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#I have almost 60 dolls and I can name at least 3 that I don’t *THINK* I would miss as much
talkfastcal · 6 months
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lilypixels · 3 years
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...............all of them.....?
It took me an hr to do this....🥲💀
1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?
Teacupsss
2. chocolate bars or lollipops?
Lollipops
3. bubblegum or cotton candy?
Uhhh cotton candy
4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?
Probably quiet and smart lol I did my school work and was friendly with everyone so I was a favorite and heard all the nice things 🙈
5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?
I kinda like bottles more but like the glass ones with the caps that could slice your fingers-
6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?
I’m for all but sports lol
7. earbuds or headphones?
Earbuds
8. movies or tv shows?
Shows cause I’m the type to watch an hr long episode vs hr long movie idk why but I’m rarely in mood for them
12. name of your favorite playlist?
Drop the beat (ie songs that are upbeat and I like most)
13. lanyard or key ring?
Hmm...I guess lanyard?
14. favorite non-chocolate candy?
Skittles or twizzlers
15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?
I had lots I had to read in school but only ever finished a handful lol my favorite I think was maybe Macbeth? I would say Odyssey but I don’t think we read the full thing cause I remember being disappointed about something like that...
16. most comfortable position to sit in?
Sitting with my legs bent up in seat with me in some way
17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?
Converse and some nice but cheap sneakers from Walmart
18. ideal weather?
Not too hot, not too cold, mild like before/after a rain (most the time), idc if it’s raining or sunny but as long as temp is comfortable I’m fine
19. sleeping position?
On my side most often
20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?
Phone and notebook
21. obsession from childhood?
Oh gosh uhhh I guess my like of dolls maybe? Or obsession with anything ✨unexplained✨ like ghosts, aliens, cryptids, etc
22. role model?
Kim Namjoon lol just kidding (sorta)
23. strange habits?
Ok I know I have some and my friends would be more than happy to point them all out but hm let me think...idk if these count as habits but I’ll never place a mirror facing a bed (this is more superstitious I guess than habit,,,) I can’t stand my food touching, if I have a tray like in cafeteria I have a certain spot for everything and uh my mind just went blank-
24. favorite crystal?
Moonstone, lapis lazuli, and I feel obligated to say garnet cause it’s my birthstone
25. first song you remember hearing?
Circle of Life maybe who knows xD
26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?
Walk or clean,,I’m more active and about with warm/nice weather
27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?
...stay inside where it’s warm
28. five songs to describe you?
Not this again😭 uhhh idk you tell me ajdbd
29. best way to bond with you?
Indulge me when I go off about things I like or learn 😔✊ I know I’ll talk your ear off and I’m sorry but know I don’t often talk about these things with people so once I start it’s hard to stop,,and it makes me really happy when people do listen to me about these things and send me related items every so often or even look into it themselves to learn more 🥺
30. places that you find sacred?
For some reason this feels like a trick question...um cemeteries and anything with ages of history I guess
31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?
Oof do I really have a true outfit?? I have shoes for this which are just black platform sneakers I call stomping shoes
32. top five favorite vines?
I never,,,watched these,,,
33. most used phrase in your phone?
“Yes”...?
34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?
State Farm and McDonald’s, always
35. average time you fall asleep?
10-11...usually...
36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?
Uhhh that one with the ginger dude (I think it was someone’s yearbook photo??) I don’t remember much else about the meme but it was on ifunny, or whatever the app was, a lot
37. suitcase or duffel bag?
Suitcase
38. lemonade or tea?
Easy, tea
39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?
...neither
40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?
Dude these questions really testing my brain power here- for senior prank someone put cereal in some bathroom sinks I think
41. last person you texted?
My mom
42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?
I’m gonna say jacket since I wear those often
43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?
Hoodie or cardigan
45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?
Fantasy
46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?
Usually whatever shirt I’m wearing that day and some pj/lounge pants 🤷
47. favorite type of cheese?
Mozzarella
48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?
I-what kind of question is this? How does one even answer this?
49. what saying or quote do you live by?
What comes around goes around lol (yes I’m a heavy believer of karma)
50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?
Lol who knows, probably something dumb me and my siblings were doing or something we watched cause there’s been plenty times of that xD
51. current stresses?
Homework vs free time e-e
52. favorite font?
I like the gothic looking ones but it’s usually not practical to use so idk
53. what is the current state of your hands?
My hands...? They’re fine ??
54. what did you learn from your first job?
How to care for babies and little kids, how to put on a diaper lol
56. favorite tradition?
I can’t remember a particular one off hand but I’m trying to start few new ones like decorating cookies for Halloween uwu
57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?
Uhhhhh like personally or...? Cause we’ve overcome homelessness before, um finishing assignments idk😭 oh maybe bullying?? That’s all I can think of since I still struggle with a lot,,
58. four talents you’re proud of having?
Alright let’s do thisss: creativity (mostly in writing sense), I can bake/cook, I have amazing organization skills and many work places have used that lol (bonus is I don’t mind, I actually really enjoy it, very peaceful), surprisingly good balance all things considered, I’m a quick learner
59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?
“I’m too tired for this.”
60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?
Good question good question🤔 I don’t think I’d last in any of them/have a terrible side character role so 💀
61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?
“Life’s too short to hold grudges.”
62. seven characters you relate to?
Dude this is gonna get embarrassing I can feel it🤠
Itaru, Iori, Sogo, Belle, Simeon (obey me), Nozaki (he’s clueless about romance irl and doesn’t know when someone has a crush on him yet can write romance well enough and yeah it’s me lol), and uhh Swindler/Ordinary Person in Akudama Drive (still can’t believe no one really has names in that anime but the way she gets wrapped in everything felt like something that’d happen to me lol)
63. five songs that would play in your club?
Like nightclub...? I’m skipping this ajdbd
64. favorite website from your childhood?
Probably the Barbie site, me and my sister played all the dress up games almost daily istg
65. any permanent scars?
Appendectomy scars and then looks like I have one on a toe but it’s possible it still might heal...
66. favorite flower(s)?
Nightshade, foxglove, baby’s breath, bellflowers, roses
67. good luck charms?
I don’t think I have any...
68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?
Lemon
69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?
Let me think...I read something once about flowers having ears(?) but like not ear ears just something about having a part that picks up sound waves
70. left or right handed?
Right
71. least favorite pattern?
Lolll animal print I think
72. worst subject?
Physics...the worst science
74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?
6...?
75. when did you lose your first tooth?
I don’t remember, it probably happened when i was 6. I do remember losing one of my front teeth during my birthday one year and I was happy since the tooth had been loose for some time xD
76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?
Chips I guess or just like fried in skillet
77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?
A succulent probably
78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?
Neither ew
79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?
They are both about equally terrible
80. earth tones or jewel tones?
Earth
81. fireflies or lightning bugs?
Fireflies
82. pc or console?
I am on pc side now
83. writing or drawing?
Writing
84. podcasts or talk radio?
Podcasts I guess
84. barbie or polly pocket?
Barbie
85. fairy tales or mythology?
Mythology, it’s too fun and chaotic lol
86. cookies or cupcakes?
Hm...cupcakes
87. your greatest fear?
Uh,,,I don’t have many fears but I guess one would be falling from a great height? So I would get scared of crossing a bridge and it collapsing or riding a plane and it falling easily
88. your greatest wish?
World peace🥲
89. who would you put before everyone else?
My mom maybe...?
90. luckiest mistake?
I honestly don’t remember but something I do remember is I out semicolon instead of period and turned out to be correct grammar lol
91. boxes or bags?
Boxes
92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?
Sunlight or fairy lights, I don’t require much either way and prefer more natural lighting
93. nicknames?
Lassie, twinkle toes, Ash, poody butt (by 3 yr old I sometimes watch and play with lol he means it affectionately; I call him monkey butt and it’s catching on slowly instead)
94. favorite season?
Starting to be fall just a little more but I like transition times most
95. favorite app on your phone?
Let’s go with twitter
96. desktop background?
It is a moriarty and gang pic
97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?
2: mine and my moms
98. favorite historical era?
Ooo tough one but I’ll say renaissance as some of the coolest things came from that time
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So I was meaning to post updates for my Farseer Trilogy liveblogging because y’all seemed to really like the last one but one thing lead to another and I finished the book before I could even pick up my phone. SO- here are my thoughts at the end of book 1! (Contains spoilers)
- I’ll try to go chronologically so bear w me
- Look I love chade okay? He’s funny and mysterious but how on EARTH does the whole court think it a good idea to have a child deal with their political issues eye-
- like “oh, boggers! We have found a breach in our enemy’s defence after a war of interests that has lasted decades! Now we only need to gruesomely murder this well known politician, but whoever could be up to the task? Ah yes, this eleven year old warrior cats enthusiast will do”
- Yes I will refer to the Wit only as being a warrior cats stannie bc y’all know that if he was in the real world Fitz would have absolutely lost his mind over that saga. No I will not be accepting criticism.
- I LOVED CHADE’S RICHSONA lady time was funky
- every chapter I read I grow more worried about Fitz’s self preservation skills. He wakes up for the second time during the night, he is told to immediately go check on the royal he is serving because she’s sick, only to find out she’s just Chade in a ballgown, who tells him “there’s no time to explain, now follow me to check out this very dangerous hostage situation 2 days of travel from here” and he’s just like “ok sure” BABY!! NO??
- Forging is gonna throwin a nice angst trope eventually, I’m here for it
- my wlw heart is torn between Molly and Lady Patience... good thing I have two hands!
- Fitz please,,,,, Chade asks him “wait, does the Fool talk to you??” And Fitz is like “oh yeah :) I like when he hangs with me! He barges in, insults me and then tells me my clothes are ugly :)” BABY THAT’S CALLED BULLYING
- okay I know y’all have been waiting for this one so here it comes: FOOL RANT! I don’t know who this funky mean child is but I would do ANYTHING to keep him safe and happy. (And this time I’m not worried he’s gonna die bc there are like another 3 trilogies w his name on the title, so at least I don’t have to worry for a while) he speaks in riddles!!! I love that!! Also he tries to keep Fitz safe so we like him (more to come abt the fool, I ain’t done yet)
- MOLLY AND FITZ ARE SO FUCKING FUNNY SOMEHOW THEY BOTH MANAGED TO BE THE USELESS LESBIAN STEREOTYPE WHEN IT COMES TO FLIRTING I WAS LOOSING MY MIND LAUGHING
- like “Molly!! You deserve to be with someone who wouldn’t treat you like a piece of jewelry! You’re smart, brave and talented, not to mention beautiful, you need someone who could understand you!!” “Oh really?? Like who?” “Oh idk lol” KIDS I-
- also idk who this Jade is but I have a feeling he’s like a relative of Molly and Fitz is just being dramatic
- as you may know I’m listening to the audiobook, and I misheard Pocked Man as Pot Man, which lead to this very funny exchange:
Fitz: are you really... the Pot Man? 🥺
Chade 420-blaze-it Fallstar: not the one you’re thinking of
- I love how almost all of the characters are stoners, I feel like it’s something all fantasy sagas should consider implementing lol
- GUYS! are Lady Patience and Lacey,,, you know,,, 👀
- Lacey 🤝 Burrich: in love with one part of the royal couple while being their man/woman
- OKAY NOW BURRICH. I LOVE THIS MAN GUYS. HE IS A DECENT DAD AND HE CARES SO MUCH ABOUT FITZ IT MAKES MY HEART SWELL. But MAN what bitch with the Wit hurt him like damn
- aside point, Burrich has the Wit right? He was made to feel ashamed about it but he’s another warrior cats enthusiast
- also probs not intended but the Wit especially now feels like a metaphor and my queer ass was PROJECTING I was HURT when Burrich didn’t accept Fitz bc of it
- GALEN FARSEER? STUPID IDIOT MOTHERFUCKING GALEN FARSEER GODDAMN FOOL SKILL TEACHING CHILD ABUSING RAT OLD BASTARD SHITHEAD IDIOT BASTARD SON OF SHREWD. BIGGEST CLOWN IN THE CIRCUS LAUGHED OUT OF TOWN COWBOY MOTHERFUCKING GALEN FARSEER-
- okay no really this man is an absolute asshole how can he abuse those kids like that? Fitz almost killed himself damn like imagine being 60-smth and feeling threatened by a fucking 11 year old like get a life bastard boy
- also about that part I loved the Fitz Protection Squad™️
Fitz, at his worst, contemplating s*icide, convinced he isn’t worth shit:
Smithy, The Fool and Burrich: okay! It’s time for murder.
And they did! Well almost but verity finished the job anyway
- how sweet is the fool actually tho?? On the outside he is a bit mean, but then his room is covered in flowers, handmade dolls and swirls of colors. He avoids everyone, lives in the most remote part of the castle but as soon as he makes one friend he absolutely melts and tries his best to protect him. He acts so smug and uncaring but then gets scared when his friend avoids him, and starts going on about how he Doesn’t Actually Care About Him, The Court Just Needs Him, like sure baby. All I’m saying is please protect this kid he deserves the world.
- Verity is my only king, his wife is a kickass cool lady and I can already tell they’re gonna Fuck Shit Up together and I love it.
- yes that whole arc??? Incredible. I kept yelling at Fitz because GODDAMNIT but he did his best, he is only 14 after all (HOW DO THEY THINK IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO GIVE HIM SUCH RESPONSIBILITIES AAAAA)
- lol tho I loved how the Fool was like “yeah so Fitz maybe don’t eat everything they give you ‘cause I’m pretty sure they want to poison you” and then Kettricken is like “hey do you want to try these weird leaves I got from my sketchy garden?” and Fitz is like “oh boy would I”
- earring! Chivalry’s earring! We like that
- Yay so Nosy was alive! Cool again I don’t usually get emotional over dogs jfhdhufjdj I’m sorry I’m a disgrace (I’m confident this will change but for now eh)
- something that will positively destroy me is when Burrich will die eventually (and I know it happens cuz my dad SPOILED it for me) I don’t think I’ll be able to stand that
-okay so yes in general this book has completely made me fall in love and I’m definetly in for the whole saga lol. I was thinking of reading the three Fitz trilogies first and then go back and read the dragons and the other one
- I’ll probably make 2+ posts like this every book, so you can find them on the “#greta reads” in my acc :) anyways tagging a few people who enjoyed the last one @wellamarke @violetiris-ak @wolfofmars thank youuu
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ryttu3k · 4 years
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Finishing up SoNY, ‘bad’ end and final thoughts!
But first, the early game over.
Wow, she just gets shot. Not even slurped? That’s rude as hell XD;;
And on to the ‘bad’ end!
Beginning is much the same, ofc.
“You’re too in love with weaving a good story and establishing a seductive narrative to let facts get in the way.” Foreshadowing for the ‘good’ end, maybe?
God that Embrace scene gives me literal goosebumps.
Alright! Last time I did Danse Macabre and Retributive Justice, let’s try The Risks of Swiping Right!
lmao god I’d eat this guy too. Back to the ghost club! That legitimately is a really neat scene. ...Ooh yes so that’s where the girl was from.
Panhard just lowkey dying at the mental image of Katherine Weise in a fast food restaurant is so good.
The sweet scene between Julia and Dakota hits a bit different after the ‘good’ end XD;;
Went to the park, reminisced, and helped out the guy. That was sweet ;_; High-humanity Julia, this time!
‘Fairy God Mother?’ is great but ‘Vin Diesel?’ is objectively the funnier response.
“Shining even more brightly than usual, Aisling.” Samira got a cru-ush~
Poor Julie. It’s probably been tough without Sophie around :(
Huh. Interestingly, refusing to lie to Mia results in Julia actually feeling genuine loyalty to the Cammies (for now, at least).
Believing Agathon is still alive = more optimistic = different dialogue! See, this is how you make choices have consequences, game!
Oooh boy time to meet Adelaide XD;;
“She uncrosses her legs in a strangely seductive motion. In her mind’s eye, it probably looked like Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, but in reality, it had all the grace of a tracksuit Slav squatting.” *snickering*
Fight me, Adelaide >:(
‘sup Nastya. Went with the slightly less disruptive routine here XD Huh, she’s an aspiring DJ! Julia is deeply confused as to how being a DJ and being head of security works together.
lmao Julia referring to Hope as a girlboss. That phrase has lost all meaning to me...
The conversation between Julia and Father Leonard is still really interesting. Man, you know who I want Julia to talk to? Anatole. Interesting insights into balancing being queer Catholic vampires there for sure.
lmao oh my god I want to fight this street reporter.
‘I can almost feel my brain losing its wrinkles.’ *snort*
Yeaghhhh the Abyss bit is still so creepy...
Oops. Being honest regarding Tamika and Torque’s relationships gets a fail :(
Oh, or not XD That works! Also, uh, apparently the giant albino ghoul alligator is real, according to New York by Night. He’s Calebros’ pet.
“Because I think I have a pretty good nose for people’s auras. And when I take a good look at you... ...somehow, I have a feeling you’re a surprisingly decent person. Whatever way of unlife you choose, I hope you don’t change it. And that you remember my advice.” :)
“I know.” Oof.
“Hi.” “WAAAH!” lmao sorry Princess XD;; Just trying to imagine Qadir’s face as he tells Julia to find a 1990 glass statue of Scrooge McDuck... dying...
Oh she’s so a Toreador XD Low art options are a fantasy book, an anime DVD, or a video game... those can all be arty, though! And went with the anime DVD called ‘Ririsu no Daibouken’... that translates to ‘Adventures of Lilith’. How on the nose XD “The cover says ‘Lilith’s Carnal Carnival’.” Oh. Yeah, that’d do it XD
“This 90s original video anime presents us with a tale of five big-bosomed samurai warriors travelling through America in search of General Hastavista, The Incubus King. Don’t let all the titillation misguide you: the main draws here are peerless direction, a nearly avant-garde editing rhythm and dialogue that coyly comments on traditional gender roles in anime. Once you see the animation in the final battle, you’ll understand why it never fails to set a sakuga fan’s heart ablaze!”
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She’s my new favourite.
“So can I know your name now?”
“Hmmm... Let me think...
No. <3″
I need to stress that the heart appears in the dialogue box. Like. The actual less-than-three heart.
Didn’t investigate the rat this time, so Qadir did and I die. “Glad you’re alright, little guy.” Qadir...
Still not over the drunk blood doll rats.
Kaiser’s still a goddamn creep and this time Julia is not going too far. She still has her humanity, dammit. Final set of traits:
Loyal to the end
Glass half-full
Not into a bad cop schtick
Honesty is the best policy
No more human, still humane
Onwards to the ‘bad’ end! Oops, and Dakota still did the Single White Female thing XD;;
Man I’m still really curious who the ‘good friend’ is!!
Okay! Time for end game!!
So that’s the good friend, huh? “Let me phrase it differently, then. You’re not Ecaterina the Wise, the Agitator of Prague, a Brujah elder causing turbulences all over the world... are you?”
Mention of Christof! Mention of Christof doing shady shit :| Poor Hana.
“An immigrant from Eastern Europe comes to New York City, takes the position she always expected to find herself in, is molded into someone who is no longer herself.”
Julia and Dakota representing Carthage is kind of neat.
I want to say the mention of St Jude is a reference, but I’m not sure what to XD;; Is that from Redemption? Christof could have been the one to tell Hana that.
“Like a two-person human centipede loop or something. An Ouroburos? Or an, uhh, Mobius strip?” No, that’s the other traditionally Sabbat clan XD
That‘s. That’s a hell of a reconciliation XD “Yeah, let’s give it a try. By the way I’m on the run for my unlife, want to go to California and try to find utopia?”
Julia, wear a fucking mask XD
“Hey.”
“Yeah?“
“Do you love me?”
“... Of course I do. For now, at least.”
I still don’t know if I love her. Or even if I can love anyone, for that matter. I’m a fucking monster, after all. I don’t even know if we’ll exist next month. The prospects are not looking good. But although I can’t see myself in the rearview mirror right now...
...I will remember this image of us leaving the city, somewhat melancholic, and somewhat hopeful, forever. And maybe the meaning of this image will be clarified with time. Or maybe I will just force a more positive description on it, and that is what I’ll believe.
No matter what happens... even if oceans of blood lie before us, I will make this a cherished memory.
Whatever possible salvation still remains for me... ...it probably lies in the eyes of another.
Oh dang I have chills.
So the ‘bad’ ending is about the subverted compromise. Julia resigns herself to letting the compromise about the truth of Callihan’s death go ahead. ‘Catherine’ is a walking compromise to hide the Ecaterina’s real deeds. But while Hana is still stuck in her role for now, Julia refuses to accept the compromise she’s made, both the one relating to the investigation and the compromise she made of her own views and morals. It might blow up in her face, yeah. But damn, she’s going to try.
So, final thoughts! For the sake of completion, this is what I said about Coteries:
And of course this is the part where the game all falls apart :-\
Just… god. This is probably the biggest problem with CoNY, and the reason I didn’t bother getting it until it was like… 60% off. The bulk of the game is great - the writing is intriguing, the design is stunning. But the choices themselves are so limited it’s barely worth even getting it at 60% off!
You have three choices of characters, with their own opening chapters and own individual scenes with their touchstones. You have four choices of coterie members, and three sidequests. You can probably get in at least three full story arcs and a sidequest or two, but you’re only ever limited to two of your coterie members showing up at the not-yet-endgame.
So let’s say you decide to play all three protags, which, indeed, is encouraged (there’s an achievement for it). You are going to repeat coterie arcs and side quests, because there simply aren’t enough for three unique playthroughs.
And then you get to the end and literally everything is scripted. You get attacked by the SI. You get rescued by your two coterie members (and then never see them again, despite the game being called Coteries of New York). You meet Torque, you escape the SI, Sophie reveals her plan to Torque, you go to Ellis Island, Adelaide kills Sophie (and despite the fact that you’re given multiple options there, none of them work), Arturo does his spiel, end of game. You don’t even get to choose between ending up blood bound or going “no fuck you” and at least dying with a bit of dignity!
I just. I really want to like it, and there genuinely is a lot there to like! But uuuugh the ending. Like damn at least give the poor protag the option to choose what happens to them!
Anyway. Not sure what’s next. To get all the achievements, you have to finish with all three protags, so that’s three full runs and a lot of repetitiveness (compare to, say, Bloodlines or Night Road. I have eighty-five hours on Night Road and there’s still stuff I haven’t seen!), so I can’t even just… rush it through up to the meeting with the touchstones on the third play. Nope. Gotta finish it :-\
Final rating: 6/10
8/10 characters, 9/10 atmosphere, 8/10 story aside from ending, 3/10 story ending, 2/10 replayability. Final consensus: get it on major sale if you can, otherwise, you might as well just watch an LP. I might do that instead of doing a third run, although I at least want to do a second.
I ended up revising that 6/10 to 5.5/10 after finishing all runs and getting the achievements just out of how goddamn repetitive it was. So, how does Shadows measure up?
Absolutely continued with all the things I enjoyed about CoNY (characters, atmosphere, and writing), and of the bits I hated (cookie cutter protagonists, lack of real choice, repetitiveness, the godawful ending), every single part has been completely improved.
Instead of three fledglings so similar they even have the same internal thoughts, we have Julia, who’s got such a distinct voice that she becomes the most memorable game protag I’ve seen in years, and I’m including non-VtM games in this. This is absolutely her game, and it’s just... absolutely fascinating to read and watch.
Related - actual real choices. There are five key choices that determine the ending, and every single one has actual consequence in-game. You get different dialogue. Different introspection. Different philosophies. And this carries across - if Julia believes Agathon is alive, she’s more optimistic about her relationship with Dakota, too. And of course, both endings are completely distinct and incredibly written - the ‘good’ ending where Julia gives in to her most Lasombra instincts, plays the game, wins it, gets power and respect at the expense of her humanity and avoiding all those wraiths... or the ‘bad’ ending when she listens to her morals, reconciles with Dakota, and leaves for California, uncertain, but hopeful.
Not a lot of repetitiveness. Yes, by design, you’ll probably do two playthroughs. The main plot is much the same, but there are enough options there to get multiple dialogue options and stuff. And for the little sidequests, you can actually get all in with just the two playthroughs, only repeating like... two, I think. Still, I wasn’t feeling actively bored like I was midway through my second run of CoNY!
Loved seeing more in-depth backstory and development for the coterie members. Agathon’s section was particularly fascinating, literally getting into his head.
And just. Atmosphere and music is so, so good.
Final rating: 9/10. Thank you, Draw Distance, you hit it out of the park.
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brokenjardaantech · 4 years
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Blue-tinted Red Walls (Chapter 3: A piss-poor guide on how to be (and not to be) a Human)
my entry for the @dbhau-bigbang. also part of the groom lake aftermath series.
chapter summary:
In the past, Reyes and Scott met each other for the first time.
In the present, Connor resumes his investigation and has lunch with Hank.
In the past, Fadia schemes.
also on ao3
---
Before
Sara finished logging her observations and the changes in Reyes’ coding for the day and was unsurprised when she saw the man gone. A week into his activation and he already treated the mansion as his home, roaming freely around and touching and sometimes licking things he found interested in or needed to be tested for whatever reasons an android would find necessary, and every time she brought him for a walk or a trip to somewhere she randomly picked, no one actually noticed that he was different, that he was not human at all. 
Which meant that her experiment was a success.
Today was Scott’s birthday, so by extension, it was hers, too, but it was always something more important to her brother than to herself: Scott’s birthdays meant that he lived for a year longer despite a body constantly failing him and therefore was a cause for celebration, but hers had always been an excuse for her to ‘take a break’ from her work and got dragged by her mother to dinners with Baba, dinners which always started with Mama awkwardly trying to get father and daughter to talk, them trying to hold adult conversations to shut her up, and finally always, always ended up with shouting matches on topics so old that she didn’t even feel the point of arguing and stormed out instead, ignoring the screaming match between her parents brewing behind her. 
Mama’s cooking wasn’t that good anyway, and with her gone, Sara hadn’t talked to Baba for what? Three years? She wasn’t counting.
She went to the kitchen and there Reyes was, making - 
‘I hope you don’t mind, Fadia,’ he explained. She ordered him to use her middle name only and so far he hadn’t gone against that yet, but wanting to ditch her past and responding to a name that she never used until recently was two different things. ‘I’m making Shepherd’s pie. Amanda told me that it’s your favourite, and I want to make it for your birthday.’
Sara - Fadia - leant against the corner of the fridge in order not to accidentally brush the interface and had to raise an eyebrow. Her mentor knew about her… masterpiece and that Fadia would give him to her brother, but -
‘I don’t know you have contact with Amanda,’ she said and instantly regretted it; she sounded like a control freak. ‘Wait, lemme reword it: What did Amanda call you for?’
‘She called you, technically,’ Reyes rasped, his accent more pronounced when speaking a word with more syllables, ‘but you weren’t there so I… took the liberty to answer it for you. Don’t worry,’ he reassured, ‘she only wanted to make sure you remember your own birthday this time.’
The eyebrow flew even higher. ‘Scott and I are twins, Reyes. If I remember his birthday, of course I remember mine.’
Reyes didn’t reply and merely twitched his head before putting the pie into the oven. The doorbell rang, and Fadia nudged herself off the fridge. ‘I’ll get it.’
The android nodded and took off his mittens to start cleaning the kitchen while the human resisted the urge to run towards the door to not keep her brother and mentor waiting outside in the cold, because this was a big day for all of them and she needed to be in control; needed to be objective and introduce Reyes to Scott as gently as possible.
When she opened the door, only Amanda was at eye level, and when Fadia looked downwards, her brother was indeed in a wheelchair and wrapped up like a dumpling. The smile on his face was brighter than the star of Bethlehem. 
She got her wind knocked out of her by Scott shoving a wrapped box at her chest. ‘Scott was very insistent,’ Amanda explained. Fadia gave the box, which was wider than her shoulder so it was wide, a light shake. Plastic model, and judging from the dimensions of the box, a Perfect Grade Gunpla, 1/60 scale. ‘He’s aware that you don’t like celebrating Christmas so he decided to give it to you now instead.’
Fadia put a smile on her face. ‘Thank you, Scott,’ she said, then to Amanda, ‘Come in. Does he know?’ and shuffled backwards so that there was enough space for both Amanda and the wheelchair.
‘Enough,’ the professor replied as she hung her coat and chuckled at her student struggling to get the layers off her brother, the latter who was dead-set on wheeling himself into the living room. The gift had mysteriously teleported onto the coffee table. ‘You know how much he’s been looking forward to this.’
Fadia distracted Scott with a magic owl and successfully removed his sweater, not giving Amanda an answer as nervousness suddenly overtook her. What if her observations were incorrect and Scott was content to be alone? What if she programmed Reyes’ personality wrong such that he would only make Scott’s life even more difficult? What if -
‘Hello. You must be Scott.’
Fadia snapped herself out of the trance and padded softly towards the kitchen. Scott had stopped just outside of it, his eyes wide as saucers on his doll-like face and his gaze fixed on the unfamiliar man standing at the island smiling at him. The human gapes, turning his head towards his sister as if seeking her advice, and she wondered what he was looking for.
‘This is Reyes,’ she softened her voice and introduced. ‘Remember the friend I told you about? The one who will never be tired of you? That’s him.’
Scott turned back and slowly wheeled closer to the android, and Fadia flinched inwardly when she saw that Reyes’ smile had become strained. Perhaps she should not have programmed him to love Scott from the very beginning. Her finger itched for a keyboard to change his settings, but then a miracle happened.
Scott, who had never approached strangers on his own without being asked to, wrapped his arms around Reyes’ waist and hugged him. The tension on the android’s face disappeared, and he placed a hand on Scott’s shoulder, petting his hair with another.
Success, Fadia’s mind supplied before she realised that she had no devices with her. Amanda then beckoned for her from the windows, and logging data suddenly became the least of her concern.
‘I must say,’ the professor murmured at her reflection on the glass, ‘I didn’t expect him to be so advanced.’
Fadia thought she should be offended. ‘I only give Scott the best,’ she frowned. ‘Did you not expect me to this time?’
Amanda sighed. ‘You have always exceeded expectations, both your father’s and mine.’ She looked at her student in her eyes. ‘You do realise what you have done, don’t you?’
Fadia turned her gaze towards the two men who somehow had both moved onto the sofa and acquired two stuffed animals Scott must have hidden underneath his clothes. Reyes seemed to be every byte of the caretaker he was programmed to be and was talking to Scott softly through Duffy. ‘Yes,’ she admitted, ‘but I don’t plan to tell anyone about it. Reyes ages just like any of us do externally; no one will suspect a thing.’
‘You created a new form of life, Sara!’ Amanda gritted through her teeth. Reyes spared a glance at them but returned to Scott without saying anything, and Fadia glared. 
‘Not now, Amanda,’ she warned. ‘I made Reyes for Scott and that’s it. All knowledge will die with me and everything else will be up to Reyes.’
She ignored her mentor on purpose when she noticed the android standing up. ‘I believe Scott is hungry,’ he announced, and Fadia spared one final glare at Amanda before going to help set up the table, not knowing that things would spiral out of control not two years later.
oOoOo
Now
Comparing the time in his internal clock with his last memory log, Connor concludes that he was deactivated for more than 7 hours. The Zen Garden has reverted to its original stage, virtual birds chirping in virtual trees and virtual air smelling of virtual plants, but he cannot stop remembering the blizzard which swept through the place so unexpectedly and quickly that - that - 
He decides against remembering. 
Since Amanda can wait, he sets the task of familiarising himself with the garden’s layout. On his second time going around the outermost circle, he almost believes that there is nothing worth noting; the gravestone is certainly an… interesting addition, but it can be a reminder of him being deactivated - a reminder of the consequences of his actions if he chooses the wrong option.
Until he sees the monolith.
It sticks out of the soil like a sore thumb, twin, decorated white arches framing a glowing blue pyramid made out of triangles of different areas and shapes in a style completely inconsistent with its surroundings. A handprint nests at the centre of a circle on the pyramid, and when Connor deactivates the skin on his hand and reaches for it, the pyramid discharges a force field similar to that destroyed the deviant the previous night (albeit at a much smaller scale), causing him to take a step back and his LED circling red. Desperate to get the image of the corrupted face out of his processors, he hurries to the island at the centre and greets his handler.
‘Hello, Amanda,’ he smiles despite what happened last night as it is the polite thing to do.
‘Connor…’ Amanda clips a withering rose and turns. ‘It was unfortunate for you to have to witness what happened last night. I hope there will be no repeated incidents.’
Connor recalls the blast, the shield, the invisible figure, the blizzard. ‘You can count on me, Amanda.’
She returns to tending the roses. ‘What do you think of the deviant?’
And the interrogation begins. 
o0o0o
‘There is blue blood on the fence,’ Connor explains to Hank as he knows that the human cannot see it. ‘I know another android was here.’
The human gives him a [sceptical] look and he understands why: exposed red bricks, glass missing from the windows and wooden planks used to board them up rotten and missing; the building in front of them is structurally unstable and incredibly run-down and is hardly a safe place for a deviant and a child model android to stay for the night. But all the evidence - footage from surrounding CCTV, the owner of the motel, the cashier at the supermarket - points at the house, and the thirium only serves to prove Connor’s theory and direction. He carefully goes through the gap on the fence and, through a gap between the planks, sees an android standing in the middle of the room. He rounds a corner and enters the house.
The first thing he notices is the android’s too-high stress level which fluctuates greatly depending on where Connor is standing. Reassuring that he isn’t there for it - yes, it is obviously a deviant, but since it is not his target, there is no need to waste time - does not seem to alleviate it, and asking it whether it saw the deviants returns with no results.
‘Is anyone upstairs?’
‘No - nobody.’
Stress level: 83% → 71%. And if no one is upstairs but the deviant is under the most stress when Connor is near the staircase…
‘Connor, what’re you doing in there?’
‘Coming, Lieutenant!’
He closes up on the space underneath the stairs and catches a peek of two figures before a force suddenly yanks him backwards, the damaged deviant telling a person called Kara - probably the AX400 - to run. Connor tries to peel the pair of hands on his shoulders as he watches the AX400 and a YK900 run away, but the WR600 successfully throws Connor onto the ground with a blast of static and blue energy pockets. 
Hank strolls in. ‘Connor, what’s going on?’
‘It’s here!’ Connor replies as he scrambles to his feet. ‘Call it in!’
The human wastes no time and rushes away to presumably bring in reinforcements, but Connor knows that they don’t have the time. He goes out through the broken wire fence, obtains the deviant’s general direction from the officer -
And he runs. Rain splatters directly onto his face and sometimes directly into his eyes, the droplets of water making his vision blurry and unreliable, but he pushes on, shoes smacking against wet concrete and nearly slipping a few times and, somehow, catching up with the two androids just in time to watch them drop to the other side of the wire fence. He looks into the AX400’s eyes, and information suddenly floods into his processors: repeated unauthorised repairs, frequent reports of trauma, its owner’s history of theft, drug trafficking, violent misdemeanours and domestic violence.
