#but having just seen two series of this I realllllllly like it!!

[brigitttt]

8 11 20 for the book asks :)

hi lore!! <3 asks are from this list:

8. Favorite queer fiction book(s).

It's gonna have to be the series that got me into writing fanfiction actually, which is the Captive Prince series by C.S. Pacat. Yeah it's got romance and spice but it's also got a surprising amount of political intrigue and tactics. The characters are so nuanced and well-written, and it's no wonder that it has the following it does.

I will also add that I read Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell last year and realllllllly enjoyed it, just such cool worldbuilding in there. I should see what else she's put out since then. Oh wait and also One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston! And does the Six of Crows trilogy by Leigh Bardugo count? okay that's enough now

11. Favorite historical fiction.

I'm not sure I could name a favourite, but two recent reads have really stuck with me. The first is As the Women Lay Dreaming by Donald S. Murray, which is about the HMY Iolaire disaster, but told through the lens of a grandson both living with his grandfather as a boy and reading his grandfather's journal about being on the ship decades later. It's really tragic, but written so compellingly, and having been to the Isle of Skye myself and seen the landscape and the sea around it, it really hit a chord.

The second is Sistersong by Lucy Holland, which is about three siblings in a sub-roman Brythonic kingdom in what is now Devon and Cornwall, during the time when Saxons are invading. It has magical elements to it, and is also very queer, but it was its setting that was so intriguing to me, like almost Arthuriana but very much not. It's apparently a reimagining of the folk ballad "The Twa Sisters", which I didn't know about until googling it just now.

20. Where and how do you find new books to read?

I mostly live off of recommendations from friends and family, but sometimes I'll venture out to a bookstore and find something on my own. For example, As the Women Lay Dreaming was recommended to me by a friend who I'd been to Scotland with, who is Scottish herself and is making an effort to read more Scottish stories. I also have a friend who reads like a fiend and will throw book recs at me from left and right. I also have a mother with a house with over a thousand books in it (I counted, once, decades ago) who will also throw book recs at me but they often trend older (Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers, Frank Herbert, Tony Hillerman, etc). I suppose I sometimes also watch a tv show based on a book series and then read it, but I'm still not finished the first Wheel of Time book yet (my brother has already zoomed through them). Sometimes I'll see a piece of fanart for a book series on tumblr and then wonder what that's all about and then read 3 novels and several short stories about it (Captive Prince).

[littlemisssquiggles]

Dragonic Musings: So…I have officially finished The Dragon Prince Book 3…

…And, I have no words. Like I’m incapable of forming coherent sentences right now. So, if you all would pardon me, I’m just going to share some screenshots from scenes that stood out most to me and screech my opinion of them in the most bluntest of fashions:

Ahem:

First and foremost, to all the people who urged me to watch this season til the end for more Rayllum:

WELL HOT DAMN! YOU GUYS...YOU GUYS WEREN’T JOKING! THIS MOMENT. THIS MOMENT RIGHT HERE. I THINK....THIS HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST LOVE CONFESSION MOMENTS I’VE SEEN IN ANIMATED SERIES. YES I KNOW I SAID THIS ABOUT THE RAYLLUM FIRST OFFICIAL KISSY-KISS MOMENT FROM CH5 BUT...NAH! I THINK THIS MOMENT STOLE IT.

DON’T GET ME WRONG, ADMITTEDLY I WILL SAY THAT I LOVED THE RAYLLUM MOMENT FROM CH5 ALOT BETTER. BUT STILL...THIS WAS...THIS WAS JUST....

....I DON’T EVEN KNOW. IT’S BEAUTIFUL GUYS! NOTHING ELSE BUT THAT.

CALLUM STRAIGHT UP SPROUTED WANGS AND TURNED INTO A BIRD MAN FUELED BY HIS LOVE FOR RAYLA....AS CHEESY AS THAT SOUNDS, I’M EATING IT UP! AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT’S EVEN MORE INSANE?

THIS JUST MADE ME THINK BACK TO WHERE RAYLA AND CALLUM STARTED? REMEMBER WHEN RAYLA TRIED TO KILL CALLUM BACK IN BOOK 1?

REMEMBER WHEN CALLUM TOLD RAYLA THAT HE AND HER WEREN’T QUOTE, UNQUOTE, “THERE YET” BACK IN BOOK 2.

NOW LOOK AT THEM!

SERIOUSLY LOOK AT THEM!

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM AND NOW WE HERE...UP ON CLOUD NINE!

WHEN WE RAYLLUMS STANS SAY THAT THIS SHIP SOARED, PEOPLE ARE GOING TO THINK WE’RE JOKING UNTIL WE SHOW THEM THE IMAGES!

