#I missed last year's run and now that I'm playing the Wishing Star event

[thatoneocmaker]

....Oh he will alright.

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

Assigning Every Fall Out Boy Song to The Life Series

because i'm a normal person with normal person feelings about fall out boy's discography and the life series. trust me.

“every” is a strong word here because fall out boy's discography is Literally Like 150+ Songs so i’m only doing the songs off their main 8 albums in this post. if enough people ask (which i seriously doubt will happen), i’ll do the eps+remixes as well.

sorry if there is an overabundance of certain characters/a lack of certain characters. i tried to include people are frequently as possible but a: i am inherently biased (though some of my faves are pretty underrepresented), b: not everyone has the same amount of content to draw from because they haven't all been in every season and c: some of these guys are simply not fall out boy characters to me. it's just how it is.

so, under the cut will be, in release order, every fall out boy song assigned to a life series character/event+the lyric that i think best represents why i assigned it.

TAKE THIS TO YOUR GRAVE

Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things to Do Today: DL!Pearl

To my favorite liar, to my favorite scar (to my favorite scar!)/I could have died with you/I hope you choke on those words that kiss that bottle/Confess (so bury me in memory)

Dead on Arrival: SL!Gem and Pearl (Gem POV)

This is side one, flip me over/I know I'm not your favorite record/The songs you grow to like never stick at first/So I'm writing you a chorus, and here is your verse/No, it's not the last time, 'cause I'd never say no to you/This conversation's still dead on arrival/And there's no way to talk to you/When you're dead on

Grand Theft Autumn / Where Is Your Boy: DL!Etho (JUST TRUST ME. AND ALSO GO WATCH THE BIT WHERE FINDS OUT BDUBS+IMPULSE ARE SOULMATES)

When I wake up/I'm willing to take my chances on/The hope I'd forget that you hate him more than you notice/I wrote this for you (for you, so…)/You need him, I could be him/I could be an accident, but I'm still trying/And that's more than I can say for him/Where is your boy tonight?/I hope he is a gentleman

Saturday: SL!Gem

Pete and I attacked the laws of Astoria with promise and precision/And mess of youthful innocence/And I read about the afterlife, but I never really lived/More than an hour (More than an hour)/When I say/Two more weeks, my foot is in the door, yeah/I can't sleep, in the wake of Saturday

Homesick at Space Camp: Post 3L!Skizz

Tonight is all about "We miss you" now/These friends are, new friends are golden

Sending Postcards From a Plane Crash (Wish You Were Here): Post DL!Joel

Every friend we ever had in common/I will sever the tie, sever the tie with you/You can thank your lucky stars/Everything I wish for will never come true/When you go, I will forget everything about you

Chicago Is So Two Years Ago: LimL!Martyn

You want apologies, girl, you might hold your breath/Until your breathing stops forever, forever/The only thing you'll get is this curse on your lips/I hope they taste of me forever

The Pros and Cons of Breathing: DL!Pearl

Woah, I want to hate you half as much as I hate myself/You know that I could crush you with my voice/Stood on my roof and tried to see you/Forgetting about me/Hide the details/I don't want to know a thing

Grenade Jumper: The Heart Foundation

They'll say it's not worth it, so we'll leave this town in ruin/Living like life's going out of style, and you came to watch us play/Like a "big shot talent", but at the end of the day you know/Woah, those busted lips we take back home

Calm Before The Storm: DL!Ren

You said/Between your smiles and regrets/"Don't say it's over"/Dead and gone, dead and gone, yeah

Reinventing the Wheel to Run Myself Over: DL!Jimmy and Tango

I can't wake up to these reminders of who I am/A failure at everything, 18 going on extinct/I know my place, it's nowhere you should roam

The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes: SL!Jimmy

I'm all ears and I'm all scars/To hear you tell me, "Boys like you, you try too hard/To look not quite as desperate," I'm hanging on/But I still know the way to make your makeup run/So, and when it all goes to Hell, will you be able to tell/Me "sorry" with a straight face?

FROM UNDER THE CORK TREE

Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued: 3L!Impulse

We're only liars but we're the best (We're the best)/We're only good for the latest trends/We're only good 'cause you can have almost famous friends/Besides, we've got such good fashion sense

Of All The Gin Joints In All The World: 3L!Ren and Martyn

You only hold me up like this/'Cause you don't know who I really am/Sometimes I just want to know what it's like to be you

Dance, Dance: DL!Bigb and Ren (Ren perspective, also this is specifically applicable most antagonistic moments of their relationship we get, to be clear. This is not the usual approach I take to them.)

You always fold just before you're found out/Drink up it's last call/Last resort, but only the first mistake, and I/I'm two quarters and a heart down/And I don't want to forget how your voice sounds/These words are all I have so I'll write them/So you need them just to get by/Why don't you show me a little bit of spine/You've been saving for his mattress, love

Sugar, We’re Goin Down: Martyn

We're going down, down in an earlier round (Take aim at myself)/And sugar, we're going down swingin' (Take back what you said)/I'll be your number one with a bullet (Take aim at myself)/A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it

Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner: LL!Cleo

I keep my jealousy close/'Cause it's all mine/And if you say this makes you happy, then I'm not the only one/Lyin'

I’ve Got A Dark Alley And A Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Songs): Joel

Joke me something awful just like kisses on the necks of "best friends"/We're the kids who feel like dead ends/And I want to be known for my hits, not just my misses/I took a shot and didn't even come close

7 Minutes In Heaven (Atavan Halen): LimL!Grian

Sitting out dances on the wall/Trying to forget everything that isn't you/I'm not going home alone/'Cause I don't do too well on my own

Sophomore Slump Or Comeback Of The Year: SL!Skizz

We're the therapists pumping through your speakers/Delivering just what you need/We're well-read and poised/We're the best boys/We're the chemists who've found the formula/To make your heart swell and burst/No matter what they say/Don't believe a word

Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends: DL!Joel and Etho

Strike us like matches, 'cause everyone deserves the flames/We only do it for the scars and stories, not the fame/At least everyone is trying, everyone is shining/Everyone deserves the flames but it's such a shame, such a shame

I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me: Scott

I'm the first kid to write of hearts, lies, and friends/And I am sorry my conscience called in sick again/And I've got arrogance down to a science/Oh, and I'm the first kid to write of hearts, lies, and friends, now

A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More “Touch Me”: LL!BigB

I confess, I messed up/Dropping "I'm sorry" like you're still around/And I know you dressed up/"Hey, kid, you'll never live this down"/And you're just the girl all the boys wanna dance with/And I'm just the boy who's had too many chances/I'm sleepin' on your folks' porch again, dreamin'/She said, she said, she said, "Why don't you just drop dead?"

Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part To Save The Scene And Stop Going To Shows): DL!Grian and Scar (Scar POV)

I know this hurts, it was meant to (it was meant to)/Your secret's out and the best part is it isn't even a good one/And it's mind over you don't, don't matter

XO: LL!Mumbo (Look, this is a stretch, I'll be real, but this song was giving me so much fucking trouble. Let me live.)

To the "love," I left my conscience/Pressed between the pages of/The Bible in the drawer, "What did it ever do for me"/I say/It never calls me when I'm down/Love never wanted me, but I took it anyway/Put your ear to the speaker and choose love or sympathy/But never both, love never wanted me

Snitches and Talkers Get Stitches And Walkers: SL!Tango

Here's a picture with a note, "No, don't turn out like me"/It's only for your own good/No-oh, oh, oh/And haven't you heard, the word on the street is/"I lost it, called it quits," get out into the sun

The Music Or The Misery: LL!Bdubs and Etho (Etho perspective)

I got your love letters, corrected the grammar and sent them back/It's true, romance is dead, I shot it in the chest then in the head/And if you wanna go down in history then I'm your friend/Because they've got me in a band where I've never seen a heart I couldn't break

INFINITY ON HIGH

Thriller: SL!Scar

Last summer, we took threes across the board/But by fall, we were a cover story, "Now in stores"/Make us poster boys for your scene/But we are not making an acceptance speech

“The Take Over, The Breaks Over”: LimL!Cleo

Wouldn't you rather be a widow than a divorcee?/Style your wake for fashion magazines, oh-oh-oh/Widow or a divorcee?/Don't pretend, d-d-d-don't pretend/We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces/We're trapped and well concealed in secret places/We don't fight fair

This Ain’t A Scene. It’s An Arms Race: SL!Scar

I am an arms dealer/Fitting you with weapons in the form of words/And don't really care which side wins/Long as the room keeps singing/That's just the business I'm in

I’m Like A Lawyer With The Way I’m Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You): SL!Jimmy and Martyn

We're the new face of failure/Prettier and younger, but not any better off/Bulletproof loneliness/At best, at best

Hum Hallelujah: LL!Cleo

I thought I loved you, it was just how you looked in the light/A teenage vow in a parking lot/'Til tonight do us part/I sing the blues and you swallow them too/My words are my faith, to hell with our good name

Golden: Joel (LimL especially, but also just in general)

How cruel is the golden rule/When the lives we lived are only golden-plated?/And I knew that the lights of the city were too heavy for me/Though I carried carats for everyone to see/And I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies/And all the lovers with no time for me/And all of the mothers raise their babies/To stay away from me

Thnks fr th Mmrs: LimL!BigB and Pearl

Been looking forward to the future/But my eyesight is going bad/And this crystal ball…/It's always cloudy except for (Except for…)/When you look into the past (Look into the past…)/One night stand…/One night stand off!

