#practice a show i need to be ready to perform by friday

[dyketennant]

i have written nearly 25 pages of essay this week across assignments. what makes a man anyways? i am more academic paper than man at this point

[anonymousauthorsblog]

TURNING PASSIONS

chapter 14 • the cafe

this chapter has writing

lowercase intended

just like a movie - wallows

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friday

y/n pov 3rd person

y/n is on the barre, practicing plies. she goes from a grande, straight into a demi pile. she slows down her movements- making sure to lock in her knees. turning out her feet into first position to second. she stretches out her body- twisting it away from the barre, testing her upper flexibility to the limits. y/n stretches back up, the music in the background ending as she ends her sequence. the dance doors then suddenly open, introducing miss trin to the floor. y/n looks towards her teachers direction before turning her head back forward waiting for instruction. but with a sour on her face. miss trin walks up timidity while quietly asking y/n “did you warm up”, y/n ignores her teacher- still feeling the anger arising from the last class she had with both judges. not being able to get over the petty feeling she still has. miss trin closes her eyes in annoyance, strutting over to the ballerina, “y/n cmon i know it seemed like a dirty game we were playing with you- but it got you your spot back and it brought out the emotion we’ve been working on” y/n drops from her position and the professional persona she was trying to balance- shaking her head softly before mumbling a quick “it’s whatever.” miss trin takes a second to recollect her peace before sighing “y/n i’m still your teacher you still need to show respect-“respect is not toying around with me and my emotions, you know better than anyone how much this meant to me” miss trin is cut off by the outburst of y/n, the teacher looks up to see the emotional state y/n is in. miss trins face falls as she walks closer to y/n, “i know. i mean i know but y/n i- you should know how your dance teacher is. she would’ve taken everything from you with that first performance you showed us.” y/n jumps in with fierce intensity “then make me better. that’s your job.” y/n pints at her teacher, “i never want to be called a fucking mediocre dancer ever. do you know how insulting that is to me and how you should be insulted too?” miss trin smirks hearing the passion still blooming from y/n, knowing that y/n still has the fight in her, she chuckles “ok then let’s start, go from the black swan entrance now!” miss trin walks to the radio entering the cd before stopping “and watch your mouth little thing, i know you’re angry but boundaries!” y/n rolls her eyes before getting in her spot, she yells back playfully “i still haven’t forgave you, you know- that was a dirty little trick. cried all the way to my dorm after that little trick you guys pulled.” miss trin rolls her eyes teasing “yeah yeah get in your spot you have a week left until your first showcase miss dancer!” in that moment, y/n feels the sudden burst of emotion that her instructors has been trying to fill in her for the past two weeks, she takes the stage ready to preform, but this time as the black swan she’s strives to be.

after her two hour practice, y/n walks home. todays dance practice being brutal- when she asked miss trin to basically do her job better- she didn’t expect her teacher to go even harder on her during the rehearsal. she flexes her feet trying to crack them out of the soreness she’s feeling. she makes her way into her building before entering the elevator- she pushes her floor before finally leaning on the wall looking up to the ceiling. this upcoming week is her final week before her whole showcase, that means she has less than 7 days practically to get her life together for dancing and to prove to everyone that she’s more than what her teacher has said to her. the elevator dings before the doors open she walks down the hall before making a right to the door that she’s too used to, she gets out her keys unlocking the door to see a familiar head of white hair waiting for her arrival. “y/nnnnn! welcome home!!” toge exclaims “no” y/n cuts him off walking to her room. toge follows behind “you didn’t even let me speak dawg.” “i know it’s a video toge, not this week” toge stops before dropping to his knees. “can i try to convince you” y/n is facing towards her mirror undoing the bun from practice, used to the boys crazy antics in the apartment. “go ahead��� she mumbles, toge takes this before yelling “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PUUUUUULLLLL- EASSEEEEE” y/n looks toge dead in the eye making a disgusted face before yelling back “ALRIGHT what’s the video anyways you insane twat?” toge gets up gleeming with joy “it’s just a food review at the new book cafe?” “that’s it?” “yeah.” y/n stares at him not believing before her other roommate comes in. “what the hell is all that fucking noise?” maki asks. “oh we’re just talking about the new video.” y/n replies. makis eyebrow raises looking at y/n with pure confusion, “what vide- “LALLALALALLALA” maki is suddenly cut off my toge who is making faces at maki trying to have her take the hint that something was up. maki understands this sign before trying to put on a front. “ohh that video, yeah i guess. are you going” y/n nods before raising an eyebrow “uh are you guys okay?” toge nods “yup! totally fine. thank you so much y/n. maki and i will now be out of your hair my beautiful ballerina” toge says pushing maki out of the room slamming the door shut.

Saturday

Saturday

megumi pov 3rd person

the sun hits megumis face peacefully as he sleeps in, the clock reads 10:30am, a time that’s usually really late for the boy. he stirs in his sleep before hearing the notifications on his phone go off. a few minutes past before his ringer goes off more consistently. the last two text waking megumi up. he groans before sitting up grabbing his phone to see who it is, the contact name “yuji” pops up, yuji scans through the rest of his phone before he drops it back on his bed and lets his head fall back into the pillow. a few moments later and his phone continues to be spammed with text messages. megumi angrily sighs and opens them up praying it’s something important. “MEGUMI” “MEGMU WAKE UP” “MEGUMIII :((((“ “I COULD BE DYING BTW!!” megumi rolls his eyes before lazily replying with a simple “what”, yuji starts to spam his phone with more messages but megumi gets the glimpse of what he’s trying to tell him and sighs again. he rubs his eyes before retelling the situation in his head, “video at cafe, 2pm and yuji and nobara will already be there…” he rolls over and tries to get more shut eye, before yuji starts to spam him again. but this time over a random video game they should try. megumi then puts his phone on silent before rolling over to finally try to go back to sleep. two hours have passed before the clock reads 12:30pm, megumi slowly gets up from rotting in his bed all day and starts to get his day started. he organizes his room, making his bed tidy and neat before going to his bathroom to take a shower. he proceeds with a quick shower since he took one the night b before to get out to fix up his appearance. he starts to freshen up before getting a gut feeling to put in a little more effort than he usually does. he starts to clean up his hair adding a bit more texture to his hair going for a different look than bed head and picking out an outfit that shows off his style a little more. megumi gets ready before checking the time, 1:30pm flashes back at him before he goes out of his room getting ready to walk down to the cafe. he puts on his shoes before stepping in front of the mirror to check himself one more time before walking to the cafe. he makes his way out of the dorm, picking up the speed in his tempo. he has ten minutes to make it on time to meet his friends, and one thing for sure is megumi is usually never one to be late for anything. he starts to quicken up his speed but also taking the time to admire the environment around him. one thing about the boy is he enjoys the nature and things around him, finding the peace and comfort to spot and see the beauty in things. also analyzing the small details that makes the world a little bit prettier. he continues until he hits the stop checking the location his friend sent him matching it to the shop he made it to finally. he checks the the time on his phone, 2:01 he sends a quick “i’m here” text to his friends to finally look up to see a familiar face right in front of him.

3rd person pov

y/n turns around looking for her friends, they sent her a text in the morning saying they’ll meet her there. she turns to see not her roommates but another friend she’s has grown fond to. she waves before walking up to megumi, “hey!” megumi waves back “hey, what are you doing here?” y/n smiles softly “oh! uh i was just waiting for toge and maki, he wanted to do a video on this new cafe” megumis face falls into a scoff cursing out his friends in his head before looking down, he knew that him and y/n has just been set up by the one and only delusional friends he has, but he didn’t want to break it to y/n. megumi nods trying to come up with a little quick lie “oh that’s cool, i was supposed to meet yuji here but i think he stood me up” y/n looks at the time before realizing that 20 minutes has passed since the meeting time her and toge agreed on and she got the hint after the fact that nobody was responding, she lets a small frown out “that’s weird i think i got stood up too” y/n laughs awkwardly before continuing “it would be a waste just to stand out, do you want to check this place out with me?” megumi nods before opening the door for y/n to walk in. the two walk into the shop before turning to each other and starting small talk , “do you read?” y/n asks, megumi nods before asking y/n the same thing. “yeah when i got the spare time i actually enjoy it a lot. the two then walk into the book section first observing and looking through the different genres. y/n glares and looks through books with megumi on her side before spotting a book she’s been trying to find for ages. “FOUND IT” she yells, megumi turns towards her drawing an eyebrow “this is where is ends?” he reads the title questioning, “yeah have you heard of it?” megumi shakes his head before pulling out the title, y/ns face brightens up with joy before starting to ramble about the book. “it’s been popping up on my social media timelines and i’m been trying to get a copy of it but i never have the time” y/n then continues to explain the plot, topic and the importance of the book to megumi as he actively listens. she goes on for minutes which feels like seconds to megumi who is enlightened by the girls speech and love for this book and how well she focuses explaining how this book broadcasts on serious issues. y/n notices her rambling before stopping “sorry i went on a little rampage with that, do you want a coffee my treat” megumi nods before taking a picture of the book and follows the girl to the cafe portion.

the two of them wait in line discussing the menu in front of them, they debate on the different coffees and y/n makes fun of the way megumi only drinks pure black coffee. they get to front of the line to order, y/n pulling out her wallet looking up to pay only to be stopped by megumi already having his card out and paying for both drinks. y/n stands there flabbergasted as the cashier laughs and gives the drinks to the pair. megumi finds a seat rushing y/n over before y/n glares at the boy, “i thought i was speaking clearly when i said “my treat” megumi laughs “i was trying to be a gentleman a thank you would’ve settled fine” y/n rolls her eyes before thanking the boy, the two of them rolling into conversation talking for hours. the day starts to fade as the two of them finally wrap up, they get up as they leave the cafe, “that was a cute find! even though we both got stood up i’m glad we went” y/n says with a toothy grin. megumi lets out a soft smile agreeing “i can walk you home it’s getting late” y/n’s eyes widen before shaking her head “no need, it’s getting late like you said you should get home” megumi rolls his eyes before grabbing y/n by the arm leading her toward the dorms, scoffing “we practically live right next to each other it’s no big deal” the two stay like that until they reach the dorms saying their goodbyes and going home in peace.

megumi arrives to his home opening the door, he’s greeted with a pink hair friend waiting for him like a puppy awaiting for their owner. “yuji what the hell were you thinking” megumi yells, “all cmon megumi you have to say it was a good plan” yuji replies defending himself. megumi shakes his head taking off his shoes “and what makes you think that?” megumi recovers quickly. yuji looks down at the black haired boy hands “this is where is ends? that sounds like a good book wonder who the second copy is for” yuji teases hiding his laugh. megumi stops in his tracks before looking and rolling his eyes at his friend, he walks towards his dorm pissed that his friend managed to trick him, yuji laughs yelling at him “megumi don’t deny your feelings, it’s okay if your cold heart finally found the warmth to like someone” megumi slams his door shut before setting the two copies of the book down, smiling to himself before getting ready for bed.

authors note:

HII GUYS! welcome to chapter 14! this chapter was extremely fun to write and i hoped yall enjoyed it! thank you all for the support and i can’t thank you all enough i truly appreciate it (crying 🫶) sorry for the scramble posting, ya author started college and is busy busy busy! but ill try to be more consistent with chapters! but anyways ill see yall next time for chapter 15

fun facts:

• yuji and nobara wanted to go spy on megumi and y/ns “date” but they figured they would for sure get caught!

• maki is extremely smart that’s why she caught on to toges motions quickly.

• maki only agreed to help this plan because she’s slowly becoming a shipper to megumi and y/n too!

• y/n recently started to get into emotional books (to help get into character faster) but like her movie choices she usually reads romance

• megumi snuck off to buy the books when him and y/n were at the cafe using the bathroom as an excuse

tag list

@catobsessedlady @prettynai @notveevee @1l-ynn @xcalkenf @heyheyitsurdaily @aceakariii @meltedoctopie @hannahgcherry @juliiizh @domainexpansi0n @makeshiftproject

[official-wonho]

[INTERVIEW] K-pop Star Wonho Marks Return to Music After Military Enlistment

The Korean singer released his new English-language single "What Would You Do" ahead of his American fan tour this December.

In September, a little more than a week after completing his mandatory military enlistment, K-pop star Wonho returned to the stage — and to Wenee, his collective fanbase.

“I was so nervous that I wondered if I had ever been so nervous on stage,” says Wonho in November, two months after hosting his first “Welcome Back Wenee” fan event. “I think it was the most nervous I ever felt before, kind of where I felt my mind go blank. But I was really excited about meeting my fans — and by meeting them, I felt more alive after.”

Wonho is getting ready to reconnect with even more of his fanbase. The 31-year-old singer is coming Stateside in December for a multicity U.S. fan tour, which coincides with several performances as part of the annual holiday-season concert series “Jingle Ball.” “I haven’t seen them in a very long time,” he says of his American fans. “So I thought if not now, then when?”

It’s 10 p.m. on Friday night in Korea, and the singer is working late, discussing his upcoming projects over Zoom. He was one week out from releasing his first single and music video since going on hiatus in late 2022, the English-language ballad “What Would You Do.” “This single was kind of a surprise for my fans, and I’ve been watching and seeing their reactions every day,” says Wonho, who references his gratitude for his fans in response to almost every question about his career and time away from the industry.

The singer has given fans a behind-the-scenes look at his return to music this fall through a series of videos, showcasing moments like him getting fitted for his first fan event, attending dance rehearsals, and attending Seoul Fashion Week in October. 

“I didn’t have to show my good looks to anyone during military service,” says Wonho, who has distinguished his visual identity through a muscular physique. “To be honest, I gained a little bit of weight and I didn’t really care that much about my style. But as we saw in the outfit-fitting video, after I tried on different outfits, I [realized] that I needed to get back into working out more.” 

While he concedes fashion choices to his stylists when it comes to his public appearances, Wonho adds that he tends to personally gravitate toward Japanese brands and silhouettes that are easy to move in. “These days, I really like outfits that are oversized and comfortable, but I can wear the same outfit to dance practice or to work out or to a fancier event. I like having an outfit that encompasses all of these different styles,” he says.

Read full article on wwd.com

[torialefay]

☀️ Everyday Idol 🌙 (Chapter 14)

✨ possible bangchan x reader (f), possible jungkook x reader (f)

✨ head on over to my masterlist if you haven’t checked out the previous chapters!

✨wc: ~ 13k

✨ friends to lovers? possible love triangle? obsession? angst and future smut??? a little fluff.

✨ summary: JYP Entertainment launches a new show and y/n somehow gets recruited. Even though she doesn’t particularly care about the outcome of the show, she does particularly care about one of the artists she met: Chris from Stray Kids. Does Chris feel the same or will a potential relationship with one of his friends overcome what y/n feels for him?

✨ warnings: cursing from time to time, smut!!!! 🔞

————————————————————————————

Previous Chapter Recap:

On instinct, Chan leaned in to grab his hand and tap his back. It was then when he realized just how sticky his hands were.

He pulled back, slightly embarrassed. “Sorry dude, I don’t know what I got all over myself at lunch.”

He watched in horror as Young K looked down at his hand and then down toward Chan’s feet and the floor behind him, both covered with white fluid. His cheeks went instantly red, and he knew it.

“Yeah,” Young K responded, a bit awkwardly as he made a concerned face. “No big deal,” he walked past Chan and to another stall.

‘God fucking damnit.’

—————————————————————————————

Note: Character relations you can refer back to if needed.

Y/n- Changbin’s mentee

Anna- best friend, Felix’s mentee

Kara- Seungmin’s mentee

Sunnie- Han’s mentee

Mindi- Hyunjin’s mentee

Nisha- Lee Know’s mentee

Alyssa- Jeongin’s mentee

Jenna- Chan’s mentee

—————————————————————————————

Friday, 5 PM

Y/N’s POV:

Another week had come and gone. It was a whirlwind to say the least. It felt like all of the puzzle pieces were finally falling into place.

Your week spent with Jungkook had been more magical than you could have ever imagined. Every date with him had you giggling like you were back in middle school, kicking your feet at the end of each night when you got home. Even if it was too early to say it, you *felt loved. He had a natural way of doing that. The chemistry between the two of you was so organic, it felt like he could truly melt all of your troubles away. Any little thing you struggled with, it was like he knew exactly what to say. He knew exactly what to do. Almost as if he were made you. Almost as if he was perfect... and almost as if he'd rehearsed it.

Your group had continued to work well together- no more outbursts from Jenna. She seemed to have moved on and now had her sight set on one of the male trainees… As if anyone was surprised. But hey, whatever kept her occupied and out of your hair, you took as a win.

As the main dancer, you’d stayed busy making sure that the choreography was perfect, and so far, you hadn’t had much trouble out of anyone… ‘Yet,’ you thought, not wanting to get ahead of yourself. But otherwise, vocal lessons had been great, raps were flowing more naturally, and everyone’s talents really got to be displayed. You could tell that the SKZ members were impressed today, watching the finalized practice for one of your songs.

“You guys are gonna do really well,” Chan said softly after watching all of you.

“You think so?” Anna flashed the biggest smile, clapping her hands together excitedly. All of the girls began to chatter enthusiastically as you put on a big smile as well.

Even though you were grateful for their words, you were more concerned about what JYP had to say. JYP had come in soon after, ready to evaluate you once your mentors had given you advice. Again, you were nervous- how could you not be? But also, again, the nerves melted right off as you began the performance. And you confirmed that it was for good reason as JYP sung your praises. He said that each of you were very much individually talented, but as a group, he saw a great connection. He complemented Anna as well for being able to organize the group and make sure that everything was being taken care of. Of course, he added in some very minor critiques, but overall, it was very successful. Claps from across the room soothed your mind that you could do this.

---

Friday, 9 PM

And with the team's high spirits wanting to continue on, you’d ended up with the 5 of your friends settled down on the floor of your’s and Anna’s hotel room. “Truth or Dare” had started only 30 minutes ago and you’d already had enough laughs for the rest of the week.

Mindi admitted that her first crush had been on the Powerpuff Girls’ dad.

Anna had to give Nisha (who was, by far, the quietest member in the friend group) a lap dance… and trust me when I say that she put on a show.

Nisha, however, got her revenge by being dared to send an Instagram message to anyone of her choice off of their phone. And of course that meant messaging Felix from Anna’s account about the “explosive diarrhea that she was having.”

Kara confessed that if she had to pick a crush out of the kids, she would pick Seungmin, her own mentor… You knew from that moment on that no one would let her live that down.

Sunnie had been dared to stand outside in the hallway and give out the loudest “wolf howl” she could for 5 seconds. As soon as she ran back inside the door, she almost tripped over her own feet from cry-laughing.

And the question you’d gotten… well you knew that you’d get it eventually.

“Okay, so, the question issss-“ Kara dragged out. “What is the farthest you’ve gone with your mansss?” She teased as she tried to get a blush out of you. And it worked. You still hadn’t told everyone that you were official. Well, “official” official. You were pretty sure that signing an NDA applied to them too. So maybe you could just… leave out that part? They already probably weren’t supposed to know that you were seeing him at all.

You cleared your throat before proceeding. “Welll, we haven’t slept together, so sorry to disappoint on that,” you laughed. “I mean, we really haven’t done much. I sat on his lap while we made out. And we’ve had a few steamy sessions here and there. But nothing crazy…” your voiced trailed off, waiting for a response. You were met with big, bugging eyes, like they were waiting for a response too.

“How long have you been seeing him?” Mindi asked innocently.

You had to think for a moment. “I think two, three weeks? A month? Maybe?”

“Well then you’re getting there,” she smirked. “Only if you want to, of course!” she quickly added.

“If I do, you guys will be the first to know,” you lied, adding a smile to your face. Anna’s eyes looked at you knowingly. She’d be the only one that statement would apply to, and you both knew it.

Soon after, the game moved on and revealed a lot of secrets that you’d probably otherwise never have known about your friends.

You looked at your phone with a smile before addressing the group. “Alright, who wants snacks?”

You guessed the dumb look on your face gave it away. “Oooo is your boy toy offering to get you something?” Sunnie asked with a devious little grin.

“Well, he’s offering to get US something,” you smiled. By “us”, you really meant Anna and yourself. You were the only ones who’d signed an NDA, and as far as you knew, he wasn’t aware that anyone else knew... Not that he'd been careful enough out in public for you for people to piece together who you were. Regardless, you hadn’t told him that you were with the rest of the girls tonight, so you figured he just didn’t realize.

