#top 10 media of all time is so broad so i just picked. what do i WANT to write about
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Hi....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....
hi it’s been a while! i love getting asks from you because it lets me ramble about my favourite things, it makes me so happy so thank you!!! i hope you know how much joy you bring <3
(i’m sorry i haven’t replied to your last top 10 ask, i started the list and it got so humiliating that i’m unable to look at it again.)
anyway “top 10 media” is a broad question, so i have picked the top 10 media i love to ramble about. the kind where i could talk for hours about each one. are these objectively my favourites? maybe not. are they even good? only like half of them. but they certainly are top. enjoy!!
top 10 media of all time (not ranked):
1. tgcf (novel)
its still too early to say if this is a permanent top 10, but it has consumed my life for the better part of a year so it gets on this list. i have difficulty describing tgcf, it’s not particularly an excellent novel by many metrics, but it gives me endless satisfaction — the breadth of the story, spanning hundreds of years and a broad range of plotlines, plus the incredible depth of each moment, with sensitivity and humanity behind every hilarious-ridiculous-bombastic moment. i keep finding new things with every new chapter i annotate, even on my 4th/5th read. it’s rare that a piece of media gives me so much to think about, i’m just trying to savour the enjoyment for as long as it lasts.
2. the untamed/陈情令 (tv show)
oh man what can i say about the untamed. what can i NOT say about the untamed. the show i resisted for two years before finally being pushed into it. and i have been hurtling down the danmei rabbit hole ever since. for all that it was my intro to danmei and into the modern cdrama fandom, it really is SO MUCH just on its own. i daresay no tv show will ever be able to deliver such pure insanity juice straight to my brain ever again. deserves its spot. show of all time.
3. fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood (anime + manga)
i was a weeb for YEARS. consumed hundreds if not thousands of episodes of anime and manga. and this is the only one that stuck. obviously a masterpiece of storytelling. i revisit this constantly. i love stories that can be grim but still hopeful and endlessly sincere. also if you can’t tell i’m a huge sucker for stories where the side characters clearly have their own histories and relationships outside of what we get to see, and fmab has that for ages.
4. the legend of korra (tv show)
i cannot in good conscience say that i like this show. if you asked for my opinion, i would complain in your ear for an hour straight, minimum. (i have done this. multiple times. don’t ask me about the legend of korra.) and yet it is the piece of media i think about the most, that i have dedicated the most of my writing to, that i rewatch most often. lok aired when i was 13-17 and i grew up with it on tumblr. the people i followed and the things they talked about shaped how i interact with fandom today. maybe one day i will be able to move on, but this one has a sure spot in my top 10.
5. sense8 (tv show)
this one i can wholeheartedly recommend to any queer person trying to grow up in the world. yes, the orgies are gratuitous, the first season has some 2014 cliches, and overall who cares about the plot. but it’s such an unabashed expression of queer joy and unconditional love. there’s something so comforting in the idea that other people will volunteer to share your pain, your happiness, and your loneliness. that everyone in the world is connected by their ability to feel, to laugh, to scream, to cry, to love— you are only as alone as you let yourself be. this show carried me through so many dark times and helped me to keep believing in people. maybe i’ve outgrown my need for this show now, but i will always love sense8.
6. my ajusshi/my mister (kdrama)
is it one of the best kdramas ever made? yes. am i also incredibly biased because it’s IU? also yes. i strongly recommend it if you have the patience. this drama is slow and melancholy and washed out, its characters are weary and cynical and not always kind to each other. but that is precisely the point, because the drama dusts off their dull, exhausted lives and finds within them something worth living for. sometimes it’s enough to know that you have the power to make someone else’s life better. you might have lost the love of your life, but you have a spare mattress in your bedroom for a scared, lonely girl to sleep on. you might have lost your marriage, but you have enough money to pay for an old woman’s funeral. your career might be going nowhere, but you can be the cheerleader and inspiration for a silly woman that loves you. you might be a gang of sad, broke, middle-aged failures, but you can all walk a young woman home together and make her night a little less dark. my ajusshi is not an easy drama to watch, but similar to sense8, it’s one that gives me hope.
7. the k2 (kdrama)
firmly convinced that tumblr is sleeping on this drama. it is so absolutely batshit feral unhinged. let women be a mess!!! let women be so wrong!!! let women scheme and threaten and fight and manipulate, while the man looks on with protective anxiety and/or dead-eyed absolute competency. let a woman run barefoot through the streets of spain in a nightgown, tears streaming down her face. let a woman past her prime be psychosexually obsessed with her stepdaughter’s bodyguard whom she is locked in a blackmail revenge plot with. let him lead her at gunpoint into a car so he can escape the standoff, only for it to become a car chase with her enemies, and for him to flip the vehicle over. let him walk back into the burning car to carry her out.
8. man of steel (movie)
not gonna lie haven’t rewatched those one in a while! but officially my #1 favourite movie if anyone asks. i have moved on from capeshit but this movie still has everything i love: a world that breathes, people that live in it, and a clear message of hope despite how bleak things might seem.
9. rogue one (movie)
i mean. i mean. it says something that i was working on my (planned out, the story exists fully formed in my head) tgcf rogue one au when i opened up my writing notes and found that at some point last year i had written an entire mdzs rogue one au. brilliant. unparalleled. so blessed that this movie got to exist in between the endless cash grabs that are the other movies. as a star wars fan since age 13, i can say with full assurance this is the only star war that matters actually.
10. the infernal devices (novel series)
not sure if i’ve mentioned this series on this blog before, but to this day it’s one of my favourite YA series. yes it is your standard cliche fantasy series but it has will herondale, the best payoff to the typical angsty brooding male lead to ever exist. writers try to justify brooding characters like “they have valid reasons to be that way, deep down they’re really loving blah blah” but this series takes that and delivers. because the moment will is free from the legitimate reason he was acting that way, he is bursting at the seams to show his love. he runs to the girl he loves and tells her he loves her. he tells the woman who raised him that she’s awesome. he spends the rest of his life so, so incandescently happy, simply because he gets to love the people he loves. also the ending of the second book is possibly one of the wildest cliffhangers for a love triangle ever. i clearly love to have an Experience while consuming a piece of media.
(if you’ve read til here, thank you for reading and letting me ramble some of the words that go through my brain endlessly. if you’ve ever consumed and enjoyed any of the things i’ve mentioned, please feel absolutely welcome to message or dm me, i am dead serious about being able to talk about these for hours. in fact i would love to. please)
#asks#tgcf#cql#faves#lok#rambling#top 10 media of all time is so broad so i just picked. what do i WANT to write about#top 10 media that just lives rent free in my mind#there are things i love more and better but in terms of#does it give me brain chemicals.#do i cradle thoughts of these characters in my head like a baby#what gives me the brain chemicals#this took so long to write and i am so sleep deprived so i’m sorry if it is very incoherent#ily
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You know, it remains absolutely wild to me how... like... we know exactly who is responsible for this, where, when, and why. There's a short list of like 10 people. It looks like this:
Donald Trump, for being a fascist narcissistic grifter, con man, and criminal, who nonetheless managed to weaponise enough white grievance, backlash against Obama, voter apathy, Clinton smears from the Republican slime machine, and leftist moral posturing to get elected as President and have three Supreme Court picks, all of which were obtained dishonestly;
Mitch McConnell, for being the absolute worst, not to mention proudly on record as wanting to obstruct everything a Democratic president ever does, a power-hungry shriveled racist who refused to even hold hearings for Merrick Garland and then filled that seat with Neil Gorsuch, colluded with Trump to force Anthony Kennedy to suddenly retire and install drunken sex abuser frat boy Brett Kavanaugh, then jammed Amy Coney Barrett onto the bench to fill RBG's seat, eight days before the 2020 election, in brazen open hypocrisy of everything he had said about SCOTUS and election years, since the only principle that matters to him is maintaining Republican power;
Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett themselves, for doing exactly what they were put on the court by theocratic dark money fundamentalist operatives to do, and joining Bush-era fascists Thomas, Roberts, and Alito to overrule Roe vs Wade, as the culmination of decades of deliberate and openly stated Republican policy;
Rupert Murdoch and the Fox News disinformation ecosystem, for creating the alternate reality that made Trump possible and continues to empower his sycophants, supporters, cronies, and other bad actors, and generated much of the anti-Clinton slime and smears that made their way into the mainstream, were endlessly repeated by so-called respectable media outlets like the NY Times, and poisoned the American electorate, already disposed to misogyny, against the most qualified (and historic) Democratic Presidential candidate there has likely ever been;
James Comey, for deciding to issue the "we are still investigating HER EEEEMAILS!" letter a week before the 2016 election, which took just enough off Clinton's increasingly narrow margins to put Trump over the top thanks to the rigged and racist Electoral College, which has often functioned exactly as designed in helping non-popular-vote-winning Republican presidents into power;
Vladimir Putin, for running a well-attested and repeatedly confirmed wide-ranging disinformation and interference campaign in the 2016 election to boost Trump, the Kremlin's pet stooge, and discredit Clinton, as part of his overall and equally well-attested scheme to disrupt and destroy Western liberal democratic institutions and boost Russian power;
And like... in terms of direct, locatable, empirically provable concrete responsibility, that's it. I'm even being charitable and leaving Bernie off this list, though I feel that he played a major part in creating both the 2016 clusterfuck and the "I'm too good to ever vote unless for my perfect socialist messiah" attitude that now prevails among much of the Online Left. That is a small number of names. Their actions are all verifiable in public records and a wide variety of news sources, both partisan and non-partisan. (Protip, anything you can only find in one news source that precisely matches your own ideological beliefs is, uh, deeply suspect.) I'm a historian. I work with verifiable facts and evidence, even if they might lead me to conclusions that I personally don't like. And any wide-sweeping broad generalisation, with absolutely no specific evidence or sources cited, is... not how it works and will get you a bad mark on an essay or research project every time.
So against this short list of 8 people, all demonstrably bad actors with bad motivations, what does your average Online Leftist do? They blame Obama, who "said he would codify Roe vs Wade and didn't!" Well, you might say, did Obama ever have a filibuster-proof pro-choice majority in the Senate? No, he didn't, but that's not an excuse, it just means he and Harry Reid didn't try hard enough (this already after McConnell's announcement about making Obama a one-term president and obstructing everything). Obama had the greatest financial meltdown since the Great Depression on his hands, and then spent all his political capital passing the Affordable Care Act, lost the House in 2010 as a result and the Senate in 2014, and which, despite being an actual, y'know, codified law, has been subject to literally hundreds of Republican challenges to gut, reverse, or overrule it as much as possible? YOU'RE JUST MAKING EXCUSES! WHO CARES ABOUT THE ECONOMY? OBAMA COULD HAVE DONE IT IF HE CARED AND FORESAW THE FUTURE!
Likewise, the left's other favorite scapegoat is RBG, for not "retiring in time" or otherwise precisely predicting the moment of her own death and who would be in office at the time. Literally no blame for McConnell, the one who actually and deliberately crammed the three illegitimate justices onto the bench in defiance of all protocol and precedent. So let's see... the so-called progressives are blaming a Democratic black man and a liberal Jewish woman for the actions of a bunch of evil Republican white men. Or the other laughable false equivalence I saw yesterday, which claimed that ever since the Democrats were elected in 2020, civil rights, LGBT rights, and now abortion rights were being stripped away (with the clear implication that it was their fault). This just happened on its own, I guess, and not because specific Republican-controlled state legislatures and the Republican-packed Supreme Court had deliberately done this as a strategy of pursuing and consolidating fascist power even after Trump's forced departure from the scene. Name one non-Joe Manchin/Kyrsten Sinema instance of the Democrats actively doing the same thing. I will wait.
This is not even to mention the leftists repeating straight-up QAnon propaganda about how Joe Biden is a racist sexist child molester and, I quote, "the literal scum of the earth." There are legitimate policy and performance grounds to criticise Biden on: his speech yesterday said all the right things, but it remains to be seen how much of a promised "whole of government" action will actually be made, including the available powers of the executive branch to which Biden, as chief executive, has access. His personal response has, at times, likewise seemed slow and flat-footed. But the Online Leftists have abandoned all pretense of a rational and reality-based critique, in favor of hurling the most overheated personal moral slanders possible, like the Puritans at a witch-burning. Again, I ask, we're supposed to believe that these are the progressives?
I saw a stat recently about how only 23% of American adults use Twitter. That is... not even one quarter of the country. Out of that, the Online Leftists are only a tiny percentage. These ideas are not popular or universal or just something that "everyone believes" outside of a carefully curated echo chamber. It may feel all-encompassing, but it's not, and frankly, its denizens seem to be interested in anything except building workable, practical coalitions, if it would mean taking any criticism or compromising on their exalted ideals (which, as I have noted throughout this post, really aren't as great as they seem). As I've said before, my own political views are as far left as it's possible to go, and yet, I doubtless will continue to receive more messages like the charming anon from the other day who told me to kill myself for being "bootlicking slime." This is how they like to communicate with people who otherwise agree with them on every policy level (at least as outwardly stated and certainly not as practiced). This... kind of seems like a problem.
I've likewise written before about how ideological revolutions to drastically remake societies with the Right Idea have never, ever succeeded, and only bring more pain, suffering, and death. To all those people preaching "revolution!" as the solution: you realize that all the idealistic young students manning the barricades in Les Miserables get shot, right? And that it's not an actual, legitimate political plan, not least because it isn't a plan? It's a reactive coping-mechanism magical-thinking wish that everything bad would just magically disappear in a burst of glory, and everything would be better now. It's comforting to daydream about, but it's not something any sane, rational adult really puts any stock in, since it's never something that has ever worked in history. What revolution? How? When? Surely you don't mean like the January 6 rioters, unless you do, since overthrowing the illegimate government with overwhelming violence is, oops, once again straight out of the right-wing playbook. Still waiting for those promised progressive ideals!
Basically, even in the unlikely event that they actually acquired it, I wouldn't trust the current crop of Online Leftists with power any more than I trust the Republicans, despite them outwardly sharing my beliefs and values. They haven't proven that they're interested in anything except punishing those who don't hold their exact narrow and rigid idea of "moral" views, blaming other people who again, think largely or entirely like them, threatening or using violence against anyone who disagrees with them, and finding ways to constantly excuse and ignore the actual perpetrators of illiberal Christofascism. All, again, while claiming to be progressive! Like the AO3 anti crowd, who thinks that perfect morality in the world can be achieved by aggressively and abusively policing the fiction that people write for fun in their free time, it's about using cult-like techniques and tactics to position the entire outside world as the morally inferior enemy and building in-group solidarity by attacking them. Which seems like, oh, I dunno... Trump supporters. Again. Womp womp.
I don't know. Call me an old person; I definitely am. But as terrible and cynical and generationally damaging as the Dobbs decision is, and how it represents the greatest legal denial of personhood and autonomy to American women in most of our lifetimes, there's something even worse about seeing the generation who claims to "know better" blaming the people who opposed it, excusing the people who did it, and then going straight into more nonsense about why it's not actually bad and/or twisting themselves into pretzels to invent the hypothetical (white, rich) woman who somehow won't be affected by this. Maybe that's just me in thinking that is a profoundly flawed and wrong response on literally every level, but you know, I suspect it's not. So yeah.
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Headaches — Vinnie Hacker
Part 2 of the California Series
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Pairing/s: Vinnie Hacker x fem!reader
Summary: She finally made it to Los Angeles after months of planning! Looking forward to a hot girl summer with her friends, she catches the eye of a famous social media influencer.
Warning/s: Drinking
Word Count: ~2.2k words
Song Suggestion/s:
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July 9 Saturday, 10:30 am
It was the day after meeting Vinnie and you still didn’t know that Celine gave him your number. Your head was pounding from the drinks you consumed and you felt like the world was coming down on you. Nadine wasn’t spared either because she’s still lying on her bed with all the curtains drawn. Neither of you could help each other. You persevered through as you forced yourself to take a relaxing bath, putting what the hotel had to offer to good use.
You’re supposed to meet Eloise, Celine, and Red for brunch somewhere in goddamn Los Angeles, you honestly couldn’t care less where, you just needed food. Nadine passed on the chance and just ordered room service, too exhausted to even get out of bed.
It was a good day in LA with the sun out, occasional blowing of horns towards those who can’t drive can be heard from the inside. Celine was acting suspicious, asking if you found guys to mess around with already. You told her no but maybe though when you all go to the frat party later. The game plan is to make an appearance, do a lap around the house, talk to some Chads, drink a little, and wait for Eloise until she’s done fucking her Tinder-frat boy, and then dip. Excessive drinking at frat parties is a dangerous move.
There’s something about this city’s energy that doesn’t sit right with you. You’re not one to judge but every person that caught your eye here seems to all have similarities; they’re all…fixed. Trust me, that’s not a bad thing but this place feels like what the internet would look like personified. You would only see people that got work done on Instagram and Tiktok but it shocked you, and your friends apparently, that they were real, functioning people. From the conversations you overheard from brunch, it seems as if they have fake personalities too. That was way worse, you thought. You repelled the idea of visiting for a short while and especially living here as you were already impatient to head East. You finished brunch and bid your goodbyes for now as you will see them later anyways.
Around the afternoon, you got a text from an unknown number.
+ 310 444 9815
Hi i dont know if you remember me but im the guy from last night, Vinnie Hacker. Ur friend gave me ur number and i figured i get to know u while ure here while showing u around.
+ 917 221 7367
Hey! Of course i remember you. I guess it would be nice to be shown around LA, whats d worst that could happen right? :’)
Vinnie Hacker, Boa LA (+ 310 444 9815)
Nice! How does tomorrow sound? Lmk ur address n ill pick u up by 5. Is that ayt with u? We could go to d beach n have a picnic hehe maybe watch d sunset?
Y/n, cutie from bday dinner (+ 917 221 7367)
I would love that! We’re staying at Sheraton. See u then! :’)
You blushed at his date idea because you found it cute, he even planned it in advance. That’s a first, you thought. Most guys would just arrange a poor date specifically timed at night hoping that you’ll let them smash.
9:00 pm
You were the designated driver for tonight and that was alright with you because you didn’t plan on drinking at all. As you arrived, the house was somewhat packed. From the blonde broads to the frat brothers wearing tank tops shotgunning, you were already itching to go home. Maybe wait for an hour and a half?
You couldn’t stop thinking about your date with Vinnie tomorrow. Why was he being so accommodating to you? You’re certainly not his type, well you figured because all his past girls looked like clones. You couldn’t be more wrong though, that man is falling hard. He couldn’t stop thinking about you last night and today that it even creeped him out, obsession much?Jett’s ears were about to fall off from how much his best friend worried out loud that your date with him would be a disaster. The raven haired boy assured him that it would be fine, the worst that could happen is either him throwing up on you or him bringing the boys along for moral support. What a loser he would be if that happened.
All of those nerves were due to the fact that he doesn’t go on dates at all. All holed up in his room playing games with his friends day in and day out, you would think he only talks to Liza and the girls from the Hype House, a total of 3. And you being beautiful intimidated him even more, he really wants to impress you. He has to keep his cool though despite his urge to just confess his feelings.
You were snapped out of your thinking when Celine asked you her question again from brunch. “Yeah, some guy actually texted me awhile ago. Did you have anything to do with that?” You asked and she sipped on her cup.
“I’m just doing God’s work.” She shrugged and smirked. You thanked her in your mind because you can’t ever tell her how giddy you got when Vinnie texted you. After a few minutes, you finally reunited with your friends as you were ready to go home.
July 10 Sunday, 4:40 pm
You’re finally getting ready for your date with Vinnie! You had a hair appointment that afternoon so you didn’t worry about styling it anymore, you just touched up your light makeup and changed into a white dress, Converse shoes, dainty jewelry, and a small bag containing your things and both your film and polaroid camera. Vinnie texted that he’ll be there in 5 minutes so you went down to the lobby and as if right timing, you saw him pull up in front. You smiled as you saw him rush out of his car to open the door for you. You greeted him and supported yourself by putting your hands on his shoulders as you kissed him on the cheek. He turned red but you didn’t notice, thankfully for him.
He was a blushing mess the whole way, still relishing at the fact that you kissed him, truly a contagious site to see. Both of you didn’t talk much for the whole ride. It wasn’t awkward silence but rather a comforting one. Neither of you wanted to ruin such a pure moment. Sometimes, he would steal glances at you when you would turn to see the sites that LA has to offer, perfectly illuminating your beauty. You would also sometimes look at him and down at his hands holding the shifting gear, how you wish your hands were under his or how you wish that it was intertwined with yours on your thighs as you soothe his large ones.
The beach wasn’t crowded at all when you got there, a few people here and there. You asked if you could set the picnic with him but he refused. You watched him make a fool of himself as he tried to flatten the picnic blanket, the sides would turn due to the wind. “Maybe I do need your help.” He sheepishly said as you happily obliged. He brought those aesthetically pleasing cakes you only see on Pinterest, a mini cheese board, sandwiches, and juice boxes.
You were eating as you faced the ocean waiting for the sunset as you laughed. “This is so cheesy.” You said while grinning. He must’ve not understood you because he thought you found it ridiculous, that you found him ridiculous.
“I’m sorry I didn’t have any idea what to do on a first date and I wanted to make a good impression…” He rambled and sat up from his side lying position in panic.
You put a hand on his forearm which made him immediately stop. “This is a first date?” You look at him in the eyes, amused by how fast he gets flustered.
“Yeah, well I wanted it to be but I guess not anymore.” He sighed. You playfully shoved him as you let out a chuckle.
“Vinnie, I’m playing! You need to chill. Yes I know this is a first date, I could tell by how nervous you are. And I said cheesy because I found it adorable how you thought of all of this. It’s definitely a great first date, better than the ones I’ve been on.” You comforted him and you saw how his eyes lit up, calmness taking over. He thought about what Jett said earlier about throwing up and he thanked the heavens that he didn’t though he almost did.
You sat there again in comfortable silence watching the sun set right in front of you, you wanted to capture the moment so you pulled out your film camera. “Woah! You have one?” He said in amazement.
“No, Vinnie this isn’t real.” You playfully rolled your eyes.
“You’re mean.” The blond huffed.
“No I’m not.” You smiled at how childish he was, it’s cute if you have to be honest.
“You’re right, no you’re not.” He grinned while looking at you as you set up your camera. One side of your hair was tucked behind your ear and your eyebrows were furrowed, the light catching your good side, the wind blowing and the waves served as background music. How many times does one need to fall? He thought to himself. One too many, hell, as much and as deep as you want. His heart retorted.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” You looked up at him and down again as you finished setting the camera. He didn’t answer but he did smile in embarrassment. Right on cue, you snapped a picture of him with his eyes crinkled close as he rubbed his eyes. He took it from your hands and took a picture of you as well. The wind was in your favor as it perfectly blew your hair, the lighting behind you a beautiful purple, pink, and orange color.
“Come here, let’s take a picture.” You said and he scooted near you. You pointed the camera at both of your faces. Your head was leaning in between his head and shoulders as his arm sneaked its way to your waist, the sudden touch sparked heat inside the both of you. You both smiled and took another one; the two of you looking at each other with the most loving eyes. You decided to snap a picture on your polaroid camera as well. Vinnie could kiss you then and there and you told yourself that if he did then you would be his forever. It was the perfect moment one could ask for. He was shy, you were shy but that didn’t ruin the bliss you separately felt, together.
You didn’t want to end your date at all so you asked. “So when will you take me to the State Fair?” He looked up at you and smiled.
“I wanted to ask you about that but I felt like I would be pushing it too far.” He reasoned out but you can tell from his face how willing he is to spend more time with you.
“Let’s go right now then.” You said and he almost dragged you back to the car.
7:45 pm
There were a lot of people at the fair and some even took pictures with Vinnie. This was what worried you the most; being seen with him. No, you weren’t embarrassed, hell, who in their right mind would? It’s the rabid fans that think they have some weird possession over him. You knew that you’ll get threats for this and for that to not happen is for Vinnie to act like you don’t exist on the internet. Let them go crazy with their assumptions about his love life, you know he’ll never speak of it. You felt some of them eyeing you so you kept your distance while they took pictures with him, they never acknowledged your presence.
“Sorry about that.” Vinnie apologized after he was done taking pictures with the teenage girls.
“It’s alright. Do you wanna ride the Ferris Wheel?” You eased the awkward tension. He agreed and you hopped in one of the cars. The view was spectacular to say the least. You can see the lights from the booths and the both of you watched as the people below turned into ants. You pulled out both cameras and you tried to immortalize the both of you, this moment, and this feeling.
He’s such a surreal feeling. He’s like a gust of wind on a humid day, a nostalgic song suddenly blasting on the radio, a hearty breakfast to fuel you for the day. You struggle to find words and analogies to express what he feels like through primal senses right now but you hope that those words will arrive at your doorstep at the right time, right when you need to say it the most to him.
Vinnie had his shoulders wrapped around you when suddenly he said. “I wanna know who you are, Y/n.” You looked directly at his eyes as he gently grabbed your chin and gave you a soft chaste kiss as you laid your hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat. He kissed you again and again and again until you were smiling and giggling. Your thought about him kissing you making you his forever finally came true.
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Author’s Note: Hello i hope yall listen to d songs its good imo! I enjoyed writing this hehe i wanted to include y/n meeting Harry Raftus bc thats his frat but like what will he contribute to d story lol AHAHAHA
#iaswritings#vinnie#vinnie hacker#vhackerr#vinnie x reader#vinnie hacker x reader#vhackerr x reader#vinnie fluff#vinnie hacker fluff#vhackerr fluff#vinnie fanfic#vinnie hacker fanfic#vhackerr fanfic#fanfic#fanfiction#fiction#writing
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Hi....Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime, books, movies or tv series)? Thanks....
I am so extraordinarly bad at choosing favourites when the categories are so broad.
So this is uh... less of an actual top 10 and more of a ‘10 that happen come to mind at this particular moment because if I don’t answer this all in one go it’ll sit in my drafts forever taunting me with my inability to come up with a One True List’. With a limit of one per story or author because who am I if I don’t set arbitrary rules for myself.
In precisely no order whatsoever:
Lord Asriel (His Dark Materials) - this guy has strong principles but no scruples, a snow leopard as the external manifestation of his soul, and he turns up in the story like 'hey I'm going to tear open the void between universes to pick a fight with god'. Along with his lovers-to-enemies-to-partners-in-damnation Marisa, an early Formative Favourite and in hindsight says a lot about my taste in characters.
Deth (The Riddle-Master Trilogy) - I have a thing for betrayals - particularly a very specific kind of betrayal - and this is probably where it started.
Nirai Kujen (Machineries of Empire) - I described him elsewhere as an 'immortal, immoral mathematician who traded empathy for the ability to act on it' and I'm really not sure I have anything to add. Except that wow did his whole thing with Jedao hit so very many good-awful id buttons for me.
Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade Series) - c o r r u p t i o n a r c s. She just hits this exact balance of determination, ruthlessness, vicious intelligence, and fractal-like self-destruction that I so often want and don't quite get in characters. There's no softening of the edges here and I'm into that. Also, again, betrayals.
Sheng Lingyuan (《烈火浇愁》/ Lie Huo Jiao Chou) - oh man I haven't even finished lhjc but I think I have to add him here because fuck. Some of it's just the gentle-voiced malice and weaponised courtesy, but a lot of it is the themes of weaponisation and deification and what it means to be created by and for people but never as a person himself, and all the ruthless pragmatism and coldness you'd expect that to engender but a kind of extraordinary idealism you very much wouldn't. Also the war crimes.
Wei Wuxian (《陈情令》/ The Untamed) - it feels weird just picking one MXTX character here, and then I find myself thinking 'wait but is he even my favourite MXTX character' and I'm bad at picking favourites but I'm not sure he is, but at the same time the opening scene of CQL hit me like a freight train and like. Defined most of the fictional content I've consumed ever since. Anyway. It's the arrogance, the power, the aesthetic, the determination to walk a path that can only end in ruin, the ruin, the (self) sacrifice, the flute-murder, and the mercuriality.
Moridin (Wheel of Time) - This idea of a character who believes himself (whether correctly or incorrectly) to be essentially the opposite of a chosen one, the one chosen as the eternal enemy; spun out again and again to give himself to a cause that must lose if the world is to endure. If he plays his ordained role he is the villain and the destroyer, his victory would mean annihilation and his defeat would mean he has to do it all again. But if he doesn’t play his ordained role the whole thing collapses and so what hope is there, for the betrayer of hope?
Kelsier (Mistborn) - it's been a while since I've thought about him but man I love a guy who smiles in the face of utter calamity, whether he's the target or the cause. I love a character whose hunger for power is as much a source of victory as downfall. Who is vicious and cunning and charming and terrible and because of that can do things other characters cannot, and is allowed to be those things, and learn from them without having to relinquish them.
Francis Crawford of Lymond (The Lymond Chronicles) - again haven’t actually finished the series but like. not a saint. An artist in the vivisection of the soul. The fact that he is constitutionally incapable of speaking in prose like a normal person for more than half a sentence, or explaining himself or defending himself to anyone except when pretty much literally dragged kicking and screaming into doing so... but is very much constitutionally capable of physically dragging himself through calamity time and again because fuck you that’s why. Also the whipping scene.
Rin (The Poppy War) - it’s the war crimes and the weaponisation of the divine and the self. Also again the absolute refusal to soften literally any of the sharp edges. Can and will fuck up every living being in the vicinity, including herself, but it’s impossible to look away.
#i'm trying not to feel bad about the fact that there are only two (2) female characters on this list#on another day there'd probably be more#but like. i struggle to pick top 5 or top 10 characters in a /single story/#you want me to do it across /all of them????/#i cannot#asks#thanad-zid
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STILL GOT TIME (1/10)
As promised I’m bringing this verse back, after I’ve made some adjustment and cleaned up some bits etc. Most of it is done, so I hope I’ll be able to update regularly.
[ I don’t remember the exact wording, but the original prompt for this basically was: mpreg, someone famous ( like an actor or singer), who has to hide his labor, because nobody is supposed to know he's pregnant. ]
STILL GOT TIME (1/10)
The first thing Will notices when he opens his eyes is that the bright Sidney sun is already shining through his window even though it’s only six o’clock.
The second thing is a strange tightening across his midsection, that has his smile twisting into something closer to a grimace of pain as he bites down on his bottom lip to stifle a groan of discomfort as he rolls over.
A vague memory of waking sometime before dawn, to the sensation of an uncomfortable squeezing around his middle, drifts up through his waking haze.
He’d pushed the discomfort away, chalked it up to the pizza he had had for dinner, and forced himself to go back to sleep. He had been exhausted, extensive touring, writing, an intense promo circle – all while growing a baby (and hiding that very fact) – have definitely taken its toll.
Now, he lays on his side, stroking a broad palm over his swollen belly and feels a distinct tightening in the stretched muscles. Fucking Braxton Hicks.
He sighs and shifts on the bed, hauling himself to the edge so he can get a grip and roll up into a sitting position to get his feet on the floor.
He’s still not used to his changed body, always feels slightly off balance since his center of gravity shifted to accommodate his ever-growing belly. He gasps in shock at the sudden weight and pressure in his pelvis when he finally manages to get upright. His back has already started throbbing again too.
He boosts himself gingerly to his feet, lifting against the under-curve of his rounded belly with one hand, while the other digs into the tense muscles of his lower back.
He carefully keeps his hands beneath his heavy belly, to alleviate the pressure settled on his hips, as he starts walking.
His back has been killing him for months now, and on top of that he’s been having Braxton hick’s contractions for the last week and it seems like they’re not letting up anytime soon.
The baby feels a lot lower today too, a heavy weight deep inside him, and he’s really not looking forward to spending 16 hours stuck on a tiny cramped airplane.
There’s no way round it though and he just needs to get through today, and then he’ll finally be home in LA and able to rest.
Hiding the pregnancy has been exhausting: from the morning sickness to the constant tiredness to his ever-growing bump. It has become nearly impossible now that he is nine months along, but at least it’s almost over.
Most of his entourage already left yesterday, right after the show, but Will insisted on another night to rest, and his manager, Nick, finally caved.
Nick is also the only one who knows about Will’s predicament, who encouraged him to keep it under wraps, as to not disappoint the fans and loose them both a ton of money.
While it’s been incredible hard, Will knows Nick’s right. He’s not married or engaged, in fact he’s not even in a relationship and the media would have a field day about this, calling him a bad role model. Better to hide it for now and figure out a story later.
So, Will tries to ignore the subtle tightening of his stomach muscles around the baby as best as he can, rubs his palm in a soft circle over his rounded belly as it firms up beneath his shirt. It finally fades and he waddles into the bathroom to take a shower and start getting ready with a deep puff of breath.
