#(or maybe you can but 90% of it is apparently region locked for me

[yume-fanfare]

people i want to meet someday: the guys who did the spanish translation of suito-to

[radramblog]

WA election aftermath

The aftermath of an election is always a tenuous time, with seats in doubt for some time well after the election is called, and a massive number of people effectively gaining and losing their jobs. In a two-party system, there’s always a winner and a loser, and as a result at least one side is going to have emotions running high.

I’d like to delicately consider the results of this election, and the potential impacts of such on the state. With that in mind…..

Holy shit I knew this was going to be an easy labor blowout but I didn’t expect that kind of result.

I don’t think I’ve seen a bigger blowout in any election, ever. It’s absolutely farcical. I love it. I can’t stop grinning thinking about it. The Liberal Party got fucked. This feels like vengeance for all those years suffering under Premier Barnett, cunt as he was.

Alright, bit more seriousness, let’s break it down.

Labor

Labor winning this election was pretty much a matter of course. There was no universe in which they didn’t succeed, even the opposition knew that. The people have seen the state government’s response to COVID-19, and how well it went for us, and saw the opposition dragging their heels and arguing against them, which is not a good look. I think there are three big things that brought Labor so far forward this election, and I genuinely think that COVID-19 was one of them- it might literally have been the best thing to happen to WA Labor last year, and I mean that without a hint of irony.

The second big thing was Clive Palmer. More specifically, that WA Labor got to have Clive Palmer as an enemy. Now I don’t know about over east, but it’s presumably less pronounced since he got a couple seats there at some point. But Clive Palmer is monstrously unpopular over here, and his attempt at subverting WA border restrictions for his own ends was not something anyone wanted to see- so the current government completely shutting him out was very welcomed. I do genuinely think that the dislike for Clive Palmer gave WA Labor a huge advantage, since they were the ones standing up to him. We all saw his fucking annoying advertisements 2 years ago in the Federal election, and we kicked his farce of a party out then- it’s no surprise that we don’t want him around now.

Last but certainly not least, of course, there is Premier McGowan. Marky boy is probably the most approved-of politician I can think of in recent memory, cultivating a minor cult of personality that isn’t locked to one side of the political compass like, say, Trump’s. That does, of course, leave him as a bit of a centrist, which is not exactly great in my eyes, but it could be a lot worse.

Labor now has a massive amount of power, holding every seat they had and gaining many more. And while the opposition is rather weak, it’s likely that any influence the Libs/Nats would try to have isn’t something I’d want to see anyway. Regardless, now that the immediate threat of election is over, Labor does need to be held accountable for mistakes they make, because they are far from perfect- McGowan’s position on fracking is a good example.

Liberal

I never thought I’d feel any form of sympathy for a Liberal leader, but it’s hard not to feel sorry for Zak Kirkup. He’s a relatively young politician essentially thrown out as a lamb to the slaughter, becoming the first Labor/Liberal leader in 90 years to lose their own seat in a state election.

With that said, I feel no reason to similarly sympathise with the remainder of the party losing their seats. They’ve got to rebuild now, with a maximum of 3 seats to work with, which leads me to believe they’re going to need a complete redo of their positions/branding/policy if they want to succeed next time around. They might end up straying dramatically from their political positions, which could be good, or it could be very bad.

I’m interested to see what happens to the Liberal party in the coming weeks. But I suspect they aren’t going to be especially relevant in government for some time.

Nationals

The Nats look set to become the new opposition, a sentence I never thought I’d say or write, but it does sort of make sense. If the Liberal party continues to suffer, they may end up in that position for quite some time, which would make WA a pretty unique political landscape in the country as far as I am aware (hahah I don’t know shit about other states politics)

I’m not super aware of Nats policies aside from their regional focus, which doesn’t apply too much to me specifically. But if their regional focus includes big business operating in rural WA (which a lot of it does) then colour me disinterested. If they are the major opposition, though, then I’m expecting some amount of increased regional spending on Labor’s behalf as appeasement, or to get them to agree to other bills. We’ll see.