So how could you ask him for enough food to feed 6 girls when he thought there was only two?

Let’s be honest, he would have bought anything you asked. No question. But still, you wanted to be careful.

“That is so sweet,” Kara gushed, clinging her hands to her chest dramatically. “What do you guys want?”

You tried to pipe up before anyone else could. “How about some pizzas? I’ve really been craving it.” Normally, you wouldn’t be the type to interject, but you needed to this time.

“Sounds good to me!” Sunnie smiled, gesturing her hands out as if she didn’t mind one way or the other.

“Perf!” Kara added.

Relieved that your little plan had worked, you messaged Jungkook back with your order and to thank him for everything. 30 seconds later, a call came through the line, with the name “Kookie” splaying across your screen.

You quickly stood from your position and walked over to the bathroom so you’d have a private place to take the call. In case you had to lie a little bit, you didn’t want the girls to hear.

“Hello?” you answered the phone as soon as you were out of ear shot, closing the door behind you.

“Hey baby,” you could tell he was grinning through the phone. That beautiful little bunny grin.

“What are you up to? Other than being basically the best boyfriend ever and sending me food,” you joked.

“I’m not really getting into much tonight. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t want to hang out? I know from your texts that you were worn out, so I didn’t want to push anything, but I figured I’d still ask.”

Your heart melted a little. “No, you’re right. I’m pretty exhausted. If it’s okay, I think I’ll stay in tonight. But I’d love to see you tomorrow?” you asked before you heard loud yells coming from the girls in the other room. You guessed that someone was trying to chicken out of a really bad dare.

“Yeah, that’s perfect, but… Is everything okay? I thought I heard a loud noise?” Jungkook pried.

“Oh yeah…” you said, trying to think on your feet. “I think it’s our neighbors next door. They’ve been going at it all night,” you pretended.

“It sounds like a cage match back there,” Jungkook laughed. “Do you want me to call and talk to someone about it?” he offered.

“Oh! No, that’s okay! If it gets too bad, I’ll just knock on their door. No big deal.”

“If you say so,” his voice carried up. “But anyways, back to tomorrow. How about I pick you up around 6? I’d like to take you somewhere special.”

“Somewhere speciallll?” You questioned him naughtily. “And where would that be?”

“It’s a surprise, but I think you’ll really love it,” he said.

“Is there anything special I should wear or do? You’ve got to at least give me that as a hint.”

“Don’t worry about it baby, just get ready like you normally do. I’ll take care of it.”

You couldn’t help but get nervous. Excited, but a little nervous. What could he possibly have in store that you hadn’t heard already? You smiled anyway.

“Alright, I’ll trust you this time,” you teased before taking a long pause. “I do really miss you though.”

You waited in anticipation for Jungkook to respond.

“You know I really miss you too. I miss you every day I’m not with you,” he admitted. “And just this past week… It’s really been one of the best weeks of my life.” He paused. “I know that sounds dramatic, and maybe hearing that feels too soon, but it feels nice to have someone who fully accepts me as a person and for someone to see me for my good. And I know that with time, I’ll be able to open up more about the not-so-good parts, but I know already how beautiful your heart is. And no matter how scary all of this is, you will always understand me. You make me feel like the best man in the world.”

You didn’t know what you were expecting out of this call, but not that. Jesus. For a moment, you didn’t even know how to respond. Jungkook picked up on your hesitancy.

“Oh, I’m sorry if I said too much too quickly,” he started back. “I just wanted you to know how I feel. If you don’t know about things yet, then that’s okay. But that’s how you make me feel, and I wanted you to know that it means a lot to me. You don’t even understand.”

You let out a breath, prepared now with what was on your mind. “I’m so happy I can be that for you. And I will always try to understand you. The good parts and the bad parts. There’s no one else I’d rather be with.”

Although you couldn’t see his face, you knew that your short words were making him emotional. As much as you never would have believed it, he actually did have a strong emotional side. And that was one of the reasons why you loved him.

Wait- LOVED? Okay, not love, not love. It’s not to that point yet, is it? No, it’s way too soon for that. It was an emotional reaction. You felt loved, and you had love for him, but that didn’t necessarily mean you were IN LOVE with him… At least that’s what you told yourself.

“There’s no one else I’d rather be with either. I’m so lucky with you… But I’ll let you get back to your girl’s night, okay? You rest up so I can see that pretty face tomorrow,” he almost giggled.

“I will. Goodnight sweetheart.”

“Goodnight babe.”

—————————————————

Saturday, 10 AM

Chan’s POV:

This weekend, Chan was on a mission. One to forget about you. Or, at least, to stop thinking about you.

It was ridiculous. He’d always understood that. But to think he had no self-control… well he just couldn’t accept that anymore. He would distract himself every day. Every single day. As long as it took for him to get over you. Until he could look at you and feel nothing.

Considering he’d drunkenly admitted to Changbin last week that he was in love with you, he knew this probably wouldn’t be easy.

‘One more week. One more week until Everyday Idol is over,’ he thought.

He yawned as he rolled over in bed, thankful to have yet another weekend off… However, he wasn’t so sure that it would be the most beneficial for him to have so much free time on his hands… Free time for his mind to begin to wander. So, he planned out his day accordingly.

First, he’d talk with STAY, see what they wanted to do tomorrow during Channie’s room. He’d hit up the gym, might as well. Hopefully Changbin would be- No, Changbin would definitely be there. Grab some lunch, get a shower, and then? Whatever, he thought he would just figure that part out later. Maybe Young K’s offer still stands… ‘Doubt it.’

Chan hopped on Bubble quickly to see what STAYs were up to. As he read through the thousands of messages, he couldn’t help but giggle. He decided to tease them a little. Sending a message saying “Date tomorrow?” instead of Channie’s room would make everyone go insane.

And he was right. Not even two minutes later and everyone was freaking out. Chan couldn’t help it. He loved this feeling… at his core, no matter how awkward he could be, he could also be a flirt. And a damn good one.

He figured he’d see just how much he could toy with STAYs.

He laughed as he read the comments:

Wear a tux for us Channie!!!

pls don’t wear anything 😩

You’re a cutie anyway. Whatever you want to wear is fine.

Matching hoodies?

i don’t care, just excited for a date with my babyyyyy

It always did give him a bit of a confidence boost.

After toying with STAY for a few more minutes, he messaged Changbin to see if he’d want to go to the gym. As he waited, he switched over to TikTok. Seeing funny edits always gave him a smile. He scrolled along, watching funny compilation videos and reactions to their music that people had posted. His heart felt so full every time someone complimented their music.

He switched down to the next video, which had been bits and pieces edited together of an interview they had done a few weeks ago. Chan remembers it so vividly because he’d had a huge headache all morning and he hadn’t been able to pinpoint why… it had contrasted so much with the night he’d had prior. The night he’d first hung out with you.

And here he was again, thinking about your presence. ‘Quit,’ he warned himself before shaking it off and scrolling down to the next video. He was relieved when Changbin replied that he’d already gotten to the gym, but to come on before he got too far into it.

Chan cheerily raised up from the bed and into the bathroom, quickly getting himself ready. It was never hard for him. A black tee with hoodie over top and black shorts. Black beanie, black socks, black shoes. Simple enough.

He quickly grabbed a water and a protein drink from the fridge, making sure to chug the protein down before arriving to the gym that he used.

As he walked along the street, clad in sunglasses as well, he noted what a particularly beautiful day it was. The sun was out, and it finally wasn’t as cold as it had been the week prior. As he took in his surroundings, he saw a couple of girls walk next to him who seemed to be around his age. He acknowledged that they were attractive. And this, this he could run with.

He looked out of the corner of his eye as one of the girls flipped her hair around her shoulder. Her hair was long and shiny. It fell effortlessly beautifully, the front bits layered perfectly to highlight her face.

The other girl was pretty as well. Long legs that couldn’t be missed. Pretty lips in a shade that he had to admit intrigued him.

He tried to settle his mind in on them, but as they continued to walk, Chan had met his destination. He watched in solitude as they passed by, silently thanking them for helping him remember that he could act normally, just like any other guy.

Today would be the day that things started to change.

---

After a hard set at the bench press, Chan was breathing deeply, trying to catch his breath that he felt like had left him 5 minutes ago.

“Need a break?” Changbin chuckled.

Chan rolled his eyes. “I’d like to see you do it better.”

“Challenge accepted,” Changbin smirked.

Chan quickly took back his words. He knew that Changbin would, most definitely, without a doubt, ‘do it better.’

“Nevermind! You win,” Chan said, playfully pushing him away. “10 minute break?”

“Yeah, see you back in a bit,” Changbin said, leaving to retrieve his belongings which had been placed on the opposite side of the room.

Chan grabbed the water that was seated next to him before reaching for his phone as well. He didn’t have any notifications, nor anyone particularly to text, so he settled back on the Bubble app, seeing what STAY was saying now.

He was meet with a lot more suggestive innuendos and jokes, which he’d gotten used to by now. Of course the sweet messages as well. He cracked a smile reading a few of them.

Without thinking, he reached his phone back to snap a quick selfie. Well, maybe two or three… or five before he got one he was satisfied with. He knew STAY would want to see him at the gym. And what could he say? He was a man of the people.

He wondered for a moment after posting if the two girls on the street may have had his Bubble. Maybe they had been STAYs. If they were, they didn’t say anything about it, but to be honest, he was thankful when he was seen as a normal person. He wondered what they’d think about the photo. If they’d realize that they’d been walking next to him earlier in the day. He wondered if the one girl would flip her hair over again, pining after what she saw.

He also wondered if maybe you had his Bubble. If maybe you were thinking about the photo too. He’d made sure to get his arms in there. Maybe you’d liked it? Maybe you’d- No, No. Not this again.

‘Focus on the other girls Chan. Or, I don’t know, anything else.’

He stood as he held tight to his water bottle, getting up to walk around. Maybe check on Changbin. Maybe take a picture with him before it was time to leave.

He would try anything to get you off his mind.

And he did. And lucky for him, it stayed that way.

——————————————————————

Saturday, 5:30 PM

Y/n’s POV:

You smoothed down some unruly flyaways as you did a once-over in the mirror.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to come home early tonight?” you yelled to Anna from your spot in the bathroom. A few sprays of perfume and you were feeling confident.

“No, please don’t. I want you to enjoy your exciting date night with your boyfriendddd,” Anna teased as you walked into the shared bedroom.

There were some last-minute preparations that Anna needed to do for the final week of the show. Being the leader meant you were definitely busier than the other members of the group.

“I promise I don’t mind. Plus, I feel bad leaving you to fend for yourself,” you frowned.

“I’ll knock this out in no time. I’d rather you go out and have fun, then come back to tell me every little detail. That sounds way more fun,” she grinned.

You shook your head with a smile. “Alright, but text me later if you change your mind… I’m just a little stressed that I have no clue where we’re going. Not that I mind, it’s just… I don’t know, I’d like to be dressed appropriately at least. But he literally won’t budge.”

“What you have on now is great,” Anna said, letting her head move down to examine your attire. “I’m sure he would have told you if he was going to do something crazy.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” you said, beginning to plop down onto the bed. Your ass no sooner grazed the bedding when you heard a knock at the door.

You crossed your brows, automatically going to stand back up. “Jungkook’s early,” you said in a questioning tone.

“Have fun and be careful. Text me later please so I know when to expect you back, missy,” Anna said playfully as you began your move across the room.

Gathering your things, you set them on the table in front of the door before bending over to collect your shoes and slip them on.

Suddenly, another hard knock on the door.

“Here, hold on,” you got out. One shoe on with the other in hand, you swung the door open for Jungkook.

Except, well, it wasn’t Jungkook.

Expecting the silhouette of your broad, dark-headed boyfriend, you were surprised to see an older man standing in front of you, tall and lanky with a sideways smile.

“Hello,” the man flashed you a grin. “Miss Y/last/n?”

“Yes, this is she,” you responded, trying to sound chipper.

“Ahh, it’s nice to meet you,” he said, reaching his stiff hand out toward you.

Instinctively, you reached to meet his hand for a shake. “Nice to meet you too,” you said, trying to come across as pleasant when you were so utterly confused.

The man must have recognized the look on your face as he pressed on. “My name is Park Ha-Joon. You weren’t expecting me, were you?” he chuckled.

“Uhmm no, sorry,” you gave a shy smile back, not knowing why you’d just apologized.

“I should’ve expected it from Jungkook,” he shook his head. “I’m one of the stylists for his company. I came to drop off a few clothing items he requested.” He moved to the side slightly so that you could see the cart behind him stacked with boxes and hangers full of clothes that were hidden by their garment bags.

“Oh wow,” you said, a bit taken aback. “Thank you so much!” You honestly had no idea how to react.

“Yes, of course miss,” he said pleasantly as he began to grab the boxes and carry them inside. “Will the bed be fine to rest these on?”

“Of course!” you said, following behind him. “Please excuse the mess.”

“Oh, no worries,” he smiled. Entering the bedroom space, he smiled as his eyes met Anna. “You must be Miss Anna.” He lowered the boxes onto the adjacent bed. “Very nice to meet you as well,” he said, turning to extend a hand to her.

“Thank you, nice to meet you,” he nodded her head politely as she grabbed his hand in reciprocation.

The man didn’t speak much, just traveled back and forth between the cart in the hallway and the bedroom, carrying bag after bag and box after box.

Once he was done, you thanked him immensely… although you had no clue what was inside.

“Please feel free to wear whatever you’d like. We had someone get your measurements from JYP’s styling department, so hopefully everything will be fitted nicely,” he said warmly. “Miss Anna,” he turned his head, “Jungkook has insisted for you to keep some items as well if you’d like. I’ve included some pieces that I think are timeless.” He turned his head back and forth to look between the two of you. “I hope you both will find it to be satisfactory. Anything you do not wish to keep, please let the front desk know by the morning, and they will collect it for me to pick up.”

“Wow,” was all you could originally come up with. “Thank you. Really, thank you so much. I don’t even know what to say.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he gave you both a single nod. “You ladies have a wonderful night,” he said, reaching his hand out again to each of you, attesting to his goodbye.

“Thank you so much. You too,” Anna offered, smiling widely as her eyes were completely lit up.

“Thank you. Have a good night,” you said happily as you walked with the man back to the door, offering one final wave.

As you turned, Anna was standing, looking down at all of the covered treasure. “Oh my god-“ her voice raised up an octave, smile on her mouth in disbelief. “You better marry this man. If not for your sake, then for mine.”

———

Saturday, 7:15 PM

You rolled your eyes as Jungkook pushed the dessert plate your way. Even if you told him you didn’t want the last bite, he always made sure that you ate it. It’d become a sort of tradition between the two of you.

Taking your spoon to scoop up the last bite of the small tiramisu, you had to admit that it was one of the best things you’d ever eaten… And for the price, it had better be.

You knew that you’d be going somewhere fancy by the clothing options Jungkook had sent to you, but you could never entertain the level that you were now at. The interior was dimly lit with the most ornate chandeliers you’d ever seen, arches running up and down several of the walls. The floors were entirely marble, and the classically-trained pianist playing from a few yards away was impressive enough to rival an entire symphony.

As if you needed any further confirmation, when the pasta came out, it had been plated perfectly, adorned in garnishes that you’d never thought to pair. The small portion sizes only added to the pretense- although you couldn’t complain. This was all an overwhelming level of grandeur that you didn’t know if you’d ever get accustomed to.

But somehow, Jungkook made it seem so normal. So easy. If you’d have come in here alone, you probably wouldn’t have known what to do with yourself. Acting high-class wasn’t something you would ever imagine yourself doing, but in a place like this, you’d almost have been crazy not to… But in spite of it all, Jungkook was so unapologetically himself. He made you feel calm in an environment where you’d thought you’d feel totally disconnected from yourself. He just always knew… exactly what you needed.

You giggled as you finished the last of your wine, your head feeling lighter. You couldn’t help but to adore the way Junkook’s face shown in the warm lighting.

“Y/n, there’s actual something I wanted to talk to you about tonight,” he said, his face becoming serious.

“Oh yeah, of course. What’s going on?” you asked, trying to ground yourself in light of the conversation.

“I know we’ve already talked about you having to go home for a while, and… well I don’t want to overstep my boundaries, but I was wondering how you’d feel about possibly staying another week?” he asked sheepishly. “I know you have things to do for school and with friends, but… I just-,” his eyes looked off, trying to collect how he wanted to proceed. “I just know I’m going to really miss having you here with me. I haven’t been taking it for granted.”

A loving smile spread across your face. You contemplated, weighing back and forth in your head. “I would love to,” you said, wishing that that was the end of it. “But I just don’t think it’s a possibility for me right now. Especially with- well you know I’m not exactly financially stable right now with school. Especially if Anna leaves, I just don’t think I’ll be able to afford another week. And I really do have things I should be catching up on.”

“Sweetheart,” Jungkook said, taking your hands and looking at you almost in disbelief. “Do you really think I’d let you pay for another week?” He let out a slight chuckle. “You will never have to worry about money when you’re with me, okay? If money is the main issue, then that’s solved. You can stay with me… Or if you don’t feel comfortable with that yet, then let me at least get you a nice suite to stay in? If… if you want to, that is,” he smiled softly, taking a breath as he realized he was getting ahead of himself.

You wished you could say that you thought longer or harder about it, but the truth is that he made everything sound too easy- too perfect. And in actuality, maybe it was. “I meannnn-“ you smiled playfully, acting smug. “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to put you out too badly,” you said with a squeeze, making sure to get him with your eyes shining innocently.

“I think I’ll manage,” he winked jokingly. “Plus, if you did want to stay with me, you technically wouldn’t be putting me out at all.” He grinned from ear to ear, happy with his plan.

Your head suddenly began to float again. “Take me home with you tonight, and I’ll make my decision then,” you challenged him.

———

Your clothes had been torn off, thrown somewhere unknown. You couldn’t see much from Jungkook’s shaggy hair falling onto your face, but god could you feel everything. It was as if every sense had been heightened. The way that Jungkook ran his hands up and down your bare body, outlining every curve. The way he grabbed at you, pressing harsh marks onto you that you so craved. As he kissed up and down your neck, your body reacted instinctively, beginning to buck your hips up into him to get any ounce of pressure, skin on skin daring to make your head spin. You felt your core begin to absolutely ache.

Jungkook chuckled lightly at the action, pulling his lips from you momentarily. “I was going to ask if you were sure, but I’m taking that as a yes?” he whispered, smiling lowly.

“Please,” you breathed out, not letting your hips slow. You had fully recovered your mind now and needed this more than you’d ever thought possible.

“How could I say no?” Jungkook asked delicately, planting a small, tender kiss to your forehead, then your nose.

You smiled as Jungkook pushed his upper body higher with his arms before trailing one hand down to where his cock was resting just over you. As he stroked himself a couple of times, he admired the feeling of the wetness already covering him from your movements. He let out a deep breath, almost as if he were trying to steady himself- tether himself to the ground and not fly away in the fantasy of it all.

You felt yourself instantly tense up as Jungkook slowly pushed himself inside of you. It had been too long, far too long, since you’d had anything like this. It was almost an entirely foreign sensation. But he went slowly. He was savoring it. He was making sure you felt comfortable. And as each inch went in, you started to relax more and more, feeling the stretch in the best possible way. You let out a deep sigh at the feeling of Jungkook bottoming out, his own sharp breath giving him away.

“You’re so fucking tight, baby,” Jungkook murmured into your hair. He slowly worked his way out again before repeating his same actions, letting himself sink in deeper until there was nothing left.

Suddenly, Jungkook’s arms found their way to wrap around your head, encasing you in an almost sort of hug. As he secured you in, he picked up the pace of his hips, letting them roll into you steadily now. You heard him begin to let out low grunts as he went, starting to feel more confident in his movement.

“Play with yourself, baby,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. And you had to admit, as good as he felt, you needed more stimulation than this.

You let your hand snake down your body, bringing it finally to your core where you were already getting overstimulated. You closed your eyes, pressing your face harder into Jungkook as you trailed your hand up and down your cunt. Slowly, you moved to your clit, which was throbbing underneath your touch. You gasped as you began to rub small circles, the sensation mixing with Jungkook’s thrusts becoming too much.

“That’s it baby, just like that. Keep going. We’ve both got to make sure you feel good,” he said, placing a lingering kiss to your cheek before snuggling his face back into you.

