#It’s so weird that there’s no mention of any kind of band class or anything??

[asterraugury]

UHHH WHOOPS COMPLETELY FORGOT TO POST THIS

My kinda not really Gen 3 redesigns for them bc I wanted to make holt a band kid lol [click for better quality bc tumblr loves to ruin my lines]

[kinda-cute-kinda-insane]

BNHA with Idol!reader

How did they got caught having an idol as their s/o?

Characters : Tenya Iida, Jirou kyoka, Denki Kaminari, Shota Aizawa, Shoto Todoroki.

Reader gender is never mentioned, reader is a stereotypical cutesy idol, Aizawa’s reader is in their 20’s (while with the student they are the same age), no content warning I just want something adorable the manga’s been stressing me out lmao. Sorry if I get the first name and last name of the characters mixed up, I’m kind of stupid.

Uraraka have been finding it weird how her friend have been playing some idol group videos lately. She never thought that her stiff class president will be the type to listen to these kind of music. Look she’s not one to judge here she just finds it kind of odd.

She would have expected Iida to listen some kind of classical music, you know like any other rich kids.

So today she will no longer die of her own curiosity “Hey Iida, I want to ask you something serious,” she said. Emphasizing the word serious.

The said man immediately put his attention on her “what is it Uraraka-kun?” He answered. “Not to sound judgmental or anything,” she clarified before continuing. “I’m curious, why have you been watching (group name) nonstop?” She asked. Iida grew tense at the question (if that’s even possible considering how stiff he usually is)

“Oh yeah, I thought I was the only one who noticed that,” Their green haired friend added. While the dual colored hair boy just nodded his head, still chewing his food.

“Well I believe it is wrong to lie to our friends, but I hope you all can keep this a secret,” He said. They all gave him a nod.

He then explained how that one time his pro-hero older brother Ingenium have saved you back then from a creepy stalker. Tensei being the older brother he is tried to get you and Tenya to be together once he noticed that you both were the same age.

He can’t help it, you are such a nice person and he thinks his younger brother really needs to have some high-school romance in his life. Surprisingly you agreed.

You both went to dates (secretly) and you can’t help but find Tenya personality to be so charming, and he could say the same too.

“Although this relationship might seem not professional for the both of us considering their job as an idol and me as a hero in training,” he pushed up his glasses. “I hope you guys can keep our relationship a secret until we both decide to go public our self thank you.” He smiled at his friends.

‘Well that was even more unexpected’ Uraraka thought, but after realizing she began to squeal at how cute you both are. Midoriya is asking a lot of questions, while Tenya tried to tell the both of them to lower their voice down.

While Todoroki is just, well, eating. What a cool guy.

Mina was just minding her own business walking to the dorms living room, only to find a phone unattended on that table. Obviously being the kind friend she is she took the phone to give it back to whoever own the phone.

She turn on the phone to find some band she didn’t recognize, but she saw this on Jirou dorm room before. So this must be hers!

She turn around the phone to see the phone case, just in case if her guess is wrong. To her surprise she see a clear case. But that’s not what took her by surprise, it’s the photo card of (your idol name) sitting back there.

How come she never noticed this? Well this will be some good teasing material to her purple haired friend later.

“Oh hey Mina.” There it is the star of the show. “Have you seen my phone?” She asked. The pink haired girl smiled teasingly.

‘I don’t feel so good about this’ Jirou internally panicked. “Yeah I do,” Mina walked closer. “But, you have to answer my question first” she said.

“Okay, sure,” the purple haired girl answered. Thinking it was probably just a question about who her crush is. If so she can just easily shrugged it off, like always.

“Why do you have (your idol name) on your phone case,” Mina wiggled her eyebrows teasingly. Jirou not expecting the question grew flustered.

Shit, how could she forget about that. She just wanted to put your picture on her phone case as a sign of support on your music career (and also so she can easily stare at your photo when she missed you) she didn’t expect one of her friend to saw it. Even worse that Mina is the one who caught her, oh she’ll be living a hell of a teasing from the pink skinned girl.

“Come on answer me~” she said teasingly. “No reason!” Jirou tried to deny, looking away from her friend.

“Who would’ve thought our dark and mysterious girl Kyoka Jirou is actually a softie who enjoys cutesy music,” Mina poke her friend arms teasingly.

“It’s not like that!”

“Mhm, I trust you girl”

They both went back and fourth with the teasing and denying. Mina flipped the phone to show the lock screen to tease how different her friend true music taste is.

But a notification came up instead, catching both of the girls attention.

‘Y/n 💖 : are you still free for the date next week babe?’ It reads.

They both freezed immediately. “WHAT.” Mina screamed. Jirou tried to shut her friend by putting her hands on her mouth “quiet down!”

“Holy shit you gotta spill the tea to me girl,” Mina said her eyes still glued on the notification.

Jirou surrendered and tell her the stories how you both met because of her parents connection to your group agencies.

Mina agreed to keep her mouth shut, by the price of a signed photo card of you. Can’t really blame her, she’s just a girl.

Kaminari is the kind of person to say some stupid shit on the daily just for shit and giggles.

So when he claimed out loud to his friend group that (your idol name) and him is in a relationship nobody took him seriously. No one, even his best bro Sero. What a betrayal.

But even then he never stop proudly claiming his tittle as your boyfriend. Though it’s kind of strange how he only ever say those things to his closest friend group not the whole class like always.

It’s like he doesn’t want everyone but his close friends to know…

Anyway-

He managed to get himself injured during his internship and you’re worried, ever since the attack on the USJ your worry on your boyfriend has grown increasingly.

But luckily today, your manager actually let you visit him due to your free schedule today. She only tell you to be careful of the paparazzi which you successfully managed to run away from.

“Geez how long did the doctors said you will be here for?” You asked, while feeding him the warm food. “Eh, I dunno,” he shrugged. “I forgot.” You rolled your eyes at him.

“Seriously you have to be more careful, you got me worried sick.” You sighed. “Sorry, it’s just how the hero work is y’know?”

“Still, I want you to be more careful next time,” you huffed. “Aw, I’m sorry baby.” He apologized, looking at your cute pouting face.

“Come here give me a hug,” you only stared at him. “Please?” You gave in and stood up to give him a hug.

He enjoyed the warmth of the hug only to be interrupted.

“Holy shit,” both Mina and Sero gasped. While Bakugo just stood there with a scowl on his face at the display of affection(boo what a hater)

“Oh, you guys must be Kaminari’s friends right?” You slowly let go of the hug and gave them a smile. “I think Kaminari have told you guys about our relationship, even though I told him not to.” You looked at him saying the last part. “But, thanks for keeping it a secret you guys” you said giving them all a warm smile.

“Holy shit you were not lying at all,” Sero looked at the both of you in shock.

“Bro?!”

Hizashi has been making fun of his friend Shouta. Because of the merch of (your idol name) scattered around his apartment.

But the dark haired man always claims that those merch was all Eri’s idea. The little girl always say yes about it with a little giggles coming from her.

So today he decided to drag Nemuri to also make fun of Shouta comically out of place idol merch. Compared to his dark interior (besides Eri’s room) it’s just so funny to see (your idol name) poster just hanging there in his living room.

They both stand in front of the door trying to hold their laugh as they hear a song from (idol group) blasting inside of the apartment. A faint sounds of Eri singing along the lyrics.

Hizashi opened the door, that is surprisingly unlocked. They find the living room empty so they both walked into the kitchen to find Eri being carried by-

(Your idol name)!?

You stood there in your casual clothes while holding Eri in your arms as you both waited for the apple pie to bake. “Hi guys!” Eri greeted the two adults standing.

They both stood there with shock in their face to find a celebrity stand inside the home of their friend. Hizashi then let out the loudest scream you’ve ever heard in your life. Your face grimaced at the loud voice ringing in your ears.

“What happened?” Shota ran into the kitchen panicking. Only to find two of his friends standing there “What the hell, what are you two doing here?” He asked. No response from the two of them. The blonde still shocked while the dark haired woman smirked teasingly.

“How the hell did you two even get inside?” He asked in annoyance. “Sorry babe, I forgot to lock the door earlier”

“BABE!?” Hizashi screamed again. “Holy shit this is so entertaining,” Nemuri laughed then reached for her phone, wanting to ask for a picture with you.

“Both of you leave, now” Shouta said, annoyed now that his calm and quiet weekend (with his beloved and daughter) is ruined.

Fuyumi has noticed how her youngest brother have been smiling a lot lately. Especially while on his phone. Truly she is happy to see how cheerful her youngest brother lately but she can’t help it to be so curious on why or what have been making him so happy.

Not to mention few weeks ago he asked her “What flowers do people usually buy for their partner?” Now that got her really curious.

Now she decided to follow her brother on the weekends to see who this mysterious person really is. “Is this really a good idea?” -While also dragging Natsuo into this mess.

“Well I’m just curious on who have been making my younger brother so happy lately,” she said. Natsuo rolled his eyes at the ridiculous excuse from his sister.

But he is also curious. Always being away due to college, he never saw a lot of things happen in the house these days. So to think of his younger brother who usually have a blank reaction suddenly all lovey dovey is kind of funny. And kind of terrifying.

“Maybe he’s just like those other teenage boys who like idols,” He said watching his younger brother walk into a venue where a new group was performing.

“But he bought flowers see?” Fuyumi denied pointing at the flowers her younger brother is carrying. “Fans give idols gifts all the time,” He replied.

“How did you know?”

“Anyway, this is ridiculous just let him watch his concert in peace.” He sighed. “No we must go inside, maybe he’s waiting for them inside.” She dragged her brother to the front gate.

Paying for the on the spot tickets that are quite worth the money. Such dedication thrown to know who this mysterious person is.

“This is ridiculous,” Natsuo said holding the light stick in his hands. Fuyumi only focused on her youngest brother smiling as he watched the group perform on stage.

This went for an hour until eventually the concert is now over. “See?” Natsuo pointed out. “But wait, he’s not leaving yet,” Fuyumi said suspiciously looking at Shoto. “Look!” She pointed at her youngest brother walking away to the backstage.

They both watch from afar as the venue is now empty, only the staff were present. And Shoto, too.

Fuyumi grip on Natsuo shoulders tightened as she see you walking out to greet Shoto. Which he replied with a bright smile.

Shoto then gave you the bouquet of flowers. You gave him a hug and a small peck on the lips before leading him to the backstage to hang out.

The other member greeted him watching you lead him to your changing room. You both enjoyed the food Shoto had ordered for delivery having your own little date.

“Holy fuck.” Natsuo breathed out. “Language! But yes indeed.” Fuyumi scolded then agreed to her younger brother.

Since then Fuyumi started listening to (idol group) music and watching interviews with you in it. And she’s glad to see how kind you are, and she believes you to be as kind and fun as you are in real life. I mean how can you jot charm her younger brother then?

While Natsuo let’s just say he’s been laughing at how ridiculous and funny the situation is. Maybe he’s also kind of envious that his younger brother is already in a relationship before him. Not to mention with an idol too.

[raeynbowboi]

HOW TO PLAY AS THE BELCHERS IN DND 5E

Today, we're going to explore how to build the Belchers as a DnD Party. Plus Teddy. We're not really going to touch on stats. Let's be honest, the Belchers aren't really great at anything. If we were building them accurately, they'd all be super low level and/or with terrible stats. But it's your character and your campaign, so you can make them more or less optimized as you see fit. They're also all basic Humans, so we're pretty much just focusing on their classes and subclasses.

BOB BELCHER

PALADIN OATH OF DEVOTION

Bob is largely defined by his principles and values. As Tina puts it, Bob is a good business owner, but a bad businessman. He cares more about providing a quality service and succeeding his way than making money. And in Little Hard Dad, he's shown to say "It's the principle of it" way too often. This to me reads as a Paladin. Given his belief in quality service and moral principles, I label him as an Oath of Devotion Paladin.

VARIANT BUILD

FIGHTER SAMURAI ARCHETYPE

Bob is pretty boring and straightforward, which makes Fighter really fitting for his personality. If he was going to model himself after anyone, he'd choose Shinji Kojima/Hawk. Thus, the Samurai archetype. However, if we're leaning purely into the boring practicality and straightforwardness of Bob, I might suggest Champion instead. It's the most Fighter-y Fighter you can build.

Regardless of his class, make sure to pick up proficiency with Cook's Utensils or the Chef Feat.

LINDA BELCHER

BARD COLLEGE OF DANCE

Telling Linda Belcher not to sing or dance is like telling Tina not to talk about horses or telling Bob not to cook. It's just not going to happen. She loves the theater, she sings all the time, and she was once in an amateur garage band. All the makings of a classic bard. Given her love of dancing, I went with the College of Dance.

TINA BELCHER

CLERIC LIFE DOMAIN

Tina is the family member who puts the most stock in things like fate, true love, karma, and damnation. She is also one of the characters that mentions religion more than anyone else. More specifically, she strikes me as a Cleric of Sune, the Faerunian Goddess of Love and Beauty. Sune's virtues include following your heart wherever it leads, championing love and romance at all costs, taking any risk in pursuit of love, being true to your heart and your passions without shame, and trying to make the world a more beautiful place. As such, Tina is the perfect candidate for a Cleric of Sune. Sune has two domains: Life and Light. Given that Tina has at least some interest in nursing, the Life Domain seems more in-line with Tina's values as a follower of Sune.

GENE BELCHER

SORCERER WILD MAGIC ORIGIN

I know, I know. It's a sin that he's not a Bard. But Gene and Linda are very similar characters, and both work as Bards. The best thing for a party is diversity. So, I looked at Gene's personality beyond just his music. And the core of Gene is whacky nonsense. Usually, when Gene tells stories, it's an excuse for weird imagery. The Banana-fullo, Fart School, radioactive pizza sauce. Thus, the Wild Magic origin for Sorcerers spoke to me. Gene loves whacky randomness, so he would be drawn to Wild Magic. Plus, he's not really a good bard. He hates practicing, he's unfamiliar with the concept of a workbook, and kind of just expects a music career to be handed to him. Hell, when he got cast in a play and had all of two lines, he didn't memorize them, and wanted to ad lib every take. Gene's a sorcerer with the Entertainer background, but he is NOT a bard. He doesn't take his craft seriously the way Linda does.

LOUISE BELCHER

ROGUE ASSASSIN ARCHETYPE

One of Louise's main skills is her ability to pick locks. Bob is literally afraid to go into her room as he expects boobie traps to hurt him. She's a clever tactician, masterminding several heists and revenge schemes. She's good at tricking people and lying to their faces to get what she wants. As for why she's an assassin, in the episode where Louise is uncertain of her future, one vignette paints as a John Wick style Wedgie-Sassin. She's also a fan of Francine, a Special Girl doll that spied on the Russians during the Cold War. She's not typically a fan of girly things, but she does like the one that's a spy. She's definitely the family member who would be the outlaw punk of the group.

RANGER GLOOMSTALKER CONCLAVE

In more recent seasons, we've seen a newfound interest in archery, with Louise even making a zombie movie centered around her blossoming hobby. The Gloomstalker/Assassin multiclass is also a very good multiclass in combat, which is why I felt it was the most fitting for Louise. She's also pretty accurate with other ranged combat like spitballs and throwing things at people.

TEDDY THE HANDYMAN

ARTIFICER BATTLE SMITH

This one pretty much goes without saying. He's a mechanic and handyman, he's used to moving and hauling heavy objects, plus he's burly, making him a great fit for the party's tank. The Battle Smith is an artificer built for the front line, and they get to be joined by a mechanical ally. Teddy would absolutely take a hit for any of the Belchers. The guy also fell off a roof and walked it off, so he's definitely got the highest Constitution score of the group.

I think this party turned out alright. Bob and Teddy are on the frontlines, Linda and Tina are the primary support, Gene is a ball of pure chaos and uncontrolled energy, and Louise is sniping people from the shadows. Everyone's doing what they should be doing to work as a unit, and also happen to be a fairly well-balanced party as well. This is an especially good party for low stakes and silly campaigns, but probably not the kind of party you want to bring to Barovia or Avernus.

[theamityelf]

Crazy ai idea makoto is his entire classes soulmate au imagine the chaos and the weird tsundere alliance Byakuya and Celeste would have as well as the possibility that junko would quickly figure out her and Mukuro share a soulmate

Not for nothing, there is a fanfiction similar to this (at least the "Makoto is his entire class's soulmate" aspect) called "You Can Do It, Togami," which I read recently on AO3. (I haven't finished it, but it's cool!)

I'm not sure whether this is more fun if it's all one kind of soulmate (Like, everyone occasionally sees through his eyes and he occasionally sees through theirs, etc.) or if it's all different kinds. He's got soulmate marks, he's seeing visions, he's seeing in color, there's a timer on his skin, just everything.

(And that's if it's reciprocated. It could be that they get the symptoms and he doesn't.)

Some fun possible scenarios include but are not limited to:

His classmates all have different soulmate marks, but they all represent him. Sayaka has the crane, Kyoko maybe has a bunny rabbit, Taka has a clover, Mukuro has a teddy bear, etc. (These are just examples, except Sayaka's; that one's definitely it.) They each realize that he's the one represented by their soulmate marks at different times (except Sayaka, who knew it since middle school). Meanwhile, he's got marks for all of them, and it's pretty obvious who his marks represent, so much so that he's embarrassed to show pretty much any skin because he knows it looks kind of pathetic for the Ultimate Lucky Student to show up to school with soulmate marks for all his talented classmates.

Everything that marks your soulmate marks you, and vice versa. Everyone who has Makoto for a soulmate keeps getting skinned knees, stubbed toes, bumped heads, etc. Meanwhile, Makoto is getting the works all the time: Hina twisted her ankle and now he needs a cast, Mondo got in a fight and now Makoto has all kinds of bruises and cuts, Kyoko's hands?!?! (Presumably frequent migraines and a scar on his head from Kamukura.) He shows up to Hope's Peak with gloves like Kyoko (but not leather; something comfortable), a knee brace like Hina, just various band-aids. His pain tolerance is incredible. He'll just raise his hand in the middle of class, like, "I think I need to go to the nurse again," and blood is running down his face because his forehead scar reopened again. (He doesn't get the internal affects of the Kamukura Project.)

Vision-sharing. Kind of like I mentioned. He occasionally sees through everyone individually, everyone individually occasionally sees through him. Maybe including dream sharing. This could basically mean that everyone kind of grew up with Makoto, in a way. Characters like Byakuya and Kyoko get a glimpse of a normal life. Everyone in his class kind of knows Komaru from glances and out-of-context scenes. Everyone knows Makoto's handwriting (or has the opportunity to know it; some of them might not be that observant), from watching him do schoolwork. Meanwhile, Makoto going through his childhood seeing through all of them at different times would definitely earn a reputation as a daydreamer, and no one believes him when he says how many different soulmates he seems to have. Plus it means that later on, once he actually meets all of them in person, there's a high probability that any personal time he spends with one of his soulmates will be seen by a different one.

Unreciprocated would also be fun! Makoto is just living his life like normal and everyone else is having their varied reactions to him. Maybe he has no marks or symptoms, or maybe he only has one or two. Whatever the case, it doesn't mean he can't come to reciprocate their feelings; there's still hope for them yet.

I realize this post covered more ground than it delved into anything in detail, so feel free to send another ask regarding a particular scenario you want to explore, lol.

(Next post)

[zukkacore]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ANYTHING ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT THE LOVERS UNIVERSE OR ANYTHING AT ALL

Hiiiii truly sorry friend this literally took so long!!!!!!!!!!!! b/c i sat here wracking my brain abt what tf i wanted to talk abt and i got all distracted by wanting to finish Biggest Lie and. i decided to just do what i did last time and. Just go over everything that was a reference or not to something else within Almost b/c I do think that is the easiest way to comb over this gd fic from head to toe. If i don't finish in one go I'll just reblog w/ additions and tag you in

"You're in love, aren't you?" / "You've been sighing all day" I've talked about this before, it's actually a pull from Howl's moving castle. Easily one of the most shameless things i've pilfered and it doesnt even really have a meaning, I just think the exchange is funny.

When J2 approaches, Porter Cliffbreaker lights up with the most insufferable, self-satisfied grin J2’s ever seen in his short life. “You’re early,” he practically purrs. - (In ch 3 for context. This is Porter seeing J2 for the first time.) Obviously we're continuing the Hadestown motif of "you're early" "I missed you". This is again part of the Porter n Jace whole Thing of like. Jace breaking up with him (not in the Big Break but you know). Obviously part of the reason Porter is being so smug is that he thinks Jace is coming crawling back to him. Lol. He thought, didn't he?

"I’m in the correct place, right?” / J2 turns to a tiefling girl in a plaid skirt and a ripped band shirt who is strapping bass guitar to her chest. “Hey, kid. Am I in the right class?” This is a weird pull but this is actually Twelfth Night to me, the scene where Viola first meets Olivia. I just think it's so funny when Viola comes in and doesn't know whether Maria or Olivia is the lady of the house. "The honorable lady of the house, which is she?" / "Most radiant, exquisite, and unmatchable beauty—I pray you, tell me if this be the lady of the house, for I never saw her. I would be loath to cast away my speech—" etc etc. There's a lot of Twelfth Night influence just b/c there's a lot of like mistaken identity stuff and being in love with someone while they're in love with someone else etc etc all that good stuff. I also think the scene where Viola has to woo olivia is just like. Hot. To be fair tho, J2 is kinda doing the opposite here, he's letting Porter down easy abt the breakup. It's a loose pull but i like the idea of J2 being so out of his element he doesn't even know he's in the right place.

“ What are you?” “I… can’t say. An olive branch? A… A best kept secret, maybe. Between you and the guy up top.” “A secret?” “A parting gift.” But also “What am I?” “That. But also why are you here? A beat. “I’m…” Finally, J2 settles on, “A messenger?” and “It’s—he wants to insist he’s not at war, here.” “Well, that’s a damn shame" is so this Twelfth Night exchange to me:

^^^ to elaborate (sorry i didn't wanna type it out): Idk the viola n olivia vibes in this whole scene not just this part are so flirtaeous and i liked the mentions of war and divinity. Like Porter is the god of war and yet the clones existing as this kind of olive branch. And there's this question of What J2 Is. And there isn't really an answer to that. I liked this idea of him being a secret. A gift. The line "to your ears divinity, to any others profanation" was just. ough.

