#also i love the way the music cut out in the intro with the glass. great timing there.

[james-stark-the-writer]

just started Halloween H20 - 20 Years Later and this franchise keeps surprising me with the actors that it has, how the fuck did i not know Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in one of these, he looks like a fucking baby, he better survive this movie i swear to god, i'll kill Michael myself if he hurts him.

[stripedwolf88]

The Eras Tour: Paris Night 1 (My Thoughts)

ALLLLLLLLRIGHT. So because @bettysgarden12 wanted to know my reactions and thoughts on everything that happened today, I thought I would share with the rest of yous. It's probably not going to be very in depth or analytical so fair warning on that hehe. Also this probably isn't in order of the show because my memory is trash haha.

1.First things first. The lover bodysuit. WHaT iN ThE FRiLly HeLl?!?!? I literally still don't know whether or not I dreamt of seeing that new bodysuit. Definitely, lesbian colors represented there and it was confirmed with the orange blazer she wore for The Man. It was not an accident I'm sure to have the inside be pink too.

(Side note: we all knew that The Archer was going to get cut. It actually makes a lot of sense too. I think we are past Taylor asking us to stay, not that she doesn't still hope us too. It's more like she is fine with blowing everything up now instead of focusing on the worry of messing everything up. At least I hope that is the case. We're here for ya Taylor. You got this.)

2. Second, the Fearless dress. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I also saw that it looks really reminiscent of the original dress she wore for her Fearless tour. It's almost like she is going back to what once was.

3. Third, transitioning right into Red was something. The new Red shirt says "This is not Taylor's Version" when Red is in fact Taylor's again. Some of my moots pointed out that it could be referencing the whole Real Taylor vs Taylor The Brand theory that we as a community have been developing for quite some time. With this thinking, it would mean that the Taylor we are seeing is not someone Taylor claims as her own or something like that. It's not truly her which we all knew already.

4. Fourth, we saw a new intro for Speak Now (now officially just Enchanted since Long Live has been axed.) I don't have much to say on that other than I wasn't surprised that Long Live got cut. This cut also makes sense if we are thinking that Taylor is gonna burn it down. No more reminding about the good times or the "needing" fans to stand by her forever.

5. Fifth, combining folklore and evermore was unexpected but also not? Idk it made sense and to me it just seems like it was easier to combine them since room had to be made for TTPD.

6. Sixth, Rep was Rep. Nothing really changed from what I could tell or remember other than THE FREAKING GLASS CASES SHATTERING!!! YOU BREAK THAT GLASS CLOSET TAYLOR! WHOOP WHOOP!

7. Seventh, 1989 outfit was...something. It's just not my cup of tea visually. I DID NOT notice the lion or tiger(???) charm she had on until someone else pointed it out. Very interesting either way.

8. Eighth, putting TTPD before Midnights was an interesting choice. The whole theory that we still have to meet her at Midnight (credit to my moots for pointing this out again) is supported by this I think.

9. Ninth, the dress for TTPD is amazing!! And so are the other two outfits. The marching band uniform and it's possible reference back to ME! music video? It has me in shambles.

10. Tenth, the performance for Who Afraid of Little Old Me was visually amazing and she sang it beautifully (no surprise there) with such emotion that it was impossible for me to look away. Her levitating across the stage was also freaking awesome!

11. Next the empty cages imagery?? The nurses pulling her away from her lover??? The image of her crouching in the middle of this weird ass place??? That one really kind of freaked me out. It was eerie and heartbreaking in a way I'm not quite able to explain at this moment.

12. I was conflicted about I Can Do It With A Broken Heart both before, during, and after the performance. I had a feeling she was going to perform it and I kind of wanted her to just to hear her sing it live but then not because I knew how the fans were going to react. I really did face-palm when everyone yelled "More!" on the livestream but we all knew they were going to. The transition into ICDIWABH made me want to throw something at the TV but I also did snort on the petulance on Taylor's face for the little act. I really liked the old Hollywood theme for the visuals and the dance. It was pleasing to watch. BY THE WAY....HAVING THE OUTFIT FOR ICDIWABH ECHO HER OUTFITS ON REP IS REALLY SOMETHING. She bamboozled me again.

13. Midniiiiiiights. THE BODYSUIT IS MY FAVORITE ONE OUT OF THE ONES WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR. I'm glad that Mastermind was kept. I didn't think that she would have taken away anything from the Midnights era but if there was I had this weird concern that it would be Mastermind. Thank god my anxiety was unnecessary.

14. The surprise soooooongs~ Paris is a favorite of mine so I'm happy she played it but also of course she did. That was another predictable thing that happened. Her performance of loml was again heartfelt. She seems really happy to sing these new songs and it shows.

15. I am pretty freaking sure that the Bejeweled lights were a LOT more colorful and rainbowy than usual. Was that just me? Please tell me it wasn't just me!

Overall, it is safe to say that I was not prepared for the absolute chaos that today brought.

Taylor, it seems like you're really doing this (I reeeeeally hope that is the case) and I'm so happy for you if that is what is happening. You do you and you show us what's up. I'm looking forward to it. <3

[wordywarriorwrites]

Pedro Scout Status

I've decided to keep a master post of my Scout activities for @pedroscouts!

Check out my status updates below the cut!

Took the Pledge: Took the pledge and became a Pedro Scout!

Joel Miller: I read @undercoverpena-fics Midnight Bedsheets. I gasped. I swooned. I experienced THE FEELS!

Fluff + Smut: For a story I wrote called Assignation.

Blocked a Porn Bot: I know we all have done had to do this...

I Set Sail on the Friendship: I asked @atinylittlepain for a go-to Pedro gif, and their choice did NOT disappoint. 🤣

Enemies to Lovers: So, I'm not sure if this is breaking the rules, but I'm going old school with @frannyzooey Listen fic, because DAY-UM. 🥵🥵

Played a Tag Game: I have played MANY tag games on Tumblr. Hahah

Friends to Lovers: I Like The Way You... by @undercoverpena is a damn fine example of this trope. Absolutely loved it from start to finish. 🥰🥰

Ezra Fic: I've been reading Adversity by @the-ginger-hedge-witch. Can't wait to see what happens next on their adventure!

Hurt/Comfort: Walls of Glass by @sixhours. So beautifully written. An emotional rollercoaster that you feel with every word.

Frankie Morales: Of course, we've got @frannyzooey out here, showing us how it's done with Drive-In. Oh, lawd!!

Giflet: The entire giflet masterlist by @morallyinept is epic, but I particularly enjoyed The Wolf & The Lamb.

AskNado: Completed!

One Bed: This isn't a "traditional" one-bed trope, but Squirming by @frannyzooey definitely has the same vibe because of the whole "share one sleeping bag" thing it has going on.

Jack "Whiskey" Daniels: Omg, I've read Palomino so many times. @fuckyeahdindjarin wrote such an epic romance that I just... ::: sigh:::

Fan Art: I've for sure loved and shared a lot of great fan art.

Slow Burn: I read Death and An Angel by @littlemisspascal and was hooked from chapter one. Binge-read the entire thing in one sitting, and was completely invested from start to finish. Such a beautiful and creative love story!

Crack/Dieter: I got a hilarious two-for-the-price-of-one with Low Hanging Gruit by @covetyou. This was another recommendation that definitely made me laugh out loud. Googled a Term: I can't tell you how often I've had to Google something fic-related. I'm old. I can't keep up with the "cool kids" anymore...

Got Silly in the Tags: It is rare for me to get really silly in the tags. I like to use my tags for organizing (type A much?) and I mostly get silly in the reblog with comments/gifs.

Marcus Moreno: Throwing it back to @frannyzooey and The Secret series, which was my fic intro to Marcus. Deliciously written. Chefs kiss (per usual).

Song Fic: It's not a "traditional" song fic, but I Hear a Symphony by @projectionistwrites is all centered around Joel's rediscovering his love for music.

Coffee Shop AU: Again, it's not 100% traditional, but Hot Coffee by @omgreally was a treat of a one-shot that gave me the jitters!

Rom-Com: Grays by @fuckyeahdindjarin made me laugh from the get-go. By fan-fic standards, it's probably considered an "oldie," but it's definitely a goodie.

Awakened a Kink: I have no children. I also have no desire to have children. But breeding kink fics sometimes makes my brain go "brrr." Especially if it's mixed with competency and the reader is taken care of/protected.

Forced Proximity: @goodwithcheese recently penned Girl Next Door and when I say I am UNWORTHY... I mean... Jesus H. Christ...

Dark Fic & Max Phillips: Blood & Tinsel by @morallyinept is a dark(ish), spicy, smutty mix that pulls you in from the first sentence!

Javi G: Care for a Little Golden Hour by @all-the-way-down-here is a Javi G. x Male Reader fic full of spice and care.

Sent a Horny Anon: I've sent them anon and not anon. LOL

Whump: Omg... Tonight You Belong To Me by @intheorangebedroom is the whumpiest-whump that ever whumped. If you're into angst and being all up in your feels, this is a fic for you!

Din Djarin: An oldie, but a goodie from @charnelhouse called In the Dark. It's the "we almost died" smut story we all know and love.

Soulmate: Again, Death and An Angel by @littlemisspascal was an amazing fic. A totally different take on the soulmate trope that had me hooked from chapter one. I absolutely loved it!

Fluff: Let Me by @polaroidpascal is a very gentle fic about taking care of your partner and giving them a bit of extra love - especially when they need it most.

Bookshop AU: The Book of Love by @undercoverpena is still one of my favorite Bookshop AU fics to read. Full of all the feels and fluff and flirting.

Mortifying Typo: I think we've all done this before. LOL

Marcus Pike: All the Time in the World by @whataperfectwasteoftime was a beautiful one-shot about a couple's first time together. Very romantic and full of emotion and so very, very gentle. I loved it!

Angst: Emergency Contact by @javiscigarette definitely hit me right in the feels. So much emotion packed into a one-shot!

Western: There are two that stick out in my head: Palomino and Adversity. Both are so amazing!

Dave York: Just read Second Sight by @goodwithcheese and literally had to dig my own grave because I perished. PERISHED, I tell you.

Booped: Oh, you know I booped. I booped my way to the top. lmfao

Oberyn Martell: Dancing Phantoms on the Terrace by @janaispunk didn't have to come for my throat like it did... :::ugly crying:::

[phxntomhives]

"The parade of battlers" analysis

SINCE NO ONE IS DOING THIS??? WHY??? I WILL DO IT

Hopefully my wrong takes will trigger someone and you all will get a decent analysis

Eng lyrics because I don't know japanese are from the official music video! Also warning, English isn't my mother tongue.

Lost in an unacceptable tragedy

An unfading warmth quivers blue in the depth of my eyes

Stifling impurities leave keloid scars and

Even now, still mourn for days gone by, never to come back

Staking my life, spitting blood and vomit

All I want to do is lead a beautiful life

But why can't you hear

Me telling you not to stumble

Love turning on its head, fiction caught in a tangle

Say bye bye to mundane concepts

See how the compensated formless stand imposingly

Their presence is a sight to behold

Rip apart, drag and reveal

Throw away all inferiorities

Even the raw emotions of cursing someone

Take them in like an offering

Just skilled at pretending to be human

Searching for those other than monsters

Like the blue shimmer of

A star of the first magnitude

Far from having enough faith

This utterly ridiculous destiny won't retreat

Fill the air with the echo of the marching boots

Let the parade of the lonely ones begin now

Everything in this world, there isn't much

Difference between the atrocious or noble as you think

Somewhere up in the sky, someone is making selections

To ensure the cycle of birth and passing is upheld

Though we have prayed and knelt down

Our prayers have been cremated

And ignored with a "So what?"

So kind

A colorless encounter, pupils of glass

Thought they may shatter to pieces,

You laugh your head off, saying, "you must be kidding"

You give the finger as you spew poison and let it all out

Scorched, boiling and trembling

A blazing fire from the past still smolders

That remorse still within me

I'll burn and retaliate in full

There is no such thing as eternity, so

There is no ending until all turns to ash

Then why not play

With fire in a refined manner?

No more need for empty rhetorics

Such hollow, scathing criticism

Burn this ceaseless stone-throwing

The parade of the lonely ones has just begun

There's no love, no love, there's no love there

There's nothing, there's nothing, there's no truth

There's just one, just one

In this world, just one person, one person

Question fanatically and

Live the shit out of this world

ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT BECAUSE THIS BITCH IS LONG

ALSO MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE MANGA!!!

Yana, dear, are you sure this is the intro for the Weston college arc??? And not the blue cult??? LIKE, REALLY REALLY SURE??? My comprehension of text can be lacking in more than one way and I just followed the vibe but... I don't think I am that wrong on some points? You are seeing it too, right?

I feel like the song has a mix of present, past and future along with different POVs and I hope I have been able to separate them well.

The colors are just to show the lyrics and i changed it because pretty.

What I can actually connect to Weston Arc

"Then why not play with fire in a refined manner? / No more need for empty rhetorics Such hollow, scathing criticism. / Burn this ceaseless stone-throwing" Which could very much be related to O!Ciel's pyromaniac episode lol. He didn't forget

"The parade of the lonely ones has just begun" : at this point the "parade of the lonely" could very much be the parade of the bizzare dolls considering the amount of reference there is to them. And it would be nice considering in this case the sentence is right after the stone-throwing Purple house, since the students were "transfered" in the there.

If the previous point is correct then also here, we are talking of the bizzare dolls: "This utterly ridiculous destiny won't retreat / Fill the air with the echo of the marching boots / Let the parade of the lonely ones begin now". I guess the "echo of the marching boots" could be the sound the dolls made before getting free during the midnight tea party? As for why they don't retreat well, we have seen they aren't exactly rational for now.

"Scorched, boiling and trembling / A blazing fire from the past still smolders / That remorse still within me /I'll burn and retaliate in full": this could be a description of what O!Ciel is feeling in general. His determination coming from everything that happened is still going strong.

Onestly, these are the only thing I can see strictly related to the present and this arc in particular lol. Everything else goes deeper.

Memories of the past

This part will likely make the least sense, because I am still sobbing over the whole past ok.

"Lost in an unacceptable tragedy Even now, still mourn for days gone by, never to come back": We all know the past. The safest bet is that O!Ciel is mourning, but is he? He never had the time to mourn, he moved immediately to revenge and working for the queen. So either this is just to hit us in the feeling, or maybe it's my favourite victim of this analysis: Undertaker. Could it be him? Possibly, but this being O!Ciel breaks my heart more. I am excluing R!Ciel because at the moment of Weston arc his version should not be that complex. And Sebastian is Sebastian.

"Staking my life, spitting blood and vomit /All I want to do is lead a beautiful life / But why can't you hear / Me telling you not to stumble": I feel like this either O!Ciel talking to himself, admitting that he would like to just be happy but still forcing himself to be strong and act to revenge his family. Or, high on copium, the first part is O!Ciel's wishes and the second part is O!CIel using the R!Ciel allucination make himself stronger (I doubt it, but it adds to the sadness).

"Rip apart, drag and reveal / Throw away all inferiorities /Even the raw emotions of cursing someone /Take them in like an offering": I got the epiphany after several times of reading this and yes it's about revenge hatred yadda yadda yadda. But what if, in particular, it's related to the moment when O!Ciel summoned Sebastian? I think it's the only time I remember "offering" being mentioned/relevant in the manga. O!Ciel is throwing everything away for revenge, assuming a new identity. So this could be either O!Ciel talking to himself during that desperate time. Or, just to hurt myself more, him allucinating again a conversation with R!Ciel where R!Ciel is the one that is saying all this. I will go cry now, brb.

"Everything in this world, there isn't much /Difference between the atrocious or noble as you think / Though we have prayed and knelt down / Our prayers have been cremated /And ignored with a "So what?" " : God, this section is killing me. Memories of when the twins were captured, For them and all the other children, it was an atrocious experience, while the nobles were truly thinking they were in the right, that there was nothing wrong in what they were doing. They believed to be noble enough to be above everything and ignored absolutely everything in regards to the children.

Undertarker is not being subtle. Like at all.

Somewhere up in the sky, someone is making selections/To ensure the cycle of birth and passing is upheld: here I am conflicted. Undertaker is sure making selections when he is creating the bizzare dolls "you get to be revived. you don't". But at the same time he is not uphelding anything. He is doing the opposite infact. Unless this is supposed to just describe the Shinigami's role to show how Undertaker is going in the opposite direction.

There's just one, just one/In this world, just one person, one person/Question fanatically and/Live the shit out of this world: we only really see two characters question stuff: O!Ciel with the murder of his family and Undertaker with the Cinematic record ways of working. Now, i don't really see O!Ciel "question fanatically" and "live the shit out of this world", while we can debate about how "fanatically" he is searching for the culprits, how are you telling me he is living his best life? He is surronded by trauma, has to go on a mission for the queen every other day, has to live as his dead twin and in this specific arc he has to act all cutesy and adorable when he hates it. He is far from any best life I am more surprised he didn't become histerical yet honestly. The one that IS living his best life is Undertaker (well... more or less). In the Weston Arc he did say he was enjoying being the headmaster. Plus he could make some more esperiments on Derek&co which, on top of that, were mostly successful! Do you know how much serotonin a succesful experiment gives you? A LOT. TRUST ME.

Bizzare Dolls (BD for short because I am lazy)

Well, ofc they are the protagonist of the animation, they are everywhere in the song too.

"An unfading warmth quivers blue in the depth of my eyes / Stifling impurities leave keloid scars and": Are the BD warm? Idk, but I don't think so? A body is warm when the blood is running because the heart is pumping it. Do BD have a working heart tho? I doubt the original version do, but what about the new and improved versions? Agares could have probably be our best bet but he always wore gloves (even when he was alive) so we don't really know.

Warmth aside, what I am quite confident IS a reference to the BD is the keloid scars. I did a reseach and a keloid scar is a "scar keeps growing and becomes bigger than the original wound. They are developed after a skin injury". The scars we have seen are O!Ciel's scar from when they marked him, or the BD's "surgery" scars?

Ofc it could be just metaphorical about the trauma just keep on growing in O!Ciel. Maybe it's more this one but again, I am take things directly

"Love turning on its head, fiction caught in a tangle/Say bye bye to mundane concepts/See how the compensated formless stand imposingly/Their presence is a sight to behold": cambridge dictionary say that "turn something on its head means to cause something to be the opposite of what it was before". Apparently, there are many things that are the opposite of love, depending on your source: hatred, fear, indifference. I think in this case, since we are talking of the BD, we can use indifference. They aren't moved by real emotions at this moment (Weston arc) and even later, they are probably fake emotions based on fake memories (from the orphanage children but I will not elaborate, other theories have done it better). Fear could also work since well, most people are rightfully terrified of them. Being far away from mundane concepts? I would say they fill this box. And they sure are a sight to behold, nothing against it. What confuses me is the "compensated formless" I don't have any idea of what it could mean

"Just skilled at pretending to be human / Searching for those other than monsters + Like the blue shimmer of / A star of the first magnitude / Far from having enough faith": We are looking at the current arcs here in the first lines. The one skilled at pretending to be human and searching for things is Sebastian (it can't be O!Ciel because he isn't pretending to be human). What he is searching is the headmaster, that we know being Undertaker and it ends up bringing with him, again, the BD. In particular, it specifically mentions R!Ciel. You know what is the name of the biggest star of first magnitude that is currently known? Yeah, you are correct, it's Sirius. And we have known Ciel is Sirius for a while now. As to why the star does not have lot's of faith, do I have to remind you "Dear God, why are you smiling?".

"So kind /A colorless encounter, pupils of glass /Thought they may shatter to pieces,/ You laugh your head off, saying, "you must be kidding"": Listen, I have seen a couple of people mentioning "oh it's a reference to monochrome no kiss". But I don't think that's the case, not completely at least. I think this is a parallel of O!Ciel and Sebastian's meeting to R!Ciel and Undertaker. First because one of the people involved is laughing, and Sebastian smirks but has never really laughed out loud, the one that spends his time laughing is Undertaker. Second is the pupils of glass that can shatter to pieces. I wonder if it means that R!Ciel could be using glass balls for his eyes? When we have seen his not-completed form they look pretty empty and they are made of soft tissue, so maybe Undertaker changed the "real eyes" with glass? Idk. The shattering could also indicate the fragility of the BD that are still far from perfect.

There is no such thing as eternity, so /There is no ending until all turns to ash this made me scream Undertaker's BD because we know he needs a full budy for the creation of his dolls and bringing back to life his loved ones. And we know he can't bring back Vincent because his body was too ruined by the fire. So fire IS the only ending in which a person can just die with no possible interference from a Shinigami with resurrection intent.

Tragedy twins

I had no idea of these lines other than, it just fits the vibes. Until I remembered how much Yana likes to mirror the twins.

There's no love, no love, there's no love there: this one is R!Ciel singing. Undertaker may have started to work on the BD out of grief for his loved ones, but it feels like it turned into an obsession.

There's nothing, there's nothing, there's no truth: let's add some angst because this one was not enough. O!Ciel never gets to discover the truth behind the murder of his family before he dies. Maybe we, as readers, can see it. Maybe from Sebastian's eyes. But yeah, we don't have a guarantee that O!Ciel will ever know anything, he could just die with Sebastian being unable to prevent it (either because it happened due to a Shinigami, or maybe an angel or god knows what).

But of course, we can also swap them! O!Ciel was so confident people wouldn't have liked him coming back alive and so started the whole identity swap, so he could still feel like the love he is receiving now is fake, since it's built on a lie. While R!Ciel's truth could now be either the murder or the family again, or the fact that he isn't "real" now. He is a BD, his action and thoughts are based on memories that are likely not his own. He has become a fake, a lie. "There is no truth" because that is a BD similar to him, and not necessary him.

I am exhausted I haven't thought about something this much since my thesis. Yes some of them are quite the stretch, hopefully I will trigger a smart person and finally we get a good analysis. Meanwhile you have to deal with me. Feel free to add your opinions pls, I love hearing theories.

PSA: I have formatted this half on computer and half of phone so idk how weird the formatting is I will check again tomorrow, now I'm tired of rereading it.

[classical-memeician]

Hiii you mentioned in some replies to a post about notable Jewish people in history that there's many Jewish composers, i was curious if you could give me a few classical ones? I only know one and my mother who does genuinely love classics can't think of any, it would be great to find a couple recs 🥰 great day to you either way

Yeah of course! I'm whacking down a few below but there's also a whole wiki page on it as there are so many!

Obviously the most famous one is Mendelssohn - you can hear little bits of klezma-esque themes breaking through in his 6th string quartet (which is one of my favourite pieces of all time, and an absolute bastard to play). If you listen, my fave version is the Esme Quartet on YouTube, they have two videos, the one in black on a stage is my preferred version

You've also got Dukas who wrote the sorcerer's apprentice, Finzi who has a relatively famous clarinet concerto (not my cup of tea but other people seem to enjoy it), Gershwin, Korngold (my orchestra accompanied his violin concerto last concert, it's again not my cup of tea personally but is one of the great violin concertos none the less), also Phillip Glass.

Mahler 💔 is fascinating as he converted to Christianity to try and avoid Antisemitism (it didn't work) and spent a long time feeling isolated and as if he had cut out his culture. He has a literal klezma band in the third movement of his 1st symphony - as opposed to the finale of his second which is trying to prove he's a good Christian and is very very god heavy but also has the most incredible climax - there is an old Bernstein version is on YouTube and is my fave

Finally, Schoenberg - who probs doesn't need an intro.

Honourable gentile mentions are: Shostakovich - with the Jewish Theme in his second piano trio and the 8th quartet (also excellent, the Jewish Theme is in the second movement and is stunning)

Bruch - not a Jew but was taken to the Lol Nidre service by a Jewish friend and was so moved by the tunes that he immortalised them in his "concerto" for cello and orchestra which has the same name. Its one of the most amazing pieces to play as a Jew and I stand firm that you can tell when a performance has a Jewish soloist as they understand the music. Im not saying it's bad when played by non Jews as that would be stupid and wrong but there is a level of understanding you simply do not have if you don't have thousands of years of culture in your bones when you are performing

[theboardwalkbody]

This is a snippet of the Twister imagine (also the Reader-ish OFC / Dusty thing). It is very much written quickly and a literal play-by-play of how it was unfolding in my head in real-time. So not really structured as properly as a regular fic. Part of me WANTS to flesh it out properly for a fic but I also feel that if I try to it might just never happen where if I release it this way at least SOMETHING will get put out.

Anyway, this is how I introed it in my drafts:

I am in the mood for a fluffy, summery imagine so here's something (note - it's actually just me writing out the daydream I was having earlier) (note 2 - there is absolutely hints of 'reader' and dusty crushing on each other) (And here's another note - I ended up putting a read more cut due to length, I didn't realize this would be so long also it gets VERY Dusty/FReader under the cut all hints out the window really lol You know the 'only one bed' trope? yeah it's that, except there's only one shower oops - but there's nothing explicit sorry friends):

If you're interested I'd love feedback on if you'd prefer it to be released in ANY format (as in this style being ok or actual fleshed out story) OR if you're only really interested in a fully fleshed out / polished format. Again, I'll be honest, this might be the only thing I have motivation for (and it is still taking me some time) so IDK how a more "polished" thing would go BUT I am still interested in feedback. Or if you like where it's going or whatever. I'm considering switching from F!Reader to OFC if its more polished but that's not set in stone either. All of this is a lot of scenery so far. lol

INTRO TO FIC/IMAGINE/SOMETHING BELOW:

You're in the pool, at first sitting on the bench between Haynes and Laurence; she's reading a trashy gossip magazine (she would otherwise be on her phone doing the same thing but she's not one to bring valuable electronics around the pool even if they're water resistant), and he's got a book and nearby a waterproofed go-pro. Eventually you do decide to journey off the bench and begin simply walking a circle in the shallow-end. After about twenty minutes of what is basically your attempt at water-based exercise just for the heck of it you start feeling even warmer than when you'd first gotten in so you decide to actually submerge yourself up to your neck and explore the deep end; swimming back and forth between there and the shallow end. Every so often you sing softly along with the music but not loud enough for anyone to really hear.

