#ahhhh i'm so excited to finally be able to post this!!

[zukkaoru]

⚔️where the fields are painted gold🥀

Nobara watches, her eyes tracing over Maki’s form, noting the arm muscles highlighted by the fact that they’re wearing a sleeveless top. They could probably lift Nobara without breaking a sweat, which is…

Nobara closes her eye, sucking in a deep breath. It’s something she needs to not think about, that’s what it is. She needs to not think about Maki literally sweeping her off her feet, holding her in their arms and smiling warmly beneath golden rays of sunlight. Because that would be a ridiculous thing to think about and Nobara has absolutely no interest in it.

None at all.

Obviously.

After an assassination attempt, Nobara's parents hire a bodyguard for her. Nobara is entirely, completely, 100% against this idea.

That does not stop her from falling in love.

🥀 written for @nobamaki-bigbang ⚔️ royalty au || nobamaki + background itafushi 🥀 rated t || 28k words || 3 chapters

chapter one || chapter two || chapter three

[diabeticgirl4]

Vibrates excitedly I'm finally caught up enough to start campaign 3 aaaaaaaa

I would start tomorrow, but I'm contemplating listening to the last elder scrolls 3-shot first, bc idk it'll feel weird to start first episode of c3 then jump to an unrelated one/3-shot lol. But!! I'm gonna watch the intro part tonight bc :3c

So tentative planning on starting c3 on Wednesday, and bc I'll no doubt be liveblogging during my work breaks keep an eye out for (aka feel free to block) the tag #maddie liveblogs cr3

:3

[rhoorl]

Working Title | Chapter 12

Pairing: Dieter Bravo x OFC Belle

Rating: Mature, 18+, for the love of all things please don’t engage if you are a minor ok? 

Word Count: 4.8k

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Chapter 12 on AO3

Chapter Summary: We return to the resort post-photoshoot. Indy and Belle have a girls' night, but is Dieter able to stay away?

Chapter Warnings: SMUT. Oral (m and f receiving). Allusions to intimacy issues. Ryan is his own warning at this point.

A/N: You know I'm a sucker for an alternating POV, so we get a little bit of that. This is the most explicit thing I've written to date sooo be kind as I go crawl into a hole. 😬 But honestly, I couldn't let Belle and Dieter go any longer without something spicy happening. 

“Easier said than done, Lizzie. I’m just so…” he leaned closer to her and dropped his voice to a whisper, “I just don’t want to fuck it up you know?”

“You won’t. I’ve never seen you like this sweetheart, I’m really proud of you,” she patted him on the knee and then felt her phone buzz. “Ugh,” she shook her head at her phone.

“What? What is it?”

“Well, you aren’t going to be happy with me, but hear me out,” she put her hands up to pre-empt his frustration, “Maria asked if you and I could have dinner with her tonight at the resort," Dieter sighed. "I know, I know, but it's good for the story."

"Ugh, okay," he looked over to Belle, who was still fast asleep.

"It's only a couple of hours champ, you can survive I promise," she smirked.

"I know," he pouted.

You don't know how long you had dozed off, but the next thing you knew your eyes were fluttering open as the van made its way back up the path to the resort.

Dieter was on his phone when you looked over at him. He must have sensed your glance as his eyes lifted from the screen to land on your face as he gave you the sweetest smile.

When the van finally comes to a stop, everyone files out, Dieter letting Liz go first before following you.

"Did you have a good nap?" He asks as you make your way down the stairs.

"Yeah, I don't know what it is about me and moving vehicles," you chuckle.

"Hey so, I uh," he rubs the back of his neck, pulling you off to the side as Aubrey and Danny walk by. You notice Liz lingering by frantically typing away on her phone, but keeping tabs on you both out of the corner of her eyes. "Originally I had plans to take you somewhere tonight for dinner, but Liz said that Maria wants to have dinner." He looks apprehensive, unsure how you’re going to react.

"That's ok," you smile at him. 

"You sure?" He was dumbfounded by your quick and simple response.

"Why wouldn't I be? You have work stuff, I understand."

He let out a breath, "You're amazing you know that?"

"For being ok with you going to a dinner?" You laugh.

"Yeah, I … I haven't…that hasn't always been the case for me."

You sense there's more under the surface, but you don't want to press it. 

"Well, I'm sure Indy and I can come up with something to do. I haven't seen her much and we could use a good girls’ night."

"Oh nice, well don't have too much fun. And if you do, take pictures," he whispers the last bit in your ear as he pulls you in for a hug.

"You're ridiculous," you giggle as he kisses the top of your head. 

"Indy? Are you here?" The room was quiet but you see Indy's bag on the ground so you’re pretty sure she was there.

"Babe! Ahhhh how was the rest of the photoshoot?!" She runs from her bedroom to give you a big hug. She clearly recently showered, as her hair was still wet.

"It was so good, Ind! The photographer kinda gave me the creeps and Aubrey was annoying, but Dieter … he seriously looked so good! How was your day? Did you put the leave-in conditioner in your hair just now?"

"Yes, moooom! And eeeeek! I'm so excited for you! Well, not for the creepy photographer and dumbass Aubrey. Seriously, want me to throw her in a pool at some point?" She giggles as you playfully hit her shoulder. "My day was good. They're doing some rewrites and I have a kind of sexy scene to shoot with Sam soon," she wiggles her eyebrows and shakes her shoulders.

"Well, good thing you both have been rehearsing so much. Ow!" She slaps you on the ass as you turn toward the kitchen to go get some water.  "Are you guys hanging out tonight?"

"No, he actually has a really big scene tomorrow so he's calling it an early night. What about you? You and Dieter doing something fun?"

"He and Liz are actually having dinner with the reporter who’s doing the interview. He went straight there once we got back."

"Oooo so we can have a girls' night?" She grabs both of your arms and shakes you a little. 

"I guess so!" 

Knock.

"Are you expecting anyone?" You scrunch up your face, looking from the door to Indy.

"No, Ari has the night off." Indy saunters over to the door and looks through the peephole. She turns back to you and smiles before turning around to open the door. You start to make your way over too to see who was there.

"Hi miss, we've been asked to bring this to you." One of the resort staff was at your door with a bottle of champagne and a cart that carried two trays topped with a lid, hiding the contents of what was underneath.

"Oh, we didn't order anythin-" you start to say as Indy elbows you in the side. 

"Please, come in," Indy pulls the door back and lets the man wheel in the cart.

"Would you like me to open the bottle, miss?"

"That would be great!" Indy looks over to you with an excited, but surprised expression.

The man makes quick work of opening the champagne and pours you both a glass. He sets both trays onto the kitchen island and puts the bottle in a bucket already filled with ice.

"Anything else I can help you ladies with?"

"N-no, that's great, thank you so much!" You walk him out while Indy reaches for the flutes. 

Once you close the door you turn around and see Indy with a huge smile on her face. "Ind, did you order this?"

"No babe, but I know who did," she waves a little note card in the air.

You skip over to her and snatch the card out of her hand.

Hope you ladies enjoy a fun night to yourselves.

D

P.S. I wasn't kidding about the pictures.

"What pictures is he talking about," Indy knocks your shoulder with hers.

You tell her about the flirty exchange you had with Dieter before you both parted ways.

"Ooo, I think our boy Dee is missing you," she teases. "But we should take a photo, you know, as a thank you."

"Right, it would be the right thing to do," you wink.

"That's the spirit!"

She takes the lids off the two trays to reveal a charcuterie board on one tray and an assortment of desserts, on the other.

You arrange the trays at the corner of the kitchen island and stand to the side, ready to take a selfie. "Ok, let's take a picture with all of the stuff."

"Oh, you aren't wearing that," Indy looks you up and down. "C'mon we are having a cute night in, let's put on something fun!"

"I have a feeling you don't mean for me to put on my T-shirt and workout shorts."

Indy shakes her head. "Oh no, we've got to make Dee miss you even more than I know he already is," she winks.

"Anything else I can get you to drink sir?"

"Water is fine thanks," Dieter smiles at the waitress. He glances down to his phone for the fifth time in the last minute. He told Danny to send something up to the girls as a surprise but now his mind is going a mile a minute since he’s yet to hear from Belle.

Did Danny do it right? Of course, he did, the kid doesn't ever let me down. So why hasn't she said anything? Was it too much? I did too much. I thought it would be nice but…

"Dee?"

He looks up to see Liz and Maria staring at him. "Hmm?"

"Everything ok?"

"Y-yea sorry, thinking about a scene I have tomorrow," he tries to play it off and he thinks Maria is fooled but Liz isn’t. 

Her eyes narrow a bit before she returns to her conversation about who knows what with Maria. Dieter pretends to be engaged while glancing at his phone.

Buzz.

He practically lunges at his phone, quickly unlocking it when he sees a message from Belle. 

Belle: This was so nice of you, thanks for getting our girls' night off to a great start! 😘

Attached was a selfie of Indy and Belle, which Indy clearly took given the angle. She positioned the camera high above their heads with her long arm as they both looked up and smiled. Dieter was a little embarrassed at how quickly his eyes went from Belle’s face down to her body to see what she was wearing.

He tried to take a sip of his water but coughed a little the more he looked at her, tracing every curve he could see.

She had on what looked like a silky pair of pale pink sleep shorts with some lace trim at the bottom and a robe of the same color half thrown over a lacy, sheer black tank top. Her hair was down and she had a cute smirk, but it was her eyes that really drew his focus.

"Dee?"

"Um, y-yea, sorry I was waiting on a text. Just got it," he smiles. "Ah, one sec, lemme respond real quick."

"Ugh, Indy. Are you sure this isn't too much?"

"No bitch, keep drinking your champagne and stop thinking so much," she laughs as she snaps a selfie presumably for Sam.

Buzz.

Dieter: You're welcome baby. Looks like you girls are having fun 

Dieter: PS … love Indy, but I feel like I'm gonna need a photo of you by yourself 😉

"See! I told you I didn't need to be in it!" Indy slaps your arm as you both giggle. "Ok, we need to position you a little for this."

You roll your eyes as Indy starts an impromptu photoshoot of you, telling you how to pose while encouraging and hyping you up.

Dieter felt a bit more settled now that he knew the surprise made it to the girls. But, he wished he could run upstairs to devour Belle instead of whatever he ordered.

Buzz 

Belle: How's this?

Belle attached another photo of just herself. 

Good girl, following directions.

She was kneeling on the couch with her back to the camera, looking over her left shoulder with a shy smile. Her robe was pulled down on one side, exposing her bare shoulder.

His breath hitched, surprised at how bold Belle was being, no doubt spurned on by her best friend and some liquid courage. But still, he was not complaining and started to fidget a bit in his chair, trying to discreetly adjust himself underneath the table.

"He's going to think I'm not wearing anything under the robe." You pull the strap of your tank top back up.

"That's the point, silly!"

Buzz 

Dieter: wow, you're making it really hard for me to concentrate on this dinner lol

Dieter: What happened to the top you had on? I rather liked it.

"Worked like a charm," she winks at you. "Here take it off." She comes over to you and starts to pull your top off.

"Jesus Indy! What the fuck!" 

"We're going to take a picture of it on the floor, not of you,” she rolls her eyes at you. “We gotta tease him a bit. C’mon, take it off.”

You take off your robe momentarily so you can remove the top, handing it over to Indy.

“Ok, what’re going to do with that?”

“Mmm…oh, I have an idea, here, come with me,” Indy takes your hands and leads you to your room.

“Ok, lay down.”

“Seriously, Indy?”

“Just do it, I have a vision.”

You roll your eyes and hop on your bed. Indy positions your legs crossed one over the other and then drapes the top on the bed next to your legs. She comes to sit next to you and takes a photo.

“Ok, aaaand… send!”

Buzz

 Belle: Oh, you mean this?

Dieter leaned forward to put the phone down into his lap so Liz or Maria wouldn’t see it. He saw Belle’s bare legs crossed on what had to be her bed, with her top alongside her.

Fuuuuuck. Is she naked right now? 

“Should we order some dessert, Dee?” Liz looked at him a bit confused as to what was distracting him.

“No!” He didn’t mean for that to come out as loud and forceful as it did. “Ah, I mean, no, I’m good. I’m actually getting kinda tired…busy day tomorrow.” His tight-lipped smile didn’t fool Liz, who smirked at him.

Once you send the photo, you put your top back on and go out to the living room to giggle as you snap some racy photos of Indy for Sam. You both sipped the champagne and snacked as she filled you in on some of the on-set gossip, but you couldn’t help but keep glancing at your phone, expecting a response from Dieter. As time went on, your face dropped a bit and Indy sensed your confidence dwindling. 

“Don’t get in your head about it, there’s probably a good reason why he hasn’t responded.”

“You don’t think it was too much?”

“If I have to tell you no one more goddamn time I swear I’m going to smack you.”

Knock.

“Hmm…think Dee got us another bottle of champagne? We definitely don’t need it,” Indy laughs as she walks to the door to open it. “Oh, hi!”

“Hey, um is Belle here?”

You straighten up on the couch, peer over to the front door, and see a floppy mess of curls behind Indy.

“Y-yea, she’s in here,” Indy closes the door and does a little dance behind Dieter as he quickly makes his way over to you. “I’ll um…head to my room,” she winks as she grabs her glass and the bottle of champagne before retiring down her hallway.

You stand up to greet Dieter, who immediately brings you in for a hug and then starts kissing your neck.

“W-what are you doing here?” You start to whimper a bit as you feel one of his large hands move down to your ass to squeeze it as he trails kisses across your collarbone and up the other side of your neck.

“I…you…fuck you look so good baby,” he was trying to string words together between his kisses before he finally pulls back and looks you up and down. “Hmm…you put this back on, didn’t you?” He rubs his thumb along the hem of your top.

You hide your face in his chest. “Sorry, I…all of that, it was Indy’s idea.”

“And it’s the best fucking idea she’s had.” He chuckles as he moves back, grabbing your face. “You were driving me insane you know that? Could barely concentrate on dinner because I wanted to come up here and…” he trails off as he kisses you.

You deepen the kiss and pull on his sweatshirt to walk him back to your room. “W-what…hmm… what did you want to come up here and do?” You manage to get out as he nips along your jaw.

“Mmm…had lots of things in mind,” he smiles into your neck. 

“Me too.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I um…there’s something I want to do.” 

You make it to your room and close the door. You work his sweatshirt up and over his head, and your breath hitches when you realize he didn’t have a shirt on underneath. You look up at him and grab his face to kiss him again.

“Hey,” he pulls back, panting. “I want you to do whatever you feel comfortable with ok? We could stop right now and go to bed.”

You roll your eyes and pout, “But that would be no fun.”

He chuckles as he brings you in for another kiss, working your robe off, and letting it fall to the floor.

You turn him so his back is against the door as you work on undoing his belt buckle. Once you finally get it, you start to trail kisses down his jaw, making a point to kiss the little bare patch before working down his neck and his chest. His chest moves up and down as his breathing gets faster, as you move down his stomach. You continue to work down until you’re on your knees in front of him.

As you go to unbutton his shorts he stops you, “Hey, I wanna take care of you first, baby.”

“I…uh…but I want to.” You could feel yourself losing a bit of the nerve you had. “Please…I…uh…”

You’re cut off by Dieter who bends down to kiss you, lifting you back up so you’re standing. 

“If you only knew how much I’ve been thinking about your sweet mouth,” he whispers in your ear, sending a shiver down your spine. “Just have fun, I’ll tell you what I like,” he smiles into your kiss.

The butterflies come flooding into your stomach as the realization of what you are about to do hits you. But Dieter seems so eager and excited, that you don’t want to lose your nerve. So you start to work your way back down again. He keeps both of his hands at his side as you take his shorts off, one of his hands twitching, itching to touch you.

You felt how excited he was earlier, but now staring at it head-on, your mouth salivates. You hook your fingers under his boxers and your mouth parts as he springs out. He looks so beautiful and confident standing bare in front of you. You look up at him through your eyelashes to see him giving you a smug smile.

