#also to make this easier i'm definitely going with these two already knowing each other

[greedbent]

@howthesleeplesswander || cont.

"I know why you're here."

He said it swiftly, not scathing or snippy, but to-the-point and on the ending cusp of the Harbinger's last breath. Until now, Kaz had been keeping a vigilant eye on the gambling floor beyond the private parlor in which they convened; surveillance of the chess board and all its players: if Tartaglia had come alone, how many curious gazes were slipping their way, who of his Dregs was aware of the engagement and keeping watch...

—I just can't figure out why they sent you. And he couldn't shake that nesting bud of unrest in his gut.

Kaz adjusted his position with a light exhale, and he put his elbows on the table, hands folded neatly against his lips. "Everyone else must be busy," he observed, "if you're the one here negotiating terms." Yes, he could sense it in the other: a similar humming energy much like that of his gunslinging companion. The desire—no, the unquenchable need—for a thrill.

But Tartaglia's was of a feral nature, wasn't it? He'd sooner challenge every patron here to a spar than try his luck on a few throws of the dice.

"Your Tsaritsa is no doubt aware the cost of our help will only go up from here. I know what kind of Mora she has to spare as well as I know what our worth is," Kaz warned, his cold shark eyes now diving into the lifeless ocean blues across from him. "Colluding with the Fatui carries a price all on its own—especially in the city of justice. You're bad for business. Make it worth our time."

[rosettyller]

some analysis of this scene from 2x02, because i am going absolutely insane over it:

first up: it's 2 500 BCE. They've known each other for around 1500 years at this point, but they haven't been meeting up very often; it's implied at this point, that they've only met at the Garden, and the Flood, and now here (as well as in Heaven, but there's varying interpretations about how much they each remember of Heaven).

(worth noting that these meetings are all bible-related meetings)

So, they don't know each other very well at all. This is why Aziraphale approaches Crowley so cautiously (apart from the fact that he thinks Crowley's going around murdering goats and soon kids). He doesn't know what happened to Crowley when he Fell, how he changed when he fell in with Lucifer, how God's rejection has warped Crowley's perspective or changed his morals (their meeting at the Flood seemed quite short, not enough time to get a definite picture.)

Aziraphale is still seeing Crowley as demonic, although there's already that thread of doubt - can you really see him trying to talk Hastur or Ligur out of this the way he does Crowley?

Aziraphale clings to the memory of Angel Crowley - Crowley gets quite defensive.

Here, Crowley reinforces that he's changed - personally I don't believe that he did fight in the War, but his views of God's Plan definitely got more extreme than "thats terrible god should get a suggestion box".

But, I also believe that here, Crowley is reinforcing that he is no longer an angel, and therefore no longer has to play by angel rules. He can do what he wants. He's a demon, it's in his job description.

And of course, that he is a demon, and he is Evil, and of course he would kill goats.

(more under the cut, because I just can't stop talking)

This shot is very yellow. Crowley's hair being the season 1 orange rather than red, the yellow walls, all accentuate the colour of Crowley's eyes, highlighting the physical reminder of Crowley's demonic nature.

I couldn't be bothered to gif it, but here, Crowley leans forward into Aziraphale's face. There are two reasons for this:

Get his yellow Demon Eyes right in Aziraphale face, just to hammer home his point.

It's an aggressive action, moving into someone's personal space like that. Saying, I could hurt you, I'm violent and aggressive and dangerous, I killed those goats, the kids are next.

The way the light hits Crowley's eyes in the above shot and the below shot also make them a very bright yellow. (Edit: I think someone pointed out that Crowley is making his eyes glow, but the overall yellowness of the scene serves to highlight this)

Clever wording on Crowley's part, because as we will find out, he faked the destruction of the goats to keep them safe, while making himself sound very evil.

You'll notice the repetition of "blameless"; this makes him seem even more evil, hurting the innocent, but also gives deeper insight into one of Crowley's biggest issues: hurting the innocent. What have they done to deserve this? Nothing.

This ties in quite nicely with what we have seen before of Crowley and free will; he gives people the option to sin. It's their actions that decide whether they end up in Heaven or Hell; they get what they deserve for their actions. He just makes it easier to choose Hell. (see: phone lines being down making people crankier and encouraging them to be horrible to each other, but it still being their choice, setting the holy water bucket above the door, so it's Ligur's choice to come in after Crowley that gets him killed.)

Note also the use of "long":

Aziraphale says to "tell me you want to do this". "Long" has rather stronger connotations than "want", but also rawer, more fundamental. Crowley is reminding Aziraphale that he is a demon, and that he has the traits of a demon, this is what he is now. He longs for violence, for destruction.

Aziraphale looks quite sad here. If you watch the video I linked, his previous conviction that Crowley doesn't want to do it is very strong. He fully believes in Crowley, that all he needs to do is reframe not killing the kids as within the rules of Hell, the way Crowley so often comes to do for Aziraphale ("Then you can't be certain that thwarting me isn't part of the divine plan too. I mean, you're supposed to thwart the wiles of the Evil One at every turn, aren't you?" "If you put it that way, Heaven couldn't actually mind me thwarting you.").

Aziraphale believed Crowley was still good, that the angel he remembered was still in there. But Crowley rejects it - and it hurts. Crowley has become what a demon should be.

Crowley looks quite sorrowful here, too: he already cares for Aziraphale (he fell in love at the Garden), and it hurts to decieve him, to disappoint him, to hurt him.

I would argue that here, Crowley is scared.

He's in shadow, which dims the yellows; his undemonic nature is about to be revealed.

And that is not safe, because Hell does not send rude notes. And here, Crowley is not doing just any temptation, but trying to help Satan win a bet (supposedly). And out of every demon in Hell, Satan is the one you want to piss off the least.

But here, Crowley is scared because Aziraphale could reveal him - because Aziraphale is on God's side, and because it is revealed that Crowley is not nearly as demonic as he makes himself out to be. He's vulnerable. Aziraphale could scorn him, hurt him. But instead:

Aziraphale is incredibly smug. "I knew I was right", he says. "I knew you were still good".

And here is another issue: Aziraphale conflates God/Heaven/angels with good, and demons/Hell with bad.

And Crowley does not see Heaven as good. He doesn't want Aziraphale to see his angelic core past the demonic exterior. He's on his own side.

This, for Aziraphale, confirms that "the angel you knew is not me", is not correct.

And I think, out of the three minisodes, it's this one that does the most for fleshing out Aziraphale and Crowley's frames of mind this series, and why they choose what they choose in ep6.

Aziraphale has been proven right about Crowley's angelic nature, and that he wants to do good, but can't, for fear of Hell's retribution.

And Crowley does not see Heaven as good. He recognises that being an angel again will not allow him the freedom to do good. (as Aziraphale had to try and talk a demon into helping him save the kids from God.)

[saurongorthaur9]

Right now, I'm decently sure that Galadriel is somehow going to succumb to Sauron's temptation at the end of Season 2.

I've been listening to the Season 2 track on repeat for pretty much the last 24 hours (and loving it) and the Last Temptation track has me thinking thoughts.

First, we know that there is going to be a confrontation between Galadriel and Sauron in the S2 finale, and Charlie has indicated in interviews that Sauron still thinks he can win Galadriel over and he hasn't given up on pitching his King and Queen idea to her. So, there's definitely going to be some sort of Temptation 2.0.

Second, I think whatever Galadriel is going to face is going to be ten times harder for her to resist than the S1 finale. I think this for two reasons. Firstly, in S1, Galadriel in a way had surprise and rage on her side. The fresh feeling of betrayal, the horror of the realization of what she's done, and her long-festering pure hatred for Sauron were all present and, in a way, I think made it easier for her to turn him down in the moment (though I still think she was tempted). This season however, she's going to have the entire season to marinate in all her feelings and the memories of how Halbrand made her feel seen and appreciated and her connection with him. She's going to have the whole season to miss it (and him) and yearn for it (and him).

The other reason is that Sauron will have more time to prepare to make his pitch Even Better. It's very obvious that he had already been planning his S1 finale pitch to her as Halbrand, but I think she figured him out sooner than he'd planned, and while he went along with it, he wasn't as prepared as he could have been. This time, however, he's going to have more time to prepare and he's seen what DIDN'T work already, so he can try a pitch that is more crafted to Galadriel's weaknesses. We also know there is going to be something going on all season with their psychic connection, so he's also had all season to play with her mind before their final confrontation assumedly.

So, from a character and plot standpoint, I think Galadriel is going to face something a lot harder for her to resist.

Now, from a narrative standpoint, I think it makes a ton of sense for the plot and for Galadriel's character arc and the structure of a TV show for Galadriel to succumb to Sauron's temptation (though I'm not sure what that will look like).

If they do go that route, I'm sure it's something all the lore purists will froth and foam over, but it just makes so much sense for the story that ROP is telling, particularly with Galadriel. From a storytelling perspective, it doesn't make sense to show a replay of the scene from the S1 finale. We've already seen her resist him, so it makes sense that if we get a similar scene in this season, it'll have a different outcome that shows us new aspects of the characters.

They've told us that Galadriel and Sauron's relationship and connection will remain central to the entire show for all five seasons. If that's the case, it wouldn't make sense for them to place the highest note of their relationship at the end of S1 and to merely show Galadriel rejecting him in various ways throughout the rest of the series. There's the challenge of finding new ways to explore different aspects of the characters, and having Galadriel resist in S1 only to succumb in S2 and then come back from it in S3-5 would be very narratively pleasing. Static characters aren't interesting to watch, especially over the course of a TV series, while characters who have rises and falls are much more riveting. Now, I do think there are other ways they could accomplish it, but having Galadriel fall would be a big, big way to do it.

They've also been pitching S2 as "the villain season." It's about the villains and about the darkness in each of the characters. We're going to be watching the fall of Celebrimbor and the fall of Eregion at the very least. We are most likely going to start seeing the fall of Numenor and Khazad-dum as well. It would be deeply thematically satisfying for the season to end on the note of our main heroine also falling and succumbing to the darkness that we've been watching creep over and consume everything else in Middle-earth.

Finally, it makes sense for the story they seem to be telling with Galadriel. We're seeing her growth from an ambitious, revenge-driven, impetuous warrior to become the wise, powerful, but also kinda scary elf sorceress and queen from LOTR. Given that arc and the darkness we've already gotten hints about in Galadriel, it makes sense for her arc for her to get a tiny taste of what falling would mean for both her and for everyone she loves. I could absolutely see her succumbing to her own darkness and accepting Sauron's temptation only to see the ramifications and pull away as a wiser person who carries the grief and burden of knowing what darkness does to her. I could see it fitting with that intangible grief and pain that Galadriel seems to carry in LOTR. And I think a part of her could like how she feels after succumbing to Sauron, and that feeling is something she would carry on, even after she ultimately rejects her darkness and Sauron. It would fit well with that incredible yearning and desire that we see in Galadriel when Frodo offers her the Ring years and years later, because she knows how good it feels, but ultimately she also knows the ruin it would bring because she's seen a glimpse of it.

Anyway, I'm prepared to be wrong, but right now, I'm really thinking this is the direction Season 2 is going to go (and maybe hoping just a little because it would be horrifying and gut-wrenching and amazing and awesome).

[esotericpluto]

how will your summer go

from left to right; intuitively choose the pile you feel more connected to. To make it easier, you can take a deep breathe, close your eyes and ask for guidance to your deities or guides. These are all general messages, so just take what resonates and leave what doesn't. This reading is timeless. If it resonates, feedback is always appreciated and motivates to keep doing pick a card readings. You can donate here.

pile 1

I see the sun shining bright on your skin, I hear the sounds of many people talking in the back mixing in with the sounds of the waves meeting the sand. I see many colorful cocktails, beach bar tables, smoothies, karaoke nights and a lot of laughter.

I feel like this means you will have a nice summer close to the beach or a pool, especially ones with bars, mostly around friends and making possible new acquaitances as well. If you don't live next to the beach, then you will just go to summer themed bars or will have a vacation at the beach. I feel like you will make a lot of great friends, some of which will be long term friends. For some of you, I'm hearing you should be careful with a blond(e) you might meet under these circumstances above as they are not trustworthy, I feel like they will either be an earth or fire sign.

During this summer, definitely focus on having fun, listening good music and eating healthily, as I am hearing your body will be so thankful for that. Definitely eat fruits and even try out some new fruits you haven't ever tried before if you're given the opportunity, you might find your new favorite fruit.

I feel like some of you will also get a summer part time job for at least one month or two. I don't think this will be the most ideal job for most of you and I do feel like some of your higher ups won't respect you and even try to exploit you. Definitely stand up against it and quit if needed, as you are definitely being guided to respecting yourself and honoring your body. Because of this, I am feeling like your guides will be urging you to start your own business or side hustle and I see most of you having a lot of success being independent workers like this.

I am also getting things related to books, especially in the end of summer, like early september. This might be some of you already going to school/university or studying in order to apply to some program or course. For some of you, your independent business could revolve around books or you might even start working as a library assistant soon. You could also be urged to start reading more as you might find your new hobby and your new favorite book with it.

pile 2

I see a lot of green and children playing in playgrounds. Your summer might be around nature and possibly around children or simply in a place that will give you a lot of fun to the point you will feel like a child at a playground. I feel like you might be in this green area with your family, so the children, for some of you, could be family members. This feels like some type of camping place with trailers or tends and I even see a small pool in this camping park. I feel like it will be like a great fun time for you, especially if you have siblings or cousins your age.

I am also seeing some type of road trip, but I feel like this would be something you are most likely to do with friends or a significant other if you have one. I see you two doing this road trip to another city and staying there at least a weekend, exploring it and getting to know the place. You will get a lot of knowledge and will fall in love with the city. If you are the one driving, I'm hearing to be careful with your car lights and make sure they are properly working at all times. If is someone else driving, be extremely careful with animals crossing the road.

If you do have a significant other, I see this summer is going to have a lot of romance and you two will manage to spend a lot of time together. For some of you, you two might even involved sexually with each other for the first time. For those of you who are single, I'm seeing you guys will find a crush and I see this crush being a future partner and someone you will learn a lot from.

I also see some of you will get a scholarship or even an offer to study abroad for university or a summer course. I am hearing you should 100% take this offer if it is presented to you.

pile 3

For those who picked this pile, I feel like there will be a change very significant in your life. For some, I feel like you will be moving homes, possibly even to another country or city, possibly because of a job offer to your family or you or moving away from college at the end of summer. For others, I'm seeing this change being a breakup, which could be a relationship breakup or friendship breakup or even potentially changing schools or jobs in general.

I do see a feeling of sadness in the air for this pile during summer, a feeling of loss. This feeling, however, will pass and you will end up coming to terms to everything happening during this moment. I see you will take a lot of refuge in entertainment like netflix and youtube and staying at home to recover. Your guides think this is understandable and won't judge you for it, but they advise you to also focus on hobbies like drawing or learning about topics of your interest as it will greatly benefit you and help you distract your mind.

Your guides are also recommending you to drink a lot of water this summer and to start a skin care routine or keep your current one more consistently. I am hearing that you have to be kinder and more loving towards yourself this summer, as working on your self-love will be a great focus.

Other than this, I see you getting ice cream and possibly going to a carnival/fun fair. Enjoy that time and be in the moment! I sense your luck will increase in the end of summer and many blessings will come to you! You will also make some new friends around this time with this new chapter in your life.

[kazehita]

hi! i noticed your recent post recommending the fic natural satellite and i think i've noticed other isat fics around your blog too. because of that, i was wondering if you had a list of recommended isat fics! i will admit i am not someone who just peruses around on ao3 but i love reading about these characters so if you have any recs, i would greatly appreciate them! thanks and i hope you have a lovely day :3

I love ALL isat fic - each and every one is so special and wonderful - but if I listed the whole archive that wouldn't really help huh... So! Im going to list just some off the top of my head., this is in no way definitive. Isat spoilers ahead - get all the way through the game and the secret before proceeding.

Big recommendation list below:

Additionally, mind the tags for each fic - I wont be specifying the content warnings here.

(don't just read the complete ones!!! Incomplete fic is just as delightful I promise :3)

Complete: Bloom - Level99Eevee Most people know it, it sits at the top of the tag! It's my every wish fulfilled for post-cannon moments.

Memories of defeat - dirtbagtrashcat Stuff in and immediately after the loops, fantastic extrapolations!!!! Very much Loop <33 I find this very grounded and realistic!!!!

Emotion Sickness - dirtbagtrashcat Post cannon fun/trauma with siffrin and the gang.

Memories of Touch - dirtbagtrashcat look i just really like their work sjkdjkfjkasdf its all good go through their profile. This is Isa thoughts.

And if I were not myself, would this be easier? - rabbit_soup Post-game! I love how they flesh out the world.

The Understudy - kittyorange Suuuuch a loop fic I love it to bits. Post cannon loop and the gang stuff.

Star-Speckled Skin - Lora_Blackmane Funn angsty moment, title is very descriptive. Lives in my head rent free.

Clinging to dying embers - Coffeewolf67 Odile's perspective of sif using the dagger. appropriate content warnings apply :)

between the end and a new start - glowingjellyfishtreelights SICKFICCC I had a very funny experience with this one where due to memory mishaps I got to read it for the first time twice! Absolute banger.

What's in a name? - Raaj Explores siffrins love of plays. I have to regularly reread this for my brain to function.

Starstruck - Dusk_Illusionist Isa yearns. The fic. It rocks.

Saturn Devouring His Son (Time Choking on Stone Choking on Blood)- BasilPaste Post cannon moment... I like it...

(Why) you can't let them know by Mayasynth sasasap fic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i like it. i hold it. i like it. UGH theres more but I have already listed so many.. my other favorites... im so sorry.,.. i love you guys too... Incomplete:

How To Rest by rabbit_soup Sequel to "And if i were not myself, would this be easier?" Loop is here and I love violence.

TRY IT AGAIN, CHEATER! by discatded "[Loop returns to their own universe after everything. It's hard.]" - from the summary. Love it love it. I will never get enough of this premise.

To Extend our Reach to the Stars Above by Cinnamin_Is_a_Star "Sif if he was team rocket" and is so fun. Very excited to see this one pan out!

until we move on. by Anonymous (also known as lozy) LOOP MY BELOVED..! loop returns to their universe and promptly looses it like the universe intended. Cant get enough of it.

Natural Satellite by dirtbagtrashcat If a single fic makes me the Most insane its natural satellite if I'm honest.... like bro... It just gets right to me...

Sunder by Miranda_tries_their_best Post-cannon Loop fic!! They travel on their own for a bit (but not forever), and I love it dearly.

Face the Light by Kaimiiru Post-game, I hold it close to my heart.... Ah... It's so dear to me.

These next two are sloop so if that's not your thing you have been warned :]

raconte-moi qu’on puisse crier tout bas by bibliomaniac I'm holding this high above my head so everyone can see it the characterization is off the charts.

To Cut You Open With a Knife and Find Your Sacred Heart by Hexea_Art Changeling Loop fic!! What a fun concept. I am excited to see where it goes. yay! AGAIN... THERE ARE SO MANY I LOVE SO MUCH but im forcing myself not to look through the tag else I'd add everything. Honestly, I do recommend just launching right on into the ao3 tag for ISAT even if you aren't super familiar with ao3. Just be sure to filter out anything you don't want to see!

