#(totally not planning to throw your rocks at a lake)

[malvolios-yellow-stockings]

Some thoughts on the final two episodes and why what happened had to happen because they weren’t ready to be in love your honour

disclaimer - did i basically just describe the plot of episodes 9 and 10 without much analysis, yes i did, but this is self-care so it doesn’t count

After becoming coherent again, after processing what happened in episodes 9 and 10, I can safely say 

Guys, guys, this needed to happen.

This right here ↑, this was never going to work. Stede and Ed have both been desperately trying not to deal with their past one way or another.

Both of them have shame and guilt over it (relating to themselves, each other and other people as well). And terrible amounts of self-loathing and self-doubt that make them unable to deal with their problems in a healthy way also dwell in both of them.

Don't get me wrong, these two are definitely in love, but to me it seems to be a „meeting the right person at the right time, they change each other’s lives but neither of them is emotionally ready for a relationship yet“ kind of situation.

Let me explain what I mean in a semi-coherent way (which means throwing my brainrot at the walls of my atrophied analytical brain and seeing what even remotely sticks, you have been warned):

Let’s go over their pasts real quick

So, we know Stede has been in a sense traumatized, made fun of and humiliated for being a weak-hearted, soft-handed, lily-livered little rich boy, in his father's words, since his childhood. Where every act of kindness and unwillingness to be cruel just meant he wasn't a proper man. Where him picking flowers as a kid resulted in being bullied and his hands being tied to oars with rope, being made to row across a lake (river?) while the other kids threw rocks at him.

The society he grew up in has never really appreciated his eccentricities, but has made him extremely insecure in himself to the point of believing there's something wrong with him, that he really is weak, a monster who destroys everything he touches because he is just unlovable and a burden.

  ↑  from episode 1

my dear brother

your own family

↑  from episode 9

And when Badminton (the balding one who says he doesn’t pay much attention to the fact his twin had more hair although he totally does) says this to Stede's face - Stede Bonnet is not a human, he validates every deepest fear and hatred Stede has for himself, every single doubt he has ever had.

And the worst of it all:

God's perfect little rich boy

And this is where he completely breaks down

He believes he ruined Ed, that Ed will be so much better off without him. And we know, from the way he reacts to Ed's plan and the way he reacted to Ed's perceived calmness in the Royal Privateering Academy before that, that the doubt of what he has done to Ed is finally settling in. Stede hates himself and he carries that hatred 24/7.

Stede has always wanted to feel accepted, to belong, to feel his thoughts and opinions matter to someone, that there must be someone willing to listen to him and respect him. He left his wife and kids because he felt like a burden, which doesn't really justify his selfish actions but does make them understandable, sincerely believing his disappearance would be better for them (even if he used that as another excuse to leave and to make himself feel better about the decision). But there's almost no point in time where he doesn't regret his decisions, especially when he's at his most vulnerable. Although he acts selfishly quite a lot, and displays either naivety or unwillingness to process the consequences his actions have on others, he still cannot help but feel deep guilt over what he did to his family by fucking off to the sea and abandoning them "on a whim". He feels responsible for that.

So when Badminton dies after making him completely crumble, of course he reverts back to his old life, wanting to forget Ed. He thinks Ed will be better off without him, that he has somehow made Ed weak like himself. But he also feels like Ed will realise everything Badminton had previously said to him is true, and it's better to run away than ruin something directly, by being himself, the parts of himself he cannot change and the parts the society he grew up in has ostracized him for (I believe, that at this stage, Stede hasn’t fully realized that Ed likes and „understands his idiosyncrasies“). I think that fear of Ed "seeing through" him and finding nothing but a spoiled, weak man also propels Stede to do what he does, and that is to run away (or back, I guess, to his wife and kids with an excuse, while also trying to make himself sincerely believe, that he’s doing this to make things better with them, to reconcile and correct his past mistakes) because as Stede has said himself - he's a coward. Both for leaving Mary and the kids, and now for leaving Ed.

Fun, now onto Ed. So, Ed isn’t the primary main character in season 1, he gets fully introduced a few episodes in. We also don’t know much of his backstory. There are a few incredibly important character moments for Ed, an in many ways, his narrative can seem incredibly similar and also incredibly different to Stede’s. As I’ve already mentioned, the things that link them together are the shame, guilt, self-doubt and self-loathing they experience. The boredom Stede feels before he runs off to become a pirate and the lethargy we find Ed in while Stede is recovering from his stab wound.

The first bit of his childhood we learn of is when the crew prepare their first „fuckery“ and the mythical Kraken gets reintroduced (first time obviously being the traumatic memory Ed disguises as a cool monster story he tells to the crew). (Holy shit, that part when Ed falls down and retreats visibly upset is so fucking sad).

The display reinvigorates Ed’s memory and Stede witnesses his distress. He reveals to Stede he was the one who killed his father, to protect his mother and himself. The thing is, Ed struggles with the fear of being unlovable as much as Stede does. He has grown up in violence and poverty, using ruthlessness as the only way to get by and to survive the harsh conditions in which he lives. He has been brought up on violence, he’s enacted it, and he remains haunted by the memory of strangling his father, and has not directly been the cause of another’s death after that but has always outsourced the job to someone else (mostly Izzy presumably, but many others as we see in the scene where he tries to learn to dine). He is driven to feel unworthy of love and kindness because of his past behaviour, like there is something fundamentally wrong with him. While Stede hates himself because of his perceived weakness and soft-heartedness, Ed, on the other side of the same coin, feels ultimately unfixable because he considers himself to be violent. Still, he doesn’t go through killing Stede, instead growing even more attached to him. Stede, who is one of the first people who has shown him kindness and friendship, gentleness, and the man to whom he has introduced himself as just ’Ed’, not mentioning he is Blackbeard until later.

And throughout their developing relationship, while Stede learns about pirating, Ed’s change is more fundamental, Stede’s kindness is „rubbing off on him“. Calico Jack returning brings out some of the carelessness and rudeness from Ed Stede hasn’t seen before and the whole episode proves a challenge to the question of Ed’s nature. Seemingly, his self-doubt, and trauma-born (or at least informed) Blackbeard persona come back, Ed ready to leave with Jack. But as he finds out Stede is in danger, all of that goes into the water as he tries to get back to The Revenge in time, while Jack is baffled to realize Ed considers Stede his friend. Ed is beginning to shed Blackbeard as the only facet of his personality more and more.

So, when the big disaster™ happens, much like Stede’s biggest fears are awoken by Badminton, Ed’s deepest insecurities of being unlovable and outright evil are, in his mind, confirmed, when he waits the whole night for Stede and Stede doesn’t come. I think that deep fear is the reason why Ed doesn’t even consider Stede might be dead, not trying to search for Stede, thinking „of course he doesn’t love me, even at my most vulnerable, most kind, most Ed, he doesn’t love me, he doesn’t even know Blackbeard like others do and I’m still not enough, I’m not good enough, I’ll never be, I’m broken and I don’t deserve to be happy“. So he goes. And cutting someone out of your life is hard this time, it’s not Izzy or Calico Jack, even though he is attached to them, it’s Stede, the first person he allowed himself to fall in love with and the man who has changed him.

Now we go to The big disaster™ 

The big disaster™ hits because of a few things, but I’ll focus on the two I think are the main reason(s?). Stede and Ed aren’t on the same page when it comes to their relationship to their respective pasts. Both are held down by them, but Ed (thinks) he’s ready to move on while Stede still feels some form of regret and need to see his (previous) family again. Ed, it seems, doesn’t get that, and wildly suggests China which scares Stede even more, the whole „leave everyone behind to be together and create new identities“ thing. It pulls Stede even more back to his past. He is confronted with what he has done to Mary and we get this little flashback I think is important.

Now, obviously, this flashback can take on a completely different context and meaning to Stede, Mary and their relationship in episode 10, but in episode 9, right after Ed suggests going to China, Stede realizes he cannot do that, he feels he doesn’t deserve it because of what he’s done to Mary and their children. So while I’ve seen others suggest this expression Stede is wearing is one of complete adoration for Ed and belief in his plan, I suggest this – this is the moment Stede becomes more determined to go back to Mary and kids, and the face he makes really looks like he’s second-guessing himself and Ed, it’s the continuation of his doubt while becoming aware of what him leaving Ed in that moment might do to him although not completely understanding the scope of what will actually happen to Ed. In other news, Stede doesn’t actually take his own advice to talk about his feelings.

After The big disaster™ strikes and the parallels

I’ve already written about what happens directly to Stede and Ed, now let’s talk about the character evolution/devolution aspect of it all and what flips them over.

As episode 10 moves along we see Stede devolving and relapsing into this old life, still a shoe that doesn’t quite fit, Stede trying to make it happen at all cost. Him being a pretty terrible husband, he and Mary, as Mary says, „can’t seem to stop hurting each other“.

Meanwhile, Ed is taking the heartbreak harshly, obviously, and through a bit of Lucius’ help, he expresses his feeling, trying to get over it in the way Stede has taught him. He even dresses in Stede’s clothes, to comfort himself and to take on Stede’s management style for just a bit. He’s becoming more comfortable with appearing feminine, expressing himself, opening himself up to others and listening to their feelings too, something he hasn’t quite done before. He’s experiencing his first real heartbreak, and even though Stede’s a massive dick for leaving him, his advice and the way he’s changed Ed are currently helping Ed heal.

Then shit hits the fan and flips the scenarios big time. Why? Because of the people Stede and Ed have surrounded themselves with and deemed important, people who have, for better of worse, been a part of their lives for years and possibly decades.

And these two people, who flip the switch, couldn’t be any more different – Mary and Izzy. Neither likes what they see in front of them, both want to return to their „normal“ lives by dealing with the person who’s making that a difficulty. But, Mary has found love in Doug, is loved by her community, friends, and children and has a blossoming painting career while Izzy wants to return to ruthlessness, pirating and generally being a stinky little bastard git a piece of shit. Mary wants to have kindness and happiness in her life, while Izzy wants that eliminated. So, they obviously have different ways of dealing with Stede/Ed.

After a failed murder attempt (girlboss), Mary and Stede talk things through, realizing they absolutely do not belong together. Mary helps him finally understand what being in love feels like, something he hasn’t felt before and therefore hadn’t known how to recognize, and he tells her - „His name is Ed“.

To finally grant himself and Mary the freedom they both deserve, Stede uses the knowledge Ed has passed onto him, to create a „fuckery“ and fake his own death, ready to get back to Ed.

No specific reason why I put this in, I just think the whole scene with Stede faking his death is really entertaining.

Meanwhile, Ed’s healing is interrupted by Izzy pushing him more and more into becoming Blackbeard again, insulting him at every step. While Mary has uncovered the man underneath Stede and helped him, Izzy has uncovered Ed instead of Blackbeard and he fucking hates Ed.

Izzy doesn’t want Ed, he doesn’t see Ed, he only sees his captain as Blackbeard. He rips out a page Blackbeard has explicitly made fun of in Stede’s presence well before they became as close as they were, and shoves it in Ed’s face, solidifying the fact that Izzy has never really understood the man underneath Blackbeard.

After this, due to many factors, being emotionally distressed after being left by a man he was in love with being one of the biggest ones obviously, Ed reverts back to his coping mechanism, something he has built for survival, but this time, it’s an entirely different beast, not Blackbeard – the Kraken. The beginning of this is symbolized by two actions – the throwing away of his red fabric which has become a stand-in for Ed’ heart and the raising of the new flag with a heart being stabbed through.

Three things that directly portray him coming to „the dark side“ are throwing Lucius overboard (Lucius was a crew member Ed was closest to, whom he confided in and was also the least oblivious to the feelings Stede and Ed had/have for each other, so interpret that as you wish, although I’m pretty sure Lucius is unkillable, bless him), cutting Izzy’s pinky and making him eat it (a parallel to the scene where he is ready to leave this all behind for Stede, when he tells him about „making people eat their toes for fun“ which makes Stede react, reasonably, in disgust, so I interpret this as Ed trying hard to distance Stede from himself as drastically as possible) and leaving Stede’s crew, „Bonnet’s playthings“ as he calls them (notice the shift from using Stede’s name to his surname), to die on a small „island“. His transformation is apparently, assumedly complete. He is donning a mask he has used to survive this long.

Closing thoughts A.K.A. It’s going to be alright

While Stede's journey is more focused on him grappling with heteronormativity and what he thinks he ought to do, Ed grapples with toxic masculinity (Blackbeard, in my opinion, being a real part of Ed, not a performance, a fractured image of himself he used in order to survive, the only way he knew how, and the Kraken being an exaggerated, almost parody performance of Blackbeard, taken to the extreme, as I’ve written beforehand) and what/who he is. Although this is obviously simplified.

In the end of episode 10, the season finale, we see Stede accepting himself, realising he cannot fit into the upper-class bubble he has tried "correcting" himself into. He finally accepts his feelings for Ed and what they mean for both of them, taking what Ed has taught him with him on the journey, determined to make things right again. On the other hand, the last shot of Ed we get isn't that of the ruthless Kraken, but of Ed himself, heartbroken, crying, alone, trying to exorcise every trace of Stede, reminded of what happened as he looks at the lighthouse painting, the only thing he has presumably kept of Stede’s, we see that the Kraken is something he is trying to "correct" himself into, although it seems not to be working.

Stede is finally starting to accept himself and he had his closure with Mary, now it's Ed's turn.

It’s all going to be okay and CHEERS TO SEASON 2 Y’ALL!!! 🌈 🏴‍☠️

did i basically just describe the plot of episodes 9 and 10 without much analysis, yes i did, but this is self-care so it doesn’t count, i apologize to anyone who has read this

[junghelioseok]

clandestine. | 03

↳ forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest.

◇ jungkook x reader ◇ smut | fluff | brother’s best friend!au ◇ 9.2k [3/6]

notes: this will likely be my last update of this fic until the new year, because i have two (2!!!) other fics that i’m planning to post in december, including another jungoo one, so! please look forward to those, and enjoy this chapter in the meantime! 

warnings: jk’s massive noona kink: a recurring yet warranted warning, me absolutely fucking up everything about korea’s geography probably, semi-public? fingering???, jungkook....... shall we say, rocks the boat, there is one (1) dick pic but no one’s complaining

⇢ 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 

Monday - 11:27am

Kim Taehyung added you to the group: the great escape!!!!!! 🏝🚗💨

[11:27am] Taehyung: let’s gooooooooooo!!

[11:27am] Jisoo: ???

[11:28am] Lisa: go where?

[11:28am] Taehyung: parks lake house this weekend! we’re going on vacation!

[11:28am] You: hold up tae, we haven’t even asked our parents if we can have the house yet

[11:29am] Chimchim: oh yeah lmao

[11:29am] Chimchim: u wanna go ask noona??

[11:29am] You: nope

[11:30am] Chimchim: ugh, fine

[11:30am] Chimchim: u big baby

[11: 31am] You: 🙄

[11: 37am] Chimchim: they said yes!

[11:38am] Taehyung: LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[11:38am] Minho: sweet 👍

[11:38am] Taemin: tight

[11:39am] Jungkook: dope

[11:40AM] Jisoo: you’re all idiots 🙄

Tuesday - 2:34pm

[2:34pm] Chimchim: i’ve secured the van

[2:34pm] Chimchim: for the trip i mean

[2:35pm] Taehyung: noice

[2:35pm] You: 10 people aren’t gonna fit in mom’s van, chim

[2:37pm] Jungkook: i can drive too

[2:37pm] Chimchim: 👍👍

[2:37pm] Chimchim: see? nothing to worry about

[2:38pm] Jungkook: yeah noona, nothing to worry about. nothing at all.

Wednesday - 9:49pm

[9:49pm] Taehyung: oh my god we need FOOD

[9:49pm] Lisa: you’re just realizing that now?

[9:50pm] Taehyung: shut up

[9:50pm] Taehyung: i have a cooler

[9:51pm] Lisa: and ice?

[9:51pm] Taehyung: ………… i will buy some ice

[9:52pm] You: there’s a grocery store on the way up that we always used to go to, we can stock up there

[9:52pm] Taehyung: 👍

[9:54pm] You: you also better remember to bring your own towels. and more than one change of clothing

[9:54pm] Taehyung: 👍👍

[9:55pm] Chimchim: yes, mom

///

The day of the trip finds you standing in the foyer, rifling through your purse to make sure you have all the essentials. Off in the distance, you can hear Jimin sprinting around frantically, catching the briefest glimpse of his ruffled blond hair before he disappears again into the depths of the house.

“Chim, I swear to god. Why didn’t you pack earlier?”

“I did!” your brother whines, poking his head out from the living room where his suitcase is lying wide open, belongings scattered in every direction. “It’s just that—oh, fuck. Do you have my toothbrush?”

“Why would I have your toothbrush?” you deadpan.

He ignores you, and not two seconds later, he lets out an excited shout. “Never mind! I found it!”

You sigh and rub your temples. The trip hasn’t even begun, yet you’re already feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. “I’m going outside,” you call to your brother, who grunts in acknowledgement. Opening up the front door, you drag your suitcase out onto the sun-drenched porch, relishing the welcome breeze that caresses your cheeks and whispers through your hair.

The rare moment of peace is broken almost immediately by the rumble of a starting engine—the sound shuddery and wavering before it finally evens out into a steady, mechanical purr. It’s coming from nearby, and your gaze immediately travels to the neighboring driveway where a beat-up sedan sits, torn between exasperation and amusement when you see Jungkook waving at you from the driver’s seat.

“I’m coming to pick you up!” he calls through the open window, and you hold back your laughter as he reverses out of his driveway, rolls ten feet down the street, and pulls into yours.

“Was that really necessary?” you ask once he’s parked.

“Of course it was,” he replies, hopping out to grab your suitcase. You watch as he pops the trunk and loads it inside, and blanch when you realize what that means.

“Wait a second. Am I riding with you?”

Some emotion flashes across his face, but he wipes it away before you can identify it. “Would that be so terrible?”

It’s been one week since Taehyung’s party, and Jisoo’s warning still rings loud and clear in your brain. Still, you feign nonchalance and tamp down the uptick in your heart rate, offering him a shrug. “Just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”

He grunts. An awkward silence settles over you as he adjusts your suitcase in the trunk beside his, and you distract yourself by fiddling with your purse strap until he slams the lid closed.

“So…” you start after a few seconds. “Are we picking anyone else up?”

“Yugyeom,” Jungkook replies, opening up the driver’s side door and climbing in. Hesitantly, you make your way over to the other side of the car, wondering if there’s any way you can avoid sitting in the passenger seat without looking like a total weirdo.

“Oh! Jungkook’s here already?” Jimin exits the house at last, lugging his suitcase and a smaller backpack. He shoves both into the backseat of your mother’s van before coming over, frowning when he sees you hovering near the trunk. “Why are you just standing there?”

You make a face at him. “We’re waiting for you, dumbass. Who’s riding with you?”

“Tae, Minho, and Taemin,” your brother replies. “Didn’t you see the group chat this morning?”

“I muted it days ago,” you admit. “You guys were annoying as hell.” Then another thought strikes you, your brain belatedly registering the names Jimin listed. “Wait, what about the girls? Aren’t they coming?”

Your brother rolls his eyes. “Jisoo’s working as a camp counselor this summer, and Lisa has other vacation plans. Maybe if you hadn’t muted the chat, you’d have known that.”

He has a point, though you aren’t about to admit that. You’re also wise enough not to inquire about the third member of the trio, remembering Jisoo’s revelation at the party. It’s no surprise that Chaeyoung isn’t joining you for the weekend—you’d want to avoid extended periods of time with your ex-boyfriend too. At the thought, your gaze reluctantly flits back over to the ex in question, who raises an expectant brow when he catches your eye.

“Ready?” he calls out the open window.

No, you want to say. But Jimin has already clambered into the van and slammed the door shut, and Jungkook’s car is blocking the van in the driveway so you suck in a deep breath and slide into the passenger seat beside your dark-haired neighbor.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Jungkook nods and throws the car into reverse. One hand splays across the wheel while the other comes up to rest on the back of your seat, and your breath hitches when he cranes around to check his blind spots, his face suddenly too close for comfort.

He’s playing with you, you tell yourself firmly, leaning back until your back’s pressed against the door and you can safely breathe again. Chaeyoung. Think about what he did to Chaeyoung.

“Hey, I made a roadtrip mix,” Jungkook pipes up all of a sudden. He grabs his phone from where it’s resting on the dashboard, tapping at the screen until the first strains of a melody filter through the car speakers. “It should last us the whole way.”

You perk up when you recognize the tune. “Oh! I love this song.”

Jungkook watches out of the corner of his eye as you bob your head to the beat, before smiling down at his lap. “Yeah. I know.”

///

Yugyeom lives on the other side of town, in a sprawling, winding neighborhood that sends your brain—and your phone’s GPS—into a complete and total tailspin. “Wait, wait—hang on. I think you missed a turn. You must have.”

Jungkook’s face crumples in confusion as he slows the car to a crawl, drawing a few irritated honks from the cars behind you. “There weren’t any streets back there, though.”

“Are you sure?” you ask, twisting in your seat to get a better look. “The directions said to take a right in… oh, fuck, hang on. We’re not even on a digitized road anymore, apparently.”

Jungkook heaves a sigh, but when you glance up at him, he’s wearing a grin. “Come on, Noona. You’re supposed to be my navigator. I’m depending on you.”

“I only know how to get us to the lake house, not Yugyeom’s,” you sniff defensively. “This is way beyond my pay grade.”

Jungkook chortles and reaches out, extending an open palm. “Can I see your phone for a sec?” You nod, handing it over, and he clicks his tongue as he turns it upside-down—rotating it a full three hundred and sixty degrees before returning it. “We might be lost,” he declares.

“Gee, you don’t say.”

He chuckles again. Picking up his own phone, he swipes a thumb across the screen before handing the unlocked device over. “Here, call Yugyeom. Put him on speaker, yeah?”

You hum in acknowledgement and scroll down in his contacts until you find the other boy’s name, clicking it open. A photo fills the screen as it rings—clearly a group photo from the way it’s cropped, zoomed in on Yugyeom and the ridiculous face he’s making.

“Is this from graduation?” you ask curiously.

Jungkook blinks and tears his gaze away from the windshield. “Huh?”

“Yugyeom’s contact photo,” you clarify, tilting the phone screen so he can see. “He’s got robes on.”

“Oh.” He looks away again, cheeks flushing. “Yeah. It’s lame, I know.”

You shake your head. “Don’t say that. I think it’s nice.”

Jungkook doesn’t get a chance to respond, but it’s impossible to miss the grin that crinkles his face and settles there. There’s a staticky hum as the line connects, and then Yugyeom’s voice is filling the vehicle, sounding as if he’s just rolled out of bed.

“Whaddaya want?”

“We can’t find your fucking house, man,” Jungkook says bluntly, turning onto a street that you’ve driven down at least three times by this point. “Where do you live?”

On the other end of the line, Yugyeom sighs. “Okay, okay. What street are you guys on?”

That gives Jungkook pause. “Uhh, Cedar Street? Oak Avenue? It has a tree name.”

“Neither of those streets exist, dude.”

“Birch Boulevard!” you exclaim. “We’re on Birch Boulevard. I saw the sign a while back.”

“Ah, okay. You’re close, then. Do you see a sign for Linden Lane?”

You glance around until you alight on a signpost. “Yeah.”

“Turn right onto it. Then take the first left, go past the cul-de-sac, and another left. Do not pass Go, and do not collect two-hundred dollars. I’m the fifth house on the right.”

He ends the call before you can ask him to repeat the directions, and you send Jungkook a helpless look. “Did you get all of that?”

“Besides the overused Monopoly joke?” Jungkook asks.. “Yeah, I got it. Right, left, left. Fifth house. Shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to get there.”

And true to his word, you arrive at the house three minutes later. Yugyeom is standing on the front step with rumpled hair and a duffel bag at his feet, and you snort when he throws open the car door and flops across the entirety of the backseat.

“Rough morning?”

“Stayed up late packing,” he says by way of explanation, his eyes already beginning to drift shut. Jungkook immediately turns the music up, and you giggle when Yugyeom shoots upright at the bassline that’s now shaking the entire vehicle. “I’m up, I’m up! Jeez, man.”

Jungkook just sends him an innocent grin in the rearview mirror. You turn the volume back down to a reasonable level as Yugyeom directs Jungkook onto the best route to take out of the neighborhood, and it isn’t long before you’re merging onto the highway that leads toward the coast.

You’re just beginning to get comfortable, staring out the window at the passing cityscape, when your leg vibrates with an incoming text notification. Glancing down, you see that Jungkook’s phone has slipped between your thigh and the seat, the screen lit with a new message.

[10:21am] Minho: gonna be at the store in 10

“Minho says they’ll be at the grocery store in ten minutes,” you relay to your companions. “We have a little longer to go. Probably another half hour or so.”

“We wouldn’t be so far behind if Yugyeom didn’t live in a fucking labyrinth,” Jungkook remarks, but a glance at the young man in the backseat reveals that he’s drifted off despite your earlier stunt. Rolling his eyes, he turns to you. “Can you text him back, Noona?”

You nod and hold out his phone so he can unlock it with his thumb. “Hey,” you say once you’ve hit send on the message. “Do you have a contact photo for me?”

Jungkook stiffens slightly, his gaze skittering between you and the road. “Oh. Uh, yeah, I guess I do. But it’s nothing, really. It’s kinda lame. But you… you can look at it if you want.”

Curiosity piqued, you scroll down until you find your name, tapping on the image beside it. The photo is from several years ago, during a family trip to the lake house with the Jeons. You are no older than fifteen, your arm slung around a fourteen-year-old Jungkook as the two of you stand knee-deep in the lake, wearing swimsuits and bright smiles. In the background, you can just barely make out a blurry Jimin mid-splash.

“I remember this,” you murmur, zooming in on your smiling faces. “That was a fun summer.”

“Junghyun was grumpy the whole time,” Jungkook recalls with a laugh. “But we had a good time, didn’t we? We practically lived in the lake that entire week.”

“Or that old canoe.” You grin, taking one last look at the photo before locking his phone and handing it back to him. “Remember? We’d always row out too far, and our parents would scream for us to come back before we fell in and drowned.”

Jungkook snickers. “As if I’d ever let you drown. I’m a great swimmer.”

“Are you saying I’m not?”

He backpedals immediately, realizing his mistake. “Hey, don’t twist my words. I said nothing of the sort.”

“That’s what I thought.” Giggling, you turn to look out the window, propping your chin in your palm as you watch the scenery flash past. “And I want that photo, by the way. Send it to me?”

“As soon as we get to the store,” Jungkook promises. “Speaking of which, we’re getting close. Keep an eye out for the exit for me?”

“Deal.”

///

Jimin and the others are waiting in the parking lot when you arrive, perched on and around the van as they watch Jungkook expertly maneuver the car into a neighboring parking space. “Took you long enough,” your brother says once the engine is cut, hopping off the hood and landing lightly on both feet.

“We’re here now, aren’t we?” you snark as you join the others hovering near the grocery store entrance. Jimin makes a face at you, and you stick your tongue out in response. After a quick huddle—wherein you form a very haphazard game plan—everyone disperses. Jimin grabs a shopping cart and heads inside with Taehyung and Minho, the latter of whom is trying to clamber his way into the cart to hitch a ride.

Sighing, you grab a shopping cart of your own and scan the interior of the store for the produce section. They’ve rearranged the aisles since you were last here, but you quickly find what you’re looking for and begin picking your way over when Jungkook materializes at your side.

“So, what are you thinking for food?” he asks, nudging you away so he can push the cart in your stead.

