"Hear them softly sigh The sounds of yesterday Let them heal our wounds

If I close my eyes, I can see you Oh, I can see you close enough to touch I hardly dare to dream you, oh, lest it be too much What's the moral of the story When I only see us fighting, elegy to, to the starry-eyed, ooh

Silent now the sounds of yesterday I'm treading on sacred ground again Like a single errant ray Showing us the wounds we both sustained And our sacred pain 'Til silent fall the sounds of yesterday"

"Sounds of Yesterday" by Poets of The Fall

--Nemo

¿ƃuıʞɐɯ ɯ'ı ʇɐɥʇ ןɐǝp ǝɥʇ ʇnoqɐ ɹɐǝɥ oʇ ʇuɐʍ noʎ op ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʜᴜʀᴛ ᴍᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ꜱᴇᴇ ʜᴏᴡ ᴅᴇᴇᴘ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴜʟʟᴇᴛ ʟɪᴇꜱ. ᴜɴᴀᴡᴀʀᴇ ɪ'ᴍ ᴛᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀꜱᴜɴᴅᴇʀ. ᴏᴏʜ, ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ɪɴ ᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛꜱ. 

first dance

pairing: reader x jeon jeongguk

summary: jeongguk teaches you how to slow dance.

genre: drabble; fluff;

soundtrack: put your head on my shoulder—paul anka 

content/warnings: strangers to lovers; wedding!au; best man!jeongguk/ no warnings it’s just pure fluff ♡ 

a/n: not beta’d! aaa this is just purely self indulgent lol and a lil warm up to ease me out of my writers block. I’ve been into old love songs these days and I missed writing jjk fluff.

word count: 1.4K 

♪ Put your head on my shoulder. Hold me in your arms, baby. Squeeze me oh-so-tight. Show me that you love me too ♪

Your best friend’s wedding was perfect: dreamy and full of love.

From the wedding party table, you watch the bride and groom in awe as they take their first dance. They’re so in love, leaning into each other with their foreheads touching as they sway batch and forth on the dancefloor, completely in their own world. You can’t help the wistful sigh that escapes past your lips.

“What are you thinking about right now?”

You looked to your right, eyes meeting the man sitting beside you. Jeongguk looked so handsome in an all-black suit, long hair in his face, almost hiding those starlight eyes from view.

“How lucky they are to have found love with each other,” you answered honestly.

Jeongguk nodded, humming out an agreement. His eyes followed yours, lost in thought, as he glanced at the two lovebirds. “They make a good couple, don’t they? Practically perfect for each other.”

“They are. . . I hope I’m lucky to fall in love like that someday.”

“Yeah,” said Jeongguk, voice wistful. “Me too.”

For a minute, you watched your friend’s marital bliss in silence. Then suddenly, Jeongguk turned to you.

“Do you wanna dance?”

“Oh no, you don’t have to do that. You’ve already done so much for me tonight.”

Jeongguk had perfect company all evening. You’ve leaned on him tonight more times than you could count, not just as you walked down the aisle. All week he’s supported you through your duties as maid of honor, from the rehearsal dinner to the vows. It’s no wonder Namjoon chose him as the best man. Even now, he’s still trying to meet your every need.

“I don’t mind. It looks like fun, doesn’t it?” He said, nodding his head towards the crowd. He stood up from his chair beside you. “So let’s dance.”

“Oh, thanks. . . But I can’t.” You said, taking a sip of your champagne.

Jeongguk gave you a look. “I saw you the other night.”

You flush at the memory of you and the other bridesmaids whining and grinding on the dance floor during the joint bachelor’s party.

For a minute, you were briefly mortified until you saw his eyes flicker down your figure, taking notice of the slit in your dress and the exposed thigh there; his eyes darkened as if remembering exactly what you did on the dance floor.

“I know you can dance,” he said.

You dropped eye contact and suddenly became interested in the intricate patterns on the tablecloth. Was he flirting with you? No, no way. The motion was so quick you’d swear you’d imagined it if not for the heat lingered when you met his eyes again.

You shook your head. “It’s not that I can’t dance. . . it’s just—”

“You just don’t want to dance with me?”

“What?”

“I can take a hint. You don’t have to make up an excuse not to dance with me.”

“No, no! Of course not!” You sputtered. The last thing you wanted was your reluctance to dance to be mistaken as animosity towards Jeongguk, especially when you felt quite the opposite. “That’s not what I meant I—”

Jeongguk laughed at your panicked expression. “Relax. I’m just teasing you.”

“Ugh,” you sighed, slouching in your seat. “Don’t do that; you almost gave me a heart attack.” Actually, he’s been giving you mini heart attacks all night. You might have developed a little bit of a crush on him.

Jeongguk only smiled and leaned in closer as he studied you seriously. “So,” he started, quirking an eyebrow. “If it’s not dancing itself, or your potential dance partner. . . What’s stopping you from dancing with me?”

“Oh. Um,” you stumbled over your words at the intensity of Jeongguk’s gaze.

“I don’t—I don’t know how to slow dance.”

You expected Jeongguk to laugh, but he just tilted his head to the side, curious. “You’ve never slow danced before?”

You winced. “Is that lame?”

Jeongguk shook his head. “No, I don’t think that. I’m just surprised?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. I skipped prom. And I haven’t been to many weddings. I just never really had that moment, you know?” you admitted, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

But Jeongguk didn’t judge you. Instead, he took your hands in his, gently pulling you out of your seat. “Well, let’s make that moment tonight.”

Jeongguk swept you onto the dance floor, dutifully ignoring your groans of protest and any attempt to run back to your table and hide. You were completely out of your element, eyes wide as you looked around at the other dancers around you.

“This is a bad idea,” you said. “I’ll just end up embarrassing us both.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

“I don’t know what to do,” you countered, still panicking as you watched the other dancers.

“Just focus on me,” said Jeongguk, placing a finger under your chin to bring your attention towards him. He put you into position, placing one of your hands on his shoulder and holding the other in his tattoed grasp.

“It’s okay,” he said, lips ghosting across your cheek as he whispered in your ear, “I got you.”

Jeongguk led you across the glossy dance floor. You might have stepped on his toes initially, but Jeongguk was sure to steer you right wherever you faltered. His grip was firm but gentle as he guided you. You fell into sync as you moved together to the beat, and somehow, dancing with him wasn’t as awkward as you imagined it to be. It was kinda perfect.

Couples twirled underneath fairy lights, the crowd rising and falling with the sweet music played by the orchestra. As one song faded into the next, you relaxed in his hold, sliding your hands up to rest around his neck. You could feel the heat of his body against yours. His hand on your waist, chests pressed together, your heart beating so close to his. Something about this moment felt right.

You looked up at him and tried not to think about the fact that if you tilted your head up just a bit and reached up on your tiptoes—you could kiss him.

When you locked eyes, Jeongguk stumbled.

“What is it?” You asked. “Did I step on your foot again?”

Jeongguk grinned. “No, it’s not that.”

“I messed up the tempo, didn’t I?”

“Your tempo is fine.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s nothing,” Jeongguk said, avoiding your gaze.

“That’s not fair,” you pouted, “I told you what was on my mind. And I let you drag me out here to dance. The least you can do is meet me halfway.”

“Okay, okay. I was just. . .” Jeongguk trailed off, struggling to find the words. “I was thinking how beautiful you look tonight.” He blushed, looking off to the side to gather himself. “And I know I just met you, but—I feel lucky. Lucky to have met you and you by my side throughout this wedding.”

“I think I’m the luckiest man in the room tonight.”

You couldn’t help but think back to your earlier conversation about luck and love, and your heart swelled at his words and the implication there.

“I think I got lucky, too,” You said, smiling up at him.

The tiny confession warmed you inside and out, so you did what you’d been wanting to do all night.

You rose on your tiptoes. And then you kissed him.

Jeongguk froze—started by the sudden intimacy—but then he softened, tilted his head to kiss you deeper, lips so soft as they moved against yours. And it felt like the beginning of forever. Magic and endless and full of hope. His hands squeezed your waist, holding you tight, and you wished he would never let you go.

When he lifts his head a few seconds later, it’s an effort not to chase his lips. But you still want to be close. It’s more instinct than intention when you lay your head on his chest. Jeongguk leaned down to rest his cheek against your head, and it felt good to melt in his embrace, swaying gently from side to side.

In the moment, you fell for him, just the tiniest bit.

And even though you hadn’t planned on this—the kiss, the dance—you’re happy you ended up in Jeongguk’s arms tonight. You can’t imagine having your first dance with anyone else.

You don’t have the words to tell Jeongguk how he made your night at the moment, but years from now, at your wedding, you’d tell your husband that your first dance with him made you feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

make my heart surrender | carmy x reader | the playlist

here's a fun little collection of songs that make me think of this story. some of the songs feel like they could function as a soundtrack to the story, and some just make me think of carmy x reader. i created this playlist and listened to it while writing, in the car, doing dishes... seriously, the way this story took over my brain.

make my heart surrender: the playlist

***

sleeping with a friend - neon trees

carmy & reader's relationship in new york city -- while the title feels self-explanatory, this song has all the sexual tension of wondering our favorite kitchen lovebirds' will they won't they relationship. do we need a oneshot of the before times? maybe...

robbers - the 1975

angsty carmy & reader's relationship in nyc. this is also allegedly the prequel to 'about you' so it felt right to include it.

about you - the 1975

where the title of this fic comes from: 'now there's something about you that i can't remember / it's the same damn thing that made my heart surrender / and i miss you on the train, i miss you in the morning / i never what to think about / i think about you

it's the pining for me

chicago - sufjan stevens

the iconic song used in the show. i could see this song playing on reader's first day at the bear, or underscoring reader's travels to chicago

sleep tight - holly humberstone

oof, this song kills me. i'll add notable lyrics that make me think of carmy x reader, but it would be a beautiful underscore for their moment at the end of chapter two, when they say goodnight to each other.

"sleep tight i'm on my way back and feeling kind of sad because you were the best thing i never knew i had"

"you were the best thing i never knew was mine"

"god knows i've missed this feeling" makes me ache in the best ways why do we love being sad sm?!

closer - tegan and sara

i could see this song underscoring some of the kitchen flows when carmy & reader have smoothed things over around chapter three. i can just see reader working the garnish station and falling in love with carmy all over again as she watches him expedite.

can we also just talk about how this is a peak in the flow of the playlist? like they've finally smoothed things over and it's been nostalgic/acoustic/angsty and then this song happens and it's like an explosion of energy?? we're finally going to get some connection between these two

only human - the code, william singe

if this were a movie/tv show, i'd have this song play in the background of their conversation (date) at the aviary in chapter three.

untouched hearts - acoustic - the hunna

the lines "i know it's been hard but now it's time for you to get what you want, to know you're enough" feel like a fucking love letter from mikey to carmy. #LetItRip

it also feels like a feeling reader and carmy would share between the two of them about each other.

la vie en rose - emily watts

the song that plays at carmy's apartment after putting her dinner party playlist on shuffle. reader is flipping through the cookbook while he finishes the carbonara to the sweet sounds of this song. and they're making eyes at each other, and stealing glances when they think the other isn't looking GOODBYE

the girl - city & colour

this song is giving major waking-up-together-morning-after vibes. i mostly saw this song for the second to last chapter for the cute tattoo scene, but it could also be great for their first morning after season in chapter five.

flashed junk mind (acoustic version) - milky chance

just picture carmy & reader traipsing through chi-town's chinatown, arguing over who's gonna pay (because they both think it should be themselves), being cute, and fighting over carmy's cigarette during their walking dumpling date.

strawberries & cigarettes - troye sivan

this song accompanies their sweet goodbye at the start of chapter 7 and i'm quite convinced that troye sivan wrote it about carmen berzatto and you can't change my mind lol.

for the lines: "blue eyes, black jeans, lighters and candy, i've been a fool / strawberries & cigarettes always taste like you" and "remember when you taught me fate / said it'd all be worth the wait."

somebody - dagny

less on brand for the show, but the lyrics make me think so much about these two. it's giving: plot twist this is now a freeform show, i know. however, i envisioned this song being a part of reader packing up her things and catching up w friends back in ny. maaaaybe even as she's getting in her u-haul to drive to chicago.

solsbury hill - peter gabriel

peter gabriel said that this song was about losing something so that you can gain something else and i'm just not okay. this is the song that underscores the final scene in our lovely little epilogue, when reader surprises carmy at the bear ready to tell him that she's finally all in.

Hey, it's me again! Bc I loved how insightful your posts about Olek and Ling Yi were, showing you clearly think deeply about the show, I would like to ask you something outside the couple, if that is okay! So, I was rewatching Ep 3 (I have a severe case of brainrot for the two lovebirds) and something that Eyk said about the ships messed me up. He said the company bought 3 German ships. We have Kerberos and Prometheus, but who do you think is the third? I almost lost it. Could it be important?