You move a bit closer, licking your lips as you lightly wrap your hand around the base and slowly start to swirl your tongue along his tip, stopping to swipe at the bead of precum which makes him shiver and whimper.

“Fuck, you look so pretty baby,” he pants.

He moves one of his hands and threads his fingers through your hair, lightly resting his hand on the back of your head as you slowly take him in. He whimpers again as you slowly move him in and out. You look up at him and see his head thrown back against the wall, slack-jawed, and his eyes clenched shut. He’s trying to praise and encourage you through his panting, but it’s coming out as an incoherent mess of "oh shit" and "fuck" among other things. 

You catch his eyes a few moments later as he moves his head to look down at you. The eye contact nearly sends him over the edge, his grip on your hair tightens as you keep a steady pace.

"Fuck…shit, I'm…I'm close baby, where…where can I?"

You hollow your cheeks as you move off of him, and an obscene pop sounds through the empty room.

"Wherever you want," you pant as you take him again with even more enthusiasm than before.

"Holy shit…I…keep doing that."

There was something powerful about seeing this gorgeous man reduced to a whimpering mess all because of you. 

I still got it.

You always thought you were pretty good at oral, you and Indy had traded enough tips and tricks over the years to each perfect your preferred methods. But like most everything related to intimacy, Ryan wrecked it. His preferred method for receiving a blow job was ramming his dick so far down your throat that you'd choke and gag on it. He got some sick satisfaction from seeing your humiliation. Oftentimes by that point, he was close and all you needed to do was finish him off with your hand. 

But with Dieter, you wanted all of him, you couldn’t get enough. As you continued bringing him in and out, you felt his thigh twitch and his grip on your hair tighten, which you surprisingly were into.

"Baby, l-look…at me," Dieter pants as you look up through your eyelashes again as you lick up the underside of his shaft. "Fuck, I'm gonna… I'm…"

You return your mouth to him as his release starts, and you're ready for it as it hits the back of your throat. Dieter is making the most obscene noises and you continue working him through until he pulls you off abruptly.

"Shit," he quickly pants. "Fuck, sorry, that was ….I'm…gonna need a second," he chuckles as he rests his head on the wall, closing his eyes and catching his breath. You take a few moments to make a mental picture of this before standing up.

You go to wipe the side of your mouth to collect the last bit of cum that escaped your lips when he opens his eyes and leans forward licking it off instead.

Your eyes go wide as he leans back against the wall. His smug smile returns before he cups your face and starts to kiss you. It becomes deeper as his tongue explores your mouth, stopping a couple of times to either slightly bite or suck on your bottom lip.

He pulls back, looking at you with a bit of desperation. "Get on the bed. Please." 

With Dieter, you were trying so hard to block out all of the bad shit that you associated with sex. Because what you just did? That was fun. He makes you feel giddy, appreciated and wanted.

You smirk and saunter over to your bed sitting on the edge as you watch him walk over, his eyes black with lust. 

"Move back up."

You shuffle backward onto the bed, feeling some deja vu from this morning. Except this time, you were more than willing to have Dieter do whatever he wanted.

He crawls towards you and stops, taking a moment to check in with you. Your chest moves up and down, trying to catch your breath in anticipation of what is to come. 

He takes one of your feet in his hands and starts to trail kisses up from the arch up to your ankle and calf before stopping at your knee. You shiver a bit as the prickliness of his beard rubs against your skin. He puts the sole of your foot onto the bed so your knee is propped up, looking at you and licking his lips before he does the same thing to your other leg. He shuffles himself between your knees again checking in with you.

"Want me to keep going?"

You nod and he shakes his head.

"I gotta hear you, baby, tell me what you want."

"You," you pant. He's not touching you at this point but the anticipation is building.

"Want me to what?"

"I …uh … I…" You cover your eyes with your hands, a little embarrassed about saying what you want out loud.

Dieter crawls up your body, one of his hands working to uncover your face.

"Hey, don’t hide. If you want me to stop I can."

"No, I …sorry, I'm just not umm…"

"Not used to asking for what you want?"

"Yeah…that," you chuckle. 

"Tell me, and if you don't want to say it then show me."

"Mmm okay. Um, I want this," you bring two fingers up to his lips, which he promptly takes the opportunity and kisses them, "here," you take your fingers off his lips and thread them between your bodies. 

He pushes off to see your fingers stop over your mound, a smile coming across his face. "Yea? You sure?"

"Yes. Please."

He takes a deep breath and kisses you. "Well, since you asked so nicely," he smirks as you roll your eyes at his sarcastic tone. "I aim to please." 

The trek back down your body is deliberate and slow as he presses open-mouth kisses over your top before stopping at the waistband of your shorts. He lets out a breath and looks up at you again. He hooks his fingers and starts to pull your shorts down. He licks his lips as he sees the black lacy underwear you had on. You push up on your forearms to get a better view. The image of his fluffy curls and broad shoulders between your legs is nearly enough to get you over the edge.

“You still good?”

“Mhmm…y-yea,” you smile.

“Good.”

He takes the lace off and presses kisses up and down one of your thighs as his hand caresses the other. You start to writhe in anticipation as he moves closer and closer to your core. He hooks one arm around your thigh and the other hand rests on your lower stomach. 

You close your eyes and feel him lick a long stripe up, your hips buck up at the sensation. 

“Fuuuuck,” you whimper, throwing your head back. Your eyes are clenched shut but you can feel him smiling as he continues to work his way around, like a man starved.

It honestly feels like you blacked out for a second, overcome by the pleasure of Dieter’s tongue. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever felt before and you’re so overwhelmed by it all you can’t even pinpoint everything he’s doing or the sounds he’s making. All you know is that it feels amazing and you don’t want him to stop. You prop yourself up on one forearm and use your free hand to tug on his curls.

As he concentrates on your clit, you feel him press a finger inside you, which makes your hips buck up even more, but his other hand presses you back down. He continues to work you over, you can practically see stars as he hits a spot you haven’t felt a partner hit in a long time. You hoped that Indy had some headphones in because you couldn’t control the moans that came from the depths of your throat as Dieter pushed you over the edge.

He worked you down the other side of your climax, whispering praises as he kissed your thigh. You both sat silent for a moment, taking in what just happened. You couldn’t remember the last time you came from getting eaten out. 

“Oh my god,” you pant. “You…you’re really fucking good at that,” you giggle as Dieter comes back up to nuzzle into the crook of your neck. You could feel him smile into your neck as you catch your breath.

“I’m glad…I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” he kisses you, pushing his tongue in your mouth so you can taste yourself. “You’re amazing you know that? So fucking beautiful.”

“Yeah?” You smile into his kiss.

He pushes up to look at you, tracing his thumb down the side of your face. “Why would you think you aren’t anything less than perfect?” You turn away from him, blushing a bit as he sighs. “Ugh, try and forget him yea? I knew he was a fucking idiot before but now,” his eyes trail down your body. “But now I know it without a shadow of a doubt.”

You both kiss again, a little slower than before, taking time to explore each other. Your hands find their way back to his hair, your fingers scraping lightly along his scalp. You can feel him getting hard again as he moves his hand under your top before you pull back. 

“Is…is it ok if this is all we do tonight?” You bite your lip, confused as he starts to laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“We’ve done so much already!” He kisses you, still smiling. “You teased me, got me all riled up, and then I came up here and you…” his eyebrow twitched as he smirked. “All I’ve wanted is to be close to you however you’ll let me, and so I’m over the fucking moon right now.”

“Really?” he nods as he kisses you again. “Well, I am too,” you giggle as he nipped at your jaw, moving down to your neck. 

You don’t know how much time passes, but eventually, you’re both under the covers, your head resting on his chest as his fingers dance through your hair.

“Can I stay here tonight?” he finally broke the peaceful silence, glancing down at you. 

“Y-yea, I’d like that.”

“I think I need to bring you with me on all of my photoshoots if this is how they end,” he winks as you laugh into his chest. He brings his arms around you, his warm embrace filling your stomach with butterflies again. The last thing you remember is him kissing the top of your head before you doze off to sleep.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

A/N: I had plans to write other things this week, but Dieter kept yelling at me so here I am with two Working Title updates in the same week. I can’t guarantee how quickly the next one will arrive, but hopefully, this settles a bit of the slow burn we’ve been working on. There’s part two of the photoshoot in the next chapter along with another day on set filming.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate all of the kind comments, reblogs, and likes … it makes my day!

Tag list: @musings-of-a-rose / @legendary-pink-dot / @bitchwitch1981 / @mysterious-moonstruck-musings / @gracie7209 / @amneris21 / @pastelnap / @maryfanson / @sunnywithachanceofjavi / @sin-djarin / @winchestergypsy90 / @for-a-longlongtime /@harriedandharrassed / @titlee78 / @midnightraain / @poodlebae / @partyofone3413 / @guelyury

[ener-chi]

Big Big Life Update

Hey guys! I've been sitting on this for a while and I'm so happy that I finally get to talk about it! TL;DR - I GOT ACCEPTED INTO MY DREAM SCHOOLLLL

6 years ago, after experiencing acupuncture a few times and having it blow my mind and rock my entire world, I decided that I wanted to study it. After doing some research, I found that one of the best schools in the nation is in Oregon, and I decided on that one.

I set it as a direction, and modeled my entire life around that goal. I saved up enough to move out, moved to Oregon, finished my undergrad, went through their brutal application process - And today I received the formal acceptance letter! Ahhhh fs;lkhjsdfa

The school itself teaches Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM. This includes other things in the curriculum besides acupuncture, such as energy-based massage, qigong or tai chi (you already know what I'm going to be picking), Chinese Herbology, and a kick-ass business management program.

I'm enrolling in a dual masters and doctoral program. While it's going to be more work, I'll come out of it with my DACM certification - or Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.

I'm just. It's so crazy to me that. I set this goal SIX YEARS AGO and... it's now a reality. I've worked through so much, grown so much - hell, I'm a completely different person 2000%. And yet... here I am.

The past... week or so, has been pretty strange for me. I had my final interview with them, which honestly I was really nervous for. But aside from that... I felt an energy shift. I think part of it is that we're transitioning into spring. But the other part is that... I've been feeling like I'm entering into a new chapter in my life, and this really cements that.

So much is going to change for me in the upcoming months. I mean once school starts, I'm going to be moving to a completely different city (and moving in with a partner for the first time!), I'm going to be going back to school, going to be learning completely different material, etc. I'm also going to be changing alot in that time, too. I can feel it.

I already have lol. My practice has actually completely changed in the past month or two, I just haven't really talked about it here. I feel like I say that alot LMAO but this time I really mean it. I think this should be saved for another post, but I'll briefly go over it. First, I was able to figure out how to astral travel and do all my stuff again etc. after my ego death experience. I have two new... guides, I would call them, who have been teaching me and helping me with stuff. I work with a "new" energy and have been spending time working with what I'm pretty sure is the afterlife and helping people cross over. And lastly, I found a book that has COMPLETELY CHANGED how I do energy work and energy healing. It's an incredible incredible book that I think is required reading for energy healers. Again, I'll mention this in another post sometime soon because there is just. So much. I could talk about and share from this book.

Anywho. I think that's it. This has been over a month-long process, and I've been waiting for the past like week to hear the final decision. I'm incredibly happy and grateful, and I'm really excited to be studying TCM. It's going to be really cool, and I'm going to be able to help soo many people.

I hope that everyone has a great night!

Blessings!

[bonesandthebees]

Hi Bones!

Thanks for the soundtrack recs! I'm super excited to listen to them all.

I was out of town, but I got to try Thai tea! There was a little chai shop where I was visiting with my friends, so I decided to try it. It was pretty strong, but it was good! I shared it with my friend who absolutely loved it.

Also, I just saw that you answered my ask from Chapter 16 right after I finished reading Chapter 17, which is really funny. I went on tumblr to comment on the new chapter and went "oh yay! My ask from Chapter 16!"

I really appreciate you answering that ask because I know authors/bloggers are not at all obligated to respond to everybody's ask, so to see you still responding to asks from a bit ago is really cool. I love that you actively engage in asks/your fans.

I'm glad that your religious trauma was not as severe as Wilbur's clearly is, but it's also cool that you're able to basically amplify the knowledge that you have on that subject to create such a complex character.

ANYWAY, onto chapter 17

I swear, every time there's a scene of Wilbur questioning his purpose/Clara it's programmed into my head like "welp, gotta go look back and see when he switches from 'The Pythia' to 'Wilbur'". It's basically a game at this point.

And the sandduo scene at the end. I wanted to cry, it was so amazing. Idk how you do it, Bones, but just the emotion in that scene is ughhhh a;lskdfjalsdkfjals;kjf. It's like you could physically feel the relief that Wilbur was feeling. Idk how to describe it, but the floodgates opened and it was almost like a waterfall of "ahhhh finally, Wilbur is healing".

Great chapter! Have a nice day!

- 🐼

I'm glad you enjoyed the thai tea!! it's definitely one of my favorite drinks but I'm very particular with how I like it too.

I try to answer all analysis asks for a glass chapter before I post the next one, but sometimes I don't have enough time to answer the asks before I want to post the chapter like what happened with chapter 17 lol. but yes I love seeing your guys thoughts on my fics!! it's such a huge compliment to me that you guys are thinking about my writing so much if that makes sense.

I used to try and answer every ask I got, but it's long since become too overwhelming, I have so many asks in my inbox nowadays. I still try to answer as many as I can especially the analysis asks, but if I don't get to an ask of yours I'm very sorry my inbox is just very stuffed

LMAO yeah these days you gotta watch for the switches. they're only gonna become more frequent.

I'm so glad you enjoyed, especially that final scene. I really loved writing it. I love glass!sandduo :)

[hunniedmilk]

Thank you so much for your tags ;; it's been fucking forever a minute since I posted anything. so if you wish, this is absolutely a request for some word vomit. and if you don't want to get into it, it's a heartfelt 'ehehe the tags are very nice, thank you' to keep your ask box warm

walks in with a book with like fifteen different annotation stickies I’m so ready pls bear with me if I sound incoherent .. have no clue if this'll be a lot but i'm going 2 put read more just in case ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

i could probably comment on literally every sentence like no exaggeration but i'm like containing the silliness as much as i can as to sound coherent so i just wanna point out small parts i really really like ^^

“Yet there’s a smile that glitters in the corner of his eyes, and as he steps down onto the pebbles he offers you a gloved hand.”

GHJHKL It just makes me explode ,,, I enjoy descriptions of understanding without a character having to verbally express it . It kills me every time regardless because it feels like you can understand the amount of trust between the two characters in the scene . Like in general , it could be an action that can appear like such a small , insignificant detail but you can tell that it means so much more than that and I just adore it so so much ???

“The butler simply… couldn’t let you go just yet. There’s a shimmer of gold in his eyes, a little greed shining through when he thinks of parting from your company.”

Bangs my head against the wall I ALWAYYYS REALLY LOVE IT WHEN PPL MAKE A SLIGHT REMARK ABOUT BARBATOS AND GREED IT’S JUST SOOOOO<333333 IT GETS ME SO EXCITED BECAUSE I START REMEMBERING LIKE THE SMALL REMARKS IN GAME ABOUT HIM RESTRAINING HIS GREED ETC AND HIS CHARACTER SONG . It’s just like so fun seeing different sides of characters expressed it’s just like AHHHH but I digress

The entire scene feels like it’s a moment that’s quiet and reserved away from other people but between the two characters it’s such a loud expression of emotions ,, especially because of Barbatos and how he is as a character too ?? ☆ｏ(＞＜；)○ 

I’m a bit new to the fandom so please bear with me a bit with explanations but I’ve read him as like a character that’s detached from personhood as a result of his profession and when there are moments when he clearly wants to pursue something he holds himself back from indulging into his greed but when it comes to MC he allows himself to finally take . To allow himself to enjoy their presence when they’re finally alone and able to …

SIDENOTE BUT ESPECIALLY SO BC OF HOOOW HARD THE OTHER CAST OF CHARACTERS GET SIDELINED HARD IN GENERAL SOMETIMES ,,, LIKE IN BARBS LATEST BIRTHDAY UR HOW DO U LITERALLY GET DOOMED BY THE NARRATIVE IN UR OWN DREAM.. BUT THAAAT’S LIKE AN ENTIRE RAMBLE I’VE HAD FOR A MINUTE AND THAT’S BESIDES THE POINT )))

“Of everyone, he knows keenly how precious your time is.”

