#(not to say i’m above ever doing that obviously but. man i’ve been through the whole song and dance it’s just tiring) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

seungkwansphd · 2 years

Text

fixer upper

pairing: minghao x reader wordcount: 9.5k summary: you love your friends dearly, but do they really think that they can match make for their resident matchmaker? minghao’s certainly interesting, though, so maybe you can fix him up with someone else instead. genre/themes: s2f2l. “beg” minghao. LOTS OF PLOT with eventual smut. slow and i mean SLOW burn. some member slander(affectionate), lol. set in the ‘we get along infamously’ universe.

a/n: i have nothing to say for myself regarding the length of this.

You tapped the bartop impatiently as you waited for your blind date to show up. You couldn’t believe that Danbi had roped you into this, but you had lost the game of darts fair and square. As a result, you were here waiting for a man named Minghao to show up. Part of you really wanted to skip out on this, because you just did not trust Danbi’s romantic sensibilities. She had dated a string of truly boring and strange people for months before you had finally set her up with Seungcheol. There was no way this Minghao was going to be anywhere near suited for you, but you were a person of your word, so you would do the date and be done with it.

“Hey, are you YN?” a voice called from above your left shoulder. You turned your head to see a tall, lanky individual with dark hair looking curiously at you.

“Yes, are you Minghao?” you sat up straight, fixing him with a smile. He wasn’t your usual type, physically, but you couldn’t deny he was handsome.

“Yes, nice to meet you,” he smiled, taking the barstool next to you.

“So how do you know Danbi?” you asked after he had ordered with the bartender.

“Ah, so,” Minghao looked almost sheepish, “I helped Jeonghan get together with the person he’s dating now. One of my close friends! And so I met Seungcheol and Danbi through Jeonghan.”

“Oh?” you calculated the degrees of separation quickly in your mind. “So you don’t really know Danbi at all, then!”

“Not well,” Minghao shook his head. “I was kind of surprised when Jeonghan told me that she wanted to set me up on a date.”

“I-,” you laughed, somehow relieved to find out that this hadn’t been any serious effort on your friend’s part. “Honestly, thank god! No offense to you, I obviously don’t know you, but Danbi historically has not impressed me with her taste in men.”

“No offense taken,” Minghao chuckled, bringing his cocktail to his lips for a quick sip. “So does that mean you’re the resident matchmaker in your friend group as well?”

“Very much so,” you nodded, “So I’m not sure exactly what Danbi thinks she’s up to, trying to take my title. In fact, I bet even I could set you up with someone better! And I don’t even know you at all!” you blustered.

“Oh really?” Minghao’s eyebrow raised. You were funny.

“What, you don’t believe me?” you furrowed your brows at him.

“I mean, no one is a better matchmaker than me, so my bar is pretty high,” he replied smugly. “I’ve only ever had one couple break up, and it was due to one of their jobs making them move away.”

“Out of how many?” you found yourself curious.

“...Eight?” Minghao had to tally in his mind quickly.

“Hah! That’s nothing!” you waved him off easily, “I’ve successfully set up eleven couples and none of them have broken up yet!”

Minghao smiled, amused by your bright and confident energy. While you clearly weren’t suited for him, he found himself wanting to beat you at your own game.

“Set me up then,” he invited confidently. “But I bet I can find you a match sooner than you can find one for me.”

“Oh?” you grinned at his gamelike proposal. Before you even knew it, the words came out of your mouth, “You’re on!”

Minghao laughed, shaking your hand enthusiastically. You spent the rest of your “date” exchanging phone numbers and excitedly reviewing each other’s basic likes and dislikes. Minghao wasn’t your type, but he certainly was interesting! He worked in HR for a tech company, had interests in art and fashion, and also had trained in mixed martial arts as a child? Quite a strange array of hobbies, but you were so going to win this thing!

…

“So, how did it go?” Minghao’s voice sounded slightly tinny through your headphones.

“Not good,” you were almost excited to report on how badly the date had gone. “I would rate your matchmaking skills like a 4 out of 10 right now!”

“Excuse me?” Minghao stopped in his tracks. Surely he had misheard you.

“Four. Out of ten.” you repeated yourself, grinning at the way you could tell he was surprised by your feedback.

“No, that can’t be right.”

“Allow me to elaborate,” you pressed on as you decided to take the long way home so you could regale Minghao with every last detail of why your date with Wonwoo had not been stellar. “First…could you have found someone more quiet or disinterested to have set me up with? You’d think I was trying to pull his teeth out!”

Minghao squeezed his eyes together. He and Wonwoo had built up their rapport over many years and he’d somehow forgotten just how tight-lipped his friend could be when meeting someone new.

“Also his only hobby seems to be gaming? I don’t know anything about that nor do I have an interest,” you continued. “Ah, it’s so nice out!” you commented as an aside while you pulled a pink bloom to your nose to inhale.

“Oh are you outside?” Minghao couldn’t help but ask.

“Yep, I’m walking home!” you nodded, “Oh I’m glad I took the long way! I forgot how much I like this park.”

“It is a nice day out,” Minghao looked out the glass panes of his office. He was painfully close to the end of his day and truth be told, he was excited to run out the clock with you on the phone. “So anyways, where are my four points coming from, because I haven’t heard anything positive yet.”

“Oh, well, I mean. I’m going to chalk that up to Wonwoo’s looks, really. He’s unbelievably handsome. Almost too handsome!” you threw your hands up in the air, drawing a few odd looks from other pedestrians.

Minghao laughed. It was true, Wonwoo was probably his most conventionally attractive friend, so it wasn’t a surprise to hear you say it too.

“Okay, so then…very cold on the personality traits, but very hot on the physical features. I can work off of that,” Minghao nodded, scanning through his mental roster of friends. Luckily, Wonwoo was probably the most introverted of them all, so it could only go upwards from here.

“Yep. Oh which! I have a candidate for you,” you clapped excitedly as you waited for the crosswalk to turn green. “My friend Yena!”

Minghao nodded contemplatively as you rattled off the list of compatible points that you saw for him and this Yena. He had his doubts, but he put your proposed date and time in his calendar. A deal was a deal.

“Okay, I’m almost home, so I’m going to hang up now! I’ll text Yena to confirm! Eee, I’m excited to hear what you think!”

“Okay, bye,” Minghao laughed, glancing at the clock again. It was officially quitting time, so he packed up his bag and headed out of the office. You’d been right, it was a beautiful day out, so he decided to switch up his commute as well. As he walked, he found himself wondering which park you had passed through on your way home.

…

[yn]: ‘sooooooo…………yena?!?!???!’

[minghao]: ‘6/10’

You narrowed your eyes in disbelief. Six out of ten?!

[yn]: ‘BE SO FUCKIN FR RIGHT NOW’

[minghao]: ‘no, I actually really liked her, but she said she doesn’t eat chinese food?! i can’t live like that’

What? Surely you had eaten Chinese food with Yena before, right? You racked your brain, but unfortunately came up empty handed. You had to admit, that was a big blind spot on your part.

[yn]: ‘.........i guess that has never come up before. my bad! i know that’s important to you’

[yn]: ‘i’m still up 2 tho! 6 against your 4.’

Minghao threw his head back to laugh. You were so competitive.

[yn]: ‘ok feedback on other qualities tho! plz & thank u’

Minghao waited, an amused smile on his lips, for your three dots to vanish before providing your requested feedback. As he had said, overall he had quite enjoyed meeting Yena. She had been a little quiet and shy at first, but had opened up quite a bit as the date went on. They shared an interest in art and had had quite a nice discussion before she revealed that she did not like Chinese food. Normally an aversion to specific food wouldn’t bother Minghao so much, but after moving, it was important for him to continue to engage with his culture and food was a major way in which he did that.

[yn]: ‘ok, got it, got it. that makes perfect sense’

A soft smile settled on his lips. Minghao was glad that you weren’t taking too much offense to his negative feedback. Part of him was glad that the date hadn’t gone that well and he was sure that it was just his competitive nature. It would have been humiliating for him if you had actually found him someone perfect on the first try.

[minghao]: ‘what are your plans for the weekend?’

[yn]: ‘theres a textile and apparel exhibit opening at the folk art museum that i wanted to check out’

[minghao]: ‘oh?? i was planning to go too! when are you going?’

You cocked your head curiously at your phone. That was weird. But you realized it would be very helpful to observe Minghao in the wild so as to do a better job choosing prospective dates for him. Then you could review your roster of candidates for him after the museum, so it could be a productive time! With a fluttery feeling in your chest, for whatever reason, you chose a meeting time to visit the museum with Minghao. Together.

…

You tapped your fisted hands against your hips as you scanned the crowds for Minghao. It had been a few weeks since you had first met him in person and you had an unreasonable worry that you’d forgotten what his face looked like. Glancing at your watch, you wondered if you had gotten the time wrong.

“YN!” a clear voice caught your attention.

“Ah, there you are!” your face cracked into a smile up at Minghao. “Ok, I’m glad I decided to dress up!” you exhaled with relief after taking in his outfit. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he was interested in fashion.

“This outfit is very cool,” he nodded approvingly, eyes raking over you. An unreasonable warmth spread across you at his assessment. You had spent longer than usual picking and re-picking necklaces to match the hardware on your boots. It was nice to see that it was appreciated.

“Thank you!” you beamed up at him, eyes creasing into semi-circles. “Now let’s go!” you gestured forcefully at the museum entrance.

“Okay, okay,” Minghao chuckled goodnaturedly, allowing you to lead the way.

“Holy fuck,” you breathed, hands fisted in excitement as you peered closely at the thread and beadwork on a contemporary bobbin lace exhibit. “Unreal.”

Minghao had to do a double take. Your mouth had fallen slightly open, enthralled, as you took in the detail and your eyes were as wide as saucers. You looked like a cartoon frog.

“You’ll catch a fly like that,” he teased, slipping two fingertips under your chin to snap your mouth shut.

You narrowed your eyes at him. If you’d learned one thing today, it was that Minghao was quite prone to teasing. It was a good thing that you had agreed to this museum trip after all, because otherwise your list of next candidates would’ve been wildly out of order.

“Do you want to see the other exhibits too? Or are you only interested in fiber arts?” Minghao asked, looking up from the museum layout map.

“No, I’m interested in all mediums!” you nodded at him. “I just think textile arts have been woefully excluded from the mainstream art world because, you know, misogyny,” you rolled your eyes theatrically at him as you followed his lead. “So I am particularly interested when museums put together exhibits like that!”

Minghao’s lips pinched slightly in amusement. He agreed with you, of course, but he found your animated enthusiasm in high contrast to the serious backdrop of the museum hall. He led the way to one of his favorite areas and you two passed the rest of the afternoon walking through the displays in contemplative quiet.

“I’m hungry,” you frowned as you left the museum.

“Me too,” Minghao grabbed at his midsection. “Let’s go find something to eat!”

“There’s a Chinese restaurant around here that I like! Let’s go there!” you suggested. Minghao nodded furiously, stomach grumbling insistently at him.

…

You glanced at your date out of the side of your eye as you wondered how rude it might be to just leave. While Joshua was certainly your physical type, all arms and chest, you quickly found out that the contents of his brain were just not for you. You weren’t religious at all and if he broke out into song, singing ‘Sunday Morning’ at or near you one more time, you might actually run away.

After going through the motions of saying goodbye, you pulled your phone out to dial Minghao as soon as you started walking home.

“Hello?” he answered, sounding slightly groggy.

“I need to understand your thought process with this one,” you shook your head in disbelief.

“Huh?” Minghao rubbed his eyes, pulling his phone away to check who had called. “Oh, hey! Sorry I just woke up.”

“Oh, did I wake you up?” you paused, “Shit, sorry! You didn’t have to answer me!”

“I didn’t know it was you! I also hadn’t meant to fall asleep,” Minghao chuckled and you heard some rustling of sheets in the background. “Sorry, what did you ask me again?”

“I need to know why you set me up with Joshua,” you frowned. “Do I give off a vibe that he’s my type?”

“Is he not?” Minghao wondered, “He’s more outgoing than Wonwoo, still handsome, and family oriented.”

“Okay, those things are true, but he’s also super religious, which I’m not. And I do not like to be sung at in public…or at all, I don’t think.”

“No, please,” Minghao started laughing, “Did he? I didn’t think he’d bring that out on a first date!” Minghao couldn’t stop laughing, practically kicking his feet in delight at the absurdity of it.

“Yeah, several times, in fact,” you rolled your eyes.

“Why are you so difficult to match for?” Minghao found himself asking. He was partially teasing, but also somewhat serious. People generally threw themselves at both Wonwoo and Joshua, so to hear you be so turned off by them was surprising and confusing.

“I’m not difficult! I think my expectations are more than reasonable,” you nodded firmly to yourself.

“Okay, elaborate on these expectations, please, because I’m clearly missing the mark.”

“Hm, well, okay. Someone funny and intelligent with a wide variety of interests or knowledge. Someone who would challenge me in ways that make me grow. Someone who also can understand that I should have my own endeavors and activities without feeling insecure. I dunno, someone who just gets me!”

“Very reasonable,” Minghao’s flat voice came back across the phone.

