#get like halfway along a problem and it feels like a familiar flow

[autogeneity]

good lawwwd my maths is rustyyyyy

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

too big

a/n: honestly, bless this man for being such a dick (and having such a dick, holy fuck i’m gonna pass out)

summary: cock throbbing in his grasp, he stared down at your pussy as he swept his intimidating girth against it, “you know, you have been such a fucking tease for way too long… only giving me handjobs or rubbing that little cunt on me, basically taunting me, while the rest of these assholes get to have you, all of you, anyway they want,” he stopped nudging your buzzing pearl and instead dragged through your petals till he found your opening, quivering and dripping as he nuzzled against it, “I’m fucking tired…” he groaned slowly, “…so I’m done waiting… I’ll finally feel this fucking pussy wrapped around me whether you like it or not.” 

warnings: innocent!reader x frat!bucky barnes, stepbro!steve rogers, frat!ari levinson, marc spector, ransom drysdale, curtis everett, lloyd hansen, andy barber, thor odinson, scott lang, miguel o'hara, frank castle, billy russo, smut, dark content, dubcon halfway through, college au, polyamory, kissing, corruption kink, shower sex, bondage, exhibitionism, voyeurism, crying, dacryphilia, dirty talk, size kink, gaping, belly bulge, manhandling, overstimulation, orgasm denial, edging, multiple orgasms, squirting, impact play, pain kink, spit kink, choking, masturbation, oral, fingering, anal, pussyjob, penetrative sex, unprotected sex, creampie, bukkake

word count: 6770

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“Ah, not yet,” your stepbrother groaned over the booming music, that rocked the frat house, as he cut the sip of his beer short, “if you really don’t wanna be here anymore, can’t you just like go up to my room and wait?”

“Seriously?” a long sigh flowed from your lungs, “then I’d rather just walk back to my dorm alone, I don’t even know why you insist on escorting me like I’m a child.” 

“Because you shouldn’t walk alone at night,” Steve shot back as his gaze continued to keep his focus on the party around him, “don’t be a brat, just go wait upstairs.”

“Well, can’t someone else do it then if you’re so busy, your majesty,” your comment earned you a glare. 

“You’re my responsibility,” he stated, the bridge of his nose twitching heatedly as he glowered down at you, “I’m not just gonna dump my problems on my friends for them to deal with.”

“Wow, okay,” you nearly choked on the lump that promptly formed in your throat, “I’m sorry for being such a burden then,” you muttered before spinning around and storming up the stairs. 

The door to Steve’s room slammed shut like a crack of thunder behind your spine. 

Chest still heaving, you stared down at the ground for a long moment before you finally managed to force your feet to move once again and peel you away from the door. You flopped down onto the bed with a heated huff, blinking up at the ceiling before your gaze flickered to the night sky twinkling on the other side of the windows. 

Though as you laid there, your stepbrother's last words nearly swallowing you whole as they played on a loop in your brain like a plague, a different sound suddenly caught your ears and caused your cheeks to instantly heat up with something other than fury. 

Reverberating through the thin wall, shrill moans were tangled with deep ones, some that were familiar, though you didn’t place them till the female whines started screaming out his name. 

“Bucky, Bucky, Bucky–,” the cries rang out each time the thud of a headboard thumped against the wall. 

And though you couldn’t make out every word, you still thought that you could hear Bucky’s low timbre crackle in dirty soliloquies, fractured sentences that soon persuaded your hands to subconsciously drift down along your frame.

Though by the time that your fingers had found their way down your pants and stuffed up your hole, rocking them to the same rhythm of the pounding that nearly cracked through the wall, the door to Steve’s room was suddenly ripped open and you tore your hand away from your cunt. 

“I am only gonna say this once, so you better fucking listen up,” he grumbled as he kicked the door shut behind him, “I–… am sorry…” he struggled to huff, “there, you happy now?” 

The lewd noises that echoed through the wall didn’t faze him at all as he apparently was so used to such background noise in the house that he barely registered it at all. 

“So, you don’t think I’m a burden?” you uttered, propping yourself up on your elbows as doubt stiffened your words. 

“…no…” resisting a roll of his eye, he instead faintly shook his head as he began to walk closer, “you’re not a burden… a brat? Yes,” he stated, “but I guess you’re not that bad…” a slight smirk twitched at his lip before he then bent down over you and kissed you. 

Though as it turned out to not just be a swift peck he’d sought after as he layed down at top of you, one of your palms pressed against the centre of his burly chest before you twisted your lips out of the way, “wait, wait,” your head faintly shook as you tried not to succumb to his intoxicating kiss, “no, if we do this, then we’ll both just fall asleep here.” 

“Would that really be so bad?” a soft scoff crackled in his throat. 

“I wanna sleep in my own bed tonight,” you tilted your head as you blinked up at him, your brows gently knitting together at the plea, “I didn’t even wanna come tonight.” 

“Oh, come on,” he leaned back down till his nose ghosted against your own, “I’m too tired to walk across campus right now, and if I’m tired, then I can only imagine how you must feel. Come on, just crash here tonight, do it for me,” he croaked, “and you’ve been so boring all evening, barely had a sip of anything, so at the very least you owe me this.” 

“But–”

“You can pop in some earplugs, then you won’t even know the difference,” his lips began to flutter across your cheekbone till his voice tickled your ear, all the while the party right downstairs still boomed above his manipulative murmurs. 

And though you knew that it wasn’t true, that even if you could somehow block out the noise, you still couldn’t stop the base from rocking the entire house and make you dizzy as you laid in your stepbrother’s bed. So, as fear arose inside of you at the thought of telling him no, you instead heard yourself timidly whispering, “…alright…”

You’d managed to slip out of Steve’s bed without waking him up before you then sneaked down the long hallway to borrow the upstairs shower. 

Though once the water was drizzling down upon you, in the relaxing steam that floated around your form, your thoughts couldn’t help but drift back to the night before, though not of the manner that your stepbrother had put you to sleep, but instead to the sinful sounds of his best friend that you’d overheard. 

Swiftly, the pads of your fingers began to draw needy circles over your clit to try and dull the scandalously intruding thoughts, though even when you detached the showerhead to spray the gush of water directly against your pussy, a dire problem continued to stand in your way, like you were peeping over the edge of a cliff, too petrified to jump by yourself. 

However, as time began to slip away from you, the door suddenly barged open.  

Your stifled whimpers promptly ceased echoing in the shower as your eyes snapped to the figure now standing in the doorway. 

“B-Bucky!” you dropped the showerhead in your humiliated scramble to twist your nude frame out of his sight. Picking it up as it began to spray up into your face, you swiftly spun around and splayed your hands across your frame in a feeble attempt at covering yourself up.   

“You do know that this door locks, right?” he chuckled as he gently pushed the door closed behind him, the one that you had apparently still been half-asleep when you forgot to bolt, “that’s twice now,” he pointed out with a grin as his stare pierced through the fogged up glass, deja vu smacking you in the face as well, as he reminded you of the incident that had happened over the summer break, “I think if it ever happens a third, then I should win a prize or something.”

“Get out!” you screeched, embarrassment eating you alive. 

“Why? So that you can go back to getting yourself off?” 

“I–,” your head swiftly soared to catch sight of him over your shoulder, “I wasn’t–…” before you squeezed your eyes shut and huffed, “oh my god, I hate you…” 

“I know,” he simply smiled at your groan before he shifted to go grab his toothbrush from the cabinet.

But before he could be on his way and slip back out, your head started spinning as your gaze traced him on the other side of the glass, going about his business as if you weren’t standing stark naked one single meter away from him. 

“W-wait!” you then heard yourself squeak right as his fingers reached for the door handle. Glancing back over his shoulder at you, the words that then slipped out of your lungs were accompanied by a shiver that trickled down your spine, “…could you–…”

Blinking back at you, his eyes faintly squinted as a smirk plagued his lips, “could I what?” 

“Well, I just–,” your breathing was ragged as you averted your gaze, “I’m having a bit of trouble making myself–, uhm…”

“Aw,” his broad shoulders gently shook in a laugh as he then began to mock, “what’s the matter? Can you not make your little pussy cum? Have you still not learned how to do it on your own?” 

“I–, n-no!” you hastily lied, “I’ve totally done it myself, loads of times, what are you talking about?” even though the truth actually was that the sought-after high was still too overwhelming to reach on your own, “I just right now when I tried that it won’t happen… I–… I don’t know what’s wrong with me…” 

“Well, maybe you’re doing it wrong,” he shrugged, “or school’s just got you crazy stressed out or something, so it can’t snap into place.”

“Yeah?” a small drop of assurance settled within your belly, “…so would you maybe–, I mean, I know that you’ve done it for me before, but still, could you maybe help me out a tiny bit?” 

A big huff flowed from his lungs as Bucky then pretended that your request was something he wished to be no part of, “alright,” he teasingly grumbled, “I guess I could lend you a hand, but just saying, it’ll cost you.” 

“Cost me?” 

“Yeah,” he tried to keep a straight face, “I don’t give out favours free of charge.” 

“Fine,” a short giggle bubbled out of you as you assumed his dramatic terms were but a joke, “I promise I’ll be your getaway driver on your next diamond heist or whatever.”  

His tongue briefly flickered out to wet his lips before he simply chuckled condescendingly in return, “you’re cute,” before he then began to strip out of his sleepwear. 

Though you probably shouldn’t have been surprised, in your mind, you had merely pictured that he would stay on the other glass a moment longer to give you the guidance that you needed, only explaining what you should do and nothing more before he then left you to carry it out on your own. 

“What are you doing?” your eyes instinctively grew wide as his clothing hit the tile floor. 

“Sweetheart,” his head swiftly cocked, “you literally just begged all pathetically for my help,” he pushed his underwear down, revealing his beast of a cock, already half-hard and heavy, resting like a freaking baseball bat against the top of his thigh, “so that’s what I’m doing,” he brashly stated before he then joined you in the shower. 

Grabbing your face with both of his hands, he then held you in a kiss until the tension in your body gradually began to fade away. When you started to suck in deep breaths through your nose, truly landing in the devilish deal you’d just agreed to, one of his fiendishly, inked hands then began to wander. Skimming down over your wet skin, his palm first caught your tits, briefly giving one of your nipples a teasing tug, before his touch strayed down to knead your ass and draw you that much closer to his frame. 

With the showerhead still clutched in your hands, hugged closely to your body, and gushing onto the both of you, the drawn-out kiss then broke when Bucky’s hand snuck down between your legs. Swiftly, he sought out your clit, already puffy and throbbing from the way you had bullied it mere moments earlier. 

However, then, as you blinked up at him, mouth falling open in a gasp, he suddenly spun you around for your spine to be pressed up against his brawny chest, before stealing the showerhead from your grasp. 

Extending his thumb, he dexterously switched the settings and changed the flow of water from several small and gentle streams to one thicker, and much stronger, jet. 

A whimper rolled off your tongue as he then held the gush down to spray its firm pressure directly against your little pearl, and as you had already been so worked up when he found you, it didn’t take very long at all before you finally tasted that sweet high that you still weren’t yet brave enough to catch on your own, his expert touch instead guiding you there. Your eyes squeezed shut as, not only your head fell back against his broad shoulder, but your knees also threatened to give out, lending him to snake a swift arm around your waist to keep you from collapsing entirely. 

“Oh my god,” you panted, completely melted back against his bulky physique, “how did you do that so fast?”

And as the muffled grunt, that had vibrated in his chest at your unravelling, morphed into a cocky chuckle that tickled your ear, he simply murmured, “you’re welcome,” before he then pressed a peck to the top of your head and began to tilt your body back away from his. 

But at the loss of contact, one of your hands suddenly shot out in desperation before he could disappear completely, “wait, please I–,” you gasped foggily, “more–, I want more–, please don’t stop–”

And as you peeked over your shoulder to meet his eye, a glimmer flickered in his blue ones, “oh, looks like someone’s getting greedy,” he smirked, “you finally developing a taste for all of this? Becoming the little slut we’ve been telling you all along that you actually are?” 

“No, I’m not a–,” you couldn’t even echo the same word out loud, “…Bucky, please? I just–, I can’t do it on my own–, I mean, not like you or any of the others can…”

“Well, you’ve just not had enough practice yet,” his palm swept up to find your jaw as he took a step back in your proximity, “you’ll get there if you just listen to Steve and stick with all of us,” he uttered as he turned your head for his lips to capture your own.

As he kissed you over your shoulder, his now raging hard-on digging into the softness of your bottom, he then blindly slotted the showerhead back into place on the wall, lending the water to drizzle down over the both of you as he swept his tongue ravenously against your own. 

His feet then began to shift on the wet floor, and steered your own to move slightly as well, till your tits smooshed up against the cool tile wall of the shower. When his lips then faded and began to migrate down and past your neck, you continued to peek back at him as he then sank down onto his knees behind you. Grabbing your hips, he yanked your butt closer to his head till your back was arched and your arms were folded up against the wall for support. Burying his face in between your thighs, he then spent the next chunk of time eating you out till he once again had you tumbling over the edge.

Though after you’d cum this second time, he feverishly reached up and shut off the water before he plucked up your dazed form and dragged you out of the shower, planting you instead on the counter beside the sink. 

Still all dizzy, you swayed slightly as Bucky then took a few steps away from you, enough to be out of your reach. 

“I wanna see how many of your fingers you can fit inside that pretty little pussy of yours,” he demanded as his stare coasted down to your core, utterly on display as your limp legs hadn’t drifted closed yet. 

“W-what?” you breathed, still too hazy to keep your heavy eyelids from temporarily blinding your vision. 

“You heard what I said,” he briefly let a dollop of spit drop down into his open palm before he then grasped his thick girth and initiated a silky stroke, “show me.”  

Though try as you might, the max you managed to cram inside of your drooling cunt was three of your digits as your stare stayed glued on his fist working over his big cock. 

However as he watched you reach your capacity, he then stepped back up and, with his free hand, joined your own touch between your thighs. At first, as his gaze found your own and held it captive, the tips of his fingers traced your hole, all stretched out by your comparatively thin digits. But then, gradually, he traded your own touch out with his. To begin with, his finger hooked under one of your knuckles to pull one of your fingers out of your pussy, barely waiting any time at all before he then swapped places with it and slid his own digit in beside the two of yours that remained.

The stretch sent a shiver trickling down your spine and you swiftly tilted closer to crash your lips messily against his own. 

And soon, none of your own fingers remained as he instead stuffed you full. Though you thought that two of his thick digits were a struggle, he somehow managed to work himself up and double it to four after he had coaxed your own touch away, his thumb being the only one he couldn’t cram inside, instead stretching it up to sweep against your swollen clit and roll it under the broad pad. His other hand stayed on his dick as your pussy began to stain his fingers with your cream, leaking needily into his palm. 

Though just before you could cum once more, his zealous touch suddenly disappeared, denying you of the luxurious sensation once again. As you desperately reached down to take care of it yourself, he swiftly swatted your hand out of the way. 

Both of his palms, still sticky from your essence as well as his own spit, then floated up to grasp the sides of your face before he then uttered, “grab my cock,” and frantically, you fulfilled his command as you shared his hot breath, “both hands, that’s it, good girl,” a gravelly groan rumbled in his throat as you wrapped your fingers around his fat girth and attempted a gentle stroke, “rub it against you,” he murmured as the tip of him was already mere inches away from your throbbing clit, “rub that big cock against your pussy, go on.”

And as you then tilted your hips and began to drag his hardness through your folds, parting your petals for his girth, a pout found your lips as you peeked down at his size as your juices soaked him, “why do you have to be so fucking big…” you heard yourself whine, “it’s not fair…” 

“Aw, what’s wrong, huh?” he huffed out a cocky grin as he promptly leaned in a bit closer, “are you tired of not being able to take me? I thought you liked all the fun ways we make it work since you won’t let me even try to stick it in, how scaredlittle you think I’m too huge for it to ever work.” 

“You are, that hasn’t changed, I’ve accepted that,” you puffed as you continued to tickle the bulbous tip of him against your core and drive yourself closer to the edge once again, “but I can just still, simultaneously, be a little sad about how I can’t do that with you, even with how crazy you make me, which is a mystery in itself, I don’t get it, frankly I think you’re a complete and utter asshole, but–, fuck… it’s like I lose my mind when I’m around you… all of you… I can’t even enter this house without forgetting my own name…” 

But then, just before you could catch another orgasm, a low growl crackled in Bucky’s throat as your words caused him to finally snap, grasping your frame and tossing you over his shoulder before he nearly ripped the door off its hinges from how feverishly he yanked it open.

Stalking down the long hallways that slithered throughout the upper floor of the fraternity, fear arose in you at the thought that someone might spot you, though as you squeaked about it through your billowing laughter, Bucky only smacked your ass in return, lending you not to notice the handful of doors that clicked open behind you. 

As you reached his room, your giggle still remained as he dropped you down upon his bed. You were too focused on him as he sank down over you to notice how he hadn’t bothered to shut the door. 

Messily making out, his fingertips tickled your sides as he wrestled you lightly, grasping both of your wrists and pinning them above your head before his hips then grinded down against your own. Though your legs didn’t manage to tangle around him before he then flipped you around to lay on your stomach beneath him. 

It continued to be all fun and game as he twisted your squirming hands down to the small of your back, even as he reached for a pair of handcuffs that rested on his nightstand before swiftly clicking them around your wrists, as you merely thought that it was something new and exciting, not him on the verge of crossing a line.

Though as he then yanked your hips up off of the mattress, your knees curling beneath you as your face and shoulder smooshed further into the bed, you playfully wiggled your ass back at him as you fully expected to feel the touch of his fingers or his tongue once again. But to your surprise, when you did feel something brush against your weepy cunt, your giggle finally ceased, gradually fizzling out as you realised what exactly it was that you were feeling caress against you. 

“Wait, what are you–,” your neck twisted further as you tried to catch a glimpse of what he was doing, though only managed to spot his silhouette looming behind you. 

Cock throbbing in his grasp, he stared down at your pussy as he swept his intimidating girth against it, “you know, you have been such a fucking tease for way too long… only giving me handjobs or rubbing that little cunt on me, basically taunting me, while the rest of these assholes get to have you, all of you, anyway they want,” he stopped nudging your buzzing pearl and instead dragged through your petals till he found your opening, quivering and dripping as he nuzzled against it, “I’m fucking tired…” he groaned slowly, “…so I’m done waiting… I’ll finally feel this fucking pussy wrapped around me whether you like it or not.” 

“But I’m not ready–, Bucky, wait!” you tried to wiggle away from him, but he only grasped your ass and brought you back flush against him, “let’s just talk about this for a second–”

“What’s there to talk about, huh?”

“It won’t fit!” you yelped into the sheets.

“Yeah, probably not,” he smirked from behind you, “but I don’t care… I’ll just make it fit,” he uttered before then attempting to sink it in, though without success, his massive cock instead slipped through your slick folds and dragged roughly across your clit. 

“Bucky, please! I’m scared!” you whimpered as his fat tip continued to nudge at your hole, smearing the mess leaking out of you further against your core, “you’re gonna break me in half!” 

“I know, fuck, I know,” he chuckled darkly as he kept up his efforts, “your little pussy is just too goddamn tiny for this,” he pointed out before continuing anyway and trying once again to bury himself in your warmth, though this time failing as well, “fucking shit!” he exclaimed as rage began to bubble within him, making him huff like a bull behind you. 

With a smack against your propped-up ass, he then took a step back before making his way around the bed to the nightstand. Once he’d grabbed a bottle of lube, he briefly dipped down to smother your frown with a peck. 

“Please, Bucky,” you tried to plea once again, “you can stop now. You tried and it didn’t work, so just–, we can do something else, whatever you want, just please don’t try again.”

“But this is the only thing I want,” he murmured before kissing your nose and disappearing back behind you once more.

As he settled back into the same position as before, he liberally glazed his cock with some of the lube, as well as smearing some on your already slick pussy too, even pushing some inside of you with one of his long fingers. 

And as he then attempted a third time, snapping his hips with all of his might, the very tip of him finally popped inside and an actual scream erupted from your lungs, partly from the severe stretch as he split you open with his monstrous girth, but also just from the pure shock of it miraculously working. 

“Ah!” your vision blurred up with tears and you could barely breathe as your poor pussy ached around his obscene size he tried to wreck you with, “Buck! It’s too big! It’s too big!” your mind began to grow fuzzy as you’d never experienced such an intense sensation before, “o-oh, fuck, please take it out, it hurts!” 

“Oh yeah, does it?” his palm swept up the goosebump-ridden skin on your back before he caught the cuffs that linked your wrists together, crudely tugging on them to drag you further down onto his cock, cramming even more of him inside of you, “it sure fucking looks like it, goddamn… I should take a picture of this shit, you’re so fucking stretched out right now, it looks like you might actually break on me,” his other hand drifted to your core to trace the way you struggled to take him. 

“Oh fuck, too much–, too much!” you began to sob as he began to buck his hips and bury himself further inside of you, “t-that’s too deep, Bucky!” 

“No, it’s not,” he chuckled breathlessly through a groan as he continued to stretch you to fit him, “I’m barely halfway.”

“Half–,” you gasped as it already felt as if he was so deep that you could feel him everywhere. From your toes that curled to all the way up in your fucking throat, there wasn’t a single part of you that didn’t flicker and spark for him like a bomb about to go off. 

And as he huffed behind you with every laboured thrust, his hips snapping to crave his way deeper into your sweetness, his hands on you got rougher as they began to come down upon the curve of your bottom, smacking it and making you clench achingly around him at each blow. 

The sniffles that filtered through your strangled moans then found Bucky’s ears, and he briefly tore his stare away from where he split you apart, to glance to your face and spot the tears that rolled down your cheeks. 

“Are you fucking crying right now?” he couldn’t help but huff out a faint and amazed laugh, “aw, that’s okay, baby,” your mouth then fell open as one of his thumbs moved to plug up your tiny asshole, “you can cry if you need to…”

But through the piercing stretch that terrorised your soul, like shocks of electricity flicking through your nerves, you began to notice the euphoria slowly overpowering the pain, confusing you from how the two mixed and mingled. And then suddenly, Bucky’s greedy thrusts started to sound wetter and wetter with each sloppy slam into your soaked pussy, soon coming to a crescendo when your walls promptly squeezed down around him so tight that it forced his huge cock back out as your cunt achingly gushed around nothing and your wobbly knees collapsed beneath you.

Though as you came crashing down upon the bed, he wasted no time at all sinking down with you, “fuck… you’re doing so good for me, you know that?” your eyes rolled as he hummed directly in your ear, “just a little bit more, okay? Just relax around me, let me in,” he groaned as he struggled a moment to stuff himself back inside, pushing past your trembling sensitivity to make room for his length once again.

Though when he sank in, a low and blissful groan rumbling in his chest, it vibrated against your spine as he nearly crushed you as his hips began to roll and rut down into you, burying himself even deeper than before. 

“Be a good girl, just lay right there and take it while I finally get to use this tiny little hole of yours,” he grunted as his efforts overstimulated you so fiercely that your legs trembled violently beneath him and drool began to trickle out of the corner of your mouth, soaking the sheets below, “mould you so good around me, make you take me, fit me perfectly, just the way you should, make you a pretty little fuckdoll for me…”

Though your face was twisted to face the door, it was a struggle to keep your eyes open, lending you only to notice the figures that filled up the exit when one of them took a step to the side and spoke up as he knocked on the neighbouring door. 

“Yo, Steve!” Thor slammed his fist against the door till it creaked open, “bro, come out here.” 

“Yeah, you gotta see this, man,” Ransom called out as well, his feet remaining in the threshold so his stare could stay glued on your cockdrunk visage. 

And when your stepbrother stepped out to spot what was happening just in the next room, he swiftly leaned his form against the doorframe as a wide grin bloomed on his features. 

“Holy shit,” Steve chuckled breathlessly as he stared at the pair of you in amazement, “well fucking done, Buck!” 

“Thank you,” the man that squished you further into the mattress chuckled smugly as he tangled a burly arm under your chin and let his inked bicep flex against your pulse and choke you lightly, “thank you very much.” 

“I mean, I for sure thought you’d have to hold out even longer,” Steve tilted his head slightly to catch a glimpse of how your cream stained Bucky’s cock as it helplessly leaked out of you, forming a messy ring around his fat girth. 

“Well, sometimes patience doesn’t get you what you want. Sometimes you just gotta stop playing by the rules and make life your bitch,” Bucky grunted before his lips began to nibble at your ear, “right, Y/n?” 

Scarcely registering their sinful words through your fucked out fog, all you could reply with was a slurred, “mmngmphh…” your mumbled moan only triggering Bucky to grow even more cocky than before. 

“That’s right, baby, I knew you could fucking take it. You didn’t, but I sure did,” he panted against your neck, “see, if you weren’t such a little prude, then you would have gotten this big dick so much earlier, wouldn’t you have liked that? Instead of being such a brat and making me wait till everyone else had gotten to use you as their own personal little fucktoy to get off with.”

And though you tried to answer, you instead heard your stepbrother chuckle over your pathetic moans, “fucking hell, look at how wrecked she is. Buddy, I think you might have actually broken her,” before he glanced over his shoulder at Thor, “hey, go get the other. Wake them up if you have to, they shouldn’t miss another second of this shit.” 

You barely noticed as the rest of the fraternity slowly filtered into the room as your eyes soon fluttered shut and yet another orgasm rocked your sense, your cunt creaming all over Bucky’s excruciatingly thick cock. When he then suddenly flipped you around onto your back, you dizzily discovered the audience that had formed as you hazily blinked around the crowd. Some were lined up behind Bucky, others off to the side of where you laid melted against the sheets, and a few remained staring in the doorway, though over half of them had already freed their own dicks, while the remaining few that hadn’t yet still only palmed their palpable tents as they watched intently.

A shrill yelp bubbled up your lungs as Bucky then tapped the hefty weight of his length against your overly sensitive pussy. Your legs were folded and crumbled on either side of your frame as he sloppily rubbed himself against your mess, letting the rest see just how much he had ruined you.

“You guys wanna see how pretty I can make her gape for me?” Bucky asked the others as his gaze stayed glued to your little hole, nuzzling against it as it looked as if it had snapped back into place, almost like he’d never been in there at all. 

And with the cheers that promptly rumbled behind him, he then repeatedly rammed his cock inside your cunt before retreating completely with the lewd pop of your poor pussy letting go of his monstrous girth. Each time he slid inside, he gradually ventured further, burying himself deeper before pulling back out and watching as your hole steadily relaxed for him, moulding to his size. At first, your leaky entrance only winked back at them all a brief moment before snapping back into place, till you eventually gaped properly enough for them all to applaud in awe as Bucky paused a moment to grasp you with both of his broad palms and spread you wide, holding you open for everyone a moment longer before your hole quivered back into place. 

Struggling to keep your eyes open, you then forced them to blink as you felt Frank momentarily step up beside you and swiftly free your hands from the cuffs that still kept them bound behind your back, seeing as you couldn’t possibly escape now that you were so cockdrunk you could barely stay awake. 

All of their deep voices and lewd comments washed over you like a stormy sea, crashing into you and making you even more lightheaded than before. 

Ari then shifted to kneel down next to you and scoop his palm under your head, tilting it up for your hazy vision to flicker down to the unobscured crude view of how your pretty pussy got impaled by Bucky’s obscene size, stretching you apart way beyond your limits. 

And as he mercilessly drove his cock into you, his balls managed to smack against your slick skin as he finally buried himself completely inside of your warmth, the tip of him not only diving deep enough to kiss your cervix, but to bump and bully against it with such force that it caused you to repeatedly lose your breath. 

You had never felt so full before in your life, surely too full, as even though you were blinking down at the hard evidence before you, you still didn’t fully believe that you were capable of such feats, of taking him the way that he made you. 

“O-oh, fuck…” you shakily whimpered when you caught sight of the way his monstrous size bulged through your belly, making it seem as though he was fucking straight through your pussy and into your guts.

Your teary eyes then flickered to find Steve in the crowd before one of your hands weakly grabbed for him. Seeing as it was the very least he could do, he granted you the comfort and closed the short distance, trading places with the frat’s president, before he grasped your trembling palm in his own. 

“Damn,” you faintly heard Curtis mutter as he stared, his girth ever throbbing in his fist, mirroring the rest of them, “maybe you should just make her cockwarm you for the rest of the day, just as a precaution to make it easier for you next time.”

“Oh, you’re right, she might need that princess treatment,” Steve murmured as he raised the back of your palm up to his lips for a brief peck, “you’d let him do that, wouldn’t you, sis? For me? Be good for my best friend?”

“Uh-huh,” you found yourself panting as their words flew straight over your dazed head as it jostled on the mattress each time Bucky’s hips snapped against your ass, your zealous slickness being so messy at this point that it clung to his skin as well and kept you both connected in glossy strings, like spiderwebs, each time his efforts retreated. 

“Shit,” Marc groaned as his fingers, tightly wrapped around his own dick, began to speed up, “this is so hot… I think I might blow my load.” 

“Me too, fuck,” Scott harmonized. 

“Cum in her mouth,” Bucky uttered, “go on, be a good girl, open up for them,” before you then felt your stepbrother beside you pry your lips apart mid-moan. 

And as the pair stepped up and, one by one, painted your breathless tongue with their essence, you heard Lloyd rumble firmly, “you better swallow every single drop they give you, sweetheart.”

“Yeah, doesn’t it taste good what you do to them, to all of us?” Billy purred before he let a dollop of spit drop from his lips into his palm as he paused momentarily before silkily stroking his length one more to you. 

“Maybe if you beg real pretty, it could become your dessert after every one of your meals,” Miguel suggested with a smirk, “but only if you’re good, then maybe you can have the privilege of being our little cumdump.” 

“Is that what you want?” Andy uttered huskily, his fevered efforts stealing some of his breath, “you wanna be Kappa Alpha Nu’s official little toy? Just be all fucking adorable and help us get off?”

But then Bucky let out a low chuckle as he shifted your feet to rest up upon his broad shoulders, “you’re saying that like she isn’t already…” he grinned proudly before sinking down closer and folding your body in half.

Your free hand clawed at his bicep as both of them flexed to keep him from crushing you as he tilted down to kiss you ravenously. His rhythm picked up till it reached a desperate pace, pumping his fat cock into you as he groaned against your lips. Though even after you felt his big dick twitch inside of you and pump your pussy full of his cum, his efforts didn’t cease, only degraded slightly as he shivered above you, stubbornly fucking you till you unravelled as well. 

With a ragged moan, he finally withdrew from your haven and reached down to messily rub his touch against your poor pussy, all swollen and puffy as it squirted once again for him, your juices weakly gushing all over the bed as his load too trickled out.

It was all a blur after that. 

At first, as you still laid there, panting and twitching at Bucky’s overstimulating touch that he hadn’t yet freed you from, the three frat guys who were looming right beside you, Thor, Curtis and Andy, decorated your heaving tits and stomach with their hot cum. 

After that, one by one, Miguel, Billy, Frank, Ransom, Lloyd and Ari stepped up and came wherever their heart desired. Some chose your exhausted face, all cute and breathless, blinking up at them, while others elected to finish on the soft peaks of your boobs, making you flash them your soft tongue, or even just paint your puffy pussy white and add to the mess already sticky and sore between your limp thighs. 

And lastly, having clearly edged in order to grant himself the honour, your stepbrother let go of your shaky hand and slotted himself in between your legs. Wasting no time teasing you, he plugged the very tip of him into your wrecked hole, making your whole frame briefly jump and quiver on the mattress before your soreness clenched around him and milked him dry as he swiftly emptied his balls inside of you. 