Consider this a good starting point ^^

[pupyuj]

Can't get vampire gaeul out of my mind;;;

Also, can I be ⭐️anon;;

let's fawking goooo gaeul ask 😈 and welcome ⭐️ anon!! so sorry this is super late, again 😭😭

[cw: vampireeee, blood.]

she would definitely not hide that she's a vamp just because she preys on people's (men's) fantasies about having a vampire lover lmaooo vamp!gaeul would be really scary despite her easy-going nature and unfortunately you had an amazing bullshit detector so the moment you made eye contact with gaeul at a party, you knew she was something else 😰 of course, gaeul doesn't let you out of her sight for one second! sure you'd make a pretty good meal but she also can have you cause a havoc in the party and blow her cover 😵‍💫

her cornering you in a bathroom,, luckily for her you were a bit buzzed so it didn't take long until she had you melting,, her making you face the mirror and coming up behind you, getting her so excited to taste you because you just so happened to wear an off-shoulder blouse and she was so close to you she could practically smell how sweet you were.. "i can definitely see why you attract such a crowd, (y/n)-ssi..." while she's brushing your hair aside, leaving the softest trail of kisses on your shoulders all the way up to your neck and only stopping behind your ear.. "you're not scared of me... why is that? you know what i am." her pressing herself up against you, chilling red eyes piercing through yours as you stared at each other in the mirror..

"i don't know..." bcs your head was clouded with the booze in your system and the sheer intimidation you felt being around gaeul's presence :(( you were completely helpless—just how she likes it 🫠🫠 the initial plan was to suck you dry in that bathroom, but the moment you pressed your ass against her groin, gaeul lost her composure and allowed her desire take over her hunger 🫠 her turning you around and immediately crashing her lips into yours,, letting you feel her sharp fangs for yourself when she lets your tongue inside her mouth 😩 you reeked of both booze and other people's scents.. two of which gaeul absolutely loathed,, it only made her want to ruin you more 😵‍💫

her lifting you up and putting you on top of the counter beside the sink with ease,, she was delighted that you wore an off-shoulder top! it made it easier for her to just slowly graze her teeth on your skin, relishing in the way you shivered in fear but looked at her with desire,, "i work better when i'm fed." and before you knew it, she had sunk her fangs down your collarbone only slightly, but it hurt like a bitch 🫠🫠 tasting your blood for the first time was nothing short of euphoric and fuck gaeul should really just suck you dry right there but that wouldn't feel right.. she has to have you screaming her name first 😌

she would only feel a deeper kind of hunger for you when she feels how your cunt clenches around her fingers,, gaeul usually doesn't like to waste time but watching your expression as she slowly fucked you was worth it 🤭 gaeul would really just stare at you, relishing the way your moans sounded in her ears... she'd use her entire fingers' length and watch you squirm and reach for her, grabbing onto her shirt and pleading pathetically 😵‍💫 "please, let me cum..." you'd say it right up against her bcs you don't want anyone to hear and you know what? it would give gaeul chills! (which was weird considering her skin's already ice cold but yk—)

and since you asked nicely ofc gaeul would oblige for once and give you what you want! pulling her fingers out of your cunt only to replace them with her tongue 🤤🤤 her sharp nails having your thighs in a death grip while you pushed her head further against your pussy :(( throwing your head back and filling the air with your moans as well as gaeul’s name… nearly losing yourself when she wraps her lips around your clit and sucks harshly, making you grip and pull on her hair… god, her mouth was too good 😵‍💫💔 glowing red eyes piercing into yours, a smirk making its way to gaeul’s pretty face as tears well up in your eyes bcs of the pleasure 🥺

now see this—you’re cumming after her mouth has done its work, and ofc your head was clouded so gaeul takes this opportunity to sink her teeth down your thigh 😵‍💫 it hurt a lot but the sight was kinda hot so you don’t complain 🤭

omg getting disheartened when gaeul exits the bathroom without a word but you don’t hear her warning everybody outside to not enter the room… then she comes back with a tall glass of juice a few moments later and bandages to cover up the bite on your thigh 🫣🫣 she’d even help you wrap it around your thigh! “here’s a deal: you don’t tell anyone i’m a vamp and i keep it a secret you like getting fucked in bathrooms by strangers.” she’d say, as if you’d even dare to tell anyone! she’d probably hear it from a mile away and snap your neck before you even realize 😭

in conclusion, vampire!gaeul wouldn’t be all bad.. especially if a pretty thing like you would keep her company from time to time 👀 whether or not you were her blood bag or sweet little fuckdoll 🤤

[intimidating-fettuccine]

could I request more teen reader with the proxies just like general HC or scenario of stuff the squad gets up too

You absolutely can, I love this stuff. Wholesome found family content is one of my favorites.

Squad cooking lessons. I don't know why this was the first thing that popped into my head, but it did. Tim is one of the best chefs in the mansion, and he already gives Toby lessons every now and then, so he's started doing group lessons with you, Brian, and Toby so that he can teach you all at once. He lets you guys choose what you want to learn how to make, and he'll step by step teach you how to make the recipe, and he goes as slow as you guys need. It doesn't matter how well your dish turns out because he's just so happy and proud that you were able to make something, and he'll ruffle your hair and congratulate you. He's the hardest on Toby though, you guys always tease him if something goes really wrong with his dish.

Squad t-shirts???? Like you know those shirts where one says "I'm with stupid" and the other one says "I'm stupid"??? You guys have equivalents to that. I didn't know where this headcanon was going so I don't know exactly what all four of the shirts would say, but you guys definitely have a shirt combination that works and you wear them whenever you go out in public as a squad. Also, once you get those shirts, Tim totally gets all of you matching flannels. Tim LOVES flannels, and right now since it's fall it's peak flannel season he wears them all the time, so he makes sure you all have nice, high-quality flannels that match the ones he likes. Don't point out to him how adorable of an idea that was, he gets very embarrassed and tries to deny it.

Tim also takes you out fishing with him. I've said before that the proxies go out fishing with each other once a week or like once every other week since fishing is Tim's favorite hobby (and the creeps view it as a high honor if he invites you), so you get to go fishing with Tim when he invites the other two. It's a time for relaxation and no phones (except for group photos and pictures of whatever fish you catch), where you all just enjoy the peace of nature and the lake. If you ask Tim for fishing tips (even if you already know how to fish please ask him), he gets so excited and he'll help you set up your rod and help teach you how to cast your line and how and when to real it in. This is PEAK bonding time for Tim, it makes him so overjoyed to be out there with all of you fishing and having a good time. Plus, if you catch anything he feels SO proud and he gives you a big hug and takes a picture of you holding your catch and probably adds it to a folder he has of everyone and anything they've caught.

Also??? Maybe an underrated squad thing, but just grocery shopping together. You guys put together the list as a group, and you go to the store and it's just such a generic family activity to do, but it's so enjoyable, especially since it's something that Toby never got to do growing up, so the four of you enjoy going together to have some nice domestic happiness with all the stress and chaos in your lives. Plus, with all of you there it makes it easier to beg Tim for extra things like chocolate milk, or pizza rolls, or candy, or whatever it was that Tim said definitely didn't need to be on the list in the first place. If you and Toby beg him for it enough, Brian will smile and insist that it couldn't hurt to get it, so he'll sigh dramatically and get it for you guys because he loves you and he's bad at saying no sometimes. Plus Tim likes it when you guys all come along because then it's easier to get people to help him carry in the fuck ton of groceries you need to feed over twenty people in the mansion. You and Toby usually turn it into a competition to see who can carry in the most at one time, and it makes Tim worry about you guys dropping things, but Brian thinks it's really cute and wholesome. He always cheers you on and hopes that you win.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

kings rising highlights & annotations

chapter 4

indented text is from the book. some quotes have commentary, some do not. some comments are serious, and some are definitely not. most of them will only make sense to people who have read the series. and, like, there are spoilers. so please read the books first if you're interested!

also: part of the reason i'm doing such a close reading is to study cs pacat's style, especially in terms of how she does romance and erotica. there are "craft notes" that might seem weird, like i'm being redundant or restating something rather than analyzing, but those are more things that i want to remember/take away from the writing!

i'm going to tag these longer posts with "sam reads capri" in case anyone wants to read them all at once.

this is a google doc i wrote with overall content warnings for the captive prince series. it's not perfect, but i do think it's important to include.

‘Does it bother you to think of him hurting your country?’ ‘You know it does. Are we playing now with the fate of nations? It won’t bring your brother back.’ There was a violent silence.

the girls are fightinggggg (love damen calling laurent on his misdirected bullshit)

‘You know, my uncle knew who you were,’ said Laurent. ‘He spent this whole time waiting for us to fuck. He wanted to tell me who you were himself, and watch it wreck me. Oh, had you guessed that? You just thought you’d fuck me anyway? Couldn’t help yourself?’

i’m sure it’s easier for laurent to entertain the notion that nothing damen did was real at all, and doing so also hurts damen, so two birds one stone

‘You said, “Kiss me”,’ said Laurent, each word enunciated clearly. ‘You said, “Laurent, I need to be inside you, you feel so good, Laurent,”’ He switched to Akielon, as Damen had, at the climax, ‘‘it’s never felt like this, I can’t hold on, I’m going to—’’

i did my complex analysis of laurent’s mean girl era last chapter. this is a good example of him just being a petty bitch for the reasons outlined in that analysis

‘Charcy,’ said Laurent, ‘was a distraction. I have it from Guion. My uncle sailed for Ios three days ago, and by now he has made landfall.’

and it worked, and laurent was too emotionally compromised to anticipate or prevent it. imagine laurent learning that, directly after being tortured. and now he’s dealing with this. Ls on Ls on Ls.

(or did he know? stuff he says later makes me think he might have, but then again, he also lies to damen a LOT in this scene)

‘I see. And my men are to die fighting him for you, the way that they did at Charcy?’

i mean the previous chapter already established that they both know laurent meant to be there, but if they’re doing cheap shots, i guess this works fine in a pinch

Laurent’s smile was not pleasant. ‘On that table is a list of supplies and troops. I will give it to you, in support of your campaign to the south.’ ‘In exchange for,’ said Damen, steadily. ‘Delpha,’ said Laurent in the same tone. He felt the shock that made him remember that this was Laurent, and not any other young man of twenty.

He had not come here prepared to negotiate. Laurent had. Laurent was here as the Prince of Vere facing the King of Akielos. Laurent had known who he was all along. The list, written in Laurent’s own hand, had been prepared before this meeting.

all true, but don’t underestimate the fact that laurent did NOT anticipate falling in love or actually trusting you as an ally

He said, ‘Did you plan this from the beginning?’

so "from the beginning" is complicated here. if i'm going to try to sort things out to the best of my ability, i think a good place to start is making a list of things laurent could NOT have expected at the beginning of the series, when he was presented with damen:

that damen would not immediately take any opportunity provided to him to escape captivity

that damen is a respectable and admirable person and invaluable strategic and military asset

that damen and laurent would fall in love (and even still now, i don't think laurent is letting himself believe damen really cares, and certainly isn't letting damen do the caring)

that the regent would try to assassinate his own nephew. laurent says in the text, at some point, that this was a genuine surprise, and that he didn't think his uncle would ever go that far

but, okay, even if laurent didn't expect the assassination attempt, or any of the other minor things in vere like the patras debacle, did he expect at some point to find himself and his men forced to do a military campaign? he must have, which is why he started the correspondence with delpha. i suppose he could have planned to do that from vere, too, and just adjusted things when he was forced to travel. and nothing that laurent failed to expect directly got in the way of the foundation of his plan, if his objective was to obtain delpha and make enough allies that together they can take down the regent.

so to answer damen's question, yes! laurent planned this specific long-term objective (taking delpha, getting kastor and the regent in ios, methodically turning a faction of powerful akielions against kastor and gaining the support of vask and patras) from the beginning. because he recognized damen the moment he saw him, laurent could immediately put together that kastor is allied with the regent, who would totally come up with something like this to torture laurent. and so laurent put his mental energy into planning a way to gain enough political and military power to defeat both kastor and the regent, and further manipulate them into being so confident that they would have no time to retaliate when the people laurent enlisted attacked them. i don't think laurent gave a shit if kastor lived or died, or stayed on the throne, as long as the regent was defeated, but it made sense for kastor to be a priority as well since the alliance between kastor and the regent makes the regent more powerful.

and, to be generous to laurent, none of this really has anything to do with damen. like none of it is designed to punish him, it doesn't even really involve him. it's another instance of laurent just living in a different genre from the start. damen's pov has been so fixed on his relationship and interactions with laurent, but there's been so much more happening that we just haven't seen. and laurent, i think we can assume, is and has always been deeply focused on things other than their relationship.

but even now, this plan doesn't do damen direct harm. the most harm it does is make things awkward with nikandros, and make damen feel bad about the regent being in his own country (which was probably going to happen anyway). but still, damen is super pissed. he doesn't realize or admit it, but i almost think the fact that laurent always had this plan makes him a little insecure. like, to realize that he hasn't been as important or useful to laurent as he previously assumed. on top of all the other stuff pissing him off about the situation, he's also jealous of an abstract plan, because it's had laurent's attention from the start, and right now laurent is choosing that plan over their friendship/relationship. a kingdom, or this.

laurent doesn't want to deal with "this," and honestly has some pretty pressing matters beyond "this" to handle, so he's chosen "a kingdom." even if damen's heart is still stuck with "this," he'll have to follow laurent's lead and focus on "a kingdom" too. i'm sure they'll both do a perfectly professional and functional job of this, and it won't make things inconvenient or uncomfortable for any of their allies at all.

‘The hard part was getting Guion to let me into his fort.’ Laurent said it steadily, the private edge to his voice a little more private than usual.

do they ever talk about it? like does laurent ever tell damen what happened in the cell?

also i like how damen doesn’t take this as like flippant and arrogant, as he would have in book 1. he immediately clocks that laurent is hiding something and just deflecting.

Damen said, ‘In the palace you had me beaten, drugged, whipped. And you ask me to give up Delpha? Why don’t you tell me instead why I shouldn’t simply hand you over to your uncle, in exchange for his aid against Kastor?’

like you ever would.

‘Because I knew who you were,’ said Laurent, ‘and when you killed Touars and humiliated my uncle’s faction, I sent the news of it echoing to every corner of my country. So that if you ever crawled back onto your throne there would be no possibility of an alliance between you and my uncle.

good failsafe, laurent didn’t know he wouldn’t need it. although i’m sure it’s both vindicating and hurting laurent to hear damen threaten this, making the failsafe necessary, even if we know that damen’s heart isn’t in it.

'Do you want to play this game against me? I will take you apart.’

this is all very complicated and unnecessary and frustrating to damen, but it's laurent's area of expertise. this kind of emotionally evasive manipulative political negotiation makes him feel empowered. the approach laurent takes in this scene is almost certainly a way for him to cope with the things in his life that feel uncontrollable and uncomfortable, by doing something familiar that he knows he can control.

‘Take me apart?’ Damen said deliberately. ‘If I opposed you, the remaining scrap of land you hold would have a different enemy on each side, and your efforts would be split in three directions.’ ‘Believe me,’ said Laurent, ‘when I say that you would have my undivided attention.’

this is soooo amy dunne of him

Damen let his eyes pass over Laurent slowly, where he stood. ‘You’re alone. You don’t have allies. You don’t have friends. You’ve proven true everything your uncle ever said about you. You made deals with Akielos. You even bedded an Akielon—and by now, everyone knows it. You’re clinging to independence with a single fort and the tatters of a reputation.’ He gave every word its weight. ‘So let me tell you the terms of this alliance. You will give me everything on this list, and in return I will aid you against your uncle. Delpha remains with Akielos. Let’s not pretend you have anything here worth a bargain.’

damen honey i’m so sorry but you cannot win this one. especially when you yourself would probably lay down your life on instinct for laurent if someone randomly came into this tent and tried to kill him

‘Please,’ said Laurent, ‘insult me further. Tell me more about my tattered reputation. Tell me all the ways that bending over for you has damaged my position. As if being fucked into the mattress by the King of Akielos could be anything other than demeaning. I am dying to hear it.’

and somehow laurent still manages to turn even his own shitty decisions back on damen, implying that even if laurent owned up to being fucked by damen, it couldn’t be anything other than demeaning, and damen is a fool for considering it to be genuine lovemaking

‘Did you think,’ said Laurent, ‘that I would come here without the means to enforce my terms? I hold the only proof of Kastor’s treachery that extends beyond your word.’ ‘My word is enough to the men that matter.’ ‘Is it? Then by all means, reject my offer. I will execute Guion for treason and hold the letter over the nearest candle.’

cunt (affectionate)

‘Are we going to play another kind of pretend?’ Damen said. ‘That it never happened?’

and in this game of pretend, damen doesn’t get to hand-feed a pretty blonde named laurent >:(

‘If you are concerned it will go unmentioned between us, never fear. Every man in my camp knows that you served me in bed.’

“you served me” GOD laurent you are such a bitch

And that is how it is to be between us?’ said Damen. ‘Mercenary? Cold?’

if laurent was normal, there are plenty of reassuring things he could tell damen to explain that they can do this together, and ios will be okay, and they're in a good position to win as a team. but since he's being a salty little bitch, he's not going to do any of that, and he's going to make damen feel extra bad by using their romantic history against him. and despite all of these slights against him, damen knows that he has no choice but to give laurent delpha and ally himself with laurent's cause. because laurent really has planned this from the beginning. sure, current damen probably still would have done all that if laurent had just asked, but book 1 laurent had no idea of anticipating their allyship, and book 3 laurent is intentionally trying to push him away.

‘How did you think it would be?’ said Laurent. ‘You’d take me to your bed for the public consummation?’ It hurt.

this is a brutal scene for damen, even if i understand laurent’s headspace. i’m sorry buddy, breakups are no fun.

actually, do you think damen has ever experienced a breakup? he’s a prince who grew up with a harem of sex slaves. jokaste just kind of did whatever she wanted and damen was chill with it. so probably not.

It was too neat. He hadn’t thought as far as Kastor’s defeat, or who would become kyros in Ios, the traditional seat of the King’s closest adviser. Nikandros was the ideal candidate.

not laurent doing damen’s job for him…

‘I see you’ve thought of everything,’ said Damen, bitterly. ‘It didn’t have to be—you could have come to me, and asked for my help, I would have—’ ‘Killed the rest of my family?’

i mean, laurent definitely wants the regent dead. i think this is just a dig about auguste, and furthermore about damen not telling laurent the truth at any point.

also, damen straight-up admitting that he would have helped damen is something laurent would have needed a gun to his head to say out loud, and there aren’t even guns in this world. i said this in a note last chapter, but laurent assumes that damen is just as terrified of attachment and vulnerability as he (laurent) is, but we see that damen is willing to swear attachment and make himself vulnerable in order to support laurent and build trust. laurent is just denying that aspect of damen, because he’s traumatized and stubborn and doesn’t want to be let down.

