#anyways im mid conversation so im going to stop complaining now cause

[voidrot-skull]

sometimes I read the name june egbert as my name and get scared for a large handful of moments because it means my name was leaked online. which it wasnt but i thought it was. and if i close my eyes i forget what i look like and i genuinely can almost only think of myself as looking like june or vriska. and if i don't have the mental image of june or vriska in my head i get really sad. connected to dysphoria definitely. did a few too many "shes literally me"-s and quite frankly i'm not going to stop because it feels really good.

[mrssabinecallas]

I Got You

No callsign this time! Reader is a civilian character.

Pairing: Robert “Bob” Floyd / Fem!Reader

In which a shy navy pilot is finally pushed by his friends to speak to the new barista at their favorite bar.

Warnings!! Fluff, mentions of a panic attack and anxiety, a really shitty ending cause im super tired but anyways

Yeah i lied about the three fic rotation, im not super into Hangman so its hard to get inspired to write for him.Rooster is def my favorite, but im really coming around to bob :))

Bob thought he was pretty tough. He may not look like it, but he could withstand a heavy force of gravity and many twists and turns at a high altitude.Yet, he lost all confidence and mental strength he had when he took one look at the new barista in the Hard Deck. 

It wasn’t just an,”Oh damn, she’s kinda cute,” look either. It felt like he got hit by a truck. And it didn’t go unnoticed by his friends. Phoenix followed his line of sight to see you serving drinks behind the bar like you were born for it. In her point of view, Bob looked absolutely dumbstruck, like a lost puppy. Everyone else seemed to take notice, too. How could they not? You were a hot new take and god knows they needed one. 

“Damn, she’s fine,” Hangman commented, and Bob shot him a look. “Woah, Baby on Board, you’re like, head over heels.” Hangman smirked.

“I... No I’m not. It’s just like you said, she’s cute,” He said, stuttering over his words. It didn’t convince anyone. 

“Whatever you say, Bob. But if you don’t make a move, I’m gonna,” Rooster claims, and Bob went red. He just shrugged silently and diverted his eyes to his shoes. His anxiety was too high to deal with their nonsense right now. 

Rooster got up and strutted over to the bar to get your attention. 

“What can I get for ya, sir?” You turned to him while making someone else’s drink. 

“Hey, could I get a beer, and let you know that my friend over there thinks your pretty cute,” He gestured over to the pool table with his head. “The one with the glasses, in the chair.”

“Well tell your friend to come over here and say hi,” you handed him his drink and replied with a welcoming smile, before turning to the next guest to serve.

When Bob heard about Rooster’s little escapade, he was embarrassed. Little did he know, you had been peeking at him from our spot at the bar. He was cute, you’d give it to him, in an adorable nerd way. His colleagues were hot, but you still found yourself looking at him as the bar died down. When he caught your stares, he turned bright red. You offered a warm smile and a little wave, and he decided he might as well say hi. 

He stood, drawing unwanted attention to himself, and walked towards you. His fellow pilots cheered him on and whistled his way, and he turned impossibly more red. 

“Hi, what can I do for-” you stopped yourself mid sentence as you looked up to find Bob. 

“H-Hi. Um, I just wanted to say hi and-” He fiddled with his fingers and pulled at the collar of his khaki uniform. “Is it hot in here? Just me?” His breathing became erratic, and he was shaking.

“Hey, c’mon, lets go get some air, it’s stuffy in here,” You grabbed him by the arm and led him out to the deck. “Hey, hey, you’re all good.” 

“S-sorry, my, uh, my anxiety is messing up, um..” he still wasn’t breathing correctly. 

“Don’t apologize, my anxiety spikes when i talk to cute guys, too. I’d be lying if i said i wasn’t anxious,” you tried to calm his nerves, but as soon as you realized what you said you were done for. 

“I- uh, didn’t mean to say that outloud, um.. But don’t be stressed. I got you.”

Eventually, his anxiety evened out, and you continued a more normal conversation. 

“Um, sorry to bring it back up, but did you mean what you said earlier.. about, um, thinking I’m cute?” He refused to look at you while saying it, but you grabbed his chin and gently guided him to look at you. 

“Yes, I did Bob.” 

Needless to say, his anxiety shot right back up, but he wasn’t complaining. He felt as if he was on cloud nine, and he couldn’t stop thinking about what you’d said. Even after you closed and he had gone home, and taken a shower and laid in bed. It rang through his head like it was all he could think about.

“I got you.”

[cacoetheswriting]

Hey there, beautiful!🌹

Can I request the prompts - 17: "Why do you hate me?", 44: "I lied" and 2: "Can I kiss you?" with Marsella from Lcdp please? Thank youu, you're the best! 🥰

hi gorgeous 💘 i hope i did your vision justice! (and im super sorry it took so long)

-

pairing: marsella x fem!reader warnings: age gap (reader is in her early to mid 20s), a swear word or two, a little self-doubt, mild arguing, forbidden love?, brief mentions of alcohol consumption word count: 1.4k summary: tasked with making sure nothing happens to you, marsella makes it known he would rather be doing anything else. but not for the reasons you may think.

-

There are many things The Professor asked Marsella to do over the years. The list got progressively longer as the seasons changed and the tasks… Well, the tasks got arguably more and more difficult. Now, it was nothing Marsella couldn’t manage. And not like he was ever going to complain or stop working for The Professor altogether. He owed the man his life. The least he could do is repay some of that debt with some grunt work.

This particular task however, this one topped them all.

When The Professor entrusted Marsella with what he described as ‘the most important undertaking he would ever assign anyone’, Marsella did not think it would involve you.

You. The Professor’s adoptive sister — younger sister at that.

It wasn’t a big deal at first. A job is a job, and this one was clearly important. And not to mention also quite simple: keep you out of harm's way. Marsella could do that. He could keep you safe.

But the more time you spent together, the worse it got.

The older man fell for you. He fell hard.

What made everything one-hundred times more insufferable was Marsella knew he could never do anything about it. He could never act on his feelings. You were off limits. The baby sister of his employer, his friend. The person he was tasked with keeping safe and instead he developed strong emotions for.

Like, fuck. If The Professor ever found out, all hell would break loose.

Therefore he did what he believed anyone in his situation would do. He distanced himself. Well, as much as he could anyway.

It was hard considering the two of you were always together. Day and night. Sharing a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, where you pranced around in clothing that left little to the imagination…

But Marsella did his best to stay clear of you.

The conversations you once held, stopped. The silly jokes and laughter ceased. If you entered the living room, he would excuse himself and leave for an extended cigarette. You no longer ate your meals together. No more card games or enjoying a cheap bottle of whiskey together. Nothing.

To you, it felt as though you were suddenly an inconvenience. Like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

And to say that simply hurt would be an understatement.

“Why do you hate me?”

The question slipped off your tongue one evening, as the older man stepped inside the apartment following one of his ‘cigarette breaks’.

“Why do you hate me?” you repeated with a little more confidence, while getting up on your feet.

Marsella’s gaze locked with yours, albeit only for a split second, the door closing behind him with a soft thud.

“I’m going to take a shower,” he grumbled.

“No,” you protested, “You’re not walking away until you answer me.”

Marsella exhaled, “Kid, let’s not do this now.”

“No, you are not blowing me off. I deserve to know what I did wrong to make you hate me so much, you have to leave the room every damn time I enter!”

He clenched his jaw at your words. He didn’t hate you, far from it. But even if he could tell you the truth, how would ever begin to explain what he was really feeling.

“What is it?! B-because maybe I can work on it, fix it somehow and then we could go back to how we were—”

“You can’t.” Marsella cut in, the tone of his voice causing tears to form in the corners of your eyes.

It took everything you had not to break down completely, “What do you mean?”

“There is nothing you can do that will change things, okay?” Marsella stated, taking a firm step towards you. “I don’t want to be here. Yes, it was fun at first but babysitting isn’t a part of my job description.”

“Oh.”

“Will you drop it now?” Marsella demanded with a raised brow, but he didn’t quite wait for a response. Instead he retreated into the bathroom, leaving you alone with your tears.

The salty droplets trailed down your cheeks as you stared at the empty corridor ahead. Everything was closing in around you. Your worst fear was in fact reality. You were an inconvenience to him. He thought of you as nothing more than a chore.

You never expected anything except for friendship. He was older than you. He was a friend of your brothers. There were so many reasons why nothing could ever happen. Yes, you thought about him all the damn time (in various capacities), threading a dangerously thin line between friends and lovers, but you knew it was wrong. So you didn’t say anything.

Never in a million years however, did you think he would hate you.

You felt sick.

You needed to get away. Be anywhere but here.

By the time the sound of running water ceased, your essentials were packed. You hastily threw a black hoodie over yourself before reaching for your backpack and heading out the front door.

The distinctive sound of the automatic lock alerted Marsella. He stepped out of the bathroom, calling your name out into the dark apartment. No answer. His first thought was you probably fell asleep, it didn’t explain the clicking of the lock but he could have just imagined it. But then he heard an engine start. His eyes snapped to the counter where his keys were usually placed. Usually.

“Shit.”

By the time he ran out into the parking lot, you were gone.

“Shit…”

-

Days passed. Days and no contact from you.

Marsella had no idea where you were or more importantly if you were okay. He had no idea if you were planning on returning, but he guessed not.

He tried to call the burner phone he gave you on numerous occasions. No answer.

Truthfully, he was beginning to lose all hope in seeing you anytime soon and was gearing up to call The Professor, tell him what went down, when his own phone rang.

“I’m just calling you to say I’m okay.”

Hearing your voice should have brought him some sort of relief, but it didn’t. You were still out there all alone, in danger, and it was all his fault. He should have just been honest with you from the start. No matter the consequences.

“I lied,” Marsella exclaimed, “I didn’t mean what I said.”

“You’re just saying that to get me to come back.” A hint of annoyance in your tone, masking the hurt. “Look, I ain’t coming back. We’re both better off alone.”

“y/n…” he sighed, nervously running a hand through his hair, “I-I need you here.”

“Why?” you questioned, “I was a chore and now I’m not. You can run free. You don’t gotta be my glorified babysitter anymore.”

“Didn’t you hear what I just said? I lied.”

“Whatever you say, but your behaviour prior matched your words so forgive me if I don’t believe you.”

“y/n—”

“Goodbye.”

“Wait! Don’t, please don’t hang up.”

Pause.

“Give me one good—”

“I think I love you.”

Silence. The air caught in your throat, his words leaving you speechless. On the other end of the line, you could hear his ragged breathing. Begging, aching for a response.

He was about to ask you to say something, anything, but the line went dead. The long beep signalising the end of the call unpleasantly tugged at his heartstrings.

-

A faint “hey” hailed Marsella back to reality. The unlit cigarette between his fingers fell to the ground as his eyes caught yours.

“W-what are you doing here?”

“You asked me to come back, so uhm, so here I am.”

Marsella licked his lips before the corners twirled upwards into a faint smile.

The bag you were holding found itself at your feet as your arms made their way around his neck, your fingertips gently tugging at his hair. Marsella’s shaky hands made home on your waist. He gave you a light squeeze before shifting them slowly to the small of your back. Your whole body instantly relaxed, your muscles became loose and you let yourself sag completely into his affectionate embrace.

“Did you mean what you said—”

You began to whisper into his neck, but couldn’t quite muster any sort of coherent sentence. Partially because you were distracted by the scent of his cologne, and partially because you were afraid to get hurt again.

He broke the embrace. Eyes searching yours as if he was reading a treasure map and his hands cupped your cheeks ever so delicately, “Can I kiss you?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

-

masterlist | add yourself to a taglist

[zanecosh]

’ ･ﾟ : 👽  : ･.  INTRODUCTION — Zane Wancosh  .･: 👽 :･ﾟ ’

⌠ CHANCE PERDOMO, TWENTY-ONE, CISMALE, HE/HIM ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, ZANE WANCOSH! according to their records, they’re a FIRST year, specializing in MEDICAL TRAINING; and they DID NOT go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of (sunglasses in every imaginable color, serenading ‘ my heart will go on ‘ loudly at 4 am, finger guns to the pals and the gals). when it’s the (aries)’s birthday on 04/18/1999, they always request their FRENCH FRIES WITH GRAVY from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation.

tw; drugs, jail/prison ??, alcohol

PAST but not rlly since i always had to mention what it did to him

- Zane was raised in Ottawa, Canada .. something he is very proud of and will mention a billion times as soon as he gets to know someone -- he will also deliberately say ‘ eh ? ‘ to let people know b ut we all know he ain’t sleek !!