It’s when he starts brushing his teeth, pressing a fist to his back where a dull throb pulses at his lower spine, that he finds himself cringing against another painful twinge in his belly. It’s a bit more uncomfortable than what he’s used to, but he chalks it up to being even bigger and sleeping weird. Hotel beds are the fucking worst and he has a plane to catch.
He puts out a hand to the wall, to steady himself against any more unanticipated pains, as he made his way back to the bedroom. And just in time too, as the baby gives a big, uncomfortable stretch sending an awful pain through Will’s entire belly. “Mhmm, woooh,” he moans, pressing his other hand to his belly “please calm down!”
He bends down to grab a clean shirt out of his luggage, when his back flares with pain at the motion. He massages at it with his fingers for a bit, trying to ease some of the knots before he bends down again to pull on a pair of black skinny jeans with an elastic waist.
Thankfully he’s carried rather high and small during his whole pregnancy, but even so his belly is way too big for regular pants now. But if he wears two shirts and big sweaters, he’s still able to hide it when slouching. Thank god it’s winter, and loose sports clothes are super in right now.
The tightening starts again, so he carefully starts rubbing circles into his tight skin. His stomach quivers slightly underneath his fingers and feels a bit firmer than before. The pain finally ends, and he goes to fix his hair.
He feels his belly roll in pain again and grips the counter. “Mhmm. Woooh. Urgh.” He bends forward one hand still against the counter, dropping the other to rub all over his stomach. “What is going on today? Please stop,” he whimpers. He’s not sure what to do.
He’s seen a doctor thrice and had a few consultations with a midwife, Ana, that Nick picked out, but most of them were by phone, due to his hectic schedule. She seemed lovely, but they didn’t get a chance to do much, so he feels really unprepared still.
He has three weeks left though, before he’s due, and Ana is scheduled to come around to his place as soon as he gets back, to actually start coaching him in person. Three weeks is plenty of time, right?
When it’s finally time to go he slides his feet into his adidas, frowning when he realizes the ties have come undone. He attempts to bend, belly falling between his knees, and groans as pain sparks everywhere in his body at the shift. He ties them as quickly as he can, desperate to get up again.
Will studies himself in the floor length mirror next to the door. He smoothens his shirt down over his belly, forcing himself to look. He has carries high for most of his pregnancy, but there is no denying that that’s no longer the case, his belly feels quite heavy and he has to slouch forward quite a bit to hide it when standing. It’s a real strain on his already aching back, but there is no way around it. He pulls a big hoodie over his head, and then, after checking himself in the mirror and still seeing the faint outline of a curve, adds another loose jacket.
He grabs his bag, that he has taken to carrying himself, in case he strategically needs to hold it in front of his belly and heads out the door.
___
tbc.
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My thoughts on the detransition wave
This post is going to be so long it needs subheadings
Could this happen to me??
About a decade ago there was a huge upswing of mostly afab people transitioning, and now a lot of them seem to be detransitioning. The detrans communities on here, twitter and reddit are growing quick. And these aren't just people who just transitioned socially before changing their minds, a lot of them were on T or even had surgery. And you'd think that to embark on something as massive as medical transition you'd be certain that it's what you need. So it's just really alarming to read about, because I've always been certain in my transition, but am I just going to wake up one day and start to feel like this was all a big mistake like these people did? When I learnt about this wave of people detransitioning it really scared me.
I was scared to really look at what these people are saying, fearing that I'd poison my own mind or certainty. Ideas are contagious. But I'm very glad I did, because I've seen I don't have much in common with these people. Most of them had doubts about their medical transition, and/or thought that transitioning would make them happy or solve some problem they had in their lives, and neither of these apply to me. Not to mention that the thought of ever going back horrifies me. So I'm relieved with what I found having looked into the detrans rabbit hole on here, twitter and reddit.
I kinda saw it coming
Back in the day I thought that the whole Tumblr gender ideology was questionable to say the least because I suspected a lot of these people "trying on genders" would ultimately grow out of it, which guess means detransitioning. And I objected to it because I thought it made us "proper trans" people look like a joke, like it's just a phase and not something to be taken seriously etc. I was a selfish 16 year old back then, and I don't feel that way any more. People can call themselves whatever they want, I'll call them whatever they want; I don't care.
But it turns out that it was actually harmful, in that it seems to have sucked in a lot of unhappy gender non-conforming teenagers who latched onto the happiness they saw people experiencing from transitioning, and thought it would make them happy, too. When actually it wasn't right for them, and now they're picking up the pieces while trying to reverse mostly permanent medical interventions.
These people used to piss me off, but I can't even imagine the shame and embarrassment of having to admit that your whole transition was a mistake.. and the pain of trying to reverse it. I just feel terrible for these people now.
I disagree with the court's ruling
Here's a link to a BBC article
TL;DR: no one is going to be prescribed puberty blockers any more. If you're 16+ you technically can with permission from the court, except that in practice it'll take more than 2 years before you get a verdict, at which point you'll be old enough for actual HRT at an adult clinic anyway. So no blockers for anyone any more.
Imo this is unlikely to make a difference to the number of people who detransition. If you're fixated on transition fixing your problems and making you happy, you're not going to realise that it's not for you until after you've started. Because how could you know until you've tried? That's the trend I've noticed from most detransition stories I've read anyway.
Also, having just watched the claimant's news night interview, she seems to think that the court will now be responsible for the "are you really trans" due diligence that should have been done by the clinic, in the case of those who are 16+ and requesting blockers. Which seems to be placing that responsibility in completely the wrong place to me. Why would a judge know more about that than specialist medical clinicians? What's the point in shifting that responsibility?
Conversely, if transition is what you need, and you're lucky enough to find yourself being treated by a GIC while you're still a teenager and not all of puberty's irreversible damage has happened to you yet… blockers could just save you so much anguish. I often fantasise about having transitioned early in puberty. No need for top surgery, no awful wide hips I can never ever change. It breaks my heart that this option isn't available at all any more and it just seems monstrously unfair, I'm actually quite angry about it, it seems so unjust.
But I don't entirely disagree with the claimant
She (Kiera Bell, the claimant) put out a press release which I saw in the form of a screenshot on twitter that I now can't find, and she's got a page with a lot of info here. Across these two sources she said that society's misogyny, general disapproval of gender non-conformity, along with a lot of teenage girls having a bad time with puberty/adolescence contributes to so many of them wanting to transition, and I completely agree with her there. The massive upswing in afab young people attending the tavistock must have been caused by something, and those factors look very likely to me. It also coincided with the advent of proper smart phones & social media, and I'm sure that's another big contributing factor. I think female puberty being awful (I am biased in this opinion tbf) combined with misogyny in society explains why this uptick has been mostly afab people specifically.
Although I do a bit
On a crowd justice page linked above she also criticised the tavistock's "affirmative" approach. Meaning that if you get there and explain that you're trans, you're believed, and the clinicians take steps to help you transition. That was very much my experience there, but it's not as if I and my parents weren't interrogated about my history. (Tbh I think my experience was an edge case given how old I was when I got there (17.5, old enough to be referred to an adult clinic), the fact that I had no "associated difficulties", and that I'd been socially transitioned for 10 months).
I don't know what else they would have done? Saying to my face "we don't believe you're trans and shouldn't medically transition" would have seemed absurd and unreasonable, given that I'd been living as male for 10 months, including changing my name by deed poll. There wasn't a lot more they could expect me to do to "prove" it.
But many cases are much more complex than mine, a lot of trans youth have mental health issues, or trauma in their pasts. In those cases you'd hope the clinicians would go a lot deeper, and spend more time analysing all the other problems you have in your life, to sufficiently ensure that they're not the root cause of the desire to transition. One person who features in this podcast I listened to a while ago was transitioning to try and escape the trauma of being sexually abused as a child, for example. If you've got a complex case you wouldn't diagnose them in a single appointment, surely? I'm not a doctor obviously, but that seems pretty obvious to me. You'd need to provide therapy more broad than just issues relating to gender. I just don't know, but the fact that people are detransitioning must mean that that's the case, that in some cases insufficient due diligence is done into people's histories. So I don't agree with Kiera that the affirmative approach should be abandoned, but it seems like it should be used with more caution than it has been up until now.
So in conclusion:
The existence of a lot of people detransitioning freaked me out, but I've concluded I'm not one of them
I low key saw this coming
I feel bad for people who are detransitioning
I think the high court's ruling to ban puberty blockers is hugely unfair
I agree with Kiera Bell that society's misogyny and bullying of people who are gender non-conforming causes young women to transition when they shouldn't
I disagree with her that the GIC's "affirmative" approach should be abandoned, but I do think it should be used more cautiously
If you made it to the end of this post, thanks very much for reading it. I just had a lot of thoughts about this and wanted to get it all off my chest.
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Seven Soulmarks: Taehyung (”It’s you.”)
~genre: soulmate au, fluff, sfw
~word count: 5.2k
~warnings: absolutely none this is cute lmao
~pairing: solo idol!taehyung x y/n
~summary: At the exact moment of your twentieth birthday, the first words your soulmate will ever say to you appear on the inside of your left wrist. Seven boys meeting their soulmates shows how the universe always has a plan.
See how the other boys meet their soulmates (all interconnected)
Jungkook -- Jimin -- Namjoon -- Hoseok -- Yoongi -- Jin
~~~~~~~~~
Kim Taehyung hated his life.
Rationally, he knew that this was likely the result of him being the most selfish douchebag on the face of the planet.
Didn’t change the fact that he hated his life.
“This is bullshit!” Taehyung shouted, tearing the beanie off of his head and chucking it across the room in favor of running his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I thought this was my album, Sejin. Why are these prats making all of the decisions?!”
Taehyung’s manager, Sejin, took a deep breath. Taehyung was prone to outbursts as of late, but he knew that the young singer’s anger simply came from a place of frustration, not cruelty. He’d been working for Taehyung for over three years now, he knew the young man better than most.
“Taehyung, it’s just two songs. The rest of the album is all yours, but the company needs you to play nice so that—”
“I don’t care what the company wants,” Taehyung snapped, hands on his hips as he turned to face Sejin. “They don’t ever seem to care what I want in my music these days, so why should I listen to them?”
“Tae—”
“No, no! They would be a no-name recording label drowning in debt if I hadn’t signed with them and this is how they treat me! I’m done, I’m fucking done.”
Taehyung slammed his hand against the wall beside him, and only felt slightly bad when he saw Sejin jump out of the corner of his eye. His broad chest heaved with breaths as he leaned his forehead against the wall and tried to calm down.
“It’s not my music anymore,” he finally murmured. “It’s not … me.” He looked up, meeting Sejin’s eye. “I’m sick of doing the same damn formula for every song. The same chord progressions, the same shitty beat drops that sound like every other song, the same stupid ass lyrics that don’t mean anything. That’s not me, man. It’s not the fans either, I just feel … I feel like I’m lying to them every time I release a new shitty song that can be played in clubs but doesn’t really mean anything.”
“The songs are doing well though.”
“Of course they are, the fans will support me no matter what I release, but if it’s not really from my heart then I’m just taking advantage of them!” Taehyung retorted, throwing his hands up in the air. “I’m sick of this! It’s been over a year since the company let me release anything that I wrote myself, and they won’t even give Scenery a chance!”
“You just have to be patient, Taehyung.”
“But I—”
“No, Taehyung, you have to be patient,” Sejin urged, cutting the singer off in a rare display of authority. “Your contract is up in a year. Just one year, and then you’ll have to resign for another four years or …”
Sejin trailed off, letting Taehyung connect the dots. He would never tell his young friend what to do, but he had seen the toll that lack of creative freedom was taking on the singer. Taehyung had lost weight, his voice didn’t have that same vibrancy that it did when he was singing his own music, and he had been avoiding any sort of outings that might put him in the path of paparazzi or his fans.
“Or I can choose not to re-sign with them,” Taehyung finished the thought in a quiet voice. He lifted his head to the ceiling, releasing a long breath. “Just one year. One more year. I can do that. I can do that, right?”
“Of course you can,” Sejin said quickly. “One year will fly by.”
Taehyung huffed, flopping down on the couch of the green room connected to the studio of the shitty, obnoxious American producer that he was being forced to work with.
“I’m not even twenty years old and I’m this tired,” he said with a humorless laugh, rubbing his eyes.
“Actually, you are twenty years old.”
Taehyung looked at Sejin incredulously. “No I’m not. My birthday is tomorrow.”
“You were born in Korea, and your birthday started there an hour ago. Because of the time differences you—”
“Well why didn’t you say something?” Taehyung shouted, jumping up to his feet and muttering under his breath as he tried to take off the thick, clunky bracelet over his left wrist.
Because of the occasional stalker and obsessive fan, the majority of celebrities who hadn’t found their soulmate yet had taken to keeping their soulmark area constantly covered — Taehyung had wanted to get in the habit of such even before his twentieth birthday.
“I didn’t think you wanted me to bring up your soulmark in front of those assholes back there,” Sejin muttered under his breath. Taehyung smirked. It was rare that Sejin cursed, so it was clear that Taehyung wasn’t the only one who was sick of the jerks that the company had been forcing him to work with lately.
“What’s it say?” the manager asked as Taehyung finally got the bracelet off of his left wrist.
“It says … ‘It’s you.’”
“Oh.” Sejin cleared his throat. “Well … I guess she’ll be a fan?”
Taehyung let out a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t wait to meet his soulmate, sure, but a part of him had always romanticized the idea of someone falling for him first and then V, famous singer, second.
That was a pipe dream and you know it, he rationalized to himself.
The money, the fame, the countless opportunities that had been thrown Taehyung’s way since he was just barely seventeen were amazing, and he was thankful every day for them.
But the way that things were going lately, between having to make music that wasn’t from his heart at all and countless rumors and scandals that were always being blown way out of proportion, Taehyung just wanted to feel normal — at least for a little while. To get his head back on straight.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Taehyung muttered, not really thinking about his soulmate much at all in that moment. Even though if she was a fan, which it seemed like she was given her first words to him, she was probably thinking about him often.
Guilt struck him immediately. He loved his fans, it wasn’t their fault at all that he wasn’t content.
The inauthenticity of the situation was just getting to be too damn much. Being twenty years old was when he was supposed to really discovering himself, and yet his company wasn’t allowing him that opportunity. No matter the privileges he had, that was enough to drive someone crazy.
“Just one year,” Taehyung muttered to himself, glancing up as Sejin clapped a hand on his shoulder. “One year.”
***
“Honey are you sure you don’t want to celebrate with us?”
“Mom I am going to celebrate with you and Dad,” you reassured your mother with a smile as you shrugged on your coat. “We’re having a birthday party tomorrow!”
“Yes, but I don’t know how I feel about you being alone for your soulmark appearance.”
“Mom I’ll be fine.” You leaned over and kissed your mother’s cheek swiftly. “I just want this moment to myself. Besides, I was born at 2 AM, nobody is going to want to stay awake that late just to see some words appear on my wrist.”
“I would!”
“Mom, you can’t stay up past 10:30 PM and we both know it,” you laughed. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning to help set up for the party. Bye, love you!”
You practically ran out the front door before your mother could say anything else, pulling your coat tighter to you. You picked a few pieces of stray dog hair that had attached itself to the material as you walked to your car. You weren’t sure if the dog hair was from your own dog at home, or if it was from one of the sweet little guys from the animal shelter you volunteered at.
After taking a moment to appreciate the beauty of the night sky, you unlocked your car and hopped in, going through the motions of starting up your car and pulling out onto the main road.
The coast was about a three and a half hour drive away, which would put you sitting on the beach listening to the waves under a starry sky right as your soulmark was set to appear. Just how you had always imagined it.
The drive was a familiar one, and you put on your favorite driving playlist to pass the time. The playlist mostly consisted of oldies that your dad had listened to with you when you were a child, a few rap songs, and some movie soundtracks that you liked. Nothing too current, honestly. You were so busy with taking online courses, waitressing, and volunteering at the shelter that you didn’t put much time into listening to the latest hits on Top 40.
Not that you really liked current pop music. There was this annoying trend going on for the last couple years of songs only about partying and having sex with annoying beat drops in the background that all kind of sounded the same.
Not that there was anything wrong with that kind of music, of course, it just wasn’t really your scene.
Soon enough, your mind started wandering. Your thoughts jumped between ideas of what your soulmark might be, to the apartments you were looking at moving into soon (if you could ever find a roommate, that is), to one of the cats at the shelter that needed to find a home ASAP.
You needed to call the shelter’s photographer on call tomorrow to help with that last one. The young woman was an amazing photographer that, like you, had a soft spot for animals. She’d started offering free shoots for the animals at the shelter that needed to be adopted sooner rather than later, hoping that by having professional photos of them to post on social media and on posters, people might be more inclined to take them in.
You and the photographer got along well. You’d even talked about soulmarks recently when she heard that your twentieth birthday was coming up.
(The photographer had yet to meet her soulmate, but her mark read, ‘Wait, please!’)
Realizing that you were thinking about work and responsibilities instead of just enjoying a peaceful drive to the beach, you decided you needed a change of pace. Not taking your eyes off the road, you turned off your driving playlist that had started to repeat and switched on the radio instead.
The song that was playing was …
Utter crap, honestly.
“Ugh,” you muttered to yourself, wincing at the overuse of bass and a chord progression that sounded suspiciously exactly like that recent Chainsmokers song one of the guys at the shelter had played for you the other day.
The male vocals were nice, you guessed. Even if the lyrics were about dicking down some random girl at a club.
Like you’d never heard that song before.
Fortunately, you only had to listen to about a minute of the song before it was over.
“Alright that was the one and only V on his brand new collaboration with Elia!” the radio announcer said as soon as the song was over. “Hey, did you hear the latest news about our dear heartthrob V?” he asked his cohost.
“No,” the female announcer responded with an overdramatic gasp. You rolled your eyes. “What is it?”
“Paparazzi caught sight of his soulmark the other day.”
That time, you gasped alongside the female announcer. A celebrity soulmark sighting was awful, everyone agreed on that. There were countless horror stories of fans knowing their idol’s soulmark and saying the words to them and even faking their own soulmarks to try and trick them into a relationship. It was a nightmare scenario.
“No!” the female announcer said even more dramatically. “I can’t believe it … but also, like … what’s it say? Just out of curiosity of course.”
While you curled your lip in disgust, the two announcers laughed together. You felt gross just listening to them discuss the celebrity’s soulmark like this, they had no respect for the sanctity of the marks.
You didn’t even know the celebrity (V, or something? Who names themselves a letter?), but no one deserved to have their mark discussed so flippantly. It was just plain disrespectful.
“According to the picture, his mark says—”
You turned the radio off.
“Assholes,” you muttered under your breath.
You decided to take the last twenty minutes of the drive in silence, thinking of your soulmark and who your soulmate might be.
Honestly, you weren’t picky at all. You trusted the soulmark system, and believed with all your heart that the person that had your first words to them tattooed on their wrist was going to be just right for you. You didn’t care what they looked like or did for a living, you knew they would be enough no matter what.
The thought made you smile softly. You had a person out there designed just for you. It was unbelievable, but in the best kind of way.
Finally you arrived at the secluded beach, parking close to the sand under a streetlight. You stretched as you stepped out of your car, grabbing your blanket and a flashlight and taking off your shoes before running towards the water.
You didn’t care that you probably looked crazy running onto the beach at almost 2 AM by yourself — not that there was anyone around to see, anyways. You were excited — this was the moment you’d been waiting for for twenty years.
In just minutes you were situated at the edge of the water, just close enough to feel the sea spray as the tide rolled in. You checked the time on your phone.
Just a few seconds to go. You held the flashlight up to focus on the inside of your left wrist, cheeks hurting from grinning so much.
And then it was appearing. Black lines slowly came into view and then … it was there.
The first words your soulmate would ever say to you.
‘Do you even know who I am, you psycho?’
You blinked.
“Well then,” you muttered to yourself, looking back out to the sea again, but this time with a decidedly not so ecstatic expression. “Didn’t see that one coming.”
***
A YEAR AND A HALF LATER
“Dude, you know you can go out and actually do stuff, right? Not sure how you’re getting ‘inspiration’ by being holed up in my apartment all day.”
Taehyung narrowed his eyes as Jimin searched for his keys. He’d been staying at his best friend’s apartment for the past few weeks after finally calling it quits with the company that had treated him like shit for so long. He’d wanted to disappear, and his friendship with Jimin had stayed off the radar for the past few years, so his friend had gladly offered to let him stay at his place until he figured out his next move.
Not that Taehyung had any idea what his next move was. He knew he had to keep making music or he’d go crazy, he just wasn’t ready to sign his creativity over to someone else again.
“You know I can’t do that,” Taehyung retorted, scratching Jimin’s dog Chim behind the ears as the little mutt lounged on his lap. “I can’t risk being recognized.”
Jimin rolled his eyes, turning to face his friend head on. “They make things called masks, genius.”
“Hey, you’re the one who said I could come stay with you as long as I needed to.”
“And I mean it,” Jimin affirmed, checking his pink hair in the mirror by the front door. Being a hairdresser, Jimin did this annoyingly often. “You can. But you’ve got to get out and do something, Tae. Come with me to the salon, or go to the movies, or busk at the subway station. Do something, man.”
“While busking at the dirty subway station does sound appealing,” Taehyung deadpanned, “I’m just … I’m nervous, Jimin. I don’t know how to be … normal anymore.”
Jimin turned back to his friend sympathetically. He didn’t understand Taehyung’s dilemma at all, but he could recognize fear and pain when he saw it. Subconsciously, he rubbed at the thick leather bracelet covering his left wrist.
(Jimin hadn’t met his soulmate yet, but his mark read, ‘Stop right there!’ and he already hated himself for the way he was apparently going to inspire fear in the person he was supposed to love and cherish.)
“Well if it makes you feel any better,” Jimin finally said, making an excited noise as he finally found his keys, “You were never really normal. But,” he held up his finger when Taehyung started to protest childishly, “I think that’s part of your charm. Now put on a face mask and go on a walk Chim. My house, my rules, go do it.”
“Jiminie, I—”
“Nope! No arguments! There’s a really nice dog park two blocks down! Bye!”
Jimin slipped out the door before Taehyung could say another word.
“Jackass,” Taehyung murmured without any real bite. Chim looked up at him with his adorable big brown eyes. “Not you,” he assured the dog. “Just your dumb owner.”
Chim whined, cocking his head to the side. One of his ears stuck up, while the other flopped down. It was ridiculous how cute the mutt was.
“Ack, fine. You want to go on a walk, Chimmy? Not like I’m exactly stewing in song-writing inspiration now, right?”
Chim barked.
“Gee thanks, bud.”
And that was how Taehyung started his daily walks to the dog park with Chim.
***
“I’m going to murder him,” you seethed.
The vet photographer just laughed, not even taking her eye away from her camera as she took shots of the pitbull puppy that had just been brought to the shelter last week.
“You’re not going to murder anyone,” your friend said.
“Oh yes I am. I’ve tried to catch him three times now, but I keep missing him by just minutes!”
“How do you know that?”
“The poop is still warm when I get there.”
“Ew!” Your friend did look away from her camera at that comment, scrunching up her nose. “That’s disgusting, Y/N.”
“Yeah I know!” you retorted, walking over and picking up the puppy, holding him tight to your chest. “There’s signs everywhere in the dog park. ‘Clean up after your dog,’ ‘Please dispose of your dog’s waste here,’ ‘Dog waste bags available at the entrance of the park.’ And yet does this person clean up after their dog? No!”
“How do you know it’s the same person doing it?” your friend asked, letting her camera hang from the strap around her neck as she scratched the top of the puppy’s head.
“I can tell,” you said matter-of-factly. “It’s the same poop pattern.”
Your friend cackled at that, which stirred the puppy in your arms. “That’s so gross.”
“I’ve stepped in it twice,” you told her, gritting your teeth. “Everyone around here respects the rule, so whoever has been letting their dog poop in the park and then not clean it up for the past three weeks is a newbie. And I’m going to track him down and give him a piece of my mind!”
“How do you know it’s a he?” your friend asked, taking the puppy from you and repositioning him in her makeshift photoshoot set once again.
“Oh I just know.”
“Don’t tell me you saw his poop pattern, too?”
“Aish, shut up and take the pictures!”
***
Taehyung hummed under his breath as he led Chim down the street towards the dog park.
Even though Taehyung would never admit it to Jimin, his friend’s suggestion of walking Chim had been really, really good for him. It had helped him to realize that three years of fame and concerts and tours and events and press had left Taehyung with little to no schedule or routine in his life.
And Taehyung liked routine, he was discovering. He liked being able to know or at least have an idea of what the next day held, he liked going on walks and not having to make an event of it, or care what he looked like or what brands of clothes or shoes he was wearing because paparazzi photos would imply that he was promoting them, and so on, and so on.
He liked normalcy. At least small pieces of it.
And he liked Chim. Taehyung and the dog had become the best of friends in the past three weeks of daily walks together, a fact which Jimin was only slightly jealous of.
It was nice. And oddly enough, it was giving Taehyung inspiration for all sorts of new sounds and songs.
For three years Taehyung had gone on expensive retreats to try and find song-writing inspiration (not that his company had ever listened to any of his ideas after the success of his first EP), and now he was finding loads of it just walking his friend’s dog down the street for free.
Such a simple task was giving Taehyung an entirely new perspective. It was his favorite thing to do, which was absolutely mind boggling considering he was a literal millionaire that could do just about anything he wanted.
He liked this change of pace though.
“Ah, ah, no, Chim,” he said as the dog started to tug at his leash. “Come on bud, we go over this every day.��
At the halfway point to the dog park, they passed a local animal shelter. It was close to the road, so Chim always heard dogs barking or saw someone in the parking lot with their animal. He rarely barked himself, but always tugged on his leash to try and get closer.
“Come on, Chimmie, let’s go.”
With a huff, Taehyung did what he usually ended up doing and just reached down and picked up the dog, tucking him under his arm to walk him away from the sight of the shelter.
But as he stood back up, he glanced over to the shelter and froze.
As you stepped out of the building leading a medium sized golden retriever puppy, talking to it softly, Taehyung found himself unable to look away.
You were smiling, talking with the clearly skittish dog in a soothing voice. Your skin seemed to glow as the sun shone down on you and you were objectively stunning, even in plain jeans and a purple tee.
As if sensing that you were being watched, you glanced up from the dog you were working with to look up at Taehyung standing on the sidewalk.
Taehyung stiffened, looking away and walking with Chim down the street once more. It had been an instinct reaction, fearing that he had been recognized.
Then he remembered that he was wearing a mask and felt like an idiot for not looking at you for another moment more.
***
“Hey, hey!”
Your friend jumped as you came flying around the corner, almost dropping her camera in the process.
“You scared me!” she said with a hand on her chest to catch her breath. “What is it? What’s wrong”
“Can you get this sweet guy back into his crate? I have to go catch him!”
“Catch who?” your friend asked, taking the leash of the golden retriever you were leading.
“The dog poop guy!” you shouted, voice fading as you took off back out the door. “I’m finally gonna catch the dog poop guy!”
***
“Alright Chim,” Taehyung muttered, voice slightly muffled beneath his mask. “Go ahead, do your business.”
Chim looked up at him with those adorable puppy dog eyes of his.
“Seriously? We go over this everyday. I’m not watching. And there’s no one else even here!” Taehyung gestured around to the empty park. It was a Monday around 10 o’clock in the morning, which meant the park was empty save for the two of them.
“Fine,” he muttered after a few more seconds of Chim staring at him. He leaned down and unclicked his leash since there were no other dogs around, which Chim yipped excitedly about. “Go ahead, the world is your poop yard.”
Chim took off in a run around the fence as Tae sat atop the wooden picnic table and looked around.
It was a beautiful day. The weather was mild enough to wear short sleeves, the sun was shining but not overbearing, and it was a quiet area.
This was the normalcy he had been craving. After years of being on the road and constantly working with no real fulfillment, this was the contentment he had actually been striving for.
He let out a deep breath, leaning back on his palms and looking up at the clouds. He began humming a new melody under his breath, the words to a song that was almost finished just lacking … something.
He managed to hum for just a few more seconds when he heard the gate open.
Taehyung snapped his head up to make sure Chim hadn’t run out, but the person coming in had already closed it behind them.
And it was … you. The girl from the shelter. Except this time you didn’t have the golden retriever with you.
Out of habit, Taehyung lifted a hand to make sure his mask was still in place.
Chim barked excitedly, running to greet the stranger.
“Easy, buddy,” Taehyung called out to the dog as he ran around your legs. You kept walking towards Taehyung, making sure not to step on Chim in the meantime.
Taehyung hopped off of the picnic table and opened his mouth to say hello or … something, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say honestly, he hadn’t spoken to anyone but Jimin in almost a month.
But before he could speak, you beat him to the punch.
“It’s you!”
Taehyung froze as you marched up and pointed in his face.
He’d heard those words from countless crazed fans since his soulmark had leaked. The words that were supposed to fill him with joy at finding his soulmate now filled him with dread.
How the hell had you recognized him with a mask on and his hair a different color than his last paparazzi sighting?
“You are the poop guy!”
Taehyung blinked.
What the hell? he thought to himself. He tried to speak, but you weren’t letting him.
“For three weeks I’ve been bringing the shelter dogs here to play and do you know how many times I have stepped in your dog’s poop?”
Taehyung opened his mouth.
“Seven times!” you shrieked. “Seven times and now two of my favorite pairs of shoes are ruined because they are cloth and I can’t get rid of the poop smell. Can you read?”
Once again, Taehyung tried to speak.
“There are signs!” you yelled, gesturing around the park. “Three signs as a matter of fact! The park even has bags for you to use! It takes five seconds to clean up after your dog! It’s common courtesy!”
Your voice was as shrieky as ever, and your shoulders heaved as you caught your breath.
“Well?” you asked, throwing your hands up in the air. “Aren’t you going to say anything? An apology will suffice, but I prefer a promise to start cleaning up after your dog.”
Taehyung swallowed thickly and you tracked the movement. You couldn’t see the majority of his face because he was wearing a mask over his mouth, but he was built well and had cute fluffy brown hair hanging over his forehead.
Doesn’t matter if he’s cute, he’s not following common dog-owner courtesy, you scolded yourself.
Slowly, he reached up and tugged off his mask.
Aw crap, you thought. He’s not just cute, he’s model level hot.
And he was. His facial features were striking, you’d honestly never seen anyone as attractive as him. But you stood your ground, focusing on the fact that he had ruined two pairs of your favorite shoes and made you give four of the shelter dogs a bath because they stepped in his dog’s poop. Hot or not, that was unacceptable.
Finally, he spoke (not that you had given him much opportunity to until now).
“Do you even know who I am,” Taehyung asked softly, genuinely curious.
But before he finished speaking, he remembered that you had just yelled at him like a crazy person without even letting him defend himself.
“—you psycho?”
Your jaw dropped as the now annoyingly attractive man leveled up in his own irritation.
You briefly registered in the back of your mind that oh shit, this is my soulmate, but quite frankly your soulmate was being a dick!
“It’s a dog park!” Taehyung shouted. “Dogs poop! How hard is it to look down and see where you’re stepping?”
“I shouldn’t have to look down where I’m stepping!” you shot back. “If all dogs pooped here without their owners cleaning up after them, it would be anarchy!”
“Poop is biodegradable!”
“What?! It takes dog poop like three months to decompose!”
“Well that’s … longer than I thought!” he admitted, still yelling. “It doesn’t matter, you shouldn’t be screaming at strangers!”
“You’re not a stranger, you’re my soulmate!”
Taehyung blinked, mouth slightly agape. You realized your mistake.
“I mean, I-I don’t know who you are,” you muttered. “But you said the words, so — and by the way, rude first words to say to your other half!”
You held up your left wrist, showing your soulmate your mark.
‘Do you even know who I am, you psycho?’
He winced.
After the shouting match, the quiet between the two of you seemed oddly profound.
“Do you … do you actually know who I am though?” he asked quietly.
You raised your eyebrow. “Other than my soulmate and the guy who lets his dog poop freely in a public place? Uh, no, I don’t.”
Taehyung let out a deep breath, laughing softly.
“Good, that’s … good,” he said quietly, his striking eyes looking up at you from beneath his eyelashes. “Sorry about the dog poop.”
“No you’re not.”
“No, I’m really not. If it makes you feel any better, it’s not my dog.”
“That has nothing to do with it!”
“Do you always yell so much?!”
“No I’m usually very pleasant!”
“Well you could’ve fooled me!”
“Well ask me on a date and I’ll prove it to you!”
“Fine, do you want to go out to dinner tonight?!”
“Yes, there’s a good restaurant next to my apartment we can go to!”
