#I’ll be posting the next poll in a min

[leviiackrman]

ROB YOUNG - Uncharted [full colour]

more art || character page || commissions

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[aggro-my-beloved]

Angel Face → David Shaw x Reader Imagine

note: i can’t write a grumpy david shaw i’m sorry he’s like .03% tsundere in this re-imagined meet cute between him and angel and his anger isn’t even directed towards them. i’ll be leaving a poll at the end for which paring you’d like me to write for next in this scenario. please like and reblog as it’d really mean a lot!

pairing: david shaw x gn!reader

summary: solstice bar is packed tonight for an up-and-coming performance by a local band, and security guard david is left as a stand-in for the usual bartender. just when he thinks he’s at his wit’s end, a stranger in desperate need of conversation and something to soothe their nerves makes this shifter’s thursday a bit more tolerable.

warnings: mentions of alcohol, mild swearing, damn crew as frat bois and other shenanigans

wc: 2.1k

estimated reading time: 10.5 mins

“Welcome to Solstice!” 

At a certain point in the night, the patron’s slurred chattering morphs into white noise for David’s ears. While manning the bar, beckons and calls for another round are less distinguishable but still audible if he concentrates hard enough. 

“Kitchen’s closed!” 

“Soda or seltzer?” 

“Special is a…” he turns the still full bottle on the center of the bar to face him. “A Port Charlotte single malt whiskey. You in?” Seconds later, he heaves a mix between a grumble and a sigh. “Course not.” 

“I said the kitchen’s closed!” 

“Try saying it louder,” chortles Milo. His dark stature barrels through the swinging door leading to the kitchen, behind the bar. Amidst his rapid collecting of fingerprint-stamped brandy bowls and red-kissed crystal stems, his hand flies up to release his chestnut waves from the hairnet securing them. “Don’t think they heard you the seventeenth time.” 

“Remind me why I agreed to pick up a Thursday for Sam. I never work Thursdays.” David raises his voice the farther Milo retreats into the kitchen. The clinks of glasses tickle his ears but do little to nothing to ease his nerves. The cook returns with a pristine array of cocktail glasses sat on a black tray. If there’s anything David admires more than his colleague’s house-made wings, it’s how he can make the same dingy glasses sparkle night after night with a quick wash. 

“Because…” he sets down the tray carefully on the open bar space perpendicular to David, in between the ripened limes he prepped hours ago, and the beer taps. “Ash and his band finally wrote enough decent songs for a gig here and we agreed to be here tonight to support him.” What Milo didn’t know is that the extra tips made between David and Asher tonight were in contribution to the soot-covered kitchen drawers at their home–courtesy of the main act’s drummer insisting he fulfill his oatmeal craving. There wasn’t a chance in hell those two were getting the security deposit back, not if the cherry-oak wood soaked in gray and smelling of cinder and their landlord’s new vendetta had anything to say about it. The two shifters were already ripped a new one last week for their scratch marks on the recently renovated hardwood flooring, which they credited to “dog sitting for a friend.”

“And no more animals!” The unempowered and oblivious landlord scolds them, red in the face. 

“Yes sir.” They reply in unison.

Ash tries choking down a smug laugh and fails miserably. David smacks him on his chest. 

Milo grabs a handful of peanuts from a stray bowl set aside to be washed, and pops them in his mouth, savoring the salt dancing on his taste buds. “Also,” he makes out through munches, “Sam’s out tonight from sun poisoning.”

David scoffs at this. “So he says. Tank was flirting with him so much last night, I could hear them from my post at the front giving stamps.” The promises of what his younger sibling would do to the fanged creature behind closed doors cued David to shudder. Before disappearing behind the kitchen door once again, Milo quips:

“Better hearing it than smelling it.” David refuses to ask the cook to elaborate and instead shifts his attention to the front entrance, where drunken yells and chants resound. His lips curl down in a fierce scowl as the melded odor of sweat and liquor becomes six bodies more pungent. Like a cavalry, they march in with arms looped through one another’s to keep stable. If the young faces weren’t already a dead giveaway for what would be in store for David tonight, their tacky shirts did enough talking. Each one color-coordinated for a significance the man was too exhausted to mull over, but all reading: “Straight Outta D.A.M.N” in giant, bold font. 

“You’ve gotta be shitting me–Hey, Milo, were you just not gonna tell me it’s the E and E’s Annual Frat Bar Crawl tonight? Because that’s a pretty fucked up thing to do to a bartending security guard!” 

“What!” Milo’s accented shriek rings through the building, and he peeks his head out of the aluminum swing door to view the staggering group of drunkards for himself. “Ah, fuckin’ hell..” He fully steps out from behind the door and cups his hands around his mouth. “Hey, hammered frat dudes!” A couple of heads from the group turn in his direction. “Yeah, you guys! Kitchen’s closed!” He turns to pat David on the back of his shoulder, over the white rag he’d been drying glasses and countertops with all night. “You got this, buddy.”

“Uh uh, I don’t think so.” The man shakes his head in disbelief, and a chorus of whines echo from the group of empowered frat members. One brave soul steps forward, the beefiest of them all. He dons a shamrock green shirt with the sleeves (poorly) cut off and a pleading set of eyes. His deep voice floats to the bar from where he stands, almost devastated. “Even for fries?” 

Milo is halfway through his strut back into the kitchen but is halted by David’s hand gripping his shoulder. “Even for fries, Milo?” The man cocks his head to the side, jutting out his bottom lip in a pout. They both knew why he was playing so coyly; resorting to the rarely used puppy dog eyes; mimicking the man’s tone from moments before. It was the same reason they consulted Asher’s band to play tonight. As much as either of them try to deny it, the bar needs the business. And if Sam’s claims during their Super Smash Bros tournament from weeks beforehand weren’t all talk, he’d hate to see what the vampire could do with just a walker and pure unbridled rage at tonight’s numbers. 

Through gritted teeth, the shorter of the two mutters something about putting his hairnet back on before continuing his journey to the clean fryers. 

“Come on in, people!” He waves a hesitant arm in his direction, encouraging the clan to venture further. The solemn whines morph into cheers as they proceed their march to the bar.  Though he was dreading it at first, the orders were easy enough. Bud Lite, Rum and Coke, two more Bud Lites, another Rum and Coke, and a Mojito. In addition to this, anungodly amount of fries, but that is for Milo to deal with. 

Halfway through the intoxicated army's orders, he spots a straggler trying to squeeze through the ever-growing crowd anticipating their next round and tonight’s show from the local, up-and-coming Howl’s Highway. Asher thinks the name is awesome. David thinks it’s one step closer to breaching covert to several unempowered beings who may be wandering into Dalia from out of town. They agree to disagree.

“Excuse me,” the voice croaks. “Sorry.” It pipes up every few seconds, complemented by the sight of shuffling bodies. Finally, a face pops up before him, splotched with red and with bloodshot eyes, but not from any addictive or bitter-tasting substance, other than heartbreak. David can sense their aura with the proximity. They are devastated, even more so than the student begging for a plate of fries. 

“Evening, Angel. What can I get for you?” The patron’s mouth falls open, and without intent, David does the same. He was never fond of pet names at the bar, rather he viewed it unprofessional as much as he did embarrassing. This is why Sam mans the bar, and he manhandles the bastards before they can order a drink. But no, tonight he needs to strip off the leather jacket and tough exterior and ask himself: what would Sam do? 

I can name someone. 

Milo, politely get the fuck out of my head and cook your goddamn–

“Uh…” The unempowered stranger gnaws on their bottom lip in thought. 

“Hey man, we weren’t through ordering!” His mouth retraces the snarl from earlier, and he apologetically directs his attention away from the distressed figure and to another fart member. The most inebriated and demanding of them all, if David had to guess from his words coming out like fondue. This one had a red shirt and an overall bad attitude. 

“Ah,” he holds a finger up, allowing the man to pause. “Let me take their order, and I’ll come back to you, okay?” He offers a thumbs up to the man, hoping this will mollify him. 

“No, not okay.” He crosses his arms, a newfound flame lit in his eyes. Oh great, just when I thought I was done putting out fires this week. Now the red shirt makes sense–fire elemental. “We were here first-“

He hopes for his friends’ sakes, he’s much more pleasant sober. 

“Dames,” Greenie butts into the argument. The one in red simmers down at the feeling of the large hand resting on the small of his back and drawing gentle circles. “It’s alright, he’ll only be a minute.”

“Y-yeah, maybe we can go find some uh–some good seats for the band tonight and come back?” A meek voice offers. He’s hidden behind the other members of the group, all that is visible of him is a pair of round frames and a flash of gray on his upper body. Similar to how they breached the entrance of the place, the squad links arms to continue their journey deeper into the crowd.

 

“God, those were some tacky shirts. Straight Outta DAMN? What does that even mean?” The newest customer shakes their head in disgust as they eye the backside of the frat disappearing into the sea of bodies. “Seems like you’ve got your work cut out for you tonight.” 

“Who, the Bud Lite bunch?” He waves a hand nonchalantly. “We get ten of those on nights like these.” 

“Well, I hope that was your tenth and final bunch of the night. I don’t do too well around rowdy people.” 

“So what brings you to one of the most packed bars in town tonight?” David quirks a brow at the stranger. 

“Well, the pictures online made it seem a lot less busy.” They rub the back of their neck with a sheepish smile coating their face. “I just needed to get away from…I got dumped tonight and wanted to drown my sorrows.” David tries not to be offended by how invisible they are to the public and the stranger’s acknowledgment of it. The bigger chains are killing them. More recently, they’re treading on the outskirts of Dalia and monopolizing over each empty plot of land they deem a cash cow.

“Your wish is my command. What’ll it be?” David crosses his arms, causing his muscular arms to bulge against the thin fabric of his white tee. Simultaneously, the hem of his shirt rides up to reveal a very tan, very toned v-line vulnerable to the wandering eyes of the one sitting before him. They try not to make it obvious. Menu, eyes, menu, abs, arms, back to menu. 

“Maybe an Espresso Martini?” They peer up to lock eyes with him again. Truthfully, they hadn’t read a description of any drink on the list and were taking a lucky guess. 

A few seconds of silence transpire before David responds firmly. “No.” They almost choke in disbelief, and their heart rate picks up.  

“Pardon?” 

“You need something stronger.” He decides, ultimately picking up a few bottles that the dejected newbie couldn’t decipher the labels of. Their eyebrows stay furrowed as David fills the cobbler shaker with a handful of ice cubes and a generous amount of liquor. 

“C’mon, trust me. What’s in here,” he shakes the stainless steel vigorously for emphasis, “ain’t gonna kill you.” 

“I think a hole-in-the-wall bar is the last place I should be told to trust  a stranger.” David considers this and hums. 

“I think the alley in the back of this place might take the cake.” Wiggling in the leather barstool from anticipation, their eyes stay concentrated on the clear glass as a slow strain of amber liquid occupies it. Before sliding it to their side of the bar, David is sure to garnish it with some orange zest.

“Go ahead, it’s on the house,” David smirks, before retreating to the kitchen to help Milo plate the heaps of fries. 

“For real? No, I have to owe something.” 

“It’s a new recipe. I wouldn’t even know what to charge you.” The man admits. “Go on,” he insists, prior to disappearing behind the swing door and being greeted with Milo’s sassy commentary on how David’s going to be working overtime to help him clean tonight. 

As the cook is balancing plates onto his arms, he hardly feels the burn of ceramic against his arms. For all his senses are concentrated on his new patron–more specifically, the sound of them sipping his innovation and a delightful hum leaving their lips. 

“Damn, that’s good.” 

He ponders shortly after, amidst delivering fries to the ravenous elemental crew, I think I’ll call it Angel Face.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

[honeymoonjin]

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ot7 x reader || ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 9.3k || ɢᴇɴʀᴇ: smut - rated 18+

sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ:

Sick of unsatisfying hookups, boring relationships or the company of your own hand? Apply today for the chance to be on bangasm.com’s very first reality show! Seven attractive young gentlemen will be vying for your choice of who is best in bed. All from different backgrounds, these men claim they’ll be able to rock your world, so don’t hesitate! Apply now!

Congratulations! You’ve been accepted as the Lady in the first season of The Gentlemen.

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ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs: cursing, mentions of explicit sexual content, mentions of blood. the results of the fan favourite vote poll are at the end of this chapter.

banner designer @jamaisjoons​ | thank you sfhs babies i love you 3000

ELIMINATION

On the seventh Day of every Week in the game, Y/n’s elimination vote is released for 48 hours following the post of the fic. Please note, this is NOT the Fan Favourite vote, which has already happened.

Vote closed. Thank you for participating!

DAY FOURTEEN

There’s something exciting and indulgent about sitting apart from Taehyung and Jimin, yet sharing secret glances and muffled smiles.

You’d had to leave Taehyung’s room at different times, you and Jimin sneaking back to your respective rooms to change out of his clothes so it didn’t look odd.

As the eight of you gather in the lounge, sleepily curled up with mugs of coffee or lying back against the couch for a few more moments of peace, the familiar faces of the others send a pang of guilt through you. Like you were lying to them. Omission is a type of lie, you suppose, but you try and smother the feeling. You’re allowed to be selfish.

Especially when it made Taehyung and Jimin look so happy.

Taehyung, who was almost always cheerful much like the puppy you saw last night, now looks like he can’t even contain it, his toes wiggling and eyes gleaming. Jimin, who on the other hand tended to be a little stiff and wary during these meetings, seemed more at ease than he’s ever been in front of everyone.

Could the others really blame you for wanting to see them happy?

You bite down hard on your tongue as Sejin arrives, the final piece in the puzzle. Maybe they could. You count your lucky blessings you don’t have to pick a favourite as well as someone to eliminate. Staying objective and making a decision tomorrow would be hard enough.

“Are we all ready?” Sejin checks, consulting with his watch to ensure it was in fact nine on the dot.

Catching everyone off guard, it’s Jungkook that speaks up, sitting beside you with crossed legs. “Ready, PD!”

The rest of you go still for a moment of surprised silence. When was the last time Jungkook had sounded that chipper? You’d found it strange when, being only the third one downstairs after you and Jin, Jungkook had neglected the last empty couch in favour of sitting beside you. Still half asleep, he’d exchanged pleasantries and basically face-planted into a cup of hot chocolate, inhaling the steam like his life depended on it.

Now, though, he seems more alert than most of you, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as he waited for the meeting to start.

As you glance around, everyone seems equally shocked and relieved, except Jin, who just smiles quietly. You send the eldest a questioning gaze, but he just shrugs.

“Alright, today we just need to cover the prompts, Y/n’s Bangasm Bomb, and then we’ll finish off with the audience vote for fan favourite. Sound good?”

At the mention of fan favourite, Jungkook straightens up, knee jiggling. Your heart goes out to him. Not only had he had a rough time lately, but he put so much effort in to his prompt, and you can’t help but hope he gets it. He could use some cheering up, though he seemed cheerful again all on his own. “I’ll cross my fingers for you, Doctor Jeon,” you promise with a soft smile.

He glances back at you, eyes glittering. “You will?”

“Of course.” Out of the corner of your vision, you feel two sets of eyes on you. “You did well.”

He wrings his hands, gaze dropping. “I wasn’t even top three last week.”

You shrug lightly. “Then you’ll be most improved.”

When he grins, teeth poking out cutely, your shoulders drop in relief. “If I win, I’ll take you somewhere really fun, I promise!”

“Alright,” Sejin cuts in, breaking off your conversation, “our theme was dynamics and roleplay. Just like with last week, we’ll go through each of the guys and get Y/n to guess. Should be pretty easy. And we’ll see if anyone will be taking over the bunkrooms. Namjoon and Hoseok, you’ll be returning to your rooms tonight unless you failed your prompt again.”

Namjoon and Hoseok, squished up on either side of Taehyung, lean over him to high-five after the older one cheers.

“I’ll miss it,” Hoseok confesses, “but I missed my own bed even more. Namjoon; you’re welcome for a sleepover anytime.”

“A sleepover sounds fun,” Taehyung answers quietly, but Hoseok trills and cups his cheeks, inviting him too.

Across the other side, to the left of Jin and Yoongi, Jimin stiffens and instinctively sends you a look of uncertainty. Your lips part, but of course you can’t say anything in front of everyone.

Instead, you give a minute shrug and lean back. Taehyung had already spent the past two weeks being relatively free with his affections, and it seems unfair to get upset by it now. Especially when you were still having sex with other people.

Like a bucket of cold water down your back, the decision you made last night comes into clarity. You couldn’t go out on dates. You couldn’t really kiss or hold hands in front of the others lest they find out. And you couldn’t even be faithful to them. What exactly made declaring your feelings and choosing to be together any different from how you were before?

Before you get too deep into your thoughts, you notice the room has gone silent, everyone staring at you. “Hm? Sorry?”

Sejin’s pointing to Jin expectantly. “Could you state your guess for what Seokjin’s prompt was, Y/n?”

Jin’s face is weirdly unreadable, eyes not really focusing on yours. You struggle to process enough to recall the answer. “Um, poolboy.”

Jin remains silent, making Sejin cough awkwardly. “Yes, poolboy and client was his prompt. Congratulations, Seokjin, you didn’t explicitly tell Y/n your prompt and successfully completed it.”

On the other side of the room, Taehyung’s eyes fly wide, before his shoulders slump, blushing as Hoseok quietly teases him.

“Yoongi?”

You clear your throat, feeling weirdly strung-out, like your attention is in a million places at once. Get through the meeting, then you can chat with Min and Tae. Just stay focussed. “Yoongi was, like, an animal?”

“Predator and prey,” Yoongi explains smoothly, finally starting to look a little less zombie-like. “And I made sure we were in view of the cameras outside. The ones by the gazebo.”

Sejin nods, choosing to sit on the coffee table instead of just standing in front of you all. “Right. Congratulations, Yoongi, you also successfully completed your prompt within the rules. Jimin’s one?”

You’re pretty sure every person in this room could guess his without a second thought. “Stripper.”

Jimin blows you a teasing kiss with a wink, and you try not to look too endeared, heart leaping at the soft look that hides behind his flirty act. “I hope you all enjoyed the show.”

Beside you, Jungkook goes oddly stiff, face falling. But before you can ask him about it, he’s taking a deep breath and putting on a smile again, albeit a smaller one. You frown as Sejin congratulates Jimin before turning to your couch and indicating it’s Jungkook’s turn.

“Doctor and patient,” you hear yourself answer easily, but you find yourself still worried about him, remembering what he said about Jimin yesterday. Maybe he wasn’t as cheery as he was making himself seem today.

A similar look of worry flickers across Jimin’s face at Jungkook’s odd response, and you decide that once the meeting is done, you’ll ask Jungkook about it. Maybe get him to talk to you privately, or everyone so you’re all on the same page. Anything so that you can resolve the strange upset Jungkook seems to have.

“...his prompt. Now, Namjoon?”

“Husband and wife,” you offer up reflexively, grateful of the warm albeit shy smile Namjoon sends you in response.

“Now, Namjoon and Y/n, I’m aware you spent a significant amount of time together in the rec room. Of course, you can retain your privacy, but I do need to ask if Namjoon explicitly told Y/n his prompt in there.”

Looking like a teacher’s pet being told off, Namjoon’s eyes go wide. “I didn’t!”

Sejin lets out a quick laugh, holding a calming hand up. “That’s fine, that’s all I needed. Congratulations, Namjoon, you’re out of the bunkrooms.”

Taehyung looks nervous when Sejin’s stare rests on him. His eyes keep darting around to the other men like he’s waiting for their reactions. When Sejin asks you to guess the prompt, you hesitate. Something about how uncomfortable he looks gives you pause. “She doesn’t have to guess,” Taehyung offers up, “and you don’t have to say it. I already know I lost.”

Sejin gives him a look of sympathy. “The editing team did catch you telling Y/n directly which means you’ll have to stay in the bunks for next week, but unfortunately the nature of these meetings does require each prompt to be revealed to the group.”

You can see the puppy behind Taehyung’s eyes as he rounds them, pouting up at Sejin. “Really?”

“We don’t have to give details,” Sejin offers up shortly. “And none of these prompts will ever be things anyone has on their hard limits list, so please don’t think anyone hear will be in any position to judge it.”

This seems to ease Taehyung’s worry significantly. “Pet and owner,” Taehyung offers up shortly. “And I lost because I told Y/n. Time for Hoseok.”

Even as your heart aches to jump up and go to him, Jimin also shifting in his seat restlessly, you see Hoseok quietly wrap a hand around Taehyung’s elbow and Namjoon rest his head tentatively on Tae’s shoulder. You settle back, forcing yourself to remember you and Jimin aren’t the only ones that care for Taehyung.

Sejin clears his throat and gestures to Hoseok. “Lucky last, I suppose. What’s your guess, Y/n?”

You think back to Monday night. Hoseok teasing you throughout the day and then tying you up at night in the prettiest ropes, feeling entirely under his control. You’d called him Master. “Master and sss….sub?”

Hoseok smiles sweetly, his voice honeyed. “Almost. You and Jungkook were my pretty little slaves, princess.”

In perfect synchronisation, the others turn their heads around to you and Jungkook, sharing a couch. “I remember now,” you state weakly as Jungkook shifts on his spot.

Sejin looks distinctly uncomfortable with the sudden turn, wincing at Hoseok. “Well, congratulations because you also successfully completed your prompt. Anyways, that’s that done, time for the Bangasm Bomb. As you all probably recall,” Sejin explains, sliding off his glasses and wiping the lenses with his shirt as he goes, “the requirement was that Y/n had to stay in a different bed every night otherwise she’d be in the bunkroom. Luckily, she managed to do so, so Taehyung is the only one required to stay there.”

Taehyung shrinks, bottom lip sticking out in disappointment and Jimin watches him, stricken. Against your better judgement, you call out to Sejin. “But are we able to voluntarily go there?”

Sejin shrugs. “Sure, you already did so once this week. No rules against it.”