“Well, I think it’s official,” Steve exhaled when he finally pulled his dick back out to admire his cum slowly leaking out of you, “she is finally ready and broken in enough for us to start having some real fun…” his eyes then briefly flickered around to his friends beside him as he uttered, “gentlemen?” before his gaze once again returned to you, “let’s begin.”

© 2025 thyme-in-a-bubble 

[diamonddaze01]

HIIIIIHIHI just discovered your blog and read the jeonghan drabble with prompt 75 and OH MY GAWDDD I'M IN LOVE WITH YOUR WRITING. The flow, the banter, the chemistry just mwah mwah mwahhhhhh, ik i HAD to come and send in a req (before reading alllll of other works cuz i expect them to be just as good, if not, better)

Idk if it's done already but I would LOVE love for you to do a seungkwan drabble with prompts 29 & 39 (maybe a little sprinkle of rivalry there). I'm just a sucker for coworker!seungkwan and i feel like your writing would do him justice

morning rush

pairing: seungkwan x reader | wc: 1.1k prompt: "It’s been fun. We’ve had a good run, but you parked in my spot. I’m going to have to kill you now." and "Why don’t they just kiss already?" au: office au, rivals to ???? | warnings: none! a/n: nonie this is so so sweet, i really hope i did your ask justice <33

The low hum of Seungkwan’s car filled the parking garage as he turned the corner, his morning ritual of peace and perfection rolling along smoothly. His go-to playlist blasted one of his favorite songs, the kind that put a spring in his step even before caffeine. Today was supposed to be his day.

Until it wasn’t.

He hit the brakes so suddenly his car jerked forward, and his half-full coffee cup jostled precariously in the holder. For a moment, he just stared, blinking as if to will the sight before him to disappear.

But there it was. Your car. Parked in his spot.

Not just any spot. The closest one to the elevator—the spot Seungkwan had earned through months of arriving early, guarding his little slice of heaven like a hawk. And now, it was occupied by your obnoxiously familiar vehicle, complete with a dusty rear window and that godforsaken bumper sticker: My other car is a broomstick.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath, pulling out his phone to snap a picture of the heinous crime. As the camera clicked, he already imagined how this confrontation would go. Maybe he’d send the picture to you with a passive-aggressive caption like, Are you training for the villain role in my life movie? Or maybe he’d just frame it as evidence to present in court.

Instead, he parked three levels down—three—seething as he trekked up the stairs. The elevator was out of the question; he had to burn off this rage somehow.

By the time he stepped into the office, Seungkwan had rehearsed a dozen opening lines, each one more cutting than the last. He spotted you by the coffee machine, humming softly as you fixed your morning latte, the picture of carefree oblivion.

“You parked in my spot,” he announced, his voice sharper than a stapler misfire.

You turned leisurely, the mug in your hand halfway to your lips. “Good morning to you too, Boo.”

“Don’t ���good morning’ me,” he snapped, setting his bag on the counter beside you with a thud. “You stole my parking spot.”

“Oh, your spot?” you asked innocently, raising an eyebrow. “Didn’t see your name on it.”

“It’s implied,” he shot back, his tone dripping with indignation.

“Implied?” You tilted your head, as if mulling over the word like it was foreign to you. “Implied where? In your head?”

“Yes, in my head, and in reality,” he hissed. “I’ve been parking there for months. Everyone knows it’s my spot. It’s common knowledge—practically office law.”

“Well, maybe you should get here earlier next time,” you said with a shrug, taking a sip of your coffee as if his mounting frustration was the whipped cream on your morning.

“Earlier?” he repeated, his voice climbing an octave. “You want me to arrive earlier? I already beat half this building here every day!”

“Sounds like a you problem,” you said, grinning over the rim of your mug.

Seungkwan’s jaw dropped. “You have no shame.”

“None at all,” you replied cheerfully, setting your mug down with a satisfying clink.

“This isn’t just about the parking spot,” he said, stepping closer. “This is about respect. This is about decency. This is about maintaining order in a world that’s already too chaotic!”

“Oh, please.” You waved a hand dismissively. “You’re acting like I set fire to your cubicle. It’s a parking spot, Seungkwan. Relax.”

“It’s not just a parking spot!” His hands flew to his hair in exasperation. “It’s a symbol of—of stability! And you—you’re—”

“An agent of chaos?” you supplied, smirking.

“Yes!”

“Good. Chaos suits me.”

His mouth opened, clearly ready to fire back, but something sharper came to his mind. He folded his arms and gave you a pointed look. “It’s been fun. We’ve had a good run, but you parked in my spot. I’m going to have to kill you now.”

You snorted, utterly unfazed. “Go ahead. Who else is going to keep you on your toes every day?”

“I could finally have peace,” he retorted, the corner of his mouth twitching despite himself.

“Oh, Boo.” You patted his arm mockingly. “You wouldn’t know what to do with peace if it hit you in the face.”

He sputtered, pointing an accusing finger at you. “You’re insufferable.”

You raised your coffee cup in mock surrender. “Big words for someone who couldn’t out-present me in the pitch meeting yesterday.”

“I didn’t lose! The client just liked your ridiculous use of emojis in your slideshow.”

“You’re jealous my slides had pizzazz. Admit it.”

The sound of snickering cut through the tension, drawing both your attention.

Soonyoung and Seokmin stood by the printer, blatantly eavesdropping.

“Why don’t they just kiss already?” Soonyoung stage-whispered, nudging Seokmin with his elbow.

Seokmin snorted, shaking his head. “Seriously. The tension is suffocating. I can’t focus on my spreadsheets with all this unresolved sexual energy.”

You blinked, your brain stalling for a split second before indignation kicked in. “Excuse me?”

Seungkwan turned on them, scandalized. “Are you delusional? I wouldn’t kiss this…this – spot-stealer if my life depended on it.”

“Good,” you shot back immediately. “Because I’d rather make out with a parking meter.”

He glared at you. “Why are you so obsessed with me?”

“Obsessed?” You let out a laugh. “You wish I was obsessed with you.”

“Oh my god,” Soonyoung groaned, throwing his head back like he was personally offended by the lack of progress. “This is painful to watch. Just kiss already!”

Seungkwan turned to him, eyes blazing. “Do you want to lose printer privileges for the rest of the week?”

“Do you want to admit you’re projecting?” Soonyoung countered, grinning like he’d just won a debate.

You pressed your lips together, biting back a smile as you grabbed your mug and brushed past Seungkwan. “See you tomorrow, Boo. And don’t forget to set your alarm earlier.”

“Unbelievable!” he called after you, throwing his hands in the air.

Behind him, Soonyoung and Seokmin exchanged a knowing look.

“Ten bucks says they’re making out in the parking lot by Friday,” Soonyoung said.

“Twenty says in front of Seungkwan’s parking spot,” Seokmin replied.

Seungkwan spun on them, his glare scorching. “I can hear you!”

“We want you to,” Soonyoung replied smugly, grabbing his freshly printed documents. “Someone has to make you face the truth.”

As they walked away, Seungkwan turned back toward your retreating figure, still fuming. But somewhere beneath the indignation, a tiny, treacherous thought crept into his mind.

Maybe chaos did suit you after all.

send me an ask for my drabble game!

[buckymarvelficss]

Beneath the surface

Chapter two

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X fem!reader

Dragged into a world she doesn’t belong to, y/n finds herself losing pieces of who she used to be. Each party, each smile, each bruise leaves a mark — until a stranger starts to notice the cracks. Bucky Barnes sees more than he says, and something unspoken begins to grow between them. But some truths don’t stay hidden forever.

> This story contains themes of emotional manipulation, toxic relationships, and physical abuse. Reader discretion is advised.

Slow burn. Angst. Comfort. Bucky Barnes x Reader.

AN: okay I had hoped you'd liked it but I hadn't expected interaction so fast. Thank you so much! Here's pt. 2, since I was already working on it. Pt. 3 might take a bit longer😁

Chapter one

It started small.

A pair of earrings.

Tiny emerald studs, the ones that matched the green dress Josh liked. You’d taken them off the night before after the last party, too tired to do more than peel off your dress and wipe away your makeup. You’d left the earrings on the edge of the bathroom sink, right next to your face cloth, and forgotten all about them.

The next morning, you were brushing your teeth when Josh came in. He was still damp from the shower, towel slung low on his hips, halfway into his dress shirt.

He paused in the doorway, frowning. His gaze fixed on the sink.

At first, he didn’t say anything. Just stared.

Then: “Seriously?”

You blinked at him in the mirror. Foam still in your mouth. “What?”

He stepped inside, picked up the earrings like they were something offensive. “I’ve asked you so many times not to leave your stuff everywhere.”

“It’s just my earrings—”

“That’s not the point,” he snapped, tossing them onto the dresser with a clink that made your stomach tighten. “You never think about the little things. It’s always a mess with you.”

Your hand paused mid-air, toothbrush still gripped loosely in your fingers. “Josh, I didn’t do it on purpose—”

He paced away from you, shaking his head like he was trying to physically throw the frustration off his shoulders. “You never do. That’s the problem.”

Then came the sigh. The shift in tone. The part you hated even more than the outburst.

“Shit. Sorry,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m just… I’ve got a lot going on. Work’s been stressful, Stark’s barely noticing me, and it feels like every time I try to step up, I’m just… stuck.”

You hovered near the doorframe, unsure whether to come closer or stay still. His whole posture was different now — like he wanted to fold in on himself.

Then he turned and reached for your hand. “I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

You swallowed. Your chest ached. You looked down at his hand wrapping around yours, warm and familiar and still a little cold from the bathroom tiles.

“I just want to help you,” you murmured.

“I know.” He kissed your palm. “You’re the only one who really gets it.”He tugged you in gently, resting his hands on your hips. The apology was in his touch now — soft, practiced, sincere on the surface.

“There’s another party,” he added, voice low. “This weekend. It could be important. And I want you there. With me.”

You hesitated. Just a fraction of a second. But it was enough. His hands tightened slightly. His smile thinned.

“You’ll come,” he said, voice quieter. “Right?”

You nodded. “Yeah. I’ll come.”

---

The party was even grander than the last.

Held on the upper floors of Stark Tower this time, it spilled onto a wide terrace that overlooked the glittering Manhattan skyline. Floating lights hovered overhead like fireflies suspended in glass, casting everyone in a soft, cinematic glow. Champagne flowed like water. Laughter danced along the marble floors.

You wore navy blue.

Josh had chosen the dress days ago — said it made you look “like someone who belonged.” He’d zipped it up himself, kissed your bare shoulder before you left, whispered something about how beautiful you looked. You almost believed him.

At first, he was sweet. Attentive. He held your hand as you walked in, smiled easily, introduced you to people like he was proud of you. He even brought you a drink, his arm around your waist.

But it didn’t last.

The moment he caught sight of Stark across the room, something shifted in his expression — his grip slackened, his voice grew distant.

“Just a minute,” he said under his breath. “Don’t go anywhere.”

And just like that, he was gone.

You were alone again.

---

The terrace called to you.

You stepped outside, drawn by the cool air and the silence that stretched just beyond the music. The night wrapped around the building like a velvet curtain, city lights sparkling far below like stars that had forgotten how to sleep.

You made your way to the railing, fingers brushing the cool metal, heart gradually settling into a slower rhythm. For a moment, you allowed yourself to just be.

“You found the best spot.”

The voice came from your left — smooth, grounded, unassuming.

You turned your head slightly.

There he was.

James Buchanan Barnes. Leaning casually against the railing a few steps away, hands resting in his pockets, drink forgotten on the ledge beside him. His dark shirt was open at the collar, sleeves rolled to the forearms. The shadows softened the hard lines of his face, made him look somehow both older and younger at once.

You gave a soft smile. “It’s quieter out here.”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “That’s why I come out here too.”

You turned back to the city, trying to breathe normally. Trying not to overthink the fact that Bucky Barnes was standing less than two feet away from you.

“Back again?” he asked.

You glanced sideways at him. “You remember me?”

“Hard to forget someone who doesn’t bother pretending.”

A laugh slipped from you before you could stop it — short and quiet. “Guess I need a better mask.”

He tilted his head, studying you. “Or maybe everyone else needs worse ones.”

You smiled, warmer this time. The silence between you was gentle. A hush with weight.

“I’m Y/N,” you said, half-turning toward him.

“I know,” he replied.

You raised a brow, half amused, half unsure.

He shrugged lightly. “Some people stand out.”

You didn’t answer, but you didn’t look away either.

Inside, someone called his name — sharp and impatient. A party voice. He didn’t move right away. His eyes stayed on you, thoughtful.

“Enjoy your night,” he said quietly. Then he turned and slipped inside.

You stayed at the railing, hands resting still, heart not quite calm. You weren’t sure what had just happened.

But you knew, somehow, that it mattered.

---

Josh found you a few minutes later as you stepped back inside. His eyes scanned your face. “Where’ve you been?” he asked.

You shrugged. “Just needed some air.”

His gaze narrowed. “Alone?”

“Yeah.”

He looked at you for a moment too long. Measured. Cold. You didn’t flinch.

Josh forced a smile, all teeth. “Next time, tell me.” You nodded once, slowly. Later, when he kissed you goodnight — too firmly, too long — your eyes stayed open.

You were still thinking of silver-blue eyes, a quiet voice, and the kind of silence that didn’t feel like punishment.

---

Josh had started checking your phone.

At first, it had seemed like nothing.

Just a glance. A flicker of curiosity when your fingers moved across the screen. A casual, “Who’s that?” when your screen lit up with a message. A soft hum if he didn’t recognize the name.

Little questions.

Little moments.

So small, they felt harmless.

You told yourself he was just being present. Attentive. Maybe even sweet. Most people would be flattered, wouldn’t they?

But it didn’t stop.

The glances turned into pauses.

Then longer looks.

Then fingers—his fingers—reaching for your phone when it buzzed, even if it wasn’t near him.

“You left it unlocked,” he’d say, like it excused it.

You told yourself it was fine. That you had nothing to hide. That relationships were about trust… weren’t they?

But then came the questions. The ones with sharp edges.

“Why does he text you so much?”

“Why do you put that emoji in your replies?”

“Who’s Emily again?”

You laughed it off at first. Tried to answer honestly. Tried to smooth it over.

But they grew. Fast.

He’d ask where you were — even when he already knew. He’d call twice, then text three more times if you didn’t respond within minutes. And when you finally answered, you’d hear the edge in his voice. That carefully controlled disappointment.

Once, when you were late coming home from a grocery run, you found him already pacing the kitchen.

Pacing.

Arms crossed. Jaw tight. Steps heavy on the tile. The air around him felt charged, like the seconds before a thunderstorm.

You barely had the door open when his voice snapped through the tension.

“You said you’d be twenty minutes.”

You blinked, still holding the grocery bag. “There was traffic,” you murmured, lifting it slightly. “I got your stuff.”

He yanked the bag from your hands.

A little too hard.

Enough to make your wrist sting.

Enough to make your chest clench.

And then… silence.

He turned his back on you. You stood frozen in the doorway, heart hammering. The groceries still swaying in the plastic.

The next morning, he apologized.

Not right away.

First came the silence again — the cold, polite kind that makes you question everything you’ve done. Then, over coffee, he leaned into you like nothing had happened.

“I just… worry, okay?” he said, voice lower now. Softer. “You know how messed up the world is. I want to make sure you're safe.”

He slipped an arm around you, kissed the side of your head.

And like always… you nodded. Because what else could you do?

You started leaving your phone face-down. You stopped saving certain messages — ones that might provoke more questions. Ones from people you used to speak to freely.

You practiced sounding casual when you talked to anyone around him. Like nothing was ever too interesting.

You started flinching at loud noises. Not big ones. Just… cabinet doors that closed a little too hard. A dropped glass. The vibration of your phone across the table.

You told yourself it was fine. That he loved you. That it was just stress. Pressure. That everyone had bad weeks.

---

It happened on a Wednesday.

Not that the day mattered. Not really. But your brain logged it anyway, like it wanted a timestamp to go with the moment everything shifted.

You’d said the wrong thing.

You didn’t even remember what — something small. Something about how he shouldn't try so hard with Stark. Or maybe it was your tone. Maybe it was just the way you looked away when he was talking.

But whatever it was—

His hand connected with your face before you could finish the sentence.

It wasn’t hard enough to knock you down.

But it was sharp. Sudden. Enough to snap your head sideways and leave your skin burning.

Enough to leave you breathless.

Time slowed.

You didn’t cry.

You didn’t scream.

You just stood there.

Frozen.

One hand rising to your cheek, the heat of it already blooming beneath your skin. You weren’t thinking. You weren’t breathing. You were just waiting.

Waiting for what would come next.

A second strike?

A shout?

A threat?

But all you got was silence.

Josh stood across from you, arm still slightly raised — like he couldn’t quite believe what he’d done. His face pale. His eyes wide, like he didn’t recognize himself.

And then, like always, he reached for you.

The same pattern.

The same script.

“I didn’t mean to,” he whispered, stepping closer. “I swear, I just… You know how much pressure I’m under.”

You didn’t answer.

You couldn’t.

You let him pull you into a hug, your body stiff as stone. His arms wrapped around you like he was trying to erase what just happened. Like the right pressure would push the memory out of your skin.

But you knew better.

Because you didn’t flinch from loud noises anymore.

You flinched from him.

---

Two days later, you stood in line at a small café not far from your apartment, your shoulders hunched slightly against the chill in the air, your face turned just enough away from the streetlamp light bleeding through the café windows.

You had on sunglasses — even though it was cloudy. Even though the sky was a dull, featureless grey that didn’t warrant them.

You told yourself it didn’t look suspicious.

Maybe you were being paranoid.

Maybe no one would look too closely.

But the bruise was still there. Not a vivid purple anymore — it had faded into something more yellow-grey, something you could almost pass off as exhaustion under enough concealer. Almost.

You didn’t want to see anyone.

You hadn’t said more than a few words to anyone since that night. You hadn’t smiled — not really. Your throat still burned when you swallowed. You were tired in that deep, dangerous way that made the world feel too loud and too close.

All you wanted was coffee. Something hot. Something simple. Something normal.

But fate didn’t ask.

“Y/N?”

You froze.

Everything in your body locked up — like your spine had turned to ice. The sound of your name, spoken so gently, hit you like a dropped glass. Familiar and foreign at the same time.

That voice. Low. Careful. Rumbling with a kind of warmth that didn’t match the coldness in your chest.

You turned slowly. And there he was.

Bucky Barnes.

Henley. Jacket. Hair tied back at the nape of his neck, a few wisps loose near his ears. A book tucked under one arm. A half-empty coffee cup in the other. His posture relaxed, but his eyes—

His eyes weren’t relaxed at all.

They moved across your face like a quiet current, catching on the details you didn’t want anyone to notice.

You watched it happen.

The flicker.

The pause.

The subtle shift as his gaze caught on the faint shadow blooming just beneath your sunglasses. That bruised crescent under your cheekbone, still tender if you so much as touched it.

His eyes didn’t widen. He didn’t ask questions. He didn’t flinch.

But you felt it anyway — that stillness, that tightening. Like something inside him had clicked into place. Like a puzzle piece that made too much sense.

You forced a smile. A weak, brittle thing. “Hey.”

His tone was gentle. Lower than usual. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

You shrugged, your hands buried in your sleeves, gripping your elbows. “Needed caffeine.” You hesitated. “Long week.”

Understatement of the century.

There was a pause — a long one. Not uncomfortable. Just… waiting.

His eyes didn’t move from your face, but they weren’t sharp. Weren’t invasive. They were soft. Watching you the way someone watches a skittish animal, afraid to startle it.

“Everything okay?” he asked, voice even softer now. Like he knew the answer already but didn’t want to say it out loud.

You hesitated. The lie rose in your throat like bile.

You could feel it. Feel the pressure of it sitting heavy behind your ribs, pressing up into your lungs.

You opened your mouth — and for a second, the truth almost escaped. But then you blinked.

And swallowed.

And said, “Yeah. Just tired.”

He didn’t move. Didn’t nod. Didn’t accept it. But he didn’t press, either. He just stayed.

And somehow that was worse.

Because it meant he knew. Not the details — not the whole story — but enough. And that made your chest ache.

“I like this place,” he said eventually, tilting his head slightly toward the counter. “They make terrible muffins but good coffee.”

The shift in subject was subtle. Gentle. Like he was handing you an escape route without forcing you to take it.

You let out a breath. A sound that almost passed for a laugh. “I’ll skip the muffins, then.”

“Probably smart,” he said, a faint smile tugging at one corner of his mouth.

You stepped up to the counter and ordered, your voice still hoarse from disuse. The barista didn’t seem to notice. You were grateful for that.

When you moved aside to wait, Bucky didn’t leave. He didn’t even pretend to. He just moved with you — fluid, quiet, unassuming.

Close. But not too close.

There was space. He made sure of it. Enough that you didn’t feel boxed in. Enough that you could still breathe.

But he was there.

And for the first time in days, you felt like you weren’t entirely alone inside your own skin.

“You coming to the next party?” he asked after a beat.

His voice was steady, but not casual. Like he was offering you a lifeline wrapped in a simple question.

You stared down at your shoes.

The answer was obvious — Josh expects me to.

But your voice caught in your throat again.

“Probably,” you said finally, quiet.

Another pause. He nodded once. “Then I’ll see you there.” No push. No expectation. No follow-up.

He didn’t ask for your number.

He didn’t ask what happened.

He didn’t ask if you were safe.

But he stayed. Just long enough to make it matter.

When your name was called, you stepped forward and took your coffee. Your fingers trembled slightly around the cup, the warmth seeping into your skin in small, fragile waves.

You turned to go. But before you could take a step, you looked up one more time. He was still watching you.

Not staring.

Not pitying.

Just… aware.

Like he already knew. Like he’d seen the signs before — and wasn’t going to look away this time.

Chapter three

[best-titan-7274]

I'd love to read some combat action if that's something you want to write! Maybe a small team doing spec ops, maybe a full combined arms assault, either way you know BT and Cooper are gonna do some fastball shenanigans when the opportunity presents itself.

I love that the fandom has apparently collectively agreed that Jack Loves Getting Yeeted (absolutely correct)

When the alarms go off, Jack’s halfway out of bed before he even realises he’s awake. His helmet is on the table by the door and he grabs it in passing. No time to get dressed with a base-wide alert like that deafening him.

The other Pilots are scrambling around him, bouncing off each other like the bumper cars Jack always liked when he was a kid. It’s more jarring now, but the flow evens out as they near the hangar. They know what they’re doing, it just takes a minute, sometimes, for them to get there.

All their Titans are already on the move, spreading out through the hangar, waiting for their Pilots to embark. Someone even uses their jump kit to get to their Titan first, eager to be out the door.

Jack takes it a little easier, because everyone remembers that time Wilson tripped and broke his nose before he ever saw battle.

Everyone gets in their Titans with no problems, and Jack is relieved that BT starts dampening the noise the second the cockpit closes around him. This is familiar to him, at least, even if the alarm isn’t the kind that any of them hear very often.

“Cooper, Alexander, Aoki, Castañeda, head west.”

“Yes, sir,” they say in almost-unison, three other Titans turning to follow BT out of the hangar.

He’s worked with Alexander before. The other two are strangers, but he knows Aoki is desperate to prove herself since she’s the newest Pilot and one of the youngest. He trusts her, though, because she wouldn’t be here if SRS command thought she wasn’t capable.

“There are enemies inbound. Approximately three minutes and seventeen seconds to contact. Six moving objects.”

Well, those odds aren’t great. All six of them can’t be enemy Titans, right?

“Anyone else got a better idea of what’s out there?” Jack asks.

There’s a private communication network between them, proximity-based and code-locked. They can say whatever they want without being overheard.

“Got it,” Alexander says a minute later. “Three Titans, three vehicles. Could be some ground troops but we’re not picking it up. We got a plan?”

“I have an idea, but BT’s not going to like it.”

“I do not like many of your so-called plans,” BT confirms.

Harsh, but Jack is well aware that BT thinks he’s a bit of an idiot sometimes. Maybe if he stopped throwing himself into danger, or eating snack cakes past their best-by date, but life is about the danger! And mild food poisoning.

“I need you guys to give cover fire with BT and then hold on my signal.”

“Would you like to provide more information?” BT asks.

“Nope, we’re good.”

And he got shot a little bit, the last time he said that, but shit happens. And it barely even scarred, so he feels like it wasn’t actually that bad.

The Titans spread evenly, BT second from the left. It’s barely light enough to see out, and as they race along, he’s pretty sure he gets another great idea. One that BT doesn’t disagree with him on, so that’s a great start!

One of the enemy Titans opens fire, and the four of them target their fire on the unfortunate idiot that made a spectacle of themself. The Titan starts sparking and stuttering almost immediately, and by the time the other Titan brings its guns to play, it’s too late.

At least until a tank round blows an arm off Alexander’s Titan, and some very creative swearing crashes through BT’s speakers.

“Cover fire stops now!” Jack barks, and steps forward.

There’s something about disembarking at speed that feels like getting flung off a moving vehicle and down a cliff, or something like that, but it’s very chaotic and a part of Jack is always very relieved when BT catches him.

BT launches him forward, and he uses the jump kit to get higher as he gets closer, out of the line of fire of the small guns mounted on the front of the vehicles. He can’t tell what they are, exactly, in the predawn light. But he saw that they’re stuck in one place and move side to side, not up and down.

If he gets above the bullets, he has nothing to worry about.

Theoretically.

BT had a lot of opinions about that part.

He drops straight down on top of one of the cars, grabbing one of the bars bolted along the top and swinging feet-first through the driver’s side window. He pushes off something inside – the driver’s chest, he thinks – and tosses a grenade as a goodbye ‘fuck you’. The jump kit gets him away from the explosion, but the driver next to him is aware of what just happened, because they pull a pistol on him.

He jumps, and trusts BT to be there to catch him.

He is, and so are the other two uninjured Titans on either side of him. Alexander’s hanging back, supporting them with cover fire, but careful not to pick too many battles. Even though Alexander’s built like a brick wall, he’s brain over brawns, and he’ll make sure not to shoot them in the back.

BT cups his hand around Jack, protecting him from a burst of incoming fire, and then he’s back in the pilot’s seat and ready to kick some ass.

His Titan is ahead of him, already shooting at one of the remaining Titans that’s closing at a run, trying to capitalise on the vulnerability of a Pilot not yet embarked. They’re a little too late or that, but there’s nowhere for them to run, so they keep charging.

Brave, Jack has to admit, before their bots crash together. The other Titan is bigger and heavier than them, but that just means that BT has the advantage of being faster on the ground.

And, unlike anyone else in this fight, he has Jack.

“Relinquishing control to Titan,” Jack says, and sits back with his hands off the controls. BT can process these kinds of things way faster than he can, and in a fight against an objectively better opponent, Jack might be a liability.

Besides, BT’s new and improved form comes with seatbelts. He doesn’t use them often, because disembarking at a moment’s notice can turn the tide of a fight, but he’ll need them now if BT wants to do some kind of crazy move.

BT does, and Jack is really going to have to talk to him about whatever kind of flippy gymnast yoga shit just went down, but in the meantime–

“Aoki, get those other two cars out of play,” Jack barks as BT gives him controls back, and he and Castañeda turn as one to face the last remaining Titan.

Jack tries to say he’s not a glory hound or anything, but he does kind of like that he’s going to add one more to his body count on this mission. They’re a crack team, him and BT, and he likes proving that over and over again, even if there’s no dispute about it.

Still, slamming your way through battle to indiscriminately kill everything is a great way to injure allies and get people pissed off at you. So he lets his teammate take the shot, and Castañeda rocks it, just like Jack expects of him.

“Hey, Command!” Aoki says cheerfully. “We smoked ‘em! Want us to bring you back a present? Bet we could pull something off these Titans’ data cores.”

Command’s reply comes quickly.

“Retrieve enemy data cores and helmets. Do not engage survivors if avoidable.”

“Toss me,” Jack says eagerly, already half out of his seat.

He can hear the disapproval in BT’s silence, but the cockpit opens up, and BT’s hand is resting just underneath.

BT flings him forward again, a little more gently this time. Jack lands on top of one of the downed Titans, and crouches to try to pull the door open. Success! And the Pilot was killed alongside their Titan, so there’s nobody to shoot at him. He hates when people shoot at him.

“Core and helmet secured from Titan one,” he reports. He takes a running jump back to BT, who catches him easily and deposits him back in the cockpit. He can let the others get the rest of what they’re after.

The other Titans’ cockpits are open, Pilots chit-chatting and occasionally waving away wisps of smoke from the trashed vehicles. The other teams have reported back their own successes already, so it’s not like Jack’s team is slacking.

“Anyone feel like pizza when we get back home?” Castañeda asks, slouched comfortably, the ubiquitous cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes. Until he spoke up, Jack kind of thought he was napping, but apparently that’s not the case.

“I’m always ready to eat,” Alexander agrees, and Aoki looks like she’s thinking about agreeing.

The best they can do now, in the field, is reheated and prepackaged food, but they’re all used to that, so he doesn’t think they’ll complain too much.

“BT, we ready to go back to base?” he asks.

“All clear.”

“Let’s go, team,” Jack calls, and they start making their way back to the closest thing to home that they have.

[1dmonthlyficroundup]

1D Monthly Fic Roundup

Hi, and welcome to the 1D Monthly Fic Roundup for July 2022! Below you’ll find 1D fics that were all published this month in the order they were submitted to the blog. We hope you’ll check out these new fics! If you would like to submit your own fic, please check this post on how to submit or visit our blog @1dmonthlyficroundup​. You can find all our other posts here.

Happy reading!

🔹Anything that feels good by bluegreenish / @greenblueish [E, 13k, Harry/Louis]

A few seconds pass, then Louis suddenly blurts out the last thing Harry expected him to bring up that night.

“Harry, do you want to nest?”

A mixture of distraught coughing and choking escapes Harry's throat. It feels like his lungs have a leak and all the air is flowing out without him being able to do anything about it. 

“What do you mean?” he croaks when he finds his voice again. “Alphas don’t nest.”

or, the one where alpha Harry gifts Louis nesting supplies, but the omega doesn’t nest.

🔹Here You Come Again by @neondiamond [E, 22k, Louis/Harry]

A year after taking over his family’s peach orchard, Louis thinks he has it all figured out. His routine on the farm is mundane, yet familiar, and his dog Clifford is more than enough to keep him company. It isn’t until Harry, his ex-boyfriend who broke his heart and left their small town a decade ago to pursue a bigger, brighter future in the city, comes to stay on the farm that he realises just how badly he was lying to himself.

🔹dream about a summer night by fearsparks / @onlyforbravest [T, 33k, Louis/Harry]

“Have you kissed yet?”

Harry stammered before finally managing to ask, “What?”

Niall laughed at him and threw an arm around his shoulder, pulling him in. “I said, have you kissed yet? You’re acting like a proper couple, you two.”

“I know.” Harry smiled wistfully. “It’s pretty new.”

“New? Nuh-uh,” Niall disagreed. “You’ve been acting like this the entire summer.”

(Working alongside each other as camp counsellors, Harry and Louis grow closer than they’ve ever been before. That’s not a problem, but now they have these newfound feelings for each other to deal with.)

🔹On Your Left by amomentoflove / @daggerandrose [T, 11k, Harry/Louis]

“Get up! It's Disneyland week!” Louis shouts to his two friends from the end of their bed. It's six in the morning and Louis has been awake for a while trying to kill time before an appropriate hour to wake up his travel companions.

“What time is it?” Liam groggily asks. He pulls the covers from his eyes and squints up to Louis.

“ … six.”

