to do to you. And your fantasies are also affecting me.”
You stare at him as if he sprouted eight new legs. “So you’ve also been…?”
“Sexually frustrated? Fuck yes. And it’s all your fault. So take responsibility and do something against it before I do.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“So what if I am?”
A cold shiver runs down your spine once you meet his stone-cold gaze. Frustration is displayed all over his features, from his labored breaths to the raised brow. He’s not playing mind games this time, he’s actually frustrated.
There are a billion red flags, a billion blinking signs saying NO DON’T YOU EVEN THINK OF DOING THIS! DON’T BE A FUCKING IDIOT in your mind. There are so many countless reasons why you should listen to your head, but the way Jisung is lusting after you is terrifyingly attractive.
You don’t trust your voice to respond verbally. Instead, you look down at your trembling hand and tug at the hem of his shirt. It’s just then when you also realize that your thighs are clenched. Fuck.
Jisung takes the hint. In the blink of an eye, he’s yanking you to your room, kicks the door shut with a loud ‘thud’, and manhandles you on the bed. You’re too stunned to react, and gulp when he hovers over you and strips off his jacket, leaving him in a white shirt that doesn’t hide his toned arms.
“Use the color system, alright? Green when everything is alright, yellow when you want me to slow down, and red when you want me to stop for good?” he asks.
“I know what the color system is,” you mutter, tearing your eyes away from him.
“That’s not an answer to my question.” he presses.
“Fine, color system it is. There! Happy? Now get on with it—“
Jisung pins your wrists above your head vigorously. “You don’t call the shots here. I do.”
Your stomach swoops. You really should’ve listened to your brain. This Jisung isn’t comparable with the Jisung you sucked off a few days ago. That Jisung was cocky — he’s always cocky, what are you even saying — but he still gave you room to breathe. This Jisung is downright scary.
“Good thing for you, I know exactly what you want me to do—” he starts sinisterly as his thigh settles firmly between your legs, pressing up against your clothed core. You suddenly regret wearing a skirt. “—and trust me baby, even if I couldn’t read your mind, I would do all those things because that’s what I plan on doing to you regardless.”
The look he gives you should be illegal. He shouldn’t be in the position to look down at you, as if he’s the king and has free reign over the consequences you are about to bear. Your head suddenly feels dizzy, and it’s way too hot in the room. It’s as if your bedroom has morphed into some vacuum as you’re desperately trying to breathe. Your system ceases to function once he presses his thigh even harder on your cunt, and all you manage to make is a pathetic whimper.
A menacing grin makes its way to his face. He’s clearly thriving on this ego-boost and continues to grind his thigh on you until your hips start to sway along. It seems like you found your voice again once he leans down and nibbles on your neck. Your moans are barely audible at first, but they slowly turn into drawn out mewls and labored breaths.
Your eyes snap open when he suddenly retreats his thigh and holds your hip in a vice grip, stopping you from moving. “W-what the fuck? Why did you stop?”
“Tell me what you want me to do.”
“Huh?” You squint at him. “But you can read my mind!”
“I want you to say it out loud.”
There’s no way in the universe that you’ll do that. You’ll gladly wipe off that shit-eating grin out of his face whether he likes it or not, but with his hold on your wrists, that is deemed impossible.
You should say something out loud though. Yellow. That would save you from the humiliation. You could regain at least an ounce of control, not feel so pathetic anymore. It’s a simple word, just two syllables, six letters. The tables can be turned to your advantage. It’s easy.
You don’t.
“You’re embarrassed, aren’t you? You can’t say all those filthy thoughts in your head out loud because you’re ashamed, huh? Not when you love feeling so powerless, subject to anything I do to you. Face it baby, just admit that you’re a needy little bitch who wants to get off on my fingers so bad, and I’ll give you what you want,” Jisung growls in between hot, wet kisses he leaves on your neck.
“I—“ you whimper after some difficulties, “I’m your needy little bitch w-who wants to get off on your fingers.”
Jisung’s head pipes up, his face just hovering a couple of inches away from yours. With that little distance between you, you know it’s not a trick of the light and that his eyes are blown up with hunger, hunger, and more hunger. "Not just any bitch, but mine? Do you like it when I call you mine?"
You nod. From there on, it’s a chain reaction.