RAYLLUM DIDN’T JUST SAILED, THEY FREAKING SOARED!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH THESE TWO!

MY RAYLLUM SHIPPING HEART! I CAN’T BELIEVE WONDERSTORM DID IT. I CAN’T BELIEVE AARON EHAZ AND JUSTIN RICHMOND DID IT ALONGWITH THEIR WRITING TEAM.

THEY WROTE A LOVE STORY THAT TOOK PLACE OVER THE SPAN OF THREE WHOLE SEASONS---9 EPISODES A POP TOTALLY IN 27 EPISODES. THEY WROTE A ROMANCE BETWEEN TWO CHARACTERS WHO’VE ONLY KNOW EACH OTHER FOR 27 EPISODES AND MANAGED TO MAKE THE PROGRESSION OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP AND EVENTUAL LOVE FEEL...NATURAL AND NOT...FORCED AT ALL. FREAKING AMAZING MAN! 

AND IT’S NOT JUST THEM. IT’S NOT JUST RAYLLUM

SOOOOO AMAYA AND THE SUN KNIGHT ELF....

THEY ARE A COUPLE RIGHT? OR AM I TRIPPING BALLS NOW? CAUSE...I SHIP IT. WHY NOT? I THOUGHT THEIR INTERACTIONS WERE SO CUTE >U< NOT TO MENTION THAT I LOVE STRAWBERRY GREN’S LIL SMILE OF APPROVAL AT AMAYA AND HER NEW ELF GIRLFRIEND. IT’S SO WHOLESOME.

GOSH I LOVE THIS SHOW.

NEXT UP....

ZYM WAS SOOOOO GOOD IN THESE LAST FEW EPISODES.

IT ACTUALLY LOVE HOW THEY TREATED ZYM MEETING HIS MOM FOR THE FIRST TIME. CALL ME WEIRD HERE BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING ALMOST HUMAN TO HOW IT WAS APPROACHED.

IT REMINDED OF THOSE SCENARIOS WHERE ADOPTED CHILDREN WHO HAVE TO MEET THEIR REAL PARENTS FOR THE FIRST TIME ARE HANDLED AND I LIKE HOW THE DRAGON WRITERS CHOSE THIS APPROACH FOR ZYM. IT FELT...REAL AND I LIKED IT ALOT. PLUS...

NOT TO MEME THIS MOMENT HERE BUT I’M GONNA TELL MY KIDS THAT ZYM’S MOM IS MUH QUEEN!

ZYM’S MOM IS SO PRETTY AND I LOVE HER VOICE. SPEAKING OFF...DOES THIS MEAN THAT AT SOME POINT ZYM IS GOING TO LEARN HOW TO TALK? 

CAUSE I’VE NOTICED THAT SINCE THE START OF THIS SEASON, THE DRAGONS---AT LEAST THE ONES WHO HAVE BEEN MONARCHS CAN TALK. SO WHAT IS THAT? IS IT THAT ALL DRAGONS CAN TALK IF THEY CHOOSE TOO OR...IS IT ONLY THE MONARCH ONES? I’M ASSUMING IT’S THE MONARCH ONES. EITHER WAY, I’M INTERESTED TO SEE WHAT ZYM IS GOING TO SOUND LIKE WHEN HE GROWS OLDER. WHILE I’LL MISS HIS LITTLE PUPPY DOG SOUNDS, IT’D BE SWEET TO SEE ZYM ACTUALLY TALK. MAYBE EZRAN CAN TEACH HIM TO TALK 8D THAT’D BE SWEET

OVERALL, THIS FINALE WAS REALLY REALLY GOOD. THIS SEASON WAS REALLY, REALLY GOOD. IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE REWATCHED THE WHOLE SERIES FROM THE FIRST BOOK. I’LL PROBABLY DO THAT FOR THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS. BUT FOR NOW, I THINK I’M JUST GONNA GO BACK AND REWATCH THE RAYLLUM MOMENT FROM CH5 INSTEAD CAUSE...I’M SORRY I REALLLLLLLLY LOVED THAT SCENE.

BUT BEFORE I DO. I GOT TWO MORE THINGS I WANNA SCREECH ABOUT.

Not to be a Darth Vader or anything but....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! CLAUDIA WHYYYYYYYYYYY!

WHY! I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU! I MEAN...IN A WEIRD WAY, I GET IT. AND IN AN EVEN WEIRDER WAY I....KIND OF LIKE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLAUDIA AND VIREN. IT REMINDED ME OF OZAI AND AZULA FROM AVATAR BUT...ALOT MORE....SYMPATHETIC, FOR LACK OF A BETTER TERM.