“It is reasonable!” you stamped your foot. You felt like he was teasing you again, but it was hard to tell over the phone.

“No, that’s helpful!” he clarified.

“Why are you asleep at 8pm anyways, you old man?” you suddenly remembered.

“Ugh, it was a long day,” he groaned into your ear, “I had to get to work early to prepare onboarding materials for new hires and then when I got home, I just passed out I guess.”

“Ah, well, do you want me to let you go? You should go back to sleep and catch up on yesterday.”

“No, I’m up now,” Minghao shook his head, reluctant to end the phone call. “Tell me about the restaurant, was the food at least good?”

You smiled, happy to stay on the line with him. The food had indeed been good and you described your meal and cocktails to him in vivid detail. You were now in your second month of knowing Minghao and your relationship had evolved into a tentatively comfortable friendship. Between all of the set up activities, you’d actually gotten to know him a bit and grown used to discussing and sharing other aspects of your lives. Minghao was definitely an introvert, but he was well balanced with an energy and enthusiasm that ensured you were never bored.

…

“Wait, I’m confused. You told me that the date with Minghao didn’t go well, but you’ve stayed in touch with him?” Danbi’s forehead wrinkled in confusion.

“What are you confused about? That’s exactly right,” you returned her confused look.

“Why would you stay in touch with someone you don’t like?”

“I never said I didn’t like him!” you shook your head, confused at her statement.

“You liked him, but the date didn’t go well? Why wouldn’t the date go well if you like him?”

“I can like him as a friend and not want to date him!”

Danbi narrowed her eyes at you. She didn’t think you were that petty, but it was almost as if you were purposefully maintaining a distance between yourself and Minghao just to spite her.

“So what do you two talk about?” she was curious.

“We’ve been setting each other up on dates! Supposedly he’s the friend group matchmaker, like me, but he’s pretty bad at it,” you chuckled, rolling your eyes. “But we talk about other things too! He likes art and fashion. We went to the textile exhibit opening a few weeks ago.”

Danbi shook her head; she was lost. Wasn’t that just a date? Luckily she knew you better than to prod too much further.

“Well that’s good! It’s always nice to make a new friend,” she smiled at you, “He should come to Soonyoung’s housewarming party next week!”

“Should he?”

“Yeah, of course! Jeonghan will be there and I think he invited a few of his coworkers too so see if Minghao wants to come!”

“Ah, I guess so,” you nodded, somehow nervous, “I’ll ask, but no promises.”

“Sure!” Danbi laughed, “Now let me show you some pictures of Doyun with Jeonghan and his new partner! Who you also have to meet!”

You giggled happily as Danbi flipped through her photos. Doyun had always looked more like Seungcheol as a baby, but now that he was getting older, he was taking on more and more of your friend’s features.

“Ah, he looks so much like you there! Ahhhh!” you shook your fists excitedly.

“He does look more like me recently, doesn’t he?” she beamed proudly at you.

For all the headache you had posed to her with this Minghao situation, she did love you and was grateful towards you for gently nudging her towards Seungcheol many years ago. You were very astute at reading others and as a result, she now had a wonderful husband and son. It had always interested and amused her that your insightfulness didn’t quite extend to yourself.

…

“Eeeee!” you and Soonyoung clapped your hands together excitedly after you’d sunk another ping pong ball into a plastic cup.

“Just perfect! Look at that technique! You duds don’t stand a chance!” he crowed, jeering at Seungcheol and Seokmin excitedly.

Danbi giggled excitedly at her husband’s rotten luck, to which Seungcheol pouted.

“Ya! Who are you even cheering for?!” he shouted playfully, leveling an accusing finger at his wife, inspiring another round of giggles.

“Me, of course! I can find her another husband, she can’t find another me!” you laughed, jumping up and down in delight at the way that Seungcheol fumed.

“You’re dead!” he furrowed his brows at you, “You’re so dead!” He made a show of stretching his neck and shoulders before taking his next shot at beer pong.

“Hah!” you shouted and shook Hoshi excitedly, collapsing into a puddle of laughter as Seungcheol’s ball ricocheted dramatically off of the rim and bounced anticlimactically across the ground. “Oh no, oh Cheol please I’m crying!” you hiccuped, wiping your eyes.

Minghao had slipped in quietly while you were taunting Seungcheol and he was shocked at the way you did it so loudly and unapologetically. He didn’t know Seungcheol quite that well yet, but he had been under the impression that he probably shouldn’t be messed with too much. A smile toyed at the corners of his mouth before he moved away to grab a beverage.

“You made it!” Danbi appeared at his side while he popped the cap off of a beer.

“Hi Danbi,” Hao smiled kindly at her. He had met Danbi through Jeonghan a while ago and for whatever reason, she had really taken a shine to him.

“Did you find the place alright?”

“Yes, YN’s instructions were very easy to follow.”

“Great! Let me know if there’s anyone here that you haven’t met yet, but I think you may know them all!”

Minghao nodded. Looking around the room, it did seem like he knew most of the attendees. Jeonghan and his girlfriend were flanked by a few of their other coworkers. By some miracle Seokmin and Seungcheol had both managed to find babysitters tonight, and so were able to attend with their wives, Hana and Danbi. Joshua was on another date, after he and YN had not managed to hit things off, so Jeonghan’s friend group was short just one of the usual count.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” you laughed with Hoshi after winning yet another game of beer pong. You and he had been nearly undefeatable since college and it was nice to see that this hadn’t changed, even after he had moved away for a few years. “Oh pink?” you wondered aloud when you spotted Minghao chatting with Jeonghan over a beer.

“You’re here!” you interrupted their conversation easily, fingers itching to touch his pink hair. “Is this a fade out color?”

“Yes,” he laughed, “The murder scene every time I showered was starting to get old.”

“I can’t believe your hair hasn’t just fallen straight out of your head,” Jeonghan’s girlfriend shook her head with a laugh.

“Hah!” you laughed heartily, struggling to imagine Minghao bald.

“I’d love it if you didn’t curse me with this foul energy,” he rolled his eyes at all of you.

“Did you all see how I swept the floor with Seungcheol? Again?” you crowed excitedly to Jeonghan.

“Yes, yes, very good,” Jeonghan rolled his eyes at you. You were always such a braggart about pong.

“I can’t believe he lets you tease him like that,” Minghao gestured to Seungcheol incredulously.

“Ah, I’m a lovable scamp!” you shrugged, sticking your tongue out at your newest friend.

“That’s true,” Hao laughed, a soft smile crossing his face.

Jeonghan and his girlfriend both looked at Minghao with interest while your attention was pulled elsewhere. Danbi and Hana summoned you from across the room so you gave everyone a small wave before you left.

“So-,” Jeonghan opened his mouth to dig, but his girlfriend stopped him with a quick shake of her head. She knew Minghao would not respond to anything that direct, so it was best to meddle gently.

“What is it?” you asked once you were close enough to Danbi and Hana for them to hear you.

“We were wondering if Minghao had set you up on a successful date yet?” Hana asked, “If not, I actually met this kind of cool guy at the school yesterday.”

“Oh, no, not yet. I actually need to follow up with him on that,” you shook your head.

“Follow up? You’re being so project manager-y about this,” Hana laughed.

“I mean…it is a project that I’m managing,” you flushed, already knowing that you would say no to Hana’s proposed guy.

“Well, what do you think? He came to service the computers, so he works in IT. He’s tall, pretty broad, and has a very nice smile.”

“What’s his personality like?” you queried. It didn’t make any sense at all, but for whatever reason you felt guilty of the idea of being set by someone other than Minghao.

“I didn’t get to talk to him too much, but he seemed nice! He volunteers at an animal shelter.”

“Aww,” Danbi cooed excitedly.

“You’re going to make fun of me for saying this, but I don’t think I care,” you inhaled deeply before rejecting Danbi’s proposal. “It feels weird to think about going on a date with someone that Minghao doesn’t pick for me. So I kind of want to see how things play out with that?”

“I’m not going to make fun of you!” Danbi looked at you indignantly.

“I am!” Hana made a face at you, “You are so attached to him, like come on YN!” she gestured forcefully at you.

“Of course I’m attached to him, we’re friends!” you shrugged. “I’m attached to you doofuses too,” you gestured back with your palms up. Hana and Danbi laughed. Your love language was, indeed, teasing and they’d grown used to it long ago. You were watching them whisper to each other suspiciously before Danbi jutted her chin out, pointing at something behind you.

“Oh, JESUS!” you jumped after realizing Minghao was standing behind you. “Snuck up on me, fuckin’ hell,” you mumbled curses as you put a few paces between him and yourself.

“Let’s go play beer pong. Apparently you’re unstoppable and I need to witness this for myself,” he smirked, giving you a disbelieving once over.

“Don’t…,” you found yourself shivering under his gaze, “Look at me like that! I will win,” you let yourself think that you had recovered smoothly.

With each ball that Minghao sank into your cups, you stood up just a little straighter and your expression grew just a little more baffled. You’d never been in such a closely matched game of pong before and, honestly, you didn’t care for it.

“Hey, let’s make this more interesting,” Minghao spoke up when you were each down to one cup. You raised an eyebrow at him, gesturing for him to proceed with his idea. “If I win, I take you out on a date.”

“I-,” you choked, heart clogging your throat momentarily. “What?”

“For research purposes,” he clarified, triple checking his foot placement as he squared up his aim. “You can give me feedback and that’ll help me better tailor my matches for you in the future.” He launched the ball into the air and it sailed into your final cup easily.

“I-, wait,” you stuttered, partially in disbelief over your loss and partially for a reason that you weren’t able to identify yet. Your mouth opened and closed a few times before you could accept it.

“What, are you scared?” Minghao stepped towards you. He felt a perverse joy in the way you were reacting to his win. Something about seeing you flounder tickled his brain very specifically.

“You lost fair and square!” Soonyoung waved you off to make room for the next players.

“What exactly would I be scared of?” you blustered as Minghao herded you away from the table. “A date with you?”

“Scared you’ll like it,” he laughed, peering down at you, stepping into your personal space just slightly.

“Hah!” you let out a honking laugh. That was absurd, right? “Fine, take me out on our little date. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of feedback.”

“Great,” he grinned at you, patting you on the head condescendingly.

You were baffled. You could tell you were blushing and you weren’t really sure if you could just blame it on the beer pong loss. You snuck a glance at Minghao, whose attention was back on the party, watching Soonyoung trounce Seokmin quite soundly. He was right, you were terrified for this date.

…

“Ugh you look so cute!” Hana squealed excitedly, “It’s such a shame it’s just for a practice run!”

You chuckled. Sure, it was true that this date with Minghao was just for research purposes, but it hadn’t stopped you from thinking of it as if it were real.

‘wear a dress or skirt. something short or unrestricted at the bottom and shoes you can move in’ was all of the instruction that Minghao had given you.

“Maybe he’s taking you dancing?” Hana wondered aloud. “It’s kinda romantic that he’s keeping everything a surprise!”

“So romantic,” you parroted at her sarcastically.

You didn’t know why, but you felt quite nervous about this one. You had been on more than your fair share of first dates recently, so it really didn’t make sense to feel this way about the fake one. Probably just because everything was a surprise.

“Ya! Why am I nervous!?” you jumped up and down aggressively, shouting at yourself.

Hana shrugged, even though she knew the answer. Best to let you come to your own epiphany. She fretted and cooed the appropriate amount as she helped you finish your makeup and hair. You were satisfied when you looked in the mirror, but that didn’t make your armpits any less sweaty. Thank god for prescription grade antiperspirant.

“Ready?” Minghao greeted you at your door with a bouquet of flowers around half an hour later.

“I think,” you eyed him suspiciously, still irked that he hadn’t spilled a single clue about your activities.

“Put these in water so we can go!” he thrust the bouquet at you impatiently.

“Okay, okay,” you muttered. You scanned the blooms quickly and were pleased and surprised that all of them were cat safe. He’d remembered. You grabbed an empty jar and plunked the stems into it before returning to Minghao. “Is this outfit acceptable?” you paused to check, turning in a full circle so he could inspect.

“Yes,” he nodded, eyes full of something you couldn’t quite place, but it vanished just as quickly. “Now let’s go! We need to be on time.”

Minghao shepherded you into the car and drove towards your destination. You were, strangely, at a loss for words and so spent the time inspecting his car and marveled at how clean it was. Usually you couldn’t stop yourself from babbling about nonsense at him, but this simulated date seemed to have rendered you speechless. As he pulled into the parking lot, your eyes lit up reading the sign.

“Hana was right!” you grinned at him triumphantly. “It is dancing!”

“Yes,” he chuckled at your expression. It wasn’t like you were the one who had guessed right, but he’d never know that with the way you beamed at him. “Intro to Rumba! I thought it’d be fun to try something new together.”

“Rumba?” you thought hard. You weren’t well versed in ballroom dance styles, but the name rang a bell. You had definitely seen it on a ‘Something-est Things To Do With Your Partner’ kind of list. “I don’t know how to dance,” you whispered to Minghao as the other students filtered into the class.

“That’s why it’s fun,” he grinned down at you.

