#had a fight with someone whose close with my ex

[kominfyrirkattarnef]

Look sometimes. A week is just for cleaning up the fuck ups you did when drunk off your ass on Saturday night. Fuck my life

[tiamathh]

What to look for when it comes to your next partner?

Note: Hi!! Sorry I've been away for so long!! Please Like, Reblog and comment, if you like it/if it resonates. HAVE FUN AND DO NOT REWORD, STEAL, PLAGIARISE, REPOST MY WORK!!

Piles 1 -> 3

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Pile 1

Hi Pile 1! Okay so this may feel a little shallow but here me out, for you a big point is going to be physical and sexual attraction. Your next relationship is supposed to teach you how to be more in touch with your sexual self, and that's why you need to look for someone who ignites that fire within your core. You should also look for someone who's actually in for the commitment because you may have a habit of going for people who are non committal because you may feel like if you keep it casual you'll seem cool to your partner and they may like you more, no, stop it, look for people who value you the way you value them.

Next, you need to look for someone who has a lot of experience with relationships, not a player per day but just someone who knows what they want and when they want it and operate in that way. Even when people know what they want, they can change partners and don't let that deter you from people with a lot of exes, it doesn't mean that they have commitment issues it just means that they may want different things at different times and may have had the guts to cut it off with people.

Lastly you need to look for someone who's not going to be wishy washy with you and will meet you at the same level of headstrong you are, because your stubbornness may not be cute but when paired with your next partners stubbornness it will end up leading to a perfect balance of two headstrong people who can fight all day but actually come to a conclusion or find a middle ground the both of you respect.

Pile 2

Hi Pile 2! This might sound Counterintuitive but you need to find someone for your next relationship who may feel open enough to disagree with you. You may be used to being around people who often share the same opinion with you, which is good, but someone who challenges your views will make for not only a more fun opponent but also someone whose views you can change or vice versa. I'm also getting that one quality that you should look for is that they share the same love for music or dance as you, basically the same love of the performing arts, this includes theatre/acting as well. I'm getting that your next partner may be someone who's very interested in this, especially into cinema.

They could be a film bro (gender neutral) and may love yapping for hours about their favourite film and the compositions, colours, lighting, music etc used in the film and how those aspects enhance the overall viewing experience of the film, they could be very active on letterbox lol. I'm also getting that one aspect you should look for in your next partner is transparency, it may sound like honesty but it is different because transparency signifies that this person will not only be honest but also take accountability if they ever go wrong somewhere and this level of accountability will build up a stronger bond and start healing the trust issues you may have from your past friendships and your relationships with your parents, because someone close to you will finally not only accept they did something wrong but also apologise and accept that.

Lastly! Look for someone who doesn't put you down, like even subtly. You may have had friends or partners in the past who may have been like "omg fr? that's so weird haha" even as a joke when it comes to your interests, but look for someone who will not put you down regardless of differing interests please I Beg.

Pile 3

Hellooo pile 3! Hyperspecific point from the very start, look for someone who knows the value of spirituality and crystals and stones that you may carry or wear on you at all times. If they even try to question your beliefs about spirituality that is not your next partner trust me. Your next partner is going to be someone who will share your interests and be on the same wavelength as you when it comes to spirituality, tarot and more.

One thing you need to look for in your next partner is that they may have a bit of an isolated or loner vibe, like they may not be big on huge gatherings and could be more introverted, they'll really appreciate their alone time and could be someone who does not divulge in PDA a lot, not only because they're shy but also because they'll believe that your business is just your business (in the rs I mean). Regardless of this they'll be someone who's very focused and goal oriented, your next partner is someone who's ready to sacrifice their comfort in the present to focus on their goals and work towards them relentlessly, they'll also be the kind of people who will let go of any comfort just to make you feel more comfortable, the kind to give you the bed and take the floor instead if there's only one bed and you don't wanna sleep together, very gentle and caring.

They'll just have this aura which screams "I welcome you and I understand" and that is exactly the kind of energy you need in your life right now. Lastly, I heard "duniya dedi" which translates to "gives you the world" so all I have to say is y'all better raise your standards and KEEP THEM RAISED!! YOU DESERVE THE BEST AND THAT'S WHAT YOU'LL GET KISSI <33

All Rights Reserved tiamathh©® DO NOT PLAGIARISE, REWORD, STEAL!

[joonsytip]

Withering for You || Seungcheol- Part 4

Pairings: Seungcheol x Fem!Reader

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Smut, CEO! Seungcheol au, Husband! Seungcheol au, Wife! Reader au, Music Teacher! Reader au, Arranged Marriage au, College Sweetheart au, Exes to Lovers au

Synopsis: When you are arranged married to the man, whose heart you had broken years ago, even dreaming about mending things seems next to impossible when he has been holding grudge for all these only to return it to you tenfold.

Warnings (specific to this part): drama, crying, profanities, everyone is hurt and sad, everything is on rocks, mentions of infidelity (doesn't happen to though), mention of alcohol consumption, betrayal, italics represents occurrences in past

Word Count: 6.3k

TAGLIST FOR THIS SERIES IS CLOSED!

Banner credits to my baby @hoeforhao <3

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Teaser | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Epilogue

They say betrayal is worse than death if you taste it from someone you trust, someone you love. It's stingy, it's sickening, it's scathing.

You have always believed in soulmates, entitled Seungcheol to that word since you've known him, even wanted to make promises of eternity with him. But you should have seen the signs, should have never crossed the lines. Must not have tried to slip into the loopholes.

But you got blinded by greed, a hopeful stance of getting back together. Was it so wrong to wish a happily ever after with the one you have loved selflessly? Apparently it was.

"Sit.", you tell Seungcheol and the later obeys.

And as he does so his eyes fall on a very familiar document kept on the table. Instantly, he goes numb.

You observe him for a moment and play the recordings Jiah had given you. Midway, a panic stricken Seungcheol runs to you and pauses the recording.

He grabs your arms and says in desperation, "I didn't do all this Y/N. I admit I had planned all this because I wanted revenge but please trust me, it wasn't me."

"Unhand me.", you command him coldly, "Your touch disgusts me."

Seungcheol looks at you alarmingly before freeing your arms. He thinks of ways to convince you because in actuality, like he said he had planned it all but something out of scope happened. He fell in love with you again so long gone were all of those thoughts and schemes.

"What goes around, surely comes around.", you let out a chuckle, "Maybe that's why, I'm going through this. I get that you wanted to trample me upon. It's fair, to think about what you've been through because of me, I could have understood.", you look at him, "You could have handed me the divorce papers on our anniversary. Could have had other women and it would have wounded me. But-"

The tears pooling at the corner of your eyes are streaming down, "But how could you stoop so low? Knowing how much this academy matters to me, knowing what music means to me, you went out to attack my soul."

"No Y/N, I was a fool, please please", Seungcheol is crying as well, choking on his words, "It was wrong of me but I would never--"

"They are calling me a thief. Because of this incident those out there are questioning my whole career. The career, I've pursued after fighting the odds, after struggling for years. The one thing that is entirely mine.", your eyes turn darker as you say, "You could have rather killed me, Seungcheol."

Seungcheol gasps and shakes his head frantically.

"Even if I clear my name today, there will be people who'll still doubt my ability. Some out there would assume that I might be guilty and just because I belong to an influential family, I must have pushed everything under the rug with money.", you are hurting yourself with every word you utter at this point, clutching your chest, "My image is tainted, my career is ruined. They will never look at me the same way."

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry Y/N", he gets on his knees and clasps his hands, pleading, "I would do anything to clear your name. I'd do anything to win back your trust just give me one chance--"

You take his hands off you saying, "I have always loved you, Seungcheol. Back then, even now, I have chosen you. But none of that matters now. You have stabbed me in the back but I'll be one to pay the price. I thought you'd be different but these genes run in your family. I can't even blame Jiah. You Choi's are no different from her--", you halt.

"What do you mean?", Seungcheol asks confused.

"As I said none of that matters now. You are so petty that you acted out the whole thing. You don't love me and from today onwards I won't either.", you answer him, taking out the wedding ring from your dress pocket, "Here, I'm giving you what you wanted.", you take his hand and place the ring on his palm, "Congratulations! This marriage didn't get through it's first year. But I have a present for you. I have filed for divorce, the papers will be sent to you as soon as they're ready."

Seungcheol is at loss of words. He's unable to comprehend the situation. He wants to stop you but on what ground? The irreversible damage is already done.

"I have all of my belongings sent over.", you inform him, "And if you're planning to create a fuss about the divorce and what's gonna happen after the conference, head on. I won't be giving up like last time. I'll see through the end of it."

"It's happening again", he tells himself and sounds so broken when he speaks through his wavering voice, "Please don't leave me again."

"I had no choice, I was forced to leave you back then", you mutter under your breath, making it impossible for him to hear, "I was willing to stay this time but I have to leave, this time for my sake."

While you gather the rest of your belongings, Seungcheol stands there helpless. And as you walk out of the house, he watches you take away the life of his adobe with you.

Seungcheol numbly tunes in to watch the press conference. He sees you on the screen, out of his reach, out of his life. He listens to each word you say. How sad you look as you address the matter. Even though your legal team briefs the journalists, his eyes are glued to you. He observes how you don't explicitly mention him or the Choi enterprise but throw sublte hints to catch on.

But you make it obvious at the end of the conference by announcing your divorce to Seungcheol.

"I have filed for divorce against Choi Seungcheol and I would like to refrain you all from associating me with the Choi's in future."

Seungcheol is immediately thrown under the bus. People who were coining you as a thief are now praising you and busy portraying him as the villain.

But mopping won't do him any good. His mind reel backs to every word you have said before leaving. He needs to get answers to some questions. Most importantly, he has to get you back.

The next few days goes by Seungcheol handling the legal charges against him which are minor because he digs out enough evidence to prove that he wasn't involved in the slander and Jiah is the main culprit, adding exceptional charges to the list that would nearly ruin her and damage her company's reputation.

The Choi enterprise faces reputation loss as well which results in their stock plummeting and the board of directors complaining about the situation. But being humungous in business, the impact isn't uncontrollable and since Seungcheol is mentally exhausted his father lets him loose taking matters into his hands for the time being.

Everything is manageable or bearable except for the divorce papers which he has received on your first anniversary, that sits coldly on his office table.

"The house I bought is an hour drive from here and I'm planning to stay there for some time, just to take my mind off of things." you say fishing out your car keys, "I have saved my new contact number to your phones."

"But are you sure you don't want us to be there with you?", your mother asks worriedly.

"At least let us help you shift--"

"Dad, I have lived alone before as well. Plus Chan and my friends are gonna help me with the unpacking.", you move over to hug both of your parents, "Visit me after it's done. Plus I'm planning to throw a cozy house warming house, not soon though."

"We're proud of you.", your mother says patting your head.

"I'm sorry for all the troubles and stress you've been through for the past year.", you mumble, quickly wiping your tears, "I'll be fine, no looking back promise."

"We have always trusted you, just take care of yourself and call us.", your father says kissing your forehead.

Chan waits for you by the car and he doesn't let you drive throughout the time it takes to reach your new house. As your friends help you settle into your new home, you are grateful to them for keeping you distracted and not bringing up Seungcheol.

"I'm sorry, Kwan. The academy had to face such an incident because of me.", you say hanging your head low in shame because you don't want anyone to see your tears, the can of beer in your hand remains unsipped, "I have decided to take some time off, please handle the academy and it's okay if you want me to backout. I'll transfer my shares to you."

Seungkwan blames the atmosphere for the tears in his eyes. He wipes them and sits beside you, "I couldn't have done it alone. The reason the academy exists is because we both had given it our all. So take all the time you want but you'll have to return."

You lean onto him and it's your brother who comes to wipe your tears.

"I'm so sorry Chan.", you speak through the tears, "I should have listened to you. I never thought that Seu--", you go quiet because it pains you to even say his name.

Everyone in room goes silent. It's not haunting rather comforting. But the successive ringing of the phones cause a mild commotion.

"Wonwoo keeps on calling us.", Eunsoo mutters, switching off her phone.

"Just tell him that I'm fine.", you tell her, "I'll give him a call later. I haven't visited Wonseok lately so I need to talk to him anyways."

It's amusing, how the night changes.

Seungcheol is distressed. He realises you are not the only one he has lost, he has lost Ms. Oh's empathy, he has also lost precious friend Wonwoo as well.

Wonwoo is back to his stoic self, the version he was when Seungcheol met him first. Only talks business with him, leaves as soon as he's done with assigned work. No more late night drinks, no more taking shots, none of the banter.

He watches you laugh as Wonwoo tells you something animatedly. He watches how your eyes are dull even though your lips are stretched.

Seungcheol had overheard Wonwoo talking to someone on the phone about his brother so he decides to visit him seperately just to check on him. He didn't expect to see you there, making him question since when you knew about Wonseok.

Your face falls when you're suddenly interrupted by Seungcheol's presence. He stands in front of you wordless, you don't bother to strike any conversation with him either.

"I'll get going, let me know if you need anything else.", you tell Wonwoo and turn around walk away.

"Y/N", Seungcheol says, "Can I please talk to you?"

You crane your neck to meet his gaze, "I don't think we have any business with each other. Do me a favour and just sign the divorce papers."

"I can't.", Seungcheol speaks out without missing a beat, "I need you Y/N, please give me a chance, let me make things right. I promise I won't let you down anymore."

"Enough with this act, don't assume you could fool me twice. I'm done with you.", you move around so now you're facing him again.

"You've changed your number.", he says meekly, "I don't get to see you anymore. That house haunts me, it's not the same without you."

You step in, closing the gap within you two, "You're facing the consequences of your actions. Stop acting like a fucking victim.", you spat out before walking out.

Wonwoo is torn. He doesn't want to take sides, it's even more difficult to see both of his dear friends grieving and suffering but there's nothing he could do.

"Wonseok is going through a series of surgeries because his condition had worsened and Y/N has been paying for them.", Wonwoo informs Seungcheol and before he could ask, Wonwoo adds, "You're already paying me more than I should be so I didn't want to burden you more. She had accidentally found out about Wonseok one day and decided to help me out even though I wasn't ready to accept it. She was determined and I couldn't stop her."

Seungcheol isn't surprised rather he is confused. This version of yours is what he was habituated to when you were dating until you convinced him it wasn't on the day you broke up. Something isn't adding up. Something about your nature and the way you act to what you had said that day are contradicting. You aren't mean-hearted, you are a giver so why did you years ago do something so bizarre, the thought is unsettling.

"She has been taking some time off from the academy, no one knows when she'll be back. She is so affected by the incident that she was ready to give up on the academy. The one she had built from scratch with her blood, sweat and tears." Wonwoo speaks disappointedly, "Do you realise what you have done?"

Seungcheol is ashamed, there's an unhealing pain in his heart thinking about you, about how he should be the one aiding you in your tough time but he can't because he's the reason you're in agony.

"As you know, I had also hated Y/N for what she had done. And now that you see me being friends with her is not because she's paying for Wonseok.", Wonwoo halts and takes a breath, choosing his words carefully, "It goes far beyond that. You have always been heedful, I think it's time for you to be vigilant as well. The truth might be far from what you've believed it to be."

Wonwoo doesn't spare another second on his watch as he walks away ignoring the desperate calls of his name.

Seungcheol's mind is not in place anymore.

Your thoughts are everywhere. Peace and happiness are some of the things you haven't gotten to feel lately. Though you've decided to spend time alone at home, the loneliness is caving you in.

Maybe tonight you're feeling a little more lonely than usual. Maybe you shouldn't miss the person who had pushed you to the edge of the cliff. Maybe you shouldn't be good with dates. Maybe you shouldn't trace your thumb on the calendar reminiscing about the day, you both had made it official years ago.

The damned tears aren't stopping, your heart isn't healing.

The bell rings and you are surprised because no one is supposed to visit you today. Quickly wiping your eyes and cheeks you don't bother to check the monitor and open the door.

At the other side of the threshold stands Seungcheol. Your red eyes gape at him as he looks at you shivering from driving all the way here in the snow.

"What are you doing here?"

You know getting your new address and number wouldn't be a big deal to Seungcheol given his network runs deeper.

"Can you let me in atleast, I'm freezing."

You cross over your arms and step aside. He saunters in and wanders off to have a tour of the house. He stops when he senses the glare you're sending him.

"If you realise that this house too plain for your taste you can always contact me. We're best in the business.", Seungcheol says as his lips purse in a line.

"I wonder from where did you get the audacity to come here?", you ask plainly.

"Just wanted to see you", he admits, "I miss you, Y/N."

You scoff at his words.

"Also, there's something you left behind, I found it while going through the drawers.", Seungcheol fishes out a notebook from his inner coat pocket.

You immediately recognise the object, raising your hand flat for him to handover it to you.

"I instantly got reminded of you always carrying it and scribbled down if anything came to your mind. Seems like you had kept this notebook from prior to university days.", he hands over the notebook and touches your hand gently in the process.

His touch turns to strong grip and he doesn't let go.

"Thanks.", you say trying to free your hand, "You should leave now."

The wedding ring on his finger feels cold on your skin.

"I know you remember what day it is today.", he says pulling you closer so that now you're colliding into him, your faces an inch apart. Your eyes are wide and the notebook falls as you're grabbing onto his shoulder out of reflex.

He has an undeniable look of longing in his eyes. You should just push him away, even kick him out but you find yourself frozen.

"I still remember falling in love with you, every moment of it.", he whispers, his gaze switching between your eyes and lips.

"So I do, Cheol.", his nickname slips out of your mouth so casually, there's a pause before you speak, "Why did you have to ruin it all?"

"I regret it all.", he gently holds your face, "But I realised that I never stopped loving you otherwise why would I despise you if I hadn't been in love in the first place."

"You could have broken my heart but you went after my soul."

"You did the same to me years ago. You took my soul away and I became just a shell.", he isn't complaining, just letting you know how difficult it was for him as well, "I planned everything to get back to you but what wasn't planned was my feelings resurfacing, falling in love with you all over again. I had forgotten all the schemes, had forgotten the reason why I hated you in the first place."

When he rests his forehead against yours, you close your eyes basking in the moment. What he did was definitely beyond any excuse but Seungcheol isn't entirely at fault. The fact that he was ready to start again with you after how you had treated him years ago proves the truth behind his words. The difference is you were forced to act out but he wasn't. He chose to destroy you.

So your eyes snap open and you're pushing him away.

"Leave Seungcheol.", you step away, "And never come back again."

Seungcheol sighs, "What should I do for you take me back? If you want I would never show myself in the vicinity of the academy. I wouldn't even ask you anything remotely related to your works or the academy. I'll stay all out of it, I promise."

"Nothing you do would make me go back to you.", your words taste bitter in your mouth, "We are not meant to be, we're not good for each other."

That is basically you firmly rejecting him, letting him aware that he has axed the mended fence.