I GET THAT VIREN IS A VILLAIN BUT WHAT I LOVE ABOUT HOW THE DRAGON PRINCE HAS PORTRAYED HIM IS THAT...VIREN DOESN’T FEEL LIKE AN ENTIRELY EVIL PERSON. HE HAS SOME GOOD IN HIM AND IT COMES IN THE FORM OF HIS LOVE FOR CLAUDIA. YOU CAN TELL THAT CLAUDS IS VIREN’S PRIDE AND JOY. I WISH HE HAS SAVED SOME OF THAT LOVE SOREN BUT....THIS WAS THE CONFLICT.

VIREN IS A VILLAIN BUT...HIS CHARACTER IS WRITTEN SO WELL AND SO GREY THAT YOU AS THE AUDIENCE FEEL CONFLICTED. EVEN NOW AFTER HE’S DONE A SHIT TON OF EVIL STUFF, I STILL FEEL SYMPATHETIC FOR HIM BECAUSE OF HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS CLAUDIA.

I FEEL SO BAD FOR SOREN AND CLAUDIA. THEY WERE THE KIDS MAN AND IT SUCKED SO BAD THAT THEY HAD TO BE BROKEN APART ESPECIALLY AFTER SEASON TWO’S REVELATION ABOUT THEM.

BUT AT THE SAME TIME, I AM SO SOOOOOOOOO PROUD OF SOREN! SOREN WAS THE FREAKING MVP OF THIS SEASON.

I KNOW I GUSHED MOSTLY ABOUT RAYLLUM BUT SOREN AND ALSO EZRAN AS WELL WERE THE CHARACTERS WHOSE DEVELOPMENT STOOD OUT MOST TO ME. DON’T GET ME WRONG. EVERY CHARACTER SHINED THIS SEASON AND IT WAS HARD TO REALLY PICK FAVOURITES. BUT IF I HAD TO, EZ AND SOREN. ESPECIALLY SOREN. 

SO PROUD OF HIM.

THAT BEING SAID. I AM AT THE END OF BOOK 3 FOR TDP. FUNNY, WITH THE WAY HOW THIS SEASON ENDED, I WAS STARTING TO THINK THAT THIS WAS IT. I FIGURED THIS WAS THE END OF THE DRAGON PRINCE. UNTIL...

...DRAGON PRINCE BOOK 4....WHEN?

CLEARLY THIS IS A TEASER FOR WHAT’S NEXT TO COME FOR THE SERIES. EVEN THOUGH A SEASON FOUR HASN’T OFFICIALLY BEEN ANNOUNCED. OVERALL, I’M READY. THE STORY NEEDS TO CONTINUE AND WHAT I’M CURIOUS ABOUT IS WHAT ELSE IS THERE FOR TDP TO UNFOLD.

I MEAN, WE STILL HAVE MORE OF XADIA TO EXPLORE. WE STILL HAVE MORE ELF SPECIES TO ENCOUNTER. WE STILL HAVE TO GET RUNAAN BACK FROM VIREN AND REUNITE HIM WITH HIS HUSBANDO.

MORE IMPORTANTLY...AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO FEELS AS IF VIREN ALSO HAS RAYLA’S PARENTS TOO?

I KNOW RAYLA SAID THEY WERE BANISHED BUT...I CAN’T REMEMBER IF THEY WERE CONFIRMED TO STILL BE ALIVE?

I KNOW RAYLA SAID THAT RUNAAN AND TINKER (HIS REAL NAME ESCAPES ME RIGHT NOW, SORRY) RAISED HER AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO HER PARENTS. BUT...ARE RAYLA’S PARENTS ALIVE? DID VIREN CAPTURE THEM LIKE RUNAAN?

Overall---okay I’m done screeching now----but OVERALL, this was another great season. I might even go as far to say that Season 3 is TDP’s BEST SEASON yet. I REALLY REALLY LOVED this season and I’m looking forward to rewatching it again in my recap of the whole series.

I feel as if this is the end of an Arc. Zym has been returned to his mother but the threat of Aaravos still looms on the horizon. So I think it’s safe to say that the Ozymondias Arc of the Dragon Prince story is complete and what’s next will probably be the Aaravos Arc. Another three seasons perhaps?

Either way, I’m excited to see what’s next for TDP. Words cannot describe how much I LOVE this series with its amazing story and AMAZINGLY WELL-WRITTEN CHARACTERS. I can’t wait to see what comes for the next arc. Looking forward to it when it comes out. In the meantime, that’s all I gotta say.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019) 

[infinitum-imaginaerum]

GRAFFITI | Jaehyun | 02

Badboy Tagger!Jaehyun | Mini-series Word Count | 4,900+ Warnings | Language, Mature themes, Compromising situations Notes | Here we finally are after 1000000 years and 2000000000000 re-writes. It is a mini-series so it’s going to be progressing really fast. I imagine the chapters will start getting realllllllly long from here on out. 

