#pass three years with u and still going strong <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[formulaforza]

💐 hi my wonderful birthday girl !! so i was thinking about a dress coded lewis blurb (because i was born a lewis and ts girl) where they just get drunk together and there’s teases flying and stuff. keep it as brief as u wish <333

—you can take it off

lewis hamilton x merc!reader summ. thank you stephy i love u bad <3 inspo from... ur never gonna believe it... this. hope it's up to your standards my love. 2.7k (kind of got out of hand)

You were half-asleep and half-drunk the night of the Belgium Grand Prix. The air was cool, recycled like all air seems to be in hotels, smelled of too-strong perfume and was filled with the dull noise of elevator jazz. What had begun as a before-we-go-to-bed night cap in the hotel bar with Bono had turned into a seemingly never ending addition of guests. 

Valtteri was first to join—never could pass up the opportunity to give you shit, to offer you job postings at Alfa Romeo that weren’t job postings at all—and with him around, there’s no casual drinking. You don’t try to keep up, not really, because you know you don’t stand a chance, but also because he would never let you. After all these years of being just a few months younger than him, he still calls you kiddo, still promises to call your parents when you’re out after dark, and always sends you a text after a race with some… questionable strategy decisions you’re catching flack for online. 

A brief appearance from Toto and Susie, just long enough for them to know they had no business trying to go drink for drink with Valtteri, and then they’re wishing all three of you a wonderful summer break and retreating to whatever room is considered prestige enough for Motorsport’s it-couple. 

And then there was Lewis, the last to arrive, who never called you kid, who never viewed you as one. He sits adjacent you in the red, high back leather booth and takes up a seat and a half, the toe of his shoe brushing against the side of yours, flashing you apologetic puppy dog eyes every time he bumps against yours. 

It’s somewhere between drink number five and six that Lewis gets his first, insists on a toast to the summer break that officially began… six hours and fifty-three minutes ago. For a long season this and a too-short summer break that, you lot had a mouthful of things to complain about, but a million more to be grateful for. “To not having work for a month,” Lewis proposes, clinking his glass against yours, offering a quick wink and holding it up properly over the table. 

“To no racing-talk for a few weeks,” Bono adds, clinking his glass against Lewis’. 

“To summer-fucking-break,” Valtteri chimes in, laughing at himself before the rest of you get the chance to match it. 

“To summer fucking break,” you repeat because you know there’s no better way to sum it all up. 

Unlike the other two, you slowed down when Lewis joined, wanted to give him time to catch up, to give yourself time to meet him somewhere in the middle. A glass of water and a virgin rum and coke and another water and the night is still young. 

“First summer break as the big boss, kiddo,” Valtteri remarks, and you have to squint to hear him through the alcohol-induced thickening of his accent. 

“That’s right!” Bono laughs. Your cheeks run hot at their mention of your title, of your promotion following James’ departure earlier in the season. Lewis smiles against the rim of his glass, bumps his foot against yours and doesn’t give you apologetic eyes. No, he raises his brows so slightly you think you’re the only one that notices, which is probably exactly the way he intended it to be. “Little miss queen of strategy is making the big money now, got any big travel plans?”

Lewis clears his throat, and your eyes dart over to his almost instinctively. “You’re staying in London, yeah?”

He’s right. Your summer-break plans consist of four weeks of trying to remember what it feels like to do nothing, failing at that task pathetically, and spending the rest of the time meticulously picking apart every call you’ve made all season and imagining the million and one things you could’ve done differently and their billion and two outcomes. 

You pick apart the drink napkin, tear it into tiny little pieces. “Yeah, yeah. Just staying home, catching up with friends and family,” you clarify, try not to sound as pathetic as you feel. It’s hard not to when you’re sitting next to the guy who spends his offseason snowboarding in Antarctica with his celebrity friends and his weeks off traveling to Paris fashion week for front row seats next to supermodels. Anything you say would sound pathetic to someone who makes thirty-five million a year. 

“I love it,” he nods, stares right through you and into your soul so you know he’s being genuine. “That’s awesome.”

You nod, swallow hard, purposely angle your body away from his, to the rest of the group. “What about you guys?”

Lewis laughs, soft, quiet, completely under his breath. The kind of laugh that deserves to be bottled into a jar and kept on a shelf for safe keeping. You know he’s always laughed like that, even before he knew you, but in the last few months it just feels different. Good different, like he’s laughing just for you now instead of everyone else too. 

You know you’re crazy, that he’s just Lewis being Lewis and you’re just single for the first time in a long time and also drunk. Not half drunk anymore, just drunk—even if you do think you’re meeting him in the middle, you’re not. He’s just chasing after. 

“Back home, too,” Bono concludes. “Take a breather, might head up to the country with the family.”

“You’ll take pictures, yeah?” Lewis asks, starts to pick up the pieces of your napkin tear pile and move them in front of him like a kid who isn’t patient enough to share or destructive enough to rip up his own. You watch in your peripheral, the way he fiddles with the wet paper, gets it stuck to his fingertips. You can’t laugh, so you don’t, but you want to. You think he knows you want to. 

Bono scoffs, nods while swallowing a sip of his drink—something dark, something pungent. Not what you would have pegged him for ordering, even after knowing him as long as you have. “So I can compare with the likes of you lot and,” he turns to Lewis, leers around you to emphasize the eyeline, “your million dollar vacations or,” and then the other way, back to Valtteri, “your olympic cycling events?”

Valtteri smiles, swirls his drink—gin, you think. Expensive. “Yes.”

“No chance.”

“I’ll be sure to send you a picture of me having a meltdown when I think about our side pods from the beginning of the year,” you chime in, because it’s not like they all don’t know you well enough to know exactly what you mean by spending time with friends and family at home.

 “What sidepods?” Lewis chuckles.

“Fucking exactly,” you add, mirror his mannerisms without even realizing it, all the way down to readjusting in your seat when you’ve had your laugh. 

“Could be worse,” Bono offers. “Could be last year.”

Lewis nods, holds his drink up in the direction of Valtteri across the table. “We never should have let you leave.”

He smiles, weak, lips  pursed. “I could have told you that.”

The night continues on, all drinks and laughs and yawns, occasional remarks that it’s about time I head up, followed by another round, another joke, another comment about this, that, or the other thing. 

You’ve always liked Lewis when he’s a little tipsy. He lightens up a bit, you can actually watch the stress drip from him like sweat, all the titles and the wins and the losses, they all just fall away when he’s relaxed like this. You’ve always liked him like this. Always. Before he was king of the world and before he was the prodigal son and every moment in between. 

After every joke he makes—or, after every comment he makes that he thinks could be considered a joke—you find yourself laughing, because it’s Lewis and you have a crush on him and of course you do. And, without fail, everytime you laugh, he winks, like you’re in on some inside joke even though he’s making it to the whole table, like there’s some double meaning to all of his words that are meant just for you, just for the two of you to understand. 

Somewhere in it all, it comes back to Lewis, because, well, it always does. “Is your back still bothering you?” Bono asks, and you think you already know the answer. You think you know, because you can’t remember the last time you;d seen him take careful consideration of his posture when he sits. Not even now is he sitting up straight, with his legs perfectly spread a shoulder’s width apart and his feet flat on the floor. Instead, he’s taking up more room than he needs to, all relaxed and comfortable on the leather booth bench. 

He swipes his thumb over the  condensation of his glass, looking up from the action at you, and then to Bono. “No, no. All good there.”

“All good?” Bono prods, because he was on the receiving end of a year and a half of complaints from Lewis.

Lewis nods, clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “No Paracetamol in a month.”

Across the table, Valterri chimes in. “None?” 

“None for my back,” Lewis says, and the whole table laughs. You just watch him, though, because who laughs better than he does? You could wax poetic about it without a second thought, the way that his lips upturn and his cheeks round and his eyes crinkle and go soft in a way that makes you feel like you’re the funniest person in the world even when you’re not making a joke. The way that his smile is brighter than anyone’s you’ve ever seen, and the way that if you look at it for too long, you think about how it would feel to run your finger along the gap in his teeth. 

“That’s what I thought,” Valtteri mutters off the end of his laugh. “You're getting old.”

“Not too old to make half a million.”

The entire table’s heads fly to him. You gasp, an embarrassingly wide smile on your face. “You didn’t!” You almost yell, smacking his upper arm with a weak hand. 

He mocks your gasp, makes it somehow more dramatic and over the top and laughs sweetly, shrugging your hand off his arm and letting his hand fall to your leg, bumping your foot with his again. “I didn’t.” The table chuckles, you pout, and then you realize that his hand is on your thigh, that it’s staying there quite comfortably, and that you mind it less than he does. 

“Don’t be a tease,” you sigh, take a swig of your drink. Your knees are suddenly weak, like you know you wouldn’t be able to stand up if you wanted to. It’s like he can sense your change but can’t quite read it, because then he’s moving his hand back to his own lap, interlocking it with the other and resting it there.

 He nods, suddenly shy, suddenly guilty. “It’s as good as done.”

Valtteri laughs. “Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.” You hear what he says, but you’re not listening, not really. Lewis stares into you like he wants to look anywhere else—apologetic eyes and a fear he’s taken a misstep. He hasn’t, you want to tell him. You haven’t, put your hand back, please. Silently, you try to convey what shouldn’t dare be spoken. “I’ll believe it when pen is on paper.”

He snaps his eyes away from you, back to Valtteri. You don’t follow suit, stay fixed on him, on trying— hard—to get your message across. “I’m telling you, they’re announcing it after the summer break.”

“Whatever you say, Mate.”

Bono nods around a mouthful of alcohol, sets his half-empty glass down with an incidental thud. “Who’s to say we still want your geriatric ass?”

Lewis raised his interlocked hands from his lap, to the tabletop, resting his elbows on the wood grain and rattling the empty glasses when he does it. He leans in towards the center of the table, even though the only person separating him and Bono is you. “Would you tell Schumacher ‘no?’”

“What was that?” You ask, your words a convenient excuse to lean in closer, to settle into a spot that much closer to him without raising any brows. To brace for the shift, you leave your hand on his thigh with less subtly than your original movement, but it’s okay. It’s okay—only Lewis knows where your hands are, and you don’t want it to be subtle, don’t want anything to be lost in translation. “I can’t hear you over your ego,” you smile, and your fingers dance up his leg just a few, careful inches. 

He drops back into his seat, drops his hands back into his lap. Under the table, he grabs yours and laughs, but it’s stifled, stunted, not quite relaxed. “Very funny,” he humors, and moves your hand back. His stays too, though, and he crosses one leg over the other under the table. His thumb moves over the fabric of your slacks in shudder-worthy circles. 

“Someone’s gotta check you,” you smile, nod in the direction of your tablemates without ever looking away from him. “These two won’t.”

Bono scoffs.“Are you kidding?”

Your smile grows. “How do you want me to answer that, Peter?”

“Damn,” Lewis laughs so hard he coughs. “She Peter-ed you. That’s cold.”

“You’re the one comparing yourself to Michael fucking Schumacher,” Bono scolds. 

“I didn’t say that, but,”

“But!” You interject. 

“But,” Lewis laughs, threatens to continue even though all at the table know he won’t, knows that no matter how often the media and the girlfriends and the friends and the family tell him he should put himself up there with the greatest, he’ll never quite see himself in the same light. “But it’s about time I head up, I think.”

“Ah, see,” Valtteri chuckles. “Old man Hamilton can’t hang.”

“No, he can not,” Lewis remarks, pulling his phone and his hotel keycard from his pocket, setting the latter on the table and if you were feeling a little crazier than you are, you’d swear he nudges it ever so slightly out of his bubble and into yours. He types away rapidly at his phone, and you try to pay attention to the jokes Bono and Valtteri throw around, the pokes at Lewis they make, but suddenly you’re feeling like it’s a good time to head up, too. You try to shake the crazy, to leave it with your backwash in the final sip of your drink, and you do. You do.

You do, but then he’s slipping his phone back into his pocket. He’s leaving his glass just beyond his keycard and telling you to feel free to finish it. He’s saying his goodbyes while he moves out of the booth and his hotel room key is still sat on the table next to you. It stares at you—the hard, thin plastic. Stares at you in its white paper pocket with the intricate printing of the hotel label and dares you to look at him when he walks away. 

You do, begrudgingly, subtly, and his eyes are already on yours. They’re expressionless, and yet, say so fucking much. You hold the remainder of his drink in his direction before downing it in a single gulp and then he winks at you. He looks at his keycard on the table, and then to you, and then he winks, and you’re sure you’re absolutely crazy. 

You swallow. 

“Oh, fuck,” Bono says, reaches over you to grab the keycard from the table. It’s like you were zoned out and he snapped in front of your face, the way it pulls you from Lewis to the table. “He forgot his key.”

“Oh,” you squeak, and then louder, “I can take it to him.”

“No, no, It’s okay,” Bono says, and he makes you stand up to get out of the booth. “I should be heading up anyway.”

“Really,” you half-insist, trying to convince him you can handle it without letting him in on why you’re convincing him. “It’s no problem.”

Bono pulls out his wallet, flips through the pockets of it and fiddles with his bills. “Our rooms are right by each other,” he insists, tosses his share onto the table. “I got it.”

“Okay,” you nod, accept your defeat. “Yeah, I should be heading up, too, I guess.”

[redzie02]

Jongho is starving for your touch and demands your attention

jongho drabble. previous jongho fic

warnings: none/ jongho is baby bear af/ clingy jongho propaganda/ domestic vibes masterlist

Imagine, you got home a few hours ago. The first thing you did was rid yourself of your work clothes in exchange for comfier ones. A loose fitting tee- that you stole from your boyfriend- and some shorts.

The dishes that were left in the sink after breakfast that morning were quickly washed. Floors swept, tables wiped down. Everything was clean and you were free. Free to do what, exactly? Nothing.

Throwing your body onto the couch, you let out a breath, covering your legs with the plush blanket that was gifted to you many years ago.

You scroll through your texts, replying to any you might've missed while cleaning. You spot a few from Jongho.

2:30 pm jongie♡: i miss you. i wanna go home

2:31 pm jongie♡: hongjoong extended practice :(

2:40 pm jongie♡: helloooooo

2:45 pm jongie♡: hello :(

2:49 pm jongie♡: we leave at 3, u better answer me then :(

It was now 2:59 pm. Your lips tugged downward as you read the messages- you shouldn't have silenced your notifications. Idiot mistake. You were about to type until you saw three little dots appear on the screen. You waited for his text.

3 pm jongie♡: heading home now! ...are u there

You replied.

my y/n: yes! sorry i didnt see your texts earlier, bear :(

jongie♡: did you die

my y/n: no lol i was cleaning. are u tired? hungry?

jongie♡: tired, yes

jongie♡: hungry, not yet. had some snacks :) got u a croissant

my y/n: UGH I LOVE YOU <3 see u when u get here jongie

jongie♡: u only love me cuz i bring u food :(

my y/n: yes :) now hurry

You scrolled through various apps, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of your dimly lit apartment while you waited for Jongho.

It only took 15 minutes before three quick taps from the door interrupted your scrolling. You opened the door only to be engulfed by a pair of strong arms. You beamed into Jongho's chest. "Hi bear."

Still clutching you in his arms, he walked you backward into the apartment, kicking the door closed with his foot. With his head buried into your neck, he inhaled. "Mmm, you smell so good. Why do you always smell so good?"

"Maybe it's cause I steal your body wash." He chuckled. "You, however, smell like you've been dancing for eight hours."

Jongho lifted his head with disbelief written all over his face. "You can forget about the croissant."

"Wait! What I meant to say was that you should get comfortable and you know, put on some fresh clothes and we can relax together while I eat the croissant my amazing, beautiful boyfriend bought me." You fluttered your eyelashes at him. He had a soft spot for you and you knew that. He almost never says no to you.

Jongho sighed and let go of you to reach into his messenger bag. He feigned reluctance as he passed you the brown paper bag containing the freshly baked croissant. "Here. I'll be back."

"Thank you, baby," you pulled him in for a soft kiss, pressing your lips onto his warm ones. His shoulders relaxed under your touch- tension he didn't even realize he held. He almost whimpered at the feeling, sighing into your mouth. He really did miss you. Jongho just about crumbled when you pulled away, heading back to the couch. "I'll be here."

He groaned but trudged himself to your shared bedroom anyway, grabbing clean clothes, and hopping into the shower soon after.

It was the quickest he had ever showered, not wanting to waste any more time without you in his arms. Yet when he returned to the living room, you had barely even glanced his way. You didn't even comment on his wet hair that you liked so much because you thought it was cute.

Jongho was disappointed, to say the least. Sure, you were here, but all your attention had been taken up by your stupid screen. Oh, how he envied the little device in your hand.

With an audible exhale, he lifted your legs, placed them over his lap, then plopped down on the couch. Your croissant was nowhere to be seen, devoured in a matter of seconds, he assumed. Besides the few tiktoks you had showed him, he sat there, staring at the ceiling. His fingers danced up and down your legs. He massaged your calf. His hands snuck their way up to knead at your soft thighs. He even tickled your foot, but nothing seemed to avert your eyes from your phone.

Jongho puffed his cheeks and blew the air out, bored and frustrated out of his mind. All he wanted was you. All he could think about was being wrapped in your embrace, feeling your body heat mixing with his. It made his skin itch with need.

He sat up suddenly. "Do you hear that?"