Jimin brightens up, but before he can say anything, Hoseok’s cheering, jostling Tae’s side. “Guess the sleepover will be back in the bunkroom, Tae!” Across the side of the room, Jimin visibly holds back his irritation.

“Can we do the audience favourite now?” Jungkook pipes up in a hopeful voice.

“Oh, of course.” Sejin fumbles to slide his glasses back on, lenses still smudged at the bottom, and clears his throat dramatically. “Alright, so I’ll just say the top three again. Third place this week was Namjoon.”

Namjoon’s eyes widen comically as he croaks out a, “Really?”

“Ah, I’m so proud,” Hoseok croons, reaching across Taehyung to pat Namjoon’s knee enthusiastically. “Young grasshopper learnt well.”

Namjoon still seems in disbelief, letting out a stilted laugh. “Wow, I- Goodness, that’s so nice of them!”

Beside you, Jungkook’s practically vibrating with nervous energy. He wasn’t even in the top three last time, and you can tell he’s feeling the pressure. Yoongi seems unbothered, even as his eyes keenly focus on Sejin; Jin waits patiently, not looking like he’s expecting anything. Jimin’s more focused on Taehyung than the announcement, his eyes locked onto the boy that’s sandwiched between Namjoon and Hoseok as they celebrate. Hoseok looks relatively uncaring about the favourite, lips still spread in a heart-shaped grin at Namjoon’s victory like it’s his own.

“Second place,” Sejin continues, “was Jungkook.”

You hear and feel his reaction rather than see it. Hear the exhale as he sinks, a mix of relief and disappointment making his frame go lax on the couch. Leaning over, you send him a warm smile. “Good job, Kook, you did really well.”

“Who’s number one?” he asks instead, leaning forward with his legs tucked up under him.

Sejin gives a small smile. “The highest number of votes this week went to Yoongi.”

“Yoongi-hyung?” Jungkook questions quietly, but it’s drowned out by Hoseok’s excited woop and chirpy laughter as Yoongi’s mouth drops open, doing a double take at the news.

“Are you serious?” Yoongi exclaims, a disbelieving grin spreading across his face as Jin rubs his shoulders and Jimin congratulates him lowly. “Holy shit, who would’ve guessed?” His eyes find you suddenly, brightening with realisation. “I get to take you out tonight,” he declares.

A shock of thrill runs through you at all the possibilities of some private time with the enigmatic doctor, but you can’t help but glance over, wary of Tae and Jimin’s reactions. Though Jimin just looks a little stiff, Taehyung’s eyes are on you, sullen. Rather than jealous, it seems more like he’s disappointed he couldn’t be the one to take you out. It’s a relief he isn’t mad, but it only increases the unsettled feeling in your heart. You, Taehyung and Jimin sorely needed to talk.

“Well, then,” Sejin interrupts, breaking you out of your daze, “that’s your Sunday meeting, I’ll see you all back here tomorrow for elimination.”

Like clockwork, the seven guys turn their heads to look at you, even as Sejin bids you farewell and leaves out the front door.

“Do you know who you’re voting out?” Jin asks with a complete lack of tact, an easy smile hiding the concern in his eyes.

You cough awkwardly. “I have no clue,” you answer honestly. “I’m just… trying not to think about it until I really have to, you know? I still don’t want to vote out any of you.”

“That reminds me,” Jin speaks up, though he states it awkwardly, almost sounding rehearsed, “I think we all need to have a group talk. Set some things straight.”

Jungkook recoils like the comment was directed at him, letting out a light huff. “Can’t this wait?”

Yoongi grimaces. “With all due respect, Jungkookie, I think it would be best to just have a chat now and sort this out. If the therapist thinks we need to talk, he’s probably right.”

“It’s not like it’s urgent,” the youngest rebutts, “let’s just do it some other time.”

Jin sucks in a breath. “We’re all sitting here now, Jungkook, and clearing the air. Unless you want to go back to feeling uncomfortable.”

Jungkook’s eyes cast towards the ceiling like he can’t believe he’s stuck here. “Oh my god! I already spoke to you, just pass it on!”

“You know I can’t do that, Jungkook,” Jin says calmly, even as his eyes flare in ire. “We want you to be happy, and I’m sure you’re not the only one that has been struggling, and if we-”

“If you want me to be happy, fucking let me leave, Jesus,” Jungkook swears, and you flinch when he suddenly stands, rushing away quickly. “I’ll come back when I’m done.”

“Done?” Jin asks, looking completely lost. “Goodness, that kid gets angry at everything these days.”

“A talk does sound really helpful, Jin-hyung,” Namjoon offers up. “If you want, we can hang around and wait for Jungkook.”

Jin lets out a light sigh, smiling gratefully. “I figure it’ll be good for us. Hopefully. I just worry about everyone, you know? Just because this is a reality show doesn’t mean we need to be always fighting and throwing drinks in people’s faces and stuff. We need to communicate like adults.”

Yoongi frowns. “You don’t need to take all that burden on yourself, hyung. I’m sure they didn’t teach you to handle this kind of situation in your training.”

Jin goes to reply, but the moment his mouth opens, words are cut off by a dual ding, two phones going off.

You glance over to where Taehyung and Namjoon both instinctively check their phones, faces falling almost simultaneously.

“Oh,” Taehyung says shortly, face falling. “I should’ve remembered.”

“What is it?” Jin asks with knitted brows.

“It’s his stream,” Namjoon explains guiltily, “he normally begins it earlier than this, so he was probably trying to leave so he could start.”

“Why didn’t he just-?” Jin exhales roughly, Yoongi’s hand falling to his shoulder to anchor him. “Whatever. He’s angry now, I guess, let’s just wait for him to finish and once he goes offline someone can text him and ask him to come down. Is everyone fine with that?”

Although no one protests, the air is significantly stiff with tension; Yoongi makes another round of coffees, Taehyung opens the stream and watches it with the volume turned muted, biting at his fingernail. It feels like such a departure from the same time last week, and being tuned in just feels even more invasive than last time.

“The people in the comments aren’t happy about him being late,” Taehyung notes nervously. “He looks upset.”

“I don’t think you should be watching,” Namjoon admits, shifting in his seat as he tries to avoid looking at the screen. “Doesn’t it feel strange to you?”

“I’m just making sure he’s okay,” Taehyung insists hollowly, eyes locked onto it. “He’s trying to touch himself but he’s not getting ha-”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Yoongi spits harshly, returning with four cups of coffee balanced precariously in his grip. “Watch it if you want, but respect that we’re choosing not to.”

Taehyung frowns, but doesn’t protest, returning silently to the screen. Alone on your couch, you take a cup of coffee from Yoongi’s outstretched hands and cradle the cup, feeling the warmth seep into your bones, your heart still as cold as if it were frozen in ice.

True to Yoongi’s command, Taehyung stays silent as he watches, and the entire room sits in uncomfortable quiet until, what can only be fifteen or twenty minutes later, Taehyung lets out a defeated sigh and locks his phone, setting it on the arm of the couch.

The implication is clear, and Jin sets his jaw, looking determined albeit regretful. “Okay, can someone text Jungkook? Let’s get this over with. Just remember it’s for the best.”

Though it seems like even Jin himself is unsure of that, everyone waiting in dread as Taehyung sends him a text, and he comes down the stairs a few minutes later, cheeks flexed with irritation.

You fight the urge to reach out to him when he collapses onto the couch beside you, hair messy but clean and in the same casual clothes as earlier. He seems restless and volatile, and you can’t help but wish the lot of you weren’t having this talk now, or wish you could just jump forward in time to when everyone was happy and alright again.

“Go on, then,” Jungkook starts, snapping the silence. His arms are crossed tightly and eyes piercing as they glare at Jin. “Start the group therapy.”

Though he’s been silent for a while now, Jimin lets out a tired groan. “Fucking hell, Jungkook, he’s trying to help you! Seeing you be upset makes us feel terrible.”

Jungkook stiffens, and you can just about feel the heat radiating off his body as he fires up. “Oh, I’m sorry, next time I’ll just be miserable in private!”

Jin looks stricken, rubbing at his temple. “Jungkook, you said you were going to try and seek out the things that made you happy.”

“And you said you weren’t going to reveal what I said to you in confidence,” Jungkook replies shortly, but before Jin can protest, he’s continuing, voice strained. “But- I do want to try and make things better. I’m sorry; I’m really stressed out and it’s frustrating not being able to leave this place. I thought if I got fan favourite I’d at least get a break.”

The rest of you fall silent for a moment. Your eyes sting, so you blink to ease the ache. “We understand. We want you to be happy. Can we all agree to try our best to just stay chill and talk this through?”

As the others nod, Jungkook scoots back like he’s trying to bury himself into the corner of the couch. “But talk what through? Do you not realise how shitty it feels having all of you sitting me down for an intervention right now? I don’t know whether to be offended or humiliated.”

Taehyung’s face crumples violently, like he’s about to cry. Hoseok, unusually solemn, clears his throat lightly as he pats Tae’s back. “JK, it’s not all of us gathering to dunk on you. I for one know that there are things I’d like to get off my chest. Things that bother me and stuff. I think if we all just front up to what we’re struggling with then we can work through these issues together. But it’s gotta be all of us. If we want to be happy here.”

Jin sends Hoseok a grateful look, sitting back in his seat when Jungkook begins nodding. “I can do that,” Jungkook agrees in a small voice. “Just… someone else can start.”

The concept of owning up about your feelings is clearly as paralysing to the others as it is to you. Everyone falls silent, looking around at each other’s faces and waiting for someone else to speak up. A thread of worry niggles in the back of your brain that Taehyung or Jimin would confess your closeness, bursting the bubble that was already so fragile.

In the end, it’s Yoongi that chooses to go first, heaving a great sigh to brace himself. “If I’m perfectly honest,” Yoongi admits, “I’m a little concerned that we’re going to be cornered into conflict no matter how much we avoid it. As nice as the producers are-” he pauses to glare at one of the cameras filming the interaction with an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture, “this is a reality show and reality shows are founded on drama. And look how much effort it took to get us to sit down and actually talk to each other? It would’ve been easier in some respects to just get angry and hateful and fight every other day, and I don’t think everyone is as aware of that as hyung and I are.”

Jungkook swallows. “I do worry about that, too,” he reveals. “I mean, not in the same way, but… If we wanted to, we could just all hate each other and only interact when we had to and then never speak again when we all leave. Which is weird because for now, we can’t go anywhere. We’re all gonna be really close and then we’ll just go our separate ways. And I don’t know what to do about it… If that makes sense.”

“But you did that exact same thing to us,” Jimin protests. “If you’re scared of us all acting like strangers then why push us away?”

Jungkook frowns stiffly. “That’s what you did at the start!”

“And it sucked,” Jimin retorts immediately. “It felt awful seeing everyone socialise and feeling like I had to stay out of it to protect myself. That’s why I’m not acting like a dick anymore.”

“Well, that’s up for debate,” Hoseok quips with a scoff.

Jimin sends him a withering glare, but Jungkook pays no mind to Hoseok’s remark, eyes still on the blue-haired man. “Everyone else was ignoring me anyway!” His voice is brittle, powered only by his frustration, and it feels like a pot ready to boil over. “Yoongi and Jin always do their own thing in the kitchen and never like me helping out, Namjoon and Hoseok have their whole teacher-student thing going on, and the only people my age are so up each other’s asses that they don’t even look at me half the time! Y/n has six other guys to sleep with so it’s not like I can even hang out with her that much. Everyone’s paired up and left me out of it but you all act like you haven’t. And then it’s all, ‘oh, why is Jungkook all grouchy?’ like I’m just making your lives difficult or something.”

Jimin winces. “We never tried to-”

“It doesn’t matter if you didn’t try to, you did! You and Tae fucking drool over each other all day long and even when I try and- and- talk to either of you, it’s clear that you’re just thinking about the other person.” Jungkook stands suddenly, whirling around to face Taehyung. “I thought that day in the confessional shed, Tae, when you said it wasn’t just Y/n… I thought you were talking about me. I thought we were having a moment, you know, and then it turns out it was just Jimin. It’s always Jimin.”

“Come on, that’s not fair,” Jimin cuts in, “he can’t help his feelings.”

Taehyung sends Jimin a confused look hastily before turning back to Jungkook. “Kookie, I’m really sorry. I don’t want to exclude you anymore. I’ll do better.”

“You shouldn’t have to apologise, Tae,” Jin pipes up tiredly, and a strangled cry comes from Jungkook’s throat, the boy almost hysterical.

“Why do you want so badly for no one to be on my side, Seokjin?”

“God, it isn’t about that-”

Jungkook seems borderline hysterical, bottom lip trembling violently as he points at the eldest. “Well, what is it about? You act so fucking high and mighty, Jin, yet you’re in the same fucking situation as me.”

Your eyes widen as Jungkook turns to you, knees almost bumping yours with how close he’s standing. Behind him, Jin makes a low noise of warning. “Don’t, Jungkook…”

Jungkook’s eyes are wild, two points of red on his cheeks. “Jin has feelings for you but he won’t say anything because he thinks you just see it as sex. And he has the fucking audacity to try and give me advice on my feelings for-”

“Jeon Jungkook!” Jin bellows, standing too. Beside him, Yoongi tugs at his wrist, but the eldest shakes it off. “You have no right to-”

You’ve had enough of sitting silently, wincing at Jin’s volume, the therapist so far from the pillar of emotional stability he usually was. “Just let him get it out, Jin, he’s frustrated.”

Jungkook scoffs even as Jin shakes his head in disapproval. “Are you serious?” Jungkook asks you incredulously. “I tell you Jin has feelings for you and you’re still trying to suck up to me?”

You reel back, brows knitted. “I’m defending you, Jungkook.”

“I don’t want you to fucking defend me, Y/n, I’ve had enough of you leading everyone on and then not returning anything. You have all the power here and you just toy with us and act all innocent.”

“What are you talking about?” you cry, throat aching with the effort it takes to keep your voice steady.

Jungkook’s eyes gleam, unshed tears reflecting the light. “Jin-hyung tries to be romantic and you tell him it’s just a scene to you, instead of just doing Namjoon’s prompt you take his virginity like it’s a 90s romcom, making it “special” for him. You want every one of us to fall for you so that you can get fawned over by seven hot guys, but you aren’t willing to take any of the responsibility that comes with it. You act like things are so hard for you having to choose, but you’re breaking our fucking hearts doing it!”

You open your mouth to retort, but a crashing wave of guilt overtakes you, and your cheeks are wet before you even realise you’re crying. Intentional or not, you rue all the times you complained about elimination, knowing that the guys must have been feeling so much worse. “I’m so sorry, Kook,” you make out, covering your nose and mouth with a hand to try and contain yourself.

From the other side of the room, it’s Namjoon that speaks up next, voice flat and reserved. It’s a stark contrast to the fire in Jungkook’s voice, but he looks no less affected by everything. “That’s not fair at all,” he says shortly, “Y/n isn’t in charge of our feelings any more than we are, and you don’t have any right to judge her for what I chose. I was the one who wanted my first time to be special, Kook.”

Namjoon’s low volume seems to influence Jungkook, taking his noise level down a notch. The words just hurt more. “Maybe you shouldn’t be here then, Namjoon. This isn’t where you come to have your cherry popped by a nice, young lady you can bring home to your parents.”

“Oh, my god,” Hoseok exclaims with a groan, “are we seriously just complaining about everyone now? Is that what this is? Good going, Jin, really fucking helpful.”

A whirl of dread rushes through you as the anger continues to flit around the room in an ugly cloud, everyone having a bone to pick with each other. Jin makes a noise of outrage, hissing back at Hoseok when he speaks. “I don’t see you coming up with any suggestions. Do any of you have any fucking idea how hard it is to have everyone expecting you to magically solve their problems and shoulder their burdens and not a single one of them gives a shit about you?”

“That isn’t true,” you protest, immediately regretting drawing attention back to yourself.

Jin scoffs. “You haven’t said a fucking thing since finding out I have feelings for you. Wait, no; you haven’t said a fucking thing since I got upset with you on Tuesday. Did you really never think to ask even once how I was doing?”

Your excuse feels flat even before you say it. “I was waiting for you to-”

“Ding ding ding, we have a winner!” he sings sarcastically. “Everybody waits for me to solve things and then complains when it’s not helpful enough,” Jin spits, glaring at Hoseok with the last few words.

A shuddering sob cuts into the silence that follow his words, and in unison you all turn to Taehyung, who has his face buried in Hoseok’s shoulder, Namjoon rubbing his back as his shoulders heave.

Jimin sucks in a sharp breath at the sight, body twitching as he fights the urge to rush over, and instead raises his voice to address the room. “Alright; show’s over. This isn’t solving anything.”

“Why should you decide?” Jungkook cuts in immediately. “I’m miserable and you don’t care, Jin’s miserable and you don’t care, but the second it’s Taehyung…!”

Jimin rolls his eyes, leaning back in his seat. “Why are you so bothered by it?”

Jungkook lets out a cry of frustration that sounds closer to a sob. “Because you’re taking him away from me! I can’t compete with you! Everybody’s obsessed with you, everybody wants your approval and you just drink it up, you narcissistic, selfish piece of shit!”

Around the room, everyone sucks in a wary breath, but Jimin’s already standing, features sharpened in anger. “Why are you acting like it’s my fault he has feelings for me? Maybe he doesn’t like you because you’re a whiny fucking brat who takes everything personally.”

“That isn’t true,” Taehyung hiccups out, “Jungkookie’s nice, Min. And you’re not selfish.”

Though the tension in the room just keeps rising and rising, you can see, behind Jimin’s standing figure, Yoongi sitting stiffly on the couch. He keeps glaring at the cameras expectantly, with one hand clutching his phone and the other latched onto Jin’s wrist, keeping him from interfering further. The two exchange words quietly, shaking their heads in disapproval.

On the more emotional side of the room, Hoseok holds Taehyung closely, soothing him as Namjoon looks up hesitantly at the others. “I really think we should stop, guys…”

“Let’s all take a chill pill,” Hoseok quips as Taehyung’s tears stain his shirt.

Jimin lets out a noise of disgust. “Oh, shut the fuck up, Hoseok.”

“Is no one gonna stop this?” Namjoon asks hesitantly, glancing up at the cameras.

“What did I say?” Yoongi retorts rhetorically. “They aren’t going to interfere. They know this drama gives their show more views.”

“Good for Jimin,” Jungkook states petulantly, “the more views he gets, the better he feels.”

“Coming from you,” Jimin says over the sound of Yoongi clicking his tongue in exasperation. “Maybe the reason you hate me so much is because you and I are the exact same, Jungkook, I just do it better.”

“Again with your superiority complex,” Jungkook huffs. “How long until everyone here gets sick of you, Jimin? How long until the novelty wears off and you’re left alone on your high horse again, huh?”

Jimin flinches like he’s been hit, but takes an accusing step closer to Jungkook. Around them, everyone shrinks back in their seats, Hoseok shielding Taehyung’s ears and Yoongi and Jin with a phone sandwiched between their cheeks as they make a call. Namjoon’s begun to cry, too, but he hides his running nose with a sleeve, eyes wide and shining as they watch Jimin and Jungkook square off.

The two of them are a few steps apart, now, not even the coffee table dividing them. Jimin, although physically smaller than Jungkook, appears to tower over the other as his face darkens. “At least I’m good at my job, Jungkook. Why did you come down so soon? Blow your load too quickly like an amateur?” When it doesn’t gain any more reaction than Jungkook’s face twitching in annoyance, Jimin grins wickedly. “Or could baby not even get it up, huh? Take your dick away, you’re not much of anything, are you?”

Jungkook lunges before Jimin is even done speaking.

The thud of impact and grunt of rage from the youngest echoes through the room sickly as Jimin reels back, clutching at his nose. Already you can see the intense scarlet pooling between his fingers, dripping down as his eyes tear up with anger and pain.

The urge to jump in, do something, almost overwhelms you, but you feel yourself paralysed, shocked and barely able to process anything like it’s a bad nightmare.

On one side of Jungkook and Jimin, Taehyung wails, struggling in Hoseok and Namjoon’s hold as the two of them keep him from interfering. On the other side, Yoongi stands up in alarm, keeping his voice calm as he splays his palms. “Woah, woah, that’s enough now-”

Jimin pulls his hands away, spitting out the blood in his mouth even as more streams to fill out. “You little fucker,” he hisses. “If you broke my nose, I’ll fucking kill you.”

Jungkook lets out a bitter laugh. “Take your face away, you’re not much of anything, right?” he mocks.

Sensing things turning for the worst, Yoongi widens his eyes and jumps forward, but his hands just catch on empty air. Jimin’s already launched himself forward, taking Jungkook off-guard as he shoves him with balled fists, using the full weight of his body to send the other tripping backwards.

Jungkook curses when he lands harshly on the coffee table, empty and half-full cups of coffee flung off, some smashing directly under him. He rolls off, instinctively curling his body away from Jimin.

Passing Taehyung over to Namjoon, Hoseok leaps up to tug Jimin back as the man continues to step closer to Jungkook’s prone body. The moment he gets a hand on Jimin, however, he’s met with an elbow to the cheek, stumbling back from the impact.

For a moment, everyone goes silent. Jimin stares wide-eyed at the red mark quickly blooming on Hoseok’s cheekbone, the dom looking shocked as he rubs at it.

That second of inaction is all it takes for Jin and Yoongi to descend on Jimin at the same time, an arm firmly grasped by each man as they drag him backwards. Jimin doesn’t even fight it, though, a strange clarity and sorrow in his eyes, even brighter than the red that’s beginning to drip down to his shirt.

When Sejin bursts in and rushes over to Jungkook, it’s too late to really solve anything. The combative atmosphere has dissolved into the sick, defeated aftermath of Jimin and Jungkook’s physical alteration.

