#but me and my friends have been group-watching the whole series and it's brought me much joy. even if it is stupid

[autoraton]

What's the best tv show. That exists. Inside the world.

hit fox procedural bones (2005) starring david boreanaz and emily deschanel

[filmbyjy]

CONNECTION

– the mafia series

PAIRING: sim jaeyun x fem!reader

SUMMARY: jake's job was simple, manage and monitor over the boys. he was a smart boy after all, he even created an app for the whole squad to use! it was extremely impressive. now, if only he could that intelligence to figure out your feelings for him.

WARNING: mentions of dead parents. the dark side of huge companies. reader seduces men as a job to help the boys. slight suggestive. had to add a COD reference bc i have been watching tons of 'call of duty: warzone' videos. lack of sunoo content in here (HOW THE HECK DID I NOT PUT HIM IN MUCH? I AM SO SORRY). the ending wasn't how i intended but you still end up with jake so yeah.

WORD COUNT: 6.1K words (i said i would make it 6K and i did!)

NOTE: if you didn't know, each member's story is connected! hence you can see the characters meet. however, it will be confusing for you if i go 'oh (name) met (name).' so i gave a name to the previous girl. for example, in here heeseung's girl is named Eun!

anyone and their parents who heard of the sim jaeyun would instantly start mentioning his awards and honours. jaeyun was the epitome of a perfect child, he was every parent’s dream child. good grades, a gentleman and a free pass to join any company he’d like. many weren’t shocked when jaeyun had announced he would be creating his own company. someone as rich and high class as him wouldn’t just join any company.

although jaeyun was famous for his prim and proper behaviour, no one knew the boy was part of the mafia. everyone except you.

“here.” you threw jake the thumbdrive. your lipstick was ruined from your day job.

“thanks (name).” jake smiles. he places the thumbdrive down on the table and goes over to help wipe the lipstick that was messed up with his thumb. “messy kisser i presume?” he cocks his brow. you pout.

“yeah, i think that was the dude’s first kiss in over 30 years.” you say. jake gags.

“I really don’t understand how you don’t gag while kissing older men.”

“simple, it’s part of my job and i will do it. i can’t back out of it, i commit to my work.”

“that’s disgusting. you do you though.”

“well, it’s not like i’m dating the guy. It’s part of my job.”

“i know but-”

“jakey, i know you worry for me but i’m fine.” you caressed his cheek before placing a peck there. “i’ll be on my way now, see you and the boys tomorrow.”

jake sighs as he watches you leaving the penthouse. Now, since there isn’t much info on both yours and jake’s relationship, let us travel back to elementary school.

it was the last year of elementary school and you were wondering if you would be able to make friends in middle school or even high school. no one ever really approached you in the past years of elementary school. you thought there was something off about you. that however, did not matter. you grew up independent since your parents were never there for you since you were 2. they were well…killed in a car crash and you have been living with your grandparents since then.

It was the 2nd year in middle school, you brought your books to the library and went to study there. it was silent for a little while until a group of boys walked in laughing and talking really loudly. it disturbed you and you tried to ignore it.

“don’t mind them.” a boy says. you looked up from your book to notice a cute boy with shaggy hair. he tilts his glasses up to place them back properly on his face. “they are always this noisy, the librarian will kick them out soon though.”

you nod, feeling a little awkward to even say anything to him. who was he and when did he sit in front of you?

“i’m sim jaeyun but my friends call me jake.” he holds out his hand for you to shake. you cautiously accepted it.

“i’m (name).”

“oh, i know. we are in the same class for all these years.” you tilt your head.

since when was he your classmate? do you just never pay attention to your surroundings?

“I sit behind you usually, i guess you don’t really notice.” the boy smiles.

oh he had the most beautiful and cutest smile ever. it was charming.

“i’m sorry i didn’t notice before.”

“it’s okay. maybe, you could repay by being my friend?” jake says.

you looked at the boy straight in the eyes and smiled, “sure.”

fast forward to high school, you never thought in your whole life would sim jaeyun turn out to be a total heartthrob. everyone’s eyes always trailed him, the constant surge of girls coming over to talk to him and flirt with him.

now you wouldn’t call yourself the jealous type but surprisingly with jake you were. no one ever really noticed how you were acting differently when some girls tried to flirt with him. well anyone who isn’t dumb. even the boys knew you liked him but it seems as though sim jaeyun was simply oblivious.

college came and ended surprisingly quick. well, you didn’t go to college, only the boys. you couldn’t afford it since your grandparents worked a minimum paying job. they were only able to afford food, water and the home you stayed in. you never wanted to pressure them so you simply told them that you didn’t want to continue studying. of course, they protested further and told you it was fine and that this would be for your future but you told them..

“I don’t want to be a burden, you’ve done so much for me already ever since mom and dad died. i’m really thankful to still have you two so please let me earn my own money and we will see if i’d like to continue studies, alright?”

of course, you never continued studies. one of those random days as you were hanging out with jake in his room. He asked if you’d like to work with him, you’d be paid for your work. what you didn’t expect was for jake at 20 to build an empire along with the boys. the work was dirty work of course, where else could the boys get their wads of cash from. you knew jay’s family always worked with shady people so you weren’t surprise when the boys started to dabble into some very devious work.

“I’ll train you. well get people to train you.” jake says. you looked at jake, he tilts his head. “what?”

“nothing, just confused as to how you are the same sim jaeyun that i knew back then.”

“i never changed (name).”

“you never changed? then what’s with your new freshly dyed blonde hair, mister.i have not changed.” you teased jake. he scoffs.

“It’s just hair dye (name). jay had blond hair too.”

“the sim jaeyun i knew back then wore glasses and had braces. most importantly, took school really seriously. you never liked fuckboys and here you are looking like a fuckboy.”

“well i still wear glasses, these are just contact lenses. I don’t wear braces anymore but i still use retainers to keep my teeth straight and about school…(name) i graduated college with a degree 2 years earlier than everyone else.” jake deadpans. “how have i changed?”

“you’re right, you’re still the same. always finding ways to prove my statement wrong.” you folded your arms and huffed.

you still accepted the offer to work with jake and now you…well to put it simply, seduce men and then end them. which was simple to say but it requires a ton of patience since some men were stubborn.

enough with talking about the past, the present was where we’d focus on.

you were walking home when you felt a presence behind you, following your every move back home.

“sunghoon, i am not going to hand you back your little toy.” sunghoon walks out of the shadows. he groans.

“give it back.” he huffs. you smirked.

“not if you tell me who jake likes.”

“it’s bro code. I can’t just tell you.”

“then you can’t have mr.duck, simple as it is.” sunghoon whines as he follows you back home.

to be completely honest, sunghoon was never like this. he usually was the quiet one but very great at his job. he was the silent killer. with you, sunghoon felt really comfortable. the two of you act like siblings despite not being real ones. that’s how close you were with sunghoon.

“thank you for walking me home, hoonie.” you gave him a flying kiss. sunghoon rolls his eyes.

“yeah yeah, it’s my job after all. i have to or else the boys will go ham on me for not taking care of you. especially your dear jAkEy.” he mocks your voice for the last part. you hit his shoulder.

“enough will you.”

“whatever, see you tomorrow.” sunghoon says.

“hmm. see you tomorrow.” you waved at him before he left.

“you can come out too, ni-ki.” you say with your back turned. ni-ki sighs. he gracefully lands onto the ground.

“you’re no fun, noona. i wanted to scare you.” ni-ki huffs.

“too bad.” you shrug your shoulders.

“anyways, you should get inside noona.” ni-ki says.

“was already planning to.” you say. you waved ni-ki off and entered your home. it was silent, too silent to the point your ears started ringing. you sighed.

“if only grandma and grandpa were still alive…” your grandparents had passed on unexpectedly, it scarred you. sure, they peacefully left earth but you had no other family. you felt…lonely.

you strolled towards the bathroom to take a shower and clean up. everything felt extremely dirty, it’s not like you really enjoyed doing the job but you knew you had no choice considering you only have a mere high school diploma and that wouldn’t get you far.

you could go college but truth is what did you even want to be? you never discovered and developed your talents or hobbies since you were always busy with missions. you wished you spent more time with your grandparents so they could give you life advice, tell you stories of their childhood and many more. however, it was too late.

the water grazes your skin, tears falling down along with it. you felt tired, too tired. if only there was someone out there to give you the love you needed and craved.

“jaeyun.” sunghoon slaps jake’s back. the blond boy winces.

“what the fuck do you want? i’m trying to code something.” jake grumbles. sunghoon takes a single glance at the computer.

“ew numbers.” sunghoon gags. jake rolls his eyes.

“just came back from making sure (name) gets home safe?”

“actually, hyung. both of us did.” ni-ki walks in.

“good. how is she?”

“she’s home safe. I was the last person to see her off since sunghoon hyung was already walking off.” ni-ki smirks.

“oh so taking care of jake’s girlfriend is suddenly a competition? if it is, i am so ready to beat your gremlin ass.” sunghoon hissed.

“as if you could beat me, i’m trained specially as a spy. i quite literally have the high ground.” ni-ki says.

“why you little shit-” jake stops sunghoon.

“alright, how about you two go play a round of fifa. if that isn’t enough to settle this little childish play fight, go settle this on the rooftop training centre. it's the perfect place for you two to wrestle.” jake says.

sunghoon grumbles, “come on.” the silver haired boy drags ni-ki out.

“those two never learn to not bicker.” jungwon says suddenly. jake jumps back in surprise.

“how long have you been sitting there?”

“since those idiots came in. did you fix the virus?” jake tilts his head. “fine, did you fix the virus, hyung?”

“yeah, it was a little hard to fix it but the app is online and our little army should be well informed.”

“good, is noona okay?”

“why do you never use formalities when talking to us but you use it with-”

“Because she’s better than you guys and she’s simply not you guys.” jungwon says. he stands up from the chair.

“yah, where are you going leader-”

“watering my plants and then walking maeumi. let me know if heeseung hyung calls us and we will be there.”

“wait before you go!!”

“already leaving.” jungwon waves jake off.

“THERE IS A BID TO ATTEND TO!! DON’T FORGET!!” jake yells. jungwon does an okay sign. jake falls into his seat and huffs.

he checks his phone. not a single message from you. jake knows you two were simply friends and that you had no feelings for him but he can’t help being worried about you. especially knowing you don’t have any more family. though, jake does hope you think of him and the boys as your little family and yes, he would love to be your husband.

“oh sim jaeyun, you are so down bad.” jake ruffles his hair.

it was about 11pm, jake looked at himself in the mirror and made sure his tie was perfect. he sighs. he turns his head to look at the mask on his bed. a masquerade mask to hide his identity at the bid. he breathes in, he could do this. it wasn’t like this was his first time going over to this bidding event.

“jake! let’s go!” jay yells. jake grabs the mask and puts it on.

there were tons of people at the event, it was kinda getting a little too much for jake. he sucks in a breath. sunoo turns to him.

“hyung, let’s get upstairs. jake hyung is getting you know.” sunoo says.

heeseung spots jake nervously playing with the ends of his suit jacket. he nods.

“let’s go.”

the moment the 7 boys arrived at the top, they spotted you in your amazing long red bodycon dress and masquerade mask. you smiled and entertained the guests that were up in the VIP side.

“(name), you made it!” jay hugs you.

“as per usual, i do have a job to attend to here.”

“job?”

just then, a notification pops up on their phones. it was a warning that something bad was brewing and they had to save this poor innocent victim. you smirked.

“see, my work is never done. anyways, shall we watch?”

jake watches the way you walk over to the balcony, the way your body moves and looked in that dress. god, he wishes to rip your clothes off your body-

“jake, you good?” sunghoon waves his hand in front of him. jake nods before fixing up his mask.

everything was normal, nothing much going on. until, they unveiled what was under the huge cube. it was a cage, a girl was tied up. your breath hitches. it reminded you a lot of the past. the past when you were kidnapped but thankfully, you were found and jake was also the one who found you.

“we have to save her.” you say before turning to heeseung.

“of course. besides, you know we don’t allow selling people. we aren’t the black market.” heeseung says. ni-ki snorts.

“but we do control the black market.”

sunghoon smacks ni-ki’s head, “shut up. we have to gather a plan. any ideas in that giant head of yours, nishimura?”

“First off, it isn’t giant. secondly, heeseung hyung. you don’t happen to have the luggage full money do you?”

“what are you hinting at ni-ki?” heeseung asks.

“bid for her. leave the rest to me and the others. we’ll get the money back safely.”

“yeah yeah.” heeseung waves ni-ki off. “(name), could you seduce-”

“the guy i’m supposed to seduce is that creepy ass man about to bid for the girl. act fast, i need to get down there.” you say. just as you were about to walk off, jake holds your wrist.

“stay safe.”

you smirked, “when have i never stayed safe?” you quickly left the area.

jake’s heart races. he wanted you to stay safe but he knew he couldn’t control you. jay pats jake’s back.

“she’s yours at the end of the day, bud. she won’t go overboard and besides we have the best people to save her. they’re just one call away, have faith in her.”

“I do have faith in her but at the end of the day, she doesn’t like me like that. she thinks i’m only doing this as a friendly gesture.” jake groans.

“dude, ever heard of growing balls and asking her out? it won’t hurt to try.” sunghoon says. jake sends him a terrifying glare. one that could make sunghoon surrender on the spot.

heeseung pats jake’s back, “come on, we should be cautious now.”

the plan starts as heeseung bets on the girl right on the stage. It was a fierce battle between him and their target but of course, heeseung wins. each one of the boys went to their spots to guard behind the scenes while heeseung went straight into the tiger’s den. jake watches as you flirt with the guy, he can’t help but have his stomach churn. it wasn’t a pleasant sight to witness.

“jake, let’s go. ni-ki already left with jungwon.” sunghoon says.

jake’s eyes followed the way you trailed the man. it was flirty, definitely proves you were great at what you did but it didn’t sit right with him.

“jake!” sunghoon yells. sunghoon sighs, he can’t stop his lovesick friend. hence, he was left with no choice but to drag jake away. your eyes catches jake’s for a split second and you swore you saw a glint of hurt. however, you had to focus on your mission.

“so, you won’t be going anywhere after this?” the guy says. his fingers playing with the string on your waist. it was skimpy dress that barely covered much. you even had to wear a thong for it. you decided it was best to dress up since you heard this guy loved extremely pretty and sexy girls. hearing that intel from some girls in clubs was disgusting but definitely useful.

you gave him a smile, “well...i was going home after this. it’s so cold in my bed though.” you gave him a good show by pressing your elbows together. it showed your cleavage way more as you pretend to think. he was shamelessly staring.

“i could swing by.” he licks his lips. you smiled.

“oh, you don’t have to.” you pout. a few men came up behind him and whispered to him. he nods before turning to look at you.

“i’m sorry sweetcheeks but i have some important business to attend to. how about another time?” he says as he hands you a business card. you smiled and took it.

“of course. you must be a busy man.”

“yes, a busy rich man.” he smirks. you ‘giggled’ a little.

“it was nice meeting you, miss..?”

“(name).”

“miss (name).” you bowed a little. once he was gone out of your sight, your face falls. you grabbed your phone and dialled for jay. he picks up within seconds.

“target has gone to your side. it’s your job now.”

“alright. also, before you end the call. could you check up on jake?”

“what’s wrong?”

“he disappeared. he was with sunghoon but then when sunghoon turned back, he was gone.”

“i’ll search for him.”

“okay. stay safe.” jay says. you snort.

“I have pepper spray, a knife and a pistol.”

“of which your boyfriend gave you.”

“jake isn’t my boyfriend, you fuck.”

“sure, (name) but he acts like one.”

“that’s just how jake is.”

“only with you though.”

“whatever.”

“you can’t deny (name).”

“shut up jay.” you end the call, sighing.

you won’t lie, jake has been too friendly with you and only with you. sure, he has flirted with other girls before but he usually doesn’t act upon things. he doesn’t want a relationship. he has mentioned this to you before in high school. which was why you never confessed to him.

a message pops up.

jakeyy: bring me some hot chocolate :(

you: i’m not your personal maid, jaeyun

jakeyy: please princess :(

you: fine

jakeyy: thank you <3

you rolled your eyes. he didn’t even tell you where he was. you did have a clue on where he was though.

you: jake, you fuck. you didn’t tell me where you are (read)

he read the message but didn’t reply, great. guess you really had to go hunt for him. maybe he was at the penthouse. pretty simple and obvious. you swiped your card to get to the penthouse. once the elevator reaches the floor, you went straight to the computer room. jake did spend most of his time here.

you entered the room. thankfully, jake was here.

“hey, why did you run off? you were in the middle of the mission.” you say as you placed down the cup of hot chocolate onto his desk.

“Because i’m not first in line. I don’t have to fight unless there is an emergency.” jake reasons. you sighed.

“jungwon is down there fighting with them.” jake types away on his keyboard.

“jungwon was trained in taekwondo, he can take an enemy down easily with a kick. i need a weapon to strike them down. besides, my speciality is IT. i can help them with info through calls.”

“alright, you win.”

jake snorts, “thanks for the hot chocolate though.”

*buzz buzz* - in-earpiece-

“hey, have you found jake yet?” jay says.

“yeah, he went back up to the penthouse. you guys done yet?”

“yeah. oh, since jake is up there. could he come down and get the girl?”