@inferubim hello hello again, i'm so glad we are all still foaming at the mouth over this show.

i don’t know if the third ship itself is important, but the fact that there are three ships is important, and that importance is twofold: first, it continues the show’s central theme around triangles, and second, the ships themselves serve as a clever bit of foreshadowing for the plot.

triangles are obviously a huge part of the show, both literally and metaphorically. you have the ship company’s logo being the triangle with the line through it (the alchemical symbol for earth) and that symbol is repeated throughout the show in the set and costume design. we see the symbol tattooed behind elliot’s ear, and later on in the “present,” we see it tattooed on maura as well.

the characters are also grouped into sets of three, but never equally. there is an imbalance in each trio, and while that is certainly just a fact of human relationships, given the context of this show, i think it’s an intriguing detail we can’t overlook. maura’s first family unit is with henry and ciaran and her father prefers her to her brother. her second family unit is with daniel and elliot - she doesn’t remember either of them and the two of them are working together to change the simulation, and henry later tells elliot that daniel will always pick maura over him. maura has a love triangle with daniel and eyk and while she is married to daniel, she arguably has a stronger connection with eyk. speaking of the captain, he has three daughters but nina is clearly his favorite as she’s the only one he calls out to by name over and over again. clemence is married to lucien but has an instant connection to jerome and jerome and lucien have a shared history and secret from the war. krester, tove, and ada are siblings with krester and tove being much closer in age to each other than they are to ada. ramiro and angel are lovers but angel is tempted by krester. ling yi and yuk je are both employed by and at the mercy of virginia wilson. i could keep going but i won’t, and i should mention that of all the main characters, olek is the only one who doesn’t have this dynamic. he does have a brief scene with the two stokers, but that’s really it. instead, he has two strong duos - his partnership with jerome and his relationship with ling yi. this may or may not be significant, but when you take a step back and see all the other trios happening on the ship, olek’s lack of one really sticks out even more.

there’s also the fact that more or less everything significant to the plot is presented in a set of three. the three items that can alter the simulation - the pyramid, the remote control, and the lockpicking bug (alfred, you’re doing amazing sweetie). the three distinct time periods - 1899, the 70s/80s look of henry’s office, elliot’s bunker, the soundtrack, etc., and 2099. the three times we see the words “wake up” - on the memorial cross, on the stone pyramid, and on the toy pyramid. and of course, the fleet of three ships that started it all.

which brings me to my second point - the ships and their names directly tie into the events of the first season. prometheus is a titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind, giving them knowledge and technology, and it’s only after discovering the prometheus that maura and eyk gain the knowledge that there is something deeply wrong about both ships and their entire reality. kerberos is a computer protocol that provides authentication and allows a server and user to identify each other and it was named after cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld. many of the passengers on the kerberos are hiding their own and discovering each other’s true identities, and in the last episode, the remaining survivors end up in an afterlife of sorts in the graveyard with all the other failed simulations. i love little details like this when you reach the end of a story and then realize all the breadcrumbs the creators left starting from the beginning. and fun fact, in episode 1, we learn that the prometheus had 1,423 passengers, and in episode 2, we learn that the kerberos has 1,612. which means the kerberos has an additional 189 passengers. i know we’re missing a whole digit, but come on, what a great detail!

i’ll end with this - cerberus’s three heads are said to represent the past, present, and future. you have prometheus as the past, kerberos as the present, and the unnamed third ship as the future. but is that a happy future where everyone is free of the simulation or is that future simply a return to the beginning of the loop as the cycle begins anew? despite ciaran welcoming maura to “reality” in 2099, the fact that they are once again on a vessel named prometheus also with 1,423 passengers should at least make us consider the possibility that they have simply traded environments, swapping a steamship for a spaceship. so perhaps we end at the beginning where the future is the past. after all, a triangle can always fit a circle inside it and vice versa.

Soundtracks for threads @myriadxofxmuses

Have you ever come across a more Lana Del Rey coded pair? I haven’t. Oh my god I have been listening to her album Born to Die and so many of her songs fit our two lovebirds so well.

When I did up the moodboard for them a few weeks ago I used Taylor Swifts Style lyrics which also suits them but I think more for their modern verse. But Ethan definitely fits the “James Dean Daydream” and Felicity the “red lip classic and a tight little skirt”

But back to Lana…

When I listen to Born to Die I can picture their 1920s thread so well, Ethan zooming in some fast car, Felicity running to their hide away, all the speakeasy’s, the gun fights, the rivalry, the kisses when they are alone, the first night they met, everything everything I think it just fits them perfectly.

“Come and take a walk on the wild side

Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain

You like your girls insane, so (louder)

Choose your last words, this is the last time

'Cause you and I, we were born to die”

Also then Dark Paradise, very similar vibes but more from Felicity’s perspective I think. It really gives me the images of Felicity being unhappy in her life, and wanting things to change, and falling so hard for Ethan. “There’s no relief I see you in my sleep, and everybody’s rushing me, but I can feel you touching me”… I think that really captures how much she adores him.

“Every time I close my eyes, it's like a dark paradise

No one compares to you

I'm scared that you won't be waiting on the other side

Every time I close my eyes, it's like a dark paradise

No one compares to you

I'm scared that you won't be waiting on the other side”

And then of course summer time sadness, definitely one of her most iconic songs. Everything about this reminds me of Felicity and Ethan. If they make it to California, and she starts her new life by his side there I can see them living it up. Cruising down the coast…going out together…living on the edge, Ethan still working in his mob, with her by his side. I love it!

I love to think of how smug he’d be once he gets Felicity, on one hand because he bested James and won his game, but on the other because he does genuinely love the girl.

I'm feelin' electric tonight

Cruisin' down the coast, goin' about 99

Got my bad baby by my heavenly side

I know if I go, I'll die happy tonight

Oh, my God, I feel it in the air

Telephone wires above are sizzlin' like a snare

Honey, I'm on fire, I feel it everywhere

Nothin' scares me anymore

Kiss me hard before you go

Summertime sadness

I just wanted you to know

That baby, you the best

I hope you liked this!! I just had to get my thoughts on paper lol!

Favorite movies of the 2010s?

hm! incheresting...

What We Do In The Shadows (2014) - A mockumentary about vampires living in NZ created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. This is a movie you could watch over and over again without ever getting tired of it. You also notice new things each time. The characters are delightful, especially Viago (played by Taika) and Stu (a literal tech man who showed up to set with ZERO acting experience, not even knowing he was going to act in the film, and as told to just play himself). The movie is mostly improv. It is in the same universe as the WWDITS TV show but the tone and humor aren’t quite the same - I prefer the film. 

Boy Meets Girl (2014) - A touching story about a trans woman living in the rural south who explores her sexuality with a woman after a lifetime of only dating men. While Ricky’s friends, family, and community support her, there is some transphobia and there is discussion of her struggles with mental health. That said, it is a deeply healing piece of media and ends happily. The lead actress, Michelle Hendley, is a trans woman who had no prior acting experience. She brings a very real, very authentic performance. 

Megamind (2011) - A lot of people make posts on this website like “I wish there was a movie where-” and Megamind covers a huge chunk of those. It flips the villain/hero dynamic, is very bisexual, and features the coolest boots you have ever seen.

Lovebirds (2011) - An adorable romcom featuring Rhys Darby. After his girlfriend dumps him, he discovers a wounded duck and decides to nurse it back to health. He seeks out the help of an expert at the aviary, and they fall in love. Most of the movie is Rhys carrying around this little duck in a bag like a lapdog. The entire soundtrack is Queen. There’s a sequence where he dresses up as an astronaut. There’s a lot of romcom movies, I feel, that Suck. Like... they don’t really land the romance OR the comedy, but this one does. It completely knocks it out of the park. 

Ghost Shark (2013) - It’s my favorite Bad Movie after The Room (2003). Gather round, friends, and watch a spectral shark materialize in the middle of a slip-n-slide. 

behaviors the signs show at the beginning of a new relationship

[check Sun Sign]

Aries. They plunge into the new relationship, into the emotions and the sex, and then they fall out of love very fast too. Passionate, hot and cold, those Aries Suns. Dating an Aries feels like touching fire. But who isn't tempted by that?

Taurus. They are keen to see what their partners can offer in intimacy and emotional value very early on in the relationship, as they prefer long-term relationships with real commitment. And those take the right partner to be with. Don't be overwhelmed by a Tauruses question of your intend. They often don't know their own answer to this question, but will still ask you. Maybe you can find out the answer together.

Gemini. They didn't even want to be in a relationship at all, and now suddenly they are. The beginning of a relationship with a Gemini is a rollercoaster, an intense mix of feeling like you two are just very good platonic friends, and a close physical bond. That can be confusing, but exciting too. What did you expect, honestly? You're dating a Gemini after all!

Cancer. They're careful not to get their heart broken. They take some time to really get to know the person. But then they are all in. Rain of compliments on their partner. Total devotion. Fear of being left.

Leo. When they meet someone who's worth committing to, that suddenly doesn't feel confining at all. That's Leo's biggest fear, not being with the right person and getting stuck there. But with the right one, it's pure freedom. It's a new adventure, it's fun.

Virgo. They basically plan their babies names. Which is fine, if their partner knows how to handle this committing show of affection and not overinterpret the constant affirmations. Not that Virgo's don't really mean what they say, they do. But butterflies can make you say lovey-dovey words and then sometimes, you realize those don't actually apply anymore.

Libra. They present their new partner to their friends and family. Others would find it kind of funny or even stilted to do this in such a formal way, but it's Libra's show of commitment. It's their show of "you see, this person is mine". And then, just like that, their partner is part of their circle and their life - usually for quite a while.

Scorpio. They would not admit this is actually a relationship. It's maybe a not perfectly identified dating situation, a friend-with-benefits, a person-to-go-out-on-saturdays. That does not mean this isn't serious. It's just that tying down a Scorpio takes some smart work. They don't wanna be pressured, they want everything to fall into place naturally and everything to feel easy. And relationships just aren't always easy.

Sagittarius. They are so inquisitive of their new partner, that that person may feel a little surprised and overwhelmed in all the sudden interest. It's not clingy, Sagittarius are quite freedom-loving, but just real, sheer curiosity. Sagittarius is open for anything their partner has to say - it doesn't have to be in line with their own opinions, it just has to be interesting. That can feel like it's hard to find common ground.

Capricorn. They're so happy they've just found love, that everything else kind of fades into the background. It's like the world suddenly has a movie soundtrack and it calls their partners name. This is the beginning of the love story of my life, Capricorn thinks. And if there is a new beginning each week, that still feels like the love story of their life - every time anew.

Aquarius. They don't know when to take their partners hand for the first time. They don't know when it's time to kiss. They want to communicate about the do's and dont's in this upcoming relationship, but there never seems to be the perfect time. Honestly, Aquariusses may be a bit lost in the beginning. But once they find their place with their partner and they feel secure enough to open up, they are steady, reliable, wonderful partners.

Pisces. They are just the sweetest lovebirds in the world. Pisces actually still write love letters. They do the whole "I saw this and had to think about you"-thing. Dating a Pisces can feel unreal, like you're never sure when this dream is gonna end. Start believing in it.

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 16 part one

(Masterpost of All the Recaps)  (Canary’s Pinboard)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes

All righty, this one is going to be a laff riot...not. Let's do it.

The first half of this episode is like a beautifully executed standalone tragedy, while also threading together all sorts of themes and paying off all sorts of relationship building that's happened in the previous episodes. My hat is off to the writers, while I also shake a fist at them for making me cry an unreasonable amount.

We’re Sailing on a Strange Boat

The episode starts right off absolutely DESTROYING me with the Yunmeng brothers holding hands, fingers interlaced, in the first of many hand-touching moments that punctuate the episode.

Jiang Cheng has to be pretty far gone to accept this degree of comfort and tenderness. I think, from their positions, he is also holding Yanli's hand out of the camera's view. 

Zidian finally lets the trio go, and they immediately turn the boat around and head back to Lotus Pier. Wei Wuxian gets the clever idea to turn the benches into makeshift oars but nobody gets the clever idea to use magic to push the boat like they do literally every other time they are in a boat. 

Their emotional need to go back to Lotus Pier is understandable, but they are being disobedient and irresponsible by doing it. Jiang Cheng is the future of the clan, and should not risk his life, particularly after his mother chose to sacrifice herself to protect him and after both of his parents told him to go hide with his sister and personal bodyguard brother. 

On the other hand, Jiang Fengmian, as clan leader, probably had a duty to go into hiding himself rather than go home to die romantically, so his authority is questionable at this point. Anyway, this is the Jiang Clan, they get to kind of do what they want, except when that pisses Jiang Cheng off.