Still, he directs Jin and Yoongi to take Jimin upstairs to ‘cool off’, crouching beside Jungkook and making sure he’s okay before he tugs the boy gently up. As he leads the youngest in the opposite direction, towards the front door, Jungkook twists in his grip, trying to look back towards the group.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he wails, “please don’t hate me, I’m so so sorry!” Jungkook babbles on almost incoherently, feet stumbling as Sejin tries to shush him, pulling him out the door.

The moment the door clicks shut, it’s like the emotions of the past hour or so hit everyone at once. Namjoon has joined Taehyung in crying, Hoseok trying to rub their backs at once with a pained face, his cheek beginning to swell slightly.

With your shoulders and chest heaving violently as you sob - the silent tears finally finding their voice - you blink away your blurry vision and heave yourself off the couch. The three of them accept you with open, albeit shaky arms, and without any care about exposing your relationship, you wind your arms around Taehyung’s waist and bury your face in the crook of his neck.

“Do you think they’re okay?” Namjoon asks in a small voice, fiddling with the damp sleeve of his shirt.

As if to answer his question, you hear hurried stomps, followed by Jimin bursting briefly into your line of sight, rushing down the stairs and out the front door without even a second glance.

Even the split-second view of him you got sparks worry in your chest. He’d clearly made a minimal attempt to wipe away most of the blood, but there were still dried smears below his nostrils and down his neck, and the shirt he’s wearing looks like something out of a horror movie, likely the material he used to clean himself up.

Jin and Yoongi follow down, but not fast enough, the blue-haired man long gone by then. The two of them seem hollowed, clearly taking this on as their own burden, as their fault - especially Jin, who’s knitting his brows harshly to stop his own tears.

Taehyung’s straightening up immediately, wrapped up in the middle of the three of you on the couch as he calls out to the older men. “What did he say? Is he okay? It’s not broken, is it? His nose?”

“Tae, easy,” Jin soothes, voice thick with emotion. “Yoongi took a look at it, it’s not broken, just tender. Jungkook sure does know how to swing a punch, though. Jimin was lucky.”

“Lucky,” the masseuse repeats weakly. “I don’t know if anything about this was lucky, hyung.”

“Can we even come back from this?” Namjoon asks slowly. “If we couldn’t talk like adults without fighting, then surely we’re doomed to just-”

“Nobody is doomed,” Jin assures. “If I’m perfectly honest, it seems like Jungkook was so wound up that there was nowhere for him to go except this. He probably just needed to totally vent and get it all out. I should’ve seen it coming, I’m so sorry.”

Yoongi grimaces, a hand on Jin’s shoulder. “None of this is your fault, hyung. We’re all complicit and we can all learn from this, but let’s not play the blame game. I just hope Jimin and Jungkook don’t entirely despise each other after this. I actually thought the kid liked- Anyway. Best thing we can do now is give them some time.”

You suck in a deep breath. That whole time, you’d just sat there, too shocked or too cowardly to move, you don’t even know which one. And although it’s too late, at least there’s one thing you can do to help, rather than just waiting passively. You gently detangle yourself from Taehyung, Hoseok and Namjoon and get up off the couch.

When Yoongi - the most composed of the bunch - sees you kneel on the carpet, beginning to pick up chips and fragments of the shattered cup, he lets out a noise of concern. “Y/n, you shouldn’t-”

In your haste to help, and your shakiness from crying, it’s no surprise that your fingers are clumsy, grabbing onto a shard too harshly.

You see the blood welling before you feel it, a hot line of pain that opens up across the base of your palm and spills onto the carpet. Dumbly, you just watch it collect in the fibres. You’re sure when the showrunners rented this house, they hadn’t anticipated blood to be the fluid they’d need to be cleaning up. But in just one day, so much had been shed needlessly.

You’d probably sit there forever, numb to your own injury were it not for Yoongi rushing forward, his fingers gently prying away the sharp shard of ceramic, holding your hand so tenderly as he inspects it.

“You’re coming to my bedroom, now. Can you stand?”

Yoongi’s voice feels far away, inconsequential. You hum just to feel your throat vibrate. Letting out a sigh laden with worry, Yoongi lifts you off the floor slowly, waiting to see if you can get your feet back under you.

It seems you can stand, though it takes all of your focus. The others are talking behind you, voices fretting, but they reach your ears like you’re underwater.

It’s less than a second of eternity before you’re blinking away the cotton fog, slowly coming back to your senses.

The first thing you feel is a freezing solid surface against your legs and back. As it seeps into your bones, it wakes you up, and you fight to focus your vision, watching the colours swim sickly.

“...hear me?” The shapes and shades begin to settle like silt on a lakebed, revealing Yoongi’s round face as it crumples in contained concern. “Y/n, can you hear me?”

“I h-hear you, yes,” you slur out, coughing away the remaining thickness in your throat.

“Good, okay, stay with me,” he instructs, crouched in front of you. “What day is it?”

The more you tune back in to your surroundings, you become aware of a second person behind Yoongi. Hoseok’s long legs sprawl gracefully in front of you as he sits on the toilet seat lid, but his head is dipped back onto the tile. He looks totally devoid of any of the positive energy you’re used to seeing on him.

“Everything’s ruined,” you mumble lowly.

Yoongi sucks in a breath and tilts your face back to him, his fingers cold like ice. “I need you to not worry about that for now and stay alert. What day of the week is it?”

“Sunday,” you give after a beat.

“Good, and what’s my name?”

You frown, shifting in his grasp. “I’m not concussed, you know.”

Yoongi huffs, his hands falling from your jaw. “I’m trying to keep you distracted, you brat. What’s my name?”

“Min Yoongi. Doctor Min Yoongi I gue- Wait, why do I need to be- ow!” You automatically try to jerk your hand close to you when a searing, stinging pain explodes your nerves, but an iron grip around your wrist keeps you steady.

Glancing down, you see Yoongi deftly wrapping a bandage around the base of your palm, winding it around your thumb. Below, the burning ache of antiseptic makes you wince. “It hurts,” you whine.

“Unlike poor Hoseok, you did this to yourself,” Yoongi replies shortly.

You pout. “Do you bully all your patients?”

“Only the ones I like.” Clearing his throat with a tinge of pink in his cheeks, Yoongi finishes bandaging your wound. “You’ll live.”

Despite yourself and the events of the past few hours, your lip twitches. “Reassuring.”

Before the doctor can respond, Hoseok lifts his head and blinks down at the two of you balefully. “He hit me,” he breathes in a sullen voice.

“Jimin?” Yoongi begins to pack up his little first aid kit, slumping back against the vanity you’re propped up on. “You got in the way.”

“He didn’t just push me away, he elbowed me right in the face,” Hoseok explains meaningfully. The thought seems to bother him more than you’d expect. “I didn’t think he actually hated me like that.”

“Isn’t that your whole shtick?” you ask tiredly. All of your annoyance, frustration, anger and even your guilt seems to have been sucked away by the chill of the tile, leaving you feeling strangely hollow and detached. “Two sparring doms trying to outdo each other?”

The truth is, Jimin didn’t like to speak or hear about Hoseok, and you hadn’t actually spent that much time with the professional dom to hear his side. Hoseok shrugs with a sigh. “I know he doesn’t like me. And I think he’s an arrogant prick, but I’d never hit him. I thought it was just a bit of fun to play up the rivalry, you know? I guess not to him.”

Yoongi looks grim. “I don’t think it’s wise for us to make any judgements about each other based on any of the events of the past six hours. We all got caught up in it, and I’m sure we’ll be able to forgive and move on.”

Hoseok nibbles at a thumbnail, unassured. “Do you think they’ll send them home for aggression?”

“Who knows?” Yoongi answers honestly. “But hey; you’ll get to be the winner of your rivalry and outlast Jimin. That’s something, isn’t it? You always wanted to.”

A shiver runs up your spine at the despairing look on Hoseok’s face. “Not like this,” are the only three words he makes out before a sob bubbles up his throat. He claps a hand over his mouth, but the dam has burst.

“Hobi,” you coo, shuffling forward on your knees to avoid putting pressure on your injured hand. He lets out a shuddering breath when you take his hand and link in your fingers, providing some physical comfort. “Let’s go downstairs, maybe make some dinner, and wait for Jimin and Jungkook to come back in. We’ll say our sorries and go to bed on a warmer note, yeah?”

Hoseok pauses, bites his lip to cease his tears, and nods shakily. “Yeah, let’s do that. Even if he hates me, I… I want to apologise if I’ve contributed in taking things too far.”

You hum, standing up. Though you wobble for a bit, you feel far more stable than before, and you use your links hands to tug Hoseok to his feet too. “And I want to apologise for not being fairer with you all. But we can’t do anything until Jungkook and Jimin are ready to come back.”

Yoongi pushes himself off the floor with a grunt. “And Hoseok, I’m getting you an icepack for that cheek of yours.”

Though Hoseok protests, five minutes passing sees you in the kitchen, Hoseok slumped at the breakfast bar with a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a paper towel pressed to his face. You busy yourself with putting some rice on to cook and Yoongi and Jin work in their usual companionable silence, preparing a basic beef broth.

Both uninjured and not much help in the kitchen, Taehyung and Namjoon occupy their hands and minds with cleaning, following YouTube tutorials on how to get coffee and blood out of the carpet. They haven’t made all that much progress by the time dinner is served, but nobody comments on the dark patches, huddling on two couches in the lounge instead of the dining table. Though no one admits it, you need the extra physical comfort.

As you eat, you find yourself glancing back and forth between the two full bowls waiting on the kitchen countertop, and the front door. “Should someone go out and check on them?” you ask eventually, snapping the silence.

“I texted Sejin asking if they needed any medical attention,” Yoongi offers. “He just said no.”

“Minnie took his phone,” Taehyung said in a low voice. He’s barely touched his food, staring blankly into space. “But he only sent one text saying he was okay and he won’t reply to any of my other ones.”

“We wait,” Jin decides resolutely. “We’ll just sit here and wait for them to come back, and then hopefully we can all agree to put this past us. It was awful, yes, but I think it needed to happen. And hopefully nobody feels like they have anything weighing on their conscience anymore.”

Nobody protests and so, you wait.

The leftovers - god, when was the last time you’d had leftovers in this house? - are wrapped up and put in the fridge, the pots cleaned. As the sky dims, you turn the lights on inside. Nobody dares leave long enough to have a shower, but Taehyung darts upstairs to grab some blankets so that you can tuck up in two groups - Taehyung stays by your side with Hoseok, and the two eldest sandwich Namjoon.

Time passes stiffly, but it does pass. When the sun goes down, there are still only six of you in the house. Everyone’s so emotionally exhausted from the fight, and strung out from the anxiety of listening out for the door, that when it suddenly opens you all jump, Hoseok even cursing as he gets a fright.

The sudden spike of hope in your chest tanks violently when it’s Sejin that rounds the corner, a grim look on his face.

Taehyung frowns, his frame trembling as it leans into you. “Where are they?”

Sejin gestures back the way he came. “They’re in the production van.” Taehyung stands up immediately, but Sejin steps in front of him, hands splayed. “They just want to have some space, Taehyung,” he explains.

“There’s more space in here than there is in the van,” Taehyung protests weakly, even as he settles back down between you and Hoseok. “When are they gonna come back inside? It’s getting late.”

Sejin’s eyes flit around the six of you as he shifts, uncomfortable. “I’ve told them they’re welcome to stay the night there and use my bed. I came in to tell you that I’m going to go home now. Please don’t go out and disturb them. I’ve talked to them, but now they need some time to chat to each other and think about what they’d like to do.” The older man adjusts his glasses and gives you a pained smile. “Try and get some rest.”

A cold bolt of fear runs down your spine. “What they’d like to do?”

Taehyung swallows hard, hands beginning to tremble. “They aren’t going to leave the show, are they?”

Sejin’s mouth opens, closes, opens again. “Please try and get some rest,” he repeats, rather than answering. Taehyung shivers, and you feel the pressure of his forehead on your shoulder as he wraps his arms around your waist.

The producer turns to leave, making Yoongi frown. “Hey!” he calls sharply. Sejin turns around to face him. “I was meant to be taking Y/n out as my reward for fan favourite.”

You bite your lip anxiously. Truth be told, the thought had slipped your mind, and you don’t fancy leaving the others now, certainly not Taehyung who was clinging to you like a frightened puppy.

Sejin curses under his breath, rubbing his temple. “I’ll call an Uber.”

Yoongi steps back a little like the response surprises him. “No, I- This isn’t really the time, is it? I want to ask if we can do it tomorrow night instead, or something? I’m staying here with my friends tonight. We’re staying together.”

“That’s fine,” Sejin allows, a weak smile gracing his tired features before he gasps. “Oh! That reminds me…” He turns so that he’s addressing the group. “I don’t think anyone is in the emotional headspace for eliminations, so… I’m pushing the Monday meeting to Tuesday. Nine in the morning like usual. Just rest up tomorrow.”

“Good to hear you care now,” Yoongi mutters bitterly.

Sejin winces. “I think we’ve had enough conflict today, Yoongi-”

“Something you could have solved,” the doctor accuses harshly, “if you’d answered my texts or my calls and come down when we were asking you for help. I won’t forget that.”

“It’s done. There’s nothing more for me to do beyond apologising.”

“Which you haven’t done,” Yoongi fires back immediately.

“I’m sorry.” The producer gives a stiff wave of farewell to the group. “My girlfriend is waiting outside. I’ll be back first thing tomorrow.”

When Sejin leaves the villa, the group heave out a unanimous sigh of exhaustion. It’s been a long day, but the thought of splitting apart, of being alone with your thoughts, is more than you can bear.

“Could we…” You swallow down the croakiness in your throat as everyone turns to look at you. “Could we maybe all stay down here tonight? Together?”

Namjoon’s eyes soften. “I’d like that. I could grab some blankets?”

Taehyung looks up. “I’ll get pillows.”

One by one, four of you run upstairs, Yoongi and Hoseok wanting to get into some more comfortable clothes for sleeping. Before you do the same, you turn to Jin.

He’s starting to push the coffee table towards the television, leaving more room in the middle of the couches. Stubbornly keeping himself busy.

“Jin,” you call out hesitantly, making him glance up in the midst of straightening the table against the wall. “I want to apologise. For relying on you for everything and not taking responsibility of the situation.”

His eyes soften, a pained smile. “You don’t have to.”

“I do and I am,” you counter, “I’m sorry. And for what it’s worth… Me calling it a scene, I… It wasn’t a grand statement. It was just a slip of the tongue. You mean more to me than just this game, than just sex, and I feel terrible that you’ve gone the whole week thinking that was the case.”

Behind you, you can hear footsteps descending the stairs. Jin glances up, then back at you quickly with a shake of his head. “To be honest, I’ve gotten over it. I’m fine; you don’t have to worry about me. I think it’s better just to keep it about sex.” He makes a vague gesture, indicating the day’s events. “Less messy.”

You blink, not expecting that. Had he gotten over being upset? Or gotten over his feelings for you? “Oh.” But Hoseok and Taehyung are stumbling down the steps, hesitating in the doorway, and you know you can’t dig deeper. For now, you’ll have to just be happy he doesn’t seem to be still bothered by it. “No worries. I’ll- I should go get into some pyjamas.”

That night, none of you really sleep the night. You lie tucked between Yoongi’s reassuring mass on one side, and Taehyung’s comforting warmth on the other, and try to steal whatever moments of respite you can. But a restless night shared with five guys who mean far more to you than they should is far preferable to a night spent alone, and you count your blessings for it. Although you’re all a little broken, you have each other’s support to stop from shattering completely, and hopefully you can stay together long enough to heal.

ELIMINATION

On the seventh Day of every Week in the game, Y/n’s elimination vote is released for 48 hours following the post of the fic. Please note, this is NOT the Fan Favourite vote, which has already happened.

Vote closed. Thank you for participating.

Below is the screenshot taken after 48 hours of the fan favourite vote being open.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Fandom Thoughts

First thing I want to say is this post is just me speculating and expressing my thought on things. I’m sure many people will disagree with me or have a different interpretation and that’s ok. I could be totally way off base with everything I say but like I said this is just my interpretation of and my thoughts on things, also just want to say that I mean no disrespect to anyone or anyone’s fandom so yeah.  

So we all know that B*ghead is the largest fandom and the most popular ship. There’s no lying about that. I think it became so popular out of a combination of things, I think Cole’s popularity from his time on the Disney channel did bring across a lot of fans. I mean I could be totally wrong about this but I do feel like alot of the B*ghead fans were originally Cole fans. I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch Riverdale when it first aired, it was about 6 episodes in when my sister told me it was a good show about a murder mystery and that I’d never guess who was on it? Cody from suite life. I myself originally started watching the show because I was curious about the fact that Cole was on it and then stuck around because I got invested in the mystery and because from that very first episode I was hooked by Barchie and saw so much potential with them. I do think another contributing factor to the B*ghead ship’s popularity was the fact that the actors themselves became a couple and so people weren’t just invested in the ship but in the actors’ relationship too. I also do think that the fandom was very ‘loud’ on social media and there was alot of engagement. All of that combined with the fact that they did have some cute scenes together I think was the perfect storm to creating a popular ship.  

However V*rchie doesn’t actually seem that popular to me. In fact from what I can tell its a much smaller fandom and I would argue that after B*ghead the most popular ship out of the three is Barchie. Barchie has always won out in fan polls against v*rchie and I feel like I see more comments from the Barchie fandom than I do the V*rchie fandom. To me it has always been more of a B*ghead vs Barchie thing than a V*rchie vs Barchie thing. It always felt more like V*rchie got support because it kept Archie out of the way of B*ghead. In fact I see quite alot of support for Veggie and for Archosie and alot of people admit that they liked those parings over V*rchie. I myself loved Veggie together far more than V*rchie and I didn’t mind Archosie I thought they were cute, I didn’t like them as much as I did Veggie but I still thought they had some really nice moments together. I think after Betty, I liked Archie with Josie best. 

But here’s another thing to bear in mind. Whilst Riverdale and its ships are popular online and get alot of chatter on social media and has its fandoms which are very vocal on social media, there is also the general audience. These are the people who just watch the show every week, they don’t talk about it on social media, they don’t look up interviews and obsess over every little crumb of info the writers put out trying to figure out what might happen in the next episode. They are the silent part of the audience, I suppose you could call them. And I would say that this part of the audience far outnumbers the part that are involved in the fandom side of the show. Of course its very difficult to really know what this side of the audience really thinks of the show because they aren’t out on social media telling people what they think. The best way is to know what they think is to look at the ratings and the netflix streams. 

I mean I know that the ratings don’t really matter a whole lot when it comes to whether or not the network will renew a show and that streams mean more nowadays anyway. But in my opinion I do think the ratings can still give you an idea on how interested the audience is in the show. The way I see it is that if I am really excited by a show, I spend all week looking forward to the next episode and you can bet your ass that when that show’s next episode airs I am sitting down in front of that tv and watching it live if I can, because I don’t want to wait a second longer than I have to when I want to see it. With this season all the Barchies know that the most live viewed episodes of the season were 5x05 and 5x06, the two episodes that were promoted with Barchie. The lowest two episodes not just for this season but in the shows history were 5x08 and 5x09. These were the two episodes that had the V*rchie and B*ghead content. 

I also discovered this website flixpatrol that tracks the top tens on Netflix in various countries each day of the week. You can also look up specific shows to see where in the top ten they come each day of the week and I think I found something interesting. Now obviously because its week by week I could only really get information for episode 9.  

So what can this information tell us. Well episode 9 aired on the 24th and appeared on Netflix in alot of countries on the 25th. This chart shows where in the top 10 Riverdale fell this week, I’ve outlined those two dates in red. A dash indicates that it didn’t appear in the top ten that day. Now we can see that Riverdale most definitely does better on Netflix than it does in the live views and is consistently in the top ten in most countries. However, as I said, I did notice something. On the days it appears on Netflix we can see  that in most countries it doesn’t appear in the top ten and in the countries it does it is very low on the list coming in at mostly, 8,9 or 10. To me this suggests, like with the live ratings, that people just aren’t rushing to watch it. Some of this can be explained by the fact that it airs on a week night and it does fall high on the list on the Saturday after it airs on Netflix which could suggest that people are waiting until the weekend to watch it. But again, maybe its just me, but when I really want to watch a show, when I am really excited by a show, I will stay up late or I will get up early to watch it. I mean when 5x05 and 5x06 aired I was up early on the Thursday morning refreshing my Netflix page over and over waiting for the episode to become available because I was that excited to watch the episode.

*Edit: I’ve learnt that I have read this chart completely wrong as there is a one day lag, so the ratings on the 26th show that people were tuning in on the 25th which is the day it becomes available on Netflix in those countries. So ignore everything I just said in the paragraph above. I am going to keep the chart in for those who are interested in those numbers though. But yeah apologies for that.*   

To me this doesn’t really line up with the whole B*ghead is the most popular ship. I mean with B*ghead being the most popular ship then this last episode should be the most watched and I’ll admit I was a little surprised that it didn’t have more views. So why is that, we know B*ghead is popular so why aren’t we seeing it in the views. Well I think the answer is whilst they are popular, whilst it has a large fandom, its not popular or big enough to save the show by itself. And to be clear this is just my opinion which I’ve based on what I’ve seen people saying on social media and in YouTube reactions and reviews and from this data from the amount of people tuning into the show. But I think as much as many people like B*ghead, more people dislike/ are bored of V*rchie, are bored of the repetitive plotlines, are getting frustrated with the nonsensical plots. I think it has just gotten to the point where the things they don’t like about the show, or the things they’ve become bored with, far outweigh any appeal one ship might have. Basically I just get this overwhelming sense that people have lost any excitement they felt at this show. And this goes beyond any ships, whilst I do think alot of people tune in because of ships, there is more factoring into it than just that. I feel like all the excitement that came with the time jump and with seeing something new with Barchie and seeing something new with them being adults and dealing with adult themes, has worn off. It happened so fast too. I mean after episode 8 aired it was like a dementor had come along and sucked all the happiness out of the fandom. All of that energy that had existed before was just gone in the space of 45 mins. 