Seungcheol smiles sadly, "Only if I could show you my heart and mind."

He then leaves with a heavy heart.

The next few days goes by Seungcheol racking his thoughts to make up his mind. Every time he thinks about you wanting to desperately cut ties with him, he relents. He laments on himself for what he has caused. At nights when he deliberately stays late, he mentally prepares himself to sign those papers because that's the only way to atone for his sins.

But those divorce papers get through every night without getting signed. Because when Seungcheol thinks he's ready that's when the realisation gnaws on him that he's actually not, that he'll never be.

And it gets harder each time he tries.

So one night, he lets his intrusive thoughts get the best of him and he ends up calling you.

"I'm trying but I can't bring myself to sign those papers", he speaks into the phone clutching it hard followed by a shaky breath, "I really want to give you what you want but whenever I think about not having you in my life, my willingness deters."

You stay quiet.

"Sorry to disturb you. Don't know what I was thinking. Please take care of yourself, bye.", he hangs up and collapses back on the chair.

Wonwoo watches through the blinds and he isn't new to this. Years ago Seungcheol had gone into a spiral, had almost given up on living post the breakup and now it hurts Wonwoo to see the history repeating itself.

So this time he promises to intervene for both of your sake, specially Seungcheol.

He has two things on his to-do list and though he isn't sure what the outcome will be, he's going to do them. He gathers everyone and let's them know of his plan.

"Mingyu, Eunsoo, Seungkwan", his gaze sweeps on the three, "You're gonna go and convince Y/N."

"I'll go to uncle and aunt.", Wonwoo says.

Eunsoo looks at him questionably, "We get our part. But are you sure your friend's gonna be okay?"

"Most importantly, I'm not sure how this will end because both of them are unpredictable as fuck.", Mingyu adds.

Seungkwan who was silent the whole time, speaks, "Guys, let's go for it. We will handle the aftermath.", he looks at Wonwoo, "You'll have to take care of Seungcheol because he's gonna hurt the most."

"It's better to be over it, Seungcheol deserves to know."

"What's wrong with you guys?", You ask absolutely astonished. All of your friends have suddenly busted into your house and are now advocating you on something that is supposed to be out of their box.

"Why are you suddenly siding with Seungcheol?", you say with a frown, "I'm feeling betrayed. I'm gonna call Chan now."

Eunsoo and Mingyu break into cold sweat knowing how scary your brother can be. Seungkwan sighs looking at the other two and gets that he has no other way but to sort down to what he's best at. He says, "Y/N, do you think we'd ever think ill of you? Do you think we'd be at your door because suddenly we felt emphatic towards Seungcheol? That's how lowly you think of us?"

The look on Mingyu and Eunsoo's faces are absolute comedic. They didn't expect Seungkwan would pull out his trump card.

Your gaze is unwavering when you say, "This won't work on me you know right?"

Seungkwan smiles, "Of course I know but we also know that you love Seungcheol and won't be happy without him. So we're saying all this just for your sake, not his, not anyone else's."

"You're wr-"

"You had 7 years but you couldn't get over him, even accepted his family just to marry him.", Seungkwan continues, "You had come across so many good men all these years but no one piqued your interest because you only had Seungcheol in your heart."

"Y/N, I did believe him when he said he fell in love again. I had seen the way he looked at you, the way he was protective around you. The way his eyes were always on you, radiating love. It may have started as an act but at some point it became real.", Eunsoo smiles at you, "He loves you."

"But Soo--"

"If you really loathed him, you wouldn't have waited for him to sign those divorce papers, you would have upsurged everything. You have the power to ruin the Chois wholly but you're just buying yourself some time.", Mingyi adds and immediately shifts to hug you, "What Seungcheol did was incredibly wrong, wait he didn't even do it. It was Jiah."

"Are you not getting Jiah did all just to separate you both again?", Seungkwan ask and you look at him wide eyed.

"She had done the exact thing years back and was successful. Please don't let her win again. If she can't have Seungcheol, she has planned all this for you to not have him as well.", Eunsoo voices out her concerns, "Don't let all these heartbreaks, tears and sacrifices go in vain just because of some misunderstandings. Don't do something you'd regret because you didn't mend it when you had a chance."

Your heart sinks at their words.

"Take your time but choose what you think is the best for you.", Eunsoo rubs your back gently, "Rationality shouldn't always take the stance, sometimes hearts should be listened to."

You take a deep breath and say, "Fine guys, I'll think about it."

The smile on their faces are unmatchable.

Seungcheol is worried when he receives a call from his mother asking him to urgently come to their house. Wonwoo is already waiting by the car and though Seungcheol asks if he knows anything he stays tight lipped throughout the ride.

"I'll be waiting for you right here. Call me if you need me.", Wonwoo says with an intone and for some reason it doesn't resonate well with Seungcheol.

He is led into his father's study where he sees both of his parents waiting. They are heartbroken seeing their only son. Seungcheol has lost weight, accumulated bags under red eyes, appearance unkempt.

"Take a seat.", his father says, "I have something to tell you and it's regarding Y/N."

Seungcheol immediately perks up at your mention. An eerie silence falls upon the room. Seungcheol's anxious gaze searches for his parents'.

"Y/N was forced to break up with you years ago. I had made her do so.", his father admits.

Seungcheol freezes. He thinks he's hearing things that are not supposed to make any sense.

"Ever since I had started the business I had been diligent to it. Dedication and honesty does account for success but so also being money minded and cunning. As years went by that consistency and success made me cling to riches, fame and status that came along with it.", his father says as he takes a seat gesturing him to do the same. "You must be remembering that we were facing financial crisis because one of our major investor had withdrawn. It had affected us greatly."

Seungcheol nods, "We were on the verge of facing bankruptcy."

"Since Jiah's father runs a finance company, we had made small sort of deals previously but that time the amount required was large and no one was willing to help us not even her father. But later Jiah came to me and offered me a deal."

"W-What deal?"

"That she would convince her father to provide us support only if", there's an ominous pause before Mr. Choi looks at him and says, "I remove Y/N out of your life."

A tear falls from his eye, as he hears the tale of betrayal from none other but his father.

"I have never liked Y/N, the reason was basic, she didn't belong to our circle. Initially I thought she was just a fling but so I agreed with Jiah."

Seungcheol is numb at this point, he just sorts to listening.

"One day I had brought in Y/N to let her know that she needs to find her way out of your life.", Mr. Choi's gaze falls, "She instantly refused. No matter what I said she wasn't willing to leave you. One meeting turned to two, two turned to three but she was hellbent on not letting you go."

"With Jiah constantly pressurizing me, threatening to nullify the deal if not taken action soon, I became desperate.", he confesses, "So I resorted to one thing I should have never done. I can never forgive myself for that."

You say in utter disbelief, "Why don't you tell your son to breakup with me instead? Stop pestering me, you know we both love each other and Mr. Choi let me make this clear, this is the last time I'm meeting you."

Mr. Choi gives you a sickening smile. He casually says, "Your brother is currently studying in Australia, if I'm not wrong."

You pale instantly, "W-What about him?"

"You're right, this is gonna be our last meeting. If you don't breakup with my son, I'm not sure what I'll do with your brother. What if you don't get to see your dear little brother anymore?"

"Mr. Choi, you can't do this. Please--"

"I'm not here to negotiate. I think you're smart enough to make the right choice. So tell me Y/N, what did you decide?"

You are crying and begging but there's no mercy reserved to spare for you. How are you supposed to choose between your brother and the love of your life? You will have to so you choose what's best for all, you choose both.

"Fine, I'll breakup with Seungcheol. So stay away from my brother."

Mr. Choi smiles in mirth, "You made the right descision. Rest assured."

With job being done, he is walking out of the hall when your call of his name reaches his ears.

He turns with an incredulous look on his face as he waits for you to speak.

"Promise me that you'll never tell Seungcheol about this incident.", comes your strained voice.

"I wasn't planning to anyways.", Mr. Choi says, "Even better for me, I promise to not tell Seungcheol about any of this."

Seungcheol runs to his father with the intention of doing something unspeakable but he stops right in front of him and collapses on the ground.

"How could you do this?", he sobs uncontrollably, "How could you stoop so low?", he balls his hands into fists and channels the anger on the floor, hitting it again and again that's when his mother steps in to stop him.

He looks at her and say, "How could you not tell me? How could you tolerate your husband even after knowing all this?", he then swats her away.

Getting up, he's gasping for air, unable to comprehend with the pain in his chest and head. Restlessness engulfs him but he doesn't let both of his parents to even touch him.

"I'm ashamed to call you both my parents.", he spats out, "I'll never forgive for ruining our lives. I hope all of this was worth it."

Then he's running out of the house ignoring the calls of his name. Wonwoo is immediately grabbing his friend, making him sit and drink water.

"You also knew but didn't tell me?", Seungcheol asks as fresh tears stream down his face.

"I only came to know recently and Cheol even if I had known, it's not my story to tell.", Wonwoo answers.

It takes Seungcheol over an hour to calm down.

"You don't need to attend me, I'm fine.", Seungcheol says stoicly, "You can go, I have somethings to take care of."

Though Wonwoo refutes but Seungcheol is adamant, leaving no choice for him but to obey his boss.

As soon as Wonwoo gets out of the car, Seungcheol drives off.

You are extremely tired, mentally and today for some reasons are you feel thinned out physically as well.

Staring at the cello, ominous thoughts fill in your mind. Because no matter how hard you try, you are unable to produce anything. There are no notes or no tunes, it's all blank.

And you're scared, what if music doesn't choose you anymore? What if you can't produce anything for the rest of your life? All these possibilities scares you enough to spend sleepless nights. It has disturbed your appetite as well.

Tossing and turning, as you've been doing for nights with minimal sleep at dawn hours, you sit up startled when the doorbell rings.

All the exhaustion is now replaced with concern when you see Seungcheol who continuously weeps at the door.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

Just a shake of head and he keeps on crying.

It's been about twenty minutes since he arrived crying and you're seriously considering about calling Wonwoo.

The way he's visibly hurting, hurts you too and you resort to hug him, patting his back, "If you're hurting because of me, please don't.", you say softly, tears pricking at your eyes subconsciously.

Seungcheol pulls away, looking at you. His sobs stop and the first thing he does is hold your face and kiss you. You're surprised, his lips graze yours but you don't kiss him back. Your hands push his chest and he's detaching himself mumbling a string of apologies.

"It was all for nothing.", he sounds so heartbroken when he speaks, "All those years spent in pain, hatred and resentment towards you, you didn't deserve any of it."

You have an inkling and it doesn't settle well in your bones, "Whatever you're saying is making no sense. Why are you here?"

Seungcheol looks dead in your eyes, "Because I know now. I know what happened all those years ago."

Your soul leaves your body at his words. You never wanted him to find out because you knew it'd tear him apart.

"W-Who told you?"

"Does it matter?"

And your very first instinct is to grab your phone and make a call to his father but Seungcheol doesn't let you. The phone gets snatched from your hands and thrown away somewhere.

"Why did you do it?", he asks and his questions irks you.

You scoff, "Are you seriously asking me why I did it after knowing everything? Seungcheol, I was threatened with my brother's life, what did you expect me to do?"

Seungcheol shakes his head, "No that Y/N. Why did you make dad promise you about not telling me about this?"

"What could I have done Seungcheol?", your voice cracks, "I loved you so much and trust me, I tried everything I could to be with you, to not hurt you but-- it killed me to lie to you. I went through hell and back trying to stop myself from telling you 'no I'm lying, please don't leave, I love you as much as you do'.

"That day I took your heart away.", You exhale sharply, "I didn't want to crush your soul as well, didn't want to make it anymore difficult for you then it already was. I knew how much you looked upto your father, how much you cherished your parents. I didn't want you to fight your family", your heart twinges as you continue, "Though it wasn't possible for me to love again, I prayed that you would move on, meet someone who'd make you forget all the sorrows I gave you. I wished for you to fall in love again and live happily."

You chuckled through your tears, "Won't lie, it would have hurt me but if it assured your happiness I'd have hurt myself all over again, all of the times."

Seungcheol observes you quietly, he absorbs your words to his heart.

"What does that make me, Y/N?", he asks defeated.

"You weren't at fault, Cheol. I chose what it seemed the best for all of us."

"I hated you, married you and plotted revenge. Hurt you and now indirectly lead to something that almost ruined your career.", he speaks as if he's narrating a monologue, "I kept wounding the wounded and siding with the foes."

"Stop blaming yourself. What you did was indeed wrong, you should have never attempted take a blow at my career. But years ago, even after all that you were ready to start again.", you remind him.

Seungcheol completely shuts himself out.

"Till yesterday, I was in a dilemma. They say if you love someone you should let them go. Call me selfish but I couldn't even think of parting ways with you. I wanted to fight for us. I'd have courted you until you got bored of me. I would have waited for a lifetime, even if you'd have moved on.", he avoids eye contact so that his resolution doesn't deter, "But how could I tie you to the people who tried to harm you, harm your family?"

"I won't beg for forgiveness anymore. Honestly, I don't want you to forgive us. If you're having second thoughts about us, discard them. Please just discard me.", he voices out in desperation, "Be selfish and choose yourself this one time."

He takes out a paper from his coat pocket which you recognise very well.

"Till yesterday signing these papers seemed impossible for me but it's surprising, how events turned out to be.", he takes your hand and places the paper saying, "I have signed them. This time I chose what's best for you."

There's a sickening churn in your stomach that makes you realise that there's nothing you can do.

"I love you, Y/N."

The weight of those words fall heavy on you as Seungcheol closes in.

"For one last time, please.", he says holding your face.

You incline towards him and instantly his lips are on yours. One of his hands now settle on your neck firmly as your lips dance on featherly. His other hand is gripping your waist to hold you in place. The saltiness of his tears burn on your tongue, making you suck in a gasp. His kisses you till his heart's content because it's a kiss of goodbye before resting his forehead on yours.

"Don't go", your strained voice whispers, "Please don't go."

Seungcheol whispers back, "I have to. Please don't stop me, I'm not strong enough to refuse you."

The tears stream down your face, "Would nothing I do be enough to stop you?"

"Y/N, please", he pleads, "You were right when you said we're not meant to be because I have only hurt you. I don't deserve you."

"Cheol..."

He steps back and you're suddenly engulfed by coldness.

"The chapter named Choi Seungcheol in your life ends right now.", he balls his hands, grits his teeth, does everything to not let those tears spill, "Since you might not submit the divorce papers, I have already handed over a copy to your attorney."

He turns back, rubbing his chest, the pain is unbearable.

"Cheol, please..."

"It's snowing so don't follow me outside, you'll catch a cold. Goodbye Y/N."

Then he leaves, from your house, apparently from your life.

And you realised not all stories have a happy ending, there's not always a happily ever after.

→ Do not copy, re-post, translate, or share any of my works on other platforms! All stories are copyrighted, joonsytip. ©️

[paranoiastudio]

Would you fuck me, Art?

pairing: Art Donaldson х f!reader

warnings: 18+ smut, p in v, cheat?

word count: 1,4k

English is not my first language, sorry about mistakes

- Would you fuck me, Art? - You ask point-blank, causing Art to choke on his drink. - If it weren't for Patrick, would you have fucked me?

This conversation should not have happened. You didn’t want to go to this party, but you forced yourself to come. You didn’t want to discuss your relationship with anyone, but Art knew about your last fight with Patrick and approached you himself.

And now, after three bottles of beer and a sincere conversation, you find yourself asking a similar question and understand that stopping now is not an option.

You looked at Art so intently, so alluringly, that he simply could not lie to you. And he decided not to lie, finally admitting how much he was attracted to his friend’s girl.

- I would fuck you right now if you asked. - Art whispers this on your lips.

The air around you becomes heavier every second, you feel the familiar heat in your lower abdomen and lick your lips, only attracting the attention of the man’s gaze to you.

- Would you fuck me?

- Yes. - You answer, perhaps, too quickly.

- If it weren't for Patrick, that's right?

- No. I... I would fuck you now, right here... If you asked me.

Your words seem to have broken Art Donaldson. He looks at you silently, thinking about what he heard. He should leave right now: you're his friend's girlfriend, you're a little drunk and upset, you can make mistakes.

But you still look at him, just five minutes ago you said that you were tired of Patrick and wanted to change something. Does this mean you're leaving Patrick?

- Ask me, Art... - Everything except you loses the sound. How can he refuse you? Art has wanted you, you was so close and yet so far away.

Art is a strong man, with a well-trained will, but even he is now ready to break. All he wants now is to be close to you and he doesn't care about the consequences.

- Let's go. - You accept his hand without objection and follow the guy, noting how soft his skin is. Patrick's hands were heavy and hard, Art's were not like that. Having pushed away this comparison, you turn to the crowd, no one seems to care that you are going up to the second floor.

- Whose room is this? - You lean your back on the door, Art leans towards you, otherwise your whisper would not be able to be heard.

- Guest room. Did you lock it?

You pull the handle twice, wanting to check for sure. After making sure that you won’t be disturbed, I quickly take off my shoes, embarrassed to wear shoes in someone else’s house, and sit down next to Art.

- Are you sure? - Art wanted to know for sure, he had to make sure that you really wanted this.

- More than. And you?

- And I. Can I kiss you? - You push back a strand of hair from your forehead and nod, submitting to the tennis player’s touch. Art kisses your neck, his open mouth exploring your hot skin and his hand squeezing your bare knee, not going any further.

- Don't be afraid, I don't bite painfully. - You giggle, seeing only tenderness and affection in Art’s eyes, not a hint of mockery or playfulness, as was often the case with Patrick.

- I’ll be ready to endure even if you take a bite out of me. - Art strokes your cheek with his thumb.

You reach for the next kiss and lightly bite the man’s lip, trying to force him to open his mouth. Art's tongue is very warm and tastes like a mixture of cider and something bitter. He glides weightlessly, pulling you into a long and affectionate kiss and you move easily, feeling his tenderness embrace you.

- I’ve always wanted you... - Art rests his forehead on your shoulder and runs his nose along your skin. - Patrick just... Damn.

- Hey... - You lift Art’s face by the chin. - He's not here, you know? Patrick is an asshole and we both know it. Looks like I picked the wrong guy...

You push Art onto the bed and sit on top of him. The mention of your arrogant and stubborn boyfriend (ex-boyfriend) made you angry and added courage.

- We don't talk about Patrick anymore, okay? - Art nods, watching you in fascination. - Fine. Now touch me.

You begin to pull off Art’s shirt, your hips rise and the man immediately puts his hands on your legs, stroking the skin and rising higher and higher.

- I don’t think we’ll need that. - You unbutton the tennis player’s light trousers and pull them down along with your underwear just enough to free half-erect cock.

- I... Please. - Art whines underneath you, which can’t help but make you grin, you haven’t even touched him yet. - Please, I want it so much...

You take the penis in your hand and make a few slow movements. The soft skin pleasantly rubs against your hand, with your other hand you would grab Art’s balls, he almost jumps on the bed and shamelessly moves his hips towards you.

