#and jake has no mercy LOL

[sailor-aviator]

Fool's Fare: Prologue

Fool's Fare: Prologue

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Reader

Summary: Captain Jake "Hangman" Seresin had come close to swinging from the gallows more times than he would care to admit. He's stolen, cheated, even killed. The worst thing he's ever done? Broken the heart of a woman. Having broken the heart of the woman whom Davy Jones himself had fallen for six years ago, Jake is now cursed to live as something not dead, but not alive. He's doomed to live a half-life for the rest of his existence unless he manages to obtain the treasure Davy Jones deems most valuable. The problem? He has no idea what it is, and he only had seven years to obtain it.

Trigger Warnings: Death of parents, angst, talk of ghosts and the supernatural, Big Brother!Bradley...I think that's it?

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: I couldn't help myself, so I went ahead and wrote this. I am just as interested as y'all to see where this fic goes lol As always, reblogs, comments, and likes are encouraged and appreciated! I'll be doing Drabble Sunday this weekend to celebrate my first 100 followers! So get your requests ready!! 18+ ONLY!! And you can find me on AO3 under sailor_aviator!

Series Masterlist || Moodboards || Playlist || Jake "Hangman" Seresin Tag List

The ocean was a deep, terrifying swirl of forgotten pasts and harrowing mysteries. The vicious pull of the waves sending many sailors to their graves for thousands of years without mercy. No, the ocean was not kind. It was the source of life on the best of occasions and cruel and unforgiving on the worst.

Your father had been a sailor. Working for a large shipping company hauling various goods from one end of the sea to the other, he was often gone for long stretches of time. After months of being away, it was always a joyous reunion when he would return. He would swing you up in his arms, twirling you until your little giggles turned into full blown laughter. He would set you back down on your feet and greet your mother with an affectionate kiss to her temple before tugging you both into his arms.

“My best girls are always here to greet me when I get home,” he’d grin. Your mother would hum, running her hands through the beard he’d grow during his time away.

“Come inside,” she’d say, leading you both into your modest, seaside home. Your father would sit at the table as your mother fixed him a plate. He would tell her that he was more than capable of fixing his own plate, but she would wave him off and place the food gently in front of him with a kiss to the top of his head.

One day, when you were a little over four years old, your father had come home from a voyage with a scraggly looking boy who looked to be about twice your age. Your father had been dragging the boy by the scruff of his collar when you and your mother had come out to greet him. The boy had dark brown hair that had been bleached from time in the sun and steady, brown eyes that held steady as he took in the house before him.

“Found this one on the coasts of the Carolinas,” your father had said with a grin, letting go of the boy’s shirt. He stumbled forward, almost falling headfirst onto the ground. He looked back at the older man with a scowl before turning to look at the two of you.

“My, don’t you look a sight?” your mother had said with a small smile as she took the boy in. He puffed out his chest in a bid to make himself seem bigger and your mother had laughed. You took the few, small steps up to him, taking his hand in yours excitedly.

“My name is y/n,” you chirped up at him. “What’s yours?”

The boy studied you with pursed lips.

“Bradley,” he muttered. Your father had let out a booming laugh, causing Bradley to jump.

“That’s the first answer we’ve been able to get out of him since we caught him rifling through our supplies on the ship!” he guffawed. “C’mon now, boy. Let’s go get us some supper.”

And so your family had taken in Bradley Bradshaw as one of your own, and he settled in fairly quickly amongst the rest of you. He would help your mother out with different chores around the house, and when your father was home, he would take you and Bradley down by the docks to teach you the ways of sailing.

“You want to tie it like this, sweetheart,” he’d say to you as he guided your hands on how to move the rope. “It’s one of the most important knots a sailor needs to know. It’s called the ‘bowline.’”

“Like this?” Bradley had asked, holding up his own rope for your father to inspect.

“Atta boy, Rooster!” your father had laughed, clapping him on the shoulder. Bradley had earned the nickname not too long after he had joined your little family. Your father had just gotten back from another transporting job. He had been woken from his sleep by sounds coming from the kitchen. When he had stumbled into the room, he had seen Bradley already working on feeding the fire for the day.

“The sun isn’t even up yet, Bradley,” your father had laughed as the boy shrunk in on himself. “I doubt even the rooster is awake! Looks like you’re gunnin’ for his job.”

And the name had stuck.

Now, Bradley was more confident in his place within your family. Now, Bradley was much taller and his form was filling out thanks to the many hours spent doing the heavy lifting around your home.

“Keep this up,” your father started, a smile twitching at the corner of his lips, “and maybe I’ll take you with me on a job here soon.”

Bradley’s face lit up. “Do you mean it?”

“Let’s see, you're about, what, sixteen now?”

“Yes, sir,” Bradley nodded, a smile etched onto his face. Your father nodded thoughtfully.

“Yeah, you should be ready here soon.”

You looked down at the rope in your hands with a frown. “I’ll never get this. Why do I even have to learn this?”

“Because, my little minnow,” your father smiled, “it’s an important skill to know and have.”

“But Mama says that women aren’t even allowed on ships,” you muttered. Your father smoothed the hair out of your face with a thoughtful hum.

“It’s true, women were once considered bad luck to have on ships, and many men still consider them to be so,” he began. “But times are changing, and maybe one day soon you’ll get to set sail with us.”

“Really?” you asked him, eyes filled with hope. He laughed and nodded, turning to look at Bradley.

“C’mon you two. Let’s go see what Mother’s been cooking.”

The three of you trudged up the hill to your home where your mother was already standing outside to greet you. Greeting her with a tender kiss, your father ushed you and Bradley into the house.

When supper was finished and the table had been cleared, you all gathered around the small fireplace. Your father sat in his favorite chair while Bradley and your mother took up the other two. You sat by your fathers feet, resting your head against his knee. The smell from your father’s pipe permeated the room and left you with a sense of fond familiarity as he slowly stroked your hair.

“Papa,” you said, “will you tell us a story?”

“And what kind of story would you like to hear, little minnow?”

“An adventure!” Bradley had grinned. You shook your head.

“No,” you argued. “A ghost story.”

“Ghosts aren’t real, y/n,” the older boy scoffed. Your father hummed with a low chuckle.

“I wouldn’t be so sure o’ that, Rooster,” he smiled. Bradley fixed him with an incredulous look.

“Surely you can’t be serious?”

“As the dead, lad,” your father said solemnly, rubbing the bowl of his pipe. “Ghosts walk amongst the living, as real as you or I. Some even sail the seas, waiting for the day Davy Jones lets them pass into the great beyond.”

“What does Davy Jones even have to do with the dead,” Bradley huffed. Your father arched an eyebrow at him.

“He has everything to do with the dead at sea, Bradley,” he replied softly. “Davy Jones is a powerful man. Not quite human, not quite god. He’s as cruel and unforgiving as the sea, and some even think he was born from the waves that beat against the rocks by the shore. They say his very will controls the tides, and any man foolish enough to invoke his wrath is met with a gruesome fate.”

“Those are just superstitions,” Bradley countered with a scowl.

“You’re free to believe that,” your father began, “but you’d be a fool to. No sailor with a lick of sense is going to take that chance. Davy Jones will come for us all.”

“Why does Davy Jones stay at sea, Papa?” you chirped.

“No one is quite sure,” your father mused. “Perhaps he’s searching for treasure.”

“Would you ever go looking for treasure?” you questioned. Your father smiled.

“I’ve already found my treasure,” he said, casting a fond smile to your mother, who blushed under his gaze.

“Have you ever seen Davy Jones?” you prodded with wide eyes. Your father chuckled, patting your head in reassurance.

“No, little minnow. But those who have are few and far in between. Davy Jones isn’t in the business of letting witnesses stay alive.”

“That’s enough, Maverick,” your mother had chided. Your father had the good sense to look sheepish. Maverick was a name your father had earned during his time at sea, and your mother only called him that when she was cross. Usually, she called him by his given name; Peter or Pete.

“My apologies, Penny, my dear,” he said. Looking back down at you, he offered a smile. “Alright, y/n, it’s time for bed. You too, Bradley. I need you up bright and early tomorrow morning.”

You and Bradley bid your mother goodnight as your father followed you down the hall. When you had crawled under your blanket, he had made sure to tuck you in tight.

“I didn’t scare you too bad, did I, little minnow?” he asked. You shook your head vehemently.

“No, Papa. But, what if you meet Davy Jones one day?”

“That won’t be for a good, long while, sweetheart,” he said with a smile. You nodded, resting your head back down onto your pillow. Your father leaned over to peck your forehead before standing to walk out the door.

“Goodnight, y/n,” he said. You smiled.

“Goodnight, Papa.”

A good, long while was not long enough in the end. It was six years later when you got the news that your father’s ship had gone down in a storm off the coast of the Caribbean. Your mother had been beside herself, crying all hours of the day as you and Bradley did your best to stay strong for her sake.

Bradley had caught you crying by the fireplace one night after you thought everyone had gone to bed. He sat next to you, and pulled you to his side as you cried into his shoulder.

“I miss him so much,” you sobbed.

“I know,” he said softly. “I do too.”

“He should be here.”

“I know.”

“It’s not fair,” you cried. “We didn’t even get to bury him.”

“I know, Guppy,” he sighed, hugging you tighter. Bradley wasn’t very good with words, and he sure as hell wasn’t good with emotions. “But he wouldn’t want us to dwell on this, you know that.”

“I know,” you sniffled, rubbing at your eyes. “He always loved the sea.”

“He loved being here, too,” Bradley countered. You looked up to see his own eyes glassy with unshed tears.

Your mother had followed your father not long after. She had stopped eating and barely took a sip when you begged her to drink some water. She would stay perched by the window in the bedroom she once shared with your father, just staring out at the sea as if willing him to return. It had ended up being a fever that had taken her one early, autumn morning. It was your turn to be inconsolable as you once again found yourself buried into Bradley’s shoulder as he held you tightly. You buried your mother on the hill that overlooked the sea, forever waiting for your father to return home.

You and Bradley had stayed by her grave until the sun began to set.

The following days were filled with familiar motions and quiet sobs hidden behind closed doors long after the stars began to shine in the night sky. One night, you had set a bowl of stew in front of Bradley after he had come home from working at the docks. The two of you sat in silence for a few more minutes before Bradley pulled you to your feet. You went to say something, but he motioned for you to be quiet as he pulled you through the front door and out of the house.

“Where are we going?” you hissed quietly.

“Just trust me,” he shot back, dragging you down to the beach. The cool sand rubbed against the soles of your feet as you followed him, and he stopped you when you both were standing at the edge of the water. The water felt like ice as it licked aginst your ankles, and you felt a shudder run up your spine.

“There!” he called out, gesturing towards the open sea. You looked, but saw nothing but the white caps of waves.

“I don’t see anything,” you mutter, shaking your head. Bradley offered you a smile.

“That’s because you aren’t looking hard enough,” he murmured. He bent down, pointing his finger so that it was directly in your line of sight. “There, do you see it now?”

You squinted your eyes, trying to see what it was he was looking at. “Rooster, I don’t-”

“I see them,” he interrupted you, smiling confidantly. You fixed him with a puzzled look. “I see Mav and Penny just over there past the waves.”

Your heart stopped and hot tears licked at your eyes as you looked back at the churning waters. It was then that you saw what Bradley had been talking about. You saw your mother and your father with smiles on their faces, staring at each other with adoration clear as day on their faces. You wiped the tears away from your eyes as you looked back to see them waving at you. You huffed a laugh and smiled back at them with a wave of your own.

“Looks like Davy Jones let Mav come back for his treasure,” Bradley said. You threw yourself into his arms, holding him tightly.

“Thank you, Bradley.”

The sea could be cold and cruel, but you had the strength to weather the storm.

[stolenslumber]

devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes (pjs)

Jay needs someone to pretend to be his girlfriend, and you’re just the person for the job— seriously, you’re almost a professional at this point, regularly charming the families of your idiot twin’s friends who need your help getting their parents off their back. Of course, leave it up to Jay to blur the lines of your fake relationship so smoothly that you catch real feelings; falling in love has never been this easy.

PAIRING: park jongseong x female reader GENRE: acquaintances to partners in crime to fake dating to lovers i guess? lol, college au, vaguely greek life au, vaguely rich kid au, fluff fluff fluff, jake is the mc’s twin bc i thought it would be funny WARNINGS: swearing, kissing and suggestive content/sexual themes WORD COUNT: 14.4k A/N: ik the ages don't line up here shhhh just ignore that okay

NOW AVAILABLE: hang your head low in the glow (companion fic/follow-up)

“WHY DO YOU LOOK SO NICE?” 

“Why do you sound so surprised?” You scoff, tossing the apple you were just about to eat at Jake’s head. Annoyingly, he catches it in mid-air, then makes a show out of polishing it with his shirt and taking a big bite out of it. “Hey, I was going to eat that, asshole.”

“Shouldn’t have thrown it at me, then.” 

You roll your eyes at your twin, then go to retrieve another apple from the fruit bowl. It’s surprisingly well-stocked, given that you’re in a frat’s kitchen. Honestly, it’s surprising that there even is a fruit bowl in a frat’s kitchen, but the president of this frat runs a tight ship.

Said president appears in the doorway just then, snatching the apple from your hands as well as the one from Jake’s hands. “Guys, seriously, you have to wash these before you eat them.”

You and Jake both whine simultaneously. “Chan!” 

“I already took a bite out of that, bro,” Jake complains.

“I’m starving; please have mercy,” you beg.

Chan whips his head around from where he’d begun washing the apples in the sink to fuss at you. “What? Why haven’t you eaten yet? It’s almost 9pm!”

“Which reminds me— why do you look so nice?” Jake repeats.

“I had a thing with Mark,” you sigh. 

“You can just say you were pretending to be his girlfriend; we all know what you mean,” Jake snorts.

“I had a thing with Mark,” you repeat, resisting the urge to throw another apple at Jake’s head. “It was at this ballroom downtown, and of course he had nothing to wear, so I had to take him shopping first, which made us late, and then his parents wouldn’t stop talking my ear off about how I need to convince him to give up the music major, so I couldn’t touch any of the food there. Not even the foie gras torchon,” you recall mournfully. “We just got back, like, five minutes ago.”

Chan hums sympathetically— he knows how much you love foie gras torchon. “You can probably ask for an endless supply in return for your appearance at today’s thing,” he suggests, only half-joking. It absolutely sounds like the kind of thing Mark Lee would agree to, what with his ridiculously large inheritance and hapless generosity (last month, Mark lost thousands of dollars in some animal shelter-related pyramid scheme, marketed to him by none other than Lee Haechan).

You wave a hand dismissively. “Nah, I’m keeping Mark’s favor for something else.”

Jake raises an eyebrow. “What else?”

“Whatever it turns out I need in the future, dumbass. What’s it to you, anyways?” 

“Just wanna make sure the poor guy doesn’t end up trapped in your snares forever, little sis. Yo, can I have that apple back?” Jake turns to Chan with characteristic puppy eyes.

“You’re only older than me by eight minutes,” you grumble, the age-old retort slipping out of you before you can help it.

“No, Jaeyun, you cannot. And don’t talk to your sister like that— oh my god, why do I sound like Taeyong,” Chan mutters, thinking about his predecessor frat-president-slash-mother-hen. 

“Jeez, government name and everything.” Jake holds his hands up, relinquishing his claim to the apple.

“In fact, your sister gets to have both of these apples, after I clean and cut them up, because she is a saint for continuing to save our asses from our parents like this,” Chan lectures, unceremoniously carving out the chunk of the apple with Jake’s bite marks and tossing it into the trash bin.

“Real ones get it!” You reach out and high-five Chan. 

“That is so unfair, c’mon, man!” Jake splutters. “She gets just as much out of these fake relationships— seriously, didn’t you drive her around everywhere for, like, a month after she went to that wedding with you?”

Both you and Chan shudder at the memory. “Ugh, my worst cousin and the worst guy he was ever with. They’re still married, by the way.” Chan shakes his head. “God knows why.”

“Love conquers all…?” Jake offers.

“What the hell are you talking about love for,” a new voice grumbles. Park Jongseong strolls in through the doorway, hands full with plastic bags promising wonderful things based on how your stomach reacts to the smell.

“Oh, hell yeah, chicken!” Jake cheers. “Took you long enough, bro.”

“Traffic was hell; something about a ball downtown, and— oh. Hey.” Jay stops abruptly at the sight of you, now munching on the apple slices Chan hands you, one by one.

You wave vaguely in his direction, too busy eating to respond. Jay is one of your brother’s friends who you don’t know that well, since you’ve never pretended to be his girlfriend. It’s strange that you two don’t know each other better, actually— as the social chairs of your sorority and his fraternity, respectively, you would usually have a lot to work on together. But this year has been particularly busy for you, what with your senior thesis and your various things with Jake’s frat brothers, and you had delegated most of your social chair responsibilities to your co-chair, Yunjin, who was far better suited to the social part of the job, anyways. You suspected Jay had done the same thing, since the two of you only ever texted to confirm budgets for any joint events.

“You need to have more than one-and-three-quarters of an apple for dinner,” Chan scolds you, parental instincts back in full force.

You shrug, about to turn around and rifle through the cabinets to see if you can find some peanut butter to add to your apple slices when a takeout container appears in front of you. Tired and still starving, you react rather slowly, your eyes tracing up the hand on the container to the veins of an arm belonging to none other than Jay.

“You look hungry,” is all he says, before popping the container open for you and rearranging the rest of the plastic bags on the counter. “Jake, tell the others to come down for food.”

The others means that soon, there will be an influx of hungry frat brothers in the kitchen, and you have no desire to be anywhere near that, so you mumble a quick thank you to Jay, plop the rest of the apple slices into the takeout container (against Chan’s complaints about the contamination), and move to leave the kitchen, eager to be on your way to your sorority house.

The last thing you overhear before you leave is Jay asking, “Why did your sister look so nice?”, and Jake and Chan responding in unison, “She had a thing.”

A few days later, when they’re doing work in the library, Jay asks Jake, “So how long have Mark and your sister been seeing each other?”

Jake’s pencil jerks across his graph paper, a jagged line appearing on the page at the same time that he swears. “Dude, what the fuck?”

“Dude, what the fuck,” Jay echoes flatly. “Didn’t you say she had a thing with Mark?”

Jake blinks. “Well, sure, in the same way that she’s had a thing with Chan, and Yeonjun, and Vernon, and all the others.”

Jay gapes at him. “Your sister dated all of them? And all the others?”

“What, no, she didn’t date them, she fake-dated them! Just a couple of times, mainly showing up to things with their families so their parents would leave them alone about finding a partner and all that. You know how the parents are.” Jake gestures vaguely, referring to the oddities of the world of wealth they were born into. 

Jay nods slowly, understanding dawning upon him. Does he know how the parents are? Oh, does he ever. He has always had a good relationship with his own, but they had been more pushy on the whole love thing as of late, with the not-at-all subtle questions his mother asks about any special someones in his life and the unfunny jokes his dad cracks about how he’s still spry enough to help raise grandchildren. Especially unfunny, given the health scare his dad had given them all in the last year.

Jake’s voice brings him out of his veering-towards-morbid thoughts. “But seriously, bro, how is this news to you? My sister’s been doing this… Cinderella-genie thing for two years now.” 

Jay’s eyebrows furrow. “Cinderella-genie thing?”

“Yeah, I mean, she transforms our frat brothers into respectable young men with a respectable relationship, but only for three occasions, and she gets the same number of favors back.” Jake wrinkles his nose. “It sounds weird when I say it like that, and don’t get me wrong, I love to give her shit for it, but it’s all above-board stuff. Sunghoon bought her bubble tea for like, three months. Oh, and no one’s allowed to catch feelings, so everything ends clean and neat.”

“She fake-dated Sunghoon?”

At the mention of his name, Sunghoon pops one side of his headphones off. “What’s up?”

“You fake-dated Jake’s sister!?”

Sunghoon shushes him before responding. “Yeah, don’t you remember? It was a couple of months ago.”

Jay’s ears flush, both at how loud he had unconsciously gotten, and at the reminder that he really has been out of it for a while now. It’s not like he’s been living under a rock, but he has definitely been spending a lot more time with his parents and away from his friends ever since his dad’s health scare.

“She was great, though,” Sunghoon continues. “My mom still thinks I made the biggest mistake of my life ‘letting her go.’ But she’s also been leaving me alone about ‘finding love’ because she thinks I’m heartbroken, so yeah, Jake’s sister works wonders.”

Jake smirks. “Sim genes, man. Elite stuff.” 

Sunghoon scoffs. “You wish. Didn’t I hear your mom yelling at you on the phone the other day for not having settled down yet?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. Does she not realize what decade this is, I mean, we’re still in college—”

Jay interrupts what looks to be the beginning of a long rant from Jake, cutting him off with, “So where can I sign up?”

Jake stares blankly at him. “Sign up for what?” 

“The Cinderella-genie thing.”