Greens

If you go by total vote counts, the Greens actually have a fair few more than the Nationals- but that’s not exactly how that works, is it. We didn’t have any seats, but hey, at least that means we didn’t lose any seats.

Maybe next time, folks.

Others

At time of writing, the third most dramatic swing in votes was in One Nation, everyone’s favourite xenophobes- except, it’s a 3.7% swing away from them, which is huge considering they now only have 1.2% of the votes. It felt like at the last election we kicked Pauline’s grotty arse out of the state, but now I’d be surprised if they made much of a reappearance here at all.

The fact that the No Mandatory Vaccination party has the 5th most votes total is both staggering and terrifying. They’re still about a third of the Nationals, but that such a fucking hellscape of a party got that high upsets me greatly- especially since I don’t want to know where their preferences ended up.

The WAxit party only has about 4000 votes, so I guess we aren’t seceding after all. But hey, apparently more people want to vote for that than to legalise weed (by ~1500 votes), so they’ve got that going for them.

At time of writing, the Animal Justice Party, the Daylight Savings Party, the Health Australia Party, and the Great Australian Party (which I only found out afterwards is an offshoot of One Nation) all have exactly 0 votes counted for them. Better luck next time, or better yet, just don’t bother next time.

[honeymoonjin]

enjoy your stay - chapter fourteen

A/N - I don’t put links in anymore so that this comes up on search, but check my masterlist linked in my bio for links to every previous/future chapter.

Word count 3k. This chapter was really hard to write, but our Y/n could only keep up her path of destruction for so long, now, could she? 

ENJOY YOUR STAY ↳Boss!Namjoon, Chef!Jin, Receptionist!Hoseok, Bellboy!Jimin, Bartender!Jungkook, Accountant!Yoongi, Photography student!Taehyung ↳Some inappropriate language and cursing. Later chapters have sexual content.

SUMMARY ↳Working the graveyard shift at a hotel isn’t the most exciting job in the world, but your coworkers are certainly happy to have you here.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN ↳All your mistakes and poor decisions catch up with you. 

Jungkook was pissed when he walked in on you. To him, you had been in a weird mood the whole day and he was getting worried about you, only to walk in on you getting your rocks off. He wanted to know why you didn’t come to him if you were in the mood, and you kept insisting you weren’t together, so you shouldn’t sleep with him. As if that had seemed to ever stop you recently.

Your mention of the fact that you were no longer together, however temporarily, reminded Jungkook of his end of the deal, and the argument fizzled when he asked you, shyly, like it was real, if you were ready to go meet his parents.

They had invited him up to stay overnight, and since you had already called in sick to work, there was no decent reason for you to say no. You were certain his parents would be stiff business types who would slowly dish out vague hints to how disappointed they were in his change in career path, and you kind of assumed it would be a quick visit just to prove the existence of Jungkook’s ‘girlfriend.’

Because of after-work traffic, Google suggested it would take over 90 minutes to drive there, but you knew for a fact the train ride was only twenty minutes, as it cut through tunnels instead of taking detours around the hilly regions between the two towns. The tickets were purchased, and small overnight bags were packed, and the two of you got on the train within the space of an hour or so.

You found yourself at Jungkook’s parents’ house earlier than you were prepared for. It wasn’t a long train ride – actually quicker than it would have been if you drove due to the weekend traffic – and before you knew it you were shaking his father’s hand and receiving a tight hug from his mother and sitting down for some tea.

You could see a lot of Jungkook in them; his mother had the same doe eyes and his father shared his delicate bone-structure. Not just in terms of looks, though. Mr. Jeon was every bit the energizer bunny, even in his early fifties, and he wasted no time in dashing to the bookshelf and grabbing a photo album, showing you picture upon picture of chubby baby Jungkook, cheeky toddler Jungkook, and lanky teenager Jungkook.

It made your heart swell to see the clearly strong bond between them. On the way over, you had thought back to when Jungkook first told you about how his parents wanted him to go into business against his interests, and you were concerned they’d be coldhearted, hard-assed people that would passive aggressively insult the two of you for being everything they were not.