Don’t You Know Who I Think I Am?: LimL!Skizz

They say quitters never win/But we walk the plank on a sinking ship/There's a world outside of my front door/That gets off on being down/Oh-oh, oh-oh/I could learn to pity fools as I'm the worst of all/And I can't stop feeling sorry for myself, whoa-oh

The (After) Life Of The Party: Scar, again. I don't know what to tell you, this is a very Scar album.

I'm a stitch away from making it/And a scar away from falling apart, apart/Blood cells pixelate and eyes dilate/And the full moon pills got me out on the street at night

The Carpal Tunnel Of Love: LL!Mumbo and Jimmy

Tired yawns for fawns on hunter's lawns/We're the has-beens of husbands/Sharpening the knives of young wives/Take two years and call me when you're better

Bang The Doldrums: DL+LimL!Jimmy and Tango

The tombstones were waiting, they were half-engraved/They knew it was over, they just didn't know the date…/And I cast a spell over the west to make you think of me/The same way I think of you/This is a love song in my own way/Happily ever after below the waist/Best friends, ex-friends 'til the end/Better off as lovers

Fame > Infamy: LL!Joel

I am God's gift, but why would he bless me with/Such wit without a conscience equipped/I'm addicted to the way I feel when I think of you, whoa/There's too much green to feel blue

You’re Crashing, But You’re No Wave: This is far from the only FOB song about a sensitive topic but it's one of the like... two that I don't feel comfortable assigning to something.

I’ve Got All This Ringing In My Ears And None On My Fingers: DL!BigB

You're a canary, I'm a coal mine/'Cause sorrow is just all the rage/Take one for the team/You all know what I mean/And I'm so sorry but not really/Tell the boys where to find my body

G.I.N.A.S.F.S.: DL!Impulse and Bdubs

Trade baby blues for wide eyed browns/I sleep with your old shirts and walk through this house in your shoes/You know, it's strange/It's a strange way of saying that I know I'm supposed to love you/I'm supposed to love you/I've already given up on myself twice/Third time is the charm, third time is the charm/Threw caution to the wind, but I've got a/Lousy arm

It’s Hard To Say “I Do”, When I Don’t: Am I allowed to say this is a Watchers song? I don't care I'm saying it.

I speak fast and I'm not gonna repeat myself, no/So listen carefully to every word I say/I'm the only one who's gonna get away/With making excuses today/You're appealing to emotions that I simply do not have

FOLIE A DEUX

Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes: Impulse

Oh, I'm a loose bolt of a complete machine/What a match, I'm half-doomed, and you're semi-sweet/So boycott love, detox just to retox/And I'd promise you anything for another shot at life

I Don’t Care: LL!Fairy Fort

Let the leaves fall off in the summer/And let December glow in flames (In flames; oh)/Erase myself and let go/Start it over again in Mexico/These friends, they don't love you/They just love the hotel suites now

She’s My Winona: SL!Martyn

We didn't come to compete, this is a demonstration/Even the young ones become irrelevant/They always bring up how you've changed

America’s Suitehearts: SL!Gem

Let's hear it for America's suitehearts, but I must confess/I'm in love with my own sins/You can bow and pretend that/You don't, don't know you're a legend, oh/Time, time, time hasn't told anyone else yet

Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet: LimL+SL!Cleo, Bdubs, and Etho

Does your husband know the way that/The sunshine gleams from your wedding band?/Does he know the way, does he know the way/Of the crickets that would convince me to call it a night?/But I will never end up like him/Behind my back, I already am

The (Shipped) Gold Standard: LimL!Bdubs

All the yes-men said "No comment"/My mouth got going/The wrong way, and all the calls started snowing/The time my dad caught me a horseshoe crab/And I asked him if throwing it back into the sea would bring our luck back/I wanna scream "I love you" from the top of my lungs/But I'm afraid that someone else will hear me

(Coffee’s For Closers): LL!BigB

Though change will come, oh, change will come/I will never believe in anything again/We will never believe again/Kick drum beating in my chest again/No, we will never believe again/Preach electric to a microphone stand, oh

What A Catch, Donnie: This song is a compilation of different vocalists from bands associated with the band, a compilation of previous songs of theirs, and one of the only FOB ballads. I can't pull a specific lyric, but this one could be solidly used for a compilation/retrospective of every season so far.

27: This is the other one I don't feel comfortable assigning to anything. Moving on.

Tiffany Blews: SL!Lizzie

I'm not a crybaby/I'm the crybaby/A caterpillar that got stuck/Mr. Moth, come quick with any luck/A long walk to a dark house/A Roman candle heart, keep us far apart/I'm cocktail party doin' alright, hate me baby/Maybe I'm a piece of art/Oh, my friends all lie and say/They only want the best wishes for me

w. a. m. s.: LL!Mumbo

I'm a young one stuck in the thoughts/Of an old one's head/When all the others were just stirrin' awake/I'm tryin' to trick myself to fall asleep again, whoa

20 Dollar Nose Bleed: Dogwarts

When I look at the man who would be king, the man who would be king/Goes to the desert, the same war his dad rehearsed/Came back with flags on coffins and said, "We won, oh, we won"/Permanent jet lag, please take me back (Please take me back)/Please take me back, (ooh, ooh)/I'm a stray dog sick, please let me in

West Coast Smoker: SL!Joel

Wishes bounce me weightless/The infrared scope on pointlessness/The bulls are sedated/And this fight's fixed

Pavlove: SL!Tango

Something make my chest stir/Something make my head blur/Oh, oh, I'm not ready for a handshake with death, no/Oh, oh, I'm just such a happy mess, whoa

SAVE ROCK AND ROLL

The Phoenix: Team TIES

Bring home the boys in scraps, scrap metal the tanks/Get hitched, make a career out of robbing banks/Because the world is just a teller and we are wearing black masks/"You broke our spirit," says the note we pass

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up): LL!Cleo

I've got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see/That you're the antidote to everything except for me/Through a constellation of tears on your lashes/Burn everything you love then burn the ashes

Alone Together: The Roomies (Cleo, Etho, and Grian)

I don't know where you're going/But do you got room for one more troubled soul?/I don't know where I'm going/But I don't think I'm coming home/And I said, "I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead"/This is the road to ruin and we're starting at the end

Where Did The Party Go: LL!Tango

I'm here to collect your hearts/It's the only reason that I sing/I don't believe a word you say/But I can't stop listening

Just One Yesterday: LL!Bdubs and Etho

If heaven's grief brings hell's rain/Then I'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday/(I know I'm bad news)/For just one yesterday/(I saved it all for you)

The Mighty Fall: DL!Divorce Quartet

Your crooked love is just a pyramid scheme and I'm dizzy on dreams/(And I'm dizzy on dreams)/But if you ask me two's a whole lot lonelier than one/Baby, we should have left our love in the gutter where we found it/(Gutter where we found it)/'Cause you think, you think your only crime is that you got caught

Miss Missing You: Impulse and Bdubs (Impulse POV)

Baby, you were my picket fence, I miss missing you now and then/Chlorine kissed summer skin, I miss missing you now and then/Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger/The person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger/Oh, we're fading fast, I miss missing you now and then

Death Valley: This is the soundtrack to the LL Battle Royale Finale

We're going to die, it's just a matter of time/Hard times come, good times go/I'm either gone in an instant/Or here 'til the bitter end, I never know

Young Volcanoes: The Heart Foundation

C'mon, make it easy, say I never mattered/Run it up the flag pole/We will teach you how to make boys next door/Out of assholes (Hahaha!)/Tonight, the foxes hunt the hounds/It's all over now

Rat A Tat: LL!Grian and Mumbo (mostly Grian POV)

But I'll take your heart served up two ways/I sing a bitter song/I'm the lonelier version of you/I just don't know where it went wrong

Save Rock And Roll: DL!Pearl

I cried tears you'll never see/So fuck you, you can go cry me an ocean, and leave me be/You are what you love, not who loves you/In a world full of the word 'yes', I'm here to scream/No, no (No, no)/Wherever I go, go (go, go)/Trouble seems to follow

AMERICAN BEAUTY/AMERICAN PSYCHO

Irresistible: SL!Gem and Pearl (Gem POV)

Count me in unannounced, drag my nails on the tile/I just follow your scent/You can't just follow my smile/All of your flaws are aligned with this mood of mine/Cutting me to the bone/Nothing left to leave behind/You ought to keep me concealed just like I was a weapon/I didn't come for a fight but I will fight till the end/This might be your battle, might not turn out okay/You know you look so Seattle, but you feel so LA

American Beauty/American Psycho: LL!Scott

I think I fell in love again/Maybe I just took too much cough medicine/I'm the best worst thing that hasn't happened to you yet/The best worst thing/You take the full, full truth, then you pour some out/You take the full, full truth, then you pour some out/And you can kill me, kill me or let God sort ‘em out

Centuries: LimL!Martyn

And I can't stop 'til the whole world knows my name/Cause I was only born inside my dreams/Until you die for me, as long as there's a light, my shadow's over you/Cause I am the opposite of amnesia

The Kids Aren’t Alright: The Mounders

It twists my head just a bit to think/All those people in those old photographs I've seen are dead/And in the end/I'd do it all again/I think you're my best friend

Uma Thurman: 3L!Cleo

You'll find your way/And may death find you alive/Take me down the line/In Gem City, we turn the tide

Jet Pack Blues: Impulse and Bdubs

Honey, don't you leave/Don't you remember how we used to split a drink?/It never mattered what it was, I think/Our heads were just that close/The sweetness never lasts, you know

Novocaine: Guess what, it's Joel again. I'm not even a Joel main why is this happening.