After beating you at beer pong last week, Minghao had been itching to get the upper hand on you again. While he wasn’t very skilled at ballroom, he did have some dance experience from his past. Rumba was also fairly sensual in nature and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t looking forward to watching you squirm and be flustered over it.

With your hands tucked behind your back, you watched intently as the instructors demonstrated the short routine that you would work on during class. You did your best to keep your cool, but you felt like everyone probably heard the sound of your loud gulp as you registered just how close together you would be with Minghao. There was probably technically some distance between the instructors, but not that you could see with the naked eye.

Minghao blinked a few times as he watched the demo with you. This was closer quarters than any other style of dance he had ever tried before and he wondered if he had made a mistake.

“Okay, right hand to left hand. Leading partner’s right hand on the following partner’s waist. Following partner’s left hand resting gently at the back of the leading partner’s neck,” the instructions came.

“Okay, right hand here, left hand here,” you muttered to yourself as Minghao clasped his left hand into your right and you hooked your left hand around the back of his neck. You managed to follow the first set of steps without tripping over yourself too spectacularly, but the next combination threw you for quite the loop.

“So now comes a sexy part,” the instructors grinned mischievously, “Leading is going to spin the following out and then pull them back in to face them. And then following partner is going to drop in a slow and sexy wiggle, their hand trailing down the leading partner’s chest.

Oh. Your lips pursed as your mind painted the mental picture of what that would look like. You resisted the urge to glance furtively at Minghao, pink rising in your cheeks.

Next to you, Minghao blinked. Once, twice, and then one more time for good measure. He had been so busy considering how this class might affect you that he hadn’t even thought of himself. The idea of you trailing your fingertips down the centerline of his chest made him want to shake his head furiously.

“Five, six, seven, eight!” The rapid counts snapped both of you out of your thoughts. “Spin out!”

You held onto Minghao’s fingers tightly as you spun away from him.

“Fancy arm!”

You flung your arm out theatrically and were inordinately pleased to make Minghao laugh.

“Now tuck your arm as you spin back in!” the instructions continued.

You bit your lip to keep from laughing before you brought your arm back to your center and spun into Minghao’s chest. Slowly, your hips drew figure eights as you worked your way down into a squat and your eyes followed your hand’s slow trail down his chest. Like watching a train wreck.

Minghao looked to the instructors for the next directions, desperate to be not looking at you. He wanted to groan. Even in this wordless touch, you were mischievous, not drawing straight down, but rather trailing a wavy line, timed with the movement of your hips on the way down.

“Now leading partner, you are going to pull them back up! Forceful! Dramatic! What are they doing down there? They’re up to no good!”

You had wanted to laugh, but when Minghao dragged you back up to your feet and looked deeply into your eyes…all of that went out the window. For a moment, the directions barked by the instructors faded into the background and all you could hear was a soft buzzing in your ears as you held his gaze.

“Very good, very good you two!” the instructors clapped excitedly as they walked towards you. “Tension! Eye contact! That’s what the rumba is all about, excellent!”

“Thank you!” You almost shouted. You were so excited to be able to rip your eyes away from Minghao that you plastered a wide grin across your face and gave an awkward thumbs up to the whole class.

“How do you do this dance without falling in love with each other?” another student wondered aloud.

“You don’t!” the instructor replied with a laugh. “Every so often you get a pair that falls in love and gets married, but in general you break up but you keep dancing together because you have good physical chemistry.”

“Yikes.” you turned to Minghao with a bemused look on your face. You were relieved to see that the tension seemed to have dissipated and he found your instructor’s comments as strange as you did. The rest of the class passed with relative ease, but the feel of his fingers resting at your waist and nipping into your hips certainly lingered longer than was ideal.

“What’d you think?” Minghao asked as he started driving to the next destination.

“That was fun,” you nodded after some consideration. “Definitely out of the box and a new experience for me. Also a very good way to gauge physical chemistry. Honestly a very good early date activity. Ten out of ten.”

He preened under your compliment. You wondered what your next activity would be, but knew that asking would get you nowhere, so you tried to fill your brain with other thoughts. After a while, you ran out of things to think about and your eyes decided to regard Minghao as he drove. His right hand lingered at the gearshift, fingers tapping every so often as his eyes stayed glued to the road. You shifted in your seat as you watched the tendons of his forearms flex in a very distracting way. The way he looked when he was focused was…unfortunately attractive.

Minghao could feel your eyes on him as he drove. He struggled to keep his attention on the road as his mind played back snippets from class. Namely, the moment when he had pulled you back up to your feet and locked eyes with you for just a little too long. Your eyes had widened and your lips had parted just slightly as you gazed back up at him and rational thought had almost left him completely.

“No, Minghao! Really?!” you squealed excitedly as he pulled into the parking lot of the botanical garden. “You remembered!”

“Of course,” he nodded, parking the car. You had mentioned the Poisonous Plants special exhibit off-handedly a few weeks ago and he had filed it away in his brain. He liked the botanical garden too.

“Look how beautiful!” you gasped as you looked at the Atropa belladonna, or Deadly Nightshade. “I can’t believe a flower this beautiful is also poison! Isn’t that cool? Such a good name too.”

Minghao chuckled. You were making your little frog face again. He didn’t know if he thought of poison as cool, but he enjoyed seeing your excitement over such a morbid topic. The expression you made when you were enthralled by something was painfully endearing to him.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” you wrapped your arms around him excitedly as you headed towards the exit archway of the garden.

“You’re welcome,” Minghao was surprised by your sudden physical affection. “You’re such a nerd, I’m glad you had a good time,” he teased as his arms folded around your waist naturally.

You wrinkled your nose at him playfully. You couldn’t help the slight hitch in your breath before you pulled away, looping your arm in his happily as you walked through the other areas of the garden. This closeness grew less and less foreign as the day went on and was directly correlated to your concern for your own sanity.

…

“So…what do you think?” Minghao inquired after you had settled in at your table at a rooftop restaurant and bar. He really enjoyed the ambiance here and thought you’d enjoy the food as well.

“Of?” you replied blankly, having been busy reading over the menu.

“Our date?” his brows creased together, he had not been expecting that response.

“Oh! Good! Really good, actually,” you nodded, trying to speak of it in a detached way. “You did a really good job picking activities and this restaurant. This menu is so interesting! But at the same time, I feel like you are at an unfair advantage because you know me pretty well by now. I don’t think this is a reasonable expectation to have for a first blind date. I also probably wouldn’t agree to so many things in one day with them, because what if we didn’t hit it off? Also wouldn’t let them drive me because what if they’re a murderer?”

“You think I’d set you up with a murderer?”

“You never know,” you shook your finger at him playfully, “People are full of surprises, unfortunately.”

Minghao watched you as you watched the sunset. He agreed with you, this had been a really good date. For whatever reason, you had leaned into the physical affection at the botanical garden and it had made his brain go haywire. He found that he not only didn’t want this date to end, but he wanted a second and a third (maybe to infinity) with you. He wanted to watch you try really hard at things that you had never done before and wanted to watch you make your little cartoon frog face when you were delighted by something.

“What?” you asked, turning back to meet Minghao’s lingering gaze.

“Nothing. I’m just having a really great time with you today,” he smiled back.

Your smile faltered as your heart pounded. You searched his face for some hint that he was teasing you, like usual, but it wasn’t there.

“Minghao!” an excited voice pulled your attention away suddenly. You turned to see two men, one tall and muscular and the other slighter and shorter.

“Mingyu, Jae,” Minghao waved at them easily, “Coworkers,” he explained to you as they approached. “This is YN.”

“Oh, are you on a date?” the taller man’s eyes flitted between you and Minghao, slowly coming to a realization.

“Wait no. YN. No, they’re not dating!” the other man interjected as he connected his brain cells, “Jeonghan told me about this! You two have been setting each other up on dates, right? Or something like that?”

“That’s right,” you laughed, “So sorry, who’s Mingyu and who’s Jae?”

“Ah, sorry, yes,” Minghao chuckled, “Mingyu and Jae,” he gestured towards them respectively.

“Nice to meet you,” you smiled, unable to help the way your eyes raked over Mingyu. He was your exact physical type and his eyes sparkled obviously at you when he talked.

“Well, we’ll get out of your hair! We were on our way out,” Jae nodded at you after not too long.

“I hope to see you again sometime,” Mingyu smiled at you, leaning down for another handshake before they left. Minghao bristled.

“Him,” you turned to Minghao, oblivious to his irritation. “Set me up with him, he’s my exact type!”

“Mingyu?” Minghao’s nose wrinkled slightly. “You don’t even know him.”

“He’s so hot though,” you exhaled theatrically, not really caring what his personality was like when he had a body like that. “That’s what a blind date is for, right? Blind to the red flags that I don’t want to see.”

Minghao scoffed at your absurdity. On the one hand, Mingyu was a perfectly nice guy. Maybe too eager and bubbly for you, but he trusted that he could treat you well. On the other hand, he had just been grappling with the idea of wanting you for himself, so the two sides of his brains clashed violently and he really had no explanation for the next word that left his mouth.

“Beg.”

“Excuse me?” you must have misheard him.

“Beg me. And I’ll set you up with him,” he leaned back, smirk playing across his lips as he teased you mercilessly.

“P-please?” you stuttered, thighs pressing together inexplicably at the look on his face.

“Cuter,” he goaded you, tongue tracing across his lips as the flush rose in your cheeks. Your heart threatened to stop.

“Hao, please?” your eyes became doe-like and your lower lip pouted out just slightly. You didn’t even know why you were humoring him, you’d never let a man make you beg for anything before.

“There, see? That wasn’t so hard,” he sat back up, clearing his throat slightly as he glanced away. “I’ll set it up,” he nodded, heart sinking in his chest.

“Great,” you smiled, chest feeling tight. Your heart was racing.

…

You found yourself perplexed and kicking a small pebble down the sidewalk after your date with Mingyu. It wasn’t that it had gone poorly, no in fact just the opposite. You were surprised that he had even been available to be set up because he was, on paper, perfect. He was funny, sweet, eager and all in that body? It was simply unfair.

No, the thing that you were confused and frustrated about was that you didn’t really want to go on another date with him. For whatever reason, the only feeling you could muster for him was a lukewarm fondness and it really made you mad. Typically, you would call Minghao to debrief, but you were mad at him too! Your date with him last week was the reason the bar was so unreasonably high now, after all.

“Damn,” you sighed to yourself as you gave the poor pebble another swift kick.

…

Minghao glanced at his phone, irritated to see that you still hadn’t messaged him with any updates. Dinner had to be over by now, right? Normally you at least snuck away to text him from the bathroom, so for his phone to be this dry could only be a sign that the date had gone well. Probably too well.

[mingyu]: ‘dude! YN is wonderful! thank you for setting this up!’

[hao]: ‘ah, so it went well?’

[mingyu]: ‘i think so! she’s cool as hell man’

[mingyu]: ‘she makes such a cute face when she gets excited’

Minghao saw red for a moment. The intensity of his jealousy caught him by surprise and he had to reign himself in before he replied to Mingyu’s text.

[hao]: ‘yeah, i like her too, lol’

Minghao threw his phone onto the sofa. Stupid idiot.

…

[hao]: ‘are you ever going to admit defeat or are you going to just ignore me forever?’

You had been doom scrolling in bed when his text appeared and before you knew it, you were calling him.

“Hey,” his voice was soft when he picked up. The way his heart had jumped when he’d seen your incoming call was unreasonable.

“Hi,” you greeted him, your voice sounded small.

“So…,” Minghao waffled. He didn’t really want to talk about Mingyu, but he wasn’t really sure what else to talk to you about. “Mingyu said he liked you.”

“Oh, did he?” you chuckled, “He seems like the type of person that likes everyone.”

Hao laughed because you weren’t wrong.

“It went well, though, right?” He wished that, like all the other dates, this one had been a dud too.

“It was okay,” you shrugged, “I don’t see myself going on another date with him though, to be honest. He’s a little too…I don’t know?” you trailed off trying to explain.

“Oh?” Minghao’s voice piqued with interest, “Well I’m starting to run out of friends,” he joked.

“I don’t think I want you to set me up with any more of your friends,” you sighed. “No more first dates for a while, I think.”

Minghao froze as he saw his opening. He knew he would forever be kicking himself if he didn’t take the shot now.

“Are you home?”

“Yes?”

“Okay, I’m in the middle of errands, but I’ll be there in ten. I have to ask you something in person.”

“Oh okay.”

Minghao didn’t leave much more room for discussion as he hung up and turned the car around, driving towards your place. You checked your appearance nervously as you waited.

[hao]: ‘here’

Your pulse pounded in your ears as you opened the door for him, more nervous now than you had been for your date.

“Hi,” he greeted you from under a black baseball cap. It was annoying how he looked so good in it. “Can I come in?”

“No,” you joked as you opened the door for him.

“So no more first dates, does that mean you’re officially tapping out of our game?” he asked, looking down at you.

“N-,” your instinct was to push back, but he was right this time. “I mean, yes, I guess so. I’m tired of this meeting people business, I just want to spend time with people that I already like.”

“Would that include me?” he grinned, stepping towards you and until you backed into the kitchen counter.

“I-, I have mixed feelings about you,” you answered honestly, unable to meet his gaze.