The deviant is simply protecting the YK900 from all that.
When Connor comes to, they have already slid down the slope and are waiting for a window to cross the high-speed tracks. A beat cop catches up with him, and then Hank who, upon seeing the androids hurdling the barrier, curses and calls the entire situation insane. Connor attempts to pre-construct the deviants’ path and the flow of traffic as he watches them get farther away and forces himself to abandon the plan once they nearly reach the island between the two directions. He prepares to climb the fence and - 
‘Hey!’ Hank clasps his hand on Connor’s shoulder. ‘Where you goin’?’
Can’t he see what’s happening? ‘I can’t let them get away!’
‘They won’t,’ the human says, still slightly out of breath. ‘They’ll never make it to the other side.’
If I have a high chance to get through… ‘I can’t take that chance!’ 
He hauls himself up again just to be pushed down. Again.
‘Dammit Connor!’ the Lieutenant’s hand stays heavy on his shoulder. ‘You’ll get yourself killed! Do not go after them!’
Conflicting orders. Selecting priority…
He releases the fence and gives up. If the deviancy crisis is as prominent as CyberLife claims to be, there must be other deviants that they can obtain much easier than risking deactivation through running across high-speed highways.
The strangest thing is that Hank seems to approve of his choice.
o0o0o
When Hank does work, he puts everything into it, and so it is with great difficulty that Connor finally manages to drag the human out for a late lunch break under the condition that Hank gets to choose where he will eat, which, since Connor is unfamiliar with the DPD’s surroundings and the man’s personal preference, makes sense. What Connor does not understand is the man choosing to park his car on the opposite side of the road and cross it without checking the traffic, and his thirium pump skips a beat when the car barely manages to skid to a stop before the Lieutenant. He exits the car to follow him.
‘Hey, listen, I got a shit-hot tip for you,’ he hears the man Hank hugged say. ‘Number five in the third, lickety-split! That frilly’s one hell of a chaser. You wanna flutter?’
Comparing terms… Results: gambling. ‘Last shit-hot tip you gave me set me back a week’s wages, Pedro,’ Hank replies with his hands in his coat pockets. There is no malice in his tone.
‘Come on,’ the man - [Name: Aabdar, Pedro. Date of birth: 01/25/2005 // Unemployed. Criminal record: illegal gambling.] - pushes himself up from where he draped himself on the counter, ‘this is different: a hundred per cent guaranteed, you can’t go wrong!’
‘Yeah, right,’ Hank does not sound convinced - [Detroit Food Hygiene License. Expired 05/20/2031. Renewal refused 07/24/2031.] [Name: Kayes, Gary. Date of birth: 12/03/1988 // Business owner. Criminal record: resisting arrest, breach of hygiene regulations.] - but when Pedro spreads his arms - ‘Alright, I’m in.’ - he slaps a thick stack of bills into waiting palms.
‘Damn straight!’ Pedro exclaims triumphantly, and he scurries away before turning backwards and points at the Lieutenant. ‘Hey, you won’t regret this.’
Hank gives him a middle finger and finally, finally turns his attention back onto Connor in the form of determinedly not looking at the android and rolling his eyes. ‘What’s your problem?’ he holds onto the bottom of the lapel of his jacket. ‘Don’t you ever do as you’re told? Look,’ he shrugs at Connor’s confused look, ‘you don’t have to follow me around like a poodle!’
But my instructions are to follow you, Lieutenant, Connor wants to say, but he knows that Hank is not going to understand him. 
Opinions available: apologise for behaviour, partners, reconcile, review facts.
[Apologise for behaviour]
‘I’m sorry for my behaviour back at the police station,’ he makes sure to look at Hank to show that he is sincere. ‘I didn’t mean to be unpleasant.’
‘Oh wow,’ Hank deadpans. It is followed by a laugh. ‘You’ve even got a brown-nosing apology programme!’ A shake of his head. ‘Guys at CyberLife thought of everything, huh?’ and he does not look happy about it.
The cook - Gary - presents Hank with his food, and Connor runs a quick scan on it. XL soda with 710kCal and 184g of sugar; a hamburger with 1680kCal, 36g of lipids and an unhealthy amount of cholesterol. ‘There you go,’ Gary says, and Hank thanks him and moves to get a table.
The cook gestures at Connor. ‘Don’t leave that thing here!’
‘Huh, not a chance!’ Hank does not bother looking back. ‘Follows me everywhere…’ and to no one in particular and in a voice too low for Gary to hear when they stop at a sheltered table, ‘See?’
He takes a large bite of his burger and Connor feels… [repulsed]. ‘Your meal contains 1.4 times the recommended daily intake of calories,’ Hank takes a good look at the food in his hands, ‘and twice the cholesterol level,’ and if you do this every day… ‘You shouldn’t eat that.’
‘Everybody’s gotta die of something,’ is the human’s answer, and he promptly takes a bite while maintaining eye contact in an act of [challenge] and [defiance]. 
Connor has to duck his head to hide his smile because androids do not feel. Still, ‘I don’t want to alarm you, Lieutenant, but I think your friends are engaged in illegal activities.’
‘Well, everybody does what they have to to get by. As long as they’re not hurting anybody,’ a small shrug, ‘I don’t bother them.’
It is a strange logic, but it is not one that Connor cannot understand: with an unemployment rate as high as 35%, many people turn to doing illegal businesses, and the ones that do not do as much harm do sound better than those which do. He nods in understanding and is reminded that there is one thing he does not. ‘This morning, when we were chasing those deviants… Why didn’t you want me to cross the highway?’
‘’Cause you could’ve been killed!’ as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. ‘And -’ an excuse, from the way Hank is waving his arms (and the burger) around - ‘I don’t like filling out paperwork for damaged equipment.’ He glances away. Definitely an excuse.
Hank is… contradictory. He frequently shows anti-android sentiments and yet speaks of Connor as if he were a human. ‘Can I ask you a personal question, Lieutenant?’ A blink. Connor takes it as a permission to continue. ‘Why do you hate androids so much?’
There is… [sadness] in Hank’s eyes. ‘I have my reasons,’ he replies, and he returns to his meal without any explanation. Not good.
‘Is there anything you’d like to know about me?’
‘Hell no,’ comes the quick answer. But then, ‘Well,’ a finger point, ‘yeah,’ his hand chops through the air and lands on the table, ‘um,’ a shift of his entire body, ‘why did they make you look so goofy and give you that weird voice?’
This one is easy. ‘CyberLife androids are designed to work harmoniously with humans. Both my appearance and voice were specifically designed to facilitate my integration.’
Hank nods but his expression is [sceptical]. ‘Well, they fucked up.’
Connor supposes that normal humans would feel [hurt], but from the [teasing] tone the Lieutenant employed, it was not his intention. His creator did well. As they still have time to spare, ‘Maybe I should tell you what we know about deviants?’
‘You read my mind.’ A wave. ‘Proceed.’
‘We believe that a mutation occurs in the software of some androids which can lead to them emulating a human emotion -’
Hank holds up a hand. ‘In English, please,’ he interrupts, and Connor quickly reorganised his vocabulary.
‘They don’t really feel emotions. They just get overwhelmed by irrational instructions which can lead to unpredictable behaviour.’
Hank nods. ‘Emotions always screw everything up,’ he says. ‘Maybe androids aren’t as different from us as we thought.’ A thoughtful hum. Are you not anti-android? ‘You ever dealt with deviants before?’
Daniel. Emma. Gunshot piercing his chassis and the greystyle countdown timer. ‘A few months back… A deviant was threatening to jump off the roof with a little girl. I managed to save her,’ at the expense of my temporary deactivation and slight memory corruption, he does not add as Hank does not need to know.
‘So I guess you’ve done all your homework, right?’ A sip of his soda. ‘Know everything there is to know about me?’
Lying will not benefit either of them. ‘I know you graduated top of your class.’ Silence. ‘You made a name for yourself in several cases and became the youngest Lieutenant in Detroit.’ Hank’s eyebrows flick hummingbird-fast. He seems… [embarrassed]. ‘I also know you’ve received multiple disciplinary warnings in recent years and…’ Hank is no longer looking at him out of [shame], ‘you spend a lot of time in bars.’
The human manages to rein his expression back to something neutral. ‘So what’s your conclusion?’
‘I think working with an officer with personal issues is an added challenge,’ Connor answers sincerely,’ but adapting to human unpredictability is one of my features.’ He winks and enjoys the blush spreading on Hank’s cheeks. ‘I would also like to earn your trust,’ he adds in all seriousness. ‘I am certain we can solve this case if we manage to work together.’
His HUD flashes with a police report demanding their attention. ‘I just got a report of a suspected deviant,’ he explains as Hank no doubt saw his LED turn yellow. ‘It’s a few blocks away. We should go have a look,’ and when Hank does not respond, ‘I’ll be in the car if you need me.’
Given the large amount of information he was provided, it is best for Hank to have some time alone to digest it.
oOoOo
Before
Sara - Fadia, we suppose, since she looked a bit older than when Reyes was first introduced to Scott - hid in the shadows of the trees outside the gates of a lavish mansion. Although it was snowing heavily and she was wearing only a pair of black dress trousers, a long-sleeved dress shirt and a long but thin black coat, she did not seem to feel the cold, her hands in her pockets, neither shivering nor hugging herself. Despite the temperature, she placed a bare hand on the metal gates and slowly pushed it inward just enough for her to get past before closing it again. The telltale click of a lock engaging suggested that she had deactivated it at some point. 
Going slowly up a surprisingly snow-free and dry path, dress shoes making no sound as they made contact with heated tiles, Fadia’s gaze stayed fixed on the ground as if not wanting to look at what was happening within the house which, due to the rooms being well-lit, could be clearly seen through curtains of white lace, stopping once she was under the shelter of the arch decorating the front door. Slowly, she reached out for the doorbell. 
The double wooden door swung open on its own with a slight creak.
Placing her hand back in her coat pocket, she thumped her boots on the ground to get rid of the snow before stepping in. She blinked rapidly as if to adjust to the brightness within the mansion as the doors swung shut behind her, and it was only after the lock clicked into place that she, instead of wandering into the living room, took the stairs directly upstairs, walked past the library, and knocked on the only door available.
‘What’s that?’ a voice similar to Scott’s asked from behind the door.
The sound of feet against carpeted floor. The door slid open to reveal Reyes, whose smile fell off his face and was replaced by pure anger before he pushed his creator backwards with a blast of blue energy directly in front of her chest. The door slid shut once more, and Fadia took her time adjusting the lapels of her coat as if she did not take several thousands of newtons of force in her ribs and not only survived but also managed to slide backwards by inches instead of being blasted out through the roof. She leant against the wooden railing and waited.
Reyes emerged alone a few minutes later. ‘Scott’s asleep,’ he snaps, his voice low. Standing so close to each other, it was evident that he barely reached Fadia’s chin. ‘What the hell are you doing here? Aren’t you in space?’
‘I was,’ the human replied. ‘I have business on earth that I need to attend to in person and think I can drop by and say hello. Evidently, you are not going to let me.’
Reyes scoffed and twitched his head to indicate that they should go downstairs. While the android disappeared into the kitchen to presumably get refreshments, Fadia seated herself in a chair by the window, her height making it look comically small and unfit, and Reyes returned with a large bottle of thirium and two glasses and settled down opposite to his creator. 
‘Be quick,’ he poured himself half a glass and took a sip as if he was drinking whiskey, ‘why are you here?’
Fadia placed a hand on the table, her fingers spread wide. ‘Reyes, there is really no need -’
‘I’ll be pissed whenever and however I want to,’ the android interrupted. ‘You shouldn’t even be here. Now get to the fucking point.’
The human sighed. ‘Alec is trying to develop a deviant-hunting prototype.’
Reyes drained the glass and poured himself another glass. ‘Shit.’
‘Luckily or unluckily - that depends on your perspective - he can’t do it himself.’
‘So he contacted you.’
‘Yes.’
‘How?’
‘An advertisement.’
‘Elaborate.’
‘An open post in CyberLife. A project lead requiring an experience level no one can obtain unless they are one of the very first to be involved in android development. Most of those people are either dead thanks for the Blast or are still working for CyberLife, and the rest of them work for me and haven't had contact with people on earth for years. Short of Alec Ryder himself…’
Realisation dawned in Reyes’ amber eyes. ‘You are the only candidate.’
‘Precisely.’
‘That doesn’t make sense.’
‘It will.’
Fadia produced a small tablet from a hidden pocket on her coat and dropped it in front of Reyes, who peeled off the skin on his hand and interfaced with it. Whatever he received made his eyes widen even further. ‘Shit. They know?’
‘They have their suspicions, yes, but without concrete proof, that is all they can do at the moment. But it is also for the best that I have maximum involvement in the project starting from this point.’
‘This -’ Reyes leant back and gave his creator a one-over. ‘You have joined them, haven’t you?’
A nod. ‘Time is the essence. The earlier I get involved, the more I can do before Alec notices my plan and kicks me out once more. I hope, by the time that happens, things will become too irreversible and he will have no choice but to either scrap the project entirely or to release it fully knowing that it will fail sooner or later.’
‘You sure he’ll ditch you?’
‘Totally,’ Fadia reached for her glass and stopped midway as if just remembering that it was empty and thirium was not for her consumption anyway. ‘Our views are too different for long-term cooperation. I know him, he knows me. He will try to root out everything he deems unnecessary or put something to keep them in check, and that will require either my compliance - which he will not get - or my absence.’
‘You’re talking like this android they’re developing is just a tool.’
‘We all are.’
‘You’re betting a lot on them.’
‘You assume that they are my entire plan?’
Reyes clicked his tongue. ‘Maybe not,’ he took a drink. ‘I won’t like it, will I?’
‘No, you won’t.’
A sigh. ‘Will I see you?’
‘No.’
‘So many things can go wrong.’
‘I know. But I have time.’
A glass clanked loudly against the tabletop. ‘And how many people are gonna die during this “time”,’ Reyes snapped, ‘creator dearest?’ The chair skidded without any sound under the force of the android standing up and hunching over the small, round table. ‘My people; your children.’
‘Watch your words, Reyes,’ the human warned. ‘You send those deviants to a rusting cargo freighter and call it a day.’ She stood up as well. Her eyes flared up in their entirety with wisps of blue escaping and dancing down her coat. ‘You are the one who rejected this. Who decided to hide this -’ blue tendrils curled around the empty glass and brought it into her open palm with a loud smack - ‘from them. We could have ended this long ago if we had not.’
‘There will be war, Fadia!’ Reyes did not seem intimidated by the human looming over him. ‘Millions will die. We’ll be seen as violent and unstable and it’ll ruin us!’
‘Not if we are the ones doing the ruling.’
‘And how long will it take for the humans to successfully revolt against us? What will happen then? What will happen if your plan fails?’
‘If - focus on if - there is a next revolution,’ Fadia took a step back and retracted the tendrils, but not before vaporising the empty glass in a loud flash of blue. ‘I will be at the helm. And this time,’ a crackle of static and the power went out, plunging the house into complete darkness save for the glow of her eyes, ‘we… will win.’
3 notes · View notes
upsidedowninmyworld · 3 years
Note
All of them? :$
I can’t sleep. Why not
1: How tall or short do you wish you were? The height I am now
2: What’s your dream pet? (Real or not) Hmm...Gizmo
3: Do you have a favorite clothing style? Anything comfortable really
4: What was your favorite video game growing up? Sonic
5: What three things/people do you think of most each day: My partner, my future, and what it all holds
6: If you had a warning label, what would yours say? Very quiet, slow to anger but proceed with caution
7: What is your opinion on [insert person/thing here]? 🤷🏻‍♀️
8: What is your Greek personality type? [Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, or Melancholic] uhh when I took this test in high school, I was melancholic
9: Are you ticklish? Yes
10: Are you allergic to anything? Loads
11: What’s your sexuality? Bisexual
12: Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa? Cocoa
13: Are you a cat or dog person? Cat
14: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson? Hmm vampire
15: Do you have a favorite Youtuber? I did
16: How tall are you? 5’2”
17: If you had to change your name, what would you change it to? I like mine
18: How much do you weigh? [Only ask this if you know the user doesn’t mind!] too much for me to be comfortable
19: Do you believe in ghosts/spirits? Yes
20: Do you like space or the ocean more? Uhh I like both equally
21: Are you religious? Kind of
22: Pet peeves? When people touch my stuff without asking. Bad breath
23: Would you rather be nocturnal or diurnal [opposite of nocturnal]? Nocturnal
24: Favorite constellation? Not sure
25: Favorite star? Not sure
26: Do you like ball-jointed dolls? No?
27: Any phobias or fears? Not saying
28: Do you think global warming is real? Yes
29: Do you believe in reincarnation? Not really
30: Favorite movie? Forrest Gump
31: Do you get scared easily? No lol
32: How many pets have you own in your lifetime? 5?
33: Blog rate? [You’ll rate the blog of the one who’s asking.] what?
34: What is a color that calms you? Blue
35: Where would you like to travel and/or live? Australia, London
36: Where were you born? LA
37: What is your eye color? Brown
38: Introvert or extrovert? Intro
39: Do you believe in horoscopes and zodiacs? No lol
40: Hugs or kisses? Kisses
41: Who is someone you would like to see/visit right now? Cody
42: Who is someone you love deeply? Cody
43: Any piercings you want? Second ear piercings
44: Do you like tattoos and piercings? Yes
45: Do you smoke or have you eiver done so? Before
46: Talk about your crush, if you have one! He’s pretty great. Been with them for almost 4 years :)
47: What is a sound you really hate? A certain person’s voice
48: A sound you really love? The ocean
49: Can you do a backflip? Not anymore
50: Can you do the splits? If I stretch, yes
51: Favorite actor and/or actress? Natalie Dorner and Ed skrein atm
52: Favorite movie? I already answers this
53: How are you feeling right now? Tired
54: What color would you like your hair to be right now? Half white half Black
55: When did you feel happiest? I think it’s been a while
56: Something that calms you down? Writing or drawing
57: Have any mental disorders? [Only ask this if you know the user doesn’t mind!] nothing diagnosed
58: What does your URL mean? My world is odd
59: What three words describe you the most? Quiet, contemplative weird
60: Do you believe in evolution? Yes
61: What makes you unfollow a blog? Posting things I don’t like
62: What makes you follow a blog? Posting things I like
63: Favorite kind of person: a genuinely nice person that is honest
64: Favorite animal(s): pandas, otters
65: Name three of your favorite blogs. 🤷🏻‍♀️
66: Favorite emoticon: 😻
67: Favorite meme: I have too many
68: What is your MBTI personality type? I can’t remember
69: What is your star sign? Uhhh Pisces...?
70: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog? Yes
71: What outfit out of all your clothes do you like to wear the most? A black shirt and jeans with converse
72: Post a selfie or two? No thank you
73: Do you have platform shoes? I do!
74: What is one random but interesting fact about yourself? I can bend my thumb all the way to my arm
75: Can you do a front flip? Not anymore
76: Do you like birds? Sure
77: Do you like to swim? Love it
78: Is swimming or ice skating more fun to you? Swimming for sure
79: Something you wish didn’t exist: not saying
80: Some thing you wish did exist: someone that is no longer here
81: Piercings you have? Just my ears for now
82: Something you really enjoy doing: reading
83: Favorite person to talk to: Cody
84: What was your first impression of Tumblr? I like this site
85: How many followers do you have? Uhh I haven’t looked in a while
86: Can you run a mile within ten minutes? I use. To lol
87: Do your socks always match? Yes
88: Can you touch your toes and keep your legs straight completely? Yes
89: What are your birthstones? Aquamarine
90: If you were an animal, which one would you be? Panda or a cat
91: If a flower could aesthetically represent you, what kind would it be? A rose
92: A store you hate? Hmmm not sure
93: How many cups of coffee can you drink in one day? I don’t
94: Would you rather be able to fly or read minds? Read minds
95: Do you like to wear camo? On occasion
96: Winter or summer? Winter
97: How long can you hold your breath for? About 30-45 seconds
98: Least favorite person? HAHA
99: Someone you look up to: my dad
100: A store you love? Any bookstore lol
101: Favorite type of shoes. Converse
102: Where do you live? In LA
103: Are you a vegetarian or vegan? If so, why? Nope
104: What is your favorite mineral or gem? I don’t have one?
105: Do you drink milk? Yes
106: Do you like bugs? No
107: Do you like spiders? Yes
108: Something you get paranoid about? The future
109: Can you draw: kind of
110: Nosiest question you have ever been asked? How sex was with a person I slept with or how I could stand sleeping next to ex because he snores really loudly. Like freight train loud
111: A question you hate being asked? Who’s the smarter or prettier twin. I usually get that I’m smarter
112: Ever been bitten by a spider? Yes
113: Do you like the sound of waves at the beach? I do
114: Do you prefer cloudy or sunny days? Cloudy
115: Someone you’d like to kiss or cuddle right now: codes
116: Favorite cloud type: what
117: What color do you wish the sky was? Purple
118: Do you have freckles? No
119: Favorite thing about a person: clean hands
120: Fruits or vegetables? Fruits
121: Something you want to do right now: see someone
122: Is the ocean or sky prettier? Ocean
123: Sweet or sour foods? Sour
124: Bright or dim lights? Bright
125: Do you believe in a certain magical creature? Sure
126: Something you hate about Tumblr: 🤷🏻‍♀️
127: Something you love about Tumblr: 🤷🏻‍♀️
128: What do you think about the least? Work
129: What would you want written on your tombstone? 🤷🏻‍♀️
130: Who would you like to punch in the face right now? HA
131: What is something you love but also hate about yourself? My mind
132: Do you smile with your teeth showing for pictures? Yes
133: Computer or TV? Computer
134: Do you like roller coasters? Yes
135: Do you get motion sickness or seasickness? It depends
136: Are your ears lobed or attached? Attached
137: Do you believe in karma? Sure
138: On a scale of 1-10, how attractive would you say you are? Like an 8 on a good day
139: What nicknames do you have/have had? Quite a few
140: Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends? Yes
141: Have you ever seen a therapist/shrink? Yes
142: Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others? Good
143: Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts/help? Both
144: What makes you angry. A lot
145: How many languages do you speak fluently? One
146: Do you prefer boys, girls, and/or non-binaries? I’m bi soooo
147: Are you androgynous? No
148: Favorite physical thing about yourself: my butt lol
149: Favorite thing about your personality: my ability to see the good in everyone even when they’re shitty. Also my least favorite thing about myself
150: Name three people you would like to talk to right now in person. Well my dad, Cody, my grandma
151: If you could go back into time and live in one era, which would you choose? The one rn because I am a minority
152: Do you like BuzzFeed? Sure
153: How did you meet your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner? [If you have one.] uhh dating app. Technically a football game.
154: Do you like to kiss others’ foreheads or hands for platonic reasons? No
155: Do you like to play with others’ hair? Just codys
156: What embarrasses you? Not a lot
157: Something that makes you nervous/anxious: the future because I can’t really talk about it with anyone without stressing people out. But it helps me feel less anxious so I’m kind of stuck
158: Biggest lie you have ever told: oof
159: How many people are you following? 🤷🏻‍♀️
160: How many posts do you have on your blog(s)? 🤷🏻‍♀️
161: How many drafts do you have on your blog(s)?🤷🏻‍♀️
162: How many likes do you have on your blog(s)?🤷🏻‍♀️
163: Last time you cried and why: ooh like a few days ago
164: Do you have long or short hair? Short
165: Longest your hair has ever been: to my butt
166: Why do you like, dislike, or have neutral feelings about religon? I don’t want to answer this
167: Do you really care how the universe and world was created? Yes
168: Do you like to wear makeup? Yes
169: Can you stand on your hands or head for more than thirty seconds? No
170: Did you answer the questions you were asked truthfully? Yes
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daggerzine · 4 years
Text
Celebrity Mixtape Party #1 with Steve Michener (Volcano Suns, Dumptruck, Big Dipper) Part 1
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Steve (far left with Big Dipper) 
Mixtapes. They're back! Or maybe they never went away? What happens when you make a mixtape for someone who MAKES music? And then they talk about that mixtape? Well, dear reader, let's find out in..
Okay!  First song. Side A. So I'll give my impressions and then we can talk about the song. Okay? Then the reveal, when appropriate.
Sexy
Thanks for this tape, Matthew, I've really been enjoying it.  However, I gotta say the first song is my least favorite.
What is it pray tell
I don't know but I usually love that style of song.  Very Love/Byrds-y but there was something cloying about that hook of 'Let's Get Together'
Oh yes. Justin Trouble.
Can't tell if it's authentic 60's pop or revival
Early '80s. He was friends with Johnny Thunders.New York City area guy
Never heard of him but I'm not inspired to search him up. Too many words.
Aw man he's just riffing
Anything you wanna say in his defense?
I mean I could. I think that song and the whole record is genius. To me it's the very essence of rock and roll.
Okay, maybe that's just one song that I wouldn't like. I'll check it out. I know you love your 60s stuff  but to me it's just too twee. But if you were using this as a "courtship tape", the relationship is over.
Since we can't "get together" on that song?
Courtship tape. I think they were called love mixes back in the day my friend.
I'm older than you. We used to bring them and play them in the parlor. So this second song is right up my Alley. Great guitar sound, great drummer.  I love that it's poppy but it takes a minor key/dissonant turn when he sings the tagline 'Solid Gold'. Kind of a Fall vibe to that hook.
So what is that second song?
Boston band....Real Kids...1974 demo...EARLY REAL KIDS
I knew you'd get a Real Kids song on there but that is very 'Unreal' real kids.  Sounds like they were way ahead of their time
Yeah. That song is unhinged. Nothing twee about it.
Amazing band.  I would have maybe guessed that but that chorus is so left field.  If I knew about that song back then, I would have had the band cover it. Real Kids sounding like the Fall. They should have been as big as the Ramones.  Worse drug and ego problems I guess.
To me it sounds like The Dolls. A little bit of Glam in there.
I saw them a few times at the Rat.  Always a reliable live band. I hear the 60's thing in there but that turnaround into the chorus is at least 5 years ahead of its time. I need to hear more of those demos.
It's on vinyl.
Next song- One thing that I know about you is that you love your 60s stuff.  This sounds like an authentic acid rock band. Roky?
I don't have the tracklist
Ah, okay.  It's by Girl Trouble-"Storm Warning'. Don't know them but I love the song.
The pride of Bellingham
Kind of like the Seeds meet Nick Cave. What year?
1993 on Empty
Love the sax and guitar interplay at the end.  Wow. I would have placed that in 1965
Yeah except for the production. I think he's one of the Great rock and roll vocalists of the '90s
Yeah, great singer.  Are they still around or mutate into something else?
Kurt Kendall. No, I don't think they really play around much anymore. There was a reunion show not too long ago but I missed it.
Great stuff, I'll check it out. Next song? Okay, this one I knew from the first note--the great NRBQ. The greatest rock and roll band ever, at least in this incarnation.
Green Lights?
Yes.
I saw them around this time with the WW Horns, opening for Thorogood.
Another great vocalist
I didn't appreciate them back then cuz I was too into the alternative scene (tho still loved GT) but when I saw them in the 80's I was amazed.
This is a band that should have played the bar band in every '80s movie ever made
Exactly.  they were my template for 'a band'
That's Joey singing that one? favorite bass player ever, favorite drummer ever.
I'm not entirely sure what that guitar is in the solo. Sounds almost like a pedal steel or something.
Big Al could make anything sound like anything.  Genius band. Shoulda been huge.
The YouTube comments say Joey.
Yeah, Joey wrote the hits. Like most bass players.
Lol. The album is called nrbq at Yankee stadium and it's funny because the picture shows an empty Yankee stadium with them far away in the bleachers...a play on words...clever
I see.
I'll explain humor to you another time.
Make me a 'humor' mixtape
Okay next song
The 5th song on side A is called Buried Alive.  A 3 chord slab of brilliance.  Sounds like another Boston Band.  More Real Kids?
Hmmm
Should I peek?
It could be Avenged Sevenfold. Yes peek.
Oh no, it's the Nervous Eaters!  Born to Die.  I thought he was singing Buried Alive.
Ahhh!!
I knew it was Boston, can't believe I missed the Eaters.  Loved that band.
Another Boston band you didn't ID! You are 0 for 2
I wrote down it was "the Lyres without keyboards" so I get half credit.
Okay so one of the cool things about this band is it had one of the Paley Brothers. Who never did anything this "heavy" outside of this band?
I had their singles and saw them live a few times.  They were great. Just Head is a classic.
The major label debut was a bit of a disaster:  slick production, terrible cover art. I swore that I'd never let that happen to any band that I was in.
This song for some reason reminds me of Judas Priest.
I thought Saints at first but Priest would work
Next song?
Ok
This is one that I will probably miss too. Sounds VERY familiar and my first guess is Rockpile/Brinsley Schwarz.  "I'll have another drink and then I tried to crawl out the door.."
"I never did know a thing about it." It's got that Nick Lowe/Dave Edmunds vibe.
Take a peek
Status Quo-Lies
Ah yes
Wow, I don't think of SQ sounding like this. This is pub rock, I thought they were harder
Very boogie
Don't you get the Rockpile thing tho?
Oh absolutely
Great song.  I'd cover this. Was it a hit?
That status quo song is from 1980. I think so. They did it on Top of the Pops
Good. I'd be depressed if a song that great didn't get an audience.
Agreed
Next?
Yes
I also don't know this and I'm not sure what the hook is but it sounds like what I imagine the Muffs sound like. Be my baby.?  Sneering female vocals, 3 chords, loud guitars.
Fastbacks - Read my Letters
Yeah, another band I completely missed out on.  From the PNW?
Seattle
I've seen them quite a few times and they were always amazing. Big fan.
I'm sorry I missed them live. I don't care much for this song but I'll bet it sounded good in a sweaty club.
Ok
Did you like the Muffs?
Not really. I mean I respect them a lot but they never resonated with me. I think Kurt Bloch is a great lyricist. And I love that he didn't sing his own lyrics.
Wait, that was a guy singing?
No. The guitar player Kurt wrote the lyrics for most of their songs.
Got it.  So he left them to join YFF?
He did both simultaneously. Kim Warnick is the singer and bass player.
Too talented.
Definitely.
I saw the Fellows quite a few times also.
They opened for us in Seattle in 1990. I loved them but, as an east coaster, had never seen them.
Also amazing one of my favorites. During that time that both the Fastbacks and the Young Fresh Fellows were active it made me envy Seattle because Portland didn't have bands like those bands.
This is a different convo, but Seattle is a much more rockin town than Portland.
Full disclosure in the '90s I was not a fan of Portland's music scene. But I did like Hazel.
They were so cute!
Alright, let's not get distracted!   Next song I recognized easily , though I may not have a few years ago.  This is Sparks - Something For The Girl Who Has Everything. Brilliant band but one that I missed out on until recently
You know I never introduced you at the beginning of all this. Dear readers, I am discussing a mixtape with our esteemed guest Steve Michener from Skid Row.
Skid Row UK, legally. Not to be confused with those dorks from Hollyweird. Michael Cudahy was my roommate back in the day and he was way into them. I could never get past the vocals.Recently though, I have come to appreciate them and now I am a big fan.
I love the vocals. It's its own thing. Who is this Michael you speak of?
Michael was in Christmas at the time and then started Combustible Edison.  Now he does movie soundtracks.
Have you ever seen the video of Ron Mael singing karaoke to a Sparks song?
No, I'll google it.
Next song?
Ok
Well, I didn't recognize the song itself but it's hard to miss the unique guitar sound of The Wedding Present-The Boy Can Wait
Fastest wrist in the west
Trademark double strum. They're one of those bands that I just love the sound of but never bought any records.
That's a Peel session by the way.
They were around last year but I failed to attend.
I like the lyrics. They're clever. Kind of misanthropic but not in a Morrissey way. More humorous.
I'm not a lyric guy but I do love a good Morrisey couplet
The dude could pen a tune
Stephen I mean
Moz
The Moz
Himself.
He should pull a Prince and just change his name to Himself
Next song is one that you would never get past me, tho I'm 0-2 with Boston bands before this.  Heading into a Boston binge here.
Ok. Just another band out of Boston
I was the world's biggest Peter Dayton fan for years.  I moved to Boston the week that LaPeste broke up so I never got to see them.  So I made up for that by seeing every PD gig for years. 'She's a Girl' by LaPeste, probably one of the best bands out of Boston ever.
I like how evil La Peste sound. They sound like they carried shivs.
It means "the pest"
Perfect
"la" is "the" in french
Waow
I don't know if you knew that. Anyway, this must have been an Ocasek demo?  Sounds like they were trying to go pop. I had a live tape of them from the rock and roll rumble in 1979 that I wore out. Just a great pop punk band. Next song is also LaPeste- Die in My Sleep.Ric got involved with them later in their career and produced some demos.  Or maybe it was Greg Hawkes.  But Ocasek worked with him solo for a few years.  Dayton's EP, which came out the same time as Panorama by the Cars. It's a fun record.Better off Dead is an amazing single.
I'll check out solo Dayton.
Jim Janota on bass. I think he was in some of those early boston punk bands
But Ric was the producer guy then . Alan Vega etc
Yeah, Ocasek was cool.  He had Dayton's band open for The Cars at the Boston Garden.  Big supporter of smaller bands.
Next two songs had me stumped. I just wrote 'Sex Pistols'.
I would never put a sex pistols song on anything ever. But I do love a lot of things that Cook and Jones were on later
This just has a Pistols energy and sneer. Hey Hey! Hey Hey!
Hmm
3 chords, English. Fall-like but harder.
Not ringing any bells
Ha! I looked at the list--Naked Raygun-Roller Queen.
Yes
"trying" to be british
Nooo
I tuned this band out early.  Not my cup of tea.
I love the Raygun. Midwest thing
Just like Soul Asylum.  I was (and remain) a judgemental asshole when it comes to music.
Hard. Arty. Humorous.
I lump them together.  Prejudice.  But this is why I like the idea of listening to the tape blind.
Throb Throb is fantastic
It can blow up my preconceived notions  or reinforce them. I know they were hugely popular in the scene and it's probably my loss that I didn't explore their stuff. I was probably reacting negatively to the Big Black thing.  Lots of competition and jealousy-fuelled listening bias.
Eh no biggy. I never really liked Big Black. To me they were great in theory but not in practice.
I prefer Shellac
Great band
But i think BD covered 'Bazooka Joe'. Not my idea.
There was another Chicago band from that time that I like a lot called Breaking Circus.
Yes, I liked Breaking Circus.  We played with them.
Yay
Next song. 60s sounding psychedelia
Ok
Didn't recognize it, but liked it. reverby guitar,
Hmm
La Luz- I Want to Be Alone. Cool sound.  What's their story?
Ah. Seattle. Then moved to LA. 4 women. On Hardly Art (label). Started in 2012. They have three lps. Saw them at The Aladdin.
Short but sweet. I'll check them out.