Sunghoon scrunches his face awkwardly. “Uh, she kind of has a waitlist, buddy.”

Jay waits for him to laugh and say he’s just kidding, but he doesn’t. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, she doesn’t do the fake-dating thing for multiple people at the same time, and she’s pretty busy with all her shit, so I’m not sure how long of a queue you have ahead of you…”

“Okay, but Jake could get me ahead, right? Cut the line, or something? C’mon dude, I’m your best friend.” Jay is suddenly desperate, remembering the conversation he’d had with his mom on the phone last night, where she had dreamily recalled meeting his dad in college and delicately reminded Jay that he could have a plus-one to the Parks’ upcoming 50th wedding anniversary celebration.

Jake eyes his friend warily. “I dunno, she really doesn’t like stuff like that. Unfair advantages, I mean.”

“My parents aren’t getting any younger, Jake, and you know, with my dad last year and everything…” Jay does his best approximation of batting his eyelashes at Jake. 

“Are you guilt-tripping me?”

“A little?” Jay’s smile turns a little maniacal. “For real, my parents have their 50th wedding anniversary coming up, and it would be the perfect event to bring her to so I can reassure them that things are going well in my love life.”

“Are things going anywhere in your love life?” Sunghoon’s tone is skeptical, and reasonably so. 

Jay has been distant lately because of his family, but even before that, he had always been known as somewhat aloof and unattainable. Devastatingly handsome, yes, with killer grades and fierce ambition, and a business empire to inherit to boot, but he is also his parents’ one and only miracle child, born after years of trying and almost giving up. Jay’s parents are older than all of his friends’ parents, and their family business has always been that— a family business. Jay has two years after graduation to learn the ropes in the business, and then he’ll be due for an MBA, and then a return to helm the business, but this timeline has recently felt more urgent than ever with his parents’ flagging health. They would never say it, but he knows the only reason they haven’t retired yet is because they don’t want to hand over control of the business to anyone but him. Jay has worked his ass off in college, trying to get there as fast as he can, as well as he can. But his parents also want him to enjoy college and find true love, and while he’s been doing pretty well with the former, the latter has been on the backburner for, well, forever. Who has time for true love, in between classes, fraternity duties, the various shenanigans his friends get up to, internships, networking, TA-ing, volunteering, being on the executive board of two clubs, and eating, sleeping, dreaming, and thinking?

So. No. Things are not going anywhere in his love life, and he confirms just as much to Sunghoon with a grunt, to which Sunghoon wheezes out his amusement.

Jake eyes Jay with pity, now. “Alright, that guilt trip was successful, but more so because you just admitted to being bitchless for so long. I’ll put in a good word to my sister for you.”

Jay perks up instantly. There is light and beauty in this world after all! “Awesome, thank you bro, you won’t regret this, I promise!”

“I wasn’t planning on it, but those are famous last words, Park.” Jake raises an eyebrow at him. “Are you sure you can handle my sister?”

“Why not? She seems… nice.” Jay is slightly evasive in his answer, and truthfully, it’s because he isn’t really sure what you’re like. All your interactions to date have been cordial, almost business-like, and you and Jake are fraternal twins, so it’s not even like he’s really familiar with what you look like. He is, however, sure that you look beautiful in a ballgown, even if he only saw you in one in his frat’s kitchen.

Jake chortles outright. “No, my sister is not nice. Yeah, I’m definitely going to convince her to help you, just because I think it’ll be hysterical watching her turn you inside out. Good luck, my brother in Christ, because you’ll need it!”

you: hey jake told me abt ur predicament

jay: … good morning, how are you? i’m pretty good myself

you: ???

jay: just being polite. and it’s not a predicament i’m just… interested in your services

you: good for you? anyways i’m super busy right now and don’t really have time to be taking on anything else so i’m just letting you know that i can’t help you out. good luck though

jay: how about coffee?

you: what?

jay: do you want coffee?

you: like right now?

jay: yeah i’m on your porch

You almost throw your phone to the other side of the room. True, Jay’s fraternity house is across the street from your sorority house, but it still feels absurd to think that he’s right there, less than twenty feet below your room. Is he stalking you?

Accordingly, that’s the first thing you ask him when you throw the door open to him. “Are you stalking me?”

He scoffs. “As if. I asked Jake to ask Yunjin for your location.” 

“That’s not not stalking.”

Jay shrugs, though he has the decency to look a little embarrassed as he shoves his hands in his pockets. “Whatever. I just walked across the street; that’s all. So, coffee?”

You stare at him for a few moments, weighing your options. Truthfully, you were about to leave to get coffee before your first class, anyways, but you’re not sure how long you want to entertain Jay. You decide to split the difference. “I’m on my way to Nat’s, so you can tag along. But I’m just grabbing a coffee to go, and then I have class.”

“Okay, let’s go.” 

“Gimme a second; I’ll grab my stuff.” For some reason, your heart is beating a little faster than usual when you reach your room. You’d like to blame it on the stairs you just climbed, but something about Jay coming to find you at your front door feels old-fashioned and sweet, though your rational mind reminds you that he literally just walked a couple hundred feet. He even said so, himself.

But when you come back down to see him leaning against the doorway with his hands still in his pockets, looking out into the street, you suddenly remember that Jay is, like, really good-looking. Despite yourself, you find yourself admiring the cut of his jaw and how nice his hair is styled. It’s not like you don’t know plenty of attractive guys— hell, the guys you usually fake-date are all objectively hot. It’s just inconvenient that you now recall how Jay has always seemed to be the most mature out of Jake’s friends, even from what little you know of him. Unhelpfully, your brain also conjures up the image of him sliding a takeout container to you last week, and the way your eyes had lingered on the veins of his arm.

God. It’s been too long since you’ve gotten laid.

Jay’s voice breaks you out of your bizarre trance. “Ready, Cinderella?”

“Excuse me?”

“Jake told me about your whole Cinderella-genie thing. It would be weird to call you ‘genie’, so…” Jay trails off, scratching the back of his head and looking actually embarrassed now. 

You can’t help but laugh. “Right, because Cinderella is totally less weird. Alright, big guy, let’s go.”

The walk to Nat’s, your favorite local coffee shop, takes about 15 minutes— 10, if you’re walking fast, which you usually are. Jay’s legs are uselessly long, but he seems determined to walk as slowly as possible, while also staying silent the whole time. Finally, you reach the end of your patience and step out right in front of him, intending to ask him what the hell he’s doing. Unfortunately, you find that you misjudged the distance, and he almost collides right into you.

“Whoa,” he mutters, reaching out to grab your arms to steady the both of you. 

“Sorry,” you huff, embarrassed at yourself. A lot of that going around today. “I just… what’s your deal? I already told you I can’t help you, and then you show up at my door and ask me to get coffee, but you don’t say a single word. What do you want from me?”

Instead of answering your question, he asks, “Why do you do it?” 

“Do what?”

“The Cinderella-genie thing.”

You roll your eyes. “Jake has got to stop calling it that. It’s a long story, honestly.” Sighing, you reach into your backpack to pull out your planner. “Alright, we’re already past the amount of time I scheduled to get my coffee and get ahead on some readings before class, so I guess we can sit down inside.”

Jay raises an eyebrow. “You have time for me now? Also, that’s the most insane planner I’ve ever seen.”

You gesture around you. You had stopped Jay almost at the door of Nat’s, and you’re clogging up the sidewalk. “We should at least get out of the way of these people. And yeah, I’m sure it is.” You are a live-and-die-by-your-planner kind of person. Everything is in there— social events, studying time, your various things with Jay’s frat brothers, even things like eating and showering and sleeping. It seems psychotic, sure, but you’re a busy person, and there’s no way you’d be able to handle everything without the strict schedule you set for yourself.

When you walk up to the counter inside Nat’s, your favorite barista— a cute high school kid named Riki— is manning the register. You smile warmly at him. “Hey, Riki. The usual, please.”

You expect Riki to tease you about your usual, which contains an admittedly concerning amount of caffeine, but instead he calls out, “Jay! What’s up, my man!”

From behind you, Jay reaches out and fist-bumps Riki. “Hey, long time no see, buddy. How’s history going?”

Riki groans theatrically. “Horribly, ever since you stopped tutoring me.”

Jay frowns. “Wait, really? What are you having trouble with? I know I’m kind of swamped right now but we can always find some time and—”

Riki bursts out laughing. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Jeez, you should’ve seen your face. Relax, I got a 94 on my last paper!”

“Oh, very funny, you menace!” Jay punches Riki’s shoulder, but his expression eases up. You wonder at the fondness that twinkles in his eyes. 

Riki laughs some more, then he turns to you. “Noona, one cup of liquid death coming up! Hyung, what about you?”

“London fog, please. And seriously, text me if you’re having trouble, okay?”

Riki waves the both of you off, telling you that he’ll bring your drinks over to you. 

You make a beeline for your favorite spot, right by the large window that overlooks the sidewalk. Jay surprises you for the umpteenth time that morning by easily striding ahead and pulling your chair out for you, then coughing and turning red when you give him a weird look.

“Sorry, I, uh, yeah. Instinct,” he explains, which is really no explanation at all. 

“Are you courting me or something?” You try to keep your tone light and joking, but confusion inevitably slips in. Nothing Jay has done today has made sense. 

He seems to have regained his composure when he sits down, because he hits you with, “I guess you could say that. It’s just something I think I’d do for my girlfriend.”

You stare at him blankly. “Thanks for telling me…?”

“I mean, if you’re going to fake-date me, you can probably expect me to do stuff like that, right?”

You groan. “I’m not going to fake-date you, Jay, how many times do I have to say it? I—”

“— don’t have time, I know. But what if I could make it worth your while?”

“Jay, you know I’m Jake’s sister, right? We have money. Besides, I’m helping Mark right now, and I don’t do this for multiple people at the same time.”

“Oh yeah, Jake told me about that rule. What if I could take care of that for you?”

You raise an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll help Mark find a real girlfriend, and then you can help me, instead.”

“If it were that easy, don’t you think Mark would have done it himself?” 

Jay waves his hand dismissively. “Oh, please, Mark’s been crushing on the girl in his music class for ages. He gets too into his head about asking her out, so he chickens out every time. They’re partners on a project right now, though, so I’ll just give him a push in the right direction.”

You have to admit that you’re intrigued by his proposition. Everything Jay just said lines up with what you know about Mark, especially the chickening out part. You’d like to see Jay try, and you figure it can’t hurt either way, so you nod. “Okay, fine. If you can help Mark, I’ll help you. But seriously, what’s your deal? Why do you want my help so badly?”

Jay blinks, then he leans back into his chair. “Oh. Honestly, I haven’t 100% decided that I do, yet.”

“But you’re willing to agree to help Mark Lee with a girl in order to secure my help?” You shake your head. “You’re really strange, Park.”

“I get overly invested in challenges really easily,” Jay confesses, showing you an unexpectedly bashful smile. “So I got a little caught up just now in the idea that I could change your mind about helping me. But now that you’ve brought it up, I’ll still help Mark, no matter what. I’m sick of him writing lovesick songs about that girl, anyways.”

“Large iced Americano, no water, four shots of espresso. And a London Fog,” Riki announces. He sets the drinks down on your table right as the bell above the shop’s door chimes and lets in the pre-9am work crowd. He groans and bids you both a hasty goodbye.

Jay eyes your coffee with disgust. “Liquid death, huh? That’s disturbing.”

“Hey, don’t knock it ‘til you try it.” You tilt the cup in his direction, laughing when he shudders. 

“Absolutely not. I can’t believe you order that enough that Riki knows it’s your usual.”

“I usually see him in the afternoons when I order this, actually, so I’m sure he’s going to give me an earful about getting one in the mornings, too. Speaking of— doesn’t he have school?” You whip around in your seat to stare at Riki. 

“He has two free periods on Mondays this year, so I guess he picked up an extra shift. He’s a hard working kid,” Jay says. 

You turn back around to see him with that same fondness in his eyes. “How do you know him, by the way?”

“Ah, he’s my little’s friend from high school. My little is Jungwon— cat-looking dude?”

You let out a squeal. “Oh my gosh, he’s the cutest!” 

Jay crosses his arms and grins, looking amused. “Yeah, he is pretty cute. Anyways, Jungwon mentioned his friend was having trouble with his history class last year, so I started tutoring him a bit, just casually, since I’m studying history.”

“Not economics?” You’ve heard about Jay’s family’s notoriously tightly-controlled company. Everything is within the family, so you’re surprised that he isn’t getting ready to take over. 

“Both. I can have two majors, you know. What’s yours?”

“Linguistic anthropology. And studio art. I can have two majors, you know.” 

Jay rolls his eyes. “Okay, okay, I know that was pretentious. What’s linguistic anthropology?”

You clear your throat, not expecting to talk about your hopes and dreams so early in the morning, and with someone who’s only a few steps away from being a stranger. “Languages, and the social and cultural foundations of them. Basically. I want to do linguistic archaeology in grad school, and this is the closest thing you can get in undergrad.”

Jay leans forward and nods enthusiastically. “That sounds really cool. What kind of art are you doing?”

“Oil paints, mostly, and some charcoal drawing…”

Like that, an hour flies by. You don’t even notice the blocks in your calendar getting overwritten by what is essentially a coffee date with Jay until you get the reminder that you have class in thirty minutes. 

“Shit, I gotta go soon.” You say it with some regret; surprisingly, you’re really enjoying yourself with Jay. He’s smart, and funny, and a little awkward in a way that makes you think he’s the most sincere person you’ve ever met. And he has interesting thoughts and opinions on history, some of which you even make a mental note to follow up on later for your thesis. 

“Before you go, will you tell me why you do the fake-dating thing?” Jay puts his head in both his hands and smiles at you, and…

“Are you batting your eyelashes at me?”

Jay squints at you. “Maybe. Is it working?”

“Not really,” you lie, like a liar. 

“Didn’t work on Jake, either. Man, I gotta work on it.” Jay gives up the act and relaxes back into his chair. “Will you tell me, though?”

“Sure, it’s not like it’s a big secret or anything. It’s not even that long of a story, now that I think about it. Not something worth trying to seduce me over, but I like your hustle,” you joke. 

“So it was working!”

“I wouldn’t go that far. Okay, so it started with Chan. He just didn’t want to go to his horrible cousin’s horrible wedding, but his sister had been arguing with the cousin about Chan and was, like, defending his honor or something? And one thing spiraled into another and all of a sudden Chan needed to show up to the wedding with an impressive partner to prove to his cousin that he could pull.” You make a face. “Boys. I’d actually met this particular cousin before, through some convoluted situation at one of those holiday parties that our families throw, and I knew he was insufferable, so I was willing to help out. Other guys in the frat heard about it, and you know, it’s surprising but not shocking that your frat has a lot of guys with some sort of weird baggage that prevents them from actually seriously dating someone. It’s weirder that a significant number of them also find themselves in situations where they need to pretend to have a girlfriend, but as it turns out, I’m really good at it— being a fake girlfriend, I guess. I haven’t had much time to date myself, so it’s kind of nice hearing how much everyone’s families liked me as their potential daughter-in-law. Plus, I always get favors in return, so it’s not the worst thing in the world. It’s like the fun part of dating, without the actual time commitment.”

Jay looks skeptical. “Going to family events and schmoozing with distant relatives is the fun part of dating?”

You scoff. “Whatever. You’re the one who asked why I did it, and I told you. It doesn’t have to make sense to you.”

“Sorry, sorry. I’m not judging, I swear. I just think that there’s probably better parts to dating, but who am I to talk,” he mutters.

“Ah, yes, Jake mentioned that, too. Bitchless all these years?”

Jay deadpans at you. “I know you aren’t making fun of me for that when you basically just told me that you fake-dated all these guys because you have a raging praise kink specifically for people’s families.”

“Oh, fuck off.” But you’re laughing, almost— giggling? Ugh. Maybe you do need to back off on the caffeine. “Alright, I have to go now, for real. Text me when Mark is good, and then we can talk about our two fake dates.”

“Isn’t three the max?”

“I was serious about not having time, Jay. I have a thesis for linguistics, and a portfolio to put together for art. Mark was going to be my last… thing this year. I went to one event with him, so if you can get things squared away with him, you can have his other two.”

“Okay, fine. Pleasure doing business with you.” Jay salutes you with two fingers.

“You haven’t even succeeded with Mark yet, and you haven’t heard what favors I want in return, either. Don’t get ahead of yourself, hotshot.” 

And then you’re gone, leaving Jay to ruminate on the last hour and a half you spent together.

Jake’s right— you’re not nice, not in the traditional sense of the word. You’re kind of prickly, and you seem to run your life like a drill sergeant, but Jay thinks you must be really kind. Aside from Chan, the others you’ve helped (Mark, Yeonjun, Vernon, Sunghoon, good lord) are all variants of pretty boys who can’t talk to women to save their lives but live and die by the words of their parents, who all hope to see them get married sooner rather than later (Jay elects to ignore how he fits into that mold pretty well, too). No wonder you felt bad for them in their plights and wanted to help them; and Jay really believes that you did it to help them, not because of whatever favors you got in return. Like you said, you have money, so it’s not like you couldn’t buy your own bubble tea or pay for a driver. No, he’s seen your calendar, and it’s crammed with volunteering events in between everything else, and he’s seen the way you fuss over Riki, someone you only see a couple times a week while ordering a coffee. He’s pretty sure you’re just a classic do-gooder, and he doesn’t even need your help that badly, but he does love a challenge. Get Mark Lee together with the girl of his dreams is the first one. The second one is to figure out why he cares about proving himself to you so much— it’s not like he’s swimming in free time either, but somehow you’ve gotten under his skin, and he wants to see where this goes.

(Plus, he thinks you’re really pretty.)

When you enter your studio art workshop class, you find Yunjin immediately and pout at her. “Thanks for revealing my location to Jay, traitor,” you whine.

Yunjin grins. “It’s not like the sorority house is a state secret, babe. And I have zero regrets— he’s hot!”

“So?”

“So, I’m sick of you fake-dating these guys because you love to be the most helpful person in the room, and I want to see you actually date someone!”

You snort. “Joke’s on you, then, because he also wants to fake-date me.”

“Eugh, really? What the hell, I thought he was a good one,” Yunjin groans.

“He is a good one,” you respond instantly. You’re not sure why you’re so defensive about him, but from everything you’ve witnessed today, you know that Park Jongseong is the definition of a good guy.

“Well, maybe this will finally be the one that goes from fake-dating to real dating!” Yunjing wiggles her eyebrows at you. “You already think he’s nice, and you didn’t say he isn’t hot, either.”

“I have a pulse, Yunjin, I can tell that he’s hot.”

Yunjin whistles between her teeth. “Wait ‘til I tell Jake to tell Jay that.”

“Do not— and since when are you and my brother so close, anyways?”

She flashes you a conspiratorial wink. “New boytoy.”

“Ew, seriously? Jake?”

“Hey, it’s not that deep. He gets around, too, doesn’t he? Friends with benefits, no strings attached, etcetera.”

“Famous last words, honey.” You start pulling out your art supplies, chewing on your lip as you consider whether to ask her what you’re dying to know. “... So, what do you know about Jay? And do not tell Jake about any of this, Yunjin, I swear.”

“We’re really not close like that, babe, and I’d never betray your trust for dick.” Yunjin puts her hand over her heart solemnly.

“I want you to know that I’m throwing up in my mouth.”

“Noted.” Yunjin sticks the pencil she was using in her hair, then leans back and hums thoughtfully. “Now, Jay… I know what everyone knows about him, I guess. Good guy, nice family, kind of detached, if I had to say so? Not in a bad way, though. I just mean that he seems to hang out with his friends and that’s pretty much it. He’s involved in a bunch of stuff on campus like you are, but I know he had to pull back recently because one of his parents had a health thing— oh no, I can tell you’re already Cinderella-ing.”

You huff. “Jake is so annoying for that. What do you mean, Cinderella-ing?”

“You feel bad for him and now you want to help him!”

“I already agreed to help him, if he helps Mark Lee get a girlfriend, first.”

“Wow, he must really need your help if he’s willing to do that.”

“Funny, he said he isn’t sure if he needs my help, yet.” You shrug. “He’s confusing.”

“Oooh, but you’re interested, aren’t you?” Yunjin peers closer at you. “Oh my god, you whore! You want him!” 

“Yunjin!” You shush her, cognizant of the other students around you. “I’m just curious, okay? I wanna know what I’m getting myself into.”

“Sure, sure. I believe you!” Yunjin insists, looking entirely unbelievable. “That’s not surprising about Jay, though. His family is, like, super family-oriented. Introducing them to a fake girlfriend seems like it wouldn’t go well, so it makes sense that he’s hesitant about it. You should ask him for more details when you guys fuck—”

You cut her off with a hand slapped over her mouth. “I’m going to murder you in your sleep.”

Yunjin laughs underneath your hand and flicks you off. “But seriously, the rumor is that he’s never dated anyone in college because his parents had the perfect college romance and want the same thing for him, and he’s always been too busy being the prodigal son and heir apparent for true love to just, like, fall into his lap. Despite the valiant efforts of many girls on campus,” she finishes dryly.