“Can I take you out on a second date?” he ducked his head towards yours, hands coming to rest at your hips.

“I-,” you squeezed your eyelids together. In the past you would’ve panicked, but this closeness was now familiar to you and you only wanted to sink into it further. “Maybe you should beg this ti-,” you raised your brows, flicking your eyes mischievously to his.

“Ah!” Minghao cut you off sternly. “I’d think twice about that.”

“But-,” you couldn’t help yourself.

He cut you off with a firm grip at the base of your throat. His longer fingers tapped against the side of your neck as he regarded you sternly. “Will you behave?”

You knew you should say yes. Part of you might have even wanted to say yes, but you were you to your core. “Maybe.”

“We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” he teased you in a sing-songy voice. “Where’s your bedroom?”

“There,” you pointed to a door towards your right. Without so much as a warning, you found yourself being hauled and plunked onto the edge of your bed.

“You have been driving me crazy for months, so let’s see if I can return the favor,” he looked down at you, tongue poking in his cheek.

“Months?” you wondered, thighs squeezing together nervously.

“Yes, months,” Minghao reached out and patted you on the cheek condescendingly. “So picky and difficult about every single person that I set you up with. Were you doing it on purpose or did you really not notice?”

“Not on purpose! They just…,” you trailed off sheepishly.

“What’s that? Speak up.”

“They sucked cause you’re bad at picking,” you squinted at him defiantly. You hated that you loved the way he was treating you.

“Try again?” he grabbed you around the jaw, his fingertips pressing your lips into an unflattering fish face. You could see in his eyes that he wouldn’t humor you for much longer.

“They weren’t you,” came your muffled reply, your lips moving in an exaggerated manner between his long fingers.

“One more time?” Minghao’s eyes danced at you, fingers relinquishing their grip. He wanted to hear it again, clearly.

“They weren’t you!” you replied, sickeningly sweetly eyes creasing into sarcastic half moons as you smiled at him.

“Tch,” he scoffed, pushing you back onto the bed and climbing over you. “You are so difficult,” he shook his head as his eyes raked across you, admiring your shape. “You’re lucky I like you.”

You let out a simpering sigh as his lips nibbled from just behind your earlobe down to your collarbone. His teeth nipped roughly as his fingertips trailed from your knee to your hip and gripped tightly.

“Hao,” you sighed, “Kiss me?”

“Hmm, do you deserve that?” he rebutted, pulling back to look in your eyes.

“Please?” you pouted, tugging at the front of his shirt. “I’ll be good.”

“Somehow I don’t believe you,” he laughed, his lips grazing yours.

“Minghao, please,” you insisted and he indulged you.

Minghao brought his lips to yours, kissing you thoroughly. His hands kneaded possessively at your hip as you nipped at his lips. Your kisses were peppered with soft moans and exaltations.

“You make such desperate sounds,” he teased appreciatively. You flushed at his description, but he wasn’t wrong. “Lay back and let me appreciate you,” he pressed a kiss to your temple before helping you undress completely.

Starting at the bottom of the bed, he trailed soft, plush kisses from your ankles to your knees and then from your knees to your hips. He nipped, bit, and sucked his way up your inner thighs until you were glistening and slick for him. His fingers pried your legs apart, allowing him to taste you for the first time.

“Hao!” your thighs closed instinctively around his ears as he lapped long, leisurely strokes with his tongue. You heard him chuckle as he gripped above your knees, holding you open for him. He teased you with his hot breath, enjoying watching you shift and writhe, just for him.

“So gorgeous,” he rested his cheek against your thigh for a moment, enjoying the way your chest heaved with shallow breaths as you came down from the edge for the second time.

“Ming-hao!” you squealed as he brought his lips back around your clit, sucking with a torturous pressure. “I-, I-, I,” you malfunctioned, hand gripping his hair tightly as you came hard against his lips.

“Very good,” he grinned up at you, his lips and chin glossy with your slick. “Can I finger you now?”

“I mean, yes?” you laughed nervously, a little concerned at what his hands would be able to achieve after experiencing his mouth alone.

“Don’t cum until I say so,” he directed as his fingertips slid through your wet folds. “You are so wet,” he commented offhandedly as he pressed two fingers in a v-shape against you, squeezing around your swollen clit. Your mouth formed a silent ‘o’ shape as he ground his fingers against you, avoiding direct contact where you wanted it most.

“Hao,” you cried, hand resting around his wrist as you squirmed helplessly under him. “Why are you torturing me?!”

Minghao paused for a moment. He supposed he was going a bit more out of his way to undo you than was typical for him. It wasn’t fair, but his pent up jealousy was manifesting and you were there to pay the price.

“Are you telling me you don’t like it?” he asked, cocking his head at you.

“Well, no,” you blushed, sinking into the pillow shyly.

“Then let me torture you a bit, sweetheart,” he grinned sweetly at you, fingers pinching together firmly around your clit again. “You’re so incredibly wet, just for me?” he marveled rhetorically as he slid two fingers into you, parting your wet, warm walls.

“Yes,” you nodded, pressing your hips up to meet him. You rolled your hips, desperate for as much as he would give. “More,” you begged until he added a third finger, stretching you slightly.

“Look at you,” Hao cooed appreciatively, nipping at your upper thigh as he stroked his fingers in and out of your deeply. The scrape of his teeth oversensitized you suddenly and you became a whimpering, desperate mess quickly.

“Hao, please, darling,” you clutched at him urgently, “I need, please let me cum!”

“Cum for me, darling,” he cooed the pet name back at you as he kept up the pace until you had collapsed into a pile of mush for him. “So good,” he praised you, pressing soft kisses along your jaw as you recomposed yourself.

“Blurple?” you asked, now that you had the presence of mind to register his hair color. “This is pretty,” you grinned, running your fingers through the colorful strands.

“You’re pretty,” he nuzzled you gently, fingertips trailing across the underside of your breasts.

“Oh,” you flushed.

“You are.”

“You are…wearing too many clothes,” you observed impishly, fingers tugging at his waistband. He laughed as he helped you shrug off his layers.

“How would you like me?”

Minghao visibly thought as he slipped on a condom. “You would look absolutely gorgeous on top of me, riding me,” he smiled.

You flushed, grinning at his flowery praise as you straddled his hips, grinding yourself along his length. Your hands splayed across his chest and you took a moment to admire his lithe physique. “So handsome,” you whispered before lowering yourself onto him slowly.

“Fuck,” he hissed as you took him in completely. The tendons in his neck were taut as you drew back up and back down.

“You feel good, Hao,” you breathed, holding onto him for support as your hips found a comfortable rhythm. Each stroke, each intrusion made you shudder with pleasure and the wet sounds were joined by your soft moans and Minghao’s tense hisses.

“You feel incredible, petal,” he grabbed you tightly around the ribcage, bringing you down on him with slightly more force. You faltered at the additional impact.

“I’m so close,” you leaned forward, looking directly into Minghao’s eyes. Nodding, he gripped your hips, grinding your clit against his pubic crest as he bucked up, deeply, into you.

“Come with me, YN,” he coaxed breathlessly. The way he purred your name undid you. An anguished wail left your lips as you clenched around him, triggering his release as well.

“So did I earn a second date?” Minghao teased as he folded you into his chest, cuddling you closely.

“I think you might have,” you grinned up at him, pressing a soft kiss to his nose.

“Danbi is going to be happy when she finds out about this,” Minghao chuckled into your hair.

“Oh we’re never going to hear the end of it,” you moaned. “Maybe let’s no-”

“Ah,” he reached to press your jaw shut and you stilled. You delighted at this subtle, domineering action. Quite a match indeed.

#minghao fic #svthub #minghao fluff #minghao smut #the8 fic #the8 smut #the8 fluff #seventeen fic #seventeen smut #seventeen fluff #minghao imagine #minghao scenario #the8 imagine #the8 scenario #seungkwansphd:writes #we get along infamously #minghao fanfic #the8 fanfic

2K notes · View notes

kpop-kitkat · 2 years

Note

Hi! Can i request a seventeen hoshi angst inspired by rihanna's song california king bed where hoshi is giving mixed signals and reader is wishing secretly that he will love them back in spite of their "arrangement"?

Wishing On Stars | Kwon Soonyoung

pairing | arranged husband!kwon soonyoung x f!reader

genre/cw | angst, fluff, heavy sexual content but not exactly smut, mention of sex, explicit language, unrequited love (temporarily), crying, arranged marriage, fluffy end

wc | 1.5k

notes | thanks for the request! as you requested, this fic is based off of the lyrics of california king bed by rihanna. also sorry if you didn’t want a fluffy ending, I just love him too much to let it end so sad, you know? nonetheless, enjoy! :D

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

Y/n smiled at the sight before her. A beautiful Kwon Soonyoung, sleeping peacefully as the light from the window poured in through the opened curtains. She wanted nothing more than to reach out and brush the silver hair away from his angelic face, but reality stopped her. It didn’t matter what happened last night. In the morning, everything was always different.

When he began to stir, she moved away, not wanting to disturb him. And when she saw him yawn, she quickly got up, and decided to get herself ready for the day in the grand bathroom. Washing up, doing her makeup, and deciding on a decent outfit. When she exited the bathroom, she saw the dreamy man sitting on the edge of the bed, looking right at her. She felt bare to him, when he looked at her like that. She hated and loved the feeling at the same time.

“Y/n?”

Her ears perked up. He was talking to her. All of these possible scenarios ran through her head. Could this be the moment she’s secretly been waiting for ever since they were arranged to be married by their parents? Could it be?

”Yes?” Y/n smiled.

”I’m working late today, so don’t bother waiting up for me. I’ll probably get dinner somewhere else,” he deadpanned as he stretched his arms.

“Oh, okay,” she fake smiled. Inside, she was hurt. Did he really ever care for her at all?

“Oh and also, my laundry needs done, if you could please take care of that,” he said before going up to her. Confusedly, she backed into the door of the bathroom. What was he doing? “I need to use the bathroom Y/n,” he gestured to the door behind her.

“Oh, right sorry,” she moved out of the way for him. He entered and closed the door, locking it behind him.

Y/n stared at her feet. Soonyoung always acted like the night before never happened. How he had her screaming his name, and cumming all over his cock. Her hands pinned above her head as his length filled her to the brim. The tears that ran down her face from the overwhelming pleasure. It never happened, according to Soonyoung’s face. But she knew that at night, he’d forget his coldness towards her and do it all over again. It was just the way he did things, whether Y/n liked it, or not. And she couldn’t say anything. She was bound to him through marriage. She had to obey and respect him for the rest of her life. And no, it wasn’t fair to her, to be in love with someone who didn’t treat her right. But it was normal for her. She was used to it.

~~~~~

Soonyoung adjusted his tie as the meeting finished, the board members filing out. He took a sip of his coffee and leaned back in his chair with a sigh, obviously stressed.

”Hey Soonyoung, you don’t look too well,” Seungkwan noted, looking at his friend’s face. “Are you feeling alright?”

”Fine… just… tired,” Soonyoung lied through his teeth. He couldn’t tell them the truth without breaking down in tears, and he knew it.

“I’ve seen that face before. Tell us the truth, it won’t hurt you,” Minghao deadpanned, crossing his arms.

Soonyoung sighed. “It isn’t any of your business, alright?” He snapped, causing Minghao to back off slightly.

But he persevered. “No Soonyoung. It is our business if you being like this is going to effect our meetings. And it isn't doing you any good keeping things in the dark. We’re your friends. What could hurt you?” Minghao reasoned.

”You are persuasive,” Soonyoung admitted. “Well, truthfully, I’m in love with my arranged wife.”

”That’s amazing! Y/n is such a nice girl, she deserves a good person like you,” Seungkwan clapped.

“No it’s not like that it’s… complicated. I convinced myself I wanted this arranged marriage to be strictly for business. So I built myself a reputation and I was cold towards her, rude even. And I know Y/n did nothing to deserve it. To deserve me. But now I’m not so sure she’ll be so understanding if I tell her the truth. I wanted it to be business until I fell in love. And now… it’s messy,” he explained. “And it doesn’t help that we fuck almost every night and I pretend like nothing happened in the morning. I just didn’t want anything between us, but she was always just so tempting. Now, I see that I really was just being selfish. I had no regard for her feelings and only focused on myself. Now fixing things is going to be… not so easy.”

Minghao and Seungkwan listened intently to their friend’s rant.

”She deserves the world. And I’m just not sure I’m the one to give it to her anymore.”

“Soonyoung, you are the one. From what you’ve told me about her, I’d say she’s in love with you too. And I bet she’d be more than happy hearing your confession. She’s been chasing after you in secret. Now you should tell her the truth. Everything will be right again,” Minghao smiled. “Come on, I can’t see you like this everyday. You deserve love as much as she does. Go get your girl.”

”Yeah. Go get her,” Seungkwan agreed.

Soonyoung only nodded before leaving the room.

The drive back home allowed him to think about what he’d say. And he thought it through very carefully. He hoped she’d still be up, him being gone pretty late and all.

He quietly opened the door and looked around. He noticed a familiar h/c head on sofa, reading a book. He decided to sit beside as he still thought about how he’d go about his confession in his head. And truth be told, he’d never been more nervous in his entire lifetime. Then, he thought maybe he’d act like he normally did, and then surprise her with a change of heart.

He liked that idea.

He moved closer to wife, as she slowly set down her book. Once directly in front of her, he gently raised her chin, looking directly into her eyes. She stared back up at him, already seeing stars. It was just how every night between them went. She shuddered when she felt his hand slide up her shirt. And it wasn’t long until his lips came down onto hers. Their lips moved in perfect sync, like always. His hands traveled all the way up to her breasts as he began massaging them through the fabric of her lingerie. The one Soonyoung liked best on her.

Y/n realized then, she couldn’t do this anymore. She was done. She pushed him away, leaving him confused. “Soonyoung,” she began, tearing up unintentionally. “I can’t do this anymore.”

”What?” He asked, backing off of her.

”I can’t go any further until I get an answer,” she explained.

”What is it?” He tilted his head.

”I need to know if you love me, Soonyoung. Because it seems that every time we do…. this, you forget it the next morning. You act like it never happened. I can’t do this anymore. I love you, okay? And I need to know if you love me or not because I’m getting mixed signals from you and I hate it,” she said quietly, head hanging in sadness. “I need to know.”

”Y/n baby,” he began, catching her off guard because he’d never called her that before. “I’ve been meaning to tell you something. And that something answers your questions. I do love you, whether you believe me or not. At first, I’ll admit, I wanted us to be strictly business. No intimacy, no real relationship, just business. But then we started this new nightly routine and I… fell in love with you. Every single part of you. And I’ve realized how messy I’ve made things. I hurt you and disregarded all of your feelings. But if you give me a chance, I’ll give you the world. Just like you deserved in the first place,” he smiled, taking her hand in his. “Will you give me a chance?”

”Oh Soonyoung,” she smiled, despite the tear that left her eye. “Of course I will.”

Soonyoung smiled back nearing her face. “I love you.”

He wasted no time reconnecting their lips, as he hungrily kissed her. He wanted to savor this kiss, like he never had before. Remember how she tasted. He wanted to remember how she felt when he was inside of her. He wanted all of her.