“That sounds great!”
“You’re really pretty, I hope you know that!”
“You’re the most handsome man I’ve ever seen!”
“I hope it doesn’t freak you out, but I’m actually a famous musician and my stage name is V!”
“Wait, what?”
You stepped back in shock at his declaration and right into a big, fresh pile of —
“Ack! For fuck’s sake, clean up after your damn dog!”
You wanted to hate him for laughing so hard, but after looking at his boxy smile and the way his dog (okay not his dog, but still) was running around his feet yipping excitedly … you just couldn’t do it.
Your soulmark wasn’t exactly the best, but … you had a feeling the man on the other side of it was going to turn out to be perfect for you.
Even if he did continue to laugh as you scraped the dog poop off the bottom of yet another new pair of shoes.
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Best Part of Me -Chapter 10
Warnings: none
Tagging: @c-a-v-a-l-r-y, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @alievans007, @thunderintheshadows
With Declan at Salena’s house for a ‘lunch and play date’, Esme takes advantage of the downtime, spending the first part of her afternoon eating lunch on the back patio while Adeline naps on a blanket nearby. Enjoying the breeze that blows in off the ocean, the way the sun glistens on the water, and the sound of the waves as they roll up onto the shore. It’s peaceful; a welcome relief from the earlier incident with Chloe and the drama that had ensued the night before. She has a chance to let her brain finally rest, losing herself in the petty drama on social media posts and reading celebrity gossip blogs. Simple, mindless pleasures that help take her mind off things; the worry revolving around Ovi, the problems TJ is having a school, her own battle with mental health issues.
Today is a better day; the dark overhead not as dense and terrifying. She’s able to find happiness in the sunshine and the sound and the smell of the ocean and the sight of her infant daughter fast asleep; long dark eyelashes resting against the top of her cheeks, those rosy, tiny lips pursed, her hair being tousled by the breeze. Content and peaceful; comfortable in just a pink bathing suit with brightly colored unicorns printed on it and ruffles on the bum. Mac curled up beside her; a paw touching her leg, raising his head to watch her when she twitches or makes even the faintest of noises in her sleep.
After lunch –and when Addie wakes- Esme takes her down the water, crouching down and lightly pressing the baby’s feet in the wet sand, leaving tiny prints behind. Sitting at the edge while the tide rolls in, the baby between her legs and resting back against her, gently splashing the water onto Addie’s legs and tummy; allowing her to get used to the texture and the temperature. Then wading out until the water just reaches the small of Addie’s back as she holds her tightly and protectively against her. There’s no fussing. Not even the slightest of cries or the flinch of discomfort.
“You are definitely your father’s daughter,” Esme says, as she presses a kiss to Addie’s cheek. “You’re a natural. Definitely not a scaredy cat. When you’re a bit bigger, he’s going have you out here all the time with your brothers and sister. Swimming, teaching you how to surf. All that fun stuff. You look me, but I think you’re going to be just like him. And that’s a good. A very good thing. Because he is brave and strong and has a huge heart inside that big body of his.”
Later she spreads a blanket out on the sand and lies down on it, Addie on her stomach and pressed against her mother’s chest; a towel loosely draped over her tiny body to protect her from the sun. The sand is warm and soothing against her back and combined with the heat from the brilliant sunshine and the sounds of the ocean, it’s enough to almost lull her to sleep. She’s exhausted; mentally and physically. It’s been years since she’s been able to indulge in even the smallest bit of self-care, devoting her life to being a wife and a mother. Even a few hours without the other four kids will do wonders for her body and mind. And she’s just beginning to doze off when she feels a slight –yet noticeable- change in the temperature; cracking open an eye to find a shadow cast over her.
“I was starting to wonder if anybody lived at this dump,” the familiar voice drawls, and her eyes snap open at the sound of it, quickly and carefully sitting Addie down on the blanket before jumping to her feet.
“Oh my god! Kyle!” The tears are already brimming in her eyes as she practically throws herself against him, and he laughs as he circles her waist with his arms and picks her up off her feet.
“Hey, kid,” he greets, and presses a kiss to her temple.
She holds his scruffy face in her hands. “What are you doing here?”
“Would you believe I came all this way just because I missed my little sister?” He tousles her hair affectionately and places her on the ground.
“No. But I’ll let you have it. Why didn’t tell us you were coming to visit? So we knew to expect you.”
“It was kind of a last-minute thing. I had some vacation time owed to me and I thought I'd take advantage of it. And I’ve always wanted to visit Australia, so....” he puts his hands on his hips and emits a long, low impressed whistle as he takes in the surroundings. The beach with its pristine, almost white sand, the expanse of the ocean, the house and the property it sits on. “...here I am. And wow, it’s even better than the pictures and those were pretty impressive.”
“Isn’t it awesome? It’s everything we could have ever possibly imagined. Every day it gets more and more beautiful. We are so blessed, K. In so many ways.”
“You guys sure are. I’m not surprised you never want to come back to the States. I wouldn’t want to if I lived here either. You look good, kid,” he reaches out to push wayward strands of hair behind her ears. “How you been feeling?”
“It’s been a rough one,” Esme admits. “I haven’t really been myself since having Addie.?”
“Post-partum or...?”
She nods. “Even worse than with Declan. That that was bad enough. But I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow to talk to her about it and get some meds. So I’ll be right as rain soon. I can’t believe you’re here!” She wraps her arms around his torso. “I’ve missed you. I’ve missed you so much.”
“Wow, your brain must really be messed up,” Kyle teases, and then jumps backwards with a chuckle when she directs a painful punch towards his stomach. “So where’s this new niece of mine? I didn’t come all this way for nothing, you know.”
“You’re going to love her,” Esme gushes, and takes him by the hand and pulls him towards the blanket. “She’s so tiny and so beautiful and so perfect. And she looks like me! Finally! It only took how many tries?”
“Tyler must have used up all the good genes on the first four,” he chides, a broad smile spreading across his face when his sister carefully places Addie in his arms. “Holy shit! She’s even tinier in person! I can’t believe how light she is. Like holding a doll.”
“Even the preemie diapers and clothes are a bit too big on her right now. She makes all the others seem huge when they were born. Even the twins were bigger, and they were early.”
“And then there’s Declan who was practically a toddler when he was born.”
“That was like giving birth to a baby elephant. Wait until you see him. He's at the neighbor's right now, but he’s huge! He’s so tall and he’s solid and so strong. Isn’t she just amazing?” Esme smiles down in pride at her baby girl. “Isn’t she just the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen?”
Kyle grins. “You’ve said that with every one of them.”
“But she’s even more so. Look at her. How beautiful she is. Look at all that hair and those huge eyes and those tiny little ears!”
“She’s beautiful like her momma.” he declares and pecks his sister’s cheek. “You did good, kid. You did really good.”
“Well, I can’t take all the credit. I did have some help.”
“One thing you guys are really good at is making cute kids, that’s for sure. I can’t wait to see them. I can only imagine how big they’ve gotten in just six months. Bet Millie’s growing like a weed.”
“TJ is almost taller than she is! He’s five, K! There’s no way he should be that tall and have that big of feet. And Tanner...oh my god...wait until you see his hair. He looks so much Tyler. Like the spitting image of him. It used to be TJ, but Tanner has changed so much. You won’t believe it when you see them.”
“I’ve missed them,” he smiles down at his niece and runs a palm over her hair. “It’s been hard. Being that far away from them. They’re happy though? They’re doing okay?”
“TJ has had some issues at school. Just some acting out and some aggression. We think he’s just struggling with such a huge change in his life. But we’re going to have a specialist look at him. Just in case it’s something more. It may be nothing. He may just have his dad’s temper and needs to learn how to control it. But it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“But happy? Are they happy?”
“Very. And healthy. They’re thriving here, K. They love school, their grades are good, they have friends. They spend nearly all their time outside when they’re home. They go swimming and fishing and Tyler is teaching them how to surf. They’re in their element. And that’s what we wanted for them. A place they’d be truly happy. Where they’d feel safe and secure.”
“And you? Other than this post-partum stuff. Are you happy?”
“It’s probably the happiest I’ve been in about fifteen years. I wish we’d never left. That we’d just stayed here instead of going back to Colorado. It’s where all our problems started. Everything just seemed to go downhill when we moved back there. If we’d just stayed here...”
“And miss spending time with your favorite big brother? I’m insulted,” he playfully nudges her with his elbow. “Not sense dwelling on it, kid. That’s all behind you now. Can’t go back and change it, so why even think about it? Nothing good ever comes out of wondering ‘what if’.”
“When did you become so wise and logical?” Esme teases. “That is not the K I remember. The K I remember still loved playing beer pong and doing shots out of random girls’ navels.”
“Well, you meet a good woman and things change. What can I say?”
His sister doesn’t respond, instead arching her eyebrows and giving a tight-lipped smile as she gathers up the blanket and shakes it free of sand before folding it.
“Esme...” Kyle sighs. “...don’t be like that.”
“Don’t be like what? I didn’t say anything.”
“You don’t need to. You’ve got that look.”
She laughs. “I don’t have a look. You’re just imaging I have a look.”
“I know Nik isn’t your favorite person, but....”
She scoffs.
“...she is my fiancée. She’s going to be my wife. You need to give her a chance. I gave Tyler a chance.”
“You didn’t know Tyler before you met him. I know Nik. I’ve known Nik for years. And ninety percent of that time, she was trying to get my husband to cheat on me. With her. She was doing everything in her power to fuck things up between us.”
“But she didn’t.”
“That’s hardly the point. She still did it. Why would you want to be with a woman you know was hell bent on being a homewrecker? And she wasn’t trying to wreck just any home. She was trying to wreck your sister’s home. How can you be okay with that?”
“She’s already apologized. To you. To Tyler. What more do you want? The pastis just that, right? The past. Leave it there. She's changed. You’ll see that for yourself.”
Esme’s eyes narrow. “Excuse me? I’ll see what for myself?”
“That Nik’s changed. What?” he chuckles. “You thought I’d take a vacation to Australia alone?”
“She’s seen plenty of Australia. Including parts I’d rather she’d never seen.”
“Esme, stop. That’s history.”
“Yeah, their history. Do you not realize how weird this is for you? That you’re marrying Tyler’s ex....whatever the hell she was? I’m going to be related to a woman that’s had sex with my husband. You don’t find that a little strange?”
“I can see why it’s a little off putting,” Kyle admits, and then follows her as she heads towards the house. “But it’s been a long time. Since the two of them had a thing. They’ve both moved on. He’s married, has five kids...”
“None of that matters to her before. Why should it now? It’s just weird, K. It’s just plain weird. That my sister in law was once banging my husband. Boy, that will be interesting conversation around the table at Thanksgiving. ‘Did you know Tyler and I used to fuck? Can you pass the gravy?’”.
“Okay, so now you’re being a tad irrational.”
“And it’s not just that,” she continues. “The fact they’ve had sex. On multiple occasions. It’s that Nik used him and manipulated him and preyed on every fear and worry he had to get him back into the job. She knew he had mental health issues and it didn’t even stop her. She didn’t even care. All she cared about was what she could get out of him. So I’m sorry if I’m not thrilled that that’s the woman you’ve decided to spend the rest of your life with.”
“And like I said. She’s changed. You’ll see that for yourself. All I’m asking is that you give her a chance.”
“I’ve given her tons of chances,” Esme tosses the blanket onto one of the patio chairs and wipes her feet off on the mat in front of the sliding door before opening it. “How many chances am I supposed to give her?”
“You’ve given Tyler tons of chances,” he points out.
“He’s my husband, K. Don’t even compare the two.”
“Give her one more chance,” he implores, as he follows her into the house. “And do you guys never lock your doors around here? I was able to just walk right in.”
“No one comes down this way. Except for you now, apparently.” She grabs the tea kettle from the middle of the stove, fills it with water and plugs it in. “I don’t lock them. Tyler does. Because he’s paranoid as fuck.”
“Of what?”
“Of anything. Of everything. Of everybody. Wouldn’t you be? After living the life he did? He’s pissed off a lot of people, K. There’s a lot of evil fucks out there that feel he did them wrong. There’s always a chance that someone is out there waiting for the opportunity to get back at him. Or at least that’s how he thinks.”
“And what do you think?”
“What I think is irrelevant. It won’t change his mind.”
“Is he getting any better? Is there any change?”
“He’s coping a lot better. He’s not as agitated. He doesn’t lose his temper as easily anymore and just fly off the handle. And we’re definitely do not fight as much as we used to.”
“But...” he takes a seat at the kitchen table. “...I sense a but coming on.”
“But...” she gathers the milk from the milk and a container of sugar from the counter, putting both down in the middle of the middle. “...he’s very...protective.”
“Of you?”
She nods.
“Pretty understandable. I mean, you guys have been through some messed up shit together,” he presses a kiss to a now sleeping Addie’s forehead and lays her along his thighs, a hand resting on her stomach to keep her in place. “He’s almost lost you twice. He doesn’t want there to be a third time. Any guy would be protective after going through what he’s gone through.”
“We’re not talking about what other guys would do. Let’s not pretend that Tyler is like other guys. How many of these other guys are...were...mercenaries.”
“Probably not many, but...”
“He isn’t protective like other men are protective. He’s over the top. Protective to the extreme,” she gently scoops Addie up and places her in the infant swing across the room, covering her up with a receiving blanket and opening the sliding door to allow the cool breeze into the room.
“I don’t think you can blame him for that,” Kyle reasons. “I mean, that’s a hell of a life he lived. And if he’s pissed that many people off and stepped on that many toes, he’s naturally going to worry about you. He just wants to keep you safe. He loves you. He doesn’t want anything happening to you.”
“I don’t think you’re quite understanding the depth of his protectiveness,” she stands on her tip toes to snag two mugs from one of the cupboards, throwing a tea bag into each one and covering them with boiling water. “You’ve never seen Tyler in action. What he gets like. Especially when he’s having one of his ‘off days’.”
“Okay,” he takes one of the mugs from his sister and she slips into the chair across from him. “Enlighten me.”
“First, I’m not telling you all of this because I’m complaining about him. Because that’s not what this is. This is about loving him and being worried about him. That’s it.”
“I get that.”
“Second, you do not breathe a word of this to him. If he knew I was telling you about these things, the shit would hit the fan. He doesn’t even like hearing what I have to say during therapy. And that’s with a professional. So if he finds out that I even mentioned all of this to you....”
“Your secret is safe with me. I promise. Did anyone ever find out about all those secrets we shared as kids? About the time we lit those firecrackers and threw them down Mister Johnson’s cistern? Or how about that time I caught you kissing Jennifer Parker behind the gym after field hockey practice in grade nine?”
“Oh my God,” Esme laughs, and presses her palm to her forehead. “Jennifer Parker. She was a grade eleven! I totally forgot about her. She was hot too. That nose ring and those dreads? I wonder what ever happened to her?”
“I saw her about a week ago, actually. She’s back in town. Married, three kids. Hooked up with a navy guy.”
“Navy,” Esme snorts, and pours milk into her tea. “She could do so much better.”
“Spoken like a true jarhead,” he teases, and reaches out to tousles her hair. “She asked about you, actually. I told her you were in Australia, married, almost half a dozen rug rats. Told me to tell you to look her up on Facebook. She’d like to touch base.”
“Touch base, huh?” Esme smirks. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days? I do enough ‘touching base’ around here, don’t you think? Isn’t five kids evidence of that?”
“You should look her up. She’d probably love to visit Australia. You know, you can give her a ‘personal tour’.”
“Okay, first of all, I would never, ever cheat on my husband. Second, that’s NOT the kind of marriage we have. And third, even if we did have that kind of marriage, I don’t share. I think you’re not completely understanding how this whole being bi things works, K. You watch way too much porn.”
“It’s completely innocent, I swear. You’re happy, she’s supposedly happy. You can be friends with an ex, you know.”
“Oh don’t you dare find some sneaky way to turn this into me kissing Nik’s ass and trying to be her friend again. Don’t push me, K. If that’s going to happen, it’s going to be on my terms. Not yours.”
“Fair enough. So back to this whole Tyler being protective thing. What’s the deal? You don’t think he has a reason to be?”
“It’s not that. And I love that man to the ends of the earth and beyond and this isn’t me just bitching about him to bitch about him. This is a legitimate concern.”
“Okay,” Kyle sips his tea. “Go on.”
“First, he’s not like that all the time. He gets into these moods. He’s always been intense. You know that. You’ve seen how intense he can be. Well this is Tyler’s usual intense times a hundred. I don’t know who or what sets it off, but he honestly goes into mercenary mode. Like I’m one of the people he’s been hired to protect and get out of shitty situations. It’s not like I’m not even his wife anymore. It’s like I’m....I don’t even know...a mark. Does that make sense?”
"I think so.”
“And he doesn’t realize he’s doing it. I know he doesn’t. Because that’s how his brain works. It convinces him there’s a threat and a reason to go into hard core protective mode. And part of me loves him for it. That he’s that intense about wanting to keep me safe. But there’s another part that can’t fucking stand it. Because I feel suffocated. Like I can’t even breathe. I’m not used to being kept under lock and key, K. I’ve never been like that. I’ve always been independent. I’ve always been able to just come and go and take care of myself.”
He nods in agreement.
“It’s like I’m not even a person anymore. It’s like I’m a thing. Like a package he has to keep safe and sound. Do you know how dehumanizing that is? When you don’t even feel like a human being anymore? When you can’t even go into town on your own or meet people and make friends? It’s bullshit. And I get he doesn’t realize what he’s doing or that his brain is convincing him he has to be that way. It’s not his fault. I get that. But fuck, Kyle. I need a life. Outside of being a wife and a mother.”
“Have you ever actually brought his up to him or...?”
Esme nods and sips her tea, struggling to keep back the tears. It’s frustration. Worry. Helplessness, almost. “It doesn’t help. Because like I said, he doesn’t even know he’s doing it and doesn’t know just how bad it is. And then I bring it up and he gets defensive and then I feel like a bad person for hurting his feelings. Which I am not trying to do. And this isn’t so much about me as it is about him. Because I’m worried about him. Because sometimes it seems like he’s come so far and other times it feels like he’s either stuck where he is or he’s going backwards. I don’t know what to do. To help him.”
“What about this therapist you guys are seeing? The marriage counsellor or whatever.”
“We haven’t been since a month before Addie was born. Just because all of the problems I was having trying to get her where she was until she was healthy enough to make her appearance. But we’re going back next week. That should be interesting,” she snorts. “He’s been so relieved he hasn’t had to go. I can just imagine what the first session back is going to be like.”
“I thought he was going on his own too. For the PTSD.”
“He is. But I don’t know what the hell he talks about when he’s there. I don’t go with him, so....” she shrugs, then drags her hand through her hair and places her elbow on the table, forehead resting on her palm. “.... I just don’t know what to do for him. And I can’t just sit back and let him struggle. He’s trying so hard, K. To put everything else behind him. To just concentrate on a normal life. On being a husband and a father. And he’s amazing at both of those things. He really is. I just thought it wouldn’t be this hard, I guess. That he’d be able to just walk away and leave everything else behind. But there’s so much in there; in his head. And it just won’t leave him alone. It won’t let him rest.”
“You can only do so much, kid. I know that’s not the answer you want to hear. And I wish I had something better to tell you. He just needs more time. It’s only been six months. Half a year to get over things that have been adding up for what? Two decades? He hasn’t had the easiest go of it. It’s probably hard for him to get used to having a good life. It’s not what he’s known, right? The job was his life. And then you came along, and everything changed. And that’s not a slight on you. I’m not saying you totally fucked him up even more. Because you coming along was a good thing. Probably the best thing that’s ever happened to him.”
She snorts. “Sometimes I wonder about that.”
“I’m just saying that it’s going to take longer than six months to fix things. To fix him. And that’s not your job, Esme. Just because you’re his wife doesn’t mean it’s entirely up to you. He’s making the effort, right? To fix shit?”
She nods.
“And he’s got the therapist and doctors keeping an eye on him. You’re not the only one that is dealing with this. Stop trying to take it all on yourself. It’s hard, I know. You’ve always been the type to want to take on everything on your own. Even when we were kids. But you’ve got to worry about yourself too. You’ve got your own shit going on and you’ve got five little ones that need their mom to take care of herself. They want to see you happy and healthy.”
“I’m not their only parent,” she reminds him. “I’m not doing this on my own. And I don’t want to do this on my own.”
“And he’s working on shit, right? He is getting better. Even if it’s slowly. Those kids deserve a mom and a dad that take care of themselves. Where would they be without either of you? Fucked. That’s where they’d be. Who’s going to take them if something happens to you guys? Tyler doesn’t have any family, I’m all the way on the other side of the world practically.”
“But you’d do it. If you had to.”
“Take the kids? In a heartbeat. No questions asked. But I can’t just run here whenever you’re having a hard time. I want to, but I can’t. You know that.”
“I know...” she runs the palms of her hands along the side of her mug. “...I just...I don’t know...I wish you were closer, that’s all.”
“Well you never know what could happen, right? After Nik and I tie the knot. Maybe this will be one of the places she wants to settle down in. We’ve been making a list. Talking about it a lot. Where we’d like to put down roots.”
“You wouldn’t stay in Colorado?”
“If that’s where she wants to be, sure. But once you left, there wasn’t much there for me anymore. I’m the black sheep now. In the family. And to be honest, I kind of like it. Everyone leaves me the hell alone. I don’t have to put up with anyone’s bullshit. They just keep their distance and I’m good with it. So it wouldn’t really matter if I left. I’d pretty much follow her anyway.”
“Okay wait a second...” Esme laughs. “....is that the same shit you gave me hell for? Just taking off and starting a new life?”
“At least I’m giving everyone a warning and letting them get a chance to get used to it. You just did it. Which took some balls, by the way. That took huge balls. Just saying ‘fuck everything’ and sticking around for some guy you barely knew. And before you argue with me about that, fucking someone for five days is not really knowing them, so....”
She gives a sly smile. “That was one hell of a five days, let me tell you.”
“I know you ruffled a lot of feathers when you did you, but I was proud as hell. My kid sister just not giving a fuck about anyone or anything. That was a ballsy move. I was impressed. And you know who else would have been? Dad.”
“Dad would have been pissed and you know it. That I gave everything up for a man? Remember how he used to drill it into my head growing up that I needed to be strong and independent and rely on no one but myself? Because I remember that.”
“You were a teenager. His tone would have changed once you became an adult.”
“Well he didn’t get that far, did he,” she sighs, and fights back tears.
“He would have been so proud of you kid. For doing what you did. And for the life you’ve created for yourself. You can’t tell me he wouldn’t be. And those kids? He would have adored those kids and you know it.”
“I know,” her voice cracks and she swipes at the tears that manage to escape. “That’s the hardest part, you know. That he didn’t get to see them. Because he was so good with all his other grandkids. He got a chance to meet them and spend time with everyone else's kids. It’s not fair. That he didn’t get that chance with mine.”
“It does suck. It sucks huge. You were his first girl. That was a massive deal for him. A girl after all those boys? He would have been extra close to those kiddos. I know he would have.”
“I didn’t think it would bother me as much as it does,” she admits. “I mean, he’s been gone for twenty years now, K. And some days it hurts just as much now as it did then. Sometimes I’ll look at the kids and they’ll do something or say something that reminds me so much of him and I think ‘I should call him or send him a picture’. And then I remember that I can’t. And that hurts. It hurts a lot.”
“I know,” he reaches out and rubs her arm comfortingly. “Sometimes it comes up and bites me in the ass too.”
“Can you not talk about this?” she sniffles and uses the sleeve of her sleeve of her swimsuit cover up to clear away the tears. “I really do not want to talk about this.”
He gives a sympathetic smile, then picks up her empty mug and shakes it. “More?”
She nods. “Thanks.”
They fall into a comfortable silence; Kyle moving easily around the kitchen as he prepares more tea and searches the cupboards and the fridge for something to eat. Settling on a large bowl of leftover fruit salad and a container of yogurt, preparing plates for both of them.
“Holy domestic,” Esme teases, when he sets down the mug of tea and the plate of food.
“Well it’s not like I had to actually cook anything or prepare it myself,” he points out, and drops into his chair once more. “But I’ve been picking up some new skills. If I’m going to be a husband, I need to be able to more than just use a can opener or a microwave, I figure.”
“Especially since I know that Nik can’t cook for shit,” she laughs.
“Right? If there was a way to burn cereal, she would do it. If I eat another plate of half cooked pasta, I may snap.”
“But I bet you keep your mouth shut so you won’t hurt her feelings, right? Don’t worry. I get it. Tyler used to do the same thing. The first year was nothing but shitty meals. And he’d just sit there and suck it up and eat whatever I fed him. He was such a good sport. And it wasn’t bad enough to kill him, so...” she shrugs.
“You guys have come a long way, that’s for sure.”
She nods in agreement.
They don’t speak for several minutes; enjoying the view of the ocean and each other’s company and the little sounds that Addie makes her in sleep.
“You know mom’s sick, right?” Kyle pipes up.
“Denny called me just after Addie was born and told me.” Denny. Daniel. The second oldest. A state police officer with more ego than common sense and good taste.
“Yeah, he kind of took that over. I wanted to call you, but he insisted that he do it. And once Denny gets set on something...”
“He’s a total dick,” Esme concludes. “He called and hung up twice because Tyler answered. Like, grow up.”
“Tyler scares the shit out of him. And Denny doesn’t scare easily.”
“Fuck, Denny. He called for one thing and then went off on a rant about me being so far away and only thinking about myself and how selfish and childish I am and blah blah blah. I don’t need his shit. And I won’t put up with it. Tyler finally got on the phone and lost his shit on him. It was epic. And so perfect. I don’t think Denny will be phoning again for a quite a while.”
“He means well, but...”
“As Millie would say ‘he’s a dick head’. But yes. He told me mom is sick. And? What do you want me to do about it?”
“You’re her daughter.”
“No. I’m not. I’m dead to her, remember? Those were her exact words. That if I stayed with Tyler, me and the kids were dead to her.”
“A lot of shitty things were said that night,” Kyle reasons.
“She’s been saying shitty things for years. Why does that one night surprise you so much?”
“You can’t carry that around forever, Esme. The things she’s said and done. You just can’t.”
“Really? You just watch me. She’s toxic, K. She wished death on my husband. That is not okay. That is far from okay. And I’m not going to be around someone like that. And I’m definitely not letting my kids be around something like that.”
“It’s bad, Esme. Worse than the doctors initially thought. That cancer’s metastasized. It’s spreading quick. Alarmingly quick.”
“Not my problem, Kyle. I can’t do anything about it. I’m not a doctor.”
“She’s your mother.”
“She was never a mother and you know that. Stop making her out to be Carol Brady or June Cleaver. She’s more what Captain Spaulding from House of a Thousand Corpses would be like if he became a parent.”
“She wants to see you,” he says once again.
“Good for her. I’m not interested. She spoke her truth, Kyle. About how she feels about me and my husband and my kids. There’s no taking that back.”
“I’m not asking you to forgive her. Because what she said is unforgivable. I’m asking you to just go and see her and talk to her. Hear what she has to say.”
“That woman won’t have anything good to say to me. Even on her death bed.”
“Do you really want that on your conscience? Not going to see her before she dies? You really want to be holding onto that?”
“I’m not the one who should have a guilty conscience. I hope her conscience bothers her to her last breath. But I know it won’t. Because she has no conscience. She has no heart. She’s evil, Kyle. Always has been. And maybe this is karma. Maybe all her shit has finally caught up to her.”
He frowns. “That’s pretty harsh, don’t you think.”
“I said what I said,” she drops her fork onto her plate and stands up when Addie begins to fuss in the swing. “You won’t change my mind, Kyle. So you can stop while you’re ahead. Quit wasting your time. I feel nothing towards her. And she deserves that.”
He sighs heavily. “Esme...”
“My mother died a long time ago,” she says, and carries Addie from the room.
#tyler rake#tyler rake fan fic#tyler rake fan fiction#extraction#best part of me#chris hemsworth character
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𝗡𝗢 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗡𝗢 𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗘 - 𝗗𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 2: Marseille: the New French Connection
“Arrive déjà la 4ème identité Marseillaise” (1)
More than 2600 years ago, Greeks founded Marseille (then Massalia). Since then, immigration has been the backbone of the city. Here, the term melting pot takes its real meaning. Throughout the centuries, Greeks , Italians, Armenians, Algerians, Tunisians, Moroccans, Comorians...called it home. Here you’re “Marseillais” before being “Français”.
Born and bread in Marseille (in 1981), I saw the city getting divided before my eyes. By the end of the 70’s, the french government parked an entire generation of immigrants from the Maghreb (who help rebuild France after WW2 and fought FOR France during the Algerian independence war) in an endless sea of buildings on the outskirt of Marseille (in)famously known as “Les Quartiers Nords”. Those white concrete structures were built in the mid 60’s, when “Corbusian” (2) architects applied their utopian visions on people’s lives. The result: drugs, poverty, alienation, isolation, anger… Rage!
I left Marseille in 2004 to move to New York. Back then, the gap between white “french” people and the 2nd generation of immigrant (100% French but some people tend to forget) was already increasing, the city was fractured.
The French Connection
Once upon a time, Marseille was the mecca when it came to the processing and exportation of heroin. Everybody remembers the French Connection: a 30-year heroin operation between Marseille and the US. A traffic worth more than $40 millions a year back then. Orchestrated by Lucky Luciano, the French Connection provided up to 80% of the US heroin consumption during the 60’s / 70’s. The morphine base from Turkey and Asia was shipped to the Marseille harbor, unloaded on the docks and processed in one of the many clandestine laboratories hidden in the Provence’s countryside to be transformed in the purest heroin ever manufactured (off medical diamorphine): La Marseillaise, as they called it, was 98% pure.
The network was dismantled, and after the 90’s pick, the heroin disappeared from the streets of Marseille (but this is another story...). Today, the few die-hard junkies remaining shoot up Subotex (3) with benzos to “spice it up”… a deadly cocktail. But another traffic emerged: Cannabis and Cocaine.
“Ici on est à Marseille mon frère,
Sortis tout droit du conteneur
Le produit qui t’met à l'envers”(4)
Here cannabis is embedded in our culture, quality is high and price low. Good Cocaine, on the other hand, was hard to come by, but now you can get dime bag of high purity cocaine quite easily. Without the presence of organized crime (”le milieu”, as they call it here knew his golden age with the French connection but was dismantled by the early 2000), the city was left in the hands of gangsters (called “bandits” in Marseille) fighting each other to death in a turf war that caused 34 homicides in 2016 (5). A heaven you’ll say compare to the 786 homicides the same year in Chicago, but in a country where firearms are illegal, it gave Marseille the title of “France Murder Capital” and the mainstream media did what they do best: spread the fear, pointing the finger to the common enemy: “Les banlieues” (Ghetto in French) and their inhabitants… The dialogue was broken and the city split in two, the North and its “bandits” versus the South with La Canebiere (Marseille most famous street in the city center) as “unofficial” border.
“Rick James said cocaine's a hell of a drug
Who else could put the hipsters with felons and thugs
And paint a perfect picture of what sellin' it does?
This is for the critics, who doubted the chemistry
Two different worlds, same symmetry” (6)
I used to come back to my hometown once or twice a year for few days, a couple of weeks at the most. In 2019, I decided to stay over a month. The homicide number that year dropped to 9, I went to the “allegedly” worst ghettos in town: La Busserine, Les Oliviers, Brassens, La Castellane etc… Les Quartiers Nords.
Where no there was no illegal activities , everything was quiet and relax, not once my wife and I felt “in danger”. Where drugs were being sold, everything was even more quiet…
Don’t forget, murder and violence is bad for business... and business, in Marseille, is good: at La Busserine alone, the sales of cannabis and cocaine add up to 15,000€/day during the week and up to 25,000€ on weekends with over 500 clients daily. The narcotics sale amounts to 70 millions €/year in Marseille (7), spent and laundered (re-invested) in the city. After some violent years, violence went down and sales went up.
Like any other ghetto, you’ll find here the usual set up: look-out kids (called Chouf, in Marseille slang, translates “look” in arabic) “chilling” on the side of the road and on top of buildings , hidden stashes in apartments, empty lots and garages, dozens of "read-to-sell” bags concealed in pipes and cars’ bumpers, ‘menu’ openly written on wall, obvious selling points (yet distant from the main hang-out spot where kids are playing) and a clientele in and out in less than a minute.
A Les Oliviers, the line of customers almost goes around the block on Saturday nights. Security is insured by the local “muscles” to avoid any “dispute”. Kids from the neighborhood point customers to the right building and tell them where to park their car. The operation is seamless. People are lining up, waiting to buy some hash or weed, a bag of coke for the evening, some K and possibly a couple of ecstasies and MDMA. Choice is broad at Les Olivers, one of the most profitable “cites” (another name for ghetto in France) in town with La Busserine (where the choice is lesser but the quality higher).