He wastes no time slipping his fingers past your panties, mindlessly trailing along your folds. You throw your head back in pleasure, bucking your hips into his touch. A cry leaves you the moment he slips a finger inside you, his thumb simultaneously flicking your clit. It’s sensory overload, rendering your rationality to a standstill.
Your utter downfall is marked once Jisung adds a second finger, never slowing down. He groans at the way you clench around him like a maniac, and the sounds he makes send jolts all over your body. You’re writhing under his grasp at this point, overstimulated by everything yet at the same time, you feel your arousal slowly fading.
“Does my baby feel good? Are you close?” Jisung asks, nipping on your earlobe.
“I don’t know,” you whisper.
“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know’?”
The pit in your stomach grows. You’ve never experienced claustrophobia, but right now, it’s like everything’s suffocating you. “A-as in I don’t fucking know!” you exclaim shakily.
Jisung stops his movements. The weight on your wrists is lifted, and he looks at you, face unreadable. “(y/n), color. What’s your color?”
“Green. It’s just...” your trail off, avoiding his eyes.
“Just...?”
“I’ve never come before,” you confess in defeat. You really can’t believe that Jisung out of all people is the one to make the call of judgment. “I mean it! I’ve tried getting myself off but I never managed to... so cut me some fucking slack because I’m trying my best here and am still new to everything!”
Jisung stays silent. He stares at you in… confusion? disbelief? You really have no clue how to read his expression. Something negative for sure, though. He’s Satan’s spawn, for fuck’s sake. He’s probably thinking twice about going down on you, thinking about the gravity of a mistake he’s dealing with this time. He just has no clue how to articulate his irritation—
“You’re so cute, fucking hell,” he whispers.
You do a double-take. What? What did he say?
A small chuckle escapes his lips. As if he doesn’t mind. Wait. He doesn’t mind. “I’ll take good care of you. Trust me on this,” he says.
“That’s a little late coming from you, your fingers are literally up my vagi— h-ha-aah—“
“Just shut up and let me do the work.” Jisung rolls his eyes as he works you up again, fingers moving at a slower pace this time. Within minutes, he’s reduced you into a panting, stuttering mess. “You look so tiny and helpless underneath me. How adorable,” he coos, to which you just whine.
“Yeah? You like it when I call you tiny? Like it when your tight cunt already feels stuffed with just two fingers? Maybe we should stretch it to a third one, think you can handle that?” he presses on. That’s when he rams his fingers into a particular spot, making you arch your back. A knowing smile makes its way onto his lips. “Found it.”
“N-no, fuck— t-too much—” you babble, but he continues to abuse your sweet spot without remorse.
An unfamiliar pressure builds up in your abdomen, threatening to burst. Your whines grow louder, breaths shallower. You squeeze your eyes shut as you thrust your hips into his hand, desperate for more friction. “Jisung, I think I’m gonna—”
“Oh no, not like this,” he growls. “Keep your eyes open. I want you to look at me when you cum. So you’ll remember that it was me who made you cum for the first time. It’s me who’s making you feel good.”
That is easier said than done. You manage to open your eyes, though with a lot of difficulties. Scratch that, your eyes are barely open. Jisung is a blurry image, and you’re unable to register everything he says, the sound of his fingers squelching in your heat blaring in your ears.
You deem it fucking impossible to keep your eyes open when your orgasm hits you hard, body spasming from the sensation. But you keep on trying, keep forcing to set your eyes on him.
It’s all worth it though when the reward you get is a proud smile on his face, as well as streams of praises coming from his mouth.
It’s a continuous pattern that goes as follows:
1. You spend your days glued to your friends.
2. At least one of them (usually, it’s Seungmin) preaches how you should get your shit together and ask Changbin out.
3. Somehow, Changbin manages to leave a strong presence in your fantasies and you end up daydreaming about a scenario that stars him, you and a bed (if you’re feeling more daring, any other kind of surface or object he could pound you into.)
4. Jisung notices and forces the horniness out of your system.
5. You tell yourself that it’s the last time Jisung has such control over you.
And then the cycle repeats.
But here’s the thing: you find yourself doing no. 5 you with less conviction the more it happens. No. 5 is a formality at this point. You don’t know when you went the wrong path, but are you really in a position to complain? Jisung is good with you, he’s good with his fingers, even better with his mouth.