- His parents had always been a loving bunch so he grew up receiving so much affection and attention that he now is a little FULL of himself but only because he seeks love and won’t stop until someone provides it for him im srry i didn’t make the law

.- So given his upbringing he’s always been the completely affectionate type, having his hands everywhere all the time and achING for hugs and small things like hand holding or just a pat  on the shoulder like he is seriously convinced that if he doesn’t get at least four hugs a day he will die a painful, lonely death

- So in addition to that, he had always been a very active, youthful and energetic kid which was pretty much something he got from his dad since he sort of kept things playful and always did the best that he could while his mom was on the stricter side but instead knew how to teach him things that were important !!

- So growing up he always made friends very easily because of how open he was ( except that time when he brought this girl home at the age of 7 because he thought she’d make a cool pet ) and because he was always vERY friendly, even if he had a tendency to be too nice at times and just got upset when people didn’t like him ?? which is honestly still the case

- Of course he loved being popular which is kind of his aspiration in most things nowadays?? he seeks to be liked so much it’s sometimes a lil sad but he will legitamately try anything to make you his friend and he wont care if ur bothered because at least then he’ll get a reaction out of you !! but yeah it’s something he never really learned bc he’s used to getting validated from his parents so he genuinely doesn’t COMPREHEND meanness ://

- It was when he was around ten ( 10 )  years old when his dad randomly moved to New York ?? which was honestly super scary to him but his mother assured him that it was for a special job which was definitely weird for him because that was the only thing she ever said when he asked her about his father and ofc zane wasn’t dumb just a little idiotic !!

- They still visited his father often where Zane was able to get to know America and New York a little better, which he definitely enjoyed even though he sort of preferred Canada always because he likes snow a lot and the fact that it kind of melts when you pee on it but anyway he was getting a bit more suspicious as he grew older

- Then on his sixteenth birthday he was able to visit his dad once more to which he then was revealed that his dad was the ring leader of a spy business !! WOW to which Zane was baffled of course bc his dad ??? who tripped over his 7th birthday cake because Zane saw a squirrel and started to chase it ?? exactly !!

- So of course, Zane wanted to start working there !! Not only because of curiosity but school was kind of boring ( ngl ) and he missed his dad a lot so while his mother was not happy about his choice at all she always believed in people doing whatever they wanted so without much time passing the male moved to New York and started working for his father !!

- it was quickly noticiable that Zane wasn’t great at spy work, considering he was incredibly clumsy and was always distracted by everything and almost shot off his left toe ONCE okay it was only onCE !! Anyway his father got a little frustrated with his chaotic energy so he gave him the jobs were he was usually with someone else so they could babysit him which was honestly better for him too bc he could make friends !!

-  So when he was around 19 that’s when he got to know his boy Landon, his main squeeze, one could even say the love of his life ( only he would say that ) but they immediately vibed with Landon being his driver even though they lowkey ended up doing stuff that completely wasn’t what his dad wanted but Zane was honestly just loving life and just doing a bit of shady stuff with his buddies was bonding ??

- HOWEVER NOT ALL THINGS CAN BE SUNSHINE AND CAKE; so they often kind of got into trouble ?? they were good at hiding and sort of running from the cops a couple of times but honestly not that much of a big deal as Zane would say but once upon a time, these assholes rlly got caught ahead of their time to which Landon then got away in time with someone from Gallagher helping while Zane honestly didn’t know what was happening n got caught ??

- To which he then ended up in jail for a year !! love carrying contraband while being high as fuck !! anyway, it was a very self reflecting time . even though he sort of learned nothing ?? anyway not even his dad could bail him out, only shorten the time if he in return joined Gallagher, a school where he would learn how to behave and use his spy knowledge to some good instead of just causing trouble !!

- Which he honestly didn’t vibe with so much because he was kind of scared of these spy kids ?? legit all of them could kill them w a look he wasn’t sure was his dad was thinking but that’s also why he chose medicial training, in order to not get hurt and if he did, he would be able to take care of himself which honestly wasn’t that much of a help when he was about to bonk this girl but ended up hitting his dick against the ground as they rolled around ?? he doesn’t wanna talk about it

- Anyway, he sort of grew into Gallagher for the most part, since he is a very adaptable person in general and was looking forward to making friends with people who were way cooler than him which was honestly a plus !! he just vibing y’all there ain’t no problem at all at all

PERSONALITY & LITTLE QUIRKS

- He’s super chaotic and all over the place, loves talking about anything and everything and sort of philophises over the most mundane things because its fun to talk about life y’all

- He has a super colorful taste in clothing and decoration and is pretty extraordinary in most things in life, whether its sunglasses or flowers on his backpack and shirts and stuff that’s way too big

- Is a slow talker and also doesn’t understand people who talk fast

- Has a habit of interrupting people mid-conversation and doesn’t realize that it could appear rude

- Loves everyone, is also super affectionate and always has an arm around his friends or will at least ask for conSENT bc that matters to him but he will most likely touch u some type of way im sorry

- Probably because he is super fidgety too, he legit has his hands everywhere all the time because he doesn’t like to stay still

- Somewhat of a class clown and certainly does not enjoy studying or any school related work so he’s kind probably always on the verge of failing ?? idk how he does it you guys

- will fist bump you but will also grab your ass

- Just wants to chill most of the time but somehow still always stressed

- Is a party ANIMAL like if there is a party, he’s there and probably drunk and high before the party even starts ?? in general i don’t think he’s been sober a day since he turned 18 who the fuck knows

- Will probably trip and fall everywhere as a drunk but he just laughs about it the second day, like he says if he doesn’t get hurt it won’t be a good party and i honestly worry about him and i’m not sure how he’s still alive

- does the peace sign way too often

- could be considered a sunny boy but since he’s from cold ass Canada he loves snow way much more and the cold for some reason

- has the biggest potty mouth like he doesn’t even realize he’s swearing

- is extremely honest like he will just stand there listening to someone complain and be like well that’s a bitch

-  also huge flirt and also catches feelings fast and will mostly say it outright when he falls for someone like boy has seriously no shame ?? he will feel the heartbreak but he believes he can deal with it better than questioning it all the time and if they feel the same he will just loVE

- he also might be polyamerous he doesn’t know it yet bc he’s never had that many chances but he just likes to love whatever

- his head is everywhere and nowhere at the same time so it’s possible that he doesn’t make sense 80% of the time

- has tattoos that don’t make sense at all, i like to refer pewdiepie or uhhhh what’s his name uhhhh kURTIS CONNER ?? im too lazy to fact check i been writing this for an hour let me be

- knows how to juggle and thinks that’s that probably the coolest skill he’s ever learned

- has two earthworms that he got during a biology project back in high school who have been in his possession for six years now ?? ( i checked they live for four to eight ) he loves them to death ok their names are Niall and Liam ....... ( yes he was an 1D stan don’t confront him about them he’ll cry )

- is very superficial, loves the horoscope and believes in like bad luck and stuff like that, will scold u if u don’t listen to him rant about unlucky things !!

/ @gallagherintro

[victortortor]

jc/lwj fic snippets

this one was called ‘im just a housewife’ 

-- 

“North,” Lan Wangji says, “Near Qinghe.”

Jiang Cheng taps his finger on the table as he looks down at the map. “That’s not even remotely close. You really can’t let it go this one time?”

It’s a rhetorical question. Of course he won’t let it go. It’s not in Lan Wangji’s nature to forget about something just because someone asks.

He watches as Lan Wangji bows his head to this. Even though they both know that he’s going no matter what, they always have to go through this first— Lan Wangji will always come asking for permission.

“I’m not your keeper,” Jiang Cheng says, a feeling of deja vu washing over him. They’ve had this discussion very often. “You can come and go whenever you want.”

That’s not what Lan Wangji wants him to say. He keeps waiting.

“If you want to go, you should go,” Jiang Cheng says.

“...”

He clicks his tongue. “Lan Wangji, don’t make this difficult.”

He still doesn’t answer. 

Jiang Cheng frown turns even deeper, and even Lan Wangji’s unhappiness is beginning to show on his somber, handsome face. Neither of them like the situation.

“The request came from the north watchtower in Yunmeng Jiang’s territory,” Lan Wangji says. “But not to Qinghe Nie, or even Lanling Jin. If even such a faraway sect was called, then it must be important.”

Perhaps, but importance is relative. If no other sect has answered this plea, then it must be so incredibly unimportant that none were willing to take care of it. Jiang Cheng certainly won’t be sending anyone to resolve this issue. But Lan Wangji is the type of cultivator that puts no interest in scale of calamity. He’ll go wherever he’s called.

It’s easier for Jiang Cheng to deflect, or say go if you want. That way, it’s still Lan Wangji’s choice. He has to make the decision. But Lan Wangji never accepts it when he says that. He always makes it Jiang Cheng’s choice, and they both already know what he’s going to say in the end.

If you leave now, you won’t be back in time.  I’ll send someone else. Just stay this once.

He says, “You can go.”

“But tomorrow,” he adds quickly. “It’s already evening. You’ll have to stay the night.”

—

They eat a meal together in relative silence. Jiang Cheng sends the attendants away, and Lan Wangji quickly gets up to sit beside him, so that their shoulders brush and their knees bump once. They’re both squeezed right in front of one small, square table meant for one person.

“Use your own table,” Jiang Cheng says, annoyed. “Do you want to share a bowl or something? If you have to sit right there, just bring it over with you.”

“Alright.”

Sitting facing one another is ideal when one wishes to have a conversation. It’s easier to see each other’s faces. But Lan Wangji dislikes small talk, and Jiang Cheng just isn’t very good at it. So it’s fine if they sit like that, close enough that they’ll brush past each other.

The food is good.

Before nine, they take a small stroll through Yunmeng. The town is bustling; everyone preparing for an upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. The mood is light, cheerful. The Yunmeng Jiang disciples are fooling about in the streets and making a nuisance of themselves, yet Jiang Cheng doesn’t even have the heart to tell them off.

Lan Wangji sees it, too. He begins to call for their attention, but Jiang Cheng grabs him by the arm. “Don’t.”

“... Why not?”

Jiang Cheng ignores the question. His hand slips downwards, from Lan Wangji’s bicep to his hand, and walks on, dragging the other man behind him.

They walk along the near side of the lake perimeter, where fishing boats line the dock and lanterns bob up and down in the water. They take their time.

“You think I’m upset,” He says waspishly, after a moment. “I’m not.”

Lan Wangji squeezes his hand.

“I said you could go, so you should go without regrets. You’ve been frowning the entire evening. Don’t look so unhappy all the time.”

“Mm.”

Of course, it’s not like Jiang Cheng is unbothered by it either. But Lan Wangji doesn’t point it out, because he’s kind in that way. All that would that would do is cause irritation.

“They haven’t put up much of the  yet, but it’s close enough,” Jiang Cheng says. “You kept your promise, alright? I’ll accept this.”

“Mm.”

Their evening ends like this: they slip into bed together, somewhere between pleased and unhappy and warm— it’s no longer summer, and the nights are cool enough for them to lay a bit closer.

“Jiang Cheng,” Lan Wangji whispers.

“What?” 

“Sorry.”

Jiang Cheng pats his shoulder in the dark and replies gruffly, “There’s nothing to apologize for.”

—

(\\uh flashback begins i guess)

While the husband heads off, the wife stays behind. She manages the home and the children, and waits for her husband to return to her.

More than three years before this, Lan Wangji is to leave again, and Jiang Cheng has this particular though cross his mind. Leading a sect is nothing like managing a household, but still he blurts out, “I’ll come with you.”

Lan Wangji turns to him in surprise, and he forges on, “You said it was close to Gusu? I needed to see your brother anyway.”

In truth, he was going to go in about a month, but Lan Wangji doesn’t need to know that. When he fails to respond, Jiang Cheng arches a brow and says pointedly, “Unless you’d prefer to go alone, then I’ll find some other time.”

“Please.” Lan Wangji walks up to him and grabs him. He hugs him, and perhaps that’s the first indication that he’s as unhappy with this development as Jiang Cheng.

It’s three years ago, see, and they’re new to this. Still in the process of trying to explain oneself to the other, but Jiang Cheng is beginning to note that it just won’t work with them— they’re both incapable of explaining their thoughts clearly.

The only solution is to simply let their actions talk for them. Lan Wangji is very good at this step.

Jiang Cheng brushes him away carefully after an appropriate amount of time. “When were you planning on departing?”

“Tonight.”

“That works for me.”

Despite being brushed off, Lan Wangji leans forward again and takes his hand. He doesn’t seem to inclined to let go anytime soon. Clingy. He must be happy.

Jiang Cheng hadn’t realized it mattered to much to him.