But here’s my question. I did notice a little bit of that energy come back when the promo for ep 10 was released and it showed that shot of Jabitha together. Again I do think that alot of people like this idea of Jabitha together or at least are intrigued by it. Although I know there are quite a few B*ghead fans who think the romance is unnecessary. But again I think this interest in Jabitha is because it is something new and therefore it is something interesting. I’ve also seen some Veggie fans creeping out of the woodwork over the last few weeks. So what I am wondering is if the show decided to go the route of Barchie, Veggie, Jabitha, Choni and Kangs would that generate enough buzz and would all those smaller fandoms together be enough to revive the show a bit. Especially if they couple those ships with some interesting new storylines to go with them as well as keeping the interactions between characters varied. I mean I am not expecting the views to suddenly jump up massively back to what they used to be in like season 2 but I do wonder if it would be enough to breathe life back into the fandom again.   

[evesbeve]

Hey there, you said your ask box was open for Justin Min's whole thing? I guess I just slept through the whole thing, honestly - could you just go over a gist of everything that happened? I get that it seems like a PR team didn't know how to use twitter (which, mood) and f-ed things up for him, but what were they "cleaning up" in the first place, who's Anna what did they do that warranted such a bizarre thread from the PR team, etc...? 😳

Hey! Okay so this is going to be a lot, so buckle up.

Right off the bat, I just want to say that Justin isn’t cancelled. The situation has been mostly resolved right now (more on that later).

So around a week ago, Justin Min started deleting his replies to fans. Depending on whether you’re on Twitter or not, you might know that Justin is one of the most interactive people of the cast. He knows a lot of fans by name, he has inside jokes with us, and he just interacts a lot with his fanbase. So you can imagine why him suddenly starting to delete his replies was a bit upsetting. There was nothing we could do about it though.

And suddenly, two days ago, Justin deactivated his account out of nowhere, which caused all kinds of drama to go down.

People started pointing the finger at specific accounts saying it was their fault that Justin deactivated (don’t even get me started on that logic; why a grown-ass adult deactivate because of a few teenagers is above me, it literally made no sense), even sending death threats. Others suspected that he got suspended because Twitter’s algorithm saw all these tweets get deleted and was like “welp, bot time.” Long story short, lots of misinformation was going around.

And then out of the blue, Justin’s account was reactivated, and he made a thread directed at Anna.

Now, who is Anna? Anna is a stan on twitter, whose @ I won’t be sharing for privacy, but here’s how they’re relevant in this:

Remember when I mentioned the inside jokes? Well, one of them was between a fan called Matt and Justin. Matt kept commenting on Justin’s tweets asking him to say trans rights. On the one year anniversary of Matt asking Justin to say trans rights, Justin finally said it. Then, Matt made a poll asking other stans what he should have Justin say next, and lesbian rights won.

Around a month ago, Matt replied to one of Justin’s tweets, and Justin responded with something along the lines of “haha, i know this is just an attempt to get me to say lesbian rights,” referencing the inside joke. People started commenting that the way he phrased it was a bit :/ so then he replied to his own tweet with something like “well, i’ll delete this before i get cancelled,” and that’s when things spiraled.

[id: Justin Min’s tweet #1: i see that you are trying to butter me up to say lesbian rights, nice try, matt. nice try.

Justin Min’s tweet #2: oh, here we go. this is an inside joke between myself and matt, if you’ve been a part o fthis fandom for more than a few weeks. but alas, i will have to delete this now before i’m cancelled by the end of the day. keep loving, everyone.]

Lesbians get spoken over and looked down upon not only by straight people, but also the LGBT community. So when Justin tweeted that, lesbians were like “this sounds as if you care more about your own self image rather than our community.” Then, non-lesbians got involved and started either a) calling Justin lesbophobic (which lesbians never did) or b) blindly defending Justin and saying he did nothing wrong.

(Side note: I am not a lesbian, and I’m not trying to speak over lesbians in this situation. But I did talk about this to some of my friends who are lesbians, and they told me that what Justin did wasn’t as big of a deal as Twitter made it out to be. These are their words, not mine. All I know is that it was definitely not bad-intentioned, just a huge misunderstanding.)

Anyway, Anna made a thread explaining to Justin why him defending himself came out as harmful towards the lesbian community, and then Justin apologised and that was it.

Which brings us back to yesterday (26/9/2020).

Everyone is freaking out, posting misinformation, panicking. I don’t exactly,,, know how, but the #justinminisoverparty hashtag started being used for actual hate towards Justin for deactivating, and some people (including Anna, though I think their tweet was in the context of a joke? please take this with a grain of salt though. update: it was in the context of a joke) mentioned that Justin is a lesbophobe.

A few hours later, Justin reactivated his account, tagged Anna, and said this (though it was actually his PR team, more on that later):

[id: Justin’s Tweet: @ [redacted] quickly jumping back on here from my twt break because i’m receiving messages that you’re continuing to spread misinformation, so i want to clarify.]

[id: Justin’s Tweets: 1. all of my interactions with you were deleted because of the need to set clear boundaries due to the fact that your incessant messages and replies from multiple accounts over the last several months were veering into stalking/harassment.

2. for someone who appears to pride themselves on reminding their friends/followers on a daily basis to be careful of the language they use on this app, you seem to be fine with flippantly labeling someone as homophobic/lesbophobic as if they’re cute little adjectives to give to someone, not realizing that such labels have real-life consequences.]

[id: Justin’s Tweets: 3. also noting here than in your original thread, you stated that you neither considered me nor my words to actually be lesbophobic, so a bit confused as to why your story has suddenly changed.

4. i realize you’re young, so i’m genuinely hoping you use this opportunity to learn and grow andbe a little more mindful the next time you decide to tweet.]

The next twenty minutes were pure chaos. Justin deactivated again, everyone started freaking out because that was very out of character for him. People were cancelling him because this could have easily been resolved in DMs, or tweeted without the mention of Anna (a minor) from a mainstream Twitter account.

And then, Justin Min DMed another fan on Instagram (her name is Em) about the situation.

Who is Em? For starters, I’d like to say that I personally know Em and that she’s one of my best friends. I’ve known her for more than a year now, and I can personally vouch for her. Everything that she posted is 100% true (if you want the thread where she posts proof of the DMs, please send me a different ask because I’m scared tumblr will not post this in the tag if I include it here).

The reason Justin DMed her out of all people is because he also kinda knows her? As I mentioned, Justin interacts with us on Twitter a lot, and Em is the one person he’s responded to the most, so he knows who she is. (He’s tagged her more times than other cast members, at least before all his tweets were deleted by his PR team.)

Anyway, this is what Em tweeted:

[id: Em’s tweets: please read this !!!

justin dmed me on instagram and basically the gist of it is that he hired a pr team and they tweeted the thread at anna without knowing everyone could see it. all of the tweets being deleted/ him deactivating was also them.]

Below is the image Em attached to the tweet:

[id: Justin’s DM to Em: hey. this is justin. i’m just hearing about what’s happening on twitter right now. for context, i was asked to work with a team of people to “clean up” my twitter in the past few weeks. they’ve taken the liberty of deleting a bunch of my responses and posts in order to safeguard me (whatever that means) as well as deactivating my account to comb through other things.i believe they accidentally sent anna a message and mistakenly believed the function for her to comment only would mean that she would be the only one to see it as well. needless to say, i’m no longer working with this team and want to personally apologize to her. do you know any way i can get into contact with her?]

And then, in a follow-up tweet:

[id: Em’s text at Justin: sorry for dming you again. is there any other way i can help? i just feel really bad about this whole thing and i know how quickly this stuff can spread if it’s not taken care of

Justin’s text: i mean, i guess you can share the information i’ve given you? it’ll take a bit of time for me to take back ownership on everything as i sever ties with that team, so maybe the sooner the better people know.

Em’s text: okay ! is it okay if i tweet a screenshot

Justin’s text: sure.]

Then Justin’s account got reactivated an hour ago (almost 24hs after Em’s tweets), and he tweeted this:

[id: Justin’s tweet: hi. it’s me. thank you for all your messages. this has been an incredibly tough week for me on multiple fronts. some things you might already be aware of; many other things you don’t know about.asking for a bit of privacy as i take sometime to unplug. hoping to be back soon.]

And that’s all, I think? There’s lots we don’t know about what happened yet, so please please please try not to spread misinformation. This is a stressful situation for us on Twitter, and especially for Justin, and misinformation going around is the last thing we need right now.

tl;dr: Justin Min hired a PR Team that started deleting all of his tweets and deactivated his account. Misinformation started spreading, people started cancelling Justin for no reason. The PR Team decided to respond to Anna, made the response public, deactivated again. Justin DMed Em and explained the situation, and an hour ago, he reactivated and said he’s taking a small break to sort things out.

If anyone has any other questions/clarifications, my askbox is open! Hope this shed some light on the situation <3

UPDATE 28/9/2020: Justin has DMed and apologised to Anna for the situation, and Anna has accepted the apology. Anna posted all of it on their account, but again, if you want a link, send me an ask!

[whipped-for-kpop-fics]

Together

My first Halloween request! yay! find the request post; here

Thank you for the request @suhdays​, you’re the best, I hope you like it  🥺Request; “ twinning Halloween costumes with yoongi (but it’s like something dorky, like a stapler idk alsjs) and they go to a party where everyone is like “it’s that couple again” and it’s cute and fluffy !! ”

Min Yoongi x reader Genre; Fluff, guess lil humour too because I like the funnies Warnings; Adult language and topics otherwise none Word count; 2.3k

Summary; For the first time in five years, you leave the important task of buying your couple costume to your boyfriend. This is how he turns his mistake into something you’ll always remember

---

It's that time of year again; Halloween and for the first time in your life, you were not ready. You had recently started your own business so your whole life was pretty much full of meetings and interviews and paperwork and spoopy season was at the bottom of your list of priorities. Which is why you left the Halloween prep entirely to Yoongi. Admittedly, you were pretty worried at first and reluctant to allow your boyfriend to take the responsibility of the holiday into his own hands, not because you don't trust him as that's not true at all, you've always trusted Yoongi with everything in you but the fact is; Min Yoongi has always been the type to cheat his way through things that don't have his full attention and Halloween definitely fell under that category. But, the man pulled through and had the house, both interior and exterior decorated a week into October (a week later than you yourself would've had it done but that's beside the point) and had stocked up on sweets for both yourselves and the trick or treaters. So, Yoongi did well in that respect but clearly, one of the most important aspects of celebrating Halloween went straight over his head until the very last moment.

"Yoongi, what...what is this?" You questioned prodding at the plastic packaging in your hands.

"Our costumes." Was his answer from where he stood in your bedroom doorway, shuffling his weight from foot to foot knowing that you were not impressed with him.

"This isn't what we agreed on,"

"Yeah well..." He trailed off not quite knowing what to say to defend his lack of foresight in the costume buying department.

"You forgot and got these on the way home, didn't you?" Just like that, his body slumped and his lips pursed into the pout you knew meant he was going to try and cutely whine his way out of his own problem. And you hated that pout because it was so hard to say no to.

"I meant to order the other ones but kept forgetting and when I remembered I couldn't find them anywhere so I was going to make them but didn't have the time; I have the supplies under the bed so you can't say I wasn't going to! Then next thing I knew Jin caught me on the way out of work to do his yearly speech of him and Joon are going to beat us at the couple costume competition tonight and yeah...it was between those or sexy plug and socket and honestly I would rather just go in normal clothes and give hyung the prize myself than make either of us wear that sorry excuse for a costume." He was off on a rant by that point, eyebrows scrunched together and lips even poutier and so adorable you couldn't resist. Yoongi was too busy in his speech on sexy electrical costumes to even notice that you were closer until your lips were on his ceasing his spiel.

"Why are you so cute, huh?" You cooed upon pulling back far enough to look into his surprised gaze.

"Uh, not the response I expected." Was his response, earning a giggle from you. "So uhm yeah, it's still a couple costume." He murmured a little distractedly as he placed his hand over the two packaged outfits in your hand. "I'll be this one and you that."

"Okay fine, we can still win with this, right?"

"Yeah, Jin-hyung always chooses either some obscure anime characters or a pun that no-one understands, for him and Joonie."

"We got this."

*

When you arrived at the party hand in hand with Yoongi you saw Seokjin and Namjoon across the garden dressed as...something...honestly you couldn't even make a vaguely intelligent guess at what exactly the couple were supposed to me; something with beads and an obnoxious amount of purple feathers. Even though you had expected pretty much exactly that from Seokjin you still felt yourself relax the tiny amount of tension in your shoulders from the thought of not taking home the prize as you and Yoongi had for the past four years since Hoseok started hosting the annual party.

"Are you a stapler and stack of paper?" Jimin questioned as the pair of you approached the drink table where the pink-haired fairy was hanging around to talk to people; Jimin was always seen at the drinks table even if he wasn't drinking purely because he knew people would always be coming and going so he had plenty of chances to make new friends and charm the fishnet stockings off of someone for the night.

"Yes," You confirmed, not really wanting to elaborate and instead focused on pouring drinks out for you and your stack of paper partner.

"Not that you're not cute or anything because you two are the cutest couple and always will be, I voted for you before you even arrived; but like, why? Your costumes are usually really...not this."

"Because she holds me together," Yoongi replied easily as if it had always been the genuine reason for you to be the stapler to his paper that evening, not his incredible ability to forget the one thing you planned literally months ahead of time.

"That was cute, now I want to vote for you." You looked over your shoulder to find Namjoon waiting with the two men behind you, two empty plastic cups in his hands so you held your hands out in a silent offer that he accepted wit a smile. "Don't tell Jin I said that though, he'll do something petty to get back at me and I love him and all but I do not want to not get my dick sucked just because I assisted the enemy."

"Hyung is so dramatic," Jimin giggled. "I love it."

"Mm, try getting vaguely threatening messages from him for the past month in an attempt at getting us to throw the competition." Yoongi snorted.

"Ah, that's why he stopped messaging me, he found out you had to buy them!" You realised with a laugh and capped the bottle in your hand so that you could return Namjoon's then full cups to him then gather your own while Yoongi picked up his with a gentle kiss to your jaw in passing.

"He takes this way too seriously."

"What exactly are you two even supposed to be?" Jimin enquired, tilting his head curiously as he eyed the feathered male from head to toe then back again.

"I have no fucking idea." Namjoon deadpanned before nodding to the three of you and turning to return to his partner's side.

"Poor Joonie," Jimin hummed before giggling which you and Yoongi quickly joined in with. Namjoon dealt with a lot from his boyfriend and his eccentric and shameless ways but they were such a perfect match that you knew Namjoon would never even attempt to change a single thing about Seokjin. They were cute- you could admit that-, even if their Halloween costumes always sucked.

"We should go get our picture taken for the vote table," Yoongi pointed out.

"Most people here already know who you two are," Jimin laughed but you and Yoongi were already heading across the garden to the table beside the temporary stage at the bottom of the garden.

"Just in time!" Jeongguk beamed from where he was perched on his comfortable lawn chair beside the table, camera hanging around his neck ready to take portraits against the spooky backdrop just to the side for whoever wanted the service, for a fee of course. "It's almost time to close the sign up for the competitions," He got to his feet and got into position while you and Yoongi stood ready for your photo to be taken by the cape clad male; vampire again and the only reason Jeongguk had that costume in the first place was that Hoseok said he couldn't work at his party if he didn't dress up. Though the way the seams across his biceps stretched in protest you guessed Jeongguk would have to finally buy a new costume for the following year or quit the gym.

"Many people this year?" You asked once your photos were taken and the best one was being sent to the portable printer on the table to pin on the board showcasing the contestants.

"Not really for the couple one, everyone knows you two win so the only person that really tries to beat you is Jin-hyung. But the individual comp has a lot of entries. Mostly girls hoping to win a date with Hoseokie-hyung." Jeongguk informed with a giggle while pinning your photo on the couples competition board.

"Wait, what?" Yoongi replied. "Hobi is putting himself up as grand prize?"

"Didn't you see the poll he made on Twitter last week? He added a date with him as a joke but it won so he stuck with it. There's also the usual gift hamper prize too so the winner can pick what they'd prefer."

"I hope someone nice wins and Hoseokie gets a kind girlfriend out of it." You commented and they both hummed in agreement.

"Gukkie! Picture please!" Someone you couldn't recall the name of but were certain had been at Jeongguk's birthday party called so you and Yoongi left the photographer to his work and went off to mingle and talk to friends and strangers alike.

*

At midnight Hoseok got up on stage to announce the competition winners. To his own surprise, Taehyung won the individual competition; he hadn't even applied but from the way Jeongguk was hollering from the side you deduced the vampire had pinned his best friend's picture up all the same. It was a good costume; Taehyung was Van Gogh's ghost and had spent the night flitting around with body paints in his hands painting tributes to his favourite artist on the skin of whoever would let him. You yourself had the most famous starry night on your neck and Yoongi was too ticklish to allow the brushes near his sensitive skin.

"Congrats Tae!" Hoseok cooed, pushing back the crown that was slipping down his head yet again so that he could beam at Taehyung as the younger stepped up to collect his prize. "Come get the hamper before you leave tomorrow, yeah?"

"What if I want the date?" He challenged. The crowd "ooh"ed. Hoseok flailed.

"Did not take that into consideration," Yoongi admitted lowly by your side.

"Me either. Has Seok ever been into guys?"

"No, well, not that he's told me,"

"Do you think he could be?"

"I mean, it's Tae, I think everyone's at least a little gay for Tae."

"We know you are." You sniggered and he whined. "What? It's cute."

"Will you ever let me live that down? It was before we even met, babe."

"I can never forget that, babe."

Your teasing bickering distracted from the spectacle on stage long enough for Taehyung to leave with a promise from the host to talk later. Hoseok had even moved onto the couple's competition. That man sure worked fast when he wanted to remove the focus from his flushed features.

"Oh, no surprise here, Y/N and Yoongi!" He called into the microphone causing you both to look forward to the stage with wide eyes having been caught off guard. "Come on you two!" So you both waddled up onto the stage and accepted the winner badges Hoseok pinned to your costumes. "You know what to do about your prize," He joked waving you both off.

"What if we want a date with you too, huh?" You cooed. Hoseok yelled while you skittered off stage after Yoongi who could only smile fondly at your antics.

"Hey! Don't try and steal my date!" Taehyung exclaimed from beside the stage making you laugh before you fell into conversation with him and gained another masterpiece on your skin; this time on the back of your hand.

3 am the next morning you flopped into bed beside Yoongi, both freshly clean of the night's sweat and body paints. "I swear we get home later every year," Yoongi grumbled, already closing his eyes ready to greet sleep with open arms.

"That's because every year he comes up with new games to play and neither of us can so no to that shithead and he knows it." You yawned, head resting on his shoulder and leg laying over his own. He hummed in agreement. "What you said earlier to Jimin about our costumes, was that some of your spur of the moment bullshit or did you think of it when you picked them?"

"Hm? What did I say?"

"That I was the stapler and you paper because I hold you together."

"Oh, yeah, that. It's the truth, you do hold me together, always have. I don't want to even think about the mess I'd be right now if I never met you."

"Huh, maybe next year I should be superglue," You joked tilting your head to grin up at him. He felt your movement so opened his eyes to meet your gaze with a soft smile.

"And I'll be the broken toy that only you have the strength to fix."

"You're not broken."

"Not anymore, you fixed me." You lifted up just enough to press a soft, loving kiss to his lips.

"We did it together; like we do everything else. And we'll keep working like this for a long time, okay?"

"You and me together forever. Cliche but I can live with that."

"Let's get some sleep, I have a feeling we'll have Seok around tomorrow panicking that he agreed to go on a date tonight with Taehyung."

"Ugh, can't I not be here for that?" He groaned rolling over to wrap his limbs around you and bury his face into your neck making you giggle at the cute actions.

"No, we literally just talked about this, Yoonie."

"Mm," He inhaled your clean soft scent deeply before exhaling and leaning back to look at you. "Together?"

"Forever."

[spacequokka]

SMN: Results

Here are the final results. Appreciate the eye candy as we count down to the winner!

Baek got two votes. I didn’t make a post for him since he already has two parts. He’ll be available in the next poll. He has one more part available. Read on for the others.

Yixing got 13 votes total.

Jongdae and Kyungsoo both tied with 14 votes.

Sehun got 15 votes.

Suho got 16 votes.

I’m so soft rn. Channie got 21 votes.

It was close as fuck for DAYS. I’ve been a nervous wreck but here we are. Kai pulled in 34 votes.

Which means our next part will be with Min Min! He got a total of 36 votes!

He’ll get two parts like Baek and then I’ll hold another vote with a clean slate! The first part will be posted on Christmas and the follow up on New Years Day. Because it was so close for a few days, I’ll post a SMN-themed drabble for Kai to hold you until we get to him.

Thank you all for reading and participating!

[vidkid20ssimblrlair]

Episode 15: The Dinner (Part 3)

"No. I'll go."

We looked over to see Aaron in the main archway looking slightly disheveled but composed. He sat down next to Lin. He stared at Nathan and then Mr. Jones. "I will like to apologize for my absence, Luther. I decided to come back out of respect for our guest."

"I was just about to ask about you. I'm glad you can join us," Jones said smiling.

"So it's storytime? Delightful," he said slurring slightly with his posh accent. "Well, I'm a doctor obviously. 

“More like a quack,” Lin snorted.

He frowned at her but continued. “As I was saying I worked at a hospital and was asked to aid in the crisis involving the dead. Patient after patient coming down with some horrible disease. It was horrifying, I offered to help out with the army to set up a sanctuary in an abandoned asylum. Where I met you all. But I know you’re curious about what happened earlier. About that letter."

“Aaron, you don't have to,” Maidson said quietly.