“The fuck, Lou?”

“I'm sorry! The dining hall opens soon and the rope drop is at eight. Plus, Zayn is going to take for-fucking-ever to get ready.”

“Don't drag me into this,” Zayn grumbles. He pulls the covers tighter over his head.

"How long have you been awake?” Liam asks. He halfway sits up in bed so as to not bother Zayn.

“… three-thirty.”

“Louis! You're going to crash by noon today.” Liam falls back down on the bed.

“I won't! The spirit of Walt Disney will keep me awake!”

🔹Hill Country by safetyfilm / @larrieblr [E, 11k, Harry/Louis]

Louis is a farmer. His family gives him hell for it, only because it’s not a nine to five job and he should set a better example for his siblings.

When he's invited (scratch that, required) to pay a visit for a will reading, he has to double down on his work chores in advance. But spring break is just around the corner in Austin, which means Harry's free and he really, really wants to hang out.

🔹I know I've got this (because I've had it all along) by we_are_the_same / @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed [T, 16k, Louis/Harry]

Louis’ grip is delicate when she pinches the edge of the paper, brows furrowing as she reads the words that are written in an elegant loopy script. She glances at Liam once the words sink in, and he looks so happy and proud, so expectant. He’s on the edge of his seat, only Zayn’s hand on his shoulder holding him back, and Louis can feel something murky swirling in her stomach at the thought of having to feign appreciation. Harry StylesBody Positivity & Boudoir Photography The card is purple, the letters printed on it in black, with an almost lace looking overlay over the words. There’s what might be a bow belonging to a cute pair of panties separating Harry’s name from the service they offer. It’s a cute card. It’s what’s on the other side that has Louis’ stomach in a knot. Good for one (1) photography session and up to thirty (30) photos of your choice.

🔹starin' back from the lookin' glass (there stood a woman where a half-grown boy had stood) by 4ureyesonly28 / @evilovesyou [E, 23k, Harry/Louis]

Harry squeezed his feet into the black heels his mother handed him from their little satin bag and stood up, slightly wobbly for a few seconds before he caught himself.

“They’re small on you, I know,” Mama said quietly as she went and grabbed the mirror. “You’ll have to use your first money to get a place to stay, but after that you need to buy shoes that fit you…”

She was still speaking, but Harry couldn’t hear her anymore over the blood rushing in his ears as she turned the mirror and made him look at himself.

He looked… He was… He felt like a woman. Where just under an hour ago, he’d seen a boy, barely a young man, shaving off the bits of his beard that had started to grow in so late, he now saw a woman. She was as real as he had ever seen. His posture, unsure and shy, morphed into hers, shoulders straight and hip cocked as she tried her best to balance herself on the high heels she’d inherited.

🔹Firebird by @wabadabadaba [G, 999 words, Niall/Liam]

“Who is it?” Liam questioned in a whisper. Again, Niall waved him off, but Liam skated to her other side. “Who is it?”

Niall pushed Liam away from her and flipped him off when he hooked his stick around her ankle and pulled himself back in. She was having a hard time focusing on what Paul was saying and she knew Liam wouldn’t stop so she relented and put it on speaker.

“I have seen some of the roster, you have some great guys so far. I have coached a couple over the years,” Niall spoke.

Liam puckered his lips for a kiss, knowing she was referring to him, but she rolled her eyes and pushed his face away.

or Niall is helping Liam practice before his training camp and she gets exciting news about an acclaimed position she interviewed for.

🔹Zoey by @wabadabadaba [G, 2k, Harry/Louis]

Harry knew his first name, but he liked the way Dr. Tomlinson sounded more. Harry watched as Louis unclasped her harness and set it aside and pet her back and under her chin. Louis kissed the top of her head and murmured sweet nothings to her- mostly about how pretty she is and how well behaved she is. Harry wished it was him.

or Harry has a huge crush on his cat's veterinarian and finally decides to do something about it.

🔹Will Death Be Our Last Kiss, My Love? by @fallinglikethis [M, 6k, Louis/Harry]

As a half-veela, Louis has always had a past full of romantic turmoil. But his past comes back to bite him fully on the ass when a case falls into the lap of fellow aurors, Niall and Liam. A case with which Louis has a disturbing connection to the victims.

🔹Let Them Eat Cock by yeah_alright / @uhoh-but-yeah-alright [E, 1k, Harry/Louis]

For Bastille Day, (King) Louis gives his loyal subjects a cheeky choice: Kiss the Crown or Storm the Bastille. Part 6 of Glory Hole-idays

🔹it gets dark by @finelinegynandromorph [E, 98k, Harry/Louis]

“I feel like a pin-up of everything I should be at 28,” Louis confesses after a moment. He glances quickly to Harry, concerned he hasn’t phrased himself properly, but she just nods with empathy. And Louis always forgets, he supposes, how Harry really does understand, even if they’re coming at it from different places. They orbit each other, swimming after associations the other never wanted—they always have, and as Louis stands here biting his lip and feeling overcome by stepping into the costume society expected him to pull on as his everyday skin, he realizes that Harry might be the person who understands that best in the world.

or, harry’s a drag queen and louis’ been in love with her for years. an unexpected ode to femininity, in all of its complexity

🔹and i don't care it's obvious by @alwaysxlarrie [T, 20k, Louis/Harry]

However, his issue was that no one had ever created a guide that one could follow in regards to what to do or how to feel when your crush was your sister's best friend. Harry would like someone to please come up with a book dedicated to said guidelines because as it was, he was absolutely winging it and hoping for the best.

🔹Do You Remember Nineteen by Kikiberoski16 / @larrysballetslippers [T, 9k, Louis/Harry]

Harry was nervous, more than ever before. MSG was something they never dreamt of reaching at only nineteen years old. He took a few deep breaths and looked at his husband, marrying young was the best decision of his life. Harry traced over his ‘L’ tattoo and waited for the sign to approach the stage. The screaming fans fired up his belly. The curtains fell down and the boys started playing.

“We’re The Fools! Get loud!”

🔹Truebonds by jacaranda_bloom / @jacaranda-bloom [E, 39k, Louis/Harry]

Louis doesn't mind being an omega, most of the time. Modern medicine allows him to suppress almost all of his omega traits, but the one thing it can't suppress is his scenting cycle. Fortunately, that only needs to be dealt with every seven years and he counts himself lucky that he can afford the services of a reputable agency.

With his cycle due, he reviews the matched candidates and there's one alpha who fits all of his criteria, S28A. That's pretty much where things start to unravel.

Enter Harry Styles, scenter for hire.

Or the one where Louis is an omega in need, Harry is an alpha for hire, and destiny presents them with a fate they never saw coming.

🔹Now You're Lost, Lost In The Heat Of It All by @marchessa [E, 44k, Harry/Louis]

Green eyes flashed under the emperor's helmet, and he stood proudly in all his glorious armour even when the plates were smudged with blood and dirt, and in some places the steel was dented in. It would have been obvious even to a blind man that the alpha fought alongside his soldiers.

Courage was rapidly deserting Louis as he walked even closer to the menacing statue of raw power and authority. In the emperor's close proximity, the omega queen felt the need to swoon like a damsel in distress, and he had to grit his teeth and focus on the pain his body suffered from to ground himself against the dizziness that slowly began to cover his head in a fuzzy blanket.

" Emperor Styles," Louis greeted him, leaving his bodyguards behind.

Or the story of a great medieval Emperor and his consort.

🔹Here's Your Perfect by @brightgolden [E, 54k, Harry/Louis]

All finesse tossed aside, Harry yanks the envelope from Miss Eden’s hand. He hears her laugh, bright and cheerful as he tears into the envelope. His eyes skipping over the complimentary paragraph congratulating him for being assigned, settling into the centre of the letter - the name of his future mate.

And suddenly, Harry feels there isn’t enough air in this world for him to inhale as he recites the name in his mind. Louis Tomlinson.

In the world where mates are assigned to everyone and deposited to their door when an agreeable partner is found for them, Alpha Louis has recently been given his. However, he is nothing like the type of alpha that the omega academy prepares Harry for.

🔹Sheer Pride by sitandadmire / @louistomlionson [T, 4k, Louis/Harry]

“Wait-” Louis says suddenly, turning around after taking a couple of small steps forward. “It’s just, wow, you’re at Pride with a baby… who’s missing a shoe, by the way.”

“Oh, shit,” the stranger replies, but covers the infant's ears too late. It makes Louis laugh for the first time in a while.

Or: A Pride AU where Louis finally moves out.

🔹Strange Blue Water by sitandadmire / @louistomlionson [M, 2k, Louis/Harry]

Harry drives home just in time to see the sun.

Or: A Cowboy AU.

🔹Maybe Tomorrow? by Lhhome / @lh-home [E, 13k, Harry/Louis]

Louis resumes walking towards his apartment, lost in thoughts of Harry and how much he wishes he could just ignore his insecurities and also skip over the part where he has to figure out if Harry could even feel the same way as Louis does without ruining their friendship and just get to a part where they are together. It’s only as he is in bed and drifting off to sleep with images of a laughing Harry that Louis realises that he never told Niall his name.

🔹In the midst of a storm by wordsnnotes / @quelsentiment [M, 54, OT5]

Zayn didn’t know that a new story was about to unfold right in front of his eyes. If he had known, maybe he wouldn't have been so quick to claim that his life was quiet and uneventful, even verging on boring at times. If he had known, it was hard to say whether he would have stayed in bed that day, kept the bookshop closed, and avoided all that was to come or, on the contrary, gone to the pier himself to greet the newcomer with eagerness.

🔹Searching for a Paradise by wordsnnotes / @quelsentiment [T, 5k, Zayn/Harry]

With a good career, a nice apartment and a kind boyfriend, it would be fair to say that Harry has it all figured out. But when her old friend Zayn comes back to London after years of travelling the world, Harry starts to doubt the life that she's built for herself.

🔹Something Blue & Someone New by @littleroverlouis [E, 6k, Harry/Louis]

Single Alpha Louis moves into a new apartment building and doesn't realize he misses courting someone until meeting his next door neighbor, a charming Omega named Harry.

Louis is working up the nerve to officially ask him to court, but what if Harry secretly beats him to the punch?

🔹Crowd Work by @littleroverlouis [T, 2k, Louis/Harry]

Harry is a stand up comedian that likes to interact with his audience.

Although tonight, someone turns the tables and roasts him.

-Fic Fest-

🔹Wanker's Day Fic Fest @wankersday / masterpost

[cheri-translates]

[CN] Gavin’s Car Repair Date

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a date, 修车之约, which has not been released in EN! 🍒

[ This was released on 13 August 2021 ]

Beneath the blue skies and white clouds, the meandering road stretches towards the mountaintop, and the roar of the engine is incessant.

A light-hearted melody flows slowly within the car. Since we’ve already heard this song many times, Gavin and I find ourselves humming along to the music softly. 

Gavin: Are you tired? I could drive next.

Sitting on the front passenger seat, Gavin turns his head to look at me.

MC: I’m not tired. I’m filled with energy right now~

I shake my head, gripping the steering wheel while my gaze focuses on the front.

Gavin and I had originally planned to go on a vacation in a neighbouring city today. However, sudden changes at work caused my vacation to shrink to half a day...

As such, Gavin suggested that we should change our plans to a drive, and that he’d take me to this mountain route he often drives on.

MC: I’ve already watched you driving down this road a couple of times. I’m more or less familiar with this route.

The corners of my lips curl upwards slightly, feeling the fresh breeze brushing my cheeks, along with the comforting and pleasant sensation it brings.

MC: I can now understand why you like going on a spin here. The feeling of rushing among the mountains feels really carefree.

Hearing this, Gavin’s lips hook into a smile.

Gavin: If you like it, we could come here often next time.

MC: Sure. But I’ll be the one to drive you, okay?

I speak with a teasing tone, and Gavin chuckles softly.

Gavin: Why not?

While we’re talking and laughing, a strange sound abruptly drifts to our ears. My brows furrow. Gavin also senses the problem.

Gavin: Let’s stop the car.

I nod, bringing the car to the side before stopping.

Gavin walks over to the front of the car, then opens the hood. Bits of sunlight filter through the leaves, casting a mix of light and shadows on his face.

MC: Should I call the insurance company?

Gavin: No need.

Gavin purses his lips slightly, then waves casually.

Gavin: The spark plug just needs to be replaced. This car’s pretty old, and it hasn’t been maintained much. It’s a good time to give it a thorough check.

MC: I see...

I glance at the long mountain road. Even if we were to head down the mountain now, there’s still a great distance between us and the city...

Gavin: It’s fine, there’s no need to worry.

As though seeing through my thoughts, he gives me a smile.

Gavin: There happens to be a shop I’m familiar with nearby. Since we’ve been driving for such a long time, we could head there for a short break too.

Gavin places his warm palm on the top of my head, rubbing it gently.

Gavin: In short, it isn’t a huge problem and we can continue driving. Let’s get in.

-

Halfway up this secluded mountain, Gavin stations the car outside a shop which looks pretty old. After getting off, what enters our vision is a tightly shut roll-up door.

Gavin: The boss might have headed out.

Gavin calls out the boss’ name several times, but doesn’t receive a response. Instead, the sound of barking drifts over.

MC: This is...

Gavin: It belongs to the boss.

Gavin takes out his phone and dials a number. At the same time, he strides towards a flowerpot at the side, retrieving a key from underneath.

Gavin: I’ve told the boss about our situation. He says we could head into the shop to repair the car ourselves.

MC: Ourselves?

I mumble in slight confusion, watching as Gavin lifts the roll-up door.

Before I can get a clear glimpse of the shop’s interior, a figure leaps out.

??: Woof woof!

A brown puppy circles around Gavin excitedly, nuzzling against him affectionately.

Gavin (voice clip here): Long time no see, Bean Bun.

Gavin squats down, patting its head. Then, he points at me.

Gavin: This is Big Sis MC. Say hello to her.

MC: Nice to meet you, Bean Bun~

I bend down. When Bean Bun sees me, the affectionate energy disappears instantly, and it hides behind Gavin timidly.

MC: ...I’m feeling a sense of déjà vu. Why are these dogs only close to you?

I pout, my tone laced with envy. Gavin chuckles softly.

Gavin: It’s just a little afraid of strangers. Once it familiarises itself with you, it’d naturally stick to you.

Watching as Gavin carries the puppy up with ease, I can’t help but ask curiously.

MC: Do you come here often?

Gavin: I guess so. I often go on drives on the mountain, and got to know the boss here. I’d drop by occasionally to modify cars with him.

Gavin places Bean Bun down, then gives me a slight smile.

Gavin: That’s why I’m more familiar with this puppy.

After saying this, he gets up and drives the car into the shop. I scan my surroundings in curiosity.

All of a sudden, a few photographs on the horizontally striped wall draw my attention-

The photographs feature customers of the shop with their beloved cars. Stepping closer, I find one figure particularly familiar...

MC: !

MC: Gavin, your photo is here too!

Pleasantly surprised, I point at that photograph. The Gavin in the photograph is even more youthful than he is right now. He’s leaning against the car, his amber eyes filled with unruliness.

This isn’t the only photograph. Next to it, there are several photographs of Gavin checking or fixing cars. However, they appear to be candid shots.

There are occasionally photographs of him looking directly into the camera. His brows are always furrowed slightly, reluctance written all over his face.

Thinking of the reasons why he was forced to have such photos taken, I find myself bursting into laughter.

Gavin: Cough...

An unnatural cough drifts to my ears softly. Without realising it, Gavin has come over to stand behind me.

Gavin: I once learnt how to repair cars from this boss.

He follows my line of sight, sweeping a glance at the photographs while explaining.

Gavin: But he’s very strange. He didn’t ask for fees, but just wanted to take some photographs of me to stick on the wall of the shop... he said that his business would be better this way.

Hearing this, the smile on my face grows even wider.

MC: Looks like this boss has pretty good taste. He knows that he can’t let this dashing “model” slip by~ If only I had such photographs of you...

I say this enviously while scrutinising the photographs on the wall. Gavin stares at the photographs of the youthful version of himself, and seems to understand my words differently.

Gavin: “Such” photographs?

MC: Mm!

Gavin: You could take a few photos later.

In a nonchalant manner, Gavin shifts to stand in front of me, and just so happens to block my line of sight.

Gavin: Stop looking. My skills from back then are far different from what they’re like now.

He arches his brows slightly, taking my hand in his.

While looking at the person in front of me, I find myself laughing aloud. A sudden realisation strikes me.

MC: Wait. You mentioned “car repair skills”... So other than motorcycles, you can repair cars too?

My eyes widen in astonishment.

In these photographs, Gavin is always driving a car. Even though I already knew that he can modify and repair motorcycles, I never thought that four-wheeled vehicles were an easy feat for him too.

Probably due to my exaggerated expression and tone, Gavin chuckles.

Gavin: Why are you so surprised? I had an interest in it, so I tried learning a little. It isn’t anything serious. Although cars and motorcycles are two different types of vehicles, the principles behind repairing them are more or less the same.

Gavin says this calmly while retrieving spare parts for the replacement from a cupboard at the side. I support my chin with a hand, eyes focused on him.

MC: You seem to know everything.

Gavin: That’s an exaggeration. It’s just a hobby.

With a faint smile, he walks towards the car while carrying the tools. When he walks past me, he taps on my cap gently.

Gavin: It won’t take long. It’d be fixed really soon. You can sit at the side and take a break for now.

After saying this, Gavin rolls his sleeves up to his elbows, revealing his contoured arm as he uses the tools seriously.

I watch on fixedly, realising that I rarely see this version of him. As such, I smile while shaking my head, moving a chair over and sitting down next to him.

MC: I just want to stay here. This is the first time I’m watching you repair a car for real. I want to protect this best observation spot~

Gavin chuckles softly, and doesn’t insist otherwise.

In the next second, something seems to occur to him. He stops in the midst of opening the hood of the car, then casts a glance at me.

MC: Hm? What’s wrong?

The corners of his lips hook upwards slightly, a gentle light overflowing in his eyes.

Gavin: Erm, MC. Could you help me out?

Hearing Gavin’s suggestion, I nod hurriedly.

MC: Of course I can. How can I help?

Gavin tilts his head crookedly and ponders over this.

Gavin: Could you hand me tools?

MC: Only handing you tools...?

Seeing that I’m slightly disappointed in this task which doesn’t require much skill, Gavin smiles as he grabs a clean apron from the rack and ties it on me.

Gavin: It’s inevitable to get grease on you when repairing cars. You’re dressed really nicely today, so don’t get yourself dirty.

The sudden closeness in proximity causes me to soften my breathing. I cooperate by lifting my hands, then sneak a peek at Gavin from my peripheral vision.

His eyes are lowered, and his expression is serious as he ties the ribbon of the apron into a knot. His warm breaths gently brush against my ear.

I blink and nod, my voice turning soft.

MC: Understood. In that case, I’ll be Officer Gavin’s little assistant today~

I say this with anticipation, and very soon grow accustomed to this new role.

While Gavin changes into his work clothes, I purchase two bottles of iced water from a nearby stall. After returning, the both of us take out the necessary spare parts and tools from a work cabinet.

Just as everything is going smoothly, a crisp sound drifts from the side, as though something has fallen to the ground.

Twisting our heads to look, we realise that Bean Bun, who had been drinking water obediently at the side earlier, has moved over to the car, pawing at the tools on the floor.

Gavin: A spare part probably fell underneath the car.

As though punishing it, Gavin rubs Bean Bun’s head. Then, he leans over to look below the car. He supports himself on the body of the car with one hand, attempting to reach for the spare part which rolled underneath the car.

Looking at his tall frame and the amount of effort he’s exerting, I can’t help but chuckle.

MC: I’ll do it.

Without waiting for Gavin’s response, I squat down, reaching out to feel underneath the car.

Gavin: ...do it slowly.

A large hand is lifted up, carefully protecting my head. 

After feeling around the darkness beneath the car, my fingertips suddenly bump into something icy cold. 

MC: Got it!

Seeing how happy I look, the corners of Gavin’s lips lift into a smile.

Gavin: Looks like having an ‘assistant’ around is much more convenient.

He takes the spare part from my hand.

Gavin: I’ll have to trouble you again later.

MC: Mm, leave it to me!

Gavin removes his cap. After using a hoisting jack to prop the car up, his movements are nimble as he burrows underneath the car.

In the meanwhile, I tidy up the tools that Bean Bun had messed up earlier. Occasionally, the crisp sound of clanking metal can be heard.

Bean Bun: Woof!

After a moment, I hear a sudden sound.

Turning my head over, I spot Bean Bun wagging its tail, running towards the car.

MC: Wait, Bean Bun!

Worried that it’d disturb Gavin while he’s repairing the car, I attempt to pick it up. However, Bean Bun manages to evade me nimbly again and again.

In the blink of an eye, it slips underneath the car. I hurriedly bend down, looking underneath.

MC: Bean Bun, come here...

My voice abruptly halts, and my line of sight is involuntarily drawn to the image before me-

Gavin is lying on the ground, his gaze focused as he makes replacements to the car.

His head is tilted upwards, revealing his sculpted lower jaw. A droplet of sweat slides off his face, plunging into the collar of his slightly open shirt.

Despite the grease and dirt on Gavin’s face, it does not minimise his dashing spirit at all.

Bean Bun: Woo...

Bean Bun’s bark returns me to my senses. It’s currently lying at the side, looking at Gavin a little pitifully. It’s as though it wants Gavin to play with it.

I wave at Bean Bun, pretending to look stern.

MC: Bean Bun, come here. I’ll give you delicious, delicious food!

Bean Bun: Woo woo...

Gavin: [laughs] It’s okay, he won’t disturb me.

Following the sound and looking over, I realise that Gavin had stopped his work at some point of time, and is currently looking at me with a shining gaze.

My face flushes, and I avert my eyes while using this opportunity to pick Bean Bun up, who is stuck to his side.

MC: Reporting to Officer Gavin - I’ve successfully kept this Little Rascal under control!

My dead seriousness tickles Gavin to laughter. He plays with Bean Bun while it’s in my arms.

Gavin: Mm, not bad. My assistant is indeed competent. 

After this, he continues with the work on hand, just that the smile at the corners of his lips curls at a greater angle than before.

Gavin: MC, stay here and talk to me.

MC: Mm, sure~

I blink, then retrieve a small electronic fan from my bag at the side. I point it towards Gavin, wanting him to feel a little more comfortable. 

Gavin: Come to think of it, do you know why I wanted to learn how to repair cars?

I look at him with curiosity, and Gavin continues.

Gavin: When driving, I’m the first person who can understand the overall situation of the car. To me, fixing the car myself is most convenient. Also, I can make detailed adjustments based on my own preferences. It takes a little more time, but the process is very interesting.

Gavin’s tone is gentle as he speaks, the corners of his lips lifting involuntarily.

Seeing the bright lights in his eyes, I feel a certain part of my heart being stirred.

MC: So that’s the reason why you like modifying and adding new coats of paint to vehicles? I know how that feels.

I nod while chuckling softly.

MC: Whenever I finished my handcrafts in the past, I’d draw all sorts of doodles on them... It was akin to leaving a mark belonging exclusively to me on the things that I liked.

I mumble to myself, not noticing that Gavin has paused in his movements. After a moment, he slides out smoothly from underneath the car.

Warm yellow sunlight lands on Gavin’s face, smoothening his sharp edges.

My heart stirs slightly. Supporting my hands on my kneecaps, I bend over to ask him a question.

MC: Are you done repairing it?

Beneath the mottled light, Gavin lifts his eyes to look at me, arching his brows.

Gavin: Not yet. There’s still the final step. I’ll need your help.

He pulls me over to him. Amid the hot and dry air in the surroundings, Gavin’s scent and the smell of engine oil blend together.

Gavin places a tool in my hand. Together, we screw the spare part I had picked up earlier.

Gavin: Done.

His scorching breaths land on the nape of my neck. I turn my head, watching as a large patch of sunlight spills on Gavin’s back.

Scattered dust floats in the air, reminiscent of mayflies as they land on the car, which has already been covered with a layer of dust.

The person in front of me has a bright and clear smile which is even more dazzling than sunlight. I blink gently, tugging on Gavin’s hand and swinging it to and fro.

MC: Gavin, there’s something else I might be able to help you with.

-

“Splash...”

I retrieve a towel from the pail, leaning over and meticulously wiping the car which has already been rinsed once.

In the next moment, Gavin stands behind me, grabbing my hand.

Gavin: It’s best to start from the roof of the car. That way, we wouldn’t have to wipe and wash it again. Like this.

MC: Mm...

I cooperate, standing on my tiptoes. Due to our difference in height, I find it a little strenuous.

Gavin: [laughs] Let me do it.

While saying this, Gavin takes the towel from my hand.

I nod and turn around. Only then do I realise that we’re only a finger away from each other.

Stray hairs on his forehead sweep against the tip of my nose, and I can see each one of his eyelashes distinctly.

Warmth climbs up my cheeks gradually. Just as I plan to slip out of this tiny space, my wrist is suddenly tugged on. 

MC: A-aren’t you washing the roof of the car...

Lifting my head, I see an imperceptible smile flashing past his eyes.

Gavin: Before washing it, I have to ask for a “reward” from my little assistant.

After saying this, he leans down, cupping a hand against my ear.

Then, he leaves a gentle kiss on my lips.

I hold my breath. The only thing I can feel is my slightly increased heart rate.

-

On this scorching summer afternoon, the whirring fan moves continuously, and the sunlight along the horizon turns from a dazzling gold into a warm yellow.

Without even realising it, we’ve already wiped off all the soap bubbles on the car, and the body of the car is as shiny as the surface of a mirror.

MC: Done! Is Officer Gavin satisfied with this little assistant’s performance?

I turn my head towards Gavin excitedly. When I see the white soap bubbles on his face, I laugh aloud.

Gavin: What is it?

Under Gavin’s confused gaze, I turn the sprinkler to the lowest level, then head over to Gavin.

MC: Don’t move.

I dab some water on my hand, wanting to brush off the soap bubbles on his face.

MC: Gavin, squat down a little.

Gavin: Mm, okay.

Gavin nods in understanding. Following my instructions, he bends down. In an instant, his sculpted face draws close to me.

Beneath the gem-like and dazzling sunlight, the beads of sweat on his skin reflect light, causing me to be slightly engrossed in the sight.

I brush off the soap bubbles on his face gently. A damp yet soft sensation drifts from my fingertips. Gavin’s eyelashes quiver slightly at the touch.

Gavin: ...are you done?

I turn my head, realising that the tips of Gavin’s ears have turned an unnatural red.

MC: ...nope. There’s still a little bit on your nose.

Suppressing my laughter, I continue caressing his outline, deliberately leaning in closer.

Gavin’s breathing seems to become heavier. His eyelashes quiver slightly, before his eyes open right in front of me.

Gavin: [breathing noises] ...

Our breaths mingle with the heat waves of midsummer, and our eyes reflect each other’s faces clearly.

After a short while, Gavin seems to react. His lips move, as though he’s about to say something. However, two crisp barks interrupt him.

Bean Bun: Woof! Woof!

Bean Bun, who has been neglected by us, releases unhappy sounds of protest. It hops up continuously, pawing against Gavin’s leg.

MC: Sorry sorry, we seem to keep forgetting you today.

Lowering my head, I pat Bean Bun’s head.

Gavin: [sighs] ...

As though not wanting my attention to continue getting diverted by the puppy, Gavin suddenly carries me in one swoop, placing me on the car as he looks directly at me.

Gavin: I haven’t answered your question from earlier.

MC: Huh?

Gavin leans in close. I have a clear view of the smile overflowing in his amber eyes...

Gavin: I’m very satisfied with the “little assistant’s” performance today.

The faint scent of sweat and the fragrance of soap meld into my breaths. Only after listening to him do I recall the question which was interrupted earlier.

Despite the smile surfacing on my face, I pretend to be dissatisfied while speaking.

MC: Is that all? Officer Gavin’s assessment seems a little superficial.

Gavin laughs. He lowers his head to nuzzle the tip of my nose while he continues.

Gavin: This is how satisfied I am.

After a long while, he draws away from me slightly. With an upward tilt of his lips, he reaches out to leave white soap bubbles on the tip of my nose.

Gavin: [laughs] ...there you go. Now, the both of us have soap bubbles on our faces.

Watching as the smile deepens on his lips, I’m in a daze for a few seconds. Then, I recall how I had toyed with him earlier.

MC: Gavin, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?

Gavin: Mm, this is a counterattack.

Gavin admits it with ease.

MC: I didn’t expect Officer Gavin to launch such a childish counterattack.

I can’t help but laugh. Gavin looks at me, happy warmth reflecting in his clean and clear eyes.

He lowers his head, leaning his forehead against mine affectionately.

Gavin: MC, what you said earlier was very accurate. When there’s something I like, I’d want to leave my exclusive mark on it.

With his gaze, Gavin traces the contours of my face. Along with the warm breeze, his tender words land in my ears clearly.

Gavin: Which is why, over here...

He tilts my chin upwards gently, his voice softening.

Gavin: Let me leave a mark.

The scent belonging exclusively to Gavin wafts over. A soft sensation seals my lips shut.

MC: Mm...

Without giving me any time to react, Gavin rolls my breaths in between my lips and teeth in an overbearing manner.

The sound of disordered breaths dissipate at my ears. I support myself weakly on Gavin’s arms, feeling as though the temperature of my surroundings is rising.

After an unknown period of time, Gavin releases his hold on me. His arms remain tightly wrapped around my waist.

I pant slightly, allowing my breathing to regain some composure. As though I’m unwilling to admit defeat, I lean over towards him, giving him a light peck on his chin.

MC: ...Gavin, me too.

I stare at Gavin, my fingers caressing his outline before sliding down slowly, stopping at his chest.

MC: On you and your heart... I want to leave even more marks belonging exclusively to me.

The light in Gavin’s eyes stir for a moment. Then, he brushes aside the hairs on my face, pressing his lips to my forehead.

Gavin: MC.

I hear him calling my name.

Gavin: Actually, you already did that since a very long time ago. You did it effortlessly.

Reminiscent of a gust of summer breeze, his voice brushes my heart, filling it with a sweet emotion.

I wrap my arms around his neck, feeling the mingling of our interlaced breaths as they melt into the rapidly increasing temperature of the surroundings...

Gavin’s Post: The breeze on the mountain is really comfortable. Next time, I’ll bring Sparky here.

MC: I want to learn how to ride a motorcycle from Officer Gavin!

Gavin: Sure. MC’s private lessons will begin next week.

Minor: Bro Gavin, can I tag along?

-

Gavin’s Post: The breeze on the mountain is really comfortable. Next time, I’ll bring Sparky here.

MC: Can we drive down different routes next time?

Gavin: Sure. Until you have your heart’s content.

Minor: Bro Gavin, can I tag along?

-

Gavin’s Post: The breeze on the mountain is really comfortable. Next time, I’ll bring Sparky here.

MC: Sparky: I’ve fallen out of favour.jpg

Gavin: It’s okay, I’ll coax it when we get back.

Minor: Bro Gavin, can I tag along?

💧 Phone calls: First l Second

💧 Translated comic based on this date: here

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[showrunnerihardlyknowher]

Humans? Up MY Beanstalk? It's More Likely Than You Think!

AO3 Link

Danny's back on her bullshit and here to make everyone suffer with another WIP that's part of a fic trade with my beloved @hiddendreamer67 <3

Summary: I mean, Jack made it all sound so easy! Climb up the beanstalk a few times, steal enough riches to last himself ten life times, and live happily ever after as a heroic giant slayer with absolutely no repercussions.

Seriously, how hard can it be?

