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golbrocklovely · 2 months

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the rakish gentlemen // sam and colby

A/N: just a general statement across the board: i'm not going for historical accuracy here. i did a very small amount of research for this, most of which was based on the language and some of the societal norms but even then, it wasn't a thorough search. so if things are incorrect or not quite right… that's why. also this is heavily inspired by my new found love for bridgerton, so anything in the story that reminds you of that (show or book wise) - that's also why lol anyone that writes regency romances or stories, props to you bc the formal English alone made me want to off myself. just kidding… but not really. anyway, i hope you enjoy this one. it was fun to write once i got the hang out it. lmk what you think and i'll see you guys with another fic (hopefully) soon :)

prompt: being out in society was enough of a challenge, but overhearing two very sought after lords' snide remarks about you made you want to give up altogether. that is until you hatch a plan - make them beg for your hand in marriage, and then leave them high and dry. it should be simple enough. || AU!regency era sam and colby x fem!reader

trigger warning: formal english (lol), historical inaccuracy, lots of 'samuel' and 'cole' so if you don't like that don't read lol, snc are kind of dicks but they turn it around by the end somewhat, just a whisper of smut but not really, cliff hanger ending??, heavy on gender norms of the time period so be weary of that if that's something you don't like, bit of angst, everyone is of age/in their 20s

word count: 6347

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The weather in London during the middle of spring was the absolute best time of year, according to most in the Ton. To Miss Y/N Y/L/N, it was the most splendid of weather to promenade with one's closest confidant, and for her that was Miss Amelia Ruteledge. The two had been inseparable since childhood, living across the street from one another. And coming out in society together only strengthened their bond over the last two seasons.

"How eager are you for Lady Gillingham's masquerade ball this evening?" Amelia asked, coyly stealing a glance at Y/N.

"I can hardly wait. I am positively elated." Y/N replied dryly, her faux smile wide.

"Y/N, must you indulge in sarcasm?" She questioned.

"Yes, Amelia. I must," a quiet laugh fell from her lips. "It is hard for me to be excited for yet another ball, one where I will again be doomed to the corner of the room, watching as others dance."

"I had presumed you enjoyed observing." Amelia teased.

"It is not as fun anymore, ever since your courtship with Viscount Throne began." Y/N sighed, wiping away pretend tears from her cheeks, "Alas, my spinsterhood is in full bloom."

She shook her head, patting Y/N's arm sweetly, "Don't be ridiculous. You are nowhere near being a spinster."

"I'm two years out in society with little to show for it. One might believe I had contracted the plague, given how much the gentlemen of the Ton disregard me." Y/N rolled her eyes, her voice bitter.

"You mustn't say that. You are an absolute catch, by all accounts." Amelia argued, looking into Y/N's eyes.

She huffed. "Thank you. But your opinion apparently is the only one that is favorable towards me."

"That is simply not true," she protested back. "I believe many gentlemen in the Ton would admire you once they were acquainted. But I would not be surprised if your charm and wit intimidate them, thereby causing their reluctance."

A cheeky smile appeared on Y/N's face. "I couldn't have said that better myself." The ladies giggled, continuing down the walkway towards a small pond. Y/N glanced upwards, noting the eligible men coming their way. Grabbing Amelia's arm, she yanked her behind a tree close by, pressing her back tightly against the oak.

Amelia furrowed her brow, "What ails you?"

Y/N hushed her, looking over Amelia’s shoulder. "I don't wish to speak to anyone else presently. Particularly suitors."

"So you think hiding behind a tree is wise?" She blinked.

Y/N wanted to glare, but held back. "Guess I'm not as witty as you thought."

Amelia peaked behind the tree, their maids coming closer to them. She gestured for them to stop, not wanting the men Y/N was so flustered by to notice. The maids turned towards each other, giving a knowing look, and faced the pond instead.

"Did they leave yet?" Y/N whispered.

Amelia hummed. "No. They are still coming our way."

"Damn." She cursed, scrunching her face.

"Speak louder. I am sure your coarse tongue will make them leave hastily." She gaped.

Y/N held back more careless words, doing her best to remain calm. "I am certain that any gentleman has heard far worse words than a solitary curse from a lady's lips."

Amelia peaked again, her eyes widening. "Oh, you are correct about that. Did you see who was coming?"

"No. I just knew it was three gentlemen." Y/N dissented.

"It's Mr. Beaumont... with Lord Golbach and Lord Brock." Amelia choked out.

"Ah, even worse than I imagined." Y/N gulped.

Lord Samuel Golbach and Lord Cole Brock were some of the most sought after men in all of the Ton. Eager mamas and anxious daughters alike pined to be seen affectionately by the two Lords. They were not only rich, but handsome - a deadly combination. And with years of friendship under their belt, they were basically family to one another. Everyone out in society knew - to get in good graces with one, you had to be liked by the other.

But even with everyone wanting their attention, they were seldom to give it out. The rakish behavior displayed by the two was known throughout, which confused Y/N deeply. Why play cat and mouse if one knows it's not trying to be caught? Why pretend to be an eligible bachelor if there were no plans to seek a wife at all?

Y/N knew to stay away. She had no interest in them, moreover.

"Mr. Beaumont, I do believe you are one of the funniest men in all of London." Cole chuckled, clasping the man on the shoulder.

Edward bowed, "Such high praise coming from you, Lord Brock. You two are going to tonight's ball, yes?"

"Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Samuel grinned, glancing at Cole knowingly.

"I must ask, are there any ladies that have caught your eye this season?" Edward continued.

Samuel shook his head, "Unsurprisingly, no. Cole and I have very high standards. So high, in fact, it has been impossible to find anyone worthy of matching with."

"How incredibly rude." Amelia murmured.

"I am confident there are several ladies in the Ton that would be worthy of becoming your wives. What about Miss Mullens?" Edward mentioned.

"Terrible dancer." Cole quipped.

He questioned, "How about Miss Walford?"

Samuel frowned. "Her character is sorely lacking."

"Miss Ramsbury?" He puzzled.

"Beautiful indeed, most obnoxious laugh I've ever heard however." Cole jeered.

"Miss Y/L/N! What about her? She seems well." Edward exclaimed.

A silence filled the air, Y/N only hearing the sound of her pounding heart within her breast. While she may not have harbored interest in either Lord, the notion of their thoughts about her caused her skin to tingle thrillingly. She had never heard a man speak of her in any way, romantic or otherwise. She was eager to know.

Both men snickered, an almost childish laugh cutting through. Samuel cleared his throat, "You must be joking, Beaumont. That lady, would be the last on our list to ever be courted by us. Remember, we have high standards."

"Not even worthy of considering, if I'm honest." Cole sniveled.

“I suppose those are the lower ranking ladies of the Ton.” Mr. Beaumont chortled.

Amelia moved to jump out from behind the tree, ready to give all three gentlemen a piece of her mind. Y/N grabbed her arm, yanking her close. She motioned for her to remain silent, listening once more to the Lords and Mr. Beaumont.

"It is getting late, good sirs. I must be arriving back home soon for late afternoon tea with the missus. Good day, Lord Golbach. Lord Brock. Best of luck on your endeavors." He bowed, the Lords following suit.

Y/N finally turned to all three gentlemen, still covered by the oak tree. She watched as the Lords went off in the opposite direction as Mr. Beaumont. She waited until they were far enough away, taking her first breath in for what felt like years.

"I cannot believe those men!" Amelia screeched lowly.

Y/N slid down the tree, resting her head back, exhausted. "It's incredible, really. Dare I say... humbling?"

"Calling them rakes is the nicest thing I can think of. They are-" She started.

Cutting her off, Y/N placed a hand up. "Save your words, Amelia. Heaven knows I'm thinking far worse than you."

She stared at the ground for a moment, replaying their words over and over in her head. It hurt to hear how cold they were towards her, someone they had never even had a single conversation with.

"Lord Golbach and Lord Brock don't know you, Y/N. And by the way they speak of strangers, they don't deserve to know you either. No wonder no one has won their affections. They have far too much for themselves." Amelia retorted. She fanned herself, feeling her skin growing hot with anger.

Y/N mumbled. "High standards, remember?"

"I have heard of the numerous rejections they’ve given to the ladies of the Ton. It's astonishing how sought after they remain." Amelia declared, utterly appalled.

Rejected. The word echoed in Y/N's head. No one knew that feeling quite like her, especially not the Lords. Who could ever reject them...

Abruptly, Y/N jumped to her feet with an incredulous smirk; an idea rushing to the forefront of her mind.

"Pray tell, what is that look for?" Amelia queried.

"I believe the Lords just need a dose of their own medicine." She sang snidely.

Amelia raised an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?"

"What lady in all of the Ton has ever rejected them? Every girl and mama swoons at their feet; that's why they feel they can judge and dismiss anyone they want, regardless of how perfect a match the lady might be," Y/N stated. "So... what if that is turned on them?"

"How?" Amelia leaned back against the tree, studying her friend.

"Tonight's ball. It is a masquerade. Those two have never spoken to me, not once in all of the two years I've been out. Yet somehow, they've already declared I'm not worthy to be their wife just from mere appearances alone. Well, what if they aren't worthy enough to be my husband?" Y/N's eyes were wild, a mischievous glint sparkling within.

She gasped, "You're going to reject them?"

"I shall make them plead for my hand in marriage, only to desert them after all." She boasted.

"Do you think you can do that?" Amelia cocked her head to the side.

Y/N rolled her eyes, "I plan to beat them at their own game. I am sure they won’t know what to do with themselves when a woman is actually disinterested in them. Plus, anything else my charm and wit can make up for… hopefully."

"Are you sure your skills are up to the challenge? This could possibly ruin you if done incorrectly. A man won't take his pride being scorned." Amelia worried, holding Y/N's hand briefly.

She gave Amelia's hand a gentle squeeze, "I have been watching for two seasons what works and what doesn't. I've always been too frightened to be myself, to be vulnerable. But I have nothing to lose tonight. I am not interested in them, and they do not even see me as a potential match. I have to do this, for my pride alone."