01 | 02 | 03

It had been three walk-less nights since you encountered Jaehyun for the first time. He hadn’t made any attempts to contact you, nor you him. You had an itch, though, that could only be satisfied by one avenue. Ever since that fateful night during which Jaehyun saved your life, you were a little more tentative about taking walks so late.

Yet, here you were, nearing one in the morning, pulling on a pair of Nike Airs to take a walk.  

Your deep sweats pockets fostered your phone and soon your keys after pulling your apartment door shut to lock it. A short meander down the hallway brought you back to the chrome polished elevator doors. The rush of cool air against your face was exhilarating, spiking you with a little energy as you set a quick pace.

Somewhere in your subconscious, you wished to see Jaehyun again. Though that prospect was unlikely, you continued your walk, unbothered, just happy to be out and about. Your stroll, which you had anticipated to be rather short, turned out to be much longer as you took detours here and there, effectively losing yourself in the darkness of the empty streets surrounding you.

That’s when you came upon walls and walls of graffiti; brilliant and vibrant art coating the austere walls of the city to make it more unique and beautiful. The dim surrounding streetlights hardly provided enough light to really see the intricacies of the wall, but you approached it, touching your fingertips to the previously gray brick here and there, admiring it.

The wall drew you in, something about it giving you a familiar chill as you traced lines of paint over to what you presumed to be the artist’s signature. It was two J’s, scrawled together in a street-art mess, indistinct lines intersecting with other colors, leaving little semblance of two J’s that you would have otherwise looked over if you weren’t familiar with the graffiti style. Of course, every artist had their own style, but what made graffiti unique from regular art was just that—its grungy street panache.

“Do you like it?”

There was a figure that loomed to your right. You hadn’t noticed him appear next to you, catching you quite off guard. You tentatively peered over to a set of legs you were rather unfamiliar with.  

“You scared me,” you told him, placing a steadying hand over your rampant heart and glanced over at him. He was a young man, not one you’d ever seen before, but his presence was welcoming.

“Sorry,” he laughed, looking at you with a cheesy grin. He resembled Jaehyun in many ways—demeanor, clothing, attitude—but he was a bit shorter than Jaehyun and had an accent you weren’t versed in.  “I just saw you standing here, admiring this, and I just wanted to admire it with you. Seems like you’re pretty struck by it.”

“I’d never come across it before; it’s gorgeous,” you replied and turned your attention back to the wall, attempting to disregard the male to your right; but he wasn’t about to give up so easily.

He turned and leaned against the art, getting a better look at your face when you’d refused to look at him any longer. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets, watching you carefully and formulated a reply.

“I’m sure the artist would love to hear such praising words coming from you.”

“You speak as if you know me,” you mention, attention finally shifting back to this peculiar man.

He chuckled, swiping his tongue across his bottom lip.

“I don’t know you, per se; but I could just as easily send the message on to Jaehyun. I’m sure he’d appreciate the commendation,” he explained, observing you with a raise of his brow, watching the slightest change in body language at the mention of Jaehyun. “Ahh, you’re a little more open now. Familiar to Jaehyun?”

You closed off again, not wanting to be too vulnerable as you crossed your arms over your chest. “Not too familiar,” you replied.

He laughed some more, the amusement with the current situation clear as day on his paler lips which pulled over his teeth, his gaze minding its own business, casted towards the ground.

“Familiar enough with his work, though,” he commented a little offhandedly, and then explained further. “Most people unfamiliar with him or his work would never find his signature. It’s pretty apparent you’ve seen a number of his pieces around town and studied them quite intensively.”

“You don’t have to grill her, Yuta,” a different voice commented, though you were unsure of the where it was coming from. All you knew was that the accent was more familiar to you than Yuta’s. The silvery-brown headed male visibly rolled his eyes as they shifted in the direction of the voice from which a striking red-head emerged. He was hardly taller than Yuta, but his features exponentially more striking—he was much more memorable.

“I’m not doing anything, Taeyong,” Yuta sneered.

“Run along now, before you get yourself in trouble,” Taeyong responded, addressing Yuta, though you would have taken it as being addressed towards you if that meant escaping the newly uncomfortable situation.