You locked your phone, listening for anything that may have been out of the ordinary. "What?" You sat up, a little frightened. "I don’t hear anything."

"Exactly. When was the last time we were alone like this? We have the rest of today and tomorrow to ourselves."

"Jongho, you scared me! I thought someone was breaking in or something," you clutched your chest whilst Jongho laughed at your melodrama. You attempted to poke his sides with your foot, but he caught your ankle. "Not funny," you whined. "What do you wanna do?"

"I’m not sure. What are you up for?" Satisfied he caught your attention, he brought your leg up, placing a gentle kiss on your ankle.

"Welp, as of right now? Absolutely nothing." You stretched and let out an ahh and shifted your gaze back to your phone.

Jongho frowned and leaned forward, snatching your phone and stuffing it between the cushions.

“Hey!”

"It’s just me and you and all you wanna do is use your phone! What about me?" His bottom lip jutted out further than before and his eyes were round and shiny.

You would take a picture if your phone wasn’t being squished in the couch.

You held your arms out for him. "Come here."

He tossed one of your legs over his side and settled himself between them, his head now resting on your shoulder. His damp hair lightly grazed your neck, sending shivers down your spine. You threaded your fingers through his dark locks.

"I miss you," he softly spoke.

"I'm right here, baby. I'm sorry I wasn't giving you my attention."

"It's okay, I know- just...hold me." And you did. You wrapped your legs around him and held him as tightly as you could to your body. Tender kisses were placed on his forehead. Your hands refused to settle as they roamed his arms, his back, his face. You felt Jongho's breathing slow down, letting you know that he was falling asleep. You remembered he hadn't eaten dinner, so you gently tapped him a few times.

"Jongho, don't fall asleep, I have to make you dinner."

"No, don't let go. This feels too good." He only snuggled his face deeper between your neck and shoulder, squishing his lips against your skin.

"You have to eat, bear. You've only had what? Breakfast and snacks all day? After hours of practicing the choreos? I love you and I won't let you starve."

"I'd rather starve then let go. I've needed this all day." His words vibrated against your skin, hardly coherent, but you understood nonetheless.

"It'll be quick, I promise, yeah? How does pasta sound?"

He hummed and nodded, slowly getting up. Exhaustion had etched itself onto his face and it made your heart cry out. Before heading towards the kitchen, you leaned down and peppered kisses all over his face. Usually he'd protest at the affection, but he closed his eyes, a small smile forming on his lips. "Just ten minutes, okay?"

a/n: i honestly didnt know where to go with this, i just kept writing lol. reader was hauling ass trying to get that pasta ready btw

[yourfavouriterival]

the slow descent from reality (and how to find your way back)

shoko x platonic!fem!reader, gojo x platonic!fem!reader, geto x platonic!fem!reader

warnings: slightly au (not concrete on whether it is canon-compliant), puking, crying, mentions of wounds, mentions of death, hurt/comfort

note: idk if this is good :( but it came out and this is the first thing i've written in months so do give me criticism

-

There must be something in the air. That must be it, because she must’ve been imagining things. Surely, the two loves of her life were still very much the loves of her life. Surely, her closest and longest friend was still her closest and longest friend. Surely, their choice of school and choice of career hadn’t changed their souls so much that she flinched away from their touch. Surely, she could still stand her three best friends' gaze on her and not need to shrink from them. 

And yet. 

Her best friends—her three only ones—that she couldn’t bear to be away from had suddenly become the only ones she couldn’t bear to be close to. 

It’d all started in the beginning of the colder months. She’d yanked her coat over her thin hoodie and held the sleeves to stop them from rolling up her arm. She’d pulled a hat onto her head, avoiding the mirror to be able to ignore how egg shaped she must’ve looked. She’d double-tied her shoes to keep the cold out. 

She’d even grabbed an extra knife to stuff in her boot. 

And still her hands shook and her heart blistered from the cold. 

How long had she grasped onto this feeling within, trying to breathe it into existence only for it to not matter in the slightest? Years, at this point. How long had she wanted to fight stronger curses, to show how strong she truly was? How long had she longed for the chance to prove herself, to finally protect something that mattered?

Yet this past mission. She might've very well signed her resignation papers on the train ride home. 

Her train compartment had been isolated, just her and the sound of metal on metal as she turned her head away from the windows. Her phone lay silent in her pocket, the headphones she usually wore haphazardly thrown into her shoulder bag alongside the knife she’d stuffed in her boot. 

She’d come home, though. As she walked the steps leading to her dorm room, she thought she might just pass out, not from exhaustion. Every step hurt her lungs, and she felt the world was spinning before her eyes, and she couldn’t seem to stand on her own two feet, having to support herself on the wall next to the door. 

She’d never felt so weak. 

Her phone buzzed. 

She opened it. 

suggy: me n dumbass r watching lotr. come over

suggy: realising that sounds like a fuck boy dont come over

suggy: i give up. bye. 

suggy: shoko wants u here. i will not fuck u. 

sat on as a child: sugu soooo wants to hit

sat on as a child: ok sorry hope ur mission went well :3

cigarette girl: hello can u bring me a pack i think i left it in ur room

cigarette girl: omg wait how did the mission go!!! ur so professional now

And for some reason, she closed the door and slid down, numb to the feeling of the wood door digging into her back and somehow unable to close her eyes. The room was dark, the candle she had in the corner cold and dry, the light switch on the wall above her seeming to move further and further away from her hand that felt like forty pounds resting on her leg. 

She felt sick. 

-

For two days she couldn’t eat. She avoided Suguru and Satoru’s invitations by saying she had a stomach ache and she avoided Shoko by saying she had plans with the boys. For four days she couldn’t sleep. 

Nausea wracked her body with each breath and her head was spinning even though she hadn’t moved from her pillow for days. Her body felt oily, the idea of taking a shower too hard. 

I failed. I quit. That’s all she wanted to say. She just wanted to close her eyes for a moment and not see what haunted her mind. 

But if she really quit, what else would she do? Maybe she’d become a doctor, and try to save some lives for once. But why should she try to save people who rarely wish to be saved? Similarly, why was it in her DNA to see curses? Was it not non-sorcerers who should pay the price for their own doings? Should she need to watch yet another child die—

“Oi! Let us in, we’ve got take-out!” 

Satoru was the voice, and two smacks were heard, so that meant Shoko and Suguru were with him. 

But she couldn’t move a muscle. The blankets seemed to consume her, and she might’ve fought against it if she had any energy left to give. But her legs were made of cement and her stomach was filled with glue, sticking her insides together, and hindering her ability to feel her own legs. 

She didn’t want them to come in. She didn’t want them to see her like this. What would they think of her now? Her room was a mess, reflecting a fraction of what her mind was, and her bed looked like someone had fought a war in it. 

“We’re waiting! Hello,” Gojo drawled, voice almost like a melody through the door. 

She kept staring at the wall, curled into herself and breathing much too shallowly. 

“Suguru, you literally have a key. Use it.”

“For emergencies.”

“This is an emergency. I need to sit. My legs are numb,” he whined. Their voices were all muffled and she couldn’t really figure out if it was due to the door between them or how her ears were ringing. 

“Fine,” Suguru groaned, and she heard the sound of the key scraping against the keyhole before the door opened. 

“Your favourite people are here!” yelled Gojo. 

But it was so quiet. 

Her name was called out, or she thinks she heard it. But she didn’t move, only her back facing them. For a moment, she worried about the fresh scars on her back that couldn’t be healed fast enough, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. 

The bed dipped by her legs, and then a hand was placed on her knee over the blanket. The hand was warm, like a furnace under someone's skin, so it had to be Suguru. 

Her name was said again, and the bed dipped twice more—once by her head and lastly by her back. 

“What’s happened?” 

She didn’t speak, but she did start coughing. And then she spoke the first thing she’d spoken in days. “I—I’m gonna throw up,” she warned frantically, and within a second there was a metal bucket by her head where she’d shot up to sit. 

“Go away,” she cried between gags, but all that happened was Shoke pressing a wet towel to her neck and someone rubbing her back. “Please, j—just go away,” she cried, tears springing to her eyes when the gags turned to dry heaving. 

“Not right now,” Satoru said, unusually soft when he took the wet towel from Shoko to wipe around her mouth as she sat up. 

Without a word, Suguru took the bucket and disposed of it and it’s contents in the bathroom attached to her room, and then returned to kneel on the floor beside the bed. “We heard what happened.” 

It just made her cry harder, body so weak that she had to lean against Shoko behind her. “Then you should leave.” 

“Never,” Shoko finally said, pressing a soft kiss to the back of her head. 

The tears that fell from her eyes dripped onto her shirt, but she couldn’t seem to close her eyes from the onslaught. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. 

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Suguru promised. “Do they hurt?” She didn’t know what he meant, so she shook her head regardless. “Your back.” 

Oh. Right. The two slashes running across her lower back throbbed at the reminder of their existence. 

“A bit,” she said finally. “I feel… gross.” 

“Then do you want to shower?” 

“Y—yeah,” she said, but when she stood (disregarding that she was only clad in underwear and a t-shirt) her legs buckled beneath her, and she would have crashed to the floor had her three best friends not caught her. 

“Okay, I’m carrying you,” Satoru said, and no sooner than the words left his mouth was she in the air, not without yelling a bit. 

As they entered the bathroom, she realised what a conundrum she was in. Was she to strip naked? Or should she somehow hold herself up—

“Stop thinking so much,” Satoru chastised, and set her down on the closed toilet seat as Suguru and Shoko joined them. “Which one of you wants to? I would but—”

“Yeah, yeah, your six eyes and whatever,” Shoko grumbled, but it was Suguru who took whatever Satoru was holding.

“A blindfold?” she laughed suddenly, even though it tore up her throat to do so, and she lost her breath when Suguru tied it around his head and stood in the shower, arms open. 

“Won’t look. Just here to help,” he said. And then Satoru was guiding her into the shower, and taking Shoko out and closing the door, and then it was just her and Suguru. 

“Sugu,” she said softly. And then she was leaning forward, resting her head on his collarbone and just breathing him in as she reached behind him and turned the water on. She flinched at the coldness first, but leaned back anyway to take off her shirt. “Can’t get my underwear off,” she mumbled, and even with his gentleness of finding her hips and pulling them down, she couldn’t help but feel her face and neck warm. 

“We’ll take care of you.”

-

When Suguru clambered out of the bathroom with his soaking wet clothes to change, he also threw in an oversized shirt and underwear and pants, but as she yanked them on she noticed the smell—Gojo Satoru. 

She remembered, suddenly, buying them. They’d gone to a second-hand store, and Satoru had taken the biggest shirt he could find “just for funsies” and the softest pants, and then proceeded to never wear them. Shoko had complained and offered to take them, but Satoru refused, saying that someday he would want to wear them.

And now she was wearing them and tentatively stepping out of her bathroom to a very clean room. 

“Um—”

“I cleaned!” Satoru yelled. Shoko hit him in the shoulder, and walked towards her to guide both of them into her newly made bed. 

“I cleaned,” Shoko whispered, curling her body around her best friend’s. Then Satoru joined, flopping down next to Shoko whilst Suguru pressed his chest to her back. 

“I know.”

[boyrobott]

i fully get it bc i know what u mean about original astro boy manga being silly with it vs pluto being relentlessly sad. but i do think it's really important to say that pluto's themes draw on a LOT LOT LOT of stuff present in the original manga! like, the stuff about hate making a robot closer to a human/allowing them to kill a human despite most robots being physically unable to is pulled directly from the blue knight story. the original greatest robot on earth story that pluto is based off is about pluto struggling with not wanting to be a robot made only for killing bc he had a nice time hanging out with uran and doesn't wanna make her sad. epsilon still dies saving his adopted human son, and atom ends the story mourning for all the robots who got killed for goji to prove a point. the moral (which multiple characters say) is that what makes a robot OR a person strong is their love and humanity not their killing power, and it is both stupid and perpetuating the cycle of violence to force robots to hurt each other. the robot hate group man in pluto is inspired by the villain of a segment in astro boy tales part 2&3 where he literally is in a group wearing kkk hoods and does a whole pr attack about robots killing his son because he is campaigning to remove their rights.

and it's not just the stories pluto references! hell, in basically half the stories at minimum a robot is forced by a human to do a crime, the police go 'dang i guess we gotta take the rights of all robots away and destroy them for scrap :(' and atom has to find the human responsible so that doesn't happen (the third magician, electro, and his highness deadcross are some good examples). the plot of the story robot land is atom struggling with wanting to save a bunch of robots being beaten up and worked to the bone by their creator, but he can't because robots are still technically property and helping them escape would be stealing and therefore illegal. in the little intro comics tezuka drew in the collection, he literally says 'yeah this is about the vietnam war being awful' about like fully three different stories. and that's just off the top of my head!!

'what makes a person, where is our empathy, why do we quest for vengeance when it only sucks us into a cycle, have we lost our humanity' are literally the most important core themes of astro boy, which is why it's so so impressive for kids comics that are still broadly super super cute and funny!

legitimately sorry for putting a huge wall of text in ur inbox because i know it's unsolicited and probably uncool. but astro boy is super important to me and so is the idea that a story can be goofy silly child adventures and also explore dark and serious themes? so i had like. a moment when i saw ur post lol. i get it if u dont wanna read all this etc but i wanted to i guess encourage u to give the manga a second pass even if u aren't into pluto at all. there's an insane amount of stuff there that really really legitimately is that deep

Okay, may I just say, I'm absolutely loving your impassioned defense of the manga here. You're bringing so much ride-or-die energy to the table right now, and I'm loving it. But I've been slowly reading through the manga over the past few years, so I... kind of already know all this??? That's pretty much the whole reason I made the joke in the first place -- because there are so many similar storylines and themes between the original manga and the Pluto series, but the individual tones literally could not be more different. The fact that a grim dystopian anime about the horrors of war and the true meaning of humanity is saying the same exact things as a fun, lighthearted, campy manga series?? Sorry, but that's just hilarious to me.

I can definitely see where the misunderstanding came from, but I promise, you do not need to defend the manga to me, LMAO.

[nithica]

23, 24, 25 🩷🌸

based on this rb

23. My relationship with my sibling(s) starting off strong, oof... umm, NONE really. i have four half-siblings (all older) and i never met the eldest two, i cut off contact with my second youngest sister entirely and i speak to my youngest older brother like, twice a year (once on my birthday and then again on his birthday in which we also wish each other happy holidays LOL)

the only one i miss a little bit is my youngest brother. we used to be pretty close and he is who made me into a gamer and is also responsible for my nü metal taste, but,,,, i guess we just grew apart due to age differences (that, and my relationship with my sister severely strained everything ig, he doesn’t like to be caught in the middle which he inevitably would be if she learns we speak)

BUT!!!!!!!!!11 i have gained lots of found siblings online and then eventually irl <3 i have so many chosen older siblings and younger siblings that my life is full anyways 💖

24. My relationship with my parent(s) COMPLICATED!! i’ve had a pretty rough childhood as my mum was unstable *and* i was unwanted. (gee i’m on tumblr this must be such a surprise) my dad was my everything, but he passed away some years ago. that being said, as i got older, i realised a lot of things, my dad wasn’t perfect either, was the stereotypical “fun dad”, but he failed to protect me from a lot of things because he simply wanted to avoid confrontation.

on the other hand, my relationship with my mum is still complicated but we are much better than we were. i can tell that she’s trying and i’m trying to learn how to accept a parental relationship lol. we share some passions and do more things together than before. we are trying to heal i guess 💖 so the good news is it CAN get better!