But then there’s this side of Jisung after he’s ruined you. He knows what you want to eat after you’re all cleaned up, knows what show you want to watch, knows if you want to just drop dead in bed or need someone to force you to finish your uni assignments. In short: Jisung is good. If you ever said that out loud and someone caught wind of it, they might assume that you liked him.
But Changbin. You like Changbin. You like Changbin you like Changbin you like Changbin—
You like Changbin, right?
“You’ve been looking at me as if I had the word CLOWN written over my forehead. Do I have something on my face or what?” you cross your arms and are met with your friends quickly averting their eyes from you.
Felix is the first one to break the silence. “Is that a new dress?”
“Not really. I recently found it when I cleared out my closet and decided to give it one more try. Why—“ you pause, and your expression turns grim once it dawns on you. “I look ridiculous in this, don’t I?”
“Yeah.”
“No!”
“You look like a clown.”
“Seungmin-Hyung, did you really just???”
If your crippling self-esteem hadn’t reached its all-time low before, then it definitely did now. “Geez, thanks,” you deadpan.
Jeongin is panicking, trying to provide some damage control as Felix snaps at Hyunjin and Seungmin. “Nobody cares about your two cents!”
“Well, but she asked for our opinion!”
“Nobody cares about your honest two cents!”
“Let’s just have lunch at the burger place and talk about this later, Hyung!”
You’re still dazed, chuckling dryly like those cartoon characters usually do when their soul leaves their body after someone dragged them. The entire situation is downright sad to witness. Is this a sign that your period is coming soon? That’s it! That probably explains why you’re acting so uncharacteristically sensitive today—
“The dress suits you, (y/n). You should wear it more often,” Changbin says.
“Hah?” you flinch and you’re sure your soul actually left your body when you turn to face Changbin smiling genuinely at you. Out of your periphery, you see Jisung and Chan behind him, but that’s not the point.
What? The? Fuck? Did he really just? Did Changbin just… compliment you?
You don’t realize how long you’ve dumbly stared at him until Jeongin nudges you. “Uhhhh, thanks!” you squeak out, cringing at how your voice just went up by an octave. You can feel Jeongin facepalming internally at your response, but you don’t blame him; you’d most likely do the same.
Changbin just smiles before he turns away to get to his next class, tugging Jisung and Chan with him.
Nevermind. Wearing this dress was the best decision you’ve made in your entire college career. The way you suddenly beam almost gives Felix whiplash — it’s obvious in the way he stares at you as if he ended up watching a comedy instead of the melodrama he was expecting. Hyunjin seems just as flabberghasted, Jeongin is still cringing from the secondhand embarrassment, and Seungmin just grins.
“Ah, so lover boy is the reason, I see.”
You roll your eyes at him. “Oh my god, just shut up, Seungmin.”
Jisung is eating you out with such fervor that has you sobbing and thrashing around. He’s merciless in every literal sense, keeping your hips planted on the couch with his hands to the point where veins are bulging out, and lapping up your juices with his tongue, continuing even though you already came. He only pulls away, lips glistening in your release, once you tug on his hair despite his orders to not do that.
“Already spent now? But baby, we just started.” he pouts. “Or is it because it’s me? Would you defy if Changbin was the one eating you out?”
You stare at him with blown out eyes. Why the fuck is he bringing up Changbin now? The words hang heavy in your throat and are threatening to burst, but the death stare he delivers stops you from doing so.
Something’s not right.
“Don’t tell me... you’re wet again because I just mentioned Changbin. Changbin this, Changbin that, huh? It’s always only Changbin, Changbin, Changbin. And I thought I was doing you good all along,” he rages, making you flinch. He can be terrifying when he wants to be, but this time, he seems completely out of it. “You know what? I’m fucking done with holding back. You’re mine, got it?”
With that, he dives back into your cunt, sucking harshly on your clit as he slides a finger in you. You try to pry him off, but his weight is restraining you to the sofa.
“Jisung, it hurts— ouch—“ Panic starts to rise in you when he finally detaches himself from your nub, but instead, moves down to your thighs and starts sucking on the skin with a force much harder than you’re used from him. “What are you doing? S-stop—!”
“You’re mine, you’re supposed to be mine. I am literally written on your skin. So why can’t you just wish to be with me? Do I have to mark you up so that you’ll finally get it?”
It hurts. It hurts. Once you feel teeth on your skin, you burst into tears. “Red, Jisung, red!”