Im literally vibrating off the walls rn I cant describe it any better than that and especially the next sentences that follow it ohhhg idk if it literally wasn’t late as hell rn I’d def just print this out n’ scribble a bunch of hearts on this like omg 

____

THE ENDING … I am literally pacing I don’t usually enjoy angst all that much and try to avoid it altogether but the way you wrote it I’m like a little crazy actually. like a little bit insane. A humans existence is such a fleeting moment to a demon and it’s like AAAA YOU JUST LIKE FEEL THE TENSION FROM THE PREVIOUS SCENES THEN THE WARMTH FROM THE ENDING IT’S JUST LIKE A BITTERSWEET ?? FEELING THAT MAKES IT SO ENJOYABLE AND IT’S SUCH AN INSTILLING FEELING THAT’S LIKE SOOOO BEAUTIFUL ?? HIM HOLDING THE AIR ??? I sound so insane I just really really get excited when I read that it’s such an infectious feeling but that’s what your writing feels like. I’m not the best at English so I’m hoping this comes off well enough but I feel like the idea of living on in another persons memory despite all the years to come, especially with a demons lifespan IT JUST FEELS SOOO /pos

This is going to sound absolutely cornball cheesy but ur writing style , and I haven’t checked out ur other works yet but , from this alone it reminds me of a nice sweet . Personally I’m thinking of a Mexican dessert as I’m Mexican myself and I enjoy food analogies as compliments but the way you describe your scenes feels like taking a bite out of a concha (insane person rambling but please stick with me) . it’s such a sweet feeling that like , you don’t really forget the first time you experience it ?? I know I’m def going to be giggling abt ur writing for like a fat week honestly . i could probably reread it more than I already have while typing this and still find things to comment on even if it's just a keysmash

idk idk just the way you present scenarios stick so nicely ? It’s just something so handcrafted with love that I can tell that you enjoy what u write ?? I don’t know :,)

IF LIKE ANY OF THIS DOESN’T RLLY SOUND RIGHT LIKE , CHARACTER DESCS ESP OF BARB ive been in this fandom for like not super long so im still info-diving rlly slowly and its so difficult </3 I get so nervous posting stuff but like I wanna get this out of my system SOO bad

Plus I don’t think I could type out any of the info I do know about him in an orderly way lol I’ve tried for months but it ends in so many side tangents in rambles bc I just like his character so much 

I just think he’s such an interesting character y’know ??? There’s so many ways people can interpret a character and when you see other peoples ideas and some of them just HIT like getting all giddy thinking wow this is so cool ,,, I have to eat what I’m reading because there are no words in my lexicon to verbally express how much I love this 

[fixfoxnox]

RETURN OF THE BITEMARKS ON MY HAND

Like the ones that will last a day or two lol

Hhrrrrrr I love ltl so much I'm eating it I agsksgsksgak

Ahdksgsj I especially love the "I'm not giving you my name" bit with Ghost and also Roach being to wrapped up in soap to notice Jackson having gotten fucked i akejelehe

(⚈₋₍⚈)

I think my new favorite trope in my fics is going to be "Jackson getting railed in the background but Roach being too distracted to notice" snndjdnfnf I was wheezing through mentioning Jackson's disappearance then sudden reappearance lmao

Very excited to be able to give you bite marks with something other than SiTO lol, I'll be interested to see if you bite when I'm finally able to start posting Pyre

Also fae Ghost and LtL Roach becoming besties just because Roach doesn't fall for any of his fae tricks...its my favorite thing ever ahhhh

[blueberryrock]

Rainy Day.

A/N AHHHH I AM SO EXCITED TO BE ABLE TO FINALLY POST THIS FIC!! This fic is for the @gatesofsummerexchange and I am really glad that i didn't skip this, it was super fun and not as stressful as I thought it'd be! Anyways, this 3k fic is for the lovely @nocompromise-noregrets!! I hope you love it as much as I did writing it 💕💕

Rules, Requests, and More!

"I cannot believe you lead us here."

"Oh hush," Glorfindel says with a sly grin, quietly undoing the ties to grab out his sword. "It could be worse!"

That earns him the biggest glare he has ever seen from the dark-haired ellon. Erestor grumbles to himself before sliding off of his horse, a shiver runs through him as his boots squelch in cold mud. Grabbing the bridle of his horse, Erestor pulls his cloak tighter against his body as he slowly trudges through the thick mud.

"It could have been a lot better too," his eyes glance up to the dark clouds slowly rolling overhead before pulling up his cloak's hood. "I thought you said it wasn't going to rain."

"Well, I did," Glorfindel sighs. "But alas I do not have the power of foresight and didn't see any clouds! I promise that as soon as we find a dry spot or cave I'll build you a fire."

It took what Erestor thought was two hours of trekking through cold, knee-high, thick mud before they finally came across a big enough cave to fit the two elves and horses. Dropping his horse's bridle, Erestor shakes off his hood before glancing around the dry cave with a grimace.

Erestor gently strokes his horse's muzzle and mutters a few soft words before letting the tired cold mare settle at his feet. Brushing off a small flat rock, Erestor sits with a small huff as his eyes land on the golden-haired ellon walking into the cave with his own horse behind him.

A gentle warm glow slowly fills the cave. "Looks like we will be here for a while?" Glorfindel mumbles, his gaze meeting Erestor's for a moment before he quickly glances at his horse. "I-I'll start gathering the wood before it rains if you can clear a spot?"

Mumbling an affirmative as Erestor watches the cheery elf bound out of the cave. Just my luck, he grumbles to himself as he clears away any small twigs and leaves that got blown in. The first time I get to leave Imladris is a decade and I'm stuck that bafoon in the middle of storm season.

With spaced cleared, Erestor sits himself back on his small rock with a huff as quietly eyes the caked mud staining the edges of his cloak. "Remind me to make a formal complaint to Lord Elrond when we get back," he whispers to his mare, his eyes slowly moving to land on the mouth of the cave. Large tree branches that they have been traveling under dance swiftly in the wind, Erestor's frown deepens at the whistling wind that reaches into the cave but he decides to turn his attention away.

It was quite a spacious cave Glorfindel had found, clearly big enough for them and their horses but it could probably fit a few more travelers before it became somewhat cramped. The entrance of the cave was thankfully on an incline and didn't allow any of the previous rain to enter, or at least a lot of it, but the wind seemed to reach him just fine.

As time slowly ticks by, Erestor glances over to Glorfindel's horse who was dozing against one of the cave walls. A small, itty bitty, feeling begins to slowly eat at Erestor as he continues to eye down the other horse but he shakes his head and ignores it.

Or tries to at least.

With a huff of breath, he curls further into himself as the wind outside of the cave starts to pick up speed, howling with each pass. I wonder how Glorfindel is fairing out there, Erestor sighs, slowly closing his eyes. It does seem to be taking him an awfully long time...his eyes slowly open to find the cave darker than he last saw.

Odd.

Standing from the small rock with a groan, the dry dirt floor crunches under Erestor's boots as he wanders towards the cave's entrance. Curiously, he pokes his head out to stare at the dark clouds above him through the thick foliage before a loud crack of thunder makes him yelp and nearly fall to the floor. Quickly he scrambles back into the cave before the heavy rain starts only moments later.

His attention is quickly brought to the whinnying horses which have begun to stand to their feet and back away further into the cave. As Erestor slowly strokes the horse's muzzles and speaks softly in elvish, his thoughts can't help but turn towards Glorfindel, who was still most likely out collecting firewood for them.

The rain will wash his tracks away, he would not be able to find his way back. Another, much louder rumble of thunder echoes through the small cave. The rain now coming down a lot heavier than Erestor would like. He better not get struck by lightning...And what if he slips and gets hurt? Or gets attacked?

"By the Valar," he sighs, turning his attention back to the horses. Why do I even care?

The rain had started before he could find his last piece of firewood, which was unfortunate for Erestor. With a small smirk as he brushes away some of his hair, Glorfindel sighs as he eyes down the heavy rain from under a tall tree. Adjusting the bundle of fallen branches and twigs, Glorfindel sucks in a breath before taking a step out into the rain, flinching as large and cold raindrops clink on his light armor.

A grimace grows on Glorfindel's face as he feels himself sinking into the fresh mud. He is so going to punch the twins for telling him about this "shortcut" when he gets back to the city. Shielding the wood as best as he can in his cloak, Glorfindel sets a fast pace through the forest searching wildly for the many landmarks he had made in case of this situation. Finding the now tumbled-over stack of rocks he had made earlier, Glorfindel pauses to glance around for the sloppily carved arrow.

Swiftly spotting it, Glorfindel starts a careful sprint towards the cave, silently hating the way his long and drenched hair sticks to him. Then he sees it as he pushes away a few tall bushes, the dark mouth of the cave.

A small, mostly relieved, smile flickers across Glorfindel's face at the sight of it. Slowing his pace, he quickly leaps past the fastly falling wall of rain to land on the mostly dry floor of the cave. "Erestor," he calls, brushing away a water-heavy lock of hair from his face. "I'm back!"

"I can see that." Erestor's low voice echoes from somewhere deep in the cave. A small flutter of warmth fills Glorfindel as his eyes scan the empty cave to find Erestor sitting on the floor with both of their horse's heads in his lap. "I could spot you from a mile away."

"We should test that someday then," Glorfindel says with a smile, slowly working his way towards the cleared spot Erestor made. "I hope that the wood did not get too wet," he murmurs as he begins to stack the firewood.

"I hope so too," Erestor sighs. "Otherwise i would have to sit by our only other light source...you."

"That doesn't sound too bad!"

Glorfindel can't help but smirk at the lack of response from the other elf. As he quickly finishes stacking the wood, Glorfindel turns to his small bag resting on his hip to pull out the dry kindle he had stuffed in there before the rain had come.

Only.

There was no kindling.

No dried leaves or twigs...instead all that lies in his small bag is a small sheathed carving knife. Well then, Glorfindel groans, gaining the now unwanted attention of Erestor.

"What did you do?" He warily asks, his eyes scanning Glorfindel's face when he doesn't get a response. "Or did not do?" Erestor tilts his head as he watches Glorfindel scrunch his nose in frustration.

"I may...or may not...of umm....."

"Out with it! There is no point in skirting around a problem that could be fixed!"

"I forgot the kindling." A large crack of lightning briefly lights up the cave and swiftly reminds them both of why they need the fire. Glorfindel feels Erestor's heavy gaze on him but he ignores it, his eyes just continue to stare at the wood stack before him.

While it's true that they don't necessarily need the kindling, the wood hadn't escaped as dry as he thought it did. How could I be so stupid? Glorfindel's hand slowly runs through his wet tangled hair, a loud groan escaping him as continues to berate himself silently...that is until he feels a hand gently touch his shoulder.

"By the Valar you're cold," Erestor's low gravelly voice tears Glorfindel's gaze away. "Regardless, do we really need the kindling to light it?"

"Probably," Glorfindel mutters, watching as Erestor then offers his hand to help him up. Taking the smaller hand in his, Glorfindel stands to his feet with a slight groan. "I am very sorry for this, the wood is likely to damp to light without the kindling."

Erestor lets out a tired sigh before he turns away from the golden-haired elf. "It's fine then," he mumbles, the dry dirt crunches under his boots as he walks towards their horses. "Best conserve our warmth with them I suppose."

With a small nod, Glorfindel feels the cold of the rain slowly nipping at his skin as he stands. Shuffling towards Erestor, he undoes the thin leather ties holding the pieces of armor he still wore and lets them fall to the ground. Glorfindel stretches out the sore muscles that were trapped under his light armor before sitting next to Erestor, slowly leaning back against his horse with a sigh, careful not to accidentally touch the other elf.

"How long do you think the rain will last?" Erestor hums, turning his head to face Glorfindel.

"Half an hour maybe?" Glorfindel responds, his eyes set on the rain falling outside of the cave. "I am not too sure though." He adds before a shiver runs through his body, causing him to pull in his drenched cloak.

He doesn't notice Erestor's gaze was still on until he hears a small sigh leave the other elf. "Do you want my cloak?" Erestor asks, nimble fingers moving to undo the small clasp that held it around his neck. "We can share it you know."

Glorfindel can feel blush creeping onto his cheeks, silently praying to the Valar that Erestor doesn't notice. He quickly swallows down any emotions as Erestor throws the cloak over him and quietly scoots closer to be under the cloak. "I don't know how you survived out there," Erestor hums, careful not to get too close to accidentally touch him. "You are freezing."

Glorfindel just silently nods to whatever the other elf mumbles, sitting as still as he can in order not to brush against him, but he can feel the warmth coming from Erestor and can't help to gently reach out of his hand.

A small curse escapes Erestor as he grabs Glorfindel's hand with both of his to warm it up. "Don't get any funny ideas about this," Erestor mutters. "I just don't want you to lose any of your fingers is all."

"I'm fine, but thank you."

A small smile grows on Glorfindel's face as his gaze falls on Erestor's, while the fire idea may have been a bust since the start, fire and lightning wasn't all that lit up the cave. Through the numerous years after his rebirth, Glorfindel and many others have always found that the slight golden glow that always followed him around and never seemed to fizzle out.

But today?

Right now?

By the Valar he loves it. He loves the way it makes Erestor seem to glow along with him, the way that it shines on his dark hair and eyes makes Glorfindel blush even harder than he thought possible. "Are you sure you are alright?" Erestor asks, his eyes narrowing on Glorfindel's red cheeks. "I fear you may be coming down with something from how red your face is."

Well...fuck...

"I am fine," Glorfindel gulps nervously, his eyes darting from Erestor to somewhere off in the cave.

"Will you let me check your temperature at least?" Erestor asks, slowly reaching over to bring a hand up to Glorfindel's face.

Glorfindel gulps as Erestor's hand gently touches his forehead, his eyes darting from the soft hand to the other elf's face. By the Valar, he was too close, more blush creeps up his neck and he can feel his cheeks burning from Erestor's surprisingly soft touch. Glorfindel would not lie that he thought Erestor would've been rougher, or cold to the touch to reflect his icy nature.

"I promise you Erestor," Glorfindel begins, grabbing Erestor's wrist to bring it away from his forehead. "I am not sick."

"Then why are you so red?" Erestor frowns. "You are not hiding some sort of injury, are you?"

Shaking his head, Glorfindel brushes the loose damp hair back behind his head. "I'm not injured, no," he says, gently rubbing his thumb against Erestor's wrist, a small smile grows on his face as the other elf shivers from his touch. "It's because....."

You can do this.

Taking in a deep breath, Glorfindel meets Erestor's gaze and his smile grows bigger at the sight of light blush dusting Erestor's cheeks. Gritting his teeth, Glorfindel sighs before tightening his grip on Erestor's wrist, pulling the other elf towards him without a warning.

"Glorfi—mmph!" Erestor yelps as Glorfindel pulls him basically onto his lap and presses his lips against his. The small kiss only lasts a second or two before Glorfindel quickly pulls away, quickly feeling how tense Erestor was.

"I-I'm sorry," Glorfindel squeaks, watching the silent Erestor slowly run his tongue against his bottom lip. "I-I didn–"

"That was...certainly something Glorfindel," Erestor's sharp silver eyes locking onto Glorfindel's. "Do it again."

A small noise escapes the poor blonde at Erestor's tone. "Does.....does this mean that yo–"

"Yes," Erestor smiles softly, scooting against the cave floor to sit next to Glorfindel again. "But know that I have only realized my feelings for you recently,  I'm not too sure when it happened."