Lotus Pier Massacre

Back at Lotus Pier, the Wens are kicking Jiang ass. The fight choreography is pretty good, taking full advantage of walkways, railings, pools, and other features of the environment. 

Using the set this way always makes fights feel more kinetic and real, as opposed to simply sparring in an open area. 

(more after the cut)

Yu Ziyuan is fighting adequately with a sword, having given her preferred weapon to her son.  She's clearly been at it for a while, and is tiring; the Wen soldiers are starting to land more and more sword blows but no critical hits yet.

Wen Zhuliu is kicking ass and possibly melting cores, although we don't see him do it to anybody yet. Later we'll hear from Jiang Cheng that he crushed the cores of his parents, but it's not clear when that happens.

Sixth young master replays Jiang Fengmian's entire archery lesson in his head while he waits, and waits, for Wen Zhuliu to finish strangling a dude the right moment to shoot an arrow at Wen Zhuliu. 

Homicidal tart Wang Lingjiao notices him lining up a shot, strolls over, and stabs him in the back while he's still thinking about what Jiang Fengmian said. One could wish that JFM's archery lessons weren't quite so wordy. 

Wang Linjao normally doesn't carry a sword because of her low spiritual power, but apparently can use one just fine when she's killing kids.

If you start feeling like this episode is unreasonably painful, just think of it as building up calluses so you can handle Yi City when the time comes.

Jiang Fengmian to the Rescue

Jiang Fengmian shows up very far past the nick of time, although he is not actually useful, so it's questionable whether arriving earlier would have helped. But his wife is glad to see him.

Netflix subtitles say that Jiang Fengmian calls Yu Ziyuan "My Lady!" which sounds courtly and romantic in English. His actual words are "San Niangzi" which hunxi-gullai breaks out here.  I might render this as "lady wife!" rather than "my lady" but I don't think English really has a perfect equivalent.

Jiang Fengmian sails across the courtyard, knocking down a few Wen soldiers and becoming a young, slender man in the process.

I mean, come on, that stunt double does not look like a boxy middle-aged man from any angle.

The Dying Bit

The episode splits up the big death scene for dramatic effect but I'm recapping it all together to keep things simple.

Within moments of arriving, Jiang Fengmian gets shanked by Wen Zhuliu like Scatman Crothers in The Shining (or Groundskeeper Willie in The Shinning).

Wen Zhuliu stops a Wen soldier from finishing JFM off, just so that a different Wen soldier can deliver the killing blow from the back, which is kinda harsh. With all this spin-fighting there is probably not an implication of cowardice when someone dies from a stab in the back, but still. Too rude, Wen Zhuliu.

Yu Ziyuan sees Jiang Fengmian fall, and after having a moment of sorrow and despair, she stabs herself in the heart, falls down, crawls to him and interlaces her hand with his. He revives just enough to give her hand a squeeze and say "San Niangzi" one last time before dying. 

She dies next, with a smile on her face at the end. The soundtrack plays that amazing "horribly emotional death scene" music that isn't one of the tracks available on the OST, argh. This same music appears at the end of Xue Yang's story.  

Of the many things I love about the Untamed, the complexity of all the minor characters is possibly my favorite. These two people suck at parenting, and suck at being married, and ultimately suck at protecting and leading their clan, making stupid, selfish choices at every step of the building conflict. 

And then they have this incredibly romantic death scene, in which they both face the inevitability of failure, and find comfort in failing together. Yet their death scene is totally in keeping with who we know them to be, and who they are to each other; the drama doesn't cheat by making them ideal lovers or great people at the end. But they have a great, great moment.

Jiang Yanli, waiting in the woods while her brothers are presumably running toward Lotus Pier, drops her lotus pendant, which is made of the loudest jade ever discovered, and it breaks with a crash.  

Yanli, who is a well educated young lady, knows a moment of doomy symbolism when she sees it.

Jiang Yanli: Who put a giant rock out here in the woods? What are the odds I’d drop my pendant directly on it? 

It’s all Over Except for the Crying, Running and Choking

The brothers climb up on the roof and are shocked to see nothing but Wen soldiers and piled up Jiang corpses... 

...including one child who is either about to become a zombie or who is being played by a young actor who can't control their curiosity, judging by the way this eye is sneakily opened while the camera is running.

There's a moment where Jiang Cheng is saying they must have spared his parents, they must be okay, where Wei Wuxian's face is just...wow. You can see right here the gulf in life experience between these two. 

Wen Zhuliu roams around looking troubled while searching for more people to kill. He’s an interesting villain; someone who believes his loyalty to his boss makes him a good guy, but knows his boss is a bad guy. 

Then we are treated to a hell of a camera move, where it tracks over Yu Ziyuan and Jiang Fengmian together on the floor, heroic in death and still holding hands, and then sweeps up to show their killers sitting on the lotus throne. 

The dead couple were at odds for their whole lives together, while the evil people who killed them are acting like devoted lovebirds. It's a stunning shot and a terrific thematic contrast. When Wei Wuxian eventually comes to take his vengeance, he will spend some time turning Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao against each other, before ending them. 

The camera shows us JC's reaction, then shows his mother, then WWX’s reaction, then JF; each reacting to the death of the person who loved them. Some folks may feel that Jiang Fengmian actually did love Jiang Cheng but was just bad at showing it. But Jiang Cheng doesn't think so, and I don't think it's a given that parents love their children.

Side note: Macroexpression king Wang Zhuocheng is able to open his eyes so far that a giant strip of white shows above his irises, and keep them like that, which is quite a trick. Try it yourself.

Meanwhile Wang Lingjiao and Wen Chao gossip about YZY and JFM's bad marriage. Wen Chao admires YZY's beauty, and Wang Lingjiao insults her character, and announces that she's going to stab YZY's body a few extra times. Jiang Cheng briefly faints at this, taking a page from Wei Wuxian's book, and rolls off the roof. 

Run Run Away

Both young men run, and run, and run away from Lotus Pier while Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao mistreat the bodies of Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan 

The stabbing happens off camera, because it's ok to stab a live child on camera, but not a dead adult. (As always, there are cultural reasons for "what's ok" in any country, and I'm not saying anybody's wrong about these choices). 

Wen Chao follows this up with pouring a cup of wine across their faces. He does this in the style of a libation for the dead, but as a desecration, combining mistreatment of bodies with profaning a ceremonial rite. In a world where ghosts are real and have sharp fingernails, this is deeply, deeply stupid.

Yu Ziyuan’s actress Zhang Jingtong is able to have liquid poured INTO HER EAR without flinching. Mad props.

The brothers eventually finish running and arrive in a field with an extreme purple photo filter on it. Which I've done my best to remove for these gifs, with variable results. 

Jiang Cheng wants to turn around and go back to Lotus Pier. He says he wants to retrieve his parents’ bodies and to take revenge, but he's devastated and it seems likely he just wants to die with everyone else.  

Wei Wuxian pleads with Jiang Cheng to calm down and stay safe, while Jiang Cheng gives himself over to anger and shock as the brothers shout at each other.

Punching and running ensues, and Wei Wuxian tries to hold his brother back, grabbing him around the shoulders him in a gesture that painfully echoes the many hugs he's given over the years. 

This time Jiang Cheng doesn't just push him off. He turns around and chokes his brother for nearly a full minute, while screaming at him and blaming him. 

Just as when Madame Yu beat him, Wei Wuxian doesn't fight back; he pulls on Jiang Cheng's wrists but doesn't hit him or try to break his hold.

Finally Jiang Cheng lets him go, and cries out for everyone he's lost, while Wei Wuxian weeps silently next to him. Eventually they fall asleep in the grass together, their bodies curled up in the form of a heart. 

Damn, this episode really brings it.

Side Note: during their argument, Wei Wuxian says, among other things, that "revenge is a dish best served cold," according to subtitles. It's a French saying from the 1800s so it's probably not precisely what Wei Wuxian is saying. More importantly, as a longtime Star Trek fan I can't help but hear James Kirk yelling "KHAN!!!!!" whenever I encounter that phrase.

There’s Got To Be A Morning After

When they wake up in the morning, Jiang Cheng is still in his feelings, but now his feelings have moved along to despair, from anger.

I feel bad for noticing how handsome they both look in this scene. Let's all feel bad about this together.

Jiang Cheng is free to have this level of emotional breakdown because Wei Wuxian is there keeping his own shit together and focusing on what matters.

When Jiang Cheng refuses to get up, Wei Wuxian reminds him, very, very gently, that they have a sister, who has waited all night to know what happened.

At this, Jiang Cheng gets up, but won't look at Wei Wuxian, continuing to blame him for everybody else's actions, as he walks onward to find Yanli.

Wei Wuxian follows, hurt and bereft, as he gets to work internalizing everything that he's being accused of. This is good practice for his future as a widely reviled bogeyman.

Part two will be slightly less awful! Coming soon!

I was tagged by both (!) @shima-draws and @starcloud-nova so! I give the people what they want. Thanks for thinking of me, lovebirds! 💚

Rules: Tag 9 people you want to get to know better or catch up with (or tag whomever)

Favorite color: Pastel green

Last Song: “Gales of Song (English Version)” from the Belle 2021 soundtrack! It’s so gorgeous but so emotional (clutches heart)

Currently Reading: my. Product Development textbook haha

Last Movie: Also Belle (2021) (dir. Mamoru Hosoda)! This movie has my soul in a vice grip ok

Sweet, Savory, or Spicy: sweet but savory comes close!

Currently Working On: Schoolwork unfortunately and I guess maybe that one wip that’s been in the works since Halloween (oops)

Tagging: @cryptvic, @duckseamail, @camgoloud, @ques-e, @snowflakesandlemons, @shrimpinsurance, @dragonofthewind, @sunehri, and @yellowmagicalgirl, as well as anyone else who wants to give it a go!

As always, this isn’t obligatory - just for fun and only if you want to! Love y’all <3

Here are some amazing bottom Louis fics posted or completed during the month of August. We really hope you enjoy this list and that you give these fics a lot of love.

Happy reading!

1) Move Out | Explicit | 1525 words

Harry and Louis are moving in together, so they might as well make the most of Harry's apartment.

2) Take Off Your Business Suit | Explicit | 3082 words

“Yes, let me get another chair.” Louis said, leaning up off of the desk. He stood up but before he could leave the office to get another chair, Harry was grabbing his hand.

The words that came out of Harry’s mouth made Louis’ knees weak and heart beat quicken. “Just sit on my lap.” Harry said. Whatever he said afterwards didn’t make it into Louis’ ears as he was moving quickly over to Harry and placing himself on Harry’s lap.Louis would take anything Harry wanted to give him; hand touching, lap sitting, all of it.

Louis hadn't realized he was holding his breath until it came out in a quiet sigh. “Okay so th-this one will be slightly different right?” He asked as he pointed at the sheet of paper in front of him.

3) So Good, It's Making Me Drool | Explicit | 3364 words

He kept his back turned to Harry, whispering the few words he knew that would make Harry go absolutely wild. “If I’m only yours, maybe you should take me to bed and teach me who I belong to.”

4) What I Like | Explicit | 4245 words

Note: This fic has mentions of BH.

Harry gets tired of the "older women" jokes and the incessant teasing from Louis.

5) ll Belong To Your Creation | General Audiences | 4349words

Louis had always thought it was impossible to do so. Thankfully, upon doing research he learned that he still can as long as there are no complications throughout the whole pregnancy. He also stumble upon a birth vlog where a mum was able to give birth naturally even after going through c-section with her first and second pregnancy.

6) An Axolotl and the Fake Date | Explicit | 5976 words

Harry runs a stall at a farmers market every weekend and Louis comes by one day with an odd request.

7) Feels So Right | Explicit | 8804 words

The one where Louis is Troy, Harry is Gabriella, and we find out what really happened after karaoke at that ski resort...

8) Giallo! | Mature | 9776 words

Louis was a mess. A stuttery mess of weak knees and grass stains on his fresh linen clothes, his cheeks blooming a natural pink that matched his sunburnt nose. Upon his return from University, his family abandon the bustling city of London to bask in the comfort of their summer villa. With such a property came maintenance, Louis' father hired a strapping young fellow with tanned skin littered with ink and a charming smile aided by dimples in both his cheeks. Between reading, baking and painting, Louis stares at Harry, he couldn't help it. They grow close under the sun of Greece in 1989.

9) Interlude: One Night in March | Explicit | 10671 words

Note: This is a sequel to this fic.

“Said I would, didn’t I?” Harry let his hands roam over Louis’s bare back, his muscles rippling with that same frenetic energy he always had, swirling just beneath the skin, just beneath Harry’s fingers. “May come a time I’ll have to carry you again.”