25. My idea of a perfect date this is the toughest question out of the three wtf. i have thought long and hard and still don’t really have an answer 😭

i think i’m pretty easy to please and as long as i have a good time with my date, anything goes! but,,, given what a nerd i am,, you could make me really happy with simple shit like… playing a video game together, or going for a hike to look at plants, or simply playing a board or card game together or…. you get the idea. this also works reversed, for my date to take me into their world and what makes them tick. 🙂‍↕️

i DO prefer activities over going out for some coffee or food though!! since i’m pretty shy, i do better when the situation creates opportunities to come out of my shell more lol 😖

thank u🥺💖

[angeliicheartt]

hey!!! good morning/afternoon/night/whatever time youre reading this;3. Ive seen a lot of your matchup posts and finally decided to ask for one for myself. Of course its okay if you dont do it!!! Also, sorry if i made any gramatical mistake english is not my first language.

the fandom would be haikyuu ofcofc. Idrk how to describe myself but i think i am more of an introvert person, but i always find myself surrounded by people and im not scare to socialize or to talk to other people. I would say that im smart(?? i don’t know a lot pf people have told me that specially in maths. I am also really lazy, i love sleeping and everytime i can i am napping so i dont have time to study,,,, nevertheless i always pass with 9/10 (we dont talk about geography bc las year my highest grade was 2 but i swear it was because of my teacher i hate him).

even when i was little i have always been called weird, not in a bad way but i just had some likings that many people didnt understand. With the years i am still kind of weird but thats not something that bothers me.

psysically i have brown-almost-black curly/wavy medium-lenght hair, dark brown eyes, freckles, biig eyebags, 5.6 i think? (160cm), thin andd i wear braces.

since i was three ive been doing ballet, i was in a professional conservatory for three years but i didnt like the toxic enviroment so i quit it and signed up for a private academy. I would say that im really good at it, not the same case of sports that need at least a bit of force (im NOT strong).

aaaand i think thats everything!!! I dont have preferences, ill leave it to you hehe. Tysm and have a nice day!! :33

matchup for nonnie!

note: your english is amazing!! hope u enjoy!

i match you with.. kotaro bokuto!

we love a good introvert x extrovert

please help him with math, he needs it 🙏

we also love energetic bf x sleepy gf duo, if you ever fall asleep on him he’s practically buzzing with excitement but trying his best not to move too much

if it doesn’t interfere with volleyball he will watch any of your ballet performances + go to your practice if he can

buys you so many stuffed animals to sleep with when he can’t

[elvendorx]

hiiii! i really appreciate everything you do for the j/s fandom and i LOVE reading all your meta! i was wondering if you have an Ultimate Favourite j/s fic? or like a top Five Ultimate Favourite Forever Fics? thanks so much again for everything u do for us j/s obsessed people! <3

hello! thank you so much for your kind words, you are definitely giving me too much credit but i can absolutely give you my most beloved j/s recs <3

three immediately came to mind and they all have in common an incredible trajectory from friendship to romance imo, like the platonic foundations are laid and developed gorgeously. they also have in common a messy james and an intense friendship that is also jagged and spiky in places and i love the unconditionality of the messiness. i kept putting off trying to choose another two, and i will keep doing that for infinity, so here are three for now that i love.

i also made a reclist in 2016 which needs updating because i've read some gorgeous works just this year alone but all of the ones i've marked as formative still stand. apologies for any dead links and also just the weird way i spoke online when i was 20(!)

pioneers by inveracities

I feel like this fic needs no introduction but that's because I've revisited it so much over the years that I just assume most j/s people have also read it. at the time i was very anti reading in-progress fics because of my own impatience but this was soooo worth it. the characterisation just instantly gripped me - it takes a great deep dive into james' psyche, i think that the narration is super clever here, the gap between what james knows and doesn't know, what is said and unsaid. his voice is really strong in this and it really gets the complexity of how the journey from friends to lovers isn't a seamless transition, even though everything is there, but when it matters there's no question of loyalty or love. somehow toxic and also lowkey fluffy at the same time? chef's kiss.

rainbirds by inaspic

this was only published this year but contender for my favourite ever j/s fic??? it just scratches so many of my niche itches and it accomplishes so much in like 10k words. it's kitchen sink, it's got messy james which is underwritten imo (but in all of these fics, go figure), i love james as someone who fucks up and makes mistakes but who tries to be better. i love sirius as james' stability. i LOVE the way that music is an intrinsic part of this fic and the way james and sirius bond, the way james processes alife that he feels out of step with. usually i find it hard to relate to music as a written experience because it feels almost too intimate to replicate but it adds so much hereand it helps that it is music that i LOVE. three of the artists in this fic are in my spotify wrapped top 5 sooo was it written just for me? maybe. i left a comment on this fic so read that for all the things i love about this. also we need more 90s james/sirius

just know by tabbycat

another one that looks at the thin, blurred lines between love and friendship and how they're navigated. i love a james love confession, he's a romantic and i feel like his position of stability for his friends sometimes means that his passion (good and bad) maybe gets overlooked or underwritten. the pacing of this is incredible, sirius' reticence and resolve are written so well and the way that things pass unsaid, or awkwardly said but perfectly understood, between james and sirius signals that strong, underlying bond despite friction on the surface.

hope you enjoy! if you've read them already, they hold up so good on a reread <3

[mariatesstruther]

OK! So asking here because I can't on the other and I am too old to wonder why.

BUT. I would love to hear your thoughts about Maria on the anniversaries of Kevin's birthday and passing? <3

no worries broski, i think i have asks turned off on my main blog! i prefer getting any tlou related stuff over here anyway. you’ve come to the perfect place please step into my maria-themed office ✏️👩🏾‍💼☕️

okay so i made a post about this recently asking this question to myself—how would maria react to reminders of kevin, especially heavy days like his birthday or the date of his passing? would she still be able to work??? would the rest of jackson be aware of it? would she let tommy mourn with her, or prefer to go at it alone??? many things to consider. so lets consider them all

i appreciate u asking about both those days because i feel like she’d have extremely different reactions to them. first i feel like i need to delve into maria’s relationship with kevin/motherhood before all this shit went down because it has a lot to do with how she now operates, being childless but still a mother at heart

first off, i imagine that maria definitely loved kevin and was a good mother to him. it’s just very obvious to me from the way she speaks about the town she’s raised and the way she immediately provides for ellie that she has strong parental instincts. i bet she had a relatively easy time adjusting to motherhood—i say easy not trying to imply that any formmotherhood is easy, but that her transition to it wasnt difficult. i also like to think she had her dad and kevin’s father around to support, so she wasn’t doing everything herself, and that helped immensely

on the other hand, i do think she wouldve had a hard time letting go of work, especially because we see and know how important progress and duty and productivity are to her. i imagine she would’ve hated having to miss out on meetings and case details and court dates because she’s dealing with being pregnant, then because she’s busy being a mother. she also probably a young parent, like joel (luckily @two-birds-alone-together has arlready done this maria math for me. tysm friend ily) if she’s around 27-28 when the outbreak happens, then she was quite a young mother, too, which i think has a lot to do with her still wanting her independence and career. maria definitely would’ve taken the shortest maternity leave possible, with her dad taking care of kevin a majority of the time. she maybe would’ve felt some guilt because of this, but she also knew at that time that going to work was keeping her sane. she told herself she probably wouldve been a worse mother to kevin had she always been home, thinking about being at work

in terms of kevin’s birthdays, it’s always been a personal headcanon of mine that maria would’ve missed at least one of kev’s three birthdays because she had opted to be at work instead. maybe something super important was happening, or maybe nothing especially important was happening at all: work in general is just important to maria. so i don’t know exactly which one (i’ll probably make a concrete choice in an upcoming kev-centric fic i got planned wink wink nudge nudge), but she definitely would’ve been okay with letting kevin celebrate with her father and his father without her. maybe she would’ve missed his first birthday, because she knows babies don’t remember it and it would’ve been important for her to show up for work as much as possible the first year after her maternity leave to prove she was still just as valuable of an employee as anyone else. or maybe she misses his third birthday, his last, because by that time she’s an assistant to the DA and can’t really take off work for personal stuff—as guilty as it makes her feel, she convinces herself it’ll be worth it, because she’s building a life for herself and her son to thrive in

but then september 2003 hits. and maria learns all that working wasn’t worth it at all.

i think about kevin’s death a lot. it’s interesting to me that it’s the 29th, three days after outbreak day, because that means there were three days where maria or someone close to maria must’ve been with him, trying to keep him safe. before, it was my personal hc that maria wasn’t actually there to actually witness kev’s death or know what happened for sure, because she was at work—but it wouldn’t make much sense, considering she knows he died exactly three days after the outbreak, a detail that she could’ve only known had either her or maybe her dad been there the day of. outbreak day was a normal day where everyone started off going to school and work like normal, so i imagine maria would’ve been working while kevin was maybe at daycare or with his father (who im now thinking maybe couldve chosen to separate from maria at this time???? maybe he doesnt love that she’s working so much and is thinking about divorce by the time outbreak day hits, so it’s on a day when kevin is with him) or her father. either way, three days in, he’s gone and she’s not

i do think, considering how differently maria and joel handle the death’s of their respective children, that the nature of them dying probably was extremely different circumstantially. one, we know that sarah died suddenly and brutally, in joel’s arms, not because of the cordyceps but because of some dumbfuck fucking soldier too cowardly to make a different choice. these circumstances provide a lot for joel to be mad at, are just a lot for joel to handle, and sarah was his entire life. so i understand how it consumes him the way it does

for maria, things are clearly different. she had a life outside of parenthood in a way that joel clearly didn’t, spent less years of her life devoted to parents than joel did, and i’d judge from the way she can still hold her composure when ellie mentions kevin that his death wasn’t as nearly as traumatic. maybe it wasn’t even anything violent—maybe he just got sick or got lost or what have you. or maybe it was violent, but she was able to get revenge and make peace with it??? (loveeee this idea and her “the only people that can betray us are the ones we trust” line having to do with kevin. like imagine he died because of someone she had decided to trust, and so she kills that person to finally make peace with herself and her guilt. imagine murder mommy maria 🤩). either way, to me it’s clear that maria was able to process and make peace with kev’s passing in a way that joel never could with sarah

so now onto actually answering your question 😭😭😭😭😭 finally omg

for kevin’s birthday, i imagine that maria would try to completely ignore it tbh. maybe she’d take an extra second to pause and breathe in front of their memorial the morning, or she’d maybe light a candle and blow it out for kevin late at night after tommy is too deep asleep to hear her do it. but that’s the absolute most she could bring herself to do. what’s the point of celebrating a birthday kevin doesn’t get to have? what good would it do her, to think about him turning older and living a life that doesn’t exist? maria chooses to work instead, because working is something she knows she can do without stopping to think or reflect. for jackson and it’s people, she is a machine. grief cannot consume a machine. april is prime time to start planting time for most crops in wyoming, anyway, so april 3rd is always busy, every single year. she is greatful for it. she refuses to think of the one birthday of kevin’s she’d missed working, because she knows that would break her. even without letting herself think about why, maria always feels guilty on april 3rd.

tommy and talia know kevin’s birthday too, and are maybe the only two people in jackson that have the day memorized. they know maria is usually okay to talk about kevin casually on most days, but both are especially careful to mention him around and on his birthday. one year, when maria is especially quiet on the days leaving up to april 3rd, talia brings them all breakfast and they try to subtly talk her out of going to work—after this conversation, in which maria is mostly silent besides saying “no, i’d like to work,” maria doesn’t speak to talia nor tommy for the rest of the day, dead set on avoiding even making eye contact with them. it is the last time they try anything like that

september 29th is different. first off, the entirety of jackson spends outbreak week mostly in a state of collectively mourning, everyone consumed by the memories of the people they’ve lost and how they’ve lost them. maria spends september 25th to the 28th doing everything she can for her community: comforting friends who need it, bringing plates to those who can’t manage to leave their homes, distracting naive children from the grief of their parents’. she spends the 26th, every year, taking care of tommy, who usually is stuck bedridden, crying and talking with her about sarah and joel, trying to hold him back from drinking himself sick

the day of the 29th, she shuts down. usually she spends the few days before barely eating and ignoring her body’s chronic pain signals, so by kev’s death date, her body is extremely fatigued and basically ready to give out. she always sleeps poorly the night before, tossing and turning and anxious that she’ll have nightmares—some years, she wakes up and nothing seems real. she’ll go through her whole morning routine like a zombie, vision blurry and thoughts foggy as she lifelessly space out. tommy has days like those, too, sometimes, so he knows how to deal with them. he brings out their good candles for her to smell, guides her through breathing and sings to her while she keeps a hand on the body of his guitar, letting the vibrations ground her back to what’s real. emotions wise, when she’s not derealized, she’s commonly overcome with extreme guilt over not being with him and forgetting small details of his life (“how can i do this, tommy? how can i keep living, keep working for jackson when he’s never gonna see it? i’m not even sure i remember his favorite cartoon, anymore, tommy. i know he loved cartoons, but i can’t remember which ones. how could i forget that? how could i do that to him?”) that tommy or talia have to talk her away from

outside of the sadness and the guilt, i think she’d mostly just be numb. she wouldn’t be able to take comfort in the fact that kevin was at least free from seeing all the gore and violence, because she herself has built up a place where kids can grow and thrive. i think kevin’s death date would just be an extremely overwhelming reminder that she failed to get him here, and that guilt would crush her. she would want to stay inside and away from seeing anyone, too, especially children. seeing any kid, especially a younger one, happy and thriving in jackson on september 29th would probably make her want to scream and cry and punch that kid’s parents in the face, so. she stays to herself. tommy and talia bring her food that she doesn’t eat. she sleeps fitfully sometimes, but always wakes up to the sound of kevin crying distantly in her dreams. if she can manage it, so goes out to the back patio tommy built and pets the stray cats

the next day, like always, she goes back to work. she’s got a town to run

[neixins]

20 questions for fic writers

got tagged by @wutheringheightsfilm yay <3 !!!

1) how many works do you have on ao3?

ahaha….none atm. but! i will be posting cut to the feeling (my gijaeha magnum opus) relatively soon <3 iirc i had two or three works posted on my old account that i deleted several years ago though.

2) what's your total ao3 word count?

n/a for now but cut to the feeling will be around 30k words

3) what are your top five fics by kudos?

n/a for now fjsdjsk

4) what fandoms do you write for?

currently akayona, but i started a tgcf fic a few years ago that i gave up on before ever posting.

5) do you respond to comments? why or why not?

i used to respond to every single comment and i definitely plan to continue doing so when i start posting again; i love hearing people’s thoughts <3

6) what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

the [redacted] fic i wrote in middle school lmao (u cannot waterboard the redacted information out of me, not bc of the series itself but bc i think i never deleted the fic and i want to minimize the chances of anyone ever finding it) let’s just say that i was a very angsty preteen and i also never finished the fic so none of the characters ever got any closure or anything… oopsie

7) what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

well cut to the feeling will get a whole epilogue companion piece (on top of the already pretty sappy ending) soooo <3

8) do you get hate on fics?

i did once, back in middle school…..i don’t even remember what it said or what fic it was for but i was so devastated at the time

9) do you write smut?

sometimes teehee <3

10) do you write crossovers?

no and they honestly don’t appeal to me

11) have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of. and it better remain that way 😊🔪

12) have you ever had a fic translated?

no but i’d be so honored if it ever happened!!

13) have you ever cowritten a fic before?

no.. my process is way too chaotic and i don’t wish to subject anyone else to it

14) what's your all time favorite ship?

gijaeha, of course <3 !!

15) what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

ngl atm i’m feeling pretty hopeful about finishing all my akayona wips. technically i’d love to go back to that tgcf wip i mentioned earlier but i accidentally deleted a bunch of material i’d written for it and what i still have would need to be rewritten from scratch and i’d need to reread the whole novel bc i’ve forgotten so many details and (gets dizzy and passes out) u may or may not see pieces of it in smth else but i’m not at liberty to say anything about that at this point in time. smiles beatifically. technically i’d also love to go back to my sarumi wip from high school but i cannot explain just how close what i wrote was to what happened in k missing kings and in s2 (neither of which were out at the time). i wish i still had the doc or that i posted the fic at the time as proof bc oh my godddddd i predicted so many moments that going back to it would literally be pointless. basically i’m never ever wrong about subtextual yaoi <3

16) what are your writing strengths?

dialogue and romantic tension. for whatever reason dialogue just tends to come very easily to me and i really enjoy writing it, and as a romance enthusiast, i like to believe that i’ve learned a thing or two about writing it. also romance is usually the main focus of my fics so it’d be pretty embarrassing if it wasn’t one of my strengths gkdfhk

17) what are your writing weaknesses?

descriptions, especially of the setting. i’ve got to get better at writing them but unless i can somehow relate it to the characters’ feelings i always default to “uh there’s some trees i guess??”. it’s honestly pretty tragic

18) thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i honestly haven’t seen this done enough times to have a strong opinion on it. if it serves a purpose and it’s not poorly translated gibberish, i say why not include it

19) first fandom you wrote for?

shugo chara

20) favorite fic you've ever written?

even though i haven’t posted it yet, cut to the feeling is literally so dear to me <3 i’ve been working on it consistently since 2023 and i’ve poured so much love into every word and i really hope that’ll come across once u all get to read it (i actually did post the first scene on here if u want a lil sampler)

tagging @mqfx and @tanumaskoipond <3

[phantomenby]

Tear in my heart

Ok so there's this thing that just popped into my head for no reason ok so what if tlb and their s/o were in a fight and the s/o is wearing like their clothes and they ask for like their stuff back as a joke but since they were fighting the s/o thought they were serious and gives them their stuff back crying

a kith for u anon <3

"Well if they're so nice why don't you date them huh? Maybe they can give you all their shit instead, go freeload off of them."

Your eyes filled with tears at the words, your bottom lip quivering as you made eye contact with David.

"O-oh..." David winced at your fragile voice, looking down for a moment.

Not that you noticed.

Turning you began to walk away from the four of them, shoulders slumped and eyes watery as you headed home, alone.

When you arrived at the cave it was quiet and you knew none of them had followed you back. Evidently, they were happy to stay mad at you for a while.

You knew what to do. Whether it was for yourself or for them.

Flitting over to your shared nest, taking everything that wasn't distinctively yours, and placing it around the edge.

It was a vampire thing.

Very instinctual.

When your mate, or in this case mates, rejected you in any manner it was natural for your body to return or expel anything that smelt too strongly of them.

It was to protect you.

Protect your animalistic mind, keep it sane enough to keep going.

But it hurt, you hated to see how bare your nest was. The final thing was the jacket you always wore, a gift from Paul and decorated over the years by the others.

You slid it off slowly, placing it delicately on the couch you liked to lounge on before moving back to your alcove.

Fortunately, the curtains were still yours, a deep red and blackout.

Pulling them across you let the space darken, wearing a baggy sweater you had brought with you and some socks, nothing that smelt of them nearby.

It was cold.

Surely in death you should be free of such things, but this lack of warmth was different, it was unheard of for you to go to bed alone, they knew better than to leave you to your own devices for too long.

A few hours had passed, it had only been midnight when you had walked away from them at the bonfire.

Dwayne slid through the entrance, eyes stormy and jaw clenched, clearly still unhappy.