But as you blew gently at the too-hot tea and looked over the numerous photos with his father, you were pleasantly surprised. They seemed like lovely, caring people who just wanted the best for their son.

“Ah, there he is at the school fair. Him and his best friend Min Jae came up with a service where they’d change all the wires and the codes of your computer and make it nicer-”

Jungkook groaned and rolled his eyes. “Dad, I’ve told you this a million times, we literally just scanned anti-virus software for people that didn’t know how to do it themselves.”

“Well. That’s what I said, isn’t it?” His father turns to you with a querying look in his eyes, rounding up his lips in the exact mirror image of Jungkook’s confused expression. You smile warmly and just shrug. “Ah, it’s all French to me. Never been good with those things. You know, Jungkook, your mother and I always thought it was your entrepreneurship coming through, but maybe it was just your computer whiz brain, you smarty pants.”

Jungkook whined in embarrassment, but you just grinned at him and wiggled your eyebrows.

“Anyway, my dear, how did you meet my son?”

You glance over to Mrs. Jeon while the men continued talking. “Oh, at work, ma’am.”

She adjusts her glasses and takes another sip of tea. “Mm, and what do you do at the hotel?”

“I’m assistant to the manager.”

“Is my Kookie a good worker?”

For a moment, you don’t know whether to sing his praises to please her or to be honest, but she has a twinkle in her wide eyes that tells you she knows her son isn’t exactly a hotshot.

“If he ever gets the opportunity to actually serve a drink, I’ll be sure to tell you.”

Mrs. Jeon cackles, a laugh completely opposite from Jungkook’s, but it’s so contagious you join her. “Ah, my darling son. You know, when he first started working there, back when he still lived with us,” you can’t help but notice the way her tone flattens and her smile droops slightly on that phrase, “he would always come home and tell us at breakfast time what a hard day’s night he’d had. For a while, we really thought they were overworking him there with the way he’d complain. I even once called Mr. Kim myself.” You burst into a fresh pack of giggles. “He was so confused!”

Eventually the men stop their conversation and stare at the two of you cackling like hyenas. Mr. Jeon turned to Jungkook with a fond grin. “Seems like you found a good one, son. These two are as thick as thieves already.”

Jungkook leans over and gives your hand a squeeze. “I got lucky.”

Your smile strains slightly, and you fight to keep a neutral expression. You weren’t with Jungkook, you had only come here because he apparently wanted to keep his parents off his back, but now he was looking at you like you were the most magical person in the world. If it was obvious to you, you knew his parents would be able to see it too. You were worried that they’d start getting curious. This was a bad idea.

“Jungkook,” you breathe, staring deep into his eyes, “I can’t…” His parents were staring at the two of you questioningly, and you didn’t want to disappoint them or anything, but you were getting cold feet about the whole thing. They were so lovely, and you wouldn’t have agreed had you known they would care this much about their son. And Jungkook certainly wasn’t acting like you were just some girlfriend. “I don’t know if we should keep-”

“We have something to tell you,” Jungkook blurted out, locking your gaze with panicked eyes. “I guess Y/n just can’t wait, hah.” You tip your head to the side, a strange feeling in your chest. What was he doing? “Mum, dad, I know you felt a little strange about me moving in with someone for the first time, let alone a girl. But I hope now that you’ve spent some time with her, you’ll see why I love her so much, and-”

“Jungkook!” you hiss, but he’s not looking at you anymore, just holding tightly onto your hand as he beams at his parents.

“-and you’ll be happy for me when I tell you…we’re getting married.”

If life was a simulation, it just crashed. You feel like your world has frozen completely, like the only cogs still turning are the ones in your brain.

Had he planned this, or had he freaked out when you tried to back out of the whole thing? If you were an outsider, you would believe him. With the dreamy smile and the starry look in his eyes, you would honestly believe that he was hopelessly in love with you. Fuck, maybe he really was. You were really screwed then.