They leave that evening quietly, without much fanfare. 

—

Lan Wangji is the sort of person that leaves no traces where he walks, quite literally. Traveling by sword becomes monotonous, eventually. They both take a moment to travel on foot— to which Jiang Cheng notices that even Lan Wangji’s footprints seem light, like they’ll fade in minutes, or at the slightest blow of the wind. There’s not a trace of dirt on his boots.

There’s no visible dirt on Jiang Cheng’s either, but that’s just because his boots are a far more sensible color.

“Is there something wrong?” Lan Wangji asks when Jiang Cheng spends too long staring down.

“No,” he responds brusquely while looking up. “Nothing.”

Lan Wangji doesn’t seem to believe him, tilting his head inquisitively. He reaches out to pat Jiang Cheng on the cheek.

“What are you doing.” It’s more of a statement than a question.

Instead of answering properly, Lan Wangji brings up both his hands and pulls Jiang Cheng’s lips up with his thumbs. He holds the position for a bit, looking at him

“Of course,”

(\\ i dont remember what they were doing here probably like bridal carry on a sword like a real couple but unfortunately jiang cheng is allergic to pda)

It’s absolutely juvenile. He feels like a youth fooling around, and he makes it clear to Lan Wangji. “This is ridiculous,” he says through gritted teeth.

Lan Wangji states, “You don’t like it.”

“Obviously. I feel silly,” Jiang Cheng says. “Put me down, we’re not doing this.”

Lan Wangji gently lowers him back onto the ground, and Jiang Cheng grimaces when he looks a bit crestfallen. Perhaps he’s made things awkward, by protesting. 

(\\ flashback finale, they found the bad guy and tricked him through a lot of self-indulgent disguising themselves as each other aka. the wearing your s/o’s clothes trope)

“You— you aren’t Lan Wangji!”

“Should I congratulate you for having eyes?” Jiang Cheng snaps, and pulls out Bichen. 

(\\bad guy should say “if ur not lwj who are you???!!!

(\\ and i have no idea what led up to this but jc is somehow so pissed he ends up saying “im his fucking wife!!)

(\\ i think jcs being like “time to torture him lol”)

Jiang Cheng says very evenly, “Go wait outside.”

“No.”

“Lan Wangji,” he warns, “You won’t like it. You should wait outside.”

Lan Wangji shakes his head. “I’ll stay.”

(\\ uuuh idk just wanted him to say “would you like for me to step on you”)

“You?” Jiang Cheng sneers. “And who could you possibly be? If you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re no one. You’ll never be anyone. You’re trash at my feet. Why should I pay you any mind?”

The man sobs as he screams, “I made you! I was the one! I made you bleed! I wanted it, and it happened!”

“And what would you like next, for me to step on you?”

(\\end flashback)

In the morning, they wake. It is not yet dawn, and Jiang Cheng is roused by Lan Wangji moving the covers.

He pulls himself upright. His back is stiff; he fell asleep in an odd position. While he arches and stretches wearily, Lan Wangji dresses himself, then hands Jiang Cheng’s own neatly folded outer robes over.

“Thanks,” he mutters as he hurriedly puts it on, moving on to tying up his hair, only for Lan Wangji to carefully remove his hands from their work, and taking it for himself.

The first time Lan Wangji had done this, Jiang Cheng had snapped at him to leave it alone. He really doesn’t need someone to tie his hair for him. Now he doesn’t even bother to complain. Still, it doesn’t stop him from attempting to braid it himself first.

Another meal. It similar to the one from the night before. And as soon as it is over, Lan Wangji will go.

Jiang Cheng takes him to entrance of the Lotus Pier, then gestures outwards. “Go on. I’ll see you in a week.”

Lan Wangji turns to him, carefully watching him. He could say, I’ll miss you. He could apologize. Neither of those things will be accepted by Jiang Cheng, so nothing is said. But still, he pauses, as if feeling that “nothing” will not suffice.

“Lan Wangji, are you a cultivator or not?” Jiang Cheng demands. “Go off and do what you need to do.”

Lan Wangji visibly hesitates once more, and he almost smacks him. So ridiculous! It’s not a big deal, what’s wrong with him?

Instead of smacking him though, he fixes up Lan Wangji’s already neat appearance. Smoothing out his smooth hair, untwisting his untwisted forehead ribbon, un-creasing his un-creased clothes.

“Don’t be such a fool,” he says, a bit softer than he intends. “I’ll still be here when you get back.”

—

Jin Ling arrives a few hours after Lan Wangji’s departure, ready to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival in Yunmeng. He finds his uncle working through a pile of papers, and upon looking around he says, “Uncle, I’m here. Where’s Hanguang-jun?”

“He left,” Jiang Cheng replies shortly. “The Qinghe Nie Sect is slacking off, as usual. He went off to go resolve some incident with a yao there.”

Jin Ling opens his mouth to protest, But that’s so far away! He’ll miss— but surely his uncle already knows. He thinks on it for a moment, trying to find something to say. “... You went night-hunting with Hanguang-jun before, right? Why don’t you go again?”

“Do you think I’m so free that I can just flounce off to wherever I want like him?” Jiang Cheng retorts. The fact that he’s still working even now is only further testament.

Jin Ling knows him too well to miss the wistful undertone, so he says cautiously, “Then… why won’t Hanguang-jun just stay here?” With you? “Half of the things he goes off to eradicate, they’re not even a big deal.”

Jiang Cheng looks up sharply from whatever report he’s been given to sign, and Jin Ling ducks his head and fiddles with nothing. They both know he’s thinking about what a family should be— a mother, father, maybe a child, living together, happily.

However, that doesn’t even remotely resemble the life Jiang Cheng has.

“If he’s happy not settling down in a single place,” he says, “Then it’s fine that he should do that.”

“But—” Jin Ling cuts himself off when Jiang Cheng glares at him.

“He’s the sort of person who hates sitting still when there’s still more he can do,” he says with finality. “If I really told him to stay, he’d be unsatisfied.”

Lan Wangji will always go wherever he needs to go. He’ll always do what he thinks is right. Jiang Cheng can respect that.

Perhaps he even loves him for it.

-- 

when i say rereading fma made me write this it wont make much sense (i wanted jiang cheng to be the unholy combination of izumi curtis and winry rockbell) but anyway welcome to zhancheng hell

[peachyzens]

street busker! seokmin au

street busker! seokmin au

genre: fluff, slice of life summary: there is always something that’s pulling you back to the bustling streets of hongdae at night-the lights, the booths, the foods, the sweet sounds of well-known busker! seokmin. (2,218 words) a/n: here is the second member for this seventeen part time job series! i’ll make a masterlist for it eventually lmao masterlist for this series can be found here! but my general masterlist can be found here! 

we all know seokmin can sing

and he knows it too which is why!!!! he busks at night and sometimes during the day all over seoul

he’s pretty famous within the busking scene, you probably walked past him a couple times because he busks like everywhere

when he goes busking, it’s solely a one man show

he’ll have his laptop out occasionally, but most of the time he’s sitting on a wooden box that he uses to create the beat too

he tried to sing and play guitar at the same time but it didn’t work out

“IT’S TOO MUCH MULTITASKING!!!” he would complain

but he can manage to keep up the beat with his box LOl

anyways onto you!!!

you worked the basic 9-5 job at some banking office place

it definitely wasn’t your ideal job, but it sufficed for the time being

so when you would get dragged by your coworkers to nightly outings

you would often find yourself walking down the streets of hongdae

although you didn’t want anything else but to go home and sleep it was nice

to feel the cool fresh night air, to eat all the unhealthy street food there was ugh im hungry

your group would even stop occasionally to watch some of the performances going on the street!

whether it would be some guy doing magic tricks, a group of kids performing, or a man doing a mime show

going along the street, you guys saw a particularly large crowd

and just like those other people, you guys went in to see what the fuss was about

much to your disgrace since you didn’t like large groups of people

so you snuck around the crowd to find yourself behind a tree, which was actually right behind the performer LOL

even though you couldn’t see him you could hear his voice

and oh honey

if you could fall in love with a voice you just did

he was singing a song called “say yes” and you were definitely saying yes!!!

you actually teared up because you got that into it

but before you could manage to see the owner of the voice your coworkers found you and starting taking you somewhere else

but we all know that the voice was seokmin’s

and then for the rest of the night you were bitter since you weren’t able to find the owner of the voice that made you cry

you just want to greet the singer and let them know what talent they have and how appreciated they are :( soft

even the next day at work, you would find yourself humming the words to say yes and it was driving you crazy!!!

that voice was just stuck in your head but you didn’t mind

you just wanted to know who it belonged to!!!

so more days go by and you are still wondering about that voice

fast forward a couple of weeks and you are on the phone with a customer, trying to solve the problems with their account

and while you were typing in their information, they started singing softly

it was the type of singing you do unconsciously

and at first you just ignored because being on the phone with all sorts of people you hear all sorts of things

a person unconsciously singing like this wasn’t new to you

BUT THEN

you recognized the song they were singing!!!!

they were singing say yes and you internally screamed

it’s been awhile since you thought of the mysterious busker boy and suddenly the emotions HIT you again

so you were trying not to cry as this man was singing without realizing it as you were also trying to pull up his account information

“um sir?” you spoke, trying to sound as normal as possible

“huh?” he sounded surprised, as if he was just snapped out of a daze

“that song…i love that song”

“what song??” he asked, seriously confused

you lightly chuckled because it seems like he really did not realize that he was singing

“say yes, i don’t if you realized it but you were singing it” you explained, which made him gasp

“oh my gosh i’m so sorry i always do that and it drives my friends crazy but i can’t help it i-“ he was cut off by your soft chuckles

“no worries sir, but i have your account information now!”

insert account information talk

“alright, is there anything else I can help you with?”

“nope! you’ve already helped plenty, thank you!” you could almost hear the smile in his voice and it made you smile too

“alright then, have a good day, mr. lee seokmin!”

and you hung up

the man was definitely an interesting case that moved you more than any other customer, probably since he was singing a song you were basically obsessed with

you just assumed he was some other passerby that discovered the song during the singer’s busking session

BUT LITTLE DID YOU KNOW ;)

one day after work you found yourself wandering the same streets you discovered the mysterious singer

you were wide awake surprisingly, which is how you found yourself strolling up and down the streets

you were surrounded by couples or groups of friends, but they didn’t matter in your eyes

you didn’t want to admit it but yes you were looking for the busker boy

so whenever you found a crowd you wiggled your way through, only to be met with disappointment after hearing different voices

even when you went to the tree they performed at before, you found the area empty

so you came to the conclusion that it was a one time thing and that person was probably never going to come back

causing you to drown your sorrows in street food

seokmin, on the other hand, decided to busk on a different street that night

which explains why you didn’t see him

but your dramatic ass just jumped to conclusions that you were never going to find him again!

which is why you don’t go to hongdae for awhile

you didn’t even know why you were so emotional over a voice

you were never obsessed with anything else like this

so to get the voice out of your head, you tried listening to all sorts of music

ballads, mainly

yet in your opinion none of them could compare to the voice you heard that one night

so when you are walking from the grocery store after work back home, you see a small crowd formed in a park

out of curiosity you went to check the scene out

you barely made it to the crowd when you just stopped dead in your steps, dropping one of your bags

IT WAS HIM!!!

the mysterious busker boy you’ve been searching for but lost all hope of finding, he was here!!! singing in your neighborhood!!!!

this time you were glad you were alone because you could stay and listen as long as you want, in which you did

you followed the grocery bag on the floor as you just sat down right there, leaving your grocery bags around you

they were mid song, and it was a different song this time

so you just sat there, as people would come in and out of the crowd

you sat there with your eyes closed, fully immersing yourself into the emotion the singer was outputting

you almost didn’t realize that the whole crowd dispersed, as the busker was done for the night and actually packing up

you still sat there with your eyes closed even though he wasn’t singing anymore

you finally opened your eyes when you heard someone clearing their throat in front of you

you saw a man that stood tall in front of you, a backpack on his back with messy ash hair that would occasionally fall into his eyes

“um, are you ok? it isn’t really safe for you to sit out here like that, with your eyes closed and groceries everywhere and all” they spoke in an awkward tone

finally snapping back to reality, you noticed that the crowd was gone and it was only you and that guy in the park

immediately you stood up

“yeah, i’m fine thanks for asking. by any chance, were you the singer?” you asked nervously, shifting your weight from one foot to another

“yep! that’s me” he spoke with a blinding smile, one you found yourself staring at for too much

“wow, oh my goodness can i just say something to you? boy, you have a talent!!! i heard you first at hongdae awhile back singing say yes and i actually cried a bit!” you started to ramble, and you noticed his cheeks started to turn pink “and when i couldn’t find you again i lost hope that it was a one time thing, but here you are again!! i just wanted to let you know how talented you are, and that i really appreciate you!!! for touching my heart like that” you finished your gushing, staring at him with pink cheeks

his cheeks were burning red by then

“wow, thank you!! i don’t even know how to respond to that, most of the time when people talk to me after a performance they’re asking me to sign a contract or something” he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly

“i mean, you could totally make it as a ballad singer!! you brought the emotions in me, you could probably bring it out in a million others!!”