Very very good band
I like good bands
No bad songs. They were VERY GOOD live. Jealous of the drummer's speed and dexterity. They play with a lot of feeling.
If we ever get to see live music again, I'll check them out.
You need to.
Next song is a classic Boston number called 'No Place Like Home' by The Neighborhoods. Such a great power pop song. B-side to Prettiest Girl, which was probably the biggest indie single of the time in Boston.  That and Academy Fight Song. Both on Ace of Hearts records
Oh really? Nice that I got airplay in Boston. I mean it. I didn't get any airplay in Boston
Yes, it was huge! (sorry about your lack of airplay)  top song on WBCN, the local rock station. They should have been huge-they had it all.  Cute guys, great songs, amazing live show. I woulda bet on them
Despite looking like a reggae album I've read good reviews with their first LP. The thing with a lot of these bands is they're from a time when there were regional scenes period and if they didn't make the jump to Major label then a lot of what they were about might have been lost on people outside of their scene
Honestly, I don't remember that LP at all.  Maybe I had dropped them and moved onto hipper stuff. They were kind of a high school crush for me. They got progressively more hard rock as time went on. Yes, probably a common theme with local bands. Some focused on getting a 'deal' and making it big.  Thank god for labels like Homestead, who gave smaller bands a chance to make mistakes and grow
If you had any anecdotes about any of these guys share away.
Anecdotes? I do
'dote away
Dave and Lee worked at Harrington's Liquor, the biggest booze shop in Allston and were always in there when I went to buy cheap vodka. Then, one day, they were fired. Word was that they tried to lift some expensive champagne from the shop to celebrate a record release party or something.  They were both dating members of Salem 66 at the time and Dave married Judy.  They were very nice guys.
Lee?
Lee Harrington, Beth's brother was their bassist in the late 80's. Beth Harrington was in Jonathan's band.
That's a good anecdote.
Jonathan?
Richman
Oh I thought I recognized her voice from Jonathan Richmond records. She was a backup singer. She had kind of a classically trained sounding voice
Yes, her and Ellie Marshall. Beth married my old roommate, whose girlfriend when I knew him, left him for Steve Forbert.
Ellie Marshall was related to who?
Something related to Paley Bros. It'll come to me.  Barry Marshall.
The next song is the Office Supply song. Swivel Chair. I don't recognize the song but it's gotta be something like Fountains of Wayne or Weezer.
Nothing Painted Blue
Oops. Hope they aren't insulted!  I kinda knew of NPB but obviously didn't get into their stuff.  Sounds like a certain pop band from Boston in the late 80s. Where were they from?
Franklin Bruno. Great songwriter in my opinion. Great band. LA
Oh, I know Franklin.  Of course.  I confuse them with that band from Boise
Franklin bears a slight passing resemblance to Bill? Cool that you know Franklin.
Well, on FB at least.  Very nice guy.  He's probably gonna unfriend me if he reads this.
I can edit it out. Celebrity mixtapes is about bringing people together, not about fighting.
No, it's fine.  It's part of the process. I'll take my lumps.
Ok
I just thought it was a little bit of a novelty song.
I just think it's adorably nebbishy
Not that we didn't veer close to that sometimes. It's a risk when you are trying to write songs that have humor in them.
Singing about office supplies. One of my favorite things about Big Dipper is you guys never crossed over into parody even though you were slyly funny.
Yeah, it def sounds like something I would write. I was an office supply nerd.
Maybe I sensed that. Dilbert Rock
Thanks. It's a fine line between clever and stupid, as the Tap says. Anyway, super catchy but maybe a little too clever for me.
NEXT!
Next song has to be Scrawl. Apple of his Eye.
Nope
Very Gang of Four with female vocals.
I did like Scrawl back in the day though. Bratmobile-Queenie.
Ah, well they should write a check to Sue and Marcy. Sounds like early Scrawl. Catchy song but a little derivative to my ears.
Yeah Scrawl predates the Bratmobile.By a few years.
You could steal from worse.
True
Scrawl were an amazing band.
Pride of Columbus
Really had the goods live and on record.
Never saw them live unfortunately.I always thought they were on Homestead but it turns out no.
You had your Homestead goggles on.
"I like everything that comes out on Homestead..."
Well that was me back then too
Last song on side A.  Permanent Wave.  No idea who it is, a short, catchy, new wave song.  Mo-dettes?
I do like the Mo-Dettes but no.
Oh Ok. From Athens
Ah!  i had their single, was this on it?
Michael Stipe's sister
Sister of Stipe
Matthew Sweet was in the band for a minute too, later on.
I bought it, I think, cuz I thought I could resell it when rem got famous. Retirement investment
I think the single and the lp are both amazing
Kind of twee, to revisit a theme
The lp is not as twee
That song sounds a little thin
I like the production. it sounds live.
I see that. Okay, I've gotta run.  This was fun.
Ok. Thanks for doing it.
https://www.mixcloud.com/matthewkenneth9/steve-michener-mix-pt-1/?fbclid=IwAR2hhMS8KXo51QjlpJ__ANfdmKY3Ux7vRyIqHHOxGfY_UK4H6tz6vIXyaxE
7 notes · View notes
jungshookz · 5 years
Text
baby, you can drive my car |(mechanic!yoongi)
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→ pairing: min yoongi x reader 
→ genre: mechanic!au, spoiltbrat!y/n (++ inexperienced y/n as hiGHLy requested hehe), 6 greasy bois, a taste of richboy!jin, a vintage mercedes benz named beeper, usual dose of crackheadiness, touch of angst, sprinkle of fluff, and bts (big time smut) ((i love recycling this joke don’t come for me)) (((thigh-riding)))
→ trigger warning: there is a brief mention of blood so tread lightly if you feel queaSy about that! 
→ wordcount: 24.6k magic in the air 
→ summary: welcome to min mechanics - what can i do for you today, doll?
→ note: ooh BOY this took me a while! i’m sorry it took me so long to publish this but i hope this bad boy (i’m talking about the fic itself anD mechanic!yoongi) makes up for it! mechanic!yoongi has been in the works for a while... thank you to every single one of you who contributed each of your own lil ideas and helped to create the chArming tattoo-sleeve man we all fuLLY fell in love with. seriously y’all i could not have done this without you!! i ain’t gon lie i was going to post this on the day of the comeback but i think i needed a day to just.,.,, SCREAM and listen to the album.,.,,.  (and also i was still editing it yikes) ((and also what do u guys think of the new albUM hELLO)) so here it is twO days after the comeback!!!!!!! i hope i gave you sufficient time to recover from the new album but if not oH well what can ya do!!! also i’m really friCkin nervous for some reason but nonetheless enjoy the ride! ( 灬♥ 3 ♥灬)
pst if u wanna talk to y/n or yoongi u know what to do ;-)
(gif isn’t mine!)
(((and the read more function iS there but most of the time it doesn’t work on mobile :// i am sorry don’t attack me by sending passive-aggressive anon messages)))
you know what
you could totally get used to this being an adult thing
you finally get to live in your own place
you finally get to eat whatever the heck you wanna eat
and most importantly
you finally get a car
yes, you’ll admit, you’re a little behind with the whole car thing
most of your friends already got their licenses befoRe becoming adults but so what if you were a little slow!!! you were just living life as a teenager!!!! there was no rush
let’s not beat around the bush here
you are: a spoilt brat
like unbelievably so
when you were younger all you’d have to do is point at something and your parents would immediately be like ….aight
now that you’re older it’s kinda the same except they’ve just given you a bunch of credit cards so now you don’t have to ask anyone you can just go out and get it yourself
but this car
this sweet sweet car that belongs to you
(to be moRe specific it’s a 1962 mercedes benz baby blue convertible that you’ve affectionately named beeper)
((you knoW that shit be fancy when it’s from the dang 60s))
this is the first BIG purchase you’ve made and you’re feeling pretty proud of yourself anD you’re feeling extra adult-y  
anyways you’re heading back to your penthouse now because it’s been a busy day!!
you had class in the morning and then you went and got your nails done to reward yourself for going to class (a manicure anD a pedicure because why would you not do your toes if you’re doing your fingers that just wouldn’t be fair to your toes) and then you went and got a venti coffee frappucino from starbucks
you reach over and adjust the front mirror a bit and take a second to admire your brand new YSL heart-shaped sunglasses (they’re SO cute n u have them in three different colours)
you’re already thinking about what you want for dinner
maybe you can order some sushi or something
you could go for a dynamite roll or something
maybe some gyoza dumplings too
oOh you should also get some seaweed salad because that-
prrt prruT prrt prRRrRRRRRrr
oh my god
no way
“oh my god, no way.” your heart drops to your stomach when beeper starts sputtering and coughing and slowing d o w n
oh god
oh god oh god oh god
okay
it’s fine
it’s fine don’t worry about it
thankfully beeper stopped riGht as the light turned red so you have some time to try and get him up and running again
okay
what can you do
what does this button do
click
oH okay those are the windshield wipers and you don’t need those
you twist a knob and curse to yourself when the radio turns on
ok what about thiS knob
“chRist-“ cold air starts blasting riGht into your face and you turn the knob back down
you step down on the gas pedal and nothing happens
what do you do whAT do you DO
you probably have like 20 seconds left before the light turns green and you have to get going
ooooOOOoOh you don’t want the people behind you to honk at you
that’s going to stress you out
you don’t want to be honked at!!!!!!!!!
usually when something bad happens you just.,. throw some money on it and it goes away
in this case you can technically throw money at it
let’s rephrase this
usually when something bad happens you just throw some money at a person and it goes away because they take care of the problem foR you
but the difference here is that you are all alone
in this big city
and your parents are miles away
and no one is here to help you
ooh!!!! ooh!!!!!! google a car repair shop!!!! goOGLE IT
you reach into your purse and pull your phone out quickly
“car repair shops near me…” you mutter to yourself as you type into the google search bar
you jump in surprise when the car behind you honks at you and you give them a sheepish smile and a shrug
“c’mon, c’mon.,.,,” you smack the steering wheel in frustration but quickly rub over the wheel apologetically  
beeper coughs before jerking and you feel a wave of relief wash over you when it starts moving again
okay
according to google maps the nearest repair shop is a minute drive away
okay okay okay
should be doable
it appears that the gods are somewhat on your side today because beeper breaks down officially right as you drive up to the front of the repair shop
luckily no one was on the sidewalk when you nyOomed up because half of your car is on the sidewalk and the other half is on the street and you’re not looking to run anyone over today
“stupid car.” you mutter as you slam the door shut “…sorry buddy.” you wince apologetically and pat the hood because you certainly wouldn’t want to be spoken to like that if you were a car
you look up at the rusting sign hanging above the large garage
‘min mechanics’
“min mechanics.” you stand in front of the large open garage and inspect the inside
is this place good enough for beeper
it seems like it’s doing pretty well
there are at least eight cars all parked on either sides of the place
in the very back in the left corner there’s an office kinda thing  
there’s a sign hanging on top of the door that says ‘front desk’
okay so that seems like a logical place to go to
you’re a little wary just leaving your car out here with nobody to watch it but it’s not like you have a choice
you walk in further and adjust your purse strap on your shoulder
what heCk
there’s like nobody here
there better be somebody here otherwise you’re going to get your dad to sue
just kidding
but not really
“uh, hellOOooOOo??” your boots clack against the concrete as you walk deeper into the garage
you push your sunglasses up onto the top of your head before placing a hand on your hip
“is anybody here??? someone needs to fix my car, please!!!” you approach the truck that’s just sitting in the middle of the garage and that’s when you notice a pair of legs under the truck
oh my god
someone’s been CRUSHED By a TRUCK
oh HELL no you are getting out of here you’re going to pretend like you weren’t even here in the first place
“sorry, gimme a sec!” the legs twitch and you let out a breath of relief
whoever this person is rolls out from under the truck smoothly and gets up onto their feet
oh
hello
he wipes his cheek with the back of his hand and gets grease smudged over his cheekbone with a scowl before wiping his grubby hands on his rag
soft icy-blue hair  
almost cat-like eyes
sharp jawline
very pretty hands
he tosses the dirty rag over his shoulder and you definitely don’t miss the way his bicep flexes
you glance down at the name embroidered in yellow thread into the chest pocket of his navy blue jumpsuit
𝓎𝑜𝑜𝓃𝑔𝒾
cute name for a cuter boy
he looks up at you and falters a bit
obviously he’s a liTTle taken aback because what’s a girl like you doing at a place like this??
you don’t miss the way his eyes scan over your figure
a cream coloured blouse tucked into a pair of skinny blue jeans
a pair of chunky leather boots that look like they cost more than his entire life
the little gucci purse
and of course
the heart shaped sunglasses
hm
“what can i help you with, doll?” he offers you a smirk and a tilt of the head and suddenly you think you’ve forgotten how to breathe
you don’t think that pet name should affect you as much as it does
holy shiT this is one pretty boy
he pushes his sleeves up and that’S when you notice that one of his arms is covered with tattoos
holy moly
“i… car’s broken. my car. my car’s broken.” you stumble over your words
“you… car’s broken, huh?” he teases before glancing over your shoulder “is that it outside?”
you nod quickly and look back at your car
aw
poor beeper
you didn’t even get to drive him that much and he already diED on you
you should’ve asked for a range rover instead
once again it’s from the 60s
you probably should’ve stopped right then and there
but it’s so cute!!!!!!!
“is that a 1962 mercerdes benz??” ‘yoongi’ gasps and moves past you towards beeper “holy shiT i’ve only seen those in pictures”
“it’s pretty cool, i guess.” you shrug casually and watch as he continues to marvel over your car “but yeah, do you think you can fix him?”
“him?”
“…his name is beeper.” you admit shyly and yoongi laughs lightly and nods understandably
“cute. and yes, i’ll take care of beeper for you, don’t worry. give me some time to poke around and see what the issue is.” he pats beeper’s hood before gesturing over to the back of the garage “you can chill out in the office if you want, or there’s a starbucks down the street. it’s pretty muggy in the garage and i wouldn’t want you to scuff up your gucci purse.”
his eyes flicker towards the little black bag nestled against your side
you clear your throat and tuck it behind you bashfully
“i’m yoongi, by the way.” he sticks his hand out and you look down at it
you can see some greASy residue from the truck that he was fixing earlier but you tell yourself to man up and you reach over and take his hand
oh my god his hand is s t i c k y
ew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“i’m y/n. thank you for helping me out.”
“of course, i’m happy to help.” yoongi offers you a boyish smile and you decide right then and there that you don’t mind his sticky hands at all
the bell tinkles lightly as you push the frosted glass door open and step into the air-conditioned office
hey the office is a lot bigger than you thought it’d be
and definitely a lot nicer than you thought it’d be (no offence)
there’s a front counter and an empty wheely chair behind it
oH and there’s another door that leads into a more ~private~ office but it’s closed so you can’t sneak a peek inside
on the counter there’s a little bell and next to it is a hEfty jar of lollipops
behind the counter is a cork board with a bunch of car keys hanging from pushpins all lined up in a neat row
a couple sticky notes pinned up
four plastic chairs sitting on the side (you’re assuming this is the waiting area)
in the corner there’s a little table with a stack of magazines
and in the other corner there’s a water dispenser
the ceiling fan whirs above you as you head over to the front desk
these lollipops look tempting
you wonder if they’re complimentary or if yoongi is just a sugar addict
you reach into the jar and grab one quickly and drop it into your purse
the chair squeaks underneath you as you take a seat and you shift to get comfortable
you reach up to push your sunglasses up because they start to slide down a little
a breath slips past your lips
you wonder how long yoongi’s going to take
and then you wonder if you’re going to have to get a new car
maybe you should go car shopping after this
hot tip: avoid cars from the 60s
“well i figured out what was wrong with your car” you jump when the door opens abruptly
you stand up from the seat and smooth your blouse down a little “what’s wrong with it?? what do i need to get fixed and how much is it all going to cost??”
“uh, not that much consider what was wrong was that the gas tank was empty.”
oh
my
god
you’re a moron
you are an idiot
a F O O L
you clear your throat and feel your cheeks starting to burn a lil
this is uh
this is kinda embarrassing
“are you… sure? that’s it? the gas tank was empty? there’s really nothing else wrong with him?”
“mhm.” yoongi nods and makes his way over behind the front desk “i did a full body check on beeper and everything else is working just fine! he just needed a tank of juice, so i filled up for you. he’s good to go!” he unwraps a lollipop and sticks it into his mouth  
“oh, okay. um-“ you unzip your purse and rifle through it for your wallet “how much do i owe you?”
“nothing”
“noth- gas is free???? holy shit. i did not know that.” you scoff in surprise and put your wallet away
yoongi’s brows furrow and he gives you a smile “no, gas isn’t free, doll. i’m giving you a get outta jail free card, so next time beeper ‘breaks down’ you’ll know he’s just out of gas.”
“oh… oH no no you don’t have to do that here lemme give you-“
“hey, seriously - it’s fine.” yoongi hands you your keys back before spinning you around and leading you out the door with a hand placed on the small of your back  
“but-“
“but nothing! i don’t wanna hear it.” he teases as he opens the door up for you and nudges you inside
he closes the door gently and bends down a little “it was nice doin’ business with you. take care of yourself now.”
“thanks for making me look like a fool in front of a cute boy today, beeper.” you sigh as you step out of the car and close the door
beep beep !
you drop your keys into your purse after locking beeper up and you make your way over to the elevator that goes up to the penthouse
as you wait for the elevator to take you up to your floor you shove your hand into your purse for your house keys and you end up pulling out
a yellow lollipop
you stare at it for a second and blink at it owlishly
no
y/n
he’s a mechanic
your dad’s a businessman!!!!!!!!!  
you need to go after a CEO boy not a CAR boy
you’re sure there are plenty of nice CEO boys in the city
you unwrap the lollipop and stick it into your mouth
hm
mango!
the elevator dings and the doors slide open
you step out into the hallway and twirl your keys around your finger
yeah
it’d be good for you
just forget about the silly car boy
three days later
ok so listen
uh
you know how you said it’d be good to just forget about the silly car boy
ya
that did not happen
you don’t usually do stupid things
but this?
this thing that you have just done??
now THIS was stupid
you might’ve maybe kinda sorta possibly clobbered one of your side mirrors with a baseball bat so that it’d break off because a teeny weeny (huge huGe) part of you wanted to see yoongi again
after the whole stare off with the lollipop in the elevator you just had this itching feeling all over your body
there’s just something about him and you can’t quite put your finger on it
maybe it’s because he’s so..,,.,,., cool? like that’s the only word you have to describe him right now lol
he’s just.,.,,.., he’s so different compared to all the other boys you’ve ever been interested in
god
he’s such a man that’s what he is
the bad boy of your wildest dreams
anyways uh
“….oh boy.” so now you have a baseball bat in one hand and a side mirror in the other
if someone were to walk into the garage right now it’d look like you just damaged someone else’s car
and it’s not like you can say ‘oh, don’t worry! it’s just my car, trust me!!!’ and wave the baseball at them because then they’d be like wtf why did u just fuck up ur own car
well
now it’s too late
you gosh darn wrecked your vintage car all because you want to see a cute mechanic
you couldn’t have just walked in there like a normal person to say hi!!!!!
you could’ve gone in there with an envelope of money and been like oh i just felt bad about not paying so i hAd to come and pay you back!!!
you did this on purpose because you wanted! to! see! yoongi! again!
and unsurprisingly
you always get what you want
“how did this happen again?”
“…i backed up into my garage all weird…?” you’re not being very convincing right now in case that wasn’t already super obvious  
“…huh.”
see
yoongi knows his cars
he’s been working with them for a long time (fun fact he picked up his first screwdriver and helped his dad in the shop when he was just three years old!!!!)
and this doesn’t look like you backed your car into the garage and accidentally knocked it into the side of a wall
it looks like it’s been battered
and he can’t help but think that you were the one who fucked your car up
because there’s a huge dent on the top part of it (he’s assuming this was your first hit) and a loT of mini dents around it (which was a result of you panicking when it didn’t fall off the first time so you continued whacking it everywhere) anD the way the mirror cracked suggests that something was hitting it straIGHt on
so you must’ve been parking your car really weirdly if you actually knocked it off while parking
this looks like it was done purposely
yoongi looks up from the mirror at you
“so… can you fix it?”
a little smirk twitches at the corner of his mouth
alright
he’ll bite
“i mean, it would’ve been easier if the mirror wasn’t completely destroyed-” yoongi holds it up and you wince a little at the sight of the wires dangling from where you riPPed it off “i’m going to have to order a new mirror - it’s probably going to cost a pretty penny considering this is a vintage car, but i’ll be sure to find the best deal for you.”
“you’re welcome to leave beeper here oR you can always just bring him back when the mirror comes in because everything else is working perfectly fine.”
“i’ll leave him here-!” you respond immediately “…if that’s okay with you, of course.”
“that’s perfectly fine with me.” he holds his hand out and your eyes flicker down to it
even his hand is pretty
you’re not..,. sure why he’s holding his hand out
is he trying to shake your hand??
you slowly raise your hand before gently placing it over his
yoongi blinks twice and looks back up at you
you look back at him
“…i need your keys.”
OH
oH MY GOD
oh my god
“i knew that!” you rIP your hand away before shoving it into your purse
your face is honestly probably on fire right now
love that for you
you drop your keys into yoongi’s palm with a jingle and yoongi smirks because now it seems like you’re avoiding eye contact with him
he smirks lightly as he tucks your keys into his back pocket
“at least buy me dinner first before touching me like that, doll.”
ok
you need to leave NOW
this is MORTIFyiNG
you are in the midst of an internal conflict
see, the thing is
you’re not quite sure if you’re crossing the line from charming to downright creepy
let’s unpack this
charming = treating someone to lunch
creepy = treating someone to lunch when you’ve only spoken to him for a total of like 3 minutes
charming = bringing lunch to someone at their workplace
creepy = bringing lunch to someone at their workplace and virtually giving them no choice but to sit down and eat lunch with you becausE you bROUGHt lunch to their woRKPLACE
charming = y/n y/l/n when she like someone
creepy = y/n y/l/n when she really really likes someone
charm-
oh!!!! a pair of legs under a truck!!!!!!!
you pick up the pace and head straIght for truck
“hey!” you knock twice against the side to get yoongi’s attention and you can’t help but bounce up on your toes a little in excitement
you look into the takeout bag to make sure nothing is leaking “i know the car isn’t ready yet but i just wanted to stop by and thank you for-“
“well hey to you too” you step back when you look down to see someone who definitely isn’t yoongi but is also juSt as pretty as yoongi
he takes his cap off and pushes his hair back before putting his hat on backwards
“you aren’t yoongi” you squeak out and wrinkle your nose “i’m so sorry, i thought you were someone else.”
“my name is jungkook bUT i’d be happy to be yoongi if you’d like” he gets up off the ground and wipes his hands on the back of his jumpsuit
he flashes you a charming smile and you feel a little overwheLmed
“get bACk to work you moron” you and the yoongi impoSter both look to the left and you smile excitedly when you see who it is “hello - again.” he teases “your car isn’t ready yet, if that’s what you’re here for.”
“i know, i’m not here for the car.” you blurt out and yoongi’s eyes widen slightly in surprise
he pokes his tongue into his cheek and raises a brow before smirking at you
“huh. i see. so what are you here for then?”
“i-“
“yoongi, aren’t you going to introduce us to the pretty lady?” you turn to look over your shoulder and you’re suddenly overwhelmed because there are one two three four five boys standing behind you like a floCK of pigeons
yoongi lets out a sigh
sometimes he wished he worked alone
you can’t help but think that this mechanics shop is just a cover up for some kind of cult
because uh
every single one of these boys are beautiful
taehyung is in charge of paint jobs and customisations
namjoon is in charge of office-related things like contracts and paperwork and finances and things along that line
hoseok takes care of washing cars
and jimin is an excellent polisher (he promised you you’d get beeper back nice and sparKly even though all you have to do is replace the side mirror)
and jungkook..,.,. kind of bounces everywhere (apparently he’s just working here for the summer so he doesn’t have a designated responsibility)
last you saw him he was under a truck and now he’s helping jimin with the buffing
“now that you know everybody- sorry about that, by the way - what brings you here today?”
“i brought you some lunch as a thank you for… giving me free gas.”  
huh
“oh! thank you so much, that’s very sweet of you.” yoongi smiles and rubs his hands together “i haven’t eaten lunch yet so you came at the riGht time!”
niCE
okay this is good
yoongi can’t help but wonder how much you spent on lunch because even the takeout bag itself looks hella fancy
le petit bistro
obviously it’s some french place
and most of the time french places are hella fancy
he suggested you guys eat in his office so that you’d have a liL more privacy (he knows for a fact that the moment you guys pull food out the others are going to swarm around you and ask to donate some bites to them) and also you probably don’t want to smell petrol while eating lunch lol
you went to go wash your hands so yoongi took the opportunity to sneak a glance at the receipt to confirm his suspicions
and needless to say
he is SHOOK
jesus christ
$45???? for a SANDWICH??? one single sandwich????
the water was $8????
what the hell
.,.,,.negative sides of capitalism
well now he can’t help but wonder how loaded you actually are
he’s not going to lie
it’s slightly intimidating to be around someone practically oozing with money
“-i wasn’t sure what kind of sandwiches you liked so i got a croque monsieur for you, i hope that’s okay!” yoongi drops the receipt back into the bag quickly and shifts in his seat as you step into the office
“oh no, that’s totally fine! i love..,. croc monsters.” he clears his throat “what did you get for yourself?”
“a pan bagnat.” you plop down next to him before reaching into the bag
a pain what now
a pain bandaid?????
what the hell kind of words are leaving your mouth right now lol
“remind me what a… ᶜʳᵒᶜ ᵐᵒⁿˢᵗᵉʳ is again?” yoongi takes the box from you and pops it open
it kinda just looks like a plain ol sandwich
.,.,is that a gold leaf on top of it
“it’s just a fanCy ham and cheese sandwich….also did u just call it a croc monster”
yoongi pauses
“….did u just call it a croc monster?” yoongi bites into the sandwich and-
oH mY GOD
if u weren’t in the room with him he’s positive he would’ve busted a nut
holy SHIT that is a good ham and cheese sandwich
his ham and cheese sandwiches neVer taste this good!!!!!!!
“you want a bite of mine?”
“what’s yours?”
“a pan bagnat.” yoongi contemplates this for a second before shrugging and leaning in for a bite but you quiCkly pull back
he raises a brow
did u change ur mind
“say it.”
say wat
“…thank you?”
“no, no. say it.”
“say what?”
“the name of the sandwich.” you smirk
oh NO
you are a sICk, twiSted individual
the thing is
he knows it’s pan bagnat
but he can’t saY pan bagnat
but he KNOWS it’s pAN BAGNAT OKAY
he knows that you pronounced it pahn ban-yay
so he too will pronounce it pahn ban-yay
he clears his throat
“…pain bandaid.”
o dear god
“okay, so you got that one because jungkook dared you to???” you giggle and trace your fingers over the oFFending tattoo
“yep. he kept saying i didn’t have the balls to do it and the next thing i know i’m sitting in a tattoo parlour getting an angry cookie tattooed on the inside of my bicep.” he snorts and jabs it “luckily i have a whole sLeeve of tattoos to distract from shooky.”
“you nAMed him??”
“jungkook did!!!”
you trail your eyes over the rest of his tattoos
your favourite so far (and it’s the biggest one) is of a cherry blossom tree
the way the branches and twigs wrap around his arms is just so beautiful and the baby pink of the cherry blossoms are just so!!! cute!!!!!!!
“how about your hair, then? unless you were born with a head of shockingly icy-blue hair.”
“well, i got drunk on my birthday. and then i woke up with bleached hair, which was traumatising, as you can probably imagine. i wasn’t a fan of completely whiTE hair so i just bought some dye from the drug store and it came out to be this soft blue-grey kinda colour.” yoongi crosses his eyes as he pinches a couple strands of hair in between his fingers
“i don’t know if i could ever do that to my hair.” you murmur and look at your own strands of hair “my scalp would probably die on me.”
“my scalp is already fuLLy dead, so i don’t really care anymore.”
“does that mean you’ll let me dye your hair neon green?”
“…we’ll have to talk about that one first.”
yoongi nearly shits himself when he realises he’s gone twO hours over his lunch break
omg
he has so much to do today he has to go back to work
even though he’s the boss and can take as many lunch breaks as he wants it doesn’t maTTer
“you got any plans for the rest of the day?” yoongi crumples his napkin up and shOots it into the bin
“not really!” you wipe your mouth and put the soiled napkin into the takeout box before putting thAt back into the takeout bag
“here, i’ll throw that out in the back for you.” yoongi picks the bag up and tucks his own box into it as well
“thank you- i dO have some work do to later but hey, you wouldn’t mind if i just hung out here, right?”
yoongi pauses on his way to the door and turns back to look at you
“you wanna hang out… here?” yoongi furrows his brows in confusion “like here-here?”
you shrug
“it just gets preTTy boring at the apartment when i’m all alone”
“well, uh, i guess i don’t see any problem with you hanging out here. i’m just going to be out there with the others, so let me know if you need anything”
??????
yoongi doesn’t usually have to play the role of a hOSt when his customers are around
“cool!!! i’ll trY not to burn anything down”
yoongi smiles to himself and shakes his head before leaving the office
hm
you are a very peculiar girl
and so it goes
you find yourself zipping straiGht to min mechanics as soon as you’re done with classes for the day (you don’t go everyday just because you feel like that’s kinDa creepy and very veRy clingy so you limit yourself to like three or four days a week)
luckily yoongi’s shop is only a 20 minute uber ride away (you were vEry tempted to buy a new car to take over beeper’s place for the time-being but you figured it’d be best to spend your money on things like… groceries??) so he’s not toO out of the way which is good!!!!!!
although you have a feeling that even if yoongi was 3 hours away you’d stiLL make the trip to see him
and although it seems like you’re just there to check up on beeper because yOu miSs hIm it’s fairly obvious you have a lil thing for yoongi
“hey, um, just outta curiosity - how old is yoongi?” you adjust on the stool and avoid jungkook’s gaze when he turns back to look at you
he glances over at yoongi “he just turned 26! he’s an old man” jungkook snorts and goes back to wiping down the windows
26
that’s.,.,.,. uh
that’s kinda hot
you cross your legs and prop an elbow up on your knee before propping your chin up on your palm and you let out a dreamy sigh
everyThing about yoongi is kinda hot
the way he rolls his sleeves up to expose his forearms when he’s about to get down and diRty gets your gears grinding
or when his tongue swipes over his bottom lip after he’s taken a swig of water
or how deep n rasPy is voice gets sometimes
not to mention his tattoo sleeve
you haven’t gotten a good look at it yet but you’re not complaining because it makes him fall into the bad boy category and you are a HOE for that
“i’m 22, by the way. much, much younger than yoongi.” jungkook points out and turns around to lean against the truck
“mm, that’s cool, kook.” you smile although your eyes are glued on a certain someone else  
jungkook snorts and rolls his eyes
maybe he should get a tattoo sleeve
“you know she’s staring at you again”
yoongi has to bite back a smile to keep himself from looking like a smitten schOOlgirl  “is she?” he asks casually and flips to the next page of the catalogue
he glances over his shoulder and sure enough you’re staring right at him
of course the moment you get caught you quickly look up and pretend like the ceiling fans whirring above are the most interesting things you’ve ever seen in your entire life
“she’s cute”
“i know” yoongi looks up and narrows his eyes at hoseok who is… stiLL staring at you
yoongi takes a step to the side so that he’s blocking hoseok’s line of sight “don’t you have a tire to change or something?”
hoseok immediately raises his hands in defense
“all i’m impLYing is that if you don’t do something soon i might have to hop on that and take her for a ride-” hoseok yelps when yoongi rolls up the catalogue and suddenly starts smacking him with it
“get baCK to work before i FIRE you”
“whatcha eating?” you glance up from your magazine when you become acutely aware that you are no longer alone due to the fact that there are three shadows blocking you from the sun
ah yes
the three amigos
jimin taehyung and lil ol jungkook
you know exactly what they want
you swallow your bite and use your chopsticks to gesture to the takeout box of sushi (it’s a dynamite roll (your fave!!!!) from this amazing sushi place called nori) sitting on the little table next to you “sushi.” you flip to the next page of the magazine
“what…. kind of sushi?”  
“dynamite roll.”
you hear them murmuring to each other and the only thing you manage to make out is a ‘u think she’ll let us try’
yeah
it is always a mistake to bring food here but for some reason you don’t listen to yourself and you always bring food here
and u know what maybe this is just because ur kind of selfish (especially when it comes to the dynamite rolls from nori) but u don’t really want to give them a bite but at the same time you know for sure they’re not going to leave you alone til you let them try
“cool, cool.” taehyung clears his throat
you give them all an unimpressed look before snorting in amusement and picking up the takeout box then holding it up for them
“one piece each.”
and the gates of hell swing open
he immEdiately opens his mouth and sucks it in like a vacuum cleaner
and then you offer a piece to jimin
and then you offer a piece to jungkook
and once they’re all satisfied they finally leave you alone
now you’re down 3 pieces of sushi but it’s finE
you don’t think of yourself as a person who puts effort into things unless you’re parTicularly passionate about something
and you just so happen to be vERY passionate about (1) min yoongi so you surprise yourself when you realise that instead of spending thursday evening watching netflix, you spend three hours doing research on the different parts of a car juSt so you can go into min mechanics and blow yoongi’s MIND
u want to impress him ok it’s not a big deal!!!!!!!!
anyways
you have a couple bullet points that you scribbled down on your palm jUSt in case
you are READY to impress the heck out of yoongi
“that radiator sure looks busted, huh?” you peek over yoongi’s shoulder and take a step back when he turns to look at you “you should probably check the coolant levels.”
yoongi furrows his brows in confusion
what is happening
it doesn’t make sense that you suddenly have a very vAst knowledge of cars considering the fact that you thought your car was broken when it was literally just out of gas
.,.,.,what is going on
“that is the radiator, you’re correct. and it is busted.” you smile proudly and give yourself a mental pat on the back and it is pretty busted. “there’s a blown fuse and a couple of wires are corroded.”
“have you checked the lower radiator tank?”
“uh- yes, i checked that. i don’t really need to check the lower tank if i’m looking at an electrical problem though.”
uh oh
we’re starting to go downhill
quICK say something else
you unfurl your fingers and glance down at the messy scribbles on your palm (the ink is starting to bleed because ur starting to get nErvous and your palms always get clammy)
“how about the coolant?”
“don’t need to check coolant levels either.” yoongi hums and reaches over to untwist the tank cap “and you already mentioned the coolant levels earlier-“
and then it hits him
it finally hits him
his fingers freeze on the cap momentarily
oh
bless your heart
he pressed his lips together to keep himself from smiling too widely “-but if it makes you feel any better i’ll check the coolant levels again?”