You allow him to take over, gesturing toward your destination. “I know my brother,” you tell him dryly. “He’s going to buy meat and completely forget about everything else. And I don’t trust any of you to buy a single fruit or vegetable.”

“I like fruit and vegetables,” Jungkook defends.

“You like everything,” you correct, flashing him a teasing grin before leading him into the produce section.

Grocery shopping with Jungkook turns out to be surprisingly pleasant—comfortable, even. He proves adept at finding the ripest fruits and greenest vegetables, and when you ask him to find some apples, he trots off immediately and returns with a handful of sweet potatoes in addition to your requested fruit.

You raise an eyebrow. “What are you planning to do with those?”

Jungkook feigns offense, slapping a hand to his heart. “That’s cold, Noona. Don’t you think I can cook?”

“I’ve never seen you cook in my life,” you respond. “How am I supposed to know if you can or not?”

“I can,” he promises. “And I’ll prove it too, if you let me.”

You get the feeling he’s not just talking about cooking anymore, but he doesn’t give you a chance to answer. Dropping the apples and potatoes into the cart, he flashes you a crooked little smile before turning toward a display of cabbages, leaving you to wonder at what exactly is going through his head.

///

It’s nearly one in the afternoon when you arrive at your family’s lake house. The last stretch of the drive takes you through the forest along a winding, narrow road, but Jungkook is a capable driver and you know the way well enough to warn him about any upcoming hairpin turns. Piling out of the car, the three of you make quick work of putting the food safely into the refrigerator. By the time you’re finished, Jimin and the others have arrived as well, lugging their belongings inside and setting them inside the entryway.

“So who’s sleeping where?” Taehyung asks, glancing around the house. It’s modestly sized, with a living area on one side and a combined dining room and kitchen on the other. Three bedrooms and a bathroom branch off of the hallway between them, ending in a back door that leads out to the lake. Through the window, you can see the water glimmering in the sunlight, hazy and golden.

“We’ll have to share,” Jimin says. “ If Noona takes one room, that leaves two bedrooms and the pullout couch for the rest of us.”

Jungkook tilts his head. “Rock, paper, scissors?” he suggests, drawing a chorus of groans.

“I always lose!” Jimin complains. “And Taemin cheats!”

“Do not!”

Laughing at the indignant expression on your brother’s face, you decide to leave them to it and head to your bedroom with your luggage in tow. The room is just as you remember it, with a bed tucked against one wall and a dresser on the opposite. There are three doors in total—one that you just entered through, and another that opens into a small closet. The third leads to a bathroom—shared with the bedroom on the other side of the wall that usually belongs to Jimin. Vaguely, you wonder who will be sleeping there tonight, before setting your suitcase on the bed and unzipping it.

“Fuck!”

You jump at the sudden shout, poking your head out into the hallway to see what’s causing all the commotion. Yugyeom is kneeling on the floor with his head down, a crestfallen Taemin standing beside him. Meanwhile, Taehyung and Minho look supremely pleased with themselves, and you see why when they grab their bags and practically skip to the master bedroom across the hall, collapsing onto the king-sized bed.

“Have fun on the couch, losers!” Jimin singsongs, grabbing Jungkook by the wrist and dragging him into their newly won bedroom on your side of the hallway. “Lake in fifteen minutes, so get changed! Last one there’s in charge of dinner!”

The door slams shut behind him, and you roll your eyes before turning back to your opened suitcase and pulling out a book. There’s a perfectly shaded spot beneath one of the trees along the water, and you fully intend to capitalize on the last few hours of daylight before the sun begins to set.

Minho is the only one outside when you exit the house, standing on the dock in a pair of green swim trunks. He waves at you cheerily before cannonballing into the lake, and you squeak as the resulting splash sends water splattering across the front of your shirt.

“Sorry!” he calls when he resurfaces, shaking his hair out like a wet dog.

You wave off his apology with a laugh, settling down onto the soft grass at the base of your chosen tree and opening up your book. The other boys trickle out of the house one by one, but you barely notice. It isn’t until a triumphant shout pierces the air that you finally glance up to see what’s causing all the commotion, your gaze immediately landing on Taehyung standing on the back steps of the house.

“Trust me,” he says, unbothered by his apparent tardiness. “You don’t want me to make dinner.”

Minho pulls a face and straightens up from where he’d been floating on his back. “You know, he kinda has a point there.”

Murmurs of agreement all around. Taehyung gives Jimin a smug smile, who scowls from where he’s sitting at the end of the dock, his bare feet dangling over the edge. “So what now? Do we have to play rock, paper, scissors again?”

“Nah, I’ll do it.”

Every head whips around to face Jungkook, yours included. He’s standing a short ways from where you’re sitting—his approach so quiet that you hadn’t even heard him arrive. The last time you checked, he’d been diving off the dock with Minho and Yugyeom, water pooling in his collarbones and dripping down the ridges of his taut abdomen each time he resurfaced.

Not that you’d been looking, of course.

“Really?” Jimin looks aghast at his best friend’s declaration. “You can cook?”

Jungkook scoffs in disbelief and plops down beside you, leaning back against the tree trunk. “Why does everyone in your family seem surprised by that?” he asks, his lip jutting out in a petulant frown. “Do I seem like someone who can’t cook?”

“Yes,” you tell him honestly, marking your page and letting the book fall shut. “Don’t take it personally, though. Men only learn how to cook in college when they have to start fending for themselves. And sometimes, not even then.”

The noise that leaves Jungkook’s mouth can best be described as disgruntled, but he doesn’t press any further. Instead, he peers over your shoulder to get a look at the cover of your book, mouthing the title to himself before glancing at you. “Haven’t I seen you reading this before?”

“Probably,” you admit. “It’s an old favorite.”

He hums, slouching back against the tree again, and when you look over, you see that both his eyes have fallen shut. With his mouth parted and his dark lashes resting on his cheeks, he looks years younger than he is—and so much more like the Jungkook you used to know.

“Tired?” you whisper.

“Long drive,” Jungkook whispers back, his head already beginning to loll. “Lemme sleep, Noona.”

Smiling to yourself, you return to your book and leave him to rest.

///

“So, what are you even planning to make?” Jimin asks, swinging his legs. He’s seated atop the kitchen counter, taking up the majority of what precious little space there is to begin with, and Jungkook sighs deeply as he’s forced to dodge around him yet again to peer into the refrigerator.

“You’ll see.”

“I don’t think you even know yet,” Taemin pipes up from the doorway. The other boys are in the living room playing Mario Kart, but Taemin and Jimin have selflessly pulled themselves away from the game to help their friend in the kitchen—or so they say. As far as you’re concerned, they’ve been nothing but a nuisance thus far, but you don’t voice that particular thought aloud.

“Ramen doesn’t count as making dinner,” Jimin points out snidely when Jungkook pauses too long next to the box of ramen packs. “Anyone can boil water. And you don’t get to add an egg and call it fancy, like you usually do.”

“My ramen is delicious, excuse you,” Jungkook retorts, pointing a spatula at him. “And that’s not even what I’m making, so fuck off.”

Jimin shrugs, but shuts his mouth nonetheless. You take the opportunity to throw some pork belly at him, the meat wrapped neatly in paper and tied off with twine. “Here,” you tell him. “You could at least make yourself useful and start grilling the meat.”

“Okay, mom,” your brother grumbles under his breath, hopping off the counter. He and Taemin head out to the back porch where the grill sits, and you join Jungkook at the stove where he’s staring thoughtfully at an empty pan.

“Try twisting the dial. I’ve heard that helps.”

Jungkook snaps out of his daze and turns to you. “Huh?”

“The stove. It won’t light itself, you know.”

Chuckling, Jungkook twists the dial as instructed, adding a drizzle of oil to the pan. As it heats up, he turns and selects a knife from the cutlery drawer. The sweet potatoes he’d insisted on purchasing are already washed and peeled, and you watch as he begins to slice them, your gaze automatically flitting down to his exposed forearms, his muscles flexing with every movement.

“Hey, Noona? Can you do me a favor?”

You blink, tearing your gaze from the branching veins lining his arms. “What?”

Jungkook, thankfully, doesn’t seem to notice your distracted state. “Can you put the rice in the microwave?” he asks, and you can’t help but giggle.

“Why?” you tease. “Are you still scared?”

“Of course not,” he retorts, but you don’t miss the wary look that flashes across his face when you plop the rice inside and go to punch in the cook time.

The remainder of the cooking goes smoothly. Jimin and Taemin return with the grilled meat, and Jungkook rebuffs your offer to set the table, leaving his position at the stove to lay plates and utensils down on the table himself. “I’m just about done, anyway,” he tells you, gesturing at the plate of glazed sweet potatoes on the counter. “Sit down and relax, Noona.”

“Fine,” you relent, taking a seat. Jimin takes the chair beside you, and Taemin plops down on his other side. Jungkook sits down just to your left once he’s finished laying out the food, and for a brief, insane moment, you almost think that he’s going to repeat what he’d done at his graduation dinner. But the dark-haired young man remains on his best behavior, keeping his hands to himself under the table, and you aren’t sure whether you’re grateful or disappointed.

The meal flies by in a flurry of laughter and conversation. Jungkook discovers that his glazed sweet potatoes have adhered to the plate, and sends everyone into hysterics when he promptly starts spinning it around like a steering wheel.

It’s a good night. And at the end of it, you go to bed warm and content, with a belly full of food and a smile on your face.

///

You awaken to the sound of chirping songbirds and gentle waves lapping at the shore the next morning, thoroughly rejuvenated after an undisturbed night’s sleep. Stretching your arms overhead, you yawn and bask in the comfort of your bed for a few more moments before getting up and heading to the bathroom, thankful that you don’t have to fight anyone for sink occupancy. The toilet seat is even down, which comes as a welcome surprise, all things considered.

Before long, you are back in your bedroom, rifling through the contents of your suitcase. Belatedly, you realize that you’ve packed only one swimsuit—and a bikini, at that. Cheeks warming, you pull the two pieces out, holding them up against your body. Has it always been this small? You don’t remember. All you know is that Jungkook has two fully functional eyes, and there’s no way that he won’t be looking at every inch of skin you choose to expose.

In the end, you settle on wearing the bikini beneath a flowy, floral kimono-style robe, tied at the waist to form a makeshift dress. The ensemble reaches just past your knees and is sheer enough to still show skin, but you no longer feel as self-conscious going out into the view of your companions and that’s a victory as far as you’re concerned. Checking your reflection one last time, you adjust your sash before opening the bedroom door and heading down the hall for some breakfast.

Unsurprisingly, the kitchen is empty when you walk in, tiptoeing past a still slumbering Taemin and Yugyeom on the pullout couch. You savor the quiet as you start up the old coffeemaker, pulling a mug from the cabinet and rinsing it out to get rid of any lingering dust. The weather app on your phone promises that it’ll be a clear, cloudless day, and a glance out the window confirms it. Silently, you debate whether or not to crack a window.

Your musings are interrupted by the arrival of Taehyung, his brown hair sticking up at all angles. Blearily, he trundles to the fridge and grabs the orange juice, seemingly two seconds away from chugging it straight from the carton before you clear your throat and push a clean glass toward him. You think you hear him mumble a thank you.

As the morning wears on, the others slowly begin to trickle in. Breakfast is a disorganized affair that leaves bread crumbs all over the counter, and nearly causes a fight when everyone seems to want their eggs cooked a different way.

“Look, if you wanted your egg soft-boiled, you should’ve made it yourself!” Jimin grouches to Taehyung, the t-shirt over his head muffling his words. Everyone else is already in the water, splashing about, but you’re seated on the end of the dock with your brother and Taehyung, who looks thoroughly unfazed behind his tinted sunglasses.

“Maybe if I knew how to soft boil an egg, I would have.”

“Google exists,” Jimin says, finally freeing himself from the shirt and tossing it aside.

Taehyung nods sagely. “Exactly. So why didn’t you use it?”

Jimin is beginning to look positively murderous, so when Minho swims over and taps your submerged ankle, you are beyond grateful for the distraction. “Hey. What’s up?”

“Are you gonna swim, or are you gonna sit onshore the whole time?” Minho asks, raking his wet bangs out of his eyes. “The water’s not even cold, so get in here.”

Pointedly, you wiggle your toes. “Feels pretty cold to me.”

“Okay, fine. It’s cold.” Minho grins. “But you get used to it.”

You sigh at his easy admission. “All men do is lie. How am I supposed to believe you?”

He raises a brow. “Do I need to pull you in and dunk you under?”

“I will kick you if you even try,” you tell him, standing up and shrugging off your robe. An audible hush falls as the gauzy material pools around your ankles—Jungkook stops wrestling with Yugyeom and trying to dunk him underwater, and Taemin pauses mid-splash, his hair drenched and dripping.

It’s Minho who breaks the silence first, letting loose a low whistle of appreciation. “Damn, {Name}.”

Jimin grabs a shoe from the pile on the dock and chucks it at him, hard. “Dude, that’s my fucking sister!”

“Ow! What the fuck, man, that’s my shoe!”

“Quit ogling my sister!”

“I’m not!” Minho yells, just as Jimin chucks the other shoe and hits him square in the mouth. “Okay, I’m not anymore. Sorry, okay?”

Once he’s sufficiently sure that Jimin is done attacking him, Minho turns to you. “I’m sorry,” he says sincerely. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything. You know that, right?”

“I know,” you reassure him. “Honestly, it was kinda good for my self-esteem. And I don’t need you defending my honor, or whatever it is you think you’re doing,” you add, glancing over at your disgruntled brother.

“Men are pigs,” Jimin sniffs. “I won’t apologize.”

You ruffle his hair good-naturedly. “I know, Chim. You’re right.” Then your smile turns mischievous. “I won’t apologize for what I’m about to do, either.”

And then you grab him by the arm and drag him into the lake, the cold water submerging you in an instant and stealing the breath out of your lungs. You’re both gasping by the time you resurface, blinking water out of your eyes, and you squeal when Jimin takes the opportunity to splash you again.

Hours pass—the sun rising higher overhead. Around noon, Taehyung disappears inside the house and returns with an assortment of snacks and sandwich fixings, ushering everyone over for an impromptu lunch on the dock. You dip your feet into the water as you munch on a bag of chips, and Jungkook plops down beside you with a juice box in one hand and a ham sandwich in the other.

“Wanna go for a ride in the canoe after lunch?” he asks, jabbing a thumb back in the direction of the house. “I found it in the garage.”

You laugh. “Really? I thought for sure we got rid of that thing. Are you sure it hasn’t sprung a leak?”

Jungkook’s face crinkles into a grin. “Guess we’ll have to wait and see, huh?”

You grin back and raise your cup, the lemonade inside swishing around. “I’ll hang on to this, just in case I need to start bailing water out.”

Lunchtime winds down gradually. Jungkook polishes off his sandwich and trots off to fetch the canoe, waving off your offers to help before disappearing around the corner of the house. You watch him return a few minutes later from your seat on the end of the dock, resting your weight back on your hands and swirling your pruney toes in the water. He’s stripped off the loose white tee he’d donned during lunch, his golden skin cast in shadow by the canoe perched across his bare shoulders, and your gaze trails from his bulging biceps down to the ridges of his abdomen. The muscles flex with every step he takes, and you hastily take another sip of lemonade in an effort to combat the sudden dryness in your throat.

With a grunt, Jungkook comes to a stop at your elbow, heaving the boat into the water. The impact sends ripples across the lake and the butterflies in your belly into a frenzy, and you nearly fall off the dock when Jungkook touches your shoulder gently.

“Ready to go, Noona?”

You nod, not quite trusting yourself to speak. Jungkook holds the boat steady with one hand while offering you the other, and you gratefully grasp it as you step off the dock. The canoe rocks dangerously when Jungkook clambers in after you, but quickly steadies when he picks up an oar and jabs at the dock to push off into the lake. The glimmering expanse of blue water stretches before you, and you relax as you let your fingers dangle off the side of the boat, watching ripples form beneath your fingertips.

“I can help row,” you say after a few moments, casting a glance over at Jungkook. He’s settled into a rhythm now, the veins and tendons in his arm flexing with each movement, and you’re suddenly very aware of how close he’s sitting.

“You—” Jungkook says, fixing you with a playful stare, “—just enjoy the ride, yeah?”

Shaking your head, you smile and turn back around to admire the view. Sunlight reflects off the rippling water, lending a golden iridescence to the glittering blue depths. In the distance, the opposite shoreline rises up, crowned with rocky outcrops and majestic dark green pines.

With a start, you realize how far away you’ve gotten from the other boys. The shouts and laughter from the house are quickly fading into the background, and you nervously turn to look at Jungkook as he rows you even further.

“God, my dad would freak if he saw us right now,” you remark, trying to diffuse the sudden tension that’s settled. “I mean, we don’t even have life jackets. He’d lose his mind.”

Jungkook hums. He stops rowing, his hands stilling on the oars, and you’re just about to ask him what’s wrong when a warm hand glides up your thigh.

“You think you could maybe stop talking about your dad, princess?” Then he smirks. “Unless you’re into the whole daddy kink thing, because I’d be down to explore that at some point if you want—“

“Jungkook!” you hiss, scandalized.

“Yes?” the young man in question hums, his face the picture of innocence. It’s hard to muster up your vocabulary when he’s looking up at you with those wide doe eyes, but you somehow manage to prevail over your malfunctioning brain.

“We’re in public!” you whisper, glancing back at the shore where your brother and his friends have started an impromptu game of water polo.

Jungkook smirks crookedly at you. “Guess you better not scream too loud, then.”

And then, before you can open your mouth to protest—before you can even try to call his bluff—he’s slipped his hand into your bikini bottoms and found his way to your clit. Your entire body spasms when he presses into it experimentally, and the resulting snicker that escapes him is nothing short of infuriating.

“Careful,” he coos, laying his free hand on your thigh, his thumb rubbing nonsensical circles into the soft skin. “Don’t wanna rock the boat, now.”

Then he returns his attention to your clit, pinching the nub just to watch you jolt in his grasp and soothing you with a gentle kiss to the knee afterward. Your skin warms beneath the plush of his lips, and the pleased smile that curves them is all the warning you get before he sheathes a single finger in your clenching core. “Jungkook—” you gasp, shoving uselessly at his bare shoulders, but you can’t keep the edge of desire out of your voice. You can’t hide the growing wetness between your legs either—wetness that he most certainly feels as he slips another finger inside, pumping into you with ease.

“God, look at you,” he murmurs, his eyes trained on the way you clench around him. “So pretty like this. So pretty, getting fucked by my fingers. I could do this all day.”

“We—we don’t have all day,” you whisper. The last syllable dissolves into a moan as Jungkook eases a third finger into your cunt, and you scrabble to ground yourself when he picks up his leisurely pace. One hand settles on the edge of the boat, your fingernails digging into the wood, while the other finds Jungkook’s bicep. His arm flexes beneath your grip with each snap of his wrist, and you keen when he crooks his fingers just right and sends stars skittering across your vision.

He knows that you’re getting close. You can tell from the growing furrow between his brows and the hard set of his jaw, and you can tell that he won’t stop until he gets you off. Concentration etches across his face, and you gasp when his thumb finds your clit again.

“Oh, fuck, Jungkook—”

“That’s it,” he rasps, digging deeper and thumbing roughly across your bundle of nerves. “Cum for me.”

And you do. With one final flick of his wrist, Jungkook sends you hurtling over the edge that he’s so effortlessly built, a cresting wave of pleasure overtaking your body and spreading through your veins. Your leg kicks out instinctively, rocking the canoe dangerously in the water, but Jungkook catches you by the ankle with his free hand and presses a kiss to the inside of your thigh. He shifts his weight until you’re steadied once more, and only then does he ease his fingers out of you, raising them to his mouth to lick them clean.

“Think we can sneak away so I can fuck you properly?” he asks.

Your cheeks heat up at the lewd display, warming even more when his words register in your muddled brain. “Oh my god, Jungkook.”

“That’s exactly what you’ll be saying when I really get my hands on you,” Jungkook agrees. Flashing you a mischievous grin, he drops his hand over the edge of the boat, letting the turquoise water wash away any lingering fluids. “What do you think? The backseat of my car isn’t half bad…”

“I will literally push you into this lake,” you tell him, trying and failing to hide a disbelieving laugh. “Why are you such a perv?”

“You like it,” Jungkook defends immediately. “‘Sides,” he adds, casting a wary glance at the shore where Jimin and the others are still fully engrossed in their game, “I wanna kiss you while I fuck you. It’s not as good like this.”

At that, something dangerously close to affection blooms in your belly, winding its curious tendrils around your heart. Swallowing the feeling down, you pick up one of the oars instead, handing it over to him before hefting the other. “Come on,” you murmur. “They’re gonna get suspicious if we’re gone too long.”

Jungkook hums. “Yeah. Probably.”

And then he raises the oar you just handed him, lifting it until the paddle covers both of your faces, and boldly plants a firm kiss on your mouth.

“I’ll row us back,” he declares casually when he pulls away, as if he hasn’t just stolen all the oxygen from your lungs. As if your lips aren’t burning where he’s kissed you, your cheeks hot beneath his gentle exhalations. As if you aren’t positively thrumming with the desire to pull him back in, and maybe take him up on his offer to fuck you in the backseat of his beat-up sedan.

“Yeah,” you say instead, your voice hoarse. “Let’s go.”

///

What few remaining hours of daylight you have, you decide to spend inside. Jungkook gets roped into the water polo match as soon as the two of you return to shore, and you take the opportunity to slip into the house and clean yourself up. Safely locked away in the bathroom, you strip off your damp bikini bottoms and toss them in the sink. The top follows, and you give both a quick wash, doing your best to ignore the remaining slick from your orgasm that stubbornly coats the material.

Once everything is washed and hanging up to dry, you step into the shower. Warm water soaks your hair and slides down your back, and you tilt your head back to let the spray wash your worries away, relishing in the rare moment of peace and quiet.

By the time you’ve toweled off and gotten dressed, you can hear the boys beginning to traipse back into the house. From what you can make out, they’re making dinner plans, and you poke your head out curiously when Jimin mentions you by name.

“What are you saying about me?” you ask, narrowing your eyes accusingly at your brother.

Jimin whirls around, his cherubic face a perfect picture of innocence. “Nothing! I was just talking about your fried rice and how good it is…”

“You’re trying to get me to make you dinner,” you sigh. “I knew it.”

“No, we’ll help!” your brother promises. “I swear, as soon as I get out of the shower, I’ll chop all the vegetables.”

“Sure you will,” you snort, brushing past him and heading for the kitchen.

Much to your surprise, the kitchen is already occupied when you arrive. Jungkook and Yugyeom are at the counter—the former poised with a knife at the ready, about to slice into an onion. The latter is digging through the cabinets, and both turn at the sound of your footsteps.

“Hey,” Yugyeom says. “You probably know where the bottle opener is, right?”

You nod. “Left of the sink, second drawer down.” Then you turn your attention to Jungkook, peering curiously over his shoulder. “What’s the onion for?”

“Dinner,” he replies, flashing you a crooked little smile. “We’re making fried rice, aren’t we?”

Your heart skips a beat in your chest and races to catch up, thumping erratically against your ribcage. It’s hard to ignore the warmth blossoming in your belly—near impossible to ignore the butterflies that have made a home there—but you somehow manage to school your expression into something passably neutral and busy yourself with the other vegetables on the counter. “I see Jimin got to you, too. Is the other cutting board clean?”

Jungkook nods, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the dish rack. “Washed it last night, yeah. It’s all yours, Noona.”

You hum and skirt around Yugyeom to grab the clean board and another knife. Chopping vegetables goes a lot faster with two people, and Yugyeom does his part by cracking open two bottles of beer and plunking one down next to each of you before opening a third for himself. “Hydrate,” he orders, and you roll your eyes before picking it up and taking a sip.

It doesn’t take long to finish making dinner. As promised, Jimin joins you as soon as he’s out of the shower, plucking the knife out of your hand and nudging you aside so he can finish cutting the vegetables. You fire up the stove and drizzle some oil into a pan, and smile when Taehyung brings you the container of leftover rice and a large serving bowl.

“You know what we should do?” Minho asks as you’re all sitting down to eat. Yugyeom’s opened more beers, and Jimin’s brought out the wine as well. Jungkook is spooning out fried rice for everyone, and you accept the bowl he hands you with a murmur of thanks before looking at Minho expectantly.

“What should we do?”

“Go to the beach,” he replies, tilting the remainder of his beer back into his mouth. “It’s only an hour away, isn’t it?”

“Closer to half an hour without traffic,” Jimin corrects. “But, yeah, we should go. That would be fun.”

By the time dinner is finished, you’ve finalized plans to drive down to the beach in the morning. “Remember, we’re leaving at ten,” you tell Jimin, elbowing him in the ribs. “That means you have to wake up before ten.”

“I know!” your brother whines, rubbing the spot where you elbowed him with a grimace. “Jeez, Noona. I’m good at waking up. It’s Jungkook and Tae you have to worry about.”

“Says the punk who takes hour-long showers,” you snark. “What are you gonna do when you have to pay your own water bills, huh?”

“Shower at your place,” he replies smugly. “You can’t turn me away. I’m your brother.”

“Please, that’s exactly why I can turn you away, you little mooch.”

“You love me!”

“Really? You wanna test that theory?”

The remainder of the evening passes in a blur of booze and board games, unearthed from the closet in the hall. Despite your collective agreement to go to bed early, it’s past midnight when you finally bid everyone goodnight and crawl underneath your covers. Shutting your eyes, you will your brain to settle and your limbs to relax, and you’re on the verge of drifting off when your phone suddenly buzzes. Lazily, you roll over and snatch the device off the nightstand, taking in the late hour before your eyes flit down to the new notification and go wide.

[1:02am] Jungkook: IMG_497

You freeze, thumb hovering just above the message. Even when your screen goes dark again, you can’t erase the sight of his name lighting up your phone, the attachment sitting there like a taunt. You shouldn’t open it. You can’t open it.

But curiosity gnaws at your belly, fraying the edges of your resolve. Slowly, you wake the screen, watching as Jungkook’s name fills it once more. You hesitate, bottom lip finding its way between your teeth.

And then your phone buzzes again, several times in quick succession.

[1:04am] Jungkook: i miss you, noona

[1:04am] Jungkook: miss your pretty face

[1:04am] Jungkook: miss how tight your pussy felt around my fingers

You drop the device as if scorched. It takes several moments to gather your wits again, but when you do, pick up your phone, clicking on his name and scrolling up to the attachment. In the darkness of your bedroom, you watch with bated breath as it downloads.

“Fuck.”

The expletive slips past your lips, unbidden, but you can’t help it. Jungkook stares out at you from the photograph illuminating your screen, his eyes hooded and his lips curled into a devious smirk. He’s in the shared bathroom between your bedrooms, and even though it’s dark inside, the flash of his camera is just enough to illuminate the distinctive palm tree patterned shower curtain behind him.

But, you aren’t focused on that.

No, your focus is zeroed in on the foreground of the photo, where you can perfectly make out the head of Jungkook’s cock, sticky and leaking copiously from between his fingers.

“Fuck,” you repeat, louder this time.

And as if reading your mind, another text flashes onto your screen.

[1:07am] Jungkook: wish your pretty little pussy was stretched around my cock right now, princess

You aren’t sure what possesses you to send the response you do, but your thumbs are moving before the more rational side of your brain can catch up and stop you.

[1:07am] You: why don’t you come over and make it happen then?

You’ve only just hit send when the bathroom door swings open, revealing Jungkook standing there in nothing but sweatpants. His face is illuminated in the stark white light shining from his screen, his eyes dark and his smirk even darker. Every movement drips with intent, from the way his lips quirk upward to the way he saunters over to join you on your bed, dropping his phone somewhere amongst the rumpled sheets. The room goes dark.