“yeah, that’s what everybody says, but i don’t know, i’m not really down for the celebrity life, i like the simple life i live right now” he spoke, surprising you

“that’s understandable, well you should just follow your heart! and just know that you are always appreciated for what you do” you ended with a smile, one he found himself smiling back to

you both weren’t paying attention to the fact that you guys were having a deep conversation in the middle of a park at night, with not even knowing each others names

“thank you for that, it’s really nice to hear. by the way, my name is lee seokmin!” he held his hand out, one you held to shake

and just like his aura, his hand was warm

“my name is y/n-wait a minute, i know that name!!!” the thought hit you

“you do??” he stared at you, slightly surprised or slightly afraid

“yeah, but i can’t remember where??? i just know that name” you stared down at your shoes, lightly kicking the rocks in hoping you would remember

then the light bulb went off!

“I remember!! you called pledis banking awhile ago!! i was on the line with you, and you were singing say yes without knowing! it was because of you that i got more caught up on that song and your voice!!!” you announced, pleasantly surprising him

he was surprised at how good your memory was

“wow, i’m surprised you remembered that”

“it’s hard to forget someone like you” you said, not realizing what you said until you noticed his burning face

cue you cursing yourself in your head for making things awkward

“wow would you look at the time!!! i have to get home before these groceries go bad see ya ! ! !” you were ready to dash before you heard seokmin call out a wait

“i didn’t get your name” he spoke after you stopped to hear him out

“y/n, it’s y/n” you spoke before FINALLY dashing away

once you got home you placed your groceries on the counter before slumping on your sofa, thinking about your interaction with the boy

you grabbed the nearest pillow and squealed into it, half cringing half giggling over him

seokmin was also in a similar situation, only he was ranting to his roommate over you instead

“they said they appreciate me!!! they didn’t wait for me to finish to offer me a contract, they just wanted to tell me that they appreciate me!!!” he would gush

“yeah yeah your great now can you wash the dishes?” unamused seungcheol would respond

but either way you both were having a teensy crush on each other

seokmin found himself busking at that park more often now, hoping you would stop by again

and you would definitely stop by, hearing his voice on your walk home never failed to make you divert your direction to him

and just like the first night you guys met, you would be the last one there for him, to remind him how great he did and how amazing he was :,)

then he would walk you home, the conversation flowing out like a waterfall between you guys

and naturally you guys became closer, and that crush the each of you had on each other also grew

and when the time is right, seokmin confesses to you with a self-written song he performs at the same spot you first heard him on hongdae, causing you to burst with emotions and share a passionate hug and spontaneous kiss with him after he finished

the cheering of the crowd couldn’t cover the beating sounds of your guys heart, as you finally fell in love with more than a voice ❤️

OOF that ended up being longer than expected 

[jewishangus]

you are my sunshine (a.k.a the fix you’ve all been waiting for)

hello and welcome to your daily afternoon news, its eden “jewishangus” adventurezone from fantasy wikileaks, and boy do i have news for you!

remember @inkedinserendipity ? remember that hell fic she wrote a couple days ago? you know, the one without a fix? well, seren’s a dirty stinkin’ liar, and she wrote a fix. unfortunately, our girl seren couldn’t do one thing right and didn’t fucking finish it, so, as the sole recipient of this fix, i took it upon myself to write the 2.5k words i apparently needed to get the goddamn thing done. i have no idea whether it fit her original vision or not? but as far as im concerned, this is canon. how do i know?

that’s how i know. i’ve done it, kids. i’ve got your fix. itll be under the cut, along with some extra screenshots for photographic evidence. 

let’s hope i do this massive hit some justice, shall we?

so. here’s the news story:

seren told me about this hit a few days before she posted it. how? idk. im from fantasy wikileaks, i have my ways. (just kidding, all i did was sacrifice my nap to the sleep demons. they rewarded me with this wonderful hit we all love so much. never making a deal with those assholes ever again.)

but anyways, while she did that, i was very generously promised a fix - a fix she later gave to me once she published the hit - and here it is (if you can’t read the screenshot, the text will come later on):

as much as the later piece she sent was wonderful, i ended up going with the former, as you’ll later see.

immediately after, she said this:

(haha, seren, serves you right), and then i promptly went to sleep for the night. the next day, we debated fixes for a bit:

and i officially got the go-ahead, as well as some important information. the conversation, of course, escalated from there, no thanks to tess and her angst, but thats all irrelevant. 

you want this fix, don’t you? well, take it.

When Lup and Barry come back from the ten-year celebrations, there’s something different about Kravitz. Nothing they can pin down, just — he smiles less. Frowns less. Emotes less, in general. Barry remarks to Lup that it’s the most dead they’ve ever seen him.

They don’t put the pieces together until Lup realizes it’s been two months since Kravitz has asked after Taako. Before, he would ask every other week.

She hated it, those ten years. Every time he asked she would be forced to look him in the eye, knowing there was a part of him dedicated to her brother, a love he carried that he would never return, and tell him he meant nothing.

She asks, “Are you okay?”

Kravitz says, in this new way of his, flat and toneless, “Fine.”

“It’s just — you haven’t asked about Taako in a while.”

Kravitz cocks his head at her and asks, “Taako?”

“My brother,” she says, “your — ”

Beside her, Barry hisses a gasp between clenched teeth. Lup doesn’t realize she’s balled her hands into fists until her nails break skin.

“Well,” she bites, “your nothing, now.”

Lup awakes to a quiet chirp.

At first she thinks it’s a raven. It’s hardly uncommon for their Queen to send them missives, whether tied to the raven’s foot or pried from their beaks. But when she peers groggily toward the window she sees nothing.

Another chirp, by her chest. She looks forward and yelps to find a silvery mongoose, head cocked, nosing at her collarbone.

“What the fuck,” she whispers.

It perks up at the sound of her voice, butts at her chin. It’s not solid, and its brush against her skin doesn’t feel like fur but rather a whisper of rain, a deep chill. She shivers and sits up, cradling the mongoose in her two hands.

It looks up at her and chirps insistently.

“What are you?”

The mongoose bounds around her hands, spinning in circles as if chasing its own tail, before leaping from her cupped hands and onto Barry’s chest.

“No — ” she blurts, but it just butts up against Barry’s nose, pressing tiny paws against his lips.

“Lup?”

“It’s not me,” she says, handing him his glasses. There’s something...familiar about this, whatever it is. Something lost. Something just now found.

“What is that?”

“Don’t know.”

“It looks like....”

Barry looks at her. “It looks like a soul, Lup.”

“But not a complete one. It’s too tiny.” She picks it up again, studying it carefully. “Way too small.”

There’s silence for a moment as they both think. “Can I see it?”

“Sure.” Lup passes it off to him, and he cradles it carefully, smoothing back its fur.

“Lup,” Barry says, “this is Kravitz’s.”

It chirps excitedly at the name, paws skittering along Barry’s arm as it races to curl on his shoulder. A near-constant stream of chirring issues from the mongoose as it looks at Lup intently, brushing its tail against Barry’s jaw, intelligence bright in its keen eyes. Then it bounds off of Barry’s shoulder and in one fluid motion, scrambles out the door.

Lup’s already shrugging on her robe. Barry stumbles into proper footwear, dons his own, adjusts his glasses on his nose. They take each other’s hands as they leave.

They follow the mongoose out of the house, a little ways down the lane, before it disappears.

“Okay,” Barry says. “That — probably isn’t supposed to happen.”

It reappears just as quickly as it had vanished and chirps impatiently at them before disappearing again.

“I think it’s going to the Astral Plane,” Lup says, and manifests her scythe. She tears between the planes and steps through and, sure enough, on the other side waits the mongoose.

author’s note: that was seren’s bit, and here’s mine:

It keeps looking back at them as they follow it, scurrying across the Astral Plane’s beaches only to occasionally stop and turn its tiny head around and nod at them before continuing — it’s the first time, after all these years, that Barry doesn’t stop to take in the view of the sea in front of him — but, despite its worries, they follow it safely to a small door behind the stockade, where it stops one last time before chirping to them impatiently.

When Barry sees the door, his face goes beet-red. “How the fuck did you know this was here?” The mongoose chirps again, getting a laugh from Lup, and Barry stammers in an attempt to explain. “Like. This is Kravitz, right? It’s a part of Kravitz’s soul.”

“Yeah? What about it?” Lup prompts him to keep going mid-giggle.

“Lup, how does he know?”

“What, that you have a secret lab in the back of the stockade? Let’s face it, that’s a pretty open secret at this point.” She slips her hand in his pocket and pulls out the key, unlocking the door and watching the mongoose scurry in as Barry stands there in slightly over-exaggerated shock.

“But—I didn’t even tell—“

“Come on, Bear,” She drops a kiss on his cheek, causing him to blush further, before taking his hand as she steps forward, jolting him out of his (definitely fake) shock as she pulls him. “Krav won’t wait forever, won’t he?”

They follow the mongoose through the (very long, Lup complains every time) hallways that lead to Barry’s lab, passing by the old storage rooms full of broken necromantic artifacts and through the illusory wall that disguises the entrance to the lab itself; Lup laughs as the mongoose sniffs the magic around them and recoils at the stench, and Barry sighs as he taps his wand against the key, changing its form slightly, and holds the door open as the two enter. Barry can’t help but notice how the mongoose runs to his desk, pawing at the drawers as if trying to climb the thing, before glancing upward, noticing Lup staring at the very new, very unfamiliar thing that sits where he had cleaned a couple weeks before.

“Barry— is that— those are—“

“Lup, I swear I wasn’t the one who brought these—“

“Barold J. Bluejeans, I swear on the Raven Queen, if you had these in the lab this whole time and waited for the fuckin’ soul mongoose to let me know, I would have kicked your ass into the Soul Sea.” She breaks into almost a relieved, hysterical kind of laughter; one that in all these years, he can count the amount of times he had heard on one hand. “Taako’s soul shard is in there!!!”

“I know it is.” He smiles at her, and she smiles at him, still breathing through her laughter.

“We can find Taako’s soul piece, and put it back together, and—“

“I know—“

“We’ll make it right, babe.”

“Yeah, we will.” He walks towards his desk, spinning the mangled ball of soul shards around and listening to its mix of songs, Lup joining him in her chair next to him as they work to decipher what they’re seeing.

“Are we going to have to—“

“Sort through them all?” Barry finishes her sentence, like he usually does. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Song by song?”

He nodded. “Memory by memory, too.” His smile turns grim, at that. “It’ll take a long time.”

“Babe?”

“Yeah?”

“We have all the time in the fucking world.” She pauses, and Barry laughs, processing what she said before she did. “Ok not all the time, I get that Taako’s still mortal, but can you let me sound cool for once?”

Barry laughs again, and kisses his wife on the cheek before turning back to the chunk of souls in front of him. “You were the one who brought it up!”

“That doesn’t mean you have to make me notice it!” She protests, taking the tip of her scythe in her hand and sticking it gently into the mix of souls, watching its energy wrap gently around the blade. “So… If we shut up and close our eyes, we’ll both hear the soul’s song and watch its memory, right?”

Barry nods. “Well, you will, because your scythe’s in the thing.”

“And because it’s the piece that belongs to their soulmate, I’ll see memories of their soulmates. Meaning we know we’ve found Taako’s when—”

“When you see Kravitz, yeah.” Barry finishes her sentence again, and she thinks about it a bit before responding.

“Then you’ve gotta mark where one soul ends and another starts.” He raises an eyebrow at her, and she laughs before continuing. “I can’t see, right? So you guide my hand, and I tell you when the memories change, and then we’ll cut each soul shard and set it free.”

“Then?”

“Then I’ll tattle to our boss about you having a secret necromantic laboratory in the Eternal Stockade — we’ll just go and match every one of them to their original, duh.” Lup laughs. “There are at least 750 souls in here, that’s like….”

“Fantasy 37500 First Dates.” They both say that at the same time, and can’t help but laugh.

Lup closes her eyes, letting the first memory enter her head, as Barry interrupts with a “...I still actually like that movie.”