I'll do this like. It's a big block of text so:

The fluorescence flickers. Mindless, as if purely out of routine, he makes his way over to the sink, to the cabinets full of mugs and glasses. J2 spots Jace’s immediately—it’s purple, with a slogan from his favorite podcast. He snatches it by the handle and throws it against the floor, where it shatters into a million pieces. He thinks about Jaceprime, and about being Dispelled. Despite the fear he can feel rising in his chest, making it hard to breathe, he thinks for another long moment. What a satisfying crash. He wonders if his fear of oblivion is unique to simulacra, or if it's something Jaceprime also has to grapple with every day. He wonders about the weird glowing gem in his chest, and how Jaceprime always refers to a time Before, with him and The Big Guy, but refuses to say outright what happened. He thinks about Porter—and of rage. He stares at the shattered pieces of the cup on the ground. And after a moment of serious contemplation, he grabs another mug off the shelf, and he does it again.

Anyway^^^: That's a reference to The Haunting of Hill House! Both the show and the movie. Theodora says it in both versions. Here's the anecdote I love so much:

“When I was a child,” Theodora said lazily, “—'many years ago,‟ Doctor, as you put it so tactfully—I was whipped for throwing a brick through a greenhouse roof. I remember I thought about it for a long time, remembering the whipping but remembering also the lovely crash, and after thinking about it very seriously I went out and did it again

The variation from the show also includes something along the lines about "I learned a lot about my own mother that day. Taught her, too." which I completely forgot is such a movie special but. I think was also so vital to why I loved that line and wanted to include a nod to it. Like. I've already talked about this but i wanna reiterate that I do not feel bad making motherhood comparisons w/ Jace and the clones b/c he is their creator! He is their frankenstein! Anyway, the imagery of like, getting satisfaction out of doing something destructive, and then doubling down out. Even if you get repercussions from your parent. Or maybe because of that. Maybe spite is the motivator. It was so striking. I think we tend to get this perception of J2 as this soft baby boy but this is one of my fav moments of his because it's so impotent and petulant. It's so him trashing a bathroom to have some semblance of power. J2 has so little power, but he can destroy Jace's favorite mug! (also, yes it was a complicated woman podcast mug. Also in IYWD Jace mentions the fact that he started bringing crappy mugs to work bc his kept disappearing and this was kinda a nod to that.)

"I—Fuck, Porter! Why don’t you just tell me what to do!" Ok, this is also pretty broad. Pulling from a few things here. I mean. This is very Pearl-coded to me. I still think about that scene to garnet where she says "I'm useless on my own. I need someone to tell me what to do". Also Please don't laugh, I have an old Hugh grant comedy that's my favorite and there's a scene where the son is having an argument w/ his mom and when he says "Because we never have any discussions, we have an argument, and you always win! Why don't you just tell me what to do" and she goes "Because I want you to think for yourself!" and then he's like fine then mom its not up to you if hugh grant is my friend even if he did pretend to have a two year old son so he could sleep with the single moms at the single parent support group. I love this movie btw. which i've already said like the paternal connotations to godhood mean i don't feel TOO bad when Porter's vibe gets weird and paternal. There's also a definite "I want someone to tell me what to wear in the morning. I want someone to tell me what to wear every morning fleabag vibe. I mean. Who said that.

“I—I’m not a consolation prize, Porter,” I think this is technically broad enough to not be a when harry met sally reference, but Sally does say this to Harry when he's trying to apologize to her and he's basically like "lol if neither of us have a date to the new york party we can go together" which. If that's not the vibe for whats going on. Filling in a spot because the other person is lonely.

“I want you. I’m only here for so long, and all I know is. I like you, ok?” and “I think you’re right.” J2 is working to keep his voice steady. “We both know that I was made for you. Literally. But more importantly… I like you. I know that much.” This is such a weird pull but this is such a Parks and Rec "I love you and I like you" (evil version) for me. I think there's such an interesting distinction between like and love. There's something so sad about J2 trying to insist, to me anyway, that he would also choose this even if he wasn't destined to love Porter due to being Of Jace. Love is destiny, but "like"? Like has the connotation of. Friendship. New feelings, innocence, juvenile. Just enjoying each other's company. J2 has so little, and he enjoys being around Porter. He loves Porter, but he likes him. It's... almost... adolescent. But it's also very. Forget the sweeping romance. I would do laundry and taxes with you.

“I like you, too, Bluejay.” I mean. Barely a reference but we all know Bluejay is so Hey, little Songbird coded from hadestown. I've joked about this but legit i was so so so so so terrified to give J2 a nickname to individualize him b/c i was so scared of completely blowing it. And I was just like. This is BARELY an individualization. He likes blue. Is that the dumbest thing ever. Obviously the concept of ownership is so prevalent in almost, and J2 is so comforts of a gilded cage coded. He's the precious gift, the one who learns to love the cage that Jace rejects. He's ESPECIALLY hey little songbird coded to me, b/c it's about Jace running away (Persephone) and Porter finding someone else to replace him (Eurydice).

“Hey. What’s with the silent treatment?” says Porter. “Cat gotch’er tongue?” Um. Hey. Little songbird. Cat got your tongue? Always a pity for one so pretty and young... No excuse.

I'll pair it with Porter rises from his desk, and J2 is in the embrace of his arms. and It feels so good being in Porter’s arms. and “I can make it go away,” says Porter, so softly—tenderly—even as he tightens his grasp on J2, secure. etc etc. Because that's not like. As on the nose but that's ALL Hadestown comforts of a gilded cage imagery. Someone who could love these walls that hold her close, and keep her safe, and think of them as my embrace. etc etc. Just. This idea of J2 running away from somthing and straight into the trap that was so heartbreaking to me. "Strange is the call of this strange man. I wanna fly down and feed at this hand. I want a nice soft place to land. I wanna lie down forever." etc. Even as he's getting this like. Horrible revelation about the truth of what Porter did to jace, and he's feeling this new fear that this could be him, he was built to find comfort here. He was raised to find comfort here. Porter wants everything. And J2 owns nothing, not even himself. "Seeing as you've got nothing to lose, and I could use a canary"

To go to something... maybe funnier? Maybe not. Again. Silly pull. J2 sniffs. Finally, he braves a look up, blinking back tears as he says, “Can… you just hold me a little longer?” Porter’s smile makes him forget all else. “Of course.” Like. This doesn't take place in chapter 7, but to me, this is the smoking gun that J2 and Porter were always going to sleep together (i mean, they already have, but in a Mega Turbo Detect Thoughts Sex Trick Orgasm Way). This is actually something from When Harry Met Sally! Sally says this to harry when she's crying about her ex getting married. And he holds her and gives her a kiss and this is the first time they sleep together. Like this is so Hurt/Comfort (evil version) of that scene to me, and the nature of like, comfort that turns into sexual tension is fascinating to me. And like. There's something so comedic and pathetic and cloying about the way she asks it too. Like. The desperation but also the slight comedy of it.

I'll also say, if you wanna read this into it too. I do this this is All I've Ever Known (evil version). "all i've ever known is how to hold my own, but now I wanna hold you, hold you close, I don't wanna ever have to let you go. Now I wanna hold you hold you tight, I don't wanna go back to the lonely life" etc etc

 “He still loves you, you know.” / Jace is... “ —A good guy,” he insists hard, / “I—I know we are… of the same. But—I don’t understand it. If—” / “Porter, gods, Porter, if I loved you the way my master loves you…” / "How does he love me?”  OK. So this entire scene is a little bit Handmaiden coded in that it's like. Ohhhh what if we were fucking and I was pretending to do this in service of teaching you what the person you're supposed to be with and what they would do this is just instructional i prommyyyyy.

But Also this whole Thing to me I was taking on a kind of. Like. Reverse Twelfth Night thing? Like, the concept is very much closer to Orsino and Viola's deal, in that Viola loves Orsino while Orsino loves olivia (Say that some lady, as perhaps there is, hath for your love as great a pant of heart as you have for Olivia! You cannot love her, you tell her so. Must she not then be answered?". "I am all the daughters of my father's house. And all the brothers too") But I do really like the idea of Viola having to convey the depth of Orsino's longing for Olivia by using her own pining for Orsino. That's littered throughout this scene. There are a ton of nods to the exchange. "How does he love me" is a direct quote. There's also this:

If I did love you in my master’s flame, With such a suff’ring, such a deadly life, In your denial I would find no sense. I would not understand it.

But yeah it's this idea of like. J2 is channelling jace and getting extremely horny about it. He's imainging the depth of Jace's longing and he finds it genuinely moving. He things Porter deserves that. but also. J2 is using his own longing here, and essentially giving Porter a gift because he knows the depth of that longing would mean more to Porter if it was from Jace. Which of these is the truth? Maybe both

"With adorations. With fertile tears. With groans that thunder love. With sighs of fire" This is the only thing that is like. A direct quotation of something Viola says in Twelfth Night, and I just think its so horny and honestly? Effective. Why ruin a good thing?

OK! Last one!

J2 is getting what he wants. He gets to be by Porter's side, despite the risk. (And in his memories, Jace looks so happy. Doesn't Porter deserve that, too?) So why does this feel like… death? Like he’s dissolving into snow—dissipating in the warmth of the sun? That’s how it works, right? He doesn’t know that much, but it feels true, doesn’t it? When your heart breaks, you should die.

Like.... Am i gonna get stoned for this? Do I have the right in invoke Tony Kushner? Do i deserve this? I'm being so real here, this is one of those "janelle is using paradise lost to talk abt jaceporter" things that just feels deeply WRONG.

Anyway. This is 100% and Angels in America reference. And I... It feels a little wrong to put Jaceporter fanfiction and such a beautiful piece of art in the same breath but here we are. The line is:  "I don’t understand why I’m not dead. When your heart breaks, you should die. But there’s still the rest of you." Like... I just think that line is so sad and beautiful. Am... Am I allowed to do this??? Like. It doesn't feel right. It felt right to put it there. It was so clear in my mind. It just felt so emotionally true... J2 is so green... And it's this like. Invocation that he's a person but he's a simulacra. he's animated snow. How does being a person even work. How does it work when you've been robbed of your purpose?

It's just. That's how it should work, right? When your heart breaks, you should die.

Anyway. Thank you for my long winded nonsense. Genuinely sorry this took so long.

[nought-shall-go-ill]

My belated piece for the @jilymicrofics January prompts. Day 15: “effort”.

Lily Evans is nine years old when she first considers it must be a lot of effort being her friend. 

She doesn’t have many. Not like Petunia. She’s bright; her teachers like her. And it’s not as if the kids are mean. But it’s hard to befriend the girl who is in and out seeing “specialists”. And she starts to fall behind: doesn’t know who the newest bands are or what the latest hand-clapping games might be. 

And then there’s the “weird stuff”. Her parents tell her not to do it, but it’s the only thing that keeps Esther and Margot around. 

Besides, she loves “the weird stuff” and that doesn’t take any effort at all. 

***

Two months into their friendship, Lily asks Sev if it’s an effort to like her, to be her friend. He scoffs and says something like “being around you is effortless”. To prove his point, he conjures a flower from a single blade of grass, handing it to her. 

She smiles, a big toothy grin that shows off her missing molars. She loves that about their friendship. They don’t have to hold back. They can practise their “weird stuff” — their magic, she learns — without a care in the world. 

But, if she’s honest with herself, there’s some things that do take effort with Sev. His foul temper. His disdain for anything Muggle related. His tendency to (as Petunia says) put her up on a pedestal. 

It’s not much, but it’s a lot of effort for a 10 year old. 

***

Sev says it won’t take much effort at all to make friends at Hogwarts, but Sev is wrong. 

The other girls in Lily’s dorm all seem to know each other. They all support the same quidditch team and fancy all the same pureblood popstars. It takes a lot of effort — a lot of studying hair braiding and potions for perfumes — to keep up with them at all. 

They let her sit with them as an acknowledgment of her efforts. Even offer to paint her nails or “sleekease” her hair from time to time. But they always choose each other first. Always sit with one of the other girls in class and forget to fetch her for dinner. 

Lily would put in a lot less effort if only she could see more of Sev. 

***

When Lily returns from her first year, she discovers it’s a lot of effort to exist back home too. 

Her parents are kind, emphatically so, but they understand so little of what she talks about that she finds herself having to dumb down more and more of what she says. And then there’s the war. She can hardly mention that, can she? Her parents would withdraw her immediately if they knew. And then she’d have to put in a huge amount of effort trying to fit in in a world where she doesn’t below.

Instead, she finds herself editing her words carefully, making sure they understand and stay on the right side of awe. 

It’s a lot of bloody effort, and Petunia still hates her.

***

By third year, Lily discerns that having enemies takes a lot less effort than having friends. 

She’s still editing herself for her dorm mates, trying to fit in as best she can — even when they can’t seem to give her the time of day. Yet she finds it so easy to speak her mind to those pesky boys.

James Potter and Sirius Black: they’re the worst of them. The ones whose pranks border on cruel and who she will happily call out on their loutish hypocrisy. 

It doesn’t take much effort, because in their odd sort of way, they seem to see her as an equal. They hold back when she warns them. Sometimes they even stop all together. It feels easy to interact with them even though they aren’t anything close to friends at all. 

And it feels good, putting in some effort for those who are unable to stand up for themselves. 

***

Eventually, her efforts pay off and Lily finds a group of Muggleborn friends across Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. 

They’re not close friends. They will never make the effort to track down her son or remember her much after the war. But they are her friends, nonetheless, and they share cigarettes with her and let her borrow vinyls over the holidays. 

One girl in particular is fond of her. A small mouse of a girl named Mary from the year below who is a crack hand at Arithmancy and says she fancies Remus Lupin. 

It doesn’t take much to be friends with Mary and the others at all, but then Mary is attacked and it’s just all too much effort again. 

Some of the group stay friends with Lily, but they’re wary at best. They say her friendship with Sev makes them question her values. She can’t say she blames them. 

And just like that she learns it’s even more effort to keep friends than make them. 

***

In the midst of everything, Lily learns that it’s definitely less effort attracting “male friends” in her fifth year of school. 

Of course, they’re not really friends. Or, rather, that’s not what they want to be. Not in the end.

They make the effort to get to know her, of course. Tell her fun jokes and make empty promises about the things they will do. As friends, just friends, they say. 

But then they always lean in for a kiss or give her ultimatums that she can’t morally abide by. 

Some of them refuse to take the hint too. Telling her they fancy other “broads” in one breath and then saying she’s “leading them on” in the next. 

It’s a lot of bloody effort not to hex their bollocks off. A lot.

But it all pales in comparison to the effort she puts in in the final months of her friendship with Sev. 

He’s fouler than ever. Grumpier. Terser. She wants with all her mite to blame the Gryffindor boys. Their teasing has gotten too much. He has every right to be suspicious of their fellow students. 

But that doesn’t excuse the rhetoric she catches when he thinks she’s not listening. It doesn’t excuse the people he’s started to hang around when he’s not with her. 

It wouldn’t take much effort not to be friends with them. The Slytherins are awful, no doubt about it. But not all of them are baby Death Eaters. Not all of them spew hate like it’s graffiti on a bathroom wall. 

But Sev wants the power of their friendship. And it’s taking too much effort to convince her friends otherwise. It’s taking too much effort to convince herself otherwise. Let alone him. He doesn’t listen. Not anymore.

It’s a relief then — in many ways — when it finally happens. When he stops making the effort to have a half facade of decency in front of her. 

It feels like a weight off her shoulders. It feels effortless really not being his friend. And she can’t even muster the effort to miss him much. 

***

Even with Sev gone, making friends doesn’t get any easier. Most of those she has at school leave after OWLs and the ones left behind are fair weather at best. 

Lily tries her best — in defiance of her ex-best friend’s beliefs — to immerse herself in the Muggle world, getting a job at the local pub in the summer before her sixth year. 

But it’s even more effort than being in the Wizarding world. 

Later, when she’s just words in an obituary, Lily will be described as “popular”, “outgoing” but that’s not how she feels at the Cokeworth Arms. She’s awkward and conscious of all her tiny mistakes, and the barmaids clock her as “different” straight away. She knows even less how to talk to Muggles now than she did as a child, and despite her efforts (her religious watches of Top of the Pops and careful inspections of Jackie magazine) the girls don’t even become casual friends. 

She still makes the effort anyway. Tries to crack jokes to make them laugh and talk to them about the goings on in their lives. It’s a lot, and they barely reply, but it’s a lot less effort than what she has to put up with at home. 

***

Being sisters with Petunia is like avoiding spikes while walking on eggshells. They’ve never really gotten on well, at least, not since Sev came into the picture, but Lily, for the sake of her parents (for the sake of the little bit of family she has left) has always tried to be cordial with Petunia, even when her sister is most cruel and belittling towards her. 

It takes effort for Lily to hold her tongue, to not show Petunia a piece of her mind for all the scathing remarks she makes. And sometimes she finds the effort slipping, and she laughs when Petunia does something stupid or makes a mistake. 

Most of the time though, it’s an exhausting tightrope maintaining civility, and it comes as a relief when Petunia announces her decision to move to London when she turns 18. 

It is almost effortless for Lily to see her off.

***

Becoming friends with them, to Lily’s surprise, is effortless. Despite everything she’s ever thought about them, they accept her entirely for who she is — so much so that even she starts to too. 

She can’t remember who she befriends first, or if in a strange sort of way, she befriends them all at the same time. Remus from extended Prefect duties. Peter from gobstones in the Great Hall. Sirius through a shared seat in Transfiguration. And James through their Potions partnership, their shared concern for Remus, the way they’re often the last ones left in the common room.

It is effortless to start hanging out with them, to laugh at their jokes and cry at their heartaches. And their friendship gives her gumption, the confidence to call out the bullshit she sees from the Slytherins and even the hypocrisy of some of her remaining Muggleborn friends.

Of course, they aren’t perfect. They’ve grown from the bullies they were, it’s true — but Sirius still has his vicious streak, James his ego, Remus is cowardice, Peter his fickleness. Yet Lily finds there’s so much effort looking for perfection. And she’s just happy that, after 17 years, she has friendships as easy as this. 

***

What surprises Lily most though, is how effortless it is to fall for him, and then, subsequently how effortless it is to be with him. 

He talks a lot, and she finds that she can too, finally discussing her passions without worrying about any efforts needed to please anyone. 

He teaches her how to ride a broom and she tells him all about the Muggle world, and neither mind the effort it takes for each to learn. 

And when they finally go public — after months of shared moments in secret — it feels effortless to fit by his side, just like it feels effortless to be the head girl to his head boy, two warriors in the war. 

In that final year of school, with James Potter by her side — despite the war on, despite the many people who would wish her dead (not all of them death eaters), despite taking the hardest exams of her school days — life has never been easier. It’s almost effortless.

***

Once she leaves Hogwarts for good, Lily soon learns that effortlessness is short lived. 

James and her have their first “proper” fight a couple of months in. He wants to take a mission that seems near suicidal, and it takes all the effort she can muster not to beg him to stay. He goes, and she cries all evening. He promises he’ll make the effort to understand next time. 

Then there’s all the little things he does when they start living together. The forgetting to shut the toilet lid. The socks all over the hallway. The way he leaves little romantic notes in the biscuit tin and how she is too scientific to write equally eloquent ones in return. It’s a lot of effort living with another person. 

Staying cordial with Petunia is another effort too. One that eventually isn’t even enough anymore. The last time she sees her sister is at the latter’s wedding, during which Petunia's husband takes every opportunity to criticise James and Tuney avoids Lily at every turn. Petunia doesn’t even make the effort to come to her wedding. 

It’s ok. If anything it’s a weight off her mind. Most of Lily’s efforts go on the war anyway. She puts her all into the Order. Facilitating medical care. Concocting potions for the injured. Taking some of the most perilous missions to save her friends and loved ones. And in those tiny moments of victory, the efforts seem worth it. 

And in the midst of war and effort, Lily has the happiest time of her life. The most fulfilling time of her life. Life with James may not be as easy as it was at school, but his cooling presence, the laughter he brings to the room, makes all their efforts to maintain the relationship (and then the marriage) worth it. Life with the Order may not be sunshine and daisies, but the friendships it brings, the bonds it forges and the world they just might bring about makes it worth it.

And then he comes along. And he’s tiny and wonderful and loud and he doesn’t sleep, and he coughs up his milk too often, and it takes so so so much effort to look after him, but he’s worth it all. He’s worth all the effort she can muster. 

So, when they find out about the prophecy, the life destined for him, Lily doesn’t even question the efforts needed to keep him safe. She knows she will do it. He is worth it. Their little family is worth it. 

And though life may be far from perfect, Lily finally learns at 20 years of age that life may always take effort, but that there are some things, some people — Harry, James, the Order, maybe even herself — who are worth all the effort she can give. 

[10hourshift]

So, Bonnie, right?

⚠️🚨❗Warning❗🚨⚠️

this thing is really long and might not make sense, idk, I'm not proofreading that, I spent a day and a half on it

Ok, before I get to the point I'm trying to make I have to say this post doesn't come from hate, on the contrary, I've said before that I really like his character, but to be honest I like him more in the sense of "putting him in a petri dish and studying him🧫" rather than "this character is just like me fr" or smth like that (just let me explain it will make sense later I hope)

So, here it goes

Bonnie is a really fucking weird character

And one of the weakest overall imo

First of all, I'm comparing his character to others like him. Since not all the characters are treated the same.

The way that I see it, there are four types of characters in the series

Wow, they are really going thru it. These are the characters that have a lot of development throughout the series (like Freddy, Fred or Bon) and, more importantly, that had some visible growth onscreen (< this is important)

Hey, you got over it really fast. Unlike the first type, these characters don't have a lot of development in the story (or they had it off screen and just reappear w all their problems solved after), but are part of the story (like Chica, Joy, Fox, and Bonnie)

They sure are there, huh? These guys appear somewhat regularly and have some development, but aren't as important to the plot like the first two (Mai, Puppet, Springtrap, idk)

Haven't seen you in a while. These are the characters that barely get any attention, appearing in one episode for like every ten. Bc of this you wouldn't expect them to have any development at all (the nightmares, the funtimes)

Ok, so the category that I put Bonnie in is mainly formed of those characters that are necessary to the story, or to some characters stories. Like Joy, because she's important to Fred and Bon at some point in S2, so she gets some development, but gets thrown to the side for other things, even with that, her character is important for the plot, since she wasn't there for the contest, and she needed to be rescued by Freddy and Fred.*her character is also done so dirty, but that is for another time*

But anyways, back to Bonnie. He's relevant to the story in two ways. He's a member of the main band, and he's the romantic interest of Bon** and he doesn't have any big problems of his own w anything.

**I know that the whole bon thing is not part of the main plot, but it takes a significant part of the whole series that I'm counting it (the AUs will not be counted on the main analysis, maybe I'll cover them in here idk)

Let me do a quick recap of his role in story to make things easier 4 me.