And then…

“Hey, princess.”

His lips are at your ear, hot breath caressing your cheeks and sending shivers down the length of your spine. The mattress dips beneath his weight as he joins you, a hand finding your bare thigh before sliding up to grasp your hip. Only an oversized t-shirt and a thin pair of cotton panties shield you from his roving fingers, and you can tell from the pleased curve of his mouth that he isn’t going to let either stand in his way. One hand slips beneath the hem of your shirt, dancing along your ribcage, and you let out a breathy gasp when he trails up and skims along the soft skin just below the swell of your breasts.

“Been thinking about you all night, you know,” Jungkook whispers, pushing up your shirt and peppering kisses along every inch of newly revealed flesh. “Been thinking about how pretty you looked, cumming around my fingers, and how much prettier you’d look cumming around my cock.”

Your shirt is long forgotten by this point, tugged overhead and thrown carelessly over his shoulder. Jungkook hauls you closer, slotting himself between your spread legs, and you shiver when he presses the pad of his thumb against your clothed clit, the material uncomfortably damp as it clings to your folds.

“Jungkook—” His name escapes you in an airy whisper. “Please.”

Even in the darkness, you can see the satisfied, self-assured tilt of his lips. “Such a good girl for me,” he croons, leaning down to press a kiss to your waiting mouth. His free hand comes up to cup your cheek while the other remains between your legs, and you gasp sharply when he digs his thumb a little harder against your clit, circling the sensitive bud.

Jungkook seizes upon the opportunity to slip his tongue past your lips, licking into your mouth with unrestrained ardor. Your panties are peeled away, the cottony material disappearing right alongside the pressure of his thumb, and the inadvertent whine that escapes you has him chuckling darkly in his throat.

“What is it, princess?” Jungkook rasps, his voice dipping several pitches. “You have to tell me what you want, remember?”

You clutch at his wrist weakly, tugging it back between your legs until he finally indulges you and resumes his lazy revolutions around your clit. “Want you,” you whisper. “Want you inside me.”

Jungkook lets out a pleased hum, rewarding you with a single finger that he slips into your sopping entrance, your juices aiding the smooth glide as he curls it up in search of the spot that’ll have you seeing stars. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“No, it wasn’t,” you agree shakily. “But it looks like you are, so why don’t you let me help you out?”

Jungkook chuckles softly, his lips ghosting across the swell of your cheek. “Oh, yeah? And how exactly do you plan on helping me?”

Slowly, you reach down, letting your fingers graze the sizable bulge in his sweatpants. “You said it yourself, didn’t you? Me, stretched around your cock?”

A low groan escapes him when you give him a firm stroke, your fingers barely meeting around his length. “On your back,” he commands hoarsely, nudging you backward until you’re nestled into your pillows. Freeing his erection from the confines of his sweatpants, he settles comfortably between your spread legs, the mattress groaning in protest at the shift in weight.

“Wait,” you whisper, grabbing his wrist. “Did you hear that?”

His face scrunches in confusion. “Hear what?” he asks, as if he’s never heard that particular string of words before. “Are you sure it wasn’t just—”

He stops mid-sentence, and you both hear it again—the unmistakable creaking of bedsprings from next door. “Shit!” you hiss, scrambling back on the mattress until you’re nearly pressed against the headboard. “Oh, god. That’s Jimin. He’s going to kill you if he finds you in here—”

On the other side of the wall, the door to the shared bathroom opens, the light flickering on and illuminating the crack beneath your door. You hear your brother cursing sleepily under his breath as the toilet lid clatters open, and nearly shove Jungkook off the bed in your haste to get him out of your room.

“You have to go,” you whisper frantically, herding him toward the door that leads out into the hall.

Jungkook hurriedly pulls his pants back over his hips, and you can practically see him willing his erection to go away. “What am I supposed to say if he asks?”

“I don’t know! Pretend you were going for a glass of water or something!”

With a final push, you shove him out of your bedroom, leaning against the door with a relieved sigh when it clicks shut behind him. You hear Jungkook shuffle off just as Jimin flushes, and cast a prayer up to any deities that may exist as you listen to him wash his hands. And it seems your prayers are answered, as quiet descends over the house once more. Off in the distance, you think you hear Minho snoring.

Letting out another sigh, you return to bed, crawling beneath the covers and getting comfortable. And when sleep finally takes you, you dream of Jeon Jungkook.

[jj-babebank]

Camp Willowdale / JJ Maybank AU / PART 5

Synopsis: Camp Willowdale is buzzing with new campers. It’s Caroline Windsor’s first year as a camp counsellor after attending the camp as a camper for ten years. Little does she know that this year Willowdale Lake is going to be a little different from what she is used to it being… Warnings: future chapters may include curse words, mentions of drugs, mentions of alcohol, mentions of sexual activities, mentions of death. Pairings: JJ Maybank x fem OC Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3 ; Part 4 Masterlist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 5 -

53 days of camp left

The first day at Camp Willowdale was usually pretty straightforward – campers arrive, sign in, move into their designated cabins where they meet their counselors, then all gather in the Wildcat Lodge to get their schedules, maps, badges and compasses. Ever since Pricilla’s daughter left her, she ditched the idea of having a stable with horses at camp (saying it reminded her way too much of Wendy, and also cost a lot of money to maintain), and settled for scavenger hunts in full scout mode in the forest, hence the compasses and badges. Every camper was given a first badge for participation and would get the chance to earn new badges to add to their collection during their nine week stay. Pricilla made sure that there was a badge for literally everything – from successfully starting a fire to throwing out the trash. She liked to do this to make all the campers feel included and special, which on its own sounded like a wonderful thing, however her actual motives were selfish – happy kids meant happy parents, and happy parents meant money. She also liked to turn everything into a competition, so she established a scoring system that nobody but her understood, where she’d award or deduct points from different groups and the group with the most points at the end of the summer will be crowned conquerors of the camp at a made up end-of-summer event Pricilla named the “Camp Will-all-hail banquet”. Caroline always found the name to be extremely tacky, but much like mostly everything that Pricilla put her finger onto, it wasn’t surprising.

JJ and Caroline had gotten assigned to Teens 2. Unsurprisingly, everyone in their group was almost their age, which seemed like somewhat of a recipe for disaster, as Caroline feared that this could result in the teens refusing to follow orders from someone who is basically their age. She was pleasantly surprised to find out that their group of teens was actually quite well-mannered and well-behaved. John B and Sarah’s teens, however, were a whole different story.

“You sure you got T2 and not T1?” panted Sarah after finally sitting down at the counselors table beside Caroline for dinner.

Caroline smirked, “Positive,” she confirmed, not being able to hide her amusement at the sight of an already tired Sarah, “Why’d you ask?”

“Oh, no reason,” said Sarah sarcastically, “Well, besides all the girls, and I’m pretty sure one of the boys, having a massive thing for John B, and them all quite literally being the spawns of Satan, hm… no reason,”

Caroline laughed at Sarah’s words, looking over at the table where her group and Sarah’s were seated at. Two of the T1 girls were giggling while telling a story, while everyone else’s attention was on them. Caroline came to the conclusion that they would be the It Girls at this year’s camp, bossing everyone around. She couldn’t help but laugh at the irony that it was Sarah who got these two as they were literally mini versions of her.

“Heard my name being called,” John B slid onto the bench across the table from the girls. Now that everyone had been sorted, the Wildcat Lodge seating area had been rearranged so that the groups would be sat together according to their ages, and the counselors would be sat together according to their groups. The head staff had their own table at the very foot of the podium, right next to where the food was, conveniently.

JJ was quick to join their group at their respective table, “What’d I miss?”

“Oh, nothing,” Caroline said nonchalantly, “Just Sarah being jealous over her girls liking John B, no biggie,” Sarah kicked her under the table, earning an, “Ow!”

John B’s eyes immediately shot up, that familiar twinkle of excitement swimming through his honey orbs, “Jealous?”

“As if,” barked Sarah, squinting her eyes at him threateningly.

“We’ll see about that, baby cakes,” John B winked, diving into his dinner.

“So,” said JJ, lowering his voice in case any of the neighboring tables were listening, “What’s the plan, guys?”

Caroline shook her head, “I don’t even know where we could start, I mean, the only clue we’ve got so far is that message we had to scrub off the rock this morning before the campers arrived…”

John B thought for a second, “Hey, wasn’t Topper paired up with her?” he said suddenly.

Caroline’s eyes widened in realization, “John B, you’re a genius!” she said, earning a proud smile from the boy, “Last night at the counting, Topper said something about feeling guilty for not offering her his jacket!” the four of them turned to look towards Topper’s table. He was sitting quietly, barely poking at his food, while the rest of his fellow counselors were having an animated conversation around him. Caroline turned back towards her friends, “Chances are he was the one who saw her last!”

“Yeah, and judging by the look of his face, he doesn’t seem too excited about it,” remarked JJ.

“Can you blame him? I’d be pissed if I was paired with Madison, too,” muttered Sarah, scrunching her nose at the leafy salad in her plate.

“Tonight at the bonfire,” said Caroline, “Sarah’s going to offer him some help with his girls, seeing as he’s dealing with all of his kids alone,”

“Hey, why me?” Sarah frowned at the plan.

“Because you’re the one who had a massive crush on him back in the day,” Caroline whispered in Sarah’s ear, resulting in Sarah kicking her under the table again. Caroline bit back a groan as she smiled forcefully, looking at the two boys in front of her, “Okay, well, sounds like we’ve got a plan.”

-------------------------------------------------

After handing out the songbooks and marshmallows to all of their teens, Caroline, JJ, Sarah and John B took a seat at their designated log next to their groups, which had somehow bonded during dinner and were all laughing together.

“Alright, settle down kids!” Pricilla said, causing everyone’s chatter to die down, “As you have already been informed, it is a Willowdale tradition to perform our very own rendition of Bomfiara every morning and night until the end of camp. The songbooks you’ve been kindly given by your counselors contain the lyrics to all of the camp songs we’re going to be singing this summer, but I’m sure that by the end of it you won’t be needing the books anymore,” Pricilla fake-laughed at her own joke while everyone just started at her blankly, “Okay, well, let’s sing!” she gave the tone and everyone started signing.

“This is so lame,” said one of the girls Caroline proclaimed as “It Girls” earlier that evening, “We’re too old for this BS,”

“You got that right,” mumbled Sarah.

“Oh, come on, I love it, it used to be our favorite tradition!” whined John B.

The two girls squealed and started pinching each other, immediately opening their songbooks and joining in on the singing, making intense eye contact with John B with their best seductive looks. Sarah rolled her eyes at the scene.

“See?” she whispered to Caroline, “This is what I meant!”

Caroline smirked at the blonde girl, “Am I sensing… jealousy?”

Sarah scoffed at the remark, “Pf, yeah right,” she said defensively, “I’m just annoyed that they’re only listening to what he’s saying and we’re supposed to be counselors together.”

Caroline nodded slowly, pretending to be buying the story, “Yeah, sure,” she turned to look at Topper, who regardless of the fact that he was surrounded by his group and fellow counselors, still seemed down, the camp fire illuminating his distant face, “Speaking of together, when do you wanna go talk to Topper?”

Sarah followed Caroline’s gaze towards the boy, “Once this stupid song is over,”

Caroline nodded and both girls turned towards their group again, where the It Girls were still making sexy eyes at John B, who seemed totally clueless to their approach as he was belting the lyrics of the much familiar song out loud, waving JJ’s hands every so often.

Once the song was over and everyone got back to their regular chitchat, Sarah stood up and straightened her shorts and camp sweatshirt as she made her way towards Topper.

“Hey, Top, this seat taken?” she said, referring to the empty spot on the log next to him where Madison was supposed to be sat.

Topper looked at Sarah as if she’d just said a distasteful joke, “Hey, Sarah…” he muttered, “Obviously not,”

“Awesome!” Sarah smiled widely, plopping down next to the boy.

“So,” Topper started awkwardly, “What brings you here?”

“Saw you from across the pit,” she explained directly, “Couldn’t help but notice that you seem lonely,”

“Yeah, well,” Topper looked at her with a look of disapproval once again, “I sort of am,”

Sarah pretended to only just realize what he was talking about, “Riiight… So, about that,” she chirped again, “Last night you said something about a jacket?”

Topper sighed, “Yeah, Madison said she was cold when we were in our cabin and instead of offering her my jacket, I sort of felt… relieved that she was going to leave me for a second to go grab hers. I should’ve known that something was wrong when she was gone for over 10 minutes, instead I just laughed around with Kelce and the boys and then we heard the scream…”

Sarah rolled her eyes, “Oh, please, you’re not blaming yourself for it, are you?”

“I mean, I kinda am,” Topper confessed, “If I wasn’t too caught up in being annoyed that I’d been paired up with her, I’d have just given her my jacket or followed her to your cabin to get hers and none of this would’ve happened,”

Sarah tried putting on her best apologetic smile as she reached for Topper’s hand, taking him by surprise, “Look, Top, I hate Madison just as much as the next person, but I hardly think any of this was your fault. She probably just used the jacket as an excuse to ditch and got excited to see her rookie boyfriend, hence the scream,”

Topper frowned, “Don’t tell me you actually believe all that?”

Sarah shrugged, “I mean, she was a drama queen,”

Topper pulled his hands away from Sarah’s, shaking his head, “Just go, Sarah,”

Sarah looked over towards her friends across the fire pit who were all staring at her in anticipation, as she shrugged her shoulders and mouthed them a, “Sorry, I tried,” making her way back to where they were seated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Camp has finally officially begun and so has the search for truth ~~ As always, let me know what you think, I hope you are enjoying the story so far, I'm super excited to be writing this xxx

tags: @k-k0129 ; @hayleyy-l ; @marvellover04

Part 6 here

[kimistorm]

My Heart Gone Missing [Chapter 5]

Fandom: Studio Ghibli (Howl’s Moving Castle)

Pairing: Friendship! Howl x GN! Reader

Warnings: Marius is unsupportive and angsty as usual~

Masterlist

“Y/N! You’re insane, you know that?” Marius asked as you put a baseball cap on and turned the dial to the town.

“Your point?” you asked as you turned to the ceramic basin.

“Why would a wizard give you one of his spells?”

“Well, you never know until you try, right?” you asked happily as you opened the door. “Any last words before I leave?”

“You’re-”

“Nope, bye Marius!” you called before you darted out the door.

“Y/N! Stop cutting me off!” Marius yelled moments before the door slammed shut behind you.

You began the walk through town towards the shop that you saw the other day. “Okay, just be polite, ask if they have the spell, if not, run.” You mumbled to yourself as you walked through the crowds of people. You looked down at your feet to avoid eye contact with other people, and when you slowed down, you looked up to see the shop of ‘The Great Wizard Jenkins’. “Okay, let’s do this.” You took a deep breath and then knocked on the door. Moments later the door opened to the same stunted man, er kid, from the other day.

“Hello, how can I help you?”

“You don’t happen to have a spell, do you?” you asked sweetly. After thinking about your sentence you sighed at your vagueness.

“You were that person who ran away the other day, right?” the kid asked gruffly.

“No! You must be confused with someone else.” You said quickly as your hand moved to your (h/c) locks of hair. You gave a small scratch before your hand flew back down at your side. “You don’t happen to have a spell that’ll, uh, I don’t know, hypothetically be able to turn you into, well, an animal, preferably a bird, you know, like, uh, hypothetically speaking of course.” You said quietly while not looking at the kid.

“Are you a witch/wizard?” the kid asked.

“What? No! What makes you think that?” you asked in a panicked fashion. Your hair was slowly turning into a (different hair color) starting from when you scratched it. Magic.

“Only a witch/wizard would want to look for a spell like that.” The kid answered.

“Well, you know, it’s all hypothetical and such. I don’t want it for myself, I’m just looking for a gift, for, uh, for a friend. Yeah! Because I totally have friends, why wouldn’t I have friends?” you silently cursed at yourself for your awkwardness and the conversation that you were having.

“No. We don’t give out spells like that. It’s too dangerous. Especially for that friend of yours, who doesn’t know what they’re doing, unless they are a witch or wizard.” The kid said smoothly.

Darn, he saw right through it, “okay, yeah, thank you. I’m sorry for wasting your time, again. I mean! Not again, we definitely haven’t met before. Okay, I’ll leave. Sorry for bothering you!” you yelled the last part out as you ran away from the shop. Again.

“You’re not as subtle as you think you are!” the kid yelled after you.

“Good to know old man!” you yelled in return.

“Children.” You heard the kid grumble behind you.

“I wouldn’t say that!” you yelled at him, “you’re not older than me!” you laughed when you saw the stunned look on the kids face before sprinting away. You may like to get a rise out of people, but you don’t like the consequences, and there was no way you were going to test out this kids’ consequences.

You quickly weaved your way through the crowd of pedestrians as you ran back towards the little building that housed the portal to your house. As you ran past people you decided that you were going to break in.

Now, to any normal person, breaking into a wizard’s house was insane, but, that was exactly what you excelled at. At least, according to Marius.

You successfully made it to your door without being pursued by an angry wizard, or an angry pedestrian. You casually leaned against the unassuming door and slipped in. “Marius!” you called out.

“Oh, you’re back already. Did it work?” Marius asked in a bored fashion from his bowl.

“Does it look like it worked?” you asked as you threw your baseball cap onto a desk that was steadily getting more cluttered with every passing day.

Marius looked up at you from his bowl in the corner, “I’d say you participated in a marathon because for some reason you thought that running in a marathon was a better idea than asking for a spell.”

“Huh, not too far off.” You mused, “anyways. I didn’t get the spell.”

“No surprise there.” Marius scoffed.

“But, I did get this wonderful idea.” You continued.

“A wonderful idea?” Marius looked at you disbelievingly, “why do I get the nagging suspicion that your ‘wonderful idea’ is actually a horrible idea that’ll probably get everyone killed.”

“It’s not going to get everyone killed.” You retorted, “I’m ashamed that you think that of me! I’m just going to break into the house and get the spell for myself.”

“That is the worst idea I’ve heard in centuries.” Marius said immediately, “and I was best friends with a minnow for like half of that time.”

You ignored what Marius had said and set to work on creating a foolproof plan. You got out some paper and wrote out a rough outline of what you were going to do. It started with an invisibility spell, you’d follow another person into the shop and just camp out by the door until they all left. Once everyone was gone, you’d search for the spell.

You smiled to yourself, this plan could either fail or be amazing. Marius leaned towards the crash and burn end of the spectrum, but you liked the idea of this plan. It seemed foolproof.

“Y/N, are you seriously writing up a plan?” Marius asked from his corner. You simply ignored him, you didn’t need any of his negativity. “Just don’t crash and burn alright.” Marius sighed, “there’s no way I’ll be able to roll my way to the lake if this house falls apart.”

“Glad to know you care about me.” You said as you leafed through your books on spells.

Marius scoffed, “no. I don’t care about you, I just care about my well being.”

“Same thing.” You waved as you pulled out a large book from the shelf. You shoved some papers off of the table and dropped the heavy book onto the table. It was leather bound and the cover was worn and faded from time. If you looked hard enough, you could barely make out an elaborate insignia and some words in an ancient language.

“At the rate you're going you’re going to end up living in a pigsty!” Marius insulted.

You ignored him and flipped through the gold edged pages. The script was small and swirly, and if the yellowing pages had any indication, it was a rather old book.

“Y/N! Stop ignoring me! You’re being such a bore.” Marius whined.

“You try decoding the words of several centuries old writing.” You snapped back as you leaned down to try and read what the script said.

“Why on earth do you have a centuries old book?” Marius demanded.

“What? You think I’m the first witch/wizard in the family?”

“Why are you living on your own then!” Marius yelled in a fury.

You shrugged, “adventure. Independence. Human things.”

There was the sound of indignant splashing and Marius fell silent.

“You didn’t drown yourself over there, did you?” you asked after a few minutes of silence, except for the flipping of pages.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Marius laughed dryly. “What are you even looking for?”

“Invisibility spell.” You replied.

“Great, you’re going to be invisible. Let me guess, you’re going to sneak into Jenkin’s store and steal the spell.” You fell silent and didn’t answer Marius’ sarcastic comment. “Oh my gosh.” Marius cackled in disbelief, “you actually are! Wow, I think we know who won the award for dumbest plan.”

“Be quiet.” You grumbled to him.

“Honestly. I think you have a deathwish.” Marius continued to talk as if he hadn’t heard your quiet threat.

“Nobody asked for your opinion.” You snapped back.

“Ooh, looks like I hit a soft spot.” Marius cackled gleefully, “so, tell me, was it because I figured out what you were going to do?”

“Don’t make me throw this rock at you.” You turned to his corner and held up a rock that you had picked up for exactly this reason.

“You’d miss.” Marius said in reply, but you did hear some apprehension in his voice.

“Shall we test it and see?” you threatened.

“No! I’m good. You can keep your rock. I’ll be quiet!” Marius said hastily.

“You better be quiet.” You muttered darkly and turned back to your book.

You didn’t know how long you spent poring over the small print of the book, but when your back and neck started to scream from pain you decided to stand back up to stretch out your back. You stood up to your full height and raised your arms above you in a long stretch. You rubbed the back of your neck to try and get some knots out of it.

“Did you find it?” Marius’ sullen voice echoed in his bowl.

“No.” You sighed and pulled up a chair next to the book so you could continue flipping through the book. You were only halfway through the book, so you still had some hopes, but it was quickly dwindling.

“Ugh!” you shouted and let your face drop onto the book. You peeled your face away from it a moment later due to the dust that was causing you to sneeze. “This is impossible!” you shouted and stood up from the chair and stormed away.

“Maybe it’s a sign!” Marius eagerly shouted, “you should quit! Leave all the crazy wizard stuff to Howl and the Witch of the Waste!”

“Shut up Marius!” you yelled back and stormed out of the door.

Taglist: @pogpixelz

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed - Episode 02

Warning: Spoilers for all 50 episodes!

(Masterpost ) (Previous Episode) (Next Episode)

Donkey Riding

way ho and away we go, donkey riding donkey riding way ho and away we go, riding on a donkey

Wei Wuxian and Apple are doing their best for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. 

Xiao Zhan had trouble riding the donkey sitting side-saddle, so the Department of Questionable Practical Effects made him a fake leg to wear while riding regular style. 

Can you spot it? It’s very hard to spot. It is very convincing.

Simple Pleasures

Wei Wuxian takes his time wandering up the nearest mountain, and half of the cultivators in the land also wander up this mountain because...Night Hunting! The cultivators are hot and thirsty from walking because they forgot that they all know how to fly. 

Wei Wuxian relaxes by a well and listens to people stanning him. 

Also

I’m going to say it: Wei Wuxian never met a drinking vessel he couldn’t blow.

Everything is Beautiful at the Ballet

The actress who plays A-Yan is named Zhang Linran. She probably has studied dance since she was 4 and now she gets her big break which turns out to be feeding an apple to a donkey. So let’s pause for a second to look at how beautifully she moves.  

Reunions are Awkward, Part 1

Wei Wuxian meets up with one of his family members and it goes super well. 

I...like Jin Ling? He’s much less of a douchebag than his dad, his uncles Jin, Jiang, and Mo (the three stooges), and every damn one of his Jin cousins. He’s genuinely brave (his Dad’s primary good quality) and his hair is on fleek. He’s still a whiny diaper baby, but I like him. 

(much more after the cut!)

Then Jiang Cheng shows up, looking fine as hell and radiating peak arrogant-prick energy.

When he discovers that ‘Mo Xuanyu” stuck a piece of paper to Jin Ling, he tells the child to literally murder him. Excellent uncleing! A+++++ would recommend.  

“In fact, literally murder anyone who uses Yiling Laozu’s tools, like talismans, lure flags, or spirit compasses - basically murder everyone in the Lan Clan plus those other fanboys we saw coming up the hill. Then get out there and make some friends, goddamn it!”

These nets full of cultivators on this daytime night hunt are the only time we ever see anything in a net during a night hunt.  In fact dudes constantly go night hunting and the only prey we ever see is rock lady, murder turtle, and a couple of rag mops in the lake. 

You Are Not Qualified to Speak to Me

Also radiating arrogant-prick energy on this occasion is Lan Wangji. He has been using pettiness as a weapon since long before he met this Jiang Cheng turkey, and he *brings it* when Jiang Cheng tries to have a conversation with him.

Letting your eyes wander everywhere except to his punchable face while you ignore his passive-aggressive questions? Quality work. 

Dropping a silence spell on his child and then letting your own child explain it to him? Golden. 

Lan Wangji is never ever going to forgive Jiang Cheng for what he did on cliff day, and his silence here is as pointed as an ice pick. I suspect the last words Lan Wangji actually spoke to him were “Jiang Wanyin, stop it,” sixteen years ago. 

Jiang Cheng is actually the bigger person in this particular interaction, visibly mastering his temper and telling Jin Ling to take his medicine. 

Reflecting

Wei Wuxian hangs out by a beautiful river and hallucinates for a while. River Jiang Yanli is nurturing and River Jiang Cheng is pissed off, so there are no surprises there.  River Jiang Cheng thinks that Wei Wuxian is a promise-breaking douchebag. He’s not exactly wrong. 

Courtesy of convenient gossiping cultivators, Wei Wuxian discovers that the 16 year old arrogant kid from the Jin clan who his brother from the Jiang clan has custody of is actually and quite obviously Jin Rulan.

Well fuck I guess now I care about something, that’s inconvenient. 

Needing to help parent the child of the sister who parented him is what draws Wei Wuxian fully into his new life. 

As soon as he has this realization, Apple comes back from roaming around, and never gives him any trouble after this for the rest of the story. Which...probably doesn’t mean anything. 

Wen Gravesite

Does Wen Ning hang out here because it’s where he and his (dead) people came from? Oh great, now I am sad. 

Judging by all the leaves on this grave thingy I’m going to say that this grave tender dude is, ah, not very good at his job. 

Get him, Jingyi!

I feel like maybe we all focus too much on how Lan Jingyi is so hilarious and sardonic and not enough on how he is a such a biscuit. 

Soul Grass

As mentioned in the previous post, Chinese spiritual concepts don’t always translate well into English. Soul grass? Sure, why not. 

This is where Wei Wuxian’s Sherlock Holmes brain starts to work, although he still doesn’t remember really basic stuff about Dafan Mountain. Dying and changing bodies is rough on the old neurochemistry. This creates more opportunities for flashbacks, however, and if there’s one thing The Untamed deffo needs more of, it’s kissing flashbacks.

Temple Statue

Presumably grave-tender dude is also in charge of clearing away spiderwebs at the temple, because it’s not getting done. 

Jin Ling walks into the temple blaspheming at full volume. 

Since this isn’t a Greek story, he isn’t immediately struck blind for this. Then when he wishes for the statue to come alive, it obligingly does.  Everything’s coming up Rulan!

Wei Wuxian shows up to rescue all the kids by throwing talismans at the monster which does not tip anyone off to who he is. 

Baby Cultivator Babysitting

Lan Wangji chills out in the cultivators’ pavilion with Jiang Cheng and their mutual hate boners.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian forgets all about his nephew and turns into cool professor guy, explaining the basics of soul-eating to the baby cultivators and gleefully encouraging their fear of Hanguang-Jun’s punishments. 

Because the Lan babies are good filial children they are super respectful and engaged with this random adult who is lecturing them. They also - like their own Hanguang-Jun at their age - see and admire Wei Wuxian’s intellect. It’s easy to forget how extremely smart Wei Wuxian is, because of how extremely dumb Wei Wuxian is.

Lan Jingyi suddenly figures out Wei Wuxian is not crazy. 

Bis. Kit. 