- My poor baby... - You coo over the already hard member and lubricate the droplets from the red tip with excitement. - No one has touched you for a long time, right?

Art looks at you pleadingly, he is ready to ask, beg you, but you yourself are already on the verge and won’t be able to tease him for long. Especially when Art gets his finger under the hem of your underwear...

- Oh shit! - You stop all actions, and, lifting up your dress, you move your underwear and push yourself onto Ard Donaldson’s dick.

- God! - He opens his eyes wide and squeezes your hips so hard that you are sure that the dress was torn.

- You're so big... - You didn't lie, Art's dick isn't as long as Patrick's, but his girth stretches you out much better. - So good, Art.

A man bites his lip when he hears his name from your lips, it is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. You both breathe heavily, getting used to the feeling of complete intimacy, you suddenly realize that you are not using a condom (if you believe Patrick’s stories, Art has never been with anyone at all).

You wiggle your hips, smiling predatorily at another hoarse moan, you always liked men who were not shy about the fact that they were receiving pleasure, and Art, with his heightened sensitivity, was just like that.

You lower your hot palms onto his chest, play with the short blond hairs and lean on him, starting to lift your hips.

Art huffs and whines beneath you, his strong hands gripping the blanket until his skin turns white. He doesn’t take his eyes off you, trying not to close his eyes from the pleasure that you and your beautiful velvet pussy give him, which hugs him so tightly that you want to howl.

- I feel you so deeply... - You push back the unruly hair from your face and smile, it was always nice to be filled, especially with Art. With him you feel a certain exclusivity; he seemed to be in inhuman bliss.

- Please, I... Damn! - Art sharply raises his hips and you hear a loud slap with which your bodies met.

- Touch me. - Art immediately slides his hand between your bodies and rubs your clitoris with his thumb. You spread your legs wider so he can see exactly how he slides in and out of you. - It’s so nice, Art.

His name sounds like a song from your lips and Art moves his hands to your waist, helping you move faster. He feels his own dick twitching and tries not to cum at the moment when you squeeze him especially tightly.

- I'm going to cum. - Your voice trembles and you moan, throwing your head back. - Do not stop...

Art continues to move inside you, cumming profusely and swallowing all his sounds, wanting to listen to your delicious sighs longer. You feel a mixture of your secretions flowing out of you, you feel how Art becomes softer inside you. You feel like you did everything right.

- I think we need to call Patrick. - You're breaking the "We don't talk about Patrick anymore" rule. - I'll take my things.

- I will help you. - Art gently traces circles on the skin of your thighs, the fact that you were still connected did not bother either of you. - I have plenty of space at home.

[happy74827]

Promises and Ballads

[Todd Ingram x Female!Reader]

Synopsis: Todd notices the gloomy outlook on you, and although he’s not much help, he still attempts at making you smile.

WC: 1458

Category: Comfort

So, I decided to watch Scott Pilgrim Vs The World last night, and now I’m obsessed. It’s so chaotically good. Todd was my favorite evil ex out the seven, so ofc I had to write about him. And now, here we are.

『••✎••』

The dim glow of Todd's apartment was pierced by the vibrant colors of posters plastered on the walls. The distant sound of guitars being tuned hinted at the imminent performance of "The Clash at Demonhead." You, however, were sitting on the couch with a storm of emotions clouding your expression.

"So," Todd started, pulling you from your thoughts, "How's college life treating you?" His question was followed by the tapping of the tuning pegs as he finished tuning his bass.

"It's fine," you said, giving him a fake smile. "Nothing too special."

He turned away from the bass to face you, his eyebrows raised. "…Really? Nothing too special? I find that hard to believe, considering… well, you know. I'd expect at least a few crazy stories from you by now."

You sighed and stared into your hands as you pulled them from the sofa, a pained look on your face. You didn’t respond.

Todd let out a soft hum, then walked over and sat next to you on the sofa. He draped his arm over your shoulders, pulling you close. You flinched, your breath hitching, but you didn't pull away from him.

Todd was your best friend since high school. You weren’t very popular and had a hard time making friends, but then you met Todd. Brash, stubborn, and confident Todd. He was your opposite in every way. That was probably why you both hit it off so well.

During the first few weeks in high school, Todd would get in fights. It was always something stupid. Someone would call him a chicken, and he’d hit them, or someone would insult his hair, and he would deck them in the jaw.

Eventually, after a particularly bad fight, he brought enough concern that your algebra teacher decided to dump him on you to “guide” him.

It didn’t work, obviously, as Todd just gave you hell for being a teacher's pet, but that eventually led you into being friends when he realized how little you stuck up for yourself.

It was a weird friendship, you had to admit. But it worked out.

You grew up together. Todd would skip class, and you'd help tutor him. You'd sneak out at night and see bands and shows with him, and sometimes, you'd hang out here in his apartment and watch old movies or play video games. You two were as close as you could possibly get. Well, not as close as you'd hoped you could be, but that's life, right?

"Alright, whose ass do I need to kick?" Todd asked, breaking you from your thoughts.

"What?" You asked, confused.

"Well, you were super excited last week, and now you're just a slump. I’ll go vegan-punch their asses for you, no problem." He looked into your eyes, searching them, trying to find an answer to his question.

You laughed and pushed his arm off you. "I still find it weird how you got powers just for being vegan."

"Hey,” Like on cue, his hair suddenly rose as his eyes became glowing beams of white light. "I’m not complaining. Shit’s awesome, especially since I get to kick the shit out of some people,"

As you sighed, turning away from him momentarily, his hair died down as his eyes faded back to their normal color. Despite the humor, they were filled with concern. He didn't like it when you got quiet like this. It reminded him of the old days.

He gently turned your face toward his. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Todd, I," You bit your lip, trying to think of how to word what you were feeling. "I'm going to miss this."

"Miss what? My handsome face?"

"Stupid, you mean? Yeah, but that's not what I meant." You paused and looked around his apartment, your eyes landing on the many posters of bands that hung on the wall. "This."

“The… posters?” He asked.

You shook your head and turned away from them. "No. This. Us. All of it."

He stared at you, blinking slowly. "What?"

His voice was soft, dazed. Confused

He wasn’t getting it. God, it was so frustrating. How was he this stupid? Why were you friends again?

"Friendship. I mean, our friendship. When I leave again, we won't see each other as often, and when we do, we won't be as close. You’d be… well, busy.”

His expression was blank, his eyes wide and unblinking. "That's what you're worried about?"

"I—" You opened your mouth to answer him, but you couldn't think of the words you wanted to say. You just let out a deep breath and closed your eyes.

Todd leaned in, gently placing his hand on your cheek, turning your face toward his again. Your eyes opened to look at him, confused and filled with worry.

"Don't sweat it about that stuff. We'll still be friends, alright?" His words were firm, leaving no room for argument. "I won’t let you go."

His eyes were filled with that same determination; his hand was warm on your cheek, and his hair was bristling and sticking out every which way. This was Todd. This was the boy who took on everyone, whether they were ten times his size or a hundred times more skilled than him. This was the boy who took on bullies and came out on top.

And despite all that, despite everything, you had a nagging feeling in the back of your mind. You felt like something was going to go wrong.

You didn't realize it then, but in those moments, you realized that Todd didn't see you as a friend. Not just a friend.

He didn't see you as anything less, either.

It was at that moment that he finally saw you, and you were able to see him.

He smiled, that dumb, idiotic grin he always did when he was about to do something stupid. Most situations where he smiled like this were either terrifying or amusing, depending on if you were his enemy or his friend.

"You think you can escape me that easy?" He said, his words carrying the same tone he'd use in the school hallways when someone would try to make a fool out of him. He shifted himself on the couch, leaning into your space. He was getting closer and closer. You could feel his breath on your lips.

Your heart started pounding, and your head filled with fear, excitement, and confusion. His face was so close to yours, and he was so close to your lips. You wanted to look away, but you couldn't. You were frozen in place.

"T-Todd, what—" You swallowed the lump in your throat. You didn't want to let your fear out, but you could feel it. You didn't understand.

He grinned, "How can I resist a challenge?"

He moved his lips to yours, gently placing them in your mouth. He pressed them lightly, sending electricity through your veins. You felt your body start to heat up as your mind went blank.

He slowly pulled away and stared at you.

"There," he said. "That's one thing I'm going to miss about you."

"Wh-What?" You breathed out.

Todd leaned in, "Your smile."

You stared at him, dumbfounded, as your brain tried to catch up. Your mind was going a million miles a minute, but nothing made sense. You looked down, avoiding his gaze.

He grabbed your chin with his fingers, pulling your face toward him. He stared deep into your eyes.

"You don't think I see you? That I don't notice you? I'm not stupid." He placed his hand on your cheek, "Well, not that much, anyway."

"Todd, I—"

"Hey, look, you don't have to say anything, alright? Just—" He smiled softly at you, "Just go back to smiling."

Your heart felt like it was about to burst from your chest, but for once, you were feeling something good. Not just something, you were feeling a lot of different emotions. It was overwhelming, but you were glad for it. It was the first time in years that you felt that way.

You placed your hand on his and looked into his eyes. You nodded, "Okay."

His eyes lit up, and he smiled even brighter, which you didn't think was possible. He pulled your hand to his mouth and kissed your palm, then held it tightly. "Wanna hear me absolutely demolish this killer riff I’ve been working on? It'll blow your mind."

He went off on a tangent, talking about the music he was writing and how amazing he was, and how you had no clue what he was talking about, but that didn't matter because he was happy, and so were you.

College might be hard, but as long as you had him, everything would be fine.

[digitaldiarystuff]

False Hope

okay don’t kill me but the only reason this turned smuttish and not full on smut is because i don’t know if i can write it good so the story was supposed to be different but it’s okay right 🥺 let me know if you liked it pleaseee

————

pairing: Pedri Gonzalez x Y/N

summary: you’re close friends with Pedri and pretty much in love with him, pretending you’re not you went to comfort him but he seeks the comfort in a different way than you would’ve expected

genre: suggestive but not quite, angst

————

“Hola, Pepi?” you asked walking in the house with the spare key after ringing the doorbell for 5 minutes, you were supposed to have a chill day at his place but he didn’t answer.

You figured he could’ve been resting giving the injury he’s had and maybe he forgot you were coming over. You and Pedri were good friends, you’ve met 2 years ago and were in a friend group together but soon enough your so-called friends dumped you which caused you to be depressed for a while but even though you were never the closest, Pedri was there for you.

He didn’t have to but still told all your ex friends off and even cut contact with most of them and you were grateful for his friendship. You may also have a slight crush on him since the day he argued on your behalf, you weren’t a weak person nor needed someone else to fight your battles but seeing him stand up for you was something not even your exes did and you couldn’t help but fall for him. He was just that sweet but you knew this was a stupid crush, boys like that belonged to supermodels and actresses not law students.

You slowly made your way into his home but there was nothing, you thought about going right back out but this would be an embarrassing story to tell him later. Oh yeah I broke into your home with a spare key and snooped around, lovely but as you were losing hope you heard the shower running.

Taking a deep breath you calmed yourself down and went into the kitchen, he’d probably not eaten anything since last night and you were mostly concerned about his mental state. Pedri had a tendency to blame himself for things he didn’t have control over and it honestly broke your heart. He was always trying his best at anything and going above and beyond but sometimes life’s just like this and you need to accept reality and stop putting pressure on yourself. You started to make some pancakes, that could make him feel better.

“Y/N?” a voice came behind you and you dropped the spoon in your hand from the shock.

“Oh my… You scared the shit out of me!” you exclaimed putting the spoon in the sink.

“I’m the one whose house is broken into and you’re angry at me.” he clipped back and you got a good look at him, his hair was wet and he wasn’t wearing a shirt just sweatpants but you couldn’t even care about his perfectly toned body because his eyes were bloodshot and he had bags under them showing you he’d been crying for a long while.

“I’m sorry Pepi.” you said and lunged at him throwing yourself at his arms and he was quick to catch you.

He didn’t say anything just held you close, he looked like he really needed this.

“How are you feeling?” you asked already knowing the answer and tried to pull back but he didn’t let you. Just then you realized the state you were in, his naked and moist chest against you and you couldn’t control your body’s reaction against him, slowly tracing his back with your fingers. You knew you shouldn’t think about him like that, especially not now but his hot breath on your neck was turning your legs into jelly and his breath was getting uneven every time you got to his neck slowly caressing the hair on it.

Meanwhile his hands weren’t still either, he was stroking your sides and hips absentmindedly but he was just doing it to calm himself, right? Just then he pressed a feather like kiss on the nape of your neck making your breathing stop. He could sense it and chuckled lowly but didn’t stop. Pedri kept placing innocent kisses all along your neck and behind your ear and your hands were still holding him tightly. When he found the spot that made your knees go weak you exhaled and made a small noise.

“Pedri”

“Shh” he said and kept going, his kisses were more sensual and open mouthed now and one of his hands found your hips pulling you harshly into him. Your body was quickly on fire, his touch burning your skin.

You felt all your logic go out the window as he started sucking on your neck possibly leaving a mark but at that moment he could do pretty much anything and you couldn’t stop him. He finally stopped his attack on your neck and leaned his forehead against yours eyes closed, you knew you could’ve stopped him right then and there but your judgement was too clouded with the feelings you had for him. You wanted him to kiss you but he was taking his time so you hastily leaned in kissing his lips like you wished all this time. He didn’t even lose a second and started devouring you. His lips were made for you and you’ve never felt this electricity with any boy you’ve kissed. You wanted Pedri, you wanted more. You’ve been patient, you’ve waited for a long time for him to give you this kind of attention but in the back of your mind you also knew he was at a low point and was worried this could be bad for both of you. Your friendship was on the line.

“Pedri, um”

He kept silencing you with his movements and even went as far as unbuttoning your jeans and inching his hand slowly inside. He was agonizingly slow and too fast at the same time, it felt like a movie. You held his forearm not sure whether to pull it back or push it where you need him the most but you just couldn’t.

“Pedro.” you said with a final will, you knew if he reached inside your pants there was no going back and you didn’t even want to go back but you were also afraid of being used just for once. Were you ready to be a bandaid only used at a crisis time?

When he heard you call his full name he suddenly stopped and leaned back, you’ve never seen him like this and it took everything in you to not lean in and close the distance letting him have his way with you however he pleased. His eyes were even darker and filled with lust in contrary to how they’ve been when you arrived, his lips were plump and he was breathing heavily. He’s never looked so sexy in your eyes but as soon as he came to realize what he’s been doing he panicked.

“Y/N I’m so so sorry I don’t know what happened I…”

“It’s okay. Um, really it’s fine I mean you’re feeling bad and I was near so I understand you don’t have to…” you trailed off but couldn’t even pretend it was really okay.

For a second you thought maybe this was real and he wasn’t just into you now that you’re here to heal him but that all went away as soon as he started to talk. You put a sad smile on your face and turned back.

“I should get back to the pancakes.”

“You don’t have to” he said awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

“No it’s fine really, I need to head out after I finish these anyway.”

“What, why? Where are you going?” he asked panicking, you knew he was going to blame himself for this too but in the two years you’ve known him this was the first time he really was to blame. You blinked back a tear in your eye and answered him.

“I just have some errands to run, maybe I’ll see you next week.”

He didn’t say anything for a while, you even thought he left the room until spoke again.

“Oh okay.”

[leoramage]

competition + part one

⊹ masterlist ⊹ taglist ⊹

⊹⊱ trigger warning - [being shady af, slandering, tune in for plot twist!]

⊹⊱ theme - [social media au]

⊹⊱ pairings - [ex!mick schumacher x thai beauty queen!y/n x ?]

⊹⊱ face claim - anntonia porsild

⊹⊱ keywords - [rumours. "i promise that you'll never find another like me." emotional scars trope. "you're talking shit for the hell of it." girl fight. "anything you can do, i do better." bitterness and envy. "who do you think you are? are you better than me - no."]

INSTAGRAM

mickschumacher posted a story and a photo

liked by pierregasly, estebanocon and others

mickschumacher 🤍

truemickfan Wait, did I miss a whole season? Mick and Y/N were just together during Miami Grand Prix, and how's he's all cozy with someone new? 😳

estebanocon 😍😍

⊳ racedaydreamer estie bestie, explain what happened to my parents! 😭

⊳ speeddemonette I AM DISAPPOINTED BARFING, CRYING, HAVING SEIZURES RIGHT NOW!

mickfanatic Is it just me or does anyone else feel like Mick moved on way too quickly? Y/N is not just a casual fling!

micksupporter YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH Y/N WAS ALMOST 4 YEARS MICK! 😭 4 YEARS!

gridgirlgossip Goodbye, I am sending you my therapy bills.

cornercruiser #downgradeofthecentury

NEWS FEED

TWITTER

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The night was alive with the glow of twinkling stars, casting their silvery light over the event you had just finished hosting the glamorous charity event, Your radiant smile never left your face as you effortlessly guided the evening. The applause echoed through the grand hall, and for a moment, you felt like the world was yours as you were dressed in elegance and grace, embodying beauty and poise like no other, leaving behind a trail of flashing cameras and clinking glasses. But as you retreated backstage, reality caught up with you.

Your phone buzzed insistently in your hand, a notification lighting up the screen. You anticipated it to be a congratulatory message, a reminder of your brilliance on stage. Instead, it was a photo that sent shards of pain through your heart.

Mick.

There he was, smiling broadly, his lips on her cheek and an arm wrapped around a woman – you realized who she was – the Instagram model whose presence had been splashed across tabloids and gossip sites recently but whose ingenue beauty was unmistakable.

Your heart sank as you realized the truth: he had moved on like you and him never happened.

3 years of being with him – going 4 years – all thrown aside like a trash.

You were with him, in his ups and downs.

You were there when he lost his F1 seat.

You were there when he questioned his ability...

His talent...

His whole being...

And the pressure of him being the racing prodigy after his father.

You were there when Mercedes took him in and welcomed him as a reserve driver. You celebrated late at night and cuddled by the flame drinking beers while Coldplay plays on the background. It feels like home to be with him but...

Where could have you possibly lacked that he found another one so easily within two months?

Were you that ugly?

Were you that unworthy?

Were you that replaceable?

Were you not enough?

The tears welled up before you could stop them, blurring your vision as you crumbled into a chair. The room felt like it was closing in on you, the deafening silence of your pain echoing in your ears. A whirlwind of emotions swirled within you – hurt, confusion, and an undeniable sense of loss.

He said that he won't break your heart, let alone shed tears because of him. Yet here you are, a sobbing mess because he found a replacement 2 months fresh after your break up.

You hated him. No... You loathed yourself that you've ended up this way with your heart and soul. Yet a part of you feels guilty and loves him despite letting you burn yourself in the process. He said he'll protect you but...

He had set fire and left you alone - sacrificed yourself for your ever-unsalvageable relationship.