Y/N strutted away, nodding to her maid to follow her. She stopped for a moment, turning back to Amelia. "After tonight, no more Miss Wallflower."

~~~~

Luckily for Y/N, being friendly with the modiste had its perks. For one, she was able to have some alterations done to her gown long before the ball. She was used to wearing more muted colors; colors that faded her into the background of any dance. But now, staring in the looking glass at herself, her rose colored gown almost sparkled in the candlelight.

She knew this would be one of the more flashier gowns, even for a masquerade. Lady Gillingham's balls were always known as being a bit uptight; the masquerade was the only one where going against her rules was allowed. But most in the Ton dared to not break them even so.

Y/N felt a rush of nerves hit her. Would this be enough to cause the Lords to notice her? She hoped. If not, her whole plan would be foiled.

The carriage ride to the Gillingham estate felt like an eternity. Y/N fanned herself repeatedly; the cool night air doing nothing for her warm skin.

Amelia and Y/N wrote to one another to meet at the Gillingham lineage painting that adorned the entrance. Both ladies concurred that the face of Viscount Gillingham in the painting always looked like he was cocked eyed; something they both had jested about their first time out in society. They knew that was their spot to meet if they needed to step away from it all. But tonight, because of their masks, they wanted to be able to find a familiar face in the crowd if anything was to go awry.

Y/N pulled her cloak tightly to her bodice, making sure her dress was covered. She gazed around the foyer of the estate, the grand ceilings always making her feel so small. She could hear the ball had commenced, a fanciful melody being played by the orchestra echoed down the halls. She waited under the painting, glancing at all of the attendees coming through the doors. Which one would be Amelia and her Viscount?

Rounding the stairs, a golden dress shone in the corner of Y/N's vision. She turned, making note of the matching locks of hair.

Along with their meeting spot, Y/N and Amelia devised a query only they knew. Y/N studied the woman, finally speaking. "Excuse me, have you ever read Emma? It is one of my favorite novels."

"There is nothing like staying home, for real comfort." Amelia quoted, relief hitting her at the sound of her friend's voice.

Y/N sighed, "Oh thank Heavens it's you Amelia. I thought you might already be in the ballroom."

Amelia shook her head, "I informed you I would wait until your arrival to enter the ball."

Y/N gazed over Amelia's shoulder, looking for someone. "Where is your Viscount?"

She smiled, "He had affairs to tend to, and said he wouldn't be able to make it tonight. So I'm all yours."

"You don't have to stay with me all night. Just until my plan works on the Lords." The girls locked their arms with one another, slowly walking towards the ballroom.

"They've already arrived. I saw them come in moments before you." Amelia whispered low.

Y/N raised an eyebrow, "Well, let's make our grand entrance then."

As the ladies walked into the ballroom, Y/N noted that they were the last two to enter. She held her breath, staring over the railing of the beautiful marble stairs. She could feel all eyes turn to her and Amelia. Amelia trotted down the stairs, her gloved fingers holding the banister gently. Y/N waited until she was at the bottom, and began her descent.

Now was the time to woo over the men of the Ton, she thought. She untied her cloak, letting it fall off her shoulders; leaving it on the stairs. Light gasps fell from around the room. She knew her alterations would cause a stir, but gasps? She was taken aback by such sounds.

Not only did she go gloveless to this event, but her slightly lowered neckline showed off her most precious of jewels in more ways than one. The modiste spoke of how most of the Ton was not breaking Gillingham's rules, disregarding the whole point of a masquerade. Y/N knew this was her time to shine. To become a rule breaker.

Lord Golbach and Lord Brock were rule breakers themselves. And even more so, heartbreakers. They were aware of this too. Samuel and Cole gave each other a quick glance, noting the breathtaking beauty dressed in rose coming down the stairs.

Eligible gentlemen from around the room scurried over to Amelia and Y/N, doing their best to introduce themselves quickly. Cole smoothed out his suit jacket, parted his way through the crowd and reached Y/N in no time.

Y/N was taken aback by all the men surrounding her, never having this much attention before. As she glanced up, her eyes immediately made contact with a pair of striking blue ones. The pleasing smile, the chestnut hair, the almost devilish gaze.... she knew it could only be one man.

"Miss Rose, lovely to make your acquaintance." Cole bowed, speaking over all of the men pining for her.

She scrunched her face, confused. "Do you believe that to be my name?"

He blinked, "No. I'm simply calling you that because of your gown."

"Oh..." Y/N cleared her throat awkwardly, returning to a more disinterested persona. "How clever."

"May I accompany you to the floor?" He asked, his voice as smooth as silk.

A man in the small crowd let out a scoff, "Good sir, I do believe I was-"

"I think I can speak for myself, your grace." She turned back to Cole, a playful smile on her lips, "I'm afraid you aren't the first to ask. But if you care to wait, I'll gladly dance with you second."

Lord Brock was surprised, but he chalked up this misunderstanding to her not knowing who he was. No one ever denied Cole a dance. Even those with cards completely filled out. He bowed graciously, moving out of the way so she could be guided onto the dancefloor by the other gentleman.

By his short stature, Cole could tell it was Viscount Davis. While he did have a lot of money, he was a tiresome presence to be around. And surely, Miss Rose would soon find that out herself.

And Y/N did, in record time. Being eye-level with a gentleman was not exactly something she was used to, but all it did was make her very aware of his eyes stealing glances at her bosom. The song ended rather quickly, the Heavens listening to her pleas. Before she could even curtsy at the gentleman, Cole was already next to her, waiting to join her in the next dance. She almost laughed at how eager he was; how easily her plan was playing out. They bowed to one another, and the music slowly began. His expert hands slid into hers, warm and welcoming. His close proximity made her aware suddenly just how handsome he really was. She could understand, for a moment, why so many ladies fawned over him. And her heart skipped a beat.

"Would you be alright with me breaking the rules this evening?" Cole chimed in suddenly.

Y/N cocked her head, "That depends on what you intend to break."

"I would like to tell you my name, and perhaps you will tell me yours?" He wagered.

"Perhaps..." She trailed off, detached.

"I'm Lord Brock. And if you glance over your shoulder now, the man by the refreshments table is Lord Samuel Golbach." He motioned with his head behind her.

Y/N did peak, noting the eyes of Samuel following her and Cole around the room. "Hmm. Interesting."

"May you wish to tell me yours now?" Cole smiled.

"No, I do not." Y/N shook her head plainly.

"I am surprised. But maybe I shouldn't be," Cole spun her, pulling her back into him. "It appears that you resemble me in many respects."

"And what respects are those?" She questioned.

"If I may presume, you seem inclined to forge your own path. You do not heed merely because it was asked of you." He remarked honestly.

Y/N felt her heart skip again, damning her feelings internally as she kept up her charade. "And you have been able to deduce all of this from the mere twenty minutes I've been in this ballroom?"

Cole smirked confidently, "What can I say? I possess the ability to read others well, particularly charming young ladies."

She held back the urge to roll her eyes at his response. While she wanted to beat him at his own game, she didn't want to be rude. "And how well has that worked out for you, my Lord? Since apparently you and Samuel can't seem to find a match."

Hearing Sam's name fall from her lips was shocking, but that alone made him like her more. She was feisty, and he enjoyed that quality in a woman. "Having standards set high has caused some issues, yes. But maybe I will find the one tonight."

"Have you already encountered someone that has peaked your interest?" She inquired.

"I would say so. It shouldn't come as a shock since you're the only one I've danced with tonight. And the only one I plan to." He brought his face closer to hers, flashing a charming smile.

"How delightful," Y/N mimicked his look. "I cannot say I feel the same, unfortunately."

His face dropped instantly, "I beg your pardon?"

Y/N wanted to relish in this moment for forever, but the music was slowly coming to an end. "Oh, my apologies, my Lord. I thought we were speaking candidly."

"You... you don't enjoy my company?" Cole stammered. Stammered.

"Well, you are an accomplished dancer and pleasing to the eye and yet... I am unable to see you worthy as a potential suitor." She curtsied dramatically as their dance finished, her mischievous eyes sparkling from the flames of the candles. "My deepest gratitude, my Lord, for being my second dance. If you'll excuse me, I must go see my other suitors, however."

Y/N turned away, swaying her hips sensually as she walked over to Amelia. Her skin felt like it was on fire from where Cole had been touching her. Even though she hated admitting it, something about Cole was mesmerizing. Intoxicating, even. If she hadn't heard what he said this afternoon, she could see a world in which she would fall for him.

But she couldn't focus on that now. She couldn't believe she had actually done it. She successfully rejected one of the Lords.

Amelia gaped, staring at Y/N. "I'm in awe of you, truly. You are a goddess amongst men."

"I feel like I'm going to faint." Y/N grabbed Amelia's arm, keeping her back turned towards the dancefloor.

"Really?" Amelia pushed her glass to Y/N, who nodded a 'thank you'.

"Sort of." Y/N downed her lemonade, the refreshing citrus drink calming her nerves only slightly. "Is he still looking over here?"

"If by 'looking' you mean casting daggers, then indeed, that is the case. And," she giggled nervously, "try not to faint when I tell you this, but Lord Golbach is making his approach."

Y/N swallowed hard. "You jest."

Amelia gave a weary smile, "No, but I must make my getaway."

She backed away quickly from Y/N, who called out, "Wait, Ame-!"

"Miss Rose, how wonderful to finally meet." Samuel interjected suddenly.

Y/N took a deep breath, spinning on her heel to face him. "Lord Golbach."

He raised a brow at her, "You know who I am."

"How could I mistake a face like yours for any other?" She replied with a sneer tone.

Sam sucked his teeth, her biting tongue captivating him immensely. Ladies hardly ever truly said how they were feeling around him, and it was refreshing to hear such honesty. "I would entertain that notion if Cole had not informed me of disclosing my identity to you."

Her smile dropped, "I would still be able to pick you out in any crowd, my Lord. I would just have to look for the trail of broken hearts and I would instantly find the two of you."

"My reputation makes me sound harsh." He deadpanned.

She held back the urge to roll her eyes, "I think you and Cole are, in fact, harsh. Reputation or not."

A playful grin rose on Sam's face as he reached out his hand towards Y/N. "Dance with me, Miss Rose."

"And if I say no?" She responded defiantly.

"I will leave you be," he answered. "But what fun you will miss, declining a dance from a gentleman whom you have already passed judgment upon."

She was surprised by Sam's charisma, his almost flirty nature. She politely took his hand, allowing him to guide her onto the dancefloor. Bowing, she steadied herself.. She was not used to this attention, especially from such desirable gentlemen. She knew deep down she shouldn't like teasing the Lords, but part of her enjoyed knowing they found her coveted.

He gazed down at her, inspecting her. "Your gown is quite suitable. You must come from a high ranking family."

"Thank you," she replied plainly. "And yes, some would say that. It helps that I am acquainted with the modiste in town, as well."

"Really? Not many are like you in that way. I've always found it odd how the higher ranking families in the Ton look down upon the working class." Sam admitted.

Y/N nodded, "Truly. It is such a pity. They are no different than us, the only major thing is that we were born into wealth."

"We are all human, after all." He concurred.

"Respecting our fellow man and cherishing the relationships we have and can make should be number one priority. It's a shame how many in the Ton don't see that." She remarked.

Samuel raised his eyebrows, spinning the young lady in time with the music. "You are one of the only women to think so. Many I have courted never spoke of such qualities."

She could feel her skin grow warmer with annoyance, "Interestingly, my beliefs stem from other women I've had the pleasure of knowing. How often do you ask any? Or do you merely go off of appearances and assumptions alone?"

His face dropped, a bitter smile resting on his mouth. "You and I must be similar in that regard."

"Possibly, yes. However, you are the one with a reputation of casting aside women you don't deem fit enough to be courted." Y/N argued, glaring.

He scoffed, "My apologies for having-"

She interjected, "High standards. Yes, I know."

The dance slowly began to end, her grip falling limp in Sam's hold. An anger unlike Y/N had ever felt was bubbling inside of her. Her grace and dignity almost flying out the window when she looked up at Sam, who seemed perplexed by her words. "I thank you for proving my assertions correct."

"And what exactly where they?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Your character is sorely lacking, and I will never want to court or be married to a man like that." Y/N spun on her heel, pure fire filling her veins. She ought to not have become so agitated, but she was unable to restrain herself. While both men played innocent and kind to her face, she knew of how mean they spoke of her mere hours ago. The sole reason they were like this was because of their ignorance of her identity. She had been taught her whole life to be respectful, to both men and women, no matter what ranking they were. And to see such blatant disrespect come from such a high caliber of men in the Ton infuriated her to no end.

This is who was supposed to be the aspiring husbands in the marriage mart? Being a spinster did not sound too bad after all.

Y/N wanted to find Amelia, but decided against staying in the ballroom. She ventured off to the entrance, standing at the portrait. She paced for a moment, trying to calm her nerves. She heard footsteps coming from the ballroom, expecting Amelia to be following her. But two men walked through, Samuel and Cole.

Her eyes widened as she watched them search for her. She rushed up the stairs, finding the closest room and hiding inside of it. It was a study, most likely Viscount Gillingham's. She closed the door swiftly, praying they hadn't seen her do so. She scanned the room, her eyes landing on the window. Fresh air sounded absolutely wonderful to her. She walked over to the window, attempting to open it.

The door swung open, Sam and Cole staring at her quizzically. "What do you plan to do? Shimmy down the garden wall?"

She huffed, turning to the gentlemen. "Do you take pride in stalking ladies or is that just an extracurricular for you both?"

"You have a surprisingly mean spirit for a lady. You must have suitors lining the street waiting for your hand." Cole sassed, stepping into the room.

"Well, as long as you both aren't in line, I shall have decent prospects." Y/N sniveled.

Samuel ranted, "Pray, what precisely is your objection to us? You do not resemble any woman we've previously courted. Why do you harbor resentment?"

"I do not have to have been courted by you to dislike you, Lord Golbach. Perhaps I find your inability to care for a woman's heart atrocious and that alone sparked my malicious feelings." She rebutted, her hands firmly on her hips.

"Did we hurt a sister of yours? Perhaps a friend." Cole responded, almost in jest.

She shook her head heatedly. "No. No. As humorously as that would be, you hurt mine without ever courting me. So congratulations are in order for that feat."

Both of the gentlemen's faces dropped, annoyed. "How?"

"I overheard you, today, at the park. Along with your friend Beaumont. You all had such a delightful time picking apart different women, none of which measured up to your standards for one reason or another." She spat.

Cole shook his head, almost trying to reset his vision. "A-And what is wrong with having standards?"

"There is nothing wrong with that," Y/N grunted. "The problem lies in how you go about finding those standards. Let's not play foolish here: you both know how sought after you are. And you also know that you most likely won't be finding a match anytime soon. So why be out in society?"

Sam’s eyes rolled for a moment. "Are we not permitted to partake in revelry?"

"You can, but not at the expense of women's hearts or reputations!" Her voice boomed off the walls of the study. The room fell silent, the men watching her with wide eyes.

She continued passionately. "Do you know how completely ignorant it is to badmouth a woman to one of your fellow gentlemen? It is already hard enough as a lady to find a suitable husband when you have every other lady fighting for said affections. But to have fellow men berate and downgrade you as if you are a second-prized poodle is humiliating. Because if you two think that way about me, how else do the other men of the Ton feel? How am I supposed to navigate a labyrinth I had no realization I was in?"

Both men were stunned into silence, but finally Cole spoke. "We should be wiser with our words, yes. But it's not exactly easy for us, either."

"Oh please." She murmured, exhausted.

He moved towards her, shaking his head. "We are told to act a certain way, to be men. The rakish behavior we have to put on is all but a front. At least for him and I. It is exhausting wanting to be open and vulnerable and honest when no one reciprocates those feelings back. So it's easier to put up walls and guard yourself and pretend to be something you're not. But in the end it all hurts the same."

"But you're a man. And not just any one, a prominent one. You could..." Y/N exhaled. "Change what is expected."

"It is not that simple. And it's already a lonely road for those that do not follow what is to be asked of you." Cole paused, swallowing. "I often wonder if a love match is something I will ever find, or if I'm doomed to face a marriage with a woman that is a complete stranger to me for the rest of my days."

She frowned, "Find someone to love, then."

Cole bit his lip harshly, holding back his hurt, "I wish I could. I wish my family would allow that. There are certain expectations I've been destined to meet since birth that I wish I could shake. But it's not as simple as it sounds."

Y/N looked towards Sam, "And what about you?"

"I... I don't know how to express myself. At all," he muttered, stoic and awkward. "This life of mine is not even remotely fulfilling. And I am afraid I am wasting it being someone I never wished to be."

For a moment, Y/N's heart ached for both gentlemen. She stared at them, and they were no longer men, but boys. And for the first time in years, when she expressed exactly how she felt without fear of rejection, she felt like a girl again. The brutal honesty of being a child with no expectations placed.

"I apologize for being so… careless." Her demeanor softened, "Maybe I shouldn’t have assumed so harshly.."

"No. Your honesty is refreshing. I don't think anyone has called us out in years." Samuel commented.

Cole smirked, "Or ever, really."

She giggled, and genuinely smiled, for the first time all night. They smiled back, their grins earnest.

"You have the sweetest of laughs. Almost like honey." Samuel complimented.

She bowed her head, doing her best to hide her blush. "T-That is very kind of you to say, my Lord."

Cole chimed in, the men sharing a look. "May I ask you a question, Miss Rose?"

Y/N nodded, watching them as they drew closer to her.

"Would it be alright if I call upon you tomorrow?" He asked.

Samuel added, "I too, would wish to do that, as well."

Her eyes widened, "I beg your pardon?"

"You are merely unlike any lady I have ever encountered. Unlike any we have met before. And I am certain that both of us would cherish the opportunity to become better acquainted with you." Cole explained genuinely.

"Even after I've insulted you to your face?" She sassed.

"Even more so, yes." Samuel's eyes glimmered mischievously.

Y/N questioned, "Are you sure that would be wise?"

"I would say it's about as wise as you being in a room, alone, with the two of us. Unchaperoned." Cole's voice deepened, causing Y/N's eyes to flutter.

Y/N suddenly became very aware of how close the Lords were to her. Her lips parted, wanting to gasp, but she was rendered speechless. She glanced between the two of them, watching as the space between them and her came to an almost close. Her back was up against the window sill, and she could feel the heat of Sam and Cole's bodies rolling off onto hers.

She closed her eyes tightly, savoring the moment. This was her first time truly feeling stirred by the presence of a man. Multiple men.

"But you are gentlemen." She choked out.

His eyes darkened. "Of course. We would never do anything untoward an honorable young lady, like yourself."

"All you have to do is say so, and we'll stop." Sam uttered huskily.

Cole spun Y/N to face him, her mouth falling open in surprise. He stared at her devilishly, his eyes taking in every part of her slowly. A breath blew across the back of Y/N's neck, startling her. She glanced over her shoulder through hooded eyes to see Sam, closing the space between her and him. His mouth danced up her neck, stopping right under her ear.

"Do you want us to stop?" Cole whispered softly.

Y/N shuddered a breath, his hands cupping her waist as he stepped closer to her. His mouth was on the other side of her neck, peppering light kisses up and down her throat. Y/N closed her eyes, her chest heaving as her breath fought to catch up. Y/N had had one kiss before in her entire life, right before coming out into society. And she had heard whispers of what... intimacy, between a man and woman was like.

But this was a whole new world for her.

Heat pooled low in her stomach as the men traced their lips over her skin, breathing her in. Sam's hands rested lightly on her lower back, tracing up and down her corset lining. Cole's hands rubbed up and down her bare arms, goosebumps rising in their wake.

Their bodies were firm up against hers. It was almost like a waltz the way the Lords' movements guided her. She was entranced by it all, following their every direction. Then, suddenly it hit her.