Off the shallow-end on the deck Jo is getting in some sun on one of the lounge chairs. She's wearing brown-tinted sunglasses that, thanks to how dark they are, anyone could easily assume she was asleep but knowing Jo she's keenly aware of what everyone's doing. On the lounge chair next to her is Melissa (because I like to imagine they could all be adults and remain friends despite all the events they been through). Melissa, like you, is wearing oversized sunglasses. She has accented her swimsuit with a large sunhat. She has a novel in hand and her work cell on the table between her and Jo's chairs next to the pitcher of iced tea that is dripping with condensation. Melissa's glass is nearly empty where Jo's sits half full next to her almost empty bottle of Twisted Tea.

Over at the gazebo Bill, Joey, and Preacher sit, each with their own bottles of beer in hand. They're having a conversation but between the music and their distance from you, the sounds of the water as you swim through it, and the shouts from the rest of the gang the only bits of their discussions you can hear are their intermittent bursts of laughter. Scattered around the tables under the metal roof were bottles and cans of different beers and sodas belonging to the men otherwise unaccounted for by the pool and in the gazebo.

On the opposite side of the pool, the farther side of the yard, the open grassy area is being utilized by the rest of the group. The volleyball net had been taken down and gently placed along the fence to make room for a game of touch football. Dusty and Beltzer VS Rabbit and Sanders. This group was particularly raucous. Laughter, shouts of playful jabs, whoops of celebration, expletive exclamations of defeat and disagreement over calls. Occasionally one of them would call over to the gazebo group demanding a referee call - often answered by Joey who was paying slightly more attention to the amateur football game than his conversation buddies but occasionally answered by Bill if the debate was getting too heated.

At some point in your playlist the new Luke Combs song, Ain't No Love in Oklahoma, comes on which gets some of the group singing along, none more so than Dusty and Beltzer, however. The sound of them shouting along the words almost drowned out the actual audio from the speakers. It made you, Haynes, and Jo crack subtle little smiles. Jo because she enjoyed seeing her group having a good time, Hayne's because she enjoyed seeing Beltzer have a good time and found his singing enjoyable, and you because you enjoyed seeing Dusty having a good time and always thought it was cute when he would get so into things and just be fully and unapologetically himself; loud, fun, goofy, sweet - all of it.

[taylortruther]

my eras tour film thoughts!

here are some little things i noticed while watching the film on saturday:

love story - at one point during the bridge when taylor and the starlights are all on stage, elliotte or kamilah is playing around and does a "charging bull" thing? it was funny but also, what! lmao

loved the snake effect during the rep intro but it completely creeped out many people in my theater

the backup dancers' expressions during rep are so cute. just really cheeky and fun.

delicate - i love the cracking effect on the floor! it was so cool seeing it in hd. and i love the symbolism: the floor/their relationship is delicate as glass, and here taylor is, potentially breaking it by being too honest or open... but after the bridge, the floor is completely cracked, but she skips around freely because she no longer fears ruining it. i never noticed the skipping before!

don't blame me - why... did they edit it like that. the flashing, the quick cuts, ay yi yi.

yoyok - as we noticed, the piano flowers were 3d/attached instead of simply painted on. but some of the flowers are halved: i wonder if this is a nod to the line "i pick the petals, he loves me not" and the way she's written so many songs about her heartbreaks and discovering love?

lavender haze - i really love the effect the tour arrangement has, where it sounds like the music is coming from a party in the next room. the bass is really strong, but it fits the metaphor of having a protective "haze" that you are hesitant to leave.

[piglii]

Just finished Misericorde volume 1! Putting this all under a read more but I'll drop a quick spoiler-free review, followed by a spoiler-full review followed by just some of my theories regarding the mystery elements.

Everything below the cut!

Spoiler-Free Stuff:

I really enjoyed it. The mystery still needs more pieces before I'll feel like I can confidently say anything for sure but I have some ideas brewing. I'll be pretty psyched to move into the heavier mystery elements, this first volume definitely feels more focused on getting to know all the characters (which I like! I like pretty much everybody in their own way but I do want to give a special shoutout to Hedwig for being a main character that I actually really enjoy, which is pretty rare for me. She is insanely relatable on a personal level I wasn't expecting.)

And the art style's nice! I really like how the nuns are all basically wearing the same thing but have such distinct faces and tones that you can usually tell them apart. I definitely have my favorites (Aside from Hedwig herself... probably Darcy, Katherine, Moira, Eustace in that order but I really do like all of them a lot.) Also the music is pretty good. It's very fun and dynamic. I've re-listened to only a couple of the songs from the soundtrack outside of reading the VN itself but I particularly like the song that plays in the intro and Glass Chapel, which plays very early on and is probably the moment I really got interested in the story.

It's hard to give too much more away in this section without spoiling stuff but suffice to say I really enjoyed it so far. I'm hoping I can get more people to read it cause I really wanna talk about the characters and mystery and such. But I recommend. Here's the steam page if you want to check it out for yourself.

The only real criticism I have so far is technicaly, and it's that there's an audio cue for people knocking on doors that sounds extremely realistic with my headphones on that almost made me jump out of my seat several times, which I don't think was necessarily intentional? A less realistic knocking sound effect would... definitely be appreciated, that shit freaked me out like every time.

As for story criticisms, I prefer to wait until something is actually over to say anything. There could be something early on where I'm like "man that seems like bad!" and then 2 volumes later it could turn out to be a purposeful plot element or an interesting subversion of expectations. And then I would look very silly. Not that I really do have a lot to say plot criticism wise because it's early on, but I'd definitely like to see how it all shakes out first.

Anyways, more stuff below. SFW Sasukes to save your virgin eyes from spoilers.

SPOILERY STUFF

I really do like Catherine II. Love a good "character who is not physically there but had such tremendous gravity on the setting that their departure is still being felt as everything gets bounced back around from the lack of weight." In particular, her intro talking to Hedwig (which I revisited just a couple nights ago, streaming it for a friend) really grabbed me.

I would say Hedwig's whole lifelong predicament of being an Anchoress will definitely strike home with people like me who are kinda uuuhhhhhhhh extreme homebodies. I definitely feel like Catherine II's brief relationship with Hedwig is pretty analogous to people who've made many of their friends online - never actually getting to see or touch them but still having them impact your life all the same. In particular, when you've spent most of your life alone. Not to be too personal or anything but I've only really recently had long-time internet friends move close enough to me to be in regular driving distance in the past few months and it's led to more social interaction in the span of a few months than I usually get in years, and I can definitely relate to Hedwig's confusion about everything. But I do find her really charming as a main character. Her constant feeling of not feeling like she belongs even as most of the sisters are trying to be kind to her in their own way make me wish I could pop open an ice cold ginger ale for her. Maybe hand her a GBA SP and watch her go crazy on Pokemon Emerald, I don't know. I just find her very moe.

I definitely have a lot more to say about this topic but I'd feel like it's kind of personal to just drop in the middle of this all so I'm gonna keep it to a minimum with just that previous paragraph. Suffice to say, Hedwig has been one of the most enjoyable protagonists for me personally in a long while. I usually prefer lesser known side characters but she just really grabbed me.

Anyways.

It had a lot of little moments I love. Everyone's characterized in a way that really makes them stand out - in particular, I do feel like literally everyone at this the abbey in some way either Have Problems or have been rejected by society for some other reason. Pretty much everybody here is a reject or an outcast and despite their bickering, the nuns do generally make an effort to show they care for eachother. Which, you know, if you're a tumblr user reading this I'm sure you will find something there. You will probably see a particular character and go, "Oh yeah, I know someone exactly like this personally." I do love a good story about people who are generally outcast by society getting to know people that care about them and understand them in a way the rest of the world wouldn't exactly. It's gud. Nothing terribly novel but I think it's executed well, which is the important bit.

I do have some smaller thoughts on stuff but nothing terribly important enough to write out here, so instead I'm just putting a compilation of some of my favorite little moments, followed by theories.

(I promise this game isn't an eroge or anything, it just has one single hot tub scene. It's tasteful. Prommy.)

Anyways.

THEORIES:

Theory #1: Regarding Catherine II

I haven't actually seen that many people talking about the prologue which is surprising to me because it obviously seems to be setting up a really big plot element, which is that I presume one of the women at the abbey are the character only labelled as "The Handsome Man" in disguise. Having gotten caught up in the War of the Roses and all that fun stuff, I assume he flees to the abbey to lay low for a while. Now I assume part of the story will unfold such that you'll be led to assume that it's one of the cast we've already gotten to know... but my money is that this is Catherine II. Now, I can't say for certain if this is going to lead into any kind of trans-ish territory because it is the 15th century, but I could definitely very much see a path where this story presents a person living in this time in an era where it wouldn't be accepted to be trans, and have that essentially be part of the plot without saying it directly. I think this would go a long way towards explaining her absolute fervor for living life and finding something that brings you joy that she tried to inspire in all of the other nuns. I can imagine a scenario in which the Handsome Man has to go into hiding cause of political reasons, shows up at this abbey disguised as a nun and finds that they actually enjoy it incredibly, and essentially does the 15th century version of transitioning. If that is the direction the story is going, I think that'd be sweet, though it would be kind of sucky in the respect that the whole story kind of revolves around her murder.

That being said, I don't think she was murdered. I straight up think Eustace is lying in the near final scene we get at the end of Volume one. My current theory is that Catherine II is, and I'm not sure how to say this well, doing some Scooby-Doo villain ass-shit in regards to the monstrous apparition we keep seeing. My only guess as to why she would do this is out of fear of being recognized in the midst of this war, and deciding to go even deeper cover as the boogeyman of this creepy old abbey. Theoretically, if Catherine II in her Scooby-Doo ass disguise could frighten everyone out of the abbey, then she'd have free reign of the place until the war was over. It'd be a much safer position to be in than trying to actively disguise yourself as a nun. In this theory, I would also have reason to believe that she's the one who carved that evil looking sigil near Hedwig's cell, to discourage her even more from looking into the mystery. It would be a great parallel to Hedwig's dilemma vis a vis being alone and in peace versus having to be around others and living with a sort of constant discord. Like, if Catherine II makes the choice to ultimately go into permanent solitude, hiding by herself for the rest of her life while Hedwig chooses to do the opposite (I'm holding out hope that the finale will have her choosing to leave her cell again. Committing some double-dipping on that particular sin, hell yeah), I think that would make for some interesting, opposite-bound character arcs. You know, some criss cross. With the character arcs.

ALSO: Side note, I think the person that Hedwig is talking to at the very beginning post one year timeskip (who, you know, is kind of a stand-in for the reader but whom I assume is an actual character we know of) is, I think, Catherine II herself. I can't think of anyone more fitting to be filled in on all of the details, given that the majority of the other characters would already know most of what's happened. Also, it would mean getting a fun little scene to parallel the first scene we got of them getting to know eachother, which is still probably my favorite scene in this whole VN so far.

Anyways, I think the best evidence I have to support this is how touch and go Catherine II was with her friendships (and maybe more than friendships...?)

She'd get close to people by taking an interest in their hobbies... get to know them pretty intimately... and then maybe privately grow fearful that they'd discover her secret and move on to someone else. That's my best guess, anyways. Perhaps she just has severely undiagnosed ADHD. But it would track considering that she seems to be knowledgeable about several areas that I don't feel like you're average commoner would know - how to play music, playing chess, etc etc. She had all these crazy talents and a very sharp mind, and it wouldn't be strange to know a commoner that could do one or two of these things, but it really does seem like Catherine II had a working knowledge of many things, which would make sense to me if she were raised to be a person of higher status.

I think maybe the only character that was in the know was probably Eustace herself given that she mentions they were the two that were closest. I can definitely imagine a world in which Eustace is still actively collaborating with Catherine II, thus her very lurid story about carrying Catherine II's severed head. This would, naturally, implicate Moira as well since Eustace mentions that they both personally handled Catherine II's body, a story that I think might just be a total fabrication. I'm not 100% sure that Moira is in on it but it's a little more likely, I think. It would also parallel the scene in which they stop by the village, with Moira and Eustace stopping to have a quick whisper that upsets Hedwig, when in fact they're just trying to cover for her little surprise party. The concept of them having secrets that upset Hedwig, but ultimately exist for a good reason would be really fitting. This little exchange would be kind of a microcosm of that, in this theory.

At the very least, if this specific theory isn't correct at all, I do still strongly believe that there are multiple conspirators.

THEORY #2: Regarding the Sword

So this one's a little more vague and I haven't quite figured out a way to slot it into everything yet, but I feel like it's worth mentioning. I do think there are two swords at play, which would be a really good way to liven up the mystery. I think the investigation of the mystery will reach such a point that it simply doesn't make sense for there to have been only one sword as the murder weapon - my only real reasoning is based entirely on this biblical quote spoken by Eustace:

"And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough."

Which makes sense for the context of the situation in that they are literally splitting up to find Flora. But also, if it were a direct reference to the fact that there are two swords that could be the murder weapon at play, that would be a really funny to put such a direct hint in plain Latin so early on, just right in front of the reader's face.

If this theory is correct, I do think it'll be more relevant once we get into the nitty gritty of investigating the murder itself. The real nuts to butts of who was doing what, where and when. I think things will present themselves in such a way that it will have been impossible for the murder to have been committed with the sword... unless there were secretly a second sword, for some reason.

Wait also it just occurred to me that Angela keeps a dagger (the eponymous Misericorde, right? I think?) and that definitely could've been the weapon used to inflict the smaller wounds on Catherine II before the decapitation. Hmmmmm. Much to think about.

THEORY #3: Regarding Romance

This is very vague and probably not a surprise but I'm quite sure that at least two of the nuns are in a relationship. I'd imagine this will play into the actual mystery somehow, but I could not tell you specifically how. I'm not sure I could even really name you who specifically (Besides Katherine and James' thing, obviously but that's already been revealed.) But, like, come on. Look at these.

I'm not particularly good at eke-ing out romantic subtext but I feel reasonably confident about this based on vibes alone. Also based on the Soup's very uuuhh heated rant near the end. I have nothing more to say on this theory because I assume it's direct relevance will be more apparent later (if this is correct.)

THEORY#4: If Catherine II WAS Actually Murdered

So pretend for a moment that my first theory is completely bunk and I am way off course. In that case, I don't think I have enough evidence to put together a reason that someone would want to murder Catherine II - given how she kind of flitted about from person to person, I can definitely see jealousy being the primary motivator. But I would be surprised if the motive were as simple as just that. I think I might actually just need more textual stuff to look at whenever the second volume comes out to really put out any kind of further guesses. There are a lot of angles and a lot of people who would technically have reason to want to murder Catherine II. It could end up being a "everyone is in on it" or a "no one is in on it" type of deal.

That being said, my top guesses as to the culprit are:

#1 - Mother Superior - Basing this entirely on vibes, brother.

#2 - Moira - She's simply way too sweet. As much as I personally like her, Moira's been very present in Hedwig's journey towards personhood and I wouldn't be super surprised if part of her motivation for doing this was to keep tabs on her murder mystery investigation while presenting a kind face.

#3 - Flora - Given Flora's consistently been the one most often to fly off the handle, I could potentially see this but don't consider it terribly likely.

#4 - Catherine II herself - It would not be totally inconceivable for the story to go this kinda dark route, though how exactly she would both injure herself, followed up by a self-decapitation in such a way as to hide herself as the perpetrator, I don't know. Then again, she was a talented woman, who knows.

#5 - The Devilish Apparition - If this is in fact not one of the other nuns playing at something, then sure, why not. I'm not of the opinion that this story is going to have actual supernatural elements but like, why not. Just throwing it out there.

And that's mostly all I have to say!

Heads up, I'm not very good at solving mysteries! I miss a lot of details and sometimes don't think of things through all angles! Sometimes I just do a vibe based reading and let the story surprise me, but having read Umineko recently (which very directly does kind of ask the reader to try solving the mystery for themselves) I am taking a more serious attempt at figuring out the key to this story before it actually happens. Sorry if I'm totally off base on some of these, but with my shotgun scattershot method, I usually hit at least one or two small things of note. Thanks if you read all the way to the bottom for this, I don't typically write out long ass posts like this but I had a lot of fun trying to figure this one out and can't wait for more people to read it, as well as for Volume 2 to come out.

If you haven't bought Misericorde but for some reason felt compelled to read through this whole post anyways, here's another link for you to go check it out! It's like 9 bucks on steam! If you were interested enough to read this spoiler-review, it'll probably be worth your time!

And if you do finish it... be sure to check out that gallery afterwards! ;)

[blackfangedreaper]

TEASER

Summary: Reality dating show intro.

Pairings: Luffy x Black!reader

Warnings: Fluff💞, cursing, nudity?, anime character crossover, grammatical errors

Note: characters are aged up/ down and are within the range; 20-30.

Tag list: @euphoficc @closet-degenerate @luffyinlove @444katsuki @audreys-works

A click of the remote was heard, the tv flashed on a blank display was shown until the sound of waves and upbeat music was heard from the background. A huge island was shown, scenes flicking left and right showing luxurious and wonderful sights of both the huge beach house and other lounge spots around the island.

'I know what your thinking, another random dating show? Oh yes honey but with a twist!' The female commentator giggled only her voice being heard while they showed the beach from an amazing view. The tv zooming in slowly before it seemed like the watcher was inside all of a sudden. "What we're about to present is gonna knock your cum filled socks off!"

"We have brought ten hotties from all across the world, not only bringing in their charm but their diversity and enticing roots." Clips of random shots of ripped and curved bodies but cutting their faces halfway only showing the smirks and smiles on their lips, letting the suspense build up. The music seized viewing into the occupied beach showing all ten of the contestants. 'WOO!' They raised their glass.

"Our mission here is to bring these lonely souls together and find not only the cutest but hottest couple, shallow? Yes. But are you still gonna watch? Also yes!" The scene skipped over to a dark skinned woman so beautiful she was. She sat on a lounge chair surrounded by other contestants, Laughter was heard all around as they listened to the siri knockoff A.I, disbelief coating their faces.

"Now don't think they won't be any rules, where's the fun in no border settings." The commentator chuckled going back to the previous scene letting the viewers at home listen in. A montone female voice rang out from a weird shaped lava lamp. "I am nova, hello everyone." Hi's and hello's echoed around the lounge. "I am here to guide you through this journey of self love and true love. As i want your relationships to be based on genuine fondness rather than sexual attraction, I will now set some rules." Confused chattering rang around the room before a light skinned girl, her long black hair set in a hime cut, curiosity shimmering in her brown orbs, a permanent smile set on her lips as she spoke. "Now that's interesting, I'm quite interested in your rules, nova." Everyone agreed, some letting their eyes linger on the female.

"Good, the rules are simple; NO KISSING, NO HEAVY PETTING and NO SEX." Their eyes widened some saying 'bullshit' and some already searching for loop holes, while others had their lips set in straight lines. "The wristband present on your wrists are for those moments where kissing will be an exception if you've managed to make deep and meaningful connections with each other but i will deduct money if you refuse to follow the rules." Nova turned a calm blue.

"What??!" Everyone groaned. "This is crazy we're gonna end up broke!" A whiskered male groaned "Not on my watch!" An oranged haired girl assured. A cute laugh echoed around the room at the bickering, his hand patting his scarred chest after choking for a while, before cussing in spanish. The only calm ones were you, a slightly looking older male donning a halfcut and a mean mug and the smiling black haired girl. "I hope we have a great summer." Nova was definitely being mischievous.

"Well you heard it folks, join us as we watch these flaming hot singles laugh- 'NO WAY! Seriously?" The whiskered male laughed patting his now bestfriend; an ebony haired man.- cry- 'm-my money, it's gonna v-vanish at this point!" Her face was covered in tears, the black haired woman patting her orange locks as she cried in despair.- love- giggles were heard as the scene showed a cute interracial couple cuddling in a beach chair.- and bond- "Cheers to bond-fire tuesdays- a hip voice said "it's friday dumbass!" Everyone laughed clinking their smoothie cups together.

The scene viewed out before the show's name was plastered in bold. The commentator speaking; "New episodes on weekdays and repeats on weekends don't miss out on this flaming hot new series." The camera viewed out of the tv as it went blank before the remote was dropped and the scene cut.

[anosci]

(302-317 albums etc that I’ve listened to this year, copied from twitter) (now with art. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22])

names and thoughts below cut

302/ Protohype - Puppy Crew (2016) one of those albums that doesnt quite hit with me, today, in 2023. mostly. "100" hits a groove just enough for me to jam B) "Dubs & 50's" is fun too

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303/ VA - Various V (2023) acid label, bleep vibes :D "To Create Is To Live Twice" has a really nostalgic sound to it, for me anyway. uziq plus some british acid ykno? immediately a big fav. the more pure acid stuff doesn't quite vibe with me this time, except "zAVONDJE 303".

---

304/ Towa Tei - ZOUNDTRACKS (2023) a surprisingly soft and cute sound. chopped bossa or something? short but sweet fav with "ANANAS" like an intermission between heavier funk. …if not softer, like "AMIKO" or even "OPEN"

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305/ Conforce - North To South Part 1 & 2 (2016) a kind of mixed bag for my tastes, despite its cohesion. "Eclipse" i like this the most, EXCEPT that clap. calm down lol "TKY" is 2ndfav tho i kinda wish the bass were more established (longer tail) also: "Reverse". hits good

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306/ VA - IT'S ALL OR MUFFIN!!!11! XD SQUEE!11!! (2023) whoops i missed this anyway, my favs: "RIPJMAN" i emember :') "Shattered Splinters of Memries Past" kind of a mess but a nice one "WHERE'S MY MAIL" much love for fooz's dist beat sensibilities "WiERDO RAVE ViRUS!!" yeah!!!!

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307/ MPU420 - BPM1 (2023) i was excitedly bracing for some lush bocscapes but got some banger analogue synthjams instead. apparently mpu420 != mpu101. lol. anyway. extremely solid beats if you like your circuitry.

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308/ Xilent - Your System Remix EP (2016) another older 4track wob EP that's exactly glass half full. the two tracks i dig: "Next Time (Far Too Loud Remix)" this is gross. i love it. "Reborn VIP" im a sucker for loud midtempo. this hits right.

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309/ VA - Chronicles of Time (2016) huge bag. im just gonna list my top 3: "Green Memories" man that's a good jazzyprog rendition. lush acc. "Where The Monsters Hide" a really nice take on an understated track! "The Brink" beautiful rendition of a beautiful tune

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310/ (music compo from qbparty 2023) 'salrite. gotta say that "Hungary" is great tho. deserved winner. it's kinda cheesed as a mod file but the result bangs so hey ok

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311/ litmus* - ルミちゃんなでなで (2023) fun dance candy selection. intro track: man i could go without the vocals but. i love those wobs. it'd be an EASY highlight if not for that :| "Lonely Dog" second fav, also by a wide margin. "Nostalgia 13" is funny bc accurate title lol

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312/ Captive Portal - Toy Sounds Vol. 2 (2023) its alright. it doesn't really capture me specifically, but it's hard to not admire the hand crafted feel within. "Can't Read Cursive" is the highlight for me. its a clubby texture but filtered through… something, lol.

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313/ (all music entries from Nova 2023) i do appreciate some of the oddities in here, but not much is rly speaking to me tbh… except "super waterworld". its 2 cute. it won my heart.

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314/ (all music entries from Black Valley 2023) p nice selection! "Eternal Sunspots Of The Childlike Mind" shouldve nabbed 1st in streaming imo! same for "Her name was Holly Schiiet" in chip! delicious rez! in fact i think thats my fav entry of all of the tunes

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315/ (all music entries from Evoke 2023) a so-so collection to my taste. but then "Outsider charge" feels modular in a way that kinda vibes with me?? lol idk "Stratospheric" stands out as my fav from this selection

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316/ (all music entries from Xenium 2023) all over the place etc "sparkling pantograp" has a fun crinkly laser sound i cant help but admire the entire exemzk compo is shockingly good!!! less impressed with the streamed compo but "Sliced Thoughts" do slap.

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next page...

[kitkatt0430]

And today I return to the 90s Flash, Episode 17. In which Captain Cold, who freezes his victims to death, is hired to ice the Flash.

hehehe

Central City is having a heatwave and if that isn't a subtle reference to Captain Cold's usual partner then they should pretend it is.

Getting some dramatic conversation from mobsters and then who should arrive but an AC repair man. Cool is his 'specialty'. Cut to Barry, woken from a call from Julio about a 'weird one'. All those mobsters are now frozen where they stood. Dun, dun, dunnnn

I like this Captain Cold's intro for the pun alone. Let's see if I enjoy him for the rest of the episode, though.

mob guy - I got another job for you Cold - Too bad, I got a reservation elsewhere. Mob guy - oh, you probably couldn't handle the Flash anyway Cold - I'm listening

lol

He doesn't quite have E1 Snart's charm, but I do like that both this version of Cold and the E1 version are interested in the Flash for the challenge he poses.