His dark eyes passed over the cave, taking in the dim nature. You knew how to light the barrels, and they had a never-ending supply of candles that you and Marko liked to bin dive for during the holidays.

David followed soon after, looking equally troubled when he wasn't met with your warm embrace.

Your nest was hidden enough that they wouldn't be able to spot the source of the uncomfortable stuffiness filling up their home.

He walked around the fountain while Dwayne started lighting things up, nodding to Marko as he crossed the threshold to their home, Paul following behind while messing with something in his pocket.

He was the first to become truly curious, enquiring as to where you were with a furrowed brow.

David merely shrugged, "hiding, who knows."

It was dismissive and Marko growled at it, putting his nose to work.

"Scents still strong, been here a while-" he froze when he neared one of the couches where your scent was calling to him, seeing the beloved item strung over the edge, "guys."

Three pairs of eyes turned to him, widening ever so slightly at the sight.

Dwayne was the first to move straight to your nest, huffing when he saw the small piles of clothing and blankets.

Pulling at the curtain he searched for your form. Your nest was bare, practically empty beside the few pillows and blankets you kept for comfort. Things you had brought with you from your old home.

"Bunny?"

Something shifted in the corner, a small bundle of fabric trying to curl further into the darkness.

He removed his jacket and shoes before stepping through the fabric, not wanting to bring too much of the outside into your safe space.

"Come on love, why are you hiding from us?"

When he reached you he knelt down, placing a hand on the frayed edge of the blanket, tugging on it softly.

He was met with your scrunched-up eyes, cheeks slightly red and puffy, covered in tear streaks from your crying.

Choosing not to speak he laid down behind you, propping himself up with one arm and leaning over you to look down at your face, gently pushing hair away from your face until he could run his fingers across your neck to your jaw.

"We're not mad little lamb," you shifted, moving away from his touch. He refused to allow you to run from him, the arm on your neck moving down to your waist and pulling you to his chest, "you know, we can't fix this unless you talk to us."

Letting your eyes open you met his own, basking in the warmth emanating from his gaze.

"There you are," Dwayne's hand moved back up to caress your face, thumbs smoothing over your cheeks, "keep your eyes on me."

David came through behind him, moving to your other side.

You didn't meet his eye, still remembering what he said to you.

The blonde sighed, reaching for you in a similar fashion to Dwayne, the callous skin of his bare hand comforting on the soft skin of your collarbone.

"I didn't mean it little dove, I could never be mad at you."

Maybe you thought maybe he is still mad at me-

He growled low in his throat, hand moving up your neck to tilt your jaw, forcing you to face him.

Don't- He sighed, calming himself, "ignoring me won't help, you know I didn't mean it."

You did. Just a little, deep down. But you weren't hardened like them, much more in touch with the human part of you. And completely unable to sense when their joking, even tones were a somewhat grey area with you.

Instead of responding you let him pull you into his lap, his strong arms coming to wrap around you while he pressed his nose to your hair.

Behind you the final two of your group joined the gathering, bringing with them the many items you had placed outside and returning them to their respective places.

Warm, soft lips were pressed to your cheek, and the crown of your head, and your jaw and your hands, and every piece of you they could reach.

Soon enough you were in a cozy pile, surrounding each other, cocooned in their loving warmth.

Either way, they had already killed the guy who had been all lovey dovey with you, his body would never be found.

At least not all of it.

[adoringhaikyuu]

they find out you hooked up with their friend/teammate before you started dating | 3

characters: akaashi + iwaizumi + osamu + suna + (gn!reader)

requests: can you do a part 2 to the 'he finds out you hooked up with his best friend' with iwaizumi, suna and bokuto ? thank you and i LOVE your page 💞• by anonymous + s skfhsk s please do a they find out you hooked up with their friend/teammate before you started dating for suna osamu (even better if yn hooked up with his twin omfg) and akaashi 🥺 i love your writing please i will pass away • by anonymous

warnings: the second one is a lil angsty and the last two have suggestive tings 

notes: y’all are too sweet, everyone is 18+ in this! (i’d already gotten another request for bokuto by the time i got the first request so he’s in pt two) + they’re all different lengths btw sorry abt that <3

part one | part two | part three

akaashi:

so you and bokuto hooked up like way before you and akaashi started dating

it was in high school but it wasn’t like there were any feelings involved

...okay maybe he ended up getting a lil crush on you but he got over it

your friends had dared you to hook up with someone to loosen up and you were too nervous to ask your real crush, akaashi (plus you’re not even sure if he was at that party)

and bokuto was kinda chatting u up so u thought why not

(this was before akaashi let him know that he liked you)

it wasn’t until one day that the three of you were hanging out that akaashi found out about it

bokuto had been talking to you and his best friend about this girl he met at a café, he wanted to ask her out but he wasn’t sure how to go about it, so he was asking you two for advice. 

“i’m thinking i take her to watch the stars and then i can swoop in and do my special move. that’ll have her swooning for sure, right?” he smiled to himself and looked at you both as if for reassurance that he was going about this the right way.

akaashi was about to respond when you spoke up first. 

“that thing you do with your tongue?” bokuto nodded, his brows raised up and down, showcasing his confidence. you shook your head immediately, “that’s a little too bold to do right away don’t you think?”

he deflated a bit,  “well... i’m not––” he backpedaled, looking to the side to cover his tracks, “not gonna do it right away...after... a couple dates maybe?” 

before you could say anything else, akaashi spoke up, placing a hand on your thigh to get your attention. you turned to see him looking at you intently, brows slightly furrowed, a small frown on his face. 

“how do you know about his special move?” 

“oh, um...” you blinked a few times and then looked back to bokuto. “we kind of hooked up?” you turned back to your boyfriend and you could see the thoughts processing in his mind. “it was only once though–”

“and what a time it was!–” 

you turned back to look at the loud boy incredulously and he shrugged. “what? i’m just saying you know what you’re doing–”

you rolled your eyes, “you’re not helping here.” you turned to face akaashi fully, taking his hand in yours. you noticed he was a little tense, clearly uncomfortable. “if it makes you feel any better, it’s not like i liked him or anything...to be honest i would’ve hooked up with you that day if i was brave enough to ask you...” 

he looked up at you, eyes wide and quickly glanced down, his cheeks turning pink. 

bokuto spoke up, “wait a minute, so i was second choice?” he crossed his arms and sunk down in his seat, mumbling to himself like a kid. 

you were about to make a comment when you felt akaashi raise your hand and pressed a soft kiss to your knuckles. he gave you a soft smile, “i would’ve liked that...i was too scared to ask you out for a while, bokuto-san is actually the one who convinced me to in the end, so i guess he’s off the hook for using his move on you...” 

bokuto perked up again, “oh great!–”

he pulled you closer to his side, his face serious. “but don’t ask y/n for any more kissing advice or i’m kicking you out.” 

iwaizumi:

when iwa found out that you and oikawa hooked up before you started dating, admittedly he felt a little jealous

but it was mostly just his insecurities, he was used to everyone fawning over his best friend 

and the thought that you were potentially one of those people wasn’t surprising but it kinda upset him

what if you wanted to leave him for oikawa?

you and oikawa were actually the ones who told him that you’d hooked up, while the three of you were hanging out at your place, not thinking much of it since it was a one and done kind of thing for both of you

but you’d noticed the way he’d gotten a bit quieter afterwards, the way he seemed a bit more tense

you waited until oikawa went home to say something

he came back to sit on the couch after locking the door behind his friend and you turned to him. “baby?”

he grunted, eyes focused on his lap. 

“look at me please?” your voice was soft and he couldn’t help but listen, looking up into your eyes sheepishly. you put a hand on his arm, “what’s wrong? i can tell something’s bothering you.”

he looked away and shook his head once, “it’s nothing i just...”

you squeezed his arm reassuringly and he sighed. “just started thinking about you and... shittykawa.”

you moved to sit in his lap and his arms immediately came around to hold you. you placed a hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes fondly and sternly to get the message across. “haji listen to me, i love you and only you. i would never leave you, okay?” 

he nodded but you could tell he was still in his thoughts, so you went on. “i love how thoughtful you are, how sweet you are to me and to your family.” you kissed a spot on his face between every sentence. “i love your voice in the morning when you wake up and the way you tell me you love me every day. i love the way you hold me,” you trailed your hands down to his arms. “and i love your strong arms––” you let your fingers trace his veins and he shifted under you, flustered from your touch and your words. “i love everything about you, haji. i hope you know that...”

he brought his hands up to your cheeks and pulled you in for a kiss, “i know, doll. thank you for that. i love you too, so much. it drives me insane how much i’m in love with you.” his cheeks were dusted pink as he spoke to you and it couldn’t have been more endearing that he was still nervous around you, despite having been together for a good while now. 

“any time.” you smiled, pulling away after giving him another sweet kiss. “plus, you’re a way better kisser than him.” 

he threw his head back and laughed, his hands squeezing your sides as he looked back into your eyes, before kissing you. “oh i’m so telling him that.” 

osamu:

you and atsumu had hooked up once in high school 

...technically

see you were both kinda wasted at a party when it ‘happened’ 

the most you did was kiss and feel each other up, but after you accidentally moaned osamu’s name–––

things ended pretty quickly after that

you don’t know if it’s because you were drunk and mistook atsumu for his brother or if you were secretly wishing it was him, or both

all you know is the two of you agreed to never speak of that ever again

it was embarrassing enough for the both of you

but unfortunately it was one of those memories that came back to haunt you every now and then...even years later, now that you were dating osamu, and living with him

you visibly winced as you thought back to the awkward silence and the way the two of you paused when you said osamu’s name. you shouldn’t have been thinking about this, especially not now, when osamu was literally cooking dinner for you in your home. 

you spaced out for a bit and hadn’t noticed your boyfriend calling for your attention until you saw his hand wave in front of your face. you blinked quickly and looked up at him, “hi! yes i’m here–”

he raised a brow and laughed, amused, coming around the kitchen island to wrap his arms around you and put his head over your shoulder. you sunk into his embrace and he hummed, “what were you thinking about? i asked you what side dish you wanted and you were completely spaced out.” 

you shook your head, “oh um, nothing. i think what we had yesterday would be fine.” 

you tried to move on but he wasn’t having that. he narrowed his eyes as he turned his head to look at you. “well if it’s nothing then you won’t mind telling me, hm?”

his tone was calm but you could tell that he was suspicious and starting to get a little worried. you took a deep breath and buried your face in your hands––it’s not that you wanted to hide it from him, you were just embarrassed is all. 

your shoulders sunk down and you meekly admitted to what you were thinking about, your voice muffled by your palms, the only word osamu able to decipher being his brother’s name. 

he took a sharp intake of breath and stood up, rolling his eyes. “’tsumu? what did that idiot do now––”

you shook your head and took your hands away from your face. “no...it’s not something he did...it was me.” 

osamu crossed his arms and looked down at you, more curious now. “what happened?” 

“it’s not...it wasn’t recent––” he only looked at you blankly, silently telling you to continue. 

you sighed, “well we...hooked up in high school.” you could see his jaw clench. “it was only once, though. and he didn’t––we only kissed and we were fully clothed. honestly it only lasted a few minutes.” 

that seemed to put him at ease a bit more. “well that’s––fine...”

you looked down, “that’s not the bad part.” 

osamu’s hand came under your chin and tilted your head up to look at him, the look in his eyes warm. “come on, you can tell me.” 

you bit your lip, knowing he’d never let you live this down. “it was at suna’s party our third year and we were pretty wasted...we went to a random room and we were kissing and i...” you trailed off, your pride not wanting you to finish your sentence. 

you took a deep breath. “i moaned your name.” 

he blinked at you, once, then twice before he poked his tongue to the side of his mouth, clearly fighting off a laugh. “are you serious?”

you rolled your eyes, “like i would joke about that.” 

“i don’t know if that’s really funny or really sad, i feel like it’s both-”

“hey!-”

he laughed, “i’m sorry, i’m sorry.” he pulled you in for a hug and you reluctantly held him back. “oh man that must’ve been such a blow to his ego,” he cackled.

you frowned, “stop samu, i felt really bad, i still do–”

he rolled his eyes, “he’s fine.” he looked down at you with a smirk, “so you’ve had a crush on me since we were juniors, huh?”

you raised a brow, “do i have to moan his name now to fix your ego?” 

he narrowed his eyes, “not unless you wanna be punished, no.”

that honestly didn’t sound too bad. 

suna:

you and osamu hooked up on and off for a few months 

you were kinda friends with benefits tbh but no one knew about it 

well atsumu found out but that was an accident he just came home earlier than expected one day and caught you two

but other than him, and your best friend, no one knew

not even suna

i mean why would you tell him, it’s been years and it didn’t matter

you’d pushed it to the back of your mind and hadn’t expected it to come up ever again

however––

one day suna went to hang out with his old teammates and atsumu for some reason decided to blurt out that you and his brother used to hook up, not thinking much of it––honestly it’s a shocker he kept it a secret for as long as he did

when suna came home, you were lying down in bed, scrolling on your phone and you perked up when you heard him get in, looking back to your screen. 

“hi baby, how was it?” 

he didn’t answer and you were about to sit up when you felt to hands pull you down by your legs. you looked up, eyes wide to see your boyfriend standing above you, a spark hiding behind his seemingly bored eyes. 

you tilted your head questioningly and he took your phone from your hands, throwing it aside. “atsumu told me something real interesting today.” 

you raised a brow, thinking it was something ridiculous. “oh yeah?” 

he nodded, his hands reaching for the hem of your sweatpants, making your breath hitch. “mhm. and you know, it’s not that i care.” he pulled them down after making sure you were okay with it. “but it did bother me, i won’t lie.” 

he reached for your underwear as well, licking his lips when they were out of the way. “he told me that you and osamu used to be fuck buddies.” you looked up at him, speechless for a few seconds but he kept going. “m’not mad, that would be stupid.” he lied down between your legs and looked up at you, a glint in his eyes. “but i feel like reminding you you’re mine, so i’m gonna play with you for a while, okay?” 

how could you say no to that––

[felassan]

Dragon Age: Absolution Episode 3

some random bits and pieces on Episode 3. under a cut due to length

Episode 1 post, Ep 2

the episode title is clever, The Serpent's Coil. it's like, they're going further into danger/the lion's den, only with serpent Tevinter imagery instead, it's dangerous, etc, but also like, as Miriam meets Rezaren again for the first time since her escape at the end of the episode, that's her ensnared once again in this treacherous snake's clutches

"Emergency grenades" reminded me of "Emergency - induction - port"

Between three stories and five Lords of Fortune, the LoFs felt quite prominent in Tevinter Nights. Interestingly here they are once again front n center with Lacklon's character. LoFs are known for wearing trinkets and their treasure - I wonder if that's what the various gold items Lacklon wears is (earrings, bracelets, the belt etc). If so that means he survived as a LoF for more than a year or two, which entitles a LoF to do so

^ hh Lacklon's face in these scenes.. he never had a chance did he

hhh "nug-humping" takes me back to "BARTRAND! You nug-humping bastard!". this insult always feels like the dwarf equivalent of "sheep-shagger"

Building on what we learned in episode 2, which stated that the palace's security system is designed to kill everyone in the palace in order to stop a full-scale coup, in this episode we learn that "full-scale coup" more specifically means a full scale slave revolt/rebellion. designing a security system to brutally put down a slave rebellion using the bodies of dead slaves as walking corpse fighters to kill said slaves is.. grim

Tassia is really badass, strong and stalwart, a tank, protective of her men and refusing to put a magical macguffin above the lives of her men

^ from the fact that they're walking corpses who appeared from the palace, I guess these are the bodies of the dead slaves that Marconius IV put in the walls

in DA:I the Necromancy skill tree color is all purpley, I guess that's why when the walking corpses are felled they burst into that purpley-colored cloud

aaaaa but the fight scenes in this show just make me really excited and hyped for combat in DA:D

I appreciate that Mr Lacklon is sometimes shown out of breath or sweating after physical exertion such as walking long distances uphill or a fight. not everyone ever is a high-stamina, chiselled athlete, but they can still be badass, cool and fight :) u know?