Then Rock Lady shows up and Jin Ling sticks 6 arrows into her while Lans Jingyi and Sizhui stand around not bothering to draw their swords.

I see a lot of comments about the bad effects in the statue sequences but I think Rock Lady is all right. The figure animation is decent and the lighting is no worse on her than on everything else in the scene. Her hair is nice, for a rock person.

Admittedly I just finished watching Guardian which has CGI monsters so bad they may have injured my retinas and possibly also my DNA, so the bar, for me, is pretty low. Rock lady clears it with room to spare.   

Note: Wei Wuxian’s flute playing does zippity towards controlling the statue. Not sure what his plan was here.

Wen Ning Kicks Ass

Now we get to meet Wen Ning, who appears to be a stone-cold badass. Later we will discover how hilariously inaccurate that assessment is. 

While all versions of Wen Ning are delightful, this version of Wen Ning is also...strangely attractive? He’s got a Patti-Smith-Horses-Era vibe here, instead of his more usual lost-baby-dork vibe. And his dreamy “I have nails in my head” expression is intriguing. 

I mean, he’s not a total snack like zombie Song Lan or pre-zombie Song Lan or blind Song Lan or post-zombie Song Lan, but this look is a good one for Wen Ning, is what I’m saying.

Reunions are Awkward, Part 2

Lan Wangji, who has 99% already recognized Wei Wuxian because of the haunted sword and the fierce jawline and beautiful neck and tiny tiny waist, is summoned by his flute playing as inexorably as the Ghost General was. 

Jiang Cheng also recognizes Wei Wuxian and goes into full beatdown mode, thwarted (silently) by Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian attempts to preserve his incognito by sassing Jiang Cheng in as sibling-like a manner as possible. 

Hanguang-Jun’s Pro-Ghost Agenda Has Been Clear for Some Time

This Jiang/Lan fight is hilarious when you consider the implications.

Macroexpression vs. Microexpression

Mo Xuanyu brought Wei Wuxian back using sacrifice summons, a dark ritual invented by Wei Wuxian that he, most likely, did NOT show to Lan Wangji back in the day. So it’s a pretty safe bet that Lan Wangji doesn’t know that Wei Wuxian was gifted a body, rather than stealing one.

when your brother turns around, you must whip him you will never live it down unless you whip him

When Jiang Cheng lets loose with Zidian, it’s not just because he’s angry. He’s using purple power to force Wei Wuxian’s ghost out of the body he’s apparently possessed. And Lan Wangji instantly STOPS him from doing that.

Clan Leader Jiang: this person has been possessed, against their will, by an evil ghost

Future Chief Cultivator Lan: Counterpoint: I am banging the ghost

Flashback Time

Welcome to your 30-episode flashback!

Once I used to join in Every boy and girl was my friend Now there's revolution, but they don't know What they're fighting

Let us close our eyes Outside their lives go on much faster Oh, we won't give in We'll keep living in the past

Road Tripping to Summer School

Gosh I’m looking forward to younger, kinder, more relatable Jiang Cheng.

...prick. 

Incidentally, until now this episode didn’t know that Jiang Cheng has smile muscles, and neither did the person who glued his wig on for him.

I Like Rabbits

Here we have our first rabbit in a large collection of rabbit iconography that appears in The Untamed. 

Instead of sending everyone to the Wikipedia page for Tu'er Shen I’m going to take this opportunity to rec the short film Kiss of the Rabbit God by Andrew Thomas Huang (tw: blood, tw:body-mod cutting) which you can read about and watch over at  Nowness.com 

Particularly if you are a queer person of Chinese heritage, check it out. 

So. What the fuck are these? Are they food? 

Are they made from wax? Or corn starch? or pig intestines? 

Wei Wuxian runs off to get laid drunk and Jiang Cheng grumps about it. Jiang Yanli reminds him that being free is a Jiang Clan Rule, so really Wei Wuxian is following the rules by not following the rules. Does that mean he’s not free? My head hurts. 

Jiang Cheng: yes but grump grump grump

Jiang Yanli: Nothing bad will ever happen because of A-Xian’s choices, trust me

Outro

Wei Wuxian faint tally: one  Caught by: the cold hard ground

Soundtrack: 1. Donkey Riding by Great Big Sea 2. Living in the Past by Jethro Tull 3. Whip It by Devo

Fic prompt:  Lan Wangji’s internal monologue while he sits in the pavilion with Jiang Cheng 

If you write a fic from this prompt and want to share, please post a link in comments!

Bonus: Wang Zuocheng, macro-expression king

Episode 03 Restless Rewatch coming soon!

[seungmoroll]

A Little Trip | Han Jisung

Word count: 2.7k

Genre: angst & fluff

Request: yes

Go on the trip they said. (You went on the trip.)

It’ll be fun they said. (It was fun.)

Nothing can go wrong they said. (Lot’s of things went wrong.)

You were currently on a one night camping trip with your group of friends. A trip that you wanted to skip out on because you had classes to study for, but your boyfriend Jisung, begged you to go along with them because, “We can take cute aesthetic couple photos together.” Honestly, that’s not the reason why you agreed to go. You agreed to go because he gave you the cutest puppy dog eyes you’ve ever seen, and you couldn’t say no to him.

The day of the trip, Chan and Felix had picked you and Jisung up from your house, supplies in hand. You were still doubtful about going on this trip, but you didn’t want to voice it because Jisung was happy that you were going with them. On the way to the campsite, you and the boys talked about how excited you guys were for camping. Jisung couldn’t stop bouncing around in his seat, you had to practically throw yourself on top of him to stop. Your group had arrived at the campsite first, Changbin and the others volunteered to bring the snacks, so they were a little bit late.

The campsite you guys chose was a nice little area with a mountain that you guys could go hiking on, which is what you guys planned on doing later on in the day. It was only 10:30 am, so you guys had enough time to do everything that you wanted.

The first thing that you guys did when you arrived was unload the car, it was more like Chan and Felix unloaded the car, while Jisung dragged you around to look at the scenery.

“Uh, Sung. A little help here would be nice.” Chan says, as he pulls out the tent. Waving him off, Jisung says to him, “Nah, I think you got it.” Rolling your eyes, you push Jisung towards the direction of the car, telling him to help Felix and Chan out. By the time they unloaded the whole car, the rest of the boys had arrived. Jeongin came running out the car, exclaiming that he was excited to be on this trip with the bunch of you. You couldn’t help, but smile at him, however, that smile disappeared when Minho came out of the car and winked at you. You rolled your eyes at him, used to his actions.

It’s not likely Minho actively flirted with you, it was more playful than anything. Even Jisung laughs along when Minho says something flirtatious, commenting about how you weren’t going to fall for his charms because you had him.

Now that everyone was there, you guys were able to set up the tents. There were four tents in total. Obviously, you and Jisung were sharing one. In the other tents were Chan, Seungmin, and Jeongin in one tent, and Hyunjin and Felix in another, leaving Changbin and Minho in the last tent. You all respectively worked on your own tents, this resulted in you reading out the instructions, while Jisung ignored your words and tried to build the tent the way he believed was right because “I’m a man, I don’t need instructions.” Eventually Jisung realized he was wrong and asked for you to read out the instructions again. You roll your eyes at him and begin to read them off once again. Once the tent was finally set up, Jisung had pulled you into the tent and made you lay down on the hard ground. “Sung, what’re we doing?”

“We’re taking a cuddle break, that’s what we’re doing.” Getting up, you pull Jisung out of the tent. “We have plenty of time to cuddle, let’s eat.” Jisung whines as you drag him to the mini circle the other boys have made, but stops when a sandwich gets shoved in his face. Immediately taking the sandwich from your hands, he begins to chow down on it. Grabbing your sandwich from Hyunjin, you begin to dig in as well, “Mhm, Felix did you make these yourself?” you ask.

Nodding, he tells you, “I made them this morning before Chan picked me up.” You tell him that you want the recipe for the next time you and Jisung have a picnic. This causes for a sound of approval to emit from Jisung. Once you guys finished eating, you went to finish setting up the inside of your tent with your sleeping bag and pillows. Chan, Changbin, Felix, and Jisung had went out to the lake that was right next to you guys to go fishing, while the others went on to take some photos. You had decided to join the boys taking pictures to avoid Changbin’s loud screams.

Approaching the boys, you ask Seungmin for his camera, telling all four of them to get in the picture, Amongst the series of pictures you took, there was at least one good one, which was good enough for the boys. Minho then comes up to you, handing you his phone, asking you to take some pictures of him on Snow. You’ll never understand why he likes the app so much. You laugh as you switch around the filters you use for Minho, and when you show him the pictures, instead of getting mad, he laughs along with you, thanking you for the amazing photos.

Hearing your name, you turn towards the direction of the voice and see Jisung running up to you guys. “Hey guys, let’s go swimming!”

You knew the boys planned on swimming, but you weren’t really in the mood to swim, so instead you walked into the water, only allowing for the water to reach your knees. “Are you sure you don’t want to swim?” Jisung asks. You nod your head yes, “Yes I’m sure. Don’t worry about me Sung, I’ll be fine. Now go and have some fun.” You shoo him away after you give him a little kiss and watch as he submerges himself underneath the water and then jumping out like a fish.

“You not going to swim?” Minho asks as he stands beside you in the water. “No, not in the mood. What about you, why aren’t you swimming?” He explains to you about how he hurt his shoulder and how he didn’t want to make it worse by swimming. As the two of you stand in the water side by side, you watch the other boys mess around in the water. It seems like they’re playing a game of chicken now, with Jeongin on Chan’s shoulders and Seungmin on Changbin’s shoulders. You and Minho laugh as Jeongin gives Seungmin a forceful push that has him falling into the lake. You can’t help but smile when you see the wide smile on Jisung’s face as he laughs. Suddenly you are taken out of your thoughts when you feel water hit you. “Oh no you didn’t Lee Minho.”

“And what if I did Y/n?” he asks, cocking his head. You retaliate by splashing him with water, which ensues a mini water fight between the two of you. The two of you happen to miss the hard stare Jisung gives you.

Once the bunch of you get out of the water, you guys agree to take a little break before you guys head on to your hike. The lot of you sit around what’s going to be the campfire for tonight, basking in the sunlight. Seated on Jisung’s lap, you rest your eyes for a bit, but it doesn’t last long when you hear Seungmin call out your name. He goes to show you and Jisung the pictures on his camera. You guys laugh at the crazy photos he took, however, Jisung’s laughter stops when Seungmin goes to show the pictures he took of you and Minho when you were taking his photo. Jisung nuzzles his face into your neck as you continue to look at the photos on Seungmin’s camera roll, petting his hair at the same time.

Once 4:30 hits, you guys decide to go hiking. Chan taking the lead since he’s been on the trail before. As you walk up the mountain, you guys make small talk and sing some songs. Your favorite song that was sung being ‘Wow’ a song Chan, Changbin, and Jisung made in Chan’s basement. However, majority of the hike is spent in silence as all of you take in the scenery and listen to the nature. When you guys reach the top of the trail, you decide to have a mini break. Jisung plops down on a boulder trapping you in his arms.

“Sung, let go.”

“I don’t want to.”

“At least take some pictures with me.” Hearing the word picture, Jisung let’s go of you and calls Seungmin over with his camera. The pair of you take some normal photos at first, but as the pictures go on, your poses become more ridiculous. Jisung even poses for his “album cover.” Before you could ask Seungmin if you could see the photos, you hear Minho call your name. Walking over to Minho and Felix, you miss the sad look on Jisung’s face as he watches your retreating figure. It turns out the thing they had to show you was a frog Felix had in his hand. Yelping you started running away from him as he begins chasing you with it. You eventually run into Jisung’s arms, “Protect me Sung.” However instead of playing along, Jisung steps away from you. “Why don’t you get Minho to save you instead.”

Confused, you ask, “What?”

“You heard me Y/n, why don’t you go running to your “boyfriend” Minho.”

You’re unsure of why he’s acting like this, “What’s wrong Sung?”

Scoffing he responds, “What’s wrong is that it seems like you’d rather spend time with Minho than with me.”

“Jisung, stop.” Minho butts in. He stands in front of Jisung, blocking your view of him. Pointing his finger in Minho’s chest, Jisung says, “No, you stop. Stop flirting with my girlfriend hyung.” He harshly emphasizes the word hyung.

“Jisung, he hasn’t been flirting with me. Stop being so ridiculous.”

“Jisung? You never call me by my name Y/n.” He begins to walk away from you guys, walking down the trail. You give the others an apologetic look as you follow him down the trail.

“Sung. Sung, stop!” Instead of stopping, Jisung begins to walk faster down the trail. You continue to follow him calling out his name.

“Sung, can you please just stop for a moment.” Still ignoring you, you try to think of a way to get his attention. You guys are basically halfway down the mountain already and Jisung has yet to look at you or talk to you. “Sung, you can’t keep ignoring me.” You watch as his figure continues trekking along the trail, not saying a single word to you.

“I know you don’t want to talk to me, but you can’t be mad at me forever. You know I didn’t do anything wrong-Ow!” You weren’t watching where you were going and managed to trip over a rock. Catching yourself with your hands, you try to get up, but pain shoots up your leg.

“Y/n, are you okay?” Jisung rushes to your side, helping you sit up. He grabs your wrists, examining the damage done to your hands. While he brushes off the dirt and runs water on your hands, you silently watch him. “At least you’re paying attention to me now.” You give him as weak smile as he rolls his eyes at you. Quietly getting up, he squats down in front of you, “Wrap your arms around me, I’ll carry you to the campsite.” Wrapping your arms around his neck, careful to not brush your hands against anything, you let Jisung give you a piggyback ride down the mountain.

At this point your emotions were too out of control, that you couldn’t help but cry. Unsure if you were crying about the pain or crying about Jisung being mad at you. Trying your best to not make your tears known, you let out a sniffle, causing for Jisung to stop in his tracks and crane his neck towards you, “Y/n, are you crying?”

“No,” you mumble into his shoulder. Setting you down on a nearby boulder, Jisung wipes away the tears running down your face, “Does it hurt that much?” You nod your head yes, breaking down and sobbing into Jisung shirt.

“C’mon, the faster we get back to the campsite, the faster we can get you some first aid.” While your face is still stuffed in his shirt, you shake your head. Lifting your head up to make sure that you’re heard, you say to him, “It doesn’t hurt because I fell. It hurts because you’re mad at me.” Kneeling down to match your level, Jisung uses his sleeve to wipe away your tears and runny nose.

“Oh baby, please stop crying. I promise you I’m not mad at you. If anything, I’m mad at myself.” Confused, you ask why.

“Because I’m the worst boyfriend in the world. I got so easily mad at my girlfriend and best friend just because they were getting too close for my liking. I got jealous over nothing, and now I’ve made you upset to the point where you’re sobbing.” Trying to stop your tears, you grab Jisung by the face, and say to him,

“Don’t ever say that Sung. You’re the best boyfriend in the world. You’re too good for me, I don’t deserve you. You wanted me to come out on this trip to spend time with me, but instead I hung out with Minho. I’m the worst.”

“I think it’s safe to say that we’re both the worse.” Jisung says in an attempt to make you smile. “But I’m just a bit worser than you, just a bit.” He adds. His additional comment manages to put a little smile on your face. “Ah, there’s that beautiful smile that I love oh so very much.” Placing kisses on your tear-stained cheeks, Jisung gets down in the same squatting position as before, “C’mon let’s get back to the campsite so I can baby my baby.”

Once you guys get back to the campsite, Jisung grabs the first aid kit from Chan’s tent and cleans up your wounds, placing bandages on them once they’re clean. He checks your ankle to make sure it isn’t broken, and once he deems it as not broken but swollen, he grabs some ice from the cooler and wraps it in a towel, gently placing it on your ankle.

By the time the rest of the boys get down to the campsite, they are met with the sight of you and Jisung cuddling in one of the chairs, you fast asleep in his arms. Quietly, they begin to prepare dinner, which was ramen and grilled meat. Once you were woken up, the aroma of the meat and ramen filled your nostrils. For you, dinner went by in a blur. The boys making sure that you were okay. At some point, Minho came up to you and Jisung, apologizing for his behavior, to which Jisung tells him that he doesn’t need to apologize and that he was just jealous. Once dinner was over, the bunch of you sat by the campfire and watched the stars in the sky. Sharing scary stories that had Jisung frightened.

Eventually the boys started leaving the fire one by one, until it was just you and Jisung left. Minho being the last one to leave, gives you a wink over his shoulder. Cuddling even closer to Jisung, you leave a kiss on his neck.

“What was that for?”

Shrugging you say, “I just felt like it.”

Seeing that Seungmin left his camera outside, you reach for it, struggling to do so, but with the help of Jisung you managed to get it. Turning it on, you scroll through the gallery, looking at all the photos that were taken. A smile comes across your face as you look through the photos of you and Jisung. Showing Jisung the photos, he places a kiss on your temple and takes the camera away from you. He gets comfortable in the chair and pulls you as close as he can. You two fall asleep this way, out underneath the night sky.

And when you wake up the next morning to Seungmin sleeping in your tent, you don’t say a word.

A/N: i’m not sure if this was angsty enough, but I hope you like it! don't be afraid to let me know what you think and make a request

[spideymarvelws]

Hard Decisions

Prince!Tom Holland x Fem!Reader

Main Masterlist / Add Yourself To My Taglist

A/n : I just really wanted to write a prince!tom fic also i struggled so much trying to figure out a title and summary but im pretty happy with the actual fic Still dont like the tittle tho...

Summary : You take tom out for an escape from his life in royalty, at least that was the plan.

Warnings : Floof, kinda smutty but not really, mentions of violence, war, some cursing here and there

Word Count : 2.8k

...

"That wasn't fair in the slightest and you know it!" Tom shouted as he halted his horse, licking his lips with annoyance.

He was in the middle of his book that his master had assigned him when you burst into his chambers, breathing heavily like his dog after he took her out into the fields. You were dressed in your riding gear, throwing his own smack in his face, the only words falling from your mouth were.

“You, me, stables, now,”

It wasn't totally out of character for you to be so spontaneous, he was used to it by now, so were his guards and everyone in the castle. So much so that they weren’t fazed anymore when you zipped past them in the halls never knowing if you were running to or from something.

None of them were curious enough to ask.

Nevertheless, he was always free for a nice ride through the forests with you. He always enjoyed tagging along and partaking in your little shenanigans around the kingdom. It was a nice break from his responsibilities as prince.

"What isn't fair is that your horse had to deal with your terrible riding," you picked at your nails, smirking at the young prince, "Better than last time thought, only five minutes behind,"

Even if you always beat him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," He muttered, jumping off his horse, his boots landing with a thud on the floor, "What are we even doing here in the first place?"

"You'll see," you smiled leaning off the tree trunk, "I put Galaxy over there," you pointed towards the brown horse shaking its head, most of its body hidden behind the thick shrubbery, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind some company,"

"Don't know, I feel like he would feel inferior to yours," Tom said, pointing to his horse.

"Don't worry, that logic only applies to you when you’re with me," you chuckled. It was known that you loved teasing him, it shocked him to this day that he still put up with your shit for the past years, putting in so much effort to see you at least once a week.

But you were the only person who kept him up float for the past years. The only person who treated him as an equal despite his blood and title. And he would be a fool if he let that go anytime soon.

Of course you couldn't know that, he could imagine how much embarrassment that would fill his body if you knew about his attraction towards you. He could already picture you brushing his words off as a silly joke and continuing with your day.

He didn't think he could deal with the rejection, to deal with losing you over some feelings.

"So, where are we going?" he said, dusting off his vest, "Or did you just bring me out here to murder me?"

"Trust me if i wanted to murder you, I would've done it a long time ago," you grinned, holding out your hand, “Now come on! The sun won’t be up for too long,”

You dragged him  up though the bushes and trees, maneuvering your way through the forest. He’d never seen you this bubbly before, running and jumping over roots and ducking swiftly under branches all while occasionally  looking back at him with a wide smile that made his heart melt.

“Are we there yet?” he whined, yelping when a branch hit him smack in the face.

“Oh shit,” your hand shot up to your mouth, trying to hide the laughter threatening to erupt from your throat, “Are you alright?”

“Oh yeah, totally,” he said sarcastically, rubbing his nose, trying his best not to sneeze, “like one always is when they get smacked with leaves and wood,”

You bit your lip, moving the branch back up so you could see him clearly, “If it makes you feel better, we’re almost there,”

He sighed, his head falling before picking it back up to look into your eyes, “Alright,” he chuckled when you continued to tug him along.

After a few more seconds of walking, he noticed the sound of water falling in the near distance making him a quirk up a brow. Soon enough you both emerged from the dense forest into a small opening.

His eyes trailed up the small pond, the ripples of the water reflecting the random rays of light passing through the trees hovering ever it like its own roof  As he moved up, he eyed the flow of water running down a layering of rocks like a small fountain. Around it was a mass of shrubbery, green with hints of colour throughout. It felt like he was stepping into a painting his mother painted for him when he was younger.

“It’s beautiful,” he whispered, his eyes taking in every part of the scenery.

“I know, found it when I was sear- playing with Harrison’s sword,”

“You lost his sword?” Tom teased, catching your mess up.

“I found it back, calm your tits,” you uttered, mumbling under your breath, “after having some fun with it,”

“What was that?”

“It was a nice sword alright?”, you laughed, pulling your hand out of his. 

He watched with curious eyes as you approached the lake, stopping as you reached the edge. He felt the instant head rise to his face when your fingers grazed the bottom of your loose skirt, pulling it off your body in one go and throwing it to the side.

He coughed as he looked away when your boots came off next along with the rest of your undergarments leaving you in your underwear and bra. He tried his best to keep his eyes turned down out of respect, but he would be a liar if he wasn't fighting not to raise his head.

“Are you coming?” you said, dipping your toes into the water before fully submerging your both your feet, “Or are you just going to stand there,” 

“I-” Tom blushed, rubbing the back of his neck.

You turned around to face him, hands crossing in front of your chest, staring at him expectedly, “Come on now, before your father figures out your gone,”

“I’m pretty sure he already knows-”

“Then you have no excuse!” you tilted your head to the side, jutting your bottom lip out, “I didn’t bring you out here to just stare at me as I bath,” you raised your eyebrow suggestively, “Unless that’s what you want to do?”

“I-,” he paused, looking back down at the ground in defeat (and to hide his blush at your words). He could never say no to you, “Fine,”

You jumped into the water in glee, shaking your hair purposely for the droplets to fall on his clothes.

He rolled his eyes playfully at your smug smile, unbuttoning his vest and throwing it on a patch of grass. He did the same with his shirt, turning around when he began to shuffle out of his pants. Tom wouldn't deny the fact that he knew his looks, years of fighting and working gave his body a defined shape.

He could feel your eyes burning into his back which gave him the boost of confidence he needed to turn around.

He carefully made his way into the water, hissing at its cold touch. You rolled your eyes at his slow movements, grabbing his legs and pulling him inside. You laughed as his body hit the water, splashing you and the land around the pool.

You giggled as Tom raised his head, shaking it back and forth, his brown locks creating a halo around his head. You pushed more water at his figure, laughing even harder at the look of betrayal on his face.

“You-,” he chuckled, moving his arms in the same manner, sending a wave of water in your direction.

“Oh, Is this war Holland?” 

“You bet your ass Y/l/n,”

You lunged at the brunette, pushing him under the water, your arms wrapping around his neck to keep him down. But it didn't last for long when he quickly broke the surface of the water once more. You wrapped your legs around his waist in a desperate attempt to keep him down, but it was useless given his strength.

When you looked back into his eyes, you finally took in how close you were, faces merely centimetres away from each other. You could feel his hot breath against yours, your wet skin melding with his. Your chest tightened, emotions you tried so hard to keep hidden resurfacing without thought. A glimmer of hope popping in your mind when he didn't pull away instead resting his hands on your waist, keeping you close.

You just didn’t think a prince would reciprocate the feelings for a commoner girl like you.

“Hey,” you whispered, readjusting your arms around his neck.

“Hey,” he whispered back, his eyes darting from your lips back to your eyes.

“i-,” your forehead fell against his, eyes closed as your heavy breaths fell upon his face, “Tommy,”

“Just say the word,” he gulped, “Just say the word, and none of this happened,”

He held his breath when you didn’t respond, his hands loosening from around your waist. He relished in the feeling of your body pressed against his not knowing when it might be the next time you would ever be like this with him after today.

He was a fool to think that you actually liked him in that way, that this wasn't just the spur of the moment but feelings aching to be unraveled at the seams.

“I want this to happen,” you finally muttered, opening your eyes to look directly at him, “I’m just scared what will happen after,” 

Tom let out a shaky breath, looking back and forth between your left and right eye, trying to process your words, “Only one way to find out right?” he managed to say, licking his lips.

You bit the middle of your bottom lip, letting it go with a heavy breath, “Yeah I guess so,”

“Are you sure?” He couldn't help but ask again.

“Just shut up and kiss me for God's sake,”

Tom finally smashed his lips on yours, tasting the fresh water on the surface before moving them along with yours. You tilted your head slightly, deepening the kiss. Even after imagining this moment for so long, losing himself in the thought almost everyday, it could’ve never prepared him for the feeling of your mouth on his.

His hands tightened around your waist, his feet moving slowly along the floor to press you against the nearest rock, wanting to be as close to you as possible, for this to last as long as possible. You fingers moved from his neck to his hair, tugging at the soaked strands making him groan into the kiss.

“Tommy,” you muttered, barely pulling away to utter the words before latching your lips back on his. 

“Yeah,” he smiled, biting your bottom lip as he pulled away fully.

“I-,” you started but was quickly interrupted by a loud bell that began to ring in your ears.

“Fuck, what’s that?” You breathed, whipping your head in the direction of the bell.

Tom replied hesitantly, “Someones attacking the castle,”

“What?” you said in disbelief, detangling your legs from around the prince’s waist, “Who would want to attack the castle?”

“I don’t know,” Tom said with a clenched jaw, despite his attempts to sound calm, the alarmed edge to his words failed to slow your rapid beating heart.

“You don’t know? You’re the prince!”

“Yes! As far as I’m aware we’ve been at peace with everyone for hundreds of years!” 

You took a moment to process his words. Your parents always used to tell you stories of the great war, always bragging that your great grandfather fought the battle that helped peace run through the lands.

The war that ended all wars.

Songs were sung everywhere, children learned about it all the time, hearing the tale of tragedy and loss every day of their loved ones. Hell, even you had the words memorised in your head so that you knew, the people knew that they were safe, that they were free.

The bell high in the castle was only meant to be rung when the crown was under attack. Thousands of questions began to run through your head.

Who would attack?

Why would they right before dawn?

How was anyone not aware of it earlier on?

None of it made sense.

“Come one, we got to go,” Tom gripped both your forearms, letting out a heavy breath. His voice was nothing but a distant sound in the back of your head, bouncing off the walls of your skull.

“I-,” you managed to squeak, your throat starting to close up as your breath became shorter, coming out in little, shaky huffs with deep inhales.

“Y/n, Y/n? Y/n!” tom said hastily, his hands making its way to your face, directing your eyes to his, “Look at me alright? You’re going to be fine. We are going to be fine alright?” his fingers wiped the wet hair sticking to the front of your face, “When we get back to our horses, yeah? I want you to ride far away okay. Do you remember our tree house, right? At the edge of the forest leading into the meadow? I want you to go there alright? Take galaxy with you and hide out there until i come for you,”

You shook your head, squeezing your eyes shut before looking back into his panicked ones, “Wait, What? Tommy, I’m not letting you go in there by yourself!”