As if it was the spell to break the cast, Jisung finally snaps out of it. His features break once his eyes meet yours. Regret sticks onto him like a second skin, and he slightly moves his hand in an attempt to reach out to you. Your muscles react faster though, and you instinctively pull your legs towards yourself and shy away from him. The way his face drops by another layer of remorse tugs at your heartstrings, but the impending fear overpowers everything else you’re feeling.
“What’s going on? What went over you?” you ask.
Jisung’s breath is shaky. He feverishly opens his mouth several times, but no sound is coming out. He’s struggling to find the right words, maybe trying to find a somewhat reasonable justification for his behavior. In the end, he lets out a defeated sigh. “I can’t do this anymore without having feelings—” his voice is weak and vulnerable and you’ve never witnessed him break down like this before, “—I like you. I like you the way you like Changbin. I just...”
Silence.
“Leave,” you whisper, but in this silence, your voice rings out loud and clear. This is… too much weight for your heart to carry.
Jisung complies. He grabs his belongings from the floor, slips on his shirt, and leaves with his head hung low. His footsteps grow more and more distant, but then he stops.
“Are you really in love with Changbin?” His voice cracks.
You don’t muster up the courage to face him. “Just read my mind.”
It’s silent again. Too overwhelming. You’re waiting for yet another outburst of him, waiting for his “I want you to say it out loud”, because that’s how the conversation always goes.
The last thing you hear is the front door falling in its lock with a soft click.
You like Changbin. You like Changbin you like Changbin you like Changbin you like—
You like him, right?
Things have changed.
You and Jisung haven’t crossed paths ever since, not even passed each other by in the hallways. It’s weird since you’ve grown used to seeing him every day outside of your apartment complex. You’ve never really acknowledged each other’s presence with a wave or something in the sorts; it was just a second where your eyes met, and then your days went on.
That being said, you run into Changbin quite frequently. If you ever exchanged words, it’s nothing more than friendly small talk and the one or other compliment about his music. Talking to Changbin is nice; he makes you smile.
You know a little bit more about Changbin now, like his favorite ice cream flavor or the fact that he has a pokemon plushie named Gyu. It’s cute, and you chuckle when you think about how you’d pay good money for that information a few weeks ago.
Changbin is nice, and there’s nothing more to the story.
The chaotic quartett you call your friends however, doesn’t seem to buy it. They are loud and nosey and have eyes, so it was set in stone that they’d tease you about it sooner or later. It’s all fun and games, and you played along with it at first, because that’s how you guys are. But as time went on, when the banter became so repetitive and blown out of proportion to the point where they have made clowning you about your small interactions with Changbin the pinnacle of their entertainment, you’ve begun to be fed up by it.
“Will you finally stop bringing him up in an indecent manner every single lunch break? Or even better, stop bringing him up altogether?” You snap, which shocks everyone at the table because you never snap.
Nobody has time to react as you quickly stomp away to grab some fresh air. You mutter out every curse under the sun, not intending to let your anger take over you this much. You’ve only made it past the door when Felix catches up to you, placing a hand over your shoulder.
“(y/n), what’s the matter? Clearly, something’s bothering you. And I know it’s not because of just Seungmin.” Concern is woven in his smooth voice.
You have to admit, it was a smart and calculated move from your friends to send Felix your way. He’s always been the compassionate one out of your little friend group. Like a pillar, he’s the one who keeps you all grounded (and he’s the one to drive your asses back home after the wild Alpha Beta Gamma frat parties).
“I don’t like Changbin that way, I realized. So it’d be very much appreciated if you asses didn’t allude to that every time,” you huff.
Felix sends you an understanding smile. “We can work that out. You know that Hyunjin and Seungmin in particular can be insensitive and sometimes don’t realize they’ve taken things too far..”
“Fine, but that’s not the main thing that’s eating me up alive, Felix.” you sigh. The words seem to flow out of your mouth like a waterfall. “I’ve realized I’ve never really liked Changbin. Okay, fine, he was just a crush I had but I don’t like him.”
He nods slowly, his brain processing your ramble. “So you like someone else.”
“Yes. And I don’t know how to fix it because we got into a huge fight.”
“Talk to them. That’s the only thing left to do.” His response is immediate, and he says it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Every relationship has its ups and downs, and if you want to be committed, you have to fight for it. If you were made for one another, you’ll make it.”