Aiden was no stranger to life events going from bad to worse at the drop of a hat, but more often than not he was able to go with the turbulent flow just enough to keep his head above water and out of any serious trouble. Such a feat was most evident in his adaptation to living within the labyrinth-like walls of the oversized castle he had foolishly sought refuge in weeks prior. Had it been weeks? Months, perhaps, or maybe only a handful of days. The passage of time was just as foreign to him as these massive surroundings, these massive people , and he didn’t have the gall to weasel his way towards an opening near the outside to gauge how high or low the sun was sitting in the strangely pink sky.

The irony was almost funny; where was that fool hearted bravery he had been swimming in when he first started his ascension up the winding stalk that sprouted who knows how many decades ago to reach its impressive height? He knew the stories of young boys trading cows for beans and getting far more than they bargained for. He knew it was down right suicidal to scale the plant in general given he hadn’t a lick of training when it came to climbing anything other than a ladder. The opportunity to live within a legend was too good to pass up, unfortunately. The flimsy promise of riches and adventure beyond his wildest dream outweighed the need to even consider how he was going to get back down from the towering growth when he was inevitably disappointed by the lack of golden eggs.

But he didn’t succumb to the thin air or fall to his death, and he wasn’t disappointed. If anything, he was given everything he envisioned. Almost everything. When he broke through the cloud line, he discovered the vine had tapered off in favor of clinging to a cliff side he was unaware even existed from below. Green tendrils served as almost a ladder to aid his climb up the mysterious rock formation until he was able to pull himself, huffing and panting and muscles tingling from overuse, over the edge to collapse on horizontal land. So the fabled kingdom of riches didn’t actually rest on the clouds, it seemed. A small let down, but hardly anything worth dampening the mood as Aiden took in his new world view.

He felt as if he had switched places with a weevil seeing how the small patch of grass he was in came up to his chest rather than swishing against his ankles. The euphoria of this great new discovery once again drowned out the more rational side of him, favoring exploration over potential survival. The logistics of returning home could be dealt with later, after he had slayed a giant and stolen only a penny of its wealth that would no doubt provide for him for the rest of his life. Naive. Gullible. Fool hearted.

Aiden had only trekked for a few hours before nearly getting swallowed up by a winged beast he likened to a bat, washing away over the edge of the cliff in a stream, and getting trampled by hulking soldiers doing their rounds. Each close call he survived by the skin of his teeth, luck and adrenaline driving him blindly to find a moment of safety. However, with each incident his bravery withered away into trepidation, especially the closer he came to the giants that roamed the lands. None of them had noticed him yet and part of him wondered if they would ever notice something as miniature as him scurrying around, but he wasn’t feeling bold enough to stay out in the open just for their reaction. No, once he had slipped into the fortress of metal and stone, out of sight from any predator's eyes, the will to venture back out had faded into near nothingness.

If he had it his way, he doubted he would ever again have the gung ho to leave the confines of his newfound sanctuary, not even for the bittersweet desire of returning home. He had made his bed in his haste to seek glory out of tall tales and now he must lie in it. Though his heart ached with anxiety and his hands ceased to tremble, his traitorous stomach refused to let him continue a life of solitude amongst the dusty beams. A weaker part of him couldn’t help but wonder if it would be worth it to live with the gnawing pain until it eventually overtook him. A fitting end, would it not, to starve to death like a rat in the walls? Alas, he was weak, but not weak enough to endure such aggressive cramping by the end of the second day, and so he mustered all the strength and courage he could just to snatch a few stale breadcrumbs long forgotten behind what he assumed was a cast iron stove.

Aiden truly was living up to his new rodent lifestyle, wasn’t he.

It was disgusting, but it was food, and though it made him ill the remainder of the night it had at least provided him with enough energy to go back out the next night in an effort to find something an inch more sustainable. By the end of the week, his newly discovered drive to live had him exploring every corner of the expansive kitchen during the wee hours of the night, when no giants hurried back and forth between the counters and the galley to serve platters of meals that could have fed his own village for months at a time. The rich smell of hot breads and meats made him dizzy, even more so now that he was getting accustomed to surviving off of dusty scraps he found on the floor. He needed to play it safe, he reminded himself as he watched one of the chef’s throw out an entire pan of fresh loaves because there’s too many chives in this! It’s too bitter for his tastes! , hardly resisting the urge to dive into the bins after the wasted food.

But...if they were so keen as to throw away an entire batch of fully prepared food over the fact that it was unsuitable for one person’s palette...surely there was no harm in taking what would be considered a nibble. Not when it was unwanted.

There it was again, that fool hearted bravery. If only Aiden had used it to find a way out of this unofficial prisoner rather than fuel his greed. He couldn’t be happy with the bare minimum he was given, could he? Always had to push the boundaries when he knew exactly where they lied, always run headfirst towards danger and then act surprised when it would bite him in the ass moments later. At least this time around he had the forethought to formulate some type of a plan, as flimsy as it was. Having become quite familiar with the inner structures of the fortress, he was able to determine the abode he was in was something along the lines of a castle. It was certainly sprawling enough, decorated with dark colors and glittering riches and constantly bustling with workers ranging from lowly servants to chittering socialites. Whether or not this was indeed a house for royalty he was unsure, having never been able to pinpoint which of the ambling lords or ladies might be the esteemed ruler of the lands. Assuming monarchies even existed this high, that is. Perhaps this was merely the norm of their society’s standards. It was unlikely, but it wasn’t as if he had many outside resources to compare this way of life to, not even in the way of his own village.

In theory, the heist should have been easy. In theory . All he had to do was wait until the dead of night for the bustling kitchen to fall silent as it normally did and he could slip out from the crevice closest to the scraps bin. Scaling in and out of the bin might prove trickier than he anticipated, but that remained a problem for future Aiden. The most important part of his newfound mission was being able to fill his stomach up with day-old bread and cold meats before they were discarded for good. If all went well, this could easily become a nightly routine of his, a way to feast like a king whilst living like a rat within the true royalty’s walls. He knew he was getting ahead of himself with that kind of fantasizing, perhaps that was even the beginning of his downfall, but he had so little to look forward to these days that he dared to get his hopes up for a semi-decent meal.

He hadn’t even made it halfway across the counter before he was spotted and subsequently captured.

But he had been so careful , he lamented to himself when the air was roughly knocked from his lungs after a massive hand slammed on top of him, pinning any squirms. True, he reflected as the stars cleared his vision, he never actually bothered to see if the kitchen remained vacant all night given that he was asleep...but he just assumed! Who in the world would be up during this hour!? Someone else sneaking a snack, maybe, just as he was. He could use that to his advantage, try and gain a few sympathy points by connecting with the giant on that level, convince them that all he needed was just a fraction of whatever they were probably getting for themselves and he would be on his way for good. A lie, of course, but the giant didn’t need to know that.

Once more, that short lived plan would never be put to use when Aiden felt himself being lifted in the air within a bone crushing grip, metal and leather digging into him in various places from the glove the giant wore. His eyes barely adjusted from the dizzying movements and dim kitchen before they were blown open at the sight, constricted breathing still entirely for a heartbeat. This was no ordinary giant, not like the ones he had grown accustomed to glancing at from the nooks and crannies. At first glance, however, it did fit the bill for the most part -- biped, guard’s armor, a human face -- but...did these giants typically have glowing purple eyes? He couldn’t recall for certain, yet the more he looked the more he found that appeared off. The outline of the guard’s figure seemed...fuzzy, like they were blurred rather than a solid defining line. His face, harsh and scrutinizing, was greyer than a corpse. He was otherworldly, and it was at that moment Aiden was painfully reminded he was in another world, one he didn’t belong in. One he knew he would be leaving quickly.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the guard rumbled, his voice grating more like static than a growl.

“N-no…” Aiden agreed. Anything to get on his good side. “I’ll go, I’ll l-leave!”

Though he had found his voice, he had yet to find the strength to attempt any kind of struggle, not that he thought he’d be able to budge the massive fingers in the slightest. However, if he showed just how eager he was to depart from this situation, maybe the giant would believe him and grant him that small mercy. Instead, he was given another rough squeeze that made his spine pop, the fist clenching him raising higher so that he was more at eye level with his captor.

“How did you get in here, human? ” The guard spat. Good news was that humans were a known creature, at least. Bad news was that humans, apparently, were not known for any pleasant reason.

Aiden panted, trying to suck in a much needed breath after all of his were forced out. “I-I don’t know…” He squealed in discomfort when the fingers tightened again, refusing to let up until he gave a more satisfactory answer. “Th-the walls! I came through the walls! ”

The guard snorted and slackened his grip to allow an inch of breathing room, “Of course you did. Little pest that you and your kind are.”

“Wh...what are you…?” A bold question, but since he was sure it was to be one of his last, Aiden saw no reason not to ask.

He wasn’t given an answer, the giant instead lowering him slightly to exit the kitchen and pace down the halls. The scenery whizzed by so fast that it made his head spin, catching a few looks at other giants that were loitering about. Just like the guard, they were similar to the ones he would see in the daytime but...different. The two guards they passed looked to be of the same race of whatever the one holding him was, a noblewoman in a shimmering capelet eyed him suspiciously and he could have sworn her ‘capelet’ flittered before settling back down her shoulders. How had he never seen any of these attributes in the day? Then again, he often viewed the giants in the fortress at a distance and never for very long, they could have all been magically endowed for all he knew. Or, another theory, the ones he was coming across now were merely nocturnal and their more...normal housemates were sound asleep as he typically was while these creatures did their rounds and had their fun.

The wonderment was short lived when the giant shoved his way through a heavy wooden door at the very end of a lesser used corridor. With each step down the spiraling stone staircase, Aiden felt his heart sink just a little lower. The long shadows casting against the walls from the torches mounted to them gave the dank atmosphere an even more sinister vibe, leaving too many unknown things able to hide in the darkness. Even the guard, who did not appear to be an overly friendly fellow to begin with, looked twice as menacing with how the shadows concealed the few human features he did have. Aiden swallowed thickly, unsure of where they were heading but already knowing it wasn’t good.

His hunch was confirmed when the guard entered another hall, one lined with cramped cells that were partially occupied. He tried not to look at them and their fates, not wanting to see what might be awaiting him as well. Likely not, though. He was far too small to shackle and imprison. A different punishment would have to be in store for him. Further down the hall, the dungeon changed its holding cells from ones with iron bars to ones with solid steel doors instead, obscuring whatever poor bastard was locked within. Was that considered a crueler punishment? Perhaps that was where the torturing took place, if such types of creatures indulged in those acts. He saw no reason why they wouldn’t and as a result could very easily imagine himself being thrown in there next.

Fortunately, or not, the guard instead opened another wooden door that was adjacent to several of the isolated cells, coming to stand before another giant sitting at a table. Aiden couldn’t tell what was on the desk or what this new giant was using these unknown things for, but from the jist of it he must have been busy.

“Sir,” the guard holding him said while raising him higher for the presumably important one to see better. “A human has been found within the perimeter.”

The guard, a captain if Aiden were to guess, frowned. “Any others?”

“None that I could sense in the immediate area.”

He sighed and waved his hand. “We’ll do a sweep before daybreak. Who knows the amount of damage it’s done...what it’s taken, what it’s told.” He fixed Aiden with an icy glare that made the poor human try to shrink in on himself.

He wished he could have found a way to defend himself, plead his case, but his voice was nowhere to be found now. All cowardliness and no self preservation.

“And how shall I dispose of this one, sir?” The guard asked and Aiden paled. Dispose!?

The one in charge shrugged a shoulder and resumed what he was doing previously, fiddling with tools and books and papers for one reason or another. “Put it on lunch duty. Give the lizard another rat to keep him busy.”

Aiden didn’t quite follow the logic of the order. Lunch duty didn’t sound half as bad as being disposed of. The ‘lizard’ was news to him, but regardless the guard nodded at his order and left the office back down the corridor of steel doors. He wasn’t sure if he should speak up and ask for clarification while he mulled over his rather lenient sentencing, doubtful the giant would even regard him. From the looks of disgust and distrust he had been given numerous times in the short span of time he had been discovered, he could gather that his presence was an unwelcome one, though why he was still unsure. Evidently, he was going to be put to work and he could most certainly live with that. Earn his keep, he reasoned. Give rats to lizards or something. Would these rats and lizards be the same kind as the ones back on his homeworld down below or would they be to scale with the giants? Another question he should probably speak aloud before he got in over his head.

Or, at least, he would have asked, had a wad of cloth not been jammed into mouth hard enough to make his jaw click uncomfortably. He gagged, trying to shove the offending material out with his tongue, but it was packed into his cheeks too tightly to budge. A different material, a thin rope, was quickly wound around his chest to pin his arms to his sides before wrapping further down to bind his ankles. It had happened in the flash, the guard giving him no warning or reasoning for the sudden confinement, but it wasn’t as if Aiden could offer up much protest now that it was all said and done. He was completely immobile, spun up like a fly in a spider’s web. The guard had done it with such efficiency that it must be something similar to a routine for him by now which did not bode well. In a last ditch effort to save his hide from whatever...this was, he looked up at his captor with wide, pleading eyes, begging for just a shred of sympathy or at the very least an explanation of what was about to happen.

All he was met with was the same cold, violet eyes as all the other giants he had come to pass. Equally cruel and indifferent. And it was then he understood, as he was being roughly shoved through a hand slot at the base of one of the sturdy metal cell doors, that he was not the one who was meant to be delivering the meals during “lunch duty”. He was the meal. He was the rat, which meant the lizard was…

Aiden wriggled as best he could manage in his position until he was able to roll onto his back and get a good look around the cell. It was massive to him, but compared to the size of the giants he could tell it was rather cramped. Dark and depressing, much like one would expect a lonely prison cell to be, with the scattering of tiny bones and grime along the stone walls. His breathing quickened as he tried to tell just what type of origin the gnawed remains had been, however it was too difficult to tell at this distance in such gloom lighting. Perhaps that was for the best, giving his brain a little boost of reassurance that maybe they weren’t all human bones, that this wasn’t a common fate most of his kind befell when they made the same foolish mistake of invading where they clearly did not belong.

Trying to avoid the glare of bones only worsened his situation tenfold when he turned his head and was met with what was, obviously, the lizard as previously mentioned. Well, partially a lizard? More human-looking than lizard just going off a quick glance which led Aiden to believe the nickname was meant to be a derogatory term for whatever species it was. It...he? Yeah, he was kneeling on the floor, not by choice, but rather due to the shackles that bound him at the wrist and was tethered to the floor with a pitifully short chain. The clothes he wore reminded him of something he might have caught a few nobles wear given the level of craftsmanship and hand woven designs. It was a shame they were soiled now in what he could only assume was sweat and dirt, how he hoped that was dirt. The prisoner picked his head up when he heard the food slot screech open and shut, waiting for any other sound before sighing at the responding silence.

The chain jingled as he shifted to reposition himself into something a little more comfortable, Aiden now catching sight of the black nails that blended into scales littering the back of his hand when he flexed his fingers. A tail briefly flicked into view before concealing itself behind him once again. As the human let his gaze trail further up his face, fully prepared to see another hateful glare burning a hole through his weak soul, he couldn’t help but notice another spattering of black scales along his cheekbones and down his neck, presumably up to his eyes as well, but...well, he couldn’t tell. Not when there was a tattered, red cloth tied around his head, effectively blinding the sense. He wondered if this was an ailment the giant already had or if this was another part of his punishment, curious if he even had any eyes still in their sockets beneath the shoddy wrappings. Whatever the case was, the “lizard” obviously couldn’t see him and Aiden was unable to alert him to his presence with the gag shoved down his throat, leaving them at an awkward stalemate.

A stalemate that lasted all of two seconds before the giant wrinkled his nose and frowned. “The hell kind of rodent is this…? ” he muttered to himself.

So much for not knowing he was there. With great effort, Aiden twisted his body until he was able to turn on his side, trying to push himself up into a sitting position. He froze when the giant started to move as well, pointed ears twitching in response to the light scuffling he was making against the floor to pinpoint his location. Despite one of his senses being dulled, it was evident his remaining ones were still working in perfect order, maybe even heightened to compensate for the lack of vision.

“Another live one,” he sighed, fingers flexing again, “Sorry about this little buddy. I don’t like live prey any more than you like being it, I’m sure, but, well…”

That was the only warning Aiden had before the giant lunged, teeth snapping an inch in front of his frozen body. From this close, he could see the needle-thin fangs previously hidden behind a grimace and instantly wanted to be far, far away from them. His only saving grace was the short lead the other had on his cuffs, preventing him from pushing off any closer and cutting him off just shy of his prize for the time being. He growled in annoyance at having missed the offered prey, pulling back to realign himself for a better pounce.

“Come on, just make this easy for the both of us,” the giant huffed.

Oh, absolutely not. No, no, no. No, this was not how Aiden wanted his adventure in the skies to end. Fuck the adventure, he wanted to go home and he wanted to do so alive and in one piece. Being ripped to shreds was not a fate he ever envisioned for himself. He wasn’t going to die like some...some rat!

The giant was inching closer, moving along the side as much as the chain would allow to get a better angle. It didn’t matter whether he ensnared the tiny between his claws or teeth or even batted its little corpse within reaching distance with his tail, so long as he was able to get a hold on its fresh flesh one way or another. Desperately, Aiden began to rock back and forth to shimmy his body across the floor, painstakingly putting centimeters of distance between them that the giant was able to make up in a single shuffle. When the chain pulled taunt again, the human rolled to the side and narrowly missed the clamp of teeth once more, hot breath blowing against his back and covering his body in goosebumps. Undeterred, however, the giant followed his scent that was so tantalizingly close and moved his body in unison with Aiden’s. With another bite, he was able to find purchase on the ropes that burned against his arms and sunk his fangs in what he supposed was meant to be an animal's tender flesh.

Aiden had tried to avoid the attack but simply could not scramble away quick enough, his only luck being that he was just far enough that the gnashing teeth only managed to puncture through the fibers of rope rather than his actual skin. He was lifted into the air when the giant pulled back, kicking and thrashing to the best of his ability against the hold. The humid air blowing on the back of his head made him nauseous now, only able to envision how the feeling would quickly be enveloping him entirely when he was thrown back and swallowed down the creature’s gullet. With one, final twist, Aiden prayed his limited strength would be enough to somehow dislodge himself from the giant’s maw and give him another chance at playing this unbalanced game of chase.

And then the rope snapped.

Having already been sawed and frayed in several places from the giant’s fangs, Aiden’s pull was all it needed to rip apart entirely, sending the human sprawling onto the cold ground. His vision clouded when his head smacked against the stone, ironically thankful for the wad of cloth in his mouth or he most certainly would have lost a few teeth. Without a doubt, he was going to have a nasty bruise coloring the majority of his right side in the near future, the ache still pulsing with every wheezing breath he tried to gain back. While the stars faded from his eyes, he watched distantly as the giant curiously grinded the material in his mouth before dropping it. He pursed his lips in confusion, expecting raw meat and the rush of blood rather than some scratchy coils of what almost tasted like hide.

“Gods, what even is this,” he cringed.

Me , Aiden wanted to cry out, it’s me, it’s a human!

The giant’s hang up with his unusual meal faded into resignation much sooner than Aiden would have liked. He was hardly to blame, though, if he had been given nothing but live pests to blindly hunt down without the use of his full mobility for an undetermined amount of time. They were in a similar boat, really. Creatures trapped in a home they had no business being in, trying to survive on what little scraps were thrown their way. The human sorely wished he hadn’t been relegated into the scraps category, but there was little he could do about that now. Knowing his prey had a pretty straight forward drop, he moved again with an open mouth to seal the foreign creature’s fate.

The sight of teeth rushing to greet him was exactly the adrenaline rush Aiden’s body needed to get moving again, much more successfully this time now that he had arms to push up with and legs to carry him a greater distance. As much as he would have loved to have sprinted to the other side of the cell, even find another crack to slip through if fate would feel the desire to be so kind to him today, he only managed to stumble a few feet out of the immediate danger zone before tripping over himself. His right leg screamed in agony from the second fall, a sign of something being sprained somewhere he was sure. He wanted to scream out loud as well had it not been for the gag. The gag he realized he could take out now. Unsure of how useful his last words would even be, the human ripped the wad of cloth out of his mouth in a frenzy while the giant prepped himself for another attack. If anything, at least Aiden could find catharsis in leaving some sort of statement about himself behind for someone to hear, even if it was just confirmation of his fool heartedness.

“Stop!” Aiden yelled, voice raw and itching his throat like it hadn’t been used in ages rather than half an hour. “Please, stop! G-get away! ”

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting the giant to do as a result, but one thing was clear and it was that he most certainly wasn’t expecting his meal to say anything. He reeled back like he had been physically struck by those words, if his eyes were visible he was sure they would be as wide as serving platters. It was almost comical how he stumbled back, the menacing creature suddenly so fearful of a tiny vermin it was trying to consume moments prior, mouth agape as he tried to process what was going on without being able to actually see it.

“You...did you just, oh my gods,” he gasped. While he was glad he was being spared for the time being, the giant’s nervousness did little to quell the anxiety that had been brewing in Aiden’s heart since the moment he came upon this accursed land.

“Ple-please…” Aiden whimpered, suddenly drained physically and emotionally from the whole ordeal and settling to just drag himself any extra distance he could away from his unofficial death penalty. It was a pathetic display, but on the bright side, one he wouldn’t be mocked for. “Don’t h-hurt me…”

The giant shifted again, hesitant, closer , and Aiden braced himself for the final bite to end it all.

“You can talk!? ”

[wahlpaper]

Meet Cute Diary Review

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

CW: Transphobia, Manipulation, Money Problems, Moving Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Cyberbullying, Social Media Anxiety, Toxic Relationship, Past Suicide Attempt, Past Bullying, Microaggressions, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, Vomit, Described Gender Dysphoria

4.5/5

I am not one for the Meet Cute trope because they aren't realistic and don't feel like the safest way to meet someone. I want to know someone before I fall for them. For this reason, I had been avoiding Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee although it has been on my TBR list for a while. Finally, I took another look at the description and realized that Meet Cutes not being realistic is exactly what the book was about. I downloaded it to my phone immediately and fell in love with it.

Noah, a Tumblr(!) blogger and trans teenager, is in Colorado for the summer while his parents work on setting up a new home in California. Leaving his best friend behind at the time his blog receives a determined troll, he needs help to keep his blog going. This blog, "The Meet Cute Diary" anonymously posts fake Meet Cutes featuring trans folks stumbling upon love. While the fans are misled to believe the blog posts are true stories, the blog is meant to inspire hope. Noah soon gets a Meet Cute of his own with a blog fan and starts to fake date him in an effort to squash the troll. Along the way Noah learns more about what he truly wants in a relationship, his future, and for the blog.

I was not immediately hooked because I didn't like Noah all that much. He is careless with his parents' money, a problem which is only barely solved. Thankfully his other flaws gave him a place to grow from. As Noah started to face consequences and learn from them, I got hooked on Meet Cute Diary. He has a problem with boundaries, rash decisions, and living in the real world. All realistic for a teen and all of these helped to build the story. Noah is lucky to have a good support system and learns not to take it for granted.

For every queer Tumblr kid, Meet Cute Diary is going to feel like a familiar setting. The site functions are described well, the users are painfully real, and Noah's stress over follower numbers really took me back to high school. Lee handles world building in a way that connects for both those in-the-know and those that aren't. E seems to be very good at world building in general. I have never been to Colorado, but I could understand what the summer camp, mountain, bookstore, and more were like. I could step into Noah's summer and didn't want to leave any more than he did.

I know there are others out there, but this is the first contemporary YA romcom (my favorite genre) that I've read with a trans main character. I've read some in the genre by trans authors, but it makes me happy to read about a trans teen finding love, especially with a genderqueer love interest. By halfway through the book, Noah finds himself in a love triangle. Drew, the fan, and Devon, his summer camp co-worker. Devon uses the same pronouns as Lee, E/Em/Eir/Eirs. Throughout the book, Noah and Devon inspire each other to be their more authentic selves. For Devon, this includes experimenting with pronouns. Noah never bats an eye. I am a cis person, so it is not my place to rank how well the trans experience was incorporated into the book, but I will say that it made me feel happy and as though everything flowed well.

Remember if you choose to read Meet Cute Diary that messy characters do not equal a messy book. Characters make mistakes which makes them that much more real. For those that want to see more trans love stories, check Lee's book out! I could really use some folks to gush about this one with!

[soullesscoffee]

i think; therefore i am || part two

{ fem!witch reader x poly!the lost boys }

|| part one ||

part rating: general

word count: 4,340

part summary: after the encounter with the ruthless gang of vampires on the board walk y/n finds themselves keeping their distance from the boardwalk and doing business other places. a choice of a movie night brings she to encounter a new suspicion and familiar faces. even then they have to embrace her action after coming face to face with one of the daunting vampires.

warnings: use of magic, witchcraft, vampires, marko being sweet, david being a prick, and late night encounters. 

A bell rings in your ears as you push your way through the colorful door into the buzzing video store. The music reverberates from the speakers above your head and the smell of floor cleaner invades your nose. The upbeat store gave you some relief from the stress from the past couple of days. Since the encounter with the creatures of the night, you have been avoiding the boardwalk hustling around near the city or keeping your distance in the more unknown parts of the boardwalk. You trail your way past the front desk where all the registered rested admiring the acrylic frames not paying attention to the man with neat hair and glasses that watched your figure pass by with curiosity. A low hum left your nose as you tuned in with the words of La Bamba. The first section you instantly hit was the comedy section, your black-painted fingers trailed over the spines of the VHS covers with precision as you tried to make your decisions. You snatch the case for Ghostbusters. As you do you could feel eyes burning into the back of your head. You carefully turned around to see where your intuition was taking you. Yet it was only the woman behind the counter with big curly hair and an off-shoulder top. Her stare was rather curious. People do stare a lot when you walk into a place. That doesn’t mean it is out of negativity, you guess it’s purely out of curiosity. Your style can be so polar sometimes but this time you wore a pair of bootcut jeans and a flowing black poet's top that was paired with heeled boots. The accessories are what you think to draw people’s attention with the stacked sterling rings, the crystal earrings, and a large ornate belt such as you were wearing today to cinch the waist of the flowing shirt.

Her eyes scan over your outfit, eventually coming to your eyes, you make eye contact and give her a knowing nod and a smirk before turning back around. Pressing the movie against your chest, tapping a rhythm on the plastic with your fingernails as you make your way to the horror section taking your time. The music mixed with the soft sounds of TVs caused your senses to buzz from a sensory overload. You squat to the ground and carefully graze over the horror section, there wasn’t much to the collection but there were some decent picks. A sigh left your nose as you reached out to pinch Cujo’s spine between your fingers. As you do a wet substance appears on your cheek. You whip your head to a tan shepherd sniffing you and your hair. A jolt in surprise at the sudden appearance of the dog, your heart races for a minute before a smile cracks along your nude painted lips. The dog pants and sits patiently waiting for you to pet him. 

You chuckle at pat the dog’s head, “There you are Thorn! I am so sorry. He has a habit to sneak up on customers when they’re down so low.” You look up to follow the mysterious, yet harmfully charismatic, voice and it was the man who was standing at the front counter when you walked in. With your hand still petting the hound named Thorn, you stand fully to greet the neat man. “Oh no! You’re okay, he did give me quite the fright but he is too cute. His good looks made up for it.” You beam at the mysterious man. As you adjusted the movies on your side you saw his hand shot out, “I’ll take those for you. Assuming you want to keep looking for more movies to watch tonight.”

You chuckle lightly and hand the two movies out to him, “I think this will be all tonight, thank you, erm..” You trail off trying to see if he wore a nametag on his blazer but there wasn’t one.

“Max, my name is Max,” he introduces with a charming smile that would make any woman swoon if they had the weakness too.

“I am guessing you’re the Max that’s on the name of the store. Well, it is wonderful to meet you,” you greet back with a welcoming smile. Your eyes scan his face, looking over every faint crack and freckle on his face. Once your eyes met him there was an unsettling feeling that grew in your stomach. One you knew all too well. 

“Well, then! Would you like to check out for tonight, ma’am?” He asks motioning his full hand of the VHS’ towards the counter.

You swallow and give a curt nod. As you walk you could feel Thorn brushing against your leg as you did. This made you more cautious of what the dog might be if the dark energy pulsating from the man would be. You rested your hands gently on the counter and stood as still as a statue but you tried your best to remain relaxed in the situation you were granted. There was something wrong with the owner of the store and you knew how well he was masking it. His haughty get-up of a loud button-up shirt and neat tie was something you couldn’t get past.

“So I’ve never seen you around here!” Max’s voice booms through your line of thought causing your head to whip up to face him. 

“Yeah, I’m just passing through. Couldn’t help it when I saw the boardwalk. It’s a wonderful sight,” You reply with a passing smile before tucking a strand of hair behind your ear acting bashful and shy.

“It is quite beautiful. But you got to be careful here, it’s not the safest place for a young woman like you.” He advises as he scans the barcodes of the cases before popping them open to double-check if there was a VHS in them. You caught his eyes trailing over you, his warm and welcoming eyes now something of a dark glower. His eyes changed though once he noticed you staring back at him.

“Oh, thank you, Max, for the warning. But I got it.” You reassure and reach back into your back pocket to fish out the money clip that you kept. As you pull it out the front doorbell trills to announce another customer has entered. 

You didn’t look up as you fingered through the bills to find a ten-dollar bill through all the ones. The low rumbling from Thorn by your ankles is what caused you to cautiously lookup. You look up to see the four vampires from a couple of nights ago walk into the store with such confidence it could’ve convinced you that they owned the place. Your eyes widen a bit and your fist clenches the ten-dollar bill making it more wrinkled than before. 

The leader only smirks at you as swaggers his way through the store. Following was the dark brunette with daggers for eyes then it was the two blondes. The fishnet-clad one looked at you with caution while the curly-haired one looked at you with an expression of curiosity and wonder. His golden curls were pushed back into a low ponytail this night that draped over his ornate jacket. You could feel he wanted to approach you and that he wasn’t hostile. Unlike the others. Out of your surprise, you try to match their energy of fierceness.

“I thought I told you, boys, you aren’t welcome here,” Max barks at them, his voice sounded so gravely and polar to the appealing one before. 

The leader snaps his eyes to the owner of the store and his smirk drops, the smirk turned into a frown for a split second. His eyes trace it’s way back to you, “Relax, we just wanted to check out the new features you got in here.” The platinum blonde clarified as the rest of the boys behind him scatter through the store murmuring to themselves and messing with some of the VHS covers.

Max glares at the platinum blonde before turning back to you, “I’m so sorry about the mess in here,” 

You couldn’t help but crack a smirk at the hit at the group of punks. You tilt your head at Max to shake your head, “No problem, they’re only looking for a feature for the night.” You comment flicking your eyes to see if the leader was still glaring at you. He wasn't, he was off looking through the horror flicks while the other three were flirting with the tanned woman behind Max. You place the ten down on the counter and swiftly grasp the two movie boxes. “Thank you, Max, I’ll see you soon,” you bid goodbye with a nod being careful not to trip over Thorn as you make your way to the door.

“Oh! Ma’am, rental lasts five days!” Max calls out to you as you were already halfway out the door. You pause and turn back to him, tapping your rings around the metal door handle. “Thank you,” you thank the owner, but your eyes switched to the four who were watching you with sharp eyes. Each feline in its own way.