“That’s… a really detailed rumor.”

“Chaewon’s little is obsessed with him, so I’ve heard it a million times.” 

You both cringe. Chaewon is far too nice to say it, but her little is stuck in a phase of boy mania so all-consuming it borders on clinical.

“Enough about boys; how’s it going with the portfolio?” Yunjin nudges her chin towards your empty canvas.

You sigh. “Pretty good, except for the human portrait part. It’s really not my thing, but Professor Song was so adamant that I try to include at least two of them by the end of the year. I did one of Jake already, but he doesn’t know, so it’ll be hilarious to see him cry at the senior showcase.”

“Oh, he’s totally going to lose it,” Yunjin agrees. You stay silent on the curious display of knowledge she just exhibited on your brother’s behalf. “Who are you thinking for the other one?”

“Beats me. I’d use my parents, but that feels a little bit too on the nose, especially after the one of Jake. It’d be weird to ask our friends, right?”

“Not really, but your portfolio theme is family, isn’t it? Very sweet of you to think of us as family, but then you’re talking about an entire group of people.”

Instantly, you shudder. “That’s way more than two humans. Love you guys, but no thanks. I’ll figure something else out.”

Yujin smirks at you. “If you and Jay date and fall in love and get married, you’ll be family, and then you could do one of him.”

“That is so not the solution!”

You don’t hear from Jay until a week later, at which point you figure he has given up, so you’re shocked to find him at your door again. 

“Morning, Cinderella,” is all he says to you before handing you a cup.

“Good morning,” you return, too dumbfounded to say anything else. “What’s this?”

“Coffee. Large iced Americano, no water, four shots of espresso,” he recites. “I got Riki to text it to me,” he admits quickly.

“I appreciate it, but what’s this for?” You narrow your eyes at him. “You can’t possibly think that one of the favors I’ll ask from you is coffee, right? I’m not that easy, Park.”

Jay looks offended. “Hey, you let Sunghoon buy you bubble tea!”

“Yeah, but he was really pathetic about the whole fake-dating thing.”

“... Fine, I’ll give that to you. That does sound like him. But no, this is because I wanted to ask you something, and I figured I’d take up the time that you usually schedule for getting your coffee.”

“Ooookay. So, what’s up?” You start on the walk to the library, and he’s quick to fall into step beside you.

“I’ve been thinking about how to help Mark with his crush, and I have the perfect idea, but I need your help.”

“You need my help to help Mark so that you can get my help for yourself?” It sounds absurd coming out of your month, and before you can stop yourself, you blurt out, “Wow, try saying that ten times fast.”

A surprised laugh erupts from Jay’s chest. “That was corny as hell,” he says, but he’s still laughing, high pitched and delighted. Laughter transforms his whole face, his eyes slipping into crescents and his nose scrunching with the force of his happiness, and you’re left dazed looking at him like that.

“Don’t tell anyone you witnessed that. I know where you live,” you threaten him half-heartedly. It really doesn’t carry much weight when you’re beaming in response to the mirth in his expression.

He stops laughing to grin at you, still bright and lovely. “Yeah, right. Who’s been coming to whose front door?”

“You don’t think I could walk across the street? I’m there all the time, Jay. So many people in that house owe me; it’d be a piece of cake to get your room number.” You say this with a stupid smile still on your face.

“Right, consider me properly frightened.” The wattage of his grin finally turns down a couple of notches, giving you room to breathe properly. “So, about Mark,” he starts.

“Yeah, this just sounds like more work for me,” you respond skeptically.

“Hear me out, okay? Mark has all these love songs written about this girl, and I found out that she always eats lunch at the same table at the same time in the dining hall on Tuesdays, so I figured he could play one of his songs over the dining hall speakers and then confess to her.” Jay makes little jazz hands at the end of his sentence, and it prompts a giggle out of you.

You have to fight your smile down when you speak. “A couple of things. One: that is so incredibly over the top for a confession, but sure, I like your spirit. Two: there’s no way Mark is slick enough to pull this off. Which leads me to three: what do you need from me?”

Jay nods. “Exactly, Mark could never do this on his own, which is why I’ve enlisted a bunch of guys from the frat, and you, of course.”

“Me, of course?”

“Sunoo and Jake are going to sweet-talk the lady at the dining hall who has the keys to the staff office with the dining hall audio hookup and microphone— she loves Sunoo, and Jake will flash her the ol’ puppy dog eyes to keep her sufficiently distracted. Heeseung will walk past and swipe her keys, and Jungwon is going to make sure that Mark’s crush is actually in the dining hall at the right time. Chan is going to apologize on everyone’s behalf if this goes wrong.”

You tut. “Poor Chan.”

“It’s his presidential duty, god bless.”

“And where do I fit into this?”

“You and I need to hold Mark’s hand, figuratively, and keep him hyped up enough to actually go through with it. He agreed to the plan, but I can totally see him chickening out again, which is why Sunghoon and Yeonjun are also going to stand guard outside the staff office so he can’t escape.”

“I feel like you could hold Mark’s hand on your own,” you argue, but you don’t really mean it. This sounds so chaotic and harebrained that you would normally want to stay a mile away from it, but Jay’s enthusiasm and seriousness about it is rubbing off on you. Plus, it would be nice to see one of your fake boyfriends actually succeed in their love life.

“He has two hands, and I can’t hold them all by myself because I have to operate the audio hookup,” Jay proclaims solemnly. “And I said figuratively! He trusts you, clearly, or at least he trusted you enough to be his fake girlfriend.”

“I come highly recommended,” you intone dryly. 

“And he trusts me enough to go along with the plan, so I think we’re the best suited to be his moral support,” Jay continues, ignoring your smartass comment. 

“This is a ridiculous plan, Jay.”

“So you’re in? Oh, wait. Are you free at 12:30 today?”

You stop to check your planner and confirm that you are. “What would you have done if I wasn’t?”

“Reconfigure the time-space continuum so you could be in two places at once. Mark’s future happiness depends on this,” Jay insists.

"I see what you mean about getting overly invested in challenges really easily… Alright, text me where I should meet you later, then?”

“You got it. Have a good day, Cinderella!” He yells this part as he jogs away from you. 

“Stop calling me that!” But you can’t remember the last time you smiled this much this early in the morning.

Hours later, you smile instinctively upon seeing Jay’s name pop up in your notifications.

jay: coast is clear. meet me outside the dining hall staff office in 5 minutes. operation is a go

you: omw, 007

jay: stop ur making me blush

you: fr?

jay: no this is just banter

you: omfg mark just texted me to say that ur actually blushing

jay: im going to end him. after he gets a gf, ofc

“Hey,” you whisper in Jay’s ear, making him jump. 

“Holy shit, how’d you get here so fast?”

You shrug, jostling his shoulder as you’re pressed up against him in the tiny recessed alcove across from the staff office. “I’m a fast walker. Places to be, people to see, you know? Speaking of…” You motion to the open office door. “Should we go inside?”

Jay clears his throat. Up this close, he can count the eyelashes that flutter against your skin. “Yeah, Mark’s already there. I’m surprised he found the composure to pop his head out and see me, or text you, honestly. He’s been a nervous wreck since this morning. Oh, finally, way to be on time, losers!” Jay beckons Sunghoon and Yeonjun closer from down the hall.

“We’re fine; Jungwon says Mark’s crush hasn’t even sat down at her table, yet. Hey, how are you? Long time no see.” Yeonjun flashes you a smile.

“Committing questionable acts in the name of love, you know, just living the dream,” you joke. “How’s your mom?”

“Great! She still asks about you. By the way, if I had known being a little more pathetic would get me this level of commitment,” Yeonjun gestures around him, “I would’ve asked for a real girlfriend, too.”

“I’m told I was pretty pathetic, and even I didn’t get this kind of treatment,” Sunghoon reminds you.

You pat his arm consolingly. “Maybe if you had Jay on your side, buddy.”

“Yeah, what the hell, best friend?” Sunghoon eyes him accusingly.

Jay pats his other arm. “Sorry, I have ulterior motives with Mark.”

“Oh, so now Mark gets a girlfriend and a secret male lover?”

Jay scoffs. “Not those kinds of ulterior motives, but please. As if Mark could bag me.”

“Ladies, ladies, there’s plenty of Jay to go around,” you say placatingly. 

“Guys, I’m freaking out in here!” Mark wails from inside the office.

“Fuck, Jungwon said she’s sitting down now. Go!” Yeonjun pushes you and Jay towards the office.

In quick order, Jay gets the audio hooked up to Mark’s laptop, and he starts the song. While Mark hyperventilates between the two of you and you actually do share in the holding of his hands, Jay finds himself staring at you as you try to encourage Mark. You really are quite kind— he doesn’t think many people would have agreed to be dragged into this silly scheme, but here you are, throwing yourself into it wholeheartedly because there’s a chance it might secure Mark’s future happiness. 

The sun reaches its highest point in the sky just then, streaming in through the windows behind you and drenching you in golden light. Jay’s not sure if he’s nervous about getting in trouble for this or if he’s just been looking at you for too long, but he can feel his heart stuttering in his chest. It’s positively outrageous how pretty you are.

“Bro, what the fuck do I say?” Mark hisses, interrupting Jay’s very important investigation of the color of your eyes. “The song is almost over, please, you gotta help me!”

“Just tell her how you feel,” Jay offers. It’s not his best attempt at advice, but he’s distracted by the way your hair brushes against your neck. 

Mark splutters and fumbles and curses under his breath, but then the song is over, and Jay is turning on the microphone for him to speak. “Um, hey, so, yeah! Yeah. Uh, I’ve liked you for a long time… which you can probably tell, because of the song and everything.” Mark giggles nervously. “There’s, like, at least five more where that came from. Because I like you a lot, but I’m not great at talking in person, so I wrote all these songs, and oh god, this is super weird, isn’t it? I’m sorry if it’s weird, I just, well, I wanted to tell you. What I feel for you is so big I think I might explode; it makes me lose my mind and my breath and my ability to speak, and it leads me to do stupid stuff like this. And now you know. Okay, cool!” Mark reaches over and slams his hand to turn off the microphone. 

You and Jay share an exasperated look over Mark’s head.

“Mark, you didn’t even say who the song is for,” you remind him. 

He pales. “I didn’t?”

“Or who it’s from, but I think that part is pretty obvious,” Jay sighs. “Just text her right now, and tell her it was from you, and ask her out!”

“What? No, I can’t do that, I think I’m gonna be sick,” Mark moans.

You roll your eyes. “Mark, do it right now, or I’m telling your mom you cheated on me.”

“What? But I didn’t! And we weren’t even dating for real! And I just told her we broke up!”

“Right, I’ll say we broke up because you cheated on me.” You stare him down. “Seriously, I’ll call her tonight.”

“Nonono, I’ll text Mina, okay? See, I’m texting her right now.” Mark pulls out his phone and types frantically. 

Jay throws his arm around Mark’s shoulder, using the leverage to hit the send button on his phone. “See, that wasn’t so hard!”

“I need to go walk into traffic,” Mark declares. 

You smile breezily at him. “Sure, whatever. Love conquers all!” Behind his back, you and Jay high-five.

Jay says you should have dinner to celebrate Mark and Mina’s new romance (ignoring Mark’s pained “What romance? I’m dying.”), but you tell him that you’re volunteering at the community kitchen that night. Jay doesn’t miss a beat. “Sure, I’ll be there. We should talk about my thing, anyways.”

That’s how he finds himself in a hairnet and disposable gloves that night, making funny faces at the head of the community kitchen’s daughter, who’s running around underfoot. He’s been put in charge of chopping vegetables, while you’re stirring a huge pot of stew at one of the stoves.

“Watch your fingers,” you scold him half-heartedly. He’s devastatingly cute like this.

He has the audacity to wink at you. “I know my way around a kitchen, don’t worry.”

“Very cool, trophy husband.”

“What, no more 007?”

“Depends on the outcome of Mark’s text to Mina. Did you hear anything from him?”

Jay scoops up his vegetables into a large bowl and brings it over to you, nudging you aside with his hip so he can add the vegetables to your pot. “Not yet, but I don’t have him freaking out in my messages either, so I’ll take that as a win.”

You let him take over the stirring and turn around to lean against the countertop. “Cute hairnet,” you quip.

“Thanks. You think they’ll let me take it home?” he jokes. 

You nudge your chin in the direction of the little girl giggling at Jay. “I think she wants to take you home.”

He winks at her, then lowers his voice so that only you can hear him say, “She’ll have to get in line.”

You swallow and wonder if the stove is turned on too high. “Right, so what’s your thing about?”

“Later, yeah?” Jay gestures around you, and you suddenly remember that you’re in the middle of a busy kitchen, with everyone hustling to get ready for the dinner service starting in half an hour. 

You spring into action again, embarrassed at how easily you’d been absorbed into conversation with Jay. Something about the way he talks to you makes you feel like you’re the only person in the world— he’s always so attentive, nodding and responding to your every comment. You have to wonder why he hasn’t dated anyone seriously in college; he seems like he’d be the dream boyfriend. Hypothetically.

He only proves this point further when he reveals two containers of mac and cheese that he had picked up before getting there, which he microwaves for the two of you to eat after the dinner service is over. You turn on the lights in one corner of the cafeteria and sit at the only table that’s still left out: a children’s table where you have to balance precariously on seats that are too small for you. But it’s entirely worth it, knocking knees and elbows together, laughing too hard for what the situation warrants.

“I would’ve made you something myself, but I didn’t want to use up the kitchen’s ingredients,” Jay comments off-handedly.

Your heart glows in your chest. “That’s really thoughtful, Jay.”

He smiles and scratches the back of his head, suddenly shy. “Nah, it’s common sense, right? Come on, eat before it gets cold.”

Right then and there, Jay learns that he loves to watch you eat. You make exaggerated faces and ooh and ahh over something as simple as mac and cheese from the 24-hour diner down the street, and he finds himself itching to make something with his own two hands that will make you react like that. 

When you’re done eating, you sit back and sigh in satisfaction. “That was exactly what I needed. Now, tell me about your thing— what kind of mess have I gotten myself into?”

Jay hems and haws for a good minute before finally telling you about his parents’ upcoming 50th wedding anniversary. “It’s a little complicated because they had this, like, fairytale relationship, and of course I’m happy that they’re still so in love all these years later, but it’s kind of… a lot to live up to. Not that I’m complaining, because they’re awesome, but I don’t have that kind of relationship with anyone yet, so I haven’t brought anyone home to them.”

“So the rumors are true,” you mutter under your breath.

Unfortunately, Jay seems to have heard you. “What rumors?”

Flushing, you explain what you’d heard from Yunjin, who had heard it from Chaewon’s little. You’re quick to add, “I wasn’t asking around about you or anything!” 

Jay just smirks at you, something wicked and slow that only contributes to the heat in your cheeks. “I didn’t say anything.”

You hesitate before speaking up again. “So, if you don’t mind me asking… How come you haven’t dated anyone long-term in college? You’re, you know, perfectly okay to look at.”

Jay deadpans at you. “Wow, thanks, that really means a lot to me.”

You let out a huff of a laugh. “Shut up, it’s not a secret that you’re hot.”

Jay’s eyebrows shoot up, and you swear to god, he blushes to high heaven. “Th-Thanks.”

“Mm.”

It’s silent for a few long moments, then Jay clears his throat. “If I’m being honest, I haven’t dated anyone long-term in college because my parent’s relationship is a lot to live up to, and it’s not like I have a ton of time to find my perfect life partner in between everything else.”

“Ugh, tell me about it. Yunjin tells me I should try actually dating again, but it’s kind of a lot, right? Putting in the time and effort to get to know someone from scratch, when you’re not even sure how it’s going to pan out? And you’ve seen my calendar.” You laugh quietly. “And, honestly, I have this problem with dating where I get bored pretty easily.”

Jay leans forward, pushing into your personal space close enough to count your eyelashes, again. “Are you bored right now?” 

“No,” you answer, although you’re not sure why he’s asking. “Um, so, why do you need a fake girlfriend, then? I don’t think it’ll pass muster with your parents, if they want you to be in love for real.”

Jay fidgets with his fingers on top of the table. “Yeah, it’s kind of stupid, to be honest. My dad was hospitalized for a month last year, and it really shook us all. My parents are on the older side, and I’m their only child, and, well, I’d like to make them happy while they’re still around. Sorry, that was morbid. And I know it’s not like we’d be doing this forever, and it’s wrong to fake it, but still. They’d be overjoyed to see me in a relationship. I want to give that to them, even if it’s only twice.” He tells it to you like it’s a secret, and your chest caves in with the force of his sincerity.

“I don’t think that’s stupid. It’s sweet, Jay, really.” You reach out and still his fingers. “Listen, you know I’m really good at being a fake girlfriend, right?”

“You come highly recommended,” he mimics you from earlier, mouth quirking up in the beginnings of a smile. It lifts the atmosphere slightly, and you’re glad for it.

“Right, so don’t worry. Leave it to me. Your parents won’t suspect a thing,” you promise. “When’s the anniversary celebration?”

“Six weeks.”

You pull out your planner to start scheduling. “Great, so you can send me information about yourself, and I’ll do the same for you, and then we can find time to meet up and quiz each other about it and get our answers on our relationship straight—”

Jay’s hand lands around your wrist, stopping you from writing further. “Not that I don’t appreciate your… efficiency, but I don’t think that’s going to work. Like you said, my parents want to see a true relationship, and I don’t think flashcards are going to cut it. How about we just… get to know each other?”

You blink. “What, like daily one-on-ones, or something? Office hours, but just for each other?”

He bursts out laughing. “Oh my god, you’re serious, aren’t you?” He lets go of your wrist to hide his face behind his hands as he continues to laugh, which makes you smile despite yourself. He’s so goddamn cute.

You decide to humor him. “What do you suggest, then?”

“As much as I would love to monopolize your time, I don’t actually want to take up any of the precious few free spots on your calendar. You need to set aside more time for yourself, by the way. But for now, how about you give me the thirty minutes you schedule for getting to Nat’s and then back to campus every day? We can get to know each other then.”

“You want to walk me to the coffee shop and back?”

“Among other things.”

“… Such as?”

“Just you wait, Cinderella. I’m going to sweep you off your feet so hard, you won’t know what hit you. I’ll be the best fake boyfriend you’ve ever had.”

In the dim light of the after-hours cafeteria, with his long legs stretched out on either side of yours and the soft crescents of his smiling eyes twinkling at you, you’re inclined to believe him.

Jay keeps his word. He shows up on the sorority house’s porch every morning, backpack slung over his shoulder and hands in his pockets at 7:45am. He doesn’t even have class until 11am (you know because you asked Yunjin to ask Jake), so his dedication impresses you. Sometimes, you’ll watch him approach the house from your window, bopping his head along to whatever he’s listening to in his earbuds. 

When you open the door to greet him, he always smiles sleepily at you and reaches out to grab whatever’s in your hands (usually art supplies or heavy reference books for your thesis). It’s a small gesture, but it shoots through your cotton-candy-soft heart as true and straight as an arrow.

Most mornings, the two of you will chat about anything and everything, swinging from homework to Greek life drama to pet peeves to Mesopotamian history. Occasionally, you’re both tired from your busy schedules and just end up sharing his earbuds, listening to something slow and soothing. More and more often, you find yourself stuffing supplies and books into your backpack until it’s grossly misshapen, just so Jay can have his hands free to brush against yours on the walk to Nat’s.

It’s not just the coffee shop, either. Suddenly, he’s everywhere in your life, as if someone had penciled in his name as one long continuous block in your calendar. He comes to the library with you, and you work on your assignments in companionable silence. He’s now a regular volunteer at the community kitchen, and he’s helping them design a new menu for the colder days coming soon. He even shows up outside the studio art workshop, bringing you takeout when you’ve forgotten to eat. At parties, the two of you dominate beer pong, with him bouncing balls off of his bicep into the cups just to make you fake your fawning adoration at him. He doesn’t have to know that it comes easily to you, especially when he’s constantly looking at you the way you know you look at beautiful works of art.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were actually courting me,” you comment thoughtlessly one day. You’re perched on the kitchen counter at the frat, watching Jay make ramen for the two of you. It’s almost three in the morning, and neither of you should be awake, but there’s something special about the quiet privacy afforded by the strange hour.

Jay forces himself to keep stirring the pot like usual. If he’s being honest with himself, he doesn’t know any better, either, but he doesn’t want to look too closely into that at the moment. Instead, he opts to flirt. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he murmurs.

“Yeah, that’s why I said it, smartass.” But you let him off the hook, now preoccupied with reaching over to re-tie his apron.

“Ooh, ramen!” Jungwon’s face lights up as he walks into the kitchen, led by his nose. He looks like he just woke up, rubbing at his eyes with the ends of his sweatshirt sleeves. You have to stop yourself from cooing at him.

“What are you doing up so late?” Jay scolds him gently.