“i’ll tell him. are you guys coming up?”

“yeah, we need to regroup for a little. heeseung hyung says.”

“alright.”

you smacked jake’s arm and he winces.

“can you do your job? jay wants you to go collect the girl and bring her up here.”

“what? why can’t they do it?” jake huffs.

“they are still fending off a little. they’ll come back up here soon to regroup.”

“i have some things i’m working on-”

“I can help, i was in the same class as you during high school. I would take it as i am in fact smart.” you say.

“are you sure? i’m tweaking a code to strengthen the security of the app while also looking through the database.”

“what do you take me for? i can handle this, just get down there. it’s just a quick fetching and you can come back here.”

“Fine.” jake goes to find the girl. you cracked your knuckles and sat down on his chair.

“damn, this is really advanced.” you say.

“let me handle the coding, noona.” jungwon says. you flinched.

“where the fuck did you come from?”

“i just walked in. now, i’ll code in the strengthening system while you can monitor the database. i believe sunghoon hyung and ni-ki are chasing after the people who stole the money. you can update them while on call, it will be easier for a live time update.” jungwon says.

“okay.”

*buzz*

“sunghoon? do you hear me?”

“yeah, loud and clear. what’s wrong?”

“the guy just ran under.”

“oh thanks. you watching the tracking?”

“yeah, jake went to grab the girl.”

“was he drinking hot chocolate in the computer room again?”

“he asked me to grab some and yeah he was in the computer room.”

“ain’t surprised.”

“HYUNG? WE ARE BEING SHOT AT.” ni-ki yells.

“don’t worry, they’ve never played a game of COD. they can’t shoot for shit.” sunghoon says.

“HYUNG THIS ISN’T A GAME! THIS IS REAL LIFE!”

you winced at ni-ki’s yelling, “sunghoon, ni-ki. be careful.”

“aww thanks, noona.”

“NISHIMURA TO YOUR LEFT!”

“I CAN SEE HYUNG.”

*buzz*

“idiots.” jungwon huffs. you snort.

“yo. where is the girl?” jay says.

“still not here- damn jake hyung really made this system code complicated as fuck.” jungwon groans.

“we need to regroup and sunghoon and ni-ki aren’t here still.” jay says.

“just wait. maybe wash the blood off your shirt and hands first?” jungwon nonchalantly says.

“where is heeseung?” you asked.

“dealing with the dude. hyung, locked him in the chamber.”

“for?”

“you know his crimes.”

“actually, i went in this seducing mission raw. i have zero clue what the guy did.”

“The usual actually like every rich man does.” jay says.

“extortion of money. fraud. tax evasion. he also solicited a minor.” jungwon lists them out. your jaw drops.

“that’s…bad.”

“well, heeseung hyung is doing the right thing. he deserves to be tortured.” jay shrugs. you nod. jungwon types something in and the screen pulls up the security cam of inside the said ‘torture room’.

‘i know nothing you’re talking about.’ the guy’s voice was raspy, almost gone.

heeseung leans down. he throws papers at him.

‘are you sure?’

the guy chuckles before he roars in laughter. he looks up at heeseung directly with crazy eyes.

‘ah, about your so-called dead parents?’

‘you must really not know they are alive. just being tortured to death.’

heeseung grabs the guy’s collar.

‘bullshit, they are dead.’

‘it is all lies. they are being held captive-.’

heeseung shoves the guy back on the chair before leaving the room.

“that was pretty harsh. i don’t think we should mess with heeseung hyung right now. it’s a touchy subject for him.” jungwon says. the door slams open and heeseung is grabbing a canned beer and drinking it.

“i hope that guy enjoys the torture because it is just starting.” heeseung says. sunghoon and ni-ki walked in soon after.

“at least clean your face, you have blood all over. you’re going to ruin the floor, i just cleaned the place.” jungwon groans.

“alright, we will. here.” sunghoon throws the suitcase at jay. jay quickly inspects it to see if all the money was inside and it was.

“great job. now, wash up. we have girl guest coming up and i don’t think she’d want to see the both of you covered in blood.” sunoo says.

“when did you get here?” jay says.

“i was in the bathroom washing up the blood since you aren’t doing it.” sunoo sasses.

“it could be red paint.” ni-ki says.

“along with the smell of iron? totally red paint.” jungwon adds before rolling his eyes. ni-ki huffs.

“do we have any more missions? i have school in the morning and it’s not going to be a good rest if i do not have at least 3 hours of sleep.” ni-ki says. everyone turns to heeseung (despite jungwon being the leader of the operation).

“jake is coming up here any second now so we’ll debrief and then you can run back to your home and sleep.” heeseung explains.

“do we debrief with (name)?” sunghoon asks.

“i’m just here as your assassin, there is no need for me to even be here. jake just told me to watch you two.”

“so?”

“it means, i will be going now. goodnight!” you say.

“wait, what about jake?” sunghoon yells.

“i’ll drop him a text!” you say.

“he’s gonna kill us if we just let you off!” sunghoon says.

“i’m gonna have a night walk before getting home. i need some me time.”

“it’s 1am!”

“and?” the elevator door shuts. just as your elevator door shuts, the other elevator door opens and reveals jake and the girl.

you: went for a walk, i’ll get home as soon as possible.

jakeyy: what? why? 

you: i just wanna walk around our childhood park. is it that bad?

jakeyy: why didn’t you invite me :(

you: i wasn’t asking for you to join me. it’s going to be just me.

jakeyy: alright, stay safe.

“he is going to come.” you sighed.

you were strolling around the park. It was pretty dark out but the night sky and the stars made it look magical. it was why you loved coming here. your grandparents used to bring you here to watch the stars. they laid a picnic mat onto the ground and pointed out the various shapes and animals that they could spot.

there was once a smiley face and your grandparents pointed out that it was your parents and that they were proud of you. proud of who you grew up to be. you weren’t exactly sure if they’d be happy with what you did now.

you looked up at the sky. the stars were twinkling, you wished you could reach up there and capture a star. it was truly something beautiful. you had stayed in the park for at least an hour, you decided it was time to get home. it was already 2am, you should at least get some rest. well, you hoped you did at least.

you felt a nudge at your fingers and saw layla sitting in front of you.

“layla, how did you get here?” you say. obviously, you knew jake was here too because there was no possible way for layla to escape from jake’s vision. he cared about layla more than anybody could.

“what’s with you coming here suddenly?” jake says. you turned to the boy.

“my grandparents' death anniversary is coming up so i just want to visit the place they always brought me to.”

“god, i forgot. i’m so sorry.”

“it’s alright. you don’t have to worry. i’m sure they will be upset though.” you say pointing to the stars. jake looks up.

“i am so sorry grandpa and grandma.” jake says. you snort.

“why did you bring layla out?”

“why not? she likes late night walks.”

out of nowhere it starts pouring. you gasp. jake grabs your arms and runs with you to the gazebo. you, jake and layla were soaking wet. the puppy shakes off the water and it only splashes onto you and jake. the both of you giggled.

“well so much for it having a clear sky to see the stars. it started pouring fast.” you say. jake chuckles.

“I think your grandparents are really mad at me.” he huffs. you laughed.

“that’s impossible, jake! you know they love you!”

“well, if they did then why is it pouring all of sudden.”

“no one can predict the weather.”

“okay, fine. that is very true. this is my favourite hoodie though.” he pouts.

“we can dry it off at my home. for now, we have to wait until the rain stops or at least calms down.”

“i don’t think it’s stopping any time now.” jake says as he looks out. it’s true, it was practically raining cats and dogs. there was no way it would stop any second now. it would probably end in about an hour or two. however, layla was not a calm dog. she’d probably get angsty and want to run around.

“do you think we should just book it to your car?” you suggest.

“car? i walked here.”

“are you serious?” jake nods. you facepalmed.

“okay, maybe we could stay here for a little bit and hope the rain calms down.”

it had been 10 mins and the rain had not calmed down. jake had settled onto the ground by now, caressing layla to calm her down from the thunder.

“should we run? my house is just a block away.”

“(name), i don’t want layla to get sick.”

“what about us?”

“layla is more important.”

“you’re right.” you groaned, “it’s going to take an hour more probably. i’m cold and hungry.” you whined.

“come here then.” you tilt your head. jake tugs on your hand to bring you down to sit on the ground. after doing so, he takes out his jacket and drapes it over you.

“it’s better than freezing to death.”

“oh great, your jacket is wet, you know.” you deadpanned.

“the inside is dry, just the outside is wet. you’re still in the dress you wore for the ball.”

“well, of course i am. i did say i was going straight to do a night walk before going home.”

“it’s dangerous for you to be out wearing like this.” jake says. his words tugged at your heart strings.

“you gave me plenty of things to defend myself with. moreover, i learnt taekwondo from jungwon. i think i’m well prepared for a surprise attack.”

“i’m just worried about you.” he says.

silence.

“you mean it in a friendly way, don’t you?” you say.

“i meant it in a more than friends kinda way.”

you swore your heart drops into the pit of your stomach. there was no way jake liked you as more than friends. he is just joking. he always does.

“is this a joke?”

“no.”

layla whimpers, you pet her.

“she knows i’m sincere.” jake points out. you snort.

“so you like me?” you tease.

“are you teasing me, now?”

“well, it’s hard to believe it when you’ve spent countless times denying our possible feelings for each other.”

“well- fine, i’ll say it out loud. I like you, (name). i like you so much, i wanna kiss you right now.”

your breath hitches, “who’s stopping you from doing it?”

and so, jake leans in and captures your lips. you went home with jake, the both of you were giggling like teens. layla followed in, she settles down on the floor. both you and jake fell onto the couch, kissing nonstop.

“i really like you.” he pecks your lips.

“do you like me or my lips?” he pecks it again.

“both.”

“choose one.”

“then you. I really really really like you.” he pecks all over your face and you fell back onto the couch. jake continues to lay kisses on your face even after you fell back on the couch.

jake’s phone rings. he pauses and places it on speaker mode before throwing himself onto you.

“yo?”

“you sound happy, it’s 4am in the morning.” jay says.

“HE GOT LAID I BET!” sunghoon yells from the back. you heard a smack from the other line.

“YAH! MY ASS.” sunghoon yells.

“anyways, where are you?”

“it rained so i’m at (name)’s house.”

“ah so she’s the cause of your happiness? not surprised. i thought you got laid or something.”

“unless…did (name) and you finally hook up?” sunghoon says.

jake looks up at you and pecks your lips. it was loud enough for both sunghoon and jay to hear.

“we didn’t hook up but she is my girl now.” jay gasps.

“FUCKING FINALLY!” sunghoon yells. jay smacks sunghoon again.

“can you not shout? it’s 4am in the morning and jungwon gets fucking cranky if we wake him up. he is terrifying if he doesn’t get sleep.”

“okay okay. holy shit, congrats though. can we throw a party then?”

“throwing a party equals to a possible attack.” jay explains.

“you know, that’s not a bad idea guys. mayhaps, we can eliminate possible targets on our list.” you say. both jay and sunghoon gasp.

“jake, you have found the smartest girl. thank you (name)!” sunghoon says.

“so we'll tell the others tomorrow in a meeting?”

“yeah, that’s a perfect plan. (name), join us tomorrow!”

“we’ll leave you two to get it on, now!” sunghoon ends the call.

“they are idiots, aren’t they?” you say.

“that’s sunghoon and jay for you.” jake says. you giggled.

the next morning, both you and jake entered the penthouse. everyone was already gathered. heeseung was looking at his clock. the other elevator door opened and perfectly on time, another girl walks in.

“is that the girl we saved?” you say. she bows at you.

“hello, i am eun. i umm housekeep.”

“you are pretty. heeseung, you sure you don’t wanna actually wife her up?” you say. heeseung rolls his eyes.

“he’s already planning to do it!” sunoo smirks.

“oh damn, can i be the best man?” jake says.

“it’s not a real marriage.”

“yeah but you two will be legally married by the law.” jay says. eun blushes.

“well, after someone mentioned that i have a wife to a guy. now, everyone thinks i’m married so we’ll have to roll with it.” heeseung glares at jake. the said boy hides behind you.

“okay so what’s the plan because i have to explain to ni-ki later on.” jungwon says.

you told them the plan.

about a month later, the boys were appalled. the guy they tortured was right. heeseung’s parents were really alive.

“eun, here. bring this to heeseung hyung. i think you are the only one who can go in his room. he’ll throw a fit if any one of us goes in.” jay hands eun a tray.

“thanks, i’ll make sure he is okay.” eun says. she enters heeseung’s room.

“dude, if heeseung’s parents are alive…what more is kept under the rug?” sunghoon says.

“you don’t think my pet goldfish from when i was five is still alive?” ni-ki says.

“not funny.” sunoo says. ni-ki huffs.

jungwon feels a notification pop in. he scans his phone. his eyes widened.

“jake hyung, you need to see the app.”

“what? is there a virus?” jake says.

“no, it’s not. someone coded a message into the app externally and it’s for you.” jungwon says.

everyone looks at their phone. true enough, it was a pop up message.

‘your brother is still alive. clock is ticking though, better be quick and solve this mystery. i’ll be waiting for you and your little mafia friends~’

jake felt his stomach drop. there is no way his brother is alive. his brother died in an accident when he was 10.

“jake…”

“(name), i-”

you hugged jake. he could feel his whole body shake but he didn’t know if it was fear or anger. whoever was behind this was someone cruel. someone who knew every single thing about the boys.

“we have to find the mastermind. he deserves to be erased from this planet.” jake says.

-

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[angstysebfan]

My Roommates Boyfriend - Chapter 4

Pairings: Bucky x Female Reader AU: Modern

Chapter Summary: Aftermath of the kiss. Bucky and the reader stop at another motel for the night. Chapter Warnings: Angst (duh), Cursing, Harrassment, Implied Gang Rape

Series Masterlist

--

You continue driving and make it to the border of Minnesota and North Dakota, when you finally stop at a motel. The rest of the drive has been complete and utter silence. After Bucky kissed you, you pulled away in surprise. You both stared at each other for a moment, before you reached out for him and brought his lips back to yours.

You allowed him to deepen the kiss and explore your mouth with his tongue. You felt your whole body come alive for the first time in so long. You didn’t want to let go, but the need to breath forced you both to separate. No words were said as Bucky took your hand and guided you back to the car. Then... nothing.

Now you're at another motel, and you honestly don’t know what to expect. Neither of you have said a thing since the kiss, and you don’t know what he's thinking. You walk into the office of the motel, where Bucky asks for two separate rooms. You're grateful to have some alone time to think. You walk up to your rooms and before you go in you look at Bucky as he unlocks his door.

“D-did you want to do dinner?” you ask quietly.

He looks at you, his expression unreadable, “No thanks. I need some time alone. I’ll see you in the morning at 5, okay?” he asks.

You nod and watch him go into his room without sparing you another glance. You go into your room, and lock the door behind you. You slide down the door to the floor and let out a sob. Your mind is all over the place, but the one thing that keeps coming up is that you kissed Bucky. You kissed the person who has been a complete dick to you for over a year. But even prior to that a lot of things came out into the open. It's just been an overly emotional day.

–

Once you showered, you looked at your phone to see what was around for food. You found a McDonalds that was within walking distance, so you throw on a hoodie, and shoes and walk out your door. You thought about stopping to ask Bucky again, but decided against it.

You walk down the block and head inside. While you're there, you see a group of young guys, possibly college age, sitting in a group. You order your food and while you are waiting, you hear the guys cat-calling you. You decide to ignore them, since you were in no mood to deal with stupidity tonight. You got your food and left. While walking back, you continue to hear the same voices calling out to you. You turn around and see that group of guys were following you. You tried to speed up, but they caught up to you quickly.

“What’re you doin' out here alone beautiful, huh?” One of the guys says.

You keep your head down, clutching your food. The rest of the group completely surrounds you, and you felt trapped. Your heart started pounding a mile a minute in fear of what might possibly happen. You look at the guy who spoke. He had blonde hair and green eyes, and would be considered good looking if he wasn’t stalking you.

“Please, leave me alone. I'm just tryin' to get back to the motel,” you mutter, while trying to push past the group, unfortunately they do not let you leave. 

“Why don’t you stay and hang out with us. We'll show you a good time,” the blonde said again, while his friends laughed.

You continue to try and force your way out of the group, but they just laugh at your feeble attempts. You start to panic that they will do something to you. 

“Look, my boyfriend is at the motel, and he'll be coming soon to look for me, if you don’t let me go,” you say, hoping that will scare them off.

The blonde just laughs tauntingly. “What kind of boyfriend lets his girl out alone?” he sneers at you, getting closer and grasping your arm, pulling you into him as his other hand starts to grope you.

“The kind that will fucking kill you if don't get your fucking hands off her!” you hear from a familiar voice.

You look up and there's Bucky, looking angrier then you have ever seen him. The relief you feel is indescribable. The blond stops groping but holds you close to him so you can't escape.

“It’s time for you all to move along, or do you actually have a death wish tonight?” Bucky says menacingly.

The blonde just laughs and squeezes you closer making you whimper.

“With the sounds she's making, I think she wants to stay. And besides, what makes you think you could take all of us on, asshole?” he asks.