Your feet carry you quickly to your red truck where you unlock the door from the keys that were attached to your hip. Getting in and slamming the door shut your eyes never left the five figures as you pumped the clutch and set the vehicle in reverse. You only tore your eyes away when you turned to look behind you to see if there was any oncoming traffic. Yet when your head swiveled back to the front you saw the ragged punks standing in front of the store by their bikes. The thing that caught you off guard was the little finger wave the monarch decorated gave you with his most feigned sweetened smile. The sight gave your stomach a fuzzy feeling and your head to buzz. “Time to make a circle,” you grumble to yourself speeding off into the night.

Later that night you cast a protection circle around your little caravan that you claimed to be your home. It sat on a sigil etched into the soft earth below the sanctuary. Casting it drained you that night, it had been a while since you had to cast around an area that was relatively large. It surrounded the shelter along with the little pathway you created with stones. 

Exhausted, you lay on your bed facing the little compact TV as Ghostbusters entertained your drained mind. Finn rested perfectly into your side watching the movie as well. His tail swaying in amusement. His mewl caused you to roll your eyes as the green slime ghost floated through a wall after slimming one of the busters. “It’s only a movie, Finn, it’s for entertainment purposes. Are you going to do this with every movie I bring home? How about I put in Cujo instead?” You suggest acting like you were going to get up and fetch the movie from the living area. Finn was quick to put his paw on your abdomen to stop you. You smirk at the short-haired feline, “That’s what I thought. Now just enjoy the movie.” You swear you saw your sassy familiar roll his eyes at you. A huff leaves your lips and you plant your ring decorated hand on his side patting him which turns into short pets as you bring your focus back on the movie.

A moment later you started to hear the continuous tick on the roof of your caravan. It wasn’t supposed to rain. So what the hell is making that sound? Your brows furrow as your head tilts back to hear another tick. Silent beat, tick. Finn meows at you and starts to stand on the cushioned bed arching his back to stretch, “Gee, my savior.” You gibed at the black feline as you shuck on your shawl over your silk nightgown. Approaching your door you inhaled deeply, there was someone outside. Instantly your circle was warning you. The energy beamed around it causing a rhythmed pulse around your home. 

Slowly opening the door a pebble fell at your feet. You reach down to grasp it and trek your eyes to dirty brown boots. Your eyes graze up the figure, leather chaps over denim, then the jacket that was so decorated it was an enigma itself. The jacket hovered over a white wife beater crop top, then on the shoulder deeply curled golden locks.

You don’t say anything, you're frozen, staring at the vampire in front of you. “How the hell did you find me?” You hiss with interrogation laced in your voice, but the vampire doesn't budge. In fact, he looks scared a bit. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his decorated jacket. His spine hunched the slightest making him seem smaller as he waits for an opportunity to talk. The expression doesn’t fool you, your eyes are still as sharp as ever. You step down from your home as your eyes start to glow purple and your hands spread as purple shadows form balls in your palms.

The cautious vampire takes a hesitant step back, “I followed your truck.” He answers with wide attentive eyes. 

“Why did you follow me? Did your friends ask you?” You postulated with a tight tone. His only response was a shake of his head. Now you were getting annoyed. “Then why are you here?!” You growled which caused him to jostle just the slightest, taken aback as the purple wisps grow in size with your glowing eyes joining.

“I came to ask for my gloves and ring back,” Marko states straightening out his posture and fixing his tone to sound more confident and demanding. You blink at him lowering your hands just slightly. “Did anyone follow you?” Your query, quirking your eyebrow up searching his deadpan features for answers.

“No,” he responds bluntly, keeping still against the sea breeze that thrusts its way around the two of you. You listened to the whispers in his head, it wasn’t hard to penetrate. He was being open. The realization caused you to drop your hands to your sides. He knew you were going to look through his head to see if he was telling you the truth. Marko really didn’t have anything to hide. The boys didn’t even know he was there. You saw him tell them he was going to grab a bite to eat.

“Alright, give me a moment.” You grumble turning back into the caravan. Marko rustles towards the edge of the circle. His clear eyes trailing over the circle with symbols inside of it. He reached out but was blocked by a sheer purple field. Marko pulled his hand back in a hurry. “It’s a protection circle.” You inform him with his fingerless gloves in the palms of your hands. You picked them up. You don’t know why you did, something urged you to take them back with you. What was the universe trying to tell you? You approach the edge of the circle only a foot away from the vampire. “No one can enter unless I grant them, no matter what being.” You unfold your hands to reveal his weathered gloves and a golden ring in the middle of them.

You pluck the ring, it was heavily made of solid gold with a comet on it. Your eyes linger on it trying to figure out the symbol and what its meaning could be. “Ain’t it pretty?” Marko asks, examining it with you outside of the waves of purple energy. You nod, “Yeah, it’s a nice ring.” You compliment the accessory, you could feel the history off of the object. It had seen so much, but few owner’s which made you hesitant to look deeper into the history of the gold ring. 

“You know what the comet means?” 

You shake your head peering back up to Marko. It was strange how calm you were now and how cool and collected he was.

“It’s the Dragon Order. Providence of the Romanian Boyers. The Dragon Order was dedicated to the destruction of the Turks. They were killed by the tens of thousands. Do you know how?”

You shake your head once more, eyes wide with curiosity.

“They were impaled on rounded wooden stakes left in the fields to rot.” Marko grins as he answered his own questions, his voice full of amusement as if it was an inside joke. You could only chuckle at the significance of home wearing such an accessory. 

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that.” You shook your head as a smile grew on your lips. Your eyes scan the ring once more before placing it back into the middle of the gloves.

“I wasn’t either when the bastard told me that story,” he bewailed with his brown eyes glued to the signet. You purse your lips together and reach out with one hand extending. As you reach out the purple sheen carefully separates from your hand allowing you access to reach out to him. Marko pulled his hands out of his leather jacket and gently grabbed the gloves to fold over the ring. As he took it from your hand his touch lingered behind. The touch sent electricity through your nerves which caused you to move your hand away fast. Marko gave a smirk at you as he slipped them back on. “Thanks,” he mumbles and slips the ring on his pinky finger, he runs the pad of his thumb over the comet then drops his hands to his sides. 

You tilt your head at the action watching his expression carefully, you tried to read him but you were shut out once again. Marko flicked his eyes to you, “You’re welcome, Marko.” You whisper back, folding your arms over your chest so the shawl granted a shield against the night winds. Marko bit his lip with a bob of his head, his eyes raked over you once more as he took a few steps back. There was an urge in you to speak up. It punched at your diaphragm for your voice to come out and speak. Speak to him, the whispers rang.

“Marko! I’m sorry!” You call out to the blonde as he was partially down the hill. He stops in his tracks and turns on his heel, his expression clearly showing confusion. You tilt your head to your feet, “I didn’t mean to hurt you during the reading. That wasn’t my intention.” You state, your voice wavering. Marko looks behind his shoulder before wiping his thumb over his lip. Walking back he shakes his head, “Then what happened?” He questions genuinely confused, he really was. Since that night he can only feel episodes of phantom pain and the soreness lasted a couple of days. He’d never seen anything like your magic in his hundred years of living. “You said you’d do a palm reading, but once you touched my hand you went ballistic.”

“I can’t control what happens sometimes,” you start taking a deep breath, “Sometimes the magic likes to control me. Normally when I do a palm reading on a human I can see vaguely of what their future proposes.” You explain. Your fingers tighten on your shawl turning your knuckles white and your shoulder started to shudder as you are reminded of the vision and the pain. The scream of pain and fear, the pain of the wooden stake in his chest. You swallow to relieve the tension in your throat. 

“You are not human, so what I saw was more powerful than I would see on an average being.”

“Then what did you see? Because it hurt like hell, not going to lie.”

You blink and clear your throat, hesitant on trying to explain the vision of his death to him. That is something a vampire, an immortal being doesn’t like to hear. “I saw… I saw… I saw your death,” you choke out hugging yourself with your arms crossed.

Marko’s folded arms drop and his furrowed brows unknot themselves for a beat. “What?” Marko asks in clear confusion before knitting his brows back together but tighter. “You saw my death? What does that even mean?”

“I-I don’t know,” you whisper breathlessly carefully holding onto your breath thanking your lucky stars you were behind the protective line. Yet, Marko didn’t seem mad or frustrated, he only seemed confused and lost. “The future is bleak, never set in stone. I don’t know who did it. I only saw it through your eyes. I felt it too.”

“So your magic rebounded back to me? Making me feel my own death?” He presses the pad of his index finger onto his chest over where his heart would be. You nod carefully, swiping your tongue over your lower lip. “Yes, then once you were attacked by my magic that’s when your friend started to charge towards me before I could even catch my breath. So on instinct, I acted.” Marko slowly nods at this answer, his lips pouted as he took in all the information trying to file it in his brain for later reference. When he didn’t answer back that was when you started to show a bit of worry about your features. 

“Just remind me to not hold hands with you for a while then,” Marko teases his once look of engrossment turned into mirth. You were so caught off guard by the statement a breathy chuckle left your parted lips. You nod as well as a smile growing on your lips, “I’ll keep that in mind if we ever try to do a reading again.”

“Don’t sweat it, really. I understand now.” Marko discerned raising his brows and stuffing his hands back into his leather jacket. “I should go now, they will be wondering where I am,” Marko suggests nodding his head over in the direction of the boardwalk. You bob your head and give him a warm smile. He lingers for a moment watching you carefully. His warm brown eyes take in your form under the high silvery moonlight. Enjoying the way the shadows cascade your features. He notes the embroidered shawl around your shoulders and the black silk nightgown that draped over your body. He bit his lower lip to halt himself from pressing any further into your night. As he was about to step back he could feel your warm hand on his chest. Fingers ghosting over the bare skin that was above the collar. He flickered his eyes to yours, the orbs widened in bewilderment. Your touch made his skin feel fuzzy, even though your hand was barely putting any pressure he felt like he could feel every twitch of your hand. Marko bores into your eyes as you give him a reassuring smile.

“The future is yours. The future is not something to be predicted on but to be built on.” Your voice was honey to his ears. It was warm and comforting just like your touch. Out of instinct his hand hovers and places it on yours. His fingers brush over the stacked rings before pushing your hand to put more pressure on his chest. Marko doesn’t say a word, but his eyes run wild with wonder and gratitude. He dips his head after a beat of silence between the two of you. Nothing but the whispering of the winds and the thrashing of the waves. Marko drops your hand and takes a step back, admiring the purple sheen separate and close once more as your hand returns to your side. He flashes you a reassuring smile as he takes a couple of steps back his boots making the dirt and gravel separate underneath him. You watch him as he turns around, taking in the detail of the tapestry of the bare woman on his back.

Bringing your thumbnail to your teeth you chew on it out of nerves. A soft meow is what brings your attention back to the caravan. You look down at Finn for a second before whipping your head to see if Marko was still there and he wasn’t. You sigh against the wind wondering if he ran or flew away. 

Another meow. You turn on your heel to Finn, “No, he’s gone. Nothing to worry about. It’s his friends I got to worry about. Now get back inside, you barely have any fur to keep you warm.” You lecture stepping back in the caravan with a retaliating mewl echoing from your bedroom. Your eyes peer through the door, glancing at your surroundings once more as you slowly close the door. You spot the place where Marko was standing, a small clearing where his boots rummaged the dirt around. You click the door shut and rest your forehead against the metal.

Finn trills at you from the bedroom with impatience, “I am coming! Jeez, can’t be without me ten minutes can you? What would you ever do without me?” You tease the Devon Rex who clearly rolls his eyes at you. In reaction you point your index finger at him, “I saw that! Now let me finish this movie in peace, please. No more snarky comments.”

You plot yourself back on the bed shuffling underneath the abundance of blankets. You shake off your shawl and place it neatly on your nightstand. Even though you watched the movie for the rest of the night you couldn’t shake the look Marko gave you when his hand touched yours.  Why did his eyes show more than he was expressing on his face. You could long into them for hours and still, learn new things with each passing minute.

A sigh escaped your lips as sleep started to lull you into a hypnotized state. The weight of the blankets and Finn resting by your side let you fully realize you were safe and at peace for the rest of the night. That didn’t mean when you dreamt you envisioned golden curls that radiated light or the green speckled brown eyes of a familiar vampire.

a/n: thank you for giving so much love on the first part of this series. i know this part is A LOT shorter than the first but i hope it gave a gratifying ending. i have ideas on how to continue this series and make it special for everyone. thank you for all the love once again! 🖤🖤🖤

i think; therefore i am taglist:

@fili-is-my-lover

@ilikechocolatemilkh​

@takemetotheweirdness​

@hopester08

[ri-ahhh]

Okay, but with Grayson complaining about being lonely and wanting a girlfriend I CANT HELP but to think about how horny he probably is on top of that. Like- its been on my mind for days, so can you PLEASE write something about gray meeting a bitch, like through friend or something, and realizing he likes her and then having these dirty thoughts about her, and like he doesn't want to but he just cant help it... I will die and love you forever, you're writing is my absouloute favortie.

Ur so sweet babe haha thank you😊 hope this is along the lines of what you wanted.

Getting his dick wet has never been a problem for Grayson Dolan; not since receiving his first sloppy, inexperienced blowjob when he was on tour at the tender age of 16. There’s been a steady flow of girls in and out of his life ever since, fulfilling both his needs sexually and the fleeting desire for noncommittal intimacy. And that’s how he likes it for the longest time. Easy and no-strings-attached.

But he’s older now, and even though quarantine hadn’t stopped him from hitting up his favorite one or two booty calls every now and then, he feels empty in a way that’s becoming all-too familiar. It’s not a new feeling, but every time he leaves their homes (because that’s his number one rule — hookups stay out of his bed), there’s a longing that wasn’t satisfied and that’s becoming more and more apparent to him.

So he stops fucking around — literally. He believes in the power of the mind and manifestation almost to a fault, and considers that maybe he’s letting casual hookups interfere with what he really wants: companionship.

It seems like a breeze at first. Grayson swears he feels lighter, clearer in the head, more focused on what he wants out of his life. He puts his mind to being the best version of himself and hoping that it’s enough to attract the same kind of person that he can put all of his love and effort into in return.

As months roll on, however, he realizes that sometimes the universe just doesn’t listen right away. And for the first time in his life, Grayson discovers the monotony and reality of what it’s like for the ‘regular’ guys out there, whose only sexual pleasure comes from their own hand and the porn category of choice for the night. He was used to that as a filler, for sure, but not as his one and only outlet.

Plain and simple, he’s horny. All the time. Which makes him grumpy, and irritable, and frustrated with both himself and everything around him. So when Ethan tells him in passing that his girlfriend is flying in from New York with her friend to visit, it just makes him grunt. The fact that his brother is in such a happy and healthy relationship himself is a point of contention for Grayson in his head. He’s thrilled for Ethan, but he can’t help but dwell on the creeping jealousy in his chest. Here he is, starved for both intimacy and sex now, and Ethan will get served both of those the following night in excess while Grayson lies in his bed alone.

The next night, they’re all having dinner at the kitchen table — all four of them, including her. The friend. The friend that Ethan had mentioned would be coming but that Grayson had so brusquely ignored. The friend that had his eyebrows raised the second she walked shyly through his front door, drawn in immediately by her beauty.

The friend he can’t keep his eyes off of now as she goes to town on the roasted sweet potatoes and black bean burgers he had made himself. She’s quiet but witty and has a cute laugh that makes his heart flutter a little in a way he hasn’t experienced in a long time.

He feels a nudge against his ribs, and startles when he jerks to the side to see Ethan staring at him pointedly with a knowing little smile on his lips.

“You’ve got ketchup on your shirt, bro,” he says, nodding to the blob of red on Grayson’s white shirt that had dropped from the forkful of sweet potatoes, which had only made it halfway to his mouth as he listened to her talk.

“Shit,” he mumbles embarrassedly, flushing a color near the tomato-red that’s now stained his shirt. Of course, the first time he’s feeling real feelings around a beautiful girl, he has to revert to awkward, clumsy Grayson rather smooth, relaxed Grayson.

He starts to scrub up the mess with his napkin, but she reaches out from her seat across the table from him and grabs his wrist in her petite hand. “Oop, wait! Dab, don’t swipe, or you’ll make it worse. I know how to get that out as long as it’s not smeared around into the fabric.”

Grayson swallows, his arm flaring with goosebumps at her gentle but insistent touch, but tries to keep his cool. She’s grinning at him amusedly, then sits back in her seat when Grayson follows her instructions.

“I thought ketchup was one of those things that you’re just kinda fucked if you get it on your clothes, Ethan says, filling the silence left by his brother.

She shakes her head. “Nope. Peroxide will get it right out, especially if you wash it after. Do you have any?”

Ethan cocks a brow and looks at Grayson, hoping he’ll use the opportunity to speak to her. Thankfully, he does, even if it is lacking a little bit of gracefulness. “Huh, peroxide? Oh... uh, yeah, I — yeah, in my bathroom.”

“I’ll help you when we’re all done, if you want,” she offers before taking a modest bite of her burger.

Grayson nods, and can’t help but watch the way she sucks a bit of barbecue sauce off her thumb once she swallows. His heart picks up and he has to shift in his seat a little when she winks at him, his pants tightening under the table. Damn it. He’s been trying to avoid that reaction and those thoughts, determined to do this right.

He fixes a smile to his lips, and hopes his face isn’t giving him away. “Yeah, that’d be great.”

Everyone helps clean up the table and dishes, and Grayson leads her into his room while they leave the other two to have some alone time. He prays that he made his bed that morning and that there’s no dirty underwear on the floor or used tissues on the nightstand.

Luckily, the floor is relatively clear, and the bed is made, if haphazardly so. She follows him into the en-suite bathroom and watches him dig under the cabinet in the first aid bucket he has down there.

She’s wearing jean shorts and a loose-knit sweater, and when Grayson starts to stand back up he takes a moment to appreciate the tone in the muscles of her legs and the flashes of skin he can see through her top, hoping he isn’t being too obvious.

She takes the brown bottle from him and tugs on the hem of his shirt. “It’ll be easier if you take this off.”

Grayson nods, and can’t help the laugh that escapes him when she turns her back to him. “What are you doing?”

“Giving you your modesty! I don’t know you, for all I know you might be super insecure.”

“At the risk of sounding like a total douche, I promise I’m not,” he answers, reaching behind his neck to tug the collar up and over his head. “Here you go.”

She turns back around, and Grayson doesn’t miss the way her eyes travel over his sculpted torso. He can’t help but smirk a little, thrilled at the cute blush that tinges her cheeks when she meets his eyes and realizes she’s been caught.

He hasn’t had a woman look at him like that in months, however, and he’s grateful when she tells him, “This will need to go in the laundry tonight if you want to make sure the stain comes out, so you’ll need another shirt anyways.”

It gives him an out to duck into his closet, taking a moment to collect himself before grabbing the first T-shirt his hand touches and slipping it over his head.

“Cold water first,” she informs, smiling at him through the mirror when he re-emerges as she leans over the sink with the water running. She shuts off the water and squeeze out the excess, then takes the peroxide and pours some onto the stain.

“Woah,” Grayson says, eyebrows raised in surprise at the fizzing bubbles visibly picking up the bright red from the fibers of his shirt. “Where did you learn this trick?”

“I work in the toddler room at a daycare. We keep this stuff on sight and scene to avoid 20 outfit changes a day on a few two year-olds. I’m sure you can imagine the amount of ketchup and blood stains a toddler procures on the daily.”

Grayson chuckles. He feels himself growing more fond of her by the second. “You like kids?”

“I love them,” she replies with a grin. “Working in childcare is pretty rough, but it’s been a great college job. Lots of experience for my degree. And, you know, good practice for the future one day.”

If he hadn’t been sold by now, that does it. Beautiful, smart, and good with kids?

He takes a moment to assess himself and his thoughts. He doesn’t think he’s letting his dick lead him right now, even if he does want her that way. He’s just as attracted to her mind as he is the curves of her body and the features of her pretty face, and finds himself wanting to talk to her for hours on end.

He doesn’t realize there’s a heated silence, both of them standing there staring at each other, until she clears her throat and holds up his shirt. Grayson glances down at it to see just a faint brown rim around what use to be a bright red mark. “All done.”

“Thank you,” he says, taking it from her and tossing it in his laundry basket. “Come on, hopefully we don’t walk into something we can’t unsee.”

“You make a pretty good meat shield,” she says jokingly, following close behind him. “All big and broad. I can just hide behind you and keep my eyes unscarred.”

Grayson laughs loudly, his ego swelling, and he has to resist the urge to take her hand in his. That would be too much. Right?

Thankfully, the couple is just cuddling innocently on the loveseat when they enter the living room.

“Movie?” Ethan asks when the two of them settle on the couch, a respectful and calculated distance between them — not too close and not too far.

“Sure.”

They’re all in a fun and lighthearted mood tonight, so they settle on Moana. Grayson wants nothing more than to throw his arm around the beautiful girl next to him, who sings along playfully to the songs she knows, her enthusiastic movements shuffling her closer to him. He doesn’t know if it’s intentional, but he doesn’t really care; her presence in both body and spirit feels good to him.

Ethan’s girlfriend only makes it about halfway through the movie before she’s passed out, tired from the long flight earlier that day. He looks down at her fondly and chuckles when he sees her nuzzled sound asleep against his chest.

“I’m gonna take her to bed,” he announces quietly before standing with her in his arms. “Goodnight, guys.”

They both murmur back “goodnight” and watch Ethan disappear down the hall. The movie plays on for a couple of minutes, before she’s turning to him and making small talk. Which turns into broader conversation about bigger things. Which leads to them settling so close that their knees touch. She finds an excuse to pick an invisible fleck of something off his hand, which turns into their fingers playing with each other’s teasingly.

Which turns to Grayson checking his watch in a quiet but not unpleasant lull, and muttering, “Oh, shit,” in surprise.

She checks her phone lying on the couch cushion behind her. The time shines back at her 1:27 AM.

“Damn, when did it get so late?” she wonders aloud, looking at him amusedly.

Grayson shakes his head. “Time flies,” he says. Whether it’s the late hour, or him getting his mojo back, or just the fact that he’s so naturally comfortable with her, he suddenly feels bold enough to reach out and tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. “Are you tired?”

She blushes and bites her lip, allowing him to keep his warm palm pressed to her neck while his thumb strokes the ridge of her jaw gently.

“Not really,” she answers, scooting that much closer to him. “Not ready to go to my bed, anyways.”

She’s referring to the guest room she’s already settled her things into. Grayson smiles. Rules be damned, he thinks, until he realizes in the next moment that there’s no way this amazing girl is going to be just a hookup. There’s no rule to be broken.

“Why don’t you come to mine, then?”

[tsc-updates]

Herongraystairs Reunion - Part 6

Part 5

Disclaimer: Nothing is explicit, but things do get... ya know... so if that’s not your thing, look away. Alrighty.

It was late, and everyone was tired and still adjusting to being alive again. Tessa had declared they’d all talk and make preparations the next day, after a good restful sleep. She was now showing everyone to their rooms, with some help from Cordelia, who still knew every nook and cranny of the house.

She hadn’t beckoned Will to trudge along with the group. He didn’t know where his children were. Jem had told him they were with his siblings, and that Mina had asked for him specifically, but when he came to the place Jem had said he last saw them in, they weren’t there.

It felt strange to him, to go search for them, to snoop around the house.

And yet, he found himself compelled to the room he’d first encounter them in.

He stood outside. He should knock. There is no one inside. But he should still knock. It was clearly their bedroom. It would be indecent not to knock. Even if it was empty.

He knocked.

“Come in,” came softly from the inside.

Will swore mentally.

Maybe he could make a run for it.

“Come in.” It was louder now, almost demanding.

There was no running now.

He took a deep breath and made himself strut into the bedroom.

Jem was standing between the bed and the closet. He was putting away clothes. He gave Will only a glance and a smile and turned back to what he was doing. “You’re hiding out too?”

“You’re hiding?”

“It’s far too much emotion that’s running around these halls. I’m far too tired for all of it. If I stand for another minute, I’m going to pass out into someone’s arms.”

Will chuckled. “Fair enough.”

“You?”

Will scratched the back of his neck. He was hesitating, and Jem could tell. Jem turned those brown eyes, brown, Jem’s eyes were brown, to him, and Will couldn’t help but look away from that all-too-knowing gaze. He sighed. “I have wanted this for as long as I’ve been… gone.” Jem’s gaze softened. “To see you and Tess again, to have our families together under one roof, to be reunited.” He looked down at his feet. “But now that it happened, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to act. I feel like I’m picking every single one of my words carefully, as to not step beyond some invisible line that’s been established between us. I don’t even know how that line got there in the first place. It’s us! And Tessa. There shouldn’t be a line.”

Jem nodded almost imperceptibly. “I know. I feel it too.”

“Tessa is currently out there showing people to their rooms.” He pointed a finger to the door. “And I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. It feels weird to go sleep in a separate room, knowing you’re in here sharing a bed with my wife and mother of my children. But it also feels weird to make you go sleep somewhere else as I share a bed with your wife and mother of your children.” He scoffed. “It’s a damn conundrum.” He shook his head. “Maybe we should just cut the problem at its root and all sleep in separate beds.”

“Or all share the same bed.”

A flare of desire went through him, which he tried to clamp down quickly. That’s not what Jem meant, of course, it wasn’t what Jem meant.

Their entire lives they’d been parabatai, best friends, confidants, but never more. Will never dared to assume that maybe, just maybe, Jem might feel the same feelings that sometimes overtook Will.

He looked up at him and saw Jem studying him, trying to decipher the expression on his face. With a start, Will realised it was time to come clean. It had been 142 years. He wasn’t even alive anymore. This reunion was brief, and he had to take as much advantage of it as possible.

He breathed in and out deeply, readying himself.

He sat at the foot of their bed and pat the spot next to him. Jem came over wordlessly. Their arms were a breath away from each other. It felt both too close and too far. Will felt the need to reach out, hold his hand, lean his head on his shoulder, to look into those deep brown eyes, to have no space between them at all. He felt the need to slide away, to get up and put miles between them, to turn his back on him and not have those brown eyes study him, to not see the face that caused him unworldly misery and immeasurable happiness.

“Do you know why my parabatai rune is over my heart?” His hand unconsciously snaked its way to that uncoloured swirl of lines on his chest.

“Because of the curse. You thought you would never get married because you thought you would never be allowed to have someone love you like that. Because you chose me as the only person who’d you let love you, and you wanted the rune and its placement to be a show of that.”

Will’s breath came out shakily. “That is all true. But there is another reason, one I never told you or Tessa or anyone.” His hands balled into fists, and he could feel his nails digging into the skin of his palms. “Before Tessa, I assumed I would never be able to love anyone the way I loved you. I didn’t want to love anyone the way I loved you.”

Jem shrugged. “It’s different, though. The love you feel for Tessa is different in essence from the love you feel for me.” Will looked up at him then, let his eyes show every word that he left unsaid. But Jem’s face was confused, as if he couldn’t, or was trying not to, read the truth. So Will shook his head, slowly, once, twice, three times. Jem’s face was blank. Then his eyes widened, his eyebrows shooting up, his mouth falling open to give way to his only response. “Oh.”

Will gave him a small smile. “Surprise!” He singsonged in a low voice.

Jem was frozen for a few minutes. Then he, once more, said - “Oh.” He looked away from Will, staring straight ahead. “Oh.” Escaped again.

He went silent.

Will’s nerves were a mess. His heart was a rumble of thunder that never stopped, his stomach was flipping endlessly, and every part of him was both sweating profusely and disturbingly dry.

Then, after what felt like forever, Jem’s soft voice sounded through the room. “I always thought you didn’t feel the same way as me.”

It was Will’s turn to be confused. “What do you mean?”

That’s when he saw that Jem was smiling. Grinning. Like a child that just got told they were going to have pudding for dinner. In a very un-Jem like fashion, he snorted. “I’ve spent the past 142 years hiding my feelings for you, and it was completely unnecessary because you apparently felt the same way.”

“Wait,” Will shut his eyes and tried to make sense of what he was hearing. “You’re in love with me too?”

“I’m in love with you too.” Jem chuckled.

Will didn’t know what to say. Only one thing came to mind. “Oh.”

“Admitting that is something I’ve been desperate to do for the past 142 years. Well, that and...” Jem licked his lips, and Will’s gaze dropped to them, that flare of desire running through him again.

This time he didn’t clamp it down, for Jem scooted closer, his eyes rapidly shifting between Will’s eyes and lips. He leaned in halfway. It was an offering. If Will wanted it, he’d have to chase it himself. He didn’t let himself overthink it.

He leaned in, pressing their lips together slowly and softly. It only lasted a quick couple of seconds, but Will felt awakened. He was on fire, entirely scorching. Will wanted more. But he needed time to compose himself.

Jem was much more impatient. His hands took Will’s face as he crushed their lips together again. Hungry this time. Hungry, needy, desperate. Will let go of all his defences and threw himself into it, clutching Jem’s shirt and pulling their bodies closer. He sucked on Jem’s lower lip. He gave a groan that made Will see fire behind his eyelids. His hands slid into Will’s hair, pulling at the curls. Will whined, in what he hoped was a sensual tone, and then Jem’s tongue was in his mouth, and he completely lost any sense of reality and time and space. All he could feel was Jem and love, and Jem, and fire, and Jem, and want, so much want.

He was losing air and nearly choking. He pulled away, reluctantly. Breathe, he thought. You actually forgot to breathe, you absolute idiot.

He looked at Jem, he couldn’t help himself. His lips were pink and slightly swollen, and his cheeks were dusted with a blush, and his eyes were wide and unseeing. But that, in his gaze, that was want as well.

Will would’ve gone back into it, would’ve sunk and drowned in the feeling it gave him, would’ve let himself burn alive with the fire inside his veins. But there was a sound of a throat being cleared, and then he was looking up, and that was Tessa standing there, looking at them, arms crossed.

They sat there, speechless, staring at her. What could they possibly say?

But then she smirked. “Well, that saves me the awkward conversation about it.”

Will furrowed his brows, but Jem spoke up before he could. “Wait, you knew?”

She scoffed. “The two of you weren��t exactly subtle.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Will asked, finally finding his voice, which came out a bit hoarsely, to his entire and full dismal and embarrassment.

She shrugged. “If you wanted to talk about it, you would’ve. It wasn’t my place to force it out of you.”

Will nodded. Silence set between them. He looked down at his hands. “Now what?”

“Now,” Tessa’s voice had a familiar, intimate tilt to it. “We finally get to do what we wanted for, quite literally, over a hundred years.”

He looked up, and next to him, he saw Jem mimicking his action. “What do you mean?”

Tessa smirked. Her hands disappeared behind her back, and after a few flicks of her wrists, her dress came undone in front of them. Will’s heart quickened. Oh…

She took their hands and pulled them up. Will’s legs felt like jelly. “I have no idea what to do.”

He looked to Jem for help, who threw his hands up. “Don’t look at me! I know even less than you!”

“We’ll go with the flow.” Tessa offered. “Do what feels right.” She turned to him. “And we can start right here.” She put her hands on his neck and pulled him down, pressing her lips to his.

He melted into her. It was just as he remembered. His hands came up to her hair, burying them into the long brown waves. She sighed into him, or maybe that was him, and he lost all sense of everything around him. As fast as it started, it was over, with her pulling away only far enough for their noses to still be touching. She licked her lips as if she couldn’t get enough of the taste of him. Her lips broke into a smile. “Some things truly never change.” Her hand cupped his cheek, and he couldn’t stop himself from kissing the inside of her wrist. He wanted more, and the look in her eyes promised the more would come.

She turned to Jem, and Will felt fear creep on him. Would he feel jealous? Anger? Would his heart break at the sight?

His fears were unnecessary.