“AND I’M NOT LETTING YOU DIE!” he shouted, trying his best to control his breathing, his distress, his confusion, “I’m not about to lead you into a battle that i know nothing off unarmed!”

“What about you?” you whispered, but loud enough for him to hear, “Do you think I’m okay with you running into battle?”

“I’m the prince, it’s-,” he sighed, “It’s my duty,”

You looked up into his brown eyes, staring into them to find some sort of comfort. You tried to find the joke, something, anything that might tell you that this wasn’t real, all just some sick prank to get you back at disrupting his activities.

But as his pupils dashed back and forth between yours, unable to focus. You knew that you couldn't talk your way out of this one. 

You also knew that you would be of no help in the kingdom in battle but ideas began to pop in your head of how you could help outside the walls

“Alright,” you gulped, “Alright,”

He gave you a quick kiss to the forehead before jumping out of the water. He tossed you his vest as you got out behind him so you could dry your body first. Shuffling around to gather the clothes that were thrown haphazardly in the ground.

Once both of you were fully dressed, Tom grabbed your hand as he led you back to your horse. You ran quickly, trying your best to not let the thoughts consume you but focus on what you needed to do, what you had to do.

Letting go of your hand as you both reached the clearing, he ran to his horse, untying his restraints. You did the same, petting her main in a calming matter, not only for the horse but for you too.

You both froze at the faint sound of a sword slashing some shrubbery followed by some muffled voices.

“Get on your horse,”

“Tom-,”

“Get on your horse now Y/n,”

You quickly mounted Galaxy, grabbing the reins tightly as Tom pulled out a sword from around his waist, keeping it close to his side. 

“When I tell you to go, you go okay?” he said wearily, his head darting in every direction.

“Tommy,” you said quietly, grabbing his face in the palms of your hand when her turned around to face you. You pressed your lips on his one last time, pulling away to rest your forehead against his, this time without the water surrounding you both.

“Stay safe, okay?” you whispered, rubbing your thumb against his cheek.

“I’ll try my best,” he smiled, taking your hand in his, “For you,”

“Over here!” a gruff voice sounded, “I see a horse!”

“Go, Y/n, Now,” Tom said quickly, moving back to his original stance.

With a split second of hesitation, you pulled at your reigns, kicking the horsed side, riding Galaxy away from the kingdom. You cringed at the distant sound of swords clashing and men screaming. What scared you the most was that you didn’t know who they came from.

But you couldn't focus on that right now, you had to find the tree house and from there, figure out what the fuck you were going to do, to help the kingdom.

To help him.

...

Permanent TagList : @jadegill @joyleenl @sarcastic-sunset-7

Tom Holland Taglist : @dummiesshort @seutarose @thenoddingbunny-blog​

[otonymous]

Time After Time: Victor’s Firsts (MLQC NSFW Headcanon)

Hey everyone!  

Thanks to all who voted in my Twitter poll to see whose NSFW “Firsts” headcanons they wanted to read next. 💕Victor was the undisputed victor (haha!) over Kiro, so I hope you all enjoy my longest headcanons to date...ALL 18 MINUTES OF IT! (these totally got out of hand, for whatever reason LOL) 😵😆

Warning: NSFW/18+: Explicit/graphic language - reader discretion is advised.

Naughtiness ensues after the cut!

A Time To Learn: Your Relationship With Victor:

A battle of wills and wits that gradually blossoms into a relationship founded on mutual trust and admiration, learning and growth

Your relationship with Victor isn't easy, especially at the beginning when you are learning about each other and how to mesh with one another — it will be a hard-won love, but one that’s absolutely worth the payoff in the end

Victor is very logical, pragmatic, stubborn, domineering and - especially at the beginning — overprotective (tends to withhold information from you if he feels it would hurt or harm you in any way).  While his intentions come from a good place, it will annoy you to no end to be sheltered like this

But as the relationship progresses and Victor comes to fully understand that you are a grown woman capable of holding her own and making her own decisions, he will gradually cease this type of behaviour  

Initially, it will be hard for you to know where you stand because of Victor's reluctance to let his poker face slip and reveal his emotions.  But when you finally see him crack a smile, or hear the soft chuckle of his deep laughter followed by a muted exclamation of “dummy” or “idiot,” you’ll feel like you’ve won the lottery, becoming addicted to doing whatever you can to see the corners of those lips tug up when he thinks no one is the wiser

When you first defy him, Victor is pleasantly surprised: he's used to getting his way personally and professionally because his overwhelming presence, business acumen and instinct usually lead him in the right directions, so he has rarely ever encountered opposition.  While he is initially taken aback by your bravado, he’ll find your attitude refreshing, amusing even.  His cock will too (more on this later) 😆

This is the type of relationship where one person fills in the gaps of the other: you'll soften Victor’s hard edges, temper the manner with which he interacts with others, and make him laugh harder than he ever thought possible.  You are the figurative sunshine in his life, the warmth he has been missing for so long.

On the other hand, Victor lends you his unflappable confidence, his expertise and experience, the will to stick to your guns and really fight for the things you want.  He is your safe haven, champion and protector.

Talk is cheap for Victor, who prefers to show love and affection by way of action: brewing medicinal soups when you’re sick (with a spoonful of caramel pudding at the ready to chase away the bitter aftertaste), tucking a cozy throw over you when you’ve fallen asleep on the sofa yet again, cooking your favourite foods when he knows you’ve had a rough day, waiting outside your office in the pouring rain to drive you home when he knows you’ve forgotten your umbrella

He also loves to high-key spoil you: whisk you away on his private jet for spontaneous weekend getaways at Lake Como or Bali, beautiful bouquets arranged on your desk Monday mornings at the office just because, an impromptu Champs-Élysées shopping excursion when you mention needing a new winter coat…THAT BLACK CARD THOOOO

Victor is a steadfast lover: reliable, responsible and always, always there when you need him.  He is your rock, a solid foundation from which you are emboldened to jump and reach for the stars…forever knowing he will be there to catch you if you fall

He often anticipates your needs, sometimes even before you realize them.  And as your relationship progresses, the ways in which he offers help will become less overbearing and more sensitive to your feelings and your right to make an informed decision

Victor is most expressive in the bedroom.  For all his emotional reservedness in his everyday life, the passionate nature he keeps buried deep inside is finally given an outlet through sensual pleasures

As with everything else in his life, lovemaking is serious business for Victor.  He is an intense lover who wants to be the very best, the one to erase even the tiniest shreds of whoever came before him.  He needs to leave his mark on you, physically and emotionally.  Even if he wasn’t your first, he’d be damned if he’s not your last.

Ever the epicurean, Victor is the pussy-eating champion.  Thoroughly devoted to exploring you orally, the man would go for hours if you’d let him, taking care not to miss a single inch of trembling flesh.  Obsessed with numbers, Victor is not satisfied to move on to something else until he’s given you multiple orgasms with his tongue alone.

The man is humming(!) in pleasure as he eats: lips, chin and cheeks shiny with your arousal and his spit.  This will be the only time you see Victor with less than impeccable table manners

Victor considers it a point of pride and responsibility to bring you to your climax well before he reaches his own

The man also loves to see you in elegant silks, satins and lace and will surprise you with the most beautiful lingerie

In all honesty though, garter belts, stockings, stilettos and nothing else are this man's jam when he really gets down to business

Needless to say, Victor’s super fit and muscular physique translates to stamina for days...

The First Kiss:

Having spent an exhausting day ironing out the minute details of your proposal with Victor, you slump onto the leather sofa in the corner of his office, meaning to take a 5 minute power nap to recharge while Victor leaves the room for a bathroom break

“The man is a machine…” you think to yourself, stealing a quick glance at your phone before the weight of heavy eyelids finally shepherds you to slumber: 9:15 pm

You are out cold.  Dead to the world.  You don't even hear the click of the door as it opens, or the soft approach of polished Oxfords when Victor quietly crouches to bring his face level with yours, gazing at your sleeping form, undisguised tenderness completely transforming that stoic visage

Victor is smiling, one large hand curling into a loose fist before it rises to cover his mouth — the side of his index smoothing over his cupid’s bow in an unconscious bid to satisfy the desire for physical contact

Jet black eyes sweep from disheveled hair to the delicate silver chain around your neck, pupils widening as they trace the line of your collarbone upon which the sapphire pendant lay

Then…slowly….as if caught in the pull of some hypnotic tide, Victor moves even closer, Adam’s apple prominent in his throat as he swallows.  Paying no heed to the heat gathering beneath an increasingly tight collar, the man continues studying your face, intent on mapping every smooth contour onto his mind for posterity

It is only when he feels the warmth of your breath on his cheek that he stops, breaking out of his trance and mentally chastising himself for almost losing control.  For losing himself in the sight of your soft lips parted in slumber

Just when he makes to stand and cover you with his suit jacket, your eyes fly open to lock onto his

Time stops.  Lost in the intensity of the gaze, neither of you dare to even breathe, let alone speak, lest the sanctity of the moment is broken

The sheer proximity of Victor Li has you captivated: cedar wood and pine wafting subtle from burning skin, long lashes softening dark eyes that blazed with hunger, lips that trembled ever so slightly with longing until you couldn’t help but become famished for just one taste…

And before you can even make sense of what you’re doing, you've propped yourself up on one elbow, bridging the gap between your lips and his — plush, soft and slightly parted

Victor’s eyes widen for a moment, a thousand different emotions silently brewing inside that busy mind until the slide of your tongue into his mouth blankets the chaos with a quiet calm.  Only then does the LFG CEO yield completely to the warmth of your lips and the fire in his soul, eyes closed as he finally allows his body to take what it wants, what it has yearned for since the day you challenged him

And when he gets to this point, Victor's kiss deepens, becoming more and more aggressive until you’re forced to pull back for a bit of air before diving in for a second round

Confession Of Love:

This man is not the type to throw the word “love” around lightly, so when he tells you he loves you, he MEANS IT.  It’s not lust.  It’s not like.  It’s a Ride or Die type of commitment.

Victor Li leaves very little to chance.  The first time he tells you he loves you, he will have planned it…WAY in advance

The man knows timing is everything (haha!) and will choose the very special occasion of your birthday to make his confession

He rearranges his work schedule (and yours) for the special day, flying you out to Paris on his private jet

At exactly 1:14 pm, he’ll present you with your gift at the very top of the Eiffel Towel: a ladies’ version of the Patek Philippe timepiece he himself wears

The back will be engraved with both your initials and the numbers 1-3-1-4.  You'll start shaking the moment you see it.

1:14 pm, 13:14, 1-3-1-4: all essentially meaning "forever" when pronounced in Chinese

Honestly, it will feel like a proposal and in a sense, it is: once Victor is absolutely certain about someone, he will never let them go.  His love is for life.

You are absolutely speechless, hands trembling so hard that Victor has to hold them steady before he slips the watch onto your wrist

Then, after taking a moment to savour the sweetness of having a shared token of love, Victor bends to place a kiss on the back of your hand, the most tender look in his eyes when he finally looks up to say, “I love you.  Happy birthday.”

Doesn’t that sound much nicer than "dummy"?! 😆

The First Night

Despite all the impossible deadlines Victor sets for you in the course of your professional collaborations, the man is incredibly patient when it comes to matters of the heart

Until Victor tells you he loves you, he will not have sex with you (much to your horny chagrin)

This is actually specific to you and not his personal code of conduct per se.  In the past, the man has had no problems bedding women he’s had, at most, lukewarm feelings for

But YOU are a totally different breed, worlds apart from the starlets and socialites that threw themselves at his feet

Victor is fascinated by your honesty: the frankness of your words, your artless behaviour.  Mesmerized by the fact that he can read you like an open book (which is why he is so keen on protecting you from those who would use that to their advantage).  Touched by the genuine kindness and consideration that guides much of what you do.  Impressed by your tireless spirit in fighting for the people and things you care about

In short, he has never met another person quite like you, especially in the cut-throat world of business and high society where he has learned to excel — a place where poker-faced people keeping their cards close to their chests are the norm and not the exception

Holding out on sex is as painful and torturous to Victor as it likely is to you; the man is incredibly attracted to you, and has been since the day you dared to challenge him to secure funding for your company.  Deep down, Victor knows you had him ensnared the moment he saw the fire burning in your eyes (not like he’d ever tell you though LOL)

And each time work brought you before him, the man couldn’t help but notice something new to admire: the way your hair fell in soft wisps — begging to be gently tucked behind the shell of your ear, the captivating flutter of lashes as tired eyes blinked back fatigue, the pleasing lilt of your voice even as you laced your words with sarcasm

It wasn’t long before Victor found his thoughts drifting to you, haunting his nights and sneaking up on him during the day…especially when he was in the shower, eyes closed and moans amplified in the wet heat as his large hand reached down to stroke the length of his cock — imagining your legs wrapped around his waist, your tongue nimble on his shaft

In spite of all this pent-up tension, Victor doesn't rush into sex because he wants things to be done right.  You are the most important person in his life and he feels the need to eliminate any possibility of things going wrong

In short, he won’t treat you like the women who came before because there’s absolutely no comparison: no one has ever made him feel the way you do

That being said, it doesn’t mean you and Victor won't get up to some extreme heavy-petting: grinding on his lap in his Bugatti, palming him through his dress pants at the office, a hand slipped beneath your skirt when you’re bent over wiping kitchen counters at Souvenir as payment for your meal  

So when Victor gives you the ultimate birthday gift of finally telling you he loves you, the two of you are hightailing it back to your penthouse suite at the grandest hotel in Paris, bodies already flush against each other and kissing as the French do in the privacy of an ascending elevator

BUT Victor is the king of deliciously unhurried love making.  It is his preferred modus operandi.  After all, the man really knows how to enjoy the finer things in life: food, wine, your body and every single reaction of bliss that can be teased out of it.

You can bet that Victor will fuck you nice and slow and thoroughly.

PREPARE TO BE PAMPERED LIKE A QUEEN

Strains of Duke Ellington & John Coltrane's “In a Sentimental Mood” are being piped through built-in speakers as Victor approaches you from behind, notes of pine and cedar accompanying the heat of his body, wafting in gentle waves to make the fine hairs of your skin stand on anticipatory end

And as you watch the sun kiss the horizon through a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows — orange rays setting the Eiffel Tower ablaze in a sea of luminous fire — fingertips are trailing up your bare arms, Victor gently gathering your hair to sweep it over one shoulder before pressing his lips to the nape of your neck, eyes closed and inhaling deep, trying to hold on to the subtle sweetness of your skin

His hands, incredibly dextrous despite their size, easily tease apart the knot of your halter dress and you tremble under the intensity of his gaze over your shoulder as they watch satin trace every curve  — your dress dropping to pool on cool marble at your feet

There is something especially exquisite about seeing the City of Light laid out before you as you’re slowly laid bare by Victor.  And just when you start to blush at standing stark naked before the fully clothed CEO, he places your hands on his chest, seductive command permeating that deep voice when he says, “Undress me.”

Sliding your palms over the broad expanse of his pecs, you palpate the rhythm of his heart, caress the lines of hard muscle beneath that perfectly starched dress shirt  

By the time your fingers are unbuttoning his collar, his Adam's apple is already bobbing in his throat, the deep breaths he’s drawing to rein in desire amplifying the rise and fall of his chest

When the last button is undone, the sight of Victor’s gloriously perfect torso erodes the last of your frayed patience and you’re practically tearing the shirt off his muscular arms, wrestling with his belt.  And although you are dying inside from your lack of finesse, Victor is secretly thrilled that you want him that badly.  Full marks 😆

Finally….finally….that beautiful body is revealed in all its glory: sculpted from innumerable laps in his olympic sized pool and so genetically blessed below the belt that your mouth is watering at the sight

BUT FIRST, a bath!  Blue balls be damned, Victor Li will enjoy this moment to its fullest.  He knows that a slow seduction can build up to the most explosive sex.  Clearly.

The man will absolutely insist on bathing you, don't even try to fight it.  He gets an acute sense of satisfaction from taking care of you in every sense of the word.  Also, there’s nothing quite like the slippery slide of his hands all over your body

Step into the marble infinity tub and lay back against his broad chest.  Soak in the warm waters as you take in the view of the city around you, the peony-scented candles, the white-petaled orchids…all meticulously planned by the man soaping you from behind, gentle hands exploring

Lose yourself in his touch: fingertips trailing after bubbles that glide over the swell of your breasts, large hands submerging to wrap around your waist until they cross at the navel, moving down to rub languid circles between your legs until you tremble — Victor’s lips finding yours when your head falls back against his shoulder in bliss

And when you reach behind to feel him - long, hot and hard  - his soft groans will drive you to the precipice of madness until you’ve got him sitting on the edge of the tub: face a mask of ecstasy to feel your lips on him, your greedy mouth never seeming to get enough of his delicious flesh

Best believe that Victor almost has a heart attack when you let him slip from your mouth when he begins to twitch, observing him with innocence in your eyes as you pump him to completion, teasing the tip of his cock with your hardened nipples while he coats your chest in his release

The man is DONE when you finally look down at your breasts as if surprised, gathering up his cum with the tip of your index and bringing it to your lips for a taste, coy smile blooming all the while on your face

Jaw tightens.  Cock hardens.  And suddenly the world around you slows to a stand-still as you’re lifted so quickly you barely have time to think before his hands are coaxing your legs around his trim waist, your body wet and slippery against Victor’s as he carries you to the bedroom

Laying you upon the king-sized bed, Victor’s lips seek the heat between your thighs — lapping fast, tasting slow, drawing out slick pleasure to coat his tongue and wrench his name from somewhere deep in your throat

Nothing gets Victor Li hotter, faster, than the sound of your voice, desperate and needy for him.  The man is addicted to it.  You can bet he won’t be emerging from between your legs until his cheeks and chin are so shiny it’s obscene, and you’ve lost count of how many times you’ve convulsed against his fingers and tongue, orgasms bleeding one into the other like sweetly turbulent waves

And when he finally rises — your flavour faint on his tongue as his lips find yours — he’ll swallow your moans as he finally pushes into you: gradual, gentle, savouring every searing twitch of muscle adjusting to the welcome intrusion of his long, thick heat

Hips moving fast, swaying slow…pelvis grinding in circles to hit your clit because he can’t get enough of the way you shudder against him, or the sting of your teeth sinking into the flesh of his shoulders (mark him up, Victor LOVES it)

EDGING: Victor will hit that spot with expert precision over and over again till you’re on the verge of exploding…only to pull away, rhythm slowing to a grind to leave you hyperventilating and dizzy with need as this torturous pattern repeats

When he finally lets you (and himself) come, you are a sweaty, screaming mess, nails scratching to leave crimson welts on Victor’s back that will make the man smile to see in the mirror the following morning

Victor likes to remain buried deep within you for a bit after his release, holding you in his arms as he peppers you with kisses: on your lips, cheeks, forehead and eyelids

Afterwards, you can bet that the CEO will have a full spread delivered to the suite, where the two of you will spend the rest of the evening feeding each other in bed in between rounds of passionate lovemaking.  Remember?  Victor has stamina for DAAAAAYYYYYSSS and has to make up for lost time 😂

⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱⏱

Thanks so much for reading!  Check out more of my work here! 📚

[spencers-dria]

Do You Trust Me?

Someone To Stay Ch. 6

Spencer x fem reader

Y/N POV:

*whack*

You smack your alarm as it goes off for the third time this morning. You look at the clock: 7:15AM. Was it later than you get to sleep in for work? Sure. Did you want to get up this early on your day off? Nope. Between JJ being the planner and Penelope's excitement for the weekend, they had convinced the the group that it would be best to get an early start. It was a several hour drive the to the lake, and they wanted to make the most of our time there.

You roll out of bed and look in the mirror. Sweats and a spaghetti strap tank...this will have to do. You leave your hair in the messy bun that you slept in. Half asleep, you fumble around for some socks and slip on some sandals. A horrific choice you know, but we're going for comfort here, not fashion. It'll be fine. You're not trying to impress anyone, and you'll fix yourself up once you get to the lake. You fully intend to nap part of the way there. You don't even bother to grab breakfast. Instead, you grab your bags you packed the night before and head downstairs. Spencer is probably waiting on you already.

You see him pulling the car up, right on time, as you make your way down the stairs. You slide into the passenger side, setting your bag down in the back seat. Reaching into a road trip bag in your lap, you pull out a blanket and pillow and curl up in your seat.

"Good morning sleepyhead" he chuckles. "Not a morning person, huh?"

You grin. "What gave it away?"

He hands you a paper bag and a coffee cup.

"Don't worry, it's green tea and honey" he reassures you, sensing your hesitation.

"I also got you a bagel."

"I don't know who's been giving you trade secrets but food is really the number one way to win me over." You glance over to see a slight smirk on his face. "How are you so awake? You had time to get ready, grab food, drive to my apartment, and you still seem more awake than I do."

"I'm kind of used to not getting much sleep." He shrugs this off as if it's nothing. You sense he doesn't intend on explaining any further, so you decide not to push him.

"I brought some snacks too. You're welcome to anything you'd like." You pull out a some goldfish, fruit gummies, and Capri suns.

He responds with a laugh.

"Ok you have the appetite of a ten year old."

You feel embarrassed for a moment until you see the smile he's giving you.

"It's cute though."

You find yourself blushing, not used to compliments. "Yeah I guess sometimes I just like to let loose, let my inner child out. Not everything has to be so serious all the time, ya know? What we do, both of us...it's stressful stuff. Sometimes eating whatever the heck I feel like helps with that. If that means chocolate milk and cocoa crispies cereal for dinner then so be it!"

Spencer gives you another smile before holding his hand out. "Alright, you won me over. I'll take a Capri sun."

You can't help but laugh as you watch him try to insert the straw with one hand and drive with the other. After awhile you decide to help him out.

"Here, let me see that." You fix the straw and hand him back the drink. "Goober" you laugh as you rolls your eyes at him.

"So what all are you planning on doing at the lake this weekend?" He asks.

"The question is...what am I NOT going to do?"

"Ugh." He rolls his eyes and laughs. "No fair. You're athletic, coordinated. You can actually do all the fun stuff."

You turn to face him with an incredulous look on your face, jaw dropped. "You're kidding me right? Me? Athletic? That's funny!" You laugh shaking your head. "Nahh I'd say we're on a level playing field. I'm not coordinated at all! I just like go have fun, try adventurous things. Like kayaking, I'm just mediocre but I still love doing it. The only sport I ever did was swimming."

"Ha! You were a swimmer, we're going to a lake, and you think we're on a level playing field?"

"Ok fair enough" you concede. "Will you at least try something new this weekend? Please?" You bat your big brown eyes at him, a technique that rarely failed you.

He feigns a look of annoyance, before a smile finally starts teasing at the corner of his lips. "Alright, alright." He throws his hands up in surrender. "But only if you help me with whatever it is we do. A swimmer and a nurse, you're practically our lifeguard for the weekend. Don't let me drown, ok?" He teases.

"Well since you asked so nicely." You give him a playful punch in the arm as you both laugh.

After a brief moment of silence you hear Spencer speak up. "Did you know that Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time, winning 28 medals in total, 23 of those being gold medals? He swam in his first Olympic Games at only 15 years old, and won his first gold medal at 19. And you...already knew this didn't you?" He stops when he sees your eyebrows raised, giving him a slight smirk.

"Yeah Spencer" you smile, shaking your head at him. "I don't mind though. I like hearing all the cool stuff you know."

You spend awhile listening to Spencer talk about everything from Olympic swimming facts to CPR statistics and the origin of the different swimming strokes. A lot of it you don't know already, and you enjoy learning all of this stuff from him. After awhile, you unintentionally drift off to sleep.

He looks over and smiles, he doesn't mind. This happens to him quite often, and the fact that you encouraged him to share his knowledge gives him comfort. He reaches over and pulls the blanket over your shoulders. Hoping to drown out the sound of the highway, he puts on some classical music at a low volume.

You wake up a couple hours later as you hear the loud sound of gravel under the tires.

"Morning sunshine" he grins at you.

"Oh I'm sorry! I wasn't going to make you drive the whole way."

"It's ok, you got your rest. Better you be rested up and have fun today than stay awake just to drive."

"Thanks Spencer." You smile to yourself. He really was very sweet. Good friends are hard to come by, especially ones you can trust that will stick around. You secretly hope that Spencer doesn't plan on dropping you as a friend anytime soon.

You climb out of the car and take a look around. You've arrived at a modest log cabin, sitting right on the edge of the lake. It's surrounded by y'all trees, so thick that you can't see any buildings anywhere else, if there are any. You stand there for a moment taking it all. You lean your head back and close your eyes, enjoying the sounds and smells of nature. It felt like home. You grab your bag out of the backseat and make your way along a dirt path toward the cabin. You stick yourself hand out by your side, brushing the leaves on the trees as you walk by.

"You really are in your element here, huh?" you hear Spencer call out from behind you.

"Oh you have no idea. Just wait till I get in the water" you shout back over your shoulder.

The two of you make your way into what appears to be the common living room. The cabin appears to be completely wooden everywhere, floors, ceilings, walls, beams. There's rustic decor and lots of plaid, but it's done tastefully. It feels so cozy, and you love it.

"Y/N! You made it! We're in here!" You see Penelope's head pop out of a doorway. You enter a room to find two sets of bunk beds. Penelope and Alex have taken bottom bunks. JJ has her stuff placed on the top bunk above Alex. You set your suitcase in an empty corner and throw your pillow on the bed above Penelope. You feel her sneak up and pull you into a tight hug. "Hey bunk buddy! This weekend is going to be so fun!"

"I'm surprised Penny, the outdoors don't seem like your type of weekend."

"Oh don't worry honey! I brought a float with coasters and a tray for the lake! I'll be sipping on wine and tanning all weekend."

"Just make sure to wear sunscreen okay." You give her a nudge and a smile.

"Okay Nurse Y/L/N." She rolls her eyes and laughs.

"Don't worry! I brought enough sunscreen for everyone."

"Haha, of course you did Aunt JJ."

You look over to see her unpacking her suitcase and organizing her things in the drawers and closets. You decide to do the same, that way it will be easier to find all your things later. After you've all finished unpacking, Alex says she's going to take a quick nap. After getting ready in your swim wear and coverups, you, Penelope, and JJ wander over to the guys room to see what they're up to.

You peek in to see Spencer reading on the bunk above Hotch, who appears to be on a FaceTime call with his son, Jack. Rossi isn't in the room. He's probably already started organizing things in the kitchen. Derek looks like he's ready for the lake, already in swim trunks and rubbing on sun tan lotion.

"You need any help with that, hot rod?" Penelope jests.

"You know it mama."

At this response, Penelope runs quickly across to room and helps Derek to finish rubbing in the suntan lotion on his back. She looks to be enjoying it a little too much.

You and JJ stay leaning in the doorway, laughing.

You finally speak up. "I don't know about y'all, but I've been stuck in a car all day! So if you need me, I'll be out at the lake!"

"I'm right behind, ya." JJ turns to follow you.

At this, Spencer finally pops up from behind his book. "Oh umm, we're going outside now? What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet Spencer, come with us and we'll figure it out."

You wait on him while he changes into some swim trunks and a t shirt. He stands in the doorway a bit awkwardly, hesitant to leave the cabin.

"Come on!" You grab his hand pulling him out onto the porch and down toward the lake, following behind JJ, Penelope, and Derek.

When you get to the waters edge, you see the group has already spotted a rope swing. Derek appears to be climbing into a position to jump from. JJ stops him, to test the integrity of the rope first.

Penelope watches as Derek effortlessly climbs up the rocks. "My monkey man" she smirks.

Once JJ seems satisfied that the rope won't break, Derek swings out over the water, doing a back flip before making a splash in the water that sprays everyone watching from the shore. A chorus of groans rings out, half from annoyance at the show off, half from not wanting to get splashed.