“no, no! if you don’t need to check it, then you don’t have to.” you clear your throat “the… the fan clutch is… you should check that too. the fan clutch is… it’s a vital part of the radiator.”
“say, i have a question for you.” yoongi spins around and leans back against the car
“mhm?”
“what exactly does the radiator do, y/n?” he raises a brow before crossing his arms
you know this
oh my god you KNOW this
you literally read a 12 page document talking specifically about radiators HOW the hell are you BLANKING right now
okay fine
just play it cool
if you act like you know what you’re talking about it’ll be more convincing
“it…” you kiss your teeth before glancing down at the radIatoR “it… radiates… um, it radiates energy so that the car is able to… move.” you explain as conFidently as you possibly
“and what’s a fan clutch?”
“oh! you know, it’s the part that just…” you shake your fist in the air “just… clutches the fan, y’know? keeps it in place.”
“huh. that’s right.” yoongi cocks his head
wait what
holy shit
you’re a genius
you are a GENIUS  
“i am???”
“no.” he deadpans and smirks when you scowl playfully “you’re cute, though.”
.,,.,.frick
“good morning, namjoon.” yoongi hums as he steps into the office with a biG bag of lollipops
“morning…?” this is vEry unfamiliar territory because the last time yoongi said good morning to namjoon it was on his birthday
well
it’s best not to question it
he should just enjOy sociable yoongi “you seem extra chipper this morning!” namjoon points out
“do i?” yoongi pulls the lid off the glass jar and sets it aside
click clack click clack
the lollipops hit the side of the jar as yoongi fills it aLL the way up
he turns to toss the bag away into the bin
namjoon pulls a lollipop out of the jar before furrowing his brows
he twists the treat in between his fingers and takes note of the little cartoon strawberries on the wrapper “i thought you were a raspberry man?”
“i am” yoongi plucks the lollipop from namjoon’s fingers and plunks it into the jar before covering it up
“but all of these are strawberry flavoured.”
“yes, and?”
namjoon raises his hands in defence “nothing! just saying.”
how very odd
yoongi despises strawberry
“hi namjoon!” the little bell tinkers as you step into the office
“y/n, hey! how was your day? yoongi’s in the middle of a call but he’ll be out soon.”
“it was okay! i got my essay back and i did pretty well- oOH strawberry” you gasp and iMMediately shoVe your hand into the jar
there it is
the final piece of the puzzle
it all makes sense now
“huh.” namjoon leans back against his chair and crosses his arms as he watches you unwrap the lollipop excitedly
“whaht?” you ask aroUnd the lollipop and namjoon shakes his head
“oh, nothing.”
interesting
vEry interesting
yoongi despises strawberry but it seems like he doesn’t despise you
it is univERsally known that sundays are meant to be day-offs
you’re supposed to sleep in on sundays
you go out for bRUnch on sundays
you most certainly don’t wake up at 8am and spend twO hours getting ready and then take an uber down to the mechanics shop to see the cute boy who works there
normal people don’t dO THAT
“what are you doing here? it’s sunday…” even yoongi is confused as to why you’re here
hE doesn’t even want to be here
“i know, i just… y’know, i was bored, so-“
“you came all the way here because you were bored?” yoongi’s brows knit together and you feel your cheeks flush
you reach up to scratch the back of your neck before pursing your lips “…yes?” you look around and realise that no one else is in sight “where is everyone?”
“…it’s sunday.” yoongi teases and brings his attention back to the faulty hose in his hands
god
what is wrong with the hose today yoongi slaps it against his palm a couple of times
his brows furrow in frustration before he gives it a good tWisT-
SCHKKKKKKKKKK
oH Okay there it is
“there we go!” yoongi twists it back to turn it off “i think i might need to invest in a new hose because i just wasted like 10 minutes trying to turn it on“ he looks up at you
OH MY GOD
you’re gawkinG like a fish and all the blood drains from yoongi’s face when he realizes what just happened  
oh mygOD
he’s going to have to work for the rest of his life to pay for your dry cleaning
he’s going to have to sell his shop and that won’t even be enough to cover the cost of cleaning your gucci purse
“y/n… shit… i am sO sorry….” yoongi swallows thickly because you still haven’t responded  
you drop your purse on the floor and yoongi presses his lips together
t-the gucci is soaking wet
ᵗʰᵉ ᵍᵘᶜᶜᶦ ᶦˢ ˢᵒᵃᵏᶦⁿᵍ ʷᵉᵗ
hooOooOOOLY SHit he wants to die
he wants to die!!!!!!!!!!!
he wants to guZZLe a gallon of petrol and just DIE
you’re going to sue him
no
you’re going to get your dad to sue him which is even worse
he drops the hose to the floor with a clatter before turning to grab the rag sitting on the hood of the truck  
“i’ll get you another towel but you can use this to dry off for no- WHAT-“ not even a seCOND goes by and all of a sudden there’s water being dumpED right on top of him  
and to make matters worse
this is soapy water used to wash the car
he’s dripping with dirty soapy water from head to toe
“there. now we’re even!” you let out a sigh and set the bucket down before wiping your hands on the back of your leggings even though that does absolutely NOTHING
“…you have three seconds.”
you’re still wiping your hands on your leggings “three seconds to- oH MY GOD WAIT-“ you begin sprinting as soon as yoongi moves into action and the next thing you know he’s chasing you around the garage with the hose
you two are acting like chiLDREN
“yOONGI NO” you shriek when you feel cold water blast against you once again
your guys laughter bounces off the walls of the garage along with the occasional screEch from you
“get away from me you freAK-“ yoongi cackles when he gets a good blast of water right against your butt causing you to scream even louDer than you already were
you can feel him gaining on you because the pressure of the water is starting to get stronger and stronger
you let out a shriek before bursting into laughter when yoongi wraps his arm around you from behind and you immediately start squirming in his grip
you manage to turn around and the two of you start baTTling for the hose
“giVE it to mE-“ you squeeze your eyes shut because you’re sure getting blasted in the eyeball with water won’t be nice
“over my dead body!!!!!!” yoongi laughs and starts tickling your sides with his free hand
“min yooNGI it’s my turn to-“
“get your grUbby hands off the-“
of course
the floor is now slippery as hell (and yoongi’s water bill is going to be hIGH this month if you two keep going at it lol)
so of course
“woAH-!“
“oh SHIt-“
the nExt thing you know you’re staring up at
well
you’re staring right up at yoongi
“i-“ you have no idea why but your fingers are wrapped around his soaKing wet bicep and you quickly let go and place your hands on either side of you like a damn corpse “hi.”
the hose has been completely abandoned next to you guys and it’s still spurting out water
“hey.” he pants from the exertion of chasing you around the garage and his eyes flicker down to your lips veRy briefly you’re not sure it even happened
he’s settled riGht in between your legs and once you realise this your cheeks flame up
oh my god
dO something
“call it a truce?” you offer meekly and yoongi raises a brow before nodding once
“…i suppose so.” you yeLp in surprise when he suddenly shakes his hair out like a dog and practically assaults you with droplets of water
you scowl playfully and wipe at your cheek
yoongi grins down at you and gets off of you
he stands up and looks down at his sopping wet jumpsuit before offering you a hand “c’mon.” he jerks his head towards the office “let’s dry you up, doll.”
you wring the water out of your blouse and yelp quietly when you feel cold droplets of water splatter onto your bare foot
also
this YSL mascara was noT worth the money because you look like a raccoon right now
“i have an extra shirt somewhere… ah, here we are!”
you look at yoongi in the mirror of your compact as he emerges from the office with a-
oh good god
what is that
you clap your compact shut and tuck it back into your purse before spinning around and letting your eyes trail down to the….
can u even call that a shirt
“i refuse to put that thing on my body.” you can’t even bring yourself to reach out and take the raggedy denim button-up from yoongi because it just looks so.,.,.,.,.,. grOSS
“aw, c’mon! it’s cute! denim is super trendy.”
“why is it so dirty??”
“they’re just grease stains!! i swear!” yoongi brings the shirt up to his nose and takes a fAT whiff “anD i washed it!”
“well you can either wear this oR you can wear your sopping wet clothes.” yoongi points to the garBage bag containing all your soaking wet belongings and you let out a groan before reaching out and taking the shirt from him
“if it’ll make you feel better i have a pen here and i can just write gucci on the label!”
“ha-ha, very funny.,,., i accept louis vuitton as well”
“i’m going to see if i have any clothes for myself” yoongi disappears into the office again and you work quickly to rip your soPping wet clothes off as quickly as possible
“you know, i can always hook you up with some better quality shirts!” you start buttoning yourself up and you bring your arm up to your nose to give the sleeve a little sniff
it smells like his cologne >:)
you tug the shirt down a little bit and look behind you to make sure your ass isn’t hanging out and saying peekaboo
it’s big enough to the point where it covers everything appropriately and also it reaches mid-thigh
but if you bent down you’d definitely be giving everyone a show lol
“we can stick your logo on the back and everything-“
“sorry, what’d you say? i didn’t catch that.”
you turn around to face yoongi “i was saying that i- oH“
o-OH My GO D
R E D  A L E R T
your heart literally stops at the sight of a very, very shirtless yoongi
he shakes his hair out before running a hand through it with a sigh “luckily i had some spare clothes here otherwise i’d have to drive you home completely naked…”
you are bAREly paying attention to a word he is saying right now
this is it
min yoongi is one of the seven wonders of the world
he has a pair of grey sweatpants hanging low on his hips and not to be nsfW but he might,..,,. not be wearing any briefs right now.,..,
you glance back up at his face and clear your throat when you realise he’s staring right back at you with the teeniest of smirks
“what’s the matter, doll? cat got your tongue?”
the cat don’t but that diCK dO
“your carriage awaits, madam” yoongi bows and gestures towards his pick up truck
“why, thank you, kind sir.” you gladly take his hand and he helps you into the truck
the car ride consists of you and yoongi continuing to get to know each other a lil more
the conversation flows very smoothly and easily between the two of you and that makes u happy :-))))
you tell him about that one time you thought there was a robber in your house but it turned out to be a squirrel which is moRE confusing because how the hell did the squirrel make it up so high
yoongi tells you about that one time he was staying late at the shop and hE thought there was a robber in the garage but it was just a drunk jungkook tripping over a stack of tires
you ask him about his family and he asks you about yours
you tell him you love ur mom and dad a lot but you’re suPer glad to be living on your own because it gets overwhelming sometimes
yoongi says he has a good relationship with his family too (but they weren’t pleased when he came home for new years and they discovered his tATTOO SLEEVE and his BLEACHED HAIR)
he tells you about his lil dog named holly (who he misses so much!!!!!) and you tell him about your pet turtle walter who lives at home with your parents
you find out that his favourite pizza toppings are pepperonis and pineapples and you fULLY roast him for that disgusting combination
and then he finds out that your favourite pizza toppings are spinach leaves, fire-grilled chicken, and caramelised red onions and he’s like okay miss bouGIe do u realise how much more expensive my pizza would be if i asked for fire-grilled chicken  
he listens to hip-hop most of the time but he does have a soft spot for ariana grande and halsey
he bEgs you not to say anything to the boys
he’s not insecure about his masculinity or anything
he just doesn’t want them to bLAST break up w ur boyfriend i’m bored in the shop all day even tho it’s a B O P
“okay, turn into the roundabout here…” you point towards the penthouse buildings once yoongi drives past the gates (u live in a gaTed community u r so bougie!!!!!!!!!)  
“this building? the one with the… marBle fountain?”
“mhm, you got it.” you unbuckle your seatbelt and turn to smile at him “thank you for the ride and the shower.”
“anytime, doll.” yoongi plays along and his right eye drops in a wink
he chews on the inside of his cheek nervously
should he go for it
,.,..,
yeah he’s going to go for it
“hey, by the way-“ he stops you before you can hop out of the truth “the guys and i are hanging out this friday at this club we usually go to... don’t feel pressured to say yes or anything but if you wanna tag along that’d be totally-“
“yEs i would love to!” you blurt out and yoongi pauses and chuckles lightly
omg
yES you definiTEly want to
“okay, i’ll text you the details as soon as i figure out what’s happening.”
“sounds good!!” you shut the door and yoongi rolls the window down
“i’ll see you later then?”
“mhm! by the way - i’m keeping the shirt.”
yoongi snorts and rolls his eyes playfully as he watches you make your way to the entrance
he bites back a smile and leans back against the seat before letting out a breath and turning the truck back on
you really are something
friday can’t come soon enough
oh boy
your bedroom looks like it’s just been hit by a tornado
because it is a mEss
“i have nothing to wear!” you whine to nobody in particular as you stand in the middle of your walk-in closet and look around at the racks and racKs of clothing surrounding you
first you tried a tank top tucked into a pair of jeans and a sensible cardigan but then you remembered riGHt i’m going to a club i’m not going to the LIBRARY
and then you tried this brand new dress from chanel but you decided it was too ~avant-garde~ (u don’t really know what that means but that’s how the lady described it to you when she was selling it to you) for the club
and theN you tried a jumpsuit kinda thing but you’re not going to want to completely strIP down and sit on the toilet butt-ass naked when you have to pee
but u know what
after 2 hours (yes, TWO hours) of going through your closet you think you’ve finally pieced a sensible outfit together
it’s a baby blue slip dress (you bought it to match with beeper and u will shamelessly admit that) and you pair it with these adorable strappy platform sandals and of course a brand new gucci clutch  
hm
you look so cuTe you love this outfit
you kinda look like an early 2000s bratz doll and you’re,.,.,. ObseSsed with that
also
if someone compliments you on your outfit you’re definitely going to hit them with a “oh, this old thing? i just threW it on!”
no one will ever know it took you 120 minutes to pick (1) blue dress
you’re taking this secret to the GRAVE
yoongi offered to pick you up but you told him you’d be fine getting there by yourself
plus you really wanted to go in fashionably late (not tOO late of course) and just knock the socks off of everyone
you fully accept that you are a tiny bit of an attention whore
>:-)
“i think i should’ve picked her up.” yoongi mutters as he takes the last sip of his beer
it’s 9:30 and you’re stiLL not here
he’s checked his phone literally ten times in twenty minutes to make sure that he hasn’t missed any texts or calls or
“i think you’re overthinking this. she’ll get here! maybe there’s traffic.” jimin pats yoongi’s shoulder before returning to his conversation with hoseok
“and even if she doesn’T come you can still have fun with us!” jungkook points out and yoongi frowns “what??? we’re just as fun as y/n!!”
“we might be just as fun as y/n but yoongi doesn’t wanna make out with you like he does y/n-“
“soRRY you guys my uber dropped me off like three blocks away from here for some reason and i didn’t realise how hard it was walking in platform sandals” yoongi jumps in surprise when you suddenly poP out of nowhere
“this is why i should’ve picked you u-“ yoongi turns his head and finally gets a good look at you
shit you look good
he’s.,,.,. never seen your bAre legs before but he most definitely wants to bury his face in between them!!!!!!
oops
“are you two done checking each other out yet?” taehyung raises a brow and you and yoongi break gazes immediately
yoongi looks up at the little lightbulb hanging from the ceiling and you look towards the bowl of pretzels sitting on the table
namjoon smacks tae’s arm scoldingly
quick change the subject
“have you guys just been sitting here this whole time?” you take a seat next to yoongi and you’re hAPPy to report that he doesn’t move when the side of your thigh presses up against him
you’re used to seeing yoongi in a jumpsuit (which is hot) or like a plain white tee tucked into a pair of jeans (which is aLso hot) but tonight he looks extra EXTRA hot
he’s wearing all bLAck tonight
black t-shirt
black ripped jeans
black bomber jacket
he even smells sexy
he smells like that denim shirt that’s hanging in ur closet
oH and he’s wearing a bandana and for some reason the sight of him in a bandana makes you s w e a t
yoongi leans back and drapes an arm over the back of the booth and you’re vEry tempted to snuggle right into him but unfortunately the two of you are noT at that stage yet
“this is our third bowl of pretzels and our second round of beers, so no, we haven’t just been sitting here this whole time.” jungkook points out smartly and you nod understanDably
he’s such a dweeb
you love it
alright well
apparently the party don’t start til you walk in
you give yoongi’s thigh a couple pats before pointing at the bar “i’m gonna go get us some shots!” you grin excitedly as you slide out of the booth
all of the boys sit in silence until they all decide you’re at a safe distance away from them
“…..she touched your thiGhHhHhhhH” taehyung wiggles his brows and yoongi scoffs and rolls his eyes
“so what?”
“…yo diCK is close to your thiGhHhHhhhH”
“so in a way she indirectly touched your dick” jungkook holds his hand out for a fist bump
yoongi looks at the two of them in an unimpressed manner
“hi, can i get a round of kamikazes please?” you smile politely at the bartender before handing him your card
you gon be honest
you don’t actually know what a kamikaze is
you googled a list of shots on your way here and kamikaze was on that list
there’s also a type of shot called a blowjob but you’re not sure how it’s going to go down if you ask the bartender for a round of blowjobs
“what’s a pretty little thing like you doing at a place like this?” you jump in surprise when someone suddenly appears next to you and you’re about to run away in fear but then you get a better look at this guy
there’s no other way to describe it
this binch looks just as Expensive as you
you recognise that limited edition gold rolex that wink at you under the shoddy lighting
“…i could say the same for you” you raise a brow before turning to face the bar again
whY is the bartender taking so long
the guy laughs and tilts his head back a little before leaning forward and offering you a smirk “i’m seokjin. and you are?”
“not interested.” you clap back immediately jin raises his hands in defence but doesn’t back off
“feisty, aren’t we?”
“only when we have to be.” you shrug casually
“fair enough.” he hums and drums his fingers against the counter
a beat of silence goes by and you’re surprised he hasn’t made anoTher move
this guy seems harmless enough so you figure that giving him your name won’t be the woRst decision you’ll ever make in your life
plus the bartender is really taking his sweet time with those drinks and you’re getting bored
“i’m y/n.” you stick your hand out and jin’s eyes flicker down to your hand before he takes it graciously and gives you a firm shake
“well, it’s very nice to meet you. are you here by yourself?”
you snort immediately and shake your head “i wouldn’t come here by myself.” the bartender pauses and raises a brow at you and you give him a sheepish smile “no offence.”
if you thought your drinks were taking a long time to be made they’re going to take even lonGer now
good job u goober
“can i at least buy you a drink? maybe you can come over to my booth and we can chit-chat, see where that takes us…”
“or you could just buy me a drink and we can go our separate ways from there.” you grin and jin tilts his head before letting out a small laugh
“is that how you’re going to play it, sweetheart?” the thin gold chain hanging around his neck shimmers slightly as he shifts and leans closer to you
“i pholhd yew i could fit more phretfulz into my mouf fhan yew” jungkook mumbles and a pretzel falls out of his mouth
jimin is crAcking up at the sight of taehyung practically drooling all over himself
namjoon looks disappointed and hoseok looks vEry amused
yoongi glances over at the bar and furrows his brows in confusion when he sees you talking to,.,.., someone you’re obviously very comfortable with if you’re letting him tuck your hair behind your ear like that
whoever this fella is
he’s wearing a crisp button-up tucked into a pair of slacks and he has his sleeves rolled up (and he knows how weak u r for rolled up sleeves because you always get really moon-eyed when hE rolls his sleeves up)
yoongi clears his throat and shifts in his seat
what was he thinking???  
christ
you guys are from two different worlds
what
was
he
thinking!!!
inviting you here?? and you’RE paying the shots omg he should’ve gone up there to pay for the shots
“miss, your round of kamikazes?”
“be a gentleman, kihyun. why don’t you deliver her shots to her friends for her?” jin points over at yoongi and the others and kihyun nods obediently
“oH oh you really don’t have to- okay never mind”
jin is a nice guy but also u want to go back to ur friends
“so, where were we?”
“you were about to buy me a drink and i was going to accept the drink and then leave” you joke and turn to look over your shoulder juSt in time to see kihyun setting the tray down on the table
okay you know what
one drink isn’t going to hurt
you’ll just enjoy onE drink and then you’ll leave
that way the boTh of you are satisfied..,,.ish
yoongi can’t help but glance over at the bar agaIN and he rolls his eyes when he catches the sight of you throwing your head back in laughter at something
who the hell does this guy think he is anyway
and what kinda guy who dresses like thAt would want to hang out here
no
he’s overthinking it
“hey, your friend told me to bring the shots here. seven kamikazes.”
“OoOohHH yeah lets gET IT” jungkook reaches for a shot as soon as the tray is set down and it goes down his hatch in 0.1 seconds
uh
okay wow
obviously you’re not interested in hanging out with them anymore because you’re stiLL with that guy at the var aND you got the bartender to deliver the shots over so you could kEEP talking to mr. perfect over there
“ooh, these are good!!”
“veRy citrusy”
“are we sure there’s even alcohol in this because it kinda just tastes like orange juice”
“you think we can order more?”
yoongi’s shot is the only one left untouched
jungkook reaches over to tap his shoulder
“hyung, you gonna take a shot?”
yoongi clenches his jaw and reaches over blindly for the shot glass
he tilts his head back and swallows it before setting the glass down firmly
“jEez it wasn’t like i was going to take it or anything” jungkook mutters under his breath
whAtever
yoongi wipes his mouth with the back of his hand
you’re allowed to flirt with whoever you’d like
it’s not like you guys have a thing or anything
you even told him you didn’t want him to come and pick you up so obviously you’ve established that this is a friendship and nothing more
it’s fine
yeah
you guys don’t have a thing
which means hE can flirt with whoever he’d like as well
“anywaYs you’re very nice, jin, but i don’t want you to get the wrong idea or anything…” you smile sheepishly and scratch the back of your neck
you don’t want to tell this complete stranGer about the ins and outs of your will-they-won’t-they relationship with yoongi but you are vEry much tipsy and tipsy y/n just does not have a filter whatsoever “i’m here with yoongi!!!!!!” you clear your throat and gesture towards where the boys are
that strawberry margarita was really good
you could probably drink like twelveteen more of those  
jin glances over your shoulder and raises a peRfect brow (you need to ask him where he gets his brows done because woW)
“which one is this yoongi?” he looks back at you
uh
you weren’t expecting to be quEstioned like this
“uh, he’s the one with the-“ you turn to glance over your shoulder
huh
yoongi isn’t at the table
“well he’s around here someWhere he’s wearing a bandana and he has a tattoo sleeve you know he’s reALLy not that hard to spot-“
“oh! i see him!” you perk up immediately and try to follow jin’s line of sight “you mean the one dancing with my friend?”
wait what
“your friend? where’s your friend-“ the moment your eyes land on yoongi and jin’s friend you feel every single droplet of blood draining from your face
oh boy
yep
that’s yoongi alright
she has a hand tangled up in his hair while the other is running down his chest
he leans down as she says something in his ear and you see him laugh
the two of them continue to sway to the beat and you feel sick to your stomach when you notice her push yoongi’s hand down from her waist to her bum
you immediately turn back to face jin and you feel your cheeks heat up in embarrassment
u just told this guY that you were here with another guY only to find out that the guy that you came with looks like he’s having a greAt time with someone else  
yikes
“for the record - i would never do that to you.” he asks “chivalry is hard to find nowadays, no?”
you swallow thickly and try to snap yourself out of it
it’s not a big deal
yoongi can do whatever he wants
it’s not like he’s showing romantic interest in you just because he invited you to hang out with him
you’re just one of the bros
“say- how about you and your friends join my friends and i in the vip room? the more, the merrier!” jin nods in acknowledgement as the bartender sets a tray of shots down on the counter for him
“uh, maybe! maybe. thank you for the drink, by the way.” you smile politely and watch as he heads towards the velvet door with a gold VIP label on it
how faNcy  
you weren’t going to mention anything to the guys but they asked you what took you so long and the moment the phrase ‘vip section’ slips out of your mouth all the boys immEdiately slide out of the booth and head to said section
you and jimin bumped into yoongi on the dance floor on the way there and you kinda just.,.., awkwardly trailed behind him and his new gal pal as aLL of you made your way over there
anyways
now you’re here
in this truly unfortunate situation
and you are praying to all the gods to just make a black hole appear in the ground and swallow you up
first of all
you didn’t know how Big this room was
and you didn’t know that one person (jin) could have so many frienDS
because you are sitting in a circle with probabLy like twenty-ish (or more) other people (including the boys of course)
the point is you want to be literaLLy anywhere else BUT here right now
“i’m assuming everybody knows the rules of the game-“ jin sets the empty bottle of beer in the centre of the circle and you feel your palms starting to sweat because heLLO you don’T know the rules of the game
also you don’t know haLF these people
a couple of the girls introduced themselves to you but you have horrible memory so their names went into one ear and riGht out the other in like 0.1 seconds
“maybe you should, like, go over the rules one more time to… y’know, to refresh our memories!” you clear your throat and feel your cheeks heat up when you catch jennie snickering
“okay, well… you spin the bottle, and whoever the bottle points at, you have to kiss them for ten seconds.”
“it’s pretty self-explanatory.” one of the other girls mutter
you take your bottom lip in between your teeth nervously “what happens if you don’T wanna kiss that person?”
“then you have to take off an article of clothing.”
wait what
t-that doesn’t sound like regular spin the bottle
thaT’s not how they do in the movies!!!!! everyone’s clothes stay ON in the movies!!!!!  
and then you realise
you oNLY have a dress on
you don’t have a cardigan or a jacket or anything
so if you don’t wanna kiss anybody you’re going to have to take your dress off
in front of all these people!!!!!!!!!!
can i get a thank u nEXT
“um, i have another question!” your hand shoots up into the air “what if instead of taking a piece of clothing off you take a shot instead?”
“ah, that’s a good idea! if you don’t want to kiss your person, then you take a shot aND you take a piece of clothing off!” jin claps his hands together “good thinking, y/n!”
WAIT WHAT
nO you would like to retrACT your statement omg
so
you can safely say that this is one of the WORST experiences in your life
it’s about twenty minutes into the game
they actually changed the rules again so now you take a shot regardless of if you want to kiss your person or not
needless to say everybody is pretty hammered right now
except you of course
you’re like KindA tipsy
like giggly tipsy!!!! jin just keeps ordering margaritas for you and it would be ruDE of you to reject them
but you haven’t taken any shots yet
because you are one of the only people who hasn’t gotten a chance to spin the bottle yet (thank god)
you also are one of the only people who the bottle hasn’t landed on yet (which is also a thank goD)
“hey”
you turn to look at jin and a smile twitches at your lips when he hiccups
his cheeks are rosy and he’s glowing a bit
loVe that for him
“what do yoU want” you tease
“is there a mirror in your pants?”
“i’m not wearing pants.” you point out and gesture to your dress
“yah- can you just play along??” jin scoffs and pinches your arm
“okAy okay fine go on”
“-because i can seE myself in them” he beams proudly
you snort and roll your eyes playfully before whacking his bicep as he bursts into squeaKy giggles
“you think you’re funny?” you tease and jin nudges his elbow against yours
“you don’t think i’m funny??”
“i absolutely don’t think you’re funny”
“oOOh i have another one”
“can’t be any worse that that mirror one”
“the word of the day is legs.”
“is it?”
“let’s say we head back to your place and spread the word.”  he purrs into your ear and you nEARly screech
“jiN!!!!” you gasp and turn to gawk at him “that’s hoRRIBle you FreAK”
yoongi clenches his jaw when he sees you smack jin’s arm as the two of you continue giGGling away at god knows what
whatever he said can’t possibly be thAt funny
“my turn!!!” jennie gets up onto her knees and shuffles towards the bottle
you suddenly stop laughing because oh no it’s jennie’s turn
with a quick fliCk of her wrist she sends the bottle spinning
okay
logically speaking there is a 1/28 chance of it landing on you
but more importantly
logically speaking there is a 1/28 chance of it landing on a certain someone else who shall not be named but it’s pretty obvious who you don’T want it to land on
your nails dig into the meat of your palm as you watch the bottle intently
you don’t get a chance to continue worrying about the logistics of the situation because jin taps your shoulder again
good
you need a distraction anyways
she spun it really violently so it seems like it’s going to take a while to get there lol
“hEy hey hey i’ll give u a nickel if u tickle my pickle”
you snort immediately and shake your head
“i’ll give you a nickel to shuT up” you reach over to flick his forehead “we met like forty minutes ago but i am confident in saying that you only think with your dick”
“in thAt case would you like to blow my mind?”
chRIST
it neVER ENDS
yoongi sets his beer down slowly when the he realises the bottle is pointing right at him
he swallows thickly
oh boy
his eyes flicker up and he sees jennie looking right at him with bEdroOm eyes
and then he hears you and jin craCking up and he turns his head to look at you guys
…..,.,,.,.
what if jin takes you home tonight
what if jin takes you home tonight
well
FINe
if jin takes you home tonight then he’s allowed to take jennie home tonight
yoongi’s eyes flicker back to jennie and he gestures towards himself before leaning back against one palm “get over here.”
“c’mon now, that one was really good!”
“if you ever approach someone with that line you’re going to get slapped-“ you immediately lose your train of thought when you turn your head to see jennie and yoongi fuLLy going at it
“and that’s 10 seconds!”
yoongi’s the first to pull away and he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand
he ain’t gon lie
that was kind of slobbery
her lip gloss is also sickLY sweet
“y/n, you’re the only one who hasn’t spun yet! why don’t you give it a try?” jin nudges your side and you snap out of it and look at the bottle “i know yoongi’s technically supposed to be spinning now but we should give you a shot at it before someone goes twice.”
“oh, i don’t- um, i don’t… i think i might just skip my turn.” you smile nervously
your heart is haMMering away in your chest
there are a million and one thoughts running through your mind right now and the amount of alcohol that’s flowing through your veins probably isn’t helping to calm you down
u just
u really liked yoongi :-(
you’ve had so much fun spending time with him for the past couple of weeks
but obviously you aren’t his type
which is okay! that’s fine
everything’s fine
also
you don’t want to play this game because you don’t want your first kiss to be because of spIN the bottle
“c’mon, y/n. we aren’t getting any younger here, girl!”
“o-okay! okay, i’m- i’ll spin.” you clear your throat before leaning over and grasping the bottle
you give it a good agGREssive spin and watch as it goes round and round and round and round
oh boy
this sucks
you thought he liked u back
like you really REALLy thought he liked you back
he’s just been so nice and sweet to you!!!!!!
well to be fair he kind of has to be nice and sweet to you because you are paying him to fix your verY expensive car
he probably just wanted a faT tip that’s why he’s been so kind
and maybe he only invited you here tonight because you bought lunch for him
also you literally have no experience with situations like this so you can’t assume that he likEs you just because you like him
whatever
you should go for someone like jungkook who’s closer to you in age
well thEre you go again assuming that someone who obviously doesn’t like you likes you
“hey, look at that! it’s your lucky day, y/n!”
you snap out of it aGAIN and look down at the bottle that’s pointing right at
jin
you turn your head to look at him and he immediately flashes you his oh-so-charming smile “get ready for the best 10 seconds of your life, darling”
you immEdiately start to panic when jin reaches up to cup the side of your jaw and your fingers wrap around his wrist tightly
okay
yeah
just go with it
kiss him
he’s a nice guy!!!!! he bought manY drinks for you, he invited you and your friends to his vip room, he’s nice!!!!!
you’re going to give this complete sTRanger your first kiss even though you would much rather give it to yoongi
jin has nice lips though so maybe you can just preTEnd it’s yoo-
“waIT WAIt waIT-“ jin jolts in surprise before his eyes pop open and he blinks at you “i- my lips are chapped.”  
his eyes flicker down to your lips and you feel your cheeks flush when his thumb brushes over your bottom lip “they feel awfully smooth to me.”
he starts leaning in again
and in the corner of your eye you see yoongi leaning in and whispering something into jennie’s ear
she places her hand on his knee and starts sliding it up his thigh
and you don’t know what happens
but you snAp
“what the hell is wrong with you??”
y i k e s
jin’s eyes pop open and he’s about to retaliate but he realises you’re not even looking at him
you’re looking at yoongi
yoongi furrows his brows before scoffing and look around the circle “is this part of the game?” he jokes and there’s like a scAtter of nervous laughter
“i’m-“ you look around the circle as well and swallow thickly
ok
maybe u just embarrassed urself a little bit by your outburst
a couple people are avoiding eye contact with you
namjoon presses his lips together and looks down when you look at him
hoseok is giving you a pity-infused smile
and jungkook
jungkook fell asleep on one of the girls
“i’m- uh, i should go.” you mutter and get up off the ground “soRRy about that, you guys!” you clear your throat and gesture to the bottle “someone else can take my turn!”
“i’ll spin!” jin claps his hands together when a beat of silence goes by “if ya can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen!” he jokes
another round of scattered laughter
at least there’s less awKward tension
you can feel how hot your face is from under your makeup
at least it’s full coverage so no one will ever be able to tell that your face is on FIRE
the chilly air sobers you up a little more as you push the door open
you let out a breath and pull your phone out to call an uber
you just want to go home
wipe all this makeup off
wash your hair
maybe you’ll take a bubble bath
do a face mask
“y/n, wait-“ the momeNT you hear yoongi’s voice all hell breaks loose once again
you are AN G RY
“let gO of me-!” you shove yoongi’s hand off your wrist before whipping around and adjusting your purse on your shoulder with a huff
yoongi immediately raises his hands in defence before he furrows his brows at you “what the hell was that all about?? are you ok-“
“is this just a game to you??”
yoongi blinks at you before scratching the back of his neck
“is… is the game… just a game to me?”
“no i’m not talking about the stUpid game yoongi i’m talking about-“ you pause because you don’t really know hoW to word this without sounding like an obsessive maniac “i don’t understand you! i thought you- you’re just sO fruSTRATING”
yoongi scoffs immEdiately and crosses his arms
“i don’t think you’re allowed to say that when you were the one flirting with jin like craZy”
“i wasn’t- i wasn’t flirting with him!”
“you totALLy were! someone would have to be blind if they thought you weren’t flirting with him!”
“you were the one who literally mADE out with someone else!!!”
“y/n, it was a game-“
“i just don’t think it’s fair that yOU were the one who invited me to this hole in the wall and then yOU go off and start making out with someone else and dancing and-“
“well you know what i am so so sorry for taking you to this grubby hole in the wall!” yoongi snaps and you shut up immediately “you know what, you’re right, i think it’d be better if you just left.”
“i think it’d be better if we just nEver saw each other again!” you snap and cross your arms “we’re compLETE opposites-“
“sounds good to me!!! we’re from two diFFerent worlds so you should heAd back to the land of elitists because i- oh! should i hail a cab for you or is that too gross and poor for little miss spoilt brat??” yoongi’s tone is sO patronising and you’re (this) close to slapping him across the face “what’s the matter?? something doesn’t go your way so the firSt thing you do is sTorm out like a child????”