Before Tessa could pull him down, Jem pulled her towards him by the waist. They were kissing, and Will’s heart didn’t break. He didn’t feel anger. He didn’t feel jealous.

He felt desire.

For her. For him. For what was about to happen between them.

[kaibacorpintern]

hi i forgot the ship name but would u write something thats seto and ryou? (platonic or romantic) where they play a ttrpg together or somethin idk

“or somethin idk” give me an inch, i have run a mile. a mile of 4.7k words.

platonic euroshipping. post-canon. ryou applies for a game writer position at kaibacorp and makes it to the final stage. contains: dragons, swords, some very sexy things about solidvision and the virtual world, kaiba covered in blood and having a great time, me the writer having a great time, hopefully you the reader having a great time, and ryou, not covered in blood, having a very, very, very anxious time

tw for some fantasy violence

++++++

Ryou inhaled, taking a deep breath of: the fresh, sweet smell of grass, the coolness of river water, something dry and grey in the wind, slightly rotten - smoke? And sulfur. The grasses were filled with the restless susurrus of the wind, each blade quivering with anticipation. Above him, a hawk tilted in lazy, wide circles, tracking the hidden paths of its prey. He stood on a dusty path halfway up the long slope of a steep hillside, the farmlands of the valley behind him peeled back to reveal the burned, blackened devastation beneath. The village from this distance looked like the charcoal remains of a bonfire, the air still shimmering with heat. 

The sun itself was hot, making him sweat in the thick, coarse silk of his mage’s robe, every purple thread saturated with light and heat. Mopping sweat from his brow, Ryou opened his options menu, the holographic display falling open, in the guise of an illuminated manuscript, and hovering at waist-height in thin air, perfectly tilted for reading. The parchment was old and yellowed, almost velvet to the touch, the edges frayed with age, and he couldn’t resist the urge to smell it, leaning in cautiously to take an experimental whiff. Strong notes of dust, old ink, age; an undertone of knowledge, of the forbidden kind. 

He selected Player Appearance and the page turned, with weight and heft, to reveal another. Kaiba didn’t miss a beat. Ryou had no doubt if he knelt down to drink from the stream that flowed down the slope, folding in clear ribbons past the rocks, the water would run cold over his fingers until they pruned. And the magic effects?

He swallowed. It was not just the sun that was making him sweat.

He’d just changed into something more practical - a short-sleeved green tunic, a pair of white breeches, leather boots that had just a bit of bite to the fit, like the player had to wear them in - when a chime pealed out from six feet away, as though someone had rung an invisible bell. The air tore apart, in odd, geometric anguish, like a broken mirror twisting into itself - 

and there was Kaiba, standing in the knee-high grass in his customary black turtleneck and tight pants, frowning with his arms crossed.

“Hello,” Ryou said. “It’s so nice to see you again. Your technology is... this is amazing. The attention to detail is incredible. The player screen, with the parchment - it even smells like - ”

“What is this? Medieval?” Kaiba said, glancing around at his clothes, the distant village, taking no notice of his praise; Ryou bit his tongue in self-rebuke. As if buttering him up with compliments was going to help. 

“Western Europe. From the mid-11th century to the 12th. The age of knights and chivalry,” he said, deciding that maybe his best strategy was to simply be straightforward.

“I’m familiar with basic history, thank you. How... classic,” Kaiba said, in a tone that screamed disinterest, and Ryou’s heart began to plummet - already starting from behind? No, no, no, he reminded himself, straightening the slouch out of his shoulders. Yuugi had warned him about this. Kaiba was fantastically tough to impress, in general, and the Virtual World was his world, a realm he'd built with sweat and tears, and stolen back with blood. So he hand-picked every writer that wrote for Virtual World games, refusing to squander a single pixel on conventional nonsense and uninspired cliché. 

The last step - before he brought the axe down - was a short, playable demo, as proof of concept, written by the applicant and executed by the Virtual World team.

Ryou had come this far in the application process. Trust that, Yuugi said. And trust yourself.

Kaiba was looking at him, eyebrows arched with expectant curiosity.

“Er,” Ryou said. “Let’s get started, then. You’ll need to change.”

He pulled up the menu, revelling in the hovering parchment once more, and changed Kaiba’s appearance, like - like magic, the lines of Kaiba’s silhouette rippling like a sine wave from the bottom up, his modern-day clothing becoming a knee-length tunic of chainmail under a belted dark blue surcoat. Kaiba held still throughout the entire transformation, in smug admiration of the effect, his arms held out in a ballet dancer’s pose as chainmail draped down his shoulders to his wrists. 

In his right hand appeared, with a sharp, diamond flash of light, a long arming sword, the edge nicked with age and bloodspill. The hilt was black, with a sapphire gleaming in the pommel. A plain shield dropped onto his left forearm. 

He gave the sword an experimental spin, testing the heft with practiced ease, and slid it back into the leather scabbard on his belt.

“A knight, the charred, smoking remains of a village… I’m assuming I’m on a quest to kill a dragon?” he said, pushing back the hood of the chainmail so that it draped off his shoulders, and nodding up the slope to where the grasses tattered into rocky shale. 

“Yes, you can assume that,” Ryou said politely.

On cue, a child no more than twelve years old staggered up the dusty path from the village, her small torso heaving with breath, sweat and tears running in clean streaks down her soot-stained face. 

“Sir Knight,” she choked out. Flashing a look at Ryou that said cheap blow, but unable to deny his own fraternal instinct, Kaiba dropped to one knee and caught her, his hands swallowing her thin, shuddering shoulders. Playing along, at least.

“Calm down,” he said, steadying her. Ryou imagined his anxiety as a small, hard rock, packing in the twist of every fraying nerve, and leaned all his weight onto one foot, grinding the rock into the dirt with his heel. "What is it?”

“They sent me to warn you, about the dragon,” she panted. “They said only the Chosen One can truly defeat the dragon, and bring peace back to the land. Many have tried. All suffered the same terrible fate - a fate worse than death.”

“I see,” Kaiba said. “And who is the Chosen One?”

The girl glanced at Ryou over Kaiba’s shoulder, her eyes glinting with fear. 

“No - no one knows,” she said. “But all the oracles say they’re coming… a knight with a pure and worthy heart. Sir Knight, don’t go. Come back to the village. It’s safe there. What do you gain from this? Our humble lands aren’t worth the danger!”

“I think they are,” Kaiba said, thumbing soot off her face, and frowning as her cheek pixelated, briefly, and resumed a skin-like texture. "Open master commands, user ID 000002510. Initiate master log. Begin recording: skin-to-skin contact glitch reappeared during writer play-test, candidate Bakura, R. Begin patch work immediately. End recording. Disperse to Virtual World team, flag Sawada, project manager. Close master commands. Did you know, one of the most compelling unsolved problems in physics is the lack of a theory that realizes both general relativity and quantum mechanics?”

The girl gave him a wary look, wide-eyed with faint alarm. Ryou sucked in a breath, grinding the anxiety rock down, down, down.

“You - you speak in tongues, Sir Knight," she said. "Are you also an oracle? Has your future-sight failed you? Don’t you see that only death lives on the mountain?”

Kaiba snorted and stood up, turning to Ryou. “A solid response to non-standard player input. Doesn’t ignore modern concepts, but re-contextualizes them in the setting of this world via a framework of prophecy, and redirects the player to the plot.” 

“Um... thank you?” Ryou said. “I wanted this world to feel like it has a future, too, not just a history. I wanted to place it on a timeline, like it - ”

Kaiba’s attention swung back to the girl, still standing there with her eyes darting between them, full of bafflement. 

“Return to the village, girl. Tell them my future-sight never fails me.”

The girl retreated backwards, warily, twisted on her heel, and fled down the path.

"If I go down to the village, what'll I find?" Kaiba said.

"More information about the Chosen One, and an outlaw who tries to recruit you to her band of thieves, with the option to join them for a stealth-based quest.”

"Hm. You have the imagination and the decency to offer me something other than blatant bait, which I don't always bite. The cliché of the Chosen One is boring as hell, it’s both over-done and deterministic, but I think... yes. Yes, I'll bite. Let's go see your dragon."

In the wake of this... compliment?, Ryou could only offer him a small, tentative smile, his heart clenching tight around Yuugi's advice. 

Kaiba started up the path. 

“Er, Kaiba - you might want to check your inventory before you encounter the dragon."

Kaiba’s hand padded around his waist until he found the small satchel that sat on his hip. Another parchment unfurled in the air before him, listing its contents:

Two full healing spells;

Two glamour spells, for changing the guise of a person or object;

Two transformation spells, for changing a person or an object into an animal;

Two scrying spells, for locating people or objects;

Two ignis spells, for commanding fire;

Two aqua spells, for commanding water; and

Two ventus spells, for commanding wind.

Ryou watched him as he read. He'd carved a small, thick groove into the dirt below his foot. Surely, that was enough for Kaiba to get creative?

Kaiba only closed the parchment with a brisk flick of his hand. Then he started up the mountain, Ryou following nervously behind.

***

The mountain path was rougher than Ryou expected, a tightly-coiled spring of switchbacks, leading to the curved lip of a high pass. After several minutes of trudging the dust in silence, he was panting for breath, his feet aching and blistering in their boots, and deeply regretting adding this little detail to the story. Next time, he was just going to put the dragon on a rolling, grassy plain, and he’d make it like an American autumn corn maze, because it still needed to be a challenge, and when the players got to the center they’d find the dragon’s decaying, rotting corpse and realize they’d been stuck inside the maze for five hundred years and everyone they loved was dead, and if they wanted to go back to their own time they’d have to find out how to resurrect the dragon, but only at a terrible cost, a sacrifice of some kind... Not his best off-the-cuff work, but there were usable concepts in there, somewhere. If there was a next time.

Despite being laden down with the chainmail, each tiny link flashing like fish scales in the airy slanting of the afternoon sun, Kaiba seemed unaffected by the demands of the hike, propelling himself forward with long, energetic strides. How?

Ryou thought about asking for a break. Or drinking water from the stream. Or changing his boots for something comfier, but he didn't have anything else in his outfit inventory except the mage robes, and the slippers might be even worse… he stopped, hands on his hips, gathering his breath.

From here the valley sprawled below them, a wide, velvety plain, its edges rising and scalloped by mountains. The village fit in the circle of his thumb and forefinger, a smoking black thumbprint. The team had done a fantastic job: the stream ran down the mountain, flattened into a river, and ran south, lazy and serpentine, a green-blue ribbon cutting through the yellow plains, just like he’d outlined in his initial description of the world….

Wait. 

This was all virtual. 

There was no such thing as air, here, or rivers or sunshine or grasses.

His real, physical body was half-asleep in a Virtual World testing pod on the 17th floor of the Kaiba Corp Tower, and his body here was just a series of algorithms, and if he didn’t want to sweat, he didn’t have to fucking sweat! Thank God!

Up ahead, Kaiba noted the absence of his footfalls and turned around, one hand resting easily on his sword hilt. From his position on the path, he looked down at Ryou from several feet up, which doubled the intimidation of his already formidable bearing.

“I’m fine,” Ryou said. “Just... admiring the view.”

“Are you having your Matrix moment? That’s what my programmers call it,” Kaiba said.

Ryou laughed. “I think so. I was tired but I don't feel it at all, anymore. Like all the fatigue's just melted away and I could run a marathon.”

“Is that something you enjoy?”

“Oh, no. I hate sports.”

Kaiba snorted.

“So, tell me. Why do you want this job?” he said. “At my company? Writing stories with my technology?”

“Er - ” Blindsided by the swerve in topics, Ryou tripped over his thoughts. Surely he must’ve read his application? Maybe he didn’t have the time. Stick to straightforward. “I’m sure you remember my performance in Battle City?”

“Yes, I remember,” Kaiba said, which was honestly more than Ryou expected of him.

“Well, I don’t play much Duel Monsters anymore,” he said, “but I still.. every once in a while, I turn my Duel Disk on and play a few cards, just to see my monsters come out, see them breathe… you know I run a Zombie deck, full of demons and dead things, but SolidVision makes them feel so - so alive. You took these fantasy monsters that exist only in our heads and put them in our world.”

“Virtual World game writers don’t work on SolidVision products,” Kaiba countered.

“Right, I know that. To me, Virtual World and SolidVision are the inverse of each other, or opposites that contain each other, like, like yin and yang - with SolidVision, the unreal enters the real, and becomes real. In the Virtual World, the real - ” Ryou motioned to himself - “enters the unreal, and becomes unreal. We like to put walls between imagination and reality, you know, taxes are real and unicorns aren’t, but with SolidVision and Virtual World, there is no wall. That’s the world I want to write stories for.”

“Hm,” Kaiba said, the corner of his mouth curving up in a smile. “Interesting take.”

And he waited, saying nothing more, until Ryou realized he was waiting for him; and trotted lightly up the path to join him.

*** 

By the time they reached the top of the mountain pass, the air had turned a clear, dusky gold. The mountains cast long, black shadows across the valley, like dark teeth, chewing up the farmlands. The mountain pass was saddle-shaped, one side sloping down into the valley they’d just come from, the other flattening into a smaller, higher bowl, cupping a pale blue-green lake between its rocky palms.

Kaiba scrambled onto the nearest large rock, his head swinging as he scanned the lake valley. Ryou wrapped one arm around his waist and bit his thumb. They had found a deep, penetrating quiet, the kind of wilderness quiet that was devoid of texture of any kind; no bugs or burbling streams or bird song. It was not even like holding your breath, waiting, because that implied a coming moment of exhale, a sigh of relief. This was a perfect stillness. 

And hidden somewhere inside it was a dragon. 

Ryou bit harder, until he remembered the pain was fake and did nothing, and he had to come up with something else to temper his anxiety, which was definitely, definitely real.

Kaiba's gonna flip his shit when he sees your dragon, Yuugi said, from the back of Ryou's mind, Ryou's demo manuscript in hand. In a good way or a bad way? Is it too derivative? What does it matter that he'll flip his shit for my dragon when he flips his shit for ANY dragon? He's a slut for dragons. Oh my god, you can't say that! Yuugi, please, help - nope. You got this. You know what you're doing.

Even the metallic shing of Kaiba’s sword coming out of its sheath seemed small, in an unnatural way, a pointless, petty defiance. 

A shadow fell across the lake valley. 

Both of them looked up -

and an enormous dragon hurtled out of the sky, landing with thundering force on all four clawed feet, flattening trees and boulders beneath its reptilian bulk. Ryou staggered backwards and fell, in an awkward, clumsy crab pose; Kaiba threw his shield over his face and dug in, undaunted.

"HAVE YOU COME TO KILL ME?" the dragon boomed. “MISERABLE WRETCH?”

Kaiba lowered his shield, just enough for his first full look at the dragon. From his spot, crumpled on the ground, Ryou saw, in the shadow below the shield, another slender smile. The dragon’s hide was a dark, luxurious blue-black, mottled like snakeskin but textured with the heavy crags and knobs of crocodiles. It lowered its head on its long, arching neck, gracefully bearing the weight of two massive, curving horns, and stared down at them with fathomless acid-green eyes.

Even Ryou, who had designed it, sat enthralled: every movement it made - the eager flick of its tail, the claws, curling into the dirt, glinting under a layer of blood and grime, the shuddering of its leathery wings as they folded into its long body - hinted at indomitable power. It was a true creature of legend, a titan from the youngest days of the world, demanding both reverence and terror.

“I have!” Kaiba replied blithely, despite announcing it in a ringing voice.

“ONLY THE CHOSEN ONE CAN DEFEAT ME,” the dragon said. “YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF SUCH A FEAT. I SEE YOUR HEART, BLACKGUARD KNIGHT. I CAN TASTE THE BLOOD YOU’VE SPILLED WITH YOUR SWORD, BRIGHT AND PUNGENT. I CAN HEAR THE CRIES OF ALL THE LIVES YOU’VE LET EBB INTO THE DIRT AT YOUR FEET!”

“I’m here to avenge the village!” Kaiba shouted. 

“YOU COME UP HERE TO DEFEND SOME PATHETIC SCRAPS OF BRICK AND WOOD, THINKING YOU CAN KILL ME, AND CALL THAT HONOR? REDEMPTION? YOU CALL THAT COURAGE? ITS TRUE NAME IS VANITY! EMPTY AND FALSE! IT WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN BEFORE I DO!” the dragon boomed again. “LEAVE. I WAS ONCE NAIVE AND VAIN LIKE YOU. COME BACK WHEN YOU ARE MORE THAN A MERE WORM, OR ELSE SUFFER MY FATE!”

Ryou had clambered to his feet and bolted for the safety of a low ridge, which gave him a perfect view of Kaiba, head held high and proud as he gazed unflinching at the dragon, several hundred times his size. He’d written those words in his notebook on the metro, leaning his head against the cool midnight glass, pausing every other line to ferret out another piece of sour candy from his bag. Then he’d missed his stop. That trundling, light-washed world of a train car seemed impossibly distant now - a rapidly fading dream, to be remembered only in flashes and silence. To hear the words come out of the smoking jaws of this dragon, each syllable flowing in a delicious, indulgent baritone from its shining teeth, filled him with a breathless exhilaration, his heart hammering in his throat - this was real!

“Only one of us is suffering fate today!” Kaiba shouted back, a laugh in his voice, and then threw a glance at Ryou. “‘Suffer my fate?’ Is that a typo?”

“VERY WELL. COME KILL ME! THERE IS PEACE IN DEATH, AND ONLY ONE OF US CAN CLAIM IT!”

“I - watch out!” Ryou yelled, as the dragon lunged forward, its jaws snapping shut on the empty air where Kaiba had been standing half a second before. Kaiba threw himself out of the way, a nimble tuck and roll, and scrabbled across the shale towards higher ground. Behind him, the dragon swung its massive head, nostrils red and flaring, mouth curled up in a savage draconic grin, glinting with the promise of violence. 

No sooner had Kaiba flung himself behind a scattering of boulders, shield raised, than it unleashed a jet of fire so hot and scorching the boulders glowed red, their rough faces melting in sheets. Ryou felt the heat wash across his face, from several dozen yards away. 

The fire died out. The dragon snorted in satisfaction, horse-like, a loud, wet huff of smoke. The boulders sizzled as they cooled into their new, bizarrely dripping forms.

Kaiba emerged from behind a boulder, sweating and singed, his face streaked with ash and his eyes shining. He tossed the warped, melted wreckage of his shield aside, where it bounced and clattered against the rocks.

“SO YOU STILL LIVE? A MISTAKE. WHAT COMES NEXT WILL HURT WORSE!”

“For you!” Kaiba hurled back, and threw his hand into the air, a gesture Ryou had seen countless times on a duel field - a lightning rod, a summoning. “VENTUS!” 

The wind picked up, in a giddy, howling whirl, bringing with it a cloud of dust that descended gritty and blinding and pale across the valley. Kaiba and the dragon vanished from sight inside it. Mentally Ryou subtracted one spell from Kaiba’s satchel.

“THIS WON’T HELP Y - ” Cut off by a wet chop and an ear-splitting draconic scream, a raw, awful sound, torn out of an unwilling throat. Just below it, a glorious, cascading laugh. “WRETCH! WORM!”

The dust settled, revealing glistening, dark-green blood splattered across the rocks, and a single severed claw, its flesh still twitching. The dragon seethed, its wounded foot curled in agony. Kaiba was clear across the other side of the pass, by the dragon’s tail, grinning open-mouthed as he panted for breath. His chainmail and surcoat dripped with dragon blood; his hair was thick with it. 

“COME GET YOUR PEACE, DRAGON!” he bellowed, and the dragon slung its head around, tail coiling in an ominous whip. 

Again Kaiba lifted his hand, shouted “VENTUS - !”

And a second dust cloud barreled into the valley, as the dragon roared back, “THAT WON’T WORK AGAIN!”

It whipped its tail through the dust cloud, a scythe-like sweep - smacking something hard into the rocks with a thick, fleshy crunch of bone that made Ryou’s insides clench tight with terrified sympathy.

The dragon whirled around, clearing the dust with several storm-gathering wingbeats.

This was not real. This was just pixels, neatly arranged and running in rivers of algorithms - just a clever series of ones and zeroes - and yet Ryou gasped, the dragon laughing, at the sight of Kaiba lying in a crumpled, motionless heap in the rocks. He hadn’t considered Kaiba might actually fail to kill the dragon - all thoughts of jobs and game-writing abandoned - unreality aside, the mind had a way of making it real - what the fuck happened if Kaiba died?

“IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE, WORM?” the dragon said, nudging Kaiba’s limp body with its claws, rolling him over. His head lolled, his body twisted into a horrifying, broken-boned slouch. How on earth was Ryou going to explain this to Yuugi? Hell. “I TOLD YOU, YOU'RE NOT W - ”

Ryou almost didn’t see it - a hawk in a dive, arrow-straight, from the top of the sky, diving through a blinding flash of light several stories up - and out of the light came Kaiba, alive and whole, plummeting towards the dragon’s head, gripping his sword with both hands - plunging it straight through the top of the dragon’s skull. 

He left the sword hilt-deep in dragon flesh as he pitched forward with the force of impact, rolling over the dragon’s brow, flailing to catch himself - on the massive horn. Clinging, victorious, as the great dragon swayed, its green eyes filming, and finally slumped, in agonized slow motion, to the earth, body first, head last, with a thundering, bone-rattling crash. 

It released one last, rattling breath, the trees shuddering in the fetid breeze.

The valley descended into stillness once more. 

Ryou sat down on his low escarpment with a limp thump, burying his face in both hands. This was just a Virtual World, where at one point everything would power down and they’d wake up safe and sound in the squishy, air-conditioned comfort of a pod, and he had, after all, planned on Kaiba killing the dragon, but Kaiba’s sheer nerve seemed beyond that. Yuugi was right. The guy was, maybe, a little nuts. Completely off his rocker.

“Ryou,” Kaiba said, above him, and Ryou lifted his head. Kaiba rested the sword jauntily across his shoulder, the rest of him filthy with dragon blood and human blood and dirt. “I have to say, I enjoyed your dragon. A shame it had to die.”

“Your strategy... You used a glamour spell? On a... rock? To make it look like your dead body,” Ryou said. “And then a transformation spell.”

“Correct. Is that all for your demo?” Kaiba said, cocking an eyebrow, both bloody and disdainful, and Ryou swallowed. “I was hoping for more of a cha - ”

His words stopped hard in his throat, a harsh, hacking sound. His free hand flew to his neck, mouth dropping open in pain and confusion, eyes widening. He coughed - or tried to, achieving nothing more than a thin, ugly retching, his face going white - and Ryou watched, in fascinated horror, as his gamble began to play out. There was nothing he could do to help; he’d written it that way.

The sword clattered to the stones, green blood dripping off the shining edge, as Kaiba staggered sideways, gasping for breath, both hands on his neck - what was the algorithm doing to him? Ryou had only written ‘a suffocating, squirming pain, concentrated in the lungs,’ and resolved to think more carefully about what types of pain he might inflict on the player characters, if the gamble paid off... But how interesting to know even the creator of the Virtual World himself suspended his disbelief - his knowledge of the truth - sometimes, and indulged in pain...

He collapsed to his knees, stretching one hand out, fisting it around Ryou’s collar and dragging him closer - 

“What - ” he choked out, eyes glaring into Ryou’s, in baffled, furious agony - terrified - they rolled backwards, the blue sliding away to white, as he slumped over himself. 

His hand went slack and fell. What life remained slipped away in a low, shaking sigh.

Ryou took him by the shoulders and gently lay him down, passing a hand over his eyes to close them. Dead, but not really.

“Just hold on a moment,” he said. The body had been vacated. The soul - the player - was awakening elsewhere.

He waited a few moments, absorbing the stillness, the detail on the leaves of the pine trees; the way the lake water shimmered in golden flecks with late afternoon light. It was maybe his last few seconds to enjoy the world he’d written, rendered in full splendor by the magic of technology, and he’d banished his anxiety from both his mind and body, to live out its exile in the real world. It didn’t belong here.

The great dragon body began to stir, drowsily, waking up from a deep, deep sleep. The deepest sleep.

Ryou stood up and slid down the escarpment to the dragon, pebbles and dust avalanching around his feet. The stab wound in its skull was knitting back together; the severed claw was crawling back to its slow-bleeding joint. There was an agonized hiss, forced through the dragon’s tightly-clenched teeth, and a vibrating groan, deep in its chest, as it gathered itself out of death.

Its eyes opened, in wary slits - not the bright, acid green, but a stunning, oceanic blue.

“OW. FUCK,” it growled, in Kaiba’s voice, magnified and twice as resonant. “OPEN MASTER COMMANDS, USER ID 000002510. SUSPEND ALL PAIN ALGORITHMS. CLOSE MASTER COMMANDS.”

He rolled upright, flexing his wings with experimental care. He arched his neck, looking down at Ryou.

“YOU TURNED ME INTO A DRAGON.”

“Yes,” Ryou said cautiously.

“NO ONE HAS EVER TURNED ME INTO A DRAGON BEFORE,” Kaiba said. ”SO I WASN’T WORTHY? IS THIS WHAT IT MEANS TO SUFFER THE DRAGON’S FATE? EVERYONE WHO KILLS THE DRAGON BECOMES THE DRAGON, AND ONLY THE CHOSEN ONE BREAKS THE CYCLE. IS THAT HOW IT GOES?”

“That’s how it goes.”

“HOW DO I FIND THE CHOSEN ONE?”

“You choose them,” Ryou said. “You decide what makes them worthy.”

"SO ANYONE CAN BE THE CHOSEN ONE? ANYONE CAN BREAK MY CURSE?"

"That's right."

Kaiba pondered that for a moment, flexing his claws idly in the dirt, the massive slabs of muscle in his shoulders shifting as he tested the strength and fit of his new draconic body. His gaze drifted out over the lower valley, eyes clouding briefly with memories of another story, another game, another man; one who had always seemed real and unreal, all at once, no matter what world he lived in. Ryou had heard it all from Yuugi.

Then Kaiba looked at him and started to laugh, a sound that echoed and rebounded across the small lake valley, the water shivering as each delighted peal of laughter rolled across. Ryou blushed as it buffeted him from all sides.

“IS THAT SO,” Kaiba said, with dry relish. “YOU’RE HIRED.”

[phantomwarrior12]

A Time To Know Your Enemy

It's been a week since your escapade with the demons and all this time, Sam and Dean have been trying to get Crowley to pick up his phone.

There's been no cases, no indications of anything divine, hell-spawned or even remotely creepy in that time and you're beginning to go stir-crazy. So, between aimless "supply runs", you've occupied yourself with the ribbon Gabriel had left you. You often lose yourself in the foreign, yet eloquent lettering that flows along it's silken threads in a tongue you can't even begin to understand. Your thumb traces along the letters, the ache in your chest longing to know what secrets it holds. Of course, you won't chance Sam and Dean finding out about your little fib - the elaborate tale of your escape - but you haven't been able to get a moment alone with Cas to ask him to translate the writing for you.

It's maddening. You'd forgotten how much the Winchesters stuck to the angel's side. So, you make due, trying not to lose hope as you skim through Bobby's library for a book on Enochian translations. You'd thought you had the house to yourself, the boys having gone on a supply run and Cas? Well, you're pretty sure Bobby had taken the poor angel out back to shoot him with all his condescending remarks and blatant inability to grasp basic human concepts. In any case, you're dying to know what Gabriel wrote and very little will deter you.

Very little except being caught in the act of rifling through Bobby's bottom drawer.

"What in Sam hell are you doing, Y/N?

You tense, glancing over your shoulder at Bobby and the confused angel, "Bobby, I--"

"I'd pick those words very carefully, and what comes out of those lips better not be a lie to so help me--"

"I was looking for a book on Enochian translations." You hold your hands up in mock surrender.

"What the hell for?"

"The...sigils. The markings on my arm. I want to know what they mean," you hope you sound more convincing than you feel.

"I translated them already," Castiel tilts his head, it's almost as adorable as Gabriel's--

"I wanted to try it for myself. See if there's anything we can use for warding," you nod quickly.

"Well, you're out of luck, Sam and Dean have the Enochian book with them. You'll have to make due with this," he gestures vaguely towards Castiel, "hopeless excuse for an ally."

Castiel's brows draw together in confusion, his mouth opening slightly as if he were to protest, but for what reason, he doesn't quite know.

"Y'know, that's a great idea, Bobby," you close the drawer and straighten up, "Might as well go right to the source."

You feel his skeptical gaze as you move towards the angel and hook your arm through his, guiding him towards the front door, "Thanks, Bobby. Sorry about the mess."

"Buncha idjits," is the last thing you hear before you pull the door shut and lead Castiel towards the junkyard.

"What's going on, Y/N?"

"I have a favor to ask of you, Cas." Your free hand rests on the ribbon in your jacket, studying the angel's features.

"Of course. What is it?" He tilts his head curiously as you tug him to a halt behind a particularly large truck.

"You have to promise me you won't tell the boys." You glance back towards the house.

"You have my word," the angel assures you with a gentle nod and it's enough for your impatient ass to tug the ribbon from your jacket pocket.

"Can you translate this?" You hold it out slowly, almost as if you're terrified to part with it. As if releasing the elegant blue ribbon will mean you're letting go of the archangel.

Castiel accepts the ribbon and the shift in his expression draws yours hands level with your ribs, wringing your hands together nervously.

"What does it say?" You rock on your heels, y/e/c trained on his features.

"It's an incantation."

"A - what?"

"Where did you say that you got this?" He asks after a moment of reading the script silently.

"...Gabriel."

Castiel looks halfway startled, "When?"

"I found it in my jacket...the one I wore to the bar that night. He must have left it there, I just didn't think to look," you lie quickly, staring at him anxiously.

He gazes at you skeptically, quirking an eyebrow as he tilts his head in annoyance, "Right. Well, the incarnation is for a spell of some sort. I'm entirely certain of its purpose...there is something else--"

"What?" You step a little closer, your own eyes searching the angel's rapidly.

His gaze falls back to the ribbon, "It says...he expects that thank you next time the two of you meet...given his word choice, it's fairly suggestive, Y/N."

You force back the blush creeping into your cheeks and for a moment, there's a fleeting spark singing along the nerves in your knee where the archangel has rested his hand. You swallow the lump in your throat as you pluck the ribbon from Castiel's hand, ignoring his studious gaze as you summon more composure than you feel.

"Thanks, Cas. You're an absolute angel," you give the confused angel a tight squeeze before moving around the truck and towards the house.

Behind you, you could swear you heard a faint, "That is what I am."

You tuck the ribbon back into the safety of your jacket pocket, fingers still curled around the silken threads as you climb the steps. You need to learn Enochian and fast.

It's the only way you're ever going to get any answers out of that elusive archangel.

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

"Hello, boys."

The graveled voice of Hell's King captures your attention as you lift your gaze from the Enochian book in your hands.

"Crowley. About damn time you showed up. Where the hell have you been?" Dean glares at the demon with a look of irritation and disgust.

"On vacation. Avoiding assassins and all that, or have you forgotten?" Crowley snorts, inspecting the array of whiskey bottles on the counter.

"Oh, I remember." Dean starts to make his way towards Crowley before Sam steps in.

"Crowley, Y/N was attacked by two demons a few weeks ago. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

The demon casts a glance towards you, studying your features until you look away, "Well, they certainly weren't mine. My demons have a big more class than crude torture," he smirks, pouring himself a drink, "Abbadon does have a bone to pick with you two, I'd look there first."

"You don't have to be so damned smug about it," Bobby retorts, watching you shift in your seat.

Crowley snorts indelicately, "Frankly I'm offended you'd think I'd sick my demons on the only allies I have."