“It’s fine. I did have a wife and I had a child on the way actually. I can't say that didn't love her, but I was going through the motions and wasn’t being very honest with myself or her. When I heard she was with child, I planned to break off things with a colleague I was seeing. A colleague I was having an affair with. His name was Alexander or Alex. He was a kind soul. Thoughtful. Smart. I didn’t want to break his heart, but I owe my wife that much. She was having my child for christ sakes! But the day I ended things with him was the day the hospital became overrun with the dead. The last thing he gave to me was that letter and the last thing I said to him was I didn’t want to see him anymore. You can imagine how that makes me feel. How that letter is valuable to me.

Well, now you know something that even my mother didn’t know about me. Now you know part of the reason why I drink.”

“That’s actually really touching, Aaron,” Lin said genuinely stunned.

“I guess so,” he said shrugging. He pulled out a flask emptying the contents in his mouth and placed it back in his pocket. “Anyway, it appears I need a refill. So enough about me. How about the next person go, so I can carry on drinking.”

I looked from one to the other. Their eyes zeroed on me again. I knew my time was up. 

Audrey reached across the table and touched my hand. She smiled and whispered, “Tell the truth.”

I sighed, sat up, and cleared my throat.  “I wasn’t a good guy. What I might say may change your opinion of me and that’s fine, but know I’m not that man I use to be.”

They all shared concerning looks but paid close attention to me now.

“I was also a thief. I was also a convicted felon. I spent a lot of my life in prison for dumb shit. I stole from people’s houses, assaulted people, and booted cars for a living. I was addicted to the fast money and the thrill of it all. Got even worse when I became a father. Couldn’t exactly get an honest job to take care of her you know. Not when you got a record,” I said as the total silence in the room was deafening.

“Anyway, just before this shit went down I was wrongly convicted for a murder I didn’t do. I was able to break out of jail thanks to the dead taking over the prison. Lucky me huh? Crazy thing is I ended up traveling with the cop who framed me and an actual murderer. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Audrey with the luck I’ve had, but I know what you’re thinking. I know I can’t get this stench off of me. Even in the fucking apocalypse, but I swear...”

“So you’re a convicted felon?!” Matthew gasped.

“Oh, here we go.”

“You..you...we can’t trust you!” he stammered angrily rising up to his feet immediately.

Madison stood up and blocked him shielding me from him. “Matthew. Please.”

“He’s a convicted murderer!”

“Wrongly convicted and he didn’t have to tell us that. He could have lied!”

Matthew fumed. “Wrongly accused. Ha! He could be lying now. He’s dangerous!”

“I’m not lying!”

I stood up and looked past Madison. It was then I felt Audrey behind me grabbing my arm. She tugged at it trying to pull me away, but the two of us weren’t letting up. Our eyes locked on each other ready to shed blood if need be. Only Madison was keeping us from throwing blows. She stood helplessly between us trying to keep us both away from each other. She looked strangely tiny as she stuck out her arms trying to distance us. I glanced over to see the rest of the table was now standing. Luther remained seated, but they all seemed to be talking all at once. Their cries all mixing together as they appeared to be pleading for us to stop as well.

The only person who seemed to be egging it on was Wade. He marched over to Matthew’s side and glared at me. A pure look of disgust graced his face.

He then shook his head and folded his arms. “I knew it. You’re probably one of the Cartel aren’t you?”

I scowled. “No, you racist shit!”

“Please stop this!” Audrey cried grasping my arm for dear life. “He’s not dangerous. He’s a good man! He saved my life. He literally went through a burning building to save me. I swear!”

“I believe her!” Madison cried. “Please.”

“So this is how you treat me? After I kept your fucking secret,” I spat turning back to Matthew. A smug smile then graced my face as I realized what I was saying. He seemed to catch on and he suddenly looked terrified. I continued. “So, Wade, since you want to open your big ass mouth, did anyone tell you that we didn’t get any gasoline? Not one drop? I’m sure Matthew told you. Ohhh, we weren't supposed to tell you till we scrounged some up, so you wouldn’t bitch about it!”

“What?” he gasped wide-eyed.

“And Madison, do you know what your little boyfriend here told me not to tell you?”

She turned her attention to me confused. “Huh?”

“He’s lying!”

“We found a walker on a stake that looked remarkably like you. Also found a message.”

“Wait! What?”

“The message said, “We’re watching you! Was written in blood on the wall of the gas station when went we back, but you’re not supposed to know that! No one is. Now, who’s the trustworthy one now?”

Madison backed away wide-eyed from Matthew then. She looked completely shocked. The color almost looked to be draining from her face.

“I..I was protecting you,” he stuttered. He stepped towards her softening his voice. “I was going to tell you...”

This didn’t calm her. Not one ounce. With a flash, her hand connected with his face and slapped him. He stumbled backwards and grabbed his cheek.

Wade who stood behind him pushed him as he bumped into him. He balled up his right fist and raised it as if to hit him, but put it down thinking twice. He then joined the rest of the household who stood quietly on the sidelines now staring at us like spectators. A mixture of shock and disappointment flashing upon their faces.

“I...I trusted you!” Madison howled. “How could you? This endangers me. It endangers us all. How could you keep this from me? From us?"

Matthew said nothing. The room was completely silent. You could almost hear a pin drop. Then I jumped feeling something on my leg. I looked down to see a cat. A white cat. Audrey had mentioned it, but I stared down at it perplexed by its presence. It meowed and walked over to the glass door. My eyes were drawn to it while everyone else seemed to be in a trance staring at Matthew as he stumbled over his words trying to explain himself.

I watched the cat paw at the glass. It eyes focused on something outside. Grace then spotted the cat too. She walked over to it pushing pass Matthew and she bent down to retrieve it. As she bent down to pick it up, something bumped into the door loudly. It was so loud we all jumped and I though the glass had broken. Audrey practically leaped into my arms from just the sound.

I looked up and away from the cat to see a corpse staring in now. He clawed at the glass door and loudly banged his head on it again making a thin crack. The cat sat down and continued to paw at the now blood-smeared glass. Everyone seemed to be fully aware of the cat and the corpse now. They gather at the door looking positively frightened.

DJ quickly came over looking dumbfounded as stared at it.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said regaining his composure. “But dinner’s over."

There's some foreshadowing going on at the end. ;)

And ugh wished I could have done more with Vince's flashbacks, but it was a last min decision to include it. Someone needs to make a ski mask for TS3. -_- Anyway, the first poll for the season will be posted next. Will be something to lighten things up as things are about to get rough.

Part 1

Part 2

All Episodes

[tomionekinkmeme]

Let’s get to the point here.

I know I said I’d be announcing the news from the Tomione Big Bang poll on the first, but I’ve checked the results as of late and to be honest, I’m satisfied. 

There will be a 2019 Tomione Big Bang!

If interested, curious, whatever, just read below for a preview of the event!

1. FIRST OFF: What is a Big Bang? Some of you are probably wondering that. If you aren’t you can skip on down to the next section. 

A Big Bang is a specific type of challenge usually involving long fics and accompanying artwork. This type of challenge is a reprise of the old zine tradition of collaboration between artists and writers for internet fandoms.

- https://fanlore.org/wiki/Big_Bang

*Please note: Every Big Bang has a different minimum wordcount goal in their rules. Some 50k, some 30k etc. For this one, it will be 25k.

*Another note: Every Big Bang also has a specific time period it spans over. Anywhere from just a few months up to 6. Depends on the time of year as well as the min. wordcount goal chosen. For this one, it will be 4 months.

2. Over the length of March, I will be putting the final touches (because I already created them because I’m excited and I can’t wait) on the Google Forms I’ll be using for the Big Bang. I’ll be making sure they’re ready by April 1st, which will be the day sign-ups will open and I’ll post the full detail post for the event! (Yay!)

This also includes a favor I’d like to ask you guys! Would someone like to make a banner for the event? I’d love to have one for the official Big Bang post on the first.

3. Everything will be commencing on Archive of Our Own! You can find the link to the challenge/collection for the TKMBigBang2k19 here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/tkmbigbang2k19 The challenge/collection is already created, but just like working on the Google Forms, I will be adding more and more to the page each day up until April 1st. I’d be happy to post updates on when I add things like faq’s since I know that might become an important factor for people still not 100% sure on participating. 

4. Now, things to expect just so you can prepare yourselves: 

First, we’re all gonna start off with sign-ups. This will be for everyone: artists, writers, and betas. It will be a Google Form that’s extensive as far as info but nothing completely personal. Everyone is expected to include at least one prompt to submit for the event in the form at the end. 

Then, soon after and even during, there will be a separate Google Doc everyone will be free to view. This will include a list of beta’s and artist’s with their info for people to choose from as well as a list of prompts to choose from. How the prompt choosing will go, I’ll include on the intro post on the first.

Throughout the months leading up to the due date of your pieces of writing, there will be what's called “check-ins”. They will be special Google Forms for ones to fill out once a month for me to personally check in to see how you’re doing as well as making sure you’re still participating.

With that said, any suggestions, questions -- whatever, you can contact me through Tumblr, email, or Discord. Thanks everyone! See you on the first with the official post!

<3 TKM Admin

[crimsonbluemoon]

Poll Results Part...Tres?

siYeah I don’t actually speak Spanish so....

ANYWAYS!

This is the last Poll Results thingy I will post because we have under an hour until I close the votes and people are going to start killing me. I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you SO MUCH for all of your support. I can’t believe so many people voted (I think it close to 100? Holy crap!) 

So here we go! 

Current Tally:

Tally/YEETboard: 3 Delirious: 26 Moo: 4 Smiity: 24 Cartoonz: 4 Ohm: 8 Terroriser: 2 WildCat: 5 Kryoz: 7

Anon: “a vote for wildcat 💗💗💗” (Wildcat) “Anon”: “*puts on a mustache* Hello, dear Crim! This is totally not Alfa that just voted for Ohm yesterday! I want to make a vote for Brian! >w> (....Normally I would not count this vote, but Brian only has two, so fuck it. Terroriser)  Anon: “Can we get a vote for the bunny man Ohm?“ (Ohm) Anon: “How much time is left?! I want to give my vote to the precious milk bag” (Smiity, and there is like 30 mins left so you made it) @fancyfishfins : “A vote for Del please!” (Del) @yasmeenzikry : “i love delirious always delirious forever delirious” (Del) Anon: “A vote for wildcat <3“ (Wildcat) Anon: “Smii7y and Kryoz for the mood board?Are you going to do another one as well or are you going to do just one and maybe a second one another time? Best wishes from Germany!“ (I should have made this more clear; I’ve actually done all 15 main boys, this was just a vote to see which one you guys wanted first! I’ll be dropping them each Friday before I release a chapter on Saturday. Thanks Germany!! <3 Also no double votes! This one is going to ....Moo) Anon: “A vote! For! Brian!“ (Terroriser)  Anon: “a vote for my boy Tyler 💗💖“ (Wildcat)  Anon: “I’ll vote for my boy Terroriser“ (Terroriser) 

Oh wow, lots of random boys in this one!   

Updated

Tally/YEETboard: 3 Delirious: 28 Moo: 5 Smiity: 25 Cartoonz: 4 Ohm: 9 Terroriser: 5 WildCat: 8 Kryoz: 7

Okay, the next post will be the Mood Board. You still have 30 minutes to vote, I just won’t post any more Tallys for it. And come by at 7pm to see who won! And just to clarify, each boy will get a mood board, this is just to see which one gets posted first. The rest will have an order I’m currently working on. >.>

Also, just wondering, would you guys want couple mood boards (way later, after all the boys are posted) ? Let me know! <3

Come Vote for Mood Boards!

[minyoongijjangjjangmanboongboong]

Arranged Chapter Thirteen

Description: Y/N is a struggling student in Seoul: working multiple jobs, living in a broom closet apartment, and often sacrificing her dignity for the sake of her livelihood. What happens when a handsome stranger presents her with an offer she cannot refuse at the moment she needs it most?

Pairing: Min Yoongi x (f) Reader

Word Count: 6,574

Tags: Non-Idol!Au, Chaebol!Au, Company!Au, Arranged Marriage!Au

Warnings: Coarse language, although not frequently

A/N: Hey guys! Here’s the next chapter. We are getting pretty darn close to the end of the story here. Not quite of course! But we’re getting there. Anyway, as always please feel free to send me asks about anything really! I love talking to you guys. It makes the whole thing worthwhile for me. I’m so grateful for all of your support of this story! Like it’s really more than I could have ever imagined. And if you have any issues, feedback, critique, questions, or anything don’t hesitate to let me know! 

Also! This is super important. I want to know which member you guys want me to write about next! So *drum roll* I created a poll! It’s pretty simple, so it shouldn’t take too long. But I want to write what you guys want to see, so whichever member gets the most votes in the poll will be the main character of my next fic! Hopefully, I can post a new fic as soon as this one is done!

Here’s the poll! I’d really appreciate it if you guys took the time to vote:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YN9TDQT

–Mercury

Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Fourteen, Chapter Fifteen, Chapter Sixteen (END)

———————————————————————————————————

I didn’t know why I came here. I couldn’t figure out why. I stared ahead, stared through, for a long moment. Of all the places I could have gone in my state of crisis, in my confusion, in my mistrust and betrayal…I came here. I shoved my hands in the pockets of my slacks, let the breeze throw my messy hair around my face, and sighed. Then I walked through the gates.

I passed the fountains and the round driveway, the tall walls, knocked on the massive front doors. Why was I at Jungkook’s house?

“Hell-oh,” said a very startled Jungkook, staring down at me. For the briefest second he looked like his normal, carefree self. But once he stared at me for a long moment, his expression changed. He looked older, maybe sadder. His eyebrows furrowed and it didn’t take him long to sigh and place a hand on my shoulder. He knew. “You found out.”

“I…,” I began, then shook my head. “I need to hear it from someone I can trust.”

“And you can trust me?”

I nodded and set my jaw. “At least you had the decency to feel guilty about it.” He took a deep, steadying breath and nodded, leading me inside the house.

“Come into the kitchen. I’ll get you some food,” he said as he walked ahead, nothing more than a pair of broad shoulders in my cloudy vision.

“I don’t really have an appetite.”

“Water then.”

I sighed and shrugged, entering his large kitchen with an indifference I never would have had under normal circumstances. Of course, like everything else in this home, it was beautiful. White marble countertops, stainless steel appliances, an island in the center with a stove and that quintessential bowl of fruit. I sat down at one of the white metal barstools in front of the island and let my eyes go glossy, staring into the middle ground.

“I only found out about it when I started college. My parents saw that you were one of the newly admitted students. I don’t think they were gonna tell me until your dad told you,” he said, pouring icy water into a clouded glass.

I nodded. “So…the convenience store…,” I said slowly, my voice heavy. I wanted to sleep.

“They pressed me to get to know you. Said that it was better this way anyway, since you grew up with your mom and wouldn’t really want to be approached by a chaebol,” he said.

“They were right.”

“Not completely,” he said with a chuckle. “You married Yoongi.”

“It was arranged.”

“I know.”

“He told you?” I asked, my eyes lifting to meet his.

He handed me the glass of water and I only held it in my weak hands. “Yeah. After he found out who you were.”

“And when was that?” I asked.

Jungkook shook his head. “I’d rather let him tell you that.”

I sighed and nodded. “Fine. But…how? How did this happen?” I asked.

Jungkook pursed his lips. “Hm…well, while I was away in Busan and you were hidden in Seoul, your father was still building his business. My dad had a lot of money. Not as much as now, but more than your dad.”

“I see.”

“He offered to back the company as a shareholder,” he said, eyes trained on the grey lines in the marble counter. “With a contingency.”

“A contingency…”

He nodded. “That being, if the rumors about your dad having a secret daughter were true, that daughter would be betrothed to me. He figured that by the time that possible daughter was old enough to get married, Skyline would be massive. He knew that in eighteen years or so your dad would be raking in capital. He saw a lot of potential in his company.”

“What about Min Company? He was already acquainted with them and they’re a massive tech company. Why not partner?”

“I asked that too. He said it was a bad investment. Said that Mr. Min was too ruthless to be bought,” Jungkook said. “Not that your father is weak…just…he was vulnerable. My dad saw that and he…”

“He made a savvy business choice.”

“Yeah.”

“So there were rumors,” I said.

He nodded. “There are always rumors.”

“And your father banked on them being true.”

“Yeah. The way he saw it, it was a win-win. If the rumors weren’t true, he said he would have been fine giving him a loan upfront and demanding repayment plus interest down the road. But if they were true…,” he said.

“Then he’d be inexplicably linked with a growing company. He’d have all the power,” I said. “It’s like buying the company altogether. All he’d have to do to get my dad to bend is threaten to recant his investment. And my dad would be-,”

“Putty in his hands.”

“Jungkook…,” I said softly, looking up to meet his eyes.

He was already looking down at me, a mixture of sadness and apology in his eyes. “I…I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry,” he said.

“That makes my marriage with Yoongi…”

“Potentially void.”

“So then…why did he…?” I started, furrowing my brow. “Why in the world did he marry me then, knowing I was already betrothed?”

He chuckled and shrugged. “That’s what I wanted to know.”

“And did he tell you?”

Jungkook shook his head. “Min Company has been suffering a lot lately. Ever since he married you, their stock value has gone up. People are starting to trust them again. Imagine what would happen when it’s revealed that you’re the heir of Skyline? One of the biggest and most profitable tech companies in the country? Don’t you think….maybe people would expect a merger? Maybe shareholders would up their stakes in anticipation of that merger?” he asked. 

I shook my head. “I can’t believe I…,” I started then scoffed as more tears began to fall down my cheeks. “Even after everything I still…I still love him.”

Jungkook raised his eyebrows at me and met my eyes as I let the tears slide over my flushed skin. “What?”

“Isn’t that stupid? Don’t you just…hate me right now?” I asked, laughing slowly. The sound hung in the air with a palpable pain. “I hate me.”

“Y/N, I…,” started Jungkook, walking around to where I sat and sitting beside me. He turned his body to face me, his knees brushing mine under the marble counter. “No matter what you do, I could never hate you.”

I looked at him and laughed. “You should.”

“But I don’t,” he said. His expression was soft, almost pleading. “I don’t. And that’s the problem.”

I shook my head. “Please don’t say it.”

“I have to,” he said. “You told me to ask when I need help, and I need help right now.”

I turned to face him. “I’m not right. You’re so much more than I’ll ever be, Kook. Don’t say it.”

“I love you,” he said.

The tears came harder and I shook my head. “Stop it.”

“I do. Just like you love him. I didn’t realize it at first. I thought you were just kind of funny. I thought if I had to spend my life with anyone, at least it was with someone who made jokes and worked hard,” he said. “When I started working at the convenience store I thought you were nice, maybe even a little pretty. But I figured that as long as you never found out, we’d never have to actually get married. If your father never came to claim you…I figured we could just become friends,” he said.

“Please stop,” I sobbed, letting my head fall into my hands.

He shook his head and grabbed my wrists softly. “Listen, this is important,” he said. “I didn’t have feelings for you until I saw the way you looked at Yoongi that day outside the bar. Remember?”

“Jungkook,” I said, meeting his eyes.

He seemed certain, determined. His gaze was set sternly. Whatever he was saying, he had to say it. I had to let him. “Remember?”

I nodded. “You said I looked at him like it was hard to look away,” I said, wiping beneath my eyes and finding the side of my hand black with mascara.

“Right then, for some reason…I wanted you to look at me like that. I stopped seeing that girl I went on a date with. And that’s when the trouble began. The guilt, the anger, the jealousy…it all came. Slowly,” he said. “And what killed me was that you were happy. Really happy with him. I knew there was no place for me there.”

I shook my head. “There’s always a place for you, Kook.”

“Not the place I wanted,” he said with a sad smile. “I told you I wasn’t lying when I said I liked you before. I meant that.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

“So that’s why,” he said. “That’s why I’m gonna get this arrangement nullified. I’m gonna get us out of this.”

My body snapped to attention and I turned to him. He’d already thought that far ahead? I supposed he’d had far more time to process everything. “You are?” I asked.

He nodded. “Well…we are. We’re gonna fix this,” he said. 

I swallowed the heavy lump in my throat. “Even though you could just…let it happen? You could just leave things as they are and…”

“And what?” he asked with a chuckle. “Force the girl I like to marry me instead? And know she’d be thinking about someone else forever? Why would I ever want that?” he asked, smiling when I turned my haggard face towards him. He shook his head, doting, and lifted a napkin to my cheek. He dabbed away at the tears, much like I’d done for him, and clicked his tongue. “Don’t you know that loving someone is putting their happiness first?”

Loving someone is putting their happiness first…

My father’s driver picked me up from Jungkook’s house after multiple frantic calls from my mom. She’d gone over to the apartment, had apparently spoken with Yoongi. She was upset. I could hear it in her voice on the phone. Yoongi told her the truth about our marriage and she’d been outraged. She’d chewed him out, she said. She’d given him a piece of her mind. All I could think of as she told me all of the choice words she’d yelled at him was his face as she berated him. It was stupid, but the thought of my mother making Yoongi upset caused tears to well in my throat. Was he crying too? 

I drove in silence as the city passed me by. The driver had little to say, as I had come to learn was common of drivers. I didn’t know what awaited me at the end of this long highway, didn’t know where we were going or who would be there, but I wished, for a long moment under the canopy of buildings overhead, that I could fall asleep and find myself a child again, sitting on the river’s edge with a sandwich and my mom by my side. I wished I could go back to a time when life was simple. Again, I could understand Jungkook more deeply. I’d been naive before. But the burden of knowledge had aged me, and I no longer saw things as simply as I did that night playing Mario Kart.

Nothing was simple now.

“Oh my God, honey,” said my mother as I exited the car in front of what I could only assume was my father’s house. She rushed out onto the sidewalk to greet me and held my face in her hands. I longed to pull away, because her touch burned where Yoongi’s hands had been. I couldn’t meet her eyes as they probed my messy face. “Honey…,” she said quietly, pulling my body flush against hers in a warm hug. “I’m so sorry.”