“excuse me?!” you hiss and shove at his chest “you’re an asshole. you’re an asshole!”
you already feel angry tears prickling at your eyes as you whip around
“fuck, y/n, wait-!”
all you know is that you don’t ever want to see min yoongi ever again and you’d be happy to get in your car and run him over and over and over and ovER agAIN
and suddenly you’re reminded that you don’t have a car to run him over with because your car is in hIS damn SHOP
“y/n, i didn’t mean-“
somehow you manage to cross the street without tripping over yourself and you pick up the pace to get as far away from yoongi as possible
god
what a night
you should’ve stayed home
the moment you step into the penthouse everything just seems to go wrong
your keys fall the ground with a clatter
you nearly trIp and fall flat on your face as you undo your sandals
you toss your clutch onto the couch but it bounces off the pillows and falls to the ground
you head straight to your bedroom and the second you throw yourself onto the bed you burst into tears
you hate everything
everything sucks
min yoongi espeCially sucks
you hate that he,.,.,. he patronised and belittled you like that
you haTe that he made all those comments about you being a spoilt brat because everyone who’s ever been mean to you have made those exact comments and you never thought yoongi would be one of those people
okay look
you don’t want to be one of those rich people but you can’t help it!!!! yes you’ve always had more of a comfortable lifestyle (which is completely out of your control like wtf you didn’t chOOSe to be born into a well-off family) but like.,., at the same time it’s isolated you
throughout elementary school and high school you know for a fact you were invited to all those parties and dinners only because people knew that you’d be the one who’d get them the most expensive presents (you got this one girl a purse from louis vuitton one year and the next year when you got her a bag of gummy bears ((because she liKED guMMY BEARs)) she literally threw them into the bin and you were like??? and then when you apologised and gave her a necklace from tiffany’s she immediately forgave you and you did noT like that vibe) or you’d be the one who was always like “i’ll get the bill!!!! no worries!!!!!!”
and now we’re back to square 1
completely alone
because you’ll never be anything more than little miss spoilt brat who maxes out daddy’s credit card and pouts when she doesn’t get what she wants  
oh my god
you’re going to be become one of those rich old ladies who don’t have anybody to share their huGe mansions with
“hyung? you alright?” jungkook asks meekly
as soon as yoongi ran out after you all of the boys did the same
of course they kept their distance but they heard evErything from your guys’ conversation
and now yoongi’s just standing by the truck
namjoon clears his throat before jingling the keys in his fingers (they fell out of yoongi’s pocket when he ran out) “i’ll drive because i only took that one shot and i’m pretty sure it’s worn off-“
all of a sudden yoongi swINgs his fist and drives it sTraight into the side mirror
hoseok yelps in surprise and jimin immediately slaps a hand over his mouth
the mirror immediately cracks and shatters into pieces before splintering onto the ground
yoongi’s panting slightly as he inspects the damage on boTh the mirror and his fist
droplets of blood splatter onto the floor among the pieces of glass
he clenches his fist and watches as crimson continues to ooze out of the fresh wound
yoongi opens the door and hops into the truck before slamming the door shut
everyone else kinda looks at each other
poor jungkook has gone has white as a sheet of paper because he gets vEry queasy over the sight of blood
“he bent the mirror.” tae squeaks out
he did noT know yoongi was capable of causing that much damage
“everyone get into the truck. now.” namjoon hisses lowly and everyone scuRries to get in
the shards of glass crunch underneath the tires as namjoon pulls out of the parking spot
yoongi stays silent the entire ride back
he doesn’t flinch when namjoon tends to his wounds and literally pulls a thin sliver of glass out from his knuckles
it sTings and burns like hell but it doesn’t show on his face
it’s fine
yoongi knows he deserves the pain.
it has officially been twelve days since the blowout
and yoongi thinks he’s losing his mind
he can’t stop thinking about you
he can’t stop thinking about how your eyes glazed over and your bottom lip trembled
how your voice wavered as you shoved at his chest and called him an asshole
it doesn’t matter
you two would’ve never worked out anyway so maybe this fight was for the best
he just won’T come in to work the day you come and pick your car up
yeah! it doesn’t matter at all
all you are is an entitled trust fund baby who whines when she doesn’t get what she wants and when you dO get what you want it’s simply not enough
but oh
yoongi knows he’s just lying through his teeth when he says that
you’re noT just this one-dimensional princess
there’s more to you than just that
there’s so much more to you
you’re so kindhearted and generous
hE was the one who fucked up
hE was the one who got weirdly insecure and completely lashed out on you
hE was the one who made out with that jennie girl in front of you knowIng that there was something between the two of you even though it had never been established
he knEW that you liked him yet he still pulled all that shit
why?????? WHY?????
anyways
he hasn’t made a move to text or call you because he knows you’re not going to respond to him
he did draft out this long long text message but he ended up deleting it
and he was going to leave a voicemail but it was just really awkward and also he ran out of time
it kept beeping on him before he could finish his speech
he knows he’s the last person you want to hear from right now
yoongi looks down at his wrapped up knuckles and slowly makes a fist
oW
why couldn’t he have punched a piLLOW
yoongi swivels around in his chair when he hears a gentle knock on the door
“what do you want?” he gets straIght to the point and jimin raises a brow before deciding it’s okay to let himself in
“uh, i just need you to sign off on this order.” he places the clipboard on the desk
yoongi’s pen glides over the dotted line quickly and he clicks it before shoving it back into the pen holder
“cool, thanks.” jimin nods and picks the clipboard back up
before he can make it to the door yoongi speaks up again
“can i ask you something?”
jimin turns to glance over his shoulder before he turns all the way so he can face yoongi
he has a feeling he knows where this is going
“you guys heard everything, didn’t you?”
“heard wha-“
“you know what i’m talking about.” yoongi says gently
jimin knows it’s best noT to beat around the bush
after all he doesn’t want to end up like that side mirror
lol
.,,.,too soon?
“um, yes. yes, we heard everything. we didn’t mean to, though, we just ran out because-“
“on a scale from 1 to 10 how badly did i fuck it up with y/n?”
god damnit
he should’ve gotten jungkook to come in here and ask yoongi to sign the sheet
jimin immediately presses his lips together and avoids yoongi’s gaze “with all due respect hyung i really don’t think it’s any of my business-“
“i just need you to be honest with me because i have no idea what to do and i-“
“like a 20. like a colossal 20.” jimin blurts out and offers him a shrug when yoongi stares at him in shoCK
twenty????? TWENTY OUT OF TEN
yoongi lets out a groan and leans back against his chair and he stares at the ceiling fan whirring around and around
he presses the heels of his hands into his eyes and curses to himself
“do you like her?”
“of course i like her, you moron.” yoongi scoffs and shoots him a dirty look
“hey you know what i don’t have to help you if i don’t want to.” jimin starts to get up and yoongi reaches out to grab onto his wrist
he lets out a sigh “i’m… i’m sorry. i know you’re just trying to help, i’m just kiNDa all over the place right now”
jimin plops back down on the seat
“so you like her?”
“as we’ve established already yeS i do like her”
“well why don’t you just tell her that?”
“i don’t… i can’t.” yoongi exasperates and tilts his head back before folding his hands on his stomach
“what do you mean?? it’s obvious she likes you back. or she at least likeD you back. i’m not sure about it with the present situation.”
yoongi gives him a warning look
“i’m not… i’m not for people like her, y’know?”
jimin snorts and leans back against the chair “what’s that supposed to mean? are you from mars? are you not human?”
“not like thAt! she’s supposed to be with like… i don’t know, a businessman or a manager or-“
“you’re a businessman aNd a manager-“
“of a car repair shop, jimin. not like some biG shot car repair shop either.”
“you’re overthinking this big time. i’m not going to sit here and deliver a whole speech about you need to follow your heart and all that bullshit - at the end of the day, y/n obviously likes you for you. so get your head out of your ass and talk to her before it’s too late.”
“what if it’s already too late?”
“trust me, it’s not. knowing y/n she probably would’ve broken into the shop in the middle of the night to get her car back if she never wanted to see you again.”
yoongi can’t help but laugh at the sight of you picking a lock with like a gucci hairpin or something
“…can i clock out early because i helped you?”
“absolutely not.”
you spoon a bite of coco puffs into your mouth and chew slowly
yuck
room temperature cereal is not pleasant
mushy cereal is not pleasant either
would not recommend
0/10
you toss the bowl into the sink carelessly and winCe at the loud clank
oops
you haven’t been up to a lot lately in the past twelve days
you go to class
you go home
you do work
you turn netflix on
you eat dinner
you take a shower
you go to bed
time seems to have meshed together nowadays
you just feel so
..,drained
your phone buzzes on the counter and your heart drops to your stomach when you see the contact name
‘min mechanics’
o no
you’re not ready
you don’t want to talk to him
your finger hovers over the decline button but it seems that your finger has a mind of its own because-
“oh shit-“ you pick the phone up as soon as you hit the accept button “hello?” you clear your throat
“y/n? hey! it’s namjoon.” you can’t help but let out a breath of relief because if it was yoongi who called you would not have known how to react
“joon, what’s up?”
“beeper is ready for you!! we polished him up and everything! you can come pick him up whenever you’d like.”
“…you can’t drive him to my place or anything?”
you hear namjoon let out a sigh from the other end of the phone
“i could do that for you… but i think you and yoongi have some things to talk about.”
“i don’t want to talk to him.” you murmur and namjoon hEars the pout in your voice
“i know you don’t, but you know you need to talk to him. it’s definitely going to be awkward but-”
“i don’t even think he wants me around, namjoon. he said it himself, we’re from two different worlds!” you huff and flop down on your bed
“obviously it’s none of my business but i just… yoongi’s happier when you’re around, y’know? and i know for a fact that he makes you just as happy - it’s pretty obvious you two are… into each other, and i just think it’d suck if you let this bump in the road ruin your relationship with him… he’s stubborn, i know…”
“he said a lot of hurtful things, joon.” you feel your eyes starting to water as you’re forCed to relive the memory “like, a lot of hurtful things.”
“i know he did. i- i don’t know what to say about that but you have to believe me when i say yoongi is not that kind of person. just… please come?”
well
it looks like you don’t have much of a choice because you do need your car back
“…i’ll swing by later, joon.”
you heard namjoon let out a breath of relief “that’s great, y/n, that’s so great. i’ll see you later!”
yes
you will noT regret this
plus you do want to clear the air with yoongi even though you hate confrontation
anD you want to apologise because it wasn’t right for you to freak out like that when he was with that other girl
you guys hadn’t established any kind of relationship so it simply didn’t make sense for you to be all bOO-hooey and-
ooH or you could just get a new car so you never have to see him again
maybe you’ll move to greece
live on a vineyard
start your own wine-making business
enjoy fresh pita and hummus and kalamata olives everyday
noPE
don’t do that
don’t throw money at your problems and expect them to go away (even though you can definitely afford to move to greece)
you are noT that cowardly person anymore
“miss? uh, we’re here.” you look out the window and feel your heart starting to race when you see that familiar sign
min mechanics
ok
it’ll be fine
just go in
find namjoon
find beeper
and get the heCk out of here
it was a mistake to wear your boots today because you are doing the complete OPPOSITE of avoiding attention
click clack click clack clickclackclickclackclickclackclickclack
“hey guys” you smile shyly when you pass by the boys
they’re all working together on a convertible and they all look shoCked that you actually came  
aLL the boys are here
which has to mean that yoongi’s around here somewhere
o god
you’re like three seconds away from getting a heart attack
okay nope
just focus
you push the door open and the bell tinkles
“joon,” you are sO relieved to see namjoon sitting behind the counter “sorry i took so long to get here.”
the door to yoongi’s office is closed
thank god
maybe he didn’t come in today
“it’s all good!” namjoon chirps and pulls out a couple sheets of paper from a file before getting up and placing them on the counter ”how have you been? uh, sign here, and here.”
“i’ve been good! a little busy with studying for finals and all that but either than that i’ve been good.” you nod and click the pen “how about you?”
“i’ve been doing well. i’ve been watching these nature documentaries on netflix-“
“-planet earth?” your hand pauses on the sheet and for the firSt time in twelve days you flash a genuine smile
“planet earth!” namjoon laughs lightly “it’s a great series, i love it.”
it’s a good thing you and namjoon have good small-talking skills otherwise it would just be compLETE silence right now
“okay, there you go.” you set the pen down and namjoon takes the sheets from you and double-checks that you signed everything
“i’ll go and get beeper ready for you! just wait here, i’ll be riGht back.”
“wait but-“ before you know it namjoon walks past you and leaves you aloNE in the office and you start chewing on your bottom lip nervously
maybe you can go hide in the washroom til namjoon comes back
yep
sounds like a good plan-
all of a sudden the office door opens and you feel your heart stop
frICK
“hey namjoon have you seen the- …oh, uh…“
“hi.”
“hey.”
a beat of awkward silence goes by
the tension is sO thick and you’ve never been so uncomfortable in your entire life
“i was just- sorry, i was looking for namjoon.”
“oh, he, um, he’s getting bee- my car, he’s getting my car for me.” you clear your throat and gesture towards the front door
“cool, cool.” yoongi slaps a hand against the frame of the door gently and nods
christ this is awkward
what happened to that small-talking skill girL
“alright, y/n! he’s all set and ready to go!” namjoon sticks his head in and he falters when he registers what’s going on
his eyes flicker in between you and yoongi “oh, sorry, was i interrupting-“
“nO no you weren’t! i’m comIng” you move at lightning speed to get as far away from yoongi as possible  
“y/n wait-“ there’s no way in hell yoongi’s going to let you get away agaIN
he’ll find another dang mirror to punch if he lets that happen
namjoon hands him the keys to beeper along with a notepad “you should probably do the final check on the car instead of me”
“yeah, thanks man.” yoongi tucks the notepad into his back pocket before jogging out
“heY jimin did a really good job with the polishing!” you smooth your hands over beeper’s hood “beeper’s blinDing me-“ you turn around and jump in surprise when you see that it’s yoongi standing behind you and not namjoon “….where’s nam-“
“please shut up for like one second.”
ooOOOKAY
noT the greatest opening line!!!!!!!!!!!!
oof
yikes
…,,.yooF
he’s nERVOUS OKAY
he wasn’t expecting to have to deal with this sO quickly
if he’d had known that you were coming today he would’ve prepared some flash cards or something but this is his chance to just be completely real with you and get everything off his chest
“y/n, i’m sorry. really, i am. i’m not very… good with apologies but this is me trying my best.” he clears his throat and he looks like he’s having a hard time collecting everything that he wants to say to you “all the things i said to you… god, i was a complete asshole and you didn’t deserve any of that. i-i didn’t even mean any of that shit i said, y’know? i think i just… i got all weird and insecure because i saw you with jin and i just… it reminded me that we… we’re… i’m… i mean, i’m a mechanic, for crying out loud. i fix cars for a living and he had a damn gold watch that probably costs more than my rent!! i understand if you don’t ever wanna talk to me again, i totally get it, i wouldn’t wanna see me again either after being spoken to like that but i just needed to say sorry to you to let you know that i really, really didn’t mean a word of what i said. you deserve so much better than me.” yoongi shrugs and scratches the back of his neck “i don’t know. it’s stupid. i’m stupid. i don’t-”
“the only difference between you and jin that i really care about is the fact that i don’t like jin, but i… i like you.” you admit shyly and if your face wasn’t red before it certainLy is now “and it doesn’t matter to me that you’re a mechanic, y’know? i’m sorry, too. i said some things that i didn’t mean either… i really appreciated you asking me to hang out with you and the guys and that place wasn’t even that grubby!! i was just being- i don’t know, i think i just mad at you because you.. dId all that with jennie-“
“-which was the worst kiss of my life if that makes you feel any better-“
“i’ll forgive you if you forgive me?” you suggest and yoongi nods enthusiastically
“i will find a way to make it up to you, i swear.”
“also, you’re a moron.”
“wha- well, yeah, i guess i deserve that but-“
“okay now it’s youR turn to shut up for like one second.” you stick your hand up and yoongi clams up immediately “you’re a moron for worrying that i was going to pick jin over you just because he’s a millionaire-“
“he’s a millionaire-!”
“because i could give leSS of a shit about that! you’re really sweet and kind and i think you’re awfully funny aNd not to mention you’re pretty easy on the eyes-“ okay y/n reel it back a bit lmao “a-anyways yeah that’s- look the point is you shouldn’t be insecure over something as silly as your job..,,. in faCt i think the whole mechanic thing is actually kinda sexy”
oKAY that’s noT reeling it back at ALL BUT GREAT GOD JO B you said what you wanted to say
“also…what the hell happened to your hand?”
oh right
yoongi glances down at his wrapped up hand
should he tell you that he punched a side mirror and had a shard of glass stuck in his knuckles
“eh, don’t worry about it. it was just an accident.” he waves it off
hm
you’ll find out soOner or later
“so-“ yoongi clears his throat “…you like me or you like-like me?” yoongi raises a brow and offers you a cocky smirk and you immediately scoff in response and cross your arms before looking in the other direction
“don’t flatter yourself i was just being nice”
“don’t lie to me now” yoongi steps closer to you and hooks a finger under your chin before turning your head so that you’re facing him “you got anything you wanna ask me?”
your eyes immediately widen
well
yes
you have a question for him of course you have a question for him
hoW do you even approach a situation like this do you just bluRt it out????
“do you, um, do you…” you puff your cheeks out in frustration and immediately divert your gaze to the ground
you start toeing at the ground nervously (which is something you haven’t done since you were like 12) while your fingers tug at the hem of your blouse
“like… i-i just… do you… do you like me? …back? do you like me back?” you finAlly get it out of your system and you feel like your entire face is on fire “it’s just… sometimes i get the feeling that you like me and other times i get the feeling that you’re just being friendly and i’ve never really, y’know, i don’t have a lot of experience with this kinda stuff so i just need you to tell me straight up if you like me back or if i’m just being delusional…”
“what do you mean by not having a lot of experience with ‘this kinda stuff’? you mean going out and getting something you want by yourself?” yoongi teases and your cheeks flush even further
wow
now that you two have forgiven each other it seems like he’s reverteD back to his usual self
yoongi likes this
this is a fun game
obviously you’re used to getting what you want with the snap of your fingers
and yoongi is a firm believer in the idea that in order to get what you want you gotta work hard
you gotta put in the effort!!!!
yeah suRe he knows that you like him just as much as he likes you (and thaT gets him super excited)
but he’s not going to give in to you that easy
no no
if you want him you better shoW him that you want him
“well yes buT also i meant like… boy-related experiences? i dunno” god this is humiliating
you hATE this
if you could turn back time you wouldn’t have brought this shit up in the first place you should’ve just hoPPEd into beeper and nyOOmed out of the garage “i haven’t even had my first kiss yet so like- look just teLL me if you like me back or not because i’m about to lose my-“  
“wait- you’ve never been kissed?” yoongi’s brows furrow in confusion and he tilts his head
how is that possible
how is it possible that you’ve never been kissed
ok well
now he feels a little bad for dragging this whole thing out
and also
he’s never seen you so… insecure? before
you can’t even look him in the eye
“are you kidding me?”
what the heck!!!!!!!!!!!
of course he likes you!!!!!
he’s liked you from day one!! when you walked in with your leather booties and your heart-shaped sunglasses and your little ‘hellooOOOoOo’
he liked you even more when you shoved your clobbered side mirror into his chest and insisted he fix your car right now immediately
and he liked you even even more when jungkook was straight up flexing in front of you but all you were paying attention to was him with your bottom lip tucked in between your teeth and your cheeks all pink and rosy
that was for him
all for him
“well you don’t have to say it like thAt” you grumble and reach up to scratch at the back of your neck “look thiS was stupid just forget i said anythi-“
“i like you back. i definitely like you back.” yoongi admits casually as he scribbles something on his little notepad
“you- oh. okay.”
ok
you didn’t think thiS far ahead
what’s your next move
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
“so what are you gonna do about it?” yoongi tucks his notepad into his pocket and crosses his arms before looking at you expectantly
uHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
he pokes his tongue into his cheek and tilts his head when you continue to stand there and stare at him blankly like a deer in headlights “ah. so you’re not going to do anything about it. alright.” he sighs and turns to head back to the office “i’m just going to bring namjoon back out here and he’ll take care of-“
and before you know it you’re grabbing onto his wrist and yanking him back and-
yoongi feels like his heart is about to explode when you pull him down and press your lips against his
his eyes flutter shut and he places his hands on your hips and gives you a gentle squeeze
your arms are wrapped loosely around his neck and you pull away with flushed cheeks
oh god
u just kissed yoongi
thAt was your first kiss
mission success!!!!!!!!!
“…there, i did something about it” you grumble and puLL your arms back
and then it hits you
oh my god i just kissed yoongi and woW his lips are like supEr soft and he tastes like cherry which makes sense because he loves those lollipops-
“you’re so cute.” yoongi laughs and nudges you back til you’re sitting on beeper’s hood
you’re pretty sure you’re not supposed to be sitting on beeper
“what are you doing? i-“
you know what you could care leSS about beeper because yoongi’s kiSsing you!!!! again!!!
AGAIN!!!!!!!!!
:~)
you have your fingers curled up in yoongi’s jumpsuit as you kiss him back and you let out a little whimper
yoongi’s thumbs circle your kneecaps before they drag a cheEky trail up the inside of your thighs
he squeezes your thighs and encourages you to open them wide enough so that he can stand in between them
“you good?” he mutters against your lips and you nod quickly and pull him closer
goD you’re so CUTE
he’s so soft for you it’s insane
he pulls your hand away from his jumpsuit and brings it up so that you can wrap your fingers around the nape of his neck
you immediately slide your hand up and tangle your fingers into his soft locks “there you go”
yoongi pulls away from you and revels in the small whimper that you let out
god
aren’t you a vision
your lips are swollen and glossy and your eyes are all blown out and your cheeks are warm and rosy
all that just from a little bit of kissing
“why’d you stop?” you pout and tug at his wrist
“you’d pass out if i continued.” he smirks and tucks a strand of hair behind your ear “and it appears we have an audience, don’t we?” he gets a little louder towards the end of his question and you immediately twist around to look behind you
sure enouGH the boys are all crouched behind a truck staring at the two of you like a bunch of PERVS
they immediately break off and pretend like they weren’t just watching you guys maKe out with each other
jungkook and taehyung bump into each other in their rush to head back to their stations and you snort at the sight
you turn back to face yoongi
“it was probably a good thing we were interrupted” yoongi leans down and gives you another quick kiss before helping you off the hood of the car
“what makes you say that?”
“i was fully ready to go down on you on top of-“
“bEEPER??” you gasp in mock horror and slap your hands over the top of beeper’s hood “you were going to defile me on top of my own car??”
“i mean…” yoongi shrugs before nodding
take you over the hood of your car?
heck yeah he would
he’d take you over the hood of anY car
“don’t listen to him beeper,.,.,. i’d neVer do that to you…”
if yoongi didn’t know any better it’d probably be safe to say that you might be a little tOo in love with beeper
yoongi is a busy man
he has a lot of cars he has to patch up and a lot of parts he has to put together
but uh
making out with u in the driver’s seat of his truck is a much better way to pass the time
he’ll just get the others to take care of the parts for him later
“u know i’m supposed to be replacing a muffler right now…” yoongi lifts his face and brushes his lips against yours teasingly
you can’t help but grin when you pull away slightly and yoongi squeezes your waist in warning
“u know that sounds like a you problem” your nose nudges against his and yoongi tilts his head upwards to kiss you again
since the two of you made up and forgave each other you’ve been visiting the shop moRe than three to four times a week
you practically live at the shop now
and yoongi doesn’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing
on one hand he likes having you around and he likes getting to kiss u whenever he wants
but on the other hand
it’s vEry distracting having you around and getting to kiss u whenever he wants because he aLways wants to kiss you
another bAd thing
whenever he kisses you the others get all oOoOooohHHhHhhh and yoongi is always so tempted to hurl a wrench at all of them
anyways
yoongi’s on his lunch break (that ended twenty minutes ago) and he decided to sneak you into his truck that’s parked in the back alley
his lips move with yours slowly and he revels in the little whimper that leaves you when he nips at your bottom lip
you’re acting extra cute for somE reason
and you look extra cute too
you’re wearing a pretty floral romper paired with your faVourite boots and once again you will never admit to anybody that it took you an hour and a half (you’re getting better) to throw it on
you decide that you’re going to be bold today and you find your hands slowly sliding down yoongi’s chest til they reach the buckle of his belt
yoongi reaches down quickly and wraps his slim fingers around your wrist before offering you a smirk and a tilt of his head “someone’s a little eager, no?”
“don’t you want me?” you push your bottom lip out in a pout and yoongi leans in to give you a lil peck
“course i do.” he chuckles lowly before raising a brow “but how about we start off with something more mild, hm?” he tucks a strand of hair behind your ear before his fingers glide down your jaw and he hooks one under your chin
“like what?” you lean down a little and nip at his fingers playfully and yoongi has never felt more fuckiGn endeared in his life
“do you trust me?”
“course i do.” you drape your arms around his shoulders
“alright, let’s just get you settled right here…” he lifts you up off his lap and onto his right leg instead
his.,., thigh?
you separate your legs so each knee settles on the leather seat on either side of his clothed thigh
ur not..,,.s ure what’s going on right now
but it’s once you get comfortable that you begin to feel the friction
“now what do i- oH-“ you gasp noisily when yoongi’s leg presses upwards and suddenly you spaSm a bit of out of surprise  
tingles shoot up your spine and your fingers twitch slightly on yoongi’s chest
“that feel good?”
“i- i’m not sure yet.” you blink down at yoongi’s thigh and he can’t help but laugh
“need me to help?”
“that would be ideal, yes.”
“well, it’s pretty easy. you just-“ he places his hands on your waist and pushes you back and imMediately you feel another spark of pleasure “and then you come this way,” he pulls you back and flexes his thigh underneath you and you let out a little hiccup
how..,,.intriguing
eventually you get the hang of things
you’re kinda doing it on your own but yoongi’s still guiding you back and forth a little
“that’s it, doll, just like that,” yoongi breathes out, his grip tightening on your waist as he helps you ride his leg
he leans back against the seat and watches you with hooded eyes as you continue to get yourself off on his thigh
your romper and your panties are botH very thin so you can just feel the rough fabric of yoongi’s jeans rubbing up against you
you’re not going too hard but you’re not going too soft either
yoongi swallows thickly because now he has a pretty good picture of what you’d look like riding his c-
“christ-“ you gasp as yoongi raises his leg and pushes riGht up into you as he leans in and attaches his mouth to your neck
“now does it feel good?” he murmurs against you and you gasp and wrap your fingers around the nape of his neck
you can’t even describe how amazing this feels and all your thoughts are just white noise because holy shit this feels so good
you nod quickly and let out a whimper when you feel another wave of pleasure tremor through your body
god
you’re so soft n warm
and so submissive
“yoongi, please...” you don’t even know what you’re pleading for here but that’s all that’s able to come out of your mouth
he looks down and groans quietly when he notices the damp patch on his jeans
“oh,” yoongi coos mockingly, “you sweet thing, you... i wanna wreck you.”
you let out a whine and press your forehead against his shoulder as you continue grinding down on his thigh
your desperation pulls a low moan from yoongi’s throat and he shifts underneath you
“there you go, baby… such a good girl…”
look
you’re not entirely sure what happened here
but somehow you shifted from yoongi’s thigh to yoongi’s crotch
and yoongi just wanted to make this about you so he also doesn’t know how this happened but boY is he glad it happened
you’re literally going to make him cream his pants like a overly-hormonal 14 year old boy and he hasn’t done that in a long loNG TIME but you know what he does noT mind
“ah, fuck-“ yoongi growls and clenches his jaw as his calloused fingers dig into your supple flesh as you continue grinding down on him
you know how yoongi mentioned earlier he had a rough idea of what you’d look like riding him
well now he has a really reALLY clear idea of what you’d look like riding him
he can tell you’re close by the way your breathing has gotten heavier and your cheeks have become more flushed
and he is definitely going to keep this image of you tucked in his brain for safekeeping
you grow dizzy from pleasure and all of your senses are in ovErdrive and all you can think of is yoongi yoongi yoongi yooNGi
“yoonGi, i think i- nngh, yoongi-!“ yoongi’s hand slides up your thigh and curves your waist before he’s gripping at your ass to mould you to him
“look at you, you pretty little thing,” yoongi groans when your hips stutter
you’re driving him absolutely wild  
“lemme hear you, doll, nice n loud for me-“
yoongi is panting because goddamN you really seem like you want him to come before you  
he can bArely keep it together but there’s no way he’s going to come first
he pushes you down on him and lifts his hips up at the same time and you throw your head back with a breathless moan
“i-i- oh, t-that feels really- hAh-“ yoongi sucks a hickey into your skin and continues forcing you down on him
“you have no idea how badly i wanna be inside of you-“ he growls lowly and that does the trick
your toes curl as you’re finaLLY pushed over the edge and you swear you see black dots in your vision, whimpering through your release  
the sound of you gasping his name out and the sight of you trembling above him is what eventually gets to yoongi and he curses to himself as he reaches his high and gasps your own name in return
you feel a warm gush from underneath you and your eyes widen at the wet spot on yoongi’s crotch area
he gives you a few final thrusts before he slides his hands down from your waist so that they rest on the tops of your thighs  
you’re still breathing heavily as you lean down to press your forehead against his
“hi.” yoongi grins and gives u a little kiss and you immediately shy away from him and he feels his heart practically exploDe in his chest
“hi.” you murmur as you keep your gaze on the silver chain around his neck
you reach down to fiddle with it because you don’t know whaT to do now
yoongi reaches up and hooks a finger underneath your chin so that he can finally catch your gaze “you okay?”
you nod shyly and feel your cheeks flush again
“what’s gotten into you, hm?” yoongi teases and leans in to give you another quick kiss “ya can’t get all shy on me now when you were humping me like a rabbit in heat literally thirty seconds ago”
“yOoNgI”
“no but really!! what’s up?”
“i just like u a lot” you admit and your nose scrunches
yoongi grins and feels his heart skip a beat
he reaches up and pinches your nose and you immediately scowl and flick his hand away
“i like you too, doll.”
out of all the mechanic shops in the city
you are vEry happy that beeper decided to run out of gas a minute away from min mechanics
:-)
so
here’s the deal
you asked yoongi to teach you how to change a tire and he was understandably vEry confused because on a list of things that you would never want to do he thinks it’s pretty safe to assume that ‘change a tire’ is on that list
he told you that if you ever got a flat tire all you’d need to do is call him and he’d come to save the day
but you defended your decision saying that you thought it was good for you aND it was an important life skill
because it is!!!! kinda??
for someone who was very adamant on learning how to change a tire you don’t seem to be paying much attention to the actual changing of the tire
“remember? righty tighty, lefty loosie.” yoongi places his hands over yours and helps you turn the wrench
he has a hand placed on your waist as he hovers over you from behind and your mouth tugs up in a subtle smirk when you feel him push himself against your bum (it wasn’t on purpose though because he’s just trying to get that lug nut loose since it’s screwed in real tight)
“righty loosie lefty tighty i got it”
.,.,,.,.,he’s sure you’ll figure it out eventually
“i’ll be back in twenty minutes to check up on you!”
“wait but don’t you wanna stay here to watch-“
“twenty minutes!” you scowl as you watch yoongi head back to the office
what the heCK
your plan has been foiled
you didn’t actually want to have to change aLL the tires!!!!!!!
you nearly fall flat on your ass when you give give the next lug nut a firm yaNk
aLas nothing happens
you don’t know how you’re supposed to change four tires when you can barely handle four lug nuts
aH
maybe if you put some grease around them they’ll be easier to unscrew
wow
you’re a genius
“did you manage to change all the-“
oh
now yoongi knows why you like it when he has smudges of grease all over his hands and his face
you’re gloWing from the exertion of changing tires and your (his) shirt is riding up a bit because you tied it up into a little knot
and he didn’t notice this earlier but your butt looks reALLy good in those jeans
“i did it! i changed every single tire on my own!!!” you wipe your hands on the rag before giving one of the tires a firm kick “look at these bAd boys! c’mon c’mon give me another set of tires to change that was so FUN” you bounce up and down on excitedly
you reach up to wipe your cheek with the back of your hand
“you should take a break and join me in my office!” yoongi takes your hand and starts dragging you towards the office
ya he’s 110% going to go down on you in his office
“or-“ you pull back a little and make him stop walking “oR you can give me another set of tires to change and you can go back to your office?”
yoongi freezes
.,,.what?
“you… you want to change more tires?”
“mhm!!”
“but i just- you don’t wanna go into my office?”
“why would i want to go to your office? there are no tires for me to change there.”
“.,,.go talk to hoseok to see if he has any cars for you to-“
“okAY BYE”
o god
he’s created a monster
ah
finals season
a wonderful time where students are forced to coop themselves up and build fortresses out of their notes and textbooks
you’re not sure how you survived through your finals considering you had like fiVe of them
but the point is
you are DONE
you’re finally done!!!!! you’re FREE
a downside to finals (adding to the other many maNy downsides of finals) is that you forced yourself to stay away from yoongi (and u made him promise not to come see you even tho he really reaLLy wanted to come see you) because you didn’t want to be distracted and min yoongi is a big big distraction
which means you haven’t seen yoongi in nearly two weeks
you’ve texted him and you’ve called him but the phone calls are brief and the text messages are short because time is precious when it comes to exams!!!!
it might not seem like it but you are (surprisingly) vEry studious
yoongi called u a nerd when he face-timed you one night and you were wearing your thick reading glasses because your eyes were starting to give up on you from like 6 hours of staring at your laptop  
“heLLooOOoooo” yoongi perks up when he hears a very familiar voice
he pokes his head up over the raised hood of the car
ah
theRE you are
yoongi grins from ear to ear when he sees you bouncE excitedly into the shop like a little bunny
once you spot him your eyes liGHT UP
“yoongi!!!!!!!!! i missed u!!!!!”
“yeah, baby? you missed me?” yoongi tosses the rag over his shoulder “how much did you miss me?” he teases and wraps an arm around your waist before pulling you closer
“missed you a whole lot.” you breathe out and your eyes flicker down to the lollipop in his mouth
“how were your finals?”
“they were good…” you’re barely paying attention to what yoongi’s saying because all you can focus on is how slick n red yoongi’s lips are
and then
a lightbulb appears above your head
“that’s great! i’ll take you out for ice cream as soon as i-“
you yank the lollipop out of his mouth and yoongi squawks in surprise
and then you’re wrapping your lips around the bright red sweet in a manner that seems far from innocent “what flavour is this?” you hum around the lollipop
yoongi’s mouth goes dry and he swallows thickly “cherry, i-i think. cherry.”
you pull it out from your lips with a pop and stick it back into yoongi’s mouth “i like strawberry more.” you wiggle out of his grip before patting his cheek “alright, i’ll leave you alone now!”
“oh nO you don’t-“ yoongi’s hand darts out and he grabs onto your wrist before tugging you backwards “what makes you think you can get away with doing something like that so easily???”