You picked up the pace as Jungkook’s hips snapped into you more quickly. Breathy moans continued to escape your lips as you heard Jungkook growl into your ear. Even if it was your first time with him, you knew he was close.

The tingling in your core was quickly becoming too much as you ravaged at your clit, working yourself up now to your high. You couldn’t stop the light screams you let out as you felt yourself let go and convulse around Jungkook’s dick. His deep moans fell into your ears at the feeling of you clenching so hard around him. Your mind was numb. No thoughts other than focusing on the feeling that you quickly had to remove your hand from. It was all too much.

“Oh fuck,” he cried out. “Fuck fuck fuck, too good,” he moaned lowly. A couple more quick thrusts and he was panting.

“Oh fuck I’m cumming,” Jungkook yelled, quickly pulling himself out of you while untangling his arms from underneath you. As he leaned his body back, his hands flew automatically to his cock, pumping furiously as cum began to shoot out onto your stomach. Curses flew out of his mouth as his brows furrowed, look of release evident on his face.

Content that he was done, Jungkook remained on his knees above you for a moment, taking a few deep breaths before a smile spread over his face. He gave a little giggle, looking down at you now suddenly shy for him. “That was even better than I could have imagined,” he laughed. He leaned down slowly to plant another soft kiss to your cheek. “Let me get you cleaned up.”

—————————————————————

Wednesday, 5:00 PM

Y/n’s POV:

You watched in horror at the scene unfolding in front of you. Another group that had formed for Everyday Idol was performing their dress rehearsal on the stage in front of you. For some reason, the company thought it would be a good idea for all 4 groups to sit in and watch each other, along with the staff. But with the messy choreography, pitchy vocals, and failed stunt you’d just seen, you wished you could just go home and not be subject to any of this.

Your group had already performed and everything went off without a hitch, thankfully. Jenna was still a bit pitchy, but had improved significantly- which was both a blessing and a curse. While good news for the team, it also meant that the other groups were now eyeing each of you up and down, seeing you as a threat that they needed to conquer. But it wasn’t your fault that your team had… talent? With the competition only two days away, everything should have been perfect by now. It wasn’t like you hadn’t been practicing for weeks.

You looked down from your seat as the team received feedback on their performance. Even if you weren’t entirely prone to second-hand embarrassment, this was too much. Thankful that you hadn’t received the same harsh words, you’d still wanted all of the groups to perform well.

Once each of the groups had performed and everyone was dismissed, Anna stood to address the group. “Girls,” she began, looking at each of them. “I think we’ve all done really well today, and I’m so pleased with how everyone did. If you want to go home, then you can, but we are going to start bright and early at 7 o’clock tomorrow morning. Y/n and I will be here tonight for anyone who wants to stay and practice. Sound good?” she stated more than asked. Nods flowed in from the seated row of girls.

“Don’t you think 7 is a bit early?” Jenna asked, voice full of gumption.

Anna, although annoyed, looked down at her with a smile. “Hmm, if you stay tonight til around 2 practicing your lines, then maybe 7 is a bit early. Your call,” Anna challenged.

Jenna just stared up at her, apparent embarrassment on her face. She had nothing to say.

“Alright, well if that’s everything, like I said, I’ll be upstairs for whoever else would like to go. I’ll see the rest of you in the practice room at 7,” Anna nodded.

One by one the girls stood, collecting their belongings before heading out. Within a couple of minutes, it was only you and Anna remaining, with Kara, Sunnie, Mindi, and Nisha promising to be back after a short break to grab food.

As the two of you stood together, you both smirked at each other with raised eyebrows before letting out a small laugh.

“Jenna is on one,” you laughed. “You handled that way better than I would’ve,” you said, shaking your head in disbelief.

Anna took a deep breath in and out. “All I can say is if she doesn’t do well on Friday, I tried my best.”

——————————————————————

Thursday, 3 PM

Y/n’s POV:

High stress mode had kicked in since the early hours. Anna was about to rip her hair out when not only did Jenna not come in to practice last night, but she also didn’t arrive until 8:30 this morning, putting the entire group behind. This prompted an entire argument, resulting in Anna threatening to talk with someone about kicking Jenna out of the group for not taking this seriously.

“You’ve come this fucking far and now you want to mess it up… For everyone?” Anna had yelled at her. Much nicer words than you could have conjured up.

Since the incident, everyone had been high strung all day. Small mistakes were happening here and there- mistakes that hadn’t been made for over a week. And although you knew you could pull through, it was stressing you out to no end. You’d had about all you could take. And now, at what was supposed to be your final all-out dance practice with your mentors, it was no exception.

Watching the girls with such low energy drained you. As you all congregated in different areas, taking a water break, you sighed to Anna. “I swear you are the only thing getting me through this day.”

“Trust me, I feel the same way,” she let out a tired, deep breath, looking over at Jenna. She pulled her head around her neck, trying to work out any little bit of stress that she could. As her head came back to center, she continued. “But I’m not the onlyyy thing,” she grinned, poking at you. “Are you gonna see Jungkook tonight?”

“No, not tonight,” you rolled your eyes. “There’s too much going on. I think I’ll puke if I have to add anything else to my list. I can barely handle all this stress.”

Anna tilted her head to the side with a devilish smile. “Oh really? From the way you talked about the other night, I’m sure Jungkook knows how to take care of some of that stress.”

“Anna!” you exclaimed, mouth dropping open to make sure she was being quiet enough for no one to overhear her.

Standing only a few feet away, you saw a hunched-over Chan who’d been leaning over onto the mirrored wall next to him, his back turned to you. While you were almost certain he hadn’t heard the conversation, you still wanted to keep it low. Whatever was going on with Chan, he seemed like he’d completely forgotten about you. You didn’t want to bring in any mention of his friend and have him remember that he for some reason despised you.

You quickly turned back to your friend. “Not here,” you whispered.

Anna just chuckled, giving you another big smirk before bringing her water bottle to her mouth.

—————————————————————

Thursday, 7 PM

Y/n’s POV:

You were panting heavily as you finished yet another full-out practice of your performance tomorrow. The sweat running down your forehead was a testament to how hard you’d been going for hours now. And you were sure it had paid off. You were finally confident in your team’s performance. It felt like everyone was, at long last, in higher spirits with everything coming together- last minute nerves being settled as everything fell into place. Well… for all except one.

Chan had taken it upon himself to critique quite literally every single element of the performance for the past several hours. Originally, you had told yourself that it was simply because he was a perfectionist. He knew how harsh JYP and the other judges could be, and he didn’t want your group to suffer the same fate. However, this grace could only be given during the first couple of hours of his rampage. Now… now he was just being ridiculous.

Chan’s voice revved up as you all remained in your final pose, waiting for your mentors’ feedback. “Start from the top. Go again,” he demanded, face looking stern.

The members around him glared at him, confused, but almost too stunned to speak. This was the fifth time he’d done this. The other members had no feedback other than saying you were farrrrr past ready and would do well tomorrow.

What was with him?

You and your members tried your best to catch your breath as you walked back to your starting formation, deep sighs erupting from the girls as Chan continued with his charades.

His voice was raised now. “Mindi, you’ve got to get into position quicker. And y/n, how many times do I have to tell you that you’ve got to go harder? If you don’t, you’re going to have to scrap this and start over.”

“Start over?” you burst out in disbelief, almost letting a sarcastic laugh accompany it.

Something in Chan definitely did not like the tone in your voice. He took a step closer, standing his ground. “You heard me.”

“We can’t just start over.” You were astonished. "The performance is literally tomorrow!"

"Well maybe if you weren't out every night and were actually in here practicing, we wouldn't be having this problem," he spat.

Your jaw dropped. you were here just as much, if not more, than any of the other girls.… The only difference was that when you were off, you spent your time with Jungkook… and now you guessed that Chan knew that. You didn't know what to do, but starting a scene definitely wasn't the right thing. You let your head drop down past your shoulders, letting out an exasperated sigh, though you knew you couldn’t let this be the thing that got to you. Almost quicker than before, you snapped back up, ready to begin again after taking a big breath.

Minho finally interjected, moving himself so that he stood next to Chan. "What is your problem? I couldn’t perform it any better. She's been working so hard with me to make everything perfect. Just calm down."

“Come on Min, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Chan turned to face him. “If that’s the best that you could perform, maybe you need to go practice too, uh?” Chan questioned, look of disgust on his face.

Minho squinted his eyes, almost as if searching his face to find something. Whatever it was, he couldn’t locate it. “Just because you’re having a bad day doesn’t mean you should take it out on them.”

“I’m not having a bad day,” Chan retorted, his voice the tiniest bit shaky. “I just want what’s best for them. If they can’t handle that, then they can go join someone else’s group.”

“It’s not your group,” Changbin spoke up, stepping up in front of Minho and almost in Chan’s face now. His look was stern, eyebrows knit together. “This is their group, which is doing way better than we were at our debut.” Changbin crossed his arms.

“That’s a pretty wild statement,” Chan snickered, looking toward his shoulder.

“Seriously?” Changbin asked, face a mixture of anger and disappointment.

Chan didn’t back down from his stare, challenging him to continue on. But he did.

“You need to go cool off because you’re really making yourself look like an ass right now.”

“Ahh, okay,” Chan sneered. “Sorry if people can’t take criticism. And if that makes me an ass, then that makes me an ass,” he said sarcastically, throwing his hands out to the side before turning to walk toward the door. “Good luck tomorrow,” he said loudly as he passed by everyone toward the exit.

Once the door closed, the rest of you in the room looked around in disbelief for a few moments. No one knew what words to say.

“I guess he’s sensitive today,” Changbin finally said in a quietened tone.

The girls of the group just shook their heads, blinking their eyes wide and letting out breaths that had obviously been held in during the “scolding that was not a scolding.”

“How about,” Minho started, “we run through- full out- a few more times, and then we call it a day? Sound good?” He looked toward your members.

Still not able to come up with the right words, you nodded in unison, thankful to have the awkward situation over with.

Though you were thankful for Minho’s handling of the situation, beneath your skin, you could still feel your blood boiling. Just more confirmation that Jungkook had been right about him all along. How could you have been so blind to that before? It was as if he’d fooled you into thinking he was someone else, and that’s what hurt the most. To actually form a bond with someone, only to see their true colors. Your face was heated as you settled into position. As badly as you wanted to, you just couldn’t let this go.

All you wanted was to get out of here and call your boyfriend.

——————

Thursday, 8:30 PM

Y/n’s POV:

After consulting Anna briefly, you tried your best to calm yourself before knocking on Chan’s studio door. As badly as you wanted to confront him and resolve whatever was going on with him, you told yourself that if he wasn’t there, that was your sign to leave it alone.

After waiting a few seconds, you knocked again, just to be sure. Again, crickets. Crossing your arms over your chest, you realized that no one was coming to answer the door. You let out a small huff, getting your answer as to what you should do.

But as you headily spun on your heels to walk away, you heard the door creak open behind you.

Snapping your head around to look past it, you could see Chan peaking his head out, looking around before spotting you. “Hey,” he said mildly, as if this was the last thing he wanted to be doing.

“Hey,” you turned back around just as quickly as you had before. You tried to keep your voice as calm as possible. “Can I talk to you?”

Chan poked his cheek with his tongue, breaking eye contact with you to look left and right down the hall, scoping out the scene to see if anyone was around. After looking off for a bit, he let out a slight sigh. “Sure,” he responded, mirroring your emotionless voice as he opened the door wider for you to come in.

As you entered the room, it was colder than before. Colder than you’d remembered. But then again, it’d been quite some time since you’d last set foot in here. Everything was truly the same… except for the missing bouquet of flowers that had been on the desk last. The same bouquet of flowers that subsequently were in Jenna’s hands during that first day of filming. The image of them sitting on the table, still and lifeless, yet drawing attention nonetheless, plagued your memory.

Had it really been that long since you’d been here? Weeks since you’d sat in this room? Regardless of the situation, the room offered a sense of comfort and familiarity that made it seem like you were here just yesterday, babbling with Chan about anything and everything. Both to your hearts’ content. Wild how much everything had changed.

You seated yourself in your… previously usual spot on the couch as you watched Chan sink back into his desk chair, presumably where he had already been stationed with his computer lit up behind him. A mostly blank screen, so you guessed he hadn’t gotten much done.

Something about seeing him like this- in the context of how things used to be- lit a fire inside you. Not in a good way. In more of a “how could you have been two totally different people this whole time” way. Slowly, your face moved to match the emotion you felt inside. You tried to reign it in, but you couldn’t help it.

“What’s up?” he asked, trying to sound nonchalant. It almost made you roll your eyes. As if he had the right.

“I’d like to talk about earlier. I’m going to be honest, it seemed completely uncalled for. I understand you wanting to be helpful and give feedback, but I don’t think that yelling at us like we’re children does any good… I guess I would just appreciate it if you could lay off for a little bit. Please,” you stated. All things considered, you thought your response was relatively mature, or, as mature as you could be in the moment.

Chan sunk down further into his chair, his arms and legs splayed out, almost intimidating. He looked like he was lost in thought for a moment before a tiny chuckle left his mouth as he moved his head back and forth.

“You’re right, I was trying to help. If you think that was bad of me, you don’t even want to know what it was like when I was a trainee.”

And just like that, you realized that this conversation was going to go nowhere. Chan didn’t seem like he was one to see reason right now. Just because he had experienced the harshness of the company doesn’t mean that it was just for him to do the same to you.

You quickly stood from your chair, upset but not surprised at the outcome of the conversation. You walked toward the door, obviously annoyed. What was the point?

“That’s it? That’s all you had to say?” Chan asked from behind you just as you were holding the knob to the door.

You took a moment to compose yourself before turning around. “Listen Chris,” you made sure to use his usual English name. “I mean this with the utmost respect, but you’re not even your group’s main dancer... Minho liked it. And so did the other guys. Why are you trying to change everything now?”

He paused for a moment, looking for something to say. You were sure the comment about not being the dancer of his group took him aback. Should you have said it? Maybe not. But might as well if you were going to get everything off your chest.

As Chan sat, continuing to say nothing, the heat from your stomach only rose more. He just looked at you. That was it. No response, no anything. A total lack of humility, eyeing you up and down as if to challenge your very being. Totally and completely degrading.

“Do you really think I’m that bad? Honestly?” you asked loudly, now angry and not letting yourself hold back.

“No,” he replied, face remaining still. And that drove you over the edge.

“Then why do you act like it?! I’ve never done anything to you! You don’t need to spare my feelings, just tell me why you hate me so much?!” you yelled. You figured the walls were soundproof, but you honestly didn’t care who heard.

“I don’t hate you!” Chan said back, almost yelling himself as he stood out of his chair to stand in front of you. “I don’t hate you at all. Don’t fucking say that,” he spoke loudly through gritted teeth.

“Could’ve fooled me,” you said sarcastically, not feeling threatened in the slightest. A laugh almost escaped your mouth at how ridiculous it was. “First, you ignore me, then you insinuate that I’m a whore, and then you’re back to ignoring me. Yet you don’t hate me?!” you scoffed.

“No. I don’t. And I never insinuated that you were a whore. Now please, just stop. I don’t want to do this right now.” His face was red with anger, standing his ground a little to close for comfort.

“Whatever,” you snorted, backing up slightly. “It’s not like you’d be honest about anything anyways. My bad for not realizing it sooner!” you said, voice full of disbelief. You turned your body slightly, ready to pull for the door one again.

“Do you want to know how I feel about you?! Do you truly want to know?!” he strained, jaw clenched as he inched toward you. His voice was borderline on rage now.

You backed against the door as you felt his body move closer, nervous at his sudden change in demeanor. His eyes were black. Mean. Nothing like you’d ever seen them before. You almost winced as he continued loudly.

“I don’t hate you, no… But I wish I never had to fucking see you again. I can’t stand to be around you. I can’t stand to even think about you, do you know that?! Do you know how exhausting it is to try and think about anything but you?! And yet, I have to see you every goddamn day of my life?!” he almost laughed out in frustration. “So no, I do not, in fact, hate you. I am fucking crazy about you, to the point that it is driving me insane. And there’s not a thing in this entire fucking world that I can do about it! So sorry if I’ve ignored you or made you feel whatever type of way, but what else was I supposed to do?! Go on pretending that I don’t want to rip my heart out of my fucking chest every time I see you?! So, you tell me, what should I have done differently?! What would you have done?!”

Your heart stopped. Your mind went blank. Not a single thought could come to you, lost in a daze as the room suddenly looked like it was whooshing around you. You wished more than anything that your brain could turn on- to come up with anything, but it couldn’t.

Chan had pushed himself up right in front of you now, his face only inches from your own. Your mouth stayed silent- mute- as you lost your breath. Without a response from you, he gently closed his eyes, beginning to nod. Maybe he too wasn’t expecting this. Maybe he too didn’t know where to go from here.

But slowly, he opened his eyes wide again. They were much softer now, but still as intense as ever, looking as if he was studying every imperfection on your face.

You tried to push yourself into the door as he moved his face even closer, his hands coming up to hold the door on either side of you, effectively caging you in his stance.

He took a deep breath before starting again, with his voice still filled with that exasperated tone. His eyes moved just so they were aligned with yours, clinging onto them with everything that he had.

“Tell me you don’t feel anything between us,” he breathed out, watching your every expression. “Tell me you didn’t feel anything before all of this shit got in the way. Tell me that you felt nothing and I will leave you alone.” Desperation seeped from his voice.

You felt a hitch in your throat. As if things could have gotten any more extreme. Now, you didn’t even know how to breathe. Your lips spread apart slightly, signaling to him the shock that had overcome you. He didn’t know whether it was good or bad.

“Chris, I…” you started, trying to reclaim your voice. You looked down to the floor. Anywhere but at him. You cleared your throat. “Chris, I’m seeing someone.”

“I know. Jungkook,” he said back, hatred in his voice as he brought his face down to once again try to level with you. “But how well do you really know him, y/n? Tell me how well you could possibly know him in… what? A month? Maybe two?”

“I know him well enough, Christopher. He’s my fucking boyfriend,” you snapped back.

At that, Chris removed his hands from the door behind you, gingerly pushing himself up and away. An agitated smile spread over his face, his tongue running across his teeth and into his cheek as he swayed backwards and around. His hands turned into loose fists, clicking each other as he looked up in disbelief. In annoyance. He shook his head. A stupid grin came over his face as if not knowing what to say.

“He’s your 'boyfriend' now, huh?” he says, finally coming back to settle closer to you.

“Yes…” you responded a bit shyly, not knowing what could come next.

“In that case, since you know your 'boyfriend' so fucking well, you know he’s going out with another girl too, ahh? With Jenna?”

Your eyebrows squeezed together. “With Jenna? What the fuck are you talking about? She only says that shit because she’s jealous or something. I don’t really know, nor do I care since she’s left me alone about it. She has someone anyways…” you trailed off for a moment, thoroughly confused. “But uhh…you- didn’t you have something with her?” you almost laughed, remembering the short time frame you’d seen him talking with her. The flowers. The way he leaned into her. It was almost comical he’d bring her up now.

“What? I- no, I-” Chan said, beginning to stumble over his words. “It wasn’t like that. We talked about this.”

“Yeah, we did. Before she’d strutted into the first day of filming with a bouquet of flowers. Not trying to be weird, but I saw a packet of flower food on your desk a couple of days before. Kind of a weird coincidence if you ask me… It’s fine if you had a thing with her, just don’t fucking lie about it.”

“No, y/n. I never had a thing with her. I gave those flowers to Jungkook, goddamn it. Not her. So how else would they have ended up with her if he didn’t give them to her? That night at Nine Mile. There’s no way in hell he was there ‘stalking you’ that night. He was meeting up with her.”

Your face dropped. There was no way. There was absolutely no way. He’d been going out with you. Publicly. Surely it’s not true. She wouldn’t be okay with that.

“No, there’s something else going on then. She talks about seeing someone else nonstop. Jungkook was meeting up with his friend that night! He showed me the texts! His timeline matched up and everything.”

“And you’re sure it was just a ‘friend?’” Chan raised a brow. “Who was this friend exactly, maybe I would know them?”

“I don’t know- I mean, he said his name was-” your mind flashed back to the screen. The conversation you’d seen before. J.T. “He said his name was J.T., but I didn’t ask anything more than that. It’s not like I-” you got out before Chan cut you off.

“J.T.?” he laughed. “J.T.? Come on, y/n, think about it.”

Your mind wandered. ‘J.T.? What was wrong with that? J.T… Jenna?’ You felt your heart sink.