I... just really don't like this reporter lady. If they'd kept Iris as a reporter for this show

reporter lady - it's hilarious Julio thought you were the Flash. you're just, uh, not the type. Barry - *getting increasingly offended as reporter lady digs a hole for herself*

honestly, every time she opens her mouth, she digs a deeper hole for herself - she called Tina's job dull.

Ooooh, Cold hid bombs around the city in order to wear out Barry's speed so that he could hit him with the cold gun more easily. Also similar to E1 Cold's plan with making Barry save everyone on the train.

Cold - You look pretty hot. I'd better cool you off.

hehehehe

It's like every line he says is a pun, this is great. I'm loving the puns. ^_^

I like Barry's CI Fosnight. He's a good guy. Gave Barry the info on Captain Cold for free 'cause he likes the Flash and knows Cold is gunning for the Flash.

Reporter lady continues to annoy me to no end.

Cold - here have a snowglobe, to show there is no hard feelings over you firing me. *puts innocent looking white santa globe on the desk and leaves* mob guy - *shakes the globe and the whole room is flash frozen*

how did he not see that coming? Though, they gave an explanation about for the Cold Gun worked - nuclear powered hand-wavey device - but then how do the snow globes work? Is it a tiny nuclear powered hand-wavey device?

Reporter lady got Barry frozen. Did I mention I hate her? 'Cause I really do. Not gonna dignify her with her name at all after that one. *goes back to edit her name out from above*

Tina steals Barry from the cops at the crime scene and takes him to STAR Labs where she gets shouty and saves his life with the power of unfreezing him, a defibrillator, and a sad 'oh why didn't he listen to me?' lament.

Cold - You ordered some ice? Reporter lady - *screams* Cold - *mockingly screams back*

This whole scene is more and more puns. Barry shows up to save the day and lecture the reporter lady about journalism being about the truth and justice, not selfish money grabs. It's... very preachy, tbh.

Cold is locked up. And of course they didn't search him well enough before doing so because he takes stuff from his shoes and glasses to escape. There is ten minutes left, so I can't say I'm too surprised to see him freeze attack his way out.

Tina - Here's a magic heat belt to protect you Barry.

I'm loving the music in this episode so much.

Tina - No flashing around until you get over this cold. Barry - Yes mom. Tina - I'm not your mother!

hehehehe

And there's reporter lady again. So tired of her. So is Barry.

So... a reflective surface rebounds the ray on Cold, who is now frozen to death. Yet... I'm hoping that maybe he'll survive for hand-wavey reasons with cold powers now. If there'd been a second season, they totally could have pulled that off.

Murphy finally sort of kind of admits he's seen the Flash, Bellows is shocked. Murphy immediately back tracks. *snicker*

reporter lady is going to work at a greeting card company now, until she can get a better reporting job... and now she thinks Julio is the Flash and Barry finds that hilarious :D

Julio - *arrives* Barry - Where ya been? Julio - Oh, you know, running around. Barry - Yeah... we thought so. Reporter lady - *big grin*

Leonard Snart of E1 is definitely the better Captain Cold, but this guy was still quite entertaining. So that was a lot of fun. :D

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

Monkie kid SEASON 3 EP 8 (reaction) 

I start out completely chill, I write down what episode I’m gonna watch, and then the adrenaline hits WOOOOOOOO *WHEEZING SOUNDS* 

ALRIGHT, EP 8. I’M TOLD THIS IS A TANG ONE, AND ALSO THE MONKEY KING IN A HOODIE EPISODE SO I’M SO *DANCES DANCES* EXCITED GIMME THE MONKEY AND THE NERD WHO’S PROBABLY MORE THAN JUST SOME RANDOM GUY HERE WE GOOOOOOO 

Gotta hype myself up heck BG;LKAMF;OAWEJF HERE WE GO 

FOR WUKONG IN A HOOODIEEEEEEEE 

ALRIGHT ALRIGHT STARTED AAA SHOW MAKES ME SO HPPYGBSDF;LKAMWEF

INTRO GO BRRR AS ALWAYS SEROTONIN 

THE POOR BIRB 

IT LOOKS OS ANNOYED 

AW PIGSY SLEEPING

AW

AW

HELLO?? 

MK DRAWINGBGLSDA;KFMAWE I’M SOBBING 

MK REALLY DRAWING EVERYBODY BUT TANG I’M SOBBING AT ALL OF THESE LITTLE DOODLES RIGHT NOW I WANT TO CUT THEM OUT AND HANG THEM ON MY WALL 

THERE’S ONE OF HIM PUNCHING LBD 

THEM ALL COMPLIMENTING MK ON HIS DRAWINGS

THE CRAYON ON HIS FACE 

SISCORS THORUGH TANGS PICTURE I’M WHGBSLD;KFMA;GHAIOW;EMN;OHO;IAWM;AWEF

SIR??? 

SIR??????? 

NOOOOO

TANGGGG

BUDDYYYYYY 

I’M SORRY TANG YOU REALLY ARE JUST A NORMAL JOE RN 

LOOK EVEN IF YOU WERE THE COOLEST MORTAL ALIVE YOU STAND NEXT TO MONKIE KING AND UH UR NOT VERY COOL BGKDM;GHOAIMFWOE 

HE LOOKS SO SAD THOOOO 

PLS THAT’S THE DUDE HE VIEWS KINDA AS A SON TELLING HIM HE AIN’T COOL 

“But… I’m like the coolest guy you know…” I’M GONNA CRY??? TANG??? THE WAY HE SAID THAT??? SOBBING???? HE LOOKS SO SAD

AND THE MUSIC WHEN HE SAID THAT?? 

OH MY GODS THIS IS A TANG EPISODE I’M GONNA START SOBBING 

KAI SAND ACCUSING ME OF TANG SLANDER ON VC AND HE’S RIGHT 

ANYWAY CLEARLY WE’RE GONNA GET SOME TANG LORE HERE ABOUT THE POWERS WE’VE SUSPECTED HE’S HAD SINCE SES 2, I’LL BET WE’RE RIGHT WITH HOW THIS IS BUI9LDING UP 

OHHH

OHH IT’S SO PRETTYYYY 

HI 

MONKEY KING’S STUPID SMILEIGNSDBF;LAMOEF 

 SQUASHED IN A TRIANGBSAL;DKFM;AOWEF 

HE’S GOT THTE HOODIE

EVREYTHING IN MY LIFE HAS BEEN WORTH IT OR THIS MOMENBT

OH WOWOWOWOWOW THE AMOUNT OF TIME AND EFFORT THE CREW PUT INTO MAKING THIS TOWN PRETTY LOOK AT ALL THE DIFFERENT PEOPLE DESIGNS EVERHTING IS SO PRETYYYYY 

LAST RING RIGHT 

THEY JUST DITCHED TANGBGL;SDKAFMAWE LEAVING WITHOUT HIM NOT EVEN LISTNEING BGLK;SDFMAWE

THE WAY THAT MONKEY KING IS HIDING IN HIS HOOD LIKE HE’S TRYING TO BE UNDERCOVER HERE IS SO FUNNY TO ME BGL;SAKM;OWEF 

TANG FINGERLESS GLVOES REAL 

HE TREW THE RING

HE JUST THREW IT

THAT IS MONKEY KING RIGHT THERE, NO THOUGHT HEAD EMPTY YEET, HE’S DOING INCREDIBLE 

HE’S BEAUTIUFL

PIGSY’S JACKET 

PIGSY’S JACKET

SHAKES COMPUTER

ITS  HIS JACKET Y’AL;L THE JACKET I’VE BEEN DRAWING HIM IN SINCE SEASON ONE I’M SOBBING HE LOOKS SO GOOD IN IT LOVE THIS FOR THE PIG MAN I’M HOLDING HIM SO FREAKING GENTLY AND SOBBINGASB;LMG;AWE 

HAHA RETURN OF THE SHOE STORE GUY 

THE

FR

THE NERVOUS LAUGHTER AS HE SLOWLY BACKS AWAY 

HEY TO BE FAIR THEY DON’T KNOW IT’S A RING OF THE FIRE OF SAMADHI THEY JUST THINK IT’S SOME LIGHT

ALSO THE THING ABUT THEM KNOWING IT WAS MONKEY KING IS KILLING ME THEY REALLY ARE JUST “PRAISE TO MONKEY KING FOR HYPING UP OUR DESOLATE LAND TO A BEAUTIFUL PLACE” 

Monkey king, who was just trying to hide something: AHA, YES, THAT’S UH… EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TRYIGN TO DO— 

oh gosh they’re gonna have to steal this city’s source of lightbGL;KAM;OWEF 

THE RING’S LITERALLY PASTED ON EVERYTHING AS A LOGO I’M CRYING 

THEMS GLASSES 

LAUGHING

LAUGHING AT ALL THE M\ERCH

THEY BOUGHT EVERYTHING IN THE SOTRE GL;DSKMF;AOGHE

TANG AND MK WITH MONKEY KING PLUSHES

PIGSY WITH A BALLOON

I’M YELLING I WANT TO APPRECIATE ALL OF THE MERCH SO BAD THEY’RE ALL SO LOVELY

MK’S COLOURS MATCH EVERYTHING HE IS BEAUTIFUL AND I LOVE HIM 

EVERYONE WITH PINS N STUFF 

THE WAY THAT MONKEY KING HAS STICKERS AND PINS PLASTERED ALL OVER HIM 

I’M CRYINGGFLKMAWE

THIS IS SO FUNNY TO ME THE WAY TANG KEEPS GETTING CUT OFF I LOV EHIM BUT HE DOES THIS TO PEOPLE ALL THE TIME TO TELL THE STORY BG;SLADFMAOWE IT SUCKS BUT PLS BGLSKDMFAWOE 

HE’S SO ANNOYED BGKSDMFAW;O 

“super well hidden” SUREEEE 

“It’s 2+2 bud” 

“and 2 +2 is THREE” 

I LOVE HIM YOUR HONOUR

MK ON WUKONG’S SHOULDERS

I’M YELLINGBGLKAMF;OGAH;IOAWMEFAWE

PARALLELS 

THE FACT SWK’S JUMPED ONTO MK’S SHOULDERS AND MK ON WUKONG’S NOW 

I LOVE THEM ALL OS MUCH LOOK AT THIS FAMILY I ADORE THEM 

TANG LOOKS SO DISGRUNTLED 

Not over the fact that like, everyone has something, and Tang’s thing has always been information, Mk asking him things about Jttw and him being the only one who could answer and taking joy in telling stories, but now… :| *pat pat* 

PIGSY FACEPALMING 

I LOVE THEM SM CRYING BGLK;SDMFAOWE 

THE FACT THAT WUKONG STILL CALLS SANDY BLUE THING 

WBG;JLKSDMF;OHG;OIAWMFAWE MK mK PLS 

“Cant’ read?” HE LOOKS SO SAD AND UNDERSTANDING WHEN HE SAYS IT LIKE *pat pat* I’M CRYINGBG GSLA;FMAWE

STAGE FRIGHTIGNBG;LAFIMWE

THIS IS SO FUNNY CAUSE LIKE WE KNOW HE CAN READ PLEASE 

y’know what would be interesting actually is if like he just didn’t bother to learn the way the dialogue changed over the last couple hundred years, I don’t know if it’s changed that much but like, spellings and words and language changes over the years so that would be interesting 

Anyway tho Monkey King can at least read the dialect of his time, how else would he scratch out the names of his monkey buds from the book of the dead? he’s smart this dude THINKING TOO HARD ABOUT THIS I JUST THINK HE’S NEAT ANWAY—

I genuinely think he just kinda like, wanted Sandy to feel more included ngl BGKSDMFOWEF YEAH I’M THINKING TOO HARD ABOUT THIS WE’RE MOVING ON GB;LSDKFMA;OWE 

SANDY WITH GLASSES THAT’S EVERYTHING TO ME BGLSDFM;OHWO;IEFM 

A TALENT SHOW FOR THE RING??? BGKAMFOEW 

MK: BUT NONE OF US HAVE ANY TALENTS

HE REALLY JUST DISSED ALL OF THEM 

PIGSY HAS COOKING 

PLS

MK 

MEI CAN RACE

I’M CRYINGBGL;KSADMFAOWEF 

 WAIT WAIT WAIT

PIGYS

IS THIS THE

FROM THE TRAILER 

THE THING WITH PIGSY SINGING THIS IS GB;LSAFGN;AOGHOEJFAHG;OIAWEJG;OIG;OIAF;MOAWE

IT WAS FOR THE TALENT SHOW IT WAS FOR THE TALENT I’M CRYINGGBL;KFGMA;WOIAHNGO;IAEWF 

IT’S THE THING WE’RE GONNA SEE PIGSY SINGING I’M SO FREAKING EXCITEDGBF;LKMA;OGBAWOE F

THE WAY PIGSY JUST RESORTS TO CHOKING SANDY OUT TO PREVENT HIM FROM SHARINGBGLSFMAG;OIAWFEM

PLS I WANNA HEAR HIM SING PLS I’M SO EXCITED I’M GONNA CRYINGNFLKAWEF

I’M GONNA CRYHGLSAFMAOWE

HE CAN SING, SANDY HYPING HIM UP I’M GONNA CRYYYYYY BGLSKDAFMA;G;OIAWMFE 

THE MK STANDING THERE WITH HIS HAND ON PIGSY’S SHOULDER PLEASE I’M GONNA CRY BGLS;DKFM;AOWEF 

I’M NOT OVER THE FACT THAT MK DISHED OUT INTERMENTS WITHOUT BOTHERING TO ASK IF ANY OF THEM ARE ACTUALLY ABLE TO PLAY BGGBSLDKFMAGHAO;IWEFM 

SANDY ASSIGNED BASS MAN BGL;SDAMFAWOEF 

OHM DOES HE REALLY HAVE STANGE FRIGHT??? PLS?? WUKONG??? WUKONG PLEASE I’M GONNA START SOBBING MY GUY PLEASE BG;LSKMF;OAWEF 

FR 

HE’S FR 

“Remember when I said that whole stage fright thing as a joke?” 

“wasn’t  a joke.”

“Not even a little bit” 

THE FACT HE FEELS COOL ENOUGH TO TELL MK THIS 

THIS IS THE MOST COMMUNICATION WE’VE HAD FROM THIS MONKEY THE ENTIRE SHOW I’M SCREAMINGBGLSAFMAWE;OF 

ALSO THE FACT HIS STAGE FRIGHT IS BAD ENOUGH HE DOESN’T FEEL COMFORTABLE READING OUT LOUD IN FRONT OF PEOPLE IS GETTING TO ME I’M GONNA CRY  

HE’S SO BEAUTIFUL 

HE’S SO SINCERE ABOUT IT TOO I’M CRYING HIS FACE PLEASE MONKEY KING I’M LOSING IT BGLKSMA;OWIEFM  PLS SUPPORT THIS MONKEY 

SUN WUKONG GREAT SAGE EQUAL TO HEAVEN, CAN WALK INTO A BATTLEFIELD AND LEAD AN ARMY WITH ALL OF THE CELESTIAL REALM BEARING DOWN ON HIM AND WATCHING AS HE FIGHTS AND WINS

AND YOU HAND HIM A BOOK AND ASK HIM TO READ OUT LOUD AND HE IS P A N I C 

HE’S SO VALID AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH 

“I CAN WORK WITH THIS” 

WBGL;KSDMF;AIONBOA;IGAHG;OIMFWAOEF PLEEASSEEEEEEE 

MK THAT DOESN’T CURE THE STAGE FRIGHT HE STILL HAS TO WALK OUT THERE AND DO SOMETHING WITH YOU GUYS 

BGLASKFMAWOEFAW PLEASE I’MCRYINGBFKLAWMEF

HIS RESPONCE THOOOO

“wonderful.” I’M WBNG;DLSAFMG;OAGH;OIAWGMO;IWAJFOAWJFMAWE I LOVE HIM SO MUCH 

YEAH TANG’S NOT GETTING A THING IS HE

I’M GONNA CRY PLEASEBG;SKFM;OAWEF

THE GBG;LASKDMFWOE THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO MEI 

this whole episode jsut feels like Tang getting stuff that he’s done to other people getting done to him at this point, the interrupting thing, the getting hyped up about something only to have it be… not what you thought or not you at all. I dunno i just find that kinda interesting UR DOING GREAT TANG UR IMPORTANT KEEP IT UP 

BAND MAMANGER CALLED IT

BENCING ME ]

“hm, pretty much” MK PLEASE BGLSDKAFM;AOWEF 

TANG’S BEEN ON THE SIDLINES FOR QUITE A FEW EPISODES ACTUALLY GBS;LFKMAWOEF 

OH IT’S THE STUPID MONKEY 

WITH HIS STUPID LEANIGN AGAINST THE RAFTERS, WITH HIS STUPID FACE AND HIS STUPID CAPE I’M SMACKING HIM WIHT A PILLOW THROWINGHIM OFF A CLIFF, SHOVING HIM INTO A REDMETION ARCH AND DIRECTLY INTO THERAPY GB;LJKDAFM;OAWEGHOAWGE 

OHHHHHKAY 

OHHOHOHOHOHOHO OKAY 

SEE THAT 

HE FOUND OUT WHAT THEY WERE USING

AND NOW HE’S LIKE “AH. SO YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY STAND A CHANCE HUH” 

“We’ll see about that” 

HOOOO BOY 

HOO BOY I’M FINE 

SO, MISTER SELF-INTEREST, WHAT’S THE WINNING SIDE NOW HUH?? 

UNCLEAR IF HE WAS RESPONDING TO THE CREW OR LBD WHEN HE SAID THAT 

ALSO MAC IS SO SCREWED SOMETHIGN’S HAPPENING TO HIM HE’S GONNA TRY AND DO SOMETHIGN STUPID AND GET SNIPED BY LBD I KNOW IT I’M GONNA LOSE MY MIND BG;LSADFM;AWOHG;OAWE 

SHAKES HIM 

OH ME GOODNESSS 

MONKIE KID AND THE MONKIE KIDSSSSS PLS 

“whoah whoah whoah i thought we were gonna discuss band names—“ I’M CRYINGBGL;AMFAOWEFHGOAWEF 

I’M SO EXCITED PLEEASSEEEE 

ONE TWO THREE FOUR

OH WOW

HI

HEY

WHOAH HEY WAIT 

HOLD UP 

SANDY’S OUTFIT IS THE BEST, MAN LOOKS FANTASTIC

MONHKEY KING LOOKING LIKE HE’D RATHER HAVE DIED BY LBD’S HAND THAN BE THERE SADLK;FMA;OG;OAIWFM 

MONKEY KING LITERALLY LOOKS LIKE HE’S GONNA PASS OUT GBSDLKFMA;BAWIOFGMAWO;FWA 

PIGSY LOOKS FLY TOO THO, HE’S ROCKING THAT GREEN BLUE COLOUR AND THE GOLD 

THE CAT BASS FOR SANDY YEAH IT’S SO GOOD 

AS AN MK KINNIE IT BRINGS ME JOY THAT HE’S ON THE DRUMS PLS BGL;SAMF;OAGHWAE 

JIN AND YIN?????

OKAY I WAS NOT EXCPECTING THEM TO SHOW UP STRAIGHT UP THIS WSA A SUPRRISE I’M GBL;AFKMAW;OFE 

THE GREATEST THEATRE TECNICTIONS 

OH NO 

IT’S SHEEEEE

ITS’ THEIR ACCOUNTANT 

WAIT TANG 

“no one benches Mr.Tang” HE SOUNDS SO SAD

TANG, I KNOW THEY’VE STOLEN THINGS EVERY OTHER EPISODE BUT PLS, LETS SUPPORT THEIR MORALLY SOUND ACTIONS FOR ONCE AND IW ANNA HEAR PIGSY SING HECK UUUUU 

Tang really having a crisis 

OH MY GODS THE MUSIC

SONGS

I’M GONNA SCREAM I’M NOT READY FOR THIS 

CHARACTERS SINGING DANCING AND PLAYING INTERUMENTS IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS IN THE WORLD AND I’M BEING HANDED IT RIGHT NOW I’M GONNA START SOBBING

IT’S SUCH A BOP I’M GONNA START CRYING 

LOOK AT TANG GO 

 I LOVE THE FACT IT’S ACTION MUSIC SUITING HIS RUNNING ACROSS ROOFTOPS 

BUDDY???? 

TANG????? 

TANG????? BUDDY???? 

MY GUY??? 

MY DUDE????? 

TANG PLEASE 

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON— BGLK;SADMFA;OGHAO;IWE 

EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THIS SHOW HAS ABANDMENT ISSUES I SWEAR 

TANG WANTING TO BE USEFUL AND FOR OTHERS TO SEE HIM AS USEFUL I’M MENTALLY ILL RIGHT NOW I’M GONNA START CRYING ABOUT THIS SIR 

IT’S THE FACT HE JUST CHILLS AROUND THE NOODLE SHOP, ASKS FOR FREE NOODLES BUT THIS MAN JUST WANTS TO BE SEEN AS USEFUL AND AHVE PEOPEL COME TO HIM AND ASK HIM FOR STUFF, SPICIFICALLY EVEN MK COME TO HIM FOR STUFF AND THE WAY HE’S ALWAYS OS HAPPY TO EXPLAIN STUFF ABOUT JTTW (because it’s one of his favourite things) AND CAUSE IT’S HIS THING, A THING HE CAN DO, SOMETHING THE OTHERS LISTEN TO AND VALUE HIM FOR AND WITHOUT IT—

SHUT UP I’M FINE 

TANG UR NOT MAKIGN IT THE NOODLEBG;LSMAWE

GOOD GOSH TANG 

TANG HOW DID YOU NOT DIE 

“I’m alive!!!!” SOMWHO 

THE FACT MACAQUE WAS WATCHIGN THE WHOLE THING BGSD;LKFMAGB;AOIWFMAWEF HE FOLLOWED TANG IS WHAT’S GETTING TO ME 

STILL HYPED UP ON SHADOW ANIMATION AREN’T YA FLYING BARK BG;LSDAMF;OAWEF 

STANDING ON THE WALL 

SIR??? 

EXCUSE ME?? 

TOUCHY MUCH?? 

THE GLASSES THING?? 

UM HANDS OFF THE MAN MAC MAC N CHEESE 

WHY DOES HE KEEP TOUCHING PEOPLEGBS;LKAM;AWEOF

HE’S SO FREAKING TOUCHSTARVED 

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE I DON’T FEEL AS LIKE, ALARM BELLS WHEN HE MAKES PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH TANG THAN I DO WHEN HE MAKES CONTACT WITH MK 

PROBBALY BECAUSE THE GASLIGHTING IS LESS :T 

 TANG?? 

WHOAH BUD HE TOOK NONE OF THAT 

THAT WOULD’VE LIKE, SHAKEN MK RIGHT OFF THE BAT 

TANG LIKE, SHOVES HIS ARM OFF AND RUNS 

CAUSE HE KNOWS WHAT MACAQUE IS AND WHAT’ HE’S BEEN DOING 

HOLY CRAP TANG 

I’M 

I’M PROCESSING THIS HE’S 

TANG??? 

BUDDY??? 

DID YOU JUST KICK THE MAN???

R U D E 

TANG’S TRYING REALLY HARD Y’ALL HE IS ALMOST DESPERATE TO DO THIS I’M 

MACAQUE?? 

HOW??? 

WHAT THE HECK DO YOU MEAN 

HOW THE HECK WOULD HTAT HELP YOU?? 

Macaque is one of those people on tumblr with zero reading compression, man really saw the first shiny thing the crew was going after and went “WELL IF THEY THINK IT’S IMPORTANT IT’LL PROBABLY HELP ME” 

WOW THO SOME OPENESS THERE TOO THIS EPS WHACK 

HE’S SO STUPID 

HE’S SO STUPID HE ’S SO SUPTID HE’S SO STUPID 

“I’m an expert—“ SHUT UP YOU HAVE ZERO BRAINCELLS YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT YOU HAVE PROVED TIME AND TIME AGAIN YOU AHVE ZERO SELF AWARENESS YOU’RE DUMB BEYOND BELIEF AND WORDS I’M BG;LSDAFMOAWE IT’S NOT EVEN ABOUT WUKONG, IT’S NOT EVEN ABOUT THE MONKEY, MK’S THE ONE WHO TOLD TANG TO SIT DOWN AND MACAQUE IS STILL “blah blah blah blah WUKONG WUKONG WUKONG” WOW THERE MAC WOW 

BOHT TANG AND MK TRYING TO GET MACAQUE TO HELP AND JOIN THE GROUP THO EVEN IF HE’S CHASING AND HURTING THEM HHHHHHHHHH (guess i know where Mk gets that part) 

holding Tang gently 

ALSO MACAQUE BEING LIKE “DON’T GET CLOSE TO PEOPLE, SPICIFICALLY DON’T GET CLOSE TO MONKEY KING” IS SO FUNNY TO ME HE’S TRUAMATIZED AND STUPID YOUR HONOUR 

“look out for number one, because if you don’t, no one will” WOW I SURE DO WRITE HIM CORRECTLY I GUESS, I’M WHEEZING I HATE HIM AND LOVE HIM HIM GO GET THERAPY YOU IDIOT 

MAN 

TANG

HOLDING HIM SO GENTLY 

AW HE SAVED THE PICTURE

HE SAVED THE PICTURE I’M GONNA CRY 

TANG

BUDDY

I’M GONNA CRY 

UM 

THE WAY THE PICTURE GOES OVER TO MACAQUE

I’M GONNA CRY?? 