Thickly, Damen remembered running his sword through the man he’d believed was the Regent; as if killing the Regent would be his expiation. It wouldn’t.

that explains why damen acted how he did in battle. but he also knows, in the reality of this moment, that it wouldn’t have made up for auguste even if he had killed the regent. killing a member of laurent’s family isn’t going to make up for the fact that he killed a member of his family.

He thought of all Laurent had done here, every piece of impersonal leverage, to control this meeting, to ensure it played out on his terms. ‘Congratulations,’ said Damen. ‘You’ve forced my hand. You have what you want. Delpha, in exchange for your aid in the south. Nothing given freely, nothing done out of feeling, everything coerced, with bloodless planning.’

this is almost laurentian, in terms of dialogue. very poetic and theatrical. damen is not handling this breakup well, and it’s almost like he’s defensively taking on some of laurent’s overdramatic bitchiness. it’s a reaction from him we haven’t really seen since book 1.

this dialogue also feels slightly anachronistic, in a good way. with some minor editing it could be a believable text that modern au damen would send after laurent breaks up with him in a formal email even though they still have to work on an assignment together. i think it's the "nothing given freely, nothing done out of feeling, everything coerced, with bloodless planning" that really gives off the vibe of an emotionally compromised teenager trying to cope with the fact that they still have to see their ex in english class.

‘Good,’ said Laurent. He took a step back. Then, as if a pillar of control had finally collapsed, Laurent surrendered his full weight to the table behind him, his face drained of all colour. He was trembling, his hairline pricked with the sweat of injury. He said: ‘Now get out.’

laurent: i won. get out. also laurent:

Laurent had known who he was, and had still made love to him. He wondered what mix of yearning and self-delusion had allowed Laurent to do that.

may i interest you in the “sam reads capri” tag on my tumblr blog, damen?

also i just think “he wondered what mix of yearning and self-delusion has allowed laurent to do that” is a BANGER line. maybe one of my favorites in the series. astute, bewildered, devastating (sad), and devastating (scathing) all at once.

If he’d imagined it, it was as a single, cataclysmic event, an unmasking that, whatever followed, would be over. Violence would have been both punishment and release. He had never imagined that it would instead go on and on; that the truth had been known; that it had been painfully absorbed; that it would be this crushing pressure that wouldn’t leave his chest.

damen always thought that he would be the one to rip off the bandaid for them both, so the entire time he has been saving them the pain by waiting. but now he knows that laurent never had a bandaid, and he (damen) has been left to slowly and painfully pry off his own. the pain isn’t over, it’s just beginning. and laurent has felt it this entire time, in a way damen put off for himself.

Laurent had tamped down the smothered emotion in his eyes, and would endure an alliance with his brother’s killer, though he felt nothing but aversion. If he could do it, Damen could do it. He could make impersonal negotiations, speak in the formal language of kings.

(also wow do i want to tell damen that laurent isn’t averse to him, he’s just lashing out, and badly needs someone to show him love and support at this time. but as always, oh fuck, he can’t hear me. and to be fair, it isn’t really in-character for damen to just passively accept poor treatment, or to force laurent to accept his support when he’s been told to go away.)

The ache of loss didn’t make sense, because Laurent had never been his. He had known that. The delicate thing that had grown between them had never had a right to exist.

and yet it did exist, and it does exist, and it will exist, and that’s why we’re reading about it.

damen and laurent both feel like they have a right to their kingdom’s thrones as princes, but they don’t have the right to simply be people in love. again, a kingdom or this. the themes are theming.

If it hurt, it was fitting; it was simply kingship.

what did i just say??? THE THEMES ARE THEMING!!!

If he could give Laurent up, he could do this.

stoppp can someone get him a pint of ice cream and an olivia rodrigo album (should i make lamen divorce era playlists. like one for each of them.)

Damen remembered hoping for a homecoming where it could be between them as it was in the old days. As if friendship of that kind could survive statesmanship.

damen’s being soooo broody about the ways kingship nerfs his social and romantic life, omg. it’s a hint of his immaturity and relative youth to other people in power, and his difference in jadedness and trauma compared to laurent. he is still lowkey a frat guy who wants to party, even though he cares about his schoolwork and future prospects

‘He’s playing us against each other,’ said Nikandros. ‘This is calculated. He is trying to weaken you.’ Damen said, ‘I know. It’s like him.’

"yes, honey..."

nikandros private twitter venting moment #4. especially considering damen’s response

‘He left us at Charcy.’ ‘There was a reason for that.’ ‘But I am not to know it.’

damen doesn’t really know the reason, but he can assure nik, there was a reason. nikandros private twitter venting moment #5.

It was not worth Delpha. He could see that Nikandros knew it, as Damen had known it. ‘I would make this easier,’ said Damen, ‘if I could.’ Silence, while Nikandros kept his words in check.

nikandros private twitter moment #6. this time he just posts a blurry picture of laurent’s offer and captions it with “🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬”

‘The men will talk,’ said Nikandros. He was pushing the words out with distaste, he did not want to say, ‘About—’ Damen said, ‘No.’ And then, as though Nikandros couldn’t help the words that came out next, ‘If you would at least take off the cuff—’ ‘No. It stays.’ He refused to lower his eyes.

kind of curious why, in this moment, damen is so determined about this. he’s had reasons in the past, but it would be cool to get some current insight, if it’s not just an instinctual thing

Nikandros turned away and put his palms flat on the table, resting his weight there. Damen could see the resistance in Nikandros’s shoulders, bunched across his back, his palms still flat on the table.

nikandros private twitter moment #7. he just posts this meme with no further elaboration:

Into the painful silence, Damen said, ‘And you? Will I lose you?’ It was all he allowed himself. It came out in a steady enough voice, and he made himself wait, and say nothing more.

AWWW poor baby :( no like fr damen :(((( it’s going to be okay

As though the words were coming up from the depths of him, against his will, Nikandros said, ‘I want Ios.’ Damen let out a breath. Laurent, he realised suddenly, wasn’t playing them against one another. He was playing to Nikandros. There was a dangerous expertise in all of this; in knowing how far Nikandros’s loyalty might be stretched, and what would keep it from snapping. Laurent’s presence in the room was almost tangible.

i think this was more an unintended outcome of the plan, but i’m sure mean girl era laurent would be pleased to know that his actions inadvertently incentivized damen’s best friend to declare himself loyal to his ex (laurent) instead

‘Listen to me, Damianos. If you have ever valued my counsel, listen. He is not on our side. He is Veretian, and he’ll be bringing an army into our country.’ ‘To fight his uncle. Not to fight us.’ ‘If someone kills your family you don’t rest until they are dead.’

i know this is nikandros trying to convince damen that laurent isn’t just going to let go of what damen did to auguste, and can’t be trusted as an ally. but it also makes nikandros accidentally sound like a book 1 laurent apologist, by making the statement with “you” as if it’s a universal maxim. like, if nik was in laurent’s shoes, he would have wanted damen tortured and dead too. nik is an interesting guy, because he's a little more aggressive with his principles unprovoked than damen, but he’s also similarly limited in perspective due to his status and lack of humbling experiences. i’ll try to do more complex analysis in addition to memeing on him, if/when opportunities arise

Nikandros was shaking his head. ‘Or do you really think he’s forgiven you for killing his brother?’ ‘No. He hates me for it.’ He said it steadily, without flinching. ‘But he hates his uncle more. He needs us. And we need him.’

damen going full ant with a bindle :(((

‘You need him enough that you would strip me of my home, because he asked you to?’ ‘Yes,’ said Damen.

nik private twitter vent #8. this time he literally just tweets a single “.”

The men came to attention as he passed, and said only, ‘Exalted,’ if he spoke. It was not like sitting around a campfire swilling wine, exchanging low tales and ribald speculations.

he should be at the club

Jord and the other Veretians from Ravenel had been sent back to Laurent to rejoin his army in the extravagant tents at Fortaine.

jord and the others standing awkwardly nearby laurent’s tent, trying to ignore the muffled adele ballad playing within

Alone, he didn’t have to be King.

i can’t believe that damen, groomed from birth for eventual kingship, now resents that kingship almost exclusively because it means he can’t be boyfriends with laurent. blonde man brainrot

He wasn’t alone. She was naked, at the base of the stark pallet, her full breasts hanging downwards, her forehead to the floor. She didn’t have palace training, and so could not quite disguise the fact that she was nervous. Her fair hair was caught back from her face in a fragile clasp, a northern custom. She was perhaps nineteen or twenty, her body trained and ready for him. She had prepared a bath in an unadorned wooden tub, so that if he pleased he might make use of it; or of her.

the way this is written, especially in the context of the series so far, makes this hard to read as anything other than revolting. i think this is due to a few craft elements:

the clinical description, lacking sensuality entirely

damen relating the things he’s observing to the aspects of the institution that he understands (she wasn’t trained in the palace = slaves are trained to do this. she was placed here for him to use = she didn’t show up here because she wanted to be here, or even knew him at all, or wanted pleasure of her own). unlike his past self, who passively understood the institution but chose not to think too hard about what it implied, the mental connections damen has made through being a slave himself prevent him from regarding this slave with the same thoughtlessness

damen's observations portray the anxiety and vulnerability of the slave, rather than willingness or submission. in book 1 we have a lot of moments where damen thinks of slaves as lovely, sweet, aimless non-people, almost like they're lobotomized. he regards them in a way that's both condescending and unconcerned for their free will, because they don't want or need free will, because they're slaves. his issue with the mistreatment of the akielion slaves in vere wasn't with their enslavement itself; it was with the cruelty of their masters, non-slaves who have free will and therefore should use it honorably. at the time, he truly believed that, as long as a master is kind, a slave has no reason to feel anxious or vulnerable or afraid, because there is honor in a slave's submission. if book 1 damen noticed that a slave was nervous, he would have found it adorable and charming, and would have taken it as an invitation to prove himself a caring master. but that doesn't even cross his mind here, while noticing this slave's nervousness in book 3.

another interesting craft detail: a sort of parallelism in the last part. damen notices that the bath, an object, has been prepared for him—just as the slave, a person, has been prepared for him. he groups them together, in that their same designated function is to be used: "he could make use of it; or of her." and that's where he stops the description altogether, because i don't think he feels comfortable with what that similarity between person and object implies.

it's easy to simply tell a reader that a character has evolved. if this story was written by a different author, there might have just been a moment where damen said out loud, "actually i've realized that slavery is bad," while the topic was otherwise avoided beyond its relevance to the story.

it's much harder to show, consistently throughout the story, exactly how that evolution has occurred, and the difference in damen's perspective compared to how he'd thought about slavery at the start. well done, pacat.

He had known that there were slaves with Nikandros’s army, following behind with the carts and the supplies. He had known that when he returned to Akielos there would be slaves.

… but seeing it in person is still viscerally uncomfortable

‘Get up,’ he heard himself say, awkwardly, a wrong order for a slave. There was a time when he would have expected this, and known how to behave around it. He would have appreciated the charm of her rustic northern skills, and bedded her, if not tonight then certainly in the morning. Nikandros knew him, and she was his type. She was Nikandros’s best, that was evident; a slave from his personal retinue, perhaps even his favourite, because Damen was his guest and his King. She got up. He didn’t speak. She had a collar around her neck, and metal cuffs around her small wrists that were like the one that he— ‘Exalted,’ she said, quietly. ‘What is wrong?’ He let out a strange, unsteady breath. He realised that his breathing had been unsteady for some time, that his flesh was unsteady. That the silence had been stretching out between them too long. ‘No slaves,’ said Damen. ‘Tell the Keeper. Send no one else. For the length of the campaign I will be dressed by an adjutant, or a squire.’

see my previous comment. this is really well-done, especially the panic attack-esque reaction and ptsd trigger. i made a comment a WHILE ago about the way both damen and laurent have ptsd in this series, but it manifests differently due to their proximity to their own traumas. laurent’s trauma was prolonged but a few years in the past; he’s had a lot of time to learn how to cope with it since. but damen’s trauma began when the story began, and it’s been intense and unrelenting basically the whole time: his father’s death, kastor and jokaste’s betrayal, his enslavement, his time in arles, his loss of identity by laurent’s side, and his forced return to his royal identity and obligations. that’s a lot of shit to unpack, and most of it is still happening. it's raw, and damen has had no time to process. nor has he received comfort, or even acknowledgement of what's happened to him as the trauma it is.

"he realised that his breathing had been unsteady for some time." this is a person experiencing a ptsd trigger for what might be the very first time, realizing as it happens just how quickly and thoroughly trauma can disorient his mental, physical, and emotional awareness and self-control. there is the complex intellectual development i discussed in the previous comment re: damen's feelings about slavery, but it's also this visceral gut reaction that tells damen and the reader that things will never be the same.

‘Wait.’ He couldn’t send her naked through the camp. ‘Here,’ he unpinned his cloak, and whirled it around her shoulders. He felt the wrongness of it, pushing against every protocol. ‘The guard will escort you back.’

he felt the wrongness of doing the right thing, but he still did it anyway. i think that is a big moment for damen, especially relating to akielion slavery.

i know i talk a lot about laurent in these notes, because i love laurent very much. but i also love damen, and i’m glad that he is our narrator. his pov is a big reason why these books work, in their chosen genre, at all. and i do think that this genre was a choice—laurent may be living a gritty psychological thriller, but a big theme of the series as a whole is that laurent was sweet in the past, and has the right to a life where he can be sweet again. but laurent, as we meet him at the start of these books, is heartless by choice. damen is many things, but he is never heartless. and whatever genre these books are, i think they're deeply defined by the fact that they're written with heart. they are not cynical, and they are not jaded. that's why damen, and not laurent, is our narrator. laurent's cynicism and jadedness are a foil to damen's idealism and trusting/forgiving nature. while damen does have some things to learn from laurent about strategy and cultural misconceptions, the ethos of the series matches damen's emotional and philosophical outlook far more than laurent's. ultimately, damen's heart helps laurent reclaim his sweetness, and become a better ruler and happier person. damen's heart is also what leads damen himself to reform akielion slavery, unite his kingdom with vere, and step out from his father's shadow. this is, at the end of the day, damen's story. and i don't think it would be the same story, with the same meaning or heart, if it was told by anyone else.

which, regarding meaning—in addition to the individual chapters, i do want to start thinking more about some of the more overarching things going on with capri. so i might as well start now. and if i had to start formulating an overall series thesis at this point in the re-read, i think it would have something to do with the concepts of submission and captivity.

captivity and submission both imply, in our common perception, a coerced and degrading loss of free will. and we certainly see that, in the way damen and laurent have both been held captive and degraded throughout their stories. we also see how, despite being victims themselves, they both have used captivity and submission to coerce and degrade others (laurent coerces and degrades damen to avenge his brother) and deny them free will (damen is complicit in the institution of akielion slavery, which denies slaves free will). for a lot of the series, damen and laurent are in constant disagreement about which of them is morally worse—damen thinks laurent is worse because of the coercion and degradation, laurent thinks damen is worse, and therefore deserves the coercion and degradation, because damen is complicit in akielion slavery and killed his brother. but we as the reader start to realize, as the series goes on, that they're both right about some things, both wrong about other things, both hypocrites on occasion, both doing harm, both trying to help, both captors, and both captives.

from this, it would make sense to assume that captivity and submission are the problem here, and the story's thesis is that those concepts are always dishonorable. however, i don't think that's the point at all. i think capri is about the ways captivity and submission can be honorable, if actively chosen with the moral responsibility, complex thought, and emotional depth of a person with free will. after all, what are loyalty and integrity, if not freely-chosen emotional and intellectual captivity? what are vulnerability and attachment, if not physical and emotional submission freely given?

damen and laurent are both complicated people who do dishonorable things. however, in their own respective arcs and in their shared romantic plotline, they both come to understand the multifaceted nature of captivity and submission, and reclaim those concepts as sources of empowerment, healing, and positive change. it's the difference between damen being forced to submit to laurent as a slave in arles in book 1, and damen choosing to stay by laurent's side in book 2 as a man. it's the difference between laurent submitting to his uncle, being manipulated into vulnerability so he can degraded and abused, and submitting to damen, making himself vulnerable despite his trauma so he can be truly loved and cared for.

this isn't a fully formed thesis yet, but it's good to at least get it cooking. and i'm not trying to guess the author's intention as much as summarize my own succinct interpretation. there isn't, like, One Right Answer here, and i'm not setting out to read the author's mind.

but still, i dunno, man… i think i'm onto something. after all, we have these major arcs about damen realizing slavery is wrong and laurent struggling with submission, and yet both of them proudly choose to keep the cuffs. and in a more metatextual sense, the evolution of this story's genre and purpose (slavekink erotica -> whatever the fuck these books are) is not irrelevant. so i'll keep an eye on it, and hopefully come up with something solid by the end of the re-read. i unironically love the challenge of writing a succinct thesis, which is not the nerdiest thing i've ever said, but it's definitely in the top 5.

[vicsbasement]

From what we’ve seen so far it almost looks like Carlos has been trying to make it easier for Charles? Take the chili plushie clip, Carlos is clearly teary eyed but he still tries to make Charles laugh. He is the one who’s hurting but he puts his own hurt aside because he notices that Charles is sad too and he has to make him laugh, because if there’s something else I’ve noticed in the past years is that Carlos loves seeing Charles happy

Anon! Firstly, are you the same anon from the other day? Let me kiss your brain, because I love talking about these boys so so so much and for some reason people really enjoyed the conversation we had. Anyway!!!! Let's talk about this for a second. Carlos is definitely having a hard time. If we're going blindly on the timeline, we have to assume Carlos knows about his exit from Ferrari ever since before the Dakar finale, (this is just especulation, though, because we don't know for certain) and he sort of, kind of, blew off Ferrari and the Maranello trials to go celebrate with his dad. Pretty sure he wouldn't have done this if he didn't have enough leverage on Ferrari because the trials at Maranello are SUPER important, but first, his dad just won Dakar at his age, and then he's like: well, I mean, I'm getting kicked out of the team anyway and I won't be active during the development of the next car, so, whatever, let's just do this,-- and he went and did it. That's my idea. He needed to be with his father because they all knew. I'm pretty sure they even knew during the training camp at Madrid / Portugal because he's surrounded by friends and already doing the absolute most to get in an amazing shape because he needs to be his best version this year. But-- then when he meets up with Charles again, Charles even feels blindsided. Because like I said previously, Lewis is Lewis. And he comes with sponsors and 7 world titles and his experience and all of a sudden Charles isn't really Ferrari's most important figure inside the team. So they're both trying to soothe each other. Because for the first time ever, Charles doesn't feel like the golden boy, he probably even feels like Ferrari did him dirty (that's what I would've thought, anyway) because who pays two or three times your salary to your second driver? Not any team, that's for certain. Carlos was stability for Charles and it's like his world was thrown off its axis. They were equals, similar in status, genuinely a good team. Charles feels bad and Carlos sees it, because he's lost his teammate, they were supposed to beat Ferrari's record of the teammates that lasted longer and now, well.