"It matters not to me," Glorfindel murmurs, quietly reaching out for one of Erestor's hands. "Just as long as you're happy with it is all that's important." He adds as he gently pulls the other ellon closer, his free hand moving to cup Erestor's warm cheek as Glorfindel slowly presses a softer kiss to his lips.

A small hum escapes Erestor as he melts into Glorfindel's touch, his own hand moving to rest on Glorfindel's knee to steady himself, earning a very tiny moan from the golden-haired elf. They eventually pull away from each other, both breathless with a stupid grin on their face, but Glorfindel quickly lunges forward to leave small kisses on Erestor's jaw to earn him a small laugh.

But something slowly pulls Erestor's attention away, blinking in confusion, Glorfindel quickly stops leaving small kisses to peer at the other ellon. "What is it?" Glorfindel asks, his eyes closely watching Erestor's face. "Did you hear something?" His tone grows with concern as he quietly searches for a dagger.

"Nothing bad," Erestor replies, noticing Glorfindel's drawn dagger. "But the rain has stopped, or at least it has gotten lighter."

"Oh," Glorfindel's shoulders sag in relief as he quickly sheathes his dagger. "I guess that's good then. Let's hope that it will be warm tomorrow," he then mutters, shifting slightly against the side of his horse.

Erestor hums in agreement, slowly deciding to move closer to Glorfindel, quietly enjoying the soft glow and warmth he now gives with a sigh. "Keep watch for me," he mumbles. "Will you?"

"Of course!" Glorfindel smiles, his eyes moving from the tired ellon nearly leaning on him to the cave's entrance. With the rain all but gone, the wind continues to whip against the mouth of the cave, but Glorfindel trains himself to drown it out as Erestor begins to sleep.

"I truly hate mud," Erestor mutters, his hands busy with making sure his saddle's straps were on right. "Have I ever told you that?"

Glorfindel tilts his head in thought. "You might have before," he says as he hoists himself up and onto his horse. "But it has definitely been insinuated ever since the twins ran all around the library covered in it."

"I am not sure why you are grinning at that," Erestor huffs as he pulls himself into his saddle. "We spent the whole week scrubbing because you told them to show me their mud pies!"

"Ah but it was worth it in the end," Glorfindel hums, encouraging his horse to begin a steady pace beside Erestor, ignoring the glare he was getting sent. "I got to spend a week in your company, so I count it as a win."

"I guess," he hears Erestor grumble before silence fell on them.

The faint smell of rain still lingered in the air, bringing his thoughts back to earlier that morning. Waking up to Erestor snuggled beside him was something Glorfindel never would have thought to experience. It, of course, brought a smile to his face every time he imagined Erestor's peaceful face smooshed against his arm. But it was short-lived as the sleeping ellon had woken a few minutes after Glorfindel had.

Oh, but it will be a treasured memory to him. The rain always seemed to come with the best memories. With his attention being brought back to the muddy forest path, Glorfindel misses the glance that Erestor gives.

"Do you think we should tell him when we eventually get back?"

"Tell who?"

"Lord Elrond of course!" Erestor furrows his brows in thought, his eyes wistfully moving to his tight grip on the reigns. "Do you think he would approve?"

"I don't see why not." Glorfindel hums. "I can safely say that I am his favorite captain and I think you scare him a little bit, so I truly don't know why he wouldn't approve."

Erestor snorts at Glorfindel's words. "I guess," he murmurs again, taking in a breath as he glances up at the muddy forest path before him. "Do you think we could send him a letter when we reach the next town?"

"If that is what you want to do, then I can send one as soon as we get into town." Glorfindel nods, shooting Erestor a reassuring smile.

Erestor smiles back at him, butterflies flutter in him at the sight of Glorfindel's sweet smile. "Thank you," he mutters, feeling a fair bit of blush creep up his neck.

"Of course Mel–umm–of course."

"You were going to say meleth, weren't you?"

"I–what? No! O-of course not!" Glorfindel sputters his cheeks tinged with pink, earning a grin from the usually grumpy ellon. "Wait...no that's not what I meant....."

"I'm fine with it you know," Erestor says with a smirk before whispering, "lóth nin" and watching with a smile as Glorfindel blushes even more.

Join the taglist!

@the-girl-with-the-algebra-book, @starryeyedrogue, @hellomisterleaf

[nerdyqueerandjewish]

Hi, I hope you're having a lovely Chanukah! Idk why I'm sending this since I know you haven't posted any fibre art in a while but I've always been a little put off of doing fibre art since it's a stereotypically "feminine" thing and feminity is something I've never really connected to. But seeing all of your art as a non-binary guy and your thoughts on art, and me finally coming to the conclusion that I'm a masc lesbian I feel so much more confident in just existing as myself and doing the things I want to do despite societal expectations or assumptions. So I just got a loom and I'm really excited to use it! So maybe this message is just about queer solidarity and how much I love seeing all of your art and your posts and how you never know who you'll inspire just by being your whole self. So thank you for being you 💜

AhhhH this is lovely 🥰 I’m glad that you’re able to make the art you want to make without worrying about gender expectations. I haven’t done a lot of fiber art lately but it always has a special place in my heart because knitting was my primary creative activity for a huge chunk of my life.

[teatimeweirdo]

The Dragonborn introducing the Companions to DnD

note: Ahh I am so sorry to post this so late and it's so bad ahhhh i really don't know how to end my one shots QwQ I hope you still enjoy tho

The Dragonborn, a person who has explored every cave in Skyrim and killed at least one of every being, just happened to be a huge fan of a game frequently played in their homeland. Sadly noone in skyrim has ever heard about it, making them feel a little homesick.

Having recently joined a companions, they found great friends (especially Farkas, because - as he puts it- they don't give him weird nicknames). Yet the Dragonborn was still nervous about bringing up the topic of wanting to play this game, which in retrospect was a stupid fear, the companions were quite accepting of people (as long as things don't get to brutal... looking at u Arnbjorn) and Vilkas of all people seemed excited to learn about other regions.

"You want us to play what?" The smarter twin asked, quite frankly confused about what his harbinger just asked of them.

"DnD, it's a game we used to play back home. I haven't been able to play it in a while, you don't have to of course. I just miss playing with my friends and frankly I'm feeling a little homesick." They said with a little bit of sorrow in their voice, they just wanted to be a normal person for once, no fighting dragon, no first dragonborn being a pain in their ass, no vampires attacking them, just a normal afternoon.

"How do we start playing? I'm always open for new games!" Farkas' excited voice broke the silence causing his friend to smile. The others agreed with Farkas, they wanted to see their friend happy.

The Harbinger got down to explaining the rules and eventually they managed to start a campaign, of course it being everyone's first campaign it was hard to keep everything in order, but it worked. they finally managed to cheer their friend up and they found a new game they could enjoy and play together as a group.

[swanfrcst]

year end fic meme 2022!!!!

am i getting worse and worse each year 💀

Total number of completed stories: 3 on ao3. 3 on google docs that i haven't posted yet...i'll get around to posting those when i'm not feeling lazy jfaksndlf

Fics Posted:

On AO3:

The King's Avatar

left with a beautiful memory: my zhangjialefest2022 submission!!! tbh i never would have written this fic if not for really wanting to get something out for 02/22/2022 (even if i wasn't able to make the exact date), but i'm really happy i did write it in the end. it's always missing zhang jiale hours :''))) i am pretty happy with it tbh!! i feel like i was able to include a lot of my zjl headcanons/meta thoughts!

Good Hunting: this fic was a year and a half in the making!!! i am very proud of it actually. hmm what to even say about this! i think my prose slaps, i'm quite satisfied with the narrative, i had a mini breakdown about a stupid minor detail that waylaid the fic for months, and i wrote the last section, the transformation sequence, really early in the process and i'm still very happy with it!!!!! ahhhh having a fic i still feel this good about is really nice.

MDZS

(no) love left: a triple drabble i wrote for the seasons of drabble exchange! my first mdzs fic, and i still like it a lot! jiang cheng & wei wuxian is my favorite mdzs relationship, so ofc i had to take a crack at it :''')

not posted:

Genshin Impact

venti stormterror's lair fic: it's a fic about venti and his relationship with stormterror's lair! wrote it for the scenes of wonder genshin zine...so technically it's public and posted? i just haven't posted it on ao3 yet...if i do it the next few days i'll link it here :'') . i actually do like this one! wanted to exercise my descriptive writing muscles; i don't know how well i did but it was pretty fun to write

ganyu & liyue fic: in a very similar vein, it's a story about liyue changing through ganyu's eyes :') i'm....not super happy with this one ahahaha </3 which is also a reason it hasn't been posted yet. sigh i don't know how to clean it up though!! so the chances of me dumping it on ao3 is pretty low atm...maybe i'll throw it on tumblr first?? ahhh idk!

Witch Hat Atelier

Apprentice's Journey: a fic about qifrey and the girls i wrote for the hempishere witch hat atelier zine! i actually completely forgot about this fic....it was actually such a bitch to write. i had to rewrite it after the first draft was done because of shitty planning.....i'm still not satisfied with the final result but oh well :(

oHHHHHHHHH i just remembered i have some random drabbles?? i will...post those......maybe......maybe ill just . post them at the end of this post LMAO

Total word count: 9041 on ao3.

What WIPs are you working on?

added this question this year LOLOLOL i do have some """"active"""" wips!!!! it's mostly genshin!!!!!!!!! i have a ganqing wip i've been chipping away at for a while now that i do quite like :'D then.....two other genshin fic that i'm writing for two different free/open enrollment genshin zines! one is a lumine & albedo & venti fic that's just kind of about how all three of them are sussy non-humans. the other one is....a bit cringe LOL actually i don't even want to talk about it </3 it's supposed be yanfei & yelan with a fables theme but while i have an outline i do not like it very much :(

BTW my most exciting wip is a nahida & kaveh fic that is currently titled "nahida is my baby girl but kaveh is my babygirl. i hope you understand." however i word vomited a couple hundred freewrite words and now i have no idea how i want to keep writing it. pain pain pain.

i also?? wrote a couple hundred words for a sousou no frieren concept but ehhh that one's fighting me too. not enough meat on the concept sighhh

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?

actually...when you add in the stuff i haven't posted on ao3........including wips....i've written quite a lot! i just wish i had more to post :'')

What’s your own favorite story of the year?

good hunting :)

Did you take any writing risks this year?

hilariously, i think it's joining those two free zines 💀 i'm NOT good at writing to a deadline!!!!!!!! or a prompt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i don't really want to fail to submit something but i think im gonna flop lmao

Do you have any fanfic or ofic goals for the New Year?

lol...in this question last year i talked about my xsq & smc fic (good hunting) which i've actually finished!! i'm procrastinating on editing it, and actually want to post it for rare pair week so uhhh....yay to me for finishing it? but i guess my goals is to clean it up for rare pair week posting.

HIGHLIGHTING THIS FROM LAST YEAR BC GUESS WHO ACTUALLY FINISHED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good Hunting is a fic i'm still proud of so :''''')))) WOOOOOOOOOOO

i also want to finish my 100 sentences blossom duo fic that i started when i first joined qzgs fandom for zhang jiale fest!! i would like to participate this year!!!

this did not happen hahahaha i wrote a whole new fic instead </3

anyway....my goals....write more i guess 😭 i want to write more things that aren't for posting!!! i have so many stupid and self-indulgent stories rattling around in my brain and i want to make some sort of record of them :''))) sometimes i think of banger lines too that get lost immediately afterwards too and itd be nice to save those :'')))

Most popular/most under-appreciated/most fun to write/story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:

most fun to write was definitely (no) love left! my recipient had some REALLY banger prompts like dreams/nightmares so i tried to play a bit with that kind of atmosphere/imagery!!! i think it turned out pretty well.

Hardest Story to Write:

Apprentice's Journey, the fic I wrote for the Witch Hat Atelier zine. goddddd that fic was a nightmare to write!!! like pulling teeth!!!!!!!! i've discovered i am NOT good at planning. i need to think very hard about thematic through-lines but sometimes i end up fucking up anyway and need to rewrite the whole thing. but a good thing about this fic is i had some banger lines :))) and maybe i'll post the scrapped bits separately later.

Biggest Disappointment/Biggest Surprise:

None

***

random drabbles i dont really want to post elsewhere

crawl back to

in the burial mounds, wei wuxian is broken down and remade. piece by piece, the graveyard strips wei wuxian of flesh and bone. the shattered skeletons of animals and humans and creatures unidentifiable clamor hungrily. they are desperate. they are cruel.    

wei wuxian drags his body forward. he does not know where he is going. sometimes, he does not know if he is alive. wei wuxian has long passed knowing if he wants to be alive. 

he is limping—he is stumbling—he is crawling—his hands are wet and sticky. under the dim light of a sun he cannot see, a river of red burns against the barren dirt.

late

a chengqing au that appeals to one person (me) where jiang cheng saves wen qing because he thinks that keeping wen qing “hostage” in lotus pier might be able to convince wei wuxian to come home…

jiang cheng—sandu shengshou, sect leader, estranged shidi to the villainous yiling laozu—leaves for the burial mounds with a mission. 

he’ll succeed. he has to. surely wei wuxian won’t be able to deny him this time, not when he’s come prepared with a trump card. surely. 

later, when jiang cheng returns to lotus pier, his feet carry him directly to a secluded room. locked and warded, but not heavily. before he can form a coherent thought, he pushes open the door. 

inside: wen qing, sitting on a plain bed. she jerks to attention, hope glittering in her eyes. 

“...he’s not here,” wen qing says after a long moment.  

what can he even say? there are emotions he doesn’t have a name for digging a nest in the pit of his stomach. battering his ribcage. tearing into his beating heart. 

“by the time i got to him,” he rasps, the words like brambles scraping against his throat, “it was–” –i was– “–too late.”

dirt on your cheek

under the flickering candle-light, beidou is all languid grins and loose limbs. even here, in ningguang’s private chambers, beidou radiates sleek confidence.

ningguang lifts her hand to the handsome curve of beidou’s face, tracing the shadow of beidou’s eyepatch.

beidou lifts a questioning eyebrow.

“there was something on your cheek, that’s all,” ningguang says. her fingers linger for a moment longer.

laughing, beidou pushes her down onto the bed. “can’t have anyone think the great ningguang is sappy, huh?”

ningguang lets herself fall gracefully, a pleased smile curling up her lips. “i suppose you’d know a little something about that.”

[ppangjae]

ALEX!!!!!

It's been a while! I searched through my tag on your blog and found out that I last sent you an ask on 18 Jun last year :( It's been so long, I missed coming here and just being able to talk to you.

How've you been, Alex? I read through some of your replies to other anons and found out you've found a partner 🥺 That is really wonderful news! I hope you're both happy individually and together ❤️

I wouldn't bombard you with copious amounts of updates about my life in the past year, but I will say that renovations are finally underway after a lot of setbacks that almost did not make it happen! My family & I are currently in a condo while it's happening and we'll be returning to our newly renovated house in a few weeks!

And I also got to read your recent (as recent as it can get, I guess? LOL) fic for chef!Jaehyun and also found out that you're now planning for a doctor!Jae?!?! All the research it must have taken to come up with the backbone of your last fic, now you're diving into a hospital scene?! — the respect to your dedication and my interest in your masterlist have definitely rekindled big time after having been so busy! I even especially liked the details of the food when OC is preparing them, seeing as I've recently been watching a lot of Gordon Ramsay's videos on YouTube. And how it perfectly matches to Jaehyun in NCT DJJ film! My gosh, I wish I was able to squeal about that with you! It was what I remembered when I watched the video, but I was held up with a lot of things at the time; but I'm glad to see so many other anons gushing about it. It was so cool to see chef!Jae come to life in actual NCT content! I bet you were just as surprised when you saw it — but I'm really happy you got to feel the excitement of that! ❤️

Ahh, this is getting longer and I don't want to overwhelm you, but I really missed sending you messages, Alex 🥺 I hope you've been doing very well and taking care of yourself. I'll definitely give chef!Jae fic a reread and patiently wait for doctor!Jae!