The last part makes you laugh internally. If only he knew.
“Let me guess, you expect me to barge into his place to sort things out,” you say.
Felix gives you the look of judgment. “I mean, you could also show some human decency and text him in advance so he’s also prepared. But that works fine too.”
Come to think of it, you’ve never been to Jisung’s apartment. That’s about to change when you knock on his door sometime in the evening, shortly after sunset.
Jisung’s face immediately drops once he opens the door. “What are you doing here?” His voice is soft, drenched in regret.
It’s not that his appearance has reached rock bottom. He still takes good care of himself; however, you pick up the dark circles under his eyes and his complexion seems a little paler. Not sickeningly pale, but in a sense that he hasn’t seen the light of day for a few consecutive days.
You shift your weight on one leg and fiddle with your fingers. “Can we talk?”
Jisung gulps. “Yeah, sure,” he mumbles after a moment of hesitation before inviting you in.
“I’ve thought a long time about this. Everything, really,” you start awkwardly as soon as you’re both standing stiffly in his living room. “I, um…”
You cringe inwardly as your voice trails off. Truth be told, you’ve rehearsed what you wanted to say many times a few hours ago. Even wrote down the entire speech. Then threw the draft away, only to compose a new one. And then again and again and again. After what felt like an eternity, you had polished your final speech and memorized it from top to bottom, even making sure that your flow sounded natural. But now that this is the real deal, your mind goes blank. Of course, of fucking course, your illiterate brain had to give up on you in the situation that mattered the most.
Jisung purses his lips. “Do you want something to drink first? No need to rush—”
“I don’t like Changbin!” you blurt out. Jisung stares at you in confusion. “I mean, I used to like Changbin — I still do, he’s a nice guy! Don’t get me wrong — but that’s all he is. He’s… nice. I like him, as a friendly guy. I had a crush on him, but now it’s just, uh, like. Platonic! Yeah, platonic.”
Despite him nodding slowly, you know that he is still lost. You would be too if you were on the receiving end of this painfully clumsy delivery.
You give yourself a mental slap as you take a deep breath. It can’t get any worse than this. Definitely impossible. You’ve already proven to him how bad your public speaking skills are. Might as well get over it with the bluntest words. “I miss you. And not because of the sexual things we did, but everything else. I miss you coming over, miss the movie night, and all that. I miss you, Jisung.”
He stares at you silently. Your eyes search his face for any sign of emotion, and for one too many times, Jisung is impossible to read. Okay, perhaps you did manage to tell him what you wanted to tell him even worse than whatever the fuck your initial attempt was.
But then his blank armor cracks. Little by little, his eyes soften, disbelief and remorse on display for you to see. Jisung is looking at you as if his world has fallen apart even more. He’s looking at you as if he’s clinging to the last threads of reason, trying to make sense of the situation. He’s looking at you with eyes that could hold stars behind them, stars that were supposed to burn out yet shine brighter than the universe.
“How can you say that? I hurt you. I made you cry! I was being a selfish asshole who put out his anger on you!” he exclaims, voice breaking towards the end. Pain clouds his red eyes, and he’s fighting to keep the tears at bay.
You slowly prod closer to him, testing the waters. He doesn’t react once, not even when you stand directly in front of him. Not even when you gently place your hands on a shoulder each. Not until you say, “It’s alright. I’m alright. No hard feelings.”
That’s his breaking point. Tears stream down his face, while quiet hiccups jump out of his throat. “How can you be so nice to me?” His sobs are muffled as he eases into your touch, hiding his face in the crook of your neck. Instinctively, he wraps his arms around your waist, clinging onto you as if you’re his lifeline.
The answer is simple, you say to yourself, as you thread a hand in his hair. “We’re soulmates.”
The weight of the words hangs in the air, shattering the previous tension and all the worries in your heart. It’s liberating, finally being able to say it out loud without feeling like an abnormality for saying those words with happiness. You’re soulmates. You’re soulmates, and that’s okay.
Jisung’s sobs resound throughout the room, and so do his countless, tiny yeah, we are’s. You need a moment before you register the wetness on your face. It feels like an eternity standing in his warm embrace, even after there are no more tears left to cry.