And Carlos knows this, and sees Charles handling it just as bad as himself and goes: well. If I don't have to think about this, and make him laugh, then neither of us need to focus on this, right? And the first challenge rolls around and he's tired but Charles is doing his best so why not sing until Charles' annoyed so he doesn't have to see how bone-tired Carlos is? He's sort of protecting Charles' heart by protecting his own. And then there's the little chili and I can simply see Carlos' thought process: this is the last first race of the year with Ferrari, and someone gifted him a chili. And he's chili and he's smooth operator and he's supposed to be fine, but his throat closes up and his eyes fill with tears and he doesn't want Charles to see him like this but it's so much. So he tries to laugh it off. And when he sees that Charles is also thinking the same thing he says, well. At least we're in this together. So he makes Charles laugh by saying he was a chili, too. We don't know what he means, but Charles is so fond and so filled with nostalgia that he laughs, anyway, even though his throat is dry and his eyes are filled with tears. And he gets to keep the chili plushie after Carlos reminded him they're supposed to part ways.

Remember Monza 2022? When Carlos completely ignored the woman who was guiding him to the back of the track so he could follow protocol? And he broke protocol to ask Charles if he was okay? Yeah, that's Carlos, to me. And I no longer feel like he's the only one capable of doing that for Charles, I really have seen Charles fight british and italian press and tell them to respect Carlos' last year in Ferrari, and I see Charles perfectly capable to soothe Carlos as much as Carlos has tried to soothe him. Because he's mourning in front of all of us, basically. And Carlos did go to Jeddah not only to help Ollie, but for Charles' sake, too. Did you see the smile Charles had on his face when they asked him about Carlos and he said that he'd called Senior and he'd told him that it was all okay and that he might've been going to the track later that day? He's doing that in front of all of us, showing us how much Carlos means to him. This is the best and worst time for Charlos fans right now and we have to deal with these two behaving like that for the rest of the year. I don't know how we're going to cope. Again, thank you for sending me these, because I just love to type until I don't make any sense.

[sophistired18]

Timeskip Kryk!!

I like to envision different scenarios on how timeskip kryk's relationship would go based on whether they were in an established relationship before yaku went abroad or if they were stuck at the pining stage, but for now I'm going to just ramble some established relationship hc's bc otherwise the list would go on forever! I hope you all enjoy!!

They definitely had it rough at first bc of the distance and time differences. They both agreed it'd be difficult, but they knew they could make it work. However, it was so much harder than either of them expected.

It was getting unbearable for kuroo, as it felt like a piece of a puzzle was missing from his everyday routine. He still hung out with his old teammates when he could, and he and Kai went to the same university, but they both knew it wasn't the same without yaku.

As for yaku, there were so many times he wanted to keel over and impulsively fly back to japan. He missed home so bad, and kuroo was home. Also the learning curve on speaking a new language and the culture shock in a foreign country was extremely rough. He stuck through it through pure perseverance. Yaku never thought he could doubt his own abilities, but being so isolated from everything he's ever known made him feel smaller than he's ever felt before.

It took a break down and a late midnight call (a morning one for kuroo) for yaku to be reassured that he's here because he's meant to be here and he earned it. From this point the two of them begin to really put in the effort to make sure they check up on each other and call more regularly (instead of trying to ignore how bad they miss each other)

They always call to say goodnight/good morning and just talk about their overall day

The day before Kuroo's college graduation, Yaku secretly flew down and surprised him on grad day. Kuroo just froze up bc he hasn't seen his bf in person in 4 years so he must be hallucinating. It took him a minute to realize he's not schizophrenic and then jump into his smaller (buffer???) Bf's arms. (He also cried alot, which yaku always teases him about to their friends)

The next time they see each other in person is a few months later when kuroo flies up to russia for a weekend to celebrate Yaku's belated birthday. At this point Yaku is practically fluent in russian and kuroo is astounded by how much Yaku's acclimated to his surroundings (it has been 5 years, but its still shocking nonetheless). They eat at one of Yaku's fav restaurants for lunch, which was amusing to Yaku since for the first time Kuroo didn't argue about the menu and took his recommendations bc he was so out of his element.

Later after exploring Moscow together, they decide not eat out for dinner and instead get groceries from an oriental market that yaku frequents often. Kuroo makes him some homemade tonkotsu ramen and yaku starts bawling his eyes out. They celebrate the first birthday Yaku's had with a loved one in 5 years

The next time they see each other, its for Kuroo's older sister's wedding. The whole night, Kuroo held Yaku's hand under the table and silently thumbed his ring finger. No words were spoken about the gesture when they got back to their hotel room, but they didn't need any to know what they wanted.

Yaku's finally back in japan for the 2020 Olympics and this time he decides to stay for a while. He moves in with Kuroo at his apartment and they act like a practically married couple (although they already acted like that before). They do a ton of wholesome domestic stuff that comes easier then you'd think for a couple that hasn't physically been with each other in years.

Now that they live together after all these years, the crave for physical affection is undeniably overwhelming for the both of them. They somehow always need to be touching, whether its watching a show on the couch with their legs intertwined, helping each other button up their shirts and get ready in the morning, or having their bodies bump each other lightly as they wash the dishes together.

Sometimes Kuroo spends late nights working on his laptop and Yaku always tries to remain on a strict schedule so he goes to bed earlier. But after some point he starts missing Kuroo sleeping in bed with him, so one night he asks Kuroo, "Hey Tetsu, you can work anywhere, right?" and Kuroo confused, simply says "Yes... I suppose?" So Yaku drags Kuroo to their bedroom, with Kuroo still holding his laptop and plops Kuroo onto the bed. "Okay, here's your new office" Yaku yawns and then climbs into bed and snuggles against Kuroo's side. Kuroo just sits there in awe for a bit until he sees that yaku actually fell asleep. He continues working with his laptop on his lap, his hand occasionally brushing through Yaku's hair. Eventually he has to get up to put his laptop away and change out of his suit that he's still currently wearing. But now this "office" has becomes a regular routine whenever Kuroo has to work late nights at home. (He makes sure to get ready for bed beforehand as well so that he can go straight to sleep after finishing work)

Kai always pokes at Kuroo and asks when he's gonna propose. Kenma tells him to hurry up and get on with it before another foreign pro team whisks Yaku away

Yaku used to be more reluctant to show affection or make the first move during highschool, but now he's almost always the one to initiate. It's not even that Kuroo is the one who's shy, its just that Yaku always seems to beat him to it.

Its their 10 year anniversary of their relationship (spanning from 3rd yr of hs to post Olympics) and they're spending it at a beach in okinawa (since the last anniversary they spent in the mountains per Yaku's request). It only takes a decade, but Kuroo finally takes his chance to propose as the sunset lies against the ocean waves. However, like most things, Yaku beats him to it and somehow Yaku is the one down on one knee with a ring (and here Kuroo is standing like an idiot still fumbling to grab the damn box out of his pocket). The trip ended with both of them wearing contrasting rings and a proposal story that ends up being another embarrassing one that Yaku always shares with their friends.

After playing a few seasons of pro league in japan, Yaku gets a call and an email from a recruiter in Poland for the team, orzeł warszawa. After discussing it for a while, they come to a decision and Kuroo wishes his husband a safe trip as he watches him wave farewell and enter the airport

[dentiststoothfairy]

Okay, okay...how about a hc about a reader that just sacrifices everything??? Like...

You have not enough money? READER GIVES YOU ALL THEIR MONEY!

You and reader have barely eaten and there's only one plate of anything left? Oops, reader has already given you the plate.

In a match? Everyone got away except reader because they always sacrificed themself OOPS

I noticed that I always sacrifice myself for my friends, be it rl or in idv, it's always the same..ehehe

Could I wish for norton, orpheus, naib and emma for this? I'm afraid I don't know how many people you write for. If there are too many, you can leave some out

Ps. Love your writing style!! 💕

[ 🦷🎀 𝙰𝚠𝚎, 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍! 𝙸'𝚖 𝚐𝚕𝚊𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚝𝚢𝚕𝚎. 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍! <𝟹 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝟹 𝚊𝚖 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝. 𝙸 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚏𝚘�� 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚜𝚘 𝚗𝚘 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢! 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎. 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍!]

🍩 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥 🍩 , 📖 𝐎𝐫𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐮𝐬 📖, 🟢 𝐍𝐚𝐢𝐛 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐫 🟢 & 🌿 𝐄𝐦𝐦𝐚 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 🌿

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒/𝐎

🍩 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥 🍩

This guy grew up on the generosity of others. Being in the mines, it was pretty tough so everyone did what they could to make such a dull a little easier on each other.

Listen. He won't say no if you're coughing up money. Absolutely not... Donuts too? Okay damn-.. HEY! HE'S THE HARASSER! DON'T START TRYING TO PROTECT HIM-

He isn't the type of person for a charity case. He prefers to work hard to achieve what he wants. It not only, shows that he deserves it, but it's plenty refreshing when he actually earns it. So he's a little off put by your generosity at first...

Everytime you give him something. He clarifies "I'm not giving this back".

He's always dumbfounded by the "I know!" Response he got back. Sure, there was generosity... But you were either just.. Stupid or had no sense of value to anything. He just sort of... Questions your sanity a bit.

📖 𝐎𝐫𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐮𝐬 📖

Honestly, he finds it pretty damn endearing. He doesn't really need anything, but the way you just give anything up to anyone in need truly inspires him.

It's also a little concerning-. Like... You need to take care of yourself, please start putting yourself before other people. You're just as important as others.

He definitely feels bad everytime you're left on chair. You're the type of person to give the shirt of your back to someone in need, so how is it fair that you always get sent back?

He definitely gives back to you in some way. Maybe he slides you some of his own food when he's not hungry to make sure you're getting properly fed, or bodyblock you so you quite literally can't sacrifice yourself without wasting precious time and energy. Hehe, sneaky novelist.

🌿 𝐄𝐦𝐦𝐚 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 🌿

This girl finds it a little funny that you're always getting sent back to the manor. It's not anything too bad.. It's just an instinct for you to throw yourself into danger so she can escape. It's pretty sweet..

She's also pretty self sacrificing herself. So you know that one picture where it's this couple being held at gun point and they keep going 'noo' to protect each other? Yeah that's you two.. It's all pretty light hearted though.

Does not forget to show you love for all the things you do for her. Flowers litter your room, attempted meals made by her showcase her appreciation and lots of affection. She truly does appreciate you.

She knows you can be pretty self sacrificial so she's often trying to help you out by disabling chairs before you can actually get chaired. This gives you a small opportunity to self heal and RUN.

🟢 𝐍𝐚𝐢𝐛 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐫 🟢

Listen. He loves you. But oh my gOD. He does all of those rescues FOR NOTHING. CAN YOU AT LEAST TRY TO STAY OUT OF DANGER BECAUSE YOU ARE ON YOUR LAST CHAIR AND HE ABSOLUTELY WILL LEAVE YOU HERE.

He appreciates any food you give him. But, he will often half the food you do give to him. Like, if you slyly slip a loaf of bread suddenly onto his place, expect to enjoy half of it with him. He knows what it's like to go hungry and he doesn't want you to experience that.

No matter how many times you frustrate him to hell and back with your absolutely generosity and kindness, he can't help but admire that about you. The world is filled with assholes of every degree, you make this manor a little more tolerable.. Sometimes.

He can also be kind of self sacrificing due to his time in the army, so he will also do his best to make sure you're in tip top shape, but he will indulge in your kindness as some sort of guilty pleasure for the mercenary

[x-liv25-jamieswife]

AveryJameson proposal hcs!!!

averyjameson proposal head canons

of course <3. i didn't proof read this so i apologize if anything doesn't make sense. hope you like them.

jameson would definitely propose while they're on a trip. he wouldn't do it in texas. maybe greece, paris (the city of love), or some island somewhere.

her engagement ring would have a gold band with a beautiful green gem (cause of the color of his eyes (its her fav color)) (his wedding ring would have a bit of hazel in it so they can have each other's eye colors on their rings).

he wouldn't really call her heiress as he's proposing. he'd call her avery so that she knows he's being serious and all.

he'd try to find somewhere private to do it so that no one disturbs them. if they're in paris, for example, he pays a ton of money so that they're alone at the top of the eiffel tower.

ik i said they could be in greece or some island, but i'm just gonna keep going with paris cause its easier. so, after he proposes, he gets someone to bring them dinner up to where they are on the eiffel tower. they eat cuddling each other looking at the view and professing their love to one another once again (and kissing)

jameson started crying while he was proposing. it was one of the first time avery had seen him cry (avery also cried)

he'd definitely somehow include a puzzle. like the ring has a secret compartment with something special inside or a scavenger hunt to get them to the eiffel tower where he proposes.

he also has some gifts hidden on the floor of the eiffel tower they're on. once she says yes, he gets them out (there are like 10 of them. he loves spoiling his girl). there's jewelry, some other gifts and a key to a penthouse he bought in paris (where they can spend some time with each other (if you know what i mean) after the proposal)

avery doesn't immediately say yes after he proposes. she's too shocked and just stands there with her mouth open not saying anything. jameson gets scared and starts to tell her that it's fine if she doesn't want to and they can wait. he wants her to know she can just forget this every happened, and then avery pulls him up, kisses him and tells him there's nothing she wants more than to marry him.

they start kissing after my last hc but they're so happy and can't stop giggling so their teeth keep bumping and stuff so they stop and decide to just hug each other. this is really specific but oh well.

the entirety of the floor of the eiffel tower they're on is covered in avery's favorite flowers. jameson knows avery doesn't need grand gestures to know he loves her but he still loves to spoil her.

the ring would definitely have the date of the proposal or 'i love you' engraved on the inside along with their initials or smth.

i feel like they'd get engaged 4 years after they start dating (so they're 21 and 22). idk if they'd still be in school, but if they are, they'd have a long engagement and have their wedding once they're both done with school (i actually think they'd have a long engagement either way).

this all definitely happens during the summer bc it's warm and nice out (and they both love summer. also if they still have school then they're on summer break)

after the proposal in paris, jameson would definitely take her to rome and other places to celebrate (rome is avery's favorite place). they'd wait to tell everyone (but oren obviously knows cause he's always there), and they'd sort of ignore all of their loved ones calls to spend time with each other. oren would have to call them to assure them that everything's fine and that they're busy (in their bedroom, but he doesn't say that)

when they do end up telling everyone, it's already been two weeks since the proposal. they'd definitely tell jameson's brothers with some sort of riddle, and they'd tell libby, max, and everyone else normally. they're all happy for them obviously. max would definitely say smth like 'finally. it took you a while.'

they'd also wait to tell the public. she wouldn't wear her ring in public and they were very careful when travelling. people only find out about their proposal after their wedding or smth years later. it becomes this huge thing online.

this is a small one but, he proposes during the sunset on the eiffel tower and they stay there for hours after. avery always gets chilly at night outside so jameson made sure to stash some blankets near them.

[seenoversundown]

For Death Or Glory: Chapter Seventeen

Jake Kiszka x Charlotte (Fem OC)

Warnings: 18+ Smut (I’ll sneak the sexy warnings in at the end so you can look away if you want) Mild Anxiety if you squint, drinking/alcohol, discussion including sex references, gentle brotherly bullying, a lot of pointing and laughing at Jake (lovingly), Pirates Of The Caribbean references, Tall Tales from our Short King, Fluff, wholesome family time, silly banter amongst the boys.

*smut warnings*: sexual language, praise kink insinuation 😏, fingering, use of captain/daddy (it’s mild) thigh riding, Jake is sexy as hell, everyone.

Word Count: 5.1k 🤭

Summary: It’s Trivia Night! Charlotte decides to hang out with everyone for the night and gets to hear plenty about our favorite little pirate man.

Author's Note: ITS A FAMILY EPISODE 🥰 This was honestly way too fun to write 😂 I hope you enjoy getting to hang out with everyone because it was fun finding ways for them to interact with my main girl, Charlotte. 💕

(I listened to Bed Chem and Juno by Sabrina a lot also while writing parts of this chapter so do with that what you will! 🤭😘)

Nonsense - Sabrina Carpenter "I'll be honest, Lookin' at you got me thinkin' nonsense, Cartwheels in my stomach when you walk in."

It took some mild convincing from Quinn and Jacob, but I’ve decided to participate in Trivia Night with everyone. Not going to act like I'm not a little nervous to hang out with everybody again since the only time I saw them all together was at Halloween, and I was drowning my nerves with whatever drink ended up in my hand.  

“You’re already friends with Quinn, and I’m sure the ladies love you,” Jake quietly tried to pep talk me as I sat in my usual seat at the bar. 

“No, I know,” I sigh. “It’s more the boys that make me nervous.” 

“They’re just louder than me,” he laughs. “They’ll be nice to you though, don’t even worry about them.” 

I take a deep breath as I look at him. 

“I’ll spit in their drinks if they’re mean to you; how’s that sound?” His eyebrow raised as he said it, and I couldn’t help the laugh that fell out of me. 

“You’re ridiculous.”

“And you’re not clocked in, so,” he says with a dumb little smile on his lips. 

“Oooo Lottie, you’re hereeee!” Quinn yells as they step foot into the bar. The rest of them slowly trickled in behind them.  

They wrap their arms around me, practically swaying the barstool with them. “Come sit with us?” Okay, okay, okay. I nod and follow behind them. 

Once the booth has been claimed, the boys apparently wander off to grab drinks and queue up songs on the jukebox. 

“Since the boys aren’t here for a minute— have you two.. y’know?” Quinn asks with a dramatic wink, and I can feel the blood rushing to my face. They already know you’ve kissed him; what’s the harm?

My hand covers my mouth, trying to hide the smile growing while I nod. I practically received a standing ovation at the confirmation. 

“You have to tell us how it went because we’ve never really even seen any girl that he’s even been on a date with! Let alone actually sleep with,” Willa says, leaning into her hand with a shit-eating grin plastered on her face. 

“Oh, um, well,” I hesitate, not really knowing what to say. This was easier with Cass because we just didn’t have a filter with each other, and I’m still not sure what is too much with them. 

Quinn can definitely sense the panic so they cave and ask, “Does he know what he’s doing?” 

“YEAH,” my eyes go wide. “He’s probably more deceiving than you’d think.” My eyebrows practically touch my hairline at the thought. 

A collective giggle from the table made me laugh. 

Mel whispers, “Did he make you–”

“Three times in one night.” 

“JAKE, YOU DOG,” she whisper-screams back to me. 

Willa and Quinn just look at each other before Willa finally lets out, “.. must run in the family.”

“What runs in the family?” Sam asks, handing Willa her drink. Danny is next to him, handing Mel’s drink over to her, and then takes off to get trivia night going. 

Mel’s eyebrows shoot up as she lets a quiet “Being a little bitch,” slip out before she sips on her drink; the smirk on her face is undeniable.

“Oh, fuck off,” Sam laughs, sitting in the booth next to Willa. 

Josh isn’t far behind him, holding three drinks. Setting them down, but quickly handing Quinn’s over to them and then sliding one over to me.

He leans down to me, whispering, “I was given the task of bringing your beverage from a secret admirer of sorts.” My stomach filled with butterflies at his comment. 

“Hey! This is the family table, no secrets!” Sam pipes up. 