Oh — and it's my birthday again! This was soooo my last ask from last year, too 🫣

Anyway, I hope your day has been/is going well! Missed being here. All the love, dearest Alex! — ♡ anon

oh my goodness, it's been quite a while! no worries, love, because i got swept up with how busy my life has been so i haven't been on tumblr quite frequently (honestly, i haven't been on tumblr for a while too sjkdhfd)

i have been doing well! i've just been busily living day by day LOL and yes! i do have a partner, we actually hit our six months last month hehe (speaking of, we're reaching seven months in a couple of days). i am happy! he makes me happy hehe and although we've only been together for six months (and counting), it feels like we've been together and known each other for years.

i'm so glad to hear that you and your family are going to be able to move into your newly renovated home soon! that's so exciting! i always love when people move into new homes or renovate because there's always something exciting and anticipating about it LOL i hope you've been doing well, love!

ahhhh i see that you've read chef!jae hehe yeah, it's been months since i've posted it (and then completely disappeared after kjshdfkjshdf) but yes, i'm currently brainstorming and planning to write a doctor!jae fic! i think after posting the chef!jae fic, i realized that i like to take my time writing fics because it allows me to brainstorm more and to fully immerse myself into writing. chef!jae was just so fun to write!

honestly though, i didn't even know about chef!jae in that DJJ video until nikki texted me about it. funny enough, i was work when it all happened kjsdhf so pretty much, i've been so busy that if nikki hadn't sent me a text about it, i probably wouldn't even know about chef!jae in the DJJ video sjkdhfsdf. but it did feel nice and super thrilling to see a glimpse of chef!jae in the video - and just live out five plus one jae with an actual visual sdjkhfsd

and don't be sorry for sending me long messages! i love hearing about how everyone has been doing nowadays, especially with how busy life could get LOL

AHHH HAPPY BIRTHDAY! i hope your birthday wishes come true!

[cryoexorcist]

last spoilers post i promise, but this is more of an excited ramble from me

i try not to think about ships too much. i know shipping isn't everything, and i'm just as excited to build platonic relationships with people, as that's also fun!!

but damn if i want specific ones. i have about 3-4 MAIN otps for chongyun, all of them rarepair. and getting crumbs for one of them just makes me so INCREDIBLY HAPPY.

like i have already been saying for so long that chongyun and kazuha should've known each other a long time ago. For whatever reason though, hoyo sticks characters in a bubble and doesn't properly introduce characters unless it's been spelled out for us. since kazuha lives in liyue half the time, there's no way he couldn't have known about the famed exorcist already, but i digress.

seeing them actually talking to each other on screen made me so happy though. what really made me happy is that hoyo is finally. FINALLY. giving chongyun somewhat of a spotlight! as much as i adore xingqiu and chongyun as friends, this is the first time outside of chongyun's hangout that chongyun wasn't with xingqiu.

which meant he was able to meet kazuha and discuss the plot on his own. my baby's growing up. and was it just me or did he SOUND more adult too? like he's finally getting character development.

AHHHH

i could go on forever about how i love my rarepairs and why they fit and how much i love chongyun as a character but i'll just say for now that i fucking love that chongyun and kazuha are actually friends now.

give me your kazuhas. i want yun x kazuha interactions now.

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

What. the heck

xdd

Okay promo time

AHH new newbies??

New newbies :DDDD!!!

Yeah I suppose it has been a while since we've gotten some lol!

And we've been down to only two so ┐⁠(⁠ ⁠∵⁠ ⁠)⁠┌

Anyway oooh that's exciting :D

OH WAIT YEAH THAT MEANS THEY'RE ATTENDINGS!!!

Shaun said that and I like did not register/process it at all XD

Anyway YAYYYYAYAYAYYAYYY SHAUN AND PARK ARE ATTENDINGS!!!! WHOOOOOO :DDDDD!!!

Anyway lol (I came back to edit that I'll be real because I forgot about it but saw it when I saw the summary for the next episode just now - I only posted this like 10 minutes ago but actually 5 because I accidentally just saved it as a draft without posting it first lol aaaaanyways - and I felt like it needed to be mentioned xD)

Asher xD

Lol ready to see him happy again <33

Also ready to see all his trauma >:)) :DD

I better

Or I will do it myself xD

Lol anyway

AHHHH Lim's back :DD

Aww Lim :'))

And yeah, he did save her life :'D

Them your honor <3

Oh no 😧

Lim :(((

Yeah I get it

To a lesser degree but yeah it's hard to accept that your life has changed and you can't always do what you used to be able to :'((

WAIT GIRL WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO WITH THE MOTORCYCLE NOW????

Sorry not the time XDD

Oh no :o

Lim :'(((

I hope she doesn't have to step down but if she does I hope she finds something really good to do :')

Okay and that's about it! Those are the last of my final thoughts, and now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

I LOVED THIS EPISODE SOOOO MUCH 😭😭😭😭!!!

From the angst on like, literally everyone's part, to the relationships, to the surgeries, to everyone being okay??? It's amazing :')).

I said a LOT in my liveblog, especially near the end (as I am wont to do with the good doctor lol, but especially after it's ended and there's no time limit on me and my backlog xD), so this review will be pretty short.

First of all! Jordan, you did great <333. There wasn't much of a focus on her but she did amazing :')). Also Glassman, had to make some tough calls but again, he did good <333. Ah, and Andrews? Fantastic <33. He had to make some stuff calls, and he also got some good emotional moments but yeah, good for him, wonderful <3. I love them all so much :)). I mean them and also just all of them in their little family lol.

Lim and Dalisay (plus that guy with Crohn's)!! I am so glad they're alright :'D. I mean Lim has some stuff to work through, and trust me when I say I'm not trying to make it seem like this is an awful fate or whatever or that her life is pointless now that she's paralyzed, that's not what I'm trying to say it ALL. But it still sucks, and it's jarring, and while I know she'll be okay, it'll be a hard journey, and I hope she does well along the way <3. And I really hope we get to see some oft he lasting affects of Dalisay - on all of them, really - and don't just stop seeing her so much :')). I still love her even if her/this plotline's mostly over now so I hope she sticks around besides just being there <3.

Morgan and Park!! Lol it's weird I listed Lim and Villanueva together when every other one's gonna be a ship xD. Anyway, THEMM 😭😭😭😭. I can't y'all, they don't deserve this heartbreak and neither do I :((. I honestly see Park's point though, but I do think she's ready to put them first. I think they will (PROBABLY) get back together, after a little while, just because I don't see one of them leaving the show quite yet, nor do I see them being able to be working together still after breaking up xD. But, yeah,I really hope they come out of this alright <33.

Shaun and Lea!!! They are so amazing 😭😭😭😭😭. I just- I can't. THEY'RE M A R R I E D D D D D D!!!!! I just love them so much :'DD. Shaun's plot with Steve was fascinating, and Lea stepping up to help was just *chef's kiss* amazing. Even through her turmoil (and Shaun doing his job even through his), she helped, and she supported Shaun, and she did an amazing job :'))). Also I swear that last scene (and the first one xD) was SO FREAKING SOFT 😭😭❤️🥰🥰😍😍. They're so adorable I can't, I love them <333.

Asher and Jerome!!!! Yes I'm leaving them for last even after Shaun and Lea, it's because I LOVE THEM, OKAY? Anyway lol.

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍😍😍😍🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️😭😭❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 THEY SAID I LOVE YOUUUUU

THEY'RE IN L O V E YOUR HONOR :DDDDDDD 😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️😭❤️!!!!

Also I watched it back and yeah Jerome definitely did not say anything lol. Like he was trying but he most definitely did NOT lol. Asher did though so that's all I need <3.

But that is actually a lie I'm gonna need an "I love you" from Jerome at some point in the future, I don't care when, and I do miss a kiss 😔😔. Mourning the loss of the kids we could've had lol. But nah, that looked like an amazing hug <333. I would've loved a kiss but it probably fit better without one :))). That just means I need one in the future though lol.

ANYWAY!! The T R A U M A Asher went through this episode :o. Like DANG y'all can we address that??? Probably the most added trauma (like yk Shaun's ain't new) besides Villanueva and Lim!!! I really hope we do see the long-term effects/the consequences of that in the future. Also Jerome being scared and worried for Asher was amazing 😭😭😭❤️❤️🥰. Literally I love them so much. Oh and Jerome calling him Ash was what I LIVE FOR. That was AMAZING. Beautiful, my babeys, we love nicknames xDD 😭😭😭 <33333. Just- them 😊😊☺️☺️☺️😊.

Overall, I really, really loved this episode. It was such a great season premiere, and everybody played their parts perfectly. I meant in the plot, but the acting was amazing too :'D. I'm still having so many feelings lol. Most of them happy because I'm thinking about Jerome and Asher, and Shaun and Lea, but still lol xD. It was an awesome episode, full of suspense and cool plot points and twists (twists included in the cool). I thoroughly enjoyed it, this episode was just great. I think it's the start to a truly wonderful season.

What an amazing episode. I'm looking forward to what's coming up next in the series! This has been my review of. . .

The Good Doctor, Season 6, Episode 1: Afterparty

It was so great. And I am super excited for the next episode - it's going to be wild, I'm sure of it. See you next week for my review of. . .

The Good Doctor, Season 6, Episode 2: Change of Perspective

See you then!

[shina913]

Scale, Part 9 | KSJ

Scale, Part 9

Definition: A beam that is supported freely in the center and has two pans of equal weight suspended from its ends; Something graduated especially when used as a measure or rule: such as (a) an indication of the relationship between the distances on a map and the corresponding actual distances; (b) a series of marks or points at known intervals used to measure distances; A graduated series or scheme of rank; A means of ascent.

✮ ✮ ✮ Scale Masterlist ✮ ✮ ✮

Pairing: KSJ x fem!reader; appearances by OT7

Rating: Mature content (21+), no minors please!

Genre: Rich boy!AU; CEO!AU; strangers to lovers; fluff; angst; smut

Count: 10.6K+ words

Warnings: socioeconomic imbalance; heavy cussing; arranged marriages; hints of murder plot; criminal investigation; hostage situation; kidnapping; violent threats; gun!; law enforcement involvement; lots of crying

Summary: Kim Seokjin lives in a world where money is no object as he is the heir to his family's lucrative company; OC is a scrappy go-getter who has to work hard at multiple jobs to meet her financial obligations. When their paths cross, they'll have to figure out whether they can find a balance point between themselves and their lives.

A/N: Ahhhh!!! Penultimate chapter!

Couple of notable things here. Firstly, I am a huge fan of Breaking Bad--it is one of my all-time favorite shows so, I wrote a little nod here relating to a flashback involving Hwang's character. However, please don't take this as instructional text--this is all just for the drama, I promise!

Lastly, the final scene (without spoiling it much), was inspired by one of my favorite fan-fics, Fifty Shades Darker (no smut, FYI).

I'm so excited to wrap up this story--it's been quite the journey but I'll save all those ments for Part 10. For now, please enjoy!

❤️, comment, reblog, or send me an ask 📩. Would love to know what everyone thinks--I love getting feedback! My taglist is open as well if you're enjoying this and would like to keep up once the final chapter is posted.

Click…tick-tick-tick-tick…clack…

She sits quietly on the floor of her apartment. For now, this was the only sound filling the room. The television was on but it was on mute.

BILLIONAIRE HEDGE FUND TYCOON’S CRIMINAL CHARGES PILE UP

It’s been three days and the news reports haven’t shown any signs of dying down…as if there weren’t anything else important going on in the world right now–it had to zero-in on her family.

Click…tick-tick-tick-tick…

She hasn’t been able to go out in public since everything went down at the Gravenstein Capital building. Her mother tried to appeal to her but she hadn’t been picking up calls…mostly because her phone’s shattered pieces still littered her living room floor.

She begged the doorman to let her in that same evening but he was under strict orders not to let her up those elevators into her apartment. Since then, cameras and news vans have set up shop outside of her building.

It’s become a huge challenge trying to get out without some nosey neighbor trying to get a picture of her while she picks up her mail.

Clack…

Tax evasion.

Click…

Insurance fraud.

Tick…

Insider trading.

Tick…

Murder.

Clack…

The last bit was a shock to everyone. Hwang didn’t seem to have it in him but one thing about him was that he was extremely patient.

Who would have thought that wayward “weed” that grew outside of his window would make for the perfect murder weapon.

Everything that he needed to make it was already available to him. An industrial-grade compressor and dehydrator, both used on the apple by-products that they made on-site.

Hwang took several pods from the castor plant and pressed the seeds to extract the oils and used the dehydrator to turn the remnants into a nondescript white crystals that looked just like granulated sugar.

When ricin is ingested, the victim would experience flu-like symptoms for a few days until it causes intestinal bleeding and organ damage. The poison can kill within three days of exposure. The smallest amount could be fatal.

There's no vaccine or antidote for ricin poisoning. Treatment is primarily supportive care. No widely available, reliable test exists to confirm exposure to ricin.

Hwang mixed it in his landlord’s morning coffee–at least that’s what he told his wife he did–which she eventually told federal agents when they sat her down for questioning.

They knew full-well that most of this information may not be admissible in court due to spousal privilege which was why they were desperate for her to reach out to Miya–to hopefully get her to testify against her father, to put him away for a long time.

Miya is temporarily pulled away from her daze as images on the screen command her attention. It was the Kim family–with brief clips of Kim Daesung exiting a government office with what looked like his lawyers–after admitting his involvement in insider trading.

Following behind him was the cause of her ire…Kim Seokjin.

She stretches her hand out towards the screen…click…She stares down the steel barrel and pulls the trigger…clack.

Miya unfortunately did not have the same amount of patience and calculation that her father had—primarily because she has never heard him say ‘no.’ And she carried that through life. It was either a ‘yes’ or she would do everything that she could to get that ‘yes.’

She has never met anyone else who didn’t bow to her demands since her family came across money.

That was not the case since her father brokered the arrangement with Jin. It was either, a ‘maybe’ or a flat out ‘no.’

She thought she could buy you out but even you turned it down. She didn’t understand it–the money was supposed to be her free pass to everything.

But Jin has snatched that privilege away from her…and unlike her father, she was not going to sit around and wait. She would make him feel what it was like to have everything he held dear ripped away from him.

******

“You don’t have to step down, dad. You’re cooperating with authorities and being honest with the public,” Jin tries to reason.

“You know I love you both but—unfortunately, this kind of thing doesn’t go away easily. We still want the general public to have its full trust in the person who is running the company. It shouldn’t just be board members and shareholders,” Haejin challenges.

“Right and that seems to be the consensus. Dad has the majority of the board’s favor. The press has been…mostly good and this whole Hwang business is offsetting some of the negative stuff. When it comes down to it, you and I have a combined majority vote because of our shares…so if anyone tries anything, we can overrule—“

“Nobody is overruling anybody,” their father finally speaks up. “At this moment, my primary concern is our family’s legacy.”

The siblings have been going back and forth in their father’s office, trying to figure out the next course of action for KimCorp. Although Hwang’s only financial link to the company was his investment, his seat at the board was never taken since that was supposed to happen if Jin had married Miya.

“Dad, I think that you can take this opportunity to really elevate the company’s integrity.” Leave it to his daughter to put the company and its public image first. Their family’s foundation had close ties to the community…if the backing financier lost the public’s trust, it would spell trouble for the Foundation as well.

“Haejin, you make it sound like we’re running a dirty operation,” Jin says with a hint of a warning.

“That’s not what I’m saying at all, Jin. This company was built on core family values and one of them is accountability. If you fuck up, you own it!” She clenches her fist to make a point.

Both men stare back at her at the sound of the expletive but she doesn’t bat an eyelash and presses on.

“In my opinion, you should name Jin as your successor, not just because he’s your son but he’s proven himself to be very capable on his own with Moon Industries’ success. You can retire quietly and have full confidence in the transition,” she reasons with her father.