~~~~~

Y/n smiled at the yet again peacefully sleeping Soonyoung. She reached out to brush the hair away from his face, not afraid of his reaction. And when he woke, he smiled at her. “Good morning love,” he smiled.

“Good morning sunshine.”

101 notes · View notes

shaunlovesyou · 2 years

Text

Flirting ~ Reuben ‘Payback’ Fitch

Reuban Fitch x Reader

Summary; Mickey’s friend is kinda cute.

Word Count; 0.9k

Warnings; None

Your heels make a soft clicking noise as you walk into the dimly lit bar right beside the coast. A sign displaying the words Hard Deck hangs above the doorway. Anyone that could see you right now would describe you as lost, and they’d be completely correct. It isn’t your clothes that would make people assume so, you’re dressed similarly to the other women filling the bar, a black dress that’s not too formal and not too informal and a nice pair of shoes, it’s the very confused look on your face that would make people stop to help you as your eyes scan across the room rapidly, searching for someone.

“Y/N!” you hear as you’re engulfed in a hug.

“Mickey!” you laugh joyously, recognising the voice behind the arms wrapped around you.

You have known Mickey Garcia nearly your entire life, your parents became friends when yous were so young you couldn’t even talk and you’ve been inseparable ever since. Growing up with Mickey by your side seemed to make everything much easier, hes always been like your brother, protecting you when you didn’t quite need it and always being suspicious of any date you’ve been on.

“I’ve missed you!” you both exclaim at the same time. As you laugh you notice a figure behind Mickey. Hes tall and has dark skin, you can see his defined muscles through his aviation uniform.

“Are you going to introduce me to your friend Garcia?” you question playfully.

“Oh, yes,” Mickey starts, composing himself, as if he felt slightly embarrassed that his acquaintance had witnessed the display of affection. “this is Payback, I’m his WSO.”

“Reuben Fitch.” Payback confirms, his hand reaching out to yours.

“Quite formal.” you joke while shaking his hand.

“Maybe it was an excuse to hold your hand.” he states, a coy smile present on his handsome face and his large hand still holding yours.

“Ew. Gross man.” Mickey grimaces, standing in between the two of you as an attempt to break your hand holding. “Shes like my sister, don’t you dare try anything.”

“Intimidating.” you roll your eyes and pat Mickey on the shoulder. “I’m getting a drink.”

“I’ll be by the pool table.” he informs you. “And he’ll be too.” he adds, grabbing Reuben’s shoulder and directing him towards the back of the bar.

As they both walk off Reuben turns around and blows you a kiss, you reach your hand up quickly and grab at the air, bringing your closed fist back to your chest with a big smile on your face. You turn your back to head to the bar and hear Mickey scolding Reuben, obviously he had seen your interaction.

When you make it to the bar a dark blonde haired man isn’t far and takes notice of you. His aviators slide down as he inspects you further. Just as you’re about to pay for your drink a hand appears from behind you with a pristine 10 dollar bill in its palm.

“I’m paying.” he states to the bartender.

You don’t stop him after all it’s a free drink and he is kinda cute.

“So do I get the name of the handsome stranger that paid for my drink?” you ask, looking up to meet his gaze.

“Lt. Jake Seresin.” he announces with authority and importance in his voice, you can tell hes cocky already.

“Ooh navy, what’s it like out at sea?” you question, playing dumb to see if you can get even more drinks out of the poor man in front of you.

“I’m a naval aviator, so I’m up in the sky most of the time.” he replies, you know exactly what do say to keep him going.

“Wow,” you feign wonder. “that must me so scary, I could never imagine doing something so dangerous!” Lie. All of Mickey’s stories have almost desensitised you completely from flying.

“Well, it’s hard work but it has to be done.” he brags, his chest puffed out.

Maybe you were boosting his already big ego a bit too much. Before he can say anymore hes interrupted.

“Hangman.” you hear Reuben say from behind you, confusion evident in his voice.

“Payback.” he returns. “What do you need, you’re distracting me from the gorgeous woman in front of me.”

“I didn’t know your standards were that low.” Reuben directs his comment at you, putting an emphasis on ‘that’.

“You know each other?” Hangman questions, his head darting back and forth between the two of you.

“Barely.” you reply, staring into Reuben’s eyes. “I must get going, thanks for the drink!” you let out while dragging Reuben’s arm towards the pool table.

“I could’ve gotten at least two more drinks out of him.” you whine into Reuben’s ear, having to get close so he can hear you over the loud chatter all around yous.

“Not from Hangman, trust me.” he responds, his face so close to yours you can smell his minty breath. “Besides, I am also able to buy drinks.”

You hum in content. “He wasn’t my type anyway.”

“And what exactly is your type?”

“You.” you whisper, your lips ghosting over his before you pull back abruptly, walking towards Mickey while letting out a laugh, leaving Reuben in a euphoric, wanting state of mind.

#top gun #top gun maverick #reuben payback fitch #reuben fitch #payback #payback top gun #reuben payback fitch x reader #reuben fitch x reader #payback x reader #jay ellis #mickey fanboy garcia #mickey garcia #fanboy top gun #danny ramirez #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin #hangman top gun #glen powell

139 notes · View notes

docholligay · 8 months

Text

The House in Fata Morgana: Door Four -- 1099

I have never reviewed a visual novel before, but iscahwynn made me a very generous offer and a long line of patience, knowing that we are trying something very new. To that end: Please don’t spoil me for the game at all! If you are reading this, I have only gotten through the part written above, and I don’t want to be corrected, even if I’m wrong, even if I’ve missed something, i don’t want to have anything confirmed or denied, and I don’t need any trigger warnings or extraneous explanation. Iscah would like my pure, naive experience of the game. Thank you!

Non-spoilery: There’s a lot to like about this story for me, even before we get into the more…for the sake of not being spoilery i’ll call it “creative elements”. I think I would like the story even if it were simply the face story, but the creative elements allow us to play even more with what is happening outside of the text itself, and it gives a very different element to what has already been an interesting game

SPOILERS BELOW

So the fun about this door is that it’s bullshit, but you have to try and figure out how much of it is bullshit and how much of it isn’t bullshit, and boy would you think that’s easier than it actually is. It IS a temptingly neat story, full of love, some key beauty and the beast elements, learning to love each other, a promise that can obviously only end in tragedy, dying in your lover’s arms, a horrible bargain, blood in rivers. It’s got it all. I see what the painting was saying about not wanting to accept anything that makes it all just a little too pretty.

Because you would think, ‘Oh no it ends in death and such, it’s not pretty.” Wrong, the story is gorgeous and it provides such a beautiful justification for everything that has happened to the white haired girl, and also, in a way, made it her own fault. It’s also the stuff of fairy tales. Never in any other timeline do we see real magic, or curses, or anything like that. Remember, Yukimasa SAW himself as a beast, but he never was one, he always looked like a reasonably handsome young man. There hasn’t been magic in the story other than in THIS time, and I’m not 100% sure I believe that in 1099 curses were real and the shitty Dark Ages version of Pushing Daisies was coming about.

I do believe in the witch though, only because I’ve been thinking about her from day one, and this mansion that exists out of time, IS her fata morgana.

So now we’re left trying to untangle this story, and where is it real, and where is it a lie? The story does a really fun thing with the backlog here, where sometimes the witch communicates through that.

And there are glitches in the visuals, plenty of things for us to be told that parts of this story simply aren’t accurate. They aren’t the reality of what happened in that house.

I love the spot in the backlog where the witch tells us she’s going to rewrite the woman we loved. What does that mean, to rewrite someone? Are we creating Giselle, which may or may not be the White Haired Girl’s name--he says her name is Giselle, but it’s often xxx’d in the backlog, and the screen still says “White Haired Girl”--out of thin air? Was there ever a Giselle, or, for that matter, a Michel? It’s been hinted at that I may be the White Haired Girl, and if I am the White Haired Girl, is this all being written for me so i can feel sorry for myself? So that I’m the poor little meow meow of my own tale? Because she’s a fucking angel and doormat, and I would love if it turns out that’s all horseshit and this is all being written as something to further fool me into believing myself an innocent.

And we don’t…see the White haired girl, until we get up into the observation tower. That same tower that we saw in door one when the White haired Girl was telling Mell the story about the girl and the letters on a pigeon. That’s a very interesting choice to me, and it’s a very deliberate choice. See, for a moment there I thought we also might be Michel, because there’s this glorious screenshot:

Where we deal with the whole idea that we are trying, reaching, begging for our memories here, but those memories are being replaced by the images that are being put in front of us. We don’t know what’s real and what’s not.

I mean, to this moment, I have no idea if Michel ever existed, if there was ever a curse, if any of it was ever real. The game seems to be telling me the maid is Morgana, but that doesn’t make sense to me given that in door two, it felt like she and the house were two different entities, or is that yet more bullshit, and if it is bullshit, i think i should have been able to see some clue of that on the backlogs, which I couldn’t, or at least not in a way i noticed when I was talking about other chapters. I don’t know what I think about any of this at all! I feel terrible writing my impressions of this door when my impressions of this door were mostly “Fuck man?? I don’t know??”

But in trying to winnow out what’s true and isn’t, there were a few things that struck me:

1) I do not for a second believe that the story is just handwaving her survival, i believe the MAID/maybe Morgana is doing that, because we are being actively lied to. If the story were handwaving it, they wouldn’t be so obvious about it, because they would know it was a big problem narratively. Instead, the maid basically goes “Why was she actually alive when we were saying how dead she was, tenderly in his arms like a crushed rose petal. Beats the fuck out me!” They draw ATTENTION to that, that she is telling a story badly. That’s not a mistake, i don’t think.

2) We of course have all the backlog stuff going on, which is the really obvious thing, but it was so interesting to me when things were xxx’d and when they weren’t, as well as the fact that in the observation tower we had that direct conversation Morgana, trying to remember who we are, trying to remember who SHE is, and, its only in that room. So that room HAS to mean something.

Anyway, it’s so interesting because it feels so unfinished because it is despite being the whole door. The maid is staring at me right now telling me I’m the white haired girl and she’s morgana and I just can’t bring myself to believe any of it! It feels so fake! But like I need to keep going, not like, that’s the end, it’s a door, but it’s not the end of the tale the way the others were.

I love how Michel goes on about how unusual her red eyes and white hair are like he doesn’t fucking have them himself. Amazing.

I did roll my eyes hilariously at “i’m not going to hold your hand because then you’ll die hideous” okay i know we need to make allowances for the tragic ending, but how ridiculous was that?

On that note, I know this isn’t real, but even if it’s well-trodden road i love the inevitable tragedy of a curse like that. The blood he shed saving her comes to take her away? Beautiful. Love it. I am a simple woman.

At first i was thinking, ‘Oh so he’s a vampire” and I was wrong, but actually only kinda wrong!