Bucky looks from you to him, getting angrier by the second. Bucky stalks up to the circle, which parts to let him into the center of the group. All the guys are egging the blond on to kick Bucky's ass. The blond throws you to the floor and swings at Bucky. Bucky blocks the punch and sends a swift uppercut to the mans jaw, causing him to fly a few feet and hit the ground out cold. The other guys stand there in complete shock.

Bucky looks around at them all with fire in his eyes, "Any one else want to take a fucking swing? Any one else want to touch my girl?!" he asks angrily, and they all take a step back.

Bucky quickly picks you up bridal style and turns to head back to the motel. They stare at him as he walks past them with you in his arms. You wrap your arms around him and nuzzle your face into his neck, as tears flow down your face. Bucky says nothing as he walks.

He opens the door and walks in, closing it with his foot. He places you on the bed and kneels in front of you. He wipes the tears from your cheeks with his thumbs as he whispers, “You’re okay; I got you.”

You openly sob for a few minutes and Bucky sits on the bed and pulls you into his lap, allowing you to cry. After you start to calm down he places a soft kiss on your forehead. You look at him then look around and realize he brought you back to his room. 

You take a steadying breath, “I.. I think I’m okay,”

You give him a small smile as you stand up. Bucky gives one back as stands with you.

 “Are you sure?” he asks, fear evident in his eyes.

You nod, “Yeah…Thank you… for saving me.”

Bucky blushes as he smiles at you, it’s the first time he ever directed a real smile at you and it causes butterflies in your stomach. It’s the most beautiful thing you have ever seen.

“I uh, I should go back to my room,” you say.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asks, generally concerned.

You just nod and walk to the door. “Yea... um... goodnight” you say.

“Goodnight.”

Bucky POV

Bucky watches you leave, and once the door closes he let out the breath he was holding. He doesn’t know what to make of today. It was such a rollercoaster. After speaking with Nat last night, he promised he would be on his best behavior. He thought ignoring you would be the solution, and it was going well in the beginning. Until you had to ask about THAT night. He knows what he said was terrible, and that he really didn't mean it, but it brought up all the pain again and he just snapped. He didn't expect you to react like that. He hated seeing you have a panic attack, and hated even more that it was because of him.

While your side of the story seems plausible, he wasn't sure if he could actually believe it.  Ask Nat you said. Maybe he should. Then he thought about what you said. You had wanted him as much as he had wanted you, AND you said you still seem to like him. He doesn’t know why because he knows he's been horrible to you.

Bucky sighs and picks up his phone to text Nat:

Hey, we're practically in North Dakota. My plan is to be in Washington State by tomorrow, as long as we don’t make too many stops.

Yay! I can’t wait to see you both! How are things going with Y/N?

Bucky looks at his phone and decides he needs to know if you were telling the truth. He quickly types his response to Nat and waits.

–

Reader POV

You lay in bed staring at the ceiling thinking about what a clusterfuck the day turned into. First you were basically sitting on egg shells while he ignored your existence, then you just had to bring up the drama. The words that he said, even now make tears come to your eyes. Did he really think of you that way? 

But the way he took care of you, while you had your embarrassing panic attack. He held your hand to his chest and got you to match his breathing. Something tells you that what he said was true, that he did have some feelings for you, at least at some point. He must be a complete asshole if he was willing to help you out of your attach.

Even after you calmed down, he continued to just hold your hand, even brushing his thumb over your knuckles. Just the thought brought goosebumps to your skin. You always thought there was something wrong with you to like him when he's been mean to you, but you can't help it.

Then he kissed you! You can still feel his soft lips on yours, the taste of him in your mouth. God, you had dreamed of him kissing you, and now that you had it, you wanted more. But you couldn’t do that to Nat, plus you don’t know what he thinks of you now anyway. He could be acting like this because you freaked him out with your panic attack.

Then to top off the entire fucked up day, you almost get gang raped when you were just trying to get food. Again, Bucky took care of you and saved you. You owe him so much for that. Now you lay here and wish you had stayed in his room with him. You're too scared to close your eyes, that the nightmares of what could have happened to you will appear. 

Before you even know what you are doing, you find yourself leaving your room and standing in front of his door. You don’t see the light on from under the door and think maybe you should leave him alone. But you knock softly anyway, just to see. After a moment, the door opens to find Bucky in those black sweatpants, hanging low on his hips, no shirt, and his hair in a low bun. He looks surprised to see you.

“Hey… uh… sorry if I woke you, but…. I-I couldn’t sleep…. and–” you stutter through your sentence.

Before you could finish, Bucky takes your hand and pulls you into the room and closes the door.

– 

You wake up the next morning and find yourself snuggled tightly in Bucky’s arms, with your face nuzzled into his neck. Bucky is still sound asleep, which allows you time to look at him without him knowing. His face is so soft while he sleeps, with his lips parted just slightly. He's just so beautiful! God, you want to kiss him again.

What the hell is wrong with you? This man made your life hell, and now you act like some lovesick puppy! Plus he was dating Nat!

Bucky starts to stir and slowly opens his eyes and looks right into yours. He blushes when he sees how tight he is holding you. 

“Oh… uh sorry. I guess I like to cuddle when I sleep.” he said bashfully, letting you go.

You can’t shake the disappointed feeling of not having his warmth around you. You just smile, “It’s okay… I didn’t mind. Thank you for letting me sleep in here last night,” you say quietly.

Bucky looks from your eyes to your lips, then back. 

“No problem.” he says quickly before getting up out of bed.

You frown, but figure you might as well get up too. You look at the clock and see that it is 5 am. 

“We should get going if we are going to make it to the Washington state line by tonight,” Bucky says as he walks toward his bathroom.

You nod, “I’ll get dressed and meet you at the car in 15 minutes?” you ask as you head toward the door.

Bucky just nods before closing the door to the bathroom. You quickly leave the room and go into yours. You run to the bathroom to freshen up and then change into jeans, a t-shirt, and hoodie. After brushing your teeth and putting your hair up, you pack your things and head out to the car, where Bucky is waiting.

--

Chapter 3 / Chapter 5

What a chapter... lol. A lot to unpack. Feedback is appreciated.

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[very-grownup]

So a couple years ago, I fell into watching Chinese dramas and because my posts about the most recent one garnered some curiosity, here are the dramas what I have watched.

Hikaru no Go

DID YOU KNOW. DID YOU KNOW. THAT IN 2020 THERE WAS A CHINESE DRAMA ADAPTATION OF HIKARU NO GO AND IT IS AMAZING AND MADE ME CRY ALL OVER AGAIN? It is faithful in spirit while making understandable alterations both for the setting and to avoid managing child actors for the entirety of the series (there are about six episodes with Hikaru/Shi Guang as an elementary school student before a time jump to high school).

If you are unfamiliar with Hikaru no Go I recommend becoming familiar with Hikaru no Go, my first and still one of the best sports manga. It's what Takeshi Obata was the artist on before Death Note and my hot take is that Obata post-Hikaru no Go is mid at best.

Hikaru no Go is a sports series about the most normal boy finding an antique go board that houses the soul of an ancient go master who died too young and with go regrets, so he bullies/guilts the boy into helping him play go so he can see or play a divine go move. In the process he acquires a rival/stalker in the form of the genius son of a go master. It's amazing and the drama absolutely does it justice.

The heart of the series is the relationship between Hikaru/Shi Huang and Fujiwara no Sai/Chu Ying.

It's just a fucking good series.

The Untamed

According to one description on imdb, this is about two friends solving a series of murders. This is technically true, although it neglects to mention a few details.

Sixteen years after doing a whole lot of demonic blood magic shit and dying because of it, hated by society, Wei Wuxian (Xiao Zhan) is brought back from the dead by more super demonic blood magic and is recognized by his noble and esteemed peer/friend Lan Wangji (Wang Yibo) and trying to deal with why Wei Wuxian has been brought back from the dead leads to their investigating a series of murders that result in their becoming entangled in wider political schemes stretching back twenty years.

It's got weird pacing, prolonged flashbacks to explain a lot of the relationship dynamics, and basically an entirely self-contained sub-story that brings the main plot to a grinding halt. There are creatures and CGI effects of interesting quality. There are amazing wigs. There are piles of corpses. There's physical torture and emotional torture and some doomed love stuff and sword fights and musical instrument fights and a donkey and chicken theft and brotherhood and what you're willing to sacrifice for your goals and what goals you're willing to sacrifice for and it is based on a novel that ends in the protagonists raw dogging on the side of the road.

That part's not in the show.

Douluo Continent

Ignorant country boy Tang San (Xiao Zhan) finds himself involved in the world of martial arts and magic after discovering a hidden talent and ends up in the group of fellow martial artists who are all weird or unorthodox or hiding crucial bits of their backstory like girl who is actually a rabbit and immediately decides Tang San is her best friend/husband (Wu Xianyi), guy who needs to become powerful enough to kill his older brother (Gao Taiyu), girl who rejected an engagement to the would-be brother killer and wants to fight him (Liu Mei Tong), guy who wants to ditch martial arts to become a great actor (Liu Run Nan), and girl who is too rich to be here (Ding Xiaoying). They learn together, they grow together, they fight monsters and embark on a tournament arc, and there's an overarching mystery about Tang San and his weak but simultaneously super powerful spirit summoning.

Even though the best technique is clearly the one where the boy in question can summon a sausage that you eat and heals you.

It's very much of a specific genre that can be pretty samey, but Douluo Continent has a charming cast that makes up for its predictable plot beats.

It does end on a cliffhanger that is possibly resolved in the sequel series where ... all the main characters were recast with, I'm guessing, slightly less pricey actors. Such is the way of things.

Word of Honour

Do you like knowing what's going on? Then get the fuck out of here, Word of Honour is not for you. Real ones want to be immediately submerged into chaos and confusion and secret identities. You want Mr Bones' Wild Ride in plot form. Why has former superassassin Zhou Zishu (Zhang Zhe Han) abandoned the sect of assassins he created to live in wandering drunk anonymity as he slowly dies? Why is Wen Kexing (Gong Jun) stalking him aside from poorly censored horny desires? Is Wen Kexing actually a ghost? Can any of the impressionable youths attaching themselves to Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing be stopped from their very poor choices in role models? What is up with this legendary hidden armoury and why do Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing seem unable to escape the conspiracy around it? HOW HARD IS IT TO GET WOLONG'S FAMOUS NUTS?

Not recommended for people who constantly want to know what's happening or why X is doing Y, but great if you want to watch with someone and then after an episode, walk your dogs and try to figure out what's going on and what's going to happen (you will be wrong).

Advance Bravely

What if the most ridiculously unrealistic and unhinged slashfic by a teenage girl who doesn't fully understand anything was adapted into a drama series where censorship means everything must be painted with a special "no homo" brush? You get Advance Bravely which is the most incoherently homoerotic thing I've ever watched. No one thinks you should watch Advance Bravely and you watch Advance Bravely and you agree but sometimes you just have to watch a beautiful trainwreck where the protagonist explains his lack of a girlfriend with erectile dysfunction and the series climax involves his being, essentially, trapped in a well.

Love Between Fairy and Devil

DO YOU WANT TO GO FULL SHOUJO MANGA FANTASY?

Innocent fairy Orchid (Yu Shuxin) just wants to strengthen her immortal spirit and pass the exam that would let her serve in the palace of the fairy capital so she can catch glimpses of the War God Chang Heng (Zhang Ling He) who she is hopelessly in love with. Instead, an attempt to help her crush causes her to bumble her way into the high security spiritual prison that has held Dongfang Qingcang, the Moon Supreme (Dylan Wang), for 30,000 years.

DO YOU LIKE BIG NUMBERS BECAUSE YOU WILL GET TO SEE SOME BIG NUMBERS IN TERMS OF TIME SPAN AND AGES.

Because of some plot magic, Orchid and the Moon Supreme swap bodies and loophole out of prison, much to her distress. Their fates are tied together and Orchid becomes more familiar with the wider world and the politics between the realms and how much the fairy realm's supreme ruler fucking suuuuuuuuuuuucks while Moon Supreme finds himself having feelings again after they were tortured out of him in a mystical coffin prison as a child.

Moon Supreme's closest friend is a dragon. Orchid's closest friend is an opportunistic snakeoil saleswoman. There's a pissy younger brother and a bitchy but honourable love rival. There are secret origins and reincarnation and hidden identities and the way it alternates broad comedy and melodrama and sweet romance may give you whiplash.

I just love a bodyswap, you guys.

Sailor Moon vibes but Mamoru is actually interesting and becomes likeable.

Guardian

Okay so the best thing about Guardian is not only that it's a censored adaptation of a novel with a same-sex romance, but that /the entire premise/ is altered for television purposes.

The novel is steeped in Chinese folk religion and the Underworld is real and mythical creatures secretly walk among us.

In the show?

ALIENS, BABY.

Ghosts? THOSE AREN'T REAL BECAUSE HUMANS DON'T HAVE SOULS, THEY'RE JUST ENERGY BEINGS.

It's so ridiculous it's endearing.

Anyway, it's about bros solving mysteries with a Monster of the Week vibe until it becomes about possibly the end of the world and alien domination and evil twins.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook

IT'S TIME TO SOLVE CRIMES. IN ANCIENT CHINA.

Quack doctor Li Lianhua (Cheng Yi) is just trying to live a quiet life with his dog and his horse-drawn house. Fang Duobing (Joseph Zeng) just wants to gain admittance into the martial art cop organization that's carrying on the legacy of his dead teacher, Li Xiangyi, who was maybe never actually his teacher and also wasn't killed ten years previously by Di Fei Sheng (Xiao Shunyao), the head of an evil martial arts sect who is also not dead. Not nearly as many people as people think are dead! Identities are cleverly hidden behind pseudonyms and various levels of mask!

Crimes are solved and Li Lianhua is very tired about the whole thing. It's an unwilling buddy cop sort of thing until it becomes about youthful hubris and the sins of the past and also one woman's determination to conquer the world and give it to the man she loves, even if he doesn't want the world and also doesn't love her. We love a woman who takes what she wants and if necessary cuts a man's tendons and imprisons him in a torture pool so his blood can't clot until he agrees to be her wife, don't we, folks?

Folks?

Story of Kunning Palace

The scheming empress Jiang Xue Ning (Bai Lu) dies and wakes up, eighteen-years-old, at the point in her life where she's on the verge of making the start of the decisions that lead her to the Very Bad End. She is going to make different decisions this time and prevent the things she regrets and avoid becoming the empress at all costs.

What you need to know about Story of Kunning Palace is that Bai Lu could have chemistry with a rock and she inadvertently collects a bisexual harem. Her end game love interest is Xie Wei (Zhang Ling He), the man who killed her, an advisor to the emperor, music teacher, double or triple agent, and sufferer of vampire snow madness and a fear of cats, whether adorably fluffy or badly CGI'd. But she's in love with noble civil servant Zhang Zhe (Wang Xing Yue), a pure and hardworking man who she seduced into betraying his principles, leading to his imprisonment and probable death. However, her childhood friend Yan Lin (Zhou Jun Wei) is in love with her and previously she rejected him VERY HARSHLY after his family fell into disfavour due to political machinations and Jiang Xue Ning had cemented the likelihood of her marriage to the next emperor. Also there's Princess Le Yang (Liu Xie Ning), who Jiang Xue Ning made an enemy of after the Princess fell in love with her when Jiang Xue Ning was crossdressing and did not take the reveal of her true gender well. Xue Shu (Elisa Ye) is an unfavoured daughter of a scheming lord who was the only truly loyal person Jiang Xue Ning knew as empress. ALL OF THESE PEOPLE FALL IN LOVE WITH JIANG XUE NING and you look at Bai Lu and go 'yes, that makes sense'.

It's mostly about the politics and scheming and Jiang Xue Ning trying to find a way to have a stable, satisfying life without betraying everyone she knows and standing on a pile of corpses, but the love shape Jiang Xue Ning isn't fully aware she's in is comparable in complexity to the plots between ministers and lords and dowager empresses and cousins and rebels.

The choices the characters make are maybe not always the best choices, but DAMN are they a good time.

Story of Kunning Palace is also one of the only times I have begged a character in a show to take a particular action and then she DID IT and fuck it was satisfying.

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty

IT'S TIME TO SOLVE CRIMES. IN ANCIENT CHINA. AGAIN. BUT WITHOUT MARTIAL ARTS.

Tang Fan (Darren Chen) is a low-ranking government official and detective genius who loves food and hates routine work, but loves a fucked up crime. Since he spends most of his money on delicious food, he writes trashy porn under a variety of pseudonyms to pay his rent. Sui Zhou (Fu Meng Bo) is an imperial guard and ex-soldier with PTSD who has no time for nonsense but loves the passionate pursuit of justice and food. He's also From Money and has a very empty house that Tang Fan whines his way into after they solve a case together. Everyone is manipulated by dangerously powerful eunuch Wang Zhi (Liu Yao Yuan) who is the enemy of basically everyone, except for Tang Fan, who has the political and social awareness of a rock.

An amiably pathetic man solves a variety of mysteries, from murder to complex imperial assassination plots and also this really complicated one involving diluting the purity of silver currency, and also the executive producer is Jackie Chan.

It's missing the romance subplot that I understand is in the source novel and also apparently there's an overarching plot involving a cult?! which we don't get here, but there's lots of bombs which are almost as good as a cult, maybe? (They're not.)