She won. And not only did she win, but the clock was very close to midnight. And it was time to leave.

Y/N took a deep breath, something she felt she hadn't done in ages, and slithered her way out from between each man.

"Well, gentlemen, this has been a lovely evening. But I must be getting home." Y/N stated calmly.

Both men were stunned into silence, again, by her. "Wh... What?"

"Did I say something surprising?" She gazed innocently at them, then headed towards the door.

Samuel and Cole stared at her in awe, an almost amused smile resting on their lips. She truly was incomparable.

As she opened the door to the study, Samuel called out, "You must tell us who you are, at the very least."

She paused, her hand resting on the handle. She had considered making her getaway, not letting them know who she was. But part of her wondered what their faces would look like once they knew it was her, Y/N, that left them this way. Hot and bothered.

She untied her mask slowly, holding it delicately in her hands. She turned back to the Lords, gazing at them both.

"Goodnight, Lord Golbach and Lord Brock. I hope you have a splendid evening." She bowed, and rushed out, taking the stairs quickly.

Sam and Cole stood in silence for a while, reliving the moments they had just shared with Y/N. Neither one could wrap their minds about what took place, or that it was Y/N - of all people - that had caused these feelings to occur. Feelings that both men had not experienced in a very long time, if ever.

Sam stuck his hand out to Cole, raising an eyebrow at him. "May the best man win."

Cole smirked, grasping his friend's hand tightly. "Indeed."

The gentlemen knew only one of them would win Y/N's heart. And now it was time to see who could ever conquer such a feat.

105 notes · View notes

jungshookz · 1 year

Text

smitten: jungkook's date is tonight but y/n's more stressed about it than he is

➺ pairing; jeon jungkook x reader

➺ genre; smitten!miniseries!! bff!kook & smitten!y/n!! university!au!! honk honk humour!! the boo hoo angsty wattpad-energy fic of your dreams!! unrequited love!! so much pining!! it hurts so bad but that's what makes it so good!! yoongi should really mind his own business!!

➺ wordcount; 6.5k

➺ summary; jungkook's dream date with ji-eun is tonight and y/n's going to do everything in her power to make sure everything goes perfectly.

➺ what to expect; "we've been planning and preparing for this date for the past week, jungkook. i'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that things go according to plan. your date is going to be perfect.”

➺ currently spinning on the record player; i wish [one direction]

➺ smitten: part one [the almost confession]; part two [the incriminating note]

»»————- ♥ ————-««

“pepperoni to garlic knot- pepperoni to garlic knot- come in- are you there?"

the sound of the walkie talkie crackling to life makes you perk up and you reach behind to pull it out from your back pocket, pressing down on the side button with your thumb before bringing it up to your mouth

“garlic knot to pepperoni- i'm here." you bite back a grin at the silly nicknames jungkook insisted on using before speaking up again, "the last of the fairy lights have been strung up, by the way! over."

“oh, sick!" jungkook gasps lightly, "okay, i need you to come down and help me because i've been trying to tie this tie for the last, like, half an hour and at this point i’m just going to have to wave a white flag and surrender. over.”

"roger that. i'm coming down." you tuck the walkie talkie into your pocket again before letting out a sigh and looking around the rooftop setup with your hands on your hips

you must admit it looks really good (as it should, because you've literally been setting everything up since this morning and it's about 5:30pm now)

the bubble tent's been blown up and you made it all comfy and cozy inside with fluffed up pillows and soft throw blankets

you strung the fairy lights up on the clotheslines and you made sure to use fresh batteries for them so that they'll last all night

and the little round table that jungkook and ji-eun will be eating dinner at was a little wobbly but that problem was easily fixed with some blu-tak

the happy smile on your face twitches slightly when the realization that you spent the entire day setting up a date that you're not even a part of hits you

"…oh, you silly girl.” you can't help but snort as you shake your head and turn around to head towards the rooftop door so you can go to jungkook’s apartment, "you silly, silly girl-"

all of this time

all of this effort

all of this everything for a boy you like who you know for sure doesn't like you back because if he liked you back he wouldn’t have asked someone else out

what exactly do you think the end result is here?

what exactly do you think you're gaining out of this?

literally nothing!!!!

so why are you doing all of this??

"because i'm a big ol' simp with no backbone, apparently-" you mutter under your breath as you open the door to jungkook's apartment, forcing the frown off your face and replacing it with an easygoing smile

you may be a simp with no backbone but…

well, no

that’s it. there’s nothing else to say.

"y/n? that you?"

"yeah! sorry, probably should’ve knocked or something- also, not to toot my own horn or anything, but i did a fantastic job with the decorations! i could be a party planner or something if this whole school thing doesn’t work out-” you kick the door shut behind you before looking around for jungkook, "where are you?"

"gimme a sec! i'm, like- i'm almost done, just wait-"

you plop down on the couch and tilt your head back to look up at the ceiling before letting out another quiet sigh

this is why you need to be constantly busy doing things, because if you get even a moment of peace, you start to think and think and think and you hate being alone with your thoughts because your brain starts to mock you and berate you and say things like hey, y/n? you have a paper due at midnight tonight that you're only halfway done with but instead you're prioritizing being a wingwoman to a boy who's head over heels in love with someone else-

"okay, hi!" you jolt in surprise at the sound of jungkook's voice from behind you and you're about to turn around when suddenly he speaks up again, "hold on! close your eyes until i tell you to open them."

"what? why?" you frown as you settle back against the couch again and shut your eyes, crossing your arms over your chest, “i already know what you’re going to wear, i’m the one that picked the outfit for you anyway-”

"i know, but surprises are fun-" you hear the shuffling of material and you resist the urge to turn around immediately as your impatience grows, "okay, i think that looks fine. turn around!"

"i really don't know why you had to prepare me to see you in-" you twist your upper half around so you can finally look at jungkook and almost immediately you feel your heart skip a beat at the sight

the crisp white button-up tucked into a pair of slacks are a stark contrast to the outfits you're so used to seeing jungkook in because most of the time he's drowning in a sweatshirt that's ten sizes too big for him and some slouchy cargo pants and a pair of chunky black stompers

but this? this is…

oh, wow.

"so?" jungkook's being uncharacteristically shy with you as he averts his gaze and reaches down to fiddle with one of the buttons on his shirt, "how… do i look?"

"-handsome." you blurt out, shaking yourself out of your slight daze as you get up from the couch so you can go over to him, "you look- you look very handsome, jungkook. you- yeah, you look very handsome.” you press your lips together, unsure if you should say anything else because you’re not sure where the line is between being a supportive friend or just ogling your friend like he’s a piece of meat

it's when you find yourself looking down at your own outfit (jeans and a t-shirt and socks with a hole on the right heel) that the little voice in the back of your head reminds you of the reality of the situation: that he's looking very handsome not for you, but for ji-eun, and in this moment you wish there was a way to just shut your brain off to cease all cruel thoughts

jungkook looks very nice. just focus on one thing at a time.

“oh my god-“ jungkook's nose immediately scrunches up before he lets out a little laugh, "you're totally hitting on me right now, you weirdo- you look very handsome, jungkook-” he mocks you in a higher voice and you can’t help but feel a little dejected that this is how he reacts to a genuine compliment from you

if anything, it’s more confirmation you didn’t need that jungkook most definitely doesn’t feel the same way about you

"well, i-" you stop yourself from walking any closer to him as you feel your entire face flush bright red, "i- well, i’m trying to be supportive here… you look nice, i’m not gonna be an asshole and say you look bad for this date-” you force out a nervous laugh as you reach up to rub the back of your neck, "whatever, you look fine-"

“thank you, i just- i’m not used to compliments but anyway-” jungkook interrupts you (thankfully, otherwise you definitely would’ve continued to babble and babble and babble) to hold up a black tie, "you need to help me with this."

"you know, i… i actually don't think you need the tie?" you tilt your head a little as you look over jungkook's outfit, "i think you'll look better without it on, and a tie seems a little too formal for the date- can i-" you shuffle forwards slightly before undoing a couple of buttons on jungkook's shirt and spreading the collar open a little, jungkook raising his head a bit so you can work your magic

"you really think this looks better?” he asks quietly, and your eyes flicker up to meet his for a brief second before you quickly look back down at your fumbling fingers

"yea,” you respond, pressing your lips together as you smooth out the collar before taking the tie from his hand, tossing it over your shoulder and stepping back to look at your work, "yeah. that's much better. okay, put the suit jacket on, lemme see the whole look-"

"dude, i've been, like- so nervous all day." jungkook lets out a breath as he pulls the suit jacket up off the back of the couch, "like- okay, obviously ji-eun and i get along really well in real life, but this is the first time we'll be in, like, a romantic setting, you know? like romantic on purpose.“

"it'll be fine. i mean, you already got through the hardest bit which was asking her out-" you shrug as you lean against the back of the couch and cross an ankle over the other, "and she said yes, so… obviously you're doing something right. you’re gonna be fine, you just have first date jitters! everyone gets the first date jitters.”

"i know, but-" he smooths the sleeves of the suit jacket out before looking back over at you, "ah, i don't know. i just feel like i'm gonna screw up somehow, you know?"

"you won’t,” you shake your head before offering him a smile, "just be yourself! don't put too much pressure on, like- on acting like how you think she wants you to act, you know what i mean? just be yourself. she likes you, jungkook. you're a total catch, so-" you cut yourself off before you wander into the ‘you’re a total catch which is actually the reason why i’m in love with you' portion of your pep-talk as you get up off the couch, "yeah! just- just relax. everything's going to go perfectly tonight. and like i was saying when i first walked in here, not to toot my own horn or anything but the rooftop looks immaculate.”

“i’m sure it does! i can’t wait to see it-“ jungkook pauses all of a sudden, his eyes widening in realization, "oh, shit!"

you don't even get the chance to ask him what's wrong before he starts to spiral and you blink rapidly at the sudden change in behaviour

"oh my god.” jungkook slaps his hand against his forehead, “i- fuck, i forgot to pick up the flowers and the- oh my god, i knew i forgot to do something today!" he gawks, pulling his phone out of his back pocket, "shit! shit, shit- damnit, i was gonna pick them up this morning and then i went to the gym and i forgot-"

“i-" you’re slightly startled at how stressed he is over some flowers and you can’t help but chuckle, “there’s even a little sticky note on the fridge to remind you-”

"i know!” jungkook whines, “i know, i don't know, i guess it just slipped my mind because i've literally been thinking about this date all week-“ he sucks some air in through his teeth before shaking his head, “okay, i guess i can just head over there right now and then come back-”

"woah, woah-" you skid over and press a hand to jungkook's chest to keep him from bolting out the door, “what are you talking about? you can't leave now! it's- it's 5:45- and not to mention, it's literally rush hour so the highways are probably all clogged up right now and- ji-eun's going to be here in half an hour so you'll never make it back in time and your suit's going to get all wrinkled because you'll be all cramped up on the bus-"

"y/n, the flowers and the teddy bear are two essential parts of the date,” jungkook looks at you with wide eyes, clearly desperate to leave the apartment, “i’m not gonna have anything to give her when she arrives, she can’t show up only for me to be empty handed-”

"hey, relax!” you snap, softening your tone when jungkook’s shoulders droop slightly, “listen, you are not going to leave the apartment because ji-eun is coming and i’m sure she’ll be disappointed if she finds me on the rooftop instead of you. this is what’s going to happen: you’re going to sit here and wait for ji-eun, i’m going to go and pick up the flowers and the teddy bear, and then you can give them to her after the date. it’s going to be fine, you are literally being so dramatic right now-”

"but-"

"look, i'm sure ji-eun isn't going to throw a tantrum if you don't present her with a bouquet of flowers at the beginning of the date- if she did, that’d be kind of odd but that’s not the point- the point is, it'll be fine. you go on your date, i’ll pick them up."

"yeah, but-!"

"kook, i've got it, alright?" you back away from him slowly but you keep your arm extended to make sure he doesn't move, "i'll take care of everything, you know i can handle it- just- i'm gonna go now and then- i'll leave behind the rooftop door as soon as i get them, okay? and i'll text you so that you'll know they're there-"

"y/n…" jungkook chews on the inside of his cheek anxiously, guilt swirling around in his eyes, "you've already done so much for me, i can't ask you to-"

"we've been planning and preparing for this date for the past week, jungkook. i'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that things go according to plan. your date is going to be perfect.”

“are you sure? i feel bad, i feel like you did so much and-”

“i’m sure, jungkook-" you interrupt him again before turning to grab your jacket off coat rack, “the only thing you have to think about tonight is how you’re going to charm ji-eun — and to be honest, you don’t even need to think about it because all you have to do is be yourself! now sit down and try to relax. and try not to wrinkle your shirt, i spent way too long ironing it earlier."

»»————- ♥ ————-««

your nose crinkles slightly as you look up at the sky, your brows knitting together in concern at the light grey clouds hanging in the air

the forecast did say it would be cloudy today (and it has been cool and cloudy all day) but you’re hoping it doesn’t rain because if it rains that’ll completely ruin the date and jungkook will probably be electrocuted by the fairy lights if he touched them

of course, jungkook and ji-eun can take cover in that bubble tent if it starts to rain, but hopefully it doesn’t… (why are you so hellbent on making sure this date is going to go smoothly?! you might as well plan their wedding for them as well at this rate.)

you perk up when you see the bus you’re supposed to take rounding the corner and you fumble in your purse for your bus card, stepping up to the stop eagerly

your phone buzzes in your pocket and you pull it out once you plop yourself down in a seat in the back

from: jungkook (5:58pm) — Holy shit I’m acc so nervous

from: jungkook (5:58pm) — What if this goes horribly

you can’t help but roll your eyes at how panicky jungkook is being because he really has no reason to be nervous

all he had to do was dress himself and make himself presentable because you were the one who did all the hard work of setting up (to be fair, you insisted on setting up alone because you like things done a certain way and jungkook seemed too jittery to focus)

to: jungkook (5:58pm) — you’re literally going to be fine

to: jungkook (5:58pm) — it’s going to be fine

to: jungkook (5:58pm) — you already know she likes you

to: jungkook (5:59pm)— just think of this as another one of your hangouts but you guys are dressed more fancy and you’re on a rooftop for some reason LOL

from: jungkook (5:59pm) — Okay

from: jungkook (5:59pm) — She says she’s almost here

from: jungkook (5:59pm) — Do you think I should’ve picked her up instead of her meeting me here

to: jungkook (5:59pm) — …you rented out a rooftop for her i think she’ll survive

you pause, setting your phone face down on your lap before letting out a yawn and leaning your head against the window

you got up far too early this morning and the gentle rumbling of the bus down the highway is very soothing

google maps said the journey to your stop was about 38 minutes which means you have approximately 35 minutes to take a quick nap and the remaining 3 minutes to wake yourself up so you won’t be too groggy after hopping off the bus

you’ve worked hard today, so you deserve a little snooze!

your right eye peels open when your phone buzzes again

from: jungkook (6:04pm) — Omg she’s here early

from: jungkook (6:04pm) — Okay

from: jungkook (6:04pm) — Wish me luck and also thank you for everything you are the best

a smile twitches at the corner of your mouth and you can’t help but think to yourself that yes, i am kind of the best, aren’t i?

to: jungkook (6:04pm) — yes yes

to: jungkook (6:04pm) — good luck!

to: jungkook (6:04pm)— :-)

another yawn slips past your lips and you tuck your phone into your purse before leaning your head against the window again and shutting your eyes

an additional benefit to getting some sleep on the bus is so that your brain won’t start to flood with reminders that jungkook doesn’t like you like that and that you are currently sitting on a bus going to get flowers for him to give to another girl-

okay, that’s enough of that, your teeth grit together slightly and you clear your throat, crossing one leg over the other as you get settled into the stiff, itchy seats, a quick power nap and then the overthinking can begin again.

»»————- ♥ ————-««

“excuse me-”

your eyes open immediately at the feeling of someone shaking your shoulder and you sit up straight, clutching your purse tighter to your body as you look up to see the bus driver smiling down at you in mild concern

“morning!” he jokes, raising an eyebrow before clicking his tongue and nodding towards the opened doors, “end of the line, miss. gonna have to ask you hop off.”

what?

in your half-asleep state you can’t help but wonder what you’re doing on a bus and where you were meant to be going in the first place… is the date over? are you heading home?

“end of the-“ your heart plummets to your stomach at the realization that you took more than just a little snooze because you are, in fact, at the end of the line when you were supposed to be at the flower shop and heading back to jungkook’s apartment now, “wait, end of the line?!”

“i’m guessing you missed your stop? happens a lot when people fall asleep on the bus.”

“i- yes-“ you pull your phone out to check the time (and your heart nearly stops beating when you see that it’s 7:13), “i was supposed to get off at crown street, how far are we from crown street?”

“not too far-“ the bus driver hums, “about fifteen-“

“minutes?” you get up from the seat, starting to make your way towards the door but still looking at the driver

“blocks.” he sucks some air in through his teeth, “fifteen blocks away. if you walk from here, it’ll probably take you about… twenty-ish minutes or so to get to the crown street stop-”

“twenty-ish minutes, twenty minutes is nothing, i can make it in ten if i sprint-“ you mutter to yourself, pulling your purse up over your shoulder and turning to smile at the bus driver before hopping off, “thank you, sir, enjoy the rest of your night-!”

it’s only a second later that you find yourself sprinting down the sidewalk, your runners smacking loudly against the concrete as you keep your purse tucked tightly underneath your armpit

unbelievable! something just had to go wrong tonight, didn’t it?

and it certainly doesn’t help that it’s drizzling right now — you don’t even have an umbrella with you!

“so stupid, shouldn’t have fallen asleep-“ you look up briefly when you hear a rumble of thunder, stopping at the crosswalk and slapping the button multiple times as if it’s going to make the walk sign appear faster, “c’mon, c’mon…”

you jolt when a flash of lightning lights up the sky before suddenly-

“oh, come ON!” rain suddenly starts to pour down from the sky and you resist the urge to just fall to the ground and completely give up because it seems like the universe is actively trying to tell you that what you’re doing is clownish behaviour and you need to stand up

of course, because one of your more prominent traits is your innate stubbornness, you pull your purse off your shoulder and raise it above your head as if it’s going to stop you from getting completely soaked

rainwater starts to flood into your shoes as you jog across the street and the feeling of your socks increasingly getting wet sends a shiver up your spine

you pull your purse back onto your shoulder and keep it tightly held under your armpit once your arms start to get sore — you’re already completely soaked so using your purse as an umbrella seems pretty redundant at this point

“don’t know why i didn’t bring a stupid umbrella with me either!” you huff to yourself, wiping your hair away from your face as you cross another street after looking both ways (safety first), “fall asleep on the bus, gets caught in the rain- stupid, stupid-“ you grumble, reaching up to wipe under your eyes and pressing your lips together in frustration at the wet mascara ink staining your fingertips

wonderful

just wonderful

and now you probably look demonic as well

you pick up in pace when you recognize the street the flower shop is on, speeding up even more when you notice someone standing in front of the doors with a set of keys in their hand looking very ready to close up shop for the night

“woah, woah, wait! wait, please!” you call out and the person immediately stops, looking over at you and then taking a few steps back in what seems to be mild fear, “so sorry, i just need to pick a bouquet up, i know you’re closing but i really need this bouquet- and-“

“did you run here?” he asks, looking you up and down as he adjusts his grip on his umbrella, “…you do know it’s raining, right?”