“Jenna Thomas?” Chan stated more than asked, watching your face drop. 

Again, you were lost for words. There had to be another explanation.

“I introduced them. Before filming started…” Chan began again, talking much quieter now. “And before he met you. I… well I thought they’d had a thing before and that just kind of proved it. And I’ve just, I’ve kept hearing things. I’m so sorry,” Chan’s voice cut out, realizing the load of information he’d just dropped on you.

Again, you couldn’t say anything. With a heavy heart, you looked off, trying to put all of the pieces together. With your voice now silent, Chan started rambling, trying to say anything that came to mind. Anything that could provide a small ounce of comfort.

“I hoped that maybe you knew. Maybe it was in the past, and he told you. Obviously I didn’t think he did, but… But I thought maybe… For your sake... That’s why I’ve been so weird, and I’m just… I’m so so sorry. I didn’t want things to have to be like this. You deserve so much more. You deserve so much more than him.”

You felt a tear run down your cheek. Almost numb, but the feeling of the coolness slowly creeping its way down was unmistakable.You didn’t mean to cry. In fact, this was the last thing you’d wanted. But you just couldn’t help it. Your life suddenly felt like it was on fire- that it had been on fire this whole time without you feeling so much as a flicker. You couldn’t have a good friend in Chan. You couldn’t have a boyfriend in Jungkook. Your whole life in Korea had been a lie. You’d become so invested in that lie that you’d let it become the defining story of your time in Korea… over Everyday Idol, over all of the amazing friends that you’d made, over all of the experiences that people had given to you, over everything. You’d put a boy before all of that. A boy who had done nothing but lie while contributing it to the others around you. You felt so stupid. You felt so naive.You suddenly felt so alone. And so, the tears continued to fall.

“Y/n, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, please don’t cry,” Chan started back. He reached an arm out, gently now, to place it on your arm, as if testing how much he could get away with. When you didn’t flinch, no hint of hesitation to be found, he let himself rub up and down your arm for a few moments before bringing his body closer, wrapping you into a hug.

And so you stood, for what felt like days, grounded in the stillness of Chan’s arms. He held you tightly, trying to softly rock you as your entire body felt like it would give in. Your legs felt flimsy, and you were sure that without Chan to hold you upright, you’d have already given in to the gravity and made your way to the ground. The slightly salty smell of tears became apparent across Chan’s chest, who didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

“Shh, shh,” he whispered, rubbing your back lightly. “It’s okay.”

His words only made you want to sob more. You tried to quieten them, and managed to stifle a few short breaths before almost choking entirely. You felt yourself start to hiccup before slow, rolling streams continued down, not as forceful now. You tried taking big, deep breaths as you clung onto Chan as tightly as you could.

“He's not worth it, I promise,” Chan said quietly. “He’s not worth you feeling like this.” He continued to gently rock you.

In the lull of his heartbeat and in the comfort of his words, you started to calm. Slowly. But seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into a sort of new clarity. You contemplated what Chan said. He was right. Jungkook was not worth it. He was not worth the tears. He was not worth any reaction that your overstimulated brain could conjure up. In the wake of it, you realized you didn’t even know him. He was simply a fraud. An imposter. An exploiter. You fell in love with the thought of him, not the reality of him. And although it didn’t lessen the harshness of reality, it did alleviate some of the gnawingly painful sensitivity you felt inside.

Your heart calmed and your tears stopped. After a few sniffles, you hesitantly pulled back from Chan’s embrace which had sheltered you for so long. Feeling the cold air come between you two, you suddenly felt exposed. You knew your eyes were puffy and red, makeup surely smeared all over your face. You looked down, not sure how you’d be able to make eye contact.

“You okay?” Chan offered a warm grin, gripping your hand to give it a tight squeeze.

You nodded before clearing your throat. “I think so,” you tried to return the tiny, timid smile.

“Atta girl,” he smiled before taking your other hand too, shaking them around to try to get a genuine smile out of you.

It worked. Before long, you were laughing a bit, giggling at his ability to lighten the mood. You shook your head, finally able to look up to his face. “Thank you Channie.”

You watched as his eyes softened. It was like they had a million stars in them, all fixated on you. The most kind eyes you’d ever seen. He held your hands tighter, interlacing his fingers with yours. “You don’t need to thank me,” he smiled.

But you did. And you needed to do much more.

“I do though,” you said, just noticing your hands in his. The way he held them out, positioned like that was where they were meant to be all along. The sight took you off guard for a moment.

“And I also needed to say I’m sorry…” you continued. “For making you feel that way. I didn’t know.”

“Oh, uhm,” Chan said, now with an embarrassed smile on his face, as he removed his hands from yours. He reached one hand around to rub the back of his neck as he looked down, trying to do an awkward laugh to diffuse the situation. “No it’s…” he shook his head a little before looking up. “It’s really okay. It wasn’t your fault. It was my own emotions that I was projecting onto you. You didn’t- you didn’t do anything.”

He looked shy now. No, more than shy. He looked like he wanted to burrow into a hole and hide himself away from you. You knew what he was thinking. Please stop. Please just leave it. But you couldn’t. Not with the way he’d just made you feel. Not with the knowledge you now had. Forget Jungkook. Forget whatever lies he’d been spouting to you. Chan may have come across like an asshole, but at least he wasn’t lying about the way he felt. He was truthful. He’d always been truthful. You just wished you would have been able to realize the difference sooner.

“But I did do something,” you started, taking a deep breath. Your body started to move independently of your mind. You couldn’t formulate thoughts. You couldn’t form an action plan. Now, your body just did, and you didn’t ask questions.

You reached again for Chan’s hand, but couldn’t bring yourself to hold onto it. Instead, you just brushed against it, letting him know you were there. “I messed up with you for someone I didn’t even truly know. I jumped to assumptions without even hearing you out. And I will always regret that.” You looked at him, eyes wide, silently begging for forgiveness. You hoped he knew that.

Chan looked past your shoulder for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “Well don’t. I will never regret feeling the way that I have. It will be okay, and we can both move on from all of this. Right now, we just… I just want you to feel better,” he said, letting out a deep breath.

“I want that too,” you said shyly.

You stood in silence for a few moments, neither of you daring to look at each other- neither of you knowing what to say next. Sitting with only your thoughts, it was hard to not become restless. You wanted him to say something, anything, but he wasn’t budging. Just looking off, embarrassed at the situation he’d found himself in. You couldn’t deny how cute he looked, his ears a soft shade of pink. His cheeks had turned a new rosy color you’d never seen before. Maybe, just maybe, he wanted this too.

“Kiss me,” you blurted out. Your mouth was faster than your mind, pushing through whatever invisible wall had been built between you and the truth.

Chan’s eyes sprang wide, turning his face to yours. “What?” he asked, a smile trying to creep across his face, but still convinced he’d misheard you.

“Kiss. Me,” you breathed out. “Please.”

You didn’t have time to gauge his reaction as as swiftly as the words left your mouth, he was hastily propelling himself forward, wasting no time in processing your words.

Hurriedly, his hands found their way to the sides of your face, followed by his lips crashing in to connect with yours. His lips were soft as they mingled with the saltiness still overlying your own. He moved them feverishly, rushing through any apprehension that could have possibly stood in the way.

You let out a deep sigh, feeling the way that his body moved in to press up against yours, effectively pushing you against the door again as he guided your head in the direction he wanted you. His chest, toned and forcing its way into you, was heaving heavily as he did all he could to not have to disconnect his lips from yours.

His mouth opened, his tongue escaping his mouth to find yours. You fervently slipped your lips apart, making just enough room to feel him work his tongue along the inside of your lips, stopping only when he ran into your teeth. You gladly dropped your jaw open to allow him full access, moaning when you felt him move deeper inside.

You felt yourself running out of breath as you took turns entangling your tongues into each other. But you didn’t want to stop. You didn’t dare to take away one moment from this experience.

You grabbed gently to Chan’s chest and to the side of his neck, pulling him as close as possible as you gasped for air. He followed suit, allowing his hands to run up and down your silhouette. The sensation of his warm, strong hands gently massaging at your sides was enough to fulfill your desires for the rest of your life. Experiencing him like this, grappling at you, exposed you to something so carnal in him that you knew you’d never be able to forget.

As you both continued to explore each other, you audibly gasped as Chan’s hands made their way to firmly grip your ass. He pulled his mouth back quickly. “Is this okay?” he whispered. You could tell he was still in a half-daze.

“Mm-mm,” you smiled before bringing your mouth back to his. Slowly, you let your hand run along his chest as he continued to squeeze on you. Short moans left his mouth as your hand ran down further, feeling each mound of his abs along the way. He was so tight, his torso contracting with each breath as they became more and more sharp.

When you finally made your way down to the line of his waistband, he moaned heavily, almost bucking his hips up to deepen your touch. He blew out a hot, shaky breath into your mouth, trying his absolute best to not let his mind transcend and escape the confines of his body.

Little did he know that you were doing the same. The closer you got to him, the harder he pulled you in. Without realizing it, you could feel his bulge harden against you. Although you were both fully clothed, there was no mistaking the stiffness that was pressed up against your core. As he continually pressed himself into you, it became more and more apparent to the point that you were growing wet just thinking about it.

You were going wild over this man. Your entire being felt healed in this moment. And just when you thought you couldn’t feel any more connected, you felt Chan detach his mouth from yours to run it down along your jawline and to the side of your neck. He planted soft kisses originally, but as the madness of you continuing to play with his waist band drove him insane, he started to bite down ever so slightly. He knew better than to leave a mark, but it took all of the restraint he had to stop himself from completely demolishing you.

At the feeling of him lightly gnawing, you whimpered, finally letting your hand snake down further as you pushed your chest into him. You felt the wetness at your core start to pool. You knew you weren’t going to make it much longer by the heaviness you felt at your pussy throbbing.

“Chris…” you exhaled, dragging a single finger across the outline of his cock, earning a hiss from him in response.

“Chris, please,” you continued, letting yourself mumble out anything that came to mind. You needed him. Now. And you knew he needed you too.

“Yes, baby?” he said lowly, pulling off of you with the tiniest smirk. His eyes looked you up and down, taking in this moment and how good he felt. He could feel himself salivating, wandering eyes going down to your hand that was now resting on his cock.

“Fuck,” he mumbled, throwing his head back and smiling to himself. This was his life. And he couldn’t believe it. His hips reflexively bucked up into you.

Suddenly, your mind came to as you felt a gyration behind you along with a loud knocking sound. ‘Shit,’ you thought, your stomach dropping.

Chan’s head sprang back up. “Fuck,” he huffed out, now in frustration. His face went angry as he rolled his eyes. Tongue in his cheek, he shook his head back and forth before backing away from you.

“Chan-hyung, we’re getting dinner!” you heard Felix’s voice shout through the wooden barrier. Quickly the door flung open, knocking you over in the process. “What do you wan-” Felix stopped himself as he felt the weight of your body contact the door.

“Oh my God, y/n, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?"

——————————————————

i SO appreciate everyone being patient with me during this series. i have been so busy these days and haven't had time to just sit down and WRITE (i have to have long spans of time all at once to work on fics like this sadly), so thank you x a million for bearing with me.

i've mentioned this before, but the rest of the series is mapped out, and it starts to get INTENSE. i will put some trigger warnings at the beginning of the next few chapters without trying to give away too much. PLEASE make sure to read the warnings before continuing on!!! <3

Tag list : @lailac13 @freyjhasdesiredreality @shellyyy177 @enzos-shit @laylasbunbunny @11thenightwemet11 @stayceebs97 @greyyeti @de-uns-tempos-pra-ca

[big-sankaku]

English Translation of Shades of Stars: Chapter 6 - On your mark

Here’s the translation of chapter 6, from 102nd class novel, ~Shades of Stars~.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Epilogue

Author : Teren Mikami  (Hasunosora Scenario Team)

“Ah,” Megumi and Kozue spoke simultaneously.

The two happened to run into each other right in front of Tsuzuri’s room.

Kozue : “Good morning, Fujishima-san.”

Megumi : “Morning, Otomune.”

They were starting to get used to each other’s summer uniforms by now. Having finished getting ready, Megumi stifled a yawn.

“If I knew you were coming, I would've slept a little longer.”

“True. Maybe we should assign shifts from now on.”

“Sounds good. Then, Otomune takes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ll do Tuesday and Thursday.”

“You slyly gave me more days... Well, I don’t really mind.”

Kozue smiled in quiet exasperation. Her appearance was already impeccable, even this early in the morning.

“Well then, um...”

Kozue fidgeted in front of the door, and Megumi crossed her arms.

“What are you doing?”

“If she happens to be awake on her own, wouldn’t barging in feel like meddling and make her uncomfortable?”

“There’s no way Tsuzuri-chan is awake already! Come on, come on. It's morning!”

Ruthlessly, she knocked loudly on the door. But even after a while, there was no response.

This won’t do. Megumi pulled a key from her pocket.

“Ta-daa!”

“You even have a spare key...?”

“I do have permission to come in and wake her up~! Okay, I'm coming in~!”

“You guys are just two sides of the same unpredictable coin, I swear.”

When they unlocked the door and stepped inside, as expected, the curtains were still drawn. On the bed lay a delicate sleeping beauty, hugging her pillow with her eyes closed.

“It’s morning! Time to get uuuup!”

The two invaders shattered the peaceful morning into tiny pieces.

“Yugiri-san, you're going to be late!”

It was now past mid-June, and preparations for the Nadeshiko Festival were well underway. Amidst it all, the dynamic between Megumi, Tsuzuri, and Kozue had shifted once again.

Perhaps the biggest difference was Kozue’s gentler attitude.

There had been quite a bit of back-and-forth leading up to it. First, at the end of May, they had midterm exams. It was then that Kozue discovered her two classmates were complete problem children with zero interest in studying.

Disgusted, she treated Megumi and Tsuzuri with biting coldness... and for a time, things grew tense between them.

But after some twists and turns, the two ended up making a surprise birthday party for her.

Through serious self-reflection, Kozue found herself beginning to soften toward Tsuzuri and Megumi. Still, dealing with them was no walk in the park for Kozue.

“Come on, Yugiri-san, stand up. You don’t need to open your eyes, just get dressed”

There was one more change: she’d started taking responsibility for getting Tsuzuri out of bed each morning.

They were in different classes, so she hadn’t known before, but Tsuzuri had a long history of being late.

Not bound by the clock, Tsuzuri lived her life as she pleased. She wakes up whenever she feels like it and shows up at school on her own schedule. The problem was that her personal sense of time didn’t line up at all with the rest of the world.

If that were all, it would’ve been easy enough to say it was her responsibility and leave it at that, but with the Nadeshiko Festival fast approaching, it wasn’t so simple.

If she kept being late, it seemed that Tsuzuri would have to take extra classes to get her credits back. Which meant one thing: their after-school practice time would be cut. Not that it would’ve been a huge issue—Tsuzuri’s stage performance was already practically flawless.

The real concern was her own mindset. With a downcast look, she’d quietly said, “I’m useless... I can’t do anything...” And that was more than enough for Megumi and Kozue to jump in and offer their help.

“If that’s the case, how about we go and wake her up in the mornings?” they offered.

Tsuzuri initially hesitated, not wanting to burden them, but Megumi hit her with a brutal, unfiltered truth. “Then can you wake up on your own?” Tsuzuri can’t argue with that. Which brings us to now.

As Kozue carefully fastened the scarf around her neck, Megumi worked on taming Tsuzuri’s messy hair with a brush.

“Hey, Tsuzuri-chan, can I put some hair wax in?”

“Wax...?”

“Here. See? It smells nice, right?”

“Ah... yeah. It’s sweet.”

Megumi held the open jar near Tsuzuri’s nose, and the corners of her mouth relaxed just a little.

“I really like this one,” she said. “See, just like this, makes the ends all soft and fluffy.”

“Cute.”

“Right? Right? I’ve always liked playing with hair. Want me to do yours next, Otomune? I bet twin tails would look great on you.”

“I’m good.”

While Megumi was still busy styling Tsuzuri’s hair, Kozue, with nothing left to do, began preparing for school. Tsuzuri’s bag was practically empty, with hardly a single textbook or notebook. Ridiculous.

“Yugiri-san, what exactly are you going to school for…?”

“Because I was told to go, so I go.”

“If I told you to study, would you actually do it?”

While Megumi freely styled her hair as she liked, Tsuzuri balled her fists and looked up with determination as she spoke, “I’ll do my best!”

“Seriously…” Kozue said with a sigh.

But it wasn’t the usual cold, exasperated look. There was something warmer in her expression, something like the gentle fondness of an older sister looking after a much younger sibling.

Little by little, the three of them started spending more time together.

 ・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Sachi was absent from the clubroom again that day.

“It seems she’s been working tirelessly day and night as part of the Nadeshiko Festival planning committee.”

“Wow, that sounds rough. As expected of the chairwoman’s granddaughter.”

“Does that even have anything to do with it?”

Megumi wasn’t so sure. There was no doubt Sachi cared deeply about the School Idol Club, but more than that, she probably loved the school itself.

She had a lot of pride in Hasunosora, she genuinely wants every student to enjoy their time here. It’s an ambitious wish for a second-year high schooler. But considering her background as the chairman’s granddaughter, perhaps it’s only natural. There are always a few odd ones out, even in a school that feels like a cage.

“So, just the three of us for practice today?”

“Before that, there’s something I want you two to listen to.”

Kozue placed her phone on the table.

Tsuzuri was the first to realize what it meant.

“You finished it, Kozu?”

“I did.”

“That’s amazing. That’s really amazing.”

Kozue frowned slightly at Tsuzuri’s soft smile.

“You should probably listen to it first before you say that…”

“I’ve just been excited to hear it, that’s all. A song made by you, Kozu. I’ve been wondering every day what it would sound like.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t set the bar so high…”

Kozue's cheeks turned red as she let out a bashful squeak.

"I'm going to play it now!"

“Yeah!”

“Okay~”

Kozue fumbled with her phone for a moment, then hit play.

Once the music began, the sound of the demo spread through the club room.

Even Megumi, who had been skeptical that a student could possibly compose an original song, was completely blown away.

“No way… that’s an actual song…”

“What kind of reaction is that?”

“This is incredible. You composed this on your own? You didn’t hire some professional or anything, right?”

“You literally saw me working on it in this very room with my guitar…”

Megumi had always believed that with enough effort, anything could be done, and for the most part, that belief had guided her life. But this… this was on a whole different level.

“That's seriously impressive, Otomune.”

There was nothing to do but offer genuine praise.

“Eh…”

Kozue, looking a bit uncomfortable, cast a sideways glance at Megumi.

“Don’t you have anything else to say?”

“Seriously? What else am I supposed to say? Should I just bow down and say, ‘Otomune-san, you’re amazing, I surrender’!?”

“No! It's creepy that you just admit it so honestly! You must have a mountain of things you don’t like about it!”

“I don’t, though. Okay, okay, you’re awesome, awesome! Here comes the Nobel Prize for music composition!"

They both stood up, glaring at each other.

“Yeah.”

After closing her eyes and staying silent for a moment, Tsuzuri gave a small nod.

“This is our song.”

When Megumi and Kozue turned their eyes to her, Tsuzuri, who usually lacked confidence, seemed so sure of it.

“Kozu made this song for us.”

Megumi doubted for a while that this girl would say something so sincere... but Kozue, cheeks flushed, spoke up with a serious expression.

“I wanted to write a song to mark the beginning of our journey as the 102nd Star Idol Club to take part in the Nadeshiko Festival.”

Megumi sank back down into her seat, not saying a word but looking up at Kozue.

“Three months. Spending time with all of you has changed how I feel. Now, I finally think maybe I can really be part of this club.”

“I'm really happy,” Tsuzuri said with a smile.

Megumi almost blurted out, "Took you long enough..."

“Kozu’s feelings… they’re overflowing in this. I want to sing this song too.”

“Of course. I wrote it for all of us to sing together. You too, Yugiri-san... I want you to sing it.”

This is… kind of heartwarming, isn’t it? Megumi thought.

Since the birthday party, Kozue had been much softer toward Tsuzuri. Actually, maybe it wasn’t so much that she became kinder, it was that she no longer had a reason to keep her guard up. After all, Kozue had apparently thought all this time, “They probably hate me anyway.” Megumi gave an exaggerated shrug.

“Can’t believe the birthday plan worked this well, huh?”

Kozue calmly sat down and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Yeah. That really was a turning point. I’ve always been cold, uptight… so I just assumed you all hated me.”