In the truly gruesome do we trust/I will always land on you like a sucker punch/Singing I am your worst, I am your worst nightmare

Fourth Of July: LL!Lizzie and Cleo (Lizzie POV)

I said I'd never miss you/But I guess you never know/May the bridges I have burned/Light my way back home on the fourth of July/I wish I'd known how much you loved me/I wish I cared enough to know

Favorite Record: Post DL!Jimmy

You were the song stuck in my head/Every song that I've ever loved/Play it again and again and again/And you can get what you want but it's never enough

Immortals: 3L!Grian and Scar

I am the sand in the bottom half of the hourglass, glass (Glass)/(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)/Oh, I try to picture me without you, but I can’t/'Cause we could be immortals/Immortals/Just not for long, for long/And live with me forever now/Mmm, pull the blackout curtains down/Just not for long, for long

Twin Skeleton’s (Hotel In NYC): SL!Martyn and Jimmy

I just need enough of you to dull the pain/Just to get me through the night 'till we're twins again/'Til we're stripped down to our skeletons again/'Til we're saints just swimming in our sins again/And there's a jet black crow droning on and on and on/Up above our heads droning on and on and on/Keep making trouble 'til you find what you love/I need a new partner in crime and you, you shrug that

MANIA

Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea: 3L!Ren

I'm 'bout to go Tonya Harding on the whole world's knee/And I'm stuck, night vision, so stuck, night vision/But I come to life, come to life/Some princes don't become kings/Even at the best of times, I'm out of my mind/You only get what you grieve

The Last Of The Real Ones: Bdubs

My head is stripped, just like a screw that's been tightened too many times/When I think of you, when I think of you/I will shield you from the waves if they find you/I will protect you, I will protect you/Just tell me, tell me, tell me I, I am the only one/Even if it's not true, even if it's not true, yeah

HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON’T: DL+LimL!Etho and Joel

I got too high again, realized I can't not be with you/Or be just your friend, I love you to death, but I just can't/I just can't pretend, we weren't lovers first/Confidants but never friends, were we ever friends?/But when your stitch comes loose, I wanna sleep on/Every piece of fuzz and stuffing that comes out of you/You, I took too many hits off this memory/I need to come down/An-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-nother day goes by/So hold me tight, hold me tight, or don't/Oh n-n-no, no, this isn't how our story ends

Wilson (Expensive Mistakes): LL!Bdubs

There's nothing more cruel than to be loved by everybody but you (but you)/Than to be loved by everybody but you, (but you) but you/If I could get my shit together/I'm gonna run away and never see any of you again/Never see any of you again/I hope the roof flies off and we get blown out into space/I-I always make such expensive mistakes

Church: SL!Lizzie

I love the world/But I just don't love the way it makes me feel/Got a few more fake friends/And it's getting hard to know what's real/And if death is the last appointment/Then we're all just sitting in the waiting room (Mr. Stump?)/I am just a human trying to avoid my certain doom

Heaven’s Gate: LimL!Skizz (right at the end)

I got dreams of my own, but I want to make yours come true/So please come through, honey please, please come through/Oh, go out in the world, start over again and again/As many times as you can

Champion: SL!Pearl

I got rage every day, on the inside/The only thing I do is sit around and kill the time/I'm trying to blow out the pilot light/I'm trying to blow out the light/I'm just young enough to still believe, still believe/But young enough not to know what to believe in/Young enough not to know what to believe/If I can live through this, if I can live through this/If I can live through this, I can do anything

Sunshine Riptide: LL!Scott

The world tried to burn all the mercy outta me/But you know I wouldn't let it/It tried to teach me the hard way, I can't forget it

Young And Menace: LimL!Martyn

We've gone way too fast for way too long/And we were never supposed to make it half this far/And I lived so much life, lived so much life/I think that God is gonna have to kill me twice

Bishops Knife Trick: Bad Boys

I got a feeling inside that I can't domesticate/It doesn't wanna live in a cage, a feeling that I can't housebreak/And I'm yours 'til the earth starts to crumble and the heavens roll/Away, I'm struggling to exist with you and without you, yeah

SO MUCH (FOR) STARDUST

Love From The Other Side: SL!Etho

I'd never go, I just want to be invited, oh, got to give up/Get the feeling, get the feeling, don't fight it, fight it/Sending my love from the other side of the apocalypse/And I just about snapped, don't look back/Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand

Heartbreak Feels So Good: 3L!Grian

Is there a word for bad miracle?/Nobody said the road was endless/Nobody said the climb was friendless/But could we please pretend this won't end?

Hold Me Like A Grudge: DL!Pearl

(You put the "fun" into dysfunction)/Hold me, hold me like a grudge/The world is always spinning, and I can't keep up, woah/Faster and faster, can't do it on my own/Part-time soulmate, full-time problem, yeah/So hold me like a grudge

Fake Out: SL!Lizzie

But I didn't take the love when I had the chance/But I swear I'm not sad anymore/So make no plans and none can be broken/No plans and none can be broken/Do you laugh about me whenever I leave?/Or do I still need more therapy?

Heaven, Iowa: 3L!Scar

And they don't know how much they’ll miss/At least until you're gone like this/Talking to the mirror, say, "Save your breath/Half your life you've been hooked on death"

So Good Right Now: DL!Bdubs

And I know, I know I've made mistakes, yeah/And I know, I know, but at least they were mine to make/They were mine to make/And all of our wildest dreams, they just end up with a-you and me/So, let's drive until the engine just gives out

The Pink Seashell: Ok, I cannot pull a lyric for this because it is the world’s most specific monologue, but the general message of it (“Life is a lottery and bad shit happens all the time, so might as well find happiness in the good things, even the small things.”) feels like it could be Skizz. Just trust me. This one is so fucking difficult.

I Am My Own Muse: LimL!Jimmy

Here I am, not sure you should take a chance/I like playin' dumb, lettin' you figure me out/But I was faded, in my own defense/So, drop a bomb on all the things we dreamed about

Flu Game: SL!Joel

Last night I dreamt I still knew you/You/I carved out a place in this world for two/But it's empty without you/I got all this love I've got to keep to myself/All this effort to make it look effortless

Baby Annihilation: Scott

The first time I took the mask off, just had another one on underneath

The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years): LimL+ SL!Martyn (but mostly LimL)

Passed my old street, the house I grew up in/It breaks your heart, but four of the Ramones are dead/I felt you at the beginning, but needed you at the end/We're goin' low, low, low, low

What A Time To Be Alive: SL!Bigb

When, when, when I said, "Leave me alone", this isn't quite what I meant/I got the quarantine blues, bad news, what's left?/So, it seems the vulture's gettin' too full to fly, oh/What a time to be alive

So Much (For) Stardust: Ren

I'm in a winter mood, dreamin' of spring now/Burnin' myself down, burnin' myself down, burnin'/I feel like something that's been stretched out over and over again/Until I'm creased, and I'm about to break down the middle/Split me right down the middle, right, right down the middle, yeah

[yerevasunclair]

ANY FLOOR CAN BE OUR DANCE FLOOR (Part 1: MORNINGS WITH YOU)

for @pattarainn @nedlynstan @vpba @fairleyandmanville @ladycatofwinterfell @shining-m00nlight ♥️

“Ned….” Catelyn called his name as soon as she woke up naked under the sheets. She expected to find him beside her but he wasn’t there. She finds herself ridiculous how she still dreams of him in her sleep even when there’s no reason to miss him.

Yesterday, they spent their date biking at Hyde park. They also rode on a ferris wheel, the London Eye, to admire the view of the city. After that they ate sandwiches and drank jasmine green milk tea at this favorite milk tea shop of their grandkids.

They’ve been friends for two years but they’ve been doing what normal couples do only for the past 2 months. He even helps her bake and manage her pastry shop on a daily basis that some people from other towns who eat at her cafe had even mistaken them as a long-married couple. She would laugh at it but deep inside it somehow made her feel sad. Ned was a widower and she was a divorcee who stayed too long in a toxic marriage. Part of her wished she never married that man and met Ned sooner. But there’s a purpose for everything, whether they are good or bad events. Their losses and devastation led them to the rekindling of hope, to each other.