“yeah, i- woo, give me a second to catch my breath-“ you pant, bending over and putting both hands on your knees, wincing to yourself as your lungs constrict in your chest, “i don’t remember the last time i ran like this, jesus christ- i think i’m going to puke-“ you force yourself to stand up straight again, placing a hand on your hip as you continue to suck in puffs of air, “i need to pick up an order.”

“oh, wait! you’re the girl who’s in love with her friend, now i remember who you are-“ his eyes light up briefly before the deadpan expression returns to his face, “sorry, champ. we close at 7:30.”

“it’s 7:29,” you choose to ignore his first comment before holding your phone up to his face and he immediately deflates, “come on, yoongi- it’s yoongi, right? please. give me a break.”

“i’m just tryna go home-“

“please, my friend’s date is tonight and he was supposed to pick up his flowers this morning but then he went to the gym so he forgot even though there was a sticky note on the fridge reminding him to-”

“wait, you’re picking up his flowers for him?!” yoongi asks, eyes widening again before he throws his head back in a laugh, “hah! oh my god, you- you’re actually kidding me, this has to be a joke-“

“i will give you five glowing stars on google reviews if you let me in-“ you pant, wiping strands of wet hair away from your forehead again, squinting slightly because the rainwater has now fully fucked up your vision and yoongi is starting to look like a dark blob, “even though your customer service skills suck because you’re clearly laughing at me and i really thought you’d have the decency to share your umbrella considering the fact that it’s pouring-“

“my customer service skills are fantastic, you should see the way i flirt with all the older ladies who come in-” yoongi jingles his keys in his hands before checking the time on his watch, “they always leave with $15 silk ribbons on their bouquets and a boost in their self-esteem-“

“we’re wasting time here, i’m supposed to be back at my friend’s place like, now-“

“alright, fine.” yoongi sighs, shoving the keys back into the lock before clicking his tongue, “but i’m only doing this because i feel like saying no to you is equivalent to, like, leaving a puppy out in the cold or something. or stealing candy from a baby and then shoving the baby off of its high chair. or, like, taking a chainsaw and destroying a nice old lady’s rosebush in front of her for no reason while she’s standing there with a pitcher of iced tea for you-”

“alright, i get it, you pity me, just let me into the store and give me my damn order.”

“did you really run all the way here?” he asks, opening the door to let you in as he closes his umbrella and shakes the excess water off before shoving it into the holder

“i took the bus but i fell asleep and missed my stop. ended up at the end of the line and i thought running fifteen blocks would be faster than waiting for the next bus.” you breathe out, your shoes squeaking obnoxiously against the marble floors as you step into the shop and leave a generous trail of rainwater behind you

yoongi deflates slightly at the mess you’re leaving behind you and he quickly reaches out to grab onto your elbow, “do not take another step. i literally mopped up before closing and you’re leaving a trail everywhere.”

“sorry, sorry…” you apologize sheepishly, taking a step back closer to the front door and looking down at the puddle growing around your feet

you reach up to squeeze some water out of your air, freezing when you realize you’re just squeezing more water onto the ground for yoongi to mop up

yoongi gives you an unimpressed, blank stare before shaking his head and flicking the lights on, “there is nobody in the world i would ever run in the rain for. hell, there’s nobody i would even ever run for in general.”

“well, i’m sorry your heart is made out of literal ice and you don’t have the ability to feel love for another human being.” you respond sarcastically, yoongi turning around with raised eyebrows

“hey, for someone with an icy cold heart, i didn’t have to let you in, i could very well kick you out right now because i already clocked out for the night-”

“okay, sorry, i’m sorry- just- if i could just pick up the order, i’ll get out of your hair, i’m sorry-“

“why are you doing this in the first place?” yoongi asks as he gets settled behind the front desk, switching the monitor back on, “also, i promise i’m not stalling because i also want to get out of here as soon as possible, i just need to check what your order number is-“

“because jungkook forgot to pick the order up this morning.” you respond as if it’s the most obvious answer in the entire world (because to you, it kind of is)

“well, i get that, but you still didn’t answer the question.” yoongi hums, tapping on the keyboard and hitting the enter key obnoxiously

“sure, i did.” you frown, “i answered your question. i’m here because jungkook forgot to pick up the order this morning. he’s on his date right now and i told him i could pick it up for him. he’s on a date.��

“with another girl.” yoongi murmurs, propping his chin up on his palm, “you are picking up flowers for jungkook to give to another girl because…”

“because i’m his friend.” you feel your eye twitch slightly out of a mixture of growing frustration and impatience, “you have that order number yet? i’m on a time crunch here.”

“…okay, i think all the rainwater must’ve flushed the logic out of your head…” yoongi purses his lips as he gets up from the seat, offering you an overly polite customer service smile, “please wait here while i get your order from the back. i would offer you a glass of cucumber water and an apple rose whatever cinnamon pastry thing but we are technically closed, so you’re just going to have to stand here and wait.”

“funny.” you raise an eyebrow, about to squeeze some water out of your top before stopping yourself (you’ll wait until yoongi disappears to the back and then you’ll do it)

you’re picking up flowers for jungkook because you’re his friend

and on top of that, not only are you his friend, you’re a very good friend of his!

he would do the same for you if the roles were reversed (well, if the roles were reversed, you would’ve never forgotten to pick up the flowers so jungkook would never have to run in the rain to pick them up for you)

what does yoongi mean by why are you doing this?

isn’t it obvious??

if anything, he’s the one with no logic in his head if he can’t grasp the simple answer to his simple question

you’re doing this because you’re jungkook’s friend, and this is what friends do when they care about each other

“okay, one more time- what are you doing right now?” yoongi pops out from the back with a beautifully wrapped bouquet and an adorable little white teddy bear with a pink heart as its nose and you can’t help but pout sweetly at it

you know you said the teddy bear would be a little much but looking at it now… you want one too!

“picking up a bouquet and a teddy bear.” you point out, holding your hands out to take them from yoongi

“picking up a bouquet and a teddy bear for…”

“for my friend…” you trail off, making grabby hands at him only for him to pull back slightly

“for your friend jungkook because…”

“why do you care so much about this? you don’t know me and what i do is none of your business, your job right now is to hand me a bouquet and that teddy bear and you’re not doing a super good job if i’m being honest-”

“you’re right, i don’t know you, but i’m nosy as hell and you seem nice even though you’re oblivious as hell- you’re so close to the answer, too! what are you doing right now and why are you doing what you’re doing?”

“what are you doing right now? and why are you doing what you’re doing right now??” you snap, looking at the little clock sitting on the desk, “i’m running very late, just give me the damn flowers, man-“

“alright, fine.” yoongi deflates, handing you the bouquet and the little bear before shaking his head and turning around to grab the mop from the back, “guess you’ll figure out the answer on your own. by the way, let your friend know that if he wants to order another bouquet for you to pick up that we now have an online ordering form so he doesn’t even have to come in store anymore- by the way, i can lend you an umbrella if you didn’t wanna run in the rain again because like i said, our customer service is-” yoongi spins around and immediately clams up when the only indication that you were even here at all are the two dirty shoe marks staining the white marble floor and the puddle of water around them

he shrugs to himself and clicks his tongue

oh well

…you still better give the store a five star review.

»»————- ♥ ————-««

the journey back to jungkook’s apartment is a little less chaotic than the journey leaving his place, thankfully

you managed to get to the bus stop right as the bus came, and if anything, you took that as a sign that the universe was now on your side

it was rewarding you for being such a good friend!

of course, you still got caught in the thunderstorm jogging back to jungkook’s building from the bus stop (according to the forecast, it’s supposed to rain all night long) and the bouquet is a little soggy and the little bear’s fur is kind of matted now, but you tried your best to keep them dry under your sopping wet jacket, “alright, kook, don’t worry, i’m coming-“ you mutter, going up the stairs two at a time and ignoring the fact that you’re leaving a wet trail behind you

you can’t help but shiver at the feeling of cold, wet clothes clinging uncomfortably to your body, pausing when you accidentally use the bear as a makeshift towel to dry your face

“shit, whoops-“ you pull the bear away instantly, relieved to see that you didn’t leave any streaks of makeup on it

your legs slow down as you reach the steps leading up towards the door to the rooftop, and you pause at the top of the steps when you hear a melodic giggle from outside amongst the rhythmic pitter patter of chubby raindrops splashing against the cement

sucking your bottom lip in between your teeth as you slow your movements as to not make too much noise and ruin the moment, you press yourself against the side of the stairwell and crouch down on your hands and knees, placing the bouquet on the ground by the door and the little bear right next to it

the only thing to do now is turn back and head home before you catch a cold from staying in your sopping wet clothes, but the sound of jungkook’s laugh makes your ears perk up and soon enough, you find yourself crawling up the additional three steps up so you can peek through the crack between the door and the frame and-

kissing

almost instantly, your mouth goes dry and you feel a sharp pinch in your chest at the sight of jungkook and ji-eun kissing, their lips seeming to slot together perfectly as ji-eun curls up closer to jungkook and he reaches up to cup the side of her face, the two of them looking nice and warm (and dry) in the bubble tent as raindrops continue to bounce off the top of it

your eyelids flutter slightly as your brain catches up to what you’re looking at, and just like that, everything hits you like a ton of bricks

what the fuck am i doing?

you are crouched down in the stairwell like a creep, sopping wet from the heavy rain, still exhausted from sprinting fifteen blocks to get to the stupid flower shop before it closed, staring at the boy you love kissing someone else on a rooftop that you spent all day decorating and setting up

you look down towards the bouquet and bear, swallowing the lump in your throat as your eyes begin to glaze over because oh my god, what are you doing?

the bouquet of flowers is not for you

the cute little bear is not for you

the bubble tent and the fairy lights and the porcelain plates and fancy cutlery — all of it isn’t for you, it’s for someone else, it’s for ji-eun

ji-eun is the one that’s kissing jungkook right now, not you

in fact, it’ll never be you because jungkook doesn’t like you

you turn around so you can sit on the steps properly, folding your arms over the tops of your knees and propping your chin up on top of them

jungkook does not like you back

you helped him plan this date and you helped him set up the rooftop for his romantic date with ji-eun and you ironed his shirt and you ran in the rain to get the bouquet and the bear not just because you’re a good friend — you did all of this because you are hopelessly, hopelessly in love with jungkook and you would pluck all the stars in the sky for him and put them in a jar if he’d asked

“oh my god, y/n.” you breathe out, pinching the bridge of your nose as you shake your head in dejection, “what the fuck are you doing?”

you feel that all too familiar prickle in your nose as you get up onto your feet and head down the steps one by one, your heart heavy in your chest as you adjust the strap of your purse over your shoulder

(and as you stare up at the ceiling when you’re in bed later that night after taking a nice, hot shower and shoving your cold, wet clothes into the hamper, you can’t help but wonder if perhaps you’ll be pining after jungkook for the rest of your life.)

»»————- ♥ ————-««

from: jungkook (1:08am) — Thanks for getting the flowers and the bear for me you’re a lifesaver

from: jungkook (1:08am) — Like actually the best

from: jungkook (1:08am) — So grateful to have a friend as good as you

from: jungkook (1:09am) —The date went really well btw

from: jungkook (1:09am) — Hope you’re sleeping well :) Will text you tomorrow

🎙️ tell yoongi to mind his own business or console y/n (talk to my characters!)

📚 why not explore the rest of the library while you're here? (full fics!)

💫 or perhaps you want something shorter to read? (drabbles and mini series like smitten!)

🌟 or something even shorter? (teeny tidbits!)

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bbanghiitomi · 7 months

Text

PART I: bring the cases in!

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synopsis: not even a month of working under the ador talent agency, you've only been loaded with useless workloads until one particular day you get tangled upon three different crimes and without realizing it leads you upon a someone.

pairing: idol!prosecutor!mdanielle × non-idol!defense-lawyer!fem!reader

U⁠ ⁠´⁠꓃⁠ ⁠`⁠ ⁠UU⁠ ⁠´⁠꓃⁠ ⁠`⁠ ⁠UU⁠ ⁠´⁠꓃⁠ ⁠`⁠ ⁠UU⁠ ⁠´⁠꓃⁠ ⁠`⁠ ⁠UU⁠ ⁠´⁠꓃⁠ ⁠`⁠ ⁠UU⁠ ⁠´⁠꓃⁠ ⁠`⁠

Day 1: Investigation

"god my job is horrible." you grumble as you sit on an empty chair in the lobby of the agency you work at, you have just gotten your job and have started "working" last week, it wasn't the best job — scrubbing the toilet and fixing the mess your employer's "daughter" made. you take note to yourself that you studied a long time to become a lawyer but seeing your poor state, you haven't done anything quite remarkable at all yet and you're already getting tired of it.

"good morning y/n!" your employer comes in, wearing the most "hobo" looking outfit ever, you look at her cap that she doesn't seem to take off and you sigh. "hi ma'am." you greet her, she insists you call her "min heejin" because according to her, that's her name and that's what everyone should call her.

but you couldn't do it anyway, you're too professional to do that, beside you haven't been inside this office for a month, so it's never really an easy thing to be accommodated in such a short time. "what have you been doing today?" she asks, you scratch your head and laugh looking up at her with a sheepish smile. you think to yourself: it's not like there's much to do here anyway...

"nothing in particular..." you mutter and stand up, being at least a head taller than your boss, you put your hands on your sides and smile at her. "if you have something for me to do please just tell me." you tell her as you walk past her, silently hoping she gets you a case to work on.

min heejin kind of just stands there, watches as you enter the small cubicle inside the office made just for you (because apparently you're the only employer min heejin could afford for now even though she was once one of the biggest defense lawyers few years ago).

you put your head on your palms as you let it rest, you're kind of frustrated by the lack of attention from your boss, there seems to be not much going on for the office and it'll take a lot of time for any case to come by. honestly, you were looking forward to this job and you had no absolute idea it'll slow down your progress as a newbie lawyer.

not to mention, you were a big fan of min heejin, she used to be a big and famous defense lawyer from just a few years ago, when you were still starting your journey towards your dream of being a defense lawyer — apparently she doesn't take cases anymore for some reasons she doesn't want to specify, you took this job because you wanted to work for her but also find out the truth behind why min heejin stopped her job as a defense lawyer, even if it meant having to babysit her tall adopted daughter.

after an hour has passed, you hear the door open and the familiar voice comes booming inside the office, the flimsy wooden walls of your cubicle not strong enough to withstand such powerful waves. "mama!" hyein shouts, entering inside and there's another set of footsteps, you assume it's from her friend — hyunseo, who happened to be acquainted with your boss but for another reason she doesn't specify.

you move your swivel chair to take a peek at the duo and see them running towards min heejin who is sitting at the couch, hyein seems in a rush and panicking. "mama! my purse went missing!" she exclaims, you turn your chair fully and stands up to peek.

min heejin seems unfazed, rather she gives hyein a quick glance and nods. "i know someone who can find it for you." min heejin stands up before walking over to you and she places her hand on your shoulder. "y/n, here's your first case. look for my daughter's purse." you look around, shifting your gaze to the two young girls and then back to your boss. "b-but—! that's not even a real case!" you argue, looking confused... why out of all cases in this city did your employer choose to send you to play detective on a missing purse?

that thing might be gone by now already!

"wouldn't that be counted as a crime though if hyein's purse was stolen?" hyunseo counters, which make absolute sense but for someone like you — desperate to actually get some real action, a real job of stepping into an actual courtroom, this is unbelievable!

"no! you don't get it, i'm a defense lawyer... not a detective! how am i supposed to look for a missing purse?" you look at your boss, hoping she'd understand, yet it seems like she's hiding some scheme under that cap of hers.

min heejin turns her head to look at you, she doesn't smile but she gives you a nod. "you find out, it's your job. a defense lawyer starts on an investigation, you learn to find clues and solve simple cases then i'll be able to make sure you can manage yourself out there." sometimes you hate your employer for being witty, she's smart enough to find her way out of everything and smart enough to pull strings on people, including you.

maybe that's why you aspire to be as skillful as her but you have such a long way to go first.

you accept the job, reluctantly and now you're with your boss' adopted daughter walking around the town and trying to find any signs of her expensive purse. you grumble, have you mentioned? hyein is a part of this super idol group that's been conquering the generation of idols today; newjeans.

ever since min heejin stopped being a lawyer and would do freelancing jobs anywhere, hyein became an idol and was able to help her mama's office intact, it was once called a law firm office, now it is now called "ador talent agency". it was quite incredible if you were to be honest but you can't help but think how hard it must be for her to witness the downfall of min heejin's defense career. you don't fully know their story but you were willing to find out even if it takes a long time.

as you're walking with hyein down the street you decide to go back to the agency but also take the path that leads to the back of the ador agency office, you notice a very interesting detail from the windows of the ador agency beside the back entrance when you try to examine the back entrance. to get to the back of the office, there's a small alleyway (this small alleyway leads to a road, that goes to the public park and another one to a hospital) and you try trace your steps back with your eyes — eventually you take a peek at the windows, peering your head inside, hyein watches and tilts her head.

"i just noticed that the windows are open." hyein says, you turn your head to the left and see a drawer — on top of the wooden drawer you notice an empty space beside all the picture frames and hyein's figurines. you remember something. "hyein, isn't this the exact space you have you purse sat on?" you take your head out of the window and look at hyein who walks her way towards you and takes a peek at the window before nodding. "yeah, you know? we never lock this window because no one really comes in here." you agree, this specific back entrance of the agency office is quite hidden and only a few people who live in the same area know this entrance (mostly the ones who are close to the owner of the agency).

you trace back your steps and eventually scratch your head. "i need to think more, can we go back to the office for a bit?" you ask hyein, she sighs but agrees before you and her make your way to the agency through the back entrance.

and as you enter and make your way to the lobby there are two people waiting by the couch and in surprise, you grumble.

"good afternoon, is there something i can do for both of you?" the old man stands up almost immediately and curses. "oh what a bad day it is! my food truck was stolen!" you sigh and rub your forehead, the other woman on the other hand stands up too and looks at you with begging eyes. "please help us find the culprit behind my husband's hit and run!" she exclaims, you back up as the two of them start bickering towards you and you hold up both your hands up high.

"woah — woah, woah! please calm down, give me some time okay?" you feel your blood boiling, what's up with the sudden rise of petty cases? you're not made for this! you slump your shoulders and look at the woman. "hit and run? can you tell me the details?" and as the old man was about to complain, you raise a hand on his face to shush him.

"yesterday, there was this car that was speeding through the road and it ran over my husband! he's currently at the hospital near this agency office!" you nod. "where did the hit and run happen?" you ask the woman, she looks down for a few seconds before looking up at you and answering. "right in front of his family's mansion." you recall that there was indeed a mansion just near the agency office, also right in from of the public park and a few blocks from the hospital.

"oh yeah, i know that place." you turn your head to the old man who seems impatient. "and you? what happened?" you raise your brows at him, he grits his teeth and points at you. "someone stole my food truck!" you scratch your cheek and sigh. "where was it usually anyway?" you ask him.