Nothing exceptional you’ll say, just another drug traffic… but look closer and you’ll see something I’ve never witnessed in 25 years living in Marseille (and spending lots of time in those “ghetto” as I was boxing in one of their local gym):
I saw white kids hanging out in the "hood” -to buy drugs, I know... but still- with no fear, feeling welcome, joking with locals, even getting drinks at the corner bistro.
Something unthinkable 10 years ago. Something hidden by the media. Something politicians don’t want you to know, to not lose the “fear of the other” they spent so much time to insinuate in our heads.
Let the people believe that only dirty, nasty junkies are going to those dangerous places to buy their dose of dope, whereas it’s their sons, daughters or even colleagues, who are going to get their weed, some pills and maybe a beer before going back to the “right side of the track” to hang out in the trendy and cool bars and restaurants of the “Corniche” and “La Pointe Rouge”
The French Connection is still alive but deeply changed in nature… french people are now actually connected. They’re bounding around something they have in common: drugs. Good or bad, I’m not here to judge, all I know is that as long as there is demand, there will be offer…
In one of the the countries in Europe with the toughest laws on narcotics, French politicians keep on playing Sisyphus (8) with their “war on drugs”…Decriminalization and comprehension healthcare solutions remains the only efficient -and proven- solution to fight drugs…
In the meantime, in the South of France, the new generation is getting together and making its own New French Connection.
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NOTES
(1) Translate: “Already here, the 4th identity from Marseille” Kenny Arkana refereeing to the 4th generation of MCs but also the 4th generation born in France from immigrant descend
(2) Le Corbusier philosophy : his vision for residential architecture included a great deal of services, business and activities to have the building self-sufficient and sustainable. He dreamed of "cleaning and purging" the city, bringing "a calm and powerful architecture"—referring to steel, plate glass, and reinforced concrete... This utopian vision has then been applied to low income building ending up in the creation of actual ghettos.
(3) Subotex is the brand name for buprenorphine, a drug used to get off heroin (like methadone, yet completely different in its use). If shot, it will get you high, add benzodiazepines such as Xanax or Rivotril (Marseille’s favorite) and you risk the cardiac arrest as it greatly slows down your heartbeat.
(4) Translate: “Straight outta the container, the product that’ll fuck your brain up” Fonky Family - Le Retour du Shit Squat
(5) https://www.20minutes.fr/marseille/1988379-20170102-marseille-34-tues-balles-lors-reglements-compte-2016-inexact-repond-prefet-police
(6) Pusha T - Trouble On My Mind
(7) From the show “L’heure des Pros” sur France on August 28th 2020
(8) In Greek mythology Sisyphus or Sisyphos was the king of Ephyra. He was punished by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity.
#marseille#frenchconnection#drogue#drug#heroin#cocaine#traffic#narcotic#cite#banlieue#lesquartiersnords#ghetto#cannabis#deal#dealing#france#hash#hashish#fuckracism#labusserine#lesoliviers#fonkyfamily#kennyarkana#corbusier#pushat#sisyphus#reportage#nofacenocase#dope#dopestories
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GO Rom Com Spotlight: @caedmonfaith
The most excellent @caedmonfaith (also Caedmon on AO3) has claimed 27 Dresses to adapt for Good Omens in the Good Omens Rom Com Event.
For reference, here’s a little background about the source material!
About 27 Dresses: Perennial bridesmaid Jane (Katherine Heigl) always puts the needs of others before her own, making her the go-to gal whenever someone needs help with wedding plans. So when Jane's younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman) snags the man (Edward Burns) Jane secretly loves, Jane finds herself questioning her role as a wedding junkie for the first time in her life. Meanwhile, a handsome reporter (James Marsden) sees Jane's unusual story as his ticket off the bridal beat.
We spent some time chatting about how the adaptation is coming so far, as well as future plans for it! Now, get to know @caedmonfaith a little better!
* * *
goromcom: Let’s start with something about you. You know how if you open a Tumblr chat with someone you haven't chatted to before, Tumblr tells you two things they post about? I wanted to tell you that yours reports that you post "#black widow and #clintasha". I love learning about which other fandoms all of you are in! Black Widow is amazing, I really like that character!
caedmonfaith: Yep, caedmonfaith is my tumblr, and that's the only social media I have that's not facebook, really. And that's really interesting about the tags I'm associated with! Clintasha is the very first ship I wrote for, the ship that pulled me into fanfiction and started me on this wild journey, but I haven't written for Clintasha in almost five years. I guess maybe I was just more active on tumblr then, and that's why they're like that? I don't know... seems like Doctor Who would be one of the tags, since I wrote 141 Doctor/Rose fics! LOL And yeah, Black Widow/Natasha Romanov is amazing. I love her so much. I miss writing for her, honestly, but Good Omens has sucked up all of my attention.
goromcom: Oh, I miss Rose so much, too. I really loved that era of Who. But let’s move on to your romcom! You are adapting 27 Dresses as your romcom. Has this movie been a favorite of yours, or is there some other reason you chose it?
caedmonfaith: I didn't actually mean to choose 27 Dresses - it wasn't my first choice! My first choice was 10 Things I Hate About You. As soon as I saw the list of romcoms, I decided that was the one I wanted, and started plotting the story. I needed to pick more than one romcom, though, for claims (I believe the number we were supposed to pick was ten), so I picked nine other movies I thought I might be able to do something with without putting a lot of thought into it, because I was caught up in 10 Things. I used a randomizer to sort them, with 10 Things at the top of the list, and 27 Dresses just happened to be second. But due to a laggy connection to google docs, I got my claim form in about sixty seconds too late and my first choice was taken my the amazing Mia_Ugly! I was salty about it for a hot minute, then sucked it up. I realized that she'd do an amazing job and got really excited to see what she would do. She's such a brilliant writer.
As far as 27 Dresses goes... I remember seeing it when it first came out and thinking it was super cute. I'm a sucker for romantic comedies, anyway, especially when they involve weddings, and James Marsden is absolutely beautiful. It's no hardship to look at him. This was my favorite role Katherine Heigl played, too. I remember watching the movie multiple times when it came out, because I enjoyed it so much.
goromcom: What's your favorite moment of your movie, and are you looking forward to presenting it in your adaptation? Any loose plans for that scene that you can share?
caedmonfaith: My absolute favorite moment in the movie is one that isn't going to make it into my story, unfortunately. It's when Kevin is at Jane's apartment and she's trying on dresses to show him the range of things she's worn for all the weddings she's been in. She comes out in a ridiculous, hokey dress, and he says, "What is that?!" She replies with a smile, "It was a theme wedding!" And he comes back with, "What was the theme? Humiliation?" I remember being really tickled by that line at the time, and it's the biggest moment that's stuck in my memory. Unfortunately, I don't have an organic place to put that line, so I'm having to scrap it.
goromcom: Do you plan to stick very closely to the beats of the original story, or make bigger changes?
caedmonfaith: Confession time: I haven't seen the movie in ten years, since I was pregnant with my middle child! I debated about whether to watch it again to refresh my memory or to go ahead without watching, and to be honest, I'm still debating whether to watch it or not. I didn't want to follow the film too closely - I wanted to put my own spin on it, and worried that if the movie was fresh in my mind, I'd be more inclined to follow it too closely. But my beta has suggested that I rewatch, so I'm on the fence.
I'm keeping the broad strokes of the film, but making some pretty significant changes. Crowley is playing the Kevin character, and he's a reporter who has recently had a 'fall from grace' after publishing some unflattering information about his publisher's wife. That's fairly consistent with the film, as I recall. But Aziraphale is taking the Jane role, and I've had to change him up quite a bit. In my story, he's a very sought-after wedding planner, nicknamed the 'Angel of Love'. In the film, Jane is in love with her boss and heartbroken when her sister, Tess, manages to catch his heart. The movie revolves largely around her turmoil over being a bridesmaid for Tess while watching the man she loves marry someone else. None of that made it into my story. There's no love triangle.
goromcom: Oh, I personally appreciate that change. Love triangles are not my bag, though they must be someone’s, as they seem to make it into lots of media.
Other than that, what's an interesting decision you've made in your planning so far--a notable casting decision, a changing of venue, or some other plan you have to paint Good Omens all over your rom com?
caedmonfaith: The film takes place in an American city I don't recall, but I've relocated my story to London (and Tadfield). I have Crowley in the Kevin role and Aziraphale in the Jane role, as the romantic leads. Anathema features heavily in the story as a matchmaking American heiress who has made her home in England and writes occult books. Newt is her hapless fiance, a boring accountant who indulges his love's every whim. Madame Tracy is Aziraphale's assistant, and is married to Shadwell. I'm throwing in nods to canon as much as I'm able without shoehorning them: I don't want them to feel forced.
goromcom: I am blatantly stealing this last question from The Good Place: The Podcast, but here goes: Tell me something "good". It can be something big or small. It can be a charity you think is doing good work, or you can talk about how great your pet is.
caedmonfaith: Oh goodness, this is a dangerous question. I have three beautiful, amazing kids, ages 14, 10, and 8, and they're all three awesome. My husband is handsome, wonderful, and incredibly indulgent of my fanfic writing, and I'm very lucky to have him. I could rhapsodize about any or all of them for hours, but I'll spare you.
I guess the most significant exciting thing on my horizon is that I have a major milestone birthday coming up on March 5. I'll be 29 again! (I'll actually be 40.)To celebrate, my best friend is throwing me a huge party at her house, and I have close friends flying into my town from New Hampshire and Seattle to spend a four-day weekend with my BFF and I. We have tons of plans to do fun stuff, and I simply can't wait. Happy Birthday to me!
goromcom: Indeed! 40 is slightly in the rear view mirror for me, so I feel like I can tell you that I’ve had a lot of fun with the ages that begin with a 4 so far. I hope yours are just as good. :)
And speaking of things that are good, make sure to catch the marvelous GO adaptation of 17 Dresses, coming very soon!
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Peppermint | 01
; Hoseok x Reader
; Genre: Fluff, future light angst
; Word Count: 10.6k
; Synopsis: Achieving your dream job is something that very people manage to do, which is why you’re all the more happier when you land a job on the film team at Poppin’ Culture; the biggest pop culture website, blog and YouTube channel around. What you don’t expect however, is to fall for the exceptionally shy and awkward colleague who is not even remotely your type. Or is he?
; A/N: This is just what I’ve been writing to try and get back into the swing of things. It’s just...light and fun. Was supposed to be a one shot but it’s getting long and it feels like a good place to end as a first part! Please send me thoughts, comments and encouragements as it’s a struggle to write lately ;-;
01 ; 02
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“And this is our main office. It’s open plan, as you can see so I hope that doesn’t bother you too much. We’ve found it works better to just throw ideas out in the open or to just get reactions so feel free to shout out if you need something. Everyone’s very friendly,” Seokjin smiles at you brightly, his thick lips turning up and making his eyes sparkle behind his glasses as he leads you into the wide open space. “And this is your desk. Feel free to decorate it however you want. Nothing will beat the car wreck that’s happening on Jimin’s desk.”
“Hey! This is artistic mess. Everything has a place and there is a place for everything.” The bubblegum pink haired man in question half stands, a finger pointing threateningly while his pearly white teeth peek out from beneath plush pink lips. You can’t help but smile, as his slim frame and cute cheeks make him look distinctively non-threatening and ruin any hope he has of convincing you otherwise.
It could also be the fact he looks like a hipster from Seattle with the thick, black plastic frames delicately placed on his nose and the retro 80s film shirt with an open black and white plaid shirt over the top. Still...he’s rather pretty and you wonder momentarily if you’ve somehow entered another dimension with astonishingly beautiful people.
Either that, or you’ve walked into the set of some reality TV show but you’re not quite willing to break the Matrix programming just yet.
Seokjin snorts and rolls his eyes, lifting a ring laden hand to brush his black hair out of them. It’s hindered slightly by the tan beanie on his head and you’re momentarily distracted once more by his impressive frame. The white shirt with the Jaws film poster on it stretches rather enticingly over his broad shoulders while his black, ripped jeans are snugly secured with a leather belt that has a Superman belt buckle.
Honestly, how were you meant to work in this place?
He’d already introduced you to Namjoon, the creator of Poppin’ Culture who oversaw all aspects of his slowly booming media empire along with Namjoon’s wife, Chaeyoung. She oversaw the HR aspect of everything and had been your first point of call before Seokjin had come down to retrieve you upon getting the call that you had arrived.
Seokjin is the editor of the Poppin’ Culture website, which is the big daddy of the whole enterprise. It had originally started 10 years ago in Namjoon’s university bedroom apparently, just posting reviews of retro films and any new films that came out.
A decade later and it was the biggest source of pop culture news, blogs and entertainment in the Western hemisphere. The website scores over 250,000 hits a day with the blogs averaging a pretty healthy number too and the YouTube channels generating a steady enough income to keep a small team afloat with ease.
His sheer love of all things cultural meant that Poppin’ Culture had expanded far beyond its original remit of film and now had something for everyone. There was the film blog, the gaming blog, the music blog, the television blog and even the book blog. And you’d heard rumours of them branching into sports with talk of a fighting blog and channel appearing soon which would be interesting.
Sports were a whole other thing in the world of things people obsess over.
Either way, you’d been rather desperate to get a job here when the opening had appeared on the job listings website for a new in house content writer. When you’d found out that you’d got it, you were pretty sure that you’d almost deafened Sunmi with your screams of excitement.
As a film major with an English literature minor, it was perhaps the dream job to combine both of your loves together and work with people who were just as enthusiastic about the world of film as you were. Your friends and family had long since grown bored of how you picked apart the latest films or their trailers, but now you would have an audience of thousands that would not only be receptive to it, but interested too.
In your earlier meeting with Namjoon and Seokjin, they’d laid out your responsibilities for you pretty clearly. Given that you were in your six month probation period, you would be expected to create two blog articles a week with the possibility of writing a video script if it was approved by the video team.
Two articles may not sound a lot, but you’d already been informed that you would also likely have to do some indepth research into the topics to provide factual information, along with making sure it wasn’t something that had been done before. Not only this, but you would be expected to be constantly scouring the internet to find new topics of interest and trying to catch the latest leaks before they even happened.
While you’d been hired for the film team, you’d been told that most people tended to dip into other areas to help out or if they had some particular interest in it. As such, you could be expected to possibly be asked to find out the Top 10 Facts About The NES or 15 Things You Never Knew About Taylor Swift or something.
Wasn’t the most scintillating of things to you, but you were willing to branch out and help if necessary. It was a small team and you understand that sometimes you’d need to pitch in when it was required of you, which in turn meant you knew that you could rely on the same help.
“Jimin is our music guy. He’s the one who usually writes the music blogs and videos but he also does the gaming stuff sometimes. Also has a regular book blog where he reviews obscure international books because that’s his thing.” Seokjin says, rolling his eyes as he leans against the desk.
Jimin’s desk is littered with piles of CD cases - who even uses CDs anymore? - along with three different pairs of headphones. He also has a ton of Funko Pop! Vinyl figures that you recognise to be musicians along with a set of Assassin’s Creed characters. You recognise them because Sunmi’s ex-boyfriend had them too.
“Really? You’re going to come into my space, and ruin my time while insulting me? Am I going to wake up tomorrow morning to find you shitting on my lawn too?” Jimin slumps back in his chair, pulling a pair of pink and white headphones over his head to rest around his neck while eyeing the taller man with narrowed eyes.
“You live on the top floor of an apartment building ‘Min. What am I? A wizard?”
“I wish. Maybe you’d wingardium leviosa your ass off my damn desk.” He grumbles, nodding his head at you. “Have you ever read In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami?”
The question is so sudden that you’re left standing with wide eyes, shaking your head slowly. You’d not read a lot of translated work in college, though you were hoping to change that. Jimin sighs and slumps in his seat, clicking on his mouse a few times.
“Fucking weird dude. Still not entirely sure what went on it.”
Before you can even respond, Seokjin is leading you over to the desk behind Jimin. This desk is even messier, only you really can see the artistic mess here. It’s covered in pencil sketches that are stacked haphazardly while a high tech looking electronic drawing pad takes up most of the space with even the keyboard pushed away.
The guy sat comfortably in the green and black gaming chair has a black beanie on his head too, only he has platinum blonde hair that covers his eyes. And what pretty eyes they are when he looks up at you; as if someone has reached up into the sky and plucked two of the brightest, shiniest stars and placed them directly onto him.
“Oh, hey. I’m Jungkook. Jeon Jungkook. I’m the graphic designer here...with a side passion of actual drawing obviously. I mostly use Photoshop but I like to get a bit hands on.” He talks rapidly, his voice quite deep but soft. Pausing, he bites on the black lip ring embedded in the right side of his lower lip before sitting back.
The vibrant and colourful tattoos that run up and down his arms do nothing to hide the obvious fit physique he has and you find yourself dragging your eyes away from that ridiculously broad chest. He’s only wearing a black shirt but my god.
Seokjin lets you both talk for a little, discovering that if you need anything made graphics wise then to let Jungkook know. Apparently he’s the head designer and has two more people under him; Jennie who deals with a lot of designing and Soyeon who handles their website and online shop.
You’re then introduced to Yoongi who is in charge of sound for the videos. He’s pretty quiet but friendly and bright, secluded away in the corner of the office with a soundboard in front of him, while his co-worker Lisa, a video editor, is entirely the opposite. They’re both sat on the same bank of desks, and the difference between Yoongi’s monochromatic desk and Lisa’s bubblegum pop explosion is almost amusing.
The video game team was made of Miyeon, Yugyeom and Baekhyun who all took up the corner on the opposite end of the office to you. You weren’t a huge gamer, but apparently the video game side of Poppin’ Culture was one of the most popular and profitable so you could understand why they had the largest team compared to the others.
Your desk is opposite Jimin’s, allowing you a view of him if you look to your right and it looks sparse compared to everyone else’s. The guy behind you is Taehyung and you’re pleased to discover that he’s friendly and warm with a bright box smile that makes you feel at home instantly.
Taehyung is the other content creator on the film team and someone that you’ll be working closely with, though apparently he also works with Jimin on music. From the short conversation you have with him, it seems that Taehyung mainly specialises in foreign film and you surmise that you’ll be left with most of the more mainstream options with the Oscar bait films being split between you both.
He seems enigmatic enough, with the white ribbon wrapped around his neck and billowing white button up shirt that ends with a pair of baggy, tan trousers. He’s not wearing any shoes, or socks, and you wonder if that’s a violation of something somewhere but no one seems to be saying anything.
His entire desk is full of various plants, artistic photographs in elegant frames and beautiful old film posters in miniature form. A photo of a black and tan Pomeranian is eagerly introduced to you as Yeontan, his dog and you can’t help but laugh at how excited he is to show off his lil pup.
But perhaps not as excited as you when you discover that Friday’s are ‘Bring Your Dog To Work’ day. Apparently Taehyung, Yoongi and Jennie all bring their dogs and it usually ends up just being people playing with them.
Yep, definitely the best workplace already.
“Hey Hoseok, come here before you sit down.” Seokjin calls out to the late entry into the office before looking at you. “I’ll introduce you to our head video editor. He’s the one who usually helps with recording videos, then he’ll edit it all together. He works closely with Jungkook for graphics and if you write a script then he’ll work with you to see if you want anything extra added in like humourous cuts, edits and so forth. He’s got Lisa on his team and a guy who works part time, Taemin.”
The man in question almost shuffles forward, a delicate looking hand gripping the brown fabric strap of his shoulder bag tightly while he looks down at his scruffy, black Converse clad feet as Seokjin introduces you to him. He looks about the same height as Seokjin, though all you can see is a head of messy chestnut brown hair and black circular lens glasses that looks like they’re going to fall off his nose.
“Nice shirt.” You say with an encouraging smile, wondering why Hoseok looks like he’s trying to crawl through the floor mentally. He looks up at that with almost shockingly wide eyes and you almost groan out loud.
This place is blessed or cursed. You’re not sure which yet.
He’s wearing a faded Jurassic Park shirt, the famous logo sliced by ‘dinosaur’ claws, while a pair of ever so slightly baggy and ripped denim jeans are kept up by an oversized tan fabric belt, the end trailing down to his knee. A knit grey cardigan covers his arms and you find it oddly endearing how it’s slipping off one slim shoulder, obviously far too big for him.
The shoulder bag he’s carrying also has the Back to the Future logo on it and you point at it with a grin. “Great Scott! I like your bag too.” You point then at your own chest, your shirt emblazoned with the Back to the Future logo and frown as his eyes dart down before his cheeks flush bright red.
His obvious shyness just seems to make him more endearing to you, and you let out a quiet laugh. There’s an almost awkward silence for a moment as Hoseok just stands there, giving Seokjin tiny glances before he finally sighs and points to the desk behind yours. Hoseok almost bolts there, disappearing behind the iMac and you look back at Seokjin with a raised brow.
He kneels down so he’s closer, the music of the radio that’s blasting out 80s classics drowning out anything he might say to you. “Hoseok’s a good guy, he’s just a little socially awkward. A hard worker, and he’ll do anything you ask but...it’s a little hard to get him to open up. Keep trying though, he will occasionally have a full conversation with you and I keep trying to make sure he’s included so he doesn’t feel left out. Don’t take it personally, it’s just how he is.”
Nodding, you turn on your own iMac and wait for it to boot up before going through the process of getting everything ready for you to work. Given it’s your first day, Seokjin just gives you some simple tasks to go through to help familiarise yourself with their method of working before leaving you to your own devices.
It’s as you’re sat reading through the style guideline for the blog that you watch as Hoseok suddenly appears in the corner of your vision. He’s rolled over to the edge of his desk, hands flipping through the stacked letter tray there as he searches for something while he presses his lips together and blows his cheeks out. You can’t help but watch him with idle interest as he does so.
He’s definitely cute, in fact he’s more than cute. Hoseok is actually stunningly beautiful and from the side, you’re getting to see his arresting profile with ease. A strong jawline swoops in bold lines on his face while his nose is a straight slope with the gentlest turn at the end, his lips thin but full enough to look delightfully kissable as he pouts suddenly without thinking as the tiny frown of concentration causes his strong brows to fold in.
As he finds what he needs, you watch as he disappears back behind his screen before sighing quietly to yourself.
It’s probably not very moral, but you definitely had enough new material to keep your spank bank going for a good few months now. If nothing else, you should thank Namjoon for that.
-
“Did you watch Roma yet?” Taehyung asks, rolling his chair backwards until he appears in your vision. His wispy blonde hair lays straight on his forehead as he rests his hands behind his neck, letting his long sleeved blue sweater stretch across his torso. It’s unusually tight for someone who basically lives in baggy clothes; you’re pretty sure he’s even worn his pyjamas once.
Over the last three months of you working at Poppin’ Culture, you’d understandably grown close with Taehyung as you’d bonded intensely over your love of film. It turns out he was also a film major with a photography minor, meaning he was exceptionally invested in the artsy films or just films with great cinematography.
You’d already been subjected to two passion filled rants of his about Mad Max: Fury Road and Blade Runner 2049 as being prime examples of great cinematography in big budget cinema. It was okay though, as you’d already chewed off his ear about why you thought Aliens was one of the best sequels ever made in history and he’d listened with interest.
There was nothing better than someone who was willing to indulge in your long winded talks about your favourite films; from cult classics to obscure favourites to Hollywood blockbusters. Your rapport with him was so good in fact, that Seokjin had had you do a test video with him to see how well you worked in front of the camera.
The results must have been positive as you’d been given a weekly film podcast with Taehyung that talked about the week’s releases along with any news in the film world. If there was time then you both would regale viewers with your favourite films and analyse them.
So far, it was doing pretty well and you were pleased with the numbers it was pulling in. Not to mention that people seemed to like your inclusion into the videos, which was why you’d ended up in a few other videos around music or even gaming just to voice over them. Taehyung had obviously been a hit.
He had a face for the camera and you’d already jokingly suggested in many a team meeting that they should make merchandise with just his face on it. His little fan club even named themselves ‘Taes Baes’.
“No, I haven’t had chance yet. I’ve been watching The Sinner, I’ve only got like two episodes left but I’ll check it out at some point! Alfonso Cuarón makes such good films; Gravity is still amazing and I’m still mind boggled at the sheer complexity of how that must have been to film with all the CGI they had to do but I feel like Roma looks a little more stripped down.”
Taehyung is nodding slowly, biting his lip almost absentmindedly as he listens to you. “Gravity is great, but you should definitely check out Children of Men. Much better, but Y Tu Mamá También is also phenomenal if you don’t mind the sexual scenes. But yeah, watch Roma. Definitely going to be a bit hit with the awards season and I can see him getting Best Director at the Oscars.”
“Really? It wouldn’t surprise me.” You muse, leaning back in your own chair and crossing your legs as you watch him now.
“Yep. And if he does win, then that’ll be his second Best Director win and it will also mean that Mexican directors have won five out of the last six. They’re killing the Oscars game lately. I still wish Barry Jenkins had won for Moonlight...way better than La La Land.” He sighs wistfully before nodding at your computer screen inquisitively, the beginnings of your latest blog post on the screen.
“Oh, I’m writing why I think Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse deserves the Best Animation at the Oscars. I liked The Incredibles and Ralph but if they win over the magnificence of Spider-Man then I will flip this table.” Pointing to your desk jokingly, Taehyung giggles sweetly.
Your desk has also changed over the last few months as well. A few cute Funko figures of your favourite Star Wars characters have popped up along with one or two more stylised figurines like your Xenomorph alien. Along with that, you’ve invested in some funky letter trays and pots to just bring some brightness to portray your personality a little more.
“I’ve not watched it yet. I know, feel free to pinch my arm. Hoseok has watched it though, he mentioned it the other day. Hey Hoseok, come here bro.” He calls out loudly, turning slightly to watch for the quiet man who spends his days on the computer behind yours.
Slowly, and adorably you might add, Hoseok’s meek face peers around the side of both his and your monitors as he stares owlishly at Taehyung beneath those outdated glasses. You’d say they were ugly, and they were, but he seemed to pull them off.
His hair is hidden today beneath a sand coloured beanie, leaving his entire face exposed and you coo softly at his tiny folded ears. It wasn’t something you’d noticed till Jimin had one day pointed over to the video editor, whispering words of adoration to you as he stared a little moon-eyed and lamented how his own ears didn’t look that cute.
It was beyond endearing, along with the slight pout his lips were pursed in. He probably hadn’t been listening to your conversation and so had no idea what was going on.
You’d noticed that Hoseok either kept an earphone in at all times or covered them with over-ear headphones when he wanted to work hard and not be disturbed. He certainly wasn’t rude but he definitely didn’t seem to be hugely confident in making conversations with people.
That didn’t stop people from trying to include him though, and you got the definite sense that everyone in the office adored Jung Hoseok and simultaneously wanted to hug him and protect him. You certainly did, and you were quite pleased that no one bullied him.
He, unfortunately, had the demeanour that would attract the attention of assholes but Seokjin and Namjoon ran a tight ship here. You did kind of wish that he got included in more outside events though.
“S-sorry. W-wh-what?” His voice is soft, the perfect mix of deep and high as he stutters out a response to Taehyung. The long sleeved shirt he’s wearing is almost salmon pink and has some generic looking cartoon on the front. It looks warm, and you find yourself lamenting the fact that you hadn’t brought a cardigan with you today.
“Spider-Man, the new one. You said to Jungkook that you’d watched it right?” There’s a moment of hesitation as Hoseok’s eyes flick to you before he’s nodding slowly. Almost immediately you grin brightly, not noticing the way that Hoseok pauses with his breath caught before his shoulders shift up to his ears.
“Oh my god, wasn’t it so good? The animation is just beautiful, it makes me want to scream. Like those cityscape shots? Could easily be mistaken for a photo if you just showed someone it. And the perfect blending of the different art styles of the Spider-People and god the music was so good. Miles is amazing and if it doesn’t win then I’m gonna Hulk out,” You pause and look at Taehyung who’s smirking in amusement. “Seriously, I don’t even know how to describe the animation. Think 3D...but not. You get me, right Hoseok?”
Hoseok’s eyes go astonishingly wide once more as you question and his mouth opens and closes a few times as he struggles to find an answer for you. He just settles for nodding quickly, reaching up to pull his beanie off and sort out his hair.
The chestnut locks have gone a bit wild under his hat and you have to bite your lip to stop laughing at how it goes all over the place, though another part of you wants to aww at how cute he looks.
“One day Hoseok, one day I’ll get you to spout poetic bullshit about a film you love.” You tease lightly, tapping at your gel wrist rest that lays alongside your keyboard to ease the pressure on your wrists as you type. He swallows audibly, causing you to laugh out loud while Taehyung chuckles and shakes his head.
“Hoseok has fucking terrible film taste. He thinks Batman v Superman was actually good.” Jungkook calls out and you turn to look at the graphic designer. He’s reclining in his chair, hands over his stomach with an ankle hooked over his knee while he observes the scene on the other side of the office.
Jimin is in the exact same position behind him while he nods his head sagely and you gasp in horror, a hand to your chest as you look back at Hoseok. “Say it isn’t so Hoseok.”
The man in question looks like he wants to sink through the floor as he gives a meagre shrug. Your wail of horror has him cringing while everyone else in the office sniggers and Taehyung pats your back in consolation.
“This can’t be. Why? Is it because your mom is named Martha too?” Jungkook lets out a bark of laughter at that while Jimin creases, folding over in his chair as his forehead rests against his knees from the force of his laugh.
Hoseok attempts to speak a few more times before he frowns deeply, taking a deep breath and shaking his head. “N-no. That was d-d-dumb. I just like Batman. I-i-it’s not my favourite f-f-film but it’s not terrible.”
You lean back and stare at him, raising a brow slowly as you narrow at your eyes at him. “What is your favourite film then?”
This is probably the most you’ve talked to Hoseok in the whole three months about non-job related work. You’re actually surprised he’s engaging this far, and you study him closely to make sure he doesn’t look uncomfortable or unhappy. The last thing you want is him to get upset.
But he doesn’t back down from your question, instead staring at something on his desk intently before looking back at you. You almost lean back in reaction, the intensity of his gaze far stronger than you’d expected and you’re surprised to feel a slight stirring of sexual lust for him. While you’d always acknowledge he was handsome - wasn’t everyone in this place? - you’d never quite seen Hoseok in a ‘oh holy cow’ light until right now.
“I-I-I don’t have one. B-b-but I like Jurassic Park and Blade Runner. And the Godfather. Oh, and Big Hero 6.” He adds as an afterthought, and you feel oddly proud that he didn’t stutter throughout the rest of the conversation. It was obviously just a nerves thing, but you kind of hope that he’ll get a bit bolder if you keep trying with him.
“Good choices. Solid. Not pretentious like the avant garde master here. He probably watches his porn in French black and white too.” A casual thumb thrown in Taehyung’s direction gets you the finger in response.
“It’s black and white softcore German, you heathen. No one does the group sex quite as good. The camera angles when there’s so many bodies.” He kisses the tips of his fingers before blowing them in the air, causing you to stare at him with a slightly grossed out face.
Looking at Jimin, you shake your head. “You know, I’ve only known the two of you for three months now. But I can easily see how you started dating. You with your weird music and books and Taehyung with your pretentious films.”
Taehyung gasps theatrically before smiling, fully aware that you’re joking around with him. Jimin on the other hand, snorts loudly and sticks his tongue out at you. “Hey, there’s nothing weird about my music choices. And what the hell. You’ve been listening to Billie Eilish non-stop lately according to your Spotify. And while she’s incredibly talented, I wish she’d lighten up a little.”
Turning to look at the cotton candy haired guy, though his hair was mostly hidden today by a black ball cap, you raise an eyebrow slowly. “Firstly, don’t insult Billie like that! Her songs are beautiful and soothe my soul. And also, this coming from the guy who listens to Morrissey. Unironically, I might add. Your opinion is invalid in this conversation.”
“...You know what. I can't even argue that. You right.” Jimin shrugs in defeat and sits back while Taehyung makes consoling noises at his boyfriend from his seat.
The delicate snort from behind your monitor makes your eyes widen, causing you to shift over slightly to watch Hoseok as he giggles. His white teeth peek out at you as he bites on his lower lip to try and contain his laugh.
And from how pretty and sweet it sounded, you wish he wouldn’t. The soft noises he lets out are oddly infectious, causing you to laugh in turn with a pretty dopey expression on your face and making you completely oblivious to the sly look Jimin and Taehyung are sharing.