Her thoughts were now full of the great happenings that occurred ever since she moved into this unfamiliar town and it inspires her to get up from bed every morning.

She searched for her clothes and picked up her panties atop her pants on the floor. Her shirt was on the other side too but she walked to his cabinet to find a shirt of his. Ned loved light, pastel colors. She saw the light green color that matched his eyes. It would have been her choice had she not seen the flesh button up shirt next to it. It was the shirt he wore when he first came to her house to pick up his granddaughter Sophie, who was Maisie’s (her granddaughter) best friend. She took it out and wore it. She didn’t need her pants anymore as the bottom of it reached at her mid thigh.

She quietly walked down the stairs, smelling brewed coffee and cinnamon and hearing the vinyl record playing. Ned was the only person she knew who had a vinyl record placed in his kitchen. As she entered there, he saw Ned chopping strawberries and humming to the song at the same time, a romantic one that she wasn’t familiar with.

She went to surprise him and embrace him from behind but as soon as she touched him, he turned around and took her in his arms.

“Dance with me as I sing you this song,” he said.

“And what song is that, my love?” she smiled widely at him. He held her closer to him and began singing,

Baby, I'm yours (baby, I'm yours)

And I'll be yours (yours)

until the stars fall from the sky

Yours (yours) until the rivers all run dry

In other words, until I die

Baby, I'm yours (baby, I'm yours)

And I'll be yours (yours) until the sun no longer shines

Yours (yours) until the poets run out of rhyme

In other words, until the end of time

Ned looked into her eyes as he was swaying her to the beat, to let her know he means every word. It softened her heart because she was never loved as good as this.

I'm gonna stay right here by your side

And do my best to keep you satisfied

Nothin' in the world could drive me away

Every day, you'll hear me say

Baby, I'm yours (baby, I'm yours)

And I'll be yours (yours) until two and two is three

Yours (yours) until the mountain crumbles to the sea

In other words, until the eternity

Baby, I'm yours (ooh)

'Til the stars fall from the sky

(Baby, I'm yours)

'Til the rivers all run dry

(Baby, I'm yours)

Baby, I'm yours

‘Til the sun no longer shines

Baby, I'm yours

‘Til the poets run out of rhymes

“Baby I’m yours…” he emphasized the last line. She tiptoed so she could kiss him softly, to tell him she was all his as well.

“Good morning, Ned.” she said with her arms wrapped around him.

“Good morning to you, sunshine. You’re just in time. I would have brought your breakfast to your bed.”

“Oh, you sweet man. There’s no need to…”

“This one’s for you.” He pulled away from her embrace and placed her breakfast before her, a full plate of strawberry chocolate french toast and a cup of hot coffee with a simple latte art on it, a heart. He never had any idea about latte art until she taught him how. It deeply moved her how he’s doing it just for her.

“Wow. You never fail to make me feel special.” She sat on the chair right next to him.

“Because you always are to me.” He clasped her hand. That gesture was enough to make her believe in herself, and in the better place that she is in now.

[miyaniacs]

Christmas Eve

a/n: I wish you all of you who celebrate Christmas a Happy Christmas and I hope event this year was horrible, you all find at least a bit of joy and peace. If any of you needs to talk because they have to deal with some family or personal issues during this time, I'm here for you. At those how don't celebrate it: It isn't, besides Bokutos, really themed about religion, it’s just to hopefully make all of you laugh ❤️ 

form: total shitpost

characters: Atsumu, Osamu, Sakusa, Oikawa, Kuroo, Bokuto x gn!reader

warnings: lowkey nsfw (just some suggestive stuff I’d say 16+), bdsm mentions (but in a funny way - there’s nothing really sexual), mentions of sex toys and Bokuto’s is just wholesome

masterlist

Atsumu

Let’s set the atmosphere okay?

The tree is lit up, the decorations are sparkling, all the other presents are illustrated by the lights on the tree, it’s dark outside, soft snowflakes can be seen, in the background you can hear some beautiful old Christmas songs being played

The little bell rings calling you in the room 

Yet, you prepared a small surprise too 

With you, his family is walks into the room 

They originally couldn’t make it in time and it was visible for you that this really saddened Atsumu - he’s used to spend Christmas Eve with his parents and his brother - playing silly card games, him and Osamu almost knocking over the tree etc

Well 

Surprise. 

You all walked in saying a loud : SURPRISE 

Which turns into a loud scream as soon as they see Atsumu laying under the tree with a sexy present costume

it’s literally just a big red band wrapped around his body with the bow right over his thingy 

Head rested on his elbow, one of his legs swung over the other in a rather sexy way 

The screams of you and his family mix together with his screams 

The only one who was still able to think fast was Osamu - that’s why now a video of the whole thing is sending to the MSBY groupchat (also to the chat they got with their old Highschool team) 

While trying to escape the whole situation Atsumu got also caught in the tree

Now there’s a red fabric hanging in the tree and a naked Atsumu running upstairs 

Osamu

Osamu was stressed the whole time before Christmas 

He got so many jobs for some big companies to deliver his onigiri 

Besides that his shop was full af with all the friends that met up again due to them being back home during the holidays 

He was a mess 

So you managed all the household: cooking, cleaning, making sure he at least relaxed a bit, decorating etc

You’ve barley seen him anyways

Fast forward to Christmas Eve:

You received an emergency call from Atsumu, so you’re on your way to his, mentally cursing him since you still have to make the last preparations for tonight

At his - it was just some : how do I clean this or that emergency 

Annoyed af you make your way back home

Unlocking the door, you’re greeted with some ‘all I want for Christmas’ and the apartment being all dark, just illuminated with the sparkling Christmas lights 

“Osamu?” You call out for him walking through the apartment, the music getting louder and louder 

Opening the door to your living room, you’re greeted with the sight of Osamu, dressed in a sexy butler costume, his torso completely revealed, and a bow around his neck 

“Sit down my love.” He says and pulls out one of the chairs for you 

You sit down and look over the beautiful decorated table, filled with all kinds of mouth watering food

Looking back at him, your eyes rest on his toned chest “Was... was this all planned?” 

“Yes, I thought I’d give you something back for all your support the past weeks”  he smiles and leans down to give you a kiss 

“Then I’ve been a bitch to Atsumu for no reason..” you mutter 

“ There’s always a reason to be a bitch towards him” he laughs, “now, my dear - what can I serve you?” He bows

Sakusa

You in a maid uniform with lots of cleaning utensils that are sex toys Dom reader like 

As soon as Sakusa enters his home on Christmas Eve, a big black fabric is pulled over his head and he’s dragged into the living room and pushed onto a chair

“Only good guys get presents right?” You say teasingly  and your hands run over his chest , starting to unbutton his shirt 

Slowly you pull the blindfold off his head

His eyes widen, then darken and then he looks at you with an eyeroll 

“Are you serious right now?” He huffs

You’re wearing a sexy maid costume, the feather duster in one hand and the other one placed on your hip 

“Nahhhhh - dirty boys aren’t allowed to talk.” You lean forward and place your finger on his lips, “how are we supposed to celebrate and enjoy Christmas when we’re both not clean?” 

Leaning to the right you grab a bottle tilted “Mr Clean - hand sanitizer” rubbing it on your hands, you walk behind him and start massaging his shoulders with the body oil. 

After that, you walk back around him and bend down, the skirt moving upwards, exposing everything to him 

“You’re pretty clean now, but could you help me cleaning myself?” You ask and hand him a little present. 

Unwrapping it, he rolls his eyes yet s smirk appears on his face 

“For the really stubborn ones” he reads out looking at the lube in his hands 

You look at him innocently “Yes,..., we can’t let any dirty germs touch our preciously wrapped gifts, can we?” 

He nods in response and gets up, walking over to you

“No, no we can’t... let’s get you all cleaned up now ... shall we?” He asks in a husky voice and throws you over his shoulder carrying you to the bedroom 

Oikawa

Getting tied up he’s exited a male dom getting into the room destroying 90% of his closet while degrading him and his style => presents a whole new closet from you and his friends and family 

His clothes are horrible 

Besides sports wear his taste is ... a whole catastrophe

so together with his friends you planned a surprise for him

Oikawa knew something was up- but he expected a different kind of surprise- he hoped you’d be his present tonight and that you’d strip for him, since he’s basically begging you to do so the past weeks

When it rings on his door that evening, he opens the door fully expecting to see you standing there 

Quickly his smile drops when he’s got pushed back inside by a man wearing a leather mask 

“Go to your closet.” He demands and makes the whip in his hand more visible 

With a small Wimper oikawa hurries to the room

The man towers over him 

“Open” he underlines his words with a loud whip and oikawa does as he’s told to 

“Now put all your clothes in this here!” He throws a black plastic back to oikawas feet 

“Strip and put them into it to.” Another whip echos through the room and oikawa whimpers again, eyes wide open and he slowly begins to pull off his hoodie 

“Faster!” 