Divine Destiny

This is the one we're currently watching and the ride that this show is. How many plots can be crammed into one show? How many ridiculous but true things can I say about this show?

Ji Ruochen (Ma Tianyu) is an orphan who dreams of martial arts adventures. Raised by a couple who run a Crime Inn, one day a customer robbery goes very wrong when the customer turns out to be the latest incarnation of Yin Feng, the Banished God (Marius Wang). Ji Ruochen accidentally kills the Banished God and his foster parents promptly take the body into the desert and dump it down a cliff, but not before taking a necklace made from a piece of Gu Qing, the Blue Stone Goddess (Xuan Lu), which is supposed to let her recognize the Banished God in their final incarnation. Accidentally stealing the Banished God's identity, Ji Ruochen finds himself a hotly desired commodity by the cultivation sects who are all eager to have the Banished God as a disciple for prophecy reasons. He goes with Zhang Yinyin (Angelababy), a feisty, argumentative girl who has had to work extra hard because her spirit was contaminated by a demonic root planted by the evil nine-tailed fox who is poorly imprisoned in a cave anyone can access.

MEANWHILE some dudes with amazing moustaches and a penchant for laughing in delight at their own evil have found the body of the Banished God and done some questionable mystical shit to put him in a new body and nurture a grudge against Ji Ruochen for stealing his identity.

THEN Gu Qing meets Ji Ruochen and like everyone else assumes he's the Banished God and she falls in love with him (Gu Qing having been a literal rock spirit who cultivated to immortality under the guidance of the Banished God, who followed her into the mortal realm and a cycle of 100 incarnations after Gu Qing accidentally Did A Crime) but then falls in love with HIM.

ALSO Zhang Yinyin is always at risk of succumbing to the temptation of using the demonic fox power that is within her even though that will literally turn her into a demon but maybe it's worth it if a woman who is actually a goddess who is actually a rock is making eyes at the junior you brought into the sect and are in love with and you want to be more powerful than her?

ALSO what's the mysterious power that let Ji Ruochen kill the Banished God in the first place?

IS the woman seeking revenge for the death of the Banished God's mortal incarnation his sister or his cousin or his "cousin"?

WHY is the only love language of immortals stalking?

There's a homunculus and a baby snake demon who is the most precious angel in the world and so many evil dudes delighted in how evil they are and TWO GOOD AND ALIVE PARENTS and a pair of comical monks who have a special attack with a name they have to shout out every time they use it.

Oh and the imprisoned fox demon may have an ex who just hangs out on a rock in something called the Endless Ocean wearing a mask and playing go against the homunculus he made.

And there's an ancient master who lives in an ice mountain and eats memories of love.

Also some people might be secret demons.

There's some weddings.

There's a tiny woman with an ice sword who brutally murders so many dudes.

Do you like CGI birds?

Do you like giant mechanical CGI birds that are for riding purposes?

There's a desert hermit who has a son who is a giant tortoise.

So many things are going on and terrible decisions are constantly being made and it's over a week before I can watch another episode and it's driving me mad. WHAT WILL BE THE FALLOUT OF THE MOST RECENT BAD DECISIONS?

[aechawrites]

200mph: part three | jjk

pairing: jungkook x reader

word count: 2.1k

rating: pg13

warnings: swearing, drinking, fluff fluff flufffff, jk is shy when sober but he's so cute, they are whipped for each other

summary: you loved the nights where you could party with your friends, drinking your worries away, but you loved it even more now that you were spending it with jungkook.

series masterlist

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✏︎

Was it a surprise that Jungkook ended up winning again? Not in the slightest. People came up to him with their congratulations, alcohol was being sprayed in all directions, and of course, girls got very handsy.

Were you surprised that Jungkook was approaching you after he was done with all of the celebrations? Yes.

You had been making small talk with some guy, flirtatious compliments being thrown around loosely from the drinks you were sipping on the whole night. Those drinks were part of the reason why you had confidence radiating off of you, and why you didn’t mind Jungkook walking up to you.

“Oh hey, Jungkook! Congrats tonight man,” Youngbae smiled widely at him, shoving a drink in his hand.

“Thanks, getting easier each week.” Jungkook had been making eye contact with the other man but had been stealing glances at you. “I hate to steal her away from you, but Jimin wanted me to get her home safe tonight.”

“Yeah.. okay,” he said sarcastically, laughing at the words from the younger one. “Have fun tonight.”

Before you could even comprehend what was happening, Youngbae turned away from the two of you and started talking to another group of people. You heard a small, almost shaky voice that brought your focus back. Jungkook’s voice.

"You look new here." He smiled warmly, eyes capturing you with his strong gaze. "I'm Jungkook."

His cheeks had the lightest touch of pink to them, complimenting well with those gorgeous pearly whites. The shine of previous sweat had coated his hairline, looking like it ran down his temples and along his neck.

"I'm Y/n." His smile grew wider. "I was actually here last week with Jimin but decided to come back without him, didn't need him helicoptering me." You both laughed together at that comment, each taking sips of your drinks. "Guess he found out about my whereabouts though."

"Ah, about that.." Jungkook scratched the back of his neck, making eye contact with the concrete road. "I just made up an excuse to get you away from that guy, he's probably the biggest asshole I've ever met."

You couldn't tell if Jungkook was telling you the truth about that guy, or if he just wanted an excuse to talk to you. Honestly, you didn't even care, it was great that he came up to you because even with alcohol flowing through your body, you would have never been able to approach Jeon Jungkook.

"Uh, there's a party at my frat tonight. A lot of the people here start partying before we race, and then move it wherever when we're done here." A part of him was kind of glad you had been drinking, maybe you wouldn't be able to notice how nervous he was, his voice was a dead giveaway. "You don't have to go through! I just thought.. thought I should offer."

You had planned on going back to your dorm and eating alone while watching a movie, but the night was still young and who were you to say no? You smiled and nodded at him, almost getting lost in his dark eyes.

He walked you over to his car, the one you have now seen him win in twice. The inside was just as beautiful as the outside, sporting black leather seats with neon blue accents, as well as LED lights along the floorboards. You noticed a few of the girls from earlier in the night giving you dirty looks as you got in but you weren't bothered. You were the one who was getting in Jungkook's car anyways, not them.

It had taken a few minutes to get out of the crowd and onto the main road, but the atmosphere didn't feel awkward between the two of you. You had been holding conversation pretty well.

"How do you know Jimin?" You turned your head from looking at the city lights and onto Jungkook's side profile. Fuck he was handsome.

"He's my roommate, actually. We've been for a few semesters but the past couple of months we've gotten closer."

"Oh, maybe he'll be there tonight!" You had thought aloud, excited to see your best friend. After leaving your dorm room, he probably would have made his way back to the frat house anyways. It also wouldn't make sense if his frat threw a party and he wasn't there.

"I think he went out for the night. He was gone whenever I left to come here." In Jungkook's mind, there wasn't anything to worry about. Jimin was nowhere to be found and Jungkook didn't care that much to know where he was. Little did he know, Jimin was with you, and you had blown him off for the night to sneak out to another race.

Jimin could very well be back at the frat house, and if that were the case, Jungkook would, quite literally, be dead. One look at Jungkook escorting you inside, offering a drink and introducing you to his friends would send Jimin over the edge.

Fortunately for the two of you, Jimin hadn't gone back. After noticing his car was still gone from the street, disappointment was written on your face, but relief had been on Jungkook's. At least he was able to spend more time with you without having to hide.

You could hear the bass from the blasting music as you walked up the front lawn. Greetings were said while you passed through the front porch as he invited you inside, guiding you directly to the kitchen and grabbing drinks for the both of you.

He had no idea that you were familiar with this house, coming over at least once a week and partying, and you didn't plan on telling him. You thought it was cute as he walked you around, showing you each place the drinks were, how to get to the front and back yards, and where the bathroom was.

Walking yourselves to the backyard, you got comfortable on the cushiony furniture. You could feel yourself slowly get taken away with the alcohol, and you probably should have skipped the drink he gave you, but it helped with your confidence! You were actually able to keep conversation with Jungkook all night, and it made you feel a little better noticing that he was also not completely sober. At least you weren't the only one.

Hours had passed, but to you it felt like minutes. You felt so comfortable in Jungkook's presence that you hadn't realized how late it was. Everyone had either gone home by now, or they were crashed on the floor inside. Jungkook had offered to drive you back to your dorm, but you refused instantly. He was not in the right state of mind to be driving right now. He wanted to offer you a place to stay, but the reminder that Jimin still lived there, and would have seen you, killed that thought of his.

You ended up just walking back, cool air and wind blew against your skin. You were trudging through your room, lazily throwing your tight clothes off in exchange for your oversized pajamas. You were downright exhausted once you got your makeup off, slipping into bed and falling asleep almost instantly.

Jungkook hadn't seen tonight coming, almost in disbelief that he had the confidence to talk to you. It helped that you gave him your full attention once it was just the two of you, conversation seemed to flow so naturally. The only thing he regretted in the morning was that he was a bit too drunk to remember to get your number.

♥︎⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁⦁♥︎

The idea that Friday was a dream definitely crossed your mind. Why wouldn't it be a dream? You were drinking and hanging out with Jeon Jungkook, after said man drove you back to his place. Your memory was fuzzy, but all of those conversations did happen! What if you said something stupid, or did something embarrassing? You hoped he was drinking just as much as you, if not, more.

You had been finishing up some schoolwork in the library, paying no mind to the other students around you. It wasn't until a familiar guy sat across the table from you, showing off that beautiful smile of his.

"Hey, hope I'm not bothering you."

You smiled lightly at him, cheeks now painted in the softest hues of pink. "Not at all, I was actually almost done."

"I was gonna text you Saturday but realized that I never got your number." He was fidgeting with his thumbs, biting his lip nervously as he talked. You didn't need to say anything to him, instead just handing him your phone with the contacts app pulled up.

"I was wondering if you wanted to maybe grab lunch.. if you weren't busy? There's a new place down the street," he offered, handing you back the phone.

You had been wanting to see Jungkook again, this time sober, and it warmed your heart that it felt like he had been wanting to see you too. "Um.. yeah, I don't have any other plans."

To say the new restaurant was good was an understatement. This was some of the best food you had eaten in a long time, and it was so affordable too. You were sat across from Jungkook in a private corner so other conversation could be muffled.

"Now that we're both sober," he lightly chuckled, "I'm gonna start over. I'm Jungkook."

You couldn't stop the smile on your face from growing, "Hi, I'm Y/n."

He had initiated small talk, asking you about any activities you did and what you were majoring in, informing you that he was a business major. That was a surprise. You had also found out that he was just slightly older than you, 22 years old; you shared with him that you were freshly 20.

"It's not the most exciting thing in the world, but business will bring me somewhere in life. Can't really be a street racer forever."

"Well until you get there, at least you have a pretty successful career under your belt within the college crowd."

That brought out his perfect laugh. You hadn't noticed before, but you admired him so much. How was this possible? You barely even knew him, and vice versa. Despite that, you also felt like you had been friends for years; eating lunch and drinking coffee together. This is the behavior you had around Jimin, not someone you had just met. You were so comfortable, and there was never any awkwardness in the conversation. Jungkook radiated confidence, or at least that's what you were lead to believe.

On the inside, Jungkook was so nervous. You were both sober, alcohol not helping with the flow of conversation, but it seemed like it didn't need to. The two of you just had a connection, and he couldn't figure out how. He tried to refrain the stuttering, not trying to embarrass and humiliate himself in front of you. He wanted the opportunity to see you again after today, he just had to keep it together so you wouldn't think of him as some loser.

You were so different from the other girls he had been involved with in his life. One-night stands were his thing! As awful as it sounded, that's how he was. He an adult man, college student at that, and he was just living his young life before he had to go out into the real world. But you were just.. different; good different, though.

He was never into commitment, to him it seemed too stressful and overwhelming. It scared him with the slightest thought he had to ask you out. He understood it would be way too rushed, and he knew you would have definitely rejected him had he brought it up today. This gave him the excuse to get to know you more, hopefully conforming along the way whether you had feelings for him too.

No matter what happened between you two, one thing stayed the same; Jimin could not find out he was seeing you, platonically or romantically.

Would this be difficult to keep from him? Absolutely.

It would also be difficult for Jungkook to explain why Jimin can't know the two of you were becoming friends. But that was a conversation for another day, a day he would be dreading.

All he wanted to do now was enjoy the time he had with you while he could before the two of you parted ways. He wanted to be present, showing you his interest, and hopefully you would want to see him again soon.

///

a/n; teehee part threeeee!!! im so excited that y/n and jk got to meet hehe, things are going somewhere!!🥹 i hoped it turned out well for you all🤍 please leave me feedback and thank you for supporting this series so much🫶🏼🫶🏼

2023; © aechawrites

taglist; @braindump-of-the-braindead @itstash @thvlover7 @uwusunwoo @imnotherebye28 @tatamicc @mochilover1995x @skzthinker @icyllic @taumathegoat @withluvjm @pointofviewyugyeom @coralmusicblaze

[rhoorl]

Week in Review | Oct. 1

Happy October! This month is a really special month for me personally (more on that later). It marks three months on Tumblr! I’m approaching a pretty significant follower milestone (for me) which is really cool. I try to not pay attention to numbers because that’s stressful and I'm trying to treat this as my fun space (and me time), but this milestone made me pause and think about the little community I’ve found here and how special it is to me. To anyone who has left a comment, reblog, like, ask, or message - thank you! You’ve brought some laughter and smiles to my days. My inbox is always open so if you want to say hi please do!

Anyway, here we go with the week in review… 

Fics I read this week:

Frankie Morales

The Pilot and His Girl by @avastrasposts - I don't want to spoil what happens in the latest chapter but ahhhh this series is just so so good. But seriously, pack some Kleenex for Chapter 33.

Grocery List by @frenchiereading - I love everything in the Mr. Morales and Miss universe. This is just such cute Frankie fluff.

Delta Palms Tropical Resort by @linzels-blog - You know I love a Triple Frontier AU and I’m so excited to see all of the goings on at the resort run by the boys!

Joel Miller

Body Language by @cupofjoel- Joel shows up at your place with a camcorder and some fun ensues…

Happy Birthday by @trulybetty - Needless to say Joel had a very good birthday this year based on some of the fics I added to my TBR list. However this fic right here?! I was a mess after the first freaking sentence - soft smut is your specialty friend!!

Another entry from @linzels-blog this time in the way of some cute Joel fluff when he attends a parent-teacher conference. 

Javier Peña

It's Never Too Late by @javierpena-inatacvest - I was seriously smiling the whole time I read this latest chapter. If you’re looking for a softer Javi (who is still spicy, can’t take that part out of him), then this is such a great read!

What Do We Have Here? by @secretelephanttattoo - We get a little more insight into what Javi’s relationship with Elisa could have been like. I loved all of the references to the show.

Drenched by @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin Javi comes home from work sweaty (hello sweaty curls sticking to the back of his neck) and he and reader both end up drenched. 😉

Marcus Pike

Headshots by @secretelephanttattoo - Reader is a photographer tasked with taking headshots at the FBI office.  Marcus is so freaking cute in this. 

Dieter Bravo 

Destiny & Deliverance by @mysterious-moonstruck-musings is a staple on this list and the only Dieter fic I’m consistently reading at the moment. Sounds like we may need to form a support group based on what may be happening in the upcoming chapters, but I am ready.

Fun Posts

Dieter and @morallyinept were back this week dishing out some self-care advice. I seriously love the way Jett puts these posts together, they make me laugh and think.

I shared some of my favorite things on this post, which also included some photos I've taken.

Feral corner:

Joel’s birthday coupled with photos of Pedro on the picket line kept the feral corner well occupied this week. I mean, look at him. I don't even care how he ties his shoes because he's adorable no matter what.

I found there’s a name for the affliction that I and many of us suffer from - Chronic Pascalitis. There are ways to lessen the symptoms, although do you really want that?

Also, the Pike Puddle is getting deeper thanks to posts like this and like this.

Can we also appreciate how beautiful this photo of Pedro is from earlier this year when we appeared on Seth Meyers' show?!

Things I watched:

I started watching this show on Max called Mosaic featuring Garrett Hedlund. It’s been interesting so far, I’m only about halfway through. There was an episode where looked like Benny and I about lost my damn mind.

Personal Update

This month is a really special month for me personally - my daughter was born in October, we rescued our dog in October, and we got married in October. Needless to say, there’s a lot to celebrate but it also has me in my feels as I sit back and reflect on a lot of things.

The past two years and the transition to becoming a mom has been hard and I’m a work in progress on that front every single day. But we've made it and I'm pretty lucky to have the independent, fearless, and hilarious little girl that I do.

My parents have been in town for the past couple of days to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. As a result, my husband and I get to take advantage of some free babysitting help and are doing a little overnight trip. It’s an early anniversary present for us to stay at one of the on-site hotels at Universal and go to Halloween Horror Nights for the night. Yay I get to see Joel and the TLOU house again!

Aside from that, we have some fun things planned this week. I’m excited for the weekend when I get to go see A Strange Way of Life in theaters! I’ll be sure to include a spoiler-free review here next week!

Fic updates:

I should have the next chapter of Working Title out soon. Thank you to those who have listened to me rant and ramble on about it. I’ve been struggling with the latest chapter. Once I get that out then I’ll work on Delta Landscaping - Will and Katie go on their date, but we also have Friday night plans for the others too. I also shared a little tease about a new neighbor coming to Mule Fall Court.