I nodded. I didn’t even have it in me to cry anymore. “I know.”

She pulled away and looked at me again, wiping beneath my eyes and around my cheeks. “I can’t believe I kept it from you for so long.”

I looked away and, softly, pulled my face away from hers so we could walk inside together. The building wasn’t quite as magnificent as the Jeons’ house, but it was nothing to sniff at. It seemed to be inspired by Japanese architecture, with sprawling gardens and stone bridges out the front and around the sides. We walked over one of those small bridges and crossed a koi pond. I watched the fish swim peaceful circles around each other as we passed, Mom’s hand on the small of my back, keeping me on track. If I could have had it my way, I would have stayed right there on the edge of the water, watching those orange and white fish make streaks in the crystal water for hours.

We entered the house whereupon we were immediately greeted by a maid. My mother waved her hand at the older woman, like she’d done this a million times, like she was comfortable doing it. I stared at her, this person who had raised me alone, this person who I’d known and loved all my life, and saw someone foreign. I wanted suddenly to run away. I hated myself for it, but once again I could understand Jungkook.

“Y/N,” breathed my father as he saw me nearing the living room. Another beautifully decorated home with another immaculate room and another rich man holding the keys to my fate. I felt the almost undeniable urge to steal those keys.

I avoided him as he came to place a hand on my shoulder, ducking from his touch and turning my wary eyes towards him. “Sweetheart, there’s a lot your father needs to explain,” said my mother.

“Then explain,” I said. I’d never heard my own tone sound so frightening. A woman scorned was one thing, but a woman deceived? “You don’t need to act friendly with me.”

“Y/N, I…,” he began, then sighed. “Let’s sit.”

“I already spoke to Jungkook. I doubt there’s much for you to say,” I said, following nonetheless and settling in on the couch beside him, at least two feet away. My mother perched by my side on the arm of the couch, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. 

He sighed. “At least let me explain,” he said, turning to face me. Those hauntingly familiar eyes, just like mine but lacking the painful sharpness, lacking the betrayal and the hurt. “When I agreed to this arrangement, I was desperate.”

“Good to know you have to at least be desperate to sell your daughter,” I spat, scoffing. “I was scared you would have done it for five dollars and half a peanut butter sandwich.”

“Please,” enunciated my father, setting his gaze sternly on me. I sighed and shook my head, but shut my mouth. “The company was just getting started, we needed the support from a conglomerate like JJK Group. And they were diversified in fields we hadn’t spread to. It was like an opportunity came down from the sky.”

“Please, Jack,” said my mother with a sigh. “Spare her the theatrics. She’s been through enough today.”

My father met my mother’s eyes and they shared a terse moment. “Fine. My point is, I wasn’t in a position to refuse. And I was certain that by the time he came to collect, you would be off at college far away. In a different country. I thought I could keep you hidden somehow.”

“Is that why…,” I began, then looked at my mother with furrowed brows and a distressing feeling of tightness in my chest. “Mom, is that why we left? Why we stopped living in that house?”

My mom sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Honey…,” she started. It sounded like she pitied me… “There were many reasons. But that was certainly one.”

“Your mother thought that if you disassociated with me altogether, you could avoid it. Become anonymous, enter society as a poor kid with all the other millions of poor kids. You could run and hide and live normally,” said my father with a rueful sigh.

“But when I married Yoongi, you came back…,” I said. “Why?”

“Because,” he said, meeting my eyes. “The second those articles came out, Mr. Jeon called me.” He didn’t need to say anything more. The look in his eyes was enough. I’d never seen a grown man look so frightened.

I nodded. “For the record,” I began, lacing my fingers over my knee with a heavy sigh. “Jungkook and I don’t want it. We’re gonna do whatever we have to do to get it retracted.”

My father shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”

“Then what would you have me do?” I asked. I couldn’t dance around it anymore. I was exhausted. I couldn’t take anymore indecisiveness. 

He met my eyes and what I saw there again took me by surprise. His expression was rough, and he looked like he might actually feel guilty. “I want you to do it.”

I blushed and raised my eyebrows. “And if I don’t want to?”

“Why wouldn’t you? You agreed to marry Yoongi on a contract. What’s the difference?” asked my father, shaking his head.

I felt myself growing angry. “The difference is that I love Yoongi and I don’t want to marry Jungkook.”

He scoffed. “Do you really think the real world cares who you love? I’m living proof that it doesn’t,” he said with a rueful glance towards my mother who, in turn, shuffled beside me and looked away. 

“No, I don’t think the world cares,” I said, standing to my feet and giving him a glare. “But I thought maybe my own father might.”

His face crumpled beneath my gaze and he stood too, my mother already at my side, holding onto my shoulders tightly. “Y/N, you know I care.”

“If you did then you wouldn’t make me do it. You’d suffer the loss and move forward honestly instead,” I said. “I don’t know about business, but I know about character. And I can tell you right now, people would respect you more if you took a stance and defended the thing you know is right.”

He shook his head, rubbing his jaw. “I…I don’t want to do this,” he said.

I looked back at Mom as she shook her head and pointed a finger at my father. “Don’t you dare. You promised me you wouldn’t,” she said. “You promised.”

I scoffed. “Whatever it is he promised, you’ve seen how much his word is worth when you don’t offer him capital,” I said.

He met my eyes with an angry shake of his head. “Don’t start. You have no idea the circumstances I’m in.”

“If you told me I’d know and we could fix it together!” 

“How? Huh? How are you gonna fix it, Y/N?” he shouted. “You say you’re going to recant the betrothal, you’re going to get me out of trouble with JJK, but how? You can’t just arbitrarily say those things! You need a plan!” he shouted.

“So let’s make one!”

“Not everything can be fixed!”

I stared at him, fuming for a long moment. That ideology troubled me in a way I couldn’t quite explain. Did he truly believe that? Could he really think that he was in so deep there was nothing he could do to fix it? Just how large was JJK Group’s share in the company…?

I inhaled deeply and met his eyes again, this time softer and more desperate. “Jack, if you do this it’s the end. Y/N has been extremely kind to let you back into her life. Do you really want to jeopardize that?” asked my mother from beside me.

I turned to look at her. “Mom, what are you even talking about?” I asked.

My father cleared his throat. “I’ll offer you an ultimatum,” he said. “Two choices. Two paths. You will have a choice between them, and I’ll need your answer immediately.”

I stared back at my mother, my brows furrowing, and then met my father’s eyes with strain. He looked determined, but somber. Whatever he was about to say, it seemed it may hurt him as much as it hurt me.

He took a steadying breath before he continued…

We always have a choice…

I arrived at the apartment at nine. I’d spent the rest of the afternoon talking to my mother, hearing her side. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t figured out already, but I was glad at least that she wanted to be open with me. She couldn’t bear the thought of me marrying someone for the sake of my father’s company, so she’d taken me and left. She and my father had assumed that if I just laid low, I could run from it forever. My father had explained to JJK Group that I’d become estranged, that he couldn’t find where I was. It would have worked, had it not been for…

“Yoongi,” I breathed as I entered the apartment.

He was sitting on the floor, Holly pawing at his leg, leaning against the front of the couch. He’d shoved the coffee table away so he could let his legs extend, and he was staring ahead as if he could find answers in the black screen of the silent TV. Moonlight filtered in through the windows and caught on his form. His eyes were glazed, like he wasn’t even awake inside his own body. I could see the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, and it was the only indicator that he was alive at all.

I walked slowly to his side and sat on my knees beside him. He seemed not to realize I was there, still staring ahead. I wasn’t sure what to do, what to say. Just that morning, we’d been pressed together. I could hear his heart. I could feel it too.

And I could feel it now. 

A sweeping pain came over me as I realized just how broken things had become. I longed to wrap my arms around his waist, to bury my head in his chest and tell him it was okay, but I couldn’t. Because I couldn’t sit there and lie to him. 

“Yoongi,” I whispered, lifting my hand to push his bangs from his face, revealing the smooth expanse of his forehead and his brows which were furrowed as if he may cry. If he cried, it was over for me. “Yoongi, it’s me.”

Slowly, he turned to meet my imploring eyes. I continued to smooth his hair out of his face, his gentle, soft, warm, and melancholy eyes caught in a shaft of moonlight. “Why…?” he asked.

I smiled softly and shook my head. “I’m here to talk to you.”

He labored his body up so he was sitting properly and looked at me. “Why would you come back? You gave me a chance to tell you before…you…”

“Stop,” I said. “I…I won’t pretend that I’m not hurt. I am. I…,” I started, wiping a few tears that stubbornly fell from my eyes. “I’ve never been more hurt.”

“I’m so deeply, truly, existentially sorry, Y/N,” he said quietly, taking my rattling hands in his own. “I’ll spend the rest of my life being sorry to you.”

“Please don’t,” I whispered, leaning to press our foreheads together. I shut my eyes for a brief moment before pulling away. “Just tell me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“Did you know?” I asked, meeting his watery eyes with my own. “Did you know about it when you asked me to marry you?��� 

He raised his eyebrows and I saw nothing but sincerity in his expression. “I give you my word that I didn’t.”

“So it was…a coincidence?” I asked.

He nodded. “A horrible, twisted, fucking disgusting coincidence.”

“When did you find out?” 

His face was flushed with tears long dried and his skin was cool to the touch. It was like he was ill. “The day after.”

I shook my head. “What?”

“My father performed a background check on you. He wouldn’t agree to let just anyone marry into the family. He wanted to make sure that you weren’t someone dangerous,” he said, looking away from me towards where Holly sat leaning against his calf. “He was hesitant about me marrying someone who wasn’t from a big family, so I figured it was a waste to ask you the more I thought about it. And I never expected you to call.”

“Then why did you ask?” 

He raised his eyebrows. “Because…for a moment…I guess I felt like you and I were the same. And I was willing to fight for that.”

I wiped my eyes and nodded. “But your father…he found out that I was actually-,”

“He found out about your background. Your father, your relationship with JJK Group. Those documents aren’t public record, they’re private. But my father’s connections are…extensive.”

I nodded and gently brushed a stray feather from one of the couch pillows off the high peak of his cheekbone. He captured my hand and pressed it against his skin, meeting my eyes with a longing I couldn’t help but reciprocate. “So he approved…because of my betrothal?”

He nodded, leaning into the palm of my hand. I’d never seen Yoongi, strong, smart, independent Yoongi, so small and depleted. “Because of that, because he wanted leverage with JJK, and because of your father. He wanted a merger.” Just like Jungkook said.

“He said that if you responded, I was supposed to marry you as soon as I could. Lock it down and put it into a contract that was legally binding,” he said.

“Lock it down,” I said, falling onto my bottom and pulling my hand away.

He held onto it tightly and met my eyes with a frantic shake of his head. “I couldn’t do it. I…I couldn’t make you sign away your life to me like that, like some…bargaining chip.”

“You…what?”

“The contract, Y/N,” he said. “In order for it to be legally binding, both parties must agree upon it. I didn’t. I never signed it.”

“What?” I asked, my eyes wide.

He nodded. “It wasn’t right. I didn’t want to…I couldn’t use someone like that. My father doesn’t know. And he doesn’t know that I never officially registered our marriage.”

“You never registered it?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Then…in theory, all you would have to do to make the marriage binding would be…to sign the contract and register the marriage?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I thought for a moment, a plan beginning to take shape in my brain.

No. I couldn’t scheme. I couldn’t plan. I’d made my choice back at my father’s house. I couldn’t be sitting here, plotting like some petulant child. There was so much more at stake than there had been before. It wasn’t just my relationship with Yoongi in jeopardy. It was much bigger.

“Yoongi…why would you take a risk like that? When your father was breathing down your neck?” I asked, scooting closer to him.

He looked at me with tears in his eyes. “Because,” he said. “I…I’m not cut out for this world. I’m not cut out for the deception and the betrayal and the exploitation. I…you’re a good person. I couldn’t use you.”

“And you were scared that…because the contract isn’t binding…,” I said as I pieced it together.

“I was scared you’d leave,” he said.

I looked down at him and a wave of sharp pain rushed through my body from head to toe. “You were scared that without a contract I’d have no reason to stay?”

He nodded. “Why would you?” he scoffed. “You’re better than this world, better than me and my family and my company.”

“Why would I?” I asked, laughing. “Because, you idiot. I love you.”

He looked up at me, a mixture of surprise and sorrow in his features. “You…after everything, you can still say that?”

I nodded. “Of course I can. Feelings…they don’t just change like that.”

“You…,” he said, then sighed. “You saw the safe the other day didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“And you saw Eun’s file,” he said. My chest tightened at the way he said her name.

“Yeah.”

“And you tried to ask me about it this morning,” he said, softly tracing his fingers along the skin of my wrist as it laid between us.

I shrugged. “I didn’t want you to think I didn’t trust you.”

“Why should you trust me?” he said with a laugh. He retracted his hand and I longed for him to return it. “I’ve given you no reason to.”

“Yoongi…I…I don’t care. I want to trust you. It might not be enough, it might not be the right thing, but I…I want to believe in the you that I fell in love with,” I said softly, letting the heavy words settle in a tangible layer of tension between us.

He met my eyes, his dark and pulled downward by purplish bags. “My father,” he said. “Do you want to know the reason why I had to get married?”

“Of course.”

“It wasn’t just for the company. It wasn’t just to become the CEO someday,” he said, his voice cracking only slightly. “It was because of Eun.”

I swallowed the jealousy that rose like bile in my throat. “What about her?”

“When I broke things off with her, I told her not to contact me. My family can be ruthless. They see something vulnerable, some crack in a shield or a chink in a chain, and they exploit it. Anything innocent gets destroyed. I didn’t want that for her. I don’t want that for you,” he said, unable to look at me now as his gaze focused on his hands in his lap.

“Did they…use her to blackmail you?”

He nodded. “More or less. When things ended, I naively assumed my father would leave her alone, would assume she was no longer someone he could use. But I was very, very wrong,” he said, and began wringing his hands. “He hired someone to follow her, to track her. He found out she was married, that she was…she’s pregnant.”

My eyes grew wide. “She’s…,” I began, but I couldn’t say it. A sick feeling was rising in my stomach, and if I spoke more I might have puked. It was all so much more twisted than I’d thought.

Everything was tangled.

“My father needed me to get married to a girl from a good background so that I could help the company reclaim its image. A while back, my father got into some big trouble with the union for the state of his manufacturing factories, and since then more and more unsavory business has come to light. He was getting desperate. So with me at about the right age to be marrying…”

He didn’t need to finish. I already knew. “What did he threaten to do to her?” I asked as a chill ran up my spine.

He met my eyes. “He…he said she had a job working for a company my father knows. Both of them work there, Eun and Daehee both. He told me that if I didn’t agree to a marriage with a suitable partner, they’d lose their jobs. They’d lose their house. They’d lose everything. And their child…”

“Yoongi,” I whispered weakly, inching closer to him. 

He shook his head. “I had to do it. He gave me her file when you and I got married. He said he didn’t have a copy of it, but he already had the information he needed. I kept it in case I ever had to help them. I don’t have any other way to contact her anymore. When things ended…she got rid of her social media. I told her she should, since my parents might look for her. She’s done everything right. Her…her only crime was getting involved with me,” he said, tears beginning to pool in his eyes. 

“Yoongi, this is not your fault. You need to know that it’s not your fault,” I said, placing my hands on his cheek and jaw so he would look at me. But the second our eyes met, the tears he’d been holding back spilled onto his skin and he hiccuped past the sob I could see building in his chest. “I need you to know that none of this is because of you.”

He opened his mouth then shut it, opened it and shut it. It was like he was trying to speak, but the words were choked. “Everything I touch rots.”

I stared with wide eyes at him, at this broken boy before me, so fragile under my touch, so fragile under my gaze. I had no idea what I could do for him, and I knew that what I had to do in the morning would hurt that much more now. I sniffled and wiped his tears as they fell. He shook his head as he looked up at me and I tried to shush him before he spoke again. 

“You didn’t do this. You’re a good person-,”

“I love you.”

I blushed and stared down at him as a searing pain scorched through my insides. “What?”

“I love you,” he said again, his eyes still producing plump tears that he could scarcely contain. “And I don’t want this for you.”

“Yoongi…”

“You, Eun, Hell, even Jungkook would be better off without me,” he said, shaking his head as his eyes flashed wildly around the room. God, he was spiraling.

I shook his head slightly so he would focus on me. “Min Yoongi, don’t you dare say that. I don’t want to imagine a world where I never met you. I don’t want to see a day when you’re not here. You don’t get to say that.”

“Why?” he sobbed. “All I’ve done is make things worse for you.”

“No you haven’t!” I shouted. His rapid eyes stilled as I raised my voice. “You’re in my best memories, you’re there in my most precious moments. My life has become richer, more beautiful…everyday I’ve been with you has been a day I’ve cherished.”

He scanned me, his expression still frantic, but his breath coming more steadily now. “Y/N, I’ve been so selfish. But I can’t be selfish with you anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been so scared of losing you that I robbed you of your choice. I…I’d like to hold you close, to keep you here, to shut the doors or run away or disappear together. But you were right. You’ve been right the whole time. I’ve been making the decisions on my own from the beginning,” he said, his voice a breath in the silver moonlight. He looked at me. “So I want you to choose. I want you to decide your own future now.”

I felt my brows knit together as I looked down at him, my hands lacing into his dark hair, the blotchy patches of red beneath his skin from the force of his tears. His eyes implored me, beseeched me, longed for me. And I knew in my heart what I wanted to do. More than anything, what I wanted was to collapse into him, to hold him and hear the beating of his heart as it slowed down. I wanted to stay, I wanted to shut the doors. I wanted to run away or disappear together.

But I remembered what my father said.

If you fight, he’d said, his eyes cold and hard against mine, Hana’s brother will lose his scholarship, and Hana will lose her financial aid. 

It seemed Namjoon had done more than just spy on me and Yoongi. He’d found the weaknesses in my armor, just like Yoongi said his parents did. He’d found with pinpoint accuracy the areas in which I was vulnerable. He’d located the Hana-shaped hole in my heart. And my father had twisted his gnarled hand into that hole and gripped me by my very core.

I wasn’t just choosing my future. 

I was choosing the future of the people I cared about the most.

“Tonight,” I whispered, crawling close to him and burying my head in his chest. “Tonight, let’s just…shut the doors and pretend for a while.”

He slowly lifted his large hand to the back of my head and smoothed down my hair, peppering soft kisses into my temple. “Okay.”

I nodded against him as my throat constricted with tears. So much had changed in a single day. I just wanted to rest now. Gently, Yoongi guided us to our feet and, without disconnecting our bodies, without detangling our limbs, we made our way to his bedroom. Immediately, we both fell against his mattress and he shimmied both of our bodies beneath the covers, facing me as he gently tucked the sheets around my back. He was sure to leave no gaps for the cold air to penetrate. And then he just laid beside me, looking at me.

I’d never felt so adored.

His eyes were tender and soft, his hand gentle as it ghosted over my hair, his fingers sliding featherlight against my cheeks. He fanned my hair out of my face with the back of his hand and let it linger on my neck. I snaked my arms around his waist and wordlessly pulled myself closer. He encircled me in his embrace and exhaled against the top of my head. For a moment, I let myself forget it all. I let myself forget the tragedy of the two of us. I let myself forget that my mother, my father, my friends, and even the man I loved had deceived me. I let myself forget that, despite what I may have thought before, love wasn’t always enough…

I don’t know when I fell asleep. I don’t know if I was the first to fall into the warm caress of dreams, or if it was Yoongi who had fallen prey to the beckoning lull of unconsciousness. But I was the first to awaken after a fitful night of restless sleep. I thought sleeping next to the person you love the most would make the night feel warm, but I’d shivered so much in my sleep that several times I’d awoken in the faint moonlight to find Yoongi with tears drying on his cheeks and the navy blue midnight touching every corner of his room. I stood to my feet as I awoke the final time to the first rays of sunlight. I padded out into the kitchen and then into my bedroom where I sat at the piano, running my fingers along it. I couldn’t bear touch the keys. Hearing that noise, the hum of the instrument that had brought Yoongi and I clumsily together…I couldn’t handle the thought that it would witness our separation too.

So I sat on the stool and I wrote him a letter.

I placed that letter atop the piano.

Loving someone is putting their happiness first. And I loved Hana enough to do that.

So I stood, grabbed my jacket, pulled on my shoes, and left the apartment.

[enriqueiglesiases]

Posted @withregram • @all4enrique These are the plans for next weekend (SEPTEMBER 18 & 19), to promote the album FINAL Please share them with all fans that you know. 1 - Start streaming the whole album at 1 pm ET (both days) on your favorite streaming platform (or all, if you have them). Remember to not take the sound off in any of them. If you have several platforms playing in several devices at the same time, you can plug earphones to all but one (to not hear them all). There’s a free version of Spotify and Deezer that is available to everyone. 2 - While you’re playing the album, tweet about what you are listening to. Like your first impressions, what’s your favorite song so far, or anything else you want. I’ll launch a few polls in my (replacement) account (@all4enriquei). Don’t forget to write “Enrique Iglesias” in the tweet and use the hashtags #enriquesfinal #finalalbum  3 - During the weekend post a proof of purchase in your social media. Can be a pic of yourself, holding your phone while it’s playing the album on iTunes, or anything else you want. If you don’t intend to purchase it, you can do the same thing while playing the album in a streaming platform. Post it with the hashtags #enriquesfinal #finalalbum 4 - Start streaming the most possible the video of Pendejo, as soon as it gets out, on Friday. The goal is to reach 10M views in the first 24h. Continue to stream it the most possible all weekend. Stream intensively, in all available devices, at noon ET (both days), for 45 min at most. During the weekend, post a pic of yourself, streaming the video of Pendejo, in all your social media with the hashtags #enriquesfinal #finalalbum #pendejo Let’s give Enrique’s FINAL album the warmest welcome ever seen!!   #enrique #enriqueiglesias #oneloveonelove #kingoflatinpop #enriqueiglesiasportugal #TopLatinArtistOfAllTime https://www.instagram.com/p/CT4l6MSMXq2/?utm_medium=tumblr

[patriotsnet]

What Republicans Are Running For President

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-republicans-are-running-for-president/

What Republicans Are Running For President

How Mitt Romney Could Wind Up Running The United States 6 Years After Losing The Presidential Election

If, as expected, Mitt Romney wins his race for a Senate seat from Utah he may become the most powerful man in the United States Senate. As many of us remember, Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, ran for president in 2012 and lost to Barack Obama. It wasn’t one of those totally humiliating losses—the map did not turn blue—but we assumed Mitt Romney would fade into history.