Taeyong was unnoticeably smaller than Yuta in both height and weight, but it was clear that he called the shots. You watched intensively as Taeyong approached, as Yuta’s demeanor changed a little and kicked himself off the wall and turned his attention to you. A different flicker crossed both of their faces which had you questioning what they were looking at.

“Get over here,” Taeyong snapped at you.

You started to turn your head. “Don’t look, just come here,” he growled. You could feel the threatening air now, heavy on your shoulders, especially as you saw the light glint off the knife twirling in Yuta’s right hand. It was a butterfly knife; that was all the detail you could get from it before Taeyong pushed you behind him.

“Well, if it isn’t Taeyong and friends,” one of the men whose voice was unfamiliar to you remarked with a snide chuckle. You could practically hear the growl in Taeyong’s chest, the pop of Yuta’s gum and the scraping of shoes against the street.

Two men stood about fifteen yards from you and Taeyong’s whose shoulder you peered over. Taeyong wasn’t a large man by any definition of the word, but he sure was menacing when he was standing his ground. A click resonated in your ears like an explosion. Taeyong had withdrawn his own knife, a heavy spring assisted blade that he held with such unwavering confidence.

“What do you want, Yejun?” Taeyong questioned, readjusting his grip on the aforementioned knife.

“I’m not looking for trouble, if that’s what you’re asking,” he replied.

“You were looking for trouble the minute you came around this neighborhood,” Taeyong fired back. You wanted to reach out and grab the back of his shirt, anything to ground you to reality because your head was spinning with such madness—the voices were so familiar now. They were the guys from the other day trying to give you a hard time. An unswallowable lump inhabited your throat, dry and unrelenting.

Yuta’s gaze was also unrelenting. The way he assertively flipped and spun his black knife in between his fingers alerted you that this probably wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

Time was going too slowly, you hadn’t realized that the man who went by Yejun hadn’t answered Taeyong’s question, but you knew for a fact that you acted on impulse when Yejun took a step forward. It jolted your nerves and your decision making skills because your hand was knotted in the back of Taeyong’s shirt almost instantly.

“Go with Yuta,” he commanded of you.

“What? Why?” you asked.

“Don’t ask questions, just go with him.”

“What about yo—”

“I’ll be fine. Yejun and I have unfinished business, anyway,” he snarled, never taking his eyes off Yejun while Yuta was anticipating you. Even though you looked straight at him and there was a straight shot to him, you found it hard to disentangle your fingers from Taeyong’s shirt. Your primary apprehension was if Yuta could take care of you—you had unrelenting confidence that Taeyong could just by his assertiveness. Yuta appeared skilled enough, but you were still wary.

Carefully, Yuta made his way over to the both of you and unfurled your stone-like hand from Taeyong’s shirt with a cautious gaze on both Taeyong and Yejun.

“Stay in front of me,” he told you and rotated you away, back into the direction that you assumed Yuta came from, because it was in the opposite direction that you came from. Yuta glanced over his shoulder from time to time as he hurried you along. Now your heart was pounding in your throat, trying to guess Taeyong’s fate, guess where Yuta was taking you and what exactly was going on.

Finally, the unavoidable question cohered itself and came out like word vomit.

“Why are you protecting me?”

Yuta hauled you around the corner of a building, checking this way and that as he kept you quiet just in case someone had slipped away to follow you.

“Because, when one of us makes an investment, that investment becomes all of ours. That’s how we work, that’s how we live.” His justification was a bit scattered, still on the lookout for a straggler that may have caught you. You were having a difficult time digesting Yuta’s explanation. What did he mean by that? Whose investment were you and why was it all of their business? Speaking of that, who even was everybody?

“And Taeyong?”

“You’re pretty quick with names. He can take care of himself. He’ll get back as soon as he can.”

It didn’t ease you at all, even with how blasé he was about it. It just felt contemptuous, like it wasn’t your place to worry about it (and it wasn’t, but he was risking himself for your sake, so you would use that as an argument for why it should be your business). All you could do was nod as Yuta ushered you back on track.

It was a while that the two of you were walking, briskly at first but slowed down quite a bit the further away from your apartment you went. He explained that it was their territory and that it should be much safer, considering all of the eyes on the lookout. You wanted to ask what that meant; you wanted to know so much more about Yuta and Taeyong. You weren’t even really sure where you were going, but couldn’t find it in yourself to ask.

When you came to the edge of a ditch, there was a certain smell that was a bit strong. It was the smell of burning oak, a fire. You were in such close proximity of said fire that you could hear it crackling and popping and hissing with contained rage. Yuta motioned for you to slide down the side of the ditch first, but you just looked at him like was crazy. Maybe he was crazy, but he insisted you go. You planted your butt on the cold concrete of the side of the arroyo and allowed your feet to gently carry you down, Yuta hot on your tail until both yours and his shoes scrapped across the packed sand on the bottom of the ditch.