“Oh, hey, Dad. Hey, Mom. I just woke up; I had a weird dream.” Jungwon nods at you both and takes a seat at the kitchen island.

You gape at him. “What?”

Jungwon blinks a couple of times, looking more alert by the second. “Oops. Did I say that out loud? Sorry, Niki’s been rubbing off on me.”

“Niki calls us Mom and Dad?” You’re not sure if that’s sweet or weird.

“As a joke! In a jocular manner. Jovially.” Jungwon throws up a peace sign, as if that helps.

“I’m glad to see the English degree is paying off,” Jay remarks dryly. He looks like he took the Mom-and-Dad thing much more in stride, except for the tips of his ears, which burn red. It’s a dead giveaway that makes you smile fondly, because it’s so him.

“Will you make some more ramen?” Jungwon bats his eyelashes at the two of you.

“See, it works much better when Jungwon does it,” you tease Jay.

“Can’t argue with you there, honestly.” Jay puts another pot of water on the stove to boil. “You should have more than just sodium and carbs, though,” he tells Jungwon.

You nod, hopping off of the counter to rummage through the fridge. “Yeah, you don’t eat enough vegetables. Maybe that’s why you’re having weird dreams. Aha!” You emerge triumphantly with a salad kit.

Jungwon laughs. “And you wonder why Niki calls you Mom and Dad.”

Jay scoffs. “That’s just because he hasn’t met Chan.”

“Fair enough. What are you guys doing here so late, anyways?”

You pause in assembling the salad to point a salad tong at Jay. “This guy just follows me everywhere.”

“We’re in my frat house,” Jay retorts. 

“I could be here for someone else,” you argue. 

Jay’s gaze pins you down, warm and earnest. “You’re not, though.”

You smile at him. “No, I’m not.”

Jungwon coughs. “Get a room.”

You reach over to ruffle his hair. “You’re standing in it.”

The three of you eat your ramen and salad in silence for a bit, all falling victim to varying degrees of sleepiness. Without noticing it, you’re scooched up next to Jay, shoulders and knees and ankles pressed together in one long line of comfortable intimacy.

Jay thinks about Jungwon’s question as he slurps at the noodles. What are you guys doing here so late? The answer almost eludes him. These days, he finds himself drawn to you like a magnet, pulled in by forces far stronger than himself. 

He remembers that the two of you had been doing work in his room after the main library had closed, and you had fallen asleep on his bed at some point, a sketchbook dangling from your fingers. He had spent a ridiculous amount of time admiring your sleeping form, indulging in his favorite pastime of counting your eyelashes and resisting the urge to lay beside you. Eventually, your stomach had woken you up, and he insisted on making you some food, even if it wasn’t as nice as he would have liked to do for you. Now, looking at you chatting and joking with Jungwon, Jay feels his heart expanding into his lungs. You fit into his life so perfectly, and he’d like to think that he fits into yours, too. It’s almost too good to be true— could this be what his parents started with? 

When you’re done eating, Jungwon waves the two of you away, insisting that he should do the dishes since you cooked. You’re not about to argue with that, so you pat him on the shoulder before following Jay back up to his room. 

“He’s a good kid,” you tell Jay as you hop on his bed again, grabbing your sketchbook to pick up where you left off.

“He is.” Jay tuts at you. “And you should go to sleep.”

“I will, I will, just let me finish this sketch, okay? Besides, I don’t see you turning your laptop off, either.” You jut your chin out stubbornly.

Jay glances at the Wikipedia rabbit hole he’d been going down before your stomach had growled loudly an hour ago. He’s done with his work for the day, and he had just been keeping you company for the last two hours. “I have super important, time-sensitive work to finish,” he lies solemnly.

“Jay, I can see that you have the Wikipedia page for sinkholes open.”

He slams his laptop shut. “Actually, I’m done,” he declares, flopping down on the bed beside you. He turns his cheek from where he’s level with your stomach to look up at your hands moving across the page. “What are you working on in there?”

You make a displeased face. “People. I have to do one more human portrait for my portfolio, and it’s driving me nuts. Here, this one is of you.”

Jay lifts his head, astonished to see himself reflected back on the page. In smooth, sure strokes, you’ve captured him in tender detail: strong jaw, sharp eyes, and mouth twisted in concentration, probably from earlier when he’d actually been doing work. Jay’s jaw works as he struggles to figure out what to say. He’s unbelievably touched that you would draw him. “Can I keep this?” he asks finally.

“It’s not even done yet. And it’s not that good,” you warn him.

“It is to me. C’mon, please?”

“Maybe when I finish…” You trail off, swayed by the senseless patterns he’s tracing on top of your knee. “Which I won’t, if you keep distracting me.”

He smirks and stills his hand, looking like he’s about to tease you before he interrupts himself with a yawn. “Alright, goodnight, Cinderella.”

“'Night, 007.”

When he wakes up the next morning, he finds the lingering scent of your shampoo and a complete sketch of himself, now decked out in a tux worthy of James Bond. It makes him laugh out loud, and he knows he’s in trouble when he slides out a picture of him with his cousins from a picture frame to put your sketch in the frame, instead.

Before you know it, the day of the Parks’ wedding anniversary celebration has arrived. You’re on a four-way FaceTime call, with Chaewon lounging on your bed as you try on various dresses.

Kazuha is more invested in asking you about your relationship than helping you decide what to wear. “I’m just saying, I think it’s interesting that you and Jay have been, like, glued together for well over a month.”

“We’re getting to know each other better, so we don’t mess up in front of his parents,” you explain for the millionth time.

Kazuha wiggles her eyebrows at you. “Suuuure. Why didn’t you just send him one of those scarily detailed questionnaires like you did with all the other guys you fake-dated?”

Chaewon motions for you to spin in the billowy dress you’re currently in. “Too beachy,” she decides. “But ditto to what Kazuha said.”

“It’s because she like-likes him,” Sakura sing-songs.

You stick your tongue out at her. “Grow up, will you?” 

“Forget about that— have you guys hooked up yet?” Yunjin demands.

“Yet? No, Yunjin, what the fuck,” you complain.

“Gross,” a familiar voice groans from Yunjin’s corner of the FaceTime. You, Kazuha, Sakura, and Chaewon all zero in on her square.

“Jake?” You exclaim.

Yunjin giggles and moves the camera to show Jake sitting at his desk in his room, wearing his nerdy glasses and hunched over a textbook.

“Did you guys just hook up?” Kazuha blurts out. 

“Gross,” you repeat.

Yunjin rolls her eyes. “Grow up, will you? And no, I’m just here because it was too loud at the house.”

The rest of you fall silent on the call, especially you and Chaewon, demonstrating how decidedly not loud it is in the sorority house.

Yunjin blushes and clears her throat. “Whatever. Hey, you should totally wear that sparkly navy velvet number! The one that cinches at your waist.”

You rummage around in your closet and pull out the dress in question to try it on. “This one?”

Sakura whistles. “Oh, for sure. Good eye, Jen.”

Yunjin blows her a kiss. “Of course, of course.” She points at you. “That’s the one, babe. You have, like, the sluttiest waist ever, second only to Sunghoon; you have to wear that.”

Sounds of agreement abound, except from Jake, who whines, “You guys don’t think I have a slutty waist?”

“You’re a whore in other ways, don’t worry,” you reassure him dryly. You do another spin for Chaewon. “This isn’t too much, though?”

Jake suddenly pops into view of the camera. “It’s a formal event, and Jay is going to lose his mind no matter what you wear, trust me.”

“That’s not the point,” you insist.

The girls respond in unison, “Yes, it is!” 

And you have to admit, the way Jay’s mouth stays open as he gives you the once-over a few hours later is gratifying, to say the least. For good measure, he does it again, letting his eyes linger at the dip between your collarbones and the curve of your mouth.

Molten heat spreads through you in response to his wandering eyes, ratcheting up in intensity when he smirks at you, purposeful and knowing.

You elect to check him out, too, knowing that you’re not the only person who can get flustered here. He cuts an unbelievable figure against the setting sun, leaning against his sleek black car, hands in his pockets and legs crossed at the ankles. The tuxedo he wears fits criminally well, emphasizing his broad shoulders and long legs, and you can’t stop yourself from wondering what he’d look like taking his tie off. On second thought, this may have backfired; you only find yourself feeling warmer the longer you stare at him.

Thankfully, he starts moving, coming up to the porch to hand you a bouquet of baby’s breath.

“Oh, good idea— should I hand these to your mom or your dad?” You ask, taking the flowers from him.

He laughs, surprised. You are too cute for his own good. “The flowers are for you, Cinderella. My parents and I are allergic to pollen, actually.”

“Oh.” You hold the flowers closer to your chest, giddiness touching you from head to toe. He got you flowers, even though he’s allergic. “Thank you, Jay.”

He hums and reaches out to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear. “Happy to do it. I saw the flowers in your room dying the other day. Go put them inside; I’ll wait out here. I can feel Chaewon’s stare drilling into the top of my head, anyways.” He looks up and waves at Chaewon, who’s hanging out of your window shamelessly.

She shouts, “Have her home by midnight, or she’ll turn into a pumpkin!”

“I don’t think that’s how it goes, but okay!” He throws her a thumbs-up.

Inside the house, you’re seized with the urge to splash some water on your face, just to calm yourself down, but that would ruin your makeup. Instead, you place the flowers in a vase of water and trust that Chaewon will bring them up to your room for you, after she’s done heckling Jay.

“Leave my guy alone,” you yell in her direction, pulling at his arm to get him down the stairs and to his car. 

“Your guy, huh?” Jay looks at you with uncontrollable fondness.

“Just for the night,” you say, but you don’t miss the way his smile widens at the way you don’t deny it.

Ever the gentleman, Jay opens the passenger door for you, helping you gather the ends of your dress and tucking them in under your legs. He remains crouched for a moment, looking like he’s debating with himself about something, and then he goes for it, leaning over and buckling you in.

When you raise an eyebrow at him, all he says is, “Precious cargo,” and then he’s shutting the door, leaving you flushing once more.

The car ride to his parent’s place is easy and comfortable, even with the charged atmosphere that lingers between the two of you. Conversation always flows like water with Jay; you’re debating the finer points of how to determine provenance for historical artifacts when you arrive. Guests are littered across the front lawn, conversing with each other but centered around his parents.

Suddenly, you’re nervous. “Do you think they’ll like me?” You ask Jay.

He looks at you like you’ve grown another head. “Are you serious? Of course they will. You’re you.”

You swat at his shoulder even as you smile widely. “Your unconditional faith in me notwithstanding, I’m serious, Jay. I want to be able to live up to this fairytale romance thing.”

He takes your hand in his, pressing a kiss to your knuckles. “Believe me, you’re a dream come true. Let’s go, Cinderella.”

You gulp and curse your thundering heart, but then you’re five feet away from his parents, and you’re exclaiming at how in love they look, all these years later. Jay’s dad is distinguished in salt-and-pepper hair, and his mom is all smiles when she tells you that you’re too pretty for Jay.

“Mom,” he whines.

“Oh alright, come here, my beautiful boy.” She brings him in for a hug and beams when he kisses her cheek. Your heart melts like ice cream in the summer; he’s a mama’s boy, through and through.

Jay’s dad asks, “So, how did you meet?” 

You open your mouth, prepared with your story. “I’m Jay’s friend’s twin sister, and then we kind of got caught in a scheme to help one of our other friends ask out the girl he liked, and we just got closer after that. Jay’s easy to like.” So far, it’s all true.

Jay doesn’t look like he’s faking anything when he continues, though. “She’s easy to love.”

“Way to one-up me,” you joke, but you feel like you’re floating, cradled by the buoyancy of the affection in his eyes.

“Seriously, she’s so smart it makes my head spin, and her heart shines brighter than the sun. She makes me laugh and work harder to keep up, and I’m lucky to just stand by her side. Being with her is the most natural thing in the world, like breathing, or my heart beating.” Jay doesn’t take his eyes off of you the whole time he’s speaking; he wants to commit every change in your expression to memory, from surprise to fondness to something deeper.

Jay’s dad hums approvingly. “Good work, son. You sound like I did when I met your mom.” He brings his wife in to kiss her temple.

“Enjoy the party, lovebirds,” she coos at you, and then they’re gone, off to greet other arrivals.

You’re frozen in place, with one hand still clutching at Jay’s like a lifeline. “We didn’t practice that,” you mumble.

He shakes his head and rubs his thumb over your cheek with his other hand. “No, we didn’t. Are you mad?”

“Mad? I think I’m jealous of your future girlfriend,” you say, forcing a laugh. It sounds wooden even to your ears.

He frowns. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Act as if you don’t know how much I like you.” 

The world stops turning on its axis. “What?”

His gaze slips down to your mouth, tracing your cupid’s bow. “You heard me.” He turns hopeful eyes on you. “Do you… feel the same?”

Just like that, the world resumes its motion, and you can’t let him go a second longer without knowing how much he is loved. “Desperately.” 

He breathes a sigh of relief, and you think he’s going to kiss you— you need him to kiss you— but he hugs you close instead, lips hovering against your ear. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear that,” he murmurs.

“If it’s anything close to how happy I am, I probably have a good idea,” you laugh. You’re surprised at how quickly the burning urge to have his mouth on yours has tempered into something more grounded and permanent. 

“I have to go do something for my parents, but I think I’ll die if I have to leave you. Will you come watch?” 

You’d go anywhere with him. “Of course.”

He squeezes your hand. “Thanks, doll.” Against your will, your hand spasms in his. He giggles, delighted. “Duly noted.”

“Shut up,” you complain, but you follow him all the way to the tented dance floor set up on the grounds behind the house, only letting go after he kisses each of your fingertips in turn.

You’re surprised to see him pull out an eight-string guitar, and even more surprised when he explains to the gathered crowd that he’ll be playing the song from his parents’ first dance. They look perfect, swaying in the center of the floor, but you only have eyes for Jay.

You watch as his fingers pluck deftly at the strings, a romantic Spanish melody that barely reaches your ears over the rush of all your adoration for him. As soon as the song is over, he catches you in his arms, lifting you up and spinning you around twice before setting you back down, hands at home around your waist.

He asks if you want to dance. You teeter back on your heels, looking at the graceful curve of his mouth and thinking back to the nimbleness of his fingers. “Honestly? I want to kiss you. Really badly.”

He exhales and holds you tighter. “You won’t let me take you out first?”

“If you count the last few weeks, you’ve taken me out, like, a million times.”

“But a real date, doll. I want to cook for you, and we can get tea lights, and a picnic blanket, and— god.” Jay sucks in a sharp breath when you move his hands higher to cup underneath your chest. “You’re going to be the death of me,” he sighs, pressing his forehead to yours.

“I hope so. Stop being so nice, and take me to your room, please?”

Jay’s eyes flick heavenward. There’s only so much self-restraint left in him. “You win.”

And when he finally kisses you, pressed up against the door of his childhood bedroom, you nearly cry from how tender it is. He kisses you slowly, reverently, like you’re one of the saints from his history books.

“Sometimes, I think I’ve dreamt you up,” you confess to him. The words hang precious and delicate in the space between your lips.

“Let me show you I’m real then, yeah?” He presses a kiss to the corner of your mouth, then licks right into you, eliciting a gasp from the back of your throat. Your fingers find purchase in the soft hair at the back of his head, and you realize that you’ve been breathing the wrong air your whole life; the groan that passes from his mouth to yours is the only thing you want in your lungs from now on. 

Liquid desire pools in your stomach, rising until you think you might choke on it. “Jay, please.”

“Please, what? Use your words, doll.”

“Touch me.”

That’s all he needs to hear. Quicker than you realize it, but just as urgently as you need it, you find yourself laid out on his bed, and then he’s demonstrating that he knows more than just how to play guitar with those thick fingers.

When you make it out of his room an hour later, you’re still glowing with happiness. Jay knows he looks equally lovestruck, not least because his collar is hiding several lipstick stains from you. 

You offer to help him redo his tie, so he anchors you unnecessarily close to him, hands sweeping up and down your side. “I don’t think I told you yet, but you look really nice tonight,” he murmurs. “You look really nice all the time, actually.”

You bury your face in his chest. “I’m going to explode if you keep sweet-talking me like that.”

He presses his smile to the top of your head. “Nooooo, you’re too pretty to explode.”

“Jay!” But you’re both laughing, bathed in the soft magic of newfound devotion. You couldn’t dream up anything better.

(Dating Jay is a lot like fake-dating Jay, as it turns out. In some ways.

In other ways, Jay still manages to take your breath away with new and inventive methods. He really does make you dinner, with tea lights and a picnic blanket, ensconced in the twilight of a park you drive an hour away to get to. He even makes foie gras torchon for the occasion, from scratch, and he watches you intently as you moan in delight at the taste. You joke about your breath being fishy when you kiss later, but he just shrugs, unbothered and already moving so that his head disappears underneath your dress, making you moan in a different way.

So, yes— there’s a lot more kissing, and sex, and intimacy that makes you want to curl up in a ball and hiss at how vulnerable it makes you. But Jay is always welcome in the prickly patches of your soul, and he wants those parts of you as much as he wants the parts of you that paint him in aching affection.

When he finally tells you he loves you that winter— in so many words, because it shows in his every action otherwise—, it’s three in the morning again, and your hands are fluttering across his brow, smoothing out the creases from a night of worrying about whether he’s really good enough to take over the family business. Your fingers, lovely and dear to him, stitch together the cracks in his self-resolve, and he can’t help but let the words out. His heart absolutely sings when you repeat the words back to him.

Some time later, you ask him to sit for a portrait for you. He doesn’t think too much of it, especially as the seasons bleed into one another and spring brings an influx of senior events, pollen, and the impending question of the future. He’s at your senior thesis, asking you detailed questions during the audience Q&A and wrapping you up in the biggest hug when it’s over, and you sit in on the final class he TAs, applauding when he’s done.

At the showcase of your final portfolio, his jaw drops when you reveal the second portrait (after having laughed his ass off at Jake blubbering over the first one and Yunjin kissing him in public to shut him up). 

The second portrait is of him, and his parents. From his dad’s strong brows, to his mom’s smile lines, to his own hands; every detail is captured, shimmering in loving light. 

He finds that his eyes are wet when you come up to him and brush your thumb against his  eyelashes, smiling brightly at him. “Do you like it?”

“I love it. I love you, so much, like crazy, you don’t even know,” he rambles, laughing through his tears now.

You kiss him quickly but firmly, just a reminder that your mouth was made to fit against his. “Love you more, London boy. Speaking of…” You lean back to stare at him through your eyelashes. “I got the Rhodes,” you whisper.

His eyes widen like saucers. “You’re coming with me?”

“More like you’re coming with me,” you say, knowing that Jay had requested to be placed at his family business’s England location to be close to you in the event that you got the scholarship.

“Obviously,” he relents without missing a beat. “I’m going to follow you everywhere. Can’t get rid of me now.” He dips his head to kiss you longer. Lightning still shoots through his fingertips, just like the first time, and every time after that.

At graduation, you tell him, “You know, I think I’ve decided what I want your favor to be.”

He smiles at you, familiar and true. “Yeah? What’s that?”

“Just love me, for a long, long time.”

“Easy, Cinderella.”)

[taurussuitjake]

safety net

hi guys, this is my first fic! i haven’t written fic in soooooo long so please bear with me here lol, here’s a cute little friends-to-lovers with Danny that will have a part 2 with a little more steam to follow! ENJOY 🌝 2.6k words (i think)

warnings: depression, lack of self care, platonic intimacy, fluffy as FUCK, best friend! Danny.

it’s been 6 days since you left your bedroom.

october brings about an emptiness that swallows you whole. you can’t seem to put your finger on why, exactly… but nonetheless, that’s about the time your seasonal depression sets in.

while your brain will tell you that everyone around you is burdened by the rain cloud that hangs over you these days, they definitely put up a hell of a fight. Jake and Josh have both texted you every morning and every night to see how you’re feeling and ask if you need help with anything. Sam calls you at least once a day just to try and make you laugh (and it usually works, even if it’s just a little bit.)

but Danny is texting you consistently throughout the days that pass, calling you around the same time everyday, bringing you food, staying over on the weekends just so you don’t have too much alone time. Danny is your very best friend, and he literally will not let you forget it, now more than ever.

your house is still. it’s quiet. you can only imagine that if the void had a sound… it sounds like this. it’s 6PM in the middle of october, so not only is it still, but it’s cold and dark. your ear picks up the sound of a key in your deadbolt, the turning of the lock and the click of your front door. there’s only two people who have a key to your house… and your mom always calls before she comes over.

Danny. thank God, it’s Danny.

while you were still in your silence and comfortable in your solitude, you’d be lying if you said that Danny’s presence didn’t make you feel better. even though the sun has set, it’s like you have all the sunshine you need in your doorway at this very moment.

he doesn’t call for you, he just slips off his shoes and pads his way to your bedroom door, which is left slightly ajar to keep air flow circulating throughout the house. the slit of dim light from the hallway gets wider as he lightly pushes your door open.