Staring w the 1st video on fnafhs, we see what kind of person is Bonnie on a surface level

Description taken from wikifandom, this is supposedly a transcription of what edoochan says in her video "como serían los animatrónicos de FNAF si fueran adolescentes", this is not the full section of Bonnie btw, it's missing his relationships w the others, but ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

During the beginning chapters we just see him getting dragged along to the situation, being knocked over by Freddy and Fox, showing that he was sleeping in class, forced to clean the classroom w the others, and pretty much manipulated to be part of the team, assigning himself as the guitarist of the band. In them, Bonnie is just a smartass and apathetic to the world around him, to the point of sleeping in class and mentioning that he gets beaten up so much that he is inmune to it, maybe bc of his stereotypical nerdy look, and the whole "he's a little quirky and strange" bit he has going on. It's not until chapter 9 "el Bonnie oculto" until we see his ability w the guitar, and that he has like a whole different personality that he has when playing, given that the chapter is mainly the guitar cover w pictures of Bonnie and bon playing the guitar, we can only assume what this personality is. He seems to be more confident, and happy while playing, showing that the guitar is something he's really passionate abt, and that he likes to show his abilities off.

At this point we have a somewhat solid idea of who Bonnie is at the start, and of what we can expect from this character and what his role in the band will be.

Me: Boy am I excited to see how Bonnie finally gets to beat his apathy w the power of pop rock anime covers and friendship by his side :3

This gay mf:

Look, this is where my "problem" starts, bc from this chapter forwards Bonnie's character is changed drastically. Whatever type of development he has gets put on the side just to make space for the whole "is this love or friendship? 🥺 I love my tiny gay babies". In this chapter Bonnie is looking for Bon because he wants to practice w him, and invites him to do so when he finally finds him, and doesn't wait for him to respond, assuming he will be there. Being from Bon's perspective, we don't really have any idea of what does Bonnie feel for him, y'know, besides admiration, and considering him to be better than him, also we see that Bonnie changed some parts of his personality in this chapter, he doesn't have any sarcastic or smartass comments, the "weirdness" of his actions is more prevalent (reading upsidedown, surprising Bon from a branch) and he gets his recognizable "hehehe" laugh thing.

The next chapter he makes an appearance in is "la pesadilla de Bonnie" where we see him getting beaten up by the nightmares, and defended by Fox. Later we see him in the park practicing w bon, when asked about the bruises he claims again that he is inmune to them, dismisses Bon's concern and talks abt what to practice. The next day, he is threatened by the nightmares again, but now Bon and Fox stand up for him, and he also puts a stop to the abuse, when Fox asks him why he decided to defend himself, he says is because of his friends.

He showed some development here, finally starting to take care of himself bc others care about him, and fighting against the apathy towards life in general, though since we only see Bon's point of view we can't really see how he decided to change, and how this affects his life. This means that whatever growth Bonnie has, it will be as an incentive for Bon's growth as a character, making Bonnie nothing but an objective for Bon, because "we"* as an audience are expecting these two to end up as a couple (imagine that Bonnie is that romantic interest girl in movies/books/etc. that doesn't get any development and that you're supposed to ship w the male protagonist, when he has more chemistry w his rival). Another thing that I noticed that supports this idea is the changes that were made to Bonnie's personality to fit the romantic trope. He stopped being a smartass sarcastic dude and changed into an oblivious "uwu" boy, where his funny comic relief comments play around these new characteristics, AND, on top of it all, the apathy he shows to everything, like getting his ass beaten, is changed to an "aw that sucks :/" reaction to the things that go wrong.

*"we" in this case, is the audience that was pushing the bxb ship when the series aired, since fnafhs was really influenced by what the fandom wanted, specially at the beginning, it's necessary to recognize the parts that had more influence from the fans, rather than what edoo wanted. Like, clearly, the huge amount of bxb content, both in the mainline series, and the AUs.

One funny thing I wanna mention is that from this chapter on, Bonnie and Fox are stablished as Friends™, given that it was mainly Fox the one that motivated Bonnie to defend himself, and in later chapters Bonnie is shown to be closer to Fox than the other band members (Tbh I think these two are easier to ship than the bxb imo), without leaving the others behind and showing that he cares abt the band.

His last "main" appearance before the "camp arc" (yeah that's how I call it) is in chapter 21 "Bon, amor o admiración" where he is w the band worrying abt golden, and then going to practice to Bon, giving him a personal song of his, just to be rejected by bon and him humiliating him in front of the toys. Again, we don't see his reaction to everything that just happened to him, like, imagine that the only person that you shared your most important thing with just pushes you away one day w no explanation. That is something really big that would have been an interesting character moment. But whatever, this is not what this is about. I'll just keep pointing out the moments that keep being shown as "big shipping moment 😱!!" Bc is the only time that Bonnie gets some attention, that only focus on one side of the story (mainly Bon's) anyways.

Uhh, during the "camp arc" Bonnie is just, kinda there, again, bon is the one going thru it, we see that Bonnie misses Bon, but REALLY brushes off what Bon did to him as "he's mad w me but idk y :(" and he helps out Bonsoir even after discovering that is Bon, now, when confronted by him on why he isn't mad with him, he basically answers with "dude you are really weird, but so am I, we weirdos gotta stick together" and the moment ends up in a friendzone joke.

😐 this resolution has always felt wrong for me, mainly for the way that Bonnie was handled (obviously), and the implications that the only conflict that was between him and Bon is that the later just kept avoiding an akward conversation w Bonnie. I know this may be nitpicking from my part, but I do believe that this takes away any agency that Bonnie has in the situation, not only is he not mad abt the papers, and humiliation that he got from Bon, he also brushes off the fact that bon was avoiding him during the whole camping trip, like, I'm not expecting him to go to Bon and tell him to fuck himself or smth, but at least that he mentions that he was mad at him at some point, or disappointed, it doesn't even need to be a full on chapter, some comment can do well enough, idk.

I finally got to season 2 (!!) In this one Bonnie doesn't do anything else than his usual comic relief comments (now is a mix of bluntness, misunderstanding of the situation, and tiny bit of sarcasm). Now he and bon hang around as friends, and he decides to help Bon w his issues w joy (ig he's just there for moral support, bc he doesn't do much in there). During the whole "oh no we're eliminated" thing there's nothing of interest, up until chapter 16 "verdaderos sentimientos", where Bon finds him and goes w the whole "let's find our friends, as friends" and this bitch responds like this

OH MY FUCKING GOD*

Let's unpack that later, please let me finish the series recap.

Ok, in the last chapter Bonnie thanks BON for helping him to get friends, and the band and stuff, letting he know how much he appreciates him, and before gets to respond he goes to help the other w the thing that is happening to Fox.

Aight, now that I showed Bonnie's development throughout the series (and gave my analysis and opinion on it) I will just point out the general issues that the character has.

First, there's the lack of clear development and growth. Even though he is necessary for the story of Bon, he doesn't do anything in the series, as I said before, he, such as other characters, lacks a conflict, and the ones he's in are related either to Bon or the band (one way we can see how much attention a character gets is w the amount of solo songs they sing in series, Bonnie doesn't have any)

The second thing is that the only way we see Bonnie is trough an outsider perspective (mainly Bon's), so any development he gets, it will be incomplete bc we never see his journey to whatever resolution he gets.

Then there's the thing that makes Bonnie so interesting to me, his character, unlike the others that are like him, is being constantly changed to fit Bon's conflict,* this makes him really ambiguous of "who" is Bonnie. When the Bon subplot was introduced he was changed to fit the uwu romantic interest, then, his carefree (or apathetic) personality is used to excuse Bon's actions*, and THEN when Bon finally starts to accept Bonnie as only a friend is shown to us that now is BONNIE the one with the crush to create more conflict between them(I hate the "will they, will they not" trope)* that will never be solved bc the series is cancelled anyways. These changes make Bonnie a less defined character, and since he is mainly used in Bon story, other interesting aspects of his character are put aside and ultimately forgotten.

*other characters like Chica, for example, that are less developed are still well defined, even if it is shallow, chica is pretty much the same throughout the series, this is the case w Joy and Fox, for example.

*not that Bon is without guilt, he is really the one who gets development of all this mess, but that the fact that Bonnie doesn't give it much thought to Bon's actions pretty much gives the idea that "it wasn't such a big deal". Tbh, I want to make an analysis on Bon later but he is SO MUCH MORE messed up than Bonnie, if this thing is long I can't imagine how will the Bon analysis turn out 😵‍💫

*that last scene really bothers me for a few reasons, does it mean that Bonnie has feelings for Bon?, If so, since when?, Did he go through the same inner conflicts as Bon?, If the feelings are recent, what started? Are the feelings romantic? Was this supposed to be more bait for the viewers? Who knows, I'll try to not think too hard abt it

Well, I guess that's all I had to say, of course it looks really negative, but I really like him, I enjoy his funny comments in the series, his whole relationship with Fox, and I'm very fond of the "weird, probably autistic coded" trope, I find him relatable at times, uh what else? I liked the route they took for him on zer0* and he's always been one of my favorites, even when I first started watching the series and hadn't developed this opinion of mine, and even now, these things that I do are one of the way that I interact w my interests (why couldn't I be satisfied enough with just drawing characters in solid backgrounds? unu)

*I'm making this quickly, but I think it's neat how they took on Bonnie's apathy and developed trough it, I don't think it was necessary to make a whole new character to justify it or whatever they wanted to do tho. I also want to dive into the zer0 series later lol

That's all now, for real, this thing was really long, I speedwatched the series to make the recap, uhh, what else?

Box (BonnieXFox) > BxB

Thanks to anyone who read this post to the end, if you have anything to comment or to add please feel free to do so, I want to see what other people think

Ok bye now

[floosies]

Radio

early 2000s au

eddie munson x fem!oc

warnings: mentions of drugs, cursing, eventual smut, mentions of abuse, friends to lovers 18+

a/n: i just wanna say this fic is an ode to what i wish i could have be doing in the early 2000s if I hadn't been in elementary school. i know alot of us twenty somethings wish we would have been older than we were.

Sophomore year, 2007

Eddie had repeated the eighth grade, so when he started high school, he should have been sophomore, but his uncle was determined that kid needed to be held back, his teachers too, he's wasn't stupid but living with his dad in the early years of his childhood had fucked with his education. He either did or didn't go depending if his dad was on the run for jacking a car or something. So much for no child left behind, and in Hawkins of all places, they would hold him back as much as they could, not just in school, but in life too. Most of the student body saw him as trailer trash and nothing more. His uncle had taken him in before he entered middle school, and while he tried his best to stay out of trouble, he wasn't gonna let assholes bad mouth the only real father figure he had.

It didn't matter though, he'd gotten his shit somewhat together to get into high school. Barely passing and not really caring, he wanted to at least try and get his diploma for his uncle's sake. System of a down was blasting from his best friend's room. He'd known Jeff for some time and even though his parents didn't like the 'influence' Eddie had on him, he was thankful for him. Jeff had been one of the few kids who actually thought Eddie was cool. They'd been friends since, and he was kind enough to let him hang at his place afterschool, where'd they'd use his computer to post band stuff and update their myspace accounts.

Today though Ed had gotten lucky. He'd jacked some kid's locker and scored an ipod in there. Sure stealing was wrong, but he was broke, too broke at least to afford an ipod. He'd spent the summer trying not to get caught working for his dad's friend to make enough for the iphone. It was easy money in reality, but he knew his uncle wouldn't have been happy to know he was selling drugs to people. The phone was easier to hide than what'd he'd been up to in the summer, even then he still sold every once in a while. Band equipment and his car were never ending needs he had to deal with.

The plan had always been the band, he'd learned to play the guitar on his own accord, rock music was his home away from home. It helped having friends like Jeff who understood what music was really about. Anything they ever earned at a gig was saved in a one of those gallon jugs, they were midway but the hope was to make enough to get to LA or New York and get a studio session. Their live demos and shotty youtube videos got them some online views but not enough to call the attention of anyone yet.

-

Julie had a whole different life from his. Her parents were loving sociopaths, who controlled her life as best they could. Nevertheless, it didn't do much. She would still sneak around and hang at house parties on the weekends or get drunk at sleepovers with her best friend. She was well known online as a party girl and whether it was her myspace or livejournal she had somewhat of a following for her antics.

At most she was thankful her parents had no clue about the internet. They'd gotten her a digital camera and an ipod with no clue what she really did with them. They were naive at best but could be ruthless at worst. They'd take away her things for months on end if they felt she had been on some sort of weird or rude behavior. It didn't stop her though. Despite her popularity online, in school it was a whole quieter ordeal. Sure she was known, but people only want to associate with others under certain circumstances. Her group was small, and the outfits she'd wear on a friday night weren't what'd she'd been seen in on a monday morning in class.

She wasn't a genius by any length but she wasn't an idiot, she was getting by with decent grades and fake persona for her teachers and parents. It's the only thing she had to keep them from really looking into who she really was, or was at least trying to be.

-

Blame the internet, they met through their myspace accounts. She had mentioned one of their songs or more like she was looking for one of their songs because they had played at a party she had gone to the weekend before. Eddie couldn't believe he didn't know her, they went to the same high school and were in the same grade. They started talking almost immediately, about everything and anything.

It didn't take long for cellphone numbers to be exchanged and to agree to finally meet at lunch. She had told him not to ditch for her lunch period but he didn't really care about it. To Eddie she was someone who finally understood what he was trying to do here. They were both surprised when they finally met up, she swore she could feel her heart racing out of her chest. It was one thing to talk on the phone or through text, but being actually with him felt like something else.

He felt the same way about near her, she had mentioned to him that he probably didn't recognize her because she wasn't wearing the kind of stuff she usually wore on the weekends out. Its what they ended up talking about that whole lunch period, about how few moments they had where they could really be themselves. Only difference is Julie still felt her parents held the control in her life. That's something Eddie no longer tied him down. Still, he felt for her, from their long talks on the phone and at lunch, he was getting to know this girl for who she really was and that mattered to him. He even ended up walking her to class.

Her friends did give her a couple of glances when she walked into class that day. Questions on why she was hanging out with him and who even was he? One of her classmates heard her mention his name and said Eddie had always been chaotic and liked to start shit for fun. Sure she could have listened to them, but all the stuff they were saying didn't matter because she knew him well enough after a month or so of talking to him, to know that if he came off that way it was intentional.

From that point on, they would try to hang out as much as they could. Parties and after school days when she would go over to his place, despite him initially saying that she probably wouldn't wanna be seen at a trailer park. She honestly didn't care, all that mattered was not being near her hellhole house and that she was able to do her homework. Meanwhile he played guitar hero for her and showed her songs he was working on. Every now and then she would try and get him to do his homework too, which would in turn lead to them not doing anything because he'd use anything as a means of distraction.

Then there was a week when he got suspended for accidentally bringing a pocket knife to school. He told her he had been helping his uncle fix up a patch on the roof and forgot he had left the knife in his jeans pocket but they probably just wanted an excuse to get him out of their hair. His teachers ended up confused when she showed up that week asking for the notes and missing assignments he would have. Maybe she shouldn't have but she did them for him and when they met up on friday night she handed them in exchange for a couple of pre rolled joints and some tabs.

He watched as she went off with her girlfriends that night and got blacked out. They were only getting to know each other though, he didn't wanna overstep anything with her, but he made sure she got home alright. The following Monday it was as if it had never happened and he didn't really mind.

Sophomore year had been a trial and error of getting to know each other and figuring out how the friendship would work. By the summer they had it down, they were comfortable enough with each other to not really care too deeply about things, but also were practically glued to one another. She met the rest of the band and his other friends. She'd shoot their sets for them and post them on their youtube, hell she even added them to her top five. Of course everyone around them could see that there was more going on between the two but neither Eddie nor Julie were going to ruin whatever they had going on already to start something intimate.

[loveronlineee]

The Metalhead and the Material Girl (Eddie Munson x Reader)

Masterlist   All Parts

Eddie Munson x Reader (She/Her)

Warnings: none

Synopsis: When a super fem new girl joins Eddie’s class he thinks he’s got her all figured out, but he soon finds out that the popular kids aren’t the only ones who judge people’s first appearances 

Y/N notes: none

Okay I don’t usually do writers notes but I gotta say thanks to these four: @carolinaflicker​ @iamsiriuss​ @hauntingtherosebush​ @lindsey3300​ for helping me out on the lil bit of D&D stuff I mentioned. Some of you guys had slightly different answers for me so if I’m still wrong let me know! (And other D&D playing peeps)

Wanna be on the Eddie Munson tag list? Look here!

Wanna request something? Look here!

“I’m Y/N L/N. I transferred here from California for my senior year. I like pop music, fashion and hanging out with my friends. And I hope I can become friends with all of you!”

Pretty. Bubbly. Probably a bit of an airhead. The popular kids will scoop her up in a heartbeat. Eddie thought to himself looking up at the new girl. I wonder how long it’ll take for her to be just like everyone else.

The teacher pointed at the empty seat on the metal head’s right, giving the boy a stern look.

“Y/N I’m gonna seat you next to Eddie here at the front so you can help me keep an eye on him.” Eddie grinned and gave the teacher a wink.

Okaaaay here we go. Eddie thought to himself, leaning back in his chair. What kind of popular girl is this one gonna be? Disgusted by me? Weirded out? Just plain old pretend I don’t exist?

“Hi, Eddie was it?” The new girl asked with the biggest most genuine smile Eddie had ever seen. Her face was enough to melt away any built up hate he had accumulated from every harsh comment thrown at him throughout the years.

“Uh yeah Eddie. Eddie Munson.” He couldn’t help the smile appearing on his own face. This girl was a ball of sunshine.

“Nice to meet you Eddie.” He watched as she took out her things from her bag and set them out on the table. Everything was either pink, glittery or had a cute little character on it. She wrote the date on a new page in her notebook, doodling little stars around the numbers.

The teacher came over and placed a piece of paper on Y/N’s desk.

“This is your time table with your classes. Don’t be afraid to ask someone for help.”

“Oh thank you!” Y/N chirped before beginning to read through it. “Hey Eddie, what classes do we have together?” She tilted the paper towards him. Eddie leaned over and skimmed the page.

“Oh wow most of them. We got all the same ones today in fact.”

“Do you mind if I just stuck with you then?”

“Y-Yeah. Yeah that’s cool.” Eddie wasn’t in fact planning on going to all his classes today, like most days, but he couldn’t pass up the chance to get to know this girl more. He spent the morning walking Y/N to all her classes, pointing out other parts of the school she’ll need to know. He revelled in the looks the other students were giving him when they saw them together. The resident freak with a mystery bombshell.

Lunch came around and Y/N followed Eddie to the lunch hall.

“Hey I’ve been meaning to ask you… what’s on your shirt? Is it a band?” Y/N asked.

“It’s my club.”

“Oh cool! You run a club? What’s it about?” Eddie smiled at her as they reached his table of friends.

“A little game called D&D.” He turned to them and gestured to the new girl. “Gentlemen, this is Y/N.”

The boys all looked at her slack jawed, unable to think of anything to say. Luckily, Y/N had enough social skills for the whole table.

“It’s nice to meet you all! I started here today, Eddie’s been showing me around.” She explained as Eddie pulled out the chair in between his and Dustin’s and letting her sit down. He sat in his own chair at the head of the table just observing his friends trying to process this girl being here.

“You’ve been with Eddie…” Mike started asking very slowly, like he was waiting for the pin to drop. “…since this morning?”

“Yeah he’s been really helpful.” Y/N smiled at the younger student. “So are you two freshmen?”

Y/N continued chatting with Mike and Dustin. Eddie looked behind them at the popular kids who were eyeing him suspiciously. The cheerleaders all glaring and whispering to each other. “Eddie!” The metal head looked back at Y/N.

“Yeah?”

“So all these guys are in your club?” She gestured at the group. “You were gonna tell me about D&D earlier, what’s the game about?” Y/N asked, genuinely interested. Eddie grinned. He stood up like he was presenting to a class. Everyone sat up, hands neatly rested on the table, going along with the joke.

“D&D, or Dungeons and Dragons, is a fantasy table-top roleplaying game that only a select few at this school truly appreciate.” Eddie used theatrical hand motions as he described the game, putting one foot on his chair to add to the dramatic effect. “It is a game of teamwork, decision making, and the luck of the dice.”

He gave Dustin a small nod which prompted the boy to take a heavy book out of his bag and put it in front of Y/N. The Dungeons and Dragons Handbook. She began flicking through it, taking in as much as she could. She gasped.

“Can I be a fairy???” Eddie chuckled at her enthusiasm. He sat back down and shuffled his chair closer to hers.

“I’m sure I could homebrew something for you. Either that or you could be an elfen princess? If you just want that pretty ethereal girl look.” Eddie paused. “That… you’ve already got.” He looked back down at his hands, a little hesitant of his last line, before looking back up. Y/N was smiling at the compliment, easing Eddie’s nerves.

“Hey!” Two cheerleaders had approached the table, one calling out to Eddie with annoyance in her voice. “Why don’t you just stick with the freaks?” Eddie leaned away from Y/N and looked to the popular girls.

They turned to Y/N, who seemed a little confused. “You can come and sit with us instead.” One of them said, like she was doing the new girl a favour. Y/N looked over at Eddie. He kept his face the same, not wanting to influence her decision.

Of course he wanted her to stay, but he just couldn’t deal with the guilt of depriving Y/N of having an actual enjoyable high school experience. It didn’t matter how pretty she was, if she was hanging out with the freaks then she was gonna get bullied.

“Oh uh okay then.” Y/N replied apprehensively, slowly getting up. “I-I’ll be back in a minute.” She said as she was dragged away by the cheerleaders. Eddie pursed his lips together in a saddening smile.

“Suuuuuuuure you will.” He said just as Y/N got out of earshot. He looked around at the guys. “And that my friends, concludes the story of the time we almost got a hot chick to play D&D.” The group mumbled and chuckled, going back to their lunch, clearly no where nearly as affected as Eddie.

He knew this was inevitable. With who Y/N was and who he was. But a part of him, a small part of him wanted to believe that she’d stay. For him. That she wouldn’t get poisoned by the ideologies of the social hierarchy. But that was just wishful thinking. He looked back down at the table.

At least it was nice while it lasted.

“Sorry bout that.” Eddie looked back up to see Y/N again. “So I can be an elf princess?”

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“…why are you here?”

“I did say I’d only be gone a minute.” She smiled. Eddie stared at her, unable to speak. His head slowly turned to the popular kids. They looked even more surprised than him.