“You love Imagine Dragons too, right? Hoseok listens to them all the time.” Taehyung says helpfully, gesturing with his chin towards the man behind your monitor.
Spinning back, you look at Hoseok with a happy grin and clap your hands together excitedly. “Oh my god, yes! I’m in love with Bad Liar right now, and Zero is so fun. I think Jimin keeps laughing at me for dancing in my seat.”
Hoseok doesn’t respond to you properly though, just nodding his head and smiling slightly as you playfully glare at the slim man across the office.
“On the subject of dating though...Hoseok. Have you ever had a girlfriend before? Or boyfriend, if that’s your thing.” Jimin asks, his tone not even slightly sly and you look at him in surprise. If he was trying to not be obvious, then he was being about as subtle as the Seattle Space Needle. Surely they’d already know this right?
As far as you’ve gathered, Jimin has been at Poppin’ Culture for four years and Taehyung for three. The two had started dating two years ago and despite your teasing, you were already confident that they were two of the cutest couples you’d ever seen.
Hoseok though, had apparently been with the company for years. He’d gone to college with Namjoon, Chaeyoung and Seokjin and had a film production degree. Namjoon had started Poppin’ Culture when he was 19, in his second year, and Hoseok had come on board once they’d branched out to a YouTube channel.
Still, you’re surprised by the way Hoseok’s cheeks go bright red and his eyes dart to you for a moment before he’s looking down at his desk once more. A wet tongue peeks out of his mouth quickly as he licks along his lips to wetten them, coughing to clear his throat before he’s looking back up at Jimin with a frown.
“Would you like the name of my e-e-ex-girlfriend? I’m s-s-socially awkward, not inept.” You suck your lower lip between your teeth as you look at Jimin with a ‘wtf’ look. As nice as he was, he was a bit blunt and you felt that situation could have probably done with a little more tactful handling. Hoseok looked like he could fry an egg on his cheeks and Jimin winces at the glare both Taehyung and you give him.
“Sorry man. I was out of line. I didn’t mean to insult you.” The apology is sincere in tone, with Jimin ducking his head and turning back to his work. You watch carefully as Hoseok eyes the younger man before letting out a quiet sigh and nodding his acceptance.
The atmosphere is slightly awkward now, and you’re desperate to make Hoseok less uncomfortable which is why you find yourself blurting out words you immediately want to swallow back up. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve not had a boyfriend since I was 20 and I’ve not been laid in four years.”
Almost immediately your hand is slapping over your mouth as your eyes widen in horror, apologies falling from your lips like honey as your cheeks burn with embarrassment.
Not only are Hoseok’s eyes resembling dinner plates, his jaw dropped open in shock, but so is just about everyone else’s in the office. Well, that’s certainly one way to make him feel better about himself you guess.
“I’m sorry for your loss. Everyone, we need to be careful with her. She’s going through some tough times. Only 26 and already looking at a life of non-sexual fulfilment.” Taehyung drones deeply, his voice faux-sincere and you glare at him while pushing his hand off your shoulder.
“I will delete your folder of obscure foreign films.” You hiss at him through narrowed eyes, causing him to burst out into laughter as his hand slaps his thigh in amusement.
“Oh god, you crack me up. I need to thank Seokjin for hiring you, seriously. God, get on with your Spider-Man boner before you accidentally reveal something else way too intimate for the workplace to know.” He snorts before rolling back to his own desk. The office thankfully goes back to normal after that, the low level of chatter competing with the soft sounds of today’s playlist.
Looking at your screen, you’re distracted momentarily by the sight of Hoseok still in view just around your monitor. He’s looking at you in that way people do when they’ve checked out, their brains focused on something else entirely and you watch him back in amusement until he realises.
Almost immediately he cringes, bowing his head slightly and giving an uncomfortable smile before sliding back out of view. Smiling, you shake your head and pop your headphones back into your ears as you get back to work.
You’re oddly pleased to see Hoseok stand up for himself bluntly, and you remind yourself not to baby him. He’s a grown man after all, older than you.
The flashing of your phone lets you see that you’ve got a new notification from Facebook, and you roll your eyes as you click on your screen to see what it is. What you see however has you slowly smiling as a flutter of butterflies take flight in your stomach and you tap accept eagerly.
You have a new friend request: Jung Hoseok
-
The next few weeks roll by quickly with Taehyung and you becoming inundated with awards season nominations, ceremonies and just general Oscar bait films. It had even resulted in a whole ‘Top 10 Oscar Bait Films’ video on the Poppin’ Culture Film YouTube channel which had proven remarkably popular, even spawning a sequel that was generated purely from user comments.
You’re actually surprised with just how much you continue to love your job, even with the sheer pressure of blog and video deadlines constantly breathing down your neck. And it doesn’t take you long to realise that it’s because of the people you work with who make working that overtime all the more sweeter.
Jimin is genuinely hilarious and when paired up with Jungkook he becomes hysterical. Lisa has easily become your female work best friend, with the two of you Skyping all the time on your work computers and soon venturing out into the world to go to dinners, concerts and the cinema while Taehyung is an incredibly hard working colleague who always keeps a close on eye on how you’re doing.
It’s genuinely one of the best places you’ve ever worked and you thank all your lucky stars that you’d been accepted because you were pretty sure that you were making some of the closest friends you could.
And then there was Hoseok.
Jung Hoseok still remained a mystery to you and you weren’t entirely sure why you so desperately wanted to figure him out. Or maybe not figure him out, because you kind of liked how shy and mysterious he is.
The rest of your colleagues have been pretty open books and you were pretty sure that you were on the verge of receiving daily updates on Jimin and Taehyung’s sex life - you were that close with the two. But you still knew almost nothing about Hoseok and it drove you wild.
What was even more annoying was the fact that only you were apparently bothered by it too. The others just shrugged and said that he’d always been quiet and introverted, so they just made it clear to him that they were there if he wanted to talk or make friends with them. Apparently he never went out on the workplace socials and he rarely talked to others via text or Skype.
Which kind of infuriated you, because it probably was true that Hoseok preferred to be alone and lost in his world of music. But there must be something horribly isolating about never getting invited to things or never being included, which is why you kept trying to include him in your own conversations. The others would sometimes talk around him, but you always tried to make sure that he felt comfortable and included in your conversations.
Taehyung had honestly admitted in a meeting that he wasn’t entirely sure why you kept asking Hoseok things, pointing out that you might be annoying him. But you’d countered with the fact that you always gave Hoseok plenty of options to slip out of the conversation, yet he would continue it on sometimes.
It had been then that Taehyung had flushed a pretty golden pink, nodding his head as he acknowledged the fact that Hoseok had opened up more in the last few months of you being here than in the years he’d been here. That on its own had made your heart hurt. No one could enjoy being so easily disregarded, no matter how quiet and introverted.
Currently though, you were slouched on your couch with your best friend, Sunmi, as you both ate pepperoni pizza while watching Avengers: Infinity War for the bajillionth time. You, because you just loved the film, and her because she really loved Chris Hemsworth.
Honestly? Mood.
“I swear, this is the most badass entry scene of any entry scene in all of film,” You blurt out randomly, lifting your fist as Thor appears on screen in the middle of the battlefield and shouting out alongside him. “Bring. Me. Thanos!”
Sunmi snorts elegantly from your side, taking a bite of greasy pizza and chewing slowly while she eyes up her fictional man with pleasure. A hum of delight leaves her when Thor meets up with Captain America and you laugh, poking at her side.
“Imagine being in a Chris sandwich.” She looks at you and wiggles her carefully put together eyebrows before giggling.
“I wish. God, they can wreck me any day. You know, I can’t believe that you get to watch stuff like this and then write about it or make a video about it. Why can’t I just laze around and do that? Do they have an opening for me?” She pouts at you, placing the crust back in the box before wrapping her hands around your wrist and playfully whining.
You laugh loudly and take a bite of your own slice. “For what? Sorry Elle Woods, but you’re going to have keep your bending and snapping for the judge and jury. I doubt Poppin’ Culture - The Law Version will be very popular.”
“What about if I wear a hot pink bikini?” She says seriously, her face carefully blank as you give her a droll stare.
“Yeah sure, lemme give PornHub a call. I’m sure they’ve got a whole audience just waiting for their law lectures from Bikini Girl 3.” Sunmi shrieks with laughter at that, rolling backwards until her head is hitting the arm of the sofa and relaxing into the pile of cushions there.
Reaching her foot up, she prods at your thigh annoyingly until you push her away with a sigh.
“So, how is your work though? You’ve been spending a lot of time there. Which, by the way, is ridiculous. I only spend extra time doing work if I’m getting paid for it because I do not enjoy my job that much.” Sunmi sighs heavily, letting her arms fall behind her head as she turns her gaze back to your large television screen.
“Okay firstly, it was your decision to take a law degree. Your parents are assholes but they’re not dickish. They would have been fine with you being a doctor instead. Secondly, you make so much money an hour that you shouldn’t complain. You can literally buy a pair of Jimmy Choos with an hour.” Closing the pizza box, you lean forward and place it onto your wooden coffee table before leaning back and patting your stomach affectionately.
“Firstly you bitchass, I don’t make a lot because I’m still not fully qualified yet. It costs a lot to be a lawyer and the work is boring because I’m in property law. Yawn. Secondly, I hate property law but I would’ve passed out being a doctor. Blood and snot? No thanks. Maybe I should just give it all up and go back to college to become an artist.” She says dreamily and you look over at her with a raised brow.
“Do it. If it’s what you want. Your life shouldn’t be made on a decision you did based on what your parents wanted for you, as much as you might want to make them happy. They’re not your life, and you’ll burn out quicker if you do something you hate.” Sunmi just hums before shifting the pillows until she’s looking at you.
“Still. It’s nice that you’re enjoying it. I’m happy for you. I need to meet this Lisa, so you better set up a playdate or something. If she’s banging, I may just bang her. I mean, if you’re alright with that. And she likes girls.” Sunmi wiggles her brow and you laugh, shaking your head slowly.
“I think Lisa swings both ways honestly, so go for it. She’s pretty and cute with a really nice and fun personality. I wish I could introduce you to Jimin and Taehyung as well. They’re funny individually but hilarious together. Urgh, I wish I had someone the way Jimin eyefucks Tae across the room.”
“Does he realise you can see that?” She asks, an incredulous look on her face and you nod with a laugh.
“Oh yeah. He just gives me an innocent smile. They’re fun though and make me laugh, it’s like a family.” You sigh softly, slumping down further into the couch pillow. Sunmi’s quiet for a few seconds before speaking again.
“What about that quiet guy? Hoseok right?” Pausing, you chew on your lip as you stare blankly at the screen and wonder how to describe him to her.
“Hoseok...is sweet. Quiet but sweet. He doesn’t get involved in conversations of his own accord still, but I include him and he’ll get more involved now. We even have whole conversations just him and I, particularly about our love of 80s films though they’re not very long conversations. It’s nice, I’m literally watching him become more integrated and it’s kind of annoying that everyone just let him stagnate in his isolation. Like, seriously. Did no one ever think that maybe he doesn’t get involved because people have let him isolate himself? It’s hard to pull yourself out of that, and he’s obviously trying.” You don’t even realise you’re half ranting until you see Sunmi’s bemused smile, causing your cheeks to heat.
“Anyway, yeah. He’s a lot more caring than people think too. He just doesn’t show it in ways that you or I would, nor does he talk about them. Like...the other week I came in one morning to find a tube of dissolvable vitamin C tablets on my desk. When I asked where they’d come from, Hoseok Skyped me and said that he thought I looked like I was lacking a bit of vitamin C and to take one with water every day. And then when I was feeling a bit tired, he made me a cup of green tea. I swear Sunmi, he was so sweet and adorable because he kept stumbling over his words while telling me that green tea was healthy and rejuvenating but he didn’t like the taste so he always has peppermint and he hoped I liked peppermint too.”
Sunmi says nothing for a moment and you look at her in confusion, wondering why she’s suddenly decided to be quiet. It’s not like her to not get involved in your conversations, only she’s staring at you with wide eyes and a pretty mouth that’s fallen open.
“Oh my god. You like him.” Her words cause you to pause, frowning immediately as you shake your head in denial.
“What? No I don’t. I mean, yeah as a friend. Or I hope as a friend, but not anything more than that.” She lets out a peal of high pitched laughter while sitting up, looking closely at your face with those mahogany eyes of hers.
“Yes, you do. Oh my god, he is not even remotely your type from the sounds of it yet you’re falling hard girl. Show me a picture of him.” You want to keep denying her, mind spinning from what she’s come out with as you wonder where she’s got this impression from.
But once Sunmi has made up her mind, then it’s game over for everyone else. Sure enough, you find yourself scrolling through your phone on Facebook to find a nice picture of him to show her. And as you look through his, admittedly few, profile pictures, you pause for a moment as you realise that maybe she’s right.
Only people who like someone try and find the best looking picture of them, too afraid that their friend or family member will laugh and think their crush ugly. The swooping sensation in your stomach is confusing, and you don’t know whether it’s shy excitement or just plain old nausea.
Finally deciding on a picture of Hoseok that has obviously been taken in a coffee shop, you turn the phone screen so she can see. It’s got dim lighting, and has looks to have been taken on a Polaroid style camera from the style of it but he looks good.
In fact, he looks beautiful and his bright smile kind of takes your breath away.
He’s just wearing a plain white, long sleeved shirt with dark brown hair parted in the centre, the strands laying carelessly on his forehead while those beautiful chocolate eyes stare out from behind the lenses of his glasses. The table blocks anymore view of him and yet you can’t help but feel the fluttering in your stomach slowly spread along your veins.
Hoseok’s smiles are still rare, but they’ve slowly been becoming more frequent as you continue to talk to him. And every time you think he should smile more often, because he has a face that’s made for a smile.
His mouth is stretched wide with perfectly white, straight teeth showing and the force of the expression causes his eyes to narrow, soft tan cheeks looking adorably kissable.
Oh, you’re totally fucked.
“Holy shit…are you kidding me? This is Quiet Guy? Shy Guy? Holy fuck girl. He’s gorgeous! Look at that smile, oh my god. And he has such pretty eyes, that’s just not fair. Oh, please go for him. I know I said that he’s not your type because you normally like either those hipster guys or bad boys but he looks like he’d be so good for you. He looks kind, like you’d call him and say you’re sick and he comes right over to make you food and wraps you up in a blanket before cuddling with you, telling you that you need body heat to stay warm.” You look at her with a raised brow as she takes your phone and scrolls through his photos.
“And he obviously likes you.” Her words throw you then, causing you to frown as you stare before finally asking why she thinks.
“Because you said it yourself. He talks to you, even when he doesn’t talk to the others. You’ve said he keeps conversations going with you. He added you on Facebook first and he’s taking care of you in a weird but cute way of flirting. Like I said, he looks like he’d be a good boyfriend because he’s already trying to make sure you’re healthy and okay.”
She hands your phone back and points at the screen, where a new photo of Hoseok is. It’s not from his profile pictures, so you just presume it’s one that someone took of him and tagged him in. He’s asleep on his side on a couch, his right cheek smooshed into a pillow while his other looks soft and round. Pink lips pout in his sleep, the ends turned up while his lashes remain firmly closed and his hair is all over the place.
You have the strongest urge to reach through the screen to kiss his cheek.
“I think you should think on it, because I know you. And you’re probably having a little internal argument right now about whether or not you like him. But...if you decide that you do. Then I think you should go for it, because he looks nice. Get to know him a bit more, get him to open up his walls to you a bit more and then see if he really is interested. It’s been a while since you smiled like that about someone, and even longer since you searched through their pictures to find me the most flattering.” Dammit, you knew she’d figure you out.
You don’t respond though, simply locking your phone and placing it down on the cushion next to you as you both turn your attention back to the film. But you can’t help the what if’s that float around in the back of your mind, wondering if perhaps she’s right not only about yourself, but also him.
Did Hoseok like you?
-
Quite understandably, your interactions with Hoseok are suddenly tinged with a film of awkwardness as you contemplate the fact that you quite possibly like your shy colleague. And that’s to say nothing of how closely you watch his interactions with you to see if there’s a chance that he likes you in the way you like him.
Honestly, anyone would think you were 14 and not 26.
But he made you feel like a teenager though. The fluttering of nervous excitement in your stomach whenever he would look at you with that soft, bashful smile he’d give you whenever he caught your eye in the office. The way you would feel sad resentment when he was ill or was working from home and so didn’t come in.
How could you not though? Not only was he soul wrenchingly handsome and pretty, he was also thoughtful with the few conversations he would engage in and he was so sweet and kind.
When you’d complimented him on the peppermint green tea he’d brought you the other week, you found yourself with a mug being made every time he got up to go to the kitchen. You’d be completely absorbed in your work, staring at your screen intently with headphones in to keep distractions at bay, when you’d suddenly smell the pleasant scent of peppermint drifting to your nose.
And then you’d look to your side and see a fresh cup of tea sat there, steaming slowly in your Star Wars mug.
A quick glance behind your screen would let you see Hoseok staring firmly at his screen, refusing to look at you and yet his cheeks tinging a rosy glow that made your heart tug. It was only fair to respond in kind, and so you’d taken to making him a cup of your favourite tea as well, delicious salted caramel, and leaving it on his desk.
He hadn’t complained, so you took that as a sign that he enjoyed it too.
Maybe others would look at your interactions with laughter or bemusement, but you liked them. If he was flirting with you, because let’s face it you were flirting with him, then you were quietly excited and hopeful. You could cope with glacial, as long as it would hopefully result in something at the end.
Currently, you were attempting to film a video talking about the films that were snubbed completely at the Oscars. Taehyung had written up the script for you but was suffering from a winter cold at home. You’d claim man-flu, only you’d video called him and seen the dark circles under his eyes, sallow skin and bright red nose as he’d sniffled and snorted his way through your conversation.
As a result, you’d had to grab your emergency make-up kit from your drawer and rush to the bathroom to apply it. Today had been a lazy day; meaning you were just wearing a pair of ratty black jeans and an ancient Star Wars shirt that had once been black but was now an odd shade of grey.
Once you’d felt that you looked at the very least passable to the potentially thousands upon thousands of people who would be watching your face, you rush back through the office to place your kit back before heading over to the recording room. Tapping on the door lightly, you open it up to find Hoseok and Lisa inside as they set up the camera and lighting.
Already, the big ring lights are glaring and you’re feeling hot as you move over to the two, watching as they mess with the camera before checking over the computer on the desk next to it. Lisa moves around to the front, standing over the duct tape X on the floor and clipping the tiny microphone onto her shirt while waiting for Hoseok.
He’s wearing a plain white shirt today with a yellow and black check shirt open over the top and a plain pair of jeans. For some reason, he’s apparently decided to emulate Jungkook and is wearing some tan Timberland’s as well, though they surprisingly work well with the outfit.
You’ve noticed that Hoseok isn’t exactly the most fashionable person, but he’s yet to wear something that you find genuinely offensive. In fact, you often find that he manages to look hot even when he really shouldn’t. Maybe it’s just a talent attractive people have?
Hoseok gives a small nod to Lisa as his eyes flicker up from the screen, the light being reflected in his glasses. Lisa begins to talk random nonsense, performing a soundcheck to make sure the microphone is working properly while also making sure the camera’s fine.
Once done, she helps you to thread the microphone through your shirt and clip it on while placing the main pack into your back pocket. You stand on the X while going over the script that you can read on the screen reader facing you on the table.
Lisa slips away while you’re busy practicing, going through quick vocal exercises to warm your voice up as you continue to read over what you’re going to say. In your mind, you’re already visualising what the video will look like and you kind of feel sad that Taehyung can’t do this. It’s a good script.
“Okay. Are you ready?” Hoseok’s voice is soft and light, every word sounding like it has been cautiously thought of before he speaks it. You smile slightly as your head nods forward in response to him before clearing your throat and clenching your hands a few times while letting out a deep breath.
“Am I in the right place?” Looking down at the floor, you make sure that your feet are squarely on the spot and Hoseok looks through the camera before giving a cute okay symbol with a wink and pressed smile. It causes you to bite your own lower lip, desperately keeping inside the ‘cute’ that wants to escape.
“Okay, recording in three...two…” He stops speaking after that and mouths out the final one before pressing the button to record, a red light sparking to life on the camera and immediately you’re smiling brightly.
There’s no real pressure on you to do a good take in one shot, because Hoseok will be editing the scenes together and making some shorter to suit the video anyway. But you don’t really like wasting unnecessary hard drive space for him if possible. Plus, it just means he has to stare at your foolish facial expressions for longer and you’d really rather not.
On that note, it’s a little unfair that he gets to watch your face up close with a 4K camera. Actually, you’ve never thought about that before and almost immediately your brows crease at the thought of him seeing every pore and blemish on your skin. Christ, the camera does not do anyone justice and you want to whine at the thought of him seeing all your bad points in such harsh lighting.
When you don’t actually start speaking and instead start making a distressed face, Hoseok’s head peeks out from behind the monitor and he frowns at you in turn. Eyes focusing on his pretty visage, you have to squint slightly to see him properly from behind the astonishingly bright lights set up but you shake your head to reassure him.
Rolling your head on your shoulders and blowing bubbles with your lips, completely unaware of the tiny amused smile on Hoseok’s lips as he watches you through the monitor, you force yourself to get back into the zone.
The rest of the hour spent recording goes more or less like usual, with multiple outtakes when you mess things up and cause yourself to laugh. One of the hardest things of recording videos is just being able to being able to speak properly. You’ve had to learn to over-enunciate sometimes to avoid slurring your words together, because that just encourages hate from viewers.
And you are not in the mood to get hate. It’s already hard enough being a female commentator on the channel, and you’d had to grow some pretty thick skin in both the comments and on your own social media.
But there were plenty of equally great people too in fairness, and you’d even kind of got to know some regular viewers from the constant interactions you got both on your videos and on your own Twitter account. It was nice to have a mini fan club of people who were willing to defend you against the trolls and raise you up when you’re feeling down, though it’s not nearly as many as Taehyung’s extortionately big legion of fans.
There’s only a few major mishaps this time, with a few pronunciations of your words going horrifically bad and you find yourself cringing. Hoseok has a good chuckle on occasion and the bright bubbles of his laughter make you smile in turn, heart sparking with happiness at making him laugh.
Once Hoseok gave the signal to indicate that he was pretty happy with the recording, you let your shoulders drop while your head falls back on your shoulders, a deep groan leaving you as your entire body relaxes. Reaching to pull the microphone and its pack from under your shirt, you move over to Hoseok as he turns the light and camera off before he’s checking over the computer to transfer the new video files to his solid state drive.
“Did everything look good in it?” You ask, leaning your hip against the desk while your arms cross over your chest. Hoseok pauses for a moment at your close proximity before looking up at you slowly, his beautiful brown eyes looking sweetly innocent and big as he takes you in.
It’s still ridiculously endearing how shy he gets around you, but what you like even more is how it’s only when he’s not doing work related things. The last hour has been spent with him practically bossing you around, barking out polite requests when you’ve moved out of frame or have said something wrong.
He wasn’t mean about it or anything, he just took his job very seriously and it’s what made him such a damn good videographer and video editor. He knew what he needed and wasn’t afraid to tell people what to do in regards to that, so the sudden reversal back into the meek Hoseok tugged at your heart.
“Y-yeah. You did good. Less bad shots today.” You pout at him theatrically before pushing lightly at his shoulder, just enough to make him rock where he stands.
“Hey! There’s no need to be mean. You make it sound like I’m as bad Yugyeom! I don’t mess up that bad.” Lower lip sticking out, you look down at the floor until Hoseok lets out a soft and breathy laugh, shaking his head while adjusting his glasses slightly.
“I-I didn’t mean-. I’m not saying anything else,” He looks at you and gives you a wry smile. “I-I’m not stupid. I think I’ve dug enough of my own grave here.”
You can’t help but laugh out at that as you lean forward, body moving of its own accord before you move around him and rest your hand on his shoulder. It’s warm and solid beneath your palm, even through the layers he’s wearing and you swallow in sudden awareness of the firmness of him.
He freezes in place subtly as well, the muscles under your fingers tensing a little as neither of you move for a moment. It’s the first time you’ve ever touched him, and neither of you really seem to know what to do.
Swallowing, you let out a chuckle that’s a little higher pitched than you perhaps intended but you try to make it sound as natural as you can. Even if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed now when your hand feels warm and bizarrely sweaty.
“Funny, you’re way funnier than I thought Hobi!” The nickname you’d overheard Seokjin calling him once slips out without meaning to and you cringe with gritted teeth behind his back, taking your hand off his shoulder to pinch your leg at your stupidity. “Well, I hope it goes well. Let me know if there’s anything you need from me or just when it’s done so I can look it over? Thanks and bye!”
You can’t stop how fast the words fall from your lips, a faucet stuck on full when what you really want is a vault so tight not even the crown jewels of England can get out of it. Giving him an awkward smile, you book it out of the recording room as quickly as you can and leave him alone.
In fact, you go so fast that you don’t get to see the way Hoseok watches after you with widened eyes of shock which soon melt into half-moons of unguarded happiness in the quiet room. His hand shakes as it moves up to press at the place your own hand had been, the skin feeling prickly underneath and his breath shakes as a hesitant smile slowly paints its way on his face.
You don’t see that, nor do you see the way he pauses on a close up of your face with a fond smile before closing the programme down and leaving.
#armiesnet#networkbangtan#btscreatorsnet#kkreationsnet#btssunshinenet#hoseok fluff#j hope fluff#hobi fluff#bts fluff#hoseok x reader#hoseok x you#hoseok series#bts series#office hoseok#awkward hoseok#hoseok angst#j hope angst#hobi angst#bts angst#coworker hoseok#office au
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Awakenings - Chapter 3
Awakenings: A Captain Marvel Fanfic
Series Masterlist
Previous //
Buy me a ☕
Character Pairing: Carol Danvers x F!Reader
Word Count: 2352
Warnings: Smut (F|F, oral sex, tribbing, vaginal fingering)
Synopsis: You had been living under the assumption you were straight. That is until Carol Danvers came into your life.
Awakenings
Dating Carol Danvers was even better than you could imagine. Seeing her fighting she came off as this complete hardass. Maybe it was the media or just the way she presented herself in public. You thought she’d be this really dominant, slightly cold, hardass.
She was not.
She was funny and soft, and kind, and affectionate. She took you to do so many different things. From the standard dinner and movies to overly romantic picnics in the park to just taking you flying to the top of the empire state building and holding you up there while you kissed. She was unpredictable and fun and not one single time did she pressure you to do anything you didn’t want to.
Not that you never did anything. There were long make-out sessions where your lips would grow numb from kissing and hands traveled up under shirts to cup breasts and tease nipples. Where you grind against each other’s thighs until your panties were soaked through.
After one particularly heated session, you had tried to apologize for going too slow and needing time. You hadn’t even made it halfway through saying sorry when she stopped you to tell you that you had nothing to worry about. That sex would happen when you were completely ready and not a second sooner.
Which made you love her just that little bit more than you already did.
It was only a week later when you knew you were ready.
She flopped down into the couch with a bowl full of popcorn and wrapped her arm around you, letting you tuck yourself in against her side. “So, what are we watching?”
You hit play on the movie. “Gonna catch you up on Harry Potter.”
She chuckled and nuzzled into your hair. “Sounds good.”
As the movie started up, you took a handful of popcorn and began to chew on it slowly. “I’m ready I think?”
Carol tilted her head a little. “Ready for what?”
“You,” You said. “Us.” She gave you a confused look and you let out a breath. “Sex.”
“Oh,” Carol said, dragging the word out. She leaned in so her lips brush over your skin. “Right now?”
“Mmm… I think. If you want. I’m ready.” You said, tilting your head back and opening your throat up to you.
She placed a slow kiss on the outside of your neck, sucking gently on your skin before lifting her head and looking at you. “How about we make it special? We go away for the weekend. To a nice bed and breakfast?”
You smiled. Carol was the one. Even if you didn’t last forever and ever, you were never going to regret letting her be the first. You loved her. It was too early to say it out loud, but you did. “Okay. That sounds really nice.”
She leaned in and kissed you gently. “I’ll book something for the weekend. I promise, I’m going to make our first time together, special.”
You were nervous for the rest of the week. You weren’t even quite sure what about. You knew you loved Carol. You knew you wanted to do this. But what if you didn’t like it and you never wanted to do it again? Or what if you were so bad at it Carol didn’t want to do it with you again? Or what if it turned out, while you loved Carol and you loved kissing her and grinding on her leg, you weren’t actually bisexual after all and you’d been fooling yourself this whole time?
The Saturday you were heading up, you dressed in a light sundress with bluebells on it and you had your bag packed and ready to go. Carol showed up at around 10 to pick you up.
“Ready to go?” She asked.
“Yeah. I’m ready.” You said, though your heart felt like it was beating too fast.
She picked up your back and took your hand. “Just remember, not until you’re ready. You can change your mind.”
You relaxed a little and nodded. “Thank you.”
The two of you went down to the street where she parked. She had a new Audi soft top and you looked at her with your jaw dropped.
“I might have borrowed it off Tony.” She said as she put your bags into the trunk.
“Oh, I see. Does he know?” You asked getting into the passenger seat.
“Mmm… I’m sure he’ll have been alerted.” She said jumping over the driver's side door as you broke down into giggles.
The drive upstate was really beautiful and you and Carol talked and laughed and stopped at just about every place that sold anything even remotely sugary and ‘unusual’. Saltwater taffy. Whoopie pies. Maple Candy. You got it all.
The bed and breakfast she’d booked was by the ocean and when you got up to your room, you went to the window and watched the waves crash against the rocks of the cliff where the lighthouse stood. The room itself was decorated with fall-themed items. Dark hardwood furniture with lace doilies and bowls of glass apples. Paintings of farmhouses surrounded by colorful trees and photos of the nearby forest during fall. The bedspread even had leaves of different shades of yellow, red and orange on it.
Carol dropped your bags down and came up behind you, wrapping her arms around your waist and kissing your neck.
“It’s really beautiful here.” You hummed.
“You’re really beautiful,” She countered.
You turned in her arms and kissed her deeply. She hummed and ran her hands up your back. She pulled back gently, tugging on your bottom lip as she did. “I booked dinner at an Italian place down the road. Thought we could make a romantic night of it. Take a walk down by the ocean. Or a fly over it.”
“That all sounds amazing,” you hummed. “But you think we can do one thing before all that?”
“What’s that?” Carol asked.
“Fuck.”
She stared laughed and nodded, pulling you back towards the bed by your waist and dragging you down on top of her. You straddled one of her thighs and she pushed it up against your cunt so you could grind on it as you kissed.
Both your hands roamed. You ran them up her sides under her shirt and cupped her breasts and tangled them in her hair. She massaged your breasts and started inching your skirt up.
You both broke apart suddenly and while you pulled your dress up over your head, she pulled off her t-shirt. You both took a moment to look at each other and take each other’s bodies in before you were kissing again.
She flipped you over and ground down against you massaging your tits. You moaned against her lips and rolled your hips up against her. Part of you wanted to take your time. It had taken you a long time to get here, you didn’t want to rush your way through it. Yet another part was needy and desperate. You had waited long enough. You want to feel her fingers inside you. Her mouth on your cunt. You wanted to taste her and bring her to orgasm.
She unhooked your bra and moved down sucking on one breast and then the other. Bringing your nipples to hardened peaks. As she did, her hand slipped into your jeans and she circled your clit. You moaned and tried to unfasten her pants.
“Hey, Cinderella,” Carol said, looking up at you. “Let me take care of you first.”
You nodded and she kissed her way down your stomach, pulling your panties down and kissing the insides of your thighs. You spread your legs wide and reached your hands over your head, grabbing the bed head and arching your back a little.
“Just relax,” Carol cooed, as she nuzzled at the inside of your thighs.
You let out a ragged breath and she placed a large open-mouthed kiss on your pussy. You hummed and your whole body buzzed, more in anticipation and the newness of it than anything else. She swirled her tongue around and sucked. First wide. Her mouth moving over your labia, almost ruffling your folds and sending a deep tingle out through you. Building from your cunt and creeping out through you.
As you got wetter and wetter, your arousal growing more and more. She became more and more focused. Her tongue going from large broad swipes that briefly dragged over your clit until she was drawing tight little patterns on it. Your moans became louder and louder. When she sucked your clit into her mouth you bucked up violently under her.
“Fuck!” You cried, your hands gripping at the sheets.
Carol smiled up at you as she continued sucking on your clit. She pushed a single finger inside you, gently fucking you with it like she was testing out your reaction. You moaned gently and clenched around it. She hummed as you began to relax again and curled her finger inside you.