“how is Y/N today?” he asks, walking around to your side of the bed and taking a seat beside you. you turn to face him with tears brimming your eyelids, threatening to loosen the floodgates, but he notices immediately.

“hey-hey, sit up. c’mere.” he demanded ever so gently. you oblige, wiping your tears away with the sleeve of your shirt.

“what’s got you upset?” he whispers as he pushes the stray hair out of your face with his calloused hands, “what can i do?” he asks.

you hesitate to speak for a moment, embarrassed of what you’re about to admit.

“Danny, i haven’t showered in 6 days. i feel so gross but i don’t wanna leave my bed. i feel so exhausted.” you choke out, tears streaming at this point. “i almost don’t want you this close to me because it’s probably very obvious.” you admit.

“Y/N,” he pauses, a merciful smile splayed across his face. it brings you a small sense of comfort. “it doesn’t matter whether it’s obvious or not, it’s hard to take care of yourself when you don’t have the energy to do so. i understand how it feels. don’t be embarrassed or anything.” he reassures you.

it lifts a small weight off your shoulders, visibly. his eyes gleam a little at the sight of you sitting up a little straighter. it makes you crack a smile for the first time since Sam called you this morning.

you both sit there, letting the silence fill the room. the only audible thing you have to hold onto is the sound of Danny’s steady breathing. by this time, he’s grabbed both of your hands into his and starts rubbing the back of your hands with the pad of his thumb. it’s like he just knows. he knows how to make it all better. the silence brings about an idea- a strange one- but an idea nonetheless.

“this is a strange request, but it’s something you could do.” you speak lowly into the space around the both of you.

“whatever you need, Y/N.” he assures you.

you pause, looking up and your ceiling, debating on whether or not you should speak the thought into existence. “would you mind sitting in the bathroom with me while i shower?” you say, finally.

it takes him a moment to grasp what exactly you’re asking of him, so you feel the need to damage control and elaborate on what exactly you want him to do.

“i don’t mean anything risqué, i just think it might help me if you sit on the counter or something while i shower. kind of like body doubling.” you pause for a moment. “it holds me accountable to complete the task.”

he analyzes your face for a moment, he can tell that you’re starting to get a little nervous, as he hasn’t actually answered your question.

“yeah- yeah, i think i can do that.” he nods his head subtly, a small smile breaks across his face. you’re not sure if it’s because he’s happy that you’re wanting to get out of bed and do something for the first time in almost a week, or if he’s happy that you asked him a favor of that nature.

he gets up from the bed and warns you as he reaches up to pull the ceiling fan chain to turn the light on. you grab your respective necessities: a fresh pair of underwear, set of pj’s, a towel and an old t-shirt to dry your body and hair with. meanwhile, Danny waltzes to your bathroom to start running your shower, making sure it’s comfortably warm for you when you eventually get into it.

you make your way into the bathroom, and he steps out for a moment, grabbing the door handle before closing it, “just to give you some privacy. just call for me when you want me to come back in, okay?” he requests. you nod as he closes the door quietly.

you remove your clothes and throw them in your hamper, almost relieved at the feeling of the fabric no longer touching your skin. you avoid looking at yourself in the mirror, in fear that it’ll talk you out of doing anything in favor of showing yourself some love. you push back the shower curtain just enough to shimmy behind it and finally let the warm water rush over you. you take a deep breath in to fill your lungs with the hot steam. you exhale. so far, so good.

“you can come in now.” you call for Danny. you hear the handle turn and the door click open and close. he shuffles across the bathroom floor and sits atop the closed toilet seat.

“how ya feelin’?” he asks as soon as he sits down.

you snicker tiredly, “first impressions? i’m just glad i can feel something other than my clothes.”

he chuckles, it almost resembles a sigh of relief. you’re trying. and he’s so happy to see you trying.

you make small conversation as you conduct your normal shower routine. he tells you about his week this far and it almost makes you wanna join the real world again. you took a temporary leave of absence from work for two weeks to try and get yourself together after about three days of being on autopilot while slowly sinking into whatever hole you’ve been in for the past week.

“Danny?” you say meekly.

“yeah?” he answered you almost immediately. it made your heart jump a little.

“thank you for being here.” you reply.

he doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, then you hear his lowly tone say “i just want you to be okay, i’ll be here however and whenever you need me.” as the words passed through his lips, the love that dripped from his voice evaporated into the shower steam you slowly breathed in. for the first time in a while, you felt something other than nothing.

“i think i’m ready to get out now, will you hand me my towel, please?” you changed the subject before you started overthinking the moment. you see the towel peel through the slit of the shower curtain and take it from Danny’s hand. you wrap yourself up in your towel, tucking one of the corners back into the towel to hold it in place at your chest. you began to feel exhaustion creep up on you again, and your hair was still sopping wet.

“do you need me to step out for a minute?”

for a reason you’re going to assume was simply feeling too drained, you begin to cry again. you sniffled and he must’ve heard you and known what was happening behind the shower curtain.

“Y/N, what’s wrong? what happened?” he sounded a little panicked, you felt guilty for making him worry.

“i feel like i sound so stupid for this.” you say, nearly sobbing.

“for what?” he asks, concerned. like he was on the edge of his seat.

“i need to dry my hair but i still feel too drained to do the work. i feel so fucking useless! i’m so tired of feeling so useless!” what started as a gentle cry, ended as a temper tantrum.

“Y/N, you’re not useless.” he assured you calmly. “are you covered?” he asked.

“yeah, why?” you asked, not prepared for him to draw back the shower curtain slowly.

“c’mere. let me dry your hair.” he already had the t-shirt in his hands and a soft smile on his face. he grabs both of your hands, “watch your step.” he offers as he looks down to make sure you had the right footing to step out of the tub and onto the bath mat. you both look back up at each other simultaneously, and his hands reach up to your face to push all of the stray strands stuck to your face from the water. he offers a warm smile.

“there you are.” he says, relief woven in his phrase.

in that moment, you could diagnose a present emotion. you could diagnose happiness for the first time in (what felt like) forever. you held back tears, for it was no longer time to cry.

he gently places his hands atop your shoulders and motions you to turn around.

“i’m gonna dry your hair a little, okay?” he says. you nod your head and tip it back just a little so that he can get the under layer of your hair.

his hands tousle through your now damp strands, working diligently to get as much moisture out of your hair as possible. you feel his body heat vanish for a moment and you slump your shoulders at the loss of him being close to you. he returns not half a second later and he begins brushing the ends of your hair gently.

“you don’t have t-“ he cut you off.

“respectfully, if i don’t do it… i’m not sure you will.” he chuckled a little. he was right, you couldn’t even deny it. you chuckled along with him for a brief moment, as the bristles crept up closer and closer to your scalp. when he was done brushing through the tangled, he even parted your hair for you, just as you part it all the time and tamed both sides afterwards.

you turn to face him, unsure of what to do or say. a ‘thank you’ would suffice, but your body moved faster than your brain did, and you pulled him into a hug. he wrapped around you so graciously. he physically made you feel whole. like he glued all of your pieces back together. he planted a gentle kiss on the top of your head and squeezed you just a little tighter before he let go and pulled away just enough to take in your features. he scanned your face for any sign of discomfort, and to his delight, there was none.

“i’m gonna let you change into your clothes and then i’ll come back in if you need me to.” he nodded while slowly peeling himself away from you. he didn’t want to let go, but he didn’t want you to lose your winning streak. you nodded back in agreement and turned toward the counter and quickly dressed yourself after you heard the door close. after your clothes were on, you took the opportunity to brush your teeth. you were pretty good about doing that at least once a day since you fell into your bout, but maybe this would set you back on your normal nightly routine.

after you were done, you opened the door to see Danny stopping mid-pace in front of the door and offering a wide smile. “how do you feel?”

you smile at the sight of him. also, in the name of hopefulness.

“i feel better. very much so.” you exhale slowly, still gleaming a little.

“i’m so glad, you look so… yourself.” he said.

you take in your surroundings for a moment, trying so hard to chain yourself to this present moment. you can feel the way he’s watching you attentively. you got confirmation of that as soon as your eyes landed back on him, because he was already looking at you.

“i love you.” you said, just above a whisper. and not the ‘i love you’ that you give him when you guys part ways or hang up the phone. this felt different as it left your lips.

and he knew exactly what you meant. it’s almost like he was waiting for you to admit it. out of all the close friends you could’ve asked… you asked him. he’s the first person you run to with anything; exciting news, a bad mood, sadness… Danny was your safety net. your truest love. your very best friend. and he knew. and he waited for as long as he had to. for this moment.

he smiles gently, stepping closer to you with caution; he’s reading your expressions like a book. he sees no sign of discomfort, as he inches closer to you to close the gap in between you two, almost completely. he lifts his hand to push the hair in your face back behind your ear once more, traces his fingertips along your jawbone and rests his index finger and thumb on the tip of your chin. he flicks his eyes up and down, from your eyes and back down to your lips. you allow fate to take hold of this moment and stand motionless, your breathing hitching slightly as he inches closer to your face. his eyes flutter closed, yours following close behind. you feel the peaks of his pillow-soft lips ghost over yours. within seconds, his lips are fully attached to yours. if this was the kiss of life, you were revived with great success. you felt the heat in your cheeks radiate and your heart thrum in your chest. it was beautiful; it was missed so dearly.

he pulled away slowly. his eyes fluttered open, bliss warping his vision only for a moment. the caution that lingered previously had returned; he read you for any signs of discomfort before he spoke.

“i love you too. so much. you’ll never understand how much.” he gushed, smiling blissfully.

“i’m so glad you’re here.” you returned the smile.

“right back at you.” he said, pulling you into his chest. you were lost in his heartbeat and the rise and fall motions of his chest.

[sunny-117]

Hi! I have a request if you don’t mind, could you write Lee Niki and ler Jake from enhypen since they’re always fighting in the videos lol

Hey :]

I hope you and the others like this fanfic 🫶🏻

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seeking accomplished

~•~•~

Lee: Niki , Ler: Jake

~°~°~ ~°~°~

The maknae was in a very clingy mood today. He has these days were he just wants to cuddle one of his hyungs. And today was one of these days. He just want some attention.

Today was a very warm day. So the boys were out in the garden of their dorm. Exept Heesung and Sunghoon. They were inside because they made the food. It was the evening already so they decided to eat outside because it was so warm. Jay and Jungwon were playing badminton, Sunoo was reading a book and than Niki found Jake. He was laying under a tree and had the eyes closed. It The perfect time to cuddle his hyung Jake.

Niki went to Jake and found on his way a joga mat. Maby Jay left it there. Niki took the joga mat and sat beside Jake as he finally came to him. Jake sensed that someone was beside him and opend his eyes. “Hey Niki.” Said Jake and gave Niki a cute puppy smile. The younger one smiled back, laid beside him and cuddled into jake’s side. Jake was surprised but didn't push him away. He enjoyed the company from Niki.

They stayed like this for 5 minutes silently until Jake broke the silence.“Why are you so cute if you are clingy?” did Jake asked and Niki blushed and poked Jake in the side as a sign that he didn't want teases right now. Jake flinched and chuckled, but didn't teased him again. They stayed again like this for a few more minutes until Niki broke the silence this time. “Hyung? I brought this joga mat and maby we could massage each other?” asked Niki and Jake agreed as he looked into Nikis eyes full of excitement. How could he say no to such a cutie?

Niki was the first one. He laid on the joga mat and Jake brought his hands up to Nikis shoulders. Jake kneaded Nikis shoulders gently that he didn't hurt the maknae but also a bit firm that it would be relaxing. And it was relaxing. Niki closed his eyes and sighed. Jake did a good job until he got close to nikis sides. Niki flinched suddenly, but could hold his giggle in.

“Is everything ok down there?” asked a giggling Jake and Niki just nodded. Jake couldn't know that Niki is ticklish. It would be a disaster if Jake tells it to the others. Niki would be the tickle target and would get wrecked everytime they had enough of the sassy maknae. And Niki didn't was only a little ticklish. He’s not THAT ticklish like Jake but still really sensitive. Especially on his sides were Jake was kneading near by again. “Pls don’t flinch, pls don’t flinch, pls don’t fli-” thought Niki but he was caught of guard by a sudden squeeze on his side.

Niki Squealed and turned on his back. “What was that for?” Asked Niki and was slightly nervous.Jake smirked down to the maknae and said: “I wanted to know if you are perhaps… ticklish?” Niki blushed at the T-word and turned his head that he didn't looked at his hyungs face. He found it out. That was it. He couldn't hide it anymore. Jake’s smirk grew wider as he saw the younger one blushing and squeezed Nikis sides up and down without a warning. That caught Niki again off guard and he literally jumped as he let out a loud squeal. “JAHAHAKE! DOHOHO- *Squeak*” his laughter went silent after the Squeak as Jake wiggled his hands in the hollows of Nikis armpits.

Jake was not the type of a teaser. Only sometimes if he’s in the mood. But most of the times he's just giggling with his lee and try to find as many tickle spots as he can. And to his surprise it looked like Jake found one major tickle spot because Nikis face was red because of the laughter. Jake stopped but sat now on Nikis hips that he doesn't get away. “Jahahke. Please hahave meheher-CY JAHAHAKE!” Nikis pleads for mercy were interrupted by an louder squeal than before because Jake went with his hands under Nikis t-shirt and scribbled his hands on Nikis bare belly.

“Who is the best hyung Niki?” Asked Jake over the hysterical laughter of Niki and slowed his tickles down, but still scribbled his hands on the belly. “Ihihihits Juhuhungwohon.” giggled Niki and Shrieked again as Jake’s hands were moving towards his ribs and scribbled there up and down what made Niki snort.“Awww. Did I awake the little piggy in you?” Asked Jake in a baby voice and poked Nikis waist. Niki jumped with every poke a bit and blushed again. “Yohour mehehean.” Pouted Niki. The older one just smiled and was bored. So Jake turned around on Nikis hips and was facing Nikis thighs.

Oh no! Nikis thighs were his most ticklish body part. Even more ticklish than his armpits.“I give you one last chance little one. Who’s the best hyung?” asked Jake again.“Doho yohour wohorst.” Said Niki and couldn't stop the giggles flowing out of his mouth, even if he wanted to sound sassy. Jake did it and squeezed Nikis thighs. Again without a warning. Nikis laugh went directly silent. “JUHUHUNGWOHON. HEHELP!” Screamed Niki and tears were forming in his eyes from laughing so hard.

Jungwon heard the scream and run directly to them. Jake realized that jungwon was coming and went of off Niki. The younger one was breathing heavily and was glad that his savior came. “Whats wrong Niki?” asked Jungwon with a concerned face.“Jahahake tohortured mehehe.” Giggled the maknae and jungwon smiled. “Well. I saved you. Come on you two. The food is ready.” Said jungwon and went back. “You owe me a massage.” Pouted Niki. “I can give you a real massage after the dinner. But I can’t promise that I won’t tickle you. Your laugh is to cute.” Said Jake and poked Niki in the side. Niki flinched and did the same to Jake.

Both of them giggled and went to the others…

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

I hoped you liked it✨️💗

Its one of my favorites now hehe🙈

Little reminder: English is not my first language and my DMs are always open for requests🫶🏻🫶🏻

[gretavanlace]

Their love is beautiful, I love how you’re writing them as soulmates. This series has the power to break me lol pls have mercy.

Hey, I just need ya’ll here in the break down jake lane…come hang out with me! I’ve got snacks and drinks and games…it’s gonna be fun!!

[bluemoonperegrine]

Wolf Be Upon Yeet: Part I

@vicarious-rebel and I have been chatting about her headcanon of the Moon Knight and Werewolf By Night characters hanging out in Bloodstone Manor Addams-Family-style. My favorite part of her headcanon is the monster OC she dreamed up: a sentient version of the Bloodstone. She introduced monster!Bloodstone in the short fic "Of blood and stone". 

I enjoyed. Had questions. Asked them. Vi replied. We started riffing on stuff, and it's hilarious.

We decided that some of you goofballs might enjoy our silliness and are sharing edited versions of it. Well, we might be. Here's the start of it. I'll see how this post goes over to decide if I want to edit more of our back-and-forth into something intelligible for everyone.

So, the least you need to know:

Elsa, Jack, and Billy Swan live at the manor full-time.

Elsa and Jack are good friends.

Jack is over 200 years old. He doesn't have control of his wolf form. Werewolf him looks just like he did in the special.

Ted, Marc/Steven/Jake, and Layla visit the manor a lot.

Some or all of them go on missions together.

Vi's text is black. bluemoonperegrine's text is blue. (I mean, of course.)

aight so you asked how the Bloodstone would react to Khonshu and I think that depends on whether it considers divine and monstrous to be the same or similar enough conceptually

it considers Jack a monster even though he really only transforms during a full moon so "human for the most part" doesn't cut it

still I don't think we have any info on how it reacts to divine beings (and I'm not really a comic nerd but there's nothing there either as far as I know)

so if the only distinction it makes is human vs non-human, then it would probably react to Khonshu the same way it did to Jack

but it wouldn't be successful in actually landing a hit

yeah, I'm with you on how the Bloodstone would perceive Khonshu: monster. It's pretty binary: there are monster and not monsters. Unnatural and natural.

Ironically, monster!Bloodstone is inherently unnatural. Hence the identity issues you mentioned the other day.

It would be funny if it looked in a mirror and realized "Oh shit. I'm a monster!"

How intelligent is Stony? (monster!Bloodstone needs a shorter name, lol) Like a mammalian alpha predator? Smarter than that?

Stony <3 I love it, it's like a pet name

I'm not entirely sure, to be fair with you. It's definitely smart enough to recognize faces and tell edible from inedible things (maybe even tell reflection from actual thing apart) but that's all "in development", I guess.

He's literally a pet rock. With... viscera and stuff

speaking of Jack, I was actually kinda worried his reaction was ooc

hmm. lemme reread it keeping in mind that he's an old man

bc Jack is a monster and he's certainly seen some freakier ones but on the other hand how often do you see the ultimate weapon against monsters become a monster and then go for your neck?

pff Jack is an old man, please have mercy on his heart

he looks fantastic for 257

i'd say it's a 50/50 chance that he'd run for his life or freeze. Of the four responses to a threat (fight, flight, freeze, fawn), fleeing or freezing make the most sense.

I think he'd have run if Marc weren't there.

yeah, I think so, too. It seems to be his go-to reaction to threats

but maybe his instinct went "wait, someone close to you is here, you can't leave them"

or maybe he freezes depending on the situation (if you can count his reaction to Elsa in the maze as freezing)

I think his brain went offline for about a minute when Stony showed himself

Jack.exe has stopped working, please restart

Once some of the adrenaline had waned Jack would probably think "I can't abandon my friends even though this thing could end me in a fraction of a second"

LOL jack.exe

* opens task manager, kills thread *

from what I understand the Bloodstone is only supposed to weaken monsters so that kinda holds true for Stony boy here

it was basically trying to paralyze Jack

I know nothing about the Bloodstone other than what was in the special

It's interesting to think about a werewolf's reaction to stuff that can seriously hurt them. It's a very short list.

same here but from some of the easter egg/analysis channels I've watched they sometimes talk abt the Bloodstone in the comics and so far none of them mention anything abt it being able to properly kill a monster

so I think of Stony as being able to send just enough neuroparalytic toxins or electric shockwaves to incapacitate a monster but not necessarily kill them

not that Jack knows that in the moment

or any of them really

I like how your mind works. You're figuring out how Stony ticks. The characters may or may not catch up

I am indeed figuring some of this stuff out as we speak

I'm already imagining Elsa trying to figure out how to take care of Stony. What does he eat? Steel? Cinderblocks? tiny ghosts?

she throws all this random crap in his space and watches what he does

Jack watches from far away with binoculars

lol, Jack and Ted watch the show from afar.

"I don't know what she's thinking, Ted. I mean... look at that thing!"

the serious version of what Stony eats would probably be raw meat/blood/whatever else it needs to maintain the viscera

the funny version would be if Elsa eventually figured out it can run on a chicken diet bc of that

Have you watched Death Note?

long time ago, yeah

"L, did you know gods of death like apples?"

that and "I'll take a potato chip...AND EAT IT."

I like the serious and funny versions of figuring out Stony's dietary needs

Ted, nodding along to Jack's concerns

Stony would make for a very efficient clean-up crew after a hunt

he's the goat of monsters

it gets even funnier when you imagine it wasn't Elsa but one of the mk crew to figure it out

gotta be either Steven or Jake

Marc or Jake casually throw a chicken nugget at it for funsies and whoops, what do you know it likes it

they train it to do tricks

they would!

I just love the image of Marc being completely unphased by the thing after the initial encounter so when the system n Jack are visiting Elsa for whatever reason and Stony pops up we have

Jack: internally screaming in terror

Marc: oh hey bud

Marc keeps chicken nuggies in a ziplock bag in a coat pocket for Stony

the system overall gets along with Stony, Steven especially likes teaching it tricks and playing fetch with it

Jack: Marc, have you been eating a lot of chicken?