“W-What about them?” He gestured.

“What about them?” Y/N asked, confused.

“Aren’t you gonna hang out with them?”

“They don’t seem like people I’d want to hang out with.”

“They don’t?”

“Do I look like a bully to you?” She joked. “So, elf princess? Yes?” Eddie’s smile retuned to his face.

“Yeah. Yeah definitely a princess.”

Tag list: @Mikinyi @justaproudslytherpuff @angelicjinwoo @k12baby @spiderman-berries​ @ruhro7​ @justanotherhappyidiot @dontcallmesavvy @kenzi-woycehoski​

[makeste]

BnHA 323: “I Don’t Know How to Explain to You That You Should Care About Other People”

Previously on BnHA: Kacchan was all, “Izuku, I’m sorry.” Bakugou Stans were all, “[sobs for a week straight and tearfully awards him the Nobel Prize for character development].” Deku was all, “[faints in Kacchan’s arms].” Iida was all, “[trying to decide if Ochako genuinely tried to kill him a few minutes ago].” Horikoshi was all, “NO TIME FOR HUGS WE MUST GET BACK TO UA.” The civilians holed up at U.A. were all, “WE TOOK A VOTE AND DECIDED THAT WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE JERKS ABOUT THIS AND MAKE A BIG FUSS ABOUT YOU LETTING DEKU BACK INTO THE SCHOOL.” Deku was all “[stands there looking like he expected nothing less and breaking my heart more and more with each passing moment].” Ochako was all, “that does it, looks like I’m gonna have to do something about this... next chapter, that is.”

Today on BnHA: Flashback!Rat Principal is all “I just want you all to know that I spent nine million dollars turning U.A. into a giant Battleship-style grid that can burrow underground and zoom around in a giant subway maze because Horikoshi lacks a grounded understanding of both civil engineering and economics.” Back in the present day, Jeanist is all, “EVERYONE TAKE HEED, MY COMRADES AND I HAVE DEEMED IT EXPEDIENT TO CONVEY THIS AUSPICIOUS YOUTH BACK TO THIS STRONGHOLD. WE ANTICIPATE THAT WE MAY DEPEND UPON YOUR GOODWILL AND ACQUIESCENCE TO THESE TERMS.” The civilians were all, “NO.” Ochako was all, “EMPATHY, MOTHERFUCKERS, DO YOU SPEAK IT?!” The civilians were all, “oh shit.” Anyway so Ochako is a giant badass, but I’m a little worried that she’s going to get struck by lightning. Please come down from there.

so before we start this chapter, I would just like to apologize for having not posted the ch 321 recap yet, and would like to reassure everyone, and especially Iida who is staring at me with Sad Wobbly Guilt Trip Eyes, that I will get to that as soon as I can

OMG FLASHBACK??

yes please Horikoshi please show us more of class 1-A and their Deku intervention strategy jam sessions

oh dear

Iida you are too pure and good for this cruel world. [sprays the U.A. civilians with a water bottle] NO. BAD CIVILIANS! NO OSTRACIZING SCARED AND EXHAUSTED CHILDREN IN THE HOUSE

EXCUSE ME RAT PRINCIPAL WHAT’S WITH THESE MIXED MESSAGES

???

RAT PRINCIPAL: he’s free to return to us at any time!!

ALSO RAT PRINCIPAL: but it’s too risky for him to return to us

?? ??????? ?????????????????????

so now he’s going on about how strong the U.A. Barrier is, and how it’s comparable to the defensive capabilities of Tartarus. this would have sounded a lot more impressive before chapter 297 lol

OH!!!! HELLO, WHAT’S THIS!!!

A TIMELY CALLBACK TO A CERTAIN MYSTERIOUS EVENT WHICH HASN’T BEEN REFERENCED SINCE USJ? [U.A. TRAITOR MUSIC INTENSIFIES]

so now Rat Principal says he upgraded U.A.’s security systems with his own “modifications”, whatever the fuck that means. I mean look, I’ve been saying for a long time now that U.A. is the best place for everyone to hole up, don’t get me wrong. but that was mostly on account of there not being any other practical alternatives. but you’re making it sound like you figured out a way to actually make it Decay-proof or some wild shit like that

-- hold up, DID YOU ADD A FORCE FIELD. DID YOU TRICK THIS SCHOOL OUT WAKANDA-STYLE YOU CRAZY MARSUPIAL. HOLY SHIT. because that would actually be perfect

LMAO

WHAT KIND OF GALAXY BRAIN BULLSHIT. “NAH THERE’S NO NEED FOR A FORCE FIELD, LET’S JUST PUT WHEELS ON IT”

oh okay so the whole campus is basically capable of burrowing itself underground. that’s insane lol I wonder how they pulled that off. probably got poor Cementoss working overtime

blah blah blah so basically the entire campus is split into a grid and each section of the grid is capable of its own independent movement. lol this is just the Merone Base from KHR. you thought no one would notice this casual plagiarism ten years after the fact, but YOU UNDERESTIMATED YOUR AUDIENCE, HORIKOSHI

“joke’s on you imma just lampshade it” WELL ALL RIGHT THEN

“look at me I’m so fucking self-aware” fucking swear to god. I can’t believe this man is my favorite mangaka of all time smdh

“excuse me, I wasn’t finished describing all the rest of this bullshit yet,” Rat Principal breaks in impatiently. “we also added a steel wall all around the underground of the campus that’s 3000 steel plates thick. that’s fifteen fucking meters of solid fucking steel just fyi. and if anyone fucks around with any part of it the defense system will activate immediately! and also all of the plates are independently motorized, whatever the fuck that means!! in conclusion you’re gonna need a fucking tower crane to suspend all of your disbelief by the time I’m through with this paragraph”

“also Shiketsu is almost as reinforced as U.A. but not quite because we still had to make sure we were better.” but of course. and apparently the two schools are connected via a secret tunnel as Hagakure mentioned earlier

LSDKFJLSDKJFLK

“WAIT WHAT” LMAO YOU HEARD HIM, NOW INASA CAN VISIT YOU BOTH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND TELL YOU ALL ABOUT THE WEIRD DREAM HE HAD. GOD BLESS YOU HORIKOSHI

(ETA: moment of appreciation for Shouto and Katsuki having the same thought at the same time and making Knowing Eye Contact and saying the exact same thing out loud in perfect unison like the best friends they are. what a blessed day.)

so Tokoyami is all “but wait if you engineered all this shit all the way back during the Band arc how did you even know that Tomura’s quirk awakening would become a thing, Horikoshi -- uh, I mean, Principal Nezu”

and Rat Principal is all “lol idk”

“basically I just woke up one morning and was all ‘say, you know what this school really needs? a fifteen-meter-thick underground steel wall, and the ability to break up into little pieces that individually zoom around wherever the fuck they want.’ jesus christ. lol if money and common sense were apparently no obstacle why didn’t you just teleport U.A. to the fucking moon or something. maybe I should shut up before I given him any ideas

dsfaelkjldkjgl

you heard it here first, folks, all of this cost a grand total of nine million U.S. dollars. well technically it cost “more than” nine million dollars. never has that distinction been more important lmao. are we sure this barrier was really made of steel and not cardboard? who the hell sold it to them, Ea-Nasir??

this is my favorite manga series of all time. yes I am ashamed

“in conclusion please do your best to reach Deku-kun” SO WHAT WAS ALL THAT NONSENSE ABOUT IT BEING TOO RISKY THEN. anyway thank you for this super informative and edifying flashback, Horikoshi. I will cherish it always. I don’t even want to read another translation of this absurdity lmao, there’s something special about it just the way it is. pretty sure Horikoshi just had a cracked out fever dream one night and transferred it to the pages of the manga verbatim

anyway so back to the unruly mob

not their finest moment. please excuse me while I cover poor Deku’s ears and give him a good shoosh pap

oh wow the parents are out here too

is Mitsuki trying to hold Inko back?? that’s the last thing this fandom needs right now is more Mitsuki discourse fffwlkjs. and even Jiroudad, scientifically proven to be the best dad in all of BnHA, is just standing there silently looking vaguely unhappy. way to rise to the moment you guys

MONOMA

so this settles it for me that Aizawa is not at UA. I know a lot of people have been wondering about his whereabouts, and if I had to wager a guess it would be that something happened with Shirakumo/Kurogiri. I can’t think of anything else -- even the loss of an eye and a limb -- that would keep him from his kids at a time like this

anyway but this is excellent Monoma content right here though. I love that he apparently adopted Eri after a single interaction with her. also WHERE IS SHINSOU DAMMIT. THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW

and Kouta’s there too looking like he wants to run over to Deku but Ragdoll won’t let him :/

it’s gotta be pretty upsetting for him to see his hero like this and not having anyone stand up for him. [taps megaphone] IS THIS THING ON. OKAY YEAH IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING. AHEM. PAGING URARAKA OCHAKO. GONNA NEED YOU TO GET OVER HERE ALREADY AND MAKE THAT BIG DRAMATIC SPEECH WHICH YOU ARE CLEARLY DYING TO MAKE. IF YOU DON’T DO IT SOON I’M GONNA HAVE TO STEP IN, AND YOU REALLY DON’T WANT ME TO DO THAT SINCE MY SPEECH WILL NOT BE VERY GOOD OR INSPIRING, AND WILL PROBABLY JUST CONSIST OF “HELLO, YOU ARE ALL STUPID, PLEASE SHUT UP AND GO AWAY”

so now Mic is telling them to calm down. at least someone’s speaking up here, geez

OH MY GOD

MY MAN JEANIST OUT HERE DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST: MAKING EVERYONE FEEL GUILTY AND JUDGED

OH MY GOD HE IS GIVING SUCH A LONG AND BORING SPEECH LMAO IS YOUR STRATEGY TO PUT THEM ALL TO SLEEP OR WHAT

truly in awe of this man’s ability to take messages which could easily be conveyed in ELI5-speak, and stubbornly convert them into incomprehensible language the likes of which you need a graduate degree in order to understand

“hey guys, so originally our plan was to use Deku as bait for the villains, but that didn’t really work and also we realized it was kinda dumb and was probably gonna get him killed, so we brought him back here instead.” was that really so hard, Jeanist. also are we all really just gonna sit back here and watch Jeanist take full credit for Bakugou’s plan just like that lmao

(ETA:

WHERE DID ENDEAVOR GO AND WHO IS THIS DIABOLICAL MASTER OF DISGUISE. lol I genuinely didn’t notice this because I was too busy digging through thesauruses trying to rewrite Jeanist’s speech; many thanks to @class1akids​ for pointing it out and making my day immeasurably better. take it easy there Dick Tracy.)

“anyway so please stop being dicks and let him fucking rest so he can save all your ungrateful asses” what an impassioned and inspiring plea. time to see if the masses will listen to reason

narrator: they did not listen to reason

oh my god finally Ochako is doing something. YEAH OCHAKO WOOOO SHOW THEM HOW IT’S DONE

hmm

this entire chapter is truly and utterly nonsensical to me lol

(ETA: on my second readthrough I’m fucking dying at how she stole the megaphone right out of Mic’s hand lmao. and how Kacchan is all “fuck yeah nothing I appreciate more than some quality fucking larceny.”)

oh I see she was jumping on top of the main building so as to scream down at them all more impressively

“ANYWAY DEKU IS PRETTY COOL ACTUALLY, YOU GUYS ARE JUST MEAN” couldn’t have said it better myself Ochako

lol uh

gotta say I did not have “Ochako reveals the secret of OFA to the entire U.A. Citizen Clown Parade” on my bingo card for this week. it’s a bold strategy cotton let’s see if it pays off

SDLFKJSL

“NO, SERIOUSLY, HAVE YOU LOOKED AT HIM YOU GUYS. YOU THINK HE LIKES RUNNING AROUND DRESSED LIKE A RUSTED OIL DRUM?? HE DID THAT FOR YOU YOU UNGRATEFUL SLOBS”

so she is basically explaining the entire Deku Angst arc to them and explaining what a good and selfless protagonist Deku is, YES, PREACH

OMG IT’S THE GIGANTIC FOX LADY

not to insinuate anything, but what exactly were you doing standing out here with the hysterical mob, Gigantic Fox Lady? you’re better than that

-- KACCHAN SIGHTING!!

sdlkfjl. thanks for weighing in with that helpful and important observation. where have you been for the last five minutes. were you asleep. was it Jeanist’s speech

never mind, now he’s yelling at the civilians so I instantly forgive him

THE FUTURE NUMBER ONE HERO, EVERYONE. THANK YOU, THANK YOU. HE’LL BE HERE ALL WEEK

“anyway so I’m just going to end the chapter here” lmao seventeen pages truly do go by so fast. at least he didn’t try to force in a cliffhanger at the end this time. dare I say, growth

so I guess the civilians are either gonna have a Kamino and/or Fukuoka-esque moment where they remember how to be decent people and apologize to this poor young man, or else they’ll remain unpersuaded, and so Kacchan will have to knock a few of their heads around until they become more inclined to be reasonable. either option is fine by me lol

[emjee]

so you wanted to like Bridgerton

…but you couldn’t get past the gender politics/massive consent issues/rich people/crime of wearing stays with no shift underneath/insert your reason here.

Behold, I present to you this list of some of my favorite romance novels categorized by my own reactions that mayhap you share:

(But first, a note: I have read all of the books on this list, but in some cases it has been quite a while, so I’m not going to list content warnings because I frankly don’t remember all of them. I recommend checking Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, author websites (KJ Charles has her content warnings listed by book), and reviews if you’re concerned. If you DM me about specific books I can also do a quick search and give you an answer.)

(Actually, a second note: Please obtain these books through means that support the authors as well as small business, if possible. If audiobooks are your thing, check out libro.fm, which allows you to support an indie bookstore through digital audio purchases. If you prefer paper, order from an indie if you can--The Ripped Bodice is a romance-only bookstore that has paper copies of authors who can be hard to find in paper elsewhere, like KJ Charles. Where you have to get your ebooks depends on what your device is, but please pay for them. If you can’t or don’t want to, (which is fair!) check and see if you library uses Libby and/or Hoopla, which allow you to borrow ebooks as well as audiobooks. I believe Libby and Hoopla is only available in the US, but I might be wrong.) 

I’m not going to do a summary for every book because this post is already long enough but I’m happy to answer questions about any of them!

If you liked the brotherly shenanigans, but weren’t into the weird controlling thing Anthony had going on:

The Turner Series by Courtney Milan (Unveiled, Untamed, and Unraveled) is about Ash, Smite, and Mark Turner, three brothers who have made it through life so far by relying on each other. If you want schemes and revenge on rich people, start with Unveiled. If you want to read about a law professional who actually cares about justice, start with Unraveled. If you want a book-length purity culture takedown, start with Untamed.

The Brothers Sinister Series by Courtney Milan (The Duchess War, The Heiress Effect, The Countess Conspiracy, and The Suffragette Scandal) listen Courtney Milan’s just really good at brothers and sibling relationships in general. If you want a duke who’s a class traitor, start with The Duchess War. If you want politics and wild fashion, start with The Heiress Effect. If you want friends-to-lovers plus SCIENCE! start with The Countess Conspiracy. If you want the best suffragist newspaperwoman ever to appear in fiction and the forger who falls in love with her, start with The Suffragette Scandal.

If you were very happy to see people of color in an English historical drama, but have some reservations about the way it was handled (see this video about colorism, racebaiting, and implicit bias in Bridgerton):

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian (this one’s gay)

After the Wedding by Courtney Milan (this one has a bi heroine)

An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles (also gay)

The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan

Wanted, a Gentleman by KJ Charles (also gay)

Unfit to Print by KJ Charles (also gay)

If you were like “none of these members of the aristocracy are sufficiently embarrassed that they’re members of the aristocracy”:

The Soldier’s Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian (also this one’s gay)

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian (this one has a bi heroine)

The Duchess War by Courtney Milan  

The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan (The Duke Who Didn’t, also falls under this category)

If you thought, “actually I’ve decided I’m not interested in the aristocracy, no matter how embarrassed they are”

Try anything by Rose Lerner, especially Sweet Disorder, True Pretenses, and Listen to the Moon.

If you thought, “dear God please just use your words and talk about sex” (a.k.a. books about women who are DTF):

A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian (this one also includes a bi for bi main pairing, and every single main character is queer)

Gilded Cage by KJ Charles (this one has a bi heroine)

Extra shoutout to The Duchess War, listed above, for A+ communication between the two protagonists about the sex they do and don’t want to have.

If you did kind of agree with “reformed rakes make the best husbands”:

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian (also gay)

Band Sinister by KJ Charles (actually very little reformation goes on here, which makes it better, trust me, and gay as hell)

If you were like “yeah yeah can we get back to Benedict and this artist guy? Is it too much to want them to make out?” (a.k.a. this is the section for queer books I haven’t already mentioned)

Anything by Cat Sebastian and KJ Charles, with honorable mentions for:

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian

The Society of Gentlemen Series by KJ Charles (A Fashionable Indulgence, A Seditious Affair, and A Gentleman’s Position)  - extra shoutout for the research that went into this series and how historical events directly impact the plot and the characters’ decisions, it’s really quite masterful.

I have also heard wonderful things about Olivia Waite’s The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Navigation and The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows, but I haven’t had a chance to check those out for myself yet.

You actually kind of liked the costumes, but you would like to read about historically accurate wild fashion in which everyone wears the proper linings under their stays and corsets really dear Lord is it too much to ask:

The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan. The wild outfits are a plot point, trust me, and have historical basis to boot.

These books are concentrated on nineteenth century England, because that’s when Bridgerton is set. (Courtney Milan’s books are Victorian, not Regency, but they’re going on the list because I said so, Netflix Adapt Courtney Milan Next And Do Not Mess It Up challenge 2k21). If you’re looking for non-England-set romance novels in any of these categories, hit me up and I will see what I can find.

“Hey MG, this list is made up of like…the same four authors.” Yes, alas, I have grown wildly picky about my romance novels in the last few years and this is the core of what I know well enough to confidently recommend.

I’d love to hear what people think of these!

[into-september]

Okay, but what if S4+5 is about all the miraculous holders gradually discovering each other, like -

Alya is obviously going to be told about everyone, and she'd seen through Carapace already. Nino knows about her, and let's be real, she has a history of leaking Marinette's secrets to him. The rest of them all have SOME kind of special connection to someone else and they just. Gradually, one by one, guesses are made, veiled questions are halfway asked and answered in careful looks. Identities are passed on, until they're all in the know somehow.

Someone at some point rubs the brain cells together and figures out that Ladybug probably knows all of them and also Kagami and Luka and Marc and oh yeah, bluebell eyes and pigtails.

(it's probably Markov)

So here they are, the miraculous gang, tasked with saving the city and fighting the supervillain and worst of all: keeping this all secret from the only one in their class who isn't part of the club.

You know.

The boy who is lonely and isolated, who wants nothing more than to spend time with his friends, who is gentle and kind and sunshine personified and they have to keep him out of the loop.

The conversations gracelessly changing topic when he walks up to them. The meaningful looks behind his back. The secret chat where nearly all class communication eventually migrates, leaving the official group chat an abandoned shopping mall where most of what little traffic remains is just senseless conversations carried over from the superhero one whenever someone remember that that's supposed to be about miraculous business only. The awkward class outings and band practices where nobody really knows what to talk about because the important part is planning how to smoke out Hawkmoth but they can't have that conversation with Adrien around.

The hanging out with him one-on-one and being so used to everything being about miraculouses and kwamis these days that you just don't quite know how to talk to a peer whose life is absolutely normal.

Nino is a wreck.

Rose petitions Marinette to hit up Su-Han to maybe borrow a miraculous from one of the other boxes for him.

Kagami is probably the person dealing the best, since she is at least fully capable of talking fencing with him.

Ivan allegedly can't lie to save his life but poor, sheltered Adrien is so used to Marinette's weird behaviour that he takes Ivan's awkwardness in stride and thinks that sure, this is normal.

Chloé doesn't see the problem of letting Adrien in on it when she can be even if she no longer has a miraculous.

And all the while, Marinette is just nope, no way, we are not telling Adrien anything. One civilian knowing is one too many and she knows for a fact that he wouldn't be able to keep this secret

(when Luka mentions the battle against Desperada, he is very firmly shot down because that was that and this is something completely different)

The girls are like: Marinette, is this because you're still -

Marinette: NO.

The angst is real. The guilt over the betrayal, the communal secrecy, the fact that their lives have fundamentally changed and cannot ever be what they were - and where does Adrien fit into that? How can Adrien fit into that when their entire group dynamic is about a colossal secret that they can never share with him? When will he notice? Is he noticing already? Because they are noticing that no matter how hard they try, Adrien's trivial problems about homework and piano lessons and his stupid dad are just - so, so very unimportant. They don't have time for this.

And Marinette, Ladybug, the one who maybe loved him better than any of them, remains adamant. They absolutely cannot pull any civillians into this. They can't risk the safety of the city because they're sentimental about a friendship. This is ultimately for everyone's best, including Adrien's. She knows her way around miraculouses, there's a reason Adrien doesn't have one. She won't budge.

But in the evenings, she stares wistfully at her cork board, never uttering a word about her thoughts to Tikki.

And so days and weeks pass into months, and the fight continues. Their friendship is stronger than ever, but day for day, battle for battle, one of them is being left behind. Where they are going, he can't come along.

Meanwhile Tikki, Wayzz and Sass:

[idkthisisjustforfanfic]

that makes four.

story page | talk to me + join the tag list

PART 2

The first days of Harry staying at your house were overshadowed by Maeve’s 5th grade spelling bee victory. The fake gold medal was a mainstay around her neck for a new nights at the dinner table until she eventually forgot about it.

Luckily enough, neither of your daughters seemed to be thrown too off kilter by his presence. Maeve was just young enough to not know much about who Harry was or the band he’d been in--though she was ready and willing to brag about having a celebrity around.

CeCe--in true sibling rivalry fashion--decided to draw her own medal with crayons and ask you to cut it out so she could wear it around the house. If Maeve gets one, so do I.

With potholders on and the oven door open, you apologized. “I can’t right now, honey--give mommy a few minutes and I’ll help you.”

Harry materialized at the bottom of the stairs, eyebrows raised when he said: “What do you need, CeCe?”

“I have to cut this out!” She said excitedly, running over to the drawer where the scissors were kept. She whipped them out and turned around quickly, Harry’s eyes bulging out of his head when he hurried over to grab them from her.

“I’ll cut, you watch,” he laughed, exchanging a look with you when CeCe climbed up to sit at the island. She hummed in agreement, handed over the paper and watched as he lined it up to start snipping.