“Can I kiss you?” Your voice is quiet, barely above a whisper, but Jisung catches it. two fingers gently lift your chin so that you’re facing him. You almost melt when your eyes meet, his gaze filled with adoration that makes you want to burst at the seams.
“Yeah. I’d love that.” Jisung smiles.
It costs you your willpower to tear your eyes away from him before they flutter down to his lips. Despite his bottom lip being a little cracked, they look inviting and you wonder what they taste like. You expect him to nudge you, expect him to tell you to hurry up and do something because you’re pretty sure you’re staring at his lips for far too long.
He doesn’t. The grip on your chin is loose as if to tell you to take your time and go at your own pace. But the longer you wait, the more reluctance builds up. It’s a lot of power he’s given you; hell, it’s the first time he hands the reigns to you.
“Can you… uhm… I’ve never done this before, so yeah…” you look at him with a crooked smile.
The breathless chuckle that leaves him sounds like music to your ears. Jisung moves his hand to the back of your neck before closing the distance between you.
The kiss is short and sweet, but that alone suffices to make the butterflies in your stomach burst. The faint taste of coke lingers on him, and before you know it, you’re kissing again. Jisung’s lips are like an addiction, reeling you back in for another one. Somewhere along the way, the kisses change. Innocent presses of lips are long forgotten, replaced by teeth playfully tugging on your bottom lip, and Jisung kissing you deeper to the point where he steals all oxygen out of your lungs.
Your hands slide down his chest, tugging on his shirt. Startled by your bold actions, he pulls away, but you catch him back into another liplock that leaves the two of you breathless. All you can think of clearly is Jisung Jisung Jisung—
This time he forces himself away from you. Gasping for air, he places his forehead on yours. “If we go farther than this, then I don’t know if I can control myself.” His warning is barely above a whisper.
“Then don’t,” you whisper back.
That’s all the reassurance he needs before leading you to his bedroom, all the whilst latching onto your lips once more. He doesn’t let go of you until your back hits the soft mattress and he’s on top of you. Warm, slightly calloused hands trail from your cheeks to the hem of your shirt.
“Color?”
“Green,” you respond, smiling up at him. The sun has long vanished at the horizon, replaced by the dim moon and stars. Despite only a little light surging past the blinds into the room, you can see Jisung’s features crystal clear. The endearing smile is cast into the back of your mind, so is the delicacy in his touch, fingertips lightly grazing your skin as he sheds all your clothes off until you’re left in your underwear. After hearing your complaints, he discards his own clothes with an amused glint in his eyes.
Jisung takes his time pounding every single detail of your features into his memory. His hands roam all over your body, inciting goosebumps. You lean into his touch with a sigh and flit your gaze to him once he stops on a particular spot.
The look on his face is unreadable, but the hesitation in his voice speaks for itself. “Does this bug you?” he asks, uncertainty laced in it as he runs his finger over each character of his name that’s inked under your collarbone. You shake your head with a hum that turns into a soft moan once he leaves kisses on the spots his finger burned before, one for each letter. Eventually, his actions spiral out to sucking lovebites and rutting his bulge against your heat, enticing louder whines out of you. Your vision morphs into blurriness as you move your hips in sync with his, locking your arms around his neck to pull him even closer to you.
“(y/n), baby…” Jisung heaves for air, “Is it okay if I…?.”
“Please,” you mewl, “want you inside me.” Your desperation must’ve shone through your tone, as Jisung presses a loving kiss on your forehead before he reaches over to the nightstand for a condom, grinning like a lovesick idiot.
In books and movies, this is the part where the virgin would reach peak nervousness. Too many fears would be inhabiting their mind; the fear of pain, fear of not fulfilling their partner’s needs, fear of the entire situation, essentially. Whatever they depict in those books and movies, it doesn’t match up with the warmth and want pumping in your veins. Even after Jisung slipped your and his underwear off and slid the condom on his leaking cock, there’s no sign of fear bubbling in you. It’s rather the opposite; you nudge him to finally slide into you.
“So impatient,” he tuts playfully, and because he can’t help being a bit sadistic, he teases your dripping entrance with the tip of his cock. Tears begin to form in your eyes from the frustration of clenching around nothing. You feel like crying for good once he slowly pushes into you. The stretch feels unfamiliar and completely different than what you’re used to from his fingers, but it’s not unpleasant as you throw your head back. While you’re adjusting to his girth, Jisung observes your every expression, faltering whenever you scrunch your eyes shut.