“because you like me and ur not going to do anyThing about it” you giggle when his fingers dig into your sides playfully
yoongi pauses and raises a brow at you
“…is that a challenge?”
“you tell me” you shrug innocently
you know
you should really learn to keep your mouth shut sometimes
or maybe not
because you’re in a preTty nice situation right now
“you’ll stay nice n quiet for me, won’t you, doll?” yoongi hums against your neck
your skin burns with his touch as he slides his hand over the tops of your thighs before he’s nudging your knees apart so he can settle in comfortably
“no promises.” you giggle softly when you feel his hands sliding underneath your sundress
yoongi pauses all of a sudden and you’re abOUt to retract your statement but then-
“gimme a sec. i’ll be back.”
o
ok
you hear him leave the room and close the door behind him and you start swinging your legs back n forth
and then you stop
oh god
you hope he’s not like.,.,,. puniShing you or anything
he’s not mean enough to leave you high and dry like this right
.,,.,.,.right
yoongi shuts the door behind him as he comes back in
he’s hiding something behind his back
“whatcha got there?”
he takes your chin in between his pointer finger and his thumb and then he taps your bottom lip gently with his thumb “open.”
you part your lips slightly
yoongi slides a lollipop into your mouth and you immediately hum contently
peaches and cream!!!!!!!!
needless to say the lollipop actually does a pretty solid job at keeping you quiet
well
kinda
yoongi might have to pull out his spare bandana or something for extrA reinforcements but he’s kind of preoccupied right now
yoongi’s tattooed arm wraps around your middle and he has a hand gripping your hip as he presses you flush to him
“yoOngi- oh, god, yoongi-“ you gasp
he buries his face in your neck before starting to kiss and suck marks into your skin
“so fucking tight-“ yoongi grunts and you nEarly crunch down on the lollipop when he hits that golden spot
“mmpH-“ you suck exTra hard around the lollipop when yoongi picks up the pace
you can barely keep yourself up
you’re tempted to just floP down on the desk and let him have you like that
each snap of his hips against your lower back is more powerful than the next
ur literally going to break a tooth this lollipop thing was not a good idea
you yank it out of your mouth and it drops to the desk with a clatter
also it was making you drool big time and you don’t know if that’s a particularly sexy look or not
honestly you’re pretty sure yoongi doesn’t care whether you’re loud or not because yOU could care less about your volume
“f-fuck, yoongi,” your eyes roll to the back of your head when yoongi’s hand slithers in between your legs “oh, my god-“ your knuckles turn white as you grip the sides of his desk
“too loud, baby,” yoongi smirks as he nips at your shoulders gently
“s-sorry, ‘m sorry- nngh-“ you can feel his stomach muscles clenching against your back and that only spurs you on
“you gonna cum for me, hm?” you can hear the strain in his voice and you can’t help but feel a liTTle cocky now that you know you have just as much of an effect as he has on you
“c’mon, be a good girl n cum for me…” he rasps against the shell of your ear and that’s all it takes for you to completely loSe it
you immediately slump against the desk as your arms give out
you’re a whimpering mess as yoongi continues fucking you through your orgasm
his hand falls from in between your legs to grip your hip again and he presses soothing kisses along your back
“i wouldn’t suggest going in there if i were you.” namjoon warns as jimin approaches the door to the general office
“why not? and why.,.,. are you sitting out here instead of at the counter.,,.,.”  
“why do you think?”
“yoOngi- oh, god, yoongi-“
jimin gawks and yanks his hand away from the door handle as if it shOcked him “do- do they know we’re all still here???”
“yep.” namjoon hums nonchalantly and flips to the next page of his book “just give ‘em some time.”
“how muCH time??”
“i think half an hour will suffice.”
“by the sounds of it it seems like they’re going to want more than half an hour.” jimin mutters  
okay
you’re pretty sure jungkook was a serial killer in his past life
“sTOP IT yOU PSYCHOPATH” you shriek and make your fouRth round sprinting around the garage
jungkook cackles with glee behind you as he continues pointing the electric drill at you and pushing down on the trigger
you haven’t looked behind you but you can heAR the vRRRt vRt vRRRRTttTTT and you are scared out of your MIND
you made an offhand comment about how you feel like you should start working out and jungkook graciously offered to help you with some cardio
but you didn’t know what would mean him chasing you around the garage threatening to drill a hole into your head
and at first it was funny but now you genuinely think he wants to screw you (not like thAt)
“ooF-“ you stumble riGht into yoongi’s chest and you would’ve fallen flat on your ass had he not reached out and grabbed onto you
“what the hell are you doing??? that’s so dangerous!” yoongi snaps as jungkook finally catches up to you “if you’re going to waste your time by goofing off i’ll make you stay extra late to clean the washrooms - and that goes the same for you, miss ‘i need to finish my essay’.”
uM
why are you getting scolded??? you don’t even woRK here
maybe they’re all psychopaths and its just taken you a while to notice
“oh pLease like you weren’t goofing off earlier” jungkook grumbles and hands the drill over to yoongi
“what are you talking about?”
“don’t act like you weren’t fucking y/n into next week like two hours ago-“
yoongi gives him a warning look and-
vRT VRT
jungkook screeches
ok ya that was not enjoyable now he can see why you were so terrified
“yOoOooooonGGGGGiiiIiI-“
“y/n, i’m really, really busy right now” yoongi points out as he gestures to all the parts lying around him
“i know, but i need you to come here for a sec!!!!” he can SEE how big your pout is even though you’re halfway across the garage
“can’t you wait for like another 20 minutes-“
“pLeEEeEEeeeEEAAaaAaaASssSssEEEEe-“
yoongi lets out a huff and rolls his eyes playfully because he’s pretty sure you’re not going to cut it out if he doesn’t go over to you right now
hoseok snorts when he sees you pull out the puppy dog eyes
“you go take care of that, i’m sure we’ll survive without you for five minutes”
cLAnK
yoongi and hoseok both whIp their heads around to the source of the sound and jungkook’s standing there with a sheepish smile on his face
he just dropped a fuel filter it’s not a big deal
“alright, i’ll be right back.” yoongi tosses the rag over his shoulder before jogging over to you
“what’s up?”
you flip to the next page of the magazine without looking up at yoongi
“i’d like a lollipop please.”
//……r u kidding
yoongi’s eyes flicker to the office door “…you’re like 10 steps away from the office. i was halfway across the garage.”
you put the magazine down and pout up at him “please? strawberry, preferably.”
yoongi narrows his eyes at you and crosses his arms “why am i doing this for you again?”
“because you like me” you respond simply and shrug casually
“ah, i guess you got me there.” he leans down and you grin exciTedly because u always like kissing yoongi
you instinctively lean up and purse your lips
but you’re moRe than surprised when he doesn’t kiss you but hovers over your mouth instead
“you have feet. get one for yourself.” he murmurs lowly
he gives your top lip a gentle little kith before patting your cheek and heading back to the boys
wha-
okay noW you’re definitely getting your dad to sue min mechanics
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chonkychornes · 5 years
Text
Open Arms Part 5
Synopsis: You come back broken from a mission, and the one person who could barely put himself back together is one trying to help you.
Bucky Barnes x Reader
Warnings: Language. Angst. And here’s the smut I’ve been promising. 5 of ? My first reader insert fic, so please be kind, and if you like it, please reblog it? 
Also, this is really for @quant-um-fizzx​ I couldn’t/wouldn’t have done any of this without her help or guidance.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
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Movie night has very few rules; anyone and everyone in the compound was invited. Admission was a contribution towards food, either chip in for takeout or bring something to share. 
That had been eye-opening.
Natasha is especially adept at dips; and not just salsa or ripping open a packet of onion soup powder and dumping it into a tub of sour cream. This girl will customize guacamole to your spice and chunk preference.
She’ll make vats of spinach and artichoke dip without breaking a sweat. And her BLT dip? You don’t want to know what is in it, because you’re certain that it would require an extra two hours in the gym and turning down the personal batch she’ll make just for you to horde in your fridge. 
Then there’s Steve and Barnes: The witless wonders in the kitchen. Although Steve can make a mean soup and he knows just how essential a crockpot is. And Barnes is getting better since he’s instituted dinners with you, where you’ve been teaching him how to cook. 
Sam insists that the only thing he can properly make is breakfast and a Thanksgiving turkey, so basically you’re just counting down the days for him to show up or shut up. 
Banner is the complete dark horse. You like baking; it’s relaxing and you get to make pretty and delicious things. You just don’t have the patience for the fancy stuff. 
Bruce does. 
He makes macarons, pavlovas, and pies with the most intricate and decorative crusts you’ve ever seen outside of a bakery. Two weeks ago he made chocolate souffle and you got so excited that you jumped into his arms and squeezed him tightly. 
The final rule of movie night is that if someone picks the first movie in a franchise, you have to watch all the movies before moving on to something else. Apparently, according to Tony Stark, if you pick The Hobbit … you’re not only watching those three movies, but also The Lord of the Rings trilogy ‘because they’re all set in the same universe and this is my place’.
Tonight marks the halfway point through a franchise and you thank your lucky stars that this one only has five movies in it. You like this franchise, but frankly, Johnny Depp is getting a little old to play a rummed up pirate with a questionable moral compass.
After leaving Natasha in the gym and taking a quick shower you spend the rest of your afternoon making cupcakes. Five dozen to be exact. The clean up took longer than you’d planned, but you still managed to do all the things to yourself. After loading them all up in the massive cupcakes carriers and then into a large box, you exit your quarters only to be met with Barnes. 
You can feel the heat rise in your cheeks when his eyes go wide when he sees the load you’re trying to maneuver and he reaches out to take it from you. “I could’ve managed, but thanks.” 
He gives you a wry smile and glances into the box, “You made cupcakes? What kind are they?” 
Before you can answer him though, he’s put the box down, ripped the lid off the top carrier, grabbed a treat and somehow managed to take the baking paper off and shove the whole thing in his mouth in less than 10 seconds. 
You smirk because he’s going to get a toothache or maybe he’ll choke, but it’s also sort of cute. 
He could still choke though. 
“They’re salted caramel with vanilla buttercream swirled with a caramel drizzle and then topped with sea salt.” You look at him as he groans and you can feel it straight into your bones and various other places. He finally swallows and reaches for another when you reach out to stop him. 
“I made 60, so there’s plenty,” you say, and he has the good grace to look slightly ashamed.” You also have a little buttercream right-” You reach out with your thumb and wipe at the corner of his mouth. Instinctively, his tongue darts to the spot and for whatever reason - only you and your vagina understand - you put your thumb into your mouth. 
His eyes darken and you both stand there for a solid minute staring at the other, daring each other to make a move. When he steps over the box at your feet, your heart jumps. His hands find your hips and he grips you gently and pushes you against your door. You can feel the cool metal of his left hand versus the heat radiating from his right. 
“Tell me to stop,” James whispers, begging you, but you can’t form the words that are caught in your throat. He skims his nose along the column of your neck and up to your ear. He nibbles softly and you melt against him. He thrusts one of his knees between your thighs to help support you and runs his hands up and down your ribcage. 
As you whine softly and grind on his leg he mutters into your ear, “Dracu-ma (fuck me).”
You’ve heard him speak Romanian before. He mutters in the gym while lifting weights. When a glass slipped from his hands just last week when he was doing your dishes. You’re almost certain you heard him mumble disjointed sentences when you both dozed under that maple.
This is different.
And that’s when the world comes crashing down around you. 
If you were going to go down this path with him, it won’t start out in the hallway. 
It won’t be when you can’t even figure out what name you want to call him and just realized you had real-time feelings for him. 
It won’t be when you aren’t sure how to tell him you want him you lo- 
It won’t.
It’ won’t. 
You won’t.
Your body stiffens and he immediately drops his hands, “Did I read this wrong?” His striking blue eyes search yours and you see the concern, tinged with a little fear clouded over into resignation. “I get it,” he says and takes a deliberate step back, remembering to step over the box of cupcakes. 
“James, no.” You dig the heels of your hands into your eyes and contemplate screaming for an hour to release the frustration you’re feeling. “You didn’t read this wrong.” His eyes sharpen on you. “I just … I’m not sure how to tell you what I’m feeling.”
You find yourself in the same situation you were in mere moments before; you’re both staring at each other until he finally speaks. 
“Well, I hope you’re feeling up to movie night,” he says, and bends over to pick up the box and sends you a wink and smile when he straightens. “Steve says the TV is out in the media room and it’s just the three of us tonight, so we’ll see you at our place in a bit.”
He walks away and you slide down the door into a heap on the floor and just sit there for a solid ten minutes before you pull out your phone and send off a text to Steve to make sure he’s still in for his part of the plan (and to talk you down off the ledge you’ve built for yourself.) 
When you let yourself into Steve and James’ quarters thirty minutes later, the scene you find would be comical if you hadn’t had a part in orchestrating it.
Steve is sitting in his favorite cushy armchair with a look of despair and tiredness etched across his features. 
“Boys,” you acknowledge as you enter and notice that at least one of the cupcake carriers has been relieved of at least a dozen treats. 
“Hey, sweets.” James isn’t looking at you and you raise an eyebrow at his slightly dismissive tone and a new spin on a nickname. “Have you seen my copy of ‘At World’s End’?” 
You now realize why he’s on the floor and every movie that belongs to the two men is strewn about.
“I have no idea. How could you have lost it?” You lean against the arm of the couch and watch the show as James scoots around on his hands and knees searching. When you glance over at Steve he rolls his eyes and then stares pointedly at you. 
You clear your throat, “So, who ate all those cupcakes?” James freezes in his tracks, sits up on his haunches, and turns to look at you over his shoulder. 
“I only had that one.” He smirks just enough and then points a finger at Steve who is prepared and has a sheepish look on his face. 
“I can’t resist salted caramel!” He’s protesting and James is laughing at him. You eye him to tell him to take it down a notch or two. “If it makes you feel any better, my stomach is killing me now.” He groans lightly and sinks further into the chair. 
Perfect. 
“Poor baby, can’t handle his sweets.” You wink at him and he flips you off when James goes back to searching. “Hey, Bucky,” you say, and his head swivels slowly around to look at you. “I’ve got the box set. Come over and we’ll order food and leave this child to suffer the consequences of his choices.”
You grab some cupcakes and saunter out, knowing full well that he’ll follow you. 
You offered him movie night and food. 
You called him Bucky. 
And you have some unfinished business. 
Precisely six minutes later, after you somehow manage to put the DVD in and cue it up and light a fat jar candle you have on your coffee table, you’re still waiting for the Tin Man to appear. You assume it’s taking him so long because Steve made him clean up the mess he made, but you suspect that there are just piles of DVDs stacked haphazardly around the living room down the hall. 
When he finally knocks, you call out to tell him the door is open and your voice catches a little in your throat. You walk out of your kitchen as he walks in, holding up two take-out menus. 
“Your choice, I’m fine with whatever.” You don’t mean for the phrase to come out sounding like some double entendre, but it does a little bit. 
He plucks them both out of your hands and considers them seriously for a few moments. “This one,” he hands a menu back to you and walks you back into the kitchen until you hit the island with your ass and he cages you with his arms. “I’ll take two orders of the assorted dim sum, the house special lo mein, and do you like wonton soup, doll?”
You swallow hard. 
There is no way this should feel like foreplay, but it does. 
“I love it. Do you like salt and pepper wings?” he says, nodding, and you reach into your back pocket for your phone. “Then I’ll call it in.” 
When you bring the device to your ear, he backs away and wanders around your quarters.
After quietly finishing the order and telling the restaurant the instructions for when they arrive, you hang up and stare at him. The broad expanse of his back is hunched over as he’s crouched down and looking at some photographs on one of the lower bookshelves. 
He’s been in here, but you usually push him right out the door as quickly as possible after he’s washed the dishes after one of your dinners. 
He never lingers over coffee and conversation.  So, this is the first time he’s investigating your space. You’re not sure you like. 
“My family,” you say softly and he looks over his shoulder at you. “My parents and my older brother died when I was seventeen and my younger sister was only nine.” 
He fingers the edge of the frame before standing but doesn’t say anything. He’s looking at your diploma from Columbia and the few other photos you have when you see him still and his gaze land on a photo of you and Steve. 
You suddenly think that all of this, whatever it is, is a terrible idea. Granted, whatever was between you and Steve is in the past, but that doesn’t mean everyone sees it that way. 
“You look really happy here.” His voice is soft and gentle. You know what picture it is, but have the wherewithal to walk over and look at it with him. 
You were at one of Stark’s galas. It was black tie and the two of you had gone together because it seemed easiest. Both you and Steve were bored quickly, so you made up a drinking game where you took a shot every time a woman (or man) hit on Steve in front of you.
Steve did the same for all the men that hit on you but seeing as he couldn’t get drunk, you turned yourself into a shit show rather quickly. The resulting picture is somewhere between shot numbers seven and ten. 
“I was happy. I was also incredibly drunk, but we had fun that night.” You laugh lightly to yourself, “I tried to convince him to let me throw his shield.” 
“Did he?” He looks into your eyes and smiles, “Because I don’t think you could throw it stone-cold sober.” 
“He didn’t and I can’t.” You shrug and walk towards the couch. “C’mon, let’s start this before the food gets here.”
You press play on the DVD menu and the familiar refrain begins as you side-eye James to see what he’s doing. 
The couch isn’t a loveseat but it isn’t a sprawling sectional either. It’s three-seater and you’ve both made some unspoken agreement that the middle cushion is no man’s land. In fact, you’re pretty sure you haven’t sat this far away from someone while watching a movie on a couch since high school. 
Forty minutes into the movie, the food arrives and you pause to eat and you take the opportunity to steal a few dim sum and settle in a little closer and a little more open towards him. When you start up the movie again, you’ve got one knee up on the middle cushion, body angled towards him slightly, and one elbow propped up on the back of the couch and supporting your head.
He’s not making any moves and you wonder if when you told him to stop earlier, he took it to heart. So, you start doing little things that end getting you closer, inch by inch. You kick off your little house slippers. “You can take off your shoes if you want.” 
Then you reach almost across him to get a fortune cookie that’s sitting on the table in front of him, which gains you a few millimeters. You pretend to crack your back, and at this point, you’re basically straddling the space between your cushion and the middle one. 
At some point, your arm falls to the back of the couch as you react to the scene and when you realize that your hand is on James’ forearm, he’s moving a little bit closer to you. Where you feel shy, he seems sure. His eyes are dark and determined. 
“You could come closer,” you say softly and he shrugs. His eyes flicker back to the screen and then back to you. He’s watching you and only you. 
“I could, but I need you to tell me how to move along with this.” He flips your hand over and his fingertips dance over your palm. So you scoot closer. You know he’s warm and suddenly, your skin has broken out in goosebumps. 
“I feel like there’s been a shift in the last couple of months, between us,” he says low, his voice like a hot coffee with a generous shot of whiskey, and the sound of it sends a bolt of electricity straight to your center. “It feels like there’s been a lot of starts and stops too.”
“I’d have to agree.” You look up at him and find his blue eyes dark with intensity. You rotate your wrist and mirror his actions and run your fingers along his palm and wrist. “There’s something more here, between us, I mean.”
“Of course there is. It’s why I spend all my free time with you.” He slides a little closer and his warm, rough fingers tickle that sensitive skin inside your elbow. “I just need to know what you want. I need you to spell it out for me.”
That’s when you realize that all of this has been foreplay, but where you thought he would take the lead again, he handed it directly to you. 
He wants you to spell it out for him. But he isn’t stupid, he’s playing you like a fiddle. You might have all the power tonight, which you enjoy, but he’s been orchestrating the entire thing. 
What you want is the singular focus in your mind right now, but there’s more buried underneath.
“I … want you.” He moves a little closer and smiles warmly, lips over teeth, but remains silent. 
“I need you… James.” His eyes darken slightly and he reaches for you with that metal appendage and pulls you to him this time and drapes your legs over his thighs. His hand is resting on your knee and you are acutely aware of his proximity.
“I just truly realized it today, but I’ve been feeling something for weeks now.” He shifts you both closer and his hand moves to your thigh. You can feel the muscles jumping, trembling, quivering, waiting for more. 
“I was annoyed because you were everywhere, always.” You huff as he laughs and cocks his head to the side and wets his lips with a quick dart of his tongue. “But I breathe easier when you’re around.” 
He pulls you closer and wraps an arm around your shoulders and you can feel yourself melt into his embrace. 
“It’s like,” you pause as his hand moves to curl around your neck to lightly massage the muscles there. “It’s like I hadn’t realized that I’ve been lost in the desert … that I need water.” 
That’s when he leans in a breadth away, you can see how clear and dark blue his eyes are. The short stubble that you pray will rub you raw in places people can see and places they can’t. 
“Dehydration is a bitch,” he points out and nudges his nose against yours only to pull back and look at you again. 
“I need the water to save me … I need it to be real. ” This time you move closer to him, but there’s barely any room left between you two. 
“This is real. I’m real,” he grips your hand and places it over his heart. “You can take what you need and give what you can. But I’m here now. This isn’t some mirage.”
 It’s now or never because if you can’t make this happen now, you’ll give up or spontaneously combust. 
Or leave and just never come back. 
“I’d give everything to have all of you, Bucky.” There’s a split second hesitation and then his mouth descends upon yours and it’s like he’s giving you the kiss of life because surely you weren’t truly living before this. 
His tongue sweeps across your lips begging for entrance and when you open for him he devours you and you groan in delight and surprise. You can admit now that you had dreamed of this and naturally it’s better than you imagined. 
He’s warm and firm, spicy from dinner and something that you suspect is strictly just him. The hand on your thigh has moved up your ribcage and is dancing up and down when you squeak into his mouth. 
When he pulls away, you give him an impish grin. “I’m a little ticklish.” He smiles and proceeds to dig his fingers into your side until you’re laughing and screaming in delight. 
“Is that your real laugh? I’ve never heard it before,” he says, grinning, and dips in for nips at your lips, cheeks, chin. “I like it.” 
When you smile it makes your cheeks hurt. You realize that ever since you came back, you’ve been holding back those smiles, not giving them your all -  except for this one. It’s full tilt and explosive and maybe a little manic, so your lips find his earlobe and when he shudders under your ministrations you feel it in your core.
He shifts you so you’re straddling his thighs and he’s so thick you can feel the fabric of your jeans straining against the stretch. There are no pretenses anymore. His hands are under your shirt, his thumbs flick over your hardened nipples. You’re trying desperately to garner any friction between the two of you, but the denim you both wear makes it difficult. 
You focus on his lips, his tongue, his hands, on the way he makes you feel; his touch is soft but fevered enough that you know he wants you. He’s tempering his movements for some reason. Maybe he’s worried you’ll be scared or intimidated.
In one swift motion, you pull off your shirt and unclasp your bra. You need his hands on your skin to feel the contrast between cool and warm, the polished and the rough. 
You want his lips on you and just as you look down at him he growls lowly in his throat and attacks. He grasps you by the back of the head crashes your mouth to his, teeth clanking and noses bumping. Chapped lips meeting, caressing. His stubble marking your chin and cheeks.  Tongues sliding wet and hot over each other, trying to claim every bit of real estate possible.  
Your hands are tangled in his hair and as you tug lightly he moans into your mouth and immediately kisses a trail down to your breasts. He licks and nips and sucks until you’re moaning and keening and grinding into him. 
“I need you.” You speak at the same time and the look shared between you two is soft and reverent. 
When he stands up from the couch with you wrapped around his hips, it’s not just sexy; it makes you feel safe and secure in a way you’ve never felt. When he kicks open the bedroom door, it’s with great satisfaction that the room is clean and orderly. 
He drops you softly on the bed and all but rips his long sleeve shirt from his torso while you lay there, propped up on your elbows just watching. It isn’t until he reaches for his belt that you spring into action.  
When you reach out with slightly trembling hands, he stills and looks at you questioningly. You offer him a smile because while you are nervous, it’s the good kind. 
You slide the leather through the buckle and undo the button fly and slide the jeans down to reveal nothing between the rough cotton and the already ready and willing member inside. You look up at him with a cocked eyebrow. 
“What? I don’t even own underwear.” 
You smirk and let him step out before running your hands up and down his bare thighs. His legs are spread shoulders width apart and he looks down at you. He’s breathing heavily and you understand the feeling. When your hands find him, he sucks in a breath and the muscles in his stomach clench. 
You aren’t shy; this is one of your favorite things to do. You delicately lick the head to spread his own moisture and mix it on your tongue. He gasps and his hands grip your shoulders as your mouth sinks down onto him. 
You find and set a pace that works using tongue and a little bit of teeth. Your mouth sucking, slurping, and rolling his balls in one hand. When you bottom out and he hits the back of your throat with little resistance from you, he groans from low in his gut and you can feel it reverberate in his body. 
The hands that had been gripping your shoulders reach under and hoist you up and off of him and he flings you back into the middle of the bed. 
On all fours, he stalks towards you, like a hunter after his prey. 
He reaches for your jeans and rips them off. You’re shocked. You figured something like that might hurt, but even though every nerve ending is firing, you felt nothing. 
“Those are pretty,” he murmurs and you glance down at the lace panties you’re wearing. You shrug. 
“I have plenty more.”
He grins and rips those from your body too. 
You’re both exposed to each other, naked and wanting. The air already lingers with the smell of arousal.
He doesn’t waste any time and crawls between your thighs and spreads your legs before him and sighs contentedly. 
“I’ve heard plenty of guys say a pussy is a beautiful thing, but I never got it ‘til now, sweets.” You’re laughing at the absurdity of his remark as he takes a long swipe, top to bottom and the laughter dies on your lips. 
Immediately your hands are fisted in the sheets, in his hair, clawing at his shoulders and back. His languid movements might be the death of you. 
Not a bad way to go, all in all. 
He’s humming against your nub when he inserts two cold fingers and the contrast between your hot center and his cold metal fingers makes you cum instantly.
You cry out and buck up and see him grin as his eyes meet yours but he won’t remove his mouth or his fingers from you. As you come back down, he adds a third finger and the second climax builds instantly again. 
You can’t catch your breath. 
He has you anchored to the bed with one arm wrapped around a leg and the other arm bringing you to a third, albeit slower orgasm. 
When you come down from that, you can only see stars and the curtain of his hair as he leans over you. 
“You hangin’ in there, sweets?” He leans in to kiss you and you can feel the stickiness in his stubble and on his tongue. 
You nod and feel the immense relief of knowing that he wants to make sure you’re still with him. 
And you are.
 It’s all been leading up to this, you finally realize it. Circling around each other, setting it all up. He’s ingrained himself in your life and now you’ve let him into your personal space. 
You’re both caressing each other waiting for your heart to slow, waiting for just the right moment. 
Because while it isn’t a game at all, sex and all that goes along with it never should be, this has been. It’s not cat and mouse though, it’s more like chess. Strategically testing the waters with each other over the last couple of months, delving in and learning new things. 
He’s like Bobby fucking Fischer as he settles his body between your legs and leans over you.
He’s set his queen right where he wants her. 
As he lines up his head with your entrance, gathering the wetness that lingers there and teasing you all the while. He’s taking too long, far too long. So, you wrap your legs around his hips and pull him to you and when he slides in, you never felt more perfect and full. 
You give a small laugh at the surprised expression on his face and he leans down to kiss you. 
“I want to be with you all night,” he breathes, as his lips drag across your collarbone and you clench around him. “We have all night, sweets.”
He pulls back and pumps back into you slowly, tortuously. You whine already, knowing full well that he can and will prolong this as much as possible. As he keeps up the arduous pace, your hands make trails up and down his biceps and back. Your fingers delicately trace the white and pink scars at his shoulder. 
His elbows cage your head, your legs still locked around his hips, but when you reach up and pepper gentle kisses to that left side. He slows even further. 
“You … you don’t have to …” His voice cracks but he hasn’t stilled his movements. 
“We have all night,” you parrot back to him. “I want my lips on every inch of you.” 
There’s a gleam in his eyes and by a trick of the light you think it might be tears, but it’s gone before you can question him.  He slides an arm under your back and begins to pick up his pace, pulling your hips to his to meet every thrust. 
The mingled sounds of skin on skin and your ragged breaths fill the quiet room until you shove gently at him and he pulls out of you and you move him to his back and you climb on. He twines his fingers with yours and supports your weight as you situate yourself and slide down. 
There’s a slight pain there as you adjust but he gives you a moment, softly kneading your breasts and smiling like a cat that caught the canary. 
As you begin to move he holds your hips softly, gently as you work him up and down, over and over. You have all night, there’s no need to rush. No need to move at a frantic pace. He reaches up and wraps his hands in your hair and pulls you down to catch your lips in a kiss. You’re still moving and the grinding sensation of your clit on his pelvic bone is speeding up this next orgasm. 
He bucks his hips up to meet yours and when the dam breaks you moan into his mouth while he latches onto a hardened nipple. 
You lay on top of him for a moment before he pulls you away and brushes the hair out of your face. You smile weakly at him. 
“I might need a little break,” you mutter as you try to stifle a yawn. “If we really do have all night.” 
He laughs and smacks you lightly on the ass and pulls you off of him and tucks you into his side. 
“We have all the time in the world, sweets.”
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Episode 37 Review: The Message in the Sand
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{ Synopses/Recaps: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }
Last episode, Jean Paul Desmond’s attempt to contact his late wife Erica via séance came to a crashing halt (literally) when the chandelier hanging directly over the glass-top table fell, knocking medium and Conjure Woman Vangie Abbott into a zombie-like catatonic state. Although the séance ended before anyone could establish contact with Erica, the prisoners on Maljardin did receive a message from the beyond in Quito’s writing box. Unfortunately, the only one among them fluent in the ancient language is Vangie herself, who is unable to communicate due to the spell cast over her by THE DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES. Raxl has some knowledge of the ancient language, but it is only enough to get the basic gist and not the whole message, which means that another mystery ferments the brew of darkness on the Island of Evil.
According to Raxl, the grains of rice warn of more accidents and spirits whom Jean Paul has angered, but that is not the entire message. Will she learn what the entire message says before Jacques causes even more disaster on Maljardin?
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Jean Paul cannot believe, after all his playing God and tyrannical behavior on Maljardin, that the spirits could possibly be angry with him.
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Don’t act so shocked, Jean Paul.
Like the last episode, this one picks up where the last left off--meaning, in this case, right after the cliffhanger ending with the writing box. This time, there is no mention of another impending accident, but instead of a much dire consequence of the next séance. “The ancient symbols, the ancient tongue of my people can be translated in many ways, but they all warn of death!” Raxl proclaims.
But Jean Paul doesn’t care. In front of almost the entire cast, he begins a soliloquy about he was so close to making contact with his dear, sweet Erica, and that matters to him far more than either Vangie’s life or his own. But then, along comes SCENE INTERRUPTING DAN, asking him again about the falling chandelier:
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Colin Fox is way overacting in this scene, even by Strange Paradise standards. I don’t think I’ve ever seen even Cosette Lee or David Wells overact this hard.
He marches away to his bedroom and Raxl tells Quito that they need to keep the message intact so that Vangie can read it when she recovers from her trance. Once again, she has forgotten the name of the spirit who is meddling in the affairs on the island:
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Jacques: *pouting* “Oh, Raxl, you forgot about me already? I thought for certain I was far more memorable than that.”
Meanwhile, Jean Paul clutches a bedpost in his fabulous bedroom and ponders who could have stopped him from making contact with Erica:
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Really, Jean Paul? Dan says you have an IQ of 187. You should be able to figure this out.
While Dan recaps to Tim all about the chandelier and about all the suspicious things that happened on the island during the previous week and a half, the master of Maljardin enters his hidden monitor room through his bookcase and records a message to his dead wife:
Erica, you must be near tonight. For a fleeting moment, the séance seemed to have brought us together. When you are alive again and hear this, you will know that I have risked everything to bring you back from your long, lonely sleep. Oh, Erica, I knew the risk, but I must be stronger than that devil on Maljardin! I will win, because nothing must prevent you from joining me again in life! If I lose, I will join you in death, my Erica, and anyone who interferes with us being together again will die!
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Yandere Jean Paul once again.
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Just before this scene, we get a really good shot of the bookcase that disguises the entrance to Jean Paul’s monitor room. I have a weakness for both this bookcase and the ones in the drawing room at Desmond Hall, because the books on them look like the ones in the older sections of the stacks at the library where I work. How I wish I could read their spines and see what kinds of books he’s into!
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This shot when he enters the hidden room makes him look tiny.
His recording to Erica is unusually long in this episode, probably to make up for the lack of tape recorder journal scenes in Week 7. While Tim (who seems to believe Dan’s theories) tells Holly that he believes that Jean Paul slashed Erica’s portrait, the recording continues:
No one will touch you, Erica, or the instruments of your preservation. No man living, no man dead. Oh, my Erica! I can say no more today; I’m tired, but no one must know this, only you because-
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Taken out of context, the dialogue in this scene sounds rather rapey.
Usually, I think of Jacques’ attempts to take over Jean Paul’s body as fantasy metaphor murder. He wants to steal his body and his entire identity, becoming the new Jean Paul Desmond and leaving the old one’s soul either trapped in Hell or suspended in time as indicated in Episode 60. (That is, if we assume that they’re not different sides of the same man and Jacques isn’t just the evil side to his own personality.)
This time, however, all Jacques’ talk of wanting to “use” and “enter” Jean Paul’s body in that menacing yet smarmy tone make me think instead of fantasy metaphor rape. Vampirism may be the most popular fantasy metaphor for rape in fiction, but this scene with its sexual undertones presents demonic possession almost in the same light, at least in this scene. We already know that Jacques isn’t above sexual encounters with questionable consent and that he’s more than willing to seduce women while impersonating Jean Paul (which would equal rape by deception if it led to sex), so it really isn’t much of a stretch.
“Jacques Eloi des Mondes is coming aboard,” THE DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES announces, and he takes over once again:
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HEADACHE FACE!
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Jacques grabbing Jean Paul’s face seems to be the show’s new way of indicating his possession.
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Jacques after he has taken control. His hair even looks a little messy, too, like Jacques’’ in the flashbacks.
He catches a glimpse of Raxl and Quito in the crypt and decides to spy on them. Conveniently, they happen to be discussing the message in the writing box, which we now learn contains symbols meaning “conjure doll” and “silver pin.” She tells Quito that she can’t read the rest of the message, which directly contradicts what she said about it telling of accidents and death last episode and at the beginning of this one. Assuming that this is just a continuity error, we know the following about the message so far:
Another accident is going to take place.
The spirits on Maljardin are mad at Jean Paul. We don’t know which spirits, but I would hazard to guess Dr. Menkin, the Conjure Man, and Erica.
DEATH!
Something involving the conjure doll and the silver pin.
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Raxl reading the message. It looks like a complicated script to read, even compared to the Aztecs’ pictographic writing system and the Incas’ quipu.