M: ...no?

J: You... always smell like chicken now. Cooked chicken, I mean. Fried, to be specific. Just a little.

M: * pulls a ziplock bag with nuggs out of his coat. It says "Stony <3" in Sharpie*

J: ...oh.

lmao Jack being secretly jealous

(Why don't *I* get chickie nuggies?)

"how come this thing gets chicken nuggets from him all the time? what does it have that I don't??"

He'd start hanging around in wolf form in hopes of treats 😂

crackpot theory: Marc has some kind of natural way of getting along with monsters

just Marc, or the system?

just Marc

however the rest of the system also has their way of getting around

Steven would use his big brain

Steven manages to get on most monsters' good side by being his genuine, curious and respectful self while Jake has more of a chill vibe that can disarm even monsters with time

and speaking of wolf Jack, yes he'd absolutely start sticking around the system more often for treats

especially when you consider Marc gives me dog person vibes he'd probably cave at some point

Elsa sighs, rolls her eyes, and points this out to the boys

Ted just wheeze-laughs

oh Ted has the time of his life teasing Jack for it

Elsa, too

I love this so much words can't do it justice

my general idea of the WBN crew is that they are a tight squad and teasing is just a given

"I'm not that dog-like!" *scratches behind ear*

it's good-natured teasing. if anyone crosses a line, the other party backs off and apologizes, if indirectly

Elsa: you're jealous that Stony gets all of Marc's attention, aren't you?

Jack, sweating: I don't know what you're talking about

aight we've touched on Jack being jealous for attention

aside from hanging around the system more in wolf form, he also tries to spend more time with them as a human

preferably outside of Bloodstone manor

first off, he's not jealous of that thing you guys, he's noooooootttt

and secondly, since Stony can be surprisingly quiet for a giant monster he can lurk the house and sneak up on anybody

that essentially means it constantly tries to sneak up on Jack and he can smell when it's near and that freaks him out

also I headcanon that Jack likes bubble tea and routinely tries to get the system to try it but they're obstinate

he lets up on Steven when he says he's vegan but the others aren't so lucky

plenty of puppy eyes

also it just occurred to me that it would be double funny if Layla also started showering Stony with affection and Marc was secretly a little jealous as well

he would never admit it ofc but he also wouldn't have a grudge against it bc hello???? it's Stony

the thing kinda has a soft spot for Marc bc of the treats (and that first encounter bc I think it would appreciate bravery, somehow)

Does Stony like Jack? Why is he sneaking up on him?

I can almost imagine Stony as a scary/annoying kid hanging around Jack looking for attention. Maybe

Bubble tea! 😆

So who exactly is the WBN crew? Elsa, Jack, Ted, Stony 😂, the system, and Layla? Anyone else?

I can only see Elsa and Jack being at the manor full time, or at least a lot. Being 200 yrs old, Jack must have a few places... unless he's largely itinerant. And Ted has to guard the nexus in the Everglades

the WBN crew are Elsa, Jack and Ted while Layla and the system are the MK crew

Stony would initially stalk him bc "monster bad" but he does eventually realise that's not the case for Jack but still does the stalking bc he is in fact A Little Shit

what are the other naughty things Stony does?

Stony usually bumps into things or pokes them bc he's curious about his surroundings

this leads to the endearing cat-like behaviour of "push things off the ledge and see what happens" and what happens is that sometimes things break

Lol Stony. He's like a cat and a dog

exactly

Does Stony have anything like catnip? Stonynip? lol

Stoned Stony

The bad jokes/puns write themselves 😆

maybe bloodroot (sanguinaria). It grows wild out here.

I'm not sure he'd have something like that tbh (plus the bloodroot sounds like it could actually hurt him but who knows, we're talking about an eldritch being spawned from a frekin jewel)

which would be funnier: Jack never getting over Stony and freaking out every time he saw it or getting to a point where he just sees it and goes "not you again"

I think the "why not both" option is for him to be in "freak out every time" mode for, like, weeks, then slowly transition to "oh god, you again"

from "oh god, you again"(terrified) to "oh god, you again"(exasperated)

Maybe the MK system and Elsa have an intervention with still-freaking-out-over-Stony Jack to encourage him to chill. If he doesn't he'll repeatedly have coronaries, heal up, then have more. Ugh. 😂

oh yeah, poor him

constantly on the verge of a heart attack

Swan's reaction to Stony would be fun to play with, too.

lmaooo yeah

I fully picture him agreeing with Jack at first that Stony is freaky but then he sees how it treats Elsa and he's like "actually you know what? this thing's chill, I don't even have to clean up after it"

-------------------------

Congrats to anyone who got this far!

There's a backstory to the title of this post. It'll be revealed in a later one.

Also, for anyone who wants to read more Stony hijinx, see my short fic "Something Awful This Way Comes."

[samedilanight]

Rewatching Romeo + Juliette and craving a lucemond fic like that,                  this is messy sorry if it doesn’t make any sense, I really really want to write it but I don’t have enough knowledge of hotd and tbh with you I understood nothing of what they were saying in the movie so if I write it it might take some time (that plus the fact I have a collection to do lol) btw they wouldn’t be related in this, Aegon and Aemond neither

just imagine Romeo as Aemond being the best lover out there, writing poems and verses to express his love for Lucerys, sick puppy love, being this drama queen about love and life. Aemond not giving a fuck about the people at the party who could see him, kissing the boy that shattered his world and stole his heart in 3 seconds while looking at fish. being immediately drawn to him asking him if he could kiss him Luke being all shy and a little shit about it. Aemond going out of his way just to see him again risking absolutely everything to kiss him again and be with him. Then learning he is a Capulet being torn with the decision he has to make and choosing love. Aemond doing everything he can to marry Luke as soon as possible, convincing the priest and all that shit meanwhile he’s known Lucerys for 1 day. 

Mercutio as Aegon (rocking the sparkly outfit as he fucking should) he is dramatic, he is feminine, he is a bit mad, he his very pretentious, and a tad jealous of seeing Aemond’s attention being stolen and Aemond’s bestie. His death makes Aemond absolutely FERAL with rage and grief seeking vengeance, scaring the hell out of Jake with a madness he has never seen in anyone eyes, then kills Jake without any mercy just rage (while Luke is out there dreaming about his marriage and making out with Aemond again not giving a shit about the family feud)

Luke horny as fuck on their wedding night waiting for him, then proceeds to learn of  his cousin death’s, crying about it and afterwards having the best sex of his life.

Alicent hating Raenyra because of whatever reason , Visery’s not giving a fuck following Alicent

Lucerys being precious Juliet seeing life through Aemond eyes and being completely in love at first glance, being over the moon for him, talking to himself out loud, dreaming about him and what their life together could be. Lucerys in the angel outfit ROCKING the world of Aemond. Not wanting to be with anyone else as soon as he saw him, thinking this is destiny, this was written in the stars, this is fated.

Rhaenys being the nurse, protecting Luke thinking Aemond’s an asshole

Daemon drunk as fuck letting Aemond being at the party because he doesn’t care (that’s so him honestly)

THE POOL SCENE OH MY GOD

Jacerys being Tybalt that LOTHES Aemond (anti lucemond until the end) all being the family feud because it gives him a purpose in life and a kind of power (which was just a childish quarrel over who has the biggest dick let’s be honest)

Aemond crying his soul out at Aegon’s death, losing his purpose when he thinks that Luke is dead, Luke dying twice when he wakes up and finds Aemond dying in front of him then kills himself now that he has no purpose in life without his Aemond.

Oh to be dramatic teenagers in love

[lala3244]

It's the second part of the post "I am not good with title... etc"

Part 1

Thank you @rafa-elle for yout help (merci)

So, it was supposed to be one part but finally I will do three part as it's quite long actually and I couldn't wait to post.

Also, sorry for any mistake, sometimes it's hard to write in english but I enjoy it!

(Some warnings: suggestive but quickly and I think that is it)

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I enter Jessy’s flat and she is next to the window looking at me, beaming. She runs to me and squeals while jumping. “YOU GUYS KISSED! It was so cute!”, I blush and don’t answer. What can I say? She saw everything. She laughs, happy and goes to the bathroom to get ready for the night. I go to my bedroom and put on my pyjamas. Some sweatpants and a T-shirt. She finishes her ablutions and leaves the bathroom’s door open for me. I take my makeup off and brush my teeth. I say good night to Jessy before I lay down on my bed, tired and I am starting to sober up a bit. I can’t believe Alan and I kissed! I don’t know how I really feel about it. Of course, I was giddy when I left him because he was a really good kisser and when I think about this kiss my heart skips a bit but I keep thinking about what he told me, about Jake. He came to the bar to see me and apparently he still has feelings for me. I don’t really know what to think about that but I kinda want to see what will happen with Alan. I guess I still have to talk things through with the hacker but I am not sure how or what to say. My thoughts are disrupted by the vibration of my phone. I look at it and I see it’s Alan. 

Alan: I am home now. Thank you for tonight and your nice surprise 🙂. I am sorry that I had to leave… but before that, it was really enjoyable and I hope we can do it again and maybe more…?

I laugh and I hear Jessy through the wall asking me why I was laughing. I walk to her room and lay down next to her, my phone still in my hand. I show it to her and she snickers. I nudge her on her shoulder for her to stop. “So what are you going to say?”, she enquires.” I don’t know! What do I say to the “and maybe more?”. Knowing myself I will just ignore it.” I think out loud. 

I start typing while Jessy reads my text, she has her head on my shoulder and she encircles my arm with both her arms as if she doesn’t want to let me go anywhere anymore. The message sent, she slides down under her duvet and with a small voice, she asks me to sleep in her bed. I agree I can’t really be bothered to move. I move the duvet to get under and before I even get myself comfortable, Jessy puts her head on my chest, her leg and arm on my body and snuggles up to me. I am a bit surprised but I take my arm out and she snuggles even closer to me. My phone vibrates in my hand and I see that Phil texted me.

Phil: How are you beautiful? Got home okay? I didn’t get to see you much tonight :(.

I take a picture of jessy and me and send it to Phil

<Image sent>

Me: What’s up, bartender!? Yes, we are home and already in bed. Look at your cute sister! I know it’s a shame but we will see each other again 🙂

Phil: How lucky she is ! I wish I were there with you…

Me: Lol! Only Jessy is lucky enough to have me in her bed ;). Well, my eyes are closing by themselves. Good night Mr Aurora. Thank you for tonight!

I lock my phone and fall asleep, stuck in Jessy’s arms. 

I wake up early as usual, sore from not being able to move all night. I try to move slowly so as not to trouble the young girl. I go to the kitchen and look through the cabinets to look for some food. I am a bit hungover and some food will do me good. I find something that I feel my stomach will be able to handle. I make myself a coffee and go back to my room. I grab my sportswear and get changed. I find a notepad and write a note in case Jessy wakes up before I come back. It’s nice and crispy outside. I start my run. I try to remember where I run so I am able to find my way back. After 30 minutes, I start to go back to Jessy’s flat. I go straight to the bathroom to take a shower and once I am dressed, I go to her bedroom to grab my phone. She stirs when I open the door so I try to be as quiet as possible. I take my phone and go back to the kitchen to have another coffee. I unlock my phone and I have a message from an unknown number.

Unknown number: Good morning. I saw you running earlier. I didn’t know you like running? 

Anyway, I was wondering if we could meet up sometimes. I think I owe you some explanations. 

Jake.

I look at the message? UNBELIEVABLE! If I weren’t here in Duskwood he wouldn’t have texted me… I think about what to say and IF I should text him back. I guess it would be nice to close this chapter of my life. 

Me: Good morning. I guess we can meet up. I am free anytime today if you are but I want you to know that you don’t owe me anything. You clearly made your choice and I am okay with it. 

Jake: I see you are angry. I understand. But still, I want to talk to you. Are you free now? 

Me: No, I am not angry. Jessy is still asleep. Where do you want to meet?

<Location shared>

I sigh, I don’t know what I am getting into but I still decide to go. I leave another note for Jessy so she doesn’t panic when she wakes up. I follow the itinerary and I find myself in front of a cute coffee shop. I go inside and look for Jake. “At least now I know what he looks like” I giggle to myself. I find him but before I join him I order a coffee. I see him walking towards me. He walks with so much more confidence than I thought possible. All the other patrons look at him. He is really mesmerising. I can see he has a smirk on his face that doesn’t go away when he stands in front of me. I don’t dare to look at him and turn to the lady who is making coffee. He gets closer and whispers in my ear to get what I want. I shiver at his voice.

I don’t know why he makes me feel like that when I am angry at him and what’s more, I met him briefly once! I nod and tell the lady my order. We wait in silence for my order to be ready. I grab the tray and follow Jake to the table. We sit down in silence, him watching me and me drinking my coffee, trying to get my composure back. I am trying to get myself angry and give myself encouragement to look at him. When I do, he is still looking at me with a smirk on his face. I can’t believe he would be so arrogant. I really didn’t imagine that. But it helps because I want to slap his smirk out of his face. I contain myself and I tell him, with gritted teeth, to talk. He raises an eyebrow but ignores my tone and he starts talking. How thanks to me, Alan found him and they went back to his house and how they got him his freedom back. That, at first, he couldn’t text me because the FBI was still around and he was scared that they would pick up his trace or me. It lasted for a few weeks but as the weeks passed, he felt it would be better to leave me alone so I could move on, even after he was free. He stops talking and sighs, relieved. I just keep staring at him. He is just unbelievable. Why does he always have to decide for me? I am speechless really so I don’t say anything. I can see he is waiting for me to talk. He clears his throat, bothered by my non-responsiveness. I take a sip of my coffee and smile at him. I thank him for the explanation but he shouldn’t have assumed what was best for me. Still keeping my “cool”, I stand up and leave the coffee shop. I begin strolling on my way back to Jessy’s, still thinking about what he told me. I can’t wrap my head around it. I don’t really know what to do now, well more what to think. I hear my phone ringing, snapping me from my thoughts. I grab it and look at the ID and sigh, relieved, it’s Alan. I smile, answering the phone, he wants to know how my morning has been and what I am doing later. He invites me to lunch and I accept the invitation. I don’t mention my meeting with Jake, I don’t think it’s the right thing to say by phone. I still got a couple of hours before lunch time. I would like to chill with Jessy for a bit, I hope she is awake! 

When I arrive, Jessy has just woken up, eyes still sleepy and she is yawning while making her coffee. I look at her, smiling. “Hi Jessy! Did you sleep well?” I ask her. She turns around “yes thank you. You woke up early.” She doesn’t ask, she states the fact. “Yes, I went for a run and had a coffee with Jake”. She stares at me, looking like she is searching for her words but doesn’t say anything. “I don’t want to talk about it. I am still processing all of it and actually I was looking forward to spending the next couple hours with you and chill.” Still staring at me, she nods and makes me another cup of coffee. I thank her and we sit on her sofa. We start talking as if we were some long-time friends when, really, we’ve known each other for less than a year and this is the first time we meet face to face. I look at the time and tell Jessy that I have to go and see Alan for lunch. She is starting to doze off, she doesn’t look at me and just hums her answer. I smile and leave her flat. Alan is already waiting for me in front of the restaurant. My heart skips a bit, I think to myself what am I supposed to do? Do I kiss him hello or just hug him or should I not do anything and wait for him to make the first move? But all my questions are moot as he comes over and takes me into his arms and gives me a sweet kiss on the lips. I smile at that, I really should stop worrying about stupid stuff like that. He takes my hand and we both enter the restaurant. I can feel eyes on us, I assume it must be weird to see your police chief in a restaurant with a stranger. We sit down and look at the menu. Everything looks delicious. As usual I hesitate between dishes so I ask him what I should choose. “I can’t make a decision between those two dishes. Have you tried them?” I show him which ones I am talking about on his menu. He smiles back, he looks happy that I am asking for his opinion. “I liked the second option best.” “ Okay then I’ll have it” I smile back at him and he takes my hand which is still on the menu. He interlaces our fingers and looks up at me with a smile. The waiter comes over and I start to feel embarrassed at the small display of affection as I can see the waiter looking at our hands. “Hum, Are you ready to order?”. I nod but Alan orders for both of us and I am relieved, I have never liked to order.

While waiting for our plates we start to make small talk but I feel as if I need to tell him something but I can’t really put my finger on it and then it hits me! Of course… “Alan? I just wanted to tell you that I had a coffee with Jake this morning. He explained some stuff and I left. I wanted you to know by me before he tells you or somebody else”. “I see. Did you get some sort of closure?” I can sense that there is a double meaning with this question. I weigh my words before answering, I see that he starts to get agitated. “Closure is not the right word but I think I kind of understand his point of view and what’s been done is done and we can’t change anything. But at least, I’m not waiting for him anymore” I add with a smile and stroking his hand that I’m still holding with my thumb, hoping to soothe his agitated state. He relaxes a bit and smiles. The waiter arrives with our food and we eat silently, enjoying the presence of each other. We talk some more and decide to share a dessert. We leave after paying and we walk around town before he brings me back “home”. We kiss goodbye, it was a quick one but somehow more intimate. He puts his forehead against mine and closes his eyes. “I am glad you are here”, he says while smiling. He opens his eyes and before I can say anything he leans in and kisses me again before he turns around and leaves. I stare at him and smile, I walk up the stairs to my friend’s flat, happy. 

The days pass in a daze. Jessy and the others have planned a lot of activities and the free time I have I spend it with Alan having coffee dates near the police station during his breaks or walking around town. I finally have an evening free and he asks me if I wanted to go on a date that evening. I happily agree, I want to spend more time with him. Not an hour every now and then. We agree on a place and a time and it is perfect timing as I have a girl’s day out with Jessy, Cleo, Lilly and Hannah. We decided a few days ago to go shopping with just the five of us and spend some quality time together on that day as they were all free. 

We all go to a mall near Duskwood. I tell them that I need a new outfit for tonight and that I need their help to choose one as I don’t know what is appropriate for the restaurant we are going to. They all squeal at the same time, happy to help. I become the centre of their attention for the whole afternoon. It is actually a bit overwhelming. I try different outfits but one of them really stands out to me and to the other girls. I decide it is the one and buy it. We finish our shopping spree and we stop at a bar with a terrasse to finish our day. We stay there for an hour and go back home. Jessy has decided on our way back that she is going to help me get ready and she becomes my hairdresser and makeup artist. I shower first and put on my outfit. I walk over to the makeup station she set up on her dining table. She is almost as excited as I am, it’s cute. She gets started and by the time she is done, her doorbell rings. “He’s here! You have to tell me how everything goes”, she says while hopping to open the door. She greets him with a big smile plastered to her face and giggles while she turns to me. “Your date’s here, my dear” and she runs to her room before I can say anything. I laugh at her and shake my head.

I look at Alan who looks stunning and I smile, happy to see him. He smiles back “Are you ready to go?”, he asks me while holding his hand out. I nod, I see him looking me over with an appreciative look. I blush a bit, embarrassed by his stare. I grab his hand and he pulls me over for a passionate kiss. He pulls away while I gasp for air, not used to him being this intense for the few days I have been with him. We take his car to get to the restaurant. The ride is silent and filled with some tension that I can’t decipher oblivious to what is happening. He parks and gets out first to open the door for me. I exit the car with his help, he pulls me into his chest and kisses me again. He moves back and places his hand on the small of my back and guides me towards the entrance of the restaurant. He seems to be in a better mood tonight compared to the other days when I see him during his breaks. He seems more relaxed and looks like he enjoys himself as do I. I guess the wine we drink helps a bit. The food is delicious as is the company. We talk a lot about everything, our past lovers, relationships, our biggest regrets then the conversation shifts and becomes more flirty which I am not good at usually but I think with the alcohol flowing in my veins I am becoming bolder. We finish our dinner and we leave the building. It’s still warm outside and we decide to walk for a bit. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and brings me closer to him. I put my arm around his waist and look up at him. He is watching the clear sky with a slight grin. I smile and nuzzle my head against his chest, trusting him to walk us around safely. I don't want the evening to end. We continue for a few minutes then he stops, grabs my chin with his hand so he can look in my eyes and he says “Would you like to come to mine?”. I see some hesitation behind his gaze. I frown my eyebrows a bit making a show to think about it and I flash him a toothy grin while I nod. He exhales loudly and chuckles a bit. He turns us around, his arm still around my shoulder and walks us back to his car. 