Josh whips his head over, “I was just politely asking if I may squeeze in next to my little lovebug over there; otherwise, I will take the shortcut!” He steps his foot onto the edge of the table, making everyone panic for a moment. I quickly slide out of the booth while Mel and Quinn trade spots to make it easier. 

Danny starts explaining the basics of trivia night to everyone; hearing his voice like that was so odd because he’s been so quiet around me; it’s almost like I hadn’t heard him speak before. 

“Tonight’s theme is Pirates of the Caribbean! “ His enthusiasm is rapidly met with a collective groan from everyone. I glance over at Jake, who is just beaming over the theme—of course, he’s excited. 

A few patrons, including Linda, hollered, ‘Not fair!’ 

“Hey now,” Danny chimes back in, “Before everyone gets too mad, Jake will be bartending as his handicap for tonight’s trivia!”

Everyone I’m sitting with is pointing and laughing at Jake as he dramatically pouts behind the bar. I can’t take my eyes off him as he finally breaks the sad face, laughing with someone sitting in front of him at the bar. It’s adorable how much he loves his job. His eyes meet mine, making my heart stop for a second, as he smiles and shoots me a little wink before turning to grab another drink for someone. 

“We’ll start with an easy one- a warm-up, if you will. Which movie was the infamous mermaid scene in?”

The fourth one.

“Charlotte, has Jake told you about the first time he got drunk?” Sam asks, already laughing at the question. 

My eyebrows raise, and I glance over at him behind the bar. “He has not, and I’m fully ready to hear it.”

“Oh, it’s a treat– TRUST,” Willa chimes in. 

Sam and Josh whisper between themselves before turning back to me, “Okay, so Daniel was actually at the house with me because it was a weekend, obviously.” 

Oh, he’s locked in, I’m ready.

“We were what, like thirteen or fourteen at the time, right Daniel?” 

“Something like that,” Danny quickly answers. 

“Anyway- so we’re just playing video games, as teenage boys do, and then Josh knocks on the door.” Sam looks to Josh, who is always ready to take over a story. 

He leaned forward, looking over at Jake and then back at me. “This guy over here decided that he would just drink anything that was handed to him at this party. Lo and behold, he ended up walking like  a baby deer by the time we got home.” He barks out a laugh, “He ended up eating shit in the front yard because he swore he didn’t need my help.” 

It was my turn to laugh, looking over to Jake, who was bright red at this point; he must have had to sit through this story often because he was taking it like a champ.

“Oh, and it gets worse,” Danny chimes in. 

“Yes! So, I ran inside quietly and grabbed these two,” Josh points at Sam and Dan, “To try and help me get the drunk out of the yard before our parents woke up.”

“But even with all three of us, we couldn’t get him stable enough to walk into the house carefully.” 

“You guys don’t have to tell everybody this story, you know?” Jake shouts from behind the bar. 

“Oh, but we do!” Josh rebuttals.

“After a few minutes of trying to get him up, we realized it was a lost cause and went and got our dad for help.” 

“Oh my god, no,” slips out of me before I can stop it. 

Making them all laugh because they know what’s coming next. 

“Well, our dad surprisingly didn’t get that mad,” Sam starts, “But he did insist on taking pictures before carrying him inside.” 

“Mom added them to a scrapbook!” Josh adds. 

My hand flies up to cover my mouth as I laugh at the thought of drunk teenage Jake passing out in the yard. My self-control ran low when I finally let out, “Please tell me she would send you the picture right now; I need to see it.” 

“Oh dear, I thought you’d never ask!” Josh laughs, pulling out his phone. “While we wait for the glorious photo, may I offer you another silly Jake story?” 

“You really don’t have to,” Jake says, setting down a tray of new drinks for the table. “Feels a little unfair; you’re airing out my dirty laundry, and I can’t even defend myself.”

“But, Lottie needs to be caught up on the Jake Lore!” Quinn pipes up, making the whole table laugh. His head drops back when everybody laughs, but his smile creeps through as he tries to scowl at them. 

“Can you at least throw in one redeeming one?” 

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll see, kid.” 

‘What is Will Turner wearing when he’s rescued?’ 

Oh.. the pirate medallion that Elizabeth takes. 

“Look who came to say ‘Hi’ for a few minutes!” Mel announces as she approaches the table with her daughter. I’ve never seen a group of people get so excited over a child. I watch as everybody takes turns hugging her. Josh definitely took the most time, spending time talking with her. They are the most precious little buddies.

She’s sitting on Quinn’s lap when I see her eyes light up as Jake comes over to the table. She quickly stands up in the booth, pointing to him with a big cheesy smile. Jake reaches out, stealing her away from Quinn, and despite the fact she probably couldn’t hear him, he lets out a, “Come here, sweetheart.” 

Why is that sexy? My hands start to sweat a little as I watch him hold her; he has her propped up with one of his arms. He brushes the hair away from her face as she just beams at him. Oh my god? 

“I’ll get you,” he mouths to her before tickling her little neck and then her belly. I can’t stop myself from noticing how big his hands look right now, as his palm seemingly takes up half of her tiny body. Her laughter fills the air as he plays with her for a minute. I don’t think I’ll be able to get this out of my head now. Why.. How is he so good with kids? 

She wraps her arms around his neck in a hug, his hand rubbing her back as Mel walks back up. 

“Oh, how sweet,” she says, “She was asking if you would be here tonight, Jake.” 

“She hasn’t figured out I live here yet, huh?” he jokes, looking at her and smiling so big at her. I’m not even in a relationship with this man; why is this so–

His voice pulls me out of my head, “Char, do you want another drink?” Hearing him call me by a nickname catches me off guard. He hands Iris over to Danny as I’m nodding at him, and he steals my glass from me. 

“Oh, perfect timing!” Josh boasts, sliding his phone across the table. “The requested photo.” The way I picked it up could have been at record speed. 

And what a feast for the eyes it was; there lies a baby version of Jacob, absolutely obliterated in the grass. 

“You can swipe for another good one,” Josh pipes up, his cackle quickly following.

Hesitantly swiping to the next one, it’s of him thrown over his dad’s shoulder with Sam cheesing next to him. Jake’s eyes are shut, and his hair is all over the place, but the way you can tell in the photo alone that he has just given up is hilarious. It’s cute that his family didn’t yell at him for it, and if this was the worst punishment he got, he was pretty lucky. 

“Oh god,” Jake’s voice suddenly next to me again. “Not my best moment, clearly.” I laugh quietly as I look up at him, his face softening a bit when he looks back at me. 

“Didn’t pin you as a sloppy kind of drunk, Jacob,” I tease. 

His smile grows quickly, “He’s a different breed– I don’t like to let him out very often.” Oh, I need to see him a little drunk at some point. 

‘What is Jack’s last line in Dead Man’s Chest?’

Jake leans down, his mouth hovering over my ear before saying, “Hello, beastie,” in his finest Jack Sparrow accent. The sound of his laugh graced my ears as he stood back up. Not entirely proud of how the English accent affects me, but he doesn’t need to know that.  

“Oh!” Josh pipes up, “Jacob, remember when you planned that one date in high school?” 

“Haha, oh boy, I have a bar to tend to, unfortunately,” his eyes wide as he walks off to escape this story. 

“So what about this date?” I lean into my hand, looking over at Josh. 

“It was really very cute,” he starts. “He asked this girl out, and she actually said yes. So, he spent like a week and a half planning out this date-” 

A collective ‘awww’ coming from the rest of us. 

“Well, she never showed up. He was devastated. Our poor Jake has been getting ghosted since the beginning of time.” 

How does he have such bad luck with girls? 

“He did get stood up— what was it like three months ago?” Willa asks, looking at Sam. He nods mid-sip of his beer. “Poor guy moped around for a week.” 

“It’s honestly baffling; he really is such a sweetheart,” Quinn adds, with Josh nodding along with them. 

“How come Quinn can say that and it’s okay, but I tell him he’s handsome ONE TIME—,” Willa starts, her face back towards Sam. 

“Wrong– you’ve said it twice,” he corrects her with a smug look on his face. 

She rolls her eyes, “Sam, be so serious right now,”

“YEAH, that’s right, I’m keeping track!” his voice raises for a second but immediately drops when he says, “Plus, you’re MY very beautiful and hot girlfriend, we don’t need to give him any ideas.” He side-eyes Jake while he wraps his arms around her shoulders tightly.

“He’s not going to try and steal Willa from you, Samantha,” Quinn giggles, watching him hold her hostage.  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

After finally being able to get away from the storytime table, I hustle to the bathroom: two drinks plus  Josh’s storytelling skills, a recipe for disaster. 

“Oh, excuse me,” I back away from the bathroom door as an older lady walks out. 

She stops in front of me for a second, her eyes lighting up, “Well, it’s about time I run into you.” 

“Um..” I hesitate. 

“I’m Eleanor,” she grabs my hand gently, “Or El, whichever the boys feel like that day.” The realization of who she is hits me; this is the one Willa said Jake was going to marry. 

“Oh! Hi, I’m Charlotte,” I shake her hand lightly, “I’ve heard about you, nice to officially meet you.” 

Her smile is contagious, “What a pretty name for such a beautiful girl.” 

“Oh, you’re too sweet.” 

“It’s nice seeing him so happy, you know?” She starts, “I’m not trying to tell all his secrets, but the poor boy has just had no luck the last few years. Constantly being let down by all these girls— which is such a shame because he’s such a charming young man.” 

My heart hurts hearing her say that. Why would girls not like him? 

“Oh really? I didn’t realize it had been that bad.” 

“Yeah, the poor thing had basically given up on dating. He really just invested himself into being here, which is admirable of him, but between you and me,” she leans in, “Linda and I are so glad that you’re getting him out of here a little. He needs it.” 

“He really is something special,” I admit to her, “It’s a loss for all the girls who didn’t give him enough of a chance.” 

“You said it!” she giggles; it seems her voice is just quiet by nature. “If I were younger, I’d be trying to take him home with me.” Her little wink made me laugh. 

“I’m not one to kiss and tell,” I whisper, leaning closer to her, “But you’d be making the right choice.” She giggles with me this time. 

“Well, let me not hold you up any longer! I’ll see you out there,” she squeezes my forearm gently as she turns to walk away.  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

As I’m walking out of the bathroom, I catch him coming from the back room and promptly make myself in his way. 

“Hey you,” he whispers. 

“Hi,” I say quietly back, “What are the odds I can steal you away?” Letting my hand run down his forearm, he subtly grabs it while he listens.  

“For work or..” his voice trails off, and that damn eyebrow of his popping up. 

Shaking my head, “Mmm.. definitely not work.” I pull my bottom lip in with my teeth as I look at him. 

“Ohhh, I see,” his shitty little smirk coming out. 

“So, is that a yes?” 

He looks down the hall past me, “I don’t know about that, Red.”

“We could just sneak upstairs real quick,” I don’t even care how desperate I sound at this point because I am a little desperate. 

“The bar’s kinda busy, I don’t–” 

I quickly cut him off, “What about your office?”

“Someone’s eager?” His eyebrows pull together for a second as he looks me up and down. 

Hooking my finger into his belt loop, tugging him toward me, “Baby, please,” batting my eyelashes at him.

“What’s gotten into you?” his laugh lacing the question.

“Just seeing you with Iris, I don't know..” trailing off, I lean forward into him, my hand holding the side of his face, “I just think you’d make a cute daddy.”

 Pink creeps into his cheeks rapidly before he spits out, “I’ll meet you in my office in five minutes.” ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

He backs me into his desk, slotting his leg between mine. He leans against me, letting his weight press into me. 

“Jake, please,” I moan as he leans even further into me, making my hips grind against his thigh. 

“Needy little thing,” he whispers as I moan into his mouth, still trying to resist riding his thigh. He glances down for a second as my hips betray me, “Does that feel good?” 

My face warms up, and a small “mhm” escapes me. The smirk on his face makes my stomach turn, nervous about whatever is going on inside his head. He leans in, the kiss feels more heated than before. His teeth lightly grabbed my lip, which sent a little shiver through my body and caused my hips to start moving a bit more forcefully. 

“Keep going,” he whispers against my lips, “use me, honey.” 

“Fuck me,” falls out of me, the friction making my head spin. 

He quietly laughs, “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” 

God, he needs to never stop talking. 

His lips leave kisses down my neck, finding every sensitive spot he can get to. I’m doing everything in my power to refrain from moaning too loudly, but he’s making it increasingly more difficult. The waves of pleasure shooting through me every time I roll my hips are only made worse by the feeling of his smile against my throat. 

“Jake–,” I whine. “Touch me.” I slide my hand down the back of his arm, trying to pull it from behind me. 

“Oh, you need my hands?” He teases me, whispering a breath away from my ear. “Is that what you want?”  He unbuttons my pants but hesitates to do anything else. The amount that I want, need rather, him to just touch me, is bordering painful.

“Baby, please,” I moan into his ear, “You’re just so good at it.” His hand immediately slid into my pants at the praise, running his fingers across my panties that are practically drenched at this point. 

“All that for me?” He coos into my ear, sliding the soaked fabric to the side; his fingers gently rubbing against my throbbing clit, causing a louder moan to slip out. “Gotta stay quiet for me, honey. Unless you want everyone to know how good I make you feel.” 

His voice was killing me as he added pressure with his fingers; the build of my orgasm was quick once he got involved. His hand slides down as he hooks his middle finger into me. Letting his palm rest against my clit as his finger pumps into me, the friction was just enough to keep inching me closer. 

“I’m so close,” I quietly whimper. 

He leans in closer to my face, hovering just above my lips, “Let me have it, honey.” He slid his ring finger into me as he said it and then leaned in to kiss me as his hand moved faster. I can feel the orgasm about to snap inside me when he lets his tongue gently dance across my lip. My jaw falls open as my release finally hits; I can feel the wetness against his hand as he works me through it. As I come down from it, his hand slows with me. 

He carefully pulled his hand back, grabbed my jaw with the other, and pressed one slow kiss into me. He lingers close to me for a second and, with his cheeky little smirk, asks, “Feel better?”

I giggle against his lips, kissing him a few more times before deciding to add fuel to the fire, “For now.”

“For now?” 

“Oh, Jacob,” I tease, sliding my arms around his neck. “I’ll be ready to actually ride you later.”

His eyes light up at my comment, “You may be the greatest friend I’ve ever had; I hope you know that.” 

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

I managed to slide back into the booth with minimal questioning, though I think Josh knew what had happened with the way his eyes were burning a hole into the side of my head for a moment. 

“Oh, I did think of something wholesome for Charlotte,” Sam announces to the table. 

“He’s not here,” Josh reminds him, “You don’t have to suck up to him.” 

Sam’s laugh makes me laugh when he comes out with, “No, I know, but don’t we want them to get toge—“ 

“What were you going to say, babes?” Willa, wide-eyed, cuts him off before he finishes his sentence. Wait- do the boys want us to..? 

“I was just thinking that- he’s always been the one we go to,” he says, his tone feels different. “Like, with anything. He’s typically the first one I’ll think to call if I need actual help with something.” 

“No, that’s so true, actually,” Quinn chimes in. “He will do so much for the people he cares about. The amount of times he’s texted me to let me know that he left the door unlocked for me or that he bought more of the coffee creamer I like since I was at their place all the time anyway.”

Danny was lingering near us while they all talked about the exuberant amount of nice things Jake had done for them. 

“He got me the job at the shipyard and then basically created a job for me here; I feel like that speaks volumes about who he is as a person,” Danny says quietly. 

I look over as he’s at the opposite end of the bar; his smile is so wide. He must be talking to Linda and Eleanor– always taking time to talk to everyone while they sit there, but for those two specifically, he really makes sure to dote on them a little extra. 

The table falls quiet, well- quiet is subjective, and I take my chance to ask the question that I’ve definitely been sitting on. 

“Is there a reason for the Bob Seger cut out?” I ask. “Actually- there’s just a lot of Bob Seger that happens here? Because I’ve been here near closing time, and Night Moves, I think..has been on every time.” 

Everyone looked at each other; it was almost comical the way they all paused when I asked. 

“Jake!” Josh hollers, “Your presence is needed!” I watch him move through the room, slowly moving through people to get to us. “Someone is asking questions that..you should be here for.”

“Okay, shoot.” 

I look up at him, “What’s with all the Bob Seger?”

“Oh!” His eyes darted over to Josh. “Haha, well–.”

Willa chimes in, “Oh, this should be good.” 

“It started with Night Moves and, uh,” He pauses, looking down at the table for a second. 

Josh quickly chimes in, “Mind’s slipping away from you?” 

His head whipped up to look at Josh, “No no, just want to make sure I recall it correctly!” 

“Well,” Sam pipes up, “we got ALL night.”

Danny bumps into him, whispering something in his ear. 

“Ah! Yes, thank you, Dan,” he says, patting Danny’s arm as he walks off. “Have you heard the lore of the Old Port Pirate?”

“Obviously not,” I giggle. 

Sam pipes up quickly, “Really!?” 

“Oh! Charlotte, you’re in for a treat,” Mel says, leaning into her hand, ready to hear this story. 

“Josh, do you mind watching the bar for a minute while I explain this?” 

“Oh, but of course!” He quips back.  “I do love this story, so I’ll be lingering over here!”

I let Josh out of the booth, with Jake sliding in next to me as I sat back down. He turns to face me a little with a smirk on his face. 

“So, there’s this man who wanders around the Old Port, typically found sitting in front of one of the stores nearby. We’ve been told that he thinks he’s a pirate, so..that’s where the name comes from,” he chuckles at himself.  “Well, he wandered in here the day we opened, and obviously, from one pirate to another, I wasn’t about to send him on his way.” And a precious little pirate you are, Jacob. 

“Of course not! Pirates are always welcome in a tavern!” Quinn chimes in. 

“Exactly– I’m glad you understand,” he says. “While he was here, he barely spoke. Just kept to himself the entire night until Night Moves started playing.”

I glance around the table; Sam, Willa, and Mel are all fully invested in this. Wait..

He excitedly continues his story time, “He waved me down and proceeded to tell me about how Night Moves was his favorite song. Said that he actually knew Bob at one point– which I’m not going to tell him that I don’t buy it because.. well, if you saw the guy, you’d understand.”

“So you just…play it every day?” Why do I kind of believe him?

“Well, we never know when he’s going to come back or if he will,” he tells me. “But I want to make sure he feels welcome!” 

Willa asks, “Didn’t he pay with a doubloon?” 

“He did! That’s why it’s framed over there!” Josh hollers from behind the bar. 

“Oh,” I try to collect my thoughts. “Well, um—”

“I know it’s a pretty exhilarating story- take your time to process it,” he says, double-tapping the table. “I do need to go take the bar back from Josh, so if you have any more questions, you know where to find me.” His hand gently squeezes my arm before he scurries back to the bar. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

“Alright, be honest,” I say as he walks over to me. “Is this pirate man real?” 

“Of course, he is,” he says, no hesitation in his voice. “Do you want more to drink?” I nod as I’m trying to figure out if he’s lying. 

I let out a small, “Mmmm..” folding my arms over my chest as I watched him make a fresh drink for me. 

He slides it over to me, “Have I lied to you before, honey?” 