“Now put this on!” He hands him a collar with a leash on it

Grabbing the black bag and the leash he drags oikawa back to the front door

“Wait wait - what are you doing !!” He finally complains 

The man stops and takes out a gag and quickly fixes it around oikawas head

“MH- MHHHH HHMMM” he cries out

“QUIET!” 

Opening the front door, the man drags Oikawa outside where a few people are already waiting, filming the whole thing

“Here.” The man throws the bag to the ground and hands you the lash 

“Have fun.” 

“Y/N MHLNG Y/N!” Oikawa ‘says’ shocked

“You didn’t listen to us ... so we had to force you.” Iwaizumi says, standing next to you

“Your clothes were horrible.” Mattsun complains 

“New ones are already laying under the tree , love.” You smile and pat his head, the leash still in your hand 

“Well... have fun with him - I think we should go now.” Iwaizumi laughs

Bokuto

Yes. Yes Bokuto still believes in the Christkind (just look it up - the translation is so ugly so I’m using the German word)

And it’s way too precious so non of you ever told him the truth 

So here you are, getting dressed, putting on a white loose dress, white wings, soft golden eyeshadow and curling your hair / putting on a blond wig

Akaashi, Kenma and Kuroo - who will celebrate Christmas with you two - enter the house, together with Bokuto 

Kuroo is talking EXTRA loud to make sure you hear them coming back 

“Huh? Why is there light in the living room?- Y/N shouldn’t be home by now.”  You hear Bokuto ask confused 

Grabbing the small bell, you take a quick glance into the mirror and ring it 

“A BELL??? OMG AKAAAAAAASSSHHHIIIIIII IS IT - OMG OMG OMGGGG!“ Bokuto screams and runs to the room 

Opening the door his eyes lay on you, the angel standing next to the tree, about to place a small gift under the tree, ready to ‘leave’ again 

Bokutos eyes shine like the stars, his mouth wide open, whole body shaking 

“You ... you ... you’re real!?!” He mutters 

‘Shocked’ you spin around, the gift still in your hands and look at him 

You smile softly and walk towards him 

Your hand takes his and you place the gift in his hand, get on your tip toes about to give him a small kiss on his cheek, but he moves away

“No, I’m sorry, but I got a beautiful s/o.” Your heart melts at his words, the real angel in this room truly is Bokuto himself 

You smile and look at Akaashi, telling him to distract Bokuto so you can leave again - which he does 

A few minutes later you open the front door, dressed as usual 

“OMG Y/N - YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT!!! THE CHRISTKIND WAS HERE !!!! HERE AND IT GAVE ME THIS PRESENT!!!! ITS A PICTURE OF US ON OUR FIRST DATE!!” He rushes over to you and shoved the framed picture into your face

“A REAL ANGEL - AND YOU MISSED IT!” He pouts

“I’m sorry Bo” you mutter and give him a quick kiss 

“But ... I have to admit ... besides all their beauty, you’re way prettier than them... I can’t call you angle anymore knowing that your beauty outshines them.” A soft smile forms on his lips and you feel tears forming in your eyes. 

Kuroo

Kuroo saw your google history 

He saw that you kept on looking for videos of a sex swing and how it works etc

So he knew the perfect present for you for Christmas 

On the box it only said Swing - red, silk

So no biggie 

Well... your parents invited themselves over to yours for Christmas Eve. 

Together with your little cousin

Before it comes to opening up the gifts, traditionally you had dinner first. 

Michale Buble was playing, your parents and his dad ( who got invited by your parents ) already had too much to wine, your little cousin bouncing on the chair, waiting to finally  open up the presents. 

If Kuroo knew, that your family’s would come, he wouldn’t even placed the swing under the tree, but they just appeared on your door with food and presents 

So now - the swing was the biggest present 

“Y/n... Y/NNNNNN” your little cousin asks you while already sitting under the tree eying all the presents

“Yes?” You laugh

“Can I open your presents????” She asks

“Sure.” You smile, knowing how much she loves opening them 

Next to you, Kuroo’s heart stops, cold sweat running down his neck 

Your cousin hands you the two small presents on top of the big one

“Here I just want to open the big one” 

“Are those yours?” You ask and look at Kuroo, who just nods

“Babe... what’s wrong?” You ask him, but before he could answer, the ripping sound of the wrapping paper is heard 

“OMG Y/N HE GOT YOU A SWING?! I’M SO JELLY!!!! AND A RED ONE TOO... OMG IS THIS A SWING OUT OF THOSE MOVIES??? THE ONES WITH SILK AND NOT WOOD???” 

(Insert : oh no- Oh NO - OH NONONONOOO)

Your eyes widen.

All blood  leaves yours and Kuroos face 

Your mum takes a big sip out of her glass

Your dad glares at Kuroo 

His dad looks ashamed at Kuroo 

While your cousin opens the package and fiddles with the red silky stuff 

“At least the color fits in the room.” Your mum laughs taking another sip of her wine 

tagging: @kenmasgameboy

[enha-woodzies]

➸ CHAPTER 5 | " ILLICIT AFFAIRS "

starring: enhypen ft. i-land daniel

pairing: jungwon x fem!reader x sunghoon

genres: royal au, romance, angst, slowburn, 18th century setting

word count: 1.8k

taglist: @serendipitysung @angeljungwon @en-sun @affectionaterainoflove @renkiv @softforjungwoo @jislix @fluffi @gyeraniee @stxrryemxlys

[ PREV. CHAPTER ] | [ M. LIST ] | [ NEXT CHAPTER ]

“The morning sun has come, and the evening moon is gone. Dearlings, I am elated to apprise you of the events at the debutantes’ ball that occurred as of late, and must I warn you, they're not for the feeble spirits!

The ton is abuzz with the most beefy tale as Northumberland’s jewel among the lovely rocks, Miss Y//n Park, has earned herself a ticket to glory! She danced with the most favored noblemen in the ton and surely, she went home with a hearty grace as she'll most likely expect an abundant roster of suitors in the following days.

Not only was she offered a dance by our dear second-born, Lord Yang, but she also had the privilege and pleasure to be twirled around the court by the most charming, Lord Lee, and the ever coveted nobleman among the ton, Lord Park, the next-in-line Duke of Northumberland!

Where's the beef you might ask? Well, it seems to me that these men are blindfoldedly playing fire with each other.

Not only does Lord Lee has women wrapped easily around his fingers, he has men too! With a sly steal of Miss Y/n’s hand from Lord Yang last night, he certainly left the chap earnestly plotting for a segue of intrusion- and Lord Yang intriguingly delivered!

With the timing in its most opportune, Lord Yang managed to finally dance with the young miss, in private! Ooh! This is new! My senses told me they spent their waltz in the Queen’s library, alone! How in the world did they let this happen to the ton’s jewel unchaperoned? That is something the Daily Tattle is unfortunately unable to unearth, but the mystery will continue to haunt us for long. Do take note: the more you hide in careful secret, the more people will know and hear about it.

What happened next will have you either boggled, or enchanted! The young lord abruptly rushed out the room before the music even ended! Should that be counted as a waltz at all? Before you ask about the enchanting part, Miss Y/n was seen dashing out the room moments later in tears and evident heartache. What do you think happened in the mere minutes of alone time in that large 4-cornered room?

But come now, enchanting stories aren't as they are without a knight in shining armor. In fact, in our young miss’ case, her knight wasn't clad in shining, silver sheath, but in magnificent and elegant, vintage red tailcoat draped over a loose white jabot shirt that’s cleanly tucked into the black, satin knee breeches, finished off with a pair of shiny Hessian boots. With skin as white almost akin to snow, it complemented perfectly with his ravishing fit. The beautiful marquess certainly dressed himself valiantly for the seasonal occasion. With that stunning presence, anyone would surely presume he went to the ball looking like a duke in careful search of a duchess.

Lord Park and Miss Y/n surprisingly became one of the ball’s highlights as they graced the Royal Court with the most heart-stopping, corset-itching, tantalizing waltz. All the while their faces are almost an inch apart from each other, a brooding identity was found hiding in the crowded corner of the hall! Under the bright gleam of the grand chandeliers, our dearest second-born, Lord Yang, was seen eyeing the two with such stare that even the buffy slice of vanilla cake on Lord Sunoo’s plate could almost melt in a blink of an eye!

Among the splendid tales told by yours truly, which tea do you think tastes like sweet ecstasy of oddity and fervor? It is the ton's tradition to portend the lady’s endgame by the person whom she had her last waltz with. From one man to another, should these prophecies dictate Miss Y/n Park’s fate?

Well, don't turn your heads away now! The story's just begun.”

The mid-morning sunrays peek through the large leaves and busty trunks of the hibernating redwood trees lining in disarray. Y/n is just about to plummet into her habitual readings in the Kielder forest and the autumnal breeze is keeping up with her bubbly morning approach, fortunately.

The sounds of the birds chirping and the dead leaves crunching under her shoes creep up through her puff sleeves making her tingle in giddiness and enthusiasm. She deeply inhales the aromatic forest and lets out a giggle in the process. With jumpy leaps and crispy leaves echoing in her every move, the young lady surely knows where she's going in this partly mysterious forest that is most often open only to men and men alone.