Like moving through treacle, you turn to face his parents, who mirror your dumbfounded expression of shock. Though, unlike you, they don’t seem completely opposed to the idea. Time begins to catch up with itself, and you tune your ears back into the world around you.

“Isn’t it a bit sudden to-”

“-sure about this?”

“I suppose congratulations are in-”

“Have you set a date yet?”

You can barely process what you hear, and you put all the energy in your body into your hands, prying his fingers away from yours and standing up to run down the hall to the entry foyer.

Ignoring the way Jungkook called out to you desperately from the living room, you fumbled with the lock and burst out into the open air, feeling sick to your stomach. Rather than risk sitting on the porch and having one of them follow you, you half-ran down the street, in the general direction of the train station.

Once you ran out of breath, you stopped and collapsed onto a bus stop bench, chest heaving and eyes burning.

You could only imagine the chaos that had broken out at the Jeon family home, and a part of you felt guilty that Jungkook would now have to explain to his parents what was really going on. Or maybe he’d just lie again, dig the two of you into a deeper hole. You were coming to learn that you really couldn’t predict Jungkook, and what he would do under pressure. It was silly of you to ever get involved with him, you knew that, you had always known that, but somehow you could never think straight around him.

You sighed bitterly, about to continue your trek towards the train station, but pausing when you remembered your ticket was for tomorrow morning.

The two of you had meant to stay the night, Jungkook insisting his mom made amazing kimchi stew and wanted you to stay for dinner, and in an effort to save money from your struggling bank account, you had paid a cheaper price for non-exchangeable tickets.

You slumped back onto the cold concrete bench and considered your options. It was freezing outside, being the end of winter, so you needed to find a place to stay. You couldn’t go back to the Jeon home, not after leaving so spectacularly, and you didn’t want to fork out for a hotel.

You bit your lip and pulled out your phone, opening your list of contacts. Maybe someone could come pick you up. Not Jimin, that would be too weird, and things had ended poorly with Yoongi. Hoseok, you recalled, was babysitting his niece again. Taehyung probably didn’t have a license, although it would’ve been nice to spend some more time with him, perfecting your evil plan (a plan that seemed unbelievably childish of you now that you were being confronted by your own poor decisions). It might’ve been weird to call your boss, so that left you with one choice.

He didn’t ask questions until he had arrived an hour or so later and bundled you into his car. The two of you drove in silence for the first forty minutes, until you entered the town and he had to pick a lane. “Am I going back to your apartment?” he asked finally, voice slightly deep from not using it.

You shook your head, then realized he wasn’t looking at you. “No. Jungkook will take the train back tomorrow morning. I don’t know if I can face him.”

Jin just nodded solemnly and flicked on his indicator to switch lanes. “You might not appreciate this, but I’m doing this because I’m concerned about you.”

You don’t understand what he means, assuming he’s taking you to his house, but when he pulls up a driveway to a small, cottage-style house, he knocks on the door rather than using a key.

“Jin, where are we?”

He doesn’t answer. After a short time, you hear some motion inside, and someone come to the door. Your heart skips a beat when it’s your boss that answers, rubbing his eyes like he’s just been woken up, still in some worn-out plaid pajamas and bedhair.

He sees Jin first and blinks. “Jin! Are you…?”

“No, I’m not here for… I think you and Y/n need to have a talk.” He steps aside to reveal you and you wave awkwardly. Namjoon presses his lips together, but nods and lets you in.

Namjoon’s house is cozy, with a fire still smoldering in the hearth and the couch bundled with heavy throws and plump cushions, but you can’t help but feel extremely uncomfortable.

Jin doesn’t look at you, just pats your back a little and stares at the floor. You know he means well, but it feels like being led to the principal’s office. Jin only knows what you told him on the phone, that you needed a ride because you couldn’t stay with Jungkook anymore, so you don’t know what he thinks happened, but somehow he’s had the foresight to recognize the gravity of the situation, and brought you here.

Namjoon’s put on some jeans and pulled a sweater over his pajama shirt, and he sits across from you like a concerned parent. “What happened?”