Cupping the back of his head and burying his fingers in Louis’s hair, he pulled Louis back into another deep kiss, moaned a bit when Louis squeezed his chest again, harder this time, like he wanted the shirt off. But instead he drew his hand down Harry’s side and tugged at the hem, as though to say best keep this on, before he licked into Harry’s mouth, drew Harry’s tongue out to play only to pull back enough to speak.

“May come a time I’ll actually fucking let you.”

10) Hate To Smoke (Without Me) | Mature | 12164 words

Sleep. Harry just wants one good night of sleep. However, his neighbour has a thing for headboard-banging-against-the-wall-sex every night. After a secret set-up and a bet, Harry may finally get the sleep he so much desires.

11) Call You Mine | Explicit | 12755 words

“I have a request.”

That’s what Louis Tomlinson says to Harry when he opens the front door a bit too aggressively. The latter feels justified after a round of annoyingly incessant knocking that was much too loud in the drowsy sludge of early Saturday morning.

“Zayn’s asleep,” is Harry’s tired, hoarse reply, irritation prickling at his skin. Less than a minute ago he was in bed, feeling perfectly content sprawled out on the mattress with the chilled air from the fan cool against his bare skin. And now he’s leaning up against the wooden door frame in nothing but his briefs because Zayn’s best mate decided that showing up unannounced at seven in the fucking morning was a brilliant idea.

“I’m not here for him,” says Louis curtly.

12) A Vivid And Wistful Melody | Explicit | 13128 words

"Slowly, he takes his violin out of its case, listens for a few more minutes to Louis’ flute, before joining him as best as he could. The flute stops for a few seconds, and Harry imagines Louis blinking cutely, taken aback, before huffing with a smile, and starting to play again, on a suddenly far happier tune. Harry closes his eyes as he twirls around the living room, violin in hand and music filling the air. He pictures Louis doing the same in his own flat while being careful as to not step on his cat.

Somehow, even with heavy eyes and tired limbs, this is the happiest Harry has ever felt in years."

In which they are neighbours stuck at home and they happen to start talking through a wall with a piano, a violin, and a flute. They end up writing the soundtrack of their own love story.

13) Until This Blood Runs Cold | Explicit | 13685 words

In a town as small as Louis’, everybody knows everybody and gossip spreads faster than the wildfires that rage on just outside their backdoors in the sweltering heat of summer. When something happens here everyone knows about it within seconds. Neighbors call neighbors and notes are left on doorsteps, old telephone lines ringing until there isn’t a single person who is left in the unknown.

So it’s definitely hot gossip when a vampire moves in across the street from him, the very same one who’s just become Louis’ boss.

14) A Road To Hope | Explicit | 18280 words

Note: There is no explicit smut but its implied BL.

“We’re far from the people and their issues, don’t hold back. Please.”

It’s true. They are far away from anything that could stop them, the middle of nowhere being the safest place on Earth for them to fall in love. The sacred land where sacred love is created. However, Louis is certain that even if they weren’t safe, he wouldn’t resist the sight of Harry, his pleading eyes, his warm skin beneath his touch.

15) Your Eyes Of Blue, Your Kisses Too | Explicit | 21785 words

When they get out onto the streets away from the crowds Niall turns to walk backwards, “So did you get any leads?”

“Well- uh.”

Niall shakes his head, “Too busy kissing that pretty boy onstage, I see. Gonna blow the whole case for a piece of ass?”

16) Thinking About Peaches | Explicit | 23724 words

Note: This fic is a sequel to this fic, which is #18 on this list.

Eight smutty drabbles following the events of bruise you like a peach.

17) Quiet People Have the Loudest Minds | Mature | 38065 words

Broadway shows were one of the few things that could keep Louis’ attention for a full two hours without needing to move about. But not tonight.

The alpha next to him was both infuriating him and practically turning him on at the same time. He needed to leave. The alpha, that is. Louis was staying.

18) Bruise You Like A Peach | Explicit | 40694 words

Note: The sequel to this fic is #16 on this list. 

There’s two reasons Harry despises Econ.

The first is that it’s boring as fuck. The second reason is a bit more personal, a bit more focused in a way. As in it’s focused on one specific thing, or in his case, person.

His name is Louis Tomlinson.

19) Falling Out Of Fashion | Explicit | 42123 words

Note: This fic is locked and can only be read by AO3 users.

Harry Styles has been the established face of the Grimshaw House of Design for two years. It’s a prestigious and coveted modeling contract Harry took away from once-famed supermodel Zayn Malik. With the model transition Grimshaw’s designs went from a more urban, Zayn-forward aesthetic, to a Harry-favoring flowery, flowing femininity in the Grimshaw designs for men.

So when Harry sees a dress Grimshaw made for a famous Marvel actress, “only a tease”, Nick says, of the evolving look, Harry knows Grimshaw is shifting his aesthetic.

Harry wonders if he can pull off the look.

Or could Grimshaw be looking for a new face?

20) Secretly Dating | Mature | 43615 words

Lottie groaned, looming over Louis with a glare. “If we’re late, Mum and Dad will never let Harry see me – ie. see you.”

It was the first time they openly addressed the fact that Harry saw more of Louis than Lottie on their supposed ‘dates.’ He supposed he knew as much, but it still startled him. “You’ve been setting us up!”

Lottie snorted, cocking out her hip and brushing her blonde hair over her shoulder. “Honestly, Harry. You’re so dense. To be fair, it was at Louis’ request.”

Louis’ mouth gaped like a fish as he jumped to standing position, wobbling only slightly. “Don’t sell me out!”

Lottie rolled her eyes. “Come on lovebirds.”

21) You’ve Got My Devotion (Hate You Sometimes) | Mature | 95417 words

Harry was in the biggest boy band in the world. He was also one half of the best (or worst, depends on who you ask) kept secret relationship in the music industry.

Now, almost five years on, after One Direction has broken up, and Harry and Louis' relationship has as well, a video threatens to put everything at risk.

One determined Irishman, a massive publicity stunt and two begrudging exes are all it takes to bring One Direction back to life and maybe, just maybe, Harry and Louis' mangled love life too.

22) The Healing Song | Mature | 111851 words

Note: This fic is locked and can only be read by AO3 users.

Louis was carrying the large stuffed elephant like it was a baby, it’s trunk hanging over his shoulder and down his back and it’s front legs were resting around his neck, like it was hugging him. Said elephant was a present from Louis’ close friend Steve, who had thought Louis needed something to hug on bad days and had gifted him with a stuffed elephant the size of a one year old.

Steve had been right. Some days Louis did need something to hug, and this elephant was as good as anything.

Louis was having one of the rougher days. The harmonious state of the anxiety free life of a fearless Louis had ended the week after he met with Harry. It ended as abruptly as it had started. It was like pushing a button. Lights out. Almost as if the universe said “You’ve had your fun, crazy one, now go be sick” and slammed the door in his face.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

You can find other monthly roundup fic rec lists here.

Irrational - Chapter 1: The first star in the morning

​Hello everyone!! The @spacecampweek is finally here!! 😍

I cannot wait to see all the content for these two math dorks! Here is my contribution, a collection of oneshots including all the prompts, starting with the first, “Stars”! ✨

Enjoy!! 💙💙

Summary: Seamus was going to smack that idiot of his best friend right in the head for putting him into this situation. A private moment with his little crush, sure, what a marvelous plan of his! There was only one thing he didn’t take into account: this space nerd’s absolutely terrible flirting techniques.

Read it on the AO3

“… have I… have I told you about that time I went for the tryouts of the basketball team?” Seamus huffed with superiority, mostly for the sake of breathing out some air on this overly hot day. “I’m sure you can tell, I’m a pretty athletic person. The only reason I didn’t join was because I needed to keep up my grades or whatever, school is a total pain.” He smirked towards his right. “Maybe I can bring you to the gym sometimes, teach you how to make three-pointers? I’m sure you’d like that.” His overly confident tone fell into oblivion, as silent kept prevailing. He could feel the sweat going down his neck, behind the high collar of his black jacket.

Good lord, he was wearing a leather jacket. A freaking. Leather. Jacket. When he thought this day couldn’t get any more awkward.

“Four.” Seamus jumped over his seat.

“Huh?”

“Four times.” At last, the Cantaloupian had finally raised his eyes from his phone, showing him the most annoyed look he had ever seen on a human being. “You have mentioned this casket sport of yours at least four times tonight. Merely to answer your question.” Without much of a nod or an impressed look, his pretty nose went back to the lightened-up screen. Never mind, this day had all the chances to get plenty of more awkward.

He was losing him. Oh gosh, he was totally blowing it.

This made no sense! Sure he and Tight Jeans Hank had gone out only a few times before he got head over heels for Mary, but he was totally into the three-pointer thing! Sure, making up an excuse after that on why they never actually went to the gym had been a little draining, a little shameful, but at least there was that! He wasn’t completely out of his game.

… was he? Quick, another one! Huh, what did work out with that one guy from math class before he discovered he liked astronomy better?

“Huh, uhm… you know one time we got Mrs. Janeth so mad I was called into the principal’s office, but I got out without a single problem! You didn’t expect me to be this much of a bad boy, didn’t you? Yeah, this math student is good with numbers as a cover, my call is… being… mischievous…” Oh the cringe. It was going to be all worth it if he got at least a change from the guy sitting at the passenger’s seat. “Heh, people still wonder how I did it.” He grinned towards him, wiggling his eyebrows. “I could tell you, but it has to be… our secret.” Wow. He was channeling his interior Steve. The only difference was that that knucklehead at least was actually good at sports and actually good at getting into troubles.

Heck, even Pepperjack was more of a rebel!

Ah. Silence. Not even the Cantaloupian checking his phone was making any noise.

“Uh-huh.” His eyes were still all over the screen. He didn’t even bother to give him a look this time. “Would not be much of a secret in that case, now would it.”

The blonde was starting to think there was some kind of massive secret stored into that device. His eyes fell on it. Nope, this guy was literally tapping onto apps and exiting them without doing anything. Seamus almost laugh at the awfulness of all, wondering if it was too late running out in the woods and hope his allergy was going to kill him sooner or later. Then he stumbled with his memory to Spring Fling, the date he got – that had spent most of the night making out with someone else in the bathroom, but still.

Alright, confident. An intriguing, intimidating guy, one Krel might wanna know better.

“W-well, the best part of having secrets is sharing it with others! Saying, see this bruise I have?” He pointed at his temple, panicking for a second to remember where it was. His mind went right, and he really hope he wasn’t just pointing at his cheek like an idiot. “I got into this massive fight after class, it was insane! I won’t bore you with details, the usual argument with those bozos from our rival school, but if you think this dent is bad you should see the other guys! Pretty cool huh?”

Silence again.

A sigh. It held together such an annoyed power it left him baffled for a second. Krel was narrowing his eyes so much they looked closed.

“Forgive me, I am still trying to master the art of sarcasm, so I will have to warn you beforehand: I am about to use it.” He cleared his voice. “Wow, that is impressive and totally not an idiotic behavior, thank you very much for telling me.” He made a very forced, very exaggerated smile, before dropping it while still looking at him and then going back at losing time on the phone.

More death wishes filled him. Seamus grimaced, sneezed, and checked if the windows were actually closed while grunting under his breath. He breathed through his nose, hands gripping the wheel simply to have something to do.

It was official. This was the worst first non-date of history, and it was all his fault.

… or Steve’s. Yeah, Steve’s fault sounded better.

The ground of the woods was most likely all over the wheels of dad’s car which was going to drive him mad once again, the occasional sniff of pollen into the air had been making his eyes tear up even since they got here – the windows were actually closed, how, stupid allergy –, and he was stuck there ruining all the chances he never had in the first place. Yes, it made so much more sense blaming that good for nothing jock. The only reason Seamus was there in the first place was because his Vespa was out of service – he had said something something creeper walking on the crosswalk, he had stopped listening at some point –, and he had promised his girlfriend to go back to the kissing tree as soon as the situation was calmer or whatever. Seamus, being the good friend he was – especially since Logan was grounded –, had joined in to give them a lift and wait in the car for the two lovebirds to have their mushy moments, feeling extremely single in the process.

When he had seen Aja and Steve getting out of the Tarron’s residence, Seamus had waved.

When he had seen coming along as well none other than Krel Tarron, he had briefly considered pushing onto the accelerator and leaving everyone and everything into the dust. His body had not complied – the traitor. The happy couple had positioned themselves in the back seats, with Aja saying her little brother had decided not to be a recluse for tonight, while the Cantaloupian genius had comfortably seated himself next to him, giving a smile.

A smile.

How dare he? A smile!?