Somewhere deep in the evergreen woods, Y/n has built a fortress of her own for whenever she needs to run away from the seldom, mundane life in the manor. At the heart of Northumberland's famous Kielder Forest, lies a small, whimsical looking fort made up of translucent voile casually hanging on a tree branch. One of her lady maids helped her out with the fabric one time and it still stood prettily among the chaotic scenes that go around in the forest today.

She enters her slightly sheer fort and sits down on a pillow that she stole away from the comforts of her bedroom. Flipping the olden pages of the aged Jane Austen book she borrowed from a boy several years back, she heaves a sigh at the sight of a dead Catalpa flower resting on a particular page accompanied by a little, worn out parchment dating back to when she was a tiny ten-year-old lassie. She reads,

Her eyes drifted over the page to where the note and the old flower were situated. The pads of her fingers graze over the certain phrases that were underlined by the book's owner that says, “I cannot make speeches. If l loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am.一 You hear nothing but truth from me.一”

She suddenly feels a gush of nostalgia and loneliness upon muttering the words she had ultimately carved in her tongue way back; reciting each word with fervor while she bask herself under the brightly-lit moonlight in their garden. How can children of ten gobble up such emotions at once? So much for a pair of hopeless romantic hearts from the distant years of ten, screaming disagreements and would later huddle on a sprawled out table cloth on the flowery fields, exchanging sentimental poesies and stolen stares.

She relives the brief moments they both shared last night in the Queen’s library, and ponders on how one could be so adjacent to the changing of tides in the sea; promptly, and mostly without warning.

“Well, well, well. If it isn't the feelings I've been trying to avoid.” She whispers to the autumn air. Unfortunately, her pondering truncates as snaps of twigs and crisps off dried leaves echoes in her corner. She hastily crawls out her hand-made canopy and brushes away any pieces of tiny crumpled leaves off her dress.

“What are you doi-”

“Who are you?” She cuts off the startled chap cladded in ragged clothing, apparently embodying that of a mainland farm boy.

“Greetings, your ladyship. I come in peace and I am just here to fetch the chopped woods I’ve laboured a day prior for the farm.” The chap with a very odd accent replies with both hands hanging mid-air. “You are fully aware that you shouldn't be in this place, especially unchaperoned, right?” He continues.

“I am fully aware. But such matters shouldn't concern you.”

“Indeed, my apologies. Furthermore, I will respect your unspoken wishes if it is truly your desire to keep your whereabouts hidden from your townspeople. My lady.”

Y/n relaxes from her bold stance as she found a hint of kindness from the odd stranger. Surprisingly, she extends her hand out to the stranger for a greeting.

“Please. Call me Y/n instead.” The boy looks at her open palm for half a minute before shaking it, looking as equally surprised as the young miss with the sudden gesture.

“You live pretty far from the town, huh?”

“I do. Life's utterly chaotic over on your end?”

“Oh, you don't have the slightest idea.” They both share laughters and inside jokes of their own livelihood that made the young miss settle her shoulders down comfortably.

“I'm Jake Sim. Just Jake Sim. Apparently, my name was originally Jaeyun, but the farm folks got used with Jake and so did I. They said it sounds more Australian.”

“Why would they associate your name with something Australian?” Y/n grew more curious as it was, after all, the first time she's ever been with a person that's not of Northumberland's proper.

“I grew up in Australia.”

“That's curious. How did an Australian boy land among the ragged farms of Europe?”

“It's complicated. The story involves a lot of conspiracies so it's definitely not for your ears. Some other time, maybe?” Y/n smirks at the sudden brazenness from her newly found acquaintance.

“Is this an Australian thing where we shift from acquaintanceship to something more?” She teases.

“Certainly, if you're down to it on your next Kielder visit?”

“For sure. But as for now, I must take my leave. My presence is very much needed for the promenade scheduled for me today.” Y/n half-covers her mouth as if reaching out for a whisper, hissing the last sentence.

“Ah! Rich people things that I could never.” The chap could only roll his eyes at the fancy thought.

“See you soon, Just Jake Sim!”

“Where have you been, princess?” The young miss scoffs at the marquess upon arriving at the town’s park, with a hand immediately sliding through Lord Park’s arm.

“Down with the flirtatious remarks now, aren't we? I went to promenade with myself, Your ever handsome Grace.” Sunghoon smirks at her tiny, playful whispers against his shoulders. They go around and about, traipsing along the cemented pavements as they give away acknowledging nods and polite smiles to whomever wants their brief attention.

The ton is still in amazed shock at the possibility of these two ending up with a ring on a finger. Everyone was subtly betting for Jungwon but as a result of his loss, a much better gent carried his girl off the floor. Something he let himself do, out of cowardice perhaps, or out of pride.

“Remind me the point of all this?” Y/n carefully whispers to Sunghoon.

“To make your man jealous and spit out his genuine sentiments in the process, as well as an advantage for me as we get to keep the marriage-minded mothers of the ton at bay. Now, all we have to do is smile, nod, and appear madly in love with each other if this is to work. Is it clear enough for you?” He jerks a brow at her paired with the most charming smirk he could ever expose.

“Crystal.”

*send me an ask or a message if you wish to be added on this series' taglist!

ㅡ © ENHA-WOODZIES, 2021

[novelconcepts]

I'm up way too late but may I submit two brief proposals vis-á-vis the postcards(?) on Jamie and Dani's fridge: 1) Once they've settled into ife in Vermont, they go through a phase where they decide they're going to see as much of the USA as they can (while they still can) and the postcards are the result of that adventure. 2) For a while, Miles and Flora send them postcards somewhat regularly, and they always go straight on the fridge. Eventually, the cards stop coming, but the old ones stay up

For the first few months, Dani can’t sit still. It’s the strangest damn thing, because she’s never been that kind of person. Dani is patient. Dani is patient to a fault, even. She can sit for an hour or more, waiting for a child’s stubborn facade to crack away and let her in. She’s trained herself to draw up lesson plans at night over a glass of wine, moving through the subjects with comfortable ease. She’s lost hours staring into the fire, mulling over old mistakes and older fears. Dani is genuinely good at sitting still, thinking things out, making a decision only when the pot has boiled over at last.

But these days, after leaving Bly, it’s like that pot never runs dry. It’s just burbling there on an indefinite loop, and no matter how she tries to calm it, she always seems to turn around to find boiling water splashing around her feet. Sooner or later, she thinks, it’s going to burn her. 

It’s better, she finds quickly, if she’s in motion. If her brain isn’t so occupied with that inward gaze that has done her such harm over the years, if she won’t let herself just lay on her back and stare at a dark ceiling, searching for patterns that Jamie insists, insists are not there, it doesn’t feel so...so...

So much like being watched. 

She moves. She moves, and Jamie moves with her. Jamie has gotten so good so fast at reading her moods: at looking up over a morning cup of tea and seeing something behind Dani’s eyes that wasn’t there last night. She’s afraid to ask what that something might be, but Jamie only ever raises her eyebrows, raises her cup in a salute, and says, “Where to, then, Poppins?”

Jamie, as always, giving her permission. So, they move. From England to Vermont, for starters, and it’s so much more than Dani remembered America being. Bigger. Colder. She feels like she’s always looking over her shoulder, and maybe that isn’t so new. Maybe that’s why she came out to Bly in the first place. But now, now it’s different. Now she peeks into reflections with the hopeful terror of a child who almost wants to catch a glimpse of the monster beneath the bed, because at least seeing it would mean the damn thing is there. Waiting. Watching. Breathing down the back of her neck like the soft brush of otherworldly fingers, ready to clamp tight. 

They hit Vermont, and Jamie doesn’t seem to mind that Dani sometimes leaps out of bed at sunrise and spends the next eighteen hours doing laps around their life. The grocery store. The bank. The apartment. She pings from one to the next like an out-of-control meteor on its way to an extinction event, and Jamie just watches. Just raises her eyebrows. Lays a hand gently around her wrist. Says, “All right, there, Poppins?”

And, no. No, it isn’t all right. But it’s better. Better than sitting alone in a room in that big, sprawling house where the walls are lined with memories of Hannah’s smile and Owen’s terrible sense of humor and those perfect, glorious, sad children she loves so much, even now. 

They’re in Vermont for a month when the itch gets too big to sit on any longer. When she physically can’t calm herself with the now-familiar route of errand and takeout pizza and trying to figure out how adults put together a home they actually want to live in. One night, with rain playing havoc on the apartment windows, with gusts slamming the panes so hard, she thinks they might shatter, she turns her eyes to Jamie. 

“Texas?”

It’s a million miles away from their home, which is growing rapidly warm and cozy and green under their care, and she thinks Jamie’s going to say something. About how maybe they could just start small. Maybe they could just take it easy. But Jamie just takes her hand, raises it to her lips, presses a kiss to the smooth skin just below her palm. 

“Texas, then. Why not?”

Texas is huge and rambling and a kind of wicked dry-hot England has never so much as joked about, and they spend a week just...walking. Poking into dive bars, where Jamie proves herself unaccountably good at pool, and little cafes, where Dani makes weak jokes about strong coffee. Holding hands under the table in restaurants mostly laid bare by late evening. Jamie smiles at her, and Dani feels the thing inside curl up a little tighter. Sink a little lower in her chest. 