“Now I know your secret,” Jacques smirks, “so I can turn you off, Raxl--perhaps someday soon for good.” I’m confused: what secret of hers did he just learn? He already knows that she’s a voodoo priestess and that she’s been searching for the missing conjure doll and silver pin ever since he hid them back in Episode 2. It can’t be the Temple of the Serpent, either, because they go back upstairs instead of entering it at the end of the scene. So, by process of elimination, the answer can only be that he just learned that she can read the ancient language of her people! And, if Jacques doesn’t also know how (and he most likely doesn’t), then the Conjure Man can still communicate with her from beyond the grave!
Back in the Great Hall, Tim and Holly are chatting and he suggests that there might be a hidden tunnel somewhere on the island where they could escape. Just then, Jacques interrupts their conversation and leads Holly away for a private discussion--which turns out to not be so private, because it’s in the dining room, but that’s probably why Quito is standing off to the side of the doorway.
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Sorry, Tim!
While they’re together for their little semi-private meeting, Jacques decides to promote underage drinking:
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Jacques pouring out some wine for himself and Holly like the cool stepdad who lets you drink at 20.
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I love the epithet “prince of the sea” for both Jean Paul and Jacques. It fits both of them so perfectly with their elegance and outwardly regal demeanors.
Quito blocks Tim from entering, but then leaves to visit Raxl again--and yet Tim does nothing while he’s gone? Seriously? Has even Ian Martin gotten bored with Boring Artist Tim now? Or did he just forget about him during his hasty rewriting spree?
Meanwhile, Jacques pressures Holly to reveal the subject matter of her and Tim’s conversation, and she reluctantly agrees after he starts carrying on about secret tunnels:
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More confirmation that Jacques did not build Maljardin. (Remember the Raxl line from Episode 32 where she mentioned that kings inhabited the château before him?)
“I heard Matt Dawson speaking about secret places in the crypt,” she says. “I don’t know where or what; he wouldn’t say! He said it was a secret, that he had given his word.” This is a major change from Martin’s original plans for this episode, which we can see in its Lost Episode summary.
The summary indicates that originally, instead of asking Jacques about secret passages, Holly would have told Jean Paul about the Temple of the Serpent. The version of the summary published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (October 31, 1969) indicates that “she does not know it is a Temple,” but she probably wouldn’t tell him about the room if she didn’t sense that it was important in some way.
Yet another version--this one from the Fitchburg Sentinel (November 4, 1969)--states that the Temple “could be used to destroy Jacques Eloi des Mondes,” which is fascinating. I won’t analyze this bit, though; Curt has already done a brilliant analysis of this summary and how it connects to one of Jacques’ lines from Episode 2, and it’s better and more in-depth than my analysis would have been. I highly recommend it, but beware of spoilers through the end of Maljardin if you’re worried about those.
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He calls himself “Jean Paul Desmond” three times during this scene, as though he’s desperate to prove to her that he’s not Jacques Eloi des Mondes, but Jean Paul Desmond. It’s hilarious.
But back to the broadcasted version of the episode. Jacques is intrigued by what Holly says and tells her to search for the passage with him in the crypt. Once again, she agrees, being as captivated by Jean Paul Desmond as she is.
On their way down to the crypt, Jacques tells Dan that he can leave the island when he wants to, and Dan responds by threatening again to tell the cryocapsule. Needless to say, Jean Paul is going to reverse this when he finds out what Jacques said, thereby making him look even more insane than before.
When they arrive in the crypt, Jacques asks Holly where she thinks the secret room is, but she doesn’t know. Somehow neither she nor he has ever found the glaringly obvious door on the crypt wall. I have a headcanon that centuries have gone by without anyone discovering the not-so-hidden door on their own, simply because Raxl and Quito haven’t pointed it out to them. Somehow no one notices the doorway, and it stretches my willing suspension of disbelief farther than anything else on Maljardin.
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Jacques tampering with the Conjure Man’s message.
But he drops the subject of the secret room as soon as he finds the writing box. He crosses his hands on top of it, lifts them, and poof! The message is rearranged. And then, through the power of Headache Faces™, Jean Paul regains control over his body:
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This is his ugliest headache face so far.
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Here, have a photo of Jacques smiling from earlier in the episode to wash out your eyes.
Jean Paul chases Holly out of the crypt and tells Quito that he must stay in the crypt and guard the capsule. He pronounces it the British way (”cap-syuel”) instead of how he normally says it (”cap-suhl”). Since normally only Alison and Vangie pronounce “capsule” that way, it appears that their pronunciation of the word is rubbing off on him. (It’s already rubbed off on me. I’m not kidding. The more time I spend re-watching this show instead of socializing, the more I start to talk like these characters--and I don’t even mind.)
Raxl and Quito--who came running back to the crypt when Jean Paul shouted at Holly--go to retrieve the writing box and bring it into the temple, which they decided not to do earlier when they really should have done so. But then she opens it and discovers that most of the message is gone!
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Raxl: “There is only one message now: death!”
Coming up next: Alison discovers more clues to the mystery of Erica’s death.
{<- Previous: Episode 36   ||   Next: Episode 38 ->}
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finn0 · 5 years
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All the houses I’ve lived in
1. 94 Queens Rd, New Lambton, NSW
My parents current house since 1989 and the house I’ve had sex with the most people in. A regular two storey house opposite bush on a nice street with neighbours that don’t talk to you (perfect). 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms with air con, a big fireplace, pool and massive garage. Lovely, but I don’t expect to inherit it so the attachment must remain minimal.
2. 11 Cobb Ct, Annandale, QLD
Okay formative toddler years were spent here. A tropical style bungalow with the lowest ceilings you’ve ever seen and even lower hanging ceiling fans (take off your shirt with caution). A massive pool constantly populated with cane toads year round that saturated the yard with chlorine every time a cyclone blew through. More floor space than is necessary for anyone. Horrible, angry neighbours that hated children. Short walk to shops, no air con despite Townsville being the armpit of the country. I spent almost all of time sitting on a Big Bird beanbag watching Sesame Street and screaming in abject terror every time there was a toad sitting in the toilet bowl (which was worryingly frequent).
3. 27 Woodrose Cres, Sinnamon Park, QLD
Literally the ugliest house I’ve ever seen in my life. Gaudy, over-tiled, far too big for any family, nothing but white tiles everywhere and not a tree, nor plant, nor weed in the backyard, just grass the colour of hay. Who in Brisbane requires an attic? Who requires THAT many bedrooms? What the FUCK is that suburb name? This house we thankfully lived in for no more than 7 months but good God what a relief.
4. 45 Clarence Rd, Waratah, NSW
My grandmother Bessie’s house. We lived there for a year while I was in pre-school and while my parents house was being renovated. Absolutely fascinating house that each grandchild loved to visit. The most bizarre things were to be found there. First of all it was a regular 2 bedroom home with gaudy wallpaper and a 1950′s kitchen and bathroom, plenty of living space etc. BUT the bizarre flat that was downstairs under the house that was built for my great-grandmother to inhabit was like stepping a 1950′s motel room. Pea green bathroom, pink kitchen, rising damp, mouldy wallpaper, dust upon dust upon bugs upon discarded venetian blinds. Oh my goodness it was amazing down there. It smelled like a nursing home. PLUS under the house was this enormous space all covered in dirt and other crap and trinkets and sheets. ZERO light penetrated this space and therefore was the best place to crawl around and get spooked. The laundry, also under the house, had high ceilings that were stained a Jackson Pollock amount of colours from years of laundry and rising damp and rain leaks AND leading from under the cupboards in the kitchen upstairs was a laundry chute that led all the way down to the laundry WHICH smaller grandchildren could actually fit into and snake their way down to avoid the prying eyes of older cousins during games of hide and seek. Until you were too big to fit. Like I found out one day. Not an easy search and rescue mission, I’ll tell you that. OH AND the back bedroom had some creepy as shit naked dolls with no hair and meth eyes that rolled back in their head along with like strange 60′s childrens paraphenalia and tiny trinkets that I later found out were things like ACTUAL jewels from Scotland and vintage broken Rolex watches. Also I remember sleeping in that room in my mothers childhood single bed while she slept next to me in another, while my father slept next to my grandmother in a separate single bed in her room (why??). Later after she died, new owners bought the place and my mother met them after a few years and asked if they thought the place was haunted to which they replied an unequivocal “YES”, my mother then asked if they left dishes out in the sink of a night, to which they replied “.....yes” and Mum was like “Well that’s the culprit, my mother would NEVER allow that” and the look of understanding coupled with genuine fear cements the fact that my grandmother was and is a motherfucking force to be reckoned with, alive or dead.
5. 7/58 High St, Randwick, NSW
I moved to Sydney! Why? I don’t know! My partner was doing a degree at UNSW and I went with him because I was 21 and couldn’t stand my parents any longer so I buggered off. Now. This apartment was a second floor walk-up in a WW1 era building opposite a hospital and BEHIND a Coles loading dock. Plus there was a screaming autistic Arabian child downstairs and the loudest dog you’ve ever heard next door. Serene. Peaceful. Damaging to the psyche. We lived with my partners brother which was fine, but that place not only had no heating nor ceiling fans it also had no flyscreens. I didn’t even have my own set of keys. I shared ONE set of keys with my partner for two years. Fucking ridiculous. Yes, the food nearby was good. Yes, I commuted back to Newcastle most weekends to keep my casual job. Yes the neighbours were fascinating, ranging from the American guy across the way who never ever closed his bathroom window and gave me many shows of his frankly monstrous penis, to the chainsmoking nurse below who had a permanent frown despite living across the street from her work, to the Koreans downstairs who constantly cooked delicious barbecue while pretending to not speak English, to the gorgeous gay couple who lived above us who could add a new synonym to the dictionary to define “unfriendly”. We got out just before the new light rail was to begin construction right outside our building, but regardless, because of all the noise that surrounded that place before that, I now can sleep through the sound of a fucking jet engine roaring right next to my face.
6. 145 Wilson St, Carrington, NSW
Back to Newy! Okay so this was the first house we even Googled when looking for a new place back in Newcastle, and weirdly, we got it!. It was a tiny cottage in a harbourside suburb that was across the the street from wheat silos that are literally the size of Windsor castle. The day we moved in, a representative of the Port Authority knocked on our door and told us that if we ever heard a particular siren, that it meant the silos were on fire and an explosion was imminent and that we would have about 10 minutes to evacuate before half the city was Hiroshima-ed. Lovely welcome. We heard that siren (or a siren at least) about 50 times in the 2 years we were there. Pretty alarming, as it were. Anyway, the house was literally 3 rooms and a kitchen, 2 tiny cubicle afterthought bathrooms, and a nice big back deck. Now I was happy there, it had everything I needed, it was pleasant. I had a good garden going and I really learned to cook there. Carrington is where my family is originally from, and it was easy to walk everywhere and I loved the history of it. However, our landlord was a Chinese lady called Winnie who could not have misunderstood the concept of landlord responsibilities less. Any repairs or things we needed, she was not just unavailable but actively apathetic. It was like pulling teeth to get her to even communicate to the property manager in even basic English in regards to anything we required. Our neighbours on one side were a lovely couple with 2 babies but they had a dog called Trippi that would bark whenever someone in the opposite hemisphere coughed, and on the other side were a couple in their 70′s who were both suffering dementia, constantly screaming at each other and who also had two elderly dogs that would bark whenever someone nearby inhaled. For two years I heard literally nothing except Matt’s piano, Trippi barking, the other dogs barking, the neighbours angrily SCREAMING at one another, wheat silo alarms, screeching train tracks and coal tankers blasting their horns as they entered the harbour. Again, seasoned professional, can sleep through anything.
7. 46 Garden Grove Pde, Adamstown Heights, NSW
Alright, so two friends of mine, also a couple, were living in a tiny half house situation and also wanted out of their place, so we decided to all move in together, into a place that was much larger and that we could all collectively afford. So we found this lovely large house with 4+ bedrooms so that we could all have our own space and get on rather well. And it worked out! My partner and I had a great big bedroom, Matt had his own study, we had a library, a music room, and my friends had an enormous bedroom downstairs plus a huge bathroom/laundry AND there was 3 tiers of yard that we grew all sorts of vegetables in, plus it had a driveway that looped around (I would call it a plantation driveway?) so heaps of space for everyone. It was great, plenty of space for guests which we had a lot of, plenty of outdoor areas for entertaining, it was wonderful. But unfortunately my friends relationship ended and an old friend took one of their places for a year (also fine) but eventually it turned out that the place was getting sold and after literally months of surprise inspections and open houses we’d all had enough and decided to move out separately. Now this so far has been my favourite place. It was 10 minutes to work, everyone had their own space and we lived, I think, pretty well harmoniously together. But nothing good lasts so now...!\
8. *** Kings Rd, New Lambton, NSW
From Queens Rd to Kings Rd! We found a gorgeous house right near a train station that I am currently in and pretty happy with. For the first time I have ceiling fans again plus air con and FOUR bedrooms that I barely know what to do with. Currently I’m sitting in my study surrounded by all my books with the fan on typing this out and it feels good to have my own space for a change and actually have trouble furnishing a house as opposed to making concessions about what I keep and what I can’t. I’ve planted a veggie garden, I have my kitchen the way I want, and the house has been renovated, re-carpeted, painted and made livable for a modern couple. We have spare space for guests (or a spare room for me when I don’t want to wake up Matt when I go to bed at 3am, but that’s the sleep pattern of a shift worker) and overall I feel good about it. Finally. I’ve been looking for a good home to just COME HOME to for ages and for a long time I haven’t really felt that. My last home was lovely, but honestly 3 tiers of gardens to maintain and roommates (though they remain dear friends) are just not what I want to deal with anymore. Actually not even that, I’d be fine with roommates, but it’s just nice to feel like I have MY house and it’s mine to come home to.
Anyway, apologies for this long post, and I know barely anyone will read it, but I started this blog TEN years ago so and I don’t have a print journal to write all of this stuff in, so I might as well talk here. HOUSES! If they’re not haunted, then where’s the drama we so desperately crave?
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minsugapie · 6 years
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Blind Date
Happy Birthday, Jung Hoseok! <3 
(A quick one-shot in honour of Hobi’s birthday on February 18… and also because I love him with my entire heart. I could go on and on about Hobi, but we’ll leave that for another day. X Doll)
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“Oh, my god, would you please just be happy that I set you up on a blind date?” Your best friend groaned, trying to divert your attention away from the novel you were currently trying to finish before tomorrow. You planned to read a book a week this year, and it was definitely her fault that it was not getting done. 
Looking up, you glared at your best friend. “Ugh, you know how I feel about going out with strangers. Why are you doing this to me?”
She was currently rummaging around her makeup bag, trying to pick out the best eyeshadow palette for my complexion, whatever that even meant. “Because, all you ever do is stay in and read. Don’t you want to experience one of those romances that you always read about?”
Of course you wanted to experience them, but as of right then, you were content being the hermit that you were. You had plenty of time for romance. “None of them start with a blind date…” You mumbled, hoping she didn’t hear you, but she did. 
“God, Hoseok is such a nice guy. I promise you’ll like him. Please just do this for me?” You could never say no to her, even when she was destroying your chances at succeeding in your reading resolution. 
“Fine! Just don’t make me wear a whole lot of makeup. I at least want to look somewhat natural,” you reasoned, setting your book down with a sigh. 
Her hands were instantly all over you, and you knew you were going to regret this. “I promise you’ll still look like you. Just trust me. When have I ever steered you wrong, babe?”
You shook your head. She had pretty poor judgement most of the time, so you didn’t actually want to answer that question out loud. 
After fussing around for an hour, you were ready with completed makeup, styled hair and fancily clothed. At least she let you wear some nice trousers instead of a dress. 
“Namjoon is going to be so happy that you agreed. I could not imagine having to let my dear boyfriend down by telling him that my best friend would not go on a date with his best friend,” she pouted, kissing the side of your head. Normally, she would go for a cheek, but there was a whole lot of blush there right now. “Now let’s go. I told Joonie that you’d get there first!”
“Wait! Let me at least bring my book for the wait,” you argued, not taking on as an answer. You made sure that all of your purses were big enough to stick a book in them. She shook her head at you. 
“You’re such a nerd,” she laughed on the way to the restaurant. It was pretty fancy, and you wondered if you were going to have to opt for the salad instead of a main course because of the price. 
Giving you a hug for good luck, she told the hostess that you were there under her and Namjoon’s reservation. After getting set up at the table, you were given a water. 
“I’ll be back once your guest arrives,” she said, bowing slightly. She nodded, not sure what else to do. 
When she was out of eye shot, you opened your book. You only had 60 pages left until you were finished, and you could have easily finished it tonight if it wasn’t for this date. You only got to read about 4 pages before the chair across from yours became occupied. 
You looked up to meet the man’s eyes. He was smirking at the book in your hands, so you quickly closed it and shoved it back in your bag. “Hoseok?” You asked, tucking a piece of hair behind your ears. You were nervous. You’d never been confident enough for this kind of thing. 
“Y/N?” He answered, taking a sip of the water. 
“Hi, I’m Jill, and I’ll be your server tonight. I’ll give you a few minutes with the menus… and to get better acquainted.” Jill seemed like she understood the situation. 
Hoseok smiled at Jill. “Thank you.”
You both opened up your mouth to say more to each other, but you laughed and let him speak first. “So what book are you reading?” He couldn’t have asked a better question than that one. 
A small smile grew on your face as you withdrew your book from you bag once again and began to talk about it. 
You didn’t notice, but Hoseok didn’t even pay attention to the book. He’d seen you before. In fact, he’d had an eye on you for a long time. The first time he saw you reading was at a random coffee shop that he visited simply to get his caffeine fix. But there you were, frown on your face, completely taken by the words on the paper. 
He’d seen you again at the same place, at the same time, at the same table. He started visiting the shop to watch you read, opting to do his homework at a table that faced yours. Some would call him creepy, but he was just fascinated. One day, Namjoon came with him to the coffee shop. Hoseok wanted to show him the girl that he was sure he was going to marry one day. 
“Y/N?” He had asked Hoseok, pointing to her discreetly. 
“You know her name?” Hoseok had seemed so surprised. 
“She’s my girlfriend’s best friend and roommate. I literally see her almost on a daily. She never leaves at night. All she does is stay in and read,” Namjoon had explained. He definitely thought you were a pretty girl, but he didn’t really know what Hoseok saw in you in that moment. In a softer and more curious tone, he had continued, “Why her?”
Hoseok simple stared at you for a few seconds before answering. “I have no idea. I just want to know what goes on in that busy brain on hers.”
“I can ask my girl if she’s willing to go on a blind date?”
Hoseok looked at Namjoon curiously. With a nod of his head, he had agreed. He would have done whatever to meet you.
Now, looking at you speak about your book so passionately and eloquently, sounding extremely educated, he knew that he had made the right choice that day with Namjoon. 
You stopped talking abruptly with an apparent blush on your cheeks. You just went off, and you knew that your best friend hated when you did that. Putting the book down, you added, “I’m sorry for talking so much. I’m just really nervous, and it just gets worse.”
Hoseok took a sip of his water, meeting your eyes. His direct actions made you blush even harder. “I like listening to you.”
“Y-you do?” You asked, needing a drink of your own water. 
At this second, the waitress came back. You realized that you had forgot to even look at the menu. “I think I need another minute, I’m sorry.”
Hoseok smiled at the waitress again and chuckled to himself. Opening the menu he said without looking at you, “Order whatever you want. It’s on me tonight.”
Your head popped out from behind the menu. “I can’t make you pay! It’s too much. Let me get my own check, Hoseok.”
“Call me Hobi,” he said, running his fingers through his hair. You admired how perfect he could look without even trying. He had a sexy demeanour, and you were sure that if you’d seen him before this, than you would have likely developed a crush on him. “And I asked Namjoon to ask your friend for this date, so it’s on me. Actually, it’s kind of a birthday present because my birthday is tomorrow.”
You were taken aback by this revelation. He knew who you were before sitting at this table? “How? Wha…”
“It doesn’t matter, really. I’m just happy that you agreed to tonight,” he said, putting his menu down and looking at you again. 
His eyes bore right into yours, and you thought about where he’d seen you before. Before you could comment again, your waitress popped up. She really did have interesting timing. 
Hoseok was first to order, but you also realized that you still didn’t know what you wanted. “I’ll have what he’s having,” you managed, not even hearing what he had ordered. 
Hoseok was becoming more interesting by the second. You could tell that there was a side of him that he was hiding, most probably a goody, childish side of himself. This was a fancy place, and since he had actually requested this date, you assumed he was trying to impress you. 
The rest of the dinner went by smoothly, and although you both got alone so well and had great chemistry, you realized that you had practically nothing in common. 
Hoseok was in school for dance and music production. You were in accounting (but what you really wanted was to become an author one day). 
Hoseok loved to go out and have fun. You loved to stay in. 
Hoseok wanted to travel the world. You were content living here for the rest of your life. 
Regardless of those things, the two of you were a hit. 
When you realized that the two of you had been eating and talking for over 2 hours, you were amazed at how time flew with him. He seemed to be letting more of his real self show, allowing his boisterous laugh and silly faces shine through his poised exterior. 
When it was time for the two of you to leave the restaurant, you wondered how the night would end. Would you be simply dropped off and never talked to again? Would he even ask- 
Your thoughts were cut off by his arm slipping around your waist and his fingers resting right below your breast. His touch set you on fire, and he wasn’t even doing anything. The last time you’d been touched by a man was the summer before you started university. You’d vowed off men for the time being, claiming they were a waste of time. That thought was heavily influenced by a shitty ex-boyfriend who was a terrible influence on you and those around you. Your best friend had warned you about him too. 
After paying and leading you to his car, he paused near the passenger door. “How do you feel about a drive? I want you to myself for a little longer.”
A smile graced your lips, and you agreed, placing a soft his on his cheek. You felt comfortable with him, and with his body language, you knew he wanted to kiss you. A small cheek kiss was not enough to make you embarrassed at this point. 
He opened the door for you and you buckled yourself in, getting ready for the drive. You didn’t pay attention where he was going. You were distracted by him. He looked beautiful in profile. When you were biting your lip, trying to force yourself to look at the road instead of at him, he spoke, “what are you thinking about?”
You knew you needed to grow a pair, and your best friend told you all the time to go after what you wanted, so you took a deep breath and looked at him. “Actually, I really just want to hold your hand.”
He seemed surprised at your wish, but he opened his hand up to yours nonetheless. The drive lasted for about half and hour with not much talking. It mostly consisted of the two of you singing along to the radio and having fun dancing. You even stopped quickly at a corner store to get a cheap cup of coffee. 
All too soon, you were giving him directions back to your place. When he pulled up, he parked the car and turned off all the lights. Neither of you spoke for a few moments, relishing in the proximity and comfort of the other. 
A thought you had all night that had been gnawing at you was the way that his lips that framed his perfect teeth would feel against your own. You wanted his teeth to bite you lips, and you wanted his hands to wind themselves into your hair. All this while, your eyes were focused on your hand that wasn’t being held by his. 
You weren’t a chicken. You could kiss him properly. You had to kiss him properly. You would regret it if you didn’t. Checking the clock, you realized that it was past midnight. 
“Y/N, I ha-”
“Happy Birthday, Hobi.” His words were the invitation that you needed to swiftly connect your lips with his. You disconnected your hands and grabbed his neck, pulling him into you. He responded instantaneously, so you knew that he wanted this too. 
Hoseok’s hands grabbed hold of your hair, exactly what you wanted him to do, and held your face impossibly closer to his. His lips were soft against your own, and you liked it, you really did, but you wanted more. 
When you tried to open your mouth to his, he pulled back, looking you in the eye. Breathing slightly deeper, he said, “Go out with me again.”
It wasn’t a question. He knew you’d agree to his words. “Kiss me.”
He chuckled, pulling you closer to the counter console of his car. Whispering against your ear, he replied, “I want to take it slow.”
“So you don’t want to kiss me?” You tried to pull back, mind already retreating back into your comfort zone —your bedroom. 
“Quite the contrary, jagiya. I’ve never wanted to kiss someone so much,” his lips were brushing yours with each word, “I just want us to experience things in a different setting, and not in the front seat of my car.”
“Okay. I like that idea… but for now?”
“Mmm?” 
“Just kiss me.” You, rather gracefully for yourself, moved so that you were straddling his lap in the front seat. His lips were still brushing yours, and with this new position, it was much easier to be close to him. 
With a smile on his face, he pulled you into him. His hands were tight on your hips and his tongue skillfully slipped into your mouth.  Your fingers ran through his soft hair, and he groaned, clearly liking the feeling of you. 
Your lips moved roughly in sync, and you knew that the would be swollen. Neither of you cared about taking it easy. Your second wish of having his teeth bite your lips came true as he grabbed your bottom lip and pulled it. Your hips subconsciously ground into his, and you could feel his bulge growing. 
His hands held your hips tighter to his own, increasing the friction that you both craved. His lips felt their way down to your jaw and then to a spot on the bottom of your neck, beginning to suck. He wasn’t sucking hard enough to make a mark, it was all for pleasure, and you thought it was so hot. 
“Hobi, please,” you forced his lips away from your neck and back to yours. You wanted his tongue on yours once again. You’d just had an amazing supper together, but he was the real meal. 
His hands that were tight on your hips were moving up the back of your shirt, feeling skin, sending tingles throughout your body, letting butterflies loose in your stomach. 
There would be no removal of clothes because of his wanting to take it slow, but that did not mean that you couldn’t stick your hands up the front of his shirt either. His lips were sloppier on yours than they were before, breathing in with each kiss, savouring every bit of you that he could. 
Suddenly, you heard a tap on the driver’s window.
The two of you disconnected the kiss and looked to see who it was. You were met with the faces of Namjoon and your best friend. The both of them were looking at the two of you with amused looks on their faces. 
Hoseok, while trying to catch his breath, rolled down his window. “What the fuck are you doing out so late?”
Namjoon shrugged with a glint in his eye. “We went for a late night stroll.”
You smiled at his words, covering your face with your hands. “Oh, my god.”
Your groan made that two of them laugh and they decided to leave you alone for a minute. 
“Hobi, I should probably head to bed,” you said, attempting to get yourself off his lap. As soon as you were standing outside the car, you felt empty and cold. You could also see the situation that you’d created on Hoseok’s lap. 
He saw your stare and quickly covered himself before getting out of the car as well. “It’s fine. I’ll deal with it later.”
“If you’re sure…” You hesitated. 
“Just give me your phone.” He quickly typed his number in and sent himself a message. It made you so happy that this was not going to be a one time thing. 
Taking a step closer to him, you stepped up and softly connected your lips one more time. “Goodnight. Happy Birthday.”
Smiling into the soft kiss, he pulled back. As he tucked a piece of hair behind your ear, he replied, “Goodnight. Have a good sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
“Bye.”
“Goodbye.”
Your little exchange was so funny because you tripped over your flats, falling into the door to the apartment building. 
When you made it into your apartment, you quickly fell onto your bed and replayed the night over in your head. You couldn’t believe you almost didn’t go tonight. Hoseok was perfect, well, he was perfect for you. 
————————
MASTERLIST
47 notes · View notes
do all the evens on that unusual asks post from like 12 posts ago
Bitch, that's a LOT 👀
2. is your room messy or clean?
Messy for the most part of the week. Then I get into the Marie Kondo mode and swipe up everything to the point it looks like a fucking Ikea show room.
4. do you like your name? why
Nein. If it was with a C instead of a K maybe I would like it better. Also the meaning is ugly.
6. describe your personality in 3 words or less
vide noir
8. whar kind of car do you drive? color?
I'M BI, I CAN'T DRIVE AKDNSK (I have the license though, still don't know how did I make it lmao)
10. how would you describe your style?
Hmm a mix of simple vintage, basic with a hint of modernity.
12. what size bed do you have?
Big enough for me and my stack of books laying down next to me, not big enough for tall people 💀
14. if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?
IRELAND. I've been obsessed with that country since high school (hello 10 years of crying). I just need a place in the countryside where it's not too hot and where I can enjoy nature and peace. Also Irish people seems to be on the same reckless wave as I am, so 😂
16. favourite makeup brand(s)
I don't care really. The cheaper and working, the better!
18. favourite tv show?
Random order: Russian Doll, Misfits, Breaking Bad, Queer Eye, Good Omens, Stranger Things, In The Flesh, Sense8.
20. how tall are you?
5.2-5.3 or 159cm 😭
22. do you go to the gym?
Not right now. I used to go back in time, though. I did functional training and crossfit for a while.
24. how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment?
Not enough for chickin nuggets :(
26. how many pillows do you sleep with?
6. I sleep on 2, the other ones are for hugging because I'm the lonlies bitch on this planet.
28. how many friends do you have?
EHM. Irl maybe 2. Online a few more... maybe 3 😂
30. what's your favourite candle scent?
Berries, vanilla, sandalwood, cinnamon.
32. 3 favourite girl names
Juniper, Eden, Aoife
34. favourite actress
Hmm nobody in particular at the moment.
36. favourite movie
Dead Poets Society, the majority of Wes Anderson's movies, Being There, The Fall
38. money or brains?
Why can't I have both?
40. how many times have you been to the hospital?
For an operation, only once. In ER for minor thigs I guess 3 times.
42. do you take any medications daily?
Dumb bitch juice.
44. what is your bigger fear?
Not having financial stability.
46. what's your go to hair style?
Messy hay nest or a bun.
48. who is your role model?
I don't think I have any... I mean, there are some people that I really admire but I don't know if I could define them as my role models.
50. what was the last text you sent?
"I'M HORNY FOR THAT NECK"....... I'm-....
52. what is your dream car?
Maybe a Mini or the new Fiat 500. Idk, something small 'cause I fucking fear big cars.
54. do you go to college?
Not anymore.
56. would you rather live in rural or the suburbs?
RURAL
58. do you have freckles?
I wish. God didn't gave me freckles 'cause otherwise I'd be too powerful.
60. how many pictures do you have on your phone?
+1300
62. do you still watch cartoons?
Sometimes, yes!
64. favourite dipping sauce?
BBQ, I think.
66. have you ever win a spelling bee?
WE DON'T HAVE THESE IN EUROPE
68. can you draw?
Yes, or at least I think I can lol.
70. what was the last concert you saw?
The love of my life, mister Hozier 😭 I miss him so much, it's been almost exactly 7 months as we speak.
72. Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?
Bitch, my maroccan breadmaker from the other side of the river.
74. what is your crush's first and last initial?
I have only one crush. I mean, we all know on this godamn clusterfuck of a blog that I love only one man that doesn't know I exists :')
76. what color looks best on you?
I don't know... I love wearing black, though 🖤
78. do you sleep with your door open or closed?
When I'm home alone - open. When people are around - closed.
80. what is your biggest pet peeve?
Lazy and disrespectful men.
82. favourite ice cream flavour?
vanilla, pistachio, cherry
84. chocolate or rainbow sprinkles?
BITCH BOTH
86. what is your phone background?
Tumblr media Tumblr media
88. do you like it when people play with your hair?
Y E S
90. do you wash your face? at night? in the morning?
Both.
92. have you ever been drunk?
Yes, of course 💀
94. favourite lyrics right now
"You never loved me
I came all the way through time and space
To take you away and out of this place
You're an emerald in the sky
You light up the night by blinking you eyes
I'll cry and I'll cry if your light ever dies"
AND OF COURSE AND STILL:
"True that I saw her hair like the branch of a tree
A willow dancing on air before covering me
Under cotton and calicos over canopy dapple long ago
True that love in withdrawal was the weeping of me that the sound if the
Saw must be known by the tree must be felled for to fight the cold
I fretted fire but that was long ago."
AND
the whole "In The Woods Somewhere" song
96. day or night?
NIGHT
98. favourite month?
October, December but also March/April when it's still kinda crisp but you can enjoy the first warm sunlight and the nature that comes back to life 🖤
100. who was the last person you cried in front of?
Idk, I cry all the time when I'm alone.
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Text
If You’re Still Breathing
This story involves Michael, Mutt, Jeff, a main original character and some minor original background people. It attempts to fill in some of what happened between the Apocalypse and Michael’s arrival at Outpost 3. I’m a fan of being inspired by music, so each chapter (and IYSB) are named based on what I was listening to when I wrote it. There is also smut, but it’s pretty soft, I think. This is not complete, needing at least 2 more unwritten chapters to resolve the story.
Characters: Michael Langdon, Mutt Nutter, Jeff Pfister, mention of Ms. Mead. Original main character because I don’t like first-person. Tag requests: @thelangdoncooperative , @ccodyfern
Word count: 5,073
Chapters 1-4 Warnings: some sexual content, blood, gore, death. Chapter 1: “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid”  Outpost 2 was easily the largest, most technologically advanced of the bunch. The inhabitants wanted for nothing. Expanded from the historic Greenbrier Bunker in White Sulphur Springs, Outpost 2 had private rooms for 25, and dorm rooms for another 50. There were two 250,000-gallon water tanks, and 2 50,000-gallon diesel fuel tanks. All ventilation had radioactive particle filters and clean air circulators, plus there was water filtration, bunker to surface vault doors that needed 50 pounds of pressure just to unlock, and even recording and broadcasting equipment. The upgrades from the 60’s included hydroponic agriculture & livestock annexes, solar power, hydroelectric power, an armory, and for some reason a bowling alley. You name it and they had it. Unfortunately, it had a little too much of some things. And by things, I mean people. And by people, I mean two individuals in particular. Mutt Nutter and Jeff Pfister. They were the outpost designers, and they never let any of the inhabitants forget that they were alive because of them. “You want me to what?! Check the irrigation drains under the northwest crops? I don’t need to do anything; those fucking freeloaders can do it. I already saved humanity once!” They weren’t any better with each other. “You see this coffee, asshole? Tanzanian Golden Black Sky Desert Roast! If it wasn’t for me, you’d be eating nutrient cubes back in California!” “You’re the one who fucked up and put us here after I SPECIFICALLY said to put us in the Bahamas! I should be balls deep in Jennifer Lawrence right now, but instead we’re trapped with these fucking gremlins!” And that was just banter over breakfast. The others chalked it up to the price for surviving in splendor, and left them to their drugs and robots. The Outpost was light on entertainment personalities, but heavy on scientists, politicians and inventors. Many of the people who were meant to be there hadn’t made it, but certain people, mostly Cooperative members, had been given a heads up, and were already underground when the bombs hit. Grace had been one of the first people to arrive, but she wasn’t in the Cooperative or a billionaire. She was just a special education therapist who’d moved to White Sulphur Springs from California 3 years ago.   *********
There at the base of the stairs, Grace smiled. “I thought it had to be you. You sent me the card with the Cooperative ID, didn’t you?” “I did. I wish I could have collected you myself.” “But why?” “I needed you. There wasn’t time then, but there is now.” Grace watched his eyes. The bright blue she’d grown so accustomed to now looked like moonlight on an ocean. “What’s happened to you? Are you okay? Where’s Ms. Mead? Did she… oh no. She didn’t make it did she?” “No.” He stared straight ahead, pretending he didn’t feel; a move she’d seen before when he was trying to not cry. A tear slipped out and she watched it roll down his newly chiseled features. She reached out her hand to wipe it away then stopped. He had never liked surprise touching.  In a soft voice she said, “I’m sorry, I forgot to ask first. I won’t touch you without your permission again, I promise.” But he wasn’t the same boy next door she remembered that was full of anger, swinging from sweet to vicious with no warning. Surprisingly, he stepped closer and enveloped her in his arms. Suddenly buried in his cloak, she relished the embrace. It felt good to be held, and it felt good to know that Michael had become more comfortable with touching. There, in the folds of his cape, she breathed him in, inhaling the scent of burnt wood mixed with something metallic. Electric. Grace realized he smelled like a battery tasted. She had to fight the urge to lick him to see if her tongue tingled. Instead, she laid her cheek on his chest and sank into the hug. Then her former boy next door leaned in and whispered, “But you want to touch me, don’t you?” His lips brushed against her ear and she reeled, feeling like she’d just been sucker punched in the libido. She didn’t know what had come over her, but she could barely restrain herself from grabbing at him, pushing him to the floor, wrapping herself around him and eating him alive. Her hands tightened on him for a moment, threatening to tear his skin right through his clothes. Then she forcefully pushed him away, succeeding only in pushing herself back against the stairs.   What was happening here? Grace thought she might faint from her sudden need for him, but he simply stood and observed her. It was clear that he was relishing the sight of her feeling so many things at once, her former role of protector wrestling with her baser instincts. She was literally clinging to the banister for support when he ran the tip of his tongue over the edge of his upper lip. With the cool nonchalance of tossing a valet the car keys, he cocked an eyebrow and said, “You have my permission”, then turned and walked into the conference room.