Jin sighs. “While that seems like a sensible idea, I’m actually perfectly fine staying put–” he puts his hand up, respectfully, towards his sister so he could finish his thought. “--Without having to go through a merger and being financially independent from KimCorp.”

After ending the contract with Hwang, Jin and his father’s respective legal counsels have been working together to finally make Jin’s company financially independent from his father’s–so that he can legitimately make his own decisions–a clear-cut break.

He turns to his father. “Why not usher in new blood—if you are considering taking Haejin’s advice? I think that your CFO could be a viable successor. He managed to keep all of the finances stable despite that slight dip in the stock value this week. Even though he’s not family, it proves that he can continue the legacy. It doesn’t always have to be family, in my opinion.”

Haejin rolls her eyes. “Yes, I agree that he’s great and has done wonders for the company through his years of service but with all due respect–Uncle Joonho is—sorry—“ she glances at her dad apologetically, “Old, dad. He’s old. He’s got, what, 2, 3 good years left in him? And after that, what? We’d go through another transition?”

“It’s stability, Haejin-ah,” her older brother retorts.

“Oppa, ‘old’ does not equate to stability,” she states. “You both mentioned the term ‘legacy’ but why not hire somebody from the outside to lead KimCorp into the future. If Jin doesn’t want to do it, I have a list—“

“Of course you do,” Jin chuckles.

“Shush,” she dismisses him. “See, I think that Park Joobin has a great track record in the tech industry. He’s revived the public trust by launching that safety app and he’s pushing for more data privacy. But then there’s also Lee Yuna—I attended a few of her speaking engagements and she is just absolutely inspirational…”

While his daughter rattled off names of potential successors, his son bats them down with challenges of his own–trying to make the case for their father to remain Chairman until he retires on his own terms.

It made Kim Daesung think more deeply about his future and the company’s. Before this scandal, Jin was the logical successor but since the breakdown of the Hwang agreement, it cemented Jin’s choice that he wanted to set off on his own path–and that was seeing Moon Industries through.

Although he did have his board’s full confidence, his daughter had a point. He did fuck up and it was his responsibility to show them that this company has never taken advantage of the system and will not start now–not under his watch.

******

“You look really nice,” he says as he opens the car door for you after parking at the restaurant lot.

It seemed odd to be heading out to a party given everything that was going on.

“Thank you,” you said, smoothing down some of the ruching on your outfit. It was the first time that Jin had ever seen you dressed in something other than your diner uniform or sweats.

The one time that he saw you walk out of your office, you had a shift dress on, which didn’t count for much.

This afternoon, you wore a dark, sleeveless, floral-print chiffon dress that was fitted around the top and had a flowy skirt with a bit of a modest slit by your leg.

Jin certainly had already been planning for an after-party back at his place—not the apartment that you had been going to—but his house. The house that Miya had told you he would never show you.

But earlier today, he was very much looking forward to bringing you to his home after this party.

A couple of months ago, Jin’s friend and trusted realtor, Albert, had invited the family to his baby daughter’s red egg and ginger party, or 100th-day celebration of life.

You walked into a crowded, fancy banquet hall filled with red and gold decor balloons and other matching decorations. Not far from the entrance, you are greeted by the hosts. Jin introduces you to his close friends and you give your congratulations and well wishes to the host family before proceeding inside.

This event was also notable because you were set to meet Jin’s parents for the first time.

Jin guides you further into the room until you catch sight of some familiar faces–Haejin and Jungkook were already there along with Namjoon and his wife, Ji-yun.

And now, the moment of truth.

“Dad, mom–this is YN. My girlfriend,” Jin says with a broad grin.

“Very nice to meet you, YN,” his father says with a warm smile, followed by a bow.

“Glad to meet you, too,” you respond, followed by a bow.

“I’m sorry but I’m a hugger,” Jin’s mom says excitedly as she closes in on you with arms wide open before enveloping you in them. “So, you’re the reason why my son smiles all the time,” she says as she glances back at him with a sly grin.

Jin’s ears turn crimson. “Mom, please,” he says with a slight hint of embarrassment.

You feel right at home as you all eventually settle into your banquet table. They all looked very intimidating when you first laid eyes on them during the gala but you soon found out that they were just like any normal family. They bickered occasionally and teased each other to no end.

They made you feel comfortable and welcome as they conversed–as if you were one of their own. A couple of hours into the banquet courses, Jin’s hand rests on your thigh.

“Jin…stop,” you mumbled.

“Sorry—I’ve kept my hands to myself long enough. Can I take you home now?”

You nodded and smiled at him.

“What are you guys whispering about,” Haejin says.

“I was just telling YN that I think we should be heading out. I promised her that I would drive her out to go see the house,” he says.

After the Hwang ordeal, he mentioned driving you out to see his house by the coast. It was an exciting field trip of sorts. He also wouldn’t stop hinting about how expansive his shower was.

“Oh…sweetheart, you’re leaving now? They haven’t even brought out dessert!” Jin’s mom says.

“Eomma—if you want to throw your own red egg and ginger party soon, let them leave,” Haejin giggles as she wiggled her eyebrows at both of you.

Jungkook, Namjoon, and Ji-yun snort.

“Haejin…” Jin’s father says with a hint of warning.

“Well, somebody’s going to need to start having babies soon—looking at the other Kims at this table,” she says, shooting Namjoon and Ji-yun a knowing look, to which Namjoon promptly chokes on his drink.

After exchanging goodbye hugs and a quick promise to Jin’s mom that you would come over for dinner next weekend, you both finally walk out of the restaurant and into the parking lot, hands intertwined.

“I think that went well,” Jin says as you stop briefly by his car.

“I think so, too,” you said.

“You ready?”

You nod before he leans down and plants a gentle kiss to your lips.

“Hello, you two.”

You both whip your heads around at the greeting.

It took a beat for you to make out who it was. Her hair wasn’t styled to death as it usually was–it was darker, unkempt, and pulled up in a haphazard ponytail. She didn’t have any makeup on, wore a t-shirt, a zip-up jacket, and leggings. She also wore sneakers–which was completely out of character for her. You didn’t think she owned any footwear that had a heel lower than six inches.

“M-Miya?” Jin manages to blurt out. “I didn’t recognize you.”

She chuckled. “I’m trying a new look…I wondered if you’d like it,” she addressed Jin directly.

“I–I guess whatever makes you comfortable?”

“Hmm–that’s it, isn’t it? That’s what you like? Someone who looks comfortable? Casual?” She shoots a glance at you. “What do you think, YN?”

Your brows knit in confusion. “What do I think about what?”

“Is this something you’d wear on a date…with him?” She asked.

Your face shifted from confusion to horror. She was trying to emulate you. Somehow, she was in a certain mindset that if she looked like you, dressed like you–maybe Jin would shower her with the same attention.

“Miya, are you alright? Do you need some help?” Jin asked.

“I need plenty of help. My dad is going away for a long time and it’s all your fault,” her eyes started to water and her lower lip started to quiver.

“You…you took everything from me—”

“Miya, your dad was a crook…he needed to be held accountable,” Jin counters.

“Oh? And what about your father? Profiting from insider trading tips,” she accuses.

“He’s been cooperating with the feds now. He’s turning over every cent that he made. With any luck, he’ll pay some fines and be under probation—”

“Well, isn’t that convenient,” she spat out bitterly. “Your dad gets a slap on the wrist while mine gets punished? For doing essentially the same thing?”

Jin shook his head. “There is a huge difference–my father was impaired while yours knowingly fed him illegal, nonpublic information–”

Her face contorted in pain. “Shut the fuck up! Just—” She shakily retrieves something from her jacket pocket. Your blood ran cold when you saw a glimpse of metal with a handle and realized quickly that it was a handgun.

“Shut the fuck up,” she points it crookedly at you and Jin.

Jin instinctively moves to your front to shield you.

“Miya—let’s…let’s calm down for a second,” he says calmly but firmly, one hand raised, palm out in front of him and the other holding onto you, securely behind him.

You shakily try to reach into your purse to retrieve your phone to dial the emergency number but she sees almost right through Jin.

“Don’t even try, missy. One tiny pull of this trigger and I can take you and your prince charming out with a single bullet.” She chuckles coldly while you freeze in absolute fear.

“Wouldn’t that be romantic?”

She was too close—the cars were all too compacted in the lot. There wasn’t much space to run even if you tried.

“What do you want, Miya?” Jin asks.

“I want to take your whore for a little drive.” She tilts her head sideways to get a look at you.

Your grip tightens around Jin’s arm. He slowly reaches up to it to give it a gentle, assuring squeeze.

“You’re not taking her anywhere,” Jin says calmly.

She points the gun towards him and narrows her eyes.

“You are in no position to negotiate here, Jin. We are not in a boardroom–and I am not a potential business partner. I just want to have a little conversation with YN here…maybe pick her brain a bit?”

“That’s not going to do you any good, Miya.”

“And I suppose you know what’s good for me?”

After what seemed like a long pause, Jin’s next move takes you and Miya completely by surprise.

“Take me instead,” he says. “Wherever you want to go. Let’s talk…see if we can work something out.”

“Jin—no,” you whisper and glare at him.

“It’s okay,” he glances back at you quickly. “I’ll be back before you know it, I promise,” he mutters under his breath before looking back at Miya.

He promised you in one of your last car confessions that he would always be truthful with you from that point on. It pained him to lie to you again.

“Well, well. Look at that, YN. Turns out that he does want to be with me after all.”

“You won’t get what you want, Miya. Not like this.” you begged.

“It seems that I already have, though,” she smiled cockily. “C’mon, Jinnie. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

He walks towards her while tears start to stream down your face from fear.

“Are your keys in here,” she says, reaching into his pants pocket. Every muscle he possesses stills as she feels around inside. He hisses when she purposely skims his crotch.

“We can fix that, I’m sure,” she grins at him.

“Get your fucking hands off him!” you scream, the wild in your eyes reaching a whole new dangerous level.

“Pipe down, sweetheart.” Miya pulls out the keys for his Aston and thrusts them into his chest. “I’ve always wanted you to take me for a drive in this pussy wagon,” she sneers. “Does it purr like it does in the movies,” she whispers in his ear before giggling.

Jin looks her into the eyes. They were cold and empty–he had no idea of what she had planned but he was going to approach this as gently as he could since she seemed volatile.

“Where are we going?” Jin asks softly.

“Just get on the road and I’ll tell you where to exit. Oh–and give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“We don’t want any of these GPS trackers to interrupt our alone time now, do we?”

She senses his hesitation, so she releases the safety on the gun, cocks it and points it at you.

“I won’t ask again–unless you want me to blow her brains right here.”

Jin hands her his phone and she immediately slams it to the ground and stomps on it.

“There we go. Now get in–” she urges him with the barrel digging into his side.

“I’ll drive my own car,” he says calmly.

His feet are heavy, heart slowing with each step he takes. She won’t need to kill me, he thinks. He’s dying little by little the farther he walks away from you.

Before he gets in the car, he turns back to look at you. “I love you,” he utters.

“I love you,” mouthed back as you watched him get in the car with Miya. He backs out and drives out of the lot until you see his tail lights fade into small, red pins.

******

You frantically try to dig your phone out of your purse to call the cops. Your hands were shaking so badly that you kept entering the wrong PIN to unlock your phone.

“Fuck!” You mumble in frustration.

“Hey, YN–I thought you and oppa were–where’s Jin?” Haejin says, confused.

“Oh my, god–Haejin, she took him! We need to call the police!”

“Who? What happened?”

“Miya! She took Jin…she-she had a gun,” you whimpered. “I couldn’t stop her, I’m so sorry–” you bury your face into your hands.

“Fuck,” Jungkook mutters as he pulls his phone out to call the emergency number.

“Okay–YN-unnie–let’s…let’s calm down.” Haejin was anything but calm but she was putting her damage-control mask on.

Jungkook runs back into the restaurant while he is on the phone with the police, presumably to alert everyone else. Haejin tries to get any hint of information from you.

“Do you remember what she said?”

“I–she said something about taking a drive but she didn’t mention anything. She was–she just really pissed about everything that happened.”

“Okay–does he have his phone on him?”

“No…she took it from him and she broke it. Haejin…I–” you cried, “She wanted to take me but he–he just–” you couldn’t get the words out as your sobs drowned them out. You felt terrible telling her that her own brother volunteered to be taken hostage in your stead.

She nodded and sighed. “Yeah…that sounds just like something my brother would do,” she mutters under her breath. “We’ll call the FBI–they’ll make things hell for that brat.”

She convinces you to come back inside, gathers the family off to a quiet corner and breaks the news. Not long after, Namjoon is already on the phone with his friend at the bureau to be kept in the loop on any updates of Jin’s current location. Jin’s dad is on the phone with his lawyers, requesting that they shake Hwang down with any information of Miya’s possible whereabouts.

Haejin quietly informs the party’s hosts of what had happened and apologizes in advance for causing a raucous at their daughter’s party. The couple waved her off and told them that they would do anything to help, even though they had no clue of what they could do.

You stayed with Jin’s mom who was oddly calm considering her son was taken at gunpoint. If you were in her place, you would be losing your mind worrying about your child. It made you think of your own dad–you inwardly groan, dreading how you were going to tell him about all this without giving him another heart attack.

******

Jin’s attention is divided between the road and Miya’s lap, where the gun rests, her finger curled around the trigger. Jin knows nothing about guns. He wouldn’t be able to tell you if it was loaded, or even ready to fire. This could just be a show, he thought–but he is unwilling to test that theory. All he knows for sure is that this woman wants to make him suffer.

He has no idea where they’re headed. He’s taking instructions as she gives them, following the road out of the city.

He doesn’t know whether to talk to her or attempt to make her feel at ease. When he volunteered to come with her in your stead, he thought that he had a rough idea how to handle this–but now that he was actually in the car with her? He had no fucking clue.

He was just thankful that you were out of harm’s way. And yet–he knew that you were absolutely terrified. His knuckles go white on the steering wheel, his heart pulsing with pain. But he had to stay calm and sensible if he was going to get through this.

“Can you at least give me an idea of where we’re going?” He says, keeping his voice as evenly as possible.

She shrugged her shoulders as she stared blankly at him.

He sighed…he needed her to be verbally responsive to try and talk himself out of this. “You crushed my phone to pieces. It’s not like I have a way of communicating where I’ll be,” he says, trying to reason with her.

After a beat, a ghost of a smile appears on her lips. “You’re taking me home.”

He wasn’t sure what that meant but he felt that he needed to keep her talking–and this was a start.

“Do you think you can put that away for the rest of the drive,” he says, glancing at the gun that she held.

She chuckles softly. “Why? Are you scared?”

“Uh—yeah, kind of,” he says with all honesty. “Do you expect people to drive calmly at gunpoint?”

She rolled her eyes and flicked the safety back and tucked it into her jacket pocket, away from view.

Jin gulped while his mind raced, trying to figure out what else to say to assuage her.

“Uhm, I’m…I’m really sorry about your dad,” he says softly and as sincerely as possible.

“No, you’re not. You must have really not wanted to marry me, huh,” she laughs morosely.

He kept his voice steady while he quickly glanced at her. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Bullshit!”

Okay, so he didn’t quite sell that.

He took a deep breath. “I-it didn’t start out like that,” he divulges.

Her expression remained unchanged so Jin took it as a sign to continue.

“I…I didn’t want to get married at all because I wasn’t ready,” he reveals.

She chuckled. “Riiight…so you’re saying that your girlfriend never factored into your decision to throw my dad under the bus?”

Hwang did that on his own–Jin and his friends just sped up the process a bit. But he wasn’t about to aggravate the situation by trying to argue with somebody who may or may not have a loaded gun.

“She didn’t at first. I was reeling from my ex getting married. I was stressed and working a lot—I just wasn’t in the right frame of my mind to get married.”

“You’re overthinking this, Jin. It’s an arranged marriage! The guesswork is taken care of. All you have to do is show up, pop out a kid or two and secure the family legacy. Isn’t that a normal occurrence for rich people? It’s all a business transaction! Your best friend did it…hell, your dad did it!”