It simply costs you. Your being.

You lost yourself so that he could find himself.

You didn't know what happened. One day he wasn't the Mick you knew.

He changed that was all.

It felt like a betrayal, a stark reminder that he had moved on while you were still grappling with the aftermath of your breakup. The break had been raw, an ache that had haunted you since the day you parted ways. Two months had passed, yet the wound was far from healed. The emotions you had been pouring up for weeks seemed to return like an overflooded river, and the dam you had so carefully constructed - every week you put on a brave smile and face the world - finally crumbled once again.

You completely lost him.

Amid the tears and the sobs, you allowed to release the anguish that was held back. It was as if the universe had given you permission to feel, to mourn, and to heal.

You clung to your friends, letting their unwavering support become your lifeline, traversing the caverns of your own heart. Your friends rushed to your side, their faces filled with concern.

And a new familair guy was there too, like a true friend. He knelt in front of you, his big copper eyes locking onto yours. "Y/N," he whispered, "I'm so sorry... You don't deserve this." The sobs wracked your body as you buried your face in your hands before he pulled you into an embrace that lulled your lamenting and already ravaged heart. But the pain was too raw. It was misery that had been festering for two long months, a pain you had hidden behind your dazzling smile.

You thought you were fine, that you were strong enough to handle seeing Mick with someone new. But in that moment, all your strength crumbled. It felt like your heart had been ripped out and stomped on.

His hand grazed your back with your face buried in his chest, his voice was low but soft but filled with empathy. "He doesn't deserve you, Y/N." His accent was thick upon whispering in your ear, feeling bad that you had to go through this.

As you cried, you realized that the pain wasn't just about Mick. It was about the weight of expectations, the pressure to always appear strong, and the fear of being alone. It was about the depression that had been silently eating away at you.

You had been wearing a mask for so long, pretending to be okay when you weren't. It manifested from you losing weight, skipping meals and even your sleeping schedule had been hell. And now, in this moment of vulnerability, you felt like you were breaking free from that suffocating facade.

He whispered soothing words, reminding you that you were loved and that your worth wasn't defined by a relationship.

As the tears continued to flow, you realized that healing would take time. But for the first time in months, you felt like you were ready to take on the path to recovery. The pain was real and there was nothing for you to do but it shouldn't be stopping you.

You promised that you would be stronger than you had ever known.

TWITTER

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Morning aftermath...

As the morning sun filtered through your window, you found yourself still wrapped in the cocoon of sleep, the weight of last night's breakdown lingering like a heavy fog. But as your phone began to buzz with notifications, reality swiftly came crashing back. Friends had texted you, their words a mix of concern and reassurance.

"Hey, just wanted to let you know that there's a tweet going around. We're here for you, always." — F/N1

"Some fan or paparazzi sent a picture of you crying backstage last night to a Twitter account. They're all with you. We are always here for you, Y/N." — F/N2

You sighed, sitting up and staring at your phone. It didn't take long to locate the tweet they were referring to – a photo of you, vulnerable and raw, with your friends surrounding you to comfort you. The tweet had gained traction overnight, becoming a symbol of empathy and support from fans all over...

As you scrolled through the replies, you were taken aback by the outpouring of compassion. Fans of both Mick and yours had come together, expressing their concern and sending well wishes. The sight of your shared pain resonated with many, they felt upset for you over a single Instagram post of Mick that drew out all the vitality in you last night.

With a sigh, you knew you couldn't remain in bed all day, wallowing in the events of the past night. You were stronger than that, and you owed it to yourself and your supporters to show them that you were okay. Taking a deep breath, you decided to update your fans through an Instagram story.

You snapped a picture of yourself, the gentle sunlight casting a warm glow on everything it touched. Typing out a caption, you chose your words carefully.

With a sense of purpose, you tapped the post button. It was a small gesture, but it felt like a step forward. The response was immediate – an influx of messages, hearts, and encouraging words flooded your inbox. Each notification felt like a virtual hug, a reminder that you were not alone on this journey.

INSTAGRAM

yourusername posted a story • 4 mins ago

seen by carlossainz55, lewishamilton and 962,820 others.

Later that day...

As the sun began its slow descent, you found yourself deep in thought, your mind weaving through possibilities and aspirations. The idea had taken root within you, a flicker of determination that refused to be extinguished. You wanted to show the world that you were more than just a single pageant title or relationship and that your journey was far from over.

The world felt a little brighter, and the weight on your shoulders felt a little lighter.

With a sense of purpose, you reached for your phone, your fingers dancing over the keys as you composed a message to your pageant coach, RL Duangkong. Your journey to a bigger goal is just about to start.

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Author's Note: THIS POST HAD BEEN UPLOADED WAY TO SEVERAL TIMES THAT I ALMOST LOST PATIENCE. The effort I poured onto this fic is ungodly. Which is why I appreciate smau!writers out there. I was having an internal monologue on how the lines would be distributed properly. I honestly loved making this - it is such a challenge and a struggle to be fair. Please do not repost or take the edited pictures without my consent. Some media in this post are mine and it's hard to do photoshopping/photo manipulation. Any kind of support is appreciated as I continue writing as long as I keep dreaming. Until then, stay updated for part 2! 𔘓ฅ[⁠ᓀ⁠˵⁠▾⁠˵⁠ᓂ⁠]𔘓ฅ

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created by the user in response to a creative writing prompt. Any resemblance to actual events, persons, or entities, whether living or deceased, is purely coincidental. The characters, events, and dialogue portrayed in this fanfiction are products of the user's imagination and are not meant to infringe upon any copyrights or trademarks associated with the Formula One sport or any real-life individuals. This fanfiction is solely intended for entertainment purposes, and the author acknowledges that the depicted scenarios are not endorsed, authorized, or supported by any official Formula One entities or the individuals mentioned.

[a-sentient-horax]

G/T Headcannons

So much of G/T is science-adjacent just because of the nature of the trope. But this got me thinking about like, G/T in the setting of science academia.

A scientist and an engineer who have a years-long dispute about whether it's possible or not to change someone's size. The scientist swears up and down that they have worked out the math and theories and it just is absolutely not possible. Meanwhile, the engineer is certain that they are close to a solution. One night, perhaps long after they stopped working together, the scientist wakes from their sleep to their roof being ripped off above them. "I fucking told you!" The now gigantic engineer gloats down at them.

Bonus if the scientist is so blinded by disbelief of their math failure that they aren't even afraid. They place their tiny hands on their hips and raise their chin up to stare right into the giant's eyes. "You had to have used a different theory. Did you make the room-temperature superconductor? Do you have any idea how vast the implications of that are? And you used it to do THIS to yourself? Are you working with [another scientist whose theories they disagree with]?"

A scientist who turned themselves giant and had a falling out with their partner who works in the same field as they do. One of them didn't include the other in a hugely impactful research paper, ending in a blowout fight. Now they both go to the same conferences and have to awkwardly avoid each other.

Additionally, one could approach the other sheepishly to ask for help on a new project. It could work both ways, a giant peering down angrily at a tiny human, or a defensive human crossing their arms and getting terse with their giant ex. "What, do you need to steal more of my ideas?"

A sizeshifter who tries to slyly shrink down to retrieve a fallen piece of lab equipment. They are caught by a coworker but instead of freaking out about their size their coworker panics about how this does NOT adhere to lab safety standards, demanding to know how many times they have done this.

A sizeshifter who pulls an all-nighter in the lab, not realizing that their frustration with not getting good results has made them gradually grow all night. The first person to come into the lab in the morning is greeted with the sight of their coworker poring over reams of printed data, towering over the equipment, and trying to rub exhaustion out of their eyes. (Queue the 'dropping the coffee cup in surprise' scene.)

A giant scientist who is at the cutting edge of their field, when a human intern starts on their research project and realizes very quickly that they have (for now) unrequited feelings for this giant. The scientist's huge form looms over the intern's workstation, casting a huge shadow. They squint their eyes at the schematics on the table. Bending over slightly, their large arm lightly brushes the human's shoulder as they point to an equation. "Is this doubling every time?" "D-doubling? I-" "If it is doubling, it should be natural log two, not log two." The giant lowers their head. Their annoyed face only a few inches from the human's. The human is blushing deeply, inhaling the smell of the giant's sweet breath. "It-d-er...doubling. Doubles." The giant's face remains unamused and annoyed. Despite their impatience, they make the effort to whisper gently, to not blow out the human's ear drums. "Then why did you write log two? Fix it."

The lead scientist and lead engineer on a project are always squabbling. In an accident, one of them gets shrunk down or grows to a large new size. Now their disagreements take place with the smaller one on some form of scaffolding, waving sheets of complex equations in the air while the other crosses their arms and shakes their head.

Two young scientists get passed over and are not included in the credits of a research paper, despite their extensive work. They go to confront the senior researcher, when one suddenly doubles, or triples in size and pins the senior researcher down, demanding credit for both of them. Their tiny friend is caught in a mix of horror and amazement as they realize that their friend could just as easily pin them down like that.

"Well, aren't you just soooo smart Mr. Giant Shithead." "That's Dr. Giant Shithead to you."

[fablesrose]

Ch 15 - The Zanzibar Marketplace Job

Series Rewrite Masterlist 

Pairing: Eliot Spencer x Ford!Reader

Description: Maggie gets arrested in Ukraine for stealing a priceless artifact. The team's got to go work with Sterling to get it back and clear her name

Words: 6560

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Nate decided to let us help sort through possible clients, so the four of us, Nate, Tara, Eliot, and I were sitting around a table in McRory’s, looking through files. Hardison and Parker stood at the bar chatting, not wanting to over crowd. Nate explained his file which described a family whose pension disappeared and had their land seized by the state under eminent domain. 

“So these are all your lost sheep?” Tara asked, flipping through her own folder.  

“Excuse me?” Nate asked. 

“Well, you know, you can’t save them all.”

Nate didn’t have a response to that and just stood, saying he was going to get a refill of coffee. 

Tara looked between the two of us, “You know he’s drinking again.”

“I know,” I sighed at the same time Eliot said, “I’m not an idiot, Tara.”

“I was told this was a problem,” Tara said. 

“Drinking’s not a problem,” Eliot corrected, “It’s a symptom.”

The conversation didn’t go further as Nate came back. I kept my head down, looking at the file I had randomly selected, but I wasn’t actually reading it. They were right, but I didn’t know what I could do about it. I couldn’t do anything, really. Nate made his own decisions and he was one of the most stubborn people I knew. While I could support him, and hope he stopped again. I couldn’t make him. 

As I was lost in my thoughts I didn’t realize Nate had focused on someone who had walked into the pub until he said, “Eliot, I’m gonna ask you not to do anything violent.”

I looked up at Nate with a curious expression, why would he say that? I looked over to Eliot to see he had a similar look, but what caught my attention was the fact that Sterling was standing behind him.

“What?” Eliot said, “What are you talking about? I only use violence as an appropriate response.” 

“Hello Nate,” Sterling said. 

I watched as Eliot’s expression shifted for a split second before he stood quickly from his seat, turned and clocked him across the face. Sterling tried to fight back, even whipping out a baton, but he was nowhere close to even slowing Eliot down. A quick look at Parker and Hardison revealed that they were enjoying the show. 

“And this is…?” Tara asked. 

“James Sterling,” Nate answered, “we used to work together. Insurance.”

“Seems to rub Eliot the wrong way.”

“You could say that,” I answered this time. 

Nate walked up to the pair as Eliot pinned Sterling to the table he had been beating him on. “Hello Sterling. What are you doing here?”

“Actually, I came to offer you a job,” he strangled out. 

“There’s nothing you could say to make us work with you,” Eliot said. 

“It’s Maggie.”

Nate looked at me for a moment before telling Eliot to bring him upstairs. Eliot hauled Sterling up and kept a tight grip on him until we all got to Nate’s apartment. Sterling, of course was being a bit whiny and dramatic about being beat up, particularly that first punch across the face. I grabbed an ice pack out of Nate’s freezer and, a bit pettily, tossed it at him. I was aiming at his face, but miscalculated and it hit lower at his chest and shoulder. Though, he still flinched at the pack being cold and hard when it hit, so I called it a win. 

Sterling held the ice pack to his face as he explained the situation. A Faberge egg worth nine million dollars due to its rarity, was stolen from a Ukrainian museum. Maggie, who was working in that museum verifying Russian artifacts, was the only one in the building when the egg was stolen, therefore, she had been blamed.

“Who is…?” Tara asked. 

“Maggie is Nate’s ex-wife,” Eliot answered quickly. 

“Okay, is there any chance she took the egg?”

“No,” Parker answered this time, “Maggie is the most honest person we know, but besides that she’s okay.”

“Tara, she is probably a significant reason why I turned out, quote on quote, ‘normal,’” I added. 

Nate came rushing down the stairs from his room, “Maggie is being set up.”

“You live, and work here?” Sterling asked incredulously. 

“Yeah.”

“I like the old place better.”

“Do not mention the old offices,” Hardison demanded. 

“Maggie is where, precisely, right now?” Nate asked before that anger could get too far. 

“She is currently awaiting trial in the Kiev jail,” Sterling answered. “Of course when I heard that poor Maggie was being held without bail, I rushed-”

“Please,” Nate interrupted, “As soon as you found out that the Faberge egg that your company insures went missing, you-”

“Rushed to the Ukraine,” Sterling finished. “Of course I was unable to clear her name.”

“But I’m assuming you have another suspect.”

“Absolutely,” Sterling put a picture on the screen, “Alexander Lundy, international real estate mogul. Very rich, very powerful. My only problem is that he works at the American embassy, which makes him untouchable by normal law enforcement.”

“Guys we’ve got to book it, our flight to Kiev leaves in three hours,” Hardison insisted. Luckily we had all been multitasking getting our documents together. 

“Hang on,” Eliot said before we all scattered to finish packing. “I’m not working next to this guy,” Eliot stated, pointing accusingly at Sterling. 

“You don’t have to,” Nate assured, “I’ll work with him. You have a different job.”

“What?”

“Well, you’re the retrieval specialist,” Nate said, “retrieve my wife from jail, let’s go.”

Once we got to Kiev, Nate and Sterling went to meet with Alexander Lundy, and Tara, Hardison and Eliot went to get Maggie released from jail. Parker and I didn’t have anything to do at the moment, so we decided to go sightseeing for a little bit. We went to the museum, though I think Parker and I had different focuses. While I was admiring the art and artifacts, Parker couldn’t take her eyes off of the cameras and motion sensors. 

We returned to the I.Y.S. offices where Nate and Sterling were holding their investigation. They had boards with paperwork pinned to it, trying to figure out just how to prove that Maggie had nothing to do with the missing Faberge egg, and that Alexander did it. 

“That lying son of a-” Nate said, “I mean, look at these financials, the credit crunch wiped him out. He’s maybe three, four months from declaring bankruptcy.”

“Lundy offers up the egg to the museum exhibitions, so it falls under their insurance policy,” Sterling said, “hires a bit of local muscle to help with the heist, tidy payout.”

“Now, we just need some proof.”

Parker sighed from where she was perched on the counter, “It was an inside job. Average keypad hack time is one minute nine point three seconds, inner door access card takes at least thirty seconds for anybody but Hardison, and the vault was an old Mark two Remington.” She puffed, “In and out average, seven minutes forty seconds. With these thieves, they did it in five minutes twelve seconds. Maggie had the best access, so the real thieves only had to get her codes and badge… yeah, only way they could pull it off that fast.”

Sterling looked at Nate and I, “How long has she been sitting…”

I just nodded at him since she had been there the whole time, but Nate didn’t even bother. 

“Maggie’s on his calendar,” Nate said as he looked through some files, “he had lunch with her the day of the heist to discuss his collection. So while he’s keeping her busy at lunch, his men take her ID card and access codes… She gets framed for the heist, oh boy, I’m gonna nail this son of a-”

The door opened across the room and none other than Maggie, the woman of the hour, walked into the conference room. 

“I can explain,” Nate said quickly. 

I walked over and gave her a hug while Parker laid out some supplies on the table to show Maggie. Maggie hugged me back a bit confusedly. 

“We’re here to help,” I assured. 

“Maggie, it’s not what you think,” Nate also assured. 

Parker dragged Maggie over to the table, “It’s your first time being a fugitive, so I made you a bag.”

“Thank you, Parker,” Maggie said, “It’s not that I don’t appreciate getting out of jail, I just can’t live my life as a fugitive.”

“But you're not a fugitive,” Nate corrected, “You were released, not broken out.”

Parker was busy telling Maggie all the supplies she included in Maggie’s go back including a lock pick, toothpaste, and explosive gel, important not to mix up. 

“But you released me to run. I’m not going anywhere until my name is cleared.”

“That’s what I’m here to do!” Nate said, “to get the egg back and to clear your name.”

Maggie looked at me, thinking I was less likely to lie to her.

“Yes,” I backed Nate up, “That is what we’re trying to do, we just didn’t want you sitting in jail while we do that though.”

She turned back to Nate, “but you’re clearing my name with thieves! No offense Parker.”

Parker gave her a puzzled look, “at what?”

“Actually,” Sterling said cooly, “Nate and Y/n here have been rehabilitated.”

I scoffed, “Please Sterling, freelancing is a more honest profession than whatever you do.” The fact that I hadn’t done freelancing for months was not a fact that either him or Maggie needed to know. 

“Fine, Nate has been rehabilitated,” Sterling amended, “he’s here on official I.Y.S. business as a consultant. I brought him on.”

“You’ve gone straight?” Maggie asked.

Nate nodded but didn’t directly answer her, “the only reason they’re here is to deal with the authorities and to get you released and everything. They’re not staying.”

“Absolutely not,” Sterling said, “I don’t trust them, they don’t trust me.”

“Eliot already punched him,” Parker added, trying to help. 

“Yeah, it’s all above board,” Nate concluded, “it’s perfectly legit. You know, I think, really the best thing you could do is go back to the hotel, get cleaned up and everything, and I’ll call you if anything happens.”

Parker then ushered Maggie away with the intention of further explaining the go bag without the discouragement of Nate. I followed after them to maybe help Maggie escape if need be. I was eventually able to convince Parker that we needed to go and get her ready to ‘leave.’ It was a small lie in front of Maggie, because in reality Parker did have to get ready to leave, but it was for the American Embassy, not for home. Parker and Hardison went to the embassy pretending to apply for a marriage visa in order to get information off of Lundy’s phone. 

“Alexander has a travel visa to the United Arab Emirates,” Hardison said once they gleaned the info, “He’s also setting up accounts in the Caimans, Macao, and Switzerland.”

“Yes,” Nate said, “countries with no extradition treaty. Tax havens. Yeah, this does not look like someone who is going to wait around for the insurance payout.”

“And this guy showed up on his phone.”

“I know him,” Parker said. “That’s Adrian Chernov, he’s a fence.”

“Fence? So he’s selling it,” Hardison said. 