"that unoccupied space beside the hospital!" he exclaims and you look at the woman who immediately shifts her gaze away, after thinking for quite a while you sigh. "alright, i'll come looking for the culprit — for the meantime," you pause and grab the record book from your cubicle and a pen.

"can you two sign your names here and what you're requesting for?" you gave them the record book and watch as they sign their names, with the girl taking a few seconds before signing her name.

mr. hwang — missing food truck.

mrs. jeon — hit and run case of husband.

when the two leave, you look back at hyein and see her shrugging. "she looks awfully familiar." she tells you, you raise your brows at her. "what's with her?" you ask.

"i think i gave her our agency flyer just recently when i saw her once in that famous park just in front of the mansion." you grumble, not having any idea who these people are but now you're currently dealing with three different cases, each one not even making any sense or significant relationship with each other.

you place the record book at your table and open the door of the main entrance and immediately try to remember where the jeon mansion was. with hyein still tailing behind you're able to spot the mansion not too far from the office. when you get there, there's almost nothing except for the amount of fallen leaves everywhere and splashes of paint, you look around to see that inside the big gates of the mansion, there are huge trees and that you take note that it is the season of autumn.

there's a group of people sweeping the leaves, you walk towards them. "uhm excuse? what happened here?" you ask one of the sweepers, she immediately looks at you and greets you back. "oh hi there dear, there was a hit and run incident here yesterday and the car hit the basket full of dead leaves causing the leaves to scatter all over the road and the buckets of paint to fall." you nod, looking at the gate of the mansion, you notice the unfinished paint job on the gate.

"it happened right in front of this mansion?" you ask the woman, she nods and frowns. "unfortunately, yes. it happened all too fast. we were assigned by the jeon family to repaint the gate and clean the fallen leaves and we have just finished our first day of the job then the tragedy happened to the son of the boss." you sigh, feeling bad for the workers and your eyes trails to the entrance of the park just in front of the jeon mansion.

there's a fancy car blocking the entrance, and a bunch of police cars inside.

with your sharp eyes you don't fail to notice the very intricate logo in front of the car, it's the newjeans logo; written in a very clean, shiny metal that you can already tell cost more than the whole ador agency office. thinking about it hurts your eyes, brain, and pockets.

"did something happen inside the park? i thought the hit and run incident happened here?" you watch as the sweeper turns her head to look at the gate entrance of the park and shrugs. "i heard there was a gunshot there yesterday too, and not so funny thing but the car that hit mr. jeon happened to come from there!" she says, you look at hyein who looks confused and you couldn't help but sigh.

"you think we can check it out?" hyein suggests, you want to say no but at the same time there must be some vital clue about the missing food truck and the car that ran over mr. jeon inside the park.

the sweeper goes back to her business and you make your way to the other side of the road, as you were about to walk past the car blocking the entrance, the car honks — surprising you and hyein. "what the —?" you watch as the door opens and a girl, you assume who is around your age, bright brown eyes — long lashes, pretty eyes, wavy hair, fair skin and dashing aura.

you're blinded by her beauty as well as the way she carries herself with pride but also humbleness.

"this is a restricted area, none of you are allowed here." she says, you frown but you understand what she means. "but i need to check something there, there's a hit and run case and i need to find clues to catch the culprit." you tell the girl, hyein laughs and runs towards the girl.

"dani! come on let us in!" she tells the girl, you look at them both — wondering to yourself.

how in the hell do they even know each other?

simple, they're in the same girl group.

you now remember this girl, danielle marsh.

a famous prosecutor slash idol.

how does someone even have two high-paying jobs? that's unfair!

meanwhile, you clean the toilet, babysit a tall toddler and investigate stupid crimes and you get no penny out of it.

"sorry hyein, seriously no kids are allowed here it's a serious case." danielle says, closes the door of her fancy car and she smiles at you; you think to yourself "what a killer smile, this should be illegal".

but seriously, you can't stand the fact that she's getting in the way of your investigation.

"but i'm serious." you tell danielle, she only tilts her head and gives you an endearing smile.

"i appreciate the enthusiasm, but this is only for professionals — you can bring your games somewhere else, for now this is a no-zone." she explains, yet you're determined — at least you try to look like it, she's not even that older compared to you.

"but y/n here is a professional, she's a defense lawyer working for my mama." danielle's ears perks at the mention of hyein's adopted mother and the title defense lawyer, it rings a bell inside her head and she smiles.

"ah no wonder the wandering curious eyes, honestly i've had many people look at me with the same intensity as yours but i've never felt flattered with it the way i did with your gaze before." danielle tells you, causing you to back up when she takes a step closer and you shake your head — clearly blushing. "what are you even — saying..?" you chuckle and your eyebrow curls, you were starstruck, not everyday you get to encounter a superstar.

although you barely know anything about newjeans, coming from the rural side of the country, you were not used to the ways of the urban side and as soon as you arrived in the city you were already greeted by billboards of the famous group. it felt weird seeing hyein's face everywhere, you've gotten familiar with the name "danielle marsh" she's everywhere, particularly when hyein talks about her in the office or when it's time to talk about the current cases going.

"say, you work for min heejin? her talent agency?" she asks with pure curiosity, you stare at her face and give her a quick nod. "yes, why?" you smile, feeling nervous. danielle looks at you and you can't pin what her gazes mean, you were sure she's trying to read your stance and understand what you're role is supposed to be.

"that's nice, but i still think you two shouldn't step foot inside the park. this is a serious case and i will surely appreciate it if you listen." danielle turns her back to you and hyein and waves her hand. "ah, i'll see you later..." she looks at you and perks her brow, you widen your eyes and look at hyein.

"y/n." you see her smile. "bye hyein and y/n. by the way, you can't get inside unless you're handling the defendant's case." she enters and her figure disappears amongst the groups of police officers around.

you step back and see hyein pout. "we really have no chances of getting in." she says, you scratch your head and sigh.

your eyes spot a trashcan, sometimes even at the worst times you try to find some hope and fortunately— like a racoon, your hope could just be inside this trashcan so you peek to see a broken side mirror and a pair of slippers.

"y/n..? woah! what are you doing?!" hyein exclaims as she watches you reach over to the broken side mirror with splashes of paint on it.

"i can get in." you tell yourself and look towards the park.

"i think we have no clue left, it's a dead end." hyein says and you shake your head in frustration. "this isn't it." you grumble as you lean on the couch with a groan. "i just can't give up here!" you shout, the door opens and you, along with hyunseo and hyein look over to see mrs. jeon, she's back again. you stand up and approach her almost immediately.

"i'm so sorry! i don't have that much access to clues, the police inside the park wouldn't let me in." you tell her and she smiles at you and gives you the flyer that hyein apparently gave her.

"i have another job for you." she says, you tilt your head. "what is it?" you ask her and she gives you a picture of her husband, who you assumed is mr. jeon. "my husband is currently faced with an accusation of murdering a doctor, he works at the seoul medical center just a few blocks from this office. i want you to take his case and present yourself at the courtroom as his defense lawyer." your eyes widens as you reach over to her hands, pressing your fingers to the picture mr. jeon and under it is her business card.

"we have just married each other recently, and i don't want to lose my husband! please do everything in order to clear his name." she begs, you nod immediately and bend yourself to bow.

"i will do just that!" you shout with all passion oozing out of you.

the first thing you do after you take the job is run to the hospital, and almost immediately you spot a red car at the garage near the parking lot. hyein follows and she takes note of the fact that the garage was open wide, it's supposedly the garage for doctors. she remembers this as she mentioned running for the person who stole her purse and seeing them run to this part of the hospital.

it wasn't closed but hyein knew it was restricted.

you immediately enter inside and start looking for clues and the first thing that was the most noticeable was the paint all over the car's bunker and the missing side mirror. "this might be it." you mutter to yourself. when you crouch to peek under the car, there's a phone with a cracked screen on the ground and it was near the car exhaust pipe, you pick it up and as you're about to stand up something from the car exhaust pipe pique your interest.

there's a kuromi keychain dangling from the exhaust pipe hole and you pull it out to find hyein's purse now sitting on your palm. "that's my purse!" she says as she takes it from you.

"okay, your purse is back. now, i need to solve the other cases." you tell her, but your eyes widen when she shakes her head. "no! can't you find the one who stole my purse first?" she asks, you sigh and shake your head.

"hyein — isn't it too late for that?" you tell her, she steals the phone from your hands and raises it. "how about this?" she says, you had no choice but to sigh in defeat. "alright, first i need to find out who drove this car first." you tell hyein and even before you can get closer to the car, a loud honking causes both you and hyein to jump in surprise.

"again? you two?" danielle steps out of the police car and the police car drives to park somewhere else, danielle sighs yet she has a smile on her pretty face. you feel your face warm in embarrassment and you shake your head, you remember mrs. jeon's phone number and her card which then you pull out. "have you heard? i'm mr. jeon's defense lawyer." you tell danielle and show her mrs. jeon's business card.

danielle blinks and then she smiles, as if entertained. "oh alright, so you're lee y/n?" she leans in and you fight the urge to back up and fall.

"y-yeah!" you tell her, hyein's face brightens up and she walks towards danielle. "does that mean we get to have you help us?" hyein asks danielle who gives her a very gentle smile and then she shakes her head with a pout. "sorry hyein, i can't. i'm here to watch over the police work. and while i'm here, it's best not to also have the defense lawyer here." she looks at you and you furrow your brow for a few seconds before sighing.

"alright we'll leave." you tell danielle, she brightens her face up and hyein looks at you in confusion.

you had other plans in your mind but it's best to keep danielle thinking you're doing her a favor.

"but aren't we supposed —" you cut hyein off as you give her a sweet smile.

"let's leave, the prosecutor's got some work to do." you simply turn your back towards danielle, hyein follows like a confused pup and danielle follows you with her eyes yet there isn't much inside her mind — trying to formulate any opinion about the sudden reappearance of min heejin's law firm.

#female reader #kpop #kpop fanfic #fanfiction #kpop imagines #newjeans #newjeans imagines #girl group #girlgroup imagines #danielle #danielle marsh #newjeans danielle #danielle new jeans #danielle x reader #kpop x female reader #newjeans x reader #lee hyein #hyein newjeans #newjeans hyein

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littlexscarletxwitch · 1 year

Text

── ༊*·˚⋆ 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲

paring: florence pugh x fem!reader

tag(s): fluff, based on endgame by taylor swift (you don't understand how much i'm loving this song), cute gf flo

warning(s): grammatical errors, unedited

word count: 2.2k

note: omg, it's finally here. I'm so sorry it took me sooo long, it just I was super busy. Was this inspire by Ms. Taylor Swift? Yes, yes it was. I really hope you guys like this one. I'm not a native english speaker, so please let me know about any sort of mistake. Love you all so much <3

note 2: guys, I'm currently reading 'Delilah Green doesnt' care' and it's giving me so many ideas for fics. So would any of you be interest in more mum!florence? Please let me know. Xoxo, M

requests are open! + check my rules here + masterlist <3

Your eyes were closed, your head was on her chest listening to her steady heartbeats, a soft smile formed on your lips.

“Promise me this is forever,” you whispered.

You knew she was awake, she was doing the same thing as you, enjoying the moment, living in the present.

Your eyes found hers already looking at you.

“I promise,” she said, her smile mirroring yours.

Her lips found yours as if sealing the promise forever, but nothing ever lasts forever. The kiss that was first sweet and soft and filled with love, turned bitter, harsh and cold. You pulled back confusion written all over your face.

You blink once then twice, and suddenly you were waking up on your bed, alone. You cursed yourself at the stupid memory. It was so pathetic to still think about Florence that way. You two were history, long forgotten, just a memory of your adolescence.

You shook your head, trying to wake up your foggy brain from the nap you had taken. And decided to get some work done as a way to clear your head from your silly old fantasies.

You made yourself a cup of tea, grabbed your notebook and put your headphones on. You only had three more months to finish your second album. The deadline wasn’t much of a concern of yours, what bothered you was the lack of inspiration. Every lyric you would write down was just trash, it was as if you were missing something. So far you had only five finished songs, and you needed ten more to have the album finished.

You were humming, moving your head to the beat as you let your brain come up with the right words, but it felt as if you were stuck.

“I wanna be your endgame,” you sang to the beat. “I wanna be, I wanna be your… ” you threw your head back in annoyance, frustration getting the best out of you.

You had been sitting on the floor for the last hour, trying to finish this one song but you were not even close to it. You took a deep breath trying not to lose your shit. Your phone buzzed, the screen lighting up with a new notification and that took your whole attention.

“Y/n Y/l/n and Drew Starkey spotted out for dinner,” you read out loud and couldn’t help rolling your eyes at the link your manager and best friend had sent you.

According to the news, you were dating both Drew Starkey and Joe Keery. You also almost got engaged the week before to Rudy Pankow, but apparently cheated on him with Maya Hawke. You knew better than to actually pay attention to fake news, but you couldn’t help to. After all that was now your life, the life of a startpop in the making, so much for a boring Oxford kid.

Your reputation precedes you, in rumours you were knee-deep. But there was nothing you could do about it. Exhausted from your social life and the poor lack of motivation to do the one thing you loved the most, you decided to go out on a walk, hoping it would help to clear your thoughts about both the fake news and Florence, who you tried to ignore from thinking of. But ever since that dream you found yourself thinking about her more often.

You knew she was as famous as you were, maybe even more. You had to admit to yourself that some nights you found some kind of comfort in her movies, watching her cute pouty face, the one she was most known for.

She was your first love, she taught you how to love, what it was to be loved. Of course it wasn’t easy to forget about her, even after all these years, some part of you still craved her love. It wasn’t that you didn’t love each other when you both decided to go separate ways, it was because things weren’t so simple anymore. You two weren’t just two teenargs in love, you were slowly becoming adults. She had booked roles and you were making your way into the music industry.

And without the two of you knowing you two just drifted apart, the two of you too caught up in your careers. But you loved her, so you decided to let her go, hoping and praying to the universe that maybe she would come back to you one day.

Your thoughts were interrupted as you opened the door to your local cafe and someone bumped into you.

“Sorry, I wasn’t… “ but you stopped cold once you saw the strangers eyes.

“Y/n?” she asked, her voice as soft and raspy as you remembered. “What are you doing here?” a smile formed on her face, as if she was genuinely happy to see you.

You shook your head trying to clear out your mind, was Florence really in front of you? “I, um, I lived here,” you blinked once, twice and she was still there. “Just around the corner,” you added, cursing yourself for being so awkward. “What are you doing here?”

Was this a sign of the universe? Have your prayers been answered?

“Visiting my family,” right her family, you thought. “Well, not just that, I’m also working,” she scratched the back of her neck. “I was actually hoping to see you, too.”

“Really?” that had to mean something, the universe couldn't be messing around with you this cruelly. Right?

“Yeah, I have, um… I have been thinking about you.” she smiled at you and you felt the butterflies in your stomach. “I think we should talk.”

“I, um,” what were you supposed to say? Were you willingly going to agree to spend time with the love of your life as if the two of you were going to be just friends? What was that supposed to mean?

“Yeah, sure. When are you free?” you finally agree.

You mentally checked your schedule, you were supposed to finish your songs but taking a break wouldn’t hurt anybody. Plus, you were going to get your coffee and get back to it right away.

“Um, what about now?”

Shit, you thought. She wasn’t going to give you any time to prepare yourself. Well, you better get into it, rip it off like a band aid.

“Okay, I was going to get a coffee and then we can…”

“Yeah, yeah, take your time. I’m going to find us a table.”

You order your coffee while mentally preparing for the conversation the two of you were going to have. What was she on about? Was it really a big coincidence? Did the universe put her in our path for some reason? You shook your head, you needed to stop thinking about the universe’s way of working for a second.

They handed you your coffee and now you had no more excuses to avoid her, not that you wanted to. Some part of you long to be near her, but you were scared of what this whole thing was about.

“So, um, what’s up with Drew?” she tried to pretend she didn’t care but was actually dying to know if you were actually dating him, not that you noticed it.

“Who?”

“Drew? Starkey?”

“Oh, yeah, Drew,” you chuckled, silly you for forgetting your own friend. “He’s just a friend, a really good friend,” was it your imagination or did she just let out a breath of relief. “What about Ashley?” you asked before taking a sip of your coffee.

She smiled at you, “She’s also a really good friend.”

“So, um…”

“Listen, Y/n…”

The both of you chuckled.

“You go first, Flo”

That nickname. It was stupid because everyone who knew her would call her ‘Flo’, but coming out of your lips felt different. She had missed hearing her name on your lips, she had missed you.

“I’m just going to say it, okay?” you only nodded. “I lied earlier, I’m not here for work or visiting my family. I came here to find you,” your lips parted in disbelief. “Ever since we broke things apart, I had been feeling like something was missing, Y/n. And I recently realised it was you. Well, I saw the article about you getting married and all I could think of was that something wasn’t right.”

“Florence I…”

“No, please let me finish,” she cut you off. “I understand that we are strangers to each other, but I would love to get to know you once again. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, it can be like a fresh start. I just really need you in my life, Y/n. I miss my best friend.”

You took another sip of your coffee, stealing time before giving her an answer. The truth was you already knew what you wanted, you knew it the moment you sat at the table, but you wanted to mess with her just a little bit.

You put your cup down, and finally your eyes found hers, “I would like nothing more.”

[...]

Ever since that day, Florence and you had been spending everyday together. Catching up with each other and going back to old habits.

The more you hang out with her, the more you could feel your old feeling coming back. But you didn’t want to rush things just to ruin them again. But one particular afternoon you couldn't hold back anymore and decided to do something about it.

She had fallen asleep 30 minutes ago, you chuckled as you realised her current state because she had picked out the movie but turns out she was more tired than what she let you see.

You headed to your small studio and decided to get back to the song you were working on before running into Florence. You knew exactly what you wanted to say, having found your new inspiration a few weeks ago.

You pressed play and the music started playing, you already had a few things written down in your notebook you just needed to put all your ideas together.

You were so lost and immersed in finishing the song, going at it back and forth, changing some lyrics, singing some ideas, writing and crossing out some bits, that you didn’t realise someone was watching you just when you were about to finish.

You had already recorded the whole song and were just checking it out when Florence leaned in the frame door.

Florence smiled as she listened to your sweet voice. She wondered who this song was about.

Knew her when I was young, reconnected when we were little bit older

Both sprung, I got issues and chips on both of my shoulders

She didn’t want to get her hopes up.

Reputation precedes me, in rumors, I'm knee-deep

The truth is, it’s easier to ignore it, believe me

She felt her heart shrinking in her chest.

Even when we'd argue, we'd not do it for long

And you understand the good and bad end up in the song

She listened closely to the song as you hummed to it.

For all your beautiful traits and the way you do it with ease