HE LOOKS RIGHT AT IT 

CATCHES IT 

TANG 

I LOVE TANG SO MUCH RN PLS 

SHAKING HIM 

THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN WANTING FOR HIS CHARACTER YES YES YE SYES YES YES YES YESYYEYSYEYSYEESYYESYESYSEYSEYESESYSEYSEYES

CAN ALWAYS DEPEND ON FRIENDS I’M CRYING

OH HECK PIGSY SINGING

NOT READY NOT REDAD\GHAEG;AGH;OIWQFMHAW;OEIGM;OAWO;IFM 

COME ONNNNNN

PIGSYYYYY 

ARE YOU KIDDING YES I’M SCREAMING THE SOUND 

PIGSY SINGIGNG FOR REAL

I’M GONNA SCREAM THIS IS EVERYTHIGN TO ME 

OH 

OH HI 

HEY 

MACAQUE GETTING HIT 

WITH THE SOUND

THAT LOOKS LIKE HE WAS GETTING HIT WITH THE SOUND 

HELLO????????????? 

HELLO>???? 

I’M GONNA?? HEY?? 

HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HYE 

REFERENCE TO MAC’S SUPER HEARING SIX EARS I’M YELLING SHAKING HIM THROWING HIM OUT THE WINDOW /POS 

the 

THE FACT

THAT 

Macaque: i’m gonna steal this ring 

Macaque, four seconds later: never mind i’d rather punch the sad man again 

THE FACT THAT HE REALLY JUST DID THAT, HEARD TANG TALKING ABOUT HIS FAM LIKE THAT AND JUST GOT MAD, AND ALSO POSSIBLY GOT HURT BY THE SOUND SO ATTACK MODE ON WHO THE HECK KNOWS HE’S STUPID UR HONOUR DEAR GOSH 

BUBBLE 

“no regrets” 

I’M CRYING?? 

DARN RIGHT PIGSY’S SINGING DESERVES THIS I’M GONNA START SOBBING

THE MUSIC OF THIS EPSOIDEO IS SO FREAKING GOOD I’M SCREAMING 

HELLO TANG BPOWERS

WE DONE BEEN KNEW

THT’S RIGHT SUCER 

WE KNEW

OHHHH

HEY MAC 

RIP 

THE MIC DROP 

THE BGSL;DKFMAOWE PIGSY’S SO FREAKING COOL YOU GUYS HE COOKES HE SINGS, HE’S DAD, HE’S LOVELY 

HE DID IT!!!!!!!!!! MONKEY DID IT, SUN WUKONG FOR THE WIN, BIGGEST WIN OF THIS EPISODE FR /HJ 

THE AFFECTIONATE BENCHWARMER

Y’SEE PIGSY NEVER DOUBTS HIM HE KNOWS HE’S CAPABLE 

I’M CRYING 

TANGS HYSTERICAL LAUGH I’M NOT OVER THIS I’M GONNA SCREAM BGS;ALKFMAWOEF 

YUP AND THEY’RE GONE 

AND INTENSE VIBE NOW 

OH 

OH 

OH BOY HERE’S WHY HE’S NOT AFTER THEM YET

LIGHT N SHADOWS DON’T MIX AMMIRITE?? HAHAHAHAH AH 

ohhhh

oHHHH BOY

UR IN TROUBLE 

HE’S IN TROUBLE 

AH YUP 

CALLED IT 

H’ES IN TROUBLE 

A

A

UH

UH

UH

H

H

HO

HOOO

UH

UH

UH

UH

UH

UH

UH

OKAY

I’VE UH

BEEN SITTING HERE FOR LIKE TEN MINUTES 

UM 

WHAT

THE

WHAT

EXCUSE ME 

EXCUSE ME 

UM

RIGHT

YEAH

SO THAT

WHOLE SCENE

HI

SHE CAN REACH HIM FROM THERE 

WOW

THAT’S UH 

THAT’S A LOT TO UNPACK 

UM 

WOW

HE’S FREAKING DESPERATE 

THE WAY HE’S DESPERATELY TELLING HER THE INFORMATION 

AND THE WAY SHE FORCEFULLY SHOVES HER POWERS ON HIM AND THE WAY IT HURTS HIM 

WOW

WOW

HOOO

OH BOY 

THAT’S UH 

YEAH 

WOW

H

HOLY CRAP 

I CAN

T RECOVER FROM THIS

I CAN’T DO IT 

I’M 

SO I KNEW

SOMETHING WAS GONNA HAPPEN TO HIM 

BUT UH 

THATS 

WOW 

SOMETHIGN MORE PROBABLY GONNA HAPPEN TO HIM WHEN HE INEVITABLY FAILS AGAIN TO CATCH THEM FR 

BUT UH 

WOW 

You know that thing Monkey King always says about Mk’s mortal body not being able to handle all of monkey kings powers all at once without working up it? 

UH 

*looks at Macaque* 

Homeboy looking like he’s kinda getting an overload of power 

THE WAY HE CURLS UP 

WOW

WOW HE WAS TERRIFIED

WOW

WOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOW 

WOW

HECK

CRAP

HECK

WOW

HECK

HECK

HECKEHCKEHCKCECHKLM;BGOIMFAWE

SO REMEMBER THAT POST I MADE

MACAQUE WOW 

MANS REALLY TERRIFIED FOR HIS ACTUAL LIFE 

UH 

ABSUIVE SITUATION FOR HIM HE IS NOT FINE AH 

I MEAN WE DONE BEEN KNEW THIS BUT WOW 

UM RIGHT

WELL THEN

I CANT’ WATCH EPS 9 AND 10 UNTIL TOMORROW SO UH 

WOOOOO 

THIS IS ALL THE STUFF I ALREADY KNEW I’VE LITERLALY MADE WHOLE ANALYSIS POSTS WALKING THROUGH MACAQUES TRAUMA FROM THE ABUSE HE EXPEREICNES FROM LBD BUT HOLY CRAP 

HE GOT HER POWER BOOST WHETHER HE WANTED IT OR NOT I’M 

THE BLUE FLASH EYE THING TAHT KEEPS HAPPENING TOO 

SEMI-POSSESSION BUT NOT QUITE 

JUST HER IN HIS HEAD 

STILL NOT OVER JIN AND YIN ACTUALLY HAVING A JOB WITH THEIR ACCOUNTANT BGLSAKDFAOWEF 

BUT UH 

HOLY CRAP 

I UH 

I’M GONNA BE HAVING A CRISIS ABOUT THIS FOR THE REST OF THE DAY THANKS 

LIFE

REST OF MY LIFE 

THE WAY IT ZOOMS OUT AND IT’S HIM GETTING SURROUNDED BY THIS AS IT EXPLODES FROM HIM I’M 

HOLY CRAP 

MACAQUE GETTING PUMMLED 

BOY CAN’T WAIT TO SEE HOW THIS ENDS AHAHAHAHHAHAHA HE’S GONNA DIE (not fr probably but sOMETHING SURE AS HECK GONNA HAPPEN TO HIM AH) 

MONKIE KID YOU CAN’T KILLL THE HOT TOPIC MONKEY BEFORE HE HITS HIS REDEMTION ARC OR AT LEAST ANTI-HERO ARC I’M BGS;DLKAFMBO;AWIMAWOFH

WOW WOW

Okay I gotta, end this or i’m gonna be rambling about this for the rest of the day I’m 

WOW

I GUESS I’LL SEE YOU GUYS TOMORROW FOR EPS 9 AND 10 HAHAHAHA I’M IN PAIN

WOW THIS EPISODE WAS A LOT, LIKE A LOT MROE THAN THE RED SON ONE WHICH IS SAYING SOMETHING THIS IS SO MUCH TO UNPACK, TANG’S WANTING TO BE USEFUL AND HIS FAITH IN HIS FAMILY AND HIS POWERS, MACAQUE’S WHOLE SPEIL ABOUT NOT TRUSTING PEOPLE AND PIGSY’S SINGING, MONKEY KING’S STAGEFIGHT, PIGSY’S BOMBER JACKET, THE MERCH, SANDY’S OUTFIT, MONKEY KING IN A HOODIE, THAT WHOLE ENDING SCENE THE HECK—

 i’m never gonna recover from this episode alone, but i’m watching 9 and 10 tomorrow and the season finale special is coming out IN A FEW DAYS I’M GOING TO DIE 

coughs

Alright, good day, i’m gonna go grab some ice and stick my head in it o7 

(the way macaque stops trying to grab the ring to actually have a conversation with tang i’m not over that, he’s a talker but oh my gosh what the crap) 

[whitesparrows97]

Love is a foolish thing

Pairing: Kim Taehyung x female reader

Warnings: drinking of alcohol, swear words, angst, mean people, jealousy, minor injuries, explicit sexual content including oral (female receiving, indication of male receiving), fingering, light spanking, little bit of dirty talk, protected and unprotected sex

Genre: Strangers to friends with benefits to lovers

Summary: Falling in love… it sounded so simple. Falling. Like one wrong step, a small stumble and you were deeply in love. But there was nothing easy about love.

Word Count: 20K

Note: My tumblr nearly crashed while trying to post this story because it’s too long. I really have no idea how that happened, I just couldn’t control myself. So nothing new. But what is new is the banner. This is the first time I created one (goodbye using gifs from tumblr) and I really hope you like it. (The gif of van Gogh’s Starry Night is not mine and I found it on giphy. The picture of Taehyung he posted himself when they were touring in Berlin.)

Also a little disclaimer: English is not my first language so please excuse any mistakes! I’d normally split a story this long into chapters but because this is a story for the btswritersclub fic exchange, I decided to post it as a oneshot. I really hope you’ll like it @taetaesbaebaepsae !

intro: new beginnings

He felt the thumping bass throughout his body and welcomed the tingling sensation on his skin with a wide grin as he pushed his way through the crowd. His gaze slid over the countless faces as he passed them; most of whom he had seen before on campus or at previous parties.

Faces were what he could remember.

The bone structure of the face, how their hair framed their face, their facial expressions… These were all things that could not be easily changed and what made a person unique. No matter how much they changed, dyed their hair or cut it off altogether, wore a lot of makeup or none at all – there was something that didn’t change, no matter how hard they tried. And that’s exactly what Taehyung saw in people, which was why it was easy for him to recognize people, even if he had only run into someone once in the hallway. 

For a long time, it had felt like a curse to Taehyung. Nowadays, he knew how to use that gaze to his advantage. It helped him especially in his studies and his art teacher had praised him more than once for having that special sight.

There was one thing, however, that he had a lot of trouble with.

“Hi, Taehyung!” A young man appeared in front of him, shouting against the loud music. 

Taehyung shifted his gaze down to look the shorter man in the eye. The young man grinned at him, a bit wryly and a red plastic cup in one hand, which judging by his already glazed look was not his first cup of the evening. 

He put on a smile and nodded. “Hey…” 

Names were the thing he just couldn’t remember, for the life of him. He was glad he knew his best friend’s name after all these years. Even if every now and then he found himself thinking before it thankfully came back to him. It was frustrating to know so many people, to recognize them, but to have forgotten what their name was. 

Taehyung didn’t wait for an answer, but with another smile apologized to the young man in front of him, who had already started moving clumsily to the music again. Taehyung doubted that he even noticed that Taehyung had disappeared. 

He gave a wide berth to the area in the center of the room that had been chosen as the dance floor this evening and instead kept close to the walls. From there, he could get a rough idea of who all had come to this party on a Thursday night.

Despite the loud music, he could hear the loud voices, buzzing conversations and peals of laughter. Here and there, yelling mingled in. The first visitors to the party were already clinging to the shoulders and upper arms of their friends, which were the only reason they were still standing upright. 

Taehyung shook his head, laughing softly when he saw this. He hadn’t been that late; a glance at his watch showed him that the party had only started a little over an hour ago. But it was summer, which meant that the semester would soon be over. And with that came all the exams, so Taehyung couldn’t blame anyone for needing time off from studying. 

As he looked over the various groups of people, his gaze lingered on a face he didn’t recognize. 

Intrigued, he slowed in his walk. 

He frowned and his smile disappeared as he looked at you intently from head to toe. His father had once described this facial expression as his “artist’s expression”. When he was so engrossed in a painting or drawing that he didn’t notice how his eyebrows drew together and deep wrinkles formed in his forehead. Even now he could hear his mother scolding him that the wrinkles eventually wouldn’t go away anymore. 

When he had explained to her that wrinkles told more stories than words ever could, that they were charismatic, she had shaken her head with a smile. 

Taehyung’s gaze lingered on your lips, which had formed into a relaxed smile as you listened to someone talking to you. Min Yoongi, his best friend and a music student in his final semester.

Taehyung didn’t know what the two of you were talking about or if you knew each other, but you seemed to get along well.

He continued to watch you for a brief moment before you seemed apologetic and then disappeared towards the kitchen with your cup in hand. Determined, Taehyung walked towards his best friend and when he was only a few feet away, Yoongi looked up. 

“Hey,” the older of the two said, nodding at Taehyung. He took a sip from his cup and let his gaze roam the room, just as Taehyung had done moments before.

“Hi,” he greeted back, eyeing Yoongi for a moment. “Who was that?”

Yoongi laughed into his cup and shook his head with a grin. “You must know everything and everyone, don’t you?”

Taehyung shrugged, but didn’t contradict him. “I just like to get to know the people I study with.”

Yoongi snorted at his statement. “Even if I told you her name, you’d forget it in half an hour anyway.”

Taehyung couldn’t object to that either. It probably wouldn’t even take half an hour. Sometimes Taehyung felt as if names went into the one ear and right out the other without even a brief stopover at his brain. 

“You know,” Yoongi began, raising an eyebrow, “women usually aren’t too keen on being called by the wrong name by mistake. Just a little advice.”

Now Taehyung was the one who snorted. “Thanks, you seem to know a lot about that. Should be a little careful with your new girlfriend. Just a little advice for you,” he repeated Yoongi’s statement and Yoongi grinned.

For a moment there was silence between the two men. Only the loud, booming music and the buzz of voices filled the pause between them. 

“Y/N,” Yoongi then suddenly said, “her name is Y/N. She studied in another city before and came to this university for her master’s.”

“What did she study?”

“Why don’t you ask her that yourself if you’re so interested?” 

Taehyung raised his glass, which was almost empty anyway, downed it in one gulp and made his way to the kitchen where you had disappeared to. 

. . .

“So you’re Y/N. Right?” Taehyung didn’t show how proud he was that he had been able to remember your name. 

You nodded and waited for him to introduce himself. “Well… Are you going to tell me yours or do I have to guess?” you asked after a short silence when he kept studying your face but no words came out of his mouth.

“Oh, sure,” he blurted out, startled by this question for a second, “I’m Taehyung.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw his hand twitch, as if he wanted to shake your hand and you had to stifle a grin. 

But Taehyung had seen the corners of your mouth move upward. “Are you laughing at me?” he asked, holding a hand to his heart in feigned hurt. 

“No, no,” you placated him, but any further attempt to explain was interrupted by your laughter rising inside you. Taehyung looked at you through narrowed eyes for another moment before a grin spread across his face as well.

You liked his smile. You noticed it right away, even though you had only been talking for a few minutes. 

Your gaze lingered on his lips for a moment too long and when you looked back into his eyes, his grin had widened even more and there was an amused glint in his gaze that hadn’t been there before. 

You had to avert your gaze and let your eyes wander around the kitchen. You didn’t know what it was, but his gaze made you nervous. It was intense. As if he was looking right through you.

“Do you want to dance?” he asked, bringing you back from your thoughts. 

Instead of giving an answer, you took his hand and led him back to the living room. 

The dance floor had not emptied in the meantime, rather the opposite was the case. By now most of the guests at the party were crowding onto it, so that the entire room had become a dance floor. And even the people who were standing on the sidelines and preferred to watch the spectacle from a distance were persuaded to dance. 

You made your way past sweaty bodies until you finally found a place where you could move a little more freely. The song that was playing was energetic and fast – and while the other people around you were jumping up and down, singing along loudly and off-key to the lyrics, Taehyung surprised you when he put an arm on your waist and pulled you close to him.

The two glasses of alcohol you had already drunk were slowly but surely making themselves noticeable. A pleasant warmth flooded through you as you felt Taehyung’s strong hands on your hips, moving you to the beat of the music. That, and the fact he smiled at you whenever you locked eyes made your heart beat a little faster. 

Especially when his thumb drew little circles on the small sliver of bare skin where your shirt had ridden up. The air was stuffy and sweaty, but at that moment you didn’t mind it one bit. 

Taehyung leaned forward and your breath hitched when his lips touched your ear as he said, “You’re beautiful.”

You waited with your eye roll until Taehyung had leaned back again, so he definitely caught your gesture. Immediately, his eyebrows shot up. 

Now it was up to you to lean forward. “Can’t you think of anything better?”

Taehyung thought for a moment, and if you hadn’t felt his hand on your lower back, pulling you closer and closer to him with each movement, you would have thought he was completely lost in thought. 

But then you saw the corners of his mouth twitch up as he tried to suppress the grin. 

Again he leaned forward toward you, but this time he didn’t speak directly. Instead, you first felt his lips against the shell of your ear, and then gasped in surprise as he gently bit your sensitive skin. The deep, throaty laugh that followed sent jolts of electricity through your veins. 

“I could also say that you look incredibly hot and caught my eye as soon as I arrived.” 

You were completely stilled in your movements and the hand that had been on your hip before had crept up to your neck. His slender, long fingers danced on your sweaty skin and your eyes fluttered closed as you savored the sensation he and his fingers were causing. 

You almost forgot about his lips against your ear, which made you flinch as Taehyung spoke the rest of his sentence. “And none of it would be a lie.”

When you opened your eyes again, the hand had disappeared from your neck and resumed its place on your hip. You didn’t speak a word, your looks said enough. And when your eyes wandered lower for a moment and came to rest on his lips with that mischievous grin, the outcome of the evening was sealed.

. . .

Your back hit the wall behind you and you let out a soft “Oh” in surprise. Taehyung took the opportunity and his tongue slipped between your open lips into your mouth. You moaned as he explored your mouth, which spurred Taehyung on even more. 

His hands traveled down your torso, down your sides, and finally grasped your hips. Then he pulled you tighter against him so that you were locked between him and the wall behind you. Even though you didn’t feel locked in at all. You hadn’t felt this free in a long time. 

Your hands reached out between your two bodies on his torso, and you felt the muscles under his shirt twitch as your fingertips brushed almost delicately over sensitive areas. His lips turned into a grin before he kissed you passionately again. 

His fingers wandered lower and finally wrapped around one of your thighs. They dug pleasantly into your flesh, making you hum contentedly. With a sudden exclamation of surprise from you, he lifted your leg and the moan you both gave as your hips met was muffled when your lips crashed into each other once again. 

But it wasn’t just his hips you felt against yours. You felt him hard, right between your legs as he circled his hips against yours. 

He wandered his mouth along your jaw first before kissing down your neck. “You are so receptive to my touch,” he said softly, but in the otherwise silent room, his voice sounded loud and clear. His hot breath tickled you, making you shiver as Taehyung ran his tongue along your neck. 

“Sorry,” you laughed softly when you shuddered again as his tongue explored the contours of your collarbone.

His grip around your hip and thigh strengthened before he let go of your neck and straightened up. He released one hand and gently stroked your hot cheeks with it as his gaze darted back and forth between your eyes. “You never have to apologize for being sensitive to touch. That just tells me I’m doing everything right.”

And how right he was. 

“Do you have condoms?”

Your question made him pause, and a second later he gently let your leg slide back to the floor. He seemed to think for a moment, an index finger pressed to his lips before he stuck it up in the air as if he had a sudden idea. You watched as he walked toward the bed and opened the nightstand drawer. He rummaged around in it for a moment, and you grimaced as you thought about Taehyung digging around in other people’s things.

“Bingo,” Taehyung exclaimed, reaching into the drawer and tossing a package onto the made bed. “Unopened,” Taehyung added as he turned to look at you, raising an eyebrow. 

“Don’t be mean,” you said, but had to smile as well. His smile was contagious. “Just be glad the person doesn’t seem to be having that much sex… it’s to our benefit right now.”

“That,” Taehyung countered, “or that’s a new pack because he just fucks a lot.”

You couldn’t hold back your grunt when you heard his statement, that’s how dryly he said it. “Whose room is this, anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Taehyung said and looking around for a moment. 

You didn’t need to check, because you couldn’t have known the person. It could even be Taehyung’s room for all you knew. You didn’t even know who the host was at that party. A girl, Grace, from one of your seminars had approached you yesterday and invited you. You hadn’t seen her all evening and wondered if she had shown up yet.

With slow and deliberate steps, you walked toward the bed in front of which he stood. As you came to a stop in front of him, you noticed his frown in the dim light. “What is it?”

“I hope you don’t think of me as being unprepared or expecting us not to use contraception.” He held your gaze as if he were watching every little emotion in your face. “I didn’t plan on doing this tonight, so I didn’t come prepared.”

Your hands wandered up along his sides, feeling the muscles under his T-shirt. “So,” you said softly, looking back up at him, “you don’t do this kind of thing often?”

A mischievous grin had stolen onto his face in return. “Occasionally,” he admitted with a shrug, “but probably less often than you’re thinking right now.”

You were about to reply something when suddenly the door was yanked open behind you and the music from the living room could be heard more clearly all at once. Surprised, you turned around.

“Oh,” a guy laughed when he caught sight of the two of you. A girl stumbled into him as he stopped so suddenly in the doorway. 

“This place seems to be occupied,” the girl laughed now, too, eyeing the two of you. 

Her boyfriend – or acquaintance – also caught her glance. “Or are you two interested in–”

“No,” Taehyung said firmly, before the other could fully ask his question. He stepped out from behind you and it only took a few long strides before he arrived at the door. “We’re not. Thank you.” With those words, he pushed them both out of the room and closed the door. “Shit,” he muttered.

With nimble fingers, you opened the box of condoms and grabbed one before heading towards the door as well. Taehyung had leaned forward and seemed to be examining something on the door. Or rather, something that wasn’t there.

“What’s wrong?”

He straightened up again and made a head movement toward the lock. “There’s no key.”

“Okay?” you asked, “Is that a problem?” Your fingers gently stroked his upper arm, squeezing it once firmly, and Taehyung understood. He raised an eyebrow and the next moment he spun you around and your back hit something again, this time it was the door. There was a dull thud as your back hit the wood and you felt it give in from Taehyung’s strength. You just hoped it would hold for the next few minutes…

“Not at all,” he whispered in your ear and you bit your lower lip to stifle the wanting moan that almost fell over your lips. You closed your eyes to fully concentrate on Taehyung’s lips, his teeth which left red and blue marks on your sensitive skin. 

Your eyes fluttered open in surprise, however, as Taehyung’s lips suddenly disappeared and he slid down to the floor so that he was kneeling in front of you. His eyelashes cast long shadows in the dim light of the bedside lamp, and absentmindedly you brushed his hair out of his face. 

“I know I’m repeating myself and that you don’t want to hear it, but you’re so beautiful.” His long fingers found their way under your top and every little bit of skin he bared was covered by his lips a short time later. What remained was heat – heat that coursed through you and eventually accumulated in your abdomen. 

You were about to pull him back to his feet by his shoulders when his fingers found your jeans button and a moment later you heard the opening of a zipper. His hand found yours, which was still clinging to the condom as if it were an anchor and which he took from you before guiding your hand to his head. As you looked down at yourself, fingers buried in his hair as if you’d done it umpteen times before, your eyes met. 

Lust and mischievousness were in his gaze, the smirk hidden from your perspective, but you saw the glint in his eyes as he pulled down your pants along with your underwear. 

. . .

“And then he went down on me.”

“He what?” Grace looked at you in surprise.

You cleared your throat. Your cheeks were warm and you tried to avoid her curious gaze. “He went down on me.” 

You wanted to end this conversation as quickly as you could. You didn’t even remember how Grace had talked you into telling her about last Thursday in the first place. But Grace had pestered you for so long, until you finally caved in. She had seen you disappear into that bedroom with Taehyung, which was why you couldn’t deny anything. 

“Oh. Wow.”

“Oh, come on,” you said, trying to downplay the subject. With a little more force than necessary, you shut your laptop and shoved it into your backpack. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“You bet it is,” she whispered-shouted, earning a few scowls from the nearby students. She quickly apologized to them in a softer tone. “You bet it is,” she repeated, quieter this time, as you walked toward the library exit. “No guy does this on a one night stand.”

“I’m sure there are some.”

“You wouldn’t give a blow job either, would you?” she completely bypassed your argument. 

The door slammed shut behind you and you took one deep breath. You loved the fresh evening air in early summer… especially when you had been sitting in the stuffy library for hours. Even though some loved the smell of the old books and dusty paper, it mainly caused you a headache and the unspeakable pressure before your next exams. 

“I’m just saying,” Grace continued to explain, “you can’t be sure if the person is clean.”

“I am clean,” you muttered, feeling a little affronted. “I told him that beforehand.”

“On the other hand, yeah, he can wear a condom I guess. Hmm…” 

For a moment, you wondered if you were in a parallel universe, where Grace was walking the path to the dorm alone and therefore not responding to you. But then she turned around and looked at you with waggling eyebrows. “Did you come?”

“Grace,” you sighed, wanting the questioning to stop. Instead of answering her, you countered, “I should have just ignored you those few weeks ago when you sat down next to me in the seminar.”

“And would be alone to this day? That would be so sad.”

You rolled your eyes. “At least then I wouldn’t have to let you pepper me with your questions.”

“True again,” she said with a shrug, “but then you wouldn’t have anyone to brag to about the great sex you had either.”