We enter his apartment. It’s exactly how I imagined it. The apartment of a bachelor, the colour grey predominant everywhere your eyes look. There are some stairs leading to three doors which I am guessing are the bedrooms and the bathroom. Everything is neatly tidied and cleaned. He puts his light jacket on the clothes rack near his door and he invites me over to the sofa. He brings me a glass of water which I take gratefully and gulp it down quickly. He sits down next to me, puts his hand on my thigh and leans in and whispers to my ear “Can I kiss you?”. My breath hitches and I just nod, unable to form any words. The kiss gets passionate and more lustful, hands roam each other’s body and after a few minutes, clothes start to fly everywhere. Suddenly, he stands up, he puts his hands under my body and carries me, bridal style, to his bedroom. He lays me down on his bed and starts to kiss my face and to go down on my body. Each kiss sends electricity through my whole body and I start to moan. I gasp realising that he doesn’t live alone and I muffle the next sound that comes out of me. He stops what he is doing, looks me up with an annoyed face and shakes his head “No, I want to hear all of you. Don’t be shy” and with a smirk on his face he carries on. The night goes on with a lot more pleasure than I thought was possible. Finally, we go to sleep but when I wake up hours later, I am alone in his bed. I sigh and when the sleep starts to disappear from my brain I realise that he told me he had to work today. I look at the clock on his nightstand, it is still early. I try to fall back to sleep but being in a strange environment I can’t so I get up and look through his wardrobe for a T-shirt or something to put on as almost all my clothes are on the floor, in the living room. I giggle at the thought. I find a plain black T-shirt and my underwear and put them on to go to the bathroom. After the bathroom, I walk down the stairs and start looking for my phone. I can see that he tidied the living room and my clothes are neatly stacked on a chair with a post-it on top of it.

*I didn’t want to wake you up, you looked so peaceful. I’ll be back at noon, I hope you will still be there…*

I smile to myself and I put the post-it inside my bag for safekeeping. I head to the kitchen to make myself some coffee and I am looking through the cabinet to find a mug. I can hear someone opening and closing a door and going down the stairs. I know it’s Jake and I can’t be bothered to look at him and I am not going to lie that I am a bit embarrassed about how loud we were last night. All of the sudden, I can feel his presence behind me and he stands still. I freeze, afraid to turn around and to face him. He steps closer to me and his chest is directly against my back. He leans in and smells my hair while putting his hands on my hips. Still frozen, I wonder what he is doing then I can feel his breath against my ear when he whispers “You know, you have a lovely voice”. He touches me slightly on my thigh with his fingers and goes up to the hem of the shirt I am wearing which is barely covering my ass. I can feel the heat coming from my stomach to the top of my head, embarrassed by what he just said. He chuckles darkly still against my ear “Soon, it will be me hearing your lovely voice coming from my bedroom and hearing your praises”. With that, he kisses the top of my head, takes the mug I am still holding and helps himself to some coffee. He leaves me flabbergasted as I struggle to comprehend what just happened. Is that really the same Jake from the messages? I frown and look at him, actually none of us knew what he looks like and he could be an impostor who pretended to be him but why would anyone be doing that? I guess he is just THAT cocky and arrogant even though I thought he was like that only with his hacking skills. He has that smirk still on, the same he had at the coffee shop. I really want to take it off his smug face but I still need my coffee and it is more important than him anyway. I decide to ignore him, there is no point in indulging him. I grab my coffee and my clothes to go to the bedroom. After drinking the coffee and replying to the messages from my friends, I start to feel tired so I go back to sleep. When I wake up, I see multiple notifications from Jessy. She is really nosy and really wants to know what happened. I chuckle and tell her that I will spill the tea when I see her.

I wish I could go running but I don’t have anything with me so I will probably go later. I decide to take a shower to clear my head of the tiredness. I find the towels in the bathroom, I get out of the shower and realise I forgot my clothes. I facepalm myself and think of my options. Well, option. I have to go out with only the towel covering me and I hope Jake isn’t there anymore. I open the door and look briefly in the corridor, I sprint to the bedroom door which is literally next to the top of the stairs and of course Jake is on the top when I arrive. I bump into him and he catches me before I fall on the floor. We stay like this for a few seconds when we hear the front door closing. We turn our heads at the same time and see Alan staring at us, angrily. I gasp while Jake, still holding me, smirks AGAIN. I push him away from me and enter Alan’s room rapidly. I hear Alan going up the stairs and Jake going to his room. Alan enters the room, eyes squinted. I look up at him and run up to him. I whisper to him, really flustered “Oh my god, Alan! It’s so embarrassing! I took a shower and I forgot my clothes in the bedroom so I had to sprint to your room so I wouldn’t see Jake but as soon as I reached your door Jake was at the top of the stairs and I crashed into him. I almost fell but he caught me. I was so embarrassed!” His eyes soften, believing me. He grabs my chin and pulls me into a kiss. We hear some steps outside the room and the front door closing. We are intimate again but this time I won’t feel embarrassed as we are alone. We stay a bit in bed snuggling in each other arms, legs tangled up in the sheets. It is a peaceful moment, I wish we could stay like that all afternoon but he starts to pull away from me, regrettably. I can see that he doesn’t want to go but as the chief he can’t really call in sick. I get up too and start to get dressed, “Can you drop me off at Jessy’s?” I ask shyly as if he didn’t see me naked a few minutes ago. He stops what he is doing and nods. He looks disappointed, I approach him and circle him with my arms, “what’s wrong?” I ask him putting my head on his chest. I feel his chest heave as he sighs. “I wanted you to stay with me again tonight.” He whispers back. I smile against his chest and kiss him there. “Oh I know but I promised Jessy we would spend the evening together but I can come back tomorrow evening?” He grabs my face and kisses me on the forehead before replying “Yes, please”. 

We get into the car and we drive in silence, not wanting our time together to end. We arrive at Jessy’s and I kiss him goodbye. I open the door to the flat and Jessy is waiting for me on the sofa, cups of tea steaming on the coffee table and she bears a big smile. “Welcome back! I made you a cup of tea. I’ll wait for you to change into something more comfortable and come sit next to me”. I nod and change into my sweatpants. I head over the sofa and Jessy moves a bit more and opens the blanket for me to go under it. She moves close to me and leans her head on my shoulder. I place my head on top of hers and I start talking about my evening with Alan, how it ended and what happened without going into too much detail. We talk till late and we fall asleep on the sofa. 

The next day, we wake up to the door bell ringing. We stand up in a haze and Jessy opens the door. It’s Hannah. She and Thomas found a new apartment and they are moving in the next day. They are going to have a small party in a few days and we are both invited. Jessy, still half asleep asks “Sure, we’ll come but why are you here?”, “Well, I was near your building so I thought I would pop by for a coffee and invite you at the same time.” She smiles, happy with herself. I look at Jessy and we both giggle, I help Jessy with the coffee and set the cups on the table. We sit around the table and talk for a few minutes, I can see Hannah glancing at me from time to time “What’s up Hannah?”, she looks surprised “I… I…” she stutters but then sighs “ I also invited Jake. I hope that’s ok with you?”. I smile fondly at her “Of course Hannah, you don’t need to worry about that, it’s your party and your home. I don’t hate Jake”. She nods, relieved and carries on talking about the party.

I spend the day with Jessy, we go to the lake to picnic and she gives me a tour of the town telling me different stories about her childhood. We go home and I get ready for my evening with Alan. He picks me up and drives me to his flat. He is making me dinner tonight as Jake isn’t home for the evening. We spend a nice evening, we even go for a stroll as the weather is still warm. When we come back Jake is on the sofa eating the leftovers of our dinner. I can feel Alan tensing up next to me. They talk to each other while I go upstairs in Alan’s bedroom. Alan joins me soon after and we start kissing. We spend the night like last time and we fall asleep after whispering sweet nothings in each other’s arms.

================================================

Part 3 soon I hope. Find it hard to finish it if you have any idea please feel free to DM me!

[homeshippinglikeapro]

Okay okay okay first you are too nice honestly like if you are going to die for me I will do the same then since you said LORD MERCY for APH Russia and chubby headcanons came up I just want to say I see him as like strong but soft so like cuddly yes would he break you (general you) probably but is he cuddly and you can curl up in his lap and what not also yes Now more if that's okay, though this will likely be the last batch as I don't want to spam you Homestuck: Jake, Calliope, Jade, Aranea, Mituna, PM, and Her Imperious Condescension APH: Canada, 2p!America, Greece, China, Norway, and Scottland

Me doing the cat thing on Russia's lap cuz it's the only way we can touch each other without me dying:

Also, you CAN'T die for me if I'M dying for you first >:v AND SPAM! LITERALLY SPAM ME, THIS IS AN ORDER, (if u want to) thank you

Jake: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

Karkat is a wet cat, which is very sexy, but Jake is a wet dog, which is the total opposite of it. Does it make sense? Idk, it's 00:33 and I'm still up cuz I had too much caffeine in my veins and I can smell colors like Terezi

Calliope: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

Very funny at sleepovers, but won't happen anything sexy at those sleepovers with her, sorry fam

Jade: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

Wolf girl with big dog dick who prob has autism and is the best girl what else can i say?

Aranea: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

I MIGHT use her as a wikipedia, but I'M always the talkative one in every relationship I had. I don't even know what would happen if you put both of us in the same room and I'm not even sure I want to find it out (for y'all sanity).

Mituna: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

He's a dick. I might suck that dick, sure, but that doesn't make him less of a dick.

PM: You wouldn't call you mom "hot," unless your name is Dave Strider.

HIC: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

OH GOD OH FUCK OH GOD SHIT AAA SHIT SHIT

Canada: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

He might be my brother lol, can't see him differently.

2p America: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

Fanon interpretation of him always changes, and generally I've seen him very less than the others, BUT he brings big ass weapons with him, that's deffo bonus points to me.

Greece: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

He is pretty. He loves cats. He sleeps. Idk what type of relationship I might even WANT from him, I will be happy with ANYTHING (that isn't hate lol)

China: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

I'm so, so sorry... I think China is lowkey annoying. SORRY!

Norway: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

Another bad thing: he's boring :) (I might die here now goodbye)

Scotland: Not My Type | Alright | Cute | Adorable | Pretty | Gorgeous | LORD MERCY

He took the "hot" part of this game too literally.

[xenomorphee3]

screaming crying throwing up and kicking my feet in the air !! my fave writer has yet again done it again with her writing 💙💙 i will be honest, i tend to not follow or read sequels bc most disappoint me but yours is so good and we’re only at the second chapter 😭 i cannot wait for the third chapter (you have no idea) i just know miles is gonna be pissed with lex & zem lmao

also i love your take on avatar quaritch & zu and it’s so interesting bc had he been an avatar instead of a recom, i just know that man would take forever to finally admit to his true feelings for zu but omg imagine human miles just thinking about zu during meetings… 🤭

😮Your favorite writer🥺

Thank you 🥰

I am happy my sequel isn't disappointing! One of my friends expressed a similar sentiment, that they don't often follow sequels and at that point I had around 5 chapters written and was like 👁️👄👁️ But eh! I'm having fun and I knew at least a few people would tune in. Thank you for being a tuning in people 💙 And in many ways I hope its initial quality is better than the first given what I learned in writing that one, though of course plot and scale will be different!

Again, there is that anxiety of writing original characters that can go toe to toe with the real ones, but I'm doing my best! I wish I could write faster, so I could drop three a week to not keep you hanging, but by aiming for two and staying in a surplus of written chapters it *should* ensure no long lulls or hiatuses!

Anyway, to your alt-alt-universe inquiries-- Ha, yeah just imagine Quaritch seeing like... an orange pen or something and thinking about her eyes and getting all irritable lol.

As he sat at the long meeting table, RDA leadership discussing the Ash People, their potential usefulness and the resources of their archipelago, Miles glanced at an administrator who was taking notes on a yellow notepad instead of a tablet. Such was pretty damn old school and he found it amusing. But then he saw the orange pen he was writing with. Orange like fire-- like Zu's blazing irises. Miles' face suddenly turned and daggers developed in his blue eyes. Daggers toward who? Himself. Why the hell was he sitting here at Bridgehead thinking about his Avatar's Ash Na'vi host's orange eyes? The foul expression that gripped his face did not go unnoticed. General Ardmore caught his sudden shift in emotion in the middle of her discussion. "Colonel, what's wrong?" she pressed. He looked up and around at all sitting at the table, realizing the blatant irritation he was broadcasting. He steeled himself. "Nothing, General... I... I don't think these damn Ash Na'vi are gonna be that useful to us."

And for efficiency, to answer your next submitted question:

"to add up on that, what do you think human quaritch would’ve thought about zu? 🤭💙 and i would love to know how he’d react knowing his recom has children with her"

Human Quaritch with no Avatar influence or Na'vi experience would definitely look at Zu the way he looks at all Na'vi. A pest in the way of human interests. He'd probably be repulsed to a large degree by the concept of being that is him/from him having such a family, regardless of the Na'vi aspect.

But that's one of the things that makes his character so compelling in the 2nd film isn't it? That this Na'vi hating man is now what he hated. And in existing as this new being, he quickly comes to embrace that he is no longer really that person-- at least in waves.

He crushes his former skull.

He tells Spider, "I'm not that man,"

His eagerness to do things the Na'vi way

Tells Neytiri, "He's not mine, we're not even the same species."

He shows a bit of mercy on the Na'vi he interrogated.

But! He still says to Jake, "You betrayed me," refers to Jake's kids as a "litter of half breeds," and still cares for Spider as his son. It's such a cool little war inside him that I am so excited to see shake out in the remaining films. My eagerness for seeing such is why I wrote/am writing my stories! I hope my stories capture/do justice to 10% of his actual arc.

[onedayistodayornever]

Thoughts on Avatar 2

I loved it! 

Visuals were stunning. Loved the thought that went into how water Na’vi would live and the creatures that would live in their oceans. Loved all the little details, the homages to Maori culture, the differences in forest na’vi accessories vs water na’vi accessories. THE BABIES!!! Baby na’vi, baby whales. so cute~

Rather simple storyline with some plotholes. I knew humans were gonna be back to cause trouble (duh) but i wish they hadn’t. Could have been a really cool epic with just the various na’vi peoples alone. Cultural values and norms of the na’vi ended up being a bit too reminiscent of western culture. Could have definitely put more thought into that. 

Spoilers

Felt like Jake and Neytiri ended up taking a step back in their character development. Did not like what they did with Jake’s parenting style or Neytiri’s reactions to it. For a guy who supposedly embraced na’vi culture and learned their way of life, it felt like his parenting was straight out of the american marine father handbook (the ‘sirs’! really!?). And i get that the english was for the audiences benefit but I thought the water na’vi knew a lot more english than made sense for a people without much contact with the humans. So i just ignored that and pretended like most of the movie was in the na’vi language. 

I loved the kids!!! i really wanted more interactions between them. With the metkayina kids more involved too. Ronal was such a badass! I love that she was hard but also showed compassion and mercy. Tonowari was so cool! Man that respects his wife! 

Quaritch. So many mixed feelings. Loved the disconnect between a na’vi body and Quaritch’s human expressions. Its not so obvious on jake but quaritch just has a very human mug. I really don’t like him but i loved his internal conflict over his prejudice against na’vi and having such a feral na’vi raised child. I love that he was so subtly soft for his kid. And spiders internal conflict over finally getting to meet his father and his father’s kindness to him vs everything his father stands for and has done. That ending between them was on point. I get the feeling as redemption is in store for him but i don’t know how i feel about that lol. I want it and i don’t. I love a good redemption arc but Quaritch has such a punchable face lol. 

Payakan! Payakan baby i hope you and Lo’ak have the best life ever and i swear if they touch you in the sequels imma be so pissed. 

Neteyam! They did you so dirty! i could honestly see it coming a mile away (dutiful, good older brothers always die so younger, reckless brothers get *character growth*) but i was still blind sided and i swear i cried an ocean for him. He was my favorite. Poor boy only wanted his father’s approval and his family safe. ╥﹏╥. Whyyyyyyyyyyy

I can’t wait to see what they do with Kiri in the next installments and adorable Tuk! I wonder if she will grow up to take after her mother or father?

Marine Na’vi lady with the tattoos. I know she was a villain and bad, so bad. But damn she was fine. 

Boat man and his quest to kill whales. I honestly laughed when they introduced him. And his storyline!! LMAO! they really be ripping off moby dick! Don’t get me wrong, i love it. But its a kind of love for the campy. And for evil fisherman getting their dues. One of my favorite scenes of the whole movie when he lost his arm. And the alcoholic marine biologist! honestly he was a whole mood. “That’s why i drink”, “Now whose got the harpoon.” lol. 

Jake sully and his idiot self going straight for the tsurak instead of starting with the Ilu is so in character. Its also one of my favorited character traits of his. His whole competent but also a little bit dumb and stubborn lol. He can be so adorable. I love that neytiri kept her ikran and we don’t see a lot of her adapting like the rest of her family does. It makes sense in that jake has had to adapt many times in his life to new circumstances and ways of life (army life, loosing his mobility, na’vi forest life and now na’ve water life). It makes sense that he would throw in and embrace this new life. Kids are obviously kids and while its difficult in some ways its also easier for kids to adapt. Neytiri hasn’t had to adapt to a whole new way of life yet. This is a first for her so it makes sense that she’d be more reluctant and cling to reminders of the familiar. But also shows her devotion to her family by trying her best. I really hope we get to see her and Ronal develop a friendship in the next installment cuz they seem like they would get along fantastically after the initial tension. 

Also Neytiri wearing Neteyam’s necklace at his funeral   ╥﹏╥. James cameron! Why you gotta break my heart like this!?! beautiful detail.

I just have so many feelings for this series. Now excuse me while i go deep dive into AO3 for all those worldbuilding details that can’t make it into a budget driven 3 hr movie. 

[gengarpng]

🖤🧺🍑💧for any amount of ocs you want :3c

Gonna do Amore nd Cae (obviously lol), and uhh, I haven't posted much abt my botw oc Vega so, they join tha party 2

A Moron, Dimicae, and (insert ship name for Vega/Link here) under cut

Amore-

🖤— Random romantic headcanon:

He can't do on the spot type knowledge like if you ask him "oh name your s/o's favorite fruit", he's gonna be like those memes

but he does know! He's more likely to like, see it on sale at the store and be like "oh hey that's smth Leon likes i'll get it 4 him (:"

🧺— Random domestic headcanon:

Usually he only fostered one animal at a time while he was in an apartment so once this fool gets in a house watch out bc he will start fostering entire litters and (legal) exotic pets. (In his defense he, grew up outnumbered by pets in his childhood home and it gets lonely when ur husbanf is away doing Top Agent things)

🍑— Random intimate headcanon:

Just v touchy, sometimes it goes further than that sometimes he just wants to Touch, yknow? Pulls Leon in2 his lap, inescapable octo hugs at bedtime, knocking legs together or arm around the shoulders stuff. Obvi he'll give space and back off when needed but 9 times out of 10 he is in some sort of contact w Leon lol.

also body worshippy, kissy/touchy everywhere LOL

💧— Random angst headcanon:

He had to drop out of college bc his previous partner passed, so like the the one thing he really can't take is anyone suggesting/joking he had to drop out bc it was "too hard for him" or smth along those lines, so if that happens he WILL make the person feel horrible by dropping the bomb of "actually i had to drop out bc my bf died (: if you wanna make fun of me for that too (:"

Caedric-

🖤— Random romantic headcanon:

Much like a cat his affection ranges from "I'm content to exist in the same room as you" to "I'm falling asleep in your lap and there's nothing you can do to stop it <3"

🧺— Random domestic headcanon:

Despite being ~nobility~ he really doesn't mind helping out with/doing his own dirty work and sometimes kind of prefers it lol ("no it's ok i'll wash my own clothes!" "oh I can help with dinner i dont mind!")

🍑— Random intimate headcanon:

As much as he hates having them, he does rly enjoy Dimi tracing over his tattoos :,)

Also v fond of bathtimes w Dimitri or helping Dimi just like wash his hair/back/whatever (mostly bc it's the only time he can make sure the fucker is actually taking care of himself lmao), or having Dimi help him. Outside of Mercie and Annie, Dimi is the only one who can touch his hair.

Dimitri is. also the only person who can get away w pulling his hair lol oops.

💧— Random angst headcanon:

Because of his heightened senses he gets sensory overload super easy, as well as migraines, if u can't find him during a social event check a supply closet bc he's probably in there crying and trying not to claw his itchy shirt to shreds.

Vega-

🖤— Random romantic headcanon:

Very spontaneous "Dates" (I use that term losely because most likely they consist of "Hey let's see who can climb to the top of that mountain before it starts raining," or "First one to ride the Lynel for 5 seconds wins."

🧺— Random domestic headcanon:

Very Aggresively Helpful as a stress response whenever Link is doing a task they can't go along for (like the trials or smth) and they're stuck in town/at a stable. "This lady asked for lightning bugs so i caught her E I G H T Y (: How did the trial go? (:"

🍑— Random intimate headcanon:

While he doesn't like, enjoy patching up wounds bc yknow, Linky Hurty he appreciates the moment of respite it gives them together (and yknow the inherent homoeroticism that giving first aid tends to have lol)

Depending on how long it takes/how dangerous the task is, adrenaline and nervous energy starts building so once they're both back to safety Link is getting the Jake G. in that one Brokeback mountain gif treatment and then some

💧— Random angst headcanon:

Unfortunately uh, Vega has been kind of on the OC backburner so I don't have much for them angst wise yet fml.