Well, maybe not.

Here’s how. Just a few months ago, conventional wisdom was that while the Democrats had a good chance of taking control of the House of Representatives, the Senate was out of reach. In 2018 there will be at least 35 Senate seats up—of which 26 are held by Democrats. Democrats need a net gain of 2 seats to take control of the Senate. In an ordinary year this would be tough for two reasons. One is that incumbents usually win, and secondly, 10 of those Democratic senators represent states that went for Trump in 2016—so a somewhat popular president might be able to use his clout to win a Senate seat back from the Democrats. But this is no ordinary year as poll after poll and special election after special election indicate a “blue wave” for Democrats.

EKamarckrecent pollspolling aheadpolling close

Us Election 2024: Who Are The Likely Republican Candidates To Run For President Against Joe Biden

Mike Pence, Ivanka Trump and Ted Cruz are among the rumoured candidates to become Donald Trump’s successor

The 2020 presidential race has only just finished, but the Republican candidates for 2024 are already preparing themselves for their shot at the White House.

We take a look at who may be looking to get themselves in to the race.

Nj Primary Elections 2020: The Five Republicans Who Want To Take Over As Us Senator

Colleen O’Dea, Senior Writer and Projects EditorNJ Decides 2020Politics

Five Republicans are vying for the chance to try to do something no one else has been able to do in almost a half-century: Convince New Jersey voters to elect a Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate, where Democrat Cory Booker now sits.

It has been 48 years since New Jersey voters have sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate, and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly a million. In 2018, Republican and former pharmaceuticals executive Bob Hugin spent more than $39 million, including $36 million of his own money, and lost by 11 percentage points to incumbent Bob Menendez, who had been considered vulnerable after his trial on political corruption charges ended in a hung jury.

“Statewide races are the toughest ones of all for a GOP outnumbered by a million more registered Democrats in the state,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “But even before party registrations were so lopsided, Republican Senate candidates have fared more poorly here than almost anywhere else in the nation.” Since New Jersey last sent a Republican to the Senate in 1972, “the GOP has lost a staggering 15 Senate races in a row,” he said.

Thoughts On New Poll: Most Republicans Want Trump To Run For President In 2024

John Fletcher Jrsays:

May 29, 2021 at 11:48 am

There may not be an American Presidential Office to run for when Joe Biden is done. I still believe Joe Biden is a Counterfeit President. One thing is certain, Barack Hussein Obama is happy that Joe Biden now reigns as worst American President. America get yourself ready for HYPERINFLATION, it’s coming.

May 29, 2021 at 3:43 pm

I have hats of Trump that read ” make America Great Again”, Trump 2020?,and “KEEP AMERICA GREAT”,I also have flags of him ” TRUMP ON THE TANK”, “TRUMP 2020, NO MORE BULLSHIT”. and I just got a new one,“TRUMP 2024” and then I have a MASK that reads, “TRUMP 2024 and has 2 AMERICAN FLAGS .So I really hope he runs, otherwise all of this means nothing ! TRUMP 2024 and TRUE FIGHTING REPUBLICANSIN 2022 !! NO RINOS NEEDED ! STAND UP OR SHUT UP !

May 29, 2021 at 5:19 pm

IT is more than if he runs or not. YOU are sending a message that you stand for freedoms and still support that hard work he did while still in office. Trump stands for AMERICA FIRST and that is also part of your message to the leftists.You are sending a great message no matter what he decides….You know as well as I do that he is all about what is best for the AMERICA and All Americans….SO IF he supports someone else to run then we know that person is worthy of what we all need as AMERICANS.Don;t loose hope and wear your attire with pride knowing there are many others still hoping for another win.

Yes we want Donald Trunp be our presidentin 2024.

Republican Lawmakers Are Terrified Of Trump Running For President Again

A new report by Politico cites multiple unnamed Republican lawmakers – even those who publicly praise Trump – who say that they REALLY don’t want Donald Trump running for President again in 2024. They would much rather see Trump working “behind the scenes” to help shore up support for the Party as a whole, and they insist that the Party is stronger now than it was five years ago. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Transcript:

*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

Recently, Politico interviewed several Republican lawmakers, who of course all chose to remain nameless. But Politico says that these were Trump supporting lawmakers, still are Trump supporting lawmakers, by the way. And each one of them said that they do not want Donald Trump to be the Republican party’s nominee in 2024. In fact, they don’t want Trump to run for president ever again. I’ll read a couple quotes from some of these lawmakers here. Here’s what one of them said, he’s one of the best presidents we’ve had in terms of policies. But having said that if it were up to me, I would never have Trump on any ballot ever again, because it’s such a distraction. I would love for him to play a behind the scenes role and not be on the ballot. Another one said, I’d like to see a fresh face. I think we have a lot of them.

Eight Republican 2024 Candidates Speak In Texas Next Week But Not Trump

Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, April 30 – A Republican Party event in Texas next week will hear from eight potential candidates for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024, without former President Donald Trump, a source involved in the planning said on Friday.

The May 7 event at a hotel in Austin is being co-hosted by U.S. Senator John Cornyn and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, to thank donors who helped fund a voter registration drive and get-out-the-vote efforts in the state.

High-profile Republican politicians who are considering whether to seek the party’s nomination in 2024 are expected to speak to the crowd of about 200 donors.

They include former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and U.S. senators Marco Rubio, Tim Scott and Rick Scott, the source said.

The event comes as Republicans wrestle with whether to try to move past Trump in the next election cycle or fall in line behind him. Trump told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo on Thursday that he was “100%” considering another run after losing in 2020 to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump was not invited to Texas, the source said. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was invited but was unable to attend, the source said.

Many Republican insiders doubt Trump will follow through on his musings about running for president in 2024, leaving a void that other party leaders will seek to fill.

Fact Check: Trump Did Not Call Republicans The Dumbest Group Of Voters

5 Min Read

An old quote falsely attributed to Donald Trump has recently resurfaced online. The viral meme alleges Trump told People magazine in 1998 that Republicans are “the dumbest group of voters in the country”. This is false.

While the quote has been debunked several times since it apparently surfaced in 2015, users have recently been resharing it on social media. Examples can be seen here , here , here , here

The meme reads: “If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific. – Donald Trump, People Magazine, 1998”

Snopes first wrote about the false quote here in October 2015 . Since then, the quote has been debunked multiple times .

People magazine has confirmed in the past that its archive has no register of this alleged exchange.

“People looked into this exhaustively when it first surfaced back in Oct. . We combed through every Trump story in our archive. We couldn’t find anything remotely like this quote–and no interview at all in 1998.”, a magazine spokesperson told Factcheck.org that year .

In December 1987, People published a profile on Donald Trump titled “Too Darn Rich”. The article quoted him saying he was too busy to run for president .

The Long Race For The 2024 Republican Presidential Nomination Begins

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — In the past week alone, Nikki Haley regaled activists in Iowa, Mike Pence courted donors in California and Donald Trump returned to the rally stage, teasing a third campaign for the White House.

The midterms are more than a year away, and there are 1,225 days until the next presidential election. But Republicans eyeing a White House run are wasting no time in jockeying for a strong position in what could emerge as an extremely crowded field of contenders.

The politicking will only intensify in the coming weeks, particularly in Iowa, home to the nation’s leadoff presidential caucuses and a state where conservative evangelicals play a significant role in steering the direction of the GOP. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas is slated to visit on Tuesday, and others, including Pence, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are expected to appear in July.

The flurry of activity is a sign that there is no clear frontrunner to lead the GOP if Trump opts against a 2024 campaign.

“It definitely feels early, but it doesn’t feel like it’s a bad idea based on the situation,” said Mike DuHaime, a longtime Republican strategist. “The party has changed, the voters are changing and I think the process has changed. And I think many of the candidates have realized that.”

“We won the election twice,” he said. “And it’s possible we’ll have to win it a third time.”

As for Trump?

Are You Ready For Republican Tim Scott To Run For President In 2024

The Senate’s lone Black Republican member, Tim Scott, is opening eyes and creating conversation about his 2024 political prospects.According to Fox News, Scott has brought in $14.4 million in campaign fundraising, after posting $9.6 million during April-June. The total amount in his campaign coffers has led many to believe that Scott is eying higher office than just the U.S. Senate.Scott has kept his name ringing in the political arena during his tenure in the Senate, especially after delivering a GOP response to President Biden’s primetime address to a joint session of Congress earlier this year. Scott has also led his party in negotiations with congressional Democrats on a major police reform bill.

While Scott has downplayed the hype surrounding his political aspirations, people on the Hill and talking heads on camera are noting that he could possibly be a 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

“Tim Scott is a force,” Jim Merrill, a New Hampshire-based Republican consultant said to Fox News. “His strong numbers reflect how he has inspired activists and business leaders alike, good for both his reelection next year and for a potential presidential campaign in 2024.”

Fear of a Black Landowner

With Scott previously downplaying the notion of running for president and his recent declaration that he won’t run for Senate after 2022, Black America will just have to see if Tim Scott will lean-in to the dollars raised to bankroll a potential campaign for the White House.

Reaction

New Poll: Most Republicans Want Trump To Run For President In 2024

A new Quinnipiac University national poll released this week revealed that two-thirds of Republicans want former President Donald Trump to run for president in 2024.

The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 1,316 U.S. adults nationwide from May 18-24. The poll’s margin of error was +/- 2.7 percentage points.

Three key Republican findings of the survey included:

66% of Republicans want to see Trump run in 2024

66% of Republicans do not think Biden’s victory was legitimate

85% of Republicans want candidates that mostly agree with Trump

“The numbers fly in the face of any predictions that Donald Trump’s political future is in decline. By a substantial majority, Republicans: believe the election was stolen from him, want Trump to run again, and , if they can’t vote for Trump, prefer someone who agrees with him,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.

Malloy is right. The poll reveals what many American already know — Trump still serves as a top conservative leader.

But is Trump still up for another run? And if he does, can he win?

The first question looks like a yes. Trump recently told radio host Dan Bongino people will be very happy with his answer. However, Trump has also previously said he would not announce whether he is running until after the 2022 midterm elections.

The more important question is can he win? If two-thirds of Republicans already support Trump, how many more will be required, especially in key battleground states, to reach the needed electoral votes?

Native American Voting Rights Are Under Attack In Republican

Paul Blumenthal

After turning out to vote in record numbers in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Native Americans are now one of the biggest targets of Republican-backed voter suppression efforts in states where their votes mattered the most.

Republicans in states with significant Native populations like Arizona, Kansas, Montana and more have enacted new laws that limit voter access in ways that disproportionately impact Native voters. Imposing strict time limits on correcting a mail-in ballot, prohibiting third-party ballot collection, implementing strict voter identification requirements and making it harder to pay for election resources all negatively impact Native Americans in these states, largely due to specific circumstances on reservations where many of them live.

“The laws the state legislatures are passing are lethal to every Native American living in those states,” said OJ Semans, the founder of the Native voting rights group Four Directions and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Such legislation, he said, “is going to knock us back 10 years” after “what we’ve been working through for the last 18 to 20 years to get more and more Native Americans to participate in elections.” 

It wasn’t until 1962 when New Mexico’s laws blocking Native voting fell. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 also provided important protections for Native voting rights.

Trumps Role As Republican Party Leader Is Becoming Stronger

This weekend’s CPAC straw poll results showed that Trump’s popularity — along with DeSantis’ — in the Republican Party has grown in the last six months, according to Forbes.

In February, only 55% of attendees of a similar CPAC event in Orlando, Florida, said they wanted Trump to lead the ticket in 2024, Forbes reported.

If Trump stayed in political retirement, or at least stayed off the presidential primary ballot in 2024, DeSantis lead the poll with 43% attending Republicans choosing him in February’s hypothetical presidential primary.

Related

Inside the newsroom: Words matter, including the hateful ‘Murder the media’

When Presidential Primaries Started They Weren’t Decisive

Woodrow Wilson.

The Progressive Era at the beginning of the 20th century saw a backlash against local party machines and their bosses dominating American politics. This backlash was especially pronounced in Western states, where reformers implemented ideas like legislating via ballot initiative at the polls.

Progressive reformers also invented the presidential primary. In 1910, Oregon became the first to use a popular election to pick its delegates for national conventions, with the delegates pledged to support specific candidates.

But these primaries lacked the efficacy and decisiveness of those we have today, in part because most states didn’t have them and in part because the ultimate nomination decision was still made via a multi-ballot process at a national convention.

In 1912, ex-President Theodore Roosevelt decided to challenge his successor William Howard Taft for the GOP nomination. He crushed Taft in the primaries, carrying nine of the 12 states that held primaries, while Robert La Follette won two and Taft just one.

But that still left 36 other states, which mostly sent pro-Taft delegates to the convention, securing him the nomination. And that led Roosevelt to bolt the party and launch an independent bid for the general election.

But while McAdoo didn’t have enough support to win, he did have enough to block the party bosses’ favorite, New York Gov. Al Smith, a Catholic.

Why Donald Trump Is Republicans’ Worst Nightmare In 2024

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

Earlier this week, amid a rambling attack on the validity of the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump said this: “Interesting that today a poll came out indicating I’m far in the lead for the Republican Presidential Primary and the General Election in 2024.”

this on Trump’s future political ambitions from Politico“Trump is confiding in allies that he intends to run again in 2024 with one contingency: that he still has a good bill of health, according to two sources close to the former president. That means Trump is going to hang over the Republican Party despite its attempts to rebrand during his exile and its blockade of a Trump-centric investigation into January’s insurrection.��new Quinnipiac University national pollhis growing legal and financial entanglementsAs CNN reported on Wednesday night“Manhattan prosecutors pursuing a criminal case against former President Donald Trump, his company and its executives have told at least one witness to prepare for grand jury testimony, according to a person familiar with the matter — a signal that the lengthy investigation is moving into an advanced stage.”

The Contenders Who Competed To Run Against Donald Trump

Tom MurseTom Murse

Within weeks of Donald Trump taking the oath of office as the nation’s 45th president, challengers began lining up to see who would attempt to unseat him in the 2020 presidential election. The controversial president faced early challenges from within his own party, but by and large, the focus remained on the candidates put forth by the opposing Democratic Party.

During one of the most crowded primary seasons in recent memory, several high-profile Democrats, including multiple sitting senators and rising stars in the party, competed for the party’s nomination. Ultimately, it was former vice president Joe Biden who won the party’s nomination. He selected Senator Kamala Harris, another primary candidate, as his running mate, and the ticket won the 2020 general election with 51.3% of the vote and 306 electoral votes to 46.9% and 232 electoral votes for the incumbent Trump/Pence ticket.

Here’s a look at the Democrats, and even members of Trump’s own Republican Party, who ran campaigns looking to unseat the controversial commander-in-chief.

Democratic Challengers

February 7, 2020

Former Us Ambassador To The United Nations Nikki Haley

Haley, 49, stands out in the potential pool of 2024 Republican candidates by her resume. She has experience as an executive as the former governor of South Carolina and foreign policy experience from her time as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley was a member of the Republican Party’s 2010 tea party class. A former South Carolina state representative, her long shot gubernatorial campaign saw its fortunes improve after she was endorsed by Sarah Palin. Haley rocketed from fourth to first just days after the endorsement, and she went on to clinch the nomination and become her state’s first female and first Indian-American governor.

As governor, she signed a bill removing the Confederate flag from the state Capitol following the white supremacist attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston. She left office in 2017 to join the Trump administration as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Quinnipiac poll found she was at one point the most popular member of Trump’s foreign policy team.

“I think that she’s done a pretty masterful job in filling out her resume,” said Robert Oldendick, a professor and director of graduate studies at the University of South Carolina’s department of political science.

Haley criticized Trump following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters, saying she was “disgusted” by his conduct. Oldendick said he thought her “pretty pointed criticism of the president will potentially cause some problems.”

Republican Candidates Running For The Us 2020 Election

Bill Weld was married twice and has five children.

Weld ran for vice-president as a Libertarian on the Gary Johnson ticket in the 2016 presidential election.

As a conservative, Weld is strongly pro-choice on abortion issues.

The presidential race is on and the candidates are being whittled down to the very few. Who is running on the Republican side? Current President Donald Trump is going for re-election, and the only candidate now challenging him for election as president of the US this coming November 3rd, 2020 is Bill Weld, a former Massachusetts governor.

The 2024 Republican Presidential Candidate Wild Cards

The first Democratic debate back in 2019 had 20 — TWENTY! — candidates, so don’t be surprised if the Republican field is just as large or larger. We could have some more governors or representatives run, or even other nontraditional candidates, like a Trump family member, a Fox News host or a celebrity, like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who’s said he’s “seriously considering” a run. Stranger things have happened.

Who Wants To Run For Governor As A Republican In 2022

Pennsylvania Republicans have been battling with Gov. Tom Wolf since he unseated incumbent Tom Corbett in 2014. Many of them are eager to take Wolf’s place, but there is no clear frontrunner this early in the race. Several Republicans have already announced their bid, and a few others have hinted or shown interest in joining what is expected to be a crowded primary. Thus far, it’s hard to find a Republican candidate without some sort of ties to former President Donald Trump. 

With a heated race to fill U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey’s seat next year, the GOP will have to be strategic about what candidates it wants to back for the Senate and for governor. Potential candidates will also have to weigh their options and decide where they fit best and can compete.

There are plenty of names that could be added to this list in the coming months, but here is our second iteration of potential Republican candidates for 2022. A couple of candidates have been added since the last edition.

Running

Former U.S. Rep Lou Barletta

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale

Gale was the first Republican to formally announce his candidacy for governor back in February. An avid Trump supporter, he has criticized the Pennsylvania GOP and pledged to be a conservative populist. He’s also caught attention for and saying Trump’s presidency was sabotaged. 

Former Corry Mayor Jason Monn

Pittsburgh attorney Jason Richey

Dr. Nche Zama

Charlie Gerow

John Ventre

For These Republicans 2024 Is Just Around The Corner

Mike Pence. Mike Pompeo. Rick Scott. They share big ambitions, but one name hovers above them all …

President Biden told reporters last month that his “plan is to run for re-election,” despite already being the oldest person to have won a presidential election. So, for now at least, the question of who will lead the Democratic ticket in 2024 has been put to rest.

On the Republican side, however, certainty is in short supply. It’s beyond early to be talking about the next presidential election — but that’s only if you aren’t planning to run. Some Republican candidates have already made trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, and others are laying plans to go, in what often represents the first step in building out a campaign operation in those early-voting states.

And on Wednesday, in a conspicuously forward-looking move, former Vice President Mike Pence announced the formation of a new political organization, Advancing American Freedom, whose advisory board is stacked high with former Trump administration officials and allies. The news came on the same day Simon & Schuster announced that it would publish Pence’s autobiography as part of a two-book deal.

The G.O.P. is badly fractured, trying to hold together a dominant base of those loyal to former President Donald Trump and a stubborn minority of pro-decorum, anti-Trump conservatives. Anyone looking to grab the Republican mantle will have to find some way of satisfying both camps — and maybe even expanding upon them.

Rivera Another Candidate Who Is Trying A Second Time

Another candidate making her second Senate attempt is Natalie Lynn Rivera. A social services coordinator from Sicklerville, Rivera ran as an independent under the slogan “For the People” in 2018, garnering about 0.6% of the vote.

Rivera, 44, said she wants to give typical New Jersey residents a voice in Congress. On her Facebook campaign site she calls herself a conservative. Among her priorities are restoring Second Amendment rights that she says are “under seige” in the state and outlawing abortion.

What sets her apart from the other candidates, she said, is that she “will be a servant to the people … I think I am authentic and will serve from the heart to put their best interests at the forefront.”

Another candidate running a shoestring campaign is Eugene Tom Anagnos, a retired middle school teacher who taught in Newark and Elizabeth schools. A Greek immigrant who now lives in East Hanover, Anagnos is an Army veteran who holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Indiana University.

General Election Candidates On Five Or More Ballots

In addition to Biden, Hawkins, Jorgensen, and Trump, the following candidates have qualified to appear on five or more ballots:

Roque De La Fuente   Gloria La Riva   Jade Simmons   Jesse Ventura/Cynthia McKinney   Sheila Tittle   Kyle Kenley Kopitke   Ricki Sue King/Dayna Chandler  

Incumbents are bolded and underlined The results have been certified.

Total votes: 158,379,904

0 states have not been called.

Here Are The Republicans To Keep An Eye On For 2024

Bradley Devlin

Republicans are paying extra attention to a number of Republican governors, senators, and former officials that might consider making a run for president in 2024.

The contenders come from various contingents of right-leaning thought, and will be fighting to capture parts of former President Donald Trump’s base. Whichever Republican hopeful prevails will not only become the Republican Party’s nominee, but also help determine the ideological trajectory of the Republican Party in the post-Trump era.

Vice President Mike Pence

It’s not uncommon for vice presidents to follow up their stint as second-in-command with a run for president. Former President John Adams, the nation’s second president, was America’s first vice president under President George Washington. More recently, President Joe Biden became the 46th president four years after he ended his eight-year tenure as former President Barack Obama’s vice president.