You remove your shoes and your coverup as you prepare to get in the water. You can tell Spencer is making a conscious effort to avert his gaze. You blush, suddenly remembering the girls' previous comments about how good you looked in the slick back two piece.

You quickly make your way up the rocks and grab onto the rope as it swings back towards you. Spencer gives you a concerned look.

"Are you sure you want to do that? You could get hurt!" He shouts up at you.

Instead of answering you give him a quick smirk. You back up and get a running start for momentum, holding onto the rope as you swing out over the water. You let the momentum push you out as far as it will take you, as you angle your arms and body to dive deep into the water, just like you used to off the starting block in swimming. As you feel your body dive down into the water, you angle back up and do a quick, few dolphin kicks, propelling yourself much further from the shore. When you finally surface, you're about 20 or so meters from the shore. You see the group staring at where you dove into the water, confused and concerned.

"Over here guys!" You shout at the group to get their attention. They look up to see you much further away than they expected.

"Hey, you weren't kidding!" Spencer laughed.

"We might have to have ourselves a little competition little miss mermaid!" You laugh at Derek's new nickname for you.

You do a few strokes to bring you back to shore as you climb out of the water. You slick your hair back out of your eyes as you wring your hair out.

"Alright Spencer! Your turn!"

You giggle as you grab his hand and drag him towards the rocks.

"Umm yeah this is definitely not a good idea. You clearly know what you're doing, but I will definitely hurt myself. Did you know that drownings are the third leading cause of unintentional deaths?"

"Stop being such a party pooper! Loosen up a bit. Now climb." You cross your arms giving him a look that lets him know you mean business.

"If you fall, your knight in shining armor, Y/N will catch you!" Derek shouts from his spot where he's swimming in the lake. JJ and Penelope are watching from a float shaped like a giant unicorn. Typical Penny.

"Shut up, Derek!" Spencer shouts back at him.

You can tell that he's actually nervous, and not just unwilling to participate, so you decide to climb up after him.

"How about we go together?" You smile at him.

"Can we do that?" He asks, clearly not believing you.

"Yeah! See how there's a plank of wood on the bottom here? There's room for both of us to stand. And then we just hold onto the rope. We'll back up to get some momentum, then right when we get to the edge, we'll hop on the rope ok. But make sure to let go before it swings back towards the rocks."

The look he's giving you says he still doesn't think this will work.

You take his hand in yours, giving it a quick squeeze. "Do you trust me?"

You see the anxiety wash away as he's overcome by comfort. "Yeah, I do actually" he smiles, squeezing your hand back.

"On three okay? One...two...three!"

Before you know it, the two of you are landing in the water. You both come up for air as he starts a splash fight with you. You're both giggling and splashing like little kids, but having the time of your life. You feel water peg you in the back of the head. You turn around to see Hotch and Rossi armed with oversized water guns, peeking out from behind the trees on the shore.

"Hey that's not fair! We're unarmed!" You shout at the two men.

"Come join our team!" Rossi yells back. You and Spencer look at each other confused. You look up to see Alex carrying four water guns out to the water toward Derek, JJ, and Penny.

You and Spencer turn to each other, each with a huge grin. "Oh it's on!" You say.

"It's so on!" he replies before you both make your way onto shore as quickly as possible. Hotch and Rossi hand you each a weapon and the war commences.

After a long fight, the team in the lake finally surrenders. Your team is the clear winner.

"Winner's get dinner first!" Rossi shouts before the four of you make a mad dash for the cabin. You grab your towel, guessing that Alex had laid it out for you, as you see the other ladies' towels laid out as well well. Rossi had the dinner on warmers, so it's all ready for you. As the four of you take your plates full of food to the dining table outside, you pass your opponents. A series of snickers and goofy faces ensues as your team teases them endlessly.

You felt so comfortable around all of them. For people with such serious jobs, they sure do know how to let loose and have fun.

A/N:

I hope everyone is still enjoying it! I know it's a slow burn but it's so cute right 🥰I plan on picking up right where we left off! Please reblog or comment if you liked this chapter! I love hearing feedback!

[365days365movies]

February 21, 2021: The African Queen (1951) (Part 1)

The leading man!

It’s an old term from old Hollywood, and while leading men certainly exist today, it’s not something we really use anymore. And yet, we all have some concept of the leading man. First modern one that came to mind for me was Chris Evans. For the GF, it was this guy:

And that’s valid! But if we’re gonna talk about Hollywood’s leading men, we have to go BACK. FAR back, to the beginning of film, and to some of the most iconic film stars that helped define the term. These are guys like Errol Flynn, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Rock Hudson, yesterday’s Cary Grant, and of course, Clark Gable.

And some of those guys will appear on this blog at some point this year, most likely. One of them is gonna pop up this month, even! But there’s one more leading man to talk about, and that’s Humphrey Bogart, one of the most prominent of the leading men of the 1940s and ‘50′s.

I mean, come on! Casablanca! He’s a classic leading man, and I’m excited to see more of him. But every leading man needs his leading lady, and there are plenty of classic ones to choose from. Lauren Bacall, Jean Arthur, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Natalie Wood, Mae West, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Greta Garbo, Lena Horne, Sophia Loren, yesterday’s Deborah Kerr, my mom’s favorites Doris Day and Audrey Hepburn, and OF COURSE, today’s star: Katharine Hepburn.

The Philadelphia Story, Bringing Up Baby, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner! Another classic leading lady in another set of classic films. And, OF COURSE, these two starred together in today’s movie, The African Queen. And who’s the director of this film? MOTHAFUCKIN’ JOHN HUSTON BOIIIIIIIIIIII

Director of The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, Moby Dick, The Misfits, the original Casino Royale, and weirdly enough, Annie. AND he was an actor in The Bible, Chinatown, The Hobbit, The Black Cauldron, and weirdly enough, Annie! Goddamn, this movie’s got a lot of talent behind it! I’m genuinely looking forward to watching this, considering that it’s often considered one of the best films of the 1950s. So let’s do it, yeah? SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

We begin in German West Africa, where...yeah, it’s a little uncomfortable from modern day standards, as a group of indigenous people are in a service at a constructed Methodist Church, where two missionaries, Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) and her brother, Reverend Samuel (Katharine Hepburn), are pretty unsuccessfully leading the singing of hymns.

As they do so, a boat called the African Queen pulls up, captained by Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart). When he pulls up, he delivers needed supplies and mail to the village, which disrupts the ceremony (thank God), and leads to an interaction between Allnut and the Sayers, who invite him to tea.

The Canadian Allnut seems to be pretty relaxed, while the British Rose and Samuel are obviously pretty stuck-up. But this is probably not going to matter soon, as Allnut delivers the news that World War I has begin, leaving the status of the British missionaries in German-occupied West Africa in danger.

And as soon as they realize this, a group of German soldiers comes through the village, and soldiers gather up all of the people from their houses, and...Jesus, they set fire to the place! Why? I mean, it’s war, duh, but WHY? The villagers are taken away for what I’m sure are totally good reasons, as the village of Kungdu burns to the ground. Samuel and Rose are left behind, and Samuel’s clearly a little fucked up by the encounter with the soldiers.

Soon after, Samuel seems ill, forgetting that they’re even in Africa. She helps him to his room, and he falls to the ground, obviously not well. It’s central Africa, so this could be malaria, trypanosomaisis, yellow fever, a BUNCH of shit. But I’m sure he’s gonna be fine. He’ll be fiiiiiiiiiiiiine.

Oh, wait, he’s dead. We find that out when Charlie arrives to deliver more bad news: people are being taken from their homes to forcibly join the army, and the villages are destroyed in order to give them no place to go back to. Which is...disgusting, fuck me. 

They bury Samuel, and Charlie takes Rose onto The African Queen so that they can get away from the village before the soldiers return. This is backed by...very light-hearted music. Very poorly-timed sprightly music. I dunno, it really just doesn’t match the done, given that Sam just died, and they’re trying to escape.

We learn what some of the issues are for our two. The British won’t easily be coming because of the various German fortifications, including a large ship called the Königin Luise on a nearby lake. Said boat has a massive gun on it, posing major damage to any enemies. 

But Rose has an idea: using explosive gel and some pipes and cylinders, she has an idea to use The African Queen itself as a torpedo to plow up the Luise. Charlie points out that the only where there is down the dangerous Ulanga River, and past a German fort. And Rose guilts him for not wanting to help his Queen and country. And, with that, he agrees.

From there, it’s time for a boat trip! Like a road trip, but with a boat! Katherine learns to steer, and Charlie notes that he hasn’t fixed the safety mechanism on the engine because he likes kicking it. Y’know, psychologists say that catharsis doesn’t work like that, Charlie.

It would seem that Charlie knows this, and settles instead for a drink. And as he brings out his bottle of gin, Rose looks ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIED. Like he brought out a dead body instead of a bottle of alcohol; it’s even backed by this bombastic DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN in the score! It’s weirdly hilarious.

The two take separate baths in the river, which has gotta be FULL of a bunch of stuff, but whatever. They tuck in for the night as it rains, and Charlie’s stuck outside while Rose gets the tent. Which is...supremely unfair, and ASKING for Charlie to get malaria or other diseases. Thankfully, Rose realizes this and allows him inside.

The next day, they come upon the rapids, which look dangerous...but also kind of fun, it that weird to say? I dunno, I’d go rafting down those. On a related note, I’ve never been whitewater rafting. Maybe one day, huh? Well, despite the ride and again, WEIRDLY sprightly music, they survive...and more. See, Rose LOVED it. Like, really LOVED it. She compares it to a bonafide religious experience, and says that she’s never experienced such joy from a...physical experience.

So, either she’s an adrenaline junkie, or that was some, uh...foreshadowing. Charlie’s a little less excited by this, and notes that the upcoming rapids are far worse. And Rose is just...SO FUCKING PUMPED for this. Shit, I think something’s awoken in her. Get this lady to a theme park, STAT!

But again, Charlie is NOT happy about this, and gets kinda drunk later in the day. While drunk, he insults her plan, and goes back on his agreement to go on. She calls him a coward, and she calls him a “crazy, psalm-singin’, skinny old maid.” Um, Charlie, maybe not the best idea to do that to a woman who’s just learned to joys of adrenaline and tsting her limits. She might retaliate by, I dunno...throwing all of your gin over the side of the river while you’re asleep.

Yeah, like that. Exactly like that. Some drunk fish in the river today, lemme tell you.

Anyway, despite this, Rose is pissed off, as Charlie still won’t go down the river. As he insists that all that’s down the river is death, she still insists that he promised to go. He finally agrees, despite thinking that they’re doomed to be food for the crocodiles. And so, they go.

They pass the fort, the Shona, and the Germans do indeed fire at them as they go down. And I mean the ENTIRE time they pass. They hit the engine, and Charlie has to fix it right amidst all of this. They also hit the boxes of blasting gel, but they don’t go off. And, as Rose rightly suggested earlier, the sun gets in the soldiers’ eyes as they try to fire on them. And they pass without a hitch! Except for oooooooooone tiny detail.

HALFWAY POINT! See you in Part 2!

[johnsbleu]

Hold My Hand: John Wick x Reader Chapter 82

warnings: nsfw! Hold My Hand masterlist A/N: i didn’t tag anyone since i don’t know who wants to be tagged anymore, so just let me know if you do want to be and i’ll start a new list!

Mornings in Mill Neck are always nice. The hustle and bustle of the city doesn't pollute the air, so it's always beyond quiet and peaceful. Aside from the occasional car and the birds chirping in the trees, there's nothing around to spoil the quiet and solitude in the mornings. It's like a little slice of heaven every time you step onto the side patio.

The sun is just starting to peek through the trees as it slowly ascends into the sky, and the grass is shining like little diamonds from the morning dew. Birds are chirping loudly and flying around the yard, eating and cleaning themselves in the bird bath that John had just put out there. The steam from your fresh cup of coffee is floating in the air, and you blow on it a little before you take a small sip as to not burn your mouth. You surprised yourself a little when you poured yourself a cup of coffee since you usually don't drink it, but John bought coffee creamer that he thought you'd like – he was right. Of course.

Looking over your shoulder a little, you see both Bleu and Sadie sitting at the door and waiting for you to let them out. You smile as you open the door and lean down a little to pet them both as they walk past and head into the yard to do their business.

John is already gone for the morning; he went for an early morning drive into the city to get his suit for the wedding. He wanted to make sure it was absolutely perfect, so he went to his favorite tailor at the Continental. You told him that he didn’t need to get it yet since your wedding isn’t for almost two more months, and he tried to play it cool, but you could see how giddy he was over getting it a little early.

Tess is gone for an appointment and a Lamaze class, and you're fairly certain that Jimmy is at work. You have the entire house to yourself, which means after your shower later this morning, you won't have to hurry to get changed before someone barges in.

Setting your coffee cup down, you pop back inside to grab Sadie's leash, then you hook it to her collar and make your way down to the lake with the dogs. Sadie isn't as well behaved as Bleu, but that's only because she's still pretty young. Bleu wasn't even a year when John got him, but he was already well trained. Sadie, not so much.

Looking over to your right as you walk along the lake, the water is so smooth and still that it looks like glass. You almost regret throwing a rock into it and disturbing it, but the ripples that spread across the water make it worth it. Bleu perks up a little when he sees something, and he carefully walks towards it when it starts to move again.

“No, no, Bleu! Leave it alone!” you gasp, tugging Sadie's leash a little when she becomes too excited. You grab Bleu's collar and pull him back, then you kneel down and pick up the turtle that is struggling to get to the water. “Hi, little guy.”

Bleu sniffs the turtle in your hands, then he tilts his head when the turtle buries himself in his shell. When Bleu nudges his shell with his nose, he whimpers a little and sits down, waiting for him to come back out again.

Pulling your phone out of your pocket, you hold up the turtle and take a picture with it to send to John. He's busy and will be for probably another hour, but hopefully he'll see your text.

“Okay, let's get you to where you need to be.” you say, setting the turtle on the edge of the water. He slowly peeks out from his shell, then he quickly waddles into the water and swims away. You look over at Sadie and Bleu who are sitting behind you, and you smile at them, “That was pretty cool, huh?”

Your phone vibrates with a text from John, and you smile when you look down and read it: My beautiful girl! I will be home in a bit. I love you.

Stuffing your phone back into your pocket, you continue walking the dogs along the lake, and eventually make your way back home. The food bowls for the dogs are both empty, so you fill them up along with Garfield's, then you head upstairs to start the shower.

__

While in the shower, you decided that since you don't have any plans for today, you're going to clean the house. No one will be home to get in the way while you mop the floors and vacuum, so it'll be perfect.

You have your music playing pretty loudly since you're home alone, but you turn it down a little when you get out of the shower. Dancing and singing along to the song, you toss your towel on the bed and stand naked in front of the closet while you look at your clothes.

“Definitely going to go through this closet.” you say to yourself, shuffling through dresses and shirts you haven't worn in months.

Shaking your hips from side to side, you sing a little louder since you're alone – or so you think. As soon as you turn around, you see Jimmy coming into the bedroom, and he immediately covers his eyes as you both scream.

“Get out!” you yell, grabbing your towel from the bed. Jimmy puts his hand over his eyes and runs into the wall as he tries to get through the door, and you continue yelling at him until he does, “And shut the door!”

“Ahh! I'm sorry!” he yells, slamming the door behind him.

“Oh, my god. Oh, my god!” you pull the towel around you more and sit down on the bed, hiding your face in your hands. “Oh, my god!”

You're sure Jimmy is probably doing the same as you right now, but he just saw you naked. Your entire body! Naked! It was a total accident, of course. You didn't hear him over the music.

As quickly as you can, you pull on a pair of underwear and throw on a summer dress. You don't want to hang out in your room all day since you planned on cleaning the house and you need to leave so you can get some cleaning supplies, but leaving your room means seeing Jimmy, and you're not sure you can even face him yet.

You head into the bathroom to brush your teeth and fix yourself up a little, and you bite your lip nervously as you think of a way to get out of the house without running into Jimmy again.

Peeking your head around the corner, you look down at the living room to see it's empty. You tiptoe a little closer to the stairs, then you quickly run down them and grab your keys and purse from the kitchen table. As soon as you walk into the garage, you realize John has taken your car for the day -- of course he has, he loves to drive it. You so badly want to get out of the house that you don’t even care at this point that you’ll have to drive his car instead. You get in his car, buckle yourself in and pull out of the driveway to see John coming down the street.

He pulls up next to you and rolls down his window, “Hey, beautiful. What are you doing?”

“Oh, uh, I was going to clean the house today, so I need to get some stuff from the grocery store. If you need anything, just text me. I gotta go.” you say, rolling your window up and leaving John at a loss for words.

So this is what John felt like the day Tess saw him when she walked in on the two of you at the shop.

You try to push it out of your mind as you head to the grocery store, and you pray like hell Jimmy won't bring it up to you or John, especially not Tess. She'll only make it worse by teasing you.

“Oh, my god.”

__

You wandered around the grocery store for more than an hour just to try and avoid going home and seeing Jimmy. He's been with John for almost an hour now, you know he's probably spilled his guts.

Pulling into the driveway, you see John sitting on the side patio, and he perks up when he sees you. Before you can even get out of the car, John opens your door and leans in to kiss you, taking your breath away. You melt a little on his lips and relax as you wrap your arm around his neck to keep him from moving away from you. He leans in to kiss you with a little more passion, and you open your eyes to look at him for a moment.

“Hi, honey.” you whisper, rubbing your thumb against his beard.

John smiles at you, then pecks you quickly before he gets the groceries. He grabs out all of the bags and carries them into the house with you right behind him. You look around the living room, then you peek into the kitchen to make sure Jimmy isn't around.

“Hey,” John says, and you jump as you look at him. “What's going on with you?”

You look around the room again, then over at John as you shrug, “Nothing.”

John cocks up his eyebrow and moves closer to you, “Do I need to remind you that I know you better than you think?”

“Just having a weird morning.” you finally admit, deciding to leave out a few details. You start to take things out the grocery bags, and you look over at John as he watches you, almost like he’s silently scanning your mind to find any lies. He knows you so damn well, and even you know he's going to get it out of you. “Look, I got some more of that coffee creamer. I really like it, by the way.”

“Yeah? That's good.” he says, standing behind you and placing his hands on your waist. “Tell me what's bothering you, baby.”

You keep a tight lip, and you look over your shoulder as Jimmy walks into the kitchen. A heavy silence falls over the kitchen as you move around to put away the things you bought. You head over to the fridge, and you and Jimmy try to get out of each other's ways, but you both step in the same direction.

“Sorry,” Jimmy says, avoiding your gaze. “I'll go to my left, you go to your left.”

You move past Jimmy and look at John as he watches the two of you with his brow furrowed. He looks at Jimmy and smiles, “Hey, Jimmy.”

“Hey,” he says, then he leaves the kitchen.

John looks perplexed as to why he got such a short response from Jimmy since usually Jimmy is talking non-stop to John. If you're not mistaken, John almost looks a little hurt.

“Hey,” John whispers to you, “Do you think I said something to upset Jimmy? He's not really talking to me.”

You shake your head, “No, I'm sure it has nothing to do with you.”

Pretty positive it has nothing to do with you, John.

John sighs a little and sits down at the kitchen table, and he grabs your waist when you walk past, “What did you do this morning?”

“Just took the dogs for a walk, then came home to shower. That's it.” you say, struggling to get off of John's lap.

John laughs and finally lets go of you, “My little energizer bunny today. Look at you go.”

“I just want to get the house cleaned up today.” you take out a cloth and some cleaner, then you begin to wipe down the kitchen counters, “You can always help if you want.”

“Nah,” John says, smiling when you look at him, “I think I'm gonna see if Jimmy is good. I really think I did something.”

Just as John moves past you, Tess walks into the kitchen and smiles at John as she moves to get something from the fridge.

“Jimmy! I'm home!” she yells, and you let out a laugh as you focus on cleaning the stove. “James!”

“Come in here, Tess.” Jimmy says from the bedroom.

You look up at Tess as the look of disgust grows on her face, and she scoffs loudly and sits back in her chair.

“No, you come in here.” she says, challenging him. “Right now. Don't you want to know how my appointment went?”

Jimmy is quiet for a moment, then he walks into the kitchen and stands there awkwardly, “Okay, I'm here. Tell me.”

Tess furrows her brow and sits up a little, “Why is your face so white?”

“I'm getting sick.” he says, and John leans back against the counter and looks at him.

John and Tess are both looking at Jimmy and wondering what the hell is going on with him, and you shrug a little when Jimmy looks at you.

“You know, you've been acting a little weird too.” John says, pointing at you. “What's going on with you two? What did you do this morning?”

“Nothing.” you and Jimmy both say at the same time, which only makes the two of you look more guilty.

Jimmy clears his throat, then he walks back into the living room with Tess right behind him. John watches them, then he walks over and puts his hand on top of yours to stop you from cleaning.

You're not entirely sure why you don't just tell John what happened, but you can't bring yourself to do it. You're too embarrassed. You’re not worried that John would be upset, it was a simple mistake. But you're so damn embarrassed that if you have to recall what happened, you think you just might die.

“Oh…my…god!” Tess says loudly from the living room, and you close your eyes and pray like hell that she won't come into the kitchen. She walks into the kitchen and points at you and laughs, “Oh, my god!”

“Tess, please.” you say, and she stops laughing when she realizes you're on the verge of tears from embarrassment. You put the rag down and push past them all to head up to your room, and when you look over your shoulder, you see John right behind you. “I don't want to talk about it.”

John shrugs, “I don't even know what you're talking about in the first place.”

Taking a deep breath, you turn around and face John as he closes the bedroom door, “Something happened this morning, and I just really don't want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” he says sincerely, and he walks over and reaches for your hands, “But are you okay? Just let me know if you're okay.”

Nodding your head, you lean against John's chest, “Yeah, I'm fine. I just really don't want to talk about it, so please don't do the thing where you try to get me as vulnerable as possible so you can get it out of me.”

John chuckles, “I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“You're already doing it.” you say, looking at his hands as he rubs your back.

“I'm rubbing your back. I always do that.” he lets go of you when you squint your eyes a little, then he leans back against the dresser, “Fine, I just won't touch you.”

The two of you share an intense look before you start to clean up the room, trying your best to avoid John's stare. John sits down on the bed and watches you as you put your dirty clothes in the laundry basket, and you look over your shoulder a little when you feel his gaze on you.

“What did you and Jimmy do this morning that you're not telling me and Tess?”

You immediately turn around and shake your head, “Don't even go there.”

“Well, I wasn't going there. I trust you, but you need meet me somewhere. You're both being weird.” he says, and you can tell he's genuinely confused. “Just tell me something. I just need to know if you're okay.”

You kneel in front of him and look down at your hands to try and figure out how to say what you want to say without embarrassing yourself again.

John cups your face in his hands and smiles, “As long as you're okay, that's all I care about.”

You take a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Okay, so...this morning, I took Bleu and Sadie down to the lake, then I came home. I knew you were gone obviously, and I knew Tess was gone. I thought Jimmy said last night that he had to work today, so I…thought I was home alone.”

John widens his eyes and gestures to his crotch, “Were you...you know?”

“Masturbating? No!” you say, scrunching your face up a little, “I haven't done that in ages.”

“Okay,” John exhales and nods his head, “That's good. To both of those things.”

You let out a laugh and shake your head, “Anyway, I thought I was home alone, so I just turned on my music and took a shower. And since I thought I was home alone, I was just...walking around in here. Naked. And...Jimmy saw me. All...of me.”

“Jimmy saw you naked?”

You stare at the floor and nod your head, “...yeah.”

“Oh,” John says, and you slowly look up at him, “And you're okay?”

“For the most part. Just a little embarrassed.” you say, and you can't help but laugh when John begins to chuckle, “I was literally just in here, dancing around completely naked. He covered his eyes the moment he saw me, then he ran into the wall.”

“He ran into the wall?!” John laughs and squeezes his eyes shut as he laughs harder. “Holy, shit. Oh, man, that was a good laugh.”

“I'm glad you think it's funny. Your best friend just saw your fiancee naked.” you move to sit next to John on the bed, and when you make eye contact, you both start to laugh. “It was so embarrassing, I can't even look at him.”

“Now you know how I felt when Tess saw me.” he says, then he laughs a little. “I'm not going to tell him that I know, I'm going to wait and see if he tells me.”

“I really miss having the place to ourselves.”

John laughs as he nods, “I miss you being able to walking around naked too.”

You shake your head a little and tuck your legs underneath you as you turn to face John, “Anyway, let's move on and stop talking about this before I die of embarrassment.”

“I took your car into Aurelio's this morning.” he says, and you furrow your brow a little. “I had a bad dream last night, and I had to make sure that your car was safe to drive. That’s why I took your car.”

Laughing a little, you reach out for John's hands, “You bought my car the other day, and Aurelio already looked at it.”

“I know, but my dream was so bad that I had to be sure.” he pulls you onto his lap and sighs a little, “Your brakes didn't work in the dream, so I just wanted to be sure that they actually do. Anyway, everything is fine with your car. Aurelio thinks I'm an idiot, but that's okay.”

“Oh, I bet he yelled at you for not trusting him.” you laugh, pecking John's cheek before you get up and continue cleaning up the dirty clothes. “So, you got your suit?”

“I got fitted for it, and it should be ready by tonight, so I was thinking...” John gets up and walks over to you, “Maybe you'd like to go into the city for some dinner, then I can pick it up.”

You gasp quietly and turn around, “I have the perfect outfit too!”

John smiles as he leans down to kiss you, “Maybe Tess and Jimmy would like to go as well.”

You're already going through your closet and trying to find the outfit that you want to wear tonight, so you're not really listening to John.

“I can wear this!” you say, pulling out a black jumpsuit.

John nods, “That would be good.”

“Hey, so I have a little checklist thing that I printed off this morning,” you sit down next to John and turn to face him, “And since our wedding isn't a year away, it's literally...like two months away, everything is going to be pushed up on the timeline.”

John looks at you and shrugs, “We can push the wedding back.”

“No,” you shake your head and smile, “No, not at all what I'm suggesting. I'm just saying that usually 12 months prior to your wedding, you should be thinking about where you're having it, who is in your wedding party, and the wedding budget.”

“We're having it here, Tess and Jimmy are in the wedding, and there is no budget.” John says, and you laugh a little. “It's all figured out.”

“Okay, well...” you shake your head again as you laugh and get off the bed to grab the list.

Some of the stuff on the list doesn't really apply to you and John, and since, like John said, there's no budget, you're not really worried about a lot of the stuff on the list that you need to do. Your wedding is going to simple and quiet, so you're not too stressed.

John takes the list from you and reads it over, then he nods his head a little as he looks at it, “You don’t have a dress yet.”

“Nope,” you lean over to look at the list and shrug, “But I'm not really worried about that. I could just go to the bridal shop in town and look at them, and I know you mentioned it before, but I could even go to the hotel and they'd probably help me out.”

John looks up at you as a smile spreads across his face, “They'd probably love that, to be honest. They're so sick of suits, I'm sure they'd love to make a nice wedding dress.”

“It'd probably be cheaper too. Only cost me, what, two coins?” you say, and John laughs as you start to smile. “Nah, I'm kidding, I would never do that.”

“You could.” John says, turning to look at you a little, “If it came down to it and you couldn't find a dress that you liked, I know they'd love to help you design one.”

Sighing a little, you look at John and shake your head, “I would never take advantage of your...privileges. Anyway, back to what I was saying, since we're only two months away from our wedding, it's like...crunch time for us. We need to send out RSVPs immediately. My mom has already told my family that we're engaged, so they all know, but we need to send out invites. We need to figure out what we're doing for catering, we need to figure out what we're doing for flowers, and all of that stuff.”