It was Steve’s fault, it definitely was. There was no way Krel would have come out of his own will, it was notorious he despised social gatherings with intellectually inferior people – mood – and hated nature even more – bigger mood. His sister had never been able to convince him before, he knew that because Steve had made it a habit narrating his escapades with Aja after every single date, and it had always started with “We left the buttsnack home and…”. The first time Seamus offered a ride home to the two of them, and magically the little crush he had only confided to Steve and Logan – and Mary but Mary was gossip queen so that didn’t count – had decided to tag along with them. Suspicious, very suspicious.

So, there they were. They had been stuck into his car for an hour at least now, waiting to check if Aja and Steve planned on staying here for longer or eventually head back. Seamus really hoped for the second. He had no idea how the tension had raised up to this point, nothing was working! Krel was barely acknowledging him, and he was starting to wonder why he decided to join in in the first place. Maybe he lost a bet with Steve or something, that would have explained it.

… it did explain it. He was here against his will, with him, having the worst time of his life. Seamus pressed his lips together, the silence weighting onto his stomach. Maybe he could ask something else? What more anecdotes did he have left? The full score at Alex, getting kicked out of Sam’s…

… why was he feeling worse?

His phone vibrated right there. He had no doubt who was disturbing and judging by the sudden vibration from Krel’s phone the other half of the couple was sending similar messages.

THEPalchuk: Hey man

THEPalchuk: Me and Aja are staying around more

THEPalchuk: Pick us up in one hour?

THEPalchuk: Thanks you’re the best!

Great, like he wasn’t currently questioning his flirting skills as much as his entire persona. What was left in his repertoire? Nothing was helping so far, maybe he needed another approach. What choice did he have though? His stories were usually somehow effective, being like Steve didn’t seem better, Mary just so happened to have guys always in line for her for whatever reason, what else could he…

“Johnson?” He held back another jump, because Krel was finally looking at him and it was progress and- “Would it be too much bother if I asked you to bring me back home?”

Oh. Oh.

In his head played the game over soundtrack from GoGo Sushi. Dang it. He wished he had more time to prepare for this day, but right now it felt like it was inevitable. He definitely did something, said something weird. Was there even a possibility in the first place? With someone like him? He had met Krel Tarron in between classes on a completely random day: the guy had completely destroyed Mrs. Janeth’s theory about triangles without breaking a sweat, had broken into the science lab apparently making a mess of the only functioning computer, and had gotten sent to the principal at the end of the day as a result, without getting into troubles afterwards. This guy had managed to be an absolute nonconformist and a shameless rebel… using math.

Yeah, he was on another level, there was no point. He was so going to scream at Steve on organizing this, it was meant to go bad. Worst of all, it didn’t feel like he could get over it anytime soon. Maybe because it was something that didn’t even start.

He started the car, holding back a sigh.

“No problem, right away.” Krel gave him a mild grateful smile, and Seamus felt the urge to cry.

The trip back was somehow even more awkward than the hour spent waiting. Not necessarily for the deadly silence still permeating the car, mostly for the amount of thoughts that were running wildly into his head. What now? He didn’t even know if the Cantaloupian had noticed his attempts at flirting, did he reject him or was he simply so bored he couldn’t take it anymore? Did it matter? The natural consequence was to stay as far away as possible and ignore his entire existence during high school, then get into the furthest college possible – Australia sounded good – and forget about finding love forever. Sure Krel was in most of his classes, and that guy was most likely going to be an Elite student with him and Claire, which meant they were going to be paired up for some stupid vanity event of the school; also he happened to be his best friend’s girlfriend’s brother, so no way it was the last he was ever going to see him, but he could deal with it.

He could… deal with it…

… he didn’t want to, though. He didn’t want to stop talking to him or stop wishing to talk to him. That guy was in sync with his friends, he was so smart it was unbelievable, he was fun to be around and even right now that the embarrassment was at its peak, Seamus couldn’t help noticing how pretty he was, somehow even in the act of ignoring his existence. In light of all of this, was this really the only way to go? It always was with the other guys…

There was a stop ahead. He respected it, lightly biting his lip. No, with all the others he never made contact after failure because he never cared for it, because they weren’t good people, and because he didn’t want to admit how much he had made up for the sake of one terrible date. He could reach a compromise, right? To be able to talk with him. Nothing in between, only the truth.

His very dorky, uncool truth.

He continued to drive, pondering over everything, only to notice a parking spot next to the crosswalk. He went, noticing the other’s weird look on him. He hurried to speak before he could.

“I’ve never been at the tryouts.” Krel fully turned to him, eyes widened.

“… what?” Seamus winced, rubbing his neck.

“The basketball thing? I never did it. I wanted to, I’m really not bad at it… but I didn’t finish homework for that day and my dad didn’t let me.” Ah, there it came, the absolute shame – gently provided by Mr. Johnson, trademark. “The grades stuff, that’s kinda the excuse I always use whenever someone ask me why I’m not in the team. It’s not exactly a lie, but it’s better than saying I have no freedom at all.” The Cantaloupian looked baffled. The blonde took it as a chance to keep going. “As for the principal call, you wanna actually know the secret? I was never in trouble in the first place, Mrs. Janeth wanted to personally congratulate for making it into the International Mathematical Olympiad. I didn’t want people to think I was lame.” Gosh it burned. It felt kinda nice but it was also awful. He sighed at the end, pointing at his temple. “And about this? The fight? As if, I tripped on my way to the planetarium… because I love space… and there people don’t make fun of me for it.” Oh. He didn’t mean that last one, he didn’t want it to hurt. It still did. Not even Steve or Logan knew why he had been keeping his passion lowkey only for close friends.

It was good… it was good, right? It was as genuine as he could get, because despite everything he still wanted to be able to look at him in the eyes without second guessing himself. He was a lame-o who could barely do anything without his dad’s approval, he was an absolute nerd who was good at math only because he had to, and he was a dork with an absolute passion for space that got him so much mockery in the past, before he started to mock back.

A leaf flew over the windshield of the car. He could feel his sweat turning into ice. Was it too late after all? He lost his chance with Krel even at being a friend? He could feel his eyes on him.

It was silence. Then, a long sigh of relief came from him.

“Oh thank Seklos, I was convinced you were being serious before.”

… huh?

“Huh?” He looked at him. Krel was smiling. He was… smiling? “Before?”

“You were turning into an even bigger oaf than Steve is, which is quite the accomplishment let me tell you.” He looked down, finally putting away his phone. Despite wishing for it the entire time, Seamus felt a wave of anxiety rushing over. “I knew for a fact that I was going to be in your company during the entire time, given that the Staja is a force too chaotic to be around without risking someone’s life.” Despite the tension the blonde snorted. The Cantaloupian seemed to like that. “I was even looking forward to it. I’ve always wondered about the sleeping guy from class.”

Holy. Freaking. Mole.

Seamus was agape, he was pretty sure his jaw was dislocated without repair. He wasn’t sure if this was actually happening, or the last sniff of pollen had put him into a state of hallucination – he didn’t mind trading an anaphylactic shock for this. He managed to breathe again after a while, trying to remember how to speak words.

“Wait- You- I… you were watching me too?” Ah, why the too, why did he have to admit of staring at him while trying to stay awake during class? Why was he such a-

Wow. Wow. Was that embarrassment?

Coming from the prideful Krel Tarron?

“I was… mildly checking.” Okay, this was definitely a coma-induced dream, no way he was that lucky – and could this guy stop looking this adorably shy, he needed his heart to come back to life. “You always raise your hand when Mrs. Janeth asks something, even before the question has been said. You seem to be constantly bored during the lesson, which I can completely understand. You seem to be one of the few people who can at least dream to measure up with me in regard of intellect.” Mm, maybe this was actually real, somehow that came out extremely irritating and incredibly endearing at the same time. “I was interested into knowing that person tonight… I have not seen him for now.” His eyes went down, a little bitterly.

He was going to care about that in a moment. First, his mind needed to compute. What was happening here? Were Steve and Logan into this? Were they following him with a black car from afar ready to scare the crap out of him as soon as he was going to believe that a guy this cool actually wanted to know the real him?

… jeez, he really needed to work onto his self-esteem.

Besides, it was Krel, the frankest person he had ever met. There was no way he was pretending, he was so sure it almost scared him.

Apparently, this was happening, this was a meeting of some sort. One that for now, he had been screwing up big time. He was trying so hard to be liked, trying the best that had worked before, but did it work really? He had never actually been in a relationship, every single guy had evaporated as soon as they had found something better to do than hang out with this weird space nerd. Instead, Krel was waiting. Krel was there to actually know about that part of him.

The real him.

“… are you really in a hurry to come back home?” He got a confused stare. But if he really had something close to a chance, he was fine with making it interesting. “In case not… could I arrange a meeting?” He forced a very nervous smile. “Between you and him?”

Krel looked at him in surprise.

Then he smiled. He smiled.

“Alright, one more chance. Make it count, Johnson.”

His father would have not liked how fast he was driving, even while making sure to respect all signs – he wasn’t that reckless, even if the idea of bothering his old man was tempting. It wasn’t a long trip anyway, he knew the way by heart at this point. Arcadia soon got less lived around them and started to raise up, into a road leading higher and higher while surrounded by those dang trees. His passenger was looking out of the window, clearly curious but without asking a single thing. Seamus didn’t mind it. Maybe he just wanted to appreciate the moment for now, having him intrigued by the situation, before something went wrong again.

No. No. No more screwing everything, not this time. He could make this work.

The planetarium was there almost too soon, as he had only started to notice the eyes of the Cantaloupian occasionally drifting from the glass to him, equally intense. He placed the car into a completely empty parking lot, got out and breathed in. At least here there was way less vegetation, he could almost take a full breath without coughing. He quickly went over Krel’s side, opening the door for him and offering his hand.

He got a weird look in return, a little smile and a tan hand into his. Seamus really didn’t want this to be the first and last time.

“Have you ever been at Arcadia’s planetarium?”

“I am familiar, not a frequent visitor though. I was here for the Science Fair, and once in the first days since I land- got here.” He stumbled a little and focused on looking around, frowning. “I did not find anything particularly interesting though. Only incorrect.”

“Oh, if you’re up for a conversation about mistakes made into the planetary system I’m all ears, but let’s get inside first. I’m bringing you somewhere special.” He walked towards the building, aiming for the back of it, hoping that the occasional cat had decided to do its stuff somewhere else, at least for tonight. Only halfway there it hit him that their hands were still united. He was actually holding his hand. The realization made his body tremble. “Huh, I…” He looked over his shoulder, trying to think how to ask someone if it was okay to hold hands while already doing it in order not to make him go away – why was his brain always this convoluted?

Krel blinked at him, with those pretty brown eyes of his. There was such a control into those irises, smarts and brilliance but not only. It was the kind of look that had seen much, stuff he probably couldn’t even understand. There was simply something that made him want to know more about him.

He clenched his hold. Seamus could feel his heart doing backflips.

“What is it?” This mischievous genius smirked. Absolutely aware. What a day was this day.

“… nothing.” Seamus grinned back, starting to accept that from now on everything was going to be absolutely mind-blowing. “I have been here so many times, and if I know something is that the employees here are… really bad at their job.” He eyed the backdoor. Then the doormat. A freaking doormat, what a cliché. “I swear, one could break in and they would barely notice.” Reluctantly he let go of his hand, slipped it underneath the obvious hiding spot and got the key.

“That is really careless. Although having access to this place could be useful, I did see some interesting components for potential devices last time I was here.”

“Dang, you’re a dangerous one… wait, you’re an inventor?”

“In a way, I’m mostly an engineer.” Total. Heart eyes. “How did you discover this entrance?”

“I used to be a kid who barely had friends, hate with passion staying at my own house and I wished for nothing more than to climb onto a rocket and leave the planet to explore the entire galaxy.” Huh. It used to sound way less edgy when he was younger. “At some point dad discovered that he could leave me here with an adult and he was able to go by his day doing business or whatever without a problem, so I spent a lot of time around here. It gets easier to discover tricks when you’re a kid.” He unlocked the door, bowing at the other. “After you, Mr. Rebel.”

Krel rolled his eyes with a smirk, getting in.

It was as silent and dark as he expected it to be. Also empty, as he expected the nightguard had ditched his job once again – he mentally thanked his careless of tonight. He had been there enough to memorize even the vague noise of the neon, it was echoing into his ears even now that the lights were off. He took out his phone, brightening the way for them to walk. He barely had to think about it, his feet already knew where to step and what poster to pass by, even in complete darkness. His attention was mostly on the guy following him anyway… he was bringing a guy to his special place. He was bringing a guy into his stupidly nerdy corner in this stupidly nerdy place he had adored ever since he was a kid. He was actually doing it.

Wow, Mary would have screamed murder at him for being this uncool. He decided he could deal with her fits later. For now, the projector room.

It pleased him the look of Krel’s face, as it was genuinely the first time he had been there. There were so many seats, the projector was in the middle of the room. It was dark, but the glass dome above them gave a bit of a view over the night sky. Nothing else, absolute simplicity. It was so peaceful here. It made him sigh of relief every single time.