Now it was his turn to chuckle.

“You think you have our whole lives figured out, huh? That everything is just handed to us all the time and all we have to do is…show up?” He chuckles again and shakes his head. “You really have no idea.”

“Please. It’s money, not rocket science,” she says dryly as she rolls her eyes.

“It’s not all about vacations, business transactions, or arranged marriages. It’s so much more than just the money.”

“But money makes things so much easier,” she countered.

“You’re right—to an extent, it does. But it’s not always the answer to everything. Just like how a marriage doesn’t always have to feel like a business transaction.”

He glanced at her—intent on keeping her talking.

“Like I said, I wasn’t in the right mindset for marriage. I spoke to my parents about that and…they were, for the most part, understanding about it. My parents were from a different time where you had to do things that your elders told you to. They didn’t leave much room for argument. For a moment there, my father made me feel that way.”

Jin originally had no idea that Hwang had blackmailed his father into this agreement which was why Jin was adamant in spending time with Miya.

“I know that he just wanted what was best for me,” he says, reflecting on the talk that they had on the boat that day.

“My dad was the same. He always wanted what was best for me—and he thought that was you,” she said, while she curled her knees up on the passenger seat.

He nodded. Part of the deal was Jin trying to give the relationship with Miya a chance–if you could ever call it a relationship.

“I really liked you, you know,” she admitted. “I thought we’d have a chance.”

He sighed. “We didn’t even know each other, Miya.”

“Mm-hm…and who’s fault is that? You shut me out from the moment we met.”

“And I apologize for that. I had a lot of things going on and I had my walls up. It wasn’t an ideal situation for either of us.”

“Sure. And then YN comes around, now all of a sudden, you’re in a loving mood? Are you sure it wasn’t me?”

“YN was…” he shook his head gently, “--completely unexpected to me. It wasn’t some calculated move.”

He let his mind briefly wander off back to thoughts of you and the first time that you struck up a conversation with him.

“Before she came along, I was focused on my business and making enough money to get myself out of the contract–plain and simple. And that’s the honest truth.”

She sniggered. “And it wasn’t because you just didn’t want to marry me?”

“I didn’t want to marry you and have us spend our lives resenting each other. My parents? And…Namjoon and Ji-yun—they’re anomalies. They started off as business transactions but they actually fell in love.”

“I would have loved you,” she said quietly as she looked away briefly and out the window.

Jin felt a pang of guilt but he wouldn’t try and play this off lest it aggravated her so he chose his next words carefully.

“It wouldn’t have been fair to you,” was all he could muster.

“But why her and not me?” She says, turning her attention back to him.

He didn’t need to dig deeply for his answer. “Because YN tapped into something in me that I never thought I’d feel again. I thought it was long-gone after Ari left me.”

“You could have given me time…time to give you that feeling. I could have been the right one for you,” she said softly.

“I could have…but sometimes, the right person at the wrong time is still the wrong person.”

******

“Hwang—where would she go? Where would she take him?” The investigator asks him as he sits on a metal table, to which he is shackled to. He traded in his custom-fitted Italian suit for a plain, standard, government-issued orange jumpsuit.

He shrugged at the agent who questioned him. “I don’t know. I’ve been cooped up in a six by eight cell the last few days with no visitors and you expect me to know where my daughter is?”

“Don’t be a smart-ass, Hwang. This is a kidnapping investigation—Kim Seokjin’s life could be at stake…Miya’s life is at stake,” the investigator says.

“My daughter was provoked. She’s only trying to protect me–”

Just then, the interrogation room door opens and in walks his wife. He chuckles at the sight of her.

“Did you come here to gloat?”

“Dickie–you need to cooperate.”

“Darling, it doesn't matter what I do. In the end, I’m not going to get the sweet deal that you got,” he says referring to the legal immunity that his wife took as a deal from the feds by testifying against her husband.

“Don’t you care about what happens to our daughter? You pushed her too hard and now she’s doing this…for you?” She was disgusted at him for spoiling her so rotten that she’s been blinded by his crimes and wants to protect him even at the expense of her own freedom.

“Yes. Why shouldn’t she do this for me? I did everything for her.”

“Dickie! You can still save Miya. Tell us where she could have gone. Is there some secret property that you bought? Some island that she could have gone off to?”

“They’ve frozen all of my assets. They seized my jet…She can’t fly anywhere,” he says sarcastically.

Another knock on the door interrupts their conversation. Another agent approaches the lead investigator with new information.

“Sir–we just learned that the car that they took has a built-in, active GPS. The tech guys are tracking the final destination but based on the pinged location from a few minutes ago, they’re headed up on the north highway,” the junior agent says.

Hwang’s ears perk up…and so do his wife’s.

“I appreciate the update. Keep me posted,” the lead agent says.

“I know where they’re going,” Hwang’s wife says to the agent.

“Viola, no–” Hwang protests, pulling on his chains.

“Dickie–you’re done parenting our daughter.”

“You think you’re protecting her but you’re just going to put her in harm’s way,” he growls.

“You mean like you did?” She asks pointedly.

Hwang hangs his head. Everything that he did, he did it for his family. He even took on all of the additional charges that the feds could have pinned on Miya. No matter what his wife said or accused him of, he loved his daughter. And he still only wanted the best for Miya.

“I’m coming to take our daughter home, Dickie,” she says with finality as she turns to the lead agent to tell him where Miya and Jin were headed so they could mobilize their units.

******

Was she acting alone?

Do you remember what she said? How did she know where to find you?

Why did she want to take you?

Did she take him forcibly or did he go willingly?

Has she threatened your safety before?

You were shell-shocked but managed to get through all of their basic questions.

Namjoon convinced everyone to gather at his house after you spoke to investigators outside the restaurant. He lived right outside the city and it was big enough to accommodate everyone.

Jin’s father wanted to be present at the bureau but his wife managed to convince him to let the agents do their jobs since they would only get in the way.

You all managed to leave the premises just as the press started to surround the area.

When you arrived at his house, you were fidgeting. Jin’s dad and Namjoon had been on the phone on and off with authorities, trying to get a clue as to where Miya and Jin could have gone.

Jin’s mom approaches you while you sat on the sofa, with your shoulders slumped. You kept replaying the events in your head–Miya…the gun…Jin volunteering to be her hostage. It could have been you. It should have been you.

“YN? Are you alright?” She asks softly.

You tried to keep your emotions in check but you were crumbling inside. Her son was in grave danger and she’s here asking if you were alright?

You shook your head, your teeth released your lips that you’ve had trapped in an attempt to keep yourself from completely losing it. “I–I’m so sorry…it’s my fault that your son is in this mess.”

She immediately rests her hand on your shoulder. “Oh, honey–don’t say that. None of this is your fault. You didn’t point the gun at him and take him against his will. We’re just glad that you’re safe. The investigators are doing everything they can. All we need to do is wait,” she says calmly. “Can I get you anything?”

You decline politely so she walks off to check on Haejin and Jungkook on the other side of the room.

“Uncle–I have a tip from my friend,” Namjoon says to Jin’s dad.

“What is it? Do they know where they’re at? Should we try and intercept them,” he says quietly so his wife doesn’t hear.

“Aish…we should really just stay here and let the authorities handle this,” he says regretfully even though every fiber in Namjoon’s being wants to be out there to try and save his brother.

“They managed to access his car’s GPS data. Seems they’re heading up north based on the pinged locations,” Namjoon says.

“North? What could possibly be up there?”

“My guy says they’re not sure yet but they’ve enlisted her mom’s help. She’s leading them there now,” he says.

“Hwang’s wife? How will that help?”

Namjoon shrugs. “She’s turned state’s witness. She’s uh…testifying against her husband and waiving spousal privilege. He was stonewalling them the whole time.”

“What a snake,” Jin’s dad says under his breath. “Guess nothing really matters anymore when you’ve lost everything.”

They stood there in silence for a beat until you quietly approached them. They were unaware that you had been watching their tense exchange.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Namjoon–I…please tell me you have news?” You wrung your hands and were on the verge of tears but hopeful that investigators had a hint as to where Jin and Miya were headed.

Namjoon takes pity on you and gives your shoulders a squeeze. “They’re tracking Jin’s car. They’re going up north–from what they gather, the car is still in motion. Miya’s mom is helping with the investigation.”

You nodded…it was a hint of hope but it was unclear whether Jin was out of the woods. You weren’t sure what else to do–you felt helpless just sitting around and waiting.

“YN, I’m optimistic that these guys will find her. Miya…I-I don’t think she would do anything crazy–” Jin’s father tries to reassure you...but at the sound of the word ‘crazy,’ it was anything but reassuring.

“They’ll find him, I’m sure of it,” he says calmly.

He then turns to Namjoon. “Thank you, Namjoon-ah.”

******

They’ve been driving on the highway for over an hour until she tells him to exit past a hill and turn left at the intersection.

There weren’t many houses in this area, just wide expanses of land, covered in what looked like unlimited rows of grapevines.

A few minutes more and they pass a sign called “Old Gravenstein Road.” After they pass the sign, she instructs him to pull into a property that was fenced off.

It was abandoned by the looks of the derelict structure that stood on the far side of the property. There was a wildfire in this area not long ago and did some considerable damage to some vineyards and other private residences. This property doesn’t seem to have been spared from that.

“Turn off the engine. We’re going in,” she says.

“This is trespassing, Miya—“

“Don’t worry. It’s mine,” she smiles enigmatically.

Jin is confused. He had heard from Namjoon’s insider at the bureau that all of Hwang’s assets had been frozen. This would definitely constitute trespassing, especially if the government has seized it. He doesn’t move so she pulls the gun out of her jacket’s pocket to compel him.

“C’mon…get moving. Let me show you around!”

At the sight of the gun, he does as he’s told. Jin vaguely recognizes this town. It was an old farming neighborhood. His father had looked into investing in a vineyard out here and had Jin check it out years ago.

He took Namjoon with him because he knew that he couldn’t resist a free wine tasting session. Why was it that millionaires couldn’t resist free stuff? He’ll never understand.

He recalled Namjoon spitting out random knowledge about the town’s history. Before all of the wineries took over and bought all the land, this town was mostly known for farming something else…what was it, he thought.

Miya instructs him to open the gate while she keeps the gun pointed at him.

“Where are we?” He says as he carefully pushes the gate open to enter the property. It was dimly lit, save for a couple of street lamps and other high-density lights from neighboring vineyards.

She laughs. “We’re back in my old stomping grounds, baby!”

Then it dawned on him. Gravensteins. The town used to be known for farming Gravenstein apples.

This was where Miya grew up. She leads him towards an old, abandoned cottage whose framework looked very questionable.

“It’s perfectly fine, Jin. After the fire, I had it assessed. I come here every now and then…when I need to think,” she divulges.

After the Hwangs up and left the orchard, her father fully intended on putting it up for sale but for some reason, he hung on to it for some odd, sentimental reason. Eventually, when his company grew, he transferred the title over to Miya–who didn’t originally want it.

She resented living here because it was dirty and did not truly reflect who she was on the inside. But recently, she found herself randomly driving out here to find some form of comfort and solace. Even though the old landlord’s house has long been demolished, the cottage remained standing.

There was no furniture in this cottage–all it had was a small wooden table and a couple of chairs–which Miya directed Jin to sit in while she stood in front of him, a foot away, in what used to be her mother’s kitchen.

“Mind if I ask you something?”

“Sure, baby,” Miya says.

“Erm…how did you get that?” he says, motioning to the gun.

“Oh, this thing?” She tilted her wrist haphazardly. “It was daddy’s…but he let me borrow it during one particularly–” she inhaled sharply before continuing, “–interesting trip to Prague. I was trying to unload one of his paintings and the contact wanted a bit of a buy-one, get-one deal, if you will.”

Jin was horrified to hear of the risks that Hwang put his daughter through. Unfortunately, Miya was brainwashed into thinking that her father always had her best interests in mind by repaying her with lavish shopping sprees and ritzy vacations after each transaction.

“I didn’t end up using it, though. I just–looked them in the eye, stood my ground. They instantly knew that I wasn’t fucking around so…they backed off,” she said simply.

The truth was, she was absolutely terrified during that trip. She repeatedly asked for a bodyguard but he refused to pay for it–saying that it would only spook the buyer.

‘I believe in you, princess,’ was his sendoff to her before she got on the plane.

It was close to a year before he was able to ask her to go on another trip–which happened to be the most recent one.

“Anyway, he didn’t have much use for it so I just tucked it away in my vault at home,” she chuckles. “I didn’t realize that I would ever end up taking it out of there at any point.”

“What did you hope to accomplish by doing this, Miya?” He asked the question before he could stop himself. It might irk her, he thought but perhaps if he kept the conversation going, investigators would have had time to ping his car’s location.

‘You just never know if you’ll ever get lost or something–without your phone,’ he recalled Namjoon’s reasoning.

It was another reminder for him to thank his friend for talking him into installing the GPS tracker feature for this car–on top of all of the other extra add-ons that he already had in the Aston.

She let out a humorless laugh. “Honestly? I wanted to put you through the same thing I’ve been going through these last few days. I thought that taking away the one person who made you happy would do the trick. I did not expect your heroics back there.”

“But why? Why wouldn’t you just take me?”

“It was just too easy,” she admitted. “That’s like if I shot you dead right now–it would just be too quick.”

His blood ran cold. He felt their progress slipping away.

“If you did that, you’d end up just like your dad–and you’ll pay an even heftier price,” he says. “I…I don’t think that’s anything you really want to do, Miya.”

“And how do you know, huh? This is probably the longest conversation we’ve had–ever! And now you’re trying to pretend that you know me?”

“I know that you’re blinded by your dad’s ambition. He’s made you think that you’re entitled to anything–”

“Because it’s what I deserve! And I deserve the best!” She says, pointing the gun at him.

He instinctively puts his hands up but he doesn't break eye contact with her.

“I understand that,” he says, as empathetic as possible. “Like I said on the drive over here–our parents only want what’s best for us–and they never fail to let us know that while we’re young, which is why they made all of these choices for us then. But at what point should we break away from that? When do we decide that we know what’s best for ourselves?”

Her face softens but she doesn’t put the gun down.

“What do you mean? You’re saying that my dad was wrong this whole time?”

“I’m saying–I know how difficult it is to break away from their shadow–to be your own person. When we’re young, we just take whatever life lessons our parents teach us and adopt them as our own.”

“That’s easy for you to say–you didn’t live my life,” she says.

“And I’m not saying that I know what your life was like. I’m not here to dismiss your experiences. I guess I…what I’m trying to say is that, at some point, I didn’t want my parents to map out the rest of my life for me. I wanted to figure things out on my own,” he explains.

“Once again, easy for you to say, rich boy,” she says dismissively.

“We may not have the same experiences but I’m human, too, Miya. You think everything comes easy just because of money? It doesn’t. It buys you nice things but it can’t buy you real friendships…It can’t make a loved one stay once they’ve decided to leave you. Money can’t take away the heartbreak from that. And just the same, it’s not money that helps you heal and find happiness again. You may think that a new pair of shoes or a flashy new car is enough to fill that hole but it’s not real.”

“I still don’t understand why you would want to work so hard when you can literally just snap your fingers and have everything dropped on your lap?”

It was ridiculous, she thought. Why would Jin spend all of his energy working when he stood to inherit his father’s millions without ever lifting so much as a pen?

He put his hands down slowly in a show of vulnerability. “Because it’s not how I was raised. And truth be told, I didn’t want to live my life like that, Miya. It’s one thing to live out your parents’ dreams but it’s far more rewarding to switch courses and chart your own path.”

Just then, they hear light footsteps approach.

Miya gasps, surprised that anybody would follow them out here. She stiffens her arm and cocks the gun at Jin.

“Any more tricks up your sleeve, Mr. Kim?” She says through clenched teeth.

He puts both hands up once again as he remains seated. He was ready to shit himself but instead, he took a deep breath, gulped, and tried to calm his heartbeat.