You said nothing in reply, but kept your gaze firmly focused on the building a few hundred feet in front of you. 

“Or miserable sex we can make fun of?”

That elicited an annoyed groan from you, and finally a shake of your head. “First of all, we don’t make fun of anyone at all, no matter how good or bad someone is in bed.”

“Okay, Miss Diplomacy.” A pause arose and it amused you to see Grace growing more impatient by the second. “Okay and so what? So was he good?”

Sighing, you nodded, “Yes, he was.” Before Grace could clap her hands in delight, you quickly added, “I didn’t come, though.” The words came out of your mouth faster than normal. 

She just snorted, though. “Then trust me, this won’t be the last time.” 

You raised an eyebrow. “We both agreed that this will be a one time thing.”

“Well, look at it this way,” she began, and with a beep, her student ID was confirmed and the glass door to the building slid open. “Did he notice you didn’t come?” You nodded. “Then he’ll certainly have the urge to prove himself all over again.”

You thought for a moment, letting Grace’s words run through your mind. “Oh, I don’t know. It wasn’t because of him.”

“Then what was it about? Couldn’t you relax?”

You nodded again. “The whole situation was unfortunate,” you began to explain in more detail. “I felt like someone was going to burst into the room at any moment and–” You bit your lip, trying not to say the rest of the sentence.

Grace gave you a meaningful look. “And?”

You had arrived outside your room and nervously played with your key card. “It’s just…” Ringing for words, you looked down at the floor until you finally looked up in frustration. Grace looked at you patiently, seeming to notice how hard it was for you to talk about it. “He was so… gentle.”

When Grace heard that, she had to grunt.

“Hey,” you countered, smacking her on the upper arm. 

“Ouch.” She grimaced as she rubbed the sore spot. “Would you have preferred him to be rough?”

You tilted your head and considered. Grace laughed when she saw that.

“I’m just saying,” you said, now serious again, “No one night stand I’ve had has tried this hard. I guess, I’m just a bit surprised, that’s all.”

“Then why don’t you talk to Taehyung,” Grace replied, still a grin on her face as she walked backwards down the hall to her room, “Maybe he won’t try so hard next time.” You could still hear her giggling, even as she disappeared around the corner and out of your field of vision. 

. . . 

falling into habits

Taehyung moaned and thrust deeply into you one last time before coming to a stop inside of you. He braced himself on his forearms to avoid crushing you under his weight while you both caught your breath. Silently you lay in Taehyung’s bed before he finally reached between your bodies, held the condom tightly, and pulled out before finally rolling off of you. 

He didn’t bother to get up and dispose of the used condom, just tied it together, lazily wrapped it in a tissue, and rolled back onto his back so that he was lying next to you. 

For a moment you lay like that next to each other, completely detached from the world that was going on outside Taehyung’s apartment and instead in one where only the two of you existed. 

But then you picked yourself up with a discontented sigh, and awkwardly climbed over Taehyung, who made an attempt to hold you by the waist. Laughing softly, you batted his hands aside and a second later your bare feet came into contact with the carpet. 

Your fingers found your panties and quickly you slipped them back on. So did your jeans and your T-shirt. You glanced back and saw Taehyung still lying naked in his bed, on his stomach now, while the bedspread covered his lower half. Your gaze slid down his trained back nonetheless, and you bit your lips as images of the last few minutes popped into your head. Or rather hours, as you silently cursed when you glanced at your phone. 

You heard Taehyung laughing tiredly behind you. “Why’re you cursing?”

As you continued to gather the rest of your things, you briefly glanced over your shoulder back at the bed. Taehyung had turned his head so he could watch you. 

“I’m late,” you explained to him, stuffing your belongings into your bag, which you unceremoniously slipped on. 

Taehyung groaned and buried his face in the pillow. 

“Can’t you skip it and stay here instead?” His voice sounded muffled and you wanted to go back the few steps to run your fingers through his tousled hair. 

But you couldn’t.

“I’ll see you in a few days.”

“That’s not soon enough,” he whined and shook his head. 

“I think my group would kill me if I didn’t come to the meeting. Besides,” you added a little louder, worried that Taehyung would fall asleep otherwise, “I’m already grateful to them for accepting me into their group in the middle of the semester in the first place. I don’t want to cause any more inconvenience.”

You heard only a displeased murmur from Taehyung’s direction and threw a quick goodbye into the room before leaving his apartment. 

The walk to the campus took you half an hour, even if you hurried. However, you could use the time well to reflect on the last weeks. 

After your conversation with Grace, it had only taken a few days for you to receive a message from an unknown number. Yoongi had given your phone number to Taehyung through Grace – which Grace had commented with an “I told you so” – and a day later you had met up. 

This time hadn’t been at a party, but at his home, and quickly one thing had led to another. You hadn’t even taken a seat on the sofa properly before your lips had crashed into each other.

You had never talked about where this was going with you – and if it was going anywhere at all – but for now you were pleased with how easy everything was with Taehyung. You were on the same wavelength, he made you laugh, and the sex was good. Great even. That’s all you needed right now. And honestly, that’s all you wanted right now. Relationships meant drama and in the end at least one person got hurt. 

Out of breath, but fairly punctual, you arrived at the workroom where you had arranged to meet your group. The others were already there, but no one seemed to mind that you had arrived a few minutes late.

You spent the next two hours putting together the topics you had worked on and writing them into the presentation. You had been surprised when you first met and found out that everyone had done their work. You worked hard and expected the same from others, and as you had explained to Taehyung, you were glad that the group had accepted you at all. 

After all, by then well over half of the semester had passed, and in the beginning you had inevitably set the group back in their schedule. While the others had already been working on comparing the similarities and differences between their novels from The Modern Period, you had been reading your novel and gathering notes at lightning speed so that you could now sit together and pretty much finish the presentation. Each of the four of you would still have to write your own essay, but you knew you could do that in two to three days. You had all the information, so all you had to do was put it on paper. 

Relieved and satisfied, you sighed as your bones cracked when you stretched your arms high above your head and arched your back. 

“Wow, we really got something done today,” Toni said, visibly satisfied as she scrolled through the presentation one last time. 

An approving nod went through the group and Thomas also closed his laptop with a quiet click. 

“Do you want to join us for a drink?” Mia looked at you through her delicate glasses, which she pushed back up her nose with an index finger.

You didn’t have to think twice, because you were happy about any invitation. So a smile spread across your face before you nodded. 

Conversations and laughter accompanied you down the stairs and you were so engrossed in a conversation with Toni that you didn’t notice the person waiting in front of the entrance of the building. It was only when you heard your name called out to you that you turned your attention to the person. 

Taehyung, you realized with surprise.

“Hi,” you greeted him, eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, “what are you doing here?” 

“Hey you. I thought I’d pick you up.” He had both hands buried in the pockets of his sweatpants and had thrown on a hoodie to protect himself against the coolness of the summer evening. 

You took the few steps back to Taehyung, noticing at the edge of your awareness how the others’ conversations had fallen silent. 

“Pick me up? For what?”

Taehyung shrugged. “Yoongi and Grace invited us. I think they both wanted to watch this new movie that started in theaters a few days ago.”

“Oh.” You looked over your shoulder at the others and saw the three of them glance quickly to the side before your eyes could meet. 

“Oh?” Taehyung repeated, taking his hands out of his pockets. Some disappointment spread across his face, as if he had expected a different answer. 

You heard a “Is that Kim Taehyung from Fine Arts?” and a “Fine he is definitely,” which made you pause for a moment. 

“Well… I uhm, I actually wanted to go out with the others. They just asked me if I wanted to join them.” You pointed your thumb over your shoulder to the group, which had now started whispering quietly. 

“Ah I see,” Taehyung said and his grin was back when he heard that, “So you’re making friends?”

“Taehyung,” you said, your voice sounding more whiny than you had intended. 

“It’s all good,” he laughed and before you knew what was happening, he had put an arm around you and pulled you against him for a moment. You froze, surprised about the sudden public display of affection. 

His perfume was still in your nose even when he had already let go of you and taken a step away. “Have a nice evening then. Text me when you get home okay or need someone to pick you up. I’ll stay awake until then.”

And without further ado, he smiled at you again before walking past you. As he passed the group, he waved to them and again wished you a good evening. You watched as he grew smaller and smaller in the twilight of the evening, the farther away he got, before finally disappearing behind a corner. 

All evening you couldn’t get his grin and the scent of his perfume out of your mind and nose. And more than once you wondered if it would have been better if you’d made a different choice. 

. . .

what am I to you?

The apartment door was yanked open, revealing a beaming, smiling Grace. 

“Hello, you two,” she greeted you with a sly smile before stepping aside, thus allowing you into the apartment. “Did you find your way here okay? When I first came to Seokjin’s apartment I got lost.”

You kicked your shoes off your feet and whispered a “thank you” at Taehyung as he took them from you and placed them neatly next to the countless others. 

“Sure,” he answered Grace’s question, straightening up again. 

In the narrow hallway, he looked huge, as if his shoulders were almost touching the two walls. You could only see his back as you walked to the voices that seemed to be coming from the living room. Music was clearly audible playing over the stereo, but quiet enough that you could talk without having to shout. You couldn’t deny the slight nervous tingle that had formed on your skin. 

Your eyes fell on Taehyung’s hand. You would only have to stretch out your arm a little and then your fingers would touch his fingertips. 

Your arm, which had lifted slightly on its own, fell limply back to your side. You kept your hands to yourself, even though nervousness was spreading through you. Like a balloon, it inflated before bursting as you stepped through the door into the room. Ten, twelve faces looked up as the three of you entered the room. You were relieved that there was no big fuss about it, but the others greeted you briefly and then continued in their conversation, which you had interrupted. 

You took a seat on the sofa next to a girl you didn’t know. But she looked nice.

Unnoticed, your eyes followed Taehyung, who took a seat at the other end of the sofa and returned Yoongi’s handshake. The two of them jumped right into an animated conversation. 

You were so focused on the two of them that you didn’t notice the look the girl next to you was giving you. Until she finally cleared her throat and you winced, caught and startled. 

“Sorry,” she smiled apologetically at you, “I didn’t quite catch your name. What’s your name again?”

“Y/N.” You had to clear your throat as only a croak came out at first. “And what’s your name?”

“Emilia, but feel free to call me Emmy.” She gave you another genuine smile, which you returned. Even your last bit of nervousness fell away from you as you lapsed into pleasant small talk over the next few minutes. 

It got even easier as Grace placed a glass of freshly mixed cocktail in front of you on the coffee table and dropped to the floor at your feet. You were all the more relieved to have her by your side and not have to answer every question, but to sink into the back of the sofa for a moment and just follow the conversation.

Inevitably, your gaze slid to Taehyung and it surprised you when your eyes met. 

When Taehyung saw this, he grinned at you. You had talked on the way about how awkward it was for you that he knew all the other guests and you knew no one except for him and Grace, and a bit of Yoongi, though mostly from Grace’s or Taehyung’s stories.

That’s why you could interpret his grin well. You knew what he was going to say, even if you didn’t have a chance to talk right now. 

“See, it’s not so bad.” 

You had spent so much time with him the last few weeks that you could practically hear his deep voice in your head. A warm feeling spread through you, even when he had already averted his gaze and was absorbed in talking to Yoongi again. 

That’s how the hours of the evening went by. 

You played a never-ending round of Uno, in which you didn’t come last (you preferred to hide the fact that you came second to last), and other card games. No drinking games, which you were happy about. No forcing to drink so everyone could drink what they liked, when they liked. 

At one point, Taehyung and Grace had switched places and you got all hot as he leaned against your shins. Him and Emmy knew each other since the first semester, as you found out. It made you feel weird, knowing that they knew each other for years, while the both of you only met a few months ago.

Nonetheless you enjoyed the evening, and feeling so protected by Taehyung that you didn’t even look at your phone every few minutes out of habit. Therefore, you had no idea what time it was. Only the slowly emerging tiredness told you that it was probably time to go home. 

You knew you would sleep well that night. Maybe you would spend the night at Taehyung’s place too – this would be a first. 

However, your good mood was abruptly over with one, harmless sentence.

“How do you two know each other anyway?” Emmy looked at you with interest and at first you were perplexed, so surprised at this question that you just sat there stiffly. 

Most of the others were engrossed in conversation and didn’t notice this awkward situation. Because what were you supposed to answer? You were not together. You didn’t even know if you wanted to and you had never talked about it in the first place. It had always been kind of clear that there was a sexual attraction between you – but something beyond that? 

You couldn’t answer that. 

Your gaze flickered to Taehyung for a second. Why didn’t he tell his long time friend about you? She didn’t even know your name… Had Taehyung never mentioned you to his friends before? 

You were just getting ready to speak, to make a not very explanatory statement, when Taehyung beat you to it. “We met at a party.” He reached for his glass and took a sip while making a hand gesture between the two of you. “We haven’t known each other that long, just for a few weeks.”

Emmy raised her eyebrows as if she’d expected a different answer – and she wasn’t the only one. She gave you a small smile and turned to Seokjin, who was sitting next to her and, as you had learned that night, was not only the host but also the entertainer of the evening. 

You turned your gaze from Seokjin and Emmy back to Taehyung, who was talking across the table with another young man whose name you had already forgotten. It had been too many names for one evening. But what surprised you a little was how quickly Taehyung had pushed the subject aside. 

Was that all? 

You hadn’t known yourself what you would have answered, but you were sure it would have been more than Taehyung’s answer. Something else. 

For the next half hour, you were exceptionally quiet, which Taehyung also noticed. He turned to you and squeezed your knee once, almost affectionately. “Are you tired? Do you want to go home?”

You nodded silently, barely able to look him in the eye. What was wrong with you? As if two sentences had tipped your mood 180 degrees. From one extreme to the other…

When you stepped into the cool summer night, you took the opportunity to take a deep breath. The alcohol and the heat in the living room had clouded your mind. That had to be it. 

But even on the way home – to your apartment – your mood didn’t seem to lift. Taehyung’s jokes and casual comments, which would normally make you smile, were exhausting at that moment and you were about to tell him that you could walk the rest of the way on your own. 

Then he suddenly stopped as if rooted to the spot and you had to walk a few steps back again. For a moment there was only silence. In the distance you heard shouting and laughter and the occasional car passing you by, bathing you in its warm yellow light. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

A simple question. No simple answer. So you just shrugged your shoulders. “Nothing, why?”

He clicked his tongue in displeasure. “You know I hate games like that.” Even in the darkness, you could see how his lips were pressed into a straight, stern line. 

Immediately your heart sank at the sight, making it even harder for you to find an answer and voice your thoughts. Instantly, you wished you had pulled yourself together for the last forty-five minutes. Instead, you were now in a situation you couldn’t easily get out of. At least not without completely throwing your principles overboard, and you just weren’t ready for that yet.

You turned your gaze to the ground and heard Taehyung sigh. A moment later, he took a step closer so that his shoes entered your field of vision. As his hands clasped yours, you flinched, not expecting the sudden touch. An argument was more what you had expected. 

“Hey, look at me, please,” he asked, this time in a softer voice. When you did just that, his gaze searched yours, as if trying to read all the answers from your face. But you knew your face was just an expressionless mask, not reflecting the chaos inside you. “What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?” You stayed silent. “Huh?”

You avoided his gaze and let your hands slip from his grasp. The disappointed look on Taehyung’s face escaped you as you searched the sidewalk for an answer. 

“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

That made you look up. “I don’t need your help.” You winced at how cold your voice sounded. But you felt pushed into a corner. 

He frowned at your statement. “Okay…” he said and buried his hands in the front pockets of his pants. The hands that had held yours a moment before. He studied your face as if thinking about whether to say the next part or not. Then, “What do you want from me then?”

The question made your heartbeat quicken. 

Behause you had no real answer to that. Therefore, you just shook your head. 

Taehyung mimicked the movement. “What kind of answer is that, Y/N?”

You shrugged your shoulders and Taehyung sighed, gradually annoyed. 

“I feel like I’m talking to a wall right now. And to be honest, I’ve had that feeling for a few days now.”

You had to swallow.

“We’ve never worked out what this is between us,” he began, hesitating briefly, “but maybe it’s about time we talk about it.”

“Why?” Pleadingly, you looked at him. “Why can’t it stay the way it is right now?”

“Because of this.” He made a hand gesture between the two of you. “Because it’s not good for you or for me. I, I have–” He sighed and ruffled his hair in frustration. “I’m just afraid that you and I have different intentions.”

“Different intentions?” you repeated, confused. What was that supposed to mean? “Well, you’ve made it more than clear tonight how you see things between us.” 

Taehyung raised both eyebrows when he heard that. “What do you mean?”

You rolled your eyes. Did you really have to explain to him now what was bothering you? “Emmy didn’t even know who I was.”

He let the sentence sink in for a moment before enlightenment spread across his face. “Oh, that’s where that comes from… What would you have wanted to hear? That we’re together? We’re not, are we Y/N?”

“I just don’t understand you,” you said, not responding to him.

“I can say the same back,” he muttered, but you ignored that too.

“All evening you were so… so distant and your friends didn’t even know who I was and how we know each other. Do you know how awkward it was for me when Emmy asked that and then this answer came from you?” You waited a moment, but Taehyung’s lips were pressed tightly together again. “Do you think I didn’t feel the looks from Grace and Yoongi? The–The pity when they heard you just label me as an acquaintance?”

“Oh, is that your problem? Is it so important to you what others think of you?” 

You didn’t respond. That was not the reason and he should know it. 

“What was I supposed to introduce you as then?” Taehyung raised his voice now, showing just how frustrated he was getting. “Hi guys, this is Y/N by the way. We’ve been fucking for over three months, but I actually know absolutely nothing about her because she pushes me away every fucking time I want to get to know her better. Is that how you want me to introduce you next time?”

His chest rose and fell rapidly as he stood in front of you, completely out of breath, waiting for a reaction. 

You had to swallow and turned your gaze to the floor as the corners of your eyes began to burn. 

“Yes, I admit,” Taehyung continued, a bit more calmed but still noticeably upset, “I shouldn’t have introduced you as someone I just met at a party. But as what instead? What is this between us? You can’t tell me, and you don’t give me any clue about how you feel… how you feel about me. Sometimes I think you don’t fucking like me at all.”

“That’s not true,” you said meekly, but Taehyung snorted when he heard that. 

“Please stop denying that you don’t act like shit towards me. One night everything’s fine between us and the next day you’re back to being so distant as if there’s nothing between us.” You held his gaze, even though you wanted to look away. “And admit to yourself how you feel. For your sake, but also for mine, please. And let me know when you’ve made up your mind, I just can’t take this constant back and forth.”

He took a step back as if he needed some distance from you after his confession. Then he slowly walked past you while you continued to stand rooted to the spot.

“Are you coming?” you heard Taehyung’s voice behind you.

“I can walk the rest by myself.” Your voice sounded weak, as if the conversation just now had drained all your energy. 

Taehyung shook his head and nodded in the direction of your student apartment. “I’ll still walk you home. I’m not an asshole.”

If you concentrated, you could see the top of the roof in the distance. But maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you in the darkness. What was certain, though, was that the walk home would be unpleasant and long.

. . .

it’s a fine line between disappointment and anger

You shifted your weight from one foot to the other as your eyes flitted over the passing cars. You were on the lookout for Grace’s neon green old Ford Fiesta, although its eye-catching color made it hard to miss and visible even from a distance. When you took a quick look at your phone to check the time, you realized that you were already waiting for over fifteen minutes. 

The others were late.

You tried not to be too irritated about it, even though you couldn’t quite suppress the feeling. After all, you had taken a cab to get to the location, which was so far out of town. By train it would have been a big detour and a long walk afterwards, so you had bitten the bullet and spent the money on a cab. Even though you couldn’t deny that you almost cancelled when you found out how far out the location was.

And you knew all too well the reason why you had come after all.

You just hoped that Grace and Yoongi would give you a ride on the way back, so you wouldn’t have to pay for a cab again. 

You were about to reach into your jacket pocket for your phone again when you suddenly saw something green flashing in the distance. 

“Finally,” you muttered. You watched as Grace pulled into the parking lot and drove around the corner a little too fast before the car came to a stop in a parking space. 

“Sorry!” it echoed across the lot, barely after the driver’s side door was yanked open. “We’re late.” 

Grace came rushing to you and gave you a quick hug. As she did so, you noticed how out of breath she was, and instantly your little pang of annoyance was gone. “We still had to pick up Taehyung and Natalie.”

Natalie?

You tried not to flinch at the unfamiliar name. However, you didn’t even need to ask who this Natalie was because at that moment a girl got out of the car and brushed the non-existing dirt off her tight black jeans. Your gaze was so fixed on her that you didn’t even notice Taehyung, who had also gotten out of the car.

Only when he was just a few meters away from you and Grace did you notice him. You couldn’t help but let your eyes glide over his body. It had been a long time since you had seen Taehyung in jeans, when he usually wore wide-leg pants. You couldn’t deny how outrageously handsome he looked in the light blue jeans and plain black T-shirt that revealed his tanned arms. You wondered if he’d done something with friends last weekend and been out in the sun a lot.

You felt an unpleasant tingling on your skin and turned your attention back to the strange girl who pierced you with her gaze. It surprised you that no one else noticed her deadly stare, but that’s when she briefly narrowed her eyes and averted her eyes from you. Like a snake, which gave its warning before attacking if you didn’t back away. The message was clear, even if you didn’t understand what she had to fear. 

Taehyung and you, that was a closed book. Briefly flipped through it and then put back on the shelf. There, where it belonged and where it should preferably never be taken out again.

You hadn’t checked in for the past four weeks, and instead had locked yourself in your small dorm room preparing for exams. This had distracted you during the day, but at night you had often stayed awake. Your finger had hovered over the chat with Taehyung countless times before you had changed your mind at the last moment. 

It didn’t work. It wouldn’t work. 

Something inside you was still resisting, but now you didn’t have to act surprised if Taehyung had had enough of waiting. You had never been together. It was probably not difficult for him to move on. 

And you had given him every right to do so.

But then why did your heart tighten as you looked back and forth between Taehyung and Natalie?

“Let’s go in, it’s all going off of our time,” said Yoongi, who was the last to join you. With a nod and a quick smile, he greeted you before you walked together towards the front gate. The path to the small, ground-floor building was sandy, and lost in thought, you kicked a few small stones in front of you that were lying on the side of the path. 

“We needed one more person,” Grace snapped you out of your thoughts.

Confused, you looked up. 

“To play paintball,” she elaborated when she saw your puzzled look and nodded in the direction of Natalie, who was laughing at something Taehyung had said. She then punched him in the shoulder and he pretended to stagger far away before laughing as well. Just a few weeks ago, you had been the one laughing at his jokes. “It needs five players minimum, at least that’s what the website said.”

“Sure,” you replied, even though you had barely listened to Grace. You didn’t care about the reason Natalie was here. You wished that you had chosen to stay home. But there was nothing you could do about it now, and you definitely wouldn’t bring down anyone’s mood. 

So you put on a smile and hoped it would come easier in the next hours.

It didn’t take long at the reception, thankfully, so you were soon queuing up to borrow the equipment. During the induction training, your fingers nervously ran along the frame of the visor of your helmet that you had to wear. Purely precautionary, because the head was off limits, a paintball company employee explained to you. 

“There is also another rule,” the employee explained in a firm voice that indicated that he had told this text dozens, if not hundreds, of times before. “Or let’s say good etiquette. If you’re close to someone and the person hasn’t seen you,” he paused dramatically and you wondered if this pause had been in his script or if he’d added it over time, “don’t shoot the person, say ‘Bang!’ instead. Even if they’re just little hardened gelatine balls, they can really hurt when shot at such close range. So don’t be assholes and take care of each other.”

Scattered laughter rippled through the three groups receiving instruction with you. As your eyes slid back to the staff member to hear if he had more to explain, they lingered on Taehyung and Natalie. Natalie signalled Taehyung with her index finger to her lips that they should listen. As she did so, however, her lips twisted into a grin and from the short distance you could hear her soft laughter.

Oh now you couldn’t wait to get on the field.

. . .

You hid behind a small wooden hut in the fenced area. As you tried to calm your breathing, you checked the end of the gun to see how many of the little colored bullets were left before sighing quietly in frustration. 

You scanned your surroundings as you scrambled back to your feet, but there was no sign of Natalie. She was responsible for your team’s ammunition, and no sooner had the round begun against a group of strangers than she had apparently made it her goal to stay hidden not only from your opponents, but from her own teammates as well. You hadn’t seen her the entire round so far, and if you didn’t have a deep-seated grudge against her, you’d almost be impressed. 

You were jolted out of your thoughts when you suddenly heard a dull stomping behind you in the house. The hut was small, perhaps two square meters, and consisted only of thin wooden boards nailed together. As quietly as you could, you turned around and tried to make out something through the small slit between the wood, but even as you squinted your eye, you couldn’t see anything except for the floor. 

Suddenly, you heard something behind you. 

You whirled around and raised your gun at the same moment, aiming it right at the young man who was just sneaking around the corner of the house and was about to surprise you. 

You looked at each other perplexed for a moment before he turned his gun away from you and held up his free hand.

“I think we’re both out, aren’t we?” he laughed, and you agreed, smiling. 

He helped you to your feet and you went to join the others, who were also hit and waited outside the area until the round was over. You were surprised that Natalie and Taehyung were the only ones left from your team.

When Grace spotted you, she threw her arms up in the air in disappointment. “Oh no! I think we’re losing this round.” 