The way I want to kiss- I mean, smack the smirk off his face. My arms drop, and I can’t fight the smile on my face any longer, “Alright, I’ll believe you.” 

He leans forward onto the bar, resting his head in his hand, “While you’re here.. you should stay with me tonight.”

“Mmm.. I don’t know if I should,” I tease him.

He blinks slowly at me, a little smirk on his lips, “What if I promise to make you breakfast?” 

“Well.. that does sound nice but..” trying to sound dramatic, but let’s be honest- there’s no way he wouldn’t win this battle. 

“Josh is going to Quinn’s,” he pauses and lowers his voice “.. we can have sex.” His eyebrows shoot up, making me giggle. 

“Now we’re talking, Captain.” I lean forward into my hand now; we probably look ridiculous right now. 

“What was the other name you called me?” He winks at me, pulling his bottom lip in with his teeth. 

“Oh, you liked that, huh?” 

“Might need to try it out later and see,” he says, giggling to himself. It’s cute how excited he gets over little things like that. I wave him closer, and he leans a little further. I stand on the little supports of the barstool to meet him in the middle. 

I whisper into his ear, “Whatever you want, daddy.” 

His jaw goes slack, as he stares at me, slowly shaking his head while that devious little smile of his grows on his face. I just raise one of my eyebrows at him, waiting for the truth to come out. 

“If you keep talking like that,” his voice trails off. 

I can’t stop myself from asking, “What about it?”

“I’ll be making sure you let the neighbors know.” 

I gasp before I can even think, “Jacob!” 

“Yeah, it’ll sound kinda like that,” he says; the smug look on his face as he backs away is killing me. 

I know my face has to be red at this rate; I let out a fairly loud “Um!” Glancing around at the people near us, including his brothers. 

“They didn’t hear, don’t worry,” he laughs; I hate how sexy he is sometimes. “I only want you to hear me anyway.”

Oh, this man is on one tonight. 

“Charlotte!” Willa yells from across the room, distracting me from him. Thank god.  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Spending the rest of the night laughing and hanging out with everyone. Jacob still managed to school everyone on his Pirates of the Caribbean knowledge, not that anybody was shocked. It was nice getting to just spend time with people, even if it was a lot of them having to fill me in on the backstories of most conversations. They were so welcoming to me. 

And amid another Josh story, I hear the sweetest sound faintly over the chatter in the bar and even cutting through Josh’s voice; the opening chords of Night Moves started to play. I glance over to Jacob, whose eyes are locked on me, and something about his stare makes my heart flutter. 

‘Workin’ on our night moves—“

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Eighteen

FDOG Master Post | Masterlist | Playlist

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[dragonzfanfics11]

OKAY GOOD TO KNOW YOU DIDNT THINK IT WAS THAT BAD!!! AGAIN SORRY IF I MADE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE!!! Also figured you didn’t write 18+ think I saw that somewhere🤔 and I’m not a 18+ reader so it works out. Was curious if you were up for writing SBG main six getting caught making out with there S/O? IF NOT THATS PERFECTLY FINE!!!! DONT BE PRESSURED!!! I DONT WANT TO MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE😭😭😭😭 OH AND IF I DIDNT SAY SO ALREADY IF THIS MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND AND YOU CAN JUST IGNORE THIS!!!

hiii again!! Don't worry you didn't make me uncomfortable your perfectly fine!! Lol I also love this idea!

I think I seen somone make one like this so ima try to not make it to much like that one!

Doin headcanons because it's easier and im only gonna do half of them so if you want a part two just let me know!

Part 2

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Aiden

I feel like depending how far you are in the relationship it'd be different

If it's the first time I headcanon him to actually be Hella nervous but act like it's not

Further on in the relationship though he'd be super confident and just go all out lol

I think you'd be making out somewhere at the graveyard away from the group because aiden was bored or something

I think I'd be ashlen or tyler who catches you two ashlen would hear you and send tyler to look for you guys or find you herself

No matter how far you guys are in the relationship I think he'd be super embarrassed when you guys are caught but hides it behind his signature smile and teasing you from how rad your face is from your own embarrassment

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Tyler

Youd probably be at his place just hanging out or studying

Depending what's going on it might be you starting it or if he's not doing anything (which isnt often) then it's definitely him

I'd definitely be taylor who catches you because she loves annoying her brother or wants to hang out with you, and you both didn't here her at first

You and tyler would both be super embarrassed quickly pulling away from each other while taylor would probably laugh so hard or be shocked as hell

She probably says something about telling the others resulting in tyler chasing her around the house to stop her leaving you confused and embarrassed in his room

After a while tyler comes back and taylor a extra 20$ richer to not tell anyone

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Ashlen

Probably set at the graveyard again like aiden I'm not sure who would start it it's a good 50/50 for whoever starts it

She probably hears somone coming and pulls away quickly but not quick enough as aiden walks on the bus looking for you both

Aiden being aiden probably figerd out what was going on from you and Ashlens red faces

Hed probably quickly run to tell the others because he's aiden

Ashlen would probably chase him and threaten to beat the shit out of him to shut up

He probably wouldn't either way though it getting to the group one way or another

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Im sorry this took so long I've been busy lol if I didn't add a character you wanted to see ill gladly make a part 2 if you ask for it

[fantastic-nonsense]

hey i saw your answer to the ask about alfred making damian robin in battle for the cowl. while i 100% agree that is not what happened in bftc, outside of that comic i think alfred has a lot more involvement. im not sure if this is a post-crisis exclusive blog, but in secret origins (2014) #4 we see alfred's feelings on damian and his conclusion that damian would listen to no one else except his father. so alfred forges a letter from bruce that asks damian to be robin. the end of the comic shows that dick knows alfred forged that letter but imo leaves it pretty open-ended as far as dick's decision. if you ask me, i think dick talked to alfred about damian being his robin or alfred picked up that things were going to way and decided to pull this to make that transition easier for everyone. sorry is this is weirdly nitpicky or contrarian im just really a sucker for alfred and damian's relationship.

[referencing this response on how the transition from Tim to Damian as Robin was handled]

Preface: I am not a post-Crisis universe exclusive blog (far from it), but since 1) the New 52 era's attempts at dealing with the Batfamily are a mess and a pain to deal with for a variety of reasons, and 2) the post-Crisis universe was and remains the definitive interpretation for most of the Batfamily's history and the basis for their interactions with each other, it's what I tend to default to when writing meta...especially in cases where the events under discussion originally happened in post-Crisis continuity. The exceptions to that tend to be characters introduced post-Flashpoint (ex: Duke), who have no previous continuity bogging them down, and characters who have had the majority of their stories and development take place post-Flashpoint (ex: Damian).

That being said, while I am aware that Secret Origins (2014) and particularly that story exists and have read it, I tend to default to ignoring it for a few reasons:

One, it's a story whose events make little sense within either post-Crisis continuity or post-Flashpoint continuity as they otherwise exist; minimally, the timeline doesn't match up in either case.

More specifically for the purposes of writing a meta about the transfer of the Robin mantle from Tim to Damian, it rewrites Damian into the pre-Reborn era Batfamily very awkwardly by pretending he was always there. It shows a League clothes-clad Damian taking on Victor Zsasz and Professor Pyg (which he did not do until he was already Dick's Robin) while pretending that Bruce had time to try and connect with him before he "died" (which, he didn't; Damian appears in two stories prior to Battle for the Cowl—Batman & Son and Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul—and his interactions with Bruce are fairly minimal in Resurrection).

It is a clumsy attempt to integrate Damian into the pre-Batman R.I.P timeline that ignores all of the ways in which Damian's early relationships with his father and the rest of the Batfam (particularly Dick and Tim) are directly informed by the fact that he wasn't there during that time period:

[Alfred, Dick, and Tim watch The Magnificent Seven in Wayne Manor in the immediate aftermath of Bruce's death. Damian is not present, as he was still living with Talia. An empty chair between Dick and Tim marks Bruce's usual 'movie night' seat] -Nightwing #151 (2009)

I thus find it very unhelpful to use in any capacity when discussing and analyzing interactions between those characters in the aftermath of Bruce's death.

Two, while I have no love for Battle for the Cowl, Tomasi effectively ignoring it completely beyond "Gotham was in chaos following Bruce's death" doesn't sit right with me either, especially since it was referenced (even obliquely) in several other New 52-era books.

Three, I love Alfred and Damian's relationship. I think it's one of Damian's most important relationships and we should talk more about it. But I also love Alfred and Dick's relationship, so I'm not particularly enamored with a reimagining where Alfred is the one who orchestrates Damian's takeover of the Robin mantle largely unilaterally. That's not his call to make beyond a suggestion to Dick that it might be good for him. I also think it takes a lot of agency away from Dick in the one transfer of his mantle that he canonically actually has control over and undermines a big aspect of Dick and Damian's relationship development to take those decisions out of Dick's hands and give them to "Bruce."

Four, and probably most importantly: that story is never referenced before or after that issue. That origin for Damian is long gone. Its portrayal of his childhood was revamped in Robin: Son of Batman. Its reconceptualization of Damian's entrance into the Batfamily has not been acknowledged since. DC's larger refusal to acknowledge Dick and Damian's time as Batman and Robin beyond subtle references ended during the Rebirth era. New 52!Tim quite literally wasn't Tim Drake and was only restored to being himself again post-Rebirth, so 99% of the interactions between Tim and Damian from 2011-2016 have been effectively discarded as non-canon. And whenever Damian becoming Robin is referenced after Secret Origins #4, it is nearly always referenced as Dick choosing him as Robin rather than him becoming Robin "at his father's request." So there's little incentive for me to acknowledge it given that it generally appears to not be canon beyond the scope of the New 52 era of post-Flashpoint continuity.

I'm sorry that this probably isn't the answer you wanted to read, but I hope this gives you a better idea of why I specifically choose to stick to post-Crisis and post-Rebirth continuities when discussing the transfer of the Robin mantle from Tim to Damian.

[streetlight11]

What Are You Doing Here?

Summary: It's been 6 years since you earned the title of being an Aunt to one of the most beautiful little girl you've ever laid eyes on. She was your sister's daughter and you love her with all your heart. So what happens when you go over to your sister's place to surprise both her and your niece, only to meet the babysitter who has been looking after your niece for a few weeks now?

Theme: babysitter au, ex-schoolmates to lovers

Genre: slowburn, romance, fluff

Warnings: mild language, mentions of irresponsible partner,

W/C: 10.9k

Pairing: Babysitter!Changmin x Fem!Reader

a/n: Hello! I'm back with another fanfic! Apologies for my horrible description about y/n's work and job role because I know nothing about finance and how it works 🤡 Hope you like the overall fanfic though 🙏🏼

6 years ago, your sister gave birth to the most gorgeous little human being you’ve ever seen. She was the reason why you became an aunt. You love your niece with all your heart, promising to be there beside her every step of the way. Reason being the guy who got your sister pregnant who is supposedly her boyfriend of 3 years, had chosen to abandon his responsibilities as a father when he found out she was carrying his child. You were beyond furious with him to the point where you actually went down to his apartment to curse the fuck out of him.

After your niece was born, you made sure that you were there with her as she grew up. She was the reason why you look forward to living everyday. There wasn’t a day where you didn’t spend time with her. When you were in college, you worked as a part time barista to pay off your school fees and monthly expenses on food and stuff. The extra money you had was spent on her toys, snacks, food, anything that would make her happy and lessen your sister’s burden in a way.

She is a single mom after all so it’s only right for you to help out with whatever you can. Whenever your sister has to work or is busy with something, you’re always there to help her out no matter how tired or busy you are. A few years following her birth, your sister had saved enough money to rent an apartment solely for her and her daughter, Lucy.

As much as she was thankful that your parents were okay with having her and Lucy live in your family home, your sister wanted to move out because your parents were already old and she didn’t want to burden them even more. Taking care of two kids was already enough for them. Therefore, your sister rented a place not too far from your campus. During the first three years after you graduated high school, you were still living with your parents.

When you finally saved enough money, that’s when you moved out and rented an apartment that was just a 15 minutes walk from your sister’s place. It was way easier to travel back and forth to look after Lucy and spend time with her ever since.

Sometimes you would go to their place, sometimes they would come to your place. You are pretty close with your sister. You loved her unconditionally so to see her go through parenthood alone, it definitely breaks your heart but you also see how strong she is. Not many people can do this and yet, here she is. You are beyond proud of her.

It’s been 7 years since you graduated high school and you are now a working adult. You are working under a pretty well known company. Your job is stressful but most of the time, you have very codependent team members whom you work well with. You are thankful that your team is a bunch of nice people who you can bond with. The team has a total of 5 people and you’re all really good friends with each other. There was Jieun, who is your team leader, Yoongi, Taehyung, Yeji and yourself.

You have been working with this company and the team for almost 2 years now and you’re still grateful for it till today. Whenever you’re having a whole load of work stress, they’re always there to relieve it. Even your sister knows them because of how often you tell her about them.

However a few months ago, your CEO announced that they were starting this new production line which will be a test to see how well the sales are. If it goes well, they will launch the product for good and put it out on the market. Your job was to keep an eye on the sales and calculate the financial impact of the product. It’s stressful but at least you have a team working with you on it.

Due to this new project, you had to OT more often every week and this has led to you only seeing Lucy on weekends and less on weekdays. It sucks that you have to spend less time with your niece but at least you still see her on weekends.

It was a Saturday afternoon and you promised to bring Lucy to the mall. So it was Lucy, your sister and yourself who are going to the mall to hang out for the day. Jisoo drove so she placed Lucy in her baby chair at the back seat while you sat in front with your sister. Lucy was sleeping so you had this time to have a private chat with Jisoo about life and work. A year ago, you were dating someone you met at university. He was two years younger than you and everything was going well with him.

He was your person.

Unfortunately, with the accumulating fights and disagreements began to slowly build up at one point, a huge argument happened one day and both of you decided to break things off after realizing that it might never work. Both of you had very different perceptions of things and could never come together as one. Therefore, that was the only logical thing to do and this all happened just over 2 months ago.

“I haven’t heard about him in a while. Lucy asked me about him recently too.” Jisoo said, only for you to stare blankly into the dashboard.

It took you a while to reply but when you did, you had to take a deep breath first and said, “We broke up…” Your sister glanced at you briefly but made sure to keep her focus on the road.

“When?”

“2 months ago, give or take…” You said quietly to avoid waking Lucy up.

“I’m sorry.” She said, making you shake your head.

“No, it’s fine. I just feel like we’re too different and we’re no longer compatible with each other. So I didn’t wanna waste my time pining over someone who doesn’t wanna work together.”

“Well, I guess you did the right thing then… What are you gonna tell her though?” Jisoo asked as you glanced at the back seat to find Lucy sleeping.

“I won’t say anything to her until she asks me about him, I guess…”

“Yeah, I think it’s best if she hears it from you instead of me.” Jisoo said. You agreed with her decision because it’s your life so you should be the one sharing, not her. Just then, she changes the topic to avoid the awkward atmosphere about your ex boyfriend.

“By the way, I know I should’ve told you sooner but a few weeks after you started to get busy with your OTs, I started to keep getting night shifts so I decided to hire a babysitter. It’s been a month now. And guess what?”

“What?”

“Lucy loves him! She adores him so much, it’s literally so adorable.”

“Wait a minute… Your babysitter is a guy?” You asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. Young and handsome too.” She said with a cheeky wink, causing you to gag. Your sister then scoffs at your reaction to defend herself before you get the wrong idea.

“Not for me, you fool. I’m telling you that he’s young and handsome.” She smirked teasingly to which you rolled your eyes.

“How young? And I don’t trust your tastebuds.”

“Rude. Look, he’s your age and I’m telling you… He is drop dead gorgeous.” She said but all you did was brush her off.

You still won’t believe her until you see him for yourself. Only then will you agree with whether he’s handsome or not.

You changed the topic again, not wanting to wake Lucy up as Jisoo finally pulls into the mall car park. All three of you got out of the car once it was properly parked and made your way into the mall. You spend almost half a day there, grabbing lunch, going to the clothing store to shop for your things, going to a toy store to buy Lucy new toys and plushies, going to watch a new cartoon movie in the cinema.

All in all, it was a very good day well spent with Lucy after a stressful week at work. Unfortunately, your day was being cut short when your sister got a last minute call from her senior nurse telling her to come down tonight to cover a shift for her colleague who took an urgent leave. You were pissed because today was supposed to be Jisoo’s day off but there’s nothing much you can say. Even if you told your sister to tell them it’s her day off, she would still go down to cover the shift.

Which is why you were now at her apartment to keep Lucy company for the night while your sister left for work. After she left, you showered Lucy and prepared her dinner. You were just feeding her dinner in the living room when she came to you with a sketchbook filled with drawings.

“Wow, did you draw these?” You asked as she sat in your lap to flip through the pages.

“Yeah! But Uncle Minie drew some of it!” She said, making you wonder if that was the name of her babysitter.

“Is Uncle Minie a good person?”

“He is! He’s very nice to me and mommy.”

“Mmm, you must really like him then, don’t you?” You said and as a result, she giggled adorably in your lap.

“I do! You have to meet him… I think you will like him too, Auntie Y/N!” She said so all you could do was smile. You continued to play with her after dinner until she grew tired so you could tuck her into bed. When she was finally asleep, you cleaned up the house a little before taking a shower and went to bed.

Almost a month has passed since you last saw Lucy and your sister. Work got very hectic and your schedule has been pretty off lately. You had to work on weekends for the past few weeks and it was mentally draining. The project has been a success recently which is why you had to work extra everyday but your schedule was starting to simmer down and was now proceeding to launch it for real and properly this time. Nevertheless, it has been really tiring for you but thankfully you had your team with you to motivate each other and give words of encouragement to one another.

It was a Friday evening and you decided to surprise Lucy and your sister tonight after not seeing them for so long. Before heading over to their place though, you didn’t forget to stop by Lucy’s favourite fast food restaurant to get her french fries. It was her ultimate favourite snack that she would never fail to ask for whenever you brought her out or came over to the house. You bought extra food so everyone could eat, including the babysitter just in case he was hungry.

It didn’t take long to arrive at your sister’s apartment so when you made it in front of her door, you gave it a few knocks and waited patiently for someone to open it. The one who ended up greeting you at the door was Lucy.

“Hi baby!” You said as she hugged your hips tightly with his small dainty arms.

“How are you, my favourite niece?” You asked as she let go of your hips to let you walk in. You closed the door behind you as Jisoo came out from the kitchen with her uniform already worn.

“I’m good, auntie!” Lucy said, making you kiss the top of your head before holding out the bags of food in your hand.

“I bought all of us dinner. And I bought you fries, Lucy!”

“Yay!” She cheered as she ran off and disappeared into the living room.

“What time are you leaving for work?” You asked as your sister took the bags from you while you took off your heels by the door.

“Soon. I have to come early tonight because one of the nurses took an urgent leave.” She said.

“Eat something first at least before you go. Don’t delay your dinner.” You scolded her while she quietly took out the fries from the bag. You helped her take a plastic plate from the cabinet, passing it to her. She then took out a handful of fries and placed it on the plate before you took it and brought it to the living room where Lucy was playing with her dolls.