When she suddenly got so serious, it kind of made Megumi squirm. She tapped her fingers on the desk, trying to shift the mood.

“So, what's the title?”

“Huh?”

“When I say 'title,' I mean the title of the song.”

Only then did Kozue seem to realize she hadn’t decided. She touched her lips with her hand as if it had just dawned on her.

“I didn’t really think that far ahead.”

“That kind of kills the momentum.”

“I was fine-tuning the song until the very last minute. I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Well, let's come up with something, Tsuzuri-chan.” I left all the songwriting to Kozue, it's only fair we do this much.

“As for the choreography... I’ve got a rough idea, but I haven't finalized the details yet. Yugiri-san, Fujishima-san, can I get you two to help me?”

“Yeah. If there’s anything I can do, leave it to me.” Tsuzuri nodded firmly.

Megumi had expected her to say something like, “I don’t know if someone like me could really help…” but she didn’t hesitate at all.

She must be really excited about the new song. Moments like this make Megumi realize Tsuzuri is just a normal girl, after all.

“Okay, then I guess I’ll help too. That just leaves the outfits and… uh, the stage!?”

“For costumes, we can use the ones Sachi-senpai prepared for us the other day, right?”

“Well… since we’ve got the chance, I was thinking it might be nice to have matching outfits. Something that fits this song. Maybe something a bit more casual.”

“That sounds nice… but wouldn’t that be a lot of work to do now…?”

“I’ve already got some designs ready."

Megumi pulled a sketchbook out of her bag. When she showed it to the other two, this time it was Kozue’s turn to be surprised.

“Ee…You’re pretty good at drawing.”

“Well, thanks.”

“Well, I did get top marks in art class, you know.”

“Why are you suddenly acting all competitive?”

Megumi, however, had no idea at the time. That Kozue’s artistic sense was way out of the ordinary compared to your average person.

“I sketched this before listening to the song, so I’ll adjust it a bit to better suit the vibe. What do you think about the three of us wearing coordinated pants with exposed midriffs?”

“I mean… that could work…”

“Would it look okay on me?”

Kozue, looking a bit uneasy, gently touched her stomach. Megumi had to fight the urge to snap, you’re so skinny, of course you’ll be fine. Try standing on stage next to someone your height for once!

“Alright, I’ll talk to someone I know at the sewing club. Just so you know, you're helping out as well.”

“Of course. As for the stage… we can’t really move forward without Sachi-senpai, can we?”

“She’s been super fired up about it. It’s her calling.”

“No objections here.”

That senpai always preferred behind-the-scenes work. Megumi honestly couldn’t understand that kind of hobby at all.

“So, I’ll work on the costumes, Otomune finishes the song, and Tsuzuri-chan will take the lead on choreography.”

“Ah!”

Tsuzuri's eyes widened for a moment as the tasks were handed to her so smoothly and effortlessly.

She looked between Kozue and Megumi, then pressed her lips together firmly.

“I’ll do my best. I want to do my best.”

Then, as if she had just tasted a piece of sweet chocolate, Tsuzuri smiled.

“This... is fun.”

Kozue and Megumi exchanged a glance.

Without saying a word, they both nodded.

“Yeah.”

“I guess it is.”

There was one week left until the Nadeshiko Festival.

The Fujishima Megumi who had been consumed by despair and boredom in Hasunosora just two months earlier was nowhere to be found now.

 ・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Tock, tock. The sound of nails being hammered echoed.

The four of them were hard at work building the stage together at the music hall.

“Woooow... As expected of Otomune-chan...”

As she listened to Kozue's song while working, Sachi grinned.

“With a composing skill like this, there's no doubt that another traditional piece will be added to Hasunosora’s history.”

Kozue, who had a smudge of paint on her cheek, looked embarrassed.

“Oh, I… I’d be happy if that happened, but I’m still not there yet…”

“It’s fine. Every Hasunosora song was originally made by members of the School Idol Club at the time. It’s just that later members liked them enough to sing them again on their own.”

“That's a rather blunt way of putting it..."

“Of course, if you really don’t want it to be passed on, we can always secretly delete it from the list.”

“That was… You really can sound mean sometimes, Sachi-senpai.”

“That’s because you girls aren’t honest with yourselves.”

Did she just lump all of us together? Megumi looked up from hammering nails alongside Tsuzuri.

“I like to think I’m more honest than Otomune, though—”

“Well, I’d say I’m more honest than Fujishima-san.”

“As for me… I’ll try to be a little more honest from now on…”

“Yugiri-chan, you’re plenty honest,” Sachi said, patting Tsuzuri gently on the shoulder.

“Not fair—don’t go comparing me to Tsuzuri-chan!”

“That was a losing battle from the start.”

Megumi and Kozue both admitted defeat honestly. And though neither said it out loud, everyone present could feel it, the two of them had grown much more honest than when they first joined the club.

Then, as if remembering something, Kozue changed the subject.

“Now that I think about it… Sachi-senpai, I had something I wanted to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“The other day, someone from the newspaper club approached me. They asked if I could write an article for the Nadeshiko Festival edition.”

“Oh, that thing they do every year. I actually wrote one last year about our seniors.”

I see—so this, too, is one of Hasunosora’s many “traditions.”

“Oh! I have a question. Sachi-senpai, why did you join the School Idol Club?”

When Megumi raised her hand, Sachi gazed off into the distance.

“Well, it all started back when I was in elementary school…”

“Is this going to be a long story?”

“It’s short!”

It really was.

“I went to the Nadeshiko Festival with my grandma, the chairwoman, and watching the school idols left a strong impression on me.”

“Oh, so you admired school idols too, Sachi-senpai,” Kozue said happily.

“Me too!” Tsuzuri chimed in. “I saw a performance and thought, ‘School idols are amazing.’”

“That's right... School idols are wonderful…” Sachi shook hands with Kozue and Tsuzuri.

Megumi, left out, folded her arms.

Well, to be fair, Megumi had also decided to become a school idol after seeing her two classmates perform on stage, so she wasn’t all that different from them.

“That said, I wasn't like Otomune-chan, who worked hard with the goal of becoming a school idol from the start. For me, I joined after enrolling in Hasunosora, just because it seemed fun.” Sachi chuckled quietly.

“There were three seniors in the club at the time, and let me tell you, and they were really crazy seniors.Their recruiting tactics were something else.”

Without realizing it, Kozue, Tsuzuri, and Megumi all paused their work, completely drawn into Sachi’s tale.

“I showed just the slightest bit of interest in school idols, and that was it, my fate was sealed. They came at me with every trick in the book. Early morning ambushes, late-night calls, even lying in wait to catch me off guard.”

“To be honest, the way you recruited me was pretty pushy too, Sachi-senpai,” Megumi muttered.

“Ah, that was nothing compared to them. One time, I woke up to find all three of them waiting outside my dorm room. I panicked and shut the door, locking it right away.”

“That's... stalking.”

“Wow. That's some serious passion.”

“In the end, I just gave in. Honestly, I was never that comfortable being in front of people, but… I just thought, ‘I'd be able to have a fun school life with these seniors’"

It was something they had all suspected, but this was the first time Sachi had said it out loud.

“Wait. Sachi-senpai, you didn’t like being in front of people?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I love being on stage as a school idol. But back in elementary school, I was student council president, and same in middle school. I was always being dragged on stage to give speeches. After all that, I guess I just got tired of it.”

“That doesn’t sound like you at all…” Kozue murmured.

“Ahaha! Up until junior high, I was a total nerd, y’know?” Sachi laughed and pretending to fix a pair of nonexistent glasses.

“But, you know, when you're in a position of leadership, people tend to dislike you, even just a little. And no one really praises you for it either. That wore me down. I became student council president because I wanted to, but then I started resenting it. Pretty selfish, huh?” she added with a shrug and a wry smile.

“Anyway, that’s how it was. So when I started high school, I was honestly sick of standing in front of people. But the school idol club was different. It felt… really free. Like I suddenly had wings.”

“That’s nice,” Tsuzuri murmured, a little wistfully.

“Once I knew how good that freedom felt, I became completely hooked on creating performances that bring joy to others.”

“Seriously though, having three such promising and interesting juniors join this year... I’m really lucky,” Sachi said warmly.

Megumi’s cheeks flushed slightly.

“Even though I've been nothing but trouble, always causing problems for you, senpai.”

"I’m really sorry."

“The least you could do is study for your exams.”

“Oh please, Otomune just as guilty!”

As the back-and-forth between them restarted, Sachi burst out laughing.

“Haha, it’s so vibrant now, and I love it. It’s like the old days when the upperclassmen were around. Every day’s been a joy!"

Beaming, Sachi spread her arms wide.

“I love this school idol club. I truly do. Once the Nadeshiko Festival ends, summer will be here. Then it’ll be time for the Rindo Festival, then the Love Live! prelims, and at the end of the school year, we’ve got the Renge Festival! We've got a bright future ahead of us!”

Moved by her own words, Sachi raised her fist high.

“I'm no longer the girl who used to tremble alone in the clubroom, afraid no new members would ever join. At this rate, we’ll keep having fun next year, and the year after that, and the year after that too! Wahahaha!”

“Why are you getting all excited by yourself...?”

Thinking about next year still felt far off. Especially for Megumi, who, just two months ago, had never even imagined becoming a school idol.

Megumi's sighing remark was met by Kozue's faintly amused, slightly fed-up grin.

Only Tsuzuri still seemed to be gazing toward the unseen future, her heart fluttering with hope.

Well, with Sachi’s story just now, they definitely had enough material to write the senior introduction article.

Megumi picked up her hammer and nails.

“Alright, break’s over. Let’s get moving. We’ve got barely any time left before the Nadeshiko Festival.”

“Ah, right,” Sachi replied. “Then let’s hurry, stay safe, work carefully, and enjoy every second of this moment.”

“Yeees~,” the other three chimed in.

The four of them returned to their work.

Just before they did, Megumi added one last thing.

“It’s not that the sparkle of the old days has returned.”

“Hm?” Kozue and Tsuzuri both looked up at her.

Still wearing her work gloves, Megumi flashed a peace sign.

“We’re gonna make you admit that the two years you spent with us were way, way more fun than before. Just wait, senpai.”

Sachi gasped softly, then broke into a huge grin.

“Na-ha-ha-ha! If you think you can pull that off, go ahead and try, you little troublemaker.”

 ・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

“W-Well then. Next is Fujishima-chan, right? Let’s give it our best...”

You see…

A week had passed since the entire club poured their energy into building the stage.

In the club room after school, Sachi staggered toward them, reaching out her hand unsteadily.

“Uhm..”

It was unbearable to watch.

“Sachi...”

The atmosphere in the lesson room was like that of a funeral.

Oh no. Even Tsuzuri had started looking sad, affected by the heavy mood. I had to do something about it. 

“Uh, Sachi-senpai, could you please take a break? I mean, you’re obviously falling apart here.”

“Hehehe, I’m totally fine... Yay...” Sachi gave a forced smile, making a limp peace sign with both hands.

Even Kozue murmured, “You're not fooling anyone…”

Right. Anyone can see she’s not okay.

For the Nadeshiko Festival, they were going to perform five songs in total. Along with the traditional songs chosen from each unit, they had Dream Believers as the group song, plus a new song written by Kozue.

They could have just performed the songs from their debut live, but since it was a special occasion, the three of them decided to challenge themselves with entirely new songs. They chose the songs they liked most from among their unit's entire catalog.

That decision tripled Sachi’s workload. The only song she had originally learned was Dream Believers.

What’s more, Sachi had been running around day and night as a member of the Nadeshiko Festival planning committee.

And so, what followed was...

“I was really looking forward to the Nadeshiko Festival too...” All that effort took its toll, her body couldn’t handle it anymore. It turns out, Sachi was human after all.

“I know you were looking forward to it! But isn’t that exactly why you’re in this state now?!”

Even Kozue’s shoulders sank, her head bowed.

“I'm sorry... If only I had finished the song sooner…”

“Hey, don’t you start blaming yourself now!”

The only one holding her ground, Megumi tried to keep her voice light and positive

“For now, Senpai, please just go rest in the corner! You’re not that young anymore!”

“So cruel...”

Pulled along by Tsuzuri, Sachi was gently escorted to the far end of the lesson room.

“At this rate, we’ll have to cancel unit practice today…”

Kozue fell silent, looking seriously worried.

Seeing her like that, it was easy to imagine the worst running through her head.

“Let’s reduce the number of songs we perform at the Nadeshiko Festival to four. My song can wait. It’s not something we have to show now.”

“No, no.”

Just as expected, Megumi cut in immediately.

“It’d be a waste. It’s already done, and Otomune put so much effort into it.”

“That said, we really can’t push Sachi-senpai any further…”

When Kozue glanced over, Sachi, still lying down, gave a faint smile.

“I’ll be fine. Otomune-chan worked so hard on that song. Let’s do all five songs, okay?”

Kozue looked back at Megumi with a face that clearly said, See?, silently seeking agreement.

Indeed. No one with a heart could bring themselves to say, “Let’s keep practicing,” seeing Sachi like that. And for Kozue, who was directly tied to the situation, it must’ve been especially tough.

“Hehe… If it comes to it, I’ll go ask if I can cut back a bit on the committee work…”

So instead, Megumi spoke up in her place.

“That’s exactly the problem! If you do that, someone else is going to end up carrying Sachi-senpai’s burden, right!? And that means Sachi-senpai’s wish to let everyone enjoy the school festival won’t come true!”

Sachi looked surprised at Megumi’s outburst.

“A wish? That’s kind of… dramatic…”

“No matter how small it is, a wish is a wish! Follow your heart!”

“Fujishima-chan… you…” Sachi blinked in surprise.“You care that much… about me…?”

"W-Whatever! That part isn't important!"

"Well, that escalated... or de-escalated, I guess!"

Megumi crossed her arms and puffed up a bit.

“That’s my philosophy. It's more fun chasing what you want instead of holding back. Life’s just better that way.”

Everyone turned their eyes toward Megumi.

“I’ve got a childhood friend,” she continued. 

“We made a heartfelt promise to take the world by storm, and she’s already off training in California.”

“That’s a serious commitment.”

“Fujishima’s childhood friend… I see.”

What they’re nodding along to, Megumi didn’t know, fine, whatever.

“She’s just so nice, you know? Always putting everyone else’s happiness before her own. And I hate that! It’s just not fair. A world where kind people get the short end of the stick? That’s messed up. So I got mad and swore I’d take over the world so everyone would have to be nice to her!”

“You really said something impressive just now.”

“That’s... intense.”

Someone’s been adding unnecessary comments for a while now, huh? But fine. Whatever.

“So yeah… stuff like this is kind of a trigger for me. And just to be clear, it's not like I care about Sachi-senpai or anything!”

“Was there really any need to spell that part out?”

“But realistically, what do you plan to do? Even now, we’re already splitting up the club president duties among ourselves to lighten Sachi-senpai’s load.”

“Easy,” Megumi declared.

“If it’s too much for Sachi-senpai to take on another song—”  She paused for dramatic effect.  “Then the three of us will just perform Otomune’s song ourselves.”

A beat passed.

“Whaaat!?”

The room echoed with cries of disbelief.  But the truth was— It wouldn’t be as easy as Megumi made it sound.

[poorly-written-fiction]

replay (logan howlett x oc) chapter 2 - keep up

A/N: good evening everyone. still working on my logan x reader thingy, but i have this! this chapter is inspired by "keep up" by odetari! shoutout to @ari.lattee on tiktok for making an edit of logan to the song. it made me feral. uhhh this chapter... happened, i don't entirely remember how i wrote it, but leave feedback please and thanks okay bye!

Summary: Inez and Logan face the Danger Room together.

word count: 1600

tags: canon x oc, logan howlett x oc, mutant! oc, slow burn, enemies/rivals to lovers, some swearing, combat violence, spelling and grammar errors because i didn't proofread too hard, okay bye i hope you enjoy

The rest of the day came and went. Inez spent the Friday evening with Anna and Kate, it was one of those rare cases where they were both available to hang out. The three girls sat in Inez’s room, catching up on any conversations they had missed out on in the short time since they last saw each other.

“Inez, I heard you and Logan got to show the youngins how to fight, and ended up in a tussle with each other!” Anna laughed, mindful to keep her tone from insinuating that anything more than a casual rivalry was going on between her two friends. While Anna’s words and tone seemed humorous, something in the way she looked at Inez earned an irritated groan from her fanged mouth.

“Dude, he’s so irritating. Charles wants me to work with him more now,” Inez pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes, “I don’t get how he can be so old and not understand shit.” Kate and Anna exchanged confused glances, “Which one?”

“Both of them, honestly, but mostly Logan.” Inez huffed. “Charles at least uses his brain, Logan’s is probably disintegrating in his skull after living so long.” Anna and Kate chuckled, both skating their heads. They both had known Logan for so long and were more than aware that he could be a pain in the ass. Inez hadn’t grown up at X Mansion like they had, so she didn’t get to experience Logan’s occasional soft-heartedness.

“He probably has a problem with how much you challenge him, Wolfy.” Kate patted Inez on the thigh sympathetically. “It’s not often he meets someone who is… as much of a hardass as he is.” Inez furrowed her brows and laughed quietly.

“Don’t let me become like that asshole, please,” Inez begged, getting a few laughs out of her two friends. The rest of the evening kept up like that. Lots of giggles and conversation carried through the evening until Inez remembered she’d have training in the morning. Anna and Kate left, exchanging hugs and well wishes that the next day wouldn’t be too difficult. Inez performed her nightly routine, showering, braiding her hair, brushing her teeth, and climbing into bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

================================================

Inez spent Saturday morning counting down the hours and minutes until she was supposed to meet Charles and Logan at the Danger Room. She tried to distract herself, make the time slow down somehow. When there was nothing else that could ease her mind, and it was time to start training, she stood near the door, waiting patiently. Charles came soon after, greeting Inez with a smile and some small talk before Logan joined. Inez took one look at what he was wearing and scoffed, shaking her head, “Who the hell wears that many clothes to practice combat in?” From what Inez could see, Logan was wearing a white tanktop - as he always did - with one of his flannels and a leather jacket on top of all of it. He had a pair of dark denim jeans with a thick belt and some work boots that appeared to make him taller than he already was.

Logan raised an eyebrow, looking quite unamused with the way Inez was thinking. “A person who wants to be ready at all times. Or do you not practice what you preach?” He gestured to what Inez was wearing, “What happens when something comes up and what you’re wearing is hard to move in, or doesn’t provide ample protection to you when you need it most?”

Inez’s face burned. He was right, and he was pretty smart for thinking it through. If something went sideways when she was out on a random day, would she be able to fight in everything and anything she was wearing? Before she could say something snarky, Charles was opening the door to the Danger Room.

“You will have one hour to do the simulation. If you become overwhelmed or the scenario becomes too dire, the sequence will stop, and you will have to try again. I want you two to work together. You make an excellent team when you can put aside your differences.” Charles shifted his gaze between the two X-Men, nodding at them with assurance. He rolled out of their way, and gestured for them to enter. Once Inez and Logan had crossed the threshold, Charles gave them an affirming smile, “Good luck, I have my full faith in you both.” With that, the doors closed, and the room was filled with a dim blue light.

“Activating simulation sequence,” announced a robotic female voice. Blue grids began to take form into a terrain around them. The room transformed itself into a quarry, full of mining equipment and sharp, jagged rocks all around. Logan and Inez began to familiarize themselves with the area, readying themselves for whatever was to come. “Simulation begin.”

Before the pair could get too comfortable, several armed guards appeared from their blindspots, weapons drawn and ready to fire. Logan and Inez split up, disarming and taking down guards left and right. The sounds of gunshots, bones cracking and crunching, and flesh being ripped apart filled the quarry as they did work on the guards, their numbers never dwindling.

Logan took notice of the way Inez dealt with the guards. Her movements were far more aggressive than his, lethal even. In a real situation, her actions would probably be overkill, even by his standards. He felt an uncomfortable familiarity that he couldn’t quite place. Something about the way her nails slashed at the guards, and the way she snarled, baring her sharp teeth made him uneasy. He found himself faltering, and fighting almost as if he was on autopilot. His senses suddenly felt like TV static, and he couldn’t focus. Inez hadn’t been paying attention, until she happened to tear a soldier down, and saw Logan’s face. He looked vacant, and he was completely unaware of the soldier aiming a gun at his head. In the moment, Inez completely forgot that Logan had regenerative abilities, and if he had been hit that he would be okay. Without thinking, she launched herself at Logan, pushing him out of the way of the shot. Their bodies tangled together as they rolled behind a large mining truck. When they finally came to a halt, Inez hovered over Logan, her hands on either side of his shoulders. His face lit up as he became aware of what was happening.