You blink up at the light in the ceiling, swallowing hard. “Jungkook, ah, we’ve been…dating…for a bit, but we had a disagreement. I just needed some space.”

He takes a deep breath and fixes on his most understanding gaze. “You’ve been dating.” You nod, but still don’t meet his gaze. “So, he was the one you talked to me about, the one you were having a fling with?”

Before you think, your mouth goes. “No, that was-” You break off and squeeze your eyes shut, but it’s too late.

Jin’s hand recoils from your back when you say this, and when Namjoon replies, his voice is cold. “Y/n, I suspect you have a lot to tell me, and I do expect your complete honesty here.”

You nod miserably and take a shaky breath. “Okay.”

Neither Jin nor Namjoon say a word as you explain. You start right from when it all went downhill, Jin, and how Taehyung interfered and exacerbated the situation from there. You told them about Jimin. You told them about Jungkook, then Suga, then Jungkook again. As you told your shameful story to a stone-faced audience, it was all you could do not to cry. Just putting it in words made you realize just how terrible you had been; the countless mistakes you made over and over again.

Once you were done, the room fell into a tense silence. You bit your trembling lip and buried your face in your hands.

After a full minute or so, Namjoon clears his throat with a harsh cough. “I’m extremely disappointed in your, frankly, disgusting behavior.”

You let out a sob but will yourself to hold it together. “I know.”

His voice is flat, with a tremble of some deep-running emotion that you can’t quite decipher. “I don’t think you do know, otherwise you would’ve taken one of the countless opportunities not to do what you did.”

You look up at him, at his stiff stare. “I’m so sorry, Namjoon, I’ll do anything to-”

He cuts you off. “You did do anything and look where that got you.” He scoffs humorlessly and shakes his head. “God, I told you that you could come to me with anything and I wouldn’t judge, but this…this is just unforgiveable. You’ve made a mockery of me, of my business.”

From beside you, Jin speaks up gently. “Sir, it takes two to tango, I think we should also-”

Namjoon turns on Jin. “Did you know about this? You were first in line; did you get her hooked on sexual misconduct or something? Of all people, Jin, I never expected you to encourage that kind of behavior.”

Jin sighs heavily. “I’m as shocked as you are, Namjoon. Really. I’m not agreeing with her, I’m not saying what she did was right, but you and I-”

“What we had was different,” Namjoon spits out. “I thought you would know that.” He lets out a growl and kicks the leg of the coffee table, turning to you with eyes burning. “Fuck! My chef, my bellboy, my accountant, my fucking brother! Has my judgement of character gone so downhill that I would hire someone like you?” He tenses his jaw, returning his voice to a reasonable volume, although somehow his deceptively calm demeanor felt so much worse. “You’re fired. You’re going to go drop off your uniform and key and never come back. You’re lucky I don’t sue.”

“Jesus, Namjoon,” Jin breathes out, “can’t you at least give her the months’ notice in her contract? She still has to get her things in order, get a new job. She was so desperate to get her finances in order she slept with someone, how are you gonna kick her to the curb like that?”

Namjoon laughs bitterly. “Oh, she won’t be getting a new job. The moment I get a call from a potential employer I’ll let them know exactly what they’re in for should they hire her. You should’ve thought about job security before you made your way through my team.”

You shuffle a bit on the couch, feeling the weight of the world crushing you. “I’m so sorry, sir. But please, if it’s not the full month, just two weeks. One week! If I don’t get another source of income, I’ll lose my apartment!”

He stares you down, lips pressed together. Finally, he sighs. “Tonight’s shift is your last shift. I’ll pay you two weeks’ severance, but I don’t want to see your face again.”

You nod. “Thank you, Namjoon,” you say tearfully.

He turns his head to the side. “That starts now,” he replies flatly. “Please leave. Jin, you stay. I need to speak with you in private.”

Jin grumbles a little, but stays put nonetheless. You stand up, feeling your legs wobble unsteadily beneath you. “For what it’s worth,” you say finally, feeling the dam break and your tears come out full throttle, “this was the best job I’ve ever had.”