“CeCe,” he said her name inquisitively. “Is CeCe short for anything?”

“Cecilia Rose L/N,” she smiled. “Pretty, right?”

“Very pretty,” he smiled. “Same last name as your mum.”

The last part of his sentence was a statement, a quick glance in your direction when you turned off the oven and shouted towards the stairs. “Maeve! Dinner’s ready!”

Your call went unanswered into the big house--you had no clue where she was or if she’d heard you. When Harry finished cutting out the paper medal, he handed it to CeCe who beamed with pride and put it around her neck.

Hands on your hips, “CeCe, will you please find your sister and tell her dinner is ready?”

She took one big breath and then screamed, “MAEVE!”

Both you and Harry flinched at the noise but laughed. She held onto Harry’s arm when she hopped down from the stool, shaking her head in disappointment. “Good god that girl,” she huffed, heading to climb the stairs when she yelled again: Maeve!!!! Dinner!!!!

“She’s a handful tonight,” you said, almost feeling guilty as her footsteps stomped on the floor overhead. “Thank you for that, though,” you said, motioning to the scissors in his hand. “Want a glass of wine?”

“S’not against the rules?” He teased.

When you shot him a look, he smirked and let out a laugh. “I’ll gladly take one. It’s fine, though. She was ready to stab someone flinging the scissors around like that.”

“They just had scissor safety in art class not too long ago.” You told him, pulling the cork from an already open bottle of red. “Sometimes I think she barely listens to anyone--she just does her own thing.”

“Not the worst way to be,” he smiled, picked up the glass when you slid it over on the granite. An awkward beat when he took a sip, smiled in your direction when you did the same. You could hear Maeve and CeCe fighting upstairs, offered him another guilty smile, but then he asked: “do you plan on changing your name?”

“My last name?”

“Yeah--L/N is your married name, right?”

It felt a bit nosy, a bit intrusive for the fourth night he was sleeping under your roof. You shrugged your shoulders casually, unsure how to answer. “Just haven’t gotten to it.”

He’d been quiet so far, out most of the day once the girls were gone for school and he’d return before dinner. Kept to himself--or at least out of the way--and was always helpful when he could be. Bringing groceries in? He carried a few. Needed a hand with clearing plates after dinner? He would gladly help.

Maeve and CeCe came rushing downstairs and were more willing to do the gratitude thing than they usually were, forks in hand when Maeve turned to you. “Oh, by the way, Auntie Shelli is taking us out for dinner tomorrow night.”

“She is?” You smiled at Maeve. “I haven’t heard about that.”

“She promised last week, she said Friday.”

“Okay, well I can check with her.”

“Are you doing anything tomorrow night?” Maeve asked.

“Not a thing,” you said, shaking your head. You’d been looking forward to it all week--maybe a bath and a glass of wine, maybe even a movie if you were feeling adventurous. Zoey was typically after you to do something: dinner, come hold Benny for an hour while she took a shower. You were totally up for helping a friend, but it’d been a minute since you had some me-time and if Jeff’s mom had already offered to babysit, you weren’t going to say no.

CeCe turned to Harry excitedly. “What are you doing tomorrow night? Are you coming to dinner?”

He smiled in her direction but shook his head. “I’m actually going over to a friend’s house.”

“What friend?”

“CeCe,” you laughed, embarrassed by her prying. “He doesn’t have to run everything by you, you know.”

“I know,” she said simply as she shrugged her shoulders innocently. “Just thought maybe it was one of my friends. I don’t know if we have the same friends.”

Harry laughed at this and smiled when you rolled your eyes. “I don’t think you know her.”

You watched Harry for a second, wondered if it was a girlfriend or something of the sort--Jeff hadn’t mentioned anything like that. Why couldn’t he stay there, with that friend?

“Well you should come with us and Auntie Shelli one day,” Maeve said. “We usually get ice cream and she lets us get a bunch of toppings and she doesn’t even care if we’ve had dinner yet.”

You let out a short laugh, the details of their time with family members always slipped out when you least expected it. “He’s busy, girls, remember?”

Harry shrugged, “we could get ice cream soon.”

You looked up at him, forked into a bite of dinner and said quietly: you don’t have to.

He didn’t--Harry didn’t owe you or your daughters anything except common decency and kindness. Helping you clean up after dinner or bring in the groceries was enough of a repayment for a guest room and his own bathroom.

“Maybe next week?” He ignored your comment and smiled at the girls.

“Next week!” CeCe chirped back, brushing her hair out of her face with a grin.

You figured they’d forget--swept up by the excitement of something else by the time next week rolled around and Harry would be off the hook. You smiled in his direction, apologetically and pleading, but it wasn’t until the next night that you realized he was serious.

Jeff’s mom had picked Maeve and CeCe up, you had just poured a glass of wine and went to sit in your office to go over any unread emails when he knocked on the door.

“Hey,” he offered a smile, leaned against the wall and put his hands in his pockets.

“Hi,” you turned to see him, unsure what he wanted or why he was popping in. “What’s up?”

“Uh, just wanted to let you know that my plans fell through--so, I’m just gonna be home--here I mean.”

His correction was quick, a subtle misstep through words.

You pressed your lips into a thin line, nodded slowly as you took in the information. He’d be here--in your house and just hanging out. While you had planned for a quiet night, having one other person somewhere in the house wouldn’t kill you, right? Maybe he’d lock himself away in his room and leave you to your emails, then you’d slip upstairs and end the night with a bath before your children returned with a sugar high and stories for days.

“Okay,” you said. A pause when he nodded, looked at you and then down to the floor.

“Do you want to have a drink?”

“I’ve got one,” you lifted your glass and then faltered. “Oh, together--sure, yeah.”

He held back a laugh, motioned for you to lead the way once you stood up from your desk. He trailed you back through the living room and into the kitchen, got himself a wine glass when you found the bottle you’d already started on the counter.

Was this weird? You couldn’t tell. The house was quiet and for a moment it felt like neither of you knew what to say when the only sound was the cork coming out of the bottle.

“I can venmo you for groceries, too, since m’drinking your wine.” He lifted it and poured, you watched the liquid rise in the glass until he looked up at you, waiting for a reply.

“No, it’s fine.”

“M’eating your food, drinking your wine, sleeping in your house,” he let out a laugh but put the stopper back in. “I feel like I could at least pay you back for some--” he looked down at the bottle and studied the label, “cabernet.”

You pulled out a barstool and sat, a sigh when you waved him off. “S’fine--I’m still making my way through the sorry your dad died and sorry your husband left you bottles.”

His lips pulled up at the side when yours did too. “Where do they make those grapes?”

“Somewhere far away from here,” you nodded, a long sip from your own glass when he moved to sit beside you.

“So how much did Jeff have to beg you to let me stay here?”

You looked over at him, hesitant to admit your own reluctance. You knew he and Jeff were close--you’d long been hearing stories about their nights out or big wins as a team. You’d even been invited to the release party for Harry’s first solo album, but you couldn’t find a babysitter and back then your ex couldn’t be bothered.

“I got a few pleading text messages after he first brought it up,” you smiled.

He laughed and nodded. “Well, it’s a big help. My house is over in Malibu but s’not ready yet--the only guestroom in Jeff’s house shares a wall with the master and something about that felt...weird.”

You narrowed your eyes at him playfully. “You didn’t want to hear Jeff and random women hooking up?”

“Not in the slightest,” he shook his head and bit back a smile. “Figured I’d stay with his parents for a bit but then Irv and Shelli told me they loved me but their rules are strict: their children, grandchildren, and your children. Those are their only guests.”

You nodded, it wasn’t news to you. “One time my dad stayed over after a party and Irv almost hit him with a golf club in the morning because he’d forgotten who was on the couch.”

“Yeah, so, sounds like a good idea that I’m here.” Quiet again when he moved the glass around, then he said: “you know, I would be happy to take them to ice cream or something one night--give you a minute to yourself.”

You smiled, the offer was sweet and apparently he had no idea that he’d just ruined your one chance this week to have that. “You really don’t have to--I’m sorry that they’re so...fascinated by you.”

“No, they’re great, very sweet. Maybe I can tag along when Jeff watches them next and learn the ropes.”

You nodded, reassured by his understanding that watching them would take skill. “There’s a lot to learn, they can be quite the handful sometimes.”

“Yeah?” he tilted his head. “Tell me more about them.”

The way he looked at you stirred a feeling in your chest that you couldn’t quite place. Maybe it was just the fact that he seemed interested enough to ask about them, he already seemed more invested than their father had been over the last year. You also would never turn down an opportunity to humble-brag about the tiny humans you'd created.

“Well, Maeve is pretty straight-edge. She’s always cared a lot about school and she likes it--which is weird, cause she didn’t get that from me and she definitely didn’t get it from my ex-husband. Like, she actually gets excited to come home and do her homework.”

He laughed, sipped from his glass and said: “Right, I’m sure she didn’t get her drive and determination from her mother who started her own successful business.”

You brushed off the compliment with a roll of your eyes and a laugh. “The weird preteen-angst thing is new, though. I have no idea if that’s because of losing my dad or losing hers,” you picked at a thread on your sleeve.

He was quiet for a moment, like he didn’t know what to say to that.

“And CeCe,” you saved him the trouble, “she’s a fireball. She is so strong-willed it actually makes me nervous about when she’s a teenager. She might actually drive to Vegas and get married or something. It’s just her world and we’re living in it.”

His dimples appeared on his cheeks when you shrugged. “Well, you’ve clearly done something right with them. Jeff's always loved being an uncle."

“I appreciate that,” you said honestly, a pause before you admitted: “My ex was never that hands on.”

“Right,” he nodded. “Is that why things ended?”

You let out a short laugh, again unsure if you were sharing too much. Would you wake up and regret the fact that you'd poured a glass of wine, and apparently your deepest secrets, all out on display?

“That, along with the fact that he was cheating on me for a good 18 months, I think.”

“Wow,” he nodded slowly, his lips pushed out in thought when he dropped your gaze. “What a dick.”

“Yeah, better I found out now than later on, I guess.”

“So that and losing your dad this year--”

“Yeah it’s been shitty,” you cut him off, another sip of your wine to avoid having to say more. He looked at your glass, now nearing empty, and reached for the bottle.

“Then you definitely deserve another one of these,” he laughed, fingers pulling the cork out again. “No wonder you got so many sympathy wine bottles.”

He poured himself another too, eventually he followed you into your dad’s old office when he asked what hid behind the mystery door on the first floor.

It was the only room you hadn’t redone yet, something about keeping his records on the book shelves and his papers on the desk felt like it kept him here. He’d chosen the green for the walls and you apologized when Harry’s eyebrows shot up at the sight.

“Great man,” you nodded, turning on a light switch, “terrible decorating taste.”

Harry nodded slowly, wine glass still in hand and a smirk fighting it’s way onto his face. “S’a bright color, yeah.”

He let out a laugh when he made eye contact with you, a disapproving look on your face when you walked over to the desk. “All these strewn about--probably some important information about you over here somewhere.”

He came over and lifted a paper. “Harry Styles is one of the most thoughtful, caring, and funny people I know.”

“Really?” You tugged at his arm to get a better view of the paper. Your dad’s handwriting was almost illegible, a date scribbled on top and another few words halfway down the small notebook page, nothing about Harry and nothing that seemed all that important.

“I hope that’s what he thought of me,” Harry smiled, his eyes flickered to where you still had a grip around his wrist. “Your nails are digging into me.”

“Sorry,” you pulled back immediately. “Sometimes I have to grab CeCe like that in the store or she runs off.”

He kept your gaze for a second, but it felt uncomfortable and made you nervous, so you cleared your throat. “Feel free to come in here and use this stuff,” you motioned over to the piano and the guitars he had in stands. “No one uses it, so--it’d be good for it to get played.”

“You don’t play anything?”

You shook your head. “No--he’d started to teach me guitar when I was young but then my mom died, just never picked it up again.”

You were thirteen when it happened, a car accident on the 405 and you didn’t go to school for weeks. Your dad had always been your main support--they divorced when you were ten--but after that you grew even closer, which is why losing him was so hard. He’d been a friend and a parent and the best grandfather who helped pick up the pieces when things with Luke started to crumble.

Harry was quiet, a simple nod when he went over to the piano and sat. You felt the need to shift the topic of conversation to something less depressing than the unfortunate events of your life.

“Are you writing a lot for the album still?”

“Yeah--we’ve got a few things written that might end up on it, but, mostly just experimenting with some new sounds.”

He pressed a chord down on the piano and looked up at you. “How do Maeve and CeCe seem to be handling it all?”

“Which part?”

“Both.”

You shrugged. “They’ve asked a lot about where their father is and why he hasn’t visited. And they understand that their grandpa is gone, but they’re sad, I think. CeCe’s had more nightmares than usual.”

He smiled a little. “And how are you doing with all of it?”

You let out a tiny laugh, mostly out of discomfort with the sudden seriousness in his voice and the way he already pulled more out of you than you’d planned. “I’m fine.”

He lifted his brows but played another progression of chords. “Wouldn’t blame you if you’re not.”

You took a sip of the cabernet and watched as he hummed along to whatever he played. When he looked up at you and waited for a reply, you smiled. “Some days I want to pull my hair out and others I need a good glass of wine. I kind of oscillate between those two lately.”

“Well, I’m always happy to split a bottle with you.”

You nodded, tried to fight the smile on your face when he laughed but then gave in. “Good.”

**

You woke up the next morning with a bit of a headache from the third and unexpected glass of wine. The girls were home by 9pm and unfortunately for you, the weekend was busy with play dates and birthday parties and grocery shopping.

Monday had you back in the office and recounting the first week to Tristan over an iced latte and a breakfast sandwich you’d grabbed after school drop off. Now it was cold and you were approaching the mid-day slump you were all too familiar with.

“I just can’t believe you’re alive still, to be honest. You know--seeing as you thought he’d be a serial killer or something.”

You looked over at him with narrowed eyes. “I didn’t think he was a serial killer.”

“Just a pedophile?”

“Alright,” you waved him off. “I can admit that it’s been fine--good, even. It’s only been a week, though.”

“Right,” he shrugged. “Halfway there. Maybe week two is when he goes crazy.”

You ignored the teasing from your friend and looked back to your computer. “Do you know if Kailee ordered the new bottles for the matcha face mask?”

“Yesterday afternoon,” he nodded. “And we also got the labels in for them as well. They ship off to the packaging plant on Tuesday.”

“Good, and numbers are up from last quarter which is really good. The meeting with the investors should go well.”

“Yeah, I mean, our entire profit has doubled since this time last year,” he smiled in your direction, a subtle reminder that the late night emails on top of the worst year ever had already proven to be worth it. “You should be very proud.”

“I am,” you admitted. “Of us. All of us.”

“Yes, what kind of boss would you be if you took all of the credit?” He teased.

“A bad one, but I’m also the type of boss that leaves at lunch time to go home and change since I have a meeting this afternoon that I forgot all about.”

He looked you up and down when you stood.

“It’s with people from Anthropologie about carrying some of our products in store--so I don’t think I can wear athleisure.”

He laughed and kept typing. “Fair enough. See you at 2pm, though, for the website meeting?”

“Yes,” you promised as you grabbed your keys. “Please don’t let the place burn down while I’m gone.”

“Might throw the match myself,” he waved you off, a laugh at his own joke when you headed for the elevator.

You were proud of the company you’d built and the office you’d been able to purchase two years back, but you were more proud of the energy that buzzed through the halls and the people who made work feel less like work and more like the adventure of a lifetime. You tried to be the cool boss who brought enough coffee for everyone, gave good time off but still expected hard work and drive to be the core of the business.

It took a while to settle into the role, though. At first you were sure you’d be seen as a spoiled rich kid who got a loan from her father to start a company--but it only took one year to repay him when you started getting placements in health food markets across LA. When Kourtney Kardashian posted something about your raspberry toner, the rest was history.

You’d always been passionate about making people feel good about themselves and focused your entire brand on building people up, not tearing them down. The world had enough of that as a mother of two daughters, you hoped it’d be something that would change that narrative, at least for them.

The drive home was quick and the sun was shining, which put a pep in your step as you hopped out of the car in the driveway and headed for the side door.

Harry’s car was still here--you’d left earlier than usual but didn’t expect him to be home. If anything, you figured he’d left shortly after you and planned on staying late in the studio. Jeff had mentioned something about laying down new tracks.

“Hello?” You called into the kitchen and looked around, he wasn’t in the living room or out by the pool. You found a laundry basket at the top of the second floor and figured that maybe someone had picked him up, but the sound of muffled singing pulled you down the hall and closer to his guest room.

The door was cracked only a bit, the sun streamed in from the windows and you could hear the running water of the shower. It was wrong, maybe, but you pushed the door open and stepped inside, smiled to yourself at the fact that he was singing a Carole King song that your dad used to play on repeat when you were a kid.

The room was clean--you hadn’t been in it since you’d pointed out the linen closet in the bathroom and showed him how to use the TV remote. His bed was made--maybe not the way you would have made it but the throw pillows were arranged in a way that showed he tried.

A buzzing on the dresser pulled your attention away from the bed. His phone, a message from someone named Bria Whitmore. Another message, then a third. You took a step closer--who on earth was texting him this much without a reply? A girlfriend? Someone he probably slept with or something of the sort.

“Hi,” his voice pulled your head around quickly and sent your heartbeat through the roof.

“Jesus, hi--sorry--I was just--”

He was in a towel, the fabric wrapped loosely around his waist and hair was slicked back from the water. You looked away from the tattoos that littered his skin and looked down at the laundry basket.

“I was just seeing if you had any laundry you needed me to do?”

It was clean, but he didn’t need to know that.

“M’good,” he smiled like he didn’t believe you. “Why are you home?”

“Had to change--forgot about a meeting,” you let out a laugh and tried to slow your pulse. “Figured the pilates mom look wasn’t the right vibe.”

He nodded, moved around you in the center of the room to pull out a t-shirt from a drawer. You saw him look down at the cell phone you’d been eyeing.

“Your phone went off,” you admitted, the laundry basket still pressed up against your hip.

“Yeah?” He smirked over his shoulder.

“I was just making sure it wasn’t an emergency--I wasn’t, like, snooping.”

A dimple appeared on his left cheek again, he tugged the fabric over his head and then shook out his hair.

“S’not an emergency,” he said. “Just a friend.”

You didn’t know if that was code. Were twenty-somethings calling their booty-calls friends now? You figured you’d ask Tristan later.

“Why are you home?” You tossed the question back at him.

“Schedule changed--went for a run after breakfast and now just, showering, y’know,” he looked down at the towel that separated you from an even more awkward moment.

“Right, sorry, I...am leaving,” you pointed to the door. “Changing, back to the office, home tonight.”

“Sounds good,” he smiled. “Figured I could make dinner, if you wanted. I make a mean chicken taco.”

You took a few steps backwards to the door. “You cook?”

“I do,” he smiled. “Hard to believe?”

“No,” you shook your head. “That would be great--if you want, but you don’t have to.”

“I’d love to,” he nodded. “I’ll see you tonight, Y/N.”

“With more clothes,” you smiled, immediately regretting the bad joke and the attention it drew to the stuffy air and the butterflies in your stomach.

“Definitely more clothes.”

You made a face at yourself once the door was shut, idiot. At least you hadn’t accidentally seen a picture of someone’s boobs. You were sure he got plenty of those.

You pushed the thought out of your head and thankfully Harry didn’t smirk at you too much when Jeff came to pick up the girls for ice cream the next afternoon. They hadn’t forgotten, but luckily Jeff had offered to take them out one night and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for Harry to tag along. That way he could stay true to his word and the girls would stop pestering him every time he popped down to the kitchen.

Zoey had been begging to bring the baby over to get out of the house, and now she was sitting in the other room with Benny on a play mat on the floor. Maeve, CeCe, Jeff and Harry stood in a line, eagerly awaiting the green light to pile into Jeff’s car.

“Okay, so Uncle Jeff can text me if you need anything, see you around 7pm?”

“Yes ma’am,” Jeff said, a salute in your direction that pulled a giggle from both of your daughters.

They’d been fighting more lately, CeCe tried to take the medal from Maeve’s room one night over the weekend and suddenly it was like world war three. You were shocked that they’d gotten it together enough to spend some time in each other's presence, even with Uncle Jeff chaperoning, but you were eager for the quiet and hopeful the screaming matches wouldn’t return once the ice cream and dinner date was finished.

“Love you, be nice to each other, okay?” You leaned down and used both hands to hold CeCe’s head in place when you planted a kiss on her forehead, then Maeve. A hug for Jeff, “only one ice cream cone this time.”

He laughed but obliged, you moved down the line to Harry, an awkward nod in his direction when you realized that whatever type of acquaintanceship had slowly started to bloom between the two of you was hardly grounds for a kiss on the forehead or even a hug.

He apparently sensed this too, a playful smile on his face when he lifted his brows. “No farewell for me?”

Jeff let out a quick laugh but Maeve and CeCe took off for the car, racing to see who could get out the front door fastest. “Alright, don’t kill each other,” you reminded again, waved them all off with an embarrassed smirk and then watched as Harry helped CeCe buckle into her booster seat.

“So,” Zoey appeared beside you, Benny in her arms as she looked out the window. “Seems like things are going well.”

“Yeah,” you shrugged casually. “He’s been nice.”

“He seems friendly,” she wiggled her brows when she met your gaze. “Flirty friendly.”

“Just friendly,” you laughed and headed for the kitchen to pour yourself a drink. It might have only been Tuesday, but the week promised to be a busy one. You wiped up a runaway drip of wine on the rim, fully aware the words about to leave your mouth would push Zoey into gear. “But I did see him shirtless yesterday.”

“That sounds amazing,” she shifted Benny in her arms, eagerness in her voice. “How was it?”

“I mean--he also caught me snooping in his room, sort of.”

“Sort of?”

You tried to downplay it. “I came home from work in the middle of the day to change and I heard him in the shower--which is weird cause I didn’t think he’d be home.”

“So you went in there?”

“Not the bathroom--I just peeked into his room and noticed it was really clean. Which is weird, right? He’s a kid!”

“He’s not a kid,” she rolled her eyes at you. “Your kids are kids. He’s twenty-four. I looked it up.”

Your eyes were wide when you turned to head for the couch. “You looked it up?”

“I was curious! He’s a celebrity living in your house and he’s very attractive and you have been harping on his age.”

“Because it felt weird at first.”

“And it doesn’t now?” Her tone was hopeful when she laid Benny back on his play mat and kneeled beside him.