Her fingertip dragged over your g-spot sending such an intense jolt through you, you cried out and jerked under her. She held your hips down and focused hard on what she was doing. Sucking and flicking her tongue over your clit as she stroked her finger again and again over your g-spot.
The sounds you made became more and more primal. Grunts and moans, gasps and half-formed words. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, that there was no feeling more intense or pleasurable than she was giving to you right now, she added a second finger.
The added stretch coupled with the extra pressure against your g-spot sent you over the edge. You came, hard. Screaming out and twisting under her. It was like nothing you’d ever felt before. Nothing you’d managed to get yourself to do.
She slowed her movements and swirled her tongue around, drinking you up with a hum, before sitting up on her knees and looking down at you. “How you doing there, Cinderella?”
You hummed and stretched. “Fuck, me. That was amazing.”
She chuckled. “I aim to please.”
You sat up and kissed her deeply and slipped your hands down between her legs. The salty/sweet taste of your cunt clung to her lips and you moaned as you sucked it off. You palmed her cunt as you kissed, and she hummed against your lips. The sound traveled straight to your already sensitive pussy, making it flood all over again.
She pulled back gently and leaned her forehead against yours. “You don’t have to yet if you don’t want to. I know it’s intimidating.”
“I want to. I want it to be us.”
She gave a brief nod and let you guide her back on the bed. You removed her jeans and panties in one go and looked down at her. She was so beautiful and so strong. You could see the definition in her stomach and arms and you ran your hands over her, wanting to feel them too.
You leaned down and pulled one pink nipple into your mouth and suckled on it. Your hand slipping back between her legs. This time you lazily trailed your fingers up and down her slick folds. She moaned gently and stroked her fingers through her hair.
You took your time. First kissing and sucking on one breast, then the other. When her nipples were hard and she moaned with the ache you kissed down her stomach. When you reached her pussy you paused.
“Start slow, build up. You can stop if you don’t like it.” She said gently.
You nodded and ran your tongue up her folds. You had been worried about not liking the taste. That it would be too weird. Too wrong. It was not. It was salty and tart and a little sweet. It reminded you of the beach and fresh fruit. You swirled your tongue around tasting as much of you as you could.
“Mmm… that’s it. Take your time.” She hummed rolling her hips a little.
You tried to replicated what she did to you before. Licking over her folds and nipping at her clit. The sounds she made were so sexy and you listened closely to them. Each time she moaned loudly you focused on the thing that caused it. Soon you were sucking on her clit and she was grinding her pussy up against your face.
“Your fingers. Use your fingers.” She groaned. You pushed two of them inside her and began to slowly fuck her with them as you kept working your tongue in random patterns over her clit. “That’s it. Deeper, honey. Curl them.” You followed her instructions, pushing in deep and curling them. She kept instructing you. ‘A little deeper.’ ‘Harder.’ ‘To the left.’ You followed each one closely, glad you had her instructing you. Your fingers touched down on the spongy surface of her g-spot and she bucked up. “That’s it. Just like that. You feel that. Keep stroking hard right there.”
You did as you were told, dragging your fingers over her g-spot again and again as you continued to suck and nip at her clit. She started to moan louder and buck against you. Soon your fingers were soaked and her arousal ran down your hand.
You went faster and harder. Her body seized up and she cried out and came on your face. You moaned and drank her up greedily.
As her body settled you crawled up and curled against her shoulder. “I am definitely not straight.” You hummed
She started laughing. “There was a question?”
You blushed. “Until I saw you that day… when you saved me. I thought I was.”
She smiled and you and kissed your nose. “Sometimes you just need someone to wake up the part of you that you didn’t let yourself explore. I’m really glad that was me for you though. You really are my Cinderella, huh? Keeping part of you all locked up.”
You hummed and nuzzled into her neck. “Mmm… Just needed my princess charming.”
~ END ~
#carol danvers#carol danvers x reader#captain marvel#captain marvel fanfic#fanfic#fanfiction#reader insert#smut#femslash#femslash saturday#awakenings
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It’ll Be Us - Chapter 3
"Check this out," Ben proclaimed with a bright smile as she wandered into his office, balancing a large plate of sushi that she'd brought for lunch. She set it down on a side table and walked over to where he was holding two phones – hers and his – and comparing them to a large paper calendar sitting on his desk. She squinted at the paper calendar, taking note of the mostly 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. days and the small, fifteen or thirty minute breaks in between clusters of two or three events, and then glanced at the screens.
"Holy crap," She whispered, taking her phone out of his hand. Her schedule had been completely revamped, starting with next Saturday. Suddenly, she was signed up for meetings she hadn't even heard of, mostly with charities and public organizations. A bewildered smile spread across her face as she took Ben's phone and began comparing his old schedule to his new one. "You went from an eighteen-hour workday two Tuesdays from now to a ten-hour workday?"
"Check out Saturday," Ben advised, doing his best to hide a smirk. Mal glanced over at the date in question and her mouth dropped open. "Three hours?" She asked. She couldn't even remember a day when Ben had had a normal eight-hour workday since they'd graduated. "Is this for real?"
"And they're later in the day, too," Ben pointed. "The first thing is at 2 p.m. That means that the morning after we stay out all night partying, we can sleep in and relax."
"If that's what you want to call it," Mal quipped. Ben swatted her knee a little with an eye-roll and then watched as she skimmed over the upcoming dates with a growing smile. "That's amazing." She whispered. "I mean, I'm not excited about all my meetings, but I'm excited that you don't have to do as many meetings."
"Yeah, and I skewed it, see? You have more charity events, public events, things that will make you look good to Auradon while I'm taking on more of the law hassling and judiciary stuff. And now that we have this balance, maybe I'll even be able to take Sundays off," Ben pointed out. He clicked a pen and then began crossing out things on his paper calendar with an almost sadistic look.
"Hopefully this will help me find something to be involved in, right? Didn't you say Auradon likes the queen to be involved in stuff?" Mal asked. She watched him write: "Moved to Mal's schedule," on a corner of a meeting notice and turned off their phones with a smile.
"That's right," Ben nodded. "And I was thinking of a few suggestions if you want them?"
"Yes, please," Mal nodded. She stood back up and went to go grab her platter of sushi. This she brought back over to the desk and put it down on top of the calendar, effectively ending Ben's scribbling. "Also, it's lunchtime. Stop working and pay attention to me."
Ben laughed. He uncapped a sealed container of wasabi and scooped a bit out with his finger. He waited as Mal pulled up a chair and then moved in for the kill, dabbing it on the end of her nose. Mal made a face at him as she reached for a napkin with a growl.
"Okay," Ben began, picking up a pair of chopsticks and using them to leverage a roll to his will as he thought. "Firstly, there's always a need to help lower-income families. There aren't as many in Auradon city though, so you'd have to travel a bit. I was thinking you might like more to help with a.) disaster victims or b.) education support. There are other groups of course, but those two have been really prominent in the news the last few weeks and also I know you happen to have… opinions on those two things."
"I have opinions on the state you left the Isle of the Lost in," Mal crinkled her nose. "How many disaster victims could Auradon possibly have?"
"You'd be surprised" Ben exhaled, slumping into his chair and staring at the ceiling. "We've actually had a steady increase the last few years in kingdoms like Powhatan, DunBroch, Ariel's gateway, Camelot-" He broke off with a dramatic sigh. "Places where they let things fall into disrepair before actually fixing them."
"Ariel's gateway?" Mal asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They have climate problems from that wall they built to protect Melody and harsh weather," Ben explained. "So everything made of wood rots a bit quicker. It's hard to keep up." He popped another sushi roll into his mouth and chewed as he thought. "I was giving a broad 'disaster' description though. Really, you could specialize in victims of a certain disease, sexual assault victims, roadway victims, or maybe-"
"Victims," Mal cut him off. She exhaled. "Education is something I can get behind though. What were your thoughts there?"
"Education is always prevalent because people are always convinced that they're being wronged," Ben shrugged. "And it'd be easy for you to work on the school board because they meet in the evenings when you're free, and it'd make you super popular in the eyes of parents and young children."
"Or super hated," Mal shrugged. Ben sunk a few inches into his chair and let out a longsuffering sigh of agreement. "I don't know. Is there a date I need to have decided what I'm going to throw my weight behind?" She asked.
"Of course not," Ben shook his head. "And you can always change directions. I'm just tossing ideas at you."
"How come I have to get involved?" Mal frowned. "Isn't being queen enough? What do you get involved in?"
"I pass laws since I'm the heir to the line," Ben laughed. "You can make declarations, and you can stop me from making laws, but you can't pass them unless a state of emergency is declared and I'm unable to."
"So, if you died or were seriously ill or something?" Mal asked. Ben nodded in acquiescence. Mal sighed.
A blinking light appeared on Ben's intercom receiver. "Your Highness?" One of the palace secretaries asked.
Ben clicked a button on the receiver. "Yes, Debra?" He asked.
"Someone from the… Knights for Freedom would like to schedule a meeting with you?" Debra relayed uncertainly.
"Knights for Freedom… Knights for Freedom…" Ben grumbled, lifting the sushi tray up to glare at his calendar. He leaned over and opened the connection again. "I have a meeting scheduled with them for next Thursday."
"The Knights for Freedom, not the Knights of Freedom," Debra annunciated.
"Oh," Ben sighed, setting the tray back down and pinching the bridge of his nose while he began to shuffle papers around on his desk. Mal picked up his phone and handed it to him, ending his search. He smiled at her and mouthed: "Thank you." "Knights for Freedom, Knights for Freedom... where have I heard of them?" He pressed the button on his receiver again. "Debra, who are the Knights for Freedom?"
"They're the… sorry, one second," The line went dead. Ben drummed his fingers on his desk like he was trying to remember something. "Oh. Maybe you don't want to schedule this meeting after all," Debra winced, "They're the extreme Monarchists who have their social media thing against the villains and the Isle of the Lost. They say they want to speak with you regarding the immediate security of the Kingdom."
Ben's shoulders fell and he stared at the ceiling in hopelessness. "Yeah, I might need to think on that one. Let me guess, they're angry about me proposing."
Debra didn't respond for a few seconds, and then responded: "Yeah, that would be it."
Ben rolled his eyes. "Not now," He told Debra. "I'm not taking any press or any meetings regarding my personal life for the next two weeks. You can tell them that Espousal Day details are still being hammered out and they will be released on October fourth."
Debra's side of the connection went silent and Ben buried his face in his hands with a groan. "This is ridiculous," He grumbled.
Mal took a silent bite of sushi as Ben began to shuffle through things on his phone. After a few seconds, the intercom came back to life. "Your Majesty," Debra began in a weary tone. "They announced they're going to come up to the palace to protest and hung up. Shall I post guards about the entrances?"
Ben grumbled as he pressed the intercom receiver. "Yes, only about the entrances though and tell them to not allow anyone to hurt palace grounds or crowd entrances." Then, after a brief hesitation, he asked: "Debra, have you been receiving the notifications about responsibility and schedule changes I've been making all morning?"
"Um… no," Debra mumbled. There was the sound of shuffling papers on her end. "Oh, yes, yes. Is this in regards to Lady Mal? Oh, wait, yes, it is." Debra hummed for a few seconds. "Oh, next week? Really?"
Mal snorted, and Ben rolled his eyes at her amusement. "Yes, starting next Saturday. I just let her know of the changes."
"Is she allowed to take stuff up before you're married? And why is there nothing scheduled for Friday?" Debra asked. "I thought you had that charity thing and now you're blank from two o'clock onwards."
Ben started chewing on his cheek in thought as he tried to stop a laugh entering his tone. "Well, see, Mal and I dated for a very long time and neither of us sees the point of a long engagement and we want to have a ceremony away from the kingdom so-"
"Please tell me you're not eloping overnight and not announcing anything to the kingdom a week before you're actually announcing the details of your wedding," Debra groaned. "Because you know that will just send people into fits over how she's 'infiltrating the palace' and 'going behind the public's back'."
"You know what, too bad," Ben declared through the intercom with a snort. "This isn't really about the kingdom. We're going to do a large event for her coronation and treat it like Auradon's wedding. Chances are most people will never realize we were actually married before then."
Debra made a sound of disbelief and there was the sound of more papers being shuffled around. "This is going to be so much paperwork," She groaned. "Okay. Fine. It's your wedding, your life, your kingdom, fine. I assume you don't want this information getting out?"
"Yes, thank you, Debra," Ben chuckled at her dismay.
"I need Mal's Phone so I can key it into my system, so I can schedule meetings ahead of time for her," Debra reminded Ben. Ben nodded and sighed as he looked around for Mal's phone. She held it up to show him, and he gave a thumb's up without reaching to take it from her.
"You'll have it before next Friday," Ben promised, sending a pointed look at Mal, who only rolled her eyes and gave him a thumb's up. "Anything else?"
"Ugh. I'm sure there's a list, but I have to put it together. Are you in-office for the rest of today?" Debra asked. Ben exhaled and budged the tray aside to check his schedule.
"No, only until two. Then I'm out-of-palace and down to Charming Castle. I'll be back around five, and then Auradon Emergency Services has a late-night meeting at seven," Ben rattled off. His shoulders slumped down in exhaustion as he listed the things he had to finish that day.
"Hmm," Debra hummed sympathetically. "Only one more week of this, I guess? Well, I feel bad to remind you of this since I know you have to fix things up there, but Corona is welcoming a new royal baby in three months and you have to clear the Cathedral for use since it's officially a historical landmark, finish paperwork from your meeting with the Charmington Officials last week, and you still haven't sealed those laws you've been working on for the last year."
Ben slumped into his chair a little and shook his head. "I have an hour and ten minutes; I'll try and finish everything up," He sighed. "Okay, thank you, Debra. You're a lifesaver."
"You're welcome, your highness," Debra replied. The light finally blinked off. Ben dropped his head to his desk and thumped it lightly against the wood a few times before he closed his eyes and made an incomprehensible sound at the back of his throat.
"I didn't know Corona was expecting a royal baby," Mal began in a lighthearted tone, reaching over and running her fingers through Ben's hair. He grimaced and sat up.
"Yeah, they are," He confirmed, stealing a sushi roll with his fingers, which was against the rules, and opened a drawer in his desk. "And do you know who it is?" He asked, setting a folder stuffed full of papers onto his desk and finding his pen from before.
"Who?" Mal asked. She moved the tray to give him more room. It was pretty clear that lunch, short as it had been, was over for him.
"Anxelin," Ben shook his head. "That's crazy to me. She was a year younger than us in school and then she married someone from Corona before Evie and Doug even got married. Now she's expecting… I think a boy."
"I thought Rapunzel's daughter was a first-year when we were seniors?" Mal asked with a frown.
"That's Ruby," Ben corrected her. "And she just barely got engaged and they sent out wedding announcements for next summer, like, two weeks ago." He let out a breath as he signed his name at the bottom of one of the documents in his folder and flipped to the next one. "By the way, want to be my date for the Corona Wedding and subsequent Cotillion as Mr. Jack Coebly becomes Lord Jack Coebly?"
Mal let out a laugh. "Only if there's a cake."
Ben laughed and continued shaking his head. "I can't believe she's having a baby. I literally grew up with her. She threw a ball of mud at my face during summer camp one time."
Mal burst into laughter. "Oh, I wish I could have seen that," She laughed. She imagined a smaller Ben spitting mud and pebbles out while struggling to get to his feet.
Ben joined in with her laughter. "Yeah, she had her moments growing up. We all did."
"I mean," Mal giggled, "People still talk about the time I almost destroyed all of Auradon, so…"
"Exactly," Ben agreed. He went down a checklist, blacking out little circles and squares before scribbling his signature on the bottom. "Okay, I'm going back to work. Thank you for bringing me lunch."
Mal frowned. "Ouch, I've been dismissed," She mourned, standing up and taking the remnants of their food off of his desk. Ben gave her a weird look, and she paused. He was giving her a look that told her she was stalling, meaning… "Do I have something right now?" She asked with a wince.
Ben looked at his watch. "Soon." He corrected.
Mal scrunched up her face, trying to remember what Ben remembered and what she didn't. He rolled his eyes. "Evie is coming up to do a dress fitting with you. She literally texted you five minutes before you handed me your phone to fix it today."
Mal let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness it's not actually important," She sighed. "Okay. I'm going to go then. I love you."
Ben smiled and waved as she walked towards the door. "I love you too," He told her. She heard the continuing scribbles of his pen on paper as she walked away.
______________________________________________________________
On Friday night, September 29th, Mal was waiting for Ben outside his last meeting, listening to the unintelligible debate as they finished things up. There was a sudden silence, and then the room exploded into sound. That was a good sign. Mal glanced at her watch. They were scheduled to wrap up in five minutes, but maybe they'd finish a few minutes early. Mal pulled a tube of chapstick out of her pocket and ran it over her lips. The doors opened and she slipped into the doorframe as people began to stream out in small clumps, heading home for their weekends.
Wow, it must be nice to go home and not have work the next day. Ben was lucky if he could take off Christmas day and one of their birthdays, usually hers. When he'd turned twenty-two, he'd taken off half of the day, similar to what he was doing today. Ah, the perks of being a lower royal and not having to balance everyone's problems.
Ben stood at the head of the table, shaking people's hands with his right hand and packing up with his left hand. No, he wasn't ambidextrous, he was just really learned at doing many things at once after eight years of single-handedly ruling a kingdom.
"Should we stick around to hear the drama again?" King Eric asked with a laugh as he slipped past Mal. Her cheeks turned bright red. This was the Seaside's yearly conference, so the room was full of Ariel's red and black-headed relatives. She slipped past one of Ariel's nieces who she had gone to school with and took a seat on the table. Immediately, she became a centerpiece.
"Okay, let me see the ring, sweetheart," Melody said, eyes sparkling as she pulled her husband over to see Mal. Other people, mostly girls, gathered around and chorused: "Let us see!"
Mal held out her left hand with a smile. Immediately, gasps ran out around her. "It's beautiful!" Melody squealed. "You're so lucky!"
"Ready to be a queen?" Melody's husband asked, taking Mal's hand to squint at the pretty stones.
"Ugh," Mal scoffed. "No. I'm not. I just want to be married." He laughed and dropped her hand.
"Well, it's only a few more months, right?" He asked with a smile. "Soon you'll be both."
Mal nodded and glanced down the table. Ben was holding all his papers underneath his arm, standing and waiting for her with a bright smile. She had drawn most of the attention away from her, so he was only talking sideways to Ariel herself as people bubbled around her in excitement. A few more months until she was queen, maybe, but in truth, she only had a few hours until she could call herself Mrs. Benjamin Florian. Eek. She had two bad middle names now. Or, rather, she will have two bad middle names.
Melody followed Mal's gaze to Ben. "Are you two going out tonight?" She asked.
"Yes," Mal nodded. A little color filled her cheeks as she beamed happily. "With all our friends. We're going to celebrate."
Melody waved down the table to Ben, who glanced over his shoulder in a joking manner, as if making sure she wasn't waving to someone behind him. He met Mal's eyes and made a motion over his shoulder as if asking if she was ready to go. Mal slipped off the table and parted the crowd with her arms. She walked over to Ben, who set his things down on the table and leaned into the edge as Ariel's relatives let her through. She put her arms around his neck, and he set his hands on her hips to draw her closer. They shared a kiss, inciting squeals from the people behind them, and then Ben picked his things from the meeting up.
"Thanks for coming," He nodded to everyone. "Mal and I are going to slip out now, so we aren't late."
"Have fun!" Melody waved. She linked her arm through her fiancés with a bright, blinding smile as Ben and Mal waved past everyone with their arms around each other's waists.
"Are you going to look like this all tonight?" Ben whispered as they hurried through the corridors towards the garage, where a stretch car was waiting for them. He picked at her shirt, which was a solid purple, modest top. It had a wide hem across the top and bottom, and was elbow length, without any patterns at all. She wore black jeans with black patches underneath some decorative rips, and combat boots.
"Of course not," Mal rolled her eyes. "Evie would flip out if I married you like this." The two shared a laugh, and Ben presented his own outfit to her for her opinion.
"Do you think I'm safe?" He asked. He wore a long-sleeved blue button-up shirt and dark grey pants. "I think this is the same thing I wore to Evie's birthday last year," He continued with a laugh.
"Absolutely not," Mal shook her head. "You should know that Evie never allows for important occasion outfit repeats. Why do you think I need a separate closet for dresses?" She elbowed Ben with a smile. "She has things for you. She didn't trust you to dress properly."
"Ouch," Ben snorted. "You'd think I could have figured it out since I'm twenty-four and I've been king for almost nine years, but apparently not."
Mal's mouth dropped open. "Oh my gosh, when did we come to Auradon?" She gasped, staring at the ground as the continued walking. "Wasn't it October? Holy crap, has it really almost been nine years?"
"Isn't it insane?" Ben asked. "Everyone's grown up and gotten married and some of our old classmates have kids…" He shook his head and let out a weary breath.
"We're almost there," Mal smirked. "And then no one can say we're the last in our year to get married."
Ben hummed in agreement as they reached the elevators to the garage. He pressed the button for her and guided her in once the doors opened. Mal waited for him to press the button and then pushed him into the wall of the elevator, pressing herself against him. He laughed at her as she leaned into his grasp, listening to his heartbeat as he kissed her head and rubbed her back. The floors changed, and he leaned down to whisper: "Better get up. You know they won't have let us beat them there."
She hummed in acquiesce and straightened herself, though she stole his left hand and held it tightly. He leaned down just as the elevator reached their floor and kissed her softly. Her toes curled and she leaned into him before they heard the ding of the doors and looked up.
The sound of cheers filled their ears. Glitter spilled into the elevator, making Mal squawk a little in outrage as silver sparkles fell into her hair and onto her skin. Doug, Jay, and Carlos let off four or five tiny party poppers each, the kind that parents got for small children on holidays, making colored paper rain down on the group from above.
Mal raised a hand triumphant over her head and yelled in excitement.
"Let's get this party started!" Jay declared, jumping up onto the palace limo in his excitement, and then helping Lonnie up onto the hood as well.
Ben, Mal, Belle, Adam, Evie, Jay, Carlos, Doug, Jane, and Lonnie crowded into the car and spread out as the driver guided them out of the palace. They all had to show ID on the way out, but soon they were cruising along on their way to Merida's Kingdom of DunBroch.
"I have Newlywed questions!" Evie announced as the car slowed into early evening traffic as people rushed home on their Friday nights. She shook a basket full of tiny papers, and everyone laughed. When Evie and Doug had gotten married, everyone had come up with embarrassing or funny questions to ask the new couple. Ben snatched one up immediately, cleared his throat, and turned to Mal with utmost seriousness. "Okay Mal, if my mother in law were an animal, which would she be?"
"That is not the question!" Mal protested, snatching the question out of his hand as Ben leaned back into his seat, laughing. "See? It's not the question. The question is: what color was I wearing on our first date?"
"You answer first," Ben laughed.
Evie frowned. "Wait, but Mal only wears one color! That's not fair!"
"You set up the game," Jay shrugged, shuffling through the papers to find a good one. "Ah-ha! What is the strangest place the two of you have done the dirty?"
"Okay okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Mal rolled her eyes. "Ben's mother-in-law would be a dragon if she weren't a lizard. My mother in law would be a mouse because then she could hide away in the library all the time." Mal paused to lean over and high-five Belle, who was already laughing so much her eyes were filling with tears. Or, maybe, that was just due to the occasion. "I wore purple and Ben wore-" She slapped her hand onto her knee as she remembered: "He wore blue but he also had swim trunks with crowns on them underneath that!"
"You didn't answer my question!" Jay reminded her with a frown, waving his slip of paper like a little flag. "Strangest place, come on. My guess is on the Isle of the Lost somehow."
"No," Ben shook his head, covering his eyes and pinching his brow in the same motion.
"Ben's king," Mal reminded her friends. "He's not allowed to conduct himself in such a frivolous manner."
Ben hit her arm lightly. "Quit taking digs at me," He told her. "You were just fine with that explanation when we were nineteen, I don't see why you keep bringing it up more and more now that we're actually getting married."
"Wait, at all?" Jay's mouth dropped open.
"Next question," Mal declared, reaching for another slip of paper. "By the way, we should ask you guys some of these things. Specifically, Jay and Lonnie since they're the ones who are holding out of us."
"You can do the Carlos-Jane-Evie-Doug thing and go for standard engagement time, or you can do Ben and Mal's thing and wait, like, five hours, or you can keep holding out for the right day, and that's what we're doing," Jay shrugged, leaning back into Lonnie's knee and smirking up at her.
"Oh, this is another one we can't really answer," Mal grumbled, shuffling through slips of paper. "Hey, Ben, what do I normally wear to bed?"
"Whatever pajamas are in your drawer," Ben shrugged. "And a ponytail because you hate the feel of hair on your neck as you sleep."
"That's right," Mal nodded with a satisfied smile. "And Ben is big into tank-tops and shorts, but you never know because he wears his blue bathrobe until he actually gets into bed."
The window between the driver and the passengers slid open. "Sorry to interrupt," The driver announced, glancing into the mirror at them all. "Are we stopping by Auradon Courthouse to get a license before we go to DunBroch?"
"Yes, thank you," Ben confirmed, dropping an arm around Mal's shoulder and pulling her close to him. The window closed and Ben picked up the basket of questions and began shuffling. "So, Evie, why don't you tell us what your agenda is while Mal and I go through a few more of these?" He suggested, digging deep and picking one at random.
"I have your outfits in the back," Evie smiled. "And everything is set up. Since Doug, Carlos, and Jane are qualified to witness and your dad is officiating, we can literally do this anywhere once we have your license."
"Like, here in the car?" Carlos asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't give Mal any ideas," Adam warned with a grunt. "She'll take us up on that, don't think she won't."
"No," Evie glared at her best friend, who was nodding and looking like she didn't think it was such a bad idea. "No. Not until you're in the dress. So help me, Mal-" Evie made a furious gesture that had Doug laughing and pulling her back so he could rub her hands and calm her down.
Ben elbowed Mal. "First impression?" He asked.
"You were a prince!" Mal exploded, completely baffled. "And then you held onto my hand for an extra two seconds and you were staring at me, and then when you started talking it was right to me and not anyone else, and I was like: What are you doing?"
"Hey, hey Mal," Carlos whispered, reaching across the car to poke Mal with his foot. He flicked his head to Ben and whispered: "Does he shed much?"
"Okay!" Ben groaned as everyone laughed. Belle and Adam, who had heard the joke a few too many times, just shook their heads as they watched the young people interact.
Mal hummed as she raked her fingers through the basket. She picked one, skimmed it, and then slumped her shoulders a little. "What?" Ben asked, leaning over her shoulder. She held it at an easier angle for him to read, and he nodded as he leaned back into his seat.
"What is it?" Jane asked, reaching to steal the basket from Mal as Mal heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes.
"How many kids does your spouse want?" Ben announced to the car. He elbowed Mal. "Zero." Mal took a slow hiss of breath and nodded as Ben rolled his eyes. "Do you know the answer for me?" He asked.
"I don't want to imagine," Mal joked, turning to examine him as he raised an eyebrow.
"Go on, guess," He encouraged. "We've never talked about this, so it's not something you should know an easy answer to."
Mal hummed and traced his facial features with her eyes. "It's between three and five," She announced to the car. Ben's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Five," She decided and leaned back into his shoulder. "Was I right?"
Ben raised his hands in the air with a small laugh. "She knows me, guys." Mal nodded, biting her lip and staring at the carpet as Belle and Adam exchanged amused looks. Everyone else looked a little uneasy at the lack of conversation and the two bitter ends.
Adam let out a guffaw to break the tension. "That sounds exactly like me," He chuckled.
Belle threw her head back a little. "I know!" She laughed.
Mal dropped her shoulders and stared at her future in-laws. "Really?" She asked. "You?"
Belle and Adam nodded through laughter, and Adam pointed at Ben. "Your mother," He began, shaking his head. "Fought tooth and nail for you to be born, and I was not convinced until…" He turned to Belle. "When was I convinced, darling?"
"Right at the end," Belle shook her head, making a motion with her hands to mark the end of a timeline. "I remember you were still shaking your head at me when I was in labor and we were heading to the hospital, and I snapped at you because you were acting like a butthead." She rolled her eyes and squeezed Adam's hand as he laughed and nodded along to her words. "But then I put Ben in your arms, and you held him for a few seconds, and I watched all your walls crumble." Belle spread her hands with a satisfied smile. "So, I got my baby and Adam got over his dad issues."
"In that order," Evie laughed, setting a hand around her belly and leaning her head on Doug's shoulder.
"In that order," Belle agreed, laughing. "And it only took four years."
"But dad," Ben asked, sounding a bit astounded, "You had Auradon to think of. What were you planning on doing?"
"Not having children until I absolutely had to," Adam shrugged. "I just didn't really see the appeal, to be honest. Belle was all over baby names and setting up your nursery and rooms as a kid, and she arranged every birthday, every Christmas, every Easter for you growing up, and when she was making all her plans, I never really got why she wanted it so bad." He squeezed Belle's hand and smiled. "Is it too late for me to tell you that you were right?" He asked.
Belle held her chin up with pride. "Not at all," She smiled, biting her lip as she looked at Ben and Mal, arms around each other and both looking a little surprised. "And really, I think we did just fine with him."
"I think so too," Mal whispered. She leaned her head onto his chest and wrapped her arm around his middle in a flat sort of hug. Everyone laughed. Outside, the car slowed to a stop.
"Here's us," Ben laughed. He got up, still hunched in the small space, and offered his hand to Mal. "Dad, Doug, Carlos, I think we need you guys to witness for us."
"Yeah, I'm staying here to scheme things," Jane laughed, removing her arms from where they'd been around Carlos's shoulders and scooting down towards Evie.
The door opened, and the driver appeared. "Courthouse," He announced, holding out a hand as he helped Ben out. He then moved out of the way as Ben turned to take Mal's hand and help her out of the car.
"Do we need to cover your hair?" Ben asked as Mal straightened up and stretched her arms over her head. She shrugged.
"Maybe," She nodded. She leaned back inside. "E, do you have a hat? And some sunglasses, maybe?"
"I do," Evie declared with a satisfied smirk. She got up. Everyone let her pass ahead of them out of the stretch car before Carlos, Doug, and Adam followed her out. Evie walked around to the back of the car and pressed a button. Inside were two garment bags, some shoes, and a box full of odds and ends. Disguises. Evie handed Mal a wide-brimmed black hat, which she quickly twisted her hair up underneath. Evie handed Ben a baseball cap, which immediately turned him from a 24-year-old executive leader into a 15-year old sports player. They both took a pair of Evie's signature sunglasses and laughed at each other's distorted appearances.
"This is like when you turned your hair white," Ben commented, shaking his head and reaching to curl a little loose purple lock of hair around his finger.
"You're not a fan?" Mal laughed.
Ben shook his head. "I like your purple hair," He sighed. He reached down and took her hand, squeezing it tight to his palm.
Adam took a cowboy hat from Evie and then the five of them walked up to the front doors of the building. It was the first time in many years Mal had been able to use the front doors to a public place that wasn't Evie's spa or salon, or the palace. Usually, she had to be escorted out and around the long way.
The inside of the building was large, made of hewn stone and with large, glorious paintings on the walls. They appeared to be themed around the compass directions – Elsa of Arendelle to the North where she lived, Aurora to the West, for the 'setting sun' theme her story revolved around. Snow White was to the south, probably because her story was first and had begun in the southernmost tip of the Auradon continent before other heroes appeared north of her. And, finally, Belle and the Beast on the East wall, towards the rising sun, because their family was the supreme rulers of Auradon and therefore the sun would always rise on another day of their rule. A skylight made the dust visible in the air, filtering down in soft waves past the glossy oil paintings. A pillar of light fell down, down on top of the head of an office clerk who was behind a desk in the center of the tiled room, carefully feeding papers through a shredder.
"I've got this," Doug whispered to the group, walking towards the clerk. Mal and Ben stood, still holding hands as they stared at the gigantic paintings on the walls. Ben focused particularly on his parents. His eyes followed the slope of the Beast's back, the crooked angle of the horns.
Mal leaned up and whispered in Ben's ear: "Your mom's hair is turning grey."
Ben winced and nodded. "I hadn't realized, but yeah," He whispered. "She's getting older."
Doug set his hands down on the desk of the clerk and waited as he finished shredding and stood with a smile. "Good afternoon," The clerk smiled. "How may I help you?"
"We were hoping to see a judge for a few minutes to apply for a marriage license for those two over there," Doug pointed back towards the group. Ben, Adam, and Mal all directed their gazes to the ceiling so that it would be harder to recognize them from a distance. "I'm here to witness, along with that young man over there, and the larger gentleman behind them is going to be to one to officiate." Doug turned back to the clerk with a smile. "We weren't sure who we needed to have here," He explained.