The states spiral out like a summer sky after that, one after another. In Louisiana, they fall into good food and better music, dancing beneath the stars until Jamie is spinning her so fast, their laughter rings breathless through the night air. In Georgia, they pick fresh fruit and explore bookstores that smell like childhood ought to, and Jamie presses her into a kiss so warm and inviting that Dani almost forgets time exists outside of their lips. In Illinois, they explore a big city; in New York, a bigger one. The world sprawls, rolls, lands with all the care of heaped-up leaves on an October morning, and Dani lets herself fall. Into Michigan’s northern beauty, into California’s almost too-hip chatter, into the history of Washington and the quiet of Montana. Everywhere they go, the world feels a little more solid beneath her feet. Everywhere they go, Jamie’s hand is so steady in her own. 

They’re laying together in a hotel room in Boston when Jamie presses her to the bed and buries her face in her neck and Dani, for the first time in months, actually forgets. The world vibrates to a standstill around them, the music of other bodies through the walls fading to a distant tempo, and Jamie’s hands are confident, and Jamie’s kiss is searing, and Dani hasn’t felt this solid since--since--

She gasps, and for a minute, cold fear grips her from the inside: that Jamie’s going to raise her eyes and see that terrified girl again, the one who couldn’t be touched for longer than a second without doubling back on her own guilt. Maybe she’s still that girl, she thinks. Maybe she’s still back there, in some way, folding around her own secrets so tight, it’s astonishing she never shattered like one of her mother’s porcelain dolls. 

And then Jamie is raising her head, looking her in the eyes, and she’s smiling. The same smile from the night she first laid all the cards out on the table, inviting Dani to hold her, inviting Dani to know her for real. The world swims, and Dani wraps her arms around Jamie’s neck, and there is nothing watching this time. Nothing lurking. Nothing dark, or hungry, or wild. The desperation is the right kind, her own kind, the kind she and Jamie make together in these moments that never seem to last long enough. She exhales, and she feels like Dani Clayton in every atom. 

The postcards are Jamie’s idea. The steadiness so often is, Dani will note in later years, Jamie’s idea. Maybe because Jamie didn’t know what steadiness felt like until she was in her twenties. Maybe because Jamie is still waiting for it to skid out from under her boots. One day, in a little Midwestern town Dani’s already forgotten the name of, Jamie says, “We should send them a card.”

She doesn’t have to explain who. They both know how much they miss those kids. Both can feel it in the empty spaces at the table where there should be creaking chairs, shrieking sugar-laughter, the soft chuckle of adults learning how to laugh again at a child’s jokes. Jamie reaches out to a counter display, plucks a card plastered with a mountain so majestic, it might as well be made-up. She hands it and a pen to Dani, and nods. 

“They’ll like it.”

And they do. The postcard, and so many like it, go out--and, when they find their way back home at last, when Dani feels as though the adrenaline has cooled enough to let her breathe, to let the world rest like it did in that room back in Boston, the cards come back in. Fresh ones, painted with Disney characters and cherry blossoms and silly phrases about wishing they were there. Flora’s handwriting is getting better; Miles’, somehow, worse. They tack each one on the fridge as they come, leaning against the kitchen counter, remembering how it felt to breathe the air in Oregon, how the ocean licked around their ankles in Florida. 

The memories help. They’re grounding, somehow. To look at these tiny cards, the edges turning up from the handling of small fingers, and say, We did this. This was real. We were real there, and so are they. 

It makes her feel a little less like vibrating out of her skin with every card on that fridge. With every afternoon helping Jamie arrange flowers at the shop. With every evening bottle of wine, every stolen cigarette in bed, every shower Jamie pretends to be grumpy about her sliding into, the world resolves itself into a little more clarity. We’re doing this. This is real. We are here, even if they’re not. 

Slowly, slowly, as paper months burn and reveal bound-up yearbooks in their place, Dani finds she’s breathing through the panic. That the panic is, in fact, coming less and less frequently. That she’s sleeping through the night, turned toward Jamie always, the beam of light in the darkness she never has to question. The shop is flourishing. The apartment shows no sign of monsters in its corners. She’s thinking of Christmas again, but this time, the word she lands on isn’t if. 

The postcards are slowing. More and more of them turn up, when they turn up at all, in the neat, fidgety hand of Henry Wingrave. The words have far less heart, far more reality behind them. The kids are doing fine, just fine. They’re settling out quite nicely in California. You really should visit someday, you’d be quite welcome. 

She holds this invitation, elbows propped on the counter, and sighs. Jamie, who has been performing her nightly ritual of burning whatever she happens to put on the stove and inventing swear words so righteous, Dani can’t help but laugh, glances over her shoulder. 

“Something wrong?”

“They’re growing up,” Dani says, and there’s a tightness in her voice she doesn’t expect. A sharp needle behind her eyes. She raises a hand, drags her fingers across her face before the tears can fall and spoil the blue ink on the card. 

Arms slide around her waist, Jamie coming to rest against her body with all the familiarity of falling asleep. Her lips press to the thin cotton of Dani’s shirt, warm, understanding. 

“I hear that’s the idea. Of kids and all.”

She knows. Of course she knows. And what’s the alternative, but something built of horror and trauma? They’re growing up, and they’re growing up happy, and that’s...incredible, really. After all of it. 

“Hey.” Jamie tilts her body until Dani tilts with her, coming away from the counter enough for Jamie to close the distance. Her hands are soft on the back of Dani’s head. So steady. So present. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh no,” Dani says, unable to help herself. Jamie’s brow wrinkles, her tongue poking out, and Dani kisses her before the joke has time to sting. 

“Serious, Poppins. This is serious.”

“Right. Sorry.” She arranges her own face in a parody of solemn contemplation. Jamie rolls her eyes. “No, go ahead. I’m listening.”

She slides her hands under the flannel of Jamie’s shirt, letting her fingers splay across Jamie’s ribs. She’s always liked this, right here, the sense that Jamie is more real than anything in the world. More real than night terrors. More real than the heartbeat she sometimes hears in the back of her head when she’s been standing still too long. 

“You’re distracting, is what you are,” Jamie says, sounding the least upset about it she possibly could. Dani hums. 

“Stalling.”

“I was thinking,” Jamie repeats, eyes rolling toward the ceiling in a show of great restraint when Dani presses her hips forward. “We’ve seen an awful lot of this barbaric country you call home.”

“We call home,” Dani points out, grinning. Jamie nods. 

“But. S’been a minute, hasn’t it? Since we’ve seen what they’re up to across the pond. I was thinking, maybe--if you’re up for it, mind--we could...ring up Owen? See if he’s willing to bear a couple of grungy wanderers on his doorstep for a couple of days...”

It’s a distraction, Dani knows. Just something to get her mind off of the kids, of the truly palpable sense that something huge and important is beginning to drift too far out to catch. And yet...

The months roll into years. The years are quiet. They’ve been quiet so much longer than she thought she’d have. But somewhere deep down, somewhere beneath miles and miles of long kisses and meandering car rides and Jamie burning every other dinner they scrounge together...there’s something still down there, she knows. Waiting. Watching. 

“Lot more postcards out there,” Jamie says, with the light and airy tone of someone who knows Dani is looking over the edge of something too dark and too deep to climb back out of. “Could send an awful lot more, is all I’m saying.”

Sure. Sure, they could. There’s so much world out there, so much to see. She’d like to see it all, if only she had the time. She’d like to see every last inch. 

And maybe...maybe it’ll be enough. To keep moving. To keep their world spinning too long, too fast, for the beast to catch up with. She can’t know for sure. Jamie says it often enough, and she’s not wrong: Dani will never be able to say how much longer the running can last. 

But for now? While the beast holds still, and those kids still hold her name, and Jamie holds her like nothing else in the world matters?

“I think I’d like that,” she says, and feels steadier than she has in years. 

[theninjamouse]

Okay, I'm not sure if you have requests open but I've had this on my mind for a few days now. So, if you're feeling up to it, how about a Species-Swap-Shorby drabble?

I am very very fond of the species swap idea, which I remember being brought up before. For this case, we’ll say Grillby is a war vet who runs a bar and Shore is still a dancer. A rather fiery one.

This got pretty long so I’ll put it under a cut. Also, this kind of turned into a summery of how their relationship would happen in the even of a species swap but it’s not how the story of OoF is going to be progressing. This is just a what if kind of thing.

Grillby isn’t exactly what one would call a social person. Which is a little weird considering his career choice as a bartender. But the regulars like him for his role as a silent listening ear who also happens to pour the alcohol. That suits him just fine.

What doesn’t suit him is his employees dragging him out to social events. Which tends to happen every few weeks when they decide he’s working too much and drag him out someone to unwind and ‘relax’.

Being in a massive crowd of people is not his idea of relaxing. It’s some grand opening of some big new hotel slash spa slash…T.V studio? Whatever it is, it’s being opened by that monster robot Mettaton or whatever his name is. It’s supposedly the first of twenty nationwide and it looks like most of the city is here to celebrate the opening.