There was a figure sitting on a large log which looked like it had been rotted by water. You couldn’t really see who it was, but with your nerves still tangled, you didn’t have a good feeling about what was going on. Yuta nudged you in the back, encouraging you to go with a little whisper in your ear from over your shoulder.

“You know him, it’s okay.”

Curiously, you looked over that shoulder at him, still inching your way towards the figure whose back was facing you. It was a head of toasted honey brown hair that you were certain you’d never seen in your life. You looked harder; maybe there was something you were missing. The black leather jacket over his shoulders seemed slightly familiar, but everyone you’d seen in the past week or so had been wearing one—there was nothing to distinguish this one from all of the others.

“Jaehyun, there’s someone here to see you.”

Yuta’s mention of Jaehyun had your eyes lighting up and you watched Yuta as he passed you before refocusing on the subject in front of you. The second Jaehyun turned his face enough for you to see his profile, all worry melted from your body and the lump in your throat dropped into your stomach. . His eyes met Yuta first, who nodded in your direction and Jaehyun had to turn his body a little further to see you.

Though the lump in your throat was gone, you swallowed pretty unceremoniously upon seeing him. His eyes were extraordinarily soft on you as he rose from the log. He seemed to tower over Yuta, even if he was only a few inches superior in height, when he stood next to him, glancing at him for what you presumed to be an explanation for Taeyong, now that all of you brain cells were working semi-properly again.

“Long story short, he’s handling Yejun,” Yuta stated. “I got to her before him, thankfully.”

The look on Jaehyun’s face shifted to that of concern.

“Thankfully, indeed,” Jaehyun added gently, eyes back on you. “Johnny wasn’t far behind you when you left. He’s probably with Taeyong now.”

“I was going to suggest you keep an eye on her while I go back for him,” Yuta tried. “Not trying to gloat, but I’m probably the most combat trained and if the rest of Yejun’s group shows up, they could be in trouble.”

“You’re right. Go, bring them both back.”

It was a conversation so confusing, you were happy it didn’t involve you. You were entirely unsure what was going on, just that Yejun and them didn’t get along and for some reason he was targeting you. Unsure of what to make of it, you just accepted it as it was and let the ones who knew what exactly what going on handle it.

Yuta climbed the side of the arroyo and was out of sight in a matter of seconds, leaving you alone with Jaehyun and the crackling fire. Now a familiar scent was wafting around you. Jaehyun’s scent of teakwood and citrus was clogging your receptors, and you stared at his chest while he approached you.

“You’re lucky they were there, just by coincidence,” Jaehyun told you, and only then did your eyes meet his, especially when he took your hand once more to press his soft full lips against your knuckles. He was standing right in front of you, so close, but not nearly as close as the other day when he had you pressed up against him. Part of you wanted to feel that again, now not in imminent danger, but you barely knew him and it was fairly uncalled for.  

“You can’t be going out to get yourself in trouble,” he laughed weakly and reached out to tuck a stray tress behind your ear. Though he laughed, trying to lighten the mood about it, you could tell his statement was pretty serious, holding a lot of weight on his tone. “I wasn’t anticipating seeing you again so soon.”

The overwhelming desire to lean into his touch when he cupped your cheek for a mere second was claiming your every thought and you were thankful it was only for a split second, because you were sure you would have leaned into it.

“I don’t go out to get in trouble,” you returned.

“At one in the morning, almost anyone who leaves their home is looking to get in trouble,” he reminded you, ducking his head a little bit to meet your straying eyes to bring your attention back to his.

“Maybe I just wanted to see you again,” you whispered, his gaze seemingly stunting every fiber of your logical being to be saying such things.

Jaehyun smiled, flattered by your comment nonetheless. “There are better ways to get my attention,” he told you, tenderly pinching your cheek.  

He shrugged that thick leather jacket off his shoulders. You watched as it slid down his arms, clothed by a long sleeved black button up until that jacket was in his hands, swinging it around your shoulders. This time, he prompted you put your arms in the sleeves, which you did, and it swallowed you whole.  This time, the jacket didn’t smell of aerosol fumes and gasoline, just of the sweet oak fire.

“Though I find it adorable, I can’t stand to watch you shiver.”  

He was so sweet and he had you thinking really hard about what type of person he actually was. It was interesting, because he exuded such a bad boy look (with the exception for right now, and right now he was looking finer than the print on the bottom of a contract), but he’d been nothing but the kindest to you, exclusively having only met once before now.