For all my flaws, paranoia, and insecurities

Her heartbeat and body temperature were rising.

I've made mistakes and made some choices, that's hard to deny

After the storm, something was born on the 4th of July

I've passed days without fun, this end game is the one

With four words on the tip of my tongue, I'll never say it

She couldn't take it any longer.

“I like it,” she said, getting closer to where you were sitting. “It’s catchy,” she said, trying to shake her feeling away. That song could be about anyone.

“I feel like something’s missing,” you scrunch your nose.

“Sing the corus to me, please,” she looked at you with her doe eyes and you swear you could have melted in that moment.

You shook your head with a smile on your face and compiled, “I wanna be your endgame, endgame,” you finished singing the chorus. “And then it goes. Big reputation, big reputation. Ooh, you and me, we got big reputations, ah,” you sang, trying to not look at Florence.

“You know, it sounds awfully familiar,” she teased, wanting nothing more than for it to be true.

“And you heard about me, ooh. I got some big enemies,” you kept on going.

“What are you trying to say, Y/n?” she kept on pushing you.

“Big reputation, big reputation. Ooh, you and me would be a big conversation, ah. And I heard about you, ooh. You like the bad ones, too,” you finished, trying to tell her that you were thinking exactly what she was thinking.

She was so close to you now, her knees brushing against yours, sending electricity throughout your body. You could feel her hot breath on your lips.

“I want to…” she didn’t finish her sentence because you were already nodding and she smashed her lips to yours in a second.

You felt as if a wave of cold water was washing over you. Her lips felt both familiar and new at the same time. You felt at home as she wrapped her arm around your waist and her other hand cupped your cheek. You didn’t want to ever stop kissing her, but both you and her needed to breathe so ultimately pulled apart.

She rested her forehead on yours, both of her hands cupping your cheeks, caressing your skin with her fingertips.

“I wanna be your endgame,” you quietly sang to her.

She chuckled before kissing you again and again and again.

Likes, comments and reblogs are appreciated! <3

-M

#florence pugh #florence pugh x reader #florence pugh x fem reader #florence pugh x y/n #florence pugh x you #florence pugh fluff #florence pugh imagine #littlexscarletxwitch's fic #Spotify #[🎧⊹♡] based on songs i love

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gutsybitsies · 1 year

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A/N: Happens almost right after Under the Red Hood

"All you needed was this?" The adult, Dick Grayson, tossed Jason Grace a golden coin.

Grace caught the drachma and flipped it instinctively. It, of course, didn't switch into any weapons like Ivlivs used to.

"Yes, the Constantine guy said any magic there can work here as well."

"I had to break in and steal from someone's collection for an real Greek drachma."

"You couldn't find one on E-bay?"

"It's called C-bay in this dimension, and yes I could, but we don't have time to verify authenticity."

In the background, the rest of Dick's family perched on rafters, chairs, and inconvenient dinosaurs and pennies as they carefully watched Grace twist the coin around in his hands. He knew that they're carefully monitoring him, making mental notes for their little reports later on about his dimension, his powers, everything, really.

"So according to you," Grace said, "You tried to bring someone back from the dead."

"My parents," Dick replied. "And I didn't try, a genie took advantage of me when I was drunk and made a wish."

"But he can't bring back people who have been dead for so long, so he brought back your most recently deceased family."

"Jason Todd," Dick supplied.

"But he couldn't even do that as well, because he brought me, Jason Grace, back to life instead, and now I'm here instead of him."

"Honestly I don't see what's wrong with this," one of the bats (that's got to be how they think of themselves, Jason Grace figured, since they all have a symbol of a bat on their clothes) replied. "This Jason isn't cutting heads off stuffing them in duffel bags."

"Glad I'm better than that," Grace said, before turning the humidifier he asked for on and shined a light on it. He ignored their curious questions and tossed the drachma into the rainbowy mist.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbows, please show me...Nico di Angelo."

This caused the looming dark mass of the old guy that called himself Bat Man to stir from his seat in front of the massive computer in the cave. "This wasn't the plan, you were supposed to call for Jason."

"What if only I was brought back to life and he's not? We'd have wasted a drachma," Grace explained. "Nico's my best friend and he knows about death, he'll be able to help."

Slowly the mist shimmered and its colors changed, until they could see two forms cuddling under a tree. Suddenly, the smell of ozone crackled in the cave, and Dick took a sharp look at Grace, whose expression didn't change an iota.

"Nico! Nico!"

The form of a short napping boy with three clawmarks on his face blearily opened his eyes. He shook awake the blond boy napping next to him. "Will, I'm hallucinating Jason."

"Wh-Jason?" Will's eyes snapped open to see Jason Grace in an Iris message looking out at them. "I-I see him too."

Nico's eyes darted up to Jason again. "Jason? How-Jason!"

One of the brightest smiles Jason had ever seen on Nico bloomed on his face as he dashed up to the Iris message. He paused right before slamming into it and dispersing the mist. "Jason, what happened? Are you in another Underworld? What do you need me to do?"

Jason grinned, Nico's happiness infecting him and swept away the doom and gloom of Gotham, he can even ignore Will in the background holding Nico's hand. "I'm alive again! These guys," he jerked a hand to point at the rest of the bat family, "Accidentally brought me back alive. But, and this is going to sound crazy, I do have a favor to ask you."

Nico gave him an unimpressed look. "Bring it, crazy is my life."

The rest of the bats tensed as they waited for Jason to ask Nico for help and clarification.

"So you and Will are dating now? Tell me everything that's happened since I died! Is Apollo back to being a god? How's Piper doing? I heard Leo's back! Tell him I said hi! And what's the progress on the shrines I've been designing?"

That was apparently the final straw, as the bat man grunted and almost ran with the fit of manic energy right where Jason was standing talking to Nico.

"Forget those questions," the bat man said, trying and failing to shove Jason aside. "Within the last 24 hours, did anyone from your dimension encounter a Jason Todd? We have reason to believe that the two of them were switched."

"No we don't," Jason said. "There's a chance he's still dead. Isn't that a good thing? All you guys talked about was how he's a homicidal maniac."

"There was a strange guy but I don't know if his name is Jason Todd," Nico said.

"Big, buff, black hair with a tuft of white hair in front?," Will asked. "That's the only stranger recently, sweetie."

A lightbulb in the cave burst.

Grace's face was still perfectly smooth. "Nico, he's dangerous. That wasn't a hyperbole, this guy came back from the dead before and immediately begin a crime spree in his home city."

"He won't hurt innocent children," the bat man insisted. "He's dangerous but he's not deranged, but he does need to come home and be detained."

"He slit my throat," one of the teenage bats said. "Probably. It might have been him that slit my throat. I got better though."

Nico looked unimpressed, "Well you don't need to worry about him anymore. We found him bleeding from the neck and then he died from bloodloss before we could do anything."

"Don't give us that crap," the bat man said. "Your Jason said he also suffered life threatening injuries before the switch happened, but he was found completely healed. Bring Jason here, now."

"Can't, he's dead," Nico said in a deadtone. "But don't worry, we gave him the correct funeral rights before cremation. I can show you his urn." He turned to Jason.

"Jason," Nico said in Ancient Greek. "You need to find a way to run away. These are the dangerous people. I could sense how Jason Todd died. It was bloodloss from filicide, Jason. His father killed him before he was brought to us. And now he wants to finish the job. Please stay safe and make your way back to us." The Iris message flickered before it died out.

in the morning, when the rest of the family was sleeping and Jason Grace was in his containment chamber ("Stop calling our guestroom a containment chamber, Master Bruce."), Bruce played the footage from the cave over and over again.

He knew Ancient Greek, of course he did. He learned both Ancient Greek during med school.

"It was filicide," the strange boy had said. "His father killed him."

"His father killed him."

"His father killed."

#pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #jason grace #nightwing #dick grayson #bruce wayne #dcu #jason todd #utrh #under the red hood #tim drake #pjo dc crossover #idk what else to tag this as #jasico #always tag jasico because i always put hints of jasico haha #nico di angelo #my fic #my fics

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hewkii · 7 days

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Demystifying Splatband Signatures

Recently I've seen people talking about Acht and Paul's signatures apparently being right next to each other on a Grandfest banner. I really want to believe it bc that's adorable, but after spending entirely too long digging for a source, making spreadsheets, and attempting to identify each signature for myself I've concluded that it's most likely not true :(

full ramble below. get ready for an autism blast

So to start. It's probably decently well known at this point that the signatures outside Hotlantis correspond to every artist that had battle music in Splatoon 1 and 2. However, if you tally up the number of band members (36) vs the apparent number of signatures (37), we wind up with one mystery signature.

After skimming the artbooks and Inkipedia I didn't find anything officially matching any signature to any specific characters (besides the idols), but online I found two fanmade charts attempting to do it themselves. One by @/inaRNP on Twitter in August 2022 (which is missing one signature, and assigns the mystery sig to Karen), and another that circulated on Discord before being reposted to Tumblr in November 2022. This second one seems to be where the idea that the mystery signature belongs to Dedf1sh comes from. It definitely seems more likely than it being Bob Dub or something.

HOWEVER. Acht's lore in Side Order heavily contradicts this theory. In all likelihood they were autopiloting around the Deepsea Metro from the end of OE right up until they got pulled into the Memverse, never coming anywhere close to Hotlantis. It is possible that it was intended to be theirs but plans changed, as technically SO's plot wasn't nailed down at Splatoon 3's launch, but to that I point to Haikara Walker. If they were intended to have escaped the Metro after OE, then they likely wouldn't have opened at the Low Water Party. (page 261 if you don't know what that is)

But with the signature's reappearance on the Grandfest banners, I think I've worked out exactly what happened here.

According to the charts, these are the signatures of Paul and Taichi. Both were noticeably redrawn for their appearance on the Team Past banner, and I think that's the key to solving this whole mystery. Redesigning Paul's makes sense; he was a kid when he did the first one and he's a teen now. Of course his handwriting would change. But why redesign Taichi's?

Or, what if what we thought was Taichi's signature was actually just part of Paul's the whole time?

That would bring the amount of Hotlantis signatures down to 36, meaning there was never an extra signature to begin with, and the mystery signature simply belongs to a member of Sashimori.

Of course, that still doesn't explain why it's so far away from the other Sashimori members. But then again, Paul's is also pretty far away. Maybe there just wasn't enough room to group them together like everyone else ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Plus, it's next to everyone else's on the Grandfest banner. Speaking of which...

Here's my guesses as to whose signatures are whose on the banners, including the new ones. forgive the microsoft paint

Things to note:

I can't actually tell how many new signatures are on the Team Present banner. I just circled all of them and called it Yoko & the Gold Bazookas, but there are only four Y&tGB members that aren't also in Ink Theory and there definitely seem to be more than four signatures there. we might have an actual mystery signature on our hands this time

Front Roe's sigs are different than the ones on Hotlantis, but I'm confident it's them because they all have 00X (as in 003Soss) worked into them.

dot--png pointed out in the comments that one of the signatures I guessed was Riot Act seems to have a doodle of a squid, so that might actually be Beika's

Team Past doesn't have any Splatoon 3 characters on it, which makes sense now that I think about it

i made a whole ass spreadsheet to help me figure this out and i feel like it would be a waste not to link it here

#watch bankara walker have a page spelling everything out lmao #splatoon 3 #splatoon #grand festival #splatbands #splatoon lore #paul splatoon #acht splatoon #dedf1sh #sashimori #hewk babbles #sploon

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maniculum · 3 months

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Bestiaryposting Results: Bawigrat

This one is kind of odd in general, but also notable in that it's a mythical creature that has not, to my knowledge, made its way into modern pop culture, but is kind of on one of the upper levels of the metaphorical iceberg for people interested in Medieval Bestiary Trivia just because of its... rather memorable ability. So let's get into it.

If you don't know what this is about, you can check out https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting for an explanation and previous installments.

The art you are about to see is all based on this entry here:

And if you want to get in on this, the current entry up for interpretation is here:

(bit of a long one there)

And without further ado, art for this week is below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has given us a sort of bovine with recognizably skunk-like features. They note that they focused on giving it an appropriate pose (more details in the linked post), which I think they pulled off well -- I would absolutely believe that this creature is about to fire dung at the viewer.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) has a shaggier bovid here, with a notably calm expression. The peace of mind that comes from knowing you have a terrifying defense mechanism? Also we see that the emphasis here is on the fiery nature of their dung-based defense, as shown by the flames at the back there. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has done a bit of malicious compliance here. Yes, it has the head and size of a bull, the maned neck of a horse, sure, but otherwise this is clearly a giant bombardier beetle. You know what, that's fair. I like it. I also appreciate that it is, to quote Coolest-Capybara, "seen here incinerating some Stylized Plants." (And thank you for including alt text.)

@pomrania (link to post here) has a bull/horse hybrid thing for us, but notes particularly the distended belly, saying that they figure that whatever kind of internal chemistry is going on here might have externally-visible effects. They also question the "acres" thing, as it seems to imply "a creature which can basically do sniper-range attacks with its poop".

I am thrilled to tell you that it's even worse than that. The phrasing of this entry aside, an acre is technically not a measure of distance, but of area. And this isn't a modern contrivance, it's always been area: the definition of "acre" that our medieval writers would be familiar with is "the amount of land that a man can expect to plow in a single day with the help of oxen". Three acres is, according to a quick conversion on Google, 130,680 square feet / 12,140.6 square meters). So it's not a sniper-like attack, it's blanketing an entire city block (or most of one, depending on your city) in burning fumes & poop.

Implications for the fertilizer industry are, I assume, still under investigation.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) apparently decided to roll with the "three acres" thing and has drawn their Bawigrat... um.. burninating the countryside. Which is very funny to me, as a person of a certain age who grew up on the Internet, but the rest of y'all will have to Google it. Reasons for domesticating the Bawigrat may expand from agricultural to military, though that does seem like a dangerous proposition. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@wendievergreen (link to post here) also decided to go with a bombardier beetle, as the animal with the most similar defense mechanism in real life. (This one is also giant; note the banana for scale.) They've made it more unambiguously insectoid, as the "horns" are clearly antennae and the "mane" is a sort of ridged plate. I really like the stylization here and the inclusion of the alchemical symbol. For more information, and a video that shows off the glittery ink used here, check the linked post. (Also thank you for including alt text.)

On to the Aberdeen Bestiary:

Yep, that beast is sure farting fire onto some knights. If you look for other medieval images of it, this is a pretty common way to show its defense mechanism. I think my favorite is this one:

(Bibliothèque Nationale de France, lat. 3630, folio 78r)

Tell me that doesn't look exactly like the face a creature with weaponized flatulence would make.

Anyway, this is the bonnacon.

As mentioned previously, this is a mythical beast that for obvious reasons failed to really catch on in modern pop culture, but remains a favorite in Bestiary Trivia -- any Internet listicle about obscure mythical creatures is almost certain to mention the bonnacon.

Beyond that, I really don't have much to add other than reiterating that I think it would be pretty funny to include attempts to domesticate the bonnacon in your fantasy worldbuilding.

#maniculum bestiaryposting #bawigrat #unsanitary

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woman-of-many-fandoms · 30 days

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Honestly though, it must be so weird to work with some people for a few years of your life and for years, decades, later people are shipping you with your co worker.

I'm obviously all for shipping fictional characters, but this is the actors job. Where they get a paycheck. They are literally being paid to act like found family.

Like imagine you worked in an office with some people for 3 years in 2004-2007 and in 2030 people are making clips of you and how in love you look while eating lunch with Carol or saying hi as you both arrived in the parking lot.

I've seen this in pretty much every fandom I've been in. Star Trek, good omens, X men, Marvel. I do not think RDJ has any emotional attachment to Chris Evens or that Shanter really cared about and enjoyed spending time with Nimoy. I'm positive for David Tennant, Good Omens is just his next job and Michael Sheen only likes it because it made him much more well known in the acting world and it'll be easier to get his next gig. Yes Pine and Quinto look like they are actual friends outside of the movies but that is an exception.

Anyway, just my thoughts since I just saw a post of some Trek actors in I'm assuming the late 80s or 90s and people were saying 'how could he not be bi saying stuff like this'. Money, the answer is always money.

edit: OK let me address some of what is in the comments. Do actors say they are friends, sure, and if you want to take that at face value then you are right, they are friends. I personally don't think it counts if you are being paid to do so. And before anyone says anything, no not directly. But they have a whole 'image' to uphold that their income is tied to.

I don't know much about the entertainment industry and don't know why people would want that life but it's .... well, different, is the nice way to say it. My sister's career is considered part of the entertainment industry though she is behind the scenes. (And, side note, even being behind the scenes I've still found photoshopped images someone made of her in her in sexy lingerie ... )

TBF we don't talk that often but I've heard some stories (apparently Bill Nye is more then a bit of a jerk behind closed doors) She's lived in Hollywood 12 years now and there is the face people put out in the public and who they truly are. Yes, we all have a self that we hide (I'm autistic so I know all about masking) but it seems that is pushed to extremes.

I've seen her act like many people's best friends (house parties and giving favors and gifts that I question) and promoting their good name in public then she'll tell me in private some horrible things that person has done to others and how it's just how it works. She house/cat sat for a guy (and sent me views from his balcony, my god it was nice) who I think a lot of people would recognize from TV but their relationship was built on respect for each other careers.

Sure, you can tell me not to base the examples off my sisters stories and, ok fair. But I'd also want to point out - the part of RDJ buying evens a car, I did some math. He has 300 million net worth according to google. I have a salary, not net worth (or a negative one cause of student loans I guess), but it is the equivalent of me buying my co worker a $32 gift assuming the car was 150k. I met a guy who performed in Vegas shows and told me how they've had dinner with (I honestly don't remember if it was Penn or Teller) at their house with their spouses. And private chats ... doesn't really tell me much.

I'm currently seeing a bunch of clips of the main actors for the new Wicked movie saying how each other changed each others lives and it just comes off as more acting to promote the movie to me.

And even with Pine and Quinto , I only gave that one a pass because they said knew each other and got along before being in Trek and even then, eh..

Again, just how I interpret things. I know friend can mean different things to different people and a lot of what I see I don't interpret as friend, I see it as networking. I would absolutely be 'friends' with someone if it helped me make and maintain my multi millions .

#star trek #spirk #stony #ineffable husbands #good omens #robert downey jr #chris pine #chris evans #william shatner #leonard nimoy #michael sheen #david tennant #star trek aos #anthony j crowley #aziracrow #aziraphale #the avengers #marvel cinematic universe #marvel mcu

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mais-nerdy-corner · 2 years