#Doc plays the house in Fata morgana #doc plays games #commission review

7 notes · View notes

laooneart · 1 year

Text

Hello merry Christmas people i am here today because i will be headcanon-ing Harringrove love languages

Lets go

Steve:

obviously gift giving You cannot tell me he doesn’t love giving Billy gifts, even if it’s literally just a flower he found on his garden

Physical touch This man can’t keep his hands to himself, he needs to feel the heat of another body, I also headcanon that he hates being alone cuz he definitely has PTSD due to all the shit that he’s been through since season one

Acts of service Try to deny that this boy is willing to do whatever it takes to keep you happy/help you/keep you safe, even if it could be extremely dangerous for his life as we’ve seen how he’s so protective. I’d imagine that when he finds out what Neil has been doing to Billy he’d go livid, like straight up would beat the shit out of him if he sees him lay a hand on Billy, he wouldn’t care if Neil is stronger and bigger. (You know what? As soon as i get my laptop imma write that into a fic)

Words of affirmation My baby doesn’t get any words of encouragement/affirmation or validation and his self esteem is nonexistent since the Halloween party in season two. So I can see Steve actually crying without even noticing when Billy says something like “Holy shit Harrington! You’re a genius!” “I hate to admit it, but you’re not that bad at fighting” “You might just have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen holy shit” (this last one is the one that breaks him)

He’s just not used to being loved, and I’m actually livid about it

Gift receiving He never gets gifts, period. Who would give him a gift? Nancy? No that’d be awkward for both. His parents? What a joke, probably not even a letter or call to check up on him, sure they send him money because they’re not about to leave their child without some sort of support cuz you know, Hopper would be on their asses about it since that’d be like child negligence. So when Billy gets him something,(a flower a letter even a goddamn cassette made BY HIM) Steve can’t help but be

A. Confused af

B.More in love than he already is

C. Overwhelmed and starts to cry

D. All of the above

Billy:

Acts of service Billy won’t normally say anything sweet like Steve would or wouldn’t start the physical touch kind of love, so he sticks to SHOWING how much he loves or cares for Steve. Also im sure since Steve is willing to move heaven and Earth for Billy, Billy is willing to destroy the world for Steve (you’ve seen those texts where they say that a hero would sacrifice you to save the world and a villain would sacrifice the world for you? Yup, that’s Billy)

Quality time Let’s be honest, he finds EVERY excuse on the book to get away from his father and problems, so i imagine he’d constantly go to Steve’s house just to talk/smoke/ or do what fucking ever

Physical touch Listen listen, i know i said Billy isn’t the type to start physical touch but when already engaged in it he’ll continue it. Like Steve brushes his hand against Billy’s? He’ll grab his hand and intertwine their fingers or Steve will start cuddling him and Billy will start stroking Steve’s hair or something

Words of affirmation He has a higher self esteem than Steve but since he normally doesn’t hear anything related to love receiving whenever Steve tells him: “I love you” “You’re amazing” “How did i get so lucky to have meet you?” ,Billy would just go “Oh”

And that would be it! Thanks so much for reading this and I’d love to hear what you guys think about this, any suggestions? Feedback? Send em right up!

Merry Christmas and happy New Year loves!

#harringrove #stranger things #billy x steve #steve harrington #billy hargrove #love language

21 notes · View notes

carmenlire · 2 years

Text

okay goddamnit, I watched the king: eternal monarch for the second time on the last friday of september and i have spent the weeks since completely and utterly consumed reading every fic I could get my greedy little raccoon hands on and I have things to say!

first of all, I think the sheer concentration of amazing fic for this fandom is unparalleled. I have read so many stories with an emotional depth and a dive into canon (before often diverging into the writer’s own plot) that has left me in awe. It’s been a month and I just read a series this morning that I absolutely adored. I’ve reread a few fics half a dozen times in less than a month. i’m unhinged and having the time of my life.

so saying, I don’t imagine that I’ll ever write my own tkem fic so I want to get my thoughts out somewhere on what I might have liked to have seen in the show or what I would want to do in my own fic because holy hell the source material is so rich and reading these fics has given me ideas and has helped consolidate what i love about these characters and relationships. So, going by relationship:

lee gon/tae-eul/jo yeong

1. the first fics I read on ao3 the day after my second rewatch were canon compliant with lee gon/tae-eul. then I read a few poly fics where yeong joins them and i really enjoyed the dynamic, with gon as the fulcrum for the three of them while tae-eul and yeong learn to meet each other on their own terms but, in the end, no less devout than their pull with gon.

I would love to explore the idea of that further-- I particularly would want to play out either a) gon has been just as in love with yeong since he was eight years old but the pull with tae-eul and the badge was always in the background and as king, he chose the easier route (even with parallel universes lmao) of pursuing what the kingdom would expect. however, when shit all goes down, he’s forced to confront that it’s always been yeong and tae-eul and the three must navigate that.

or b) gon doesn’t realize how much yeong means to him in a romantic sense until he has tae-eul but something is still missing. it takes tae-eul? to figure it out and orchestrate things to her liking. we can go either full angst as gon agonizes over the worry that tae-eul will perceive she’s not enough (he doesn’t know she’s behind the machinations) or full chaotic fluff with her obviously encouraging him and him seeing tae-eul and yeong together and feeling how right it is.

lee gon/ jo yeong

guys. GUYS. the little snippets we get of the two of them makes my brain overheat with the possibilities. There are a few things that I would like to see more of/I haven’t seen yet with these two fated disasters:

1. I’m in love with the idea that jo yeong might have been in love with gon since he was too young to understand all that encompasses, but he has actively pursued other relationships and is experienced. I have a particular thing with gon discovering yeong with someone else:

a) maybe gon walks into yeong’s apartment just to find him in a compromising position

b) gon visiting yeong during yeong’s years at the naval academy-- only to see yeong and a fellow cadet in the shadows of a corridor

c) yeong, still a teenager, with a stable boy when gon decides to go for a ride one afternoon

d) the one time yeong decided to treat gon as hyung and not pyeha, the two of them “snuck out” (there was still a security detail, though gon doesn’t know it) and they both drink too much and gon looks for yeong when his best friend seems to have disappeared, only to see yeong in the middle of a dance floor dancing very intimately with a man before pulling said stranger closer and kissing him for all he’s worth.

the possibilities are endless. in all of the ones above, though, gon had no idea that yeong is gay and he is 1) betrayed that yeong didn’t feel he could tell him 2) immediately jealous and overtaken with the urge to say yeong is his. (in option d, gon feels immediate heat surge through him and is served with the awakening of his life).

this of course devolves into years of mutual pining as, even when yeong comes out or doesn’t hide his preferences anymore, gon thinks yeong never feels that way for him and yeong has always felt like gon wasn’t into him and as king, nothing would ever come of his love for pyeha.

2. I think a compelling story definitely involves gon and yeong realizing their feelings and acting on them as children-- the adults around them allow it to happen up to a certain point (they’re only touchy with each other, they make it obvious each other are their favorite company, there’s a lot of talk of being together forever in the ways children do when they don’t realize life rarely works out the way it seems it should).

however, there comes a point where gon is gently urged to pull away from yeong and set boundaries because he must think of the future and bear an heir. yeong is similarly talked to, with talk of how the king is unreachable and that he is the unbreakable sword and he must accept his duty. cue years of longing and angst.

b) equally as interesting to explore would be the two of them having a fling in their late teens/early twenties and it ends amicably as they both know nothing can come of it but both are hopelessly in love and it’s another ten years before they have the courage to say the other is it for them (i’m imagining gon ruthlessly researches each man gon shows an interest in and takes delight in threatening them behind yeong’s back. yeong, for his part, can never quite hold back his sneer or annoyance when gon mentions someone who’s caught his eye-- of course, gon only does so because it makes yeong so obviously jealous.)

3 Can we PLEASE talk about the ending of the show!! seriously, it struck me in the finale but reading the fics that mention it, I just need more exploration of the fact that in the end, it is YEONG WHO SAVES GON AS A CHILD! like i wanna talk about everything that means!!!!

a) after everything, yeong is gon’s savior. he is the one gon spends a lifetime looking for. yeong is the one who protects child gon and the loop of fate and destiny is sticky enough for me to choke on. i want to see them resolve their first timeline with that of the present day. with no tae-eul in gon’s past, i want to see gon realize what’s been in front of him all along.

(I love the idea of lady noh knowing it was gon back in 1994 and if i let my flights of fancy take off, i ADORE the image of gon carrying an unconscious, injured yeong out of the Cheonjongo just to be intercepted by lady noh. lady noh gains sufficient proof of who they are (decidely not lee lim’s traitors) and that makes the scene where they let four year old yeong interrupt the mourning rites even more significant and heartbreaking.)

b) the viewer is under the impression that yeong is fatally wounded after the second time at the Cheonjongo. I want to see gon 1) find yeong and see his world shatter at the price he thinks he might have just paid to fix things with his uncle 2) stay at yeong’s side at the hospital for days if not weeks and then he is there every step of the way for physical therapy 3) seeing yeong’s own reaction to nearly being killed and the aftermath of what must be severely traumatizing.

i) with this, i love the angst fest that is yeong deciding he’s given enough to the crown and gon and that he finally needs to live his own life. maybe he takes a step back, maybe he leaves indefinitely but i would LOVE to see gon finally being forced to realize how much yeong means to him and in what ways he wants him just for, at the same instant, yeong decides he has wasted enough time on gon and he needs to leave. can you imagine how delicious the angst and emotional journey would be as they find their way back to each other. my god.

ii) i would love to see yeong to be wounded and gon to save him, in a reversal of the bodyguard/king dynamic. in the show, we get eun-sop but gosh what if yeong had been the one shot? i wanna see gon’s reaction and see yeong treated with care.

4) I love outsider POVs and would enjoy the hell out of both yeong and gon being oblivious idiots in love but we see that everyone around them has known since they met the two of them that they would end up together: from lady noh to a tutor to an ex-girlfriend of gon’s to yeong’s parents, like everyone just being completely exasperated that these two just won’t make a move!

5) there are always rumors right? well give me a fic where they both play into it actively (while staying true to their characters). gon is always touching yeong, invading his space. those small hints of smiles we see when yeong is endeared or proud of yeong. there are whole social media accounts dedicated to tracking these small moments. neither gon nor yeong acknowledge why the rumors do nothing to make them uncomfortable, that they actually like it.

jo yeong/kang sin-jae

I didn’t even know this ship was a thing until I descended into the tkem tag on ao3 but I was immediately consumed! there are so many well written fics with this pairing and I just love the potential of it-- that in the first timeline, they are both men with a lot of baggage. two imperfect men meeting each other where they are and finding solace in each other. it soothes a corner of my brain that acknowledges that i’m a grown-up and i want to see messy people deserve happy endings too.

honestly, there are some very in-depth fics and i can’t think of many things i haven’t been lucky enough to read but i had to include this ship in this list because they ruined me. utterly and completely.

1) I wanna see sinjae/hyeonmin be at yeong’s side as the heir of the jo dynasty. he can go toe to toe with anyone no matter their title or influence and seeing yeong stand next to him, proud and in love at some gala or other is utterly lovely.

2) the two of them with kids! i love that these two people, flawed and a little dark, would be such good parents and would have that soft side for their children.

3) seeing how they play with gon. gon 1) being jealous and petty as a best friend to yeong 2) gon seeing how happy they are and absolutely doting and teasing them 3) exploring sinjae and yeong navigating the fact that gon will always be a man barely half a step below sinjae (which gets messier if you add in an element where yeong and gon have actually been in a relationship or slept together before).

Misc

with either sinjae or lee gon, i also love AUs!! rainhat has a bakery au with sinjae and yeong and i adore seeing their personalities in a different setting. give me rival teachers! an au where both yeong and gon are titled and on equal ground! a coffeeshop au! i love seeing the dynamics of these men and with either relationship, it would be so fun to explore outside of canon!!

#i literally have no idea of this is comprehensible #i am in a coffee haze with gonjo and sinjo just going brrrr in my brain #i've been obsessed for a full month #i love these fisc #i love these characters and their potential #elle don't read this unless you watch the show #please if u see this and wanna talk to me about literally anything about this show or characters or relationships please do!!!!!!!#the king: eternal monarch #tkem #lee gon #jo yeong #tkem fic #fic ideas #my writing tag #lee gon x jo yeong #jo yeong x kang sin jae #i am a jo yeong stan first person second #also woo dohwan has a fucking GRIP on me

53 notes · View notes

ordinary-eternalmachinery · 1 year

Text

On Femininity - Pt. 1

One of my very first memories is related to femininity or rather, becoming aware of it.

I must have been 4 or 5, and my mom was picking me up from school. I vaguely remember her talking above my head, chatting to another girl’s mom who was – I think – bemoaning the amount of money she spent on these shoes or that dress or whatever.

My mom said “oh, mine doesn’t really care what she wears.”

The conversation is wrapped in the hazy mist of early childhood memories, but I can still remember clearly that in that moment, I felt a jolt of pride. “Yes,” I thought, “this is me, I don’t care what I wear. I’m not a girly girl.”

I doubt my mom ever meant to give me the message that femininity is bad - in fact, she spent the following decade and a half begging me to please take her money and go fucking shopping for something presentable to wear on Christmas dinner.

Regardless of her intentions, though, I had already internalised a certain idea of femininity at that early age - and my mom’s remark sparked the realisation that I didn’t have to be girly just because I was a girl.