You took a gulp from your wine glass. “Less weird, but only because he’s mature. He’s helpful around the house--he cooked dinner the other night--and he’s good with the girls.”

The corner of her mouth pulled towards the ceiling, arched eyebrows when she clarified. “He’s good with the girls?”

“He’s just nice to them--I was worried that they’d annoy him. I mean, I doubt that he was excited to hear that two of his roommates were six and ten.”

“Okay--but why did you see him shirtless?”

Right--she’d gotten you off track. “Because...I went in his room and then saw his phone buzzing and then he came out and caught me looking at his phone.”

“You were looking through his phone?!”

“No! Not the actual texts, just to see who was blowing it up. I only looked at the lock screen.”

“Was he annoyed?”

“No,” you shrugged, shame laced through your voice. “He was casual. But then he put his shirt on and I left him alone and went back to work.”

“So there’s sexual tension,” she shimmied her shoulders and pulled a laugh from you, she nuzzled down into Benny’s face but then gave him a pacifier.

“No.”

This brought her gaze back to you, more serious now. “Y/N, you are not a creep if you admit that you find him attractive.”

“I can admit that he’s handsome,” you chose a new word that felt more detached. “But who cares? He’s literally just a house guest. A friend of a friend.”

“Right, but he was just flirting with you like there’s no tomorrow.”

“No he wasn’t,” you denied her accusation. When she stared at you expectantly, you took a loud sip and let the obnoxious noise ring through the now empty house as if it would preclude you from saying any more.

“You truly, seriously, one-hundred percent haven’t noticed any type of flirting?”

You averted your eyes for a second, ready to dismiss her question and tell her she was crazy. There was nothing going on between the two of you.

But then you thought on it, thought about the way he asked about Maeve and CeCe and remembered the way your stomach seemed to twist itself in knots when he smirked at you and when the dimples appeared on his cheeks.

“The look on your face is enough of an answer,” Zoey teased, bouncing side to side when Benny made a noise. “Isn’t that right, Benny Boo? Someone has a crush.”

“There’s no crush here--he’s just,” a shrug of your shoulders when you didn’t know what words to use. You didn’t want to add fuel to her fire and you certainly didn’t want to give her any more of a reason to keep bringing this topic up.

“Dreamy? Beautiful? The perfect rebound post-divorce?”

A flutter of your eyelids in annoyance when you stood to head for the kitchen. “No,” you said, making a face in her direction. “He’s just cute.”

“So cute!” She followed behind and egged you on. “A crush is perfectly harmless, a little bedtime rendezvous is totally not a big deal.”

“I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves, here, okay?”

“Oh come on,” she laughed. “You mean to tell me you haven’t already thought about if he’s good in bed?”

She came to sit next to you at the island, folding her legs beneath her. When you sipped at your wine and tried to hide a smirk, her face lit up. “I knew it, I knew it! I don’t blame you, at all, by the way. He’s gorgeous.”

“I’m just horny, number one,” you admitted, leaning forward to rest your elbow on the granite counter. “And seeing a man actually be good with kids is a breath of fresh air.”

“Yeah, Luke didn’t set the bar high with that one.”

“Absolutely not.”

A pause of silence when evening air blew through the open doors to the patio. There was music audible through the trees, wafting in from the backyard of your neighbors.

“I think you should fuck him.”

“What?!” You turned towards her quickly, your voice quieter when she smirked and looked over at you. “Are you out of your mind?”

“You have a ridiculously attractive man living in your house and he hangs out with your kids and now he’s starting to cook? It’s like a lifetime movie waiting to happen.”

“That doesn’t mean I should have sex with him!”

“Do you want to have sex with him?”

You were quiet for a second, kept her gaze but then rolled your eyes and shook your head. “I’ve had a bad year,” you made an excuse for the pulsing in your veins whenever you were alone with him. Nothing more, nothing less.

“When does he leave again?”

“I don’t know--at the end of the week, I guess. It’s not happening, so don’t get any ideas.”

“Alright,” she seemed to relent, “You do you. I just think you deserve a little feel good time.”

“That sounds gross,” you wrinkled your nose, pulling a laugh out of her.

She was able to change the topic, told you all about the way Benny was getting better at lifting his own head and he was screaming a lot less when she put him down for some tummy time. Your phone dinged, though, signalling a new text just when you were about to pull out leftovers and heat them up.

She watched when you opened it, got excited when you smirked at the screen.

“Who is it?”

You almost didn’t want to show her, but you knew she’d pry it out of your hands with force if you didn’t share. You flipped it around, watched as a smile spread across her face.

A picture of Harry and CeCe, both with sunglasses on as they ate their ice cream. Maeve and Jeff were in the background, the line at the ice cream shop down the street wasn’t too long. You were kind of surprised he was willing to go with them, wouldn't it create a buzz in the headlines?

Zoey gave you a knowing look.

“It’s just sweet.”

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t know,” you smiled a little at first, but the happiness faded from your face when you pulled yourself back to reality. “I feel stupid thinking that he’s flirting with me. He could be with a supermodel if he wanted to. One with perky boobs and who’s, like, twenty. Not someone who’s old enough to be his mom.”

“You are seven years older than him,” she made a disgusted face. “You could have been, like, his babysitter, not his mom.”

“Oh, that makes me feel so much better.”

“You’re being stupid about this!”

You paused with tupperware in your hands, turned around slowly. “I am not being dumb about not having casual sex with the popstar boyband kid living under my roof. I think not having sex with him is objectively the responsible thing to do here.”

“Why do you always have to be so responsible, though? You have been doing that forever, okay? You’re the business owner mom who’s always been incredibly family-oriented.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, not in the slightest! But you’re more than just a mom.”

You bit at your cheek and dropped her gaze, put the tupperware down from exhaustion. “I just want my children to have a normal life. I only had one parent and I thought they were going to have two and now that ship has sailed.”

She nodded sympathetically. “But that doesn’t mean you did anything wrong! You never relaxing and having a good time will only teach them bad work-life balance.”

You rolled your eyes at her comment, tried to fight the smile when she waited for you to fold. “I love you,” she said. “I want you to get laid or have a drink or let your hair down once in a while.”

You held up the wine in her face. “Already halfway there.”

She reached for the bottle of wine and shoved it towards you with skeptical eyes. “Try harder.”

You let out a laugh and took another sip once it was refilled, pushed plates into the microwave and sat there with her until Jeff’s car pulled back into the driveway and the girls came tumbling back into the house.

“Mom, Harry said he could teach me how to play guitar,” Maeve grinned up at you, an affectionate hug caught you by surprise, but so did her words.

“He did, did he?” You eyed Harry as he walked in with Jeff by his side, sunglasses still on his face despite the sun lingering just above the horizon.

“We’ll start a band,” Harry nodded in her direction, kept his eyes shielded as CeCe ran into the backyard with a noise of excitement.

“And Uncle Jeff said he’ll sing.”

“You’ll definitely get far, then,” you teased, pulling an offended look from your childhood friend. “He’s obviously the best singer in the house.”

Harry nodded in playful agreement. “Could put me out of a job any day.”

“Maeve!” CeCe called suddenly, pulling everyone’s attention to the backyard. “Come play squishball!”

Harry looked down at Maeve and she looked up at him, you were unaware of whatever unspoken communication was transpiring between them. “Should we?” He asked.

“Definitely,” she giggled, hands on her hips.

Zoey was also confused, but she watched as Maeve and Harry headed for the patio. Harry finally took his sunglasses off, handed them to your older daughter before he spoke. “CeCe, we need to have a meeting.”

“A meeting?” She asked, she groaned in disappointment but walked back towards the house, bat dragging on the grass behind her. Jeff laughed and folded his arms over his chest, unaware of whatever deal had already been struck between them.

“You two are both really great at squishball,” Harry admitted, his voice suddenly more serious than before. “But I think we need to up the stakes.”

“Up the stakes?” You could tell by the look on CeCe’s face that she had no clue what that meant.

“Winner of this game gets the medal I won from the spelling bee,” Maeve explained.

You were about to protest, head outside and discourage any type of betting or gambling or whatever the backyard made up game was leading towards, but Harry went on to explain the rules. “CeCe gets a head start running bases, just because of her tiny legs.”

Maeve nodded, “and she gets a free home run to start off.”

CeCe smiled wide and put her hands on her hips, pulling a laugh from Harry as she copied her older sister. “I like the sound of that,” she said. A sure-fire way to make her win, you realized. But what was in that for Maeve? How had your previously grumpy pre-teen become a team player in a matter of hours?

It wasn’t long before Zoey gathered up her things and put Benny in the backseat, giggling and excited yells floated in from the backyard when you hugged her goodbye. Jeff stayed past sunset and offered an excited high five when CeCe won, completely unaware at how easy they’d made it for her.

But he soon left, too, you climbed the stairs behind your two little athletes, got them washed up and in bed before it was 9pm--not bad for a weeknight. You were sure Harry would have retreated to his room, too, but he was sat by the fire pit on the patio, a near empty glass of wine in his hand when you came back out.

“Care to explain?” you leaned against the doorframe and smiled. He adjusted in his seat but shrugged his shoulders when you admitted: “I never thought I would hear the end of it with that stupid medal.”

There was a confident look on his face when he met your eyes in the glow of the fire pit. “Figured I can teach her a few chords on guitar and that would take her mind off of taunting CeCe.”

It was smart, you nodded slowly and watched him. Give Maeve something that would get her really excited, but only if she’d give up something else. Bargaining--a classic parenting trick. You eyed Harry with a level of skepticism.

“How are you so good with them?”

He smiled at that, apparently flattered by the compliment. “They’re good kids,” he said simply.

“I’m aware,” you laughed, “but you don’t have to spend so much time with them.”

“I like it,” he shrugged. “It’s kind of nice to be around a family, you know?”

The words pulled emotion to your chest. Did you really look like a family to him? No husband, no grandfather, two irreplaceable roles and now you were trying to fill all of them just to keep your kids afloat.

“And besides,” he stood from his chair and grabbed the now empty glass before he came closer to you. “Something about being here just feels right.”

You looked up at him, felt the same rush of heat to your cheeks but hoped you were safe in the cover of night. He smirked, like he knew what he was doing to you but was too much of a gentleman to call you out. Hesitation when you felt some type of magnetic force between you, the distance simultaneously felt like inches and miles.

You smiled softly, embarrassed by the way your pulse picked up and the thoughts that flew through your head. What would happen if I, does he ever think about, am I crazy if I want to?

He brushed past you and walked to the sink, placing the wine glass down quietly before he turned to face you once more. “Is it as bad as you thought?”

Confusion, you wiped your sweaty palms on your pants. “Sorry?”

“Having me here,” he motioned around, the dimple on his left cheek was visible even in the dim light. You rolled your eyes, dropped his gaze for a second when he let out a quiet laugh. “I hope that it’s only as miserable as you thought--m’just aiming for not worse than expected at this point.”

You turned to face him and put your hands on the granite, thankful for the fact that the island was now between you, the ticking of a clock on the wall kept time when you tried to piece your words together carefully.

Was he flirting with you? A similar to question to that he'd asked only a few nights earlier, this time with more of a smirk on his face and a lilt in his voice that made sent a shiver down your spine.

“It’s better,” you admitted with a nod and a teasing smile. “But don’t tell Jeff that.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, held your gaze and then nodded. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

There was silence for a second, you almost offered to pour him another glass of wine but then he said: “Only a few more days, though.”

“Yeah,” you nodded, the fantasy shattered on the floor between you. “How’s the house coming?”

He winced, a quiet laugh when he shook his head. “Everything’s been pushed out a few weeks, actually. But--it’s fine, I’m probably just going to stay with a friend or something, you know, don’t want to overstay my welcome.”

You brought your lips into a thin line, unsure if what you were about to offer was appropriate or weird or just plain awkward.

“Oh...well, I mean, if you want to stay here longer, you can.”

His mouth pulled up on the side, he brought his gaze back to you and shifted his weight on his feet. “Yeah? You don’t mind?”

You shrugged, again hoping to play it cool or not come off too eager. “If that would be helpful,” you trailed off.

“Yeah, very helpful.”

“Cool.”

“Cool,” he nodded, pulling another smirk from you.

A few more weeks, tops.

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[floraljae]

THE ART OF LOVING A VILLAIN | One

Pairing: Lee Taeyong x female reader

Themes: Hero x Villain dynamics, enemies to lovers, Hero!Taeyong, Villain! Reader, secret relationship, angst, fluff, Top tier (shitty) anime betrayals you people are going to beat me up for

Warnings: profanity, the villain is dumb, mention if a minor injury, blowing things up for funsies

Wc: 1.1k

Taglist : @jenophilia @sassyong @tenhyuckie @moanwalk @sicluvz @yutaalove @bluejaem @fullsunfluff @a10vely-yutazen @hhyungsuk @mirohtron @cupidtaes @adoreateez @at-the-end-of-your-letter @junglewoos @heephoriia @cofhees

Networks: @/ficscafe @neoturtles @kpopscape @whipped-kpop-creators @nct-writers @czennienet @kokonomi

Summary: Yet another forbidden rendezvous and you are try to figure out what you exactly feel about your lifelong nemesis.

Alternatively, illustrated band-aids from Taeyong make you feel questionable things.

A/N: I just hate how I love and hate this fic so much. @mirohtron is to blame, the reason I am stuck in my eternal hero x villain feels. I love writing this more than anything. It's quite personal as it reflects a lot of things I personally felt about the world around me haha.

This entire series is dedicated to @lebrookestore, a simp I l*ve with all my heart (even after what she does to me with all her fics ;-;)

The breath you were holding in for what seemed like ages escaped your lips. It was long, exhausted- a little frustrated, even. You hated waiting. And if it were the roof of just one of the thousands of skyscrapers in Seoul, the annoyance was definitely a little more. Waiting alone in those uneventful places was nothing but a mere waste of your time. There was nothing small enough to ruin or blowup for funsies, and you weren't heartless enough to blow up a whole building just out of sheer boredom.

It had been a tiresome day already. You'd attended classes, fed some cats on the way back to your lair and put up yet another power show to let people know they still had something to be afraid of. The air was unnervingly humid today, and your suit had stuck to your torso as if it were a drowning person who didn't know how to swim- holding onto a log of wood for dear life. Weird comparison (or metaphor, you couldn’t be arsed to even get it right), but you weren't the most poetic person.

You wondered how Taeyong would describe it. Sticky? Ew? You didn't know. He was one unpredictable being, well at least when he wasn't in his superhero suit (figuratively, he was just dumb and tended to miss a lot of shots when he puts on the crimson and black piece of clothing). Maybe he would just come up with a random word and try to make you believe it was real. He couldn't possibly lose to a villain! And especially not after what you did today. You could bet that the first thing he was going to do was sulk about you almost burning his perfect eyebrows to ashes during today's face-off.

You loved to see your enemy getting all riled up more than you'd admit. Maybe it was the villain inside you speaking. But his desperate attempts at winning an argument or the pout when he complained about causing the least damage to you were just too serotonin inducing.

When did he become such a big part of my life- you smile to yourself.

Truth to be told, he always had been one of the biggest parts of it. Whether you wanted to admit it or not.

"I'm sorry," a voice trails off right behind you, breathless, "I got-"

"Stuck in a bad traffic," you complete his sentence, your tone mocking and eyes trained on the night sky. The statement was his go-to excuse for when he’d show up late- which was almost every other day.

"Too busy trying to pick out a nice bandaid for you."

He corrects, leaning against the railing. You almost scoff at how cocky the hero sounded. You were supposed to be the cocky one here.

"Whatever."

And with that, for what seemed like an entire eternity, the both of you spent the time together in silence. He didn’t dare to mouth a single word- and neither did you. There was no malice behind what any of you wanted to say; but you didn’t even know what was holding you both back. It was becoming a habit, to be honest. Well, not in general because you still were very vocal about your own opinions everywhere else-- but not in the (almost regular) meetings with your arch nemesis.

Ironic how the both of you had so much to say when the cameras were flashing and the world he tried to protect watched. So many curses, insults, edgy slash extremely cocky remarks and frustrated warnings. But at times such as right now, your mind felt like a blank slate that had never been touched. It was comfortable though, no malice, no screaming- just comfort and some sort of warmth you hadn’t felt in ages.

Well, you were always the kind of person who thought, thinking before speaking was highly overrated (that too, was a product of capitalism in your opinion). And thus, you figured staying quiet at the forbidden rendezvous with your arch nemesis would be the best thing. He was a servant of the so-called good, after all. Righteous, sophisticated, well known and way too fragile for your own good.

“Everything’s okay,” you hear him break the silence.

“Huh?”

The hero smiles, spinning around on his heels to point at your surroundings.

“Intact, not a scratch!”

And as if the small toothy grin he’d been sporting was infectious, you felt a sudden urge to break into one as well. Anyone would mistake him for just another college student if they saw him like this, in a pair of washed denim and a shirt that he must've been wearing for the past ten days. More so, it would've been terribly difficult to believe that the otherwise calm and composed public charmer Onyxate talked like a kindergartener, always fumbling or just too excited to even properly finish his sentences at times.

“What is that supposed to mean, mr. onyxate?” you ask, biting back a smile.

Disappointed, the hero clicks his tongue. He grabs hold of your wrist, spinning your frame around as well. The brunet scans the surroundings again, “You actually didn’t blow out a single thing! That is some progress, I say.”

You scoff at his remark, “I am not that heartless, mr. hero.” But deep inside, you did know it was some kind of a progress, and of course, you wouldn't tell him that.

He chuckles, but doesn’t remind you of the time you did, as a matter of fact, had blown up a nearby water tank while waiting. He was like that, Taeyong loved believing in a better present- rather than an awful past.

The comfortable arms of silence yet again engulfs you into a warm hug. Taeyong silently studies the cuts on your hand, his slender fingers carefully caressing them. You almost let out a sound of sheer amusement as he finally takes out a few strips of band-aids he took so long to buy, the infamous printed medigrip ones for kids (that too the ones with spongebob on them), rips the adhesive, and focuses on nursing the now dry cuts.

You then look up to catch a glimpse of Taeyong’s face, just to find the moonlight washing his features in all its grace. Faint neon lights from the buildings surrounding blending with the moonlight to create hues across his profiles.You stop to admire his countenance and insides alike, thinking how someone could be so kind even to their enemy.

He was so pure, so charming. He had those beautiful brown eyes. The ones that were like a mirror which knew nothing but to reflect his innermost emotions, the ones that knew to see the best in everyone- including you, a villain who had spent more than half of her life cursing all things good. His trained hands were still gentle and soft unlike any other hero you had ever known. Tears well up in your eyes. And for once what seemed like a lifetime- you decided to let yourself get overcome with emotions.

He was the kind of person anyone, including you, couldn’t help but fall for, the kind of person you’d want to hold close to yourself, no matter what.

And it was at that moment that you realised that it wasn’t hate that you felt towards him, but admiration.

© FLORALJAE, 2021

[bobohu4eva]

Pink Lace - Chapter 9 (M)

Characters: Baekhyun x Reader (feat. EXO members)

Genre: College AU, stripper AU, fluff, smut, slow burn

Summary: Baekhyun, a philosophy professor with mysterious wealth, got himself completely fucked over a girl who can’t let him into her life.

Word count: 6.1k

Warnings: sex work, mentions of sexual assault, adult themes/situations, smut

 Tag list: @smolbeanmika @leave-me-in-the-summertime @totallynerdstuff @bbhmystar @nana-banana @kimyhappy @thegreatandi @geniusloey @deligxt @baekswifey @bbhyun506 @lovebuginlove @bellamendoza @baekyeonoreo @bobohumyonlyboo @wooya1224 @strawbaeri-s @xiuweetbbh

Masterlist

Saturday had finally arrived. It was 6am when you woke up, but you were far too excited to go back to sleep. You tossed and turned for a little while, trying to convince your body to give you a few more minutes of rest just so you wouldn’t get tired early but it was no use. The last time you’d felt like this was when you were a kid and there was a big class field trip coming up, or on Christmas morning. That sense of child-like excitement was something you didn’t even realize you’d missed so much. As an adult waking up in the mornings was almost always shitty, but today you were so excited the idea of sleep didn’t even sound appealing anymore. God. Maybe you were just as whipped as him.

 After giving in to your excitement you got up, and started making breakfast. You were worried that you’d be tired or groggy on the date so you made sure to add an extra shot of espresso to your morning latte. Falling asleep hadn’t been easy either. You kept thinking about all the different possibilities of where he might take you, and you had been especially distracted by Baekhyun’s promise of what would come after. 

You had put a great deal of effort into looking nice for the club last week, but this week you didn’t even know where to start. Getting ready for a real date was very different than getting ready for the club. At the club you could cover yourself in glitter and body oil and do the most extra makeup looks one could imagine, and there wasn’t much to the outfits anyway. But what the hell were you supposed to do for a date where all you knew was that it was outside? You wanted to put in effort still, of course, but doing too much might be weird if it’s more of a casual thing. But Baekhyun wouldn’t just do something casual right? It would be something fancy for sure. But then what were you supposed to wear that was relatively fancy but worked for being outdoors? 

You still wanted to be able to be comfortable so after some time and careful deliberation, you decided on a sundress and simple makeup. The sundress also had the advantage of allowing you to forego wearing a bra, and it was remarkably easy to remove. You had a feeling Baekhyun would appreciate that later on. 

As the morning went on you tried your best to keep your mind occupied and prolong the process of getting ready in order to leave as little time as possible to get anxious, you knew as soon as you would get bored the nervousness would start. So you kept yourself busy. 

3:00pm drew closer and closer and despite your best efforts you felt yourself becoming restless. You internally cursed Mia for being busy all day so she wouldn’t be there to help you not freak out.  

Unfortunately you were ready by 2:00, leaving you an entire hour to mull over your thoughts as they made you more and more antsy. 

After an hour of pacing around the house and checking your hair and makeup way too many times, you finally heard a knock on the door. You basically sprinted across the house at the sound. 

To your relief Baekhyun wasn’t dressed very fancy, just a white short sleeved button down tucked into black shorts. But oh did the sight of him still make your heart flutter. His hair was perfectly styled and he just looked so good.  

“Hi, you look beautiful,” He said as his eyes traveled up and down your body. “You ready to go?” You responded with a nod and threw your arms around him for a hug, which he happily returned. “Come on then.”

As you approached his Audi he opened the door for you to get in, and it somehow looked even fancier than you had remembered, although you had been slightly drunk when you’d last been in his car. 