“Oh yeah, sure he’s selling it,” Nate responded, “He’s going to sell that egg on the black market and run.”

“Gotta hand it to the guy, it’s a pretty good plan,” Parker remarked, “I almost feel a little bad for screwing it up.”

“Really? I don’t,” Nate stated. 

I shot him a look, questioning his attitude for this job. Sure, Maggie was involved, but this pettiness wasn’t going to help in the long run. 

“Uh, Hardison? Can you get Chernov’s location for Tara and Eliot, please?” Nate requested. 

Hardison did as requested and sent Tara and Eliot on a mission. I was surprised at how quickly they were able to get some information, though it didn’t seem like much. The only thing that Chernov had on him was an envelope with a plain blank card inside. None of us could figure it out, so when they got back we called someone who might. 

“It’s a Zanzibar marketplace,” Sophie said when we showed her the card, “The marketplace is a one time event, it crops up in a city when an important piece has been stolen. You should have seen Stockholm after the Rembrandt heist. Parking was a bloody nightmare!”

“If it’s a one time event,” I started, “how do people know to come? It’s not like you can advertise.”

“Well, the prospective buyers are invited by their black market contacts,” Sophie answered. “They show up, verify the merchandise, and they make a sealed bid. Hey, shine an ultraviolet light on that card.”

Hardison dug through his bag, pulling a small one out. 

“Seriously?” Eliot asked, “you have one, just laying around?”

“And you’re surprised?” I asked in return. I had been eyeing the two braids he had in his hair the past couple of days. They originated from underneath layers of his hair, but were accentuated with beads at the end. I took the opportunity to give a playful tug to one of them, playing a bit with the bead. 

Eliot lifted his eyebrow at me, but didn’t tell me off. I gave a soft smile before dropping my hand, turning part of my attention back to Sophie and the card. I felt a bit bold touching his hair like that, I hadn’t attempted to do so until now. I didn’t want to push it though, even if he didn’t have a negative reaction this time. In fact, I hadn’t touched Eliot in any capacity very often. Still, the bit of hair I did touch was soft, and I theorized I would be thinking about it in the future. 

“The bidder’s ID number and the time of the auction’s encrypted on the card,” Sophie continued. “The bidders write their bid on the back of the card, one number, no zeros, and they hand it to the seller in a sealed envelope. They leave town immediately. A week later, if they win, they transfer the money, and the merchandise is couriered to them by a messenger as soon as the heat’s died down.”

As Sophie was explaining this, Hardison shone his little UV light on the card, and sure enough a time and bidding number appeared. 

“So no names, no contact with the money, or the item?” Hardison clarified. “Nice.”

“Alright,” Eliot said, “so marketplace means multiple buyers at the same time. Where’s he gonna do this without drawing attention?”

“At the embassy,” Nate answered as he entered the room. 

The three of us shared a look, glancing at Sophie who made a cutting motion on the screen. In response, Hardison slowly lowered the laptop screen, effectively ending the call. 

Nate continued as if he hadn’t noticed, “Yeah, the American Embassy is having a party tonight. Perfect cover.”

“It’s a great place to store stolen merchandise,” Eliot pointed out. “Pretty much American territory, local cops can’t even get through the gate.”

“Well, even if we can prove that Alexander has the egg, police can’t touch him or search for it.”

“If we can’t let loose the dogs of law enforcement on him, what do we do?” Hardison asked. 

“We, uh, steal the damn thing back,” Nate replied simply. 

I guess it was settled. Luckily formal attire has been permanently placed on my packing list, it seems you can never predict when there’s a time to dress up. All of us attended the party, courtesy of Sterling and I.Y.S., except for Hardison due to Sterling being petty about almost being blown up. At least, so I hear. 

The plan was for Tara to be the buyer and once the egg was located, Eliot and Parker would snatch it back. Hardison was in a van to run any technical support needed and I was there for additional personal support. Probably to be a distraction at some point. 

This plan was quickly foiled when Sterling conveniently forgot to tell us that Alexander and Maggie were in a relationship. This was only revealed when they walked into the party together. That meant that Alexander saw Tara with Nate, blowing her cover to be the buyer. It also meant that Eliot and Parker had to be extra careful to avoid being seen. Nate had Eliot be the bidder now, which required the envelope that Tara had with the card. 

“Parker,” Tara signaled, “Double reverse on three.” She took an empty glass and placed it along with the card on a waitress’s tray who was heading in her direction. 

I watched from a separate corner as Parker snatched the card off the tray and handed it to Eliot as they passed each other walking in different directions. “Damn, that was smooth,” I said, mostly to myself, clearly impressed and slightly jealous. 

Eliot gave me a quick wink through the crowd as he headed off to the auction which caused a blush to cross my face. 

I kept my distance from Nate and Tara as Maggie and Alexander approached, not wanting to get in the middle of that if I didn’t have to. 

Tara and Maggie introduced themselves to each other after a pointed exchange between Nate and Maggie. Alexander then thanked Nate for helping get Maggie out of jail. 

“Oh, don’t mention it,” Nate said. “After all, what was I supposed to do, let her sit and rot in a Ukrainian jail, to think about the poor choices she’s made? Without setting things right, or explaining herself?”

I sighed and said to myself, “What is it with everyone being petty today?” I then said pointedly, “ Nate, what the hell? Stop-” I wasn’t sure what to say, “Just stop with the attitude please, you’re acting like a toddler.”

Tara grabbed a drink off of a waitress’s tray and raised it to the group, “Cheers.”

Eliot made it to the auction saying, “Alright Nate, he’s hired some local security on the payroll, watch yourself.”

I glanced around the ballroom, picking out the few security personnel I could see. There was enough that suggested that there was plenty between who he hired and regular security to make certain menouvers difficult if not impossible. Hopefully if everything went to plan, it wouldn’t come to that. 

The two pairs made painfully awkward small talk across the room; I was glad I had decided to stay out of it. When Alexander excused himself, we knew it was go time. Eliot signaled they were about to present the egg and the rest of us prepared to get it back. What we didn’t expect was that the egg was presented as a video feed, meaning we didn’t know where it was. 

Hardison worked on tracking the signal of the feed and Eliot delayed the auction by having them move the egg on the screen ensuring it was a live feed and not a recording. Luckily, Hardison was able to work his magic and identify that it was not only still in the embassy, but what room it was in. He sent the map to us and Parker went to grab it. 

I was not as successful at blending into the crowd as Parker was, Maggie spotted me and wrapped me into a conversation with her and Tara. It was pleasant conversation, small talk at first, Maggie getting to know Tara. That’s to say, it was pleasant until Maggie just had to catch up with me.

“So…” she said, “anything happen between you and Eliot?” She had an innocent smile, but the intonation was more suggestive. 

I gave her a pointed smile, signalling her to drop it. “No, nothing’s happened. You know, with Nate cleaning up, going straight, I’ve only seen Eliot a couple of times since LA,” I lied. “Besides, we both know it was just the job, his character,” I said, this statement much less of one, if not completely true. 

Maggie gave me a hum and a, ‘if you say so’ look.

I glanced at Tara who had a lifted brow, curious. I lifted my own brow in return, almost daring her to say something, but desperately hoping she wouldn’t. 

Luck was on my side in this particular instance as the conversation shifted from my imaginary dating life to specifically them dating Nate. I saw Nate was walking towards us, so I gracefully excused myself to ‘grab a drink’ despite all the waitresses walking around. I started after Parker just in case something came up and she needed help. 

Unfortunately, something did come up. When the video feed ended, the guard who was in the room with the egg exited, and started guarding the door. Parker had no way in. Everyone else was out of position. I was on my way to help distract him when I ran into Sterling. 

We looked at each other for a moment in the hallway. He raised his bottle half empty bottle with a tilt of his head. I nodded, inferring what he was going to do and encouraged him down the hallway, leaving me a gap to follow. 

He started to coughing and staggering down the hallway just before he turned the corner where the guard would be. I left a roughly ten second gap before I started calling down the hallway after him. I jogged a little bit at the end, not very fast in the shoes I was wearing, but enough to show I was chasing. 

“Dad!” I said as I finally spotted him drunkenly leaning against the wall. The guard was already starting to approach him cautiously. I grabbed Sterling’s shoulder as if trying to stand him up again. “God dammit, I turn away for one second…” I feigned struggling to help him and turned to the guard who had closed the gap. 

“Do you need help, miss,” the guard asked. Well, for a goon of the bad guy, he was sweet.

“Would you please?” I asked, stepping away from Sterling to give the guard some room. “He’s a drunk, I can barely keep track of him sometimes.”

“I’m not a drunk,” Sterling slurred, “you are very strong.”

“Thank you,” the guard said as he supported him down the hallway we came from. 

I glanced to the other side of the hallway to see Parker sneaking around the corner towards the room. I nodded at her before turning back to Sterling and the guard, keeping him occupied. Parker communicated no issues when grabbing the egg and getting out. It didn’t take too long for the guard to get Sterling to a more respectable part of the embassy and for us to let him go back to his now empty post. 

“Your welcome,” Sterling said after the guard had gone. “I don’t know how you people ever manage-”

He cut off and stuck his finger in his ear. Hardison apologized for comm feedback, but everytime Sterling tried to talk, the feedback came back. I saw that Parker was cracking a smile similar to mine each time it happened.

We were prepared to clear out with the egg, but Nate was suddenly nowhere to be found. We decided to regroup back at our temporary base of operations, aka the I.Y.S. conference room, before doing anything too drastic. When we got back, Hardison tried everything he could think of to contact Nate, but to no avail. He couldn’t find him anywhere. 

“The case is closed, people,” Sterling whined, “the egg is back, I’m sure Nate is breaking it to Maggie about her continued bad choice in men.”

Before I, or anyone else, could snap back a retort, Hardison’s laptop rang with a call from Nate’s cell. When he answered, it was not Nate on the other end of the line. 

“We have your people,” the deeply disguised voice said. “No police. Await further instructions.” It then hung up. 

I immediately looked to Eliot, but my gaze shifted to Sterling who had begun to dial his phone. 

“What are you doing?” Tara asked, reading my mind. 

“Calling the police,” he said simply, “they don’t get to-”

Eliot snatched the phone before he could finish, “We’re not calling the cops. Two hostages means they can kill one to make a point.”

I nervously started chewing on the tip of my thumb, purposefully avoiding the nail. The focus and pressure on both my thumb and teeth was a distraction and outlet from the rising panic and anxiety rising through me. I couldn’t remember the stakes being this high, and for some reason, it felt that all the previous jobs and even my life before this was on easy mode, or even a dream, and that we had just entered the real world. Or maybe this was a dream, not really happening. Before I could spiral further, Eliot took charge, bringing my attention back to him. 

“Alright listen, there's three types of calls we can get next,” Eliot began, “One: amateur. Cash and a dump site. Number two: professional. That’s wire transfers and multiple location drop offs.” Eliot then hesitated for half of a second, “And three: targeted.”

“Targeted towards us?” Hardison asked hesitantly. 

“No,” Eliot answered, “towards a specific ransom demand.” He looked at the egg that was sitting in a case on the table, “not cash.”

Sterling was not having it, “You know, risking a nine million dollar artifact-”

“It might be the only chance!”

“On a hunch!”

Eliot was clearly irate as he rolled his eyes and rounded the table to stand behind the rest of us, facing Sterling.

“Let me run this,” Sterling continued, “we track the calls, find out whoever it is, let the police-”

“Sterling,” Eliot finally cut him off, “I’m the retrieval specialist. That’s my job.”

Sterling took a hard look at us, “Your friends’ lives hang in the balance, and you’re gonna take your cues from a punch up artist, instead of me?”

None of us verbally answered, it was clear where we stood. Sterling shifted his gaze across every one of us individually, testing the waters until he came to me. 

“Even you, y/n? You trust him to save your dear Uncle Nate and Auntie Maggie and not me?”

I swallowed with a set jaw before answering because it was clear this time that he wanted an answer, “Yeah, Sterling. I trust him. I’d trust him with this any day of the week over you. And to top it off, I like him better too. So let. him. do it. Or there’s gonna be problems.” I could feel myself trembling softly, mostly through my hands which I was hiding behind the table. I couldn’t decide if it was fear, anger, or something else, but I started to chew on my lip once I finished talking to release some energy and keep myself from saying something stupid. 

Sterling made an expression of acceptance and closed the case with the egg in it and grabbed it off the table. “Call me when you need me. Cuz you will need me.” He then walked out of the room with the egg in hand. 

The rest of us looked at each other once he was gone. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I guess this was it. We had to get Nate and Maggie back. 

Eliot directed Tara and Parker to try to see where Alexander was, Tara to check his house, Parker to check around the embassy. Hardison continued to work on his laptop, trying to prepare or find anything that would help.

I paced around the room a couple of times before turning to Eliot. I was about to ask what I could do when he shook his head. 

“There’s nothing you can do right now, we just have to wait,” he placed his hand on my shoulder which comforted me more than he would know and directed me to sit at the table. “We’re gonna get them back, I promise. I’m gonna get them back.” He held eye contact long enough for me to know that he meant it. 

I nodded, letting him know that I believed him. He then removed his hand and sat at his own seat, thinking. I was so tired, this night had been long and now the stress was draining my energy even faster. I folded my arms on the table and rested my head. Just for a second, to rest my eyes. As hard as I tried to not fall asleep, Hardison’s quiet clacking on his keyboard slowly lulled away from consciousness. 

I awoke with a start when Tara and Parker walked in the room sporting no news of where Alexander was except not at his house and that his embassy car was checked out. 

“He’s angry,” Eliot said, “We took his payday.”

Just then, the phone rang. Eliot spread his hands with an ‘alright’ and pulled the conference speakerphone towards him. 

“Go,” he said simply when he answered it. 

“If you follow our instructions, your friends will be returned unharmed,” the distorted voice on the other end said. 

“We agree. Tell us what you want.”

Hardison worked on reversing the distortion and succeeded which revealed Alexander’s voice. 

“You owe me nine million dollars,” Alexander said. “I still have a buyer for the egg, return it, and I return your friends.”

“I want proof of life, now,” Eliot demanded. 

Alexander hesitated, “Agreed.”

It wasn’t long before a webcam video was provided showing a storage room where Alexander’s assistant was handcuffed. The accountant was talking about Alexander’s finances when Nate walked into frame, saying that we had found all of the fishy stuff in his accounts. Maggie then walked into frame and started arguing about us being here.

“There’s our proof of life,” Eliot said. 

“I was in that room earlier,” Parker said. 

“That’s the room the egg was in.”

“They’re at the embassy.”

“That doesn’t do us any good,” Tara pointed out. “We can’t storm it and the police can’t touch it.”

The feed cut out.

“I sent you the address,” Alexander said, “Come alone, at dawn. Bring the egg, or your friends die.”

Eliot hung up, shoving the speaker away.

Hardison pulled up the address Alexander sent, “Okay, the address is one of Alexander’s construction sites. Local project. Abandoned once his business got in trouble.”

“So now we have to go convince Sterling,” Tara said. “Who hates you-”

“Us,” Parker corrected, “He hates us.”

“To loan you a nine million dollar antique,” she continued, “so you can bring it to a ransom drop.”

“Listen,” Eliot said, “We know who’s behind this. We know what they want. We have the upper hand here. We do.”

We started to prepare for the drop. Eliot was coming up with the plan, predicting an elevator drop since we were directed to go to one of the higher floors of the building. There was a moment where he stopped mapping it out and stared at the screen again where the webcam feed used to be. 

“What is it?” I asked him when I noticed the furrowed brow. 

“There wasn’t sound on the video during the auction, but there was sound for our proof of life,” he said thoughtfully. 

I sat and thought on it for a minute, trying to find an explanation. The video played over in my head a couple of times before I thought I noticed something. 

“The assistant…” I thought out loud, “He didn’t seem… right. For someone who had been taken hostage. It sounded almost…”

“Rehearsed,” Eliot finished for me. He finally broke his gaze at the screen and looked at me, “I think it’s him doing this, not Alexander.”

I rested my head on my hands, “So what does this mean?”

He tilted his head, “He kept this pretty well covered up, blaming Alexander, he might try to pull something.”

I hesitated, “Like… leave no witnesses, pull something?”

Eliot nodded, “Yeah.”

I took a deep breath, “So what now?”

He turned back to his notepad, scribbling a bit more before setting his pen down. “Well, I have a plan. Now to see if Sterling will give up the egg long enough for us to get Nate back.”

“Do you want me to handle that?” I asked, trying to be helpful, knowing full well the tension that would be there. 

“No,” he responded simply, “I’ll talk to him.”

I sighed a little annoyed, “Eliot, don’t baby me, let me do something. I’ve felt useless the last few jobs, I want to help. I want to help get Nate back.”

“Hey,” Eliot stopped me, “I’m not babyin’ ya. I know you’re capable. I didn’t like the way he spoke to you earlier, to be honest. Just… don’t worry about anything, okay?”

I nodded meekly before saying a bit more light heartedly, “yeah, you’re right, you should do it. The underlying threat of him being punched in the face might help our case, huh?”

He gave me a crooked smile and a wink before going to make the call. 

I looked up after him as he walked away when my eyes caught Tara’s from across the room. It looked like she had been watching the exchange with a tilt of her head. I tilted my head back at her and she walked over to sit across the table from me. 

“How’re you holding up?” She asked. 

I rubbed my eyes, “You’re the grifter, I’m sure you can tell.”

“It’s still polite to ask,” she said pointedly. 

I gave a murmured agreement before answering, “I’m… okay. I trust the team. It’s just…” I trailed off, trying to find the words. “It’s just another one of those moments where it hits me how useless I am. I can’t contribute anything, I’m just dead weight that they have to worry about in case something goes wrong. You all have done this for years, you know the risks, how to navigate them. I’m trying, and I want to be here, but…” I didn’t know how to finish, but I figured I didn’t need to. I didn’t need to dump on Tara, she was here for the paycheck.

“Well, maybe they need a little bit of normal in their lives. Keeps them grounded,” she answered unexpectedly, to me at least. 

I looked up at her for a moment, “That’s kind of you to say, Tara.” It was clear I didn’t quite believe her. 

She stood up again, “Fine, if you won’t listen to me, at least listen to Eliot. Stop worrying about it. You said you trust the team. So trust them.” She walked out of the room, most likely going to the hotel to sleep. 

That wasn’t a bad idea. 

The next morning I was still stressed, but resting helped me feel a lot better. I wanted to wait with Eliot on the higher floor to be there when Nate and Maggie arrived, but he told me to go help Tara with her task. I was going to protest, but the stern, yet reassuring look he gave me encouraged me to go. 

Tara and I waited around the corner, waiting for the embassy car that the assistant would come in. Once they pulled up, he and his guards entered the building with Nate, Maggie, Alexander, and a suspicious looking bag in tow. I handed Tara a screwdriver and she handed back a license plate that Hardison had linked to a stolen vehicle. 