Right now though, it was enough silence to hear his own heartbeats, as the Cantaloupian’s curious eyes went all over the room. He really wanted to be up to his expectations.

“Fascinating.” He looked up to the sky view. “What is the purpose of this place?”

“You’ll see.” Seamus took off that awful jacket of his with a certain satisfaction and put it onto one of the seats. He patted the one next to him. “Give me a moment.” Krel obeyed, taking place, while the blonde went over the controls. He had seen it plenty of times, he had done it as well. Only a few controllers, along with the audio guide. “Get ready for the show!” He hurried to take place where he had left the piece of clothes, deliberately sitting on it – he never wanted to see it again, at least until winder, screw being cool or whatever.

A very familiar excitement took over when the first stars appeared, manifesting the galaxy as a whole. So many points made of light, further than his mind could ever go, yet so reachable in a way his mind couldn’t explain. Soon enough planets came into view as well, Saturn first in all of its beauty, showcasing the rings into the black space.

He took a breath, feeling the familiarity of the place… and something more.

“Space, the ever-present dome of endless wonder,” The audio guide roared through the video, toning it down a little had been a good idea. He remembered when he was a kid, and he had been so conflicted between putting his hands over his ears or risking becoming deaf only for the sake of knowing more about the universe. “And just when you think the universe can’t get any more mysterious…” He knew that explanation by heart at this point.

So he noticed the change nearby. He thought he was imagining it, because it wasn’t the first time the thought had hit him. Then his fingers met others, his heart screamed, and he decided that no dream of his had ever been this vivid.

“I like this place.” Krel was talking softly, close to his ear. It sent a shiver onto his back.

“H-happy to hear.” He let their fingers intertwine, trying to focus less on how everything could end up so horribly and more on how enjoyable everything was. He could live this moment, without thinking of the bad possible outcome. “… you know, the planets got colored like that to appeal the kids I think. The first time I watched it I’ve already studied my kiddie book about planets, and I was so disappointed that they weren’t being accurate.” He snickered, letting his eyes wander on how the celestial corpses were moving in circles. “Thinking that there is so much out there…”

“Yeah… so much.” Krel breathed out. “Galaxies so distant, Earth might never get the chance to reach. Everything is so far from everything here.” His tone had gone down a little, pensive.

The audio guide continued, Seamus was unconsciously moving his mouth along the description that was already stuck into his head. Krel had gone completely silent, even though his warm was still into his. The blonde had no idea what was going on in that impressive brain of his, but whatever it was, he didn’t want to stay away from it.

With his free hand he pointed at the projection, the fragment with all the stars.

“You know, I used to think that space was a little scary. It’s so vast and we humans will probably never live long enough to see it all.” He smiled, remember the stories about the stars his mom used to read for him. “Then I discovered how far stars are, and that from every single planet of the Milky Way the constellations all look the same. It’s like they reach all those places.”

“… what about beyond that?” Krel swallowed, clenching his hold. “What if there are even further planets out there?”

“Well, stars are many lightyears away from here, and one lightyear is 5.8 trillion miles. That’s one heck of a trip.” He got a look that said ‘I knew that’ and laughed, making him smile a little too. “All I’m saying is that, at least for a part of the galaxy, the sky will look the same. And even if we discovered even further away planets where they don’t know about Andromeda or Sagittarius, there will be other stars over there, reaching out for other places, but stars nonetheless.” The projection changed again, coming back to Earth. “As far as one can go, there are still things that feels like home, you know? That’s why, even though it’s terrifying, I kind of can’t wait to know if there’s more out there.” His throat felt lighter. Oh. He had rarely ever been able to say, was this ok-

Oh. Oh. He was wrong, Krel had never smiled before, not this evening, not even a single time. Because this was his real smile, a radiant curve with those lucid eyes, reflecting the light of the projector. He turned to him, and Seamus almost gasped out of the view alone.

Beautiful. Krel Tarron was really beautiful.

“That is a comforting thought.” His voice wasn’t far anymore, it got back some vigor. “So, this is the real you?” Seamus swallowed. Right, it all came down to that.

“I guess so… yeah, pretty much.”

“Good. I like this Seamus much better than the other one.” Okay, calm down. He was simply making a comparison with how jerky he was before. No need to get all riled up by his wording. “Although I am not completely convinced about the situation, perhaps this matter needs to be deepen on another occasion. Perhaps in another place, at another time… with the two of us.” Okay, no calming down, forget all the rationality he was so going to freak out.

It took him a moment. Then, mustering all of his courage at facing the last doubt that he was going to get slapped or laughed at as soon as he turned, he looked at the guy sitting next to him. No laugh. No slap. Not at all.

“Does… does that mean… another date? A-a proper one?” The Cantaloupian’s shrug said maybe, his extremely wide grin said yes. Seamus was too happy to care about the mocking intention. “Huh, uh, uhm.” Answer stupid, answer! “Yes. That is… sure, why not, it sounds good.” He so needed to work on his communication skills, especially since he was about to meet him so much more from now on – holy everything he just got a date out of Krel Tarron didn’t he. “I can pick you up one of these days, we can go to Sam’s or something…” Wow, a diner, such a romantic place for a date. “O-or something else, maybe I should ask Steve about idea- Oh, dang it!”

Krel’s expression fell. Oh, apparently he wasn’t the only one questioning himself.

“What is it? Is it no good?”

“Oh, no way, it’s nothing! I’m happy!” He straightened his back, glad that they were still holding hands despite everything. “It’s just that… urgh, I hate when Steve’s right about something, he gets super unbearable. Now the fact that he arranged the whole thing and it actually worked will be his biggest accomplishment, not looking forward to that.” He could already see the t-shirts ‘I got this buttsnack a date’ with his face on it. With that being said, it seemed almost an overly fair trade, weeks of mockery coming from that guy for a single date with the Cantaloupian.

Who was staring at him with an arched brow, slowly straightening his back with a wince – yeah, his own back wasn’t doing much better, these chairs were pretty uncomfortable.

“What do you mean he arranged this?” How subtle Steve was?… could Steve actually be subtle?

“Well, you know, it’s pretty evident.” Seamus scratched his cheek with his free hand, laughing a little. “He was the one knowing about my… uhm, interest in you.” Nice understatement. Those brown eyes widened. “The day I offer him a lift with my car you come along, there’s not much else to deduce here.” It was weird that someone this observant hadn’t noticed the coincidence.

Krel was smiling, again, and his cheeks were lightly red. It almost stopped his heart. Then he frowned, like another thought had taken over his more pleasant one.

“You think Steve pushed me to come today?” Seamus blinked. That was a weirdly worded question. He simply nodded. “What makes you think that?”

“Please, that guy would do anything to make me in the situation to make an absolute fool of myself! Granted, I didn’t need much of his help at this turn.” Krel was still blinking, looking baffled. “Besides, who else would’ve cared for this? I don’t think your sister knew about me, Logan is out of the picture tonight, and I’d be terrified if Mary actually managed to be involved without… what? What is it?” The guy was staring so intently, it was hard keeping track with that kind of look.

The hold clenched again. Krel was focused on nothing but him.

“I am simply a little taken back. I thought the fact that I came along only when you were there would have given away my intentions.” His inten- Oh. Oh. That syllabus must had shown onto his face because Krel laughed. He laughed and it was beautiful, even though his brain was having a grand hard time at functioning. “Steve simply said you were there to give him a ride, it was a good occasion. A plan of mine at least.” Still not functioning. “Speaking of, perhaps we should let them know we might be a little late at picking them up. I am in no hurry to leave anymore.” Still hardly understanding. “You are perhaps a little less brilliant than you think you are, Seamus Johnson.” Still non computing. Krel stared at him, right into his eyes. “But you are a nicer company than you might believe to be.” He got closer. Not functioning, not computing not-

Cheek, kiss.

Kiss cheek, cheeky kiss, kiss on the cheek with kiss-

Krel was kissing his cheek.

It was warm and soft, and it made his brain absolute short-circuit. Their noses almost brushed when he pulled away, and Krel’s hair moved a little, lightly smelling like metal. He was an inventor, he said. What else? What else was this person was? He really wanted to know, he really wanted to ask. All he could muster right now though was some sort of whimper, that made the Cantaloupian giggle some more, before getting back on his seat while still holding his hand.

The audio guide’s voice was still as powerful as ever, and at the meteor section something into his head woke up. Seamus realized that, once again, he wasn’t hallucinating. He couldn’t reach his warm cheek with his free hand without looking incredibly awkward but it was fine. It was okay, absolutely okay, and he couldn’t stop grinning because of it.

Turned out, it wasn’t Steve’s fault. It was Krel’s fault.

He was more than happy to go along with it.

Could you write with prompts "Take another step, and I can’t be held responsible for my actions." +“I’d hold onto something if I were you.” with mr moon what a tease taeil, please? Thank you ♡♡♡♡

Taeil +  #59"Take another step, and I can’t be held responsible for my actions."  & #69“I’d hold onto something if I were you.”

characters: Taeil x female reader ft. best friend!Donghyuck

word count: +3k (oops)

genre: smut, little fluff towards the end

soundtrack: do me - kim petras

a/n: AAAA finally a Taeil request :’) i was so happy when i found this in my inbox, thank you anon, I hope it’s not too long but oh well hehe

summary: cutting straight to the chase is no fun sometimes.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Visiting your friend Donghyuck at his place was a weekly appointment for you. After a session of you absolutely destroying him in Overwatch, you would order pizza and gossip peacefully in the kitchen. It was all fun and games up until his roommate Taeil would come home from work. You had never gotten to talk to him properly ever since he had moved in, but taking the first step to establish a neutral 'hey, I'm your roommate's friend' type of relationship was taking way more effort than you expected. Mainly because every time you would greet him, Taeil would just nod his head and walk straight to his room. "I swear, he's hilarious when it's just me and him." Donghyuckwould say to justify his friend's awkward behaviour.

Everything changed one night during which you were woken up by the sound of your ringtone. You picked up the phone to a completely wasted Donghyuck, begging you to come and pick him up. When you arrived at the club, visibly irritated, you were surprised to see Taeil as well, who was clinging onto Donghyuck's shoulder in the attempt of standing up straight. He was wearing a simple black shirt, unbuttoned just enough for you to admire the modest necklace hanging on his chest. His face was adorned with a cheeky smile you had never seen before; his body was swaying left and right, unable to stay still."Hey, y/n." he winked at you before finally freeing Donghyuck and moving towards you with irregular steps. Instinctively, you spread out your arms foreword, catching him before he could fall, surprising even yourself by your swift reaction. "Hey, look at those lovebirds bonding! How cute!" Donghyuck exclaimed for everyone who could hear him, pointing his finger at you and Taeil, still entangled rather awkwardly. You felt your cheeks getting hotter as Taeil was mumbling sentences that made no sense in your ear, but you blamed it on the anger." Shut up and get in the car, you idiot." You hissed in response, glaring at Donghyuck before grabbing him by the hem of his sleeve, all the while trying to ignore the other man who still had his arms around you even when you finally reached the parking lot.

In the car ride, Donghyuck fell sound asleep in the span of two minutes, whilst Taeil, who was sitting beside you, kept on uttering cheesy pick-up lines that would get lost in the back of his throat before he could finish them. Your initial intention was to keep a frown and ignore him, to show him your annoyance with the entire situation. But you had to admit, your plans took a detour when you noticed for the first time just how attractive Taeil really was. With his shirt swinging back and forth when he rolled down the window all the way, revealing a little more than you had already seen, his skin glistening under the artificial lights as he kept on playing with his hair; he looked rather otherworldly. And kind of distracting, you reminded yourself as you gripped the wheel firmly, concentrating on the road. But Taeil was not going to let you go that easily. Smoothly, he brought his hand to rest on your thigh to gain back your attention. You gulped in your throat but your eyes remained strictly where they were. Your mind couldn't figure out what to say at the feeling of Taeil's warm palm over your cold skin. "Is this bothering you, y/n?" Taeil muttered, giving your bare thigh a faint squeeze. You swallowed over nothing again, avoiding his gaze at all costs. "You're very straightforward when you're drunk, uh?" You questioned, carefully moving Taeil's hand away and positioning it back on his lap; yet once again he was one step ahead of you. When you were about to put your hand back on the wheel, Taeil forced it down on his leg, maybe a little too close to his crotch, squeezing your fingers fiercely. "Is being straightforward a bad thing?" At this point, you were starting to question if you were the intoxicated one, since your head was starting to spin due to this sudden new side of your friend's roommate you were witnessing. "Not- not necessarily, no." You responded nervously, doing whatever you could to free yourself from Taeil's grip, unsuccessfully. The car ride proceeded in silence, with your hand still glued to Taeil's thigh, and Donghyuck's snores having the better of the music that was playing.