Yoongi stifled a grin at the pure disappointment in his girlfriend’s voice before putting an arm around her shoulders. Grace unconsciously rubbed her side, and as you moved to stand next to her, you asked, “Is that where it hit you?”

She looked down in wonder, where her hand was still rubbing the presumably sore spot, before nodding. “Those things really hurt, don’t you think?”

You shrugged. “I didn’t get hit. It was more of a mutual elimination.” You glanced to the side and saw the young man from the other team standing alone. His remaining team seemed not to have been hit yet. 

No sooner had this thought crossed your mind than two unknown men suddenly joined you. Their faces reflected frustration and disappointment. Your eyes widened when you saw the countless paint splatters on their clothes. 

“What happened to you guys?” laughed the other man when he noticed it too.

But the two didn’t answer him, instead they looked in your direction.

“Not a bad tactic,” one said, and the other nodded. 

You were glad that Grace and Yoongi were as clueless as you were when Grace asked, “What tactic?”

“You guys completely overran us with all the bullets two of your team members had. We didn’t expect that at all.”

Grace muttered something unintelligible and the two men joined their teammate. 

“You didn’t get any ammunition from Natalie either?” you asked in amazement, firmly expecting to be the only one who hadn’t seen Natalie. 

But the other two shook their heads and Grace rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what her problem is. If I had known beforehand what a bitch she was, I would have told Taehyung to take someone else with him.”

Yoongi grumbled in agreement. “Taehyung’s taste in women is questionable.” 

An uncomfortable silence settled over you like a heavy blanket. You didn’t miss Yoongi’s panicked glance in your direction, nor Grace’s elbow, which landed in Yoongi’s side. 

“Sorry, Y/N… I didn’t mean that,” he apologized, but you shook your head and forced a smile.

“It’s okay.”

But was it really?

The awkward silence was interrupted by a loud roar and cheer, and a little later the last four from the fenced area joined you. Two of them reflected exactly the emotion that the two men before had as well, while the other two were in each other’s arms, cheering and laughing loudly, and almost stumbling into each other.

“We won!” Natalie announced, grinning broadly and visibly proud. 

You didn’t need to look in Taehyung’s direction to notice that he was happy, too. You could hear it in the deep laughter that reached your ears.

But over their joy, they didn’t seem to notice that no one was rejoicing with them. A quick sideways glance at Grace told you how pissed off she was getting. To keep the situation from escalating, you stepped in. 

As calm and relaxed as you could, you said, “Maybe you’d like to give us some of that ammunition, too, in the next round.”

Natalie’s laughter died away, leaving behind an ugly grinning grimace. With raised eyebrows, she looked at you and took a step toward you. “It worked, didn’t it?” She paused. “Y/N.” She literally spat your name at your feet. “Or did it hurt that much when you got hit? Oh no, little baby.” She raised her hand and pinched your cheek like grandparents used to do with little kids. With a quick movement, you pushed her hand aside.

“Ever heard of teamwork?” interfered Yoongi, who also took a step forward, easily getting between you and Natalie. You were grateful for the distance between you.

Natalie’s challenging gaze was on you for a moment longer before she turned her attention to Yoongi. “Don’t be such killjoys, geez. We won, that’s all that matters.”

The discussion between Yoongi, Grace, and Natalie passed by you as your gaze slid to Taehyung. Your heart stopped for a second as your eyes met for the first time this day. You tried to find something in his gaze, an answer perhaps. An answer as to how you could drift apart in such a short time. And an answer to why on earth he had had to bring Natalie with him. 

Yet you knew the answer, and you knew you had no one to blame but yourself. Even though it had never been anything serious between you, Taehyung had given you the chance that it could have possibly become something more. If you had been brave enough. If you had admitted your feelings. 

If…

If you had given each other and yourself a chance. 

You had to avert your gaze and turned it to the ground instead. When you looked up again after a few seconds, Taehyung had turned his attention back to Natalie, who was still discussing with Grace. 

“Hey,” one of the men from the other group interrupted the argument, “Do you guys feel like swapping through?”

“Sure,” Natalie replied without waiting for a response from the others first. “Why not?”

“I want those two on the team, though,” you heard one of the men say quietly to his buddy before his gaze shifted to Natalie and Taehyung. The other one laughed and that reaction made the blood boil inside you. 

But that’s how it was decided before any of you three even had a chance to protest. Grace didn’t look like she was too sad about being on Natalie’s opposing team, though, and you were glad to know at least her and Yoongi were by your side. In addition to the two of them, you were joined rather reluctantly by the young man you had eliminated and one of the two who had been eliminated last in the round before.

Grace chatted with the two on her way to a new area, but you didn’t feel like talking. Usually you took the opportunity to meet new people, but today it kind of drained your energy. Either that or it was the annoying shrill laughter that could be heard every few seconds. Your ears were hurting by now.

“Wow, how cool!” Grace marveled as you walked through a large gate to the new area. And you too could only look around with your mouth open over the large plaza full of cars. At least you suspected that they were cars under the thick layer of paint, since they were barely visible. In the middle of the square diagonally stood a bus, which probably marked about half of the area. You could also make out an RV in the distance and many smaller cars scattered around. 

“You can hide in the cars, by the way,” one of the men from the other group gave you a hint.

“Are you guys here often?” asked Yoongi with interest and the other nodded.

He raised his gun, which looked different from the one you were holding. “Custom-made, we all have our own equipment.”

“Of course you do,” Grace muttered and you had to laugh. “Shhh, don’t laugh,” Grace whispered, but had to laugh as well. The fact that your laughter didn’t please one person at all escaped you at that moment. 

“Okay, we’ll each start from one side,” one of the two on your team announced, and you began to spread out across the course. More than once you almost slipped on the ground, which had become slippery from the layer of paint. You barely managed to hold on to the outside mirror of a car. A thick layer of paint remained on your hand and you grimaced as you wiped it off on your pants. 

At least you had thought ahead and taken a change of clothes with you. 

You looked at the RV that was in your area and before you could weigh the pros and cons, your legs had already carried you there out of pure curiosity. Quietly you opened the door to the interior and carefully closed it again behind you. 

Even the interior was not spared from paint splatters, but there was much less in here than outside. You continued to look around the dark room, which was only sparsely lit because the windows were also covered in paint from outside. 

“Shit,” you muttered as you realized what a bad idea that had been. You couldn’t see what was happening outside, and there was no place to hide in here either. The benches and kitchenette had been ripped out and only the small cubicle where you thought the toilet was, was still there. 

With a sigh, you turned and reached toward the door to go back outside, when suddenly you heard voices. You couldn’t make out who it was or if it was someone from your team, but you couldn’t take the risk. 

Cursing, you lowered your hand again and walked quietly but briskly toward the small cabin. You winced when the rotten wood squeaked as you opened the door, but continued with your plan. Not that you had a choice. In the darkness, you were able to make out that the toilet had also been ripped out, making it just a tiny, empty room. 

You shut the door and squatted on the floor. Straining your ears, you tried to hear something, but except for your breathing, which seemed uncomfortably loud under your helmet, you couldn’t hear anything. Adrenaline coursed through your veins and your ears picked up every little sound. 

Had that been the door to the RV? 

You tried to make yourself a little smaller.

“I swear, I saw her go in here.”

The blood froze in your veins as you recognized the deep voice. You didn’t know why, but it hurt to hear that Taehyung had betrayed you just like that. And you didn’t need laser vision to know who was alongside Taehyung. 

A second later, the door was yanked open.

Your eyes narrowed as you had to look at the sudden light that fell through the door, illuminating the person in front of you from behind. You only heard them laugh, which sounded somewhat muffled by the helmet and visor, before you heard a loud clack and a second later felt a sudden pain in your upper arm. 

Before you understood what had happened, the sequence repeated itself two more times. A bullet bounced off the wall and hit you in the back of the head. You flinched as a sharp pain shot through you and instinctively grabbed the back of your head. Even in the dark you could see your fingers were yellow from the paint.

“Oh oops,” you heard Natalie laugh, “Bang.”

She giggled even as you scrambled to your feet and pushed past her. She didn’t step aside, not until your shoulder made hard contact with hers and she stumbled to the side. 

“Ugh, someone can’t lose, I guess.”

Jumping out of the RV and almost running into Taehyung, you froze on the spot for a moment. Not a word came out of him and after a few moments you just gave a cool short laugh before shaking your head and walking towards the edge of the area. 

The back of your head hurt and as you ran your fingers through your hair again, you winced, noticing how the color was already gluing them together. A curse stuck in your throat, but you tried not to let it out. Once you started, you wouldn’t be able to stop. 

“We’re really bad,” Grace laughed when she caught sight of you. But you shook your head in response and silently walked past her. “Is everything okay?” One foot in front of the other. “Y/N?”

Her questions fell silent when you were finally far enough away. You went straight to the lockers and reached for your bag. The sudden jerk caused it to snag on the metal of the locker, which only made you pull on it more furiously. A few seconds of mindless pulling later, you let it go. As you brushed your palms over your face, you noticed how your hands were shaking. 

So you forced yourself to take a few deep breaths before slowly grabbing the handles of your bag again. This time you immediately managed to pull it out of the compartment. The locker slammed shut behind you as you made your way towards the changing rooms. 

. . . 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?” Grace asked you this question for the third time and for the third time you nodded. 

You said your thanks to the staff member who held out an ice pack to you and immediately you held it to the back of your head. By the time you had changed your clothes, you had already noticed the dark red spots where you had been hit and which would surely be blue by tomorrow at the latest. When you had pulled your sweatshirt over your head, you had noticed the thick and painful bump on your head. 

“I really appreciate this, Grace, that you’re offering to wait with me,” you explained, “but you paid for this and you had fun, so I don’t want to spoil it for you.”

“You’re not spoiling anything for me,” came back the prompt reply. Grace was still holding your free hand as if she was afraid you were getting the next cab home at any moment. And to be honest, you would like nothing better than that right now.

Still, you rolled your eyes. “Come on,” you said, nodding behind her. 

Yoongi was just heading your way, with a questioning look on his face. “What happened?” 

Grace started to answer, but you beat her to it. “I got hit, nothing bad.”

But Grace grunted contemptuously. “Natalie shot her in the back of her head.”

“It wasn’t on purpose.” You didn’t want to defend her because you knew the two hits before that had definitely been on purpose. But you also knew that the hit to your head had been bad luck.

“Does it hurt much?” Yoongi didn’t join the discussion, but remained diplomatic. You gave him credit for that. Your head hurt enough as it was, you didn’t need another unnecessary argument. 

In response, you shrugged your shoulders and pressed the cold pack harder against your head, closing your eyes briefly. 

“Do you want one of us to stay here?”

“Not you too,” you groaned, and when you opened your eyes again, you caught sight of Natalie and Taehyung, who also joined you at that moment.

“Oh,” Natalie said, barely standing next to Grace, “you changed your clothes, Y/N,” she remarked as she looked down at you. 

Grace’s grip on your hand tightened and you saw her jaw tighten. 

Then you turned your gaze to Natalie. There was not an ounce of remorse or pity in her gaze. “Yeah, I’m out. Completely for today.”

“Oh no, what a shame!” 

Taehyung on the other hand was exceptionally quiet right now and didn’t say a word. And you didn’t have the strength to look up and see the same look you saw a few minutes ago.

“Well, that’s just the way it is. Shall we keep playing?”

No one said a word and the uncomfortable silence increased by the second. 

“Go on,” you said, squeezing Grace’s hand, “go on playing without me.” You gave her a significant look and Grace’s eyes widened briefly before a knowing smile spread across her face.

“Okay, let’s go!” she said euphorically, jumping to her feet. Then she pulled Yoongi by the hand with her. 

Natalie didn’t take the invitation twice either and followed the two of them. Only when she had walked a few meters did she stop in wonder and look back at Taehyung, who hadn’t moved an inch. “Are you coming, Tae?”

You couldn’t hold back your bitter grin when you heard the nickname. When you looked up, Taehyung’s gaze was right on the floor in front of you. “Come on, Tae,” you said, and at your voice your eyes met, “your girlfriend’s calling you.”

Taehyung’s answer came directly without hesitation and his voice was cold as he said, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Just like I’ve never been your girlfriend? Is that the same between you two?”

“That’s not fair, Y/N… You were the one who didn’t talk to me for four weeks. It was as if you had completely disappeared from the face of the earth.”

He looked at you silently, his lips pressed into a straight line. He shook his head ever so slightly before turning and following the others without another word. You had to admit that you felt some gloating when he ignored Natalie’s outstretched hand and followed Yoongi and Grace without paying any attention to her. 

. . .

“You should have seen her face,” Grace laughed, quickly covering her mouth when she realized how loudly she had spoken. You stood in front of the locker while Grace pushed her water bottle into her bag. Wordlessly, Yoongi held his dirty clothes out to her and with a roll of her eyes, she grabbed them and stuffed them into the bag as well. “Next time, bring your own bag.”

“Hm-hm,” Yoongi muttered, already having turned his attention to something else.

You exited the building and headed toward the parking lot. You looked over your shoulder, where you recognized Taehyung and Natalie a few feet away from you. The two didn’t say a word to each other and silently followed you.

“What happened?” you asked quietly as you turned to face forward again. You couldn’t deny that the mood between the two of them seemed tense, while Grace walked beside you almost jumping for joy.

“She realized it hurts when you get hit.”

Immediately your head snapped to her, “Oh God, what did you do?” 

But Grace shook her head and you could see a slight smile on Yoongi’s face. “Not me.” She gave you a meaningful look that you couldn’t interpret. Or wanted to. “Taehyung.”

“Taehyung?” You were confused. “Weren’t they on the same team?”

“Apparently he got tired of her,” Yoongi said, and he too looked at you for a moment too long. 

“And that’s not the only thing,” Grace directly followed up when Yoongi hadn’t even finished speaking, “He accidentally called her Nicole. She hasn’t spoken to him since.”

“Admittedly, he didn’t really talk to her before either.”

You had to swallow. Suddenly a fat lump had settled in your throat, making it hard for you to make a sound. Only when you cleared your throat did you start to speak. “Can we talk about something else?”

For a moment neither of them said anything and you felt the eyes of both on you. You had yours, however, focused on the floor in front of you. Grace was just starting to speak when suddenly a shadow appeared next to you in the corner of your eye. You looked up in surprise and were even more surprised to see Taehyung next to you. 

He didn’t say a word, but just walked beside you. You opened your mouth, but you didn’t know what to say. Especially not in front of Grace and Yoongi. And in front of Natalie, whose footsteps you heard right behind you. 

And was there anything to say at all? Or would all the effort be for nothing and just a little too late?

You eyed him from the side, letting your gaze glide over his tousled and windblown hair, over his nose and his lips. The lips, which formed slightly downward and the eyebrows, which he had pinched together in thought. 

It seemed as if he noticed your stare, because suddenly he looked up and when your eyes met every trace of strain disappeared. A brief smile spread across his face before he turned his gaze forward again.

Arriving at the car, you tried to make yourself as small as possible in the middle seat so that your leg wouldn’t keep bumping into Taehyung’s as Grace rounded a corner. Your heart had been pounding up to your throat ever since you felt the heat radiating from him and taking over you completely. Your skin tingled and again and again your gaze slid to his hand, which he had placed on his knee. It needed only a small movement of your hand and you would be able to grasp it. You wondered if he would withdraw his hand or allow–

You quickly turned your gaze to the other side. But it was no better there. Natalie barely gave you room, which didn’t make your predicament with Taehyung any better. She stared wordlessly out the window since you got into the car and paid no attention to the conversations in the car. 

Even though there wasn’t that much attention to pay there, because every attempt Grace made to start a conversation was met with a wall of awkward silence. A few short sentences, Taehyung, Yoongi and you returned before the conversation died again. On top of that, you felt Grace’s eyes on you through the rearview mirror every few seconds. You didn’t need to be able to read minds to understand that you were supposed to talk to Taehyung. 

The next time your eyes met, you tried to shake your head as inconspicuously as possible. 

This was not the right time. 

Grace shook her head… and drove a little too fast around the next curve. 

You managed to suppress the surprised yelp, but couldn’t keep your balance, so you fell into Taehyung’s lap. Your hand came into contact with his thigh, which you tried to brace yourself against. 

“Oh,” Grace laughed, and you gave her an evil glare through the driver’s seat, “I guess I was a little too fast. Sorry.”

“Are you okay?” Taehyung’s deep voice startled you. You felt his strong hand on your shoulder and slowly he pulled you back upright. 

“Yeah, sorry,” you apologized and your cheeks burned. Damn, Grace…

“Don’t worry about it. Nothing happened.”

But something did happen, just not the way Taehyung was thinking at that moment. 

. . .

scary love

Your heart was pounding loudly in your chest; so hard it almost hurt. Your gaze slid from your perfectly applied makeup to your top, and you stared at the spot under your left breast for a moment, sure that you could see your heart beating. You shook your head and took one deep breath before grabbing your bag, throwing on a jacket and leaving your room. 

The hustle and bustle of the city drowned out your noisy thoughts as you made your way to the apartment of the house party. When Grace had approached you about the party yesterday and asked if you were coming, your thoughts had inevitably drifted straight to Taehyung. The last time you had gone out at night was when you and Taehyung had had your fight. Even though that was nearly a month and a half ago, it seemed like it was only a few days ago.

But it wasn’t just your thoughts that had drifted straight to him. 

As you got off the bus and walked the rest of the way, Grace’s expression came back to your mind. The much-important pause that had followed her question and right before her hesitant “Taehyung will be there too.” 

You wondered if it would always be like this from now on. That you would have to be forewarned if there was a chance that you might run into each other.

You hoped that this would not be your future. That you could have a clarifying conversation with him tonight. And that he was at the party at all. You didn’t even want to think about the fact that you came to the party today for nothing. 

The thumping bass and sweaty heat met you as you entered the house. Immediately, your eyes scanned the various guests as you walked through the different rooms on the first floor. Your heart stopped a few times as you thought you spotted Taehyung, only to be disappointed when it was someone else. 

You were still a little scared that you seemed to feel so strongly about Taehyung. You didn’t want to imagine the pain if Taehyung rejected you. After all, he had been relatively cryptic in his statements, and even if… you had taken a few weeks to make your decision. The situation with Natalie still hadn’t left your mind. What if he showed up again today with another girl? 

Your thoughts raced and your gaze darted through the crowd until finally someone entered your field of vision and you looked up slightly. 

“Y/N, are you okay?” Grace looked at you with wide eyes and you were sure your nervousness was showing.

“Yes,” you answered her, your voice sounding breathless. Just like how you felt. “Have you seen Taehyung?”

Grace stifled a smile, but the corners of her mouth twitched up suspiciously, betraying her. 

“He’s coming along with Yoongi. The two of them should be on their way.” She glanced at her phone and nodded once more in agreement with her statement. “Oh, Yoongi just texted that they arrived.”

Your heart skipped a beat and the nervousness became almost unbearable all at once. Nausea spread through you and you gratefully accepted the drink Grace held out to you, which you only now noticed. As you took a generous sip of it, you realized it was water.

“Thank you, Grace.”

“I thought it would be better if you worked this out sober.” She smiled at you encouragingly, but suddenly her eyes fell on something behind you. You were afraid to turn around because you knew exactly who must have come up behind you. You could see it in Grace’s smile and you inevitably wondered if you were looking at Taehyung like that. Or if he was looking at you like that. 

But when Yoongi came up beside you, you couldn’t continue to stand rooted to the spot. You turned your head to the side and Taehyung’s gaze was already on you. For a moment, you stared at each other as if you were having a telepathic conversation. Then a small smile spread on Taehyung’s lips and you felt yourself relax abruptly. 

“Hey,” his deep voice greeted you. 

“Hi.” You didn’t notice Grace and Yoongi giving each other meaningful looks before they unobtrusively walked away from you and left you alone. You were too focused on Taehyung, on his face and his smile. He looked handsome, his T-shirt tucked into his dark pants, and at his neck you could make out a fine silver chain, its pendant disappearing under his T-shirt. 

You had missed him. And you were glad to see him again. 

And as you studied his expression, hope spread through you that he might felt the same way. 

“Shall we–”, “Do you want–”, you started talking at the same time and you suppressed an eye roll as you laughed softly. 

“Please,” he let you go first with that boxy smile you had missed so much. 

You took a deep breath and laid out the words you’d been thinking about for the past few days. “Do you want to talk somewhere that might be a little quieter?”

Taehyung nodded without thinking twice. “Shall we go to my place? I’m here by car.”

Surprised, you raised your eyebrows. “By car? But you just got here, right? And since when do you have a car?”

His smile changed, taking on a hint of… was that embarrassment? “Well, I didn’t come here for the party.” Now he was grinning fully at you. “And Yoongi lent me his car.”

The words got stuck in your throat and you were incapable of more than a smile. 

“Shall we?” 

As you nodded, Taehyung led you through the crowd back to the front door. Every few seconds he looked over his shoulder to make sure you hadn’t lost him and were still behind him. 

But you wouldn’t let him out of your sight again.

Silently, you walked to Taehyung’s car, but this time the silence was not uncomfortable. Instead, there was a certain tension in the air, as if you were both nervous about the upcoming conversation. No matter how it turned out, something would definitely change for you. 

As the doors slammed shut loudly, the sound snapped you out of your thoughts. All at once, you realized how close you were to Taehyung. His right hand was on the gear stick as he put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking space. You couldn’t help but watch him as he expertly pulled the car onto the road. 

“Are you just going to stare at me the whole time, or do you want to talk as well?” Taehyung’s grin showed you that he was just teasing you because he had noticed your stare. 

“Sorry,” you returned with a soft laugh, turning your gaze to the road ahead of you instead. 

“How are you?” 

Normally, you hated that question. It was a filler for awkward pauses when you didn’t know what to say. But at that moment, it was different. You knew that Taehyung was genuinely interested in how you were doing and that his question hinted at more than it showed at first glance. A question whose deeper meaning only the two of you knew. 

Therefore, you pondered for a moment how best to answer this question. You decided to tell the truth. Finally. “I… could be better.”

“Oh?” Taehyung tilted his head and gave you a quick sideways glance.

Your gaze was on your feet as you continued to explain. “I’ve been pretty bothered by everything… All this between us I mean.”

“Hm-hm.”

“And I wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?” Taehyung sounded seriously surprised. “For what?”

You sighed and let your head fall back against the headrest. “For treating you like that… I didn’t know what I wanted myself, and I expected you to know. That was unfair.”

Taehyung let your words run through his mind. “And do you know what you want now?” In one move, he parked in front of his apartment and turned off the engine. 

You waited until he pulled the key out of the ignition and looked at you. “Yes.”

“And what’s that?” Taehyung’s voice was little more than a whisper, so soft that it was meant only for your ears. Afraid that if it left that small space of the car, that your mind would change again. 

But it wouldn’t anytime soon. Rarely had you felt as sure as you did at that moment. 

“Can we discuss this upstairs?”

Nervously, you followed him up the two flights of stairs, the mixture of your racing heart and exertion making you gasp a little as Taehyung unlocked his apartment. 

“Would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea, water… I also have that lemonade you like so much.” His voice grew more distant as he disappeared into the kitchen. You heard dishes and bottles clinking as you waited uncertainly in the hallway until Taehyung finally stepped out of the kitchen with two bottles and you went into the living room. 

No matter how you sat on the small sofa, you couldn’t stay still and had to change your position every few seconds. Legs crossed, once left leg up, then right leg. Then both feet on the floor, once half bent on the sofa–

Until Taehyung finally put a hand on your knee, forcing you to rest. A small smile played around his lips as he sought and finally found your gaze. “I’ve never seen you this nervous before,” he remarked, leaning back again after making sure you stayed in one position for now. 

You exhaled before taking a sip of the lemonade and placing the bottle back on the coffee table. Your hands shook as you placed them folded back together in your lap. You heard the quiet whirring of Taehyung’s Playstation, which he never shut off, and which had already become a welcoming sound. It seemed almost ridiculous to you that you had missed that. 

You cleared your throat and slid back and forth on the sofa again before finally getting to speak. You were so engrossed in your own thoughts that you didn’t notice how nervous Taehyung himself was and how he was hanging spellbound on your lips, hoping that you would finally give him an explanation. 

“I’ve had a lot of time the last few weeks to think about… well, to think about the weeks before that. The paintball game in particular has given me a lot to think about.”

“I still wanted to apologize for that,” Taehyung added, “Nadine was really out of line. I shouldn’t have brought her.”

You grunted before you could hold it back, but decided not to comment on his mistake. Instead, you asked, “Then why did you? How do you even know her?”

Now Taehyung was shifting back and forth a little uneasily. “I know her from a few parties. She approached me shortly after that fight we had…”

The question hung in the air, but still, you had to have certainty.

“Was there something going on between you two?”

Taehyung hesitated to answer and you felt your heart sink.

Then he sighed. “We kissed, made out a little before I stopped. When Yoongi asked me if I knew anyone else we could take to the paintball game, she offered coming. I thought it would be a good idea to… um, well–”

“Were you trying to make me jealous?” you interrupted him, raising an eyebrow. 

Taehyung nodded and rubbed the back of his neck with the flat of his hand, slightly embarrassed. “I know that’s stupid and childish. But I was just still so mad at you–at me, at both of us to be honest. You’d been so absent-minded with me, I just wanted to see some kind of reaction from you.”

“I’m sure you saw one,” you muttered, turning your gaze to the gray carpet.

“Yes, but not the one I wanted,” Taehyung returned, also muttering. “I never wanted you to get hurt. That’s what I told her as well.” There was silence between the two of you for a moment and you heard Taehyung take a deep breath. “I haven’t been in contact with her since, if you’re interested.”