Jaehyun ushered you to the log he was previously seated on, swollen with water and cracking everywhere, hydrated beyond its seams to sit you down. He plopped in the packed dirt in front of you, between you and the fire, to gaze up at you. He watched the flames flicker on your face, illuminating your skin, and especially your eyes which gazed back down at him.  

There was so much you wanted to say, everything right on the tip of your tongue, but unable to find anything more suitable than something else, so you stayed silent. Jaehyun observed you, watching your eyes shift between his as an adoring grin tugged at his lips. It was okay that you didn’t say anything, because the cracking and hissing of the fire was doing a stellar job filling the silent void.  He just gazed at you with that handsome half grin while your shivering had vanished; between Jaehyun’s thick jacket and the warm fire, you were content now.

“I really am glad Yuta found you first. I’m so sorry that I put a target on your back; but the way he looked at you the other night… him and his goons. I couldn’t let it go—”

Jaehyun was interrupted by feet scuffing down the side of the arroyo, many pairs, not just one. There was so much everyone needed to explain to you right now. You were caught in the middle of something, that much you knew,  how and why you got there—Jaehyun was just beginning to explain until he rose to his feet abruptly.

You turned to look over your shoulder, Yuta, Taeyong and another, who you assumed to be Johnny, were headed back over to the fire with Jaehyun greeting them. Taeyong was slightly slung over Yuta’s shoulders; hence the concern after Yuta promised everything was going to be fine.  

“He’s fine, just a little rattled,” Yuta commented before Jaehyun could say anything.  His fists were clenching by his sides, you could see the muscles in his jaw tightening.

“This is my fault,” Jaehyun said as Yuta set Taeyong down on the log.

“It’s not. It would be this way for anyone. It’s not your fault, you did the right thing,” Taeyong replied, trying to reassure the younger male while you just sat there, Taeyong’s bold eyes turning to look at you as you sat on the log a couple of feet away from him. He had a slice across his cheek, it didn’t look too bad, it wasn’t too deep, but it was still bleeding.

Hastily, you reached into your pants pocket to pull out a tissue of the few you’d grabbed on your way out. It was common for your nose to get a little runny in the cold, so you took some just in case. Without asking, you lifted it to press it against his wound, applying light pressure to stop the bleeding.

He looked at you, Yuta looked at you, Johnny looked at you, Jaehyun looked at you. You swallowed hard, looking at Taeyong’s eyes before back to his cut. One of his hands rose to take yours. Part of him wanted to pull your hand away, confused, but the other part knew he needed it.

“I’ve got it, thank you,” he said, taking your tissue as he rose from the engorged log.

“We’re going to take him back home; we’ll see you in a while?” Yuta asked, addressing Jaehyun as he helped Taeyong up completely.

“I’ll be in touch,” Jaehyun answered.

With a firm nod, the three of them were off, leaving you and Jaehyun alone again. You looked at him, concern and curiosity battling for the forefront of your gaze over him. His gaze cast over the dirt for a moment before meeting your eyes again, and you assumed that concern was at the forefront when he said, “He’ll be okay. Don’t worry.”

You were shivering again, unsure if it was because you were cold or if it was because you were nervous. Either way, Jaehyun caught on quickly and approached you. He gathered you into his arms, no permission asked, but you didn’t mind. He was warm and firm and protective, safe, inviting as his arms circled you.

It was silent, but comfortable again. The worry of Taeyong was slowly fading from your mind as you closed your eyes, reveling in his warmth, in his familiar and intoxicating scent. Your face pressed into his chest, inhaling through you nose and out through your mouth. It was your second meeting with Jaehyun, but something about him clicked just right. It was if you’d known him for centuries, beyond this lifetime, like he was home.

“I want to take you home, but I don’t know if I want to say goodnight just yet.”

You didn’t bother reply, the reverberation from his voice soothing you enough—you were getting sleepy in his grasp.

“But I guess I should take you; huh, my sleepy duchess?”

His little nickname for you, along with the possessive, had you biting your lip. You shifted in his grasp, turning your head to look up at him, almost able to rest your chin against his chest. The dazzling smile pulling at his lips had you melting deeper into him and one of his hands rose to brush your hair out of your tired eyes.  

Your fists were balled up now against his chest, captive between your bodies as you continued to look up at him. His slender thumb was stroking your cheek, his other arm still protective around you, hulling you into him. Your eyes fluttered at the sensation, but still your gaze remained on him.

“Something about you is just so captivating,” he finally muttered to you, able to gather the questioning in your eyes about why he was looking at you the way he was. His fringe had shifted into his eyes and it took everything you had to leave it be.