But Namjoon’s still looking angrily down at the floor. “I’m glad you had fun.”

You sigh in resignation and make your way out the front door.

Tell me what you think Y/n is going to do next now that her past is catching up with her! What will she do without a job? Who can she turn to in her time of need? And whatever happened to Jungkook?

TAGLIST (message me or send an ask to be added, and you’ll get a notification every time I post a new chapter of EYS.)

@xxqueenwxtchxx @fandomarchive00 @cvbachacbitch@echimozart @thisgirlis-shy @sweetcheeksdna @boononx@sweetlittleviper @youngmsfts @kpopfromtheblock 

[arachnexdragoon]

▲ five time my muse thought about kissing yours, and the one time they did. (Ghost AU)

send me a symbol for…

I.

“Ohmygosh, I could kiss you!”

Aranea realized a bit too late that she had voiced thesethoughts aloud – well, more like her relieved thoughts, and less like carnalthoughts. But at any rate, Ardyn had heard her and he chose to smile and to bowhis head lightly like a true gentleman, showing her the right way for the nextline transfer.

“Well, I suppose it is delightful to be rewarded for a gooddeed.”

“I’m so sorry. I was… Just too happy to see you. I clearlyunderestimated the subway,” Aranea replied with slightly reddened cheeks asthey walked through the crowd of busy-looking salarymen and high schoolstudents, all of them very aware of where they needed to go… Except for Aranea.She had lucked out, really – the closest station to her campus had no romajifor the station names and she ended up buying the wrong ticket and getting lostright after a first transfer in Shibuya.

Shibuya, of all places – well, at least it hadn’t been TokyoStation. Using her newly acquired mobile to phone Ardyn and to beg him torescue had seemed like a good option… Or rather, the only option.

“But if you’re feeling generous, then we could perhaps pick upsomething to eat on the way home.”

“My treat, Izunia-san~.”

II.

“It’s beautiful…” Aranea whispered, her hands open against thewindow and her face as close as she could to the glass without making it foggywith her warm breath. It was the first time it snowed in Tokyo since herarrival – and it looked straight out of a picture, especially considering thebeautiful view offered from Ardyn’s penthouse.

“You mentioned you had never seen snow before, yes?” Ardynqueried, coming to stand right beside her. Aranea was too entranced by the viewoutside to realize that her host didn’t have the same effect to the clear glassand appeared not to breathe, or that his reflection was also not showing up.

“Never. I’m from the southern part of the States, so it rarelysnows… Never got lucky with schools closing up for day and stuff like that,”she mentioned with a smile, but her eyes barely moved from the scenery outside.Ardyn hummed in agreement, hands folding behind his robe as he glanced at hisguest and smiled as well, although for other reasons.

“Have you acquainted yourself with the local lore, Aranea?This weather calls for the yuki-onna, it seems…”

“Snow… Woman?” she translated hesitantly, turning around toface the man and finding out Ardyn looked… Different. Maybe it was the waythe lighting inside was set, but he seemed to be outlined by the lamps, almostas if a faint glow enveloped his form and giving him an ethereal vibe. “What doyou mean?”

“The legend varies, my dear. Each region has its own version,but my personal favorite version is the one of the snow woman that appears whenthe first heavy snow falls, and who comes to steal the vitality and life forceof the men with deadly kisses. They supposedly freeze their victims to death…”

Aranea hadn’t realized she had been staring at his lips untilthey curved into a smirk once more. “Well. Not a bad way to go, yes? A kissfrom a woman in a white scenery like this.”

“No… Not bad at all.” It was also harder to swallow now, butAranea chalked it up to the ghost story.

III.

When Aranea’s skills with the local language advanced enough, shewas able to tell her classmates about the place she was staying at and how herhost looked like. She did notice a couple of her friends made surprisedexpressions at the moment she disclosed the location, but the description ofArdyn changed their stunned expressions into excitement.

“Aranea-chan, that man sounds like a really handsome one!”