"Rolls" 🥺🥺..

another thing I appreciate about the show, even with the moments of light-heartedness and the animation style etc, is that the characters get to swear

battle boyfriends!! Σｄ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)

when Hira is stuck in the vault, if they were to blast it open, wouldn't Hira be able to stay in one piece if she just.. moved away from and back from the entrance/blast zone?

when Hira asks "You have the Circulum?" she is channelling Gollum there a lil for a min there

when Hira says "Not if you want me to stay in one piece too" she looks down, looks sad, shuts her eyes and touches her necklace. it feels like a moment of apology to the dead father she won't avenge and a moment of resignation that she won't be able to personally carry out her plan

'Take it to my own contact in Kirkwall, at a place called the Hanged Man' - so this was basically a fake story from Hira, right, or there is a Red Templar remnant contact that she really would have met in the Hanged Man to on-pass the Circulum. on the first watch I believed Hira's story here at face-value, I was led by the suggestion of the familiar and wondered if perhaps the so-called contact was Varric Tethras. smart, a good misleading/twist. like, that would have made a lot of sense if it was true, Varric's still doing Inquisition remnant stuff e.g. the report of the Genitivi expedition in Tevinter Nights being sent to Varric, Gatt in Half Up Front basically telling Irian and Vadis "go talk to Varric Tethras" etc. showrunners, I see what you did there!!

minor lore: two of Tassia's men are called Kal and Rankin

^ just Tassia being badass, once again my weakness for tall, heavily armed and armored, warrior women has got me by the throat

Qwydion is brave 🥺 she's scared, and the exit and salvation was right there shining bright and within touching distance, but despite all she'd seen and her fear she went back to help those less capable than she 🥺.. it's harder to be brave and do the right thing when you're afraid. a good egg

^ Mustache elf!! Beard elf!! The elven facial hair lore ?¿? continues. in DA:O, Sarel the Dalish elf has a beard/stubble, then in Dragon Age: Redemption Yevven has facial hair. meanwhile Fenris tells Varric elves can't grow beards

^ are those bangs? shades have bangs? emo bangs? I always thought they were just flaps on their lil shade hats

^ Arcane grenades are pretty :) sera would like these

Ooh, Qwydion used that metal pole she took from one of the elves as a lightning rod for Chain Lightning! very cool. also I like how some of the spells in the show are clearly identifiable as in-game spells, like Chain Lightning or Wall of Fire. it makes it feel like Dragon Age and shows the show creators played the games and tried to incorporate small details like this

^ a superhero landing here from Tassia

is the right trope Stepford Smiler? Rezaren is a bit of a Stepford Smiler

[jaeminvore]

DEUCE! — Sugar Daddy + Sugar Babies

# Jay

Popularized the team's motto "we are stronger than we think" as he and his team often gets underestimated and it doesn't help that the women's team overshadows them by a lot, something Y/N loves to use against him. He may not have been born a prodigy like her, but he prides himself for being determined and a hard worker. Has been hailed one of the top best setters in the country and his terrifyingly strong jump serves are nothing to laugh at either. Captain and lives in a condo with Sunghoon and Hyunjin.

more below the cut!

# Sunghoon

Just like Jungwon, poor thing needs his sleep. Three years into university, he still doesn't know how he's able to balance a demanding major along with being an athlete. Ah well, at least he still looks pretty being one of the best students in Interior Designing and being one of the strongest attackers of the team. 1/3 of Y/N simps but he mostly gushes about her to piss off Jay. Vice Captain, Outside Hitter and Jay's best friend.

# Heeseung

Absolutely hates his major, but by some miracle he manages to pass each class with decent scores (with Jake's help). Just like Y/N, he was born a prodigy and if there was someone who could be on par with her, it's him. One of the best defenders of the team considering he was one of the few who can cleanly receive Y/N's serves. Has also been featured in Volleyball Monthly for being the second top Ace in the country. Opposite Hitter and lives in an apartment with Riki and Felix.

# Hyunjin

Has pretty privilege and is not afraid to use it. Just kidding, he technically is the face of the team, but he's as much as a hard worker as Jay is when it comes to the sport. Spending years upon years of extra training to hone his "guessing skill" to utilize his blocking skills further, teams from different universities had all experienced having difficulty in getting past the middle blocker's blocks. 2/3 of Y/N simps; also does it to piss Jay off, but he genuinely does admire her skills and reputation.

# Felix

Make fun of his height, he'll bust your kneecaps in. Being shortest of the team granted him the position of Libero and it was only to everyone's relief that Felix had been the same Lee Felix who made headlines during his high school days for having insane reflexes and the fact that he'll never let the ball drop (it’s the reason why going against him and his team will result in long rallies). Can and will receive the strongest serves out there and yes, including Y/N's. The team's motivator when things get rough.

# Riki

Decided to go to BELIFT U. after hearing about Y/N being a student there. 3/3 of Y/N simps and he is loud and proud about it. Has gained quite a lot of attention regarding his height alongside his quick rise to fame for being on the same pedestal as Heeseung in terms of skill and game sense. It has been said that it’s difficult when you’re up against Riki considering he is left-handed which takes a while to get used to. Opposite Hitter and the baby of the team.

< profiles 1 | start >

masterlist

taglist [CLOSED]: @13isacoolnumber @shine-your-light @viscoolreal @enhypenisnotforsale @youreverydayzebra @envirae @ac-ewow @ferxanda @yut0s @luvelyxp @cha-raena @jannine00742 @lumixen @w3bqrl @yourstruely @hobistigma @heejojo @fiantomartell @dear-dreamie @atinyyylove @yeonjunsleftboob @who-is-kyuzu @wccycc @acciomylove @cheonsacheol @yenart @demonizyagurl @heuningkai-hour @jaybestboy @sbnchaos @softforqiankun @moonie-lili @whoe-dis @enhappenstance @enhacolor @goldenxddeonu @icywhatim @chrispy-ass-baldhead @bangtopia @yougeans @yjwfav @nationsboygroup @shinramyeonz @ryu-naa @starlightjakey @jakeytiddy @gyuza @notmangojuice @shrutiajit @hwallswrld [Batch 1]

[mccnbeam]

[ she/her] — the TWENTY-SIX year old is a LADY, how exciting to see them this season! rumors have it they are INTELLIGENT and DETERMINED, but i’ve heard they are ILL-TEMPERED and STUBBORN as well — maybe that’s why they’ve been called the TENACIOUS. I have even heard that SHE IS AT RISK OF LOSING HER FORTUNE —only time will tell.

basics;

name: devika krishnamurti, devi to friends age: 26 title: lady, inherited from her father

history;

devika's mother was the equivalent of "nobility" in southern india, a distant relation of the pandya dynasty. though her pandya blood had been diluted over several generations, she was popular at court because she was a skilled bharatanatyam dancer

devika's father held title and land in england, but had a restless spirit. he studied works such as the mahabharata, the bhagavad gita, the book of the dead, the tablets of gilgamesh, the iliad, and the odyssey. he wanted to see the places these texts came from

while traveling the world, he met devika's mother. they fell in love and married in india

devika was born in india and spent the first few years of her life there, but her family had to return to england after the death of her paternal grandfather

her mother had a hard time adjusting to the move. she missed home and she adapted poorly to england. additionally, the travel was hard on her body, and she soon fell ill

though she eventually recovered, her body seemed permanently weakened. she couldn't dance as much as she used to, and as soon as devika was old enough, she was often taking care of her mother alongside the staff

when devika was 19, she came out to society. in that same season, her brother was born. her mother died in childbirth

it was an unsuccessful season for her due to the grief that seemed to blanket her household. her father was devastated by her mothers' death and was no longer taking care of himself, never mind her new brother nor the estate. she began tending to all three

she never planned to marry. she had accepted she was going to be a spinster, and was content to take care of her brother until he was of age to inherit the estate, and then she would take a portion of their wealth to travel the world just as her father did

currently;

a few months ago, her father died in a carriage accident. shortly before passing, he invested a sizeable portion of their family wealth into what turned out to be a fraudulent venture

devika has enough money to run the estate for the next year. if she doesn't marry before then, her and her brother will be left destitute. she knows she's hardly of the ideal marrying age, and is a bit resigned to the fact she's probably gonna have to marry some gross oldie

personality/likes;

having shouldered an enormous amount of responsibility since she was young, she has a somewhat serious disposition. though she can come off reserved, she has a sharp wit and strong feelings about even the most innocuous of things. when she's grown comfortable enough to open up, she is a loyal friend and very loving

she inherited the passions of her mother and her father. she's read all of the ancient texts in her father's library, and has acquired a few more, by gift, since his passing

she's trained in bharatanatyam and she still dances every night, but never for an audience. she can no longer afford her teacher, but she still goes for lessons when she has time. her teacher has become sort of an aunt figure to her

stressed bisexual<3 has never had a sexual experience with a man, but has had a handful with women. ladies if u wanna get TOPPED hit me up

tldr;

dead mom, dead dad, bankrupt estate, she super needs to marry this season, which she's balancing with taking care of her 7 year old little brother - feel free to ask anything else here or on discord! my tag is mayareplies#2206

[jkstompers]

a royal engagement | jjk

pairing: jeon jungkook x female reader

summary: the rough ground against his clothed knee doesn’t matter anymore when he sees the sweetest smile on your face. everything is perfect.

genre: arranged marriage but they wanna do it right!, best friends to lovers, royalty!au, FLUFF, crown princess!oc, prince!jk, surprises!, jk believes in soulmates confirmed, oc is so in love, perhaps jk flexes how rich he is in this ~(˘▾˘~)

warnings: mentions of sex, sexual tension, more talk of exes (both jk and oc’s), they both talk about losing their virginity, mild jealousy, mentions of menstrual cycles, a little bit of lip locking action

word count: 11.1k

author’s note: ♡ happy jungkook day! ♡ this chapter spans over a week and a half-ish! also i made a little oopsies in the last chapter when i said that oc had only been back in raemor for a week… it’s actually been a month since she’s left the city. i’m sorry about that! i changed it on an arrangement already, but i just figured it out when i was editing this chapter. other than that, i’m so excited for this series and i hope u all enjoy!! pls lmk what u think! ღ'ᴗ'ღ 

banner pic creds here! <3

jungkook had the utmost faith in you.

there was something in him that always knew that the love the two of you had ran way deeper than a friendship— probably more than a relationship too. it was something like a soul tie. something the stars created before the earth was ever created. two beings that were always meant to be together, in every universe, in every time before and after this. jungkook held his hope in that. his trust that the love the two of you forged was strong enough to pull you out of your room and into his arms before the plane took off.

the war between your head and your heart ended in a stalemate. you were fighting against something that you knew in your heart you wanted. your brain couldn’t make any more excuses to go against it when jungkook laid his heart out on the floor for you. you’d already made your decision before you went to sleep— before you even left jungkook’s grasp. but you were one for the dramatics.

the sound of the plane landing woke you, you were afraid you were too late. thinking that you slept in during a moment that could decide the rest of your life, you ran. bare feet smacking against the cold floor of the castle, before you eventually made it out to the garden and then the royal runway.

the sound of your voice that morning set it in stone. that jungkook will never love another the way he does you.

“jungkook!” you called out.

he was just about to board the plane for fenutar, jungkook and his advisors huddled into a circle to talk about customs and special etiquette since it’s been a while since he’s last visited. your shout interrupted the conversation. jungkook turned around immediately at the familiar voice.

the sight of you running through the cold, wet grass in your sleep wear with a winter coat and no shoes on. it makes his heart swell, with both love and worry. more so worry. “princess? what are you doing out here?! it’s freezing and you’re not even wearing the right clothes—”

you cut him off as you crash into his body for a tight hug. it felt right, it always did. “am i too late?” you ask, face snuggled into his warm chest.

he shakes his head, a little laugh accompanying the words. “you’re just in time.”

now, jungkook and you lay in your bed, staring up at the ceiling together. since seven in the morning, the two of you have just been talking about everything and nothing. mostly just appreciating each others presence. time passed quickly and it was almost time for everyone to start getting ready for breakfast. “so... how should we tell everyone? over breakfast?” you asked, pulling yourself on his chest and resting your cheek against his ribs.

he smiles at you. “sure, i heard they’re serving waffles, donuts— you know, sweet stuff.”

“and wouldn’t our news be so sweet?” you grinned. he laughs and you can feel his chest rise and fall under your head, the sound of his laughter just up against your ear. “should we go now?”

you move to get up, but jungkook stops you, placing a hand on your waist. “let’s stay here for a little bit longer.” he suggests, moving his hand up to run through your hair. “aren’t you tired from your dramatic show of affection this morning?” laughing as his fingers card through the strands of your hair. he combats your glare with a tender massage to your scalp. remembering how you’d always fall asleep whenever he did, and it worked. your eyelids fell and you melt against jungkook as he continues to rub your scalp gently.

love wasn’t scary. times like this, when it’s just you and jungkook; no expectations, no titles, no responsibilities. it’s just love. it wasn’t terrifying, it’s not painful. well, maybe it is sometimes. like how your heart beats out of your chest whenever jungkook looks at you, eyes glistening with admiration. like when you smile at jungkook and he feels like he could burst at any second just from the sight of you. love is hard to explain. love is whatever you make it out to be. and right now, love is in the curve of jungkook’s lips when he smiles at you. love is in the palm of your hand when you reach out to hold him.

the sound of the knocks on the door doesn’t register until the second round of taps. “princess, it is time for breakfast.” you hear from behind the door.

you sit up. “i’ll be right out!” trying to get out of bed but jungkook pulls you back.

“uh-uh,” he tsks. “you’re not dressed.” you furrow your eyebrows before you look down at what you’re wearing. a slip dress, the one you wore to sleep to be specific. “i won’t look, don’t worry.” he laughs, scooting himself up on your bed and covering his face with one of your pillows. he ignores how nice it smells, just like that shampoo he really likes. you bought it back in the city, raemor doesn’t have shampoos that smell like this.

he hears you rustle around in your closet before he hears a faint zip. “wait— jungkook, how does this look?”

the pillow is pulled away from his face and his eyes lay on you. with a colorful sundress draped on your body. it flows and compliments your skin beautifully. you’re beautiful. god, you’re gorgeous. asking jungkook for his opinion wouldn’t help, he’s biased. you’re pretty in his eyes no matter what you wear. “that— yeah, it’s— you look great.” he stumbles over his words.

“cat’s got your tongue?” you tease. in retaliation, jungkook ruffles up your hair a bit, making you groan and spend another five minutes in front of the mirror to fix it. meanwhile, jungkook pulls himself off the bed and straightens his outfit out, opting to leave his jacket off since it was toasty in the castle. he still looks proper and handsome with his white button up and dress pants on. for the last touch, you dig through your jewelry box, knowing that it has to be somewhere in there.

then there it was, at the bottom, tangled with a necklace from your mother, was the friendship bracelet jungkook gave you when you were twelve at the lantern festival. a dainty gold chain with a flower embellishment on it, signifying the promise the two of you made. he watches from afar when you put it on, trying to hide his surprise. “you still have it?”

you nod, “you don’t?”

“i do.” he assures. “i just didn’t think you’d remember it after all this time.”

you scoff playfully, walking towards him. “of course i remember,” linking your arm with his. “i remember everything.”

with that, the two of you step out of your room and down to the dining hall. they were expecting you, but not jungkook. the shock on everyone’s faces was evident. your parents, clementine, your ladies, venus, even blue. it was a good surprise though. both of your parents had to hide their big smiles behind their napkins. the staff kindly added another chair next to you for jungkook to sit down in. no one spoke up about it, if they wanted to ask, they kept their mouths shut. the two of you enjoy a delicious breakfast without any interference from any of the advisors.

but someone had to say it, and you were happy that it was going to be you.

you let out a cough before standing up, holding a glass of water and clinking your knife against it gently to grab everyone's attention. it only took a few seconds for all eyes to land on you. “jungkook and i have come to the conclusion that we will marry.” you announce.

the hall is overjoyed. cheers coming from your parents, smiles being sent your way from blue and your ladies. even the advisors, the most stern and inexpressive people you know (except for venus) crack a little smile at the news. “but—” you begin. silence quickly takes over the room. “only on jungkook and i’s terms.”

there is a bit of confusion amongst the crowd. so clementine is quick to ask, “and what are those terms, your highness?”

one. “jungkook and i will wed next year, when spring begins.”

two. “both of us will plan the wedding, with help of others, but the main parts will be orchestrated by the two of us.”

three. “there will be no talk of an heir until we are ready.”

“deal!” both yours and jungkook’s parents say as soon as you’re done talking.

“then it is settled! prince jungkook and princess ___ will wed next spring!” clementine announces to the hall and cheers erupt through the room once more.

jungkook stands and gives you a tight hug. the moment is all too perfect, the joyous chatter of everyone around you and the warm embrace of the one you love wrapped around you. it’s something you’ve dreamed of. “i won’t let you down, princess.” he promises you, in your ear, only for you to hear.

“i’ll be the best husband this world has ever seen.”

a good husband has to be honest.

jungkook has something to tell you, and he isn’t sure how to word it. he’s scared you’ll be turned off by it. it is a pretty serious topic, so he needs to say it, or else he would feel the guilt start to build in his stomach. then before he knows it, it’ll spill all out. so it’s better to nip the bud. get it done before it becomes a bigger problem.

the two of you were having a sleepover tonight. it’s the first one you guys had since you’ve been back. jungkook brought all the fancy snacks that his mother packed along with some drinks, while you had your contraband: face masks and matching pajamas for the both of you.

he looks funny with his peel off mask drying on his face. you told him not to make any facial expressions or else it wouldn’t work. jungkook’s been pulling a straight face for ten minutes while watching elle woods destroy chutney in the courtroom.

he couldn’t have chosen a worse time to speak up about it, but it’s been eating at him for long enough. “i have to tell you something.” he says out of nowhere. you look at him, trying not to react with your face. his serious tone makes you want to burst out into laughter, it was just so out of place.

but he looks somber, like how he looks when something’s bothering him. you swallow the urge to laugh and just nod. “you can tell me while i peel this mask off your face, deal?” you ask, moving closer and picking at the edge of the mask.

you wait patiently until he spills whatever he needs to say, but he looks a little distracted by the feeling of the face mask being peeled off. he’s already nervous, he tells himself not to get side tracked. so he just spits it out. “i’m not a virgin.”

well. that was one way to start a conversation.

you try not to show your shock, but your eyebrows were already raised and now your facemask is stuck to itself. “oh— oh my god, jungkook,” you laugh, covering your mouth. “do you want a high-five or something?” you can’t hold back the laughter anymore. you raise your hand up and wait for him to reciprocate.

if you were being honest, it did make you a little jealous. you wondered who he lost it to. it was probably jieun. did he love her? enough to want to lose his virtue to her? while the questions run through your mind, he returns the high-five, taking you out of the downward spiral of queries. you weren’t angry at him. there wasn’t an agreement between the two of you that you’d take each other’s virginities. jealousy is unforgiving, because you knew there was no reason to be mad but you still felt the stupid pang in your heart.

you finish taking his mask off, expertly in one piece. jungkook waits for you as you throw it in the trash. he’s still silent, not really knowing what else to say. he was waiting for an argument, in all honesty. but you’re smiling, seemingly unaffected by his confession. “do you wanna help me take off mine?” you ask him, sitting back on the bed, facing him.

he nods, picking at the edge and trying to do exactly what you did. “you’re not upset?” he asks, pulling the mask off of your face. maybe you were, but you weren’t going to tell him. it’s in the past, what matters is now, and he’s here with you now. you couldn’t be too mad.

maybe you should be honest too. you shake your head, “of course not, i’m not a virgin either.” this conversation only proves that there was no need to hide when it came to jungkook. you admired him for speaking up about it first too, even though you aren’t exactly sure why.

jungkook successfully took your mask off in one piece as well, discarding it into the trash can. you tell him that the two of you have to wash your faces to get the tiny pieces off and he follows you into the bathroom. responding with a, “really?” and a raise of his eyebrows.

you turn the water on and splash him a little bit. “are you trying to say i’m too ugly to get laid, jeon?!” you glare.

jungkook backtracks, “no— no! you’re pretty— really pretty— i just— i didn’t know what to say.”

you roll your eyes playfully. rinsing your face with water and making sure your face is entirely clean from the mask before stepping aside and drying your face off, allowing jungkook to have his turn. “who’d you lose it to?” you asked. despite probably already knowing the answer, you just had to make sure.