"We're not allies." Dean bites back sharply.

"No? How about lovers?" Crowley returns without missing a beat and Dean sets his jaw.

Sam tightens his hold on his elder brother's shoulder before meeting the demon's gaze once more, "Do you know where to find her?"

"If I did, I'd have killed the bitch already, wouldn't I?" He returns as he takes a sip from his glass.

"How do we kill her?" You speak at last, flicking a few stray strands of y/h/c away from your eyes. Your gaze holds a certain amount of sternness, a confidence that demands respect from the King of Hell.

"Sassy. I like her," Crowley flashes a grin at the boys before taking a few steps towards you, no doubt noting the square of your shoulders, "You're going to need an old relic from Heaven's armory."

"And how do we do that? Heaven isn't exactly easy to get into." You returns calmly, studying his features skeptically.

"That's your problem."

"What's the relic?" Dean interjects in exasperation, shrugging off Sam's hand.

"The Sceptor of Gabriel, rumored to be the one thing that can contain a Knight of Hell...as for killing her? That's going to require a little more commitment."

Your frame goes rigid at the mention of the archangel, your fingers brushing absently over the invisible markings along your arm. 

"We'll discuss the permanent solution later. For now, that sceptor is going to have to be located," Sam steps in, drawing your gaze to him.

"I'll get ahold of Cas, he'll know where to start." Dean pulls out his phone and starts from the room.

"Well, if that's all I'm needed for," Crowley tosses a look towards you, noting the subtle glow beneath your sleeve, "Enochian sigils, eh? You're certainly important to someone. Is it dear little Cas?"

"That's none of your business," Bobby snaps, stepping up beside you, "We'll let you know if we need you. Now git."

Crowley makes a face of mock offense before setting the glass down on the counter, "Rude." A snap of the fingers and he's gone.

You lift your eyes to Bobby and offer an appreciative smile, "Thanks, Bobby."

He waves you off, "idjit needs to be reminded of his place."

"Cas says we'll have to track down Balthazar. He thinks the sceptor might be one of the items he took when he fled heaven," Dean steps back into the kitchen.

"Guess we're going on a road trip," Sam sighs.

"Get your gear, we're leaving in the morning."

You offer a solemn nod as you stand and make your way towards your bedroom. Your hand finds the familiar threads of the ribbon in your pocket and your fingers trace along the delicate lettering. You take a seat on your bed, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath to calm yourself.

And like a whisper in your ear, you hear his voice. He's not there, but the warmth that flourishes across your skin stems from his engravings and you can breathe again as you lay back and let the warmth soothe your nerves.

It's going to be alright, sugar. I'll be there when you need me.

"You better."

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

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[vantaenims]

anemoia | jungkook

pairing: jungkook x reader

genre: futuristic au | fluff, mystery

word count: 11.7k

warning/s: mentions of death and a bit of a make out session (oh my).

summary: It’s a well known fact that a person only dreams about people they’ve already seen in their life but how come you’re dreaming about someone you’ve never seen before, someone who is probably a person your subconscious created, and someone that continues to only exist in your dreams.

Part of BTSGhostieBingo (futuristic!au prompt)

masterlist

all rights reserved © vantaenims - do not repost, translate, or claim as your own.

--

According to a study, as much as 95% of all dreams are quickly forgotten shortly after waking.

Reverie is a helpful device where you can securely store your dreams and archive them by syncing the device through the Reverie Application. With other built-in features, you can now customize how your dream works by choosing your desired location and inputting any character you want to appear in your dream.

With Reverie, you can build your own dreams.

You slid the switch to turn on the device and a blinking blue light is now visible on it’s side though it was only for a moment as you successfully paired the device with your phone and the application. 

As usual, you registered for an account and input the required necessary information but what piqued your interest the most are the so called built-in features like the location where you can choose from various choices like beach, urban city, garden, festivals, etc. and lastly, the characters, wherein you should input a picture of a person that you like to appear in your dream.

This is the reason why you’re so keen in purchasing Reverie because it’ll be the only way you can actually see your late mother in limitless ways. You barely remember your memories with her since she passed away from Ovarian Cancer when you were only four - an age where memories can be pretty hazy.

You can only remember her through pictures and stories your father has told you so it’ll be a joy to at least watch your dreams with her in it or perhaps watch the memories you’ve invented.

Spreading the covers, you soon get in your bed as you ready yourself to sleep, clicking the Reverie app to choose your location in a garden and clicking the picture of your mother you uploaded a while ago as your character.

You placed your phone on your nightstand as soon as you finalized your dream customization, putting the Reverie device on your temple while you managed to lay down on your bed, tapping the circle device as you close your eyes until you can finally sleep and dream.

All you could see are stars in the wide vast dark sky, they’re so clear and bright since there are no clouds to cover them for tonight but you could definitely feel most the cold wind of the night enveloping you though you could feel the warmth of the person next to you - your mom.

“How are you, my dear?” you turn your head to the side to see your mom plucking some leaves around the stem of a red rose, “You’ve grown to be such a beautiful lady.”

You were suddenly hit with a surge of overwhelming emotions, thinking how the moment feels so vivid and real like it’s really taking place right now though you’re fully aware that this is only projection of your subconscious.

“You look perfect just like what dad told me” you smiled as you got the red rose from your mother’s hand, twirling it to examine it’s petals.

“How old are you now?”

“I’m turning 23 this year” you held your mother’s hand that was right by your side, squeezing it as you moved closer to rest your head on her shoulder, both laying down in the middle of the garden to stargaze.

“Ten years from now you’re gonna be the same age as me”

“Aren’t you like 52 now just like dad?” you peered up at your mom but then surprisingly, she looks too young to be in her early fifties.

“The dead doesn’t age, dear” your mom chuckled as she kissed your forehead whilst she pointed her fingers towards the sky, “We’re all up there amongst the stars where i constantly watch you from above”

“Heaven does exist?” you said like a curious child.

“I suppose so but you see that little twinkling star right there?” you nodded as you listened attentively to what more she could say, “I’m always right there.”

“Can i look at that star whenever i feel lonely?” 

Your mom warmly smiled, grabbing the rose from you as she broke the stem to make it shorter, placing it right behind your ear whilst she thread her fingers soothingly along your hair to fix it.

“You can and not just when you’re lonely but whenever you feel happy or whatever it is you feel. I’ll always be here for you, my dear.”

You woke up not too long after your mother had said that which instantly made you feel better though you felt like the dream’s too short and only happened in a span of five minutes but then time seems to be irrelevant when you’re dreaming since it’s clearly morning now and it has been seven hours since you slept.

So far, you could say that the Reverie delivered and met your expectations. The dream was lucid and felt so realistic which happens to be true to what the device promised though they have warned that the flow will not be consistently like that as it’s in the nature of our dreams to be purely irrational and weird which something the company is trying to eliminate by continuous extensive research.

You start your day ahead with a wide smile on your face, feeling exquisitely happy that you got the chance to spend time with your mother even though it’s just a dream but if it’s the only way you could get to be with your mother then that’s what matters.

--

You rung the doorbell of the veterinary clinic which is the place you’re working for as a receptionist - a job you took since you’ve gotten practically bored being unproductive halfway into your gap year so might as well apply for a job that doesn’t require much work plus you figured that it’d be fun since you’ll get to be around lovely dogs and cats all day long.

“You’re early” you smiled back at Hoseok who happens to be the veterinary doctor and the owner of the clinic, so practically he’s your boss though he’s rather much of a friend to you given how he’s just a few years older from you.

“Good morning”, you said, “Is Jimin still not here?”

Jimin is also a veterinary doctor much like Hoseok but he’s acting more of an assistant doctor in this clinic.

“He bought some pastries down the bakery” you nodded as you settled yourself inside your booth, opening the computer to check the appointments scheduled for today in the spreadsheet until you noticed Mickey - Hoseok’s Shih Tzu dog - sitting on the floor right beside your feet, staring up at you.

“Hello, Mickey”, you spoke in a little voice as you picked him up and placed him in your lap to pet him, noticing how he’s wearing a new striped shirt, “You have new clothes, hm?”

The chimes attached to the door rang as you see Jimin entering the clinic whilst he rummages around the paper bag he’s holding until he holds out what seems to be like cheese bread to you.

“I got this for you,” Jimin said as he placed the cheese bread and iced coffee on your desk, “And for you” also giving the same thing to Hoseok.

“Thank you Jimin but you don’t have to” 

“Eat up besides all the pastries in the bakery today are buy two, get one” Jimin sweetly smiled at you, leaning one of his elbows on top of your desk as he took a bite off the cheese bread. 

“What’s the schedule for today?” Hoseok asked as he joined Jimin, also leaning against your desk.

“Ms. Nam Chung Hee scheduled an annual booster shot for her two dogs at 2 p.m.” you said as you read out through your computer.

“Does she already have a record here?” 

“Yeah, I checked yesterday” you spun your chair to rack through the filing cabinet, taking out the folder with the client’s name on it as you handed it to Hoseok. 

You set down Mickey on the floor as you stood up to grab the remote of the television from your desk, turning it on and setting the channel to National Geographic for the guests to watch in the waiting area.

With nothing else to do, you sat behind the reception desk as you took out your phone to go to the Reverie app, thinking it’d be best to kill time whilst you watch your dream from last night. You plugged in your earphones to your phone, putting only one piece of it to your right ear just so you could still be aware of your surroundings.

Clicking on the video dated yesterday, you instantly saw the familiar starry night sky though you could already tell that the video quality is bad but not bad enough that you can’t make it out - it’s more of like a 144p video, it’s not like you could complain though as Reverie is said to be still up for improvement.

Despite how blurry it is, you smiled as soon as your mother’s face appeared on your screen, listening back to your conversation on how she’s the little twinkling star on the sky but then you were disrupted when you heard the door chimes, causing you to remove your earphones and placing your phone back to the desk.

“Hi, i scheduled yesterday a booster shot for my dogs”

“Ah yes, you must be Ms. Nam?” you asked as she nodded her head to confirm, thinking that she’s a few hours early from an appointment but it’s not like a problem at all considering you don’t have any clients or customers yet to attend to.

“Can I have your dog’s vaccination cards please?”

You prompted her to sit in the waiting area for a while as you wrote down the information on your records that you have detached from the folder to put it in a clipboard along with the vaccination cards, reading out the name of the two Maltese dogs - Blossom and Bubbles.

“Here are their records, I'll be calling Hoseok” you handed the clipboard towards Jimin who just got out of the bathroom right in time as you were about to call him and Hoseok.

“Dr. Park will assist you for a while” you said before you disappeared to go to Hoseok’s office, knocking your knuckles against the door before you peered your head inside to inform Hoseok that Ms. Nam had arrived for her appointment.

“Oh it’s the Powerpuff dogs, Blossom and Bubbles” Hoseok exclaimed as he read out their names in the record that Jimin handed to him, petting the dogs who are now placed in the metal table.

“Y/N, can I have one of those record sheets? There are only two lines left for me to write in here” you looked back to see that Jimin had followed you on your way back towards your desk.

“Is there a Buttercup?” you asked as you handed Jimin a blank record sheet. Jimin was confused for a moment until he catched on to what you are referring to.

“Ah no, she said she’ll save that name for when she gets another dog” Jimin smiled and raised his eyebrows at you before he went back to the room to assist Hoseok.

You sat down as you put back the folders of records you got out from the filing cabinet, unaware that you started to subconsciously hum to the song Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations.

--

You sat on one of the benches under the waiting shed, taking out your phone to watch again the clip of your dream but before you could even unlock your phone, the sound of the bus doors opening caught your attention. Coincidentally, it happened to be your bus hence you stood up to enter inside, choosing the seat at the far right end, continuing the video once you’ve sat yourself comfortably.

As you got yourself comfortable, you then started to watch your dream and you think you don’t mind replaying it all day long, still finding the whole thing impressive. You can’t help but feel excited for the memories and moments  you’ll build in the future with your mother, not minding a bit that it’ll be artificial.

Surprisingly, you arrived at the bus stop near your home earlier than usual, thinking that you must’ve avoided the rush hour since Hoseok decided to close the clinic twenty minutes early from it’s closing time since there are not much clients after Ms. Nam’s appointments, just the usual customers who are buying pet foods are coming to the clinic.

You managed to stop by a convenience store first to buy two pints of salted caramel ice cream for you and your dad whom you’re still living with since you promised to him that you’ll not be moving out anytime soon unless you get married that is. You were an only child so ever since your mom died, it was only you and your dad.

“Dad, I’m home” you left your shoes at the door mat, slipping on to your slippers as you directly went to the dining room upon whiffing something savory once you entered the door.

“Oh you’re right in time, i just finished preparing the smoked salmon” your dad said, placing the plates on the table. 

“It looks delicious”, you eyed the salmon which is plated and designed elegantly, making it such a fine piece of meal with the presentation alone, “and it tastes one too.”

Your dad works as an executive chef for a five star hotel in Seoul which makes you lucky since you got to taste their premium menu specialties and other delicacies for free once in a while, like tonight since he took a day off.

“Eat as much as you want, I've prepared enough. In fact, why don’t you bring some at work tomorrow and also give it to those two doctors…” your dad looked as if he’s trying hard to recall the name of your co-workers.

“Jimin and Hoseok” you laughed as you reminded him.

“Give it to Jimin and Hoseok, i’ll put it in a microwavable container so that you could heat it up”

You warmly smiled at your dad at how caring he is, placing your hand on top of your dad’s on the table, squeezing it with yours, “Thanks, Dad.”

“You know, i just remember that i’ve never seen them yet” your dad said, “They must be good looking huh? I mean a doctor ain’t a bad choice is it?”

You stopped chewing as you playfully glared at your dad, knowing where this conversation is heading. 

“Dad, it’s inappropriate if i go beyond our professional relationship” you shook your head, thinking how you dad has countlessly pestered you about getting a boyfriend since he thought that your life is pretty lonely for a 22 year old girl who chose to spent most of her time with his dad whom he’s still living with which you’re pretty content with but your dad must’ve thought the other way around.

“I just want you to be happy, that’s all” 

“Being single doesn’t equate to being lonely” you clarified, “Anyway, I am happy so don’t worry about that plus I’ll eventually find someone.”

“Well, you’re not getting any younger and it’s probably what your mom wants for you too” your dad shrugged, looking at you and then to your plate where your asparagus seems to be untouched.

“Aren’t you going to eat that?”

“You know that i don’t eat asparagus, dad” 

“It’s glazed in honey though, try it you might like it”

You picked up your fork to try the honey glazed asparagus but it still tastes wrong to you and your dad must’ve noticed when he saw you scrunch your nose in disgust, shaking your head in disapproval.

“You’re like a little child” your dad sighed as he transferred the asparagus into his plate to eat it.

Majority of your dinner was spent with your dad asking you loads of questions about Jimin and Hoseok, defending himself that he just wants to know the boys that are working with his precious girl. Defeatedly, you have no choice but to answer his questions as you both eat over the pint of ice cream you’ve bought.

After you’ve washed the dishes, you wished your dad good night even though it’s still pretty early for bedtime, heading straight away to your room to wash up and ready yourself for bed. It’s funny how you’ve never been this excited to sleep except the times when you’re sleep deprived.

As you plopped on your bed, you then grabbed your device from your nightstand to turn it on as you plug in your phone to your charger, opening the Reverie app to pair it with your phone but then a tab suddenly appeared as it got paired.

Would you like to continue your dream?

Confused, you got the manual inside your drawer to find out that you could continue your previous dream for two times only as the brain could only take so much. You declined the option to continue since you want to try first the other locations. 

Train Station is what you choose since you plan to travel around Seoul with your mom. As soon as you got to choose the location and character, you placed the device on your temple as you try to sleep.

You soon found yourself in front of the ticket vending machine, getting the cards from the machine’s dispenser.

“Let’s go” your mom said as she got on the escalator, prompting you to hurriedly catch up with her, “Hurry, the train’s about to leave.”

You run up the escalator, excusing yourself as you try to catch up with your mom who’s already standing on the platform but then the train doors had closed already as soon as you step foot onto the platform.

“It’s okay, let’s just sit and wait for the next one”, your mom said as she sat down on the bench, tapping the seat next to hers for you to sit.

“Where should we go?” you asked but you were rather met with silence.  Looking to your right, you noticed that she’s no longer sitting beside you. Furrowing your brows, your scan around the platform as you search for your mom but it’s as if she just suddenly disappeared into thin air.

The clinking sound of coins hitting against the ground has caught your attention, turning your head to the side to see an old man bending down to pick up his coins whilst one of his coins managed to roll towards your direction, only stopping as it bumped the side of your shoes.

You picked it up as you went over to the old man to give it until he smiled at you, stopping your hand that’s about to give him his coin.

“Keep the change” he chuckled as he rode the elevator, leaving you there with his ₩100 coin.

Shrugging, you then played with the coin in your hand, tossing it just to catch it mid-air to slam it at the back of your hand. You then removed your hand to reveal that it landed on tails.

You grasped the coin in your hand as you watch the train pick up its speed by the second, setting aside your hair that has made its way to your face from the gush of wind until the rumbling sounds of the train completely faded out in the distance making the station a quiet and calm place once again.

Once again, you heard the clinking sound of the coin hitting the ground, realizing that it fell off your hand at the sight of a boy at the other side of the platform who seemed to be staring straight at you. You looked at your sides to see if you were mistaken but it looks like you’re the only one standing on your side of the platform much like him.

But then he broke eye contact as he walked towards the stairs of the station, causing you to rush towards the stairs so that you’ll be able to catch him before he’s out of your sight. Thankfully, you managed to grab his arm before he could pass through the turnstile. You felt him tense a bit as you touched him, turning around to look at you with a surprised look on his face that instantly turned into confusion once you spoke.

“Jungkook” you whispered.

Suddenly, an odd blaring sound blasted throughout the station, jolting you up from reality that the sound you happened to hear came from your phone. You extend your hand towards the nightstand to grab it, snoozing the alarm.

Sitting up, you open your bleary eyes as you remove the device from your temple, staring at it for the weird dream you’ve just encountered but dreams are supposed to be weird isn’t it? But how come everyone’s faces are blurry except for your mother and that boy - Jungkook - whom you followed after.

It’s not like you’ve ever seen that face or know anyone whose name is Jungkook but you shrugged the idea off, remembering the warning in the manual that dreams don’t consistently flow smoothly since it’s in the dreams nature to be purely irrational and weird though you can’t help but wonder about the boy that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Who is Jungkook?

--

You found yourself sitting in the waiting lounge, watching some sort of a Moose Documentary in National Geographic Channel. The battery from the remote control ran out so it’s not like you have any choice but to watch whatever’s playing but it’s not like it’s bad at all, you just happen to learn that Mooses can dive up to six meters or twenty feet and they can hold their breath for a minute!

The door chimes rung, making you dart your attention towards the door. A young boy who looks to be thirteen came in with a Beagle Pup on his arms, stopping in front of your desk with quite a lost look upon noticing that the reception is empty with quite a worried look on his face. 

“Hi, how can i help you?” you stood up, instantly going behind your desk to assist the young boy.

“I think he’s not feeling well” the boy lightly cradles and bounces the puppy like a parent trying to calm a baby.

“Well, can you explain to me what’s wrong?”

“He’s been constantly vomiting since this morning and i think he’s getting weaker by the second” 

“Let me just call the doctor” you said, standing up to go directly to Hoseok’s office to inform him and Jimin who’s also in the room that there’s an emergency waiting for them outside.

“Do you have a record in here yet?” you asked the boy as you got behind your desk to ready the clipboard for Jimin.

“Uh I don’t know he’s actually my sister’s dog”

“Okay, what’s her name then?” you smiled, noticing how he’s panicking a bit but he sighed in relief once he saw her sister come through inside the clinic, helping her brother to give out the necessary details. 

Jimin then assisted them to go inside the room for the check up whilst you followed them to give Jimin his clipboard, giving you a chance to witness Hoseok question the siblings when the symptoms appeared while he assessed the dog’s condition. making you leave the room to go back to your desk now that your task is done.

You went back behind your desk, continuing to watch the documentary whilst you eat some sliced apples that your dad prepared for you, saying that you should start eating healthy foods rather than fast food you’ve always been eating. 

“What happened?” you asked just as Jimin got out of the room.

“The dog’s dehydrated and he needs to be put in a drip so he’ll be confined here for a while until he gets better”, Jimin explained as he placed the clipboard on top of your desk and then grabbed the fork to eat one of your sliced apples.

Soon after, the girl got out of the room as he handed you a piece of paper that happens to be a prescription and also the list of supplies needed for the dog’s in confinement that was written by Hoseok.

“Are you getting all this?” you peered up towards her just before you could write it in an official receipt to which she confirmed by nodding.

“Should i bring his dog food here?” The man asked you but Jimin beat you to it to answer him.

“Yeah, you can but you could also just buy some here, you know to save you some legwork” Jimin smiled as you purse your lips from smiling further at Jimin’s tactic of encouraging customers to buy your products.

“Sure, could you add the dog food too” she said to you, nodding as you wrote down the additional item before you ripped the receipt to give it to her and also the calling card, informing her that she could call anytime for updates about her dog.

The siblings soon leave after they’ve watched Bruno - the name of the Beagle - put on a drip with Hoseok assuring them that he’ll be treated with proper care. You then volunteered to be the one to bring the beagle his food, saying how it’s the least thing you could do to help Hoseok and Jimin.

You came into the room where the beagle is supposedly being confined inside a cage that’s large enough for him to fit as you carry the bowl filled with dog food.

“Here you go” you said once you opened the cage and placed the bowl in front of Bruno who appears to be lethargic as he did not make any move to eat the food, only looking up at you with it’s such big adorable puppy eyes.

“You’ll be better soon” you gently petted the base of his neck.

Before you could stand up and leave, you picked up the card that’s placed atop of the cage as you wrote down the time on the card which is meant for monitoring his food intake and other medications.

“I’ll get going” you said to Jimin while you grab your belongings behind your desk.

“Alright, be safe and tell your dad we enjoyed his smoked salmon”

“Sure thing” you waved as you exited the clinic, making your way down to the bus stop to finally go home.

—

Would you like to continue your dream?

You were instantly reminded of your bizzare dream last night about that boy named Jungkook who you don’t even know and also clueless as to why you followed and chased him down.

Nonetheless, you tapped the ‘No’ option since you planned a while ago that you want to have some kind of a nice dinner setting in a restaurant with both of your parents present since you’ve been wanting to have a clear memory of having your family complete. 

Laying down, you did the routine of setting up Reverie and next thing you know, you’re in one of those fancy restaurants located on the rooftop where the view of the towering skyscrapers of Seoul mixed in with the city lights. It took you awhile to register that you’re inside the five star hotel where your dad is working at. 

“What must be your dad cooking for us hm?” 

Sitting in front of you is none other than your mom who seems to be fashionably dressed well in a straight black dress paired with a dainty pearl necklace and earrings, hair perfectly styled that stops right just at her shoulders.

“Probably something delicious” 

“Isn’t it nice we get to eat here? Who knew that your dad’s perks could come in handy” your mom chuckled as she looked around the expansive room that you guessed to be one of the private rooms since you’re the only ones inside.

You looked around to examine that the two sides of the room are glass walled while it’s also well lit thanks to the big elegant chandelier hanging in the middle of the room but most of all, it’s perfectly beautiful because of the night sky view from up here.

Suddenly, the door to your right opened as a waiter who’s holding a tray came inside to place the plate filled with smoked salmon paired with honey glazed asparagus in front of you, speaking to say that it’s the main dish for tonight.

“How are you two doing?” your dad said, following suit to enter the room.

“I thought you’ll be joining us” you said once you noticed that your dad’s still wearing his uniform.

“It’s a pretty busy night, I'll try to catch up later” your dad said, “besides why don’t you first enjoy your time with Jungkook here?”

You took a glance in front of you to see that your mother has now been replaced with Jungkook whose exchanging a few words with your father as if they’ve known each other for a very long time, making you confused to decipher how your dream got weird again but mostly surprised to see Jungkook appear.

“I’ll leave you two for now, okay?” your dad left you a kiss on top of your head whilst he patted Jungkook’s back as he exited the door to go back to the kitchen thus leaving you two alone.

“I remember how you always boast about your father’s cooking skills and I must say, you’re not exaggerating even a bit” 

“See, I told you so” you said even though you’re partly confused because the you in your dreams always manages to act dominantly.

“Would you like some wine?” you peered up at the source to see that a waiter’s waiting for your confirmation before he poured some wine on both of your glasses when you sent him a nod.

“Let’s make a toast” Jungkook said as he raised his glass at you but then you were confused to say the least.

“For what? It’s not our anniversary, right?” you asked, suddenly growing anxious that you might’ve forgotten that today’s supposed to be special but you do know that your anniversary as a couple is months away.

“How could you forget this?” Jungkook asked, chuckling as he widened his eyes at you in disbelief, “It has been a year since the day we met!”

“Has it been a year already?” 

Jungkook hummed as he transferred your untouched asparagus into his plate once he devoured all of his portion but then he glanced up at you to see just as he’s about to eat a piece of your asparagus.

“What? You don’t like asparagus” Jungkook said in an unfazed manner, happily munching on his food as he hummed in delight until he remembered the untouched glass of wine.  He wiped his mouth hurriedly with the napkin to grab the wine glass.

“Cheers?” Jungkook said with his mouth still full, smiling as he placed his hand atop of yours, thumb lightly grazing against your skin.

“Cheers”

--

Adjusting yourself on your seat, you propped your elbow against the desk as you leaned your head over your hand, watching the dream from last night wherein your mom magically disappeared out of nowhere and was instead replaced with Jungkook who you assume is your ‘boyfriend’ in your dream.

You’re still unaware as to why he appeared in your dream for the second time again that’s why it prompted you to search on the internet if Reverie users have experienced the same thing as you but there was none so far.

But you know for sure that dreams are heavily influenced on what happened to you in real life thus the reason you were eating the smoked salmon dish with asparagus because of that dinner you had with your dad one day ago and also the reason why he’s your boyfriend because of that talk with your dad.

Sighing, you stand up as you leave your desk to sit beside Jimin who’s watching a movie in the waiting area.

“Do you want some?” Jimin stretched his hand that’s holding a pack of peanuts. You held out your palm to him as he poured over some nuts until it’s enough for your liking.

“Thanks” you said as you popped them into your mouth, “Jimin…”

“Hmm?” you were a bit hesitant if you should talk to Jimin about Reverie since it gained a bad image with one news outlet saying that the device’s original purpose got taken out of its context and was instead converted into something controversial - it was now being used by others to satisfy their sexual fantasies.

“What do you think about Reverie?” you shyly said.

“The dreaming device?” Jimin asked, “I don’t know much about it except that everyone uses it to dream about wild things, why?”

Well, it looks like that article broke out the internet already and it made you even more bashful to open up to Jimin that you’ve purchased the device yourself even though you know that you’re using it for another reason.

“I, um, bought it” 

Jimin peered his eyes away from the television as he looked at you with his eyebrows raised, momentarily stopping himself from munching down the peanuts.

“I mean i have it since you know, my mom died a long time ago and it’s the only way i could only see her” you defended yourself, feeling a bit embarrassed from how you talked so fast.

“Well, I thought you bought it for another reason” Jimin chuckled, “How is it?”

“It’s good, i get to see my mom anytime i want but then it started getting weird recently” you purse your lips as you contemplate if it’ll be a good idea to tell him the boy in your dream - Jungkook. 

“Go on”, Jimin said, urging you to continue.

“I was dreaming about my mom but then a boy would constantly take her place but what’s weird is that i called him ‘Jungkook’ and i don’t even know anyone who has that name”

“What does he look like then?”

“Well, he has big doe eyes, sharp nose, nice smile and i must admit, he looks quite handsome and cute at the same time” you think you’ve imprinted the image of him in your mind with the amount of times you’ve replayed the video as you try to ponder if you’ve ever seen Jungkook before but nothing came in mind.

“Sounds like he’s a sexual fantasy of yours” you threw the rest of your peanuts at Jimin as he doubled in laughter.

“But jokes aside, do you think you could vividly dream about a person you didn’t know in the first place?” you curiously asked as you waited for Jimin to calm down from his laughing fit, adjusting himself on his seat as he properly answered you.

“No? I mean, maybe those are the physical traits you like in a person and your subconscious just so happened to create this ‘Jungkook’ guy” Jimin said.

“You think so?”

“Don’t take it from me though, I’m a veterinarian not a neurologist” you shrugged, returning your attention back on the television.

After the credits rolled on the television, you went inside the room where Bruno is to give him the food and water he needs just before you leave the clinic. He seems to be getting better but it was still clear that he’s still weak at some point.

“Hello, Bruno” you pet his head, cooing as his head leaned further to your touch. 

It reminded you of that time when you would endlessly beg your dad to get a dog, reasoning out that you’re tired of having no one to play with as the only child you are and that a dog was your best bet in having a playmate or so although that did not fully convince for your dad to get you one.

That only resulted for you to ignore your dad for a few days as the brat you are until he came home with a cage where a hamster resides rather than the dog you’re wishing for but it’s enough for you to smile at your dad, thanking him for the new pet.

You mutter a goodbye to the Beagle, standing up to go towards the door when you get suddenly surprised by Hoseok when his head suddenly peeked inside the door.

“Y/N, could you help us for awhile?” Hoseok said, resting his shoulders on the door frame. 

“Are you going to put up some Christmas decorations?” you said as soon as you saw the box he’s carrying where a ‘Christmas Stuff’ is labelled on the front with a permanent marker.

“Yeah, it’ll be just quick though” Hoseok reassured you since the clinic already closed a few minutes ago.

“Alright” you grabbed the box from Hoseok, exiting the room to find Jimin already setting up the mini Christmas Tree in the waiting area. 

“How many days is it before Christmas?” you asked, standing up on a chair as you try to stick the garland against the walls.

“Uh twenty nine days” Jimin grabbed the rest of the garland as he assisted you.

“Oh really? Time must’ve passed by quickly” 

“Yeah, days are shorter during this time of the year so maybe that’s why” Hoseok shrugged as he embellished the Christmas Tree with some decorative balls.

It was spring when you started to work in the clinic which means that it has also been mostly eight or nine months since your stay. You were only supposed to work here for six months but you’ve quite enjoyed it that you managed to delay applying for a job in your field, thinking how you’re going to complete a year in the clinic before you do so.

—

Sitting on your bed, you managed to turn the television on to continue the movie you were watching last weekend whilst you slurp over the instant noodles you’ve cooked yourself as your late lunch since your dad isn’t home as he usually is this time since his work demands him to be present in days like the weekend and holidays.

That’s the great thing about Sundays, it’s the only day you could have the whole day for yourself considering you only have to work until 12 p.m. in the clinic today and you can lounge around your house just by yourself, not that you don’t like the presence of your dad but you guess you’re one of those people who prefers alone time.

You turned off the television once you felt the burning like sensation from your eyes probably because you’ve taken only four hours of sleep last night. Plopping down your head sideways on your pillow, the device came into your sight, remembering how you forgot to wear it last night from how tired you are from decorating the clinic.

The conversation you had with Jimin yesterday came flashing back when he told you that it could be a probability that Jungkook is a character made by your subconscious and Jimin’s not wrong when he told you that Jungkook might be just a reflection of what you want in a person because you could say he’s piqued your interest.

Would you like to continue your dream?

You clicked the ‘No’ option right away as you still find the whole thing quite odd though you’re quite unfazed by now. It has been a while since that first vivid dream you had with your mom so that’s why you hope Reverie won’t alter your dream though that’ll be highly unlikely.