We each took a side and began to switch the embassy plates, making it officially a civilian car. When I had just finished up, Sterling came out of the building, the Faberge Egg in hand. I was going to ignore him, but he walked right up to me and the car. 

“Can you get me into the trunk?” He asked seriously. 

I furrowed my brow in confusion, “The trunk? You want me to stuff you in the trunk?”

His face twisted in a way that told me that he didn’t like the way it was phrased, but finally replied, “Yes.”

“Okay,” he didn’t have to tell me twice. 

They had been stupid, or confident, enough to leave it unlocked so I simply pulled the trunk handle that was beside me and opened it up.

“In ya go,” I grabbed his arm and shoved him towards the opening. 

He barely was able to catch himself and landed ungracefully. He twisted around to face me and said sarcastically, “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” I closed the trunk lid on his head, bumping it a little. I heard a muffled swear. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, but I’m sure a bruise wouldn’t hurt the act,” I answered loudly at him. I didn’t wait for another muffled answer and went to the other entrance to head up to the floor where everyone else was. Tara and I waited around the corner to watch them speed off first though. 

When Tara and I arrived, Hardison was explaining how he sped up the elevators and then stopped them to give Parker time to switch out the bomb from the elevator and then put the elevators on track to arrive on time. 

“Looks like we missed the party,” Tara said.

“Did they do what we thought?” Eliot asked.

“Yup,” I popped the ‘p.’ “Hopped into their ‘embassy’ car and sped off towards the airport.”

Tara and I raised the license plates, showing the switch. She dropped hers on the ground while I inspected mine for a moment. 

“Might keep a souvenir,” I commented. 

“How did you…” Nate asked.

Eliot explained the sound on the webcam and how he figured out who was really behind the theft and kidnapping. 

“After that, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out,” he finished. 

“You know, people underestimate you Eliot,” Maggie said. 

“That’s kinda the point,” Nate replied. 

Eliot turned towards the rest of us with a content smile for a moment before Alexander asked where the egg was. 

“Yeah, in order for us to get the egg from Sterling, he made some additions,” Eliot said.

“Wouldn’t let the egg out of his sight, or too far from his grasp,” I added. I thought back to him coming out of the building with it and pushing him in the trunk, “He’s got it safe and sound.”

That settled it, so we left to go pack up and head home. Once we got there, we gathered in the pub for our celebratory drink. Except, the news was on. It showed Sterling crawling out of the embassy car trunk and telling the news how he discovered who had the egg and got it back.

“Based on his work recovering the priceless artifact,” the news anchor said, “He’s been invited to join Interpol. He’s a real life Sherlock Holmes.”

“That son of a gun,” I said. “I should have hit him harder with the trunk, knocked him out.”

“Yeah,” Parker said to me, “Interpol? Seriously?”

“Sterling’s career gets another bump because of our hard work,” Hardison said. 

“We didn’t even get paid,” Tara added. 

“Nope,” Hardison answered. 

“I hate this guy,” she concluded. 

Eliot knocked his beer against hers, “Now, you’re part of the team.” 

I raised my glass, “Cheers.”

A/n: Reblogs and comments are welcome and encouraged! Thank you for reading!

Tags: @instantdinosaurtidalwave @kniselle @technikerin23 @kiwikitty13 @plasticbottleholder

[canonicallyanxious]

I have so many thoughts and also questions about the Alan/Wen relationship so I'm just gonna dump it all here in typical incoherent bullet point style:

First of all I just want to say why do I know these gay people who still live with their ex in real life except they're lesbians agsjdhdjdj mlm/wlw solidarity but in being Messy Bitches I fuckin guess

I'm incredibly interested as to why they haven't told people why they're not together anymore, and also why they have to pretend in front of other people that they're together. I mean it seems pretty significant if even Wen's father who he has a very close relationship to doesn't know the full details of their relationship status, i would think if you had a close relationship with your family they'd be among the first to know about a break up. Gong might know they've split up (I think how nonchalant he was about Wen having a one night stand supports this) but still unclear at this point, maybe he just knows they're having some sort of big conflict or are on a break or something. Maybe there's a social dimension to it? I don't feel i know enough of Thai culture and social conventions to make a confident guess here skdjfskjdf but i would be surprised if there wasn't some sort of reason other than "it's too awkward we don't wanna" - and if there is a reason i'm guessing this is why Wen hasn't been forthcoming about the details of his personal life with Jim, though i really can't guess at this point what that reason might be

so my very first reading of the "i don't love you anymore" "that's a shitty excuse" scene when the trailer dropped was that Wen was maybe trying to break up with Alan but Alan for whatever reason wasn't letting him and you know what i still stand by that or at least like the general sentiment of that. i think it could go either way whether that scene is a flashback (to give context to why they're in such a bad situation now) or present day (to push the development of Wen and Alan's relationship forward); personally i lean toward flashback bc of Wen's emotional state in that scene, he seems much more sad and upset than angry and bitter like he does now with Alan, but i guess we'll find out next week!

I don't have anything resembling an intelligent guess as to what Gong was referring to when he said "you should have asked him if he wanted you to do it" or whatever the phrasing was but I'm guessing whatever happened there is at least a part of the reason why their relationship failed and maybe even a part of the reason why Wen is so cold to Alan now. idk it feels potentially quite big to me, like sure it could have been one isolated incident but based on what we've seen of Alan's character (my guy has some control issues #yikes) it strikes me as possibly being more of a pattern rather than one fuck up though at this point who can really say

Speaking of Gong, I find his friendship with Alan interesting. He claims he doesn't want to take sides or get caught up in the middle of their fight, but I think there are pretty clear signs of whose "side" he's taken: for example in the first episode he doesn't open the message when Alan asks where Wen is so that Alan doesn't know he's seen it and even goes so far as to check with Wen first what he should tell Alan (this does not read as particularly neutral behavior to me, personally); when Alan pointed out they're both friends too and if he really was staying neutral he'd tell Alan what was going on too his response was that Wen was talking with someone and that was all he knew even though he knows they had a one night stand, almost like he went with the bare minimum to get Alan off his back; and his comment at the end of his conversation with Alan of "maybe you should do nothing" felt very pointed esp with accompanying expression. What I'm curious about is why Gong still feels the need to keep up any sort of friendly pretense with Alan. Maybe it's a situation where he knows more than he's supposed to (like if Wen confided in Gong but no one is supposed to know they've broken up for whatever reason)? Or maybe there's some other social dimension to it, idk

[nanadreamzz]

in my little mind — lee taeyong.

✧ PAIRING: Taeyong (NCT) x Female.

✧ TROPE: Ex-lovers

✧ SUMMARY: Mei has not been able to get over her six-year relationship with Taeyong, which ended suddenly and without a conversation that really allowed her to close that void. A gloomy midnight, the explanations she has been searching for come to shake the feelings she has not been able to leave behind.

✧ WARNINGS: Angst, tiny sexual references.

✧ NOTES: Based on "In my little mind" by Hodge :) It's my first fic and english is not my mother tongue so keep that in mind please!

✧ WORD COUNT: 1k+

Whoever said that time was supposed to heal everything is a liar and owes me an apology. It has been so long, and I've not been able to forget about him ever since. How can I forget about the man of my dreams, my first and only love, the one that made me so cheerful and the one I fumbled so hard by being so insecure about everything?

He tried the best he could, we both know that he did everything he could possibly do for the sake of our relationship, but it wasn’t enough to save us, hoping for a happy ending it’s only for the fairy tales. This was the real world, where he pushed himself so hard to fight for a dried and broken person who just happened to be his long-time girlfriend: the one he was supposed to get married with today, a whole year and a half after his proposal.

Taeyong was persistent, I’ll always give him that. He saw me for who I was and not for what I gave him, he truly looked through me and it was reciprocated, that’s why we dated for almost six years before everything went downhill. Our relationship felt so safe and comfortable, it was one of a kind – it had the kind of spark people spent years longing and searching for, and I swear nothing could have ever prepared me for seeing him holding another girl’s hand down the street, much less for knowing that he now loves her enough to commit to her just six months into dating.

He loves her. At least, enough to give her the commitment he once wanted to give me, to grant her the eternal promise he once asked me for, between soft kisses and tears. Now I'll have to keep on living knowing that I lost him forever, his body is now touched by someone new, the family we always wanted now is something he would accomplish with her new girl, and I will never again be his.

I don’t know why I decided to look for him in the middle of the night with my eyes flooded with tears, knock on his door and watch him open it for me with a confused expression. God knows I wasn’t prepared to see his naked torso again, or his tired face from a long day, his messy hair and pale lips. The sight in front of me took me back to the intimate moments we had, the ones that I could never dare to speak about out loud, they were our secret.

“Mei? What are you doing here at this hour?” he said as he rubbed his eyes, almost trying to convince himself that my presence was not part of his imagination thanks to lack of sleep.

“I missed you, Yong. I don't think you're capable of even imagining how much, I just wanted to see your face again.”

I heard him sigh deeply, not out of relief, but rather in annoyance.

“You can't come to tell me this at this point, Mei. Not after everything that happened.”

My eyes began to sting, which partly annoyed me. I already knew this would be it, I knew there was nothing I could do and that I lost him forever, what did I think was going to happen? that he was going to welcome me back with open arms again? only an idiot would think that. What hurts me most about the whole situation was his obvious discomfort, how the atmosphere felt so uncomfortable, and it was so noticeable the fact that we no longer belonged to each other. I was no longer the bright girl, whose smile was able to light up even the darkest of scenarios, and he was still the noble boy I knew, but on his face, there was no hint of the love he used to have for me.

I was no longer the girl he fell in love with.

“She's going to be here any minute now. Please go home” His eyes were full of pity, he looked at me the same way he did when he decided to break up and I begged him not to. I hated that, to feel that the person I loved the most now felt sorry for me, it hurts me deeply to know that I gave him my heart and now he only sees me in sorrow.

“Please don’t look at me like that, Taeyong.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m some sort of stray puppy. Don’t give me that grieving look.”

For the first time all night I dared to look up, he sighed in defeat and let me pass into his living room. I sat down on the couch and with my fingertips hesitantly touched its surface. This was the sofa I chose, he kept it. It was a very curious thing to see: the way he was with her but kept some of our things, it made me wonder if I still had a place in his heart as well.

As he came back from the kitchen with a glass of water, he looked at me like he was guessing my thoughts and said “Joohyun liked it a lot and said it was okay to keep it.”

So that’s her name: Joohyun.

“Yes, it is a beautiful sofa.” I said, “I remember falling in love with it as soon as I saw it, I couldn't wait to have it in our home.”

I could swear I have seen him squirm when he heard me say "our," as if it was strange and distant to acknowledge that there was ever an "us."

“Yeah, we used to be a team, Taeyong. I do not want to keep pretending we were nothing. We almost got married.” I had to take a sip of water to calm down and evade the urge to cry that had been consuming me since I arrived, especially now that I mentioned the marriage we never got.

“I don’t think I would feel comfortable talking about us, Mei.”

“We need to move on.”

“I have already moved on, Mei. I am getting married next month.”

Fuck.

His crude response was enough to make me settle back in my seat, the awkwardness that infused our conversation in the vast space pressed my heart into my chest. The most painful thing about knowing about someone who is no longer in your life is recognizing that, while you are still stuck in the same place, they seem to move forward more and more each day without you and the space you occupied in their lives is not even full because it no longer seems like it was there in the first place.

“Listen to me, Mei. I am deeply grateful for having spent six wonderful years together with you, for the good and for the not so good. I faithfully believe that you will always be part of my life for what you taught me in our time together, but that time has come to an end and it is time to accept it. I have forgiven your silence, your distance, the way you reflected your insecurities on me, and I only hope that you can forgive my mistakes and that you can move on with someone who is willing to love the new version of you that I will no longer know.”

Again, that sympathetic look.

At this point, my tears could no longer be held back. I felt my cheeks redden, my skin bristle and my eyes sting with intensity. It hurt me, it grieved me to think that the love of my life finally defined me by my mistakes and not by the love we had for each other. And I was no longer his love, but another girl who was now the one who could kiss him when he came home from work and hold his hand while he slept: that was no longer my place and I seemed to be the only one who couldn't accept it.

“I will always love you, Taeyong. I long for the day when I will be able to look you in the face without feeling anxious to go back to what we were, because there is nothing anymore.” I said, almost choking in my own words.

“I’m so sorry, Mei. I hope you shortly find what you long for.”

He offered to drive me home and I accepted, it might be the last time I would see him for some time because I told him I would not want to attend his wedding, and he will soon be moving to the suburbs with fiancé. It was for the best to have one last memory by his side, one last taste of the dailiness I wasted and could have had forever.

That night I slept poorly, and the following nights as well. I dreamed of his kisses, of his touch, of the sweet sound of his moans, everything came back to haunt me night after night preventing me from closing my eyes.

I also hope to shortly find what I'm longing for, Taeyong. In the meantime, I'll keep looking for you in other people until I find someone who makes me feel minimally like you did: in restaurants, in bars, in all the places we used to frequent. I will keep seeing you everywhere until I find you again.

© divinelymind, 2023 (all rights reserved, do not copy or translate without my permission).

[porcupine-girl]

Hidden Blade thoughts!

IT WAS SO GOOD

YIBO WAS SO GOOD

I would've followed a bit better if I understood more about the political landscape of WWII China, but it wasn't too bad. Definitely one of those movies where I want to go back and rewatch it immediately now that I know what I know from the end.

I will put the rest under a cut because very definitely spoilers.

The entire first half, I was kind of confused and disappointed because Yibo's role was barely a background character? I was like... how did he get second billing? How did he catch the critics' attention?

Then he has the scene in the bathroom with his ex-fiance, and from there suddenly he's the main character of the second half of the movie. It's like Tony Leung got half and he got half LOL And he's so damn good in his half.

I don't particularly like or care about fight scenes, but his were so good?? That first one with the bitchslap, he's just explosive. In the bathroom scene he becomes a ticking time bomb that's just waiting for an excuse to go off, and when he does it's breathtaking. But then he manages to just bottle that energy back up as soon as he's done with one fight, and spends the rest of the movie like that. Like every single scene he was in from there on I was convinced he was about to go off and kill someone or at least maim them - he only winds up doing it a few more times, but anytime he's not being violent you can just feel the violence he's bottling up inside radiating out of him. I can 100% see why the NYT chose the words "simmering" and "mesmerizing."

I will admit I might not have been as transfixed during Yibo & Tony's big fight scene (which, the bts is just a tiny clip of a very long scene) if it weren't for the fact that I'd seen the clip of the truck scene so I knew they both survived, so I spent the entire time holding my breath like how the fuck do they both survive this. Like, it just doesn't seem like the kind of fight where one is gonna let the other walk away. But speaking of that...

Two bits my husband and I did not understand by the end:

If Ye was actually on He’s side the whole time, why did they have the huge fight?? Like that seemed way more than necessary just to continue pretending to be on opposite sides. Sure, Ye couldn't have just let He go or vice-versa, but like they both nearly killed the other multiple times, and tbh the only reason Ye survived that fall is movie magic (it might not be wuxia but it did inherit just a smidge from that genre in terms of this fight scene I think). Why such a knock-down drag-out fight if they're actually on the same side? Surely they could've made less look like more.

Then the much smaller thing: Early on, He buys pastries to pass a note to… his wife? It happens so early when you don’t know who anyone is, by the time they come back to it I couldn’t quite remember what had happened. I think it turned out to be his wife. Anyhow, then later the Japanese guy asks what took him so long and he says he was buying dim sum but then produces the pastries??? Why did he say it was dim sum? Such a weird lie to tell when you've got the pastries to show him (I assume He bought two boxes). And the Japanese guy doesn't comment on it or anything. Were the subtitles just mistranslated or something? IDK my husband thought he heard them say dim sum but obviously he wasn't paying close attention to that detail as they were saying it, that was just in retrospect after he realized it wasn't dim sum, so maybe they said something else and it got mistranslated.

Edit: Mystery solved! @trickybonmot says she heard them say 点心 (dianxin), and according to purpleculture.net (whose dictionary is top-notch and I trust way more than Google), that can mean dessert/pastry OR dim sum! So it’s not exactly mistranslated, they just chose the translation that makes less sense to English-speaking audiences.

Overall, btw, the translation was great. SO much smoother and less awkward than literally any TV show I've watched. They had both Mandarin and English subs up the whole time, even when the characters were speaking Japanese or Shanghainese.

It was very violent and there were a lot of things that were highly disturbing in a "horrors of war" kind of way. Like yes some bits were gory but I think the disturbing outweighed the explicitly gory by far.

The nonlinear narrative has gotten mixed reviews; I think it's the kind of thing where if you like that type of storytelling (which I do!) you'll like it and if you don't you won't. If you're neutral idk what you'll think. There were definitely a few times when I wasn't totally sure when we were, but usually it didn't make things outright not make sense. There are also a few scenes that I'm still not sure why we went back to them, but I bet if I rewatched it those choices would make more sense.

It was definitely communist propaganda, but I don't think that was heavy-handed. They just showed the communists as definitely The Good Guys of the war. Obviously Japan was The Bad Guy, but they kind of just pushed the non-communist Chinese nationalists to one side and ignored them? IDK, again I might not understand the politics or get the references well enough to know how they actually handled it, but it mostly seemed like that side was more ignored than, like, actively portrayed as bad the way the Japanese were. It doesn't actually, like, make any claims about why communism is good or anything, it's more like “communists” just happens to be the name of the good guys in this war. The ideology itself makes like one brief appearance when Ye's ex-fiance talks about laborers, and even then she says maybe I'll marry a laborer or an intellectual and I was like 😬 and how did communism work out for the intellectuals in 20-30 years? Not sure if that was actually a subtle dig on Cheng Er's part or not.

Anyhow I am very excited to talk about the movie with anyone who's seen it, or I can answer questions for anyone who hasn't!

[flytohurt]

Hi, sorry if this is a weird question or you've answered it before, but what do you think about all the stuff with Darby and Hawlee? I like Darby but people bring it up all the time and I never know what to think.

i’m sorry this took 400 years to answer. i’ve been trying to find a way to answer it that won’t just cause an eruption of hate in my inbox but honestly it’s gonna happen regardless so whatever lmao

the short version is i think it was a bad relationship that she used for extortion. i’ll explain why under the cut if you’re interested. i know myself & some of my mutuals left twitter to get away from this subject, so this is probably the only time i’ll be responding publicly about it.

to put the extortion claim in context, they trained together & he immediately got booked for bigger indie promotions. by the time she first came out with her claims, he was already signed with AEW & had been on PPV. when she named him over a year later, he was coming off his first championship run & starting to get momentum with Sting. she still hasn’t gotten anywhere in her career, & i think it’s pretty reasonable to say it would hurt to see someone you started out with being so successful if you’re not the kind of person to use that as motivation to better yourself.