“You still there?” he asks in hushed tones, caressing your cheek.
In awe about his concern, you nod. “I’m fine. It’s just… new. I’ve never done this, but I guess you already figured that out.” It takes you a moment to catch your breath, and then you give him the green light to continue.
The way Jisung has your hands firmly against the bed lacks the usual roughness; he isn’t gripping your wrists as if he’s about to cut off your blood circulation. This time, he has intertwined his fingers with yours as if he doesn’t ever want to let go of you. A firework of colors and stars is all you see as he thrusts into slow and deep and with all the passion he has to offer. His lips don’t leave space for a breather either; he kisses you with so much fervor that it swallows your heart up whole. At that instant, you realize that he’s claimed your heart and isn’t going to give that up any time soon. You don’t mind, because you know that you’ve committed the same crime.
It’s not long after until you feel the orgasm building up. Jisung brings one hand down to flick your clit, and just like that, you unravel beneath him. His own release follows suit, a muffled groan coming from his lips as he spills into the condom.
It’s quiet for a moment, no words spoken between you except for harsh breathing. Eventually, Jisung slides his softening dick out of you and disappears for a moment to clean up, returning with a damp towel for you to freshen up a little, as well as a glass of water.
“I think I won’t be able to walk tomorrow,” you say after you gulped down the drink in one go, voice devoid of emotion. A laugh leaves Jisung. The way you deliver it is so casual as if he didn’t just have his dick in you minutes before. “Also, isn’t this the part where we should cuddle?”
“So bossy, your royal majesty.” He even takes a bow before he climbs back on the bed, pulling the covers over your bodies, and scooting up to you. He says something else, but you don’t register what exactly. All you care about is being wrapped in his warm embrace. The stench of sweat isn’t prominent on him anymore. Instead, it’s a huge cloud of Axe overpowering your senses. You would complain, but you’re too blissed out to bother.
Jisung must’ve noticed at a certain point that you’ve wandered to daydream paradise. “You’ve been quiet for a while. A penny for your thoughts.”
“But you can read my mind.”
“I want you to say it out loud.” His answer comes like a shot while his hand is brushing through your hair. “That, and your thoughts are too jumbled and my head is going to malfunction if I try to decode everything running in your head right now.”
The corners of your lips quirk upwards. “I’m just thinking about how we did everything in the wrong order. It’s just now that we kissed, before that I only sucked you off or something. We’re so fucked up.”
“If you word it that way, we definitely didn’t follow the book.” Jisung laughs in agreement. The vibrations from his chest causes you to bubble up in warmth.
“I don’t mind, though. That’s not the point. I’m happy.” You don’t have to look up to know that his eyes lit up. “Jisung, I’m happy that you’re mine.”
The hold around your waist tightens, and you feel a soft kiss being pressed on top of your head. “And I’m happy that you’re mine.”
In another lifetime, another universe, you probably wouldn’t have to go through these struggles. Society would normalize having someone that completes you. You wouldn’t go through countless stages of denial, countless stages of frustration, and countless stages of doubt.
In another lifetime, another universe, you potentially could’ve been on even worse terms. Just like in those cyberpunk movies, maybe you two would be enemies, one fighting alongside the government, the other assisting the villain who tries to overthrow the system. Star-crossed lovers, that’s what you two would be dubbed as.
In another lifetime, another univer—
No need to fantasize about what could be. The only lifetime that matters is this lifetime, this universe, your reality. In reality, people like you live in hiding. In reality, society is doubtful towards people with soulmates. In reality, people like you are destined for a tragedy. It’s taken you a long time to wrap it around your head.
That’s alright though. You’re alright. You’ll always be alright. The universe might have not played in your favor in this lifetime, but you still found each other. Perhaps, the universe will be more forgiving towards you in your next lifetime. Or the one after. Who knows? Whatever happens, at least you know you have one person you’re bound to meet wherever you are, whenever you are. One person who won’t ever let go of you. One person you won’t ever let go of.
“Yeah, I’m yours.”
#i'm never writing a oneshot again this is too stressful for my heart#stray kids smut#skz smut#han jisung smut#jisung smut#stray kids dark hours#dom!jisung#sub!reader#jijiri.txt#smut.mine#i winged the ending so pls go easy on me dlskjflkjsa
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