It sure is a change in attitude compared to when monsters first came to the surface three years ago.

“Grillby, you’re going to age prematurely if you keep scowling like that.” One of the the older members of the serving staff nudges his arm playfully. “It’s not like the bar is going to explode if you’re not there.”

“The kitchen literally caught on fire the last time I was gone. And I don’t like crowds.”

“Trust me, there’s a good reason for this one.”

There’d better be because he’s sweating and not just from the heat. There’s too many people here and it’s making his skin crawl. It’s fine, there hasn’t been an attack on monster settlements for a long time now and there’s security and-

The lights dim and his gaze is drawn to the stage in front of the hotel. The people around him go silent as the spotlight reveals a single figure covered head to toe in a dark robe of some kind. A deep beat starts to echo through the speakers set up around the whole area, shaking his bones with the intensity. And then, as a lone violin begins to play, a hand extends out of the cloak, reaching towards the heavens.

A shining, fiery hand.

The music speeds into a fast paced tempo and the dancer steps forward, shedding the cloak to reveal that it’s not a person at all. It’s a fire monster, one clad in shimmering burgundy dress that flairs about her as she spins. The cloak on her hand catches fire and he gasps along with the crowd as briefly, she’s encased in smoke.

When it clears, the robot is there with her, also dressed in a shimmering outfit that matches the fire of his partner. The two of them begin a dance that speaks of two forces battling against each other and yet moving in perfect harmony. The fire being barely seems to even touch the ground, movements fluid and utterly inhuman. Embers trail from her hands and feet and sparks brightly snap from the flames that make up her hair. She kicks up into the air and he can see a delighted smile even from this distance, bright eyes gleaming. For just a brief moment, they seem to land on him, giving him no more than a second of eye contact. Her eyes are bright, like stars caught in flame.

And for once, Grillby finds himself unwillingly speechless, his heart pounding in his chest.

~~~~~~

“The food here is supposed to be amazing!” Faith drags you towards the quaint little bar. Little sparks of lightning flash through her cloud like hair, racing down and tracing patterns over the surface of her face and arms. “And I heard the owner has hired a few monster chefs so you know they’re gonna be friendly to us.”

“I hope so,” you mutter. The last place didn’t exactly have a warm and welcoming atmosphere and you’re literally made of fire. “I’ve already had to scorch off more than enough creeps to last the rest of my life.”

“Trust me, this one will be the place.”

You step inside and immediately, you know she’s right. There are monsters here, a lot of monsters and many of them are sitting together with humans. The sound of the bell above your head causes a few heads to turn and for a moment, conversation becomes muted. A thing you’re very used to. Living fire is not exactly something most of these people see every day.

Faith pulls you up to the bar. You feels eyes on you as you pass by. You ignore them. You take a seat and wait for the bartender. Judging from the mop of bright ginger hair just visible over the bar, he’s digging for something in a cabinet. You don’t want to startle him so you lean over slightly and clear your throat with the soft crackle of snapping embers. “Excuse me?”

“Be right with you,” he murmurs, glancing up. He freezes, eyes growing wide. Ah, shoot, you shouldn’t be leaning over him like this, you’re scaring him. You move away.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” you say, flashing with a few dark streaks of red. You don’t ever think you’re going to stop feeling bad every time you startle a human even though there’s really nothing you can do about it.

He’s still gaping at you but then he stands very suddenly. Oh, he’s tall for a human. Under his red hair, his skin is flushing. It matches the light stubble on his face. “N-no, that’s-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t stare.”

Aw gee, he’s kind of cute when he’s all flustered. “It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

He frowns slightly at that. Then- “I’m sorry but…are you the one that danced at the opening of that new hotel a few weeks back?”

You blink and then smile. The flash of bright colors reflects off the glasses on the bartender’s face. “Yeah, that was me!”

He smiles too and it makes the corner of his eyes wrinkle. “That was an amazing thing. You were stunning to watch.”

Oh geez, now you’re going blue. “Thank you very much,” you whisper.

He’s staring again, the expression oddly fascinated. He blinks and straightens. “Order what you like, it’s on the house. For both of you,” he adds, nodding to Faith.

“Oh! Are you sure? Won’t you get in trouble for that?”

The corner of his mouth twitches upwards. “I hope not, considering I’m the owner of this place.”

Your flames snap loudly. The owner? “Does that make you Grillby?”

He nods, and sticks his hand out. “It’s very nice to meet you Miss….?”

You hesitate, gaze dropping to his hand. You won’t hurt him with your flames, you know that but does he know that? He’s surely just being polite. But it would be rude of you not to accept the handshake. Slowly, to show him that it won’t hurt, you lift your hand and very gently clasp it around his human one.

He’s soft. Kind of squishy. And cool compared to the harmless heat of your hand. You smile at him, hoping he can see it through your flames. “I’m Shore. It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Grillby.”

~~~~~

The chance visit turns into another and then another. You come to his bar often now and it’s so much easier to talk to you than it is the others. Maybe it’s your flame. He’s always loved campfires and the sweet smell of burning wood. But more than that, he finds himself oddly at ease around you. You’re bright, both literally and in personality and just…fun.

He actually finds himself looking for you on those nights when you don’t come to the bar, disappointed when the tinkling of the bell rings because of someone else.

He runs into you at the beach once. Seated on the sand and staring out at the water. You brighten when you see him and gesture out to it. “Isn’t it beautiful?” you ask him. “It just goes on and on. Does it ever end?”

“Eventually,” he replies.

“I wish I could go out in it.”

“Why? Wouldn’t that hurt you?”

You laugh and it makes his heart flip in his chest. “Yeah, horribly so. I know it’s weird for a fire monster to be so fascinated with water but-” You wistfully stare out at it. “I don’t know. My Soul feels like maybe it was meant to be out there.”

But you’re not out there. You’re right here, next to him.

He doesn’t say that out loud.

~~~~~~

It’s a few days after you and Grillby sat on the beach. He’s usually composed while at work but you can see that he’s nervous about something. Humans are so easy to read sometimes. Though admittedly, Grillby can be tricky sometimes. His face sometimes slips into a carefully neutral expression, mostly around others.

“Would you…um, there’s a place where….I mean, I know I shouldn’t ask this, you’re a customer but….”

It takes him a few tries. He’s adorably shy and you absolutely love seeing the color in his cheeks when he blushes under your teasing. Eventually, he blurts out, “Would you like to go to the aquarium with me?”

You’re startled but you say yes. So you go and it’s amazing and it’s breathtaking and for the first time in your life, you feel like you’re underwater and it makes your Soul leap in your chest and it drives you forward when Grillby beams at your excitement and you place your hands on his cheeks and almost giggle when they bulge with shock.

It’s the first time you kiss.

~~~~~~

The first time you spend the night, the night of the anniversary celebration, he knows that he should’ve insisted that you go home. But you could see he was nervous, even if you didn’t understand why. And how can he tell you why he’s shaking under the sound of the fireworks? How can he tell you that the thunder like cracks rip through him and throw him back to those nights when the entire city echoed with the sound of bombs and a single misstep could mean the end of your life?

Just like it ended the lives of his team.  

But when he wakes in the middle of the night, screaming and crying for the friends he lost that day, you’re there and your gentle warmth dries the tears on his face and grounds him. You pull him back, you whisper comfort in a language he can’t understand. He gasps while you hold him and chase away the demons that haunt him, for just a moment.

It’s the first time he’s cried in years.

~~~~~~

When a glass thrown in anger misses Grillby, when it splashes against you instead, utter agony has you screaming on the ground while your core desperately fights to reignite the wet patches on your arm and face. Your skin is cracking, it’s crumbling under the heavy weight of water soaking into you. You sob from the pain of it.

Grillby is screaming at the man who did it. Through the haze that threatens to pull you into darkness, you see him pounding his fists into the man’s face. There’s blood there.

Ah, that’s right. Humans bleed. It’s so strange. They don’t dust like monsters. Like you. Dust is trickling from your arm and down your face. It itches.

Then Grillby is there, he’s desperately trying to say something. Then, something else splashes against your face, something that is like water but isn’t. This…this is oil, it’s thick and it’s flammable and your flames greedily eat it and your fire roars with the pain of being forced to so quickly shift from embers to an inferno.

It does the trick. You’re okay but your arm will probably scar.

Grillby forcibly throws the man out of his bar and comes to you and holds you close. He’s shaking.

And under the pain, you feel….

Warm.

~~~~~

The first time you whisper, “I love you,” to him, Grillby feels as though his heart might burst right out of his chest. The two of you are dancing and it’s just you and him in the entire world in this moment. And when he kisses you, he feels as though he is the one on fire. It burns in heart and flows through his blood. He wants you to stay by his side, he wants to forever feel the heat of your flames against his skin.

You gasp quietly under his mouth as he grips you with a desperation that surprises even him. “I love you,” he murmurs as his mouth continues to press kisses against your face. Your flames tickle against his cheeks, almost too hot to bear.

You return his kiss just as fiercely.