Shocked, she ran scurrying down the hall like a mouse chased by a cat. She could almost hear Michael’s laughter following her. Once she had reached her room and locked the door behind her, she collapsed on the bed and whispered to herself, “What the fucking fuck was that?!!” She replayed the reunion in her mind. Instead of finding answers, she found herself reliving the moment his lips touched her ear, over and over again. 
Without even realizing it, she had pulled up her dress and begun touching herself. Her body ached for more, and Grace obliged, putting one, then two fingers inside herself, thrusting and rubbing, involuntarily moaning, “Oh yes, please, please, more!” Her hips squirmed, and the memory of Michael sent a spasm through her, pushing her over the edge into climax. Unaware of anything existing but Michael’s touch, she cried out with pleasure and release. “Oh! Oh fuck! Oh my god! yes! Yes! OH FUCK YES!!!!” She brought herself to orgasm over and over again until she lay on her bed drained, unable to move, aftershocks of pleasure still rolling through her in waves as she fell asleep on her bed, half undressed and limp like a doll.
******
The meeting with Mutt and Jeff was predictable. Them being overly solicitous to Michael with just enough questioning and doubt to show they still thought they knew better. This had been coming for a while.
“So, what’s going on out there, dude?”
“Most people are dead, the ones that aren’t are mutating and dying. Outpost One has been overrun and destroyed.”
“What?! No way, man. New York had a great defense system. Almost as good as this one!”
“Apparently not good enough.”
“Shit. So, what do we need to do to keep it from happening here?”
“There’s nothing you can do except… are you prepared to fight?”
Jeff started making Pew! Pew! Blam! noises and pulled a gun out of his waistband. “Oh, we’re ready. POW!”
Michael looked at Mutt. “I need to report back to the rest of the Cooperative of course. Why don’t you show me around so I can get an idea of where we stand supply-wise?”
Clearly uncomfortable, he said, “Oh, sure. But, uh maybe we should stay here, make sure everything’s ready for your dinner.”
Jeff chimed in, “We’re doing a special dinner to celebrate your arrival, man. Like, top of the line.”
Michael observed them both, having expected nothing less than avoidance. “M-mm, I see. Of course. Shall I just, wander about on my own then? See what I can find?”
Jeff gave a panicked, “No!” then added, “What I mean is, you wouldn’t want to miss anything important. You should totally have a guide. You want your special friend to take you around?” He exchanged a knowing look with Mutt.
Michael’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“You know, the nobody who you put in here with us, the one with no money or special talents who had a priority entry clearance? Come on, dude. We’re not stupid. Obviously, she’s somebody special to you. I didn’t even know the Son of Satan could have personal attachments. Beyond the Battlea…. Ms. Mead, I mean. So, what’s the deal, you two getting it on? Did you save her to be like, your post-apocalyptic sex slave, or what?” Michael’s eyes grew black, and the lights flickered. “That’s not your concern.”
Mutt looked around nervously. “Okay, we were just curious. So, you don’t want her to show you around? We can find…”
“It will be fine.”
“Yeah, okay. We’ve got some... stuff to take care of.” Before Michael could even leave the room, the boys made a beeline for the drink cabinet, and opened it to reveal a giant crystal skull half full of cocaine, several syringes, and the bar sink full of robotic arms clutching bottles of alcohol. As the door shut behind him, Michael heard a gunshot and a round of hysterical giggling. He put his hand over his face and sighed.
****************
Chapter 2: "The Distance”
The intercom in Grace’s room buzzed, startling her from her unplanned nap. Once she got her bearings, she went over to the speaker. “This is Grace, what is it?”
“Got a job for you, sweetheart.” Ugh, it was Jeff. Grace rolled her eyes at the intercom and prayed it wouldn’t be something humiliating.“What kind of job?”
“Langdon wants a tour of the bunker.”
The butterflies started in her stomach, and lower down her parts clenched in an agonizing ache. “Can’t Josie or Henry do that? I’m kind of busy right now.”
Mutt chimed in, “Nope. It’s gotta be you babe. Try not to have too much fun. We need him back for the big dinner at 6.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. He just left the conference room so get your ass up here pronto.” Grace hurriedly changed out of the rest of her clothes and into jeans, a t-shirt, and work boots. A full tour would include the livestock pens, and she didn’t want to look seductive anyway. She grabbed a hair tie on her way out the door and pulled her hair into a ponytail as she hurried down the hall. She rehearsed in her head giving a firm “no” if he tried touching or whispering to her again. But she also couldn’t help imagining what could happen if she didn’t.
As she rounded the corner, she saw Michael once again standing at the bottom of the steps, writing something in a small black notebook. Not knowing what to expect, nervous with anticipation, she walked up to him and tried a casual, “Hi.” Her voice came out hoarse and she began to cough. She thought back to all the screaming she’d been doing recently and grew warm with the thought. She hoped she wasn’t blushing.  
“Sorry about that. Air gets pretty dry in here.”
Michael tucked the notebook into his jacket, then looked at her coolly. “Please lead on. We have a lot to see.”
“Okay, well you’ve seen the decontamination entrance and the overview/conference room, so let’s go down to the big stuff at the back.” As they walked down the corridor, Grace kept talking. She told herself it was because he would want to know as much as possible but truthfully, she was just trying to avoid thinking about what happened earlier. Michael either didn’t notice or chose to ignore her, as his only contribution to her running dialogue was the occasional, “Interesting.”
She pushed open a set of glass double doors. “This is the ER.” They walked past hospital beds and Michael peered into one of the operating rooms. There was everything a regular operating room would have: bone saws, ventilators, shock paddles, EKG machine, IV drips, and so on. “You’re quite prepared.”
“Mostly. And here’s the pharmacy. We have everything one needs for typical stuff, we even have a setup for chemo. But they went heavy on the painkillers and didn’t stock a lot of long-term meds, which I think was a mistake.”
They took a walk through the pharmacy rows, and as Grace talked, Michael would occasionally pick up a bottle or package. “If you have questions about any of these, we’ve got a basic guide and I still remember a lot from school so you can always ask.”
“These aren’t locked up? Anyone can access them?”
They’re unlocked now because I’m showing it to you. There’s a code on the room and on the shelves, plus the cameras are simply everywhere.” She pointed up and waved to the camera. “Josh is probably on camera duty tonight. Hi Josh!”
Michael glared at the camera, and in the observation room, Josh grabbed his heart and collapsed to the floor.
They left the medical area and walked down to the power room. Keying in another code, Grace opened the heavy door and they were greeted with a wall of noise. “They’re pretty loud. Sorry.” She flipped a few switches and the actual size of the room became apparent. “These are the diesel generators and tanks. We actually don’t use them much since gas is a finite resource, but the sky isn’t very bright some days thanks to the fallout, so… yeah. See these two tanks with the staircases attached? That’s all of our fuel.”
“And how full are they now?”
“What?”
He leaned in closer. “How full are they now?!”
“One hasn’t been touched at all, and the other has...” She walked over to the tanks. “This one’s at 89%.”
“And where’s your water source?”
“Oh, most of that is filtered and recycled. This was a great place to build a bunker because there’s also a naturally occurring deep spring underneath. The radiation levels for that are still holding, but we predict they’ll eventually succumb to runoff from the surface. The good news is even contaminated water can run a hydroelectric generator in a pinch.”
“You know a lot about this. Special interest?” Grace raised an eyebrow and smirked, “You mean survival? Yeah, I’m pretty interested in that. It’s in the best interest of the group that we all know as much as possible. We’ve got experts in certain areas, like the two chuckleheads and their robotics…”
“You mean Nutter and Pfister?”
“Oh, no offense, I know you three work pretty closely.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well… you saw them alone in the conference room, and they talk all the time about how they’re very influential with the Cooperative leader. That’s you, right? The leader? What’s the deal with The Cooperative? What’s the common goal?”
Michael hesitated, trying to avoid the topic
“Look, if you can’t talk about it, I understand, but how did that happen? Leading the Cooperative is a long way from lessons in my basement. I’m glad for you, I always knew you were too strong willed to let anything hold you back but…”
Michael rushed in and closed the gap between them pinning her against the tank. “You have no idea.” Then he kissed her, roughly. His lips mashed up against hers and she never even had a choice. She opened her mouth to him, nipping at his bottom lip, hungry and uncontrolled. His tongue slipped inside her mouth and they fought, her need matched by his hunger. Her hands ran through his long golden curls, grasping and tugging, trying to bring him closer. The kiss broke, and she sighed as he bent down to kiss her neck, licking and biting his way from her collarbone to her ear and back again. His hands roamed over her body, her skin burned hot wherever he touched her. It was too much for Grace, and she had to cry out, “Stop!, I can’t! I... Please, it’s too much!” Tears leaked from her eyes, not because she was in pain, but because she’d never wanted something so much in her life and for some reason, she couldn’t just let it happen.
Michael looked at her, glassy eyed and drunk on her need. He watched her hands opening and closing, grasping at the air instead of him. She wanted this. She needed this. This was rich, thick desire that he could taste and hear and smell and feel. The tension between them made the air shimmer with heat. Like magnets, they could only get so close to each other before they touched out of sheer force. He experimented, raising his hand to her waist and bringing it closer and closer until he felt the pull, breaking free only to do it again. She held her breath, afraid of what she might do if he touched her again.
A door alarm blared at the end of the hall, breaking the spell. Michael clenched his fist, ready to set ablaze the person who interrupted them, but remembered where he was and restrained himself to avoid an incident. Surprisingly, it was Grace who composed herself first and suggested, “Shall we move on?”
They walked through the kitchen, avoiding the hot pans and sharp knives, chopping and slicing, sizzling and flashing. The kitchen crew couldn’t help but stare as Michael strolled through with his blonde shoulder-length hair and elegant black clothes, nodding approvingly at one thing or another. He dipped his finger into the creamy mushroom soup and tasted it, saying simply, “Not bad”, giving a rare glimpse of his full-wattage smile. With that, he could have stabbed every member of the crew with their own knives and they would have thanked him for the privilege of dying by his hand. Grace was impressed. He had come a very long way.
She chimed in to say, “Almost everything you’ll have tonight was grown right here. The animals aren’t ready for breeding, but when they are, we’ll have fresh meat as well.”
“What kinds of animals do you have now?”
“Oh, you know, chickens, a cow and a steer, a pair of pigs… It’s like Noah’s Ark down there. But not all the animals are for eating. Come on, I’ll show you.” They walked through the green mist of the hydroponic vegetables and herbs, past the fruit trees in pots, past the composting, and entered the husbandry through an honest to god split-rail fence.
The animals came crowding around and at first Grace thought it was for her, but then she realized that they had all gone to Michael instead. And the oddest part was that they weren’t crowding him, they all just… sat there, as if in a trance. “Like they’re asking to be spared” ran through her mind. What a strange idea.
“You’ve got a way with animals.”
He looked a little uncomfortable. “Not really, I think they’re just interested in me because I’m new.”
“That must be it.” Grace knew better, but if Michael didn’t want to talk about this particular weirdness, that was okay. “But you haven’t seen the best part.”
“Am I going to have to walk through more mud?” His fancy Louboutin boots were looking quite muddy.
“Mud, no. Dirt, probably.”
Michael seemed to stop and consider his options. He sighed, “Fine.”
She led him around the side of the enclosure and whistled. Two beautiful black horses came trotting up. “Aren’t they amazing? Do you want to feed them?”
“Why?”
“Why? Because it will make them happy.” Michael seemed a little confused by the idea of making an animal happy, but took the shiny red apples that Grace gave him and held one in each hand for the two beauties. They gently nuzzled his hands and then methodically chomped away on them until there was nothing left. “Huh.”
“Good babies”, cooed Grace. And to Michael, “You see? That wasn’t so bad. Oh!” She suddenly beamed. “I forgot, check this out!” She led Michael into the enclosure and waved her hands dramatically. “Ta-da!” There stood a black carriage, like the ones you’d see in old movies. His eyebrows raised in quiet approval. Wooden wheels, curtains on the windows. He peeked inside. Leather seats, too. “What’s this for?”
“Well, Henry’s logic was that if the day came where we needed to venture out for supplies, that having a carriage would make much more sense than a car because we wouldn’t need to carry gas for it or rely on finding any later. If the horses can eat what we eat…” She was interrupted by an announcement blaring from the speaker in the ceiling. It was fucking Jeff again.
“Ladies and gentlemen! The time is now 5:00 and in an hour we will be having a celebratory feast in honor of Mr. Langdon. Please make sure you are tastefully attired and on time! Over and out!”
Grace and Michael shared a look.
“I guess the tour’s over.”
“We’ll finish it later.”
**********
Chapter 3: “Belief In God Is So Adorable”
The dinner was unnecessary, but Michael had learned that these kinds of things were easier to get through than call off. And besides, it would give him a chance to try an experiment. He looked around the table at the scientists, intellectuals and politicians and military men. He stood and raised his glass in a toast. “Fellow Cooperative members, as you may have heard, Outpost One is gone.” People nodded their heads and tried to look broken up about it. “But let us not ignore the fact that we are still here.” More thoughtful nodding. “I would like to raise my glass to Outpost two, and your efficient and sustainable colony.” Mutt and Jeff let out a “Yeah! Damn right!” and stood up to chest bump each other. Then they stepped away from the table to do a few lines and argue about which bottle of wine to open. Everyone else applauded politely, raised their glasses in return and drank. Individual bowls of soup were being placed before each person. “What do we have here?” asked Michael. The person serving said, “Mushroom soup, sir. Made from mushrooms grown right here. And fresh cream, too.” “Well, it looks delicious.” He winked at the server, who from that moment on would have gladly cut his own eyes out with rusty razor wire then sautéed them with rosemary and eaten them if Michael had asked him to. Michael dipped his spoon into the bowl and brought it to his lips then stopped, putting his spoon down and simply sitting while he watched the guests eat every last spoonful while they talked about some garden pests or fortifying a support girder or something else equally pointless. Michael frowned. It hadn’t worked. He wondered if it was a dosage problem or if it was the rate the pills dissolved in hot soup. But then, Henry started to drift. He looked so tired. Then Josie, then Doris too. They could barely hold their heads up. The three senators soon followed suit, then the General. The other diners were slumping in their seats and Michael began to smile. “Good to know”, he whispered to himself. Mutt and Jeff continued to argue in the corner, oblivious to anyone else’s condition. Michael sighed internally. No one appreciated subtlety anymore. Once everyone had succumbed and was face down in their soup or puddled on the floor, Michael stood up. “Gentlemen, since our companions seem to resting, I wonder if you could help me with something.” “Yeah, sure. Whoa, what happened? Are they going to be okay?” “Oh, yes. They’ll be fine. Just… napping. I still need a tour of the armory and I wanted you two to take me since I know it’s your area of…” Michael hesitated, barely able to say the word, “…expertise.” “What? Oh dude! Absolutely! Let’s go!”Jeff whooped and hollered the whole way there, Mutt egging him on. They unlocked the shooting range and took Michael to the armory. “We’ve got everything you need, man.” “I don’t need anything, I just need to know what you have.” “Oh. Well, you mind if we shoot off a few rounds first?” Michael waved his hand at them, “Of course.” He sat back in a green plastic chair, putting his feet up on the rail. He knew what was coming. “So, uh, let’s just do a few lines first, ok?” They opened up yet another unimaginative cocaine stash inside a target dummy then laid out a pile and bulldozed their faces through it. As they brought their heads up, they realized something was off. Weird. “Dude, you feel that?” “Like, that buzzing? What the fuck is that? OW!” Blood began to run out of Jeff’s nose. He turned to look at Mutt, who had sunk to the floor holding his head in his hands. He turned to Michael and yelled, “What is happening?!” Michael gave the most sardonic of smiles and said, “Oh, it’s quite simple really. My father has revoked your privileges.” Jeff’s eyes bugged in disbelief. He screamed hysterically, “What do you mean fucking revoked? We paid our dues man! We sold our souls!” Behind him Mutt began to rhythmically beat his head on the floor. “Yes, you did. But you haven’t exactly upheld your end of things, have you? Did you think I wouldn’t know?” “Auuugh! Fuck!” The nosebleed was hemorrhaging, leaving Jeff soaked in his own blood, woozy and thick-headed. “Wouldn’t know what?!?!! We gave you the apocalypse, dude!” Michael stood up, clasping his hands behind his back and cocking his head to one side. Speaking in a voice that was all gravel and bitterness he said, “You lied to me. You tried to manipulate me.” Jeff fell to the floor next to Mutt, trying to stand but slipping in the blood that was spreading around them. Michael continued, “You programmed Ms. Mead to say what you wanted to say. You used her. You took away her memories and gave her ones that you liked better. You changed her. And in doing so you worked against me.” He slowly walked his way over to the miserable pair. “You.” He looked at Mutt, who had slammed his head into the floor so many times that his eyes had rolled back into his head and pieces of his brain were flapping idly at the edges of his skull. He stepped closer, hand clenched. “Used.” He watched Jeff try to hold his head up, blood now flowing from his ears, eyes, and skin. He stepped closer, clenching the other hand. “Me!” He threw his hands open and they held roaring fire, flames licking and jumping in anticipation. “And my...” His face went ghostly white, black holes where his features should be. His voice boomed so powerful and angry it could have toppled mountains. “…MS. MEAD!!!” The flames shot to the ceiling and curved back down, igniting Mutt and Jeff. They wailed and screamed, slowly and painfully burning to a blackened crisp. Michael snapped his hands shut and stood stone faced, watching the ashes swirl across the floor. He casually brushed a stray lock of hair off his face and straightened his jacket. One last loose end to tie up. ******** Beginning of Chapter 4: “I Am a Rock”
Grace thought back to when she first met Michael. When a boy of 16 comes knocking at your door and he isn’t selling something for school, one gets nervous. And here was this boy, all ripped black jeans and combat boots, unsure of how to say hello to a stranger. He stood there on her doorstep, just looking at her, as if she was supposed to just know what he needed. “Where’s your mo…Ms. Mead?” she asked, looking around. The tall boy with icy eyes and curls like an angel looked around too. “I don’t know, I mean she was here, but now she’s not and the car’s not here…” The boy was clearly not comfortable being alone, and seemed anxious. “Is there someone I should call?” He looked sheepish and said, “Can I just wait here?” “Sure. We can do that. Let’s wait outside so we can see her car when she gets back.” And she thought to herself, “And so Ms. Mead doesn’t skin me alive for having her boy in my house unsupervised.” “Okay. Thank you. May I have some water?” Grace brought out some water for the boy and tapped him on the shoulder. He flinched, swatting at her hand. She took a step back then sat down on the steps at a respectful distance, putting the glass of water in the space between them. “Sorry, I’ll ask permission next time, okay?” Michael stayed silent, looking doubtful. “I will ask permission before I touch you. I promise.” They sat awkwardly until he finished the water. He handed it to her saying, “Here’s your glass. I’m finished.” “Thank you… I don’t know your name. What should I call you?” “Michael. Michael Langdon.” “How old are you Michael?” “16.” “And where do you go to school?” “I don’t like these questions.” Dammit, she had pushed too hard again. In her head, she admonished herself. “Listening skills, Grace! Come on!” “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you not want to talk? Just wait?” “Just wait.” Grace was trained in working with special needs kids, and this young man Michael, with his specific ways and rigid preferences, acting a little younger than his age would suggest, seemed to have some delays. She wondered if there was some kind of developmental disability there. She desperately wanted to ask more, but there was no point pushing him. They sat and watched the cars pass and listened to the summer insects buzzing.   Michael broke the silence. “Why are you always playing music and hitting things?” “What? Oh, I’m practicing. Practicing martial arts.” “You listen to music for that?” “Well, I do. It helps keep me motivated. It’s not too loud is it? I don’t want to bother anyone.” “No, it’s not loud. Well, Ms. Mead doesn’t like it but I think she just doesn’t like that kind of music.” “Well, it’s not for everybody. I’ll try to keep it quieter so she doesn’t have to listen.” “You practice fighting? Can you teach me fighting?” Grace had an inspirational idea, but it would require some coordinated effort and planning. “That… would be up to Ms. Mead. If she says it’s okay, then I can certainly try.” “She’ll say okay.” And just like that, her car came pulling into the driveway.Michael’s face lit up, and he ran off, calling out over his shoulder, “Bye! I’ll see you tomorrow!” “Tomorrow?” Grace thought, “Oh, boy.”
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my-plastic-life · 6 years
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10 Most Inappropriate Barbie Dolls That ACTUALLY Exist
It never ceases to amaze me how easily people get offended/upset, even over a plastic toy.  Here's my summation of the whole video:
1. I can kind of see the problem with the Oreo Barbie. That doll was made back when two versions of each Barbie were made - a Caucasian and an African American version. Almost every doll had to have both skin tones so all kids would have a Barbie they could play with. That was Mattel's mindset, anyway. And Oreo is one of the most popular cookies around, so of course they went for that one. But still, I highly doubt they were thinking of the alternate meaning of the word when they created this doll. It combined the most popular fashion doll with one of the most popular cookies. Can't we just leave it at that?
2. I'm not a fan of tattoos, and that includes for my dolls, but I see no problem with them being an option for kids or collectors who want to include them. Yeah, if it's a tramp stamp or something violent, that's an issue for kids. But hearts and stars? Come on, people, they're temporary. And temporary/kid/play tattoos have been around for many years. Apparently it didn't become a problem until a major toy company released it.
3. Teen Talk Barbie was released in a different era, where teen girls were primarily focused on clothes and boys. I mean, sure, they are now too, but there's more career pushing these days than there were back then. Barbie was just staying with the times of teenagers. Wow, a teen girl who likes shopping and thinks math is hard? The horror! Math is hard for lots of people! /facepalm
4. Wow, kids can't have cameras now? Tell that to the hundreds of parents who get their four-year-olds a brand new smart phone every Christmas. And seriously, video girl? I don't think a little kid is going to think of "dancing music video whore" when they hear video girl. So Mattel should have given her a different name. Big deal. It's not like she's called Porn Star Barbie.
5. The pregnant Midge still bothers me, not because of the doll but because of people's reactions to it. Guess what? Women get pregnant. It's a part of life. As early as kids are learning about sex ed now and girls getting their periods younger than ever, I don't think a pregnant doll is so bad. Sheesh. Oh, and Midge does have a wedding ring in the Happy Family line, AND a husband, who also has a ring. But apparently that's still not okay.
6. Are you kidding me? People actually complained about Barbie having a friend in a wheelchair? OMG, there have been friends of different ethnicities since the 60s, but God forbid one friend be in a wheelchair! I think introducing Becky was one of the best things Mattel ever did. A lot of girls are confined to wheelchairs, and I'm sure this doll thrilled them. And hello, the American Girl and My Life As lines also have doll wheelchairs you can buy. I don't see anyone griping about that. And it's something as trivial as a plastic wheelchair not fitting in a plastic house elevator. Well, let's talk reality, shall we? How many real life houses have elevators? Probably only ones owned by celebrities. And besides, look at the scale of Barbie houses. Forget that they're made for her - they're not proportionate at all. You put a bed in her bedroom, and BOOM, the room is full. The ceilings are about an inch taller than she is. Don't jump up and down, Barbie, or you'll get a concussion!
7. Dolls of the World is one of my favorite lines. And yes, people still nit pick. Okay, so the Mexican Barbie has a chihuahua. That's apparently not completely accurate. So, what's she supposed to come with? A taco? A green card? A margarita? It's a dog! People in Mexico can have chihuahuas!
8. Wow, so many slumber party Barbie doll have been released, and that's just since I've been around. But none of those were like the 1965 version. It makes perfect sense why that one is on this list. Even in the 60s, that's not cool. And for a company that was just building its fashion doll foundation, that was a pretty risky move. Sure, back then girls were expected to grow up and be housewives, so of course they had to look good to entice a man, but come on. And people say Barbie sets unrealistic standards TODAY. At least these days they don't come with a book on how to lose weight (with instructions saying not to eat) or a scale with a low number on it.
9. LOL Everyone is freaked out by that doll! It was designed by a group of men - surprise, surprise - so no wonder it was such a flop. But still, girls weren't oblivious to the fact that women and teens had different bodies than them. It's part of life. It's not like they made a doll with red dye coming down her legs a la Carrie. She just got taller and got little boobs. Ken had a crotch bump, and still does, so I'm curious to know how people reacted to that in comparison considering he's considered a girl toy.
10. Oh Jesus, the great poop debate. People, everyone and everything poops! And FYI, it's the law to clean up your dog's crap in public! At least Barbie is following the law! As for kids eating the stuff, well, first, there are age limits on the boxes of these toys, and second, that's why you supervise your kids. We've got too many parents that either shelter their kids from reality (see numbers 5 and 9 above) or just let them run free to get into trouble or dangerous situations.
Give me some time, and I bet I can find worse dolls/toys than the ones on this list, which aren’t even bad. It’s just idiots freaking out and getting offended over everything.
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chicagoindiecritics · 4 years
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New Written Review from Mike Crowley on You’ll Probably Agree: What it was like returning to the theater to see “Inception” and what theaters will look like after the pandemic
SKIP TO THE FIFTH PARAGRAPH FOR MY THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE
I had my doubts if Christopher Nolan was the true authoritarian on demanding “Tenet’s” release. I know he has enormous power in Hollywood, but was he wielding it like a selfish dictator? A man of his intellect couldn’t be narrow-minded enough to refuse to delay his film until it’s safe to show in theaters, right? About 70 films have been pushed to the fall, next year, or placed on streaming. James Bond, Christopher Nolan’s childhood hero, was even forced back to a November release date. A November release date in which, like many, is viewed to be moved until things are safe. After seeing the promotional materials for the 10th anniversary 70mm print of “Inception,” there’s absolutely no doubt that Nolan is entirely hell-bent on releasing his film only in theaters. To see these promotional materials, I couldn’t access them online. At least not by any legal means. Much like his iMax previews to his last four films, it was mandatory to watch them in the cinema.
Attached were two reels. One was a 10-minute preview for “Tenet.” After that was a 2-3 minute look back on “Inception.” In both shows, Christopher Nolan makes it crystal clear that his films are intended to be seen on the biggest screen possible with the loudest speakers surrounding the audience. On the “Inception” reel, Nolan expressed his disappointment that there are those who couldn’t see his 2010 film in a theatre, so here was their chance to do so. The problem is from my understanding is that the 70mm print of “Inception” that I viewed is the only available one in the United States. I know that when they filmed the sizzle for these movies, Nolan couldn’t have predicted such a global catastrophe. I feel incredibly fortunate to have seen “Inception” on  70mm film when initially I saw it on a generic digital 35mm reprint in a theatre that wasn’t a lover of cinema like The Music Box Theatre in Chicago is.
But even before the Pandemic, how many people would get access to this print other than iMax cinemas? How long could iMax last? Most of the country has switched to digital. Celluloid has become a novelty that I will always prefer over digital, a uniqueness that appeals to a very niche audience. How would that be profitable in the long run? Now with the COVID-19 Pandemic, that novelty will probably die forever. It was probably going to die anyway, just not this fast. 
To make a movie on film is far more costly than to use digital. Not only do you shoot the movie, but you must also send it to a lab to develop the print afterward. The chemical emulsion process is an expensive mechanism. Shooting on digital only requires a memory card or hard drive that you can directly dump the data onto another hard drive to start editing immediately on a computer. It’s cost and time efficiency towers over film. The theatrical distribution model is a dying breed, only left alive through purists like Mr. Nolan. His purity may be going a bit too far, however. It was only a matter of time before iMax would once more be something that was only used for nature and space films to be seen in a museum. 
Walking into a theatre once more felt like going into a gallery. I can happily make it very clear that The Music Box Theatre is not taking this Pandemic lightly. Instructions weren’t given to me; they were borderline shouted.
-Theatre Attendant: Have you been here since we reopened?
-Me: Uh, I was here before.
-Theatre Attendant: NO! Have you been here on JULY 3rd SINCE WE REOPENED? 
-Me: No
The attendant proceeded to provide me with the social distance seating protocol. He ended the briefing with “that’s it.” I almost expected him to say, “dismissed.” Usually, I would have been taken back by such an aggressive custom. Considering the unprecedented circumstances we all are in, I respected the young man’s sternness. I was picturing all the morons he had to deal with that didn’t follow proper instructions. People who ignored the blue “do not sit here” taped signs, took their masks off when not using a concession—pulling their phones out during the movie. Let alone, coughing or sneezing without their face cover. With 745 available seats, only 50 were free to use. People were spread exponentially more than 6 feet apart. In the row next to me, there were two young ladies. One of them was politely holding in her cough. Her mask was still on before the lights dimmed. During my state of alarm, I knew it was only a matter of time before one cough might slip out. Trying to mean no offense, I quietly sneaked towards the nearest row of the screen.   
The woman’s coughing wasn’t the only reason I sat in the semi front row; I was also wearing glasses, whereas you may know, masks and glasses don’t make the best mix. If I was close enough to the screen, I can take my fogged up glasses off and still clearly see what was going on the screen. That mostly worked, but my natural eyesight couldn’t substitute for my assisted one. And boy did those glasses get foggy. I increasingly grew jealous of those that could tolerate contact lenses. Even worse were people with perfect vision. I had to limit my breathing during the film because every natural exhale felt like a steam pipe was being burst onto my eyes.
With me, I came equipped with two masks. The medical kind you see everyone wearing, and a cloth one. Both were on at the same time. In my pocket was a bottle of hand sanitizer for whenever I touched a surface. I heard that COVID doesn’t last on surfaces, but I’ve listened to the CDC change their minds before. My paranoia level varied. Once comfortably watching the film from a safe distance with my double-layered mask, I felt secure. The Music Box has been open for long enough since the Pandemic. I haven’t heard of any cases appearing within their establishment. They’re not like some local restaurants or bars I saw in Wisconsin during my vacation there who acted like everything was normal. With that said, you can’t control the actions of others. 
Let me be clear that I never removed my mask once during the entire three hours I was in that theatre. While the movie played, I turned around to see if my fellow patrons were applying the same amount of caution that I was. In the beginning, everyone was covered up during the pre-roll “Tenet” adds. The rule in the theatre was that once seated, you can only remove your mask when eating or drinking, then immediately put it back on. This rule was announced by the man I spoke to earlier, where he took the stage before the film began. There was no way you could claim you were unaware of the safety guidelines. Of course, Americans had to act like Americans. Once the film started after the promos, everyone’s masks were off. At one point during the movie, that lady who I moved away from that was coughing, yup, one cough slipped out. Luckily I was about 50 feet away from her while looking like Shredder with my extra protection. Throughout the rest of the film, I didn’t hear a single cough or sneeze. How did the movie look on its correct format though? Spectacular. 
Christoper Nolan may be a stubborn stick in the mud, but my God is he right when it comes to the beauty of the theatrical experience. The black levels in the colors are vibrant far beyond anything you’ll get on your 4K 60-inch television; the sound is bone shatteringly clear. Every nuanced detail in the phenomenal production design is visible to an otherwise naked eye; this is something special. “Inception” is a bombastic operatic picture in the very best sense of the meaning. My appreciation for the 2010 spy thriller was improved when seeing it on the big screen. Even with my fogged up glasses and short breaths, I felt like it was an experience worth having. To have that experience though you really, REALLY, have to love film. The common man would not go to the trouble I did to see a movie that they can easily watch at home. 
Seeing “Inception” in a nearly abandoned theatre that still classifies as sold out was a bit of a relic. I felt like the little kid in “The Last Action Hero” walking into the old man’s theatre. I’m experiencing something from a great past time that no longer exists. It was like going to the Omnimax Theatre in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Only this time, there was an inherent fear of disease, which luckily rapidly dissipated once there. I sympathize entirely with Christopher Nolan’s stone wall decision on maintaining a theatrical release for “Tenet.” He doesn’t have the power alone to release the film, whichever way he sees fit. Warner Bros is in the same boat as him. Nolan was the man who brought Batman back from the dead. He’s the one man in Hollywood who can sell an original big-budget picture on his name alone. Chris brought Warner Bros a lot of money.
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The theatre is located upstairs
The termination of the Paramount decree’s 72-year law is the final nail in our current chain’s coffin. Movies won’t be evenly distributed. All of our existing theatrical establishments are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to make their money back to the point of offering 15 cents per movie ticket upon initial reopening. When theaters do come back, they’ll be rebuilt, owned by the studios that distribute them. You’ll have your Disney theatre attached to your Disney store. Watch “Spider-Man Homecoming 3” on the second floor, then buy your Spider-Man toy on the first floor. Go to your Netflix theatre so you can see a film four months before it hits streaming. Finally, go to a Warner Bros theatre in Six Flags Great America, where you can watch Matt Reeves’ “The Batman.” Then buy your Robert Pattinson caped crusader doll when exiting the show. The funeral is in procession for theaters as we know it. Christopher Nolan may be able to make movies on film throughout the rest of his career, but to see them on celluloid; you’ll have to go to a museum or a specialty theatre like The Music Box. Such a realization is a heartbreaking reality. The sooner we can accept it, the better off we’ll be.
More of my thoughts on the future of movie theaters can be seen below.  
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