“Come on old man, try to keep up.” Inez snapped, giving him a cocky smile before pushing herself off of him and running back into the battlefield. Logan could once again see the humanity in her face, which seemed to ease him a little bit. He shook his head, standing up and readapting to the situation. He ran out after her, his head clear and his focus now on finishing out the mission. Before they knew it, the soldiers had all been neutralized, and the Danger Room began to return to its default state.

“Ending simulation sequence.”

================================================

The sun had long gone down when Logan found himself leaning against one of the kitchen counters, sipping a beer and replaying the events of the day in his head. Despite their strained relationship, Inez still got him out of harm’s way. He would have been able to handle the bullet, in the end, the Danger Room couldn’t hurt them any more than they could really handle. He tormented himself for a moment for allowing himself to get distracted and have to rely on her, yet again. Logan would hate to admit it, but it was nice of her to consider him and get his head in the game. Come on old man, try to keep up her words echoed in his thoughts. He chuckled, taking another swig of his beer. That was the moment that he caught himself, what the hell was he thinking? She was as cocky as he was, and she seemed to be able to switch her empathy on and off at will. The more he thought about it, the more it bothered him. He had become so lost in his thoughts, that he didn’t notice her walk into the kitchen until she spoke.

“Good training today, Logan.” Inez spoke plainly, walking to the fridge and pulling out a water bottle for herself. She didn’t look at him almost at all when she spoke, trying her best to not give him too much attention. She knew he’d feed off of it, and she didn’t want to stroke his ego too much.

Logan snapped out of his running train of thought, glancing up at her and giving her a nod, “Yeah, you too. You, uh… you didn’t have to push me out of the way of that bullet though.” Logan began to drink his beer quicker, suddenly very uncomfortable with the energy that had been created in the kitchen.

“Oh yeah, I forgot you were bulletproof,” Inez rubbed the back of her neck, “I just didn’t want to have to restart the mission.” The tension in the room hung heavily, the two mutants refusing to even look in each other’s direction.

“I’m not bulletproof,” Logan started, his tone gruff and irritated, “just don’t stay injured is all.” At first, his teammate didn’t respond. She simply nodded, and began to shuffle out of the kitchen. Before she left completely, she turned to him again.

“I won’t do it again, then. I don’t expect you to do the same for me.” Then she walked away quickly. Inez went to her room, slamming the door shut behind her. She fell onto her bed with an irritated huff. The longer Inez thought about it, the more upset she grew.

The worst part about it all; she didn’t mean what she had said to him.

[venusvity]

Marking their first performance as a four-piece, VENUS performed on Team Green's stage at WaterBomb 2024 this Sunday, following the performances of Chloe and Baebi the previous two days. The turnout, as usual, was massive, being one of the largest crowds at the festival.

.ﾟ۪ ♡ ۫     ( LOOK BOOK ! )    

( LEFT 2 RIGHT ! ) ... KLARA, BAEBI, SENA, AND CHLOE !

.ﾟ۪ ♡ ۫     SET LIST !

I AM THE BEST

1ST MENT ... KLARA LED

DRAMA

2ND MENT ... CHLOE LED

BLOW A KISS

3RD MENT ... BAEBI LED

THE BOYS

UNTIE

4TH MENT ... SENA LED

SUMMER LUV!

.ﾟ۪ ♡ ۫     THE HOT RUNDOWN !

Oh, the people were waiting for this. They've been waiting for Venus to return to Seoul Waterbomb for years now and to be there for their first-ever OT4 performance. The people were hungry. They were ready. And so were the girls!!

Easily, one of the best festival performances Venus has done. Their energy was insane, like, points were being proven.

Bliss's lines were split up amongst the girls but most of her raps went to either Sena or Yoonah. This would start a debate on Twitter over who did the lines better. Way too many shorts, reels, and Tiktoks comparing how Sena and Baebi did the lines to Bliss how would do them would start popping up too, getting millions of views. It was a whole thing but the girls ignored it.

KLARA MET TRANSCRIBED: "Long time no see, Waterbomb! Woo! Look at all you out there...Oh my god, so many people are here. This is crazy...Did you guys like that opener? Someone sprayed the hell out of me during the chorus, haha! That's okay. I'll get you back after this next song. Are you ready?!"

A vlog would be released the same day of their performance, showing how the girls practiced and prepared for the festival. It revealed that the girls got to pick their outfits for once because you already know they were going viral left and right for how stunning and beautiful they looked soaking wet!

The girls also did their own makeup for the festival, primarily Chloe, who was doing the other girls' makeup since she loves to do hair and makeup and is never pleased with how anyone but her does it. She's a perfectionist and wants everyone to have the same look, unlike last year in Tokyo.

CHLOE MET TRANSCRIBED: "Woww! I could barely hear us singing over how loud you guys are. I love it. This is incredible...Are we having fun? Amazing! God, listen to you guys, holy shit. Literally shaking the stage, you guys are so loud. I love it so much...I need you guys to listen real quick though. Shhh!" The entire crowd falls silent when Chloe puts her finger over her lips, resulting in a viral moment and reaction video. "I'm going to say: You want me? and you're going to say: Do you want me? Got it? Okay...You want me?" Chloe puts her microphone out to the crowd as they shout "Do you want me?" causing Chloe to smile brightly. "Mwah!" And with that, the intro do "Blow a Kiss" begins to play.

There were lots of cute interactions on stage between the girls! Mainly, Sena and Klara, the forever Venus babies, were throwing water balloons at each other or spraying each other with water guns. They were constantly laughing and smiling on stage. It was really sweet and fun for Constellations to see Sena so happy again since it's been a while since she last seemed genuinely happy.

All of the girls slipped at least once during their stage, but it was all a laughing matter and a silly thing. Every time they hit the ground, they were laughing, and so were the other members it was a really cute and funny thing.

BAEBI MET TRANSCRIBED: "Oh my god, Waterbomb...Long time no see!! You guys saw me on Friday, remember? I remember. I see some of you guys in the crowd from my set. That was really fun, wasn't it? I was wearing a lot less clothes for that one." The crowd cheers as Yoonah and Venus laugh. Yoonah flips her wet hair over her shoulder. "We got two really fun songs next. I really like performing this next one...Watch where you're shooting your guns by the way," Yoonah warns as she points to the crowd with a playful scowl that turns into a sly smile. "I almost busted my ass during that last song. I'm watching you."

Yoonah would then go on to slip and fall on her ass during The Boys performance.

The girls were spotted in the crowd during Wayv's performance. Klara's reaction to shirtless Xiaojun would go viral, and she would be embarrassed about it, but that didn't stop them from filming a dumb lil TikTok together!

Yoonah and Chloe were seen at Taemin's set, which got Constellations really excited since the people love when Baebi and Taemin stand next to each other. They took a picture together after his set. SM Baebi Enthusiasts cheered!

Yoonah and Sena were also seen during Nayeon's set and Bibi's but pictures have yet to be posted...Constellations know they're holding them hostage!

SENA ENDING MET TRANSCRIPTION: "Waterbombbb!! I'm so happy to be here, ah! This was too much fun! You all have been so amazing. For our last song, I think it's only right that we sing the song of the summer...Are yall ready? I said are yall ready?!" When the crowd meets the volume Sena wants, she smiles proudly, nodding. "That's what I wanted. Thank you, Waterbomb!"

And as per tradition, Summer Luv! caused an earthquake, truly the song of the summer. These girls killed it and left nothing behind! And looked good while doing it!

[lexsluvswriting]

ꔫ L'autunno.

☆ Ch: 3                                                 [last page] [next page]

-> Pairing: Eris x ballet dancer!fem!reader.

-> (CW): x fem!reader (she/her), slow-burn, rivals to lovers, tinkle of angst on occasion, fluff, non-specified identity Summer Court!reader, regarding canon ACOTAR time: after defeat of Hybern.

-> (TW): uhm, some slight simmering sexual tension, ig? your first fight w daddy (jk. ur just a bit of a meanie in this chapter i'm afraid), Eris Vanserra is a mumma's boy bc i said so, thank u & good night.

W/C: 3.6 k

╰┈➤ Lex's note: I am SO SO SORRY THAT THIS IS SO LATE EVERYONE!! i've had assignment after assignment after assignment for the last 4 weeks on each friday [which is when i usually write 😵‍💫] I'm posting ch 3 tonight, but i'll have ch 4 and maybe 5 ready tomorrow!!

It had now been three days since receiving the news that you’d be performing for the Vanserra family personally. In that time, you had also discovered a few prominent things to note: the potential financial ruin that would befall the old dance studio if its debts weren’t repaid in time; that Eris Vanserra was a snide, egocentric prick who seemed to like watching you dance an awful amount, and that Eris Vanserra’s personal scent was of smoky woodfire, with a subtle hint of maple- a combination that made your stomach lurch. That last bit was information you were sure you could live without, but from when you two had ‘spoken’ in the hallway of the studio after the raspberry coulis debacle, it lingered in your nose and messed with your head.

It was the fourth day of practice- three days ‘till the Autumn Equinox- so as any normal girl did, you were trying to find reasons not to attend the Equinox, and not to attend the ball afterwards on Eris’ arm. Today to your dismay, he had requested time with you personally, and you were highly suspicious. However, your motherly confidants weren’t hearing a word of it.

“Think of the opportunities, petal! You will have a chance to wear some of the most beautiful dresses in all of the Autumn Court- perhaps all of Prythian! Everyone will be having their sights set on the Equinox in place of Calanmai, so you will be a star!” Primrose gushed, clapping her hands and pressing them together as she swooned- the pot plants to her left accelerating in growth, their blossoms procuring the most vibrant coloured flowers, feeding on her magic as the Spring Court native expressed her excitement.

“If [Y/N] wanted to be a star, she’d go to the Night Court and rendezvous with the lordling there. But she’s not.” Ordelia interjected her wife’s exclamations with a slight frown, taking a brush to your locks as you sat on the floor in front of the fae female. “You cannot possibly try to avoid it now- this would be a wonderful time to show Eris that you are skilled with your body and your mind. Indulge the boy in his dances, let him crow about his achievements, then confront him on what they are doing in the harvest quarter. The cul-de-sacs and the complexes are being raided almost weekly.” She encouraged firmly, wanting you to push forward with bringing up the topic of concern to the lordling. You winced slightly as she raked the brush through your hair as she spoke, yet you let her style your hair neatly.

“This is a chance for you two to discuss important topics, [Y/N]. Ignore the tabloids, and the gossips. You will be with the heir to the Autumn Court- the opportunity to hold his family accountable is staring you blank in the face!”

You sighed, fiddling with some loose fabric on the long, loose sleeve of your blouse. “Even if I were to talk to him, I highly doubt he has the capacity to process what I want to discuss. Besides, this feels stupid- why does he need to spend a whole day with me anyway?”

“Well it would make sense! You’ll be on his arm the night of the actual Equinox- he ought to make sure he knows who he’s dealing with.” Primrose advised helpfully, Ordelia nodding contemplatively behind you, “He might be wanting to look out for your best interests and warn you in advance about Beron.”

Ah, yeah. That tyrant. The arsehole who wrongfully increased the land taxes despite the land being on its last limb during Amarantha’s ‘blight’, merely to make his people work harder with no time for mourning or celebrating. The bastard who is not-so-sneakily declaring an exodus on non-Autumn fae, making every step you took a more calculated one when you’d walk to and from the studio.

After the protests in the streets recently, Primrose stopped sitting on her balcony to watch the sunset, and now Ordelia mostly runs the errands. You’ve been staying over at theirs a lot more too- not feeling comfortable in your own apartment, staring at the certificates recognising your creative and academic ability, thus granting you these pleasures. Not with the small Summer Court trinkets on your shelves despite living in the Autumn Court apartment. You didn’t even feel like a true fae. You felt foreign- like that human girl who was living in the Spring Court all that time. A small part of you wondered if she’d understand these troubles in the human lands too.

You had zoned out, and they both seemed to catch on to the way you went deathly still. Primrose warmed your hands with hers as she pulled you to stand, embracing you. “It will be alright, my petal. Don’t you worry your pretty little head. Just enjoy yourself today, yes? You’re going to be with the lord’s son. Perhaps he’s more than the papers make him to be.”

“He’s a male.” You huffed softly, yet her embrace gave you a small flicker of confidence.

Maybe it would be alright after all.

--- ⋆⁺₊✧˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☾⋆⁺₊✧⋆ ---

“Are you going to be scowling this much at the Equinox ball?”

“Depends. Will you irritate me this much then?” Whatever Primrose and Ordelia advised for you flew completely out the window as soon as you entered the carriage that waited outside your complex. You had glanced around nervously before climbing in as soon as the door opened, his smug voice welcoming you.

“What are you afraid of? I won’t bite- not unless you’d like me to.”

Your nose wrinkled at his tacky response, but it was truly his foxish grin that unsettled you. In fact, everything about him unsettled you. You truly despised how handsome he was- especially when he was quiet, when he didn’t annoy you. It gave you time to observe him as he looked out the window of the moving carriage. His eyes glimmered in the light of the sun, as if his irises couldn’t decide what colour they wanted to be. His hair reminded you of the brightest, orange leaf you could find. He certainly seemed to emanate the idea of ‘Autumn’- as if he was the physical manifestation. Your stomach lurched as you sobered up to the ‘goo-goo’ eyes you gave him, your lip curling as you huffed at Eris and looked away, causing him to chuckle.

“I didn’t even say anything that time.”

You didn’t deign to respond, sending him a judgemental side glare, as if he wasn’t the noble who was taking you out for the day.

“You ought to be nice to me, lest you incur the wrath of my father. Or myself, for that matter.” His canines flashed as he smiled at you, his body language conveying a silent warning. You snorted softly at the mention of his father, unable to bite your tongue as you crossed your arms,

“And what will he do? Kick me out of his court? Wouldn’t be the first, would I?”

Eris’ face fell, and all sense of mirth- no matter how smug- left his face. He regarded you with a slow, calculating look- his eyes raking over you- before he rolled them, a more snarky, arrogant smirk curling on his lips as he regarded you again, clicking his tongue.

“My, my, what a tongue. Don’t tell me you’re subjecting me to ‘politics’ now. Aren’t you supposed to look pretty and dance?”

“Why am I here?” It wasn’t a question, and you wouldn’t apologise for it as you snapped at him, narrowing your eyes as you sat up straight- as if to strike like a cobra.

“Don’t you listen, darling? I’m taking you out for the day- to get acquainted and what-not. You ought to learn about my family before you insult them as horribly as you insult me- and we’ve only been friends for a day.”

You barked a laugh, almost recoiling in disgust. Friends? I’d rather drink dirty lake water.

“You are also going to be responsible for assisting in a make-shift Calanmai, shall we say.”

Your ears twitched, and you almost lunged for him. “If you’re implying that we are to share a bed, I’d prefer you to kill me right now.”

This time, he rolled his eyes, shaking his head as if you were the idiot in the carriage. “No, darling. Why don’t you listen to me first, before you go off rattling your poor little brain. The Spring Court cannot… ‘deliver’ on Calanmai this year, so the Autumn Court has decided to take up the honour. The Equinox is the night where the magic in our land concentrates the most- so you will be dancing to appeal to the Mother, and invoke a surge of power. Then, we will have a ball, where you get to look pretty on my arm and do some dances for me, in true ballerina fashion.”

“Prick.”

“That naughty tongue of yours- I must say, darling, you won’t last a minute with my father if you keep that up-”

“I could care less for your father.” You cut in, glaring at him with all the contempt you could muster.

“I could care less for him, and you, and your spoilt, sheltered family. You’re all tyrants.” The leash you kept your temper on, which wasn’t doing much before, was on its final thread now. But when Eris watched you in his usual smug amusement, snickering softly as if your disdain for him was comical, it made you lose it.

“See? You laugh because you know it’s true. You’re a spoilt, womanising bastard of a ‘lord’, and I dread the poor girl who has to sire your children. You- like your father, have no respect for your citizens- the natives, and those who came here seeking asylum.”

He inspected his nails boredly while you ranted, nodding along dryly, “Oh, I know. Doesn’t it just eat you up inside?”

“It does, actually. You and your father make no sense. He’s actively driving your people to ruin- upping their land tax when he knows damn well how Amarantha’s blight affected the court’s harvest and vegetation. Your soldiers are pulling families out of their homes in the dead of night, in the middle of the day, kicking them out with nothing but the clothes on their back and for what? Because your father was in the mood for some ‘nationalism’? Mothers, pleading for shelter, their children cold and crying while you all sit back and do nothing- provide no resolutions, no assistance. I don’t even want to imagine how weak and pathetic your mother must be-”

“Hold your fucking tongue.”

A sharp snarl tore through your rant, and in a blink, he had you pinned against the back of the carriage seat. Eris’ breath warmed your face, his canines sharp and pearly enough that you saw your warped reflection in them. His eyes were certainly bright now- as if he had captured the Vanserra fire in his irises, and for a moment you were completely distracted by his pretty eyes before you felt how tightly he gripped your upper arms, the feeling of his fingers digging into your biceps uncomfortably making you snarl as you pushed against him, trying to kick him off. Your body seemed to wake up as his skin made contact with yours; blood rushing in your veins; heart racing- the beats pounding in your ear as your stomach fluttered? Churned? You weren't sure what it was, but you didn’t like the foreign feeling.

“Let me go-”

Unwavering, he kept you in his grasp, his breathing almost uneven, some loose strands of auburn hair curling as they hung in front of his eyes. Everything felt far too amplified as he forced eye contact from you, and you wanted to get away from whatever this was.

“Speak about the Lady of the Autumn Court like that again, and I’ll rip out your fucking tongue.”

You had never been up and close with the Autumn heir- never knew what he looked like when he was angry- never experienced his aggression. But the flutter, the flicker of something that roiled in your lower stomach made you swallow dryly, your eyes locked on his as you silently nodded, your voice soft,

“Fine.”

Your eyes had widened at this point, and to a stranger, it would look like you were a frail deer cornered by a fox. Eris took slow, deliberate breaths to calm himself, his glare deadly as it bore into you in a way that was uncomfortably intimate. You watched his eyes visibly flicker from your own to your lips for a considerable moment, before he pulled away, releasing your arms from his grip as he sat back in his seat, looking out the window- jaw clenched. You both stayed silent for the rest of the carriage ride, yet your eyes never strayed from his jaw for that moment; your stomach fluttered every time he clenched it.

Well, this was certainly a start.

--- ⋆⁺₊✧˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☾⋆⁺₊✧⋆ ---

You felt the carriage stop, and your head slowly turned back in his direction. At some point, you had turned away, looking out the window as you hugged yourself- your hands resting on your arms, where his hands had wrapped around them. You couldn’t get the feeling of them off you, the area of skin that he touched was still warm even after he had let go ages before. Your mind had raced in that long moment of silence- he certainly took the reputation of his mother seriously. What possibly could have caused that reaction? You had tried to remember what you could about the Lady of Autumn; not that there was much to go off. She barely had a moment in the spotlight, thanks to Beron. You didn’t even know her name- but did anyone? Everything you could remember about her was… muted. As if she wasn’t really there.You thought of the noble female fae again, and remorse trickled in, making you almost flinch at the way it tasted in your mouth. You pictured a lonely woman, married off to a man that made it his mission to evidently mistreat her, and it made something die within you. 

“I’m sorry.”

It was quiet, and he didn’t spare you a glance as he opened the door, disappearing out of the carriage before a hand stuck back in, waiting for yours to help you out of the carriage. You hesitated- would it burn? Would it warm your body the way it did when he grabbed you before? You barely had a chance to consider it before he pulled you out as if you weighed nothing more than a feather, his other hand instinctively catching your waist to steady you as your feet touched the ground. Before you could even look up at him, he let go, looking away with indifference that made a small part of you roll your eyes.

“I’m sorry. For insulting you and your family.”