“Lucy, auntie will put your fries here okay?” You said as she ran over to take one and put it in her mouth while excitedly thanking you. Just when you turn to go back to the kitchen, a figure comes out of the hallway only to stop dead in his tracks. His eyes were completely wide from shock.

“Changmin? What are you doing here?” His name slips off your tongue naturally as your sister looks back and forth between you and Changmin. He was speechless and so were you until Lucy ran up to his side and held his hand in hers with a bright smile.

“Auntie, how do you know Uncle Minie? Is he your boyfriend too?” Lucy asked as you glanced over to your sister and then to Changmin. He was still staring at you quietly but his eyes were no longer wide so you looked at Lucy and smiled.

“H-He’s just an old friend, who happens to be a boy. Not my boyfriend.” You explained to her while she let go of his arm and hops over to you when you gestured her to come to you.

“Who is your boyfriend then?” She asked, to which you kneeled down beside the coffee table while you pulled her into your lap.

“Remember Uncle Sunwoo?”

“The one who gave me the stitch soft toy?” She asked and you smiled at her.

“Yes. Do you remember him?”

“I do!”

“That was my boyfriend.” You said while gently cupping her cheek.

“Why isn’t Uncle Sunu here today?” She asked, only for you to accidentally glance up to find Changmin staring at you quietly with no particular expression on his face.

“Because he’s no longer my boyfriend anymore, that’s why he’s not here. But it’s okay, you have Uncle Changmin now right? I heard you like Uncle Changmin a lot.” You asked, only for her to giggle and point to him with a bright smile on her face.

“Yes! I like Uncle Minie!” She said. After you’ve let go of her, she runs back to him only to bring him to her play area in front of the tv.

You’ve known Changmin since kindergarten and high school. You used to bicker with him a lot and because he was your classmate, all the more reason for you to fight with him almost everyday. As much as you don’t like him at the time, you don’t consider him your enemy though. It’s not like you despise him or anything as a person. Sure he’s sort of similar to you in terms of being introverts but other than that, he’s too much of a weirdo to actually understand how he sees things when he was younger. Therefore, the endless amount of arguments with him. And after graduating, you never saw him again.

You went back into the kitchen to help pack the food for your sister, making sure she wouldn’t starve at work knowing how she is when she’s stressed or is thinking too much about things she chooses not to share with anyone. So when you placed the bag of burger and fries in her smaller lunch bag, you reminded her to eat when she’s having her break time and to not skip her meals during work. You then walked with her to the front door only to call Lucy over.

“Lucy, your mommy’s going to work.”

“Okay! Bye mommy!” She said as she ran to your sister to give her a hug and kiss. You were just watching them when Changmin’s voice sounded softly from behind you.

“Didn’t expect to see you again.” He said.

“Me too… Didn’t take you for a babysitter.”

“This is just a past time thing…”

“But you babysit her almost everyday.”

“Because I like her.” Upon hearing his words, this made you whip your head to him with a frown.

“My sister or my niece?” You narrowed your eyes at him.

“What do you think? Not gonna lie though, your sister’s pretty hot.” That’s when you slapped his arm and glared at him.

“My sister is off limits you pervert.” You scolded him, only for him to cackle.

“Fine. What about her sister then? Is she off limits too?” It took you a while to realise what he was saying and before you could even reply to him, Lucy was already rushing to you and waving to her mother.

“Bye sis.” You smiled as you gestured to Lucy to follow Changmin while you went to lock the front door. You came back to the living room to find Changmin teasing her by stealing her fries. You’ve never seen this side of him. Who knew Changmin of all people would be this good to a child especially considering he’s the youngest in his family.

About an hour or so later after you’ve showered and changed into your pyjamas since you’ve already planned to sleep over, you came back out to find Lucy curled up in Changmin’s lap on the couch. Paw Patrol was playing on the screen but it seemed like no one was really watching. You carefully walked closer to find Changmin patting her to sleep in his arms. He saw you from the corner of his eye so he glanced over his shoulder with a small smirk on his face.

“I think she’s in love with me.” He said, making you roll your eyes at him.

“I doubt that.” You walked over to kneel in front of his legs only to gently cup her face.

“Darling, come on. Let’s get you to bed.” You softly said as she stirred awake.

“Are you sleeping here tonight?” She asked tiredly while her tiny head was still against his chest.

“Yes, darling.”

Just then, Lucy looked up at Changmin and asked, “Are you sleeping here too?”

Changmin couldn’t help but glance over to you for a brief second before answering her, “I don’t have to sleep over tonight since your Auntie Y/N is here.” He said but she instantly whined.

“But… I want both of you here.” She said, making you stunned. Both Changmin and you exchanged looks for a second as if to figure out what to say but he beat you to it.

“Alright then. Uncle Min will stay with you and Auntie Y/N, okay?”

“Okay.” She giggled tiredly as she opened her arms to you so you took her onto your waist and carried her to her room. Once you’ve tucked her in, you sang her to sleep. Her favourite lullaby that apparently, only you and Changmin can sing for her. Lucy wouldn’t let your sister sing for her. She would ask your sister to read her a bedtime story instead. You made sure she was already fast asleep before you kissed her forehead and left the bedroom door slightly ajar. You came back outside to find Changmin cleaning up the mess she made with her toys.

While he was doing that, you cleared the kitchen by putting the leftover food in the fridge and throwing away whatever is deemed as trash. Both of you were working in silence, never once talking to each other. After you finished cleaning the kitchen, you went to the living room to find it empty. Changmin must’ve gone inside to sleep so you let out a soft sigh of relief. About half an hour later, you were just watching a tv series on netflix when soft footsteps came approaching you from behind. Before you could turn, Changmin came into your peripheral vision and sat down next to you.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” He asked as a strong whiff of vanilla filled your nostrils. It must be the body wash you saw in the bathroom.

“I could ask you the same question.” You said, earning a click of his tongue.

“I’m not sleepy yet. Your turn.”

“I need a break before I do a bit of work.” You said and he finally turns to you with a frown. You looked at him and gave him a shrug of your shoulders, “What?”

“It’s already after hours… What work do you possibly have to do?” He asked only for you to sigh.

“My work… You wouldn’t know.” You ended off in a whisper while turning your focus back to the tv. A few minutes later, Changmin excused himself quietly without telling you where he was going. Not like you cared or anything. So when you realised he never came back out after an hour, you guessed he was asleep. You stayed up till 4 in the morning just working on the upcoming project you had with the company’s sales.

You were doing your work at the kitchen island with your back facing the hallway. At one point during the night, Changmin left the guest room to go to the bathroom. He saw you seated on the stool with fingers tangled in your hair. He was curious to know what work you had to do that made you stay up all night but he wasn’t going to ask. He saw that it was nearing 4am and it kind of worried him a little. Changmin knew how tiring and mentally draining it is to stay up late to do work so he could only hope you’ll get the rest you deserve.

Days began to pass by fast, making sure to visit your sister’s house a few times a week on days where you weren’t working overtime so that you could spend time with Lucy again. It’s been over three months now and you’ve been to their house almost every week now. Of course not everyday since the project was still going on. And in all the times you came over, Changmin was always around. There are times when he’s oddly nice and kind to you, never once picking on you. Other times he was always being a little ass to you briefly so Lucy doesn’t catch on.

One thing’s for sure, Changmin has never really said something that made you absolutely pissed before so that’s good in a way. It was a Thursday evening and you made it to your sister’s apartment a few minutes after she left. You had to stay at the office for a bit and she had to leave early due to an emergency. Therefore, you didn’t get the chance to meet her. However, it’s okay because you still went over to spend time with Lucy.

You brought cakes for dessert, knowing she loves the strawberry shortcakes that were sold at a nearby cafe. When you reached their doorstep, you gave it a few knocks, only to hear her high pitched voices and soft footsteps rushing towards the door.

“Auntie!” She exclaimed excitedly as she carefully tiptoed to grab onto the door handle. But before she would accidentally wedge her toes under the door, Changmin was quick to hold onto the side of the door while gently telling her to step away from it.

With that being said, she hopped to the side only to hug your leg so you wrapped your arm around her hip and carried her up with one arm while the other was holding onto the bag of cakes. Changmin closed the door while you took off your shoes, only to feel him take the bag from you quietly and bring it to the kitchen. This allows you to properly hug Lucy and playfully swing her around as she laughs against your chest. You then placed her down on her feet, running back to her toys in the living room.

Changmin was just staring at the cakes so you couldn’t help but giggle softly at his sim-like behaviour and asked, “Why are you just staring blankly at the cakes? Is there something wrong with it?”

“No… I just, I’m trying to figure out which cake is Lucy’s.” Changmin said as you came to stand beside him.

“Make a guess.” You said. It took him 3 tries but when he finally got it, he decided to act smug about it like he was just trying to test you.

“I knew which one she liked. I just wanted to see if you knew.” Changmin said, making you mock him with a laugh. He made a silly face to you while rolling his eyes, earning a soft slap to his chest before calling for your niece. She came over to you and was utterly surprised upon seeing her favourite cake.

“Is this mine?” She asked excitedly, making you nod.

“Yeah! Do you want me to feed you or do you wanna eat it on your own?”

“Hmm… I want Uncle Minie to feed me.” She giggled while sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth teasingly. You faked a shocked face and soon pretended to get upset.

“Do you like Uncle Minie more or Auntie more?” You asked.

“Uncle Minie.” Lucy said with a laugh and that was it. You wanted to get back at her for choosing an outsider over yourself. Of course this was all just for fun and games, you weren’t actually this petty. However, while all this was happening, Changmin was actually enjoying this scene in front of him where you were having a playful banter with your niece. He was almost adoring you in a way where nobody else would realise unless someone was there to see his reaction live.

“Fine. Then you can’t have Uncle Minie. He’s mine.” You said as you stood in front of Changmin to shield her from him. Lucy laughed as she tried to go to the side but you followed her to block her. She was laughing till her heart’s content, failing to get to her babysitter who was all the while just standing there with the most fondest smile on his face.

Just when Lucy was holding your hands to apologise for choosing him instead of you, the pair of warm hands sliding over your waist and around your front was enough to catch you off guard as you accidentally crashed backwards into Changmin’s chest.

“Lucy ah, if you want uncle Minie, you have to want auntie Y/N too or else she’s gonna be very sad. Okay?” Changmin said as you tried so desperately hard not to turn your head because if you did, the chances of accidentally kissing him is very high. Not that you wouldn’t want that to be honest. But at least not right now. So with that being said, Lucy giggled and she quickly apologised to you before hugging you. Changmin had already pulled away from you but he was so tempted to keep his arms around you.

After you’ve kissed the top of her head, Changmin held her hand and brought her to the front to play and eat before she went to bed. All the while, you helped to tidy the house a little so that your sister wouldn’t have to do much cleaning when she gets home from work tomorrow. Hours later, you had just put Lucy to bed and so it was time for you to leave since you’re working tomorrow.

You came back out to find Changmin just finished cleaning up her scattered toys and putting them back in her basket. He stood up and immediately locked eyes with you, feeling something tickle your stomach.

“You’re not staying?” He spoke up first while he slowly approached you.

“I have work tomorrow. I have to come early and stay late to finish up the quotas for the project.” You sighed, watching as he stopped right in front of you. All you needed to do was stretch your arms out, grab his shirt and pull him in but of course you’re not gonna do that.

“So I’m assuming that you won’t be stopping by tomorrow evening?” He asked.

“Probably not… Why? Are you gonna miss me?” You couldn’t help but ask as a smirk slowly creeps onto your face.

“Miss you? I think you’re delusional, babe.”

“Am I?” You asked, seeing the way his eyes grew a tad larger for just a split second before it shrunk back to his original size.

“I’d miss you any day.” Changmin teased you back, now you’re the one who’s speechless. He laughed at your reaction, thinking you were hella cute as he watched you take your work bag and was making your way straight to the door. You left without another word said to him, hearing his cackle grow softer the minute the door was shut. As soon as Changmin had locked the doors and was making his way back into the apartment, he caught Lucy standing in the middle of the hallway just tiredly rubbing her eyes and was slightly groggy.

“Where did auntie go?” She asked so he carefully walked to her and carried her onto his waist to bring her back to her room.

“Auntie has to go home, darling. She has to work tomorrow.” Changmin gently explained to her while laying her back onto her bed and pulling the blankets over.

“Uncle Min?”

“Yes baby?”

“Do you like my auntie?” Lucy asked as she yawned but was patiently waiting for his answer. Changmin took no less than a minute to answer her question easily in a heartbeat.

“Yes I do. I like your auntie… I like her a lot.”

“You should tell her. I like you with my auntie a lot too.” She said as she slowly fell asleep again. Changmin unconsciously smiled, remembering this conversation. He definitely wasn’t lying to her about how he feels about you.

If only he can tell you…

A week has passed, as usual, your sister was working a night shift today and Changmin would be at her place to look after Lucy. Since it was a Friday evening, you were okay with sleeping over at your sister’s place since you’re not working tomorrow. So when you went there, everyone was present in the house. However, there is a new individual who is in the house and he was playing with Lucy while Changmin and your sister were in the kitchen preparing Lucy’s dinner.

“Hey! I’m here.” You said after Lucy greeted you at the door. Once you’ve taken off your heels, you made your way further into the house only to lock eyes with the new guy who soon stood up to greet you.

“Hello? I’m sorry but I don’t think I’ve met you before. You are?” You asked politely as he let out an awkward laugh and responded to your question nicely.

“I’m Heegeun. Jisoo’s uh… friend.” He smiled and you could tell he was lying but you never pry any further.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m her younger sister, Y/N.” You said before making your way into the kitchen. She was practically hiding behind Changmin so you pinched her side softly in annoyance.

“He’s not just your friend, is he? Who is he? Your boyfriend?” You asked in a whisper all behind Changmin who was scooping out the rice porridge into a bowl for Lucy. Even then, Changmin couldn’t help but smirk hearing this conversation happening right behind him.

“He’s… ah. I’ll explain tomorrow. I have to go now.” Jisoo escaped despite you trying to hold her back.

“Heegeun ah, let’s go. Lucy, mommy will see you tomorrow okay? I love you.” Jisoo said as she bid her daughter goodbye at the doorway. Meanwhile, you clicked your tongue in annoyance and whispered to yourself, “Ugh. He’s definitely not her friend…” Nevertheless, you heard the door click shut and Lucy soon went back to her toys. So you took this opportunity to interrogate Changmin instead.

“Why are you smiling? You know something, don’t you?” You asked, only for him to shrug his shoulders teasingly.

“I don’t know anything. He was already here when I came about an hour ago.” Changmin said, making you growl.

“There’s something fishy going on here…” You said while narrowing your eyes at him but then changed the topic as you took the bowl and walked over to Lucy to feed her dinner.

Your mind keeps drifting off to the guy earlier and you can’t stop worrying about history repeating itself again. Ever since what happened with Lucy’s biological father, you have gotten awfully overprotective towards your sister that you tend to analyse whoever wants to date her. So the fact that this guy suddenly appears in the picture without your sister telling you a thing about him, makes you feel slightly skeptical.

All the while you were just blankly staring into space with your mind somewhere else, Changmin was actually observing you. He kept smiling to himself knowing you were probably going crazy about who the guy was and all that. When you knew it was pointless to keep thinking about that guy’s relation with your sister, you just glanced to the left randomly with no particular intentions. Unfortunately, that caused you to lock eyes with Changmin but all he did was smirk at you charmingly.

After you’ve fed Lucy, you went to clean up the kitchen while Changmin accompanied her for the next few minutes before bringing her to bed. It took him less than 10 minutes to get her to finally sleep as he leaves her room quietly. Changmin walks into the living room to find you seated on the couch just watching your favourite american youtuber duo on the smart tv.

Changmin soon came to join you, sitting so close to you that you could literally rest your leg on his thigh since you sat with your legs bent into your chest. Still in your work clothes but thankfully you’re in formal pants so it’s fine to sit like that.

“What would you do if that guy is actually dating your sister?” Changmin suddenly asks, causing you to get agitated again.

“I’m gonna make sure he doesn’t break her heart and treat her the way she deserves to be treated or else I’ll come for his throat.”

“Woah. You’re literally threatening him.” He laughed but you frowned.

“After what that asshole did when he found out my sister was pregnant, I’m never letting any guy come near her unless he’s proved to me that he’s worthy of my sister.” You said protectively and he could sense that from you. Nevertheless, he totally understands where you’re coming from.

“So what kind of guys do you like?” He suddenly changes the topic, catching you off guard a little.

“I-I… I actually don’t know… If I like someone, I’ll just know I guess.”

“How would you know if you like someone?” He asked, making you shy all of a sudden. It was difficult for you to answer at first but you managed to do it after a few seconds of buffering.

“W-Well… When I have butterflies while being around them? Or maybe when I feel comfortable and safe around them?” Changmin seemed to digest your answer as you wondered why he was asking you this question. Just then, he got up and said he wanted to go to sleep claiming he’s tired and sleepy. You bid him goodnight as you went to take a shower before going to bed yourself.

The next morning, your sister came home at about 8am as she found you sleeping in her bed. That same afternoon when Jisoo had already gotten her sleep since today was her day off, the four of you decided to hang out at the mall. Changmin was the one driving today so you sat in front with him while your sister and niece sat at the back. All the while, Lucy poked her head through the gap in the middle between you and Changmin. She sang and danced to the songs that Changmin put on his car radio just for her.

At one point, while Lucy was just talking to her mother about something out the window, you glanced back only to smile at the sight. The car gradually came to a stop at the traffic junction so you turned to look in front but instead, you caught Changmin’s gaze on you.

“What?” You asked softly, earning a cheeky little smile from him. One that wakes the butterflies in your stomach.

“Have I ever mentioned you’re pretty?” He suddenly flirts with you despite knowing there’s two other people in the back.

“Shut up.” You dismissed him with a shy laugh, knowing he’s just being playful. There’s absolutely no way he actually means what he said… Right?

Just then, Changmin glared and clicked his tongue at you to show that he was probably disappointed with your reaction. Though, knowing how he is, he was just joking with his reaction and it was true because he then replied, “Ungrateful…” Upon hearing this, you gently punched his arm and he hissed but never got angry for real. How did you know? Because right after he did that, you could see the way the corner of his lips curled up.

In another 10 minutes, you arrived at the mall where Changmin finally parked the car in the parking lot upstairs. The moment the engine was turned off, Lucy was already scrambling out of the car and was dragging her mother into the lobby which leads straight into the shopping mall. She was so eager to go see the toy shops she saw the other day. While the two mother and daughter were walking ahead, you waited for Changmin to get out of the car and locked it before walking with him.

You were going to turn the corner where the slope is when Changmin slid his right arm around your waist from behind to pull you in right as a car was speeding down the slope.

“Watch where you’re going, pretty.” Changmin said, making you blush.

“I-I was about to stop…” You faked an excuse as he squeezed your side softly before letting go.

Both of you made it safely into the mall, not surprised when you saw the two of them entering the toy shop just opposite from the lobby. You walked towards the shop and went inside to find them. Lucy was going around, looking at all the toys and playsets but your sister told her not to get any because she already has a lot at home.