Thanks as always for reading my ramblings, I hope you have an awesome week!

[leslutdepointedulac]

*crashes through your door like big bird*

🗿 give us the rundown on how you got here! which was the first vc book you ever read? what made you decide to seek out vc fandom on tumblr?

Okay, buckle up ya'll because this is a decently long story.

So I would argue it actually started waaaayy back when I was a wee child, say about 6-7ish maybe. I would see the IWTV film on TV all the time and me being obsessed with vampires, I really wanted to watch it. Idk how I knew but somehow I had the knowledge that it was a very famous vampire story with queer characters and that it was supposed to be really good, so naturally I was like "I wanna watch that!" But my parents wouldn't let me because it's an 18 and I was a child (not that this stopped me fr begging them though lmao). This happened several times throughout my childhood and each time my parents would be like "No you're too young, you can watch it when you're older."

Skip to when I was around 15 I think, and I had this friend in school whose house I went to quite often. I was round for a sleepover one time and they told me there was this film with a banging soundtrack they wanted to show me. That film was QOTD. We watched it and I thought it was pretty decent (fyi I can't stand that film now, but the soundtrack still slaps. And Akasha! Aaliyah absolutely killed it!). When I went home the next day I told my parents what I had done at my friend's house, and that we had watched QOTD and they were like "Oh, the sequal to IWTV". Now bear in mind, I'd forgotten all about IWTV by this point and then it all came back to me and I was like "Omg no way!"

However, I still didn't watch IWTV and I forgot about it all over again. Until 2 years ago. I for the life of me cannot remember how or why I suddenly remembered it at the time, but I was chilling in bed and it came to me. So I found IWTV and watched it for the first time in my life (I was 19 at this point) and lemme tell you. It was worth waiting 19 years of my life. I loved it and thought how it was insane I'd only just now seen it, but better late than never.

Then I forgot about it again lmao. Until the 3rd November 2022. I remembered (again, idk how or why) that I had heard about an IWTV TV show so I found it and watched it and I thought "huh, that was pretty good. I like this!" And so I became obsessed.

Then I decided I wanted to read the books so in December of 2022 I bought IWTV, TVL and QOTD (it's all three in one book) and I started reading the series from the very beginning. I got even more obsessed and kept buying the series until I had them all and read through the whole thing.

In February on 2023 I joined tumblr for the VC fandom, because I had seen VCblr posts on Pinterest and thought it looked fun, so naturally I joined in.

And that more or less takes us up to now really lol. I'm still here and even more obsessed than ever. My obsession is primarily on the books since I read them. I kinda moved from the show to the books but I still have a deep appreciation for the show because that's what brought me here to the fandom in the first place. (And I still love the film too.)

I also recently, in the past couple of months, made friends with a group of people here in the fandom and I'm so glad to know them and be friends with them (including you, of course @hekateinhell 💖). I've been in many fandoms before this one, but this is the first one I've been so active in and the first one I've made friends in. I love ya'll, and I love talking to you all 🥰💕💕

Anyway, it's a long story as to how I got here 😅 It's like these vampires have always been in my life in one way or another.

Sorry this was such a ramble but yeah. There's practically my whole VC life story 😂

[thecameronchronicles]

Friends

TW: Hints of a sexual relationship. Teasing. Vulgarities. Language. 

SUMMARY: The details of your relationship with JJ come to light.

WORD COUNT: 1200

REQUESTED:

JJ x Reader, your friends but he likes to pull you into your lap. Your use to it at this point, loving the way JJ warms you up. You eventually secretly date, the pogues keep teasing you and JJ about dating each other. You and JJ keep telling them your just friends. One of the pogues being sus about you and JJ.. however not sure.. until the whole group catchs you kissing. Thank you, love your writing!! Your so sweet x 

*THANK YOU DO MUCH! MAKING THIS A BIT OF A FLUFFIER PIECE SINCE YOU DIDN'T REQUEST SMUT SPECIFICALLY. HOPE YOU ENJOY!*

Friends 

It was simply the way your dynamic worked. Often confusing those who met you in recent conversations that you were spoken for, all in the way you and JJ behaved around each other. Finding every excuse you could in order to touch one another in some sort of comfort, you were able to fight like siblings but fight for each other like soldiers. Loyalty always at the forefront for whenever compassion became opaque from any strong opinions that may find a cross of cruel word or glance. And yet, even if it would take a moment to find common ground due to stubbornness, you would always find your way back to each other. But recently that had been in a way that everyone had whispered about since such a friendship could fall to the fathoms of a relationship. All because of one night when JJ watched a touron get a bit too handsy and made it a point to claim you as his own. A series of defensive words would find an interruption in an unintentional confession that finally broke you beyond the mould of friends. And yet, you would allow the others to believe that you remained this way, all for the simple fact that you didn't want to have to explain yourselves for breaking the singular rule. 

No pogue on pogue macking. 

And this was because you had more than broken that rule. You obliterated it. You and JJ were unable to keep your hands off of one another at any given point, leaving everyone around you to become even more skeptical than they were originally. All because those sexual tensions were finding an outlet in the dark, which caused for the usual butting of heads you two had on a constant basis to now exist on a simmer. It was also brought into question due to the fact that neither one of you had even attempted to flirt with anyone else at any given event, a telltale sign for Kiara in regards to JJ as she had to be the one to play his wingman of sorts, to only now watch him act rather blase to any girl smiling in his direction. 

And yet, it wasn't until tonight that the truth would be uncovered. 

"Whatcha doing?" You asked while flipping his lighter between your fingers, the clang of metal joined to a close interrupting the afternoon quietude as you wrapped your arms over his shoulders and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. As with each passing day, you had become more brazen in your affections as you were indifferent to hide your relationship, doing so as more of a means of existing without interrogation than the desire to withhold such a detail from your friends. 

"Hey princess..." 

"Someting wrong,JJ?" You asked as his eyes fell to the remnants of a former fire before he shrugged. 

"You were gone." 

"What, JJ?" 

"You used me for my body last night and were gone this morning..." He was dramatic with intention, puppy dog eyes rising from this poor executed thespian act as you cocked your head. 

"I don't think Kie or John B or Pope would have liked to open your door expecting you, only to find my naked ass-" 

"I would have fucking loved it. And you deprived me of that...I mean...damn...never knew my girl was so selfish..." 

"Selfish?" You walked to him until standing between his legs. 

"Was I selfish when I cried choking on you last night JJ? Or when I let you treat me like your own personal sex toy?" 

"Keep talking like that and I'll be the one who's selfish." 

"You wouldn't dare. Someone could see..." You teased as he pulled you over his lap. 

"I don't give a shit. Come here." He ordered, hand on the back of your neck as you felt an immediate and angry erection rubbing against you. Tormenting him for a moment, you would rock against him, warranting a moan as the vibrations made you smirk. He was shamelessly reserved in this instance, keeping a modest touch over your clothes, even if his words were just as dirty as the passion behind each kiss. 

"You're so lucky that they are right in that Chateau or you'd be hoarse by now with my-" 

"Jesus, JJ!" Kiara groaned as you were quick to shoot a glance towards the remaining pogues having finally learned of this interaction. For months, you were able to explain it away as it was always how you were, pulled into his lap similar to this way, usually for warmth or comfort. But now, with your lips still swollen from his fervent kiss that left you heaving in breathlessness, it wasn't exactly easy to explain this one away. 

"I knew it..." Pope confessed. 

"Can you two NOT do it on MY chair?" John B asked as JJ was quick to rebut. 

"Kinda hard to find a place we haven't." 

"Please tell me you're joking." 

"Nope." JJ spoke proudly, popping the 'p' of his response as Kiara shuddered. 

"There's gotta be someplace that isn't tainted..." Pope added. "It isn't physically possible..." 

"My Twinkie?" John B asked with almost a whine as you recalled the week prior when you snuck away during a party of fellow pogues littering the yard of The Chateau as you'd stolen a moment with him wrapped in passion and lust once again. 

"The hot tub-" Kiara added. 

"Come on. That was one of the first-" You hit JJ but blushed as the memory of just how he used the jets in accordance to himself had brought you to that mind bending orgasm within the first week of crossing that line from friends to lovers. 

"The HMS Pogue-" 

You bit your lips closed as the crimson of your cheeks worsened. 

"At least tell me you didn't do it in the captain's chair-" John B quickly corrected himself, "Actually, Don't answer that." 

"What can I say, my girl just can't get enough of me." 

"Yeah, because I'm the one begging..." 

"You were last night." He smacked your ass as you pushed his head away in a playful shove before feeling him pull you into his lap. 

"As long as I don't have to see it-" 

"Or hear it," Kiara added to John B’s condition as you were too immersed in JJ to care about what it was they spoke of. All the memories of how he'd made you tremble in nearly every corner of The Chateau have now left you eager for a repeat. 

"Seriously? You two need chastity belts or something..." Pope added. 

"Doesn't matter. I'd still find a way..." JJ winked, holding you tighter as this tender kiss validated to your shared pogues that you were no longer just friends.

Taglist: @hopebaker @iovdrew @penny4yourthoughts @magnificantmermaid @pickingviolets @lovedetlost @trikigirl271 @maybankslover @slut4starkey @slvtherinseeker @obxiskewl @obxxrxfes @bluesongbird @slut-era @ailee-celeste @rafesbae @camilynn @sweetestdesire @pankhoeforlife @pankowperfection

[writebackatya]

DuckTales Team Ideas:

You know what love about DuckTales?! A lot of things. But more specifically the found family aspect of the show and all of its characters!! I love that within this found family are groups/teams built up from this group of badass adventurers. You got your Team Science, Webby and her friends, the Duck Boys, the Original Three, etc. But you know what? We can make even more teams out of these fun characters! So here’s a list of team up ideas that I think would be fun! Post-canon stuff up ahead so beware of spoilers:

Rules for teams:

1. Must consist of at least three people, cause Disney loves their trios

2. Must have a team name

3. A third rule, cause trios

The Moon Crew: Della, Selene, and Penumbra

I made a post about this team up before but I’ll post it again. We need Della to go on adventure with her badass Amazon girlfriends. It’d be fun. Personally I think the adventure should be a fish out of water story in Duckburg. I mean think about it, one’s a goddess, one’s a moon lander, and the final member hasn’t been on earth for an entire decade. Imagine the shenanigans! Well I can, I’m working on a story about that. Well not about that particularly but it’s an aspect of the story. Anyway moving on

Team Webby: Dewey, Lena, and Violet

Do you know what I’d like to see? Webby’s best friends (yeah I don’t care what Scrooge said, Dewey can be Webby’s family and best friend) team-up to save Webby from Magica. I think it’d make for a fun adventure.

(Also at one point Dewey needs to say Bippity Boppity Dew! Like at the moment the group stops Magica and her evil plan)

SEA-Nior Junior Woodchucks: Fethry, Huey, and Violet (Also Launchpad and BOYD, but I’m picking main threes here cause trios)

Who doesn’t love these three? Jerks! That’s who! We need more Fethry! Huey is great! Violet is underrated! They’re all Junior Woodchucks! And they need to go on a sea related adventure! Also they’re all…

Bad Bit Rebel Squad: Gandra, Gosalyn, and Lena

Stop me if you heard this one before: a good natured loving hero gets paired up with a snarky street smart loner. Anyway. What if we put all that sass together in one killer trio? No villain would be able to stand up to that much sass

Bad Bitches would be a group that consists of Della, Gandra, Gosalyn, Lena, Penumbra, and Goldie. And you know what? Throw Louie in there as well

Spy Team: Dewey, Gandra, and Webby

So…anybody else think it would’ve been so great to see these three team-up? They all have a spy background! Webby’s granny is a spy, Gandra is a spy, Dewey dew-geared Double O Duck with Launchpad*. It would be cool to see Webby and Gandra fight on the same side. Plus I think Dewey and Gandra has great comedic potential [shameful fanfic plug] Also you Beakley and Launchpad could also be a part of that team. Now the question is: Would the Beakley and Gandra dynamic be more Beakley and Lena 2.0 or Beakley and Della 2.0? Only you can decide!

The Yahoo Community: Della, Gyro, Huey, and Manny

Larry, all these actors were on DuckTales and Season 6 of Community

SIX SEASONS AND A MOVIE!

Clone McDucks: May, June, and Webby

Yeah, we needed to see these three get in their own adventure together. It would’ve been great. I think they’d embrace the fact that they’re clones but they’re own person. Also Clone McDuck sounds similar to Clan McDuck. I thought it was cute. Also I really just want to drive the point home that they’re clones just to irk those reading this who didn’t care for the final twist. I mean I thought it was cool and I loved rewatching the entire series a second time while knowing the twist. It gave me a whole new perspective on the series and they really foreshadowed in parts I didn’t notice on my first watch through but hey everyone is entitled to their own opinion

The Justice Ducks: Darkwing Duck, Gizmoduck, Storkules, Penumbra

Any fan of the original Darkwing Duck should be familiar with the Justice Ducks. Well I always thought if that team were to ever be brought into the DuckTales 2017 universe that both Storkules and Penumbra would fit in perfectly with that group. Both Penumbra and Storkules are warriors that fought for their people and have struggled to fit in with the world, so why not have a job that involves doing what they do best? Fighting for those they care about

The Tremendous Triplets: Huey, Dewey, June, Louie, May, and Webby

It’s twice the amount of triplets! The six of them would be unstoppable!! This show needed more than three seasons damn it!!!

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this rambling! If you have any team ideas please share them! They don’t all have to be trios and if you can come up with a name too, that would be great! Also if you come up with a better name for any of the groups I made up, please share them! I know The Tremendous Trios isn’t that great. I just love alliteration and thought it would be cool if their name had 3 T’s cause…trios.

[alwritey-aphrodite]

Country Roads, Take Me Home

Chapter 15 of You Are In Love

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

Pairing: modern!Poe Dameron x reader

Warnings: none :)

Word Count: 4.2k

Author’s Note: sorry this took two whole months… updates should be quicker now though!!

The snow starts to melt away, leaving gray sludge behind, and even though the skies turn blue and the sun comes out, it’s still close to freezing most days. Still, it’s as close to spring as you'll get before summer starts, so you’re going to enjoy it.

You start walking to work again, enjoying the sunshine all bundled up in your coats and scarves, music playing softly through your headphones. As awful as winter normally is, it wasn’t as horrendous as years past; the worst of the season was spent with people who love you and you’re starting to find those little slivers of happiness in every day. Still, you’re glad that spring is starting to show itself.

The days pass by slowly, but it doesn’t feel as if time is crawling. Instead, you simply enjoy yourself in everything you do and realize how wonderful your life has become. Even a year ago, if someone would have told you how happy you are now, you would have laughed in their faces.

Sure, you still have some rough days and it wasn’t as if you were completely miserable before, but in general terms, you’re doing so much better. You have wonderful friends, a great job with a boss who genuinely cares for you, and time to pursue your artwork, which people seem to enjoy.

Life has been wonderful and crazy and beautiful, and you couldn’t be more grateful.

It’s during these months, where your routine doesn’t feel as stifling as it used to, that Poe throws you for a loop.

The most consistent thing throughout the changing of the seasons is your weekly get-togethers with your friends. Sure, you see Rose almost every day and Rey, Finn, and Poe pop in while you’re working all the time, but these Friday night traditions always give you something to look forward to. No matter how shitty of a week you had, being with your friends seems to make everything better.

One evening, towards the end of February when the weather can’t decide if it wants to be winter or spring, the five of you are seated on Finn’s couch, laughing away at the ending of some shitty movie and eating from the array of snacks you’d all brought. It’s nice and comforting and leaves you feeling warm all over, and it’s exactly what you needed after a long week.

And then, as the credits roll, Poe begins to ask a question.

“I was thinking of heading home for a few days, spend some time with my dad, if any of you want to come with?” He’s speaking to the group, but he’s looking right at you, “I know he wouldn’t mind sharing his time with me with you guys.”

Now everyone’s looking at you, as if this question wasn’t directed at everyone and you’re the only one who can answer.

“What weekend?” You ask instead, terrified that this is a test and you’re about to say the wrong thing.

“Dunno yet, a few weeks from now.”

Everyone’s staring at you as if your answer is the most important thing in the world.

“That should work for me,” you respond, eyes flicking around to look at all of your friends.

“That doesn’t work-“

“Sorry I’m busy-“

“Someone has to watch Bee-“

They all answer at the same time, smug looks on their face as if they just pulled off the heist of the century, even though they’re not as subtle as they hope. You roll your eyes, almost on instinct, because of course they’d try to pull something like this, as if you can’t tell what they’re doing.

Poe, however, seems oblivious, jumping right on into logistics and travel time and what weekends work best for you, even as you’re staring daggers at Finn across from you, who’s pretending you’re not there.

The evening ends, but not before you scowl so much you’re almost convinced your face will stay like that. You know your friends have good, if a bit ridiculous, intentions, but it still bothers you, how you feel as if you’d walked into a trap.

Still, you try not to dwell on it, and instead spend the next few weeks freaking out about what you’d actually agreed to. You’ll be spending four whole days with Poe and his dad, and as much as you enjoy both of them, you can’t help feeling like an intruder already.