Darby also has no known pattern of abuse, there’s no corroboration to her story from anyone who was close with them (not even a vague “yeah i remember how horrible he was to you”), & he was cleared in the internal investigation by TK. the industry as a whole has started taking allegations like that far more seriously post-Benoit so i really don’t believe they would have cleared him if there was any doubt. a still-up-&-coming company can’t afford a hit like that.

this is just speculation but if he really was cleared by text messages or DMs like some have reported, then it’s within reason that she was trying to get him to help her get a push somewhere, & if he said no, probably said she’d retaliate, ruin his career, etc.

on to the SA bit. i would like to be very clear that i am not saying she was outright lying - i wasn’t there & didn’t have any connections to him at the time to know 100% for sure.

however, it’s completely valid to not want to be with someone whose sexual desires don’t line up with yours. Darby is very likely demisexual. he’s been open & forthcoming about needing to really be in love before wanting to have sex, & otherwise it’s not on his radar. that doesn’t really check the box of a sexually violent individual.

i also know from personal experience that what may be interpreted as coercion can be incorrect when you’re emotionally fucked up, & disconnected from your partner. your own mind/body can be just as disconnected & one will be trying to tell you what you may not be consciously aware of yet.

of course this is only my experience but my ex & i had nearly an identical relationship to what she described. he would scream & hit/break things, serial cheated on me, & took out his own frustrations on me. we’d have fights that escalated to physicality on occasion, & i became emotionally abusive back to him as a result of all of that. i would disassociate, shut down completely, & not speak to him for fear of instigating a fight. he would threaten to leave me because we weren’t having sex, would even be physically aggressive about it, but it wasn’t actually about sex.

after well over 5 years of reflection & even talking to him about it recently, he was really just desperate for affection & he considered intimacy to be sexual. my body reacted negatively to him & i misinterpreted what was happening, because my definition of intimacy was different. i no longer wanted physical intimacy because there was no real connection in our relationship anymore. we just didn’t know how to not be together & kept digging ourselves deeper into the hole with the on again/off again pattern instead of just accepting it & finding partners who actually aligned with us.

i don’t like PK but i do think she was right in her response. people change & grow from their mistakes. being the person who was married to him at the time all this came out means she’s the one who’d know him best at this current point of his life. & that’s all that matters in my book.

[lamarckianenterprises]

My Completely Unofficial and Uncategorized Real Time Reactions and Thoughts about the Comprehensive Disco Elysium Investigation by People Make Games: (Thinking about this for most of the night led to a fight with someone I'm dating and I think that's very on brand with DE)

Watching the video

In their opening preamble they stated that they interviewed 16 employees both former and current who worked closely with him who claim that Kurvitz was just a cunt actually (A significant amount of people since the original team was around 30 and the current one is only a hundred or so) They spend a lot of time at the start talking about how this isn’t as black and white as it seems.

Complicated post release company share charts galore.

Apparently no one working on Disco Elysium had uhhh, worked on a game really before that, and this was all Kender's idea

There's a lot of accounting shenanigans for Ilmar Kompus and his business partner whose name I have already forgotten to just straight up hide their real income from the Estonian government solely to avoid paying any of the 11 million they collectively owe in fines paid out to investors of the Baku scam/scandal.

Said business partner's stake in Zaum UK was owned under a shell company named after a five team sailing boat he sails with an ex lover who owns said shell company

Also Ilmar Kompus obtained the majority share of ZAUM Studio (the Estonian parent company that does not own the IP, the IP is in ZAUM UK) by buying Margus Linnamae's shares directly either supposedly without telling the others or after telling the others

LMAO KENDER CLAIMED IN A LAWSUIT THAT HE FINANCED IT NOT ONLY BY TAKING OUT A LOAN UNDER THE NAME OF A BRITISH BASED ZAUM CHILD COMPANY, BUT BY BUYING THE IP RIGHTS FOR A GAME FROM ZAUM FOR 1 POUND AND SELLING IT BACK FOR 4.8 MILLION EUROS

>He dropped the lawsuit and went on to defend ZAUM and the share sale from Kurvitz and Rostov's lawsuit??? 

Why

The more I learn about the Disco Elysium case the more this sounds like a classic faustian bargain thing or Dickensian novel, the absolute worst people you have ever known got together to make a game no matter the consequences and no matter their initial lack of skills and connections

I'm currently watching the interviews but won't comment on them until I watch all of them

Ilmar at least seems capable of remaining calm and maintaining the same story even if his deflections and replies aren't always the most convincing

But the key takeaways is that he claims that the shareholder agreement in Newelysium, the company set up for the sequel's development and IP which mainly benefits Kurvits, and the others (20% vs his 5%) was essentially used as a carrot to dangle in front of them to agree to his use of company funds to buy out those shares for himself, and that he claims that them trying to single out Tomi Haavel's sus financial arrangements as an example of his duplicity is wrong because they had agreed to those terms and hashed it out with Tomi before he hopped on as a fellow shareholder in the UK branch that owns the IP

Also his justification for their firing was that by the time of the final cut literally none of them were working properly, with Kurvitz supposedly providing no new writing and the credited lead writer for the Final Cut mostly underperforming and another writer, Justin Keenan needing to do the majority of her work

Above and beyond what said other employees took as time away from work to resolve their own burnouts from the grueling development cycle of DE

He mostly defers on the allegations of toxicity, gender discrimination, etc because he's not in a position to legally say anything and wasn't personally there for it to begin with, but he does say that the alleged IP theft attempt was the straw that broke the camel's back. We're not cycling into the interviews with ZA/UM employees both past and present, with one agreeing to come forward on the record with their name on it to represent the viewpoint of the employee and not just the executive guy who'd benefit from Kurvitz eating shit

>The interview is with the Cuno writer

You had my interest before but 👀

>He's also an old friend of Kurvitz and an original member of both ZA/UM the cultural group and their weird little high school dropout anarchist commune gang thing

Huh, apparently Kaur's father was the prototype for Harrier, especially the throwing up thing, that was something that happened to his father

The writer also did Evart, Harrier's boss, the tribunal scene and the hardy boys among other things. He personally feels slighted by Robert because Robert claimed that he wrote half of the million words in DE and while he's not surprised that he lied about that (he's said it before to his face), he does personally think it's innaccurate especially with 3 other non Robert and him writers credited

He describes his relationiship and friendship with Robert the way an ex cult member would describe their former leader

Robert (Kurvitz) apparently had this magnetic charisma that made people look to him for leadership, which was a mistake because he had absolutely no leadership skills or a proper understanding of what being a leader meant 

He said that when he first met Robert, he was a young man and Robert to him was almost like a God in terms of how cool he was and how inspiring he seemed. It wasn't until he married his then wife that the weirdness of their relationship was pointed out, and he fell out of that, and tried to form a more normal friendship over the course of development only to realize that he was beginning to fall back into that over time

He was generally short and inconsiderate with other people's feelings, communication wasn't his strong side

Generally stuff like the programmers trying to show him something they were working on and him saying no that's garbage I can't work while looking at this it's demoralizing me, and they come back with a finished copy and he just says its bullshit and they need to start over. When it comes to writing, during the first draft editing process he would often do things such as looking at about four days of work essentially, an entire hub in a dialogue tree, and go, "Nah this doesn't work, it's bullshit" and deleted it

He (Argo) personally learned to cope with it and taking criicism that way, but he's had convos with other writers before and understands that it is pretty toxic 

>DE had a fucking nine month long crunch period before initial release 

With an average of about 1 to 2 nights spent without rest per week

He reacts to Ilmar's accusation that the three hadn't done much work by going:

For about 3 to 4 months after release everyone was basically expected not to do any work.

He feels that Rostov was probably the one most burnt out by the experience

And the most work Robert did was a tiny, or at least unacceptable amount of work for drafting up concepts for the sequel among two years and doing a kickoff meeting for the political sequels, otherwise he did not contribute to the Final Cut or did much during those two years.

Helen had a very hands off approach to leading, to the point where he personally enjoyed just kinda having no one to answer to, but little actually got done under her direct leadership even if she didn't do no work at all

Also his description of them originally working in a formerly squatted office where water leaks into the server room and the electricity would turn off and on makes me wonder if the next DE project just needs to be a The Making of the Room style mockumentary

He feels that while Robert should still be allowed to work with the world of Elysium, he also feels like the man wasn't like, the sole creator of it, he was instrumental but so are a lot of people who are being labelled as 'demonic money men' who you know

ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO FUCKING RUN A COMPANY AND ADVERTISE AND GET A GAME DEVELOPED AND PUBLISHED, among other things

He just kinda thinks that Robert is presenting himself as the sole creator of the world and the reason why it all worked to begin with when he was in truth just, the guy who worked on the original idea and fleshed it out through tabletop games and a novel

He does hold a more favorable view on Rostov though as does many employees, who seem to think of him as being like, caught up in a problem Robert started with his departure being a real shame

Helen has apparently been in a romantic relationship with Robert for years before ZA/UM was a thing so they're putting a pin on that and continuing with the other employee interviews they can now publish as people are willing to go on record

The people are Petteri Sulonen the 'lead technologist', Kaspar Tamsalu a lead artist and original Estonian employee group member and Justin Keenan, the current lead writer who is credited as being the one mostly behind the Final Cut's writing despite Helen's credit as a lead writer 

(They fucking decided to post snippets from each in sequence instead of coherent snippets from one complete interview to the next why) Kaspar states that he is disappointed in Rostov personally as a friend of him from their teenage years, Petteri says that this was probably the most likely outcome as anything else would have required Robert to actively change how he relates to other people and their work, and Justin states that Robert always had an inner circle following him who seemed to enjoy special privileges from being close to him

And that it was dispiriting for everyone out of said circle because they could essentially get away with doing anything as much or as little as they liked while everyone else had to pick up the slack

Kaspar states that in 2021 Rostov asked him to take over as art lead while he stepped away from the studio for a month, which slowly turned into three that led to Robert suspiciously wanting to take a two month vacation with only people from his in group, which included Rostov 

He says that they (Rostov and Robert) had essentially mentally checked out during the time the studio started to really formalize and define itself after DE's release, both in terms of policies such as healthcare and just, general working environment and culture

Justin wrote the moralist and communist quest and kinda states that by the time of Final Cut the already smaller team also had to deal with the three checking out, with him basically having to work on them on his own outside of a few conversations. He accuses Helen of doing no writing as far as he's aware of, and also just, not communicating absolutely anythign a leader should communicate or really doing much leading. He cites that they didn't know what the deadlines were on the Final Cut because she didn't tell them

So the four writers working on the Final Cut ended up kinda, working by themselves while checking up on each other by themselves

Robert apparently told Kaspar straight up that his idea was to spend seven years working on the next project by himself with three other people, two writers and Rostov as the only artist which uhhhh, obviously Kaspar didn't take well since he was in the middle of moving to the UK to follow after the game's new development center after quitting his previous job to do so??? Rostov tried to wave it away by saying that Robert was just being him and having weird wording but then the vacation was announced and he kinda wondered why Robert specifically needed these people to be rested up to work on the sequel

Robert tasked Justin to assign test work to two junior writers who had been working on the Final Cut to develop what could be major quests in the sequel to see if they were worth taking on in the core team. He felt that was unfair but did it anyway, workshopped it between them and Argo, and they did really great work apparently but a year into Robert's sabbatical he said he was taking a two month holiday with his inner circle, and told Justin that he wouldn't have the time to give them his review of their work, and told him to give them the bad news that they weren't going to be on the core team even though their work was great to them

Assured him he had reviewed their work, left on vacation, and a few months later he apparently revealed in a one to one convo with one of said writers that he hadn't actually read or reviewed said work at all

Kaspar notes that said inner circle kinda, made decisions that affected other people in the company mostly based on how they felt at the time without really considering how it would affect other people along with just, kinda disappearing from time to time. And the biggest red flag was when Rostov and Robert sat down with him and Justin at fall 2021 to talk about how while they were still in talks with everyone else and that while it is still going well, they were thinking of taking him and Justin and essentially forming their own studio when they were ready which uhhh, Kaspar had just upgraded from couch surfing to signing a one year no break clause tenancy in an apartment in the UK and was going to be a father and all that and just couldn't like, hop off to follow them along like he had no other responsibilities.

Apparently literally three days before Kaspar's one way flight to the UK, Robert called them for another meeting where he triumphantly declared that he was going to approach Ilmar with a deal that Kaspar begged him not to do because it would get him fired. Justin corroborates by saying that Robert said that this project was his masterpiece and that he couldn't report to anyone on it, he essentially wanted to be the sole creative director for 'his' project, and that he had an idea he thinks could work for convincing the executive producers to let him back on.

He wanted to shelve the sequel, and ask Kaspar and Justin to essentially state that they couldn't do it now and wanted to work on some smaller project instead, and that Robert would work under their lead throughout this project solely to show to the executive producers that he was trustworthy, that for the sequel he could be trusted with regaining his rightful seat as the sole creative director.

Justin then pointed out that if this project went well, which he also didn't want to do because he came here to work on the sequel to begin with, why wouldn't they just go, "Oh hey these two did a great job as the creative leads, why don't we just get them to lead the sequel?" instead of just assigning it to Robert, and Robert literally just went, "Because you'll tell them to." 

Petteri essentially vague posts about how Robert suggested he do something for them that would have immediately gotten him fired as a start. Kompus had rather bluntly stated that Petteri was asked to share the source code for DE straight up with him on November the 2nd which Petteri himself corroborates as being true, although he does note that he only told the executives about this conversation a few months after Robert's dismissal, and that this couldn’t have been the reason why he (Robert) was fired.

I really appreciate PMG's initial preface that while it is tempting to approach this from a purely black and white, heroes and villains view, the real situation just like pretty much everything about real life is much more complex than that. Because it does seem like while people accuse them of both sidings a lot, it's just... yeah sometimes it's just like that.

Because an hour and a half in this seems to be about a group of committed bank frauding capitalists teaming up with completely no name anarchist writers, painters and tabletop RPG players of varying national notoriety to make a video game despite literally no one having experience in that field. And the fucking anarchists were the most unbearable people to work with somehow.

Ilmar is almost definitely lying about a lot of things but apparently Tomi was just... a good executive producer???? Everyone has only had nice things to say about him so far???? The literal, I was involved in a 11 million euro investment scandal ten years ago guy just did a good job??? 

He's skeezy as all hell and all of his earnings goes through at least one shell company to avoid paying estonian debts but like, He was one of the people who helped turn a literal group of no name randos with no previous credit other than a book that sold like, a thousand copies nationally and the worst possible office setup known to man into an award winning game development studio

Kaspar and Petteri closes I think to say that while they can understand why an outsider who wasn't in the office and working with them would buy into the good and evil narrative, it is also still bullshit and apparently people online send Kaspar death threats.

LMAO PMG LITERALLY JUST PULLED THE VIEWER ASIDE TO GO, "HEY IF YOU'RE A FAN OF DE THEN YOU'RE PROBABLY A LITTLE COMMUNIST SO MAYBE CONSIDER NOT SENDING THESE EMPLOYEES WHO JUST SPOKE UP ABOUT THIS DEATH THREATS"

Anyway I think it's kind of interesting that Ilmar was completely confident with having the entirety of his video uploaded to youtube while the trio specifically asked that it not be shared because they may say something that their lawyers would find inadvisable

Robert states that the original production essentially suffered through a hellish production cycle where everyone was sorta expected to put up and try their best to fulfill completely unrealistic production times repeatedly until they finally got it done, with Helen corroborating to say that he and Rostov had essentially done crazy shit like work on this thing from waking up at 4 AM to 11 PM regularly. 

Robert states that the original contract for the company holding his IP was essentially until three games or a time limit was passed 

I need to stop to say that I can feel that there was a very strong and intentional choice by PMG to present Robert, Rostov, and Helen's take after building up as strong of a case against them as possible, they even went so far as to like, show the thumbnail and title of a youtube essay strongly endorsing their case during the preamble as an example of one of the many supporting the overall good vs evil narrative of an IP being stolen away from its creator. 

Somehow despite him being literally what most of us would think of as an underdog and being in the right in this situation, everything he says seems inherently suspect somehow, like I’ve been trained to question everything he says. I keep having to remind myself not to switch to using ‘alleges’ instead of states for example.

It's in the little things, but mostly in the way the non Rostov and Robert corroborators have had their credentials and stakes in defending him already prequestioned for me. Helen is one of the main three and also a former lover of Robert, the only other person in this segment who isn't one of the three is literally described as being a producer and Rostov's wife.

Rostov and Yuan Zhang-Taal (who is said former producer at ZA/UM and Rostov’s wife) paint a picture of him essentially, flaming out by the end of it but gracefully like he was finally happy to just kinda, accomplish it, finish their great work, and the pandemic kinda helped with that because now he could focus on resting without even being expected to leave the house to go the office for example, but the general announcement of the Final Cut, led to a growing sense of stress and nervousness to him as more and more was expected of him again (I can get that a little actually, the fear of like, being expected to go back to that extreme level of crunch can stay with you a while). Yuan states that while he did less work then when compared to the terrifying crunch that was DE’s production cycle, that crunch wasn’t something you could normalize to begin with without destroying yourself.

Robert states that the permanent transfer of the IP was presented to him by Kender as a way to deal with a problematic major shareholder who was the cause behind the deadlines and financing unlike Ilmar who was presented as having fought for them every step of the way, he also states that throughout the process he hadn’t talked to any lawyer, he had no legal representation or consultation of any kind. And thought that since he was being offered authoritarian protections that would supposedly give him creative control over his right’s work, it seemed like something he should do.

Rostov continues to say that yes he did basically just rest for about two whole years he did do that.

Helen states that she was essentially just, handed the position of lead writer along with overseeing the Voice over work for every single goddamn line in the entire fucking game, which she kinda, just had to figure out. She states that the Final Cut’s release date was unknown to her until around mid August, when it was essentially told to her in a general meeting with everyone by Kaur that writing would cease completely in two weeks, and that the game would be released in March next year.

According to Helen during a slack convo Kender admitted that he had essentially messed up as a producer and forgor to tell her about the release date, but that he was essentially fine with her just giving him a new date for when everything would probably be fine and ready to hand over to the VO department.

Yuan was apparently brought on later in DE Final Cut’s development, and found it strange that Kaur and Tomi accused Helen of just straight up lying about when the deadline was and being a lazy worker when she knows and works with Helen and knows that she’s doing her best. 

Helen tried calling Kaur and getting them to all just sit down and hash it out but Kaur just went oh no it’s fine just keep working. Tomi just straight up called her and started screaming at her for being terrible at her job and unsuited to leadership though while asking her to step down, it came off as being fired at the time, and apparently another writer in the same room could hear her being screamed at through her headphones.

With all of the prequestioning and literally everyone else who works there who's interview is shown outside of the big three shittalking them Helen comes off at best as like, being Peter principled. She did such a good job as a writer that she got promoted to a lead writer, a mostly managerial role who'll also help coordinate how lines are to be delivered by the VOs and then was just sort of dogshit at it.