After that night, every time Taeil would walk in on you and Donghyuck, the tension was palpable and rather suffocating. At least he started talking more, cracking a few jokes here and there, but you couldn't shake off the vision of him, basically pressing your hand down on his lap, piercing through with his daring eyes. Or, to be more precise, he wouldn't let you shake it off. With every chance he would get, Taeil would sneakily try to start some sort of physical contact, whether that'd be nudging your shoulder with his, his hand rubbing the small of your back whenever he needed to pass through, or when luck turned his way and Donghyuck would leave the room, grabbing your hips and giving you a back hug that was anything but done in good friendship. You knew the right thing would've been to call him out as soon as the whole thing started. But you let it slide, thinking Taeil would've stopped. That's what you said yourself the first time, and the second time too. By the fifth time you realised you were not bothered at all by how he was acting. In fact, it was nice knowing that visiting Donghyuck also meant seeing Taeil and getting some well- deserved attention.

By the time you lost count, you and Taeil both knew that the tension that was building up would've exploded the minute you two would've found yourselves alone. You deluded yourself thinking that wouldn't have happened in a million years. Taeil was never home most of the time, and when he was Donghyuck was there too, nothing to worry about. But when you least expected it, the universe smacked you right in the face when something Donghyuck had ordered online was delivered to your address accidentally. Since you didn't live far away, you thought it sensible to bring the package to its rightful owner. But when you knocked the door, his rather silent yet determined roommate opened up, just as astonished as you. You stumbled on your words while explaining the reason of your visit, to which Taeil just hummed in response, clearing his throat before revealing that Donghyuck was stuck at work. "Oh, really?" "Yeah, he won't be home for hours." You nodded, with the box still in your hands and your mouth semi-open, in hope to come out with a descent answer. "Well, don't just stand there." Exclaimed Taeil, taking the package gently out your hands and placing it in front of the shoe rack. "I can make you some coffee." You were ready to refuse his proposal, eager to leave the apartment immediately. "C'mon, I was just making it, there's enough for both of us." Taeil turned around, expecting you to follow him into the kitchen. And that's what you did. You sat down the chair, observing Taeil's arms thoroughly while they moved with delicate motions as he was pouring the hot drink into the coloured cups. It was just a small habit you had picked up; when Taeil wasn't looking your eyes would analyse his every mannerism, to the point where you could guess in which way his hair would've fallen if he turned around. The gentle tap of the cups being placed on the table brought you back on Earth. "Thank you Taeil, you didn't have to." You said, taking a sip of coffee. He shook his head, letting out a soft chuckle. "But I wanted to." You spilled some of your drink at his statement, immediately grabbing a napkin to dry the wooden table. "Am I that bad at flirting, y/n?" Taeil asked almost to himself; you looked at him completely dumbstruck, inevitably caught off guard by Taeil's change of tone. But that's what you liked the most about him: his ability of going from looking a little too innocent to spitting out exactly what he was thinking without any filters. "N-no, not bad...just, maybe a bit confusing?" You replied, standing up quickly to throw away the stained napkin. "Confusing? In what way?" Taeil was genuinely curious, yet you couldn't help but fake a small laugh, turning in his direction. "Uhm, let me think... maybe when at first you barely talk to me, then you get drunk and start putting my hand on your crotch while I'm driving" you started to explain and you could see his expression getting more disoriented in the corner of your eye as you proceeded with your list. "...or when as soon as Donghyuck turns around you waste no time before getting your hands on me. Yeah, you have to admit, it's very confusing. " Silence fell upon the kitchen for a moment before Taeil spoke again. He shifted in his seat just enough to face you directly. Somehow, his eyes emanated a strange kind of light, just like that night in the car. "You don't seem to dislike it though." Touché. No words left your lips, you let your eyes speak for you, gazing at Taeil from head to toe, feeling like a firework, ready to shoot colourful sparks at any moment if he kept on gawking at you like a hunter setting a trap for his prey. Taeil stood up as well, slowly making his way to the side of the room where you were standing. "Don't." You warned him before he could get any closer. "Why?" Taeil tilted his head to the side, never losing the eye contact. Even if the windows were wide open, it was getting harder to breath. There was still a significant amount of distance between you and Taeil, and yet you could feel his touch on you, almost like phantom pain. And your body was eager to feel more of that pain. "Take another step, and I can’t be held responsible for my actions." You stated, leaning back on the counter, so you could get a better look at him. Taeil raised his eyebrow at you in response before mockingly taking one single step forward. "Oops." He whispered, innocently putting his hand on his lips, which made your mind go blank. "Fuck it." You uttered under your breath before taking what almost looked like a run-up and throwing your arms around Taeil's neck, joining your lips roughly. The kiss was beyond sloppy; both of your mouths fighting to decide who was in control, your hands roaming each other in an animalistic manner. With your bodies still entangled, you knocked over a few plastic salad bowls while you attempted to exit the kitchen. It would've looked like a fight if it wasn't for Taeil sucking on your lower lip harshly and you humming resoundingly at the mix of pain and pleasure. A couple of missteps later, and a few head bumps against the shelves placed in corridor, you finally reached Taeil's door, which was opened wide by a hard push of his foot, since his hands were busy kneading your bottom and pushing you against him. You moaned gladly, feeling his bulge against your needy core, but it wasn't enough. Before you knew it, you both fell on the bed with your tongues still at a useless war, Taeil pressing his entire weight on you, which unavoidably left you breathless only for a few seconds when your body hit the mattress. When he realised that you were holding your breath, Taeil immediately stood up with his palms on either side of your head. "I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?" There it was again, the man who just seconds ago had his tongue in your mouth, asking with goggled eyed if you were okay. A small chuckle escaped your lips as you wrapped your legs around Taeil's waist, using your strength to push him back against you, making him whimper slightly. A slow strained moan echoed through the otherwise silent bedroom when you felt Taeil's erection over your clothed sex again. When your eyes opened up, you looked at him deeply, getting closer up until his nose was touching yours. "It takes a lot more to hurt me." You whispered seductively before reaching up to bite his bottom lip, leaving a small mark to match with the one he had made on yours. Taeil hummed softly, getting lost in the pleasure you were providing him. "I'd hold on to something if I were you then." Taeil remarked, letting his hand play with the hem of your shirt. "I thought I already was." You responded jokingly, tightening your legs around him once again, almost making him lose balance. He responded with a grunt, attacking your neck sinfully, kissing, biting, and licking it, making your mind go completely blank. All you could was to reach for his back, holding Taeil as tight as you could while grinding over his crotch, desperately chasing some sort of satisfaction. "How bad do you want it?" Asked Taeil, moving his hips further to help you but your broken moans weren't enough for an answer. He freed himself from your needy grip, spreading your legs apart and making you gasp loudly. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that, you were saying?" Taeil felt a desperate need to hear you loud and clear, to shout how badly you needed him to just put one single finger in. "Please, please, please!" You screamed, your voice breaking over the last plead. Taeil grabbed your jaw harshly, making you look into his lust-filled eyes, leaving you feeling exposed even if you were still fully dressed. " 'Please' what? Elaborate, baby girl." You whimpered at the growing discomfort inside your panties. "Please, give it to me. I need it so bad, so bad." You moaned, a few tears forming in the corner of your eyes. Taeil kissed you once more in approval, but to your surprise, he quickly stood up on his knees, removing your jeans but leaving your panties untouched. "I want to see you do it." You sat up, slowly removing the now ruined garment. You sighed in relief, spreading your legs even further apart, purposely exaggerating your reaction, since you were starting to understand what pushed Taeil over the edge. And you were right. You saw it in how he smiled blissfully at the sight of your soaking pussy, all because of him. He lied on the bed next to you, leaving you confused. "Sit on my face." Your jaw drooped unconsciously. No guy you had ever slept with had ever asked you such a thing. Actually, no one you had ever been with was as vocal as Taeil in general. "You don't want to, y/n?" The more concerned side of Taeil came out yet again seeing you hesitate. You crawled all the way up to his face, pushing aside your worries. "Didn't you hear me scream, like, two minutes ago?" You joked, messing up his hair. "Oh, yeah. And I think I'd like to hear more." He announced as he immediately started diving into your core. Your hips moved to match with the swiftness of his tongue, but Taeil prevented them from any further movement, firmly grounding you against his hot mouth. Unable to move, you looked down, letting yourself moan enthusiastically at the sight of Taeil delivering delicious licks over your slit, alternating them with sweet kisses. When he finally found your most sensitive stop, one of your hands went directly to grab the headboard for support while the other went through Taeil's hair, quickly losing control over your body’s reaction. His eyes shimmered in seeing you this way, in hearing your moans and screams echoing in the empty apartment. "So good, so good. Oh God, you're so good." You felt him hum happily at the shower of compliments, the vibrations leaving your legs shaky. Suddenly, you felt a harsh smack against your ass, to which you responded with the loudest moan so far. "We haven't even gotten to the best part yet, baby girl." Taeil affirmed with his mouth still facing your core, kissing it one last time before sliding under you to settle himself behind you, now completely on all fours. You heard him remove his trousers while you caught your breath, unsure if you couldn't go further or if all you wanted was more and more. You felt Taeil's fingers reaching for your shirt, removing it carefully, and your bra was gone soon after. Taeil grabbed both of your breasts passionately while kissing the nape of your neck. Then he leaned back, his palms trailing lines over your back and finally reaching for your bottom, savouring how it felt in his hands. "Do you have a thing for my ass or something?" You teased him, looking over your shoulder to meet his burning gaze. Yet again, Taeil delivered another smack, this time even harder than before. You arched your back at the bittersweet sensation. "How did you know?" Taeil replied, reaching for a condom in the nearby drawer. Once he put it on, he started brushing the tip against your entrance, you groaned, wanting Taeil to fill you up mercilessly. "Stop playing and fuck me." You hurried him, now aware that what he needed the most were your words. Just like that, Taeil penetrated you all the way, knocking the air out of your lungs. “Fuck- so tight.” You hid your face in pillow as he moved inside you, your wet walls welcoming him merrily. You could feel your juices dripping on the sheets but neither of you cared. "How are you so pretty front to back?" Taeil whispered in your ear before being cut by his own moan. You forced yourself to raise your upper body from the mattress, moving your head towards Taeil, making him see just how good he was making you feel. Your mouth was wide open while your eyes quickly went from Taeil to what you could see of his member pumping in and out of you, the sight making you clench around him. Taeil groaned resoundingly, picking up his pace, the sound of flesh against flesh filling your ears. "You like that, uh? You like to see your pretty little pussy all filled up?" You nodded your head up and down so quickly you thought you we about to strain your neck. "Well then, take a better look yourself." Taeil abruptly removed himself from you and before you could complain at the emptiness in your core, he wasted no time in turning you upside down and pushing himself inside you in the span of a few seconds. You shouted feeling overwhelmed by the pleasure.  You immediately took advantage of the new position to look at Taeil's cock disappearing exquisitely between your legs. You threw your head back against the pillow, moaning absolute nonsense, unable to form one single sentence. The vision of you, completely losing your mind over Taeil's cock only gave him motivation to go even harder, if it was even possible. "S-Shit, Taeil I'm close-" as if he read your mind, he placed one of your ankles over his shoulder, the new angle making you both see stars. You screamed his name, as your arms went in all different directions over the mattress, your so awaited orgasm crashing over you. He continued, chasing his own high, gladly helped by your throbbing walls as he shot his release inside the condom. Your vision was still blurry even after he had gotten up to reach for the bin and lied back on the bed with you, wrapping his arms around your waist. Taeil brushed his nose against your cheek to which you responded with a chuckle. "Oh, so you're alive?" Taeil joked, you mocked his tone, shifting to his side to have him face to face. "Not entirely. Give me a couple of hours and I'll be as good as new." Taeil gently rubbed the back of your head, smiling at you, taking in the vision of you leaning on your elbow, entirely naked on his bed. He kissed your shoulder gently, feeling the drowsiness taking over him. "Can you stay for a while?" he asked innocently, rubbing small circles over your skin as his eyes started closing. "I can stay for as long as you want me to." You reassured him, falling deeper into his embrace.

↬prompts for requests

From the writer ask:

5. How many words do you write per day?

21. Do you ever want to write a novel/original work?

37. Any writing rituals?

Ooooh good ones!!

5. Anywhere between 0 and 2,000 depending on the day 🥴 And unfortunately not always on the same thing. I can be either super focused on an idea or terribly fickle if a new idea comes up that I feel in need to put into writing, and then follows the outline, and then random sentences or funny predicaments I conjure up that will feel irresistible to devote more time to … that is, until a new idea emerges a day or so later. (A lot of my hcs are born this way actually lol) Then, of course, there are the string of days where you’re burned out and feel like you just need to get away from writing. And on those days a random idea will usually cross my mind, and, if I like it, I’ll jot it down, but nothing further, otherwise my hobby to de-stress outside of work can do exactly the opposite.