You weighed his statement before nodding slowly and turning your gaze back to him. “You can have contact with whomever you want, Taehyung,” you began, and he started to contradict you, but you raised your hand, wanting to finish your sentence, “but I don’t want to tell you what to do and what not to do. Who you should have contact with and with whom you shouldn’t. If we start with such stories, we’ll get into a spiral again. But thank you for telling me honestly what happened between you.”

Taehyung waited a moment to see if you had finished talking before it rushed out of him. “I didn’t end it with her because I was afraid of what you would think about it. In the first place, there was never anything between us that could have been ended, and secondly, that was entirely a decision for myself. And I wanted to be fair to her. I know what it’s like to just be a replacement for someone and how shitty this feels. I didn’t want to do that to anyone else.”

“I didn’t know anyone had ever hurt you like that.”

Taehyung laughed softly as he recalled, and you were glad that the memory no longer seemed to cause him pain. You still had to work on that yourself, letting bygones be bygones and not projecting your experiences onto other people, other men. 

“In my junior year… I can’t remember her name,” Taehyung began to tell, “I was fully into puberty and she was the first girl I really liked. You must know that I used to be quite the nerd.” He softly laughed about himself when he remembered that. 

“A nerd? Pfft.” Looking at Taehyung now, with his wide black pants, muscular upper arms showing under his white T-shirt, and his whole aura radiating, you found it hard to imagine.

“Hey, don’t pfft me,” he complained, “I cared a lot about good grades and she noticed that. Of course, back then, I gratefully accepted any chance to do something with her. Even if it consisted of me doing her homework while she sat on her phone, probably texting her friends about how boring I was.”

“Ouch. That’s almost exactly like all those teen movies from back in the day.”

“And I was the poor nerd that the whole school made fun of behind his back.”

From the way Taehyung said this, you knew he wasn’t exaggerating. Your hand twitched as you reached for his hand, but you were unsure how far to go. Whether your touch was appropriate and, more importantly, welcome. 

But he had seen that small movement and reached for your hand. Your fingers intertwined as if they were made for it and you wondered if that was the first time you held hands like that. At that moment, you couldn’t imagine a more intimate gesture.

“I changed schools my senior year and graduated. A fresh new start, so to speak.”

“I know what that feels like,” you agreed, nodding, and he smiled at you gratefully. His fingers painted small circles on the back of your hand and the skin touched by his fingertips began to tingle. 

“It wasn’t an easy time for me, if I’m honest,” he continued, “I didn’t make any friends in my last year because most of the groups had already formed and I felt like it wasn’t worth it for most of them to make another friendship for that one year. But I could have tried harder. So I was glad when I was out of school.”

You tilted your head in wonder. “I thought you liked school?”

Taehyung threw you a small smile. “There’s a difference between liking learning and liking school. I always wanted to get good grades, even if that girl spoiled it for me a bit. Crashed a little bit after that, and really all I enjoyed was drawing and painting. I was glad that the university accepted me at all with my final grades. Because that’s not what a lot of people think, that you need good grades to study art.” Taehyung rolled his eyes and shook his head, laughing softly.

“Is that what you want to do? Being a painter?”

Taehyung thought about it for a moment. You could tell that he had a profession on the tip of his tongue, but seemed unsure of how you would respond. You squeezed his hand once so he would continue.

“I mean, there are many professions,” he began to explain, “I can stay at a university after graduation and pass on my knowledge to others. I think that’s pretty cool.”

You waited a moment, but Taehyung seemed to be pondering his thoughts. “But?” you asked because of that, and he turned his attention back to you. 

“My dream is to open my own gallery. To support small artists and bring their voices to the public. And, of course, to exhibit myself, that would be awesome.”

“Do you have some paintings here?”

He looked at you like you’d asked a totally crazy question. And maybe you had. Sometimes you lived in your own world full of books from centuries ago that you felt a little detached from the present time. 

Taehyung let your hand slip from his and got up from the sofa. He went to the large cabinet that took up almost the entire opposite wall, pulled open a drawer, and began rummaging through it. After a few moments, he seemed to have found what he was looking for.

When he came back to you, he had a large drawing pad in his hand, which he held out to you. With careful fingers you took the A2 large pad from him. The first small loose sketches fell into your hand as you opened the pad. Immediately your jaw dropped as you took your first look at what probably represented Taehyung’s most intimate thoughts and feelings. 

You recognized many black and white sketch-like drawings that, at least you assumed, must have been painted with charcoal. It seemed like he had been studying different facial expressions, and that was a theme that ran through many of his drawings. Even your untrained eye could see that Taehyung placed a lot of emphasis on the expressions of his models. Anger, annoyance, sadness, more rarely happiness… you kept turning the pages and suddenly the drawing in front of you looked familiar. Or rather, the person who was drawn looked familiar. 

It was you. 

You looked up in surprise and met Taehyung’s waiting gaze. It seemed like he was reading every reaction on your face. 

“Some people don’t like it when you draw them,” he explained.

You searched for the right words as you continued to flip through it and saw another drawing of yourself. In the background you saw sketchy hints of other people, and you wondered if this was supposed to be the night of the party when you two had first met. 

Your index finger gently stroked the fine pencil lines. “This is how you see me?” Your voice was no more than a whisper. Your eyes fell on the date, written very small in the corner of the picture. You weren’t quite sure, but you believed that the picture had been taken on the very day after the party.

“What do you mean?”

Your gaze fell back to the drawing. The drawing strokes were deliberate and skillfully placed, as if he had done it a thousand times before. Only in the region of the face could you see eraser marks, and as you stroked over them, Taehyung laughed softly. 

“It took me forever to get your face right,” he admitted, also letting his gaze slide over the paper in your hands. 

“It turned out beautifully,” you breathed. 

Taehyung looked up from the drawing and eyed your face for a moment before the corners of his mouth twitched upward. “Still, nothing like the original. Nothing comes close to that.”

You rolled your eyes when you heard that, but had to laugh softly. His comment reminded you of the night of the party. Already there he had been able to convince you, to your surprise, with his bad and exaggerated comments. You would have ignored anyone else, but even then you had given him a chance. 

No matter what Taehyung said or did, he always made you feel that he meant it one hundred percent. And that was what set him apart from many men your age. 

And that was the reason you were here. 

Gently, you closed the sketchpad and placed it on the coffee table in front of you. “So,” you began, leaning back again until your back touched the backrest. Even though you looked relaxed from the outside, excitement and nervousness raged inside you. “What is this between us?”

Taehyung also leaned back and turned slightly to the side so that your knees were almost touching. With every second that Taehyung said nothing, the tension grew. 

Then he cleared his throat and you flinched, so tense you were. “Hmm,” he began, studying your face. “There can be everything and nothing between us.”

You suppressed a snort, and instead a muffled sound of disapproval came out.

A smirk spread across his face when he heard it, before he leaned forward. 

“Is that answer not acceptable to you?” His grin revealed that he knew exactly what you wanted to hear. 

Needed to hear. 

Because still your heart was beating up to your throat, afraid that you would get hurt. But luck was with the brave, right?

So you shook your head. No, you were not satisfied with his answer. 

You also leaned forward so that you braced your elbows on your knees. Now there were only a few inches between you and Taehyung. You imagined even feeling his breath lightly on your face. Then you said, so softly that it was almost swallowed by the silence around you, “I want more than what we already had. I don’t know if this is or can become a relationship, but I want more than sex. I want to get to know you, your quirks and oddities–”

“There aren’t any,” he interrupted, grinning. 

“There’s already the first one” you mumbled, looking at him seriously for a moment. Then a smile broke up your serious expression.

Taehyung just shook his head with a grin before his eyes fell on your lips. “Does that mean I finally get to kiss you?”

“Yeah.” 

Taehyung raised his hand, slowly, and so gently that at first you were unsure if you were imagining the touch, before his palm and thumb rested on your cheek and his fingers caressed your ear and neck. Your breath hitched at the intimate touch and unconsciously you leaned towards the movement. 

This was the moment when you threw every last bit of doubt overboard. The space that was finally vacated, after all these years, was filled with a warmth until you even felt the heat on your cheeks.

Taehyung now leaned forward fully and you closed your eyes at the same moment as his lips met yours. The kiss was soft at first, almost cautious, as your bodies had to get used to each other again. But it only lasted a moment before Taehyung opened his lips to intensify the kiss and ran his tongue along your lips. You willingly opened your mouth and allowed him to enter. 

He explored your mouth and pulled you towards him by your hips until you landed on his lap with a soft “oomph”. He gave a low, satisfied-sounding grumble and his grip on your waist tightened, as if to make sure you wouldn’t vanish into thin air again at any moment. 

Your fingers ran through his soft hair and you didn’t know where to touch him first. Everything was going too slowly for you and when you let your hips circle against Taehyung’s, he made a satisfied sound. His big hands eased off your hips and instead sought their way under your T-shirt. Meanwhile, the kiss grew more intimate and you both fought for the upper hand, even though you knew there was no answer to that question. 

“God, I missed you,” he murmured into the kiss. 

His thumb circled your nipple over the material of your bra und you arched into his touch. You felt him growing even harder between your legs when you pushed your hips into his. Taehyung bit your lower lip and elicited a whine from you. He grabbed your thighs and in the next moment he had lifted you up and laid you backwards on the sofa. Immediately he towered over you and you spread your legs so that he could find space between them. His mouth wandered downward, along your neck, remembering exactly which parts of you were particularly sensitive and making you squirm in his grip. 

As he let his hips snap against yours, your moans echoed loudly in the otherwise silent room. He showed you exactly how hard he was, and your abdomen contracted as you thrust your hips upward, hoping to get more friction. 

But Taehyung seemed to have other priorities at that moment and pushed your T-shirt up a little further. You shivered as the cool air hit your bare and heated skin, and when Taehyung sensed this, he rubbed your sides with his large, warm hands. His mouth also found its way to your stomach and he spread countless small, innocent kisses on the sensitive skin before he slid a little further back and straightened up until he knelt between your legs. 

You were already out of breath at this point and looked at him over your rapidly heaving chest. He held your gaze as he slowly, but surely reached with his fingers to the clasp of your jeans and undid them. He took his time, after all, you were no longer in any hurry. Time belonged to you alone at that moment.

Taehyung helped you slip out of the tight jeans and threw them on the floor next to the sofa. He didn’t hesitate for a second and let his hands slide up your legs starting at your calves, until he finally reached your thighs and spread them a little further apart. 

His gaze was fixed on the center of your body and his eyes flickered upward for a brief moment where your eyes met. “And I missed that, too.” He bit his lip while his gaze studied your body, as if he were absorbing and memorizing every little detail of you.

The air escaped you as you laughed out of breath. “I’ve missed you, too.”

This time his gaze was on you longer; it seemed like he didn’t expect that answer. Both of you would probably need a little time to get used to this new situation. But it didn’t scare you anymore. For the first time in years you had the feeling that someone accepted, even liked you, as you were.

And for the first time, maybe ever, you knew you were giving someone else that chance too.

He turned his gaze back between your legs and you had to moan as he stroked his thumb over the wet line that had already formed on the material of your underwear. Then he withdrew his hand and grabbed the hem of his T-shirt, which he pulled over his head a moment later. Immediately your hands grabbed everything they could find, his trained arms, over his chest and stomach. Until your fingers finally reached the waistband of his pants, where you paused for a moment. 

You looked up and without breaking eye contact, you pulled the button through its flap and pulled the zipper down, before Taehyung slipped out of them. 

Your breath hitched when you saw how hard Taehyung was. His bulge was significant in his gray boxers and when you saw that, you grabbed him through the material. He groaned and his eyes fluttered shut at the touch before he thrust his hips towards your hand. Taehyung grumbled in frustration as that wasn’t enough. Without further ado, he grabbed your hand to push it away and grabbed your legs instead. 

Before you knew what was happening, he had spun you around so that you were sitting on the sofa again and he let himself slide onto the floor between your legs. He bumped into the coffee table behind him, clanking, and you watched the two bottles of lemonade wobble dangerously before they settled back down.

“Maybe I’d better move this one back a little,” Taehyung said more to himself than to you, and gently pushed the table back a few inches, giving him a little more room to maneuver. 

Without playing any more games, he snaked his fingers under the thin material of your panties and you lifted your pelvis so he could slide them off of you. Then he grabbed your thighs from underneath and pulled you to the edge of the sofa. You felt his hot breath on your heated and wet center and let your head fall backwards onto the backrest. 

“Did you know you have the sweetest pussy ever?” He gave you a quick glance from between your legs and as if by themselves your fingers found their way into his hair. Then he buried his face in your dripping folds and licked a long strip along your opening.

“Oh God,” you uttered as he placed the tip of his tongue against your clit and circled it. “Why are you so good at this?”

Taehyung’s deep laugh came from between your legs, and the vibrations from it sent more shockwaves through your body. He savored your taste, diving right in so that his nose grazed your clit and you unintentionally thrust your hips upward. He released one arm and held you in place with the flat of his hand on your abdomen. 

His lips found your clit and when he started sucking on it hard, you let your head fall back and pushed his head even closer between your legs. 

With a smack, he broke away from you and when he looked up, you could see the area around his mouth glistening. “You have no idea how delicious you are, Baby,” he murmured, replacing his tongue with two of his fingers that slid up and down, spreading your arousal. His fingers stopped briefly at your entrance, pressing the tips of his fingers inside so that he stretched you ever so slightly before running them along your labia again. 

“Don’t tease me like that, please.” Your inner walls were pulsing around nothing, just waiting to finally be filled. Preferably by Taehyung, but if he didn’t hurry, you’d have to do it yourself. 

“Oh come on, you love it,” Taehyung laughed softly, biting his lower lip as his gaze fell on his fingers, sliding in and out of you. He was giving you what you wanted, just not enough of it. 

“Taehyunggg…” You didn’t care how whiny you sounded.

But your plan seemed to work, as Taehyung suddenly pushed them all the way into you. You stifled a moan as his fingers buried deep inside you and the heel of his hand pressed against your clit. 

“Is that better?” Taehyung sounded breathless as well.

“Yes,” you gasped and Taehyung began to pick up a slow but steady pace with his fingers. You could hear how wet you were and that sound only turned you on more. “Taehy–” His name got stuck in your throat as Taehyung began to curl his fingers while being buried deep inside you. 

“What was that?” 

“Fuck you,” you blurted out between clenched teeth, but Taehyung knew you didn’t mean your insult. 

“I’d rather have you do it.” And with that, all at once, he pulled his fingers out of you. 

He eyed your torso and slid his palm over one of your breasts. Through the material of your T-shirt and bra, he let his thumb circle your nipple before pulling his hand back. “Take that off, Baby. I want to see you.”

You did and pulled both your shirt and bra over your head. When you turned your attention back to Taehyung, he had taken off his boxers so he was completely naked as well. He had taken a seat on the sofa and was sliding his hand up and down his cock. Drops of pre-cum had formed on his tip, which he picked up with his thumb when he noticed your gaze and reached out to you.

“I’m clean,” he mentioned immediately, “I got tested shortly after this started with us. Just to be safe.”

You grinned, grabbing Taehyung’s wrist and encircling his thumb with your lips. He tasted slightly salty, but barely noticeable, and with your tongue you traced along his thumb. You began sucking on his finger and heard Taehyung swear under his breath before letting it slide out of your mouth with a “pop”. 

“Okay, enough of that.” He reached out a hand towards you and grabbed what he could get, which was your forearm, before pulling you towards him by it. You almost stumbled as you were pulled forward and just barely managed to brace yourself against the backrest next to Taehyung’s head. “Sorry, but I cannot wait.” He gave you an apologetic smile. 

You placed one leg on either side of Taehyung’s hips and before you had settled on his thighs, he had leaned forward and taken one of your nipples into his mouth. Shuddering, you exhaled as he circled his tongue around the sensitive bud and sucked on it. You rested your chin on the top of his head and your fingers loosened the little knots that had formed in his hair at the nape of his neck. 

“I love your body,” he said before giving your other nipple the attention it needed. “It’s perfect.” His hands traveled down your body and gripped your butt cheeks, which he kneaded. “You’re perfect.”

You reached between both your bodies to take his cock in your hand and slid forward a little. With slow movements, you lowered your hips and let him slide along between your legs.

“Oh god, Baby.” 

Taehyung was now gripping your hips to get you into a steady rhythm. His cock slid so wonderfully past your wet opening, giving just the right amount of friction to your clit. You changed the angle of your hips and the next time you moved your hips forward, his tip lightly penetrated you. 

“Fuck, wait.”

Taehyung looked to the side towards his bedroom before cursing again. 

“You’re clean you said?” you asked, and Taehyung’s head snapped toward you. 

“Yeah…”

“I have a contraceptive implant.”

His mouth shaped into an “Oh” as he understood what your statement meant – and the implications it had. 

“We don’t have to, I can get a condom too.”

You didn’t miss the way he brushed his thumbs over your sides. To reassure you, or rather himself. 

“I don’t mind if you don’t.” You tilted your head and looked at him, waiting. It was his decision now, even if you could see from his expression that he had already made it. 

Then he nodded. “But I won’t last long.”

You snorted. He’d said that once before, after you’d had a particularly long foreplay. Still, he had managed to make you come twice. 

You propped yourself up on your knees and guided his cock to your opening before sliding down on it a moment later. Each time he stretched you anew with his considerable size and you took a moment to get used to it again. Meanwhile, Taehyung stroked your back, up and down your spine, until you began moving your hips backward. 

You let him slide almost all the way out of you before moving forward again. 

“Oh, Love,” Taehyung moaned, and at the nickname, your hips stalled.

Taehyung seemed to notice his slip of the tongue as well and slightly panicked, he looked at you. 

“Love?” you repeated, letting the nickname roll off your tongue. You didn’t think it was that bad…

“Do you prefer Baby?” 

You shook your head, because the longer that one word buzzed around in your head, the more you liked the sound of it. “Love is okay.”

“Just okay then?” Taehyung grinned, the tinge of panic gone again as he noticed your relaxed reaction. “Hmmm…” He left you with the false expectation that he was thinking when he suddenly let his hips snap upward. 

You drew in your breath sharply, followed by a moan. You didn’t know how he always did it, but he managed to hit the exact point inside you each time that made your abdomen contract so tightly that the knot already seemed ready to burst. 

He held you by the hips as he pounded into you from below. He squeezed your arousal out of you with each thrust and you felt both of your excitement running down your thighs, while his hands kept you upright and in place. 

“You–you’re so… so fucking wet and–and warm,” he pressed out with effort between thrusts. 

Loudly, you moaned his name. You didn’t care if his neighbors heard you, or the people walking by on the street outside who would surely have to hear how well Taehyung was fucking you. 

You raised your head, had you watched Taehyung’s cock split you apart before, and met Taehyung’s gaze. Your lips found each other in a passionate kiss and you pulled him even closer with desperate hands. One of his hands released its grip on your hips and landed hard on your ass. Your moan was swallowed by Taehyung’s mouth as he massaged the tender area.

You let one hand slide between your legs and circled your clit with your finger. The kiss was only interrupted by your moans as you were brought closer and closer to the edge of your approaching orgasm. 

“Taehyung–”

“I got you,” you heard him say, your eyes squeezed tightly shut as the knot in your abdomen released all at once and you came, clenching hard around Taehyung’s cock. 

Taehyung thrust into you a few more times before he too paused in his movements and pulled you back onto his lap entirely. His loud breathing mingled with yours as you both tried to come down from your high. 

“Oh, you’re absolutely incredible,” Taehyung said after a while. 

Your sweaty bodies had already melted into one and you felt Taehyung slowly go limp inside you. He sighed before pressing a kiss to your temple and gently lifting you from his lap with a firm grip and laying you backwards on the sofa. 

He helped you clean yourself up, being so gentle that you didn’t even flinch as he wiped away the sticky remnant of both of your arousals. While he was putting the trash away, you grabbed your underwear and slipped them on. 

You were lifting up your T-shirt when Taehyung returned from the kitchen, a glass of water in each hand. His expression changed when he saw you getting dressed. Wordlessly, you extended a hand to him to gratefully took a glass. 

“Are you getting ready to leave?” He didn’t look at you when he asked that, but put exceptionally much focus on putting on his boxers as well.

You let him ponder for a moment longer before letting your shirt fall back to the floor. “Do you have anything more comfortable?”

Taehyung’s eyebrows drew together as he looked up. 

You nodded towards your shirt in response, which was crumpled on the floor. “Maybe sweatpants and a hoodie?”

Taehyung seemed to finally understand and his disappointed expression gave way to a relieved smile. “Sure, you want me to get you something?”

You took the few steps towards him and let your fingers dance on his bare chest. “I was thinking maybe we could watch a movie? Order some food and just wind down for the evening?”

He looked at you, the question on his mind visible all over his face. “Does that mean… you want to stay the night?”

You nodded without hesitation. “Yes, I want to stay the night, if that’s okay.”

Taehyung laughed, a hearty, deep laugh that you hadn’t heard in so long. “You bet it’s okay with me,” he answered, pulling you into a hug. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head. “Love.”

Love. What a weird and funny little word.  

You couldn’t wait hearing it more often from now on.

. . . 

As always, if you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving me some feedback and letting me know what you think! That would mean a lot to me because I was really nervous to post this. Thank you! 💜

[mackeydoodledoo]

The Fifth Lord: Chapter 2

Pairing: Alcina Dimitrescu and (Fem!Dragon)Reader [non-romantic], Bela Dimitrescu x (Fem!Dragon)Reader

Summary: Your name is Y/n Dracul; The only ‘mutant’ that doesn’t have the Cadou Parasite. You already have some sort of power that impressed Mother Miranda; you were the first known Human-Dragon Hybrid. Although you have your own house, “House Dracul”. Your ‘house’ itself is basically an unused wing of Castle Dimitrescu.

Warnings: None?

A/N: So like- Y/n’s dragon form is different from Alcina’s. Y/n Dracul is based on the Dragon Slayers from an anime titled: Fairy Tail. Y/n’s relationship with Alcina is that similar to like close work colleagues. Aside form Donna and Mother Miranda, Alcina respects Y/n a lot. Fun Fact: “Dracul” is Romanian for Dragon or Devil

Ethan Winters is captured by Heisenberg and we take this chapter to the intro of the Five Lords.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you enter the main hall, Bela and her sisters are seated before Alcina.

“Y/n, you and I are to go to a ‘family’ meeting,” Alcina says, taking a sip of her drink from her teacup

You nod as you seat yourself in a single seat, “When do we leave?”

“Right now,” She says, “Bela you are in charge of the castle until we reutrn.”

“Aww, Why can’t I watch the castle Mother?” Daniela pouts

“Because you will burn down the castle,” Bela states

“I do not!” Daniela looks at her elder sister

“Now now girls,” Alcina calms them, “My decision is final. No arguing while y/n and I are out. Understood?”

They nod their heads calmly. 

“Good,” She says, “Let’s go y/n.”

You nod and begin following her before Bela takes your hand. You turn your head and she pulls you in for a hug.

“Keep that fly with you,” Bela whispers, “That way I’ll always be with you.”

You give Bela one last kiss before she let’s you go to go to the meeting.

“I’ve called you all here today to discuss this man’s fate,” Mother Miranda begins, “The lord who can persuede me the most, I will leave this man’s fate in your hands.”

“My daughters do so love, entertaining foreigners,” Alcina starts, “Furthermore, I can assure you can entrust the mortal to me.”

“Dracul, do you have anything to say about this mortal?” Mother Miranda asks, “How do you argue to entrust the mortal to yourself.”

You were sitting along a ledge right above Alcina. Smoke comes out of your nose as you exhale and you look away from whatever it was you were staring at and look at Mother Miranda; all eyes are looking up at you.

“You know, if I’m going to be honest,” You start, ‘You four can do whatever the hell you want with him. Don’t entrust the stupid manthing to me.”

“Y/n... We live in the same domain,” Alcina sighs in annoyance

“You may be right My Lady,” You add, “But, I’d be responsible for him and I’d rather not look after a stupid manthing. I rest my case.”

You lean back into a beam, letting out smoke from your mouth. You just listen to Alcina and Heisenberg argue over the manthing. 

“You can entrust the mortal to house Dimitrescu, the manthings suffering is assured. Regardless,” Alcina states

“Yada yada if the man’s dick is cut off in the castle blah blah blah,” Heisenberg drones on

You couldn’t help but let out a snicker. You and Moreau. Alcina looks up at you in annoyance and a question of; are you on my side or not?!

“I’ve heard all of your arguments, some of you were less persuasive than the rest. But, I’ve made my decision,” Mother Miranda starts, “Heisenberg.”

She points to him, “The manthing’s fate is in your hands.”

You watch Alcina and Heisenberg argue once more. 

“Mother Miranda I must refuse this decision!” Alcina states, standing up from her chair, “Heisenberg is but a child. Give the mortal to me and I will ensure he is ready.”

“Shut your damn hole!” Heisenberg growls, coming up to Alcina and telekinetically dragging his hammer back into his hand, “And don’t be a sore loser. Go get your food elsewhere.”

“Quiet now child! Adults are talking,” Alcina attempts to calmly say

“Oh, I’m the child?” Heisenberg asks, “You’re the one always arguing with Miranda’s decisions!”

“You wouldn’t know responsibility! Even if it was welded to that hammer!” Alcina argues

“Oh! Keep growing! Maybe your head might one day fit your ego!” Heisenberg argues back

Your eyes widen... 

Not even I can make an argument like that... Well, they are siblings after all...