[blindbatalex]

for @kureally ice cream & prefix boys SET IN THE DISCO MOB AU because why not??? [[basically jake is an emt from close to present day and accidentally travels back to the 1920s where the rest of the bruins are a mob]]

~*~

“I can’t believe you brought me here,” Jake says happily for what must be the third time since they walked in. “I thought gangsters didn’t do ice cream parlors.”

“We don’t,” Charlie replies, with the right amount of gruffness. “It’s a one time thing.”

Seated in the parlor around them are dolled up housewives with their kids and young couples on sanitized dates, girls twirling their hair and guys laughing awkwardly at jokes that are really not that funny. And across from him is Jake who is as energetic and excited as a puppy and hasn’t stopped grinning ever since they walked in. It’s not manly how much Jake grins or how he actually mutters about ice cream in his sleep. There is nothing about this or him that is manly in fact. Charlie had met knee high kids who are more manly than Jake. 

“One time thing--” Jake licks his lips. “Lots of guys told me that before.”

Charlie touches the holster of his gun under the table, revels in its cold familiar texture, just as Jake swirls his spoon in the ridiculous concoction in his glass cup--layers of marshmallow cream, whatever that is supposed to mean, and chocolate ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce and finished with a cherry on top. Slowly. Another thing that is not at all manly about Jake are his eyelashes. No man needs eyelashes that pretty. 

“But then,” Jake says and he looks up now to meet Charlie’s eye, and the smile playing on his lips much more deliberate than his usual excited puppy grin. “Once they get a taste--” He finishes scooping ice cream onto the spoon and places the candied cherry on top. “They always come back for more.” He extends the spoon across the table all the way to Charlie’s lips. 

“Try this.”

Charlie’s heart does a thing he is wholly unprepared for--as if someone gave him a forceful shove right on the chest. 

He quickly opens his mouth and accepts the ice cream--before anyone can see--and scrunches his face.

“That’s disgusting,” he tells Jake because it is--fuck.

The chocolate and the cream blend together in his mouth in icy, delicious goodness and fuck. Charlie strangled a guy with his bare hands last week at the docks. He is not the kind of guy who sits at ice cream parlors and eats sundaes, let alone from the hand of another man. Another anyone.

Jake shrugs and goes back to his cup. 

“Your loss. More for me.”

Charlie wonders if he imagines the look that crosses Jake’s face, the type that’s gone when you blink, the way some of his unending energy seems to deflate. 

He touches his gun again, the way more religious people would with a cross. Honestly, fuck Krej and Zee for effectively assigning Jake to him to babysit and fuck Jake for spending every other waking moment whining about sweets and how much better they are 'where he is from’. In no way shape or form did Charlie ask for this.

“Matt is like a brother to me--” he starts, reminding himself the real reason they are here. (And maybe so that Jake will stop pouting.)

“You don’t say. I didn’t infer that at all for example, from how you wouldn’t leave his bedside for a single moment or even let go of his hand.”

Charlie hisses.

“You know this is why everyone is threatening to shoot you all the time, right?”

But what Jake did--Charlie had seen nothing like it really. He showed up at their doorstep one day last week in his weird clothes, and with his weird words, and Tuukka was considering actually shooting him, but then Krej and Marchy brought Matt in--blood gushing from his arm and more than half gone. But Jake--it was as if he was transformed. He started yelling instructions, worming his way to Matt past two gangsters, which was no small feat on its own. He had Charlie holding Matt’s hand and talking to Matt while he controlled the bleeding. He had them raid a clinic and didn’t sleep for almost twenty four hours, and in the end Matt was fine. A little weak, even now, but very much so alive. It was nothing short of a miracle.

“I’m sorry,” Jake says now, more serious than Charlie has seen him be outside the context of a medical emergency. “Thank you.”

Charlie grits his teeth. Talking about--this stuff doesn’t come easy to him. “Thank you,” he still says, not meeting Jake’s eye “for saving Matt’s life.”

His grandma always used to say that God works in mysterious ways. If Jake is an angel--though it would explain the eyelashes--Charlie has some serious questions about how things work up there.

*

Charlie is ready to finally take a full, relieved breath when Jake eats the last spoonful of his sundae. But if only he would be so lucky--because Jake keeps right on, scraping the bottom of the glass with his spoon with a meticulousness Krej would love applied to their bootleg liquor business. 

Charlie rolls his eyes, already regretting what he is about to say. And then asks Jake if he wants another cup.

“OhmyGodcanwe??” Jake asks all in one breath. The spectacularly wild grin Charlie gets rewarded to is almost worth the pain of another half an hour he will have to spend in this godforsaken place.

Not that he is telling Jake that.

Ever.

[aerimomo-mellon]

ENHYPEN when their s/o does the *can’t stop kissing you* prank on them~

Genre~ fluff ☁️

Paring~ ENHYPEN x Reader

A/N~ Hii here’s another headcanon and actually the first for ENHYPEN.. requests are welcomed warmly feel free…

시..작 ….

ENHYPEN M☁List II Main M☁LIst

☯︎ Heeseung

He would act like he doesn’t like it but deep inside he likes it. Acts like he is annoyed and tell you to stop but gives up.

Lays on the bed so you can have all of him.

But then gets annoyed afterwards and tries to tell you lots of excuses but you won’t stop.

“ okay this is the last one!” He mutters between kisses and when he tell you to actually stop like seriously after you told him what it was… and he would be like “happy? Now leave me alone..”

☯︎ Jay

gives in real quick and loves it top notch. you literally can’t with this guy, doesn't matter what important shit he is doing or even on a call with the members he would give in the second your lips touched his. 

lot’s of good things comes with it but that  one thing that you will get tired of is.. he won’t stop until you give up.

ultimate lesson is think carefully when doing any sort of prank related to kissing or skinship just think very very carefully.

that is unless you want to be showered with kisses and when your seeking too much attention.

☯︎ Jake

gets all shy and blushy at first. But then gives in too.

thinks its too mean to tell you to stop, therefore let’s you have him for as long as you want. 

But like when Heesung calls him he get’s up and answers but when you don't stop he would tell you to stop for sometime but when you get all stubborn he pretends to get mad at you.( just pretends because it’s his Hyung and respect is good) 

when you continue after the call he finally questions “ why are you like this today?” 

☯︎ Sunghoon

we all know how he has his bubble and when it pops it doesn't take much time to blow up again get it? But if that bubble is popped by his S/O then it’s popped for a long time lol.

okay maybe you don't get it so he is like someone who won’t show skinship a lot and stays in his own bubble but when someone comes and has a fair amount of skinship with him his bubble pops haha. and with others he quickly recovers maintaining his own space again.

but I personally feel like he likes skinship from his s/o more than others and would actually let you do whatever. 

I would also categorize him with the people who act totally normal when it happens. so he wont know it’s a prank until you tell him yourself.

☯︎ Sunoo

This sweet baby would enjoy every moment of it.

you know that person who tell you to stop with their mouth but their expression shows how much he/she likes it. Yup this is the baby you need to take care of.

those cheeks(*￣3￣)╭ when he gets annoyed by you only kissing his cheeks he tell you to kiss his lips pointing at it with his finger letting you know by saying “here, why not here!?”

But being you, you tease him by not listening to him resulting him to tackle you in some sort of cute way and showering you with his cut kisses🤭

☯︎ Jungwon

okay it’s obvious he loves it.

but you know that one kisser who has like HAS to talk between every single kiss. yeeeeeee that’s this baby boy.

for an example you peck him on the lips and let go “I like it ca---” and you would peck again interrupting him and when you let go again he would say “ you know toda----mmmm” and then he would search for your lips and presses on them again. 

literally loves your lips so much every time he talks he won’t take his eyes off your lips leading him to peck it just one more time until he continues..

☯︎ Ni-ki

Let this baby breath for real.

Leave him alone he won’t like it no no no

Well it’s not that he doesn’t love you or anything but he just doesn’t like a lot of skinship in general.

Maybe he give you the first few kisses you need but after that he will like run away from you. You two will end up like Tom and jerry.

Moral of the story is don’t with this not even a man yet guy. Have mercy <3

끝…ㅇㅇ

[fairytheo]

enhypen as your boyfriend.

boyfriend!enhypen x gen!reader. fluff. 1.9k. curse words. mention of bugs, food. not requested.

🐈 ⸝⸝ HEESEUNG ˙𐃷˙

super-duper caring !!

he’s so whipped for you — he smiles just by thinking about you

also very giggly around you

LOVES lending you his beanies

(aka. you stealing them..)

+ you steal his earrings as well ! not that he minds

absolutely adores singing for you / he loves singing you to sleep :D

hold up, is being heeseung’s s/o just being his personal ramen cook 🤨🤨

he aaalwaays bugs you to play games with him (especially wii and nintendo switch lmao)

either that or you’re playing animal crossing while eating takeout at your dinner table

you’re the only person in the world who he’ll ever do aegyo for. 

he secretly enjoys it, but shhh you didn’t hear that from me

i think he likes calling you names like cutie, cutiepie or just a shorter version of your name <3 (if there is one !)

booping your nose is on his everyday to do list ☝️

lowkey therapist & boyfriend in one ngl

WAIT he loves making playlists for you two,, 

“y/n! i made another playlist, do you wanna listen to it? i made it while thinking of you.” <//3 

the type to write cheesy lyrics about you, then later cringes at his own writing bUT then leaves it like that because you like it !

you have his cover of lauv’s “i’m so tired” either set as your alarm or play it on loop everyday 

(random but for some reason i can picture him giving you a cassette with his cover on it just for the vintage vibes)

🐈 ⸝⸝ JAY ˙𐃷˙

the mom-and-boyfriend in one ;] 

f a s h i o n  c o u p l e 

you are literally fashion icons. no disagreements. 

you have matching clothes or accessories ! even if it’s really subtle, the gesture behind it is super adorable <//3

cooking pt. 2 :D but this time there’s a gorden ramsay in your relationship

i can just SEE how you both two impersonate gorden ramsay while cooking which makes everything 10 times funnier !! checks every 5 seconds if the food is ready tho because he doesn’t wanna risk anything

never cleans up afterwards, either you do or no one does

since you’re both fashion icons your social media followers are going 📈📈📈

literally couple goals.

he loves taking pictures of you,, but also wants you to take pictures of him 

jay gets flustered easily so please make him flustered with sudden compliments, hugs, kisses, etc. !!

he’s also the only member i can really see calling you babe

confident but shy about pda at the same time ??? he’s both LOL 

you always tease him with his RAS moments and randomly quote them when you’re in the middle of a conversation with him lmao

random and idk if this fits here, but he likes making your lunch — leaves you encouraging notes too <3

last but not least: jokingly gets angry at you when he wants something from you, and you do the same thing back ♡

🐈 ⸝⸝ JAKE ˙𐃷˙

sweetest and softest boyfriend to ever exist. i’m so soft for him JSHSHS

definitely calls you sweetie and darling. 100%. fight me if you think otherwise. 

shows you pics of layla everyday (it’s become routine for him >_<)

a tiny bit cliché BUT lends you his jacket whenever you’re cold (even when you’re inside !!)

random thought: jake puts his hands in your hoodie pockets...

💔💔💔

it’s his personal goal to peck your cheek and forehead at least twice a day — gets pouty if he wasn’t able to do that ))):::

talks in english a lot because you love his accent !!

if you’re an english speaker, you’ll have conversations in english all. the. time.

if you’re not an english speaker, no worries, he’ll teach you !

+ reads you bedtime stories in english (jake’s australian accent >>>) 

dreams of travelling with you to australia <33  

if there’s a bug in the house you better know that jake will NOT be removing them and runs out of the house

WILL stay over at one of the other member’s houses untill that bug is REMOVED . 

so if you’re afraid of bugs as well,,, i’m sorry bae, but it’ll be your task to remove these little... creatures 😐

ngl you have more photos of layla than of him on your phone lol

(spams you with her pictures and captions them with “y/n!!! look!!! layla with a flower!!!! layla with a butterfly!!!!” it’s just so sweet aaa)

we need some “””drama””” so you make jokes about him being a “🥶💸🔥💪” boy a lot in your relationship LMAO

🐈 ⸝⸝ SUNGHOON ˙𐃷˙

ice skating dates.

this has been mentioned in other headcanons a lot already but i just HAD to include it,,

convinces you to eat ice cream after your date LOL even if it IS winter

btw. fashion couple nr. 2 !!! 

MIRROR SELCAS

MIRROR SELCAS 

ugh the visuals and the power you two hold,,,, i can’t,,,,,

has better clothes than you ngl so you share clothes lmao

it started with him lending you his sweatpants, but then you didn’t want to return them forgot to return them and BOOM 💥 here we are

extremely awkward and shy at first — don’t worry though, he becomes much more chaotic in the later phases of your relationship

he teases you SO MUCH. LIKE. SO MUCH.

always has small smile (smirk?) on his face when he’s about to make a cocky remark (so beware)

you tease him back just twice as hard which 1.) results in him in becoming flustered 2.) fails LOL

off-topic but he’d love a s/o that has a similar style to him ??? a more elegant, classy, dark style perhaps

when he’s away / busy he’ll send you some selcas and captions them with “how r u doing??” “did you eat yet?” “cheer up :P” 

kinda shy about pda but likes showing off too ???

i mean,, men... 🙄🙄 /lh

whenever someone mentions your name near him, he’ll just try to hide his smile while biting his lip (yk what i’m talking about???) and you’ll see his dimples and the affectionate look in his eyes and just AAAAA

the type of boyfriend that calls you love~

🐈 ⸝⸝ SUNOO ˙𐃷˙

skin care routines with sunoo 24/7 🤝

he does your hair (if your hair is long enough to do different hairstyles with it ofc !!) 

send you daily weekly skin care products he thinks you two should try out / that’d be good for your skin <3

spa nights every friday at 9pm — he only lets you in if you wear a stylish pyjama LOL

you buy him peach items because they just remind you so much of him (｡•́︿•̀｡)

SELCA TIME !!! his phone is always ready !!! (apart from his storage maybe?)

PARTICIPATES IN SELCA DAYS OF YOUR FAVOURITE IDOLS AAA

loves to go on walks w u

does A LOT of aegyo,, 

and i know that you knew that this point will be in this headcanon.

for eg. instead of saying goodnight or bye he’ll just do aegyo for you not that anyone minds tbh

stages of sunoo flirting (?):

a — tries to compliment you (it sounds more like a flirty remark tbh)

b — realizes then blushes

c — cringes and runs away LMAO

playfully acts jealous, so you know it’s a joke but deep down he’s actually jealous

you two match each others vibes a lot — if one is sad, the other is sad as well

+ tells you your posture is bad when you sit like a banana or tells you to go to sleep early and when you don’t listen to him, he’ll show you an article that proves that (abc) and (xyz) is bad for you and says “i told you so.” 💀

🐈 ⸝⸝ JUNGWON ˙𐃷˙

impresses you by doing kicks (does the kick cap challenge on tiktok and/or you play kick it by nct 127 for the funzies) 

poking his dimple is a MUST . 😩😩

though gets super shy when you kiss him and also if you buy him gifts !!

cheers you up whenever you feel down or are upset

compliments you a ton ))): will randomly come up to you and tell you that your fit is cute or that you look brighter today,,, little does he know it's because of him ;]

HUGS!HUGS!HUGS

poking his dimple comes first, then hugging

the other members tease you two everytime you’re over LOL it’s like there are two koalas clinging onto each other

our yang garden gained another sheep +1

you two randomly play sheep,,,, like,,, everyday ???? sheep cosplays 👍

idk why ig it’s just fun to imitate sheep and go “mmmeEeEeeEhh” to annoy others

talking of that, even THOUGH he is a responsible leader he will not hesitate to do stupid shit with you

“hey how about we ring on that house there and yell “sheep for sale!” do you think they’ll open the door?”

“i don’t know... let’s find out!” 🤝

let’s just say that this didn’t end well..

also kinda bullies you (in a loving way ofc !!) pand teases you nonstop

either calls you asshole or love aHA

in conclusion: a very unpredictable relationship,, would 10/10 recommend.

very random but i feel like his love language is acts of service

🐈 ⸝⸝ NI-KI ˙𐃷˙

oh look it’s our tsundere 😼

can’t go a day without dancing so you two have vibing sessions at 2am everyday ft. the others telling you to go to bed

you’re the only one that can make him soft lol

if you’re older than him, you would definitely take care of him like your own baby !! 

if you are the same age as him or younger it’d be awkward for him at first, because he isn’t used to taking care of someone younger, so he’d treat you as if you were his best friend at the beginning

you love to watch him dance !! it’s so satisfying,, LITERAL asmr.

pranks you 24/7. boy has NO mercy. will not care if the others will scold him later. he will do the prank smoothly (?) — doesn’t care about the consequences LMAO

probably sets your alarm to someone screaming or a cringy aegyo song <//3

wants to film dance covers with you !! you don’t have to be the best dancer either !! as long as you have fun ^__^ 

the other members find you really cute but are also vERY TIRED OF YOU,, two energized teens in a relationship was not a good idea ☝️

likes to randomly hold your hand and swing it around 

probably distant at the beginning of the relationship because a.) he doesn’t want to pressure you/make things awkward b.) he doesn’t really know what to do either ???

(if you’re not japanese or don’t know how to speak japanese) he’ll definitely teach you some japanese phrases and words !! introduce you to his culture as well :DD and he really wants to know more about your culture too <3

teaches you phrases like “sunoo is a dumbass” for the funzies LOL

randomly makes micheal jackson impressions,,, it’s hilarious LMFAO

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

it would've been 100% funnier if Edward's approach to getting Bella to appreciate her humanity was less begging her to not be a vampire and more....forcing himself to hang out with her human friends so she has a normal teenage experience lmao

could you imagine Edward Cullen at like...a high school football game?

getting dragged to an amusement park on senior ditch day

at some party and he has to pretend to be drunk to fit in with all the others

Mike, Eric, Tyler and Ben all start insisting on calling him Eddie

he goes on shopping trips with the girls because he's the only one with a running car that also has trunk space for their bags

he starts using his mind reading powers for The Gossip(tm) and Jessica is absolutely obsessed...finally someone with decent intell

God at some party everyone's lowkey high and they start playing truth or dare and Edward's using his powers to choose the least embarrassing option but Bella catches on and Edward Trusts Her so she picks him and he's expecting something tame like...truth what's your favorite color, dare kiss me or something lol but Bella looks him in the eyes and with no mercy dares him to strip tease while rapping an Eminem song. Mike films it. Edward didn't talk to her at all the next day lmao

they all go see a horror movie together and to Bella's absolute delight 1) it turns out to be a vampire movie and 2) Edward falls for every single jump scare

The Guys(tm) invite Edward to some weird bro bonding sleep over and Edward's expecting to be bored out of his mind without Bella but 3 redbulls, 2 video games and one ouija board session later they're all crying about their deepest fears to each other. Edward's telling them he's scared that if Bella marries him it will doom her eternal soul to hell but he can't live without her and they're like 'Eddie dude that's so specific calm down' 'have you considered therapy man??' 'bro you guys are 17'

Edward and Bella get roped into helping out with the senior prank and it goes t e r r i b l y. First time in half a century one of the Cullens have gotten suspended from school lmao

he sneaks Angela's little brothers candy every time they hang out at her house

Jessica begs him to tell her what Rosalie's skincare routine is but the vampire's don't even really have to shower they can just wipe stuff off and be good to go and he knows Nothing about skincare so he panics and tells her something absolutely batshit that nearly ruins her skin and Bella and Esme make him treat Jess to a spa day as an apology and Rose searches up everything on human skincare and buys some stuff for her

GOD can you imagine how helpful it would of been during eclipse to have completely non-objective friends chime in on the love triangle bullshit...Edward can vent about it without mentioning the vampire's and werewolves and they can tell him he's being dumb because she's clearly head over heels for him and is just friends with Jake

He's like 'but what if she stops loving me,,,' and they're like 'dude she's literally wedding planning with your sister and mom right now please shut the fuck up'

one day they plan a beach trip to somewhere other than La Push and it's cloudy enough that Edward should be fine if he keeps a shirt on and from then on the group has a mission: See Edward Shirtless. they go to LENGTHS. switching into his gym class. spilling things on him. begging Bella to take pictures for them. Good Christian Edward(tm) is scandalized but Bella thinks it's hilarious and keeps telling them he had crazy tattoos

Edward trying to fake pop culture knowledge to fit in but it's not working so he actually has to start paying attention to shit from the current decade and now he won't stop ranting to Bella about Harry Potter and he's very invested in Britney Spears' mental health

Edward trying to decode text talk and everyone makes fun of him bc he texts like a grandpa

Edward after one joint is on a full rant about how America should have handled the Spanish Influenza- like he has a detailed list of complaints and ideas- and everyone is like 'Bella I know he's rich but he's such a nerd Are You Sure you love him' skdjjdmd

anyway. let the old man act like a teenager for once. as a treat.