Vice President Mike Pence might decide to do the same, but Pence’s relationship with Trump seems to be severely tarnished after Pence did not contest the certification of the Electoral College results, as reported by The Hill.

Senator Ted Cruz

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz could run for president again come 2024 after he defended his senate seat in 2018 from Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. Cruz’s bid for the presidency in 2016 ended in failure as Trump captured the Republican Party’s nomination.

Senator Josh Hawley

Governor Ron DeSantis

Poll Results Are Fake Unless Theyre Good Trump Says

During his speech at the Dallas convention Sunday night, Trump said he only would have believed the results of CPAC’s straw poll if they were his favor, Business Insider reported.

“Now, if it’s bad, I just say it’s fake,” the former president told the crowd, reported Insider. “If it’s good, I say that’s the most accurate poll, perhaps ever.”

In the past, Trump has decried similar things he doesn’t like as false, like referring to unfavorable media coverage as “fake news.”

Early Nomination Contests Didn’t Involve Primaries

Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.

Intraparty disputes over who should be nominated for the presidency are as old as the republic itself. But the modern system of determining nominees through a series of state primary elections is essentially an innovation of the 1970s. Before that, parties deployed a wide range of methods.

The Democratic-Republicans, the dominant political party of the early 19th century, used to select candidates via a vote of the party’s members in Congress.That method let it control the White House for 20 years, and lasted until the rivalry between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson made the party splinter into the Democrats and the Whigs in the aftermath of the 1824 election.

Back in 1836, in the early days of Whig versus Democrat competition, the Whig Party even tried nominating several candidates simultaneously in their bid to block Martin Van Buren from succeeding Jackson in the White House.

In most Northern states, William Henry Harrison appeared on the general election ballot, while Hugh White got the nod in most Southern ones. And Massachusetts Whigs went with Daniel Webster , while Willie Magnum was nominated in South Carolina.

But it did not work. Van Buren won the election, and in subsequent contests the Whigs emulated the Democrats, picking a single nominee at a broad national convention with representatives from all states.

[anonwords]

monday october 12

  i dont really know what to write about since nothing interesting happens often. and i don’t want to write anything hopeful since the virus is still at a critical level in the us, and election day is less than a month away which just adds to the stress and grimness, since all the polls say biden will beat trump but that exactly what was predicted on election day 4 years ago. tr*mp says if he wins, then its the will of the people but if he loses its rigged and he won’t transfer power. they asked this mf point blank to denounce white supremacy and he told his followers to stand by. i hate thinking about all that because it’s scary to think what will happening the future if he’s elected again. im not saying biden is gonna solve everything but he’ll do a hell of a better job than whats happening now. 45 has let 220,000 americans die from the virus, and he might join them since being diagnosed a week ago. doctors say he’s fine but the same has been said about another conservative figure who was just as old as trump. it took a month for him to die, and the last time we saw 45 in public he was gasping for air. i hope he dies that way.

  Omar’s bday was last night and I got him michael jackson’s off the wall picture vinyl. i also bought the cake, which was fantastic. his girlfriend didn’t come, which was great because i don’t know if seeing her would’ve done to me. I didn’t drink, just smoked and we played cards. he was very fucked up off an edible i made for him, with the weed i was smoking. im so happy he liked it. he loved the cake too, which i would’ve baked for him but that would’ve been too much (I still need to maintain a level of deniability when it comes to my feeling for him). I didn’t sit next to him but I found myself staring when i started to smoke, as the strain I smoke, gelato, typically makes me really hungry, and really horny (its the perfect date strain). his lips looked so soft, and his hair is so cute. he says he’s balding but I don’t mind. he’s always going to be so handsome. his mother loves me but i don’t know how she’d feel if we were together. would she let me stay the night like she let his past girlfriends?

  Josh told me he lost his job at amazon because he accidentally left early. Literally probably the hardest worker in the whole damn warehouse, and they just up and fired him. he said he’s gonna find a job and i think he wont ask for money because he had been pulling in a thousand a week at amazon for a while. I want to be up there, and all that needs to happen is that i need to fix my car. then find a job obviously. build some credit, build work history while staying with josh, and we can get an apartment. but I’m still kind of iffy on working. there are the obvious health reasons, and I was making a lot of money on unemployment. when they start giving more again, I’ll be saving a lot. but if i find a job, I will make Significantly less money. and then i’ll start to have to pay for car insurance and rent and i want to get my teeth fixed and it’s just a really stressful time right now. 

  So this week r*an haywood of ach*evement hunter and ad*m kovic of funh*us were fired from r*oster teeth, the parent company of both those properties, for engaging in extramarital affairs with fans of the companies. the first lets plays i ever watched were from ah, since 2013, back when it was classic ah with the classic lineup of geoff, gavin, michael, ray, jack, and ryan. just six guys in a room screaming at each other over min*craft or gta. I discovered funhaus when roosterteeth acquired them in 2016 or 17, and I have been hooked since then. classic lineup included bruce, james, lawrence, spoole, elyse, joel, peake, and adam. much edgier content, and an older demographic. these guys were just on another level of comedy and gaming. this past wednesday, a google drive link was posted to 4ch*n, that included hundreds of pictures taken by adam of himself nude and in lewd positions, all screenshotted by a fan he was sending them to over instagram. there were some photos of ryan as well, and some are alleging he raped a minor, but its all here-say at this point. all the members of their respective groups made tweets talking about how shocked and hurt they were (some were less than surprised and made tweets explicitly calling out adam, and some tweeted cryptic song lyrics that represented the situation well). they say never meet your heroes and over the past five years, i think thats becoming a proven point. Im still attracted to adam, even though i know he’s an asshole cheater. i remember just absolutely drooling over his big arms and chest, and when burnie burns confirmed he had the biggest cock in the company, i was over the moon. well let me just say that’s the last straw for me. no more white men for me EVER. im totally done with them. its sad to see adam leave when so many of the original lineup have gone (its just james and elyse now). it really won’t be the same now. ah will survive this, and i will just have to wait until they put out official response videos up explaining everything.

  it’s fall now, and cuffing season is upon us. I wonder what its like to have someone that is truly invested into you, who make it their business to make you feel cared for. I want the weather to be cold soon, so i can just lay in bed all day and cuddle my body pillow and be warm, and think about my future man and all the ways i’ll take care of him and all the ways he’ll take care of me. i wanna make him soup and bake pies and keep him full and he’ll take me to the pumpkin patch and it will be cloudy and we might even hold hands. just boys being boys. dressed nice and warm with flannels and hoodies and boots. i would even drink coffee again and we’d sit at the coffee shop and hold hands to keep warm. my small hands in his big strong hands. just a thought ive been kicking around in my head.

[mathematicianadda]

The Big Lock-Down Math-Off, Match 18

Welcome to the eighteenth match in this year’s Big Math-Off. Take a look at the two interesting bits of maths below, and vote for your favourite.

You can still submit pitches, and anyone can enter: instructions are in the announcement post.

Here are today’s two pitches.

Matthew Scroggs – A surprising fact about quadrilaterals

Matthew Scroggs is one of the editors of Chalkdust, a magazine for the mathematically curious, and blogs at mscroggs.co.uk. He tweets at @mscroggs.

Recently, I came across a surprising fact: if you take any quadrilateral and join the midpoints of its sides, then you will form a parallelogram.

The blue quadrilaterals are all parallelograms.

The first thing I thought when I read this was: “oooh, that’s neat.” The second thing I thought was: “why?” It’s not too difficult to show why this is true; you might like to pause here and try to work out why yourself before reading on…

To show why this is true, I started by letting $\mathbf{a}$, $\mathbf{b}$, $\mathbf{c}$ and $\mathbf{d}$ be the position vectors of the vertices of our quadrilateral. The position vectors of the midpoints of the edges are the averages of the position vectors of the two ends of the edge, as shown below.

The position vectors of the corners

The midpoints of the edges

We want to show that the orange and blue vectors below are equal (as this is true of opposite sides of a parallelogram).

We can work these vectors out: the orange vector is $$\frac{\mathbf{d}+\mathbf{a}}2-\frac{\mathbf{a}+\mathbf{b}}2=\frac{\mathbf{d}-\mathbf{b}}2,$$ and the blue vector is $$\frac{\mathbf{c}+\mathbf{d}}2-\frac{\mathbf{b}+\mathbf{c}}2=\frac{\mathbf{d}-\mathbf{b}}2.$$

In the same way, we can show that the other two vectors that make up the inner quadrilateral are equal, and so the inner quadrilateral is a parallelogram.

Going backwards

Even though I now saw why the surprising fact was true, my wondering was not over. I started to think about going backwards.

It’s easy to see that if the outer quadrilateral is a square, then the inner quadrilateral will also be a square.

If the outer quadrilateral is a square, then the inner quadrilateral is also a square.

It’s less obvious if the reverse is true: if the inner quadrilateral is a square, must the outer quadrilateral also be a square? At first, I thought this felt likely to be true, but after a bit of playing around, I found that there are many non-square quadrilaterals whose inner quadrilaterals are squares. Here are a few:

A kite, a trapezium, a delta kite, an irregular quadrilateral and a cross-quadrilateral whose innner quadrilaterals are all a square.

There are in fact infinitely many quadrilaterals whose inner quadrilataral is a square. You can explore them in this Geogebra applet by dragging around the blue point:

As you drag the point around, you may notice that you can’t get the outer quadrilateral to be a non-square rectangle (or even a non-square parallelogram). I’ll leave you to figure out why not…

Andrew Stacey – What’s the time, Mister Wolf?

Andrew Stacey writes about maths at loopspace.mathforge.org and tweets at @mathforge.

Knowing the right time can be a difficult task. At the moment, I’m having trouble remembering what day it is let alone the number of milliseconds that passed since midnight. Fortunately, computers can do these things without getting distracted. But even there the answer is not always completely obvious.

For a program I wrote recently I wanted to know the time very accurately. I was messing around with making a clock and wanted smooth transitions for the seconds counter, meaning that I needed to know the time more precisely than the nearest second.

There was a snag, however. The environment that I was using didn’t have a single clock that I could use. It had two clocks, neither of which did by itself what I wanted. One clock told me the time, but only to an accuracy of seconds. The other clock measured in milliseconds, but only told me the time elapsed from the start of the program.

Think of one as a normal clock where you can see the hours, minutes, and seconds but no more, and the other as a stopwatch that has been started at some random juncture.

My question was: How could I use these to tell the time?

Obviously, I wanted to take the hours, minutes, and seconds from the clock. Those were accurate – in fact, there is presumably a more accurate clock inside the device that I was programming which ensures that what this clock tells me is correct. It is the milliseconds that cause the difficulty.

Clearly, if I knew the value of one clock at a significant moment for the other then I could use that information to calculate the number of milliseconds in the current second. For example, if I knew the precise time – to the millisecond – that the program started then I could just use that together with the number of milliseconds since then to get the precise current time.

Or if I knew the number of milliseconds at which the clock ticks over from, say, $18:42:24$ to $18:42:25$ then I could use that marker to adjust the milliseconds to know the precise current time. If that happened, say, at $48134$ milliseconds since the program started then I know that the seconds tick over when the stopwatch reads some thousands and $134$ milliseconds, so I simply take the current millisecond reading, say $78341$, subtract $134$, $78341 – 134 = 78207$, then drop the thousands to result in the current millisecond reading, in this case of $207$.

This suggests a strategy: watch the clock and at the moment that the seconds change on the clock note the time on the stopwatch.

But there’s another snag. It’s as if I’m blinking when I look at these clocks so I don’t notice the exact moment that the seconds change. All I can do is notice that they’ve changed since the last time I looked. Admittedly, I’m “blinking” at about sixty times a second, but to get an accuracy of milliseconds then this isn’t fast enough.

It’s time (ha ha) to deploy Math.

Let $a$ denote the actual number of thousandths of a second when the clock clicks over from one second to the next. In the example above, we would have $a = 134$ (but in the program we don’t know what value this is). Every time the program blinks we note the time on the clock and the stopwatch. We are looking for a time when the seconds change on the clock. When this happens, we make special note of the time on the stopwatch and the previous reading on the stopwatch before the change. Let’s call these $b$ and $c$, with $b$ the previous reading and $c$ the current reading.

Now the actual time on the stopwatch when the clock ticked over will have been some thousands plus $a$. That is, there is some $d$ such that the time on the stopwatch was $1000d + a$. So we have the inequality:

\[ b \lt 1000d + a \le c \]

which we can rearrange to an inequality for $a$:

\[ b – 1000d \lt a \le c – 1000d\]

So when the clock ticks over we get an interval in which $a$ lies.

Every second, therefore, we get new information on where $a$ can be found. We keep a running record of our current “interval of knowledge” and when a new interval comes in then we intersect with the current interval to update it.

In the specific circumstance, our intervals are roughly $\frac{1}{60}$th of a second in width. If we assume that they are uniformly distributed, subject to the constraint that they contain $a$, then we can consider an interval of width $\frac{1}{60}$ to be determined by its lower limit which must lie in the interval $[a – \frac{1}{60}, a]$ so we can model this by a random variable uniform on that interval.

Then given a family of such $X_{i}$, our current “interval of knowledge” is found by intersecting all the intervals $[X_{i}, X_{i} + \frac{1}{60}]$. As we intersect these, the lower bound is the maximum of the lower bounds of these intervals and the upper bound is the minimum of their upper bounds. So our interval of knowledge is:

\[ \left [ \max (X_{i}), \min (X_{i}) + \frac{1}{60} \right ] \]

Its width is therefore modelled by:

\[\min (X_{i}) + \frac{1}{60} – \max (X_{i}) = \frac{1}{60} – (\max (X_{i}) – \min (X_{i})) \]

Now life is always easier if we standardise to $[0,1]$. So let us assume that $Y_{i}$ is uniform on $[0,1]$. The distribution of $\max (Y_{i})$ is $n y^{n-1}$ where $n$ is the number of readings. This comes from differentiating the cumulative distribution, starting from the fact that:

\[ P(\max (Y_{i}) \le y) = \prod P(Y_{i} \le y) = y^{n} \]

So the expected value of $\max (Y_{i})$ is:

\[ \int {0}^{1} y n y^{n-1} d y = n \int {0}^{1} y^{n} d y = \frac{n}{n+1} \]

and of $\min (Y_{i})$ is $1 – \frac{n}{n+1} = \frac{1}{n+1}$. Therefore, the expected value of $\min (Y_{i}) – \max (Y_{i}) + 1$ is

\[ \frac{1}{n+1} – \frac{n}{n+1} + 1 = \frac{1 – n + n+1}{n+1} = \frac{2}{n+1} \]

Rescaling to the $X_{i}$ simply means multiplying by $\frac{1}{60}$.

So we expect that our ignorance about $a$ to be approximately $\frac{1}{30(n+1)}$ after $n$ seconds. Since we’re reading milliseconds, we should have a good idea of $a$ when $30(n+1) \gt 1000$, or $n \gt 33$.

After half a minute, then, we should have a good idea as to where $a$ actually lies and we should then be able to get a fully accurate time, including milliseconds.

Of course, there are implementation issues. What should we do before we know $a$ accurately? And if we update our knowledge and so refine our estimate of $a$, do we change in a snap or should we change gradually? There’s also an issue of how to correctly convert our readings of $b$ and $c$ into the interval for $a$ since we have to subtract $1000d$ but don’t know what $d$ is. But these are mere technicalities.

By combining our knowledge, we’ve upgraded our seconds-accurate clock and milliseconds-accurate stopwatch to a milliseconds-accurate clock. So I can make my fancy display clock have nice transitions between the seconds.

So, which bit of maths made you say “Aha!” the loudest? Vote:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The poll closes at 9am BST on Sunday the 17th, when the next match starts.

If you’ve been inspired to share your own bit of maths, look at the announcement post for how to send it in. The Big Lockdown Math-Off will keep running until we run out of pitches or we’re allowed outside again, whichever comes first.

from The Aperiodical https://ift.tt/3dFeGPo from Blogger https://ift.tt/36022bb

[giancarlonicoli]

https://medium.com/s/no-mercy-no-malice/time-machines-species-failure-8d059c438065

Survival — the pursuit of more time — is the most basic instinct. Procreation is a distant number 2. But 1a, making the most of your time, is survival instinct coupled with capitalism. Communism was intended as a more noble system — economic parity that avoids the inequality bound to arise from capitalism. Only the reds failed to recognize we won’t wait in line for fish for the benefit of our comrades. A cocktail of self-interest, cooperation, the assembly line, brand, and the processor has yielded more stakeholder value, as measured by GDP, in the last 50 years than in the previous 2,000.

Religion created a lot of value — it made people feel immortal. Time post death is an asset you’d trade shame for. But the ranks of the faithful are thinning. The opium of the masses no longer provides the same high. Wealthier, more educated societies have turned their focus to time on earth.

Any company that creates more than $10 billion in shareholder value does one of two things: extend time (more time, saving time) or enhance time.

Every firm that has aspirations of creating billions in shareholder value must construct a time machine and be clear on the type of benefit —savings or enhancement. The first trillionaire will build a time machine for the healthcare industry. The T-Man, or woman, won’t reduce costs (this is where the analysts get it wrong), but give us millions of years back, in the pursuit of health, at the same or lesser cost.

I’ve had a cough for the last month. My dad and sister freaked out, as I don’t get sick. They imagined the worst and demanded I get a chest x-ray. The doctor’s visit, two trips to Diagnostic Centers of America, and a consultation cost me 8 hours. An intelligent camera, Prime Health (whenever that arrives), and AI will give me 7 hours back. The best strategy for bringing healthcare costs down is to give time back. The real innovation in healthcare will do more than save money — it will save time.

Time Machines

The economic titans of the 20th century got you places faster (Ford, Boeing) or made your life more enjoyable (P&G, Prada). We’ve now gone gangster. Microsoft saves you years in efficiency (extend). LVMH allows you to enjoy the finest in life and increases your selection set of mates (enhance). Apple skimmed the foam off the top of the Microsoft beer, moving from tech to the luxury sector. Apple offered both faster transactions and an enhanced experience (for a 100% premium). iProducts just worked, made you feel better about yourself, and the global affluent willingly paid.

The sector that has created more value than any other over the last 10 years is the disruptors in media (Google, Facebook, and Netflix). These firms pulled a Robin Hood on the greatest thieves of time in post-WWII America — ad-supported media. Modern Family / ABC values your time at $4.67/hr. They get .70c for reminding you that you suffer from diabetes (9 min of ads). CBS gets a buck a month per viewer for urging us to buy awful beer or cars manufactured in South Korea.

Advertising is a tax the poor and technologically illiterate pay.

Ways to extend life:

Clear: I fly 2.5x/wk. I’ll pay Clear $5,370 over 30 years to not stand in line for 46 days.

Walmart Delivery Unlimited: At $98/year, that’s $2,940 over 30 years to get 120 days of your life back.

Netflix: At $156/yr, I’ll pay Netflix $4,680 over the next 30 years to avoid over a year’s worth of ads. If you could pay $4,680 to extend your life by a year, would you?

2013 Bombardier Challenger 300: Total costs over 10 years — depreciation, operating, and financing costs minus tax benefits = $10 million. (Not that I’ve dreamt of this … every day.) A two-bedroom that can skim the surface of the atmosphere at .83 the speed of sound would give me another 13 days a year at home with my family. So, if you had the money, would you, at the end of life, rather have $10 million or 4 more months with family? Keep in mind, that’s 2.5 dawg years. What Apple is to Android, the Challenger is to JetBlue, times a thousand. People who own jets all describe their bird the same way: Time Machine.

Movies and HBO saved some time, but were relatively expensive. And then came Google, Facebook, and Netflix. I’ll get a year back (time spent not watching ads) in exchange for $4,680 spent on Netflix. How to even think of doing research without Google? Would I have to go to a library and log on to Lexis/Nexis? It’s hard to imagine how much time and life Google has created.

The search firm has violated our privacy, divided us, and hamstrung the economy via monopoly abuse. Yet it’s still likely worth it. This doesn’t mean we should shrug our shoulders and not break up big tech. The combustion engine and fossil fuels have created enormous economic growth across the world, but we should still correct the subsequent global warming.

The biggest unlock in shareholder value in the last 5 years is Walmart’s click & collect and delivery. Walmart gave us 4 days a year back — grocery shopping takes an average of 69 min a week; you grocery shop 1.6 times per week, and the average commute for grocery shopping is 12.5 min each way. That makes the largest dollar-volume category (grocery, 750 billion) less time expensive. Since the introduction of click & collect and grocery delivery, Walmart has added over $100 billion in shareholder value.

RedBook

Facebook is now squarely in the red and a net negative for society. The social network held the promise of enhancing our time here, via connection, and has delivered on much of that. However, most time enhancement has been negated, as the social network is depressing our teens and endangering our most precious asset, girls. Teen suicide has skyrocketed — up 77% for older teen girls and up 151% for younger teens (research by colleague Jonathan Haidt).

There are many factors, but ground zero is the nuclear weapons we’ve put in girls’ hands to objectify them, perpetually undercut their self-esteem, and enable them to bully each other relationally, 24/7. Hospital admissions due to self-harm are up 50% for 15–19-year-old girls and up 200% for 10–14-year-old girls. At Facebook, a sociopath is wallpapered over by a 700-person corporate communications department and a $2 billion beard (Sheryl Sandberg).

The Dow, GDP, the Iowa polls. We are studying to the wrong tests. There is nothing more important for the future of the country, our society, and the planet than the health and wellbeing of girls. Think about this. The S&P is up 23% YTD, and the number of girls that decide to take their own life is up 151%. Three times more of them self-harm. The pursuit of money at the expense of girls’ wellbeing is the ultimate perversion of our society. We ignore injury to our daughters in exchange for the promise of economic growth.

Facebook is the incorporation of Jeffrey Epstein and Larry Nassar. Ok, that’s not fair. The social network is Jeffrey Epstein and Larry Nassar … times a million.

Facebook, Inc. is species failure.

Life is so rich, Scott