"Do you have proof of age, proof of citizenship, and a photo ID with you today?" The clerk asked, immediately moving away to draw two long forms out of a drawer in his desk.
Doug glanced over his shoulder. "Please, guys, tell me that this isn't the one time you don't travel everywhere with those papers."
Ben laughed and Mal shook her head with a groan. "I have them," Ben confirmed. "I grabbed an extra copy of hers before I left work today." He patted his breast pocket to signify their location.
"I already have mine," Mal frowned. She unzipped a long pocket in her jeans and withdrew the documents, white and folded in thirds. Her photo ID's were tucked into her back pocket.
"That's a first," Ben laughed. "It's just the event, huh?"
"Yeah," She agreed with a chuckle, glancing back at Doug, who turned to the clerk shaking his head.
"For once they're on different pages," He mumbled. "What else do we need?"
"There's a processing fee of 35 dollars," The clerk recited, pulling two pens out of a jar of beans and handing them with the forms over the desk. "You pay that here, and I'll direct you to a room with a judge. Fill out the forms outside the door and take them in, and they'll give you your license. It'll take about a half-hour."
"Sweet," Ben whispered. He stepped towards the desk and took the forms from Doug as he handed them over. The clerk studied him as if he suddenly recognized him, and then shrugged and returned to his work.
"We'll bring the pens back," Doug told him as Ben pulled a palace debit card out of his pocket and slid it into a card reader. A few beeps later, the clerk leaned forward and pointed to an upper floor.
"Room 216 is open right now. Judge West will see you," He informed them. "Congratulations, by the way."
"Thank you," Ben beamed. He turned and handed a form to Mal as he tucked the palace card back into his pocket. Mal took a pen from him and began examining the form with excitement. Full name… Lady Maleficent Bertha. Age twenty-four. Gender, Female. Birthdate… social security number… place of residence… previous marriage information and contact information.
They took the elevator to the second floor and skirted around to room 216. Ben and Mal, who were both very used to completing paperwork on the fly, carefully stacked the forms on top of each other and put their pens behind their ears. Adam knocked on the door to Judge West's office and slipped his hat off. Ben and Mal removed their sunglasses but didn't dare take off their hats yet. A janitor pushed a yellow cart past them and gave them a bright smile, which they cautiously returned. He didn't seem to recognize them.
"Enter," A cool voice behind the door commanded. Adam twisted the knob and the party passed in front of him, quickly and quietly. Inside were several large chairs and a large wooden desk. A medium-heighted man with broad shoulders stood up with a smile. "Judge West," He introduced himself.
Adam stepped forward, followed by Doug and Carlos, to shake the Judge's hand. "Adam," Adam introduced himself carefully. Judge West raised an eyebrow and waited for the last name, but when nothing happened, he moved onward.
"Doug Gibson," Doug smiled.
"Ah, uh, Carlos," Carlos stammered. He glanced over at Mal and Ben and shrugged sheepishly.
Ben stepped forward. He handed the completed forms to Judge West and shook his hand with the other. "I'm Ben," He introduced himself, exactly the way he had to Mal and her friends when they'd first come to Auradon. "Nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you as well," The Judge nodded with a smile. He set the forms down and reached around Ben to shake Mal's hand. She shook it and hesitated on what to tell him. "And this lovely lady is?" Judge West asked.
Mal smiled. "The future Mrs. Ben?" She chuckled softly and swallowed. The gig was up. "I'm Mal."
"Mal," Judge West repeated slowly. He withdrew his hand, looked down at the papers, and shuffled them around before looking up. "Mal? As in, Lady Maleficent? Is this for real?"
Mal slipped her hat off and her long purple hair cascaded down her back. She chuckled nervously as Judge West looked down at the papers, sat down, and pointed at Ben. "King Benjamin," He murmured and shifted his attention to Adam. "Former King Adam and-" he moved to Carlos. "Carlos De Vil."
"Surprise?" Ben chuckled. He took off his baseball cap and fixed his hair.
Judge West blinked a few times and swallowed. "Well, I'm privileged," He murmured. "How am I serving you fine people today?"
"We're here to get a marriage license," Ben explained. "That's our paperwork there."
Judge West exhaled, looking a bit overwhelmed, and cleared his throat. "Well, congratulations. I need to see a photo ID from both of you, along with proof of citizenship and proof of age."
Ben and Mal both reached for where they had their papers hidden and brought them out. They smoothed them out and placed them on the desk. Then, Ben fished in his wallet for his photo ID while Mal pulled one out of her pocket.
"Do either of you have a Driver's License?" Judge West asked. Ben immediately withdrew his while Mal heaved a heavy sigh and shook her head.
"Okay, I have a few questions I'm required by law to ask you, and then I'll print your License and you're free to get married whenever you want within the next year," Judge West explained. "Any questions?"
"Do we ever have to renew the license?" Mal asked with a frown.
"No," Ben and Judge West answered at the same time. "The license expires after a year if you don't get married. After the ceremony, let us know and we'll put it on record. Ta-da." Judge West explained with a smile.
"Cool," Mal nodded. "Well, ask away."
"Are either of you married to someone else?" Judge West asked, gathering up the forms and scanning them into the computer.
Carlos snorted as Adam rolled his eyes. "No," Ben shook his head. Mal shook her head alongside him.
"Are you third-cousins or closer-related relatives?" Jude West continued, clicking a few things on his computer.
"No," Mal and Ben shook their heads.
"Do both of you offer consent of this union and agree to the terms therein?" Judge West asked. He glanced over at them. "I can recite terms if you need, but I have a feeling you're both relatively well-versed in legislatures."
"Yes," Ben and Mal answered simultaneously. She put her hand on his shoulder, and they smiled at each other. Judge Danforth chuckled, and the sound of a printer behind the desk started up. He whipped out a piece of thick cardstock and plopped it down on the desk in front of them. Mal let out an exhilarated breath.
"I, Judge Charlie West, do hereby declare this marriage to be lawful and uphold this couple's decision to be married," Judge West recited. His eyes rested on Mal as her smile grew wider and wider. Ben could barely keep his eyes off of her to pay attention to the Judge. "You need a witness to sign with you."
"Not an officiator?" Ben asked, pulling the pen out from behind his ear. Mal mirrored him.
"No," Judge West shook his head. "You do need an officiator and at least two witnesses for the ceremony though."
"Cool," Ben mumbled, leaning down and dragging the pen on the line labeled 'Groom' to forge his most kingly signature. Then he turned, and Mal stepped forward. He dropped an arm around her shoulder as she uncapped her pen and together they stared down at the paper in excitement. Mal could scarcely breathe as she took it all in. 'Marriage License', the paper proudly read. The official Auradon crest, the same one she saw Ben stamp on everything he did, graced the bottom of the paper. It had never seemed so glorious.
She leaned down and held her breath as she carefully signed her name across the bottom of the page. "Mal B." She drew. Then she straightened up and let out her breath.
Judge West chuckled as Adam carefully pulled the paper towards him and signed on the witness line. He looked at Mal, and then at Ben. "It's always fun to watch the bride's face light up," He confided. "This, and signing adoption papers are the happiest parts of my job."
Ben pulled her close under his arm and pressed his cheek to her head. "Happiest part of my job is getting off," He laughed. "Unless there's a meeting we're both involved in. Then I get to hold her hand under the table and it's not so bad."
Judge West laughed as he turned the paper towards him and signed the final line in thick, black strokes. "You'll need to sign on the back after the ceremony," He told them. He picked it up and waved it back and forth for a few seconds to dry the ink. "Well, I have something that I personally would like to say before I hand this to you," He announced, standing up and walking around his desk. "You see, I'm here eight to six every weekday. I have people in my office every hour of every day. I don't get ten minutes to myself during that time. I deal with divorces, marriages, lawsuits, adoptions, the works. And I've been here long enough I've seen some people who I issued marriage licenses come back through for divorces."
A still silence filled the room, and Judge West cracked a smile. "I've learned, on sight, the type of marriages that last versus those that fizzle out when spouses get tired of each other. I know the types of dynamics you need to have in order to have a successful marriage. And I can tell you, based on sight alone, that you two are going to have a long and happy life together." He extended the license certificate towards them with a smile.
"Do you tell everyone that?" Mal asked with a smile, reaching out to take her marriage certificate.
Judge West held her gaze for a second. "No," He shook his head, a coy smile balancing on his lips. He shook her hand. "Have a lovely night, you wonderful people." He made a broad gesture to the door.
"Oh, ah!" Ben held a hand aloft to make a quick request. "Out of curiosity, could you not tell anyone that we were here? Or, post about it, or-"
"I've got it," Judge West nodded. He moved to the door and opened it with a flourish. People were passing by the office outside. Mal panicked and quickly started twisting her hair up to cover it with her hat. Ben helped her tuck in the sparse purple strands before he pulled on his baseball cap and put his sunglasses on.
They thanked Judge West and shook his hand as they passed by him, out of the office. He saw them down to the front doors and out of the building. The moment the doors closed, Mal balled up her fists and let out a whoop of triumph. Ben laughed as she skipped down the stairs and towards the waiting car with her brand-new license clutched in her hand. She flung open the door and leaned in, proudly displaying the document. "We did it!" She screamed. The car erupted into cheers. Mal laughed as she pulled off her hat.
Adam handed his hat to Ben and climbed in with Carlos and Doug while Ben and Mal walked to the back of the car and popped the trunk open to stow their disguises. "Happy now?" Ben laughed as he slammed the trunk closed and put his arm around her to start guiding her to the car.
"Very!" Mal laughed, kissing his cheek. "Are you ready for this?" She asked him.
"More than ready. Are you ready to become Mrs. Benjamin Florian?" They paused outside the open door to face each other with bright smiles.
"Of course," Mal whispered. "I feel like I've been waiting for this moment my entire life." Ben smiled and took a step closer to her. She stumbled and fell against the car. One of his hands snaked into her hair and the other to her waist as he fell upon her, pressing his mouth to hers and sending electrifying currents up her spine. Her brain felt like a lightbulb about to burn out – flickering and fading in and out as her hands tried to find a place in his hair.
"Hey, there'll be plenty of time for that later!" Jay called from inside the car. "Come on, let's go!"
Ben broke off of her with a laugh and helped her right herself. She was still seeing stars as the magic of a True Love's Kiss cleared her brain, and almost stumbled over the threshold of the car as Ben helped her in.
"Now," She announced with a wide, breathless grin. "The party can begin."
The car pulled out once more with loud cheers echoing from within.
______________________________________________________________
They rendezvoused at a quiet pub in DunBroch, in a back room where the sounds of the public party outside were loud enough for them to feel like they were normal young adults going out to celebrate while also keeping them well-hidden from any nosy photographers or journalists.
The entire building was made of polished wood with sculptures of the story of the current queen hanging here and there. Wood carvings were of particular importance to DunBroch. The door to their rented room was propped open for sake of heat, but one by one they all began to show signs of overheating. Ben rolled up his sleeves, Mal tied up her hair, Carlos and Jay pulled off their vests and everyone kicked off their shoes in a heap by the entrance. And slowly, everyone's drinks changed to 'on the rocks' alcohols, with the exception of Evie and the two seniors, who sipped water together and watched the others participate in drinking games that changed every five minutes while they regaled each other with stories of Ben and Mal's youths.
"Never have I ever felt threatened by my parent's status," Lonnie announced, trying to flick a penny into one of the filled shot glasses that stood balanced in a little tower in the center of the table. As a simultaneous groan rose around the room, Lonnie pumped her hands into the air with a cheer and handed the glass she'd won from the middle of the table to Mal, who fished the penny out knocked it back like it was water and set the empty glass with a set of others.
"That's a low blow, Lon," Jay groaned, lounging out across a bench that spread against the back wall. Carlos hit his legs to signify he wanted Jay to move and sat down, draping an arm across Jane's back.
"Hey, I know how to win," Lonnie laughed, picking up a glass and examining it tersely. She decided it was water instead of one of the numerous types of alcohol they were playing with and took a drink.
"Just say: Never have I ever worn the color pink," Evie called from her spot of the wall.
"That's true!" Jay pumped a fist. "Never have I ever worn the color pink." More groans came from around the table and Jane dropped her head onto the wall beside Carlos. "I'm done," She announced. "I won't make it to the wedding if you guys keep calling me out."
Ben reached over and poked Mal's arm to get her attention. "You good?" He asked.
Her eyes were bright as she nodded. "Never better," She promised. She handed him a glass and he used it to hide a smile as he, too, knocked it back. She didn't even show the faintest signs of being tipsy, despite the fact they'd been playing for almost an hour.
"Jay!" Evie called. "Why didn't Harry Hook like you?"
"He couldn't keep up with my dashing looks," Jay informed her, sweeping a hand through his long hair and giving her a wink.
"He lost in a swordfight and never got over it," Mal rolled her eyes. "Why are we talking about Harry?"
"You two had a fling back when you were preteens, didn't you?" Evie asked.
The room erupted into boos as Mal scrunched her brow in thought. "Jeesh, maybe? He's gay, though. He and Gil… I mean, they're probably not doing the dirty, but then again they probably are."
"Yeah, I saw them kiss once," Evie nodded in agreement.
Carlos immediately let out a snort. "Only once?" He asked. "I swear, every time the pirates celebrated anything, you'd see Hook and Gaston's kids, making out in the corner."
Mal waved her hand. "It's fine!" She called and then smiled at Ben. "He can do his thing and I'll do mine."
Everyone laughed. Mal picked up a glass of amber brandy and toasted it slyly to Ben before she took a small sip. He grabbed her hand and pulled her forward with a tug that had her sloshing beer all down her side and onto him a little bit. She tried to hold it aloft as Ben pulled her forward and pressed their mouths together. The room was screaming. His hand found a place at the back of her neck where he pushed their heads even closer together and her toes curled up as she tried to find a way to balance on the edge of the bench, so she didn't pull him and her toppling onto the floor. Her hand balled up his shirt as Ben's mouth opened against hers, sending even more jumbled signals to her confused brain. Their noses knocked together as he laughed against her mouth.
He went deeper, pulling her in and holding her tightly to him at an angle she knew would bruise her lips as he chewed lightly on her lower lip and let his tongue skim her mouth. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she tried to keep up with his needy pace.
When they stopped, she felt drunk. Physically, energetically drunk. She laughed, sounding more like her mom as she tried and failed to stand up and ended up staying collapsed across Ben's lap with her eyes rolling into the back of her head as the lights screamed at her brain. She could tell from Ben's shaking hands alone that he was feeling the burn of magic too.
"You drunk already, Mal?" Jay laughed. "We've still got all night. It's only eight!"
Mal waved her hand half-heartedly at Jay. "M'Fine!" She groaned.
"Ugh," Ben sighed, still swaying as his brain tried to remember which direction was up. He carefully helped her off of his legs and tucked her underneath his arm. "We should not have done that." He announced, reaching shakily for a glass of water.
"I can't see anything," Mal complained, trying to lift a hand to rub her face.
"One more?" Ben asked, turning towards her.
Mal leaned up and they shared another kiss. She immediately broke away with a groan. "I'm going to throw up," She declared.
Jane fixed her with a weird look as she stood up beside Carlos and walked to sit with Evie, Belle, and Adam instead. "From kissing?" She asked in an odd tone.
Mal mumbled in agreement and slumped into Ben's side, squeezing her eyes closed as a giddy smile froze on her face.
"It's True Love's Kiss," Evie explained. "It's a little too powerful to be used so continuously. That's why they almost never kiss."
"Ouch," Jay laughed, standing up and prodding Mal's cheek with his finger. Mal batted his hand away, scrunching her face up, and Ben moved to protect her from Jay as Jay laughed. "You guys look wasted."
"I thought True Love's Kiss was just a description, not a condition," Lonnie furrowed her brow as she pushed a few glasses of water towards the two of them sympathetically.
"Both, sort of," Evie shrugged. "But there's a difference between having true love and being someone's true love. I bet all of us in here could cure our spouses if we wanted and if the situation called, but we can kiss each other normally without getting drunk off the euphoria."
"Are they actually drunk off each other, or is it just the spells on the drinks being negated?" Carlos asked.
"The magic shouldn't interfere with anything Mal spelled. And they're like this anyways. It's kind of funny to watch how wasted they can get each other."
Ben slowly began to straighten up. He took a water glass and took small sips and color returned to his cheeks. "It's wicked awesome though," He informed the room with a dry throat. "And it heals, like, everything."
"Everything?" Lonnie asked. "That sounds awesome. So, if Mal wakes up with a cold-"
"Usually, that's Ben," Mal interjected. "He works harder than me. But yeah, True Love's Kiss heals the common cold."
"And anything else gets us black-out drunk," Ben laughed, standing up with a wobble and reaching for a shot glass. "Never have I ever not gotten a buzz from kissing." He rolled his eyes.
Mal leaned forward and punched his arm. "Audrey," She reminded him. Across the room, Belle and Adam let out twin sounds of exasperation. Ben sighed and knocked his glass back.
Mal stood up and put a hand on his shoulder for a few seconds before announcing: "Never have I ever kissed anyone besides my true love."
The room erupted into immediate groans. "Not all of us are as prudish as you are, Mal," Jay protested. He and Lonnie shared an eye-roll, and then a kiss before they knocked back two identical shots.
"How are you all not black-out drunk already?" Adam laughed. "I couldn't even hold that much alcohol and keep a steady conversation when I was the Beast."
"Magic," Mal laughed. "I spelled the drinks. Hope you don't mind." She laughed, and then punched Jay in the arm. "That's for calling me a prude." She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Yeah, I wouldn't call Mal a prude," Carlos rolled his eyes, twisting a shot glass in his palm and holding the empty glass up to the light. "She was just squeamish about kissing those first few months."
"A prude," Jay deadpanned. "The word you're looking for is a prude."
Ben shook his head. "Listen, she's my fiancée and she and I have had all too many conversations regarding the ways of life, and I can tell you that Mal is anything but a prude. In fact, chances are if I wasn't a king and refusing to bed her until I'd wed her, you all could call her a harlot."
"Ouch!" Mal frowned. "Although, you're probably closer to the truth than Jay is." She leaned up, kissing Ben's neck when he wouldn't bend down.
"You almost just passed out and you want more?" He asked, setting a hand on her hip and handing her a glass. "Never have I ever dyed my hair."
Mal dumped the glass on his sleeve without comment. Ben jumped back with a yelp. His sleeve and the right part of his shirt were soaked and stained with amber liquid. "Hey!" He objected. He seized her arm before she could duck away and dumped a second glass on her shoulder as she shrieked and laughed.
"Her hair!" Evie sputtered, jumping to her feet and running to free Mal from Ben's grasp.
"Yeah Ben, my hair!" Mal laughed as Evie batted Ben's hands off of her best friend and picked up a clump of soaked hair with a sigh.
"Yeah, her hair; I didn't finish." Ben stuck out his tongue and raised a third glass threateningly.
"Don't you dare," Evie hissed. Doug rolled his eyes and picked up a glass of his own. He'd been avoiding the conversation for the most part but taking part in the drinking games when his friends weren't too distracted to play.
"E, it's fine," Mal snickered as she started to calm down. "We can just braid it back or something. It doesn't matter."
"It does matter!" Evie whined. "Look, your shirt is all soaked through too!"
"So's mine," Ben shrugged. "It doesn't matter. She still looks amazing!"
"You think that anyway," Evie protested, glaring at him over her shoulder.
Ben picked up a shot glass and took a sip before he moved Evie out of the way carefully. "Watch this," He told her. He pulled Mal towards him and pressed his lips back on hers. Immediately, her eyes rolled back into her head and his knees began to shake. They broke apart before Ben fell into a spare chair and Mal grabbed onto the table for support. "See, Evie?" Ben laughed. "That's all it is. We could have the ceremony right here, while we're all like this."
"Don't sound like such a bad idea to me," Mal slurred. She pressed her hands to her head. "Ugh. I'm going to be so hungover tomorrow."
"You have a meeting at two-thirty," Ben reminded her with a smile. "And I have one at one."
"Cancel them," Mal groaned. She stood back up. "Geesh, some queen I am. The first day and I'm already suggesting we blow off everything."
"Good thing you have Ben, otherwise the kingdom would fall apart," Carlos nodded. "You're just going to have to be the obedience threat. 'Listen to my husband or I'll rain fire down on you.'"
"Casually transform into a dragon every time someone is trying to blame him for something," Lonnie laughed.
Mal shook her head. "Oh, there'd be a revolt," She rolled her eyes. "Already I cause more than my fair share of paperwork."
"Not really," Ben disagreed. "Now, if the country knew I'm actually getting married now, a week after I asked Mal, and not in a few months like they're all guessing, that'd be paperwork." He rolled his eyes and stood up. "It's almost nine now," He announced, kissing the crown of Mal's head. "When do you want to do this?"
Mal smiled and slipped her arm around his waist. "Now," She smiled. "Let's do it right now."
"Okay," Adam stood up. "Where do you want this?"
"What?" Evie sputtered, looking like she'd swallowed a plum as she began to turn thirty different colors. "No!" She protested. "No. First, all these empty glasses have to go. And Mal doesn't have any makeup on – I need at least thirty minutes. And for heavens sakes, you can't wear that. I want both of you out of those soaking wet clothes before we do anything else!"
"I agree with Evie," Mal hummed, staring at Ben with a frozen smile etched on her face. "I want you out of those clothes before we do anything else too."
Evie dissolved into groans as Ben laughed. "Okay, Evie," He sighed. "What do you have for us?"
"Doug," Evie spun on her heel. "Can you run out and get those garment bags from the car for us?"
Doug got to his feet and saluted his friends sarcastically.
"Help me gather up all of this mess," Evie told Carlos, Jane, Jay, and Lonnie. She began to stack empty shot cups by the tens up on the table. Jay dropped to the ground and began to search underneath the chairs for glasses that had been set down or kicked out of sight.
Evie picked at Mal's hair and frowned. "Kneel," She commanded, pressing Mal's shoulders. Mal knelt and Evie gathered her hair up and began to braid the wet strands back. Doug came rushing back in with the black bags and handed Ben the thinner, smaller one before Evie could command him to do so.
Ben patted Doug's shoulder. "Thanks, Doug," He smiled before he slipped out the entrance to the room.
"I grabbed your makeup too, Evie," Doug told his wife, setting the garment bag and Evie's plastic makeup bag on the now-clear table. Jay and Lonnie were rearranging the remaining filled shots and stealing a few as they went. He kissed Evie's cheek and went to aid Carlos and Jane in carrying all of the glasses out of the room.
Evie worked fast, pulling all of Mal's hair up behind her ears and into a beautiful up-do. She used bobby pins to give the impression that Mal's hair had been curled and then twisted her head back and forth to check every angle.
"Wow," Someone said from the door. Everyone looked up. The bartender had come back to check on everyone upon seeing the glasses everyone had carried out. He glanced back and forth, apparently surprised no one was passed out. His eyes landed on Mal and his mouth dropped open. "You-you!" He sputtered in shock. Jay had been the one to check them in and purchase the room, so he'd had no idea he was currently housing royals.
"Yeah, isn't she lovely?" Ben proclaimed, appearing in the doorway. Mal's breath caught in her throat. He'd changed into a white suit with a blue tie and blue satin lining on all of the folds. He stood straight over the bartender, who swallowed nervously. "I'd prefer you didn't mention to anyone that we were here," Ben murmured.
The bartender swallowed, looking more than a little shocked, and backed away. Ben looked back over at Mal, who let out an exhilarated breath. "Hi!" She whispered as Evie finished crimping her hair.
"Hey," Ben smiled. He carefully side-stepped Evie to cup a hand against Mal's cheek before Evie helped her to her feet.
"Out, now," Evie told Mal, taking the bag and her makeup and rushing the bride out into the hall. They took a turn down the hall and into the bathroom, and once again Mal was getting dressed in a stall.
Evie removed the dress out of the bag and held it aloft for Mal to examine it. Even though she'd been fully prepared to marry Ben in an alcohol-soaked shirt with no shoes, Mal was blown away yet again by Evie's skills. The creation looked a bit like Mal's cotillion dress. It was short – only extending to her knees in the back, and it had little wing-like shoulders with embellished scalloping on it. Similar decorations were stitched into the bodice. Dozens of layers made the skirt fall elegantly around her legs. The dress was built of black, shimmering material with purple detailing. Mal saw immediately what Evie was trying to do. Flip the Bride/Groom color code. Ben always wore black suits, so Evie put him in white and gave Mal the dark shades. And Ben was the Auradon kid and Mal was the Isle girl, so in a way, Evie was paying tribute to their roots.
She stepped into the dress in a stall and Evie zipped her up. She carefully applied makeup to Mal's eyes, working fast but keeping it neat. Still, the clock was ticking even closer and closer to ten and Mal was growing more and more excited.
"Aren't you nervous?" Evie asked as she drew a thin line on Mal's upper eyelid. "I almost fainted when I married Doug."
"And you cried," Mal recalled. "No, I'm not nervous. I honestly feel like… this is something I've waited my entire life for."
Evie blew on Mal's eyelid so that the liquid eyeliner would harden. "Well, you've got lots to look forward to. A whole lifetime." She carefully began to work on Mal's lashes. "And really, maybe it's selfish of me to say this, but I hope you and Ben have kids soon. I want my baby to grow up next to yours." Mal's smile faded a little bit and she swallowed. Evie brushed her hair with her fingertips. "You know it's inevitable, right? Especially after tonight."
"I know," Mal murmured. "And that's okay. I'm okay. I mean, sure, it's still a bit scary, but in the end, I'll be okay."
Evie hummed and patted Mal's shoulders. "You're done," She whispered. She took a step back and wrapped her arms around her belly. Mal watched her and then took a look at herself in the mirror. Through the sparse water dots, she smiled at her reflection. The eyeliner made her eyes appear larger, and her smile made the gold flecks Ben had noticed once, long ago and under a spell, stand out even more. She moved her head to see the earrings Evie had slipped through her lobes and smiled a bit at her reflection.
"You look lovely," Evie whispered.
"I do," Mal agreed. "And especially considering I had a whiskey or something, dumped on me a half-hour ago."
"Forty-five minutes, actually," Evie smiled. She let go of her stomach long enough to step forward, slip her arms around Mal's shoulders, and squeeze her arms. Mal examined her reflection. Part of her couldn't believe this was it. This may very well be the pinnacle moment of her life. She turned her head to the side and examined Evie as her face fell solemn.
"Does it hurt?" She asked, drumming her fingers on the sink. Her fingers felt like they were filled with loose energy.
"Does what hurt?" Evie asked with a furrowed brow, turning to look at Mal with a raised eyebrow before they continued staring at her reflection.
"Well, you know-" Mal wrung her hands and continued staring at her reflection expressionlessly.
A light lit up behind Evie's eyes. "Oh," She chuckled. "That." She hummed and traced a little pattern on Mal's back. "Not much, and only at the very beginning. Kay?"
"Kay," Mal whispered. She turned and took Evie's hand. "Thank you. I wouldn't be here without you."
Evie smiled. "Well, I wouldn't miss this for the world," She squeezed Mal's hand and then turned back to the garment bag. She pulled out a pair of black boots with sequins on the heels and dragons curling around the heels. Mal let out a laugh as Evie set them on the ground and then withdrew a small bouquet of white calla lilies. "Ready?" Evie asked.
With new shoes and flowers in hand, Mal and Evie trekked back down through the hallway and back to the room, where everything had been cleared out of the way. The chairs had been rearranged in a semi-circle pattern with one row and one tiny walkway and Adam was standing near the back, leaning a bit on the table, and searching for the correct words on his phone. Evie shut the door behind Mal and everyone looked up. Carlos shook his head. "Now there's an Isle Bride," He whispered, winking at Evie, who had gone for Auradon's white wedding.
Evie took her seat closest to the walkway. Doug sat beside her, and one by one Jane, Carlos, Lonnie, and Belle all took their seats. Adam straightened up and then they all glanced to the side of the room. Mal followed their gazes.
Jay and Ben looked like they had just finished up a conversation. They were staring at her with two very different emotions. Ben looked absolutely amazed by her presence and was breathing very, very slowly. Jay's eyes were filling with tears as he beamed happily at her. Jay moved towards her and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her nose in the tank top he'd had on under his vest and found it smelled like work and sweat.
"Hey," He whispered. "You look amazing. Like a real Auradon Lady."
"Uh oh," Mal breathed. "That wasn't the intention." She wiped away a few sudden tears she found in her eyes. "Thanks, Jay."
Ben stepped forward behind Jay. He put an arm behind his back in preparation to offer the other one to her. Jay let go of Mal as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He took her right hand and then reached for Ben's left. Then, carefully, Jay placed Mal's hand in Ben's and withdrew his own. Mal could scarcely breathe as Jay clapped Ben on the shoulder.
"Take care of her, bro," Jay told him firmly. Mal laughed and squeezed Ben's hand.
"Thank you, Jay," Ben nodded, squeezing back.
Jay nodded and looked up, meeting Mal's eyes. She tried to blink back more tears as she cleared her throat. "Thanks, Jay. For everything." Jay nodded and went to sit down. Ben dropped her hand and offered her his arm instead. She slipped her arm up against his elbow and they looked at each other for a few seconds. Mal felt more tears rising up in her eyes.
Ben dropped the hand he'd put around his back and wiped a few tears out of her eyes. "You look flawless," He whispered.
Mal smiled. "So do you," She breathed.
"Are you ready to do this with me?" Ben asked.
Mal nodded. "Always," She confirmed.
They took two tentative steps together through the brightly-lit room and then stepped past the row of their friends and stopped beside Adam. Ben let Mal's arm go and Mal handed her flowers to Evie before she and Ben took each other's hands and looked towards Adam.
Carlos leaned forward in his chair and held out two glinting bands. "Rings," He whispered. Ben quickly released Mal's hands and took the bands from him. He slipped the smaller, thinner one onto Mal's finger, right on top of her engagement band. She took a moment to examine it. It was thin, with a traditional centerpiece diamond and lots of smaller stones set in a perfect line around the circumference of the band. She smiled and looked up to meet his eyes. His face was framed by one of the bright ceiling lights. Ben turned her hand around and dropped his ring into her hand.
Mal took his left hand and singled out his ring finger. She carefully slipped the ring past his nail and knuckles, and then to the base of his finger. He turned it around for her, and she recognized the tell-tale glint of etching. 'Ben Mal', the etching read. And really, that was the thing that did her in. Mal teared up. There was a ring on Ben's finger. A ring with her name on it. Ben was wearing a wedding band with her name forever engraved beside his, and that thought made her want to absolutely sob.
They turned towards Adam, who cleared his throat and squinted at his screen. His large reading glasses made him look like some sort of square-faced professor. He looked down at their joined hands and then straightened his back. "You both look amazing," He started. "I honestly didn't think I'd ever be here. With the other girls Ben dated, I was sure I'd be standing on the sidelines at a big, white ceremony, watching the bride trip a million times on her dress and I was sure I'd be wondering if she was there because she loved my son, or because she loved my son's title. And I'm glad I don't feel like that now. You, Mal, are the miracle Belle and I prayed for for our son, and neither of us would have this event any other way."
Adam looked down at his phone and began: "Dearly beloved, we gather here today to celebrate the union of Ben and Mal, as they choose to be called. This contract is not to be entered into lightly, but thoughtfully and seriously, with a deep realization of its responsibilities and obligations." Adam swallowed and turned his phone off. "Ben," He began. "Do you agree to take Mal as your lawfully wedded wife, to love and take care of her as best you are able to for the rest of your life?"
Ben smiled as he ran his thumbs over Mal's knuckles. "I do," He agreed, calm and clear as Mal sniffled.
Adam turned to her, a repeated the question, but Mal couldn't hear his exact words. She was focusing on how warm and how right her hands felt in Ben's. Her throat tightened with emotion and so, so many words she didn't know how to speak. It was all she could do to rehearse: "I do," when she heard Adam stop talking.
"As an officer of the law, I decree this union to be legal and lawful. From this moment forth, you twain shall be husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Ben dropped her hands like they were hot coals and took her face. She rose up on her tip-toes and pressed her lips to his.
It was by far, the most magical moment of her life. Every nerve was on fire, every cell was singing. There were tears – not just hers, but his too, and then suddenly their friends were slapping them on their backs, enveloping them in a giant hug as they all screamed and cheered. They stopped kissing when they both started swaying and became in gross danger of dropping to the ground, and then they just squeezed each other's hands as Jay and Lonnie handed out the last shot glasses to everyone except Evie. Even Belle and Adam took a glass each before Carlos managed to untangle one hand each from Ben and Mal to force a glass each into their palms.