John chuckles a little, then cocks up his eyebrow, “Are you going to get stressed out?”

“Maybe...probably,” you sigh, closing your eyes, “Yeah.”

“Don't get stressed out, baby. It'll be perfect. How about you let me do some of this stuff?” he says, and you watch him lean back on the bed so he can grab a pen from his side table. He puts a star next to a few things, then he reads it again and puts a few more stars down. “Let me do this stuff.”

Catering, flowers, DJ, photographer, and picking up the marriage license all have stars next to them, along with things like rental stuff. That only leaves things like your dress, wedding favors, and cake for you.

“Really?” you ask, looking up at him, “Are you sure? This is quite a lot of stuff to do, and on top of it, you’re working on the pavilion. Are you sure? This isn’t too much, is it? I don’t want you to get stressed out.”

John nods, leaning over to kiss your cheek, “Yeah, I think I can handle it. Just show me some pictures of what you're into for the wedding, and I'll take care of the rest.”

You hate that you're tearing up over this, but it's so sweet to see how willing John is to help with this. You rest your head on John's shoulder and close your eyes as you sniffle a little.

“This is my wedding too.” John says, and you look up at him, “This is my first real wedding.”

You nod, “You and Helen eloped.”

“Yeah,” he nods, smiling at you, “So, this is exciting for me. I'm excited to be able to walk around with you and show you off as my wife, I'm excited for the planning and decorating for it, and I'm excited that we get to celebrate our love. You have no idea how excited I am to see you in a beautiful wedding dress.”

“I'm excited too. I hope our wedding is everything that we want.”

John leans over to kiss you, then he sucks on his bottom lip a little, “I want to be able to help out with it. I know you like the more romantic theme for the wedding, and you want lights everywhere. I know you want candles around, and I know you want sunflowers. I can do this.”

You smile as you cup John's face, “I love you endlessly, Jonathan.”

“And I love you.” he says, pulling you along with him when he lays down on the bed, “Is there anything else we need to do?”

Snuggling closer to John, you mold into his side and wrap your arm around his waist, “Well, there are plenty of things that we can still do together. We need to decide on what flavor of cupcakes we want and that kind of stuff, which is actually more fun than stressful. We also need to figure out who is going officiate our wedding.”

“Oh, yeah,” John looks up at the ceiling and hums while he thinks, “Well, we're not a part of a church.”

“If I suggest something, will you promise not to laugh?” you ask, and John looks over at you in curiosity. “What if...Jimmy did it?”

John looks at you for a moment longer before he loses it with laughter, “Jimmy?”

“You promised you wouldn't laugh, John.” you sit up and get off the bed.

“No, I never promised.” he laughs, sitting up to look at you. When he realizes that you're serious, he stops laughing. “Wait, baby, you're serious?”

“John, he loves us. He's your best friend, he's my brother in law, he'd be great at it. He knows you and I both really well, and he'd say such nice and sweet things. I think it'd be perfect for him.”

“Why not Tess?”

You scoff, “You're kidding? Tess? She'd end up blurting out something inappropriate and embarrassing us.”

John nods and gets off the bed, “Yeah, you're right. Well, we can ask him tonight when we go out to dinner.”

Exhaling loudly, you reach for John's hands and look up at him, “Please don't embarrass me tonight.”

“I would never do that to you.” he says, and he starts to laugh loudly before you jokingly shove him off of you. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry!”

__

There's something about driving into the city at night that's so exciting to you. The neon lights and signs are like a feast for your eyes, and you always notice a store that you never even knew was there. But perhaps your favorite thing is seeing all the people flagging down cabs and running down the sidewalk to get to their train on time. You always wonder where they're going.

A few sprinkles land on the windshield, and you look over to see several umbrellas open up. You shift in your seat more to look out the window since you're stuck in traffic, and you prop your head up as you watch people. There's a bar on the corner, and you watch people head in and out of the door before John presses the gas a little, leaving the bar behind.

It's always bumper to bumper in the city, and it's always stop and go. It's exhausting. You don't know how John did it so much when he worked in the city before you two met. John is always go, go, go, and he always likes to drive fast, so picturing John sitting in NYC traffic is funny to think about.

“I hate this traffic!” John says, gritting his teeth a little.

You let out a laugh and look over at him, “I was just thinking about that.”

“I didn't think it'd be so bad tonight. It's New York City, I don't know why I thought it wouldn't be like this.” he says, then he looks over at you, “I'm sorry, I'm sure you're hungry.”

“Well, yeah,” you shrug, leaning over the center console a little, “But I like being in here with you. Sitting in here, listening to the rain on the windshield, it's nice.”

John nods, “It is nice.”

Your hand is on John's thigh and you move it towards the crotch of his pants as he shifts a little in his seat. John looks over at you and smirks as a smile grows on your face. The two of you hold eye contact for a moment, and you bite your lip as you move closer.

“Think you can get away with it?”

You sit up and look around, “I think so. The windows are a little fogged up anyway, and it's dark in here. I think I can get away with it.”

John scoots his seat back a little, then he unbuttons his pants and unzips them to pull himself out as his cock grows harder. You lean over the console more to stroke John's cock, and you look up at John as he smiles at you.

“Fuck,” he laughs, keeping his eyes on the road, “Just your hand alone feels amazing.”

“But my mouth...”

John nods, “Yeah, your mouth will be even better.”

You take one more look around before you lean over and take John into your mouth. Sucking and stroking his cock, you use your right hand to caress his balls, and John immediately moans loudly. John's right hand rests on your head as you continue to suck and lick on him, and you feel him gripping your hair more as you take him deeper.

“Fuck, yes,” he moans, gripping your hair a little tighter, “Fuck, baby.”

Slowly sliding John out of your mouth, you wipe away the spit on your lip and smile at John, “I wish I wasn't wearing this right now. I want you to touch me so badly.”

“Well, take it off then.” he says, and you sit back in your seat to pull it down a little. “Oh, shit, I didn't think you'd actually do it.”

You stop halfway and look over at John, “Well...”

“No, no, keep going.” he says, sitting back in his seat and stroking his cock as he watches you, “We're at a standstill.”

You pull your jumpsuit down more until it's around your ankles, then you reach over to stroke John's cock as he leans a little closer to put his right hand between your legs. Humming a little, you tilt your head back and smile when you feel the warmth from John's hand between your legs. He hasn't even touched you yet, but you're so fucking turned on that one little touch is all it will really take to make you come.

“Shit, you're wet.” he says, slowly inserting his finger until he's knuckle deep, “And so warm. Fuck, if we weren't in traffic right now.”

“Yeah? What would you do?”

John smirks, “Bend you over and fuck you on the hood of this car.”

John isn't wearing his suit jacket since it's warmer in the car, so you grab it and put it over your chest since you're not wearing a bra. John looks down as you continue stroking his cock, and he leans his head back against the seat when you take your hand off of him.

“Sorry,” you reach down and grab out some lotion from your purse, “I need a little lotion for you.”

As soon as you touch John again, he moans loudly and flicks his fingers at a faster pace. Your body is shaking with pleasure as he inserts another finger, and John leans over to kiss you as you both touch each other.

“You like that?” John asks, rubbing your clit slowly, and you bite your lip and nod your head, “You like to feel my fingers, but you want my cock, don't you?”

“I do.” you whimper, stroking John a little faster in hopes to bring on an orgasm, “I want your cock so bad.”

The angle that John is at is perfect, and every time he flicks his fingers, he hits your hidden spot and it causes your body to shake. You let go of John's cock and cling to his arm as he rubs your clit faster, and you pull your right leg up a little to give John more access. He removes his hand and puts the car in park since the traffic isn't moving any time soon, then he reaches over with his left hand and inserts his fingers with no hesitation. John strokes himself as you cling to his arm, and you're whimpering and whining loudly for him.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you whine softly, squeezing your eyes shut, “I'm gonna come.”

“Do it.” John croons in your ear, “Do it for me, baby.”

Digging your nails into John's arm, you tilt your head back and moan loudly as John rubs your clit, bringing on your orgasm. Every time he touches your clit, your body jolts with pleasure and you whimper a little. John slowly slides his fingers from in between your legs, then he looks down as he strokes himself, almost coming on the center console. You immediately lean over to take John into your mouth, and you stroke him as he moans and comes on your tongue.

“Oh,” John moans, clinging to the steering wheel as you suck on him, “Shit, yes.”

You look up at John as you swallow, feeling the warmth of John in your throat, and he smiles as he leans over to kiss you, tasting himself on your lips. He cups your face in his hands as he pushes his tongue into your mouth, then he presses a wet kiss to your cheek.

“Well,” you laugh, reaching into the glove compartment for some napkins to clean yourself up. You carefully wipe between your legs, then you give John some hand sanitizer, but not before he inhales deeply as he smells his fingers and slides them into his mouth to get a taste of you. “Taste good?”

“Always does.” he says, leaning over to kiss you again before he stuffs himself into his pants.

The two of you are both laughing quietly to yourselves as you get dressed again, and you look up to see the traffic is finally moving again.

“Perfect timing.”

John smiles and looks over at you, “You know just how to pass the time, don't you?”

You shrug playfully, “Well, I don't want to brag, but...yeah.”

Reaching for your hand, John presses a kiss to your lips, then he continues down the street like nothing happened.

__

You and John are already seated at your table, and you're just waiting on Jimmy and Tess to arrive. John drives a little faster than Jimmy does, and John knows shortcuts that Jimmy doesn't, so you two got here sooner. You've both ordered yourselves something to drink; bourbon for John, and a glass of champagne for you. You're not a big drinker, but you figure tonight is a night to celebrate since you're asking Jimmy to officiate your wedding.

John pulls out the menu as you lean against him a little so the two of you look at it together. Before he even opens it, he looks at you and raises his eyebrows, “No complaints about the prices.”

“No complaints from me, Mr. Wick.” you say, smiling when John squints his eyes a little. You lean against John a little more and feel his hand on your thigh as the two of you look at the menu together.

“You look beautiful tonight.” John whispers, closing the menu and turning to face you, “I like when you wear your hair like this.”

Leaning over to kiss John, you wrap your arms around his bicep, “Yeah, I usually don't wear it straight. I always curl it.”

“It looks good.” John says, kissing you again.

“Sorry!” Tess says as she waddles to the table, “Traffic was terrible. Was it as bad for you?”

John smirks a little as he looks at you, “It's not so bad when this one is in the car with me.”

You feel your cheeks turning red, and when you look up and see Jimmy, your cheeks begin to burn even more. He helps Tess into her seat, then he timidly sits down across the table from you.

“Hey, Jimmy,” John says, squeezing your thigh a little bit and causing you to nudge his stomach. “Are you still feeling sick?”

Jimmy furrows his brow, “I'm not sick.”

“You said you weren't feeling well earlier today.” John raises his eyebrow a little and glances over at you.

You're slowly sinking in your seat a little when John looks over at you, and you hold up the menu to cover your face when you see Tess looking at you too. John squeezes your leg again to get you to look at him, and he winks when you make eye contact.

“Okay, man, I can't do this.” Jimmy says, looking at John, “I saw her naked this morning. Please don't hit me. It was an accident.”

Tess snorts, “He's not going to hit you, James. Come on.”

John furrows his brow a little, preparing to fuck with Jimmy, “You saw her naked?”

“I...I, I just, I went into your room because I heard music, so I figured she was just, I don't know, hanging out in there, but when I walked in, I...saw her. Completely naked.” he says, squeezing his eyes shut, “I'm so sorry, man. I didn't mean to. I didn't see anything, well, I mean, I did, but you know what I mean! She's like a little sister to me.”

“You saw my fiancee naked. Let’s go, I’m gonna kick your ass.” John says, and you immediately sit up and stop John when Jimmy’s face loses all color.

“Jimmy, he's kidding. He knows, I already told him.” you say, then you look at John, “Too far, Wick.”

“Sorry,” John laughs as he looks at Jimmy, “It's alright, man. Simple mistake. Just don’t make a habit out of it, then we'll have a problem.”

“Consider it payback for when Tess walked in on John.” you laugh, then you look up to see Jimmy staring at you. “Oh, he…didn't know.”

Tess inhales, “He did not.”

There's a bit of awkward silence now since none of you know what to say, but as you look around at each other, you all start to laugh.

“I walked in on them when they were having sex at the shop.” Tess laughs, shaking her head, “I got an eyeful from both of them.”

You shake your head and pick up the menu, “So awkward.”

“Tess has been teasing me all day because of this,” Jimmy chuckles, still avoiding eye contact with you, “And you know Tess, so you know she asked pretty weird things.”

“Oh, god, Tess.” you groan and look at her, “Stop.”

Tess shrugs, “What? I just asked him what he saw and if he liked it.”

“He's like a brother to me. I'm sure he was disgusted.” you say, and Tess shrugs. The two of you hold eye contact for a moment, then you shake your head, “Tess, you're beautiful.”

“I know, I know,” she exhales, looking down at her belly, “I just…feel gross lately, and Jimmy and I just...never mind.”

Since Tess’ is in her final weeks of pregnancy, you're sure she's tired of being pregnant and you're sure she's probably feeling a little gross. She's getting quiet, so you decide to change the subject.

“Look, we wanted you two to come out with us tonight because we have a very important question that we want to ask.” you smile at John, reaching for his hand, “John will ask it.”

John clears his throat, shifting in his seat a little to put his arm around your chair, “We were talking earlier today about everything that has to do with the wedding, and we started talking about things that we need to start doing to get ready for it. Anyway, one of the things we talked about was who was going to officiate our wedding.”

Tess perks up a little and looks over at Jimmy as a smile spreads across her face, “Oh, my god.”

You laugh, then you look at Jimmy, “You've been an amazing friend to John over the years, and you've been a great friend to me. You know John, you know what he's been through, and you know how much this means to him.”

“You are a good friend, Jimmy.” John says, and you and Tess both try to keep yourself from crying. “I would be really happy if you would be the one to officiate our wedding. We couldn't imagine anyone else standing up there with us.”

“Wait, you're serious?” Jimmy asks, looking back and forth between you and John. He looks at Tess and smiles, “Babe, they're serious.”

You smile at Jimmy and reach for his hand, “We are very serious. I already looked it up online, and you can literally just go to the town hall, which I'm sure you already know, and you just apply to be ordained. It’s a simple and easy process.”

“Man,” Jimmy exhales, and his eyes glisten a little, “I think I might cry.”

Jimmy puts his hand over his eyes and starts to cry softly. It's so sweet to see how much this means to him, and you look over to see John smiling proudly as he looks at Jimmy.

John has a best friend! Why is that so fucking cute?

There's nothing you find more adorable than John and Jimmy's friendship. Two guys who would probably never even talk to each other, two guys who, at the end of the day, truly care about one another.

John didn't have many friends growing up, and as he got older, he lost just about everyone he really cared about. He's told you before that if it weren't you, he probably wouldn't be this close to Jimmy, and he's always been thankful for everything you've given him – including his friendship with Jimmy.

Jimmy looks up at you and John and smiles, “I better practice my speech!”

__

John needed to pick up his suit from the hotel and he asked if you wanted to go along with him, and you, of course, said yes. John gave your car to the valet, and the two of you headed into hotel. You clung to John when you walked past people sitting in the lobby, then you loosened up a little when you remembered how relaxed you were at the hotel in Rome.

The tailor is just getting John's suit as you sit down on the couch and look around. The walls are painted dark red, and there's several mannequins around with suits on them. John sits up a little when he sees the tailor coming out, and he smiles as he gets up from the couch.

“Thank you.” John says, reaching into his pocket for a coin, but the man puts his hands out to stop him.

“Compliments of the house.” he says, nodding his head a little. “Winston insisted.”

John nods his head, “Is he here?”

The tailor laughs a little, “When isn't he?”

“Fair enough.” John laughs, then he turns around to look at you, “This would be the man who would help you with your dress. This is Marco. Marco, this is Y/N, my fiancee.”

You widen your eyes and scold John, “Jonathan!”

The tailor reaches out for your hand and helps you off of the couch, then he gestures for you to spin a little, “I can already see it. Form fitting, something to really show you off. Lace and tulle. Sophisticated and sexy. Yes, a nice train as well. Nothing too long though, you're quite petite. We don't want you to be swallowed up by it.”

“That sounds very nice.” John says, and you roll your eyes a little as you begin to blush.

You smile at the tailor and shake his hand, “Well, maybe I'll come back in a few weeks.”

John shakes his hand one more time, then the two of you leave. As soon as you get out the door, you nudge John in his side and he laughs loudly, “I'm sorry!”

“You did this on purpose, didn't you?” you nudge him again, and John nods his head a little. “God, you're so not slick. For being an assassin, you're terribly obvious.”

John chuckles as the two of you head back to the door, and he smiles when you look up at him, “I'll come back here with you in a few weeks if you want. We could make a whole weekend of it.”

“Oh, well, nothing says romance quite like spending the weekend at the Continental where I sit in the hotel room and wait for my fiance to get home from killing someone.” you say, looking up at him, “You really know how to woo a girl.”

John knows you're joking, so he starts to laugh as he holds your hand and heads down the front steps with you, “Well, it would be a nice weekend.”

You get in the car with John and pull your seat belt on as John places his suit in the backseat. He gets himself in the front seat, then you both instinctively reach for each other's hands as you head home.

“Seriously though, that would be a nice weekend. I could take a job while you're gone getting fitted for your dress, or I could just hang out in the room.”

You exhale quietly and look over at John, “I'll think about it.”

John keeps his eyes on the road but reaches over and puts his hand on the back of your head, scratching his fingers through in your hair, “God, I can't wait to marry you.”

“I can't wait to marry you.” you say, leaning against the center console and looking at John, “You're going to look so handsome.”

John finally looks at you as the two of you get stuck in the late night traffic, and he smiles as he leans in closer to kiss you.

“How are we going to pass the time now?” John asks, and you smile at John as unbuckle your seat belt and crawl into his lap and kiss him.

You kiss John’s neck and lean back to smile, “I think I got an idea.”

“This is very dangerous.”

Leaning back more to look at John, you watch the smile grow on his face, then you lean in to kiss him again, “I trust you.”

[hanadolphieron]

lunar artist!yeojin; chapter two~

warnings; fish, fish bites?

genre; sci-fi, strangers to friends to lovers, fluff

pairing; im yeojin x gender neutral!reader

word count; 1.8k

summary; your small crater town on the moon was rarely visited. one day, artist!yeojin travels all the way from mars to paint the serene, wistful scenery of your planet.

-----------------------------------------------------------

day one-

you return to the same place every day, the place you met yeojin, the first spark in your life for as long as you can remember. she isn’t there.

day two-

again, you go back. she isn’t there.

day three-

she isn’t there.

day four-

you still go back. she isn’t there.

day five-

you don’t go back.

day six-

you stay home.

day seven-

you go back. she’s there.

-----------------------------------------------------------

yeojin looks up and says nothing. 

“you’re back!” you exclaim rushing towards her. you go in for a hug, but balk at the last second, wondering if yeojin would appreciate physical contact or would prefer to remain at a distance.

however, yeojin pulled you in, a big smile on her face, clearly overjoyed to see you.

“i missed you. where have you been?” you inquire, pulling back and looking into her eyes. somehow, you seem to have gotten closer over the week you’ve been apart.

“can’t say.” she tells you.

you both stand there, unsure of what to do. or, at least, you’re unsure, yeojin seems perfectly content standing there and staring up at you. you’re bending your legs a little so she doesn’t have to crane her neck, but we’re just going to leave that unmentioned for the rest of this chapter for yeojin’s sake.

“where do you live?” yeojin asks shamelessly. you lightly sigh, glad she spared you the task of saying something first.

“just over the hill. my house overlooks a little moon pond, there’s fish there too!” you ramble, excited. you’ve never talked about your house to anyone before. communicating has become a chore lately, and you haven’t bothered reaching out to anyone else except your plant, named rock, so talking to yeojin is a practically entertainment, “the water even freezes during the night! we could go ice-skating together!”

yeojin seems unaffected by your exuberance. in fact, she looks delighted by your plans. (even though she pretty much initiated it, with her not-so-subtle self invitation to your house)

“come with me,” you say, turning around, reminiscent of the way yeojin did just a week ago.

yeojin follows, a bounce in her step. her legs are moving insanely fast to keep up with you and you can barely see them. 

breaking the ice with a sledgehammer, you ask yeojin, “why did you leave so early last time?”

“i- like i told you, i had to be back by 17:33,” she stutters out.

“how did you do that,” you make weird floaty hand gestures at the air around you, “thing?”

“it’s just a habit i picked up when ships became scarce and i couldn’t fly,” yeojin says shortly. maybe you shouldn’t have asked. however, you decide to go against your gut and inquire more.

“isn’t that something plutonians do?” you seem to have hit a nerve with this question. yeojin opens her mouth, then purses her lips. her steps slowed a little, and she stumbled a bit.

you save her from your own question by asking another one, “do you like salt on your pretzels?”

-----------------------------------------------------------

you make it to your house, finally, the tension between the two of you was tight and you needed a distraction. 

walking over the hill, you stop, letting yeojin take in the view.

decking out the area around your house had become a full-time job once you realized there was nothing to do on this planet, and you had quite the plethora of beautiful, thoughtful places nestled around the lake’s edges.

a pier stretches out into the glistening water. fluorescent fish glide around its support. to the right of the pond, there is a garden, filled with all sorts of purple plants, creating a splash of dull color in your gray world. on the cliff behind the lake lies a mural, painted across the rocky edges in vibrant hues.

on the right sits your home. it’s wood, a native material of your home planet, that you brought with you as a keepsake to remind you of your roots. considerably small, your cottage only takes up a tiny sliver of the space surrounding the lake. it’s in the corner, a cute hidey-hole for you to stay safe and secure in.

yeojin looks out at the expanse of your property, her face expressionless. suddenly, as if she remembers that she has emotions, awe and adoration spread across her face. she turns to you, “it’s beautiful,” she says, and looks back at the view again.

“thanks,” you whisper back. “well, let’s get to it i guess, gotta get those pretzels pretzeled!” you say, slightly awkwardly, but that’s normal for you.

as you move past the pier, yeojin looks out into the water and sees the fish up-close. apparently having an epiphany over how much she wants to touch a fish, she drags you by the sleeve closer to the water’s edge.

you stumble over there, knowing exactly how this is going to go down.

yeojin rips off her left shoe and stabs her foot into the water. the fish, luckily, aren’t scared by her aggression and continue blandly swimming. (just keep swimming swimming swimming) 

yeojin isn’t satisfied with this, and reaches into the water.

“wait, yeojin, no!” you clamber after her. those fish are hostile!

it’s too late. yeojin tries to touch the fish, and, not used to abrasive humans attempting to make physical contact, the animal flips and flaps around, teeth out, and bites yeojin.

“ow!” yeojin yells, in a loud, raspy voice.

however, her poor finger did not bleed, and she was fine after a few seconds of glaring at the fish, who was oblivious to her anger.

you laugh, and head on towards your house. yeojin follows with narrowed eyes.

opening the door, you are met with a subtle silver glow from the lights.

“is everything on this planet gray and shiny?” yeojin exclaims upon entering.

“no! did you not the see the exquisite purple colored vegetables i tend to over yonder?”

yeojin says nothing. you won. hah!

going to the kitchen and leaving yeojin to fend for herself, you drag up two pretzels from the depths of your pantry.

yeojin survives the trek of 10 feet from the doorway into the house to the doorway to the kitchen and stands in the threshold, hands on her hips. 

you look at her, your eyes inspecting her dominating stance.

“just trying to scare you. guess it worked.”

huffing, you slap the doughy carbohydrates onto the counter and throw them in the oven.

“that was almost as aggressive as me,” yeojin comments, sipping from a drink. you think its yours. than again, who else would it belong to.

yeojin doesn’t seem to mind that she is inhaling your germs and slurps loudly.

you shake your head and look at the oven, trying to persuade the minutes to go by faster with the force of your mind. they don’t comply.

-----------------------------------------------------------

after talking for a while and becoming more familiar with each other, the oven screeched, causing you to jump from the noise and yeojin to cackle.

you stalk over to the oven, shoving on some super-mitts as to not burn yourself. you pull the pretzels out of the kitchen appliance and place them onto plates. 

sitting down across from yeojin and snatching another glass that had been laying on the counter, (there was a total of six sitting there, they started to pile up once you realized no one was going to tell you to pick them up and you had complete freedom to be lazy) you began to snack.

yeojin wasn’t the most delicate eater.

with cacophonous munching and smacking, she consumed her carbohydrates. 

you looked on, not exactly in disgust, but definitely in curiosity as you had never seen such an warrior-like eater.

yeojin notices you observing, but pretends she doesn’t, and chews louder.

in the middle of your small meal, yeojin interrupts the precious silence and asks, “can you play music?”

“you have music on mars?” you respond, surprised that she asked for such an elegant item.

“that didn’t answer my question.”

sighing deeply, you move to turn on the radio.

“yes, we do have music. some. besides, i paint. it’s hard to feel passionate about creating without indulging in other art forms.”

“oh.”

both of you are quiet for a while, listening to the sound of the music. 

suddenly, you decide to forego your normal daydreaming and imagining music-related tendencies and jump up. starting to fling your limbs out in all directions, you begin to dance.

yeojin falls out of her chair laughing at your attempt.

you, delighted by her clumsiness and happiness, topple over too, laughing as well. the two of you are on the ground for a few moments, and then you drag yeojin up with weak arms, pulling her into the middle of the room. 

falling to each other’s floppy embrace, you jump in circles, not exactly in tune with the music but that doesn’t matter anymore.

what matters is yeojin’s cute laugh that contradicts her tough persona, the way her cheeks get all chubby with the force of her smiling, the stars sparkling in her eyes, her hair flying around her face, sticking to her forehead now sweating from the exertion of laughing so hard you are about to perish, and the way she’s looking at you right now. 

the way she’s looking at you right now. 

it’s not the normal, happy, platonic look. 

not the same way your childhood friends looked at you when you made a great joke, or did something sweet for them. 

there’s something more there.

something that reminds you of waves crashing over the enormous beaches of you home planet, on the nights that don’t feel real, the ones that make you experience emotions that you can’t fully comprehend because they’re so beautiful, and so, so painful at the same time.

something that reminds you of roses, fluttering out into petals, blooming despite the thorns attached to their sides.

something that reminds you of illuminated evenings, talking and laughing, with an inexplicable tension in the air, one that makes you feel all warm and nervous inside.

something that reminds you of swirling blackness, that goes on forever, hidden from normal eyes, the perfect, dangerous place to explore and be addicted to.

something that reminds you of white clouds, floating across the sky, creating tapestries of gorgeous pictures, free to interpret and giggle over.

something that reminds you of actions, colorful vivid experiences. ones that leave a mark on your memory, but you don’t exactly remember who or what was happening, just a specific smell or sight or feeling.

and through all of those visions, you see yeojin in all of them.

not exactly see her, but she’s there, a presence that overpowers everything, so strong, taking over your mind, bringing you back to reality but ripping you away.

and then she’s right in front of you. close to your face. too close.

so close your lips are almost touching, noses brushing, eyes looking deep into each other’s souls.

and you pull away.

yeojin does too. 

and you’re back to where you started. slightly awkward, with a connection you can’t explain. back to where it’s safe.

masterlist - previous - next

[exit-path]

That was really fun :]

I played some more Hypixel Pit yesterday! I didn’t see any of my friends for a long time ;3; but it ended up being really fun!

Also, you might have noticed that in this screenshot I’m using a resource pack. That’s because while I was messing around with my version of the game in Minecraft Update 1.8.9, I stumbled upon a texture pack that my brother personally made six years ago!