She had to giggle – of all the comments she expected, that wasdefinitively the one she thought Japanese girls would be too shy to make, butapparently… They could get really comfortable with you once you made it as afriend, “I kind of… Agree, I think? He probably is old enough to be my dad,Sayuri-chan. Maybe I haven’t been exactly thinking about kissing him…” Or hadshe?

“Oh, that’s not a problem at all. My parents had an arrangedmarriage back at my home town and he was her senior for a lot of years… Still,they are still happily married.”

“I had this friend too, from high school… She used to dateolder men to get expensive gifts from them. Minako would certainly got a lot ofthings from a man like Izunia-san!”

At this point, Aranea wished she had pictures to show them –why was she always forgetting to take pictures of Ardyn? Maybe she could borrowone of the portraits she saw on a bookshelf, he looked like he fancied gettingpictures taken at these places where you dressed up with clothes from bygoneeras – at least the gentlemanly personality matched.

“Look, I’ll bring a picture over and you guys can help me ifit’s super wrong or not, okay?”

Hanae and Sayuri giggled, then exchanged a glance beforeeyeing Aranea again. “Aranea-chan, you’re weird. There’s nothing wrong aboutage.”

IV.

“That is so lame.”

Ardyn merely turned his head around, amber eyes focusing onthe expressions Aranea was making at the movie they were watching. Horrible,cliche horror movies from decades past had become a tradition of sorts at theIzunia household on Friday (the day also seemed to be the best suited one forthat, even if Japan had no issues with that particular day of the week as onethat could bring bad luck). The woman had a glass of wine in one hand and apackage of tiramisu-flavored pocky on he lap – really classy.

“What do you mean, my dear?”

“I mean… Seriously, you’re a girl and you’re driving byyourself, and then the car breaks down. Conveniently close to this big housewhere just this one guy with that eerie vibe about him lives. Of course itstarts to rain and clearly the phone is down, so you have no choice but tosleep at this old bedroom with a 4-poster bed and all that stuff.”

Her host was now outright smiling at her, stealing one of thesweet sticks for himself – Aranea remained amusingly outraged at the lady inthe movie, which was ridiculously ironic given the fact she was in a verysimilar situation herself – despite not knowing it. “This guy is obviously notalive… Or worse. And she is, like, accepting his offer to stay the night!”

At this point, the older man laughed and the sound of hisvoice broke Aranea out of her movie-induced reveries. She locked gazes withArdyn, realizing how she had felt that laugh more than heard it originally,being so close to his body when they were both sharing the couch and how it hadfelt… Nice.

Damn her friends at school, really. And damn Ardyn for beingsmirking and smiling all the time – it was hard to keep her mind off… Certainplaces and certain things when he did that.

“You’re laughing because you’ll never need to ask a strangerman to sleep at his house for one night, right? I know I’m bound to do it oneday, if I’ve learned anything from these movies.”

“Perhaps it won’t be such a ghastly experience, Aranea. Maybeyou’ll even… Come to enjoy…” his hands went for the snack again – or so Araneathought; but then the digits veered into a different direction and brushedagainst her chin, tilting her head up ever so slightly so their eyes could lockand she could feel the soft caress of a thumb over her lower lip, “Theexperience itself.”

Damn.

“…The experience?”

“The experience of spending one night with a strange man.After all, aren’t you living with someone you never thought you’d meet before?”

Oh, that.

“I’d hardly call you a stranger after these months, Ardyn.”

He smiled – again. And Aranea’s pale green eyes followed thattransformation, eagerly and more hungrily than she cared to admit.

“Good to hear that, my dear.”

V.

Karaoke had started out as something meant to help Aranea getused to one of the favorite pastimes of every salaryman in Tokyo, as well aspracticing her Japanese reading skills. But the moment she found out thatalcohol was served and these lovely places were open 24/7, she started to likethem a lot more. The woman had a fidelity card from Big Echo and could nowvirtually greet the staff of the closest unit by name.

It was that bad.