Text

❝𝕬 𝕮𝖆𝖘𝖊 𝖂𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖀𝖓𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖊𝖉❞ | 𝕮𝖞𝖓𝖔 𝖝 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗

Synopsis: Cyno is known to have sharp senses due to his duties as Matra. But somehow, the case of his missing significant other went unnoticed.

Pairing: Cyno x Reader

Genre: Angst to fluff

💮 — Author Answered: Oh dear, I may need to revise my rules if it causes confusion... Still, thank you for the request Anon!

Note: Cyno might be a bit OOC at the end of this, not sure how he would "canonically" react... (But bruh, it literally appeared in my dream like whaaatt...??)

Ah, you. Yes, you. Just a regular old Amurta scholar from the Akademiya that somehow managed to capture the General Mahamatra's heart. Sometimes you wonder, what really attracted him to you? Is it your intelligence? Is it your appearance? You think you're just an ordinary person. Well apparently not to him.

You see, Cyno actually has a little story about how he came to like you. One time when you were a student, Cyno was walking around the halls of the Akademiya. Not exactly on patrol, but he was keeping an eye out for "suspicious activities". It was night time and usually people were already asleep, but not for students at the Akademiya as they were still awake studying or finishing their assignments.

Out of the blue, Cyno caught a glimpse of a student rushing out of the Akademiya through one of the side doors. It looked real suspicious so he followed them to the upper level of Razan Garden. What he thought he would catch a student doing something against the Akademiya's rules, became the moment that might have made him fall in love at first sight.

"Oh wow, look at that! It really bloomed at night!"

The student Cyno was after was named Y/n. And it turns out that they were examining the City of Contracts' signature local flower, a Glaze Lily. They held the Glaze Lily above their head, exposing it to the moon's light.

Okay, so what? Cyno just coincidentally fell in love with a student who loves flowers. What's so special about it? Here's the thing.

Cyno is so used to treating people who break the rules harshly, he was amazed by the way you treat plants gently and lovingly. Something he had never felt and experienced before. Cyno never admits it but he has stalked you several times, watching you tend to the plants. One time, he even went to visit you.

You were preparing some things for a upcoming presentation. You were nervous. And the arrival of the General Mahamatra didn't help either.

"G-General Mahamatra...! What brings you here...?"

"Relax, I just came here to ask a few questions."

"Uhh... sure! Ask away!"

"How many lips does a flower have?"

Huh? What...? How many lips does a flower have? What kind of trick question is this? Did you really miss something that your teacher explained before? Oh boy...

"W-well... technically, according to what I know and if I didn't miss anything from my teacher, flowers don't have l--"

"Two-lips."

There was an awkward silence at first that made Cyno think he had ruined his chances. Until something clicked in your head, causing you to burst out laughing.

He was stunned, yet again. He never had anyone to genuinely laugh at his jokes. Most of the time, he has to explain them which defeats the purpose of telling the joke.

"Oh, I get it now! Sorry, it took a while. That was a good one. Can you tell me another plant related one?"

"...Sure."

Since that day, you two often meet and hang out together. Other students would normally be wary of him and avoid him, but not you. Till the day of your graduation, Cyno would visit you and tell one of his awful jokes.

"Cyno!"

He was already waiting for you at Razan Garden and you went to meet him, still wearing your graduation gown.

"Did you come to my graduation ceremony?"

"I saw it, briefly. You graduated at the top of your class," he said crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I did. And it's all thanks to you and your silly jokes. Thank you, Cyno."

Cyno was about to deny that he did nothing to help you with your studies when all of a sudden, you planted a kiss on his cheek and ran away.

Nabil, a Matra who was looking for Cyno saw him still standing in the same spot as when he was talking to you.

"Cyno! There you are. I even went around the Akademiya looking for you, I was hoping you could-- Cyno? Hello? Teyvat to the General Mahamatra!"

Cyno didn't respond to any of Nabil's calls, his brain was still processing the kiss you gave earlier. He was also trying hard to hide his blushing face and keep his cool as Cyno covered his face with his hand.

"Just pretend you saw nothing, Nabil."

"W-what...? I didn't see anything. Really, what happened? Your face is red, are you sick?"

"Ugh... I'm fine!"

(time skip brought to you by le author :P)

"Tighnari, have you seen Y/n? Did they come to Gandharva Ville recently?"

The General Mahamatra's sudden visit to Gandharva Ville surprised the Forest Watcher and even the Trainee Forest Ranger, who was hiding somewhere. He looks so disheveled, stressed out and exhausted, unlike his usual appearance.

"Y/n? No, I haven't actually. If they were here, I would hear them coming from miles away. First of all, take a good look at yourself. What happened to you? What did I say about taking care of yourself?" Tighnari said, scolding Cyno at the end.

"I just talked to them a few days ago. Where have they gone... to..."

Cyno's words trailed off as he slowly falls forward. Tighnari who quickly knew what's going on, caught Cyno who had fainted.

"H-hey...! Cyno, stay with me now. Oh, crud. Collei!"

The aforementioned Trainee Forest Ranger came out from her hiding place and came over to her mentor.

"Yes, Master Tighnari? *gasp* The General Mahamatra?! What happened?" Collei asked.

" *sigh* He has overworked himself, and it seems that this isn't the first time he's been in this situation. Why do you have to worry me like this...? Ahem, sorry for rambling to myself... Help me out here."

The sound of the General Mahamatra stirring in bed caught Tighnari and Collei's attention. He finally came to his senses after passing out earlier.

"I see that you're finally awake. How are you feeling?" Tighnari asked.

"Feeling like shit actually..."

Tighnari quickly swatted Cyno's arm that was covering his face and went to grab a glass of water.

"Please don't use that kind of language, especially around Collei. Luckily she didn't hear you. Here, drink some water."

Tighnari helped Cyno get up to drink some water. He then continued his lecturing session, "This is what you get for overworking yourself. I've reminded you many times, on multiple occasions, to take care of yourself. Could you please stop making other people worry about you?"

Cyno was silently contemplating his actions. Tighnari is right, he has troubled a lot of people. Does that mean, he has troubled you too? Cyno then confessed something he had never told Tighnari before.

"Tighnari, Y/n once told me that they were often ridiculed of by other scholars for dating me. Some said that their graduation was made easy because they are the General Mahamatra's significant other, others say their works are not purely their own but are accepted because of that too. They must have felt the pressure of dating someone with a high title like me. Have—have I troubled them too? Have they withdrew from this relationship because of me?"

"Cyno, I don't believe Y/n is that kind of person. They are devoted to you and appreciates who you are. Think about it. You can't be giving up hope, Cyno. This isn't like you!" Tighnari tried to reason with him.

"If that's their decision, then I have no other choice but to respect it. I don't blame them for breaking up with me either."

Tighnari was silent hearing Cyno's words, he sympathized with him. He didn't know what else to say to cheer him up. So, Tighnari committed himself to find out about your whereabouts.

"I'm heading out, but I won't be back for a few days. Collei, I trust you to take care of Cyno. If he moves an inch off the bed, guess I'll have to tie him to it."

"It's not like I'm planning on moving anyways..."

Tighnari sighed before leaving his hut. Collei, who had been silent all this time, was confused about what to do after her Master left her. Until Cyno opened the conversation.

"You've been quiet all this time. Does my presence even my name alone remind you of the sealing process too much?"

"Ah! Uhh... I... Yeah, it does..." Collei answered nervously.

" *sigh* Forgive me, but there was no other way to seal away the god's remains in your body. It must have been an unthinkably painful process."

"No no, you don't need to apologize. Matter of fact, I'm the one who's supposed to apologize... and thanking you. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you... and, thank you for bringing me back from Mondstadt to Sumeru and finding me a safe place to stay."

For once in his life, Cyno's usual stern face softened (which was really out of character for the serious General Mahamatra). He even asked Collei to come closer to him.

Cyno reached out his hand and started stroking Collei's head, giving her a pat once in a while.

"It was very admirable of you."

Tighnari had arrived at Sumeru City, and just as he remembered it was very loud and crowded.

"Ugh... it's so loud! I want to go home so bad... But not now Tighnari, you're already committed to finding Y/n. Maybe I can use this crowd to my advantage..." he mumbled to himself.

So Tighnari began to deliberately "search" for conversations about you, the amount of times he had apologized silently for eavesdropping on conversations he shouldn't have heard was countless. But then, he overheard a conversation about you coming from the direction of Puspa Café.

"What's the matter, my lady? You seem restless lately..."

"Oh, Dehya... It's just that, Y/n hasn't been visiting lately and I'm worried something might have happened to them."

Ah, bingo. That's the conversation he wanted to hear. Assured he had found the right person, Tighnari came up to them.

"Excuse me."

Tighnari's greeting made them both turn their heads.

"I apologize for eavesdropping on your conversation earlier. But, are you two familiar with a scholar named Y/n?"

(Another time skip brought to you by le author :P)

"I see. So you too have Eleazar, Miss Dunyarzad. May I ask, how did you get to know Y/n in the first place?" Tighnari then asked.

"Well, we first met at Lambad's Tavern. At that time, I was eating alone, secretly hoping Dehya would join me."

"Wait, you were hoping... I would join you...? My lady..." Dehya murmured but was still heard by Tighnari, causing him to smile a little. Dunyarzad smiled too.

"And at that moment, Y/n entered the tavern. They ordered their food and looked for a place to sit. They might have noticed the sad expression on my face so they went to sit next to me."

(A flashback that's written from Dunyarzad's POV)

"Excuse me. I'm sorry but I can't help but notice the sad look on your face. Mind if I sit here to accompany you?"

"Oh, um... No, not at all. Please, have a seat."

Actually, I just remembered, Y/n was sitting across from me. Not beside me. They then put an unfamiliar plant on the table. Coincidentally, the food that Y/n ordered was served at the same time.

"Here you go, Y/n. An order of my famous Lambad Fish Roll. I see you got a new plant again, what is it this time?" Lambad, the tavern owner asked.

"It's a Small Lamp Grass, I'm sure you've seen it during your travels in Mondstadt. I'm just wondering if this plant will glow in a dark room or does it only glow at night. Also, I found out that it can be used as a cooking ingredient to enhance other flavors."

"Hahaha, of course! I've seen them before, it's been a while though. Say, do you have any more of these Small Lamp Grass? I want to experiment with them for my cooking," Lambad said.

"I have some still growing back at my residence. Maybe I can give you some and you give me something in return?"

"Aha! You've got a deal there, kid. Enjoy your fish roll!"

I've only been paying attention to Y/n's conversation with Lambad, and I realized how close they are. I also want to have a friend like them.

"You grow plants at your residence?" I asked.

"Yup, I am an Amurta graduate from the Akademiya. And now, I'm researching plants from all over Teyvat. I have a lot of plants at home, would you like to see them?"

(Flashback and Dunyarzad's POV ends)

"Since that day, Y/n has given me many plants and flower over the course of their visit. I'm worried for them and their plants back home, no one has been taking care of the plants if they're missing."

"Hmm..."

Tighnari thought long and hard as to what he was going to do. Until he came up with a plan that might help.

"Alright, I might have a plan. So we will..."

The General Mahamatra has returned to Sumeru City after a few days' stay in Gandharva Ville. Collei has made sure that he was in good condition and allowed him to leave. It's strange that Tighnari hasn't come back yet. Hmm...

He decided to take a walk in the Grand Bazaar. At first he went there to take his mind off things. But then, he saw something he thought he wouldn't ever see again.

"Y/n...?"

Cyno couldn't believe his eyes. He saw your figure walking with someone in the Grand Bazaar. His instinct immediately told him to run to you.

"Are you sure you don't need anything else?"

"No, I'm fine Dehya..."

"Are you really sure? You know my lady wouldn't be happy if anything else happened to you."

"I'm 100% sure, Dehya. I'm fi--"

"Y/n?"

Suddenly you heard a call of your name and felt a strong grip on your arm. You turn to look at the person and it's Cyno, the General Mahamatra who is also your boyfriend.

"Cyno..."

"Hah, there you are. You can thank me later for saving them. And also a friend of yours by the name of Tighnari, you can thank him too. I'll see you around, and make sure you keep an eye on your significant other," Dehya said before leaving.

Cyno and you stayed in place for a while. You're happy to see him again, while he has mixed feelings.

"Y/n, I need to talk to you. Let's go somewhere quieter."

"O-oh, okay. Lead the way."

Cyno took your hand in his and took you to a place with far less people.

"So what do you want to talk about... Cyno?"

He froze on the spot for a while before suddenly hugging you tightly, bringing you down to the floor with him.

"Cyno... Aww, it's okay... Shhh, I'm here now. No one will hurt me again."

It took a while for you to completely calm him down. You admit it's the first time you've seen him so vulnerable. The normally serious, curt and stoic Cyno, striking fear into the hearts of researchers of the Akademiya is now so fragile in your arms.

"Where have you gone? What happened? Tell me everything," he asked.

"I... don't know, I can't seem to remember much. But from what Tighnari and Dehya said, they said I was kidnapped."

"Who kidnapped you? Tell me who they are so I can hunt them down."

"I don't know either. Dehya said they were just a few Eremites, but they didn't know why they were targeting me. Maybe they thought that kidnapping the General Mahamatra's significant other can make them easy money, or it could be something else."

Cyno sighed, "It's fine, what matters is that you are here now. I swear if I ever run into them, I'll beat them up mercilessly."

His threat somehow made you laugh as Cyno kissed your forehead.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

[Author's Note]: I'm sorry this took so long, we ran into some technical difficulties a few days ago :v

Publication date: October 21st 2022

#genshin impact #genshin imagines #cyno genshin impact #cyno x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin angst #genshin impact angst #genshin fluff #genshin impact fluff

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realmofvoxtv · 7 months

Text

Theories about Vox's and Alastor's Past

SPOILERS: If you have not watched episode 8 or just season one please read this post later. Also these are theories. These may predict future plot reveals idk.

Trigger Warning: Brief mentions of a toxic/abusive relationships. I mention Valentino too. Please continue with caution. Also, I mention Alastor's possible past as a killer.

So, we got a pretty BIG reveal in episode 8. Which is the photo below:

So, Vox and Alastor have more of a history than what many people believed. Let's first take some notes about the photo.

1. Alastor has his pilot suit

2. This photo is in black and white

3. Vox's screen looks different, it looks like an older model.

4. Vox and Alastor are pretty close together (this is important later).

Ok, let's talk about a few things.

1. Alastor's pilot suit.

This could be reference to the pilot. Or maybe his change is a reference to how, apparently, Alastor has made a deal and may not even own his soul.

2. The photo is in black and white.

And 3. Vox's screen likes like an older model.

Given how Vox seems to be ALL about updating and keeping up with the times, I don't think he was like pretending to be old fashioned for Alastor in recent or present times.

So, odds are this was AGES ago in hell. Like shortly after Vox died. I would say 1950s-1960s.

4. Vox and Alastor are pretty close together.

Now I think this is something important to mention. So far it seems like Alastor has this disconnection from most other males. Alastor mentions his mother in the pilot, but he has yet to mention his father.

He has this hatred for Lucifer (Charlie's DAD and Lilith's HUSBAND).

And at BEST Alastor respects Zestial (A powerful and OLDER MALE overlord). And at WORST he fears Zestial.

Sidenote: Look at that scene between Zestial and Alastor. It really looks like Alastor panics when he realizes that he (Alastor) is losing the respect of people in hell.

So given all of this, Alastor having mostly female friends, and mentioning his mother. But not mentioning his father, and even seeming to feel this need for respect and control (check back on his song in episode 8). I really do think it's possible that Alastor had a father who was in his life. But his father may have instilled fear and the need to gain respect, and perhaps the way Alastor was raised. Alastor felt the need to gain control in his life. (Sidenote: If he did indeed hurt/end people while alive, it's possible that was the driving force).

So the fact that Alastor was standing so close to Vox. And long enough for a photo to be taken? (Sidenote: If this is an old photo, I'm sure this photo would have taken a while to snap. Also is the camera being held by someone else or on a tripod or something? (Remember that this is probably in the 1950s-1960s)). This is important. This tells me that Alastor and Vox, at the time, trusted each other.

So what happened?

Well, let’s go over Alastor's history since we have more of that as of now.

Alastor lived through the Great Depression, and died AT LEAST after the 1920s my best guess is 1930s - 1940s.

He arrived in hell, and according to Vaggie in the pilot, and Mimzy, he wiped out some of the most powerful and eldest Overlords with ease.

IMPORTANT: I think Alastor made this deal shortly after he appeared in hell. His power had to have come from somewhere.

And seven years ago, he disappeared. And only recently he has re-appeared.

Also despite killing overlords and hating new stuff, he allowed Vox around him for that photo.

Now about Vox. It's try to make some sense of his timeline. Apparently the first tv's appeared in 1927. But they only become really popular around 1946 - 1951. So it's likely that Vox and Alastor DID NOT meet each other when they were humans. So, he likely fell some time between 1950 - 1960. HOWEVER, if Alastor did encounter primitive tvs in 1927 to whenever died. It make sense that Alastor would originally accept Vox's presence.

IMPORTANT: I am now sure that Vox died at least before 1970s. As that’s when colored cameras were popularized. And again that photo was in black and white.

So, what happened between them. Well I have some ideas and supporting evidence.

1. Vox and Alastor made a bet/deal and Vox won.

We hear in episode 2 from Valentino that Alastor owes Valentino and Vox something. It is possible that Vox and Alastor similar to Husk and Alastor. Made a bet, in which whoever wins gets the loser's soul. However, Alastor lost and maybe since he doesn't own his soul, he's able to attack Vox. Meanwhile Vox is shocked, as he's weirded out that Alastor is still able to move and (apparently) still has his soul. Perhaps in this theory Vox thought that Alastor found a loophole.

Perhaps Valentino gets involved, and that's how he loses his antenna. Maybe Alastor realized that his secret may be out. And he brought out an angelic weapon trying to end Vox and Valentino. But instead, he has to flee. Also, Vox has a crooked antenna too. Maybe a result of Alastor?

Also, in episode 2, Vox says that they must prevent Charlie from making a deal with Alastor. Interesting...

IDK though where Vox inviting Alastor to the team fits in this theory. Maybe this battle happens after Alastor rejects Vox's offer.

2. One of them saved the other's life

In episode 8, while Alastor sings he taunts the idea that people would think that he would die and, thus, cares for the people in the Happy Hotel. What if this is something that happened between Alastor and Vox. What if when Vox was a younger sinner, he was nearly killed and Alastor came to his defense. Or perhaps it was the other way around.

And Alastor realized that with him not owning his own soul, that he may be forced to kill Vox, like the oldest overlords. So, he cut off Vox. As he was maybe starting to care about Vox (doesn't have to be romantic).

And perhaps that's why Vox invited Alastor to join his team (Which for sure had Vox and Valentino, idk about Velvette). As Vox wanted to have his pal back.

Then Alastor attacks Vox to send the message to Vox.

Also, in this theory. They were likely friends. (Remember the earliest tvs were made in 1927. So, Alastor likely had no problem with Vox's technology as it was around when he was alive, but just not common in most households. )

How close Vox and Alastor are in the photo, does support this theory. Especially since Alastor does seem to have this mistrust around males.

Also if Vox saved Alastor's life. That would explain Valentino saying that Alastor owes them something (aka his afterlife).

3. Alastor tried to swap places with Vox

It's possible that Alastor got close to Vox, and maybe offered Vox a deal. Which was intended to trap Vox and maybe Alastor was hoping that whoever owns his soul would instead want Vox to take leadership. And possibly free Alastor's soul.

Remember how Vox mentioned to the other V's that they must prevent Alastor from making a deal with Charlie? Perhaps Alastor is going to order Charlie to take his place in his deal. (Remember, Charlie's only restriction is that she wouldn't hurt someone. Taking his place in his deal, doesn't directly hurt anyone).

Anyways, Vox realizes what Alastor wanted. Maybe he tries to get Alastor more involved like joining his team. And Alastor keeps pushing a deal. And maybe Alastor or Vox snap and then they battle.