At that point in time, girly, to me, meant the following:

Girls are proper, quiet, demure, they don’t get dirty, they wear uncomfortable clothes, they’re preoccupied about their looks, always put other people first, sigh while looking out the window and dream about having babies and will most likely end up shackled to someone else. Girls wear pink and frilly dresses. Girls are whiny and stupid and vain.

Boys had all the fun games and cartoons and comfy clothes and whatnot. I mean, I'm talking about the mid-90s, when videogames weren't exactly marketed to girls yet. Hell, I'm sure dinosaurs weren't girly at the time.

I remember my mom coming home from work and my babysitter telling her, in a hushed voice "she's been good today. she's been watching boy cartoons!", half amused, half asking "is this okay?"

I am pretty sure I proclaimed to my entire family, multiple times, that I’d never have kids, never get married, and never even have a boyfriend. I might have gone as far to say I’d never even have sex with a man (one does wonder what would’ve happened if someone told me about lesbians at that age).

I remember reading Little Women and being absolutely smitten with Jo March's character and equally disappointed when she ended up getting married and giving up on her dreams.

I had a period of intense obsession with Greek mythology and obviously, my absolute favorite goddess was Artemis, because she was a virgin huntress who lived in the woods surrounded by nymphs and hounds and only ever did whatever the fuck she wanted.

Knowing what I know now, I’m not even sure whether I was rejecting femininity or heteronormativity or both, but at that point the two concepts were very much conflated both in my mind and in the public opinion.

And after all, why would I want to buy into the traditional package? Did it do any good for any of the women I saw around me, both in real life and in media? All married women were someone’s supporting actress, in my experience. Working behind the scenes for someone else’s glory.

I remember being absolutely fucking pissed when I realized that at one point I would go through puberty and get a period and grow boobs. It's strange to think about that now that I know what gender dysphoria is, because what I was experiencing was not dysphoria. I've never had any doubts about my gender identity: I have never liked being a woman, but I’ve always known I am one. But to me, acquiring what I then considered the physical markers of womanhood meant I would’ve had to become a real woman, with all the trappings that entailed.

I unsurprisingly grew up to be a tomboy (hate the word but bear with me)

I refused to wear dresses until I was 16 or so. You wouldn’t catch me dead with make-up on.

This is probably sounding like I was a cool teen, but it was pretty much the opposite - I was very much fucken uncool. What I was going for wasn't just "not feminine". It wasn't necessarily masculine either. It was... not planned or thought out or in any way intentional - my whole vibe was “I don’t give a fuck about how I present myself and I want to make it clear to everyone that I don't spend half a second in front of the mirror (because that's cringe)”.

(No, seriously, I had an XXXL grey hoodie that got down to my knees. For a while I had a single nail painted bright green. I had a ginormous headset that for some reason had a 3m long cable that I kept together with a zip tie. I walked around dressed like a fucking anime character except this was 2008 and anime wasn't popular. Maybe Gen Z can get away with the clown aesthetic now. Idk.)

Did I feel comfortable like that though? Was I confident in my looks and in who I was?

No. I didn't and I wasn't.

A while ago, I discussed this with a dear female friend of mine (hi I love you!!) who was also a tomboy. We met in our late teens and among other things, we bonded over our mutual mistrust of extremely feminine, conventionally attractive girls.

A couple years ago, I asked her, were we actually happy with ourselves back then? Did we like what we saw in the mirror?

No. No, we both weren't.

See, all the women we saw in media were at least pretty. This is a whole other can of worms - suffice to cfr this meme.

This is a whole can of worms in and of itself, but it does apply to the “tomboy” archetype.

All of the cool non-girly girls we wanted to be like were thin (but ate a lot), wore baggy but flattering outfits (that they obviously didn't buy themselves), had perfect winged eyeliner (but you wouldn’t spot them within a 5-km mile from Sephora).

We wanted to be like them. We wanted to be attractive and get validation. But working towards that ideal (learning to do our make-up and buying actual clothes instead of stealing our dads' sweaters) would have compromised us ideologically.

Like all other teenage girls, my friend and I also had an unattainable beauty ideal; unlike the other girls, though, we couldn’t even attempt to get closer to it, because putting an effort in our appearance would’ve made us… vain. Shallow. Girly.

Just like other girls.

Femininity was something I just couldn’t try my hand at. If I didn’t care about being feminine, I couldn’t fail at it.

It was a weird cage to be in.

(to be continued)

#femininity #heteronormativity #feminism #gender #womanhood #gender roles

9 notes · View notes

thebimarauder · 1 year

Text

All for the game blurb post canon that i thought of today

A little angsty but when is AFTG not

credits for characters go to Nora with a little twist

TW: mentions of: depression, self harm, and suicide attempt

Neil: “Hey drew is something wrong?”

Andrew: “No”

Neil: “Are you sure you look a little upset”

Andrew: “Im fine junkie”

Neil: “Arent you always telling me im not allowed to say that?”

Andrew: “...”

Neil: “Umm okay but are you sure im worried? Will you at least talk to bee dont you have an appointment tomorrow im sure she wouldnt mind-”

Andrew: “do you really want to know how i feel neil fine if you care so much ill tell you. i hate most people and when i say that i really do mean it. i hate myself. i hate the fact that i was born in the wrong body and that there’s nothing i can do about it. i hate that i have boobs, i have boobs neil what kind of man has boobs and a vagina. i hate that i have this body but it makes me a trans gay man which makes a lot of people hate me and that coincidentally is one of the only things i don’t hate about myself. i hate the fact that i’m so fucked up and no matter how hard i try or how much time i put in with bee nothing will ever make me better.

i hate Aaron for hating me when i saved him and although i understand i just don’t get why he still doesn’t care because i obviously care and even you being so stupid as you are can tell that i care but he can’t. i hate Nicky for giving away his whole life and happiness for me and Aaron but i can also never thank him enough and that makes me so angry with myself that i’m happy that he fucked up his whole life but i’m so great full and i don’t know how to tell him.

i hate wymack for giving me a chance and agreeing with my stupid idea to bring along aaron and nicky. he should have left me to rot and moved on to some other fucked up teen. i hate kevin for pulling me into all of this shit but also for giving me something to live for because now i’m alive every day dreading getting out of bed because although everything is far better now than it ever has been before in my entire life i still feel a weight on my chest both metaphorical and physical that i can’t get rid of and now because of kevin i still wake up to that every day. i hate bee for not giving up on me because somehow it worked enough that i’m able to talk about some things now and i don’t want to talk about them or even think about ever again. i hate myself for scaring people but i’m not even doing anything other than protecting myself and my family and i am called a terrifying monster. i hate myself for not fighting enough when i was younger and giving in to my darkest thoughts but i also hate that i didn’t go through with them which makes me hate myself more bc who wishes to die and then hates themself for not going through with it even when they have never been happier.

and above all neil i hate you because before you i felt nothing and now i feel everything. the good and bad and it’s more than i can deal with and i don’t want to throw anything on you but i can’t do it myself because you made me open myself up and you made me weak. You made me get off of the meds and you caring about me hurts because why have i never gotten that before in life but it is also the thing that makes all of the hate go away for a minute because although i say it all the time i don’t actually hate you neil i think i love you and it terrifies me. so there i said it i’m falling apart and losing my marbles and becoming the hateful monster everyone thinks i am and it’s all because of you. and i can’t do it. “

Neil: “…drew “

Andrew: “rabbit “

Neil: “fuck drew “

Andrew: “…”

Neil: “i love you so much “

Andrew: “no you don’t “

Neil: “yes i do. don’t you dare tell me that i don’t love you because i do i always have. you are the only one to make me feel this and it’s love. i’ve always known but i wasn’t sure if you were ready but drew i love you and i know things are hard and you don’t feel like yourself and there’s years worth of tension with your family but i promise we will figure it out together like we always have because you are andrew minyard the strongest person i have ever met and i am hopelessly in love with you and would do anything to make you as happy as you make me and i will never stop tying. “

Andrew: “rabbit “

Neil: “you can’t hate yourself like that because then you are hurting the person that i love most in the world and i can’t let you do that “

Andrew: “Junkie”

Neil: “No i mean it drew you are amazing and wonderful and so lovable and i dont know how everyone else dosent see it and i dont know how you dont see it. I mean think of all of the amazing things you have done, you saved aaron multiple times, you saved nicky from those guys at the club, you got matt off the drugs, you protected kevin, you saved me “

Andrew: “No i-”

Neil: “Yes you did drew you saved me and i love you for you and for all of that and i will never stop loving you so you better stop hurting yourself bc you said you would never hurt me and you hurting yourself physically or emotionally hurts me “

Andrew: “I will try “

Neil: “Good and i know you said you are not super comfortable with your body but i just wanted you to know that I think you are the most beautiful person ive ever seen, you are like a greek god, strong, golden, powerful, and so fucking hot and even if you have moments or days of dysphoria or dislike for your body i will never stop thinking that you look amazing. And if you ever want to talk about this in more detail i am always here and would love to learn how to help “

Andrew: “Thank you rabbit “

Neil: “Of course drew and about the other thing i cannot imagine how hard it was growing up in the situations that you did but i am so so fucking happy that you did not go through with trying to end it. And i know that now you are feeling more emotion than ever before because of the meds and pushing everything down and that it feels so scary and horrible right now it also lets you feel the good and happy and love from family and friends and I know you may not like everyone but after the last few months everyone loves you me most of all so im really happy that you can feel that now and know how much we care “

Andrew: “I… i dont know what to say i bottled everything up for so long and now its overwhelming and i just dont know what to do or how to make it go away again “

Neil: “If you knew how to make it go away again in a healthy way i think you would make millions because no one has gotten that answer yet but if you ever need anyone to hold you up when everything feels particularly heavy i am not going anywhere if you need to cry, scream, hide, be held i will be here no questions asked and do everything i can to help all you need to do is ask for help so that it dosent get to this low of a point again because i never want to see you so low again “

Andrew: “Did i scare you “

Neil: “No drew never but you did worry me you were so out of it and not responding and then you exploded with all of these things that you have never brought up before and that made me scared for you “

Andrew: “Im sorry “

Neil: “You have nothing to be sorry for now how about we curl up and watch a movie so you can have a break from the feelings and then we can talk some more later “

Andrew: “Okay “

Neil: “Okay lay with me drew? Yes or no?”

Andrew: “Yes, kiss me junkie? Yes or no? “

Neil: “Always yes “

#all for the game #all for the gay #andrew minyard #neil josten #Andreil #aaron minyard #nicky hemmick #kevin day #david wymack #betsy dobson #trans andrew minyard #trans masc #trans man #transgender #gay #demisexual #aftg #trans

14 notes · View notes

letsgoshadows · 1 year

Text

Parting Ways

Benji was angry with them.

More than angry, the man was fucking furious. Had all but thrown them out of his room, the same room they’d shared for nearly a year before the one down the hall had been deemed safe enough for them to sleep in.

He’d slammed the door almost before they were through it and left them there in the empty hall to just stare at it. To listen to him pace and curse and try and talk himself out of it, just on the other side of the door and now a million miles out of their reach.

In retrospect, they realize they should have expected that.

You spend years training with someone as a team, you start to expect them to stay around.

Charging off on the first foreign soil contract that comes one’s way is not conducive to that. Not discussing the departure with the people it affected beforehand, either.

That of course had not been how he’d said that to them. Nor was it as quiet as they repeated the thought in their head.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Their admission had been quiet, but his response had been more whisper than hiss. The hurt had yet to settle.

“No? I-I told you I was looking at positions overseas to–” He stopped them with a hand.

“You told me you were ‘just looking’, Dolly.” And they had been, at the time. Considering options, what they could do with the rest of their life.

“I was! But it sounded good and…” And they had worked with the same men their entire life.

“And you just… decided you wanted to fuck off?” The first lick of anger kicked up in their chest then. Making them pull themselves up to the head above him they actually were, rather than making themselves smaller to keep from starting a fight. “I’m not ‘fucking off’, man, I took a job that I’ve trained for my whole life.” And it wasn’t like he’d have been willing to go with them. “You actually took it?” His voice dropped then, all the anger replaced just briefly with genuine surprise, a drop in the upturned bucket before the ocean rushed back in to fill it.

They, of course, hadn’t had the presence of mind to use the opportunity to diffuse.

“What was I supposed to do, let it pass by? It pays better than anything we’ve ever done and–“ “Tell us!” He waves his hand, the ‘obviously’ left unspoken. “Fucking tell me about it at least, before you took it!”

“So you could talk me out of it?” When no words make it out, he shuts his mouth, the opens it again again to no avail. He has to take a breath before he finds anything to say.

“You’re unbelievable. How selfish–?”

“Selfish?” They actually laughed. Right in his face. Arrogant fucking laugh, the one they know they shouldn’t do because nothing they laugh at like that is ever really funny. “I’m the one who can’t stand to be a burden anymore!”

He’d always been good at bringing it out of them. Things they’d prefer to leave thought rather than said. It takes a conscious effort not to stomp away from his room, taking carefully measured steps down the hall towards what used to be the parish offices.

It was dangerous the way he affected them.