“uh—” he starts, looking at you through the mirror. his eyes flicker back down to the stream of water when he answers, “jieun.”

of course. you let out a little laugh, stepping closer and nudging his side with your elbow. “congratulations, dude.” at least he told you, at least he was honest. that’s all that matters. jealousy can play it’s part later. after the sleepover.

“what about you?” jungkook asks when he finishes drying his face off. he wants to know, but at the same time he doesn’t. curiosity gets the best of everyone.

“my ex-boyfriend,” you answer nonchalantly. “min yoongi.”

“boyfriend…” he exaggerates. pursing his lips and nodding, the same jealousy you felt earlier coursing through his veins now. “that’s nice— congratulations.” he says, copying what you said. an awkward silence comes between the two of you, in turn, making the two of you laugh out loud. clutching your stomach type of laugh.

“why did you bring it up in the first place?” you question. curious as to why he would need to speak up about his sexual past.

“well, i just wanted to tell you because— i don’t know— when it happened, you were the first one i wanted to tell, and i know it’s too much information but we always talked about stuff like this— like remember when you told me when you got your first period?” he begins to ramble again. a cute habit of his.

you cringe at the mention, but you remember it so well. jungkook was so worried for you, he did all the research he could on menstrual cycles; asked his parents about it, looked online, asked his advisors, and even the doctors that come around the palace for check-ups. with all the advice he got, he showed up in front of your door with a big basket of your favorite sweets, literally every menstrual product ever produced (he wasn’t sure which one you used so he brought all), and other random things like flowers, just to be extra nice. you ended up crying in his arms because of how lovely the gesture was. it showed what kind of person jungkook was. meticulous, caring, and just so sweet.

“you’re right.” the trip down memory lane was delightful, as it always is whenever it comes to him. “but what… about us?” you asked. the question seemed random, but whenever you travel down memory lane with jungkook, you’re always reminded of the feelings that you had and still do have for jungkook. being on this topic makes you wonder: did he bring this up because he wants to have sex and wants to be transparent about how many partners he’s had?

“what do you mean? what about us?” he asks. his eyebrows are furrowed and you can tell he doesn’t understand.

the question shouldn’t have made you hesitate the way you did, but now you’re trying to find the words to backtrack. “i— um,” your smile fades a little. expecting you and jungkook to jump into a relationship was unrealistic, let alone having sex. “nothing.” you shake your head.

jungkook can somehow read your mind. he probably just picked up on context clues. “if you’re thinking about— you know— us, having sex,” he starts. “we don’t have to do anything of that sort, if you don’t want to.”

the thought is something that’s lingered in your mind for a while. same for jungkook. but neither of you will admit that. so the conversation comes to an awkward halt. you blush. “right! yeah— sure, of course.” you nod. every synonym of ‘okay’ leaves your mouth. it makes jungkook laugh, starting a domino effect and making you laugh. soon enough, the conversation was pushed aside and the two of you focused on whatever movie netflix decided to autoplay. it wasn’t long before the buzz of the tv lulled the two of you to sleep.

“jungkook! save me!” you shout from the doors of his palace, spotting him talking to his father in the foyer. you just ran from your castle to his in hopes to outrun your chaser. jungkook’s head turns at the sound of your voice, your figure coming closer and closer.

“what? what is it?” quickly placing the papers in his hand onto the table, he rushes towards you. his face was riddled with worry as he watched you run towards him.

taking you into his arms, you hold him tightly. “venus won’t stop asking me what color the table cloths for the guests should be— please… spare me, my prince.” you fake sob into his chest.

he lets out a relieved laugh, the stress lifting away when he realized that you were just being bombarded with wedding questions again. “shouldn’t they be white?” he asks.

you look up at him in his embrace, chin against his chest, near his throat. “that’s what i said! then she started asking about the details of the cloth— like if we wanted it to be a certain type of thread, if we wanted a different colored detail woven through it— i just— why does it matter?!”

“it matters because it’s going to be the wedding of the century! now tell me, ___, white with gold detail or—” venus finally finds you after asking the guards where you went. she approaches you hurriedly and tries to shove the samples in your face, but you hide in jungkook’s chest, refusing to look at them.

“the gold detail is beautiful, venus, thank you.” jungkook answers for you. you relax against him once again. venus looks satisfied, putting her cloth samples back into her bag and walking away. with venus finally out of your hair, jungkook rubs your back gently. “wanna stay the night?” jungkook asks in your ear.

“depends.” you act like you think about it. pulling away from his embrace, looking at him with a playful glare. “do they still make those strawberry tarts i used to love?”

jungkook smiles. “i’ll ask them to bake you some right now.”

“deal.” you pinch his cheek. “hello, your majesty!” you greet his dad when you turn around. jungkook moves over to the side and tells one of his assistants to ask the kitchen to make your strawberry tarts.

jungkook’s dad gives you a bright smile. “good evening, princess.” even bowing slightly.

“you know you don’t need to do that, papa, it’s just me.” you smiled, giving him a curtsy back for the courtesy

“yes, yes, i know.” he laughs. “i’m just so glad to see you home.” opening his arms for a hug. which you move for immediately, hugging him tightly.

jungkook’s parents were always amazing to you. never making you feel unwelcome or uncomfortable. “i missed you as well, you and mama jeon always make me feel at home whenever i’m here.” you express your gratitude to him.

he holds one of your hands in his. “it is your second home, ___.”

“thank you,” you grinned. when you look down, his hands are holding an entire stack of papers. it must be something important, you excuse yourself so that they could finish their business. “i’ll see you later, papa! jungkook! i’ll be in your room!”

jungkook only gives you a thumbs up as he takes his place back next to his dad. the two of them watch as you skip your way up the stairs. your figure receding as you make it to his room when jungkook’s dad speaks up once more. “she is something else, son.” patting his back with a light laugh.

jungkook laughs too. a big smile on his face when he says, “in the best way possible.”

“agreed.” he replicates the same smile that’s on his son’s face. “i’m happy for you.”

when he looks down, his father holds out the papers to verify the marriage arrangement for him to sign. your family had already signed and his parents did too, a while ago. jungkook told them that he’ll only sign after you did. then, just after breakfast when the two of you announced your agreement to the arrangement, you signed happily. it’s a little late because jungkook’s been super busy, but now, with excitement in his heart for your future together, he scribbles his signature on the line. “thanks, dad.” he says as he hands the papers back to him.

they settle the rest of their business and finish signing some more papers. after about ten minutes, jungkook is finished with all the reading and signatures. he makes his way to the kitchen and the chefs hand him a platter of strawberry tarts on the cutest serving plate. white with little red hearts that match the strawberries. a detail that jungkook knows you’ll appreciate.

with two waters in his hand and the tarts in the other, he makes his way up the stairs. hilariously, a problem arises when jungkook needs to open the door to his room. he doesn’t wanna put the stuff down and he figures that you probably can’t hear him if he knocks because the volume of the tv is leaking through the door. in the corner of his eye, jungkook can see a guard crossing the hallway. “psst!” he calls out, hoping to get his attention. the guard passes by without a second thought. a few seconds pass and he can hear the guard take a couple steps back.

soon enough, the guard pops his head into the hallway. “everything alright, your highness?” he asks.

“yes, but— do you mind opening the door for me?” he laughs awkwardly. the guard nods and rushes over, turning the knob and sliding the door open. “thanks, man, have a good night.” he smiles at the guard.

“of course— you too, your highness.” he bows before leaving him be.

when he enters the room, you’re nowhere to be seen. the tv is on and playing some scary movie from what he can tell, the background music is eerie and quite frankly creeping him out. he sets down the waters first onto his bedside table and you come out of his bathroom at the perfect time. “there you are.” he sighs. “how are you just going to play a scary movie and then make me come into an empty room?!” he cries.

you roll your eyes playfully. “my apologies, prince, i didn’t hear you come in!” sporting a hoodie and a pair of boxers stolen from jungkook’s closet, you jump into his bed and eye the beautifully plated tarts in his grasp.

jungkook tries not to get distracted by the way you look right now. so cute in his clothes. he wonders if you caught the way that he looked you up and down. when he realizes that you’ve been staring at the tarts, he refocuses and picks up one of the pastries, holding it close to your mouth “your tarts, your majesty.” when you open to take a bite, he snatches it back quickly and takes a bite himself. his face contorted in pleasure, the treat was perfect amounts sweet and sour.

“jungkook,” you deadpanned. your straight face breaks into laughter not even a second later when he holds the bitten pastry back up to your mouth. “you literally ate half of it!”

“then eat the rest of it!” he shoots back with a laugh. you roll your eyes, taking the rest of the pastry into your mouth. in turn, your lips slightly graze against his fingers. it wasn’t helping that your eyes were looking directly into jungkook’s. it was quite obvious that there was some tension here.

neither of you knew how to address moments like this.

most of the time the two of you just act like it never happened. but they’ve just been happening a little too often these days. like that one time you and jungkook almost kissed after he helped you put on a necklace. that time you and jungkook were hiding from blue; he held his hand over your mouth and the other arm tightly around your waist so you wouldn’t move or make a noise. then now, your sex eyes peering directly into his as your lips graze his fingers. yeah… it was a hard thing to talk about.

jungkook is just as confused as you when it comes to whatever the two of you were. just best friends? engaged but friends? dating? no, that wouldn’t be right. jungkook should ask you to be his girlfriend, er— fiancee, right? just because the two of you are arranged to be married doesn’t mean the two of you go from best friends to a pair of lovers just like that, even with requited feelings.

communication wasn’t a hard thing for the two of you. being best friends for twenty years does that to you. fights, the silent treatment, and even that one period of time where you swore that you’d never talk to jungkook ever again; you guys have been through it all.

it’s just that— neither of you really know how to go about it. this conversation was awkward. maybe it’s just not time to talk about it yet, jungkook thought. you were so busy these days. your advisors would pull you away from him before he even got a word in.

then when you two do get the time to spend with each other, the both of you are usually exhausted from the days you’ve had. even though the wedding was an entire year away, there was way more planning than either of you expected. everyone wants it to be perfect. which is nice in hindsight, but it does get annoying sometimes. like how venus was hounding you earlier for the choice of table cloths.

so the two of you just ignore it for now. maybe when it becomes more of a problem, you’ll talk about it with each other. but for now, it’s just something neither of you are ready to face. you chew and swallow the rest of the tart while jungkook moves into the bathroom to get ready for bed. giving the both of you enough time to calm down and gather your thoughts.

when he comes back out, you’ve eaten at least three more strawberry tarts and started a new movie. another scary one. jungkook doesn’t understand how you can watch these kinds of things before you go to sleep, it’s like you’re immune to nightmares or something.

but you weren’t immune to feeling tired. just before jungkook joins you in bed, you let out a yawn before stretching your limbs a little bit.

“tired?” jungkook asks, pulling the comforter over his legs.

you nod, “a little.”

he smiles. “it’s late,” he nods to the clock on his night stand. one in the morning. “sleep, you did a lot of work today.”

“i know,” you groan. “just one more bite.” trying to fit an entire strawberry tart into your mouth was a bad decision. the pastry crumbled into your throat and had you choking for a minute.

jungkook comes to the rescue with your glass of water and a hand rubbing circles against your back. “alright, alright.” he laughs. “no more tarts— go to sleep, princess.”

when you’ve come down from your coughing fit, you nod before you tell him that you’re going to call seungyeon and jimin. “let me just update them about the wedding planning— they’re gonna laugh about everything, i just know it!”

“it’s supposed to be a secret, princess.” jungkook shakes his head, watching as your hands pull out your phone at lightning speed.

“oh… really?” you pause, “i’ve been telling them everything since we’ve started.” jungkook only laughs. he could never be mad at that, why wouldn’t you wanna share something like this with your friends?

“just make sure your advisors don’t find out, okay?” he holds his pinky up for a classic promise, which you reciprocate.

the next fifteen minutes or so, jungkook acts like he isn’t listening to your conversation as he immerses himself into the storyline of this movie, it was interesting but not as interesting as the way you tell them about the wedding. you sound so excited, telling seungyeon that you’re gonna have to go dress shopping soon and that you want her to be there and everything. it makes jungkook smile. it’s more back and forth between the two of you, seungyeon saying of course she’ll be there and you saying that she better because you’re sending a jet to her. it was quite funny.

then seungyeon’s voice rings over the line, updating you about how jimin’s prepping for his big dance recital on saturday and how much they miss you.

you wish you could go to support him. jimin’s been dancing for as long as he’s lived. he’s so passionate about it and you admire him for it. he talked your ear off about how excited he was about this performance. that the crowd is going to be the biggest he’s ever performed for and how scouts will be in the audience. you wished you could go.

the way your voice shakes isn’t something you can hide very well. over the phone it may pass off as a breath you took too long to breathe in, but in person, jungkook can hear the way that your voice gives way to the tears building in your eyes. “tell him i wish him the best of luck.”

“of course,” she answers. “oh! and i was able to take some pictures when we went into the city, you remember all those hole-in-the-wall spots, right? turns out they’re great for photography!”

not long after, you received an email notification. containing the pictures that seungyeon took and they were beautiful. the city's night lights make everything look so cool, like a movie.

you miss the city. you miss your friends.

“they’re gorgeous,” you tell her. scrolling through picture after picture. seungyeon rambles more about a new restaurant they found that she hopes to bring you (and jungkook) to when they have the chance. jungkook could see the way that your energy changed. you’re sad now. he can feel it. he knows you miss the city. the way you slowly scroll through the pictures, longing to be there instead of having to look at a picture of it through a screen.

the gears in his head turn. a plan has already been set into motion for a date between the two of you. yugyeom, taehyung, and eunwoo have all been trying to pitch in, give him ideas as to where to go, what to do. but jungkook thinks he knows exactly what to do. he wanted to do this right.

so that next morning, jungkook makes an important phone call after retrieving the phone number from namjoon.

“hello, jimin? this is jungkook…”

it’s already been a week and a half since you and jungkook agreed to an arranged marriage. you’ve only been able to see him five out of the twelve days. busy was an understatement. venus said there is too much to do and that even a year isn’t enough time to get everything done. it seems like an exaggeration, in your opinion. sure, a wedding was a lot of work, but did you really need to be there to confirm everything?

maybe venus will let you have a break one of these days. you don’t suspect it to be anytime soon. today, you were told to wake up early (six in the morning type of early) and get dressed. no one told you exactly why, but you listened and once you were ready, made your way to the briefing room.

when you push the big doors open, venus eyes you suspiciously. “princess, what are you doing here? we are not wedding planning today.”

you furrow your eyebrows. “then what are we doing?”

“you are going on a plane, something about a political appearance.” she winks. walking your way and weaving her arm through yours to lead you out.

“already? mother said appearances weren’t for another month!” you groaned.

“sorry, princess.” she laughs. “your bags are being packed as we speak, just go freshen up and we’ll meet jungkook and blue at the royal runway.”

“got it.” you assure her. ah, such a good kid. venus thinks. you don’t even question the random political appearance and just accept it at face value. she knows you’ll be surprised. you don’t even suspect a thing!

after maybe ten minutes, you walk with venus down to the runway and meet up with the boys. jungkook seems a little nervous. he’s doing that thing where he shifts his weight on his feet. “you okay?” you ask him.

“yeah! yeah— why wouldn’t i be?” jungkook answers. a smile that’s way too bright is displayed on his face. you suspect it’s just nerves for the speech he’s probably gonna have to do.