“I could say the same about you,” you replied quietly, gaze slowly shifting from his eyes, down his slender nose to his mouth which was so, so, so close. His warm breath was against your cheeks, over your nose, his fringe tickled your forehead, and both of his thumbs stroked your cheeks now.

You swallowed hard, eyes fluttered as his nose gently brushed against yours, breath rickety when you finally exhaled. Everything seemed to go away, the crackling of the fire, the way it flickered against his face, the chirps of crickets and the gentle whistle of the wind, and the leaves rustling in the trees… you’re left with him.

“Jae…” you whispered, barely audible, causing his hands to tense against your cheeks.

“Let me take you home,” he finally replied as his hands dropped from your face, his nose leaving yours as he pulled away. You stood still, shivering in his jacket as he passed you, rustling around for some things before the fire was extinguished. You stared down the dark ditch, his familiar warmth absent from you for only a few more moments before he rounded you to face you once more. He reached for the zipper of his coat draped over your shoulders, taking it upon himself to zip it up just a bit to keep the wind out before taking your hand to escort you to the side of the ditch.

He followed behind you up the side and began walking with you. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets, eyes cautious of the surroundings as you kept quiet, the sleeves of his jacket covered your hands to keep them out of the cold. You weren’t sure how long the walk to your building once since you had gone some obscure way, but things started to look more familiar pretty soon into the walk.

“I wanted to...” he muttered.

Softly, you smiled, reaching up to tuck some stray tresses of hair behind your ear and out of your eyes as your gaze casted down towards his feet. You still weren’t sure what to say, if anything. Disappointment wasn’t an emotion you were feeling, though Jaehyun was thoroughly convinced that’s exactly what you were feeling.

You were finally coming into the sight of your apartment building, and with so many things swirling inside your head; you weren’t sure what to say and hadn’t said anything until that point. The two of you pushed through the doors of your apartment building after you had punched in the access code.

Finally, he muttered your name.

You turned to him, just as the two of you had meandered up to the elevator, the chrome polished doors almost welcoming, ready to take you away from this awkward situation—you turned to him nonetheless, looking at him with curious eyes. A moment passed, another, and another before you realized you were still clad in his jacket and slowly you began to shrug it off.

At first, he didn’t seem interested in taking it from you. His gaze never wavered from your face, almost completely ignoring your outstretched hand, handing him back the thick warm leather that he had lent to you twice now. His lips parted multiple times, looking for something to say, but shook his head every time before finally reaching out to take his coat back from you.

“Will I see you again?” he finally asked.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” you laughed, finally lightening the mood with a playful comment as you eyed him from under your lashes.

That dazzling smile of his finally made its way back onto his face, and for the twenty or so minutes it was gone while the two of you were walking back to your apartment, the world seemed a little bit dimmer. He reached out, pinching your cheek, a gentle gesture from his index knuckle and thumb, hardly able to call it a pinch.

“I don’t think I’d ever want to get rid of you,” he whispered, his smile widening as you stepped back towards him.

“Then, I don’t see us having a problem,” you replied, turning your face up to him, but your eyes fluttered closed in surprise when he leaned over to place a lingering kiss against your cheek. Your face was burning, you could feel it in the few moments he lingered there, and his lips were cold against your warm cheek.  His right hand cupped your other cheek, holding you stationary for a moment longer when he pulled back and his deep chocolate eyes bore right through your soul.

Your knees were almost weak for him, even with such an innocent kiss against your cheek. There was a passionate fire in him; you could almost feel it, a fire you wanted to explore, a fire you wanted to know, a fire you wanted to share.

“Goodnight, duchess,” he whispered to you and reached just passed you to press the up button on the elevator. Your time was cut incredibly short when the carrier dinged, signaling the opening of the doors—the carriage was already on the bottom floor, waiting for you.

“Please let me know when you’re safe,” you replied, looking at him, knowing there was danger out there that he was involved in. He just looked at you with a knowing, but comforting smile, stepping into you, forcing you back into the elevator.

“I will, I promise,” he said.

“Goodnight, Jaehyun,” you muttered back, reaching over for the button to your floor. He smirked at you as the polished chrome doors began to close, and he continued to stand there until he couldn’t see you anymore. His fist clenched at his side, his jaw as well. The thoughts of the imminent outcome of this pursuit with you swirled in his head—though they were only potential, they were very possible, and part of him couldn’t bear the thought.  He’d tugged his jacket back on; fixing it on his shoulders as his head turned about, looking this way and that as he dug his hands back into his pockets and made his way back in the direction the two of you came from, the lower east side—reputable for being the least desirable part of town, littered with crime and gang activity, with drugs and shootouts, with thugs from all walks of life.