“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” Angie provokes the two arguing lords

“SILENCE!” Mother Miranda yells, unfolding her wings, “I’ve made my decision and it is final. There will be no argument. Remember from whence you came.” 

You gently land yourself into Alcina’s chair as Alcina walks over to stand behind her chair. You all watch Heisenberg deal with Ethan.

“Lycans and gentleman,” Heisenberg announces, “We thank you for waiting.”

You watch Heisenberg lean down to Ethan’s eye level, “Let’s see what you’re really made of, Ethan Winters.”

You follow Alcina back into the castle where you just head straight towards your clocktower. Having Bela be a regular visitor of yours has you really thinking on where you should set your bed. She told you about her weakness despite Alcina’s protests for you to know. However, you promised her that you would never take advantage of that.

“Tired already? Here, let me help you,” Bela teases as she throws the blanket around the both of you

You place a warm kiss on Bela’s forehead as you begin warming the blanket slowly for Bela to warm up.

“Mother is upset,” Bela sighs, “I guess it’s going back to woman flesh...”

“Sorry love,” You say, “I’d feel like I’d be the worst at looking after a manthing...” 

Before the both of you continue on, you hear flies from the distance which are getting louder.

“Sister!” Daniela yells as she materializes first, “I heard the front door opening. Someone’s here.”

You and Bela give one glance at each other before throwing the blanket onto your bed and you follow their lead. 

Once you reach the main hall with the girls, you watch them. The giggles echo throughout the castle entryway.

Music to my ears...

You see Bela hooking her sickle into the manthing’s calf. A shrieked pained scream exits his mouth. 

“Mmmmm Man-blood,” Bela smiles 

She yanks on the hilt of her sickle and begin materializing into her swarm of flies, dragging him with her. You follow close behind Daniela as Cassandra helps her older sister by hooking her sickle into the manthing’s other calf. The both of them bust open the door, beginning to turn back into their human form. You walk towards Bela, but stopping once you had reached Cassandra’s right side.

“Mother, I bring you fresh prey,” Bela says, trying to take the credit

You look over at Bela, slightly unamused.

Bela honey... Cassandra helped you drag him here...

“You are so kind to me daughters,” Alcina smiles through her glass

You stand next to Cassandra as Alcina stands to see who had entered her castle. 

“Well Well Ethan Winters,” You and Alcina say in unison

You look up at Alcina as she looks down at you. However, someway somehow the both of you turn your heads toward Ethan, also in unison.

“You’ve escaped my idiot brothers’ games did you?” She asks, “Let’s see how special you are.”

You stand next to Cassandra as Bela and Daniela hold up the manthing’s arms for Alcina to taste his blood. 

“Hmm,” She swallows the remaining blood lingering in her mouth, “Starting to go a bit stale.”

“Then let’s devour this man-flesh quickly mother,” Daniela suggests

“But- I’m the one who brought him in here!” Bela protests

Bela... Again, Cassandra helped you drag him in here...

“Now now daughters,” Alcina states, pressing a napkin between the creases of her lips, “I first must inform mother Miranda. Oh, but later, there will be enough for everyone. Now, put him up.”

Again, you watch Bela and Daniela place hooks into Ethan’s hands and Cassandra cranking a lever. 

“Let me... Down!” Ethan pleas in pain

“Oh,” Alcina moans, “Be careful what you wish for, Ethan Winters.”

You watch Alcina turn and begin walking towards the door. You begin following her but you stop.

“You! I saw you in one of the photos in the village!” He says, “Let me down and I’ll help you find your past!”

You actually debated on doing that. However, if it wasn’t for Bela stepping in front of you, you would have actually let him go.

He might be lying... I’ll find out on my own time.

“Mere humans left me,” You state, stopping at the doorway

You turn your head and look up at him, “They sacrificed me to Mother Miranda. If it weren’t for her sparing me, I would have been long dead.”

I owe it all to Alcina for raising me though.... Mother Miranda neglected me...

You take Bela’s hand as you walk out with her. The both of you part ways for the time being.

“I’ll see you in my chambers love?” You ask

“The same time as always my love,” She smiles as she gives you a kiss

You return the kiss and watch her off with her sisters and Alcina. You decide to return to your clocktower and rest. Your head was pounding from the meetings.

Of all times head?... Damnit...

As you lay there in your bed, you hear high-heeled footsteps echoing through the tower. You look over and notice Daniela.

“Oh- Lady Daniela,” You say, “What can I do for you?”

“Can you help me make this for mother?” Daniela asks, holding up a decently sized weapon

Quite unfinished... But, Nonetheless impressive.

“What do you need help with specifically?” You ask

“Heat it up for me? Make the basic form of it,” Daniela explains

“Give it here,” You say, “ Don’t want those hands being severely burned now do we? You need to eat that manthing.”

You take the unfinished weapon from her hands and begin heating it with your hands, concentrating your heat into your hands. 

“Can’t you just breathe fire?” Daniela asks, watching you

“I haven’t done that... Ever,” You say, shamefully, “I don’t know if I can.”

“Oh... Well, you’ll figure it out.” Daniela says, cheerfully

You couldn’t help but smile at Daniela’s comment of encouragement. 

Maybe I will try it once everyone has taken care of the manthing... 

You make a makeshift hammer and begin molding the basic form of the weapon. Reheating it when you needed.

“Okay,” You sigh, removing the sweat off of your head, “That should be good to get you started. Don’t worry about telling her that I helped you.”

She squeals in happiness and jumps onto you to give you a hug.

“See you at supper My Lord,” Daniela says, materializing into her fly swarm

Just as you were going to go rest some more, you could hear Bela’s voice...

“Bela?” You ask yourself

You could head a gunshot as well.

“Oh no,” You panic

You jump out of bed and begin making your way towards Bela. wherever the hell she was in the damn castle.

Bela you better be okay or else...

You make your way through the dungeon, pivoting or even forcibly moving all of the turned-ghoul maidens out of your way. 

Bela...

You inhale the foul stench of the dungeons.

It’s blocking Bela’s scent... Shit...

You find a set of stairs and you ascend them.

Oh! I finally got her scent! And it’s stronger! Bela I’m coming my love!

Chapter 3

[stopeatingwhales]

"i'll never leave you again," x graham coxon

this is so sad but so cute *sobs* </3<3

Pairing: 90s graham coxon x reader

Warnings: none

Word count: 1.639

Requested by anon x

༉‧₊˚✧

Embracing my boyfriend in a much-needed hug, I squeezed him tightly whilst the wind from the outside flew into our house due to the door still being wide open, making both me and Graham practically freeze in our grasp within one another. My fingers softly ran through his lengthy brown locks as I took in his scent: cigarettes and aftershave, doused with a hint of alcohol. The aroma was intoxicating, not only giving me the crave of a cigar, but also reminding me of the pure amount of desperation I carried inside myself of needing to be with him, embracing him, once again. “I missed you so much.” I mumbled into his shoulder, my cheek squashed on the fabric of his polo shirt which clung to his torso, enveloping his lanky figure. Detaching my head away from the crook of his neck, I took a hold of his hands, which were cold as ice, and stared deeply into his eyes, the spheres of deep brown, not wanting the seemingly perfect moment to vanish into the memory bank hidden in my brain. I felt fulfilled with him in my presence, directly in front of me; I had longed for a simple moment like this more than I thought, for things never came easy between us. For the past year, it was as if our relationship was a distant memory - with him being on tour visiting almost every country known to man, performing countless amounts of shows per week, accompanied by him practically living at the recording studio, I had hardly been with him, and had hardly attained the knowledge of who he was anymore. We barely spoke, and our conversations ran dry consistently, paired with the fact that phone calls abroad were very costly. As well as that, I seemed to be receiving the short end of the stick with regards to my job as I was forced to work overtime due to many people taking vacations from their jobs, something that I could have done, but was my only distraction from the live that I had began to lead: isolated, with my boyfriend practically nowhere to be found.

“Let’s get inside, it’s freezing out here,” he mumbled into my hair, removing one hand from mine to grab the suitcase adjacent to his body. We held hands as we walked through the hallway, him dropping his bag by our bedroom door as I pushed the front door to allow it to slam shut into the latch, our desperate need for physical contact proving our true feelings towards how horrible this year had been for us. Once we were able to sit down on the sofa together in the living room, I immediately lifted my body onto Graham’s lap whilst I pulled the blanket left on the sofa over our bodies. “How’ve you been, love?” he asked me, his voice soft, almost as if he knew how fragile my mental state was at that moment. His free hand was caressing my spine gently, causing my body to shiver slightly as I melted into his touch - as it had been a while since me and Graham had been in personal contact with one another, my body had forgotten the blissful sensation of his touch, which made a feeling of melancholy pop up in my mind, contrasted against the pleasure of utmost joy that he was finally in my presence.

“I’ve been okay…” I mumbled, a lie solely spoken out loud as if to convince myself that I had been fine, that the constant feeling of longing and separation were mere ideations conjured up in my mind, to make myself think that I was broken, when I wasn’t. Fixing my gaze at the stripes on his top, I let my fingers outline them over his chest, my eyes beginning to feel heavy as I felt tears prick up in my eyes, the thought of him needing to leave again overwhelming my mind. The simple thought caused my heart to once again break into pieces as if it were a glass cup that had been accidentally dropped from someone’s grip, smashing into chunks of sharp glass that would instantly cut into your skin if you attempted to pick them up, all the emotions that I had pent up and attempted to dissolve through heaps of work finally leaving my body. “I don’t want you to leave again.” I whispered, letting tears slowly escape my eyes as I gazed at my lap. I felt like a little child, not wanting to leave her parents as she had to go to her first day at school, the apprehension of going out into the ‘real world’ for the first time in her life coming across as a thought unimaginable as an experience. The anxiety of separation from him made me feel small, pathetic, as if I should’ve been able to control my emotions and not let them get so out of hand like this. Though, an apartment bought for two was never designed for one person to live in; a couple is not stemmed from one person being in love with themselves - unless you’re a narcissist.

“Oh dear, I’m not going to leave you again,” he replied, his voice cracking slightly as he saw the state that I was in. The entire situation seemed like that of a film; the intense atmosphere almost perceived the emotions felt to be false, and that this whole occurrence was simply unreal as if it were a nightmare occurring the night before he had actually returned home. Pulling me closer to his body, he cradled me in his arms, my head resting on his shoulder once again as he grasped both my hands, bringing them each, individually, to his lips, placing delicate but deep kisses on my palms. The feeling of his soft lips connecting with the skin of my hand lingered through my body as I was still getting properly adjusted to his companionship. Afterwards, he brought his index and middle finger up to my cheeks, caressing my tear-stained cheeks as a method of wiping my face dry from the mournful state my mind had been perpetuated in. The only sounds dancing around the room were the noises caused from my constant sniffling, my fingers finding Graham’s hands once again to bring into a tight hold. “Come on, let’s watch a film.”

Shifting my body off of Graham’s lap to allow him to get up and turn the DVD box on, I admired how much effort he was trying to put into comforting me. “Here, take a pick.” he said, handing me the stack of films that we had collected over the years. Taking my mind off of the sadness that had erupted out of my body, I skimmed through the covers to remind myself of the memories we had connected with each film. Once my fingers landed upon the cover of Dirty Dancing, my mind instantly flushed back to the memory of when I forced Graham to watch it with me. You’re going to love this film Graham, trust me. I don’t get why you’re making me watch this, it’s overrated. Because you love me. Yeah, because I love you.

After a couple minutes had passed with Graham not being present in the room, I heard his footsteps slowly making their way through the hallway and back into the living space, where I had been greeted with the sweet aroma of hot chocolate, made by him. “For you, love,” he said, carefully handing me the warm mug, followed by my thanks, before setting down his cup of tea on the coaster placed on the coffee table. “Which one did you pick?”

“Dirty dancing, because I know how much you love Swayze.” I joked, handing the DVD to him as I placed the other films on the floor beside the couch. A playful groan escaped his throat as he inserted the disc into the player.

“When was the last time we saw it?” he asked whilst making his way back to the sofa. He sat back in his original place, sneaking an arm around my waist to be able to pull me onto his lap so I could lay down. Looking up at him, I smiled sweetly as our eyes connected as I realised just how much of a good person he was, how caring he was, and especially how much he meant to me. I doubt that I would ever be able to have a complete and utter understanding of my adoration towards one singular man, but I assume that is the beauty of love. Unconditional, never ending. If you were able to completely understand your tenderness for a person, it wasn’t true love. True love is being able to handle and stick with one another through thick and thin, through all the suffering and pain, to reach that level of enlightenment where you can both spend your lives in complete bliss as the money from your pension’s tumble into your bank accounts. It meant that the idea of growing old with your significant other was an awaiting desitiation, something that proved nothing but commitment and that the person you were with, is indeed the person that you would spend your last minutes with.

“I think when we first moved in here together,” I replied, taking a sip from the warm beverage cradled in my palms. “So, about three years ago.”

“That long ago? Wow,” he replied, also taking a sip from his drink. “You ready?”

Nodding my head at him, I watched as he pressed play on the remote, the intro music beginning to play through the speakers. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he replied, pulling the blanket to cover my body, just like I had done earlier. “I promise that I’ll never leave you again.”

[yourmcu]

Friday, I’m In Love

Pairings: Tony Stark x reader

Summary:

In which the reader is an Avenger and she just geeks out when she sees a bunch of musical instruments at the compound and Tony just fallsinlovewithherstraightaway because of her personality and music taste

Word count: 2,562

A/n: (moved to the end of the fic!)

Warnings: u have nothing to worry about :) fluff!

read it on ao3!

gif not mine! credits to the owner^^

“I’ll drop this off at your room before I hit the hay, Tony mentioned about giving you a tour of the place first.” Clint patted you on the arm and walked pass you with your bags.

You nodded and smiled, really appreciating his help. You’ve been sorting things out at your apartment with Clint all day. “Alright, thanks. I owe you one.” You heard him say something along the lines of ‘buy me donuts’ before he was out of sight.

“Agent L/N, you’re finally able to join us,” Tony gave you a playful smile, finishing his drink to walk over to you.

You were officially one of the avengers, and now officially moving in. It’s been a few months since you assisted the team on a particularly huge mission. It was not planned of course, after that you started helping out when they needed it, and they thought you’d fit right in.

“Tony,” you gave him a small nod and a kind smile. “And please, call me Y/N.” The billionaire then offered you a drink but you declined.

“Good, didn’t think you’d be much of a drinker,” Tony stated and gave you one of those charming looks that would literally sweep any girl right off her feet. “Has anybody told you that you’ve got pretty eyes?”

The comment surprised you but then again, you remembered who you were talking to. “Stark, if we’re going to be working together you better cut the crap.” You laughed.

Tony raised an eyebrow, thinking that you probably ran into Pepper first before coming up. The small talk led to Tony’s said compound tour. He was making jokes here and there, even revealing secrets about the others that you didn’t need to know about.

After some time the both of you reached the last floor, the one that had your bedroom. Tony was still talking but your  gaze was glued to the black, shiny piano out in the balcony. Why was something so grand and probably expensive doing in plain sight where someone could just swoop in and steal it?

“Earth to Y/N,” Tony waved a hand in front of your face. He stopped when you came back from your trance. “There you are. That’s a secluded, little balcony. It’s a great place to let off some steam or just to take a break for a while.”

“That’s nice,” you murmured. “You... uh, you play?”

Tony spun around to look at you again. “Play?”

“Yeah. The piano, I mean. It’s a good looking piano.” You admitted.

“Oh. That’s what you were ogling? For a second I thought I was a bad and boring tour guide,” he chuckled. “I wouldn’t say I do. It’s a specific model my mother used to own and...”

You waved him off and smiled lightly, not wanting him to explain further as you already understood. It might kill the mood. It’s been a while since you’ve run your fingers through a set of piano keys, you realized, but you were also shy to ask Tony if you could play it sometime.

“Alright, just call for Friday if you need anything, or call Friday to call me,” he joked when you finally reached your bedroom door. “After you settle maybe you could stop by the lab? I could really use your help for something - it’s in your area of expertise, you know?”

“Sure. Tomorrow’s good?”

“Sounds great.”

You nodded and thanked him for the tour, and he gave you a salute before walking away.

----

“Good morning, metal man.”

From inside the Iron Man suit, Tony turned around to see you leaning against the wall beside the door to the lab, a cheeky smile on your face, one cup of coffee in each hand. He was certain that he pulled another all nighter, not even realizing that it was morning until you greeted him.

Surprised by your presence, the iron helmet swiftly revealed his tired face, then he opened up the chest plate of his suit to get out of it completely. “Time?”

“It’s six. I didn’t think you’d be working this early,” but you noticed the circles around his eyes. “...or you didn’t stop since last night.”

“Nope.” Tony snatched one of the cups from your hand and gulped it down. His eyes slightly widened when he realized you snuck in some bourbon in there.

He also couldn’t help but look at your nightwear. Slightly shabby sweatpants and a large band shirt. Green Day, he noticed. They weren’t bad. Heck he could’ve sworn he heard one of their songs on the radio once.

“You said you needed me for something?” You recalled, walking over to his computer. You were an all in one package: you practiced a lot of fighting as a teenager, now you trained with Natasha or Steve, so you knew a decent amount of hand-to-hand combat. Originally you were supposed to major in arts, but switched to the science stuff, engineering, so you knew a thing or two about building things. You also took interest in coding. Plus, Fury admitted to like your wit, one of the reasons why he wasn’t against you joining the avengers.

Tony just wanted you to try and make the security systems around the compound more tight, more secure. He’d do it himself but he wanted to see what you can do. You were the newest part of the team, of course he’d be curious about you.

You pushed yourself away from his desk, humming at the green bar slowly filling up in the monitor. “That should take a while,” you crossed your legs and looked up at the genius billionaire. “You’re awfully quiet, Tony, I think you need some sleep.”

He rolled his eyes, smiling. “I’m getting back to work.”

“Hey no, I’m serious. You need to re-”

You cut yourself off when you saw a beautiful, six-stringed instrument that hung from the wall when you turned. Tony wondered why you abruptly stopped talking and looked at you.

You got up the chair and carefully removed the electric guitar from the wall. You cringed a bit when you felt the rusty strings on your fingertips. Clearly this hasn’t been played in a while.

But nonetheless, you thought it was beautiful.

“You’re looking at it like it’s the love of your life,” Tony pointed out.

“Do you not know what this is?” You gestured to the instrument. It was a Gibson, 1960 Les Paul - its color scheme being cherry red and black. It greatly reminded you of Brian May’s red special-

Anyway, you sat back down, running your hands through the fret board a couple times to get used to the rusty strings, also tuning some that were out of tune. Then you pulled out a small pick from your pocket.

“So you just carry around a plastic plectrum everywhere you go, huh?” Tony heaved himself up to sit on top of his desk in front of you.

Playing a few sets of chords made you reminisce about your high school years. You were the type that brought a guitar everyday to school back then. “It’s a habit,” you chuckled. “When did you start playing?”

“Oh, no. I just collect them. I know a chord or two but that’s it.”

You laughed. Of course, he was a billionaire. “I could teach you if you want.”

Tony crossed his arms and playfully raised an eyebrow. Is this your way of flirting with him, or was it just an innocent offer? “Why, you a professional or something?”

“No - well, if I stuck to my original career choice, I should be.” You shrugged.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Tony made a mental note to himself to ask you more about that specific topic later on.

“Fine,” you giggled. “Name a band and I’ll play a song.”

He pretended to think. “Dunno, AC/DC.”

You slid your fingers up a bit to the higher frets to play the intro to ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’. It’s your personal favorite from that band. The guitar doesn’t sound as exciting as it is when it’s plugged in, but you manage to pull it off. You then played the opening riff a couple times then skipped to the chorus.

Tony watched your hand as you hummed along the chorus. It was a great song, yet simple chords, simple until you get to the solo part. He thought you played it beautifully but he’d never admit it to your face.

“C’mon, it was just one song, am I that good?” You teased when you saw a glint of amazement in his eyes.

“Please, anyone can play that song.” Tony rolled his eyes, grinning. Then he pointed to your shirt. “Green Day.”

You repositioned your hand on the frets, playing the fingerstyle to the band’s song ‘Minority’. “I’d never wear a band shirt if I didn’t know the band. That’s downright embarrassing.

“What’s your genre, Stark? I’m guessing a lotta rock?” You stopped playing for a bit to look at him.

“You could say that. But if I think it’s catchy then it’s going on my playlist,” Tony responded. “You can keep that guitar, by the way.”

You looked at him with wide eyes. “I can’t. This - this model is expensive. The brand’s expensive-”

“It’s three grand.” He told you like it didn’t matter to him.

“Exactly! It’s expensive!”

“Boss, Miss Romanoff is on her way down.” Friday’s voice rang throughout the room.

On cue, Natasha walked in wearing her usual sparring attire. “Y/N. You were supposed to meet me at the gym half an hour ago.”

You cursed, getting up and hanging the guitar back up the wall earning a glare from Tony. He really did want to give it to you. “Sorry, got caught up. Uh... I think it’s done, Tony,” you rambled and pointed at his computer, green bar already full. 

Natasha lingered at the door after you ran up to change. “I know you have a lot of those displayed around and I’m telling you, hide them.” She was referring to the guitar.

“Why?” Tony hopped off the desk and began working again.

“Mainly because she turns into a huge music geek, but I’m assuming you love it.”

----

Tony had a stressful time doing work one night. He’s in the middle of a suit upgrade and he just can’t seem to put it together right. Maybe he just needed a moment to breathe and relax.

So he went to the balcony, a glass of his preferred alcohol for the night in hand.

He wasn’t that surprised when he saw you in there too. After the first time you came over his lab you started coming over regularly, just to talk about random stuff, music and bands, assisting him with anything he needs assisting with. The both of you became close. You could catch and snap back whenever he made a smart remark, and when he would shamelessly flirt with you, you’d just play along, you don’t get insulted or take any of it too seriously. That’s probably why he likes you so much.

This time you sat in front of the piano, playing chords and doing random scales. Tony admired you quietly from the entrance of the balcony. You did look pretty peaceful humming along, he even found it adorable when your eyebrows furrowed when you accidentally hit a wrong note, sometimes you’d shake your head slightly.

You were definitely something else. As time passed, Tony realized his feelings for you only grew and grew. He even started listening to all the songs you recommended, which were all amazing, even though at first he wasn’t used to hearing songs without an electric guitar on full distortion.

“Sorry. It was just so tempting.” You giggled. You pat the vacant part of the piano seat next to you. Tony placed his drink on top of the piano before sitting down.

You began playing a new song and he was very much relaxed by it. He remembered that time he got to ask you why you didn’t grab the opportunity to play music professionally.

“Well why didn’t you?” Tony asked.

You shrugged, fiddling with his custom made Iron Man guitar. “People judged me. Told me I’d never make it as a musician, that it was just out of luck for the famous ones out there now. It’s fine honestly, I liked other stuff anyway. After that I started training, y’know, became a spy...”

“You know how The Cure’s ‘Friday I’m In Love’ is upbeat?” You asked as you transitioned to a new chord. Tony hummed. “I found a slow, piano version the other day and I... learned it. I think it’s pretty.”

“Let’s hear it.”

You smiled. You were always flattered when he wanted to hear you play songs.

Tony looked at your hands swiftly playing the piano keys, up to your face concentrating on what chord was next. You only learned it by ear, you were sure you’d mess up at some point.

“I don’t care if Monday’s blue,” you hummed. “Tuesday’s grey and Wednesday too...”

You believed your singing voice was shit, so you just did this thing where you hummed- but also sung the lyrics as you played. Tony believed differently though. He thought your voice was beautiful.

“Thursday, I don’t care about you... it’s Friday, I’m in love,” You glanced at Tony for a moment and then returned your attention to the piano keys when you saw that he’d been fully listening to you.

“Monday you could fall apart,” you fell into your own little world again, high-fiving yourself in your mind when you nailed that chord progression.

Whereas Tony was sure that he was falling for you as moments passed.

“Tuesday, Wednesday, break my heart...”

The way you sung that last part made him feel things. It was just so soft, warm, damn, he wanted to make a move now.

‘Do it! You won’t have a chance like this again.’ A voice inside his head told him.

“Thursday doesn’t even start, it’s-”

You did an entirely different chord, messing up the song. “Oh god, that was horrible.” You laughed, closing your eyes and putting your hands around your stomach to contain your laughter. “But it was a good version, don’t you th-”

When you went to look at Tony, you were immediately cut off by lips pressing to yours. He cupped both sides of your face to gently deepen the kiss. He didn’t want it to be forced but seeing as you weren’t pulling away and you started to kiss back, he didn’t stop.

You were shocked to say the least. It was so fucking cliche but it was happening. Tony Stark was kissing you, and you liked it. Well of course you did, who wouldn’t? Maybe because it felt like it had meaning, not because he’s just lusting for you. It felt like your heart was about to leap out of your chest and there were actual butterflies inside you.

“Friday, I’m in love.” Tony finished the lyric for you after he pulled away.

“Are - are you-”

“I might have to kiss you again just to shut you up.”

But this time you beat him to it. You wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed him, and you felt those darn butterflies again.

“It’s about time, sir.” Friday spoke.

----

so this is just a pure music-related imagine and also I’m sorry if you don’t like the band(s) mentioned (bc it’s an x reader), or have a different guitar preference, or play a different instrument or have a drastically different fav genre, etc.

(AND YES I THOUGHT THE TITLE WAS PERFECT FOR THIS SINCE IT’S A SONG AND HE HAS AN A.I NAMED FRIDAY)