"To the future!" Jay proclaimed, jumping up on top of the bench he'd been lounging on earlier.
"To Ben and Mal!" Belle corrected with a shake of her head.
Everyone raised their glasses over their heads in toast, and no one besides Ben heard Mal's breathy gasp of: "To Happily Ever After," Before they downed their shots. Ben swept Mal of her feet and kissed her again. He almost collapsed as their worlds spun in colorful, enjoyable patterns.
"This is the beginning," Ben whispered against her cheek as he set her back on her feet.
"I can't wait to see what the ending looks like," Mal laughed, and pulled his head down to kiss him again, and again, and again.
______________________________________________________________
They left DunBroch at 1:45 in the morning. Belle and Adam fell asleep in the car, leaning into a corner with their heads lolling every time they went around a new corner. Jane and Carlos spread out on an entire bench and fell asleep with Carlos's arms curling around Jane's shoulders. Doug splayed his arms out over the headrest of a bench and Evie curled into his chest to fall asleep against his side. Jay and Lonnie spread out on the floor, bodies pressed close to each other and fingers wrapped around each others.
Ben leaned into the corner opposite his parents and Mal leaned against him, into his side. Smiles were frozen on both of their faces as Mal played with the tie on his suit.
"Mrs. Mal Bertha," Ben whispered in the dark of the car to her. "Or even Mrs. Benjamin Florian, if you want to really be able to tell the difference."
"I like the sound of both," Mal murmured. She kissed his jaw and pulled the tie out from around his neck. Her mouth still tasted like alcohol. She was smiling as he rested his hand on her hip.
"I'm glad you decided to do it this way," Ben whispered. "It's exhilarating. I don't think we've done anything like this since we graduated."
"We had Evie and Carlos's weddings," Mal recalled, sliding her hands along his frame on top of the white suit. "You got a little drunk with the guys there."
"A little," Ben nodded. "I haven't gotten wasted since you graduated though. It feels great."
"It does now, but just wait till we get up tomorrow," Mal yawned.
Ben made a grumble in the back of his throat. "Do you have a spell or something that can fix a hangover?" He asked. Mal laughed and leaned up to kiss him. Ben let out a sound of contentment against her mouth.
"I don't know about a spell, but True Love's Kiss might come in handy," Mal shrugged. She tried to kiss him again, but he moved, and she got his cheek instead.
"Slow down, darling," He whispered. "We won't be able to stand up if you keep going." Mal sighed and he craned his neck down to bite and kiss at her neck, which was safe territory that didn't make their heads spin.
"How much longer?" Mal whispered against his hairline. His hand moved from her hip to cup at the back of her neck as he continued biting at her neck, turning the skin pretty shades of pink and red.
"Soon," He whispered in between breaths. "Be patient."
Mal threaded her fingers through his hair and hummed as Ben moved further down, to her shoulder, so she could lean her head against the seat beside him. She watched fuzzy lights stream by through the tinted windows and listened to the thrum of the engine, though she didn't feel at all like going to sleep yet.
After about twenty minutes of nothing – no conversation, no looks, only Ben's mouth on her skin, Mal felt the car begin to slow down. Ben stopped and straightened up in the seat. Almost as if he'd announced something, their friends began to roll over, stretch, and yawn. Jane rolled off the seat an on top of Lonnie with a yelp, and the two girls laughed as the car stopped and the Driver's door opened and closed. As Carlos helped Jane off of Lonnie's legs with a laugh, Ben's hand settled back on her hip. The door to the stretch car opened and their driver appeared.
"Evie and Doug?" He asked through the darkness. Mal glimpsed the outline of Evie and Doug's townhouse outside as the driver squinted past them. She listened to Evie waking Doug up across the car and climbed off of Ben long enough to give her friend a hug as Evie stepped over a still-out Jay.
"Thanks, E. You're the best," She whispered, squeezing Evie tightly.
"I know," Evie yawned. She patted Mal's back. "Be good. I'll talk to you later. You look at your schedule and tell me when I need to have your white wedding dress to you."
"I will," Mal promised as Doug helped Evie out of the car. "Love you, E."
"Love you too, Mal," Evie sighed. The door shut behind them and Mal watched her best friend and her husband's fuzzy figures approach their front door.
They dropped off Jay and Lonnie at their apartment and then Carlos and Jane at Auradon Prep before they set on their way to the palace. Adam and Belle had to be helped out and up to their rooms by palace workers while Ben and Mal linked hands and took the elevator up to Ben's room, which was now theirs by default since he was already in the master suite.
As Ben unlocked his door(His was required to be locked by law after eight at night), a female servant came around the corner with a pile of sheets. Her eyes settled on Mal as Ben fumbled with a key and she gave an uneasy, knowing sort of smile as she passed by. Ben opened the door and held it ajar for her. She slipped inside and watched him step inside, close the door, and turn the lock back in place. He turned around and began unbuttoning the coat of his suit as Mal reached up and began taking pins out of her now-messy hair.
"You nervous?" He asked, setting the suit coat on the back of a chair and stepping behind her to tug her zipper down.
"Windows," Mal reminded him as the sleeves slipped off her shoulders. He leaned down to bite the sensitive skin he'd attacked earlier and then moved to yank the curtains closed. The master bedroom was one of the higher spires in the palace and completely closed off to the outside world, but it was more a matter of principle. "And no. I'm not."
He returned to her and she immediately began unbuttoning his shirt, running her fingertips over the skin of his chest. She pushed his shirt aside and leaned forward, into his grasp, and pressed her ear against his chest. Ben set his hands on her shoulders and started to slide her dress off of her, but she stopped him by running her hand down his shoulder. He carefully set his hands on her hips instead.
"This is where I belong," Mal whispered, trailing her fingertips down his pectorals. She closed her eyes and listened to the steady thrum of his heart beside her head. "I feel like I'm finally coming home."
Ben hummed and leaned down, kissing that spot on her neck that was quickly becoming a favorite spot for him. "You are home," He whispered. His hand traveled up her sides. "Are you ready now?" He asked.
Mal closed her eyes and listened to his heart beating against her cheek. She let out a steady breath. "Always," She whispered, and together their hands started to move again.
#disney#disney descendants#descendants#descendants 3#descendants 2#mal#mal bertha#ben and mal#ben florian#ben#king ben#king and queen#evie grimhilde#evie descendants#good versus evil#jay descendants#jay son of jafar#carlos de vil#carlos descendants#doug descendants#lonnie descendants#jane descendants#marriage#wedding
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your kind of heaven || pt 5. to hell and back pt 1. || luke hemmings
pt 1. || pt 2 || pt. 3 || pt. 4 || pt. 5 || Pt. 6 || pt. 7 || pt. 8 || pt. 9 || pt. 10
“I love her so much.” Luke whispers.
“I know, Luke.”
He hangs up, takes Petunia out; he thinks. Time, what time; how long since you’d left the house? It was about 11. He decides. It’s a little after 5 am, he notes.
“I gotta go check on Mom, pretty girl.” He says to the dog.
Ash lets himself in, he hugs Luke. “You ready?” He asks.
“Yeah mate. I think I have everything.”
“Keys, phone, wallet? Don’t think you’ll need anything else.” Ash says.
Luke pats his pockets and then Ash leads him out to his car.
Cal’s arms are crossed over his chest, he’s tucked in a corner alone, his hoodie swallowing and concealing him the best it could. He became instantly more conspicuous when Luke and Ashton show up.
“Anything?” Luke asks, as he takes a seat next to Calum.
“No mate. Not yet. They won’t tell me anything. Did you check in with the nurses?” He asks.
“Yeah, they’re paging a doctor.” Ash pipes up.
“Thank god.” Calum sighs.
“How long ya been here?” Luke Asks.
“Couple hours. It was impossible to get a hold of you.” Cal says.
“It was a long day… tough morning, bad afternoon, worse evening.” Luke starts.
“What happened?” Ash asks. “You couldn’t keep your hands off of her last night.”
“You know Luke and her and the red bottoms.” Cal smirks, tapping Ashton’s shoulder.
“Right? She did look good last night.” Ash agrees.
“God was that just last night? It feels like a lifetime ago already.” He sighs, wiping his hand over his face. “I guess I called her Sierra this morning. I have no reason to doubt her, and she was rightfully upset. But then Sierra is posting every picture under the goddamn sun from the last three weeks and talking about how much she misses me and it’s not doing any favors for my wife.”
“Yeah… saw those.” Calum looks over at them. “She shouldn’t be ok with that and I hope you realize that.”
“I know… I do. I was being so stupid to think it looked innocent. Of course it didn’t. It wouldn’t. Sierra is all over me whenever she sees me.”
“Mr. Hemmings?” A man in a white coat asks from the door of the waiting room. Luke’s head snaps up and he jumps up quickly.
“Hi, I’m Luke.” He introduces.
“You’re very lucky, Luke,” the doctor starts, “this could have been way worse. She’s bruised, slightly concussed. She has a broken arm and stitches here and there. Her seatbelt saved her life.”
“Can I see her?” Luke’s panic becomes evident to the doctor then.
“Yes, right this way.” The doctor leads Luke toward your room.
The paps were all over this, between the subsequent DUI, though just under the limit, the posts from Sierra, and Luke caught in public with her before it all went down, you were now getting divorced, and you and Luke ‘hadn’t talked’ in weeks.
The last bit wasn’t true, but it was something you’d have to live through. You were now conveniently never seen together even though you were out in public holding hands or kissing more than ever. But every time you’d get coffee with Cal and Duke, the entire world knew, and you were leaving Luke for Cal.
Or Luke was leaving you for Sierra? You couldn’t be sure anymore. Either way, they thought your marriage was in jeopardy and everyone that knew you, knew otherwise.
“Hey, want me to wash your hair?” Luke asks, you’re standing in the bathroom trying to put your hair up to skip yet another day. He grins at you from the doorway. “Or… isn’t it about time for a change? We can go out, have a day. Hair and nails. I need some shoes…” he moves closer, touching you.
“Yeah… that sounds fun. But…” you shrug.
Luke can tell you aren’t all in yet, “but?” He asks, pulling you into him.
“I’m like… exhausted from constantly putting our relationship on display…. like i get it, and I know it’s what management wants so we look like we’re fine. But I feel like we’re fine and I don’t feel like we HAVE to do this. They already wanna tell me when we’re having kids.”
“Well the really nice thing about MY management team is that YOU don’t have to listen to them.” He laughs. “But I do think we should spend the day together.” He kisses your forehead, “starting with… getting clean.”
Luke loves on you, he’s holding you, kissing on you. He’s happy to help with anything you need. He has been since you got home and talked everything out. It wasn’t an easy conversation but now when Sierra is posting, you and Luke aren’t paying it any attention.
“I love you.” He whispers, hoisting you on the counter after the shower.
You wrap your arms around his neck, “ Love you baby.” You whisper back.
“Can I…?” He trails off, but you can feel his hard on and his fingers are slowly pushing the towel up on your thigh.
“Yeah, please.” You nod.
He leans in and kisses you, dropping his towel. He pulls at your towel, so it’s open and pools at your waist. His fingertips gently caress your sides, “so beautiful.” He whispers.
Luke grabs you at your knee, hoisting it up over his hip. He carefully guides himself in. “Luke.” You whine into his chest.
“You ok baby?” He asks, holding the back of your head.
“Yeah Luke.” You whimper, biting into his shoulder.
Luke grips tight onto your hips, he works himself into you. “I never get tired of how you feel.” He groans.
Your finger nails dig into his neck. “Always so good.”
The steam from the shower, and your damp bodies was making this hotter than normal, but you weren’t complaining by any means. You loved Luke and you loved being with Luke. His broad shoulders made you feel safe but you found them incredibly sexy at the same time.
“Love it when you cum on my cock…” He moans, pulling your bottom lip down with his thumb. “Love it even more when I get to fill you with cum.” His lips attach to your neck and he sucks a hickey.
“Holy fuck.” You moan, pulling his hair.
“Already baby?” He chuckles. He presses his lips to yours, “alright then my love, gimme that orgasm.” You whimper as you cum for him and then Luke uses you exactly how he wants you.
He’s careful and sweet when he cleans up. He doesn’t get mad when you steal the shirt he was planning to wear, always encouraging you to use his side of the closet as well. He loves you in his clothes.
Luke’s got his hand tight around yours. You stop at the salon first, fresh haircut, and you get a trim. Then you stop for coffee, and run into Ash and Cal, who are also on their way to the nail salon. Luke wants them to tag along because he thinks more people will notice you two with Cal around.
Then it’s lunch, just the two of you, and some shopping. Luke gets the things he needs and then he’s pulling you around a few of your favorite stores, and you’re getting new clothes and shoes too. He happily follows you around Sephora and lets you swatch anything you want on his arms and hands. You pick up dinner on the way home.
“I had a good day today Luke.” You say after getting settled in the car.
He turns and looks at you and smiles, “I did too baby.” He leans over for a kiss.
By the time you get home, there are pictures of the two of you out together on tons of social media. His team is sending texts to both of you, congratulating you on getting it done. Luke’s happy, but you’re a little annoyed. But it didn’t stop the sex that night.
Luke thought he’d been through the worst with you. But he didn’t realize this would be the last good day for awhile, and he may not have taken full advantage of that. He held you so close as you fell asleep. You could feel each other breathe.
The morning light revealed a new reality that Luke was not prepared for.
You were moody in ways he’d never experienced. You physically and emotionally pushed him away, he had to stand by and watch as you practically avoided him.
He watches as you dig through boxes, pulling out things of your ex’s.
“What are you doing?” Luke asks so so quietly.
“I miss him.” You whisper. “I felt whole… I know I can never feel that way again.”
And he thought you looked innocent, there was no malicious intent in what you said. You were just being honest.
That made it worse… because he couldn’t fault you. He could only watch you fall apart from afar.
And it progressively gets worse. It seems like the more time he had to spend away for the album, the more distant you became. The more tears you cried. The less you needed or wanted him. He didn’t know how to deal.
Luke caught you on a chatty off day, you’d talked to a few friends and exchanged a text or two with Cal. The glass of wine sat in front of you when he returned.
“Hey baby. How ya feelin?” He asks, quietly. Because if he’s too loud, you’ll break. He knew that. He couldn’t take another one, 7 this week was enough.
“I’m tired Luke.” You sniffle, “just tired. I’m sorry.” You shake your head.
“Nothing to apologize for, my love.” He assures you.
It’d been almost 3 months of you just in bed, or avoiding him. You were having trouble writing, and you ‘just didn’t feel like it.’ You weren’t eating much and he could tell, you were irritable all the time. Luke didn’t mind, he figured out how to navigate it.
“We’re gonna be leaving for tour soon.” He reminds you.
And that sends you over the edge. You push yourself against Luke, and bawl your eyes out, holding onto him tightly and mumble about how you don’t want him to go.
“Baby.” He coos in your ear, pushing his hands down your back and gripping your thighs to pull you up. You wrap your legs around him and hold onto his neck tight. “I’ll be back.” He promises.
“But what if you aren’t?” You sniffle. “What if you don’t come back to me? What if something happens? What if… what if you find someone else?” You tuck your face back against his neck, “what if something happens to me?”
“Well… I’ll work backwards,” he hums, finally sitting down on the bed with you. His lips press to the top of your head “if anything happens to you, I’ll come home immediately. I’ll never find anyone else like you. I chose you baby. I’m not gonna choose anyone else. If something happens to me, then you’ll come to me, but nothing is going to happen baby.” He feels you loosen your grip and pull away from him, he immediately wipes at your tears with his thumbs. “Why don’t you come on tour?” He whispers, “just for a little bit. That way you can see that nothing is going to happen. And we’re gonna be fine.”
“Luke…” you sniffle, “I’ve never been that girl that has to be on tour.”
“Well, you don’t have to be there but I want you there. And the guys won’t care. We can call and ask them.” He offers.
“Luke.” You start crying hard again and he pulls you back in.
He rocks you gently, and he starts humming to you. “Hate that you’re so upset.” He whispers, lips right next to your ear. “Do you need something I’m not giving you? We should go check in with the doctor.”
“I’m sorry I’m letting you down.” You sob, pulling away.
“Letting me down?” He asks, “how do you figure?”
“I’m not being a good wife, I’m barely being a good friend… I’m crying and a mess over my ex and you don’t feel like you can leave me alone at this moment, which is ridiculous, I’m almost 30.”
“Baby… if you think I didn’t think you’d always love him, well… you’re wrong. I accounted for that. I still think our love is stronger and can get us over this.” His hands wrap around yours. “And you know I never really wanna leave you alone. I always want you with me, and if you need to be with me for awhile, to feel better, then there is nothing in the world wrong with that. You’re a good wife, always. Just having a tough time right now. And that’s ok.” Luke rubs his hands up and down your back. “It’s ok baby.” He insists.
You push your face back against his neck, where you know it fits so well, and you work on calming yourself, grounding yourself. You can feel Luke’s soft t-shirt, and his warmth, his fingers gripping your skin, and his stubble. You smell his cologne, and the fabric softener you use, and the body wash he uses in the shower. You can hear his heartbeat and the soft hum he’s emitting meant to help calm you. He knows what your doing.
He feels your deep breath. And he knows you’re calming down. He’s patient and he holds you. His lips press to the top of your head. “Wanna have dinner with me?” He asks, gently rocking you.
“Yes.” You sniffle, slightly nodding your head. You let your lips ever so gently press to his neck. “I love you Luke. I know I’m a mess.” You whisper. “But if it’s really ok, I think I would like to go on tour. At least for a bit.” You sniffle again.
“I’ll get it all worked out… and we’re gonna order in. Can I run you bath?” He asks.
“I want you to get in too.”
“Whatever you want my love.” He kisses your forehead, “can’t think of a time I’d ever turn down being naked with you.” He chuckles.
Luke finds a stash of abandoned bath bombs, and picks one with glitter, completely by accident, he swears. And he doesn’t complain when you decide you want to mask, he does one too. He holds you with your back to his chest, and he’s happy to sit quietly until the water is too cold. You shower and he helps you lotion, anything to see you smile.
He lets you lay on him, head on his chest, under the soft blanket you use when your anxiety is at its worst, while he orders dinner and dessert. He mixes you a drink and lets you pick something to watch. He doesn’t care if he hates it or you’ve seen it 1000 times together, he wants you to smile.
He watches as you eat just a little bit, he counted on it actually. He got stuff that’d reheat well for a reason.
You fall asleep on him on the couch, he whispers “I love you” into the top of your head.
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HONG KONG — Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, has a very loyal majority in the territory’s legislature. She has the complete backing of the Chinese government. She has a huge bureaucracy ready to push her agenda.
Yet on Saturday, she was forced to suspend indefinitely her monthslong effort to win passage of a bill that would have allowed her government to extradite criminal suspects to mainland China, Taiwan and elsewhere. Mrs. Lam’s decision represented the biggest single retreat on a political issue by China since Xi Jinping became the country’s top leader in 2012.
Huge crowds of demonstrators had taken to Hong Kong’s streets in increasingly violent protests. Local business leaders had turned against Mrs. Lam. And even Beijing officials were starting to question her judgment in picking a fight on an issue that they regard as a distraction from their real priority: the passage of stringent national security legislation in Hong Kong.
The risk for the Hong Kong government is that the public, particularly the young, may develop the impression that the only way to stop unwanted policy initiatives is through violent protests. With each successive major issue since Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997, the level of violence at protests has risen before the government has relented and changed course.
As many as a million people marched peacefully a week ago against the extradition bill. But the government’s stance did not begin to shift until a smaller demonstration unfolded on Wednesday. It began peacefully until some protesters pried up bricks and threw them at police officers, and police responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
At a news conference on Saturday afternoon, Mrs. Lam denied that she was acting simply to prevent further violence at a planned rally on Sunday.
“Our decision has nothing to do with what may happen tomorrow,” she said. “It has nothing to do with an intention — a wish — to pacify.”
But that assertion drew broad skepticism. Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a political scientist at Hong Kong Baptist University, said the family-friendly march a week ago was not enough to send a message.
“Without a bit of violence and political pressure on the authorities, you don’t get a thing,” he said.
Anson Chan, who was Hong Kong’s second-highest official until her retirement in 2001 and now a democracy advocate, said, “Denied a vote at the ballot box, people are forced to take to the streets to make their voices heard.”
In the first years after Hong Kong’s handover in 1997, the government tended to be more responsive. A previous government had given up passing national security legislation in 2003 after 500,000 people marched peacefully.
That march was so tame that not a single person was arrested and the staff at an Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry store at the end of the protesters’ route did not close their steel security shutters or even remove the extremely expensive diamond jewelry from the store’s windows.
The extradition bill debacle underlines Beijing’s central dilemma in Hong Kong. It wants to retain complete control, and so does not want to allow full democracy in the semiautonomous territory.
But without democracy, a succession of Hong Kong governments have blundered into political crises by underestimating or ignoring the public’s concerns — and each time, Beijing gets some of the blame. Some of her close advisers say that it is unclear whether she had any discussion with Beijing leaders in advance about the extradition bill.
On Saturday, Mrs. Lam repeatedly declined to discuss her conversations with Beijing leaders.
The Hong Kong government has also proved steadily more prone to push on, at least initially, in the face of public outcry.
Hong Kong’s leaders increasingly echo top Beijing officials in perceiving malevolent foreign forces in stirring up protests. That foreign influence appears to consist of meetings that Hong Kong democracy advocates have arranged with American officials and politicians when they fly to Washington.
But Mrs. Lam and her senior advisers have nonetheless distrusted the sincerity of the protesters.
“The riots I believe were instigated by foreign forces and it is sad that the young people of Hong Kong have been manipulated into taking part,” said Joseph Yam, a member of Mrs. Lam’s Executive Council, the territory’s top advisory body.
Suspicions of foreign influence make Saturday’s retreat by Mrs. Lam even more surprising. But the path to this week’s public policy fiasco really appears to have begun last November.
That was when Mrs. Lam and her top aides traveled to Beijing for a rare meeting with Mr. Xi. He gave a long speech telling them to safeguard national security, according to a transcript released by the official Xinhua news agency.
Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng spoke to media about the extradition law at the Legislative Council Hong Kong in April.CreditVincent Yu/Associated Press
The speech included what looked like a message that Hong Kong could not postpone indefinitely its legal duty under the Basic Law, its mini-constitution, to implement national security laws against sedition, subversion, secession and treason.
“Compatriots in Hong Kong and Macau should improve the systems and mechanisms related to the implementation of the Constitution and the Basic Law,” Mr. Xi said.
But the 2003 experience underlined how hard it would be to pass national security legislation. Mrs. Lam was also deeply troubled last winter by another issue.
She had received five letters from the parents of a young woman who was slain in Taiwan, allegedly by her boyfriend who then returned to Hong Kong. The absence of an extradition arrangement between Hong Kong and Taiwan, an island democracy that Beijing regards as part of China, complicated the extradition of the young man.
Mrs. Lam decided that a short bill — just 10 articles — should be introduced in the legislature to make it easier to extradite people.
The bill was brought to a meeting of the Executive Council, a top advisory body, right before a three-day Chinese New Year holiday, and was approved with virtually no discussion, said a person familiar with the council’s deliberations who insisted on anonymity.
The council consists of the government’s ministers plus 16 business leaders and pro-Beijing lawmakers. A holdover from the colonial era, the council is often criticized as an insular group with little to no accountability.
The week after the holiday, Mrs. Lam promptly announced the legislation.
But the bill also called for police to provide what is known in legal jargon as “mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.” Hong Kong’s top finance officials and leading financiers, who were at the meeting right before Chinese New Year, had not been alerted that the extradition bill would also allow mainland security agencies to start requesting asset freezes in Hong Kong.
They were appalled when they learned that this was involved, said the person with a detailed knowledge of the meeting. Mr. Yam did not discuss the council meeting but other people familiar with the meeting did so on condition of anonymity because of rules banning disclosure of the council’s activities.
Mrs. Lam’s bill exposed not only Hong Kong citizens to extradition to the mainland but also foreign citizens. That horrified the influential chambers of commerce that represent the West’s biggest banks, which almost all have their Asia headquarters in Hong Kong, as well as some of the West’s biggest manufacturers, which keep staff in Hong Kong while overseeing factories on the mainland.
The business community began pressing for a halt to the extradition bill. With the government having now stopped consideration of that bill, even Mrs. Lam’s allies in Hong Kong say that she almost certainly does not retain enough political capital to pass the national security legislation that Beijing really wanted.
Shortcomings in the Hong Kong government’s handling of the extradition issue underline that the chief executive is only accountable to Beijing. Yet Beijing has also promised Hong Kong a “high degree of autonomy.”
The Communist leadership likes the political structure because it ensures the loyalty of the Hong Kong government, and it rebuffed protesters who demanded free elections five years ago. But the system means Hong Kong’s leader often misreads and sometimes ignores public opinion and operates with limited feedback even from Beijing.
“Had the chief executive been elected by Hong Kong people instead of by Beijing, perhaps he or she would not have tabled that bill,” Mr. Cabestan said.
Phroyd
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How to Build a Social Media Campaign for a Niche Audience
So you've chosen that your image needs to associate with your crowd such that is credible and dependable. Also, you've picked online life as the manner in which you will accomplish this objective. Interestingly, you haven't generally set aside the effort to work out an exhaustive online life battle.
Despite the fact that you post normal organization updates and offer your blog content crosswise over channels, you aren't exactly certain how to approach building up a crusade.
Building a successful online networking effort is no simple assignment – particularly if your business is in a specialty industry. In addition to the fact that you have to truly become acquainted with your objective clients well. Be that as it may, you must discover where they hang out on the web and how you can contact them.
Be that as it may, there's no compelling reason to stress! We're here to help.
Like some other advanced advertising strategy, assembling an internet based life battle requires significant investment, skill, and assets. Yet, with a little direction, you can be en route to building up a crusade that provokes your specialty crowd's advantage and urges them to connect with your image.
Beneath, we'll make you through each stride of building up a triumphant internet based life crusade for your specialty group of spectators – regardless of what their identity is.
10 Steps on How to Build a Successful Social Media Campaign
1. Distinguish your intended interest group.
The initial phase in building a triumphant internet based life crusade for your specialty group of spectators is knowing precisely who your crowd is and what they find significant. Numerous organizations wrongly slap together a web based life crusade that spotlights exclusively on the advantages of their items and administrations.
Be that as it may, they neglect to consider the crowd's difficulties and requirements. Furthermore, this can bring about sat around, assets, and spending plan.
Rather, set aside effort to become acquainted with who your intended interest group is and what they care about. On the off chance that you haven't as of now, you'll need to create client personas. These are fictionalized profiles of your optimal clients with essential data like socioeconomic just as progressively explicit data like what challenges they face, where they go to get data, and what they search for when obtaining items/administrations.
Here's a speedy diagram of how you can function to make these client personas and become more acquainted with your group of spectators:
Start by making some broad suspicions about your intended interest group dependent on your past involvement in clients.
Do some further statistical surveying to affirm or address these presumptions and potentially find new open doors in the market.
Meeting your best clients to discover what truly drives them and what they care about most when settling on an obtaining choice.
When you've accumulated your intended interest group examine, begin to substance out these personas. Create profiles that you can use to drive your substance advertising.
target group of spectators
When you know who your group of spectators is and what they care about, you'll have the option to contact them all the more adequately through an internet based life battle. Not exclusively will this objective statistical surveying educate the sorts regarding content that you use in your battle yet in addition your ways to deal with coming to and connecting with these shoppers.
2. Select the correct online life channels.
Since you discover somewhat increasingly about what your optimal clients care about most, it's a great opportunity to realize where they hang out on the web. There are such a significant number of internet based life channels accessible to brands who need to interface with their crowd.
Be that as it may, your image doesn't have the opportunity or assets to viably be available and connecting on these channels. That is the reason it's basic to deliberately pick the channels that bode well for your intended interest group.
While picking which web-based social networking channels are best for your specialty internet based life battle, consider the accompanying for every online life channel:
Group of spectators – Which social channels have an enormous enough crowd that will enable you to grow your scope?
Socioeconomic – Which channels have the biggest populaces of individuals who fit inside your intended interest group socioeconomic?
Highlights – Which internet based life channels offer the highlights that enable you to best feature your image?
Action – Which internet based life channels have the most dynamic client base? What does this movement and commitment resemble?
Need to get familiar with which internet based life channels might be justified, despite all the trouble for your image? Make certain to peruse our article on which web based life should I use to get familiar with the socioeconomics for each channel and find how each channel can profit your business.
3. Create explicit battle objectives and targets.
Before you can begin propelling your specialty online networking effort, you have to choose what your objectives and destinations are for the battle. Consider not just what you would like to escape this particular battle yet in addition how these objectives line up with your showcasing objectives and in general business goals.
Here are some shared objectives that numerous brands use as a beginning stage for their web based life crusades:
Drive more traffic to their site.
Create new leads.
Convert leads into deals.
Sell a particular item or administration.
Increment brand mindfulness.
Speak with clients.
Set up or fabricate brand authority.
It's critical to ensure that your objectives are obviously delineated. We prescribe utilizing the SMART objective setting framework to help guarantee that your online networking effort objectives are clear and achievable. Shrewd represents: explicit, quantifiable, reachable, significant, and time bound. Utilizing SMART objectives is perhaps the most ideal approaches to set yourself up for progress.
With the SMART objective setting framework, "increment income" is anything but an adequate objective for your online networking efforts. Rather, you'll have to think about the amount you need to expand income by, how you will gauge achievement, and in what course of events you will accomplish this objective. You'll additionally need to ensure that the objective is significant to your business and reasonable given your course of events and assets.
web based life battle brilliant methodology
It's additionally critical to take note of that your particular battle objectives will assume an imperative job in your social system. The manners in which that you draw in buyers and the kinds of substance that you use in your crusade will change dependent on your particular goals.
For instance, while you may utilize top of channel content in a brand mindfulness battle, a transformation crusade will require increasingly explicit, base pipe content. So also, on the off chance that you expect to direct people to your site, your CTA will be not quite the same as in the event that you are simply attempting to start discussion among your crowd. Remember your objectives while picking the kind of advancement strategies just as the sort of substance you will make for each crusade.
4. Choose advancement strategies for each channel.
Every web-based social networking channel has distinctive accepted procedures that you'll have to think about when utilizing them as a component of your internet based life battle. It's ideal to adhere to the online networking rules for Facebook and Instagram just as some other channels you need to use in your battle. That way, you can boost your outcomes by utilizing each channel to further your potential benefit.
After you've settled on which channels to utilize, you'll have a superior comprehension of how you can advance your battle content on each channel. Some web based life channels have novel highlights that will enable you to distribute various sorts of substance that work to draw in your group of spectators.
For instance, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube all have live video spilling alternatives that enable you to associate with your crowd at the time.
Remember that you can likewise make the most of paid promoting open doors as a feature of your specialty web based life crusade.
Despite the fact that natural substance and commitment can go far in helping you assemble associations with shoppers, paid promoting on stages like Facebook and Instagram can assist you with extending your reach significantly further to interface with customers who are directly for your image yet may not yet be following or connecting with your substance.
5. Make a substance schedule.
When you know the objective of the crusade and how you will advance substance crosswise over channels, it's a great opportunity to make a substance schedule. Content has a significant impact in your internet based life battles. It's the primary line of correspondence and it's what your fans, adherents, and other group of spectators individuals will see before choosing whether or not to lock in.
The kinds of substance that you make for your battle will vary dependent on your objectives and destinations. Here are a few kinds of substance that you might need to remember for your publication schedule:
Sites – Blogs are incredible for top-of-channel content concentrated on your group of spectators' difficulties, however they can likewise be viable for center and base pipe content that gets progressively explicit in regards to your items or administrations.
digital books – E-books are extraordinary to use as gated content since they give enough extra incentive to persuade your group of spectators to hand over their contact data.
Content Posts – notwithstanding sharing substance, you may likewise utilize general content web based life posts that incorporate a CTA or work to begin a discussion.
Pictures – You may utilize a wide range of pictures in your online life battle from informative infographics to increasingly basic photographs of your item.
Recordings – Videos not just get the consideration of your bustling group of spectators, yet they are an extraordinary mechanism for separating complex points or telling purchasers the best way to utilize an item.
Presentation pages – If you are driving shoppers back to your site to make a particular move, you may need to make greeting pages that intend to get the customer to make the ideal move.
When you have a thought of the sorts of substance you might want to make, you can begin choosing the correct themes. We profoundly propose making the subject conceptualizing process a collective endeavor.
Pick individuals in your association that know your objective clients well and approach them for help in thinking of points for content.
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