He always had, too. That’s the worst of it. He and they bring the fucking worst out of each other just as easily as they banter, or work seamlessly as a team. They suppose it’s only natural when you know someone so long, spend so much time together at such a developmental period. You see the ugly, stupid parts of them and fit yourself around those.

They must not know him as well as they thought.

They had thought he would be… gratified, maybe is the word they need. Not happy, not thankful, they knew this was an inconvenience, being down a pair of capable hands, but it was an opportunity for him and Tino both. They would be off doing something that earned more, earned enough to send back if them being missing was such an issue.

It would be like getting their own room again, just on a bigger scale. A part of growing up is leaving home, right?

They stop in the middle of the hall, far enough not to hear his voice anymore but not far enough to forget it.

Fuck.

Would Rev be angry too? They can’t imagine that. They’ve seen him angry, yeah, angry at them too for doing shitty teenager things and assuming he’d let them off. Been made to run laps until they threw up or wash their mouth with soap, them and Benji both more times than they could count. But more likely he’d be…

He’d always been good at keeping things in, not letting either of them even try to bear his burdens for him. But the crack in the mask when a temper goes too far or the margins are too slim that month.

He’d take it in stride but they’d know. Know they’d hurt him. Hurt him like they’d convinced themselves this wouldn’t.

It’d be a betrayal to him too– they should have just told the man when they were first considering it– but unlike Benji he’d put on a brave face about it. Hold in whatever he felt about them leaving for the sake of preserving what was left of the relationship. Maybe even tell them he was proud of them for striking out on their own.

And it was too late to turn back. They could refund the tickets, and even if they couldn’t, they’d not signed any contracts yet, weren’t bound to Graves and his company, but…

They’d never be forgiven. You can’t unring a bell and you can’t un-tell your best friend that you were going to leave him behind for a group of people you’d never even met.

At least… at least this way he could stay with Benji. Be a real team, rather than the both of them taking off and leaving Tino to find new wards.

It would be better, they reasoned. The two had always been close, there was a reason he was Tito to him and Rev to them, and with them gone the old man would have no division of time to concern themselves with. Focus on the one who needed him.

It was something they’d played with the idea of since they’d been little. They’d run away once already, after all, pursued this life and followed their father’s steps despite their mother’s caution and his outright forbiddance. Leaving. How easy it would be to get away, to disappear.

Their bags are already packed. Worldly belongings sorted into the things they needed and what they could bear to part with, what they couldn't shoved beneath the bed. Had been for weeks. Plane tickets bought, train seats reserved, and preparations made. Mental and physical.

They’d told Benji, for all the good that it did.

All that’s left is…

They take a breath, rolling their shoulders and willing themselves calm. Focus. Recenter. The smell of thurible incense, galbanum and balsam, soaked into the wood panels of the hall and the well worn persian rug. His coat always smelled the same, always a comfort when he laid it around their shoulders. Heavy and smelling of the place they’d called home the past nine years.

Would they call their new vocation home? Or would they be leaving that here, with the man who’d all but raised them and the one who they’d…

Dolly sighs, rubbing beneath their glasses to dismiss the thought. The immediate aftermath of a blowout is not the time to be contemplating how you feel about someone. Nor is the night before you leave them.

Straightening up, mustering the composure they don’t feel, they rap on Tino’s office door, just beneath the plain brass cross that’d turned long since black with the brush of passing fingers.

#peril #benji #tino #exorcist au #dutchstuff

3 notes · View notes

mysticalbookkeeper · 1 month

Text

Lilac was walking through the woods on the island. She was trying to find answers about how she was pulled here and how to escape. She walked up to a lake and saw someone standing on the other side. It was hard to see, but it looked like a man wearing a top hat.

“Hey! Hey!” She called, running towards him. Maybe he could provide the answers she needed?

As she ran, the man looked up and he vanished. Lilax screeched to a halt.

“Whoa! Where’d he go?”

She looked around, but found no one. She felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked and saw no one. She felt another tap on her shoulder.

Lilac whipped around and saw no one again.

“Okay, whoever is doing that, knock it off! It’s not funny!” Sajd Lilac. She heard a chuckle, before it abruptly stopped and she looked up. She was surprised.

The same man from before was floating above her, smiling behind his hands. Lilac folded her arms and rose an eyebrow.

“Ah, I see. You were the one behind that.” Said Lilac.

“Guilty.” Said the man. He floated down onto his feet.

“So, you know magic?” Asked Lilac. “Er—I mean, I’m Lilac, nice to meet you.” She said, holding her hand out. The man took her hand and shook it. An immediate buzz coursed through her and she jumped.

“Ha! The old buzzer. Always a classic.” Said the man.

He then tipped his hat towards Lilac.

“Nice to meet you too. I’m Id. The most dastardly villain on all the island. And lucky you, you ran right into me! You’re obviously a new face ‘round these parts. Did you get pulled here by a giant portal, dumping your butt onto the hard dirt?” Asked Id.

“Ah…how’d you know?” Asked Lilac.

“You still have grass on your face.”

“WHAT?!”

Lilac rubbed at her face and looked in the shallow water of the lake to make sure all the grass was off. Id laughed behind her.

“Gotcha! I’m just kidding kiddo. That’s how everyone arrives here.” Said Id.

“W…what? How do you know?” Asked Lilac. Then an idea hit her.

“Wait! If you know how I got on this island, you must know for a way for me to return home, right?!” Asked Lilac. Id looked her up and down, seeming to decide what to say. His grin faltered when he looked at her desperate face.

“Ahh…this is rather awkward, isn’t it? I mean, you’ve barely seen the island and you already wanna leave? Maybe you want to look around?”

“Maybe if I had come here WILLINGLY! But right now?! I’m lost! I’m who knows how many galaxies away from my family, I just lost my Nana not too long ago and now I…I just wanna go back!” Said Lilac on the verge of tears. Id rubbed the back of his head.

“I…hate to burst your bubble kid, but it’s easy to get on the island. Getting off is another story. Everyone who is here actually came from another world. There isn’t one person, kin or goblin that was ever originally from this island. So in other words, you’re stuck here forever. Even after you die. Sorry about that.”

Lilac was shocked. She felt the world spinning around her. She stumbled backwards, about to fall, before a hand grabbed her and yanked her forward.

“Whoa, don’t go fainting on me now. We haven’t even had our first battle yet!” Said Id.

Lilac looked at him as he held her upright. She couldn’t help it anymore. She began to sob and she sat on the ground. She didn’t care she was crying in front of another person. One who knew magic. She just wanted this nightmare to be over and go home.

Id sighed. He couldn’t believe he was about to do this, but he hated seeing people cry. Especially since it wasn’t being caused by him. So, he sat down next to Lilac and rubbed her back.

“Hey, c’mon kid. I’ve been here for one thousand years, and…it’s not as bad as it sounds. There’s lots of stuff to do here. I can even show you some of my favourite spots…oh! You obviously don’t have a place to stay, do you? Well, guess what? You gone done and found the most generous thing on the island. Most people stay in Rook in a spare house for the time being before their own house is built, but since you seem alright in my books, you can stay at my place. We’re actually close to my house, which is just passed those trees over there.” Id pointed to some trees to the north.

“Are…are you sure?” Asked Lilac.

“Of course! I can’t just leave you out here to fend for yourself out here. There’s some real weirdos around.” Said Id, winking. Lilac giggled.

“There. You feeling better kid?” Asked Id.

“Yeah, thanks Id.” Sajd Lilac.

“Swell! Now…I believe I see you with a sword, if I’m not mistaken?” Asked Id, tapping the hilt of Lilac’s sword.

“Oh. Yeah, believe it or not, I actually have explored other worlds before I came here.” Said Lilac.

“Neat.” Said Id. He stood up and Lilac followed suit.

“So, big shot hero. You gonna fight me, see what exactly I’m made of? I gotta warn you though, I’m pretty…”

Lilac charged forward and Id teleported behind her.

“Whoa! You’re fast! But…” Id teleported to different places, before stopping.

“So am I!” He pulled different objects from his pockets and tossed them at Lilac. She ducked, dodged and sliced through multiple objects and hit Id with her sword. She was going for gentle, but ended up slicing him in half. She felt awful as she saw his two halves fall to the ground, his mouth wide open in horror. Then he laughed…wait, what?!

“Nice. That was a good swing kid. But I’m not out yet.” Said Id and he put himself back together and teleported behind Lilac. He threw more objects at her and she rolled, and dashed forward, before hitting Id again. This time, he split himself apart and the sword completely missed him.

“What…what exactly are you?” Asked Lilac.

“I’m me. For real though, I’m immortal.” Id said.

“R…really?!” Asked Lilac.

“Yep. I suppose you’ve never met an immortal man before, have you? Technically, I’m a demon, but we’ll stick with man.” Said Id.

“Well, actually I have, a couple times.” Said Lilac.

“Aww.” Said Id, frowning. He put himself back together.

“Well, that’s a disappointment. Oh well, I bet none of them were as great as me.” He grinned, puffing his chest out a little.

Lilac went to strike him again, but he teleported and was high above her head.

“Hey, that’s cheating! I can’t…”

“What? Reach me? Of course not, that’s the whole…”

Suddenly, Id dodged a magic spark and looked down at Lilac.

“I know a little bit of magic myself.” She grinned.

“Cool! A magic pal!” Said Id. Another magic blast from Lilac actually hit him and suddenly, an anvil was tied to his foot and he dropped to the ground.

“Okay, nice move, but I can still teleport.” Said Id and he teleported, with the anvil still attached to his foot.

“Umm…okay, I guess this anvil has emotional attachment issues, so maybe we can call a truce, right? Lilac?” Id asked. Lilac charged forward.

“Wait! Wait!” Id waved his hands in front of him and he teleported again, but the anvil was still attached. He remembered something and detached his leg from himself. Then he managed to pull his leg from the rope and reattach it. But that was when Lilac advanced on him. Id flinched, dropping his leg to the ground and shielded his face from his arms. However, no stabbing pain came through him, and he opened his eyes carefully to see Lilac smiling at him. She flicked his hat off of his head and it fell onto the grass below.

“Hey! Meanie.” Said Id, though he didn’t sound really mad.

He reattached his leg and shook it, to make sure it was attached properly and picked up his hat.

“So, how was that?” Asked Lilac.

“That was…totally fun!” Id whirled around towards Lilac, grinning.

“You’re pretty tough kid. That was a nice work out. It definitely let me flex the old magic bone a bit more.” Said Id.

“Awesome…so, what now?” Asked Lilac.

“Well, since the day is still young, you need to show everyone yourself. They’ll recognize a newcomer. Your first stop? Back at the lumberjack’s house.” Said Id.

“The lumberjack?” Asked Lilac.

“Yeah. I suppose you haven’t met her yet, have you?” Asked Id. Lilac shook her head.

“Ah. Odd, most people meet Clover. Oh well, lucky you, that will be your first stop. I’ll show you the way, but after that, you’re on your own.” Said Id.

“What? You’re not gonna join me?” Asked Lilac.

“Only for the trip over. But I have stuff to do. Very important, very evil things. But don’t worry. You’ll see my tonight, remember? And I do pop here and there around the island, so you’re most likely going to see me around.” Said Id.

“Now come on. Let’s get things prepared for you.” Said Id and he flew forward, going slow and Lilac followed. Lilac looked at Id. He was…interesting. He was definitely unlike anyone else she met in other worlds, though he did have some similarities to some characters she watched on streaming services, or t.v.

But she hoped that they could be friends. If she was going to be trapped on the island for the rest of her life…that reminded her.

“Hey, Id. You obviously know what happens to those arrive here, but do you know how it happens? Like, how did I get pulled to the island?” Asked Lilac.

“Oh, that’s easy. You see, passed the spooky forest, there’s a giant machine that pulls everything here. But the more it pulls, the more that the cracks in reality form. You see, this island is pretty dangerous if you don’t know where you’re going. But it’s going to become even more dangerous if that blasted machine keeps pulling things here. There are already cracks here that are seeping into this world. You’ll end up in a world just by going through a cave, a library, or falling down. It’s not as safe as it should be, but like I said, it’s not all bad. That giant sword that’s hovering over the spooky forest hasn’t fallen yet. I…did try to fight that computer so I could go home, but…as you can tell, that didn’t quite work out. That thing is vicious. Oh, by the way, don’t bring this up to anyone else. I don’t know how they’ll react to that they got pulled to the island. Either they’ll call you crazy and call you the village idiot, or they’ll totally freak out and try to charge the spooky woods and destroy the computer themselves, but I don’t know how well that would turn out, so best not to say anything.” Id answered.

Lilac nodded. She knew full well how just blabbing crazy things out could turn out. They continued on in silence as they walked/flew. Lilac figured she could get used to someone like Id. It would be nice to have a friend on the island to keep her company and show her the ropes. And it was nice that he was human too, even though he did say he was a demon. Still, he was human-like enough, so that was good for Lilac.

I decided to remake the story of how Id and I met, because the first one was kind of bland and it was me trying to follow the script of the same scenario from the game. And I realized how dumb and boring that was, so I changed it. So here ya go, a much better version.

#afterplace #id afterplace #story #sword fighting #magic battle #enemies to friends #afterplace fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #first meeting

0 notes