The fireplace is the first thing you saw in your dream, Christmas decorations and picture frames filled the mantel though you can’t completely make out who the individuals in the pictures are but you’re sure it’s someone else’s house.

“What is your dream?” 

You looked sideways to see your mom sitting beside you on the sofa as she sipped something on a mug after she had said that statement, the snow outside the window catching your attention for a second before you looked back at your mom with a quite confused look.

“Like my dream in life?” your mom nodded, intently looking at you.

“I dream of having my own business someday” you said, “But i’m still not sure what kind of business it’ll be?”

“Your dad’s a chef, why don’t you hire him and build a restaurant?” your mom suggested, making you laugh at her suggestion though you think you’re going to consider it into one of your ideas.

“What about you mom?” you laid down on your mom’s lap as you looked up at her whilst she softly caressed your hair, straying out some strands of your hair that had made way into your face.

“I dreamt about having a beautiful daughter when me and your dad got married and look you’re here”

“Isn’t it sad we only get to be together for three years?” you frowned.

“Out of all the years i’ve lived, those three years are the most precious thing that happened to me and it’s because of you, my dear”

You think you must’ve shed some tears as your mom wiped the corners of your eyes with her thumb, gently smiling at you as she told you not to be sad but to be happy.

“There’s a dream I have for you but I could only do so much,” she said, staring straight ahead at something. Your eyes are about to look at where she’s looking at but she held your face gently just before you could turn your head, “Always remember to follow your dreams.”

You could tell when your dream is about to end, it’s when the scene in front of you dims slowly into the void and that’s what’s happening right now but before you could slowly succumb into consciousness, your mom squeezed your hand tightly as if to remind you one last time.

“Follow your dream.”

Tears ran down your face once you opened your eyes, noticing that your tears are what must’ve woken you up. You’ve cried for a bit, thinking how unfortunate it is that she’s gone and how you’ve greatly missed her.

After you’ve calmed, you grab the device as you stick it once again on your temple to continue your dream to ask her about the dream she has for you and also taking advantage of it now that Jungkook didn’t manage to appear.

You found yourself once again in front of the fireplace when you chose to continue your dream. It looks exactly the same when you left although you could hear some Christmas songs playing now and the space beside you where your mom should be seating is now empty.

“I have a surprise for you”

A voice said that doesn’t belong to your mom but you definitely know that it’s Jungkook who seems to be covering your eyes with both of his hands as he whispers into your ear, his breath tickling you a bit.

“What is it?”

“I’ll have to get it first” he said, “Promise me you’ll close your eyes?”

Jungkook took off his hands once you gave him a nod though you’re tempted to open your eyes to see what the surprise is, you tried your best to be obedient and soon enough, you heard his footsteps in front of you.

“Okay, you can open them now”

Jungkook’s hair is now dyed pink like cotton candy pink which caught you by surprise but that’s not what surprised you more because your eyes immediately panned towards the adorable thing he’s cradling like a baby in his arms.

“Merry Christmas!”

“Oh my god a puppy?” you said in awe as you stretched out your hand for Jungkook so that you could cradle it instead though he more of placed it on your lap, making you coo how the Beagle pup is trying to remove the red ribbon that’s loosely tied around its neck with its cute tiny paws.

“I remember when you told me that you wanted a dog ever since you were a kid” Jungkook scratched his head, sitting down beside you who seems to be so caught up with the puppy as you giggled at how playful it is. 

“Let’s call her Buttercup” Jungkook didn’t question you for the name as he instead admired how the big smile on your face made him feel so much warmth in his chest, perhaps it’s because from the sense of pride that he’s the reason behind your happiness although it’s somewhat more of the puppy who's still on your lap. 

“Your gift is much better than mine, I feel bad” you playfully frowned.

“Don’t be, what is it then?”

“It’s in my house, you’ll get to see tomorrow” you winked, thinking if he would even like yours which is a newly released game he’s been dying to play ever since it was announced plus some quirky love note on the side as the low key romantic person you are.

It never even crossed your mind to consider if Jungkook might’ve bought it already, so it’ll be really lame of you if he ever has it though you think he hasn't got it yet when you clearly remember scanning his shelf filled with his games when you came by his house. You can’t help but be worried but if that’s the case then the love note might as well work then.

“Hey, you’re already a gift to me” Jungkook tilted your chin upwards so his eyes could meet your worried ones.

“You’re so mushy” you laughed, gently tilting Jungkook’s head to the side so he can stop staring at you like that, like he’s so into you and it’s making you want to hide and shy away from his stare, “Anyways, thank you-”

“I love you”

You were dumbfounded for a while as you try to process those three words that just came out of Jungkook’s mouth. Your dad wasn’t lying when he told you the time he felt his world stopped when your mom said those words to him for the first time because fuck, this is indeed the first time Jungkook said this to you and you felt like your heart stopped beating too.

“I just wanted to tell you and y-you don’t have to say it back” Jungkook stammered, panic settling within him.

Jungkook’s the one who’s more expressive in your relationship, the one who’s more romantic and cheesier than you while you’re more of an awkward and shy one since Jungkook is your first boyfriend. Not that you don’t love him the same but you’re quite not sure how to properly show affection to him none other than through letters and notes that is.

Impulsively, you cupped Jungkook’s cheek as you leaned in further until your lips were mashed together that’s why it’s understandable that Jungkook’s not been responding to you for a while, possibly shock that you initiated to kiss him when it was always him who’s used to kissing you first. 

Jungkook then smiled as he kissed you back, taking it up a notch when he grabbed your waist towards him, making you straddle him as you put one hand on his shoulder whilst the other is on his neck where you’re gently caressing his hair, making him audibly emit a low hum against your lips, shy at how that got you so bothered.

You felt the warmth of his hands more after it had made its way under the base of your shirt, thumb gently grazing on your skin above your hip bone where he drew circling motions on it, making you emit a chuckle at how ticklish it feels yet it’s enough for you to melt more into the kiss.

Jungkook detached his lips to yours to pepper your chin with kisses instead then making his way to the side of your jaw where he left a trail of wet kisses, eyes closing from pleasure and how good it felt until you got distracted by Buttercup’s bark.

“Wait” you gently pushed Jungkook back by his shoulders so you could look at what’s bothering the puppy who seems to be running back and forth towards the edge of the sofa and practically just barking at the floor, taking a look to see that there’s nothing on the floor which left you to think of what could possibly be bothering her.

“She wants to go down but it’s too high for her” Jungkook helped you out.

You scooped Buttercup up so you could finally place her down on the floor whilst Jungkook held you in place by tightening his hold on your waist so you wouldn’t fall.

With the barking gone, you then smiled, proceeding to continue the heated kiss you shared with Jungkook but not for long as you opened your eyes in panic when you realized something that made you break the kiss once again, removing your weight on Jungkook’s lap to sit instead next to his side, making him furrowed his brows in worry at you.

“What’s wrong?”

“Your parents and your brother could walk in any minute!” you whispered at him, fearing that you might get caught making out with Jungkook in their living room and it’s not good, not when you just met his family.

Jungkook’s family lives in Busan that’s why it took so long for you to actually meet them personally. The reason you’re also here is because you and Jungkook both agreed that you’ll celebrate Christmas Eve with Jungkook’s family while he will then celebrate Christmas itself with you and your dad tomorrow. 

“Let’s go to my room then” Jungkook said as he kissed your cheek, standing up whilst he pulled  your arm to get up and follow him upstairs. You were at the end of the stairs when you heard tiny whimpers coming from the living room.

“Oh no, how could I forget?” you let go of Jungkook’s hand as you briskly walked towards the living room to pick up Buttercup, pecking her kisses and muttering apologies for forgetting and leaving her all alone in the living room.

Once you're back on his side, Jungkook pulled you in by the waist to give you a peck on the lips but he must’ve got carried away as he tried to deepen it, not that you could blame him if it’s addicting in the first place only for Buttercup to ruin the moment again as she barked, causing you two to break away.

“I’m starting to think Buttercup doesn’t like it when i kiss you, hm?” Jungkook said, cupping the Beagle’s head as he glared at her, “Shouldn't you be nice to your dad?”

You watch as Jungkook continuously played with the puppy on your arms, finding it cute that Jungkook just referred to himself as Buttercup’s dad which made him more endearingly adorable if that’s possible. 

“I love you too, Jungkook”

You’d like to believe that Jungkook felt his whole world stopped too just like what happened to you when you noticed how he’s staring at you with wide eyes and mouth agape until he placed a hand on his chest, dramatically heaving a relieved sigh.

“Thank god, I thought i’d be raising this puppy all by myself” you gently shoved Jungkook’s shoulder as he put his hand above where you hit him, face contorting in pain as if he really got hurt, making you chuckle more at his silliness.

“Just lead the way” you pushed him with your free hands when he made no move to go up at all.

“Alright, someone’s too eager” Jungkook doubled in laughter once he felt a slap against his back.

“I love you” he said, stealing a kiss right before he dashed up the stairs.

--

You joined Jimin and Hoseok in the waiting area, sighing as you stretched your neck and shoulders. The clinic was pretty busy for today and you’re glad you don’t have any clients to attend now considering the closing time will be in an hour. Mickey jumped off of Hoseok’s lap to transfer to you instead, smiling at the Santa outfit he’s sporting today.

“Why don’t we watch some news?” Hoseok took the remote from Jimin, both of you not muttering anything as you find the film showing in the television to be a bore anyway. You focused on petting Mickey instead, observing how his eyes were slowly fluttering by the second.

Well, it seems like not only three but the four of you are tired from today. Mickey was about to close his eyes until he got startled from Jimin’s quite loud voice.

“Have you ever dreamt about lottery numbers?” Jimin asked, making you confused until he told you to watch the news which is currently featuring the story of how a man won the lottery simply because of the Reverie device, stating that he won the lottery thanks to the random numbers that showed up in his dreams.

“You own a Reverie?” Hoseok asked but before you could answer, Jimin interjected to explain why you got it whilst you continue to watch the news again where they’re showing a similar story from the lottery man.

A high school student whose identity was disclosed is shown holding her nearly perfect exam paper to the camera, saying how she dreamt about the contents of the exam beforehand the test that’s why she was able to get a high score and how she intentionally omitted mistakes to not raise suspicions.

“Did something like that happen to you?” Jimin asked, shaking your head no, “Still dreaming about your mom?”

“Yeah but not that often anymore, it’s more of-”

“Jungkook?” Jimin cut you off, laughing as he saw you nod at him, “Any sexual fantasies yet?”

“No!...That’s ridiculous” you denied though it’s clear that you’re embarrassed because it was exactly three days ago since that Christmas Eve make out session with Jungkook happened. You stopped using Reverie for a while because of how that particular thing weirded you out because who even is Jungkook and why are you doing something intimate with him?

You’re scared because what if Jimin is right and Jungkook is a sexual fantasy of yours that you just strongly deny but it’s not like you completely dislike the idea of Jungkook, it’s just taken you aback how things escalated quickly. After all, there’s no harm dreaming about him.

“Well, you should tell me if ever you’ve dreamt about lottery numbers, okay?” Jimin said, winking at you.

“Why would she tell you? If I were her, I'd just enter those numbers by myself” Hoseok argued, “Plus, isn’t this just some kind of marketing ploy for the device?”

If you come to think of it, maybe Hoseok’s right. Reverie is surely just producing these kinds of stories in order to steer away from its bad reputation the internet has given them though for you, they should’ve let it be - bad marketing is still a form of marketing. It’s not like you could blame the company, they gotta do what they need to do to save its image.

How you wish that you get to have the same kind of dreams from the users they’ve interviewed but you only manage to dream about this boy who only continues to exist in your dreams instead. 

Jungkook is his name and his family lives in Busan - those are only the two things that makes him distinct from your dreams but you’re sure that it’s only your subconscious who made that up. Sometimes, your curiosity gets you to wonder things about him that’s beyond what your mind can imagine.

What if Jungkook does exist in reality?

--

“Hi, how may i help you?” you asked once you saw a woman enter the store with a dog on a leash and a little girl came following

“We’re here for the 2 p.m. appointment”

You did your usual task of retrieving the records and clipping them on a clipboard for Jimin to take. Assisting the woman to the room where Hoseok is supposedly preparing the materials and equipment needed. 

“Just sit and wait for me, okay?” the woman crouched down as she said this to the little girl until she looked back at you, “Can you please look over her for a while? Thank you”

You guided the little girl towards the waiting area as you told her that she could watch the television while she waits for her mom, leaving her to walk back to your desk once she got settled though you would still look at her from time to time.

With nothing else to do, you find yourself writing down your signature repeatedly on scratch paper until you get tired of it, resorting to writing another word or perhaps another name - Jungkook.

It has been a week since you managed to continue using Reverie again and you noticed that Jungkook is pretty much an inhabitant of your dreams by now with the amount of time he appears more in it than your mom that you started to be more accustomed with the boy and there’s no denying that you have come to let him live in your dreams.

Sometimes, you feel bad that you’re more looking forward to dreaming about Jungkook than your mom nowadays though you still hope she could appear once again. You’ve been missing the talks you have with her specially if the last talk you’ve had with her was back at Jungkook’s family house where she told you to follow your dreams.

“Hello miss” 

You stopped from writing down Jungkook’s name as you heard little grunting sounds coming in front of you. One pair of cute tiny hands came into your view, the girl clearly trying to clutch both of her fingers around the edge of your desk as she finally managed to propped her chin after successfully tiptoeing.

“Hello, what can i do for you?” you said in a rather cheery voice to match her energy.

“Can i watch some cartoons, please?” you can now only see her eyes at this point, figuring that she must’ve given up from trying to reach the desk.

“Sure” you grabbed the remote from your side as you stood up to make your way and sit towards the waiting area with the little girl. You’re just casually switching the channels as you told the little girl to tell you to stop if she finds what she wants to watch.

“Cinderella!” the little girl squealed.

“Oh would you like to watch that?” 

The little girl nodded at you, increasing the volume as you relaxed back to your chair to watch the Disney film until you notice her singing along to A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes in that scene where Cinderella was assisted by the birds and mouses as she gets ready for the day.

“No matter how your heart is grieving,

If you keep on believing, 

The dream that you wish will come true”

“You must’ve watched it a lot of times, hm?” you asked once you noticed she knows the lyrics to the song all too well.

“Birds aren’t nice,” the girl said, “I thought they’re helpful.”

“What do you mean?” 

The little girl then proceeded to tell you that one time she’s too lazy to fix her bed in the morning so an idea popped in her mind once she saw the movie. Since they have a love bird in their garden, she thought it’d be a good idea to get the cage and set them free into her room, thinking that they’ll help her clean the room just like in Cinderella.

“Did your mom get angry at you?” you stifled a laugh at how cute and innocent this little girl is who then pouted and nodded at your question.

“But it was funny watching her and dad trying to catch and get them back” the girl giggled as she recalled the memory.

Not long after, the little girl’s mom came out of the room, making her way towards the desk to pay the fees.

“Thank you for watching over her”, the woman said as you gave her a polite smile.

“Goodbye Miss!” The girl cutely waved at you, waving back at her as you gush at her cuteness.

Time pretty much passed by quickly after the little girl left because next thing you know, you’re getting off at the bus stop, walking towards your house as you keep your head up to look at the clear sky, giving you a perfect view of the stars.

You then refrain from walking once you spotted the familiar star which your mom told you where she is in your dreams. Smiling at the thought even though you probably look crazy with how you look - standing at the side of the road and smiling at the sky.

“I miss you” you said under your breath, “I’ll promise to follow my dreams”

--

“Wait, I’m getting the change” you chuckled as Jungkook impatiently tugged your arm as soon as he heard that the Disney Illumination Show will start in five minutes.

Grabbing the churros from the vendor, Jungkook then started to drag you along with him towards the front of the Cinderella Castle, chuckling in the process as you can’t help how Jungkook acts like a child with how excited he is right now that he even devoured his churros as fast as possible so he could potentially focus during the show.

Thankfully, you got a pretty good spot and you’ve arrived right in time as the show is just about to begin in a minute.

The lights that are lighting up the castle are then turned off only to be back on but are now illuminated with different Disney animations, music then starts playing with the water fountain and fireworks perfectly synced to the beat, clearly understanding Jungkook’s excitement for the show as you stand and watch in awe.

Halfway to the show, you glanced beside Jungkook to see his glassy eyes, remembering how Jungkook could get so emotional and touched in things like this and next thing you know a tear rolled down on his face that you managed to wipe with your thumbs as you endearingly smile at him.

Jungkook chuckled, clearly abashed that he unknowingly cried resulting in him to pull you in towards his chest, enclosing you in a back hug where he rested his chin on your shoulder. You look sideways at him to kiss his cheek, placing your hand on his arm as you continue to watch.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” you asked.

“Do you want me to say you’re beautiful too?” Jungkook teased as he raised his eyebrows at you.

“If you say so” 

“You glow more than these fireworks” 

“You’re cheesy, I hate you” you glanced at your side to see Jungkook already staring at you.

“But you love it anyway” Jungkook smiled, leaning his head towards you to kiss you on your cheeks and then on the corner of your mouth until you moved your head a bit to the right so that you could fully kiss him.

“I could still taste the sugar” you chuckled, turning around to wipe the corner of Jungkook’s lips with the sleeves of your sweater from the sugar he possibly got from the churros.

You turned back to your previous position as you continue to watch the show and as soon as it ended, you two headed out towards the exit with Jungkook wildly swinging both of your hands that are intertwined while his other hand is holding the bag that contains the BB-8 Soda Container and two shirts that you got in the souvenir shop.

as he keeps on singing the songs that played out in the show awhile ago but he’s more particularly singing the song in the Cinderella movie.

“Did you have fun?” Jungkook asked in between the songs he kept on singing ever since the show ended, more particularly the song from Cinderella that played out in the show. 

“Yeah, it felt so magical right?” 

“Being here with you is magical enough” Jungkook raised your intertwined hands as he kissed the back of your hand, smiling as he saw you leaning your face towards his arm to hide how flustered that just made you feel.

“I hate you” you mumbled, still hiding your face in his arms.

“I know, I love you too”

Jungkook removed his hand from yours to place it instead on your shoulders to pull you more into his side, kissing the crown of your head as he continued singing the song that has managed to plague his mind.

‘Have faith in your dreams and someday,

Your rainbow will come smiling through.

No matter how your heart is grieving,

If you keep on believing,

The dream that you wish will come true.’

When you opened your eyes, you were then drifted back to reality when the ceiling of your room came into view. You then placed your hand on top of your chest as soon as you felt your heart thumping rapidly, smiling as you relive the dream that got you so giddy first thing in the morning.

But then you were pulled out from your dreamy state when you grabbed your phone, thinking you woke up right before your alarm went off but it looks like you’ve slept through it when you saw the time and Hoseok’s text, asking your whereabouts.

You threw your blanket away off of you, rushing inside your bathroom to get ready as fast as possible and next thing you know, you’re right outside of your house in just fifteen minutes, locking your door as you jog towards the bus stop which is thankfully just a few meters away from your house but then morning rush sure is hell as you notice the slow traffic flow.

As if you aren’t startled enough from being late, your phone went off to show that Hoseok’s calling you.

“Hi Y/N, where-”

“Hoseok, I woke up late, I'm sorry but I’ll be there in twenty minutes!” you said, quickly rushing towards the train station which is the best possible mode of transportation in your situation right now even though you’ll have to switch trains but it’s not like you have any choice anyway.

“Okay, just make sure you’ll make it in time for the two appointments in the next hour”

After the call ended, you quickly placed your phone in your pocket wherein you also retrieved your transportation card to scan it through the turnstile gate only for it not to open since your card’s balance is insufficient, making you even more agitated as you load your card down by the ticketing machine.

Thankfully, you passed through the gates and you’re now rushingly going up the escalator as soon as you felt the incoming rumbles of the train but then a man was blocking the walking side of the escalator.

“Excuse me” you said but the man made no move to step aside, annoying you even more until you noticed that he’s wearing earphones. The man just noticed that he’s on the wrong side of the elevator when you tapped him on the shoulder, profusely apologizing as you lightly smiled before you ran up again.

As soon as you got on the platform, the doors of the train closed as if luck wasn't by your side this morning. Sighing, you make your way to one of the seats as you feel your adrenaline rush wearing out, finally accepting that you’re late for work.

The clinking sound of coins hitting against the ground has caught your attention, turning your head to the side to see an old man bending down to pick up his coins whilst one of his coins managed to roll towards your direction, only stopping as it bumped the side of your shoes..

You picked it up as you went over to the old man to give it until he smiled at you, stopping your hand that’s about to give him his coin.

“Keep the change” he chuckled as he rode the elevator, leaving you quite puzzled all of a sudden because why does it feel like this has happened before yet it feels strangely unfamiliar at the same time perhaps could this be just a deja vu?

Until you remembered why it was so familiar to begin with. Skeptically, you tossed the coin in the air just to catch it mid-air as you slammed it at the back of your hand just to see if it’ll result into the same scene that happened before in your dreams

You don’t know why you’re so anxious to remove your hand. Perhaps you might freak out a bit if it happens to land on tails but there’s still a bit of probability that it could land on heads instead.

No, it landed on tails.

Baffled, you thought to yourself that this could be just a coincidence. You start to feel the hairs on your skin rise and your hands are starting to become clammy because you know well how the next scene will play out.

What if Jungkook is standing on the other side of the tracks?

It can’t be, Jungkook is just a figment of my subconscious, you reminded yourself.

You grasped the coin in your hand, fidgeting with it as you watch the train pick up its speed by the second, setting aside your hair that has made its way to your face from the gush of wind, anticipation building up by the second.

Waiting.

Impatiently Waiting.

The rumbling sounds of the train completely faded out in the distance making the station a quiet and calm place. Once again, you heard the clinking sound of the coin hitting the ground.

‘Follow your dreams’ is what your mom told you but is it possible for your dreams to follow you?  As inconceivable it may seem, you're directly looking at a boy you just saw in your dreams and a boy you never knew existed in reality until now.

Who would know that the conscious could meet the subconscious.

--

A/N: I guess I took the futuristic!au quite literally. I think it wasn’t futuristic enough except for the device though it somewhat looks like it’ll fit as a Black Mirror episode haha. Hope you liked this one!

Also, coffee?

[k-rising]

Jaehyun's birth chart analysis

DISCLAIMER: This is just a part of the analysis of the idol’s natal chart, which wants to show a deeper perspective on the idols life. This analysis is carried out thanks to the data that appears in the birth chart. These are my interpretations of the signs and how they work based on my experiences with them. Everyone has different opinions and all interpretation and experiences within is valid. The point of this post is to entertain. [This idol has confirmed his birth time].

Pisces Rising

jaehyun goes with the flow

an a r t i s t

lover of peace

OPEN MINDED

he can be quiet and shy one day and the next one he’s VERY talkative and passionate

soft personality

sees the world the way he wants to see it

making decisions isn’t his strong point tbh

avoids cold, hard facts and harsh realities

doesn’t like organization or structure

heads in the clouds 24/7

has an irresistible charm that comes in a quiet way

SOFT AURA

both his appearance and mannerisms are usually quite intriguing to people

Aquarius Sun (12th house)

again… OPEN MINDED  

values personal freedom !!

any attempt to box him in will fail, tho

VERY STUBBORN

VERY fixed in his opinions

jaehyun is curious

observant

doesn’t like when people are prejudice and bias

very clever

witty

values frankness

he’ll try to encourage his friends to be open and forthright

will treat people equally

being an aquarius makes him quirky and "different”

he also likes having friends who are like that!

tends to avoid the spotlight

even though he’s a public figure, he’ll try to hide his true self

shines when he serves others in some way

Square between Sun and Moon

jaehyun has an internal struggle between his needs and his wants :(

is VERY indecisive

questions himself often

he’s always aware of the opposing point of view

Opposition between Sun and Lilith

there’s a self-destructive side to him that should be managed by confronting his fears

Taurus Moon (2nd house)

calm

familiarity is important in this position !!

building a solid and comfortable home helps him to feel safe

DON’T TRY TO PUSH JAEHYUN INTO DOING SOMETHING HE DOESN’T WANT

STEADINESS

as I said before, tends to avoid messy or unpredictable situations, crises, and emotional displays

focusses on creating a reliable and secure life around him

VERY ROMANTIC

his affections are strong and deep

he’s sentimental and warm

tends to protect himself and his own interests

jaehyun will rarely make a move without first determining that the other person feels the same way about him

it takes A LOT to really get to him

he isn’t the most adaptable person when his routine is interrupted

his needs are strong but quite simple at the same time

LOVES LUXURY !!!

jaehyun is loyal and capable

might hold onto people quite tightly

often looking for admiration

can be quite dependent on others for positive feedback

tends to hold back and wait before expressing himself

Square between Moon and Venus

his romantic desires and his emotional needs tend to create tension

he may not know what he wants

uncomfortable with emotions

Trine between Moon and Neptune

good at working with groups

perceived as mysterious and glamorous

very imaginative

may have a victim complex

Aquarius Mercury (12th house)

has a quiet way of stirring others up

very quick to contradict others

offers a different perspective

enjoys intellectual debates

likes practical jokes

raising eyebrows is an habit for this placement too, tho ;)

very fair and objective

jaehyun may have difficulty expressing himself

he doesn’t talk much

speaks when he’s in the mood to do it

discrete

philosophical

he might be an excellent confidante

keeps secrets very well

prefers not to focus on facts

learn best when ideas are presented visually, emotionally or imaginatively

learning to communicate clearly is a challenge for jaehyun

this could help him to end his feelings of guilt, of being misunderstood, and to attracting unpleasant situations

Conjunction between Mercury and Venus

looks on the bright side of life

optimistic

likes beauty, art, travelling

good at talking

he's also good at charming others

Trine between Mercury and Mars

likes debates

has good judgment

very determined

has lots of energy when it comes to work

Conjunction between Mercury and Jupiter

has big ideas

is tolerant

has a strong sense of justice

he also has good judgement

enjoys literature and learning

will be successful socially

Sextile between Mercury and Saturn

is precise or strives to be mentally organized

has the patience to work towards a goal slowly but surely

Conjunction between Mercury and Uranus

perspicacious

ingenious

spontaneous in his friendships

knows how to turn situations around positively

Aquarius Venus (12th house)

he wants people to see him as unique, rebellious and a little provocative ;)

jaehyun is attractive when he’s acting a little aloof, tho

attracted to unusual or unconventional relationships

can appear quite standoffish at times

is threatened by restrictions of any kind

emotional people may be put off by his detached manner in love

he wants people to love him for his intellect !!

jaehyn values lovers who’re also good friends

pleasing jaehyun involves letting him know how interesting he is

he’s very proud of his unique ideas and visions

his partner has to dream along with him

even though he likes being in a relationship, jaehyun also needs his own space

he may have secret love affairs :0

it’s difficult for him to defining his boundaries tbh

but he can get hurt in love rather easily

can also feel used

attracted to people from all walks of life

finds attractive a person who has an unusual background or quirky personality

being openly affectionate and trusting others doesn't seem safe to him at all

jaehyun may feel his love won't be appreciated or it won’t be reciprocated

maybe he has fallen in love with many people who are quite unavailable to him

love and sacrifice is SO important for him

he values self-sacrifice and a giving attitude in a partner

jaehyun can be quite mysterious to people, because he keeps his romantic needs hidden

he isn't punishing himself, it's just that he doesn't feel worthy to be in a public relationship

Trine between Venus and Mars

jaehyun is a PASSIONATE lover

has a strong temperament

is driven by connection and enjoying each other's company

Conjunction between Venus and Jupiter

has good relations with his social circle

jaehyun may fall in love easily

he has a successful professional life :’)

people usually trust him

Conjunction between Venus and Uranus

again, scared of losing his liberty

marriage may not be for him

jaehyun has that little something that attracts others, tho

even though he’s romantic, he’s also a little detached or unpredictable

jaehyun can see through insincerity in others

in relationships, tolerance is the most important thing to him

his sexual preferences can be quite unconventional too

long-distance relationships might attract him

Libra Mars (7th house)

reflects about things before he acts

defends himself and others

has the need to balance everything !!

jaehyun always play innocent when he’s challenged

PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE

he doesn't want to be mean or unfair

he’s great at solving conflicts

he might like being dominant not only at work, but also in his relationships

there’s also a tendency to take other people’s actions too personally

having a partner makes him feel sure of who he is

jaehyun wants things to be reciprocate

Trine between Mars and Jupiter

jaehyun is jovial, frank and sincere

HE LIKES SPORTS AND DOING OUTDOORS ACTIVITIES

he may have many children or projects and ventures :)

he doesn’t think about failing, even though success isn’t as important to him as enjoyment and happiness

SO COMPETITIVE

Opposition between Mars and Saturn

jaehyun is often attracted to doing something if there are problems attached

likes to overcome obstacles

Trine between Mars and Uranus

impulsive but bold

very open to new methods and different ways of doing things

Trine between Mars and Neptune

his feelings are dominated by wisdom and intuition

likes odd people

can often use a gentle approach to pursuing his desires

Sextile between Mars and Pluto

AMBITIOUS

has a great capacity for work

will stick out with his plans to the end

committed and determined

possibly impatient when his members do things only halfway or half-heartedly

generally confident about his own talents

persistent when pursuing a goal

Aquarius Jupiter (11th house)

attracts good fortune when he is tolerant, fair, impartial and cooperative

wants to show unique perspective or skills

Conjunction between Jupiter and Uranus

he quickly sizes up a situation and knows what's going on at a glance

Aries Saturn (1st house)

he must learn to develop self-confidence

jaehyun can be self-conscious in new situations, especially when young

first reactions to new ideas or plans are somewhat negative

doesn’t speak too much

he doesn’t waste energy unnecessarily

GOOD MEMORY

Aquarius Uranus (11th house)

may get over excited at the start of a task that interests him

his friends can be extravagant, original and intellectual

Sextile between Uranus and Pluto

brings transformation and change into other people's lives

enters others lives unexpectedly and makes an impact

has a creative mind

Capricorn Neptune (11th house)

wants to belong to a group of like-minded people or to connect with a higher purpose

Sagittarius Pluto (9th house)

sexuality and love are idealized

Leo Lilith

VERY provocative, captivating and sexually appealing

jaehyun can get impatient when his needs aren’t satisfied

he may have felt bad for wanting attention or for seeking to be better than others

Virgo North Node (7th house)

his challenge in life is to be proactive and live an orderly and practical life

developing and following healthy and practical routines

needs to develop organization, promptness and pay attention to details

𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐨 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭

likes a partner who has a wry sense of humor

someone who seems organized and analytical

his s/o may bring him an element of groundedness that migh seem attractive for jaehyun

𝐒𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐌𝐂

unique

jaehyun wants a career that allows him to express his individuality and independence

capable of making a mark on his job

always ready to absorb new knowledge

enjoys exploring new ideas

𝐆𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐈𝐂

he might like talking to himself a lot

enjoys stimulating conversations with people who are close to him

jaehyun also seeks for mental activities to busy himself with

𝐀𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐮𝐦 (𝟏𝟐𝐭𝐡)

aquarius are known for being social, but with his 12th house stellium it makes him an introvert person

likes isolation

he can also have a pretty short fuse for dealing with people, tho

very sociable, but will isolate himself later

very chill on the exterior, but irritated on the inside

when he gets annoyed you will notice it

might have issues with embracing his emotions

doesn't like talking about how he really feels

tends to rationalize everything !!!

sooooo talented

loves music and arts so much

it takes a long time to fall in love, because he sees everyone in a friendly way

ones he finds the perfect lover, jaehyun will commit

humanitarian