She peeks an eye open, her smile betraying her fake serious-ness. “Shut the fuck up and take my hand, Barold.”

He laughs. “You didn’t even have to ask.”

It takes the two reapers a lot longer to sort through each soul than they would like. They take turns looking at memories — the realization that everyone they’re looking at was faced with either a dead soulmate, or a soulmate that doesn’t remember them is a lot for one person to bear — and spend a long while carving out souls, knowing that if they mess up once, it’d be even harder to repair. Their first soul shard — their soulmate is a bard who wrote them stories that made them cry, once upon a time — took them a few days, but they eventually become quicker with practice, and one of the storage rooms next door becomes filled with animal friends and their hoard of assorted objects. It’s there that the two go whenever they feel the memories the hardest, or when Taako wonders aloud about how they seemed to stop loving him two years ago, about how they don’t spend any time with him anymore, about how they’re always “working,” and don’t say where or why or tell any stories.

And by the time they find Taako’s soul shard — it had been three years, long enough that they had long since stopped counting the months and the days and the hours — the room is full, vibrant, brimming with energy, and Lup walks in there to cry, the mongoose crawling into her lap as it recognizes the feather it had missed for so long.

“Hey, Barry?”

“Yeah?”

“Their anniversary’s coming up.”

“Since when did they have an anniversary?”

“Since they had a fuckin’ date at the Chug and Squeeze, nerd.” She laughs through her tears. “I thought I told you!”

He laughs, wiping the stray tears off of her face. “Do you want to fix their souls then?”

Lup smiles. “It’d be kinda poetic, wouldn’t it?”

Barry shrugs. “It’s been like 13 years, but sure.”

It’s quiet for a moment, besides the now bright and chirpy songs of the souls around them, and then Lup sniffs and wipes her eyes. “You’re going to have to convince Krav to give you his soul, y’know.”

He smiles softly. “That’s the easy part.”

“Ok, Mr. Confident.” She smiles back. “Good luck with that.”

He smirks. “Who said I needed luck?”

She laughs. “I can’t tell if you’re serious or not.”

“Last time I checked, I was Barry, so….”

“Shut the fuck up.” She pecks him on the cheek, then looks down at the now-sleeping soul mongoose in her lap, cuddling around the feather it missed for more than a decade. “It’s about time.”

It’s weird, Lup thinks, to be stealing her brother’s soul while he’s sleeping. He’s normally such a light sleeper, too, even with Lup’s Silence spell, but its almost as if Fate herself is blessing her with her luck that night, and she appreciates it all the more so as she sits on the floor by his bed and starts casting. It floats in place as she works, round, smooth and brimming with energy and heat and yet somehow missing the full extent of its glow, somehow broken and chapped like lips in the wintertime, yet she has to mold it into shape, coax it into a different form, to get the feather to fit in the soul it’s always belonged in. So she shapes it into the raven that’s been sitting at Taako’s windowsill, stretches it and expands it, the fibers that hold it together spinning to match their new form, and then fits the feather in its slot, welding it in with her magic, and the world seems to go still around her as she does; all that’s important to her, now, is this bird and its broken wing.

It takes her a couple hours of work, only stopping a few times to renew her silence spell, and eventually she shapes the bird back into the round, ordinary soul shape she’s familiarized herself with and places it gently onto Taako’s chest, letting it sink back into his body.

His soul is complete, the job is done…. Now, Lup thinks, they wait.

It’s when Lup and Taako are making dinner the next day, chopping vegetables for the spicy fish they’ve been meaning to try, that Taako brings it up again.

“Hey, Lulu?”

“Yeah?”

“Remember Kravitz?”

Lup smiles, trying to hold back the swell of emotions that bubbles in her chest as he says his name. “Kravitz like my boss?”

Taako blinks, pausing for a moment before turning to the food in front of him. “Wait — oh fuck, yeah, he’s your boss.” Taako laughs, and maybe Lup’s over-analyzing, but the laugh sounds almost heavy to her. “Well fuck, I can’t date him now—“

She changes her smile into a smirk. “Babe, if you wanted to date him, I should have set you up 10 years ago.” She can’t help but almost laugh, at that. “You can never say Barry and I are bad ever again.”

“Shut up! I just wasn’t that into him until now, okay?” Taako reaches into the spice cabinet, pulling out a few things before taking both the now-chopped vegetables and the spices to the deep-pan on the stove. “But I just remembered I tried to date him once. In the b-oh-b days. Fuck was that like? 13 years ago, today?”

Lup raises an eyebrow. “What happened, then?”

Taako shrugs. “Well, I did save the world. Got some good fuckin’ sex out of it, let me tell you.” He pops open the spicy paprika and sprinkles it into the broth before continuing. “But I guess I just? Forgot about him. Didn’t really want a guy I would settle down with or some shit.” He pauses, for a moment. “He’s still hot, though, right?”

Lup laughs, almost in surprise. “Taako, he’s dead, of course he’s still hot.”

“Well hit me the fuck up then!” He laughs along with her, and she picks up her Stone of Farspeech and starts to dial Kravitz’s frequency before Taako stops her with a “Hold on a fuckin’ sec, sis, you can’t just dial him right now while I’m in the room, I’m not that desperate.”

“Ok, well in that case….” She drops a kiss on Taako’s cheek, getting a groan from her brother. “I’ll be right back.”

“Taako?” Lup yells his name from the other room in the loud tone he’s grown so used to.

“Yeah?” He yells it back, though not nearly as loudly, hearing her footsteps approaching before she peeks her head through the doorway

“How does tomorrow night sound?”

He thinks about it, for a moment. “I’ve got no plans,” He says, shrugging, “But if I do they can wait.”

Lup smiles, breathing out a sigh of relief. “Hell yeah, I’ll let him know!”

Kravitz wakes up in the morning to the thought of Taako — oh fuck, why does he remember Taako, shit, it’s been three years that shouldn’t have happened he worked so hard — and the sound of Barry — it’s very obviously Barry, from his soft steps and the way his soul sings and the occasional clang of silverware falling on the floor — in his kitchenette, which, in hindsight, should probably explain everything and yet somehow doesn’t.

It’s only when he gets up and walks into his living room, seeing Barry eat breakfast at his table, and says “What brings you here?” and Barry responds with “Hot damn, that sleeping spell did a number on you,” that Kravitz remembers the dubious way he fell asleep the night before.

“Wait, that was you?”

Barry raises an eyebrow. “Who else would it be?”

Kravitz thinks about it for a moment, shrugs, and then said “But why?”

Barry shrugs in return. “It looked like you needed it.” He sips his coffee, letting Kravitz join him at the table, and then says “So how has your morning been?”

Kravitz looks at him suspiciously — he knows Barry’s been lying —  before deciding to play along. “I’ve been sleeping up until a few minutes ago, but it’s been alright,thank you.”

“Nothing special?” Barry presses him, and Kravitz sighs before dropping the act.

“Barry?”

“Yeah?”

“What did you do last night?”

“Nothing, I—“ He almost seems to blush, out of nervousness. “Fine, Lup and I just fixed both yours and Taako’s souls last night and we’re waiting to see if you remember each other, okay?”

Kravitz sighs. “Well, to ignore your blatant act of necromancy and answer your question, it worked.”

Barry scratches the back of his neck; it’s a nervous tick Kravitz is used to seeing, at this point. “Ok—but—I’m just glad you remember.”

Kravitz grimaces. “I didn’t want to.”

“I know.” Barry smiles, in that soft reassuring way he usually only sees when Lup’s around. “But this time, Taako remembers you, too.” He stands up, going to wash the mug he was using before calling back to Kravitz. “Hey Krav, do you want breakfast or something?”

Kravitz shakes his head. “I think I’ll pass, thanks.”

It’s only later, after Barry and Kravitz finish their first bounty of the day, that they get the call from Lup. She opens it up with a “Hey Krav, remember my brother?” and they can hear her satisfied smirk and the happy tears that she’s holding back behind it, hear the way her voice seems out of breath from excitement and the soft cushiony noise of her collapsing onto the couch, and Barry’s smile turns giddy and Kravitz starts to smile again, soft and relieved, as he says, “Did he finally decide he wants to date me?”

[softforimjaebum]

Ripped Jeans

Im Jaebumx Reader

Word Count: 3.5k

Genre: Thigh Riding Smut

Summary: Jaebum had been thinking about a certain kink all day long, even when he shouldn’t have been

Author’s Note: Send all the holy water y’all have, and drink some yourself. We all need jesus. Inspired by this:

To say that Jaebum was tired when he returned to his dorm after fan meets was an understatement. They would usually meet people all day long, and by the time he was alone in the confines of his shower, he didn’t want anyone to so much as talk to him, not even the rest of the boys.

After that, he would heard straight to bed. Some nights he even skipped dinner because the thought of the muscles in his mouth working made him feel awful.

But tonight, he just couldn’t get his mind off you. He knew this was the worst time seeing as you would probably be cuddled up in bed since he hadn't mentioned meeting you. He had seen the pictures you had so innocently sent him, trying on new dresses that you had bought that day in the few breaks they got during the day and it had somehow driven his thoughts wild.

He knew you didn’t send those pictures to try and tease him, but he couldn’t help it. All he could think for the rest of the day was getting you off. And now here he was, in the shower with the water cascading down his body with a hard on he didn’t want to do anything about. He didn't want anything to do with it if it didn’t involve you. But the problem was, he really did want to do something about it.

Usually, he wouldn’t be so needy. He could get himself off for the night and just meet you the next day to take better care of him. It had been way too long in his honest opinion since he had been able to see you owing to the many promotional events GOT7 had been a part of.

No matter how he tried he could not get this one image out of his head. You, riding his thigh, getting yourself off. He could almost imagine you grinding on his thigh, giving in so easily to his depraved kinks. On second thoughts, he realised you probably had a similar kink anyway. He could imagine your hands pulling at his hair and scratching any skin you could find because he wouldn’t let you get off that easy. It was almost painful to think about teasing you (and teasing himself in the process), but for the life in him, he couldn't stop thinking of it.

He was harshly pulled from his fantasy land by Jinyoung knocking on the bathroom door.

“Jaebum hyung, I need to brush my teeth, why is the door closed?”

He let out a deep sigh, turning the shower off and stepping out to reach for his towel kept on the rack.

“Give me a minute I’ll be right out” he shouted out to Jinyoung.

He dried himself the best he could, and then look at the pair of shorts he had brought with him to wear after his shower. He had made the mistake of bringing basketball shorts of pretty flimsy material, the kind that made it especially difficult to hide a hard on. He sighed again, debating whether to just wear his towel out. It wouldn't help much but it would be better than putting these shorts on and risking Jackson spotting him. He would never let Jaebum live it down.

“Hyung?” Jinyoung called out again

“Coming!” he shouted, sounding a little harsher than he initially intended. He couldn't help but let his temper flare.

Deciding to just go with the towel, he yanked the door open and walked past Jinyoung without a word; if anyone could understand Jaebum’s temper flares, it was Jinyoung. They had known each way too long to not realise the little things about each other.

Walking into his room he was almost glad for Jackson to be fast asleep on his bunk. Because this way, Jaebum had the room quiet and to himself. He had some things to mull over.

Should he just text you to meet him? He knew he couldn’t just go over considering he didn’t know what the situation with your roommate would be like. It wasn’t because your roommate had any hard feelings for him, in fact she loved him and babied him the way you would often baby Yugyeom, but because she hated being disturbed in her sleep. If you and Jaebum had plans she would either borrow your noise cancelling earphones or would shift to Jaebum’s dorm for the time the two of you needed the apartment. But if he decided to just show up unannounced and tease you into screaming his name until it was all you could remember, and mind you he definitely did plan on that, she would kick you both out onto the streets.

Then an idea struck him. Jackson had recently leased a car. He kept complaining about how he couldn't always wait around for the company cars to drive him around and wanted some privacy to himself, and so the company had allowed Jackson to lease a car for the next year to drive around as he pleased. The windows were obviously tinted, and at this ungodly hour, Jaebum could think of a couple of places that would be empty enough to park the car and have his way with you.

He decided to text you, checking if you were even awake.

Are you awake?

Your phone dinged, and you were surprised to see a text from Jaebum. You knew he had a fan meet during the day, the many pictures of GOT7 being, well, GOT7 had made its way onto your Twitter feed. Whenever he had a schedule as busy as today, you didn't expect him to contact you any shape or form. Pre-comeback, mid-promotion, all these times were when you had least contact with him. Not that he didn't make up for it whenever he could. If there was a day when he was just slightly less busy he would show up on your doorstep with takeout and cuddle you into the next morning.