Sometimes, she would go there with school friends; sometimes,she would drag Ardyn. He had a nice voice and he knew a lot of really old,dramatic songs that were wonderfully enhanced by his timbre and it was kind ofamazing to see how he transformed from the moment he picked up the microphone.Aranea was more of the pop songs of the current days, and she tried to stick tothe new singles and releases that played on the radio.

But eventually, drinking made it impossible for her to readeven the basic kanjis and she switched to cheesy and iconic western pop music.As someone who had grown up during the 90s, she knew an embarrassingly hugeamount of Britney Spears songs by heart – and although one could think it didn’tmatch her personality, a drunk Aranea made for a very good dancer and Britneyimpersonator.

Luckily for her, while it wasn’t Vegas, there weren’t camerasin the individual rooms.

‘Break the Ice’ had been her pick, and she had started itnormally enough, barely looking at the screen since she knew it all by heart;instead she used the available furniture as props for her dance moves,eventually landing on her host’s lap while singing: “Let me break the ice / allowme to get you right,” she dipped her head lower then, lips brushing againstArdyn’s ear shell, “But you warm up to me / baby I can make you feel…”

The woman knew, deep down, that she was pushing her luck – butwhen Ardyn responded to her teasing by holding her close and whispering intoher own ear, Aranea dropped the microphone and the song played without anyvoice over for a while – she was too busy staring right into these amber irises.

But the moment he smirked, again, her eyes were drawn downwardsand she actually when groaned when he licked his lips and widened the smile. Itwas official – Ardyn was now tempting her, seeing just how far she was willingto go.

And Aranea maybe would have done it if the phone hadn’t rung,letting them know that their time was up. The girl almost fell to the floorwhile trying to remove herself from her lap, but Ardyn was entirelycomposed as he picked up the phone and announced they were going to be headingdownstairs.

VI.

While winter had been magical in Japan, nothing compared tothe summer – for one, it was way hotter than anything she had experienced backin the US; but the sheer amount of traditions, special foods and fireworksfestival was memorable.

The hanabis were a must-see, Ardyn told her. Something thateveryone took part in and that was well worth the expense of buying a yukata.Aranea did so, and she was really happy to have followed Ardyn’s advice to buyone with a ready-made obi knot – it was fucking hard to do it by herself. Themoment she finished getting dressed and stepped in the living room, she couldswear that her host had stopped breathing for a second.

“You look beautiful, my dear.”

She made a small bow, a smile on her lips for once – well, atleast she could still get him speechless after so many occasions where thereverse thing happened. Ardyn looked really regal in a somber yukata – his darkhair and pale skin made for a striking combo and she was really pleased to seehow mesmerizing they were as soon as they passed a mirrored wall on their wayto the subway.

Their destination was Asakusa – a traditional place for that,Ardyn told her. Aranea was very much her own woman, but she was enjoyingwalking around with their arms linked and buying all the food available at thesmall street stands, as well as laughing at his observations and enjoying thecheerful atmosphere.

She was caught off-guard by the first firework – her hostlaughed at her, but hold her firmly against him and made sure they had a nicespot to watch the hanabi. Aranea spent almost the entire time looking up, inawe of the different colors and shapes – it was nothing like the 4thof July. But eventually she found herself looking to the side, and watching theprofile of her host being illuminated by the fireworks instead.

“I’m afraid you’re missing the spectacle, my dear.”

Of course Ardyn had caught her staring – he had an uncannysixth sense. But in the middle of all these people and considering all themonths they had spent together, Aranea merely smiled in return. This was it –she had enough. She had pondered time and time over this and she had a verdict.

Aranea stood on her tiptoes, tugging at his yukata sleeves toget his attention before pressing their lips together. Ardyn was… Smiling. Thatmuch she could feel, but it was quickly gone in favor of parting his lips andallowing her entrance, indulging Aranea before claiming control of the kisshimself and leaving her breathless at the end, with her heart out of controland the blood drumming in her ears loud enough to override any firework.

“No… The spectacle has just started.”

Predictably, Ardyn smiled – and it was fucking great nothaving to hold back and kissing the infuriating smirks away.