“if you’re nervous, just remember i’ll be right there next to you, yeah?” you assure him. gently taking his hand into yours.

jungkook is suddenly reminded why he shouldn’t be so damn nervous. because it’s you. he gets to be with you. to marry you. of course, he wants it to be perfect, that’s why he keeps going over everything in his head, making sure he’s got everything down. but it’s you. his best friend. when he looks at you, his nerves are at ease. that burning feeling in his chest dies down and his throat no longer feels like closing in on itself.

he lets out a breath. “ready?”

you nod, “where are we going anyway? venus never told me.” stepping up into the aircraft and taking your seat, jungkook and blue follow suit.

“i think we’re going to gotia, right, blue?” jungkook answers, turning his head to namjoon. his face directly telling him to go along with it.

“yes, your highness, gotia.” namjoon smiles brightly.

your eyebrows knit together. they’re acting weird again. “alright…” you say, suspicious of them already. “wake me up when we’re there.”

apparently, you were exhausted. you slept through the entire plane ride and it was a fifteen hour plane ride. namjoon said you did this the last time too. only waking up to eat and talk briefly before falling asleep again. it was a great time for namjoon and jungkook to gather blackmail photos for themselves as your sleeping faces are unbeatable. even when you land, you don’t wake up. jungkook isn’t gonna be the one to wake you up, so he gently lifts you up, bridal style. you don’t even bother opening your eyes, you just cuddle into his further. jungkook was always so warm, and so strong. he carries you into a car and lets you continue sleeping there, with your head on his shoulder.

after about twenty minutes of traffic, you finally decide to open your eyes. suddenly conscious of the way that jungkook’s hand is intertwined with yours. you don’t mind, his hand felt nice in yours. with sleep-riddled eyes, you look outside the window to see city infrastructure; which is not very common in gotia. gotia is a green mountain country, known particularly for their abundance of livestock and green grass.

you give them the benefit of doubt, perhaps you guys were just going somewhere in gotia that you’ve never been before. so you ask, “where exactly in gotia are we going?”

jungkook smiles. a very mischievous smile. “you’ll see when we get there, princess, don’t worry.”

hm, suspicious. this time you sit up, the seat belt digging into your belly when you push forward to lean against the front seat. “blue, where are we going?” you ask your trusty body guard.

“i am just following directions, your highness.” he tells you with a tight grin.

you were already suspicious during the plane ride, and now since neither jungkook or namjoon want to tell you where you’re going; you’re starting to put the pieces together. they’re gonna make you play that game where blue drops you and jungkook off in a random location and the two of you have to figure out where to go from there. and from your own experience: it sucks! so you scoff. “you guys are kidnapping me! hand me my phone, i am calling my father.” holding your hand out with your palm facing up. both of them laugh, jungkook places his hand on yours instead of giving you your phone.

“just wait a little longer, princess.” jungkook tells you as he intertwines your fingers together.

another few minutes and you’re still unsure of where you are, the dark tint of the windows is only adding onto the difficulty to spot the exact location. blue stops abruptly and turns to the two of you, “i was told to let you off here.” he says. the street is empty, but somewhat familiar. you weren’t able to get another look before jungkook covered your eyes.

“it’s a surprise, close your eyes.” he says. out of habit, you close your eyes, giving your trust to jungkook. jungkook steps out of the car first and then the door to the left of you opens. you keep your eyes closed and scoot out of the car with jungkooks’ help. he helps you out and onto the ground where he leads you somewhere onto the sidewalk.

“can i open my eyes now?” you ask, still squeezing your eyes shut.

“in a sec,” jungkook promises. bringing you a little further, you can hear him open a door and feel him lead you inside. “you can open your eyes now, we have to go up some stairs first.” he tells you.

when you open your eyes, you’re in a staircase with carpeted floors and metal railings. it looks fancy. the two of you make it up the stairs and you still can’t tell where the hell you are before jungkook tells you to close your eyes again. he opens another door and leads you out, leading you through a curtain you can feel. now you can hear some noise, quiet bickers of a crowd of people. it had to be hundreds of people out there.

you hear jungkook sit down beside you before he speaks up once more, “okay, open.”

scared, you only open your right eye just a peek. from the image, there’s an entire crowd below you. you’re in a theater of some sort. no, wait— it’s not just some theater, it’s the theater. the one that jimin’s performing at! that’s when your eyes shoot open. you’re back in the city, with jungkook by your side, about to watch your best friends’ performance.

“no way.” you spoke quietly, facing jungkook. he only smiles at you, holding your hand in his. “did you really do this for me?” the two of you sat in the highest box seat, jimin called them ‘the rich people seats.’ no one can really see you from here and you had one of the best views; it was perfect.

it was just so thoughtful. he must have noticed how homesick you were feeling, how much you yearned to see your friends again. this is the best gift you could have ever received. you’re not even sure what to say, and jungkook understands. he doesn’t expect any thank you’s or a major display of affection. he’s just happy that you’re happy.

when the lights dim and the music begins to play, you can’t help but feel the tears start to build in your eyes. “thank you, jungkook, so much.” you pull yourself close to him, laying your head on his shoulder.

“of course, princess.” he tells you, wrapping his arm around your waist to pull you in closer. “anything for you.”

with that, a tear falls and the curtains are drawn. revealing jimin standing in position with a beautiful dark forest background, performing his black swan routine. one of his longest and most physically intensive choreography he’s ever made. but it’s so damn gorgeous. he performs flawlessly and receives a standing ovation. you couldn’t have been any happier for him.

during the extended applause, jungkook stands up pulls you along, through another carpeted hallway. “wait— where are we going?” you ask him. his other hand holds a bouquet that literally came out of nowhere. “and where did you get those flowers?!”

“we’re gonna see jimin!” he tells you as he maneuvers through the never ending hallways. “oh, and i hid these— so you could give them to jimin.”

the two of you stop just before another door, you pull him back gently. “what? people are going to see us, jungkook, we aren’t allowed to be outside of the kingdom without proper guards.”

“no one will see us, i promise, jimin will meet us here in this room.” he tells you. the both of you peek through the door window, it was an empty practice room. the door on the other side of the room opens and it’s the cue that it’s safe to come in. “ready?” he asks, holding the flowers out for you to take.

you start crying again, it was immediate. jungkook wipes the tears away quickly, “don’t cry, princess.” he places a sweet kiss on your forehead before he hands you the bouquet and opens the door for you.

then there in the middle of the room stands your best friend. his arms open for a hug and you run into them. crying even harder when you realize that jimin is crying too, you can hear the way he sniffles. “why are you crying?! you did amazing!” you sob.

“because you’re here and everything went perfectly— it’s just overwhelming.” he admits, pulling back from the hug. the two of you laugh at your crying faces.

“congratulations, jimin.” you tell him, holding out the flowers for him.

“thank you, ___.” he accepts them with a smile, wiping his tears and turning his attention to jungkook, who stands at the door as a lookout. “jungkook—! oh crap, wait— should i call him majesty or highness or something?” jimin’s quickly tries to correct himself, asking you for advice.

you can only laugh and shake your head. “you can just call him jungkook.”

“i was called?” jungkook stands just behind you, with a smile on his face.

“yeah, man— come here.” jimin embraces him in a hug and jungkook doesn’t object it.

rubbing his back, jungkook congratulates him as well. “you’re incredibly talented, jimin.” he smiles when he pulls away. “it’s great to finally meet you in person.”

“thank—”

“jimin! it’s curtain call!” a lady barges into the practice room. she stands speechless for a second, her eyes darting straight to jungkook. “wait, is that prince jungkook?!” all of you are wide eyed. jimin’s mouth is silently telling you two to ‘run!’ before you knew it, she was pulling out her phone, trying to take a picture.

jimin is quick to block the camera as he shouts. “go! hurry!” the two of you rush out of the door you came from. you and jungkook bolt back to the car, blue is a little startled when you both jump in, breathless.

“everything alrig—“

“drive!” you demanded.

“shit— alright!” blue complies and steps on the gas, getting you out of the parking spot behind the theater and now onto the streets of the city.

now that everyone’s calmed down. you just realized that you, again, have no idea where you were going. “now where are we off to? it’s about eleven o’clock, right?”

“go with the plan, blue.” jungkook tells him. with the creepy wording, you begin to feel more suspicion around the two of them. what more surprises could there be?

the three of you spent another fifteen or so minutes of driving, and quite frankly you were tired of looking for little landmarks to pinpoint where you were. just as you were about to ask again, blue stops the car and looks at jungkook.

“okay, another surprise— close your eyes.” jungkook says. you can’t help but admit this is kind of fun. sure, you were annoying the hell out of the boys for the past fifteen minutes asking when you were gonna get there and where you were going. but they love you either way.

you keep your eyes squeezed shut as jungkook helps you out of the car and onto another sidewalk. “just a little further.” he says, leading you closer to whatever it was. just before he speaks again, you hear a little jingle. “okay, open.”

when your eyes finally adjust to the city lights, you recognize the building entirely too well. a place that you lived for five years. “is this— are we— no way!” you stutter, purely out of surprise. you were sure that you weren’t going to see this place for at least another decade.

you stand there speechless, just like how you did at jimin’s recital, for a good minute or so. jungkook has to wave his hand in front of your face to break you out of the trance.

“so, are you gonna show me your apartment or not?” jungkook grins, holding up your cutely decorated keychain. you squeal in excitement as he hands you the keys and you drag him into the building. it’s only been about a month and a half since you’ve last seen it, but it feels so nostalgic. it feels special. you suspect it’s because of the man whose hand you’re holding right now.

up the elevator and to the left, the apartment labeled with a silver plated 101 beckons you inside. soon enough, you’re pulling jungkook through the door and giving him a detailed tour of your shoe closet that is right there when you walk in.

as the two of you walk around, it’s cleaner than you remember. venus must have gotten people to tidy the place up after you left. just as you finish the very short tour of your apartment, you remember that you’d left some things from jimin and seungyeon in your room. “make yourself at home, my prince, i’ll just be in my room, collecting some things.” you excuse yourself and let jungkook look around some more.

if jungkook were honest, he would have told you that he got a bit of whiplash from your tour. he was turning every two seconds because you were speaking so fast. you were just so excited, and jungkook couldn’t have been happier. everything was going exactly as planned. the clock was ticking and jungkook did have a schedule to be on, but there was nothing wrong with a little snooping around your apartment. he wanted to see the place that you called home for the past five years.

your couch looks cozy, blankets on one side with decorative pillows to adorn the piece of furniture. your coffee table is cute too. you’ve got good taste. everything just seems so you. so when jungkook turns toward the bookcase you mentioned earlier into your tour. it was crowded with books, photo albums, cd’s, and records. a specific photo album catches his eyes, a cute light blue album. on the spine it was labeled: ‘jjk’ and from what jungkook knows, it must be his initials.

it’s when he opens it is when he confirms. the album is full of pictures of the two of you when you were kids, at every festival, from infant to teens. flipping through the pages, both of your smiles never changed. over the years; in both of your eyes, the certain glimmer of love shines so brightly. he puts it back with a soft smile after he’s flipped through all the pages. another book catches his eyes, your favorite fairy tale story: hansel and gretel. while everyone made fun of your choice of story, jungkook thought it was cool. you were all about safety and stranger danger, therefore making hansel and gretel a good story for kids to read (in your opinion.) you always read it when you needed to make an important decision, you called it a comfort read. it helped you get into the right mindset, think about all the pros and especially the cons of the decision you were about to make.

jungkook was only going to look at it and flip through the pages mindlessly. but when he pulls it out of its place in the bookshelf, two envelopes fall out from between the pages. squatting down, he picks up the fallen pieces of paper and coincidentally, sees his name on one of the letters. the other is blank, just a plain envelope. if it was addressed to him, then it means it was meant for him, therefore, he could read it… right?

jungkook,

if you are reading this, then that means i’ve already left for the city.

first, i wanted to apologize: for everything. for not telling you that i would leave sooner, for leaving you, for not telling you how i felt.

i was scared terrified that i would ruin our friendship if i ever told you, but now, since i don’t know if i’ll ever come back. i need to get this off my chest.

i’ve wanted to tell you this for the longest time.

jeon jungkook, i am in love with you.

i’m sorry this is how you had to find out, i’m sorry i didn’t have the courage to tell you in person.

but i love you, and i think i always will.

i hope you will be happy, whoever you marry. i hope they love you the way you deserve.

i hope to be at your wedding when i hear the news.

i’m sorry again.

sincerely,

___

easily, his eyes gloss over. you’ve loved him all along. he should have known. how could he have not known? thoughts run through his mind at hundreds of miles an hour; what would have happened if you did give this to him when you left. he probably would have gotten on the next plane out and searched the city to find you. probably would have done the exact same thing he did recently, beg you to give the two of you a chance. he shakes his head, sliding the letter back into its envelope. reading the other letters wouldn’t hurt, right?

of course not, he tells himself. he was always so nosy. the blank envelope held multiple pieces of paper. most of them were unfinished confessions to him, smudged black ink with multiple sentences crossed off. from what he can count, you wanted to confess to him at least five times now.

jungkook isn’t sure how he feels, he just knows how in love he is. this feeling of being surrounded by warmth, it’s enough to make a tear slip out. he can’t help but smile either. this is the boost of confidence he needed for tonight. he was so nervous before, that everything would go terribly wrong, but now he’s just so… content, so happy. he wanted to hug you, kiss you, everything. so he puts the envelopes back into the book, places it back into the shelf and makes his way to your room. your body hovers over your vanity, digging through your jewelry box.

“my princess.” jungkook pouts even though you can’t see him. coming from behind, he hugs you tightly and rests his head against yours. he tries to hide the way that his tears began to tear up. you look up from your tangle of necklaces, turning and taking him into your arms.

“are you crying?” the single tear that rolls down his cheek grabs your attention. your hand immediately coming up to wipe it away. “what’s wrong? do you hate my little apartment that much?” you let out a laugh.

he laughs too, shaking his head with a smile. “your little apartment is perfect— i love it actually, i love you.”

“aw,” you mumble against his chest. “i love you too, even though you’re acting super weird.” the two of you stand there, swaying in a hug for a little longer.

“am not.” he rests his chin atop your head.

“whatever you say.” you hum, pulling him towards your prized possession— your queen sized bed. the two of you plop on top, your fluffy comforter proving to be one of the best purchases you have ever made in your entire life. the two of you lay there in silence for a little bit, you almost fall asleep due to how warm jungkook is.

“as much as i would love to cuddle and take a nap in your bed, we’re on a tight schedule— c’mon.” jungkook says as he stands from your bed, pulling you up.

“a schedule?” you quirk an eyebrow. “what else are we gonna do in the city? our faces are plastered all over the internet, not to mention you’re the most-thirsted-after prince in the entire world.” you ask as he tugs you through the hallway and back into the living room.

“can you show me the roof?” jungkook asks. a sly smile on his face, while you’re still completely clueless.

“of course!” you squeal, excited to show him the amazing view of the city the roof of your building has. the two of you exit your apartment and you pull him up another two flights of stairs. “usually it’s kind of dirty, so don’t mind the mess.” you warn before opening the heavy door.

but when you push it open, the roof is…clean. it’s decorated too. it’s not the same as you last saw it. “huh— would you look at that?” jungkook steps out onto the roof first, with his hands on his hips as he looks back at you. “it looks pretty clean— and look! it’s set up for dinner...?” he acts surprised. his eyebrows raised as the two of you walk towards the dinner table. he pulls out the chair for you to sit down and you can’t help but let out a little laugh.

“so this was your plan.” you snort. dinner was in the shape of cups of ice cream. it was adorable. “ice cream for dinner?”

jungkook nods, handing you a tiny spoon for the ice cream. “your favorite.”

he did all of this for me. you realize the effort. he must have gone through meticulous planning and conspiring all of this in secret. he’s good. really good. god, you could kiss him.

the two of you sit there in the ambiance of the late city night, eating ice cream and having a small conversation. whenever the conversation paused, you could hear some music playing quietly in the back.

jungkook really did deserve the mantle of prince charming. king of romance. ruler of your heart.

“do you hear that?” jungkook asks, holding a hand out next to his ear. a familiar tune playing from wherever the music was. standing up, he extends his grasp for you to take. “a dance, princess?”

“you know i have two left feet.” you try to decline him, remembering how taehyung teased you about the way that you tripped over his feet when the two of you danced at your welcome home party. but jungkook doesn’t mind. he loves dancing with you, always has. he loves the way that your feet crash into his, how focused you get when you try not to get the moves wrong. he wanted to waltz with you everywhere, even if you stood on his feet the entire time.

“just follow me, alright?” he smiles. giving in, you take his hand and the two of you make your way to the middle of the rooftop. the night sky bearing witness to one of the most romantic things you’ve ever received. you feel his hand wrap around your waist, guiding you to step where he does.

“sparks, huh?” you smile, finally putting a title on the song playing. “kind of a sad song to dance to.” following his moves, dancing does seem a little easier with jungkook there.

“i thought it was perfect.” he states, leading you in for a twirl and then back into his arms. “it explains exactly how i feel about you.

“yeah?” you look up to him. even in this faint lighting, the abandoned flickering light bulbs that hang from strings all across the rooftop from an old tenant party, he still shines so bright.

he nods. the two of you silently sway for another few beats of the song. you lay your head against his chest, the beat of his heart is as calming as the music in the back. maybe if you just leave your eyes closed, this moment could last forever.

meanwhile, jungkook is trying to amp himself up to get these words out. another confession and an important question sits heavy on his tongue. he knows you feel the same, knows that you’ll accept, but he’s still so nervous. what if you don’t say yes and he’s left there with his knee against the rough concrete floor? what if this was just too cheesy for you and you hate it?

jungkook tells himself there’s only one way to find out.