Yes I am, everything okay babe?

You were ever so slightly worried at such a late night text only asking if you were awake. Your mind automatically went into mother mode because everyone knew idol life wasn't easy, and at this hour, everyone tends to overthink. You had just about locked your phone to wait for his reply, expecting a couple of minutes to pass before he did; everyone knew Jaebum wasn't a fast texter. He was quite a grandpa in that way, and truth be told, you could almost swear your grandma actually texted faster than him. However, you were surprised again at how quickly his reply had come.

I’m coming over, wear something easy to take off

OH. You were confused for about five seconds before it dawned on you; this was a booty call. You were still confused about Jaebum actually having enough energy to even text but hey, you weren't complaining. Needy Jaebum was the best Jaebum.

You had ended up just ditching your Stitch pajama bottoms for a plain skirt and about 15 minutes later, Jaebum was calling you asking you to come outside, saying that he had brought Jackson’s car with him.

You rushed out, leaving a note on the breakfast counter for your roommate just in case she woke up and found you gone. You recognised Jackson’s car easily, having helped him select this very one yourself.

Sitting in the passenger side, you greeted Jaebum with a smile, and you could tell by his face he wasn't kidding around. He did, however, lean in to give you a quick kiss on the cheek before starting the car. There were silence between the two of you as he drove, and that wasn’t an uncommon thing for the two of you.

After driving about 20 minutes, Jaebum had brought you to what looked like an empty parking lot where he drove till the very corner of it and parked the car.

He was the first to break the silence, before you could even think of starting a conversation.

“Come here” he said, signalling to his lap and extending an arm towards you.

You quickly undid your seat belt, kicked off your slippers and crawled onto his lap, his arms engulfing you even before you were fully comfortable.

“I really missed you” you whispered while you nuzzled into his neck. You placed a lingering kiss that sent shivers down his body and he slightly pulled your body back.

“Me too”

You could tell he was being honest about his feelings, even though he never used many words to express them.

He took this opportunity to kiss you, soft and lingering at first, teasing you. If there was anything Jaebum loved to do, it was to find new ways of getting under your skin and teasing you. You knew tonight would entail the same, him having come up with something he knew in his heart would drive you mad. His hands were lightly caressing the exposed skin of your thighs, sending goosebumps all over your body.

He continued this until you wanted more than just soft kisses. Your hands went straight to his hair, pulling his face towards yours and he chuckled before deepening the kiss. His hands rested on the curve of your back, starting to slowly move you to grind on him. You lightly clawed at his neck before holding onto it and using that as a leverage to grind a little harder on him.

He could feel it when you started to get into grinding on him, the friction caused being slightly addictive. His hands crawled under your skirt and grabbed a handful of your ass, causing you to lowly moan into the kiss.

He pulled away from the kiss and went straight for your neck. He loved biting as much as you did, and you would probably have a lot of makeup to do in the upcoming days trying to hide the marks he was leaving. He started near your collar bone, slowly making his way up to your ears, his hands still holding onto your ass and maintaining just how fast you could grind on him.

“Ride my thigh” was all he whispered in your ear before pulling away from you completely and sitting back in the seat. He looked at your face, trying to read your expression. And you would be lying if you didn't admit that was one of the hottest things you’d heard Jaebum say, and you’d heard him say a lot of filth to you.

“You kinky little sh-“ you started with a smile before being cut off by a quick kiss from Jaebum, his face mimicking the smile on yours.

“Don’t even try to act as if you don’t love the idea already” Jaebum said, his eyes eager to see you do what he asked.

Well, he did have you there.

You got up on your knees and slightly repositioned yourself; the huge seats in Jackson’s SUV coming in extremely handy as you put both of your knees on either side of his thigh. This is when you noticed what he was wearing; he wore the same jeans as the ones he had worn earlier in the day at the fan meet, the extremely distressed jeans. He had only bothered to change his shirt, now wearing a plain black shirt that clung to his broad shoulders for life. The very thought of grinding on his ripped jeans made you moan.

Noticing this, Jaebum put both his arms on your waist and pulled you down to sit on his thigh, hurrying you along. Once seated you were slightly unsure of how to go about his request, but started grinding on his thigh like you had been before.

It felt a lot different though, the feeling of the distressed material of his jeans rubbing against you through your panties was delicious. You rolled your hips slowly, treasuring the new found friction, getting used to it.

Jaebum, on the other hand, had other ideas. He wanted to push you to the edge and then keep you there, just begging for his mercy. His hands gripped your waist tighter, making you grind a little harder on his thigh. He could feel the material of your panties on the skin that was exposed and as much as he liked it, he wanted to feel just how wet you were, he wanted damp spots on his jeans by the time he was done.

Lifting you up a little, his hands reached under your skirt and towards the waistband of your panties, tugging them down quickly. Not knowing how to exactly take them off all the way, he thought it would just be easier to rip them, seeing as the lacy material wasn't that strong anyway. As soon as you heard the material rip, you looked at Jaebum wide-eyed, and only slightly disapproving. You didn't have time to voice your disappointment though since as soon as your panties were gone, he brought you back down on his thigh and the feeling of the rough material of jeans right on your clit drove you wild.

“Fuck, Jae, that feels so good”

You were a moaning mess and his lips were everywhere on you, sucking marks on your neck before moving downwards and biting the supple skin of your chest. He managed to unclasp your bra and kneaded your breasts before pinching one of your nipples, making you cry out above him.

One of your hands is in his hair, pulling every time he gives you little bouts of pain and the other one is holding onto his shoulders for support. You grind on his thigh faster, and that is when one of his hands moves to your hair, yanking your head backwards, making you look directly at him.

“Look at yourself, riding my thigh in Jackson’s car in a fucking parking lot. You know anyone could see you like this right now, and I bet you wouldn’t even care would you?”

All you could do was whimper. The fucking mouth on this boy was pure filth and he knew too well that you loved it.

“I can fucking feel how wet you are you know? Just like that baby, keep grinding on me”

He held your eyes as you kept grinding on him, dangerously close to your release. And he could tell because the next words he said almost made you cum.

“I can feel how desperate you are to cum, but don’t you dare do it until you’ve soaked that spot on my jeans” he said, pointing to where you were grinding on him.

“Jae” you whispered, your own voice sounding broken and raw. “I can’t, its too much”

The harshness of his jeans was too much to bear, and to not cum while grinding on it even worse.

But Jaebum wasn’t having any of it, he just shook his head no, making you whine in protest.

Deciding to distract you, he grabbed your hand and placed it on top of his clothed cock.

“Can you feel that? How fucking hard you make me? Just seeing you this needy to cum, fuck baby, its so hot”

“Jae that isn’t helping”

“Oh well” he smiled at you momentarily, the purest smile one could imagine, before you rubbed him over his jeans making him throw his head back and moan.

At this point, you could feel the mess that you had made on thigh, and Jaebum still had no mind of letting you finish.

“Please jae, please fuck”

“Don’t you dare cum” he said, gripping your waist and stopping you from moving at all.

After a little while, when he was sure you had calmed down, he started moving you again. He was controlling the pace, and you were happy to let him because there was no way you could think straight enough to even ride him properly. Just as you were close again, he made stopped moving you again. And again, and again. He kept doing this until you were so close to the edge that you could start crying at how frustrated you were at being denied your orgasm so many times.

“Such a good girl for me aren’t you?” he smirked at you as you tried to catch your breath when he stopped you again.

In response, you dug your nails into the skin of his neck that you had been holding onto.

“Oh hurting me isn’t going to make this any better for you baby” he said in a mockingly sweet voice.

“Please Jaebum” you managed to say, knowing fully well how needy you sounded and just how badly that got him off. He loved to see you as desperate for him as possible.

“Okay, make yourself cum” he said, completely letting go of you and leaning back.

You stared at him in surprise, you really didn't think you could move on your own.

“Come on, be a good girl and let me watch you get off just riding my thighs”

Placing your hands on his chest for support, you started moving; slowly at first, and gradually picking up pace as he kept on whispering how dirty you were for him, how it made him so hard seeing you like this.

His jeans surely had a soaked patch by now, but that didn’t help how rough they were, and it was making things even more difficult for you to get off. Sensing this, Jaebum took two fingers and slid them right along your clit. Letting you grind on his fingers instead of the rough jeans.

“Jae-“ you started to warm him that you were close when you were cut off by him suddenly putting his fingers inside you; catching you completely off guard and in the process pushing you into your impending orgasm.

You cum around his fingers, still rutting again his palms, trying to make your orgasm last as long as possible, your hands gripping his shirt tightly. He just sits there looking at you, making a mess of yourself. Saying he was hard was an understatement by now, but looking at you cumming almost made him cum in his pants.

When you were too sensitive for his hands to be on you, you lazily brought your hands down to his wrist and pushed it slightly. He complied, and slowly withdrew his fingers from you, careful to not make any sudden movements to hurt you.

Your eyes were closed, too busy catching your breath when you heard a low moan from Jaebum and your eyes shot up to his. He was looking down and following his gaze down you realised he had undone his zipper and pulled his cock out, that he was now stroking. With the same hand that had helped you with your orgasm. You had to admit that was the hottest sight you had seen, seeing Jaebum getting himself off.

And that sight itself turned you on, and you wanted to help him. You had an easy idea to do both of those things at once.

To draw his attention back to you, you slowly rolled your hips on his thighs once again, and his eyes were quickly back on yours. You smiled at him, and leaned in to kiss him.

“So hard for me baby” you said, still grinding steadily on him, the oversensitivity long forgotten. You placed your head near his ears and continued, “You look so hot like this, Jae”. You let one of your thumb swipe over the head of cock, collecting all the pre-cum that was leaking from his cock.

“Making such a mess for me” you said, leaning back and putting that thumb in your mouth, sucking and licking it as you would to his cock.

Jaebum whimpered at this, and it made your inside twist. You wanted to hear that noise over and over again.

You rolled your hips faster on him, noticing his hand picking up pace too.

Your orgasm was approaching fast, owing to how sensitive you were and you did want to finish until you saw Jaebum finishing first.

“Jaebum, I can’t cum unless I get to see you cum first baby”

He was a mess, hearing you talk to him like this was a first, but it turned him on beyond belief and as soon as you said those words, he was done for. With one last stroke of his hand, he was cumming all over his shirt, moaning your name and writhing beneath you.

It was a sight to behold really, Jaebum’s face contouring in pleasure, his voice thick with need. It propelled you towards your own orgasm, your eyes seeing stars as you shut them tightly. To say that you were both a wreck, you more so than him, would be pretty accurate. Either of you could really move, just holding each other until your breathing returned to normal.

That’s when Jaebum reached towards the tissues kept in the dashboard of the car, and wiped both of you clean. Once he was done, he carefully lifted you up and you plopped down on the passenger seat. When Jaebum tried to pull away from you, you just whined and held onto his neck tighter. You weren't ready to have him leave just yet.

He chuckled at you before saying “Let’s get you home baby, you can cuddle with me there”

[clove-teasdale]

holmes & watson at the ball

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A/N: challenge #4! I asked for two more days cause I had a lot of things this week (IM OFFICIALLY 18 YALL. FIRST FIC FINISHED AS A TECHNICAL ADULT(?)) Anyhow. Here is the fic. I was still pretty busy today so this might suck but thERE IS PROGRESS SO. have fun reading and forgive any weird writing or typos. Ft. detective crooks ™, one of my guard ocs cause I always bring one up lol & nate. Thanks @brooks-schreave @nathaniel-schreave @eloiseduval for the rps that couldn’t all be included so this wasn’t a monster fic. around 3,2k words

*:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧ *:･ﾟ✧

“Your drink, Lady,” Rogers said, offering me a glass with a half bow as a joke. I snorted, but accepted it, taking a sip of the mysterious orange-tinged drink and tasting the alcohol.

“Well, Officer Rogers,” I stated dramatically, ready to tease him. “I doubt your commanding officer will approve of you giving alcohol to a Selected.”

He gave me a fake glare. “You said to surprise you. I just complied with a cocktail. Besides, it’s not like you’re not old enough.” His amused grin disappeared when I raised both eyebrows, silently asking, ‘am I though?’ He took the drink from my hand and set it on the silver platter of a passing servant. “Never mind.”

I laughed and stole his drink instead. His was just cider, which is what I would’ve asked for if it weren’t for my curiosity of what he would bring otherwise. “I see you like to keep it clean.”

He nodded, gladly taking my comment as a compliment and glancing at the ballroom. “I’m technically still on duty.”

“Fair point.”