The day before you’re supposed to leave, you FaceTime Finn as you’re arm deep in cookie batter, having a mental battle with yourself.

“I should just call it off, right?” You don’t give him time to say hello, “This is totally crazy and I’m an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot.”

You pause what you’re doing to really look at Finn, to let him take in the pure stress radiating off of you, “We’re leaving at 3 AM tomorrow, I’m not even done packing, and I’m baking cookies.”

“Ok, so maybe you’re a little bit of an idiot,” Finn concedes, if only to make you crack a smile.

He’d been the one to listen to your anxious rambling for days, listening to you wonder if it was too late to tell Poe you changed your mind. Finn had also been the one to talk you back from the ledge, to remind you of how much you enjoy spending time with Poe and how nice his dad is.

And, if Finn maybe had some ulterior motive for you to be going on this trip, you had no idea.

“Fine, whatever, I’m hanging up now because you’re no help.”

“Love you!” Finn shouts out as he hangs up, knowing that your cookie dough covered hands are in no state to touch your phone.

Trying to relax your mind, you throw a few trays of cookies into the oven before returning to your bedroom and the disastrous state of your suitcase, with clothes and toiletries thrown around. With a slightly clearer mind, it doesn’t take long for you to nicely fold and pack the clothes you’re taking and fill up a small bag with all the toiletries you’ll need.

With everything looking cleaner, you head back out into the kitchen to pack up the cookies that are cooled and take the fresh ones out of the oven. While waiting for the new batch to cool down enough to get thrown into a package, you make a list of everything you’ll need to grab before you leave tomorrow.

Once the cookies are all packed up and your list has been double and triple checked, you head off to bed, hoping to get at least a few solid hours of sleep before your alarm goes off.

It seems like you’ve barely closed your eyes when your alarm goes off, but you still dutifully haul yourself out of bed and groggily finish all your last minute tasks. When you get the text from Poe that he’s outside, you’d been sitting half-asleep at your kitchen table, your bags at your feet and the container of cookies hugged to your chest.

After taking a few minutes to maneuver yourself downstairs with your suitcase and bag of snacks for the day-long car ride and your box of cookies, you finally arrive at Poe’s car. He looks just as tired as you are, but he still smiles at you like you make the world turn when he sees you. It would be impossible not to smile back.

He’s dressed comfortably, wearing a worn-in hoodie you can’t help but daydream about stealing, with his curls strewn about his head, as if he’s been running his hands through them over and over. You can’t help but wonder how it would feel, to trail your fingers across his scalp, to twine the soft-looking ringlets around your fingers.

“There’s coffee for you in the cup holder. Green mug,” he says as a greeting, hauling your bags into the backseat while you climb into the passenger side. As much as you both know you’re perfectly capable of putting your own bags in the car, you know not to argue about it by now.

Instead, you take the time to notice how cozy Poe’s made his car for this drive. There are blankets settled in your footwell, the coffee he mentioned sitting next to his own orange travel mug, and a few pillows piled in the backseat. You notice his own bag of snacks, placed perfectly within your reaching distance.

He really does think of everything.

Soon after he’s easing away from the curb and giving you another quiet greeting, you find yourself drifting off to sleep. It would be practically impossible to stay awake, with the gentle movements of the car and the warmth from the heater and the blankets you’d piled on top of yourself. You feel sorry for Poe, who has no choice but to stay awake and drive, but soon your head is lulling against the window as you nap.

By the time your eyes flutter open for good, the sun is rising and large, empty fields are rushing past your window.

“Have a nice nap?” Poe asks, glancing at you out of the corner of his eye with a teasing smile.

“Mhm,” you pick up your travel mug, taking a long sip and letting the warmth run through you.

Even though Poe’d been teasing you, that was probably the best nap you’ve ever had. You were warm and comfortable and once you fell asleep you were out cold. Now, Poe has the radio playing softly, occasionally tapping his thumbs against the steering wheel to the beat of the song.

The fields passing by your window are empty of snow, and even the sunlight makes it seem warm. You’re thankful that Poe’s from someplace warm, where you don’t need to worry about getting frostbite if you step outside for a moment in what should be spring.

“How much longer?” You ask, twisting yourself around to grab some of the snacks you’d brought.

“‘Bout six more hours,” Poe responds, laughing as your mouth drops open. God, you just want to record that laugh and play it on repeat whenever you’re feeling down.

Sometimes it seems like Poe’s made of pure sunshine, with his brilliant smile and bright laugh, his unwavering support and seemingly endless joy. It makes sense that he’d grown up in the Sunshine State, running around barefoot between orange trees and splashing in the ocean.

He seems like he belongs somewhere as warm and bright as he is, but you’re not sure you could make it through winter without him.

The next few hours pass by with more of the same; quiet music on the radio, snacking, sporadic conversations, and nothing but fields to look at. Of course, you could always just sit and ogle Poe, but you’d rather not get caught staring at his gorgeous side profile before spending four days with just him and his father.

It’s peaceful, though, and time seems to fly by as the conversation picks up the more awake you and Poe become. Even though you’ve been on the road for a few hours, it’s still painfully early.

Right before noon, Poe pulls into a rest stop, turns off the car, and immediately hops out to stretch his legs. You follow suit, watching through the car windows as Poe leans into the backseat and digs around in one of his bags before pulling out some sandwiches.

Walking around to the other side of the car, you grab the food from his hands and turn to make your way to a bench.

“C’mon, we can have a picnic,” you call over your shoulder, turning slightly to see if Poe’s following you or not. He is.

“I would’a been fine eating while driving,” Poe grumbles, even as he sits down next to you and takes the food back. He hands you your sandwich, and you unwrap it with a hum.

“I know that, but you can take a little break. We’ll just get there a few minutes later than you’d planned,” you reason before taking a bite of your food. You can’t remember ever discussing your sandwich preferences with Poe, but it’s perfect and entirely unsurprising.

The two of you sit for a few minutes longer after finishing your lunches, legs stretched out onto the sidewalk. It’s nice, just sitting next to Poe in the sunshine, but too soon for your liking he checks his phone, and then you’re off to hit the road again.

This leg of the trip passes almost the same as the first, except the fields look swampier and the temperature on your phone screen continues to rise. As much as you enjoy the fall and winter, you’re ready for them to be over, so a few days in a warmer climate is going to be perfect.

“About twenty more minutes,” Poe tells you as he gets off the highway, and nerves start to grow in your belly. As relaxed as you’d been all day, you’d totally forgotten to feel anxious, and now it’s coming back in full force. You try not to let it show, taking a few deep breaths as you look out the window at the small town passing by.

The town gets left behind, and after a few more minutes on country roads, Poe’s pulling into a driveway. It’s a large house, with a wrap-around porch complete with a porch swing and a flower bed in the front. You can’t see the backyard from here, but from what Poe’s told you, there’s a handful of orange trees back there.

You’re not parked for long before you see the front door open and hear the excited yipping of a dog. Kes makes his way down the front steps as you exit the car, the dog bounding down around him and running straight at you. You can’t tell what kind of dog it is, but it’s big, and its tongue is lolling out of its mouth when it comes to a stop in front of you.

“Lucky, relax,” Kes shouts out as he makes his way across the gravel driveway. Poe’s busy getting all of the bags out of the car, so Kes comes over to you, gently shoves Lucky out of the way, and wraps you in a hug. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“You too,” you tell him as you pull back, and you hope he knows you’re being completely honest. Just seeing Kes reminds you that you truly have no reason to be nervous, because even though he’s Poe’s dad, he’s wonderful and easy to be around. Like father, like son, you suppose.

Poe greets his father, the pair hugging as Lucky jumps onto their legs.

“You haven’t calmed down at all, huh?” Poe asks the dog as he squats down to give him some hello scratches.

“Barks his damn head off every time a car drives by,” Kes responds, but you can hear the fondness in his voice.

After all of the greetings have taken place, and Lucky gets distracted by a bird hopping around the yard, you make a move to grab your bags but Kes stops you.

“You’re our guest,” he tells you, holding out a hand for the handle of your suitcase, “I can bring your things up to your room, you just get settled.”

You can tell that he won’t be taking no for an answer, so you just smile and thank him and hand over your bags before following the Dameron men into the house, Lucky bounding after you all.

The interior is gorgeous, with pictures hung on every wall and splashes of color throughout the ground floor. It feels lived in and loved, exactly how a home should be. It makes sense that Poe grew up here, though you wonder how much has changed throughout the years.

Poe and his father drop the bags by the front door, meeting you in the kitchen where Lucky has flopped himself onto the floor for you to rub his belly.

“The guest room isn’t exactly usable right now, I hope you’re alright with staying in Poe’s room?” Kes asks, and you look like a deer caught in headlights.

“How is it unusable?” Poe asks his father, arms crossing over his chest.

“I had to get a new mattress, I got rid of the old one. New one isn’t here yet,” Kes leans against the counter top, raising an eyebrow at his son’s questioning.

“Why the hell did you get rid of it without getting the new one first?”

“I don’t know, Poe, I didn’t think it would take this long.” Kes pauses, looks at where you remain crouched on the kitchen floor with fear practically radiating off of you, “you gonna make our guest sleep on the couch?”

Poe sighs, “No.”

“I really don’t mind-“

“No way in hell,” Kes cuts you off, not unkindly, “Poe can sleep on the couch for a couple of nights.” With that, the conversation is over, and Poe turns to take your bags up to his room.

“I’m sorry,” you say from the doorway, feeling as if you’ve already ruined everything.

“What are you sorry for?” Poe seems genuinely curious, confusion coloring his voice. You simply shrug; you can’t just stand here and tell him you feel like you shouldn’t have come and that you ruined his visit home.

“We can share the bed, I don’t mind,” you tell him, and Poe pauses what he’s doing, standing completely still. “I mean, I don’t want you to have to sleep on the couch or the floor.”

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind, I’ve slept on that couch plenty.”

“I’m sure, Poe, this is your house, you can sleep in your own bed.”

With that, he finally smiles at you, and gives your arm a squeeze when he slips around you to grab his bags from the front hallway. You give yourself time to take a few deep breaths and stop yourself from totally freaking out about what you’d just agreed to, and then you head back downstairs.

“I was planning on ordering pizza, if that’s alright with you?” Kes asks as you join him in the kitchen, patting the counter as if to tell you to take a seat.

“That sounds perfect.” You tell him your preferences, and chat politely until Poe comes back downstairs. Even though you’ve only ever spent a few hours with Kes, you feel relaxed around him, able to joke around like you’ve known him your entire life.

Kes is the epitome of a dad, from the way he picks on Poe to the way he complains about Lucky while feeding him practically half of his meal. He’s kind and funny and seems like he’d give the best advice, no matter the situation. The more time you spend with him as the night goes on, the more you realize how right Finn was when he said you had nothing to worry about.

Earlier than normal, you decide to turn in for the night, the early morning and hours on the road catching up with you. Poe lets you shower first, and even though you promise to be quick, you weren’t prepared for how great it would feel to wash the day away, to stand under the warm water and let it run over you after spending all day cramped in a car.

Even though you’d taken longer than you said you would, Poe doesn’t mention anything, just grabs his towel and clothes and heads into the bathroom. Despite how badly you want to examine all the corners of his childhood bedroom, want to smile at his past obsessions and hobbies and decorating skills, you don’t want to cross any lines, so instead you claim your side of the bed and lay down, scrolling through your apps and responding to messages from Finn and Rey and Rose.

While Poe’s still in the shower, there’s a knock at the door, so you throw yourself off the bed despite how comfortable you’d been because you don’t want to seem rude. When you open the door, Lucky squeezes his way past Kes, who’s arms are full of blankets, and makes himself at home on your bed.

“I know Poe can be a blanket hog, just wanted to make sure you were comfortable,” Kes says as he enters the room, setting the bundle down on the bed. On top of the neatly folded pile is a set of watercolors and some paper. “Poe’s mentioned how much you like to paint, I thought it would be nice to give you the option. And hey, the sunrises here are pretty nice, if you can manage getting up that early.”

It’s such a thoughtful gift, you don’t think a simple ‘thank you’ will suffice, but you can tell from his tone that Kes doesn’t think much of it.

“That’s so thoughtful,” you tell him, hoping your eyes convey the words you can’t manage to figure out, “thank you.”

As expected, Kes just shrugs it off with a smile before he calls for Lucky and heads out of the bedroom.

“Sleep well,” he calls out as he closes the door, a soft, knowing smile on his face.

“Goodnight,” you reply, but the door’s already closed. You hope he heard, that he doesn’t think you’d ignored him.

Almost as soon as Kes leaves, Poe enters the bedroom, still toweling off his damp hair. You slip into your side of the bed, pulling the sheets up around you while Poe stands, looking like he has something on his mind.

“Do you want me to build a little wall of pillows?” He offers, already setting into action to grab the supplies he’d need for his little construction project.

“I think I can handle myself for one night,” you smile, trying to come off as you’re joking even though hints of the truth are leaking through.

Poe finally stops his searching and nods, standing still for a few seconds before finally turning off the lights and moving into the bed.

“Goodnight,” he whispers, and you’re surprised by how close he sounds.

“Goodnight,” you respond, trying to decide exactly how mortifying it would be for Poe to wake up with you wrapped around him like a koala.

You try to put that thought aside, and let your exhaustion from the day wash over you, snuggling deeper under the covers and falling asleep almost immediately.

When you wake, there’s sunlight streaming through the curtains, and you feel something warm pressed up against you. Cracking your eyes open, you realize that it’s Poe; you’re pressed up against his side, face tucked against his neck, while his arm wraps around your waist and holds you close to him.

Immediately, your heart ticks up, pounding against your ribcage and you try and figure out the best way to move away without waking Poe. Though, the more you think about it, you’d slept better than you had in ages and Poe seems comfortable. So, instead of moving away, you tuck yourself back into Poe’s neck and close your eyes, letting the gentle back and forth movement of his fingers along your side to lull you back to sleep.

Only a few minutes later, you feel Poe move against you, hear his breathing pick up as he wakes. You pretend to still be sleeping, and you have to ignore the pain in your chest as he extracts himself from your hold. Instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, though, he creeps over to the bathroom, careful not to wake you.

When he returns, you’re sitting up against the headboard, scrolling through your phone.

“How’d you sleep?” He asks, and you’d forgotten how much you loved how scratchy and soft his voice sounded in the morning.

“Great,” you tell him honestly, “better than I have in years.”

Poe smiles, bashful, before telling you he’s going to head downstairs and make coffee if you feel like joining him. You make yourself a bit more presentable and meet Poe in the kitchen, where your coffee is already sitting on the counter, just the way you like it.

The two of you head out on the porch, mugs in hand, and sit next to each other on the wooden swing. You’d slept too late to see the sunrise, but the morning light washing over the open expanse of road and plants is stunningly beautiful. The air is balmy, with the promise of heat to come later in the day.

Poe’s thigh is pressing against yours, and neither of you move away, just sitting silently next to each other as you sip on your coffee. It’s hard not to think about the future, about how you’d want to do this everyday. This might be paradise, you think, feeling lighter than you have in months as the sun washes over the landscape and creeps under the awning to play across the wooden porch.

“Can I tell you something?” Poe asks, looking out towards the horizon, fingers drumming against his mug as he uses his feet to gently push the swing forward and back.

“Of course.” You couldn’t stop looking at him even if you tried, with the way the breeze ruffles his bed-head curls and the sunlight frames his profile like a halo.

“You’re my best friend.”

Tags: @zoriis @andr0medafallen @dailyreverie @stevenngrant @aellynera @creatively-analytical @tiquinntheghost @luckynachos @fallinallinmendes @sabxism @ghostsongwriter-22 @poopirate @loonymagizoologist @stvnnie @campingwiththecharmings @outmodead @welcometostayingawake

[athena-writes-i-guess]

First Time

Pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!reader

Summary: You take your best friend Eddie to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time.

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 2917

Warnings: pet names, Rocky Horror Picture Show spoilers, sexual language, explicit language, 

Author’s Note: This takes place in the same universe as my series but is just a short little moment in their friendship, this is pre-relationship and also established relationship at the end(there is a time jump).  As we don’t know if Eddie has seen RHPS I’m making it that he hasn’t. The movie came out when he was like 8 and I don’t think Hawkins would have showed Rocky Horror. And the VHS of it didn’t come out in the US until 1990. And the friends we see him with in the show don’t seem like the type to take him. But thats just me, and this is make believe. Also, I am a RHPS shadowcaster myself so the call back lines are from my cast and may be different than ones you have heard at a midnight show. Hope you enjoy!

Masterlist

*GIF not mine*

“So wait, you’re saying you're a virgin?”

“I mean, I guess if you want to put it that way.” Eddie said as he lounged on his bed next to you, flipping through a magazine

“That’s what we call people who have never been to a Rocky Horror shadowcast show before.” You said with an excited smile. You had found a flier for a local cast when you were in a record shop in Indianapolis the day before and had brought it back to show Eddie. 

“We? Who’s we?” The metalhead asked, cocking his head and looking up at you as you sat on the bed next to him. 

“The group of weirdos, like me, who regularly went to midnight shows.” You laughed, you had been going to midnight shows as often as you could with your group of friends back in L.A. for a few years now and since moving to Hawkins you were missing the experience. 