You stayed quiet, and Baekhyun put on some music as he pulled out and started driving. After a few minutes you heard him softly singing along, and you wondered why he didn’t tell you sooner that he could sing so well. 

“You have a really nice voice.” You spoke softly, and he turned to look at you briefly. 

“You think so? I was in a band in high school, and I think I was pretty good but I never kept up with it, although I do still like singing.” 

“You should do it more if you like it, or you can at least sing to me anytime.” 

He shot you a smile and continued singing along to the music, but now with more confidence.

Everything about him just seemed to get more and more perfect. No man had ever impressed you this much, had made you feel this lucky and special. It made you even more scared that you would do or say something that would mess everything up. 

“Nervous?” He asked, noticing how quiet you were being. 

“Yeah, I just, I don’t know. I don’t wanna make things weird and mess everything up.” 

He placed a hand on your thigh, and once the car was stopped at a light his eyes met yours. “Don’t be, I promise there’s nothing you can do that will make today any less magical, the fact that I’m getting to take you out at all is enough for me.” 

The warmth in the way he looked at you then helped melt away some of your worries. He was right of course, you knew he liked you too much for you to really be able to mess this up, but the mystery of where he was taking you made you worry nonetheless. 

For about another 30 minutes Baekhyun drove the two of you further and further out of the city, until eventually he parked at the bottom of a large hill, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

‘Um, Baekhyun, where are we? You’re not about to murder me are you?” 

“No” he chucked, “definitely not, just follow me.” 

He took your hand and started walking you up the hill until you were about halfway up and you could almost see to the other side. 

“I need you to close your eyes.” 

You did as you were told, and he kept guiding you by your hand as you blindly followed. Your heart rate had gone up significantly, still not having any clue what he had in store for you. Especially now that you were out here seemingly with nothing and nobody else around. 

A few shaky steps later he told you to open your eyes, and with your heartbeat loudly thumping in your ears, you finally did. 

What you saw had not been what you were expecting at all, though you hadn’t had a clue what to expect in the first place. 

On the other side of the hill was an enormous balloon that was slowly being inflated. 

He was taking you on a hot air balloon. 

You could feel his eyes on you, waiting for some sort of reaction, but all you could do was stare in awe at the giant colorful mass in front of you. In your mind you started to think about how the hell he even pulled this off, how he even had the resources for something so extra, and for a first date. The longer you looked the more you felt the guilt start to set in. He had probably spent a ridiculous amount of time and money setting this up, and you had pestered him about the secret like some ungrateful child. Eventually the whole situation had tears brimming in your eyes from pure disbelief. 

Baekhyun quickly took notice and pulled you forwards to face him. 

“What’s wrong? Do you not like it? We can leave and do something else if-” 

You grabbed his face and cut him off with a kiss, as you felt a tear escape.

“You’re fucking insane. I can’t believe this is what you were planning, how the hell did you even get a hot air balloon?” You said as you wiped away another tear, but the smile that had made its way onto your face let Baekhyun let out a sigh of relief. 

“It wasn’t that big of a deal, really. Jongdae, I don’t know if you remember him from the club, but he’s got all kinds of connections and he did this for him and his wife last year so I got him to help me out.” 

You still just shook your head in disbelief. “You’re crazy.” 

“Crazy about you,” he grinned, “now come on.” 

He grabbed your hand again and started pulling you towards the balloon again, which was now almost upright. As you got closer you noticed the picnic set and bottle of champagne that were sitting on a small table in the center of the basket, with a bench on either side for each of you to sit on. 

The man who was operating the balloon gave the two of you a quick safety briefing before you stepped into the basket and he closed the small door behind you. 

After a few moments you felt yourself lift off, and slowly the balloon lifted the two of you up towards the clouds. 

“Um, Baekhyun?”

“Yes sweetheart?”

“What if I’m afraid of heights.” 

“I’m right here,” He grabbed your hand between his own, “You know I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I’ve also been told it’s not so bad as long as you don’t look down.” 

Luckily when you were seated you could only see the view off in the distance, so it wasn’t too frightening. As the balloon ascended further and further you started to realize how beautiful it was. The scenery from this angle was breathtaking and this high up in the sky there was a pleasant cool breeze as well.

You were torn out of your train of thought when you saw Baekhyun grab the bottle of champagne along with two glasses. He popped the cork out, which went flying out of the confines of the basket, plummeting down to earth. 

“Oops.” 

You giggled and he poured both of you a glass before reaching for the picnic basket. He pulled out two black boxes, and he opened yours and set it down in front of you revealing one of the most beautiful arrangements of sushi you’d ever seen. 

“God you are unreal.” You breathed out as you examined the meal in front of you more closely. 

“You like it?” 

“Yes, of course, I love it. I love all this, I- I don’t even know what to say. Nobody’s ever done something like this for me before.” 

“As long as you’re enjoying yourself.” He grinned back at you. "I wanted to do something that was different, something that you would hopefully be able to look back at later as a nice memory for us to share together. I know this technically is our first date but we’ve known each other a while so it really didn’t feel that way to me.” 

The way he treated you, spoke to you, touched you, still seemed too good to be true. The question used to plague you, but now you wanted to know more out of the selfish need for validation more than anything else. 

“Baekhyun, why do you like me so much? You’re around pretty girls all the time, why me?” 

He let out a small breathy laugh, took a drink of his champagne and met your gaze. “You make me feel like a kid again.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“When I first saw you that night at your work, I remember thinking you were so sexy, so beautiful, so way out of my league, talking to you made me feel like a silly teenager with a crush on a girl who wouldn’t show him the light of day anyway. I hadn’t felt like that in almost a decade, but just in that one night you made me feel it again. That’s why I knew I had to come back, too. The more I talked to you the more I felt we actually had a connection too, although I didn’t think it was really real, I thought you were just good at talking to me, but it made me feel so good I didn’t really care. I never thought you’d end up actually liking me this much. Two weeks ago at the club when you were drunk and started to get more touchy with me I thought I was going insane, I couldn’t believe that you might actually be attracted to me like that. I’m 30 now and I spent basically all of my 20′s trying to please other people and make those around me happy, even if it meant I had to settle. I would let coworkers or my family set me up with people who seemed, I don’t know, proper. But it was never fun or exciting, always just one boring dinner date after the next, with people I felt nothing for. I regret it a lot now, but I’m so thankful I got to meet you, cause I feel like now thanks to you I can finally experience those parts of my youth that I missed out on.” 

You were speechless. Your mind was in overdrive, trying to find some words that would live up to what he had said, to properly express what you were feeling, but they just didn’t exist. He stared at you as you stared back, desperately trying to get something to come out of your mouth but it felt impossible.

“Sorry, I know that was a lot at once, but I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now. Meeting you is the best thing that’s happened to me in a very long time.” 

His words had you flustered and cheeks tinted pink. “Meeting you is the best thing that’s happened to me in a very long time too. Maybe ever.” 

Baekhyun felt like his heart was about to burst. “When did you realize you liked me as more than just a customer?” 

You had thought about this a lot, trying to decipher when in your own mind you had come to the realization, because you had fought it so vehemently. 

“When I let you touch me. I never allowed anyone to do that before you, and I wouldn’t admit it to myself until later but it was that night.” 

“Why were you scared to admit it to yourself?” 

“I think I was still worried about letting you into my life, since I never do that with people from work. I don’t even hang out with the other girls there, I want to keep that part of my life separate. And once you were my professor I was even more scared because I knew in the back of my mind that I did like you but now there was even more to worry about because I didn’t want to get you in trouble. That still worries me a lot.” 

“You don’t need to worry about that, I know what I’m getting myself into and I know the risks. I wouldn’t be serious about this if I wasn’t willing to take that risk. But I think things will end up fine. As long as nobody finds out while you’re my student, nothing can happen. We just have to be a bit careful. That’s actually another reason I chose this for the date, I didn’t want to risk somebody seeing us, as much as I would love to be able to show you off.” 

“This is perfect, really. I can’t think of anything more magical.” You said as you took a bite of your sushi and looked around at the view surrounding you. “I’m definitely going to remember this for a long time.” 

The date went on and the two of you laughed together while enjoying the view, the food, and the champagne. It really was magical, you felt like you were in your own little fairytale world up in the sky with him, you were convinced nothing could beat this feeling. The way Baekhyun spoke to you always made you feel so comfortable and he could make you laugh so easily. Whenever the two of you were together, things just felt right. 

Eventually you finished your meals, and it was time to make your way back down to earth. As you watched the slow descent you started to think about what was coming next. The thoughts had plagued you the night before as well. You were getting closer and closer to Baekhyun finally having you, and now it was almost time. 

You worried that you might disappoint him. Men tended to think that strippers were always the most wild, the most experienced in bed, but you were still quite shy and inexperienced. At your job you could easily fake confidence to strangers, but actually having sex with someone you cared for wasn’t something you’d done often. The thought made your palms sweat in anticipation as you and Baekhyun finally landed and got back to his car. 

“Where do you want me to take you?” He was making sure you still wanted this, still wanted him. 

“Take me home with you.” 

He only nodded, and pulled out to get the both of you on your way. 

The car ride back was silent. You could feel the tension hanging thick in the air, both of you had your minds on what was coming next. He placed his hand back on your thigh, but this time higher up, slightly pushing up the fabric of your sundress. The action alone was enough to make your breath uneven, and with the deafening silence surrounding you, you knew he noticed. 

By the time he was pulling up to his place, your heart was hammering in your chest and you felt warm all over. 

He stepped out of the car and came to your door to open it for you. When he extended a hand for you to hold as you stepped out your eyes met his. The look on his face was blank; completely unreadable. You wondered if he was feeling just as anxious as you, if he was just hiding it better. You knew with the way you looked up at him in that moment that he could see right through you, that he could see all the tension and desire that had been building within you clearly on your face.

Your thoughts were confirmed when a small smirk formed on his lips and he was soon pulling you through the entry way and into his home. 

His house was beautiful. It wasn’t anything extremely flashy, though it felt comfortable and so much like him. The walls were lined with bookshelves, he had a large leather couch in his living room along with a marble coffee table, and everything was perfectly clean and well kept. It felt elegant and high-class but not in a way that was intimidating, it felt homely. 

As lovely as it was, you were far more focused on the man occupying it now. Once you’d had a chance to take off your shoes and look around for a bit you felt Baekhyun’s hand on yours once again as he pulled you into his chest. He gazed down at you and you could see it in his eyes this time. Both of you had been waiting for this moment, him even longer than you. You saw the want, the lust, and you felt it as well. When you felt his lips finally press against your own, you knew there was no going back. 

The kiss started slow, but you could tell he was holding back. His hands shook slightly as they made contact with your waist to pull you against him tighter, and you felt how his heart was racing when you placed a hand onto his chest. It was you who deepened the kiss, letting it become more and more lust driven as the both of you let yourselves give in to the feeling. His hands started to wander across your body. First they went down to your ass, giving it a squeeze before traveling upwards to grope your chest. 

“Fuck, are you not wearing a bra?” He breathed out between kisses as he felt a nipple harden under his touch. 

“Undress me and find out.” 

Baekhyun didn’t respond, instead you felt his hands on the backs of your thighs, prompting you to jump, so you did, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and your legs around his waist. 

You were surprised how easily he lifted you up and carried you into his bedroom. The whole time you clung on to him, leaving kisses on his neck as he walked you through the house. 

When you entered his bedroom he sat down on the edge of his bed with you on his lap and continued to kiss you, now moving his way down to your neck. The marks he had left on you before had faded through time, and he missed the sight of them. Something about seeing marks on you, knowing he was the one who left them there, drove him crazy. Although he wasn’t able to go show you off publicly, he was still able to claim you as his own that way. His self control was quickly leaving him as he once again started to suck and bite at the smooth skin, leaving splotches of purple in his wake.

He pulled away and lifted you off his lap making you whine at first, but once you were standing before him between his parted legs his hands found the hem of your dress, and your heart rate picked up even more. He lifted the fabric slowly, and you allowed him to pull it all the way over your head before being discarded on his bedroom floor, leaving you standing in nothing but your lacy underwear. 

Despite the fact that Baekhyun had seen you like this more times than you could count, you felt the need to cover yourself, crossing your arms over your chest. This felt so different from the club. Being naked there just felt natural, normal to you, it was the whole point of your job, and you didn’t care what the men there thought of you. But here and now, with nobody but you and Baekhyun and his eyes running up and down your body intently, you were shaking. 

When he noticed you try and cover yourself, he quickly grabbed your arm and moved it aside. “Am I making you nervous? You don’t have to be so tense, you know how beautiful I think you are.” You felt your cheeks start to tingle as he grabbed you and laid you on his bed before instructing you to lay on your stomach. “Let me help you relax.” 

His expert hands started to work the muscles in your back, and you realized he was right, you had been extremely tense. After a few seconds you let your eyes flutter closed and melted into the feeling of his hands massaging you. Your breathing and heart rate slowed down and you were overwhelmed with bliss as your muscles relaxed under his touches. Your arousal combined with the feeling made you feel high, and you couldn’t help but let out soft moans whenever he would work on a particularly stiff area. 

Baekhyun felt like he was going insane. Your skin felt so soft and smooth beneath his palms as he caressed you, and the sounds you let out made him twitch beneath his shorts. You looked exquisite like this, bare aside from the barely-there lace thong and your backside on full display. He leaned down to kiss your neck, leaving you shuddering at the sensation of his breath on your ear. “Can I touch you?” he whispered, and all you could do was nod, your mind too foggy with lust to form real words. 

His hand made its way down to your ass, touching you so close to where you wanted him, but not quite. “Let me hear you.” 

You took a deep breath, and forced out the words, “Yes, Baekhyun, please.” 

You felt him smile against the skin of your neck as he kept showering it with kisses, and his hand finally moved between your legs to where you needed him most. He made you gasp as he slowly began rubbing your clit through the thin lace of your underwear. “Turn around for me princess.” 

Once you were facing him, and your eyes met, your arousal was amplified even further. He was laying on top of you now between your spread legs, and you felt annoyed at how much he was still wearing. 

The first thing to go was his shirt, as you impatiently fumbled with the buttons before pulling it off of him completely. You knew that he was in pretty good shape but you still weren’t prepared when you finally saw him bare, and you knew that he saw how you stared by the pleased smirk on his face.

Next he moved off of you to remove his pants, leaving him in only his briefs. He soon moved back over you and resumed the motions of his hands between your legs, making you whine. He pulled you into a kiss so heart shattering you could feel yourself shaking with desire as he continued his ministrations. He was smothering you, pressed against you completely but you still wrapped your arms around his back in an effort to bring him even closer. 

His kisses started to make their way down your jaw and towards your neck, and then slowly to your chest. He took one sensitive bud between his lips and your back arched off his mattress and your hands found his soft hair. He used his fingers to tease the other side as well, enjoying the feeling of your hands running through his hair and the soft sounds falling from your lips. 

As much as Baekhyun had been looking forward to this, he still wanted to hear you beg for him, even if that meant having to be patient. Luckily, however, you were just as impatient as he was. 

“I n-need more, please.” You gasped, the sensation of his hand on your pussy and his lips on your breasts edging you on without giving you the relief you craved.

“Say it again for me.” 

“Baekhyun, please.” 

“Mmmh,” he smiled down at you, “good girl.” 

His kisses moved down to your ribcage and stomach, leaving marks on the way until he was hooking his fingers into the waistband or your underwear and dragging them down your legs. He soon positioned himself between your thighs, and you felt hyper aware of his eyes on the last part of you he’d had yet to see. 

Instead of giving you what you wanted, Baekhyun started to kiss your inner thighs, leaving marks there as well, slowly creeping closer and closer to your waiting pussy. The feeling of him sucking and biting on the skin so close to where you wanted him was maddening. You let out another impatient whine, and finally, you felt his lips press against your clit. He was still taking his time, leaving soft kisses at first, but eventually he let his tongue lick a stripe all the way up your folds, making you shudder. You knew you wouldn’t last long with how tightly wound up you already were. When he started to quicken his motions, licking and sucking at your most sensitive spot, you started to crumble. Your hands abandoned his hair, instead opting to grab at the pillow behind you, out of fear that you might yank his hair out otherwise. A lewd moan slipped out from between your lips as your back arched and you started to move your hips against his face, prompting him to push you down to keep you in place. The feeling was overwhelming your senses and the only thoughts left in your mind were of his lips and tongue on you as you chased your high. 

When you felt one of his slender fingers enter you, you knew you were gone. Only a few pumps later you felt the damn break and you moaned his name unabashedly and the pleasure flooded your body. Your vision went white and you felt yourself twitch against him as he kept licking and kissing you through your climax. Eventually he pulled away, and you went limp, closing your eyes and relaxing into the post-orgasmic haze. 

“Don’t fall asleep sweetheart, I’m not done with you yet.”

A few moments later he was on top of you again, kissing you, only this time you could feel his hard member against you separated only by the fabric of his briefs. You reached down to try to pull the fabric away, but he stopped you before you could have any success. “So impatient.” He whispered before taking your hands and lacing them between his own and pinning them to the bed on either side of you as he continued to cover your face and neck with deep heated kisses. 

You couldn’t stop whining and squirming beneath him, trying to get some sort of relief, but Baekhyun wouldn’t do anything until you asked for it. “What do you want baby?” He breathed in your ear and placed more kisses on the sensitive spot on the side of your neck, sending jolts of pleasure down your spine.

“I-I want you.” 

“You want me to what?” 

“I want you to fuck me, p-please.”

Baekhyun ginned and leaned back to admire you, relishing the way you were panting for him, chest heaving up and down, cheeks flushed. “So beautiful.” 

He got up to remove his last remaining piece of clothing before finding his way back between your spread legs. One hand moved downwards and you felt two fingers enter you, testing your readiness. You moaned out at the intrusion, but just as quickly as they entered you his fingers left you as well. “So wet for me.” You heard him mutter.

When you finally felt his tip press against your folds you threw your head back and wrapped your legs around his waist in an effort to pull him further into you, but to no avail. 

“Y/n, look at me.” He said as one of his hands cupped your face and you opened your eyes, immediately meeting his. “You ready?” 

You nodded frantically and felt him position himself. The anticipation was killing you, but finally he brought his face down to yours to press a kiss to your lips as he sunk himself into you. He was larger than you had expected, making you gasp against his lips as he stretched you out. Once his length was fully inside you he waited for a moment to let you adjust, despite the urge to just let go and fuck you senseless. You opened your eyes and saw his squeezed shut, jaw clenched as he held himself back. Baekhyun had wanted this for so long, had waited for months and now that he finally had you underneath and around him, it felt too good to be true. 

When he felt your hips shift to take him even deeper, he took it as a sign to start moving. He pulled out almost completely before sinking himself back into you, starting a slow and steady pace that had you whimpering and clutching at his shoulders, trying to bring him impossibly closer. 

He continued to kiss you as he slowly fucked you, and you couldn’t help but think how sweet and romantic it still felt. As cheesy as it sounds, he wasn’t just fucking you, you felt like he was truly making love to you. You let your body melt into his movements, rolling your body up against his to push him even deeper inside of you with every thrust. 

His lips traveled from yours down to your ear, “So, so, perfect, such a good girl for me.” 

His words sent shockwaves down your spine and through your limbs, exciting you even further as you lost yourself to his expert thrusts. Your mind was blank, unable to form any coherent thoughts aside from how good he was making you feel. Every time he sank back into you you could feel him hit that special spot that had your eyes rolling to the back of your head and your toes curling.

You were enjoying his slow, calculated, movements, but the knot in the pit of your stomach was building and you knew you’d need more to be pushed over the edge.  

“F-faster.” You breathed out in desperation. 

Instead of giving you what you wanted Baekhyun stopped his movements completely, leaning up to look you in the eyes. “What was that sweetheart?”

“Faster, Baekhyun please.”

He smirked at your plea, “Since you asked so nicely.” 

He resumed his motions, this time picking up the pace while one hand moved to knead and pinch at the sensitive skin of your breasts. 

Your legs had wrapped themselves tightly around his waist and your hands were gripping onto his back so tightly it would probably leave marks. The sensation was completely overwhelming, and you were reduced to a whining, moaning mess beneath him as you felt your high getting close again. With him drilling in and out of you at a faster pace, and the ministrations of his hands on your chest, you knew the pressure would soon snap. 

“Are you gonna cum for me baby?” He could tell by how tightly you were clenching around him, you were close. 

All you could do was nod and let out a series of lewd noises, and the hand on your chest moved down to your clit. “Let go, let me feel you.” 

A few seconds later you felt the pressure release, waves of euphoria flooding your body sending jolts of electricity through your limbs, making you twitch uncontrollably as he kept thrusting into you. You clamped down on him so tightly you heard him let out a pained grunt as he chased his high as well, losing control as his movements got less consistent. 

“Fuck, no condom.” 

You felt him start to pull out but locked your legs around him before he could do so, “I’m on the pill, please don’t stop.” 

He let out a guttural moan and a few thrusts later he was emptying himself inside you, pressing his lips to yours once again, this time with so much force you felt yourself being pushed further into the mattress. 

Once you had both come down from your highs he all but collapsed on top of you, and you unhooked your legs from his waist. Your arms stayed wrapped around him and the both of you laid there, sweating and panting against one another as you slowly came back to reality.  

“Worth the wait?” He asked breathily.

“Fuck yes.”

He laughed, and you felt his chest vibrating on top of you. “Glad to hear it. I didn’t hurt you, did I?” 

You shook your head before cupping his face and bringing it down to yours for a kiss. “It was perfect.” 

He smiled back at you with that smile that felt like it could single handedly melt every glacier on earth and then some. Despite the fact that his weight was starting to make it difficult for you to breathe, you still whined when he pushed off the bed and slipped out of you to get the both of you cleaned up. He disappeared into the master bathroom, eventually returning with a wet washcloth to rid you of the sticky mess between your thighs. 

Neither of you bothered putting any clothes on when he returned to bed and pulled you close, resting your head on his chest as the rest of your limbs tangled together under the sheets.  

You lifted your head from his chest, meeting his eyes, “Can I stay the night?” 

“Of course baby, get some rest.” He said and pressed a kiss to your forehead. You laid your head back down, closing your eyes. 

You hummed at the feeling of his hands drawing circles on your bare back, and you dozed off to the sweet feeling and the steady sound of his heartbeat in your ear. 

With Baekhyun, you felt like you had found your own little slice of heaven. This was the definition of bliss. 