21. All the time! Er, well maybe a lot of the time … when I’m not mapping out fanfic. I promise I’m trying to work on a better system. I have a goal to start an original project under another pseudonym next year, and another to finish A Stupid Bet for my few fellow lovebirds out there waiting for the end because I want to see what happens too!! (Anyone can DM for more details about my plans for my orig work 🤗) But I’m very excited!!!

37. Yes!!! Most of the time it involves music. I’ll sometimes play a “starter track” that I think fits the mood of a scene I’m preparing to write to get me into a good headspace. And once I commence, I’ll sometimes have it quiet or have a number of songs on loop or lined up back to back (the latter happens most often). With A Stupid Bet, I’ve had Roslyn by Bon Iver and St. Vincent on for more of those moments where the slow build is happening between them. Or Mystery of Love by Sufjan Stevens. Ludovico Einaudi’s Primavera for that passionate kind of fight scene between reader and Obito for the last chapter (the end of that track was on replay to keep me in the mindset). Bedroom Dreams from The Tourist soundtrack when she shows him how to touch her in Chapter 10 😩 I do this even on my One Night Stands series and hcs. For Yamato’s I was listening to the old school R&B music reader and he were dancing to at the pajama party.

Thank you for the fun ask!! I enjoyed this!

And hope you and everyone is having a good time with plenty (or at least some) time off from work!

28 dates with Unit Bravo

Day 3: DATE

Pairing: Nate x f!Detective (Berenice Bailey)

Warnings: None, this is just fluff. Berenice is freaking out because she has her first date with Nate, but Farah is there for her.

Words: ~1.2k

☾ 一一一一一一一一一 ☽

"That's it, Berry. That's the one."

Berenice rolled her eyes at Farah, eying the vampire comfortably spread on her bed while she looked at herself in the mirror.

"You've said that about the last five dresses!"

Farah huffed. "Because they all were perfect! Seriously, is this a human thing? You have to try on a hundred dresses before a date?"

The detective groaned, sitting down on the bed beside her friend, fingers getting lost in her black hair. "I know I'm being ridiculous. But it's our first date date."

"What about the carnival one?"

"That caught me off guard!" Berry turned her gaze towards the golden one of the vampire, and she could see her anxiety. "I didn't dress up or thought about what we were going to do, I was just there and suddenly we were on a date!" Farah put a comforting hand on her back. "I just want to look different than I normally do, I want tonight to be special for Nate."

Farah snickered and gained an outraged glance from the other woman. "Sorry, but Nate is over the moon since you two started dating. You could show up naked and I'm sure he'd be delighted. Though I guess you wouldn't make it to the restaurant then."

Berenice let out a laugh before swatting at her arm playfully. "You're as bad as Morgan."

The tension on her body seemed to ease as they laughed together.

"Seriously though…" Farah started, and was about to remind Berenice of the fact that Nate had seen her with her usual bright sundresses, as well as in her PJs, in training clothes, with no makeup, even bloodied and bruised, and he had fallen for her because she was more than the way she looked or the clothes she wore. But knowing Berenice, that would probably make her tear up and it had taken forever for her to do her eyeliner, so she just said: "The dark blue one."

The brunette perked up. "The strapless one? Isn't that one a little too… tight?"

"You gotta strut your stuff, babe." Farah winked at her. "Got any heels? I've always seen you in flats, and that way you won't look like a gnome beside Nate."

"I got the peep toe pumps I bought for my last blind date." She started taking off the dress and putting on the one Farah had said. "Which I canceled, so I spent a day walking on them through the apartment for nothing - wait, did you say I look like a gnome?!"

The vampire cocked a brow. "How long ago was that date?"

"Uh… two years, I think?"

"Damn, Berry."

"What? I was tired of trying to find someone, I thought if the right person was going to appear, they would find me." She finished zipping up her dress and turned to see a wistful smile on Farah's face. "What is it?"

"You and Nate are perfect for each other."

The smile spreading on Berenice's face quickly turned into a panicked expression at the sound of a knocking on the door. "He's here! Eeek!" She jumped on the spot, trying to find the shoes on her wardrobe but only managing to make a box of sandals fall on her forehead. "Not the time!" She said through gritted teeth.

"Whoa. Please, chill. I'll get the door."

Berenice threw her a grateful smile as Farah walked out of the bedroom, shaking her head with amusement. She opened the door to find a smiling Nate. Farah looked at him up and down, he was wearing a light grey shirt with a dark blue tie, the same color of his fitting jeans.

"Damn, Natey, don't you look nice for our dear detective." She teased, but the smile on her face was genuine. "Nervous?"

Nate smoothed some inexistent wrinkles from his shirt, but his grin was the brightest she had ever seen. "More like excited. Incredibly so."

Berenice stepped into the living room walking steadier on her high heels than Farah had thought she would, but when she looked down her legs she realized she was wearing a pair of black flat booties.

She needed to feel comfortable - and also be able to keep in pace with Nate's strides - if they were going to take a walk after dinner. She needed to feel she was prepared for everything, and she could not feel in control wearing 5 inches heels.

But the knots inside her stomach melted into butterflies when she met those chocolate eyes. They were slightly widened, his lips parted as he exhaled a deep breath, and she was suddenly glad she had listened to Farah's advice about the dress.

"Berenice." He practically sighed, stepping inside the apartment, and she met him halfway, looking up at him. "I'm afraid you've rendered me speechless." He chuckled, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. She was staring at him with fascination, taking in how different he looked without his usual layers of warm colors, and how beautifully the silvery grey of his shirt complimented his tawny skin.

Without knowing how, their hands had found each other, and they both looked down at their intertwined fingers, Nate giving her a soft squeeze.

"Well, I'll leave you two lovebirds to it." Farah grinned widely, stepping outside the door. "Remember you have a reservation, you will miss it if you stay there looking at each other all night."

Nate almost rolled his eyes at the interruption of their tender moment, but Berenice looked back to Farah.

"Thank you for everything. See you soon?"

The vampire winked at her. "Maybe tomorrow morning if you don't sleep in your apartment tonight." And with that, she was gone, only the sound of her giggling behind her.

Berenice snorted a laugh and looked up to Nate's flushed face, and it was her turn to squeeze his hand. "You look so handsome." She said softly, and his demeanor relaxed. He tugged her hand and brought her closer, leaning down to her until he could place a kiss on her cheek. The thunderous drumming of her heart the best soundtrack he could wish for.

"You look absolutely lovely tonight, Berry." He kissed her forehead next, his eyes falling to a red spot. "Did you hit your head?" He carefully caressed the area as he heard her snort a laugh before covering her mouth with her hand.

"My wardrobe attacked me." She vaguely explained, and he wanted to ask more, but she was on her tiptoes and her hand was tugging him down by his tie.

He obliged happily, lips finding each other softly, a welcome kiss to mark the start of their first night going out together as a couple. He had everything planned, but all his thoughts were lost at the soft insistence of her tongue against his lips, searching his own, and soon the kiss was deeper and he groaned into her mouth before straightening up, pecking her lips one last time.

"We should go if we want to make it on time." But the way his half hooded eyes stared at her parted lips let her know how reluctant he was to stop kissing her. She nodded, half entranced by those deep eyes and his half smile.

When he offered his hand, she took it without a second thought, fingers intertwining as if they had been doing this for ages.

"Shall we?"

"Let's go."

And so started the first date of the countless they would share.

M I N G I ↛ boyfriend!au

THE “MORNING” COUPLE

warnings: H E A V Y F L U F F ;)

a/n: lmao this was actually supposed to be San. how funny is that... ha

• the sun hits you warmer than ever this morning.

• you wake up remembering you closed the curtains first thing last night.

• not realizing how your boyfriend snuck in yet again,

• spooning you with his lips trailing the back of your neck.

• “Mingi...”

• you groggily turn to face him,

• fragile heart loving the sight of your handsome boyfriend this early in the morning.

• “Good morning.”

• you giggle as he brings his lips up your jaw and finally onto your lips.

• “I need to wake up to you more often.” he presses his forehead against yours, lips playfully nibbing at you. “You looking like a dream even if I’m not asleep.”

• “Mingi..” you playfully warn with a soft chuckle. “What are you doing here?”

• he lets out a guilty chuckle before wrapping his long legs around yours. “Isn’t that what my key is for? Unannounced visits by your lovely boyfriend?”

• you attempt to free yourself but your lovely boyfriend isn’t too keen.

• only wants to spend time with you.

• in attempt to make up for depriving you time with him.

• “Baby, come on. Stay with me for a little longer.”

• you roll your eyes at your heart eyed boyfriend,

• of course loving him more than work.

• him more important to you than anything in existence—

• but right now,

• you kind of just want to make breakfast and make sure you’ll have an apartment to get back to next month.

• “Mingi, I need to start cooking. And getting ready for work. And so should you. You being here completely out of the ordinary and keeping us both from doing that, don’t you agree?”

• well you aren’t wrong, he can agree with that.

• you don’t get lots of visits from your enslaved boyfriend—

• who works to death making other women happy in the world.

• what you did to deserve his attention away from the limelight beyond you.

• “I get two days off.” he huffs in disapproval sitting up. “Two days to spend with my girlfriend that I miss to death and she can’t even have the decency of spending those days with me. I can’t believe this.”

• you walk over and pull him by the collar playfully landing a kiss on his pouting lips.

• “As much as that statement may be true, spending time with you doesn’t pay my bills sweetheart.”

• he growls against your lips as you smile.

• his temper ticking like a time clock,

• “One day I’m gonna have to buy a leash to keep you grounded. Baby, the things you do to me. And this early in the morning. Beyond me.”

• you kiss him one last time before moving away to get ready and shower.

• “Consider yourself lucky.”

• “Oh I am.”

• you can feel his eyes raking you down from behind your back,

• you whipping around to glare with a hand on your cocked hip, “You know what I said about you working? I was being serious. You shouldn’t be spending time with me. In fact, you should be with the boys. Resting.”

• he hears your concern.

• doesn’t care for it, yes.

• but he hears you loud and clear.

• “There are days that I should. For the sake of my health yes. But sometimes my health just needs my irresistible girlfriend. Who could love me the way I want. And I love her the way she does. Now is that so much of a crime?”

• you sigh although he mocks you,

• knowing he’s more than right.

• thinking again,

• what did you do to deserve a man like Song Mingi?

• “I suppose it’s not.”

• he untangles himself from the sheets,

• stalking over to you with his arms loosely wrapping around your waist.

• you look up at the tall drink of water that you call your boyfriend with mirroring heart eyes,

• completely ready to get on your knees for him.

• the things he does to you this early in the morning beyond you too.

• “Maybe I should consider.. calling out. One day can’t hurt my paycheck that much anyway.”

• his gummy smile appears before he leans down to kiss you,

• moaning like a dog in heat,

• savoring every bit of you as long as it takes.

• till it lasts (hopefully forever).

• “What did I do to deserve you?” he whispers having to bend his knees to your height so his hands buckle onto your pant’s hem.

• “Love me back? I think that might be it.”

• you’ve known Mingi for a long time.

• before you fell in love with him.

• longer than when he fell in love with you.

• hell—

• even before he became this international icon.

• but lucky for you, you’ve got Song Mingi wrapped around your finger.

• the one thing no fan of his may never amount to.

• —Song Mingi a hard man to persuade, believe me.

• the guy still has to learn a thing or two about commitment and determination,

• though the fact he’s been with you for so long,

• it kind of speaks for itself how specifically committed the guy is.

• “I love my fans and I love my members. But.. the amount of love I have for you? God, baby, words cannot even come close to conveying everything.”

• you giggle as he sways you under the warmth of the sun peeking through the curtains.

• your typical morning’s missing this.

• him.

• “You read my mind way too often.” you tip toe to lay a kiss onto his jaw before turning around to close your closet. “How about we stay in and watch some movies? Like old times.”

• he engulfs you from behind,

• head buried into the crook of your neck,

• swaying you towards the bed remembering every minute he had gotten to spend with you before,

• only sometimes ever regretting his new life because of not being able to be with you the way he used to.

• sometimes blaming himself for you loving him so much.

• “You do too much for me, baby. Let me do something for you this time.”

• you turn around in his arms and smile.

• “And what would that be?”

• the tall boy hums,

• eyes lust out in black,

• as he craves for more than just your attention at this point.

• not only being deprived of love, you know?

• he’s got other needs.

• like,

• “Let me show you what kind of things only I can do for you that you can’t possibly do for me.”

• well..

• you get the picture.

@atinybitofau