“I don’t have my phone on me, Miya—how would I—“

A quiet voice pushes through the door. “Miya?”

She flinches, seemingly recognizing the voice, keeping her aim at Jin. “Don’t come in here!” She yells.

“Sweetheart, please,” her mom says as she comes to view.

Jin is surprised to see Miya’s mother here. He knew how much of a risk it was for her to come out to see her daughter since he assumed that their relationship had been strained since she turned on her husband. He wasn’t sure if her presence would do more harm than good.

“What the fuck are you doing here, traitor? I don’t need to talk to you!” she spits out bitterly.

Her mother winces. She knows that their relationship hasn’t been the best over the years because her husband monopolized and essentially molded Miya’s mentality. He invested all of his hopes and dreams into his daughter. He lived vicariously through her.

She chose to fade into the background and tried to be as supportive as she could. By the time she had realized what her husband was trying to do, Miya was deep into her father’s mindset. They were two of a kind–she couldn’t just undo that behavior overnight.

When they inherited all of their landlord’s money, it didn’t sit right with her–but her family was happy. Her daughter was happy, or seemed like it.

And then her husband got greedy–and so did Miya.

Her family had been slipping further away from her…all because of the money.

“You don’t need to talk but you will listen,” her mother says firmly while she glances at Jin, quickly deducing that he was unhurt…for now.

“I’ll admit, I didn’t care for you as much as he did. I let him control our lives.“

“Mom, please. You enjoyed it, too. You took the money and gambled it away at every chance you got,” she seethed.

“That’s right. I gambled it away…because I wanted to get rid of it! All of it! And maybe you think me naive but I thought that if it was all gone, that maybe, just maybe… we could go back to the way things were. The money ruined us...he ruined our family!”

“He did what was best for us, eomma!”

“He did what was best for himself!” She interjected. “If there’s one thing I know that Dick Hwang can do really well… it’s running a long con. He was so good at it that even he managed to con himself—tricking himself into thinking that he was doing it for our family…for you.”

“But he loved us! He loved me!” She insisted.

Her mother shook her head. “Sweetie, someone who truly loved you would not put you through this. Would not make you do things that you didn’t want to—“

“No, I wanted it! I wanted to travel! I wanted all of the pretty dresses and all of the nice things! I wanted the handsome rich boy that nobody else can seem to get.” She seemed unaware of the tears streaming down her cheeks.

“That’s not you talking, Miya. That’s your dad…he made you think that that was what you needed.”

“But I was happy,” she sobbed as her hand shook, while pointing the gun at Jin.

“Oh, baby…you have it all wrong. Those things won’t make you happy. You’ll always want more of it…It will never be enough.”

Miya was rendered speechless. All these years, she worshiped her dad and all of his grand ideas. She felt his love and never doubted it but it had driven her to do things that were normally considered deplorable.

“Come on, sweetheart…it’s not too late for you…” her mother pleaded gently as she tentatively holds her hand out to Miya.

She peers at Jin then back to her mother’s outstretched hand–she tightens her grip on the gun while she wrestles with the decision.

******

It’s been over six hours since Miya took Jin. Apart from Namjoon’s last update, there hasn’t been any word about what was going on…if Jin was still safe.

You close your eyes and offer a silent prayer. Please let Jin be okay. You repeat it over and over in your head—like a mantra…something concrete to cling to in your desperation.

You wrap your arms around yourself, fear and hopelessness slowly taking over you.

“YN. Here you go, sweetheart,” Jin’s mom gently coaxes you, her voice centers you back into the room. She hands you a cup of chamomile tea. You take the cup and saucer gratefully, the rattle betraying your trembling hands.

“Thank you,” you whispered, your voice hoarse from tears you’ve held back since arriving at Namjoon’s hours ago.

Haejin sits across from you on the larger sofa, holding hands with Jungkook as they watch the news. You see them steal brief glances at you, their faces riddled with worry and anxiety. You stared back at them blankly as you couldn’t even offer a reassuring smile or a tear despite all of the emotions bubbling up inside.

You looked over at Namjoon, Ji-yun, and Jin’s dad, who stood around the kitchen counter, all serious and speaking in hushed tones.

Jin’s mom oddly busies herself in the kitchen as well–trying her best to keep mind distracted.

The TV drones in the background with the local news on. You hear faint sounds but you couldn’t bear to see bold headlines repeatedly flashing on-screen.

KIMCORP HEIR–STILL MISSING

It was coupled with an inset photo of Jin as the news anchor mentions the link followed by clips of Hwang’s arrest and some mention of an unhinged daughter.

A sob escapes your throat and your hand flies to your mouth immediately to try and contain anything else threatening to spill out.

Haejin is suddenly at your side, one arm around you while the other holds your free hand.

“YN? D-do you want us to call your dad?” She asks gently.

You shook your head vehemently and clutched her hand. You couldn’t speak and knew that if you did, it would snap that lone strand of your resolve that you clung on to.

You called your dad hours ago to give him a brief rundown of what happened. Although you had initially feared that you would be risking another untimely trip to the hospital, you decided to appease him and give him direct information rather than keeping him in the dark and having him learn about this on the news.

You repeatedly stressed that you were safe and that the investigators were doing everything that they could to find Jin.

After placating him, you called Taehyung and begged him to stay with your dad while you tried to deal with the anxiety and the rest of your feelings.

You glance at your watch. It’s after 11:30, heading toward midnight. Was it really that late? Had it been that long?

Deep down inside, you prepare yourself for the worst. You close your eyes for a few seconds, take a deep breath, before you open them again.

There’s a knock on the door and Ji-yun, being closest to the entrance, answers it.

Right then, you hear a shriek, and suddenly things seem to move in extreme, slow motion for you.

You turn your head towards where the sound comes from in time to see Jin’s mom zooming across the kitchen and towards the doorway.

“Holy shit!” Namjoon and Jungkook exclaim almost in unison.

Haejin gasps and abruptly leaves your side. You see vague shapes of Jungkook getting up from where he sat, and Jin’s dad–all moving in the same direction.

There in the entrance, stood an exhausted-looking Jin.

He’s still wearing his button-down shirt, whose sleeves were now rolled up to his elbows and his suit pants. He’s holding his suit jacket and his tie in his hand.

You gazed numbly at him, trying to work out whether he was an apparition or if he was actually, really here.

He tosses his jacket and tie on the floor in time to catch his mom, who throws her arms around his neck and peppers him with kisses all over his face.

Minutes ago, she was calm and collected but at the sight of her son walking through the door, she completely loses all poise and unleashes all of her pent up emotions.

She sobs into his chest.

“Mom?”

Jin gazes down at her, completely at a loss.

“Darling, you had us all so worried,” she whispers.

“Mom…I’m here.” He sounds grave but tries to mask it with some light humor as he enveloped her in a tight embrace, reassuring her.

“Oh, Seokjinnie,” she chokes, wrapping her arms around him, weeping into his neck—all self-restraint forgotten—and Jin doesn’t balk. He just holds her, comforting her.

Tears pool in your eyes.

“Hey, dad.”

“Jin,” he utters, right before he embraces both of them, his eyes closed in relief.

Haejin squeals something unintelligible before joining her parents, hugging all of them, too.

Finally, the tears you held in for most of the night start to freely run down your cheeks.

He’s here, he’s fine, you try to convince yourself. But you stayed rooted to your position, firmly frozen in place. Part of you didn’t want to interrupt their family reunion while the other half was still in shock.

His dad is first to pull away, wiping his eyes and ruffling Jin’s hair, as if he were still a little boy.

Haejin releases them and his mom steps back a second later.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” his mom mumbles as she wipes her tears.

“Hey, mom—it’s okay,” Jin says with a small smile. He draws her back into his arms and kisses the top of her head.

“I’m here. I’m good. That was—the longest drive back,” he chuckles as his eyes shift to his best friend.

“Hey, bro,” Namjoon says as he approached him, giving him a brief hug.

Thankfully, Namjoon’s federal asset was able to get through one of the agents on-site to inform Jin that his family was waiting for him here. They offered to drive him back but he declined saying that he was unharmed and perfectly capable of driving his own car back.

After over an hour of on-site questioning by agents, Jin insisted that he didn’t want to press charges and asked them to show Miya some leniency. They had already put away the real bad guy after all.

While most of the caravan split off to take Miya and her mom back to federal custody, Jin got one escort all the way back to Namjoon and Ji-yun’s home. The feds would have to follow-up with more questioning tomorrow but for now, they agreed that Jin just needed to be back home with his family–who were extremely worried about him.

“Joon—thank fuck for talking me into getting that fail-safe GPS tracker!”

Namjoon smiles sheepishly. Ji-yun and Jungkook go in for brief hugs as well, relieved that their friend is home safe.

“What’s with the welcoming committee?” He looks up and scans the room until his eyes lock with yours.

“Son, what happened to Miya? Where is she?”

“They uh–took her away. It’s a long story, dad and…I’d really prefer not to relive it right now,” Jin says.

“Seojin-ah! Don’t you ever, ever do that to me again! Do you understand?” His mom half-shouts at him.

“Yes, mom.” He wipes her tears away with his thumb and hugs her once more.

As his mom pulls away to compose herself, Haejin approaches him again and shoves him on his chest.

“What the fuck!” she blurts out, and she, too, is in tears. “You think you’re bulletproof now? Volunteering as a hostage? Are you an absolute idiot?” She says in rapid-fire succession.

“Alright, alright…let’s–calm down. I’m here now, in one piece,” Jin mutters.

“I’m glad you’re safe, hyung.” Jungkook says a little gruffly, trying to hide his emotion.

You were so overwhelmed with Jin’s family showering him attention that you barely notice Haejin returning to your side.

“It’s going to be okay, YN. He’s here.” Haejin murmurs comfortingly as she rubs your back.

“Uh…I hope you all don’t mind, but there’s someone whom I really need to see,” Jin tells his family. They nod, smile, and step aside to clear his path.

He moves toward you, dark eyes weary but bemused. From somewhere deep inside, you find the strength to will your feet to take a few steps and throw yourself into his open arms.

“Jin!” You sob.

“Shh…hey,” he says and holds you, burying his face into your hair and inhaling deeply. You raise your tear-stained face to his, and he kisses you briefly.

“Hi,” he utters as he cups your face, pulling you off his chest.

“Hi,” you whisper back.

“Miss me?”

You smile sardonically at his question. “Kind of, yeah.”

He grins. “I can tell.” And with a gentle touch of his hand, he wipes away the tears that refuse to stop running down your cheeks.

“I thought…I thought you—” You choke.

He nods knowingly, not allowing you to finish your thought. “I told you I’d be back, didn’t I?” he says with a light chuckle.

You instinctively smack him on the chest as he makes light of the situation while you were a nervous wreck for the last few hours. He laughs and pulls you in for another chaste kiss.

“God, I love you,” he murmurs into your lips.

Pulling away, you ask him, “I love you, too–but are you okay, though?” You touch his face, his arms, his chest…the feel of his warmth beneath your fingers reassures you that he is here, safe and standing right in front of you.

He doesn’t so much as flinch. He just regards you intently.

“I’m fine, see? I’m not going anywhere.”

“Ugh, fuck! Don’t ever scare me like that again!” You fist at his shirt and pull him closer to you, prompting him to hug you once more.

Although he seems lighthearted on the outside, he felt immense relief on the inside. He didn’t think he’d see you again either. He relishes the feeling of this embrace—holding you even tighter.

“Are you hungry? Do you need something to eat?” You murmured against his chest. They were the oddest questions to ask but your instinct was to take care of him.

“Yes, but food can wait. I’d much rather go home with you. I’m…just so tired,” he admits.

Shortly after, he bids his family goodbye. He assures his mom that he would call her once you were home to ease her worries.

Jin drove back to your home instead of his, on account of some press still hanging around his building. He made a mental note to figure out whether he wanted to unload that property and purchase another one–preferably with a doorman since he didn’t need to be as discreet about it any longer.

You gave your dad and Taehyung a call on your way back. As soon as you both walk through the door, he engulfs both of you in a tight embrace.

In the short time that your dad has known Jin, he has treated him just like a son. He tried not to worry but he couldn’t help it. It was a huge sigh of relief for him to see both of you walk into the room in one piece.

As you both settle into your bed, you notice Jin staring blankly at the ceiling, seemingly deep in thought.

“Hey–are you sure you’re alright,” you asked.

It took him a few seconds to answer. “For a moment there, I didn’t think I’d come home to you,” he confessed.

You nuzzled closer to him. “Well…whatever you said or did…you clearly got through to her.”

“I just think that she’s never had any real friends or anybody in her corner to support her unconditionally. If anything, it’s really sad and I feel sorry for her.”

You couldn’t honestly say that you shared the same sentiment.

“What’s going to happen to Miya?”

He sighs. “I’m meeting with investigators tomorrow. If there’s anything I learned today–and really, it’s what I should have been practicing this whole time instead of just saying it–it’s to not pass judgment so quickly.”

You exhaled deeply. It still didn’t change the fact that she said those things and demoralized you. Then again, you weren’t trapped in a room with her with a gun pointed at you. It could have ended differently…but maybe all she needed was for Jin to appeal to her good side–even though it didn’t seem like it.

“Anyway, I just hope she does the right thing for her sake.” Jin puts an arm around you and pulls you in tighter.

For a moment, you thought that maybe she wasn’t all bad. After all, she decided to send Jin back where he belonged–with you.

Part 9.5◥

Taglist: @deepseavibez @shameless-army @nooneinvitedfascistbarbie @twogyuu @jakepralta @justmewondering-recs @taleasnewastime @se0kedinluv @bangtannoonalvg [open]

[cinnamonest]

THAT ALBEDO FIC!!!!!! just like the childe momcon one listen

i absolutely LOVE the way you write these like -- thriller-esque introductions. Like we don't know what'll happen and we are as scared as MC and maybe that's just my personal thing but i love the mystery the mysterious guy who doesnt reveal his intentions and he's just like

staring at you

"He's following me around everywhere now" "hes staring at me" THATS SO HOT

and also his past insecurities like how he would avoid her gaze and how he would constantly try to please her<333

How he always thought about her and how he could make her stay becausee he loves her so much ahhhh my heart <33

I LOVED THAT SCENE SO MUCH where she walked in on him reading her journal and was like "Are you coming to get this Master?" and how in the end he finally dared to use the real name

(also on a sidenote since there had been a lot of amputee asks lately i'm so relived and glad you just had him make the legs unusable. idk it kinda makes me uncomfy with the missing limbs BUT YOUR SOLUTION WAS GREAT!!)

anyways I would love to read a continuation or just thirst asks or headcannons or anything tbh cause I've fallen in love with rhinedottir!reader and this albedo !!

love you (and momcon and rhinedottir reader and all your other ideas) ❤❤❤

AHHHHH you all are so nice to me I have so many nice messages!! This was so great to wake up to today!! I'm so glad you guys liked it ilysm :333

Yeah I did make the amputation post a while back but idk I was feeling more the mutilation instead... Honestly bc it's almost crueler, the mockery of being able to see your limbs but not use them :(

As for the jerking off thing... to be fair, he would probably let your arm heal when he thinks about the handjob potential, not to mention doggy style you need to rest on your hands... BUT you really only need one for the former... Still, he'll let it heal once you apologize enough. You'll just have the scar as a reminder and a subtle threat, and it won't work quite the same, it will permanently be a little harder to feel, you can't curl your fingers all the way, etc etc. And to be fair, that logic with him would work at first, but then he starts thinking... He can jerk himself off... If you're there, why would he ever use your hand when he can use your holes?? And then he just gets mad at you for trying to manipulate him.

As for the other, if darling bit him he'd probably either go for denying you food for a day or so, maybe making you wear a muzzle for a while. He's like... The opposite of Childe... Childe likes scratches and bites from you because it excites him... Albedo's the opposite. It's infuriatingly hypocritical because he himself is such a sadist and gets off to your pain in any capacity, but if you even so much as scratch him he just ">:(" you're right he IS such a manchild deep down ngl.