I watched the beautifully decored ballroom too, in the midst of couples, spotting Eloise now done with Officer Barnes and dancing with Brooks. The prince looked different in his suit. A good different as he laughed at something our shared friend had told him. The brat kinda had a nice laugh… but anyway, that left my options to be, hanging around Rogers, chatting it up with another Selected or finding someone else to dance with.

I knew at some point of the night I would end up dancing with Brooks since we’d agreed to do so when our lead arrived, but that wouldn’t happen at the moment. Eventually, I was certain Rogers would be asked by another young Lady to dance with him. With no doubt, his good looks would help him. That meant I needed to figure out what I’d do next. My goal of making at least one friend so far had been accomplished with Eloise, but I had yet to establish any meaningful conversations with anyone else.

I was planning on it. Really, I was. But I was always too busy with research on the journal–or actually, any excuse I could come up with. After the success of Marshall’s birthday party, I considered her to be a good prospect though. For a moment, I thought I could try talking with her tonight. Even someone else for the sake of trying.

Many of the girls seemed to be getting a bit too excited about the variety of beverages available, however, and I did not do well with drunk people. While searching for sober familiar faces, I found the one prince we were all supposed to be there for. Finally free to talk.

“Go ahead,” Rogers teased when he noticed where my glance was.

I rolled my eyes, but handed him the glass back, telling him to shut up and walking over to Nate. Tapping his shoulder, I said, “Hello there,” and he turned around.

“Hey, how are you?”

“Quite free to dance at the moment.”

“Well so am I, would you care to dance?” He held out his hand for me to take.

“My, how unexpected of you Nate. It would be a pleasure.”

“Hello, dear Nathaniel.”

Brooks. A mischievous smile on his face and a confused Eloise on his hand as he approached me and Nate mid-dance. Stealing my hand from Nate’s, he changed my place with Eloise and told them to have fun. With no further explanation, he dragged me away.

“Hi.”

That wasn’t how I’d expected him to ask me to dance. Not now. Once I’d offered Eloise and Nate a polite smile, I gave him a deadpan look. “Was there no better moment for this?”

“Nope. See that guy?” He gestured towards a group of men that were clearly advisers. His hand was on my waist and my own on his shoulder as we easily slipped into our waltz. “That’s William Holt, father of the advisor John Holt, and one of the names mentioned in the journal.”

I spared them a glance as casually as possible. W.H. “Our mystery initials from the notes?”

“Yes, dear, our mystery initials.” I did my best not to roll eyes at the grin accompanying his joking ‘dear’ and let him continue. “I spoke a bit to some advisors, and I think he’s here on business. There’s been some talk of someone stealing books from the restricted section of the library.”

I raised an eyebrow with a smirk. “My, my… is that so? No wonder I never saw that journal while I was there. I had no access.”

A smirk of his own spread across his face as he whispered, “Neither did I. But tell me, why are they so fascinated that book is gone?”

“Guess we’re on the right track.”

“I have a plan. I’ve noticed key advisors have been flocking around him deep in some random conversation. If we stay close, we may find something.”

“Lead the way…Highness.”

Dancing us towards the men, I could see the same excitement coming off him as I’d seen the day before when I told him about the ink. It was kinda cute to see that childlike enthusiasm. “Be very quiet and listen.”

Once we were at the required distance to do so, I acted as if nothing was more important than our dancing, in reality, eavesdrop alongside Brooks on what the group was saying. They were too immersed in conversation to care about us or the other couples nearby. Nobody was supposed to be interested in their conversation anyway.

William Holt was older than my father but still managed to look decent. His son, John, did not share his silver hair yet but had the same cheekbones and bushy eyebrows.

“I figured this would happen. It’s a bit soon though,” William complained to the others. None appeared too concerned except John, however.

“Aren’t you worried who has it?”

William took a drink. “My bet is Levi.”

I exchanged looks with Brooks at the mention of a name.

“After all these years? He’s ancient by now.”

“He was always a resourceful one.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“Last I checked, Harrison still lives downtown. He throws some annual New Year’s Eve party. We’ll check him out after that. We wouldn’t want to draw suspicion.” William finished his drink after that as his son and the rest of the advisers nodded in agreement.

I mouthed, ‘journal?’ to Brooks and he danced us away to talk.

“We’ve gotta find that Levi guy.”

“Can we be sure he’s our guy?” I wondered. “I mean, he’s definitely related to the whole ordeal, but he might not be the writer of the annotations.”

“Regardless, it’s a lead. He may know who wrote them.”

His hand played with the fabric on the back of my dress as he spoke. I did my best to ignore it, unsure he was even aware he was doing it. Why I didn’t feel the need to mention it was also beyond me.

“Fair enough. We should check this guy out…But later.”

“You’re right,” he nodded, “We have to stay at the ball for a while longer. I’ll get in trouble if I leave.”

“Such a tragedy,” I said with an eye roll, but my sight drifted soon after to the advisers talking around the room. Dad hadn’t come and I pursed my lips, mumbling, “Strange…” at the realization. He hadn’t called me since his last visit, but I assumed he’d be here. He never missed events.

Before I could debate any possibilities in my head, Brooks spun me around. That earned him a laugh as he said, “Riveting.”

“What is?”

“This whole thing. I feel like I’m a part of the Scooby Gang.”

“A two-person gang?” I asked, amused.

As our investigation hit a pause, I found myself truthfully focused on dancing again, taking more deliberate strides as I watched my feet and smiled. All thanks to one name. I couldn’t help but feel excited. One step closer to the truth. “There’s always Holmes and Watson, you know? I’ll let you be my John.”

“John, really?” Brooks almost scoffed. “Dream on.”

“He’s very important too, don’t belittle the guy.”

“He’s the sidekick, Clove. I’m obviously the main attraction here.”

I let out a single laugh but noticed the small smile he gave me. “Don’t flatter yourself that much, Brooks. And stop insulting John! He had the heart of the team… well, depending on the adaptation.”

“If you prefer him so much, you can be him. I insist.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled smugly. “Need I remind you who of us managed to decipher that horrid writing and translate it?”

“Need I remind you of,” he twirled me again, “who started this in the first place?”

I feigned offense with a gasp, not missing a beat on my steps though. “I was doing my own research before you came along in case you weren’t aware.”

“But I definitely sped things up for you, didn’t I? Admit it. You needed me.”

“I had already admitted that… in my head, at least. From day one, that’s why I agreed to work with you. You needed my help as much as I needed yours. We wouldn’t have gotten far without each other.” I cleared my throat, noticing how my last sentence sounded and clarified, “Each other’s help, I mean.”

As I watched the way his lips parted to reveal a small smile, his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. “I really do appreciate your help. I hope you know that.”

Unable to drift my gaze away, I smiled too, pleasantly surprised by the sincere tone of his voice–the honesty, lacking any hint of sarcasm this once. “Well, now I know…I’m glad to be included.” It was strange to feel shy at the admission, but I only averted my eyes for a second and then looked back up. “It seems my help on other matters served its purpose too.”

“What do you mean?”

“No stepping on feet so far…and I haven’t been spun into oblivion either,” I teased and he rolled his eyes.

“Don’t jinx me.”

I chuckled. “Just keep it up.”

The song slowed down even more as he pulled me closer, like when we’d whispered to each other during dancing practice. The difference was that this time, his hand also covered the back of mine and pulled it to rest against his chest. I wasn’t sure if I imagined his heartbeat or not.

“Only for you.” His voice was dramatic as if it were one of his many jokes. Nonetheless, it somehow felt like there was some truth behind the words.

Blinking up at him, I was unable to reply for a few seconds at the change of positions. My head kept making mental notes that seemed rather unnecessary, such as the warmth of his hand seeping into mine. The way my heart almost fluttered at the proximity of our faces. The smell of hazelnut on him. My lack of concern for how close we were to each other. It felt very different from yesterday’s practice.

I rolled eyes at his joking tone, but when meeting his gaze again, a lump formed in my throat. I hoped my freckles would hide my slight blush as I said, “Lucky me.”

A small laugh. “As a gentleman, I feel like I should compliment you.”

I chuckled softly too. “But as Brooks, you must mock me, I’m sure.”

“No.” He paused. “A gentleman would feel required to tell you how lovely you look, but Brooks… I would mean it.”

My heartbeat was definitely skyrocketing now and I wasn’t sure why or how to make it stop. He’s just being nice. I stared down at my dress, smiling. Hopefully, not too awkwardly. That was actually… really sweet of him to say.

“Is that so? Well, you look quite handsome yourself.” I kept the tone light and decided not to make a big deal out of it. “Not too bad…”

“The word you’re looking for is ‘dashing’.”

“How very humble of you.”

A while later, the song came to an end and he released my hand slowly. I kinda missed the feeling of it wrapped around mine. “Meet me at the door when I signal you. We can research the address of that guy. We don’t have a lot of time until New Year’s Eve.”

An hour or so later, when I’d danced with Barnes, some politicians and chatted up with Eloise about that new trinket around her neck upon her return to the ballroom, I saw Brooks near the exit, brushing a thumb over his nose. I returned the signal and made sure no one was watching before walking over.

Brooks pulled me out into the hallway.  “Sorry if I cut your evening short.”

“We have to figure this out anyway. It’s the best lead we’ve got.”

He nodded and led the way to another part of the palace forbidden for the Selected. Once there, he gestured for me to be silent and got a key from his pocket. I kept a lookout as he opened the door cautiously. I had to reprimand myself for suddenly agreeing on his Scooby gang comparison.

He let me walk in first and closed the door softly behind him. I decided to ask where he’d gotten that key at another moment and followed him as he swiftly made his way to the single computer in the room. Technology had been making a comeback amongst some crowds in the past years but was still pretty rare.

Despite that, Brooks didn’t seem to have a problem browsing the computer. “This is where they keep the online files of addresses, birthdates, castes, stuff like that. All we have to do is look at past advisors and search for a Harrison Levi.”

My finger traced the top of the old equipment as I took a glance at the other file cabinets and bookshelves in the room. “In how much trouble would we be if we were caught here?”

“Lots and lots.” He glanced up from his typing quickly and asked, “Why?”

I focused on the different folders he was opening on the screen. “Aren’t you concerned?”

“I’ve spent my entire life being nervous about things. I’m past the point of nerves now.” The relentless sound of clicking echoed in the room as he continued. “Here’s the page. We just need to let it load now, which could take…” he squinted at the screen, “a while.”

“Just because I’ve avoided being caught before doesn’t stop me from being nervous, sadly. Especially because this is so much worse than just being out after curfew. I don’t entirely mind the adrenaline, simply want to know how much I’m risking here.”

He replied nothing at first and began humming instead. I couldn’t stop the memory of our duet from crossing my mind.

And all I’ve seen since eighteen hours ago is blue eyes and freckles and your smile… Spinning around in his swivel chair, he faced me, a hint of uncertainty in his features. “I really am sorry to have pulled you away from the Ball.”

I tried to wave away his insecurity. “It’s fine. I had already danced enough and made my presence.” Moving the edges of my skirt, I made the fabric dance around my legs and added with a shrug, “And I got to wear a pretty dress so…”

“You’re not upset I pulled you away from Nate? I know it’s hard to get time with him.”

“He’s a busy guy, but what we got was good. He has a lot of other girls to worry about more than me.” I thought about our conversation during the ball again. I did feel good around Nate, but not like there was something yet. I even brought up the word ‘friend’ without a care in the world. “I‘m pretty sure what we have will always be a friendship and that’s okay.”

Brooks lifted both eyebrows. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, that’s what it feels like… I like him, but not in that way, you know? Some others already seem to have feelings for him and as much as I care for him it’s not… romantic. I came here knowing love had a very slim chance of striking, so I’m not that disappointed I guess,” I spared him a glance, “Why so surprised?”

He repressed a smile and turned back to the computer. “I’ve always shown an interest in your love life, haven’t I? I’m nosy like that.”

I clicked my tongue and narrowed my eyes at him. Smiling was unavoidable though. “You’re still horrible.” Leaning forward to take a closer look at the screen, I asked if there was a match yet. The computer seemed to continue running over a million old archives, however.

From the corner of my eye, I thought I saw him spare me a glance, like my proximity made him nervous, but the screen finally loaded and stole my attention away. The profile picture of a man in his early thirties had popped up along other windows behind it. The photo was not recent, of course. It had to be from the days this man worked as part of the royal cabinet. Ginger hair and lively green eyes had once gazed upon a camera for that picture.

“It’s a match, holy shoot, it’s a match!”