A/N: this is my first time writing smut so please be gentle with me, I tried my best 🤧

Next Chapter

[yeojaa]

( VELVETEEN RABBIT. )

What do you get when you mix Thumper and Bambi?  Answer:  Jeon Jungkook.

pairing.  french lop bunny!jjk x ragdoll cat f!reader.

genre + rating.   hybrid!au set in college.  super fluffy, a little angsty, with a dash of smut to balance it all out.  explicit towards the end because i just can’t help myself.  oops.

tags / warnings.  honestly, this jungkook should just come with his own warning.  but more realistically, mentions of kook using a scrunchie, kook being cute, kook railing his date after using the world’s worst puns...  the usual.

wc.  4.4k

beta reader(s).  @hobi-gif​ as always become, c’mon.  i’m me.  she’s her.  

author note.  this was written as part of @thebtswritersclub​‘s a hybrid fest and is gloriously late (i’m so sorry @ditttiii​​).  i’ve never written anything hybrid-related before so hopefully you enjoy.  feedback goes a long way!  xoxo

He orders the same thing every time he’s in.  Iced Americano, no room for cream, and a single almond croissant.  (Every once in a while, he switches it up for matcha but that’s exceedingly rare.)  He always pays with a tap of his wrist - a sleek black AppleWatch with rubber band - and flashes his trademark slightly too-big smile.  All the girls swoon.  So do the guys.  Everyone except for you.

He’s unnervingly handsome, with long dark ears that sometimes hang in front of his eyes.  You’ve caught him with them pulled back Lola Bunny-style, knotted with a loose silk scrunchie that looks nearly as soft as his fur.  His hair’s usually unkempt, tossed into a little sprout of a bun, overly long fringe falling all over his big round eyes.  He wears butterfly clips sometimes, though that’s usually on days where he isn’t freshly sweaty and carrying his gym bag.  They appear in his hair when it’s damp from a shower, the smell of papaya and honey clinging to every inch of him.  You know, because you have a great nose - one that’s sensitive to every smell under the sun but especially his.  (You try not to think about it much.)  

It’s a Wednesday morning when you notice the change.  It doesn’t register at first, acknowledgement coming in a curious sniff at the air.  Weird. 

“Thanks,” he says like clockwork, a well-oiled polite machine, deceptively slender hands receiving the exceedingly hot cup without a care in the world. He’s got his usual bag over his shoulder - overly big, black, almost tactical - and a pair of comfortable looking pants on that seem more like they belong on your beloved grandmother.  Somehow, he rocks it (but he always does).  “Have a nice day.”

Because of course he says that.  Of course he steals the words right out of your mouth, turns them back on you as easy as he makes your heart rattle around in your chest like it’s a Friday night bingo ball. 

He moves toward the bar - he only ever grabs three napkins, tucks them into the slot on the left side of his bag - but pauses halfway there.  Rooted to the same spot as always, sleek ears following the imposing line of his shoulders.  

One, two—

The thumping starts, so quiet it’s almost negligible.  But you catch it, because you always do and because you’re the reason for it. 

He turns then, levels you with a look from the corner of those pretty, pretty eyes and you can’t help but laugh, openly, unashamedly, with the back of your hand plastered to your mouth. A true ojou-sama. 

His mouth quirks - does that funny thing where he sucks in his cheek then rolls it back out with his tongue - and you think he might finally say something.  Call you out for writing his name wrong for the past five weeks, finding more and more creative ways to do so every time.  Even occasionally using nicknames - silly things you’d come up with while on the walk home, or during lunch, or in bed.

“Good one,”  he states, laugh lines threading over his face, prominent around his eyes.  His nose wiggles with the sound - another of his traits that comes out to play often.  Your favourite of them all, if you’re being honest.

“Anytime.”  

You don’t realise it’s him until it’s too late, until you’re practically running into him, bouncing off the broad expanse of his back with a startled squeak.  Lucky for you, you’re quick on your feet, catching yourself before your skull can become too well-acquainted with the red brick wall to your right.

“You okay?”  Though he asks, you have a sneaking suspicion he knows you’re not and an even stronger suspicion that he’d been waiting for you, hovering past the entrance of the cafe with his big university hoodie on.

“Barely,”  you manage around a laugh, straightening the backpack slung over your shoulders, packed to the brim with goodies you got to bring home at the end of the night and two of your textbooks.

“Should watch where you’re going.”  

This is the most conversation you’ve had - ever.  But it’s fun, easy, organic and natural.  You wonder why that is. 

“You should watch where you’re standing, actually.”

He’s so much bigger than you, imposingly tall (especially being part of the Leporidae family) and wide in the chest.  Not bulky by any means, but big.  Strong.  Threaded with a strength you don’t normally see in hybrids of his kind.  It probably has to do with how often you see him covered in sweat and panting, basketball hooked under his arm, soccer cleats tied to his bag.

When he speaks again, it’s full of mirth, squeezing his round eyes near shut.  “Got a problem with me standing here?”  

You nod, solemn as ever (which is really never, but that’s besides the point).  “It’s dangerous to block entryways, didn’t you know?”  You’re gesturing to the awning, the dark interior just past the window of the shop.  “You’re loitering, Jungkook.”

“So you do know my name.”  You can tell he’s not surprised - that he’s hamming it up for dramatics, softly pink lips rounded in a little ‘O’.  He’s cute like this, you think.  Playful in a way you’ve never seen before.  

“I do?” 

There’s that cheek thing again.  It’s even more attractive up close, the shape of his jaw thrown into prominent relief when he sucks in a breath.  

“You just said it.”

You nod, thoughtful, finger tapping upon your chin.  “I guess I did.”

“Say it again,”  he states, expression inscrutable, eyes bright.  They’re so glossy even under the dimmed streetlights, impossibly big and undeniable.  So easy to get lost in - if your attention weren’t caught by something else.

“What is that?”  

You’d noticed it earlier in the day, caught the scent in passing sometime during the early hours.  You’d been unable to place it then, too distracted by freshly ground coffee, a girl’s three too many spritzes of Daisy by Marc Jacobs, and baking banana loaves.

It’s heady, masculine.  A strong musk that sinks into your nose and makes it twitch, ears rotating as if that’ll help pin the smell down.  

“What’s what?”  You hadn’t realised how close you’d become, your face five seconds from planting directly into his chest.  (It’d probably be nice - you know how soft your school’s merchandise is.)  “Are you okay?”  He asks because you’re now, actually, planting your face right against the worn navy cotton.  It’s terribly nice, silk upon your cheek.  

You answer more to his clothes than to him, nosing into the fabric. “You smell different.”

You feel more than hear his laughter, the sound barreling past his teeth seconds later.  The vibrations running along his spine jostle you from your position face first upon him but you don’t mind.  It doesn’t send you far, dark eyes peering up into the face of the bunny hybrid.  True to his kind, his nose is twitching, puffs of laughter expanding his cheeks when he meets your stare. 

“No I don’t.”

“You do.”  Tone firm, a finger lands upon the neatly embroidered N on his hoodie.  The white stitching stands in stark contrast to your baby blue nails.  “You smell… off.”

Whether Jungkook’s offended or not, you can’t tell.  He’s got that same strange expression on his face - the one from this morning when he’d received his coffee.  It’s made up of too many moving parts:  the flutter of his lashes, the coil of his jaw, the minute tick of the corner of his mouth.  You can’t read him for shit, somehow more confused now than in your 300-level art history class.  (You’d taken it as one of your optional electives assuming it’d be an easy A.  You were wrong.)

“Sorry you think so,”  he hums, looking down at you.  You’ve seemed to fully forget the meaning of personal space, edged up beside him as if you’re best friends and not just two ships passing in the night. 

“It’s not bad.”  Really, it isn’t.  It’s strong and sensual, vegetal in a way, calming in another.  But it isn’t unwelcome. 

In fact, you think you might like this scent a little more - less sweet than what normally clings to his skin, natural honeycomb rather than processed sugar.  It zings across your teeth, pieces broken up and scattered behind your molars.  You can practically taste it.  Him.

“Is that so?”  

“Yep.”

You share a look - one that says more than all the words you’ve ever spoken, that threads together all the silly laughter, narrowed stares, (written) flirtations.  It settles between the two of you, filling the spaces with something akin to cotton, light and airy and soft.

The desire to speak lingers, hidden just beyond the cotton candy dusting.  Should you?  Shouldn’t you?  You still have no idea what he’s doing here, a street urchin making his rounds on the campus village.  

He beats you to it.  “Can I walk you back to your dorm?”  

You don’t think you could want anything more.  “Sure.”

Silence falls again but it’s comfortable, a caress rather than a crutch.  The grounds are surprisingly quiet - wayward students on their way to the library or heading home from lectures.  There are no picnic blankets spread across the grass, no gaggles of girls dressed in school colours.  It feels like the first day of fall, change sitting heavy in the air. 

“So—”  You start.

He finishes,  “do you wanna go on a date with me?” 

That’s surprising.  (Or is it?  You’re not really sure.)  You nearly trip over your own two feet in your haste to look at him, entire body swivelling on the spot because apparently you can’t just turn your head like a normal person.  Something something all or nothing. 

“What?”  

“Do.  You.  Want.  To—”  He’s being insufferable for the hell of it.  You can see it in his eyes, glossy things shining down at you like he’s got the entire fucking nightsky hung in them.  

“Not if you keep that up,”  you retort, though you both know you’re lying.  You’ve been waiting - wishing, wanting - for this moment since the day you laid eyes on him.  Since Yuri had elbowed you so hard in the ribs you’d thought you’d be bruised for days, since Jae had rambled on and on for his entire shift about the cute new bunny who’d come in that morning.  Since that very first wrongly spelt name on his plastic cup and every visit since.  

“Is that a challenge?”  

“You won’t get it in.”  

He scoffs, loud and drawn out, cheek rounding with disbelief at your disbelief.  How can you possibly doubt him - school basketball star and all-around athletic freak of nature? 

“What do I get if I do?”  The ball rests in his palm, poised to be shot through the hoop, sunk without making contact with the rim.  He’s confident - he’s done it a million times.  

“A pat on the back?”  As much as you tease him - loop mockery around nearly every syllable you speak, you’re endlessly supportive, already carrying the fruits of his labour under your arms.  A Pikachu shoved haphazardly into the purse slung across your body, a Snorlax tucked under your arm at an awkward angle that crushes his poor head, a Sylveon tucked into the side pocket of his joggers.  (The arcade was really into Pokemon, apparently.)  “Me saying thank you?”

“Not good enough.”  He leans in close - those big galaxy eyes practically swallowing you whole - and taps a single finger upon your nose.  It makes your nostrils flare, an itch blooming under his touch.  “Gotta sweeten the deal.”

You must look hilarious because Jungkook’s biting back a smile, smirking down at you.  Then, all at once, without breaking eye contact, he’s extending his arm, flicking his wrist, and— swish!  

In goes the ball, leaving him with a perfect score.  

“I want you to stay the night.”

You think he’s joking.  He must be joking.  This is your third date.  

But he’s staring at you like he’s completely serious, gaze expectant, lips pursed around something that reads like a smile but has your heart doing a strange little one-two step in your chest.  It soars for a moment, high above the clouds like the string orchestra of a choral work - Beethoven’s Ninth in D minor. 

“Are you propositioning me, Jeon Jungkook?”  It’s the same reaction he always has when you say his name: a twitch of his ear, the corner of his bottom lip quirking and then resetting, eyes so sparkly it’s almost absurd.

“No.  I’m just telling you what I want.”

“Huh.”  You should say no.  Guys like him - with charm that oozes out of every pore, whose offhanded smiles break more hearts than you ever have - are almost always bad news.  Too sweet, too funny, simply too much for your feeble heart to take.  

“Is that a yes?”  He’s got you in his clutches - a viper rather than a hare, with a smile so dangerous you’re paralysed by just the sight of it.  (Who needs venom?)

Your words catch in your throat, stick to one another like the deformed gummies at the bottom of the movie theatre bag.  What comes out isn’t what you expect.  “Okay.”

Damn you.  Damn him.  Damn how good he smells and the big dumb grin that spreads over his lips, sunshine in human form, undeniable and warm and cute enough to start a war over.  (That’s probably what’s happening - a vicious battle between your head and your heart.)  

Damn his stupid thumping foot that you can make out over the sound of the video games, the boisterous din.  It’s so cute you can’t help yourself from smiling, mouth pulling and pursing around the delight that begs to be freed.  

“Cool,”  he says, and you almost think that’s not very cool.  He’s so nonchalant, cavalier about it as if it means nothing.  You’d be bothered if you felt like you didn’t know him so well - hadn’t learnt his idiosyncrasies over the last two months.  

How he looks when he laughs really hard, his slightly too-big front teeth taking up all the real estate in his mouth.  How he sounds when he’s tired (groggy, with a lisp that rarely sees the light of day otherwise) or when he’s told he’s wrong (pouty, with his bottom lip jutted out so cutely you want to scream).  How he runs every morning, hits the gym every night, and eats double your protein because fitness, bro!  How his cheat meal of choice is soy garlic fried chicken from the place off-campus and he hates tangy, tart desserts (your lemonade lip gloss not included, he insists).  How he can’t sleep if he’s too hot - which he often is - and he spends way too long combing through his ears with a specialty brush he doesn’t let anyone touch.  How he’s secretly raindrops and gummy bears and hand holding in the car, so much more than his high school superlative of most likely to grace the cover of GQ.

You wonder, because you know those things, does that make you special?  Does it make you immune to the heartbreak that you swear you imagine whenever your mood drops (not often, but often enough)?  

You hope so.

“Let’s go shoot guns?”  He’s tearing you from your reverie, planting an open-mouthed kiss to your temple.  It’s sloppy and not very refined, much less suave than what you’d expect from your school’s soccer captain (and basketball small forward and swim team stand-in).  You suppose that’s why you like him so much - because he’s always surprising you, keeping you on your toes. 

“Let’s.”  You agree, letting your date drag you toward the Time Crisis machine.  It’s blissfully unoccupied, allowing the two of you to slide into place.  He takes the blue gun, you the red.  

He squeezes your hip when you take up position, one eye squeezed shut as you look down the barrel of the plastic weapon.  “Better not let me die.”

“Better not get shot,”  you return.  

He doesn’t listen - failing halfway through the helicopter scene, his shot missing and resulting in some sad miserable death in the form of Continue? blinking across the screen.  Neither of you mind that much though.  He occupies himself on his phone, free hand tucked into the back pocket of your jeans.  You play better when he’s not shouting terrible call-outs, nearly crashing into you because he gets so into it.

(How he’s never got a concussion on the basketball/soccer/etc. field before, you’re not sure.)

By the time you’re done - a good five minutes later, you think - Jungkook’s growing restless, tugging at your belt loops enough that you stumble with every shot, nearly knocking yourself out when you have to steady yourself on the centre console.  

“Kook!”  Your glare is barely that, too affectionate to dissuade him from his childish antics.  

He pulls you forward, traps you between his thick thighs, tattooed hands settling comfortably on your hips.  “Let’s go home.”

“Someone’s in a hurry.”

Of course, he doesn’t deny that.

It’s not the first time you’ve been over.  Not even your second or third.  You’ve met up with him before his games, thrown his jersey overtop and helped him wrap his fingers before hitting the court.  You’d even had to grab his cleats for him once, running across campus as he did drills in his socks as punishment.

This time feels different.  You know why but it doesn’t make it an easier pill to swallow.  It lodges somewhere in your throat, makes it hard to breathe when you kick off your shoes and tuck them neatly beside Jungkook’s.  

“Are you hungry?”  He’s already in the small kitchen, glancing over his shoulder at you as you linger in the adjoining hallway, bag halfway over your head.  

“I’m good.”  You are, really.  You’d eaten one donut too many at the arcade, indulged in a little too much disgusting nacho cheese goodness.  You don’t really understand how your date’s still hungry, a cucumber crunching between his teeth when he turns back to you. 

Standing there, vegetable devoured in quick, decisive bites, he looks every inch the French lop bunny he is.

You reach him in the same instant he finishes his midnight snack.  Arms fold around you like there’s nothing else he’d rather be doing, head dropping to rest comfortably upon yours.  Like this, his ears tickle your cheek - velveteen fur lost to the silk of your hair.  “Are you tired?”  

Another no comes - spoken into the fuzzy fabric of his sweater - and he hums above you, whole frame rattling with the noise.  

“No bed then?”  

At least he’s transparent, you think.

“One track mind much?”  You’re only teasing.  A part of you looks forward to… whatever it is that sits over the horizon, lost past the creaky bedroom door and somewhere beneath his surprisingly soft sheets.  (You’d asked about them once - he’d told you his mother liked to send him housewares to remind him of home.  He was a real mama’s boy that way.)

The monster only laughs, snuggles into your hair like it’s home.  “Can you blame me?”  

You can’t do much of anything when he’s like this - so utterly adorable and enticing and good for your heart that it feels as if you’ve taken a straight dose of morphine.

“Let’s go to bed, Wookie.”  Another nickname, recently coined after you’d spent an evening watching Star Wars for the first time.

“Yes, ma’am.”

You whack him on the way to his bedroom, smack a hand over the arm curled around your shoulders.  He pretends like it hurts, howls in a way he he thinks resembles a wounded animal but really just sounds stupid.  “Not a ma’am.”

“Sir?”  He asks, just to make you laugh. 

“If you don’t shut up—”  

He pushes you through the door of his bedroom while giggling to himself, sound puffing out of his cheeks.  “Don’t be mad, kitten.”  The two of you drop to the bed, a tangle of limbs and silken fur and squeaking laughter.  “You’re so purr-ty when you’re annoyed.”

He’s doing it again.  Dropping those stupid cat puns that make your nose wrinkle, ink-tipped ears folding back against your head.   

“I think I’m hiss-terical, don’t you?”  

Face adamantly buried into his sheets, you don’t give him the time of day.  You don’t even care that your mascara is probably rubbing off against the charcoal fabric, lipstick tint doing potentially irreversible damage.  He knows how unfunny you find these jokes, how you’ve heard them your whole life and roll your eyes so hard your optic nerve might sever every time you face another.  

What’s the point of sharing your pet peeves with him when all he does is lean into them?  Use them against you like it’s the cool thing to do.  Make you wonder what you’d seen in him when he was just another customer, another boy in Seoul National indigo and bedhead so dishevelled it begged to be managed.  

(You’re not sure why you’re so irritated suddenly, caught in the clutches of a moodswing as you curl into your side and ignore his bad jokes.)

Stupid Jeon Jungkook.  Annoying, silly, too-cool-for-his-own-good Jeon Jungkook.  

Jeon Jungkook who makes you second guess your choices, leaves you breathless and confused with just one dumb look.  Who has convinced you into his bed and teases you mercilessly, snickering to himself as his foot bounces against the floorboards because he finds himself that funny.

“Baby?”  The pet name comes, presses itself past your curtain of hair and invades your thoughts.  

You say nothing, adamantly faced away.

He doesn’t like that, sneaking his hands around you and cradling you into his chest as if that’ll lighten the mood.  (It does, a little bit, but you don’t tell him that.)  “Don’t ignore me,”  he mumbles, warmth breath tickling your ears, fingers dancing over the rungs of your ribs as if they’re ivory and not bone, playing a tune only he can hear.

“Stop with the shitty jokes,”  you retort.  You’re being difficult - can feel the vinegar turning your blood even as he tries to will it all away.

You feel the intake, the rise and fall of his broad chest.  You can only imagine how hard he’s biting his tongue, careful to keep his next errant pun at bay.  People don’t tell him no - only you.  Maybe that’s why you do it, to remind him you’re not just like everyone else.  

“Sorry.”  

You don’t tell him to show you how sorry— but he does anyway.

You’re astounded by him, utterly entranced by the way he moves.  How power runs the length of his frame, manoeuvres each of his limbs and turns your own to jelly.  

He’s got you face down, ass up, hands cradling your hips like they’re his home and he can’t bear to let go.  Every upward stroke feels like heaven - feels like a million lifetimes of pleasure you can barely wrap your thoughts around.  He’s impossibly big, thick and long.  The first thought you’d had when he’d stripped his black Calvin Kleins was pretty.  

You realise now there’s nothing pretty about him.  He’s filthy - the devil come to collect as he fucks you across his bed, nearly loses you to the pillows at the head with each snap of his hips.  (What they said about rabbits was true, you think.)

“B-Bunny,”  you sob, scratch over cotton that’s worn soft and smells exactly like your favourite sweater of his.  The linens are defenseless, tangled up and wrinkled with each flex of your fingers, bunched up within your palms every time he buries himself like he’s looking for the answer to life, thinks he might find it within the fluttering walls of your pussy.

“Not my name.”  When he sounds like this, he’s more predator than prey, a thousand volts of electricity shooting up your spine.  He’s demanding and unrelenting.  It makes your head spin.

“Wook—”  

“Not.”  Bunny teeth are just as painful as a feline’s, doing their job as they dig into the flushed skin over your back, marking his territory with two prominent indents right between your neck and shoulder.  “A.”  He ruts into you as if he’s got something to prove, snaps his hips to a beat you can’t keep up with.  “Wookie.”  Grips you so tight you might snap, red blooming beneath his hands.

You sob under him, drool against the pillows because you can’t seem to keep your mouth shut.  (You feel like Jungkook post-win, spewing nonsense as he prattles on about game winning plays with his teammates.)

“K-Kookie.”  It’s what he wants to hear - hits him right in the chest, a bull’s eye to the thing that beats wildly and in tandem with your own.  

His rhythm stutters.  The bed is shaking and not because he’s practically breaking the weak wooden frame.  No, his foot’s thumping, bouncing across the sheets even as he tries to regulate the roll of his hips, return it to the assured, teeth-numbingly good tempo it’d been at.  

It doesn’t work.  You love it anyway.  Like it more, because it means he’s just as affected by you as you are him. Your heart sings, leaps out of your chest on hummingbird wings, and dances around your head.  You’re a goddamn cartoon - Pepé Le Pew in ragdoll form - animated pink shapes circling like a crown.

You don’t care.  You can’t.  Not when he plasters himself to your back and asks you to say it again, begs you to tell him how good he is, tells you how he wants to make you his.  

Who cares if it’s three dates in, if your meeting was cliched and silly and he’s the campus heartthrob?  

You don’t - because he’s yours and when he flips you onto your back and you curl your fingers into his hair, it’s your name he stutters out.  It’s you who has him coming apart beneath your hands, the feel of his ears like velvet, the little whines he huffs growing louder each time you tug at the base.  It’s you who knows what he sounds like as he falls to pieces, throws himself against you as if gravity demands it.  It’s you who holds him to sleep, whose skin acts as a canvas for the doodles he traces as he drifts off.  

It’s you and it’s him and that’s enough.

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