In this theory, Alastor allowing Vox to be so close to him in a photo. Likely would've been an act to pretend that he trusts Vox.

Also, in this theory, maybe Alastor was training Vox to be like him. That way he would be the perfect replacement for his deal. This would also explain Vox's similarities to Alastor.

Maybe whoever owns Alastor's soul, realized his plans and intentions. And that's why Alastor disappeared for 7 years. He was being reminded to never betray them.

4. Perhaps Valentino and maybe Velvette, drove Alastor apart from Vox and vice versa.

We know Vox invited Alastor to join his "team". That hints that at least one more V member was in the team. Likely Valentino.

Remember Alastor's possible past with his father and his fear/hatred of certain male figures. It's possible that such a male sinner like Valentino drove a divide between Alastor and Vox. Perhaps Valentino even framed Vox or Alastor. Which drove them to battle. Vox and Valentino get hurt. And Alastor disappears for 7 years.

So even though in this theory, Alastor once trusted Vox. He doesn't anymore.

So that's all. Share your thoughts below!

#hazbin hotel #alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel theory #hazbin hotel vox #vox #hazbin vox #hazbin alastor #hazbin theory #hazbin hotel spoilers #hazbin spoilers

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aita-blorbos · 9 months

Note

AITA for cooking meth with my former chemistry student, killing two people, and lying to my family about it?

I (50M) was recently diagnosed with inoperable, likely fatal lung cancer. I work at a highschool as a chemistry teacher, but both the pay and the students are terrible. Case in point, my "lab partner" (24M) - who we'll call "Cap'n" because of course he'd insist on a stupid nickname like that - not only completely flunked my class, but then went on to skip college entirely and become a meth-addicted drug dealer instead.

Understandably, I was a little shaken after receiving my diagnosis. It came as a surprise since I've never smoked, I keep myself in relatively fair health, etc. (Recently my wife has taken to vegan bacon- apparently it helps lower cholesterol, but I digress.) I haven't told my family about the situation yet; I'm still trying to figure out how to "let the cat out of the bag", not to mention I doubt my wife will take it very well.

As for deciding to try cooking methamphetamine, well. I'm not really sure how to explain it, exactly, but there's a lot of money in it, money that would benefit my family, and I don't have much to lose anymore. This may sound cliche, but it's as though I'm really awake for the first time in my life.

Cap'n and I formed a partnership by circumstance only; I found out he was in "the business" and offered to either turn him into the DEA or work with me, and he naturally took the second option. He had no idea what he was doing on the chemistry side of things - chili powder in the meth! applying heat to an Erlenmeyer flask! no wonder I flunked him, he clearly learned nothing in my class - but does know the trade.

(Note: Don't buy all of your supplies from the same store.)

Sorry, I'm getting too far into the weeds here, let me skip ahead. We purchased a trailer and drove out to somewhere in the middle of the desert to cook without added attention or need for dramatic cleanup if we had to leave the area in a hurry. Our first batch was, according to Cap'n, "pure glass." After all of that complaining, I had cooked the finest product he'd ever seen on the first try! Goes to show paying attention in school does pay off, ahem. In case any of you were reading this and thinking of skipping off to go and make highly illegal substances and risk years in prison instead of doing your homework. You all still have your entire lives ahead of you. I don't.

After making it, the next logical course of action was to sell. Cap'n said he had some connections - I mean, he is a drug dealer, I saw no reason not to trust him (I now see how little sense that makes.) - and came back with two men with guns pointed at both of us. You must understand, it was a kill or be killed situation. These are the kind of people who don't care about morals, or what's right or ethical or kind. If they'd lived... not just me, but my wife, my son, and my entire family would all be in serious, mortal danger. I had no choice.

Cap'n by this point had been knocked out cold- still alive, but entirely unhelpful with the situation at hand. I was on my own. So I offered to show the goons how I made the "glass", surely they wanted to see how it was done? And they did- I still can't believe that actually worked. But, ah, instead of actually cooking anything, I gave them... let's call it a chemistry lesson. When significant heat is applied to red phosphorus - a key ingredient in Cap'n and I's "extracurricular science project" - it oxidizes. Your result is phosgene gas, highly deadly, hence the "killing two people." One... technically isn't dead yet- somehow he managed to survive, I still don't fully understand how, but I'm... I'm working on it. Cap'n still has yet to get rid of the first body, so... technically I'm not failing to withhold my share of the cleanup, since he hasn't done so with his.

I realize now this is very long, but I wanted to explain the context for my actions. However, a tl;dr for those who might be in a hurry: I was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, so with nothing else to lose decided to try to make some money for my family by cooking and selling methamphetamine. Coincidentally, a former student of mine was also in the business, and I convinced him to work with me. When we tried to put our product on the market, two people tried to kill us, so I acted in self-defense.

But I really, really must know... is what I did wrong? Should I have been content to live the rest of however-long-I-have-left working a miserable job as a public high school chemistry teacher instead? Should I have found a less fatal way of dealing with the two men who tried to kill me and my partner? AITA?

P.S. It's pretty late as I'm typing this so I might've made some errors in coherency or grammar, for which I apologize.

#aita #am i the asshole #unreality

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bradshawsbaby · 1 year

Text

Letters to My Love // Part VIII

We’ll Meet Again

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Bob Floyd x Female Reader

Summary: When you signed up to volunteer with the USO, you never anticipated that you would meet a man like Ensign Robert Floyd. Fate brings you together one balmy spring evening in Charleston—the night before Bob is set to ship off across the Atlantic. Pen and paper become your only means of sharing your heart with the naval aviator who’s captivated it, igniting a correspondence that spans the distance between you. Can love blossom even as war rages and thousands of miles keep you apart?

Word Count: 2.9k

Author’s Note: Oh my goodness, it’s been well over a month since I last updated this story and I sincerely apologize for that! I hope you all enjoy Bobby and Peach’s next set of letters!

Set the Mood: If you’re looking for some 1940s vibes, check out the playlist I made to pair with the story.

The title of this chapter comes from the song of the same name by Vera Lynn, a song which also happens to factor into this part of the story!

Dedication: As always, this story is dedicated to my dear friend, @luminousnotmatter. Clara, thank you, thank you, thank you for your support of this story!

Warnings: Alternating POV, brief allusions to war, and references to rationing. This chapter is mostly fluff, fluff, and more fluff!

March 6, 1943

Sweet Peach,

Looks like I have my own elephant in the room to address this time. You asked for a photograph, and I’ve inundated you with five. Trust me, you think Dottie is bad, but I would dare to wager that she’s not nearly as insufferable as the lugheads I’m bunking with over here. When they caught wind of the fact that I was planning to send you a photo—which, for the record, was not at all forward of you to ask for and which actually gave my ego quite a nice boost—you should have seen the holy hullabaloo they raised. You really would have thought I was planning to feature myself on the front cover of Life Magazine with the way they carried on.

My original intent was to send you my graduation photo from Annapolis. My mother ended up packing a copy of it with my things when I left home—I think she was hoping I’d find a nice girl to give it to. She’ll be thrilled indeed to find that I have. Speaking of which, I hope you don’t mind that I’ve mentioned you in my letters to my family. I feel like you’ve become such a special part of my life, if you don’t mind me saying so, and I wanted them to get to know you a little bit, the way I have.

But anyway, like I was saying, I was glad that my mama tucked that photo away with my things so that I could have something to send you, though it’s by no means as spectacular as the photograph you sent me. When Tommy Boy and Benny found out that was the picture I was planning to send you, however, they started talking a whole bunch of nonsense about how I needed to send more pictures that showed off “the real me.” According to Benny, I look way too stiff and formal in my graduation photo. I told him that I thought the ladies were supposed to love a man in uniform, but he told me that’s apparently not the case when said uniform looks like it’s choking the life out of you. Tommy Boy said I should send you pictures that remind you of the fact that I actually do know how to have a good time—his words, not mine.

Even Paul agreed with them. That traitor.

To make a long story short, Peach, that’s why you’re (hopefully) holding those five photographs in your hand right now. In addition to my Annapolis photo—which my mother still happens to think is nice, even if the fellas don’t—are a few photos of us on board our carrier. I’m glad that you remember what I look like so that you don’t confuse me for my much better looking buddies—I hope seeing us side by side doesn’t do me too much of a disservice. I labeled them on the back for you, but there’s a few shots of me and Paul, then me, Benny, and Tommy Boy, then all four of us, then me standing beside me and Paul’s plane.

You know, now that I really think about it, I have a feeling that Benny and Tommy Boy’s grand scheme all along was to make sure that you had photographic evidence of them to show to all your friends and fellow USO volunteers. I tried to explain to them that you had very kindly informed me that most of the girls you know are spoken for, but they both still seem to have it in their heads that you can find a couple nice girls for them. Like I told you, they’re completely insufferable. Good thing they’re also pretty great guys, otherwise I don’t think I’d be able to stand it.

Anyway, all that to say that now you have some photographs, Peach. More than you asked for, I know, and I hope they don’t disappoint. Perhaps it was you who’s been remembering things with rose-colored glasses all this time and not me? Either way, I’ll stop rambling about it now.

Paul, Tommy Boy, and Benny send all their best. Paul especially appreciates all your kind words, and your thoughts for him and his family. He says he knew you were a great girl, right from the start when you nearly spilled that punch all over him.

Speaking of punch and the dance, congratulations to your friend, Emily! A little bit of good news in the midst of all this madness is always greatly appreciated. And I’m sure that when the time comes, you’re going to be the prettiest bridesmaid there ever was.

Can I be honest with you though, Peach? I’m sure Emily is a lovely girl, especially if she’s lucky enough to count you as a friend, but at the moment, I have to confess that I don’t hold her fiancé in quite as high esteem. Now to be fair, I don’t know much about this Eddie guy, but from what I do know, he has to be one of the most foolish men I’ve ever seen. Before I explain, I should mention that I saw Eddie at the dance that night, right before he pulled Emily out onto the dance floor. You might wonder how, and I’d tell you it was because I was standing a few feet away from the punch table like a total coward, trying to work up the nerve to go talk to you. So the truth, Peach, is that I saw what happened between you and Eddie—how he approached you and asked you if it would be alright if he asked Emily to dance.

On the one hand, I was selfishly relieved that he didn’t ask you. That meant that all hope wasn’t lost, and I might still get a shot to talk to you. But on the other hand, I couldn’t understand how one man could be so stupid, if you’ll pardon my saying so. Like I said, I’m sure Emily is a lovely girl, but I don’t understand how anyone could see you, Peach—especially that night, when you looked so beautiful in your pretty party dress—and think to dance with anyone else. I suppose you’re right though. It is funny how things work out. And as big a fool as I thought Eddie to be at the time, if I saw him right now, I might just shake his hand and thank him. Because if he hadn’t been a fool, I might not be talking to you right now. And let me tell you, Peach, that is as depressing a thought as any I can think of. So three cheers for Eddie and Emily! I wish them nothing but a lifetime of happiness, and I’ll join them in praying for an end to this war so that they can have their big wedding.

It sure is wild to think that in your last letter, you were telling me about your holidays, and now it’s already March. Time feels like it’s flying much too fast, but not quick enough at the same time. Do you know what I mean?

Paul still can’t believe how big Clara and Paul, Jr. are getting every time Natasha sends him updates. In her last few letters, she wrote that Paul, Jr. has finally started talking—she was very smug that his first word was “Mama,” but only because Clara’s first word was “Dada.” And now that he’s started, he just can’t stop. He’s starting to call everyone by their names—or at least his version of their names—and he even says “Dada” now when Natasha points to pictures of Paul. In her most recent letter, Natasha said he was even starting to walk and that she’s been having to chase him all over the house. “He’s going to be a runner, like his daddy,” she wrote. Did I ever tell you, Peach, that Paul and I ran track and field in high school? He could always run circles around me. Paul’s quite the proud papa, and he’s been bragging about his family to anyone on the carrier who will listen—it usually ends up being me, Tommy Boy, and Benny.

I’m sure little Frankie—or maybe not so little anymore—is starting to walk and talk now, too. Has he been giving you, Dottie, and Paddy a run for your money?

Peach, you once called me an honest man and so I don’t want to lie to you now—as much as I’d like to say that I’m sorry to hear you haven’t been attending any more dances, I’m just not as good a man as all that. The truth of the matter is that I’m quite chuffed (can you tell I’ve been spending time with a lot of Brits?) to hear that you’re saving a dance for me. It makes me want to finish this war and get home all the faster, knowing you’ll be there to welcome me back.

You know, we’ve actually gotten to enjoy a few USO performances over here recently. It does a lot to lift our spirits, and it always makes me think of you. One of the singers performed that Vera Lynn song, “We’ll Meet Again” the other night and I couldn’t help but imagine how nice it would be to be dancing with you again. I thought I might share some of the lyrics with you, the ones that really made me think of you:

We'll meet again

Don't know where

Don't know when

But I know we'll meet again some sunny day

Keep smiling through

Just like you always do

'Til the blue skies chase those dark clouds far away

I believe deep down in my heart that we’re going to meet again, Peach. Just like the song says, I might not know where and I might not know when, but I know it’s going to happen. And what a happy day that will be, when I get to see your smiling face again.

I haven’t even sent this letter yet, and I already can’t wait to receive your next one. I hope whatever you’re doing right now, Peach, it’s bringing a smile to your face and that you’re doing real well.

Until next time and until we meet again.

Most Truly Yours,

Bobby

P.S. I’m very embarrassed to admit that for a farm boy from Iowa, I’ve got quite the brown thumb. My only advice to you and Dottie when it comes to your Victory Garden is don’t do anything I would do!

April 2, 1943

Dear Bobby,

What an absolute treat to receive not one, but five wonderful photographs with your last letter! You can tell Tommy Boy and Benny that they were dead wrong—I would have been MORE than happy with just your photo from Annapolis! I think you look remarkably handsome in it, and I’m very thankful to your mother for thinking to send it along with you. The other photos you included are just the icing on the cake.

I love getting a tiny glimpse of what life is like for you over there, and it’s so good to see all of you smiling, despite the circumstances. Tommy Boy, Benny, and Paul all look very handsome as well, but between the two of us, I don’t think any of them could hold a candle to you. Still, it does make me wonder if being handsome is a requirement for joining the Navy nowadays? If so, I’d say you all certainly fit the bill.

Dottie was quite eager to see your picture, and I’ll have you know that she declared you even more handsome than she had been imagining—and my big sister has quite a vivid imagination, let me tell you. Paddy teased her about it endlessly, saying that maybe she should find herself her own pen pal considering how much she seems to enjoy sticking her nose into my correspondences. Just to get back at him, Dottie traded our extra coffee rations with one of our neighbors for more sugar rations. Paddy grumbled about it the next few mornings, but Dottie made it up to him with a chocolate cake after dinner.

I’ve been keeping all your photographs on the desk in my room, Bobby, and I’m looking at them right now as I pen this letter. I promise you that I certainly wasn’t remembering you through rose-colored glasses and that, in fact, you’re even more handsome than my faulty memory could recall. I especially love the pictures of you with your friends—your smiles are all so bright that I can actually feel the joy of your friendship just by looking at them. You have such a lovely smile, Bobby, made all the lovelier by the fact that you have such a wonderful heart underneath.

While we’re on the topic of photographs, it seems that you and I are starting to play tag with them. Since you sent such sweet photographs of you and the boys, I thought I might send a photograph I really loved that we took while we were home in Georgia for Christmas. That’s me, Dottie, Frankie, and Paddy on Christmas morning, right before everyone started opening their presents. Since I talk about them all so much in my letters, I thought it might be nice for you to put some faces with their names. Besides Paddy, of course, since you already know his face.

By the way, I’m truly touched to know that you’ve mentioned me in your letters to your family. Of course I don’t mind it! My family knows all about you, so it seems only right that you should be able to tell your family about me. Maybe one day we’ll all get to be together to share some peach cobbler and pumpkin pie!

Tell Paul, Benny, and Tommy Boy that I say hello and that they looked great in those photos! Tell Tommy Boy and Benny in particular to keep their chins up, and that they’ll find two lucky girls to call their own very soon! And you can tell Paul that I’m still mortified about that punch spill.

Oh, Bobby, I’m so embarrassed to think you overheard my conversation with Eddie that night! Truth be told, in that moment, I felt so silly. I thought for sure he was going to ask me to dance, so I felt a bit ridiculous when it turned out he just wanted to know if it was okay to ask Emily. In all honesty, I really wanted to leave after that. But then you showed up and everything changed. My whole night turned around. Dottie always says that everything happens for a reason, and I really do believe that. I think Eddie and Emily were meant to meet each other that night, just like you and I were meant to meet each other, Bobby. Knowing you has brought so much goodness to my life, and I can’t imagine what it would be like if our paths hadn’t crossed that night. So now I can say thank goodness for Eddie wanting to dance with Emily!

I know exactly what you mean about time, Bobby. Dottie and I were just talking about how we want time to slow down because it feels like Frankie is growing up way too fast! Just like Paul, Jr., Frankie is walking now and we have to be vigilant at all times to make sure he isn’t getting into any mischief. Just the other day, he somehow managed to get his hands on Paddy’s keys and hide them under the couch. We spent hours looking for them! He also said his first word a couple months ago—Dada. Thankfully, Paddy was home to hear it, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so proud. Dottie pretended to be miffed—”Fifteen hours I spend in labor with that boy and he says ‘Dada’ first!”—but she really was excited, too. Now he also says Mama, hi, bye-bye, and milk. Sometimes he’ll say doggy, too, when we see dogs out on the street. The funniest thing is that he seems to have given me the nickname “Cookie.” Whenever Dottie asks him who I am, he laughs and says, “Cookie!” So to you, I’m Peach and to my nephew, I’m Cookie. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve all these food nicknames!

I’m so thrilled to hear that the USO has finally made its way over to you boys! I can’t imagine what you’re all going through over there, but I know that you do deserve an opportunity to relax and unwind.

That Vera Lynn song is so beautiful, and my heart is so full to hear that it made you think of me, Bobby. After I read your letter, I remembered that we actually have a record of that song in the house, so I immediately went and put it on. I admit, I played it a few times and imagined that you were here dancing with me. We will meet again, Bobby, I just know it. I feel it in my heart, too, the same as you. And the sun will be shining bright when we do, just like the song says.

I hope the sun is shining on you right now, Bobby, and that wherever you are, you’re safe and you know that I’m thinking of you and wishing you the speediest return home.

Until we meet again, know that I’m sending you all my very best.

Most Affectionately Yours,

Peach

P.S. Dottie and I have been cursed with brown thumbs ourselves, but we’re determined to make this Victory Garden work! I’ll keep you updated on our efforts!

P.P.S. I know it will probably be a while until we hear from each other again, so I want to wish you a very Happy Easter. Stay safe, Bobby!

#robert bob floyd #bob floyd #bob floyd x reader #x reader #x female reader #top gun #top gun: maverick #lewis pullman #WWII AU #1940s AU

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