Leaning even closer to the screen and reaching for the mouse over Brooks, I held back the euphoria bubbling in my stomach, clicking on the other windows to see more information. His files confirmed his years working with the royal family as an adviser. His early resignation did not go unnoticed, but a few clicks later I found what I was searching for.

In a handful of documents, one of them contained his signature. My eyes widen as I read aloud, “Harrison Levi… It’s the same handwriting.” A grin slowly took over my face, “the strokes and loops, the way he strings the letters together.” I turned to Brooks with a wide smile. “It’s him. He wrote the annotations.”

He didn’t move for an instant as if he’d been watching me from the moment I opened my mouth with some sort of fascination. The second passed by fast and he stood up. “Do you know what this means? Clove, we have his address. We can find this guy!”

Running a hand through my hair, I looked back at Brooks, beaming with excitement. “We found him…He’s alive and we know where he lives.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “We even have a party to crash!”

He ran a hand through his hair as well, full of disbelief, in the frenzy of our eureka moment, picking me up, hands on my waist as he swung me around in a thrill. All I could do was chuckle with the same happiness and anticipation. A sense of butterflies in my stomach I finally understood.

Nothing could’ve prepared me for what happened right after, however.

[baekhyunsahoe]

BBKY92 has posted!

By some small miracle, chanyeol makes it back to his apartment, jongin in tow. He thought they had taken uber pool but apparently not so they were having an impromptu drunken sleepover.

Chanyeol’s place is mini sized. It’s got zero bedrooms, one bath, and a small kitchen. they nearly trip over and die over the shoes at the door but somehow manage to land on the bed [if you can even call it that]. It’s nothing more than a futon on the floor with a bunch of pillows and some stuffed animals.

Jongin’s sprawled on his back, chanyeol side eyes his sockless state of foot that had probably been sockless since the start. That guy never liked socks. Chanyeol never liked sweaty feet from not wearing socks. It could not go on like this. He’s about to voice his views on this matter when jongin drops his phone on his own face.

Chanyeol bursts out laughing, jongin’s groaning background noise.

“are you okay?” chanyeol asks to be ‘polite.’ Jongin scowls and the phone slips out of his hand again. “you are not okay.” Chanyeol confirms.

“my screen is so bright dude.” Jongin complains. “its blinding”

“you can change it on your settings.”

“I did – oh shit!”

“what?!”

“kyungsoo called me.”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen. A mad kyungsoo was basically the end of your days. Or jongin’s days at least.

“why didn’t you answer it?” chanyeol asks in horror.

“I didn’t hear it!” jongin yells.

Chanyeol shakes his head and reaches for his phone. “oooooooo. he called me too.”

“seriously?!”

“deadass.”

“oh my god… I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up here any second now…” jongin blinks up at the ceiling seemingly having accepted his fate.

“fuck that.” Chanyeol scoffs laying on his side and snuggling the nearest pillow. “tell him youre staying over. Im sure he can survive one night without you.”

“okay.”

“okay.”

“okay.”

“okay.”

“stop saying okay.”

“okay.”

“I changed my mind, have him come here and get you the fuck out of my bed.”

“im sorry.”

Chanyeol throws a stuffed toy at him, reminds himself to say sorry to rainbow [his alpaca] later for using him as a weapon, and reaches for his laptop.

“I’ma throw up.”

“go to the bathroom.”

“okay.”

Chanyeol barely gives jongin the time of day as the younger male wobbles to the toilet. That’s what he gets. He had spent a whopping $80 earlier and it did not even include tip yet.

The alcohol is still rampant in his veins, chanyeols cheeks are flushed despite the cool temperate of his room. His eyes feels heavy, sleep threatening to overcome him soon. But he had some business he had to take care of. It was only 6pm [ they had been at the beer and chicken place for 4 hours before migrating to the nearest bar and ordering more rounds ] [ thankfully lit!jongin had been in a friendly mood and paid for it that time ]

Chanyeol quickly logs onto his tumblr and in five seconds flat uploads his video, checks bkhyn92s page, sees no updates, and slams his laptop shut. He lays down and is idly wondering if he had a password lock on there when he feels jongin collapse next to him, out like a light.

-- it isn’t morning yet when chanyeol wakes up next.

Its his turn to yack it.

Feeling like he was going to give birth through his mouth to a mutant chicken beer and soju blob chanyeol barely makes it to the bowl of his toilet.

“help me im dying.” He says to his shower curtain. it is of no help as the 2nd round causes chanyeol’s eyes to water.

After making a blood oath with himself in his mind to never drink again, chanyeol’s got the taste of tooth paste in his mouth instead of well. We don’t need to describe it.

The time on the microwave glimmers at him in the darkness.

10;30pm

Chanyeol settles on his bed, trying to ignore jongin cuddling rainbow the alpaca and is about to drift back off into much needed sleep when his phone vibrates loudly.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT.

BZZZZZZZT.

Ignore it, chanyeol thinks.

BZZZZZZZT BZZT BZZT BZZZZZZZZZZZZT

Don’t ignore it, chanyeol reconsiders.

With a dramatic FUCK MY LIFE muttered under his breath, chanyeol answers without looking.

“WHAT.”

“hello chanyeol.”

He blanches. That voice.

“s-soo?”

Do kyungsoo, the guardian of the seven rings of hell. No jk. But he totally can be if he ever applied for that job.

“nice of you to answer. I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t.”

“of course. Um.”

“jongin there?”

“yeah. He’s knocked out.” Chanyeol says apologetically hating how he was going to get the blame for jongin’s idea to get shitfaced in mid afternoon.

“is he ok?” kyungsoo asks, instead of the SEND ME YOUR LOCATION for proof chanyeol was expecting. Kyungsoo was a bit overprotective in the cutest and deadliest way possible.

“he should be.”  chanyeol kicks jongin in the leg to see if he is alive. Jongin groans. “yeah hes fine. Did you want to come swoop him?”

“no way. He might yack in my car.”

Such a caring bf. That’s bae. Jongin was a lucky guy.

“well don’t worry, hes safe here with me. Unless he tries to draw a penis on my face. Then I cant make any promises.”

“my relationship turnover was coming up anyway.” Kyungsoo jokes darkly. Chanyeol snickers despite a small voice in his mind squeaking pls don’t hurt me through out this whole conversation. “by the way, I heard you were going on a date with Baekhyun tomorrow.”

Jesus did jongin alert the media? Was there a new snapchat filter for this too? which countries still didn’t know? Has that billboard for rent been bought out to make a glowing neon sign yet? Did he make a medical breakthrough to relay messages to fetuses in the wombs as well? You know, since he felt the need to open his big mouth and tell everyone.

“uh. Yeah. I guess.”

“I’m pretty excited to see how this turns out.”

“do you know Baekhyun?” chanyeol asks curiously. One part of him felt kinda weird talking to kyungsoo on the phone while his boyfriend was spooning an alpaca.

“we went to the same music school together.”

“oh.” Chanyeol, the greatest conversationalist ever. Replies.

“he’s a nice guy once you get to know him. Don’t be offended by his ratchet self. He may seem like a thot, but that’s just an image he tries to maintain.” Kyungsoo says helpfully.

Chanyeol meanwhile is trying to do some math in his head. Did he hear correctly? Was he still drunk? Why on earth would anyone want to up hold their thottie honor? This is why chanyeol was single.

“don’t tell him I told you this, but hes still pretty down in the dumps about his break up. He was actually serious about that guy. It just didn’t work out you know?”

“uhhuh.” Chanyeol wanted to know more but at the same time he didn’t want to pry. He was raised to be respectful of other peoples business. Baekhyuns secrets, personal and his, didn’t need to be told to him by someone else.

“I could tell you more if you want.”

“sure.”

That previous paragraph never happened.

“he’s probably going to try to smash.”

“what.”

“yeah. Havent you heard the best way to get over a guy is to get under another one?”

No. of course not. the last time he checked he hadn’t subscribed to the Thotsmopolitan.

“are you sure about this?” chanyeol asks swallowing hard, the feeling of nervousness deep-throating him.

“yup.” A yawn. “I might have said too much.”

“wait. So should i… you know.”

“if you like him, you shouldn’t.”

Ah yes. that made total sense. Don’t get into the pants of someone youre feeling.

“because that will automatically make you look like a fuckboy. it’s a test of sorts. That’s why im telling you. I think youd be a good match for him.”

“why is that?”

“youd just balance each other out.”

Chanyeols starting to wonder just how much kyungsoo knew about him. Whenever he third wheeled it was all good times; karaoke bowling pet cafes… nothing ever deep. Perhaps jongin be talking shit?

“anyway. Good luck tomorrow and have fun! Tell jongin he better be home before I wake up with breakfast ready or else.”

“yes sir!”

“goodnight chanyeol.”

sweet

   “So you’re chanyeol?”

“yes. last time I checked.”

Baekhyun looks amused despite the judgemental tone of his voice.

Chanyeol just looks uncomfortable.

The date came sooner than he would like [he had a mere less than 24 hours to prepare himself and half those hours were him hungover on soju]. Now he found himself sitting  in the same chicken and beer spot [seriously was there no other place to go to around these parts?] with jongin’s music teacher for company.

“and when was that?”  Baekhyun asks innocently sipping at his water. Chanyeol takes note of his hands. Theyre very pretty. Like the rest of the guy. Except when he opens his mouth. He seems to be snarky but playful which isn’t bad, but chanyeol is socially awkward at times like these.

He swallows a weird lump in his throat. “um.” He didn’t quite know how to answer that.

“kidding!” Baekhyun laughs. “I don’t need to know last time you checked.”

Then why did you ask, chanyeol thinks crazily. He sips his water too with a pained smile. Baekhyun was seriously intimidating and he didn’t know why. Maybe its because they were both sober and what kyungsoo had said echoes back and forth in chanyeol’s mind like a 1980s horror cartoon. ‘he’s gonna wanna smaaaaaaaaaAssshhhhhhhhh’ kyungsoo replayss in a creepy singsong voice.

“want to get something to drink?” chanyeol blurts.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “do you want to get me drunk…?”

“no! no. I just.” Chanyeol rambles, horrified at the insinuation. He wasn’t a fuckboy!

“chill. I wanna get me drunk.” Baekhyun winks. “a pitcher and a bottle of chamisul sound good to you?”

“sounds good, yeah, great actually.” Chanyeol agrees nodding his head repeatedly. Baekhyun laughs again.

“someones eager.” Baekhyun comments. “or a raging alcoholic.”

Chanyeol pouts but he realizes Baekhyun is just teasing.

The alcohol arrives soon enough and after the first two soju bombs chanyeol is feeling less stressed and more relaxed. Baekhyun looks the same, a sign he must have high alcohol tolerance. Whos the raging alcoholic now?

“tell me about yourself.” Baekhyun drawls, gaze focused solely on chanyeol. His pretty eyes are outlined with black liner, and despite appearing as sober as fifteen minutes ago has a slight pink glow dusting across his cheek bones. “why are you single.”

Chanyeol blinks, has to seriously come up with an answer to that question. He ends up laughing awkwardly, scratching his head. “oh I guess I just don’t really have much time to date and plus its hard to meet people nowadays, I think… “

“How long have you been single?”

“Um… a few months,” A FEW YEARS, his mind and penis scream at him in devastation.

“Ooh. No hook ups or anything?” Baekhyun asks casually pouring a shot for the both of them.

Chanyeol isn’t sure if he should confess to not having boned in A FEW YEARS or to try and seem cool by saying he got hoes in different area codes. But he didn’t wanna be a fuckboy. gods, was this a test? There was no winning!

“No…” he ends up answering honestly. He takes his shot without Baekhyun and downs his beer.

Baekhyun looks truly surprised. “wow. So you’re saying you haven’t gotten laid in months?” he whistles, and takes his drink.

“its not really a big deal to me,” chanyeol explains hastily, defending his unwanted chastity belt.

“uhhuh.” Baekhyun nods, pouring yet another set of beer and soju. “hooking up isn’t a big deal to you.”

“no!” chanyeol exclaims. “no, I meant. Like. Nevermind.”

Baekhyun smiles coyly at him through his eyelashes. “cheers to that.”

“cheers to what?”

“hooking up.”

They down their respective alcohol even though chanyeol isn’t sure what the hell that meant but strangely finds himself not too worried. Baekhyuns presence is becoming comfortable, and with every shot, chanyeol feels like he can be more and more himself. Baekhyun laughs a lot at his reactions and stories, and chanyeol is captivated everytime Baekhyun opens his mouth, looks at him, pours drink, takes a shot, anything really. Baekhyun is truly gorgeous, and attractive af. There was just something about him and chanyeol is suddenly thinking about baekhyuns previous question except about Baekhyun – why was he single?