She responds to the allegations by Kompus and the two other writers about the complete lack of presence as a leader and her lack of work as a writer with no new words supposedly being written by instead going on a tangent about how ZA/UM shuffled her around companies every 2 years to avoid crediting her properly and giving her proper benefits that a worker would have in the UK after being a contracted worker for two years in the same company. 

She literally just goes, "I respect these writers but anyway let me talk about how Za/Um screwed me over and are now finally acknowledging that yes I did work as a lead writer"

Robert tries to present himself and Rostov as being victims of a push from the top to demote them from the lead in future creative projects, and trying to distract them by playing them off of each other to get them to fight, but PGM immediately calls bullshit on that in the video when compared to what other employees have said  and cuts to a clip of ARgo saying that no in fact Rostov was pushed to demote himself by Robert himself who essentially gaslit the man by preying on his insecurities by trying to convince him that he was unfit to lead. Going on until Rostov approached the producers and they came up with a scheme where every creative lead would have an administrative counterpart, Kaspar with Rostov and Justin with Robert. 

The Administrative leads would not only be creative partners but also be the ones to talk to the producers and manage the day to day work of the writing and art teams apparently, basically one person had final say sort of about the creative direction, and the other basically did all of the actual lead work of actually taking care of the team (which Robert is continuously portrayed as being bad at). 

Robert seemed fine with this at first since he could essentially focus on writing, but after a month or so he realized that he basically was just a writer and only the defacto head, and he would keep complaining about it during the zoom meetings the writers would hold, while also apparently trying to get Rostov to be dissatisfied with it too despite this whole thing being his idea???

He apparently managed to convince Rostov to be dissatisfied with this and they approached the producers to tell them that they were ready to lead once more, which uhhh, none of the other writers (except possibly for Helen) really wanted on Robert’s case.

Roberts refutes Ilmar’s claim that he had talked to them beforehand about the necessity of him using company funds to buy out the major stockholder share for himself, and Helen states that she was the one who found out about the shift. Roberts asserts that he had thought Tomi’s shell company was actually Ilmar’s this whole time, and had asked him why he had effectively a 40% share in the IP company, and what they got out of all this. And he mentions a heated email exchange/thread that interestingly enough, Ilmar himself provided to PMG.

It mainly concerns Roberts and Rostov wanting to be more involved in the company both as shareholders and employees, and setting up emails about the future of the company, asking about company docs, figuring out what their roles would be in Disco Elysium 2. But around November Roberts became the only one messaging in the thread, apparently asking for basic documents that he should already have had access to? And Ilmar had just checked out of the exchange, building up to a meeting at about 9th that ended with the trio getting fired a week or so afterwards. 

Roberts had gone into shock after realizing what had happened and Helen and he had spent an entire day basically just dealing with UK mental health services to deal with it. He reiterates Kaur Kender’s claims, and throws shade on the IP Ilmar had supposedly shuffled around in the company. Also he states that despite being shareholders in Newelysium, both he and Rostov were completely unaware of its incorporation which is just wild to me, he states that Rostov had just signed onto it as director but don’t you need to like, actually get the permission of shareholders of the company you are making before giving them shares in the UK?

Robert also states that he was unaware of Anu Reiman (Tomi’s wife/partner) receiving funds from ZA/UM. And that they were approached by Ilmar with a substantial offer monetarily to resolve the case, get bought out from ZA/UM, and essentially become the Notch of DE.

They dispute that toxicity was the cause for their firing, as they state that the timelines and reasons for it have shifted over time with each new case, and that the original reason given was that they were attempting to steal the IP and sell it to other companies, which they dispute. They interestingly enough chose a set of big names in game development as the ones they were accused of approaching although according to PMG none of those companies or John Sawyer was the one any employee has mentioned, with the most common one being the BG3 developers Larian. Chris Bratt (The PMG guy covering this) notes that he’s never quite understood how this would have worked anyway or whether any of this was based in truth, and honestly same, were they just going to make Tesco Elysian or something???

Argo’s statements are mentioned to Robert, and he initially claims that he asks himself everyday if he is a good leader or if he’s doing a good enough job, but that a lot of these allegations come from people who took money from him illegally (Ilmar), but he does eventually admit that yes a lot of people other than him may have been hurt as well, especially during the arduous production process. 

Chris Bratt states that after he posed these questions, the vibes in the room felt off and he could later on tell that Robert was pretty clearly upset so he like, softballed the questions from then on. Which yes was obviously a mistake but I can sorta understand why, I guess maintaining goodish relations with them did allow him to get followup interviews with Rostov and followup emails after the other employees had come forward as willing to go on the record though.

He really softballs the year long sabbatical question goddamn. But yeah Roberts basically says that he was extremely drained from the 12 hour days he had taken up until that point and really needed the break and it was so sad that Rostov didn’t get someone who could take his place like Roberts did and Kaur Kender kept shitting on him and he and Tomi were also always dissatisfied with Helen despite the incredible job she was doing. He defends it as a necessary way to recover from his post development burnout, and that he in fact had put in normal amounts of work throughout that period. 

Rostov also points out that said two months of vacation, which Argo also joined, was necessary to get into the right mindset to prepare concepts for the next game. Roberts also pointed out that it wasn’t a privilege, just the exact amount of days allowed by British Law as mandatory vacation time each year taken out in one sitting. 

Yeah I think the employee interviews were a great idea, especially presented in the order they were. Rostov, Robert, and Helen are doing their best to like, dispel the accusations, state that they aren’t really an issue or anywhere near as bad as they seem, and that the image of Robert presented is really just a caricature of who he is to advance a message or viewpoint and like, I don’t know man, I’m pretty sure you three have been doing that with Ilmar, Kender, and Tomi as well, potentially deserved or not it feels like a weak appeal to me. And a lot of it comes off as a classic like, “I’m sorry that you felt that way” apology outside of the complete lack of like, need to defend himself Robert has noted.

At least he does state that people shouldn’t harass ZA/UM employees though, which is nice but idk it’s buried 2 hours and 14 minutes into a video that’s mostly been about questioning and prodding at his statements so far I don’t know if this will really stop anyone who believes him enough to send death threats at a complete stranger.

While Helen, Robert, and Rostov has vehemently denied that their behavior has been called into question until after their dismissal, Ilmar Kompus has provided a slack message from a few months before their dismissal that if true would prove otherwise. It's apparently five months before his firing and from Tomi, referring to Robert’s behavior in a meeting he wasn’t invited to but jumped into anyway when he took the headset from Helene. 

Interesting to note that it’s actually a screenshot they showed us near the very start of the video, the one that very politely tells Kurvits that he is being an ass but that if he is willing to change they are still willing to work with him. I didn’t know that it was sent by Tomi at the time so honestly I still maintain that as shady and possibly criminal as he is, the man seems to just… be doing his best as an executive producer, and he seems to be doing ok, which is hilarious to me personally.

Kurvits’s reaction to the allegations made in the interview to the four employees including someone who's known him since his teenage years that he was:

Consistently inconsiderate of other people's feelings in a way that could yes create a toxic work environment

Tried to convince one of them to steal DE's source code for him

Tried to convince two of them to start a whole other side project just to make him look good to allow him to be the sole lead of DE 2

Gaslit the art lead into wanting to step down after DE's release

Had an inner circle that he regularly favored who could essentially do anything they want and coudl slack off and expect other workers to make up for it

Seemed convinced that he was the most victimized and tired and beaten down by the crunch and that after all of this collaborative work that Elysium was entirely his baby.

Etc.

Was quite literally just virtue signaling, by, and I’m paraphrasing here, going, "Loe and behold the crooked capitalists and conmen are trying to drive an artificial wedge between us poor and downtrodden workers, all of this has consumed our lives and damaged us irreparably, I would relinquish my shares for free but it is my only recourse for justice and as a writer I need to believe in something and I happen to believe in communism etc"

But also I do need to note, he added, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Art isn't about ending decades long friendships with someone because you realize that they were unbearable to work with and they are no longer an idol to worship over what initially started as petty disagreements and uncomfortable behavior.” and uh, no that’s exactly what art is about, that’s literally how most bands end, shush.

Massive props to Chris Bratt of PMG for immediately noting how outrageous he personally finds the email to be. I don’t think we watch 2 and a half hour long video essays for complete objectivity anyway (if that even exists to be blunt) and yeah it is pretty scummy that he’s trying to deflect entirely 

This all feels like one of those problems that could have been resolved if there was a reasonable adult to try and get them to sit down and hash it out among each other to clear up what are mostly just, basic communication and treatable behavioral issues. Unfortunately everyone in the room was either doing bank fraud or needed therapy at best.

I guess the main takeaway from this is just. Two things can be true at the same time, both siding is bad when it's like, someone from a country saying that since another country does unrelated bad things, everyone from that country should shut up about the bad things their country is doing or has done. But this isn't whataboutism, it's literally just, "Hey actually maybe he is a cunt as well, Maybe the employees are speaking against him not because they feel the need to defend Ilmar to keep their paycheck but because Roberts was in fact just not a good team lead at best and aggravating and unbearable at worst" 

But what I really hate is that Disco Elysium and its devs are communist adjacent enough that they have easy virtues to signal to in this case. I’m not saying that Ilmar’s hands are clean, but it’s not a good look when you pander to worker’s rights and collective action every single time someone mentions personal criticism of you and your work.

Also someone with actual money pay PMG please I'm too brokeass to do it myself. I think they did a really good job on this one.

[apinchofm]

The Miriam and Matthew used to be married AU based on this post lol

@matthewsblue @dreamofme9 @xxskycrystalxx @spitefularmand

Diana knew Miriam and Matthew and Marcus were close. The three were colleagues and Marcus was Matthew's son.

It was Ysabeau, who referred to Miriam as 'her dearest daughter' and would look to her son with a pointed look that informed her something was happening between them.

It was Marcus who confirmed it and it explained his reluctance to get too close. In the woods behind her childhood home, he explained.

"She's my mother." Marcus said, his eyes more serious than he had ever been, "She and Matthew were married."

She did not know that.

"She's his wife?" Sarah asked sharply. Her esitmation of Matthew had gone down even further.

"My father has a knack for secrets." Marcus continued walking, and she walked with him, Sarah and Emily close behind intruiged.

"They were married until 1878 when they divorced." Marcus said, "Or rather, my brother and I asked them too."

"Does he love her?" Diana asked quietly.

"Of course, they still love each other." Marcus said frankly, "But not like that. Not anymore. Not for a long time, I do not think."

Matthew and Miriam were two halves, so alike which is why they had worked so well and why they fell apart.

They saw the two speaking in a hushed language Diana did not understand. They stopped when they sensed the group. Marcus smiled at the two of them, waving. They both raised their hands and waved back to him.

She felt like some sort of intruder in an intimate moment as if she was not with Matthew now.

"Hey, Miriam." Diana greeted awkwardly. She had used her magic on Marcus' mother.

"Dr Bishop," Miriam said stonily.

"Why did you not tell me about the tea Marthe had you make?" Matthew demanded sharply.

"Because it didn't matter." Diana protested, "There was no harm done."

"You mean the contraception tea?" Emily asked.

Matthew looked to Miriam, who remained unbothered, her eyes bored as he pulled out his phone, and marching away.

"It was not your business to get involved." Diana hissed, angry with the ancient vampire.

"I'm already in it, Diana. Your relationship with Matthew puts every creature in this property in danger. It will change everything, whether you two have children or not. And now he's brought the Knights of Lazarus into it." Miriam was as furious as Diana was, if not more, her brown eyes alit, as her eyes darted to Marcus.

"The more creatures who sanction your relationship, the likelier it is that there will be war."

"Don't be ridiculous - war?" Diana scoffed, believing she was being overdramatic.

"Your and my ex-husband's actions could get my sons killed," Miriam said sharply, "Since you walked into the Bodleian, he's lost control of his senses. And the last time he lost his senses over a woman, my first husband died."

Diana was taken aback by that.

"What happened?" Sarah asked, sympathy and interest clear. She already did not trust Matthew.

"Umi..." Marcus said quietly. He was by her side as if wishing to stop a fight.

"Would you like to know how Matthew and I' 's marriage began? It was because my husband was executed in his place the last time he was so obsessed with a mortal woman - Eleanor. He accidentally killed her when he and Lucius got into a fight. Someone one had to pay, and because Matthew was a grandmaster, he could not. So Bertrand did."

"I am sorry. I am. But I am not Eleanor, and this isn't Jerusalem." Diana said.

Miriam nodded, a look in her eye that reminded Diana of a lioness protecting her prey, "It is yesterday to me. Matthew likes wanting what he should not have, and he will always kill for it. Now, I have two sons to keep alive whilst Matthew obsesses over you. And I do still love him. But I will not hesitate to eliminate any threat to them."

"Wait, so you still married him?" Saraha asked,

"A brother must take care of his brother's widow." Marcus said as if it was simple, "And besides, they got me!" He grinned at Miriam, whose eyes softened at him.

"Get a haircut, Thoams." Miriam simply said to him and he pouted, running his hands through his messy brown hair.

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

Temporary

They're fighting again.

Daniel doesn't even remember how the fight started, only how it ended. And it ended ugly. He may have told Armand that he was the worst thing that ever happened to him.

After that, Armand had tears in his eyes. It had instantly made Daniel feel like shit, but Armand asked him to leave when he tried to apologize.

So now he's ate a bar, pissed off and guilty and once again desperate for Armand's affection. He hopes that Armand didn't mean forever when he asked him to leave.

“I recognize that look. Girl trouble?”

It's close enough, so Daniel says back “The worst kind.”

He turns to look at the stranger who spoke and it's a woman around his age. Big brown hair, clear gray eyes. One of her eyebrows is half blonde. She's pretty, in a way. Her nose is too big and her mouth too wide for her to truly be beautiful, but she's easy on the eyes. She's got shit for tits, but she isn't wearing a bra under her black tank top and Daniel can see the press of her nipples against the fabric. She's wearing tight jeans that show her shapely legs off. Not an unappealing person to spend his evening with.

“Yeah, same.” The woman clicks her beer bottle to his.

Daniel acts on impulse saying “I show you mine if you show me yours?”

She smiles and it lights her whole face up. Boyfriend—ex boyfriend now—proposed to me. Didn't like my answer.”

“Ouch,” Daniel says. “Mine's a bit complicated. Gives me everything except the one thing I want.”

“Commitment?” she guesses. And isn't that what it is in the end? Daniel wants to be with Armand forever, Armand only wants Daniel a little while. It's why he won't turn him—Daniel isn't his everything the way Armand is his.

“I want us together forever, they don't want to do what it takes to make that happen.”

She peers at him. She's already a little drunk, Daniel realizes. Well, he'll just have to catch up. He chugs his bottle down and signals for another. “I'll tell you what I told my fellow,” she says. “You can either waste your time chasing someone who will only ever see you as temporary, or you can find someone who sees you as permanent.”

That's...probably good advice, actually. Daniel looks her over head to foot. Decides, why the hell not? “Wouldn't mind finding something temporary right now.”

She grins, takes a slow swallow of her beer. Sticks out her hand to take his. “The name's Alice. Wanna come back to mine?”

/

His key doesn't work when he comes back home the next night. It isn't the first time Armand has changed the locks on him, but Daniel hadn't expected it to happen so soon. He came prepared though; he's brought Armand a gift.

Daniel knocks on the door. “Armand?”

It's difficult to knock and keep the box in his arms, but he manages. It's an espresso machine. Not a typical apology gift, but Armand went through a phase with blenders and microwaves. Daniel figures he can't go wrong with kitchen appliances.

He hears Armand moving on the other side of the door. “I'm still angry with you, Daniel.”

Daniel shifts the box in his arms and sighs. He was really hoping not to have to go rounds with Armand today. “Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, okay? I'm a dick.”

“Go away, Daniel.”

Daniel wonders if Armand really kicks him out—and he never really does, he just needs space sometimes, that's all—he can get Alice to let him crash with her again tonight. He left with less than a hundred bucks cash on him, and he doesn't have anyone he can spend the night with. “Please, baby. Let me make it up to-”

“Whose Alice?” And right, mind reading. Armand typically doesn't do it as often now, now that Daniel earned his love. Except for when they argue, because he isn't above cheating, the bastard.

“She's nobody, baby. It didn't mean anything.”

Armand is quiet for a long moment, then he says mildly, “Then you won't mind if I kill her?”

Shit. Shit. He likes Alice. She's good people. Certainly not someone who deserves to die because he fucked up. “Aw, come on. Don't take it out on her. It's me you're mad at.”

Armand says nothing. Shit shit shit.

“I brought you a present,” Daniel tries. He sits down the box when Armand doesn't answer. “You gonna let me in?”

“No.”

Daniel swears. Fuck this. He's getting in one way or another. He needs to make things right with Armand. So he goes around to the back door. It's also locked, and his key doesn't work. But the back door has a small window built into it, covered by thick, blackout dark curtains.

He punches the window. It hurts like hell, but it cracks. He hits it again, and the glass shatters, leaving a small hole. Daniel pushes his arm through and unlocks the door, pushes his way inside.

Armand is there in the kitchen waiting for him. He's looking at him with dark, dilated eyes. “You're bleeding.”

And Daniel is, scratches all the way up his arm to his shoulder. His hand has broken glass smashed into it, and there's a wicked gash across his knuckles. He barely notices. “You're worth it.”

Armand makes a small noise, then launches himself into Daniel's arms. One moment he is across the room, and the next he's kissing Daniel. Daniel wraps his uninjured arm around his waist and kisses him back like he'll die if he doesn't. Armand kisses him like he wants to devour him, biting and hungry. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” Daniel pants against his mouth.

Then he's being manhandled until he's bent over the counter, and Armand is kicking his legs apart. Armand takes him there in the kitchen, injured hand hanging off the counter, and other twisted behind his back and held in place by Armand. His face is mashed into the counter-top and his pants are only around his knees. Armand doesn't touch him, other than the hand in his hair holding him down and the one around his wrist. He fucks him, rough and deep, until Daniel is a crying, desperate, incoherent mess. Only then does he let him touch himself and come.

Later, Armand cleans and bandages his wounds. His blood would heal Daniel right up, but Daniel knows better than to ask. This peace is too fragile.

“Are you going to see her again?”

Armand sounds disinterested, like he couldn't care less. But if that were true, he wouldn't be asking. Daniel runs a hand through his hair and tucks a strand behind his ear. “No, I'm all yours. I promise”

Armand glances up at him. He's rooting around in Daniel's head to see if he's telling the truth. Daniel lets it happen without complaint; he's already in the dog house, he can grant Armand some leeway.

After a moment, Armand smiles. “Alright, I believe you.”

Daniel wraps an arm around his waist and rests their foreheads together. “We good now?”

“We're good.”

This time, he almost believes it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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