You tried again, toeing at a small pebble on the ground. This was stupid. You felt like a child. And what right did he have to get all upset when it was true what you had said-

“I couldn’t care less what you think of me, nor my father. But you do not speak of my mother that way. Ever.” The seriousness in his tone when he regarded you finally made you stand straighter. There he was. That was Eris Vanserra, heir to the Autumn Court and future Lord, the oldest Vanserra son. This time, there was no arrogance from him when he spoke- nor any barbed retorts from you. You looked at him, squinting as the rays of the sun slightly marred your vision before you shielded your eyes with a hand.

“Where are we?”

“The amphitheatre that will be used for the Equinox. Thought you’d want to see where you’d be performing, lest you accuse me of ‘blind-siding’ you.” He seemed to have resorted back to his snide, playful manner quick enough- yet you were still cautious- still curious.

“I’m not from the Autumn Court.” You blurted out- not in the most cohesive way, of course- shifting your weight from leg to leg as you stayed put as he walked ahead. He sensed that you hadn’t followed and sighed, glancing back at you with a raised eyebrow.

“But you live in the Autumn Court, darling. Forgotten already?”

“No. That’s not what I meant.” You almost felt like a child with the way you responded, and he seemed to pick up on that as he snickered.

“I’m not from the Autumn Court.” You tried again, narrowing your eyes as you watched him roll his ith a dramatic sigh.

“Would you like a medal?”

You ignored him and stepped forward, looking out at the autumn scenery, shivering slightly despite being dressed in warm layers. “Why was I chosen to do this? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have someone of Autumn Court origin?”

“Are you really this ungrateful for such a prestigious opportunity?” The smile in his voice was evident as he goaded you, and you sighed, making your irritation known. He chuckled, clicking his tongue and shaking his head as he grabbed your arm to walk with you, only to sigh happily as you hissed and smacked his hand away,

“Alright, alright- I confess, I picked you personally.”

Well you knew that already. 

“Obviously. Why?” You glanced at him as you both walked towards the large stone infrastructure, and he shrugged, the smile on his face evident that he wasn’t going to tell you- or at least, tell the truth.

“You’re pretty. Available. Apparently you’re the best in the Autumn Court. Why wouldn’t I?” He asked sweetly, his saccharine grin making you glare at him before looking forward. His words made your ears redden, yet you tried to ignore his wily charms as you followed.

--- ⋆⁺₊✧˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☾⋆⁺₊✧⋆ ---

Leaves crunched underfoot as you neared the large amphitheatre where you’d be performing, your eyes widening as you took in the horizon that came into view. The amphitheatre was situated on a tall hill that seemed to overlook all of the Autumn court territory, and even you couldn’t resist the varying hues of red through brown that appeared in the trees, in the reflections of the large lake at the foot of the hill you stood on. As you turned your head, looking back toward the structure, there was a tall, grey marbled statue of a feminine figure with a hood over her head, obscuring her face. In her hands, there was the image of fire, with a stony cauldron at her feet, and at the bottom of the statue was an inscription in a language you didn’t recognise- though you recognised the statuette immediately.

“The Mother.”

“And the Cauldron,” Eris nodded, eyeing the statue with a face you couldn’t read, before he nodded at you.

“You’ll be dancing in front of her, and my family, and probably most- if not all of the Autumn Court, to invoke the magic of the Court and make sure it thrives- isn’t that exciting?” Eris crooned patronisingly, not even giving you time to respond as he walked towards the large stone slab that posed as the main stage.

“And then, you and I will dance, commemorating me, commemorating my family- the one you seem to despise so eagerly- and commemorating the magic that flows through our land. How wonderful.” He sighed, as if swooning over a romantic gesture, and you couldn’t make your irritation more evident. 

“Lighten up, won’t you darling?” When his taunt went unanswered, that cunning, manipulative smile curled on his lips again as he walked over to where you were overlooking the Autumn Court.

“I mean it, you know. You ought to be kind to me. I hold the future of your beloved, ratty, worn-down studio in my treasury.” At the threat in his tone, you tensed, scoffing spitefully as you crossed your arms to hide from the chill.

“Threatening me now? Really?”

He shrugged, standing next to you with his hands behind his back as he looked out at the landscape, “Not a threat to you, darling. But to the old studio that seems to be in the way of some projects my father wants to take action on. It would be quite easy to knock down- I even heard a rumour that its owner is behind on payments! Imagine my surprise when your pathetic little instructor grovelled at my feet, begging for a solution.” He shrugged, completely indifferent to the callousness of his character. You, on the other hand, seethed with rage as hot as the sun. It bubbled and simmered, and you pondered how quickly you’d be able to run if you kicked him down the mountain. But instead, you bit your tongue- you two had already gone at each other’s throats today, and it wasn’t even lunch time. Eris took your silence as space to continue, and he chuckled unapologetically as he shrugged,

“Besides, I told your weaselly little ‘mentor’ that if you did not perform to my standards, did not act to my standards, he wouldn’t see the money that was to be rewarded for your service. Although… no money means no payment on the property, which means- Oh! No more dance classes for little [Y/N] [L/N], the prima of her time.” He shook his head, his voice sounding almost sympathetic, though your eyes caught his fiendish grin in your peripheral.

“You really like to hear yourself talk, don’t you?”

“It’s me, darling. Of course.”

“Prick.”

“Don’t push it, darling.”

╰┈➤ Lex's note 2: Ngl guys? this chapter is somewhat of a filler to bridge us to the next bits. I've had lots of writer's block but I persevered for you guys!! it's 1:20 a.m. for me rn and i have classes tomorrow so imma sleep- but pls give this some love, and (NICE) criticism bc i am a sensitive soul <3

[burnt-casserole]

My Secret Santa gift for @philophobic-honeybee! Here's the link to the ao3 posting of the story I wrote. I also added the story below the read more in case you don't use ao3. I hope you enjoy the story, I had lots of fun writing it!

Loke didn’t pine, he really didn’t, until Lucy Heartfilia transferred to Magnolia High School in tenth grade. She stopped Loke right in his tracks, her soft features, her kind smile, her quiet rebellion through clothing, it all screamed girlfriend material. But Loke didn’t do girlfriends, not since Karen, no he swore to himself after that he would never fall for romance again. Then Lucy crashed into his life, with her hearty laugh and creative spirit she disrupted his habit of casual flings. He kept his distance, the less he knew about her the easier it was to avoid her, of course they ended up with a lot of mutual friends. Still he kept his distance, only going to events with her if there was a big group setting, avoiding any situation where they’d be alone together.

It was the beginning of the second semester of their senior year when his plan fell apart. He didn’t notice Lucy sneak up behind him until she tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey Loke!” She chirped.

“Uh, hi.”

“Listen I know you haven’t taken interest in a while, but Natsu said you did theater in middle school and we need more boys for the spring musical.”

“Lucy I-”

She quickly interrupted him. “I know it’s not really your thing anymore, but I wrote this musical and it’s my last show of high school and I really want it to go well.” She took his hand, her hands were so soft and warm, she pulled him a little closer. “I just need one more guy and your friends said you would be the right choice.”

He could feel blood rushing to his face, he had to get out of this before he died of embarrassment. “Okay! I’ll do it!” He yelped and ran off, trying to get as far from her as possible.

It had been a while since Loke auditioned for anything, but he did love performing, the attention was unmatched. He sat down in a fold out chair outside the school auditorium. Tapping his toe on the floor. “Loke!” He looked up, his face met with Lucy’s stunning grin. “Thank you so much for doing this!”

He stared down at his feet, how was she so pretty. “Yeah it’s no big deal.”

“I still appreciate it. I was so worried we wouldn’t have the right people for the cast, but now I think it’ll be alright.” He watched her shift her weight on her feet. “Now that I’ve given the script to the crew I’m so nervous. If this doesn’t go well…”

“That’s crazy talk Lucy, it’ll go great.”

“Oh I’m sure it will. I’m just so nervous.”

“From what I’ve read it’s great.”

“I’m glad you like it!” She started to turn, but paused. “I think I know who you’ll get, you’re perfect for the role.” He looked back up as she started to run off.

“Loke!” Erza called from the auditorium doors. “It’s your turn to audition.”

The cast list was posted on Friday, everyone eagerly awaited the turnout, Loke was pretty excited. Truthfully he had loved doing shows in the past, he stopped doing them when he started dating Karen, it was one of the first casualties of the relationship. He was thrilled when he saw his role, Leo the celestial prince, the main male love interest. It was gonna be a lot of work but he was ready to put in the hours, hours of practicing with whoever was playing Iris. He decided to check, his heart stopped when he read the name ‘Lucy Heartfilia’.

When Loke received the script it was worst than he thought, not the script it was fantastic, but the relationship between Leo and Iris. It was so fleshed out and romantic, they had so many sweet scenes and two kisses. There was no way he was getting out of this less in love with Lucy.

The first day of rehearsal was that Monday, she sat next to him. “I knew you would get Leo!”

“Oh thanks, congrats on getting the lead.” He mumbled.

“Thanks! I wasn’t expecting it, but I guess I took write what you know literally, Iris is a lot like me.” She grabbed her script from her bag. “Except I’m not chosen by the galaxy to save the world.”

“I’m not much like Leo.”

“You’re handsome and charming.” She noted.

He could hear Natsu and Gray giggling next to him, he was never gonna hear the end of this. He had to keep it cool, he couldn’t let the prettiest girl in the world phase him. He took a deep breath and collected his thoughts. “You’re right I am, but I’m not a big fan of commitment.”

“Leo is afraid to commit to anyone until his lament where he realizes despite his avoidance he’d already committed to Iris.” She chuckled. “Maybe you’ll learn something playing him.”

She didn’t respond, the director, Mavis, marched in. “Who’s ready for a read through?” Everyone let out a cheer. “Alright Levy could you read stage directions for us?” The short girl nodded, she was the head tech, she’d been showing off her abilities for years and her script was already full of notes, she began.

Natsu and Gray caught Loke after rehearsal. “Dude you are crushing hard!” Gray teased.

“You got so red every time she talked to you!” Natsu added, tugging Loke’s arm.

“I’m not! I- it’s just weird playing a romantic scene.” He paused, but added. “Especially when you’re not interested in them.”

“You’re always interested in pretty girls.”

“Yeah man I don’t think there’s a girl you haven’t hit on here.”

“Well I don’t like her!” He growled and stormed off to his car.

Rehearsals only got more intense from there, every other day he and Lucy were practicing being in love with each other, but today was the first day they were practicing their kiss scene. “Leo!” Lucy shouted, running on stage from the wings. “By stars! Are you alive?”

“Iris…” He groaned, playing up his acting from his spot on the ground. “Iris!”

She knelt by his side. “Oh Leo-” He watched her worried expression drop. “Line?”

“When you disappeared. I was sick with worry.” Erza yelled from the house.

“Right.” She mumbled, then put her acting face back on. “When you disappeared! I was sick with worry!”

“I’m alright princess.” He brought a hand to her face and caressed it. “I stopped the Dragon king for now, but I can’t defeat him. I don’t have my strength back.”

“Well I guess everyone is relying on me now.” Her expression changed from worried to confident, but there was discombobulation in the audience.

“Lucy you skipped like eight lines!”

“Oh! Sorry!”

“Let’s go back to Loke’s last line.”

“I’m alright princess.” He touched her face again, it was so warm. “I stopped the dragon king, for now. But I can’t defeat him, I don’t have my strength back.”

“I -um I -uh.” She stumbled over the words. “I- will- Will you regain your strength? Will you get back what he took from you?”

“I don’t know, maybe if he’s defeated.”

“I’m sorry.” She bowed her head.

He sat up. “It was worth it for you.”

She stared at him, her performance dropping. “I- line?”

“I love you. I love you Leo. I love you more than anything in the world, I will get your strength back I swear this to you.” Erza called in monotone.

“I- I…” Her voice trailed off.

Mavis stood up. “Okay guys take five, let’s get some water and shake this off.” She announced and hopped onto the stage. “Lucy are you okay? You know this script backwards and forwards.”

“Sorry Mavis, I do. I’m just nervous about this scene.”

“You don’t have to kiss yet, it’s only rehearsal.”

“I know, it’s just such an intimate scene to do in front of people for the first time.”

Mavis thought for a second. “Okay. How about this? You two go rehearse this scene in the band room alone and we’ll work on some choreography out here.”

“Okay thanks Ms.Vermillion.”

The pair headed off to the band room and sat on the floor together. “Are you okay Lucy?” Loke asked.

“Okay there’s a reason I’m messing up, but it’s embarrassing.”

“How about I tell you something embarrassing first?”

Lucy grinned. “Okay!”

“Oh now I gotta think of something…”

“You offered that without anything in mind?” Lucy chuckled. “Come on you’ve gotta be embarrassed about something.”

“Okay.” He sighed. “When I first met Gray I thought his name was Gary.”

“That’s not that bad, just a little-”

“I called him Gary for two years before anyone corrected me.”

“Oh that is a little embarrassing.”

“Yeah so what’s yours?”

“Well this stage kiss, it’s gonna be my first kiss.”

“What about dating? Did you not kiss your last boyfriend?”

She shifted. “I’ve never really dated anyone before?”

“Wait, really?”

“It’s just never happened, I went to an all girls boarding school before I came here and now I’m here and I’ve just made a lot of friends.”

“So you’re nervous to have your first kiss in front of a bunch of people?”

“Well yeah.”

“So what if we just kiss now?”

“What?”

“We just have a practice kiss here, no acting or anything, just us.”

“but we’re not a couple.”

“So?” He rested a hand on her shoulder. “It’s just a kiss it’s no big deal. I’ve kissed lotsa girls.”

She played with her fingers. “Is it really not a big deal?”

“It’s just a thing you have to get out of the way, the other firsts, they’re a bigger deal. A kiss is just two lips touching for a second.”

“You’re right. Let’s do it.”

She leaned in and it suddenly felt a lot more real. “You’re sure?”

She nodded, licking her plump lips. “Like you said, no big deal. Plus of all the possible first kisses… You’re not a bad choice.” She closed her eyes. “So kiss me please.”

It was very real now, she was leaning forward, eyes closed, lips puckered, her perfect blonde locks framing her face. He was about to kiss Lucy Heartfilia, the girl of his dreams. A fake kiss, a kiss that wouldn’t mean anything. This wasn’t how this was supposed to happen. “Lu-”

The heavy metal hinge of the door squeaked as Levy stepped in. “Hey guys, sorry to interrupt.” Lucy jumped up, her eyes popping open. “Mavis needs you two for another scene.”

“Okay Levy, we’ll be down in a minute.”

“Okay.” She pushed the door once again and began walking out. Loke watched Lucy stand up, where was she going?

“Lucy-”

“Thanks for talking to me, but I think the moment’s over.” She caught the door just before it closed. “Let’s go, there’s still half an hour left of rehearsal.”

“Okay.”

Rehearsing with her after that was like a special circle of hell, it might have been fine if they weren’t the romantic leads, but they had to practice a scene where they waltzed together. He had to hold his hand on her waist, he could feel how soft and warm her skin was where her crop top didn’t cover. By the end of rehearsal Loke was sure he had to confess before Monday’s practice or he would surely die when they got to the final scene. He sat on the edge of the stage, running through the things he could say in his head. He watched her sliding her script into her backpack and putting on her jacket. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Lucy, I-” His eyes opened and she wasn’t by the auditorium seat that had been holding her bag. She was walking up the aisle, now engulfed in a group of friends. Maybe he could catch her before she got into her car. He grabbed his bag and ran to meet the group as the were exiting the auditorium, he could hear Erza, Mira, Natsu, and Gray chatting about an upcoming double date.

Lucy hadn’t said anything in a while, but Sugarboy started to speak to her. “Hey Lucy, I was hoping you would go out on a date with me tomorrow night?”

Damn it. “Uh, yeah sure.” No! What the fuck. How was the universe not on his side this much today.

“Cool! I’ll text you.” Loke wanted to say something, but Levy was already pulling Lucy’s arm away from the crowd, squealing about the future date. This was going to be an awful weekend.

His prediction was right, he spent the weekend in bed, imagining Lucy’s date and the way she would smile and laugh at his jokes. The smile he was missing out on, the soft hands that should be holding his, he’d never really seen her date before and suddenly he felt the jealousy. He considered dragging himself out of bed, finding some girl to date for a bit while Lucy fell in love, but he saw no real point. He could finally tell that if he couldn’t have her, he didn’t want anyone.

He dreaded school on Monday, even more he dreaded rehearsal that afternoon. He’d have to suffer through acting like he was in love with a girl he was actually in love with, but wasn’t allowed to date. So of course the first person he saw when he walked in the building was Lucy. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into an empty classroom. “Hey Loke I wanna talk.”

When her hand let go of his wrist he pulled his arms away and crossed them. “About what?”

“I was wondering… If that kiss over was still on the table?”

Fuck. “Why don’t you ask Sugarboy?”

“I don’t want to kiss him.”

“What? Why’d you say yes to the date?”

She shrugged. “He asked me out in front of a bunch of people and I thought maybe I’d want to after our date, but I’m just not interested. I told him that.”

“You figured that out after one date?”

“Sort of, I also… Um, I kind of like someone else.”

“Oh.”

“So?”

“Huh?”

“Kiss?”

“You still wanna kiss me?”

“I still need that first kiss.”

“So you want to kiss me so you can go off and kiss the guy you actually like?”

She shook her head. “No! Well, I mean sort of- Well it’s just not like that.”

“Lucy I don’t want to be used like that, tell the other guy how you feel, I don’t want to take away from you getting your first kiss with someone you like.”

He started to leave, but she grabbed his hand again. “Loke wait!”

“What?” He asked, ready to just run home and be done with this day.

“You are the one I like.”

“What?” He gasped. “Really?”

“Yeah, that’s why I wanted you to be my first kiss.”

Loke grinned, taking her shaky hand. “I’ll be your first kiss Lucy.” He watched her face light up with a smile. “If you let me take you out on Friday first.”

“Really?”

“I kind of, uh, like you too.”

Rehearsal was no longer filled with dread, now Lucy and Loke found joy in spending that time together, even if there were other people around, they were in their own little world. Each time they rehearsed the kiss scenes they brought their lips close, almost touching until they both grinned and pulled away, not until after their date.

Friday couldn’t come soon enough, but when it did Loke couldn’t seem to calm his nerves. He nervously opened doors for Lucy and pulled out her chair. He nodded at everything she said, working so hard to display active listening that he almost missed her discussing her dreams of becoming a famous playwright. At the end of the night he dropped her at her front door and smiled. “I guess this is the end of our date…”

“You were such a gentleman.” She giggled. “Although I could tell you were nervous.”

“Was it obvious?”

She leaned against his chest. “You nodded at every single thing I said.”

“I was listening.” He chuckled.

“As much as you could.” She grinned. “So are you still interested in that kiss?”

He nodded. “It’s all I can think about. You?”

“Oh I am very interested.”

His lips were pulled to hers like gravity and the second his felt the soft warm flesh against his it felt right. It felt warm and welcoming and electric, it was like no kiss he’d had before. They pulled apart despite his craving for more. “Wow…” He mumbled.

“Do they… Always feel like that?”

“No I’ve never had a kiss that felt like that before.” He stared into her bright blue eyes. “That was the best kiss of my life.”

The adventures Of Iris ran on a warm May weekend, the three days of shows went off without a hitch and all the audience could talk about was the chemistry between Iris and Leo.

At the cast party Lucy snuggled onto Loke’s lap. “Thank you for joining the show.” She whispered in his ear, watching Natsu and Gray’s stunning karaoke performance. “I told you it’d be fun.”

He grinned, kissing her cheek. “I had so much fun.”

[xxsycamore]

Hello great idea you had for our challenge if I may can I have Comte x Leonardo with the prompt Office AU ?

Thank you have a wonderful day 🙏😊

Glad that you like the idea!! 🥺 You too have a lovely day & enjoy the business daddies~

[ 🌈 part of the character x character or genderbent!character x mc requests🌈 ]

For Different Universe, Same Love content creation challenge, hosted by @queengiuliettafirstlady and me.

𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐔┅┅┅Leonardo x Comte (slightly suggestive)

𝐥𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞

"Tsk, Leonardo. Feet off the desk, please."

"You're not my boss."

It's practically true. After the company merged, Germain & Da Vinci's legal CEO is no other than Leonardo himself - for better or for worse. The family-owned business that Leonardo inherited came in a package deal with all its complicated management that dear Comte, the vice-president, was ready to shoulder as a part of his secret deal with Leonardo. The guy is just not fit for a boss; or so he claims.

"I suggest we leave those formalities in the office. You surely know what day today is, signore CEO?"