“I guess I’m a virgin then as I’ve never seen it.” He said as he flipped a page. 

“Well,” You started, drawing out the word. “We could always change that. Says here they perform the second and fourth Saturday of the month. The second Saturday is this upcoming one, what do you say?” 

“What’s so different about seeing it in a theater than a tape?” He asked as he tossed the magazine aside to look at you. 

“Well, it’s not going to be on a tiny TV screen for one, also I can’t find a tape of it anywhere.” You smirked, “And for two, it’s the whole experience. There will be people dressed up like the characters, like me, I dress like Magenta. There will be a cast performing the show in front of the screen while we watch. We’ll get to yell at the movie and throw props and dance if we want. It’s a wild experience and so fun.” You said quickly, clearly very excited. “Please Eddie?” You pleaded. 

“Okay, okay. Sounds fun.” He smiled, “If you’re dressing up, are you going to make me too?” 

“Not yet, we have to see which character you like first. Though, there is a character named Eddie played by Meatloaf so we could dress you up like that if we wanted. But I think you should see the movie first.” You beamed. You couldn’t wait to go, not only for yourself but to see how Eddie likes the experience too. “I can’t wait to pop your cherry!” You laughed as Eddie rolled his eyes. 

“Don’t say it like that, doll.” Eddie moaned lightly, a small grin breaking on his face despite himself. 

“What? I am. I’m gonna pop your Rocky Horror cherry.” You said with a large impish smile. 

“I’ll have you know, I have already popped the cherry that matters.” He retorted with a wink.

“Oh my god, Eddie!” You groaned as you felt the heat rise to your cheeks while grabbing one of his pillows and hitting him with it, pulling a loud laugh from the man. 

~ Saturday ~

You were waiting outside of Eddie’s trailer, having just knocked to pick him up for the show. You were in your costume, a form of a maids outfit with black stockings, high heeled ankle boots, your colorful hair was curled wildly and your make up was done to complete the look. 

A moment later Eddie opened the door, shrugging his vest on over his leather jacket and smiling as he looked at your outfit. “Wow, sweetheart. You look great.” Eddie said as he caught himself staring. He knew he was going to have a hard time paying attention to the show when you would be looking like that next to him. 

“Thank you! I haven’t gotten to wear this in so long! I’m so excited!” You got out as you did a little spin for him, “Come on, let’s go ‘give ourselves over to absolute pleasure.’” You said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the car. 

“Sorry? Do what now?” He laughed as he was dragged along. 

“It’s a line from one of the songs, come on.” You chuckled as you opened the door of your car and got in. Once you were both seated, you started the hour long journey to Indianapolis. 

~ 

You walked up to the theater and saw the large line of people waiting at the door. “Oh! It looks like it will be a full house tonight! Those are the best!” You chirped eagerly as you got into line. 

“Why’s that?” Eddie asked as he looked around at the people getting in line around him. He noticed they were in alternative clothes, and some in costume like you. He could see why you fit in here. 

“Well, that means it’ll be loud and hopefully very funny. I hope they have call backs like ours back home.” You said, spying a cast member dressed like an old timey cigarette girl, complete with a tray that was hanging from her neck full of brown paper bags. She was walking down the line talking to the audience with a guy wearing a shirt with a pair of bedazzled lips on it, he was writing on the faces of some of the people he talked to. 

“What’s a call back?” Your friend questioned. 

“So when a certain line or event happens in the movie you yell back a phrase. Like whenever Brad has his name said or he does something douchey, we yell ‘asshole’ and whenever Janet gets her name said we yell ‘slut’. Things like that. But most casts can fill the entire movie up with call backs.” You explained with a large smile, Eddie nodded his head not quite understanding what was going to happen tonight. 

“Hi, any prop bags?” The cigarette girl said as she walked up to you both, you could now see that along with the bags she carried, her tray was also full of pins for the movie. 

“Yes, two please. Also can I have two of the pins please?” You asked politely. 

“Sure, that’ll be $2.” She said with a smile, handing Eddie two of the bags while you pulled out the money. She put the money away while you took two pins with the Rocky Horror lips on them, thanking her as you did. “Enjoy the show!” She said as she walked past you. 

“Here you go, you don’t have to wear it but I just wanted you to remember tonight.” You explained, handing the pin to him as you took one of the bags. 

“Thanks, doll.” He smiled at you before holding the bag in between his teeth as he attached the pin to his vest. You bit back a large dopey smile as he put it on, happy that he wanted to wear it for you. 

“Any virgins here?” The other cast member said as he walked up to the two of you. 

“Just him!” You informed, gesturing to Eddie. 

“Okay pal, I’m going to write on your face.” He announced, holding up a tube of red lips stick. Eddie glanced at you quickly, saw you nod your head, and then nodded his own. The guy drew on both his cheeks quickly, before moving to the next group. 

“What’s it say?” Eddie said, turning to face you. 

“Well, one cheek just has a V, but the other does have a dick on it.” You laughed, watching as he groaned slightly. “You have to keep them on until after the show though! Those are the rules of going to Rocky Horror.” 

“Okay, I hear ya.” He replied with a grin. 

A few minutes later you were sitting in the theater about 4 rows back, you had explained to Eddie that it’s better to be up close for this type of show. While the audience filled the rows you explained all the props and their uses from the bag. 

“So the first prop we use is the rice, we’re going to throw it in the air like they do at weddings. Then there’s the newspaper and water guns for the rain scene.” You told him, going on to list the others. “But I’ll tell you when they all come out.” You finished with a sweet smile, you saw an equally sweet smile appear on Eddie’s face as well. 

“Hello!” You heard someone yell from the front. The audience went quiet as you all turned your attention to him, it was the cast member with the lip stick. “Welcome to the Rocky Horror Picture Show!” The crowd cheered loudly all around you as you and Eddie joined in. “So first thing right off the bat, we’re going to go over the rules.” He yelled.

“Fuck the rules!” You heard the audience say back. 

“You can’t fuck the rules, but you can fuck me!” The cast member yelled back, the crowd laughed with a few emphatic “Okay!”s and “When and where?”s called out. “So rule number 1! No throwing props at the screen! It costs more than you will ever have and we will rat you out! You’re going to throw your props up and back, away from the screen. Rule number 2! If you’re going to dance, do it at your seats, we will be having cast members running around the theater. Do not get in their way or they will run you down. And finally rule number 3. This is an audience participation experience! Which means that you as the audience will need to?” 

“Participate!” You and the rest of the audience yelled back. 

“Good! Okay! Now for the fun part. Everybody stand up!” You and Eddie stood up with everyone else. “If you’ve seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadowcast more than…let’s say.. 100 times, say “woo!” And sit down.” A few members sat down. “They don’t count! They work here!” The man laughed. “Okay 50?” A few more sat down. “30 times?” 

You wooed and sat down, Eddie looked at you with an amused look and his eyebrows raised. “30?” He mouthed as the cast member continued to count down. You nodded your head with a shrug of your shoulders. 

“Okay, if you have seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadowcast 1 time, say woo and sit down.” Eddie was still standing with a few other members of the audience, he looked around at the others standing with him. “Okay, what do we call the people standing?” 

“Virgins!” You and the crowd yelled. 

“And what do we do with virgins?” 

“FUCK THE SHIT OUT OF THEM!” The crowd and cast yelled. Eddie looked down at you with raised eyebrows again and a small grin, looking a little uncertain.

“Virgins! Raise your left hand into the air! And place your right hand over your heart! And repeat after me!” 

“After me! After me!” You and the audience yelled back, you knew what was about to happen as it happens in the L.A. cast too. 

“I, State your name!” 

“Indiana!” A few cast members yelled back while the virgins said their names.

“I said state your name, not name your state.” He said back. “Pledge allegiance to the lips. Of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. And to the decadence, for which it stands. One movie, under Richard O'Brien, with sensuous daydreams, erotic nightmares, and sins of the flesh for all.” Eddie and the virgins repeated after each pause the cast member made. 

“Okay, sit the fuck down! You're in a movie theater!” Another cast member yelled causing the audience to laugh. Eddie sat down and shot you a large smile and a shake of his head, what had you gotten him into?

“1-2-3 Start the fucking movie!” Some in the audience yelled.

“No, forget the movie and start the fucking!" You and some of the other members called back. You laughed and shared a look with Eddie as the lights dimmed in the theater and the music of Science Fiction Double Feature started, the cigarette girl from earlier walked out onto the stage. “A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. God said, let there be lips! And there were lips and they were big, red, cock-sucking lips and they said!” You yelled with the crowd just before the lyrics started and the woman began to perform.

You kept glancing at Eddie’s face as the woman did her routine and you yelled call backs, having not told him that it’s usual to have a strip tease at the very beginning of the show. When she started taking off small articles of clothing, like shoes and her fishnets you watched his eyebrows furrow slightly. When she took off her corset, he cocked his head to the side very slightly as the furrow deepened. You then watched his eyebrows raise and eyes slightly widen when she had taken everything off until she was just in her matching lace lingerie set.

“What kind of show did you take me to, sweetheart?” Eddie said with a smirk as he turned to you once the scene started to fade and the woman gathered her clothes and walked off the stage.

“I told you it was going to be a wild time, Eds.” You shot back with a smirk of your own. “Time to throw the rice!” You pulled the small bag of rice out of your bag and threw it up as the wedding party came out of the church both on the screen and on the stage. Eddie chuckled as he threw the rice up with you, seemingly trying to throw it just over you. 

The show went on with you yelling call backs and telling Eddie when to use certain props. You made him dance the Time Warp with you and the rest of the crowd, loving the happy laughter that was pulled out of him as you both danced next to each other. 

His expression seeing Tim Curray as Dr. Frank-n-Furter in all his lingerie clad glory for the first time was an amusing sight indeed. As well as his reaction to Meatloaf as Eddie. “Wait, he wakes up, sings a song, and then dies? That’s it?” 

You had a blast singing Eddie’s Teddy to Eddie while he chuckled next to you, you invading his space while you sang, “When Eddie said he didn’t like his teddy, you knew he was a no good kid! But when he threatened your life with a switchblade knife! What a guy! Makes you cry! And I did!” 

“What do you mean they’re aliens?” He whispered as the movie was ending and RiffRaff and Magenta were taking over the castle. “This was an alien movie the whole time?”

“I know, weird right? This movie about sexual freedom and just being who you are, with a very loose plot, is technically an alien flick.” You giggled as the castle turned spaceship flew into the sky. 

The lights came up for the curtain call as they introduced the cast members who had performed, you and Eddie cheering loudly for them as they bowed. “Thank you all for coming, you don’t have to go home. But you can’t stay here! Get the hell out!” The host for the night had yelled as the audience started to stand and leave. 

“So what did you think?” You asked as the two of you walked back to your car hand in hand. 

“That was so much fun, doll!” Eddie exclaimed, squeezing your hand as he did. 

You beamed at his words, “I’m so happy you had fun! Maybe we can go again soon?” You asked once you got to your car, looking up at him with a hopeful look. 

“Definitely, sweetheart.” He smiled back, leaning forward and leaving a chaste kiss on your cheek. “Thank you for taking me.” 

“Any time.” You said as you felt the heat rise to your face and a dopey smile pull your lips. 

~ 2 Months Later ~

“Babe! Come on! We’ve got to go!” Eddie yelled from the living room of his trailer. You were in his bedroom changing into your new costume you made. You grabbed the top hat you were going to wear after straightening out your wig, and headed out the door. You were dressed like Columbia tonight, even down to fake tap shoes that you had thrifted. 

Eddie was standing there in the Eddie “costume” you had made him. Really it was just the leather vest and shirt that you thrifted as well and had painted to look like the ones in the movie, you had even added the leopard print lapels.

“Wow sweetheart, look at you!” He said as you walked up to him, this was his first time seeing you in it. He wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed you, pulling back after a moment to smile down at you. “How do I look?” He asked as he let go and did a little spin for you. 

“Perfect.” You smiled, biting your lip ever so slightly. “You ready to go do the Time Warp again?” 

“More than ready, I think I even remember some of the call backs now!” He said excitedly as he grabbed your hand and led you out of the trailer and towards his van. “Think we can get away with doing some of the lifts?” 

“You are not throwing me in the air Eddie Munson!” You scolded with a laugh. 

Eddie just shrugged with a mischievous smile, “We‘ll see about that, babe.” He said with a wink causing you to roll your eyes. 

[littlegodzilla]

New chapter from Your Name!!

Enjoy!!

Your Name Masterlist

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Your Name.

Daryl Dixon x Reader

Mini series. Chapter 9.

Warnings: Nightmares. Confessions. A little fluff. TWD gore.

Words: 2830.

Summary: Daryl and Carol talk and Daryl makes a confession...

Taglist: @phoenixblack89 @browneyes528 @lilythemadqueen @darylsgarden @thefemininemystiquee @green-eyedladywrites @hail-yourselves @ruinedbythehobbit @xxtinasxxblog @ravenwings73 @spenciepoo338 @b-tchymoon @minervadashwood @darylssluttt @let-love-bleeds-red

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Unfortunately things only go from bad to worse. Even with Daryl injured, he tries to help you use his knife, to learn how to defend yourself, he lends you his crossbow to practice your aim, but you're not too good at it either. However something has changed in your dynamic, his insults and words towards you are no longer hurtful, he's just trying to tease you and get on your nerves.

Two days of peace and quiet settles over the camp until Glenn tells the goup that there are Walkers in the barn and everything goes to shit once again. Rick wants to talk to Hershel to decide what to do, Shane wants to take the law into his own hands and kill them all before they escape and eat you alive. Everything turns to chaos again, you are sick of this situation, you just want to find Sophia and get out of there, go to Fort Benning or anywhere else, you don't care, but you can't stand this situation any longer.

Your wrist is a little better, the medication that Glenn brings almost every day helps to relieve the pain, but you don't want to take off the bandage, with your arm covered you can now wear short sleeve shirts and you are grateful for it, the heat is starting to be suffocating and you have never been his friend.

You are sitting in the caravan looking out into the haystack, keeping watch, as the others do. You gasp in surprise when you feel a weight next to you and hands squeeze your tits over your shirt.

"I missed them..." He whispers in your ear and when you look at the reflection in the window you see Merle behind you.

You turn quickly and open your eyes feeling shaken, there is no one with you, you are alone in the caravan. You try to calm down while squeezing your wrist, you have hurt yourself by moving abruptly and now it feels like it's burning. You mumble under your breath still feeling your heart flutter, the last thing you need right now is to have strange dreams about the eldest Dixon.

"Are you okay?" Dale's voice makes you look up at the roof of the trailer. "You sounded like you were having a bad dream."

"I'm sorry, Dale, it was...I'm sorry." You mumble again and step out of the caravan to get some air.

***

"Look, I found more." Daryl says to Carol taking her to the side of the lake near the Greene family home.

They are the same flowers he brought her to the trailer one day to lift her spirits, she knows he's just trying to ease her pain, but at the same time Carol remembers the conversation she had with you.

"Why are you doing this? I've been meaning to ask you for a long time..."

"Because I keep believing that she's out there... that we're gonna find her." He smiles a little, glancing sideways at her.

"She thinks you're doing it for me." She changes the conversation and when she says your name, Daryl looks at her in fright. "She thinks we're linked or something." She shrugs caressing the flower petals. Daryl watches her chewing his lip and mutters low.

"Ya've seen the name on my chest." He says understanding what this is all about.

"I didn't mean to look, but you were so hurt and..." she tries to apologize, but Daryl shakes his head.

"Ain't mad, and I'm doing it for the group, Sophia's just a kid, she has a lot of living to do yet... we can't accept that she's just gone." He shrugs, lowering his head. "Have ya told her?"

"No, that doesn't belong to me to tell." She looks at him. "I don't know what you're waiting for if you both know your fate, but I guess with this whole situation..."

"She doesn't know I'm wearing her name on my skin." He cuts her off and Carol looks at him in surprise. "She doesn't know that I do know what she's hiding...and I understand her shame."

"Daryl..."

"But it's okay, I dun care, I'll let her find someone who really deserves her."

"Is that why she was traveling with you?"

"I wanted to take her to a place where she could be taken care of and forget about me...the Dixons, Merle didn't put much into it, but he's still a Dixon..."

"Daryl..." She tries not to get emotional, but no doubt that man is a much better person than she thought he was when she first met him.

"Can you keep it a secret from me? I know it's a shitty secret, but... I don't want her to know." He looks at her without stopping chewing on his lip, Carol sighs and nods.

"Sure, like I told you, it doesn't belong to me to tell her."

**

Sophia was in the haystack, along with all the Walkers that Hershel and his family were taking care of, Shane and the others have opened fire on all of them until the girl appears and you all freeze.

You can't stop crying, it hurts you to know that you can't do anything for her anymore, that Carol has lost her little girl, that Daryl almost died for nothing. The pain and shock shakes you all, the group and the family who have seen how their people have been massacred without compassion by people they know nothing about.

You hear a loud noise in the kitchen, Beth has collapsed on the floor like a sack, the shock that runs through her prevents her from moving and reacting, Maggie is afraid that something serious will happen to her, Patricia starts an IV to keep her hydrated, but they need Hershel, and the man has disappeared.

"Maybe he's gone down to town...he's been sober for years and now..." Maggie stammers in fear.