“i— can i tell you something?” he asks. you lift your head away and look in his eyes, they greet you with that sweet eye smile that hasn’t changed in all the days you’ve known him.

“of course.” you pull yourself back, holding his hands.  

“when you were gone...i was always afraid that i was romanticizing you— i had nothing but our memories and the small talks we would have sometimes through our parents,” he admits. “i was scared that i was in love with the idea of you, and not… you— you know?”

his confession makes you stop in your tracks, clear disbelief on your face as you drop his hands from your grasp. “what?! jungkook— why are you telling me this now?” you groan, folding your arms over your chest. you move to grab your phone to find a way to reverse this. “you know what— it’s not too late to cancel the engagement and call up the king of fenutar— i’m sure they’ll forgive you— yeah, let’s give them a call—”

he pulls you back gently, “princess, relax.” he laughs. “i was just getting started.”

your gaze softens, letting him finish his point as he restarts the sway. your feet move with his, slowly to the beat of the song playing in the back. it’s changed to something calmer, from what you could hear, it sounds like cigarettes after sex.

“this past month, ever since you came back—” he starts up once more. you attention falling back onto him instead of the music in the back. “i don’t know what it is, but i think i was wrong.” he says. you gently furrow your eyebrows. confused as to what he means. jungkook brings his hand up to your face, cupping your jaw before raising his thumb to soothe the creases in your forehead.

relaxing your muscles under his touch, he lowers his hands back down to hold your hands. he says the next words, staring straight into your eyes. “i love you, i always want to be around you, i wonder if you are alright— if you’re sad, because i want to be there for you, i want to take care of you.” your hands are pulled close to him, enough for him to be able to gently press a kiss against your knuckles. “i want to be by your side, against foes seen and unseen.”

“so—“ he lets go of your hand to pull a tiny white box out from his pocket and gets on one knee. “will you marry me?”

the rough ground against his clothed knee doesn’t matter anymore when he sees the sweetest smile on your face. everything is perfect.

you let out a little laugh, your smile going from ear to ear. “yes! of course— yes, yes!” tears collect in your eyes quickly. holding your arms out for him, jungkook comes up and collects your embrace. a tear slips out and he can hear your sniffle. gently, he wipes the tear away, and the two of you stare at each other just long enough. long enough to understand that this was the time.

you both lean forward and finally, let your lips connect. a kiss seals the fate of both hearts involved.

dreaming of this moment ever since you were fifteen has given you quite high expectations for it, but jungkook always exceeds expectations. even when you think he couldn’t be anymore perfect, he always has something up his sleeve. it shows in the way his kiss is gentle, but so passionate. transferring his love to you in the most efficient way possible.

jungkook is in dreamland almost. wonders if this is what being on drugs is like. pure euphoria. knows that this is what love stories are based off of. pure adoration. fears what he’ll do if he won’t be able to kiss you. the beginning of an addiction. your lips, they take him prisoner.

slowly, the two of you pull away and stare at each other like love sick puppies. jungkook holds your face in his hand as you lean into his grasp. the sound of confetti poppers startle you, flinching at the noise before looking to see what happened. through the rain of confetti, you can see all of them. seungyeon, jimin, blue, taehyung, eunwoo, and yugyeom. you didn’t think it could get any better. you were so happy.

“congratulations, your majesties.” blue moves forward after the confetti settles and hands the two of you a purple rose. the national flower of raemor and it was a common tradition to give engaged couples raemors for good luck all throughout their relationship and marriage. you thank blue with a hug and so does jungkook. jimin and seungyeon also congratulate you, seungyeon pulls out her camera and shows you the pictures she took while she was hidden with everyone behind the huge skylights.

eunwoo takes hold of your hand gently, raising the ring up for everyone to see. jimin and seungyeon also come close to get a better look, holding your arm still. “that rock is adorable, jungkook.” he pats him on the back. making slight fun of the stones size. everyone in the kingdom was used to huge gems, rings that would weigh down the finger of the wearer. you give eunwoo a light shove.

the ring was your style. it was actually really thoughtful too. there were conversations where you and jungkook would gossip about the adults sometimes, you knew everything back then. who was cheating on who, whose wives knew about the mistress, whose husbands knew about the paramour. then most of the time, they would solve it through money. buying bigger, more expensive material things to woo them, to make them forget the betrayals. you hated it. you specifically remember telling jungkook that you’d rather have a small ring and a great love, instead of a big ring and a loveless marriage.

so when you stare at the pretty gem laid on your ring finger, you realize it’s just more evidence that jungkook listens, and he takes your words into account. you couldn’t have been happier with the piece of jewelry. “i think it’s beautiful.” you pout in defense of the ring.

“it’s a red diamond.” namjoon tells them. “one of the rarest diamonds in the world.”

“how much is it?” yugyeom peers at the ring as well, he likes the way it sparkles even without the light.

“it doesn’t matter!” you groan, looking at jungkook for some help as four different people have your hand in their grasp.

“the diamond itself is roughly about five million— the rest of the ring, i can’t say.” namjoon shrugs nonchalantly.

jimin and seungyeon gasp at the same time, same pitch. both yugyeom and eunwoo’s eyes almost bulge out of their sockets. “sorry man— i thought it was a ruby.” eunwoo scratches the back of his head. jungkook only laughs at the conversation, not taking any of it to heart, along with taehyung (and chaeyoung!) who helped him customize the ring in the first place.

“five million?! are you serious?” you turn to him, about to scold him for wasting his money. just for an engagement ring too?!

he catches your hand before you can shove him like you did eunwoo. he brings it to his mouth, kissing your ring finger gently. before coming close to your ear, he whispers, “it’s worth way more than five million.”

“jungkook!”

taglist: @kookxin @fan-ati--c

[mid-weast]

Will you keep it down? | Jeon Jungkook

Summary: You and Jungkook attend the same university and have been neighbors for 3 months now. It drives you crazy that he plays loud music at 2AM, and it drives him crazy that you barely acknowledge his presence.

Pairing: Jungkook x Female!Reader; Black!Reader

Words: 2.6K

Genre: enemies to lovers, student!jungkook, student!reader, fluff, mention of smut, angst? (in the form of bickering back and forth).

Authors note: Hi hi! This is the first fic I’ve ever written so if it’s bad I’m sorry. Also it is unedited so if there's grammar / spelling mistakes I'm sorry again! Also this is catered toward the reader being Black but I hope it can be enjoyed by everyone. Thank you for reading! Feedback is appreciated ok love u bye!

“Y/N? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??!? Open this door RIGHT NOW!”

Even though you were studying in your room, his knocks were so loud you nearly jumped out of your skin. You had expected a reaction, but not a full-on explosion.

You and Jungkook have been apartment neighbors for about three months now, and a constant problem is that he blares his music hella loud late at night. Of course he’s a music major so he listens to music a lot, but at this point you don’t care. It doesn’t even seem like he’s working on composition homework anyway, just being an asshole with no regard for his neighbors peace. Now don’t get yourself wrong, you're not just some uptight bitch who complains about everything. Well, you do have several pet peeves but over the years of going to school in Korea you’ve picked and chosen your battles very wisely. In most cases you let things slide. You wouldn’t care at all about someone playing the music loudly, but it is 2 AM, and while you’re up studying you know a lot of your other neighbors are trying to sleep.

You tiptoe toward your front door and twist the knob slowly. You only open the door wide enough to be able to see his face. It’s not that you’re scared that you’re in danger or anything, and you rarely back down from people giving you a hard time. But you were tired, wearing a big ass t- shirt and short shorts (your regular sleep attire), and it was late at night. So if anything was going to pop off you felt pretty vulnerable. Even though you’re the same age, he towers over you and you find his size kinda intimidating.

As usual, you have to crane your neck to see his face, and your view of him is limited by the narrowness in which

you opened the door.

“Can I help you, lil boy?”

From what you can see of him, right away you can tell that he is pissed. Dawning his usual attire of a black sweatshirt with the hood up, black sweats, and stomp a hoe boots, he stood extremely close to your apartment door with his arms crossed. His usually wide, puppy dog eyes are now pressed in narrow slits. His normally pouty lips are formed in a hard line, and his jaw is so clenched you could carve an ice sculpture with his jawline.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You called the cops on me? Are you INSANE???" Jungkook shouts.

Obviously he's mad, and despite the amount of times you've gone back and forth he's never raised your voice at you. The old you would have screamed back at him, but over time you've tried to respond to anger with calmness. Also, you were a little scared because this mf is kind of big.

"I already told you if you keep blaring your music at 2AM, I was going to do something about it!" You respond in a hushed whisper, slightly concerned that your elderly neighbors will be even more disturbed by the noise. "I've told you this a million times, and you barely do anything about it. If anything, it's gotten worse like you're doing it on purpose. People are trying to sleep and I'm trying to study, why is this so hard for you to understand?"

He sucks his teeth. "You're such a little snitch. And I've already told YOU that YOU can't tell me what to do."

"I know I can't...but they can," you nod toward the exit, referring to the police officers that most likely just left out that way with a tiny smirk growing on your face.

If it was possible, he clenched his jaw even harder and you think that he's going to pop a blood vessel. He pushes his way into your apartment, which sends you stumbling back and you grab the door handle to regain your balance. This causes you to close the door shut.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're-"

He steps right up to you and leans down into your face.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, seriously??? Why are you such an annoying little brat? Just because you're a nerd with no friends who gets no play doesn't mean you can take your bitterness out on me.”

You have to laugh in his face at this point because hello??? First of all, who is he talking to? Second of all, you have told him a BUNCH of times to turn his music down late at night. You didn't think that was too much to ask. As far as you were concerned, being aware of your noise level when you live in an apartment is the universal bare minimum for being a human being.

"ME? Who do you think YOU are? Actually let me tell you. You're an entitled little rich boy who thinks he runs the world. I don't give a fuck about how popular you are on campus, how many people fall at your feet to be around you, and how many hoes you have, you cant talk to ME like that. And how are you going to try and tell me about myself when it's too much of a task for you to be a decent neighbor? I've never done anything to blatantly bother you, so why can you just.." You started to panic because usually when you raise your voice out of anger, your voice cracks and tears threaten to pool out of your eyes, but you tried to get a grip and not back down..."why can you just be nice to me so we can live in peace? Is that too hard for you???"

He looked kind of taken aback by your question. Being nice to you? It never crossed his mind. Also, you kind of had a point. When the semester started and you both moved in on the same day, you would shoot him a small, friendly smile in passing but you never seemed interested in getting to know him. He always wondered why that was. It's not that he had a problem talking with girls, since all he had to do was breathe and girls would come flocking around him, but you would flat out ignore him. Even at all the major parties at the beginning of the year and on Thursday nights when students take over the clubs in the city, you'd barely even acknowledge him. He KNEW that you had seen him too, since you would make eye contact, but you acted like he was just another guy at the club.

And he'd be lying if he said you weren't fine. You had thick thighs, a beautiful face, nice curves, and always wore outfits that hugged you in the right places. He always wondered what it would feel like to wrap his arms around your body and press it against his own. He would constantly sneak peaks of you throughout the night at the club, but something stirred in him when he saw that you were chatting up other guys. Was he...jealous? Jealous that you were so eager to pay attention to these dudes who, in his opinion, were decent looking but they were nowhere near his level, and you never even gave him a second thought? One night he even saw you leaving with a man he knew through mutual friends, and he had to physically stop himself from breaking the glass he was holding, because that guy, while objectively handsome, was nothing compared to him. Jungkook wasn't blatantly cocky, but he let his talent, charm, and looks speak for themselves. He was THEE Jeon Jungkook, and nothing ever really bothered him....except you.

Was he....interested in you? Nah, that can't be it. You were some random chick who happened to be his neighbor, who also is one of the only girls he's met that doesn't give two fucks about even having small talk with him, and that infuriated him for some reason. So the first time you came knocking on his door in an adorable pink satin pajama set with a matching bonnet complaining about his loud music, he knew the game he had to play.

He's still standing over you, centimeters away from you face, but you notice that his eyes soften a little and so does his jaw. He unclenches the fists he was holding crossed against his chest

You continue, “I don't care what you do, and I'm DEFINITELY trying to run your messy ass life. Believe me," you scoff, "you don't have enough money to pay me to do that. But when your dickhole behavior fucks with MY life is when it's a problem. And it's BEEN a problem."

He rolls his eyes. "Whatever, little girl, maybe I should call you little mouse now, since now I know that you'll go squeaking to the cops now, don't fuck with me or my music again.”

Without moving your head you look him up and down with a confused expression. "Am I supposed to be scared of you? No seriously, you look like you cry during Disney movies while wearing footie pajamas, and now here you are throwing a fit because I forced you to stop bothering the entire wing with your music?"

Girl...what are you saying??? This man just barged into YOUR place, is in your face, and is strong enough to pick you up and throw you, and you’re insulting him? But you figured if he's going to be rude, you'll throw it right back because you're tired of his bullshit.

Whatever softness he was feeling for a fleeting moment immediately left, and annoyance once again washed over. He straightens up a bit and puts on that annoying confident smirk he wears when he thinks he's won arguments between you two.

"You should be nicer to me, all it will take is for me to tweet one thing about you, and you'll be the most hated person on campus."

At this point, any suspicions that you had about him annoying you on purpose were confirmed. You've concluded that this mf is a bully and you, small and shy but not one to take mess, will put him in his place to-motherfucking-night.

You take a step toward him, now crossing your arms tightly against your chest, but he doesn't even move a hair backwards.

"Clearly you need a rude awakening so here it is. I don't know what type of people you've dealt with all your life, always saying yes to you, letting you boss them around and taking whatever bullshit you dish out, but let me tell you I am not the one. Never have been and never will be. Unlike the other fools around here who cream their pants at the mention of your name, I don't care about who you are. You'll respect ME and MY peace as long as we're neighbors, you get me?"

Now y/n, you have never so boldly stood up to someone, where did that come from, babes? You've tried to not let this entitled little boy get to you this whole time, but with him standing in front of you in the middle of your apartment with that extremely annoying, yet handsome, smirk on his face, and after all the crap he's said tonight, he had you all the way fucked up.

After you said that, he just laughed and looked away. Now you’re standing there fuming and confused...was there a joke you missed? You were being dead serious!

"Something funny?" you ask, narrowing your eyes.

"Nothing, just thinking about how I want to face fuck that annoying little mouth of yours so you finally shut up.”

Your jaw almost dropped to the floor. You've never had a guy say something so blatantly rude and vulgar literally inches away from your face. But again, you weren't going to back down.

"Oh really?" Scoffing and tilting your head to the side a bit while narrowing your eyes even more, "I'd very much like to do the same. Maybe then you'll learn your place."

"Oh please, princess, you probably blanch when someone around you even mentions the word sex." He chuckles and leans down close toward your face again and cocks his head to the side, scrunching his nose and in a pouty voice said, "you're fooling no one, but keep trying, maybe you'll get there.”

You're even more annoyed than you were before, if that was even possible. But if he wanted to play this game, you might as well go there with him. It's true, you were a bit more prudent than more, but it pissed you off that he could tell. Regardless, you do know some things to say that could have him leaving with his tail between his legs.

You pouted your lips and in a babying tone said, “Aww sweetheart you have no idea. You think you're big and bad but like I said, you probably cry watching Disney movies. The same way you'd be crying, begging me to let you cum down my throat as I mercilessly toy with your cock for hours.”

Now it's his turn to go pale. Y/n, his stuck up neighbor who has barely even spared him five seconds of her time just threatened to edge him into submission? He has to pinch himself because he must be dreaming....

“Well I-“

“But I don't even think we’d make it that far, hun” you continue, “because in order to humble your egotistical, disrespectful ass, I'm gonna have to ride your face until you suffocate. And when the paramedics come and I have to explain how you died, I won't even hesitate to tell them that you were a punk ass loser who LITERALLY drowned in my pussy!”

You don’t know who this person speaking is, but it is not you. All of the pent up hostility you’ve held towards him just flooded out of you and you couldn’t stop the words from coming out. To be honest you shocked yourself, but you still stood there with your arms crossed and your face unfaltering, just waiting for him to say something smart back.

He stared at you silently, eyes wider than you’ve seen before and his mouth hung slightly open. He wasn’t expecting you to respond with so much fire, but now he wouldn’t be able to sleep until the image you painted came true. His brain said fuck it, and his lips crashed down onto yours. The kiss is sloppy but passionate, and you swore you heard him quietly whimper.

When he feels you starting to kiss back, he smirks into the kiss. Your lips are moving against each other in tandem, and all thoughts about how much you despise the prick fades away. As you uncrossed your arms and placed them on his chest, you could feel his heart beating wildly. Was he as nervous as you were this whole time? You wonder. You knew he was a player, so he was experienced. But the thought that you made him nervous gave you a tiny confidence boost. His hands slowly slide up the sides of your body to sneak behind your back, to pull you further into his chest. As much as your brain was telling you to resist him and push him away, you couldn't help but fall victim to how soft his lips felt against yours. Suddenly you feel airborne as he swiftly reaches down behind your thighs and picks you up. You instinctively gasp but he doesn’t miss a beat, simply biting your lower lip and locking your lips together again.

“Maybe we should test that scenario of yours, and if it comes true, that wouldn’t be the worst way for me to go” he says, doing that annoying but soul-crushingly handsome smirk he likes to wear as he carries you off to your bedroom.