Leonardo has to briefly spin on his office chair to reach for the small calendar on his desk and move the date to what he assumes it might be, in order to get an idea of what's so special about today. It's a whole miracle on itself that he can find said calendar among the mess that his desk is, seeing that he'd once again dismissed the secretary before she could do her job.

"I saw Dazai by the coffee machine wearing his kimono ... Casual Friday... July 7th." The confident guess is accompanied by a snap of his fingers. "What is July 7th?"

Comte sighs, visibly disappointed by his antics and the fact that he'd forgotten. It's better to show than tell.

Like a magician performing for his one-person public, all it takes is a few ministrations of Comte's capable hands to undo and shrug off both his business suit and diligently ironed black shirt to reveal...another shirt underneath. Short-sleeved. Palm-tree printed. Hawaiian.

"Vacation. That's what it is. Our flight is in 5 hours, I believe you're clueless about this too."

It's good that office chairs are no good for attempting to balance them on two legs. Leonardo would've found himself on the floor. NOONE in team meeting would believe him about this. At least he's able to shake off the surprise pretty fast.

"Well, heh. Guess I need the holiday if my head is such a mess, huh?""

Comte's gaze softens, because, that's actually something he can't argue with. Managing the company aside, Leonardo works hard on the research front to better the formula passed down in his family business. That's always been what the genius wanted to do.

"Nice shirt, by the way. You got one my size?"

Comte's soft chuckles soundtrack his approach to the desk and die down to a small humming noise by the time he arrives at Leonardo's side. A slender finger nudging the first button of his shirt - the first buttoned one, anyway - until it slowly, annoyingly slowly comes undone.

Leonardo moves in for a kiss, but the other party withdraws all too fast.

"I might just have one your size. But I told you. Feet off the desk first."

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[for-yoongi0309]

[NOTICE] BTS PERMISSION TO DANCE ON STAGE in THE US Release announcement

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For those who want to enjoy the LA show to the fullest– The concert film for “Permission to Dance on Stage – LA” Day 2 is available for streaming on Disney+. [Weverse Shop-US] • PRE-ORDER DATE : From 11 AM, Friday, November 17, 2023 (KST) *WHILE SUPPLIES LAST* • RELEASE DATE : January 5, 2024 (PST)

- OUT BOX Size : 152x206x38mm Note: This outbox is designed to protect the product during distribution. Exchanges or refunds due to stains or damage during distribution is not available. [SPEC] 1. DIGITAL CODE+PHOTO CHARM SET DIGITAL CODE Size : 27x85mm [144p], [270p], [360p], [480p SD], [720p HD], [1080p FHD], 1440P[FHD] 2160P[UHD] KOREAN, ENGLISH, JAPANESE, CHINESE ABOUT 511 MINS *This product is made of recycled plastics, so the marbling pattern varies for all products. Furthermore, natural phenomena such as tiny spots and parting lines may occur naturally as part of the manufacturing process in some products, and they are not considered defects. PHOTO CHARM SET PHOTO CHARM Size : 50x78mmㅣ1EA (RANDOM 1EA OF 7EA) FRAME CHARM Size : 50x78mmㅣ1EA 2. PHOTOBOOK SET Size : 148x189mmㅣ2EA 1SET Los Angeles - 132P Las Vegas - 132P 3. PHOTOCARD SET Size : 54x86mmㅣ7EA 1SET 4. FOLDING CARD Size : 720x90mmㅣ1EA 5. POSTCARD+FRAME STAND SET POSTCARD Size : 152x102mmㅣ1EA FRAME STAND Size : 185x132mmㅣ1EA [CONTENTS] MAKING-OF FILM PTD Los Angeles PRACTICE & REHEARSAL SKETCH PTD Los Angeles D-DAY SKETCH PTD Los Angeles INTERVIEW PTD Las Vegas PRACTICE & REHEARSAL SKETCH PTD Las Vegas D-DAY SKETCH BTS PERMISSION TO DANCE ON STAGE in THE US : 1st Concert @ Los Angeles ON Burning Up (FIRE) Dope DNA Blue & Grey Black Swan Blood Sweat & Tears + FAKE LOVE Life Goes On Boy With Luv Dynamite Butter Airplane pt.2 + Silver Spoon + Dis-ease Telepathy Stay So What I Need U + SAVE ME IDOL We Are Bulletproof : the Eternal Permission to Dance

BTS PERMISSION TO DANCE ON STAGE in THE US : Last Concert @ Las Vegas ON Burning Up (FIRE) Dope DNA Blue & Grey Black Swan Blood Sweat & Tears + FAKE LOVE Life Goes On Boy With Luv Dynamite Butter Telepathy Wings Stay + So What IDOL Anpanman + Go Go Permission to Dance How To Watch “BTS PERMISSION TO DANCE ON STAGE in THE US” Watch the high definition VODs on Weverse by registering/verifying the digital code on the product enclosed with the merchandise. [How To Use The Digital Code] - MOBILE * QR code: Using the smartphone camera, scan the QR code to visit m.weverse.io/code/dc. Redeem the digital code and enjoy the video on the Weverse app!

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MADE IN KOREA.

[leclerical]

07: Reflections on the Imola GP

I still feel a bit shellshocked after this one, i can't lie. I have so many words, but also so few? This one might be a bit strange to read back, but whatever, i've committed to finish blogging this season. Let's get to it ❤️💙

Friday and Saturday were both ridiculously busy for me, and i should probably be grateful that i missed the absolute shitshow of the free practices and quali. However, i will say that getting the quali results from people live blogging on tumblr dot com while riding the train home was not fun. I couldn't pace or swear loudly or cry for fear of making all of my innocent train riding peers think i was having a breakdown. I mean, i was having a breakdown, but they don't really deserve for me to make it their problem. That's all to say, with life stuff, Charles feeling unwell, the poor performance of both ferraris in qualification, and a kind of uncertain idea of what the rbr was capable of come race time, i was going through it. Highkey not having a fun goofy time.

So, with all of that in mind, the race went well! Except, haha, no, i'm still dying at the result! Christ.

the good stuff

Oh, that overtake. Max Verstappen, you move me. F1tv was such a headache today with my stream skipping or shutting out randomly throughout the race, so i was panic refreshing the page. It reconnected just in time for me to see the race start. Made the whole thing feel like an out of body experience, a little bit. Beautiful driving from him, all the way through. At least he benefitted from the virtual safety car, and his restart after the full safety car was so clean. He really showed up today and made those improvements to the car count. Love to see it.

Despite many a caveat, Charles was so fucking great today. He started in such a disappointing position and got fucked over pretty royally during both safety cars, but his fight was incredible to watch. He's so freaking talented, i just need ferrari to stop wasting it. (Charles, baby, i'll follow you to any team, any team, please don't waste it.)

the bad stuff

Ferrari, i am in your goddamn walls. Don't think i won't go to Maranello myself and sort your shit out for you, you stupid bastards.

I despair thinking of what Charles could have done with new tires during the full sc. His pace so good, what absolute lunacy not to give him the best shot they could. And what lunacy not to tell Lewis to give Charles the slipstream to keep them P4 and P5. Such baffling calls from the pit wall today.

I don't know what it was about mcl today, but i felt very unmoved by both of them this weekend. The coverage kept showing Oscar, but i feel more baffled by his drive today than anything else, and Lando is such a nothing driver to me. They've both already slid off my brain, i don't know. I'm more than ready for a brocedes-inspired heel turn from them both, that would at least be fun to talk about.

Alex, beloved, is on notice. Sorry, buddy, i'm a Charles fan first. Also, damn, Ollie, you couldn't have gotten out of the way a little sooner for Charles? What is this? Beyond that, i feel awful for Kimi. The home race curse strikes again, i hate it here. Not sure what was going on with the mercs, it was a weird one for them both.

I'm terribly split on this race, stuck in this loop of being pumped by Max and gutted for Charles. But for all the stupid stuff, it was at least interesting. Sometimes, i just have to take what i can get.

fic updates

fic B hasn't even been looked at this week, aha whoops. This one is fun, but isn't quite where my head is right now (16,376)

fic C is still my main focus, but i've slowed a bit while reading a few other things. It's frustrating to be so stymied by life, but i'll take it, since i had some really interesting thoughts on theme this week (31,998)

fic D, you poor thing. I promise i love you, i think of you often, but your story structure is a massive pain to plot out :/ (0)

[sapphosweirdkid]

HOLY SHIT that was such a stressful sitiuation

This week has been pretty fun but also SO stressful and I'm going to talk about it

Monday was fine, English is easy

Tuesday wasn't bad but it's where the trouble started. We were practicing filming/filming our stop-motion films in class and I was helping my friend with his and he often gets really stressed out so I was kinda of stressed out too. Then when I left I also had to carry loads of camera kit.

Wednesday morning I went out charity shopping and when I got back my stop-motion set wasn't done so I frantically finished most of it, and my camera battery was low. I quickly read a poem for English tutoring went to my music club with my friends which was a lot of fun but I have been feeling like I either brag or complain and then I came home and said goodbye to my mum and ate dinner while doing my English lesson and then I filmed until my camera died

Thursday was ahhhh so first my little brother who we have to take to school in the mornings refused to leave so I was like 45 minutes late to maths class which was going pretty well until break time when I'm sitting on a bench calling my friend and my classmate comes up to me and says that I have an exam in the other building right the fuck now so I run off (still on the phone) but the guy says that I'm late so I go back to maths class and the teacher apologises and luckily the exam got rescheduled to Friday. The exam is important because if I pass then I can go on the course I want to take next year. Also istg my classmates were talking about me when I came in but I am convinced they all hate me so I could be wrong. The rest of class goes well, I listen to Siouxsie and the Banshees, extend my kit return deadline from 3 to 4. When I get home I have a quick lunch and finish filming apart from the scenes that need the part of the set I haven't finished. Thanks to my hotel glue gun and my father I managed to get the shots I needed and then we took the kit and got in the car with my little brother because he wanted to come. While in the car I realised I didn't have my lanyard so when I get there I have to rush to get a temporary one, carry four large pieces of kit up to the second floor of the building, convinced the kit room will be closed, but luckily my ex friend/hopefully future friend was also dropping his kit back so I made it on time. Then I came home and did as little as possible until I had to get ready for my mum to pick me up so I got changed. She took me to a Buffy the Vampire Slayer comedy one-man show which was a lot of fun but I take after her so we were also late and we got a meal deal for dinner which was pretty ok and I think my sandwich had mayo in it but I ate the whole thing which I'm proud of because I have issues with food and I love my mum so it was great. In the car on the way home I tried to explain the plot of Dear Evan Hansen to her which went pretty well considering I've only watched Jenny Nicholson's video on it. Then I went to sleep which was awesome.

Then the grand finale, Friday. I didn't go back to sleep after my alarm and my brother didn't scream so that was good and I got dressed and went to college and took my maths exam. I was very scared but I think it went well and my friend sent me good luck from the performing arts course. Then I went to my normal class but I forgot my memory card so I just looked for assets. As I was walking in I found out that one of my classmates just didn't know my name? The class only has like 14 people and I talk quite a bit but whatever. When I came home I was very tired and determined to do nothing which went well. Then I ate dinner and my dad drove me to my old school to see my friend in the school play. Walking in was so weird and also I was, naturally, kinda late. When the show started it was good and it was great to see my friend and then I see the ensemble and there's some old school friends which was weird but also fun because it's an unnamed ensemble member and I'm like "she dressed up as Courtney from TDI two Halloweens ago" or "she thought that Fester was her best friend but that was not reciprocated" and that's what's fun about school plays which I have seen 5 of, plus a couple other junior shows. After the show I TALKED to some of my old friends which was so awkward but I think it went okay and then I saw my friend which was really nice and then my mum picked me up and now I'm home.

Arghhhhhh this was a good week

[marylcna]

Master Your CNA Certification: Take Our Free Online CNA Practice Exam Today!

Master Your CNA‍ Certification: Take Our Free Online CNA Practice Exam Today!

Are you aspiring⁢ too become a Certified Nursing Assistant‍ (CNA)? Whether you’re just beginning your studies or are preparing for the certification exam, mastering your CNA certification is crucial. One of the best ways to prepare is by taking⁢ our free online CNA practice ⁤exam.In this comprehensive ⁤guide, we will share valuable insights to ​help you succeed. From understanding the exam structure ⁢to tips on effective study methods, we’ve got⁣ you covered!

Understanding the CNA Certification Exam

The CNA certification ‌exam tests your knowledge and skills related to basic nursing care. This ensures that you are equipped to support patients effectively. The exam generally ⁢consists of two main‍ components:

Written Test: Multiple-choice questions covering theoretical knowledge.

Skills Test: Practical demonstration of ‍essential nursing skills.

Why Take Our Free Online CNA Practice Exam?

Practice exams are an invaluable resource in your CNA ⁢readiness. Here are several key benefits:

Identify ⁣Knowledge Gaps: Our practice exam helps you understand what areas you need to focus on.

Familiarize Yourself with Exam Format: Experience ‌the types of questions you will encounter on the actual exam.

Build Confidence: The more you practice, ⁢the ⁢more confident you will feel on ‍test day.

Time Management: Learn to manage your time effectively during the exam.

Helpful Study ⁤tips for CNA Certification

Along with taking practice exams, consider the following effective study​ methods:

Form Study Groups: Collaborate with peers to discuss challenging topics.

utilize Online Resources: Make use of online ⁢CNA study guides,videos,and forums.

Review Your Notes Regularly: Frequent review will ⁢help reinforce your understanding.

Setting a Study Schedule

Creating a structured study schedule can significantly enhance your retention and ⁢understanding of the material.

Day

Topic

Time Allocated

Monday

Basic Patient Care

2 hours

Tuesday

Medical Terminology

1.5 hours

Wednesday

First Aid and Safety

2 hours

Thursday

feeding and⁣ Nutrition

1 hour

Friday

Practice Exam ​Review

3 hours

Real ‌Experiences from Triumphant CNAs

Listening to first-hand experiences can be motivating. Here is‌ a testimonial from a recent CNA graduate:

“Taking the online CNA ‌practice exam was a game-changer for me. ‌It highlighted⁢ my weak areas, and with consistent practice, I felt​ more‍ prepared than ever.I passed my certification exam on the ⁢first try!” – Sarah K.,CNA

Case Study: The Impact of Practice Exams⁣ on Certification Success

LetS look​ at a short case study to illustrate the importance of preparation thru practice exams. A group of 100 CNA candidates took our free online practice exam:

Group A: 50 candidates who did not use practice exams.

Group B: 50 candidates who⁤ actively used the practice‍ exams.

Results showed that:

Group

Pass Rate

Average Score

Group A

60%

70%

Group B

92%

85%

This study clearly indicates that candidates who engaged in ⁣practice⁣ exams had a significantly higher success rate and overall performance ⁣compared to those who did not.

Conclusion

Mastering ⁤your CNA ‌certification ​isn’t just about studying hard; it’s about studying smart. by taking our free online CNA practice exam, you can identify your weak areas, familiarize yourself with the ⁤exam’s structure, and build confidence. Combined with effective ⁢study methods and real-life​ insights from professionals⁢ in the field,you’ll‌ be well equipped to attain your CNA certification. Don’t wait—start preparing today and take the first step towards an exciting career in healthcare!

https://www.cnacertificationschools.net/master-your-cna-certification-take-our-free-online-cna-practice-exam-today/

[usa-journal]

Alcaraz Overcomes Illness to Beat Rublev, Zverev Dominates Ruud at ATP Finals

Carlos Alcaraz battled through illness to secure a 6-3, 7-6 (10-8) victory over Andrey Rublev at the ATP Finals in Turin on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Spaniard, who had been struggling with a chest complaint and cut short his practice session the day before, showed resilience in his second match of the tournament.

Despite the health setback, Alcaraz played with composure and precision, especially from the baseline, as he dispatched Rublev in straight sets. Alcaraz won the first set in 37 minutes, breaking Rublev twice, and clinched the second set in a tense tie-break. He hit 33 winners compared to just 14 from the Russian.

“I surprised myself with how I played from the baseline,” Alcaraz reflected after the match. “I stayed calm and focused on my game, forgetting about not feeling well.”

In a heartfelt gesture, Alcaraz scribbled "Valencia" on a TV monitor post-match, offering his support to those in Spain affected by recent floods.

Earlier in the day, German second seed Alexander Zverev claimed his second win of the tournament with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory over Norway’s Casper Ruud. Zverev, a two-time ATP Finals champion, took control of the match after a closely contested first set, eventually breaking Ruud in the second to secure the win. With this result, Zverev is now one match away from a semi-final berth, needing a win over Alcaraz in their final group stage match on Friday to guarantee his place in the next round.

“I think it was a very good match from both of us," Zverev said after the win. "It was close, but I’m happy to get the victory today.”

Alcaraz's triumph over Rublev came after a disappointing loss to Ruud on Monday, marking a significant improvement in his form despite his ongoing chest discomfort. Alcaraz showed his mental toughness, coming from 40-15 down to break Rublev and take the first set. In the second, he had to save two set points before closing out the match.

Rublev, who has now lost six consecutive matches at the ATP Finals, has yet to recover his form since reaching the semi-finals last year. Meanwhile, Zverev's dominant performance against Ruud demonstrated his readiness to contend for a third ATP Finals title.

Looking ahead, American Taylor Fritz will face Australia's Alex de Minaur on Thursday, while world number one Jannik Sinner will play Daniil Medvedev. Sinner, who is undefeated so far, can advance to the semi-finals with a set win over Medvedev.

[miskinmusic23-24]

Action plan Guidance

Now is the time to communicate and carefully plan how you will achieve your individual responsibilities this week

This can always be done on your phone and added to WIX later today if need be.

We need all the Music that you want to include in the showings ready to show on Friday. The first two songs finished and a third song of your own choice underway.

1. What does my Band need to do, to complete the performances of the first two songs?

(This will have been highlighted in your evaluation of Friday’s showings) Things like, learning lyrics, Using tutorials to be authentic with your part, Researching live performances for ideas, Rehearsing with the extra musicians that are being added for some songs.

2. To decide on a third if you have not already done so and assign who will be playing each part

What will you need to do to learn your part in the new song authentically? Research/private practice 

3. Your presentation needs to be finished this week and ready to show me today and present on Friday

(You may get more notes on what to add today)

4. When will you be completing your WIX rehearsal blogging?

If you have had any trouble finding rehearsal videos, then it is time to take responsibility for filming and uploading them yourself

5. Also the English Diagnostics need to be completed this week (Maths should already be completed)

I have added a few notes below regarding some group and individual areas that I have remembered

Group 1

Arrange a rehearsal with Lana to play the Sax part and Aaron the second guitar part on Heatwave 

Archie Faiers

Lexx Kidd

Matthew McCarthy Rehearse the Piano part for Baby I Love You with group 4

Amy Wilson.   Rehearse Runaround Sue with group 3. Can you come to the singing session on Friday so I can show you the piano part on the gospel song.

Mia-Evie Hobbs

Megan Pointer

Victoria Reeves

Group 2

This is a really good authentic version of Jailhouse rock where you can take value from the drum groove and piano

This might be the way to go with the backing harmonies

Alf Lucus                  

Gabriel Bell. Be able to play the Bass lines in performance, work with Sam who will come into your group as a deputy bass player and give you some advise 

Dennis Bytyci

Brooke Carroll. Find a song where you can sing a lead part

Riannon Matthewman-Corby

Lilly Barnes

Paige Norris

Group 3

Have a rehearsal with Amy on Runaround Sue

Look at the song At last by Eta James for Esther to sing lead on

James Jarrett                 

Sam Peters.           Learn Group 2’s Bass lines, give some guidance to Gabriel and also learn the Bass line to This Little light of Mine (it’s what the piano does in this

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xpsrRLwqZY

Lauren Campbell

Marshal Brock

Lilliana Wilson

Lana Hilliard.       Make sure the Sax part is correct on Runaround sue and rehearse the Sax part for Heatwave with Group 1. 

Esther Sodeko.  

Group 4

Action the notes I gave on your presentation before you rehearse it with me later today in the Venue

Decide on the Duet that Joe and Isobel can sing lead on

Emmanuel Asubiojo I would like you to drum on the gospel song 'This little light of mine' (come to the singing session on Friday to do this)

Aaron Beck Rehearse Heatwave with Group 1

Danny Perryman.  Learn the Bass line to Baby I Love You

Lilly Slattery

Joe Davis

Jessica Shaw

Isobel Stevens