Lucy isn’t the kind to cry and beg her mother for something she wants but you can see from her expression. Your heart breaks whenever you see her like that so when all of you were now at an ice cream shop, everyone had their own ice creams except for Lucy. She was sulking so she didn’t wanna buy anything even when her mother consoled her. With that being said, you looked at Lucy who was seated diagonally across from you and beside Changmin with a smile.

“Hey Lucy darling, mind if you accompany me go see a dress at one of the shops? I think I might change my mind about it.” At first she just shook her head and hung her head against Changmin’s chest. So you got up and went over to her side before you cupped her face and made her look at you gently, giving you the chance to whisper to her something her mother couldn’t catch.

“I’ll buy whatever you want from the toy store but don’t tell mommy.” That was all you said as she finally tore away from Changmin and kept her sad face on but decided to follow you. It was only when the two of you were no longer visible in their sight that you high fived her and she giggled excitedly to you.

Meanwhile, after you left, Changmin was just eating his ice cream when your sister suddenly spoke up from her seat diagonally across from him.

“Changmin, you’re a really nice guy and apparently a very good babysitter.”

“Oh. Thanks? I’m just doing my job.” Changmin said with a laugh, only for her to smile.

“But I think it’s time for me to talk to you about this…” She paused to give him the element of suspense. He was thinking that he was gonna be in trouble for something he did wrong or maybe even fired at this point. Except, the question that came out of her mouth was the least expected question to ever cross his mind.

“Do you like her?” She asked, catching him off guard.

“H-Her who? Your daughter or your sister?”

“I know you like my daughter. But unfortunately, I’m referring to my sister.” She laughed to lighten up the mood and it worked. Changmin felt a little less tense but he was still nervous about the question. Since he was taking too long to answer, she decided to change her question.

“Okay, nevermind. Scratch that. Let me rephrase myself… What do you think of my sister?”

Now that’s a question he could answer in a heartbeat.

“I think she’s an amazing person. She’s smart, kind, and can be annoying sometimes back when we were younger but she’s such an amazing auntie to Lucy and I can see that really well.” Your sister smiled happily at her bowl of ice cream before she spoke up afterwards.

“Now is it easier for you to answer my original question that I asked?” She teased and so Changmin chuckled nervously but he felt ready to give her his answer.

“I do like your sister. I actually like her a lot now…”

“Good. Because I think she likes you too, just that she’s still trying to figure that part out.” Your sister said as he felt something tickle his heart. Do you really like him too? If you do, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. Just a few seconds after, you came back with Lucy and there was a huge plastic bag you were holding in your hand, paired with a toothless soft toy in Lucy’s arms. Your sister’s jaw drops as Changmin simply laughed at her reaction.

“I knew you were lying earlier, you brat.” She said to you, making you stick your tongue out at her teasingly.

“I know.” You said as you flipped your hair sassily and she scoffed but her smile betrayed her.

“Well, now that you’re here, I’m gonna go check out the home furniture store upstairs.” She said as she soon disappeared. Changmin brought Lucy to go buy her ice cream since she was in a happier mood now. When they came back, Lucy asked Changmin to feed her. He did it without hesitation, paying full attention to her only to abandon his own cup of ice cream that was ⅓ done.

“Lucy, can you eat on your own? Uncle Min needs to finish his ice cream before it melts” You said, trying to make her listen.

“No! I want Uncle Minie to feed me.” She said with a proud smile on her face.

“Can I feed you then? He needs to eat his ice cream too.” You tried to persuade her but she whined.

“Lucy.” You called her name once in a serious tone but she looked at you with a frowning pout. Her eyes started to get glossy so Changmin quickly stepped in and smiled at her.

“It’s okay, Lucy. Uncle Minie will eat later. Come, open your mouth.” He said while slowly bringing the spoon to her mouth. She eats it quietly, avoiding your gaze in case you scold her as she fiddles with her toothless soft toy ears. You let out a soft sigh, which was unfortunately heard by Changmin. You pressed your fingertips to your temples, only to hear him direct his words to you.

“Since she doesn’t want you to feed her, you can feed me before my ice cream turns into soup.” Changmin said. You glanced at him and then his ice cream bowl. It was starting to melt so you took his bowl and scooped a spoonful of ice cream and his toppings before bringing it to his mouth.

He ate it and the corner of his lips instantly curled into a small smile. You pretend you didn’t see that as he turned back to Lucy to feed her. This continued until her ice cream was finished, only then could he eat his dessert on his own. However, when you were about to pass it to him, he simply sat there with his mouth open. You raised your eyebrows at him in question and he smirked.

“Since you’ve been feeding me, you might as well continue.” Changmin said, making you shove the spoon onto the tip of his nose, getting a small blob of ice cream on it. You laughed as he narrowed his gaze at you on purpose but it didn’t scare you.

“It was a perfect opportunity. I’m sorry.” You said, only to feed him the last scoop before handing the rest to him. Changmin ate on his own after wiping his nose while Lucy came to sit next to you and apologised for making you angry. You told her you weren’t angry and that you just wanted her to be independent and she listened. All the while, Changmin was listening to you and it sparked something in him. Not long after, your sister came back and soon, all of you left to head home.

A few minutes upon reaching back at her apartment, you told your sister you weren’t staying over because you have to clean the house tomorrow so she said okay. Changmin also said he needed to go home to do his laundry. So when it was time to say goodbye to Lucy, both Changmin and you gave her a goodnight hug despite her crying, begging for you two to stay. Changmin went ahead and cupped her cheeks in his hands, giving her forehead a soft kiss to calm her down.

“Don’t cry, Lucy. Uncle Minie will come see you again soon. Auntie Y/N too, okay?” He said, making your heart swell.

“Y-You promise?” She asked so he nodded and did a pinky swear with her.

“I promise.”

“O-Okay…” She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck before letting go. She then came to you so you squat down to match her height and gave her a warm hug too. When both you and Changmin finally stepped out of the apartment unit, she gave you one big wave before her mother gently guided her back inside.

You were quietly walking next to him when he asked, “How are you getting home?”

“Bus, probably.” You said, only for him to offer you a ride home.

“I-It’s fine. I can take the bus.”

“I don’t take no for an answer.” He said, allowing you to enter the lift first. Once you got into his car, he asked for your address and so you gave it to him. In the car, his mind drifted back to your sister’s words earlier.

“I think she likes you too”

Changmin’s mind was swirling with questions following those words but he never actually voiced out to you about it. When he finally parked the car in front of your apartment complex, you thanked him for the ride home and bid him goodnight. He simply nodded and so you left his car right after.

Days have passed and it was recently announced that there will be a company event at the end of this week. The event is to celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary upon its first launch. Not only that, everyone was encouraged to bring a plus one to the event, be it their significant other, a friend, a family member, etc. Therefore, your friends in your team have decided to invite their partners along since they were all either engaged or in a relationship with someone. The only one who is single between the five of you, is you.

“So, are you guys gonna bring your partners?” Taehyung asked, earning a smirk from Yoongi.

“Hell yeah. I would be glad to show off my fiancè to that girl in the HR department who keeps flirting with me at work.” Yoongi said, making you laugh.

“How about you?” Yeji then turned to ask you, earning a quiet sigh from you. They knew you broke up with Sunwoo a while ago and that you’ve been single ever since. She felt bad for asking you so she tried to cheer you up, “You can go with me. We don’t need to bring anyone to the event.”

However, you knew she would love to bring her boyfriend to this event so you just smiled and rejected her offer. You reassured them that you’ll figure something out and told them not to worry about you. As much as they didn’t want you to feel left out, they knew you wouldn’t be affected by going solo to the event. With that being said, the topic was dropped and Jieun proceeded to talk about something else.

A few hours later, you made it to your sister’s apartment after work to have dinner before your sister leaves for work. You were at the kitchen island eating the kimchi soup your sister made with her while Changmin was in the living room with Lucy and you kept thinking about the company event. Your sister could probably sense your mind being somewhere else so she was the first to break your train of thoughts.

“You look like your mind just did a brain fart over there. What’s going on?” She asked you calmly as you sighed.

“My company is doing a 25th anniversary event this Saturday evening. They invited everyone in the company…”

“But?” She said knowing you were hiding something when you paused.

“But they encouraged all the workers to bring their plus ones. I can’t bring Sunwoo because he’s my ex now.”

“So ask Changmin.” She said almost so easily, causing you to widen your eyes in shock. Just then, Changmin’s voice sounded from behind you as he heard his name in the equation.

“Ask me what?” He said as you glared at your sister to keep her mouth shut but she of course didn’t care.

“She has this company event on Saturday evening and she needs a plus one so I told her to ask you since I’ll be out of town from Friday to Sunday with Lucy.” She said with a proud smile on her face. You just wanted to stab her right now for being so blunt. Nevertheless, Changmin looked at you and gave you his answer with no hesitation at all whatsoever.

“Sure. I’ll go with you. That is if you’re okay of course.”

You were speechless but maybe you were just a tad bit happy that he was okay to go with you considering you weren’t technically friends to begin with. So since he already said he could go with you, that’s one less thing on your checklist to prepare for the weekend.

A few days went by and it was finally time to get ready for the company event. You texted Changmin to ask again if he was really okay with going to the event as your plus one. He sent you the cutest message you’ve ever gotten by someone even though it sounds pretty threatening considering it’s him who texted it.

“You can either accept the fact that you’re going with a handsome lad or choose to go to the event with your lonely ass. You pick.”

It wasn’t a surprise that you laughed upon reading the text but he doesn’t have to know that… For the event, you decided to pick out the most formal yet casual dress you owned which was a simple black fitted lace dress that stops at your mid thighs. Pairing it with your favourite nude open toe heels that were just 3 inches at least. Your makeup was very light and you had your hair clipped up, leaving your bangs down to frame your face. When he texted you at 7pm saying he was downstairs, you texted back to acknowledge him and soon took your necessary belongings.

When you made it downstairs, you saw him lean against the passenger side door looking handsome as ever. Changmin was wearing a black skinny jeans, white button down formal shirt with the first four buttons undone, a black blazer over that and his black boots. His hair was jet black with the slight side parting, hair styled up to show his forehead.

Your heart was beating so fast as you approached him but you quickly maintained your composure when he finally looked up to meet your eyes. Changmin checked you out briefly and pretty much openly, making you feel a little small under his intense gaze. When he finally locked eyes with you again, he smirked charmingly at you and said, “Have you always looked this hot?” His comment was totally unexpected as it awoke the butterflies in your belly.

“Apparently not, I guess.” You said, only for him to laugh. Both of you got into the car and you gave him the address so he finally drove off following the map. In the car, he asked you more about the event and you tried your best to answer every question to your best abilities.

Right after he parked the car in the parking lot, he turned the engine off and suddenly asked, “By the way, what am I supposed to be tonight?”

“Oh… U-Uh… I don’t know. I guess just go with the flow?”

“Good idea.”

With that being said, both of you made your way into the lobby and went up to the ballroom level via the lift. When you arrived at the ballroom, you showed the security your staff pass and soon entered the venue with Changmin closely behind you. The room was filled with your colleagues but only a few were recognisable to you. Changmin scanned the entire room curiously, trying to get used to the new environment until he felt soft fingers wrap around his hand to bring him back to reality.

“Hey, keep walking or you’ll get lost.” You said with a gentle smile on your face, making his heart flutter. Nevertheless, he followed you to a table where your friends and their plus ones were seated at.

“Y/N! You made it!” Yeji said with an excited tone as her eyes soon flew over to Changmin behind you. She smirked at you but Taehyung beat her to the questions.

“Hey, who’s this?” He asked with a teasing smirk, making you blush.

“Guys, this is Changmin… He’s uh…” You paused as your mind grew fuzzy on what to say so you naturally turned to look at Changmin. However, he seemed oddly calm as he finally looked at them and spoke up confidently that it made you slightly shocked.

“Boyfriend… I’m her boyfriend.” Changmin said, causing your friends to make excited sounds that you couldn’t help but laugh, finding it funny.

“It’s nice to meet you, Changmin. You definitely made a good choice.” Taehyung said, making you slap his arm and soon took a seat in the empty chair next to him while Changmin sat next to you. All of you began to chat as Changmin surprisingly got along well with your colleagues and including their individual partners too. The event was going well so far, the CEO gave out his speech and was giving out awards to the staff members in the company. After that segment was done, it was currently a free and easy time. People can mingle around, dance on the dancefloor, etc.

Just then, Jieun noticed a photobooth at the other side of the room so she spoke up, telling everyone at your table to go take pictures for memories. Changmin remained seated at first but when you noticed he wasn’t moving, that’s when Yoongi spoke up to address him.

“You too, Changmin. Come on.” Changmin’s eyes grew wide as he looked up at you and you smiled. You patiently waited for him, seeing how hesitant he was. So to ease him up a little, you laced your fingers with him and he turned to look down at your intertwined fingers. Changmin glanced up to meet your soft eyes staring back at him, melting him into a puddle.

“We’re here together, remember?” You asked so he nodded. Both of you began to make your way to the photobooth where your friends and their partners were already busy choosing props for the pictures.

They beckoned you over so you dragged Changmin with you. Once you’ve chosen your prop which was a cat ears headband, Changmin chose the same as you so that you were both matching. First picture, the girls sat on the bench while the guys stood behind you. Second picture, the bench was taken away as you guys scattered around to stand with your partners. You stood behind Jieun while Changmin was to your left. Right before the picture was taken, you felt his warm hand gently rest on your waist to hold you securely beside him.

Your heart was racing as the picture was taken and they were now deciding how to pose. Meanwhile, you turned to him and saw that his hair was a bit messy. While everyone was deciding how to pose, you reached up and carefully adjusted his bangs so that they weren’t poking his eyes. All the while, Changmin couldn’t help but stare into your eyes even though you weren’t looking at him. When you finally realised he was staring at you, that’s where you giggled and whispered to him quietly.

“What?”

“Nothing. You just look really cute right now.” Changmin said.

You blushed yet again as you gently slapped his chest but he quickly wrapped his arms around your waist, his left hand holding his right wrist to keep you secure against him. Since you were stuck like that, you ended up resting your hands on his chest while you posed for the third picture.

“Okay guys! Should we do a cute photo for the last one?” Yeji asked, only for Taehyung to suggest something very unexpected.

“We should kiss our partners!” He said, making you panic slightly. Changmin noticed the way you tensed up in his arms so he felt the need to calm you down. With that being said, Changmin nudged your cheek with his sharp nose to make you look at him. When you turned, Changmin smiled down at you with his arms still around you.

“We don’t have to kiss if you don’t want to. We can just pretend.” He said calmly, making your heart melt.

Has he always been this sweet?

“I-I… Are you sure?”

“Of course. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything.” He reassured you and it was enough to make you feel a lot better.

Everyone else was already in their positions as they brought back the bench. Two couples were seated while the other three were standing. You were on the left side with Changmin, standing behind Yoongi and his fiancè. The cameraman did a countdown to tell you when he would snap the picture. So you turned to look at Changmin as you slid your hands onto his neck and kept them there.

3…

Changmin smiled softly at you while he carefully leaned down to let his nose brush against yours.

2…

You then saw his gaze fall down south easily as he let out a soft but shaky breath to calm his own rapid heart despite the smile still plastered on his face.

1…

Just two seconds before the cameraman took the picture, you tilted your head up to let your lips crash against his softly. He was still smiling into the kiss when the picture was captured, making you caress his jaw gently with your thumbs. When you pulled away, you struggled to meet his eyes. Butterflies erupted rapidly in your stomach, earning a soft laugh from him.

“Look who’s being brave tonight.” He teased you over a whisper, making you shy.

“It’s the best opportunity I have, I guess?” You said and he couldn’t help but agree. All of you returned the props back to the table and made your way back to the table. About an hour later, the event was finally over so it was time to head back home. You bid goodbye to your friends and their partners before walking back to Changmin’s car.

Both of you remained quiet during the first few minutes, not really sure how to approach the topic of what happened earlier. At one of the traffic junctions, you were just staring out the window, your mind currently running haywire thinking about the kiss when you felt his soft hand slip into yours and carefully laced his fingers together with yours. Changmin brings your hand up only to plant a gentle kiss to the back of your hand before resting them in his lap while he drives. When he made it to your apartment, he didn’t need to be asked because he was already walking with you to the lobby.

You quietly brought him to the lift and up to your apartment level, all in a peaceful silence. When you reached the 12th floor, both of you got out of the lift as you led him to your door. After you’ve unlocked your door, you turned around but Changmin thought you wanted to say your goodbyes.

“I’ll see you around then? Goodnight Y/N.” Changmin said as he was about to walk off when you held his wrist and pulled him back only to cup his face with your other hand and tugged him down to kiss him. Changmin was genuinely stunned this time as he froze when you kissed him. His hands were awkwardly hovering over your waist. Changmin was so scared of making the wrong move but when he felt how genuine your kiss was, that’s when he finally melted against you.

He easily wraps his arms around your waist to pull you into his chest while guiding you back to gently crash against the door. Changmin’s kiss was passionate and needy, his hands squeezing your sides as though he was afraid to let you go. You pulled away first to take a breath, holding his face with both hands and smiled.

“Stay with me tonight…” You whispered over his lips, causing him to go crazy.

“I would absolutely love to.” Changmin smirked as he kissed you again while reaching for the door handle to push it open. You stumbled back into your apartment while he held you to prevent you from falling over.

He then kicked the door closed and locked it before lifting you up onto his waist while kissing you again. He kicked off his shoes while he helped to unbuckle your heels and let it slip down to the ground. He walked deeper into your apartment, guiding him to your bedroom. Once he made it there, he brought you to your bed, gently laying you down as you sat up and watched him take off his blazer and tossed it to the ground.

Changmin crawls up the bed to join you, situating himself between your legs as you pull him down for a kiss. While you were busy kissing him, your hands began to unbutton his white shirt and pushed the material off his shoulders for him. He threw it to the ground as he then pouted to you adorably.

“Why am I the only one with less clothes on?” He asked, only for you to giggle.

“Because mine is just one piece.” You said, earning a playful smirk from him. Changmin kissed you while pinning your hands above your head. He laced his fingers with yours, holding them against the mattress while he kissed you lovingly. Suddenly, he stopped only to look you dead in the eye. You thought he was going to change his mind and that he just realised that this wasn’t what he wanted but then what comes out of his mouth next was totally unexpected.

“I think I love you.”

“What?”

This time, he said it confidently.

“Scratch that… I love you, Y/N.” Changmin said, making your heart swell. With that being said, you kissed him longingly while caressing his cheek. When you pulled away, you slowly fluttered your eyelids open to meet his gaze and smiled.

“I love you too, Changmin.”

That was all he needed to hear before continuing with where you both stopped. Knowing that the feelings are mutual, it felt a little more intimate now. All the while, he was being gentle to you, asking you questions to make sure you’re okay with what he’s doing. He would only go rough when he needs to, etc. That night, you felt so loved and respected. He showered you with so much love that it made you feel so full at the end of it all.

You’re glad he went to the event with you that night because if he didn’t, you probably still wouldn’t know how you felt for each other.