"We'll go look for him." Glenn assures her. "This is all our fault, we'll bring him back home to help Beth." He promises Maggie and Rick nods.

"We'll be back as soon as possible."

"Be careful, things are getting really weird out here." You tell them looking around the camp suspiciously. "I don't trust Shane."

"If anything happens, warn Daryl..."

That's another part of the problem, Daryl has separated himself from the group, the loss of Sophia, has affected him more than you thought it would and he's pulled away from the group, your first instinct was to go with him, but Daryl didn't want to be with anyone, so you gave him the space he was asking for.

What you weren't willing to accept was the way he treated Carol when she went to talk to him. Lori had asked him for help, but he had refused and Carol wanted to know what was happening to him.

"Sophia wasn't mine!" he shouts choleric and makes a threatening gesture towards Carol, the woman shrinks back fearing a blow and you can't take it anymore.

"Daryl, stop it!" you interject, pushing Carol away from him. "May I ask what's wrong with you?"

"I'm sick of having to explain myself for everything! Leave me alone!" he yells again and you look at Carol, she nods walking away, leaving you two alone.

"Daryl, listen to me, they're worried about you, you're part of the group and you..."

"I'm part of the group? Is that what you think?" He walks towards you with a threatening gesture. "I'm just their dog that sniffs out their clues."

"That's not true, Daryl; Rick trusts you, more than Shane, he's followed your every lead and ignored his best friend's craziness."

"Because Shane can't be trusted, we all know that, he went crazy as soon as Rick showed up at the camp."

"That's why this group needs you, Daryl, you're part of them." You hold his arm so he looks at you, he's nervous and anxious, there's too much going on that he can't control. "Carol appreciates you, she loves you, don't take her away from you." You smile stroking his arm, staring at him. "I appreciate you, don't take us away from you, please." You ask him once more and kiss him on the cheek before turning around and heading back to camp with the others.

The hunter stands there watching you slowly walk away, he feels his cheek burning where you kissed him. He snorts, trying to put his thoughts in order. No one had ever depended on him like this before, first Dale, Lori, Carol and now you, he's not meant to lead anyone, he's always been a follower, even if the decisions were bad, wrong, he had always blindly followed his brother and his friends, and now, for the first time, someone expects him to take part in the decisions, to be one more, not a hound. He sits beside his tent and presses his hands against his face.

What can he do, should he really have gone after Rick, should he really have listened to Lori?

His head is full of doubts.

***

However the next day he shows up at the meeting inside the Greene's house, Rick and Glenn have returned with Hershel, but not just him, they have also brought a young boy with a leg in very bad shape. There are several ideas about the young man, what they should do with him, Dale thinks they have lost their minds completely, Rick wants to know if his people are dangerous, how many they may be and what their intentions are. Hershel allows you to stay inside the house, which is a big step, the man has realized he was wrong and regrets having Sophia in the haystack, even if he didn't know it. Plus you all find out that Lori is pregnant and Hershel insists that she gets her room so she's comfortable. Daryl for his part still prefers to stay outside in his tent.

Daryl joins the group again, as if nothing has happened, you don't know if he has apologized to Carol or not, but they seem to be okay again and that comforts you. That same afternoon, Rick and the rest are still making plans on how to deal with Randal's people in case they go after him, Daryl is the one in charge of getting the information out of the kid and you have to admit you get a weird feeling when you see him show up with his knuckles full of blood.

You're angry that he's just a kid, but at the same time you like seeing him with that serious gesture, the clenched jaw, that evil side that Daryl doesn't really possess.

"How long has it been since you've been with a guy?" Maggie asks you suddenly. You're in the kitchen of the house preparing something to eat for everyone.

"What, why do you say that?" You look at her confused, although if you have to think about it, it's been several months since you were last with a guy.

"I saw the way you were looking at Daryl this morning." She teases giving you a little nudge.

"I wasn't looking at Daryl in any way. He's overdoing it with Randal, he's just a kid..."

"Why don't you talk to Daryl and make merry," He cuts you off and you feel your cheeks turn red.

"Maggie!" You punch her in the arm as she won't stop laughing.

"I don't think this is the time for that, we're all on edge, things are very tense, we don't know what's going to happen and..."

"And that's why you should seize every moment."

"Like you with Glenn?" you joke and she looks around in case her father is nearby.

"Shut up, but yeah, exactly like that, if you need to..."

"Girls, stop whispering and help me with dinner, please." Intervenes Carol who has an amused smile on her face. "But if you want my opinion, Maggie's right."

"Carol, not you too!" you protest, but all three of you end up laughing.

***

It's hard to explain what you are seeing now, the whole barn in flames, a horde of Walkers entering the flames, the farm being surrounded by death and you struggling to survive once again. In the end Randal was not the problem that triggered that chaos, but Shane's madness, his anger and jealousy, made him dangerous and now you all pay the consequences. Daryl takes the lead for a second ordering you all to take the cars to get out of there, looking for a route to get back to the road. You split into small groups, but quickly find yourselves surrounded by the infected. You fight with all your might, moving nimbly as you use Daryl's knife to fight your way through the zombies. In the distance you hear the roar of a motorcycle and run towards the road.

"Daryl!" you shout to get his attention.

"Come on!" he urges you as he pulls up beside you and you jump on the bike.

You hold tightly to his waist as he speeds away from there leaving the farmhouse to be consumed in flames. You lean against Daryl's back as you ride away, back to square one, back to the fear, back to the uncertainty of what will happen, back to the constant worry that danger is too close. You press yourself tighter against him, for a moment you had thought that you would stop running away, that you would finally have found a safe place, but no. You are not. Daryl gives you a sidelong glance but doesn't stop until you reach the road and meet up with the others.

"I'm glad you're all okay." You say hugging the rest of the group.

"What are we going to do now?" Glenn wants to know.

"What happened with Shane?"

"We'll talk about it, but now is not the time. We'll grab everything we can and turn around, find a new shelter."

You don't seem convinced with his plan, but you have no better alternative, you take everything that is necessary, refuel the cars and the bike to continue your journey once again. The days become weeks, a journey that would be easy in another time, now is a real nightmare, you have to avoid the dead, the vehicles are running out of gas, you barely have enough to eat. Lori is getting more and more advanced in her pregnancy, rations are smaller, winter is approaching and you all need a roof to shelter under, but morale is low, tired, exhausted and hungry, only desperation moves you, besides knowing that all of you, somehow, are infected, does not reassure you either. You remember that you heard Merle talking about helicopters some time ago. I'm sure he smelled that charcoal already.

The fire is small, the cold starts to take hold of all of you. Daryl sits down next to you and carefully wraps his poncho around your body, trying to warm you up. You look up at him with a grateful smile and lean against his chest, he hides you under his clothes to keep you warm.

"Do you think Rick knows what he's doing?" You listen to Carol, you want to move, but Daryl squeezes you slyly and you stay in place.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know Shane was crazy, but...I don't know if Rick knows where he's taking us."

"I think he's trying to keep us safe, Lori's pregnant, a lot, I doubt Rick wants to be stumbling around on purpose." He tries to defend the Sheriff but Carol doesn't seem convinced. "What do you want from me, Carol?"

"Maybe you should propose a course, take the lead."

"Are you crazy? Rick is leading us, we trust him, I know he'll find a place where we can be safe." He growls looking at Carol with some annoyance, the woman looks down in embarrassment and walks away.

You smile against his chest, hidden under his poncho you snuggle a little closer, you feel Daryl's hands wrap around your waist and he pulls the poncho aside a little to look at you, you look at him sideways still smiling.

"Rick is a good man." You say. "And so are you."

"You okay in there?" you avoid answering, but nod.

"Thanks... winter's starting to get rough..." You murmur, the warmth his body gives off lulling you to sleep.

"Don't worry, we'll find a place before the colder months arrive." He promises you and as always you feel safe and protected.

You wrap your arms around his waist and snuggle against his chest once more. Daryl watches you feeling your own body warm from your closeness, he half smiles and strokes your cheek before pulling his poncho down once more, leaving you to sleep.

**

You wouldn't know what exactly has changed, but the days you spend wandering back and forth strengthen your relationship with Daryl, friendship or something else, you don't care anymore, you feel good when you're with him. Even Daryl seems more comfortable with you, you talk about many things to keep your mind busy, he keeps helping you to hunt, to use weapons. The complicity between you continues to grow. You don't want that to change, but at the same time you feel you must talk to him, you must tell him about his name on your arm, you must think about what you will do from then on, you need your anxiety and doubts to finally disappear.

**

To be continued...

***

Okay just one more chapter!!

I hope you enjoyed it!!

See you in the next and final chapter!!

[fanstuffrantings]

I started thinking about rwby/the white fang and how terrible they handled the plotline again so ranting under the cut (if you like rwby and don't want negativity about it do not read. I was one of the watchers from when the red trailer dropped.)

I used to be a massive rwby fan, I'm talking forcing people to watch the show with me, rewatching every season, pulling up individual fight scenes and watching them on repeat. I had the lore locked into my mind and convinced my friends to jump on call with me and watch season 2 episode 1 when it aired. I was locked in, front and center every week when episodes dropped through the end of season 3. Now I didn't watch season 4 when it was airing due to complex feelings about what supposedly happened behind the scenes in between 2 and 3 but in taking a step back from the adoration it also meant I could start seeing the flaws in the show.

Specifically the white fang. It's already been stated how badly this was handled, a group of white men writing racism without considering the nuances and simply wanting to push a "violence is wrong" narrative even though they themselves admit in the text that violence was the only thing getting results. As a younger teenage white girl I couldn't immediately spot the issues of the writing, especially not when I adored the series too much to think critically on it.

But with each passing season every time the faunus plot got brought up it was just handled worse and worse. When I tried watching season 4, Blake consistently had my least favorite scenes because so much of her story felt retconned and contradictory to what we'd already learned about the faunus and the white fang. Her parents themselves added a whole arc that just felt like it was almost retconned in.

Weiss going from a clear racist to someone who actually isn't racist with no on screen development because the writers seemed to realize that was actually something incredibly dislikable some fans wouldn't forgive. (And honestly if fans still don't like her for it I don't blame them.)

The thing is despite the issues I could've seen myself pressing on in the show because I genuinely enjoyed so much about it. But the most glaring problem was Adam. Now I'm a fan of one piece so I'm not stranger to the idea of writing in a violent extremist who would kill their own people just to push their hatred and conflict. And maybe if they'd taken the Hody route of having Adam not actually be someone with personal experience with humans who simply hated them on principle and refused the idea of peace I could've handled them killing him off.

But to make him one of the only characters with a physical reminder of human brutality through fucking BRANDING, and then to kill him. That is the one part of rwby that always keeps me from catching up. Because I genuinely get so angry every time I think about it. He got the schnee dust company branded onto his face, no wonder he hates humans and wants them all to burn. It makes complete sense. And if the writers were taking that angle and opt to use someone being branded, why would you choose to have it be a character you were only ever going to villainize?

In general the faunus plotline has been mishandled, but that was the moment that just made it impossible for me to enjoy rwby like I used to.

[yharnamesque]

Uhhhhhhhhh talking about Sweet Home season 2 brb

I managed to convince the family to watch Sweet Home with me since season 2 came out last December and honestly? It's kind of been a dud so far

Like season 1 FUCKED HARD and there's a reason I binged the whole lot in one night the first time round. But this??? Who the fuck are any of these new people and why should I care about them. Why should I care about Chief Ji or her daughter and weird friend, or the new priest that is so clearly just a shady grifter, or ANY of the soldiers except the one that brought the OG group to the shelter in the first place. Where is Ui-myeong and the rest of the monsters he set loose? You're telling me they wouldn't have followed the soldiers out to the hideaway and tried to make an effort to break in? The crazy scientist is the only guy holding my attention at the moment

The timeskip of almost an entire year without doing even a smidge of establishing setting up in the underground has really fucked it up I think. If there'd been even like a series of quick flashbacks to show some stuff like why Chief Ji and the military leader are at odds, what proper went down between Ji's husband and Eun-yu etc it would have helped massively. But as it stands it's just kind of a nothing burger. The bloody soldiers get more screentime than the actual OG survivors who managed to make it, why is that allowed???

Where's my boy Hyun-su and his sick as fuck wing-arm, bring back my boy already

[aceontheline]

Vent Post

T//W: Anxiety, Depression, Su*c*dal thoughts, Self harm

Only read under the cut if you're willing. If not, keep scrolling. I'll understand. It's more so for me to express my thoughts.

And yes, this relates to "Welcome to the Table". You'll see why.

I was barely eating, showering... Functioning. I was running on no energy or too much energy. Because I also have Bipolar II, which makes life a living hell sometimes. This was one of my most saddening episodes thus far.

So. I won't lie. About 5 or so months ago, I was in a REALLY rough spot. I was in a shitty retail job that I felt I couldn't escape. It gave me a lot of Anxiety at best & made me feel like subhuman trash on the worst days. Sometimes, I would have to go home and deal with my Panic Attacks, or sometimes I'd break down and cry in the middle of my shift for no reason. On top of that, I was already applying for new jobs & either never hearing back from them, or they'd schedule me for interviews at the most inconvenient time. And I couldn't seem to reschedule sooo... Back to square one.

Also had a bad spell where I couldn't find a job for 2 whole months. So yay.

During the anxiety all this brought me, I was also dealing with some REAL bad Depression too. Felt like nobody wanted or cared about me in my friend group, or that my family was disappointed in me because I don't have a career in the field I studied for in college. When you let intrusive thoughts consume you, often times they get REAL dark.

I even had a plan. I won't say what it is here, but just know it was brewing. I had even relapsed at one point, self harming. I had done it again some time later & I was mad at myself.

So. How in the fuck does "Welcome to the Table" fit into all this? Well, it started as a bit of a distraction for me. The first video I can recall watching of his was "The States Play Among Us". I thought: "Huh. This Ben guy is really funny! Let's check out some of his other stuff!"

After that, some more of Ben's videos had come up in my YouTube recommended feed, and I watched a couple. I got a few good laughs, something that hadn't happened in WEEKS. And I wasn't thinking all the bad thoughts anymore. Had Ben been my saving grace? Naaahhh, that's stupid...

No, it's not. His videos and comedy really helped me out of one of the darkest spirals I had ever been going down. Eventually, I got sucked into his content SO MUCH that I ended up forgetting about "The Plan". I was feeling happier, more vibrant, and I was making people genuinely laugh at my jokes. Things felt... Fresh and new.

As I sit here thinking about the impact this series has had on me, I now realize what people mean when they say that a piece of content "Saved their life". I was always super skeptical about it, but...

Take my story as an example. All it takes sometimes is a distraction for those intrusive, icky thoughts to go away. And for me, that was Ben's series. Not that he'll ever see this but...

Thank you, Ben Brainard. Thank you so much for making me happy during a real dark time in my life ❤️

[poeticandors]

Hi it's not a request but just checking in on ya. Are you ok? Like seriously ,Eddie's dies , max can't see now and byler, gOd byler. It's not canon . I feel likethey duild mike and wills chemistry just to add a bunch of chemistry and *POOF* you thought bitch. I am sad and i know many more are so justkeeping check and would love to know your opinions.

I am actually not ok lolol

🚨SPOILERS BELOW 🚨

Like when I tell you that I have never been so emotionally and mentally drained from a show. For those 4 hours (I rounded idc) I sat there shaking and sobbing and just filled with dread bc it hit me that hard.

Eddie’s death was so tragic. I knew it was going to happen but was in denial before volume 2 came out. But that one scene where he was play fighting with Dustin was reminiscent of boromir and the hobbits and I just KNEW it was set in stone. He was such a hero and honestly it made me so sad to watch him suffer like that. His death wasn’t quick. I really don’t think he should’ve died because his character brought so much to this group. My poor boy deserved to stay alive and graduate.

Max’s entire demise hit me the hardest. My poor bby suffered as well and I just stood there in shock. The first moment her bones snapped I was devastated. And her being absolutely terrified at dying- I can’t: Like I knew she was at risk but I was also in denial. Not only that, but Lucas-

I can’t even begin to talk about Caleb’s performance. It was PHENOMENAL. Gut wrenching. I think he did so well this entire series. The scream he let out chilled me to my core. When he was begging Erica to help it made me sob even more. Caleb deserves so much praise for his acting this season.

Will deserved so much better. I hate that they used his character to bring up el and mike’s relationship. I do agree that they built up Will and mike’s chemistry to, for some fucking reason, just to throw it in everyone’s faces.

The entire car scene with Will and Mike I can’t. Noah’s acting was amazing and tbh this was where I first started crying I think. It made me sad that he went on that whole thing saying how Mike was the heart when in reality it is Will who is the heart of their group.

One other thing I am upset that they didn’t show was the Hawkins group mourning eddie. You’re telling me they didn’t film a scene showing the group going back and being shook at seeing Dustin crying over Eddie’s lifeless body? You’re telling me that Steve didn’t go straight to Dustin and comfort him like the good dad he is and try to pry him away as he is trying to hold back his own tears at the fact he lost a friend AND that his kid is so distraught and traumatized over this? Or Robin crying while nancy comforts her? Why didn’t they try taking his body back? I hate it.

Anyways yeah that’s my thoughts lol. I am so glad Steve made it through. And that Joyce and hopper are finally together and that hopper reunited with El. Very interested in seeing what s5 brings.