It’s a self-arranged mix of Faithful 32x32 (for the blocks), and Huahwi (for the tools & weapons). It was pre-downloaded in my texture pack folder from so long ago, and the design has held up surprisingly well.

It only worked in 1.8. That’s what the resource pack was designed for. It wouldn’t work in any later version. I don’t think I would have expected using it again in 2021.

Anyways, on with the fun things. At some point I got launched onto this palm tree from the slime launcher. I thought it was rare so I took a picture.

(I also found two pieces of gold that spawned on top of the tree, which would have been inaccessible to anyone else had it not been for me.)

I also fished a bit more! Did you notice that this map is different from the last one? Yeah, Hypixel changed the maps on one of the days between last time and this time!

I don’t really know exactly what happened. But this map is cool, you can still find immediately visible places like these to fish. (You fish gold in the Hypixel Pit.)

By the way, I saw them again yesterday!

I was about one hour into my playing session, when all of a sudden I checked the tablist and saw @emarezi’s name had shown up! I went looking all around for them, and eventually found them at the top of the hub.

Because I hadn’t seen any of my friends for an hour up to this point, I was starting to get worried. (I even wondered if it had something to do with the Hypixel servers, in case the friends were playing on some European alternative Hypixel server.)

I had been planning on quitting my session an hour in when I first started, but when I saw that my friends were nowhere to be found, I realized I couldn’t do that and waited a bit longer for them. Luckily in the end that waiting paid off :)

Aw look at them AFK :]

Anyways I was playing for a long while, so I couldn’t resist getting some kills on them from time to time >:D

Unfortunately for me they also repaid the favor :/

Anyways I have one final story to tell before I hit image limit and have to end the post.

At some point I realized that in the beach part of the map, there’s an entrance to a cave that doesn’t open out to another part of the map. Instead it opens to the inside of the mountain as its own large cave.

At the center of the cave was a large lake. This was great for me, as I had been looking for a safe fishing spot that was less dangerous than standing behind the rocks at the beach. But this place was more than just safe. It was... serene. It was peaceful.

I knew I could fish here because somebody else was already fishing here. They didn’t seem to immediately leap out at me the moment they saw me, so they didn’t seem hostile, or at least they weren’t interested in it. I had brought my own fishing rod, so I decided to fish with them.

When I came over to his side, my fishing rod in hand, he threw something at me. It was a gift. A “small kloonfish”. It was a Hypixel-renamed clownfish. I didn’t know those even existed. I didn’t know what it could be used for. I guessed it wasn’t for anything, so it didn’t really matter.

I thanked him in chat. He responded with a “np”. We fished together.

(that second fishing line is mine)

At one point something interesting happened, he fished up a gold ingot and I accidentally picked it up. Since it immediately goes to your gold count and increments it, I couldn’t throw it back. “Sorry,” I said.

It didn’t matter, he replied. He was only fishing for the XP. That surprised me. I didn’t know you could get XP from fishing. I only thought you could get gold. That’s an okay thing for him to do, fishing for XP.

At one point I fished up a diamond sword! (I knew you could get diamond items from fishing, but like, it didn’t occur that it could actually happen to me.) He did too, almost exactly around the same time.

He threw it out of his inventory. He didn’t need it. I walked around where it was on the ground. I already had a diamond sword of my own, I just got one. I wouldn’t need another one.

“See you,” I said. “Ok,” he responded. We left each other, and he continued fishing.

I did end up using that diamond sword. I killed a couple of guys, and in that sense I think I got some good use out of it. But eventually I was killed myself. And I lost the diamond sword, since they’re a non-permanent item and you lose them upon death.

I played the game for a long while after that. Eventually, I called it quits, and that ended my playing session for that day. I had played for 110 minutes, and accumulated over 3K gold in total (1K of which I spent on the “Trickle-down” permanent upgrade).

[luthorao3]

I forgot I sent in the Selkie!MC thought! But thank you for reminding me and also thanks for the Nadia thought because now all that's in my head is this following idea of how she finds out about MC (if you have your own idea please share, I'm just chucking mine out because I'm a mess for these characters and the myth and folklore genres).

Also forgive the length of it, I started typing and the idea grew much, much further than intended. I should not be as invested in mythical and folklore creatures as I am, but once I start thinking it does. not. stop.

Anyway, here's the initial idea I had:

Nadia's not a fan of hypocritical behaviour because, fine, some people have moral codes but at least have the strength of character to stick to them. So she's annoyed about the Poppy having a pet seal, so maybe she decides to be petty about it and give them the metaphorical finger.

How does she decide to do this?

By kidnapping the seal and releasing it back into the wild of course!

She figures out quite quickly that the seal in question isn't always in the pool, but for the life of her she can't find out where they keep it indoors. Is there a hidden water tank inside she doesn't know about? If there is she can't find it, which leaves the pool as the only viable option to take the "poor, trapped animal" from.

And sure, MC loves being (as you perfectly put it) a menace in the pool when others are around, but sometimes she just likes to swim yk? So she goes swimming on her own sometimes.

And during one of Nadia's checkups on the spot, she sees the seal splashing around unsupervised and sees her chance.

MC does not expect the net.

She thrashes, of course, but at first thinks it's an ill-advissd, not very sensitive prank and is just like "I'm gonna kill them" until she realises exactly who has just pulled her out of the water.

The plan for Nadia had been to use a seal-carrier bag usually used by rescuers after getting the seal out of the net.

The plan absolutely had not included the thrashing seal to almost immediately shift into an infuriated MC because she recognises the bag Nadia's holding and it might not exactly be a cage but it's pretty close and she doesn't know what the hell Nadia wants with a seal so she's at least going to get into a form where she can defend herself.

Nadia's of course frozen in shock and barely avoids getting her nose broken again.

The Poppy hear MC shouting and come running, and Vivienne nearly kills Nadia the moment she sees the net, the bag and MC clinging to her sealskin. The rest of the Poppy are fully ready to throw down but it's Nadia's shock that saves her because she just blurts out "You're a SEAL?" And the Poppy pauses because they're like "...you aren't trying to take her coat?"

"Wtf would I do that? You think I need sealskin?"

And they really don't like this situation, they don’t want to be in a position where they have to trust Nadia because, yk, it's Nadia, but they can't kill her either (Vivienne does ask again if they can reconsider their no killing rule, but this time she's only half joking) so they don't really have a choice. They chuck her out as fast as possible because they are not explaining anything that could give her leverage and also they don't want her around MC, and Nadia's more than happy to book it out of there because she needs more information but her mind is still reeling (MC, seal, MC, seal, MC is the seal, what the-). The Poppy move to another penthouse and are gearing up to dispell any rumours that might "crop up" about MC in the Underworld, practicing scoffing in people's faces like "Selkies? You mean like magic? That doesn't exist!"

But Nadia doesn't spread any rumours, there's just total silence, nothing to indicate that anyone's heard anything about Selkies or seals.

And nobody's going to, because once Nadia's done her research and worked out that, yes, MC is an apparently not-so-mythical Selkie, she knows she isn't going to tell anyone (aside from looking insane if she did so, she also does want to win the Poppy over and stealing a pet seal is one thing but this is on an entirely different level).

Of course her research of Selkies inevitably raises the point of how important MC's sealskin coat actually is, and it clicks in her brain exactly what the Poppy thought she was doing by attempting to kidnap MC, and Nadia's a terrible human being, okay? Absolutely terrible, she would kill a man without hesitation, she would wreck someone's life in all kinds of ways, but she wouldn't do that. She gets the implications of what taking the coat would mean immediately, what it looked like to the Poppy by the pool before they realised she didn't know, hadn't worked it out.

And the Poppy don't hear anything, not for a while, as Nadia tries to work out how to approach the situation, until she gets wind of Vivienne punching a man who hadn't known that MC was a Selkie, but had thought that the sealskin coat looked very nice and tried to steal it.

He ends up dead in a couple days.

please never never apologise holy shit also please tell me you write??? please tell me you have fic somewhere that i can read because oh my gos your mind???? i’m about to go zombie weird on you and your beautiful brain lmaoooo this had me laughing out loud!! nadia ‘releasing the poor, captive seal back into the wild’ ajdjdjfkfkfk.

all i could imagine when i read that, though, was— you know that one scene in the parent trap? where the twins take meredith (??) camping, and as she’s sleeping they drag her blow up mattress out into the middle of the lake? like either THAT or the fucking aristocats, with MC waking up in the middle of the wilds hearing a toad croak directly beside her ear like ‘MAMA? D:’

but oh my GOSH!!!!! at nadia understanding the implications of her rescue attempt looking like she’s trying to steal MC’s coat. oh god. i can’t tell you how much of a sucker i am when it comes to ‘yes, i will do unquestionably evil acts, but i don’t fuck with kids/animals/vulnerable people’ villains. you sexy piece of shit. 😔👌

also can we just for a second appreciate after everything calms down nadia rocking up to mc with like a bucket of fish or smth equally awful because she is still, alas, a rat bastard. <3

[locke-writes]

🧛‍♂️ 1 Congratulations, Noah! May I request a male matchup for IT 2, X-Men and the Marauders? I’m a girl and I have a Masters degree in Sports journalism and I want to get a PhD, it’s my dream! I love reading above else but hate rom coms because I’ve been hurt a lot before and just don’t believe in love. My friends always tell me to stop being nice to people who don’t deserve it, I just like helping others when I can. I can be quite impatient and there are times when I speak before thinking...

2 🧛‍♂️ but that usually is done to close friends and I’m often sorry about this. Rock and metal is what I listen to but don’t like concerts because of the crowds, I feel dizzy in them. Slytherin, Virgo. I need to start trusting people more plus I’m trying to be a lot more outgoing than before (there’s some progress, hah). Have bad sense of direction. Besides reading I also like crosswords and I learn this during the quarantine 😂 Thank you a lot, have an awesome week!

3 🧛‍♂️ And I may have forgotten to mention than I’d love the proposing to you scenario - please and thank you!

I ship you with: Bill Denbrough, Logan Howlett, and Remus Lupin

Why: He’s a writer, you’re a reader. It makes you his first and most important critic. He admires that you want to help others when you can, as well as your ability to think before speaking. Growing up with Richie he’s become far to accustomed to that and it’s something he finds refreshing in people rather than annoying. He’ll work on helping you build your trust and kn

Marriage Proposal: You’ve come to Derry with Bill to defeat Pennywise. Well at the time you didn’t really know what you were getting into just that he had to face something and wanted you to stay home but you refused. Part of you wished you’d had but a bigger part of you knows you had to be in Derry with him. It’s the night before you’re getting ready to leave and Bill’s been thinking about proposing long before the trip but after everything you’ve been through in the past few days nothing solidifies the fact that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. There’s a dinner with all of his friends before you head off in different directions and now that his friends feel like your own Bill thinks that it’s not strange to propose after the dinner with your newfound family around.

Why: Logan has no filter and the two of you often are thinking and speaking the exact same thing which he finds sweet and others find odd. He’s supportive of your academic career always encouraging you and helping with papers and making sure you take breaks. Don’t expect that to always be the case though as he might direct you to seek out Charles when he feels that Professor X mihgt be a better help. Oh and he’s totally going to start giving you band recommendations as well as buying you vinyl because that’s what he listens to primarily.

Marriage Proposal: Although he’s techincally living at the mansion he’s managed to convince Charles to allow him to have a campus somewhere in the state where he can keep the location a secret. On occasion when there’s no threat of a mission or when the school’s on break then the to of you will journey to the cabin to just be alone. It’s here that Logan plans on proposing and while there’s many moments that he wants to just pull the ring out and ask he waits for the day when you both take a walk around the lake not far away from the cabin. It’s solitary and quiet and the one place he can be completely honest about how much he loves you without the fear of ridicule by other people for his being soft. So he gives the little speech that he writes, gets down on one knee with the ring, and hopes beyond all hope that you’ll say yes.

Why: Remus loves that you care enough that you’ll be kind to people who might not deserve it. He wants you to succeed in everything and will encourage you to pursue your PhD, helping you research programs you can attend. Your ambition is something that he wishes that he had because you always seem to know what you want to go after. And he hates crowds as well, preferring to spend solitary time with you.

Marriage Proposal: He asks you a week after graduation with the war looming in the distance. It’s soon he thinks, maybe to soon, but he also knows that it’s right, that there might not be enough time before everything turns on it’s head. You’ve been with him through thick and thin, been with him through everything and know the truth about him being a werewolf. There’s no one he’d rather be with and whatever the world throws at you both he wants to now he’s going to be able to stand by you. The ring is bought and carried with him, afraid he’ll forget where he put it or that you’ll find it if it’s left at home. He’d had a plan, take you to dinner somewhere, walk through Hogsmeade before proposing but instead he asks while the two of you are at home. You’re doing a crossword and he finds that this is it, this is the perfect moment to ask. He just hopes your answer is in the form of ‘yes’.

[authorialarcanist]

Gracidea Blossom Chapter 3: Measuring Up Against Meditite

(Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, & Platinum x Little Busters!)

Mirror Links: AO3, Pokécommunity, Spacebattles

---

Previous - Next

---

A world of total darkness. No touch. No sound.

The only thing reminding him he exists is the pressure, like a vise clamping down on his head.

Even his thoughts stall as he falls through this endless void. He doesn’t dream.

He never dreams.

…

Time passes, and eventually the throbbing in his head begins to fade. The ability to think returns to him. He becomes aware of his senses again.

Touch, first. He can feel of his hands pressing into smooth sheets.

Then hearing. After that void, even the soft sound of breathing feels like a salvation.

His head still feels heavy, but he can move his fingers now. He’s regaining control of his body.

Riki opens his eyes.

He’s in the guest room of the Natsume residence. Rin is asleep in a nearby chair, her body curled in on itself as she slumbers. A glance at the clock tells Riki that it’s 9 in the evening, but after his narcoleptic spell, he doesn’t feel tired enough to sleep properly.

Quietly, so as to not disturb his friend, Riki slips out of bed and pads to the hall. When he reaches the living room, he finds Kyousuke sitting there.

“Ah, Riki. So you’re up.” Kyousuke turns in his seat. “Masato and Kengo have gone home for the day, but I have a list of what preparations are left. There were a couple of things we needed you for.”

“Oh. Um…” Riki doesn’t meet his eyes. “Are you… really sure that me going with you is going to be okay? I mean, I didn’t speak up before, but…”

“…But what if you fall asleep on the road?” Kyousuke finishes for him. “Don’t worry, Riki, I knew about this when I made the offer. When that happens, we can just make camp and wait for you. We don’t have so little time that we can’t afford to cut a day’s travel early here and there.”

“Oh. Well, if you’re sure… I do still want to stay with all of you,” Riki says.

For a moment, Riki thinks he sees a shadow pass over Kyousuke’s face. It’s gone so quickly, though, that he decides he must have imagined it.

“Right. Just think of it as another one of our adventures, and I’m sure you’ll have fun.” Kyousuke gets up from his seat, and shows Riki a list with most of the items crossed off. “If you don’t want to go back to sleep just yet, we can try and take care of the last preparations right now.”

Riki nods. “Yeah, I don’t feel tired. Oh, but you should probably get Rin to bed before we leave. That chair doesn’t look too comfortable.”

And so the night goes on…

——

The next morning, the friends gather by a fountain at the west end of town. Here, the bricks of Hearthome slowly give way to grass and pine trees, and a stone path leads the rest of the way out of the city. Most people leaving the city use one of two gate buildings: A small one to the east leads towards Solaceon Town, while the west end has a larger building with exits to the south and west.

The western gate is a three-story building, with a rest area on the second floor. Along with being a place for exhausted trainers to rest their legs, the second level also has souvenir shops and a food court. The top floor is a small hotel with fairly cheap rooms, for travelers who come in at night and don’t want to search for a place in the city.

The ground floor is somewhat more utilitarian, with a few stalls selling travel supplies. Stretches of empty wall are covered with large maps, some showing the travel routes of the Sinnoh region while others detail the layouts of Hearthome, Route 208, and Route 212. The maps are broken up by wall-mounted TV screens, turned to weather and news channels. Travel advisories scroll across the bottoms of the screens. ‘If traveling south, be sure to bring waterproof gear!’ ‘Never attempt to climb Mt. Coronet without a buddy!’

Riki and his friends pass by these sights, stopping to check the weather - apparently, there’s a northeasterly wind blowing in fog from Route 210 - and make sure their backpacks are secure.

When they reach the split between the way south and the way west, Riki speaks up. “So, um…” He scratches his head. “…Where are we going?”

Kyousuke stumbles, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. “D…didn’t I tell you?” He looks at Rin, who shrugs. “…Right… Well. Ahem. Our current destination is Jubilife City, to the west. Jubilife TV requested that the Champion appear for a talk show, and I already had plans to visit Lake Verity, so it’s on the way.”

“A talk show? Really?” Kengo gives Kyousuke a flat look.

“Hey, anything that pays! I won’t be able to coast on being Champion forever, I need to build a varied resumé!”

“…Right…”

The Little Busters pass through automatic doors into Route 208. Just west of Hearthome City is a small hilly area, with well-maintained grass and berry patches scattered through it. The area gets wilder the further you go from the city, but young aspiring Trainers can usually practice here without too much to worry about as long as they turn back rather than climbing when they hit the rocky base of Mt. Coronet. Normally the mountain is visible from the gatehouse, but today the route is already partially hidden by a light mist. The world feels smaller under the grey sky and close horizon, like it’s been cut into manageable pieces.

A shout stops the group. “Well, if it isn’t our young Champion and friends!” An old man with white hair waves them over to where he’s tending a patch of berry plants. There’s a wicker basket at his feet. “And where would you be off to this fine morning?”

“We’re heading to Jubilife,” Kyousuke replies.

“Ah, these two finally starting out to see the world?” The old man looks Riki and Rin over. “That’s good. Everybody should travel with Pokémon sooner or later. There’s nothing like a journey for figuring out what you really want to do with your life, even if that doesn’t turn out to be battling.”

“Ah… right.” Riki looks away, unsure how to tell him that he’s just following after Kyousuke.

“Kyousuke gave you starters, I presume?” The man glances at Riki and Rin’s waists, where each now wears a belt with two Pokéballs.

“That’s right,” says Kyousuke. “Show him.”

Lennon and Terra are sent out, and the two Pokémon nose at the berry plants before wandering back to their trainers’ legs. The old man looks on in approval.

“They look like a good choice. I can tell they like you already!” He leans down to offer Terra a berry, and after a moment of hesitation the Turtwig extends its neck to take the fruit from the old man’s hand. “Now, then. You remember what I taught you, right, Riki?” At Riki’s nod, the man turns and procures something from his basket. “Well, if you’re setting off, I think you deserve a present. Here!” He hands Riki a pair of firm, speckled blue berries. “Those are Yacha berries. If you give one to your Turtwig, it should help her resist an Ice type attack. And for the young lady, Passho berries. I can’t say I recognize that cat’s species on first glance, but it looks like a Fire type, so a berry that helps protect against Water types can’t hurt!” He hands Rin a soft blue berry, dotted with air bubbles. After another moment of looking through his basket, he also gives them a paper bag of mulch. “That’s two berries each - one for your Pokémon, and try and plant the other one, okay? It never hurts to give nature a hand!”

“Thank you.” Riki stashes the berries and mulch in his bag, and bows slightly in gratitude. “I promise, I’ll find someplace nice to plant this.”

“Good, good! Well, I shouldn’t keep you for too long, but when you’re in the area, remember that the Berry Master’s door is always open!” The old man waves them off, and the group moves on, their Pokémon following behind. Occasionally a wild Pokémon seems like it might investigate them, but Kyousuke, Masato, or Kengo always calls out one of their own Pokémon to scare it away.

The terrain grows rougher as they head west, until they reach a rocky cliff with stairs carved into it. This is the base of Mt. Coronet, with rocky plateaus of various elevations stretching out for a short ways around the foot of the mountain before the ascent proper begins. A river has carved its way through this area of the foothills, running below the elevated paths and necessitating a series of wooden bridges between raised plateaus. As the morning stretches on, the mist grows heavier, wreathing the badlands in gray and obscuring Mt. Coronet above them. The group continues to walk towards the mountain, weaving between rocky outcroppings and crossing bridges, until they reach a wide plateau rising from an island right in the middle of the rapids. A short ways to the north, they can see a waterfall where the river drops from a higher elevation.

Kyousuke suddenly throws an arm out in front of Riki. “Wait. Look over there.”

Riki follows his gaze to a spire of rock in the middle of the plateau, and after a moment he registers a Pokémon levitating just above the tip of the spire. It’s vaguely human-shaped, with a short blue body and a white head shaped like the bulb of an onion aside from two large swirly ears. It also has a white segment connecting its torso with its legs. It’s hovering cross-legged with its arms out to either side. This is a Meditite, a somewhat common mountain Pokémon in the Hoenn and Sinnoh regions.

Riki glances at Kyousuke. “Are you going to scare it away?”

Kyousuke shakes his head. “No. It’s on its own, and this is a reasonably open area. Rin! Capture this Meditite!”

“What? Do it yourself!” Rin bristles.

“No. You need experience fighting wild Pokémon, and this is a safe opportunity to practice.”

“What about Riki, why aren’t you making him do it?”

“I will, but you’ve been in a trainer battle already. It’s on you to show him how it’s done.” Brooking no argument, Kyousuke gives his sister a light shove forward, pushing her towards the Pokémon. Its eyes snap open, and a moment later Lennon is standing in front of Rin, hissing at the Meditite. “Now, Mission Start!”

The Meditite leaps from its perch at the apparent challenge. Its eyes flash, and Lennon rolls on the ground, smacking into rocks as the mental attack disorients it.

“Lennon, use Ember!” Rin’s Pokémon shakes off the attack and spits weak flames at its opponent. Although the Meditite dodges around most of them, a few make contact and burn its legs. It redoubles its own attack in response, pelting Lennon with what Riki recognizes as Confusion attacks.

“Kyousuke, are you sure about making her do this?” Riki glances at Kyousuke, worried.

“It’ll be fine, Riki.” Kyousuke doesn’t take his eyes off of the battle. “The two of you need to learn how to handle things yourselves. Rin!” He suddenly shouts, and Riki’s head snaps back to the battle in time to see the Meditite stagger back as Lennon scratches it. “It looks weakened, this is the time to throw a Pokéball!”

With a wordless acknowledgment, Rin snatches an empty Pokéball from her bag and winds up to throw it. Riki marvels for a moment at her total concentration as she steps forward, brings her arm around for the throw, and…

…the ball slips from her fingers, soaring in a perpendicular angle from the battle until it slams into an outcropping and falls into the rapids below. The Meditite takes advantage of the opening as Rin scrambles for another Pokéball, and torments Lennon with a barrage of attacks.

“Okay, that’s enough. Scyther, use False Swipe!” Kengo’s voice rings out as a new Pokéball soars into the midst of battle, opening to release a large, bipedal mantis. The newcomer has a green head, thorax, abdomen, and pair of legs connected by smaller cream body segments. It has a pair of insect wings on its back, and a pair of scythes on the ends of its arms. Lennon finally collapses as the Scyther steps up in its place and harasses the Meditite with a series of light slashes, holding back from hurting it too badly. “Rin, you have no control at all. Watch my form, and maybe you’ll learn something.” With a series of deliberate, practiced movements, Kengo pulls a Pokéball from his own bag and tosses it overhand at the Meditite’s center mass. Still disoriented from the Scyther’s attacks, the Meditite doesn’t have a chance to dodge, and it gets sucked into the ball in a flash of red light. The ball shakes once, twice, three times, and then emits a click and lays still.

Kengo walks forward to pick up the Meditite’s Pokéball before turning back to the others. “Kyousuke, this is just a thought, but just maybe, it might work better if we teach them before you throw them into the deep end?”

Kyousuke sighs. “Fine. It’s nearly noon anyways, and this looks like a good place to stop and get some training in before we eat.” He looks at Rin, who is spraying Lennon with a potion bottle. “Rin, once you’re done with that, come with me. We’re going to work on your throwing technique. Masato, Kengo, can you two help Riki start training?”

Masato and Kengo look at each other.

After a moment, identical grins appear on their faces.

——

“I get that Kyousuke… asked you to help me train,” Riki pants, “But I don’t think… this is what he meant…”

With a gasp of effort, Riki pulls himself to the top of a large slab being held up by Masato’s Machamp. He reaches down to grab Terra by the shell and hoist it up after him before staggering back to his feet and jogging along the slab. Once he reaches the end of the path, he jumps down to a lower boulder, pauses to let Terra try and hop to his head - catching the Turtwig when it falls short halfway to him - and hopscotches across a series of rocks.

“A truly great trainer must train their body as well as their Pokémon,” Kengo says, pausing each time he makes a practice swing with his bamboo sword. His newly-caught Meditite is hovering beside him, watching his swings.

“Besides! Training alongside your Pokémon brings you closer together!” Masato lifts a boulder - smaller than Biceps’ slab, but still large for a human to be holding - as he speaks, muscles bulging.

Riki finally sways and topples over, Terra collapsing beside him.

Masato surveys the two, lying in almost identical positions. “See? You look closer already!”

“No… more…”

“Endurance is important, Riki. Even aside from keeping up with fast Pokémon, you have to travel on foot a lot.” Kengo hardly misses a beat as he continues his own training. “Still, if we want you to be able to walk any further today, that’s probably enough physical training.”

Riki lets out a sigh of relief.

“It’s time to work on strategy, instead. Let Terra rest, and send out your Bonsly.”

Riki pushes himself to his feet and switches Pokémon. “Now what?”

“Meditite, let’s battle.” Meditite snaps to attention. “Riki. Try to battle my Pokémon. And be careful; I’ve taught it some moves already.”

“Sly, use Flail!” Riki shouts, and the Bonsly waddles forward to try and get in range of Kengo’s Pokémon.

“Rock Smash!” Despite Kengo giving his command second, the Meditite easily outpaces Sly’s approach, hitting it with a measured strike designed to crack defenses. It knocks the Bonsly away, and leaps back before it can retaliate. Sly tries to chase the Meditite, but no matter what it does it can’t get a hit in. The Meditite runs in for another Rock Smash, and Kengo shouts “Stop! Match call! Riki, do you understand what went wrong?”

“Um…” Riki ponders for a moment. “…You had more experience than I did?”

“Not exactly.” Kengo shakes his head. “The trainer’s experience is important, but aside from my teaching Meditite a physical attack, this was a battle against a freshly-caught Pokémon. Riki, what are your Pokémon good at?”

“Well, they’re both good at taking hits, right?”

“That’s right. They’re both strong defenders, and solid attackers as well. However, as this battle showed, that doesn’t mean anything if you can’t land a hit. As your Pokémon’s trainer, it’s your job to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and to come up with a plan to work around those weaknesses when they arise.” Kengo pats a nearby outcropping. “That can mean finding ways to turn your opponent’s strengths against them, ways to turn your weaknesses into strengths, or ways to use the battlefield to your advantage.”

“I see…” Riki considers the match. “…So… what should I have done in that battle?”

“Oh, you were doomed from the start.” Masato puts down the rock he was lifting to rejoin the conversation.

Kengo glances away. “…Well… Okay, yes, your Bonsly’s skillset will need to grow before you can really plan around him. But the demonstration stands!”

“In the end, some things just can’t stand against overwhelming force!”

“Oh? Shall we show Riki whether that’s really true, then?” Kengo pulls his Scyther’s Pokéball from his belt and spins it on one finger. “Two Pokémon each, first elimination?”

“Bring it on! Riki, just watch and learn!” Masato grabs Beenikku’s ball, and another battle begins.